(A/N: "Before starting this chapter, I need to give an important warning. This chapter will explore themes of depression, loss and suicide. Sections that explore that will have *********************************************** appear just before. If you are uncomfortable about those themes, then please, skip past the sections that have those asterisks. That aside, enjoy the chapter.")

Vale...

The Fall of Beacon had done a number on the entire Kingdom of Vale in of itself. Certain areas of the Kingdom were abandoned due to the Grimm Invasions, others were doing just fine, though with Beacon's CCT Tower Destroyed, the CCT was completely down, meaning the entire world's communication had grinded to a screeching halt.

A Beowolf was prowling through the streets of this abandoned district, with the area looking like a street of Mountain Glenn at this rate from the dull colors and Grimm that were closing in. One of the buildings on this street was an abandoned two-story house. Peeping his eyes through the curtains on the first floor was Ace Sparda, keeping an eye out just in case any Grimm decided to charge straight towards the place. He lightly sighed to himself and closed the curtains again. Looking around the house, the front door was blocked by a large cabinet and all windows were closed and blocked up as well. The only light was from a Fire Dust Lamp that rested on the coffee table in the center of the living room. He then looked towards the other person in the house with him.

Sitting on the couch was Neopolitain. She was hugging her knees, her eyes looking a bit dull as clutched into her chest was none other than Roman Torchwick's hat, which was all she found left of him after the rogue Atleasian ship went crashing into Vale. Ace stared at the female as closed his eyes and began to remember how he ended up in this situation.

(Flashbacks)

Ace: "I don't want to fight you, Neo. I have no reason to fight you!" The ice-cream themed girl looked annoyed and instantly charged towards her former 'friend'. She quickly began to strike at him, forcing Ace on the defensive as he was blocking and parrying each strike of Hush with Liberator. While the female's attacks were relatively light compared to someone like Mercury, her attacks however were much faster and more frequent, forcing him to be on his toes even more with her. It was to the point that she was beginning to push him back!

Ace grunted as Neo did a graceful backflip, kicking his chin and making him stumble back. As he regained his composure, he was immediately tripped by the female, making him lose grip of his weapon. With a groan, Ace was slowly starting to get back up, only for Neo to suddenly pin him down, with a thin blade popping out of the tip of Hush's umbrella casing. She pointed it at his face as she stared into his eyes with her own.

Ace: "Neo..."

Her expression seemed unreadable but in reality, on the inside, she was hurting that she had to fight him. She really did enjoy their fun little moments during the Vytal Festival. But alas, they were on opposite sides in the end. The two heard a grunt from Ruby, causing them both to look back to see her getting knocked back by Roman.

Ruby: "But why!? What do you get out of this!?"

Roman: "You're asking the wrong question kiddo! It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose!"

She attempted to swing at him but Roman had dodged her strike and hooked Melodic Cudgel around Crescent Rose before kicking Ruby in her back, knocking her weapon out of her hand, where it would soon hook itself onto the edge of the ship. Now without her only method of defense, Roman made quick work of Ruby, slamming his Melodic Cudgel on the ground and firing it, causing it to bounce up and strike Ruby right in the chest, causing her to stumble back. He quickly caught his weapon back before firing another shot at her, this one connecting and sending Ruby flying off the edge.

Ace: "RUBY!" he called out to her but grunted loudly in pain as Neo had stomped on his ribs, looking coldly down at him. He was holding onto his chest, writhing in pain as Neo began to walk towards Ruby, who was hanging off the edge via Crescent Rose.

Roman: "I may be a gambling man, but even I know there's some bets you just don't take." With a smirk now on her face, Neo began dragging Hush's blade against the ground as she approached Ruby, before pointing her blade right at her helpless expression. A Griffin tried to attack Ruby, but she managed to easily kick it away from her before turning her attention back to Neo, but upon doing that, she noticed a small switch on her umbrella. "Like it or not, the people who hired me are going to change the world. You can't stop them. I can't stop them! You know the old saying, 'If you can't beat them-'"

Suddenly with swift movements, Ruby reached up and clicked the button on Neo's Hush, causing it to open up. The dual-eyed female gasped in shock as she was suddenly swept off the ship by the high winds, and began flying off into the could of Grimm. Seeing his partner leave his sights, Roman was too shocked.

Roman: "NEO!!!" He suddenly grunted as Ace kicked the man in his side, causing him to stumble away and allowing Ruby to jump back up. However, with Liberator back in his hands, Ace looked out to where Neo flew off and managed to spot her, desperately clinging onto her parasol as she was doing her best to kick away any Grimm that tried to get near to her. He then took a deep breath.

Ace: "Rubes, can you handle things here by yourself?" The argent eyed girl looked confused for a second but noticed how he was still staring in Neo's direction. She had a feeling she knew what he was thinking and thought about it for a hot moment before nodding and smiling.

Ruby: "Go on. I'll be fine." The blue-haired male looked to his younger sister and flashed her a smile before nodding. With him getting a running start, he leaped off the edge of the ship and fired Liberator behind him, sending him flying towards Neo's direction.

As he jumped from the airship, Ace proceeded to use his Semblance of Null Zone to manipulate Null Energy beneath his feet, jetting it out like a sort of propulsion. He looked around, hoping to spot the one he was after within this cloud of Grimm. Thankfully, he spotted her. Neoploitan was hanging onto her dear umbrella for dear life, all the while constantly kicking at any Griffin that tried to get close to her, but at this rate, she'd surely be killed before she could make any progress. She suddenly gasped as a Griffin was diving quickly towards her from above but before it could make contact with her, something suddenly flew right towards it like a boomerang and sliced it in half. Looking around, Neo was surprised to see none other than Ace, propelling himself quickly towards her.

Ace: "Neo!" he called out to her. As he continuously got closer and closer however, she suddenly got on the defensive, ready to defend herself from him. "I'm not here to fight you, dumbass! Look around you! You seriously wanna die now with a pointless battle!?" The dual-eyed female's eyes widened in shock. Was he really... going to try and save her? And if so... how?

Ace: "Look." She looked towards him as he moved out the way of a Griffin, slashing its wing in the process with Liberator. "I know we have our differences. I know we just fought on top of that airship. But if we wanna get out of this alive, we need to work together. Are you willing to trust me this one time, Neo?"

Obviously, he wasn't expecting some kind of verbal response from the female. She didn't speak after all. Neo seemed... conflicted for a moment, but if anything, she knew that Roman wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her... and she had experienced Ace's kindness in the past before, even when they were fighting on the ship... She really had no choice. So she made up her mind. She nodded towards him.

Ace: "Alright! I'm going to count to three. When I say, three, close your umbrella so you'll start falling and hold out your arms towards me!" She was a bit surprised by this plan but again, she really had no other choice. It was either trust him or die and she didn't want to die yet. "Ready!?" The ice-cream themed criminal nodded.

Ace: "One!" He began to speed up towards her, while kicking and striking any Griffin that tried to take him out. "Two!" He suddenly pointed Liberator's blunt end downwards and fired multiple shots, sending him shooting up slightly before he began to dive down to the female. "THREE!"

Following the plan, Neo closed her Hush, which instantly caused her to start falling rapidly out of the sky, but... thankfully, it also meant that she was falling out of the cloud off Grimm. Ace was right above her, diving head first right towards her. As she was instructed earlier, the female opened her arms out towards him, just as Ace had caught up to her and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, while her arms wrapped around his torso.

Ace: "I gotchu! Hold on tight!"

Neo clutched onto him tightly, while gritting her teeth. If she could scream, she'd most likely be doing so, more out of both terror and... a bit of thrill as well. They were rapidly approaching solid ground and it looked like they had no way to survive this... However, just before they managed to hit the ground, Ace activated his Null Zone to maximum capacity, opening up a large rift underneath them as they collided with the ground. Neo expected to feel some kind of pain but... it never came. In fact, mere seconds later, they were lying on the ground together, while panting heavily from the adrenaline rush.

Ace: "S-Shit... It actually worked... haha..." he said with a slight laugh, while looking up at the dark skies. Neo too was panting but was more confused by what just happened. So she sat up on the male's lap and pointed down at him, demanding an explanation for what he did. "Ah... Well, before we hit the ground, I used my Semblance to tear open a large rift to the Null Zone. Tearing open rifts is quite a difficult task with my Semblance, so I had to get the timing down just right. Luckily, it was successful. Otherwise, we'd be splat on the fucking ground right now. Haha-Ow!"

He suddenly groaned and cursed under his breath as the female flicked his forehead roughly, seemingly scolding him for putting both of their lives at such a risk with a plan that had no guarantee to work. He slightly laughed as she got off of him.

Ace: "Sorry, sorry." He sat up. "Anyways, now-" He was suddenly cut off by a loud explosion. The two quickly looked up and spotted the Rogue Atlesian Airship that they were just on, going up in flames and crashing down into Vale. "I guess Ruby was successful. But what about..."

He paused for a brief moment before he noticed something floating from the airship, towards them. Neo noticed it as well and narrowed her eyes to try and get a better look at whatever it was. As it got closer and closer, it was obvious this object was a familiar shade of black and red and its shape instantly caused Neo's eyes to widen. Now landing before her was none other than the hat of Roman Torchwick.

Ace: "Roman's hat?"

The dual-eyed female caught his hat and silently began to inspect it. However, as she was, she suddenly saw a flash of Roman's face in her mind before said image slowly burnt away into nothing but ashes. Before Neo even realized, she had tears falling down her eyes as the realization hit her. 

It seemed like Ace realized as he looked at her, the female falling to her knees as she clutched onto the hat, burying her face into it and silently crying her eyes out, then he looked in the direction of where the Airship crashed. He sighed lightly.

Ace's thoughts: "You were a criminal... but you really did care about Neo huh? And she cared about you..." He slowly closed his eyes and lowered his head, as if to pay his respects. "Rest well, Roman..."

(Flashback Ends)

Ace: "Man... Ruby and Yang's probably gonna fucking kill me when I see them again..." He muttered and sighed before shaking his head and standing up. 

Looking towards Neo, he began to approach her. The girl hadn't communicated with him since that day, as if she had shut down completely due to grief. He was thankful that he surrounded the entire house in a Null Zone Barrier to block Neo's negative emotions from drawing in any Grimm but even then, he found himself in quite the situation. Here he was, in the middle of an isolated area of Vale, with a wanted criminal, one who tried to kill him only a couple of days ago, with no way to contact anyone due to the CCT being disabled.

Ace: "Hey..." He stopped in front of her and looked at her. "I'm gonna head out to get groceries. You want anything specific while I'm out?" Silence was the answer she gave which he did expect but she didn't even look up at him. She did give him a mile shake of her head. "You don't want anything? You sure?" She replied with a subtle, unenthusiastic nod. He sighed. "Alright, I'll be back soon."

With him activating his Semblance to open a rift, he stepped through it, which took him to the populated side of Vale where there wasn't any danger of Grimm. He was quite thankful that his Semblance was very versatile. The Null Zone could act like a bridge between two different points; however, unlike his mother, he was extremely limited in the distance for teleportation. Raven could teleport as far as she'd like, so long as someone who she had a bond with was there while for Ace, his teleportation had a limited range, so he is unable to teleport across entire continents and he has to at least visit the place once to place down the marker. So due to him visiting this Grocery store already, he had the marker placed. And another limitation he had was that he could only place down two markers. Placing a third would get rid of the last one he placed.

As he was waiting at the checkout with the items he had gotten, he glanced up to one of the screens broadcasting one of Lisa Lavender's News reports.

Lisa Lavender: "For our next story, an update on the situation at Beacon Academy. The Grimm continue to flood the abandoned school and that quadrant of Vale remains abandoned, but law enforcement along with Glynda Goodwitch, a professor from Beacon, are working to not only rebuild but clear out as many Grimm as they can."

Ace fell silent as the footage displayed Beacon in its current state, with that giant Wyvern frozen on the top of the tower. Even though it's been days now, it still was surprising. Vale never had perfect defenses, but it had enough to survive for this long, but not only the overflow of Grimm, both naturally and from the White Fang purposely letting them out into the school, but the mysterious hacking of Atlas' robotic security contributed had caused for the school to be completely overrun. It was quite... sad. The atmosphere was so dreadful that night and the desperation of everyone who fought to defend the school was clear. But despite everyone's efforts, casualties couldn't be avoided. It made him sigh but begin to think about how this even happened... and who Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Jet and by extension, Roman worked for. If it was true that Cinder's group 'originated from Mistral' then, he'd have to have a talk with Headmaster Lionheart about that as he never remembered that group of four being there when he was attending school. But he always thought that he managed to avoid them completely.

Ace: "This is a mess..." he sighed. "But... I should hurry back. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about leaving her all by herself while she's like this..." He muttered to himself. Neo's state of depression really was a cause for worry in the male.

>>Time Skip<<

After checking out, Ace had decided to buy something extra, mainly for the female criminal to attempt to cheer her up; a pack of Ice Cream Cones followed by a small bucket of Neapolitan Ice Cream. With shopping done, he returned to his teleportation point and opened a rift back to the house. Without much hesitation, he stepped through, products in hand.

Ace: "I'm back!" he announced as he made his way into the kitchen, where he rested the bag of groceries and the cones on the counter while the package of ice cream was placed into the freezer. He wasn't expecting some kind of response but still decided to go to look for her. She wasn't in the living room, like she usually was, which confused him... "Maybe she went up to nap in the bedroom."

The blue-haired male began to think about what to do. He could either go check on her or leave her be and begin preparing dinner... The decision was quite easy for him as he chose to go check on her because he just had to be sure. He wouldn't have been able to go cook with a good conscious without checking on the ice-cream themed female. So he walked upstairs to the only bedroom in the house. Yes it was a single bedroom house, though while she took the room, he slept on the couch on the ground floor. He knocked on her door.

Ace: "Neo, you in there?" Silence, as he expected. She wouldn't respond verbally, but at the very least, he'd hear some kind of shuffling inside to signify that she was inside. But there was nothing. It was quiet... almost too quiet. The silence gave Ace a sinking feeling as he gripped onto the door knob. "I'm going to open the door, Neo." Just as he said, he began to open the door.

***********************************************

https://youtu.be/dn9S0t3xXn4

(Play Music)

The door began to creak open as Ace poked his head in. The room was a bit dark, though it was lit thanks to a Fire Dust lamp. His eyes scanned the inside of the room before his eyes suddenly widened upon landing on the bed. The sight he saw... was truly terrifying.

Neopolitan was kneeling on her bed, the thin blade that was hidden inside of Hush's umbrella shell, pointed directly at her throat as it looked ready to spear her throat. Without hesitating, Ace kicked the door open and rushed into the room, startling Neo who quickly looked at him but winced as Liberator was tossed towards her and struck her hand, knocking her weapon out of her hand. She'd soon find herself underneath him, her hands pinned above her head by her wrists. The dual eyed female looked up, only to see Ace looking completely furious.

Ace: "What the fuck's wrong with you!? Are you dumb!? What's killing yourself going to do!?" He yelled, his voice sounding not only angry but genuinely worried. Gritting her teeth, Neo struggled against his grip, but he was strong, probably physically stronger than her. Slowly, her struggling stopped as she seemed to have given up, which caused the blue-haired male to slowly let go of her wrists. "That's it. I'm not leaving you out of my sight until-gah!"

He was taken aback as Neo suddenly punched him right in the face, causing him to fall onto his back. He was about to get up, but Neo quite literally turned the tables on him, sitting on his lap and pinning him down. He stared up at her, only to grunt as she punched him in the face again, then again and again. Her punches were hard at first but were getting weaker and weaker by the moment before... they were barely even punches anymore. Ace was silent as he was slowly opening his eyes again but felt something wet and warm fall onto his cheek. As he opened his eyes, he was taken aback to see her face...

Tears...

It was like a waterfall as tear after tear fell down Neo's cheeks. She weakly raised her right fist to hit him again, but all she ended up doing was slowly lowering her hand against her, breathing heavily as she was letting out small gasps and breaths of sorrow.

Ace: "Hey..." Her eyes slowly locked with his. "I know... you're going through it. I know how it feels to lose a loved one. My family's... complicated. I have two actual parents but they both weren't really in my life after a certain point. So for the longest time, my parents, despite me not being related to them, were Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. But... Summer, after leaving for a mission, never came back. It felt like I had lost someone I considered a true mother... It fucking hurts thinking about it... But even then, I couldn't let her death control me. I know you're mourning Roman's death, Neo but all of this won't get you anywhere.

The female clenched her fists slightly but gasped lightly as he raised his hand and gently cupped her cheek.

Ace: "I don't know the kind of man Roman is underneath the criminal persona, but... if he truly cared about you, then I know he wouldn't want you to be like this... Trying to take your life... it's not helping anyone. Rather, it would just hurt the one you care about the most, more." The dual-eyed female's eyes widened in shock. "We don't know whether a god exists in this world or not... And there's no guarantee that the afterlife exists. Even if you end it all now, there's no guarantee that you'll see Roman again. So rather than taking your own life, do the opposite. Continue to live on, Neo. And if you'd like... I'll be by your side throughout the process."

Neo was stunned into a frozen state, while tears just continued to rain from her eyes. The tone he used with her was... kind and comforting. It made her feel warm on the inside, just like how Roman made her feel, only on a deeper, more emotional level. He truly was treating her like an actual friend... not like an accomplice, not like an enemy, not like a neutral party... like a genuine, caring friend.

Without much hesitation, Neo buried her head into his chest and began to let out all of her emotions. While her cries weren't audible, there was just a slight sound that made it clear. The blue-haired male looked down at her, feeling his shirt get wet from her tears. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her and held her in a gentle, comforting embrace, only triggering her to lean more into him and cry harder.

Ace: "It's alright, Neo... Let it all out..." He whispered, his hand running through her hair as he closed his eyes, listening to her semi-silent cries of despair. "I'm here for you..."

SILENT & DEADLY
(Oc X Neopolitan)

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Next Chapter: Bonds

(A/N: "And the Neopolitan book begins! Now just a disclaimer fam. This is my first time doing an original book, so I apologize if it isn't up to my usual quality. And also, this book is meant to be short. I mean, at maximum 5 chapters long. Idk if we'll hit that much but we'll see. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it!)