They arrived to find their teammates sitting quietly on their beds, waiting to hear the expected result from the call. The smiles on Neo and Weiss' faces, however, instantly turned the mood in the room around, and now the three jumped down and ran over to the couple, eager to hear what'd happened. Weiss explained everything that was said, and what Neo had to do now for their relationship to continue.
"Wow..." was all they could say as the heiress finished speaking.
Ruby looked at Neo with concern, "Do you really think you can win the tournament?"
"Not at all," Neo replied, shaking her head. "But, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try."
"You'll be fine," Yang said casually, bringing up the tournament bracket on her scroll. "It looks like you'll have to win eight matches to get to the finals, which would guarantee you a medal. That's not too bad."
"No pressure," Blake added sarcastically.
Neo's eyes nearly popped out of her head at the statement, "Eight matches? Well... Weiss, it was fun while it lasted."
"Neo, be serious," the heiress scolded. "Come on, let's get out to the training grounds before it gets dark."
"Why don't we all come with you?" Blake offered as the couple moved to the door. "I'd be good for you to mix up who you're sparring with. Maybe we could see if Pyrrha can come too, she's easily the best fighter out of all of us."
Weiss nodded and the team departed, heading off toward JNPR's room. Nora answered the door and informed them that Jaune and Pyrrha were already out training, and to go to the practice fields to find them. Neo thanked her and the team now ran out to the fields to find them and get started Neo sparring as fast as possible. They reached the fields and were able to easily locate Jaune and Pyrrha, who happily agreed to help after hearing what happened.
The next couple of hours were very productive, with several sparring matches and group battles to expose Neo to some scenarios she hasn't faced before. Of course, it was Harley whom they were with during this time, and it was very strange for them to actually be conversing with her. The dramatic difference between the girl's personalities showed even more with the way Harley spoke and acted. At times, it truly scared the group, but they got past it eventually.
The session ended as the sun dipped behind the horizon, and Neo returned to control of herself, extremely exhausted from how physical the last few hours had been. The group went back to pick up Nora and Ren from the dorms, and then moved on to go eat in the dining hall. Neo's appetite closely resembled that of the day she arrived, which made Nora very happy. Another food bet was offered, but Neo declined, still wanting revenge after the last bet the two had had. After dinner, they all went back to team JNPR's room to play cards and wind down after the long day. Neo stayed for a while, seeming to have a knack for Remnant: The Game™, but around nine o'clock she decided to turn in a little early, wanting to have as much strength as possible for tomorrow, which would undoubtedly be even more strenuous than this afternoon had been. After showering and putting on pajamas, she flopped onto her bed with the intention of falling asleep as soon as possible.
"Hey Neo," an elegant voice greeted her from the doorway, and she turned with a smile to see Weiss, who walked over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "How're you feeling?"
Neo yawned, stretching her arms as she did, "Tired."
"I can tell," Weiss laughed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I just wanted to tell you, I'm really proud of the way you've handled everything today. I know you could've easily given up at any point, and no one would blame you if you did, but you're not, and it means so much to me that you're willing to do this so that we can stay together."
"I haven't backed down so far, I'm not about to start now," Neo smiled. She pulled Weiss in for a hug, giving her a kiss on the lips once the embrace ended. "I love you."
"I love you too," the heiress said, blushing slightly. The two were quiet for a moment before Weiss stood up and grabbed her nightwear off the dresser. "I'm going to get changed and call it a night as well," she said, moving toward the bathroom.
Neo giggled, "You know, you don't have to go in the bathroom to change anymore. I've already seen you naked, it's not like you have to hide anything."
Weiss was a little reluctant, but decided Neo was right. She stripped off her normal clothes in exchange for her pajamas, and walked back over to Neo.
"Good night," she said sweetly, pecking her girlfriend on the lips.
"G'night!" Neo replied. Weiss turned to go to her own bed, but Neo grabbed her arm to stop her. "And just where do you think you're going?" she asked playfully.
The heiress smiled and happily climbed under the covers with Neo, snuggling up and letting the rhythm of her partner's breathing help her to sleep.
Why can't anything I have to do here be simple? Neo thought. I don't doubt I'll do well in the tournament, but winning? Even getting to the finals at all would be a miracle. I guess I've gotten this far though, let's just hope whatever I've been doing right keeps working for me. 'With that, she smiled and settled in against Weiss, who by now was already asleep, and it didn't take Neo long to follow her. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to sleep for very long.
"Neo! Neo, wake up!" an urgent voice suddenly whispered, pulling her off her dreams. She opened her eyes and strained in the dark to see Yang, who looked extremely worried.
"Yang? What the hell?" Neo asked with a yawn. "Why are you-?"
"You need to come with me to Ozpin's office right," the blonde interrupted, her voice getting louder as she went on. "General Ironwood called the whole team in, he said he needs to talk to you right away."
At this point, Weiss had also awoken to hear the end of Yang's sentence, "Why would he need to see her?"
Yang shrugged, "I dunno, but I don't wanna keep him waiting. Come on!"
She grabbed Neo and Weiss by the wrist and yanked them from bed and out of the room. Weiss was very annoyed that she wasn't able to change into more decent clothes, but she wasn't about to break out of the brawler's iron grip. Meanwhile, Neo was racking her brain as to why Ironwood would want to see her so urgently. She never reached an answer as the three ascended the stairs to the headmaster's office and came running through the doors. Inside, the rest of team RWBY, along with Ozpin, Glynda and Ironwood stood waiting for them.
"Good evening," Ozpin greeted, still holding his coffee mug. "Please, come join the rest of your team."
The girls did so, and Ironwood cleared his throat before addressing them, "Thank you for coming so quickly. I have a few questions I need to ask you, specifically targeted toward Neo. First, where did you go after leaving here this morning after our discussion?"
"I went right back to the room," Neo said, looking fearful. The general nodded for her to continue. "When I got back, I found out Weiss had gotten a message from her dad about our relationship, and we went to the library to call him."
"I see. Ozpin, can you verify the time of the call?" Ironwood asked.
"I already have," he replied with an exasperated sigh. "The call was placed not twenty minutes after I last saw her."
"Where did you go after that?" Glynda asked, sounding much more soothing than the general.
Neo was still confused as to why they wanted to know all of this, but didn't argue, "We all went out to the training fields for the afternoon. Jaune and Pyrrha joined us as well. After that we went to dinner with the rest of team JNPR, played cards for a while, then Weiss and I went to bed."
Ironwood looked suspicious, "What time did you two turn in?"
Neo shrugged, "I don't know exactly, around quarter after nine I think. What time is it now?"
"Just past midnight," Ozpin replied, turning back to his colleague. "Satisfied, James?"
"Not quite," was his response, narrowing his eyes at Neo. "I find it very suspicious that this would happen the day after my watch over her ended."
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked innocently. "What happened?"
Glynda sighed, "It seems Roman escaped from prison, possibly with some outside help. And James here seems to think—"
"That it was me..." Neo completed, turning to the general with a hurt expression. "You think I did it?"
He sighed, "I can't rule out the possibility. And it seems we have nearly three hours where you're unaccounted for."
"Impossible," Weiss interjected, folding her arms and acting like her usual self. "She was in bed with me that entire time. If she had gotten up to leave, I would've been woken up as well."
"I'm afraid that's not good enough to prove whether or not she—" Ironwood said before Ozpin interrupted.
"Enough!" he yelled, slamming his cup down on his desk. It was incredibly rare to see the headmaster lose his temper, but Ironwood had succeeded in pushing him past his level of tolerance. "I've had enough of this, James. You have no reason at all to suspect she was involved in any way. Until you can produce any evidence that goes against what she's said, this matter is closed. I will not have you harassing my students like this without any justification for your actions, am I clear? You may have been appointed head of security, but I am still headmaster here, and the festival has yet to even begin. I've put up with this until now, but I've reached my limit. Team RWBY, you're dismissed. I need to speak to the general alone."
The girls wasted no time in leaving the room as fast as possible, shutting the doors behind them and exiting the building before Ironwood had the chance to object. They ran back to their dorm and stopped to catch their breath once they were all inside. "I've never seen Ozpin that angry before," Blake said quietly after they'd all had a moment to think about what had happened.
Yang crossed her arms, "Well yeah, I've never seen Ironwood be that much a prick before. What the fuck is his problem?"
"Like I said," Neo sighed, returning to her bed. "He won't trust me until I kill Cinder right in front of him."
She got back under the covers, and Weiss eagerly joined her. The heiress smiled, "Just ignore him, we've got bigger things to worry about right now. For instance, getting back to sleep so you'll be ready to get back to training tomorrow."
Neo smiled and gave her a kiss, "You're right. Let's just hope we don't get woken up again."
The two fell asleep in each other's arms before the rest of the team had even finished changing into their nightwear. Neo smiled as she dreamt about what it would be like if she were to win the tournament, and what the future has in store for her and Weiss. In the back of her mind though, Roman's escape deeply worried her, especially being this close to the festival. Whatever they were planning had to be big, and knowing that she had a target painted on her back, most likely at least, didn't make her feel any better. For now, all she could do was wait and try to prepare for whatever lay ahead. Ready or not though, her greatest trails were only just beginning.