Roman and Neo's goodbye

Disclimere: This is a non-profit fanfiction. I do not own RWBY. It is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please support the official release.

As the wind whipped Neo away from the ship she was fuming. That the little red runt could have hoisted her by her own weapon was infuriating. Yes, Neo knew that she wasn't a juggernaut. Adam Taurus had be able to trounce her and she knew that with the powers that the Roman's employer, Cinder was using, she wouldn't stand a chance. Just like against Raven Branwen. But to think a pipsqueak like 'Red' could do it was going to grind on her nerves for a while.

Well, until Roman could pick her up and use whatever magic he had to make her feel better.

That was when the explosion rocked the air.

Neo twisted in the wind and turned around to see part of the Atlas ship go up into flames. At that point her heart skipped a beat. 'Roman'! However while she was in the air it was useless. She had little control over herself and her movements and it was all the little bi-color eyed girl could do to keep from falling to her death.

With one hand on her umbrella she fished around for her scroll and hit the only number she had on speed dial. The call wouldn't connect. She hit it again only for it to fail.

'It's ok.' Neo told herself. 'Roman is a big boy. He can take care of himself.' She kept telling herself that even as the ground approached. But still, she kept an eye on the flaming fireball that was their ship. Making sure to note where it landed.

As Neo's feet hit the ground and she started running to where the miniature sun was now going down at. It took her almost an hour to get there. The problem was that Grimm kept getting in her way. Most of the civilians were cowering like the sheep there were and the hunters/military were so focused on the Grimm and the White Fang that a single girl in flamboyant colors wasn't even on their radar, especially when they saw her cutting Grimm down along with them. 'Probably assume I'm some huntress.'

When she made it to the wreck, the fire had mostly burnt itself out. The smoke clearing in the breeze. All that was left was charred metal. I fished out my scroll again and used the 'find' option that Roman insisted I have on it.

"Always know where the players on when preforming a job." Was his justification. I counted with him just wanting to know where I was at all times. To which he just glared at me and responded, "Not enough curves." Before walking away.

That stung a little but I was over it quickly enough. It was true and one thing I have learned from working under Roman Torchwick is that the facts are everything and fact was Roman had 20 years on me. Besides, I am a still a growing girl.

The phone when off and showed that his scroll was about twenty paces to my left. However there was a lot of slag metal there. He could be under it. He could have lost his scroll and be somewhere else. It didn't matter. I would go with what facts I had.

It didn't take long to cut my way through. When Roman first picked me up, he instantly had my regular blade replaced with one designed to cut diamonds.

And I did find him.

"Haya Neo." Roman muttered with a grimace.

I instantly took stock of his wounds. One arm was still under some rubble and I couldn't see it but I knew from experience that it would be crushed. Four pieces of metal were protruding from his body. One from where his left lung was. I had seen wounds like this before, heck, I had inflected a few of them just hours ago on the Atlas soldiers. It was fatal.

"Looks like I blew the job this time." He cracked. "Who would have though 'Red' had it in her." He reached into his pocket to and pulled out a cigar that had miraculously survived along with his lighter. After the cigar was in his mouth he tried to light it up only to realize that his good arm was missing a thumb.

"Care to do me a favor Neo?" He asked holding the lighter out. I nodded. Flicking the lighter open and striking the wick I held the flame over the nicotine strip until it started smoking.

"That a girl." He took two long drags on it to get the drug into his system and help with the pain that I knew he must be experiencing while I sat on my heels and waited.

"I screwed up big this time." Roman continued.

I shook my head 'No'.

"Course I did." Roman responded. "We should have booked the moment 'Red' showed up. But I was high on the fun of it all and got caught up in the moment." He coughed a little and some blood came out. "Now I'm like this." He gestured down to his mangled body. "Should have known better. Been a walking tombstone for years."

Again I shook my head in defiance of his words. Typing on my scroll, 'I was the one who messed up. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and let the brat get the better of me. I should have been up there with you. That's why you hired me to watch your back.'

He laughed at that and more blood came up. "Sorry." He said and I knew he was changing the subject. "It looks like I won't be able to deliver that severance package I promised you." He guested down to the remains of his jacket. "All I got on me is the pocket watch. Take it. Should net you a few hundred len or so. At least, that was the price tag it had when I stole it."

I shook my head but he wasn't seeing me anymore. Not really. "Just promise me one thing. You don't go after 'Little Red', ok? We are professionals and as my favorite villain in fiction says, 'Revenge is a sucker's game'."

I nodded to him. That he seemed to register as he worked the pocket watch out of his shredded clothing and pushed it into my hands along with his lighter that had his trademark jack-o-lantern emblem.

"Now that I'm no longer your boss could you listen to my last bit of advice?"

Again I nodded. "Always aim to survive. If it comes down to between your life or the job, always chose your life. There will be other jobs and other ways to make money." Another caught but this one weaker, his breath becoming slower.

"And could I ask you a favor?" He didn't stop to see my response. "Make sure my hat gets somewhere safe?"

I nod but realizing he can't see me anymore take his hand and put it to my face and nod again so he can feel it.

"That's good baby girl… Make you old man… proud of you…" With that his lips went slack and the cigar that he had resolutely kept between them fell down onto his jacket. Creating a small fire.

I reach forward and close the one eye of his that was still open before picking up the hat off the corpse. I turn and walk away from the man who was my father in every way but blood. Who picked me up out of nothing and taught me how to survive in a world where nothing was given to you and all you had was what you could grab onto.

I didn't even pay attention to my surrounding as I trudged my way out to a safe house that we had set up months ago. One that Cinder and her crew didn't know about. All the while my face was passive and blank. I didn't even have enough focus to maintain the color of my hair or eyes and they both fell back into their typical color. Roman always liked it when I stood out in the crowd. Always wanted my unique appearance to reflect my personality. But for right now, it was too much effort.

After I got underground and triple bolted the vault door behind my I let myself go. I curled up on the bed we had occasionally shared for warmth and wrapped myself around his hat. The room was deep underground and soundproof. Nobody could hear me cry.

In my mind quotes a line form a book Roman read to me once.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can seal."

Author's notes

With the official word from Rooster Teeth that yes, Roman Torchwich it dead I felt safe in writing this post volume 3 episode 11. I have yet to see episode 12.

Out of all the villains so far, Roman was my favorite and by extension Neo as his second.

Mercury is just a killer out to get his fix. Emerald seems to have a sense of morality even if it is buried. Adam is all for his 'revolution' and while menacing doesn't yet feel like he has the screen presence to fill Roman's shoes. The only guess I have on Cinder is that she or the woman she is working for was once an Atlas specialist under Ironwood who has went rouge and that is just speculate to a shot in the dark.

Roman however was flamboyant and fun to watch. From what I have read he was only supposed to be the bad guy for Vol 1 ep. 1 but was so well received they brought him back for more and I am happy they did. The official party line from Rooter Teeth as seen here under The Consequences of Roman Torchwitk's death by Swisslp is something I can for the most part agree upon. He was a good villain and did all that could have been expected of him. I don't quite like their though line that he was merely motivated by fear and that will be covered in the second chapter of this story. They say they killed him off to make room for other characters to get screen time and expanded upon their rolls in a series that has VERY limited time to develop their characters. Not enough in my opinion.

I would like to see more done with Roman Torchwick and however not at the expense of the narrative as a whole. Perhaps if they are having difficulty getting all that they want out of merely the web episodes then they should also try expanding into online Novella to supplement some of the more mundane things.

They also say that it would allow for Adam Taurus to come more to the forefront and potentially give Neo a chance to get character development as well.

If not that is why we have fanfictions.

The line about 'revenge being a sucker's game' is from the 1994 tv series Gargoyles.

The quote in the end is something I found online at quotes. From the book The Carolinian by Richard Puz.

While I do like reading the stories that have Neo/Roman romantically involved I feet the creators as merely intend them to be platonic friends like Ren/Nora. This story was partially inspired by Roman's Grotto by TheLastSonata and Costumes and Facades by Liara_90. Please check them both out as they are excellently written.