Burning Coals is a RWBY fanfic by ScottishMongol where Yang and Neopolitan team up against Cinder. It can be read here
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After the wake of Volume 3, and more specifically Roman's death in the finale, Neo is out for revenge. Cinder caused the Grimm attack and thus she's at fault for Roman's demise. However, Neo realizes she can't defeat Cinder alone. She needs allies. So she turns to the most unlikely of people: Yang Xiao Long.
Burning Coals provides examples of:
- Abled in the Adaptation: Here, Neo can speak, but choses not to, as a throat injury made her voice hoarse. Volume 6 of the series proper confirms that Neo is indeed mute.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Neo was orphaned as a young age and spent several years on the streets by herself. She made her first kills as self-defense. Eventually, she was taken in by Roman.
- Elective Mute: Neo has difficulties speaking to those she doesn't trust completely. Roman was her one exception.
- Enemy Mine: Yang and Neo team up against Cinder, an enemy they have in common.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Neo is uncomfortable with how Emerald used her illusions on Yang, feeling that destroying reputation and confidence is an extremely low blow even by her standards.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Neo has shades of this after watching Yang’s fight with Mercury, disappointed that she didn’t show that level of skill when fighting her on the train.
- Parental Abandonment: As a child, Neo's parents were killed in a house fire.
- The Rival: Yang and Neo view each other as rivals.
- Shout-Out: The title is a biblical reference to Proverbs 25:21-22.
- Vocal Dissonance: Despite her youthful looks, Neo has a hoarse voice due to a throat injury.
