#I admittedly havent read roman holiday

[sigruned]

Putting on my clown makeup for a minute to make the prediction that Neo probably won't be leaving the Ever After but that won't be a bad thing.

(Ancillary to this she might also get an ascension but that's neither here nor there. Whether she is transformed literally or metaphorically doesn't really matter.)

I mean think about how everything this season has sort of revolved around trying to follow the storybook's script. Jaune has literally found himself cast in the story itself, Ruby has the lonely girl with a lot of problems part of Alyx's role to a tee, but we haven't seen a whole lot of the selfishness or cruelty we've also had ascribed to Alyx (as a character within the fairytale narrative).

Out of everyone that fell, who has been treating the Ever After like a playground? Who has had her own desires first and foremost, only sparing a cursory amount of effort to understanding the nature of the place she's found herself in? (Dominating the Ever After once she'd accomplished her goal didn't have much appeal to her as we saw, but Imaginary Roman is her creation, it had to have crossed her mind at some point for him to suggest it.)

There is a reason Neo and Alyx get so much overlap in the opening. More than anyone else, Neo's arc this volume seems like it's heading towards a realization that she's is much happier when she can create instead of destroy. Her entire semblance revolves around this concept. The whole physical nature of the Ever After compliments it splendidly.

Whether or not the cat is right about her lack of attachments preventing her from physically going through the door or not, I don't think it's too off base of an assessment to make? Realistically, what does she have left back on Remnant now that her revenge was accomplished and ended up fixing nothing? Sure she could become an ally to the main cast and set her sights on Cinder instead, but wouldn't that just be putting her back on the revenge track that, as last episode established, doesn't make her feel any better?

I think Neo, like Alyx, will want to stay behind in the Ever After to fix something she's broken (whether it's herself, or if the theory that she's killed the jabberwocky is true, or something else. Hard to say since she's been off screen so much but again, the specifics aren't the point.) And I doubt that Rwbyj are cruel enough to leave her possessed by the cat or to abandon her if she decides to call a truce.

But I don't think anyone would begrudge her choosing to stay for her own good.