"No, too much." Her eyes landed on the next one. "Mid-summer? Too late." She looked for the one under that. "… This matches with my vacation… but it's a Bullhead…"

Magna then finally stopped the cursor on the 11 option. A cruise trip from the southern tip of Solitas. It was pricey but well within her budget. It left tomorrow and made its first stop at a port town near the southwest tip of Anima, where they would stop for the night and from there the ship would finally leave for Menagerie.

It was the perfect option, as it had an additional feature that the others didn't have. It was off the grid.

Now, she had a perfectly reasonable reason for buying tickets from a third party. First of all, was that she liked to keep her history —whatever it might be— from interfering with her life in the future, especially when came to jobs. Heck, she definitely wouldn't have gotten the job at the goddamn Schnee Manor if they knew of her previous associations. The one she had just left and had worked for as a free-lancer was a Grimm experimentation facility —on Atlas.

That would have definitely raised major flags, but the exact details would have likely sent her straight to jail.

Not that she really cared —about the details. They just wanted to use her services and paid the appropriate amount of Lien for it; the perfect customer. It involved her, for example, Phasing Dust crystals into Grimm.

Her Semblance was astronomically valuable and was somewhat a trade-secret. If for example, any government-controlled scientific community found about it, then that would basically lead to her being bombarded by requests to permanently join them or at worst, she would be taken by force by the military if they had something important they wanted her to work on.

She only revealed the information to clients who were trustworthy and paid enough. Phasing was in its nature actually more useful out of the field. Sure, Phasing through walls and bullets was fun and could allow for many more fighting styles, but the largest problem was the cost of rendering her whole body go-through. It was actually in most cases more reasonable to take a hit as the amount of Aura dodging the attack would far outweigh the cost of just taking the hit head-on.

And while fighting was fun as hell, the fun-to-death ratio was a bit too high on the death side.

Instead, she realized how useful it was in the field of science. The "Aura Pots" as she liked to call them were basically just the outer shell of dust crystal minus all the actual dust, and then sourcing her Aura through the crystal membrane. The membrane would be the catalyst that would cause the reaction between the insides of the crystal —where the Dust usually was— with the user's Aura.

With Dust inside it would work as any Dust crystal. But instead of creating a reaction corresponding with the Dust, her crystal would react with the user's Aura, causing the Aura to add onto the User's Aura.

This she was willing to sell on the open market and was why she had ended up working for The Schnee in the first place.

The Schnee knew she had some kind of trick, so they paid her extra to "be available in an emergency within an hour." Or how she read it: "Don't leave Atlas so you can't sell your crystal making-method to anyone other than us."

It confirmed the thought in her head that the Schnee Dust Company's owner was as clever as he was known to be publicly.

This —was why she didn't want her travel to be known by her employers.

She gave clear instructions to the older Schnee and left a few crystals if they needed them. The chances of something occurring that would need her personal attention was so low that the risk in a minor cut to her pay was worth the chance to enjoy the yellow beaches of the tropical paradise that was Menagerie.

She did hope Bella —aka the winged girl— was still around when her vacation ended. The wings weren't the only thing on her mind. The girl's mysterious ability to swallow whole Dust Crystals with her chest was something she was intrigued about. Perhaps it was a unique case. A minor factor that completely changed how Dust Crystals behaved with people. It was that last word that could make multiple breakthroughs. Dust only reacted with Aura, not the person themselves. Or that was the case before Bella was introduced into the picture.

"Oh, I'm already here." She quickly registered the address as the one mentioned on the computer. Separating her brain into segments really was a life-changer. Tight schedules and approaching deadlines had forced her to get some augments, and boy did do wonders for her.

The simple fact she could watch TV and work at the same time was something that made the purchase worth every Lien —100 000 104 to be exact. Prototype-grade technology isn't widely available for a reason. Especially if said prototype is sold by a private business.

She knocked on the door while she looked both ways in the alleyway. The door was then opened as she saw a familiar face.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to be here." She told the one answering the door.

"I was about to same the exact same thing."

The man who now made space for her to get inside was one of her previous clients.

"So. Why the change in career? Or is it still the same? Criminal isn't that well defined as a career."

Her grin was met with rolling eyes. "Can we not make this any more uncomfortable as it is."

"No, I'm serious." She waved her finger. "Does being connected to the largest underground organization —if I presume you're still a member— make you a criminal or an employee of a Premium Traveling agency?"

"I don't know. Do you want this or not?" The cap-wearing man waved the ticket in his fingers.

"Yes, I want it. I already send the money." She would have continued the debate, but the Faunus seemed a bit too stressed at the moment to humour her.

"Then here's your ticket."

She took the golden-laced ticket and thanked the man, who had already closed the door.

"He could use a little vacation time…"

With ticket in hand, she joyfully hummed as she walked back towards the manor

—completely unaware of what she has set in motion.

Bella breathed in deep breaths as she leaned onto the brick wall. Exhaustion had hit her suddenly despite having felt more energetic than ever. She still felt the same, but her body, or more exactly her wings, had tired out.

As she checked them again, she found them almost becoming wholly see-through. While it might have worried her previously, now it didn't matter to her as much, as she felt the distance she had travelled was large enough that she wouldn't be found.

The place seemed like a good place to stay for a while. The small corridor didn't seem to be popular so the chances of her being seen or spotted were as low as they could get in her current state.

She now just stared at the worn brown bricks in front of her.

The seems were seamless and the bricks themselves were in mostly pristine condition, like the outer walls of the…

She moved her eyes from the wall onto the dumpster next to her. It was nearly full and had been left open, scattering some of the trash around it. She picked up one of these, which was a cylinder.

There was a hole on top, and the inside of the cylinder was hollow. Also, the back of it was filled with scribbles that she didn't understand. She turned it on its head and a single drop fell from it.

The droplet fell onto her uncovered knee. It stayed there a moment. It felt cold. Next, it began to fall along her skin and onto the ground. Then she wiped clean the small trail it had left on her skin and brought her finger on her lips and licked it.

The taste was sweet. It was something she just knew. The inexpiable knowledge she had was something she had come to accept. There was no real reason to doubt her own mind.

A jolt stirred her awake from her trance. She looked around and saw a woman standing on her right. The woman stared right back at her with confusion, but also recognition. It was odd, she had never met her before…

"Bella?"

She kept dumbly staring at the red hair as she tried to figure out why the woman knew her name.

The woman said something to her, and then stopped before slapping her own face and whispering something under her breath.

She then reached a hand to her, waiting for her to grab it. While she still lost in her head, she took the hand and the woman pulled her off the ground.

Having no idea what the woman meant to do, she let herself be dragged away. She was after all better at following someone other than herself.

Magna kept a tight grip on the girl. She had absolutely no idea why the previously unconscious Bella was now awake Bella —or why she was in a random alley in the middle of Atlas.

And the worst part is that she can't even speak…

When she had dragged Bella out of the alley she thought of just bringing her along with her, but when she thought a few seconds about the situation, she realized that might not be the best course of action.

The chances of her being kidnapped and having escaped? Possible but highly unlikely.

Her kicked out of the manor? Zero.

Running away? Probable.

She was outside the mansion for a reason, whatever that might be, but in most cases bringing her back immediately would cause more trouble.

Instead, she pulled her into a coffee shop around the corner.

It was empty as always. The owner waved at her as they entered and headed over to the corner table.

"What might I get you two today?" asked the blonde.

"The usual… and a hot chocolate with whipped cream."

The woman nodded and smiled as she headed back behind the counter to prepare the drinks.

Bella still had the same sad frown and confused eyes. She didn't know what she looked like normally, but it was probably not this. No Human or Faunus could hold a frown forever.

The drinks arrived as fast as they always did. Bella seemed to have picked up the smell as they were carried over, but now even her head moved as she smelt the drink in front of her.

"Drink up." Magna raised her own cup and took a small sip. Bella finally took the cup into her hands and slowly brought it to her mouth. She kept jugging and soon lowered the empty cup on the table.

"So. Like it?"

The girl didn't answer verbally but gave a small smile answer for her.

"Well, good for you, as you owe me." she calmly declared to the girl who didn't understand a word she just said and just kept looking at the cup as if would magically fill itself.