AN: So this is the start of a brand new story. This one might be a bit difficult because I want the sci-fi aspects to be at least somewhat realistic so I'll have to do a lot of research.

The pairings are undecided. This is an AU with several OCs. This story might take a while cause it'll hurt my brain. Especially once quantum physics comes into play, well, if is the better word. I'm unsure if I want time travel.

I should also mention that Perl's intelligence is not what it seems, in more ways than one. She is far from perfect and just because she knows a lot doesn't make her the brightest. You'll know what I mean in later chapters.

Please keep it in mind that I'm not an expert and I'm likely to get stuff wrong.

Another thing of note is that, along with the many things I'm adding in this AU, there will be many more types of dust than what was shown in canon. There will be many new natural types of dust, and even synthetic types! I'm really hyped with all the lore I've made.

Along with this will be my own theories and ideas for science and technology, and much more, in Remnant. I do hope I'm not overdoing the science aspect but when I nerd out, I nerd out.

Also, anyone who's smart, please point out my mistakes so I can fix them.

But I hope that you all will enjoy this, so let me introduce Mind & Soul!


Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Perl's trailer

"Life is an interesting thing." A wise man's voice spoke, images of society flashing in the darkness. "It all began a long time ago, with dust. Everybody knows the story, how th— we used it to push back the darkness. But many forget that there's more to the story, and like every puzzle, this story has many pieces."

"While dust gave birth to civilization," The wise man continued. "Aura gave birth to life. It brought humanity into the Light so they could push back the Darkness. Aura, the so-called manifestation of The Soul." A myriad of colors exploded into the void, something was being forged.

"Utilizing Aura and Dust, hand in hand, things began to change. Much like clockwork, Life began moving forward as the Gears of Fate began to turn."

The sound of a clock rang out as flashes of technology appeared. A new voice spoke shyly, one belonging to a young girl.

"But What is Aura? Is it actually the manifestation of The Soul? Or is it a naturally occurring physiological phenomenon?" She went on, almost asking herself the questions.

"No one truly knows, and yet they depend on it so much. It takes a lot of trust to use something you know nothing about…" She reasoned thoughtfully, images of warriors utilizing aura echoing through the emptiness.

"Aura, where did it come from? Was it something that evolved naturally? Was it a blessing from a higher power? Or maybe, just maybe… it's something more."

"The supposed manifestation of The Soul." She began calmly, "Souls. The pure, untouched Energy of Life. We're told that every living thing has one, except the Grimm. This raises the question, why do we go about our lives, never wondering about the Infinite Energy inside us?"

"Where does it come from? Why can it do the things it can do? Just what is a Soul?"

As the girl's voice faded, a new voice spoke out. It was an older woman, much colder than the previous voices. The darkness somehow became even darker.

"Despite being frail and weak, Life thrived. With Knowledge, Choice, Destruction, and Creation in hand, they used Dust and Souls to move forward." She explained, her tone cruel and harsh.

"Fighting against the Darkness as Science and Technology thrived in the light. Unaware of the secrets hidden in the world, and within themselves."

"Because unbeknownst to all, they were marching forward to no end. Because like all things, nothing can escape the undeniable laws of the world. Humanity is no exception."

"But despite their inescapable Fate, they continued fighting strongly. Sharpening their minds and their blades, dead set on Evolution."

"But not everything is what it seems, because much like the Light, the Darkness grows as well…"

As her voice faded, light sprung forth once again as the young girl's voice returned, images of Gears coming with it.

"While all things move in many different directions, they all help the world spin together. Each and everything helps out, allowing us to move forward with every turn. That's how a gear works."

"Every cog and gear, every piece on the board, has a place in the endless clockwork journey of time. All because the Gears of Fate are always moving. We just have to make sure they turn towards the goal we want."


A picture of a small blonde girl with pearly blue eyes appeared on the computer screen. Pictures of her parents were next to her, both of them dead.

"A young child named Stella Rampion was reported to be missing last week at 5:41 O'clock. Her parents were found…"


A young girl, no more than five or six, woke up in a dusty old bed. She was alone. Trapped in a dusty old room. Her freedom had been stolen, her fate turned dark.

The agonizing pain echoed throughout her mind and body, there was something missing. Something was off, but what?

Something had been… stolen, yes… something had been stolen from her. What was stolen? Or was it who… she couldn't even tell what was stolen. She knew it was important, extremely so… but what… what was… why was it stolen? Who stole it?

What was stolen?

She raised a pale hand to her head, rubbing it to soothe the aching as she sat up and looked around. Why did her head hurt so much? How did she get here?

Wait…who was she?

The little girl's mismatched eyes widened in horror as she realized something. She couldn't remember anything… She had to remember! She had to! How could she just forget who she was!? She had to remember this! She knew this. Her name was… no… she. She had to know this… her name. Her name was…

No…

How could she forget something like that?

How could she forget her own name?

Was that what was stolen? Her identity? Or her memories… What happened to her? Why her!?

She looked around in a panic, her long platinum blonde hair flowing behind her like golden threads in the wind as she stumbled up to a door in the corner of the room, groaning in pain as she went.

Locked. A large solid steel door confined her in the room, the only opening to the outside world was a single slot in the door. There wasn't even a window she could escape through… she was a bird in a cage, her wings clipped.

She was trapped. Her freedom was stolen. Her life was stolen. Her memories were stolen. Everything was stolen from her.

She had nothing left. She was alone and in pain.

She sighed softly, tears beginning to stream down her face as she scanned her surroundings. This bleak room, this depressing cell, this was her life now.

It was a simple place, a few tables with various tools and parts, for some reason she found that soothing. She had many things that would grant her a comfortable life. She even had a computer on a desk in the corner, though she highly doubted it had an outside connection. Seriously, you would have to be a really bad kidnapper to allow your prisoner RemNet access.

It wasn't a nice place, but it certainly wasn't low quality. The place had been designed for holding someone, that much was clear. It was designed to hold her.

The screen glowed brightly in the dimly lit room, creating a strange presence as the light washed over her. As she stumbled towards it a few words appeared on the screen.

It actually worried her, they only appeared when she approached the device. She was being watched. That was… unnerving. To say the least, that is.

"WV: I see you are awake…"

The child frowned, sniffling as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her large sky blue hoodie. Hesitantly, she typed up a reply, trying to communicate with whoever imprisoned her.

"U1: Who are you? Who am I? Why am I here? What's going on!?"

She quickly sent the message, anxiously waiting for her response. The moment was painful, simply waiting in an ominous silence. It was ghost-quiet besides the slow ticking of a clock.

She didn't even realize she was holding her breath until she received a reply, causing her to let out a sigh of relief.

"WV: Calm down young one, I'm sure you have many questions. Your name is Perl Aurelius, you may call me Voltz. Try to calm yourself, for we have much to do."

The girl, now named Perl, nodded to herself, sniffling as she breathed in and out. Maybe if she went along with the person across the screen she could figure out what was going on…

Maybe she could get out of this place…

Nervously, she replied.

"U1: Okay Voltz, where do I start?"


Perl hated her life. Sure she was granted access to just about anything a girl could want. Metal, high quality dust, tools and supplies galore. She even had a Dust Binding station! It was ridiculous.

She wasn't sure where Voltz got the insane amount of things she worked with but she did appreciate it. Seriously, the amount of supplies she had been given must have cost a fortune.

Despite that, she hated it here. It was an eternal prison, one made just for her.

She had no friends or family, no one to talk to besides Voltz, she didn't even have CCT access! She could only access what Volts allowed her to.

He was far more intelligent than she was, which was understandable because she was ten, but she was getting smarter. Then again, she was already impressively smart for her age. She assumed that was why she was here. Maybe in his sick and twisted mind she was his protégée.

So here she was, tinkering at her workstation trying to build a stronger processor, as well as many other parts, for… a personal project. She resigned to making her own parts because none of the premade parts Voltz provided for her could handle her project.

The absurd thought of what she was doing actually made her snort, giggling slightly. She was only a kid, yet she was building a complex computer, something the majority of the population couldn't even do. It was kinda strange, amusing even.

She was working on what was essentially a small yet powerful Processing Core. Which would be difficult but it was possible. People have made CPUs the size of a grain of sand before, and they've made powerful ones, so why couldn't she do both? Well, making it smaller wasn't the problem. The issue was increasing the complexity while decreasing the size. That was one of the reason's she wasn't making them that small, or at least, all of them that small. To put it simply, she wanted to make what was likely the most advanced computer on Remnant.

Micro Dust Systems, or MDS', were nothing compared to what she was doing. Scrolls would be like cavemen scratching on walls with rocks compared to what she was making. She definitely wasn't exaggerating! She was literally walking into unknown territory. A ten year old girl was attempting to reach the pinnacle of technology. Seriously, she was trying to reach the Bleeding Edge all by herself, okay well she had some help but Voltz didn't count!

Why was she doing all of this? To make a super computer and an AI friend of course. Why else would she need one?

"Dammit…" She whispered softly, chuckling at herself. "I'm so lonely that I'm trying to build one of the most advanced AIs on Remnant. What has my life come to…"

It was a difficult process to be sure. As she needed to make a computer far more advanced than most, while getting as close to the quantum level as she could without having the electrons go through the process of quantum phasing. She wasn't ready to handle quantum computers, it was out of her level, for now. There was no way she would be using photons for her computer just yet, she could work on that later.

"This is such a pain…" Perl groaned, banging her head against the desk with a sigh. It was still too slow.

To put things into perspective, an average CPU's clock ticks several billion times per second, which was far too slow. She needed to get way faster, at least into the trillions, if not quicker, for her computer to be even remotely fast enough

She would also need to increase the number of pins to increase information intake but speed and complexity was her main priority. Of course, this was all for a secondary Core, she planned to make more. She wanted to make an advanced multicore system for her computer to run on.

She had already finished the Primary Core, which was far larger so it could keep up. She would have many Secondary Cores to assist the Primary Core.

Of course she was vastly oversimplifying things, she had so much work to do. She hadn't even started planning out what she was going to do for RAM.

"So what if I need to work on it, I can do that later. Focus Perl! Focus on the Core, not the RAM!" She whispered to herself, trying to self motivate.

Perl paused, a thought occurred to her. "RAM? More like RAMen… heh heh… I made a joke." She muttered to herself, glancing at the discarded ramen cups nearby, chuckling at the word play as she got back to work.

The cooling system would be another issue. With how powerful she was making this, it would require a lot of energy and a lot of cooling.

She had a plan involving a complex Dust circuit utilizing a flow system with Gravity Dust, Thermal Dust, Energy Dust, and Inert Dust. Well, there was actually more to it than that but that would take ages to explain. The Energy Dust and the Thermal Dust were self explanatory but the Gravity and Inert Dusts were used more like conduits.

Essentially it would use the heat the computer produces as a secondary power source if needed, if not, then it would be a simple cooling unit. Unfortunately this was easier said than done. Thermodynamics was a pain in her— yeah, she much preferred computers and machines over physics.

Don't get her wrong. She liked all forms of science and math, but trying to fit everything under certain laws can be annoying. Especially when they don't even know all the laws they have to follow. Maybe she should figure them out…

"Remind me to work on a theory of everything… in a couple years of course." Perl muttered, making a mental reminder despite the absurdity of the idea. She continued to lay out the golden wires on the circuit. It was an annoying process. It felt like swimming through quicksand, that was to say, slow and painful.

"If only I had Aurum, that would make things easier…" She doubted Voltz would actually give her any because of all the things you could use it for but she would probably ask anyway. It was an expensive and valuable alloy.

"Why does Science have to be so fun but so annoying at the same time!?" Perl continued whispering to herself softly, frustrated at the tedious work she was doing.

And why was she talking to herself? She needed to get back to work. Dust, she was so stupid sometimes.


It took her way over a year to get it done, and that was when she was working everyday for hours on end. And her result? She discovered that SuperComputers were awesome! Unfortunately it still needed a lot of work but at least it actually functioned!

The computer was nice and all but it was still a computer, just a really powerful one. She still needed to finish making the Artificial Intelligence though.

She still needed to spend a lot of time programming which was understandable when you considered the amount of algorithms and logistic programs needed. The evolutionary system was a pain as well, not to mention the sheer effort she put into designing its neural programming.

Neuroevolution was a major pain in her butt. It was difficult, she was making an advanced all purpose learning AI. It had a system unlike most, DEEP learning? Nowhere close, Kernel Methods? Ridiculous, she needed to make her own system. It made the DGX A100 look slow, which took ages to do.

The AI she was designing would be incredibly complex but she wasn't going to make it sentient, she wasn't messing with that. She had seen enough sci-fi from what Voltz has shown her to know that a powerful sentient AI with access to a supercomputer was a bad idea.

Okay maybe her worries were completely based on sci-fi movies but that wasn't important.

What was important was the fact that she had outsmarted the majority of scientists on Remnant despite being an eleven, almost twelve, year old girl. Yeah, that definitely wasn't going to go to her head.

She hadn't given her device a name yet, but she had named the AI that ran on it.

Her name was Eve, and oh boy she was awesome. She still needed a lot of work done. Once she finished developing her "brain," she would still need to learn things. She had the ability to change and grow to fit her parameters and use her functions as best as she could.

Though, while impressive, she was still an AI. She had to obey orders and she could only do so much. For instance, emotions weren't programmed into her so she couldn't feel them. Though if she ordered her to do so her neural network would expand and evolve herself till she could do the desired function. Though something as complex as true emotions would take ages, something like simulating them would be far easier.

That was what made Eve so special. She was going to be an evolving virtual entity, hence the name Eve.

Like most AI's she would have a primary directive, to protect and help her creator, and she could not go against it. Not even her neural network could get around it.

Of course an AI of this quality was ridiculous and took some serious computing power. For this reason she was glad she put the effort into making the CPUs handle the extra cycles.

Now back to her computer. It could handle Eve and run tasks at a ridiculous speed but she still needed a name for it…

She had considered several names like Origin or Eden but she was still unsure. Maybe she could use another language?

Perl nodded, liking the idea. Her smile widened briefly as a name entered her mind, based on the Old Auran word for "Forbidden Knowledge."

As she booted up the large blue laptop, she let the name escape her lips. "Apocrypha…"


Almost eight years. That's how long Perl had been stuck in this damned room. This damned prison cell. Her own personal torture. Humans were Social Creatures! They weren't designed for captivity! It baffled her how she hadn't gone insane!

For eight years, she was trapped in a barren room, never even seeing her captor. This made her thirteen years old, if Voltz was to be trusted when it came to her age.

Food would only come in through a slot in the door, and her education came from Voltz. Whenever she requested books or supplies, they would appear whenever she woke up the next morning. Upon realizing this, she tried to fake being asleep to catch a glimpse of Voltz. It hadn't worked.

She wasn't even allowed to have anything remotely sharp, lest she try to cut herself. This removed the ability to cut her hair, causing her pearly blonde locks to become absurdly long, so that even when it was braided it still reached past her knees, it was kinda annoying at times, but at least it looked nice.

The lack of sharp tools also made crafting things a pain. If she wanted something cut, she would have to specify the exact length. Then, like usual, whenever she went to bed, it would be cut. That's why she usually specified the length before she got the material, so she didn't have to wait a whole day to continue her work.

She was given nutritious food so she had grown quite nicely, now a reasonable height of one hundred sixty five centimeters.

She had been taught a lot and had become extremely intelligent during her imprisonment. Voltz teaching her was a mistake, now she was smart, and she was going to use it to her advantage.

Today was the day she would escape.

Her heterochromatic eyes were hardened with determination as she stared at Apocrypha's screen.

Oh yeah, she forgot to mention that. She was heterochromatic, her left eye was a brilliant shining gold while her right eye was a pearly blue color. She thought it looked pretty neat. It did feel off though, but that was probably just in her head.

She was furiously typing away at the supercomputer, using the brief times that she knew Voltz was away from his computer to start her escape. It took her awhile but she eventually pieced together his schedule, the only consistent gap was every morning at six sharp.

Obviously she had multiple captors or Voltz didn't need to sleep, it was the only logical explanation for how she was constantly being monitored. At said time she had approximately twenty minutes before he returned. So she had to work quickly.

Right now she was interfering with the video footage of the cameras in her room. Yeah… she was kinda awesome.

She had Eve create a video loop of her collapsed on the floor, making it look like something had happened to her. If it worked at all, it wouldn't fool Voltz for long, he was smart after all. She would do it herself but she was a bit busy making something else and she didn't exactly have a lot of time.

It was a bit awkward recording it but… it was necessary. It would allow her to escape after all.

Once Voltz came to check on her she would activate the dust traps she had made, trapping him so she could free herself.

The trap was a hybrid type dust device that she had made by hoarding excess dust in secret. It was difficult to gather enough of it as Voltz regulated it heavily.

The device would use gravity and force dust to pull him into a prison made of hard light dust and ice dust. All of this would be powered by an Energy dust crystal, not to be confused with a lightning dust shard. It was a common misconception, they were similar but Energy produced more than just electricity and was far more controlled, if weaker, than the raw strength of lightning dust.

Once he was trapped, she would exit through the door of her room. She had a contingency plan if he shut the door behind him, which was to simply detonate another bomb and blow up the door, allowing her to escape.

All of this would be done from within the safety of her bathroom… yeah it was kinda weird when she put it like that.

Even though her plan wasn't the best, she wasn't given access to a lot of materials that would help her sneak out. This was the best she could do with the resources at hand.

Scratch that, this was the best, safe, way she could do with the supplies at hand. So it was pretty much her only valid idea. She could do the math to figure out whether the plan was safe in the first place, but did she really care? Maybe, but not enough to stop now.

Though there was one major flaw in her plan, it all relied on Voltz actually checking on her. This was the Unknown variable.

Though she was fairly sure he would, it seemed like he cared about her to some extent.

With a sigh of relief, she stared at the keyboard. She was done, it was ready. Now or never…

With a sharp inhale, and a click of a button, it began. Grabbing what few belongings that actually mattered to her, Perl hid herself in the bathroom, it was time to begin.


It was all so sudden. For some reason she hadn't expected it to work, yet it did.

Perl ran out of the bathroom as a large boom echoed from her room. A sharp suction of air could be heard as she ran through the doorway, quickly exiting the hall. The entire building shook loudly from the force of the bomb, almost causing her to trip.

Her pseudo implosion grenade had worked. She said "pseudo" as it wasn't an actual implosion in the sense that it wasn't a collapsing force.

In layman's terms, an explosion is when Energy is compressed into a small area and quickly released into an outward force or wave. Y'know that hiss of air when you open a soda? Yeah, technically speaking, that's an explosion.

She simply reversed this process and created a small vacuum chamber, made with Gravity and Force dust, as well as a little bit of Wind shards. This would create an area of low pressure in the chamber while drastically increasing the outside force, making a false implosion. Did she mention she used A LOT of Gravity Dust?

After Voltz was pulled in by said implosion, the device would use outlying Ice and Hard Light crystals to form a shell around it. This would create a temporary prison for her teacher.

While a very crude and simple device, it was all she could make with the resources at hand.

Perl didn't even try to sneak a peek into the frosty shell that held her captive, as she ran by. She was too busy, she wasn't going to risk losing her chance at escaping.

She just ran, panting heavily despite the small distance traveled, she really wasn't built for exercise. She turned down the corridor, bolting down the stairwell and more. She didn't have long until Voltz broke free, so rather than searching for the exit, she jumped out through the fire escape.

The odd eyed girl winced in pain as she fell face first into an alleyway, seemingly in the slums of a city. Based on the area around her, she assumed Vale. She groaned as she looked back, peering upwards. Her absolute shock was visible, her eyes wide with confusion. "What the…"

She just fell twelve stories! How in Remnant was she okay? She didn't even have her aura unlocked! Sure she had scrapes and bruises but her bones should've been broken! She should be in a hospital, maybe even in a morgue!

Perl sighed, pulling at her long hair in frustration. As much as she wanted to debate the physics of how absurd everything was, she didn't have the time. She had to run.

Despite her pain, she quickly sat up and continued her escape. Puddles splashing as she ran through them, panting all the way as she traversed the slums of the city. Based on the layout and the building structure it was safe to say she was in Vale, though that was pretty much guess work so she could be wrong.

Perl didn't stop, despite feeling like she was about to pass out. She continued running, not wanting to be recaptured. She couldn't stop, not if she wanted freedom.

By the time she finally paused to rest, she realized she was in the middle of a crowd, in what appeared to be some sort of commercial district.

People stared at her with curiosity and concern as they walked around her. The sudden attention made a strange shrinking feeling well up inside her. It was as if her own chest was constricting upon her. She felt like she was suffocating.

They looked down at her like giants, staring down at her with what felt like mocking eyes. Her chest tightened as her heart pounded, she was hyperventilating as she stood up and ran. She began to feel light headed and dizzy, nauseous even. She needed to get away from them.

She felt so small and pathetic, so terrified by a simple crowd. She hadn't seen a single person for her entire life, until today when she was suddenly thrusted into a swarm of them…

It made her feel so weak and trapped. It was a deafening feeling, she drowned in the hoard of people as she started running again. She needed to escape.

She had run more today than she had in her entire life, as far as she knew at least. She was scared and tired, she had to rest, but it wasn't safe.

She needed to escape, she needed a low profile place to survive. She couldn't just go to the police and claim she had been kidnapped, she wasn even able to talk to people! Besides, who knows what kind of connections Voltz might have?

Maybe she was being paranoid, but she couldn't take that kind of risk. There were too many unknown variables.

She sniffled as tears began to stream down her face, she needed to live. No matter what, she would endure…

So that's what she would do, till the Gears of Fate stopped turning.


Perl sighed as she sat down at her desk, clacking away at Apocrypha. It took her awhile but she managed to procure some funds and rent herself an apartment under a false name. She pretended that she lived here with her parents who were Hunters, and therefore away on missions most of the time.

Her life wasn't lavish, if anything it was poor. She lived off of, kinda, healthy snacks and cup ramen. Her apartment was small and trashy, her only belongings being her computer and some tools.

She spent most of her time online, prowling on research forums. Her only actual interaction being when she sold a device she had made.

Well, until recently that is. At the moment she was chatting with a scientist from Atlas, helping him with his ideas. He was extremely grateful for her help even though she didn't do much. All she did was recommend using a blend of Force and Inert Dust, and an Aurum based alloy rather than steel or mythril, to make the linings of the Aura Circuits because of a theory she had…

Well she also shared a metric ton of research and help him with some theories but that didn't count. That wasn't… okay so maybe she helped a little.

"RP: As I've said, it's fine. You can work on your experiment by yourself, I don't do it for the glory. Though if your future tests are successful I would like to know, it would be incredible if it did."

"ASP: Well I can't take all the credit, you've helped me a lot. I would have never been able to solve this without your help. Though I'd be glad to help keep you informed of the results, I would still like to show my gratitude. It wouldn't feel right to publish this paper without you. If I might ask, may I have your name?"

Perl paused, contemplating her response nervously. As usual, she was overthinking everything. She wanted to tell him her name, she had known 'ASP' for a couple of weeks now and she wanted to trust him. She knew he was a real scientist, she did her research. The question was whether he was a trustworthy scientist. She wanted to yet she still couldn't, she was still paranoid.

She sighed in annoyance, running her fingers through her hair. Why did her life have to be so complicated? Why couldn't things just be easy?

Perl paused once again, an idea sparking in her mind as she quickly typed up her response.

"RP: My name is Charlotte."


Almost two years. It was almost two years ago that she escaped her prison. She was fifteen now, if what Voltz told her was true.

She said she would keep a low profile but…

.

..

Yeah, that didn't work out…

She might have accidentally, sort of, maybe become kinda secretly famous? Okay yeah she was famous, but no one knew it was her. She was careful enough to use a fake identity at least. She did have to make a fake birth certificate and credentials and all that but it was an easy process. Nothing extreme, just enough to make her look legitimate.

It was a long story, after she had calmed herself down she managed to use her skills and intelligence to secure herself a place to live and some funds. Science had a lot of opportunities, ones that her intellect supported.

She then lived her life cooped up in her apartment, and while talking on message boards and experimenting a bunch people took notice of her.

Using the alias "Charlotte Marigold" she became rather famous as a mysterious scientist and craftsman. No one knew anything about her but a lot of people knew of her.

Perl received many job offers and work requests, most of which she declined.

The sudden attention terrified her, the idea that so many people knew about her work. That so many people talked about her. She felt like she was under constant watch.

Fan mail, being mentioned on various sights, she was even on the news at one point! It… it worried her. The fame was suffocating, it drowned her at times. Knowing that whatever she did under the name "Charlotte Marigold" would be expected to be perfect.

She knew that her fears were silly, that it was utter nonsense but the idea of being so well known sent her into a panic.

Though that didn't mean the name came without benefit, besides the money of course. Namely, friends.

Well she couldn't exactly call them friends because she had never met them but they were really nice and they talked to each other a lot and they were really cool— and now she was ranting again.

Pen pals would be a better term as she conversed with them through emails and chat groups. They were her only form of social interaction…

She was pretty sure that that said some things about herself…

Perl sighed softly, breathing in and out as she moved her massive braid to the side. Dusting crumbs off of her large blue hoodie as she pushed up her thin silvery blue rimmed glasses with a shaky breath. Calming herself down, she threw away the empty cup of ramen and opened up her "public" email account.

Frowning softly, Perl yawned as her mismatched eyes looked through her massive list of emails with boredom. Most of them were the same old stuff, job offers or people requesting to have stuff made for them.

There was the occasional fan mail that made her blush and curl up into a ball until she calmed herself down whilst trying not to freak out.

As most of her emails were just the usual, there was really only one message that caught her attention.

An email from the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. She probably should've checked her email more often, especially if she was getting messages from people this high up. It was two days old, so hopefully it wasn't important.

Although reluctant, Perl took a deep breath and opened the digital letter. She immediately regretted it, her chest tightened as she read the message.

"Dear Charlotte Marigold, or should I call you Perl? I am Professor Ozpin. You probably know who I am but to clarify, I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy. I'm mailing you because I would like to speak to you, in person of course. Unfortunately you are a very difficult person to talk to and even I had trouble getting my hands on this email, and it's considered 'public'. Now I know you probably have your reasons for staying hidden but this is a rather serious matter. Especially with some of your recent developments. Not to mention the fact that someone your age shouldn't be living alone. Because of this, I would like to discuss things with you. Sincerely, Professor Ozpin."

Perl began to panic, worries racing through her head. How did he know her name? Why did he want to speak with her so badly? Was he in league with Voltz!? How did he know her na— wait she asked that one already…

She struggled to calm herself as she looked around nervously, her messy apartment its usual jungle of wires and machine parts.

She had to respond, obviously. He knew who she was, so he had answers. Answers that she needed.

Why did life have to be frustrating? Why couldn't she have just gotten fan mail like usual!? She loved responding to fan mail! Despite the panic attacks associated with them of course.

Perl ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh, biting her lip as she typed up a short and simple reply. One that she rewrote many times, trying to make sure the message was perfect before she sent it.

"Dear Headmaster Ozpin, as much as I would like to decline your offer I don't really have a say in the matter. I really hope I can trust you, I apologize for being paranoid but as you said, I have my reasons. So, now that that's over, you said you wanted to meet?"

Perl sent the email with a sigh, collapsing onto her desk in exhaustion. She might as well get back to work…


"Dear Perl Aurelius, I'm pleased that you responded, even more so that you agreed to meet. I apologize for being so forward and I wish I could give you all the answers but it is of the utmost importance that we speak in person. I will be sending over an associate to meet you in three days. Sincerely, Ozpin."


He said that someone would be here three days from now, which was today. She had been dreading it, but it was finally here.

What was going on? Were they going to hurt her? Were they going to use her for her intelligence like Voltz did!? What did Ozpin want with her?!

She groaned to herself worriedly, her hands carefully reaching down to a gun holstered on her hip. She had only ever fired her guns at the shooting range but she would be fine, right?

She felt so antsy as she stared at the door fearfully, panic welling up inside her. She simply sat in her chair anxiously for what felt like days, dreading the moment they arrived. How much time had actually passed since the email? Approximately seventy six hours and thirty seven minutes.

What? Of course she kept track of time! She wasn't stupid.

Perl practically flinched when someone knocked at her door, a rough gravelly man's muffled voice called from outside. "Perl or Charlotte, or whoever I'm supposed to be getting. My boss wants to talk…"

The man sounded disoriented, tired, and bored. Based on that, and the strong scent coming from the door it seemed likely that the man was drunk. Along with the fact that he was sent by Ozpin meant that he was a huntsman…

Could she defend herself if the situation arised? He was drunk after all… no, it was painfully obvious. She stood no chance.

Even if he was drunk, she couldn't fight him even if she tried, she had no choice. Breathing heavily, she carefully approached the door. Her palms grew cold and sweaty as she shakily undid the digital locks that held her door shut.

Her heart pounded in her chest fearfully as she pulled the door open, looking up at the man before her.

The huntsman sighed, running his fingers through his messy black hair. His crimson eyes stared at her in slight confusion. "Shit… Must've written down the wrong apartment number…" His eyes then widened as he realized there was a kid in front of him, a seemingly terrified girl.

"Oh uh don't pay me any mind. Hey kid, The name's Qrow, I'm lookin' for a woman named Cha— I mean, Perl Aurelius, she lives 'round here, ya seen her?" He said as he kneeled down to meet her gaze, trying not to frighten her further.

"I- I'm P-p— I'm Perl!" She stammered out nervously stepping away from the drunken huntsman. Her mismatched eyes narrowed slightly, staring at him warily as he looked at her incredulously.

"Huh?" He mumbled in confusion, clasping his flask to his belt as he raised an eyebrow in doubt. "You're tellin' me, That you're Perl…"

She nodded vigorously, a gut wrenching feeling bubbling up as her shaky hands slowly reached for one of the guns on her hip.

Qrow easily noticed her hand's movements, frowning with a raised eyebrow. "There's no need for that kid, I ain't gonna hurt ya." He explained, trying to calm her down. "When Oz said you were young I thought he meant early twenties, not some kid…" He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile Perl frowned, stuttering slightly, glaring at him, "I-I'm not a child!" She exclaimed, her face bright red with anger and embarrassment.

"Ok, Ok!" Qrow said with exasperation in his voice, he let out a sigh of annoyance. "Calm down, my boss just wants to talk with ya…"

Perl looked at him closely, her odd eyes scanning him for any signs of deceit. Nervously, she gently double-tapped the edge of her glasses, causing them to come to life.

Information flooded her eyes, utilizing the micro Scrolls that were built into the lenses. They didn't even have any abilities, they were mainly just screens to share information on. Well, that was a lie, they had a H.U.D and speakers in it for various purposes.

"Qrow Branwen - S Ranked Huntsman: 93% Completion Rate. A few minor crimes on his record, mainly drunk and disorderlies, nothing major. Though he does have a past with bandits. He doesn't seem to be hostile but if he does attack he would be quite the threat. More details have been saved on Apocrypha." Eve's familiar and calming voice told her, giving her the information required.

He seemed relatively safe, ignoring the bandit background, but that was in the past and he did work with Ozpin. She could trust him, right? Huntsmen were supposed to be the good guys! It wasn't like she could fight him anyways.

Cautiously, she nodded, "O-Ok, I w-will go with you… but only to talk!" Perl said quickly, she tapped her glasses again, causing the light to fade. She then fixed up her hair and straightened herself out, with a deep breath, she asked. "Now what?"

The drunken huntsman chuckled at her nervousness, gesturing for her to follow as he responded. "As I said, time for you to meet Ol' Oz."


Perl, was in a word, awestruck. Her odd eyes were wide in amazement as she stepped into Ozpin's Office.

She was already shocked by the professor. She had expected a boring old room with a desk and chairs but this… it was ineffable.

A reverie of wonder, that was what was going on inside her mind. An innocent smile spread across her face as she took in the majesty that was the room.

Brass and silver rings lined the glass floor, which showed off a massive puzzle of interlocking cogs and gears. A massive pendulum swung above, in tune with the clock window behind the ornate wooden desk that laid still in the center of the room. Through the glass windows massive glowing green lights could be seen swirling around the building, seemingly in sync with the gears above them.

It was like a massive never ending puzzle, all interconnected. A masterpiece of clockwork art.

The off grey walls had a wistful feeling to them, all inscribed with mysterious symbols. It was strange that she couldn't recognize them, but that just made it all the more mystical.

Even all of her words couldn't bring justice to the office. Though it spoke to her in a way, she understood it.

It was the same reason she always added some flair to her creations. She could just make them as efficient as possible and be done but no, she always went out of her way to make her work special.

She felt that same sensation when she made something…

"Wow…" Perl muttered under her breath, a sharp breath.

Qrow simply smirked, "I told Oz that it was a bit overk—" "No it's beautiful, selcouth even…" She interrupted, smiling brightly.

"It makes me feel… joyful. It makes me feel small, yet grand at the same time. It has this aura, this… melodic concinnity about it. It's beautiful." She elaborated.

The drunken huntsman raised an eyebrow, surprised at the girl's sudden calmness. "I have no clue what you just said," He admitted tiredly.

"That's quite the vocabulary you have there," A wise man spoke out, with a much smoother tone than Qrow's.

Perl froze in fear, jolted out of her wonder, just noticing the man seated at the desk in the center of the room.

It was a much older figure, one with tousled silver hair and pale skin. His thin brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of dark spectacles, gazed at her curiously, a small smile on his face.

The golden buttons of his dusty black suit glinted softly, his dark green vest matched his pants of the same color. He adjusted the purple cowl around his neck as he sat up, rounding his desk to approach her.

Not only was she nervous about meeting the Headmaster, she had been caught demonstrating one of her… weirder habits. Whenever Perl was passionate, she tended to be overly verbose. That was to say, she used lots of big words.

He held out a hand and stared at her with a knowing look. "Hello Miss Aurelius, I'm Professor Ozpin, nice to meet you."

Perl shook his hand, albeit very nervously. Struggling not to panic, she introduced herself. "H-Hi, I- um I'm P-Perl. Well you kn-know who I am, but it's uh n-nice to meet you too?"

Ozpin chuckled softly, he nodded to Qrow softly, prompting him to leave. "See ya kid," He said as he left the room, not even giving her a chance to speak.

The Headmaster turned back to the blonde girl with a smile. "So Perl, I'm sure you have many questions, most of which will be answered in due time."

"Y-Yeah, mainly why I'm h-here?" She said in an almost fearful tone.

The Headmaster walked towards the window overseeing the academy, students walking everywhere. "Well for one, you aren't of legal age and therefore belong in the system. Two, your intelligence is quite impressive for your age and it caught my attention."

Perl froze. Anything but that. She definitely didn't want to be put into the system. She would find herself back in Voltz clutches. She knew it! It would happen! It definitely wasn't her paranoia speaking!

Perl took several deep breaths, calming herself down as she asked. "Ar-Are y-you sure w-we cannot c-come to an a-agreement?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, frowning at her nervousness. "We aren't planning to put you into foster care, you can calm yourself Perl."

"Y-you aren't?!"

"Of course not." He replied simply, "I wish to enroll you in what is known as the Ward Program. You would be raised here until you were at least eighteen. You would be educated for the last bit of this year and enrolled next year if you wished. Though with your age you would be a bit behind the other students."

"Wha-? Why?" Perl muttered in confusion, unsure why Ozpin would make such an offer.

"It's simple. You are smart and there are certain people who would go after you because of that fact. I would like to help you."

Perl stepped back, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. Her palms grew sweaty and her chest tightened as she went on. "H-How do I kn-know you're n-not the same?"

"Simple." Ozpin stayed, turning back to face her. "Because I am simply offering you shelter. I only ask that you do not use your intelligence against mankind."

Frowning softly, she shook her head. "C-could y-you elab-elaborate?"

Ozpin sighed, twirling his cane. "You could be a very dangerous criminal with your mind. I want to avoid that, so let us help you."

Perl was still suspicious, but she had to admit, his logic was sound, in some strange eccentric way. He wasn't exhibiting any of the signs of lying either…

It was either this or foster care. She didn't really have a say in the matter. In a way it was an ultimatum.

"Su- I uh- I mean, I a-ac-accept sir!" Perl nodded firmly, tensing up slightly.

Ozpin nodded, smiling strangely as he sat down at his desk. "Perfect, I shall get to work on the forms, but if I might ask…

The headmaster's pleased gaze shifted to a frown as he glanced towards her, finally voicing his curiosities, "You've been extremely nervous, scared almost, this entire time, is something wrong?"

Perl let out a nervous laugh, "W-Well it might h-have something to do w-with my crippling social anxiety? Or m-maybe the f-fact that I was k-kidnapped and lived with no h-Human interaction for m-most of my life?" She said quickly, trying to avoid the topic of discussion.

She probably shouldn't have mentioned it but she just blurted everything out because she was a nervous wreck who couldn't control herself.

Yeah she had a problem…

Ozpin's gaze hardened further, his frown deepening. "What do you mean you were kidnapped?" He asked sternly.

"W-Well kidnapped m-might be a strong word. F-for as long as I c-can remember I was i-imprisoned, until I escaped a-approximately twenty months, thirteen days, and fourteen hours ago?" She explained, almost questioning herself due to her awkwardness.

Ozpin sighed in mild exasperation. "We have a lot of talking to do…"

Perl sighed in frustration, practically slapping herself in the face because of her stupidity. Damn her dumb mouth.


AN: That my friends, was The Science of The Soul, Soul Science, Mind & Soul, Whatever I'm calling it, I don't know. I have big plans for this fic. I'm not just going to alter canon either, it'll be different. I want to make my stories a little bit more special, if you know what I mean.

I hope I didn't nerd out too much, I just used what I knew, used my own lore, and did a little bit of research and boom. I managed to make myself sound decently intelligent instead of an idiot. Or I hope I did. As they say, "It's easy to write someone dumber than you, but extremely difficult to write someone smarter."

Remember, please correct my mistakes, I want this to be accurate.

Now, Perl's semblance is undecided and I'm still unsure of what it will be. If you have any suggestions I'll gladly take them, my current Ideas are:

Technopathy

Telekinesis

Pocket Dimension

Only reason pocket dimension is an option is because I like the idea of her always having her work on her. It could also be a safe space for her to retreat to. I'm slightly against Telekinesis because Perl could easily become overpowered with that, but I'm not going to explain how. Technopathy is self explanatory and opens up a path that intrigues me in the story.

The pairing is also undecided but I'll introduce more characters before I make a poll.

It should be immensely obvious who Perl's based off of. If it's not, her alias is a hint. Well, there are more hints but I can't say those.

There will be one more chapter before the actual story starts because I want to go in depth about the world and Perl's life.

That's all for now, Void Out!