I was not dead. Obviously. My senses were shot, though. Having your sense of touch transmit the exact same thing as your sense of sight at the same time is a very… uncomfortable experience. Just as suddenly as the sensory overload began, it just as abruptly ceased. My whole world was numb, brain screaming for sensory input but nothing would answer. I would have felt dizzy if I could feel a sense of balance to tell me I was moving.

A tiny mote of sensation made itself known in the numb darkness. It was small but bright, and it was growing steadily. I clung to that sensation with all of my willpower, never giving it a chance to drift away. It changed as it grew, splitting up gradually and forcing away the numb darkness with each passing moment. As my senses returned, the motes of sensation melted away, and the real world slowly emerged from the unfeeling fog.

Something lifted up my eyelid and assaulted my newly rebooted retina with blinding light. I instinctively swatted away the offending device and covered my eyes from further probing.

"That was incredibly foolish of you, Miss Tenno." Glynda's voice pierced my suddenly sensitive hearing. "You're lucky Professor Ozpin and Miss Xiao Long got to you before your seizure could cause you, the school, or its students any harm."

"Great, thanks. I get it." I retorted with no small degree of sarcasm. "Now shut up for a few minutes before I get a mi-"

Oh no. Pins and needles! EVERYWHERE!

I forced my body to go rigid. Every movement, every touch would send an electric jolt of white-hot pain radiating through my whole body. It felt like after getting blood circulating through your legs if you have been sitting for too long. The numbness of restricted blood flow gets replaced with a nasty stinging and tingling sensation. I felt that, but magnified to encompass my entire body.

"You were saying, Miss Tenno!?" Glynda snapped back at me, hand moving to grab my arm with no care for the-

OW!

-excruciating pain it would undoubtedly cause. "I didn't quite catch your comment. Perhaps you would like to repeat it?"

Blazing hot tears rolled down my cheeks as I rode out the pain this woman was unknowingly inflicting on me. My eyes were clenched shut in a grimace. Any movement would set off another round of radiating pain. If I told her to let go, I would risk agonizing jolts from talking and Glynda releasing her grip, but no more pressure. If I did not tell her to let go, her grip on my arm would remain, but there would be no other pain sources.

I debated that decision far too long, as it was inevitably made for me.

"Professor Goodwitch." Headmaster Ozpin's calm and serene voice felt soothing compared to this woman's agitated tone. "Would you please unhand your patient? Can you not see you are causing her a great deal pain?"

Just as I was getting used to the pressure on my arm, its sudden release sent another round of stinging pain through my limb, into my torso, and back through the remaining three appendages. It hurt, but I somehow managed to stay still so as to not cause further agitation.

"My apologies, Ozpin. I let my emotions get the better of me." Glynda replied, moving away from my position. I dared to open my eyes. The room we were in looked like a basic bedroom with a desk, a nightstand, and two lamps. A single window above the bed I was occupying was letting in far too much sunlight, stinging my sensitive eyes.

"I accept your apology. Make sure it does not happen again." I could feel Ozpin's gaze fall on me. "I would like to have a word with Miss Tenno here. In private, if possible."

Glynda's soft footsteps over the room's carpeted floor gradually faded away, followed by a sharp closing door. Ozpin pulled over the chair beneath the desk and sat down at the right side of the bed.

As my eyes adjusted to the sunlight pouring in above me, the pins and needles gradually subsided, allowing me to move without issue. Lacking a reason to stay in the bed any further, I stood up on the side opposite Ozpin and turned to face him. At least I made a full recovery from the physical therapy.

"Aura is a very strange thing, isn't it, Miss Tenno." The headmaster stated more than asked, sipping from the mug he always seemed to have. "Even we are unsure of what it actually is, where it comes from, or even why we have it. Much like gravity, it has become a force of nature that is seldom understood but widely utilized." He continued to look at me much like how an instructor would a student, voice calm and serene. "Forgive me if I am overstepping a boundary, but I am curious as to your thoughts on Aura so far. Your reaction was… unique, according to Miss Nikos' report, but I wish to know what you experienced first hand."

With a deep breath, I crossed my arms and looked to the door leading to the hallway. "A better question would be what I didn't experience." I responded curtly, inspecting my hand. "In case you haven't figured it out, Headmaster Ozpin, I don't need to sleep, eat, or drink. Why is something I will not tell you. The point is that unlocking my Aura knocked me out from sensory overload. Sending someone like me into unconsciousness is nearly impossible."

"Your experience was very intense, is what you are saying." Ozpin concluded. "Intense enough to send you into a seizure and become comatose for thirty-five minutes. An adverse reaction to unlocking ones Aura has never been reported, that is, until now."

A knocking on the door interrupted my response, followed by it opening and Glynda's head appearing. "Headmaster Ozpin, a student wishes to visit Miss Tenno. She claims it is urgent."

"Very well. Let her in." Ozpin immediately replied. I balked at him, annoyed that he dropped our conversation in favor of his students.

"Hello, again!" Pyrrha greeted as she entered the room. She was wearing a school uniform. "I am very glad to see you are unharmed, Tenno." She paused, glancing between Ozpin and myself. "Am I interrupting something important?"

"Yes, you are actu-"

"No, your visit is very much welcomed," Ozpin cut me off, leaving me seething. "Anything you have to say will always be important."

Pyrrha took that as a cue to continue, smiling sweetly in my direction, "As I was saying, I am glad to see you are unharmed and active again. I'm sorry if-"

It was my turn to start interrupting people. "Good! Thank you! Apology accepted! Whatever!" I yelled, taking a few steps toward the student. "Now if you don't mind, I have a few things I would like to say to Ozpin in private."

Pyrrha's eyes went wide and she took half a step backward at my outburst, her hand reaching for something on her back that was not there. She quickly glanced toward Ozpin before regaining her composure, nodding in my direction, then swiftly exiting the room.

The room fell into uncomfortable silence after the door slammed shut. I closed my eyes and took a few deep, calming breaths. I soon realized that my outburst was immature and unwarranted, a thoughtless lashing-out toward someone innocent. It was childish, and I hated myself for it.

I needed to change topic before the dead air became suffocating. My thoughts on Pyrrha helped me find something to talk about.

"Why isn't she the leader of her team?" I asked Ozpin, turning to face him. "Why did you choose a weak, overconfident boy to lead Team JNPR when it's obvious he doesn't belong here? Why did you choose a naive, far too young girl to lead Team RWBY? Wouldn't Weiss Schnee or Blake Belladonna have been better choices?"

The headmaster maintained eye contact as he gave his response, "You seem to have forgotten, Miss Tenno, that Beacon is a school. I chose Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc because they have the greatest potential as team leaders. They will make mistakes, make poor judgment calls, and they will learn so much more about leadership than their teammates ever could. While Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos may have more leadership experience today, their partners can become so much more."

"Wise old words for a wise old man." I said in return. "To become the leader of an academy like Beacon, how many mistakes have you made over your life? Did you fulfill the potential promise others created for you?"

Ozpin leaned back in the desk chair, cane across his lap and ever present mug in his hands. He smiled a knowing smile.

"Mutual hypocrisy."

My mood instantly turned sour once more. "I'm going to explore the campus." I said, turned away and stalked toward the door, intent on destroying something. Perhaps I could experiment with the capabilities of Aura as well.

"Approaching desired coordinates, Lotus. Scans show no potential hostile activity in the sector." The transmission link crackled as Ordis spoke. "Lotus, if I may ask – WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING – what are your plans in this area of dead space? While Pluto is a very nice planet – IT'S NOT A PLANET YOU MORON – I don't see anything that can help us here, just a cluster of asteroids."

The Lotus did not answer the Cephalon's questions, but began inputting a series of commands into the navigation panel instead. Ordis fell silent as she worked.

Finally, the Lotus spoke, "Ordis, I want you to send a Void Pulse toward this coordinate, then execute this series of maneuvers. No matter what happens, do not deviate from this flight path. Do you understand?"

"Ehrm, yes. Yes! I understand, Lotus. I am awaiting your command to – GIMME THE WHEEL – initiate your inputs. Ready whenever you are."

The Lotus drew in a deep breath, unsure if the flight path was correct, or if the thing she needed was there at all. "Very well. Engage."

"Initiating Void Pulse in five… four – THREE TWO ONE GO – firing!"

A bright wave of Void Energy rippled out of the Orbiter, distorting space as it advanced toward its destination. As the wave began to dim and dissipate, it appeared to impact an invisible object, spreading itself out against it.

Then the Void Energy flashed like lightning, accelerating into a shockwave of light. An enormous object unveiled itself in its wake, composed of rock and golden metal.

The Orbiter was already moving, swerving in and out of vast canyons and through gigantic golden machines springing to life as Void Energy washed them into existence.

"Lotus! What have you done!?" Ordis yelled over the Orbiter's engines running at full power. "First Luna, and now Charon!? How many moons did the Orokin take to the Void!?"

The Lotus, once again, did not answer. She continued to kneel at the navigation console, hand hovering over a holographic button. As more and more of Pluto's moon unveiled itself from the Void, its overall purpose became clear. The rocky material was split into eight sections by massive gold struts, but not evenly. The moon was fragmented just so as to stretch the rocky material around a cylindrical, hollowed out core.

And the Orbiter was flying straight into the core of Charon.

"Whatever your plan is, Lotus, I – HATE IT WITH A PASSION – sincerely hope it works!" Ordis yelled into the transmission link. The window they had to get this right was incredibly brief; it was open for barely a second.

"Flight path concluding in three… two… one!"

The Lotus pressed the holographic button.

The entirety of Charon ignited in bright blue energy for the briefest of moments before directing all of it through its hollowed out cylindrical core. This energy encompassed the Orbiter in a secure shell before accelerating it through Charon's core, launching it into deep space.

With the window closed, Charon powered down, machinery slowed, energy dissipated. The Void-Cloak Generator reinitialized, and Pluto's moon gradually began to disappear into the Void once more.

The asteroids passing by Pluto came alive and converged around the vanishing moon. One of them released a continuous Void Pulse into the Void-Cloak Generator, shutting it down indefinitely.

The Grineer Queens were now in control of the Origin System's only Extra-Solar Rail.