Dipping her fingers into a prepared bowl of water, Saffre gently wiped some water onto the high grit whetstone.

Bringing her hand back she then carefully gripped the top of her saber, making sure to angle it at a fifteen-degree angle. In a single, fluid motion, she slowly dragged the length of the blade across the whetstone's surface, the sound of the metal scrapping the stone filling her room. She repeated the motion a total of five times.

Gathering some more water, Saffre wetted the stone again, repeating the process on the other side of the blade.

Lifting the blade into the light of her room, Saffre inspected the silver blade's razor-sharp edge. She then tested the edge by cutting a piece of paper. As she sliced through the paper she closed her eyes, feeling how the blade sliced through the page, searching for any hitching. There was none.

Nodding her head, satisfied, Saffre looked up.

Neo was smiling at her. She hadn't knocked.

Saffre smiled back. Neo was the only person to ever seek her out; Roman usually just called when he needed her for something, and the others never talked to her. Which was fine.

Neo waved her over, motioning for Saffre to follow. Blinking, Saffre nodded her head, wiping her saber down and putting it back in its scabbard before walking over to her. She didn't see much point in asking where they were going; it didn't matter.

Grabbing her hand Neo led her through the mostly empty warehouse. It was late morning and most of the others were away.

Neo's hand was soft.

Stepping out into the main floor of the abandoned warehouse, half of the shelves loaded with crates full of Dust, Neo led her to one end.

Letting go of her hand Neo turned and gave another smile to Saffre gesturing with something in her left hand. It was a cylindrical device with a button on the side.

Pointing the device at the floor of the warehouse Neo hit the button and a dot of green light illuminated the spot on the floor. It was a laser pointer.

Saffre tilted her head at the laser pointer. What were they going to do?

Pointing the light next to her Neo hopped to the spot where the light was before looking back up at Saffre and pointing at her. She then pointed the light at a spot next to Saffre.

Looking at the light Saffre looked back at Neo, watching her expectantly. She then mimicked Neo and hopped over to the spot with the light.

Neo shook her head at Saffre. Bringing the light back to her Neo pointed next to herself, hopped, and then snapped her fingers.

'She wants me to move immediately?'

Saffre nodded her head, thinking she understood what Neo wanted her to do.

Smiling at her again Neo pointed the light a fair distance off to their side.

With a thought everything went white for a moment and Saffre was at the exact spot Neo had pointed to with the laser pointer. Looking back at the other girl she saw that Neo was smiling at her.

Saffre nodded her head. 'Just follow the light.'

'Where is it?'

Zeffre tossed the pillows off her bed, hoping that she had simply placed it there last night.

No dice.

Puckering her lips, she looked around her room. It was in a state of disarray, with clothes strewn across the floor, shelves removed from draws, an incredibly cluttered desk with her partially assembled particle beam pistol…

Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Gently stroking her scarf, Zeffre tried to think back to where she last saw it.

'Maybe Jaune knows?'

It was worth a shot. The alternative was her actually cleaning her room, and she didn't want to resort to desperate measures just yet. 'Jaune's room is across from the girl's room…'

With that thought Zeffre visualized the location she wanted to go, there was a flash of white light, and she was there. And she was standing directly in front of a wide eyed Jaune Arc.

Zeffre gave him a wave. "Hi Jaune. Uh, have you seen my Scroll?" she asked, laughing a little.

"Uh…"

"I can't find it, and I think I might've left it with you yesterday."

"Uhhh…"

'Why is he saying Uh?'

Looking around Zeffre noticed that the rest of Team JNPR was also in the room, all of them staring at her with different levels of shock. Even Ren looked shocked.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Zeffre asked, brow furrowing in confusion. She just wanted to ask Jaune a question.

"Uh… Zeffre. Where did you just come from?" Jaune asked.

"I teleported from my room. Duh?"

"You can teleport?"

Zeffre's eyes went wide in realization. 'Oh…'

Blinking, Zeffre gave Team JNPR one last smile before teleporting back to her room. She then rushed out of her room and sprinted down the hallway back to their room.

Zeffre had a plan to fix this.

She knocked on the door.

Zeffre was going to lie.

A still confused looking blond opened the door.

"Hi Jaune!" Zeffre said, a bit too cheerfully. "Have you seen my Scroll? I think I might've left it with you yesterday." 'Just play it cool.'

"Didn't you just ask me that?"

She gave him a strained smile. "Nope."

Pyrrha appeared next to Jaune. "Zeffre… how did you vanish just now?"

Zeffre continued smiling. "I have no idea what the two of you are talking about." She brought her hands together, pleading, "Come on guys, we have sparing later today, and I need my Scroll."

Now Ren was standing in the doorway. "No, you were definitely just here. You said you teleported."

"You are all talking crazy. I was never in your room, and I never teleported." Zeffre looked anywhere that wasn't at the group. "Teleportation? What even is that?"

Nora was standing next to Zeffre. "That's sooo cool! Does it hurt? How are you able to teleport? Is that your Semblance? I thought you didn't have an awakened Aura?"

Zeffre did a double take before taking a step away from Nora. 'Where the hell did you come from?!'

Laughing, Zeffre looked over the thoroughly confused Team JNPR. Well, except for Nora. Nora just looked excited.

"Uh…" Zeffre sighed. "Fine. Can I come in to talk?"

Everyone gave her a nod.

Yang Xiao Long Vs Zeffre

"Huh…"

Zeffre looked over at Yang, smirking. "Scared?"

Yang rolling her eyes. "In your dreams. No, I just realized that you really don't have a last name."

"I do, but it's a secret," Zeffre said ominously, putting her helmet on as she walked away to her side of the stage.

Walking up onto the duel stage Zeffre gave Glynda a nod before looking across at her opponent.

"This will be a tournament regulation duel. Due to Zeffre's lack of an awakened Aura she will be considered knocked out if her opponent is able to land three solid blows to her." Glynda announced to the rest of the students present.

Yang readied her gauntlets, grinning at Zeffre. "I hope you're ready."

Zeffre made her visor transparent, matching her grin. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."

"Are both participants ready?"

"Ready," Yang said, getting into a stance.

'Huh… It's pretty quiet.'

Looking over the crowd of gathered students Zeffre looked for a familiar face. She stopped to stare at Pyrrha and Jaune. A pang of guilt passed through her heart. 'At least she looks okay now…'

Zeffre lightly noticed that Pyrrha looked worried. She gave the two of them a wave before continuing her search.

Eventually, she found the red head she was looking for. "Ruby, it's kinda messed up that you're not going to wish your sister good luck in a fight," she said, gesturing over to Yang.

She saw Yang in the periphery of her vison smirk before she got out of her combat stance to look at Ruby. "You know what? Yeah! Ruby aren't you going to offer your big sis good luck in her fight," Yang said, her voice filled with fake hurt.

Ruby blinked owlishly as everyone in the room looked at her, before her face went beet red.

"Go Zeffre!" Weiss shouted.

"Both of you, give it your best." Blake said, loud enough to be heard, but not quite a shout.

Ruby, now the only one to not say anything, looked around for a moment before taking a deep breath. "GO YANG!" she shouted, loud enough that some people near her covered their ears.

Yang and Zeffre gave them waves.

"Ahem."

Turning back to the stage Zeffre saw an unamused Professor Goodwitch staring at her. She gave her a thumbs up before turning back to Yang.

"Let's try this again." Glynda said, adjusting her glasses. "Are both participants ready?"

"Ready."

Zeffre, making her visor reflective, glanced at the board.

Zeffre: 3/3

Yang: 100%

"Ready."

Glynda looked between the two of them one last time before nodding her head. "Very well."

"Begin!"

Unsheathing Veiled Night Zeffre dashed towards Yang.

Yang dashed to meet her.

Right before they met Zeffre suddenly jerked to the left. Pivoting on one foot, she slashed at Yang.

Yang's left gauntlet fired, propelling herself out of the slash. The moment she hit the ground Yang fired behind her. Flying at Zeffre Yang landed a solid kick into her chest, sending her flying backwards.

Grunting, Zeffre slammed Veiled Night into the stage floor, tearing up the polished surface. Stopping, she flared the thrusters on her back and leaped high up into the air. Transforming Veiled Night into its rifle form, she quickly took aim and fired a single shot directly at Yang's chest.

Yang's Aura flashed a bright yellow as she was knocked backwards.

Zeffre glanced at the board.

Zeffre: 2/3

Yang: 85%

Keeping Veiled Night in its rifle form Zeffre maneuvered in the air above Yang. As Yang was getting to her feet Zeffre propelled herself downwards, the cobalt blue bayonet coming down in a lunge.

Footing uncertain, Yang rolled away from the lunge, but Zeffre pressed the attack. Wielding her rifle as a sword, Zeffre continued slashing at Yang, refusing her solid footing.

Zeffre's legs were swept out from under her as Yang spun on the ground. Shooting up to her feet Yang pressed her advantage and brought down a crushing blow to Zeffre's chest plate, firing an explosive round from her gauntlets.

Ignoring the pain in her chest Zeffre grabbed Yang's arm and lifted the other girl off her feet. Flipping her over Zeffre straddled her chest, landing a solid blow to her face.

Lifting Yang by her arm Zeffre transformed her rifle back into its blade form. A viscous horizontal slash sent Yang flying across the scared duel stage.

Zeffre glanced at the board.

Zeffre: 1/3

Yang: 55%

'No more mistakes.'

Making her visor transparent Zeffre gave Yang a grin, a little winded.

Climbing back to her feet Yang matched her grin, also looking a little winded.

Zeffre pointed at Yang with Veiled Night, the deep blue blade gleaming from the bright overhead light. "Your move."

Yang narrowed her eyes.

Firing her gauntlets behind her, Yang flew at Zeffre with another kick.

Zeffre thrusted her left hand towards the ground, a loud crack filling the room. Yang began floating upwards, eyes wide.

Boosting into the air Zeffre gripped Veiled Night in both hands and slammed the blade down, aimed at Yang's midsection. Connecting, they both dropped, Yang slamming on the stage floor with a resounding crack, Aura flaring yellow.

"Enough!"

Zeffre glanced at the board.

Zeffre: 1/3

Yang: 20%

"Participant Yang Xiao Long's Aura has past 25%, meaning that she has lost the duel." Professor Goodwich announced. "The victor is Zeffre."

Transforming her weapon, Zeffre held out her hand, giving Yang a bright grin. "You hit like a truck; you know that?"

Yang grasped the offered hand, wincing a little in pain before giving her a grin of her own as Zeffre helped her up. "I could say the same thing to you. Did you need to hit me in the ribs?"

Zeffre cycled Veiled Night's bolt, a spent casing clattering to the floor. "I didn't want to miss."

"What did you say Jaune?" Zeffre asked, trying to hear him over the background noise of the crowded dining hall.

"I said, why did you ask Pyrrha if she heard music?"

Zeffre felt eight pairs of eyes now looking at her.

"Uh…"

"Wait, what happened?" Weiss interjected.

"Oh! You should've seen it! I was telling Ren about this dream I keep having, and suddenly there is this flash of white light and Zeffre is standing in our room!" Nora excitedly explained.

Weiss looked at Zeffre. "Aren't you supposed to not do something like that?" she asked.

"Weiss there are many things I'm not supposed to do," she began, interlacing her fingers together before pointing at Weiss, "but when has that ever stopped me?"

Weiss gave her an unamused look.

Zeffre held up her hands in surrender. "It was an accident."

"So, is it fair enough to assume that they know about your abilities?" Blake asked, setting down her book.

"Yup. I explained it to them."

Ren smirked. "Only after trying to lie to our faces for a few minutes."

Zeffre felt her face warm up. "Uh… yeah. After that," she said, scratching her cheek.

"What's this about music?" Yang asked, lowering her fork.

"Pyrrha tried to awaken Zeffre's Aura and passed out. When—" Jaune began.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Ruby asked, looking worried.

Pyrrha gave her a gentle smile. "I'm fine. It was just surprising is all. I've never heard of someone getting visions when trying to awaken someone else's Aura before is all."

"You got visions?" Blake asked, looking curious.

Zeffre slammed her hands on the table. "Can I answer the freaking question or not!" She was having a hard time following the conversation.

Blake blushed. "Sorry Zeffre."

Zeffre sighed. "It's okay." Turning to Jaune she continued, "I asked because the process that gave me my abilities also involved visions and music." She shrugged. "I took a shot in the dark that they might be related. Pyrrha's fine and that's all that matters."

She still didn't know why Pyrrha was knocked out. It was something Zeffre would have to think about.

"You know Zeffre, you've never told us how exactly you got your abilities," Blake said evenly.

"Nope."

"Your mysterious," Nora said, standing next to where Zeffre was sitting, leaning close to look into her eyes. Zeffre gave a small yelp, head darting back and forth between where Nora had been sitting and where she was now.

"How did you…" Zeffre said, pointing to the empty seat besides Ren.

Nora tilted her head. "What do you mean? I walked silly."

Zeffre stared at her for a few seconds. "Riiiight…" Shaking her head Zeffre gave her a smirk. "If you already think I'm mysterious then what will you think when I tell you that I've got a super secret mission with Professor Goodwitch tomorrow?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"She's a terrible liar," Ren said, resting his chin on a propped-up arm.

"Thank you for your input Ren," Zeffre said, giving him a side eye. "But I am telling the truth, I've got a thing tomorrow."

"Oh! Are you an alien!" Nora asked, sitting back next to Ren. Zeffre hadn't noticed her moving from beside her. A muscle under her eye twitched before she decided to let it go.

"Uh…"

Ren smirked at her "Why are you thinking about your answer?"

Zeffre wanted to throw something at him.

"I… um… I was born human." Zeffre offered.

Blake was now giving her an even look. "What an oddly specific way to answer her question."

"Yup. Anyway, long story short I was able to get my Scroll back from Jaune."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Why did Jaune have your Scroll?"

"We were playing a card game last night and I forgot it with him when I left," Zeffre answered, voice neutral at the memory.

"You mean after you stormed off, right?" Jaune asked, smirking.

"I did not storm off. I retired for the evening."

Weiss nodded her head. "She's definitely lying."

Zeffre snapped her head to look at Weiss. "How would you know?"

"Because, when you lie you like to talk formally."

"No I don't," Zeffre said.

Blake gave her an apologetic look. "Actually, you do tend to talk differently when you are lying."

Around the table everyone else gave nods of agreement.

Zeffre couldn't remember the last time she felt so called out.

"Okay, fine. I stormed off." She finally admitted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't understand why you got so worked up over some card game."

Zeffre stopped glaring at a smug looking Jaune Arc to look at Weiss.

"Weiss… Look," Zeffre began, standing up from the table. "You don't understand but Jaune's deck, and I say this as a friend," she said looking at Jaune for a moment, "is the most scum of the earth, luck based, trash deck I have ever seen in my entire life."

Zeffre couldn't keep the frustration out of her voice.

Jaune leaned back in his seat. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad," he said, smirking.

"Not that bad? Not that bad!" She turned to glare at him again.

"I spend ten minutes setting up my board, I strategize and maneuver my resources properly, I sacrifice when I need to, I do everything right," she said, voice full of passion, before pointing at Jaune, "Only for this rat bastard to flip two coins, get heads both times, and wipe my entire field! I mean, what the hell is that!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

The entire table erupted into laughter.

Zeffre sat back down, blushing furiously. She suddenly found the table in front of her and her scarf to be very interesting, with her fidgeting with the scarf's tassels.

Yang stood up and walked over to a pouting Zeffre before giving her a hug, still laughing.

'What are they doing?'

Approaching the railing that looked down onto the warehouse floor a flash of white light appeared, paused for a few seconds, and appeared again.

Looking down Roman saw Neo sitting on a crate, legs dangling below her playfully, as she pointed something. Across from her stood Saffre.

Neo pointed the object, a laser pointer, at a spot on the ground and a second later Saffre appeared in that spot.

'How long have they been doing this?' he wondered, walking over to see what was going on. As he approached Roman noticed that Saffre looked… tired? Her arms were drooping, eyes vacant. Each teleport she did seemed to make her wince in pain.

Neo was grinning as she continued pointing the light.

Turning Neo gave him a smile as she pointed the light next to the two of them, Saffre appearing next to him.

"What are the two of you doing?" Roman asked, looking at Saffre.

Saffre moved to speak but all that came out was a quiet cough that she covered with her hand. Looking down Roman saw there was blood on her hand. "Oh…"

Saffre collapse face first onto the concrete ground of the warehouse.

From the corner of his eye Roman saw Neo leap off the crate, eyes wide.

'So… you do have limits after all,' Roman thought, looking down at the unconscious girl. "Neo, take her back to her room."

Neo nodded. Walking over to the collapsed girl, Neo gently lifted Saffre off the ground. She was still breathing at least.

"Also," Roman called as Neo began walking away, "in the future don't push her this far. She can't be useful if she's passed out."

Neo looked down for a moment. Looking back up Roman saw that her expression was blank before she gave him a single nod.

Author's Note:

Writing a scene where nine characters are present is definitely a choice. Also, having the first scene have no spoken dialogue was interesting, but I'm pretty happy in how it came out. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions; I love feedback and it really does help.

Thanks for reading!