The wall had twenty-six discolored bricks.
A brick can be idealized as a cube.
A cube has six sides, with each face perpendicular or parallel to the other faces.
Perpendicular is equivalent to nor—
Her device was ringing.
Blinking, Saffre reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved it. Roman had called it a Scroll. Was someone calling her? Who would even have her number?
Confused, Saffre answered the call on the holographic surface. She was momentarily enamored with the holographic display before she saw who it was.
"Yes?" she asked. It was Roman. She was trying to speak more. The sound of her voice still sounded strange to her.
"Saffre, meet me by the loading dock."
With a snap of her fingers, starlight rippling out from her hand, she could see the outlines of everyone in the warehouse. She noticed one outline by the loading dock that seemed to be leaning on something.
"I have someone I'd like you to me—"
Everything went white for a second.
"—et…"
Saffre looked up at Roman. "I'm here now."
"…I can see that." Roman said, his voice echoing through the speaker of her Scroll. What was that tone called? Saffre could feel her face scrunching up as she tried to remember.
She continued to stare into his eyes. It was important to maintain eye contact when speaking. "I'm hanging up now."
Roman let out a small sigh, placing his Scroll back in his coat pocket. "I didn't know you could teleport…"
Saffre looked down at the ground. "Oh…" She looked back up. "I can teleport."
"Noted." Roman said. Dry. His tone was dry. Saffre gave herself a little smile at her deduction.
"Anyway, Saffre may I introduce you to Neo," he said, gesturing over at nothing.
Nothing?
Saffre tilted her head. A girl was standing over there. She had two toned hair, half pink and half brown. The figure, Neo, also had heterochromia, with one eye pink and the other brown. She was giving her an easy smile. And yet… the outline surrounding everyone else in the warehouse did not extend to her.
Looking around Saffre spotted something that made her even more confused. There was an outline standing off to her side, but nobody was there. Shrugging, she took one last glance at the figure before walking up to the invisible person. "Hi. I'm Saffre."
The sound of shattering glass came from her side, and the person in front of her decloaked. It was the same person as the figure, but now her expression was confused.
'I should complement her on something…' Saffre thought. People tended to do that when meeting someone new. "I like your eyes. They're very pretty."
It was a factual observation. Her eyes were very pretty.
Neo gave her an amused smile, making Saffre's face scrunch up in confusion.
'Did I do something amusing?'
Saffre was weird.
Leaning against his cane Roman watched as the two girls interacted, with Saffre standing an arms distance away from Neo.
He knew that she had abilities that didn't look like any Semblance he had ever seen, but still… Her appearing directly in front of him in a shower of white sparks of light was surprising. And her matter-of-fact way of admitting to the ability…
Roman lit a cigar. Taking a long drag he held the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds, the taste and sensation familiar to him. Grounding.
He took a long exhale. 'What's her game…'
It just didn't add up. For almost a month a girl with strange powers gets in the way of his operations, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, another identical girl appears and wants to do whatever he says? It was unbelievable.
And yet… Her powers… She had already proven herself to be incredibly useful, and the fact that she could teleport only made her increase in value to his operations. That wasn't even considering the fact that he still didn't know everything she could do.
Puffing his cigar Roman thought back on Saffre's obedience. It was… uncanny.
With another drag on the cigar Roman made a decision.
"Saffre. Go stand right there," he told her, pointing at a spot in the center of the loading dock. Walking over to Neo he gave her a confident smile. "Neo, dear, may I borrow Hush for a moment?"
Neo raised her eyebrow at the request, but smiled and handed over her parasol. He could tell she was curious.
Unsheathing Hush's blade Roman turned and walked back over to Saffre. He needed to be certain.
"Alright… Saffre, don't move. At all. Do you understand?" he asked, standing in front of Saffre, blade held out in his hand.
Saffre gave him that same look she had, a look that was mostly blank with an undercurrent of confusion, before she nodded and stared straight ahead.
Taking a few more puffs Roman tossed his cigar onto the concrete of the warehouse floor, snuffing it out with his cane.
Roman swung the blade at Saffre's neck.
A slight trickle of blood flowing down the blade. He hadn't meant to actually cut her.
Blinking, Saffre simply glanced at the blade held against her neck before looking back at Roman.
"I am going to give you one chance to tell me the truth. Lie, and I cut your head off," he said. He needed to know. "Why are you here?"
Saffre tilted her head. "Because I thought you were interesting." She looked down at the blade held against her throat. "I was right," she said, giving a tiny smirk.
Roman pressed the blade against her neck with more force. "Do you honestly think I am dumb enough to believe that you do everything I say simply because you found me interesting," he asked incredulous at the idea. There had to be more than that.
Saffre furrowed her brow. "No? I do everything you say because I told you I would do everything you say," she stated as if telling him an obvious fact. "I thought I was pretty clear."
He narrowed his eyes. "Last chance Saffre."
Saffre shrugged. "A fact is a fact."
Staring deeply into her royal blue eyes Roman searched for… something. Something he could understand. Fear, anger, sadness… Anything! He could understand her being a spy. Of her being someone sent by Cinder to watch over him. He would be relieved if she was going to betray him; that would at least make sense. Instead, all he saw in her eyes was genuine confusion and amusement. Roman had no doubt in his mind at that moment that if he moved to kill her Saffre would not stop him.
With that, Roman lowered the blade, rubbing his face with his other hand. "Kid, either you are the greatest liar who has ever lived, or you are actually insane."
"I've been called insane before."
Roman lit another cigar. Reaching into his coat pocket he retrieved a white handkerchief and handed it to the girl, to help clean up the blood. As she silently took the cloth and wiped her neck Roman noticed that the shallow cut on her neck was already gone. Just something else he needed to keep in mind.
He had always been a gambling man, and she seemed to be worth the risk.
Turning to a grinning Neo Roman handed her back Hush. "This is what I've been dealing with for the past two weeks," he muttered to her.
Neo cracked. Doubling over she dropped Hush, silently laughing.
Roman gave her a neutral look.
"You know, there was a reason I wanted to talk to the both of you," he said, hoping to move past his impromptu loyalty test.
Picking Hush back up Neo wiped away some tears before standing up straight, silently chuckling to herself every few seconds.
Rolling his eyes Roman continued, puffing on the cigar. "I need the tw—"
"Can I move from this spot now," Saffre asked, still standing where he told her to stand a few minutes ago.
Neo lost it again, this time falling onto the floor silently laughing.
"Yes Saffre, you can move," he said, knowing that today was going to be a long day.
Walking up the porch stairs to the old farmhouse Saffre stood before the worn wooden door. Sunlight at her back, casting a long shadow over the door.
A soft breeze blew past, causing her coat to flutter in the wind. The gentle sound of windchimes filled the air, interspersed by the distance crack of gunfire. Neo must've found the others.
Apparently, some rival gang in the agricultural district had decided to smuggle in Dust. Roman wanted them to be made an example of.
Looking at the two-story farmhouse Saffre noted there were five people inside standing around the door. From their posture she could tell they were aiming weapons.
Silver saber out to her side, Saffre raised her palm at the door and sent it flying inwards with a wave of gravity. As the door flew through the air trailing starlight time slowed.
Calmly walking inside through a cloud of splintered wood Saffre looked around. Five men wearing worn clothes were aiming rifles at her. Door still flying through the air, the men were in different states of flinching, with only one of them looking directly at the door. He had green eyes.
Walking through the frozen chaos Saffre methodically approached each man and gave a single slash of her saber across their necks. This wasn't really a fight.
Satisfied, Saffre walked back outside of the house before allowing time to flow normally again.
There was a long burst of gunfire from inside followed by the sound of five bodies hitting the floor.
A bullet hit the dirt in front of her. Raising a shield of cosmic light Saffre twirled her saber; they were almost done here.
Pulling her saber out from the corpse Saffre looked around, making sure to not spill any blood on herself.
An old stone shed was the only place left for them to clear out.
Walking down the dirt path leading to the shed Saffre flicked the blood off her silver saber, the setting sun casting a warm orange glow over the now silent compound.
Approaching the shed she found Neo fighting two stragglers.
As one man finally landed a hit on her Neo simply collapsed into shattered glass before appearing behind the man, stabbing him through the heart with her parasol. The other man, wearing dirty overalls, stepped back before firing at the girl, but she had already maneuvered the corpse to be between herself and the bullets.
Grinning, Neo kicked the body off Hush before opening it, blocking the steam of bullets. The man's eyes widened at the sound of his gun clicking.
"Pleas—," was all he managed to get out as Neo dashed at him, slicing his neck. She took a step back, making sure her clothes remained pristine.
Saffre noticed that one of her white boots had red on the bottom.
When Neo turned to her, still grinning, Saffre gave her a small smile and wave.
Smirking Neo twirled her parasol before pointing towards the stone shed.
"They're watching the door waiting for us," Saffre told her.
Neo shrugged.
Reaching into her coat pocket Saffre withdrew a cloth, cleaning off her blade. She shouldn't need it to finish this.
Nodding her head, satisfied with her work, Saffre sheathed the blade and walked up to the metal door; she needed to check something.
The door opened outwards. 'That'll work.'
Opening the door Saffre slowed down time. She could see the faces of the remaining gang members. Some were terrified, others were angry. One was determined.
Holding out her hand she snapped, pointing towards the center of the shack before letting time flow again.
The door slammed shut as a roaring, howling sound could be heard outside.
Turning Saffre decided to wait by Neo. Said girl was watching the shed with a raised eyebrow. Curious?
"I removed all the air in the shed, including the air in their lungs. They'll be dead soon," she told Neo, hoping to clarify what she was doing.
Neo looked over at her and gave her a smirk.
The door banged a few times as the people inside tried to get out. The suction held the door closed.
The banging gradually got softer and softer, until finally it stopped.
Saffre held the vacuum for a few more seconds, making sure they were dead. Roman had said no survivors.
Releasing the vacuum, the door fell open as a few of the men's corpses tumbled out. 'They must've been leaning against the door.'
Looking over at Neo, Saffre saw that she was grinning at her.
'What should I be feeling?' Saffre thought before giving Neo a small smile back. She decided to follow the other girls' lead.
The sun was hanging very low in the sky. It was going to be dark soon.
Saffre's eyes widened in revelation. "Neo, do you want to watch the sunset?" She hadn't watched the sunset here yet!
Neo blinked at the abrupt question, looked around, shrugged, then nodded.
Saffre gave her a smile. "Follow me," she said jogging over to the now empty farmhouse on the property.
Holding her palm out Saffre blasted the window off the second story window with a gravity wave. Turning, she gave Neo another small smile before stepping through the hole onto the roof of the building.
They had made it just in time.
Sitting on the roof, knees pulled up against her chest, Saffre stared out into the distance past the fields of grain swaying gently in the wind. The burnt orange and red of the setting sun cast long shadows over the landscape. It was completely silent at the compound.
"No matter where I am, a sunset never fails to make me stop and just… watch," Saffre said, resting her head on her arms. Turning to her side she saw Neo sitting next to her watching the sunset. Saffre gave her a smile.
Neo turned to look at her. She had a puzzled expression, but once she saw Saffre's smile she smiled back before nodding her head.
Saffre was… Happy? Turning to look back over the horizon as the sun slowly faded from view Saffre thought about the emotion she was currently feeling. Happy. She was happy.
Saffre nodded her head to herself. She was happy to be watching the sunset with Neo.
Author's Note:
If you ignore the surrounding context, them watching the sunset together is cute.
Neo's going to be a great influence on Saffre.
Also, bonus points to anyone who understands where the inspiration for the phone call interaction is from.