"Don't you think that was a little mean?" Ruby looked up to her sister, and Yang stopped in place.

"We are not talking about this Ruby." Yang was trying to make it clear the discussion was over, but her little sister apparently thought otherwise.

"He didn't have aura though; you might have hurt him."

"Good."

"Yang!" Ruby's outburst had the older sister pause. Turning around, Yang set her hands on Ruby's shoulders, leveling what she hoped was an understanding look.

"He tried to molest you; do you even understand what that means? Do you have any idea what men like him do to little girls like you?"

Ruby faltered for a bit.

"He... he didn't seem like he was trying to-"

"They never do." Yang stood again, keeping her face hard and evening out her breathing, refraining from screaming or letting her anger get the best of her. "They always come on soft. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to' and 'I hope you can forgive me'. You give them the benefit of the doubt, and they try to be friends with you. Next thing you know-"

Yang shut it down there, once more closing her eyes and calming herself.

"Okay, that's enough of that. We're not doing this, not tonight."

"Ya-"

"Come on." The blond one started off, leaving no room for debate. "We're going back; Weiss and Blake are probably waiting on us."

Ruby could only let out a frustrated sigh, but even so, she followed after her older sibling. She knew Yang meant well, but there was something Yang hadn't seen that had Ruby instead on the fence about the whole thing. From Yang's perspective, some creepy weirdo just tried to touch her... or worse. Shivering the thought away, Ruby instead focused on what she saw.

It had been a normal walk at first, just heading on down the street back to the corner Yang and her decided would be their meetup point; her sister needed to pick up a new set of leggings from the shop on the other street, and Ruby herself wanted to get a new magazine that released in the usual dust shop. The little goth was stopped however when she noticed a man walking down the street... Well, she thought he was a girl at first, until she saw the finer points of his form.

What surprised her at first was how similar he looked to her, and she'd assumed it was a crazy coincidence, and then all those thoughts were dashed when she saw him stumbling randomly around. He didn't appear to know where he was going, or even where he was for that matter, and with how his eyes appeared glazed over she'd come to one natural conclusion.

He was blind.

Of course, this was immediately followed up by worry when he directed himself towards the road, and she'd meant to rush up and guide him back to the streets; perhaps even ask his name and if she could help him in any way. Yet when she drew close, he turned, and his random feeling of the air turned questionable when his hands settled on her breasts. She'd been shocked, weirded out, and even a little appalled, but she fought back the feeling on the belief that he was blind and didn't mean to grope her; it was an accident.

And then his eyes cleared, and shame filled his features.

He seemed a little frightened even, and while she hadn't noticed it back then, his hands had left her chest, shaky as he almost took a step away, eyeing her face with ragged breathing. That didn't matter though, not then, as once she saw that he could see again, she'd screamed out of pure instinct.

And now here she was, walking away from the scene with more questions than answers. Who was that guy? Why couldn't he see her at first? Why did he seemingly regain the ability to see again when he touched her? These were all sensible questions, but they weren't the main one which clogged her mind. No, the most concerning question to fill her head was something else entirely.

Would he be okay?

"Ruby!" Yang's shout pulled her from the daydreaming, and she looked ahead to see her sister at the end of the street. Yang was waving now. "Come on, it's getting late!"

"Coming!"

These would need to be questions asked once they got back to the dorm, because it seemed like Yang wasn't going to wait up for her.

.

.

He didn't know how long he was out, only that he wasn't on the ground anymore. Jay tried to move, to do anything, and yet his body ached. However there wasn't any major pressure on his back, or his arms, or even the back of his head; heck, it felt soft somewhat. Rather strange, considering he passed out on the pavement.

W-w... where?

He opened his eyes, only for the light to blind him again. Taking it slower this time, he tried once more, and this time he was successful... somewhat. The ceiling above was a solid black, with a single long fluorescent light attached to the center, shining bright and hurting his eyes. He was in a bed, that much was certain, and as he angled his sight downwards, he was able to see how the soft darker blankets covered him.

This wasn't the alleyway, nor his home: where was he?

He never got much time to ponder the question before a loud creaking rippled through the air. Seeing the door across from the bed open casually, one couldn't exactly blame Jay for being a bit spooked; he'd just been beaten into unconsciousness for god's sake. Yet the woman walking in seemed to be different than the one who'd leveled him out across the pavement.

"Oh, hey, you're awake." She set what looked to be a bottle of cream on the dresser next to her, and walked over to where he was laying. From his left he got a good view of her face. She looked relatively young with some heavier makeup around her eyes, and paired with the red dress accented in black she'd generally pass off as an attractive, albeit young looking, lolita.

He knew her though, as she was one of the few characters to often be forgotten in the main story: Miltia Malachite.

"Where... am I."

"Nowhere you should be concerned about just yet." The young woman said, giving his cheek a poke. "In fact, you should count yourself lucky. Had we not come across you out on the streets, who knows what would have happened."

"He's awake? Finally." Another voice, however this one belonged to a similar woman now walking in. Although she was covered in white, and had longer hair, the strands were still back as night, which made their similarity apparent. Melanie Malachite; both twins were here now, and Jay was instantly on edge. Once Junior himself walked in though, the boy was fairly certain he was in danger.

The idea of potential death didn't bother him, but Junior was one of the heads of the criminal underworld in Vale, meaning the 'death' he'd face probably wouldn't be as easy or elegant as the bullet in his coat pocket. Speaking of said coat, Jay realized he wasn't wearing it. His worries for its location were dashed when he turned to look the other way, and saw it sitting innocently on a chair.

"Nice jacket by the way." Melanie paced over to him, raising a brow as she studied his face. "Although you could do with some better foundation."

It was so weird to him, especially considering how everyone and everything seemed to keep its 'anime' aesthetic since he'd arrived. Jay never noticed it before, but now he did, and he was somewhat curious to see how he himself looked. He never got much time to think before the white-dressed woman slipped her hand into a small spot under her dress, taking out a brush and tin.

"Hold still. I'd rather we not get into anything until you're presentable again." Like that she brushed against his cheek, and Jay just had to lay there uncomfortably until the girl decided she was finished. Bearing a cocky smirk, the young lady slipped the brush and such away again, apparently satisfied with her handiwork. "Good, now we can get down to business."

"Sorry ladies, but I will be the one handling this." Junior's voice was tough, but not overly stern. Even so he drew a disgruntled face from the white one, whereas the red one seemed eager to listen. "I need you both out on the floor to make sure none of the drunks cause any trouble. Miltia; you're handling the bar, and Melanie, I want you taking care of the watch."

"You got it!" The first exclaimed, turning her eyes to Jay one last time and offering a wave before she took off.

"And why can't we just have one of the idiots do it?" Melanie however wasn't so easily moved, and so Junior had to double down with a different approach.

"Because they can barely hold their own on a good day; sometimes I wonder why I even pay them. Regardless, I want to discuss a few things first with the young lad."

"Fine, have it your way." She left with a huff, and Junior just shook his head, turning back to face Jay.

"How are you doing, kid?"

"A-alright." Jay muttered, feeling almost naked being alone with the man. According to what he remembered from the show, Junior was an information broker, however he also had a series of other underground operations as well. While not the most powerful criminal, he was still dangerous.

"That's good, because I have a few questions I want you to answer. Let's start simple: do you know who I am?" It seemed like a loaded question, but Jay wasn't exactly feeling all too great right now, and decided it was best to just answer truthfully in the hopes that whatever was going to happen went down quickly.

"Y-you're the guy they call Junior, right?"

"Yep. You know who I am, which means you must also know what I do, correct?" Junior crossed his arms, although it appeared rather casual as opposed to what Jay expected. Still wary, Jay tried to smooth out his voice.

"You trade information."

"That's right. You seem like a smart kid, so I'll move on to the next bit. How did you get into Vale."

"E-excuse me?" Jay was confused, and Junior just hummed upon seeing this.

"Let me put it like this: I trade and deal in information, following so far?" Jay nodded, and Junior continued. "This means that I have direct and accurate knowledge of everyone and everything going down in the city. I know who comes in, and who goes out, all the time. I have records of every single person passing in, both legally and not. I know that the White Fang themselves set up a base nearing the outskirts of the city in a few abandoned storage facilities, and I know that a particular blond troublemaker has just signed up with the huntsmen academy."

"You know... everyone?" Jay didn't remember that detail from the show; heck, even the supplementary materials often painted Junior as more of a meathead than anything. Junior however, he nodded with certainty.

"Everyone, and that's what brings us here today. At first when Miltia pointed you out on the ground I was just going to ignore you, and then I realized that yours was a mug I'd never seen before. And then..." Junior reached into the pocket on his vest, pulling out something personally familiar to Jay: his wallet. The man flipped it open, and slipped out a card; looking it over, he read it aloud. "Jay Williams; quite the interesting name you have here."

"T-thanks..." The boy spit out with a stutter, letting his fear show fully. Junior just nodded, and returned his eyes to the drivers license.

"I recognise nothing on this here, and to add onto that, upon searching through all my data and information on people, I've come to learn I have absolutely nothing on you." Junior's eyes fell on him again. "I'm certain you can see the problem here."

"I... um..." Jay didn't know how to respond. What could he even really say? He never had a chance to ponder it, because Junior beat him to the punch, as he had multiple times so far.

"And so I ask: how did you get here?"

"I... I don't know."

"You don't know?" The club owner and crime lord didn't sound upset, or angry, just... curious, and a little bit bored.

"I was just... I..." Jay fumbled around as he tried to drum up an answer. Sure, he wasn't from Remnant, but that wasn't relevant right now, because even Jay himself didn't know how he ended up in Remnant anyway. All he recalled was the strange man, and a bang. His first idea was that he'd been shot, but once the bang rang out the world had vanished, leaving him standing; fully clothed too, which made the idea of dying seem a little far off - as if ending up in a fictional world was any more believable.

"Let me stop you for a second, kid." That shut Jay up, and Junior walked over to his side. "Now, look me in the eyes, and tell me what you do know."

Jay was terrified, but complied.

"I was walking on the streets... and a man showed up. I… I remember that everything went black."

"Black... what do you mean?" Their eyes remained locked as Jay carried on.

"I couldn't see anyone or anything but myself, and then I was grabbing someone, when someone else came by and... knocked me to the ground."

"Knocked you to the ground, huh?" Junior offered a skeptical look. "With the bruises you've got, especially around your neck, I'd say they were trying to kill you."

"I... don't think they were…"

"Whatever you say." Junior stood, humming as he walked back around to the front. "Well, it's clear you're not lying, but you haven't given me a solid reason as to how you got into Vale either."

"I don't know. I'm sorry, but I really don't have any idea." Jay pleaded, but Junior shut him up by raising his hand.

"Alright, I'll believe you, for now at least." Junior took out the wallet again, this time tossing it to the bedridden boy, where it landed in his lap. "But after sifting through this, I've come to the realization that you're broke, and while this looks like some form of currency-" The man held up a couple paper bills. "It won't fly around this city."

"It won't?" Now he was in some real trouble... and potentially homeless as well.

"Nope, but I suppose this is where the silver lining comes in." Junior caught his attention with that, drawing the desperate and now deadbeat young man in with his words. "As far as I can tell, Vale has nothing in regards to information on you whatsoever, meaning nobody can ever link you to anything. Believe me when I say this kid, but right now you're a walking shadow; a ghost. I can make good use of someone like you, and right now it seems you need both money, and a place to stay; am I wrong?"

"N-no... you're not wrong." Jay kept his enthusiasm low as he spoke. "Are... are you offering me a job?"

"And a place to stay, at least until I can figure out who you are and what to do with you. So tell me: do you want to make a deal and work with me?"

"What... what happens if I say no."

"Nothing." Junior again spoke casually. "I'll just send you out on the streets, and you can work on landing both a job and a place to stay on your lonesome, with no credentials or reputation to your name." A devious grin tore across the man's lips, as if he'd already known he'd won. "So, do we have a deal?"

"...Okay."

Jay didn't need much time to think about it, as the answer was already fairly obvious. His life, it seemed, was just as troublesome as back home, however the one thing keeping him from just letting it fall away was the prospect of being in a fantasy world. Remnant was a land of dust and semblances; things entirely unheard of on earth. A part of himself still believed he was dreaming... or dead; either way, he kind of wanted to see what Remnant was about.

Most normal people would be excited or terrified to be trapped in a fictional world, but for Jay it was more muted. He had a different hope, that maybe his life here wouldn't be quite so worthless as back home.

Maybe Remnant would give him a reason to live.

"Good." Junior turned and made for the door. "Now get dressed and meet me outside at the bar. Just follow the hall left and out the door at the end; you can't miss it."

Once the door shut, Jay slowly slipped out of bed, noting how his boots were to the right. He slid them on, as well as walking over and throwing on his jacket; sticking the wallet back in its rightful place.

I'm in Remnant...

What was he to make of it, no, the better question was how did he even get here to begin with? This had nothing particular to do with the man who he'd seen, or rather, the shadow he'd seen; Jay never got a good look at him, only seeing a dark silhouette before the bang. How the hell was Remnant even real to being with? It was a fictional setting for a fictional story about cute anime girls fighting monsters with style; there was no sense of reality or anything to it.

Maybe he really did die, and this was all just a hallucination created by his failing mind.

Standing around questioning it would do nothing however, and so as Junior told him, Jay followed the instructions and ended up out on the dance floor. The place was packed, which was odd considering parts of the place were still damaged; this must have been some time after the fight Yang had here, but before it got fixed. Deciding it was best not to dally, he was about to head off... and then he spotted something. To his immediate right was the door he'd opened, however, on it he could see his reflection, which was what stole his attention.

Interesting... so I've changed to match the visuals after all.

True to his assumption, his body had taken on the animated appearance of everything else, especially his face, which appeared to be a near carbon copy of Ruby's. His eyes were still blue though, which remained the distinct difference between the two. Realistically, if he threw on the dress in full, he could pass for her effortlessly. Yet he still remained a tiny smidge taller than the protagonist herself, which would be noticed by those closest to her.

Jay shook his head; what was he even thinking? Dress like Ruby... What kind of creep was he becoming? Maybe Yang had been right, maybe he was just some weirdo.

"What? You don't like my work?" Jay nearly jumped when he heard that, flinging around and seeing Melanie looking at him with a less than excited look.

"N-no… It's fine, I like it."

"Good, I'm glad you can at least recognise quality." She grabbed his arm. "Now come on, boss is waiting for you."

"Okay." At least that came out clean, and Jay allowed himself to be pulled through the people crowding the floor and over to the bar where Junior was standing behind the counter. He could see Miltia behind as well, just leaning on the flat and smirking.

"Hey, you've made it; now the gang's all here."

"I suppose..." Jay was still clearly uncomfortable. Regardless of this, Junior opened up the discussion - if you could even call it that.

"Alright, now that we're all present." His eyes fell on Jay, and the boy bit back an 'eep' as the stare pierced him.

"I want you to go along with Miltia here to collect a few 'payments'. Nothing too dangerous, just some gathering. Stick by her side and do what she says; you'll be fine."

"O-okay."

"Alright!" The woman in question leapt over the counter with a flip, drawing the eyes and a few claps from some of the other more intoxicated patrons. She took hold of Jay's arm, clinging to it with a vice grip and dragging him away. "C'mon, we get to have some fun tonight!"

The boy could barely keep up, even as he was pulled into the tides of tipsy dancers washed over the floor.

Melanie shot her sights over to Junior, who watched the pair leave with a strong focus.

"Now that we're done... what's so important about the kid anyway?" She'd been curious before about why Junior had ordered them to bring him along to the club. Usually they'd just leave the beaten street losers alone when passing by, and yet her boss took a particular interest in this one.

"Still nothing, nothing at all..."

Melanie cocked a brow, letting it furrow as she began to have an inkling of what he was referring to.

"Are you saying..."

"Yep." Junior continued to scrub away at the glass in his hand, letting his scowl harden.

"Maybe he just doesn't have anything interesting-"

"When I say nothing, I mean nothing."

"Nothing..."

"Like staring at a wall."

The woman's eyes bore the most miniscule of shock, even if she wasn't about to readily show it.

"But... that's impossible, isn't it?"

"I'd thought so, but apparently I'm wrong." Junior eased off his ire; it wasn't the kid's fault... not intentionally at least. Analysis had never failed him before; heck, Junior never even knew semblances could fail, but the proof had looked him right in the eyes - a very shaky and frightful look, but a look nonetheless.

His semblance had helped him plenty of times before, discerning the most regretful or hidden secrets of individuals, but this time he'd gotten squat. This was strange enough, as Analysis was always keen to sniff out secrets Junior himself desired, and while it didn't tell him directly what people were hiding, it showed him whether they were hiding something period. It was like a scale: the more he pressed them on any given subject or topic, the more he'd feel this sort of weight at the back of his mind, and the more the person felt uncomfortable about speaking, the heavier it would become, until he felt a 'snap' when they'd finally spoken directly about the secret of theirs. While it only worked on one target at a time, if he could see them, he could feel them.

And then there was Jay; the boy who gave off not a single weight.

Everybody had secrets; things they didn't want others to know, and this meant that he should have felt a weight in his mind... but he didn't. Junior had only ever gotten this feeling from the Grimm; one battle of curiosity was enough to tell that his semblance only worked on people, because he felt nothing: a response on par with his bedroom wall. The only possible explanation that Junior could even come up with for Jay's apparent lack of secrets was just that: the boy had nothing to hide.

This was an impossible answer though, because even after having the secret disclosed, there was still a tingle, a warmth to let him know his semblance was active and working. Jay provided nothing in this regard too, which was where Junior's main concerns lied. Nobody had ever ignored his semblance's gaze, and this had him wondering if Jay possessed a counteractive: a semblance capable of weakening or restraining his own. Yet the boy appeared a coward, frightful and weak; the chances of him having awoken his aura were low.

Unknown to himself, Junior's grip on the cloth in his hand tightened, and Melanie watched curiously from the other side of the bar, all the while Junior fancied a single thought.

Who are you, and what are you planning?

Author's note

...

Okay, so this is going a little fast, but this story - again - isn't my main focus. This doesn't mean I'll let the quality drop, far from it, but it does mean I won't be going into excessive detail over every little thing - unlike Beyond Destiny, this story doesn't have a ton of secrets to hide, nor will it focus on excessive world building.

As we can see, we're very fastly getting into the action, and Junior already doesn't trust Jay - perfectly understandable for a man in his position. Miltia seems to be having fun though, but as for why is anyone's guess; who knows, she may just like the idea of dragging someone around.

Anyway, that's all for now, and I'll see you later.