"Keep it quick and clean."

Fris didn't need to tell him that; Jay wasn't going to just start stabbing everyone he met.

The rumbling takeoff of the vehicle left him alone on the street, just a brief walk away from his target destination. Apparently, this orphanage had a basement where the 'illicit products' were being stored. Seemingly innocent facility harboring a dark secret in its basement: better check that one off the list of clichés. Still, it was better than the butcher's freezer.

With the darkness now truly in place, Jay was granted the cover necessary to get a good look around before making his entrance. Could somebody have spotted him from a neighboring window? Sure. Would they care enough to actually do something, like say, call the cops? Probably not, considering how the streetlamps didn't exactly illuminate his form very well; he most likely appeared no different than any of the workers inside.

But if they did call, then that meant he had around half an hour to get things done; Vale's police were more or less on the lookout for, ironically, him - although they couldn't seem to tell he wasn't a woman, which wasn't really their fault, but whatever. Maybe one of those who possibly spotted him from above would recognise him as the criminal strewn about the news, but considering this dump of a street, it was made all the more unlikely.

In the end, it mattered little, as around halfway through circling the joint, Jay had to duck underneath a windowsill.

"I'm telling you, it's a waste of time." Some of the workers, he presumed, had begun chatting above, and he heard something plop down atop the edge above, sliding with a metallic screech and a pang.

"I know I can get those extra hours if I just work harder."

"You've been saying that for the last three weeks, and so far you've gotten zilch. I'm telling you, they only give night hours to the head."

"But why? I don't get it. I'm perfectly willing and able, so why won't she let me try doing it?"

"Beats me. Maybe some of the kids have a few things going on at night; bad habits that make the job annoying, or medicines they need to take."

"I've got a little brother who's only awake from two to twelve, and I have no problems tending to him, even while working here."

"Doesn't matter. If Miss Starlight says no, then she means no; I don't think I've ever seen her change her mind on anything."

"Really... Is she that stubborn?"

"Afraid so."

"Dammit... Then, do you know any other places that are looking for part-timers? I really need the extra hours."

"Come on, let's go. I can show you a few spots on the way home."

Extra hours... now that felt like a blast from the past. Normally, he'd worked on the side during the end of semester after exams were done, and doubly so during summers. For a second, it made him wonder what was happening with his student loans back home, but he brushed it aside, reminding himself that those days didn't matter anymore.

He was stuck here, in Remnant, and regardless of how real everything was, he could still sure-as-shit feel; perhaps this really was a personal slice of hell he'd been dragged into, because nothing ever seemed to go right when he needed it to.

Pulling back and looking up, he spied a metal pan sitting atop the ledge of the opening. The cold outdoor breeze always was the best way to cool anything baked, and thankfully, whatever bread they'd made was small enough to make way for him. Cautiously getting a grip, he hauled himself over and inside, careful not to bump into the pan. Curiously, he entered not into a bog standard pantry with a stove, but a rough, downright professional looking kitchen. How they could afford such a place was directed away from his mind as Jay got low and made for the first door he saw, pressing his ear against the surface and listening.

If those girls from before were to be believed, then this 'Starlight' individual would be in charge for the night shift, meaning there shouldn't - although he doubted it - be anyone else working the main floor. The basement would be another deal entirely. Once silence confirmed a clean exit, Jay tried his luck.

A short, cramped hallway laid with a deep brown rug. Some child-drawn pictures and paintings littered the walls, making the place feel almost genuine in purpose, but he knew it couldn't be entirely real; after all, the slaves were being kept in the basement. The next stop on the route, after confirming entry from any point and getting into one of the ground floor hallways, was to make for the eastern backside of the abode, where the entrance to the real operation would be hidden. Seeing as not a soul dared cross his path during the three-minute walk, the air of perfect silence grew a pot of stress in the back of his mind.

This was an orphanage, as in, a place filled to the brim with noisy children; even at midnight there should still be some clambering and calls to reveal that fact, and yet it was barely past sunset.

Jay was just about to turn a corner when he heard something, and thinking fast, he shoved himself inside a nearby closet - didn't know that at first, but anything to hide him would do.

Please don't open the door. The darkness bathed him relentlessly, with the little bit of light shining below the door his only salvation. Turning on the lights would expose him, and so he'd need to just stay as quiet as possible and let the unknowing patroller pass.

Unfortunately, the door did swing open, but what kept Jay from ripping his knife across the bag in his hand was the little girl blinking up at him.

"H-hello," she said, looking past him, and then back to him before stepping inside herself and shutting out the hallway. Being left more than a bit baffled, Jay waited in the shared silence, until the little girl asked, "S-so... are you one of the new workers?"

"Yeah." Thinking fast, Jay quieted down his tone, slipping the knife back in his coat pocket and his trap in the other - she hadn't pointed them out so far, so he rolled with it. "I am."

"Okay."

Again, a minute of nothing, until Jay finally got into the mind to question what was happening.

"So... why are you down here?"

"I just... want some alone time."

"Oh." And he was spoiling that, wasn't he. "I'm not in your way, am I?"

"N-no..." Jay debated internally between turning on the light or just full on considering a silent exit when the girl piped up again. "Um... are you going to make me go back to my room?"

"I... no. Why?"

"Because I don't want to go back there." That... didn't sound right. It wasn't any of his business, but curiosity won out.

"Is something wrong with it?"

"No... but I'm afraid I'll see the ghosts again."

"Ghosts? What sort of ghosts?"

"Sometimes, when they think I'm asleep, the ghosts come out." Her voice quickly began to stutter, and little weeps dripped to the floor. "I-I watched them take a few of the others, the ones with the kitty ears or dog tails, a-and then when I ask Miss Starlight about it, she says there aren't any ghosts, and that the others w-were just gone home with new families."

Great, this was even more fucked than he'd previously believed. Although, the more despicable side of his mind saw this as an opportunity.

"That's not good. Have you ever tried following them before?"

"O-once," the little girl muttered, shivering. "But when I did, one of them nearly saw me. W-what if they did see me? I don't wanna go with them! I don't want to go into the ghost door!"

"Easy, easy," Jay cooed, actually flicking on the light this time. Hopefully, speaking face to face with somebody as opposed to a voice in the void would calm her down a little. "Nobody's going to get you. You're still here, right?"

"Uh *hic* uh huh," the little one nodded, and Jay gave her a tiny smile.

"See? If they really did see you, and they were taking other kids, then don't you think they'd have come for you by now?"

"I-I guess..." she sniffled, wiping her nose with her oversized sleeve. "Are you sure they won't get me?"

"I am," Jay felt a little gross for what he was about to do, but this would at least ensure he found the right spot. The route, while engraved into his noggin, still relied on finding the way to the basement, and if the kid really had seen what was going on, then she'd be able to lead him right to the exact spot he'd otherwise be feeling around for.

He only hoped she wouldn't be too scared when he didn't come back; maybe he could, on the way out, pay her a quick visit and reaffirm both his and her safety.

"But if you want to be sure, then why don't you take me to that 'ghost door?' I can check it out for you."

"R-really?" Jay nodded, and the girl looked to pick herself up a little. "Okay, b-but promise me you won't disappear too."

"I promise I won't disappear," it was just a quick trip back, supposing he could find her. With luck, things would go quietly, allowing him to keep his word. "You sleep with the others upstairs, right?" She nodded. "Then I'll pop in after and give you a little thumbs up when I'm looking, okay? The thumbs up means everything's clear, got it?"

"Okay..."

She took charge, and for as weird as it was being led along by a little girl in the dark, it ultimately brought him to the spot he'd been drilled over. As expected, the wall looked no different than the rest, however even now he could see the slight overlapping in the wallpaper, even in the shadows.

"It was right here, I know it was."

"Alright." Jay got down on his knees, giving the girl a little pat on the back. "I believe you." Standing again, he centered his focus on the spot. "You head on up to bed now, and I'll give this a good look over; if there's anything here, I'll find it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep," he slipped on a cheesy grin. "I'm good at finding things I'm not supposed to."

She remained for a little longer as he patted down the wall, but soon gave in and went back up to bed. Once she was fully out of sight, Jay began the real work. Sliding his fingers along the lumpy line, he felt around for a soft spot, and once zeroing in on it, pressed, curled, and pulled. According to Fris, the way into the basement - the one for dealings - was sealed behind a handle-less door, which was opened via a latch which could be unlocked through a tiny space that let a finger slip between the wallpaper and underneath. It was a thin, steel door which slid silently along its roller, and Jay took one last peek around before stepping inside and shutting it up behind him.

From here, he'd rely on a small flashlight he'd been allowed to bring.

.

.

"Nothing on my side either."

Josh winced, and his hopes deflated further than they already had. Yang seemed especially upset too, but for reason's he wasn't sure of. He could tell Yang had some not-so-good experiences with Jay, which wasn't much of a surprise. Jay had a terrible habit of being either the worst version of himself, or just plain standoffish, neither of which were especially appealing. Still, he believed in his buddy; said buddy just needed to drop that habit.

"That makes four for four," Melanie huffed, scowling and crossing her arms. "Dammit. We've pretty much covered this whole place, and yet we haven't gotten a thing."

"We could always double back," Miltia offered. "During my first job with Jay, we'd been caught off guard by Wrapping Dust. There's a chance it's more common now, and just hasn't been circulated enough to become obvious. Maybe he used that?"

"If it was, Junior would have told us."

"What's Wrapping Dust?" This got Josh several looks, to which he raised his hands half heartedly and defended, "Hey, I'm new here; cut me a little slack."

"That's true," Melanie accepted, almost giving him genuine credit, before turning it into a backhanded slap. "You are regularly dense on most days. Put simply, it's a mix of dust capable of basic teleportation."

Josh blinked, muttering a low "woah," before sighing.

"That sounds so cool. Why don't we have any?"

"Because it'd cost us a fortune," Melanie rolled her eyes, shaking her head and explaining, "If it was cheaper, we wouldn't even have basic travel anymore; we'd all just be using the dust. And to make matters worse, the quickening dust shortage already has the regularly available dust skyrocketing in price, making the appearance of Wrapping Dust in Vale extra suspicious. It means someone's planning on moving something in a way that draws no suspicion."

"AKA, it's probably incredibly illegal," Miltia capped off, drawing a low whistle and quick comment from Yang whilst Josh took it all in.

"Didn't know we had any of that stuff here."

"I just said we didn't," Melanie spat, but quickly cooled her temper with a rough sigh. "Look, we don't have time to be debating the expensiveness of dust; we're searching for clues, remember?"

"That's why I brought it up," Miltia exclaimed. "When I got taken, Jay apparently found his way into where we were through the killer's freezer. What I'm wondering is if there are any other hidden passages like that around."

"And you think he escaped through a secret door in a wall?" Melanie wasn't entirely brushing her sister's idea off, but it was clear she wasn't buying on the idea alone, and so Miltia went into a bit of a tangent.

"Think about it. Nobody's perfect enough to leave absolutely nothing behind when it comes to evidence, and police never clean up a crime scene until they've gotten everything from it, and even then it can take months before anything's done. It's been, what, an evening since Jay did his thing?"

"Meaning his benefactors have either the best clean-up crew money can buy; Jay's all of a sudden far less clumsy…" Melanie began, apparently coming around. "Or we're playing the big-boy version of hide-and-seek, with one side rigging the arena while simultaneously placing their bets."

"Uh... not to be a spoilsport or anything, because this gal does like a decent crime drama," Yang popped in from behind. "But don't you think that any solid evidence relating to that sort of thing would be removed from the crime scene? I mean, yeah, they rarely touch things, but last I checked they do take a few smaller scrapes and whatnot... right?"

"In terms of physical evidence like hair, skin, and videotapes, yes," Melanie opened up, slowly scrunching her brow line. "But I already checked a few neighboring cameras in the shop following my corner, and believe it or not, all the tapes for the day were present, including the one shown on the news. Meaning that our police force most likely have a copy of it already - why they didn't just confiscate them whole, I can't even guess."

"Um... okay." Yang wore a confused look herself, and Melanie groaned. Miltia, hence, chose to explain it instead.

"The only thing they can garner from other physical evidence would be the identity of Jay. However, they already think the perp is your little sister, so they'd most likely put physical evidence - if they found any - on the backburner to process, which they might simply ignore in favor of following up on witness testimony."

This was the slap Josh needed to wake back up.

"That sounds incredibly negligent. Shouldn't they put equal effort into all avenues of a case?"

"Welcome to Vale," Melanie tauntingly grinned, her joy completely fake. "Where the police force are limited by the council themselves in ways to allow their own crimes to go unnoticed. Heck, I shouldn't complain; it makes our jobs easier. Of course, if you have your aura unlocked, avoiding detection becomes even easier, as aura has that little habit of, you know, keeping our physical bodies in one piece. Something as simple as cutting hair requires the user to deactivate their aura, so you know for a fact that hunters are hard as dust to track if you don't have video or witnesses."

"Uh... Neither Jay nor I have aura, remember?" Josh brought up, and Melanie brushed it off.

"And if the police still think Ruby is the perp by tomorrow, then we'll know they don't have any DNA evidence; in that case, your lack of aura may be irrelevant."

"Kinda wishing I had aura now; heck, if Jay had some, he probably wouldn't have been taken so easily."

Coming across nothing sent them back to square one, with the only benefit being that they need only keep an eye out for similar crimes. Josh didn't like the idea of relying on his bro's unwilling commitment to dastardly activities, but was it honestly all that different than their lives now. People saw him as dense, but he knew exactly the type of "services" Junior offered.

"Do you... want me to unlock your aura for you?" Miltia came up to him, catching Josh off guard and causing him to stumble a little on the spot.

"Bwa?!"

"I asked if you want me to unlock your aura."

"You can do that?"

"Well, yeah. Everyone with their auras unlocked can."

Why did nobody tell him this? Hell, why didn't Jay mention it? No, wait: Jay did mention it, they just got sidetracked by cookies - it was all coming back to him now. Despite feeling like a total idiot, Josh swallowed his pride, admitted to his mistake, and nodded his head.

"Alright, I'm always up for a boost; unlock away."

"Okay," Miltia swept herself before him. "Just relax and hold still. This'll only take a moment."

Stay put; got it. While on the outside he remained rugged and unmoving as stone, internally he wanted to squeal. Superpowers were always awesome, and he couldn't help but partake in some childish glee as his kid self's dream was about to come true. So far, his one ability had been nothing short of a curse; the power to jump back a few moments in time, while OP in concept, only shot off when Jay bit the bullet - kind of ruined the whole benefit of time travel when it amounted to nothing but a redo button.

Miltia started mumbling something, her body glowing like an angel fresh out of heaven. He couldn't quite make out the words whispered quietly in chant as a tingle crept up his spine, but her ear-piercing scream shattered his senses like glass.

Reeling back, Josh stared in fright as she collapsed to the ground, heaving and coughing as Melanie dashed forward.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" They shouted in tandem, somehow perfectly synced in concern. A deepening sickness began to eat away at his stomach, and Josh had to stop and consider a crucial detail he'd ignored up until now. The soul, in concepts both religious and fictitious, were volatile and sensitive by nature. The people here in Remnant had clearly learned how to use them to their advantage... but he wasn't from this land.

The rules of this world, then, probably wouldn't apply to him, and it seemed this idea was partially proven true as Miltia stood shakily with her sister's aid.

"That..." Yang blinked, escaping her self-inflicted stun. "What the heck was that? No, forget it; we can deal with that later. How are you feeling?"

"Sorry," Miltia said, voice shaken. "I was... just shocked a little." A little wasn't even close to accurate in terms of the fright she'd given them. It sounded so painful too; did he really hurt her that badly? "I wasn't ready for..."

"For what?" Melanie then directed a twisted scowl right at him, threatening a life of suffering. "What did you do?"

"I-I don't-"

"It's not his fault," Miltia vouched for his innocence. "He couldn't have known what would happen."

"Well, what did happen?" Yang, having recovered her senses, huddled in with the rest of them - all aside from Josh himself, who was going through some budding spikes of guilt.

"I can't really describe it, but... All I can say for sure is I can't unlock his aura. It just... it's almost like it pushed me away." And she looked at him with a pair of watering eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it; it's not your fault," Josh so badly wanted to relieve her of that unfair regret she felt, because it wasn't nearly as just as she thought it to be. In this attempt, he shoved on a wayward smile, shrugging. "Guess my soul's a bit of an ass; nothing you or anyone else can do about that."

Hearing her snort helped remedy his own wound, but not by much. Souls were supposed to be holy, right? If so, then even if their "unlocking" as she mentioned didn't work on him, it still shouldn't have caused her unnecessary pain. Unless… unless his soul wasn't as good as he liked to believe. Was it possible that souls filled with sin could have said sin lash out?

He didn't like that idea.

Interrupting all of them came a call from Melanie's scroll, and she quickly answered with a muffled swear, letting Yang take to helping steady Miltia.

"What?" she growled into it, only for her expression to morph into apprehension, focus, and a steady gaze. "Got it. We're headed there now."

"What's up?" Yang propped Miltia into a full stand, and slowly, the woman let go of her aid, standing on her own and tossing out that same wonder. Melanie then gave them a bit of a breakthrough.

"Believe it or not, someone saw what looked like "Ruby" on the streets around five minutes ago and called the cops. One of our informants got a hold of that info instead and sent word to Junior, who just gave me the location." Settling her scroll away, she grabbed her sister by the hand and started along. "Come on; we can't miss this. Yang, take the bozo with you on your bike; we'll catch up by cab a little later

Not bothering to wait for them, Melanie led the pack silently, letting Yang and Josh converse for a second before dashing away themselves. This gave Melanie the opportunity to privately question her sister on what went down with Josh.

"Did that really hurt as bad as it sounded?"

"Not quite," Miltia returned, hushed, but wearing a worried expression. "It was... I don't know how to put it, but it was almost like he was sucking out the core of my aura. You know how your chest tingles a little when initially unlocking it? Imagine that, but the place where it tingles is moving out of you, and scraping against everything at the same time. It felt so… unnatural, and wrong."

What kind of nightmare is this? First, they're both able to ignore Junior's semblance, and now just trying to unlock their auras damn near robs you of your own?

Just what the dust was going on?

Author's note

…

Alright, this is where things get weird - well, not right now, but pretty soon.

Jay's in the midst of his mission thing, but Josh and the others have finally gotten some good news. Strange they can't unlock Josh's - and probably also Jay's - aura; it even seemed to sting a bit. Meh, just another thing to add to the pile.

Not much in the way of reviews this time, other than one pointing out Jay's similarity to character types, but other than that it's smooth sailing I guess. Oh well, things will begin making sense soon, just give it a bit.

Until next time.