"Avoid the tyranny of the reasonable voice… it will guarantee a complacency of never trying anything adventurous..."

― J. Michael Straczynski

Flood lights flickered atop a rundown mobile home and gave light to the dusk. A scaffold was positioned behind the vehicle, and from it hung a young acrobat of a director. Her arms were stretched out across a maze of bars and wires. The light was vital to a good shot. Too much, and the actors got washed out. Too little, and nothing could be seen. Balance was key, and it would have been almost impossible for any one person to get the lighting just so on the first try. This was not the case for Sepia Hughes.

Before her stretched a desert with props scattered about. She hummed in her thoughts while looking over the scene. "Opal!" she called, "Pass me up some water, would you? I'm thirsty."

Another young woman snatched up a plastic water bottle, "Aight! Hold up!" she called back. After a few seconds of fiddling with her boomerang and a bit of string, she looked back up at Sepia. "Shouldn't you be at home? Y'know, at your mum's birthday party?"

"I have to get these scenes shot today. Everything is perfect, and she said that she understood! It's fine," Sepia retorted. Her hair was swept to the side of her face so that she could see how her equipment was arranged. Everything seemed perfect so far.

"Hey, Opal, seriously," she opened and closed her fist repeatedly, "Water. Please."

"Ugh…" Opal threw her boomerang in an arc so that the water bottle would land squarely in the Sepia's hand. "Ya know, I'd say that too if I were your mum. Ya always have to film this, film that. Ya don't take breaks."

Sepia tossed the boomerang back down and bent upwards to take a drink. The empty bottle was dropped back to the ground when she was finished, "She's not my real mom. Don't get me wrong, I do love her lots. It just… feels like there is a disconnect there," she shrugged and straightened out her skirt to come down, "I think everything's perfect. The crew should be here in a while." Her feet swung over the bars and she hopped down, landing squarely on the roof of the trailer.

"She raised ya. You're just trying to justify your not being there," Opal pressed as she watched her friend hop down from the top of the trailer, "Why even film in the first place? You know that they'd love to have you at Shade."

"Yeah, yeah, everyone loves Sepia Hughes. Neila would be so happy! Damascus would have his eye on me. I could break Ivoros out of his shell!" Sepia rolled her eyes and focused on Opal as she stood back up, "I dropped out of combat school for a reason. I don't want to destroy things, I want to create things."

Opal had heard that reason over a hundred times, but it never satisfied her. "Ya know, ya can add the entirety of Shade to the people who want you there. You're a joy to be around! Who couldn't enjoy having you there?"

She watched as Sepia gave her a forced, toothy grin. She was one heck of an actress, but a fake smile was still a fake smile. "What is it?"

Sepia snatched up her water bottle again. "You know, what goes on in my head might surprise you," her false smile faded as she walked around the scene. Her eyes settled on a deep crack in the earth, one that was about three feet across. For a moment, she considered blocking it off, but then that could limit the shot angles she had available to film with. It wasn't too horribly close to the set, so she decided that it wasn't that big of a deal.

"I like to be in control, you know? It scares me to not know what is going on around me, but I can analyze every single frame of the worlds that I create on the silver screen. I think that's one of the reasons that I love film so much. I can direct and act in my own films. My voice becomes strengthened by the screen that I get projected onto. There isn't much that I can't do with special effects, even. It's… magical," she smiled at the whole set as she approached her friend again, "I love cinematography. There's just something that sparks a fire inside me."

Opal leaned on the side of the trailer and watched as the sun make the horizon glow with a dull orange, "That's deep, but…" she hummed while she thought of a way to word her thoughts, "I just think that you're talented in a lot of areas. I mean, sure you've got a role in a big upcoming film, but you've also got some serious talent with those guns of yours. Heck, ya even modified them so that you could learn from your fights! That's incredible! You could be a great Huntress!"

"I know that I could be, and I would love to be one. I can't balance both being a filmmaker and a Huntress! I've got to choose, and I have found my niche in film. I found movies before I even thought about being a Huntress, and it was the movies that ignited something inside me. I knew that I had to know everything about those moving pictures." Sepia glanced down the road that she came from to see a dusty blue truck barrelling towards the set. Her crew had arrived.

"So do you want to stick around while we film, or do you need to go do something else?" she asked.

Opal sighed and took a seat against the trailer, "I'll stick around. I love seeing ya act." She thought it best to just drop the whole Huntress thing. Once Sepia's mind was made up, then there wasn't any changing it. No amount of prying would convince her to switch careers again.

"Great, then prepare to be amazed! We're hitting things off with the hero swooping in to save me today! It's going to be awesome!" Sepia waved down the truck as it pulled in behind the trailer, "Hey! I've got it all set up! Bust out my cameras and get into costume! Let's move, guys! Come on!"

A crew of five men dressed in all black filed out and began setting up cameras and whatever else hadn't already been brought on set. Two went in the trailer to change into costume and prepare. Sepia was already dressed in her own costume, a simple blue blouse tucked into a tan skirt. A harness was well hidden underneath her clothing, which would allow her to be taken up with the hero as he flew away.

In an hour, everyone was ready and huddled around the director. Despite Sepia's small stature, her presence on the set was huge. The entirety of her crew looked up to her, despite them physically looking down at her.

"Alright boys, the first scene that we're doing is where our dashing Huntsman is going to save me from our dastardly villain. You know the drill. The hero can fly with his semblance, the baddie is a Grimm experiment gone wrong. He'll have me tied by the ankles and across my chest. Get too frisky when putting my ropes on, and you lose an arm. Sound like a plan?"

And with that, the chaos of getting everyone in place ensued. Sepia focused on getting everyone in place. In mere minutes, she had everything into position. Wires were connected to the back of her harness, her ropes were tied taught, and behind her stood a hulking man dressed in black and red. Behind him was a cluster of posts covered in black and white tape, as well as a large, black, mechanical kangaroo with a white and red bone mask. Though it was a crude representation of a certain type of Grimm, an Oro, it could be taken care of in post. "Alright, take one!" she shouted to her crew, "ACTION!"

The scene went as planned. The wires took her up with the hero just as expected. The mechanism was connected to a smaller scaffold just outside of the shot. "Nice work! I'll go over that and see what we need to do be-" She froze. There was a shift in the weight throughout the system. Upon looking at the lower supports, she saw the issue. One of the supports was bent, and the other three were dented.

The number one concern of a Sepia Hughes set was safety. Test everything before it is put into use. Inspect everything before a shot. She had failed to remember her own rule.

Panic sunk into her chest. "Lower him! Lower him now!" she shouted as she let go of the film's hero. If they got him down, then perhaps her weight could still be supported. It would take too long to lower them both simultaneously with the old rigging that they were using. The metal creaked and the wires began to strain and snap throughout the rig.

The crew froze in place. They all looked around at each other. Fear took hold of every last one of them. Even Opal stood by helplessly.

"I SAID NOW!" Sepia shouted. Maybe she could survive the fall with her aura, but she didn't want to bet on it. Then she turned her head to look for where she might fall. Judging by the height she would fall forwards… directly into the crevasse that she had ignored.

The crew followed through with her order, but it was too late. Even with the hero on the ground, the bent support caved inward. The scaffold leaned with her hanging helplessly. The other three collapsed, unable to support the combined weight of her and the rigging.

"This can't be happening…" she whispered as she watched the ground fly beneath her feet. The momentum sent her forward, and straight towards the crack that she had neglected earlier. "NO!" She shouted, trying to maneuver herself as to not land directly into it, but she began to descend into the earth anyway. Her wires tangled in her struggle.

She jolted to a stop. The wires tightened around whatever they were wrapped around. Her arms. Her legs. Her waist. The wire connected to the back of her harness, the one supporting most of her weight, tightened around her neck.

The feeling of suffocation struck her immediately, but it made her remember that her aura could protect her for a little while. But for how long? How long could she last without oxygen? If her aura didn't hold up that long, then her neck would snap. She was going to die.

"O…" she could hardly speak above a whisper with her the little air left in her lungs, "Opa… l…"

"I've got ya, Sepia! Just hold on!" Opal called from what felt to Sepia like miles above. Though, on the surface, Opal could see that Sepia was only about five feet down, and just barely out of reach. If she pulled her up by the wires, then that would just tighten the one around Sepia's neck. It would just kill her faster.

Opal's eyes traced the support wires up to the winch that the wires fed into. It was dangerous, but it was Sepia's only chance of survival. Her aura would hold up long enough. Her aura had to hold up long enough. She made a break for the winch and kicked the lever to turn it on. Nothing.

"Dammit!" Opal kicked the machine, her flip-flop bouncing off of it without making a dent. She ran back to the hole and looked down. It wasn't more than a twenty foot drop, or the best that she could tell. Sepia could survive that. The girl was small, but tough as nails.

But what if that drop went deeper? She could have fallen deeper and gotten caught in an even worse position. She had watched a movie with Sepia that showed a man cutting off his own arm to get out of a hole.

No, this wasn't the time for doubt. Opal had to act.

"I'm gonna to try to disconnect ya! Brace yourself!" Opal shouted down, but received no response. Had Sepia passed out, or did she not have enough air to speak? That wouldn't matter if she could get her down.

She held up her boomerang and ran back to the winch. She held the end with a large, open hole on the end up to the support that the winch was attached to and pressed a button on a small remote in her freehand. With a bright explosion, her boomerang fired a magma Dust-charged lead slug into the support. She fired the weapon again. Again. A fourth time. The fourth shot was enough to separate the winch from its supports, and the machine instantly shot off towards the crack.

Opal ran to the crack that Sepia had fallen into, but inside she saw Sepia rapidly sliding into a deeper hole, one that her panicked eyes hadn't seen, "Sepia!" she dove in after her friend and latched on.

A tan glow came from Sepia and faded. The wire around her neck finally cut flesh. If Opal hadn't grabbed the wire the moment that she saw Sepia's aura broke, then Sepia might not have had a head.

They both crashed into floor of the crevasse, but there was another drop off only a few inches away. Sepia's blood wet the sandstone under them. Her unconscious body began sliding slowly towards the abyss below. Without an aura, she would certainly die.

Opal didn't have time to think. Her body just reacted. She held Sepia tight in her legs. The wires were weighing them down. They had to go. She fired her weapon three times, finally disconnecting the wires, but not quickly enough for Sepia to be saved completely.

She stared at the girl bleeding out in her arms. The blood. She had to do something about the blood. She untied the bandana from around her thigh and secured it around Sepia's neck. Care was taken to only apply pressure to the sides of her neck, as to not cause any more damage to her throat. Hopefully the blood vessels wouldn't be damaged to the point that no blood could flow at all.

Sepia was going to die. She was going to die right there in Opal's arms.

In a last ditch effort to get help, Opal screamed for anyone to hear. She screamed and screamed until she couldn't scream any more. She was going to be a Huntress in training. She was supposed to keep people safe, but there she was, about to lose her best friend. An ambulance had to get out there as soon as possible, but could Sepia last that long?

The sobbing could just barely be heard between her cries for help. The director's crew scrambled to find a way to help, but things were looking bleak for Sepia Hughes. At least she would die doing what she loved. At least she would die content with herself.

But that's not me at all, is it? Sepia thought. She could breath again, but it was hard. White hot fire still filled her throat. She knew that no words could come out. She felt tired, too tired to open her eyes. Too tired to move. Everything hurt, but her mind still worked. I'm not happy. I'm not okay with this. I have to do something.

Her head pounded. The blood must have been rushing away from her head. She felt queasy. Still, she kept thinking. Here Opal is crying, and I can't do anything. I'm not dead. Just tired. Really tired. More tired than I've ever been.

Even the darkness began to fade. Sepia slowly slipped out of consciousness, but caught the whining of engines. She could have sworn that she heard Opal's muffled voice and a cool breeze come over her. That didn't matter much, though. She was gone. She was growing cold. The last thing that she could see was a bright flash of yellow. Then everything went dark.

That's a wrap…

She allowed herself to descend deep into the grasp of death.

"She's stable, but not well. We can't be sure if she will wake up or not. I'm sorry."

"Then do more! Do what you have to! I am not losing my daughter too!"

The second voice was that of Aubrey Hughes, Sepia's aunt turned mother. It couldn't have been, though. Sepia Hughes was dead. Sepia Hughes knew that she was dead.

Do the dead know that they're dead?

She could still think. That thought had come from her. Sepia Hughes wasn't a corpse. She was alive. She could sense that she was alive. Her heart beat weakly in her ears, but picked up as life began filling her once more.

Everything ached. Everything felt stiff. Though, nothing was numb. She could feel her fingers twitching.

The sheet crumpled under her closed fist.

"Sepia?!"

That got a reaction. She closed another fist around her sheets.

"Oh my gods! Sepia! Can you open your eyes?!"

Can I…?

A sliver of white light stretched across her field of view. She could hear the distant sound of beeping. The chemical stench of medicine burned her nose. White curtains had been drawn around what must have been her bed. It was a hospital, that much she knew.

Her field of view exploded into an expanse of blinding white. It faded, eventually allowing her to focus on the woman standing over her. It was indeed Aubrey. Those deep red eyes were unmistakable.

"Sepia!" Aubrey enveloped her in a painful hug, but it certainly wasn't agonizing. Though not what the doctor had ordered, some motherly love was definitely on the list of things that she needed.

'What happened?' she tried to ask, but found that she could only mouth the words. She tried again, but still nothing.

Pain racked her neck like a noose. The twisted wound around her neck began to burn. Her fingers brushed the front of the bandages around her neck. There was a divot right below her chin. Her voice box was gone.

Aubrey snatched up her scroll and handed it to her daughter. The doctors had told her the extend of the damage, but she didn't have the heart to say it outright.

Sepia took the scroll and began typing.

She didn't need to be told that she would never speak again. While that hurt, she felt that it was unreasonable to deny it and be upset over it. In no way could she allow herself to just give up and cry like that. Voice or not, she still felt like herself.

She handed the scroll back to Aubrey.

"I need a favor," Aubrey's eyes flashed while she read the message out loud, "Get my guns so that I can clean them. Get the doctors to do what they can to get me on the move."

Her mouth hung open. The first thing that her daughter was asking for after waking up was the weapons that she had abandoned months ago. She placed a hand over her daughter's, "What are you thinking about doing, Sepia?"

Something else burned in Sepia's gut. It was her belief that a brush with death changed someone. It was a movie trope for that reason. While looking into the face of Death himself, she had an epiphany.

She typed out another message and motioned for Aubrey to read it back.

"Because I…" Aubrey reeled back, "You want to be a Huntress again?!"

Though surprised herself, Sepia could feel a slew of new sensations boiling inside her. Excitement. Wonder. Adventure. She wanted to go far. There, she could film things that she wouldn't need special effects for. She could choreograph fights naturally. There were so many places that she would be able to see that she couldn't otherwise.

Who says that I can't be a director and a Huntress? she thought to herself. That brush with death reminded her that she had more to live for than just film. She could keep pursuing film, and she could fight to get the shots that no one else could. Helping people was an added bonus.

She smiled in response, and Aubrey promptly left the room with tears welling up in her eyes.

Sepia knew that those weren't tears of sadness. You told me I could be whatever I wanted to be, but I knew that you wanted me to be a Huntress. You knew that mom and dad would have wanted it for me too.

Before long, she was ready to test herself. Taking a shot at getting out of bed would be enough, especially since she had only been awake for a few minutes. Leaning up was painful, but she pushed through it.

Her bare feet retracted from the frigid tile, but she forced them back down. Don't stop. Keep going.

She stood and stared out the window on the other side of her room. The seemingly endless desert of Vacuo sprawled out into the horizon. There was more to the world than all of that sand, dust, and rock. Learning that firsthand would be a good experience.

The other Huntsman academy on the continent of Sanus, Beacon Academy, was a lot greener. It was easy to get to by land, air, and sea. It would be the perfect place to see the rest of the world from.

So, she forced a smile through her pain, on with take 2.

Watch out every Monday and Friday at 6pmCT for new chapters of ARTS, two every week!