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1
If you asked her to point out one thing that led her to take a volley of superheated glass shards to the chest, she could only point to one specific moment – when she and Mercury had finally told all these stupid kids they were on Cinder's side, she had finally wiped the dumb smiles off their faces. All of them. That was what she had wanted, right? Emerald Sustrai loved watching people in pain as much as any- no, wait, wrong, she spent time around Neo - most anyone.
But all she had been able to think about was this dull ache in her heart. They may have been idiots, but they were idiots who actually liked her. Emerald had never really had that before. So when Merc had distracted them, and Cinder was firing a volley from behind... Em had used her Semblance to trick Cinder into firing at her instead. And it had worked.
She woke up a few days later in the Beacon infirmary. It was late, judging by the low light, and there were few other people around. A few other patients, a nurse here and there...
… and her.
Ruby sprang awake and immediately set about, in her frantic way, explaining what had happened after Cinder had, to quote, “shish-kebab'd” her. How Yang had beaten Merc, how Cinder and Neo escaped, but most important how the plan had been foiled and no one had died. And then, of all things, Ruby cried. Cried about how awesome Em had looked, how worried she had been, and how sorry she was that the rest of the team had not managed to warm up to the idea of her turning over a new leaf.
“Oh c'mon, don't cry over me. I'm one of the bad guys, remember?”
Ruby shook her head, wiping her eyes with a sleeve, “Nope. Not anymore, you're not.”
2
Yang had no idea how to take her sister dating Allegedly Former Very Evil Person Emerald Sustrai at first. Em seemed like she would be bad for Ruby, but... Ruby admittedly seemed good for her. It was whether or not Emerald deserved Ruby that was in question. So Yang made sure to accompany them on dates, citing older sibling chaperon privileges, and... watched. Which was way less creepy than that sounded, honest. She was just worried!
But Emerald, for whatever reason, kept failing to give Yang reason to worry. She was calm and upstanding and happy, if a little too quick on the snark. But then again, “a little too quick on the snark” described basically half of their family. Maybe that was even part of what Ruby liked about her. And Ruby kept the former thief in line, too, which Yang appreciated watching immensely.
But then every once in a while, just out of the corner of her eye, Yang would catch Emerald giving Ruby this look. The kind of look you capitalize the first letter of, that speaks volumes, that the guy who wrote those Ninjas of Love books Blake somehow thought Yang had failed to notice wished he could put into words. Warm and kinder than Yang had ever seen her, full of devotion and admiration...
Well, it was a start.
3
“Emerald...” Ruby moaned, flopped against her girlfriend's shoulder on the couch, drawing it out for a few seconds, “Tell me a story.”
“A story?” Emerald quirked an eyebrow. Not that she did not know any stories, storytelling just seemed awfully close to the lying she had been trying to avoid for the last several months of this relationship. Which was not a hangup most people had with their partners, but Emerald tried hard to be careful around Ruby in general. This all felt like something she could lose at any moment, sometimes.
Ruby turned her eyes up to meet hers, wide and pleading, “Yeah! You must have all kinds of stories I don't know, right? Since you come from a whole different kingdom.”
A moment of contemplation. “I guess I have a few. If you really want to hear them, that is.”
“I do! Please?”
Well, there was one way she could think of to get around the worry about lying, right? “Alright, alright. Once upon a time, there was a girl whose parents left her on the streets, and she had to learn how to steal things to survive...”
4
Emerald had never been one to look out for others. Such was life on the streets, where anyone sticking their neck out for you expected way more in return and debt was best avoided at all costs. No one was ever really looking out for you other than, well, you. Which was why, looking back on it, her reaction to Cinder had been so strange. But hey, falling in love taught you things about yourself. Like how Emerald Sustrai had a serious problem with throwing herself at things that threatened girls she was in love with.
That, combined with years of thieving experience, led her to gently excuse herself for “just a sec” when she saw the big muscular guy bump into Ruby in a way she perfectly recognized. No matter what he was like, how much bigger than her he was, Emerald automatically turned and followed him back into a nearby alleyway.
“You dropped this.” She said to Ruby a couple minutes later, smiling through a busted lip and trying not to look like there were a few massive bruises forming on her chest and stomach. But she had gotten Ruby's wallet back, and that was what mattered. Even if Ruby spent the next several minutes fretting over Emerald's lip and apparent black eye instead of appreciating the return of her valuables.
5
Emerald went to visit Mercury once, the Atlas-run prison blinding white and clinical as all hell. He was wheeled out, his legs having been rightfully confiscated, until he was on one side of the bulletproof glass and Em only a foot away. A foot and a world.
“Looking for some kind of way out of here?” Emerald asked, smirking.
Mercury did not seemed bothered, at least, by prison life. “I'll get there. Having fun playing house?”
“It's nice to have one.” She chuckled, “I'm even dating one of them.”
“The bimbo?”
“You kidding? She hates my guts.” She looked up in mock thought, “Which probably isn't helped by the fact that I'm dating her sister, come to think of it.”
Mercury broke out into laughter, “Did you want at least a day before going completely soft?”
“I waited a couple. Just because I had to, in the hospital.” She smirked, “We go out on dates to the movies and everything. Sometimes I even buy.”
“I can't believe I ever even came close to taking you seriously.”
Emerald shrugged, “Hey, it's worked out pretty well for me.”