Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Merc. Get up.”

Mercury grunted and turned onto his back as soon as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He opened a single eye and found that Emerald was staring back at him through the darkness, standing over where he was lying down. He propped himself up by the elbows and stared back, dazed. “Em, what…?”

“We’re going, Mercury.” Emerald slung a bag over her shoulders and stared at him, expectantly.

Mercury pushed his bangs away from his eyes and slung his metal legs over the side of the tiny bed. “Are you gonna explain what’s going on, or…?” He trailed off as he yawned and rubbed at his eyes.

Emerald opened her mouth for a second; then, she hesitated, closed it, and shook her head. “Just get dressed, Merc,” she muttered, kneading at her temples, “I packed your stuff already.”

“Alright, alright.” He climbed out of bed, turned on a light, and pulled off the tank top he had slept in. Emerald politely averted her eyes in order to give him some privacy. After shoving on his clothes haphazardly and pulling up his boots, Mercury stood up, walked past Emerald, and reached for a nearby canister of hair gel.

Emerald’s hand, however, stopped his. “We don’t have time for that,” she said, slightly amused, “C’mon.”

Mercury furrowed his eyebrows and shot her a look. Then, he let out a sigh and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Whatever, Em,” he said, still only half-awake.

Emerald smirked in response. Then, she gestured for him to follow her and left the room. After a moment, Mercury followed after her, suppressing a yawn with his hand.

They walked through the halls of the warehouse silently for a while. It was pitch-black, and nobody appeared to be guarding the halls in case somebody tried to stage a mutiny in the middle of the night. Not that Mercury minded; whatever Emerald had planned, it was probably better that they were alone. He walked close behind her, unsure of where she was leading him.

He shifted his jaw and quickened his pace so that he was by Emerald’s side. “So, are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

Emerald avoided his gaze, adjusted the bag in her arms, and hesitated once again. “I don’t know.”

He tilted his head, causing his bangs to flop over in front of his eyes. “For Oum's sakes, Em. You can’t just wake me up at - what? - one AM? Whatever. You can’t just not tell me what’s going on.”

She let out a sigh. “First off, it’s one- thirty ,” she said, shutting her eyes tightly, “Secondly, I know that the moment I let you know what the plan is, you’re gonna back out of it.”

“Now why would I-?” Mercury paused mid-sentence as the gears in his head started to click into place. “Oh. Oh .” His eyes widened slightly. “I get it. You’re leaving.”

Emerald stopped. She whipped around and opened her mouth slightly. “ Mercury- ”

He took a step back. “Who are you, and what have you done with the real Emerald Sustrai?” he asked, quietly.

“Will you at least let me explain first-?” Mercury closed his mouth. “Mercury. Torchwick is dead . Cinder hasn’t come back in months . There’s nothing left for us here. We’ve got to go now, before it’s too late.”

Mercury made a face. “You’re saying that as if it’s easy .”

Emerald shook her head slowly. “Mercury…”

“Look, Em.” He folded his arms and gave her a serious look. “Neo’s going to kill us when she finds out we’ve left. You know that, right?”

She exhaled sharply and looked down. Both of them remembered the day that Neo had returned back from the base post-Battle of Beacon, with a cold, dead look in her eyes and a coat that suspiciously resembled Torchwick’s resting on her shoulders like a cape. Emerald had heard whispers around the base that Neo was secretly the daughter of Torchwick and Cinder from a marriage that had dissolved years ago, but she had laughed and brushed it off as a stupid, stupid rumor. With how Neo had taken control of the operations with an iron fist and set out on some nightmarish vengeance-fuelled crime spree, however?

She was beginning to believe that there was some credibility in that theory after all.

“I know, Mercury,” she said, looking up at him, “But it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Mercury pushed a hand through his hair. “And then what?” he asked, still unsure about the entire thing.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said, “All that matters is that we slip out undetected. We can discuss where to go from there, but none of it counts if we don’t leave this building alive.”

Mercury stared at her, disappointed. “And here I thought you were actually going to have a plan.” He turned to go. Before he could leave, however, Emerald reached out and grabbed his hand, interlocking her fingers with his.

“Mercury.” Emerald looked at him with her wide red eyes. “If I’m- no, we’re going to leave, I need you to come with me.” Her tone was surprisingly sincere. “I’m not leaving here without you.”

His eyes widened, and he turned back to face Emerald with a surprised look, as if he were unused to the idea that somebody actually gave a damn about him. “You’re that serious, huh?”

“Why wouldn’t I be, you idiot?” She smirked and spoke the last word with a hint of fondness. “I may have hated your guts when Cinder first picked you up, but honestly, Merc? I...” She shook her head and opted to switch out what she was planning to say with something else. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t the time. “Not to be sappy or anything, but you’re important to me.”

Mercury considered this silently for a moment. Then, he squeezed her hand tightly and stepped closer. “I’ll do it,” he said decisively, “But only because I love a good ego stroking.”

Emerald elbowed him playfully. “ Mercury- !” She laughed and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug, causing him to let out a tiny noise of surprise. “Thank you. Now let’s shut up before somebody catches us.”

Mercury put his index finger and thumb together, and made a motion across his mouth that looked like he was zipping his lips. Then, he held up his other hand and ‘flicked’ away the key. Emerald scrunched up her face and tried not to laugh again; instead, she attempted to glare at him, which failed because she couldn’t hide that she was smiling. She took his hand once again and pulled him down the hall.

They walked together, hand in hand, Emerald leading the way through the darkness. As they neared the exit, Mercury began to feel confident that they were actually going to go through with this. That is, until Emerald pulled him to the side.

Mercury made a little noise. “Em-?”

She put a finger to his lips, shushing him. Then, she pointed ahead. Mercury followed her gaze until he saw a White Fang guard sitting at his post. “Huh. Okay.” He looked at her. “You think you can get us past him?”

Emerald rolled her eyes. “Do you really have such a low opinion of my Semblance, Mercury?”

Mercury held his hands up. “Woah there. Hold up. I said nothing about that.”

“Whatever.” She flicked at his nose. “I know what I’m doing, you ridiculous boy. Stay close to me.” She motioned for him to follow her with a wordless gesture. Mercury made a face, shoved his hands into his pockets, and hunched down in order to make himself seem smaller. Despite the fact that he was 5’11”, this wasn’t too difficult a feat. It wasn’t like Yatsuhashi was trying to hide behind Emerald or something.

Emerald turned her gaze towards the guard, narrowed her eyes, and focused intensely. Mercury observed her closely, taking note of every little movement she made; the way that she scraped her teeth against her bottom lip worriedly, how her thumb pressed against her index and middle fingers tightly, the way her longer strands of hair swished behind her back as she snuck across the room.

Suddenly, the guard sat up. Mercury’s eyes widened, and he reached to grab Emerald’s shoulder. She put a hand on his chest, stopping him, and silently pointed at the guard. The guard wasn’t even looking in their direction; instead, his gaze was directed at the ground. He swerved around, gazing past their feet and beyond.

Eventually, he let out a little groan. “Only a mouse,” he muttered, closing his eyes and turning around. His breathing slowed down, and he was asleep within moments.

Emerald looked up Mercury and mouthed the words Let’s go at him urgently. He nodded and kept on following her. They made their way across the room, eventually reaching the door. Emerald reached over, yanked the handle, and out they went.

The early morning sky was dark and starless, and a cool breeze flowed through the air, ruffling Mercury’s hair and causing him to zip his jacket up tighter. “We’re out,” he said, his eyes drifting upwards towards the shattered moon floating high above them, “Now what?”

Emerald breathed and tucked her mint green hair behind her ears. “Let’s start walking. Any place is better than here.”

“Whatever you say, princess,” he muttered, burrowing his face into the collar of his jacket. Emerald rolled her eyes at the nickname and let out an annoyed snort. She briefly glanced at him and observed that he very much resembled a grumpy wolf puppy, what with his shaggy silver hair, steel grey eyes, and the sullen expression on his face. Even Emerald herself had to admit that there was something oddly endearing about it.

Ugh, Emerald, what are you thinking? Mercury Black is an asshole. He’s the complete opposite of endearing. Don’t be stupid.

“Uh… Em?” She snapped out of her thoughts to find that Mercury was staring at her. “Your face is red,” he said, tilting his head, “Like, really red.”

“No it’s not,” Emerald replied, her face visibly flushed.

Mercury made a startled hiccuping noise, and once again Emerald was reminded of the wolf parallels she drew moments earlier. “Alright. Fine. Okay. You’re totally not blushing.”

She let out a little growl, cueing Mercury to stop talking. The two of them walked in silence for a little while longer, passing the city limits and entering a thick nearby forest. It was deep and dark, but there seemed to be no Grimm in sight. Thank goodness for the small victories, at the very least.

They hadn’t gone too far deep in the woods when Mercury let out an embarrassingly loud yawn. Emerald whipped around to face him, and he stared at her with a tired expression. “It’s early in the morning and I’m exhausted,” he said, “So sue me.”

Emerald closed her eyes and kneaded her forehead. “You know, you’re normally cute when you’re sleepy, but right now you’re just being annoying.”

Mercury furrowed his eyebrows. “...Thanks?”

She inhaled sharply and rubbed at her eyes. She hated to admit it, but maybe he did have a point about calling it a night. “Okay, you know what? Fine. You win.”

He tilted his head. “What’s with the sudden change of heart?”

“Honestly? I’m exhausted too.” She shook her head slowly. “I just… I needed to get as far from that place as possible.”

Mercury shut his eyes for a moment to consider what Emerald had said. “Fair.”

Emerald straightened her back and let out a sigh. “We’ll keep moving in the morning,” she said, “Let’s just get to bed right now. Find a tree.”

“Why a tree, Em?”

“Do you want the Grimm to maul us in our sleep?”

He considered this for a moment. “...Point taken.”

“Thank you.” She gripped his hand and led him to a tree nearby with low-hanging branches. She climbed up onto the one lowest to the ground and pulled Mercury up after her, depositing him on a nearby branch. He was still close enough to her that she could smell the familiar odors of sweat and sandalwood oil emanating from him.

Mercury spread out his legs in front of him and rested his back against the trunk of the tree while folding his arms across his chest. “G’night, Em,” he murmured, shutting his eyes.

Emerald reached over and ruffled his hair, causing him to scrunch up his face and make a whining noise in response. Without copious amounts of hair gel to hold it in place, his hair felt soft and fluffy to the touch. “Go to bed, nerd.”

“Sure.” He let out another yawn and turned his face away from her as he dozed off to sleep. Emerald turned away from him, shifted her position slightly, and kept her eyes affixed to the sky above as she began to drift off to sleep.

Morning came sooner than expected, and Emerald and Mercury found themselves heading deeper into the forest. Mercury followed behind Emerald, stuffing his hands into his pockets periodically. His bangs had flopped into his face, obscuring his eyes. Emerald kept a constant pace, keeping her gaze facing forwards and not looking back. They walked together in silence, the only sounds coming from soft footsteps and the leaves crunching under their shoes. The sun was rising over the horizon, casting a warm glow behind them. Despite the light, the trees were tall enough to block it out; as a result, the forest appeared to be much darker than it really was.

They had been walking for a few hours when Mercury coughed. “So,” he said, “Do you even know where we’re going?”

Emerald sighed. “We just follow the road until we hit a village. It’s not that hard, Mercury.”

“Sure, okay. Except there hasn’t been a road for miles.”

Emerald froze in place for a second. Then, she turned around, revealing a mildly panicked look on her face. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

He shrugged and made an indifferent noise. “You’re the smart one. I thought you’d pick up on it at some point.”

She sighed and kneaded her forehead. “Okay. Merc. Can you at least tell me when we left the road?”

“Not sure.” Mercury ran a hand through his hair in contemplation. “Pretty sure it just kind of… faded after a while.”

“The road disappeared… ?” Emerald’s eyes widened.

He nodded. “Face it, Em, we’re pretty much lost.”

“Don’t say that.” She buried her face into her hands and slumped against a gnarled old tree. “We are not lost, Mercury.”

“The road’s gone, we have no idea where we’re going, and I’m pretty sure I just saw that tree you’re leaning on half an hour ago. Yep, definitely lost.”

“ Mercury- !” Emerald stood herself up. “We are nowhere near lost.”

“Fine then.” He shrugged. “So where are we even trying to go?”

Emerald opened her mouth to respond, only to find herself at a complete loss for words. Mercury frowned slightly and leaned against a tree. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I thought.”

Emerald let out a little growl in response. “This is really not the time,” she muttered, latching onto Mercury’s arm and dragging him away from the tree, “Let’s just go.”

“Go where ?” Mercury wriggled out of her grasp. “You literally just admitted we were gonna follow the road until we bumped into a village or something. That’s not a lot to work with.”

Almost immediately, Emerald whipped around and opened her mouth to respond. Before she could do so, however, a rustling noise sounded throughout the forest, followed by a nearby roar. Emerald’s body stiffened, and she gripped Mercury’s arm firmly. “Stay close,” she whispered, her eyes narrowing slightly.

He raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Instead, he focused on the feeling of her fingers as they brushed against his skin. Holy fuck, they were soft . That was not something he was expecting from her, to be honest. Not that he was going to say that out loud, obviously.

The bushes ahead rustled, and a large Ursa emerged, prowling towards the two of them dangerously and letting out a great snarl. Emerald growled and drew out her weapon, shifting it into its sickle form. Mercury got into a fighting stance, ready to swing his legs into action. It was only a matter of when the Ursa decided to pounce.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have to wait too long.

The Ursa roared and dashed towards the two of them, swiping at Emerald with its clawed hand. She flipped back over it, striking at the Ursa with her sickles. She had managed to get a hit on the beast, leaving two red slash marks on its paw. The Ursa growled and limped towards Emerald, backing her up against a tree. It was Mercury’s cue.

He ran towards the Ursa and leaped into the air, kicking it away from Emerald. The two of them landed several feet away, just barely missing a tree. Mercury rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, ready for the next go around.

In hindsight? Maybe that wasn’t the best move after all.

Upon getting to a crouching position, Mercury looked up and met the Ursa nose to nose. Before he had time to react, he was knocked away. He skidded across the ground and landed on his back. Mercury tried to sit up, only to hiss in pain. He touched his chest for a brief moment; his breath hitched upon finding that his hand was now soaked in blood.

His blood.

Emerald’s eyes widened, horrified. “ Mercury! ” She grit her teeth and turned her attention towards the Ursa, converting her sickles into shotguns. Mercury closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself. He couldn’t see the ensuing battle, but he heard shots from Emerald’s gun and pained moans from the Ursa.

After a minute or two, the gunfire subsided, and footsteps moved in his direction. Mercury inhaled sharply and held still for a few minutes. A part of him wondered if he was about to die a horrible death. Almost a second later, he felt a hand on his back helping him sit up.

“Mercury!” He couldn’t tell whether or not he was hallucinating, but Emerald almost looked like she was about to cry. “Are you okay…?”

Mercury shrugged. “I might be,” he said in a dry tone.

Emerald let out a little snort. “That was rhetorical,” she said, her face betraying her amusement, “Hold still. I’m patching you up.”

“Sure thing, Emmy.” Mercury scooted up next to a tree in order to free up Emerald’s hands.

Emerald blushed at the nickname and reached into her bag, pulling out a First Aid kit. “Jacket. Off,” she said, “I need to see your chest.”

“What’s the magic word?” Mercury asked.

“‘Take off your jacket before you bleed out?”

Mercury considered this. “Good enough,” he said, unzipping the top half of his jacket and  squirming out of it to the best of his ability. He tossed it onto the grass and winced upon seeing the ugly claw marks that tore through the top half of them. His undershirt hadn’t held up any better; not only were the claw marks more visible, but prominent blood stains were quickly materializing on the grey fabric.

Emerald cursed under her breath. “Dear Oum,” she said, “Do you need help getting that off, Mercury?”

“Who, me?” He smirked, trying to keep his composure. “Nah, I’ll be fine.” He wriggled out of his undershirt. Three small but visible claw marks slashed across his chest; they started at his right shoulder, passed his collarbone, and stopped inches above his left nipple.

Emerald’s face paled slightly. “That does not look fine,” she said in a hushed voice, pulling out some isopropyl alcohol wipes, “Hold still, this is going to sting.”

“It’s okay, Em,” he said, swallowing, “I’ve been hurt worse.”

“And that makes everything magically okay?” She tilted her head and gave Mercury an incredulous look, as if she were his own mother. Not that Mercury ever knew his mother, but it was the thought that counted.

In the meantime, he opted to avoid Emerald’s gaze and glance away from her. “Guess not,” he muttered to himself.

“Damn right,” she said, “Now sit still and let me clean those up before they get infected.” She immediately got down to doing just so.

The gashes began to sting horribly, and Mercury let out a hiss. “And here I thought you were kidding when you said I was important to you,” he said, clenching his fists in an attempt to minimize the pain. Sadly, it wasn’t working very well.

“Nope.” Her hands brushed against his fingers in a surprisingly gentle move, and her eyes widened upon contact with his calloused skin. Mercury’s hands relaxed at Emerald’s touch, and his eyes met hers for the briefest of moments. They sat like that for a while until Emerald’s hands moved away, and she hesitated.

“Can I…?” Emerald’s eyes wandered to Mercury’s scarred chest, and her fingers hovered over a pair of prominent scars circling his nipples and separating his pectorals from his abdomens. They were too precise, too evenly made to have possibly come from a battle.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently, “Just don’t do anything painful.”

“Obviously not.” Emerald traced his scars with her fingers. Mercury shivered slightly at her touch and watched her hands move. Her fingers travelled over them, careful not to hurt Mercury by accident. Neither of them said a word to each other for a few minutes, and they sat together in an awkward silence.

That is, until Emerald broke it. “Those healed pretty well,” she said, putting her hands down and reaching for some bandages.

“You think?” Mercury raised an eyebrow, amused.

Emerald shrugged. “If you’re not convinced, then see for yourself.”

“Didn’t say I wasn’t, Em.” Mercury gave his bangs a slight toss. “Just wanted to trick you into validating me, that’s all.”

“You didn’t need to, you ass,” Emerald said, laughing. She began bandaging the claw marks on his chest, painstakingly taking care to make sure that she didn’t wrap them too tight. As much as she enjoyed teasing Mercury, causing him actual pain would not end well for either of them.

Mercury glanced over at his torn up jacket with a blank expression on his face. He reached over and pulled it close, fitting his fingers through the holes left by the Ursa’s claw marks. “You’ve got extra clothes in there, right?”

Emerald made a face. “No, you’ll have to run around shirtless until we find you another top,” she said in a flat tone. Mercury blinked at her, and she snorted. “Of course I do. I’m not an idiot, Merc.”

“Did I say you were?” Mercury tilted his head and gave her a teasing smirk.

Emerald finished bandaging his wounds and ruffled Mercury’s hair roughly. He scrunched up his face and squirmed at her touch. “I’m finished, you dummy,” she said, a grin spreading across her face.

“I’m not stupid , Em.” Emerald could’ve sworn that she heard him whine just about then.

She rolled her eyes, picked up the bag, and shoved it at Mercury. “There’s stuff in there. I don’t care what you put on, just do it before you get sick.”

“Wait, so I can get dressed now? Don’t you usually have to wait before-?”

Emerald kneaded her forehead. “Yes, Mercury. It’s not like you’re dying or something.”

He snorted loudly and pulled out a blue flannel shirt and a fake leather hoodie jacket. “Whatever, mom,” Mercury said drily as he pulled on the clothes. He found that he had to fix the buttons for his shirt multiple times; he had been in such a rush to put them on that he had accidentally buttoned the shirt the wrong way.

In the meantime, Emerald leaned against a tree and watched Mercury get dressed. As he did so, he couldn’t see the appreciative smirk forming on her face.

They didn’t get that much farther that day. Between Mercury’s injuries and the battle with the Ursa, both runaways found that they were a little too exhausted to make any more substantial progress. For the second night in a row, they were not sleeping in a comfortable room within an inn, but rather a tree.

That was fine for Mercury, as he wasn’t banking on getting any sleep that night in the first place. He grunted in pain as he struggled to find a comfortable position to relax on the tree limb. It was gonna be one of those nights for him.

As much as Mercury wanted to admit otherwise, the memories of his childhood were taking longer to fade away than he wanted them to. To say that life with his father was hellish was a gross understatement. Hell, to say it was a gross understatement was, in itself, also a gross understatement.

Mercury didn’t regret killing him. Not one bit.

After years of being treated like a broken toy, forced to walk with a pair of crude prosthetics that didn’t even fit properly, seen as a weapon instead of a living, breathing human being, called all manner of things worse than simply a useless bitch , and sucked of any lasting childhood innocence he could ever have?

Yeah, it was probably worth it.

Mercury exhaled sharply and rested his hands on top of his knees, the metal feeling ice cold even through the fabric of his pants. He’d been growing ever so slightly over the past few months thanks to the hormone injections, and he’d probably outgrow the current prosthetics any day now. He’d have to build a new pair at some point.

How was he going to do that with few resources and no one to turn to for help? Now that was a different story entirely.

As Mercury contemplated the next steps, he heard a small whimper from the branch nearby. Emerald. He turned to look at her. She was curled up into a little ball and had a pained look on her face. Mercury couldn’t tell through the darkness, but it seemed like she was going to cry.

“Em?” He reached over and shook her slightly. “Em, are you up?”

Emerald’s eyes opened slowly, and she took a few seconds to register his presence. “Mercury…?”

“What’s going on? You having a nightmare or something?” He shifted positions so he could easily face her.

Emerald avoided his gaze and went silent for a few seconds. “Shouldn’t you be asleep, Mercury?” she countered.

“Nah, that’s not a happening thing tonight.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “Just humor me, Emmy. You okay?”

Emerald blushed upon being called ‘Emmy’ and turned her face away from Mercury, nodding slowly in response to his question. “Maybe I’m not. So what?”

“Alright, alright, okay.” Mercury held his hands up in surrender. “Just asking. No need to get pissed.” He turned away from her and once again focused his gaze on the sky. The stars weren’t out, leaving the shattered moon as the only source of illumination available. Even then, the leaves did their best to conceal the moon up above, shrouding Mercury and Emerald in almost complete darkness.

Mercury closed his eyes for a brief moment and waited to see if Emerald was going to say anything after all. A few minutes passed in complete silence; without warning, she began speaking.

“It was about Cinder,” she murmured, shifting her position, “She was still alive after all, and when she found out we left…” She trailed off and shut her eyes, a pained expression on her face. “Merc, do you think we made the right choice?”

Mercury shifted his jaw and stared off into the distance for a moment as he considered her question. “Does it matter?” he asked, shrugging indifferently, “We made a choice. We’ve just gotta work with it now.”

“I guess…” Emerald bit her lip, and a look of uncertainty spread across her face. She reached up and fiddled with one of the longer locks of her hair and averted her eyes from Mercury. He watched her do this for a few moments; as he did so, an idea materialized within his brain.

“Hey.” He sat up and reached out to Emerald. “Up here.”

Emerald looked at him and snorted. “Merc, you can’t be serious.”

“Wrong. Up.”

“There’s no way we’ll both fit on t- Mercury! ” Emerald squirmed as Mercury wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her up onto his branch. He set her down on top of him and let go after making sure she wouldn’t fall off. She pouted at him and flicked his nose. “You ass ,” she said lightheartedly.

Mercury smirked at her. “ Somebody’s feeling better,” he teased, ruffling her hair. Emerald squirmed at Mercury’s touch, provoking a laugh from the latter. Upon stopping, he shifted Emerald so that she wasn’t lying right on top of his wounds from earlier. “Alright, Em, go to bed.”

“Fine.” She closed her eyes, rested her head on Mercury’s stomach, and snuggled close to him. Apparently, using him as a pillow wasn’t a terrible idea, because Emerald’s body relaxed almost immediately. Mercury let out a little sigh and sat back, turning his attention back to the night sky above.

He was just about ready to continue sitting by himself when Emerald spoke up again. “Mercury?”

“Yeah, Em?”

“Are we bad people?” She looked up at him with her big red eyes.

He shrugged indifferently. “...Yeah, kind of.”

“Mercury-!” Emerald let out a huff and shot him a glare. “Was that supposed to be reassuring?"

“Hey now, I never said it was.” He blew his bangs out of his face. “Just saying it as it is. We’ve murdered and cheated our way through Beacon. Hell, we’re probably one kicked puppy away from literally being pure evil incarnate.”

“You’ve murdered more people than I have,” Emerald said, flicking at Mercury’s nose again.

He shrugged. “You mean dad? Look, he’s hardly my first kill.”

Emerald tilted her head slightly and regarded him with a little frown. “Then who was…?”

“I’d…” Mercury shifted his jaw. “Rather not say. Let’s just count Dad as the first and move on.”

She inhaled through her nose and furrowed her brow. “...Fine then.” Emerald closed her eyes once again and clung to Mercury in order to not roll off the branch. For a moment, Mercury thought that Emerald had gone back to sleep. As he tended to be wrong about these kinds of things, however, she didn’t.

“How bad was he?” Emerald murmured, shifting slightly.

Mercury frowned and swiped his tongue along the bottom of his teeth. “Who, Dad?”

“Yeah.” She yawned, the resulting noise sounding like a cross between a cat and an aoogah.

Mercury hesitated for a moment and pushed a hand through his hair. “He was pretty much the worst, Em. Look.” He reached for his sleeves and rolled them up, revealing the oddly-shaped burn scars covering his arms. “He gave me these.”

Emerald covered her mouth and widened her eyes upon seeing Mercury’s arms. “Oh, Mercury ,” she whispered, horrified.

He huffed and pulled his sleeves down. “And that’s not even the worst of it.”

“He didn’t…” Emerald paused and searched for a way to phrase her next question delicately. “Mercury, I know this question’s out of my lane, but… was he-?”

“What, transphobic?” He went silent for a moment. “No, actually. My old man didn’t really care about what the fuck I was as long as I stayed out of his way. The guy hated me no matter what.”

“That’s not much better.” Emerald shifted her jaw ever-so-slightly and her position along with it.

“Does it matter? He’s dead now.” Mercury gave her a triumphant little smirk. “Not my problem anymore.”

Emerald gave him a skeptic look and tilted her head to get a better look at him. “Are you sure ?”

“I, uh…” Mercury hesitated for a brief moment; then, he sighed. “No. No I’m not. Okay? Happy now?”

She shook her head slowly. “Mercury…”

“Did you know I wasn’t even planning on sleeping tonight?” Mercury looked away from her, frustrated. “I thought I was gonna have to relive that shit if I did. And no, this isn’t the first time that happened. Remember when-?”

Emerald shushed him and hugged him close, murmuring something quietly. Mercury’s breath hitched, and he looked down at her. “Em?”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, relaxing, “Now go to sleep, you big dumb wolf pup.”

Mercury’s chest ached ever so slightly, and he found himself wrapping his arms around Emerald’s small waist. He allowed himself to relax and let his eyelids flutter close.

Both of them slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

Morning came. Sunlight poured in through the treetops. Emerald Sustrai was nowhere to be found.

Mercury had first realized this unpleasant fact when he woke up to find he was cold and no longer weighed down to the tree branch he was sleeping on previously. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around; there was, indeed, no sign of Emerald. At the time, he thought that Emerald had just wandered off to find breakfast or the path. There was no way she’d leave him behind. Right?

After taking a few moments to properly wake up, Mercury slid himself off the tree branch and landed on the ground with a soft… crinkling noise. “The fuck…?” He didn’t know a lot, but he did have enough experience to know that grass didn’t crinkle like paper.

He looked down and stepped back to find that he had landed on top of what appeared to be a wanted poster. Mercury shifted his jaw and picked it up, studying it carefully. The words blurred slightly to him and he could only make out the giant WANTED in bold letters, but the pictures of him and Emerald emblazoned on the top were enough for him to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Emerald!” He dropped the paper like a sack of potatoes and rushed off, in search of his partner. “Em, they’re looking for us!” For a moment, he dreaded that Emerald had been stolen away in the middle of the night or worse. It couldn’t have possibly been because she was the only one between the two of them with a clue about what she was doing. Whatever the reason was, however, he couldn’t possibly think of it.

“You think I don’t know that?” Emerald’s voice brought a wave of relief over Mercury, and he turned around to find her standing several paces away in the opposite direction. Something about her looked slightly different, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

As soon as he saw her, Mercury rushed over to her side. “Holy shit, don’t scare me like that!”

Emerald snorted, amused. “I wasn’t trying to. While you were running around like a headless Beowolf, I got a plan together.”

Mercury was about to ask exactly what this plan of Emerald’s entailed when he suddenly realized that the two long green locks from Emerald’s hair were no longer attached to her head and instead lying on the roots of a tree not so far away. “Em, your-”

“I know,” she said, letting out a little sigh. “Merc, follow me.”

She led Mercury over to the tree; her bag was resting not far away from the discarded locks of her hair. He plopped himself down and watched as she opened the bag and rifled through it.

“I was going to wake you up in a few minutes,” she told him as she searched, “I’d never leave you alone like that for too long.”

“Thanks.” Mercury rubbed at his eyes, still tired. He jolted awake, however, when Emerald finished rifling through the bag, pulling out a comb and a pair of scissors. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where this was going, and he scooted back.

Emerald affixed Mercury with a look. “What? They’re looking for a teenage boy with conspicuously stupid hair. I’m trying to keep you from getting arrested.”

Mercury pouted. “My hair’s not stupid,” he muttered childishly.

“It kind of is.” She ran her fingers through his hair, gently working out the knots in it. Mercury found himself squirming at her touch. “I promise you’ll still have hair when I’m done with this.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“Of course I am. I’m not that evil.” Emerald dislodged her fingers from Mercury’s hair and began cutting it meticulously. He tensed up and closed his eyes, resisting to scratch at the stray hairs that slipped under his collar and down his back. Otherwise, Emerald would probably actually mess it up, and that wouldn’t do any good for his bad boy image.

Emerald, in the meantime, was marvelling at the fact that Mercury’s hair was incredibly soft without the seven layers of hair gel he typically slathered in his hair. It was a shame that she had to chop it off, but it was going to grow back. Besides, it was worth not getting arrested for what happened back at Beacon during the Vytal Tournament. He’d thank her later.

The little voice in the back of her head was screaming at her to remember that Mercury Black was a grade-A dickhead, but she elected to ignore it for the time being. Right now, she had to focus.

Mercury began to squirm at her touch slightly. Emerald made a face and paused. “What?”

“‘S itchy,” he muttered, trying to stick his hand inside his collar.

She rolled her eyes and moved Mercury’s hand away. “ I’ll do it,” she said, brushing the loose hairs off of Mercury’s neck. She felt him shudder at her touch and hesitated. Did that really just happen? Emerald blinked and tilted her head slightly at him, trying to decipher whether or not she had imagined him shuddering.  Chances were, however, that she probably didn’t.

“Thanks,” he responded, attempting to sit still for her, “So how much longer do I have to do this for?”

Emerald considered this. “A few minutes, maybe? Your hair wasn’t really that long to begin with anyway.”

Mercury snorted. “Wow. Thanks, Em.”

“Of course you’re the vain one,” Emerald muttered to herself, a smile spreading across her face. She ran her fingers through his hair once or twice to check for length and felt Mercury shudder again underneath her. A few minutes later, she was completely finished.

“Okay, I’m done.” Emerald packed her tools up and ruffled Mercury’s hair for good measure. “You can get up now.”

Mercury stood up and ran his hands through his hair. To his relief, it wasn’t brutally short; in fact, it felt soft to the touch and hung just a few inches above his eyes, leaving him with just enough length to style it. Emerald, for all of her faults, was a clear contender for the ‘Not As Big A Jerk As You Could’ve Been’ Award.

In the meantime, Emerald stood up and crossed her arms. She gave Mercury a contemplative look and shifted her jaw, frowning slightly and tilting her head. Mercury tilted his head back. “Em, what-?”

“Shush,” she said, “I’m making an artistic judgment.”

“On my hair?”

“Yes. Give me a minute.”

They stood there in silence for a brief, tense moment. Then, a small smile appeared on Emerald’s face. “I like it,” she decided, reaching over and ruffling Mercury’s hair again. He squirmed, prompting a giggle from her.

“Now what?” he asked, once she had finished.

“We keep going,” Emerald said, taking his hand. Mercury squeezed it firmly and followed Emerald through the woods, neither knowing where the road ahead would take the two of them.

They had made good progress that day, considering the fact that they had lost the road miles ago and were practically wandering aimlessly through the woods. They’d managed to avoid running into any more Grimm on their way, and the two of them had had a delicious, nutritious dinner of miniature boxes of Pumpkin Pete’s, with the vacant smile of the late Pyrrha Nikos emblazoned on the front.

The best part of it all? They had found civilization.

Sure, it was several miles ahead and a village the size of Mercury’s own when growing up, but it was civilization nonetheless. Sure, they’d only be able to stay a few days before leaving, but at least they wouldn’t die in the woods.

As the sun set, Mercury and Emerald found themselves sitting on a tree branch observing what they could see of the village. Mercury’s prosthetic legs dangled off of the tree branch precariously, and he stared ahead with a half awake expression on his face. Emerald sat next to him, wordlessly carding her fingers through his freshly-cut hair.

Neither of them said anything to each other for at least an hour. They sat together, enjoying each other’s company. Mercury felt his eyes grow heavy, and he moved to rest his head onto Emerald’s shoulder.

“Mercury?” The sound of her voice woke him up, and he turned to face her.

“Em?”

Emerald inhaled slightly, and she let out a sigh. “I think I’m a little in love with you,” she murmured, grasping his hand.

Mercury’s brow furrowed, and he stared off into the distance. “You know something, Emerald? That’s the first time anybody’s ever said that to me.”

Emerald blinked at his response, surprised. “Well,” she said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever said that to anybody.”

They stared at each other for a moment, neither of them sure what to do next. Before Emerald could say anything, however, Mercury leaned in close to her and let his lips meet with hers.

It wasn’t a perfect kiss. Their foreheads clunked together, causing them to shift positions before kissing again. Mercury could’ve sworn that he got some loose strands of Emerald’s hair in his mouth by accident. Emerald, in the meantime, nearly choked and bit off part of Mercury’s tongue. Indeed, it was clumsy, and awkward, and not picture perfect in the slightest.

But it was their kiss, and that was all that mattered.