Scars That Run Deep

Nightmares

"He's taught you well." The words echoed almost endlessly in his mind, a horrible sinking feeling crushing his chest and making it difficult to breathe. Suddenly, everything went dark and Cinder's voice disappeared from his mind. Now, he was in a familiar bookstore with Emerald, quietly switching off the lights so as to not draw the attention of anyone passing by the windows outside. He could feel the sadistic grin that had crossed his lips that day, when he knew he was moments away from putting a bullet in the rogue Faunus's skull. And not a second after he thought that, the bookseller had lunged at his old partner and slashed with his retractable claws. Mercury could still remember as clear as day the fear he saw in Tukson's eyes mere moments before his boot made contact with his face and fired. The cat didn't even have his Aura up...

Once again, darkness. Then, dozens of stadium lights nearly blinded him, and the boos and yells of thousands of people was almost deafening. He was on the ground clutching his 'injured' leg, as well as crying out in false agony. In his peripheral vision, he saw a familiar blonde-headed girl looking terrified and confused as she was surrounded and held at gunpoint by Atlesian soldiers and Knights. Just before this memory faded, Mercury could see the horror in Yang's eyes as she watched two medics carry him away on a stretcher, truly believing that she had seriously injured him without reason.

The scene changed again to one he was all too familiar with. The growls and shrieks of what looked like millions of Grimm echoed in the night while he, Emerald, and Cinder watched from a high rooftop as the creatures of darkness coated Vale like a roach infestation. He knew he was grinning like the cat that ate the canary as he captured all the chaos on a live broadcast with his scroll. That didn't really happen, he knew for certain he was putting up a façade, in reality feeling sick to his stomach. He remembered the ground shaking beneath their feet and turning the camera onto Cinder as she faced Mountain Glenn, which eventually gave birth to a massive Wyvern. Its horrific cries made his ears ring, even if this was just a dream.

The next vision Mercury did not recognize at all, yet the fear he could feel in the atmosphere was horrendously familiar.

"I was trying to protect you..." Now able to control his own body again, the gray-haired man turned when he heard his own voice speaking behind him. The scene before him included an older version of himself, as well as an older version of his daughter. Everyone always said that Angel was basically Yang's mini-me save for the personality, but seeing her before him as a young teenager, she was a solid 50-50 between her parents. The only thing stopping him from labeling this vision as remotely wholesome was the blistering rage and betrayal reflecting in his daughter's violet eyes.

"Protect me?" She repeated with a scoff, her arms crossed over her chest as angry tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "From what? From the fact that no one is going to want anything to do with me because I come from a family of murderers?!"

"Angel, listen to me. The past is the past for a reason, and the people who are your real friends wil- "

"Oh cut the crap, Dad!" The teen interrupted angrily, two tears slipping down her red cheeks. "You lied to me! You had every opportunity to tell me the truth yourself, but you didn't! I had to hear from a bunch of kids doing research that not only was my father allied with a group of terrorists, he was partially responsible for Beacon being destroyed and so many people dying! Quite a few by your own hands! And to add a cherry on top of the cake, apparently being an assassin runs in the family because my grandfather was a serial killer known all over Anima!"

"Angel..."

"Do you remember I grew up hearing everyone in our family tell me how alike you and I are? I used to think that was the coolest thing ever...Do you have any idea what it's like to hear that, and then have people tell you they don't want to be near you anymore because supposedly the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? All of my friends avoid me like the plague because they think I'm plotting to kill them or something! That I'll be just like my father and his father before him!"