Ruby was dizzy with anger, but Oscar, still trying to keep a hold of Ozpin, suddenly grabbed her boot.
She looked down sharply.
Little, awake for once, suddenly pulled her ear in an effort to make her snap out of it. Ruby winced.
"Ruby, please," Oscar said weakly. "We need you."
"To give me the Relic!" Ozpin said.
Funnily enough, something about hearing those two contrasting each other startled Ruby.
She blinked.
"Oscar..." she said, "I--"
One of the Irasci suddenly climbed over the rock and reached for Oscar.
"Hey!" Ruby's eyes flashed and vaporized it and the ones behind it.
Oscar felt a lit less stifled.
"Ruby." He sat up.
Ruby grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
"I'm sorry," she said really loudly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Nevermind that, Ruby, just kill the Grimm," Oscar said.
Ruby looked back.
Mercury seemed to be freaking out. The Kong was in front of him. It was reaching down--
"I've gotta help," she said.
She burst into rose petals, taking Oscar with her, and appeared in front of it.
The Kong hesitated... It had just seen the flash.
Ruby waved at Mercury.
"Hey, get a grip!"
"I can't..." he said.
"This is your fault!" Hazel and Emerald both said. Oscar kind of blocked them, though what that was going to do, he didn't know, but they didn't attack.
"Shut up." Ruby yanked Mercury's arm. "Don't think about them. They're not the ones talking, it's the Grimm. Think about what it's doing to our friends. Think about how much it needs to stop. It's the problem. They're the ones we have to save."
Mercury glanced at her blankly and then up at the Kong.
"Don't think about how big it is," Ruby said heatedly.
"Emerald," Oscar said quietly, "please, come out of it. Hazel?"
Emerald seemed to focus a little. "Oscar..." faintly.
"Hurry," Oscar muttered. "If Hazel snaps right now, we'd have a giant on both sides."
Kong looked down at them, and then it roared.
Ruby's eyes gleamed.
"I've used mine a few times," she said, "so I'm low on energy, but try, okay? Just try... together."
She had no idea if that was even possible, but she had no better ideas.
Neither did Mercury.
[This song seemed to fit Mercury. "I didn't Ask for This", by Beth Crowley.]
In that same moment Qrow was thrown into a rock by Winter and had the wind knocked out of him.
She came closer, sword out still.
"I get this was partially my fault," Qrow muttered weakly. "Can't exactly pin this on luck. There's some sick irony in this... but... it's not funny."
He looked upward. "We could really use a miracle right about now..."
Well, he didn't get any answer.
What did he expect? He'd done nothing to deserve it.
Winter was 2 feet away, and she put her arm back--but then, suddenly, she stopped.
It was like that moment when a program is loading in a computer and there's a glitch.
She seemed suddenly to ask herself what she was doing.
She lowered her sword.
But before she could do or say anything else, Cinder blasted her aside, and she screamed.
Cinder was not burdened with any sense of conscience.
"Hey, stop!" Qrow started to get up, still with difficulty, but he stumbled to block Cinder's path.
Cinder kicked him head over heels anyway, since he couldn't move fast enough, and then stomped him into the ground again.
She raised a sword.
* * *
Ruby's Eyes went off, but not a strong as before.
Kong's front leg was turned partially to stone... but his whole upper half was unscathed.
He snarled at Ruby and reached down.
"Crap!" Mercury yelled.
That didn't seem like the best battle cry, but something must've clicked for him, because light flashed out of his eyes.
It was stronger than Ruby's, and Kong froze mid reach, a stone statue.
That killed whatever hypnotic vibration he was emitting, because suddenly they all stopped.
Jaune had his sword at someone's throat, and he realized it was Blake's.
Blake abruptly dropped her weapon.
"Oh, no, no, no, not again..." she said, bursting into tears. "Not again..."
Sun looked around. "What the heck were we just doing?"
[Cue "Cabin Fever" joke from the Muppets.]
Neptune and Ren had been fighting, they stopped, shaking.
Nora had actually been about to smack a Grimm instead of a human--mostly by accident. The Grimm snarled at her, and she hit it anyway, but then she lowered her hammer.
Yang lowered her fists away from her friends and looked up.
"Yes!!" Ruby cried. "You did it! High five!" She held up her hand.
Mercury leaned away from her.
"Don't be freaking weird," he said.
"Ah!" Emerald screamed suddenly. "My... my head... What happened?" She looked around. "I..."
Hazel blasted at the monsters that were behind them, ready to pounce.
That about finished them off. Most of them had been defeated by the others before they went under.
Cinder stopped right when she was about to run Qrow through.
Winter, pushing herself up, blinked. "Oh no..." she said in a ghostly voice.
Cinder glanced at Qrow, then looked up.
"I really want to kill you," she said, "but I have the feeling I should be more pissed at that thing right now."
"Good call," Qrow wheezed. "Get off of me."
Cinder stepped off with that haughty attitude of hers.
"What just happened?" she said. "I'm getting sick of this."
Raven, who had her sword out and had been going to attack someone, lowered it.
"Another mind Grimm," she said. "How many more are there?"
"I found at least 4," Theo said helpfully.
[Okay, I'm sure some of you have figured it out by now, but yes, the mind Grimm are a reference to the 7 deadly sins (not the anime) which are as follows: Pride, Anger/Wrath, Greed, Envy, Sloth (Apathy), Lust (don't expect me to take that one very literally) and Gluttony.]
"Hazel..." Emerald said, sounding scared.
"I think we're all right now," Hazel said.
Emerald surprised him by hugging him impulsively.
"I... We... That was so close... It was right in front of me..." she sniffled.
"Oh, wow, I get no credit at all for that save," Mercury said, but he looked more shaken up than offended.
"Wait a minute." Ren looked his way.
"Did he just use Silver Eyes?" Jaune said.
"My mind is a blur." Pyrrha rubbed her head. "But I think so... or was it Ruby?"
"I thought it was both of them," Nora said. "They tag-teamed that sucker."
"Silver Eyes?" Cinder looked at Mercury. "No... it's not possible."
Mercury, while shaken up, couldn't resist giving Cinder crap, so he gave her a sly "what up?" nod.
Cinder almost had a heart attack.
"Well, now that that cat is out of the bag," Winter said, "I feel ill."
"Me too." Raven rubbed her head. "That was like having a drill in my head."
"That was so scary," Little said in Ruby's ear.
"Thanks for the help, though," Ruby said. "After accidentally kidnapping you, I think we didn't even deserve it."
"Oh, well, it's fine," Little said. "This is much more interesting anyway."
"Oscar, are you okay?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Oscar said weakly. "Ozpin's grip got weaker after you uses your Eyes. I just... he's been at it all day, I feel like."
Ruby hugged him.
"You saved me, though," she said, "both of you. I almost..."
It bothered Ruby that she'd fallen under the Irasci's spell like that.
Emerald sniffled.
"That one was really weird," Meridian said. And by weird he meant terrifying. "We'd have... well..."
"We can't keep doing this," Weiss said, sounding chilled. "We'd... we can't attack each other constantly--we'll never make it Salem... Is that what she wants, us to kill each other and she'll take the Relics from our corpses?"
"That does sound like something she'd do," Meridian said. "But we won't let her."
"It's not funny," Weiss said.
"It's really not," Blake said, still crying.
Winter glanced at her hands.
"Last time I wasn't that affected," she said. "I hoped I wouldn't be in the future, but I was."
"I wouldn't beat yourself up about it," Raven said. "That was a lot of direct exposure. Nothing we can do about it but move on."
"I don't know about that." Shine (and Wally) finally reappeared. "I'm reminded of something that happened to Wally and his team once."
"It is like that," Wally said. "Dang, and it's an evil gorilla this time too. Playing off our hidden resentments of each other--we just didn't voice them. I thought he made us, but my friends said we meant every word."
"I'm not so sure that it was true," Shine said. "Our emotions change so often. Some people say that who we are at our best is the truth, but others say that it's under stress where you show your true colors. I find both those views to be a little too one-sided. The real answer is that a man is known by his deeds, as Proverbs says. If you err on the side of good mostly, then you are trying to be a good person. That's the most we can hope for. But we are not our best or worst moments, we're ourselves... trying. Or not trying in some cases."
With a glance at Cinder.
"What? Like this my fault?" she said.
"Cinder, I'm not your judge, but there is a reason you have zero resistance to these things," Shine said. "You might want to consider doing something about that if you want to make it to Salem. Though it's a little late to work on it, but better late than never."
Cinder glared at her but had no argument.
"I hope that you do not mean that what we did was, at some level, what we wanted to do," Winter said to Shine, shakily.
"It's a complicated question," Shine said. "I had stuff in my head too. I wanted to scream at you all... and you know that I have lost my temper even under normal circumstances. But, on the other hand, a part of me knew better. I think, if you know better, you can bounce back."
She put a hand on Winter's shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much. The Grimm strips away our self control. Don't think self control is worthless. You put your morals over your impulses--that is still truth. We are not our temptations... This was not a fair fight, Raven is right about that... but I won't say there's not something we could learn from that just went through our heads. Perhaps clearing the air would be beneficial for some of us."
"Very comforting," Raven said, "but might not be that simple. I would have thought I'd have attacked someone I've actually had issues with otherwise."
"Well--" Qrow groaned and rubbed his back. "There have been some developments, sis, that might have changed that up for you. Good for you, I guess."
"Well, you didn't go crazy," Raven said.
"I felt it, but I saw the big one and I knew it was a trick," Qrow said. "But it... it was like there was another voice in my head telling me to do something else... and it was strong. But not overpowering."
Winter looked down.
"It's like your awareness of it has something to do with its effectiveness," Raven analyzed thoughtfully.
"With some exceptions." Hazel herded Emerald toward them. "Mercury came out of it before that. But he had a trigger."
Mercury didn't remember telling him that. Maybe the guy didn't miss as much as everyone thought... He was so quiet it was hard to tell.
"I wish we could rest," Shine said. "But unfortunately I don't think this area is safe--too easy to find us here. We'd better go on."
"The Grimm lands are on the other side," Emerald said. "It'll be worse."
"But we need to move while we can," Shine said. "It will be dark soon."
"Maybe we could find another cave," Jaune said wearily.
* * *
After searching much longer than anyone wanted to, they finally did find a makeshift cave along the other side of the hills.
It was dark, so the change in coloring of the landscape didn't strike them as much, but the moon lit up the eerie red and purplish tints.
Emerald said that by the time they got fully in the lands, they wouldn't see the sun at all.
Shine said that that would probably make it harder to stay in a good mood.
She had something else on her mind there, as she called all their attention after they'd made a fire that they hid from view of the outside as well as they could.
"I don't need to point out that the Grimm attacks are getting more unsettling than we thought," she said. "Despite what we've expected from Salem, I actually don't think it's just her."
"How could it not be?" Yang was still worked up. "She wants to kill us and take the Relics."
"Hmm, but she wouldn't do it without wanting me or Wally to get to her," Shine said. "I'm sure she'll never be satisfied till she hears what I offered to tell her. Oh, she may think she doesn't need it, but she won't pass up any advantage possible. Especially if she's been reading what I told her. She knows it's our business."
"That makes it sound like you wanted her to read that book," Mercury said sullenly.
"Well, I really couldn't have planned it better," Shine said. "A stroke of luck, or I should say Providence, that you gave her that. I did wonder if she'd even persist in reading it, or if she could, but I guess she's still human enough to."
"She just did that to have an advantage over you," Mercury said.
"Yes, it's a good joke, isn't it?" Shine said. "All things work together for our good if we're called to God's purpose. Too bad she didn't know that. Or too good, as the case may be. The point is, I don't think she'd want us all dead. She'll want Ozpin/Oscar also, just in case she needs the passwords to use the Relics. I'm pretty sure I know what the Crown's is, I'm not so sure about the Sword's."
"How could you know that?" Ozpin said with alarm.
"Given what the other two were, I used mythological correlation," Shine said. "But I won't say it. I'm not stupid."
She nodded at Cinder.
"But if it's another bargaining chip, it might be useful," she shrugged. "Nonetheless, Salem won't care if anyone else dies as long as she gets what she wants. We can't expect her to do anything to stop them. We need a way to get through this area alive."
"How can we? They invade our minds," Weiss said.
"I know you're shaken up," Shine said patiently, "but there is a way to resist. Some people have resisted all the attacks by the grace of God. All of you need to up your resistance... and many of you still have not really committed to our way."
"So do it your way or die?" Mercury said saltily.
"You know, if it was that simple, what could I do about it?" Shine said. "I don't make the rules, I just follow them. But if you prefer to go it alone, just remember, you asked for this. And if you mock God, He will mock you. God's mercy is infinite when we want it, but when we don't, it will not last forever. By some miracle, none of us have perished so far, thanks in part to you and to Ruby--and to Meridian also."
Meridian smiled weakly.
"But we need to think about what else you could do," Shine said. "There's praying, and I'm sure that's why we've made it this far. The music, yes... and it might need to be constant. But the deeper the darkness get, the less I think that will be enough. The light needs to be inside you. But failing that, at least there should not be an opening for darkness. Whatever you're carrying against someone else, you need to deal with it. There are usually resentments between friends and family that don't get dealt with. Perhaps they aren't hatred, but they cause problems. And it would be wiser to air them out."
"You know, talking about it can just lead to more anger," Yang said.
"Then choose to let it go," Shine said firmly. "Forgiveness is a choice, not just a feeling. In fact, it's not really a feeling at all. It's easy to forgive people who admit they were wrong, but you can't let that stop you. Holding a grudge just binds you to someone else, and it hurts you more than them. There's a saying where I come from: 'He who will not forgive digs two graves.' This is all I can think of to help. And..." She paused. "... in the spirit of being a good lead, I'll begin. I won't bother detailing it all, but we've all had our spats and harsh words since we arrived. Mostly I try to ignore them, but if there is anything left that I have held on to, I'm going to let it go. I forgive you all. I concede that we have our flaws, and I'm sorry for any time I have gone too far."
They looked at her somberly.
"There are older grudges here than yours," Raven nodded, sharpening one of her swords. "Even if people wanted to let them go, feelings and magic don't just go away."
"They could begin to go away, if you let go of blame," Shine said.
Yang glanced at her sharply.
"It's also prudent to ask for forgiveness," Shine added. "I don't like to bully people into it, though. I think it's a personal matter... but I can't deny that the Grimm are capitalizing on it, and I am loath to let them win. So think about it."
She moved to the wall and lay down.
"She's right, you know," Wally said. "Sometimes it doesn't matter who was right and wrong anymore, because it's too late to change anything--just need to let it go. I'm sorry too, and I don't want to hold anything against anybody here. For my money, you're all here, and that makes you okay by me."
He moved off too.
No one else wanted to speak.
At last Jaune said, "Well, we all have a lot to think about. Maybe we should take some time."
Pyrrha put her head in her hand. "Yeah... well, it couldn't hurt."
Everyone moved as far from everyone else as they could--which wasn't far.
"Theo." Vara had her head in his lap. She'd come to some time ago. "Anything you've got against me?"
"I know better than to answer that," Theo said.
"I'm serious," she said.
"Honestly, Var, we break even. Which of us has more regrets?" Theo said. "Besides, I think you're better at sticking to your guns."
"I have my petty resentments also," Vara said, "and quite a temper, but I don't mean it mostly, it's just... always being uncomfortable... I know it's no reason to be a jerk, but sometimes I get sick of trying to rein it in."
"I know."
"Well, sorry anyway," Vara said. "I missed the whole fight, but it sounded horrible. If it happens again, at least, it better just be the Grimm overriding my will, not anything I'm carrying against anyone else. S---, I don't even know if I care about Raven's betrayal anymore. That used to make me mad, but... here she is... Fall is despicable, but she's so...small, in a way. It just doesn't matter."
"Yeah, all these people are somewhat less difficult to deal with than I thought," Theo said.
"What about you?" Blake asked Weiss. "I mean... I was in the White Fang."
"I stopped caring about that a long time ago," Weiss said. "Honestly I don't think there's anything. I was mad earlier, but it felt more like I was mad at everyone and at this situation... and even that isn't really fair. We're all in this together. If the reason I can't resist is because I just expect things to be more fair, or just easier, than they are, then that's on me. Maybe that's why you think I take them too lightly."
"I really know better than that," Blake said. "I... It's like sometimes you just hang onto something even when you know it's wrong. But I'm sorry anyway. I get so caught up in my own stuff I don't remember that other people have gone through it too. I didn't take you seriously when you talked about your family, but after I saw how they were in Atlas, I realized it wasn't as simple as I thought. I shouldn't have judged you. I've thought about saying that before, but I never did."
"Oh... thanks..." Weiss said, "I think..."
Blake laughed weakly. "I still don't feel better... Sun, you too."
"Me?" Sun said.
"I haven't ever really thanked you for helping me," Blake said, "not enough anyway... and I can be kind of... hung up on me, so... if that's... I want to get better, all right?"
"Oh, it's fine," Sun said. "I think we all get that you just get in that big picture thing and you don't really mean to hurt anyone's feelings."
"Well, still," Weiss said, "if she wants to get better, that should be encouraged."
"I guess," Sun said. "Hey, I can be dumb sometimes too... so maybe I'm sorry for that."
"No one takes you that seriously," Weiss said dryly.
"Okay, that was a little hurtful, but I'm almost kind of glad that you aren't offended," Sun said.
"Silver lining," Neptune said weakly.
Mercury left the cave.
"Was it because someone said silver?" Ruby wondered.
"I'd better talk to him." Emerald got up.
"Careful out there," Hazel warned. "Don't let any Grimm see you."
"I got it." Emerald pointed to her head. She walked out.
"By the way, Ruby, how long have you known that Mercury has Silver Eyes?" Weiss said.
"And why didn't you tell us?" Yang said.
"He didn't want anyone to know," Ruby said. "I found out because Winter and Emerald saw him unlock them, and they told me."
"You and not me?" Weiss said, glancing at Winter, who wasn't listening to this.
"Well, Weiss, it's just because I have them. I think they were trying to respect his wishes," Ruby said.
"Right," Weiss sighed.
"The point is, I'm trying to help him develop them," Ruby said. "I think we're finally getting somewhere. He's so stubborn."
She petted Little, who was asleep on her shoulder. "The thing is, I didn't know why, but I've noticed that I do get tired after a while, using mine. The first time I used them, I passed out afterward. They take some kind of energy, not sure why. And there's a lot of Grimm... so yeah, having someone else who can use them would be good."
"Yeah, it would have been nice to know before," Yang said.
"That's why you were worried about helping him?" Weiss said. "I thought it was odd that you had something to do with Mercury of all people... I should have guessed."
"You seemed to know about them," Oscar said to Hazel, cautiously, since Hazel still made him nervous sometimes.
"I've seen Silver-Eyed Warriors before," Hazel said gruffly. "I always was suspicious about him. Salem never said it, but if he'd ever shown any inclination to be a hero, I think she'd have eliminated him. And as soon as he turned, she did. Or Callows did, but that had to be on her orders. Salem wouldn't leave that loose end hanging. She may not know he has Silver Eyes, but she probably suspected it."
"And you never brought it up," Yang noted warily. "You never asked her."
"I wasn't going to mention anything about it," Hazel said, "give her a reason to kill him. He didn't need to die."
"You know, you're kinda a strange bad guy," Sun said bluntly.
Hazel made no answer to that.
"I'm amazed that Black survived at all," Raven commented flatly. "Even the chance that he could have Silver Eyes is one Salem wouldn't take--unless she just wanted to use him."
Well... that did make the most sense.
"He's going to be in trouble, then," Weiss said. "I mean... there's no way she won't know by the time we get to her. Not if she's watching us."
"Look at it this way," Shine said from where she was lying, "it won't matter by then. She might not even need the Hounds anymore."
"I hope she doesn't have any more of them there..." Blake said, looking sick. "One was bad enough."
Hazel didn't know the answer to that.
* * *
"Are you okay?" Emerald found Mercury sitting outside, staring at the ugly sky moodily.
"Fine," he said flatly.
Emerald shivered and rubbed her arms. It wasn't that cold, but it was so devoid of any softening feature that you felt chilled just looking at it.
"I thought the one plus of switching sides would be never having to see this dump again," she said. "But here we are... anyway. I'm... sorry about earlier. I don't remember what happened, after a certain point. I know I got angry and angrier and then it just went red. I think I attacked you though."
"Eh, you didn't mean it," Mercury said. "It doesn't matter."
Pause.
"So... you used the Eyes again," Emerald said.
Shrug.
"I gotta say, this Silver-Eyed thing is a good look for you." Emerald tried to be more lighthearted. "I mean, it evens the score, right? No Semblance, but you get to fry giant Grimm... Pretty cool."
"Whoop de do, I get to be a freak now," Mercury said. "And everyone knows. Cinder's going to kill me in my sleep."
"Not if you get to her first," Emerald said. "Maybe she'll be too afraid to try. You're not as nice as Ruby."
"Well, to hear the chipmunk talk, that won't help." Mercury imitated Ruby's voice poorly. "'It's not about anger...it's about life.' I don't think I can kill Cinder or even hurt her."
"Maybe if you looked past Cinder and thought about something else," Emerald said, "it could kind of slip by."
"And you'd want me to hurt Cinder?" Mercury said.
"If she was trying to hurt you. I mean, if it's between her and you, then yeah," Emerald mumbled. "You know... whatever."
Another long pause.
"Did you want something?" Mercury said finally.
"I just thought you might be feeling a little weird now that everyone knows, and you were one of those people who weren't under the gorilla's control so... it had to be creepy to watch everyone at each other's necks like that," Emerald said.
"Oh, just felt like home," Mercury said.
Emerald made a face.
"I was under it for a short time. I think I punched you or something... That's when I snapped out of it."
"Oh..." Emerald said uncertainly.
"I just don't get it," Mercury said. "Why am I doing all this? You drive me crazy, honestly. You're pretty annoying. But there it is."
"Well, ditto to you, dumba--," Emerald shot back.
"I didn't want any part of it," Mercury said. "But here I am..."
Emerald shrugged and looked around. "Well, maybe it's not that complicated. We have each other's backs, right? I've kind of been riding you about this. I know, I was being a pest, but I thought it might help."
"I guess you get an 'I told you so' then," Mercury grumbled. "Are you going to gloat?"
"No..."
A pause again.
"I never really thanked you," Emerald said, "for bailing me out with the Grimm... both times. So, thanks."
"For the love of it, Emerald, do not thank me," Mercury said. "Ugh... that's so you. You're so dumb."
"Hey!" Emerald said. "I'm trying to be a better person. Is that so bad?"
"No, that part isn't bad," Mercury said. "But come on, I almost killed you. And I'm a grade-A jerk. You don't need to be thanking me for a couple favors."
"But I don't think you're like that, deep down," Emerald insisted. "And it doesn't matter. I still owe you."
"Not really."
"Fine then, but I can be grateful if I want to be," Emerald shot back. "So just frick off, okay? Geez."
"You're so stupid, Em," Mercury said. "No matter what anyone does to you, you want to think there's still good in them somewhere."
"If I'm so stupid, then why is it you're still here?" Emerald shot back.
"I don't know!" Mercury sounded kind of upset.
Emerald blinked, then she folded her arms. "I think you do."
"Sure," sarcastically.
"I mean, Ruby already spelled it out, right?" Emerald said. "Would it kill you to admit it?"
"And what do you want to hear from me?" Mercury said.
"I don't know," Emerald said in her turn. "What do you want to say?"
"Nothing."
"Well, then I'll talk," Emerald said. "I might as well say this now. Never know what's going to happen. I almost died today--again. I can't just wait forever for things to feel... not awkward."
Emerald really was much smarter than she realized.
"You may think that your little hero acts don't matter," she said, "and maybe to anybody else they don't. But to me, it matters. I hate how sentimental it sounds, but it's what it is. You are the first person who ever gave a crap about me for any reason other than I was useful..." She rubbed her arms again. "I didn't see it before, but I guess I finally knew what it was like not to be alone. I thought that was Cinder, but it was like... And I think I always knew it, deep down. I didn't get what the truth looked like till lately though. I don't know if you're a good person, but it was real. And you're still here, watching my back. That's what I care about, and I think, honestly, you care about it too, but you're scared. Well, newsflash: so am I. I've got no idea what I'm doing. I'm just as emotionally stunted as you, and I know your dad gave you s--- so it's hard to let that go. I have people I'm pissed at too... but it's... just I'm so done with letting that determine everything for me. I finally feel like I have a choice. But you know why I wanted to go for you in Vacuo?"
"Because you're a hopeless optimist?" Mercury said.
Emerald shrugged. "I realized that that choice isn't any good if you do it alone. Hazel's cool and all, but he was gonna do that anyway. And anything I did for the nice guys, even if it's kind of better than stealing and killing, feels like I'm just paying them back... I mean, it's starting to feel a bit more like they appreciate it just for what it is, but at least at first. I wanted to be able to help someone else. To do something for once in my life that wasn't 90% selfish. So if I've pushed your buttons, it's... well, I think we're the same, and if I got out, I wanted someone else to get out. It's all I could do. And anyone who'd help me get out was too good to stay with Salem anyway."
"I didn't really help you."
"You could have ratted me out for brownie points, but you didn't." Emerald shrugged. "That's something. I mean... I sold people out. I was a coward. I hope I'm braver than I used to be... Anyway, I just wanted to say that."
Mercury stared at her for a second, then he sighed. "Yeah, I get it."
"Really?" Emerald said.
"Well, at some point, saying I don't is starting to sound pretty idiotic even to me," Mercury said. "I unlocked those stupid Eyes somehow... I'm just not happy about it. I didn't want to feel things... or care about anyone. You just had to screw that up for me."
"Hey, it might have saved your life," Emerald said. "You should be thanking me."
"Thank you for not sucking as much as everyone else?" Mercury said. "Oh, yeah, sure."
"You know, even when you're trying to be nice, you're still kinda an ass," Emerald said.
"Yeah..." Mercury agreed.
"I put in a lot of good words for you," Emerald said. "Maybe I should ease up, let them just decide for themselves if they're going to like you or not. But you could give them a chance. I know it's hard to believe, but they're not the airheaded pricks we thought they were."
"I know that," Mercury said sullenly. "I get it, they've got issues. Some of them are even pretty impressively petty and violent. Makes me wonder who's really the bad guy sometimes. But they've at least had an idea of what it's like to be anything but that. The truth is, what pisses me off the most is I never thought I could be anything else but this, and so I didn't want to be. But if I could be, and I just don't because I'm scared, that's not a choice... at least it's not a choice I want to have made for me. But maybe they're right--I am just afraid."
Emerald moved closer and took his hand, much to his surprise.
"Well, so am I," she said. "But we're in this together, right? So... can we stop fighting about it and just be in it? The annoying people s--- only makes it worse. I'll back off if you'll stop trying to make everyone hate you."
"Ugh..." Mercury made a big show of rolling his eyes. "If I have to... Are you coming onto me right now?"
"Ew!" Emerald abruptly let go and punched his arm. "You just had to say that?"
"It was getting too serious, ouch." He rubbed his arm.
"Whatever, can we just get back inside before a Grimm sees us?" Emerald said.
"Fine, whatever."
[Well, Obsidian, or whatever else you want to call this ship, is getting close to sailing.
I don't know if you'd call this official yet, but only so much development I can fit into one day.]
[And this is the perfect ship song for Emerald and Mercury. Go check out Kaden MacKay. He is way underrated.]