Royal found what was left of the town huddled around a well in the square.
The place was a wreck but not so bad as the village of Dolor, as if the tribe had been anxious to take their captives and leave.
Some people were crying still.
"They took her," one older woman said. "She was hardly more than a girl."
They looked up at Royal warily.
"Where are the others Raven was sending?" he wondered.
Cinder was checking her scroll while following him. Her service was spotty, but finally she held it up, and a message appeared from Yang saying that they'd run into a swarm of Grimm and gotten delayed but they were back en route.
Should be any minute now then.
"They're still on their way," she said aloud. "Grimm."
"That just figures," Royal muttered. "Hey, everybody, why are you just standing there? We might track down those rogues if someone had paid attention to where they went. Maybe we can rescue your people."
"Argus?" one person said.
"Argus," someone answered them.
"That's a nice thought, mister," said the first one. "But it's too late. They're gone. This is what always happens. We've heard the stories."
"I knew we should have left here while we could," a different woman said, tersely. "They won't come here any time soon, you said. 'We can wait till after harvest is over.'"
She shoved a man who was likely her husband. Who just shook his head.
"They might be close," Royal objected. "Unless you saw an airship flying them away, they must have gone on foot. They probably aren't back to their hideout yet. Don't any of you want to try to get your girls and that one fellow back?"
They stared at him bitterly.
"We can't fight bandits," they replied. "It's over."
"Are you people for real?" Royal began to get angry all over again. "You would just let them take your own children, or friends, because you think you can't fight? Even if you couldn't fight, the noble thing to do would be to at least try. Don't any of you have the spine to stand up to those bullies? At least people tried before."
"And what became of them? They got killed or taken captive. That's what happens to those who resist. It's better not to resist," said a short man with a surly expression.
"I suppose when they take the brave people hostage, only cowards are left in their wake," Cinder remarked, which Royal thought summed it up pretty poetically.
And offended some of the people, who scowled at her, but others just looked away in shame.
"I'm sickened to listen to this," Royal said. "We don't even know these people and we're willing to try and you're not. Don't you care about them more than yourselves? Any of you?"
"We have to survive," said the man.
"Who wants to survive when this is what it's like?" Royal said. [Get him a Braveheart speech. Meridian can help.]
An airship flew overhead suddenly.
Must be the reinforcements.
"They are cowards," Royal agreed with Cinder's statement. "I can't even look at them anymore." He turned away in disgust.
Cinder shrugged.
"Wait." Suddenly a boy who might have been 14 or 15 stepped forward out of the knot of people. "I want to help."
"Taylor!" a man, who might have been his father based on their appearance, said sharply.
"They took Kate," Taylor said, with an angry look. "The only other family we have. Are you just going to let her go?"
"It's hopeless, Taylor, and I won't allow you to chase after them. Even if you found them they'd only take you also," the man said.
"He's kind of young," Royal said in a low voice.
"What, your speech worked and you're going to eat your words?" Cinder said. "Does it bother you that the only people not whipped by those fiends are the people too young to understand the danger?"
"I understand it." Taylor heard her and gave her a glare. "Lady. But some things you have to do anyway. Just because I'm not as old as you--by, like, 6 years I'd say--doesn't mean I'm stupid. I can fight."
"I like this kid," Royal said, smiling. "But this does feel a little like reckless endangerment."
"He's old enough to be at a hunstmen academy," Cinder said
"I won't allow him to go," his father insisted.
"You can't stop me," Taylor said.
He stepped forward.
"Well, can you use any weapons?" Royal asked him.
"Slingshot," Taylor shrugged. "Darts. Pretty good with an axe."
"That'll help," some one said sarcastically. "You're not really going to let a boy go with you? Risk your own lives."
Royal winced. "I guess that's true. This isn't exactly our jurisdiction--"
Cinder kicked him.
"What?" he said.
"If you back down now, I'll kill you," she said. "Pick a side. No one likes someone who has two minds about something."
Royal gave her a helpless look.
"What kind of authority is he anyway?" Taylor's father said.
"What's going on here?" Yang, Neptune, and Obsidian rushed into the scene.
Also Oscar was there.
"Oscar?" Cinder said.
"I wanted to see it for myself," Oscar explained. "I thought maybe I could glean something. Raven said it was all right."
"Oscar? As in Oscar Pine?" said Taylor.
"Yeah," Oscar said.
"The guy who writes about the Grimm--and that other book is coming out too. It was in the paper," Taylor said.
"Whoa, awesome," a different guy in the crowd (maybe the same age or slightly younger than him) said, stepping forwards.
"Bro, you're like a total bada--," Taylor said. "Can you sign something for me?"
"Uh...the book's not even out yet..." Oscar said.
"Yeah, but it's going to be awesome. All of us want to hear that story," Taylor said.
"Ahem, what about myself, son?" his father said.
"This guy wants to help us track down the people they kidnapped," Cinder explained to the 5 of them. "The pilot here just gave them a speech about how they should want to help, and he stepped up."
"That's great," Neptune said. "We could use all the help we can get."
"Yeah, what's the problem?" Yang said.
"They say I don't have the authority to allow it," Royal said.
"I think you do," Yang said. "You were here first though, so I guess your assessment would be better. Think he's going to be able to help?"
"Uh..." Royal wasn't happy at finding himself again the decision maker here.
Cinder gave him a warning lok.
"You know that's not helping," he said.
"Not really trying to," she replied.
"Are you giving him a hard time again?" Mercury asked Cinder. "You know, for a nice guy, he sure can't catch a break from you."
"Shut up," she said.
"That's fine, Merc." Royal seemed to pick a side once he said that. "I don't need your help."
Mercury raised his eyebrows at him.
"You know what? Fine. Who am I to stop him?" Royal said. "I say leave it up to him."
"There," Taylor said.
"Hey, I'll help too," the other boy said. "Working with Oscar Pine would be the coolest."
"I don't know if that's a good reason..." Oscar blanched.
"That and they took my mom," he said.
"Your mom?" Yang exploded. "Where's your dad?"
"They cut his leg off," the kid replied, rather calmly all things considered.
Yang touched her mechanical arm. "I see."
"He wouldn't allow you to go," one of the others said. "You're a kid still."
"Someone has to," the kid said.
"Juan knows," Taylor said. "You said we could catch them if we try now."
"If we can find out what route they took," Royal said. "I think the Wallaces were on that."
"Weiss? Oh, yeah," Yang said. "They came with you, I forgot. Let's go catch up to them then. We can fly after them also."
"Does anyone need medical attention?" Oscar asked. "Sometimes, I can help."
"Come on." Jaun took his arm. "The infirmary is this way."
The adults seemed mystified by what was happening, but Oscar went with him, and Taylor followed the others as they headed back to the edge of town.
"You keep pushing him," Emerald said to Cinder, as they were hurrying.
"Who?" Cinder asked.
"Royal. It sounds like you were arguing again," she said.
"He was being a wimp. You can't ask people to do something and then backtrack." Cinder frowned.
"I guess not. I think people can have second thoughts."
"Was it the right thing?" Cinder thought back to Shine's advice in the letter. "If it's the right thing, then it doesn't matter."
"I didn't expect you to say that." Emerald studied her.
"None of you ever expect me to do what is right." Cinder turned to stare at the street and spoke less bitterly than resignedly.
"It's not that. Just to voice it like that--I'd think you'd just say it was the smartest thing."
"I'm not sure it is, but I never saw the point of stopping people from fighting just because they were younger, as if danger cares about your age."
"True. I'd agree..." Emerald wasn't sure what to think. Maybe Royal should have to choose.
"You let her push you around now?" Yang helped nothing by saying to Royal.
"This isn't really the time," Royal said. "We need to get after those guys."
"Sorry...just thought it was funny," Yang said.
"This isn't always funny," Neptune said. "This place looks awful."
"It gets worse," Royal said. "You'll see."
"Don't worry, Cinder." Mercury came up next to her with a simpering smile. "Fly Boy is into being treated badly by people, obviously, so you're probably fine."
"It's not treating someone badly to have higher expectations," Emerald defended Cinder, before she could slap him.
"Sure, call it that," Mercury said. "Looked a bit more heated than that when we walked up."
"Go away." Cinder shoved at him. "Why don't you focus on the mission, you idiot?"
"Touchy, touchy." He moved away before she could do anymore.
"Don't listen to him. I'm sure it was all in the line of duty," Emerald said. "We have to have disagreements sometimes on the job. It's not mean, really. And that's a really childish way to look at it."
"This is why you dumped him," Cinder said.
"No, it's not, but I admit, it might be why he still doesn't get it," Emerald muttered. "We sort of had the same argument about Miss Malachite--well, not letting them fight, but letting them in on what was happening. I thought the risk was worth it, but...well, I won out, but I kind of just took over. I'd have liked it better if we just agreed. We never seem to agree."
"You agree on the important things." Royal fell in unexpectedly with them. "Sorry, overheard that last part."
"It's fine.... It's not a secret." Emerald shrugged.
"You're just less cautious than he is," Royal supplied. "That's all. He was worried about your safety, not theirs. Some people are like that. Mercury can be an ass, but I don't think he wanted them to get eaten by Grimm either."
"No, I don't think that, but if you could take the chance to help someone, and you don't, isn't it partly your fault if they fall?" Emerald asked. "Merc always wants to protect the people on his side, but I end up trying to identify with the other side--even when I was on the wrong side. Maybe I'm just crazy."
"I think that's just your thing, to be able to see the other side," Royal said. "But sometimes you do have to protect your own. I can't say I'd feel very generous to those bandits if we did find them."
"Maybe they don't know what they're doing," Emerald said.
"At some point, that can't be an excuse unless they're literally in a frenzy without any form of reasoning," Royal said. "But so far, that's not been the reality we've seen. Sorry, but I think they do know. If it doesn't bother them that they've stopped caring, then they didn't want to care that badly, I think. I know I don't know that much, but still."
"So Cinder gave you a rough time about making a choice back there?" Emerald still had some of that old wish to stick it to people, and it came out here.
Cinder gave her a murderous glare.
"No more than usual," Royal said, lightly enough. "But now that it's made, I feel better about it. Sometimes you have to have a kick in the pants, I guess...but don't tell Raven I said that."
"Raven can give you more than a kick," Emerald muttered wryly.
"Was she like this when you worked as a team too?" Royal asked, still referring to Cinder.
"Oh, yeah, never could make any excuse for underperforming," Emerald said. "To the point where it was probably unrealistic, but I can still see it now."
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Cinder said.
"Sorry." Emerald didn't sound that sorry. "But it's true, you have to admit. You don't cut people that much slack."
"Why should I? There's no reason to go easy on people for not even trying."
"Ouch," Royal said.
"This is why Mercury thinks you enjoy this," Emerald said to him, "just so you know. I know it's not like that, but I'm not sure I'd laugh it off either. Just tell her she's going too far sometimes. We all do."
"Stop that," Cinder insisted.
"You can dish it out but you can't take it," Emerald said to her, turning.
"So? You should know better. And this doesn't matter right now. We have other problems," Cinder said.
"You said you have to work on teamwork skills, and the only way to do that is on the job," Emerald countered.
"I don't want to talk about that either." Cinder frowned at her again.
"Fine, I'd better start looking for any signs of Grimm illusions anyway." Emerald sped up to get to the front of the group.
Royal chuckled.
"It's not funny!" Cinder almost growled.
"Your friends are just so out there." Royal shrugged. "But Captain Sustrai seems much more at ease with you than when we first picked you up in Eurus. Guess a little team building goes a long way."
"Stop making fun of me."
"I'm not. It's not just you--she was that way with me first too. Skittish. I think all of us weren't really sure we could cooperate when we were so different, but here we are."
Cinder went quiet.
"I don't mind what you said, really." Royal seemed to think it was still about that--maybe it was. "It's a little irritating at the time, but once I thought about it, I see your point. I should stick to my guns. I just don't like making people do stuff. It feels wrong."
"Making them do something you suggested and they volunteered for?"
"There it is. It's so black and white for you. You never second guess that you could have been unfair to begin with and now they're doing something they really shouldn't do because you got carried away?"
Well...no, that described her life.
"By the time I start to think that, they've usually already done it," Cinder replied dryly.
"So I think of it sooner, but I'm not always right."
"Are you ever right?"
"That doesn't help."
"That's my point--why ask me?" Cinder said. "Or those weaklings back there. If they already don't see it your way, why change your mind because they expressed doubts? There's nothing arrogant about choosing a course of action. If you thought you were right, then to second guess it because they kept b----ing about it is stupid."
"It's the responsibility too," Royal said. "It sounded good in my head, but if the kid gets hurt... well, that's not fair."
"Is it fair that he does nothing either? If you want something bad enough, you fight for it," Cinder insisted. "That's not your choice to make for him one way or the other. If he wanted to bad enough he'd have done it anyway. All you did was put the idea out there that we'd allow it. For that, I can't see any reason to backtrack. Why should I just stand there and allow you to make us look like we can't make up our minds?"
"You never have any problem making up your mind, but that's not universal, you know," Royal pointed out. "And what would you feel like if it doesn't go well? Which is a very real possibility with the people we're going up against."
"I..." Cinder paused. "It's not my fault."
"So you can shut down that much feeling about it? I don't know if that's impressive or sad."
"If you have to feel responsible for everyone's lives to that extent, why have any allies at all?" Cinder said.
"I guess.... This is just the reason I don't want to do this. These moral dilemmas are never ending, what is and isn't our call to make," Royal sighed. "I admit, I think he should get a choice--it's his family after all...both of their families. I just wish I didn't have anything to do with it."
"That's pathetic," Cinder said.
"I know you think so...but I can't help it," Royal said, rather dejectedly.
He did seem to be thinking this way a lot lately.
"Are you...all right?" Cinder never asked anyone that, ever, but it was starting to weird her out.
"I don't want to complain, since it's pretty pathetic too, but all the ups and downs of this case have started to get to me," Royal said. "At first it seemed like we'd stop all the destruction soon, but it hasn't been quick, and now every new incident just feels like another failure, and we're not paying for it--other people are. I'm surprised you're not more frustrated also, since you can't go home till we've got those guys. What if it never happens?"
"I suppose it's so horrible that I'd have to be stuck in Argus indefinitely then?" Cinder bristled.
"You know that's not what I meant. Terrible for you. And sad that they got away with that. How useless are we?"
"What about Watts? About the other successes?" Cinder said. "I...well, Emerald expressed that we only get small success usually. It's easier to do evil than good, in that way. Evil always feels like a bigger accomplishment because any little act of evil feels like getting away with something. Good isn't the same. It's not nearly as thrilling."
"Doing good isn't usually thrilling at all," Royal said. "It's just what you're supposed to do. But it'd be nice if it felt more euphoric, once in a while, to make up for all the bad stuff."
"Let me know when you figure that out. I've never once felt that great about making what people call the 'right' choice." Cinder was unenthused. "It's just what you have to do."
"Even saving the world?"
"That didn't feel real at the time. And bittersweet, considering how little I had left."
"But you wanted something better, right? If I'm following all the pieces of the trail here."
"I did.... I don't know now if I got it." Cinder was inclined to be gloomy about her prospects also after all the steps back of the last few months.
"Here's a question: would you trade for what you wanted before?" Royal asked curiously.
"I..." Cinder pictured it. Then she shuddered. "No."
"No? Even though it felt like more of a power trip?"
"Oh, it did." Cinder looked at her hands. "There's a twisted enjoyment in all that, and I felt it many times. I liked it, even. Sometimes I liked the empty, gnawing feeling too. I thought it made me stronger. But once Shine and West helped use the Power to knock the Grimm out of my head, and the gods were gone, and I knew that all those things had only been serving the whims of other beings that didn't see me as anything but a pawn, it seemed so pointless. There's a saying in their book: 'he who loves silver won't be satisfied with silver', which I take it means that whatever you want, if it's finite, is never really going to be enough. And it never was. It took me a while to realize why I was chasing after something that wasn't attainable, but then there was no point in hungering for it if it couldn't happen. The thrill of hurting people to assert dominance didn't seem as thrilling if, in the end, it didn't matter. Killing can seem like power because the consequences are permanent...but Nikos proved that that's not always true...and even if it is, most of the time, who has real power over the soul? Not us. The real playing field was something I hadn't seen, and when I did, when the Grimm lands proved the real enemy was within us all along, then hating all of them no longer seemed like it would make a difference. Hate might be a habit, and it's not one I could have just thrown off right then anyway, but knowing it was meaningless still made it less exciting. You get sick of your own sins after a while, I guess."
As usual, this didn't seem to bother Royal as much as intrigue him. "I actually get that. Kind of. Sick of being so predictable to yourself, also."
"Yeah..." Cinder admitted. "So no, I wouldn't trade now. I can't pretend this is what I wanted for myself, but my past goals are all ones I know to be useless now. Shine was right, as usual; she predicted it would be that way if I lived long enough. At least she still believes there's something more beyond all that for people like me."
"Don't you believe that?" Royal said.
"I don't know what I believe about that. In years I still haven't figured out what I really should want." Cinder shrugged. "Peace? That hasn't worked out so well. Freedom is a double-edged sword, and hard to maintain. There has to be more than that, but I don't know what."
["More to Life"--Stacie Orrico]
"I don't know if this helps, but I think you've come farther than you realize," Royal said. "Think of Jack Dawkins. You start from the same place...and he ends up where he did, and you end up on the other side...and you actually help rid him of that filth that was growing...which is still so weird to see, but I digress. Isn't that a sharp contrast?"
"I don't need you to try to make it sound better than it is," Cinder said saltily. "I'm here because I have to be. It's not like I wanted to do this or help him--or anyone else."
"You're still telling yourself that?" Royal said. "Why are you so afraid of actually starting to like it?"
Cinder recoiled. "Afraid? Why would I be afraid of that?"
"I don't know why. Maybe it's easier to not care about all this because it doesn't seem like a good fit, but it could be a better fit than you think." [Is he still talking about the job?]
"No, I don't belong in this work," Cinder said. "Never have."
"Not so sure about that, but what about with these people? They might be weird, but they're willing to try. Maybe that's all you get in life. Either people want to at least make an effort, or they don't, and no one really has it all figured out." Royal rubbed his head. "Kind of like this right here.... We still don't know what we're doing, but someone has to stop these guys. As difficult as it gets, we can't quit. At least I can't. It's personal now. I've seen it up close.... I do feel like I'm not making progress, but I couldn't stop. That's letting them win. I think you really feel the same way deep down--you have to stop them. Is it really just so you can be free of them? You really felt nothing when you saw those kids who were left alone, the people who just had their families stolen from them, all those innocent lives that got damaged, maybe destroyed?"
"I've done the same."
"So you can't pity them because you've done it? Like that makes you disqualified from having a heart? I don't think that's how feelings work. Maybe you could see it more, being on both sides of it."
"You think I should?"
"I'm not saying you have to." Royal shrugged. "What can I tell you to do? Clearly I don't know, but to me, it's like you're lying to yourself. I've seen you have compassion before."
"When?" Cinder felt strangely unsettled by that thought.
"Lots of times...for Emerald."
"I don't think so."
"What about for Carmine?"
"That was about them acting like idiots."
"That's not mutually exclusive. For Mercury too. His life bothered you as much as the rest of us, that was pretty clear."
"Well..." This was hard to deny, even if she thought the rest of it was more personal. "I just thought of what it was like for me. That's not compassion."
"Do you even know what compassion is?" Royal was incredulous. "It wouldn't kill you, you know. I don't think people will think you're weak if you have it. It's fine. I hear it's a common condition."
"Don't be such a smarta--!" Cinder exclaimed. "Anyway, you're not an expert on what I think."
"Not even close...but this is close to the surface. That's how I know."
"I think you're crazy."
"Takes one to know one, they say," Royal shot back.
Cinder couldn't believe he'd just said that.
"Did you actually just fire back with you're another?" She blinked.
"I guess that was a little out of character for me..." Royal replied. "You bring it out. What can I say?"
"Stop blaming me for your bad behavior."
"True...that's not a good excuse."
"And stop agreeing with me immediately! Make up your mind."
"So should I agree or disagree with what you just said?"
"Agh!" Cinder had no response.
"I get to you too. You know that. That's what's bothering you," Royal said, in a moment of clarity.
"I don't care in the least what you think," Cinder lied. "You're just annoying."
"Sure. That's believable."
"Case in point."
"Stop flirting." Mercury had doubled back to them. "Weiss and Meridian just told us they went ahead and found something. You'll have to finish this later."
Somehow they'd already come out of the town and into the trees in all the time they'd been speaking, but hardly noticed.
Cinder glared at Mercury but turned red also.
"Better ask them then." Royal walked away swiftly, probably so Mercury wouldn't tease him further.
"Stop making that joke. I'm tired of it," Cinder said.
"Oh, and I always listen when you say that," Mercury said.
"This is why no one likes you," Cinder said.
"I know," Mercury said. "But you think I'm joking?"
Cinder frowned.
"Maybe he's not got it figured out yet, since he's kind of dumb," Mercury said, "but you like him, I can tell."
"I don't." Cinder recoiled. "How can you think of that under the circumstances? We've got bandits to find."
"Hey, people got together going through the Grimm lands. This stuff doesn't really wait for convenient timing," Mercury said. "And it's so true. I think you're just as messed up, really. Well, far be it from me to push you to act on it, since I think that's a bad idea for you, but you could at least own up to it."
"I don't own up to people like that," Cinder said. "And I've never been interested in that kind of thing either. You know that perfectly well."
"Yeah, but I bet it gets pretty lonely to not have a cause anymore and have a ton of free time. Anyone might crack." Mercury feigned sympathy for her. "But fair warning, Cindy, don't toy with people's feelings. You'll just end up cut loose."
"I'm not toying with anyone's feelings," Cinder said.
"Maybe you're not yet, but if you start leading the guy on and he buys it, but you drop it as soon as you're too uncomfortable, that's pretty twisted." Mercury frowned.
"I--you? You of all people cannot talk," Cinder said. "You danced around this with Emerald until she had to break up with you just to get a point across. You didn't push yourself to really be the kind of person she wanted, admit it."
Mercury hesitated. "Maybe that's true," he said sourly. "I've paid for that, haven't I? But you were the one who told her she was wasting her time with me. Don't be someone else's waste of time because you aren't going to take it seriously. I remember how you were with Torchwick and other guys who you thought it would work on. But people like Royal aren't the kind you just play around with."
"I wasn't aware you liked him so much," Cinder said.
"I don't really like him that much. I still think he's kind of superior acting," Mercury said. "Comes with the Atlesian turf--but for that you two would be evenly matched, since you like to act like you're better than everyone else. Still, he's at least an honest guy and, frankly, way too good to toss himself away on anybody who's just using him. Even if I don't like him, I think that's messed up."
"This...this is ridiculous. I don't have any such intentions, and I'm insulted that you even had this conversation with me," Cinder sputtered finally. "You should at least know I wouldn't stoop that low--that is, I wouldn't be interested in playing any kind of game. I have more important things to do."
"Funny that your first reason was better," Mercury said. "You wouldn't, huh? What are you trying to do anyway? All those one-on-one conversations, giving advice on how he should be making decisions, I'm not missing all this, you know. The others think it's funny or that it's just as well anyone can put up with you, but I don't think it's so funny to take advantage of someone's patience in order to manipulate them."
"I'm not..." Cinder said uneasily.
"Clearly he likes to stick up for people who others don't like. I guess some people are just like that," Mercury said. "But if you abuse that, I'm not just gonna let it slide."
"Really? All this and you fall right back to thinking I'm just the same," Cinder said. "Nothing I do will ever prove you wrong, will it? I suppose in the same way, nothing anyone says about you will ever convince you that you're not the same person you were before the world was saved. I might have a hard time moving on for numerous reasons, but you certainly cannot get past the one big one of you just can't allow it."
Mercury scowled at her. "Maybe I believe you've changed a little, but I still think that you treat people's kindness towards you as nothing more than a tool at most and a burden the rest of the time. So you're not doing pure evil anymore--that doesn't make you unselfish."
Cinder thought he was probably right--but then she thought, if he really was, would she even have thought so?
Maybe Shine's encouragement via letter was still fresh in her mind for her to be easily convinced by Mercury's doubt.
Not that she didn't agree where Royal was concerned. It would be too easy to take advantage of someone like him because he would probably allow you to, even if he knew you were doing it. The same way Emerald would.
Maybe Mercury backed off of Emerald because he knew that. He had to earn people's respect, so what could he do with someone who was offering it freely?
That was why Royal drove Cinder crazy. She and Mercury were a lot alike.
But perhaps she'd gained more clarity recently than he had, because of many trials by fire that the events of this case had put her through...or she was just naturally inclined to face her demons more than he was, just from sheer willfulness, if nothing else.
She had no answer for whether or not she was using Royal, as she'd purposefully avoided thinking about it, but at least she thought she would not take this from Mercury.
"Maybe you think this is helping," she said aloud, not in a nice way, "but it's not. You know by now that whatever you say, they will do what they want. I can't stop it anymore than you can. I could try, and just prove your point, by being cruel. I could be cruel. It would be easy...but I don't want to prove you right. I can never change your mind about me, and it's not my priority to do so, but I'm tired of you accusing me of these things. I know you resent what I did to Emerald, and I've never really had a problem with that--but you're letting it make you act like a fool. As little as I like to admit it, not everyone's motives are always so hidden. Keep me from doing whatever is you think I will do, then...but don't act like you know what I'm thinking. I don't think you even try."
"You don't know me well enough to say that either," Mercury said.
"Don't mistake my lack of concern for you as lack of comprehension, Black," Cinder said tightly. "I've always understood you just fine. We've never had much to say to each other because there was nothing to say, so whatever it is that makes you want to change that now, I don't feel I'm responsible for it. And if you're taking out your secret regrets on me, that's your problem. I guess the others know better than to trust me already, no need for you to keep reminding me of it. And directing it at me doesn't make you better by comparison."
With that parting jab, she walked away from him. Time to focus on the mission, not on this stupid conflict.
[I'd say it's unrealistic, but how often does conflict happen around other crises in real life? Humans do tend to let emotions all out at the same time.]
[BTW, Taylor is a reference to "The Brave Little Tailor" story (though in some versions it's the "Clever Little Tailor") and also to King David. Juan is a reference to Jonathan, David's best friend.]