A Dress For Each Girl

Mercury trailed behind Cinder and Emerald as they searched for a dress they would wear at the party. The girls weren't paying much attention to Mercury, who watched them with envy.

Cinder smiled as she found a pink dress covered in glitter, and held it in front of Emerald. "I think you'll look lovely in this."

Emerald responded with a very unladylike sound, which made Mercury chuckle. Noticing this, Emerald added, "But Mercury seems to like it. Maybe he should try it on."

"I don't think there are any dresses in my size." Mercury said playfully, trying to ignore the pain the statement brought.

"Oh really?" Emerald narrowed her eyes. "Take a look at what you're wearing."

She was using her semblance. But despite knowing that, Mercury couldn't help but smile when looking down to see the dress. It had been so long since she had worn a piece of clothing that actually matched her true gender.

Mercury looked in the mirror, pleased with the way she looked. She had tried on dresses before, but this time she had gone all out and put on makeup. For a first time, it really didn't look bad. She sat down on the floor and stared at the mirror, simply enjoying her reflection.

"Mercury!" Mercury froze at the sound of her father's voice. He wasn't supposed to get home until five! She frantically looked at the clock. It was past five. How had she not noticed time pass? She hurriedly got to her feet, trying to decide what to do first, take off the dress or the makeup?

The door swung open and the scent of alcohol entered the room, along with Marcus Black. He froze when he saw her. A moment passed in silence. Marcus stared at his child, and Mercury tried not to panic. Finally, words came from her father's mouth. "What do you think you're doing?"

Mercury wrecked her brain, trying to think of an excuse. "Um, well… you know how women sometimes have a better chance at getting close to their target without being suspected? I just thought I'd try to see if I could fake it well enough! And if someone were to see me on a mission, they'd go looking for a woman instead of a man, so it'd be the perfect disguise!" Mercury prayed her reasoning would be enough.

Marcus leaned back for a spell, taking in what Mercury just said. Then, without a warning, he grabbed Mercury's hair. "If I wanted you to be the type of assassin to dress up on the job I would've taught you to do so myself! I have a son, not a daughter!" He ripped the dress to shreds, leaving mercury shaking and crying in his underwear. "Look at what you've done! You pretend to be a woman for one minute and it already has you acting like one! Men don't cry! Now go wash your face! I don't want to see a son of mine looking like a bitch!"

"Mercury?" Mercury snapped out of the memory, and noticed the worried looks Emerald and Cinder gave her.

"Oh, sorry. I got lost in thought."

"You're crying." Emerald said, her tone carrying none of her usual venom. Mercury brought a hand to her cheek, finding there were indeed tears. The girls exchanged a glance, and Emerald began to leave. "I'll be… over there."

Cinder approached Mercury, who made quick work of wiping away her tears. "Is there anything I should know about?" Cinder asked in a gentle voice.

Mercury shook her head. "I just recalled a bad memory. It's no big deal."

"Are you sure? If there's anything that might cause trouble for the mission, I need to know."

"It's just something that happened when I was… maybe ten, it won't affect the mission."

Cinder placed a hand on Mercury's shoulder. "If you say so." She turned back towards the rack, searching among the dresses. "I don't have a problem with you wearing a dress, so long as you don't stand out." Cinder pulled a large size of the pink dress from the rack, holding it in front of Mercury. "Pink doesn't look too bad on you."

Mercury smiled, taking the dress from her as she walked of to continue her search. Cinder didn't care about what Mercury wore. All that mattered to her was successfully completing the mission. Mercury headed over to the fitting room. Maybe one day she'd be able to tell Cinder. But until then, it was nice to have a place that actually resembled home.