Shameless OTP Indulgence: The Fic
(Alternate Title: Broke and Broken)
Prologue
"Better run. Run as long as you can."
The rain came down hard, and it came down fast.
"It won't do you much good, though. After all..."
Lightning cracked through the sky, thunder slamming the very walls of the alley.
"You can't outrun your own mind."
Not that it could be heard over the pounding of a heart in ears.
"And you sure as Hell can't outrun death."
And then, suddenly, the lightning and thunder rang unimpeded through the sky once again. But it fell upon deaf ears... and empty, unseeing eyes.
Chapter 1
Among the multitude of people hurrying through the streets, feet clapping against wet cobbles and slogging through black mud that was, in a way, almost insidious, there seemed to be one common opinion: Just another day. Indeed, to those accustomed to the area's rather mercurial climate, such downpours were hardly surprising. The mild throngs of citizens, many in rain coats, milled about with some subdued commotion through some colonial old bazaar. Of all shapes and sizes, men and women, children and elders, simply going about their days the best they could through the storm. It looked like a scene from a painting, all drab grays and dull highlights, and there was a certain beauty to the scene.
"Ow! What the fuck was that for?"
"Stop stepping on my toes, you dick."
"You started it."
"You can't even feel it!"
The poncho-clad figures jostled against one another, a hooded flurry of jabbed elbows and checked hips. The taller of the two bore a grin that oozed antagonism, grey eyes fixed on his compatriot with an almost childlike glee at her frustration. "It's not the physical pain that hits the hardest you know," he lilts, voice an exaggerated pout. "The emotional pain is the stuff that really cuts me deep." As they passed a stall, the shorter figure gave him a slap on the arm through the tarp-like material of his poncho. "Yeah, 'cause you've always cared loads about emotional distress," she hissed. "Aw, Em', you're breaking my heart here." Another snicker from the taller of the two, his own hands shoved into the pockets of his sand-blue and black jacket beneath the covering.
Emerald Sustrai frowned, crimson eyes glinting with frustration at the man that sauntered beside her. "If you don't watch your feet, your heart isn't the only thing I'm gonna break." It wasn't an idle threat, though it was certainly hyperbolic. At most, she figured, she'd just smack him until he got off his bullshit. "... Hey. Merc'." ... "Yeah?" She tugged at his poncho. "Merc'." "What? I'm right fuckin' here." "...Where are we going?" A long pause passed between them, their feet coming to a halt upon the slick road. Their words similarly came to a halt, the two companions' silence drowned out by the patter of rain against their hoods. "Uh." Oh, for-... Emerald could feel her frown deepen, her brows furrowing. He hadn't. No, no, he couldn't have seriously gotten them lost, could he? Of course, it wouldn't surprise her in the slightest. Though her partner was hardly stupid in the conventional sense, the thief was hardly shocked that he'd gotten so caught up in their banter that he'd lost track of where they had been supposed to turn. A suspicion that was confirmed as the man turned around, glancing back at the moderate crowd they'd just slipped through, trying to discern any distinguishable parts of the environment that might have indicated where he'd slipped up. Crossing her arms, Emerald regarded the butcher with an unimpressed raise of a mint-green brow. "Don't tell me. We're-..."
"If you say lost, I'm gonna kick you in the shin. It's fine. Everything's fine. I just need a sec' to get my bearings, that's all." They were lost. They were completely and unequivocally lost, and Mercury Black knew that all too well. But he wasn't having any of it from Emerald - not while there was still some chance of him salvaging his dignity along with this little errand of theirs. Of course, it went without saying that they both pretty much knew it was too late for that. Wincing as a few errant drops landed in his eyes, he sighed. "... Okay, well, I think I can see the statue. C'mon." Gods, he hated the rain. So fucking much. As he began heading back towards the monument in question, jerking his head for Emerald to follow, he could feel the cold settling into the stumps where metal met flesh. It wasn't even the water that bothered him, really. In fact, he didn't mind a warm, humid drizzle from time to time at all. But this, the chill? It made him ache all over and it compounded his awful mood considerably more. It didn't help, then, that he knew full well Emerald was right. If not just because he knew, in turn, she was going to use this as an opportunity to get in some countenance for the countless times he'd held such things over her head. Ugh. "It's not that big a deal, anyway, right? We'll still catch the airship. Don't worry about it."
The mint-haired mirage-maker scoffed. Yeah, okay, now she was definitely worried. It was always wise to be wary of Mercury's reassurances - she'd learned that the hard way. Sniffle. ... Dammit. Not her, too. Mercury had caught some kind of cold the day prior, and it seemed she was next in line. She was gonna kill him for this. They began moving back through the village's bazaar with a shared air of weary frustration, heads low and faces hidden once more by the shade of their hoods. This entire endeavor had gone from trivial to infuriating almost instantly.
It had all started so simply…
Emerald's thoughts, whatever they may have been, were shattered by a particularly loud crack of lightning across the overbearing gray-blue sky. ...Wait, what the fuck was she doing? She shakes her head, sighing. Had she seriously almost done one of those idiotic 'flashback' segments they'd put in one of Merc's shitty comics? Noting the shifting of her hood, Mercury glanced over at her. It was his turn to raise a brow, wordlessly asking what the big deal was. He was met with a shake of the head, and he shrugged it off with a roll of his eyes. "Whatever." Antagonism aside, Mercury was frankly in no mood to pry into whatever was up with her. At least, not in public, and definitely not in the middle of a rainstorm.
The downpour only seemed to intensify as they made their way back towards the statue in question. The trek was, on the whole, much more oppressive going back the way they'd come than it had been moving forward. At least, it seemed to be, what with the wind now directly in their faces as they tried to force themselves back into the bulk of the town's population towards the plaza's center. This was shaping up to be a particularly terse little trip, especially now that the fun part was over.
"OW!"
"... You stepped on my toe again, you ass!"
"I can't see a damn thing! Cut me some fucking slack!"
"I swear, I'm gonna punch you."
"Yeah, 'cause that worked great last time you tried it."
This was going to be a long, long walk.