In no way am I connected to Rooster Teeth

Whitley was dead.

Whitley was dead.

Weiss wandered the halls with moonlight as her companion.

She hadn't been close to her brother. In fact, she had found him irritating. She had always been on good terms with her sister, but her brother she had mostly ignored. Something he had been satisfied to reciprocate.

Yet, his death…

It was nothing short of a miracle he was found at all. His…body had been found at an outcrop of Atlas territory. His neck had been snapped.

But…

At least there was a body to bury.

Though no doubt Father-

Weiss nearly crashed into someone coming down the side hallway. She barely managed to stop herself in time.

"Sorry."

Emerald had stepped back to avoid the collision as well. "Not your fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Then Weiss remembered what was down that corridor: the infirmary. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just…forget it. Please."

"Sure…" It wasn't any of Weiss' business, but she did worry.

Emerald looked as tired as Weiss felt. "What's on your mind?" Though she was reluctant to discuss it.

Weiss was in no mind to speak her thoughts either. However, she did not want them to be hopeful and Emerald would tell them what she could not. "My brother was found dead a few hours ago."

"Ah. My sympathies."

"Thank you." It meant little, but Weiss really didn't want to talk about it. "I saw Qrow Branwen a few minutes ago. Any news on…?"

Emerald swallowed and shook her head. "He would have sent me a message at least."

"I think he's still looking for you. There's still hope for him."

…

"Thanks Weiss. I'll find Qrow later. He knows where to find me, so it's not something he wants to talk about."

"He knows you were in the infirmary?"

Emerald sighed. "Weiss, I'm learning about medicine and injuries. Just please don't tell anyone. There's nothing wrong with me."

"But-"

"What are you going to do about your brother?"

Emerald was baiting her. Weiss knew it. But Weiss didn't have the energy to snap back at her. "I don't know. Father will probably handle it." Winter had told Weiss, but she hadn't said that.

"…Do you think Gelé will turn it into a publicity stunt?"

Maybe Weiss was more tired than she thought. She wanted to get angry at that. Angry that Emerald would dare say it and angry that she was probably right. Instead, she just asked something else. "Gelé?" She had never heard anyone refer to her father as that.

"I've heard about your grandfather. I respect your father as a businessman. I don't respect him as a Schnee."

It was so ridiculous, Weiss almost laughed. "Tell me about it." She leaned against the wall. Maybe she was more tired than she thought. "Shame I can't disinherit my father."

Emerald shrugged.

"Maybe I should change my name to Diana."

That brought a smile to her friend's face. "Maybe we all should."

Weiss smiled. "How about starting tomorrow?" After all, what's the point in giving names to each other if we're not going to use them?

"Sure. Why not?"

Qrow Branwen appeared then. He gave Weiss a sympathetic look.

"Don't," Weiss warned. He didn't say anything. She turned to Emerald. "See you tomorrow then Maia."

Emerald laughed.

Ruby did not like the fact that Emerald had vanished with Uncle Qrow after lunch. They wouldn't tell her why either. All they told her was that it was very important to Remnant and brought up ghosts the family should keep buried.

Yang wasn't impressed either. She wanted Emerald where she could see her. But Dad put his foot down and had forbidden her to go. The adults even got the teachers in on keeping the blood sisters here.

Ruby really wasn't happy.

Still, at least it meant they could be there for Weiss.

Ruby knew what it was like to lose someone close to her.

Weiss was angry and snappy to everyone, even her friends. They didn't snap back. They just fell quiet or talked about inconsequential things. Even if Weiss wouldn't talk to them about Whitley, they didn't just leave her alone. She was their friend.

Weiss only opened up to Melody.

After their last class though, JWMP approached the sisters. It was Weiss who spoke.

"We were thinking about a trip to Vale with a movie night afterwards, if you're interested."

Ruby perked up.

Yang smiled too. "Yeah. Sounds good."

They found Nora and Ren about to bungee jump off one of the spires. Fortunately, they were stopped before Professor Goodwitch could appear to give them detention for the rest of the month. That would spoil their plans now and in the near future.

Blake was in their dorm room, but when Nora went in, she was talking on her scroll to what sounded like her dad. She was going to be a little late to their outing.

Yang and Pyrrha decided to wait for her.

The others headed off to Vale.

They weren't worried; they knew that the person who could turn invisible was dead, so a lot of new protections had been rescinded. Not all of them as there was still some criminal activity in Vale, but no more than previous years. Even the mass of kidnappings hadn't hit Vale City like it had other places.

Oddly enough, the crime Ruby thought had gone up the most was graffiti.

Some of them were real works of art too. They sound be selling paintings for a fortune, not angering locals by drawing on their buildings.

"There's this new go karting track that opened up this weekend," Nora noted. "We could go there once we get the rest of our victims down here."

"Sounds good," Jaune replied. "Though, in the meantime, how about the arcade? I hear someone has beaten my high score at the 'whack a mole'. And Nora's too."

Nora gasped. "Blasphemy!"

Ruby giggled.

Weiss let out a 'humph'. "So childish."

"And maybe someone's beaten Weiss' score on that dancing game!" Ruby tagged on with a grin.

"They better not have!"

Qrow knew that it would take several hours by airship to reach Mistral from Vale, so he wasn't surprised that it was already dark by the time he and Emerald made it to the main city. It didn't take much longer to get to the right town.

Now they were relying on Emerald's memory.

Emerald hadn't spoken to Qrow since they left. That didn't surprise him. It was a horrible trip they were taking, but there wasn't much choice. There were items there they needed to save countless lives.

Emerald didn't really care about that. She never wanted to go back there again. But she had agreed when Qrow asked her. If for no other reason that she didn't want to be useless against the people who were hurting Mercury.

Qrow really wasn't happy about any of this either.

The reason they were travelling in the dark was because Emerald's last trip had been in the dark, so she had a better chance of seeing the right landmarks. He wasn't too worried about getting lost as no one would be all the way out here at this time.

Oddly enough, there weren't any Grimm around either. He hadn't seen one since they left the last town to wander in the wilderness.

Emerald stopped when her flashlight landed on a rock just off the side of the seldom used path. "We went wrong once here." She fell quiet, the flashlight going one direction, then the other. There were no paths either way. Only complete woodland.

Qrow didn't bother her.

His eyes tracked the trees.

Completely isolated.

Completely alone.

One of the people in the town had clearly recognised Emerald. Qrow knew the signs. The people were a tight knit community, wary of outsiders. Why then were they so helpful to Cinder that day? Was it because they thought Marcus was better away from them? Had Marcus ever killed any of them? If they knew he was there, why not turn him in?

Qrow was very certain there were no bounty missions with Marcus Black as the target.

How things would be different.

If there had been a Huntsman that was lucky enough to kill Marcus Black, what would have happened to Mercury? Bounty missions with targets that had families can end any way, but normally badly for the family.

Now I think about it, why wasn't there a bounty mission for Marcus Black? He was well known to most Huntsmen, even if they thought it was a pseudonym.

"This way."

Qrow's eyes followed the direction Emerald had decided. "Come on then. The sooner we're there, the sooner we can leave." Something was putting him on edge. It was like the shadows had shadows.

Emerald was obviously just as nervous and she wasn't good at hiding it.

"You okay Mint?"

Emerald didn't glance at him. She did step a little closer to him. "Didn't feel like this last time."

Qrow gently put his hand on her shoulder. It didn't seem to do much, but Qrow knew the feeling. This just felt wrong. He glanced around carefully. No Grimm. That wasn't right either. Something was very wrong.

A pathway slowly unburied itself from the dirt. By the bottom of the hill, it appeared almost well-kept.

The light beam didn't go as far up the hill, but Qrow could make out something up there; little more than ruins.

Qrow didn't need to ask if Emerald was sure.

Mercury's childhood house.

Prison sounds more accurate, ironically.

During the climb, Qrow quickly noted there was very little of the actual house remaining. Only a few beams, planks and a lot of ash. How much accelerant had Mercury used? He must have come close to burning himself alive.

Would he have cared?

Not far away: a dead body. Almost recognisable.

"Marcus?" Qrow murmured softly.

Emerald nodded. "I-Let's just grab what we came for and go."

What they came for.

The silver Dust weapons.

Which Mercury had once said were in the basement.

Qrow knelt down as he glanced at the ground in the centre of the rubble. He had no idea what it should have been, but by the damage he was going to guess wood. Charcoal was all that remained. This was going to make things difficult.

Something's coming…

Qrow stood up, his hand going instinctively to his sword.

Something was nearby.

Emerald had gone for her weapons too, but she hadn't been watching Qrow. Her eyes remained fixed on the woods around them, deliberately ignoring the remains of the building and the remains of the assassin.

Qrow closed his eyes and listened.

He knew that sound. He knew it very well.

Wingbeats. Very faint, but definitely wingbeats.

Qrow's eyes sprang open and his gaze shot up.

…

"Emerald, back down the hill a little. Slowly."

Qrow didn't take his eyes off the Grimm aura dragon snarling at him. Its eyes weren't grey. This wasn't Mercury.

But it was a part of him.

Even if it was the wrong form, this had been created using him.

And Qrow very much doubted Mercury would be happy that they were at his childhood prison.

"Merc?" Naturally, Emerald hadn't backed down the hill. She hadn't gone any closer to it though. "Can you hear us Mercury?"

The aura creature landed a few feet in front of Qrow. Jaw open and snarling.

None of the three moved.

Only attacks when it is attacked.

Qrow's hand left his sword. He took a step forward.

It hissed lower and snapped its jaws. A warning.

I would never hurt you Silvertongue.

"It doesn't recognise us, does it?" Emerald's voice was little more than a whisper. "…Qrow, maybe you shouldn't-"

It was a potentially suicidal move.

Qrow stepped forward again and placed his hand on the jaw, deliberately close enough it could bite it off if it wished.

Then he focused.

[Pain…Tired…Cold…]

Images. Images too fast for Qrow to catch. Many were in the same place, but there were far more random ones. Different colours; different places; different times. He would even say hundreds. Maybe thousands. There was only one link between all of them; underlining everything. Suffering; exhaustion; determination.

Qrow opened his eyes.

The creature was calm. It kept its gaze on him, but there was no hissing or growling or anything.

I'm sorry Silvertongue. I'm so sorry.

But I promise. I'm getting you out of there.

Mercury couldn't hear his promise.

Qrow slowly moved his hand along the jaw. It didn't attack him. It also seemed to have shrunk a little. It made no attempt to move as Qrow continued to pet it.

Mercury wouldn't sense this affection either.

In a moment, its demeanour changed. Its head came up again and it growled lowly. Before Qrow could react, its wing came around him.

Not attacking.

Protecting.

Qrow knew what had happened.

He placed his hand on the wing surrounding him. "Emerald, slowly. Use your aura. Don't be a threat." He tried to use his aura to calm it again. The wing curled around him further.

It was Qrow's job to protect Mercury.

Another moment and it settled again.

The wing uncurled a little. Qrow could now glimpse Emerald. She was crying. She was gently petting the top of its head. Almost the way she petted Mercury's hair.

"Come here Mint."

She came.

Qrow put an arm around her.

The wing curled again. A new sound began to sing in the air. It was almost a quiet coo.

"I was angry at him. The last thing I said to him…"

"Don't Emerald. Don't go there."

They had all been angry at him.

Mercury probably wouldn't even say 'I told you so'.

Qrow tried to think. He really didn't want to leave this aura animal here. It was calm around them, still had enough in it to recognise them when they introduced themselves properly. Qrow didn't want it hurt.

His eyes dropped from Emerald to the ground. Then he noticed something. Checking on Emerald, she was okay for him to let go and he carefully knelt down. There was something wrapped around its leg.

That…looks like a tracker.

It was very easy to get off. It looked like little more than some sort of metal with an antenna on it. A tracker was all it was, but if Qrow wanted to take the aura animal anywhere, he needed a way to get rid of it. Easy enough; he had a few ideas about that.

The cave…

A few weeks after Summer died, a huge Griffon had taken up residence in a cave in Patch. Rather than go out hunting, it waited for rumours of disappearances to draw in victims. Quite a few families had lost children to that huge thing before Qrow and Taiyang heard of it. Even then, it took quite a bit of searching to track it down and Patch wasn't a large island.

But no one had gone near that cave since.

If this could shrink more, then it could stay there. Out of sight and out of danger.

"Qrow…" He stood up and focused on Emerald. "We-We're not leaving it here, are we?"

Anywhere but here Mint.

"No. It's coming with us." He took a deep breath and ran his hand against the wing wall. It moved for him. "I'll grab the stuff. I don't want to come back here again."

"Agreed," she murmured. She swallowed. "So…A basement."

"Yeah."

Emerald didn't move.

Qrow did. He stepped outside the little sanctuary the aura animal had made. He studied the floor again. Now though, he was sure it was hopeless. He was going to need to dig.

A low growl.

Qrow glanced back at the aura animal, making very sure his posture was as least threatening as possible. It wasn't looking at him, but at Emerald. Its back was arched and shoulders hunched.

It turned its head slowly and stared at the ground. Then it extended its neck and gently nudged Qrow. Catching himself, he stood up and took a few steps back, hoping that was what it wanted.

One wing remained securely around Emerald. The other came down so it was flat on the ground. The head lower farther and used its jaw as a scoop, collecting everything in its mouth. One jolt of the head and the dirt was thrown quite far to the side. Another scoop and toss.

There wasn't a third.

It sat back on its haunches and twisted its head to look at Emerald again.

Qrow gave her a questioning look.

She flinched. "I asked it if it could show me the basement. I didn't think it would understand and actually…"

Qrow managed to smile at her. "Don't worry Emerald. It still seems okay." For a bizarre definition of okay, but it wasn't aggressive or even stressed.

The basement was a good size. About as large as their living room and kitchen combined. There wasn't much left in there. Some furniture, such as quite a few tables and…

A lot of chains.

"Wait up there Emerald."

Most were in remarkably good condition. There was little rust on them, but three had been shattered beyond repair. Some were around the 'furniture' that Qrow suddenly didn't want to know what they had been, but others were on the floor. Many different sizes.

Some attached to collars. He tried lifting one. Easily weighed a tonne. A memory of fighting dogs in a paddock with heavy chains trailing them entered his mind.

Bad idea. Leave alone. Move on.

Something caught his eye about one particular length that had a far too small collar on the end. He knelt down and had a closer study. There was something caught in the ring that attached the chains to the floor. With a good jerk, Qrow pulled it out, leaving a tiny but noticeable dent in the metal. The little cube like object seemed to be bone, but what kind Qrow had never see-

Yes I have.

This was a fragment of a baby tooth.

Qrow threw it to the ground.

He'd seen enough.

You never had a chance, did you Mercury?

The silver Dust weapons were piled against a wall. Even if half of them were still buried in the debris the aura animal hadn't removed, Qrow could see there were well over twenty items. All different types, sizes and, most likely, uses. All were in very good condition, despite Mercury's best efforts.

Sorry Silvertongue, but without very specialist equipment you were out of luck.

Knives, swords, whips, bows and arrows.

Bow and arrow? Don't remember any victims of those…

Qrow packed everything. He would figure out exactly what to do with them later.

He jumped out of the hole, relieved to see Emerald still near the aura animal and away from what Qrow was very sure was at least a torture cellar.

"Right. Time to go."

"Finally," she muttered. She didn't even look at the hole in the ground. "So how are we going to do this?" The hand returned to its head.

Qrow's hand went to its jaw again, giving it the choice to hurt him if it wanted. How long had it been until Mercury was given a choice on whether to hurt someone? Was it before or after Marcus was dead?

The aura Grimm didn't hurt Qrow.

Silvertongue trusted Felix. He trusted Tai. Yang. His Gems.

"How did you ask it before? Could you ask it to take us home?" There was no way Emerald was returning to Beacon tonight or even tomorrow.

Emerald frowned. "I don't know. It was like aura reading but he…I mean…it-"

"Feels wrong," Qrow finished. It felt like Mercury and didn't feel like Mercury.

"Yeah."

The head came up again. The wing that had been around Emerald straightened out and angled itself to the floor. Like a ramp. Slowly but surely, its entire body began to shrink in size. It stopped when it was about the size of an airship.

With a final pet, Emerald carefully ran her hand down what would be black flesh on the real thing before hopping up onto what would be the membrane. There was no reaction from the aura animal. She slowly stepped onto its back, dwarfed by its size.

Qrow had kept his hand on it. There was no shift in the aura to suggest it was about to attack or even move.

He could jump straight onto its back, like Emerald probably could have. Instead, he chose the same route. He didn't want to spook it.

It remained calm.

Once Qrow was settled, it spread its wings. With one huge leap, it was up in the air.

As they headed west, Qrow dropped the tracker into the source of a river. In a few weeks, it would arrive in the ocean. The path it chose to fly was random, so if they were following the tracker, they shouldn't think anything was wrong unless they went looking for it.

The aggression towards the scorpion Faunus showed that was a bad idea.

Qrow manipulated his aura. The aura animal sensed it and flew higher. It wouldn't do to spook everyone on the ground, even if nearly all villages and towns knew not to attack it now.

Although at this size, they would probably think it was an airship.

Just because it was smaller didn't make it any less powerful.

It was colder up here, but Qrow had been freezing since he had been in that basement. He didn't think he could feel colder. Emerald was a Maiden, so she wouldn't even notice.

Not long before dawn, but before its light, they were over Patch.

It hovered in the air. Waiting.

Qrow remembered the cave and manipulated his aura to describe its location.

The aura animal began to fly again.

Qrow pushed the bag in front of Emerald. "Keep hold of this, would you?" At her confused nod, he jumped off.

Many feet down, he shifted into a crow.

Emerald probably saw that, but he would explain another time. Right now, he needed to be sure no one was in the cave he wanted to shelter the aura animal.

Luck was on his side. Not only was there no one in the cave, there was no one around to see it in the air or land.

Oddly enough, it settled immediately inside. There was no sign of aggression at all. It just lay in the farthest chamber from the entrance.

Emerald slid down. She stayed at its side. "I'm sleeping here tonight."

"If Tai agrees," Qrow replied, taking the easy way out. He needed to tell him about this anyway. "I'm going to go fetch him, so stay out of trouble until then."

Emerald gave him a shaky smile. She sat down and leaned against the aura animal, trying to get comfortable. Like before, the wing came around as protection.

The cave wasn't too far from their home: only a half hour walk.

In hindsight, it was most likely their grief over Summer alone that brought the old Griffon to Patch.

Tai was still up. He was in the kitchen, with a mug of something warm.

"Hey Qrow." He glared at the bag. "Job done then."

"…Yeah." Said bag was dumped under the stairs, out of obvious view. Qrow then returned to the table and took a mouthful from his flask. The alcohol did nothing as far as he could tell. "It was bad Tai."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Never." He did not want to remember what he saw in that 'room', ever.

"Are you going to talk about it with him?"

That made Qrow wince. "I don't…Depends how he is." If Mercury saw those weapons, he would recognise them and it wouldn't take him long to figure out how Qrow got his hands on them. "They might say he's sane but…Not for a while even if he is." Then the idea hit him. "Tai, that wrong aura animal showed up then." Tai's mug hit the table. "We brought it back with us."

Tai frowned. "Where is it now?"

At least he's not angry.

"That cave. Emerald's decided she's staying there with it for the night."

Tai nodded slowly. "It's not going to hurt her?"

"No, though it'll be aggressive towards you until you introduce yourself using your aura. It didn't recognise us until we did that."

A sigh. "Well, it's a good place for now, but we can't risk anyone else finding it. It can't stay there long."

"If my plan works, it won't."

Tai looked him in the eye. "Plan?"

"It includes using that to get Mercury back."

For a moment, Tai didn't respond.

Then he seemed to understand.

"That…might work. If it is powerful enough." Tai finished off what Qrow was sure was tea. "Right. I want to go check on Emerald."

Tai may check on Emerald, but Qrow knew full well she wasn't budging.

Soon Silvertongue. Soon.