A Prison of Ice
XVI.
Mercury had always hated the rain.
He hated the sounds the raindrops made when they hit the ground. He hated how dreary the sky looked when it was covered with dark clouds. He hated how his old man always drank more on rainy days. And more than anything, he hated how much it reminded him of the past; how much it reminded him of mom.
It had been a rainy day as well when she left him behind with Marcus after all. Why the hell was he thinking about her now of all times was beyond him.
Raindrops pelted against his battered frame as he trudged along the dark alleyway, leaning against the wall all the while for support. Water mixed together with blood as it dripped down his face into his clothes and the ground. He took another step before he lost his footing, slipping on the wet surface created by the rain and tumbled into the ground.
Slowly, he rolled over so that he was facing the sky as he watched the raindrops fall down like a never ending swarm of bullets.
They may as well be hollow point slugs with how full of bullet holes he was right now. Every single raindrop that landed on his body burned worse than any beating his old man had ever given him. The left side of his face bore the worst of it, he couldn't even see out of his left eye anymore.
If it was still even in one piece that is. Those bastards sure did a number on him, but at the very least he made sure to repay the favor in kind.
The element of surprise was the most important tool in an assassin's arsenal, but the target he was supposed to kill this time was ready for him. It had been a trap, and Mercury had taken the bait. The target had hired a trio of ex-huntsmen to watch his back and when he had moved in for the kill; they attacked from the shadows. Mercury didn't think the huntsmen were very skilled or anything; they weren't on Marcus's level and if it were one-on-one, he would have been fine.
Unfortunately for him, it hadn't been one-on-one.
He still killed the bastards in the end, even finishing off the target before he could make an escape in his car. Always finish the job; that was something that had been beaten into his head by Marcus. Mercury was still a professional, and even if he hated his old man, he still took pride in his skills as an assassin. It was the only thing that he was good for in this godforsaken world after all.
As the rain continued to fall onto his battered body, he couldn't help but wonder; had Jacob's information been compromised? Or had the butler simply seen a chance to take care of every loose end, himself included. It would be the best way to make sure none of this bloody business ever got out, the dead can't talk after all. If that had truly been the case, then he had to give the old man some props. It took a real cold-hearted bastard to make that call and lie to his face about it.
If he was willing to go this far for Makoto, then maybe his friend wouldn't need someone like him around after all.
Mercury had always thought that his end would be something like this, anyway. An unnoteworthy death in the back of some long forgotten alleyway somewhere in the worst parts of town. A fitting end for someone like him. The rain continued to pour down relentlessly, and when he tried to utter one last curse at the damned weather, the only noise that came out was a gurgle.
Ah, so that was it. He was drowning in his own blood.
"So, this is all you amounted to in the end?"
Marcus sneered down at him. Nothing but a ghost from the past.
"Pathetic."
Mercury should have been angry; furious even, but he wasn't. He didn't have the energy for it. He just felt tired. Sleepy. The sounds of the raindrops hitting the ground seemed to sap at whatever energy he had left. The rest of his strength seemed to just flow out of his body along with the blood like a red river.
Oh well.
Everyone died eventually, and death was just a part of the lifestyle for an assassin. Whether or not he was the one delivering death didn't really matter, someone was going to die in the end either way. It was just the nature of the business and he had long accepted that.
Even so, it would be a lie to say he didn't have any regrets.
The past year he had been working with Makoto as his bodyguard had been the most fun he had in his whole life. Marcus wasn't there to rule over him with an iron fist anymore. He got to live in luxury, eat whatever he wanted, and got paid a good wage. And most importantly, he had been able to finally spend some time with his best friend.
Footsteps suddenly approached him. Slow and methodical.
He couldn't see who it was from his position on the ground. Finely tuned instincts from his hellish training with Marcus screamed at him to move; to get up and assess the situation. He tried to move, but his body failed him; simply spasming in pain after every attempt.
Was it one of the huntsmen that the target hired? Had one of them survived? Or perhaps it was someone else from the gang that saw the bodies and tracked him down? It wouldn't have been very difficult with the trail of blood he left behind.
Either way, it didn't matter anymore.
His job was done. The target was dead, and that was all that mattered in this line of work. If someone had tracked him down to finish him off, then so be it. He was already one foot in the grave anyway, so they were just wasting their time. He just hoped that they wouldn't be able to connect him with Makoto.
Ah, screw it.
He had done all he could with the cards he had been dealt. His eyes grew heavy, and he just wanted to go to sleep at this point. Mercury just wished that those fun times with Makoto had lasted just a bit longer than they did.
That would have been…
…
…
…
Makoto let out a small yawn as he leaned back against his chair and stretched his arms.
It was getting pretty late, so he might as well retire for the night. He didn't want to have Weiss on his case again about overworking. She had good reason to be concerned; he knew he had a one track mind and could easily lose himself with whatever goal it was he was working towards. It had been like that with Tartarus as well after all, and it had taken the intervention of his friends to stop him from spending too much time in the tower.
It was getting rather chilly anyway with the pouring rain outside.
Staying huddled within the warm covers of his bedsheets was suddenly a very alluring thought. He may as well eat something first before going to bed though. It was late enough that the family chef had already retired for the night, so he'd have to cook something up himself. He could ask Jacob of course, but he seemed rather busy lately with his own business and it wasn't like he didn't know how to cook himself.
Makoto used to live alone after all in his past life.
Perhaps he'd ask Mercury if he had eaten anything yet; maybe his friend would be open to the thought of cooking something up himself. He had been meaning to ask him about how his cooking lessons were going, but the other boy always evaded the question in one way or another. It was rather amusing, really; it reminded him of how embarrassed Shinjiro used to get when everyone found out about his cooking hobby.
As if cooking would ruin their 'bad boy' image or something.
When he went to look for Mercury in his room, however, it was empty. Mercury wasn't at the game room either, so he couldn't help but wonder where the boy was. He should have been back from his cooking lessons by now. Makoto tried calling his scroll, but he didn't pick up either.
That was slightly concerning.
Mercury always responded to his scroll. He kept that thing with him all the time like it was some kind of sacred treasure. Perhaps he just had some more errands to run, and was preoccupied with something so he couldn't answer his scroll? It wasn't like Mercury couldn't take care of himself after all; he had sparred with the boy enough to know that.
He'd give him another call after dinner if he wasn't back by then.
As he made his way to the kitchen, Makoto felt his scroll suddenly vibrate in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and saw that it was a text message from Mercury. The contents of the text message caused his blood to run cold.
It was a picture of Mercury lying in a bed in some run down room. The left side of his face was wrapped in a bloody bandage and his one visible eye was closed. The rest of the injuries looked bad, even from the slightly blurry image. For a moment, he felt a flicker of rage light up in his mind; fury at who would dare hurt one of his friends and rub it in his face like this. Thanatos stirred within his soul, eager for release and spurred on by his righteous fury.
Then, another text message arrived and whatever anger he felt simmered out like a dull flame.
This is Blake. I found him in a back alley left for dead. He needs a doctor.
What followed next was another message that contained the address of the hotel she was staying at and her room number. Makoto didn't waste any time and made a beeline to the garage; whatever questions he had could wait until later. He needed to worry about getting to Mercury first.
Makoto just hoped that Mercury didn't pass on before he got there.
There was so much blood.
Blake knew some first aid, she had been the one that had always patched up Adam whenever he got injured after all. But this? This was too much for her. She had tried her best to stop the bleeding with whatever meager supplies she had brought with her, but Mercury needed an actual doctor or someone with a healing Semblance.
The last thing she had expected when going for a walk to clear her head was to find a half-dead person lying on the ground. She knew that the hotel she was staying at wasn't in the best part of town, but it was still shocking to stumble upon what looked like a murder scene. She had almost been tempted to simply call an ambulance and leave it at that until she noticed the silver hair.
The cracked mask he had on his face threw her off at first, but Blake knew this person. He had been Makoto Yuki's bodyguard back when she had met them both at the mines.
She didn't know much about Mercury, but the way he carried himself signaled he wasn't a stranger to battles. He had been acting as Makoto's bodyguard as well, so he must have been at least proficient in combat. Which meant that whoever had done this to him must have been dangerous, and if they were, it wouldn't be difficult to finish the job if Mercury was lying helpless in a hospital bed.
Because of that, Blake couldn't just leave him at the hospital, so she carried him back to her hotel and snuck him through her window.
She rinsed out some more blood from the towel and went back to trying to clean up his wounds. Mercury was still breathing for now, but his face was deathly pale and his complexion wasn't looking very good either. It would have been easy to just call an ambulance and leave it at that; she would have done her part and it would have been enough to ease whatever guilt she might have felt.
Whatever Mercury had gotten himself involved in wasn't her problem after all.
Blake couldn't do that though, not after what she had done to Makoto. She could tell from just their brief meeting that the two boys were close. Perhaps it was a cheap way of trying to atone, but she couldn't help it. If she could do something, anything to make up for what she had done, she'd gladly take it.
And if that meant making sure Mercury wouldn't be dying any time soon, then so be it. Blake wiped off some sweat from her forehead before she went back to work on cleaning up his injuries. It wouldn't be long before Makoto finally arrived, hopefully with an actual doctor in tow.
She just had to make sure his friend wouldn't die before that.
Blake could do that. Easy, right?
Author's Notes- Ahhhhh, I wanted to write, but I've actually been so busy lately. Anyway, sorry Weiss this isn't really your arc to shine. Your time will come again soon enough though! For now, we have our favorite cat-girl and fake chef stealing the spot light. Is this the end of the line for chef Merc? And apparently there's an actual plot in the background and its not all fluff?! Haha.
Anyway, thanks everyone for the reviews as usual and I'll see you all next chapter. Hopefully my schedule loosens up sooner rather than later.
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