THE QUICKSILVER KIDS

...

Waking up the next morning with the thought that your four unborn kids were still strolling around the apartment complex Cinder practically bought out was the equivalent to slamming an entire bottle of vodka the night before and waking up with hardly a coherent sentence from last night. It was confusing as hell, and left him with a wicked headache. At least, he assumed it was equivalent, because he wouldn't take a sniff of alcohol even if Cinder threatened to burn parts of his body until he was nothing but a piece of fried chicken, and, well, no one that ever slammed a bottle of vodka had to deal with time traveling kids, now did they?

He rolled out of bed with the sheets tangled in the jagged edges of his metal legs. He did the smart thing: kicked the sheets into submission until they got the fuck off him. Lumbered around the barren room, scoffed at the time, and pulled a pair of grey sweats over his metallic legs. The black nightshirt would have to do, because he didn't feel like changing just yet, and something smelled damn good in the kitchen.

Just as he let the door swing open, the white-cloaked girl, completely awake and dressed, had a fist raised to knock. He smirked lazily and arched a brow. "Dove."

The nickname sent her into a blush, but the emotion in her eyes amplified just as they did last night. Mercury didn't know what to think of it, but something fuzzy wormed around in his chest, and it wasn't all that unpleasant. "H-Hi. Um, I wanted to get you for breakfast. Cin— Auntie Cinder made us a big one!"

His other eyebrow shot up to join the first one. Cinder cooked them something? That's...new.

Summer grabbed at his hand with both of hers and tugged him forward. "Come on!"

Once upon a time, Mercury would kick the shit out of whoever decided to grab his hand, because no, physical contact, that's not happening, but the urge didn't come. Maybe it was because he knew it was an innocent gesture. Maybe because of the way she looked at him, like he had all the answers, like he meant the world and then some. Horrible judgement call on her part if she thought that of him, but hey, she was a kid, she thought he was her dad, and while he would rather crush his pop's trachea with his metallic boot all over again, he suppose he can understand why she clung to him. Father's were supposed to be doting, after all.

Summer pushed him into the kitchen, which was really like a glorified dining hall with an open kitchenette. The long table was out, the bronzed wood gleaming under the bejeweled lights, and his… kids were all sitting there. Eirian and Pearl together on one side, Jet on the other with Summer quickly joining him. Emerald and Cinder were fluttering around the open kitchen with pots with sticky batter stuck to them and egg-caked spatulas. The amount of food on the table displayed their work.

Cinder was throwing them a damn buffet.

"Uh, Cinder?" Mercury broached as he walked past the kids. "What's all this?"

Cinder turned on her glass heel in a very not-Cinder way, all sass and no sensuality. "Can I not dote on my niece's and nephew from the future?"

He heard Eirian snicker from behind him, while the others stayed deadly quiet. Not the good type of quiet either. The type of quiet that was steaming and charged and made you just want to punch someone. Odd.

"You're allowed to…?" Mercury posed it as a question. Cinder rolled her eyes and waved her spatula to the head of the table.

"Sit down, we'll be right there," Cinder ordered.

He pivoted on his heel with a much too quick movement for his liking. Four pairs of silver eyes stared him down. Lovely.

Okay. One step at a time. Pull the chair out, step around. Sit down… they're all staring. Now what the fuck do I do?

Mercury cleared his throat. It was becoming a common action. "So. Kids."

Jet and Pearl looked unimpressed. Eirian cocked her head with those wide eyes of hers and Summer just looked… cringe-y. Is that even a word? Whatever, she looked like it.

"Sleep well?" Please someone say something.

Summer, ever helpful after her time spent with Teen-Dad Mercury, piped up, "I did—"

Jet spoke over her, "No."

"Not really," Pearl mumbled.

Eirian just pouted with a little, disappointed hmm.

Well. That was a nice conversation. He drummed his fingers on the table.

"Kids, why don't you tell Mer— Dad about your routine at night then?" Emerald shouted from the kitchen. "Maybe he can help tonight?"

If Jet could throw daggers with just his eyes, Mercury was pretty sure he would be doing that right now. It should have freaked him out, but every move, every glance, he could read from Jet. It mirrored his own unconscious tics. The squint of his eyes, the slow, calculated slide away from the source of his annoyance.

"I-I'll start!" Summer exclaimed a little too happily. "Though my routine isn't all that special. I just hug everybody goodnight! It— It was a little weird, without Mom here, but I managed!"

Pearl hummed. She bit off a piece of bacon as she arched a brow at Jet, who merely scoffed and turned his head. She rolled her eyes. "Guess I'm next. Always make myself a cup of coco right before bed. Either with three big marshmallows or fifteen little ones. Check on all the others, make sure they're in their rooms. Then I pass out after I drain the rest of my coco." Pearl watched for Mercury's reaction, which just consisted of him trying very hard to keep an expressionless yet interested face. She sighed as she looked down at her plate and moved scrambled egg around with her fork. "Apparently Grandmama Pearl used to do that too."

Mercury tried to make a noise of acknowledgement, but it sounded like someone strangled it out of his throat. "Mhm."

Emerald and Cinder joined them at the table then, with Emerald sliding into a chair beside Pearl and Cinder next to Jet. Mercury noticed how he went rigid, noticed how his hand curled around the butter knife beside his plate in a white-knuckle grip, how his silver eyes flicked to the side of Cinder's head and seemed to glow in unadulterated rage. Mercury narrowed his eyes.

"What's your routine, Jet?"

In addressing him, Jet locked eyes with his teenage father. The grip on his knife vanished and he tried to play it off as him just grabbing it to cut through a pancake. "Don't have one."

Eirian perked up for the first time since Mercury sat down. "That's not true."

Jet wanted to glare at Eirian, but Mercury supposed her status as the baby of the quartet made him restrain himself. He merely looked at her with a pointed glance. "No, I don't."
"Yes you do!" Eirian insisted. "You pace the hallway a couple times, and, when Mommy or Daddy is around, they'll grab that big book with the pretty pictures and read a chapter to you!" She went to look at Mercury, but lost her confidence and instead locked eyes with Emerald from across Pearl's body. "Whenever I can't sleep, I join Jet and listen to it too."

"Eirian!"

"Eep!" Eirian jumped at the sudden boom of Jet's voice. Mercury's hand landed on her right shoulder a second before Pearl's hand landed on her left. For just a moment, it was silent, fingers gently smoothing over fabric and skin, before his brain caught up with what his hand was doing and he just stared at it. Then he tilted his eyes up and saw Eirian, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at him.

He withdrew his hand with such a delicate, slow movement, like he was trying to not startle a rattlesnake primed and ready to pump venom in his veins. Eirian's lips moved to smile, her gleaming teeth displayed for him. "It's okay, Jetty just doesn't yell often. It startled me!"

Jet groaned at the nickname. "You're making it worse."

"It's a very specific book, isn't it, Jetty?" Pearl asked with a smug look. One elbow on the table, she twirled her fork around with her fingers as Jet stared her down. It was the first emotion Mercury ever witnessed Pearl exhibit. She was just stoic and logical for the most part. "One that was passed on to you by Mom—"

Jet raised his hand and flicked his fingers toward her. A sound similar to the powering down of some gravitational machinery rung out, and Pearl just… froze. Mouth open to expel another word, silver eyes half-lidded and dangerous. Fork frozen mid-spin. Mercury's nose itched when a black rose petal floated by his nose.

The source of the petals were Jet's hair and coat. They peeled off his shoulders and dripped down from his hair, all the while a huge, carnivorous smirk was planted on his face. Mercury waved away the petals that were floating haphazardly around.

Cinder sat forward, intrigued. "Interesting. Jet, darling, is this your semblance?"

The smirk dropped and his jaw clenched. A moment later, he loosened his jaw and spoke, "Yeah. I call it 'Pause'. I can freeze time in a small area. Larger areas take a lot out of me, and I can't use it for very long." His grin emerged again. "But with Boss Lady here being the only one paused, I can hold this up for quite a while."

Emerald arched a brow. "You always do that to your older sister?"

Something in Emerald's gaze changed Jet's demeanor. The cocksure attitude disappeared and he cast his eyes down. Then, he sunk down in his seat. He must have hooked his foot to one of Pearl's chair legs, because suddenly she was tilted backward. He fixed his posture and clenched his fingers. The petals ceased to flow from him and Pearl was falling back with a startled yelp.

"Eiri!"

Eirian's eyes popped open and suddenly, red rose petals leaked from her. Her sterling silver eyes churned and, in defiance of gravity, Pearl was falling back up to original position, safely upright, and her arms and torso went back to her original pose during Jet's 'Pause'. The rose petals stopped flowing from Eirian, and she slumped forward as she rubbed at her temple.

"Thank you, Eirian," Pearl said. She then eased her eyes to Jet. "As I was saying. Fairytales."

"Pearl!" Jet spit.

"Uh-uh, you don't just get to Pause me and not suffer the consequences, Jet Jasper Black!" Pearl scolded, eyes blazing in fury. "I told you not to use your damn semblance on me, but you just have to be a dick!"

Emerald's mouth hung open. "Are we not going to address what just happened? And why do all you kids just shed rose petals?!"

Jet ignored her. "Well this seems like a special occasion, since, you know, this isn't exactly normal company, Pearl Ophelia Black."

"Guys…" Eirian whined. She rubbed her temples even more vigorously.

"Since when have we been in normal company?" Pearl retorted. "Between assassins, Maidens, Huntsmen, Wizards, and freakin Grimm-Human freaks, this is tame! It's not an excuse to be childish."

"Childish?" Jet barked. "Well, look who's talking—"

Pearl growled. "Jet, this is not the time to get into this. You're being difficult."

"Darlings, maybe you should both calm yourselves and talk this through?" Cinder said calmly, placing a hand on Jet's shoulder. He tensed and yanked his shoulder away.

"Don't touch me."

Mercury was bug eyed the entirety of the ordeal, but now, he was ready to duck for cover. No one talked to Cinder that way. She had her neutral face on, but the annoyance, the outrage in her eyes? He could see it. And he actually feared for his son in this moment.

Wait a minute. Not his son. Just some kid. Ugh.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Jet growled.

Pearl clenched her jaw and spoke to her brother through gritted teeth, "Jet, we are guests in this apartment, and you will show our hostess some respect."

"Oh, can it, Pearl. You may be willing to play pretend, but I'm gonna take the risk." Jet turned to look Cinder dead in the eye. "Pearl and I? Yeah, we hate you. Like, fucking hate your guts. I'm not saying why, but you did something we didn't like, and it's gonna take more than scrambled eggs and greasy bacon to fix it."

Pearl looked increasingly distressed. "Jet, just think for a second—"

"No! I didn't ask to be hurled into the past!" Jet shouted back. "I just want to go home and see Mom!"

Cinder's eyes were the color of lava. Fire danced along her fingertips. It looked like she was about to kill the boy sitting next to her. And she rose to do so.

"DON'T HURT JETTY!" Eirian shouted, red petals exploding from her form as Cinder began backtracking in her movements with a dizzying speed. The fire diminished, and Cinder ended up back in her seated position, hand on Jet's shoulder. Eirian slumped further into herself after Cinder ceased her over accelerated movements.

"Darlings, maybe you should both calm yourselves and talk this through?"

Mercury's eyes were about to pop out of his head. What in the-

"Um, Auntie Cinder?" Eirian spoke shakily, hands clenched over her nose. Her skin was pale and drenched with a sheen of sweat. "Do you have something for an achy head?"

All anger from Cinder's form was just...gone. Her concerned eyes flashed over to the youngest. "Have a headache, Dear?"

Eirian removed her hands from her nose to reveal red. Blood smeared over her cheeks, her nose, her mouth. It oozed from her nostrils in waves. "More than that…"

"Oh, how did that happen?" Cinder rose from her seat and brushed off her dress, rounding the table in seconds to end up kneeling by Eirian's side. She used her cloth napkin to stem the blood flow. "Come on, you can finish your breakfast later. Let's go to my room and get you cleaned up."

Mercury and Emerald kept their eyes locked on Cinder. Why did she suddenly go all weird? What did Eirian do to her? Emerald cleared her throat tentatively.

"Cinder?" Emerald caught her attention as she was helping Eirian to her feet. The young girl hardly reached five feet. "Are you okay?"

Cinder raised a brow with a perplexed frown. "Fine. Look after the other children, please." Cinder shot her eyes to Pearl. "I'm sure Pearl wouldn't mind the backup."

Pearl managed an amused smile. It looked overly fake and forced, but Cinder didn't notice it. Mercury didn't want to admit that it was his exact smile when he's acting.

Cinder guided Eirian around the table towards the propped open double doors, but as Eirian passed by Jet, she pinched the cloth around her nose and lunged for him. Her free arm wrapped around his neck as her head rested on his shoulder. Jet sighed and reached up to pat the twin buns of hair.

"Sorry, Eiri," Jet said quietly.

"It's okay, Big Brother," Eirian cooed. "I love you anyway."

Jet scoffed, but an affectionate smile played at his lips. "Yeah yeah."

Eirian pulled away and took the hand Cinder was offering, and let herself be pulled from the dining room. Summer had her head in her hands, while Pearl and Jet were staring at each other from across the table.

Mercury placed his hands flat on the table as he leaned forward. His gaze flicked between the two older siblings. "Now's the time for an explanation on what the hell just happened."

Pearl and Jet's heads turned to Mercury with breakneck speed, alarmed looks on their faces. At his unrelenting glare, they deflated and adopted ashamed expressions. Pearl spoke after a long moment, "Eirian has a reversal semblance. She can rewind time on a specific object or person, normally herself, to avoid attacks or reverse damage she's taken. Evidently, she can apply it to other situations, but if she uses her semblance on something other than herself, it takes a lot out of her."

"So...She used her semblance to make Cinder forget Jet's speech?" Emerald clarified.

"Basically, yeah. She reversed Cinder to the point that she never even heard what he said." Pearl nodded. She looked bored in explaining it. "Only reason I remembered that Jet nearly caused me to wipe out was because Eirian has used her semblance on me so many times. With Cinder? She has no clue Jet even objected to her laying a hand on him."

"You would have deserved it," Jet muttered.

Pearl sighed. She forced out her next words, "Alright, look. I'm… sorry, okay? I didn't know you'd be so sensitive about it. Hell, it's Dad."

Jet kept his eyes down. Pearl pursed her lips and diverted her eyes from her younger brother.

"As for Cinder, Jet and I have...strong opinions towards her. And while I can put aside my differences and deal with her, Jet is a lot more-"

"Intolerant of her existence," Jet said flatly.

"But Jet, you can't just explode like that," Summer interrupted softly. "Things are different."

"What did she do to make you two hate her?" Emerald asked. The worry in her eyes was heavy.

Pearl and Jet didn't want to answer, but Summer wasn't having it. She answered, "She tried to kill Momma in our own house. Pearl was only twelve."

Mercury narrowed his eyes. "Why the fuck would she do that? Why kill Ruby?"

"Well, they- wait a second." Pearl eyed him. "Ruby? How did you know that was her name?"

Mercury opened his mouth but no sound came out. He completely forgot about the chance meeting after being thrown in the middle of a family breakfast. Summer twiddled her thumbs as she worried her bottom lip.

"Um, D-Dad took me to Momma's favorite weapon store," Summer admitted. "And he distracted her while I ran out the door."

"You, you ran into Mom?" Jet suddenly looked interested, his brooding appearance fading away.

Jet's eyes on him made Mercury shift in his seat. Answering the question would be admitting that he was actually a father. Not answering the question would likely make Jet get angry all over again. One thing for sure, Mercury thought, Jet didn't inherit my ability to contain that anger… if he's even mine. It looks like Pearl has, though.

"...Yeah. I talked to her."

"Oh." Jet moved egg around on his plate.

"Oum, she must be our age. Or younger." Pearl blew air out her mouth. She pushed her near-empty plate away from her. "You weren't supposed to meet Mom there. You were supposed to meet her by Tukson's Book Trade."

Mercury scowled. "Why would I be by a bookstore?"

"Uh-"

"For the comics!" Summer chirped. "You really like X-Ray and Vav. You like to tease Uncle Sun by comparing him to Mogar."

Mercury cocked his head. "Who the hell is Mogar?"

Jet pushed up from his chair without warning. He carried his plate to the sink before announcing to the table, "I think I'm gonna check up on Eiri."

Pearl watched as he sauntered to the open doors with his hands stuffed into his suit pockets. As he vanished around the corner, she rolled her eyes. "So predictable."

It felt weird, being out of the loop. Even weirder when you're out of the loop when your very children are sitting with you. Even if Mercury didn't want to admit these are, indeed, his kids. He rubbed at his eyes and asked, "Predictable how?"

The eldest Rose-Black sibling leaned back in her chair. "Jet won't admit it, but he's a mama's boy. He's going to find her."

"Will that be a problem?" Summer questioned in a small voice.

"If Grandpa Tai and Grandpa Qrow are around? Yes. If Aunt Yang is with her? Hell yes." Pearl pushed back her bangs with her hand.

"But why? Auntie Yang loves Jet."

"This isn't the Auntie Yang we know, Jellybean. She'd punch him for even insinuating Mom has had sex, let alone popped out a kid."

Summer went red. "Oh…"

Mercury sighed. "Alright. Where does she live?"

"Wait, what?" Emerald blurted out.

"Someone has to go after him, Em," Mercury said as an explanation with a wave of his hand. "Pearl, do you know where your mother is living right now?"

"Uh… yeah. She lives on Patch. I can text you the address?" Pearl tapped her left forearm for some reason. "Actually, will this thing even work?"

Mercury cocked his head at her next action. She pulled back the sleeve of her kaftan and tapped a thin, black watch that was latched around her wrist. It beeped, and the digital clock display beamed up a silver, holographic screen that floated overtop her wrist. A silver, holographic keyboard appeared along her forearm. "I think that may be a bit too advanced."

"Hm. I'll just write it down for you," Pearl decided, deactivating her… scroll?

"It's the most recent model," Summer supplied, noticing his confusion. She raised her left arm to show a similar watch, only in white. "It's a Holo-Scroll."

Mercury just shook his head as he stood up. He took the scrap of paper Pearl offered to him with Ruby's address. "I'll deal with whatever that is when it's invented. I'll get changed and go after Jet. Pearl, Summer, look out for your little sister."

Pearl and Summer nodded in unison. "Okay, Dad."

He tried to ignore how dad-like that sounded like. And he definitely tried to ignore the huge grin on Emerald's face. As he walked to the door, he could hear the two girls standing up to follow him out the door, clearing their plates and dumping them at the sink. He didn't expect the girls to follow his request right away, but it brought a slight smile to his face.

When he rounded the corner, the smile slipped away. "Oh, great."

"Nice to see you too, Kid," Roman Torchwick drawled, his cane pressed into the floor. Neo appeared from behind him to stand by his side, that permanent smirk on her face. "Mind telling me why Cinder was ushering a little kid into her room?"

Mercury looked off the the side. "Uh, so what happened is-"

The footsteps of his future daughters came through the door and abruptly stopped, which in turn stopped his sentence. Roman's face was one of utter confusion. "Okay… more than one kid."

"UNCLE ROMAN!"

"Woah, what the- ack!" Roman was tackled by the cape-toting sibling and nearly brought to the ground. He managed to stabilize himself while Summer hung from his neck with all the glee of a teenager with the energy of a five year old, while Neo watched with a confused frown. "Who is this kid?!"

"It's so good to see you!" Summer cheered, still latched onto her 'uncle.' "I haven't seen you in forever! Well, technically you've never seen me before but still!"

Roman, with his arms outstretched and his green eyes pinned to the side of Summer's head, looked utterly confused. Mercury felt his smirk begin to grow, and with a satisfied tone, he walked by and clapped Roman on the shoulder that Summer's head wasn't resting on.

"Well, I have to go find my son before he gets into trouble. Take care of my girl for me, huh Uncle Roman?"

"Your WHAT?!"

Yeah, he just went against his instinct to deny, deny, deny his future role as a father. But the look on Roman's face? Totally worth it.

...

...

...

Why must I cause conflict in my stories at such an early juncture? Sigh...

To clarify: This story is pre-canon. Roman hasn't even robbed the dust shop where Ruby first confronts him. Doing this gives me the freedom to move the characters around without risk of messing up something already established as canon.

Guest: This is before the very first episode of RWBY, not long after Cinder and co. first attacked Amber. So Cinder only has half the Fall Maiden power at this point. Ruby isn't even attending Beacon yet.

merendinoemiliano: Considering that, in this AU, Salem may or may not be still kicking, the 'beasts with aura' thing probably won't work here. I think it's an interesting idea, it just goes against story elements already in place. Also, Pyrrha is dead in the future according to the children, but since this is pre-fall of Beacon, Pyrrha is alive in the time this story takes place.

IlliterateLibrarian935: Isn't Mercury subtle? XD

Dragon Lord Draco: With how curious and destructive Ruby is by complete accident, who wouldn't think that her kids would cause such problems, honestly? XD

The Night Whisperer: Oh my god, her "natural habitat." XD. I'm glad you like Summer and Pearl! They were the first and second of the four kids I created (I made Pearl first and Summer second). Mercury is starting to care, even though he vehemently denies it! His paternal instincts are his weakness!

Happy writing to all! Lonessa out.