Chapter thirteen: Impromptu missions
(a/n- Be advised, this first part is written from Mercury's point of view. This takes place shortly after the three assassin's make it back to their home base. Also, if you don't ship Emerald and Mercury… too bad.)
"Worthless!"
"Monster!"
"Bastard!"
"Never good enough."
"Never good enough."
"Never good enough."
I looked down at the gun in my hands. My revolver, which had taken the lives of so many. I didn't even realize I'd loaded a bullet into the chamber until I saw it down the barrel, said barrel pointed at my forehead. I felt the familiar temptation, the urge to end the suffering and the hatred. The anger. "Huunngh." Then I heard the groaning behind me, reminding me of the reason I hadn't pulled the trigger yet. I quickly unloaded the bullet, putting it back in my pocket as I turned back, smiling slightly. I saw Emerald, laying back in my bed, facing the wall. I was sitting on the edge, so when she turned, her eyes fluttering open, I just turned back, knowing she wouldn't want me to see her so early in the morning. Though, that didn't stop me from seeing her bare shoulder. "Ow, think I pulled a muscle…" I heard her say. I smiled slightly as I looked back down at my gun, the terrible thoughts running through my head a moment ago all but gone.
I stopped myself from reacting as I felt and saw a slender, dark skinned arm reaching around my waist, another over my shoulder as I felt the pressure. I looked back, smirking a bit as I saw the blanket slipping off of Emerald, exposing her bare side to me. I felt a hand on my chin as I was pulled back, meeting Emerald's familiar smile. "Sleep well? I know I did~" she practically purred. I leaned in, meeting her lips for a few seconds before I pulled back. "You were great last night~" I said, black eyes meeting crimson ones. She looked over my shoulder, her eyes suddenly clouded in confusion. "Why do you have your gun out?" she asked. I looked back, seeing my revolver lazing against my thigh, right beneath where my boxers ended. I shrugged, setting it on the nightstand. "Checking over it. Can't kill if it doesn't work right?" I said, smirking back towards her. I could never bring myself to tell her about the thoughts, about the nightmares, about anything.
She smiled, "Yeah, guess so." she said, leaning in and setting her head on my shoulder, draping her arms around my bare torso. I looked back, frowning as I saw her back over her shoulder. It was scarred, bruised, it was almost like mine from a few years ago. Difference was, it wasn't anyone related to Emerald causing it. It was our boss. "Still sore?" I asked, gesturing back to her wounds. Emerald looked back, frowning slightly before she looked ahead. She sounded so distant and old, it was almost like listening to an old woman talk… though if she was, that would've made last night much more awkward. "It wasn't that bad. Cinder was pissed sure but, it wasn't anything humiliating for me like last time. She just… well, her whip got a lot of use…" she said, her face tinged slightly red. I reached a hand up, grabbing hers in mine. She looked down, her eyes taken aback by the sudden serious look in mine.
"Do you want me to do something about it?" I asked, and I meant it. If Emerald asked me, I would shoot Cinder without a second thought. The only reason I hadn't yet was because she kept me and Emerald both fed and alive. That and, you know, free of the massive bounties on our heads. Six million for me, five million for Emerald. Speaking of, she shook her head, "No… it's fine. She's getting better about it." she said, giving me what was likely the least convincing fake smile I'd ever seen. She was lying, and she was a good liar, don't get the wrong idea. She could fool anyone into believing her story.
But she could never fool me.
"I just hate seeing her hurt you…" I said, squeezing her hand slightly as I felt that familiar rage burning in the pit of my stomach. It was anger towards my family, towards Cinder… towards myself. I always just stood by when others got hurt… I could never do anything about it, or I just wouldn't. I felt Emerald squeeze back, drawing my attention back to her. She shook her head, "It's okay Mercury… but you know, I wouldn't mind if you hurt me a little~" she said, smirking at me as she leaned in, kissing me again. This time I moved around, pushing her back down onto the bed as I looked down at her. She smiled up at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. "We don't have anything to do for a few hours right?" I asked, feeling my breathing picking up as my eyes trailed down her naked body. I could feel my face heating up, but I didn't try and hide it. I heard Emerald's giggle, and that's what did it. I leaned down, kissing her neck. Something about her laugh was so impossible for me to resist.
"Yeah, we've got a few hours. Let's have some fun~" she said when I looked back up. I leaned down, kissing her again as I let my eyes shut, tugging her hair with one hand as I caressed her face with the other. She was a good kisser, no doubting that much. I wasn't the first guy she'd taken, and I probably wouldn't be the last either come to think of it. Course, that didn't matter to me right now. It was just me and her, alone, in my bedroom. No clothes on, only sheets between us. I didn't need to know her past, I didn't need to see the future, all I cared about was the present, where it was just me, and her. Mom always said I'd know, when I found the one. I guess she was right. I didn't have much experience, but I didn't have to to know,
"I love you Emerald. Now let's have some fun~"
(a/n- alright away from the fluff development and back to Jaune's point of view. Different time, different place, very different circumstances.)
I grunted as I set the large teddy bear on the bed in mine and Ren's room. Man that thing was heavy. "Don't tell me you can't carry a stuffed bear Jaune." I heard Blake say. I didn't have to turn around to know that she was smirking at me, that same, smug look on her face as when she knew she was right about something. I turned around, glaring at her. Though, the effectiveness of it was probably toned down thanks to the small smile on my face. "Hey, I'm pretty sure that thing's stuffed with metal or something. It's heavy." I said, lightly pushing the bear over. Of course, it fell on the floor with a thud. Though, that thud was much louder than I'd expected. "Uh, Jaune?" Ren asked, walking over. I was slightly alarmed when he pulled out his gun, pointing towards what looked to be a hole in the back of the bear. I shrugged, "So what? It's some faulty stitching." I said.
"Maybe, but since when is bear stuffing pink."
I raised an eyebrow but, sure enough, the second I looked down, I noticed that the inside was indeed pink. It didn't even look like stuffing, it was just a shade of pink. "Okay there has to be a reasonable explanation for this…" I said, searching my slightly panicking mind to try and find one. Maybe it was just some cloth beneath the fur? Maybe some silk? Maybe it was just painted that way for some unknown reason? Though, considering how heavy the bear was, I was starting to think it wasn't a kind of cloth at all. "Open it." Ren said, aiming the gun at the back of it. I looked over but, seeing the gaze he held, the intense concentration he had on the bear, I knew there was no talking him out of it. I just sighed, slowly shaking my head as I reaching into my coat, pulling out the knife I used to slice cigars. "Fine, but you're sewing this thing back up." I said, pointing at Ren with the knife. I reached down, slowly slicing back at the stitching.
"HMPH!"
I jumped back, hitting my head against the bed as even Ren seemed to panic, nearly dropping his gun as I saw the magazine fall out of the bottom of it. Blake slowly walked over, nudging the bear with her foot. Sure enough, a similar sound came out of the bear. I sat up, moving towards it and continuing to slice down with my knife, my eyes widening when I finally realized what I was looking at. The reason the bear had made that noise? There was a small, red line in what seemed to be white flesh, made by my knife. I moved further down, finding unscathed flesh down beneath it. I kept my knife back as I reached the bottom of the bear. I pulled it open, standing the bear up as I saw it's contents spill out. I felt my eyes widening as I saw it.
It was a girl.
The girl had what looked like zip-ties around her wrists, and her ankles. Around her mouth and head, keeping her pink hair, turns out that's what that was, pinned against her neck, was a long, green cloth. Her face was bright red, though her cheeks were a bit sunken in. I reached up, untying the cloth behind her head. She spit, what looked to be pale pink undergarments falling out of her mouth. They were soaked in spit, as was to be expected, and if I had to guess, they were hers. When she finally caught her breath, she spoke. "Thank you." she said, her voice high, but scratchy. I blinked twice as my eyes took in most details. The only clothing she seemed to have on her was those zip-ties. She was curled up, likely to preserve modesty, with her rear facing away from all of us. I leaned down, cutting the ties around her arms and legs. "Who are you?" Blake asked.
"My name is-" she was interrupted by a short coughing fit, her eyes looking towards the door. "Sorry… do you have any water?" she asked, looking towards me. I nodded, standing and walking over to the bathroom. I grabbed one of the plastic cups by the sink, quickly filling it with water as I tried to think about why she was stuffed in a bear. I walked back in, handing her the cup of water as Blake walked over to my bed, pulling the comforter off of it and wrapping it around our pink haired guest. She smiled slightly as she wrapped the comforter around her, holding the cup with one hand, keeping herself covered with the other. She tilted the cup back, drinking every drop of water in it before she set it down on the nightstand. "My name is May Zedong." she said, answering my question from a minute ago.
"Wait, did you work at that toy store I bought the bear from by chance?" I asked, getting down on one knee so that I was at the same height as her. She nodded, looking over as Ren and Blake both sat down nearby, likely thinking this conversation was going to take awhile. "How did you end up in that bear?" Blake asked, deciding to finally tackle the Goliath in the room. The newly named May shook her head, shaking slightly. "I… I don't know. I was on my lunch break when… when I just blacked out. When I came too… I felt cold. Someone said, 'This is too small for me'. I couldn't see that well, I just saw a flash of green hair. I could hear and see everything… it was horrible… I watched them seal me in that bear and… and…" she raised a hand up to cover her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut as I saw a line of sweat breaking out on her forehead. I reached over, patting her shoulder in the most comforting manner I could manage. "It's okay, you don't have to go on." I said, giving her a slight smile.
"May, would you mind showing me your left wrist?" Ren asked, looking at her with that cold, calculating stare. I knew that look, Ren was onto something. May complied, holding it out while she kept the comforter tight against her chest with her other hand. Ren turned her hand over, nodding as if to confirm something. He motioned me and Blake over, to which we both complied. "Aw hell…" I muttered, Blake letting out a gasp. On her arm was what appeared to be a black marking, running from just at her wrist back to her elbow. It was marking her veins, clearly it was in her blood. It went past her elbow, but it started fading from there, clearly not as concentrated. "Juiced up. As I thought." Ren said, letting go of her hand as May pulled back, looking down at it herself in alarm.
"I'm… I'm gonna be okay, right?" she asked, her eyes flashing with fear as she gazed at Ren. I looked over too, seeing Ren reaching into his coat, pulling out what looked to be a notebook. They were just like mine back in Vale, but he didn't keep track of our cases. Instead, he kept an apothecary in a sense. I was fairly certain Ren had documented almost every method of poisoning someone, natural or synthetic, in existence as of now. He flipped through a few pages, nodding, "If you weren't going to be okay, you'd have been dead within thirty minutes of exposure. You got lucky, they didn't give you a strong enough dose to kill you." he said, shutting his book before shoving it back in his coat. Blake looked at him oddly for a second.
"How exactly did you know what that was?" she asked. Ren chuckled, reaching around his neck. He pulled out, surprisingly, what looked to be a small vial of black liquid. It was maybe the size of his fingernail at most, but I didn't doubt it could knock out me, Blake, or May if he got a hold of us. "It's my preferred method." he said simply, laying it back into his shirt. May slowly moved back, likely trying to get as far away from Ren as she could, being in no hurry to get poisoned again. Even Blake seemed to be a bit wary, reaching towards her gun. "Relax, I haven't poisoned anyone since I became a detective… as far as you know." he said, muttering the last bit. I sighed, shaking my head as I tossed my fedora off to the side, "Ren, you're scaring them, cut the Serial Sleeper act." I said.
He sighed, "You're no fun." he said, pulling back his shirt and dropping the vial of poison back, letting it thud against his chest. I stood, sitting back up on the bed before I heard Blake speak. "Wait, 'Serial Sleeper'? What're you talking about?" she asked, glaring towards Ren. I had a feeling that would come up. The crime I got Ren for, his hypnosis of the dead to rob banks, wasn't his worse. Instead, his worse was what he just mentioned. "Ren here was a serial killer back before I caught him. Nora kept him hopped up on White Lady, he kept killing. He'd lure pretty girls like you two home where he'd poison them." I explained casually. Just as Ren had said before, he was high off his ass whenever it happened. Blake raised an eyebrow, asking the question I'd expected her to. "White Lady?"
"It's a street name, you'd know it better as cocaine. Nora got me hooked on it until Jaune caught me." Ren explained, standing up and taking off the suit top and tie, exposing his white undershirt. He sat down next to me, looking towards Blake, as if challenging her. Blake didn't take it, rather May spoke. "What now?" she asked, looking back towards me. I opened my mouth to speak, but then I shut it, furrowing my brow as I started thinking. What did we do? I didn't doubt that the pale haired cashier was the one that poisoned her, so what was to stop her from coming back? Killing her permanently this time and eliminating any incriminating evidence. If we just let her go back home, I didn't doubt for a second that girl would find and kill her within the week. "Hmm… Blake?" I asked, looking over towards her. She nodded, "Yeah?" she asked.
"How would you feel about doing an impromptu Beacon transport mission?" I asked. Her eyes widened slightly for a few seconds, but then she smiled, sighing slightly. She stood up, walking towards the door. "I'll go grab some clothes of mine, she can wear them till we get to Vale." she said, walking out without another word. We sat in silence for awhile, waiting for Blake to get back, when May spoke up again. "Umm, what's a Beacon transport mission? Can't I just go home?" she asked, sporting a sad expression as she looked over at me. I shook my head, frowning towards her. I knew she must've been in shock, and wanted nothing more than to go home to her family, but that simply wasn't an option. "Sorry, but if the one that poisoned you finds out you're alive, you're as good as dead. Beacon deals with stuff like this all the time. We'll get you to Vale and set you up with a new identity until we can get rid of your attacker. Think of it as… witness protection." I said, smiling slightly. I was smiling really just to try and make her feel better about this.
She sighed, looking down at the floor as she wiped at her teary eyes. "I don't understand… why me?" she asked, sniffing. I could tell she was trying to keep from crying. Indeed, why her? Why just the random cashier girl trying to make a living? I stood up, walking into the bathroom and grabbing the box of tissues on the counter. I tossed them over near May, who quickly grabbed one and noisily blew her nose. "Thanks." she said, curling deeper into the blanket. I nodded, sitting back on the bed as I grabbed my hat, setting it on the nightstand. I reached into my pocket, pulling out my knife and laying it next to my hat. "Don't mention it May. You can sleep in Blake's room until morning, then we'll get you out of Vale." I said. Of course Ren, never one to miss an opportunity, spoke.
"Sure you wouldn't rather-"
"SERIOUSLY Ren. Stop."
I sighed as I pulled off my trenchcoat, laying it back on the bed before I reached into the side, getting out Crocea Mors and laying it on the nightstand. Would hate it going off accidentally if I rolled over it. May looked up, raising an eyebrow as I opened the drawer to the nightstand. "Wait, that lady, Blake. Who is she?" she asked, gray-blue eyes meeting mine. I smiled slightly, grabbing my coat and hooking it, sort of, on the post of the bed. I swung my legs back over the bed as I answered. "Well she's… she's complicated I guess. She's a little anti-social but, her heart's in the right place." I said, looking up at the ceiling as I laid my head in my hands… which was a bit odd since there was a pillow right beneath them but hey, it's what I did. When I looked back over at May, I saw her smile slightly.
"Is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes/no."
I turned around, glaring at Ren as he just held up his hands, keeping that familiar smug look on his face. I sighed, turning back to May, whose expression was just confused at this point. "Ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about." I said somewhat quickly. May let out a giggle at this before she smiled, and it was at that point I really looked at her. I noticed something, while her right eye was bluish-gray, her left was, strangely, pale. Not a pale sort of color or anything just… pale. Like it had almost no color at all. I sported a quizzical expression, and apparently this tipped her off. "Something about my eye right?" she asked. I nodded, now that I noticed it unable to really keep my eyes off of it. She sighed, reaching a hand behind her and running it through her hair. "I… if I told you I wasn't the most… morally righteous, of people, you wouldn't hold it against me would you?" she asked, seemingly nervous.
I shook my head, "Look at us for a second. I'm a detective that used to be a hitman and Ren was a straight up serial killer, what do you think?" I asked. She giggled again, looking away as I noticed her face tinge pink, almost the same color as her hair at that. "Yeah… that was a stupid question I know. Well… I guess we have something in common… umm, what was your name?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I raised one back… then felt my face flush red when I realized none of us had actually bothered to introduce ourselves to her. "Sorry, I'm Jaune Arc, that's Lie Ren. The lady you saw earlier was Blake Belladonna." I said, holding out a hand towards her. She reached up, shaking my hand as her eyes suddenly got a puzzling quality to them, as if she were trying to figure something out. "Didn't Citri kill you?" she asked.
I moved back, taken aback that she knew about that. It was always a close guarded secret when an Arc family member died. Especially when one killed another. She must've had quite the connections if she knew about it. I nodded, "She tried. Gave me this," I said, holding up my shirt and showing her my scar. "And I gave her a bullet to the head." I said simply. I wasn't remorseful about it, one of the few kills I did that didn't haunt me to this day. She attacked me, I killed her. Nothing personal, no family attachment, just a simple case of me defending myself. She nodded, "Well… I know about you, I guess it's fair you should know about me. I was like you...a hitman, er, you know, hit-woman anyway." she said. I smiled at that, sitting back upright against the base of the bed to better speak with her.
"I worked out of Vale, I worked for the Khans… I know, old gang that no one hears about anymore, but still, I worked with them. Until… it came along." she said, a visible shiver traveling up her spine as she sported an almost terrified expression. I raised an eyebrow, "Who?" I asked. I'd expected it to be some Khan that just came in and replaced her, maybe she got in a gunfight or something? But no, what she actually said was the last thing I'd expected to hear.
"The Bloody Rose."
I moved around, leaning in closer towards her as even Ren took interest, walking over towards us. "What did it do?" I asked, my eyes trailing towards her eye almost unconsciously. May leaned back into the comforter, her right hand keeping it pressed tight to her chest as her left trailed up to her eye. I saw her shut them as her hand traced over the outline of a nearly invisible scar, one I hadn't noticed before. "The Khan's and Rose family weren't always different. The Rose family broke off from us. At first it was normal, then the fighting started. It was madness, brother turned on brother, sons killed their fathers and mothers butchered their kids… it was horrible. I was there, sniping from the distance. I killed Khans and Rose's alike. I didn't even know who the enemy was half the time. Then… I got my last assignment." she said. I held out a hand, gesturing for her to stop,
"Wait, didn't you say it was chaos? You mean you still got orders? From who?" I asked. I was honestly rather confused, this must've happened before I came to Vale, because I didn't hear anything even remotely similar to this when I got there, hell, I'd thought the Rose family was it's own entity in all of this. "High leader Khan… at least, that was his official name. He gave up his real one years earlier. I was the counter-sniper, protect High Leader Khan while he was being escorted back to a new safe-house. I fired off a few rounds… but it was just a blur. Flashes of red everywhere. I couldn't keep up, I didn't know what happened until… until I saw my spoke smash to bits right in front of me. It was the only one that could out snipe me. It was my fault… it was all my fault that Khan was killed, that we lost. Without him, none of us could stand together. We either went our separate ways and slowly got picked off by the Rose family, or we joined them. They thought I was dead… I'm the only real Khan left." she said, a few tears running down her face during her story without her noticing.
I reached down, grabbing a tissue and wiping away at her tears for a moment. Then she took over, smiling towards me. "Thanks." she said simply, blowing her nose again. I nodded, and I felt a spark of pity for her. She was just another victim of the Rose family and they're bloody method of taking over Vale. Even though she was a criminal… it was hard to be mad at her for it after all she'd been through. "So you got a glass eye?" I asked. She nodded, holding up her hand and, slightly surprising me, pulled her eye out of it's socket. I covered my eyes, "OKAY! NOTREADYFORTHATTHATWASDISGUSTINGOKAY!" I yelled, feeling the sudden urge to vomit in the nearest trashcan. I hated dealing with eyes, for some reason I just couldn't stand it. I opened one eye, seeing May with both eyes back in her head, giggling slightly at me. "You know, for an ex-hitman, you're really squeamish." I heard another voice say.
I opened one eye, seeing May with both eyes in her head, thankfully, and Blake walking towards us. She was carrying what looked to be some clothes over her arm, a smug look on her face when she looked at me. "Took you long enough." I said, glaring at her as best I could. She just giggled, tossing the clothes towards May. May grabbed them, then looked towards me and Ren. "Could you two turn around or, leave the room or… something?" she asked, her face tinged pink. I nodded, grabbing my hat and flipping it back on my head. I stood, walking towards the door before I looked back, seeing Ren walking towards me as well. "Just come out when you're done." I said, opening the door and walking into the hallway. Ren walked with me, shutting the door behind him. I just leaned against the wall next to the door, Ren doing the same on the other side.
"So she's a Khan too huh?" he said after a while, looking up towards the ceiling. I raised an eyebrow towards him, I'd never even heard of the Khan's, so what was Ren talking about? Yet another secret he was keeping from me? "Before you ask, no, I wasn't a Khan," Ren said, glaring at me as he seemed to read my very thoughts. "Nora was one though. Back before the whole Rose family civil war at least. The reason she and the Sugar sloths are still at war with the Rose family. Nora may have given up being a Khan to start her own gang, but she treats the Khans… what's left of them, like family. We need to bring May to Nora." he said, looking over at me with that familiar look. His mind was dead set on this, not a chance of changing it. Not a chance in hell. I sighed, leaning my head back and looking up at the ceiling, "Fine. After that though, we get her to Coco and give her a new look. It's too risky for her to be in Vale undisguised and you know it." I said.
He didn't answer, but just kept staring at the ceiling, seemingly pondering what he was going to say. Though, before he could answer, the door opened. Blake walked out first, then May… dressed exactly the same as Blake. "Well… this isn't suspicious at all." I said sarcastically, looking towards Blake. She glared at me, one that sent a shiver up my spine. The glare reminded me that she'd probably taken care of plenty of wise-asses in her time. "It's this or she goes on the plane naked and/or in that bear. We've got no choice." she said. I nodded, knowing she was right, and just watched as the two of them walked back towards her room, May giving one last smile at me before she walked inside, shutting the door. I stared after them for a beat longer before I turned back, following Ren back inside. "Jaune… this has got to be the dumbest thing we've ever decided to do." he said, never one to not let you know about what he thought. I sighed,
"Yeah… but hey, dumb luck favors the dumb right?"
