It was miraculous what the human body could do in times of stress and weakness, numbing a source of pain completely, blocking out horrifying memories, and many other small miracles of the mind. There was another loud crack that reverberated through his ears, Mercury took comfort in the lack of pain he felt in this moment, staring defiantly back at Salem as she leered down at him.

"If you knew what was awaiting you here Mercury, why did you return at all?" her voice a low growl as she addressed him, the main hall had been closed off, just for the two of them. Her cold, red eyes were a soft glow of rage as she sneered, pointed nails digging into his chin, forcing him to meet those eyes.

"…" he remained silent, having returned to the castle, Salem looming just outside the entrance with the calculating glare, he followed with no resistance, not even batting an eye when she closed the doors to the main hall with a flick of her wrists and the grace of her ever silent body. She moved to a chair and motioned for him to sit in suite.

"I will only ask this once…where did you go? I want the truth…" she trailed off looking at him carefully, he held his tongue, leading to a snap, a dark tendril dragging him from the chair and to the floor. It held him there as Salem continued her interrogation.

"Why must you be so difficult, all I ask of you, is to be honest with me about what you were doing these past few months. Emerald refused to tell me as well." She murmured softly into his ear, he stiffened and looked away, a frown etching its way onto his face. A crack of a tendril biting into his skin through his shirt and jacket. Salem watched, eyes studying his expression for weakness. He held his ground, tongue stuck in his throat as he avoided her gaze, another cracking sound as the tendril tore through cloth and bit into skin.

"How does it feel to be weak again? Under the control of someone stronger than you? That you can't ever seem to take control of your own life because there will always be someone much stronger? I knew of Marcus Black, for a long while. Of what he could do, his skill sets and abilities. I found myself impressed, hearing of his deeds, kills fulfilled from miles away. Assassinations pulled off without a slightest disturbance detected. I sent Cinder out there to find him when the time came for such skills, imagine my surprise when I found that he had, had a son? Not to mention that Marcus had driven that boy to kill his own. I would hope the abuse and skills beaten into you would strength whatever resolve had brought you to kill your father, and lash out at the rest of the world. You did for a time but now you've…softened." She sneered angrily. Mercury glared and chose this moment to speak, a low, biting tone,

"…You should find someone else then." Salem's eyes widened and narrowed in a quick snap of transition. Another crack of the tendril and her nails dug in harder, drawing blood; Mercury grimaced.

"…" He fell quiet again, Salem growling lowly and twisting his head upwards, he grunted but kept his tongue in check, looking at her with as much hatred as he could muster.

"Just tell me where you were…and I will stop." She cooed, another slice of flesh snapping under a whip of tendril, the pain was missing but Mercury could feel the crawl of blood oozing down his back and into his clothes. He looked down, waiting for the pool slowly collecting beneath him to grow large enough he could see it; it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen so much of his own blood. Salem waited, surprisingly patient, as if she knew he would begin to talk sooner rather than later. Mercury sighed and pulled back, her nails scratching his face as he did.

"I was with…Ruby. Just Ruby...I didn't conspire against you if that's what you're thinking. Why would I? Frankly I was anxious about Cinder or you finding out…" he huffed feeling the tendril binding him down tighten briefly before letting him go. He stood, stretching his arms, feeling the skin on his back split more, and the pain was beginning to slip in, wicked claws picking at the nerves seemingly one by one.

"I slept with her…had my way a few rounds and we'd part ways. Granted I went a little out of my way to have our little meet ups…but things here wer-" Salem stopped him.

"I know of you and Emerald's fooling around, you may be good at lying but some walls tend to be paper thin…I knew for a long time that you two kept each other busy, and I know that the mood was very sour in the air when she cut things off." She cut in softly, her voice a waiver of silent rage barely contained.

"…Then you know the whole story." He mumbled quietly, remaining standing, not giving the chance for her to drag him down again. Salem's eyes flickered brighter, a sly grin spreading along her face.

"Mercury…please. I am much wiser than you seem to give credit, having a fling with someone doesn't soften a cold-blooded killer. Flings don't fill people's hearts with a warm satisfaction; little, meaningless flings lead to an end of hunger. You feed the creature inside yourself that craves affection and pleasures of flesh and you move on to the next meal awaiting down the line. Telling me it's a fling, when you stole a ship, disobeyed me, and lied through your teeth to protect the truth. I already know it's not just a fling, you slipped up. You fell in love, and if you had just been honest with me, you wouldn't have had to endure the pain I bestowed." She mused gently, a tone Mercury seldom heard from her. It made his skin prickle and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"We can work through all this, this mistake on your behalf. I can overlook all of this mess if you apply yourself, show loyalty, and ask forgiveness of me. I know Cinder is fond of you and I can be forgiving, Mercury." Salem cupped his cheek, he could still see the faint glow of anger in her eyes. He swallowed thickly and nodded, eyes downcast,

"I'm sorry…it was a mistake I shouldn't have made…I will try to amend it." He mumbled, Salem dug in her nails and jerked his head up

"It's rude to not look me in the eye when you ask forgiveness." She hissed, the faint glow brightening as she continued to hold her head up. He shivered and grunted, looking into her eyes, it reminded him of staring down a Grimm ready to attack. He knew she'd kill him here and now if she didn't like his answer or tone of voice when trying to apologize, he didn't know if he even wanted to make it out of this room. A life wasted for the wrong people, Mercury could guess this would be where things ended. Her gaze held him in a grip, his voice had left him, he whined in an attempt to form words. Salem's smirk stretched into a sneer as a tendril began a slow glide up his back, running over blood and marred skin, and winding itself slowly around his neck.

"Mercury. I am waiting, and unfortunately I am running low on patience. I have many other things to attend to and oversee and you are waiting my time. I expect a sincere apology, otherwise I have no choice but to deal with you as a traitor." She explained, as if she were chiding a child rather than a young man for his actions.

"Forgive-…Me." He grunted as the tendril began to tighten at an alarming rate. He could feel his airways being crushed, gasping for breath,

"P-…Ple-ase…Salem." He coughed, squirming in her grasp. Hands shot up to the tendril, finds a slimy, ooze like substance taunt around his throat. He sputtered as he tried to manage another apology, his vision tinging black, he was lifted briefly, legs flailing as Salem let go to watch. A slight expression of amusement crossing her face as he struggled before he was let go, slumping to the ground unceremoniously.

Mercury wheezed and sucked in oxygen, writhing on the ground for a moment before he could process he wasn't dead, he remained hunched over, shivering in place as he recovered slowly.

"I am glad we could come to an understanding, I know Cinder would have missed you terribly had something happened to you. I will ask for you to pull a little more weight around here, things are stretched thin with Ruby and her team working endlessly against us. With no relic either, things have become complicated, we still need to bring Ruby here as well; for Cinder's sake of course." She explained, folding her hands in her lap as she took her seat. Mercury sat up slowly, looking tired and shaken, not wanting to meet her eyes again.

"Mercury…do you think you could bring Ruby here?" she mused, watching him closely. He jerked up, eyes wide,

"I don't-…"

"How can I know to trust you? That you'll be loyal after what you've done…I need to know. I want you to bring Ruby here, for Cinder. She needs closure and I need to know if you'll cause me grief in the future…won't you do this for me? For Cinder?" she cooed warmly, a sticky sweet tone that made his stomach twist in knots.

"…I can't-"

"Before you finish that sentence I want you to think, very, very. Carefully Mercury…" she trailed off, her focus moving to someone behind him. He turned, following her line of sight and groaned inwardly, Emerald.

"…I heard voices and-" she began but was quickly cut off with a gesture from Salem.

"Emerald. This is between Mercury and myself…please excuse yourself from the room until we have finished here." She commanded.

"…Yes Ma'am." Emerald murmured, eyes locking with Mercury's before shifting them upwards to Salem, Mercury turned back to Salem and kept quiet as Emerald stepped into the room. Salem made no movements, giving off is she noticed her or not.

"Mercury, I am waiting." She hummed, cocking her head as if to show her impatience; Emerald helped him up slowly, eyes remaining on Salem, refusing even to blink. The moment he was steady they ran, Emerald tearing her eyes from Salem; a shriek of rage and a crashing noise reverberated throughout the castle as Salem leapt forward, the doors slamming shut behind Emerald.

"You need to leave!" Emerald snapped, looking for anything to jam the doors with; Mercury grabbed an elongated candelabra and stomped the bottom legs off before shoving the pole through the handles of the door and pulling Emerald away and towards Cinder's room. They could hear the stir of Grimm outside the castle, as well as the sounds of footsteps rushing around from the loud shriek Salem had given. It wasn't exactly going to be a quiet get away, Cinder had awoken too, her eye flicking between Emerald and Mercury.

"Cinder we have to go!" Emerald protested, moving to pull her out of bed, this was rather spur of the moment Mercury felt but if they stayed now Cinder would be down two people very close to her heart. Cinder nodded and slipped on shoes, and a robe to cover the scarred flesh on her right side. She moved sluggishly but it couldn't be helped with as weak as she felt these days, Emerald lifted her easily and they rushed to the docking area, avoiding Grimm that had stormed inside looking for them.

Cinder was set down gently as they prepared an airship, a small one that Mercury had taken earlier. He booted the engines and it gave the tell-tale hum of ignition and he shoved the landing brake off before hurrying outside to help get Cinder aboard.

"…" she stood slowly, a deep frown worrying her features before she made a shaking motion and pushed Emerald back into Mercury.

"Wha-? No! You have to come, we're not going to leave you here! Not with her!" Emerald protested, grabbing Cinder's arm and pulling her closer to the ship.

Cinder grunted and pulled back again, looking to the castle, the hoard of Grimm crawling over it, coming towards the landing strip, Salem's form could be made out just barely in the chaos. She didn't look to be hurrying either, the sight of her Grimm alone would be enough to strike fear in any lesser beings' hearts.

"…" Cinder looked pleadingly to Mercury, before stepping back and ripping her arm free.

"I-…can't." she grunted, glaring down at her feet; Mercury made a grab at her and Cinder slapped his hand back.

"No!" she snapped, her voice sounding strained and cracking from the force behind her words.

"You have to go! I will stay!" she continued, refusing to look at them. Emerald shook her head,

"Not without you! We have to take you with us! Cinder please!" she begged, reaching for her once more. Cinder scoffed and looked at Mercury, her face a deep scowl. His chest tightened and he looked away, worrying his lip and shifting his weight anxiously before he grabbed Emerald.

"Mercury-!? What the hell are you doing!?" she snarled, kicking her legs angrily as she squirmed in his grasp, she even vanished for a moment but he held tighter, knowing she was still there.

"Dammit! Mercury Stop, we have to bring Cinder with us!" she screeched, fighting against him as he strapped her down into the cockpit. He rammed the propulsion lever for take-off and it slowly began to pull off the ground. The Grimm seemed to still as they neared closer to them, their focus on Cinder more than the ship taking off.

"Mercury if you leave her here I will kill you!" Emerald snarled,

"We'll both be killed if we try to take her! Salem isn't letting her leave this place any time soon, we will have to regroup just trust me please!" he snapped increasing the thrust to the engines. Emerald slumped back in her seat and a heavy sigh escaped her as they cleared the castle, the ground becoming a blackish haze while the glow of the console illuminated Emerald's tears.

"…I hate you." She hissed softly, Mercury remained quiet, programming coordinates, keeping an eye out for any airborne Grimm.

"I'm taking us somewhere safe, if we stay out of sight and keep a low profile we can effectively disappear until we can make the right move…whether it's to help protect Haven…bring Cinder somewhere safe…whatever you want…I'll go along with…" he explained carefully. Emerald scoffed and looked out the window on her side, a soft glare.

"…we need to get you medical attention first…" she huffed after a few long moments of silence,

"We can deal with that when we land, I'm not really worried about me right now." He murmured his focus shifting between the console's map and his viewport, his back would need stitches, and he was honestly amazed he was managing himself so well, given the blood oozing down his back and ruining the seat. His plan was to take them to Patch, or some outlying island near it, he knew of one or two hideaways his father had used in case of a pinch. If luck would have it Patch wouldn't have received too much coverage of what had occurred in the past few years, their pictures and names left anonymous.

It was all he could go off of this point. The silence stretched on with a few stray sniffles here and there, Emerald trying her best to hold back but it seemed she didn't have it in her. With all that had occurred he didn't blame her for crying and just letting go, he'd follow her example but he needed to be of sound mind…he'd done enough crying, he was ready to just let it be and take a long, long rest; didn't matter if he woke up or not.

"…I'm surprised you're holding together so well." Emerald murmured softly, Mercury shrugged.

"I've been through worse…I've done my crying about this mess with Ruby…and Cinder…I think I'm just done…I want some rest and then we'll go from there." He murmured, clearing the land mass that Salem had converted into her homeland. The ocean was beneath them now, soon they'd be within Patch's airspace and he have to run as covertly as he could to get them close to the safehouse. He hoped it was still there, or at least not run down and decrepit, it'd been a long while since it had been in use. Emerald drifted off at some point, the quiet sniffles becoming soft, rhythmic breaths.

He wasn't looking forward to what was to come, he hadn't thought of what to do after something like this, a complete betrayal of Salem, abandoning the closest person besides Emerald that made up his little rag tag mess of family. He sighed heavily, landing the ship on a somewhat clear patch of land on one of the outer Islands, they'd have to work inland to get to Patch itself but he didn't want communications asking for serial numbers or identification. He got up slowly, letting Emerald sleep, it was pitch black outside seldom for the stars and the dimmed glow of dust powered engines, he could see ships in the distance when he stepped outside and onto sandy earth.

He remembered this safehouse well, it had been the closest thing to paradise in the hell that had been his childhood, Patch was small, you could walk across it in a day if you were committed, one side however was hostile swamps, the safehouse rested just on the edge of it. He could feel the blood flow sluggishly steal away his resolve, he was losing it faster than he'd thought previously but there wasn't much more he could do. Getting Emerald to safety was a priority, then he supposed blood lose could take him, whatever adrenaline that had been keeping him functional was bleeding out as well. He sat down, feeling the sand shift and looked up, if he'd had known this could be the end, maybe they should have taken Cinder. Rescued her.

"…I didn't think I'd die like this then again…" he gruffed softly, feeling his head begin to swim in that same familiar feeling of sleep taking him gently. It wasn't cold, well maybe he felt could but it seemed the spring air in Patch was a little warmer, a little humid too. He smirked groggily and collapsed to his side, resting his arm under his cheek; faintly he heard someone call out but by then he'd closed his eyes, intending to rest.

When he opened them next, he was staring up at some unfamiliar ceiling, an irritable Emerald hunched into a chair. He frowned and moved to sit up and hissed when his back protested in agony, sore muscles and pulled tight skin with the feeling of sutures holding it in place, not to mention the amount of gauze. He glanced to his other side and saw a blood bag and what looked like saline in the other all hooked up to him. Emerald perked up at his shifting,

"You are so fucking lucky someone saw us land!" she snapped slapping his arm not receiving life giving fluid. Mercury frowned, cocking his head, the outcropping Island should have been empty.

"Some moro- Guy. Was out stargazing or something and saw us, he came to see what was wrong thinking it was an emergency landing…were you really just going to bleed out and leave me stranded like that!?" she hissed, tears pricking her eyes with worry.

"…Not really." He croaked softly, trying to clear away some of the fog still crowding his thoughts. Emerald sighed and slumped into her chair

"He left a little while ago to get something to eat…he hasn't started asking questions but he looks the type to ask and be thorough about it. I don't know what kind of story we can make up that explains why your back looks like someone's vent art…The damage went deep in some parts too, your lucky nothing to important got hit." She explained softly. Mercury made to sit up and squirmed

"My legs…?" he asked, feeling the weight missing as he attempted to find purchase in the bed, Emerald helped prop him up.

"Safe, the doctor removed them when they went in to stitch you up, you'll get them back when you're ready." Emerald soothed, looking up quickly as a tall, blonde man entered.

"Ah! You're awake, that's good. I was really worried when I came across you and your friend here, you looked worse than a man who'd just taken on an Ursa all by himself." The man smiled, a friendly aura permeated the room; Emerald even seemed to relax. He handed her a sandwich wrapped in foil and sat opposite from Mercury's hospital bed.

"I'm not gonna beat around the bush with you two, you've got a lot to explain to me; but I am also not going to push you right now either, you both look a little worse for wear. So let's start with something easy, ok?" he asked leaning forward. Emerald gulped, fidgeting with the foil on the sandwich

"…What are you two doing here?" he asked, the friendly tone turning a little stricter. Emerald frowned and looked up, eyes widening

"I know who you two are already, you think I didn't watch the Vytal festival with my girls participating in it? Last I saw, you just got shot in the leg by my daughter…'unprovoked' they called it too." he grunted, Mercury felt his stomach twist.

Xiao-Long…of course this would be her father, he was starting to see the resemblance, though it looked like she got her temper from elsewhere.

"…" Emerald worried her lip, the foil crinkling in her hands

"And those prosthetics aren't new, you've had them a long time, Mercury." He finished folding his hands and looking at him closely.

"Mercury nodded, gripping the sheets tightly,

"…would you believe us if I said that we were just trying to get away from something awful?" he asked after a few tense moment had passed, the only thing to break the silence was Emerald wringing the sandwich to death in her hands.

"…that'a a little vague for my taste but, yeah. I'll believe that." He smirked playfully, Mercury heaved a sigh of relief and threw his head back

"…we're just trying to lay low." He added quietly, the man nodded.

"Care to explain why?" he asked, looking between Mercury and Emerald.

"…It's kinda a long, complicated mess and I'm pretty sure you'll want us dead by the end of it." Emerald spoke up, glaring him down.

"C'mon, give me some credit, you don't know me yet and I've got time, my name's Taiyang, you can call me Tai for now and at the end we'll see if your assumption is correct." He stated pulling the chair closer. Tai waited patiently for one of them to start, Mercury tensed, trying not to make eye contact before he grunted and tossed his hands up in defeat

"We worked for Cinder."


Gestures to this. SO. I got inspired to a write another ending. THIS IS THE ENDING. I really liked the comments and suggestions of where to go but I do have a plan for the sequel already? This just kinda gets it to a better point cause we're definitely in AU territories. So, this is it, hopefully it's more satisfying than the previous and for the sequel there is gonna be some threesome action as I have said. Thank you Every one for the reviews and the suggestions!

I am working on some one shots with Mercury and Ruby having babies and being parents. Then also a Soulmates AU because those are crack cocaine to me, I love them. So hopefully y'all come back for some more BlackRose/QuickSilver.

Thank you!