"I swear if I catch a cold out here, I'm going to kill you." Mercury sneezed nearly dropping his scroll in the process. Emerald laughed on the other end.

"It's not my fault you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere. You should have been quicker." She taunted.

"You probably would have gotten your way even if I had called dibs."

"Yeah your right about that." She gloated. He could just picture her smug smile.

"So how's the search going over there? I've hit a dead end."

"So far nothing, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Still, I never knew Atlas was full of so many annoying people." She grumbled.

Mercury tried not to laugh. "You think everyone is annoying."

"Yeah and you are the worst of the worst."

"Oh come on, you know your into me."

"I'm hanging up now."

"Don't go Emerald! You know were supposed to be together!" Mercury practically shouted into his scroll. There was a loud bang and then the line went dead. Mostly likely Emerald tossed her scroll away instead of hanging up like a normal person. One of the little joys Mercury had was messing with his partner. He and Emerald had been working with each other for such a long time, it was almost like they were friends. Almost. Being in the business they were in, friendships weren't a common thing.

Mercury stretched out on the grass, the morning sun warming him up after the chilly night. For the past three days, he had been tailing the other sister for any clues about Ruby. At the very least he thought that she'd keep in touch with Yang. But so far he hadn't seen her pick up her scroll once even once. He noticed whenever she left the house she didn't even take it with her. Staying here and longer was just a waste of time.

The more he watched Yang the more he felt… well weird. He couldn't quite figure out what it was but something about her just made him feel different. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, that wasn't clear yet. And he didn't have the time to figure it out. He checked the time on his scroll. The next ship heading to Vale was leaving in an hour and he was going to be on it. Patch was a waste of time, and he didn't want to get on Cinder's bad side. Not now that she had a crazy power that could tear down mountains. Mercury sat up and looked around at his little campsite. He got up and got rid of any trace that he had been there. As he strode back to town, he began to plot his next steps in finding Ruby Rose.


"… forty six… forty seven… forty eight… forty nine… fifty! Woo, talk about out of shape." Yang fell back on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She tried not to laugh at how pathetic she was at this very moment. Not too long ago she and Nora would have sit-up competitions until dawn. Once they almost reached 500 each, but then Weiss and Ren stormed in and made them go to bed. Those two always liked to ruin a good time. Now Yang couldn't even do 50 sit-ups without wanting to give up. She lay on the floor of her room, a little annoyed.

Zwei jumped down from his place on Yang's bed and circled her twice. The little dog licked her arm before settling down in her hair.

Yang groaned. "Come on Zwei, don't lay in my hair. You'll get stuck again." She poked him over and over again until he eventually got up. The day was still young and Yang was trying to decide the best way to waste it. It had been three days since her dad took off to Vale. And also that other thing happened three days ago…

Yang got up and went to the kitchen; her jacket still slung over the back of one of the chairs. She dug around one of the pockets until she found what she was looking for. The little piece of paper Mercury had given her was probably the most interesting and confusing thing that had happened in a while. She flipped it open and looked at the information once again.

This felt like an olive branch. Some strange way to make amends for what happened in the past. He never said it was, never hinted that he might feel some sort of remorse. Then what reason did her have to give her this information? What was the motive? Yang didn't feel like finding the answers to these questions. She crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the trash.

Just as she was about to go to her room to sulk, there was a knock on the door. Yang froze and looked down at Zwei. "Did you hear that too?" she whispered. There hadn't been a visitor at the house in ages, even when her dad was home. Zwei tilted his head to the side. Yang jumped as another knock rang out; louder this time. She strode over to the door and swung it open.

"Sun?!" she couldn't believe her eyes. But there he was, standing at her door looking exactly the same as she remembered. "What are you doing at my house?"

"Hey Yang!" he smiled. "Got any food? I'm starving." He invited himself in and went straight to the kitchen like he'd been there hundreds of times before.

"No, come in I insist it's not like your invading my space or anything…" Yang mumbled to herself. She shut the door and joined him in the kitchen. Sun had his head stuck in the fridge, his long blond tail practically wagging. "So, what are you doing here?"

His head popped out from behind the fridge. "Aw c'mon, aren't you happy to see me?"

"That really depends on your answer."

"Well I kind of got into some trouble back in Vale." Sun abandoned the cold food and went for the bowl of fruit on the counter.

"What kind of trouble?" Yang asked, concerned.

"I crashed another White Fang meeting yesterday and kind of got recognized. It was bound to happen sooner or later, after all the times we've messed with them. So I decided to hang low for a while."

"So you came to Patch?"

"First I was going to try to go back home to Vacuo, but this place was closer. I tried to get Neptune to come but…"

"…but I live on an island." Yang thought back to their battle in the tournament. A small smile began to play on her lips. "What is it with him and water?"

"It's a long story, like really long." Sun sighed. He grabbed an apple with his tail and tossed it to Yang.

The two talked over for the better part of the morning, eating all the fruit Yang had in her house. Sun's past year was the exact opposite of hers. Full to the brim with adventure. From the sound of things, him and his team had stuck around Vale for a while after the tower fell, helping put things back together. But like Team RWBY, they had been separated. Sage and Scarlet were pulled back home by their parents. After all, parents can be just as unpredictable and troublesome as Beowulf's. Since then, Sun and Neptune had been pretty much on their own. Trying to figure out how to live in this new version of Remnant. By the time he had finished, it was well into the afternoon.

Yang yawned and headed over to the pantry, looking for something to munch on.

"Hey do you wanna head into town?" she turned to Sun, who was taunting Zwei with his tail. "I need to pick up some stuff. And I guess I could give you a tour."

"Sure! I was getting a little bored just talking." He hopped up. Yang ran to her room to change, grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. Sun on her heels. The two of them walked to town, making small talk all the way. Yang didn't feel much like talking about her time this past year and Sun seemed to pick up on that little hint. He steered away from any talk about Ruby and Yang's feelings. And for that she was grateful.

Sun seemed overjoyed by the sleepy little town. He hurried this way and that, acting like a little kid. Yang rolled her eyes and tried to figure out what was so special about it. Growing up here; the place kind of lost its charm a long time ago. Now it just seemed normal. It took a very stern look, but Yang managed to wrangle Sun and get back on track. She led him over to the small grocery store where she picked up things for the next week. It wasn't clear when Taiyang was coming home, so she decided to prepare. She passed the bags over to Sun who took them happily. The sun was just beginning to set when they began their journey back home.

Sun had already fished an apple out of the bag with his tail. He took a big bite. "So I thought you lived with your dad?" he asked, his mouth full.

"I do. But he's over in Vale right now. Y'know, Huntsmen stuff." She shrugged.

"So… you're alone?" there was a hint of worry in his voice. It kind of irked her.

"Mmm yeah but it's not like I completely alone. I've got Zwei and I see people from town every once and a while. Oh and the other day I saw… oh that's right." Yang looked down on the ground.

"Saw who?"

"You're not going to believe this, but I ran into Mercury the other day."

Sun dropped his apple. "Mercury? That guy you-" he shut up before he could finish his sentence. His cheeks turned red.

"Yeah, that guy." Yang's anger began to boil. "But you're not going to believe what happened." Yang told him everything. The gunshots in the middle of the night, the Ursa, Mercury's stupid face and his big secret. She even told him about the number he gave her for a prosthetic.

"So that whole time, his legs weren't real. He framed you? And then he tried to help you? What the hell…"

"Right? It doesn't make any sense!" Yang's temper flared.

"Hey Yang?" Sun had stopped walking.

"What?"

"What if they planned for you to do that? Like they planned for you to break his leg."

"What-? That's impossible, Sun. The fights were randomized, remember?"

"What if they weren't."

Yang stared up her friend, his words not really sinking in. There was no way they could have planned it. No way they could have known she would do that. Then she thought of the other fight. About Penny and Pyrrah. What were the odds that s girl with the ability to control magnetism would be put up against a girl made of metal? Yang's head began to spin.

"What do you know, the monkey boy is pretty smart." The voice was back again. That annoying voice that belonged to that annoying person. Sun and Yang turned to see Mercury strolling a ways behind them. Sun dropped the bags on the ground and pulled out his staff. He stepped in front of Yang, acting all protective of her. The gesture irked her even more. She never needed protection before.

"What you do want?" Sun asked his voice a little scary. Mercury stopped in front of them and sighed.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he glared. Yang pushed her way past Sun.

"Cut it out, Mercury. What do you want?"

"Whoa, why so angry? I thought we made some progress the other day?" he faked a pout.

"I- don't even know what to say to that." Yang felt her cheeks get warm. Mercury rolled his eyes.

"Jeeze you can't take a joke… just thought I'd fill you in on something. This little island of yours is about to be overrun."

Sun lowered his staff. "What do you mean 'overrun'?"

"I mean Grimm, dozens of them heading this way."

Silence. No one moved. Even the air seemed to stand still. Yang didn't want to believe him, couldn't believe him. There was no way he was telling the truth.

"You're lying." Sun's grip on his weapon tightened. Mercury simply shrugged and crossed his arms. Yang looked back and forth between the boys and tried to figure out what true. She stared at Mercury. He was doing that thing again, where he wasn't looking her in the eye. Granted she wasn't very good at telling when people were lying, but she felt like trying. Mercury was just as calm and collected as ever, the only weird thing was that he wouldn't look her in the eye. She took a step forward.

"You're telling the truth." She concluded.

Sun gaped at her. "Yang! Don't believe this jerk. He's obviously lying!"

"My dad is in Vale, getting rid of Grimm. What if some of them ran off and ended up here?"

"And blondie's got it." Mercury chimed in. "There's a whole group of Huntsmen and Huntress dealing with them, but not enough to get them all. The ones that survive are running and this place is right in their path."

Yang let the information sink in. It kind of made sense, what with all those Ursa they had seen the other day. The creatures of Grimm were getting more common on the island, but not like that. Not in a group of that size.

She turned to Mercury. "So what are we going to do?"

Both boys looked at her. "Uh who said we?" Mercury asked.

"I did." Yang put her hand on her hip and put on her most confident smile. "You aren't afraid now, are you?"

"Watch it, blondie."

"Look, my dad was the only Huntsman on the island. I don't think any of the other people here know how to fight. Like it or not you're going to stay and help us defend this island."

"Or what?"

Yang's temper began to rise. "Or I'll break something you can't fix that easily." That familiar fire started roaring in her belly. She could feel her adrenaline beginning to rise as a new challenge shoved its way into her life. Mercury was silent, once again staring at the ground. If it were a lull in conversation with anybody else, Yang would feel the need to fill it, but not with Mercury. Not at all. The last time they spoke she realized something interesting. She could learn a whole hell of a lot more about him in these silences than she could while he was talking. After all, he knew how to lie better than any politician. Finally Mercury gave in.

"Fine, I'll stay and help." He mumbled. "But don't expect me to save either of you if you get in a jam."

"Pfft, like we'd need saving." Yang turned back to Sun with a huge smile on her lips. Sun looked a little shocked when she turned back around. He quickly picked his jaw off from the floor and hurried to pick up the things he'd dropped. Yang bent down to help him and was suddenly hit with a terrible sense of dread.

"They should be here sometime tomorrow." Mercury began walking away. "Hopefully not too early, but if you here gunshots in the morning don't ignore them, please. I'd hate to do all the work myself."

"Yeah whatever." Yang mumbled. Once they had everything, Yang hurried back up the road to her house. Sun almost had to run to keep up with her.

Just a few minutes ago she had felt so confident and strong. So much like her old self that she had almost forgotten. But when she tried to reach for a bag with her right hand, the whole world came crashing down on her all over again. Mercury and Sun would be fine defending this place from a Grimm attack, but her? Yang hadn't picked up her gauntlet in over a year. She was missing an entire limb. And she could only do 50 sit-ups in a row. Yang didn't stand a chance up against a horde of Grimm. Not when she still felt so fragile. One hit, and she would shatter.


AN: I made a playlist for Yang while wring this. I think I'm becoming obsessed.