Notes at the end for this one, without further ado...

Chapter 11

Mercury wasn't really sure what he was expecting when he brought up Arc's proposal to Cinder Fall the following day. Actually, no, that was a stupid thing to say. He was expecting her to laugh in his face, and then promptly ignore anything he had to say for the next few weeks. He would've seen the sense in that, really.

That she didn't was surprising. Or, well, it should've been. But Beacon had been an awfully surprising place thus far, so Mercury was starting to get used to having his expectations blown out of the water.

"And you are assured that there was no underlying reason for his invitation?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Jaune can't lie to save his life." Mercury muttered, shrugging. "It's not like I wanna' go, but…"

Cinder nodded her head, seemingly pondering.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt in ingratiating ourselves into their ranks." Cinder seemed to think a bit distractedly. "Well, it's not technically required. I highly doubt Neo will want to bother."

Yeah, they were in agreement on that.

Still, the thing that caught Mercury the most about Cinder at that moment was how out of it she seemed. Like her focus was barely on him, the person she was talking to, and far more focused on whatever it was that was on her mind.

Something had happened. It had to have. The previous night, when she'd gone to see Goodwitch – she hadn't told them that was where she was going, but the fact that she'd come back distracted had all but guaranteed that to be the case – some sort of information had been revealed to her. Apparently, it was related to General Ironwood, the leader of the Atlas military.

Honestly, Mercury was just glad the woman was back to focusing in on their true mission here at Beacon. It was an almost refreshing change of pace.

Now if Mercury could just figure out why she had this smoldering look in her eyes like she wanted to slaughter the man.

"I will be staying. I have… business here in Vale to accomplish. Emerald?"

"I'm staying as well." Emerald called from her bed, where she was sleeping in, as she always seemed to when it was the weekend.

Well, not sleeping in, since she was clearly awake and listening into their conversation, but perhaps more… resting in? Was that a term?

Mercury wasn't all that concerned, to be fair.

"Well then, there you have it." Cinder said, turning back to him with a shrug. "I care not what you do, I suppose. If you wish to attend, it will certainly cement our teams as stern allies, and would likely allow us to curry favor with them in the future."

Mercury couldn't help feeling like they didn't really need to be doing any more 'currying of favor' with Team JNPR, but then again, Cinder didn't exactly hang out with the other three members so much as she did Nikos, which Nora bemoaned about daily – shouting that she wanted to see her 'Village sister' more often.

Honestly, Mercury had half a mind to drag Cinder on by one of these days, even if he wasn't really all that sure why. Maybe it was spite? Him having to put up with Valkyrie's endless jabbering while she got the prim and proper huntress-to-be?

Yeah… yeah, that had to be it.

Still, in Mercury's mind, JNPR thought of them as 'friends' already. They seemed the type to dive into hell and back for anyone they even remotely liked, so Mercury was pretty sure they were good on that front.

But then…

"Alright. I'll go and give the news to Arc." Mercury said, standing from his place on his bed and backing out of the online menu on 3S – what the online community called 'Supreme Smash Sisters' – and setting down his controller.

"Mhm. You do that." Cinder said distractedly, still not looking up from her scroll, where she was, apparently, looking at the hacked itinerary of General Ironwood.

Apparently, another member of her group had acquired that information for her. Some guy named Watts.

"So… the twenty-seventh, hm?"

Mercury really felt like it was probably best he didn't get involved in… whatever the hell that was.

/

Jaune wasn't hard to find.

Mostly because of Nora, to be fair.

"~Meeeerrcuuuuryyyyy!~" Valkyrie sing-sung out as she spotted him. "How are you doing?"

"Eh, y'know, average morning." He said with a lazy shrug. "What's up with you all?"

"Jauney here was just inviting us all to his family abode!" Nora exclaimed far too excitedly, bouncing left and right. "Me and Rennie are going, but the traitor Pyrrha already has plans!"

Nikos, to her credit, looked a bit ashamed. "I'm sorry, Nora. I told my family I'd be going to visit them in Argus over break. I can't just cancel on them."

"Phooey." Nora pouted. "You owe us!"

"Haha, I'll find some way to make it up to you, Nora."

"Oh, I invited Team RWBY too." Jaune said as he turned to him. "Ruby and Yang are both going back to Patch, Weiss' dad is apparently demanding her back in Atlas, so she kind of has to go there, but I think I might be able to convince Blake to come, so here's hoping for that!"

Mercury hadn't ever really heard of any of those people, but whatever.

"What about CMME?" Jaune turned to him finally. "Any of you guys coming?"

"Well, Mint is being Mint. Emerald's hanging out here with Cinder. Cinder… is being Cinder, which I'm starting to realize is too good a descriptor for my team."

Nikos chuckled.

And then came the… interesting part.

"…But I guess I'm going."

Jaune's face lit up. "That's great! I'll tell my folks; they'll be thrilled to have you!"

"Yeah." He said, for lack of anything else to say. "Cool."

He pointedly ignored the way that all other members of Juniper smiled his way, like they had him all figured out. He hated that stupid little look in their eyes, that glint of mirth. The way they knew something he didn't.

What did they think they knew!? It wasn't like they'd figured out a single thing about him, not about the real him, anyways. He'd see them try and smile when it was him standing over them, Vale burning in the background…

Even if that thought didn't bring him any real satisfaction.

"I was just coming by to let you know," Mercury said, turning around to hide himself from their punk-ass smiling faces. "When is this stupid thing, anyways?"

"Uhm, four days from now, the first day of break, the four, well, hopefully five, of us are going to chart a bullhead out to Domremy. Or, well, Ozpin's charting us a bullhead, I guess. Part of Beacon's perks I guess that they charter students bullheads for stuff like this. Oh, and we'll be there for about a week and a half, get back with a few days before the next term starts."

He nodded his head, instantly noting down the relevant information. "Got it."

And then he moved away before they could make any further fool out of him.

Gods he felt like an idiot. Somehow he always did around them, despite it invariably being them who were the idiots! After all, he was a trained killer. An Assassin, and there they were, chatting amiably with him, inviting him to their hometowns…

Mercury ignored the fact that he'd felt something when he'd heard the enthusiasm the boy had. When he'd realized that it was directed at him, that it was for him.

It was gone, now, but…

It had felt strangely warm.

/

Four days passed by pretty quickly, all things considered.

The end of semester exams had been a thing that Mercury… well, he'd simply chosen not to think too hard about it, since he'd been pretty sure he wasn't going to fail. And he hadn't, in all fairness.

That wasn't to say he'd done well, just that he'd not failed. There was a notable difference.

Cinder, of course, had done well, and somehow Emerald had come out of it with a near perfect score, hanging among the top of the second-year class, and with this totally cocky look on her face to boot. Neo… well, she technically finished in second, but Mercury was honestly pretty sure Neo had just used her semblance to cheat, so that was that.

Some of their 'friends' lamented their placements, none more so than Weiss Schnee, who had apparently missed two whole questions, and therefore only scored a Ninety-eight. Placing her in first, but not, apparently, first enough.

Mercury couldn't help but hate that snooty bitch, no matter how hard he tried.

Still, somehow Valkyrie had scored higher than Ren, and Arc had done passably. Nikos had been right up there with the Schnee chick, which was honestly impressive, given she'd scored at the top of the practical exam for the first years as well.

Still, it was the appointed day. Mercury had packed – which was to say he'd thrown a few outfits into a trash bag that was slung over his shoulder and was carrying the box containing his game console under his left arm. In the trash bag was also a toothbrush, deodorant, a few vials of different kinds of dust, and little bottles of shampoo and conditioner that he'd gone and bought from Beacon's store.

That had, after all, been what his scroll had told him to do.

Mercury had never really gone on a trip before.

Oh, he'd had to move around a lot, that was true. His father, while training him, had dragged him halfway across Remnant tracking some rather despicable people – and some less despicable ones – and thusly Mercury did know what to do when one needed to camp outside, for instance, or how to set up a tent while it was pouring down rain.

How to pack for what was, apparently, supposed to be a relaxing vacation? Yeah, that'd been new.

So he'd just looked it up, and followed the instructions to the letter. Shampoo and conditioner… well, he'd never really used them that much. He washed his hair, sure, but… weren't those for girls?

Eh, the article had told him to bring them, so he had.

Apparently he wouldn't need to bring food – he'd asked, Jaune had said his parents would be cooking for them most days, and that Domremy had more than enough restaurants – nor would he be needing a tent – apparently they had more than enough guest rooms – which Mercury supposed made sense given the whole eight children thing.

Still, packed, prepared, and ready to go, Mercury bid farewell to his team – or, well, he lazily waved, and Emerald gave him the middle finger – and stepped out of the dorm room, making his way to the landing pad, where they take a bullhead into vale, and then take another once they were there to Domremy.

He stepped out into the open air of Beacon's courtyard, turning his head a little to try and find his 'group', and was pretty quickly inundated with calls from one Nora Valkyrie, who made enough noise that the entire courtyard turned to her, but hey, it got his attention, so he couldn't much complain.

"Yo." He spoke as he stepped up to the group, hoisting his trash bag a little higher. "When's the flight?"

"Uh, in a few minutes." Jaune said, sounding a bit distracted. "Hey, uh, Mercury… did you not have a suitcase?"

"Suitcase?"

"It's like a portable shelf!" Nora Valkyrie said excitedly, hoisting this odd, pink rectangle with a handle attached. "Me and Ren went out with Jaune and got ours! You should totally get your own!"

"Oh. No, I don't have one."

"Oh… okay." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. "Uh… if you want, I can buy you one? I have some money from–"

"I'm fine." He interrupted the boy before he could say something stupid. "'Sides, the bag works. It just needs to hold my stuff."

"Uh… yeah, I guess you're right!"

It was rather clear that Jaune was just trying to placate him, but honestly Mercury really couldn't give a damn, so that was fine.

"Oh," All of a sudden, Jaune turned again, and waved at someone off in the distance. "Hey, over here, Blake!"

Mercury turned his head as well, seeing what seemed to be a goth faunus chick walking up to them, her head in a book as she waved lazily towards them.

"Hello, everyone."

So, this was Blake, then?

She, too, had one of those suitcase thingamajigs, so apparently Mercury really was the odd one out. Normally he wouldn't have given much of a shit, but somehow when it was all of them…

He didn't like not knowing things. He didn't like giving them a reason to laugh at him. He hated that.

Still, there was this odd sense hanging about the back of Mercury's head as the five of them boarded their flight into Vale…

…Where had he heard the name 'Blake' before?

/

The flight to Domremy gave Mercury some time to think.

Mostly on why he'd come along on this dumb little 'trip' in the first place.

In truth, he simply hadn't had much else to do.

…Ok, that was a lie. He could've been playing that game of his for the entire break, spamming matches online and continuing to improve. It would've been a refreshing break, honestly, from constantly having to worry about schoolwork. Especially given that Cinder wouldn't be needing him for anything over the break, all of them taking some time off for themselves.

But…

Really, he simply hadn't… wanted to?

No, that wasn't it. It was more that… the idea of this trip, ever since he'd first been informed of it…

It'd simply intrigued him.

It was something that he'd never once experienced.

Just… being invited somewhere. Someone genuinely wanting him around.

He shook his head, groaning lightly as he blew away the unwanted thoughts. He looked up at the others inside of the small cabin, and once more, his eyes locked on the goth chick, Blake.

He knew that name… he just didn't know where from…

Maybe by talking to her, he could figure it out?

"Is it… Bella?" He said, feigning idiocy.

"Blake." The girl looked up from her book, seeming rather unimpressed. "Blake Belladonna."

Oh, he liked this girl already. That complete lack of interest in her eye, the almost tired expression.

It was a challenge. Mercury quite liked challenges.

"Hah. Mercury. Mercury Black."

"If you're going to start flirting, I'm afraid I'm not interested."

He wasn't quite used to being shut down so hard so fast. "Bit of a hardass, aren't you?"

"No. I simply did my time dating an edgy boy with a dark and mysterious past." She said, the tiniest of smiles apparent on her lips. "I can't say I much care for a re-run."

There it was again. That same damned smile. That amusement. Why did they all look at him like that? Why did it piss him the hell off!?

"You don't know shit about me." He practically spat.

"Trust me. It's not that hard to tell. It's in the eyes." The Belladonna chick stated, using two of her fingers and pointing them at her own irises. "People like us, their eyes just have a little less life to them."

"Psh." He looked away.

Wait a minute…

An edgy boy with a dark past…

There was something there… something about someone he knew…

Somehow, his jaded brain made the connection, and his eyes flew open as he realized just who it was this little 'bad boy' must've been.

Because he'd heard the name 'Blake' before. And now he remembered where.

'Remember, there's someone at Beacon I need to retrieve. I will not allow Blake to slip through my fingers. Not again.'

…Ooooooooooh.

So, this girl had dated Adam Taurus, then?

The guy was always going on about having this girl who'd come to beacon, a white fang deserter, apparently, that he wanted out of their little deal.

Oh. Oh, this was juicy. Mercury hadn't ever thought of himself as one for gossip but…

Honestly, this was pretty fucking hilarious, so he'd make an exception.

Still, it wasn't like he was going to simply ask the girl about Adam fucking Taurus, not and reveal how he knew about Adam Taurus.

"So why are you here, exactly?"

The question caught Mercury off guard, and he found himself tensing his jaw as he thought of a way he could answer it.

Because really, he found he didn't much know.

"Just wanted to come." He shrugged. "Why are you here?"

"I was invited." She said simply. "I… have not been invited to many things."

Huh. Well, at least that made two of them, then.

"Didn't have anything else to do?" He prodded.

"I do have something I'm thinking about doing, but, well…" Blake seemed oddly tense. "I checked into it, and it seemed as if the group I've been watching hasn't been making many movements recently."

Wait…

"Group you've been watching?" Mercury questioned further, feeling the little Cinder on his shoulder egging him on.

"Yes. I'm studying the White Fang's movements."

Now that earned a reaction from him.

"Wait, you're tracking the White Fang?"

"Yes. I… have my reasons."

Being a former member. Mercury knew but didn't say.

"I suspect… no, more than that, I know there's something more going on here. Some forces are at play in Vale, and they're planning something." Blake Belladonna spoke, her eyes hard. "Something that only I can see."

"…Uh-huh…"

Already, Mercury could see the so-called relaxing trip he'd been supposed to take circling the drain. Because the woman in front of her thought she was in on some incredibly deep, complex conspiracy happening in the heart of Vale. Normally, Mercury would've laughed.

Except there was an incredibly deep, complex conspiracy happening in the heart of Vale, and Mercury was working for the woman trying to make it happen. So that kind of cut into his mirth a little.

Great. Juuuust great.

That meant it was Mercury's responsibility to watch this girl, wasn't it?

So much for a vacation…

/

Emerald was having a pretty good week, all things considered.

Well, it hadn't started well, but in the end, the results had been her developing a genuine sense of respect for one Glynda Goodwitch – and it was only respect, it was absolutely nothing else, she did not care about that woman – and a much deeper relationship with Cinder, the woman she admittedly did care for.

Really, aside from having that same woman tell her that she regretted meeting her in the first place – which honestly, Emerald had probably overreacted to, Cinder would never think that about her – the week had been nothing but great!

Well, except for the part where Cinder hadn't really talked to her in a few days, too busy having her face buried in her scroll. As to what she was looking at, well, Emerald had a guess.

Especially given what had occurred at the docks.

It wouldn't surprise her if Cinder had spent nearly every moment since then calculating and recalculating their options. Going over every facet of their plan, making absolutely certain that when the time came, they would be ready.

Ready to sink Vale, to take the power that Cinder desired, to destroy Beacon…

Huh. That was weird.

Emeralds heart had lurched a bit at that.

Before she could consider that any further, Cinder's voice brought her out of her own head. "Emerald."

She turned, seeing Cinder beckoning her over to her bed. She walked that way and sat down beside the woman.

"What is it, ma'am?"

"Stop calling me that." Cinder said, shaking her head, and seeming almost…

Was it affronted? Concerned?

"Just… call me Cinder."

Emerald wasn't really sure what that was about, but she was pretty sure it meant that Cinder thought better of her if she wanted her to call her by her name, so Emerald wasn't about to start complaining.

"Uhm, will do, Cinder."

"…Right. I have a mission for you."

Ah. So, she had been correct after all.

"I take it I'm going to be travelling out into Vale?"

Already, Emerald was making mental plans as to what she could do while she was there. She knew the streets of Vale's dingier sides like the back of her hand. There was no one more accustomed to something like this than her, especially with her semblance.

"Hm? No. You shouldn't need to leave Beacon for this."

Emerald's eyes bugged out slightly, and she turned to Cinder with some rather evident surprise.

"Uhm, what about the incident at the docks?"

"Emerald, please," Cinder shook her head. "We've far more important matters to worry about than that."

Wow. So, this was really serious, then?

Emerald struggled to think of something coming up that might require their attention more than their failure at the docks. That had set them back weeks in their dust acquisition, turning a night that should've gotten the majority of their remaining needs covered into a complete and total zero.

But then, that was why she followed, and Cinder led, she supposed. The woman must've had some grand designs beyond what Emerald could figure out herself.

"Anything you need, ma– Cinder."

The woman nodded. "I need you to aid me in sabotaging General Ironwoods efforts."

Ah. And suddenly it all made sense. What could be more important, truthfully, than controlling the crucial part of their little plan. Cinder hadn't told them much, but from what she did know, General Ironwood's undoing would be the biggest piece of the puzzle in unravelling Vale's security. Undermining his efforts into, say, investigating them, would certainly be more important than dust acquisition.

"Of course, Cinder." And honestly, with how much damned soul-searching she'd been doing for the last months at Beacon, it might be refreshing to do some genuine espionage for a change. "What am I doing? Tricking one of his guards? Infiltrating a meeting? Making so that he sees something that doesn't exist?"

Cinder leaned forward. The tension in the room palpable.

"I need you to interrogate Glynda Goodwitch, to find out what it is she sees in the man!"

The tension in the room deflated much like the air would from out of a whoopie cushion, with an audible, puffing wheeze, that only grew more and more pathetic, until it fully sputtered out with one last toot.

"Oh." Emerald said a bit dumbly.

"You're the only one I can trust with this, Emerald." Cinder said, leaning towards her. "The only one I would put my faith in."

Gods, Emerald absolutely hated the way she turned to putty in Cinder's hands at the smallest hint of affection, even if, perhaps, that affection had grown a bit less fake, a bit less feigned, ever since they'd had that talk in the gardens.

But what Cinder was asking her to do…

"Y-Yeah!" She managed to eke out. "Totally! I'll… I'll get it done!"

"Thank you, Emerald." Cinder said as she brought her hand up to the side of Emerald's face and caressed her. Emerald desperately tried to pretend that didn't do interesting things to all parts of her. "We'll wait until the students have all filtered out of Beacon. Then, our mission will begin."

"Understood, ma– Cinder." She forced herself to correct once more. "I will await your call."

Beside her, Neo gave her this look like she couldn't possibly have been more disappointed in her.

Emerald couldn't really blame her, on account that she felt much the same.

Her body had once again betrayed her mind, however. Or, well, technically, hormones were a factor of the brain, weren't they?

Seems it was more so Emerald in general at fault here, then.

"Well then, I'll leave you to it, Cinder." She said as she stood up, and made her way out of the room, going towards…

Actually, where was she going towards?

Emerald found she didn't particularly know.

The only thing she could really ponder was the reality of her situation, and a question that haunted her…

Did this count as cucking herself? Because it kinda felt like she was cucking herself.

End Chapter 11

Welp, this chapter was written three or four weeks ago, and at the time I remember saying 'I'll add more to this later' but then I went and got Covid (I'm vaccinated and boosted, it's basically just a headcold for me) so that kind of went out the window. On the bright side, I'm multiple chapters ahead (I finished chapter 13 right before I got sick) so I can afford to take time off to just relax, which is nice. I've finally got around to watching Breaking Bad with my time away from writing. I'm about halfway through season 2 so far. It's pretty damned good. (Who could've guessed that one of the most decorated TV shows of all time would be pretty good, huh?)

So far quite literally every episode is Walter lying about something, and then the next episode is Walter going "Well if it isn't the consequences of my own actions".

On the not so bright side, I have to burn into my reserve chapters for Cinderella. Which sucks, cause I like having reserve chapters lol.

Ah, well. Sorry for the shorter chapter this week! Back to regular length next week!