Yo.

Posting this a day early, mostly because I wanted to!

Chapter 37

Glynda Goodwitch had stayed behind as Ironwood and Qrow were both called away, each of them dealing with moving to arrest Roman Torchwick, who had, apparently, taken the proverbial bait that Ironwood had laid out for them. It seemed almost too easy, but frankly, Glynda had bigger things on her mind.

She just wasn't sure how to broach the topic.

"Hopefully Roman will be put behind bars, and we can begin to unravel what it is this mysterious assailant wanted out of him." Ozpin commented, evidently trying to start up some manner of conversation.

"Yes." She responded without really thinking too hard. "That would be good."

It was an answer without any actual substance, and Ozpin could tell. He was staring at her, clearly aware that there was something she wanted to say.

"Glynda, are you alright?"

"I am… I am fine, I suppose." It was a half-truth at best. Physically, she was fine. Mentally, she was perhaps slightly compromised.

Emotionally, however…

She was aflame.

It was a cold fury, sweltering beneath the surface in the same way that dipping ones hands into freezing water would eventually make them, paradoxically, feel like they were burning.

It wasn't… perhaps it wasn't fair, not yet, at least. She needed to confirm her suspicion. The longer it took for her to ask what was on her mind.

"…How long have you been considering Ms. Fall as a Maiden candidate?"

Ozpin's face scrunched up ever so slightly, and if she were being honest with herself, she imagined he already knew what was bothering her. He'd always been like that. Far too quick to realize her concerns.

"A while now. Perhaps three or four months."

"I see."

That would have put the time he'd begun to consider such a thing around the time that James had arrived for the Vytal Festival. During the winter months. That would've been around the time that Glynda had been having troubles regarding whether or not to return Cinder's advances. Troubles as to how to deal with the feelings that had begun to bubble up beneath the surface inside of her.

Troubles that Ozpin had helped to assuage. In fact, he'd encouraged her to do what her heart desired.

…There was something else about that meeting that she was remembering now. Another tiny piece that had seemed insignificant at the time, but now…

Glynda's heart fell, even as her fury practically doubled.

"…Do you recall, around that time, the discussion the two of us had here, in your office? When you encouraged me to not throw away the potential that myself and Cinder could have together out of principle?"

"I recall that conversation, yes."

His voice, somehow, betrayed nothing, despite the fact that she was almost certain that the two of them both already knew how this conversation was going to end.

She remembered back to that conversation, back to the words that the two of them had exchanged…

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Glynda had felt the need to ask, simply to keep herself informed.

About the Maiden. About someone to take up Amber's role.

"I have a potential candidate." Ozpin had spoken measuredly, not betraying anything. "But time will tell if that angle proves fruitful."

Even then he'd been planning for it to perhaps be Cinder. Had seen Cinder's skills, her power, but most of all…

She remembered the way that she had brought Cinder into the conversation. Wanting to talk about the woman's feelings for her. It had seemed so innocent at the time.

"You know of Ms. Fall, correct?" She had said.

And even then, she'd watched with an odd sort of feeling hovering at the back of her mind as Ozpin sat up just the smallest bit straighter, as if the conversation had drawn his attention just that little bit more.

"I do."

She felt disgusted, now, as she stared at the man who'd encouraged her feelings. At her boss. At Ozpin. No.

Perhaps, in this moment, it was Ozma she was staring at. Not a human being, with human problems. At Ozma, the immortal who'd been working for tireless generations to resist the very end of the world. To fight off an enemy immeasurably powerful. To battle back darkness itself.

Someone who would do anything, say anything, for that cause.

This was nothing to him, compared to something like that.

And Glynda was disgusted.

"Did you encourage me to return Ms. Fall's feelings for this purpose?" She finally came out and said it. "Only to earn her loyalty? Only to make sure that when the time came to give her the Fall Maiden's powers, she would not wish to leave Beacon? That she would stay here, under your eye? Was it all just to lure her to our side?"

Ozma stayed silent. His face had not changed. There was no other expression upon it.

Glynda did not think she had ever been quite so livid in all her life.

"Headmaster."

"…It has simply worked out that way, I assure you."

…

"…So, you won't even admit to it?"

Ozma simply looked away. Down at his desk.

And Glynda took a deep, furious breath.

She smacked the elevator button, got in, and withdrew from the Headmaster's office without a word.

…

She slammed her aura infused hand into the elevator panel, and watched as it dented inwards.

"Each and every one of them…" She seethed beneath her breath. "They just keep using her!"

Used. Used all her life. As an orphan trafficked as a slave. And now… now as a Maiden. Just another title to enslave her. Yet another person who was just trying to use Cinder as a piece on some… some chess board!

She was not a piece. She was not some pawn to be played and discarded! She was a person! A lovely person who cared so much, who sat against her, and smiled up at her, and who looked at her so very affectionately, warmer than anyone ever had before, who she had started to realize recently she wanted to see more of, even more of, despite everything, despite…

Despite…

The glowing eyes of the assailant underneath that mask, the way they'd fought, the way they'd felt against her, the way that every one of Glynda's instincts told her over and over again that that woman simply had to be–

Her fist impacted the same spot, indenting the metal far enough in that the panel would likely need to be repaired.

She did not particularly care at that moment. She didn't even care about the way pain lanced across her hand; her aura only able to dull the sensation so much. She didn't really even notice the way she let out an almost guttural scream, before leaning against the elevator's back wall.

Why? Why did it all have to be so…

…

Glynda Goodwitch stepped out into the elevator beyond, her face betraying nothing of what she felt inside. She… she needed to calm down.

And then…

And then she was going to take control of this situation herself.

/

Cinder's arm slammed Mercury into their dorm wall, pinning him there, and though it hurt, he knew that he had it coming after what he'd pulled.

"Do you have any idea what you risked in so much as being near what happened down there!?"

He stayed silent. He'd learned with his father that having an answer only ever made the pain worse.

No one stepped up to defend him. No one really could. Emerald seemed to want to say something, but she either agreed with Cinder's underlying point, or she didn't think she'd actually hurt him.

To be fair to her, Mercury actually agreed. He was nearly certain Cinder wasn't going to do any more than this. Nothing more than pushing him against a wall and making her point abundantly clear. It would've hurt her in the long run to injure him, or mark him in any way.

But more than that… well, the woman had changed.

Regardless, more than Cinder, things had changed.

Roman Torchwick had been arrested. Just now, the news was officially getting to run the story, and soon, the entire world would know that Atlas had been the ones to actually arrest the man, with the help of some Beacon personnel.

And Mercury knew his own personal reckoning this evening wasn't going to be coming from Cinder. No… no, he had a feeling a certain someone was going to come knocking on his door sooner or later.

He wasn't even sure how he'd handle that. He'd simply have to play it by ear, wouldn't he?

Speaking of others in the room, however, in the corner, Neopolitan was avoiding eye contact with all of them. She'd been like that for a while, just sort of sulking. Mercury supposed he couldn't exactly blame the girl for that, what with what had happened to Roman.

Especially given that she didn't know whether or not Cinder had a use for her now. She might not be nearly as safe in this room as she'd been for the last little while.

Or, well, had Cinder not changed, that might've been the truth. As she was, however, Mercury was fairly certain she would be fine.

But perhaps her sulking was more related to how much more difficult the situation surrounding Roman's arrest was.

Because things had not gone as they were supposed to go. Roman was to be arrested, loaded into the main Atlesian carrier, and then broken out by Neopolitan later on. It was supposed to be quite a simple endeavor, really. Neopolitan would change into one of bridge crew, gain access to the ship, sneak into the prison block, and get Roman out.

The problem, of course, was that Neo had had to show off her illusions in trying to bail out Torchwick during his heist. Mercury doubted their security would be as lax to the potential threat of an illusion semblance as it normally would've now that it knew that Torchwick had an ally that possessed the ability.

So, potentially, Torchwick was stuck where he was. Aboard Ironwood's personal flagship.

And without a way of getting him out of there, well…

Cinder dug her arm a bit further into his sternum, and Mercury decided that was as good a cue as any to refocus.

"Mercury… I understand that I have perhaps been a little too lax lately, in terms of keeping you all in line." Cinder let out a breath, and it was filled with fire and fury. "But I think you should understand that I will not tolerate such behavior a second time. If you do something like this again, the consequences will be more severe than a simple shoulder check, am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

In truth, Mercury didn't actually believe Cinder. He imagined that, were he to act up again – and to be fair, he had no intentions to – that she would not do something that might actually hurt him.

She was simply not the same person who'd plucked him from his blazing home, nearly a year and a half ago now.

Just as she let Mercury move off the wall, dusting himself off, a knock sounded from their doorway, and Mercury felt himself swallowing as he thought about just who it might be that lurked outside.

He had a pretty good idea.

It felt like the end. Like death itself had come knocking.

"I'll get it." Mercury said, already moving towards it. Nobody made any moves to try and stop him.

And it was exactly who he'd thought it would be.

Jaune was right there, smiling at him with all the innocence of a golden retriever. He was an odd form for death to take, Mercury couldn't help but think. He looked almost happy to see him, and he supposed he could understand why. What he must've thought.

"Hey, Merc!" Jaune Arc exclaimed with far too much excitement, entirely unable to read his mood based off his face. "Have you heard the news?"

"I have." He stated simply, before making a show of looking back towards Neo for both Jaune and Cinder's sakes.

It was a calculated maneuver. He wanted Jaune to think he was being considerate of Neo's 'past', and thusly that he didn't want to discuss it in front of her. For those in the room behind him, however, he wanted it to be seen as him avoiding an inevitable angry tantrum from Neopolitan as she had to hear of her boss, or brother, or whatever the hell they were to each other, be talked about like some sleazebag.

Even if he was a sleazebag.

"Let's talk somewhere else." He stated simply, and Jaune nodded, thankfully not putting up any fight. He stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him before he continued speaking. "The classroom from last time?"

"Works for me." Jaune stated, still looking oh so pleased.

Mercury felt there was no real use to trying to wriggle his way out of this encounter. To do so would only invite suspicion.

He had an idea as to how he might play this. It had been just about the only thing on his mind during the airbus ride back to Beacon. How he was going to get out of this. Because he had to. It wasn't just his own fate riding on it, but Jaune's as well.

What Mercury pointedly wasn't expecting was to see Blake Belladonna standing there inside of the abandoned classroom they entered into. Her arms were crossed over her breasts, and she was gazing at him in a rather appraising way.

"Blake…?"

"Oh, right, uhm…" Jaune laughed a bit awkwardly. "So… I didn't tell you, but uh… the other day, when we talked here? I actually had Blake playing uhm… I guess back-up for me?"

That… what?

"What do you mean 'back-up'?"

"He means I was lurking in the shadows in case you turned out to be an enemy agent." Blake said, and the complete honesty in her tone momentarily floored him. "If you'd tried to kill him when he revealed what he knew, I'd have sprung out and stopped you."

She said it so casually, so effortlessly, with the manner of someone used to those kinds of things. Mercury supposed she would've been, given she'd been White Fang, once. Someone who'd thrived in espionage. She didn't much have the build of an enforcer. From what he'd seen of her in combat, she was all about quick, agile blows.

She was good, definitely, but she probably hit the least hard of any of her teammates – not counting the Schnee girl, given she had magic to fall back on.

Mercury wasn't really sure why he focused on such a tangent. What did it really serve?

He reasoned that perhaps his brain was assessing the potential threat that might lay in front of him. If they came to blows – and whether or not Mercury liked it or not, that was a very real possibility – he needed to know how his capabilities stacked up.

Jaune he knew was no real threat. He was improving, and perhaps would become a decent front-line tank in time, but for now… for now, it was almost entirely Blake.

"Smart." He eventually managed to say. "Just in case, it was a good idea to have someone around to back you up."

Blake nodded, and Mercury felt like he'd assuaged her just a bit by agreeing with her ideology. Mercury had never had anyone behind him that he trusted with his back – he'd had his father, but their relationship was certainly not one of trust – but…

It was good advice, regardless.

"So…" Jaune rubbed at the back of his neck. "Torchwick's in prison. That means 'Mint' can go to Ozpin now, right?"

Way to start him off with the easy questions there, Jaune.

"…Technically, yeah."

Mercury watched as Blake tensed. Jaune seemed confused, but Blake… she already didn't trust him fully.

Perhaps that was because the two of them were so similar. The lives they'd lived, the way they hated what they'd become, and tried to run away. Or, well, one of them had. The other… the other had no such luck as to be allowed an attempt.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I just…" He had come up with something, so he supposed it was about time to give it a shot. "Torchwick had help. With trying to fend off Branwen and Schnee. Neo was at the scene. She tried to bail him out. It didn't work, obviously, but… She's certainly not the most popular person right now. In fact, I imagine they'd probably attach a lot of Torchwick's rap sheet to her. She certainly was an accomplice, even if she was under threat."

Blake's gaze narrowed, but she allowed him to continue. Mercury wasn't entirely sure what he'd said that'd set her off, but, well, that was for him to consider later.

"Neo's yet to actually get the chance to visit the Warehouse she knows they're keeping her friend in, either, to get her out. Until then… until then, I think it would be best if we held off on telling Ozpin anything."

"And how long would that take?" Blake spoke evenly, betraying nothing about her position. "How soon could she act?"

"…I'm not sure. Her aura wasn't broken in the fight, but she took a few bad hits. She'll need a few days off at least."

"And you think her friend is safe to wait?"

"She's been safe all this time. It's not like they keep her locked up with ball and chain. She's just limited to a warehouse in the shipping district. I don't know where, before you ask if we couldn't go bail her out. Neo never told."

Blake nodded. At least that, she seemed to believe, which was good, since Mercury had no idea what he was going to do if she pushed further, made him make up a fake location or something.

If she checked it herself, well…

"…When, then?" Blake asked, having effectively taken over negotiations from Jaune, who was hunched over a bit awkwardly, evidently unsure as to how to enter into this conversation. "When do we tell Ozpin?"

That…

…

"After the Vytal Festival's over." Mercury settled on. "Two weeks from now."

Blake just stared at him.

"You seem awfully committed to delaying this as much as possible."

It was a half-hearted accusation, but Mercury was able to read between the lines there, to discover what it was that Blake meant beneath the surface.

She was accusing him of delaying and delaying and delaying not for Neo's sake, but for his own.

She was accusing him of being in on it, too.

Mercury knew, for certain, that he would need to choose his next words rather carefully.

"…You want the truth, Blake?"

Those words seemed to shock her, the same for Jaune, who had taken a backseat for a little while now.

"Mercury, we get it, you don't have to–" He tried to interject.

"No." He shook his head. "I do. Blake. Do you want the truth?"

The girl swallowed. She took a breath, and then…

"I do."

"Then I'll tell you this." He took a step forward, and, with far more fervor than he'd felt in a long time, spoke. "I'm protecting Neo for the same reason you're protecting Adam Taurus."

It was a sucker punch. Mercury knew that. It was callous, and unfeeling, but it was a necessary thing. Because it was, in the end, truth.

Blake Belladonna was many positive things, but she was also undeniably a hypocrite in some matters.

Because he watched as the girl flinched backwards, as her eyes widened, and her stance weakened. As her lips flapped open to respond, and then shut without saying a thing.

"Who's…" Jaune murmured, before taking a step back. "Who's Adam Taurus?"

"One of the major figures of the White Fang." Mercury spoke, never looking towards Jaune, never taking his gaze off of Blake, who he had effectively rooted to the spot. "Even now, he leads raids on the SDC and their partners, leading to the deaths of innocents, to guardsman only doing their jobs. And Blake used to be his partner."

He felt a kernel of guilt in his chest as he watched the girl in front of him shrink. Her entire being seemed to collapse in on itself. But he couldn't let up. This was his only chance. That he knew.

"Blake, what…" Jaune looked between the two of them, entirely unsure as to how to handle the situation, and Mercury really couldn't blame him for that. "I…"

"I'm willing to bet you have quite a bit of information on him that the authorities could use, don't you?" Now it was Mercury himself doing the accusing. "And yet, something tells me that you've never quite fed them all of that, have you? That you've never told them all that you know."

Blake was caught, well and truly.

"Because you still care about him, despite everything. Despite knowing what he's doing is wrong."

Mercury planted his hand over his heart, and with all the strength in his breast, he lied.

"It's the same for me. Neo is doing what she has to. If I can, I want to protect her from facing consequences she doesn't deserve. Can you blame me for that, Blake?"

He watched as Blake stared down at the floor beneath them, her vision hard and her breaths coming in raggedy and slow. After what felt like hours, but was realistically fifteen or so seconds, Blake's lips parted.

"…No."

The tiniest bit of energy surged through Mercury, then.

"Then please… just… just let Neo bail her friend out, and let her live her life apart from that asshole. She's not going to cause any more trouble."

It was a lie. Well and truly so. Neo was trouble.

But, well…

They didn't need to know that.

Blake pondered her answer. To Mercury's eyes, it seemed like Jaune already had his.

And then Blake whispered, "…Okay."

He wouldn't let himself breathe. Not yet.

"You mean…?"

"Yeah." Blake confirmed, nodding her head as she looked up at him with foggy eyes. "We won't tell Ozpin."

Jaune looked conflicted, even as Mercury let out a horribly ragged breath. He had been this close to having it all fall apart. To having the lie he'd told last week become meaningless.

"Thanks." He let out between breaths, his heart finally settling down from going at a million miles a minute. "I'm sorry for biting your head off back there."

"No, don't be. I… I was being a hypocrite. Not abiding by my own words. You were right to call me out for that."

It seemed that his gambit had worked, regardless as to whether or not it had been technically right to utilize it.

Either way, he'd won, hadn't he?

And currently, that was all that mattered.

"Well, this has been utterly exhausting." Blake sighed, shaking her head. "I'm retiring for the evening. Jaune, I assume you're coming with?"

"Huh? Oh – yeah!"

The two exited out within the next ten or so seconds. No more words passed between them. Mercury found himself considering that fact as the door shut behind them, and he allowed his thighs – the only parts of his legs that could feel anything – to give in.

He fell to the floor, letting out a loud breath of relief as he spread out like a starfish on the wood beneath him. He just sort of existed there, like that, for a while, trying to think on what it was he had to do next.

If Cinder's plan went as she was currently hoping it would, then they would be stuck within Beacon for the time being, wouldn't they? That meant that their time limit of Vytal wasn't in play anymore.

Or perhaps that was an excuse that Cinder had come up with. Just another fake testimony to add to the pile. Perhaps the moment she had the power, they'd be gone from this place, never to return.

Regardless, the one thing Mercury was sure of was that they no longer had an easy out from all of their current problems on the horizon.

…

Mercury wasn't entirely sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but…

All he knew at that moment was that the walls kept closing in, and yet despite that, he was smiling.

/

Blake Belladonna was conflicted. That was perhaps the least complicated way of putting it.

There were about a thousand things running through her head right now, and most of them had to do with one Mercury Black.

…

He'd known about Adam.

Blake wasn't sure how long he had. It made sense. She'd certainly let an awful lot slip during their trip to Domremy so very long ago now. More than once she'd discussed her partner, even gone so far as to say the first part of his name aloud. Mercury was smart. He was resourceful. He wouldn't miss something like that, when Blake wouldn't have.

Just like Blake herself had picked up on more than a few oddities herself in their previous conversation. Oddities that ate away at her, and had her letting out a tired sigh as she made it back to RWBY's dorm. She stood in front of it, not entering in, and it was that that caused Jaune Arc to turn around, looking at her pensively.

"You alright?"

"…It's nothing." She lied. Smiling for his sake. "Just exhausted."

"Gotcha." Jaune smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Hey, so uhm… all that stuff with that guy, Adam…"

"I…" She shook her head. "Later. I'll explain it all later."

Jaune just nodded. She appreciated that about him. He was a bit of an airhead, and dense as all hell, but he was polite, and conscientious.

Well, when he wasn't constantly assailing Weiss with date requests, albeit it had been a while since he'd done such a thing. Not since he and Pyrrha had, apparently, started going out.

Good for them, Blake supposed.

Still, as Jaune filtered back into the JNPR dorm room, Blake still stayed outside her own.

She stood, and she pondered.

"Torchwick had help. With trying to fend off Branwen and Schnee."

Her insider, the one who'd leaked to her that Torchwick had been arrested, had been in on quite a lot of information. But even he had had his limits. He hadn't known exactly who it was that had managed to nab Torchwick. Nobody except for the immediate responders to the scene knew.

So how had Mercury known it was Qrow Branwen and Winter Schnee?

She forced herself to not jump to conclusions, despite how easy such a thing would've been. It was entirely possible that Neopolitan had informed her team of the exact events when she'd arrived back at the dorm. In fact, that explanation would've made sense, but…

She shook her head.

There was just this… this look in Mercury's eyes whenever he said these things lately. Whenever he faced her, looked her in the eye, and told her that he wanted to help Neo.

…It had been different from the look he'd given her, alone in the laundry room of the Arc's family home, as they'd discussed their darkest moments. When it had been just the two of them alone in solitude.

Then, she felt, he had been honest.

Now…

…This was pointless, wasn't it? She'd already decided to put her faith in Mercury.

…Hadn't she?

Perhaps it was a misguided thing. Perhaps, as per always, she was far too willing to believe others wanted the same things she did. A better future. A better tomorrow for all people. To seek a better solution to the problems they faced.

She had to hope that Mercury was like her.

And if he wasn't…

Her eyes darkened as she placed a fake smile on her face, pushed open the door to the RWBY dorm room, and was immediately inundated by that brash, invasive positivity. She feigned affect at it tonight, but it did not seep into her entirely.

Because she knew it was her job, if it came down to it, to rectify that mistake, were such a thing to come to pass.

If Mercury threatened the people in this room, if he threatened the people she loved…

She'd deal with him herself.

She owed him that much.

End Chapter 37

See you all next week!