Chapter 36 – merKury part 1

"Let fucking go of me, kid."

"But you're my friend!"

Mercury pulled back, trying to free his wrist. "Get offa me!"

"Let him go, Ruby," said Blake. "If he doesn't want to be your friend, you can't force him."

"Fine!" Ruby released the gray haired boy and raised her hands in the air. "I won't force you. But, just know that if you don't stick around for–"

"I'm out."

"B-B-But the chapter's called 'merKury part 1!' You're supposed to be in it! That's titlebaiting!"

"Don't care. See you never, losers." Mercury turned and exited out the door he'd just come in from.

"Well that was anticlimactic," said Blake. It wasn't without its uses, though. Mercury had willingly turned down an opportunity to spy on them, more or less confirming Adam's theory that they were still unknown to Cinder and Team Cinnamon.

"Awwww," whined Ruby. "No friends for poor little me." She crossed her arms in front of her in the most adorable way.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Blake patted her pout away. "I think I have someone in mind who can be your friend."


"This is sensational! I am so pleased to become your new friend, Friend Ruby!"

"Me too!" Ruby hugged Penny tightly and Rubby her face into Penny's neck. "I just met you, but I like you!"

Penny tilted her head at an angle. "Actually, we met several weeks ago, Friend Ruby."

"I know, but we didn't befriend each other then. That means it didn't count, so this is our first meeting."

"I see. Your logic is most accurate."

It was a match made in heaven, so perfect that Blake might have felt a tinge of jealousy if not for the fact that she had absolute faith in Ruby a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶P̶e̶n̶n̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶c̶h̶e̶m̶a̶t̶i̶c̶s̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶l̶a̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶e̶x̶ ̶o̶r̶g̶a̶n̶s̶. K had been meaning to meet up with Penny just to check in with her, and this gave them a perfect excuse to do so. There wasn't any pressing business, but the general had texted K saying that he had an update that required an in-person meeting. For now, though, Blake would have to wait for Ruby to tire herself out and go to bed. Darn it, Adam. Why couldn't you have brough home a flock of tryptophan-rich wild turkeys for our stupid dinner thing? Some great huntsman you are.

The tournament was starting in two days, which meant that the festival had just started up and was now in full swing. Blake and Ruby had met with Penny and her partner, Ciel Soleil, outside a vendor's booth that sold tchotchke and souvenir baubles. Ciel had excused herself almost immediately, citing scheduling conflicts with a prior arrangement.

Penny was now completely divorced from K's actions in Beacon, acting only as a go-between for them and the general due to her ability to transfer direct messages without the less secure use of the CCT. She had only ever been brought in as a supplemental support member, and now that they no longer needed her aid, she was free to go about her own business. As far as Blake could tell, that business was field testing herself in the tournament, discovering the true meaning of sapience, and trying to shake the hand of every living being in Vale.

"Do you like cookies?"

"I do not know. I have never tried one."

"Ohmygoshwhateven? We need to get a cookie in your mouth, pronto! Blake–"

Blake handed Ruby one of the emergency cookies she was forced to carry on her person at all times. "Here."

"Go ahead, Penny. Try it. It may just be a peanut butter cookie, but it'll do for now."

Penny inspected the morsel. "I am afraid I cannot eat this, Friend Ruby."

"Why not?" asked Blake, before immediately remembering that Penny didn't have a digestive system. "Oh, wait, that's right – you mentioned your deathly allergy to peanuts. Well, maybe another time."

Ruby blinked.

"But she's holding the cookie!"

"Oh dear. I feel death coming. Goodbye forever, Friends."

Penny's eyes began to blink red rapidly and beep. Then, after three seconds, she tipped over onto the floor, her legs still sticking straight out.

"Ruby, you killed Penny," Blake deadpanned. "How could you."

"She is correct, Friend Ruby. I am now deceased. Please mourn my passing."

Ruby wasn't having it, long desensitized to nonsense and pranks after having spent nearly a full semester with Ilia. "C'mon, you guys. I know she's not dead."

Well, technically she wasn't ever alive in the first place, at least not in a biological sense.

"She's still talking," Ruby pointed out.

"Death throes," said Blake flatly. "She was too young."

Ruby answered by sticking out her tongue.

"You should turn yourself in," said Penny from the ground. "And maybe fetch a doctor. Or coroner."

"You guuuuuuys! I don't wanna play with you anymore if you're gonna be like this." Ruby huffed and stomped off into the crowd.

Blake waited until Ruby was clearly gone, then helped Penny back up to her feet. "So, what's this message that couldn't–"

"Stop."

Ruby zipped back into view, stumbling over her own feet in her haste, and hid behind Blake.

"Wh–"

"You!"

Schnee, flanked by Team Sword, followed after Ruby a short distance away. Blake didn't hesitate to draw Gambol Shroud this time. Without the rest of K to back her up, she needed to be fully ready for things to get hairy, and she didn't doubt they would. Gambol switched into pistol mode, and Blake aimed at Weiss Schnee's head. The white haired huntress stopped her advance.

"Stay away from my partner."

"Faunus," Weiss snorted bitterly, resting a hand on her belt, much too close to her rapier for Blake's liking. "You claim you want to be treated equally, but then you–"

Blake pulled the trigger. The single shot bounced harmlessly against Weiss' aura, but the message had been sent. The last time Weiss had chased down Ruby, a stern talking-to had instantly escalated into an attempted rapier to the chest. Blake wasn't going to give Schnee the benefit of the doubt this time around. Several passers-by jumped in shock, but the crowd as a whole didn't respond too much to the loud noise. It was a festival, after all. When no bloodied body appeared and no one else reacted, most probably just assumed it was just a firework or popper like sheeple Faunus they were.

"You really are just animals. I've no idea why I'm the only one who sees it like that."

"Hey!" came her slightly offended guard oaf.

"Sorry, Cardin," Weiss muttered softly. "And you too, Dove, Russel. I didn't mean to forget about you three. You guys have also seen through the lies of the Faunus."

"I see through the lies of the Faunus," chanted Dove. "If you're not with me…then you're my enemy!"

Blake looked at Russel, who was standing at the back of the pack. He shrugged at her with a dejected expression on his face. Welp, guess I can't count on any backstabbing to turn the tide.

"What do you want, Schnee?"

"Try not to say my name like it's a dirty word, Faunus."

"Do you even hear yourself? You condemn an entire species like–"

"A species who took everything from me!" Weiss stamped her foot down and grabbed her sword. Then, she exhaled audibly and removed the hand. "I didn't come here to fight. Look, just tell Ilia I want to talk to her."

"Tell her your-fucking-self," Blake sibilated. "I'm not your messenger."

"I would, but she's not answering my calls or messages, and I can't ever catch her after class."

"Then it sounds like she's not all that interested in talking with you." Blake tightened her grip on her gun. "Ruby. We're going."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

Without lowering her weapon or taking her eyes off Weiss, Blake began to back away, drawing even more anger from Weiss. "Don't act like I'm the threat here. You're holding me at gunpoint."

"You tried to kill Ruby. I'm not taking any chances."

"Stop making shit up!" shouted Dove. "Weiss would never do that! You stupid lying mongrel!"

Weiss paused at her teammate's words. It looked like she wanted to say something, but no words came out. Presumably, the mental gymnastics of reconciling how Dove believed Weiss would never commit the crime that she had actually committed was too much for her simple Schnee brain.

Blake decided to twist the knife. "Really? She wouldn't?"

A wide smile broke out on Russel's face as he got it, and he stepped forward. He might not have been courageous enough to stand up to them, but he certainly seemed happy enough to trip them up from within.

"Never!" the mohawk-headed boy called out proudly. "That's evil and would make her a horrible person, and Weiss is good and kind! She would never try to attack someone without provocation, you cad!"

Cad…he's really laying it on thick.

"I – I –" Weiss spluttered. "I –"

"Right, Cardin?" asked Russel, nudging his large teammate with an elbow.

Cardin jumped in on the bandwagon, not aware that Russel was intentionally screwing with Weiss' sanity. "Definitely. I have nothing but trust in my leader. Unlike you rabid White Fang shitheads, us Swords are true hunters. We defend the innocent, not assault them."

It was almost comical how stupid the two human boys were. Team Rabies had done almost all of the work at Mountain Glenn, saving both their lives several times over, but as soon as the threat of danger no longer actively loomed, they didn't hesitate to tout their own superiority. Sad, really. They'll never see how pathetically they behave.

When Weiss eventually spoke, it was little more than a whisper. "Y-You're…You're right. It would be horrible."

Hmm? What's this? Is she actually going to own up to her own mistakes? That would sure be something.

Weiss' voice steadied. "You're right. I wouldn't ever do that. I couldn't. I didn't."

Russel's smile faded, but Cardin and Dove nodded.

"You're just trying to trick me. That's how you Faunus do things. You lie and cheat and manipulate until good, innocent humans are so taken in by your antics that they question their own sanity. No wonder Ilia's refusing to see me – you've probably deceived her somehow. Well, I for one refuse to be misguided. I never laid a finger on your dolt of a leader. Your maniac leader threw the first punch, and you're lucky I don't press charges."

I'm starting to understand what Ilia meant about Weiss refusing to accept the consequences. She literally just convinced herself of the belief that she can do no wrong.

"You previously offered to leave my team alone, provided we leave yours alone as well," said Weiss. "I think I'll take that offer. Stay away from my men. Stop targeting us, or I will end you. Let's be off, Team."

Weiss spun around and stormed away in the other direction.

"Woah," said Dove, as he followed. "I just got chills."

Ruby crawled out from behind Blake. "Sorry about leading them to you. They just kept following me, and I wanted some back-up. I would've stood right alongside you if a real fight broke out, but you're better at hostage negotiations."

"You could have counted on me as well," said Penny. Blake had almost forgotten she was there. "Although I am afraid I am not sure who those people were."

"That was Weiss Schnee. I told you about her, Penny."

"The woman with whom you did not wish to be friends?"

Blake returned Gambol to cleaver form and stowed it. "I'd hardly call that a woman."

"She's a man?"

"N-No. I meant that she's a monster. Inhuman."

"A Faunus? Or did you mean a creature of Grimm?" Sword exited from Penny's back. "If she is a Grimm, I can exterminate her for you, friends."

"I wish," said Ruby. "It's not worth it, though. Blake, did you see the way she convinced herself that she didn't actually attack me? She's crazy!"

"I know, Ruby. She is."


Blake returned to Adam and Ilia with three useful bits of information.

First, Ozpin's loyal pet huntsman, Qrow Branwen, was spotted in a bar in Vale. Ironwood warned them to keep an eye out for him, as he was Ruby's uncle and may conceivably approach their team at some point.

Second, Weiss Schnee was officially bat-Faunus-shit crazy. She was to be avoided from here on out as though she carried the plague.

Third, Weiss was looking for Ilia.

"Next time, we tape down your ears," moaned Ilia. "Blake'll be our resident fake human from here on out. Assuming we're still spying."

"Don't shoot the messenger," said Blake. "I'm just relaying to you that she out there asking around for you. I'm not telling you to go meet with her."

"Why does she like you so much?" asked Adam. "I thought you told her you never wanted to speak to her again on our first day in Mountain Glenn. That tends to drive people away."

"I kinda talked her down from a cliff. Well, CCT tower, but same thing. She wanted to commit suicide after the combat tests. It was guilt over what she did to Ruby."

"You mean what she didn't do to Ruby," said Blake. "Weiss is so unhinged that she's managed to trick herself into believe that she somehow really wasn't at fault for that."

Ilia sighed. That did sound like the former heiress. Ever since Ilia had tried to bump up her confidence on the night of the prom, Weiss had taken it a step too far and now was absolutely sure of herself at all times.

"I really hope she hasn't fallen in love with you," said Adam. "We'd have to bathe you in isopropanol, just to be sure."

Ilia pondered. "She said she wasn't into girls. I thought she was straight."

"You also thought I was…wait, shit, I didn't mean it like that." Blake shook her hands in front of her in panic. "I'm so sorry! I would never compare what happened between us to the Schnee!"

Ilia waved it off. "We're good. And I'm not going to respond to her summons or whatever. It's down to her and Goodwitch for Marrow's death, so I figure we just avoid them both and we're in the clear."

"Avoid Weiss Schnee, enemy of Faunus worldwide, downright nasty piece of work, leader of Beacon's most racist hunter team in history?" Adam asked sarcastically. "You ask too much of me."

"Yeah. Hey, did I tell you guys? She was the one who outed Jaune. She told me in Mountain Glenn, said it was because he asked her out one too many times."

"I hope we come up against Team Sword in the tournament," said Adam as he clenched his fists. The loss of his little protégé was still fresh, and Ilia regretted bringing it up. "I can't wait to crush them to bits."

"I doubt it," said Ilia. "I looked at the roster. We're on the opposite side of them. They'll have to get past Team Coffee and Team Yellowjacket-P to fight us. Even on their best day, Team Sword is an Ursa Minor to the other's Leviathans."

Adam thought on it for a second. "I think I could settle with Jaune's old partner wiping the smug right off of Schnee's face. Maybe I should tell her that it was–"

"Dude, don't!" Ilia said quickly. "That would be a dick move. She's still crying, like, all the time. If she heard what Weiss did, Pyrrha would probably outright murder Weiss. Don't bring it up unless you want there to be one less Schnee in the world."

As soon as Ilia said it, she realized that phrasing it like that was the wrong thing to do. Adam's face lit up, and he glanced at the door. Blake and Ilia tensed up. What followed was the roughest, most undignified tussle ever recorded between a bull and a cat/chameleon team-up to as they tried to prevent him from getting out of the room.

"You can't!"

"I have to! She'll do our dirty work for us!"

"Think of Ironwood! The general would never approve!"

"What James doesn't know won't hurt him! It's called plausible deniability!"


Adam eventually did decide to pay Pyrrha a visit, though not to reveal Schnee's misdeeds. Knocking on her team's dorm room door, he rubbed at his eyepatch and waited. There was some shuffling coming from inside, then it opened up just a crack. Yang's purple eyes and blonde hair peered out.

"Who is it?"

"Me."

"Adam? Look, buddy, it isn't a great time."

"Is it ever going to be a great time?"

Yang looked over her shoulder, then back at Adam. "What do you need?"

"I want to see if Nikos has Jaune Arc's scroll number."

"Jaune's…let me get a pen."

The door closed, and there was more shuffling coming from inside. Adam briefly thought he heard something like a muffled shout, then another from a different voice. When Yang appeared in the doorframe again, Adam didn't waste any time and pushed right past her.

Yang's eyes flicked red. "Hey, don't you–"

"It's okay, Yang. Let him through."

The Invincible Girl did not look like she was a world famous fighting champion right now. Her ponytail was disheveled and unkempt, with several clumped up knots of hair dangling out of her circlet. She sat under the covers of her bed, and, judging from the bags under her eyes, had likely been there for a while now. Ozpin had waved their team from the first missions given their sudden and unpredictable loss of 25% of their fighting power, but it seemed like a mistake now. Nikos would probably have preferred a mission where she could vent her anger on the Grimm to the multiple day long rest period her team had received.

"Hello, Adam. It's good to see you."

"And you. When was the last time you ate?"

"I had some soup this morning before lunchtime."

Adam's scroll said that the time was currently a quarter past eight.

"Get out of bed. You need to eat something."

"Hey, man." Yang got between them. "She's having a rough time. Don't–"

"Don't what?" Adam asked pointedly. "Force her to take care of herself? Get some solid food in her stomach? Drag her out of bed when she's clearly unwilling to do so without external prompting?" He raised his eyebrows at Yang. "You should be the one to do this. You're her leader."

"She just needs some time."

"She needs distraction." Adam shook his head. He really oughtn't argue with Xiao-Long about her despondent teammate while the woman was right in front of them. He addressed her directly. "Nikos, if you don't want to eat something, then I'll have to insist we spar."

"Buddy, you may be Ruby's friend, but you can't just–"

Pyrrha held up a hand, and Yang shut up.

"It's okay. Adam was Jaune's mentor, was he not? Perhaps he'll have some fun stories of training Jaune." A weak smile flickered to her lips. "That might brighten my spirits."

"Pyrrha, you don't have to."

Her stomach growled. "I am rather hungry. Perhaps dinner, instead?"

"Let's come with you, then," said Yang. "Sky, you busy?"

"No, ma'am." Sky put away the homework he was obviously busy with and stood at attention. "Let's go."


As soon as Pyrrha Nikos stepped into the cafeteria, her demeanor changed. Several of their classmates got out of their seats to greet her, expressing happiness at seeing her out and about again. Ruby, who was there having a dinner date with Blake, enveloped Nikos in a great big hug, which she reciprocated. Blake herself exchanged pleasantries with the Mistrilian girl and invited her to sit with them.

"Is this the first time she's been out since Jaune left?" Adam asked Yang, out of Nikos' earshot.

The brawler couldn't tear her eyes away from Pyrrha as she answered. "S-She needed space. I was so sure."

"Those who mourn need space, but never isolation."

"She's so…happy," said Sky. "Yang, you said it would be bad for her."

"It would!" Yang defended. "I mean, I thought it would…right? When Mom passed, Ruby–"

"What you people did to Ruby," Adam growled contemptuously, "was child abuse. She still bears unhealed mental scars from that time."

"I – that's not – that's a family matter. It's not one's fault; we just messed up, okay?" Yang herself said it with such little conviction that Adam doubted she even believed it herself. Silence descended upon the three of them.

"Things have been tough, okay?" said Sky at last, breaking their awkwardness. "Okay, maybe Yang 'n' I are not doing things perfect for The Pyre, but we're doing our best. At this point, I'd call it a victory if the team doesn't fall apart."

"If you set your aspirations low, then you can expect to achieve nothing more."

"Thank you, Adam, for that stunning little pearl of wisdom," Yang said sarcastically. "It really butters my biscuits. How about you deal with your team, and I'll deal with mine?"

"I would, except you aren't dealing with yours."

"Why do you even care? You don't have a stake in this."

"Jaune was my friend."

Adam didn't particularly care for Pyrrha, but he felt as though he owed it to his former pupil to see his partner looked after. Jaune had cared about her, and she him, so Adam would too. If he could do nothing to overturn Arc's expulsion, Adam could at least repair the damage it had done as best he could.


Author's Notes

Mercury? Get lost, virgins. He's too swag for this bitch.

Penny returns, and so does Weiss. It turns out, when you cut someone out of your life, they may not take the hint. Unfortunately for K, Weiss has completely lost her grip on reality and now believes whatever she wants to believe.

With Yellowjacket-P, I wanted to design a team that wasn't the focus of the story but still having their own complications behind the scenes. I also wanted to make a team that's dysfunctional and doesn't get any better. In everything I read, the 'troubled' team pulls together by the skin of their teeth at the last minute, but Yellowjacket-P's just getting worse and worse. Yang's not a leader, Sky's not very smart, and Pyrrha's too torn up over Jaune.

Weiss, Yang – if they're not on the main team, I don't treat them right at all. It don't matter if they're originally a main character. All they are is cannon fodder.

Remember to fill out the Marrow Murder Mystery poll, if you haven't already! Here's the link: (forms dot gle /3EGGEfhxs1cgYrZE7).

Happy rats, and don't do crime!