Hello!

Today I'll do something I dream to do since the day I started this fic... Answer reviews! I don't know why I didn't do it before ... Better late than never.

Zwei Eis: Thank you at lot, it reassure me to see that someone get my point about the characters, cause I'm always afraid that I can be not very clear when I write. Also, thank you for reviewing almost every chapter, it cheers me up everytime n_n

Guest: That's a good point. Actually, I was more focus on their relationship than on Mercury's abilities so I didn't notice but you're right. So I made a few changes in the following chapters to fix this point. I like Mercury, and I think he's underestimated in the show, I mean, it's written on the wiki that he could have defeat Pyrrha if he wanted!

DudebladeX: There're two reasons at that. The first is that Rook (correctly) assume it's just Yang's mother's weapon, there's no mystery, so she doesn't wonder about it, especially when she more focus on all the strange things about Yang's Semblance, her doll, or what she said about Salem. The second reason is, the police only have the approximative description of a weapon that belongs to someone who is actually dead, Raven's sword is not as known as Yang thinks, she's paranoid about what can make Ozpin and Salem find her, that's also why she changed her name and eye color when no one knew her in the first place.

.

-So… "Unexplored continent witch war"…?

Rook started the search, but again, she found nothing conclusive. She had been doing nothing but investigating for days, but she hadn't advanced an iota, either by looking for vaguely human-shaped Grimm, for potential military plots, or anything that could refer to a witch. For the first she found nothing new, for the second nothing credible, and for the third only children's stories. And she seriously doubted that Falcon was the type to believe in fairy tales.

She even looked a bit on the occult side, if there was a real witch, it was in this area, right? And Falcon's doll looked haunted so… But even there she found nothing that could help her. Rituals of all kinds, old legends, and lots of rumors, but it was hard to imagine that anything was true. Even assuming that things like black magic existed, which was already quite doubtful, it was not on the internet that she would find useful information. Yet something was going on with a witch, so she shouldn't assume she was looking for something credible. But it made her searches even harder if she had to take every stupid story as potentially true…

Rook sighed and put away her Scroll. She really hoped that if Falcon was chased by a demonic entity, she would at least be so kind as to warn her.

…

-She wouldn't even tell me…

But hey. She was too attached to the girl now. She was so cute when she wasn't boring by everything.

-Mercury!

The boy groaned and quickened his pace. He really hated when she yelled at him like that, she sounded like his father. This time at least she didn't pulled him to the floor to wake him up, but she still pulled him out of a very nice dream based on luxury food, so he was pissed at her anyway.

Today, they were going to train in combat to see their skills, well especially his skills because Madame was obviously perfect, in case they had to fight the next day. If everything was going well and they were stealthy and fast enough, it shouldn't happen, in the worst case they should run for their lives, but you never know. And then, they hadn't trained since they left Mistral, they had to make sure they were in shape for the big day. He wasn't going to complain about it, it would give him a better idea of her level and her fighting style. And that way he could show her what he was capable of!

-Here we are.

Mercury looked ahead, but saw only a vacant lot at the edge of the wall that surrounded Mantle.

-And… where exactly is "here"?

-A free training space. Rook told me that the Mantle Huntsmen apprentices came to train here.

-She's from Mantle?

-I dunno.

Falcon put her bag against the wall before starting to warm up. Mercury followed suit, and winced, feeling a slight backache. Maybe not stretching for several days and sleeping on such a soft mattress while he used to train until death every day was not a good idea… The blonde didn't seem to have problem, she went to bed after him and got up before him, she had all the time to stretch without him knowing it. Clever…

-Okay, are you ready?

-Yeah yeah… Uh, just a question, why didn't you take your weapon this time?

-I told you that it was a field open to the public, anyone could come to train and see us.

-Oh.

So seeing her use her weapon wasn't for today.

-So we only do hand-to-hand combat?

-Yep.

-Okay.

At least it was something he was good at.

With deep inspiration, Mercury got into position, left foot and fist forward, right fist back ready to give a first blow. Falcon adopted a similar position with the right foot in front, since she could punch only with the left fist. For now, it looked good, he seemed to have the advantage, he was taller, stronger, he had two arms, and he specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Falcon may have been sneaky and strategic, but in a fight like this, he could take advantage with brute force!

-When you're ready.

Mercury did not pray and rushed. In just two steps he was right in front of her, and gave her a first punch not too hard to assess her speed. She dodged him easily enough by shifting to his right so that he could not continue with a second blow. He then folded his arm to hit her with his elbow, but she dodged again while bending down, and even tried to do him a sweeping kick, which he in turn dodged by jumping and landing a little further.

The two of them looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and Mercury noticed that Falcon's eyes were brighter than before, there was a kind of spark… He let out a little laugh, he never thought she would be the kind to prefer to speak with her fists. At least it was a language he understood! Without wasting time, Mercury started again, faster than at the beginning, and began to punch her, which she parried each time, before striking in turn, and also being parried. He wasn't at full power and neither was she, but for now, they seemed to have equivalent levels. It was a good start.

In one jump, he stepped back. A few steps further, Falcon waited for him to attack first, her face was still neutral and calculating, but she still had that sparkle in her eyes, as if she was having fun. She was playing with him. Mercury gnashed his teeth and returned to the charge, hitting this time as hard as he could, and this time she found it harder to dodge, some blows hit her hard, sometimes forcing her to back away, so that they started to move through the vacant lot.

-Not that invincible, huh?

She didn't answer, and he quickly understood why when she started to fight seriously too. Contrary to what he expected from her, her blows were powerful and destructive, not precise and vicious, it was all about strength, as if she thought much less while fighting. Like him in fact, they fought the same way, reasoning with their fists rather than their heads, because they knew that when they were fighting for their lives, there was no time for thinking, and they were apparently as good as each other, they gave as many blows as they took. Falcon just hit harder.

However, the more the fight progressed, the more he got tired, and he got tired too fast compared to her, it seemed that the more he hit her, the more energy she had! He had to hit at full power to continue to be efficient, in addition to chasing after her, but she was not even out of breath, when he was already starting to lose speed. But she was too fast for him to catch up with her if he slowed down a little… She let him get tired to beat him more easily afterwards! Good tactics, but he wouldn't fall for it!

Mercury stopped moving. Taking a breath even just a second would be beneficial, he learned it by facing his father, the slightest moment of respite was important! But apparently, he wasn't the only one who knew this technique, because the instant he stopped moving, Falcon stopped moving back, and struck him with a single punch, probably not even at full power.

On that day, Mercury learned that an eleven-year-old girl could strike harder than a professional assassin in his mid-thirties.

Much harder.

Lying on the floor, Mercury let out a groan of pain as he held his right arm above his elbow, where the blow hit him when he tried to parry it. It was already a miracle that he reacted in time, a little stronger and it would have broken it! Damn she was strong, she was fucking strong…! A chance that she fought without any strategy, at least he didn't have to worry about low-blows. He was going to have to face her a little more strategically if he wanted to beat her. He then stood up, his right arm aching for the rest of the fight.

They both returned to position, although Falcon seemed a little hesitant. Weird, she wouldn't care about hurting him… maybe she was just worried about whether he could do the mission like that? Yeah, surely that was it, but she didn't have to worry, he had already been cutting wood in the forest with an arm in plaster, and he no longer counted the number of times he had done push-ups with broken ribs. His father's training may have been torture, but he couldn't deny that it was effective, Mercury had been hardened, he could fight even when he was in pain, even when every bit of his body demanded him to stop.

-I can do it.

Again, Falcon did not attack first. She had planned this training to test him after all, he was the one who had no experience, and she was the one who had to deal with it. Never mind, he was going to show her what he was capable of!

Let's see, she had more endurance than he did, was faster, and hit harder. And he was injured in the right arm when he was right-handed. He was not in a very good position, but he could do well if he was smart enough, strategy was not his strong point, but he still had a few laps in his sleeve. He never had the opportunity to use them against his father, he had used them only in his head and in his room, alone, so he had no idea if it would work, but he lost nothing in trying! And it worked on TV!

He started to strike, less powerful than before, more to launch the confrontation than to really try to touch her, and she followed by only parrying and dodging, while remaining within his reach. Big mistake! Mercury technique number 1: immobilization! As she used her one arm to ward off a punch, Mercury grabbed her wrist firmly with his left hand, and pulled her toward him in order to press her to the ground with his right hand, then with the full weight of his body. The attempt seemed to surprise her, because she opened her eyes slightly… before quickly regaining her calm and plunging herself forward with enough momentum to make a front walkover without the hands. And in her movement, she kicked him in the face.

Mercury technique number 1: fail.

Mercury got up, more easily than before. Fortunately for him, in such a movement, she could not put a lot of strength, but she still knew how to react to his technique and also strike him. But on the other hand, he had managed to surprise her! It was a very good start! Time for Mercury technique number 2: distraction! But he had to be very careful if he didn't want it to backfire.

-So… You are doing well for… someone… who's missing a… an aAAARM!

Okay, talking while fighting was a bad idea, he only distracted himself… And in addition it was useless since she did not answer him, she had even made him another sweeping kick, as for make him understand that his idea could backfire. Thanks for the advice?

Mercury technique number 2: fail.

Mercury got up again, and immediately began to attack again. He was getting used to her way of parrying, and he sometimes even hit her in the face, this time without burning all of his stamina at once. Confident, he accelerated the pace a little. He managed to follow her! Yes, he was the type to learn quickly, even on the job! With a teacher like his father he didn't really have much choice.

Falcon was now completely focused on his punches, and when he managed to get past her defenses and touch her, he would swear to see the shadow of a smile on her face… Was she having fun…? Doesn't matter, at least she wouldn't see it coming, Mercury's number 3 technique: blinding her! This time, she couldn't dodge it!

Mercury suddenly stooped down while trying to do a sweeping kick, which she dodged with ease, but when he got up, he threw a handful of dirt at her face. It was deceitful, yes, but in their profession, it didn't matter, everything was good to win a fight, especially against an opponent stronger than yourself! And it was worth it! Because Falcon took several steps back with a certain lack of balance, and rubbed her eyes with her one hand! She could neither defend herself nor see what was happening! It was his chance! He could win against Falcon! He was going to win against Falcon! Without wasting time, Mercury closed the distance between them, and prepared to give her the most powerful punch she has ever received…!

… When a strong pain in the crotch suddenly brought him out of his dreams of glory.

-Ouch…

Mercury fell miserably to his knees, his hands covering his family jewels. Falcon crouched down in front of him, and he glared at her despite the few tears that were beginning to fall. She sighed, he began to believe it was her trademark, and, to his surprise, helped him to get up and walk to the wall to sit. The journey was short but difficult, because his crotch was really painful, and yet she had hit much less hard than the other times. But he had been so close to beating her, so close! He had almost succeeded! And he was beaten by a stupid kick in the right place! It was so, so frustrating…!

-Here.

Mercury turned his head, and saw the blonde girl sitting next to him, handing him a bottle of water. Besides the pain, he was also breathless from the fight, he didn't even know how long he had lasted, he quickly lost track of time when he started fighting, but their confrontation must have lasted a good quarter of hour. So without being asked, he took the bottle, and swallowed more than half of it. It felt good…

-Mercury?

-Hmm?

-You… Nothing, never mind.

That was weird. But hey, it was Falcon.

The two children didn't stop until late morning, they had to avoid being noticed, and with the fervor that Mercury put in their confrontations, it would be difficult if they stayed there all day, and anyway they had to rest to be in shape tomorrow. Unlike on other days, Mercury did not immediately crash into the bed, but went to lock himself in the bathroom. He must have been fed up with her always going first.

Yang took the opportunity to rest in her own way, she sat cross-legged against a wall, and took out her doll. Poor thing, its hair hadn't been untangled since they left Mistral, it had knots everywhere, and its dress was wrinkled. Without wasting time, Yang began to comb it with care, it was much easier than in her own hair.

As her hand moved almost all by itself, she thought back to morning training. Mercury was good in combat. Very good. He was practically the same level as her when she wasn't using her Semblance, and without wanting to be arrogant, it was very impressive. He was fast, his blows were powerful, he had good reflexes, adapted quickly, and his more strategic attempts at the end of the first round were basic but good, and he knew how to keep fighting when they failed. She would have lost without her Semblance and … reflexes. It was very good, he had a lot of potential, and if he could be as effective on the field as during the fighting, then the mission would be a great success.

So why did she feel that something was wrong?

However, if he fought so well, there would be no problem, as long as he knew how to aim, and it had been said during the briefing with Marcus Black that he was good for that too. She would have liked to check it herself, but anyone could have arrived and seen them. Two children of age to enter a combat school who train in hand-to-hand combat, it wasn't suspicious, but two children who train to hit fixed targets over long distances, followed the next day by the assassination by sniper rifle of a member of the council of Atlas…

Assassinations were like raids, everything was in preparation, and every detail was crucial. Yang would have liked to have more time to prepare, but Rook had chosen the mission quite late, and they had to make a detour to go get Mercury. It was a point on which Rook was very different from Raven, organization. When Raven planned a raid, she would do it weeks in advance, study the route to the village, form groups, decide on the plan of attack, inform all participating members and make sure that everyone understood, and Yang could swear she knew the inventory by heart. Rook just looked at her list of contracts, chose one that paid well, learned enough to find the target, and went to kill it on the spot to quickly touch her pay. Raven's tent was always perfectly tidy, everything was in its place, from the Dust blades to the tea service, no space wasted unnecessarily, and everything was always in the same place, no matter how many times the camp was moved. Rook carried all of her belongings in a backpack.

She wasn't messy, but… It was something that Yang must have gotten used to.

The bathroom door opened, and Mercury came out of it finishing wiping his hair, then his gaze fell on her, staring at her strangely.

-What?

-Nothing… I just didn't expect you to be the type to play doll…

-Is it a problem for you?

-No no, at all! It's just… a little creepy, I mean, between the cracks on the face and the dried blood stain on the side…

Yang raised an eyebrow.

-What dried blood?

There was no blood on the dress, it was just red, right?

-You don't see it? It's just-…

-There is no blood on my doll.

Mercury backed away, as if he was afraid. Why was he afraid? He had no reason to be afraid. It was just a doll.

Yang put the doll and the comb in her bag and threw a sandwich at Mercury, who almost didn't catch it. He stared at her strangely for a few more moments, then went to sit on his bed to eat, at the other end of the room. Yang started her own meal without paying any attention to him.

Blood on her doll, he was stupid.

Mercury was doing his best to focus on his sandwich, but it was quite difficult after what had just happened…

Falcon playing with a doll? It was weird, but not the weirdest thing he saw her do. The doll seeming to come out of a horror movie? It was weird, but not that much, the toy was just old. Not seeing the blood on her own doll? It was starting to get too weird, even from her. Beginning to release an aura of murder that cooled the room instantly and literally, he would swear that the water in his towel had frozen around his neck, while red flames came out of her eyes?! Why were flames coming out of her eyes?!

-A demon. I'm teaming up with a fucking demon.

Mercury dared to look at Falcon, but still found her sitting on the floor, as if nothing had happened, eating calmly. Sensing that she was being watched, she vaguely turned her head towards him, and he immediately went back to his meal, trying at all costs to avoid her gaze. Then after a few almost mechanical bites, he stopped, realizing something. He didn't dare look at her again to check, but for a moment… No, he must have been dreaming, Falcon's eyes were red, not purple.

But if she could bring flames out of her eyes, he would not be surprised if she could also make them change color. Everything was possible with that girl.

But more seriously, how did she do that? Eyes didn't ignite like magic, there had to be a logical explanation… right? … No, in fact, he didn't want to know, he just wanted to finish this mission and never have to deal with her again. And to say that he still had to kill her, and he still didn't know how. In fact, he knew practically nothing about assassination, his father was mainly focused on combat. The problem was that after training this morning, he understood that he had no chance of beating her in combat, he gave his all, he had been better than ever before, and yet he couldn't beat her! He had been close, yes, but she didn't have her sword. The only chance he had left was to ambush her, but he didn't know how to do that, when she was able to set up an ambush for a member of the Atlas Council. Not alone, of course, but still.

Mercury gulped down the last bite of his midday meal and sighed as he dropped onto his bed. His back bounces on the mattress. He was about to close his eyes to rest after this morning, but the voice of his partner prevented him.

-Mercury?

-What? I was going to sleep now…

-I know, that's why I want us to review the plan one last time, so after that you can sleep as much as you want.

-Seriously…?

-My mother taught me that when you revise something just before going to sleep, you remember it better.

Mercury groaned but reluctantly sat up. Falcon was sitting with the back of the chair before her and her Scroll in her hand displaying the map. She seemed to like sitting like that.

-Let's keep this brief, this time you tell me the plan, so I'm sure you know it. If you get all right, I let you go to sleep.

-What if I don't get all right?

-So we'll spend hours there.

-Bitch…

Falcon sighed and put her scroll on the table behind her.

-Mercury, just do you realize what will happen to us if we fail?

If he failed, his father would kill him in excruciating pain, he didn't need her to know that he was not entitled to error.

-We'll get caught by the police and put in jail I guess, or something like that.

-With the Atlas military? After murdering a council member? It will already be good if we don't get shot down while trying to escape. It's not because we are children that they will not shoot us.

Mercury looked down. Said like that… But he still preferred to be tortured by Atlas soldiers rather than having to face the fury of his father on his return, Falcon obviously didn't know how it felt to have family demands, someone you could not and should not disappoint. The Green Rook was known in the business to be a "nice" assassin, if Falcon failed, she would surely receive something like "I'm glad you came back alive", the exact opposite of what he would receive if he came back having failed…

-Hey…

-What now?

-We won't get caught. Not while I'm the team leader.

-Not pretentious at all.

-I'm serious. I…

She hesitated a moment, before resuming, looking him straight in the eyes, in a hard but deep voice.

-I've been trained to one day lead a group of fighters, I was raised to be a leader, and one of the first things I was taught was to never abandon those who are under my orders, under my responsibility. I am the team leader and you're my partner, so there's no way we can get caught, and even if it happens, I will find a way to escape, both of us. But for that, you have to put your own or we'll never make it. Is that clear?

Mercury looked at his partner with round eyes. It was… deep… He did not expect such a speech from her. Especially to tell him that. That she wouldn't abandon him, after they had known each other for about three days and hadn't gotten closer at all, he had even seemed to annoy her with his questions. Even his own father would never tell him anything like that, on the contrary, he would tell him to manage, that if he got caught, that was his problem.

Something heated in his chest. It was weird…

-Mercury?

-Eh?

-The plan. Focus. Didn't you listen to what I just said?

Oh yes he did, and even if he didn't know how to interpret it, if it was friendly or just professional, he was not ready to forget it. So he shook his head, and focused on the holographic map on Falcon's Scroll. He wasn't sure why his partner's speech had motivated him so much, maybe she was just better with words than she showed, or maybe he just desperately lacked attention, but now it was no longer just fear that made him willing to succeed on this mission. And Falcon was right, he had to work hard if he wanted to succeed.

-So the council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Atlas Academy. We let it start, and at 7:07 p.m. precisely, you blow up the building that manages the heating and electricity, which will plunge the entire west of Atlas in dark and cold, and normally deactivate the surveillance cameras. As Councilwoman Hailstorm is very concerned with the living conditions of her citizens, she will come to see by herself, she has already done so for other accidents in the city so no doubt. And it is on the way that I will shoot her, hidden here.

Mercury got up and pointed to a building three-quarters of the way. It was high enough that he could not be seen by the cameras if for any reason they were still on, and low enough that he could easily succeed in his shot. The building was also very well placed to provide him with an escape route when the military began to pursue him, but only if he left the scene immediately after his shoot, otherwise the soldiers would be too close behind him to escape them.

-After that, I go in this direction through these roofs, we meet here, and we camouflage ourselves in the crowd to leave Atlas incognito.

He looked at his partner with apprehension. He had been in the moon a lot while she was explaining, so he wasn't a hundred percent sure. He had spoken like he was confident, but deep down, he didn't know at all.

But after a few seconds of silence, Falcon nodded and put away her Scroll, indicating that he got all right. Mercury released his breath, not knowing he was holding it, and went back to sprawl on his bed, all his tiredness coming back in an instant.

-Mercury.

This time, even if he really wanted to sleep to regain his strength, Mercury straightened up and turned his head towards his partner to show that he was listening.

-You're very good at fight. Seriously.

Again, Mercury felt his heart warm up. His father never told him that he was good in something, never congratulated him on anything, never recognized his efforts…

-Thank you …

In fact, no one ever paid him the slightest compliment, shown the slightest sign of affection. Falcon was the first, in her way. But he was supposed to kill her… He was supposed to betray her… Life was cruel…

Yeah! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Seriously, I struggled on the translation, especially technical terms because google translate couldn't help me ... "sweeping kick", "walkover", go fuck yourselves ...

Yang and Mercury finally open a bit to each other. And yes, don't forget that Yang was supposed to become the leader of the tribe, she has been formed to leadership and teamwork, even when other aren't as good as her. That's an important point!

I also let some hints about future plots, buuuut I won't say more, see you next week for the mission night, take care n_n