Here we go again, I almost didn't write at all this week because of work and school crashing down on my head both at the same time, but I decided to do so anyway because I want to continue this story and not spend too many years on it. It's already been one and we're only in Volume 2, bleh, it's making me consider creating some way to end the story after the Beacon arc, which isn't going to happen most likely. I said that this story is going to last as long as RWBY itself unless RT fucks up the show royally, if that happens I'd just create another one of my lovely original timelines.

Enough of my rambles, let's get back to it.

Beta: CrowSkull

Coverart: Nova

The Blind Huntsman

Volume 2, Episode 4

Memories of A Cursed Past

"You remember the rules we agreed on, right?"

Kai was grateful for the fact that his blindfold was covering his rolling eyes as he sat in the seat of an empty classroom. After being notified of the upcoming mission to raid a valuable White Fang base, Qrow actually went as far as to pull Kai out of class with the excuse of 'Emergency Guy Talk' which was surprisingly not even a lie. So there was that to consider.

"Yes, Qrow. I remember." Kai recited the same words he's been saying for months now. "I won't kill anyone, I won't get too violent. I don't know why you're so worried about this when you should already know who I am."

"I thought I knew who you are," Qrow muttered, knowing that he could hear him. "But that's not the point, I am not going to repeat the same reasons to you why we're currently having some trust issues. You know damn well why I keep saying this to you."

For that, Kai had to give him some credit for. For it was true that in Qrow's eyes, Kai's change and transformation into the vigilante known as Stone Face — Jury is still out on that one — was not just sudden, but a shocking revelation. Kai had no idea what it was like to be a father figure or care for anyone many years younger than him. But He could sort of understand why he felt that way. Just the other night Kai wondered what Malikai would think of him if he could see him now. Becoming the warrior that he has become, taking lives. He would be lying if he didn't say that he wouldn't be entirely comfortable seeing what that reaction may have been.

With Qrow, he knew how it felt. The emotions he sensed with his body, at first it was incredibly difficult to tell what someone was feeling based off of what functions their body naturally activate while a certain emotion which envokes the proper physical reaction. But over time with much practice, he was able to catch on. Ever since Qrow unmasked him that night, all Kai ever felt from Qrow was a broken sense of depression, anger, disappointment, and sorrow. Obviously, the old man was very good at hiding these feelings. But nothing could be too hidden when it came to his senses. It was both a boon and a curse, knowing that no matter whatever nice thing that may come out of someones both was actually a lie and they felt disgusted in reality. It was hard, but he didn't have time nor the desire to put in the effort to care about what those certain people may feel.

"Right," Kai finally said after a few moments of thinking to himself. "Well, you should know me well enough that I keep my word. I'm not going to just kill people for no good reason, I'm not a monster."

"You're not," Qrow seemed happy enough to hear those words from him. "I'd prefer it if it stayed that way. I don't want our little secret to get out there, it would destroy everyone's spirits, you know that right? You're famous, it wouldn't just hurt your friend, it would shock the entire world."

Kai winced at the realization, he hasn't gotten that far.

"You didn't even think that far ahead… did you." Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"It's not like I asked for fans in the first place…" Honestly, his fame hasn't even been an issue recently, Pyrrha had many more problems on that front than he did. It might be because he isn't as much of an approachable person nowadays, since he was sure that his changes affected his demeanor as well. It might also have something to do with the fact that every time he did leave Beacon, it wasn't to hang out and relax in Vale. It was in the dead of night with the taste of blood in his mouth at times. There were a few times where Ruby, Orchid or the Violet twins would take him out to have some fun, but other than that he was a full-time student, part-time vigilante.

"It doesn't matter what you asked or didn't ask for, people look up to you. Especially disabled people. Because if a blind kid can stand up to Pyrrha Nikos and even survive the Mistral tragedy, who's to say they can't strive to get that good either?" Qrow explained. "Thankfully we won't be the only ones going there, Ozpin said that other than your team you can choose two other teams to go with you?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "My immediate thoughts were team's RWBY and JNPR, but I was also thinking CFVY…"

"Honestly, I don't even think we need that many teams," Qrow said. "Just you, me, and the rest of your team would be more than enough." It was sad for the White Fang how true that was. If just Kai, while holding himself back and fighting in a way he had very little practice in was able to cause so much trouble by himself, then with him at full power plus Qrow and the rest of his team, the White Fang wouldn't stand a chance unless their leaders were around. "Just choose the other two that you mentioned, I hear CFVY is going on a training mission anyway."

They were? Kai didn't sense any lie from the old huntsman, not that he would bother to even try around him. That was disheartening, he looked forward to conversations with Fox, dealing with Coco's teasing, Yatsuhashi's wisdom and Velvets kind-hearted words. But he couldn't mull over it forever. "That's… convenient, I guess I'll talk to my other friends later then."

"Sounds like a plan. Now," Kai sensed Qrow lean up against one of the empty desks. Stuffing a hand into his shirt pocket and fishing out his flask. "Tell me how Team KRBR is doing."

Kai crossed his arms, he knew this question was coming. This usually happened after most conversations with him.

"We're fine. We've all made up, Ruby keeps asking me to start training her to make her eyes stronger, Orchid is…" Kai snickered at the thought of his friend. "Well, Orchid. So she's happy, and Blake and I couldn't be closer right now. I still have some work to do on the leadership front, but there hasn't really been too many opportunities for me to even flex that role."

"It's barely been one semester, you'll have plenty of chances over the years." Qrow chuckled. "I remembered when I was still a part of Team STRQ, Summer had a world of trouble trying to deal with Raven's superiority complex and her constant challenges. Honestly, you have it easy."

Kai knew that story already, Tai told him, Yang told him, Qrow even told him once or twice. He was uninterested in hearing it again, but it wasn't like he had anything else to do and there was no point in interrupting and starting more drama.

"Remembering those days makes me feel young again…" Qrow paused for a moment as he thought about what to say next, but he was obviously not experienced in any sort of father figure role. Malienna was easy, she was as excitable as Ruby was when she was younger and after never getting to meet her biological father and living without one for a few years, she was eager to please her new proclaimed step-father. Kai was a different story. Not only was he a teenage boy about to become an adult, who was already one in terms of mental age, but his situation is unlike any other plus his colder personality and undying love for his late father. He understood that Marron was probably the one to put Qrow up to this, to try and talk to him, but that didn't make it any easier for Kai to open up.

"Listen, you know I'm no good at this beating around the bush crap," A tone much more befitting of Qrow Branwen pushed through the man's lips. "I want to try and talk to you, not about Marron, not about your sister or any of your friends, and not about our nightly activities."

"Then talk," Kai replied.

Qrow expected that, but somehow hearing it made it even harder for him to continue. Nonetheless, he tried his best anyway.

"How do you feel about what happened to your dad?" Qrow asked.

Kai's teeth grit and he balled his hands into fists.

"I told you I'm not good at this," Qrow remarked. "But you never talked about it, to anyone. You cried, sure, we all know you did. We all handle our problems in different ways. Mine with alcohol and yours… however, you work with it."

"I don't have any problems." Kai hissed.

"Really?" Qrow raised an eyebrow. "What about sneaking out in the middle of the night to go kill people? I don't know about you, but that sounds like a problem to me."

"..."

"If you expected me to be nice with my words, you really haven't been paying attention." Qrow pointed out. "Whether you believe it or not, you have problems. And that's okay, I'm willing to help you, anything you need, anything you want to say. Even if it's probably hurtful, I'll listen, though I'm not the best person for this… I'll listen."

"I told you before, Qrow." Kai started. "My innocence was lost long ago, I didn't have as long of a chance to be a child before that and even when I did I spent the majority of it training. There isn't anything else to it. Stop assuming that I have some problem that I need help with."

"Kai, please-"

"You're not my father!" Kai suddenly roared, Qrow took a step back in shock. Kai has never screamed at him like that before.

"What?" Qrow asked stupidly.

"I said, you're not my father." Kai seethed with burning anger. "You're not Malikai, and you'll never be. Just because you won over my sister so easily doesn't mean you can do the same to me."

"Kai that isn't what I'm trying to do, I'm-"

"And I'm sure as hell not your son." Kai continued, cutting him off. "I've been playing nice since you're dating my mother, but this is getting really damn annoying. Stop trying to be a father figure to me, it's not like you ever were before." Qrow widened his eyes, pain visible in them. Kai did not see it and did not care to sense it. "You were a teacher at best, or maybe an uncle. But never a father." He spat. "I'll never consider you one, just because you're fucking my mom doesn't mean you get a free pass to try and mentor me. I already have one anyway, I don't need another."

Qrow stood there with mouth wide open but with no words to say as Kai turned and walked away from him. Opening the door with a shove and slamming it closed behind him. Once he finally collected his senses Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Pushing back the pain and wounds that were just opened up by those boy's words.

"Dammit…" Qrow said as he tightened his grip on his forehead. "DAMMIT!" He cried out as he slammed a fist into the desk behind him. His overwhelming strength and durability splintered the wood into many pieces, leaving it a mess.

"Kai…" He whispered as he let that hand fall from his face. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when I needed to be…" He wanted to say that to his face, but he didn't know how to handle Kai's pent up anger, and clearly he had a lot of it.

He knew someone else who had a lot of pent up anger at that age. His sister, Raven.

That anger was going to be the end of him someday, and even though it wasn't his fault he felt partly to blame. Instead of being there for the boy, he was there for his mother. Continuing to train her and eventually falling in love with her, and in turn filling the void that Marron had torn open when Malikai died. He was too focused on her, and as a result, Kai didn't get the attention that he needed. The guidance of a father figure. Tai could have filled that role, but once he learned that Raven was training Kai and that he never told him about it, he ostracized him. Ruby and Yang still talked to him, as did his friends. But clearly, that wasn't enough.

He was trying, he really was. But he's had zero experience with kids. He never even intended to find a woman or have any children because of Salem and his semblance of passive misfortune. Marron was just something that happened, and he can't help but feel that it's making it even worse on Kai since now he had to force himself to be mister nice guy any time Qrow was around.

He didn't do a good enough job, and he was a fool to think that Kai would just talk to him like that. It took time, effort, and a whole lot of pushing on the fact that yes, he was technically going to be his step-father if Marron and he took the next step.

It was hard to do that when he was holding a threat over his head. A threat that could not just ruin him, but the spirits of everyone else around him as well.

As if Kai didn't have enough to worry about as it is…

"Dammit…"

He needed some help with this whole step-father ordeal that he threw himself into.

"We're going on a mission?" Orchid asked with surprised wide magenta eyes. "Tomorrow night too!?"

"Sorry for the short notice," Kai nervously rubbed the back of his head with his hand while keeping up a small smile. "I only just got told about it yesterday," He lied easily. "And since you all were sleeping the day I was told I didn't feel like waking you all."

"How sweet," Blake said with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. "It would have been fine, Kai. But this is very short notice. We're going to have to prepare our gear for combat and sharpen our senses quickly if we're going to go out for something that's going to take a lot of energy."

"It's not that kind of mission," Kai corrected her.

"What kind is it then?" Ruby asked as she hung upside down on her bed.

"If you let me finish I'll tell you," Kai said with a smile that told her that there was no real hostility in those words. "We're going to be going to Vale to raid a White Fang outpost, one where one of the stolen paladins are being held. Ozpin told me to bring two teams with us, but since the only ones I know besides ours are Rick's and Brick's team's. I would have chosen Coco's team, but they're out on a mission already and we don't know when they're going to get back."

"How convenient," Blake snarked as she shut her book to fully dedicate herself to this group conversation. "Why would Ozpin give first years a mission though? The first semester hasn't even ended yet."

"Beats me," Kai once again lied. This time with a much better reason. He couldn't just up and tell his team that he was now part of an inner circle that has been around longer than any of them or anyone they know has been alive. Especially when it came to Salem, he had to play it close to the chest here. Even if he hated it when Ozpin did the same to him. He knew his friends, they would be incredibly worried and concerned for him and try to help. They were kind, too kind. "But it's just the White Fang, Blake, unless the leaders are there, how dangerous can the White Fang really be against three teams of huntsman and huntresses in training plus a fully trained huntsman along with them."

Blake winced at the thought. The White Fang were really useless against those odds, the only ones who could really take on huntsman she could count on one hand. Adam, Sienna, maybe Ilia, and Banesaw, if the most latter was even still alive. She never checked up on him after Kai's father beat them back all on his own, then again she couldn't really do that when she abandoned the cause.

"Unless we get too overconfident and caught off guard, not really," Blake said honestly.

"If there's a chance to make Vale a little safer, then I'm all for it," Ruby added cheerfully as she sat up straight in her bed and turned around, sitting in a criss-cross position. "I can't think of any other better way to make things better, and with friends, it should be fun!"

"Fun, she says," Orchid snickered, shifting into one of her more rude personalities. "Sure, it'll be fun stomping their faces in alongside Little Kai here," She added as she threw a playful punch into Kai's exposed shoulder. "Count me in."

"I suppose I'll have to come as well," Blake said at last. "The White Fang and I have business to settle, and I can't sit back and let them do whatever they want with my new home. You can count on me."

"Together then?" Kai asked them all. His smile was still there, but much smaller. He three girls, even Orchid's rude personality, all winced at the memory of purposely excluding Kai from the last raid they conducted. It almost ended in disaster and would have had Stone Face not showed up just in time to save them all and distracted Cinder long enough for the real help to show up.

"Together," Ruby was the one to answer him. "Promise."

Kai sensed no lie within her words and found himself genuinely warmed by her promise. There weren't many people he could count on to be truly honest, but Ruby was on the top of that list. She couldn't speak a lie to save her life even if someone put a gun up to her head.

"Right," Kai nodded his head after a moment. "I'll go tell the others about it then, I have a full eight people to convince so I might be a while."

"Psh, please. Since Ruby's going, Yang is going to want to go with her," Orchid pointed out. "And since Yang's team would be going, Rick would want to go with his brother. It honestly couldn't be easier for you. The teams we all got put on are just way too convenient."

"Fair enough," Kai accepted with a chuckle. "See you in a few then."

Once Kai left the room, all eyes went on Blake. Blake wondered what she was apparently supposed to say, but realized after a few moments. She was the one who brought up the idea in the first place to not bring Kai with them to the dicks where Sun told them White Fang would be. They were expecting her to do the same here.

"No, I'm not going to make the same suggestion as before." She said. "Not after what happened last time."

"I was sort of worried that you were and weren't going to say that," Orchid admitted. "Kai has to come this time, Ozpin himself gave him the mission. Even if we wanted him to stay behind, we wouldn't have a say in it. He is the leader of this team after all."

"Even though I believe Ruby would have been better for the role…" Blake muttered loud enough for the silver-eyed girl to hear her.

"Eh?" Ruby balked. "N-no, not me. I don't think I would have been able to do a good job. Kai's doing good enough, he can have the job." She said nervously. "Anyway," She added in an attempt to change the topic. "I don't think it's a good idea to try that again, not only because I know both of you would make me be the one to tell him again, but because I think it would just make things worse for him if we even brought it up. We're trying to help him, not add even more to the weight on his shoulders."

"True enough," Blake nodded her head in understanding. "Which was also why I wasn't going to mention it. We can't force Kai not to not fight with us forever, it's going to be a useless effort in the long run. He might just eventually give up on trying to work with us and start doing things on his own, and we don't want that to happen."

"I see your point," Orchid said, shifting back into her most usual personality. "So I say let's go with Kaizy and show those White Fang members who's boss!"

"Banzai!" Ruby exclaimed, throwing her fist up into the air.

"Banzai!" Orchid did the same, excited to do the same.

They both looked to Blake with a certain twinkle in their eyes.

Blake sighed.

"Banzai…" She said as she lazily threw her hand up in the air.

"We're going on a mission!" Brick and Rick exclaimed at the same time. "When? Where? How?"

"I don't believe that last one makes a lot of sense," Pyrrha giggled.

"I wanna go on a mission too!" Nora shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Nora, we are all going on this mission," Jaune said with an amused smirk. "As in every single one of us."

Nora looked shocked. "All… of my favorite people?"

"Yes," Jaune confirmed.

"And you?"

"Ouch, but also yes."

"I believe she met that as in you are above her favorites list," Ren suggested. "You're most likely on the same level as I am in terms of importance to her, or perhaps… even more so?" He teased.

"HA!" Nora punched Ren in the arm. Not very playfully. "Very funny REN, you should tell more jokes like that, because it was very funny!"

"Notice how she didn't specifically deny it?" Brick muttered off to the side.

Nora glared at both of the two twins with piercing green eyes.

Rick promptly stepped away from his twin. "Hey, he said it, not me."

"Traitor!"

"You think I want to fight the girl that can literally suck up all of our attacks and get stronger because of it?" Rick laughed. "Hell no, that's all you man. I'll go hide behind Pyrrha while you try that."

Pyrrha didn't even move and acted like everything was normal even as Rick physically hid behind her and poked his head over her shoulder like he was a small child trying to hide but was still too curious and wanted to see what was going to happen next just in case it was something good.

"Uh…" Brick looked for solace in his partner, but Weiss already slid down the bench all the way to the end. "Uh…" his other teammate Yang was still sitting next to him where Rick left, but she had that smirk on her face that told him that no, she wasn't going to help him, and yes, he was totally on his own. "Oh…" He said sorrowfully as he realized that Nora just sat down on the other side of him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"You got something you wanna say to me punk?" The ginger asked him.

"I'm sorry?" Brick offered weakly.

"Are you going to do anything about your partner Arc?" Weiss asked out loud.

"No. Are you?" Jaune countered.

Weiss opened her mouth but closed it with a click as she found that she had nothing to say to that. She did give the blonde credit though, he managed to surprise her there.

"Shouldn't we be a little more worried about this?" Yang asked with a mouthful of mashed potatoes while pretending that whatever was happening next to her wasn't happening at all. "I mean, we're going to be fighting White Fang, at night, and stuff."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Pyrrha said with a wave of her hand. The champion looked happy to be a human shield for her shorter partner. Even when sitting down she was almost just as tall as he was.

"Yeah!" Rick added, ignoring Brick's pleas for help as Nora did… something to him. "It's just some White Fang and Brick and I call dibs on that Adam dude. What could possibly go wrong?"

Everything was going according to plan. Mercury thought so anyway. There were two sets of plans in his head that he was forced to memorize, the plans that Cinder had made for Vale, and the plans that Adam and Sienna had in store to try and betray her. Honestly, it was almost too much to try and remember each and every little detail. He almost stopped trying, but remembered that he had to choose a side and was technically playing both sides.

"Stop that," Emerald said suddenly. "You're just staring at nothing, stop it."

Ah, right. Emerald just made things a whole lot harder as well. Just being around she must have had a passive semblance on top of her active semblance to just have an aura of bitch-ness around her. It rubbed off on him, he would have to admit. But getting used to not being around Emerald and then suddenly having to get used to her again was a roller coaster of annoyance.

"I had to get used to seeing the beauty of the world why you were gone," Mercury replied as he met her red eyes. "I was terribly lonely, you see."

"Tch, don't play dumb with me. You probably had the best time of your life without me to make sure you didn't do anything stupid." At Mercury's smug smirk as a response, she rolled her eyes and pretended to hate him like she usually did. It was kinda hard to do that nowadays, especially since they've been there for each other for years now. It must have been a routine for the two of them. Were they together? Maybe, he'd have to ask her opinion on that and he didn't like the possible reaction he thought up in his head enough to go for it. Did they care for each other? Possibly, but neither of them would ever admit it with words. Love could be born in the strangest of places, and while they started off rough, it was ironically Cinder that brought them together.

"We've been through a lot together, eh?" Mercury asked her with a nostalgic smile.

"I guess so," Emerald agreed, something she would have never have done three years ago. "I still remember the time Cinder and I found you with your dad dead at your feet."

Mercury smiled sadly at the memory. "Yeah… it was a miracle I was able to win that fight. I've heard a lot about my old man, he was supposed to be the most dangerous man in the world. Fat lot that did for him." He didn't talk about his father to any other person, and only once with Cinder and only because she also found him like that. He still remembered how hard that fight was, it was the most intense battle of his life. Blood was shed, weapons were used, Mercury even caught him off guard at the beginning of the fight and he still nearly lost. Even with a cracked open skull, Marcus Black was not a man to be trifled with so easily. "I remember you looking so shocked, what was I just too hot for you?"

Emerald snorted. "You wish. Before we found you Cinder told me that your dad was supposed to be the best assassin there was. So I was a little shocked to see some kid standing over his dead body with a burning house behind him."

Yeah, that sounded like a scene straight out of a badass action film. He could understand her shock. "You never did tell me how Cinder recruited you," Mercury pointed out as he leaned back in his bed, resting with his hands behind his head and legs bent over each other.

"You never cared to ask before," Emerald countered.

"Well, I care enough to ask now." At admitting that, Emerald looked away and felt a warm heat run up her neck. She calmed herself down with practiced ease and looked to the side to look at the silver-haired boy she spent the last five years partnered with. She never had a partner before and never thought she would ever care about anyone other than Cinder, who was the one who took her off the streets when she was just sixteen years old.

"... Before Cinder found me, I was homeless. I don't remember my parents, all that I knew about myself was that I was alone, and that my name was Emerald Sustrai." She began, she looked over to see if Mercury was listening, and felt surprised that he was doing more than that, but fully invested in hearing her speak. "I stole, fought, lied, and even snitched at time to get myself in and out of trouble. Somehow, I was able to live like that for over a decade and a half. My aura came to be during one of my fights, and soon after that my semblance, which gives me the ability to make people see and hear things that aren't there as long as I can make eye contact with them. One day, I used my semblance to steal a very valuable necklace in front of the greedy man's eyes with the intent to sell it for even more than it's worth. That's the day Cinder found me."

"She followed me, and then chased me into an alley. I was about to fight back when she offered to give me a home, a life, and a purpose. Having none of those and… secretly yearned for any kind of positive attention. I accepted. Little did I know she was working for the literal devil. I followed her around and did whatever she said for the next year until she decided that we needed some more help. Which was supposed to be Marcus Black, but we got you instead."

"Must've been hard," Mercury commented with a snicker. Sometimes, he morbidly wondered what would have happened if his father killed him that night. If anything would be different. But he hated the thought of what he might have done to Emerald, because a man who kills their own son was not capable of emotion or empathy. He wondered if they shared any genes at all, since he was just so much different than him. "And five years of grueling, hard work and training later, here we are. Glorified bodyguards for stupid faunus who barely know how to aim their gun. Tch, makes you wonder what purpose we were supposed to have here in the first place, especially since Hazel and the other guys are here now too."

"Yeah…" Emerald nodded sadly. "Do… do you think that Cinder still cares for us?" She asked, the desperation in her voice was clear. It was no secret that some time ago, Emerald adored Cinder more than anything else in the world, but ever since Mistral… Everything just started going to shit.

"Do you want me to be honest?" Mercury asked in a flat tone.

"Yes," Emerald replied.

"She never cared about us," Mercury heard Emerald wince. "She only picked you up off the streets because of your semblance, and the only reason she picked me up was because I got lucky and killed off my assassin dad. She only pretended that she liked to use to try and keep us loyal, but I knew better. I was just hanging on for the ride since I had nowhere to go, and the organization my dad worked for wasn't too happy about his death. She isn't bothering to keep up that act now because of that stupid grudge she has against that blind kid."

"Wouldn't you?" Emerald weakly tried to defend her.

Mercury shrugged. "Fucking probably, but I wouldn't be an ass to everyone else around me just to remind them that I want to kill said person."

"Everything used to be so…" Emerald tried to say. "Decent… is the only word I can use here to describe it. I had a purpose, a reason to live, but with everything we've been doing so far…"

"You feel like your just another pawn in her game." Mercury finished for her. "Yeah, I've been feeling the same way lately…" He almost told her about Adam's plans right there, but he stopped himself. To tell Emerald would only lead to one of two outcomes; She tries to work with them, which was dangerous, or she could go off and tell Cinder about it. Which would mean the death of them all. As much as he was fond of the dark-skinned girl, he didn't trust her to pick the right side if he asked her to do so. At least not yet.

He couldn't keep it from her forever, he knew that. The Vytal Festival was starting soon. Too soon, despite the delay. Shit was going to go down, and no matter what he told her she was going to be caught in the middle of it. Not yet though, it just wasn't the right time to make any moves on her already somewhat divided loyalties.

"It's not like we have anywhere else to go," Emerald pointed out. "Whatever her thoughts about us may be, I'd rather work for Cinder than be forced to live on my own again, as a known criminal no less. I'd never know a day of peace if I left now, and I don't think you'd last long without me."

Mercury laughed, he felt the same way. If Adam hadn't come and make him that offer, he'd practically be running on auto-pilot this whole time, and when he and Sienna did make the move to betray Cinder, he'd probably get killed by them. And if he managed to survive them, he'd be on his own or arrested. Either way, that would be the end of his story right there.

For Emerald, it was the same. He knew that when a move was made, she would defend Cinder with her life. And when she lost it, Cinder wouldn't even bat an eye at her dead body and would probably just leave her there to rot. That wasn't the end that she deserved, the only reason she was here was because she wanted someone to care about her, and, well, it wasn't the end that he wanted for her.

"Let's make a promise," Mercury said as he sat up straight suddenly. Emerald stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"What kind of promise?" She asked him.

"The kind we have to keep, no matter what," Mercury said with a roll of his eyes.

"Why would you want to make a promise with me? I don't have a very good track record with them…"

"Just take my damn hand," Mercury said as he grabbed her without asking. Emerald almost slapped him for daring to touch her like that, but she was willing to humor him here just this once.

"Fine, what's this promise you want to suddenly make with me?"

"Let's promise to…" Mercury thought on his next words very carefully. "Let's promise to stay by each others side, no matter what happens. No matter what Cinder does or says."

Emerald widened her eyes. "W-what? Is this some kind of confession?"

"Oh shut up," Mercury barked. "If I were confessing to you, I sure as hell wouldn't do it like this. Do you want to make the promise or not?"

The thought of a promise and Mercury wanting to make one with her didn't give her any more confidence than she already had. Those two just didn't go together. Was this really the same Mercury that she's known for so long? In any case, it wasn't like Cinder was going to get rid of them anytime soon, even if she didn't need them, which she didn't considering how things are like right now, she wasn't going to force one of them to be away from the other for too long unless they were annoying her somehow.

"I… guess?" Emerald said as she squeezed his hand softly. "Sure, I promise. We'll stay together. It isn't like we're going to be apart anytime soon anyway."

"I wouldn't bet on that, but…" Mercury felt himself smile. "Thanks, for making that promise with me. It's going to make some of the things I gotta do a little easier?"

"What kinds of things?" Emerald asked as Mercury stepped up and away from her.

"Just some things that Hazel wants me to do," He lied. "Nothing for you to care about, I'll tell you later. Promise."

Hm, a little bit of a weird way to end the chapter off, but my notes here tell me that this is where this chapter ends. So be it! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well as I enjoyed writing it. Shit's going to go down again pretty soon, so you got that to look forward too.

Please review and let me know what you think!

T w itter . com (slash) genatools

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools.