Almost there…just a few more seconds…aaand…done! Terra took out the spare scroll she had just finished downloading the manifest onto, and quickly erased any evidence she could that she had done so. It wouldn't help much if someone higher up decided to look into it, but it should be enough to stop anyone just checking boxes off of their to-do list.
She quickly logged out of her computer, and moved towards the exit as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself. Things had gone…surprisingly well. The only person who had even stopped her was a co-worker on a coffee break.
He knew she was usually off by now, and asked why she was back. She told him she had forgotten to upload an important file, and that was that. It was too easy. Of course it was, She chastised herself. You work here! Why would someone suspect anything? That's why those people sent you in.
Terra suppressed a shiver. Her nerves were getting to her. This is the right thing to do. That man had a point. Obviously, it wasn't ideal, but this way no one got hurt, and if those two were telling the truth, they wouldn't even be stealing enough to damage the city. They couldn't, anyways, she reasoned. They would draw attention to themselves if they did.
She nodded to herself. It was a sound argument. If she didn't help them, it would be far worse, for her family, and for the innocents in the Relay station. This was, objectively, the best possible thing she could do in her situation. So why am I so on edge?
She shook her head. Anyone would be nervous in a time like this. At least everything was almost over. All that was left was to hand over the manifest, go home, and forget today ever happened.
As soon as she left the Relay station, her eyes immediately fell onto her car. Even from here, she could see a head of gray hair in the back seat. Her stomach dropped. For some reason, I really hoped he wouldn't be there when I got out. Of course she wouldn't be that lucky.
Steeling herself, she hurried over, wanting to just go home and be done with this awful day already.
The moment she sat in the car, the man behind her spoke. "You got it then? No problems?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I have it, everything went fine. Nothing happened."
"Pass it back." He instructed.
She held the scroll behind her head, and felt him yank it out of his hands. "Is it all good?" She asked nervously.
He snorted. "You're asking me? It was your job." She made to answer, but he continued. "Gimme a minute to check." Her heart pounded in the moments of silence where he looked through the scroll. I did it right. I'm sure of it, how could I possibly have messed it up? It's just a simple download. If anything, I would have screwed up covering my tracks.
The seconds creeped by until he finally seemed satisfied. She saw him pocket the scroll in the mirror, and smiled. "There, now that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"That was the worst twenty minutes of my life," She answered miserably. "I almost puked twice."
"But you didn't!" He said cheerfully. "And guess what? It's over! All that's left is for the two of us to take a nice, relaxing drive back home, and we'll go our separate ways, never to see each other again."
"That sounds nice," She said wistfully.
The stranger rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm not exactly having a great time either, you know. Let's just get going, I've already been sitting here forever."
She frowned, backing her car out of her parking space. "And just how long have you been in my car, anyway?"
"A few hours before you left the building," He admitted.
Oh, she thought. Well that's terrifying. She already knew she'd be unable to get in a car without checking the backseat for at least the next six months. It'll all be worth it, if we can just get home and end this nightmare.
Terra wondered how Saphron and Adrian were handling the green haired woman she saw on the scroll. She hoped they were alright. They're fine, she told herself. The two strangers have been very reasonable so far, and Saphron would know better than to try anything.
She paused her thoughts. They really had been weirdly reasonable. "Thank you," She blurted. She saw the stranger raise an eyebrow in confusion, and she quickly continued. "For not…hurting me, I guess. Or Saphron and Adrian."
The stranger pinched his nose in annoyance. "Why are you thanking me? I told you right from the start exactly what would happen if you did what we told you. You did, and everything worked out. How is that a surprise to you?"
"I don't know, I've never been kidnapped before!" She defended.
"Technically, I never kidnapped you," He pointed out. "This is more like coercion."
"You get what I mean!" She exclaimed. "My point is, I've never been in a situation like this before. I expected it to be more…I don't know…violent."
"What, are you disappointed?" He smirked.
"NO! Absolutely not! Just…relieved." She hoped he was joking. "Which is why I wanted to thank you, I guess."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself."
They rode in silence for a while, until the stranger spoke up again. "You know, you handled this pretty well considering. Personally, I figured you'd need at least half an hour waiting in the car before you were able to go inside."
"Sitting in the car would not have helped," She scoffed. "All I would be able to think about would be what might happen to Adrian and Saphron. I had to get out then, or I never would've been able to work up the nerve. And I refuse to let Adrian be anywhere near that woman a moment longer than necessary." Her face paled. "No offense."
"None taken," He chuckled. "You're willing to do a lot for your kid, huh?" .
She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Of course I would, what parent wouldn't?"
"You'd be surprised." His tone was clipped, and he didn't elaborate.
The sun had long since set when they finally arrived home. Her eyelids felt heavy, she was still shaking from the adrenaline, and she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Not that she thought she would get any sleep tonight, but maybe she could rest her eyes and at least get some relief.
A hand clapped around her shoulder, and she jumped. "I can't say it's been a pleasure, but at least it's over."
"Thank the brothers for that," She agreed. "I'm sure Saphron is worried out of her mind right now."
She finished her keys out of her pocket, walking up the steps, but as she reached for the door it flung open.
"Terra!" Her wife exclaimed, arms raised in the air. She looked past her, grinning. "And Mercury! Great, you're both here. We've been waiting forever."
His name is Mercury?, she thought. Her eyes widened. Wait, how does she know what his name is. And why is she so…excited? "Saph? What's going on?" She asked slowly.
Saphron tilted her head. "I'm just greeting my wife home. Oh, and our new roommate too." She waved at…Mercury, she said his name was. He looked just as confused as her.
Then her words caught up with her. "Excuse me?" She sputtered.
Saphron winced. "Look, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. The only reason they needed to rob a train in the first place is because they're homeless. Sort of. If we give them a place to stay while they get back on their feet, the problem goes away!"
"Get back on their feet? They're criminals!"
"Homeless criminals," Saphron reminded her.
"What the hell does that change?"
"Emerald told me they don't want to rob the train. Think of this as doing our part for the community!"
"We are this close to being done with this awful day!" She held her finger and thumb together, scowling. "We would never have to see them again." She changed her tone from angry to pleading. "Why are you even considering this? I know you're not an idiot, you can't be serious."
Saphron frowned. "They're from Beacon Terra." She froze. "Emerald told me they've basically been wandering Mistral ever since the fall. And when she told me about why they were trying to rob the Argus limited, I just thought…what if…what has…"
What if it was her brother instead? That had to be her thinking. Saphron had a younger brother who had attended Beacon during the Vytal festival. Something that apparently no one in her family had known about until after the fall, when he sent a letter to their parents, explaining what happened, and that he would be traveling with a friend from Beacon for a while. Saphron had been a wreck for weeks, constantly worried about her little brother.
So of course, as soon as she found out that the two people who threatened to kill them, just so happened to be survivors from the fall as well, she must have immediately sympathized. And Saphron had always been an outgoing person, friends with everyone she met. Although this might be taking it a bit too far.
She ran a hand through her hair. "I…I need to have a little chat with my wife. Saphron, go to our room."
"But-"
"Now." She already had a headache.
"Does this mean they can stay?" Saphron asked hopefully.
"That's what we're going to talk about. As for you," She turned to face Mercury, who still hadn't fully processed what was happening. "Apparently, your friend is around here somewhere, so I guess you should come in while we talk."
She turned back around before he could respond, and grabbed Saphron's arm, dragging her to their room and slamming the door shut. She crossed her arms and glared at her wife in silence.
Saphron chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head. "To be fair, you did mention finding a babysitter so we could have a nice dinner one of these days."
Terra sighed. Why couldn't this just be over already?
Mercury stared in awed silence at the now empty room. What…what even just happened? He took a step forward, more out of instinct than anything else. He was still processing. Did…did the blonde just offer them a room?
"Took you long enough. We've been waiting for what, an hour and a half now?" Mercury slowly looked over to his side. His partner was leaning back on a wall, arms crossed and grinning wickedly.
"How the fuck…?" He trailed off, unable to finish the question. He wasn't even sure what the question was.
She raised an eyebrow. "What? You think you're the only one who can get shit done?"
"Get what done?" He hissed. "What did you do? What even is this?"
"I had a little chat with Saphron while we were waiting for you two to finish up." She pushed herself off the wall, stretching her arms back. "Great gal by the way. Real nice. Too nice, actually. Got it in her head the two of us were survivors from Beacon, which, technically, isn't wrong. I ran with it, and little miss bleeding heart couldn't just stand there and watch as two noble students who have been through so much are forced into a life of crime."
"So…her idea was to…let us move in with them?" This was giving him a migraine. They should've just broken into the Relay themselves and killed anyone who got in their way, and damn it all if they drew attention. It'd still make more sense than this.
Emerald nodded. "Pretty much. She started gushing about how much Huntresses and Huntsman do for everyone, it was her civic duty to help us however she could."
"We threatened to kill them," He said bluntly, still in shock. "You broke into their home, I broke into her car, and forced her to steal from her job. I'm pretty sure I gave her a small heart attack."
"Apparently, society is failing us by driving us to such drastic actions." She grinned. "You should have heard her. She got all worked up and everything. It was adorable."
He shook his head. Fine. I live in a world that doesn't make sense. Should have guessed THAT one when I started working for the giant Grimm lady. "So what now? You're not seriously thinking about this, are you?"
Emerald shrugged. "Why not? I don't really want to keep living in that shithole of an apartment, and I don't think you do either. This gets us a real room, with real beds, with water, heating, electricity, everything. Think about it Mercury. Running water. We can have an actual, hot bath for once!"
Oh. So that's what this is about. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Em…I thought we settled this."
"Settled what?" She challenged.
"What are you expecting here? Honestly? Do you think we'll just pop in on these people's lives, start playing roommate? What happens when they find out we're not quite what you've told her? Because they will find out, sooner or later." Emerald flinched. "I'm not…I'm not trying to be an asshole, Em. I'm trying to help you out here. This? This is a bad idea."
"It's not," She muttered with a growl.
"Listen-" He tried to speak.
"No, you listen!" She stomped her foot, interrupting him. "I'm not just doing this because…because of what I told you. I know we won't get normal lives. You made that clear. But for now, this is for the best. We get to live in a nice home, with people who suspect…well, not nothing, but nothing important. And if the two of us are living here, there's no way in hell they'll try going to the police. This gives us a place to stay while we wait for the Argus Limited, and our ticket to a better life."
Mercury groaned. "Those aren't…those aren't terrible points, Em, but seriously, this has nothing to do with you telling me that you wanted a real home? A normal life?"
"And so what if it does?" She threw her hands up in the air. "What's so wrong with wanting to live a normal life, not sifting through trash cans for lunch, or hiding under a bridge to get away from the rain, or…or…" She was panting now, backing herself up, tears falling down her face.
He watched for a moment, unsure what to do. I'm supposed to be her friend, I think. That's what I decided when we left Evernight. He sighed. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her. It felt…wrong to him, uncomfortable, but not…necessarily in a bad way. Emerald froze, and stopped crying, at least. She's probably as surprised as I am. What the hell am I even doing? He should hate this. Why didn't he hate this?
"You know it will never last, right?" He tried his very best to sound concerned.
"I know," She whispered quietly. She wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug. "But…can we at least pretend, for a while? I meant what I said, about this being for the best. You even said I made good points!"
"We can try," He relented. I'm going to regret this. Just tell her no, you stupid bastard. But he couldn't bring himself to.
"Thank you," She whispered. She parted from him, rubbing her eyes.
Behind him, a muffled voice started yelling, and Emerald winced. "Is that…?"
"You know, we don't even know if we'll be allowed to stay here yet," He pointed out. "Terra hasn't agreed to anything, and it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't. Again, we did threaten to kill them." Still, he found himself actually hoping that she would agree. He frowned. When did he start letting Emerald have so much influence over him? When Cinder decided she'd use her as a punching bag, he remembered bitterly.
"But she might…" She argued weakly. She was reaching, now, and they both knew it.
He couldn't bring himself to disagree with her. "She might," He told her instead. She also might hire him as their new babysitter. A lot of things were possible, and a lot more of them were not very likely to happen. Emerald looked so hopeful, though, and she lit up when he agreed with her.. The way her head leaned forward, eyes wide, almost begging him to agree with her. She looked so earnest. She looked so…
The sound of the bedroom door flying open tore him out of his thoughts. Terra stood in the doorframe, breathing heavily. Saphron stood behind her, looking sheepish, but also smiling. "Fine," Terra hissed through gritted teeth. "The two of you can stay. Welcome to your new home."
"Yay!" Saphron cheered, jumping into the air.
"Seriously?" He asked in disbelief. She was supposed to be smart. What about this is a good idea?
"Really?" Emerald asked, and Mercury felt a pang in his chest. That's the most hopeful I've ever heard her. He made his decision better not be screwing with her, or he would kill her.
"I'm not exactly happy about it," She growled. "But yes, I am completely serious. Saphron…made a few good points, despite the overwhelming pressure of good sense telling me to get the two of you out of my house as fast as I can."
Mercury couldn't believe what he was hearing. This is…good, isn't it? It's what Emerald wanted. Glancing over at his partner, she was even more surprised than he was, her mouth hanging open, frozen in place.
"Don't think for a minute either of us forgot what happened today!" She barked, snapping the two of them out of their shock. "Whatever excuses you had, you've both obviously crossed some lines.
"Even if neither of you were actually going to hurt us if we tried getting help," What? Of course we would have, where did she get that idea-oh right, Beacon students. They're supposed to be noble or whatever. "The fact remains that both Saphron and I were terrified for our lives. I'm sure the two of you have had to do some less than legal things since the fall," Lady, you have no idea. "But that ends now. My incredibly gracious and loving wife has seen fit to open our home to the both of you, but we are not harboring criminals."
"Then why bother in the first place?" He blurted. Emerald's going to kill me. But he couldn't help himself. "You could just let us go. Should just let us go."
"And let you rob the Argus Limited?" She argued. "Yeah, no. Not if I actually can do something about it. I was fine leaving you be, so long as you left me and my family alone, but…well, the two of us are in a position to help. The two of you have probably been through hell after Beacon, and it isn't fair that two of the people who are meant to protect us are forced to steal just to eat."
"More than that…" She continued, glancing back at her wife. "This is sort of personal. Saphron has a brother who went to Beacon. No one in their family even knew until after the fall, when he sent a letter home. He's traveling with some friends from school right now, but Saphron thinks…she wonders if he might've had to do something like what you guys have been doing, if things had been different for him. So, she feels that by helping you, she's doing right by her brother."
What the hell does that have to do with anything? Terra rubbed her temple. "Right, now that that's settled," It was? "It should go without saying, but whatever you have planned for the Argus Limited, or whatever, ends now. This is us, giving you both a second chance, to get back on your feet."
"Thank you so much!" Emerald cried out. She seemed just as surprised at her own outburst as he was, but she kept going. "You won't regret it, I promise!"
Mercury frowned. He couldn't tell how much was genuine, and how much she was playing up for the sake of their new roommates. At least they seem to buy it. Terra's glare softened. "Right, well, we better get the two of you settled for the night. Saphron, can you set up the guest room for them?"
Saphron beamed. "Absolutely! Hurry, let's get going, I wanna show you around!." She rushed forward, grabbing Emerald's arm and presumably dragging her off for a tour of their new home, leaving him alone with Terra. So…it actually worked? We're staying here, then?
She already told them yes, but still, it just didn't make any sense. "You know, I have to ask…" He started awkwardly.
"Please don't," Terra groaned. "I'm already this close to talking myself out of it."
"Fair enough," He wasn't going to argue with her. Besides, no sense blowing this after Emerald's already gotten all excited for it. She already gave him her reasons anyways, it just hadn't fully registered for him yet. Why go so far for strangers? He coughed into his hand. "Sorry about the whole…breaking into the car and threatening you thing."
"Don't forget kidnapping." She reminded him.
"What kidnapping?" He protested. "I told you, that was coercion at best."
Terra rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously getting technical about what crimes you committed?"
Mercury held up his hands. "Hey, you're the one who insisted that I kidnapped you!"
She stared at him blankly, before shaking her head. "I can't believe this is a conversation I'm actually having. Do you have any idea how crazy this day has been?"
"Hey, I was with you the whole time, you think I was prepared for this?" He defended. "I blame your wife, putting those thoughts in Emerald's head like she did. If she just kept her mouth shut, we would've been out of your hair the minute we showed up here."
She pointed a finger at his chest. "Your partner was the one who started spilling her beans to Saph, remember?"
Eh, she has a point. Mercury decided to compromise. "Blame the other two for this?" If she was cool with it, he was.
"Absolutely." Terra answered immediately. He snorted, trying to stifle a chuckle, before breaking out into a fit of laughter. Amazingly, Terra cracked a smile, and joined in as well. "I suppose I should check on Adrian. I haven't seen him since I left for work. And I'm sure you'll want to speak with…Emerald, I think?"
He nodded. "Trust me, I have a few questions myself."
"In that case, have a nice night, Mercury." She turned to go back into her bedroom, pausing at the door frame. "Please don't…do anything. This is important to Saphron. She really wants to help the two of you, so don't make her regret it." Without waiting for an answer, she closed the door, leaving Mercury alone in the empty room.
See, that's what I need to find out from Emerald. What's her plan for the Argus Limited now?
If they continued as originally planned, that was fine. They'd just have to keep it discreet until the train arrived, and they could ditch the Cotta-Arcs. If not, If Emerald just wanted to stay for as long as they could, until they were found out…
Then I'll let her, He realized with a shock. Whatever she wants, I'll do what I can to make sure she gets it.
What sickened him more than the realization itself, was how warm the thought made him feel. How content.
This is what you wanted, she told herself. Maybe it's not quite how you imagined it would happen, but this is it. You have a home, you're not alone, and neither you or Mercury technically have to commit a crime again.
A least, not in theory, she thought glumly. Realistically, they would be found out sooner or later. It was just a matter of time. And sure, while they didn't have to rob the train anymore, she knew full well they couldn't just leave it alone, not after already retrieving the manifest.
Ignoring it would be as good as thinking they were in the clear, that they wouldn't have to worry about when they would eat, or where they would sleep, or who was out for them now. And that just wasn't the case.
Emerald stretched back on her bed, groaning. Saphron had moved one of the couches into their room for the night, until they could get another bed for Mercury. She still wasn't sure about this. It couldn't last. It'd just be delaying the inevitable. I knew that when I asked Mercury to try. I may as well stick to my guns.
Something occurred to her, and she turned to face her partner. "Mercury," She whispered. He didn't answer, and she rolled her eyes. "Mercury!" She called out again, a little louder.
"I'm sleeping," He answered, wide awake.
"No, you're not." She wasn't in the mood for this.
"But I could have been!" He argued.
She snorted. "Yeah, sure you could have." She knew him better than that. There was no way he was simply going to go to sleep, in a completely new home, with two people they had threatened the same day. He was too paranoid for that. It took him three days to make sure there wasn't some homeless squatter in their old apartment building they were hiding out in. "Anyways, we didn't get a chance to talk about…you know."
"The Argus Limited?" He asked. She nodded, and he continued. "What about it? I assume we're still going to rob it."
"We are," She agreed. "But there's a tiny problem. I'm guessing you only glanced at the manifest when Terra gave it to you to make sure it wasn't some kind of trick? You didn't actually read it?"
He frowned. "No. Why? Is it the wrong one?"
She shook her head. "It's the correct manifest. The problem is, the Argus Limited got delayed. It won't be leaving Haven for a few weeks at least."
Mercury took a moment to absorb her words, nodding slowly. "Okay. So what? We were already planning on staying for a little while, you insisted on giving this a shot."
"Just until the train comes," She assured him. "After that, we leave."
"Really?" He asked doubtfully. "You'll be fine with leaving, just like that?"
"Of course I will." She had to be. "I told you, I…I know what this is. This is a break, it's a…well, it won't last, whatever it is. I know that. So, don't worry. Trust me."
He shrugged. "If you say so." He placed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. "By the way, don't forget to have a chat with Jadis at some point. We're going to have to offload that dust to someone, and I'm sure you'll want to rub it in her face. Just make sure not to mention when the train is coming through, otherwise she might get a little impatient, and decide to rob the train herself."
"Thanks for the reminder," She had completely forgotten. "I'll make sure to do that tomorrow, once I get a chance to get away from our new roommates.."
Mercury yawned, turning over on his couch. "Yeah, whatever," He murmured. "What are friends for?"
At least he'll get some sleep tonight. She smiled fondly. When they had first arrived in Argus, she had actually been concerned he would leave her to fend for herself. Now, the very idea that the two of them would be separated just didn't make any sense. She couldn't see it.
Whatever comes next, with Jadis, and the Argus Limited, with the Cotta-Arcs. At least I won't be alone.
And after all, wasn't that all she ever wanted, anyways?
Right, so some of you may have noticed this came out a little later in the day than I usually do. I just decided to mess around a little and see what times work best for releasing chapters. If nothing changes this week, I'll likely post chapter 8 later in the day, around 8 or 9 est, to see if THAT changes anything. If there still aren't any changes, I'll just go back to doing what I normally do. And no matter what, the actual DAY the chapter releases won't change. If any of you have suggestions for what time is the best for releasing chapters, I'm all ears. I'm still new to this, after all.
So, about the actual chapter. Mercury and Emerald staying with the Cotta-Arcs was one of the first things I thought of for this fic. It's a very big part of it, too. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and very happy with how much people enjoyed the last chapter. I was honestly pretty worried about it.
NEXT chapter, though, woo boy, that's something else. I'll say more about it in its own author's note, but I'm very excited for chapter 8 to come out.
Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it, or just if you wanna leave your thoughts. Its a lot of fun going through them, and I usually respond to all of them.
As always, I crosspost on Ao3
Next Chapter: Tuesday, April 9th