Mercury stirred in his sleep groaning. His eyes creaked open, his body fighting against it. Every fiber in his bones was screaming at him to go back to bed. He was tired.

He tried to obey, but he felt something pushing against his face. "Augh, what the-?" Adrian was sitting up on his chest, mushing his face around. "Get off me!" He whispered, moving Adrian's hands off of him. Little brat. Ruining his sleep. Why? Was he hungry or something?

He frowned. Adrian wasn't crying. Normally, of course, that would be cause for celebration, but right now, it begged the question. If he wasn't crying, why was he awake? And why wake him up?

The sound of movement in the hallway drew his attention, and Mercury froze. A quick glance out the window confirmed it was still the middle of the night. He bit his lip. It could just be someone getting up to use the bathroom, or looking for a midnight snack. It could just be something unremarkable. It could be.

He strained his ears. He heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps, three or four sets. Too heavy to be anyone else in the house, and too many as well. A slow, simmering rage built up inside him, and he quietly sat up on the couch.

He gently sat Adrian down on the floor. "You did a very, very good job waking me up, Adrian," He whispered. "But you just stay right there for now. I'll handle it from here on out." He felt a little silly, talking to the kid like that. There was no way he knew what he was doing. He was probably just scared by the noise and tried to wake the nearest source of comfort.

It didn't really matter what happened, he supposed. What mattered was that he was awake. And someone had invaded his home. The home that a pair of idiots welcomed him into when they really shouldn't have. The home where he had spent the last few weeks of his life enjoying himself for once. The home Emerald had wanted her entire life.

He scowled, standing up and stretching. He knew exactly who it was that made the mistake of breaking in.

Jadis, He thought spitefully. The tail had been the final straw, and his warning was the very last chance he was willing to give her. And it seemed she realized that. Only, instead of doing the smart thing and cooperating, so everyone benefited, the greedy bitch just couldn't resist, could she? No, she just had to try and steal the manifest for herself! That had to be why they were here. It wasn't like there was anything else of value around the house.

More movement, and a beam of light shone down the hall into the living room. It grew close, until the figure who held the flashlight came into sight. A tall man, big and broad shouldered. Real mean looking. At least, as mean as anyone who worked for Jadis could be. Mercury watched him squint, running the flashlight slowly across the living room, scanning for a vault, or anywhere else the manifest might be held.

The light fell on Mercury. He grinned. The man who held the light swore, jumping back in surprise. Mercury took a step forward. "I have absolutely no idea who you are," He started. "And I don't really care. See, I told your boss what was going to happen, and how it was going to happen. If she just sat down and shut up, all of this could have been avoided."

"Wh-where's the manifest?" The tall man asked. He tried his best to put a little force behind his words, but his surprise hadn't completely worn off yet. And it was clear that Mercury's utter disregard for him was making the man uneasy.

Mercury clicked his tongue. "No. We're not doing that. We're very much well past that. I told you. I told that stupid little girl to make it clear to Jadis what I said. And yet, here you are anyways. So much for common sense."

The intruder cleared his throat nervously. "I wasn't asking."

Mercury frowned, then doubled over laughing once he realized what he said. "Did you-did you just try to threaten me?" There was no way. There was actually no way. Jadis told them who he was, right? Brothers, this almost made up for being woken up in the middle of the night!

More of his friends piled into the living room. He had guessed right, there were four of them. Two carried weapons. Wooden bats, he thought in amazement. They brought wooden bats. He shook his head.

"We aren't asking again." The fear was gone now that he had his buddies by his side. It was laughable, how earnestly he thought Mercury was going to listen to him.

Mercury grinned, and took another step forwards. "So, allow me to get this straight," Two of the intruders shared a look of confusion, before looking back at the younger man. "You four break into this nice old home, wake me up from my sleep, and threaten me. All of this, by the way, is after I warned your boss to back the fuck off. A warning, it seems, she chose to ignore. And so, she sent you four. Four nobody assholes. You've probably never pulled anything more dangerous than cracking some old shopkeeper's kneecaps, have you?"

One of them opened their mouth to respond, but Mercury cut him off. "Don't fucking answer, I'm talking asshole. See, that kind of arrogance is gonna be what gets you all in trouble."

"Alright, enough of this shit!" The one he assumed was the leader yelled. "We have our orders, brat. And we all have Aura, so don't think you can cheat your way out of a beating! Show us the manifest, now!"

Mercury rolled his eyes. Pricks. Idiots. He took back every word of praise he ever gave Jadis. She was an idiot. Seriously, unlocking the Aura of a few grunts, without bothering to explain how it works? Yeah, that'll be fine. He scoffed. And those bastards had the gall to suggest it put them at an even fight!

Mercury held his hand under his chin, pretending to consider. "Hmm…Yeah, I don't think so."

The leader smiled cruelly. "Your choice, kid. It's gonna be a lot of fun wiping that grin off your face."

Mercury smirked. "You know what? I completely agree."


A loud crash tore itself through the house, and Emerald shot up in her bed, eyes wide and breathing hard, looking very much like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

What the fuck was that?

She stumbled out of bed, rubbing her eyes. Whatever it was, it had made a very big mistake. Nobody messes with her beauty sleep. I swear, if Mercury fell on his ass or something, I'm gonna knock him right back on it for waking me up.

Emerald opened the door, and across the hall met the sight of a similarly groggy Saphron. Her eyes were mostly closed, and her hair a messy case of bed head. "Did you hear that too?" Saphron mumbled.

Emerald nodded, groaning. "Yeah, I did. And I'm gonna kill Mercury if it was him."

Saphron yawned, bringing her fist to her mouth. "Sure. You do that. Give him an extra kick for me, will you?" She closed the door, presumably in the hope of snatching a few more hours of sleep.

Emerald dragged herself down the hallway towards the living room, which housed the source of the large crash she had heard. She reached the end of the hall, and in the span of several seconds, her sleep-addled brain processed a number of things at once.

Mercury was indeed up and awake, just as she expected. There were also three other people up and awake, people whom she had never seen before, and had no business being in the house. One of them was on the ground, moaning in pain while the other two desperately tried fending off a bored looking Mercury.

She saw all of this, and yet before she could intervene, A wooden bat connected hard with the front of her face, slamming into her forcefully, the back of her head connecting with the solid floor.

I stand corrected, she thought lamely. There were four people in the house who had no business being there.

She pulled herself up to a sitting position slowly, moaning in pain. Her vision blurred, her head swimming in pain. She gently felt the back of her head, hissing as she lightly brushed up against a nasty bump.

Emerald shut her eyes tight, and opened them up again. When she did, she saw the dead man who had hit her. He seemed awfully pleased with himself, like he hadn't expected to catch her off guard. He frowned a little when she looked up at him.

"You hit me, in the face, with a fucking bat!" She spat. She stood up with a struggle, her knees wobbling. "And that's after waking me up in the middle of the fucking night!"

Her assailant stumbled back, gripping the bat in his hands tighter. "H-Hey now, stay back! Or I'll hit you again!"

"Oh really?" She hissed. "You'll hit me again? Oh, I wish you would! Please! Give me an excuse to vent my frustration on you. I dare you!"

The man with the belt faltered for a moment, but must have gained a burst of confidence seeing that he managed to hurt her. He ran towards her, bringing the bat down as hard as he could on her head.

He had managed to catch her off guard the first time, as she was still dazed from waking up, and her senses had been dulled. She had been out of it, too tired to realize what was going on, or that there was a threat.

That was not the case anymore. She knew exactly what was going on, and she was pissed. And this time, her aura was active. The bat came down, shattering uselessly into a hundred smaller splinters of wood, as the man stared in horror at the useless stub he held in his hands.

"Thank you," She said earnestly, and kicked him in the gut with as much power as she could put behind it. He went flying, crashing into the wall near the front door, and slid down to the ground with a whimper.

Her head whipped back to focus on Mercury. "What the hell is this?" She hissed.

He answered without turning to look at her, still beating back the two others. "They're from

Jadis. They want the manifest."

What? That bitch. Sure, they had expected her to pull something sooner or later, but this was brazen, even for her.

She heard footsteps racing down the hall behind her. A now wide awake Saphron was standing at the edge of the hallway, panting. "W-What's going on?" Her voice was small, ridden with fear.

Another anger filled up inside of her. Jadis had attacked them because of her own selfish greed. Fine. She could understand that. She wouldn't think twice about screwing someone else over if it helped her and Mercury, after all. But this was different. Jadis brought the Cotta-Arcs into it. She invaded their home. Her sanctuary. The only place left in this miserable excuse for a world where she and Mercury might be welcome. And they had ruined it. Violated it.

"Where's Adrian?" Saphron's voice was louder now, strengthened by a mother's fear for her son.

"He's fine," Mercury called back. "Stay back while we deal with these assholes, though, you might get hurt. I'll make sure none of them get near the kid."

Saphron clearly looked like she wanted to just run out and grab Adrian, but she listened to Mercury, staying where she was.

"Screw this!" A voice blurted. The man she had kicked away from her was struggling to his feet, opening the front door. "Get the hell out! This whole thing is a bust!"

His friends didn't need any more encouragement than that. The big one who had been on the floor since Emerald showed up crawled to his feet, hurrying out the door. The two fighting Mercury quickly followed suit, running for their lives. Mercury smoothly scooped up Adrian once he realized they were running, pulling him out of the way. The last one slammed the door shut behind him, leaving them to absorb the aftermath of their bungled robbery.

Terra finally emerged from her room. Saphron clearly hadn't woken her up, because she was much more obviously tired than the rest of them. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene in the living room. "What happened?" She gasped.

"Thieves," Emerald said without missing a beat. "Probably just some deadbeats looking for an easy mark. I doubt they were expecting any real resistance, so they turned tail and ran the second they did."

Terra ran a hand through her hair. "We…we have to call the police."

Her eyes widened. "No!" She shouted in unison with Mercury. They shared a worried look. "We'll handle this," Mercury said. "There isn't any need to get the cops involved."

"No need…?" Terra asked, baffled. "They broke into my home! At the very least an incident report needs to be filed!"

"We'll go after them," Mercury promised, handing off Adrian to Saphron. "We'll find a way to pay for the damage or whatever, just please, don't call the police. Trust us." Emerald looked at Mercury in wonder. She could count on one hand the number of times he had begged someone like that.

Terra bit her lip, and sighed. "Fine. I won't make a call. But don't go running off! They could be dangerous!"

Mercury was already walking out the door as soon as she confirmed she wouldn't call the police. "Trust us," He called back again, and disappeared from sight.

Terra turned to face her now. "Please," She begged. "You really shouldn't go after them. They're dangerous criminals!"

Emerald stifled a laugh. They're wannabe amateurs who just signed their death warrants. I could kill them all in my sleep. She was about to do pretty much just that, in fact, before the cowards ran off. But she couldn't go out and tell them that, now could she? Instead, she seized an excuse. "I need to back up Mercury, then. Make sure he doesn't get hurt."

Terra and Saphron both seemed torn, but they finally relented. "Go ahead then," Terra sighed. "But stay safe! And try to get Mercury to come back!"

"I will!" Emerald lied easily as she left as well.

Mercury was waiting for her, standing at the end of the steps with his arms crossed. "They're long gone by now," He said. "But that's not really a problem. Not when we know exactly where we're going."

Emerald nodded. "I can't believe this. We obviously couldn't trust her, but I didn't think she would ever pull something like this. Something must have set her off."

Mercury winced, and she frowned. He wasn't telling her something. "Mercury, what set her off?" She asked slowly.

"Probably threatening her through the tail she set on me earlier," He admitted.

"What? Emerald hissed.

"Jadis put a tail on me," He clarified. "Us, technically. She was looking for a chance to grab the manifest for herself. I guess she must have finally gotten tired of waiting for a chance to screw us over, and she decided to make one."

"What happened to nothing exciting happening?" She growled.

Mercury shrugged, and Emerald rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What's done is done. Not like I wouldn't have done the same thing. We're done with Jadis. She's more trouble than she's worth."

"Right," Mercury drawled in agreement. "But, just so we're clear, what exactly is the plan for how we approach this?"

Emerald scowled. "She broke into their home. Threatened our peace. Threatened the one good thing we have, other than each other. And after tonight, they might not let us stay. Especially if they find out we're the reason they were attacked in the first place."

"So?" He asked.

"So, what do you think we're gonna do?" Emerald asked rhetorically. "They wanted a fight? They'll get one."

Mercury grinned, and followed her down the familiar path to Jadis' hideout.


"Useless bastards!" Jadis screeched, and Lucille recoiled in fear. She wasn't even the object of her bosses frustration.

The men she had sent to retrieve the manifest from those terrorists had stumbled back into the warehouse moments ago, empty handed. They were clearly on their last legs, beaten black and blue. Lucille's brow furrowed in worry. There's only two of them. It should have been simple.

But she had seen Mercury up close, and if he was anywhere near as dangerous as he was terrifying, it was a miracle they were still alive. And that's without even mentioning the other one. She was becoming increasingly concerned Jadis had made a mistake crossing them. They helped bring down Vale. What kind of people can do that?

She kept her mouth shut though, and her opinions to herself. She'd done so her entire life, and it pretty much always worked out for her. She had survived for as long as she had, come as far as she had, because she knew when to stay quiet.

So she stood in silence, and watched from the sidelines as Jadis vented her anger.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to stop pacing. "We're safe," Jadis said, mostly to herself. "They can't attack us, they won't dare. They can't risk drawing attention to themselves. This…this was a mistake. An error. I took a risk, and it failed."

Jadis nodded to herself, her voice gaining confidence. As she spoke, Lucille saw the others stand a little straighter, now that their boss was regaining her composure. "But this is ultimately a good thing for us. We could afford to take a risk. They cannot. They'll be angry, sure, but they won't be able to do anything. And, while it is unfortunate we couldn't get the manifest, we'll have to be content with the dust they sell to us."

Lucille wasn't as confident as Jadis. Mercury had left her terrified just from a single conversation. And the way he spoke, he really did sound like they weren't going to tolerate any more tricks from Jadis.

The woman in question sat back down on her couch, propping her feet up on the table. "They'll be coming here soon. No avoiding that. It'll be fine, so long as we back off. They won't be able to do anything, so we'll just nurse they're pride a little bit, apologize, and they'll be on their way."

Lucille bit her lip. She spoke up. "But why can't they do anything? Wouldn't they want to-"

"It doesn't matter what they want!" Jadis hissed, snapping her head towards her. "They're the most wanted people on the planet, they can't risk killing us! That'll bring investigators, and unwanted attention. They wouldn't dare." Jadis sunk a little into the couch, her eyes unfocusing. "They can't," Jadis whispered, and it sounded more desperate than anything.

Lucille's eyes widened in horror. They will, she realized. Even Jadis doesn't really believe herself. But she has to keep hoping otherwise, because otherwise, it means we're all dead. Mercury and Emerald killed hundreds by virtue of bringing down Beacon. They wouldn't balk at killing some lowlife who had crossed them.

Lucille began to sweat, panting as the fear piled on top of her. They were going to come here. And they were going to kill Jadis. And probably the rest of them too. And there wasn't anything they could do to stop them. She had to go, she had to leave now, she had to-

A hand on her shoulder spun her around, and she yelped in surprise. Her heartbeat slowed as she recognized who it was.

Clive was probably the only person she could call a friend in this entire outfit. He was a quiet person, like her, and a nice one too. He was the one who had shown her the ropes when she first joined up, and he even took a few of her shifts of her watch when she couldn't make it.

The look on his face told her he probably shared her own fears. He nodded silently towards a quiet corner near the exit, and she followed him. "You noticed it too, right?" She whispered, once they were away from prying ears.

He nodded again. "Jadis is grasping. I knew it was a bad idea to try screwing them over, but she insisted. There's only two of them, she said. They can't do any harm while they're in hiding." Clive scoffed. "No one who can do what they did is ever worth crossing, period."

He looked around one more time, before whispering. "We need to leave. As soon as possible. The others won't, they don't know better. They only know what Jadis tells them, and Jadis only tells the truth when it makes her look good. But you saw Mercury when you tried to tail him. And I've had a few conversations with Emerald, back before everything went to shit. They aren't people you fuck with, Lucille, but we're the only two here who seem to realize it. Which means we're the only two who might get out of this with our heads still attached to our bodies."

Lucille nodded in agreement, before looking one last time over shoulder. "I know, I know. Trust me, I want to bolt out the door right now and run as fast as I can to the other side of the city, just…can't we do anything?"

Clive stared at her in bewilderment. "Do something? What the hell could we possibly do?"

Lucille threw her hands up in the air, before quickly looking around to make sure she didn't draw attention to herself. "I don't know!" She whispered quickly. "But Jadis is the reason I've had a bed to sleep on for the past year. I can't just…"

She trailed off, and Clive laid a hand on her shoulder gently. "Jadis brought this on herself. She had every chance to back off, and be happy with what she was going to get. But she got greedy, and now she's brought this on all of us. And personally, I really don't want to die here."

Lucille sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Neither do I," She admitted.

Clive patted her on the back. "Then let's leave, before we don't have a chance to"

She frowned. "What, just walk out the front door? What if we're seen?"

He shrugged. "So what if we are? They're still pretending everything will work out fine. Which means there would be no reason for us to be here."

Lucille bit her lip, taking one last look back. She never liked many of the people here, but she had grown to know them all the same. And Jadis had given her a way out of certain death, taking her off the street.

But if she stayed now, all she would do is be faced with death once again. And she refused. She would live, just to spite the world that had tried so hard to screw her over.

I'm sorry, she thought mournfully, as she let herself be led out of the warehouse for the last time by Clive.


"Huh. No ones at the door," Mercury observed. "I mean, it's not exactly surprising, considering, but still. I don't think I've ever seen this place without a guard."

"I think the guards were the ones who got their asses kicked back at the house," Emerald observed.

He snorted. "Probably, yeah. How many do you think she has? With aura, I mean."

His partner paused. "It can't be more than a dozen or so, right? Probably less. The real problem is gonna be getting this over with before the police show up."

Mercury frowned. "Then…are you sure this is a good idea?"

Emerald scowled. "You're the one who ran off first, and you're asking me if this is a good idea?"

"Look, I'm as sick of her crap as you are, but do you really think we need the attention right now?" He asked. "Jadis is dying, no matter what. We gave her chance after chance after chance, and she just threw every one back in our faces. But how far are we going tonight?"

Emerald glared at him, but remained quiet. At least she's putting some thought into this. He may have gone off first, but Emerald was running off of adrenaline and anger. If she wanted to do this, fine, but he wasn't gonna have her regret it in the morning.

"As far as we have to," She finally answered. "So this will never happen again. I'm tired of nobodies like Jadis acting like she can step all over us. I'm tired of living in fear, waiting for the hammer to come down over our heads, or for every piece of good fortune we get to be snatched out of our hands. So whatever we have to do to make sure nobody in the city thinks of even looking at the Cotta-Arcs home, that is how far we're going."

Mercury nodded. "Alright then," He said. He held out a hand towards the entrance. "After you."

Once they entered, they walked side by side, striding forward with confidence. Every head turned towards them, some showing fear, others excitement. Mercury didn't bother to pay them much attention, and he knew Emerald wouldn't either. None of them mattered.

Only Jadis did.

As for the woman herself, she was lounging on her couch, just as she always was. Hands crossed behind her head, she grinned as they approached. "Friends!" She called out to them "It's good to see you, if not under…Ideal circumstances."

They came to a halt wordlessly just before the table. Jadis's smile slipped for an instant, and she was back to the same forced easiness. "You're here about earlier tonight," She said. It wasn't a question. "I'll be the first to say, that was a mistake on my part. I apologize."

Oh do you now? He thought with a sneer. Outwardly, he gave no indication he even heard her. Neither did Emerald. They both simply stared at her.

"Look, the simple fact of the matter is I thought I could get one over on the two of you." There was an edge of worry creeping into her voice at their silence. "The two of you know what it's like. It's just business, that's all. Truth is, I like you two. I could have turned both of you in to the cops the moment you first showed up in town, but I didn't. This? This was just an unfortunate happenstance. I took a risk, and it backfired. The two of you are a lot more capable than I thought. Again, I apologize." She took her boots off the table, sitting up straight. "But what happened here tonight doesn't have to affect our business together. You have a great opportunity here, so there isn't any reason to throw it away doing something rash you might come to regret."

"You done?" Emerald asked coldly.

Jadis opened her mouth to reply, but Mercury cut her off. "You know, it's honestly impressive how much you can delude yourself. I don't know why this hasn't kicked in for you yet, but this isn't a "my bad" kind of thing. You still think you have a way out of this. You still think you'll just say you're sorry, and we'll be on our merry little way. You think we can just put all this behind us."

"We aren't," Emerald clarified, and Jadis winced. "You attacked our home. Brought people into this who had nothing to do with anything. Again, and again, and again, you act like a spoiled brat who doesn't want to share her toys. You want to warn us about throwing away opportunities? You spit on every one we handed you."

"I don't think you realize who we are," Mercury said. "I mean, you do know, of course, but the way you act, I don't think you know what it means. We destroyed Beacon. Brought an entire kingdom down to its knees."

"We've crossed the most powerful people on the planet and lived to tell about it," Emerald said. "So who the hell do you think you are, telling us not to act rashly? You should be on your knees, begging us not to kill you."

"For months, we've been on the run, hiding." Mercury spat. "Having to put up with the kind of crap we used to kill people for even thinking about. Setback after setback, and we couldn't do anything about it, because we had to restrain ourselves." He grinned. "This though, this crosses the line. Months and months of frustration, and nowhere to vent it out of fear of drawing attention to ourselves. But now? I don't think either of us care anymore."

Jadis paled, her lip quivering in fear. She scrambled off the couch, backing away. Mercury raised his voice. "Anyone who wants to die, stay and try to save your worthless boss, the one who got you into this mess in the first place. Anyone with half a brain, this is your one chance to fuck off."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw people running for the exit. There were those who stayed, though. Probably the ones with aura, who had enough confidence they could take him and Emerald.

"Kill them now!" Jadis screeched, scrambling for a weapon.

The remaining lackeys charged them without a second thought. Mercury fired off a shot at the nearest one. It didn't pierce his aura, but his neck snapped backwards with a sickening crack, and he crumpled to the ground. Mercury grinned. You don't need to break someone's aura to kill them. His father had taught him that.

He let himself be drawn into the battle, fighting on instinct more than anything. It was pathetically easy. These grunts were nothing, especially compared to who he usually fought. Upjumped gangsters with a bit of aura they don't even know how to use.

Still, he relished the opportunity to let loose for once. It'd been so long since he had a chance to work out his frustrations properly. He and Emerald had been too scared of the consequences, first with Cinder, and then while they were hiding in Argus. They were forced to play along, because it was better than the alternative.

But that was over now. Finally, he had the chance to just let go and kill something that had it coming. It was…refreshing. Killing was simple. Killing was something that he understood. Something he was good at. For a few brief minutes, he didn't have to worry about Salem and Cinder, or the Cotta-Arcs, or how he felt about Emerald. He could just lose himself in the fighting, and simply kill.

Mercury blinked, and it was over. He was panting from the effort, and Emerald wasn't far from him, exhausted as well. The floor around them was littered with bodies, none of which were moving.

Mercury frowned. I almost wish they put up more of a fight. It was finished before it even began. He heard a groan from behind the sofa, and his eyes met with Emerald's. They nodded.

Jadis was crawling away, clutching her stomach. One of us must have got her while we were fighting. They really did get a little carried away, didn't they?

She tried rising to her knees, but Mercury placed a boot on the back of her skull, shoving her back down, grinding her head into the floor. "None of that, now," He chided.

"Please," She sputtered. "Please, just…leave."

"You've spat in our face for weeks, while we tried to make this work," Emerald growled. "And now you want to complain because we got tired of putting up with it?"

Jadis struggled against the boot pinning her in place. "I'm sorry! I-"

She never got to finish her plea. Mercury fired, shutting her up forever, and finally ridding themselves of a problem they had let go on for far too long.

Mercury stepped away from the ruined corpse, still panting. At least that's over now. It was far from the end of all of his problems, but he'll take what he can get. They were safe for now. That was all that mattered.

He looked over to his partner, meeting her eyes. She smiled, as glad as he was that this was finally over.

In that moment, things finally seemed to fall into place. It all made sense, now. He never would have gotten pulled into this mess for anyone else. He never would have risked himself for anyone else. Nobody ever mattered to him, not in the way Emerald did.

For his entire life, he never made his own choices, never had a real reason to fight. His father had taught him, and he was forced to learn, or he would die. Then he went along with Cinder, because why not? He had no good reason not to. But it wasn't something he really chose for himself. An opportunity had come his way, and he had gone along with it simply because it was easier than refusing. He never cared.

But Emerald? He had chosen her. He could have left her in Evernight, and he should have, really, if all he wanted was to get out safely. But she was his friend, even then, and he wouldn't leave without her. She was the reason he left, more than anything. He couldn't stand watching her suffer with Cinder. She was the reason he finally decided to choose for himself.

Everything seemed so stupid, in hindsight. Worrying over how they felt. Like there was ever any question about it. She was all that ever mattered to him, the only thing in the world that managed to finally make him take some initiative for himself. Without her, he had nothing, no purpose except as a weapon to be pointed at. With her, she gave him a reason to fight.

She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

He cleared the distance between the two of them in a couple of steps, pulling her in for a kiss. Their lips met, and everything seemed to melt away. All of his worries, all of his doubts, everything seemed to fade away for a few brief moments that passed by like hours.

Mercury pulled away, grinning like an idiot. "I think I figured it out,"

Emerald stared wide-eyed at him, her face beet red. "We-we need to leave," She stammered. "Before someone shows up."

Mercury frowned, looking around them. It was a slaughter. Emerald was right, the cops must be on their way by now. It was impossible that no one heard them. "After you," He said again, gesturing towards the exit.

They left quickly, apparently just in time, the sound of sirens blaring in the distance. They weaved their way through the back alleys of Argus wordlessly, and all the while, Mercury did so with a smile on his face.

He had finally found exactly what he wanted.


They arrived home before they knew it. Emerald was still in a daze from…everything that happened.

As soon as they walked through the door, Saphron and Terra rushed to their side, wanting to know if they were okay. Mercury brushed them off, saying everything was handled, and they'll talk more in the morning. They just needed to rest.

That got them off their backs at least. For tonight, Emerald thought fearfully. Tomorrow was another story.

She settled into bed, Mercury hopping on to his couch, and got ready to sleep for the night. Maybe for the last night in the Cotta-Arc's home.

Emerald bit her lip. They were alone, now. "Mercury?" She called over to him quietly.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"What…what happened earlier? What did it-what did it mean?" She knew, obviously, it couldn't possibly mean anything else, but she didn't dare get her hopes up. She had to hear it from him.

"You know, Beacon gave me the impression that it was the guys who were supposed to be unable to take a hint." She could hear the smirk in his voice, the smug bastard.

"You know what I mean!" She snapped. "Just…please tell me I'm not wrong. Please."

Mercury was quiet for a moment. "It means I figured it out, Em. No more trying to sort through a mess of feelings I don't understand. In hindsight, I really don't know why it was so hard for me to get it." Another pause. "Every choice I've ever made, everything I've ever done that was worth a damn, was because of you. My whole life I've been a bitter piece of shit, and I was fine with that. I never wanted anything more, or at least, I never expected anything more. Then you came along and made a whole mess of things. I hated you, then I saw myself in you, and then I had to protect you. I couldn't just let things be. And now?" He shrugged. "I never really had a reason for anything I did. Then you gave me one. Without you, I don't really see a life worth living, so there you go. That's how I feel. Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Emerald was silent, her heart racing so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. That was as close to a heartfelt confession as Mercury could get to. She'd ran through this exact scenario a thousand times in her mind, but nothing lived up to the euphoria she felt from hearing those words come from his mouth.

But even now, her doubts never left her. There was still the matter of Jadis. They left a warehouse filled with corpses, and Terra and Saphron had been attacked because of them, even if they didn't know it yet.

"Mercury?" She asked again, her voice shaking. "What happens tomorrow? What if we have to leave?"

"Then we'll leave," He answered simply. "If nothing else, we still have the train to fall back on. With Jadis gone, we don't have any competition, although we'll have to find someone else to sell to."

"I…I don't think I want to rob the train anymore." Emerald said. She knew it was stupid, selfish, they had already put so much work into it. It was the whole reason they were in this mess to begin with. But at the same time…she didn't want anything to do with it, because of what it had brought them. Ever since she first came to Mercury with the idea, it had brought them nothing but trouble. "I just want to be done with it all. I want to stay here with Saphron and Terra. And-and I know it's stupid, and I know I said I'd be able to deal with it, but I can't. I hate this. I hate having to deal with people like Jadis, I hate living like we did. I'm tired of just going from one mess to the next, I want a life."

"Then we'll forget about it." Mercury said. "Screw the train. You wanna stay, we'll stay, and try to make this work. And if they kick us out? If the cops find us, or Salem magically shows up to ruin our day? We'll deal with it. Whatever happens, Em, It's us against the world, just like it always has been. I've got your back, and you've got mine. And that's all we'll ever need."

She smiled softly. "Partners?" She asked.

"Partners," Mercury affirmed.

They didn't speak again that night. Emerald's worries didn't leave her, but strangely, they didn't affect her as much as they did before.

She knew what she wanted, now. A life, a real life, not one where she picked pockets to get by, but one where she could go out in public without worrying about being arrested. She wanted a life she could share with Mercury.

The morning would bring a whole host of problems to deal with, she was sure, but that could wait.

For the night, at least, Emerald was happy. She was content.


16 chapters in, about halfway through the fic, and they FINALLY kiss, after having the "eventual emercury" tag since the beginning. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Obviously, Mercury and Emerald don't exactly have what one would call a healthy grasp on their emotions, so it was going to be rough for them to figure out.

Mercury, finally having an epiphany right after finally letting loose for the first time in months just works really well.

For him, it's the realization that nothing really has changed. He's always felt this way about Emerald, or at least, ever since they started warming up to each other. It's just that now he understands it.

Jadis is finally dead, after taking one step too far. She got complacent thinking she could count on the M&EM's good sense and fear outweighing their anger. Unfortunate for her. Clive and Lucille may show up again for a brief appearance, or they may not. I'm not sure yet. I'm about two thirds of the way through with the actual writing of the fic, so if they do, I have to figure it out quickly.

Please though, leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter! I love reading everyone's thoughts, and it's helpful as a newer writer.

As always, I crosspost on AO3!

Next Chapter: Tuesday, June 11th