It still weirds me out that we're only technically two chapters into this arc. Oh well.
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Emerald had done plenty of things while Ben and Mercury were visiting the Astronomer, all of them mundane chores that she'd helped out with countless times over her three years here. Signs needed fixing, shop supplies needed moving, things like that.
"Alright, pass it up!" Emerald called out. Currently, she was working on one of the storefronts for a Dweller shop whose sign was undone from one of the sandstorms. A tower of three Dwellers, standing on top of each other's shoulders, passed a wooden sign up to the Jaded Thief that simply read "Curios of the Dunes." Emerald began hammering in the nails for the sign and fixing it, right as Mercury and Ben found her.
"So you go from a thief to a mage...back to a thief, and now you part-time as a carpenter?" Mercury quipped.
"More of a general handywoman, I guess," Emerald shrugged, not really paying him any mind, "Least I can do for these people."
"Hey, when everything's…set, could you lead me out of here?" Ben asked.
Emerald gave Ben a look. "I knew that'd be the first thing you'd ask me."
"Yeah, your weird star-therapist didn't exactly work out. He got all contemplative when he got to me and then just shoved us out," Mercury shrugged.
"That...that's not supposed to happen."
"Yeah, well, it did. So, I doubt we're getting much guidance from the 'smartest' beetle here. That leaves us with you as our living map."
"I need to find the others. I don't know what's happened with them, and if this happened with you," Ben motioned to Emerald's body. "then there's no telling what could have happened to Ruby and the others. My worst fear is that they..." Ben hesitated. "Is that that they found something similar to that hourglass."
"Valid fear, I suppose," Emerald admitted, finishing up with the sign, "The Dwellers never really leave their acre so...I suppose every acre could have an hourglass or something like it."
"All the more reason to find them as soon as we can."
"Yeah. You guys do that." Mercury said. "I think this is where I make my leave."
"W-what?" Ben said, confused. "Are you serious right now?"
"Yeah. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I've really got no stake in this story. So...I'm just gonna wander." Mercury shrugged. "Maybe I'll find something for me."
"But you can't just-!" Ben began to argue, only for Emerald to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Go then. Find what you're looking for. Maybe you'll be luckier than me and you'll find it sooner," Emerald said with a smile. She reached into her pocket and tossed the assassin a single bronze coin. Mercury caught it and looked it over, flipping it between his fingers.
"And this is for-?" Mercury asked.
"For when you find it. Or you change your mind."
"We can't just let him walk around! What if he finds-" Ben started.
"What if he finds Ruby? And the others? It'd be a four on one if he finds them. And Neo? Ha, she'd wipe the floor with him," Emerald chuckled.
"Yeah, real different there, Em," Mercury said, pocketing the coin, "Real different."
Ben sighed. "Well, can't say it was a pleasure wandering like a vagrant with you."
"Likewise." Mercury huffed, turning to walk away. He gave a halfhearted wave, leaving Ben and Emerald.
"That's what we call an 'irish goodbye'." Ben joked, turning to Emerald. She gave him a weird look. "It's when you- oh, whatever."
"...why could I picture him saying that?" Emerald asked, motioning towards the leaving Mercury.
"Yeah, I've heard people say we sound alike. It's weird," Ben admitted.
"Gimme a few minutes to get everything set? Need to make sure everyone's safe before I head off."
"Yeah, yeah." Ben said, looking around for somewhere to sit. "I...probably need to be alone for a few minutes, actually."
"Suit yourself." Emerald said, walking over to a group of villagers. Ben located a small rock to sit down on, and took out the Promise Knife. It was the first thing he checked when he fell- no damages to it, thankfully. And Ben wanted to keep it that way.
He ran his fingers along the length of the blade gently, looking at it as if it was the most prized thing he carried. To be fair, it was. He had to make sure that it got to Ruby in one piece.
Sure you can keep that promise? the venomous voice asked in his head, All your others have gone so well.
...if nothing else, I -am- going to give it to her. No matter what you say, no matter how you try to twist my words, this knife is going to be given to Ruby's open hands and there is nothing you can tell me to make me think otherwise, Ben mentally said in defiance. For once, the voice had no witty comeback or snark retort. And Ben was thankful for that.
Emerald had told the villagers about where she was going and, in gratitude, they had given her supplies for her journey including rations that they had bartered for from Farming Fields, canteens full of fresh water for the long journey ahead, even a map of some of the nearest acres to their own, including the Crimson Kingdom, the Land of Sweets, and even the Tropical Beaches. To finish things off, the desert thief made her way to the observatory. She knocked on the door and opened it, seeing the Astronomer still pacing and looking through various books.
"Astronomer?" Emerald asked.
"Hm? Oh! Thief! Ah forgive my terrible rude behavior earlier, something-" the beetle man began.
"Happened I know. But...listen. I'm...leaving for a while. Maybe...maybe for good," Emerald said softly, "I told everyone the same thing and you know I mean it. Thank you. Really. For everything. You all...you all helped me find something worthwhile down here."
"Dear Thief," the Astronomer said gently, almost like a father, "I knew this would come eventually. Know that you will always be welcome among the dunes, no matter how far from them you wander. You protected us, taught us how to protect ourselves, and now, there are others who require your protection. So provide for them as you have provided for us."
"I will, Astronomer."
"Good. Then your word is enough," the Astronomer beamed. Emerald smiled sadly before pulling the elderly beetle into a hug that was reciprocated.
...when I fell all that time ago, I thought my life was over. "There's no reward in being good. Redemption is a pipe dream." I told myself that because...I really didn't know what would happen. And now...
Now, I know. Like they say, if anything worthwhile was easy to do, everyone would be doing it, Emerald thought to herself.
Before the Astronomer had pulled Emerald into a hug, though, he had set down one of his many books on star signs. The book itself was open to a specific page, one that showed a rather dark sign. Calamity, destruction, chaos were all words associated with this star sign. The fact that it would attach itself to anyone was...was terrifying.
On the page he had open was a sketch of a coiling serpent,one he'd never found in a reading before. Since it lacked a proper name, the Astronomer decided to name it "The Viper," but to humans it was known as Ophiuchus.
Emerald regrouped with Ben back in the village, and after some more goodbyes, they departed for the acre's border. It was just as quiet and awkward when Ben was traveling with Mercury, but at least Emerald was more cordial.
Ben was fiddling with the Omnitrix as he walked. He hoped that the Omnitrix could be fixed like the antenna on an old TV- adjust it right, get a clearer picture. It would help him decide aliens better.
"You and Merc mentioned it a few times before...but...what's actually going on there?" Emerald asked as she led the way through the dunes.
"I have no idea," Ben said as he continued messing with the watch, "Icons are just...glitchy. Can't tell who's who."
"You sure that's just it?"
"Yeeeeah?" Ben half-asked, "Why?"
"Stories from the Dwellers. Apparently sometimes, emotions can influence this place. The weather mostly."
"The weather?" Ben asked, remembering the sandstorm and how Emerald was inside it.
"I've never been the source of one, thankfully."
"...right..." Ben said, not really believing that.
"So, what's the prognosis? Can you fight?" Emerald asked.
"Oh, yeah. I can fight. I just don't know what I'll become." Ben frowned. "All the aliens I've gotten so far are...at least a bit familiar, but they're not my strongest hitters, which makes me worry."
"Worry about?" Emerald said.
"We may be scraping the bottom of the barrel." Ben said. "If I turn into a spongy alien, just start throwing me at people. It won't hurt me."
"A...spongy alien?" Emerald raised a jade brow at that.
"Not all of my aliens are...great," Ben admitted.
"So, keep an open mind for strategies, got it."
"Yeah. My improv skills are gonna have to be in hyperdrive until I get this thing looked at." Ben said, shaking the watch...and then something weird happened. A giant projection of a map popped up on the Omnitrix, with multiple blips on a map.
"Woah." Emerald gasped, as Ben looked at the Omnitrix. "You have a GPS?"
"I guess!" Ben shrugged, moving the map around to a group of 4 clustered blips.
"Those four dots...are those...?" Emerald began.
"It...it has to be! It has to be! It's Team RWBY!" Ben cheered, "Ohhhh my god, we have a way forward!"
"What are you tracking then?"
"It...oh my god. The keys."
"Keys?" Emerald asked.
"Yeah. Members of the Outcasts have these keys that unlock...something for the Omnitrix." Ben explained, feeling some relief as he watched the blips move. They were alive- hopefully.
Ben moved around the map, and locked onto another target. "This has to be Neo. And she's close by too."
"What about that one?" Emerald asked, pointing to an 'extra' symbol on the map. Ben raised an eyebrow.
"I...don't know." Ben squinted. "No one else fell in, so then who is that…?"
"Are you sure no one else fell in? It was Vilgax and Cinder. Maybe..." Emerald tried to rationalize this, "Maybe someone came back?"
"Then why didn't they before? Why didn't Albedo?"
"So that just means there's a stranger with a key here." Emerald said, "Not the only one that finds that weird, right?"
"You're right, but we can solve that little mystery later. Let's just focus on regrouping with Ruby and the others before we find Neo and...whoever THAT is." Ben planned, trying to blow up the image, but as soon as it appeared, the map fizzled out.
"Oh come on, Omnitrix. I upgraded you for a reason..." Ben groaned and began to fiddle with the device some more, as Emerald looked to the distance. Her ruby eyes managed to catch something on the horizon fast approaching.
"Ben." Emerald warned, nudging him, "Heads up. We got trouble."
"Huh?"
He could see the cloud of dust being kicked up by something or someone approaching. Or rather, multiple people. As they got closer, Ben noticed that they were eight people riding...broomsticks? The hell? Emerald narrowed her eyes and pulled out her twin daggers instead of Thief's Respite. When Ben looked, the illusionist's trademark chain-scythes had changed back into the bow from earlier.
"Of course, he's still angry with me," Emerald muttered.
"Who is?!" Ben asked.
When he asked that, the "riders" were finally close enough for Ben to make out all the details. They were toy soldiers, easily taller than him or Emerald. The "broomsticks" they were riding were actually toy horses, the broom bristles replaced with wooden carvings of horse heads.
"Hold you two!" the lead guard called, "By order of His Majesty, the Red Prince, you are under arrest!" one of the guards announced as the other seven formed a perfect circle around the green duo.
"Lemme guess...you also want me to return the herbs I stole from the high-walled garden he calls a castle?" Emerald taunted.
"Indeed he does, Thief! You and your Squire accomplice will make perfect gifts for His Majesty's birthday! I may even be promoted to full Sherriff for your capture!"
"Why does he want us executed, exactly?" Ben asked.
"You're green!" The guard yelled. "Green is a gaudy color! Not creative, either!"
Ben made a face. "...because we're...green."
"Yes!"
"...you're serious?"
"YES!"
Ben turned to Emerald. "...are you the reason he hates green?"
"...maybe," the Thief shrugged.
"Oh, there was always animosity between red and green! They're opposites you know!" the lead guard nodded confidently. The other guards chimed in with their own affirmations of "Of course!" or "Clear as day!"
"This one was simply the last feather to be plucked from the Jub-Jub's wing!" the lead guard jabbed in the duo's direction with their wooden sword, "No one steals from the Crimson Castle's Garden and lives to brag about it!"
"How much did you steal?" Ben asked.
"Just some supplies." Emerald answered. "Needed some food for the villagers."
"How often do you steal?" Ben frowned.
"...very."
"If today wasn't His Majesty's birthday, there would be wanted posters for her alllll over the acre!" the guard said, "Now, enough chit-chat! Seize them, in the name of the Red Prince and the superiority of red over green!"
Ben stepped forward. "Alright, you want green? I'll give you some green." Ben activated the Omnitrix, and slapped it down. In a flash of green light, Ben started to transform. His form expanded, and his limbs elongated, taking on the appearance of a turtle-like alien. Large flipper-like arms emerged from his sides, while his legs became stumpy and shorter. His entire body took on a rich green hue, resembling the color of fresh grass.
Ben emerged from the transformation as an alien with a sturdy and hexagonal-shaped body, covered in a tough green shell that shielded him from harm. "Who's THIS?"
"He's an even brighter shade of GREEN!," one of the guards shouted, "GET HIM!"
The guards all drew their wooden swords and charged at the duo. Emerald spun her daggers in her hands and rushed into the fray. She started things off by launching herself at the nearest guard, striking out with a dropkick with both feet. Her boots slammed into the guard's chest, forcing them off their mount and into the sand. The horse-stick clattered to the ground as its rider began to scurry back to their feet. Emerald smirked at the sight, but before she could attack the downed soldier, one of their compatriots "galloped" to their defense. Their steed cut the illusionist off, forcing her to duck under a swing from the living toy's wooden blade. She swept the soldier's legs out from under them, tripping them up as well. The first soldier she knocked over finally got back to their feet and rushed the Jaded Thief. They opened their assault against her with a few heavy sword swings that Emerald was easily able to dodge and weave through.
Ben wasn't so lucky, though. He was still trying to figure out what this new alien could do when another three guards rushed him in a cavalry charge. He quickly spun around and allowed their wooden swords to slash into and bounce off his new, massive shell. If he couldn't figure out all the specifics, he knew a turtle alien would be perfect for defense. One of the soldiers turned on a time and rushed at him from the front, yelling a battle-cry as they thrust their sword arm out, ready to impale the Prince's new enemy.
"Come on, come on...don't tell me you're JUST a giant-!" right as Ben said that, some of the lighter scales around his armored torso opened up like vents. Before he could even ask what that did, the vents fired off a concussive blast of wind that sent the soldier and his wooden horse flying away over a dune.
"-turtle," Ben finished, looking over to the vents, "Huh...I wonder..."
On that, Ben held out his arms to the sides to test the theory. The limbs elongated and morphed into more angular, sharper shapes, almost like fan blades. His legs came together and merged into a similar shape before they began spinning. Faster and faster they went, generating a powerful gust that actually let Ben hover above the ground.
"A green flying turtle?" one of the guards wondered, "If we paint it red, it would make an excellent addition to His Majesty's Magenta Menagerie!"
"Nuh uh. I don't wanna lose my camouflage." Ben defied the suggestion, as he began to spin faster and faster, quickly kicking up a sandstorm that began to chip away at the soldiers. Ben was sandblasting their painted details off of them with how fast he was going.
"What the-? Hey! Defacing a soldier of the Crimson Kingdom is punishable by-!" one soldier ranted, ready to throw the book at Ben, only for Emerald to toss one of her duo of enemies into them. The two crashed to the sand in a pile of limbs as the Thief and the lead soldier clashed in a grand duel, wooden shortsword versus jade daggers.
"What is this? Fourth time we've done this dance? Fifth?" Emerald asked in the blade struggle, "I've lost count."
"But I haven't, Thief! You have menaced our fair citizens for the last time!" the head soldier declared, "By the end of the day, you will be in the stockades or my purpose isn't a Soldier of His Majesty's army!"
"Bold words!" the Thief finally pushed back against her opponent and opened them up to a flurry of dagger slashes. For a moment, she moved like the old Emerald would with Thief's Respite. The living toy couldn't hope to keep up.
"Your speed has greatly increased-!" The soldier gasped, before Emerald stabbed her daggers into his face. It didn't hurt him, but it did stun the soldier. Emerald swept the soldier off his legs, and into the sand.
"I lied, by the way, I remember how many times you lost. Six. Six times I've beaten you. And yet you never learn..." Emerald frowned.
"That's where we come in, villain!" another soldier said, slamming into Emerald with their horse stick. The thief was knocked off her feet and sent rolling in the sand from the impact. Yes, the "horse" was basically just a toy, but somehow that hit had the same strength as if Emerald was hit by a real horse.
"Get cocky, this is what happens," Emerald grumbled to herself.
The soldiers rushed in to beat Emerald some more with their 'horse sticks', but Ben dropped in between them. He spun around just in time to block an attack and felt nothing on his shell. The two soldiers were stunned.
"Ow?" Ben jokingly said, as he used a gust of wind to ram his backside into the two soldiers.
Emerald leapt back to her feet and gave Ben a quick nod in thanks before rushing ahead to fight the soldiers still standing. They weren't exactly the most durable of fighters, really. A quick kick to the head or a hard punch to their guts was usually enough to floor the usual rank and file. The ones that Ben had defaced tried putting up a resistance before they went down. An overhead slash here, a stab there, but Emerald had fought these guys so many times she could write a book on how to take them down.
Ben was making quick work of these guys. Honestly, taking on a bunch of fodder after facing Vilgax, the Ace Ops and a sentient Grimm felt like a breath of fresh air to him. This was...a normal battle for him.
See? You don't need backup. You just need to get into the flow... The voice muttered.
Oh, you're trying to play on my ego now? Ben mentally shot back.
Like you need help making it any bigger, Mr. Hero of Heroes with SO Many Galactic Royalty Checks.
Those are because of the knock offs. Ben thought, as his fin 'karate chopped' a soldier in the back of the neck.
Yes. You're the original. Everyone else has you wrong...isn't it better like this? Not holding back?
Oh god, are you trying to convince me to kill them? THAT old trope? Ben scoffed as he spun in the air. An oncoming soldier brought his wooden sword down on the spinning turtle-alien, only for Ben's fins to slice right through the wooden weapon.
"Uh...whoops?" the toy soldier chuckled before being karate chopped on the head and forced into unconsciousness.
No, not killing them. Though, don't lie, you DO want to kill certain people. VIlgax, Cinder, Zs'skayr, Tyrian...people like them, the voice answered.
That's different. Ben frowned, blocking some attacks. They're threats. They're dangerous. These guys are just hench people.
And the Black Hand aren't? Zs'skayr's followers from Anur?
Again. Different. These are a bunch of kids toys. You kill those guys without second thought. You let these guys get bruised up. Not killed. Ben frowned.
...you think you're incorruptible, don't you?
Incorruptible? Would love to meet someone who actually is.
So then...what? Why keep this up? Why keep up a façade NO ONE will judge you for dropping? No one has to KNOW, right?
As Ben argued with himself, Emerald downed the last of the guards, landing one final knee to the jaw of the head soldier. It looked like they were about to pick themselves up for another round, but they simply held up a finger before face planting into the dunes.
Because. Ben answered. It's MY responsibility to uphold an image of what to be, thanks to the Omnitrix. Strongest person in the room needs to have the strongest character. That's how I was raised.
The voice grumbled. Sure. Let's see how long that lasts.
Ben groaned. "You don't happen to have ibuprofen or something, right? I have a headache and it's mocking me."
"Unfortunately not. Doubts are a helluva thing to have in the back of your mind. Down here, they have their own voices...literally," Emerald explained as she looked over the unconscious form of the head soldier. She pulled two pieces of parchment off their body, one being an invitation to the Royal Birthday and the other being her wanted poster.
WANTED: THE JADED THIEF. CRIMES INCLUDE DISTURBING THE PIECE, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, THEFT OF ROYAL PROPERTY, THEFT OF NORMAL PROPERTY, POOR SPORTSMANSHIP. REWARD: A PAYMENT OF CHOOSING FROM THE PRINCE HIMSELF! the poster read.
"Huh, they increased the reward," the Jaded Thief muttered to herself.
"Jeez. The monarchy hates you. Good work." Ben joked as he reverted back to human.
"It's a tough life..." Emerald shrugged, stretching a bit. "Believe me. Those battles don't take that long."
"If this is all the Red Prince has," Ben gestured to the defeated toy soldiers, "I can see why."
"Give them some slack. They've never fought someone from Remnant before. Well...sort of..." Emerald said, rolling up the invitation and the wanted poster.
"What do you mean 'sort of'?" Ben asked.
"There was this annoying brat named Alyx." Emerald said. "She just sorta wrecked this place for a bit."
"Alyx...wait," Ben realized, "She wouldn't happen to be a character in an old fairy tale would she? The Girl Who Fell Through the World?"
"Yeah. She's the main character."
"Weiss...Weiss mentioned that story before. One of her favorites as a kid, she said."
"It's pretty popular in Hunter communities. Our own version of Alice in Wonderland really. Different characters but still."
"So, wait...that story is real?" Ben asked.
"Seems to be." Emerald shrugged.
"How old is the story?"
"How old is Alice in Wonderland?" Emerald answered with a question of her own.
"It released in...what, 1865?" Ben tried to recall. "So, does this Alyx story pre-date or-"
"Putting a non-Hunter event to it...the story came out about three years after the American Civil War. That was around the time the Great War ended," Emerald cut Ben off with her explanation.
"...What is the time dilation in this place?" Ben asked.
"Time dilation? Well, isn't that a curious little phrase," a voice suddenly chuckled, putting the duo on edge. They each looked around for the source but couldn't find it. That was, until, a feline face dropped down in front of Emerald's own. The Jaded Thief jumped back, surprised by a cat sitting atop her head and looking down at her.
"Gah! What-?! Who-?!" Emerald yelled in surprise.
"You're quite a strange pair. Two verdant warriors, one a master of illusions, the other a shapeshifter..." The cat hummed, hopping off Emerald's head. "Can't blame me for being curious, can you?"
Ben made a face. "You're a talking cat."
"And you're a human with a bad case of bedhead." The cat said, starting to crawl up Ben's leg. Ben awkwardly tried to shake him off- but no avail. He began to climb up on his arm, and bat at the Omnitrix. "What's this? What's it do?"
"It's...it's just a watch," Ben lied.
"A watch? Hmm, strangest time piece I've ever seen and I've seen quite a few!" the Cat said, curiously pawing at the device.
The Cat batted it at some more, before activating the face plate. "Oooh!"
"Hey! Stop that." Ben said, shaking off the bingus from his arm. The Cat dropped to the ground, attention now focused on Ben.
"You strike my interest."
"Is that...a good thing?" Ben asked.
"Of course! It means you can answer all the questions I have for you!"
"You're...the Curious Cat." Emerald realized. "You're that weird cat that follows the girl around."
"Hm? Am I famous or something today?" The Cat asked. "You're the third person to realize who I am..."
"The third?" Ben repeated, "Who...who were the other two?"
"Ehhh. One was some weird girl, the other was a girl with a bunch of other...tiny girls." The Cat shrugged. "I dunno what happened there, but it was quite a sight!"
Ben pulled out his phone, and presented his lock screen. It was a picture of him and Ruby, laying together in bed. "Was this her?" Ben pointed at Ruby frantically.
The Cat gasped and reached up with their paws, grabbing the phone and pulling it from Ben's grip.
"Luminous rectangle," the oddly-colored cat murmured, looking over the device.
"O-ok, great, you've never seen a phone before. Please, tell me if that's who you met!" Ben begged.
"Hm? Oh! Silly me. I do believe it was. The red's very striking, easy to remember."
"Yeah. Where did she go?" Ben grinned.
"I dunno!" The Cat shrugged.
Ben's face fell, and he groaned. "Come on. Please tell me you know SOMETHING."
"Oh I know a lot of things! There's this recipe for Shrinking Sorbet I learned a while ago and I have been itching to make it for guests!" the Cat beamed.
"He means specifically about the girl," Emerald added.
"Oh her? Hmmm...well let me think..." the Cat purred in thought, their tail stretching up and rubbing its chin, "I believe I heard something about a Tree?"
Emerald's face fell. "Oh, no. Oh, no no no no..."
Ben looked back at Emerald. "What? What's wrong? This Tree evil or something?"
"Please tell me you tried to stop them," Emerald asked, ignoring Ben's question for the moment.
"I couldn't! I was having such a lovely nap and then I heard these four new voices arguing about a...a quarter and a way to get home? Eventually they decided on going to the Tree and simply bolted off," the Cat explained.
"Where were they?!"
"The Crimson Kingdom. I can take you to where I saw them last if you'd like."
"Yes! Please!" Emerald nodded.
"Em! A little context, please?!" Ben interjected.
"No time to explain! We need to find them and stop them from making the biggest mistake of their lives. And...and their last if they actually make it there. "
Ben's eyes shrank in fear. "Then what the hell are we waiting for!?" Ben picked up the cat, put on his hoodie, zipped it up, and dropped the cat in there. "You're our guide now. Lead us to Ruby!"
"A guide eh? Well, that's an interesting little purpose I haven't had for a while. But very well!" the Cat announced, "Onwards, my intriguing investigators!"
The Cat detached its paw, and floated it in front of the group. "Follow my paw, no matter what, okay~?"
Ben winced. "...right. Cool."
"Congratulations, you top the list of weird things I've seen," Emerald muttered.
"Well? Are we going to just stand here or are we going to save people?" the Cat said.
Ben and Emerald shared one last look with each other before they made a mad dash after the Cat's severed paw.
Mercury wandered through the desert, sweat beating down on his brow. "Jeez...I'd hoped I'd at least find another acre if I went this way...all there is just sand." He muttered to himself.
Mercury had been walking for a long, long while. His legs were tired, and he was pretty dehydrated. God, he needed a rest...
And he'd get that rest when he tripped on something in the sand. He face planted into the ground and grunted. "Ow..."
He dusted some of the sand out of his hair, annoyed that he managed to fall over something so small and-
Wait a second. He looked over to where his foot had met the offending item and at first, he thought it was just a rock buried under the dunes. He raised a brow as he weakly got up and moved to where the object was and wiped away some of the sand covering it. This wasn't a rock, it felt too smooth and, oddly, too hard to be just stone.
"What are-" Mercury muttered to himself.
Mercury picked it up, and brushed off some of the sand from off of it. It looked like a knight's armor. He whistled upon looking at it. "Neat." He said, looking around. What if there was more around here? Would be handy to have.
He searched around in the sand for a bit and, while it wasn't an entire set, he did manage to scrounge up a few nice pieces. No helmet though, much to his chagrin. He shook and cleaned out as much sand as he could from the chestpiece and single gauntlet he'd managed to find. If he was gonna wear this stuff, might as well make it as comfortable as possible. Once he got it to where it was...wearable enough (and he was sure that this acre didn't have anything like glass scorpions), he slipped the armor pieces on.
"Huh...never really thought of myself as an armor guy...but it works," Mercury said to himself.
"You look ridiculous," a familiar gruff voice hauntingly taunted.
"And you're back from the dead again. Fucking. Perfect."
"What? Expecting me to go away after one jumpscare?" the ghost of Mercury's first kill smirked. It was his father, the infamous hitman Marcus Black. Marcus was very much like an older counterpart to his son with that same silver-gray hair and smug look on his face. He wore a red top underneath a gray duster coat with matching gray pants and military-like boots. Right in the middle of Marcus' chest was a cluster of impact wounds, the telltale wounds of a buckshot injury.
"Expecting? No. Hoping? Yes. Because I'd rather be stuck with Little Miss Never-Ending Optimism than you," Mercury sneered.
"The fuck are you doing." His dad's specter frowned, as Mercury threw the helmet down.
"Keeping my distance. I know I don't need those two goodie two shoes. So, I'm going on my OWN journey, thank you very much." Mercury said.
"Oh yeah, because you're the poster-boy for journeys of self-discovery and healing. Mercury Black the Assassin? Nooo, Mercury Black the Mental Health Symbol!" Marcus mocked.
"You know I never ASKED to be haunted by your drunken ass."
"Maybe the one downside to this. Booze can help with your stupidity..."
"I refuse to even entertain the idea, you bloated drunk old man." Mercury said.
"You've really been sober this whole time? With all the freaks and crazy shit you surround yourself with?" Marcus scoffed, silently walking after his son.
"Yeah. Because while I am a murderer, terrorist, and few other nasty things, I'm not a drunk. Unlike SOME zombies I could NAME!" Mercury practically yelled that last part, the words echoing out in the desert wastes.
"Clearly, the picture of a well-aligned moral compass."
Mercury picked the helmet back up. "You never let me even have a semblance of a normal life. It was always 'fight', 'survive', 'kill', and 'no mercy' with you. Not to mention...your punishments."
"I had to get some kind of discipline in that thick skull of yours," Marcus chuckled, "How else was I supposed to get the idea across?"
"You think cutting my legs off was a fair punishment for one small failure?!" Mercury yelled.
"Hey, hey, hey, let's get things straight. I broke one leg. You're the genius who messed up his legs so BADLY that your fiery boss had to cut 'em off," Marcus defended.
"Leave her OUT of this." Mercury snarled. "Don't even MENTION her fucking name. I don't need you. I don't need ANYONE. I just need me!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!" Marcus's ghost yelled. "YOU'RE A BLANK FUCKING SLATE!"
"I know! And its time I figure out what the FUCK I SHOULD BE BESIDES THAT!" Mercury yelled, taking a swing at the ghost behind him, only for him to hit nothing. Marcus had vanished.
"...Marcus?! GET BACK HERE! YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Mercury raged.
You think I LIKE being pitied by that Tennyson bastard!? Or seeing Emerald look through me like I'm nothing!? Mercury cursed. I AM BEYOND THEM! I DON'T NEED THEM!
I DON'T NEED THEM! I DON'T! Mercury huffed, falling to his knees, "I...I don't...need them.."
Mercury didn't know what to do.
Mercury didn't know what he was.
...Mercury didn't know where he was.
When he eventually picked himself up, he saw...
"...Fuck."
The hourglass.
Emerald said it shattered, so either the damn thing put itself back together or there was more than one of them.
"Lemme guess, you heard me. I'm in a world where Emerald's literally a gem, there are two suns, and a talking bug can read the stars. A sentient hourglass would be the least weird thing that's happened to me today..." Mercury mumbled to the hourglass itself. The giant timepiece said nothing back to him, much to Mercury's surprising disappointment.
"Oh. Great. Heat's getting to me so much that I am talking to an ACTUAL. HOURGLASS," Mercury said, his statement devolving into short, but mad-sounding chuckles. A ghost, an hourglass, this place gonna kill him or make him go insane, maybe both in reverse order. He was just so...so done with everything that had happened in what felt like only a few hours, but it had to be a day or more. It had to be.
God...damn time dilation.
His anger and frustration almost made him unaware of the fact that the hourglass, without being touched, began to flip over.