What's In It For You?

Chapter 1

'We don't need him!  Everything was going fine!'

'Do not mistake your place.'

Emerald glared harshly at the male sitting across from her.  The embers of their fire crackled and disappeared as soon as it floated to the ground, a short life for something so bright.  Her ruby eyes traced over Mercury's face, he wasn't even looking at her, trying to find something that would help her find out more about him.

Other than he's skilled.  Other than he killed Marcus Black.

His own father.

"What do you want?"  Mercury snapped as his cool, steel eyes looked up to meet hers.  Emerald did little to hide her surprise, her widened eyes and slightly agape mouth, apparently she wasn't as subtle as she thought she was.

"Nothing."  Emerald answered shortly, a small shake of her head as she continued to stare into his eyes.

"Then stop staring."  Mercury said, a slight growl biting through his voice.  Emerald looked back down at the fire, her hands tucking her knees up to her chest.  She rested her chin on her left knee, her eyes watching the flames perform a intricate dance that she doubted anyone could replicate.

Seconds ticked into minutes; the minutes of silence were comfortable.  Neither of them knew each other well, it was nice to have a drop of noise and to just sit and be quiet.  To not have to worry about trying to cut the small talk and get around to what they wanted to talk about.  She was sure he had questions about her.

She certainly had questions about him.

Yet her eyes fled the gaze of the fire and returned to the boy who was staring at the grass beside him.  His eyes were cold but anger boiled in them, a deadly blizzard that would make chaos and disaster.  She refused to stop staring at his face, refused to stop trying to figure the boy out, and moved down to scan the rest of him.

His clothes were still dirty, still stained with mud and blood, and the edges were burned from what Emerald guessed was the house.  His left arm had suffered a mild burn, as did his right shoulder.  She refused to help him, he didn't ask for it and he didn't want it, she saw no reason to assist.

Her gaze drifted further down and she found the bandages wrapped around his knees and part of his thighs.  Emerald's eyes widened as she noticed his legs shaking, no longer able to withstand the movement and the damage they'd been caused.

"What?"  Mercury glared harshly, his eyes burning with the fire in between them as he tried to tuck his legs away from her view.  Emerald looked up and lifted her head, surprise once again taking hold of her expression.

"I'm sorry."  Emerald said somewhat quietly, unable to find anything better to say.  Mercury winced as he pulled his legs behind him and leaned on one of his hands.  Emerald stopped looking at the boy and looked back into the forest, the identical trees creating a barrier from their little campsite.

"Whatever."  Mercury brushed it off, his tone was submerged in annoyance but she could tell that he was trying to make it seem like nothing.  Emerald's eyes glanced over to him for a brief second and found him staring at the fire, his eyebrows knitting together to form a dangerous looking frown.

Emerald turned her head back before Mercury could notice she was looking at him again, and stared into the cluster of trees that surrounded them.  Cinder hadn't returned and she said to wait for her, so they waited.  For a thief, Emerald was impatient, she could steal anything she wanted with a simple trick.

A shiver ran down her spine, though the area was void of wind, and Emerald paused.  An uneasy feeling pooled in her stomach as she realized she wasn't cold, she was being watched.  Her eyes automatically scanned the forest for any sign of someone watching, as she turned her head she found Mercury staring straight at her.