RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC23: Break (Renora and Co.)-1

[Opener: Keep you safe- The Crane Wives]

Ren and Nora headed back to Argus with the others who'd be going there. Weiss and Meridian would head to Vacuo from Vale.

"Emerald didn't say much in reply when I messaged her the big news," Nora said. "She seemed down."

"Hmm." Ren figured it was still because of Mercury.

Mercury suspected they were talking about him.

He'd given, over the last couple of months, more thought to what he'd spoken to Hazel, Raven, Shine, Kip and then Penny about.

He couldn't get away from forgiveness and then friendliness being the main themes of both.

His anger at them for criticizing him had ebbed away, as anger usually does, and he'd had to admit that they had a point. Something was holding him back.

In Emerald's absence, he had little to distract him from his lack of contentment with life, and even, in the last month or so of clarity, he'd started to wonder why Emerald had overlooked his lack of help to her in this area as long as she had.

He knew deep down, as Shine had pointed out, that Emerald only meant for good and had always been that way mostly. Her resentments even of good guys had always been so half-hearted even at their high points, it was no surprise it hadn't taken much to sway her to the good side.

Emerald just didn't have hatred in her DNA, Mercury concluded. Or if she did, hers were all the hatreds that came from thwarted love and not from disgust with it. That was him.

He realized also that what had kicked this all off was his issue with Cinder.

Why did he find it so hard to let go? Even he knew, if Cinder had not been as helpful as she was, the village mission would have gone far differently.

The old Cinder might have pretended to be on their side, but would have pushed them into the basement and locked them in so that her cover wouldn't be blown, if she truly still had put her own interests first. She could always say it was an accident.

The pilot could have seen her, but she'd have just killed him and claimed the grimm did it, and no one could have proven she was lying.

No, the thought clearly hadn't crossed her mind to do it.

So people really could change.

If Cinder could, Mercury had to wonder, why hadn't he changed?

He hadn't wanted to change really, but it seemed everyone did if they got close to this group. To the DJs...so how had it passed him by?

He thought that the only people who hadn't really changed were Ren and Nora, actually.

Maybe that's why he was watching them.

Yeah, Ren had never liked the DJs, he remembered.

But he didn't seem to mind them now.

This seemed like a good chance to ask about it. Mercury turned to look at them.

They wondered if he'd heard them talking and looked uneasy.

"Can I ask you a random question?" he asked.

"Sure," Nora was always down for a random question.

Ren said nothing, but if he dated Nora, he couldn't really have been that opposed to it.

"You're the only two people out of the old hero team who never really clicked with the   DJs," Mercury said. "Why was that? You didn't like them, you didn't want what they had."