The Black Knight (A Mercury Black Story: Part I)

Chapter 4

"Oh my god, we're almost there, we're almost there!" I said jumping around impatiently while Mercury and Marcus followed behind me. I skipped in rhythm as I heard Mercury laughed.
"Didn't know you were this excited," he said behind me as I looked back at him, smiling as I ran behind him, turned around and jumped on his back.
"Jeez, woman," he said after giving a hearty "oof," "You're going to kill me one day."
"Not if you kill yourself first with all the stupid stuff you do," I said rolling his eyes. I yawned and rested my head on his back, closing my eyes for a small amount of time.
"Are you tired, Child?" I heard Marcus ask as I nodded sheepishly, looking at him.
"What time did you go to bed last night, Zuri?" I heard Mercury ask as I perked my head up, realizing that we were almost to the weapon's place.
"Around three in the morning, why?" I said while sliding down his back so I could walk again. I picked up the pace so that I was between Marcus and Mercury, when we stopped in front of the store.  I saw Mercury roll his eyes at me as Marcus opened the door to the shop. "It was a good book."
"It probably was. Too bad I don't read regular books," he said grinning.
"Comic books don't count," I said laughing as we walked into the shop. I gazed around at the different weapons on sale already, but no sword/bow combinations were to be fine. I sighed as I went up to the front counter, a man with a cheery face polishing a sword and placing it in its sheath. He looked up and smiled, myself returning his jester, excited to finally get my other half.
"Hello, can I help you?" the man said, "Would you like to buy a weapon?"
"Actually, I would like to make a customizable weapon," I said as the man nodding a pencil and a small piece of paper. He looked up, smiling while his hand was ready to draw or write.
"Alright, what would you like?" he asked as I told him what I wanted my weapon to be like down to the last Dust arrow. "Alright," he said smiling, "I'll have this ready for you in about five hours. Are you going to come and pick it up afterwards?"
"Yes, me and my friend are," I said smiling.
"Alright then, I will see you soon," he said nodding in my direction. I nodded and walked towards Mercury, who was staring at a pair of black boots. I laughed as I approached him, "You know, I don't think those would work for you. You may more of a melee fighter though, then a shooter. Don't get me wrong, Mercury, you're really strong, and probably stronger with the boots than the pistol you have right now."
"Eh, I might be. But who knows," he said, glancing down at me, "So when is your weapon going to be ready? We could do something fun, like tour the city for a while if we have the time. Knowing you, I doubt you would have your weapon done in five minutes though."
"The man said about five hours," said looking at him, "What were you thinking of?"
"We could go into town and just walk around. Dad said he was going to go to the bar with a friend," Mercury said, giving a sneer at the thought of his father at the bar drinking.
"Mercury, what's wrong?" I said rubbing his arm. He looked at me with sad eyes and embraced me in a tight hug. I rested my head on his muscular chest, feeling Mercury sigh as we stood there before he let go, looking into my violet orbs.
"Just don't worry about it, okay? I'm okay, but I'm worried about my dad. He can't really hold his liquor down."
"Oh, Mercury," I said frowning. He sighed as he grabbed my arm gently, pulling me towards the door.
"C'mon, Zur, we're going to go for a walk."
I smiled as he let go of my arm as I ran to catch up with his long strides. We took back alleys' as we walked around the city, like we used to when we were early teenagers. I still remember my first murder, although I wasn't the one who murdered him. A guy who borrowed money from Marcus to pay for alcohol didn't repay his dues in the time frame he was supposed to owe back, so Marcus sent Mercury and I after him. When we saw him, he was surprisingly sober, so we took the chance to attack, myself with a small knife that Marcus gave me since I didn't have a weapon, and Mercury used his own weapon behind the man, to keep our pray cornered to the point where he couldn't escape. He went after Mercury first, seeing him as the bigger threat, as Mercury used kicks to try and wear him down. I stayed lurking in the shadows' like Marcus trained me to do, when the man punched Mercury to the ground, the man pulling out a very large sword. Panicking, I jumped out and body slammed the man away from my best friend, digging my knife into his stomach. Although he was down when I back flipped towards Mercury, I looked at my best friend and nodded, since the man we were hunting down wasn't dead. Mercury loaded his black pistol and stepped close to the man on the stony ground. He aimed his pistol as a bang rang through the alley, the man Mercury shot was now not breathing. I sighed as Mercury smirked, putting his gun away and went over to hug me before we went home.
"Zuri, did you even hear what I'm saying?"
"I'm sorry," I said, snapping out of my memory, "What did you say?"
"I asked what name you are giving to your weapon?" he asked, laughing, "What were you thinking of anyways? You usually don't zone out like that."
"Oh, I don't know about a name yet, but I was thinking about our first murder. The one where the guy didn't pay your dad back."
"Oh," he said, turning his head away, "That." 
"Mercury?"
"You know, that's the day I actually started to call you my best friend. When I saw you hit that guy before he hit me with his sword, I honestly thought I was a goner. You saved my life, Zuri, and I feel like I can't repay you."
"Mercury," I sighed, "You're my best friend, you don't have to owe me anything."
Mercury was about to say something when we heard a shout threw one of the alleys' up ahead. I looked at Mercury, who nodded as we followed the sound. We turned the corner to see a man with red and brown hair stab a man with a blood red sword. The blood red rose on his black and white trench coat seemed to be gleaming as he pulled out his sword, placing it back into his sheath as he turned around. A white grimm mask with red flame-like markings covered his eyes as he grinned at his dead kill. I looked towards his head to see two bullhorns peeking out of his windswept hair. I turned to Mercury, who was glaring at him.
"Mercury? What's wrong, why are you glaring?" I whispered to my friend as he exhaled. He looked at me and nodded towards the way we came.
"C'mon Zuri," he said, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder, "He's not worth it." I looked towards the rose-man and nodded, knowing that Mercury may be on to something. I followed him as we walked back to the shop in silence, Mercury deep in thought.
"Mercury, what was that? We could of taken him!" I said, looking up into those dark grey eyes of his.
"No, we can't," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "He's too strong. Dad told me about him, although I do not know his name. All I know is that he is second in command for the White Fang, and not to attack him at all cost."
"But there are two of us!"
"I said 'no' Zuri, Dad said no!"
We stayed silence until we got to the shop, Marcus meeting us at the door, his eyes pink. I stared into his eyes when Mercury grabbed my hand, tightly holding it. Something was wrong.
"Well, kids, it's been a while. Let's go see how your weapon is doing, Zuri," Marcus said smiling. I nodded, returning his smile, as I walked inside the store, my mind going at ten miles a minute. I was really excited to see my new half as the man smiled.
"There you are! It's finally done!" he said, grabbing my weapon from the back. I glanced at the shiny double-blade of the sword with light green swirls in the middle, the dark green hilt keeping it secured with a lighter green button on the hilt. I looked curiously at the button, and grabbed the weapon from the man, the sword feeling light in my hand.
"Is this to transform?" I asked the man, referring to the button. He nodded yes and I smiled, clicking the button as the sword split in half, still attached, but forming into a strong bow with its limbs serving as blades as well, the string resting on the right side, secure enough for my left hand to hold the hilt while my right hand pulls the string back. I smiled; it was everything I wanted it to be. I pressed the button again as it transformed back into a sword as the man gave me my Dust arrows. 
"It's perfect!" I said turning to Mercury and Marcus, smiling at me with my other half.
"Have a name for it yet, child?" Marcus asked as I thought about it, and then nodded.
"Yes, I shall call it Crystal Mayhem," I said, placing the sword in my sheath.
"Alrighty then! Do you want to pay for it now?" the man asked as we looked at him. I nodded and looked at Marcus and Mercury. Marcus nodded as he pulled out his wallet, taking out the money he owned, and giving to the man. I watched as the man frowned after counting the money, as I glanced quickly at Mercury, then back to the man.
"What's wrong?" Mercury asked through gritted teeth. I held onto his arm, hoping that what he was about to say wasn't true.
"You are short twenty lien. You cannot keep your weapon unless you pay in full."