Mirage (An Emerald and Mercury Fanfiction)

Mercury: Ease

The guards in front of the camp were immediately tense, weapons drawn as soon as the four of them strolled past the trees in front of the gate.

One bandit in particular stood farther forward than the other two, peering into the darkness almost angrily.

Mercury grinned, calling out when the man's gaze rested on where they were. "Hey, ugly!"

The bandit's pistol was immediately pointed in their direction, and Cinder nodded Emerald forward.

His partner smirked, resting a hand on her hip as the two of them drifted into the light. The bandit rolled his eyes, a grimace forming on his tired face.

"Is Raven Branwen home?" Emerald's hand drifted towards her pistol, and Mercury took a step forward.

Again an eyeroll from the unfortunate middle bandit, but his reply was less than ideal. Cinder and Watts stepped forward, and before Mercury had a chance to step forward again, Emerald was in front of him, sauntering towards the three guards with a smirk on her face.

Before two of them could react, Emerald's blades left her hands and the chains wrapped around the two and slammed them together.

Their heads connected with a crack, and they both fell to the ground, one bleeding from a newly opened wound through her hair. The third bandit gasped, aiming his shaking pistol at Emerald and revealing a gap in his crooked teeth.

The illusionist barely reacted, her hands twitching to release the prone bodies from her blades. A sweet smile formed as she slowly walked up to the bandit, pinning his arms to his sides with one flick of her blade.

"Hey, mind answering my question again?"

The bandit gulped down a breath, faced with the threat of Emerald's presence and weapon at his throat, and wordlessly pointed inside.

Mercury repressed the urge to bash in the bandit's face when Emerald placed her hand on his shoulder and grinned with a malicious undertone to the smile.

"Thanks. Now, another question, does she know we're here?"

Emerald lowered her blades, hooking them on her belt again to show she wasn't going to hurt him, at least not yet. Mercury sighed, knowing exactly how this was going to go.

The bandit looked her over when she released him, no longer looking as deathly nervous. "N...No, she doesn't know yet."

Emerald nodded back at the three of them, and Cinder walked past them to the front of the gate. "Could you let us in? Don't worry, we're not looking for a fight."

Her now unsuspecting prisoner nodded, raising the gate in little to no time, all while keeping his eyes on Emerald, who was standing with a hand on her hip and her scarlet glare boring into his own.

When Cinder and Watts were inside, Mercury walked up behind the bandit, and Emerald's position switched sides to keep his attention. "Don't worry, Raven won't know you sold her out."

One shot from Mercury, and the bandit slumped to the ground. Emerald laughed, stretching her arms above her head. "Now that was fun."

Mercury rolled his eyes. "For you."

His partner walked into the camp past him, sending a well placed punch into his shoulder as she did. "Isn't that the point?"

He sighed, following her into the camp with a smirk against his will.

No other bandit tried to stop them, and they were out of the camp before they knew it. 

Mercury scanned the forest around them uneasily, expecting there to be bandits watching them, and still unnerved by the Spring Maiden's power.

Emerald's hand slipped into his almost immediately after he finished scanning, and her scarlet eyes bored into his grey ones with concern.

They wouldn't follow us, and if they did, we'd just disappear.

I know. Vernal just...reminded me of Amber, and how we almost lost that fight.

His partner squeezed his hand and released it as they walked into the clearing they had come from. 

Don't worry. Neither of them stand a chance against Cinder, or against Salem.

Watts cleared his throat and looked at Emerald expectantly. "Well?"

Mercury's fists clenched at his sides, but Emerald merely nodded and closed her eyes in concentration.

The landscape spun out from under them, and soon they were back in Salem's domain.

Emerald sighed, stretching her arms above her head as soon as Watts left the three of them alone, standing in the lower hallway of Salem's palace.

Cinder looked troubled, and Emerald took a step closer to her. "Do you think Raven's planning something?"

The fall Maiden glanced up, then inclined her head. "Possibly. Nothing I can't control, however clever it might be."

Emerald clasped her hands together in front of her, swaying side to side. "Of course."

Mercury lowered his voice and stepped to Emerald's side. "Anything else we should be worried about before the attack?"

Cinder shook her head with a smirk. "Vernal was powerful, but not a match for my power. We'll be able to waltz right in."

Emerald closed her eyes as Cinder walked off, and Mercury's hand brushed against hers. "You don't believe her?"

"Do I have a choice?" She sighed. "Cinder's confident, but...so is the girl and her friends. Qrow being with them doesn't help."

Mercury laughed. "I doubt they know what's really going on. Leo's an idiot, but he knows how to cover our tracks."

"Right. Let's hope that keeps up. I don't want anything to happen to...any of us."

She hesitated, but Mercury filled in her sentence for her with a laugh. "Aw, you're worried about me? That's sweet, Em."

Emerald flinched at the nickname, a slight blush spreading across her cheeks, and landed a punch to his shoulder. "And Cinder!"

He smirked, rubbing his shoulder in mock pain. "Of course. Come on, we should rest before we're needed."

The two of them walked upstairs hand in hand, and Emerald's mind relaxed for the first time in a while.

Hi! Okay so this is the chapter I said would come out on my page. I went into a dark place and didn't write as a result of that, sorry! I'm back now though, and updates should (?) be better. See you Bookworms in the next chapter! c: