Gems in the Ruff

Two

Mercury

Emerald doesn't respond and stalks away. I shrug it off, knowing she's probably sensitive to me talking about her upbringing (or lack of) after our fight. I'll corner her later to apologize for the stuff I said that could be considered offensive to her. I know she'll be free because there's almost nothing to do in Salem's castle. Although Cinder sucked, at least she let Emerald and I run wild with Torchwick and his gang while we worked for her. We cant even go for a walk outside either, since this whole area is a Grimm spawning point. Strange that the things I grew up fighting against, I now fight on the same side on.

"How's Emerald's training going?" I turn to Hazel, who's still in the room.

"She's learning quick, the girl's a crafty one. Can be a little too crafty sometimes." I nod absentmindedly. Hazel glances over at me, rubbing a towel over his massive arms. "You should help train her. We can all do our training together and make combos for when we're out in the field."

"Oh no- no way."

"Hey, you might think it's ridiculous, but it would be good thing. It would also build team bond that would help in the battlefield."

"Team bond?" I scoff. "We're not some preppy school team in an academy."

"No, but you have to admit, those 'preppy teams' are amazing at group combat attacks. I think it would help."

I'm not a big fan of this idea, but it intrigues me; again, there's not much to do here. And the thought of handing Emerald's butt to her daily and correcting her for it is appealing. I'm just not in the market for a 'team.'

"You think Emerald would actually agree to it?" I ask.

"I would think so. She's learning how to fight without her semblance because of you, so I think she might agree to your tutoring."

Emerald

I sit on the floor, resting against my bedside. I don't like to sit on the bed because it's too soft. I probably overly picky for a girl who didn't even have a bed growing up, but I just don't feel comfortable when it feels like the bed is trying to absorb me.

I rub my eyes, hoping the aching feeling of tiredness would go away, a punishment, really. I look back on the morning training, the new techniques I learned from Hazel flashing through my head. A knock pounds on my door that breaks me out of my stupor. Mercury swings the door open and stares down at me.

"Um, hey. Do you need something?"

"Way to greet your best friend. Hazel wanted me to ask you if you were good if we all trained together. Learn new team moves and build our friendship and wonderful stuff like that." He says it all with the heavy sarcastic tone he enjoys using.

"Are you being serious right now? I really can't tell."

He gives me a deadpanned look. "Do I not appear serious, Emerald?" He just shrugs and leans against the doorframe. "But yeah, Hazel wants us all to do training together."

"Do you?"

"I don't think it's a terrible idea. Something to keep me entertained."

"Glad to hear you'll be entertained, that's the most important thing to me," I sigh, thinking, "I guess I'm up for it. I don't really mind, just as long as I'm getting trained." I lean forward, contemplating what this new trio training will mean for me. Mercury kind of was the reason I started training in the first place. Not just because of our quarrel: him growing up without a semblance, having to learn to adjust and still being a great fighter, part of me wants to be like that. I want to truly know I won because I have skills, not just because I messed with my opponent's mind. But even if he's the reason, he's still a show-off and literal sadist, and I don't know how I feel about that portion of the program.

"Well, later then," he sighs and turns to leave, then spins around again. "Oh, right, I uh, don't know how to say this..." he enters my room and plops down by the wall across from me, which was close enough so our knees brushed. "I should apologize for the things I said to you. I shouldn't have got so angry to say the things I said to about not having a family or anything like that. I'm... I'm not good at saying this kind of stuff. Sorry, I guess."

"Wow, thanks Merc." I'm genuinely heart warmed. He doesn't like admitting he did something wrong (using wrong loosely, very loosely), so he usually avoids it.

"Yeah, you're welcome. Just, can we make a pact?"

"Okay, what?"

"Just, we need to stop playing the comparison game. It's like we need to figure out which one of us had the worst upbringing. We both had crappy lives, with no one to care about us or watch our backs but ourselves, so let's not try and figure out whose was crappier. I'm at as much fault for this game as you are. So, deal?"

"Yes, gladly, deal." I hold out my hand for him, he takes it and we shake on the small pact we made. He gives my fingers a small, yet still hard, squeeze.

"There. We're official now," he states, leaning back against the black stone wall.

"All right, I'm heading off then." I get up and step out of my doorway.

"You're just going to leave me alone in your room? Do you trust me enough?" I whip my head back around to face him, the long strips of my green hair flying.

"Mercury Black, if you touch anything in this room that belongs to me, trust me, I'll know. This is a small castle, and I will track you down and make sure of your demise."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." He stands up, stretching his arms and bringing them full circle to clasp behind his head. "Geez, you girls are so demanding. Don't get your panties in such a twist."

"Say anything like that again and your demise will come early." I jab my elbow into his side. "Idiot." We smirk at each other as we proceed down the hallway.