There were two ways to scar an aura user.
The first was through severe injuries through things like powerful semblances or extreme dust reactions. Typically, it'd have to be so bad that even with the help of aura, the victim might not be healed even after weeks of professional treatment and full access to aura's healing capabilities. Ending up with those kinds of injuries usually meant being on death's door which was why a vast majority of people in that situation ended up dead rather than coming out scarred.
The second was through constant unending battle. If their aura was shattered but they were stuck in a situation where their aura couldn't replenish itself or was constantly drained, they'd heal like anyone else, albeit generally faster, but still like the majority of others, their aura unable to truly be put to work.
Mom had always stressed the importance of battle not ending just because of a shattered aura shield, most of my childhood bruises coming from her. With no one to stop her and my request for her to train me harder, she'd put me through hell after I followed her to the Tribe, bruises joined by cuts and the rare stab, the latter only coming about after I started giving her real trouble in a fight.
Despite all that there wasn't a single scar on my body I could attribute to her.
Burns, cuts, stabs, bullet wounds. Scars of all kinds marked Mercury's pale skin, starting from below his neck. His face, scrunched up into defensive suspicion and panic, might've been spared from all those injuries marking his shirtless form but there was no way that was meant to be a kindness.
Either Marcus had inflicted all those injuries before ever unlocking Mercury's aura or he'd inflicted them then carry out prolonged beatings to ensure scars remained.
Mom might've inflicted injuries on me that no other mother could imagine forcing their child to suffer through, but it'd all been to ensure my survival. It was nothing like the cruelty that must've been carried out here.
Qrow came to the same conclusion just as quickly, barely managing to fight off his grimace as he looked the kid over.
His room, if it could even be called that, only added to the cruelty. Bars sectioned off the area he stood in. A small gathering of torn up sheets in one corner of the room, a few buckets along its edge, and an unlit furnace opposite to that sorry excuse of a bed. Chains connected the cuffs around ankles to a sturdy bit of metal buried deep into the stone ground, likely meant to minimize his ability to tamper with it.
Given how pale his skin was, nearly as bad as a sickly person on their death bed, this room had been his whole existence for who knows how long.
"Marcus Black." I said, stepping up to the cell door. "You know the name?"
His stare zeroed in on me, still bouncing on the drawn weapons of the others. Qrow picked up on that, putting away his sword and gesturing for the others to do the same. "What about him?" Mercury said lowly, voice scratchy.
"Do you know him?" I repeated.
He didn't answer, his eyes still looking between all of us. "Who are you people?"
"I was his latest target."
"Was?"
"I killed him."
His eyes shot back to me. Disbelief, rage, grim satisfaction, frustration. His face flashed through plenty of things most wouldn't expect from someone not just hearing about their father's death but being face to face with their killer.
All expected after what he'd suffered through. The cruelty went beyond physical pain. Psychological too.
That strange circular aura sigil marked Mercury's neck, his energy a subdued gray only a few shades off from his father's.
Whatever excuse Marcus might've given, taking away his own child's semblance had only been for his benefit. Less chance of the boy being able to kill him without whatever it might've been at his disposal.
Mercury's twisted face finally tightened, his fallen eyes relocking with mine. "His body. Where is it?" He questioned, glaring.
I raised my hand, the cuffs around his leg snapping apart as the cell door between us broke, slowly opening.
He wasn't going to attacks us.
XOXO
Cracks and crunches filled the air.
"Should…Should we stop him?" Emerald asked, each sound forcing a wince out of her. She'd long since looked away from the sight just a few steps away, focusing instead on the rest of us.
Foot brought down again, Mercury snapped the left arm of his father's corpse before pulling it back, hard kicks following that stomp. While we'd been inside the house gathering whatever information and supplies we found, the limp corpse I left behind was well on its way to becoming one giant bloodied mess.
I'd seen plenty but this was among the most gruesome sights.
But it wasn't uncalled for it.
"It's his business." I said. People liked to talk about revenge being a bad thing, media always depicting it that way even in this world, but it came with a certain catharsis. I wasn't going to step between Mercury and however he was getting it. In a way I'd stolen the revenge he would've originally gotten.
It probably wouldn't help him long term though.
Cinder silently watched it from between us, arms crossed. She was far better at hiding it compared to Emerald, but she was bothered by the sight too, lip twitching.
Qrow was the one to step forward, reaching out for Mercury. Even with the plain shirt now covering his scar filled chest, the image of them must've hit Qrow, his arm falling short but his steps forward continuing.
"He's already dead." Qrow said.
"Good." Mercury spat on the corpse, kicks stopping as he took deep breaths. He looked over his shoulder, focused on me. "I hope you made it painful."
I did.
"Why-" Emerald stopped short, hesitating when Mercury's gaze landed on her. "-was he keeping you down there?"
"Training." Mercury turned back to the corpse, delivering a hard kick to the side of the head that sent what few teeth remained flying across the dirt, lost among the grass with the rest. "That's what he called it."
"But this fucker-" Another stomp sunk into the corpse's chest. "-called himself my father too." Emerald was the only one visibly shocked, Qrow grimacing and Cinder's frown deepening just a little.
"Your name." I said.
The kicks stopped and he glanced back at me again. "Mercury."
I nodded. "We have our own business to finish up but we can take you to the city if you don't plan on staying here."
He turned fully. Looked between all of us. Then nodded.
XOXO
The moment we stepped into Mistral the parallels between Mercury and Cinder back when we first met became too hard to ignore.
Anyone and everyone was treated with suspicion, narrowed eyes focusing on those who came too close only to jump to the next. He was even tenser than her, not looking ready to attack anyone the way Cinder had been, but prepared to defend himself the moment any threat showed up.
He'd been like that the entire time with us in the wilds and in the small settlement our job took us to.
He was younger but Mercury was more or less what I'd expected. With his semblance sealed, whatever it was, he was no more than a competent fighter. Even if by some twist of fate he still ended up falling in with Salem, he was no real threat. Not the kind that Cinder as a possible maiden or Emerald with her semblance would've represented.
There was no good reason to pull him into a fight that might never directly involve him anymore.
Leading all of us off to the paved sides of Mistral's city center, I separated us from the crowd, Mercury's guard still up despite that. The one immediate difference between him and Cinder was the pure awe being covered up by all that suspicion. From the city gates and massive walls, the sheer number of people, and all the lights keeping things visible despite the late hour, he was overwhelmed.
Marcus really was a rare kind of bastard to keep his own child locked up like that.
"Mercury." I called out, his eyes jumping over to me as I raised the black suitcase in my left hand. "Here."
"What's that?"
"Lien we found in that house." It was one of many things we found in that place, plenty of dust to take for ourselves and far too much alcohol for anyone one person to have on hand if you asked me filling up the rest of the place. Marcus had lived a simple life by the look of that place. Work, beat his son, and get drunk. "It's more than enough for you to live a good life in any kingdom."
Given how angry Mercury had been I'd held off on showing it to him just in case he tried to do anything rash like destroy it.
He scoffed, glaring at it. "I don't need that bastard's money." Mercury spat out with pure venom, no room to convince him otherwise. That was the other rash decision I expected.
Placing the suitcase onto the ground, I reached into my own pocket, pulling out all the lien I had on me and holding it out for him. I kept just over a dozen thousand on me at all times these days, so I had the funds for damn near anything I'd need, the rest kept back in my room.
"If you're giving that to me because you killed-"
"I'm giving it to you because I don't like the idea of just dropping someone off in the middle of some city with nothing but the clothes on their back." I cut him off. If we were going to play the whole who owed who game, I'd saved him from what might've been a few more years of torture and a pair of legs so injured they'd have to replaced by prosthetics when he inevitably fought his father.
Most would say he owed me.
His deep frown eased and he stepped forward, grabbing and stuffing the stack into his pockets. It didn't compare to the sheer amount in the suitcase, but he could get by on that amount for a long time if he was smart.
"If you change your mind about the money, you can find me at the Baxter Building. It's an apartment building on one of the city's upper levels." I said, picking the suitcase back up.
Mercury silently stared. Then turned away, looking about.
"You know-" Qrow spoke up. "-if you're not sure what you want to do, I could get you into Haven Academy. With your skills you have a good shot at becoming a huntsman."
"A huntsman?" Mercury looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, I'll pass on that, old man." Turning back towards the streets, he took one more look around before taking off.
"We're not actually going to sit on the money, right?" Emerald asked, looking my way. I shook my head and held the case up for Cinder.
"Can you keep this in your room? If he doesn't come back for it, we'll just use it for supplies."
"Seriously?" Emerald question in pure disbelief, looking between the both of us as Cinder took the case with a nod. "Do you two even realize how much money we're talking about just setting aside? There's probably enough lien in there to buy a house, an actual house behind kingdoms walls. Split between the three of us we'd be set."
"Pretty sure I should get a portion." Qrow said, still looking out in the direction Mercury had gone despite him having already disappeared into the city.
"Should a huntsman be taking blood money?" Emerald questioned.
"Should a bunch of kids?"
"Point taken. Four ways is still a lot of money. I don't think that guy's changing his mind about it."
"You're going to take care of the person who hired the assassin?" Cinder asked, that entire conversation ignored. I nodded. "Don't get yourself killed." She warned, taking off without another world.
There was something to be said about warnings like that being the nicest things to come from her.
"Wait, Cinder." Emerald called out. "You two are weird, you know that?" Emerald said, giving me an exasperated look before shaking her head and taking off after Cinder. "Be careful, Talon!"
Emerald and lien. With how much she must've had by now I figured she would've eased up a little, but she really was going to keep obsessing over it.
"You know you don't have to do this." Qrow said once they were gone, glancing my way as I stepped up beside him. "Malachite's already cleaning house. She could handle this Rufus guy if you give her his name." Maybe she might. She obviously considered me a big enough asset to favor and some guy stupid enough to act without her permission had a spot reserved under the chopping block.
"I don't got the kind of rep that comes with being a huntsman." Qrow and others like him could get away with doing plenty when brushing shoulders with shadier people since the notoriety that came with killing a huntsman was rarely worth the trouble in their eyes. Being known as the one to kill someone like Marcus would do a lot of heavy lifting when it came to deterring more things like hired assassins no matter what kingdom I went to, his name known Remnant over in certain circles, but I needed to be sure it was understood that targeting me came with consequences.
Maybe alone I could cut that corner but there was always the chance Cinder or Emerald could be targeted, the latter already thinking about traveling with me long term.
"I need to make sure people think twice before trying something like this again." I said, walking past him.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal: 800
(A/N: It goes without saying but Mercury is going to show up again sooner or later. Not really a question when he was in the cold open.
On a sidenote I'm already aware that I'm a bit desensitized when it comes to seeing or reading about violence in any kind of media I consume so I need others' opinions. Does anyone feel like some kind of warning at the start was necessary for this chapter and the last? I feel like I gave enough information without getting into all the gruesome details of the bit of violence that occurred this chapter but like I said, I'm pretty desensitized so stuff like that just bounces off me even if it shouldn't.
That aside RedBeard73, Averagepokemonfan, and JaiRaiya. I forgot to mention it in Monday's chapter but you guys are now the three pinned reviews for this week. Another thanks to them and everyone else for taking the time to review if I haven't said it already.
As always, here's the link for those who want to read ahead for anything I'm writing:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
See you all in the comments or in the next chapter! I've low key been on a roll with writing recently despite not challenging myself to do anything specific. Lets hope I didn't just jinx myself by mentioning that.