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instantlyradpenguin · 4 years ago

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Im not sure if i ship emercury yet or not, but the concept of Mercury spying on Emerald living her best life and getting jealous is gold to me

Like for some reason Salem has added another objective to his and Tyrian's mission: do reconnaissance on the kids who single handedly moved Atlas to Vacuo, and make sure they dont get in the way. And Emerald is there. Emerald is slowly learning how to hang out with them and do social activities but Mercury and Tyrian show up right at the end of that, so she's mostly adapted to NRO and SSSN. CFVY still doesnt like her so she avoids those social outings.

Whether because he never truly acknowledged her as a friend and she has some now or because he's been into her for a while Mercury gets jealous when she does friend things and half his updates back to HQ are just salty comments

So theres Emerald, walking around in a cute new outfit and rocking cowboy boots. She's doing karaoke nights with Nora and Neon, and having a blast. Mercury has never seen her smile that much. She walks around with her arm around Oscar's shoulders half the time and they giggle at inside jokes. She danced with Sun for a few songs at this improv Atlas refugee camp festival. Which, Mercury has danced with Emerald before, slow danced with her too, and she's not that great but her and Sun are swinging and spinning around and taking up a lot of space, and its just so different from his dances with her at the Beacon Dance. Just the amount of genuine joy she's expressing during this knocks Mercury back. Thankfully for Mercury's heart she has to sit down because she's tired and only dances with Oscar after that, which is a bit hilarious, and she watches whatever pathetic dance battle is happening between Nora and Neptune. One day she rolls her ankle out in the desert and yeah, Nora could easily carry her, but Nora took a pretty bad hit and they dont have Jaune around to heal either of them, so Ren carries her back to camp bridal style. And Emerald looks as comfortable as can be, chilling out with her arms around Ren's neck, because shes friends with these people. And Mercury is going through all these feelings like he's angry some guy is carrying her, he's jealous its not him carrying her, he missed out on carrying her last time the opportunity came up because they were kinda running for their lives and Hazel got to her first, he realizes she was basically his best friend and he never even hugged her, which is sad considering how tactile a person she is

And of course Tyrian is making fun of him the whole time, and Tyrian's type of teasing just makes him angrier and the updates even more salty

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instantlyradpenguin · 4 years ago

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Emerald And Mercury’s Reunion

WHAT I WANT:

. Emerald shows concern about seeing Mercury again and addresses to her new team about her last scene with him. Though the others claim that Emerald’s with them now and won’t let him persuade her, Emerald instead acknowledges that Mercury isn’t like Cinder, as he was… stubborn, drove her crazy, wouldn’t shut his mouth, but… he was actually there for her, and she was blinded thinking it was Cinder who was looking out for her. She proclaims that if they meet again, she wants to be the one to look out for him, even if he kills her, it’s worth that.

. Mercury meanwhile tries everything to focus on the mission and is sleep deprived from fear that Tyrian might kill him, with that being the only needed evidence of such fear to the audience. Bonus if we get any flashbacks from him with his father or if this is how he would act around his father as he is now to Tyrian, who creepily treats him like a buddy.

. If Mercury and Tyrian find out about Emerald’s defection, Mercury will be terrified. Maybe he’d even claim that Team RWBY manipulated her, and that she’s going to get herself killed, only for Tyrian to convince him that she’s a traitor, and they should move along. Though if Mercury follows through with that, he’ll still be shown fear over her.

. If they think Emerald’s dead or something, Mercury will be devastated, trying to accept that, only for another scene to show that when Tyrian’s back is turned (probably dealing with convincing the Summer Maiden) Mercury realizes how much of a family Emerald was to him, maybe even cry for the first time in… god knows how long. (Bonus if the Summer Maiden seeing this and relating to it somehow is what convinces her to help him and Tyrian.)

. Their reunion is a clear tragedy to the eyes. Neither sure of how to react to them being on opposite sides. They might fight each other anyway, maybe Mercury getting the upper hand. Mercury hesitates to join Tyrian in the vault due to Emerald, struggling to believe she’s now an enemy, and can’t kill her. Bonus if Emerald ends up hugging him instead of fighting, and Mercury being as touch starved of affection as he is, hugs back, unable to believe that either she’s alive, or that she still cares about him.

. Mercury tries to convince Emerald to return to his side, not out of ‘oh this side is the right side’ but out of fear of both hers and his situation with Salem. Emerald might speak against it that Salem will kill them both anyway, and Mercury could oppose that, though clearly linger. Emerald could even say that she switched sides because she wanted a family, a real one this time, and offers Mercury to be a part of it. Though Mercury refuses, claiming that he’s a serial killer, and assassin, a villain in a fairy tale’s worst nightmares, he’s undeserving of being a part in something like that.

. Maybe when manipulated that Cinder wants her back, Emerald actually reverts back to Salem’s side, as she clings to her care for both Cinder and Mercury, betraying team RWBY, and leaving them and Oscar to question their naive belief that Emerald could be anything more than a villain. (Because are we not going to address that Emerald and Cinder still need to separate properly?) She could linger and fully realize that team RWBY was a better family with how Cinder treats her, especially when she starts to want to be acknowledged as an individual. This is her actual redemption arc before she defects once and for all, calls out Cinder for all her garbage, and leaves her. Maybe they’d even fight with Emerald barely clutching an escape.

. Mercury revisits his old home, the one that got burned down before he killed his father. It’s a flashback with present Mercury standing in front of it. My guess of it, Mercury and Marcus were ‘training’ and Marcus tried to convince Mercury to kill someone they captured, claiming that it’s their role in this world, that there’s nothing else they can be. Mercury refuses to kill the victim however, a subtle showcasing that there’s still humanity present in him after everything. Then later that night Marcus attacked Mercury while he was asleep, and brutally damaged his legs when scarring him in the claim that he’s hopeless, unworthy to be anything more than a monster. Mercury, now with his legs bandaged as his father left him there in the burning house, got his revenge, the humanity he had before stripped as he kills his father without any remorse, transitioning to when Cinder and Emerald found him. Bonus if there’s a flashback with the trio and Mercury first awakening in a hospital, his legs forced to be removed, and Emerald is there watching, as she’s unsure how to deal with a new partner.

. Mercury and Emerald encounter each other in their own fight, with Team RWBY doing a different fight in a different scene. Neither of them want this, but with their struggles and hardships, it’s something that forced them apart, and the fight is nothing more than a tragedy, as the audience would want them both to come to an agreement and make it out alive. Mercury gets the upper hand in the fight, but still hesitates to kill her, despite Salem’s order in an episode before that Emerald, a traitor, must die. Despite Emerald trying everything to convince him, she doesn’t actually fight back around the second half of the fight, and maybe even reenacts their scene in Volume 6, where she apologizes to him that he never had a clear choice on who he wants to be, but she had been through hell and back just to get here. She’d explain how she was just as hopeless as he was, how she met people she thought cared about her, before meeting people who were willing to give her a chance despite everything she did, and how there was one person who stayed by her side through both sides, that actually cared about her from the start, and that was Mercury. He may not want to kill her, but she’d rather die to him than let him continue to destroy himself. And it’s because of this, and how much Emerald means to him, that Mercury just can’t kill her, no matter what got rubbed inside his head, he’s attached to her. So he lets Emerald go, and lets her get away with the relic, asking her to stop all of this. (Probably something either Tyrian or Salem figures out he did)

. When Tyrian and Salem figures out that Mercury let Emerald go with the relic, Tyrian poisons him, leaves him strayed in the desert to die, with no one to help him. As he tries to find help anyway, he’d hallucinate Emerald there, turning her back on him and calling him a traitor, a monster, that he doesn’t deserve help. And as he collapses, Emerald is actually there, having found him. She’s horrified so much that she and team RWBY help him, getting him to safety and saving his life (though probably keeping him in chains, because they don’t know what he’ll do)

. In the next volume, they have to deal with Mercury’s inclusion, and what to do with him now that they helped him. Maybe there’d be some interactions between the team and especially with Emerald, but Mercury would be struggling with finding his own path. Overall though, being vulnerable and weakened would put Mercury in a situation where he not only actively has to deal with his disabilities, but with no clear path for him. Maybe he tries to be an assassin still, and team RWBY have to snap him out of his trauma to prevent him from doing the wrong thing, that he should make his own path. There’d be highs and lows in this, and maybe Mercury can try to betray someone on the team and have it backfire on him, but as things go on he becomes better and shows empathy without even realizing it. Maybe he even gets offered to redeem himself and rejoin Salem in the promise she won’t kill him or Emerald and he obliges, only to find that he is frustrated with himself and this fate, to the point where he decides for himself that he wants no part in this war. Mercury finds out his own resolve and that he does have a choice to be what he wants to be, and finally doing something at his own free will, whether that be good or bad, unlocks his semblance once more as his soul is finally his own. Maybe Mercury even gets color in his hair and eyes upon reawakening his semblance. In the end of that arc, he decides that he needs to find his own fate, and thus leaves both sides to find such, promising Emerald that they’ll see each other again. So no, he doesn’t switch sides or join team RWBY, and maybe he remains as an assassin as a job, but he could be a side character on the grey area that can show up from time to time as an assist. Solely for Emerald’s sake, cause I’m a shipper.

WHAT I EXPECT:

. If they acknowledge Tyrian and Mercury in Vacuo before they actually meet, Emerald will completely be on their side and not acknowledge what Mercury has done for her. Bonus points if they consider Tyrian and Mercury to be equally evil and irredeemable, as monsters who need to be stopped.

. If Mercury is fearful of Tyrian, it’ll be told somehow, not shown. Also no flashbacks that could indicate his behavior whatsoever.

. If Mercury and Tyrian find out about Emerald’s defection, Mercury will maybe be slightly betrayed, but overall will agree that Emerald is now an enemy that needs to be stopped.

. If they think Emerald is dead, somehow, Mercury will have no reaction.

. Their reunion is a black and white hero vs villain fight. No shock or devastation of their situation, they simply look down on each other and see each other as traitors. Mercury would call Emerald a traitor and that she made a mistake leaving him (even though I don’t think he’d actually say that) and Emerald would claim that he ‘made his choice’ and how ‘she made hers’ and that Mercury is ‘evil’ (even though he really didn’t make a choice, and clearly hesitated to fully commit when he heard that Salem’s ending the world)

. Mercury tries to convince Emerald to return to his side, with a ‘this side is the right side’ motif, as of means to control her (even though past Mercury wouldn’t do this). Emerald will absolutely speak against it and that Salem will kill them both anyway, and Mercury could oppose that, and claim that Salem is an ‘all powerful goddess they can’t defeat.’ Emerald offers him nothing, and claims that he’s a serial killer, and assassin, a villain in a fairy tale’s worst nightmares, he’s undeserving of being a part in her new family.

. Emerald and Cinder don’t get any resolution, and Emerald doesn’t once question whose side she’s on. She made up her mind, she’s ‘on the side of good.’ No questions. None.

. No Mercury focus without Emerald

. Emerald and Mercury fight each other in the climax of the volume this takes place in, and it’s a simple black and white story. Mercury does everything to kill Emerald, and Emerald keeps an impression that Mercury chose to fall down the evil path, without actually elaborating on that. Emerald beats Mercury with no effort, and she takes the relic, leaving him there alone.

. Tyrian and Salem are mad at Mercury for failing, and Tyrian just poisons Mercury and kills him, thus being Mercury’s end. (The reason I keep saying Tyrian is going to poison him is because there’s a shot in Volume 6 with Tyrian hanging his tail over Mercury’s face. That’s definitely foreshadowing that Mercury will be poisoned)

Now tell me, which of these stories sound better and more compelling to you?

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