水银

everyone’s favorite trash kids

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

When Emerald finally said that one precious word, Mercury almost melted. He smiled widely and rested his hand against her cheek, softly running his thumb over her skin. He couldn’t stop looking at her; she was everything he deemed perfect and so much more.

After a couple more moments, he blinked and pulled away, looking down at the ring in his hand. With shaking fingers, he took it out of the box. Mercury gently took Emerald’s left hand in his and glanced up at her face once more, as if to make sure this was really okay. He then slipped the ring onto her finger, pressing it snugly over her knuckle and to the base of her finger. He had sized it to some of her special occasion rings to make sure it would fit, and he was very pleased to see it was almost perfect.

“Emerald,” he whispered, looking back up at her and interlacing their fingers together. He loved the feeling of her hand in his, and now with an engagement ring, his heart wouldn’t slow down. “Thank you for making me so unbelievably happy. I never knew a single person could feel this way.”

Before Emerald became such an important part of his life, Mercury had not ever experienced the amount of happiness that she brought him. He’d flirted with people, he’d felt crushes before, but not once had he ever experienced a love so real, so strong. His father made sure he didn’t have much human interaction before Mercury killed him, so this happiness was foreign to him in every way.

"I love you, Emerald, I love you more than words can convey."

With that, he stood up, helping her up as well. He then pulled her into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around her waist. With a small laugh, Mercury spun them around before setting her down on the ground again, and pulling back.

"Let me see how it looks on you," he murmured, taking her hand in his again. He gazed at the delicate ring on her finger fondly, and then made eye contact with Emerald.

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

Today was much the same, as they had woken up together and gotten ready for the day. It was yet another day to be filled with training and sparring, helping each other gain new combat skills as well as improve current ones. However, Mercury wasn't quite on top of his game, and while he sparred with Emerald he definitely didn't give his all. He was slow, cautious, and distracted. He repeately got hit by Emerald in situations where he would usually block or dodge, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He had something more important than sparring on his mind. He couldnt stop thinking about Emerald; the way she talked, the way she touched him, the way she loved and cared so deeply it almost made him feel selfish. He was too busy thinking about how much he cared for her in return to notice a punch being sent towards his shoulder, and he stumbled backwards, only to throw out a lazy kick. His heart wasn't in this today. His heart was somewhere else entirely.

He continued to half-ass his fighting style until Emerald grew sick of his antics and confronted him. When she crossed her arms, his eyes softened, and he looked her with an intense feeling of love. In that moment he would have laid down his life for her. The way the sunlight shone off her dark skin, the tiny beads of sweat glistening across her forehead and shoulders, and even the look of worry in her eyes. He drank it all in without hesitation, and sighed.

"Em," he murmured, dropping his fighting stance to stand leaning on one leg. "I'm sorry, I've been... distracted. I can't stop thinking today." Something in him began to get nervous, but he refused to show it. Mercury glanced away for a moment, collecting his thoughts, before making eye contact again.

"Youve been on my mind all morning. I can't... I can't stop thinking about you, as a part of my life. I'm so lucky to have you, Em. You have no idea... I don't think I'd still be here without you. I don't think I'd be alive." He lowered his gaze for a moment, feeling the sadness behind those words. Then, he looked back up.

"You own my heart, Em. I can't think of anything more I'd want from life than to figure it out with you by my side." Mercury pasued, and bit his lip. Then, he slowly lowered himself to the ground, settling on one knee.

He dug through his pocket for a moment and then pulled out a small, grey velvet box. He looked away, and then made eye contact once more.

"I... I've been thinking about you all day. About us... about this." Without any more hesitation, he held the box out and opened it. Inside sat a bright silver ring with an emerald surrounded by two diamonds on it. He had recently upgraded his prosthetics, and he asked for the scrap metal to be saved and given to him. He then took that scrap to a jewelry shop, and asked they make a ring band out of it. He chose the jewels himself, and they made the design a reality for him. He couldn't have been happier with the result.

"I haven't... I wasn't sure... when to bring it up. I've been thinking about it nonstop for days now, and I can't hold onto it any longer." He hesitated, searching her eyes for any look of sadness or distaste.

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

Thoughts of being dragged, being hit, being near-drowned sped through his mind and he waited with baited breath. When he heard Emerald's voice, gentle as it was, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to look at her only once it dawned on him that she was not there to hurt him, she was there to help.

“Emerald,” he rasped, “where did you go?” His confusion had gotten the best of him and he couldn’t recall her promise to return. “Why were you gone?”

When she began to help him out of bed, he sighed, moving slowly so that he didn’t manage to make himself sick once more. He pulled himself close when she wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and walked with her to the bathroom. He happily slumped to the floor, as sitting was much less work than standing upright, but when his partner touched his face, he at least lifted his head to look at her.

His eyes were dull, void of any emotion, but still glassy and soft. He let his head sag down again once she let go of him, and from under his eyebrows he watched her grab the bottle of alcohol from her stuff. He held his breath when she prepared him for the pain, and as soon as she pressed the towel to his leg he hissed, letting out the breath slowly. The pain started to ease after a few seconds, but he could still feel the alcohol working and it made him feel uneasy. He would have to start getting used to being taken care of by Emerald if he wanted to pursue anything with her in the future.

He let her wrap the gauge around his leg without moving, but his breaths were long and slow. When she finished, he shifted in his spot a little bit, and stretched out his leg to test the gauze. It stayed firm, and he pressed it against the wound a little tighter. He looked up when she spoke and grimaced, noticing the medicine she had in her hand. When she gave it to him, he swallowed a couple times, making a disgusted face and turning away. He was thankful for the medicine, but still bitter about having to take it.

Mercury nodded absently at her words, and then gasped when she touched him to pick him up. He glanced away from her, but still wrapped his arm around her shoulder for stability. When she got him into bed, he turned onto his side, using the pressure of the mattress to make his leg wound feel better.

“Emerald,” he began, voice quiet. “Stay with me this time. Get some sleep.”

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

It wasn’t long before the nausea began to set in once more, and he closed his eyes and took a couple long, deep breaths. He swallowed the feeling of wanting to gag, and sat up ever so slowly. When he opened his eyes once more he looked around in alarm. Something wasn’t right, something didn’t feel right. He didn’t recognize the four walls he slept inside and he was alone in this strange room. The details of the room were out of focus, and he felt like the floor was spinning underneath him, but he could easily tell that this was not a familiar place. That realization instilled panic in him.

His heart rate started acting up, and he held his head in his hands. If the headache and nausea didn’t go away soon, he didn’t know what he was going to do. There’s no way for him to protect himself when in a state like this. He carefully slid off the side of the bed, but as soon as he stood up, he almost vomited. His eyes grew wide and he took a couple steps forward, only to be hit by the biggest wave of dizziness and knock himself into the side of the bed. With a groan, he lowered himself to his knees, and thought for a moment.

He wasn’t sure what sort of situation he was in, he couldn’t remember having shown up at this place, in this room. He wasn’t sure what he was safe to do, or where he would go from here. He glanced around the room and his gaze fell on the open bathroom door. He decided that would be the best place to stay while he felt this sick.

If he couldn’t walk, he would crawl. Mercury got down on all fours, letting go of the bed he was using to stabilize himself, and began crawling towards the bathroom. Gods, if anybody had seen him like that he’d have had to kill them, Mercury Black would never crawl on his knees for anything. With the weakness in his body, however, and the nausea, he didn’t trust himself to make it to the bathroom on two legs.

He closed the door behind him and shifted over to the toilet, lifting the lid. He then leaned back against the wall beside it, relishing in the cool touch to his bare back, and sighed. He felt his wounds ache, but he didn’t bother to check on them. Instead, he thought and made the decision that throwing up might be the only thing that would make him feel any better, so he worked on standing up.

Once upright, the wave of nausea hit him like oncoming traffic, and he grasped the edge of the toilet seat with both hands and began to heave. Not any more than last time, it was entirely stomach acid, and by the fourth time he figured he had thrown up enough and fell back onto his knees. A pained groan left his throat as he rested his arms against the seat, and he let himself stay there for some time to recover.

After about five minutes of sitting around, he decided he felt good enough to go lay back down. With the nausea mostly gone, he made to stand up once more and walk himself through the room this time. As soon as he stood and straightened his back, however, he dry heaved twice more over the toilet. Mercury whined and held his stomach, flushing the toilet with the other hand.

Now standing, but without straightening his back, he very slowly and very cautiously made his way back to bed, using everything in his path to keep his balance. He crawled into the uncovered bed and rolled over onto his stomach, and he let out a defeated sigh. He was just considering trying to go back to sleep, when he heard rustling outside the window.

Despite the confusion, he couldn’t bring himself to turn his head and see what was going on. Then, he heard the sounds of Emerald groaning as she worked her ipway through the window, and he remembered. Emerald was with him before. Why had she gone, where was she when Mercury woke up? He figured he could ask.

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

After crawling into bed and huddling under the covers, he let a shiver course through his body. He was starting to warm up, but he just felt uncomfortable in his own skin, and a blanket only could do so much. He made eye contact with Emerald when she knelt down next to him, and his eyebrows furrowed. He was about to ask if she would come to bed as well when she said his name.

Her mention of going to gather supplies concerned him, and he slipped his hand out from under the covers to grab her hand, in an attempt to keep her there.

"Emerald, you can't," he started, voice raspy. "I don't need anything like that, I just need to sleep, and I need you here. I'll heal eventually, and you need sleep too. " He paused, glancing away for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "Plus... neither of us have any money, and I don't want you to steal for my sake." He almost didn't want to say that, because he was sure she would argue, but he still didn't like the idea.

When she had kissed his forehead, he felt her warm skin make him shiver once more, and he closed his eyes. He felt entirely unlike himself, but he used it as an excuse to say his next words out loud.

"I don't want to be alone."

Though he kept his voice a whisper, he opened his eyes to search desperately for Emerald's reaction. He didn't want to worry her, but by the gods he did not want to be left alone in this state.

Despite how hard he fought to keep his eyes open, exhaustion and his aching body were lulling him into a sleep state. His eyes flickered open every so often to find something to focus on, but they would close just as fast. The comfort of having a warm bed only made matters more difficult, and he eventually let the hand holding Emerald's relax and fall. "Please," he murmured, "be here when I wake up."

He drifted off and stopped fighting his body, letting himself fall into a fitful slumber. At least, he figured, he wouldn't have to spend the next few hours feeling sick and achy. He seemed to toss and turn a lot while he rested, something he rarely ever did, but it never woke him up. His breathing was slow and rhythmic, only interrupted by a sigh every so often.

✰ hazel topaz sustrai-black: ✰

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

He hated that sight, the visual of Emerald looking so beyond worried about him. He hated anyone worrying about him, but in this situation it was made worse by the fact that she still had her own problems to attend to. He swallowed roughly when she talked about getting him to the bathroom, and his cheeks turned a very light pink. Had she just called him "hon"?

Shaking that thought away, he let her lead him to the bathroom. He felt like he was swaying on his feet — which, he was — and he wasn't very confident in his footsteps. They made it to thw bathroom, however, and he very willingly accepted the offer to sit down. He watched Emerald kneel to his level and he held her eye contact with heavy eyelids. Her hand felt cool againat hia forehead, and he shivered almost violently. The mixture of the cold porcelain of the tub, the cool air, and finally her fingers against his skin, all made him feel a deep chill. He instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, careful not to rip open the wound on his arm.

That reminded him to do a quick check of his major wounds, and he looked down at himself. His arm seemed to be handling the open air well enough, but as soon as he looked down at his thigh his eyes widened. The deeper wound there was bright red and enflamed, and he carefully brought his hand down to touch the skin around it. It was hot to the touch, quite hot in fact, and he just stared at it for a second. Had he really managed to let this injury get infected?

Without much further consideration, Mercury sighed. "Emerald it's definitely infected," he began, gesturing towards his leg. He could see where the edge of the metal prosthetic had been rubbing into the wound, leaving that area even more agitated than the rest of it. He looked back up at his partner and his stomach churned with another wave of nausea.

He shut his eyes tightly and grabbed onto the side of the tub, knukles going white from how hard he was gripping it. He needed something to help him feel steady, and sitting unbalanced on the tub didn't help much. This time, however, the nausea refused to subside, and he swallowed a couple times to once again fight the urge to throw up. His attempts only got him so far, and he pushed Emerald out of the way and moved the the toilet, where he knelt down and started throwing up.

He had retched three or four times before he lifted his head up, and he glanced down in front of him. All he'd had in his stomach was the natural acids, and his throat burned from the taste. His back muscles ached from how he vomited, and he drew in heavy breaths to fight the urge to throw up again.

After a good long minute, he started to feel a little bit better, and he rested his arm down on the toilet seat. He laid his head down on his arm, and reached up with his other hand to flush the bile down.

"Good call..."

Mercury still felt cold, now sitting on the bathroom floor. He grabbed the last clean full size towel and draped it over his own shoulders as a half hearted attempt to keep himself warm.

He hated just how responsible he felt for all this — the escape, the pressure, getting caught — and he wasn’t sure whether or not they were all going to be killed today. He knew, at the very least, their punishments would be severe, if not impossible to come back from. His nerves were tight and his shoulders tense, but he attempted to keep his calm demeanor about him. He would kill without a second thought, but the idea of having to watch his partner get killed for betrayal would hurt him more than he could express. He hoped, if anything, that he would go first.

He didn’t want to think too deeply about that condition, because the thought of mixing love and pain together didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t bring the topic up again.

Her words of adoration felt like phoenix tears, as if magically healing his wounds and bringing him peace once more. Phoenix tears, just like love, was something he only thought existed in fairytales. Perhaps he would meet one soon, just as surprisingly as he’d found love.

His peculiar thoughts were interrupted by Emerald moving towards him, and he blinked in surprise as she pressed her lips to his. It only took a moment for him to melt into the kiss, though, and he leaned forward as well to relieve some of her strain. His lips moved ever so slowly against hers, kissing two or three times before she pulled away. When he opened his eyes again, he noticed her deep blush had returned, and he gave her a sleepy smirk.

“Actually,” he started, running his thumb over his lip, “that was quite enjoyable.” His smirk softened into a smile, and he held out his hand and grabbed hers. “Plus, we have nowhere to go but up, and lots of time to practice.” That side smirk returned just as quickly as it had left.

When she invited him to finally go back to bed, he nodded repeatedly. She was right, he was exhausted, after everything they’d been through in the last 24 hours he was practically begging the gods to let him sleep. He was quite certain that Emerald needed her sleep as well, in order to properly start the healing process and take care of herself.

Standing up slowly, as to make sure that the wound on his thigh wouldn’t start bleeding again, Mercury held out his arm and helped Emerald to her feet. His eyelids dropped in ways he didn’t much like, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. His wounds were going to start itching soon if he didn’t catch some sleep.

He led her back to bed, flipping off the bathroom light as they left, and crawled in one side. He couldn’t bring himself to care about the bloodstained sheets, he simply needed to rest for a few hours and recoup. He laid down on his back and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders, as a sign that he wasn’t going to wait to fall asleep. Without much thought, he searched for Emerald’s hand beneath the covers and took it in his own.

“Goodnight, Em...” Soon enough, he had fallen asleep.

When he opened his eyes once again, the room was flooded with sunlight. He squinted his eyes, and a sharp wave of nausea settled over him. He sat bolt upright to keep from throwing up all over the floor beside the bed, and swallowed repeatedly. A pained groan left his lips as the room started to go a little blurry. His quick movements had made him feel a little off, but he laid himself back down against the pillows once the nausea had subsided.