Emerald stared into the base of the campfire, watching the flames wrap embrace the charring logs and dance atop them, masking Cinder's scowl from her view. But she it knew was there, from both the curiosity that rolled off Mercury as he watched and from the brief glances Cinder sent her way in between the flames.

She clutched her hands together and slid off the stump she was sitting on, trying to sink herself further into the ground and hide behind the fire. She winced, the soreness in her thighs coming back in full force when she shifted down onto the ground—the product of spending long hours in the saddle as they tracked her former 'friend'.

Ruby Rose. Begrudgingly, Emerald had started to like their false friendship. It offered a breath of fresh air from her usual company, even if it took some time getting used to. Part of her relished it, being able to act like a normal student—a normal person—and get a small taste of the life she missed out on.

And now here they were, hunting them down by burning villages.

Create fear, attract the grimm. Attract the grimm, draw the hunters. It was a foolproof plan and so long as they stayed ahead of their prey, it would keep their prey in a constant shortage of supplies as well.

And it was brutal in every sense of the word. To destroy village after village just to keep a few students running for their lives. Emerald hoped that Cinder was following orders to not kill them yet, lest she be doing it for her own amusement.

But it didn't matter why, that's what Emerald had realized just before they razed their most recent target.

Emerald flicked on her scroll and stared at the wall of text that was already pulled up. A news article, surely the same one that Cinder was reading now:

'Two young boys survive devastating attack: warned by stranger'

Emerald's skin burned under Cinder's glare. She broke into a sweat as her racing heart grew louder in her ears. She hadn't planned on warning anybody about the attack and she never did it for the other villages. But she wasn't like Cinder—she couldn't watch these people walk into their deaths and not feel anything. And she certainly didn't like doing it. She wasn't Mercury.

She always felt something, but before it was anger. Those people in Vale didn't know what it was like to scrounge up a living out of nothing, to risk her well-being for a chance to eat.

But out here, outside the kingdoms, they did. They had to earn luxury they've ever known, and those two kids she met by accident did too. Until then, it had been a long time since she felt sympathy for anyone.

"Mercury, join me," Cinder said, her voice hard and strained. Emerald dug her hands deeper into the dirt when she finally met Cinder's gaze and it erased any doubt in her mind that she didn't connect the dots.

"Yeah, in a few."

Cinder went to retort but stopped herself short, seeing one of his feet unscrewed and sitting next to him as he cleaned out the mud from it.

Emerald squeezed a fistful of gravel, trying to use the mild pain to calm herself as she watched Cinder retreat into her low pitched tent.

Her instincts screamed at her to act, and they'd never let her down before. One chance, that's all she'd have and it was now. Whatever Cinder was doing, it would decide her future and surely not for the better.

"This is it," she said to herself and she concentrated on her aura, willing her semblance to manifest itself.

"What?" Mercury glanced over at her as he locked in his foot.

"Oh, hey Cinder," Emerald said as she started Mercury's hallucination. She plastered a fake smile on her face and turned her head to greet the illusion of Cinder walking over to Mercury before it whispered a few brief words to him. He nodded along, agreeing to talk tomorrow instead when Emerald cut it short before he could respond and willed Cinder's image to retreat back into the tent.

She stood up, double checking that Mercury still saw her image sitting against the tree stump, and approached Cinder's tent from the back.

Crouching low against it, she could to hear Cinder's quite cursing from inside before the hallucination over to Cinder as well. She felt her aura pull in the two directions, splitting itself to accommodate Cinder as well.

She glanced at her hands, seeing Mercury's instead. She remembered when this used to give her a splitting headache and she couldn't keep it up for more than a half a minute at a time. That was just before she met Cinder—before the semblance and aura training she went through, the sleepless nights because of the pain. Emerald would've back out then if she had anywhere else to go, and Cinder always was good with soothing her worries at the time.

But now she screwed it up and would have to face the other end of Cinder's wrath.

The tent flap flung open and a clawed hand went for her throat.

"You mind?" Emerald said, fighting her reflexes and putting up a facade of calmness that defined Mercury for her. Mercury wouldn't flinch at the attack, so she couldn't either.

"Be quiet, and don't think of doing that again."

"Don't think, got it." Emerald shivered as she sat down on the ground across from Cinder, hunched over and letting the Mercury's image surround her. She was silently thankful that it was Mercury's personality that she'd have to fake to make it believable, and not somebody else. "So, what's got you in a tizzy?"

"This." Cinder threw down her scroll so the headline was taking up the entire screen. "Emerald doesn't have what it takes. I should've realized it when Vale fell, and now it's leaving loose ends."

"She always seemed loyal though, no?"

"What, because I bought her food? Loyalty is worthless, you should know that. Especially hers."

"Obedience is what matters—I know, you've told us before."

"Precisely, and she's clearly lost it. That rat's always been clingy, I should've known she couldn't handle this." Cinder picked the scroll up again and flicked down a few pages into the article, rereading a portion to herself.

"You always said fear works best for obeying. Just scare it back into her. Easy, no?"

"No, it's not. That's not real fear. They have to fear a worse death than anything they can imagine—Emerald is already too comfortable for that."

"You sure? I'm sure she'd—"

"Don't doubt me. Emerald's weak, she born weak and she'll always be the same. If she already feels pity for somebody, then that won't change. It's a loose end, an unknown, and I hate those."

"You're sure it's her, though, right? In the article." Emerald tensed when Cinder twisted her head towards her and moved to slap Mercury's image. She shot up her hand to make a dismissive gesture, hiding her fear that it'd shatter the illusion. "Alright, it was her. But it was one village, are you sure it wasn't a mistake or something? She's never done this before."

"It doesn't matter," Cinder said, lowering her hand but breathing heavily to control her anger. "I can't trust her now, so she's worthless to me. I'm decided in that, now I just have to see it through."

Emerald winced as a wicked grin spread over Cinder's lips, one she had rarely seen before. She had to take a moment to steel herself and stop her voice from shaking. "And that's where I come in?"

"Oh, hardly. I'll take care of her. I just need you to make sure nobody interferes. And dispose the body, of course."

A lumped welled up in Emerald's throat and she blinked away the water in her eyes. Getting killed for helping people was never part of the plan. She didn't sign up for that when she met Cinder, she'd rather have stayed on the streets—at least there she could survive.

"Don't look so surprised, Mercury," Cinder said, studying the illusion of him for several seconds. "You're Marcus's son, surely you're experienced with that."

"Of course. Did they ever find Tuscon?"

"Excellent point. Now please, I don't want to keep you from your maintenance," Cinder said, glancing down at his crossed legs and dismissing him with a wave.

Emerald complied, trembling as she struggled to stand but thankful that the illusion held strong. "When will this happen? Or will you tell me before?" Emerald forced the words out, forcing her composure as Cider gave her a long stare.

"That doesn't concern you."

"Right." Emerald duck out of the tent and let the entrance fall, releasing her grasp on Cinder's mind as soon as she could. She slumped against a tree, her heart pounding in her head louder than ever, and forced down the urge to vomit. Cinder wanted her dead. Her mentor, the person who she had looked up to and admired for literally year, decided that she was worthless. Not even good enough to live.

She staggered forward towards the campfire, towards Mercury cleaning, out his other foot, and her hammock that swung lazily between two trees. She just had to make it back to where her other illusion was, huddled against the stump, and take its place. Then could figure this out. Maybe excuse herself for the bathroom and just start running. But to where? There were only two villages nearby, and they had already razed one of them to the ground.

Emerald stumbled to the low stump where her illusion sat motionless. She fell down hard against the stump, not even bothering to imitate her image's position before she let the illusion fall away, silently grateful that Mercury was too engrossed in his own maintenance to notice when the illusion flicked away.

Any other time she did that, Cinder would berate her. Call it sloppy, and make her practice it again. Imitating her image, down to the tilt of her head, so she could take its place was one her many fond memories with Cinder—now tainted with fear and betrayal. Had Cinder really not cared about her? Was she that disposable? She wasn't one of Roman's thugs, Cinder had trained her to be better than that. Cinder took a pickpocket and turned her into a "master thief", as she and Mercury used to joke.

Emerald knew how to survive, but Cinder gave her a reason to. She made Emerald feel like she was worth something, teaching Emerald everything she knew.

But that's what Cinder needed at the time. Somebody who could do her dirty work under the guise of teaching. That was before Cinder could flatten a village without breaking a sweat. That was when Cinder needed an apprentice—that was before.

Emerald glanced over at Mercury, who was cradling one of his prosthetics in his arms and cleaning out the barrel that ran through its center. She sighed and willed herself to stand, bracing herself against a tree as the immobilizing fear ebbed away and her mind scrambled for solutions. Her hands grasped the edge of her hammock when a new wave of adrenaline surged through her. The sound came again—the soft ruffling of canvas from behind her. She twisted around to see Mercury looking up, and further around to Cinder, half out of the tent and staring at her.

"Mercury. I thought you'd be done," she said, restraining her voice as the flame of the campfire reflected in her eyes.

"Why? You said we'd talk tomorrow—" Mercury jolted back, cut off when a tight ball of flames shot past his face and scorched the trees behind Emerald.

Cinder covered the distance before Emerald could stand back up, letting out a frustrated grunt when her prey rolled out of reach.

Pain shot through Emerald's arm and a distinctive 'pop' met her ears, stopping her meager lunge before it could connect. Cinder slid the bladed pistol out of Emerald's hand and tightened her grip around the broken arm.

A sharp pull on the wrist and Emerald was on the ground. She writhed, trying to wrench herself free as Cinder pressed her down and reached a hand forward.

"It won't happen—" Emerald couldn't get any more out before thin, unyielding fingers grabbed hold of her throat.

"Only if you die. I've tolerated you for far too long."

Emerald grasped at the ground, squeezing a fistful of dirt and lurching forward with it.

Cinder laughed and spat out some of the dirt flung at her, only to have her iron grip twisted away in her moment of surprise.

Burning embers seared into Emerald's back as Cinder kicked up the burning logs and sent her staggering. Her vision blurred as she pitched forward over the stump she was sitting on not minutes ago. The crunching of Cinder's footsteps drew closer and louder in her ears.

She couldn't run, she couldn't fight. She'd seen Cinder's rage enough times that she knew it would only make it worse for her. Anything but dying immediately would, and that simply wasn't Emerald.

Heavy footsteps joined in from behind her. Mercury's casual, albeit very confused, voice stopped Cinder's advance—prolonging her fate if only for a moment. She couldn't make out their words. She didn't try. She knew what they were saying, and she knew Mercury well enough to know he'd barely care. He was along for the ride, after all. His presence was always by his own choice.

Emerald blinked away her tears before she closed her eyes, focusing on the flow of her aura one last time. Most of it gathered around the fractures in her arm while the rest was spread across her back. She bit her tongue to keep herself from screaming as she forced it away from her wounds. A fresh wave of pain racked her body and blood trickled into her mouth from where she was biting down. Her body screamed in protest as she wrestled her aura for control.

The footsteps came back, quick and resolved. Cinder stopped next to the limp body, jamming her heel into Emerald's side and waiting for a response. She stepped back, observing for a full minute until she was satisfied that Emerald hadn't moved.

"Mercury, turn her over."

Two strong hands slid under her, rolling Emerald onto her side, and then flat on her back.

Mercury frowned, inspecting her head for a moment. "She took a stick to the neck, no joke."

He stepped away for Cinder to see as well, who remained doubtful despite the splinter of wood, as thick as her thumb, protruding out of Emerald's neck.

"Pull it out," she said, keeping the glowing flame in her palm at the ready.

"Nope. You did this one, you got it."

Cinder sent him a slight glare but complied, instead sending another sharp kick into Emerald's rib cage with a resounding crack.

Emerald stiffened as a new wave of pain flooded through her, tightening her throat to stop herself from crying out as tears of pain washed away her sweat.

She followed Cinder with her eyes while keeping the illusion's shut, watching Cinder inspect the shrapnel in her image's neck. Her side burned in pain as she let her breath out slowly and focused on maintaining the illusion, parting her lips to let the growing pool of blood in her mouth spill out.

"I think she's through, Cinder."

Emerald took immediate note of Mercury's tone—bored, and laced with tiredness. A new burning sensation rose up in her chest, but this time of rage. Had neither of them cared at all about her? She and Mercury had spent years together, going through the same training and hardships and successes. But was that, the only real friendship she had made in years, also a farce? Some sick ploy to keep her around until she was useless? Had she misunderstood Mercury's laughter and joking as tolerating her, and not at least a mild friendship?

Emerald stopped herself from winching as a soft finger brushed over her chin and wiped away some of the wetness that had trickled down from her mouth and onto her neck.

Blood. Cinder stood back up and smeared it between her fingers until she was satisfied that it was real. She looked back down to Emerald after a moment and grinned.

"She really died from a stick. Pathetic, though fitting."

Emerald blinked furiously, trying the fend off the blackness that was seeping into the edges of her vision. Cinder's and Mercury's voices turned into distant murmurs as her consciousness slipped away and strong hands wrapped around her arms.

Another jolt of pain hit her as her body crushed down on her limp arm. She nearly twisted around, but froze when a small grunt came from behind her.

It was Mercury. They'd spent enough time stuck together for her to recognize it. She heard the rustling of canvas as well, and put two and two together when her only change of clothes fell in front of her in a pile. He was going through her bag, likely to pick out anything that'd be useful or trace back to them before ditching it along with her body. A few more things came out before he dumped the rest on the forest floor and rifled through it with his foot.

Emerald cringed as a small braided band, red and black, bounced towards her and landed on its side. A bracelet. A gift from Ruby after week or two into their pseudo-friendship and one of the few things she carried without any intrinsic value.

She saw Mercury reach down and shove a few things from the pile back into the bag before turning and walking away.

Two minutes passed. Then four. Then ten. Emerald counted them away in her mind as she listened for any sign that they were still nearby. Only when she reached twenty did she she risk reaching an arm out of the small ditch and to her pile of belongings. She quickly found the woolen blanket at the bottom of the pile and ripped open its bag, tossing it open and rolling herself in it as the darkness of night drove away the last light of dusk.