RWBY Through Worlds

168: The Powerless

One more significant incident that happened before they left the next day was that Ruby finally decided to approach Mercury about the Silver Eyes.

He was not happy when she did so.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. "Why don't you go swing your scythe at some monsters?"

Ruby wasn't sure why Mercury annoyed her so much. She was normally pretty tolerant of people's rudeness--maybe it was just that he struck her as so different from both her and her mom. How could they have something in common like this?

"Listen, you jerk!" she said, "I didn't want to do this either. But I got a prophecy from some lady who I know better than to ignore, and Shine and Wally told me the same thing. I'm trying to be smart here. If I don't help you, we could die. So why don't you stop being selfish for, like, two minutes of your life and at least hear me out!"

Mercury, who was reading a comic at the time, sat up more to give her a surprised look.

Emerald, who was spying on this from around a bookcase, choked back a laugh.

"Hey, calm down, chipmunk," Mercury said. "Whatever the prophet told you, I'm sure it's not that serious."

"You wouldn't know--you weren't there." Ruby crossed her arms. "Besides, aren't you at all curious about it? You have Silver Eyes!" She gestured widely. "That's a very rare thing. You and I might be the only ones in the whole world right now."

"That's a claim to fame I never wanted," Mercury said. "I didn't even know I had these till a few days ago. I wish I could take them back."

"But they're a gift!" Ruby cried. "You can protect people with them."

"Oh, and you always see it that way?" Mercury shot back. "With that creep Callows hunting you, and Salem turning people into Hounds? Like what happened to your mom."

Emerald wanted to strangle him.

Ruby almost saw red instead of silver.

But she choked down her anger.

After a moment of considering it, she reflected that Mercury might have some legitimate reason to think this way, knowing about the Hound... Not like she hadn't thought the same thing.

Why did hearing it from him make her so mad? [I find that hearing my own fears echoed by someone else makes me angry also.]

After a long pause, she said more evenly, "I have thought about that, sometimes. But I've also been reminded that I have a gift, for better or worse, that can protect my friends and family, at least from Grimm. I can't just get rid of it--at least, it isn't worth it to. And if there was a time when having Silver Eyes would have saved someone, and I couldn't, because I had given them up, I'd never forgive myself. You can try not to use them, if you don't want to, but I'm not sure you can always do that...but we're going to go into the land of Grimm, and this time, you won't be protected by working for Salem. You don't think you might, at some point, want to protect someone and need those Eyes? We have no idea what kind of Grimm will be waiting for us."

She got to him a little more there.

Mercury sighed. "I do have some idea. This plan sucks."

"But you're coming."

"Well, I don't have much of a choice."

"You do have a choice!" Ruby said. "There has to be some reason you're choosing to go."

"Why is this so important?" Mercury said.

"Because I can't figure out how you possibly can have Silver Eyes!" Ruby burst out, finally provoked into speaking her mind. "They activate because of love, hope, wanting to protect someone. And you've only ever wanted to hurt the people I know, and you don't act like you care. But somehow you activated them. Because of Emerald."