The room was a dark hole on Beacons College campus. Shades pulled down for privacy and overhead lights that were never turned on, the only place consistently darker was photography clubs little hole in the wall. Even when the lone lamp was turned on, there wasn't much to show. One corner of the room was a half-organized closet full of vaguely identical outfits, a well-used toolbox, a cluttered desk, with only room for a temporarily absent laptop plus a requisite space for food. Two corners had beds, one with a tangled nest of sheets and the other barren except for the packed gym bag thrown on top. The last corner, aside from being the room's unofficial portcullis, was taken up by a rap shod rig made to support a punching bag. Once bright red, then turned blue by the tape holding it together, the bag was already fading in color once again just from regular usage. Just like the oddly placed tennis ball hanging from the ceiling.

A comfortable room, in a Spartan way, who took its' peace largely by lacking a human presence. A fact that changed as the door got opened by a hard shove from one ebony shoulder, a kick at the base, and obligatory curses at the lock's inevitable sticking.

"Merc, get up. We need to talk." But the room was silent to Emerald's plea. "Fuck."

Thankfully, her target didn't have too many places on campus that he regularly visited. The business department building, but he only went there for classes or to whine about the crowds. The gym, but he only went before breakfast or after dinner. Dining hall, but 3:20 was too weird for dinner even for him. Which left just one place for her to head to.

"Merc, get up. Mercury wake up." Her kicks ignored in favor of an obnoxiously loud snore. "Mercury Black, you idiot, get up. We both know you're awake and don't snore like that. So, get up, or so help me I'll drop my back pack on you. Not like brain damage will make anything worse."

The idiot in question opened his eyes finally, but made no move to get up from the bean bag chair. "Oh. Geez. Em, whenever did you get here." He said with the same amount of inflection one might have over an extremely bland, unbuttered piece of toast. "What's up?"

"I got a letter from the scholarship program, you'll have one too. They say we have to join a club or we won't meet the scholarship's social requirements. Club fair is today, we're going, we're signing up for something now."

"Whatever, I'm already in Judo club."

"Doesn't count. Judo is just you and that blind kid beating each other up couple times a week. School says you need to beat up at least 2 people and meet their safety standards."

"It's perfectly safe."

"No, you're both just idiots with a pain tolerance. Now come on or I'll drag your ass over there."

"Fine, fine." Mercury gave her a wave of reluctant acceptance and stood up so he could tower over Emerald. His chin just below the crest of her green bob cut. Grey eyes fixing on her red glares with a steady gaze that unnerved most people who met him. For an old 'friend' like Emerald, it told her he was serious when he added "Let's go."

Not that they had far to go. The club fair in question was right outside Mercury's last hiding place, the library. Where both silence and good Wi-Fi could be found at any college, outside of exam weeks. A fact he had test at his previous 3 colleges as well, and then quickly capitalized here at beacon after discovering his neighbors' perchance for loud music.

Opening the doors, the 2 of them couldn't help but stand out a little. Em tried to blend in with tank top to match her hair, dusty brown capris, and comfortable sandals, but she still was a transfer student with too much weariness in her eyes for the average student. Merc compounded this with a lanky 5'10" build that made him look like a giant to many. Plus while Emerald could hide behind a practiced smile, Mercury had two facial expressions; a smirk like he was ready to kick your ass any second and a neutral expression that showed intense focus, the kind that made his smirks 100% honest. Every step he took had too much balance, too much confidence, like everywhere he went he expected a fight to break out and he would be damned if he wasn't ready for exactly that. Throw in the fact that he wore fingerless gloves and what people swore were a real set of vambraces, meant that people tended to give him looks behind his back. If anything, he should be thanking Emerald for making him look normal. Or she should thank him for giving him four feet of clearance wherever he went.

Passing by Fox's table, he gave it a couple knocks to say hello, only for the guy to talk for once, surprisingly. "What would it take for you to help me recruit for the Judo club?"

"Fox, the only person worse at recruiting than you is me."

"Well I'd only pay up if it worked, so currently nothing to lose."

"Fine, your money, or time in this case. I'd want a favor, a good one."

"Deal. Any chance you could find someone who's actually good at this shit?"

"Now that's just impossible." Mercury turned away, perfectly aware that neither of them were in the club for small talk and that neither of them were good at it anyways. Emerald had already moved on, apparently, theatre club had something of interest to her. Which left him to find a club still, maybe pick up a favor in the process. No point in video game club because they always hog the controllers and whine about cheaters. Business club was for fake stock portfolios, which either meant losing or spending all day researching like a real class. Dance club would almost be funny, but people tended to think the worst of him without surrounding him with scantily clad girls. Nerf club could be fun with the right people, but given who tabled for them that seemed unlikely. So instead he did the obvious thing for a person with his temperament.

He was a simple man. He saw swords, he went over to see what's what.

"Ren, right?"

That made the one Asian guy turn around. "Yeah?"

"I got a bet going with Fox that I can get someone to join Judo. You said you did some Kung-Fu, right?"

"Tai-chi."

"It'll work. My dad had me train with some Tai-chi sifu for a while. Good stuff if you know what you're doing."

"This seems dangerous."

"We have a perfect safety record."

Ren gave a side long glance like he was thinking about it, but his answer had the tone of someone who had figured out his own loophole. "Sure, I'll join Judo if you join Fencing."

Well, Mercury had to admit to himself he was getting out of shape. Moving to Beacon had destroyed his old training regime. Plus, it was one thing to convince people he was unstoppable, it was another to be unstoppable in real life. Fencing would at least give him some more ways to keep up his training, maybe spend a little more time with weapon training. Something he usually avoided since people tended to relate him with more criminal versions of using them. Somewhat ironic considering his record. But all he had to do was show up every now and then, stay on a club members list for a year until he finally graduated. Easy enough. "Sign me up then."

"First meeting will be on Wednesday."

"All right then."

Mercury had already started walking when he noticed that two girls were gearing up. Away from the rest of the club tables, on a little grassy knoll where they could safely brandish two thin slivers of metal. Difficult to make out thanks to the sun in his eyes, the swords were practically invisible. All it took was for the taller girl to give her thigh a slap and both were moving.

Training back home, he could move fast. Ask him to move through a crowd and he could do it at close to full running speed. Tell him to maneuver around a mob drill and he could stay fluid enough that he made action movies look slow and un-choreographed. With fencing, it was like two freight trains. Both girls moving towards each other. Footwork that was practically the mirror of his own, but now it was forced into a linear plane. Contained into a line made it a torrent, two rivers pointed at each other for two slashes that were faster than almost anything. In his head, he remembered one of those top 10 lists, fun facts from the summer Olympics. The fastest single thing in the Olympics was the shooting event. Second fastest was in Sabre. Which he was pretty sure was what he was watching. Because he could slip punches for hours. Had slipped punches for hours in fact. The Sabre's were faster and that, that was almost scary.

The match was short, the result was unknown to him, and the oddest thing happened. Right at the end, when the two girls took off their masks they revealed a brunette with red highlights and youthful smile that made her look like a freshman, and a blonde whose grin seemed flushed from the match. Both conventionally attractive in their own respective ways, and both just as quickly ignored as any number of 'pretty' girls he had met at Shade, at Haven, even his short stint at Atlas.

Then he heard Blondie say something different. "Anyone up for another match?"

And dammit, he couldn't stop himself from taking a second look at her.

VAV

V

"Hey, where are you off to?"

Emerald was propped up on his rooms spare bed, the one that was supposed to be for the roommate he was never assigned. Instead it had unofficially, and with certain reluctance on his part, become her place whenever Cinder kicked her out of there room or she just wanted to hang out in one of the few room's on campus that never needed to be locked to deny entry to even the most curious of college students.

"Out."

"You don't go out." Emerald said with all the confidence of the facts being on her side.

"Course I do."

"Let me correct that. You only go outside when you want to walk while you do your brooding stranger act."

"Well, I have to. The clubs, remember.?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you of all people would actually attend."

"I have to, otherwise I won't get on their member's list."

"Well that sucks. What did you end up signing on for?"

"Fencing."

"Pfffft". Her cheeks bulging as the picture of restraint she claimed to be. Well, try not to put any of them in the hospital."

Unfortunately, Mercury's only response to Emerald's shit-eating grin was to shrug and leave her there in his room. Making his way to a small corner of the gym where he found what could politely be called the eclectic group. Every school he had been to, high school and college, had at least one. The group of would be loners who banded together because they were willing to look past the little oddities and liked to think of themselves as 'inclusive Merry Men. He gave it two weeks before they pushed him out for being the resident psycho student. Again, kind of ironic, but it would still beat the old record. Barring that old exception of course.

"Mercury, didn't think you'd show up."

"I said I would." He responded, turning toward Ren only to catch himself almost tripping over a pair of crutches. "What the hell?"

"Sorry, still getting used to these. Broke my leg yesterday doing something stupid."

Mercury had a couple questions for a statement like that, but his indifference left most of them unsaid. "I take it you're not joining Judo then."

"Not this semester, but I'll probably be sending some people your way." Which translated to him not getting that favor from Fox, fuck.

"Hey guys, glad to see a good turnout." The Blondie had showed up wearing brown cargo shorts that weren't skinny and yet still seemed quite solid underneath, and an old t-shirt from some old zombie charity run that had the look of a few too many training sessions behind it. Followed by the short brunette in her shadow, with her face buried in an engineering textbook and the rest of her hidden by an outsized red hoodie. Both of their shoulders were occupied by long bags that clanked as they walked with the sound all to reminiscent of a bag of knives and other weapons. Also reason enough for him to also be reminded that whoever this girl was, she had a great ass for the bag to rest against. "For those of you who don't know me I'm the club president and Epee sword captain. Looks like we have some new people, so let's grab the gear and head over to the courts to get started. We can do introductions there."

The only other person with a fancy bag was the tall redhead amazon on the other side of the room, the rest digging through a packed club closet until Mercury was saddled with a white jacket, its sleeves too short of course; a mask, that never stopped getting in the way; and a trash can full of swords. To be fair, Ren tried to help with the last part, but Mercury was already resigned to not liking this and preferred to just throw it over his shoulder and start trudging towards the back of the gym. Because apparently, basketball courts were the closest thing this school had to real training areas.

Letting the can drop, and ignoring a sound that reminded him too keenly of past accidents, Mercury did his best to keep his face neutral as he turned to fix his eyes on Blondie for a second time. This time going for those lilac eyes and willing her to back down. She didn't wither away from his stare, just passed it over like his face was the exact same as all the other club members as she yelled out to the group. "Alright, we start with warmups. Five laps around, and then we'll do some stretches."

Fine by Mercury. He gave them a lap to see people's placement. Blondie and the Redhead took the lead easy enough, while the brunette he suspected was her sister hung out in the back with a blonde guy who looked like didn't eat enough of his Pumpkin Petes. Ren was off to the side, and the middle was dominated by a snob, a bookworm, and a ginger amazon wannabe who looked like she had come straight from some other sports practice. But the middle of the pack were not even beginners by his standards, and as soon as that second lap started he left them all behind. Not sprinting, but his jogging speed put trained runners to shame and they didn't have much of a chance.

Or at least they shouldn't have. Yet there was certainly one person doing their level best to keep up judging by the sound of feet slapping the pavement. And when that last lap started and he was sprinting for real, whoever they were sounded almost like they were catching up.

Turning that last bend, putting that full effort to make it back to the finish line left him with lungs burning hard. A sure reminder that he really did need to train more. It also gave him the chance to finally see who had kept up.

"Sorry, I'm Yang. Forgot to introduce myself."

The blondie was there, panting harder than him, but no doubt about it. She had to have been close behind him. And if anything, her grin seemed to be wider than when she had been just jogging. He'd have to lie if he said his interested wasn't piqued at that. Not too many people smile over losing. "Mercury."

"I've seen you around campus."

"It's the armor. Tends to make me stand out."

"Probably. Ever fenced before?"

"No, but I figure it can't be any harder than a real fight."

"I'd imagine not." It wasn't condescending, questioning, if anything it seemed like frank agreement. Again, something weird about her. She shot him one last grin before peeling away so that she could catch people as they finished the laps. "Drink water and circle up for stretches."

He learned a few other things that night. Epee stretch means to lie back, take a nap. The fencing stance was his usual fighting stance, except the back foot was kept ninety degrees in the other direction. Which made sense considering this was one of the few times he really couldn't use all eight limbs and didn't have anyone flanking him. The bladed stance made sense, but it didn't take long for a different issue to come up. With the white-haired snob keen to make sure that his shoulders were perfectly parallel with the lines on the basketball court, there wasn't a problem until the nerves in his legs flared up. The kind of pain that hurt more than getting punched in the head, or a knife in the hand. In fact, it was remarkably like the feeling of boiling grease covering his thigh from where the prosthetics never quite connected properly to one leg's nervous system.

Left him two choices. Either spend a year having to ignore high levels of plain. Which he could do no problem, if you ignored the added symptom of increased bloodlust that usually came with pointed ignorance. Or he could just switch his stance and fence left handed.

With the practice over, Mercury found himself carrying the trash can once more and mentally berating whoever said he'd need the jacket and mask that they hadn't worn all practice and were even now throwing off his balance. His only thought was that the night hadn't sucked completely. It wasn't the greatest of training physically, but 3 days a week, two hour practices, couldn't hurt. Couple of the club members were ok, couple were assholes, but nothing compared to him so he would deal with that. Keep the scholarship, keep relatively in shape, nothing to worry about. And he was content to leave it at that, until he noticed a pack leader lagging behind from her pack with a look in her eye pointed at him.

"So… what'd you think?"

"That my leg is acting up and I'm going to need to fence lefty if I keep coming."

She didn't look at his legs, which was people's usual reaction to something like that. Instead she just kept that grin on her face and her tone light hearted as always. "Still going to keep coming then?"

"I think so."

"Glad to hear that. Can I ask why?"

Mercury fixed her with another look, letting himself get a full picture of a woman who looked more comfortable with a sword on her back and face flushed from a bout than anywhere else in the world. One who kept up with him running, finished a match covered in sweat and then asked for one more, and even though he got the distinct impression she didn't like leading, none of that impression had slowed her down over these last 2 hours. Never the kind of guy who let others control his life or wasted time on what he saw as pointless romance, that didn't stop him tonight when he found himself instead staring at her with a touch to much fondness for his own comfort. He knew one answer he could give that would be true, the kind of truth that people told him was good until he said it and got suspended from school. Or, as a thoroughly trained liar, he knew the much safer half-truth. "I'm a little out of shape these days."

VAV

V

*My only other big project was Bailey's and Coffee, Dark Bitter Brew having issues due to having a slow and finicky plot, and I like to think people enjoyed B&C for the same reason I did. It was simply a happy place for writer and reader to go to when the day got tiring. In that respect, this will be closer to B&C than DBB. However, it's also a fix fic of sort, meaning that characters will be OOC for reasons that have everything to do with someone who will likely never read this. Probably kick my ass if they did. *

*Mercury, for reasons, is a more redeeming asshole. Yang is a 'fencer who's a woman' while her canon I would describe more as a 'woman who's a boxer'; and also doesn't have a prosthetic even though usually that's one of the regular details for this ship even in AUs; for other reasons. Reasons that include the fact she will never wear a dress and Mercury wears vambraces in the AU, despite making him stand out even more. Honestly, all the characters are screwy and no, I shouldn't be shoe-horning this into a RWBY fanfiction. But it feels good; and I like to think that at the end of the day everyone has a shot at happiness. *