Silver Lining

Prologue

Upon the first moment he laid eyes on her, he knew that she would soon undoubtedly peak his interest—one way or another—whether he would want it or not. Mercury mentally acknowledged the winter-haired girl with a mild smirk as he shuffled over to a seats behind her while Emerald followed him closely behind.

He was surprised that the girl sitting in front of him caught his attention at all—and so suddenly out of nowhere! Had he not seen her before? Maybe he had. He wasn't sure, but he didn't care.

Seeing her, it was as though he was watching a pure white snowflake in contrast to the messy crowd of only vibrant colors. Mercury couldn't help to admit to himself how the petite girl stood out from the rest of students in the seated aisles like a little, white haired rabbit in summer's greatests fields.

How ridiculous of her.

Initially, both Mercury and Emerald entered Goodwitch's matching arena for a session of sparring, as he and Emerald were tasked by Cinder to observe the other hunters and huntresses from Beacon as well as from all the other academies. Cinder and the rest of them needed to know who they will be up against during the Vital festival anyway, not that they couldn't do without it: they were already skilled enough. In the end, it just provided him with something to amuse him.

Just how skilled were these future hunters and huntresses?

"Ruby, you dunce! What are you doing?"

In hearing the sudden words, Mercury glanced over to the Emerald, only finding an irritated look as she eyed the students in front of them.

Ha… she should make that face more often. Seeing Emerald so annoyed always made his day.

Mercury veered his attention down to find the white haired girl complaining with the girl seated next to her. The other girl—Ruby was it—held short red hair with an obviously noticeable red cape that practically consumed her entire form. She also looked to be younger than the rest of the students in the class. He remembered stumbling into that cluts when he, Cinder and Emerald were searching some of Beacon's dorms.

Maybe he saw the white dressed girl there.

In the midst of his thoughts, the redhead suddenly began to shake the other girl right off of her seat. Mercury couldn't hide his awe of disbelief.

Just what was Beacon thinking of when they accepted her into their academy?

It took Mercury a moment, but it eventually crossed his mind that the redhead was probably accepted based on her exceptional huntress skills. Honestly, what other reason would an obnoxious girl like her be here?

He immediately took note of the young huntress in his handheld scroll. This may be something that Cinder would want to hear.

"Sorry Weiss," Ruby said to the white haired girl, "I'm just so excited! It's been so long since I got to battle someone on the arena and I just hope that I get a chance to spar this time!" Ruby emphasized as she began practically bouncing up and down from her seat.

With that, Mercury slightly scooted away from the two. Emerald did the same.

Damn, could she be any weirder?

Emerald only snickered at his vain attempt to get away. Mercury didn't care for his teammate though as his eyes peered over the white haired girl again, taking notice of the emblem displayed on the back of her cardigan.

So the the girl in white was Weiss?

Mercury chuckled at the irony within her name.

Ridiculous.

Suddenly, it clicked in his head just what he was witnessing, and he smirked at the discovery. The symbol that emblem represented on the girl's back was well known throughout Remnant.

It was the proud logo of the Schnee Dust Company. She was a Schnee.

Without hesitation, Mercury added her name to his scroll. Who knew that the feeling he got from the little, Ms. White would actually correlate to something important? Indeed, the Schnee could be of some potential use, considering their monopolistic dust company.

He could just imagine the look on Cinder's face after telling her this.

Mercury couldn't help but smile at his findings. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bore after all, not after seeing Emerald ugly annoyed look and a little Schnee to occupy his mind for the time being. Indeed, Weiss had become the next conquest of his interest, and he would do well to exploit all the information and dust that she had to offer.