Mercury is back in his house.

It is an old, musty house, long before it will be set ablaze and will reek of smoke. It is a house that's lonely. Mercury's lonely nights are the best, when he has to fend for himself. He better pray he has a lonely night and, if Dad's there, he better pray harder that Dad's not lonely.

He has Dad in this humble little house but Mercury's all alone. He doesn't know why he feels that way but even with Dad, he's all alone.

He's all alone right now in this house. He shouldn't be in this house. Where is he? But he's alone in his house, in his bed, and his eyes are wide in the darkness as he faces the door because Dad is in the house with him.

But no, that's not right. And yet he smells the alcohol in Dad's breath, tastes the filth of his saliva as Mercury's small body is crushed beneath his. It hurts so much.

Where the fuck is he? He's in a hallway and glass is still shattering. Maybe some are in his skin. He checks and there's none but is he going to be next? Will it happen again?

"Merc?" The voice is muffled behind a mile-thick wall. Another shape reaches forward but another shape slaps it away. "Don't touch him!" Is that…Emerald's voice? His eyes flicker for a second before realizing he's still in this house.

He needs to fight in this house. He needs to fight back but he's frozen, grounded into a nothingness that he realizes is his real home, miles beneath his own skin. He can't feel pain miles beneath his skin, in his real house.

He drifts further and further into his real house until he feels nothing.

Mercury is not in his house.

He's back in Salem's castle. He's in the sleeping quarters, on his bed and someone is next to him. It takes a minute to register the mint-green hair as Emerald's.

"Emerald?" he says.

Emerald's eyes widen. "Merc? Are you there?"

"No, I'm on the moon," he says. Emerald's concern falters for a moment into an irritated glare. She recovers and grumbles.

"Do you know where you are?"

It's the sleep quarters, obviously. But the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks about his house. He faded away because of Salem's outburst. Salem's outburst…right…. Fuck.

Will Salem's domain be like his house?

"Merc?" Her voice is disturbingly gentle. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want, but…are you okay?"

"I can't count the many times he shattered stuff too."

Emerald says nothing.

Mercury continues, looking at the shiny, purple floor. "They were booze bottles. Once it was a window and sometimes they were plates, but mostly they were booze bottles. Most were empty, obviously, and I had to pray the next bottle would be or he'd take it out worse on me, telling me I wasted his fucking booze by pissing him off.

"The worst, though," he continues. "Was when I made him a mug; painted it and everything with a stick figure of me and him on it. But the sky was purple…he hated that color, said skies weren't purple, so he broke it and threw the shards at me. Doesn't he know what a sunset is?"

"But, Merc," Emerald says. "He's gone. He can't do that to you anymore."

"I know. But sometimes I just…disappear or something. When I heard that glass…well, my Dad always said you can never freak out, so I just disappear." Emerald slides a hand in his but says nothing.

Mercury swallows. "The most annoying part is…" He stops, his voice heavy. He waits a moment before continuing. "The most annoying part is that it's going to happen again. He's dead…but I'll never fucking escape him and the memory of his house." The lump in his throat hurts too much now to speak any more.

Emerald hesitates for a moment. Then, she scoots closer to him and wraps her arms around him, pulling him close. She guides his head to her shoulder, stroking his hair as she does. He leans into her and she rubs circles between his tense shoulder blades.

"He's gone and I'm here," she says. She stokes him. "I won't let anyone hurt you. Cinder's not here but we still have each other."

Mercury chuckles weakly. "Alright, Girl Scout."

"Very funny," she drones. She doesn't let go, however, and they remain like that for a while, him in her warm embrace; her holding and rocking him. Neither want to let go. Mercury, realizing he's the one who has to decide to break the hug, almost unwillingly loosens his grip on her. She pulls away next and Mercury sits back.

"So how long has it been since the whole…?"

"It's nighttime now," Emerald answers. She looks away. "Since Cinder's not here, can we…" She mulls over her words. "Can we sleep in the same room?"

"I dunno, Miss Master Thief, can you handle sleeping alone?" He grins.

She sticks her tongue out at him. "You're the worst. I'm not concerned about myself."

Mercury shrugs. "Lie all you want, killjoy." He kicks back and sinks beneath the covers. But he has to admit…Emerald has a point. Salem's outburst today was disturbing and the way Tyrian taunted Emerald wasn't so great either.

"Don't make me change my mind."

He pats the side of the bed. "Come on in."

"Just don't hog the covers and pull them off me," she says.

"Can't make any promises." She chucks a pillow at his face.

"You will." She crawls into the bed's other side and curls up, facing him. "Goodnight, Merc."

"Night, Em."

He has no nightmares that night. They are so fucked without Cinder, but Emerald was right. At least they have each other. She- and possibly Cinder too- is his real family.