Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-114.79.60.17-20160626164308/@comment-29907776-20180629070023

@Chisio: That's very interesting but it also means if Mercury will be persuaded, it might be by someone in the protagonists' group. It may happen, since he had a taste of as much normalcy as Remnant could offer in the form of school. Yang has hade more interactions with him than most, so it'd probably be sparked by her.

Or I was thinking that he might simply want out. Like you've said, he seems like he tagged along only because he had nothing better to do. The end of volume 5 may make him realize that this is the time to get out since there's a possibility that he's not on the winning team anymore. Or maybe when he realizes everything will end if Salem wins. Mercury probably won't be doing a heel face turn, but he may turn into an anti-villain at the very least.

The reason why I was thinking of his relationship with Emerald was because he might've grown fond of her at this point. This might cause him to have a bit of loyalty towards her at least. Amongst the baddies, Mercury is the only one who does not have any reason to continue fighting against Team RWBY and their companions. He can most certainly break off from Salem and go on the run on his own. Emerald, on the other hand, may stay on that side to avenge Cinder. If Mercury is concerned about her (platonic loyalty at the least or romantic feelings at the most) then that may be the only reason he would stick around.

In the end, I'm just using all these things to think of a situation where Mercury will use (if he is just hiding it) or discover (if he hasn't yet) his Semblance. :)