History Fanfic / TheBlackHearts

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler: Good on you for [[KickTheSonOfABitch killing your homophobic father]], Cobalt! He deserved it for abusing you and hiring Marcus to torture your mom! Too bad you're still getting arrested for murder since you didn't have proof of what Jaylin did. That kinda sucks, dude.]]

* [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]]: When you take away the borderline sociopathy, some of Melanie's behavior would be more natural for someone who is half as old as ''Mercury''. This often results in a lot of petty arguing and verbal abuse. The third chapter shows this in the most obvious light with her "don't tell me what to do" attitude. Especially with her screaming at her son, "You're not the boss of me!" in response to him noting that she shouldn't put up with Marcus' abuse and that he'll end up killing her. And this is after [[spoiler: threatening Marcus ''at gunpoint'' to come eat the food she worked so hard to make]]! [[labelnote:About the spoiler...]]In her defense, he is a legit psychopath and [[KickTheSonOfABitch it wouldn't be unjustified to use a gun on him]], but imagine if it was just because he was too busy watching TV rather than preparing to torture someone. In that case, [[DisproportionateRetribution definitely unjustified]].[[/labelnote]]

* HateSink: Mercury’s parents '''''SUCK'''''. Even one of the tags for the story says they're assholes. And there's no attempt to make them seem even remotely sympathetic. Marcus is a shameless abuser who treats his family like crap for the heck of it and seems to enjoy being a horrible person to people [[spoiler: as shown when he gloats about being hired by Cobalt's father to torture his mother]]. Even Melanie, who is also [[DomesticAbuse being abused by Marcus]], doesn't get a lot of sympathy points. She passes the abuse along to Mercury and makes him feel horrible about it as well. Not to mention that she is a serial cheater and has no problem with her husband's {{profession|alKiller}}. Being a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain raging homophobe]] also adds to this. Everything about them is designed to draw ire from the readers. [[spoiler: Making it even more of a relief when they get killed.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Good on you for [[KickTheSonOfABitch killing your homophobic father]], Cobalt! He deserved it for abusing you and hiring Marcus to torture your mom! Too bad you're still getting arrested for murder since you didn't have proof of what Jaylin did. That kinda sucks, dude.]]

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13331493/chapters/30516123 The Black Hearts]]'' is a ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' FanFic by [[http://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath]]. It tells of Mercury’s life living with his messed-up family. With a [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[TheAlcoholic drunkard]] [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] for a father and a mother who is a verbally abusive [[YourCheatingHeart cheater]] that isn’t much better, it becomes increasingly apparent [[FreudianExcuse why Mercury is the way he is]]. Especially since [[AbusiveParents both parents abuse him]].

** Melanie is implied to have sociopathic tendencies. She hates Marcus equally and deflects some verbal abuse onto Mercury by saying that she never wanted him and he should die. She also [[YourCheatingHeart cheats on Marcus]] and shamelessly lets him know that. [[spoiler: When Marcus is torturing people at night, the only problem she has is that the screaming is too loud for her to sleep.]] She even threatens Marcus at gunpoint for the the pettiest reason: him not coming upstairs [[spoiler: to [[ItsAllAboutMe eat the dinner she cooked]]]] because he’s busy torturing a girl. She threatens to kill her if he doesn’t come up because she knows he’s getting paid extra to torture her.

* WouldHurtAChild: Aside from abusing his son, [[spoiler: Marcus makes Mercury shoot a man in front of his daughter. Then, he kills her because she witnessed them attacking her father.]]
* YourCheatingHeart: Melanie regularly cheats on her husband. Mercury says that she brags about it in [[SirSwearsALot rather vulgar detail]].

->''You know, my story isn’t that great. I could go on and on about how tragic my life was. Oh, please. Like I’m gonna be the kind of guy that’s giving a sob-story for sympathy. My life is what it is. There’s no real getting past that. [[DontYouDarePityMe I don’t need pity.]]''

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13331493/chapters/30516123 The Black Hearts]]'' is a ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' FanFic by [[http://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath]]. It tells of Mercury’s life living with his messed-up family. With a [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[TheAlcoholic drunkard]] [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] for a father and a mother who is a verbally abusive [[YourCheatingHeart cheater]] that isn’t much better, it becomes increasingly apparent [[FreudianExcuse why Mercury is the way he is]]. Especially since [[AbusiveParents both parents abuse him]].

* BadassGay: Mercury is bisexual in this story and a guy he hooks up with, Cobalt, [[spoiler: kills his homophobic father]].

* HateSink: Mercury’s parents '''''SUCK'''''. Even one of the tags for the story says they're assholes. And there's no attempt to make them seem even remotely sympathetic. Even Melanie, who is also [[DomesticAbuse being abused by Marcus]], doesn't get a lot of sympathy points.

* BiTheWay: A later [[{{Retcon}} bonus chapter]] shows Mercury kissing and planning to hook up with a guy. He also mentions that he would've preferred to lose his virginity to a girl, but he isn't complaining.[[labelnote:Spoiler for ''CRME'']]He does get what he wants and loses his virginity to Emerald.[[/labelnote]]

* AbusiveParents: Marcus and Melanie are ''terrible'' parents. Marcus physically abuses Mercury, and Melanie does so verbally. Each of them saying that they never wanted him.

* AxCrazy: Marcus is openly sadistic and will often have violent outbursts with little provocation. There’s also the fact that he [[SociopathicSoldier joined the Atlas military just to kill people]]. And he certainly enjoys torturing targets when he’s paid to do so. [[spoiler: This comes to the forefront when he tries to kill Mercury.]]

* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Cinder and Emerald show up in the end of the final chapter. [[ContinuityOverlap It directly connects his story to the group story]], ''{{FanFic/CRME}}''.]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: A literal example in chapter five. The gun that Mercury takes with him is the one that helps him kill Marcus.]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Marcus will kill witnesses if they see him in the middle of a hit. [[spoiler: The daughter of one of his marks learned this the hard way.]]

* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler: Those training sessions that Mercury complained that Marcus was going too hard on him for? That was him going easy on him! When Marcus and Mercury get to the final climactic fight, he admits this and does not hold back as he fights him in the next chapter.]]

* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: Marcus and Melanie count for ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME''. Even the similarly {{abusive parent|s}} [[FanFic/MyNameIsCinder Brigit]] at her worst did not make Cinder's story as dark as these two make Mercury's. And even when things got serious with [[FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed Silva]], he still had his [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic demeanor]] to lighten the mood slightly. The same thing applies to [[FanFic/RomansEmpire Kincaid]] despite being [[EvilerThanThou even more vicious than Silva]]. Also unlike the other three, the Blacks are not FauxAffablyEvil in any way. To top it off, Marcus is the first major antagonist that can actually put up a fight.
* KneeCapping: Marcus does this to Mercury.

* [[SirSwearsALot Lady Swears-a-Lot]]: Melanie swears like a sailor and is responsible for all the profanity in the fic aside from only two words. Contrasting Marcus who, surprisingly, only swears once in the fic.
-->''[[DeadpanSnarker Mom always had a way with words.]]''

* [[ALighterShadeOfBlack A Lighter Shade of]] [[JustForPun Black]]: While [[MaternallyChallenged Melanie]] absolutely is an awful parent, she is still [[DamnedByFaintPraise technically]] better than Marcus.

* MissingMom: [[spoiler: The story explains that Melanie finally decided to leave her family when Marcus wanted to go up to the mountains.]]

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Marcus has a brief moment of this just before Mercury shoots him in the neck.]]

* SkewedPriorities: If you need any evidence to Melanie’s possible sociopathy, just notice the fact that she complains about Marcus torturing people because [[spoiler: the screaming is too loud for her to sleep]].
** In the third chapter, she shoots at Marcus when he and Mercury have a girl chained up and are preparing to torture her. The reason why? [[spoiler: He won’t come upstairs to eat the dinner she cooked.]]

* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Mercury describes Marcus as having a deranged smile when preparing to kill him.]]

* DysfunctionJunction: When your dad as a physically abusive, alcoholic, psychopathic assassin and your mom is a verbally abusive, serial-cheating sociopath, it’s a little difficult to have a normal family dynamic.

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Melanie is a [[DownplayedTrope technical example]] at best. Compared to Marcus (the heavy-drinking, physically abusive assassin), it’s not hard to look like a saint. She gets abused by Marcus as well. But she is still terrible. While Melanie doesn’t (usually) physically abuse him, she still verbally abuses Mercury. And she’s also implied to be sociopathic.

* FreudianExcuse: Looking at his home life, it’s surprising he didn’t come out ''more'' messed-up than he did.

* {{Jerkass}}: To quote one of the tags for the story, “Merc’s parents are assholes.” Just look at the rest of the page for evidence.

* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: Marcus and Melanie count for ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME''. Even [[FanFic/MyNameIsCinder Brigit]] at her worst did not make Cinder’s story as dark as these two make Mercury’s. And even when things got serious with [[FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed Silva]], he still had his sarcastic demeanor to lighten the mood slightly. The same thing applies to [[FanFic/RomansEmpire Kincaid]] despite being even more vicious than Silva. Also unlike the other three, the Blacks are not FauxAffablyEvil in any way. To top it off, Marcus is the first major antagonist that can actually put up a fight.

* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler: The reason Marcus decides to fight Mercury. He just grows tired of his son insulting him and he decides to kill him “free of charge.”]]
* FreudianExcuse: Mercury’s parents '''''SUCK'''''. Looking at his home life, it’s surprising he didn’t come out ''more'' messed-up than he did.
* HateSink: Do either of Mercury's parents seem particularly likable to you? Even one of the tags for the story says they're assholes. And there's no attempt to make them seem even remotely sympathetic. Even Melanie, who is also [[DomesticAbuse being abused by Marcus]], doesn't get a lot of sympathy points.

** Marcus has a lot of moments with his family (from pointlessly lashing out at Mel to beating up Mercury for minor things), but one moment comes on a hit. [[spoiler: The target had his daughter with him and he planned on killing the daughter so that she wouldn’t be a witness. But before he does that, he makes Mercury kill the target right in front of her.]]
** Melanie does so in Chapter 3 when she yells at Mercury for correctly asserting that she should just leave if she doesn’t like her family.
* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: Marcus and Melanie count for ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME''. Even [[FanFic/MyNameIsCinder Brigit]] at her worst did not make Cinder’s story as dark as these two make Mercury’s. And even when things got serious with [[FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed Silva]], he still had his sarcastic demeanor to lighten the mood slightly. The same thing applies to [[FanFic/RomansEmpire Kincaid]] despite being even more vicious than Silva. Also unlike the other three, the Blacks are not FauxAffablyEvil in any way. To top it off, Marcus is the first[[note]]but not the only[[/note]] major antagonist that can actually put up a fight.

* [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]]: When you take away the borderline sociopathy, some of Melanie’s behavior would be more natural for someone who is half as old as ''Mercury''. This often results in a lot of petty arguing and verbal abuse. The third chapter shows this in the most obvious light with her “don’t tell me what to do” attitude. Especially with her screaming at her son, “You’re not the boss of me!” in response to him noting that she shouldn’t put up with Marcus’ abuse and that he’ll end up killing her. And this is after [[spoiler: threatening Marcus ''at gunpoint'' to come eat the food she worked so hard to make]]! [[labelnote:About the spoiler…]]In her defense, he is a legit psychopath and [[KickTheSonOfABitch it wouldn’t be unjustified to use a gun on him]], but imagine if it was just because he was too busy watching TV rather than preparing to torture someone. In that case, [[DisproportionateRetribution definitely unjustified.]][[/labelnote]]

* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: Marcus and Melanie count for ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME''. Even [[FanFic/MyNameIsCinder Brigit]] at her worst did not make Cinder’s story as dark as these two make Mercury’s. And even when things got serious with [[FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed Silva]], he still had his sarcastic demeanor to lighten the mood slightly. Also unlike Brigit and Silva, the Blacks are not FauxAffablyEvil in any way. And to top it off, Marcus is the first major antagonist that can actually put up a fight.

* [[SirSwearsALot Lady Swears-a-Lot]]: Melanie swears like a sailor and is responsible for all the profanity in the fic aside from only two words. Contrasting Marcus who, surprisingly, hardly ever swears.

It is the third in the series ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME'' after ''FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed''. The next story in the series is ''Roman’s Empire''.

It is the third in the series ''FanFic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME'' after ''FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed''.

* OddNameOut: This is the only solo fic in ''The Makings of Team CRME'' that doesn’t have the main character’s first name the title. While his name is in the title (see DoubleMeaningTitle), it’s actually his surname which he obviously shares with the rest of his family. It’s hard to say that it’s his name specifically.

* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Cinder and Emerald show up in the end of the final chapter. [[CharacterOverlap It directly connects his story to the group story]], ''CRME''.]]

* [[ALighterShadeOfBlack A Lighter Shade of]] [[{{Pun}} Black]]: While [[MaternallyChallenged Melanie]] absolutely is an awful parent, she is still [[DamnedByFaintPraise technically]] better than Marcus.

* TortureTechnician: Marcus even shows Mercury some of his techniques. Melanie, however, doesn’t like it[[spoiler: … because he does it in the middle of the night when she’s trying to sleep. The screaming of his victims keeps her up]].

** Melanie is implied to have sociopathic tendencies since she equally hates Marcus and it’s not because he’s an abusive prick. She hates his alcoholism and deflects some verbal abuse onto Mercury. Mercury says that she hates him and never wanted him. She also [[YourCheatingHeart cheats on Marcus]] and shamelessly lets him know that. [[spoiler: When Marcus is torturing people at night, the only problem she has is that the screaming is too loud for her to sleep.]]

* OCStandin: Marcus [[PosthumousCharacter was dead long before he could establish his character]], even in a flashback episode. All we know about him in canon is that he was abusive to Mercury, an alcoholic, and an assassin. Oh, and that Merc killed him. The fic fills in some of the blanks and it is disturbing.

* SmugSmiler: Marcus does it while he’s fighting Mercury. Clearly, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

--> '''Marcus:''' Do you know why I’m so hard on you?\\

* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: Marcus and Melanie count for ''The Makings of Team CRME''. Even [[FanFic/MyNameIsCinder Brigit]] at her worst did not make Cinder’s story as dark as these two make Mercury’s. And even when things got serious with [[FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed Silva]], he still had his sarcastic demeanor to lighten the mood slightly. Also unlike Brigit and Silva, the Blacks are not FauxAffablyEvil in any way. And to top it off, Marcus is the first major antagonist that can actually put up a fight.

It is the third in the series ''The Makings of Team CRME'' after ''FanFic/AnEmeraldUnearthed''.

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280643/chapters/30389916 The Black Hearts]]'' is a ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' FanFic by [[http://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath]]. It tells of Mercury’s life living with his messed-up family. With a [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[TheAlcoholic drunkard]] [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] for a father and a mother who is a verbally abusive [[YourCheatingHeart cheater]] that isn’t much better, it becomes increasingly apparent [[FreudianExcuse why Mercury is the way he is]]. Especially since [[AbusiveParents both parents abuse him]].

* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Cinder and Emerald show up in the final chapter. It directly connects his story to the group story, ''CRME''.]]
* CharacterOverlap: [[spoiler: Mercury’s story is the only one to be tied directly into ''CRME'' thanks to the ending fight with his father.]]

* [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]]: When you take away the borderline sociopathy, some of Melanie’s behavior would be more natural for someone who is half as old as ''Mercury''. This often results in a lot of petty arguing and verbal abuse. The third chapter shows this in the most obvious light with her “don’t tell me what to do” attitude. Especially with her screaming at her son, “You’re not the boss of me!” in response to him noting that she shouldn’t put up with Marcus’ abuse and that he’ll end up killing her. And this is after [[spoiler: threatening Marcus ''at gunpoint'' to come eat the food she worked so hard to make]]! [[labelnote:About the spoiler…]]In her defense, he is a legit psychopath and [[KickTheSonOfABitch it wouldn’t be unjustified to use a gun on him, but imagine if it was just because he was too busy watching TV rather than preparing to torture someone. In that case, [[DisproportionateRetribution definitely unjustified.[[/labelnote]]

** Marcus is confirmed to be this. Mercury literally calls his dad a psychopath, and there’s a lot of evidence for that claim. [[SociopathicSoldier He worked in the Atlas military]] [[BloodKnight exclusively to kill people]]. This is also why he works as a ProfessionalKiller. He fights with his wife constantly (to the point of beating her) and says that he hates her. He also takes this aggression out on Mercury. He’s very [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] since he does torture some of the people he kills. He also kills [[HeKnowsTooMuch potential witnesses]] ([[spoiler: even [[WouldHurtAChild children]]]]) to his assassinations. And his alcoholism is indicative of substance abuse issues that are common in cases of antisocial personality disorder.

* AbusiveParents: Marcus and Melanie are terrible parents. Marcus physically abuses Mercury, and Melanie does so verbally. Each of them saying that they never wanted him.

* Alliterative Family: '''M'''arcus, '''M'''elanie, and '''M'''ercury Black.

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280643/chapters/30389916 The Black Hearts]]'' is a ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}' FanFic by [[http://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath]]. It tells of Mercury’s life living with his messed-up family. With a [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[TheAlcoholic drunkard]] [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] for a father and a mother who is a verbally abusive [[YourCheatingHeart cheater]] that isn’t much better, it becomes increasingly apparent [[FreudianExcuse why Mercury is the way he is]]. Especially since [[AbusiveParents both parents abuse him]].