An Emerald Unearthed
is a RWBY fanfic by Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath.
It tells of Emerald's upbringing working as a pickpocket with her father, Cole. Unfortunately, a Faunus by the name of Randall Silva is trying to take all the money the Sustrais have and is willing to go to some scary length to make sure that he gets paid. After her father's death, she lives on her own for six years… and Silva finds his way into her life again.
It is the second in the series The Makings of Team CRME after My Name Is Cinder. The next story is The Black Hearts.
This fic provides examples of:
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: The outfit she wore when Cinder found her is the same kind of outfit that she wears in this fic… at the age of twelve. Her father often complained about it. Even Silva notes this.
- All Men Are Perverts: Emerald has had some trouble with guys trying to hit on her. One thing she notes about the problem with her dating life is that men are usually creeps. Even Silva also takes a moment to notice how she has grown since he last saw her.
- The Atoner: Cole tries his best to get money back after wasting it on gambling.
- Bad Boss: Silva shoots his subordinates for minor slights and belittles them constantly. At one point, he even threatens to kill their families when they don't do as their told. He also doesn’t pay them much. Emerald shows why this kind of behavior doesn’t benefit an employer.
- Bad Samaritan: Silva comes to Cole offering him a place to stay after he gets his family homeless. However, he asks for very high prices knowing that Cole will have trouble paying. And when he does fail to meet a payment, he kills Cole's wife. This is likely a standard tactic for Silva.
- Beard of Evil: Silva has a goatee.
- Big Bad: Randall Silva. He is the one who is extorting the Sustrai family and is ultimately responsible for Emerald being on her own.
- Bittersweet Ending: Emerald lampshades this as Silva being killed doesn't change anything since she's still on the streets. Still, knowing that he's dead makes things easier since she doesn't have to worry about him and knows how to live on her own.
- Bookends: The first scene and the penultimate scene end with a Big "NO!" and someone getting shot and killed. The first is Cole screaming "No!" as Emerald's mother is killed by Silva. The last thing to happen before the epilogue is Silva screaming "NO!" before Emerald shoots him."NO!" BANG!
- Broken Pedestal: Averted. Even after knowing that her father lost all their money on gambling, it doesn't change her opinion of her because he still loved her and tried to make it up to her.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Dust round that Emerald kept in her cleavage comes in handy for escaping from Silva.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It involves her family ending up homeless because of her dad's gambling addiction and a Loan Shark taking advantage of them. She grew up as a pickpocket after her mother was killed by that loan shark and her dad was killed by him, too. She lived on her own for six years on the run.
- Deadpan Snarker: Randall Silva loves making snarks whenever he can.
- Dirty Cop: Silva mentions that he has a few cops on his payroll.
- Dirty Coward: Silva starts panicking when he realizes that his options are running out. When Emerald has Silva at her mercy and turns his men against him, he begs for his life and tries to make every deal he can.
- Establishing Character Moment: Silva's interaction with Cole shows how unapologetically greedy and exploitative he is. It also shows how willing he is to kill people just to get his money.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" is a bit of a stretch, but Cole clearly loves his daughter even though he uses her in criminal activities. He also loved his late wife.
- Faking the Dead: Emerald uses her Semblance to make Silva and his men think that the died by accident while trying to escape.
- Faux Affably Evil: Silva is incredibly charismatic. He usually acts all chummy and has a casual, laid-back demeanor most of the time. That doesn't change the fact that he's a ruthless Loan Shark who would kill you or your loved ones for not making a payment. In fact, this demeanor makes him look like an even bigger Jerkass.
- For the Evulz: While he notes that him having Emerald beat up is to persuade her, Silva does acknowledge that it’ll be fun to watch.
- The Gadfly: Emerald takes a man's wedding ring for being a jerkass and noticing that the girl he was with wasn't into him. After that, she goes to where he's proposing to him and uses her Semblance to make him think he still has it, making him look like a fool.
- The Gambling Addict: Cole lost his money to gambling, causing him and his family to live on the streets. That's when Silva came in and offered him a home. At a steep price.
- Good Parents: Not exactly. While Cole does care about Emerald like any other parent, he still has her participate in his illegal activities at the age of ten (when she discovered her Semblance). And he wasted all the family's money on gambling.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter begins with the word "A" (i.e., "A Bit of a Long Shot").
- Ironic Echo: When Emerald lets Silva get beat up by his own goons, she uses some similar lines to when he had them beat her up.Silva: [to Emerald] I'll just stay around because at least watching these guys beat the snot out of you will be entertaining.
Silva: [to his men] And remember, you don't need to kill her. Just make her hurt a lot.
[later]
Emerald: [to Silva] I'd do it myself, but watching these guys beat the snot out of you will be entertaining.
Emerald: [to his men] You don't need to kill him. Just make him hurt a lot. - It's All My Fault: Cole still blames himself for his wife’s death and for dragging Emerald into this lifestyle.
- Jerkass: Randall Silva, suffice to say, is not a pleasant person to be around. He insults people regularly and extorts people for loan debts.
- Kick the Dog: Silva killed Emerald’s mother because of a debt that her father owed him. Then, he kills her father for trying to protect her from him. Lastly, he makes his goons beat Emerald up to persuade her to join him.
- Lack of Empathy: Silva does not give two fucks about anyone other than himself. Killing is as natural as breathing to him. He’d kill his subordinates, rivals, and people’s loved ones. When she thinks Emerald died when she messed up a jump from a window, he doesn't seem particularly perturbed by it. And he won’t even acknowledge why Emerald might have a problem working with him after killing her parents.
- Laughably Evil: As ruthless as Silva is, his jovial attitude and constant snarking provides a lot of comic relief.
- Meaningful Name: Silva lampshades Emerald’s first name for this. He then comments that her hair isn’t even emerald green.
- Ms. Fanservice: Emerald's attractiveness gets a bit of mention after she turns eighteen.
- Narcissist: Silva implies that the reason that Emerald showed up is because of his "dashing good looks." Obviously, she is not amused.
- Never My Fault: Silva has the uncanny ability of deflecting blame to others for the way he cons them and takes advantage of them. Shown especially in chapter 4. While he makes some good points, it doesn’t excuse Silva taking advantage of the Sustrais.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Silva orders this on Emerald, but ends up on the receiving end because of Emerald.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Silva may shoot people, but he doesn't engage in direct combat.
- Precision F-Strike: Emerald drops the word "shit" while defending her dad after Silva insults him."So, yeah. My dad may have been a real piece of shit, but at least he was trying to make things right in any way he could. And at least he had a conscience, unlike you."
- Scary Teeth: Silva is a Faunus with shark teeth. He gets several opportunities to show them off with how many smug smiles he gives.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Silva always wears the finest suits.
- She Is All Grown Up: Silva notes how well-developed Emerald has gotten after finding her again when she’s eighteen. Emerald is not amused.
- Smug Smiler: One thing Emerald notes about Silva is that he does this often.
- The Sociopath: Randall Silva is a Loan Shark who is described as a man who would "kill someone with a smile and go off to have lunch in twenty minutes." He's incredibly charismatic and shows no concern for anyone. He kills Emerald's mother because her father was behind on payments. He threatens to hurt Emerald if she doesn't come to work for him. And, in that same scene, he shoots one of his henchmen for not being able to find her. When she sees her again years later, he continues to pretend that killing her parents was something Cole brought upon himself.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Silva makes his opinions about the intelligence of his henchmen very clear.
- Terms of Endangerment: Silva calls Emerald "little Sustrai."
- That Wasn't a Request: When Silva said that he wanted to take Emerald and use her as a tool to get more money and make up for her father's debt.
- Undignified Death: Silva is first utterly humiliated by Emerald when she persuades his men into beating him up. Then, she leaves him a pathetic, bloody mess on the ground just before shooting him.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Emerald keeps some Dust rounds in there for emergencies.
- Villain Has a Point: Silva is right when he says that it was Cole's bad choices that landed him and his family in the situation that he's in. And Cole seems to agree as well. Doesn't mean that taking advantage of him was a good thing.
- Would Hurt a Child: Silva threatens to kill Emerald if Cole doesn't get his money. And he says he'll hurt her if she doesn't come with him calmly.
