Emerald Sustrai

She was an associate of Cinder Fall and the former partner of Mercury Black. Her weapons of choice are Thief's Respite, a pair of dual revolvers with collapsible sickle blades which can become kusarigamas.

## History

Emerald lived in a city before being recruited by Cinder Fall. She lived day to day without a guarantee of enough food, always resorting to stealing to get by. Cinder saw her use her Semblance to steal a ring from a jeweler and asked her to come with her, guaranteeing a source of food. Cinder later recruited Mercury Black, and the three have traveled together since.

The trio first appealed to the White Fang's Adam Taurus, proposing an alliance. However, they were turned down. But, the three were able to ambush and sap Amber of half her Maiden abilities, before retreating due to the timely intervention of Qrow Branwen.

They were able to leverage Adam into their alliance after defeating all the members in his camp. Adam was forced to accept the offer, where the three would provide him with resources, such as Dust and funding, with Emerald presenting a briefcase full of crystals, or face death if he refused.

Emerald appears lost and runs into the Shopkeep of the newly reopened From Dust Till Dawn, asking for directions to a certain address. As she rounds a corner, Mercury states that he knew she was lost and she offers to pay him to be quiet using the money she stole from the shop owner. They arrive at a book store owned by a Faunus named Tukson.

Emerald begins to ask if he has certain books because of his shop's catchphrase, but she eventually asks him for a book he doesn't have. Things turn serious as Emerald reveals that she knows he is planning on running from the White Fang and that he knows why they are there. She asks him if he is planning to fight back and he shouts "Yes" before lunging at her. She ducks under him and Mercury kicks him out of the air, killing him instantly.

Emerald and Mercury return to Roman Torchwick's base, and he questions where they were all day, taking the address from Emerald's pocket without her noticing. Emerald and Mercury confirm that they were cleaning up Roman's mess. When Roman threatens them, Cinder appears, and Emerald informs her that they killed Tukson, but Cinder seems more annoyed at their actions as it risks ruining her plan. Emerald then leaves with Cinder but shows Roman that she had managed to steal his lighter.

After the events involving Tukson, Emerald is seen with Mercury and Cinder inside Beacon Academy, the latter of whom bumps into a running Ruby Rose. Cinder helps her up but tells her to mind where she is going. She is then redirected with Mercury and Cinder by Ruby who points them in the direction of their building as transfer students.

Emerald is first seen observing a battle between Pyrrha Nikos and Team CRDL, and later Pyrrha against Mercury. Later that day, in a dorm room with Cinder and Mercury, they all begin to talk about Pyrrha's semblance, and how skilled she is, as also listening to Cinder's plan.

During the Beacon Dance, Emerald and Mercury enter the ballroom together. From here, the duo spends the evening keeping track of the attendees, watching to see if anyone could interfere with Cinder's infiltration of the Cross Continental Transmit System Tower. At one point, Emerald warns Cinder that James Ironwood is leaving to check on the tower. However, Cinder is able to finish her task and return to the dance before he can see her. Emerald then lets Cinder take her place as Mercury's dance partner for the remainder of the evening.

During the events of "Breach", Emerald assists Teams RWBY and JNPR in killing Grimm. She easily slays an Ursa using her Thief's Respite and is seen after the battle, smiling with Ruby. She is later present as Adam Taurus appears by Cinder's side, explaining that the Faunus will listen to him, despite numerous losses in the caves during "No Brakes".

At the Vytal Festival fairgrounds, Emerald steals Ruby's wallet before returning it to her. She strikes up a friendly conversation with Team RWBY, and it is revealed that she is participating in the tournament alongside Mercury, Cinder and an undercover Neopolitan. After exchanging pleasantries with Team RWBY, she turns to Mercury and expresses her distaste for all of them, telling him she cannot stand how they always seem so cheery. However, she also shares the intel they had been sent to get: Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long will be fighting in round two. Emerald, Mercury and Cinder are then seen spectating the match between Team JNPR and Team BRNZ.

Emerald is later seen at Cinder's dorm room when Mercury reports Qrow's presence at Beacon Academy. She asks Cinder if they need to change their plans, but Cinder tells them that they will stay the course. After Cinder gains access to Ironwood's Scroll, she tells Emerald and Mercury to return to their dorms. Cinder then engineers the next match of the Vytal Festival tournament doubles round: Emerald and Mercury against Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi of Team CFVY. Emerald and Mercury easily win the match.

After Mercury "loses" his match against Yang and has his leg broken by her apparently unprovoked, Emerald calls out his name and immediately rushes to his side, apparently showing concern for him. This was ultimately revealed to be an illusion created by Emerald, designed to trick Yang into attacking.

She is later seen in an unknown location, leaving Mercury behind. Cinder and Emerald head back to the Vytal Festival.

Ruby sees Emerald in the front row of the Colosseum for the match between Pyrrha and Penny Polendina, even though Ruby was told Mercury's team all went back to Mistral the previous night. Emerald uses her Semblance to make Pyrrha hallucinate during the conflict, with the latter seeing thousands of Floating Array's swords, over the dozen or so there actually are. This results in Pyrrha panicking, and overusing her Semblance, causing Penny's weapons to tangle around her limbs and body, quickly tearing her apart. Soon after, Emerald leaves the grandstands of Amity Colosseum.

Emerald is seen on a rooftop with Cinder and Mercury, expressing a hint of remorse at the destruction caused by the chaos. Suddenly, she is interrupted by the arrival of the Wyvern, as she remains on the rooftop.

After the fall of Beacon, Emerald is seen present in the Land of Darkness surveying its surroundings and accompanying Cinder alongside Mercury. She acts as Cinder's voice due to the loss of her own speaking capabilities. When a Seer enters the room during Cinder's treatment, Emerald reacts to it with disgust and fear.

Emerald, Mercury, Cinder and Arthur Watts arrive at Raven Branwen's bandit camp under orders from Salem to convince them to cooperate with plans. They tell Raven to bring Vernal as the Spring Maiden to Haven Academy to unlock its Relic's chamber. After negotiations, Emerald and the group return to a ship where they take rest.

Emerald accompanies Cinder as she leads the assault at Haven and later stops Ruby from helping Jaune. As they fight, Emerald reveals to Ruby that she does not care for working for Salem, but owes Cinder everything. When Ruby unleashes her powers to stop Cinder from harming Jaune, Emerald quickly knocks her out, though Cinder has been already been affected by the power. Later, when Yang attempts to stop Cinder from reaching the vault, Emerald and Mercury prevent her from doing so with the former casting hallucinations of the latter onto Yang. Throughout the fight, the pair have the upper hand with Emerald casting a hallucination of Raven and Mercury following up with a surprise attack. But before she can finish Yang off, Emerald is forced back by Ruby. After the four of them fight, Emerald and Mercury try to stop Yang from going down to the vault, but to no avail.

Emerald and Mercury continue fighting alongside Hazel until they are left exhausted by the combined efforts of Ruby, Blake, and Weiss. Defiant to the end, Emerald insists that Cinder will return with the Relic and stop all of them, only to witness Yang return from the vault alone with the Relic. Devastated by Cinder's apparent defeat, Emerald drops to her knees and sheds tears over the loss of her master. She then screams in agony as she unleashes a terrifying illusion of Salem that overtaxes her Semblance and causes her to pass out. The distraction allows Mercury and Hazel to retreat, with Hazel carrying an unconscious Emerald over his shoulder.

One month after the Battle of Haven, Emerald's image is shown on a newscast as one of the perpetrators of the attack on the academy. Arriving back at Salem's palace, Emerald is easily irritated by Tyrian Callows when he mocks Cinder. She lashes back at the Faunus only for him to remind her that she no longer has her master for protection. Later, Emerald is forced by an intimidating and angered Salem to admit that Cinder is the one responsible for the defeat back in Haven. She and Mercury are later shocked when they learn from Salem that Cinder is alive, but Salem states that she cannot return until she redeems herself. After Hazel reveals that Ozpin is having the Relic of Knowledge taken to Atlas, all of Salem's subordinates are ordered to leave the room. As the doors are about to close, Emerald looks back in horror at Salem who is about to unleash her rage.

Some time later, Emerald asks Mercury why he joined Cinder on the night they find him, only to find his answer vague that it was because of his assassin skills. Dissatisfied, Emerald questions why they are with Salem as she considers Cinder the only family she ever had and feels lost without her master. But she is angered when Mercury blatantly tells her that Cinder never cared for either of them and that she is having an "identity crisis", causing her to attack her partner. After an exchange of blows, the pair is confronted by Tyrian, who mocks them for not loving what they are doing. Emerald asks sarcastically if they should just leave, to which the Faunus mockingly says no. The pair then learns that Tyrian and Watts are leaving for Atlas by Salem's order. Before Emerald can find out why, the Faunus is called away by the doctor, leaving the pair to look on with disgust. Later, Emerald finds Mercury at the meeting chamber. She tries to talk with Mercury, but notices the horrified look on his face and finds Salem outside creating Beringels with wings. Hazel then explains to the two with an old saying about someone should do it themselves if they want something done right.

Emerald along with Mercury and Hazel meet with Salem. After climbing the stairs, Emerald spots Cinder and Neo, and happily runs towards her old master, expressing relief that Cinder is okay, however, Cinder rudely interrupts her, demanding she be quiet, which causes Emerald to stop in her tracks. Tyrian makes a comment towards both Emerald and Cinder, saying she has so much faith in someone so incompetent. The scorpion Faunus proudly proclaims while he and Watts were causing turmoil and chaos amongst the citizens of Atlas and Mantle, Cinder returned to Salem to atone for past failures. Cinder makes a claim that she will take the Winter Maiden powers for herself, but Salem quickly tells Cinder to know her place, and offscreen, Emerald along with the other subordinates are dismissed.

Overhearing Cinder make secret plans in finding the Winter Maiden, Emerald offers her services in helping her master, and promising not to tell anyone. Cinder, in response angrily demands how much Emerald overheard.

She travels with Cinder and Neo to Amity Colosseum, where the three attempt to sabotage the colosseum and steal the Winter Maiden powers. She uses her semblance to assist Neo in her fight against Maria, by making the elderly woman think the aircraft has disappeared, only for it to ram straight into the giant mech, and rendering it useless. After disabling Maria's mech, Neo goes to personally take out the former huntress. Emerald runs outside to assist in her master's fight. As the fighting progresses, Emerald uses her semblance on Penny to make it look like multiple Cinders are surrounding the girl. However, due to Penny's thermal sensors, she is able to spot the real Cinder, and proceeds to fire an energy beam at the Fall Maiden. The beam depletes Cinder of her aura and knocks her unconscious. Emerald runs to Cinder, expressing immense concern for her master. Kneeling over the unconscious woman, Emerald fires a round from one of her dual revolvers, the shot misses Penny, but it nearly hit Pietro. The young girl admits she cannot beat Penny, but threatens she'll fill the transmitter with holes if she tries going after her, or Cinder. Penny retracts her swords and allows Emerald, and Neo to escape with an unconscious Cinder. Emerald places her master in her seat and demands Neo get them out of there. Neo gives an angry glare and pilots backs to Salem.

Emerald takes Cinder to her bedroom within Monstra. After waking from dreams of her past, Cinder is greeted by Emerald, who has been worried about her. Cinder questions why she brought her back to Salem, but Emerald starts to defend her actions by saying that Cinder was hurt. Soon after, Mercury soon enters the room, and again tells Emerald that Cinder does not care about her, and announces that he now works for Salem instead of Cinder. He then tells the two that Salem has summoned everyone to the bridge.

On the bridge, Emerald and Neo's scents are taken by the Hound. She watches Salem torture Cinder by inflicting pain on her Shadow Hand, and Salem's attack on Atlas launching at full force. Later, she secretly watches Salem direct the flow of Grimm liquid out of Monstra's mouth. She then sneaks over to the torture chamber and eavesdrops on Hazel and Ozpin. There, she hears Ozpin claim that, once Salem obtains all four Relics, the world will be destroyed so that Salem can finally die.

Emerald immediately goes to tell Mercury about everything she overheard from the torture chamber, but Mercury is quick to dismiss Ozpin and Oscar, telling Emerald that prisoners will say anything to get out. The two begin to argue about Salem's plan, questioning why Mercury is following her orders to go to Vacuo after everything they heard. He announces his doubt about that truly being her plan, just as he walks into the hallway. Tyrian arrives and injects himself into the conversation, claiming that Salem is, indeed, going to destroy the world. This seems to cause Mercury to stop and rethink his position, but Tyrian soon nudges him along to the docks and pushes him into an airship. Just as the ship readies for takeoff, Mercury looks out at Emerald, who had followed them. The ship then flies away to take Mercury and Tyrian to Vacuo.

After Mercury leaving the Monstra accompanied by Tyrian to Vacuo, Emerald was shown to have stumbled across Hazel as he brought Oscar to the Lamp's chamber vault. After witnessing Oscar's summoning Jinn and demonstrating the Lamp's power and confirming that Oscar did not lie about any of the information he gave to Hazel, Hazel then made up his decision to betray Salem and began planning Oscar's escape, with him stating that he also planned to have Emerald escape with him out of concern for her.

Emerald shocked by Hazel's decision but non the less agreeing due to realizing and knowing of what Salem truly desires, agreed to Hazel's plan and defected with him. After making up their decision to leave the Lamp in the vault due to it being rigged to alert Salem should it be moved from the vault, the three leave and begin preparing their escape.

Later Emerald would then be assigned to secretly smuggle Oscar out of the Monstra by using her Semblance to disguise him as Hazel as she lead him to the exit. However while in route, the duo would then cross paths with Salem, with their ruse being nearly compromised despite Emerald's semblance successfully affecting her mind and fooling her into really thinking that Oscar was Hazel. The two would then be saved from being found out thanks to the timely screeching of the Seers stationed around the Monstra's interior that alerted them to Yang's Group's presence. Salem, thinking that they were after the Lamp, immediately ordered Emerald and "Hazel" to find the intruders and secure the Relic as she flew off to find them herself.

Thanks to this distraction, the two would then begin making their way to the exit, where they unexpectedly come across Yang, Jaune and Ren. Where the three nearly got into a fight before Emerald undid her illusion and revealing Oscar. Despite this however, Yang still remained skeptical and suspicious of Emerald and demanded to know why they should trust her. Ren, seeing Emerald's emotions, confirmed that Emerald was acting out of fear of Salem and her true goal. Emerald then begrudgingly agreed to lead Yang out of the Monstra with her.

Emerald is next seen leading Yang's Group to the hangar, where they could see the outside world. But before anyone could escape, Emerald cringed as she felt Salem's presence nearing them. The dark queen soon burst into the hangar and captured Emerald, her words telling the frightened girl she knew she'd used her Semblance against her. The heroes tried to rescue Emerald but were easily neutralized. Salem then bound Emerald to the wall with Shadow Hands, and demanded to know the location of the Lamp. Emerald denied the accusation, even with Salem conjuring an orb of dark magic close to her face. And with all the heroes also bound with Shadow Hands, there seemed to be no hope.

At that time, Hazel appeared in the hangar, and Salem ordered him to return Oscar to his cell while she "tended" to Emerald, which brought the captured thief to tears. But Hazel sucked punched Salem instead, freeing Emerald along with the others. The large man infuses himself with five shard of Dust, and orders Emerald to escape, smiling at her before engaging Salem in battle. Emerald quickly escaped with the others, not seeing how the battle concluded.

After Monstra is destroyed, Emerald is seen on her knees, shocked that Hazel had sacrificed his life to save hers. She's next seen being escorted at gunpoint through the subway tunnels. Yang thinks trusting her is a bad idea, and Emerald actually sides with her, offering to leave them be if they part ways. The heroes are divided on the suggestion, until Oscar reveals that Ozpin has returned. Emerald then learns it was Oscar, using The Long Memory, who destroyed Monstra and Salem. They soon come out into a subway station, where all of Atlas were sheltered to avoid the Grimm. Emerald looks sadly at a couple of crying children she passed by. As they continued forward, Oscar tells her he knows of her abilities, and asks again for her help.

Emerald is next seen outside Schnee Manor, standing behind Oscar. And when Ruby Rose sees her, she immediately seeks to draw Crescent Rose. But an emergency call from May Marigold distracts her, followed with an ultimatum from Ironwood: Unless Penny comes to Atlas Academy, Mantle will be destroyed.

Emerald is present in the Schnee Manor whilst Team RWBY and Oscar are trying to figure out a plan to save both Atlas and Mantle, pointing out that if Ruby doesn't have an answer when she always has the answer then the group has their answer. She backs away in fear when Yang confronts her, with Oscar backing Emerald up pointing out that Emerald it's with Salem any more and that Ozma is back. She is later present in helping to stop Penny from leaving when the virus takes over, using Thief's Respite to hold onto Penny planting herself in a sitting position whilst calling out for someone to do something. Once Jaune has boosted Penny's Aura temporarily halting the virus, Emerald tells the heroes she's going to be pissed if they suddenly gave up the moment she decided to join them.

Emerald is involved in the plan of stopping Ironwood as part of a Team with Jaune, Ren, Nora and Oscar alongside Winter. Emerald used her Semblance to mask herself, the ship and the team giving the illusion of Penny towards Ironwood. Whilst posing as Penny she is cuffed by Winter and when Ironwood comments on how doing the right thing, Emerald responds it feels weird breaking the illusion before back flipping and knocking Ironwood's cannon variant of his weapons from his hands, stealing the weapons and hiding whilst the others dealt with taking Ironwood out, returning after his defeat to be uncuffed and pass the weapon over to Winter. She is later seen in a communication room following the next phase of the plan with Jaune, Ren, Nora and Oscar to broadcast a message to the citizens of Mantle and Atlas when the broadcast and kingdom wide broadcasts are cut off.

Following the communications blackout created by Watts, Emerald joined Jaune, Ren, Nora and Oscar in travelling through to the Central Location as Jaune adjusted the plan to Oscar and Ren alongside Emerald head to Vacuo and get help whilst Jaune and Nora handled getting people moving from Mantle and Atlas into the Central Location and onto Vacuo. Emerald would point out that the sandstorm they step out into when arriving in Vacuo is not just messing up visibility but also communications. She is present and ready to defend the civilians as Ravagers swoop down and start attacking the refugees. Emerald is seen fighting alongside Ren and Oscar against the Sulfur Fish and Ravagers when the Grimm are blasted away by the Maiden powers unleashed by Winter Schnee. Emerald says nothing though notices that Team RWBY and Jaune never came through with Winter and prepares to continue the fight as Winter charges at the Grimm.

## Personality

Emerald initially appears to be affable and disarmingly friendly. However, this belies a darker side of her character. On the whole, she seems to be genuinely outgoing and quick-witted, if a little short-fused. She can also act a little childish or petty, such as when she stuck her tongue out at Roman Torchwick after she stole his lighter to mock him.

In "Best Day Ever", when she talks to Tukson about books, she seems to be knowledgeable about books and enjoys reading, as she lists off several titles. She also likes Vale, complimenting the city for its "tall buildings and diverse culture".

Emerald has a tendency to maintain a pretense of friendliness around people in order to gain their trust, doing so around Tukson before threatening and killing him. In "Round One", she states that she dislikes Team RWBY for their cheery and positive attitude, regardless of her acting as their friend for the time being.

According to Emerald, her loyalty is exclusive to Cinder, rather than to Salem, and only complies to her plans and wishes due to owing Cinder "everything". Accordingly, she is willing to take the initiative to impress her, such as tracking down Tukson and killing him. When Cinder rebukes her for doing so, she defers to Cinder's judgment, quickly apologizing.

Although she has no qualms about killing, judging from the nonchalant way she talked about killing Tukson and even lightheartedly joking about it afterward with Mercury, she does get a bit seems to be overwhelmed at the sheer scale of the destruction and violence being caused during the Fall of Beacon. Nevertheless, Emerald continues to demonstrate loyalty to Cinder, such as in the "The Next Step" in which she speaks for Cinder, who has lost her voice.

Upon Cinder being supposedly killed during their failed mission to destroy Haven and retrieve the Relic of Knowledge and narrowly escaping punishment from Salem, Emerald showcased increased frustration in her situation. Her resolve is later shaken by Cinder's callous ingratitude toward her in "Midnight", and by overhearing Ozpin's revelation of Salem's plans to destroy Remnant in "War".

In "Witch", Emerald and Hazel Rainart both decide to help Oscar Pine escape from Monstra, after confirming that he was telling the truth. She shows grief when Hazel is killed buying them time to escape Salem, as he was the only one besides Mercury or Cinder who showed any concern for her.

In "Ultimatum", Emerald is unapologetic and sarcastic toward Yang's team, making no effort to defend herself for her actions and saying that she would prefer to go on her own way than go with them. However she later showed pity for the citizens of Atlas that were cowering in the subways, especially upon seeing children, and continued to walk with Yang, Oscar, Ren and Jaune even after Yang stopped holding her at gunpoint.

In "Risk", Emerald joined Ruby's Group in an effort to save both the people of Mantle and Atlas, and begins to put her past dislike for them behind her.

## Powers and Abilities

Emerald seems to be quite adept with her weapons, demonstrating skilled swordsmanship and marksmanship, demonstrating the ability to ensnare opponents in her chains and reel them in, even from a great distance, even bringing down Ruby despite the latter using her scythe's recoil for extra speed.

Emerald is stated by Mercury to be a master thief, and she has proven that she is adept at pickpocketing, with one victim being Roman, stealing his lighter to show him that she was a capable thief after he mocked her. As seen in her fight with Coco Adel, her stealth abilities allow her to move silently and attack from an enemy's blind spot.

Though she hasn't engaged anyone on extended close-quarters combat, in "The More the Merrier" and "Vault of the Spring Maiden" it is shown that she's strong and skilled enough to hold Ruby at bay and even temporarily knocked her out at one point (although Ruby was distracted at the time).

Emerald's weapon of choice is **Thief's Respite**, a pair of dual-wielded pistols that can also be converted into a pair of kama, the blades of which can detach and be swung from chains as kusarigama.

Emerald's Semblance, **Hallucinations**, is individual mental hallucinations - the ability to modify the sensory information in a person's head while their brain is processing it.

Emerald's Semblance is the main reason Cinder first scouted her, having witnessed Emerald use her power to trick a jewel merchant, in order to steal one of his rings - the merchant just smiled at her, as she took the ring right before his eyes.

Her Semblance is not limited to biological opponents, but can also affect mechanical ones. In "Amity", she is able to cause both Penny Polendina and Maria Calavera to experience visual illusions, despite the first being an android and the latter having cybernetic prosthetic eyes. However, she was unable to affect Penny's heat vision sensors, which she used to locate and defeat Cinder Fall. Emerald's Semblance also seems to limit her mobility, unlike Neopolitan's; she typically remains still or moves slowly and cautiously when conjuring hallucinations.

In "War", Emerald's Semblance even extends towards Grimm, as she managed to make herself invisible from being detected by one of the Seers.

As per "PvP", while Emerald's Semblance was originally limited to two people at her limit, she has expanded that number to at least three without tiring as showcased in "Witch". In "Haven's Fate" she managed to affect nine people with her Semblance simultaneously, though this put her under such strain that she lost consciousness. Her Semblance is also now powerful enough to affect Salem, who remarked on its usage.

With the evolution of her Semblance, she can sense the minds of others within a certain radius of herself and if they were weak or strong.