Heart Of Darkness • Legacies

24 | ruby, the hoodie thief

Five days. It had ben five days now since Monica had left her bed. Ruby and Rafael raced past her dorm as Rafael chased his twin, who had stolen his favourite black and white hoodie.

"Please let me wear it? It's sooo comfortable!" The dormant werewolf insisted, giggling as she stood on the other side of a chair, moving in the opposite direction of Rafael's every step. "You have four hoodies! Why do you have to wear mine, sis?" Rafael huffed in annoyance.

The pair continued to chase eachother, until they stopped in front of their headmaster. Alaric looked at Ruby, as he recognised the hoodie, "Doesn't that hoodie belong to.." He trailed off as Rafael snatched his hoodie back from Ruby. "Me? Yeah it does." He said, before pulling it on.

"Are you guys ready for the assembly?" Alaric asked as the twins frowned, not looking enthused. "It won't be too bad." He chuckled as Ruby looked to Monica's dormitory door they were passing, before she looked back to Alaric. "Do you want me to get Monica?" She asked. The Saltzman shook his head, "No leave her be, she'll come out when she is ready."

Alaric walked off as Ruby's face, feeling like they should be encouraging Monica to get out of bed. She turned to Rafael now, "Her mother came from the dead." He explained to her. "She has been a mess ever since she lost her again." Ruby look away sadly, "Oh god, poor Mon.."

"You know I saw Cassie again.. she told me to tell you that she loves you." Rafael added causing Ruby to smile sadly, missing her former best friend and crush. "I love her too."

❤︎

Alaric's booming voice was heard from behind the podium. "Yesterday I came into possession of another Malivore artifact. It was my hope to find a method of containment before it signaled another monster, but given the emergency meeting I've just called, I'm sure you can guess how well that went."

Rafael looked to Ruby, "Where is Hope?" He asked her as the pinkette just shrugged, "How would I know?" She replied to her twin. Rafael seemed confused thinking Ruby would know of Hope's whereabouts since they were roommates.

Truthfully, Ruby had been avoiding Hope. She figured it was best if she distanced herself and let Landon and Hope be, and to focus on someone else. Though it was easier said than done when they shared a dorm.

"Where's Josie and Lizzie?" Ruby suddenly asked, eager to see them. "They left for Europe with their Mum, yesterday." Rafael replied, as the pinkette's face fell as she realised she couldn't hang out with them, though she noted to give them a call later.

"But rest assured we are taking every precaution. Sheriff Donovan has been kind enough to open the doors of the Lockwood Mansion to us, so Mr. Williams and Ms. Tig are now in the process of evacuating our students from the lower grades." Alaric continued, as Kaleb stood up and asked aloud, "Why don't we just evacuate the damn artifact?"

"We are much more well-equipped than the world at large to handle the arrival of a monster. Once we know what we're dealing with and the problem is contained, then we can reassess what to do with the artifact."

Alaric cleared his throat before continuing, "If any of you would like to evacuate, please talk to Dorian or Emma. However, exam week will continue as scheduled, wherever you are." With that, everybody groaned. "I know. I'm sorry. I can't exactly call the state accreditation board and tell them that we're cancelling the exams because of monsters. We'll get through this, I promise. Try and get some rest, okay? Good night."

As the students were dismissed, the Waithe twins walked away together, though Landon soon joined them. "Hope's M.I.A." Landon announced as Ruby sighed, "Yeah, she's probably suiting up in her battle armor."

"Either that or she's realized she's made a mistake bringing me back here 'cause where I go, danger follows." Landon declared. The twins frowned At Landon, before Rafael spoke, "My God. Come on, bro. Now, this one's not on you." He assured the Kirby. "I mean, her being distant today has got to have something to do with us waking up in a field with amnesia yesterday, right?" Landon asked them.

"Look, until one of you can remember how you guys got there, I just... I-I just wouldn't think about it. Look, you're here. Think about the good things in your life instead of getting caught up in the bad for once, bro." Rafael insisted as Landon nodded, "Yeah."

"Uh, I'm gonna grab my bags and hit the library." Rafael decided. "Okay, Goodnight Rafi." Ruby smiled, before the pair fist-bump "Okay. I'll see you at breakfast in the morning?" Landon asked the pair.

"Yeah, see you at breakfast."

With Rafael leaving, Landon quickly caught up to Ruby, who was clearly trying to get away from him. "Ruby!" Landon called out. Ruby faced him reluctantly, "Yes?" She answered.

"Look.. I know we haven't really talked since you found Hope and I... canoodling." Landon awkwardly rambled as Ruby just looked at him blankly. "But... I wanted to be the one to tell you, that Hope and I are now dating."

Ruby's expression first showed surprise, though it twisted into a look of disappointment. "Oh." Was all she managed to say, before she forced herself to try and say something more positive. "That's uhm.. wonderful."

By the look on Landon's face, it was evident that her voice sounded more sarcastic than she'd intended it to bd. "Look... I'm gonna go. Talk to you later Lan." Ruby quickly spoke, making sure to disappear before Landon could say anything else.

The Waithe felt bad for trying to avoid her foster brother, but she needed time to process that her crush had moved onto him.

"Ruby? I didn't know you were back." A voice blurted out as Ruby turned a corner, her eyes landing on Penelope. "Hey Penelope." The werewolf greeted. "How is Monica doing?" She then asked, as she still hadn't seen her.

Penelope's face fell, "Not great at all... I've been trying to convince her to get out of bed but it hasn't worked... maybe you could try?" The pinkette gave a nod, "I was actually making my way there." She decided as the Park smirked in response before asking, "To Monica's bed?"

Ruby's cheeks reddened as she frowned, "No!! To your dorm, I—" Penelope just laughed at how flustered Ruby was becoming, before she continued walking. "See you later Ruby."

Ruby took a moment to cool down, "She is embarrassing.." The werewolf thought, before she continued walking towards Monica and Penelope's dorm. She knocked on the door, not getting any sort of response. The Waithe frowned and knocked again, before letting intrusive thoughts win and deciding to just enter the dorm.

Ruby entered the room and peered at what she assumed was Monica's bed, which was empty. She then realised this was the first time she'd been in the Montgomery's dorm.

Suddenly, with great force, Ruby was slammed against a wall, with a hand tightly gripping her throat. The girl's eyes widened, as she was faced with Monica, who was baring her fangs. Ruby's heart raced, as she looked at her frenemy in fear, hoping the vampire wouldn't hurt her. She had never feared Monica before.

After a moment, Monica stopped barring her fangs and loosened her grip on Ruby, as the pinkette's feet were now back on the floor. "Ruby?" The blonde blurted out not realising she was back, as she also didn't expect the girl in her dorm. Ruby caught her breath, as her heart rate stopped going so fast. "Hey Monica."