Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

sixteen

Ruby smirked. 'Just think of something. Now get out.' She leaped to her feet so she could grab Dyrroth by the shoulders, nearly impaling her hands, and steer him out of the room. He let out an incoherent groan but didn't fight her.

Once she'd dealt with that, she re-entered the room and crouched down in front of her friends, who were gazing at her expectantly. 

'So, um,' she began in a low voice, in case Dyrroth could overhear her, 'I've got some bad news.'

'Dyrroth has a girlfriend?' asked Harley, his green eyes wide and innocent.

Ruby nearly choked. She was so close to choking, in fact, that she doubled over for several seconds. Undignified, she cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure. 'Uh, no?' she coughed, blushing. Why, oh why did she have to be one of the unlucky people whose cheeks had a habit of expressing the individual's embarrassment as loudly as they could? 

Harley had his signature smirk plastered across his face. Gotcha, he seemed to be thinking. 

Just then, Kagura rolled her eyes. 'Get on with it, Ruby.'

Fine. She had a point. Ruby cleared her throat once more, taking a deep breath, and said, 'The Abyssal Demons are going to storm the Moniyan Empire again.'

Sheer disbelief, and a hint of worry, flickered across Kagura's face. 'What?' she said, sounding dubious. 'Are they crazy?'

There was something dangerously close to genuine fear in Harley's face that scared Ruby a little. 'But why?' he asked, sounding desperate. 

Ruby knew he was worried about Harith. 'They're ashamed that they were defeated the last time they invaded the empire. So they're going to initiate another war, and this time they'll be more prepared than before,' she explained, not really knowing whether half of the things she was saying were actually true.

They were all quiet for a moment, immersed in their own thoughts. Then, abruptly, Kagura broke the silence. 'We need to get out of here,' she announced with dead seriousness. There was a coldness in her voice that Ruby was somewhat relieved to hear. It meant Kagura hadn't lost her strictness although they were stuck in a sticky situation. 'To warn the Lightborn Squad. If the demons are really taking it seriously this time, the Moniyan Empire might not be able to hold out for a second time.'

'But how do we escape?' Harley wondered aloud.

Escaping from the Abyss - somehow - had crossed Ruby's mind before, but she hadn't thought it possible. Now that she was reunited with her friends, she thought otherwise. What was there that she couldn't do if she had Kagura and Harley with her? All they had to do was overcome their challenges together. Ruby wondered why she hadn't thought of that before.

'I think a distraction would do just fine,' said Ruby, gnawing absently at her nails. 'We don't have the power to create one at the moment, of course, but I've heard that they're planning to invade the smaller, less dominant lands to recruit more troops. That's what they did with my village - though, you know, they sort of just massacred everyone.' Ruby swallowed and forced herself to continue. 'Maybe when they're invading a land that's bigger, more powerful, they'll have to use more of their demons and we'll have less obstacles in our way when we try to escape.'

Kagura's brow creased as she thought hard. 'Yeah, that'll work,' she said slowly. 'Do you think you can try to find out stuff from Dyrroth? Or any demons that enter your cell? You seem to be having much more company than us.'

That was sort of true. Unwanted company, though. 'I'll try,' Ruby answered uncertainly.

'Whose idea was it to storm the land again? Dyrroth's?' questioned Kagura suddenly in a calm voice.