Standing in the shadows of the Black Forest's enormous trees, Ruby stared in dismay at her village from afar. It was wholly lit by a blazing, roaring fire, the smoke it emitted making her cough. Her heart sank. It was very likely that she wouldn't be able to save anything at all.
Ruby heard a crackle of girly laughter nearby and dove behind a tree. 'Not too bad, little girl!' mocked a very familiar voice, and flames of loathing burned inside Ruby at the mere thought of who it belonged to. That idiot elf girl again.
Ruby peered around the tree at Selena, eyes narrowed, making sure she wasn't seen. She could already tell she wasn't going to like the sight that awaited her.
Selena was standing with a hand on her hip, a snide smile gracing her lips as she watched an injured human girl attempt to escape the wrath of several abyssal demons. The human girl, Ruby realised, eyes widening in horror, was Reina's elder sister. Ruby vaguely remembered waving at her just this morning, although she didn't know the girl's name and they had never spoken.
The monstrous-looking abyssal demons growled viciously as they advanced towards the defenseless girl, who took a few unsteady steps backwards, her eyes wide with uncontrollable fear. Ruby tightened her hold on her scythe, gritting her teeth and preparing to jump out and protect her when the demons pounced on the girl, baring their razor-sharp fangs.
Ruby inhaled sharply, immediately angling her head away from the poor girl. She couldn't bear to look at what was going on. And, besides, it was too late to save her now. Ruby forced herself to ignore the pity that welled up inside her, pulling her hood farther over her head. With one last disgusted look at Selena, who was rejoicing in the sight of the girl being mauled, Ruby dashed behind tree to tree, hoping to get to the other side of the village unnoticed.
She did. And it truly made her realise how little hope there was left that she could save even a single life from either being burned to death or pitilessly murdered. She had arrived far too late, and as much as she couldn't stand to acknowledge it, there weren't any people that could still be saved. Ruby's heart was crumbling.
She was such a failure. Her duty had been to guard her village from evil, and she'd failed terribly, somehow managing to doom them all in the space of a single night. A sudden urge to cry rose inside her, and she resisted with all her might. She couldn't be weak. Not now. She curled her trembling hands into tight fists.
Like Dyrroth had said, if she couldn't save them, she had to save herself. Fine then, she thought grimly, clenching her teeth. The only thing she could do now was inform someone about the attack, and she knew exactly who to tell.
With a sudden determination, Ruby turned away from the destruction of her village and began to jog swiftly towards the destination.
---
'Lesley! Open up!' shouted Ruby, her voice breathy with exhaustion. Panting, she wiped the sweat that had begun to bead on her forehead with the back of her hand. Ruby pounded on Lesley's door three more times. 'Open. Up!'
Yes, she had heard of doorbells, alright? But she couldn't be bothered right now. 'LESLEY, OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR-'
The door swung open so suddenly that Ruby jumped in surprise. On the other side stood an extremely grumpy-looking Harley. 'The fuck are you doing here,' he growled threateningly, 'at half past one in the morning?'
Ruby gasped. Gosh, Lesley would've been appalled. 'Language, kid!' she exclaimed. 'And let me in, I've got really urgent matters to discuss with your sister.'
She heard the sound of uncontrollable giggling being smothered with a ton of effort inside the house. Harley flushed, eyes flicking towards the source of the giggling. Ruby frowned in suspicion.
'Uh, Harley,' she said slowly and tentatively, 'who is that?' She started to enter the house, despite the short magician in front of her who was desperately trying to block her path.
He'd reacted too late. Ruby walked inside - just to stare dubiously at the sight of Harith practically splitting his sides from silent laughter, crouching half hidden behind a cabinet.
'Harith?' she asked, puzzled. 'What're you-'
'What in the world is happening here?' demanded a loud feminine voice suddenly. It seemed that the owner of the house had just been roused from sleep by the racket downstairs.
Ruby spun on her heel and plastered a false innocent smile onto her face. 'Well, hello, Lesley. I have very, very important things to tell you, regarding-'
Much to Ruby's annoyance, her friend cut her off again. Lesley was apparently more mind-blown at the sight of Harith in her living room. 'And what the Hell is he-'
'Lesley, I can explain!' blurted Harley, his cheeks red. 'He was just passing by and-'
'Did you just hide one of the most notorious warriors of the Moniyan Empire,' yelled Lesley, 'in our living room?!'
'Calm down, you people!' said Ruby, raising her voice so that the two siblings wouldn't start a heated argument among themselves. Harith was apparently still dying of somewhat inaudible laughter in a corner. The entire situation was very... unheard of. 'Lesley, you can lecture Harley later. I have more important things to tell you.' She glanced at Harley over her shoulder. 'Harley, get Kagura. And be quick.'
Harley opened his mouth to protest, indignation showing in his face, but Ruby silenced him with a scathing glare. She didn't have the time for his rebuttals. 'Go right now.'
Intimidated, Lesley's younger brother obeyed without another word and vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but his top hat behind, which flopped onto the floor in the absence of his head. He was a mage after all. Ruby reminded herself that she would have to stop being impressed at the young troublemaker's tricks - his ego was big enough.
Harith, whose laughter had finally subsided, stood up a little awkwardly. 'Um.' He glanced at Lesley and Ruby uncertainly. 'Should I go?'
'No need,' replied Ruby firmly.
'Okay.'
Lesley gave Ruby a pointed look. 'Right,' she said, chin lifted, 'so what were you about to say to me that was so important you stopped me from killing my brother for kidnapping Harith?'
Ruby snickered when she saw Harith blush. He turned away from them self-consciously. 'I'm going to be straightforward here,' Ruby began, her voice emotionless. 'My village was attacked by demons from the Abyss. It's all been burned down.'
Lesley drew in a sharp breath, a hand flying to her mouth in shock. 'Oh, God. That's awful.'
'Indeed,' agreed Ruby grimly, removing her scarlet hood and smoothing down the disheveled mess of her blonde hair. She let her scythe sit against a wall. 'And, for your information, loads of uncanny things happened to me and that's how I got away unscathed.'
That was when Harley re-appeared in the living room, a dazed Kagura standing at his side. She looked utterly bewildered when she saw Lesley, Ruby and Harith there.
Ruby managed a small smile. She was sure it didn't reach her eyes, but she wanted to convince Kagura - who could always see through her - that she was doing fine. 'Hi, Kagura. I've got some bad news,' she started.
'Ruby's village was destroyed by demons from the Abyss.' Lesley heaved a grim sigh. 'And she was just about to tell us more about how she escaped.'
The confusion in Kagura's face instantly sharpened into deadly attention. That girl was a lot tougher than she looked. Beside her, Harley gaped at the news.
'Alright,' Kagura said suddenly in a bold voice. 'Everybody, grab a chair and sit at the table. Our young red riding hood here has some stories to tell us.'
---
'They used Reina to lure you out?'
'Apparently, yes. I think it was planned, because both Selena and Dyrroth knew about-'
'Dyrroth?' echoed Harith, his voice dripping with disbelief.
Ruby halted, a slight frown on her face. 'Um, yeah?' she said. 'What's so-'
Oh.
Heat suffused her cheeks. She cleared her throat awkwardly. 'Um, I mean,' she hastily corrected herself, 'the Prince of the Abyss. So, as I was saying, both of them knew about Reina, I guess that means they'd planned it-'
'Ruby, are you and the demon prince on a first-name basis?' asked Kagura, sounding vaguely concerned and only slightly incredulous.
'...No?'
Everybody at the table was staring at her. Harith and Harley exchanged furtive sly smiles.
Lesley suddenly coughed loudly, deciding to save Ruby from the embarrassment. 'Uh, so where were we?' she questioned, shooting her mischievous brother a warning look.
Ruby immediately continued her story, as casually as possible. 'Yeah, er, so Dyrroth confirmed that he'd asked Reina to lure me out. And then... I remember Selena telling him that if he found me, he had to kill me, because I was apparently wasting their time.'
Lesley clenched her teeth. 'If I ever meet those two, I'll kill them.'
'Wait.' Harith, quick-witted as always, had noticed something was off again. 'But he had found you, right? Why was he lying to Selena for you?'
Darn it.
'Um,' responded Ruby uncomfortably, aware that all eyes in the room were on her, 'That's the uncanny thing. I don't know why.'
Harley smirked. That instantly told Ruby something unwanted was about to happen. 'Well, I think I know why. Harith, are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
'Definitely,' replied Harith with a brilliant and entirely innocent smile. Ruby silently cursed the two boys for causing her so much embarrassment.
Only a few days ago, her friends had been teasing her about Alucard. Now they had suddenly switched to teasing her about Dyrroth. Oh, how the tables had turned. These days, Ruby hardly had any control over the direction in which her life was going. She didn't know who was lying and who wasn't, who truly cared for her and who didn't. But, she thought grimly, she would just have to go with the flow. She didn't seem to have any other choice anyway.
As you can see, I added Harihar in this chapter, since it's also one of my fave ships :/
Sorry if the end of the chapter was kinda sudden! I was really determined to finish writing it today(it's literally almost midnight here lmao) and I thought this chapter was long compared to the others. Hope y'all enjoyed it <3