Alice swept into the room, all grandeur and royalty. She flung open the double doors with force, and Ruby instantly flattened herself against the wall in fear of being smacked in the face. Dyrroth, unfortunately, had less options.
As the door swung towards them violently, Ruby stuck out a hand so it wouldn't smash right into Dyrroth and give them away. He hadn't seen it, since his back was to the door. He shot her a deft smile of gratitude before glancing in Alice's direction warily.
She hadn't noticed them, apparently too caught up with whatever she was up to. The door obscured her from their sight, and Ruby didn't dare peek out to get a glimpse of what she was so busy doing.
The gap between the door and the wall hadn't seemed so painfully small before, but now that Ruby was hiding in it with another person - Dyrroth - it almost seemed infinitesimal.
She suddenly realised she hardly had anywhere to put her hands, and from the looks of it, the very same thought had hit Dyrroth. Without making eye contact with Ruby, he placed his hands lightly on her hips, remarkably casual considering the awkwardness - or some might say, intimacy - of the moment.
Ruby flushed. She let her hands settle on Dyrroth's chest, since she had nowhere else to put them. Putting them on his shoulders would be weird.
She pretended not to notice the smile that had subtly crept across the prince's handsome face. Instead, she decided to focus more on willing her scarlet blush to go away. It didn't work. All it did was make her feel embarrassed, which made her blush more.
Ruby didn't really pay any attention to what Alice was so busy doing in the throne room. The only thing that seemed significant right now was this moment and the entire strange yet beautiful symmetry of it, her and the demon prince huddled behind a door hiding from his evil stepmother. Strange, indeed. Ruby wanted to laugh at it all, but all she could focus on was the feeling of Dyrroth's hands on her hips. And the warmth of his chest under her palms.
There was a not-so-subtle smile on Dyrroth's face throughout it all, and Ruby couldn't help noticing how effortlessly beautiful he was, how mindblowingly gorgeous. She sucked in a breath and held it.
Don't look at him, don't look at him...
Ruby feared what would happen if she lifted her head. Perhaps she was overthinking it or being paranoid, but she still wasn't about to raise her head. Ever. She wasn't ready.
Her heart was beating right out of her chest. She heard a distant rustle of skirts swishing, knowing that would be Alice. Ruby stiffened when she sensed Alice coming near them.
Before she realised even realised it, she'd lifted her head, and met Dyrroth's gaze.
She froze, unable to take her eyes off his. There was an inexplicable emotion buried in the depths of his magenta eyes that allured her endlessly. She snapped out of her trance after a few seconds, and much to her horror, saw the door shift.
Fortunately, the malevolent demon queen didn't think to look in their direction as she left the room grandly, slamming the heavy double doors behind her with a deft flick of her right hand. With a small smirk ever so slightly lifting the corners of his lips, Dyrroth stepped away from her.
Ruby didn't know why a pang of disappointment hit her. Though, in all truth, she had no reason to feel that way. She shouldn't have been expecting more in the first place. Or maybe that was just what she told herself.
Afterwards, Dyrroth took her back to her cell, since they'd both been sort of demotivated after nearly getting caught by Alice. They walked mostly in silence. And, despite that she constantly told herself not to get her hopes up for no reason, she couldn't help noticing something.
Dyrroth's small smile never fled his face.
---
As usual, Ruby simply tried to fall asleep the next day. It wasn't like she had anything else to do anyway. She couldn't stop thinking about her friends. Were Kagura and Harley worrying about her constantly? Harley probably didn't give a shit. But knowing Kagura and her wise personality, she'd be trying to come up with a plan to find Ruby and have all three of them escape together. Ruby felt bad for making her worried.
She wondered about Lesley. What was she most likely to be doing right now? Probably being very stressed, or screaming at the Moniyan Empire to hurry up and rescue her friends. Either that, or she'd decided to do the smart thing and not stress herself out. Ruby couldn't help wondering about Alucard as well, and whether he was concerned about her safety. She didn't really know whether she wanted him to care or not.
Just then, she heard people shouting on the other side of her door. Frowning, Ruby strained her ears to make out what they were saying.
'Selena, you're not supposed to go in, you're disobeying the prince's orders-'
'I don't freaking care! Leave me alone!' Ruby gritted her teeth in annoyance. She already knew exactly who that sickening voice belonged to.
Seconds later, the door banged open violently, and Selena stormed through it, looking enraged. Her scowl deepened when she laid her venom-filled pink eyes on Ruby. Moskov hurried through the door behind her in a panicky manner, shutting it so they wouldn't be overheard.
'Selena, I'm telling you, you can't be in here-'
'Shut it!' snarled Selena mercilessly, getting in the Abyssal Demon's face with a sneer. 'Get out of here.'
Moskov's eyes narrowed. After a while, he grudgingly replied, 'Only if you promise you're going to leave as soon as you're done with whatever you're planning to do.'
'Ugh, whatever!' Selena snapped viciously. 'Get out. Now.' With impatience radiating off her, she shoved an uncomfortable-looking Moskov out of the door.
Then she turned to Ruby.
As much as Ruby hated to admit it, a nearly imperceptible feeling of fear spiked through her. There was an anger, a hatred so genuine in Selena's face that Ruby had never seen before. She wasn't afraid of her, but in this situation, Selena had the power to hurt her, and Ruby wouldn't even be able to defend herself.
'What do you want?' Ruby asked sharply, gathering her courage.
Selena advanced towards her, sneering. She grabbed the bars of Ruby's cage, curling her fearsome claws around them, and fixed her hate-filled pink eyes on Ruby, who was intimidated but refused to cower. 'What do I want?' Selena hissed. 'I want to know why the Hell Dyrroth cares about you so much!'
Ruby stared at her.
'You know what he said to me? He asked me to not starve you or hurt you in any kind of way! He even told me I wasn't allowed to come in here anymore. Like, what kind of bullshit is that? What the hell did you say to him?'
Is she joking?
Ruby's jaw practically dropped to the floor in incredulity. She'd been expecting something much more important than that. She was in so much disbelief, she almost felt embarrassed for thinking Selena was mad over something more significant.
Her incredulity made her reckless. 'I overestimated you, Selena, I really did,' she said seriously. 'I thought you had at least some sense in you, but now I can see you clearly don't. Because you're angry at me over a matter as unimportant as this.'
'It's important to me because I care about him,' snapped Selena, looking appalled that Ruby could say such a thing. 'So stop manipulating him into liking you.'
Ruby stared at her again.
Oh my God. She's full of shit, all right.
'That is the shittiest thing I've ever heard.' Filled with a growing fury that was making her dangerously reckless, Ruby stood up to face Selena's challenge. 'First, who ever said I was manipulating him? I'm not. And second, how can you waste time caring about whether or not Dyrroth likes a human girl? Don't you have more important matters to occupy your brain? Get your priorities right, bitch.'
For a moment Selena just stood there, her face a picture of pure shock. Then her expression contorted into uncontrollable rage.
And before Ruby realised what was happening, Selena's hand had shot through the bars of her cage and grabbed her neck.
'Hey! Let me go-' Ruby was cut off by her own hacking coughs. The realization that she couldn't breathe was accompanied by a wave of sheer horror.
I'm going to die here. She's going to kill me for sure.
There wasn't an ounce of pity or remorse in Selena's gleaming, merciless eyes. Ruby was so afraid, so full of dread, that she could hardly think.
Her lungs hurt. They hurt so much, she couldn't resist trying to gasp for air, but none came. Selena's lips curled into a wicked, malicious smile at the sight of her, and Ruby knew, right at that moment, that if she were able to do so, she would've beaten the crap out of Selena there and then, just to wipe that sickening smile off her face. She never wanted to see it again. She never wanted to see Selena again.
She couldn't really make sense of what was happening anymore. There seemed to be shouting outside the door again, but who knew whether it was just her imagination. Her vision started to blur, her head becoming heavy.
The door crashed open. That was the last thing she saw before her eyelids closed.
Selena's hand stiffened suddenly before releasing Ruby's neck, causing her to crumple to the floor of her cage in a daze.
The rush of air into her lungs felt absolutely blissful. After several seconds, her vision cleared, and she instinctively rubbed the bruised skin of her neck, gasping heavily.
And then she was suddenly aware of the complete racket going on in the room.
There was shouting. Lots of shouting. Ruby's hand slackened when she saw Dyrroth in the room, looking utterly enraged, shouting something at Selena that Ruby's dazed mind couldn't comprehend. Moskov, whom Ruby hadn't realised had re-entered the room, was edging towards the door with a tempted, long-suffering look.
Selena was half crouching on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Ruby was slightly shocked when she saw the look of genuine fear in the demon girl's flawless face.
'I'm sorry!' she wailed. 'Your Highness, forgive me, I'm sorry!'
Dyrroth opened his mouth with a look of fury, seemingly about to yell something at her again, but he quieted abruptly, his eyes briefly flicking towards where Ruby stood, gazing at all of them in shock and bafflement.
He seemed to decide that checking on Ruby was more important than fulfilling his urge to scream at Selena, and hurried over to her. She couldn't stop herself from scowling. What is with everyone thinking I'm some weak little girl?
The prince apparently didn't notice her unfriendly look, because he asked her seriously, 'Ruby, are you alright? You nearly died. I can't believe-' Dyrroth glanced in Selena's direction for half a second, just long enough to shoot the girl a spiteful, murderous look. He muttered something very rude under his breath instead of finishing his sentence.
Ruby forced a small smile. 'I'm fine.' Unsurprisingly, that was a lie. She wasn't fine. She was still incredibly shaken by what had just happened. 'What's going to happen to Selena?'
Dyrroth's expression soured. 'Oh, she's going to regret ever laying a finger on you, Ruby,' he bit out with a look of menace.
She couldn't have fought the playful smile that spread across her face even if she wanted to. 'Dyrroth, you know you don't have to protect me from her, right?'
'I know you can take care of yourself,' he said. 'But I'm still going to protect you.'
He didn't say it like he was teasing her. No, he was being dead serious. Ruby's heart raced. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.
'So what're you going to do? Kill me?' asked a weak, feminine voice from behind Dyrroth, and Ruby's single emerald eye settled on Selena. She still looked as shaken as Ruby was, although they were experiencing the same feeling for very different reasons. Ruby noticed a faint gleam of shrewd indignation in Selena's gaze. So she wasn't one to back down, huh.
Ruby had a sudden thought. If she'd never started liking Dyrroth and he'd never known of her existence, would she have befriended Selena if they ever met? Probably. Selena was cunning and determined, and suited the description of a friend Ruby would like to have perfectly. But too bad, fate had inexorably turned them into enemies.
Also, Selena had tried to kill her. Ruby could never, ever forgive that. Never.
A corner of Dyrroth's lips lifted cruelly. 'Killing you sounds nice, but unfortunately-'
'You need me for the war,' interrupted Selena dismissively, looking bored.
'Yeah, I need you for the war. After that I'll get rid of you.' The prince pointedly ignored the resentful look Selena gave him.
Ruby frowned. She had a feeling 'the war' was something she wasn't supposed to know about, but they seemed to have forgotten about her presence. Suddenly sensing someone's hawk-like gaze on her, she flicked her eyes around the room warily.
Moskov was fixing a distrustful stare on her, glancing at Dyrroth and Selena a bit worriedly. 'Uh, guys?' he said tentatively, getting their attention. 'I don't think you should be talking about this in front of a human.'
Selena sighed in resignation. 'Ugh, too late now.'
Ruby, who was highly offended by Moskov's words, turned a deaf ear to Selena. 'A human?' she echoed. 'Did you just call me 'a human' ?'
Moskov frowned. 'But you're a human, right?'
Now it was Ruby's turn to stare at him. Did this guy seriously not get it? 'Uh, yeah, I clearly am?'
'Can you two not?' Dyrroth butted in, sounding annoyed. He had his arms folded, his magenta eyes flicking between Ruby and Moskov, who were still eyeing each other with dislike. 'Pretty soon I'm going to have to put up with you two arguing every day.' His tone was salty.
Ruby found herself smirking wryly. He seemed a bit jealous.
'Possessive much?' remarked Moskov dully, and Dyrroth shot him a death glare.
Just then, Selena, who seemed slightly discomfited by the lack of attention she was getting, pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning on. 'Now, if you guys don't mind,' she drawled sourly, 'I'm going to leave. Before we get caught.' And, just like that, she walked out of the door.
For a moment, there was only silence in the room. Then, Moskov muttered in that low, unpleasant voice of his, 'So, Your Highness, the human girl knows about the war now. What're we gonna do about it?'
Ruby gave him a look. Not just any look. An actual intimidating look. 'I have a name, you know,' she said slowly.
This time, Moskov wisely chose to ignore her.
Dyrroth didn't look the slightest bit bothered. In fact, he looked a little pleased that they hadn't started bickering again. 'It's fine,' he said. 'She won't tell anybody.'
Moskov appeared to be entirely unconvinced.
Glaring at the Abyssal Demon's glanced at Ruby. 'Right?'
Ruby frowned. What were they planning that was so important she couldn't tell anybody about it even if she knew? And why did Dyrroth trust her so much? 'What war are y'all even talking about?' she asked.
He didn't seem to mind her asking, either. 'We're planning to storm the Moniyan Empire again in a month or so,' he replied idly. 'But this time with more troops.'
Ruby stiffened. 'Wait, what?' she blurted, not caring about sounding like an idiot.
Dyrroth shot her a look of surprise, like he hadn't expected her to react that way. Beside him, Moskov rolled his eyes but didn't speak. The prince opened his mouth to repeat himself, but Ruby cut him off.
'You're going to invade Moniyan?' Ruby sputtered. 'A second time? Haven't you done enough damage to that place already?' She didn't want to sound too shocked, but what he was planning was an entirely different level of cruel.
'We'll have a higher chance of succeeding this time,' he explained to her patiently, undaunted. 'Because although they haven't had much time to patch things up, we still have a lot of troops we didn't send out the last time...'
Ruby couldn't help being annoyed. 'That's not what I meant and you know it. I'm saying, how could you do this to innocent people? They don't deserve it, Dyrroth. Why can't you just leave them alone so we can all have some peace for once?'
For a moment he was silent, scrutinizing her quietly through half-closed lids. Then he said, 'Because it's what my people want. I may hate being prince, but the Abyss means a lot to me. I hope you understand.'
Oddly, she did. Ruby knew Dyrroth wouldn't ruthlessly invade a city of innocent people just because he wanted to dominate the Land of Dawn. He was doing it because the Abyssal Demons wanted to. 'It's fine,' she said. 'I understand.'
He trusted her not to tell anyone, but Ruby knew she'd have to warn her friends in Moniyan about it. She had to. She would just have to hope Dyrroth didn't find it such a huge betrayal. And that he'd understand her, like she'd understood him.
Moskov interrupted her thoughts. 'Who let you call him Dyrroth?' he asked, frowning.
Dyrroth scowled at him. 'Me.'
Moskov looked taken aback, but tried not to show it. 'Uh...okay,' he said uncomfortably. 'I'm just gonna go now.'
Once he'd left, Dyrroth turned to Ruby with a wary look. 'So what do you think of Moskov?,' he asked her, his face impassive. There was something very passive-aggressive about the way he said it that made Ruby suspect he was jealous.
She rolled her eyes. 'He's boring.'
She wondered if the look of satisfaction on his face was simply her imagination. 'So...' she started hesitantly, 'about the war...'
Dyrroth's head jerked towards her, one eyebrow raised. 'You're not supposed to know about it, you know.' A humourless smile spread across his face. 'Revealing our plans to a human is considered an act of treason. If Alice finds out that you know, I'm dead.'
Ruby frowned. 'But don't Selena and Moskov already know?'
'Oh, they won't tell anyone. Trust me.'
'Of course I trust you,' she responded without thinking, and then blushed furiously when she realised that sounded sort of cheesy. She ducked her head so that her blonde locks obscured her face.
Dyrroth's knowing silence told her that it was no use hiding, but she did anyway. Ruby peeked out from a space between her curls with her one emerald eye and saw that he had a wry, handsome smirk on his face.
'Of course,' he responded slyly. Then, glancing at the door, he said, 'Actually, I should get going too. I have lots of work to do.' He heaved a sigh.
She smiled a little. 'Sometimes I feel bad for you having to be a prince. You make it sound so hard.'
Dyrroth shot her a swift glare. 'Girl, I don't make it sound hard. It is.'
'M-hmm,' responded Ruby with a skeptical smile, pretending to be unconvinced. He was adorable when he got annoyed.
The prince rolled his eyes at her, a smirk flitting briefly across his face. Then he opened the door quietly, glancing outside, and shot her a tight smile just before closing it.
Ruby couldn't stop smiling to herself for the next few minutes. She didn't waste time trying to comprehend why. She wasn't sure if she wanted to comprehend why.
Perhaps being stuck in the Abyss wasn't actually so bad. Well, the fact that she was locked away from her friends totally sucked, but other than that, things were okay, weren't they? She had Dyrroth. Moskov was boring, but tolerable. And maybe, if Ruby tried not to fight with Selena, she would turn out to be alright too.
Yeah, perhaps things weren't so bad after all.
Hi guys, I just wanted to say this...if you're a Selena main or you play Selena, please don't be offended because I antagonized Selena in this story! I don't hate Selena or anything, I just thought that Ruby having a rival would spice things up a bit, you know? Hehehe
Also, I'm really sorry if I don't update much in the next few days, I'm gonna be busy with school and stuff :< though of course I'll try to update as often as possible..