Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

twenty-five

It didn't take Ruby long to regroup with her friends, although her lungs were in agony by the time she'd done so. She couldn't even remember the last time her chest and legs had ached this ferociously.

She hadn't been to this side of the Abyss before, so when she spotted her friends waiting in the distance, she was hit by immense relief. Beside Kagura and Harley, she could see two ever so familiar figures, one with auburn hair in a long pigtail and one with fluffy silver hair and cat ears. 

'Lesley!' she gasped, breaking into a sprint although her legs were already tired enough. 'Harith!'

When the two of them noticed her, their faces lit up in shock and relief, too. 'Ruby!' said Lesley, walking towards her with a look of worry. 'I was so worried when I heard you'd stayed behind! Are you okay?'

'Of course!' said Ruby. She realised there were tears prickling her eyes at the sight of her friends, and hastily wiped them with the back of her hand. 'Lesley...Harith...I'm so glad to see you.'

Lesley came forwards and scooped her into a hug, which took Ruby by surprise, since she'd always thought Lesley wasn't really into hugs. Over Lesley's shoulder, Ruby's eyes caught Harith's, and she saw him break into a relieved, grateful smile. After several more seconds, Ruby broke apart from Lesley and went to give him a hug, too, wrapping her arms protectively around the small boy. He was easily one head shorter than her in height, and was visibly embarrassed to be hugging her, but she squeezed him tight anyway. 

'Thanks for coming, guys,' she said once Harith had pulled away from her, clearly not too comfortable with hugging her for that long. Ruby smiled at them, wide and genuine. 'Without you, none of this would be happening.'

Lesley smiled wryly. 'We can save the talk for later,' she said matter-of-factly. 'Now, we've got to get going. This isn't exactly the best place to be having a reunion.'

'Why are you always such a party pooper?' asked Harley in a dull undertone, seemingly to no one, and Lesley knocked him on the head. 

'Don't get ahead of yourself just because you managed to survive on your own,' she said threateningly, shooting her younger brother a murderous look. 'I'm going to lecture you for being so reckless and trying to attack Alice like that.'

'That was ages ago,' he muttered as they began to walk.

There weren't any demons this far out, but Ruby had a feeling the demons who'd taken chase after her earlier hadn't entirely given up yet, so she made sure not to let her guard down. 'Let's get out of here as fast as we can,' she said to her friends. 'The sooner, the better. I can't wait to see Lesley's house again.' She suddenly thought of her old village, and was hit by a pang of sadness.

'Me too,' said Kagura, a grin on her face. 'Damn, I can't wait for things to go back to the way they were before.'

'Yeah,' said Ruby, though she didn't feel the same way. As much as she didn't want to admit it, even if they all went home and things went back to normal, she didn't think her life would be the same ever again. Because she'd always remember that she'd come to the Abyss, had several fun but terrifying adventures on her own, and fallen in love with a demon prince. Months ago, she never would have imagined all that would happen to her. 

Though at least she would be able to see home again. 

---

Lesley's house didn't look like it had changed since Ruby had last seen it, and although it was strange, she was glad for that. Since she would be staying there. Although Kagura already had a place of her own to stay, she'd decided that she would also stay with her friends for several nights, simply because it felt like the right thing to do.