Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

twenty

For the next few days, Ruby's main goal was trying to make her life go back to the way it had been before she'd stolen the keys and escaped from her cell. In other words, she would pretend nothing had happened at all. Well, nothing that would get her into trouble, anyway. 

It was easily the most boring plan Ruby had ever come up with, but there weren't exactly many other ways to keep herself out of trouble for two weeks. In order to do so, she had to become practically invisible, and never, ever draw attention to herself. Something Ruby had never been and would never be good at. 

That probably explained why there was a terrible feeling of dread in her gut for days afterwards. She couldn't quell the horrid feeling, no matter how hard she tried, and it was worrying her. A lot. Ruby didn't like the situation she'd been put in at all. 

It had taken her several days to gather up her courage to retrieve the wrench, which had been lying on the grimy floor about two feet from her cage. It was bloodied and battered, and in all honesty, Ruby had never thought she would one day find a metal stick so terrifying, but now she truly did. It reminded her of what she'd done to torture another living being. There was a symmetry to the entire story that was half funny and half disorienting.

How strangely Ruby's life had evolved. 

When she had visitors, like Selena or occasionally Moskov, she'd quickly shove the wrench and keys in a corner of her cage, or behind it, in the tiny gap between the cage and the wall. Then she'd deftly reposition herself in front of the items she'd requisitioned and cover up the motion with anything she could think of. She was getting surprisingly good at that - coming up with ways to conceal her lie right at the last second. But her newfound skill wasn't doing much to reassure her either - every time she came worryingly close to having her secret exposed, the intensity of the building terror inside her seemed to increase.

Though, in all the truth Ruby's unavoidable anxiety was the sole thing that was giving her the push she needed to survive the next few days. She never would have had such courage without it. It was her overwhelming, almost morbid will to escape from the Abyss she was imprisoned that reminded her, from time to time, that giving up now meant she wouldn't live to see the outside world ever again. 

And, not only did she have to escape, but she also had to find Dyrroth and talk to him before doing so. The worst and best part. It made Ruby wonder, curiously, how things were going to go down.

--

Days later - she wasn't sure how many, but it certainly felt like about five and could turn out to be two - Ruby found herself crouching in her cage, huddled in a shadowed corner, waiting for the familiar beam of moonlight to shine through the dusty, spotted window and dimly illuminate the room, announcing that night had arrived in its wake. 

Ruby waited and did nothing for what she hoped was two to three hours. She'd spent enough of her childhood venturing outside into the deep, dark woods after sundown to know there were certain things regarding the night sky that the eyes of ordinary beings did not see. In fact, doing so repeatedly in the past had trained her to feel, to sense the nighttime world in ways she couldn't before.

Then, when the imaginary clock in her mind struck midnight, she stood up, deftly and silently, brushing grime off her crimson hood. It was time. She was about to sneak out again, but this time not to see her friends.

She had to find Dyrroth.

It didn't take a mastermind to figure out how discontented she was by the idea. She hadn't felt this afraid of doing something in ages, and that was saying a lot considering everything she'd gone through the past few weeks. Though, in all truth, the idea of running amok in an utterly unfamiliar land, searching for a hot demon prince, did sound like something right out of an angsty fantasy romance novel.