Belle can't even begin to contemplate what she's just heard. It's madness. Sheer madness.
"They will kill you!" She cries, her words sounding even more fierce out loud, against the quiet stillness of the library.
"Isn't that what I deserve?" Ruby counters, despondently, struggling to compose herself in front of the younger girl.
She had come here tonight to bid Belle a final goodbye before she did what she must, not to argue it over with her. Even standing here now Ruby tried to reason with herself why she had felt so compelled to see Belle for one last time, despite having only known the girl for a matter of mere weeks.
The words hit Belle as if Ruby had struck her herself.
"Ruby! How can you even say that? This is madness! I am not going to let you go out there and sacrifice yourself like some, bloody martyr, for something you can't even control!"
The ferocity in Belle's tone and her words themselves stirred something deep in Ruby. She felt her own features soften; her jaw unclench, her eyes widen, as she noticed at last the tears that threatened to fall at Belle's eyes.
"That is exactly why I have to go!" Ruby says, her voice soft now, yet still with a firmness that should have left no room for argument. "If I can't control it, then I can't stop it. And what happened yesterday, that's just going to happen again, and again. I cannot allow that to happen…" Ruby's voice fails her, as the tears that have been welling in her own eyes finally spill over.
"Ruby, please," Belle pleads. "Just…just stay here, with me, please. I…"
"No, Belle," Ruby cuts in. "You don't understand. I have killed so many people. I have taken so many lives. Innocent lives. I can't live like this. Not anymore. I'm sorry." Ruby turns from Belle now, when the awful look on her face, which, she thinks must be something akin to that of her own, is too much to bear.
"Don't you dare!" Belle cries out after her. "Don't you dare leave me here!" Belle thumps down the book she had been holding, onto the nearest surface, before starting after her. "Don't you understand that you are the first good thing that has happened to me since this curse broke?" Belle struggles to get out, her emotions fighting for dominance in her voice; anger, hurt, hope, and something else, something she hasn't realised. Not yet.
Ruby turns, reluctantly, to meet Belle's gaze under heavy lidded eyes. Her brow creases and she smiles wanly at Belle's words before shaking her head.
"No, I'm not," Ruby begins, all the fight from her tone now completely extinguished. "I'm anything but good, Belle. And I'm certainly no good for you."
Belle feels the desperation burning in her, the excruciating feeling of hopelessness at Ruby's defiant words. It is this feeling of hopelessness that finally makes Belle realise that actions do speak louder than words.
Before thinking on it another moment, she takes a firm, deliberate step towards Ruby and, hoping against hope that Ruby will finally listen to her, she kisses her.
At first, Ruby stiffens at Belle's uncharacteristically bold action, but feeling the unreserved trembling passion within Belle's kiss she finally leans into it, her hands raising up from her sides to instinctively rest at Belle's waist. She almost feels Belle sigh into her response, she thinks, as Belle's own hands wander blindly to her face. They stand for what seems like an eternity, before their rough imperfect kisses, as new lover's kisses usually are, finally force them to part.
Her breath hitching in the back of her throat, Belle finally words what her heart desires more than anything in that single moment, more than anything in her whole existent, she realises finally, almost embarrassed at it having taken this long.
"Stay?"
It's one word. One simple word. But said with all the hope, all the passion that anyone could ever give one solitary word, Ruby cannot deny her. Not now. Ruby doesn't answer her. Not with words, at least. For as bold a statement as Belle's first kiss, it can only be answered with an action matching in such courage.
Ruby leans down once again, recapturing Belle's lips. Their kisses, this time, if still a little imperfect, have lost all of their roughness, replaced with a tenderness that Ruby had long forgotten was possible. This is madness, a voice in the back of Ruby's mind screams. So close to Wolfstime. This is madness. But it is the closeness of Wolfstime that only drives Ruby on, as a new hunger takes over her.
As Belle shifts her hands from Ruby's face to the back of her neck, the feeling of fingertips digging into her nape sets something off in her, like a spark struck from a match. In response, her hands, that had rested at Belle's waist, find themselves at the back of her thighs before Ruby lifts the younger girl up, closer to her in one fluid movement, eliciting a small squeal from Belle.
Instinctively, Belle's legs wrap around the taller girl, before she breathes out, "The back room. It's where. It's where I've been staying." She barely manages to say, between quick, heated kisses.
Ruby understands immediately what Belle means. She finds the bed in the back room almost blindly, as her knees meet the sides. With a tenderness that even surprises Belle, Ruby lays her down at the head of it. As Ruby kneels back on her heels between Belle on the bed, her hands fallen onto her lap, a sense of almost shyness creeps over her at the realisation of what is about to happen. Sensing her hesitation, Belle reaches out tentatively to her face, stroking a thumb over her warm, coloured cheek.
"Hey." Belle says, softly.
Ruby turns her cheek in Belle's hand placing a kiss to her palm. "Hey."
Sitting up, Belle lowers her hands to the hem of Ruby's shirt, pulling on it gently. Ruby lifts her arms in response, before reaching behind to unhook her bra. Belle's eyes flutter down to the newly exposed skin, marveling at the paleness of it, save for the blush at Ruby's throat and chest.
Without thinking, or asking, her hand reaches out to Ruby again, finding itself at Ruby's side, her thumb tracing swirls under Ruby's left breast. Ruby sighs into her touch, as Belle now marvels at how impossibly smooth and soft, and warm her skin is.
When Belle finally looks up, she finds that Ruby's eyes are already on her; her head tilted to the side, her brow creased and the ghost of a smile just lingering at her lips. Ruby's hazel eyes, such mesmerising eyes, watch her with a quiet intensity. And in that moment, Belle thinks, no, Belle knows, that she is looking at the most beautiful being in all the world. Any world.
Ruby leans forward with one of those slow languid kisses of theirs, her hands move from her lap to Belle's thighs, as she steadies herself, leaning down into their kiss, moving Belle back.
Taking one hand of material of Belle's dress, Ruby starts to gently tug its way up her torso and over her head. Moving her left hand to Belle's shoulder, she uses her right hand to snake around Belle's back, neatly undoing the clasp of Belle's bra and discarding it, somewhat unceremoniously, to the backroom floor.
Hovering over Belle, as she peppers kisses along her jaw and collar bone, Ruby's senses are assaulted by an array of sensations - the lingering taste of iced tea from their first rough, imperfect kisses; the faint sound of breaths Belle takes as each kiss dances across her porcelain skin; the unique smell of Belle's skin itself, hinted with rose and fresh parchment; and the soft, warm feel of velveteen skin under fingertips. It was intoxicating.
As Ruby descended Belle's torso, compelled to cover every inch with quick, fervent kisses, she finally hesitates at the apex of her thighs. Looking up through thick, dark lashes, Ruby meets Belle's gaze that has followed her descent. Silently asking permission, Belle swallows thickly against the lump in her throat and nods, her hand reaching down to Ruby's face in reply.
When Ruby finally dips her head to Belle, the new and exhilarating sensation of Ruby's tongue against delicate skin threatens to make her come undone right there and then. At that, Ruby smiles into her teasing swirls; alternating between warm flat kisses and quick, fervent swipes. As Belle's hips strain at the desperate, yearning to meet Ruby, she in turn places warm, firm hands, over Belle's torso to steady the younger girl. Fingers outstretched, Ruby begins to trace lines over Belle's skin with impossibly, teasing delicacy.
When Belle's trembling is replaced with a tense stillness, Ruby knows the younger girl is close. With one last swirl of tongue, Ruby pulls away gently, ignoring Belle's cry of protest. She begins instead to once again ascend Belle's torso with quick, feather light kisses, lavishing her with the same attention as before. Belle's hand reaches blindly up from beside her to cup Ruby's cheek, again, turning in Belle's hand, she places a kiss to Belle's palm.
Ruby positions herself either side of Belle's left thigh, and soon enough Belle's hips begin to buck again of their own accord, seemingly entranced by the rhythm set by Ruby's deft fingers. In turn, as Belle's hips cant between Ruby's thighs, their meeting begins to bring around the quelling of Ruby's own yearning needs.
Afterwards, as they lay together sated and spent, and still, save for the delicate tracing of Ruby's left thumb over Belle's hip, Belle shivers anew with the ghost of her aching, arching climax. Ruby feels the gentle sweep of eyelashes against her jaw, as Belle shifts in ever closer to her side. With the fingers of her other hand entwined with Belle's, resting over her stomach, Ruby finally gives words to Belle's question.
"I'll stay."
Two words. Two simple words. They don't even need to be said, not really, but it doesn't stop Ruby feeling the slow movement of Belle's cheek against her skin, as a smile blossoms across her features.
"Thank you," Belle says, turning her head to look up at Ruby. "I won't let anyone hurt you, you know. Ever."
A broad smile etches over Ruby's lips. It sounds almost funny, she thinks; a princess vowing to protect a beast. But she doesn't laugh, the earnestness in Belle's voice stops her. Ruby, with her arms about her, only pulls the younger girl closer to her.
"Or I, you." She finally says, placing a tender kiss to Belle's brow.