"Thief! Stop!" the guard yelled, drawing his sword and sprinting after the small, cloaked figure that ran ahead of him. He angrily pushed aside a pedestrian, causing the poor man to drop the crate that he had been carrying.
"My cabbages!" The man exclaimed as his produce tumbled about the floor below.
"Stop!" The guard yelled again loudly. He waved his sword frantically through the air. While he was tall and well built, he was nowhere near as fast or agile as the small, hooded figure that he was running after. The thief darted in and out of the busy crowd, navigating expertly through the packed marketplace of Mistral. Gracefully executing a perfect somersault over a large meat stand, Ruby Rose grinned and landed gracefully on her feet, not missing a single step as she continued to leave the guard farther and farther behind. She loved the chase. She thoroughly enjoyed leaving the market guards in the dust. Ruby smiled again as she vaulted over another crate, leaving the pursuing guard, once again, breathless as he made his way around it.
Ruby suddenly caught sight of three more guards approaching from her right side. "Finally calling for backup?" Ruby thought to herself. She took a sharp left, ducking and weaving through the various people that scattered the streets. "That's a first. By the time this is over I might actually lose more energy than I would have gained by eating these apples that I stole... I mean borrowed." Ruby liked to think that one day she would pay all of this back. Deep down though, she knew that she probably would never have the chance.
Suddenly, Ruby ran headfirst into a large pair of arms. Shaking her head, she looked up and realized with dread that it was another guard. Not just regular guard either. His bright red cloak indicated that he held the rank of an officer... likely that of a captain. And to make things worse, next to him was yet another guard. Six guards? A look of concern quickly passed over the young girl's face when she realized that she was trapped in both directions. The guard next to the captain began to draw his weapon.
The captain grabbed Ruby by her cloak. He pulled his ugly face close to hers, exposing her to his foul smelling breath.
"Now what have we got here?" He asked, grinning. "A pretty little thing like you might find it dangerous on these crowded streets, eh?"
Ruby shut her eyes tightly and lashed out hard with her foot, bringing it crashing into the spot between the captain's legs with the force to shatter a mountain. He instantly dropped her and fell to the floor, wheezing. Turning quickly, Ruby swung her bag of apples at the other guard's face as hard as she could. He dropped his sword and brought his hands to his head.
Ruby pushed past him and began to run again. Sweat stung her eyes. The other four guards were catching up to her. Ruby was in a bad position. Her situation had become dangerous. The street that she had been forced to turn onto one that was relatively kept clear from vendors and merchants. That meant there were less obstacles that she could have used to slow the guards down. Ruby poured more energy into her legs, pleading them to go faster.
She could do this. She was faster than them. Even if she had little to work with on this particular street, she doubted that she would lose in terms of speed. With renewed vigor, Ruby began to break away from the group of guards that were behind her. This was good. She could do this.
Suddenly Ruby felt something sharp and furry attach itself to her leg. She looked down, startled, at the small, black bundle of fur that was wrapped around her leg.
"A... Cat?" Ruby exclaimed in bewilderment. Indeed, a small, black feline had somehow—and for some reason—grabbed on tightly onto Ruby's shin. It looked up with glowing, orange eyes and hissed angrily at her.
Ruby was dumbfounded. In her surprise, she lost her concentration. She stumbled—then tripped. She felt the cat release her leg and dart away as she fell quickly towards the floor. A burning sensation enveloped her knees as they skidded harshly across the cobblestone floor. Desperately, Ruby pushed herself off of the ground and attempted to pick up her speed.
However, it was to no avail. She had lost too much distance. Ruby felt a heavy force tackle her from behind, sending her crashing to the floor again. The bag of apples fell from Ruby's hands as her face slid savagely across the rough, stone floor. Tears of pain sprang to her eyes. She struggled feebly against the guard that was holding her down. He was too heavy. Ruby shut her eyes tightly, causing her welled up tears to fall quickly down her face. The salty liquid traced the outside of the gash on her face, causing her to wince heavily in pain.
"Get on your feet, you little rat," she heard a familiar voice spit at her. Ruby was painfully grabbed by the arm and jerked to her feet, causing her to cry out. Once again, Ruby found herself face to face with the captain of the guards. His face was bright red and he was panting heavily. He eyed her in malice.
"While the law prevents me from actually ending your miserable little life, it says nothing about dishing out a little punishment of my own," He spat. He motioned to the other guards with his head. Immediately, Ruby felt herself pinned to the nearest wall. She vaguely registered the feeling of the cool, white paint as her bloodied face was pushed into the stone surface. The guard holding her head pushed it down mercilessly, staining the white bricks red and causing Ruby to cry out painfully. A second guard grabbed her hand and roughly jerked it away from her body. He held it out against the wall.
"What is going on?" Ruby thought to herself. She didn't like how this was turning out. She needed a plan, and fast. Ruby heard the sound of a sword being drawn. She managed to turn her head slightly-only to see the captain lining up his sword against Ruby's wrist. As realization of his intention began to fully dawn on Ruby, panic began to set in. New tears of desperation began to form in Ruby's eyes as she thrashed frantically against the forces that kept her restrained to the wall. It was no use.
"Looks like you won't be able to steal anymore without this little hand of yours, wretch," he sneered. He began to raise his sword. Ruby struggled harder.
"NO!" She screamed. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Ruby flailed around frantically. However, as tough as she might have been for her age, there was no way that she could possibly budge the three burly men holding her down. This was it. This was the end. There was no way that she was getting out of this one. She'd messed up-badly.
Suddenly, Ruby's vision turned completely red. A torrent of cold, thick liquid had crashed down on her head. Blinded and startled, Ruby gasped. She coughed and blinked hard, trying to clear whatever it was that coated her eyes. As she started to regain her vision, the first thing that her eyes focused on was the glistening beads of red liquid that rolled down the arm of the guard that was pinning her down. It took her a moment to realize what it was.
"Paint?" Ruby asked herself, confused. Then she suddenly realized that she wasn't the only one who had been soaked. The guards around her were coughing and sputtering as well, and cursing as they did so. Ruby quickly regained her focus. Taking advantage of the guards' state, Ruby pushed as hard as she could against the two guards that were holding her. With a tremendous amount of effort, she managed to break free from their grasps.
She was out! She needed to get away. As she started to stagger away from the scene, she suddenly stumbled over something—the bag of apples that she had initially stolen. Quickly scooping it up, Ruby broke into a run. She ran like she had never run before. Turning back once amidst the yelling of the guards and the commotion of the crowd, Ruby caught a glimpse of a girl that was standing on top of the white bricked building. She was watching Ruby as she ran. The two made eye contact for a split second. A glimpse of the white hair whipping wildly in the wind was the last thing that Ruby managed to see before she hastily turned back around and fled the scene.
"Ruby please, this has got to stop!" Yang said, pressing a cold, wet rag against Ruby's bloody forehead. "It's too dangerous!"
"I messed up okay?" Ruby said, wincing at the pain on her face. "The guards just got lucky this time… It isn't going to happen again!"
"That's not what I mean and you know it!" Yang exclaimed. She sat down next to Ruby and looked her sadly in the eye. "I never should have let you start this habit in the first place. Ruby, you could seriously be doing something better with your life but you're putting it on the line for what? A bag of apples?"
"You and I both know how much we need all the extra food that we can get. You just lost another job, and we're not exactly living like kings here!" Ruby cried, throwing her hands out in indication of the run down little room that they lived in.
"I know Ruby, I know," Yang said, blinking back tears. "But I'm not going to let you lose your HAND... no, your LIFE just because I haven't been a very good sister to you."
"Yang, don't say that," Ruby said sadly, her voice losing much of its vigor. "I know how hard it is for you. Please, you know I'm only trying to help."
Yang looked up. "Then please Ruby. Get yourself a safer job. Promise me. I absolutely refuse to lose my sister for a bag of apples."
Ruby sighed. She looked out into the distance of the one, small window in their room. The sun was starting to set. The same, dull view of the street outside returned her gaze for the thousandth time that she had looked out that window.
"Okay Yang. I promise," Ruby said, sighing. Yang leaned in and hugged her tightly.
"Thanks sis. I'm going to go see if I can find something cheap at the market for breakfast tomorrow," Yang said standing up. She headed towards the door, but stopped before she reached it. Yang turned around. "And thanks Ruby," she said, tossing an apple in the air and catching it. "I know you have a good heart, kid." Then she disappeared out the door.
Ruby sighed and turned away. She caught a glimpse of her face in the dirty chipped mirror that leaned against the side of the wall. Traces of dried blood caked her face, outlining the deep gash that ran from her forehead to her chin.
Ruby closed her eyes and flopped down on the pile of hay that she and Yang used as a bed. Why did things have to be so difficult for the two of them? Ever since mom had died and dad had disappeared, fortune had done nothing to favor them. Yang worked so hard to support the two of them, but as an uneducated young girl, it was difficult to make ends meet.
It wasn't that Ruby didn't want a job. She just knew that if she went hunting to go find one, she was sure to meet the same sort of discrimination that she knew Yang did. Because the two lived by themselves with very little money, Ruby knew that she didn't have a very good image to start with. Adding to the fact that society placed more value on males, it was indeed a very difficult task for a girl to find a job that let her keep her clothes on.
Ruby removed the wet rag from her face and sighed. As she stared at her blood that stained the white piece of cloth, she thought back to the events that happened earlier that day. Specifically, her thoughts fell on that girl with the white hair. The one who had tipped the paint bucket over the heads of the guards.
"Why did she do that for me?" Ruby thought to herself. "Could it have been an accident?"
All of her life, Ruby was used to being treated like a second-rate human being. Her lack of parents and money automatically branded her as a dirty, lazy girl to the people that knew of her. Why would this specific girl ever go out of her way to save her...a person that she didn't even know? Ruby shut her eyes and shifted her thoughts elsewhere. It was probably an accident anyway. She hoped that the red paint would at least wash off of her clothes.
Ruby's stomach rumbled. She closed her eyes and put her pillow on her face. Three apples were not enough to be considered a proper meal. Especially if that meal was the only one to last the entire day. Groaning out loud to nobody in particular, Ruby turned over and tried to ignore the pain of her hunger. Sleep was the only option for now. Ruby calmed her mind and thought of living a happier life like she did whenever she wanted to sleep. One day they would be out of here. Out of this house. Out of this poverty. Out of this lifestyle. Ruby swore that they would. She swore that she would change things. She swore that... that...
She didn't finish her thought. Before she realized it, she was fast asleep.
Hey, DataGrowth here. I've been crazy busy these past few weeks with catching up on school related things. Sorry if I haven't updated any of my other stories lately, I promise that I haven't abandoned them. I just struggle to find time to work on them. As for this story in particular, I was hit by inspiration after watching something that I simply could not ignore, and this was the result. Hope you enjoy it.