She awoke naked and bruised, filth and blood smeared across her body. Forcing her eyes to open she stared immediately at the ceiling of the damp cave she had found herself in this time. Scenes from the night before flashed through her memory, trying to piece together the events from the shattered images fluttering through her mind had never worked, she would always find out what had occurred from town criers, and from the hunter posters plastered around taverns and barns, stating the reward for her death or capture, along with a crudely drawn image of a wolf.
She sighed, and pushed herself up onto her elbows, narrowly avoiding scraping her scalp along the cavern roof she looked down at herself with distaste and attempted to examine the wounds splayed across her entirety. From what she could tell she'd mainly stuck to hunting animals this full moon, though the child's doll lay callously beside her led her to believe she'd gone to look for something more to play with.
She shook herself and looked around, searching the darkness for anything which could cover her profanity, to no prevail. She twisted her body along the floor she knelt on all fours, her back absorbing the cold moisture emanating from the rocks above. She moved carefully, drudging her palms and shins through the wet mud, pushing aside anything particularly hard for fear of pulling up some bones, or anything else of equal horror. As she approached the opening, the light grew stronger, forcing her eyes to cower beneath their lids and her skin to beat with the warmth of dawn. Pushing her head and shoulders out into the open air she raised her hand to shadow her eyes and pried them open.
"Oh dear..." The words stuck Ruby in her tracks, sight unmoving on the woman running towards her, her unscathed hair bouncing as she hurdled over a fallen tree, a book clenched to her bosom. Stunned, she searched her mind for a reason why a young lady would be exiting a dark hole in the middle of the woods at the early hours of the morning... naked... but before long the brunette had reached her, and thrown herself onto her knees, the look of dread moulded onto her face.
"Are you alright!? What are you doing out here!?' she fretted,
"I was thinking the same thing..." The woman pulled off her red overcoat to reveal pure white sleeves and a tight leather waistcoat, and threw it over Ruby's shoulders.
"thank you" she croaked, delicately examining the woman, comparing what she would have looked like right now to this cleverly dressed figure staring directly back into her eyes,
"Come on, we have a camp nearby, you must be freezing..." hypnotised by the comforting feel of the woman's hand being placed upon her back, and the soft flow of her voice, Ruby pushed herself out from the enclave, her eyes fixed solidly into the other woman's. She pulled the overcoat around herself as she stood,
"I'm Belle..." the woman stated, a concerned smile on her lips. They stood in silence for a moment, as Ruby's gaze travelled around her features,
"Ruby." she replied.
Belle rested her hand onto Ruby's shoulder, and smiled genuinely,
"the camp isn't far..." she turned slowly, stepping forward in the hopes that she would be followed. Ruby looked down herself, and then around, realising once again the situation she had gotten into. A hand reached into her vision, petite fingers covered in brown leather spread out towards her own as they pinned the overcoat tightly to her flesh. Releasing one hand from its grip she rested it gently onto Belle's, her pale indignant skin contrasting against the fine material.