Never leave a man behind
Azazel gave her a hard stare. She had been 'under his wing' for about six months now – well, it felt like six months, but in hell time had a completely different meaning – and she had screwed up again.
Ruby sighed and tried once more. She focused on the image of her reflection, back when she was human. Her eyes, especially her eyes. They had been blue, a cold, hard blue that had reflected her broken spirit. When she had opened her eyes, Azazel was smiling wickedly. She had done it. She had learned how to hide her heritage from the world. She could follow Azazel onwards and upwards to a better place and she would never have return to the bowels of hell again.
"Tell me, who you are!" His shout made her think of her teacher, long-dead to her by now, Azazel would have never shouted. He didn't need to. He had this way of making you feel intimidated and unworthy with a single, yellow-eyed look.
Slowly she closed her eyes and let them flood with the colour of her heart, unleashing the monster that she truly was. As soon as he saw her for what she really was he backed away, reaching for the nearest weapon.
How polite, she thought, I'm showing the guy my true colours – literally, and he wants to send me straight to hell – also literally. Lovely.
Once again she remembered that wicked grin. He had flashed it to her that day he had shown her the way out and told her that it needed the blood of two true demons and a willing human sacrifice before it would open.
"How much blood?" she had asked, cautiously.
"Not much, a prick of the finger will do, it'll barely sting."
Remembering that moment made Ruby scowl. She wanted nothing more than to forget but the memories continued playing in her mind, like a movie you can't shut off. She saw the portal open and that grin flashed once more as he had stepped through. She tried to follow but couldn't. It was like there was an invisible barrier, blocking her path.
"Azazel!!" she cried, "I can't get through! It shouldn't be open, what about the human?"
He turned to face her and had looked at her as though she was something he'd trod in that had a bad smell. "You were the sacrifice my dear. You gave up your humanity to get out of here and now you'll rot for eternity in the very place you gave everything to escape from," he caught her look of horror and shot her a mocking smile, "oh, didn't I tell you? This portal need the blood of two, but will only ever submit one. Thing is, it will never close. It'll haunt you all forever. A way out of the flames so close but you can never use it."
With that, he had laughed and turned away from her. She wanted to scream, to ask why, why her? But instead she curled herself into a ball and watched him leave, her hopes following in his wake. Cradling the stump which had been her right hand, she had thought – prick on the finger my ass!
To this day, Ruby detested lies. She had always told the truth, no matter how she may word things or what she may choose not to tell someone, she couldn't lie to them. When Dean and Sam left her in the devil's trap, she felt a pang of sadness in her black heart and thought about something Azazel had once said to her; "bravery is so close to foolishness that it should be pitied, not rewarded. But there's one thing the humans have gotten right – never leave a man behind."
What a fool she had been to believe him.