Title: Metamorphosis
Summary: It was as though she had lost one of the people she cared for most all over again. Only this time their body was still walking, though empty of that person who once was.
Pairing: Red Beauty/Red Lace (hinted Swan Queen too if you squint).
...
Notes:
Originally a One–Shot this developed into a Tri–Shot.
Chapter 1 & 3 are T rated.
Chapter 2 is M rated.
I have hopefully written it so Chapter 2 can be skipped if you so wish. With Chapter 3, hopefully, being clear enough that you can understand what happened without having to read it in detail. So yes, the rating will be going up.
Most of this was written before the Third Season aired.
I think Ruby may have come across too mopey, but she does have a habit of self-pitying (poor choice of words I know) because of her past and, well everything else. Hopefully I didn't go too over the top with it, but I fear I may have.
As always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
The Nurse on the desk had looked at her puzzled that day. Ruby had arrived at the hospital for another hesitant meeting with Belle, waiting impatiently for the confusion clear on the Nurse's face to break just long enough for her to explain that Belle was not there. Feeling a growing knot of anxiety in her chest, Ruby pressed the woman on just where her friend was. Thankfully it didn't take too much effort to get the Nurse to inform her that Belle had been discharged into the care of Gold earlier that day.
Ruby had held back her irritation, not just at not being told of the rather important event, but also because she was fully aware that Belle's memories had yet to return – and she was certain that had yet to change; surely if Gold was capable of bringing back her memories he would have done so by then. Letting her wander around could potentially be far more damaging to her than staying in the hospital ever could.
The Nurse had shrunk back then, for some reason Ruby was still unsure of, and explained just how Belle had left. Apparently she had disappeared from the hospital on her own shortly before her official discharge – to the aggravation of Gold, which Ruby admitted made her conflicting feelings of anxiety and annoyance shrink for a moment, replaced instead by a guilty satisfaction that seeped through her bones.
It disappeared just as swiftly.
The thought of an amnesiac and confused Belle running around did nothing to lower her hackles.
She left in all but a run.
Tracking her was easy enough for The Wolf. There were a few stops, places she was sure she had never known Belle to go to. Why she would be drawn there in her confused straight was baffling. Didn't people who lose their memories usually go to places that were familiar to their pre-amnesiac self? Or was that just some movie thing?
By the time she reached Belle's last location, the place where the trail disappeared beneath the heady scent of bodies and liqueur, she was long gone. Or so the bartender said. Near the end of the trail there had been another scent she more than recognised and, perhaps rather cowardly, she slunk away with new knowledge rebounding around her head, along with shame that she had been too slow.
There was no doubting the scent she had followed there, the one she was so ashamedly familiar of. Ruby knew it was her. But Belle didn't know herself.
She meaning Lacey.
Lacey.
Belle's memories had in fact returned, but they weren't hers. At least from the sound of it.
It was a foreign concept, something that had not fully sunk in, not until she had seen it herself only a few days prior to the moment she now found herself in.
Lacey was not Belle. She may be in her body; may sound like her, look like her, smell like her, but that was where the similarities ended.
In truth, she reminded her of when she had just been Ruby. Only-Ruby. Or rather, what people had thought of her back then. Hell, even Granny had made a comment about it while she hid away in the back of the Diner like a cowering pet.
She took a sip from the bottle in her hand, the warm liquid causing her to grimace.
Tonight was a beer night.
It was all pitiable. Leaving her overwhelmed and feeling useless. Worthless.
It harkened back to the time after she lost Peter. It was as though she had lost one of the people she cared for most all over again. Only this time their body was still walking, though empty of that person who once was.
And Ruby was doing nothing. Just hiding away, feeling sorry for herself.
She stared blankly at the brick wall opposite, her mind caught up in her thoughts of self-depreciation. The mild thrum of the music originating from the building behind barely noticeable to her.
The car park was mostly empty, not that you really required a car in such a small town. The few people that had milled around had quickly disappeared into the bar without so much as a glance, leaving her feeling like part of the decoration. Not that she wanted it any other way that night.
Her breath visibly puffed out from her lips. For a moment she almost wished for a cigarette, the rush of nicotine always helped calm her, even if the taste was unpleasant. Though she had given up that habit a while ago.
Of course at the time her ability to quit had been put down to her stubbornness, something she got from Granny. Now though she had the suspicion it had more to do with being a Werewolf, probably why she had none of the negative effects either – at least no noticeable ones.
Or, actually no. That hadn't happened had it?
Ruby shook her head, taking a quick swig of her drink, before shaking her head once more at the taste.
That had occurred in what she thought was her past. The false one.
Huffing she ran a hand through her hair, she had not been fully aware of just how messed up her head had been getting, and surely the alcohol wouldn't help. Even if she had a higher tolerance than none Werewolves.
Her hand dropped to her side, resting on the cold brick of the wall she was perched on. Her nails tapping briefly on the surface.
The music from inside swelled in volume, cutting back down with the closing of a door, the dominating sound now familiar heavy footfalls approaching her perch.
"Hey Rubes, what are you doing out here all on your own?" Emma came to a halt in front of her, shifting on her feet; a small jogging motion to stave off the chill of the evening.
"You know…" Ruby gestured with her hand, the one which still held the warm beer, as she let her sentence trail off.
"You look like a lost puppy –
Emma dropped down on the wall next to her.
" – Err, no offense intended."
Ruby could feel the weight of Emma's gaze on her face, it caused her to shift uncomfortably having grown accustomed to her self-imposed solitude. And yet, she still desperately wanted someone by her side. Perhaps it was a wolf thing.
"You should have called me. Better we drink together than alone, right?"
When no response was forthcoming, Emma sighed, turning to focus on the wall that had so easily captivated Ruby's own attention.
Ruby could hear the crinkling of Emma's leather jacket as she fidgeted besides her.
"Be pretty stupid of me to ask how you're holding up right?" The question was more rhetorical than anything else, Emma turning her own bottle in her hand as if studying the label or the contents.
Ruby, as if unable to shrug the dark cloud that rested on her shoulders, replied rather wearily, "About the same as if I asked you."
Emma gave a humourless laugh, "Right."
The blonde tilted her head back, draining the rest of her bottle.
Even if their exchange had seemed to be reluctant, or perhaps awkward, the silence between them was not. If anything it was companionable and lifted Ruby's spirits more than a little, and she was certain the same was true for Emma. She had a sixth sense like that when it came to her friend.
Ruby felt Emma moved her shoulders in a shrug, and caught the movement of her head dropping as she flickered her gaze down to the bottle both of her hands now cupped, "Not exactly healthy, drowning our sorrows."
Ruby felt the corners of her mouth twitch up, "Not alone. No."
"Well…" The blonde bumped her shoulder with her own, the motion unexpected and almost displacing Ruby from her seat, "Now we're both here…"
"…We may as well make a night of it," Ruby concluded, turning to face her friend head on for the first time that night.
"Damn straight." Emma lifted her empty bottle as if in cheer, "How about I go get us both fresh drinks, it looks like you've been nursing that for a while."
Ruby, grinning now at her friend's sudden and contagious enthusiasm, shrugged, "Far be it from me to deny a free drink."
"Hey," Emma began, her face falling in mock displeasure, "who said I was paying?"
Scratching the back of her neck, Ruby shook her head, "Got me there. I think."
Jumping back to her feet the blonde gave a small bow of her head, "Fresh drink coming up." And then she was circling around the wall and heading back inside with her heavy steps. The music from inside filtering out before being silenced with the noisy slam of the door.
Ruby found herself unable to drop her smile. Maybe moping around by herself wasn't as good an idea as she originally thought, not that she would admit that to Granny when she returned home. The woman was right enough times as it was. Really Ruby should have learnt that by now, but her stubbornness was an irritating burden at times.
Taking another sip of her beer, her face scrunched up. The sooner Emma came back with fresh drinks the better.
The sharp clicking of heels caught her attention before anything else. The sound repetitive and so like the suddenly noticeable thudding of her heart. She tried to take in a deep breath to calm herself, but it brought with it a scent that stung her nostrils.
She must have circled around the building rather than through it, but was the action purposeful or not? Was she even aware Ruby was there?
Ruby swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat, worked her jaw to try to loosen her tongue from where it had glued to the roof of her mouth.
What had she, herself, thought would happen? Coming here when she knew this had become a regular haunt for –
"Well, long time no see."
Ruby twisted her head around, and sure enough Be – Lacey had come to a halt a few steps behind her. A hand resting on her jutted hip and a glass of some red cocktail – Cherry Margarita? – balanced delicately in her hand. It almost looked like a pose out of a magazine.
Belle's – Lacey's – she cursed herself. Lacey's breathe misted before her mouth, her dress far too short for the weather. Another similarity to the Ruby of old it would seem.
Ruby felt her Wolf stir, an abundance of energy striking them both into, what she hoped to be, a panic. For a panic was a far preferable response to anything else that could possibly be circling around in her body and head.
And yet she was frozen to the spot. The panic not knocking her into motion as it rightly should.
"Cat got your tongue?" Lacey asked with a short laugh. It stopped as abruptly as it started, the shorter brunette tilting her head to the side, "Why aren't you laughing? I thought you of all people would appreciate an in-joke."
The seated woman bristled, the action finally freeing her tongue from the roof of her mouth, "What?"
That one small word came out aghast, her lungs barely releasing enough air to carry it far, and yet there was an undercurrent of the sting Lacey's words had caused.
Lacey cocked an eyebrow, amusement dancing in her eyes as she circled around the edge of the wall. Halting a few paces away from Ruby once more.
"Cat. Dog." She raised her glass, taking a small slip, savouring the taste before she continued, "Really, Wolfie?"
Ruby's eyes darkened, her jaw tightening this time as her shock was overridden.
Lacey, oblivious or pretending to be, perched on the wall besides her, crossing one leg over the other, the short hem of her dress riding up her thigh.
Ruby felt that lump reforming in her throat. Needing something to distract her, she took her time placing her bottle on her other side.
"I wanted to thank you."
Ruby's head jerked back to the other woman, the tightness of her features falling away, "What?"
This time the word was all surprise, capturing Ruby's shift in mood accurately, though she did struggle to keep her eyes on Lacey's face.
Lacey rolled her eyes, "Thank you. For visiting me in hospital."
Ruby's eyebrows rose, though she said nothing.
Lacey took this as a cue to continue.
"I still can't remember. What you said about our previous friendship." There was a hint of suspicion in the woman's words, as if she was struggling with whether to word an accusation or not. Odd considering the woman apparently had no qualms with voicing her opinions, "But thank you. It meant a lot, especially considering what the other visitors were like at the time."
"It's…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head, forcing her eyes to the brick wall again for a moment, for fear of where her gaze would go if she did not control it in her shock, "… you don't need to thank me."
"Though – besides the book, what else did you bring me?"
Ruby's brow creased at the sudden shift in tone, "What?"
That word seemed to be her favourite that night.
"I never did see that basket after," Lacey mused with a delicate tap to her chin, her eyes sparkling.
"Oh. I don't really remember." The ease with which the lie came to her was quite frightening, but the expression on Lacey's face, the tilting of her brow in a show of distrust – of hurt – that reminded her so much of Belle, pressed her to amend her statement as if the memories had only just returned to her, "I do remember bottling up some Ice Tea, and putting aside some pancakes. They were your favourite things to order…"
Ruby trailed off at Lacey's questioning stare, which contrasted sharply with the crinkling of her eyes, the smile tugging at her lips. Had she just been played?
"I don't suppose you remember…"
"I enjoyed the book."
Ruby didn't have time to be caught off-guard by the sudden interruption to their topic.
"You read it?" Her voice was weak, quiet.
"People surviving from nothing. Building a – I suppose society – out of that nothingness." Lacey spoke as if she connected to the words, and perhaps she did. Lacey had come about from the nothingness that was once Belle, the thought lanced through Ruby's chest painfully. "I found it thrilling. It shows that even in the most dire situations the Earth will provide everything, it is what sustains us and can satisfy all mans' needs."
The enthusiasm in her words, the gestures of her hands, was all Belle. And in that moment, Ruby could almost fool herself into believing that was who was perched on the wall next to her. Even if the clothes and makeup were so far removed from what she would wear. The blatant display of skin…
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, reopening them and hoping the smaller woman had not noticed.
"It is technically a sequel. Do you happen to have the first two?"
Of course she didn't. Belle had been the one to enthuse about Jules Verne, the one who leant her some of what she deemed the best of his books. Had allowed her to keep the one that had quickly become her favourite.
"You like reading?" Her question was perhaps too hopeful, and just as small as her previous words had been.
"No." Lacey laughed, not the bright, airy one she had grown so fond of, but something darker, lower, "It wasn't as if there was much else to do in hospital."
"Sounds to me like you studied it," Ruby couldn't bite back her accusation, the words perhaps forced out from her desire to believe that somehow, somewhere in Lacey her friend still resided.
That she could come back.
"I'm smarter than people give me credit for," Lacey replied nonchalantly, side glancing Ruby as she flicked her hair over her shoulder with her free hand.
"And you just asked for more of his books." Ruby's eyes narrowed, not shining with anger, but hope. As foolish as that was.
"Only so I can get the whole story – I don't like being kept in the dark." There was no anger in her tone, but it still struck Ruby as if they had been snarled at her.
She turned away at that, a weight settling on her shoulders, pressing her body down leaving her hunched. Belle had felt that way; she shouldn't have been surprised that Lacey did too. Maybe Belle really hadn't gone entirely.
The feeling of guilt couldn't be shaken, even as she reminded herself that she was going to tell her the truth. Slowly. After Belle started to remember. Too much too soon would no doubt have hurt her, and Ruby would never let that happen. Not if she could help it.
But she never had. She never had the chance to tell her the truth because Belle hadn't started to remember.
And looking at her now…
Ruby fought back the stinging in the back of her eyes. Keeping her head bowed to hide the display from someone that would no doubt mock, rather than comfort her.
"I'll admit I'm not really into girls."
Ruby jerked, causing pain to shoot down her neck, and almost sending the bottle besides her smashing to the concrete.
"Too clingy, too many emotions," the smaller woman said, her tone all Lacey as she brushed her fingers against Ruby's knee, bared by a hole in the denim, "but I'll make an exception for you."
Ruby's eyes bugged, her throat working in a desperate attempt to bring back moisture to her dry mouth.
"Err…"
Lacey's hand travelled deliberately slowly, almost unnoticed, along her leg. Ruby could feel the warmth of her hand even through her surprisingly weather appropriate jeans, her body tensing beneath the teasing touch.
"I –
"I've seen the way you look at me." Lacey leaned in close, her lips glimmering beneath the weak lighting, her eyes dragging across Ruby's form.
Ruby swallowed thickly, her words completely failing her.
"Don't try to deny it. I know when someone wants me."
Lacey's smile, the heated look in her eyes, caused a coil of heat to form in the pit of her stomach.
How she had wanted Belle to look at her that way.
She cursed herself for those thoughts, as she had many times before.
Desperately trying to rip back some control of the situation, to regain the distance between them that had been lost so suddenly, Ruby threw out a question. The only one she could think of, "How did you know? About my… condition?"
"Oh," Lacey replied, her mouth forming an 'o' of surprise. Her hand retreating as her smile returned, "Gold told me."
"Of course he did." Ruby's voice was low, closer to a growl than anything.
"I think he thought it would keep me away. With you being so dangerous." She leaned in again, the warmth of her breath ghosting over Ruby's cold-reddened cheeks, "He of all people should know how drawn I am to 'dangerous'."
"Everyone in this town is right to be afraid of me."
"Well, I'm not."
"You should be!"
The shorter woman – whose voice sounded so much like the one in her head – pulled back, a great source of relief for Ruby and strangely a source of something else entirely for her Wolf, in spite of the tensing of her muscles, the hardness of her eyes.
She could not stop herself from turning her head, just in time to see Lacey pluck the cherry from her glass.
"I want to see how far those wolfish tendencies go," she said, just before plunging her teeth into the flesh of the fruit.
Ruby's mouth fell open in a silent mimic of her Wolf's howl. Her body brimming with energy she knew she could not expel, nor – in a moment – control. Her fingers dug painfully through the denim of her jeans, into the fragile skin of her thighs.
How could something so simple affect her so much?
She heard the clack of Lacey's glass as she sat it on the wall.
Lacey leant in, her lips shimmering, her mouth smelling so strongly of cherries it overrode the perfume that was so much stronger than anything Belle would have worn.
The werewolf's body tensed.
This wasn't Belle.
Even if her Wolf denied that fact.
Even if her human side had wanted this, as much as her wolf side. But not with Lacey.
Not like this.
Lacey bit her lower lip. A gesture that was so familiar…
And Ruby's control was about to snap.
"Ruby! You won't believe who I just –
Oh thank God.
Emma's words halted abruptly as she noticed Ruby was no longer alone.
"…Oh, hi Be – Lacey. I didn't see you there, err –
"I was just leaving." Lacey moved back calmly, as if she hadn't been caught about to devour the lips of the woman opposite her. Though if Emma had even realised that was about to happen, Ruby couldn't tell.
The smaller woman stood, tugging the hem of her dress down, not that it did much good, and dusted her hands across the material.
With one last look at Ruby she sauntered away, her heels clicking rhythmically.
"Remember what I said." Lacey called over her shoulder.
Ruby dropped her gaze down to Lacey's abandoned glass. Her grip tightening on the almost empty bottle in her hand, she was unsure when she had picked it up again, "Which part?"
"Whichever appeals to you most." As she passed Emma she added, almost as an afterthought, "Evening Sheriff."
Emma stared after her scantily clad retreating form, the blonde's bafflement clear to see on her face.
It was only after the door had closed, and a long few moments passed, that Emma turned back to Ruby, her eyebrows raised high, "What the hell was that about?"
Within reaching distance now, Ruby's arm shot out, catching one of the open bottles in Emma's hands. Lifting it to her lips she downed a good portion of the liquid within.
"Hey! Easy Ruby," Emma exclaimed, her hand frozen in the motion of reclaiming the bottle, "I don't want to have to drag your ass to jail to dry out. Or face your Granny if we turn up while you're inebriated. Again."
Ruby willed her lips from the tip of the bottle, gulping in air. Her chest heaving as if she had been drowning.
Emma looked on, her brow still furrowed as she sat down next to her.
"This isn't gonna end like Bound is it?" Emma inquired, her voice softening, "Except without the money – and the murder. I hope."
"Like what?"
"Jeez," Emma sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead, "My references are lost on you people."
Another moment stretched between them, Ruby struggling to heed Emma's words about going 'easy' with her drink.
The blonde shifted besides her, looking as if she was struggling with forthcoming words.
"I just – you should be careful Ruby."
Ruby settled her gaze on the woman who had quickly become a dear friend, who in another life would have been her goddaughter. Warmth bloomed in her chest at her thoughts, Emma had always liked her. Had given her a chance when she stormed out of Granny's, even accepted the real her - wolf and all – without batting an eyelid. Much as she did for another dangerous member of their community.
"I know how you felt about Belle."
"How –
"Please. You would have to be an idiot not to realise." Emma gestured widely with her hands, "And I wasn't even here for most of the time you spent together."
The warmth of Emma's hand settled on her shoulder, squeezing it as she gave her a smile.
"I never really got to meet Belle. But she seemed sweet…" Emma gave her shoulder another supportive squeeze, "… and if the Disney film is anything to go by…"
Ruby felt a bubble of laughter build in her throat, but it died just as quickly, her mood considerably soured now.
"I probably shouldn't tell you this." Emma scratched the back of her neck, taking a drag from her bottle.
The taller girl perked up slightly, ever eager for gossip, though she felt this time it would be something quite different.
"A guy was beaten up. Badly."
It did not take much for Ruby to connect the dots, "By Gold?"
Emma nodded her confirmation of Ruby's assumption.
"Wouldn't be the first time either." Emma turned to ensure there was no one else around, turning back she dropped her voice low, conspiratorially, "His tongue was ripped out."
Ruby's stomach churned. And she had eaten all sorts of things as a wolf, before she had control. Including, she thought sorrowfully, people.
"Mother Superior. Err…" Emma gestured with her hand, rolling her eyes as she spoke, "…the 'Blue Fairy' fixed it."
Ruby could not help the smile that graced her features at that. Emma had been to The Enchanted Forest, fought Ogres and all. And she struggled to come to terms with the whole town full of 'fairy-tale characters thing'.
"The hospital staff called me in. He confessed what happened to me. I asked if he wanted to press charges, after all this is my world, not the one you guys are from. But he refused. Didn't want to press charges against –" Emma raised her hands, motioning her fingers in the universal sign for quotation marks, "– 'The Dark One'."
Was Emma suggesting that –
"You think Gold will hurt me?" It was a possibility. Quite a high one now she was forced to think about it. But she was a Werewolf. She didn't exactly have a low pain threshold, or an average endurance level.
Still, magic? That was something else entirely. Definitely not something you could easily heal from, if at all. And now magic had come to their town…
"I know you aren't exactly easy to hurt. Especially around the full moon," Emma responded, as if she had heard Ruby's thoughts, "Gold isn't who we're talking about."
Ruby's head tilted, her brow crinkling in confusion. She could see Emma's throat bob as she swallowed, her mouth opening and closing as she built herself up to finally say her next words.
"Lacey was there. She encouraged it. Then and with Whale. I'm glad that one was stopped before it got bad, being the main doctor I don't think he could have treated himself." Emma added the last part like some dark joke that she immediately felt bad about saying it, "Who knows what else has happened that wasn't witnessed or reported."
Ruby found herself speaking before she could stop herself, her answer automatic, "Belle would never –
"She isn't Belle, Ruby."
Emma had placed her bottle to the side, swinging her free arm around her friend's shoulders. Giving her a supportive one-armed hug to soothe the harshness of her words.
"I think you might have drunk too much," Ruby said, as a way to lighten the mood. To distract from their previous topic.
"It's like she's been body snatched," Emma informed as she reclaimed her bottle and dropped her arm.
Ruby's face creased in confusion.
"It's a movie and – you know you guys had twenty-eight years to watch movies and learn about pop culture and all that other stuff."
"Well, technically –
"Nope! No! I am not having one of these conversations tonight." Emma tilted her head back, her breath puffing out in visible agitation, "Or any other night if I can help it."
"So you don't want to talk about the problems with fleas. Or wet noses." Ruby finished her statements with a singled tap to her reddened and cold nose.
"Not funny Rubes." Emma shook her head, and unfortunately for Ruby noticed how she had tried to change the subject, ignore what she shouldn't, "Seriously though. About Belle – well Lacey."
Ruby's grip on her quarter-full bottle tightened, her knuckles standing out a stark white for a short moment.
"She isn't her." Emma repeated, "We don't even know if we can fix this whole memory thing."
Emma sighed again as her head dropped forward.
"Shit. I really am not the person who should be talking about this type of thing."
"About the…"
"No. I'm fine with that. Completely." The other woman held out her hands palm first, as best she could with a bottle in one hand, "I mean the whole magic and cursed personalities, the whole confusing, unbelievable lot."
Ruby's head remained bowed in mimic of her friend, her gaze flickering from the blonde to instead study the condensation rolling down the side of the bottle in her hand. Her hand long ago numb to the cold.
"Well…" She murmured, "Let's forget about it for tonight."
The taller woman raised her head, grinning brightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she clinked her bottle against Emma's.
"What do you say?"
Emma returned her grin with one of own as she let the topic be changed, the tenseness in her shoulders visibly disappearing, "God, I missed you Rubes."
At that, the werewolf's smile grew wider, causing Emma to laugh at the happiness dancing on her features, before silencing herself with another swig from her bottle.
Ruby waited until Emma lifted the bottle to her lips to ask her question, the one regarding Emma's words when she had returned with drinks, knowing from Emma's loud voice coloured with shock that her reaction would be priceless.
"So…" Ruby drawled, "Who was it you bumped into?"
Emma choked on her drink, the liquid spraying from her mouth and partially back into the bottle.
Ruby couldn't hold back her laugh.
"Oh my God, you won't believe this…"