Of Fashion And Death
Chapter 2: A Perfect Deal
''The police are still looking for the famous fashion designer, Coco Adel, for the suspected kidnap and murder of Velvet Scarlatina. Both women went missing about two months ago, until a young pizza delivery girl encountered Adel during a delivery. The fashion designer apparently tried to recruit the girl as her new model, but failed when Scarlatina managed to scream for help, warning the girl of the the almost victim managed to escape and alert the authorities, they were too late to arrest Adel or save Scarlatina. The fashion designer has been missing for two weeks now and the police believe that she is highly dangerous. If anyone is to see her, they are to contact-''
The news reporter was cut off by the TV being suddenly shut down. Ruby looked to her left to see her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, staring at her with a worried look on her face.
''Ruby, you have to get your mind off this whole thing with that lunatic,'' the blonde said in a gentle voice. ''You can't let this destroy your life.''
''I wish I could, Yang, but I can't. You didn't see how she looked at me. The look she gave me pretty much said that she would get me, no matter what. I know she's out there and she's looking for me. I can feel it,'' the younger girl said with a shaky voice as she sat on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. She tightened her hug on herself as she thought about what happened to Velvet. ''Besides, you heard what happened to that Scarlatina lady, right? I was there. I could and should have saved her. Yet I ran away like a coward, which cost her life.''
Ever since she escaped from Coco, Ruby had been taken over by two feelings. One was fear, as she was afraid that the crazy fashionista would come for her. It was so bad that the redhead had become paranoid. Every small sound startled her and she felt like she was being watched all the time. This had led to her quitting her job and practically locking herself in her room. If it weren't for Yang, the young girl would have surely starved herself to death, while hiding herself in her closet or some other place she felt safe.
The second thing she was feeling was guilt. Ruby felt like she was responsible for Velvet's death. She felt like she should have done something to make sure that the rabbit faunus would be rescued, instead of running away. No matter how much everyone around her told her that she shouldn't feel this way, the guilt never left.
''You can't blame yourself for that!'' Yang said as she sat on the couch, next to her sister. She then pulled the younger girl into a strong hug in an attempt at offering some sort of comfort. ''Scarlatina's death was not your fault and you did everything you could to save her. No one would have ever expected you to fight her, so all you could do was get the police to save Scarlatina. Instead of feeling guilty over her death, you should be proud that you tried your best to save her and get that Coco bitch arrested.''
''But-''
''And you should know that you don't have anything to worry about with that wacko, since you have the most badass big sister here to protect you. She won't come near you, if she knows what's good for her,'' the blonde explained and gave a kiss on top of her little sister's head. ''Now, how about you stop worrying and get ready to go with me to the city? I've got some movie tickets reserved and I'm not gonna waste them. Blake and Weiss will be there too.''
''I don't know. I mean, would they really want me around?''
''Of course! I know that Weiss can be very uptight, but she does enjoy spending time with you. And I know for a fact that Blake wants you there. The moment I mentioned you, she got very excited.''
''Really?'' Ruby asked with wide eyes as she looked up at her older sister.
''Really. Now go get ready. They will be here soon,'' Yang said with a big smile, sending the younger girl up to her room to get ready.
The blonde hummed to herself happily as she went to put some finishing touches on herself. It was true that her two friends did like having her younger sister around, especially Blake. Once they had heard what she had gone through, they had been very eager to help. However, Yang wanted to first get Ruby to open up before they could really do anything big like this. She was afraid that if they were too aggressive in their actions to help the younger girl, she might shut in on herself. Now that the hard part was over, the blonde could get to work on making her little sister relax and maybe even forget about the whole awful event she went through.
Yang had just finished putting on her boots, when someone rang the doorbell. She immediately thought that it was her friends that had arrived. With a big smile on her face, the blonde walked up to the door and opened it.
''Hi-''
The rest of Yang's greeting was cut off as a hand suddenly shot up to her face and covered her mouth, silencing her. Before the blonde could react, she was kneed in her stomach, which knocked the air out of her lungs and made her double over. Almost immediately after that, her attacker slammed her head against the wall, knocking her out cold.
''Sorry, blondie. But I've got a date with your sister,'' Coco said with a smirk to Yang's unconscious body.
Meanwhile, Ruby was combing her hair while listening to music, completely unaware of what was going on. She was excited about hanging out with Yang and her friends. Although they were all older than her, they got along really well. The redhead especially got along with Blake, who shared her love for books. As Ruby thought about the fun day ahead of her, she started to forget about Coco and the encounter she had with her.
There was suddenly a knock on the door. The redhead guessed that it was either Yang or one of her friends, waiting for her to finish up with her preparations.
''Just a second!'' Ruby called out as she started to hurry with her work.
''Oh, I'm afraid that I can't wait another second, Ruby. We've got a busy schedule ahead of us,'' a familiar voice said from the door, causing the redhead to freeze. She slowly turned around and saw that the door to her room had been slightly opened and none other than Coco Adel was poking her head through the door. ''Hellooooo. Fancy meeting you here.''
Ruby felt her blood run cold as she saw the crazed fashionista's smiling face. Her eyes went wide and face paled instantly. The young girl's worst nightmare had come true.
''W-What do you want? Leave me alone,'' Ruby said fearfully as she backed up against the wall behind her.
''Ruby, you know that I can't just leave,'' Coco replied in a playfully scolding tone. ''We need to get to work on that new outfit of mine. The one I need you to model for. I can't get it done without you, so come here already.''
''I-I don't want to! Please, can't you just get someone else to do it?'' the redhead pleaded. She was trying to think of a way to escape, but she couldn't think of anything. The only door to her room was blocked by Coco, and the window to her room couldn't be opened. Not to mention, it was too high for her to jump through it. She could only hope that Yang would notice that something was wrong and would come to her rescue.
''I'm afraid that it has to be you, Ruby. No one else is suited for it. However, if you want me to make it sound better, how about I make you a deal?'' the designer said with a smirk and fully opened the door.
A shocked gasp escaped Ruby's mouth as the door moved away and revealed her sister, unconscious and being dragged from the back of her shirt by Coco. There was also some blood dripping from the side of Yang's head, indicating that she had been hit there.
''Now, you have probably heard of what happened to Velvet, right?'' the lunatic asked as she crouched down and wrapped her arms around Yang's head. ''You wouldn't want that to happen to your sister, now would you? Either you come with me or she's going to have some real pain in the neck.''
''STOP, STOP!'' Ruby screamed, afraid that her sister would be harmed. ''I-I'll go. Just... Just don't harm her, okay?''
''Fantastic!'' Coco said cheerfully and dropped her captive on the floor. ''Now, let's get going, okay? I want to get to work as fast as possible!''
''First step away from Yang. I want to be sure that you won't do anything to her.''
''Woah, easy there!'' the designer said with a grin and her hands held up. She then took a couple of steps away from the unconscious blonde to satisfy the redhead. ''Besides, you don't have to worry about her. As long as you do as I say, she will be fine. I always hold my end of a deal.''
''Like you did with Velvet?'' Ruby asked sarcastically as she went to check her sister's pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when she found it.
''But she did break her deal!'' Coco whined. ''I told her not to make any noise if we had a visitor and you know how that went! I merely punished her for not keeping her side of the bargain!''
''Enough already. Let's just go. The sooner we are done with this, the better,'' the girl said as she was done checking her sister's condition and walked up to her captor.
''Ooooh! You've got spunk! I like that! I feel like we could become the best of friends from this,'' the designer said excitedly as she wrapped her arm around her captive's shoulders and led her out of the house and to her car. The two of them the drove away towards Coco's newest hideout.
Almost immediately after the fashionista had left with her new ''model,'' a white car drove up to the house. Inside were none other than Yang's two friends, Weiss and Blake.
''Weiss, are you sure that Ruby is going to be joining us?'' the cat faunus asked.
''For the last time, Blake, YES! Yang said that she would get her to come with us, even if she had to drag her out of the house!'' the white-haired girl answered in a frustrated voice. ''Can you stop asking me that already!?''
''I'm sorry. It's just that it's been a long time since we saw her. I've been worried about her ever since she had that encounter with that crazy designer.''
''I've been worried about her as well. However, we agreed to let Yang handle things with her,'' Weiss said as she shut down the engine on her car and stepped out of it. ''Besides, two weeks isn't such a long time.''
''Well, it has felt like an eternity to me,'' Blake responded as she got out of the car as well. ''I just wish that I could have been there for her, you know? To help her feel safe. I hate it when she's facing something like this and I can't help her.''
''Be careful or Yang is going to find out about your little fancy. I'm certain that she would show you that there are more than one way to skin a cat.''
''W-What!?''
The two girls walked up to the front door of the house and rang the doorbell. They waited for a couple of minutes without any sounds coming from the inside and rang the doorbell again. After waiting again and ringing the doorbell for the third time, they started to get worried.
''What's taking them so long? Usually Yang's almost immediately at the door,'' Weiss said in a concerned tone.
Blake nodded at her friend's statement. Something was very wrong. She then noticed that the door was actually slightly ajar. Once she saw that, she quickly walked in and saw the bloodstain on the wall. A shocked gasp indicated that Weiss had noticed the stain as well.
''Something's wrong. We need to find Yang and Ruby,'' the cat faunus said as she quickly made her way upstairs. As soon as she got there, her body froze upon the sight of Yang laying on the floor, completely motionless. Weiss, who had followed her, saw the state their friend was in and ran to check on her.
''She's alive, just unconscious. Although, she could have concussion, considering the damage to her head,'' the white-haired girl said after checking over the blonde. She looked up to see Blake running around with a panicked look over her face. ''Would you calm down and help me over here!? We need to call an ambulance! What are you even looking for!?''
''Where's Ruby?'' Blake asked, making Weiss go wide-eyed as she realized what might be going on.
Back with Ruby, the redheaded girl was sitting on the passenger seat in Coco's car. The fashion designer had turned on the radio and was happily humming the tune of the pop song that was playing. While Ruby was terrified, Coco was completely relaxed, like the situation they were in was completely normal.
''Where are you taking me?'' the redhead asked in a fearful voice.
''To my new studio. We need to get away from all of these people that would distract us from our work,'' the lunatic answered without breaking the smile on her face. She then remembered something and took two pills from her handbag, before handing them to Ruby. ''Here. Swallow these.''
''What are they?'' Ruby asked as she looked at the pills.
''Just something to help you relax and make this trip easier.''
''What if I don't take them?'' Ruby asked with a frown on her face and threw the pills to the back of the car.
''Alright. If you want to be like that,'' Coco said with a sigh. Then, without even looking away from the road, she bashed Ruby's head against the side of the car so hard that she was knocked out cold. ''First Velvet and now her. Why is it that I can only get difficult people to work with?''
Author's notes: So, seeing as how this was received positively, I have decided to continue this story. Hope you've liked it so far.
With this we are about halfway done with this story. However, I might switch and go write something else for a quick change. I'll still finish this, though.
Until next time.
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