That mouse really did dig a hole.
Instead of fleeing on a train or a bus like the others, Cecilia had decided she would take the safest, and most tedious, route; disappearing through a homemade cavern and leaving town through there.
Well, Torchwick was hoping that the mouse had been planning on leaving through an exit somewhere. The other option for Cecilia was to sit in this hole until everyone decided that she had died but having woken up to this pitch black hell, Torchwick knew he wasn't ready to be trapped there for that long.
"Uugh." He groaned, rubbing the dust and dirt from his eyes, not that it really helped with seeing where he actually was. Looking on the bright side of things was going to be hard but hey, he may have made a bunch of tactical retreats more than a few times in his life but he still tried first.
Right, wherever he had fallen into the cave from had been sealed by fallen debris. That was bad. Even worse, that entrance was likely a good distance above him considering his back felt like it had plummeted a hundred feet. But he was breathing. That was good. Nothing felt like it hurt. Even better. Then, he tried moving his legs and oh it hurt. It hurt a lot.
"Damn!" Torchwick grimaced, finding he could barely move it either. The rubble from the blast had fallen and crushed his leg.
Forgetting about that unfortunate circumstance for the time being, Torchwick checked his other limbs for damage.
Both of his arms were sore but he could move them well enough to check for anything wrong with his face. He found nothing, of course. His face was a bit scuffed up but otherwise, it was perfect like he knew it always was.
Next, he tried to sit up and found that something was weighing his chest down, literally.
Torchwick reached down to feel if the rock or piece of rubble that fell on him to see if he could move it. The rock was an oddly soft one, though that would help explain why his ribs weren't in pieces. Still, rocks usually weren't soft. They didn't breathe or smell like flowers either. In fact, why was Roman asking himself all of this when he should be shoving this brat off of him?
"Gah!" Ruby cried out, being jostled out of her impromptu nap by the rough handling. Her cheek met with the cold gravely ground and she instantly sat bolt upright. "Where am I? Am I late? Weiss? Why didn't you turn the light on yet? We're going to be late for Sunday!"
"Calm down, Red," Torchwick winced, Ruby's sudden shout sharpening the already painful headache he had. "Or you know what? Panic. Panic more please. Panic enough for the both of us because really, I'm too tired to care just yet."
Taking out his lighter, Torchwick flicked it open and a flame lit up. The orange glow let him see a few inches farther than the space directly in front of his face. He could only make out the faint outlines of the rest but the glint of Ruby's scythe was unmissable but his own weapon was nowhere to be seen.
"Nnnn?" Ruby rubbed her head, instinctively hugging Crescent Rose close to her. "Weiss…she wasn't here. She stayed behind and…that thing exploded, I grabbed you, jumped away and…how did we end up in a cave?"
Roman frowned harder for a moment, touching his unburned face while Ruby looked through the rubble around her. She was pushing and rolling rocks aside but Torchwick was more worried about his maimed limb than whatever trash Ruby lost in the rubble.
"That explains one thing," He tsked, mortified that he had to get his rear saved by some over peppy poppy. "No wonder that mousey dunce picked the dumpiest place in town to set up shop." He kicked at a stray pebble with his free foot. "The runaway dug a hole to skedaddle and I just had to end up getting stuck in here with—hey, what are you doing?" Torchwick narrowed his eyes as Ruby stood and approached him.
They were completely isolated; Ruby's teammates weren't there and Roman's men had either ran or exploded into crispy pieces. The last time he had seen Ruby, Torchwick had fired a shot at her and sent her flying. That couldn't have been fun…for Ruby. Torchwick had a lot of fun back there but now, he was practically helpless.
Plus, even the most polished upstanding citizens of Remnant could be absolute freaks in the dark. Roman knew from experience but he had no idea if Ruby could actually be so spiteful.
With that being said, Roman knew that if he was in her place, he would have snatched up this chance to break the guy who wrecked him, starting from the kneecaps and slowly working his way up. The fact that Ruby hadn't set down her scythe started got Roman thinking. Maybe they might not have been so different.
"Hey, Red?" Roman began, tripping over his words somewhat. "Remember that time on the docks. And that time just a few minutes ago? Wow, I was so much in the wrong there. That was a huge mistake and I'm…ha…" Torchwick started to string panicked small talk together, watching as Ruby raised her scythe. The shadows hid her expression and Roman flinched away, shielding his face with his arm.
Ruby drew her weapon down at Torchwick, sticking the end of its handle under the rock that trapped his injured leg.
"Ah!" Torchwick let out a startled cross between a shout and a squeak. Noticing that his head wasn't flying off of his neck and bouncing off of the cave wall, he looked down at his leg. The half-sized huntress had rested the midsection of her weapon on another rock, trying to use leverage to remove the boulder in the gentlest way she could manage.
"Oops! Did that hurt?" Ruby glanced up at him, worried.
Roman was back to frowning again, humiliated that he had really thought someone like Ruby was going to murder him in cold blood and annoyed by how Ruby didn't even give him some warning first.
Even worse, she was looking at him with her wide silver eyes, filled with concern. Roman wanted to say that it was the most disgusting look anyone had ever given him but that felt like he was lying to himself.
That made zero sense to Roman.
"No." Torchwick said finally, distracting himself with the real concern at hand.
Getting her answer, Ruby went back to freeing Roman's leg.
"Tell me if it starts to hurt er…well, tell me if it starts to hurt more." Ruby said. She could have easily rolled the rock off using just her bare hands but that would have mangled Roman's leg more than it already was.
Carefully, she pushed down on the bladed end of Crescent Rose and the big piece of rubble was lifted from Roman's leg little by little. The thief had to make himself hold back some pained grunts but by the time the rock was safely removed, he had only dug shallow indents into his palms with his nails.
"Huh, that could have been worse," Roman muttered, rubbing his throbbing temple. "I suppose you'd like a thank you?" He opened his eyes but Ruby was too busy inspecting his leg to answer.
"Yeeouch," Ruby wrinkled her nose at the mess she was looking at. "You really really shouldn't be walking like this. And there's nothing to use as a splint either." As she fussed over him, Roman struggled to make sense of this perky idiot and the big bruise spreading across her chin.
"Do you treat all of your enemies like this or am I special?" Roman interrupted, snapping Ruby's attention back to him.
"Pffft, nah," Ruby managed a grin, flicking her wrist like she was slapping Roman's question out of the air. Though Torchwick was fully expecting that answer, it had burned him more than that explosion would have, much to his confused irritation. "I think everyone should be treated right, even if they happen to be wanted criminals."
"Excuse me? I am the most wanted criminal," Roman argued as Ruby folded up her weapon and moved to his side. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"It doesn't look like you'll be able to walk so—" Ruby slung Torchwick's arm over her shoulder but the thief yanked his arm back. "Please don't make me watch you crawl out of here. I'm really bad with second hand embarrassment."
Roman scowled at Ruby but then he weighed his options. Crawling was a lot more humiliating than having a red dwarf help him limp out. With some grumbled complaints, Roman let Ruby take his arm, place it around her shoulder, and help him up.
Without a word, Torchwick held up his lighter and they began to walk.
As Ruby helped Roman hobble through the claustrophobic cave, both became silent.
Small talk wasn't exactly appropriate for this kind of situation and with how they were pressed up against each other, the last thing either of them wanted was to make the mistake of mentioning that unpleasant fact.
Actually, that wasn't true.
Despite the large gap between their heights, Torchwick found that leaning on Ruby's shoulder was comfy and being so close to her masked the dank musty cave smell. Subconsciously, Roman hugged himself closer to the huntress but quickly caught himself figuratively and literally.
"Woah!" Ruby helped keep Roman upright when he slipped up his footing. "Uh maybe this won't work."
"Alright, let me just sprint all the way to a jail cell. Would that make you happy?" Torchwick shot at her, clenching his teeth from the sharp pain in his leg. If he had his cane with him, that would have made it a little bit less tedious but it was probably in pieces under a bunch of rocks now.
Mulling over that bothersome fact distracted Roman long enough for Ruby to make her move.
Lowering herself, Ruby swept Roman off of his feet and into her arms. It took a couple of beats for him to realize he was getting toted around bridal style. The girl had went back to walking down the path without saying a word about the new arrangement but Torchwick wasn't about to let it go.
"Trying to break my spirit, are you? You're a lot more devious than I thought, Red." Roman glowered, a little red in the face himself.
"Ookay, I don't think it's going to feel better but I could carry you over my shoulder." Ruby suggested, about to do just that but Roman quickly wrapped his arm around her neck, hugging himself to her to keep from moving.
"I'm not a sack of flour," He replied, bumping his head slightly against the side of Ruby's face. It stung her chin and she flinched away but Roman quickly noticed something. "My hat," He touched the top of his head and Ruby had to lean back to avoid the flame from the lighter he still had pinched between his fingers. Feeling only his own messy tuffs of hair, Roman let his arm fall limply at his side. "Great, my leg's broken, my cane's gone, you're going to chuck me into the nearest steel box, and worst of all, I look like a disaster."
"Uhhhh…" Ruby trailed off, glancing awkwardly at the wall as she continued to move. She really hoped that they were going to find the exit soon. Geez, Cecilia sure was good at digging.
"What? You have something to say about it?" Torchwick leered up at Ruby, completely aware that she could bump his injured leg against something if she wanted.
Ruby wasn't that good at talking to people she hardly knew despite the fact that she was getting better at that. Oh, but it was a whole other story when it came to small talk with enemies. There wasn't any chapter on that in any book and it felt weird to just go silent after a direct question. Dang these complicated social niceties.
So when all else came up blank, Ruby decided to go with exactly what she was thinking.
"You don't look like a disaster," Ruby tried, earning one raised unconvinced brow from Torchwick. "I mean, even if you're a bit scratched up, you still look pretty."
"Pretty?" The word caught Roman off guard and he widened his eyes. "If you're trying to get me to shut up, you should have called me handsome."
"Uhh hmm, but it's what I really think." Ruby shrugged and decided to leave it there. Of course, Roman was having none of that.
"Come on, Red. Don't leave it there." Torchwich said, flicking the cap back on to the lighter, snuffing out the flame.
"What are you doing?" Ruby stopped abruptly, nearly dropping Roman but he didn't seem to care.
"You know me well enough," Roman relit the lighter and quickly put it out again. "Two little trysts is enough for you to know how much I like me. So go ahead, Red. Tell me why I'm pretty."
"You're kidding right?" Ruby asked, having no idea what a tryst was.
"Nope." The light went on and off again.
Ruby really hoped that this wasn't how Weiss felt about her when she got uppity sometimes.
Now, how to go about this in the least direct and embarrassing way possible.
"Roman candles." Ruby stated and this time, Roman kept the lighter lit.
"What a lovely name for some lovely fireworks," Roman nodded. "Let me guess. I remind you of them?"
"When I was little, my sister and I used to sneak out at night and light a few up," Ruby continued with a harmless story, hoping that Roman would be interested enough to not put them back in the dark. "Dad got a few as souvenirs from the other kingdoms. Technically, they were illegal where we lived so we had to keep it a secret. But they were so pretty when they sparked. Yang told me that it was dangerous but I couldn't help but hold them when we lit them." She may have been getting ahead of herself but what was Roman going to do with these tidbits anyways?
"Aren't those the ones that really burn if you don't handle them right? And you held one right in front of your face?"
"Eh, couldn't help it. And I'm fine. So it's fine!" Ruby said, curtly but not dismissively.
"Hm, so it's my name that gets you thinking about those." Roman wondered out loud, disappointed at the bland comparison. If he could've reached them, Torchwick would be taking a drag of a cigar right about then.
"Your hair's orange instead of the sparkly yellow but it's still warm and bright. That's like the sparks. Yang told me not to stop trying to touch them," That jerked Roman's attention back and he watched as Ruby talked. "And you aren't a very nice person but you have nice green eyes. We had fireworks with almost the same color. I felt like I could watch them forever." Ruby smiled as she stated those facts, not knowing the connotation she was giving and especially not knowing how it shook Roman's chest.
It struck Torchwick how incredibly oblivious this girl was. It would have been exceptionally irritating if the straightforward sincerity in it all hadn't caught him in a warm chokehold.
Roman didn't want it to stay that way, or at least, he didn't want it to be just him that was bothered. In any other case, this would have been a major problem but the fact that he could come up with so many things to say about Ruby was sound for this very moment.
For what seemed like a long while, Ruby walked with Roman in her arms, hearing nothing but the echo of her footsteps. While the sheer length of this carved out cavern was disconcerting, Torchwick's sudden speechlessness was getting to her more.
Had he fallen asleep? Was he planning something? Did something Ruby say gross him out? Yikes, she didn't want to be grosser than a bad guy.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Ruby asked, looking down at Roman who had been staring at her the entire time.
"I'm just admiring how bright it is." Roman answered easily as he regarded Ruby's eyes.
Ruby glanced up but all she saw was the cave ceiling.
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused. "What's bright? I don't see anyth—eep!" Roman had pulled himself even closer to her with a smile that made her want to shrink away, self-conscious.
"Say, those fireworks are nice and all but I'm much prettier. In fact, I'm way more illegal than any of those teeny things. So—"Roman tilted his head to get a better look at the pink flush spreading across Ruby's face. "—does that mean you like me better?"
"No!" Ruby protested, now acutely aware of the arm draped around her shoulder. Roman had been tempted to touch her long strand of crimson-tinted hair and run his fingers over her chin but just barely stopped himself from giving into the curiosity.
"Then what's it going to take? Not much from what I can see if you already think I look pretty."
"I would like you better behind bars. Or maybe if you were a lot less…bad."
"Red, I can't stop being my bad bad self," Roman laughed, more at ease than he should have been. "And how can I when there are so many pretty things to steal in this big world? The stars are the limit but with someone with eyes like yours…" Torchwick's smile became slyer as he turned Ruby's trick against her. "...who needs stars?"
Ruby's mouth fell open when the understanding of what Roman meant dawned on her. She may have been able to keep herself calm and collected by treating all of this as a crazy surprise mission before but that point was moot.
Violence, monster slaying, and tossing around villains were her expertise. Not the crazy flips her stomach was doing thanks to Roman being…himself.
Now that he had turned the tables in his favor, Torchwick was liking this development more and more. Leaning his face closer to Ruby's, he whispered "Want to chat more? Or chat less? I can think of things with less chatting," It was difficult to keep his pace steady with how he could feel the heat radiating from Ruby's cheeks.
"Quiet." Ruby said through clenched teeth.
"And why should I?" Roman pressed his forehead against Ruby's head, confidence surging through him. "Unless you're we are about to go for less…chatting…?"
Ruby had gone stock still, straining her ears in the lonely cave. Wary, Torchwick did the same and decided that the faint rumbling coming from far behind them couldn't be ignored.
"Shoot, there's no room," Ruby bit her lip. She had to be able to set Roman down and wield Crescent Rose properly if something was coming after them but with where they were, that was going to be impossible. That meant, she had to take a risk.
A loud bang went off in the darkness behind them and Ruby decided that the risk was more than worth it.
"Hold on to me."
Roman had half a second to hug himself completely against Ruby, curling his neck to hide his face in Ruby's chest as she dashed ahead as fast as her semblance could allow her.
The wind howled in Roman's ears and blew out the lighter, blinding them. One misstep and Ruby could grievously injure them both. They could smash against a wall or Ruby could trip and turn them into a smear on the ground but she worked well under pressure and even better when someone else's safety was at stake.
Ruby stumbled at one point, catching herself a sliver before her they ended up rolling. Her heartrate sped up tenfold at the close call and Roman could feel it beating against her chest.
Tentatively, Roman opened his eyes a sliver, feeling them water at the rush of air. To his amazement, he could faintly make out the cave walls surrounding them. It wasn't much but there was moonlight reaching inside the cave and he squeezed Ruby's arm.
Was it meant to show that he was encouraging her or was it only a reflex? Maybe something else? Torchwick couldn't decide.
Whatever the case, Ruby seemed to run faster and suddenly, the air became sweeter and her eyes stung from the full moon's light. The gravelly ground had turned to grass under her feet and wordlessly, she gently set Roman down.
Whistling somewhat shakily at the feat, Roman cracked his aching neck. They were outside under the night sky somewhere woodsy with no signs of civilization in sight.
"Nice going, Red. Got us from nowhere to nowhere." Torchwick started on his backhanded congratulations but Ruby already had his back to him.
She must have been running for longer than Roman had thought. Ruby's posture was slouching and she was breathing hard but nevertheless, she unfolded her scythe, twirled the weapon, and slammed the blade into the ground in her usual combat stance.
The red cape that Ruby always had draped over her shoulders fluttered up from the breeze. It was then that Roman remembered Ruby had been caught directly in that explosion in the shop. Her leggings were singed and the burns that Roman could see made him wince.
Standing between the cave and Torchwick, Ruby waited. The rumbling they had heard was getting louder. At any moment, it was going to emerge from the cave.
"I could start shooting," Ruby strategized, running her hand over the rounds she had stored at her side. "But what if it's—"
Metal glinted at the mouth of the cave and their pursuer emerged.
Author Notes: I don't normally update things this fast and since more tests and project deadlines are coming up for me, I don't think I can squeeze another update in two days like this one.
What to say here? First things first, it's a little shippy but besides some accidental situations and superficial observations, it's still starting on developing. I say 'developing' but I honestly have no direction planned so I'm still hoping for the best. Otherwise, Ruby is usually a socially awkward mess in Volume 1 but got better over time. She's a lot more confident in Volume 2 but this story isn't set there yet. The reason why she's mostly calm and cool here starting out is because this is a tense 'mission' like situation; something that Ruby excels at dealing with.
That's all I have to say about this for now. It's pretty much all I can think of this early in the morning (5AM) so if something else gets caught later, I'll fix or add it