...
...
"...she's feisty..."
"...blood levels..." "...from Vacuo..."
"...pin her down!..." "...inder...know what to do..." "...about...the...Taurus..."
...
"...get...away!...leave me alone..."
...
...
...
"... don't worry. I'll get you out of here."
SEPTEMBER 12TH 5:09PM
Never before had light been so blinding. At least, that was how Ruby's surprise guest was feeling.
First came the dazzling from the light, then the shooting pain she felt all over her head. What on earth had just happened? One minute she had come out of a strange room, the next, she was laying down. Upon reaching one of her arms up toward where she felt the pain, her fingers met with something else instead. Something... cold.
As she eased her eyes open that bit more, she managed to gaze down at the rest of her body. Some how, she had ended up in a soft bed, covered up with the blankets, tucked in. Not only that, but the area she had been struck on her head had been tended to with some kind of freezing cold bag. Pulling it away from her face to inspect it properly, she managed to make out some of the words on the material.
"... Frozen... peas..."
Her ears pricked up on end. She could hear faint noises coming from outside the room. A hissing of some kind? Then, the cracking of something else? What gave it away followed instantly.
The smell.
As if all other instincts had left her, she leant up from where she had been tucked away to continue to sniff the air, detecting many different, but equally delicious fragrances. One, she recognised quickly. It was a smell that reminded her of the sea, a salty, yet meaty scent. Fish. The other, was slightly more difficult. A slightly odd sensation, that for some reason made her think of birds. Either way, it was equally as good. She could already feel herself salivating as she imagined it, and already hear her stomach growling.
Pulling the covers to one side, she eased her feet down and off the bed. The hit had made this far more difficult then it should have been, especially with how hard it was. Hopefully the dizzy spell would disappear as soon as she stood. Hopefully.
"One... two... three!"
Easing herself to stand, she right away held out her arms for balance, only just managing to stay upright. How long had she even been knocked out for? The last thing she wanted was for herself to remain dizzy forever. Slowly, she stepped forward, then the other foot, then the other...
She'd made it to the hallway, slipping by the bathroom door with ease. Continuing to follow the scent, she stopped as soon as she realised she was in the kitchen. Stopped when realising, she wasn't alone.
There she was. The girl who had hit her so hard she was knocked out cold for what felt like days, without a care in the world. She was right about one thing, the scent was fish. And the other, eggs. Ruby was cooking, but the amount seemed far too much for her alone. What was going on here?!
"Maybe while she's distracted, I can leave..." The creature thought, looking back to the corner where the now sealed vent was in place. She'd managed to open it before, she had no doubt she'd be able to do it again. Only this time, she didn't have the cover of darkness to protect her. She'd be caught, easily.
"I can't be caught. I can't. I've got to get out, get as far from here as I can..."
"Oh shoot, forgot the rosemary. Stupid online recipe..."
Her luck couldn't have gotten any better. The girl turned away from her stove, walking over to one of the rear cupboards to search inside for said ingredients. She couldn't see the vent! She didn't have to think on it twice! Tiptoeing quickly to the vent, she gripped the bars of it as tightly as she could, giving a firm pull. It didn't budge
"What? No... no no NO NO!"
Just like that, her heart rate was going over the edge. Fear fueled her to grasp a bar in each hand, placing her feet on the wall to give extra strength to her pull. And yet, it still held fast. The tape around the vent didn't budge one bit, nor could she hear it even attempting to give at all. The only exit she had was gone.
And things only got worse.
"H-Hey! You should be in bed!"
Instantly releasing the vent, the mystery woman fell straight to the floor, quickly scrambling to push herself as far against the corner as she could. Her eyes kept contact with the student's at all times, her own seeming just as wide. This was most unusual to her. But the cook just crouched down to her level, keeping her distance.
"Shhh, it's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you." Then she cringed as her gaze seemed to settle just above her eyes. "Well, not gonna hurt you again I should say..."
Yet again, the woman tried to back off, scrambling her feet against the floor to try and push herself up against the wall as much as she could. It seemed the other instantly picked up on her fear however, as she continued making the strange 'shh'ing sounds. What was this girl's problem?
But the more she thought on it, the more sense things started to wake. Yes, the girl had just confessed to knocking her out. But when she awoke, she was in a good position. A Safe position. Her wounds were tended to, her body was wrapped up warm, she was in a room on her own, without any disturbances. And from the looks of things, she was making her food.
With all that knowledge in mind, she began to feel her heart rate slowing to normal pace again, her body relaxing very slightly. But never did she shift her eye contact.
The girl lightly smiled, offering a hand toward her. "Let's start things small. My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose. What's yours?"
Her gaze switched between Ruby's eyes and her hand. She made no move to reciprocate the action, but she did open her mouth, speaking quietly.
"Blake."
"Blake. That's a nice name. So... Are you hungry?"
Those words were enough to make Blake's stomach growl yet again. Of course she was hungry, that was the most obvious thing about her. Lowering her ears, she gave a slow nod.
"Great. You can have it in here, or in the bedroom, your choice. I'll let you have space, if you're scared." Standing back up again to tend to the still cooking food, she moved the pans back and forth, making sure the oil soaked into the meal as much as possible. This was her first time ever cooking for someone else, and even if Blake wasn't going to turn it down, she wanted it to impress.
Transferring the food to the plates and adding a fork to each, she took one into her hands, down to the ground where Blake still hadn't moved. This was going to be tougher then she thought. Even when she cleared her throat, she showed no signs of moving.
"Soooo... I'm gonna leave this here." She settled the plate down by Blake's feet, gently pushing it toward her as much as she dared, soon going back to grab the other plate. "And I'm gonna eat mine in there... so... Speak to you later!"
"Wait."
Within an instant, Ruby stopped. She had already been half way to the bedroom, but looked to the new guest. "Y-Yes?"
Blake looked down at the food again, then back up to her. Her expression was full of fear still, full of worry.
"You not caging me?"
"Caging you?" That worried Ruby. Instead of going any further to her room, she set her own food down on the floor, sitting down cross legged just opposite from Blake. Sure, her grammar seemed a little strange, but the message was pretty clear. "Why would I do that?"
She hadn't even touched the plate. Ruby could tell she wanted to, desperately. But she seemed far too afraid to make any sort of movement to it. She hadn't even gotten herself out of the corner yet. "You human. Is what you do."
Ruby looked up to the ears atop Blake's head. With every sound, they twitched. But otherwise, they were pinned right back in fear. She then looked back to her eyes. They weren't entirely yellow, like she had first thought. Like human eyes, they had the whites, and pupils. Only Blake's were a slit rather then a typical circle. "... So you aren't human?"
The ears pinned back even further, eyes narrowing into a glare.
"Okay, clearly not..." Ruby shuffled away a little, budging her plate with her. But clearly this was getting somewhere. "Did a human do that to you? Lock you up and starve you?"
"None starved me. All caged me." The questioning was making her curl into an even tighter ball.
Blake must have had a terrible experience in the past. Especially if starving herself seemed to have been the only way she could escape. Chances were, she was hiding from all humans; just like she had been Ruby; stealing scraps when she could, the bare minimum to live. No wonder she'd deteriorated so quickly, no one knew she existed. She escaped from one hell, into another.
Yet again, she looked upward at the vent. The very thing that had started all this mess, still sealed firmly. If she had just locked it that first night like Yang said, none of this mess would have happened.
Well, that wasn't true. It probably would have been worse. Ruby would have lived a normal student life, while Blake continued to starve. Maybe someone would have even turned the vent on too hot, or cold. Maybe in winter she would have froze.
But she couldn't be yet another one of her captors.
"Then I'll be the exception." She began, taking her food into her lap at last rather then prying for more information. Blake had just woke up, no wonder she didn't want to answer her. But at least if she showed she cared, she may be able to gain her trust. "You can stay here as long as you want. I'll make you food, give you everything you need, if you want it. I'll open the vent back up, so at any point, you can leave. That's your choice. But I can't help you if you do."
Slowly, the girl began to uncurl from her position, and finally began to look at the food.
"You want to... make me better?"
"Yes."
She seemed just as puzzled. But at least this time, she was looking over at the plate of food on the ground. And then back to Ruby. Reaching one hand over, she pulled it in toward her, giving the meat a poke with her index finger. "... Is this fish?"
"Salmon. I didn't know what you'd like, so I kinda just..."
Before Ruby could finish her sentence, Blake had picked up the plate with two hands. Lifting it to her mouth, she sunk her teeth into it directly. No forks were necessary for her, it seemed. Not when she simply tore it apart with her teeth. She should have expected it, seeing as how hungry the woman was. But while it was flattering to see someone enjoy her food so much, it bought many questions to mind. If Blake was going to stay quiet, how on earth would she learn anything about her? How would she even get to a point to explain her idea to her?
SEPTEMBER 13TH 1:54AM
Not much more was spoken since.
Blake had completely cleared her plate, and Ruby's spares, along with a couple of packets of chip. But she gave no more answers to her questions. Any responses were given in the form of glaring, or raising her eyebrows. Blake was still a complete mystery. And from the looks of things, she was going to be one for a long time.
Ruby had kept to her word, and before bed had unsealed the vent. But now that she was asleep, and Blake had slipped by unnoticed, she stared at the cover. She was in utter turmoil.
"I can't stay here. It's dangerous, she'll report me and then I'll be sent back."
"But will she? She fed me! She tucked me into bed and treated me like a person for once! Isn't that what I wanted?"
"I'm needed more out there. While this may be comfortable, he still needs my help. I'm in-debt to him."
Having made her choice, she nodded to herself. Yet again, she lifted the cover to the vent, this time taking extra care into keeping her actions as silent as possible. After all Ruby had done for her, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin her sleep. Again.
Hopping up into the vent shaft, she silently closed the cover behind her.
Ruby was without a room mate once more.