Chapter 9-
IA sat hugging Ruby until she started to calm down and become unfrozen from the news to the point she was leaning into the pink haired girl with her eyes closed.
"Ruby?" IA asked softly.
"Mm." Ruby hummed softly.
"Are you ok?" IA asked softly.
Ruby just shrugged her shoulders into IA's chest as she didn't give a verbal answer.
"Want to talk about it?" IA asked softly once more.
Ruby just shook her as she closed her eyes and leaned her head further into IA's chest, just wanting to sleep.
IA smiled lightly at the younger girl but also frowned at the girl's unwillingness to talk but understood it.
"Alright then, why don't you sleep?" IA said quietly.
Ruby just nodded her head as she leaned into the girl, enjoying the comfort she was being given as it lured her to sleep.
IA wrapped her arms around the smaller girl as she hugged her and leaned back on the couch so the two could lay down and relax.
Three weeks later.
Ruby hadn't spoken about what they were told that day but both girls and Blake noticed the extra car that would follow Ruby around whenever the girl left the house and went out in public.
They all knew who it was and why they were there but at the same time whenever Ruby saw them she freaked out at the sight of them and why they were there.
It took a couple weeks for Ruby to calm down when seeing the car, and it helped when the girl met her two guards from the FBI.
Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were two field agents for the FBI and good friends with Pyrrha, alongside that they were two of the best agents for this duty made Ruby more relaxed.
Plus they were easy to talk to and Nora was quite funny which only further relaxed Ruby around the two of them and they would quite often talk when going out and about for the day as Nora understood sign language.
That wasn't the only change over the three weeks however, the company wanted Ruby and IA to attend an event where the company was just starting to get interested in and finally make an appearance.
So they got Ruby and IA to go to London, or more specifically the MCM Comic Con in the Excel centre in London.
Ruby was to do a small concert at the event and both girls would hold a Q&A session on the Saturday while the concert would be the Sunday.
Luckily for the two of them plus Blake and their two FBI bodyguards they were able to get a couple rooms in the hotel next to the centre meaning they wouldn't have to go far in order to get there.
Also because their company would be having a booth and the two were guests they would get special passes so they could enter the centre much earlier than the public.
Currently the two girls were in their hotel room, and thanks to their asking they had a double bed instead of two singles, and Blake was inside with them discussing security.
"You'll have all three of us in line of sight of you at all times, but not too close as to give it away who you are but we want to be close enough in case something happens." Blake informed the pair.
'What do you expect could happen?' Ruby asked using sign language.
"We don't know, we highly doubt anything to do with Weiss as the fact you'll be here was only announced this morning but you never know what could happen at such a large public event." Blake said.
"We'll be wearing coloured contacts while going around in our stage outfits so we're hoping that people think we're cosplayers or something so we could maybe not get noticed, although Ruby shouldn't be anyway." IA said to the older woman.
Blake just nodded her head, "That'll work, have you got your stuff for the concert? Is it all alright?" Blake asked.
Ruby nodded her head and pointed to a large bag sitting near the door which held the equipment she would be using for the concert.
"Ok then, and are you sure you're ok with doing the question and answer session?" Blake asked.
Ruby nodded her head and started to sign, 'I should be, if not I have a way out in case I need to go.'
Blake nodded her head once more, "Ok then, well I'll leave you for today and remember the event starts today if you want to go." Blake said as she stood up to leave the room.
IA turned to Ruby, asking, "Do you want to go today?" IA asked, knowing it was Friday and the event wouldn't be as busy today.
Ruby shook her head as she decided to lean into the other girl, "Can we just relax today?" Ruby asked softly.
IA smiled at the other girl, "Of course we can. Do you want help with your concert routine?" IA asked, equally as soft.
Ruby nodded her head but made no move to get up from leaning on IA's chest as she hugged the other girl.
The next day, 8:00am.
Ruby and IA were already awake, showered and dressed intent to get to the event early so they could explore around it for a while before hand.
As discussed the day before both girls had coloured contact lenses, Ruby went with a simple blue colour while IA had gone with a brown colour so they wouldn't be noticed as easily.
Once both girls were dressed in their stage outfits they went outside the room to be met by their three bodyguards who took up positions behind the two girls as they headed out of the room.
Walking out of the hotel they began the short walk to the centre and got their lanyards from the desk to show they were guests and part of the companies group, however upon request they gave them standard weekend wristbands so they could hide their lanyards until they needed them.
Walking around the centre they saw some of the stalls doing some last minute touches before the public were let in, in an hour.
Ruby pointed out a couple of gaming stalls and after some talking from IA they were able to play the games before the massive queues came into play.
The two girls laughed with each other as they played the game, enjoying the time until they finally finished the demo.
Smiling the two girls left the booth, thanking the staff members in the booth the two girls moved on and started to wander around the rest of the centre.
Finding the anime DVD sections and the stalls that had a large amount of manga, Ruby having been to the UK before had more than enough money for the event and anything they wanted to buy while there.
Choosing out some of the manga and some other books Ruby paid for them before they decided to move on and look around the rest of the centre, although the early pass ticket holders started to come in as the event opened its second day.
The two girls knew they had a couple hours before they had the panel so decided to spend the time looking around at everything and also the people coming along who were cosplaying.
Luckily for Ruby and IA they didn't get recognised although some people asked for pictures with IA because of how she was dressed, and even with Ruby as some people realised who she was dressing as, or at least pretending to.
The two girls also got pictures with cosplayers dressing up as some characters from anime's they like, a large number of people were dressed as characters from Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online and Ruby got a picture with a Sinon.
In no time Blake came up to the two girls telling them they needed to get to the panel, so with Blake helping them along they managed to get to a corner that was covered in large black curtains and a raised platform and a number of chairs for people to sit in.
Two microphones were also set up so fans could come up and ask questions to those on the panel.
Walking around to the platform the group of five moved behind the platform where the other people on the panel were, there was two producers and also a manager for some of the singers was going to be up on stage with them.
Placing the lanyards around their necks and removing the coloured contacts, both girls got ready to head out onto the stage.
After around ten minutes of waiting and making sure they were ready, the makeshift panel hall quickly filled up with around one hundred people who came to ask questions or just talk to the panellists.
After getting the producers up on stage, another remainder that photography would not be allowed during the panel the two singers were invited up on stage to a loud cheering.
Both girls were smiling as they climbed up onto the stage and sat down in the middle of everyone, and as they sat down one of the hosts talked through what the hour long session would consist of.
Mainly fan questions being answered with not much else through the event, as they wanted to focus on that today.
Ruby looked out to the crowd and quickly found Blake, Ren and Nora all positioned around the room close to the stage, smiling slightly at them she looked back to the crowd.
The first couple of questions were directed towards the producers about the music business and the company itself and it took a couple people to gather the courage to ask the singers.
"Is there any new songs coming from either of you in the upcoming future?" The young girl asked.
IA smiled at the nervous girl, "Well I have a new single coming out soon alongside a new music video for a song." IA said into the microphone.
The girl then looked to Ruby, hoping for an answer but was unsure if the girl would or not.
IA leaned in and whispered to Ruby when she saw her struggling, "You have permission to speak Ruby, why not answer the girl's question? She looks quite nervous." IA whispered into the girl's ear.
Ruby nodded slowly and leaned forward into the microphone and spoke softly that it barely picked up her voice, "I'll um have a new song to sing tomorrow and maybe a music video for another new song but I wouldn't mind doing a duet with IA again." Ruby said softly.
The girl who asked the question smiled widely as she got a response and that the singer actually spoke, and said, "Thank you." Before moving to sit down again.
Ruby smiled slightly as the next person came up to ask a question directed to IA, which Ruby tuned out as she tried to calm down after speaking in public like that.
It wasn't until a question shocked both girls that Ruby finally started to pay attention again, an overactive fan asked the two girls, "Are you two together?" She asked.
Ruby and IA both blushed at the question and IA answered the question, "Ah um no we're not." She said with a fake smile, silently telling her to drop it.
The fan nodded and went back to their seat and the rest of the session went by quickly with only a couple questions directed to the two singers while the rest was directed towards the producers and manager.
The last question was what made everyone hold their breath as a fan asked the question most of them had been thinking, "Um Red, why don't you allow pictures to be taken of you? And why don't you really speak?"
Ruby squeezed IA's hand under the desk, having found it near the start of the session, and IA squeezed back as she waited to see what Ruby would do.
Leaning forward Ruby said softly into the microphone, "It's to do with my past, I can't go into too much detail but it isn't something I enjoy talking about so I'd ask that people don't mention it." Ruby said softly, trying to not sound angry or annoyed at the question.
IA smiled at the girl at how she handled it and squeezed her hand again to offer her some comfort, luckily that was the final question for the session which meant they were able to explore the event once more.
Waiting for the fans to all move out of the makeshift hall, they placed their contacts back in and removed their lanyards and decided to spend a little more time looking around and even found a keychain version of IA.
Laughing Ruby brought it and placed it onto her keychain while smiling at the blushing girl when Ruby said, "I'll always have you with me now." She said to a blushing IA.
Smiling the two girls spent another hour at the event before Ruby leaned in to IA asking, "Hey could we head back to the hotel room?"
"Of course." IA said, smiling at the girl.
"Are you sure? Do you want to look at anything else?" Ruby asked, unsure.
"It's fine, there's always tomorrow." IA said, "Plus we've still got stuff to watch and read now." IA said.
Ruby nodded and made a gesture to Blake to say that they would be heading back to the room now and so they could follow them after.
Exiting the building the two girls moved through the crowds outside before reaching the hotel, getting inside and going up to their room they had a view of the centre and the large groups of people all outside hanging out.
Once inside their room the two girls relaxed on the bed and went through the stuff they had brought, they brought a couple DVD's alongside a number of manga's.
Setting up one of the DVD's, the Mai Hime complete collection they put that into the TV in their room so they could watch it in the background to reading the manga's and light novels they brought.
Ruby leaned against IA as the two girls sat back on the bed to read with the English dub of the anime played in the background and it wasn't until later that night that the two decided to go out to eat.
Keeping it simple the two girls ordered room service just to have a simple meal and once they had eaten they decided to sleep so they could be ready for tomorrow.
The next day the two girls were awake early even though the event wouldn't open to the public for a couple hours, so they got ready and once they were done they picked up Ruby's bag and started to head downstairs.
Meeting Blake and the other two bodyguards in the lobby and silently they walked to the building housing the event.
Walking to the convention centre they got inside and using some of the staff doorways they got to the stage where they'd be performing in the first couple hours of the day.
"Are you going to be alright?" IA asked, watching as Ruby set up her guitar and chair alongside a microphone down to the right height.
Ruby just nodded in return and asked softly, "Are you?" Ruby asked.
"I'll be fine." IA replied.
"Good." Ruby said quietly, checking once more that everyone was set for her performance before going behind the stage as the theatre started to fill up with people.
"What are you going to sing?" IA asked, she hadn't heard what Ruby would sing while she would be doing her new song, See the lights.
"An acoustic version of a song I've been planning; this will be the day." Ruby answered.
"This will be the day?" IA asked, not actually knowing the song but only causing Ruby to smile at her.
They had soon performed in front of the crowd, Ruby playing the guitar beautifully while IA was still on the stage there to support her.
As she was nearing the end of the song, slowing down her strumming on the guitar and as she heard the applause for her song, she turned to IA and softly asked. "Can I kiss you?" Her voice soft and away from the microphone.
"What?" IA asked, confused at the sudden question.
"Never mind." Ruby said quickly, moving back stage to put her guitar in its case before she started to get into her disguise again with IA coming shortly after.
They spent the rest of the day going around the convention centre again, picking up a few more things. Including some dvds and books, but the pair soon had to go. They had a flight back that night to return home, so they needed to pack.
While they were packing in their room however, Aria stopped and turned to Ruby. "You asked to kiss me, didn't you?" Aria asked.
"What are you talking about?" Ruby replied, not turning around from what she was doing.
"After you finished singing, you asked if you could kiss me." Aria stated this time, knowing the truth.
"I didn't." Ruby answered, still not looking at Aria.
"Ruby. Look at me." Aria demanded, wanting to look at Ruby in the eyes.
Ruby slowly turned around, finally facing Aria and meeting her eyes. And Aria could see tears starting to form in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I said something weird. I didn't mean to, I swear." Ruby replied, sounding scared.
Aria's face softens as she realised that she had scared Ruby from her tone, taking a step towards the frightened girl she spoke softly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to know if that's what you really asked." Aria asked.
"I did ask that. I'm sorry." Ruby replied.
"Do you still want to?" Aria asked.
"What?" Ruby asked in reply, confused at the question directed at her.
"Do you still want to kiss me?" Aria asked again, taking another step towards Ruby.
"Um…" Ruby stuttered, blushing while looking away from Aria.
But Aria didn't let Ruby move away, instead placing a hand underneath Ruby's chin and lifted it to meet her eyes. "Do you still want to kiss me?" Aria asked as she leaned in closer to Ruby.
Ruby's breath was taken away as she looked into Aria's eyes, slowly nodding her head in reply. So leaning forward, Aria's lips met Ruby's in a soft kiss.
Ruby moaned softly into the kiss, not willing to admit that she had been thinking about this for a while. But was enjoying the feeling of Aria's soft lips on her own.
The pair worked together, moving their lips together alongside their bodies as they awkwardly moved their hands behind the other person to bring themselves closer to each other.
Aria moved them both forward when Ruby's legs got caught on the edge of the bed and the pair fell back on the bed with Aria on top of Ruby.
Which didn't turn out so well. Ruby started to struggle underneath Aria, as she broke their kiss and Aria could hear her heavy breathing. But instead of the labouring breathing after heavy kissing, it sounded more desperate.
Acting on an instinct Aria rolled off of Ruby and instead laid down next to her, she could immediately see Ruby's eyes were wide and fearful. Of what, she wasn't sure.
Lying next to Ruby, Aria hugged Ruby and whispered soothing words into her ear as she attempted to calm Ruby down.
It took a little while for Ruby to finally calm down enough that she returned the hug and after a little more time Ruby managed to speak up.
"I'm sorry…it…it's just bad memories." Ruby stated.
"It's alright, you don't have to tell me. I just want you happy and safe." Aria replied.
"Thank you." Ruby replied softly into Aria's shoulder.
"We should finish packing." Aria said, to which Ruby nodded in reply and the pair went about packing.
Blake soon met them outside their door and they all went to the airport for the flight home. During the flight Ruby had fallen asleep on Aria, with Aria taking a picture of them as she enjoyed it.
A/N
So apologises for it being a little late went to bed early and up early so that's why you're getting it at a weird time.
Not much to say except the fact that the chapter after this is the final one. Again, not at all happy with this story but it's something that's finished and some people are interested.
Not much else to talk about so until next time.
Oh and a little important side note that I should tell people. Aria is also IA. They are one and the same, the name varies because i wrote this at different points but IA can be called either IA or Aria as that is her name.