"She's not getting better," Skull Boy insisted. He sat in Ruby's favorite arm chair by the fire, hugging his knees to his black turtleneck clad chest in supreme worry, "She's getting worse, actually. Nothing I've done is helping her,"
Misery and Iris sat with him by the fire, filled with just as much anxiety and fear for their friend as he was. Misery hung her head, tears running down her cheeks as she sniffled. Iris twiddled her thumbs and bit her lip.
"What do we do now?" Misery asked, "Ruby might die,"
"No she won't, because we aren't going to let her," Iris argued. She stood up and paced back and forth in front of the fire place, "Skull Boy's back. She should be better now. So why isn't she?"
"She doesn't think I'm back," Skull Boy informed, "Ruby thinks that I'm just some hallucination,"
"A hallucination?" Misery asked in a panic, "Someone call a doctor!"
"Should we?"
"No, I think we can take care of her on our own," Iris claimed, "Once she realizes that you aren't a delusion, Skull Boy, then she can get better,"
Skull Boy hung his head. It was all his fault. She was depressed because of him. She fell ill because of him. She thought she was a hallucination because of him. She might die because of him. He might have to attend his best friend's funeral because of him. All because of him. His fault. All his fault. Why did he have to leave? Why did he have to go with the band? Who cared about his ancestry? Ruby was much more important than finding where he came from, right?
"Okay, so she thinks you're never coming back?" Iris questioned.
He nodded miserably.
"If she thinks you're never coming back . . . why don't we show her you're back?"
Skull Boy and Misery looked at each other with quizzical expressions, "What?"
.-+*+-.
"Are you sure about this, Iris?" Misery hissed. They gazed at Ruby's sickly frame from a crack in her door, "I don't think she should be getting out of bed,"
"If we just have Skull Boy walk into her room, then she'll still think he's a hallucination,"
"Well . . . okay then . . ."
Iris breathed deeply and planted an genuine smile on her lips. Pushing over the door, she ran to Ruby's side and shook her shoulder, "Ruby, Ruby, get up! It's Skull Boy!"
Ruby's eyes slowly fluttered open, looking like dull amber gems. She coughed and cleared her throat, "What?"
"It's Skull Boy! He's back!"
The sickly sugar skull girl simply stared at her Cyclops friend with a blank look, "What are you talking about, Iris?"
"Skull Boy came back! He gave up his career because he missed us,"
Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration, taking the statement into consideration. But she shook her head in disbelief, "Skull Boy's a star. He wouldn't give up fame and fortune for us,"
Iris felt her comment stab her heart like a needle. How could Ruby say that? How could she think that he was that conceded?
"Come, on," Iris grabbed Ruby's upper arm and dragged her out of bed. Immediately she stumbled and fell. Her legs were too skinny even to walk on. The poor girl looked anorexic. Misery walked in and helped Iris pull her to her feet. They put one of her arms around each of them and helped her walk to the front of the house.
The double doors were wide open. Skull Boy stood against the entrance way, his bags piled up on the front porch. His heart sank and filled to the brim with guilt at the sight of the happiest girl in the world turned to a skeleton wrapped in skin. But he forced an excited expression on his face.
"Ruby, guess who's back?" he asked rhetorically. Walking up to her, he pulled her into his arms. She didn't hug him back, leaning limply into his touch. He pulled back, resting his hands on her shoulders. She wasn't excited, or happy, or even surprised. The same blank look occupied her face as it did in her room when Iris told her was back.
"Are you okay, Ruby? I'm back! Aren't you excited?"
Her mouth opened slowly, though she didn't speak. It was hard for her to talk anymore. She had no reason to. When she did speak, however, what she said broke his heart.
"You're not back," she whispered, "You're another figment of my imagination. You're never coming back,"
