Chapter 20: Consequences
"Heyo Jumbo." Yang greets the bear of team ALVMN.
"Yangarang."
"Okay, no, absolutely not. That name is so not gonna spread to the gang, or I swear I'm gonna pepper spray your toilet paper when you least expect it, everyone be damned, capisce?" She throws her point across with a glare. Mors winces, nods and makes a cross over his heart, smart man.
He's alone today, VB must be taking it easy from the morning sweatwork, having just came out of critical yesterday. Poor guy. Yang didn't see what he looked like when they loaded him into the Bullhead, but judging by PR's traumatized expression at the time, it probably wasn't anything pretty. Rubes had bawled her eyes out and it had taken the entire evening untying the girl's self-blaming knot. Ice Queen, of all people, has been able to snap lil' sis out of her dark thoughts by spitting out some cold hard facts, but with surprising gentleness. Friday night was an overall mess. Glad the dude's gotten better later. They held a nice little party last night to celebrate his surviving the ordeal.
"Been a while since I last saw you this moist. Guess you can say you had a bit of a…dry spell, eh?" He chuckles a bit but, huh, the reaction was a lot…weaker than she's expected, and she has no idea why that bothered her so much. "Guess the usual physical sessions with the pretty blond boy didn't really cut it for you, huh?" She moves on, though.
"Innuendoes this early in the morning, seriously? Did someone decide to do a little plumbing after the party last night?"
Ah, there we go, still up for some good punning.
"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know." She grins cheekily. "Want a play by play? You can use it for next time you wanna unclog your pipe."
That…may have come off as a bit flirty, which would be normal if Ruby was around to get weirded out. But with just two of them alone? Uh uh, she doesn't flirt with anybody and everybody, not since Signal senior year. Misunderstanding and one sided crush is a mess the girl could definitely do without.
"Hmfff…I think that's a tag on Po-...Hold up, you didn't actually…Holy twin shits on a stick! With your sister in the same room?! Actually with two other people there to boot? Am…am I the conservative person here, or are you just beyond bold?"
She laughs heartily at the guy's dumbstruck expression. Something about a, by all account, scary looking dude getting flustered by a little debauchery is way too funny.
"Chill, church boy, I was just jerking around."
"Well excuse me for being a little bit wet behind the ears about these kinds of stuff. And funny as it was, that is one very confusing statement."
Yang laughs again. Yeah…she can kinda see it. Mors is the type she would usually bat her lashes at. Strong, buffed as hell, has an older vibe and is fun to talk to. She's just surprised she's gotten over that terrible feeling in her gut everytime she looked at him enough to flirt. Big guy must've grown on her, somehow. Maybe because he's been honest about everything with her, or that he appreciated her puns, or that he's been good to Rubes, who knows... And the whole 'I'm a killer' shtick just doesn't hit home, she guesses. He just doesn't really live up to the image of a cold-blooded killer, and she can only be wary of a guy who hangs with her, eats with her, jokes around with her for so long. Although there was that one time with Cardin in the cafeteria…but she was pissed then, too, so who's to say.
But yeah, Yang guesses she won't mind dating the guy for a while, under normal circumstances. Shame he knows Ruby though, so this is definitely not gonna fly.
Doesn't mean they can't be great pals though. She's just gonna want to watch her words with him, no biggie.
"Didn't do it." She pats him on the back. "I wasn't about to get caught touching myself by my little sister. Got an image to uphold, you know?" Well now that look on his face is just rude. Her last pat turns into a slap. The dude didn't even budge. Tch. "Ass, you don't have to look so skeptical."
"Sorry, I…I mean, all 3 boyfriends you had this sem, you guys were usually seen eating each other's faces out in well, public. Nothing wrong with being…passionate. Just…not entirely sure if the kind of image you're thinking of keeping is um…there."
"'Course it's there! I just did it cause making out was fun, and that was usually as far as my dates can get. I ain't no horny bimbo. Sex and stuffs are nice once in a while, I guess, but they're not that exciting, for me at least. Hell, more often than not, they're not worth messing up my hair over. Just have a really small appetite, for some reason." She shrugs. It's probably not normal, but eh. "Believe it or not, I'm actually really moderate about the birds and the bees part of a relationship. Rubes really looks up to me about these stuffs, you know? Relationships, wonders of the body, 'girls' things." She smiles a little fond smile, remembering the time lil' sis freaked out about her first period. Lots of screaming, lots of crying, the little drama queen even wrote a will. The scythe for Qrow, weapons mags collection for dad, and everything else for her.
"That's really nice." Mors mirrors her smiles, which looks annoyingly gentle on him. "You take the role model thing pretty seriously, huh?"
"You bet I do! Since there's no one-...well, I have a lot of influences on the little rose, so… I know I have my own issues, but I try my damn best to be a good, healthy person, for her."
Mors just keeps smiling and nods. He gets it, Yang can see. They stand there for a bit, enjoying the amicable mood. But now that she pays attention to it, the guy has seemed somewhat distracted. His smile falters after a while and he sighs. Before she can ask what was up she hears him mumbles.
"No easy way to bring it up. Dammit, I'm gonna miss this."
"Yang…A few days before Beacon started, you went and wrecked Junior Hei Xiong's club, didn't you?"
-REST-
He knew it was coming, but Mors could not help but deflate a little when the blonde girl in front of him, who has been so open and amicable to him so far, immediately locked up and put on her guards.
"Yeah? What's up?" Her tone is still friendly enough. But he holds no illusion there's any warmth behind them.
"That wasn't a good idea…"
"Well it's a good thing I'm not looking for your approval isn't it?"
"Yang, I don't think you really understand exactly what you did."
"I understand that it's not your damn business!"
"It is. It became my business yesterday."
"Figures." Mr. Junior sighs. "One more reason for doing this." He mumbles. He looks at Mors, cringes and shrinks back, nervously tugging away at his collar. "Come on kid, don't make that scary face. I'll tell you right away I'm not gonna do anything to her."
Mors taps at his glass, then sighs and slumps down on his stool.
"Alright, I'll hear you out."
"Good. Here, another one on the house...actually you know what? Drinks on me tonight."
"Thank you."
"Yeah...Sally!" Mr. Junior calls out to another bartender. "Bar's yours. Get me some oeskey." He turns to Mors and pours another drink. Then he takes out a cigarette and bites onto it. Mors takes his lighter and leans over to light for the man. "Right, the girl. You know how I'm the biggest info dealer in the city? Say if you were a crime boss, or a politician, or a police chief, or anyone with something to hide, what would be the one thing you're afraid of from me?"
"My info got leaked to my enemies."
"To anyone at all, in fact. Naturally, I shouldn't have been able to get this big, but I did." Junior leans on the counter. "That was because Vale allowed me to, kid. Everyone uses my service, I made it so that the benefits outweigh the risks for them."
The more sensitive the info; the more powerful, or dangerous the person that piece of info is about, the more expensive it gets. VPD can pay Mr. Junior for Roman's Torchwick whereabouts, but they will put Vale through an economic crisis doing so. And Torchwick can of course make a dormant transaction on the info of who has inquired about him, which is much, much cheaper. Snitch shield, as they call it.
The only reason Winchester Snr. was not alerted that Mors had purchased very sensitive info about him was: the snitch shield from The Walking Deadman was more than the councilman could ever afford.
So well, of course, Mr. Junior is not omniscient. But his service is vitally helpful, if one can afford it. The man had managed to set up shop right in the very thin border of many powerful, dangerous factions and people.
"So do you know one of the taboos in Vale that have to do with me?"
"Don't force the info out of you." Mors groans and strokes his face. "Which my friend did."
"A week before Beacon started, she strolled in here all swagger and saunter like it was her place, grabbed me by the balls and demanded info about Raven fucking Brawen! Given who that woman is and how much she values her privacy, even her location is gonna cost maybe more than half of SDC fortune! That little brat sure as shit couldn't afford it, and she didn't look like she was going to pay for it anyways. So of course I didn't tell her anything. Then, she went and caused a ruckus for all to see."
"The reason why you could take on Mr. Junior's securities, Yang, is because he didn't need that kind of securities. Heck, the two aura-abled girls you fought were actually just guests." Mors says after giving the girl the edited version of his conversation with the broker. Yang is a smart girl, so she looks like she is starting to realize this was a bigger mess than she has thought. "Nobody attacks Mr. Junior for intel. As soon as someone does that, then it's free for all, and no one is safe. You didn't just step on a crime boss's toes, you stepped on basically every big player's toes in the whole city. And they want blood. They want an example set so no one can ever get this funny idea anymore. Either that, or they burn The Cube to the ground and force the owner into an early retirement, at the bottom of the bay."
The blonde takes a step back, staring at the grounds and crossing her arms a bit too tight. She's feeling anxious, he imagines. The unpleasant feeling when you realize you're head deep in some serious water. Mors can feel his lips pressed into a thin line, it's not over yet.
"So what?" The girl spits out. "You were ex merc, right? Did the old man ask you nab me or get rid of me or something?" She laughs harshly and glares at him. "Well I ain't gonna go down so easy, that you can bet your ass. And how are you going to pull that shit off here, right under Ozpin nose anyway?"
"He didn't, Yang. Not you. And I wouldn't have agre-"
His upper body is forcibly yanked down by the shirt's collar. Blazing red eyes bear into his. Heat from her hair washes over him in waves. She is scared, he can see.
"You fucking leave Ruby out of this!"
"Not Ruby, absolutely not." He holds up a hand, then reaches into his pocket to take out his scroll. Glancing at it, he quickly opens a protected picture he saved yesterday. A woman with long, blonde hair.
"Well, originally I was gonna just find out who the girl is and throw her name to the sharks." Mr. Junior jams his cig into the ashtray, he takes out a second one. Mors light it again. "But then I found out how her entire family is one big pile of 'Don't fuck with us'. Mother Brawen, Uncle Brawen, Dad's a top grad from Beacon, sister's Ozpin hand-picked student, and now, she's friends with you. Yeah, I'm not making myself a target for you people. Rules or not, you're still going to put me in a shallow grave if I try to do anything to this girl, aren't you?"
"...I would try to persuade you not to do so."
"Heh. Thought so. So like I said, I'm not touching her. But well, you know things don't work like that. People want a name, kid, and I'll give them something better, a cautionary tale."
"No…"
"As far as anyone knew, a very capable female with long blonde hair did the deed. If Mr. Junior can't get even with you, he'll have to opt for the next best thing."
"NO!"
She pushes him back roughly, but more out of being utterly horrified. She tries to get angry, but the weight of guilt rests too heavily on her features.
Mors grimaces. He would've hidden this from her if he could. But as Mr. Junior had said, a scapegoat doesn't mean shit if Yang doesn't learn her lesson and try to fuck with the business again. He feels like scum, knowing her good heart and using it to break her spirit. But how he's feeling right now is completely irrelevant.
"Her name is Brigette Brighteyes, she's a huntress who usually works at fringe settlements. A very skilled one, skilled enough to easily overpower The Cube's securities. All relatives are gone except for a son who doesn't know about her. No one was with her on the night you stormed the bar. If she's gone, officially, she'll be written off as Grimm's death. I am to bring her in. This is also Mr. Junior's warning to you."
"You can't do this! I won't let you do this!"
"If it's not me, then someone else is going to do it. That someone might not be able to keep a lid on the whole affair. And all will be for nothing."
"That's it! I'll say I did it! I'll brag to anyone and everyone that I raided Junior's club. There's no point using a fall guy anymore if the actual culprit admits to it, right?"
"Somebody is going to pay for this, Yang. If it's not you or the woman, it's going to be Mr. Junior. He can't have that, you know. He'll twist your story into a bragging of a dumb teenager. He's already silenced all the guards he couldn't trust that were present that night. Some people might believe you, but this Huntress will still die, and this time she'll die for nothing."
"I'll fucking tear down his whole business then!"
"You won't be able to. His business is in his network, not the club. Unless you kill him or make him disappear for good, you won't achieve anything worthwhile. And you'll make an enemy out of the whole city, which includes people on this side of the law, too. You'll be jailed for life, your family will be exiled. Not to mention some crime boss with too much pride may try to gun for people you know to get to you." He didn't say Ruby, but she understands that much.
"Please!" Yang's voice begins to crack. "I get it! I fucked up! I'll never do something so stupid again." She grabs his wrist with both hands. He forces himself to look at the desperation in her eyes. "If that's not enough, I'll bring myself in. He can beat me up, make an example out of me. Take me to him. I won't fight back, I swear. Please!"
Mors shakes his head slowly. Even if she comes willingly, Mr. Junior will never chance the ires the very dangerous connections she has. Not when he has such a low risk, low cost alternative. The ex merc has thought hard about the entire problem since yesterday, but this is probably the solution with the least damage.
"I'm sorry."
"FUCKER!" Her scream echoes through the quiet morning. Her fist slams into his side, liver shot. He stumbles a few steps to the side, feeling his ribs bruised and bile rises up his throat. A low kick to the knee joint makes his head drop down to the level she can throw a cross into his cheek. He stumbles a few more steps, shakes his head once to get rid of the disorientation from getting his brain rattled. He can take these. He'll stop her when it starts to get too lethal.
She stomps over to him, but abruptly stops and stares at him, eyes-wide and horrified, both hands over her mouth. What…? He swipes at his face, the hand comes back red. Ah…
"It looks worse than it really is." He tries to use what he thinks is his calmest tone. "You know face cuts just bleed a lot. I'm okay."
Her legs seem to give out as she sinks to the ground. Tears are already streaming down her face. Yang tries to speak, but the words come out a garbled mess. Mors walks slowly to her and squats down. He reaches out with his unbloodied hand. She almost flinches back, but ultimately stays still, but he doubts it was out of trust. Prolly closer to bracing herself for retaliation. There would be none. He gently pushes back a lock of golden hair and then holds her shoulder. Deep purple eyes stare into lilac ones.
"Hey, I'm fine. You pulled your punches. I'm not angry. You weren't thinking straight, I get it."
"I'm sor-hic…I'm really-...hic…really sorry."
"Apology accepted…I'm okay. Hey." She frantically tries to wipe her face, but the waterworks don't seem inclined to stop. Yang looks miserable, and he doesn't really know how to console her. "You punched like a girl. I barely felt any of that." He tried.
"Liar." She sobs.
Okay, good try…good try…What was up with the immediate counter anyway? Wasn't she supposed to be feeling guilty about him? Mors scratches his head. Give him a suicide mission any day, but this? Brothers help him. Very unsure of himself, he spreads his arms a little bit.
"Uh…want a…want a hug?" He says lamely.
The big student almost falls onto his butt when a head full of golden strands crashes into his chest. He shifts to sitting on one knee to stabilize, arms closing behind the girl in his space. One hand on her back, the other on her head, he can feel her body shakes. He absentmindedly strokes her hair.
They stayed like that for not too long before Yang sniffles once and gently pushes herself away from him. She nods her thanks, then sits back onto the pavement. Mors opts to do the same.
She looks calmer, but still very much tormented. That's the best he can hope for, he guesses. Silence reigns. Mors observes the blonde quietly, and she looks at anywhere but him.
"I didn't see your aura break." She speaks quietly. "Did you break it before?"
"...Ye-...No." She can see through his lies anyway.
"Your aura's not unlocked?"
"...No." Her head drops limply. She hides her face behind her hair.
"I didn't know…" She pleads weakly.
"You couldn't have. It's unthinkable that a Beacon student is enrolling without any aura."
Lilac eyes peek out of blonde hair
"Thank you." Yang mutters. He just shrugs. She doesn't look like she has the energy nor the will to pursue the matter. The girl pulls up her knees and buries her face in there.
.
.
.
"What are they going to do to her?" He hears her half-whispers, very uncertain if she wanted to ask that question.
"Yang…" He starts to protest. She doesn't need this on her conscience. He does believe one has to face the consequences of their actions, but what Mr. Junior plans to do with the woman will break this seventeen years old girl.
Flay and fillet her son alive before her eyes, while recording her reaction during the whole process to sell as snuff film. Cut off all her limbs and attached fake limbs instead. Severe most of her tendons. Remove all her teeth and replace them with rubber ones. Possibly remove the vocal cord, too. Toture her for a few days then sell her to some rich sick fucks, where she'll probably be abused until her body breaks.
"Please, Mors, this is blood on my hand. I have to know."
"...It'll be a struggle, I won't be able to take her alive. It'll be quick and painless. Mr. Junior should be able to make something work with just the body." It'll prolly be mutilated and strung up somewhere, but no reason to tell her all those awful things. He opted for telling her what he'll make sure to happen. "And they'll have no reason to go for her relatives if she's already gone." He'll make sure of that, too.
She shrinks further into herself. Another round of quiet sobbing. They sit there, like that for what feels like ten minutes. Heavy doesn't even begin to describe the air.
Eventually, Yang wobbly gets to her feet and stumbles towards the dorm. He wanted to follow, but decided that maybe she's had enough of seeing his face. As he watches her leaves, feeling empty over a budding friendship now shattered, the girl stops and turns to look at him, puffy eyes and pink nose.
"I'm sorry."
"Like I said, Yang, I'm okay. Don't wo-"
"You'll have to bloody your hand because of me. I'm sorry." Oh…Oh…How does he respond to that? "I was so caught up in feeling sorry for myself I didn't think about how you might feel about all of this, cleaning up after some stupid bitch."
"...I'm…I'm used to this, killing people, I guess." If there was a better way to word it, he had absolutely no clue what it was. "You…uh…you don't have to worry about me." For some reason that made her seem even sadder.
"If you say so…I'm sorry."
With that, the blonde girl quietly turns and stumbles away, shoulders slumped under an invisible weight.
-REST-
"MORS! MORS! MORS!" He has just barely came back and finished washing his face when Ruby started pounding on the door. "YOU COME OUT HERE RIGHT NOW YOU BIG BUFFOON! WE NEED TO TALK. JAUNE! PR! OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE! MORS!"
"Uh…dude?" Jaune pokes his head into the bathroom. "Should I open the door?"
"...Yeah, let her in, I'll be out in a sec." Jaune looks back into the room and nods, presumably telling someone, most likely Pyrrha, to open the door. "Seriously, what the heck happened?"
"I got into an argument with Yang."
"Yes you told us that already! But what-" Jaune is cut off by the small girl in red and black storming into the bathroom. Her eyes immediately lock onto her intended target and she proceeds to repeatedly kick his shin. There was no actual damage to her attacks, however.
"You big dumb Ursa-brain foot-for-head stupid idiot. How the heck did you think it was a totally okay thing to do you dunderhead!? Don't do it! You'll break Yang's heart! There's got to be-" Ruby's entire body froze mid-rant. She turns to Jaune, who is still poking his head into the bathroom, staring at them two dumbfound, but clearly curious. The girl fidgets on the spot, glancing back at Mors. "Uh…we should probably go somewhere else more quiet. Sorry, Jaune. I…uh…this is kind of a secret for Yang. I can't have you hear about it. You know…sibling's honor."
Jaune throws up his hands, his frustration's clear. "Dammit, how am I supposed to grill it out of Bloody Face over here about what happened now? You just had to play the sib's honor card didn't you. Dammit Rubes. You can talk in here. Don't worry about us.." He turns to walk back to the room. Mors hears he calls out to the other members. "All right, you heard Rubes, it's private. Come on guys, let's see if we can get the other girls to go grab breakfast with us."
"Aw finnnnne…but" Mors hears Nora's voice. "Hey Mors, Rubydoo." Three seconds later the girl pokes her head through the bathroom's door. "Is it okay to ask Yang about it? I mean, would it be cool if Yang decides to tell us what happened?"
"It's her choice but I…I don't think she will." Ruby starts rubbing the hem of her skirt. "This kind of thing is uh…the less people know, the better. Notthatwedonttrustyouguys! It's just…it might hurt my sister worse the more this spread. Maybe…maybe we'll let you know later after I convince this knucklehead not to do what he's going to do." She glares weakly at Mors. At this point he can be fairly sure Yang has told her about his job for Mr. Junior. Well, he has half-expected that. But it'll be quite worrying if Weiss and Blake are in on this too. He really doesn't want them doing something drastic to stop him.
"Yish…that sounds pretty serious. How's Yang doing?"
"She…can use a pick-me-up right now."
"Really really bad?"
"...Pretty bad."
"Dang, and we were so chummy yesterday…One morning and here we are back to drama town again. Our guy came back with a bloody face and your gal is down in the dump. Seriously, what did you do big guy?" The ginger shakes her head exasperatedly. "Well it doesn't matter whose fault it was I guess. I'll go see if I can cheer Yang up."
"Thank you." He and Ruby both say at the same time. Nora grins and throws them a thumbs-up.
"Hope you guys can sort it out. It'll be pretty awkward to take sides and stuff from now on." He'll…have to think about that.
A little commotion later and they hear the sound of the room's door being closed. Ruby looks out into the room for a cursory check. She then gently closes the bathroom door and immediately spins around to face Mors. Her hands are on her hips, she stands on tiptoes, her eyes blazing silver. Before she can speak her mind, however, he seizes the mic.
"Ruby, does Weiss and Blake know?" He asks urgently.
"Wha…n-no! I had to go through a really big fight to get it out of Yang. She didn't want to tell anyone. She was afraid we would hate you if we know you're going to kidnap someone. And oh my Oum Mors, that's really horrible! You can't do that! Don't go hurting some random huntress!"
"Ruby, you know someone else is going to do it if it's not me."
"Then we'll stop that someone else too!"
"...We can stop the first one, maybe even ten, but there'll be an eleventh, a twelvth, until either we fail or Mr. Junior can't bear the cost anymore."
"He can't be sending ten people after one woman!"
"It's his life on the line. You have to understand, he's desperate. He's going to throw everything he has at this. And if pushed into a corner, he may take his chance with Yang, then I'll have to kill him anyway." He tried his best to not sound so callous about it, but she still flinched back slightly at 'kill', now that the word has actual weight behind it. He sighs inwardly as he sees Ruby starting to realize that her friend is a real, actual killer, not someone she sees on the news or hears stories about. He may lose yet another friend today. "It's…There's no real difference between the deaths of Mrs. Brighteyes or Mr. Junior. Except for that whoever commits the later might make an enemy out of the entire Vale."
"There has to be a way no one has to die! Please, Mors." She steps closer and grabs his shirt. "I know my sister. She's strong and tough as nails. But when she breaks, she's gonna be scarred for years! Please! Don't do this to her!"
"What do I do then, Ruby? Sure, I can sit back and do nothing. But if Yang's gonna be hurt either way, then I'd rather it's me doing it and keep this entire shitshow under wraps. And do you know almost every manhunter in the city, the good and accessible ones to Mr. Junior anyway, won't even think twice about cutting off their victim's limbs and pumping them full of drugs just to avoid the potential hassle? They're the worst kind of people out there, that's what makes them good at their job. I'm not much better than them, but I can offer the woman a quick and painless death! She's dying for something that has nothing to do with her. She damn sure deserves this small mercy at least!"
Ruby pauses and stares at him with a complicated look in her eyes.
"That's why Yang didn't want me to try stopping you...This thing bothers you a lot too, doesn't it?"
"It's not-... I'm used to it, don't worry about me."
"You don't sound like you like that fact very much."
"...I don't. I think about taking someone's life on the same level as considering buying a car or deciding to have a pet, Rubes. How messed up is that? How messed up am I?"
It's actually more than that. It reminds Mors once again how stenched in death's scent he truly is. Here he is, no longer a soldier, not a merc anymore, and still about to play the executioner. First Cardin, now Mrs. Brighteyes, he didn't even hesitate. Does he really hate killing that much, or is he just acting like what supposedly a good person does? Has he, unwittingly, accepted the words of his people? That he owes Death his life, and she will follow him to the end of the world, until she can collect her due. Oops, dark thoughts be gone.
He shakes his head and shrugs. "But it doesn't really matter. It is what it is. More importantly-" He's cut off by Ruby headbutting his stomach. Her arms stretched out in an effort to hug him, but couldn't actually connect back together behind his back; so she settled for gripping tightly to his shirt.
"Morsy…Don't make a face like that. I know you're not a bad guy, I do!" There was so much conviction there that even if he was the worst kind of garbage on Remnant, he damn sure feels like being a good boy now. "You're kind, and gentle, and you care about us, I know, I do! Don't hate yourself, please! It's really really really sad that way. I'm really sorry I yell at you. I should've known you were just as unhappy as us about all of this..."
The way this girl hugs is so…all in. As if she's hugging him with her entire being. He can feel every fiber of her muscles is working their hardest to squeeze him into her embrace. It was so earnest, so pure with sympathy that Mors literally froze up, his mind blanked out and he could do nothing but to stand there dumbly, taking in the presence of the small, kind girl.
"...but that is even more reasons," She looks up at him from her babbling. "you shouldn't do this. You'll hate yourself even more. Please Mors, I don't want to see people I'm close to suffer like this. It hurts a lot that I can't do anything now but plead. Please, stop this, for me."
"Ruby…"
"There has got to be a way! There has got to be!" He didn't think she could hug him tighter, but she did. Her voice starts to have a more frantic edge to it and begins to break. "I…I don't know how this underworld thingy works, but you do, Mors! There must be some other way to resolve this where no one has to die." Silver eyes bear into him, emotions swirling like tidal waves. "Please, help Yang. I'll give you anything back. I know! Junior is paying you to do this, right? I'll pay you more to stop him. N…name your price! I'll…I'll even sell Crescent Rose to pay you!"
She's being unreasonable, both of them know. But somehow, her pleading is so absolutely, unfairly compelling. Mors plops back onto the sink counter, pulling Ruby along with him. Is this really the only way? The most efficient way, maybe. But perhaps, he didn't actually look too hard into an alternative. He'd already given up, accepted the situation. All the reasons he gave were merely to justify his action. That there is no other way, just another ugly side of life one has to learn to live with.
"Just leave me alone! Can't you see I'm a damn crippled now?! There's nothing you, or any of us can do to change that!"
"Not with that fucking attitude you mudak!"
And now he's reminded of Pepel, again. Almost three years already. Brothers he misses her.
"Okay…" He whispers to himself. "Okay, Ruby." He says more loudly to the girl hugging him. "I'll...figure something out. I can't promise anything, but I'll protect Mrs. Brighteyes...You can tell Yang...No actually don't tell her anything just yet. I don't want to get her hopes up."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"...If there is, I'll let you know."
"Please do." She looks relieved, but none too happy nonetheless. The red hair girl buries her face into his stomach. When she speaks, her voice comes muffled. "Thank you Mors...Thank you. I'm putting you in a tough spot, I know. I'm taking advantage of your kindness, I know. I'm sorry."
"...I think I've reached my quota of receiving sorry today, Rubes. You don't need to apologize."
"Yeah... sorry."
A/N
Pepel is the healer, nurse girl mentioned in a few chapters back. Her name in Russian is пепел, which means Ashes. She won't have any impact on the storyline any further, maybe…
RnR!