Deafening silence surrounded the space around Ruby. The air was crisp and cold as many libraries were. Nothing but the smell of old paper and dust wafting through the vents.
Ruby looked high at the colossal bookshelves. It was as if they went on for stories upon stories with books to fill the never ending thirst for knowledge.
The young girl was tempted to just stay by her vent. Nothing was in there yet so it was rationally the safest place to be. However, Ruby knew the only way out was through these so-called "Hellfires" that seemed to be around every corner. Taking a deep shaky breath, her feet began their steady pace forward.
Ruby had stopped mentally preparing herself long ago. She figured if she gave herself more time to actually think about the situation she was in, she would only spend more time as a sitting duck rather than moving and getting things done.
Walking down the long aisles of books, Ruby was particularly curious just of who was taking care of this part of the building. She had crossed through nearly everyone. Each person had one awful fate after the other. The person set to the library sure was a lucky one.
The young girl didn't bother in hiding her presence, letting her eyes wander all around the room while shining her trusty flashlight in all directions. It seemed no one was really around with her.
'Maybe this is Yoshiko's secret lair?'
Ruby thought to herself as even though her steps echoed in the large room, no one was attacking her yet. It was very strange.
As she got to the end of the aisle, Ruby looked at all the shelves before her. There was a long passageway where she could see down each aisle as it followed with even more twists and turns to expand the room even greater. By now, the young girl didn't really care much for how confusing each maze got. In some strange way, each one of Yoshiko's mazes could be beaten.
'Meaning so could she.'
Ruby wasn't exactly sure where she was going but she did know one thing, she had to face Yoshiko eventually. Whether she liked it or not. She hadn't really put much thought into it until now, seeming she finally could in peace and quiet. Yes, Yoshiko was going to want to face her at one point, but the question was, to do what? She could have easily tortured her like she had the previous six girls, yet she left her to instead go against them. The possibility of them never meaning to cross paths with one another passed through the young girl's mind before it was shaken out.
Everything was left entirely unanswered all the time. It was aggravating.
Continuing on with her question of everything, Ruby almost missed the perfectly poised body that stood staring at one of the shelves in an open lobby area of the library.
It was almost as if in that moment Ruby's entire being began to scream. She knew exactly who it was. No one else in the entire face of the world had sleek black hair cut straight to a fine point nor a perfect figure as if she were a model for the top three ethereal wonders of the world.
Not taking another moment to waste, Ruby began running.
Her legs ached, her chest hurt, even her vision was clouded with new formed tears but she had to see her. This couldn't be a joke, it had to be her.
Reaching the lobby area, Ruby called out,
"Onee-chan!"
Ruby never stopped running. It didn't bother her that Dia didn't turn around. Nothing really bothered her when her sister was mere inches away from her without a single thing seemingly wrong with her.
Finally getting closer and closer, Ruby spread her arms out to hug her sister while also yelling out one last time through her cries,
"Onee-chan!"
Bumping into her back, Ruby released her flashlight as she held onto Dia with both hands, while sobbing into her uniform. Ruby didn't dare to open her eyes as she didn't want her moment to come to an end.
It was as if she had finally found her light at the end of the tunnel.
Feeling a shift in their position, the older Kurosawa turned around within Ruby's grasp. The young girl never broke her stance, still crying now onto her older sister's chest. Dia finally wrapped her arms around her.
The feeling of warmth radiating from Dia was enough for Ruby.
"Oh, Ruby. There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you."
Hearing her older sister speak without any type of misguided hatred towards her broke the young girl even more.
Unable to hold herself together, Ruby fell to her knees as she let out more of her cries. Her body shook as hiccups cut through her uneven breathing. Going to the ground with her, Dia held her younger sister in her arms as she sobbed into her lap.
"O-Onee-chan, I-I-I've been looking f-for you too-o"
Dia sadly smiled at Ruby as she couldn't even get out a sentence in her current state.
"It's okay, Ruby. I've got you now."
Holding onto her younger sister tightly, Dia began to hum, feeling it was the most appropriate time to do so. As her older sister, she felt it was her job to calm her down, as an apprehensive Ruby would not be best.
Sensing Ruby's adrenaline was finally coming down, Dia began to sing aloud the first thing that came to her head, a lullaby for when they were younger,
"You aren't alone anymore."
Hearing the beginning of the melody that was oh-so ingrained in her memory as a child, the younger Kurosawa gently closed her eyes, basking in their moment.
"Darling Ruby,"
Dia held onto Ruby tighter.
"Dia's home."
It wasn't but a moment later that Ruby felt a strange sensation, as if she were being lifted.
"Stronger than your monsters know."
Eyes bursting open, Ruby looked around to see Dia was holding onto her while levitating in the air. Dia's melody was as slow as her graceful ascent towards the heavens, yet it didn't feel as if angels would sweep down and save Ruby now.
Fighting against the tight grip, Ruby started thrashing in her sister's arms. Dia did not care for gripping onto her sister for any longer, letting the young girl fall to the ground. To Ruby's luck however, she was but a couple feet from the floor.
Hitting the ground on her bottom, Ruby quickly looked up to see Dia, but it wasn't the one she knew. While every part of her remained the same, one thing gave her away. Dia's eyes were no longer the crystal cut emeralds she once knew and loved, but rather now a yellow, almost honey-drop color. It was as if someone tried to take the soul from within her, leaving her to be an empty shell of who she once was.
Finally, Dia looked down towards Ruby, with a smile painted across her face,
"Don't be scared 'cause Dia's home."
Finishing off her song, Dia began to giggle. However, not a moment after, what started gentle, turned into a maniacal laughter echoing throughout the library.
Ruby continued to look at her sister in shock as she could tell Dia wasn't okay, not even close.
As she calmed down, Dia remained in the air, looking down at her younger sister in an almost distasteful look with a fake smile plastered on her lips.
"You know, Ruby, I'm actually quite surprised you made it this far."
Wrapping her arm around herself while her hand went to her face in a thinking pose, Dia continued on,
"I mean, on your own, you can't really do anything if I'm being honest. Someone always has to be there to hold your hand. I held your hand all through grade school, then you got Hanamaru-san in high school. It's really too bad you left her behind in the room like that. I'm sure she wouldn't have done the same. Sometimes I can still hear her cries for her "Ruby-chan" in the halls."
Ruby could feel her tears building as her sister continued on. Sure it wasn't the real Dia saying it, but that didn't mean it wasn't the truth, and the truth hurt.
"And I know everything that goes on around here, no one is here to help you this time."
Dia's smile slowly wiped from her face as she became more serious. Dia lifted her hand from her face in an upwards motion. Following her was a swarm of books all beginning to be lifted from each of the shelves surrounding them,
"So congratulations, Ruby, for getting so far."
Pointing her finger up, all of the books stood still as if time had froze,
"However, this is your last stop."
Bringing her hand down, Dia began throwing books at Ruby. The speed at which they went caused her hair to sway with the wind, creating an intense force forward to the defenseless Ruby. While the young girl was still sitting on the floor, she managed to twist out of the way quickly, dodging a majority of the books being thrown her way. Others just barely scraped past her ankles.
Ruby quickly jumped to her feet while grabbing her flashlight, and as if her body was already getting used to it, she began to run.
Dia let out a scoff as she began to follow Ruby. It wasn't natural for her sister to be so quick on her feet. It irritated her.
Ruby ran back towards the aisles in an attempt to lose her sister within the dimly lit halls. Already developing a plan in her head, Ruby took a left down one of the many rows of aisles. Taking her sharp turn, she was able to get a peak back and see Dia, who was already steadily following her.
As Dia gracefully stalked her prey, all around her, books were being pulled from their shelves, slowly following her. One after the other, book upon book were slowly being tossed Ruby's way, however with the library being so enormous in size, it was hard to get a good aim on her. Constantly missing such a small and weak target frustrated Dia to no end.
Ruby could feel herself getting lost in the maze of the library again, but this time it was to her own advantage. As she twisted and turned down the aisles without a clear destination, she finally brought her sudden plan into action.
Taking a sharp turn, the young girl threw her flashlight down the aisle opposite of her as she kept running forward.
Seeing the light head another direction, Dia followed in suit.
As Ruby got far enough away, she quickly hid behind one of the bookshelves, keeping her eye on her older sister in the sky.
Dia began to laugh as she seen the flashlight roll on the ground,
"Tripping over your own feet again, Ruby? How pitiful. It's no wonder Kanan-san was able to catch you so fast. And do you know what?"
Dia left the question opened ended as she neared the hall closer and closer, bringing more books to her side,
"I wouldn't have been so nice to a simple mistake. Mistakes cost you everything, Ruby. And you're going to have to learn one way or another."
Finally turning down the hall, Dia's hand was already lifted in attack. However, she was met with just a simple flashlight in an empty hall. Dia began to clench her fist as Ruby was never hard to catch. She always tripped, fell, and cried for help. With her fist shaking in frustration, the room began to vibrate as Dia's anger poured out more and more. Books began to fall from shelves as if there were an earthquake. Sharply turning away, Dia began to continue searching for the young girl.
Ruby stood still for a moment as she waited for the coast to be clear. Quickly looking down the hall from her hiding spot, Ruby checked out her surroundings as she didn't want to be caught by an angry Dia.
With no sign of her sister, Ruby began to tip-toe over to the flashlight.
Her plan was to keep a back and forth game with Dia until she could get away. It had worked with Chika and You partially smoothly. If she could just find the vent again, everything would be at peace once more.
As she neared the flashlight, something caught the young girl's eye. It was a book that had fallen onto her light. Ruby wasn't too sure if it was one of the ones Dia threw or that had fallen from her anger.
Picking it up, Ruby saw it was an 'Alice in Wonderland' book. As if all at once, it hit her. She remembered thinking about the book earlier before she had faced Riko, when the only problem at hand was leaving the locked room. Oh how she longed to be as brave and strong as Alice. The only thing Ruby had done in this 'Wonderland' was run away. Alice didn't run away but rather she fought and fought until the end when she could finally return home.
'Maybe this is what I need to do.'
Ruby thought to herself. Running away was just leading her into more and more trouble, but she had never thought to confront her demons.
Tightening her grip on the book, Ruby didn't want to do it. She didn't want to fight back against her sister. She'd rather do it against the one who actually hurt everyone. But, it had to start somewhere.
Spinning on her heels towards the direction Dia went, Ruby yelled out,
"Dia!"
Upon hearing her name, Dia stopped as she clenched her fists. Her annoyance grew more as she heard her sister even speak her name. Using all of her power, she began flying at a high speed towards the sound. As she flew by, loose papers were spewed around as well as books being lifted from the ground and shelves, all to follow Dia.
The young girl saw as her sister came closer and closer. Hardening her pose, Ruby looked at Dia.
No fear, but rather a new stance of courage.
Dia hated it.
As if on cue, the older girl threw her hand out, almost in a grabbing motion, and began tossing books at Ruby, but in her blinded rage, as well as far distance, they didn't quite reach their target.
With papers and books falling from the sky, it was as if everything happened in slow motion.
Dia was less than 15 feet away. So close yet so far.
It was a chance to take.
Ruby used all of her strength to pull back her arm.
With her eyes on the prize, there was only one thing left to do.
Taking a step forward, Ruby threw the 'Alice in Wonderland' book that was in her hands straight towards Dia.
Something in Ruby didn't believe the book would do much considering it was just a child's book, yet as soon as it left her grip, she felt nothing but regret. She watched as it hit Dia, corner first, at the base of her forehead. It knocked Dia's head back and Ruby saw as her sister's yellow eyes rolled into the back of her head before she shut them.
Hitting the ground in front of Ruby, Dia was surrounded by books suddenly falling with loose papers accompanying them as they no longer had anyone to control them.
Ruby's eyes began to water as she saw her sister laying motionless in front of her.
"D-Dia?"
Shakily reaching her hand out, Ruby began to whimper out once more,
"Onee-chan?"
Not hearing a response, Ruby finally burst into tears and ran towards her sister.
Having courage didn't mean she had forgotten who she was at heart.
Falling to her knees, Ruby looked at Dia. The older Kurosawa was laying on her stomach, one hand out while the other remained on her side with her face flat against the floor. Despite the strange position she was in, Ruby quickly moved Dia's head to her side while lifting her bangs to see the damage she did. There was a large bloody patch where the book struck her.
"No, no, no, no! I'm so sorry, onee-chan!"
Ruby's tears fell more as she saw what she had done to her older sister. Quickly bringing her hand towards Dia's forehead to apply pressure to the wound, Dia flinched.
"Ah, that hurts."
As Dia weakly attempted to swat away the hand that was touching her, Ruby instead hugged Dia's entire head.
"Onee-chan, you're okay!"
Dia slowly got up, gently attempting to push her sister away,
"Ruby, please, I have a massive headache right now. Could you see if we have any water?"
As Dia looked towards Ruby while asking her question, the red-haired girl saw the emerald in her eyes shine again. A bit dazed, but still the Kurosawa trade mark. Ruby didn't listen to what her sister had said but rather hugged her even tighter while laughing out tears of joy.
"I-I missed you so much, onee-chan."
The older girl was in a confused state. She didn't understand why her sister looked so dirty, why she was in a dark area, or why she had such an intense headache.
Bringing her hand to her aching head, Dia could feel the blood dripping down her face.
"Oh, so that wasn't a dream."
Ruby looked up at Dia, slightly wincing from seeing the pain she brought her. Rather than letting her younger sister feel guilty, Dia did the only thing she thought to do. Reaching forward, the older girl finally embraced Ruby in a hug,
"Thank you for bringing me back, Ruby. I-I'm so sorry for everything I did. I just, I don't know what happened or how I let it happen."
Dia choked on her sentence as she could feel her tears building. She had to stay strong for her sister however.
As if a switch went off in her, Ruby immediately jumped up, looking at Dia in the eyes,
"Wait, how do I know you're the real onee-chan?"
Dia looked at Ruby in confusion. The young girl already knew she was the real Dia, considering her eye color had returned, however she still had to be sure. Dia began to scratch her mole as she broke eye contact,
"I am not sure how I could prove myself considering if someone took over my body, they could see into my brain and thus know everything I need to say in order to pass a simple test, however I do believe that as my sister, you might be ab-"
Ruby cut Dia off with another hug whispering out,
"Yeah, you're onee-chan."
The sisters smiled towards one another, basking in their moment before finally getting up from their positions. They weren't really sure what to do next. Ruby, however, had something on her mind first,
"Hey, onee-chan, I think I have an idea."
Dia looked towards Ruby in curiosity,
"An idea for?"
"I think we can bring back the other Hellfires, like how I did with you!"
Dia flinched at the word "Hellfires", as she remembered hearing it so often.
"Ruby, I don't think that's possible. It might be a bit too late for them."
Ruby looked at Dia as her older sister looked down upon saying her own words. She seemed to be hiding something with sorrow laced into her sentence.
"But, how do you know?"
Dia sighed. She really didn't want to let her younger sister down nor begin to think about all she knew about the Hellfires but it was best to tell the young girl the truth before she got her hopes up.
"Ruby, the only reason you could bring me back is simply because I'm not, well, dead. You do realize that from everything that has happened to the other girls, none of them could survive that. Even if there was a way to bring them back, I don't believe that it would be what is best, they wouldn't want to be alive for that type of torture."
Ruby looked down at the floor as she had thought about everyone. They didn't deserve to be walking around those halls without being properly put to rest but bringing them back to directly face their slowly tortured human bodies once more seemed just as worse.
Dia noticed the younger girl's dejected behavior, and in an attempt to change the subject, she brought her hand to Ruby's face to get a good look at her. There were tiny bruises scattered across her, almost blending in with the dirt that had streaked its way all around her once porcelain skin.
"What happened here?"
Dia slid her thumb lightly against Ruby's nose as a purple blotch spread its way down the slope of her face. Flinching at the tenderness it was still in, Ruby answered back,
"Oh, I think that was when I met Kanan-chan. We had a bit of an altercation, you could say."
Though Ruby smiled at her attempt at a joke, Dia didn't laugh. It pained her to know that Ruby was fighting for her dear life, trying her best at avoiding confrontations. However, a small part of Dia was proud that Ruby had faced her problems for a change.
"Ruby, where did you get that kind of courage to go against me like that? It felt as if only a couple nights ago you were afraid of everything, what happened?"
Ruby smiled as she was praised by her older sister,
"Well, I was a bit inspired."
Ruby pointed over towards the 'Alice in Wonderland' book that was laid across the floor with bloody marks on it. However, something else caught her attention, there was a stray piece of paper in it.
Running over towards the mess of everything, Ruby grabbed ahold of the book, quickly flipping the papers for the piece of paper that had seemed all too familiar. As it fell out across the ground, Ruby quickly saw it was another one of the strange papers.
ù!]•ÚÓ2}~—ªî½NíËn ªF£Q¾EáÒìμxñ¢BU ´/Á!çÕ«WFàá;Ù¬Š«k¤v9BÉ9HíkOC5v"߶À÷£4õúm/©ü·þ£ÄöúLG¿&ÖyMíŒ&ÞãUþZ©óå+éæ'uZM üÈíííµC¥}Þ«Í}÷ú SÒî[u:çªLæêWÚ SSd2ZSBnb3QgYW5vdGhlciBnYW1lIGZvciB5b3UuCkF0IHRoaXMgcG9pbnQgeW91IGFyZSBhbHJlYWR5IHVzZWQgdG8gaXQsIHNvIGxldCdzIG5vdCB3YXN0ZSBhbnkgbW9yZSB0aW1lLgpUaG91Z2ggYmUgd2FybmVkLCB5b3UgbmVlZCBhIHNtYXJ0IGJyYWluIGZvciB0aGlzIG9uZS4KCkVuam95OiBhSFIwY0RvdkwzZDNkeTV0WldScFlXWnBjbVV1WTI5dEwyWnBiR1V2YkhwdVptWmhiWHBsY1hOeGIzbGxMME5oY0hOc2IyTnJYMGh2YkcxbGN5NTZhWEF2Wm1sc1pRPT0= ó~ ŸÕæççyi6v&Ï šœ%)Í=h' ò›k4ŠéT û£~À©Ç¬õß¡5 .q9hkOC5v"߶À÷£4õúõëR¡2—¹¹9•áÚB³³TÔæ•QÞŒ&ÞãUþZ©óå+éæ%·ñAcù!]•ÚÓ2}~—ªî½NíËn ªF£Q¾EáÒìμxñ¢BU ´/Á
Dia walked towards Ruby, watching the young girl eyeing the paper. Ruby turned towards her older sister with the paper in hand,
"Onee-chan, do you know what these are? I keep finding them all around the place, hidden in a bunch of different areas, but I don't know what they mean."
Dia grabbed the paper from her sister's hands, she knew what it was, as she had noticed them in her "dream", but explaining it would be difficult.
"I've seen these before, Ruby. Yoshiko-san had them laying around the place before, well, she did something to me. I recall seeing them later as well, however I couldn't ever understand how she knew what was written on them."
Ruby looked at Dia in shock, she knew something had happened to her older sister to give her such supernatural powers but she was curious at how,
"What exactly did she do to you?"
Dia could see curiosity written all over Ruby's face.
"I can't explain it, it's like she put me in a dream. I saw everything that was happening around me, yet I had no control over it."
Dia left her sentence at that as she didn't want to think about the entire process,
"Well, we have a multitude of books here, why not search for some that could help us, come on Ruby."
Dia was already headed towards the multi-language section of the library before Ruby could get out another word. Following in suit, Ruby jogged by her sister's side.
Hours had passed and before they knew it, there were books all around them as they tried and failed at understanding the string of strange symbols. Rather than focusing everything on the encrypted letters, Ruby was still curious about everything from another person's perspective.
"Onee-chan, do you remember how you got here?"
Dia looked up from her book, allowing Ruby to see the damage she had done. It had been a while since the fight and the blood that once ran down her face had long dried. It was now rubbed across Dia's forehead under her bangs. The older girl began to think hard about her memory,
"I remember being at home. I was in my room getting ready for a meeting father wanted me in on for the family business. Except when I closed the door to begin changing, someone jumped out and attacked me."
Dia brought her hand to her forehead. Thinking so hard was beginning to bring her pain but when she glanced at Ruby, she could see she still wanted more details. Not wanting to disappoint, Dia continued on,
"Past that, I woke up in an unfamiliar place. It was dark and I was tied up. After a while someone appeared in the room, or maybe they were there the entire time? Yoshiko-san turned on a light. There was just a single bulb hanging in the room. A-And she started doing things, bad things…"
Dia's headache throbbed more and more in her skull as she brought both of her hands to her head now,
"I-I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Ruby didn't push her sister as she saw it brought her great agony.
Closing the book in front of her, Ruby got up and walked towards Dia. As the older sister looked up from her hands, Ruby smiled at her before closing the book before her as well,
"Ruby, what are you doing?
The young girl just grabbed ahold of Dia's hand as she tugged her out of her chair.
"Well we aren't finding any clues here and I don't think we ever will."
Ruby grabbed the letter containing the undeciphered message and put it in her pocket.
"We'll take the letter with us in case we find out how to figure it out later. For now though, I think we should keep moving and find a way out of here."
Dia smiled at her younger sister, taking charge of the situation. Allowing Ruby to tug her by the hand, the young Kurosawa began to walk down the halls. Finding her way out was much easier when her sister was by her side to help.
Walking out of the destroyed library, Ruby and Dia found themselves down a new hallway as they searched for their way out with each other by their side.