Lacing a vindictive tone in his words, Roman spoke evenly. "What, Red, are you going to shoot me?"
Red narrowed her eyes and readjusted her grip on the gun…were her palms sweating? Roman looked around and took in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed, aside from the gun pointed at his face, was how quickly the fire had spread. By now, it reached the bottom of the steps, burning up the wood flooring at an ungodly pace. Blondie's pyromaniac behavior definitely decimated the sound system, but a gut feeling nagged that he needed to get away from it as soon as possible. The second thing was how slowly everyone was getting out; the crowd around the exit was as big as it was thirty seconds ago. That would be extremely difficult if not outright impossible to get around, meaning that if Roman wanted to escape both the fire and Ironwood's grasp, he had to leave now.
And by the looks of it, Red was noticing, too. Her eyes frantically darted around the room every ten seconds, examining how far the fire reached, but she was smart enough not to turn her body in order to sneak a glance at the only exit in the building. Roman would have to talk to Junior about that. Anyway, Red didn't have to look back. The unlucky people still trapped down here screamed their heads off.
When Red's attention finally returned to Roman, she said, "No, I'm gonna turn you in."
Roman rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fat chance."
"What?" Red had already looked back at the fire, not letting her aim falter. Roman scanned her expression. Had she not realized yet?
Red turned back to Roman. "What are you planning?"
"Wouldn't you rather hear a bedtime story?"
In response, Red took the safety off the gun, its metallic click resonating in Roman's ears. Roman's blood chilled, and his chest hollowed, but he refused to let anything show on his face.
"Why are you doing this, Red?" asked Roman in a condescending voice.
"You're a monster," she spat.
Roman sighed, detecting the sincerity of her words in her too honest eyes. "I'm no monster."
Red opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a sudden explosion. Roman threw an arm over his face and turned away from the flame.
The flamboyant, colorful lights shut off, replaced by emergency lights scattered throughout the club, lighting the way to the exit. When he looked back up, Red was gone, a few rose petals left in her place. Roman stood up, coughing as he remembered that she had a knack for speed. The air around him blackened with smoke, and suddenly he was too dizzy to stand. He stumbled forward, trying to direct his weight toward the door, but his feet were too slow and he fell on his front, barely able to put his hands out to break his fall.
Nearly soundless footfalls approached him, but he was too tired to lift his head to see who it was. Roman's consciousness faded, and the world around him turned to black.
Ruby pushed past some girl standing in her way and grabbed a hold of the door frame. Ruby pulled herself forward and into the night air. She took a few steps away from the door and leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths in the hopes that she didn't inhale too much smoke. Holding Torchwick at gunpoint may not have been the best choice, given the circumstances. When her migraine settled down to a tedious but manageable headache, she pushed herself off of the wall and sauntered in the direction of Yang's bike.
Halfway across the street, Ruby registered someone calling her name. She looked up and noticed her sister charging full speed at her.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted before plowing into Ruby, nearly knocking her down. Wrapping her arms around her sister in a bone-crushingly tight embrace, Yang whispered, "Thank God, you're okay."
Ruby returned the gesture and wrapped her arms around her sister. Suddenly, the pain in Ruby's arm sharpened and she winced. Taking notice, Yang stepped back and examined Ruby. Ruby figured that the significant amount of blood on her face, in her hair, and on her arm was worrying her.
"Don't worry, it looks worse than it is," Ruby mumbled.
"You're still bleeding," Yang said. She grabbed Ruby's arm and dragged her all the way back to the motorcycle. Ruby didn't look, but she was sure that she had nail marks in her skin.
Yang saw the shoes discarded by the motorcycle and picked them up. Lifting up the back seat, Yang threw them inside a compartment Ruby never knew about. That must come in handy. Yang pulled her scarf out and pushed the seat back down a little more forcefully than Ruby suspected she needed to.
Yang grabbed Ruby's arm and started wrapping the scarf around the gash. Ruby was going to protest about how she was using her favorite scarf to cover a flesh wound, but Yang stopped her the second she opened her mouth.
"Don't. You're bleeding. A lot. I got out five minutes before you did. What happened in there?"
Ruby prepared herself to answer the question, but she remembered what happened. The strangest feeling overcame her, like she was hiding something from Yang. Ruby looked back at the burning building. The fire had yet to burn through to the floors above ground, but tremendous amounts of smoke floated out from within. Did Torchwick make it out?
Ruby shook off the thought as quickly as it surfaced. Of course he did. "When the guys in Junior's club started getting jumpy, I tried to find you. I couldn't until you light the DJ equipment on fire. I tried to get to you, but," Ruby paused, taking a moment to fabricate, "everybody went crazy. I tripped and hit my head. I don't know how I got this," she lied, holding up her arm. Weird, weren't cuts like these supposed to hurt? Yang gave her a suspicious look, but it quickly grew to concern.
Ruby started wobbling on her feet as she looked down. Blood had dripped from her head to her dress.
"Exactly how hard did you hit your head?" Yang asked, searching Ruby's face for signs.
Ruby lifted a hand to her head where sticky, warm blood graced her fingers. As she felt it trickle down her palm, she realized she was still bleeding. Yang watched fresh blood ooze over the dried, caking mess on her face before pulling Ruby on the back of her motorcycle.
As she started the engine, Yang shouted, "Don't let go, okay?"
Ruby nodded, her head pressed against Yang's back, her arms wrapping tightly around her waist.
Yang put her motorcycle in gear and backed out of the alley. She set out for the highway, leaving the burning building behind them.
This is long overdue...oh well. What happens happens.
To frik1000: Thank you, dude. I was so worried that people were going to hate it.
To "rwby i love it": I don't exactly know what this is, but I don't ship white rose that much...
To "kiss my ass": ...
To Leopardsplash: Thank you so much! And I know, I'm trying to nail down Roman's character, but it's so frustrating! Agh, I hope I can improve in the future.
To Guest (1): oh my god I can't believe you
To Guest (2): Just you wait, my friend
To Guest (3): Thank you! :) If by "savage," you mean frickin' awesome, then I can assure you that you won't be disappointed!
To Blossoming Nightshade: Oh my god, is my writing that good?
To lovelydragonfly: (The noises that came out of my mouth when I read this...) Thank you so much! I live for badass Ruby.
Thank you so much to the people that left reviews! They make my day # Until next time!
