Here's the new chapter, have a great read, bye.

A Shattered Life

Chapter 4: The Galeon

The gruesome images of those dead settlers that she and Geo found at the old abandoned mansion was still strongly present in her mind, as she could remember every little detail of that event. So only after a couple of hours did she manage to fall asleep. At first she thought that maybe she could just stay awake through the rest of the night. After all, she didn't like to sleep that much. But not because of the simple activity itself. The true reason was that she would be most vulnerable in her sleep to her most feared, unforgiving, unbeatable enemy...her past.

Unfortunately for Ruby, her past was already forcing her mind to produce certain images and settings. Placing her somewhere, where she didn't want to be, like her house, but more specifically her room. There was only darkness, thick unforgiving darkness that filled every corner of the area. Ruby was on her bed completely naked with her back against the cold wall behind her. Her once beautiful silver eyes full with life were now empty and lifeless. "Help...help...help...help, someone please help." Those words was all she said, she repeated them again and again but no one came to save to her rescue, not even her older sister.

Ruby was trapped in that room with no way out, she stared at the wall in front of her while repeating the useless words yet again. "Help...Help." Her dried cracked lips were constantly moving as she continued to whisper to herself. Ruby then pressed her injured naked legs to her chest, and covered her head with her dirty slim arms. "I want this to stop, I-I want to leave this room."

Suddenly, the door was slammed open with brutal force, gaining the attention of the poor red girl. Ruby's body froze instantly when she looked at the menacing shadow that stood a few meters away from her. In pure horror and panic she tried to scream but nothing was heard from her lips, it was like she didn't had the strength. "You know what time it is don't you my precious Rose?" The figure stared at her with a lustful expression. "I couldn't stop thinking about you while I was away, but now we have all of the time in the world to enjoy each others company." He began walking towards her with a creepy smile on his face.

Each step he took made him feel more excited as he knew there was nothing that Ruby could do to escape from him or the disgusting situation he was about to force her into. His mouth was already drooling as he couldn't stop imagining the several positions he had already done with her, but there were so many he still hadn't tried yet and tonight he was focused on making her do some special shameless actions since it was her birthday. "P-Please, why can't you leave me alone?" Asked Ruby while tears ran down her cheeks. "You are a monster! I hate you!"

"Silence!" The man slapped her quite violently. "That's not a nice thing to call your father, but don't worry I'll show you what happens when you disrespect me you little whore." He got on top of the girl and this time he was so close that his breath could reach her cracked lips. Ruby was forced to see her miserable existence in the reflection of her father's eyes. "You belong to me, and nobody is going to take you away." His disgusting sweaty lips made their way down towards her's...

"Ahhhhh!" Ruby screamed her lungs out, as her upper body launched up in an instant. Her breathing was heavy and hard, her whole body was covered with cold sweat. She did her best to calm down, but the filthy and scary images continued to appear. "The same nightmare again. Why do I keep having it almost every night?" She muttered under her breath.

Wrapping her arms around the torso, she looked around the room. On one side, there was a window, through which early morning lights found their way in. For a few moments, Ruby kept staring at the fuzzy rays of light, as they somehow helped her relax a bit. But it obviously wasn't that easy to surpass the gruesome image of the man she once called 'dad'.

Then a knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Geo opened the door and came in. "I heard you scream, is everything alright?" Asked the young Lord concerned.

"I'm fine, I just had a nightmare so there's no need for concern." She replied.

"Oh...for a second I thought you were in danger." He said, feeling more relaxed. "Anyway, I was about to head towards the dining hall. I was wondering if you would like to join me?"

"Sure." She smiled. "Give me a few minutes, I still want to take a shower."

"I'll wait for you outside." Geo was about to close the door when he remembered something important. "Also, before I forget, there's a new outfit for you in the closet. I found it while I was searching for a few things in the cargo hold. I'm not sure if it's to your liking but since your old clothes are torn almost everywhere, I thought you could use it while Sunny makes some repairs to your old outfit." He said. "Consider it a gift."

Ruby was surprised, she never expected to receive a gift from anyone, specially from a boy. "You didn't have to do that, but thanks." Replied Ruby.

Geo bowed his head and closed the door. With him gone, Ruby pulled herself into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. In two swift movements she removed both her shirt and pants. She stood before the mirror looking at the well faded scars in her wrists. "I can still feel the burn of those handcuffs." She gently ran her hand along the scars of her left wrist. "...I should hurry, Geo is waiting for me."

She discarded the rest of her clothing and jumped to the tub. Ruby washed her breasts first, then she moved all the way down to her legs. "The water is so warm and relaxing, it's been quite a while since I've taken a proper shower." Ruby quickly finished cleaning herself and wrapped her beautiful figure with a towel. "Time to see the outfit Geo gave me." She walked to the closet and opened it.

Her new outfit consisted of a long-sleeved, light grey shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the grey shirt is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resemble the lacing on a corset. There was also a red skirt with a large black-colored print of a rose emblem on the side of it, and the inside of the skirt was black.

Ruby was quite happy with the new clothes brought by Geo, so she decided to dress them. Then, she made her way towards the door, she placed her hand around the door's knob and turned it around, opening it. She exited the room and found Geo at her right with his back laid against the wall. "I'm sorry I made you wait." She apologized. "By the way, how do I look?"

Geo smiled. "You look even more cuter than the day we met."

"R-Really? You think I'm cute?" Ruby's face turned red, as she tried her best to hide her smile but it was a losing battle. "No one has ever said that to me before."

The young Lord felt embarrassed has he only now realized what he said to her. "W-Well, it's the truth." He laughed nervously as his cheeks turned a little red. "Anyway, we should head to the dining hall to get some breakfast."

"Okay." She nodded.

They started walking through the hallway. Ruby found the insides of this mighty airship to be a combination of old technology and new technology. The ship has a lot of space for everyone to move around and interact with one another. The walls were painted white and there weren't many cracks visible at the naked eye. In all the environment was very well maintained by the Captain and his crew.

"I have to ask, where did you guys got this floating palace?" Ruby asked.

"We got the Galeon twenty-two years ago. I believe it was my grandfather who discovered it rusting away in a scrapyard near Vale's border. The ship was a mess back then from what I heard, but now it looks brand new with a shiny silver coat on the sides." Geo was proud of his ship. "The Galeon is also equipped with many advanced weapons so we can end a fight in a matter of seconds if we are talking about the Grimm."

"Wow! You guys can even rival the military power of the kingdoms." Ruby was impressed.

"Not exactly, this is the only ship we have while the kingdoms possess a vast fleet and hundreds of soldiers ready to move out at their command." He said. "If Gwain was to fight Vale or Atlas, we would be have been crushed like a bug. But at least we have something they don't."

"What's that?"

"An arcade." Said Geo. "There were plenty of empty rooms that weren't being used so I decided to turn one of them into a place where everyone could have some fun and distract themselves from their duties on their off time."

Ruby's eyes sparkled as she heard that. "Awesome! We must go there now." She said enthusiastically, because if there's something that she really enjoys is playing games.

"What about breakfast?" He asked.

"We can eat later, now let's go."

Geo found the girl's behavior quite funny. "Haha! Calm down, we aren't far from the place, we just have to get through that door and turn right." The young Lord replied.

Within two minutes, they were in the place they wanted to be: the arcade. "It's been so long since I've entered an arcade." Ruby couldn't stop smiling as this brought wonderful memories of her past with her mother, Summer Rose. A quick walk around revealed games that were about adventures, mazes, shooters, basically every type of game was there. "This is incredible, there are games here that I haven't played in years."

"I'm glad you it." Geo smiled. "You are in luck too, there's nobody here so you are free to play whatever you want."

"Hehe! Let's start with that one." Ruby pushed Geo onto the machine and pressed the 'play' button. "I want to see your gaming skills in action."

"To be honest, I don't play much, I'm too busy studying or training so I have no idea how to play these sort of games." True to his words he was defeated within moments of startup. "See, I told you."

"No, no, Geo! That's not how you do it." She said. "Let me show you how it's done." Ruby hopped onto Geo's lap and placed her hand on top of he's, then she gripped the handlebars. "Time to kick some Reaper butt." She rammed the handlebars forward, launching her fighter forward. "Hehe!" She smirked.

What the?!... Geo was baffled but his attention soon turned towards Ruby's expert skills. "W-What are you doing?! A frontal assault against that enormous ship won't work, you will be destroyed."

"It will." Said Ruby, as she maneuvered her tiny ship through a barrage of missiles.

Wow! She's really good at this. Though Geo. "Hey! Watch out for those beams!"

"Hehe! Thanks for the assist." Ruby dodged the incoming missiles like it was nothing, then she began destroying the enemy fighters, painting the screen with explosions. "H-How is that even possible? I mean you are just one and yet you have already turned half of the Reaper's fleet into scrap."

"I'm that good." She replied. "But we aren't finished yet, we still have to destroy the other half." She continued to play.

Of course, at a certain point Geo realized how close he was to Ruby. T-This awkward, I should tell her to get up. Ruby then jumped and shifted herself on Geo's lap as she dodged another barrage of missiles. S-She is rubbing against my lap!...I-It feels good. While his mind and heart were flying somewhere above heaven. An unexpected segment of his body started to rise up. NO!... no, no, no, no, this can't be happening right now.

Geo's face cringed in pure horror, his mouth wide open, he gasped desperately for air. "I..uhm, y-you s-should." His heartbeat painfully ringed into his ears. "R-Ruby, c-can you please get up." His lips were shaking.

Ruby was too concentrated in the game so she paid no attention to him, until she felt something pocking her butt. She didn't know what it was so she shifted herself again, but the pocking continued for some reason. "Are you pocking me with your sword or something?" She turned around and noticed that Geo's face was completely red. Only now she realized what was pocking her. "T-That's not your sword is it?" Ruby blushed.

"I-I'm afraid not." He answered.

Ruby quickly jumped from his lap. "I'm so sorry."

"D-Don't worry about it."

Ruby felt extremely embarrassed so she activated her Semblance and rushed out of the room, leaving Geo alone. "God dammit! I think she hates me now."