Hey guys! Here I am with a brand new chapter for you guys to read. I hope you will like it. Also, I have to mention that the next chapter will be the last one of this Arc. Now talking about the last chapter, it will contain lemon since it will be the first time that Ruby and Geo are going to have sex, so consider yourselves warned everybody. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, have a great read everyone.

A Shattered Life

Chapter 21: A Light in the Darkness

Lord Geo and Ruby were moving throughout the castle unseen, it wasn't easy specially with the young boy's injuries but he was managing somehow, though Ruby knew he was in pain. Fortunately for them there weren't many guards around as Geo had predicted, this clearly meant that Solomon's forces were spread thin across Gwain and keeping the castle safe was the least of the new Lord's concerns. "If we go through that door we will reach the kitchen but we have to be careful and not make any noise, I have no idea where Cinder is and I would like to avoid another meeting with her." Said Geo while holding Ruby's hand tightly, they waited for a couple of seconds and the guards patrolling the area moved to the other section. "That's our chance, come on."

They reached the kitchen in a flash. This place was a simple room with a large service chimney on the west wall and a sink and drainboard on the east side of the room. "Since we are already here we should grab some provisions." Ruby walked to the pantry and placed both hands on the door's handle, she pulled it down and pushed forward, opening the door. But for her surprise there was nothing inside, not even a single piece of bread or meat. "W-Where's the food?" She asked confused. "This pantry was full with a lot of stuff two weeks ago it can't be all gone." She turned to her boyfriend.

Geo pondered for a moment. "Well, I remember hearing one of the guards talking about a great feast that was going to happen, maybe it's today and Solomon must have taken everything to the dining hall to prepare it." He replied. "Anyway, we shouldn't stay here someone might see us. There's a door to the northwest that will take us to the maids bedroom, we can use the basement there to leave the castle without alerting anyone of our presence."

Ruby nodded, agreeing with her lover's plan. "Okay." Has they were about to move, footsteps were heard coming towards them. When she took a step backwards she felt Geo's arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her to the pantry. The force the young man used was enough to lift her feet from the ground, unfortunately, that made him lose his balance and he ended up falling on the ground but not before Ruby managed to close the door. "Now that's some quick thinking." Smiled Ruby, but then she felt something squeezing her left breast quite gently, when she looked down she saw Geo's hand. "...I-I know we are dating but you should ask for permission first." Her face was completely red.

"What?" The young Lord was confused with the words that came out from Ruby's mouth, but he noticed that she was blushing. Of course, it didn't took long for him to realize his hand was grabbing something that was soft. With curiosity he looked over the girl's shoulder and noticed his hand was on his girlfriend's breast. "I-I'm so sorry, that was not my intention." He squeezed her breast once again because of how embarrassed he was, releasing a moan from Ruby's lips. "Please forgive me." Geo whispered while removing his hand from her left asset.

"It's alright, don't worry about it." She replied with her sweet tone. "O-Only you can touch them, but you have to ask first otherwise, I might start to think you are a pervert boy and you know I don't like perverts." Ruby wasn't angry, she knew his hand got there by accident but that didn't stop her from toying with him a little just for fun. "Haha!" She giggled when she saw Geo's expression. "The look on your face is priceless, I was just kidding, I know you aren't a pervert." Ruby relaxed her body and adjusted herself on Geo's lap.

A small smile spread across his lips. "That wasn't funny." Geo wrapped both of his arms around her and laid his head on her shoulder. "I believe we will have to stay here for a while and wait for everyone to leave the kitchen, let's hope they don't have the bright idea of coming to the pantry searching for anything." He said, then has he finished speaking he heard a very familiar voice. "It's that bastard Solomon." Rage filled his eyes has he began remembering the painful torture he suffered at that man's hands the past few days. "By how he's acting it seems he doesn't have a clue that I escaped yet."

"Good, it means that we still have the element of surprise on our side." Replied Ruby. "If we are lucky, these guys will leave the kitchen in a matter of minutes and we will finally get out of this smelly pantry. Although, part of the smell is probably my fault, I haven't showered in a couple of days." She was quite embarrassed after revealing that piece of information to her boyfriend.

Geo nuzzled her hair and in an instant he gained a completely different opinion. "Nonsense, the scent that comes from you is sweet, like strawberries." With him being so close to his girlfriend he couldn't resist to reach her neck and deliver a gentle kiss, followed with a kiss to her ear, making the young red haired girl giggle. "I'm glad to see that you are still wearing the amulet I gave you."

Ruby smiled has looked down at the amulet. "I wear it every day, it means a lot to me because you were the one who gave me this." She said happily while interlacing her fingers with Geo's, she then closed her eyes and both of them waited until the coast was clear.

After twenty minutes, Geo and Ruby couldn't hear anyone talking or moving around the kitchen. "...I think it's safe to come out." Whispered Ruby as she slowly opened the door. "Stay next to me and don't make a sound." They made their way towards the hallway as silent as possible. "There's the door to the maids bedroom." She pointed, but when she turned back to Geo, she saw someone behind him that she wasn't expecting to encounter.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Said Cinder a bit surprised to see her Prince free from his chains and the silver eyed girl alive. "I thought Solomon had taken care of you already but it seems you are far more resilient than I expected." She began walking to their location. "No matter, I will simply kill you myself but this time Geo will watch you die with his own eyes."

Ruby immediately released Crescent Rose. "We'll see about that." She then looked to her man and said. "You are in no condition to fight, I'll handle this alone."

"Not a chance." He replied. "I may not have my sword with me right now but I can still fight, besides I have a score with her that I want to settle."

"Alright, just be careful and don't push yourself too much." Said Ruby has she was concerned about Geo's state, his body had suffered plenty of beating by now and she didn't want him to get more hurt. "I'll take the lead!" She activated her Semblance and in a flash she stood near her enemy. Ruby swung her scythe sideways, aiming at Cinder's figure but with a smirk she took a step back and the incoming attack missed her by a few inches. "Dammit!" She muttered under her breath.

"What a foolish child." Her body began to glow with her power. "You have no idea how powerful I am." She concentrated a small amount of Aura to her hands, forming an orb made of fire between them. "Enigma Bullet!" Yelled Cinder, launching the orange orb forward. Only for rose petals to dance in front of her as Ruby disappeared in a burst of speed causing surprise to appear upon Cinder's features. "Interesting, I heard you were fast but I didn't thought this much. I'm quite impressed actually."

Cinder then turned to where Ruby was and she landed a punch straight into her stomach, causing some spit to fly from her mouth. But the young girl quickly recovered and smashed her boot against her opponent's arm, pushing her backwards. "Try to stop this!" She aimed her scythe's barrel toward Cinder. "Crescent Wave!" Ruby pressed the trigger and a large wave of concentrated Aura was fired.

"Hells Torrent!" Cinder launched her own attack and both of them collided, sparks flew everywhere while the floor beneath their feet started to crack open. "Hahaha! Is this all you got? How pathetic." She was holding her ground without much effort, she then placed more power into her attack forcing Ruby to raise her Aura even more just to try stopping her advancing. "After I'm through with you, your sister is next."

"I...I c-can't..." Sweat was running down from her forehead has she tried her best to gain the upper-hand. "I won't let you hurt my sister or Geo, I will protect them from you!" A faint silver light surrounded her figure. "I will keep them safe!" With a loud yell her attack pushed back Cinder's technique. The beam connected with her figure, sending her flying into the wall, creating a massive explosion that blew a hole that led to the courtyard.

Cinder recovered a few moments later with a large explosion from the crumbled wall, this sent rock pieces, big and small in every direction. "Just for that I will make her death slow and painful." She cleaned the blood that was on her lower lip. "That bitch ruined my favorite dress." Cinder noticed a few parts of her outfit were torn.

The smoke was being cleared by the wind but when she took a step forward, a fist slammed right into her left cheek, causing Cinder to almost lose her balance. "Don't call her that again." Said Geo while launching his fist towards her figure, but the young woman turned the incoming attack aside, pushing Geo's arm inward and making it cross over his body in an awkward way. Cinder used her left hand to make a fist with her knuckles pointed upwards and her elbow at her side, then she thrust her fist forward in a quick jab, twisting her fist around as it connected with the boy's chest.

Then she grabbed him by the throat. "I never thought you were the type of man that would hit a woman, fortunately, I like rough men." Cinder threw him against the water-fountain, smashing it to pieces. "Stay there and don't interfere in this fight, if you do that I will reward you later." She then turned her gaze toward the red haired girl who was approaching fast. "Time to end this little game!"

Both of them clashed violently, each time they're attacks met it caused a shockwave to appear around them. Ruby grit her teeth as she spun her weapon around, slashing at the woman she was fighting against but she managed to avoid the attack like it was nothing. "Crescent Release!" She yelled out.

The blast of darkish red light shoot out straight towards Cinder and she was overwhelmed by the large blast that had completely covered the courtyard they were fighting in. Ruby narrowed her silver eyes as she stared at the large claw like shaped attack she had launched at her enemy. As the black crimson wave dissipated, Ruby found her eyes widening as she took notice of the orange orb. Then in front of her eyes, the orb was destroyed revealing the young woman. "Not bad, but with that power you will never beat me."

"I wasn't really aiming at you to be honest." Replied Ruby.

"What? But that attack..." Cinder paused as she noticed the sunlight was being covered by something big, she looked up and saw multiple pieces of rock falling down. "Shield of Hell!" Her entire figure was protected by the orange orb that was summoned.

Ruby quickly went to Geo. "Let's go! She won't stay under that rubble for long." She helped him get up, but suddenly the sound of engines were heard and it seemed to grew louder by each passing second. "Look! It's one of ours!" Ruby saw a transport ship approaching. "We probably have taken too long, so Yang must have went back to Avala and Sunny to get help."

The ship landed and the door was opened. "I'm glad to see you both are alive, now grab my hand and lets leave this place before the Galeon leaves without us." Said Yang.

"Ladies first." Said Geo, letting Ruby jump in first, he followed right after her. "Pilot! Takes us to the Galeon." He ordered. The metal door closed and the ship immediately went back into the air. "We are finally safe." Geo then felt Ruby holding his hand and she had a big smile across her lips.

"We did it, we survived this madness."

"Yeah, we did." He smiled back, holding her hand tightly.