This fanfic is not for anime-onlies, sorry. This is for those manga readers who are hungry for manga fanfic content. Though, you are free to still read this even though there will be spoilers in the future.
This is my first fanfic after quitting for 2 years, so I've completely forgotten how to make words and sentences flow naturally. I also suck at detailed explanations of how characters feel.
This is a manga fanfic, so pretty big spoilers ahead. I got something for anime-onlies later on though, see the end notes for more information.
"Ai is already dead" Those words shock Ruby to her core, how could her own brother say that?
"This information, it should be used for the sake of the ones who're still living" She couldn't believe it… Was this really how he felt?
Ruby let go of Aqua's shoulder and stood in silence. She continued to stare into the ground until she spoke.
"I see, so that's how you think." Her voice was cold, and unreadable but she continued.
"Of course. With this Kana senpai will be safe and our reputation will soar. It's a win-win situation…"
"Ruby…" Aqua, not knowing what to do, reached out his hand to his sister.
"Don't touch me." Ruby spoke coldly, causing Aqua to stop.
"You've changed. Up until now, Ai has always been your number one and you've always been reckless when it comes to Ai." Aqua stayed silent and let his sister keep talking.
"You cared about her more than anything else, I felt a bond through our shared love towards her… But you don't care about her anymore, do you?"
"That's not true." Aqua tried to interject, not wanting her sister to believe that he didn't care about Ai anymore, but Ruby cut him off, much to Aqua's chagrin.
"Liar… Liar, Liar, Liar. Everyone is a liar." Ruby turned around with a crazed look, the star in her left eye shone brilliantly in contrast to her darkened right star.
"I… I can't think of you as family anymore." Tears started to flow as she spoke bitter words to her brother.
She turned around and started walking away, leaving her brother.
"Farewell, bro."
Ruby, with tears in her eyes, continued to walk to her room. She still couldn't believe that Aqua would reveal their mother's secret to the world and tarnish her reputation. She had pinched her cheeks, desperately hoping this was a nightmare, she hoped that she would wake up from this nightmare but… reality is cruel.
"Why…? Why does this world hate me? Why can't I be happy?" She asked herself as her tears now started to flow freely.
"Why did sensei have to die? Why did mama have to die?" She remembered her sensei's remains, she remembers the day Ai died.
She continued to walk until she finally arrived at her bedroom door. She opened the door and locked it, she then lay on her bed as she now sobbed.
"Why? Why, why why? Why did Aqua do this? Was there really no other way?" Ruby rambled like she was going crazy.
"I hate this… I hate this so much." She gritted her teeth, if only she could go back, she could have prevented so much, she could have stopped Ai's death, and Aqua's betrayal, but still even if she went back… she wouldn't be able to save her sensei.
"I wish… I wish I could go back in time…" Ruby kept on sobbing and crying for what seemed like an eternity, but eventually, she finally fell asleep.
Ruby opened her eyes and woke up, but she wasn't greeted to her bedroom, but instead a white void?
"W-Where am I? Am I dreaming?" She exclaimed but got no response.
"What is this place? I've never had a dream like this." Ruby having not gotten an answer, decided to explore this new 'dream'
"Hello?! Is someone there?" She shouted out again. "What am I even doing… This is a dream, of course nobody would be here except for me." She sighed at her own stupidity. "I'm alone, even in a dream, haha." She laughed.
"Welcome, Ruby Hoshino." A voice called out behind her, it… it sounded, familiar?
"Wha- Whose there?!" She quickly turned around to meet the voice.
"Ah- it's you. You're the little girl from before." Ruby laid her eyes on a short girl with white hair.
The girl smiled but her eyebrow twitched. "Little? You're very rude, onee-chan." She said, slightly annoyed.
"..." Ruby didn't say anything.
"Oh? Are you angry with me, onee-chan? Maybe you need me t-" The girl nagged Ruby but was cut off.
"What do you want?" Ruby said with furrowed brows as she narrowed her eyes, still very clearly in a bad mood and not in the mood to play games.
"Hmm, why are you always in a bad mood whenever we see each other, onee-chan?" She closed her eyes and smiled as she continued to annoy Ruby, but Ruby was having none of it and continued to glare.
Ruby continued to glare at the girl in silence, waiting for her to leave or give her an answer.
"Are you happy?" The girl stopped smiling and asked a question of her own.
Ruby was stunned for a bit, not expecting to suddenly get asked such an ominous question.
"Wha-? Why would you ask that?"
"Are you satisfied with your life?" The girl continued. " Is this how you wanted everything to go?"
"I- What are you saying…?" Ruby was still stunned, she still hadn't gotten her composure back due to the girl's rapid-fire questions.
"Don't you wish that you could redo everything?" Those words struck a chord with Ruby, she did want to go back, she desperately wanted a second chance, and she wanted to save Ai from her gruesome fate.
"W- What are you trying to say?"
"I could send you back in time."
Ruby's breath hitched as the world fell silent with those words. There was no sound, not even their breathing could be heard. The silence was suffocating, but it continued nonetheless. However, the girl smiled, she was excited, excited for Ruby's response, and she eagerly waited for it.
Ruby's face was not visible, her gaze was fixated down. She continued to do so until she spoke.
"Liar ." Ruby turned her gaze upwards to meet the girls. "Impossible, you're lying, stop lying to me, there's no way you could do that." Ruby did not believe her words, it had to be a lie but deep down, she wanted it to be true but it couldn't be, right?
"I'm not lying. I heard your plea, you wanted to go back right? That's what you want, so that's what I'm offering to give you."
Ruby stared dumbfounded at the girl, her anger had dissipated, was this really happening? Was she really going to be given a second chance?
"Of course, if you don't want to then-"
"No! " Ruby screamed. "Please! I'll do anything! Please send me back!" She pleaded with the girl, begged even, her previous anger and annoyance vanished from her face, she could not lose this chance.
"Oh? You're interested now, are you?"
"Of course I am! I-I can save mama, I can protect her and prevent her death!"
The girl stared blankly at Ruby for a few seconds before letting out a small grin. "What about your brother, hmm? Don't you want to save him as well?"
"He betrayed mama. That is unforgivable!" Ruby spat hatefully.
"Oh my, you're so cruel towards your brother. Are you sure you don't want to save him? You know that he wasn't like that before. Aren't you being a bit petty?"
"Petty? Cruel? He betrayed mama, he revealed her secret to the world, and that's all that matters." She gritted, her muscles tensed and she clenched her hand making a fist.
"You seem to really dislike him now, maybe even hate him? Don't you want to stop him from becoming the man he is today?"
"..." Ruby remained silent, she was unsure on what to say.
"Oh well, it's a bit sad that you would abandon your brother" The girl with snow white hair sighed.
"A-Abandon? He was the one wh-" Ruby didn't get to finish her sentence as the void around them started to shake.
"Let's not waste any more time. I'll be sending you off now, Ruby Hoshino."
Ruby's senses started to dull, her vision was becoming blurry, she started losing feeling in her body, she tried to speak but no noise came out.
"Ah, since you're so adamant on being angry at your brother… I suppose I should change your mind, right?"
Ruby was scared and confused, she barely heard the girl's voice, she had never experienced anything like this. The closest thing to this was the feeling of death she felt back when she was Sarina, but this feeling of her fading away into nothingness was even more terrifying than death.
The world around them started to shake violently, the seemingly infinite void was breaking apart. Ruby lost her balance and fell, and she was now looking up at the girl. The world continued to tremble, suddenly, several dozens of crows started to appear and cawed as they encircled the two girls.
"Though, having you hate your brother isn't any fun. I hope these words can change your mind about him." The girl's lips curved upwards to create a sickeningly sweet and beautiful yet disgusting smile as she spoke.
"Ruby Hoshino, your brother Aqua Hoshino, is Gorou Amemiya."
Ruby's eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her mind went blank. It felt as like time had frozen and the universe was at a standstill, her brain was unable to process the newly heard information given to her.
Impossible, that's impossible, it had to be a lie. Those were the thoughts of the flabbergasted Ruby. Aqua can't be her sensei, right? They were in no way similar but then it struck Ruby. They were similar, their way of speaking, how they presented themselves, their expressions, everything, they were nearly identical. She had thought about it before but her mind and soul denied it, there was no way her sensei had died and reincarnated, her soul wouldn't allow her to believe that, unfortunately, if the girl's words were true then that is exactly what had happened.
Finally, the world around them shattered as Ruby started to fall but she didn't care, she was still fixated on the words the girl had told her " "Ruby Hoshino, your brother Aqua Hoshino, is Gorou Amemiya." " But her consciousness was slipping, she was losing feeling in her body, and then, the world went dark.
The little girl was still in the void even after it had been destroyed, she started to disappear as the crows flew around her.
"Fate is cruel Ruby Hoshino, you won't be able to save everyone."
I'll release a fanfic for anime-onlies in 15 or so minutes, so sit tight.
Hopefully, I didn't make Ruby too ooc, I've just recently speed-read through the manga, so I don't have a full understanding of the characters, yet.
Future chapters probably won't be above 10k words, last time I wrote fanfics, which was over 2 years ago, I made each chapter like 25k words, and that quickly burned me out, so I quit after 3 chapters.
Also, I'm rusty, so don't expect supreme-level English, grammar, punctuation, and whatnot. Chapter release times will vary a lot depending on how I feel. I could probably write 30k words a day if I absolutely wanted to, but I'd probably quit so I won't be doing that. Also, I have school so that will slow down chapter releases.
If a character does something drastic in the future and you want to know why then feel free to ask in the comments, I'll gladly explain my thought process. Please don't be afraid to criticize me if I, for example, make a character ooc. I want to make as high-quality fanfics as possible, I feel that an absolute masterpiece like Oshi No Ko deserves that.
Well, I hope that you all liked this chapter, until next time!
This is crossposted on Ao3, author is me, of course.