Sorry this is late! I AM IN A RUSH!

Summary: Ruby has a panic attack. This is dark, and angsty, and has quick mentions of blood. SET BEFORE MARRIAGE/KIDS. Ye be warned.

It wasn't that Ruby dislikes rain.

Ruby usually loves rain. She's always been one for stomping in puddles and romping around in a pair of yellow rainboots. She was normally the one dragging Chubs out into the rain. So yeah, Ruby had no problem with rain.

When it rained and her hands were restrained, she got only a touch panicked.

When it rained, her hands were restrained, and in a small, confined space and surrounded by too loud silence, all hell broke loose.

Luckily, the odds of those three factors happening in a normal setting was very unlikely, so Ruby had not much to worry about in that aspect.

Then again, Vida and Chubs never played quite normal pranks.

Vida and Chubs weren't doing this out of sheer boredom (although it did have a role in the decision to go through with it) but simply out of revenge. A few weeks ago, Ruby had decided it to be hilarious idea to lock Vida and Chubs in a large cellar underneath their house. The latch was a one way lock, and so Vida and Chubs stayed there for a solid 6 hours before Liam and Ruby returned home and heard them half-heartedly pounding on the cellar door.

When asked what happened, Vida and Chubs said nothing, just gave Ruby a we'll get you for that later glare.

They didn't notice the confused expression that settled into Ruby's face.

They also didn't know that Ruby hadn't meant to lock them in the cellar, as she didn't hear them enter or see them behind a large shelf of preservatives against the wall.

They didn't know.

Well, not until After.

It was a seemingly average day for Ruby. Liam was out, visiting family and was going to be back the next day. Zu was staying with Ruby until then, as Zu knew (as well as she tried to hide it) that Ruby didn't like being home alone for days on end- probably something that had spawned from being left in silence and muteness for several years of her life. This didn't mean someone had to be at her side at all times, so Zu was currently out for a few hours as well.

It was late when Ruby woke up. Not that she knew that.

Ruby awoke to the sound of heavy, pounding rain from outside. Eyes opening, her pupils dilated to adjust to the poorly lit space she was in.

This was not her room.

Later she would learn that she was in a extra closet in her house, a tiny space that was not in use due to its lack of space- it was tight and cramped, even with nothing in it. But now, with the sound of rain and not enough space to move, Ruby felt the first tinge of panic set in.

Telling herself to calm down, to evaluate and act, Ruby attempted to move, to get out, anything-

to find her hands were helpfully ziptied behind her back. No tightly or cruelly, enough space to twist and wiggle, just not enough to slip out. Not that it mattered. The zip ties were enough to pull back memories pushed back and suppressed, hidden and neatly swept under the rug.

Tears pricked her eyes as she saw flashes of memories in her mind's eye: rain pattering down a foggy bus window, zipties biting into the flesh of her wrists, silence lacing the air, making it hard to breathe, then suddenly red, red, red, blood, was that a gun?

Struggles became more intense as tears now ran freely down her face, the quiet suffocating and deafening.

Ruby screamed.

The silence was just too loud, too much space for old memories.

Ruby didn't notice the thin trickles of blood that ran down her wrists from shallow cuts made from yanking at the binds. Slamming her shoulder into the door repeatedly had no effect, only leaving angry red marks that would surely bruise and scrapes from where uneven patches in the wood's grain tore at her forearms.

Ruby banged at everything- the walls, floor, anything she could make contact with.

It was no use.

The sounds of voices yelled at her, Sam, Psi agents, even the voices of her other cabin members screaming,

"Why didn't you save us?"

Ruby screamed herself hoarse until she couldn't anymore. Her head rested against the wall behind as tears mingled with the stinging in her wrists, until she couldn't cry anymore and she passed out.

To be fair, Vida and Chubs didn't hear Ruby panic-attacking in the closet. They were upstairs, with Vida playing her loud music into her headphones and Chubs with classical into his. Both were engrossed in their books, waiting until Ruby's 6 hours were up.

When Zu re-entered the house, she frowned in the quietness of it. When home alone, Ruby usually put on the TV or played some music as some background noise. It was never silent in the Stewart home.

"Ruby?" Zu called, walking up the stairs. When she entered Ruby and Liam's room she was surprised to see Chubs and Vida lounging around various furniture.

Deciding not to comment on their sudden appearance (Vida had a spare set of keys) Zu asked where Ruby was.

Vida froze and looked over at Chubs who shrugged.

"She's locked in the closet downstairs." Chubs said nonchalantly, still reading his paperback book.

"WHAT?!" Zu dropped her bags and rushed down two sets of stairs, hair flying and feet trampling down the steps, taking two at a time. Chubs and Zu followed slightly worriedly, sliding down the banister. Zu's hands fumbled at the lock, unlatching it and flinging the door open so hard it banged against the wall.

Ruby was curled in a small ball (how did she make herself look so small?) sagging on the wall. Blood streaked her arms and wrists, some still flowing lazily. Her eyes had dark, bruise-like bags under them, and her arms were flourishing with bruises.

"What happened?" Zu asked. Neither Vida nor Chubs had ever heard so much venom coating Zu's voice, and both gulped before answering.

"W-well, she locked us in the cellar before so we…" Chubs trailed off lamely. Zu looked at them for further explanation, but when she got none, she reached out to stroke Ruby. The brunette only further crumpled in on herself, locking herself into a tight ball. Zu retracted her hand.

"Call Liam." Zu said calmly. When neither of them made any sign of moving, Zu turned to look at them. Giving them a slightly pained look, she raised her voice, something she never did. "Go!"

Both of them stood up and rushed away, wondering what the hell they had done.