Interlude Two: Sweet Nothings

Remnant's moon was broken, shards of some ancient impact rotated around in messy smears instead of a proper ring. Over the ninety day rotation cycle the moon would go from a full, intact satellite and slowly the broken half would show itself before hiding one again. At only twenty days into the current cycle less than a third of the moon's broken half was visible on the planet, broken debris locked to that side only just peeking through the night.

Cinder stared up at the night sky, nails of horror pinning her in place.

There was an old building in front of her filled with empty cars in a decrepit parking lot. Ruby had infiltrated that building and she waited outside for the okay to come in herself. Inside were the workers of the crime boss Malachite, the only person who could know the whereabouts of her step-mom now. Back in the day the two had a devious little set up; she'd bought Cinder from Malachite, more specifically one of her auctions, and she knew she wasn't the only child in that line up and no doubt there were plenty more after she'd ran away.

Ruby had decided to confront Cinder's past for her, masquerading as an irresistible target for Malachites' goons to swoop up and bring back for a future auction. Cinder had followed them to here, some forgotten home in the middle of a desolate town that never had a chance.

Kuroyuri had been a pipe dream from the beginning, a bunch of rank and file citizens thinking they could run a kingdom better than their home government and pouring money into what was always gonna be their grave. They'd manage the construction part, she'd give them that, but the village was dead within the decade after the fact, eaten alive by grimm. An obvious outcome to anyone with common sense. Fools never should have tried it in the first place.

It was almost an hour later as she waited outside the building when fear gripped her. She had been leaning against the back of a large husk of a tree, hiding, waiting for the signal. She had gotten so bored to the point of counting the wilted flower husks in the now dried up canal that cut through the village. Not her preferred method of fidgeting but it was a lot subtler. Cinder was about to reach the thousandth petal when goosebumps chilled her bones.

The Maiden's powers within her soul shriveled away like an animal hiding from a predator. It was a sudden emptiness, a cold vacuum which hadn't existed the instant before. Motion caught her eye. She looked up. Horror greeted her.

A broken shadow face was carved into the moon's rocky surface. Two massive craters for eyes larger than continents and a mountain range forming a jagged-tooth smile. When - how, that never existed before. The worst came a second after she'd recognized the face. From the shattered portion something came out, something long with claws and fingers. A primordial monster breaking free of its egg. How big was that limb, emerging from an orbit of broken moon shards. It was beyond even a continent in scale.

Then the thing stopped. Cinder's heart raced. The shadows on the moon shifted suddenly, the contrast of the craters making the 'eyes' shrunk but darkened, giving the impression that it was looking downward onto rock it orbited. Her mouth went dry.

It was looking at her.

Broken glass knocked her from the trance. The house - Ruby! With an adrenaline surge Cinder pushed back the fear and uncertainty to rush forward, blocking out the feeling of eyes on her neck. The house's door burst open with a surge of flame. The moon was untouched, the monster gone.

As soon as the Maiden entered she felt heavy, air thick with something she couldn't imagine, or was it just her own mind tricking her body?

Six bodies were arranged in a loose circle within the living room. They were dead but no death was the same. On the couch was a body missing a head and another that was just a torso with no appendages, limbs on the floor like a doll plucked apart. Sinking into the chair a woman had holes blown into her body at random despite not a single gunshot going off. The one other woman was slung across the coffee table and had blood flowing from her eyes, ears, and mouth with no other signs of physical harm. The last two were contrasts, the one one the stairs blue and ghostly as if dying from hypothermia while the other was a mangled contortion of his own limbs atop a broken TV.

A child stood in a sundress at the room's center, back to Cinder, scarcely even breaking double digits in age, lithe arms spread wide like a composer finishing her magnum opus. Her head turned, black hair tied up in pigtails.

"Oh, just in time," Ruby said casually. Her silver eyes looked bloodshot. "I know where Malachite is."

Romance had always been an alien concept to Cinder. Over her twenty six years she's had a plethora of relationships but none of them had ever been genuine. To Cinder romance was just another game of power, another tool for her to exploit. Men, women, fat, thin, faunus, both those who could pass as human and those whose animal traits were blindingly obvious; the identity of the person was irrelevant because there had never been any attraction. It was easy to fake what didn't exist.

Sex had been much the same, really. Going through motions, enjoying some acts and embellishing, despising others and forcing a smile, or, more often than not, fake moans and squeals. These relationships never lasted long. As soon as her purpose for them had been fulfilled she would toss them aside. Some were lucky in that she just disappeared, others found money and all their valuables stolen. The more unfortunate souls were turned over to rival crime bosses or assassinated in the night for a high bounty.

This cycle had been going on for a good twelve years or so, starting out as a desperate tool when she was about fourteen. As it turned out, quite a few men, and a shocking amount women, were ever so enthusiastic when it came to helping young girls like her. These formative experiences had show Cinder just how easy it was to manipulate people, and it seemed sex was the quickest and easiest method to exploit, made even easier since she had been blessed with striking beauty which she put great efforts into maintaining over the years.

Her step-mother had always berated her for being a thankless leech, a parasite straight from her "loose whore" of a mother. When in more depressive moods Cinder would often think that her step-mom had been right, if nothing else she certainly proved the bitch right in the years after she ran away.

But then she met Ruby, and her life changed.

Cinder looked down, a riot of butterflies in her heart and stomach at the sight. Ruby was on his back, head lulled to the side, breaths haggard and deep, a pretty blush coloring his pale cheeks and button nose. Ruby's body was as amazing as it was strange; she loved it like no other. She had discovered quickly after they first met Ruby's fluid physiology, how he could shift between the two sexes seamlessly, but the body he currently had was his preference. A perfect mix of the two, the distinction between man and woman so blurred that your interpretation of his body could swap in an instant.

The only stitching of clothing Ruby had was a thin leather choker about his neck, from it dangled obsidian glass, a heart formed by two heel-like shapes. It was an anniversary gift, their first, and for Cinder it was her first genuine gift to anybody. Her fingers trailed against hypersensitive skin, starting at his belly button then pushing nails between the small breasts, scratching at his clavicle with a teasing deviance. Each second of such soft contact was like feathers slithering along his spine. Ruby was so sensitive that those little motions caused an arch in his back. Cinder licked her dry lips at the sight.

At this point their sweaty bodies were fried to the nerve, heads cloudy with a blissful fog so thick sounds seemed dull and muffled. It was currently raining softly outside, dull wooden taps against the cabin was all they could hear aside from their own breaths, and even those muted against thundering hearts.

She grabbed the pendant between the pads of her thumb and index finger. This gift was as fragile as it was beautiful, so in the future it would only be worn for special occasions, but Cinder had insisted they "break it in" before laying it in some box for who knows how long. Unlike those cheap rings Roman and Neo had given him years ago Cinder's pendant was expensive and well made, as such it was a worthwhile sacrifice to spoil her Ruby with something of a quality he deserved even if she couldn't see it every day. Her next gift should be a little less extravagant, she mused, maybe jewelry, perhaps a matching set of earrings or something.

"I'm sorry," Ruby muttered, the left side of his face against the pillow. "I'm sorry." Tears polled in his visible eye, dripping down his nose. There was a sharp intake of air. "I don't know why I'm being so stupid." His right hand pulled free from Cinder's leg, who currently straddled his waist. "I just never thought…" Cinder bent down. Ruby was silenced, his hand gently grabbed and cradled by her scarred hand.

A kiss was placed against his cheek, then under his silver eye, then his cute little nose. Using her opposite hand she shifted his head to the side, giving her access to do the same there. She peppered every inch of skin with feather-light kisses, from forehead to chin, from jawline to temples; talking was important, but there were times when actions meant so much more. This was one of them. Besides, she already had an idea of what Ruby was trying to say.

Ruby had dated only one other person before they had met, and that relationship had lasted less than a year before he'd broken it off. Also, while this wasn't there first time being sexual it was there first time actually having sex, completely unplanned by either of them. The mood had simply progressed farther naturally and neither had decided to stop. Now here they were, naked, exhausted, and more emotionally raw than ever before.

Losing your virginity was already nerve wracking and awkward for normal people but it had been so much worse for Ruby. After a few months Cinder had been able to place pieces together, certain words, the way he phrased some things; Ruby didn't seem to put much stock in his own life.

One time while they were talking the topic destiny had come up. Cinder believed in it to a certain degree, though less of an absolute timeline and more of a purpose in life perspective. To that Ruby had stated "No, not really. In fact I know destiny doesn't exist…how? Isn't it obvious? Because a dead end like me was born."

Cinder trailed her tongue along the artery in his neck; he gasped. The reason why Ruby was struggling right now was a conflict within. He constantly put down his own worth; he was worthless, a dead end, a figment not worthy of being remembered, and yet he was being confronted by someone who was taking everything he had to offer, giving him praise and unconditional love, smothering him in affection. It was wrong, he didn't deserve these things, didn't deserve Cinder, yet she refused to leave him, even more she accepted his freak body with devout love.

Cinder trailed up his neck with little kisses, playfully nipping at his ear lobes. He squealed when he felt her teeth pinching skin. Then Cinder sealed their lips with a much stronger, voracious appetite. He surrendered to her, as he had over an hour ago when this whole thing got so much more intense than planned. Why? Cinder had her own questions raging though nowhere near as extreme. The law of the world survival of the fittest, people that were weak got taken advantage of, bullied and exploited, so why did Ruby surrender himself to her like this? Ruby could crush her in an instant so why did he leave himself so vulnerable, so easy to exploit when in reality the roles should be reversed?

She didn't understand why he gave into her, but she loved every second of it, and was grateful beyond words. She would repay that trust by breaking down this barrier he had put up around himself. She would shatter him, kiss all those broken pieces back together where they belonged, into a person who could see the value of their own existence, someone who could look at their life and relationships and bask in the simple pleasure of being loved.

Their lips separated. Ruby looked up to her, breathless and starry eyed. A thumb grazed his swollen lips back and forth in gentle strokes. "Well, my pet, any other wishes tonight?" His face was scarlet. He tried looking off to the side but Cinder's fingers caught his chin and kept their gazes locked. "Uh-uh, silly rose, how can I tell if you're lying if you don't look at me," she teased. "I want you to keep those pretty eyes on me when you tell me what you want, okay?"

Oh that blush was cute, any redder and Ruby really would be a rose. He reached those delicate hands up past her head. For a few seconds his eyes would shift away then back to hers before shifting again. Whatever he was about to ask was tearing him apart to spit out. Cinder waited patiently with a smile, hand now stroking the side of his face in an effort to reassure him that everything was alright. Then, after ten seconds, in the tiniest, most adorable sound Cinder had ever heard, Ruby uttered one word.

"Cuddle."

With a laugh and a squee, Cinder dove down and gathered Ruby up in her arms, tangling their limbs together like snakes coiled in an embrace. She had always thought being in a loving relationship was off the table for someone like her, a psycho born detached from other people, yet Ruby had proved both her and her step-mom wrong without even realizing it. Now it was time to start working her own magic on him and maybe, just maybe, Cinder could open his eyes to the love that already surrounded him.

...

This little vacation had been an amazing success. Cinder had already been thinking of something to do for their one year anniversary when Ruby had sprung this surprise, a log cabin retreat in the woods of Mistral. Not only would it be a romantic retreat for just the two up in the mountains, as a bonus it was also free since the owner had agreed to it as payment for culling some bandits that had snuck onto the property.

Cinder looked down at their bed, a spreadsheets-worth of clothing strewn across the comforter in contemplation. Though still in her sleepwear, a modest long sleeve top and bottom set, her own outfit for the day was already decided on so now it was time for Ruby's.

In the last few months Cinder had taken to picking out Ruby's outfits, sometimes even playfully dressing him. Originally it had started out as a way to spruce up his wardrobe. Ruby, for all his gifts, had an engineer's mind; all functionality with little thought to form. Until recently his clothing consisted entirely of T-shirts and jeans and some sweatpants, cheap and easily replaceable. The combat boots were the most expensive thing in his closet.

That was an injustice. Something unique to Ruby, he could pull off both high-end mens and womens fashion to natural perfection. The variety he could express was infinite, so she did just that. First it was some of her clothes, then she bought some more when they started repeating. Then one day in a particularly playful mood Cinder had slowly undressed and redressed Ruby, enjoying it a lot more than she originally thought. It was like having an adorable doll to mercilessly tease. After a while it just became another morning ritual, they'd never talked about it or discussed what it meant, it was simply a natural part of their routine now.

It took about fifteen minutes for an outfit to be picked. She decided on something more feminine today, a long skirt and a long sleeve shirt with open shoulders and matching floral patterns. He would look beautiful in it.

With a cheerful prep in her step Cinder bounded down wooden stairs and passed a wide open kitchen with an island counter top. The wood panels were cold on her feet. A storm system had been sitting on the kingdom for the last few days which meant there was only one place he would be. She opened a sliding glass door.

By far the best part about this cabin was the rustic veranda. A floor of cobblestone protected by a thick wood ceiling supported by logs instead of cut wood. There was even a fireplace built into the wall. Among a smattering of wooden chairs and tables there was a patio lounge chair propped at a 160 degrees, made of high quality mahogany and woven wicker with thick and comfortable cushions.

There he was, eyes closed, head resting on the cushion, enjoying the chill breeze and pleasant white noise. Still in his PJ's, the cute white with pink heart bottoms one of her gifts, he'd woken up just a couple hours ago yet he was already back on the verge of sleep.

Ruby seemed obsessed with rain. Often she would find him in the middle of a storm by a window or, like today, lounging out on a balcony. There was no book or music player nearby nor even a drink of some kind, he simply enjoyed the downpour in an almost trance-like state. If left alone he could be there for hours, unmoving, without a sound; content. Leave him long enough and he would always fall asleep.

He opened his eyes when her shadow blanketed him. "Hello, my pet," Cinder bent down, hands on her knees. "Mind if I take a seat?" She asked sweetly.

Ruby smiled, reading her intent instantly; not that Cinder was trying to hide it in the first place. "You don't have to ask, silly. I love being on your lap."

Cinder picked her partner up by the underarms and replaced him on the lounge, making sure Ruby's new placement was comfortable for them both. In this form Ruby was so small, so sweet and gentle, like a Neo that was actually cute and not insufferable. However he could change in an instant if necessary. She didn't like that aspect, it was so cold and calculating, it didn't make her heart flutter and cheeks blush by simply laying on her chest like he did now. It scared her. Even her Maiden powers shriveled when confronted with that side of Ruby, reinforcing the fact that, whatever it was, Ruby's powers were fundamentally alien in comparison to hers.

"So, I have to ask," Cinder leaned her chin down on Ruby's shoulder, resting cheek to cheek with him. "What's this obsession with the rain you got? It's adorable and all, just curious," she quickly added that last part as clarification just in case.

There was a pregnant pause. "I like it," he started with an obvious statement. "I think too much; always thinking. If left alone my mind knit picks everything, I can't help it. Mostly it's about dumb shit I've done, or second guess what I'm gonna do next, from this vacation to my plans for tomorrow. Always been like that, ever since I was old enough to talk, but whenever I hear the rain it all fades away. It's like every little raindrop is a thought I can let go, an instant of relief repeated a thousand times over every second. This 'gonna sound dumb, but when it rains I feel like I can just… not think for a while."

Cinder pecked Ruby's temple with a gentle kiss. "Nothing dumb about it, my pet. A lot of people enjoy listening to storms, you're not alone on that, but I don't think any of them could say it so beautifully."

Ruby groaned, sliding down to hide an embarrassed face into Cinder's chest. "I'm sorry, I know I talk weird."

"None of that now," Cinder chastised with playful ruffles of his hair. "I've told you no more putting yourself down, right?"

"...fine." He spoke in a mock annoyance, voice muffled by her buttoned shirt. Ruby crawled his head upwards, from peeking between her breasts to laying on her shoulder, eyes to her neck. He could still hear her heartbeat, ear pressed to her clavicle. With a storm on one side and Cinder's rhythm on the other it was getting hard to stay awake.

Cinder slithered her hand down the side of Ruby's silhouette, resting at his hip. "So, you said that you second guess what happens tomorrow, do you think about the future a lot, perhaps a goal for yourself?"

It was an interesting thought that just occurred to her; Ruby had told her about his plans for the future, by all accounts an utterly insane idea made believable only because it was Ruby who laid it out, but would Cinder say it was a passion project? It was hard to say for sure, Ruby undoubtedly believed in what he was doing however it just didn't seem like a passion project, it was more like he was going forward with this because he didn't have an alternative. It felt like he had to go through with it.

He grunted. "Sorta. Day in, day out, going through motions. I have things to do, plans to accomplish, but a goal? Nope, never had that, never had a purpose or calling. Never really wanted anything either, sure I'd find something cool or a new hobby to lose myself in, but nothing more than that."

Cinder's hands held a circle over her partner, one arm curling over his back and the other his chest. She cocooned in her limbs like a blanket on a cold day. She was a safe space away from reality, a salve on a bruised mind. Burying himself into her embrace was a retreat against all the 'what ifs' in the world, and a shield against his own thoughts.

In this intimate moment, feeling more protected and safe now than ever before, Ruby found a crack in his mind and pried it open for the first time for another person. "'Ya know, I was always jealous of my sister and the rest of the students - pretty much everybody around me. Why couldn't I be like them, so full of purpose and passion, of a certainty of themselves. Why was I so hollow? I've never been able to figure that one out. Guess I'm just unlucky."

"I don't believe that for a second," Cinder muttered softly against his hair. The storm was starting to pick up. Lightning flashed off in the distance though it was still too far for thunder. "Especially after last night. That beautiful being in my bed was filled to the brim with passion and love, more than I have ever experienced in my entire life. "

There was a moment of silence. Ruby's words were starting to worry Cinder, kindling on an idea she had pushed to the back of her thoughts. She was always scared to ask but now, after last night and with this beautiful moment right here, she bit down her anxiety. "Darling, I want you to be honest with me, okay? Have you ever thought about… death, your own, I mean?"

"You mean am I suicidal?" Ruby rephrased with a surprisingly blunt tone. It was almost hollow. Slender fingers reached up into her hair. He was playing with it, curling some around his fingers over and over again for no apparent reason. "You're not the first person to ask that. It crossed my mind a few times when I was a teen, but I could never go through with it." Well, that didn't mean much, he was only twenty.

Something changed in his voice, a tension she wasn't used to hearing. "I'd like to say it was because I don't have anything to take from the world, but the truth is so much stupider." A hand gripped onto the shirt as if it was his life line. "I'm so fucking pathetic that I was scared of being right! When I die I want to at least prove to somebody, anybody, that I wasn't a mistake."

His breath quickened, his words drowned in sobbing anxiety. The grip on her shirt tightened to the point of stretching fabric. She could see his heartbeat fluttering, it was in his shaking limbs and the quickened rise and fall of his chest. Cinder quickly shushed him. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Ruby was a paradox in countless ways. How could someone so strong be so fragile? It just doesn't compute. Cinder had seen Ruby destroy pods of Leviathan grimm with ease and yet he was having an anxiety attack because he thought he didn't deserve his life. Where was the sense in that?

Cinder whispered sweet nothings to him. She would console and comfort him. Just a year and a half ago she never would have imagined she could utter such nauseating saccharine things and have it be genuine, but she did and meant every corny and sugary word. She loved Ruby with all her being, even after only a single year, and knew he felt the same. She would guide him through his turmoil come hell or high water because he had already done the same for her.

More than that, he deserved to be happy.

(End of Interlude Two)

Author's Notes: I hadn't intended on posting another interlude yet but I came at a crossroads, I really wanted to finish off the year with 4 chapters published however the conflict at the airport is going to be a VERY big deal (think of it like the end of an introductory arc or something) and is taking forever to flush out to my satisfaction. So I decided to focus on a shorter interlude and give myself more time to focus on the proper chapter without going six months (optimistic) between publications.

There is another reason why I wanted to make this: Ruby and Cinder's relationship. Their connection is pivotal in what is going to happen later and I personally feel like they haven't had enough breathing room to really showcase their dynamic or history. I take this as a personal failing because to me a relationship isn't worth much if there is no intimacy (no not just fucking). My problem with the canonicity of bumblebee is specifically this lack of intimacy, of playful teasing and emotional heart to heart. Without these things there's not much to separate a romantic relationship from a platonic one, especially in my case since, for this Ruby, as the boundary between the two is EXTREMELY thin compared to a normal person, as referenced in chapter 5 and sprinkled in the beginning of 6.

Meh, that aside I do hope this was good enough to at least whet your appetites for now. I do hope to have 7 up sometime in the first quarter of next year (I hope).