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Ruby is running.
She does not know why she's running, or who she is running from, but there is this feeling at the back of her mind that if she stops, if she turns around, even for a moment–
She is dead.
The floor echoes with every step she takes. It pounds in her ears, pounds in her head, barely louder than the roar of a Beowolf, but in the dead air it screams like a Bullhead engine. Each time she breathes in is like a Nevermore in her ribcage, each step a glaring beacon, giving away her position for all to hear. Ruby looks down to see just what she is stepping on to make such a racket.
She tears her eyes back up, but the damage has already been done.
This is no floor she is running on. It is a beam, suspended over an endless void lit with swirling masses of bright yellow stars. The beam stutters and sways, and Ruby has to fumble to keep her balance, even when she could have sworn it was perfectly steady just seconds ago.
She doesn't want to fall, she doesn't even dare think she might fall, but she can feel its cold breath creeping up her neck. It is right behind her. It is reaching for her head. Its fingers are weaving through her hair, strands catching the unfeeling, unknowing grasp of... whatever it is behind her.
What is it, anyway? Ruby thinks. I could've sworn I saw it last time. Why don't I–
Ice slams into the back of her neck. Ruby lets out a yelp. Petals curl into the wind behind her as she breaks into a sprint.
Nope! Nope nope nope nope nope! she thinks, gritting her teeth. I'm not gonna get caught, not tonight! If it's like that, I don't even want to see it!
So she runs. Whatever it is, it's not good. She knows that much for certain. Ruby pumps her semblance into overdrive, leaving a whirlwind of petals in her wake as the tightrope sways beneath her. Left, right. Left, right. Her boots find solid purchase each time, even as her vision swims around her. Any second, any step now, she could make the wrong move, but she doesn't have the time to worry about that. Not as she is running.
Ruby fumbles for Crescent Rose, but it is not there. Why isn't it there? She always keeps it with here! She didn't drop it, did she?
Then her boot catches the edge.
Ruby rights herself before she can fall. She falters for just a moment. But a moment is enough to make her heart nearly burst. She is so sure she is going to die, the moment it takes for her to readjust is barely any relief.
In that moment, she risks a look behind her. She thinks nothing of it—after all, her semblance has been at full blast for what feels like forever now. Whatever is chasing her must be miles behind.
Except it isn't.
She doesn't know what she sees, what she feels. All she knows is that, in that single glance, she knows it is still right behind her.
Ruby's boots ring out over the floor. Her aura burns bright, and the whirlwind behind her grows into an ocean. Petals gush out in every direction, bleeding into the black void beneath her until all that there is behind her is a pulsing sea of fluttering red. Ruby runs, she runs faster than she has ever had in her entire life. Faster than a train, faster than a Bullhead—and it's not enough.
"Leave me alone!" she screams.
It does not reply. The floor beneath her groans. The metal bends, dips, and suddenly, Ruby finds the stars around her flying past at impossible speeds. Thousands of years pass in the blink of an eye, planets zoom in and out of focus so fast she hardly remembers they were there at all. Ruby screams, but no sound comes out. The endless expanse stretches out all around her. Nowhere left to see, nowhere she can go, swirling around her as she feels her heart drop a thousand miles a second, and she can still feel it drawing closer, its fingers tracing gentle lines up her shoulders as its grip begins to squeeze the life out of her.
She can feel her life wriggle out from between her fingers. How long has it been since she has seen blue skies? A hundred years? Two hundred? All she can remember is the pitch black that surrounds her on all sides, the tiny specks of space that grow larger by the second, only to fade away in a flash. She is losing her mind. There is nothing to feel here, nothing she can do.
Nothing—except fall.
So Ruby takes a single step to the right.
And plunges into the abyss below.
Specks of light blur together all around her. She is falling faster by the second, at speeds foreign even to her. The beam above vanishes in an instant, so far above she can hardly see it anymore, and as the wind strikes her face, as she can feel the pull of gravity drag her deeper and deeper below, she begins to feel some semblance of control return to her.
This is all just a dream. She won't die here. She's perfectly safe here, in her own head. And even if she hits the ground, she's got plenty of ways to deal with that. Yeah, she doesn't need to be scared here. She is a huntress! No matter what this stupid dream throws at her, she can handle it!
Ruby lets the stars take her. Falling faster and faster, she reaches out for the ground below, and she closes her eyes.
Ruby snapped awake just in time to see the clear, white marble floor rush up to meet her. By the time she'd woken up enough to realize what was going on, her face was already to the ground, dirt in her mouth and gasping for air, and she couldn't help but think, Thank Gods no one else is here to see me like this.
"Ah... excuse me, miss?" came a voice from above. "Are you okay?"
Nevermind. Please kill me now.
Groaning, Ruby peeled off the ground, blew her hair out of her face, and looked up. A flight attendant looked back at her, his face written with concern.
Ruby frowned. What was the flight attendant doing here? She and Jotaro were still waiting for their Bullhead... er, plane, weren't they? When they'd gotten back to the airport, the gate was still empty.
"No, no," she said, shaking her head frantically. "I'm fine! Nothing happened, I just... had a bad dream, that's all!"
The flight attendant nodded. "I see. You must be very tired, no?"
"Yeah... but our flight got delayed, so it's not like I can help it." As she spoke, Ruby finally noticed the low rumbling echoing through the airport around her. Her eyes wandered over to the window to her left, and that was when she saw the plane parked outside.
"Wait, our plane is here?!" Ruby shrieked. "How? I mean, when?! I mean, why didn't Jotaro tell me?!"
The flight attendant laughed nervously. "Ah. That was what I was about to ask you. Everyone else is on board, but your husband left just before the plane got here. Do you know where he is?"
"He left?" Ruby groaned and collapsed back onto the floor. Of all the times to leave her alone, he had to go just before the plane got here! What was so important that he had to go right now?
"That dumb... stupid..." Stumbling to her feet and taking a moment to catch her breath, Ruby gave the flight attendant an apologetic look, grabbing Crescent Rose resting on the seat next to her. "I'm so sorry about him. I'll find him as soon as I can, I promise!"
"You must!" the flight attendant called behind her as she ran back into the airport. "The plane takes off very soon!"
Oh, that's just great! Ruby thought, shoving Crescent Rose back into her cloak. Jotaro better have a good excuse, or when I find him, I'm gonna—I'm gonna—I don't know, I'm just gonna make him sorry for making me worry so much!
And if that wasn't a sign she was tired, she didn't know what was. Ruby, worried about him! It wasn't like they were friends or anything, and he could take care of himself, but he was the only one of them who knew what he was doing. She needed him to make sure she didn't do anything dumb!
And he hasn't been the same since he saw that dolphin die, either, she thought. For a big jerk like him, I didn't think he'd be so hurt over a dead fish, but... I don't think I've ever seen him so careful before. He really can be nice. When he wants to, of course.
That just meant he was mean to her on purpose, which certainly didn't make Ruby like him any more, but he was still her... travel buddy... and she'd have to be as mean as Jotaro to not be worried about him after all that.
OVerhead, the speakers blared out, "All passengers boarding Flight 252, please make your way to Terminal F."
Shaking her head, Ruby grit her teeth and sprinted faster. Right, they had a flight to catch. She could ask him what was wrong after she yelled at him for making them miss their plane.
Ruby turned another corner, hooking her arm around a nearby pillar to swing herself around, before she finally caught sight of that familiar black jacket and mess of bandages, hunched inside a small booth. What was it that Jotaro had called it again? A payphone? Waving a hand over her head, Ruby opened her mouth to call out to him.
Jotaro beat her to the punch. "And you were just gonna leave her in there to rot, and we'd get nothing. You should thank me for getting her outta there."
Ruby froze. Nevermind. It looked like Jotaro was getting an important call. She was gonna have to wait until he was done. And were they talking about her?
Oh, I hope he's not getting into trouble because of me! Slowly, Ruby slunk down the side of the wall next to him and sighed, hands over her head. Ugh, this is what happens when I don't think things through! I'm such an idiot. If Jotaro goes to jail because of me...
Ruby shook her head. No, no! That wasn't gonna happen. If he went to jail, sure, it'd be a big problem for her, but it wasn't like he was a super good guy before he'd met her. He probably beat people up all the time, and if he hadn't been arrested for all the bad stuff he did before, he probably wasn't gonna be now.
"Whatever. Just tell me what's going on with..." Ruby blinked, and looked back up. She'd only stopped paying attention for a moment, and before she'd realized, the conversation moved on without her. Scooching closer, Ruby leaned in, curious to see if she might overhear anything important.
"Uh huh. Sure." Jotaro's fingers rapped against the glass. As she watched, he fiddled with the phone cord, not very interested at all. There was something so familiar about the sight, like it was something she'd seen a hundred times before, that when it hit her, she was surprised it took her so long to realize that he looked just like Yang during their last call with Dad.
She'd seen him when he was in a fight, she'd seen him when he was trying to ignore her, but right now, if she didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was just a normal guy, like Jaune or Ren, on the phone and trying to pretend like they wouldn't rather be anywhere except for here.
But he's not normal, Ruby thought, shaking her head. He's tough, he's angry, and he fights vampires. If he was normal, he wouldn't be so mean to me!
And that was just frustrating, because if he was normal, maybe they could be friends! Gods know Ruby would hate this a lot less if he wasn't always trying to bully her.
"No, no," Jotaro said, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. "I don't–" He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I don't give a shit about DIO, just tell me–hey. Hey, you there?"
Tapping his fist against the phone, Jotaro scowled, put the phone back into place, then pulled another coin out of his pocket. He'd gotten as far as pushing the coin through the slot before he finally noticed her. Anyone else would have been surprised. Jotaro's scowl just grew.
"How long have you been there?" he asked.
Ruby bit her lip. "Um... I just got here."
"And you hear anything?"
"Oh, no no no no no! I... um... our flight's here."
Jotaro's eyes flitted to the payphone. For a moment, Ruby was worried that he might not believe her, but then he sighed and stepped out of the phone booth. "Figures."
"Yeah. Figures." Picking herself off the ground, Ruby's eyes followed Jotaro as he strolled past her, back to the terminal they'd come from. As she did, a chill ran down her spine.
He doesn't care about DIO? But... isn't that why we're doing all this? Under her cloak, her hands curled into fists as she narrowed her eyes. He's... he's not lying to me, is he?
Ruby wanted to say no. She'd come this far with Jotaro. He was her only companion in this weird, new world, the only guy she knew here, and if he was lying to her... she didn't want to even think about it. But this was the same guy who'd tried to kill her the first time they met.
Her mind went back to the card game they'd played just a few hours ago. He'd lied to her then. What was stopping him from lying to her now?
Suddenly, Jotaro stopped. "Oi," he said, without even turning around to face her. "You coming?"
Ruby swallowed. "Um... yeah. I'm coming."
But even as she took off after him, she couldn't help but let her hand fall down to brush against Crescent Rose.
"Hello, this is your captain speaking. We have now arrived at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You are free to exit the plane. Remember to take your carry-on bags with you as you leave the plane."
As the overhead speaker clicked one last time, and the other passengers began to stand up around them and move toward the exit, Jotaro let out a sigh.
What a fucking ride, he thought, drawing a hand down his face. When we get home from Egypt, I've gotta tell Gramps to avoid booking a late night flight because that was hell.
If it wasn't all the crying brats or snoring geezers, Ruby's constant fidgeting made it hard as hell to fall asleep. It sure didn't help that, for some reason, she'd decided to snuggle up to her rifle this time. The blasted thing made so much noise whenever it moved that Jotaro was half-tempted to take the thing out of her hand and snap it in two.
But that was heartless, even for him, so he let her be.
Still can't believe I spent the entire day outside. The things I do to keep people happy. The chair groaned under Jotaro's weight as he pushed himself out and stumbled into the aisle, his mind a groggy mess. Ugh. Never thought I'd actually want to go to sleep, but after all that walking, if I have to spend one more minute awake, I'm gonna drag my ass over to DIO and ask him to kill me.
That, and it'd help take his mind off how his mom was doing, but the less he focused on that, the better.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, as Jotaro stepped off the plane, he took a look around him and quickly realized that he was by himself. If that didn't speak volumes, then Jotaro had no idea what would. He forced himself back through the line of tired passengers, brushing off their annoyed gazes before he finally made it back to Ruby's side and shoved her.
"Wha–huh–where am–" Ruby startled, flailing her arms about before her silver eyes met his, and she deflated in her seat. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Is something wrong?"
"I feel like I should be asking that." Jotaro narrowed his eyes. "We're here."
"Oh. I guess we are."
With Ruby in tow this time, Jotaro left the plane and followed the rest of the crowd to customs. He had his passport ready as soon as the guard asked, and, after a quick search, so did Ruby. The guard looked over their passports line by line, like he actually expected there to be any mistakes. Normally, it wasn't such a problem, but if the Speedwagon Foundation weren't as good as they said they were...
Beside him, Ruby coughed. Jotaro ignored it, but then Ruby did it again, and it took Jotaro a moment to realize she was trying to get his attention.
"The hell do you want?" he grumbled.
"Oh. Um... nothing..." Ruby said, kicking the floor.
Jotaro's shoulders sagged, but before he could sigh in relief, Ruby asked, "Are you okay?"
Curling his lips in contempt, Jotaro let his eyes wander to the other end of the room before he replied, "Why do you care?"
"I don't need a reason to care! It's a normal person thing to do. Caring, I mean."
Jotaro snorted. Well, if it was, it sure didn't feel like it. Normal people didn't give two shits about him. He glanced back at Ruby to tell her to piss off, but whatever words he'd been about to say died in his throat when he caught a good look at her face. The way her eyebrows creased her forehead, the way her eyes were set on his face, the way her mouth curled down into a frown—was she actually, honest to God, worried about him?
She wasn't supposed to actually care. The only people who'd ever bothered to care were Gramps and the others, and...
His mom.
Jotaro scowled and shook his head. No, he didn't need that right now. He just wanted to find somewhere to curl up and fall asleep, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with. He was probably just tired, or stressed, or just plain pissed off, but the way she was looking at him, the way she was pitying him... it was almost just like...
No! Don't think that. Don't you dare think that, Jotaro thought, closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. She's nothing like mom. Sure, they're both loud and annoying, but mom... mom knows what kind of food I like... and Ruby, she's just...
"A kid," Jotaro mumbled.
"What was that?" the airport security guard asked.
Jotaro opened his eyes and gave the man a glare. Oh, right. They still had this asshole to deal with. "She's my uncle's kid," he said, the lie coming to him quickly and easily as he tried to shake off the uncomfortable thoughts still swirling in his head.
Ruby froze. "Wait, I am?"
"Yeah, you are. That's why we're traveling together."
The guard paused. His eyes flit between them, and his frown grew by the second. Jotaro narrowed his eyes and deepened his glare, but for once, the guard didn't seem to notice.
Dammit. Of all the countries we had to pass through, it had to be Saudi Arabia? he thought, clenching his hands in his pockets. I forgot these people could be such assholes. I should've asked the Speedwagon Foundation to give Ruby my last name.
"You don't look related," the guard said after a moment. "Are you sure you belong together?"
Jotaro didn't miss the way the man slowly reached for the radio latched to his belt. Quietly, he ordered Star Platinum to reach inside and hold the button in place. He was sure that the guard would just make a ruckus, anyway, but if he needed to knock him out, it'd buy him time to get the hell out of there.
"My mom's American," he said slowly. "She told me my uncle was in Egypt, that I needed to bring his daughter out to meet him."
"And why couldn't he come out to fetch her himself?"
Jotaro shrugged. "He's busy."
Again, the guard looked both of them over, but he must've noticed Jotaro's blue eyes, because he seemed a lot less suspicious of them now. He briefly scanned over their passports one more time, sighed, then handed them back and waved them on.
"Go on, then," he said. "Don't waste any more of my time."
You're the one who wasted my time, Jotaro wanted to say, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut, so he just hunched his shoulders and pressed on.
Clearly, Ruby didn't share that sentiment, and as soon as they had passed through the airport's exit, she blurted out, "What was that all about?"
"Saudi Arabians are assholes," he said with a shrug. "They care an awful lot about their women."
"That doesn't sound like a bad thing."
"Sure, if you don't consider keeping every girl stuck to a man for everything they wanna do. In this country, you can't sign legal papers, own property, or leave the house without a guy present."
"So... sort of like you and me?"
Jotaro scowled. "Oi. At least I'm sending you back home as soon as we're done."
"You didn't say no..."
"That's because it's for everyone else's protection, not yours."
"I don't need protecting!" Then, Ruby paused, thought about it, and jabbed Jotaro's arm with a huff. "And no one needs protecting from me, either. I'm a huntress!"
"And as soon as you can prove that's a good thing, maybe I'll get off your ass about it." Jotaro sighed, then motioned to her hood. "You think you could flip that up? They don't normally bother foreigners for this shit, but this late at night, I'd rather not risk someone coming over to call you a slut."
Immediately, Ruby turned away, arm over her chest and hood dragged down over the top of her face. "Wha–I'm not a–but I'm a good girl!"
"Not in here you're not."
"That's stupid. This place is stupid," Ruby mumbled, kicking the floor. Then, slowly, she and gazed at Jotaro from under her hood. Were he a little faster, maybe he could've told her to shut it before she said something stupid, but with how tired he already was, he did nothing as she opened her mouth and asked, "You don't think I look..."
"Like a slut?" Jotaro shrugged. "No. You're twelve. I may be an asshole, but even I have standards."
Anyone else would've been happy to hear that. Ruby was not anyone else.
"I'm not twelve!"
Jotaro looked her up and down, and not in a good way. "Sure doesn't look like it."
Throwing her hands up in the air, Ruby made a sound that was probably supposed to be a groan, but came out as a gurgle. "I'm not twelve! I'm fifteen!"
Jotaro shrugged. "Well, you pass for a twelve year old."
Ruby stomped her foot into the ground, and her Aura flickered as she dug a hole into the sidewalk. "A really tall one, right?"
"Tall for someone who hasn't hit their growth spurt, yes."
"Oh yeah? Well... well..." Ruby reached out for his face and ground her teeth, trying to think of something, anything she could use to get even. She looked over him once, twice, then three times, before she settled on: "Well you're ancient, so you don't know anything!"
Jotaro raised an eyebrow, not nearly as insulted as she would've liked. "Ancient? How ancient?"
"I–I dunno. Like... forty?" Jotaro's eyebrow climbed higher. That just made Ruby even madder, and she stomped her foot again. "Well, how old are you, then?"
"Seventeen?"
"Seventeen?!" she shrieked. The people around them sent her a few more dirty looks for that, and Ruby ducked her head. "You're seventeen? But you look so old!"
"I get that a lot."
"But still, you're seventeen years old. That means I'm just two years younger than you—and next year, I'll be one year younger than you!"
Jotaro was pretty sure that wasn't how it worked, but if it kept her talking, who was he to interrupt? Humming and waving her along, Jotaro signaled Star Platinum to slip inside a nearby newsstand and plucked an English paper from the racks.
"Anyway," Ruby said, stepping back into view with a huff, "we're basically the same age. If I'm a kid, then you are too!"
"Still makes you younger than me," Jotaro said, flipping through the ads for a cheap place to stay. "That means that you're a kid, and I'm not."
"That's not fair!"
Jotaro snorted. "The world isn't fair."
That actually got Ruby to pause. She frowned, finger on her lips and tapping her foot. Jotaro wasn't sure why—it wasn't like he said anything new or exciting, so he assumed it was just her being an idiot again. When he turned away to find them a ride, however, she said, softly, "Then shouldn't it be our job to make it more fair?"
The newspaper crinkled in Jotaro's grasp. Ruby said a great deal of things, some of them stupid, some of them stupider.
But when Jotaro opened his mouth for a retort, nothing came to mind.
This wasn't right. Ruby, of all people, wasn't supposed to make sense. He was older than her. He was supposed to know better, but right here, right now, with his back to her, she sounded just like...
"Shut up," he settled on after a moment.
Ruby sputtered angrily. "Hey! What was that for?!"
It was for making him feel like an idiot. It was because he didn't like getting schooled by a girl two years younger than him. It was because he was, and always would be, an asshole. Wisely, Jotaro said none of those things.
Who the hell does she think she is? Jotaro thought as he pulled his hat over his face, storming out toward the quiet, airport road. She's not my mom. Acting like she really cares about what the hell I do, or how the hell I feel—she can't tell me what to do.
His eyes fell to the setting moon above them, watching as it sank toward the horizon, his stomach sinking with it. Another day closer to Egypt. Another day through his grasp, like sand in the ocean.
You better be okay right now, mom. If you die, I'll never forgive you.
The inn Jotaro had found them was, in Ruby's humble opinion, not very good. Sure, Jotaro had told her that they were gonna have to stay somewhere cheap for the night because they were already almost out of money, but somehow, Ruby still found a way to be let down. The curtains had holes in them, the room smelled like smoke, the walls looked like they had once been a very pretty shade of blue, but most of that had peeled away, and they didn't even have a TV! There was just a desk, a lamp, and a big bed in the middle.
"At least that looks comfortable," Ruby muttered, and she plopped herself down on the bed. To her pleasant surprise, it had a nice bounce to it, offering no sound as she rocked back and forth. The room could smell dry, the furniture might look sad and droopy, but if they were just gonna sleep here, then this was all that mattered.
Well, if she could get sleep at all.
"You can have it."
The bed groaned under Ruby's weight as she pushed herself back up just in time to see Jotaro shed his coat, toss it onto the desk, and take a seat on the floor. "Have what?" she asked.
"The bed," he replied. "You can have it."
Ruby tilted her head. She looked around the room, confused, before she finally noticed that there was only one bed between them.
"I don't need it," Ruby said, and she made to get off, but Jotaro shook his head.
"Take it. I need it even less."
"No you don't!" Ruby folded her arms across her chest and huffed. "That doesn't look comfortable at all."
"I'll deal with it."
"I can deal with it too!"
"No, you'll be bitching about it tomorrow."
"I won't!"
Jotaro rolled his eyes. Normally, Ruby would've been annoyed, but... that was just how Jotaro was, wasn't it? It was how he was always gonna be, and nothing she could say was gonna change his mind.
Still, it was worth a try, wasn't it? Crawling over to where he was sitting, Ruby loomed over him and frowned. "I'm not letting you sleep on the floor."
Jotaro glared back. "Then make me."
"Eh?"
"You heard me."
Ruby's brows drew down. Her fingers curled into fists on the sheets, and with a groan, she slid off the bed. "Fine!" she said, wrapping her arms around Jotaro's. "Come on. You're coming with me whether you like it or not."
But Jotaro wouldn't budge. She huffed, and she puffed, but no matter how hard she pulled, the most she got was a few inches off the ground. For a moment, she considered using her Aura, but she was too tired to even muster up that effort.
And it's not like it would've changed anything. She could push, she could pull, but nothing was going to move the unmovable and unflappable Jotaro from his spot on the floor.
At last, Ruby's legs gave out, and she collapsed next to Jotaro with a groan. "You suck, you know that?"
Jotaro hummed. Ruby glanced up, but he'd already pulled his hat over his head, and... was he snoring? Had he been asleep this whole time? Scowling, Ruby lightly punched him on the shoulder. A brief flash of Aura told her that, no, he wasn't asleep. He was probably just trying to make her mad.
Well, it's working, Ruby thought with a pout. And he calls me a kid!
"Fine," she said after a moment. "Then I'm gonna sleep here too."
If Jotaro thought anything about that, he didn't say anything. He just pulled his hat further over his head, and that was that.
Ruby kept her gaze on him for a bit longer, watching as his chest rose and fell, as his scowling face softened into something nicer, before she let her head rest against the wall and tried to sleep too.
The stars flashed before her, the cold, empty universe the only thing that returned her terrified gaze as the ground below her dropped away into cold nothing.
Ruby pushed herself off the floor and headed for the door, hand clasped to her head.
"Where are you going?" Jotaro mumbled.
"Um... I'm going for a walk," Ruby said. "I can't sleep."
Jotaro said nothing. He didn't say yes, but... it wasn't a no, either. Slouched against the wall, he looked all kinds of tired, so Ruby felt like she could take it for what it was and let him rest. She tiptoed over to the door, turned the lock, and was just about to walk outside when Jotaro suddenly cleared his throat.
"I'm going with you."
Ruby looked back, and as she watched, Jotaro stumbled to his feet after her, slow enough that she could practically hear his joints creak under his weight.
"Oh, no no no no," she said, shaking her head. "You can stay and rest. I'll be fine, I promise. I've got Crescent Rose with me. I can take care of myself!"
But Jotaro would have none of it, shouldering past her even as she continued her protest. The two of them shuffled out of the room and onto the street, and as he locked the door behind them, Ruby couldn't help but ask herself, Why?
She already knew the answer to that. He'd said as much before. But that didn't make it sting any less.
"It's for everyone else's protection, not yours."
Does he really not trust me that much? Ruby thought.
Sure, she could admit that she was annoying sometimes. She didn't know when to shut up, and they were different in too many ways to count. They sure weren't going to be friends, but they'd fought together, and that had to count for something, right? She couldn't be the only one who trusted him, could she?
"Oi," Jotaro said, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. She glanced over, surprised to find him already so far ahead of her. "You're coming, aren't you?" he asked.
Ruby swallowed the uncomfortable feeling welling at the back of her throat, and she nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'm coming."
They'd barely made it three steps out the door before someone walked into their path. Ruby yelped, startled, but it was just a man pushing a stroller. Ruby watched them go and frowned.
Wow, she thought. I must be getting really tired if I'm getting this jumpy. Maybe I should go to—no no no, I don't want to go back just yet. I'll just take a short walk. That's all.
Compared to the last city they'd visited, this one was colder. Not in the way that it was freezing, no, it was just... the buildings here were only three to four stories tall, and while Ruby had seen a few people moving around inside their homes, for the most part, the windows were entirely dark. That made sense, of course. It was 4 in the morning. No one was awake that late unless they were crazy.
In the distance, she could see lights bleeding out over the rooftops. Deeper in the city, she was sure there would be more people, so it wasn't like the city was entirely... empty. But there was something about the looming black shapes around her that just made her feel uneasy. Every time they stepped out of the street lights, she pulled her cloak closer. It was late, she knew that, but walking through the sidewalks by themselves, hearing nothing but the flickering lights and the sound of her own steps... it was like there was no one else here except for her and Jotaro.
They had walked two blocks before Jotaro turned to her and asked, "Where are we going?"
Ruby tilted her head. "I was following you. Where are you going?"
"Was following you. You're the one who said you wanted to go out."
"Oh." Ruby shrugged with a smile. "I just wanted to get some fresh air."
"Well, now you have. Can we go back now?"
Ruby hummed and fidgeted with her skirt. "You know, if you don't want to stay, you can go back."
"And leave you alone? Not a chance."
"Why not?"
"Because I–" Jotaro cut himself off. Something flashed in his eyes—what it was, she couldn't see, not when the rim of his cap hid his face so well—but she was fast enough to catch a glimpse.
After a moment, he sighed and said, "Because you'll do something stupid."
"No, I won't!"
Jotaro snorted.
Ruby stomped her foot and scowled. "Really! You can trust me!"
"Not a risk I'm willing to take. Come on, let's go."
"I–Can we just stay here? Just five more minutes."
"Wasn't talking to you."
Ruby froze. Her Aura raced to her defense, seconds before she heard the air crack.
Something slammed into the ground. Ruby flinched, and, nervously, she risked a look over her shoulder. There, sprawled out behind her and clasping his jaw, was the man dressed in dark clothes. A glint of silver caught her eye too, clinking against the road as it bounced once, twice, then came to a stop against her boots. A knife.
A knife? But why would– Ruby bent down, picked it up, and her eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You're the guy from the plane! You're trying to kill me because I bumped into you? I thought I said I was sorry!"
"No, he's not," Jotaro said, and he dragged the man up by the collar. "He's been following us since Fujairah. Who sent you? DIO?"
The man spat back. Ruby flinched as it landed on Jotaro's cheek. "You think I'll tell that to you kids? Dream on."
"Fine by me," Jotaro said.
The man's head snapped violently to the side. Spit flew from his mouth. The air cracked again, and Ruby flinched at the sound.
"Who's your boss?"
The man's head snapped to the other side. This time, it was blood that splattered onto the street. The man groaned. "I'll never–"
Jotaro snarled and hoisted the man by the collar. This time, he pulled his own fist back and, to Ruby's horror, he began to beat him down. Ruby heard his nose snap, watched as his face was painted with bruises, and it was only after teeth began flying did she finally grab Jotaro's arm and pull him back.
"Stop!" she cried. "Jotaro, what the hell! I–I mean, what the heck!"
Jotaro glared back at her. "He tried to kill you."
"I know, but–"
"But what?"
The man wheezed, and his hand weakly drifted up to his side in pain. Jotaro tried to hit him again, but Ruby held fast. He glared at her again. Ruby glared back.
Then, both their gazes drifted down to the man's collar, Jotaro's hand still tightly clasped around it, and before she could stop him, Jotaro slammed the man headfirst into a nearby wall. Cracks splattered out from the impact, and the man collapsed like a sack of bricks.
"Why?!" Ruby shrieked.
"He tried to kill you," Jotaro replied, his voice completely flat, like that was the easiest answer in the world, even though it was completely wrong!
"But he didn't!" Ruby stepped back and motioned to herself. "I'm completely fine."
"And what if you weren't?"
"Why do you care?"
"Why do you? As far as I'm concerned, this is exactly what he deserves."
"Because it's a normal thing to do! Anyone would be–"
"No, they wouldn't!" Jotaro jabbed a finger in her face, his eyes screaming murder as he loomed over her and yelled, "A normal person wouldn't feel so sorry for the piece of shit who just tried to kill her. Normal people don't care about people like him, or people like me. That isn't normal—that's just plain stupid."
"I–well maybe it's not normal, but..."
"But. What?"
Ruby bit her lip. Then, she looked him right in the eye, catching his narrowed gaze and holding it so he couldn't even think of looking away. Yeah, he looked like he could kill someone right now, but for once, Ruby could tell it wasn't aimed at her. Before she could lose her nerve, Ruby took a deep breath and said, "Maybe it's not normal, but it's the right thing to do!"
And that was just it. Maybe it wasn't normal to care so much, but if it was normal to not bat an eye when her... companion was so stressed, or when someone was getting beat up, then she didn't want to be normal. She was a hero. She was gonna care, even if it was normal or not.
Jotaro held her gaze. His brows drew down, his lips parted into a scowl, but in the end, he was the one who looked away first, hat over his face as he sighed.
"Fine," he said. "Be that way. If you think it's so right, you can ask him."
Ruby's shoulders sagged. She let out a long breath, then turned to the man slumped on the floor. For a moment, she thought, Maybe I'm wrong. I–I don't know how I'm supposed to ask questions. Should I just let Jotaro do what he wants?
She looked his way again, but Jotaro refused to meet her gaze. As Ruby watched, he rolled his neck, fixed his collar, and leaned back against the wall. His lips moved, but what he said, she was too far to hear, so she turned back to the man on the sidewalk and knelt down beside him.
"Hey," she said, softly. "Are you okay?"
No response. Ruby nudged him with her boot, but the man didn't so much as twitch. Ruby's chest tightened, and she feared the worst, but as she kept her eyes on him, she noticed his chest rise and fall. He was still alive, then, just unconscious.
"How am I supposed to ask him anything?" she said, standing up and leveling her meanest glare at Jotaro. "You were too hard on him!"
"His fault for being too weak," Jotaro replied.
"What are we gonna do?"
In the distance, a light above them flicked on. Someone shouted down at them, and Ruby flinched. Jotaro just looked annoyed.
"Now that we've been seen? Get the hell outta here," he said. "The cops are gonna deal with the garbage for us."
And with that, he turned and began the trek back to their inn. Ruby spared one more look back at the unconscious body curled up against the wall. Jotaro clearly didn't think he was worth their time. He was mean and stubborn in all the ways that made her mad, but he had his own things to worry about, too. If he wanted to think that way, then that was fine, but... even if this man did try to kill her, leaving him like this didn't feel right to her.
So she pulled a rag out from a nearby bin and draped it over him. Then, she turned to catch up with Jotaro.
Maybe he thought it was stupid. Maybe he was right. But they were in this together, and as long as she was with him, she was gonna make sure he was alright.
Here it is, the once a month update that I promised no one, and still delivered. And on Ruby's birthday, too! Funny how I never noticed, but both the characters I play in BBTAG share my birth month.
Oh yeah, it's Halloween, too. What a funny day to post the chapter kicking off the fight with you know who, but I guess it's things like this that make fanficking fun.
I know some people have been speculating that the mysterious guy following them is Dark Blue Moon. He's not, sorry. As much as I'd have loved to write that fight, the only space where I think he'd fit already has someone else filling up the slot, so he's going to have to remain retired.
Anyway, turns out college is kicking my ass a lot harder than I expected. Probably a little late to be admitting this, but maybe I might stick to this once a month thing, at least while school is in session. Not sure how I managed last semester, especially considering those classes were much harder, but hey, maybe these ones are just altogether more time-consuming. I can promise all I want, but I think until break rolls around, this is probably the best I can do.
It's Halloween, so I might as well recommend something horror-related, in the spirit of the holiday (because God knows that's the only fun thing I get to do today). Coeur Al'Aran's The Unseen Hunt is, in all likelihood, where I'd initially come up with the idea for Ruby fighting the invisible Star Platinum, and if you're a fan of Lovecraftian monsters, I'd recommend giving it a read. Until next time, whenever that is, feel free to leave a review. Keeps the story at the top of my mind.
Remember to take care of yourselves out there, and Happy Halloween!