Ruby groaned as consciousness returned to her. Her head was pounding hard enough to make her eyes throb, but intense vertigo overtook even that pain. She bent forward and heaved, ejecting bile. It only made her feel a little better.
She rocked back into her chair— oh, she was in a chair. Tied to it, actually. Okay. Desperate for a distraction from her pain and nausea, she inspected her surroundings.
The room she was in was solid grey brick all around, adorned only with splotches of black mold and grime, save for the door. It was like a solid iron slab, with a small part at eye-level that looked slidable. Unfortunately, not something Ruby could hope to blink through. And even if she could, she suspected that wouldn't end well for her— she'd have to navigate out of a prison she'd never been inside of while being harried by guards. She opted instead to remain still and focus on her Aura, letting it build and ease her migraine.
She had no means of tracking the passing seconds, but it felt like hours before somebody arrived. She jumped when clacking and shunting noises arose from the metal slab. The door moaned loudly on its hinges, opening wide to reveal a cadre of guards, including Knight Captain Pyrrha, with none other than Jacques Schnee in their company. Ruby blinked. She'd never seen him so calm and collected before, the only times he drew her attention during the tourney were when he screamed his head off.
"Rupert the Red," Jacques drawled, his escort spreading out to encircle Ruby. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
The way he said that made Ruby doubt it was true, but she couldn't stop her polite instincts. "Nice to meet you—"
A gauntleted fist crashed into Ruby's cheek, making her still-weak Aura flare. "Do not speak to the lord unless asked!" Pyrrha commanded, then turned to the side to address one of her underlings. "Fetch the scorpion."
The guard barked a quick affirmative and exited the room, disappearing around the corner. Ruby felt fear gnaw at her stomach— she didn't know what a scorpion was, but it certainly didn't sound good.
Jacques chuckled, drawing her attention. "It's so nice to finally have one of you in my clutches. If my whore of a daughter were here, I might thank her for givi—"
"Don't call her that!" Ruby shouted, receiving another metal punch from Pyrrha. Without an Aura, she felt the impact unfettered. Her headache reawakened with a vengeance, and she felt the gauntlet leave cuts on her cheek.
"Silence!" Pyrrha commanded, fist raising again.
Jacques stepped in front of the captain and placed his hand on hers, lowering it. "Please, Ser Nikos, allow me a moment with him. You may wait outside."
Pyrrha physically recoiled, her entire face twisting in confusion. "H-him? Sincerest apologies, my lord, but that's not a man. That's a girl."
Jacques laughed uproariously, making Ruby flinch as the noise bounced off the walls. He doubled over with his laughter and threw a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "Ser Nikos, Ser Nikos!" He wiped a tear from his eye and heaved in a deep breath. "Save your jests, please! A girl! Ha! Are you telling me Dove Bronzewing and Neptune Vasilias— two renowned fighters— were defeated by a woman? Ha haaa!"
Pyrrha watched him break once more into wheezing peals, thoroughly unamused. "Yes, my lord."
Jacques flapped his hand dismissively at her, still battling the mirthful aftershocks. "Oho, hoho, ah, Lady Pyrrha—"
"Ser Nikos, my lord," Pyrrha corrected.
"You are a funny one, lass," Jacques continued over her, ignoring the correction. "But no, Rupert is surely a man. Isn't that right, boy?"
Jacques turned to Ruby. She clammed up, unsure if she should actually answer after receiving multiple punches.
"Speak, lad!" Jacques commanded, glaring at the girl.
"Y-yes!" Ruby answered.
Jacques' angry scowl turned into proud satisfaction. "See? Now, Lady Nikos, please give me a moment alone with him."
Pyrrha opened her mouth to correct him, but snapped it shut after a moment. Defeated, she motioned the other guards to exit before she followed, then cast a final narrowed glare at Ruby. The door shut loudly behind her, leaving the room oppressively quiet.
After a long moment, Jacques approached Ruby. The heaps of gold jewelry about his neck bounced and jingled as he approached, his overgown swishing to and fro with each step. When he reached her, his hand shot out and grabbed Ruby's face.
"How old are you, boy?" He asked, tilting her head around and squinting as he inspected her features. "By your size I'd guess fifteen, but your voice is much too high, and I don't feel a single hair on this face."
Ruby squirmed as he felt her cheeks, but her bindings were tight and his grip was strong. Much as she wanted to blink into petals and slip out of her bindings, she had seen Weiss use magic, and she was unarmed. Jacques may have been an older man, but she didn't know what tricks he had up his sleeve.
Jacques sighed in Ruby's face. His breath smelled disturbingly of meat. "So… someone's finally bedded my Weiss."
Ruby struggled to talk past the hand squishing her face. "I didn't—"
Jacques silenced her with a backhand, then went back to inspecting her features. He pulled her ears, pulled her eyelids wide open, and even forced her mouth open to inspect her teeth. "Not bad stock, really," he mused. "If you weren't a half-breed, I'd be tempted to let this go. Weiss has been nothing but a nuisance, shackling her to a bastard would actually be a good way of getting rid of her."
His hand finally left her face, but her gobsmacked jaw remained open. What kind of father…
"But alas, a half-breed you are, and like a half-breed you will be punished."
Ruby desperatelywanted to ask what half-breed was supposed to mean, but Jacques' foot came up to the chair beneath her, knocking it over. Her back hit the floor, the wood-back seat digging into her back and making her yelp. Unable to correct herself, she was forced to stare at the ceiling.
Jacques towered over her, glaring down with a sick grin. He breathed deep and opened his mouth, but a series of metallic raps interrupted him. Jacques' grin melted into a look of frustration. He turned to the door. "Yes?"
A voice— not Pyrrha's— barely managed to pierce the thick metal barrier. Ruby couldn't quite understand what was said, but she vaguely made out 'scorpion' among the words. She craned her neck to get a peek.
The door groaned on its hinges, giving way to a supremely gangly figure. He entered on disturbingly lanky legs, with an arachnid gait that sent shivers down Ruby's spine. As he approached, she got a better look.
He wore dirty leather boots with high heels, and ragged breeches covered him from hip to mid-thigh. Beyond that, he was naked, save for the filthy apron over his front. What was surely once leather had become thickly crusted with brown grime and red spots— he looked like a butcher. His body was thin but tightly muscled, and his plain face only served to highlight the sadistic joy in his sallow, maddened irises.
He bent down to meet Ruby's eyes, which was particularly disturbing because he didn't shift himself to do it. Rather, he simply folded his entire upper body forward, until his chest was parallel with his legs. The contortion elicited a number of pops and odd sounds from the man, but they only seemed to increase his elation.
His eyes, which were disturbingly yellow, bored into Ruby's, nearly close enough for their eyes to touch. His heavy breath was rank. He smelled like blood.
He didn't straighten himself when he began to speak, nor did he distance his face from Ruby's. His words were delivered point-blank. "You are a blacksmith, yes?" He hissed— not with any negative affect, rather, hissing seemed to be the default mode of his voice.
Ruby gulped and nodded, moving her head as little as she could to keep her face from touching his. He was so close that she could hear his lips split from his teeth and pull apart into a wolfish smile.
"Wonderful," he mused. "You will be familiar with this, then."
There was a slight shuffle of movement, but the man's face took up almost all of her peripheral. She couldn't see what he was doing until a thin, pointed black rod rose between his face and hers. She was intimately familiar with its form. It was a nail.
AN: Chapter 31: Ruby Gets Nailed.
guess i'll have to change the rating