Filling In The Blanks
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IX or any of its characters.
Chapter 80: Something on the Wind
He watched with a frown, tilting his head to the side as his golden eyes reflected off of the transparent glass.
"Grandpa…" He mumbled, his voice barely rising above the sizzling sound of meat frying in the background.
But his Grandpa heard him anyways. "Yes, Vivi?"
He continued to stare for a moment, his brow down over his eyes in a concentrated expression. "Why isn't Loki moving?"
Hearing his grandfather move did nothing to tear his expression away, but he still jumped when the old qu suddenly appeared next to him.
Quan let out a sad sigh.
"Is he sleeping?" Vivi asked, his voice high with questions. "I've never seen him sleep before – he looks sort of uncomfortable upside down like that…"
The two of them – one with green, star-shaped pupils, and the other with golden irises -stared at the fishbowl on the stone in front of them. Vivi had begged and begged until his grandfather let him go fishing with him, and even allowed him to hold the pole when it was too quiet and boring.
The mage had gotten a catch, and yelped around excitedly while Quan tried to reel it in. Their fishing poles were ancient and not very good – but still worked just the same if you had the patience to use it. He laughed when he realized all of this fuss had been for a giant type of goldfish, fins fluttering like the fabric of a dress under the water – the tips white, and charcoal, beady eyes staring around.
He immediately answered yes when Vivi had asked if they got to keep him. But he was just too puny to eat – so they tossed him in a bowl, and the mage spent the next week staring at it almost constantly, as though it entertained him far more than anything else at their home could.
Toys were abandoned, and so were the cooking lessons he'd been begging the qu for for quite some time. His older guardian just shook his head, knowing Vivi would eventually tear himself away from his new pet.
And he did – but damn did he at least spend an hour a day with him, trying to figure out what he liked to eat and staring at the way his fins curled like satin in the water.
"Loki," he'd said as soon as they'd placed him on the stone table carved out from the wall. "That's his name!"
"Loki good name!" Quan had praised with light laughter.
But now, the mage stood in front of him with confusion, and the qu felt his heart grow heavy.
"Vivi must understand, Quan don't want to talk about this… But Loki dead."
"Dead?" He scrunched his eyes, "Dead?" He repeated again. "What is 'dead'? A game?" He gasped, "Loki loves to play games and –"
He shook his head. "Vivi not know what death is… Quan do."
"What is it then, Grandpa?" He asked, his tone almost sounding too innocent. Quan had to think for a few moments, trying to come up with an explanation that wasn't too harsh. The mage had never experienced death before, and it could be a strange and sorrowful thing when attached to something you loved – even if you had been attached to a gold fish you had for three weeks.
"Death like sleep," Quan began, forgetting about his food altogether. Vivi was more important right now. "But no wake up."
Vivi furrowed his brows invisibly under his hat again. "No waking up?" He 'eeped', staring at the fish with a lot more emotion now. "But how will he eat? How will he see me and know that I'm here for him even though he can't wake up?!" His voice was edging towards hysteria.
"No wake up means Loki not here with us," Quan tried to explain.
"But why would he want to go away?"
"No one choose death," The qu answered sadly. Tears welled up in Vivi's eyes.
"That's so cruel!" Vivi said, choking on his sobs. He suddenly didn't want to be looking at the bowl anymore. This word death was scary, and he didn't want to deal with it. His Grandpa seemed to know enough about it – he would always protect him from this disease that he was hearing called death.
"But not always sad…" Quan tried to explain, putting his hand on Vivi's shoulder and steering him out to the balcony. The sun was setting in the west sending washed out, orange colors over the land. "Sometimes people better in death."
"But wouldn't they want to see loved ones still?" Vivi countered without meaning to. He just didn't understand.
He nodded, "That sad part, but better place. Happy place, no problems or stress."
"Why wouldn't Loki wait for me and you to join him before he left then?"
"Vivi and Quan have more to do before they go to Loki… But wherever Loki is, Loki wait for us." He nodded, and then turned back to the stove, beckoning Vivi to come with him.
The mage stared at the sun for a little longer, taking in these words. So when death overtook something or someone, it just meant they were happier, and waiting for the others to follow?
That wasn't too hard… And in some ways, it made it less sad too. He then too walked inside, wandering away from his awful thoughts because he thought he probably wouldn't have to deal with that ever again in his life…
Vivi awoke slowly that day, realizing that since the first time they'd arrived in Tantalus a little over a week ago, he was the last one awake.
Everyone else was either not in the room, or quietly lounging across the space at a table, chatting about how they would make a departure from Treno soon. Vivi's eyebrows shot up as he sat up slowly, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. It was already almost time to leave?
He thought about everything they'd done in the shadows. While everyone had had their own thing going on, and with a city on high alert for new guards and black mages, most of their resistance work was being done by Boky or under the cover of the city's glamour and darkness.
Their work wasn't exactly anything to write home about in Treno, but he knew they had to move on anyways – since what happened at the South Gate, they couldn't be in one place for too long.
And that just meant they were that much closer to getting to Quan's Dwelling to see what fate really lay in store for a future with his grandpa.
"When would we leave?" He asked, earning the attention of Ruby, Cinna, and Zidane.
"Good morning, sleepy head," Cinna grinned. Normally he was the last awake. Vivi hardly took notice of him as he waited for an answer.
"Should only be a few more days now… We've got to try and spread the word a little longer, but Boky said more of Kuja's men are coming into the city… They're desperate to find Ruby since that thing at South Gate…" Zidane shook his head, "We're heading out earlier than we thought."
"Which is a darn tootin' shame," Ruby sighed. "We coulda done a lot more in the city if not fer that!" She stared at the map they had laid out with self-brooding anger.
"It's not your fault, Ruby," Vivi said gently, gazing up at her with a smile though none of them could see it.
She sighed and brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Anyways, wer tryin' to find some old Tantalus members today," she tilted her head at him, "you wanna come?"
"S-sure," he answered, though he was kind of unsure. Recruiting by showing up with Zidane had been one thing (he'd already been nervous enough for that) but trying to find someone they knew in something that felt like a past life? He wasn't sure if he was ready, but he was going to try.
She smiled at him as Zidane slipped his freshly-cleaned dagger into its sheath at his side, the spot where the ruby had been all those years glaringly empty. Cinna rolled up the map and pushed it into his pack before swinging it on his shoulders.
"We should probably switch inns after today too… We don't want to stay in one place too long," he decided before his eyes flickered to the mess. "We should probably come back and clean it up before we leave though."
The blonde nodded and moved towards the door. "Well… Let's go do our job then, okay?"
They were the last of those going out to recruit for the day. The others had all gone to separate locations. The moogle Marcus had been meeting with suddenly slipped him a note saying he had a group of humans, dogs, bermecians, moogles and other various creatures ready to join them if he and Zenero would come speak to them about the process.
Baku was discussing some things with Boky and their newly acquired group of thirty, and Blank was… around – doing something anyways.
Really though he had been assigned a completely different mission from Baku. With his cousin now in the mix, he realized he wouldn't have enough time to go snooping about for the sake of Ruby and her family… So that left Blank. With enough attitude to get into the club and bar, and enough background on Ruby's past, he knew that the redhead would gather some information for him. He was good at slipping into the shadows, and when he wanted to, despite his stunted height, he could appear far older than he was.
It wasn't about the age, Baku was always telling the boys, it was how you carried yourself.
He rubbed at his green eyes as he passed through the streets. Something told him that he really wouldn't want to go into the building, especially not alone. Blank could be pretty crafty and shady when he wanted to, but tip toeing around Ruby's past seemed like the wrong place to do it.
Still though, the unnatural desire that rippled through him from Baku's hidden-bribes wavered his decision that he didn't want to do this.
"Don't you think she'll be happy when she finds out you helped find out about her past family when she couldn't?"
Blank had stared at him with a very skeptical look on his face for nearly two hours, before it slowly started to sink in that maybe he was right. The redhead figured the girl would be happy if that could happen, and there was nothing he wanted more than to give her that happiness – especially at such a stressful time.
And so that's how he found himself disguised more than he probably needed to be, slipping into the building with the blinking sign that Ruby had stood in front of just days before. His red hair was slicked back, and he had found (stolen) some heeled shoes – the lift being on the inside to make it appear that he were wearing flat soles. The band around his eyes was gone, revealing mulling, green orbs, almost olive in the thick cloud of smoke that hazed the light source.
He wore a long jacket and pants that were hastily stuffed into combat boots. He didn't particularly like the style – it was too warm and too hard to move around in, but it seemed to set off the right kind of fitness vibe to his body, and made him look just old enough to sit at the bar without it looking suspicious.
Knowing the name he was looking for, but not the face, he was at a loss on exactly what to do next. With his eyes scanning the room, making sure he accounted for every exit and every path to get there, he tried looking for an older version of Ruby. Before she'd dyed her hair blue, and after she'd gained a few years (probably more than that) in her physical stature.
Seeing that that was getting him nowhere, he leaned towards the bartender just as the curtains began to open. He forgot sometimes that this was basically a burlesque themed bar, and that girls in sparkling and skimpy outfits would be flitting across the stage soon, hoping to capture every single male attention in the room.
But the teen wasn't really interested in all of the glitz that came with Treno. He knew at least half of the girls would be working as show girls, handing off discounts to Kuja's men, to see if they could get any useful information for their bartenders, who would pay them extra to do it in the first place. These men were usually part of a resistance of some sort.
Being a rebel sort of lost its tunnel-vision in Treno. You could be ruthless and mean, murderous and unmerciful and still be considered someone fighting for the good of most. That was probably because virtually no one was weaker than the guards as long as they had some back up – there were just too many skilled illusionists and fighters in this city for anything to be safe for Kuja's men.
"Hey!" He bit out gruffly, trying not to let his voice betray him.
The bartender moved closer, raising an eyebrow, "Shouldn't ye be watching the show, pretty boy?" Blank felt his dagger heavy against his thigh.
"I've just got a question…" He shrugged innocently. The man quirked his other eyebrow in patient waiting. "Do you know a Cierradona? Used to be a showgirl here, not sure if she is anymore –"
"Why the hell are ya looking for Cierradona?"
He puckered his lips, "I was just asking a question…"
The bartender seemed to narrow his eyes, waiting for a long time to answer. Finally, he chuckled and glanced down at the glass mug he was cleaning out with a rag. "Yer part of that resistance, ain't ya!?"
"What?!" Blank spluttered, ruining any sort of age amplifying trick he had played up.
"I knew… Kuja's men been talkin' 'bout it the last few days. They be leakin' in from all over the place because some of them from the big resistance are in the city," He nodded slowy, "But what's that got to do with Cierra?"
Blank sighed, deciding right away that if the man knew about it, but was keeping such a loose opinion about the resistance (that and he hadn't been arrested on the spot), he couldn't be all bad. "You're right… I – I've met her daughter before… And I just wanted some information about her family… you know – for the girl."
His eyes seemed to widen for a moment. He looked older – he might have been around when little tiny Ruby would run around the club when the doors were locked, dressing up and half wearing and half eating all of the bright red lipstick.
"Do ye mean Ruby?"
The redhead gave a curt nod.
He leaned forward, "We won't discuss this with no one else."
"I'm not even going to try and talk to Cierradona," he still used her full name, because he wasn't sure if the nickname was reserved for a special sort of person, and at this point he couldn't afford accidentally pissing off someone who was about to give him information.
"She's a waitress here now – one of them ones who don't perform anymore, but people come an' see her an'ways…" The man shook his head, "She don't trust nobody so don't even bother askin' her 'bout anything!" He warned again, though Blank had clearly just stated he didn't want to speak with her.
"Do you know anything about Cierradona's relationship with Ruby's father?" He whispered harshly, "Or anyone else really, that Ruby might be affiliated with."
The man made a face, "I don' get inta all my employees' personal lives, ya know?"
Blank almost blushed, feeling like a complete fool. "Right, sorry I asked…"
But the man seemed, even though he just lectured Blank, like he was going to continue with his story anyways despite how hypocritical that would be.
"Ruby don' know you're here, that's why she ain't here, right?" His voice might have sounded softer, or maybe it was just the way the music rang out over the bar, capturing the attention of anyone who hadn't been caught already.
He puckered his lips, "I - Yes… That's right. Ruby's on my team…" He started, "You ever heard of Tantalus?"
The man snorted, "Before the war got real bad, Tantalus was performin' everywhere all the time!"
Blank nodded and adjusted his jacket. "Ruby and I, that's who we are, who we work for, what group we're with."
The bartender, though bathed in milky blue light from the stage, dropped his jaw in shock. His eyes widened a little, and a certain fondness settled over him like a veil. "Our lil' Ruby's in a Theater Troupe?" He grinned, "And she steals on tha side…" Suddenly, he let out a bellowing laughter and shook his head. "Lil' man, come back when tha night is over."
"What? But –" The bartender held up his hand.
"Come back in like ye would normally dress and such; get out of this ridiculous get up – it doesn't fit ya at all!" He leaned forward then, his charcoal eyes locking onto Blank's panicking emerald ones. "Ask for Aster, they'll let ye in fast enough! I want to show ya somethin', but it can't be done till I'm done with me customers!" He let on a small grin, "Just do as I say, kid, ya'll will have more answers than ya bargained for!"
The redhead didn't know if he particularly liked that idea or not, but it seemed that he had no choice in the matter. The man sauntered away after a moment, chatting with another group of people who'd just, Blank realized with a mortifying thought, been staring at them thoroughly. Maybe he was telling him to come back when Kuja's men weren't littering the place.
"Is it just me, or does everyone seem a little drunker than usual?" Cinna grumbled, shamelessly shoving another drunken man with tattered clothing and crossed eyes out of his path.
Vivi tried to keep up with the group, but it was a little harder to dodge trampling legs verses a big body. But they made sure to keep it slow for him – all of them were pretty patient people.
"Maybe we're just more sober than usual," Zidane commented, trying to bite back a laugh. It was a rare treat to see Cinna irritated, but when it happened, it was usually pretty funny.
"Well," he started, shoving a person away who got too close to Ruby, trying to catch the scent of her hair, "It's real annoying, whatever the reason! And it's making it a hell of a lot harder to find people we're looking for!"
The blonde scoffed, trying to keep up conversation for their slow-moving group. "You're starting to sound like Marcus," he retorted slyly.
The mechanic stopped and turned his nose up at the genome, firmly planting his hands on his hips as he gave a contemplative look. "I am not."
Ruby shoved her hands into his back to push him forward, "Let's go! Quit being so sensitive, Marcus!"
Cinna's ears turned red, and he tried to twist around to yell at the girl. Zidane pulled forward to shove him as well, making it impossible for him to stop and chastise his partners. Vivi followed with a small smile on his face, happy he could go with them today. He wouldn't have known what to do if he was just sitting by himself.
They slipped in directly behind a big, burly man, sticking close together as the bar spread out in front of them. Ruby's eyes scanned the bar, but for different reasons than the boys.
"That guy looks like he fits Baku's description, don't you think? Dreadlocks, dark skin, beard –"
"He looks like a pirate," Cinna grinned, "He totally looks like who we're looking for."
"Damion Carring, huh?" Ruby puckered her lips, her almond eyes still gazing at the people seated at the bar. She was ruffling her skirt, adjusting it, before flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Ya'll see them soldiers sitting two down?" She glanced at Cinna for verification; he nodded. "That's where I'll be," she nodded before slipping in and out of the people, before slamming her hands down on the counter.
They watched, still never really understanding how Ruby got away with so much despite her face appearing almost overnight on the wanted posters the soldiers new to the city were trying to pass out. Luckily, most people ignored these men, not really interested in anything Kuja's scum had to say – even if they saw the girl, they would never turn her in.
The girl with the blue-blonde hair loudly demanded a drink from the bartender, leaning closely to the group of guards so the plum scent of her perfume would waft over to them. It seemed like she had their attention immediately as her hands curled around the glass.
Zidane, Vivi, and Cinna had to move fast. They swept between the people, and suddenly popped up next to Damion, though from the look on his face when they appeared, his skills had told him he was being watched by three young kids minutes ago.
"Are you Damion Carring?" The genome asked, leaning towards him with a hushed voice.
The man seemed to sense the blonde's urgency, "Does 'e owe any money?" He questioned, his voice horse and gruff, and when he turned to look at Zidane with a prowling grin, he could see that most of his teeth had been knocked out, and those that were still intact were capped with gold.
"No," Cinna said quickly, directing his attention back to the shorter thief.
"Did 'e kill anyone 'e wasn't supposed to?" The man asked again.
"We need your help," Zidane said sharply, feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise up. Something was going to go wrong very soon if they didn't get out of here. He already heard the guards behind him talking to Ruby in a forceful tone.
"Oh ya got me," the man's head waved back and forth as he threw back the rest of his drink. "Yea, I'm Damion, what do yer company want?"
"We're part of the resistance…" Cinna mumbled, almost incoherently. "A man known as Baku sent us here to recruit you – he said you owed him a favor, and he's taking you up on that now."
"Damn," the man cursed, pushing his dreadlocks over his shoulder as he rose to his full height, sitting up straight. Cinna's eyes widened and Vivi hid behind his leg. This man was huge. "That's da question I always forget to ask…" He stroked his long beard. Zidane tried to make himself look bigger so the guards didn't notice this giant man next to them moving about. He didn't want to draw anymore attention to them.
"Baku ya said?"
"Yeah… We're gathering everyone we can from Treno to fight for the resistance against Kuja –"
"Ha!" The man yelped out, shaking his head. "Dat'll be da day…" He chuckled, "But sounds fun enough…" He nodded slowly, as though he wasn't completely with them, his thoughts a million miles away.
"Meet Baku at the Falcon Inn in an hour if you wish to talk to him…" Cinna pushed the black mage back, knowing they needed to leave the bar. Ruby was already trying to slip away. "We would love to have your help…"
Before the man could ask anymore questions, the three he'd previously been talking to were gone, and the guards next to him were suddenly riled up, all of their faces red with embarrassment.
Ruby regrouped with them outside, smiling widely, feeling immensely proud of herself for pissing off Kuja's guards. "We should get a move on…" She nodded to the three boys accompanying her. "They were not happy boys when I left!"
"Oh Rubes," Cinna shook his head, his lips curled into a smile. "What in the world would we do without you?"
This went on for countless more bars. Vivi couldn't even count the amount of people they talked to – sometimes more than one person in a bar, and that's when it got particularly hard to get out without being noticed. It was easy for him – he was so short, hardly anyone noticed him at all, but Ruby's washed out blue hair made her easy to spot.
"Get 'em! I seen those faces before! They on the wanted posters!" A guard abruptly yelled at them, and they were suddenly dashing out of their latest location, not even bothering to hide their faces anymore.
Zidane and Cinna threw people down on the ground behind them, hoping to stop the guards from chasing them out into the streets. As soon as they reached the doors, Zidane swung himself up onto a bar, once holding the flag of the inn on it, hovering with his tail as he hoisted everyone else up onto the rooftop with him.
"Hurry!" He hissed as Ruby leaned down to help grab Cinna. "We've got to move! That was way too close!"
Just as the biggest thief's feet disappeared from the doorway, the guards burst out, and Zidane froze, still swinging from the empty bar. The others scuttled away, crab walking into the shadows on the roof.
No one bothered to look up. "I saw them go that way!" A man suddenly cried to the thieves in haste, throwing his hand in a random direction. They pushed the man in the suit out of the way and tromped down the street.
Zidane shook his head, his expression grateful enough to the man who'd just steered the guards away. He gave a half salute before swinging himself up to the roof top.
"That was way too close," he breathed.
"Rubes… It's got to go…" Cinna stared at her, and the others furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.
"What has to go?" Vivi asked timidly.
She was running a gloved hand through her hair, a look of distress on her face.
"I know you love it," the thief said slowly, holding his hands out in front of him as though the girl would attack, "But the blue hair really gives you away."
She chewed on the inside of her cheek and sighed, "Okay… I know…" She nodded and stood, her eyes sweeping the area. "There's a salon down that way! I'll go then meet ya'll faster than a sandstorm at that there bridge!"
The boys nodded silently to her as she leapt onto the next roof up, and wandered down the street from the rooftops.
"She took that better than I thought she would," Cinna nodded, finally relaxing, "But this way, it'll make it harder to catch her… I think Blank would skin us if something happened to her."
Zidane nodded, "It's really for the better…" But he watched as she sat down on the edge of the building, ready to slide off, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
They waited around up there for a long time, all agreeing that they shouldn't go into any bars without their distraction to the guards, especially since they could see how much more on edge people were. There must have been more soldiers leaking into the city than they originally thought – it was a big place, and they didn't have the numbers to keep watch.
But the tension on the rooftop got too heavy for the three of them, all staring around, wondering which soldier patrolling would surely mean their doom. Zidane offered to go get something to eat for them, and Cinna busied himself with flopping down on the ground and resting his eyes. It had suddenly gotten far too stressful in Treno.
He never really realized how much their small, crafty team relied on numbers these days. Before, they would have been content with just themselves, but being with the resistance for such a long time gave them a family to back them – which none of them had had since they were younger, still living with the biggest branch of Tantalus in Lindblum.
Even after Zidane had returned, Cinna stayed quiet, listening to the sounds of the city below them, trying to get his muscles to relax as he ate his chicken leg. Vivi nibbled in the corner, not wanting to distract the thief with conversation, and Zidane's eyes were keeping watch on the roads below them.
He trusted Zidane, Vivi, and Ruby with his life undoubtedly, but four people suddenly sounded like a pitiful amount, and it made him anxious to get back to even Blank, Zenero, Marcus, and Baku. Despite his excitement once they'd arrived in Treno, there was nothing that his gut was telling him he wanted to do more, than leave this place. As though it hit him like a bag of bricks, he was suddenly starting to understand the danger looming ever-closer to Alexandria.
"Guys!" Zidane sat up, throwing his almost finished lunch to the side, "I see her! She's waiting on the bridge!" They all stumbled to stand, to find the girl who Cinna had just demanded to fix her distracting hair.
She was messing with her skirt, feeling a little self conscious in the sun, standing alone. Ruby looked more like an average girl now, but far more beautiful than she had when she had the strange, bleached out blue in her hair. Side swept bangs and feminine layers framed her face now, as her locks looked more delicate and thin, instead of so blunt and long. Pieces of the newly dyed (a dirty blonde-light brown, just like her natural hair) curled over her shoulder as her honey brown eyes flickered the crowds, trying to spot her team.
"Ruby!" Zidane called out, a grin twisted onto his lips with a laugh. "Your hair looks great!" She grabbed at it self consciously, doubt etched all over her features.
"Ya'll think so?" The two others agreed with her.
She sucked in a breath; maybe she didn't hate it as much as she thought she would. She ran a hand through her thinner hair, it feeling so much fresher finally having been washed properly and lathered with rich shampoos the boys would never let her buy.
"Then let's just get this over with…" She mumbled, gripping Vivi's hand fretfully, as though the new hair would cause more trouble for them than the boys anticipated.
Ruby's instinct was usually never wrong.
She laughed louder than she probably needed to. The guard smirked and leaned towards her, entranced by her pretty, slim face and big, almond eyes.
"Ya sure are perty," he grumbled at her, breathing a sigh on her face. She blinked quickly to rid the disgust from her expression as a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. The alcohol on his breath was enough to make her drunk, so she took a step back.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man that Cinna and Zidane were talking with nod, and the two of them suddenly vanished. She knew it was her time to leave. Just as she was about to excuse herself, the guard she'd been flirting with (or really just standing next to and laughing – it didn't take much effort to capture these guys' attention), suddenly yelled out.
"Kennedy! Hey Kenny! Over here man!" She turned slightly, her eyelids half shut to appear more feminine to the newcomer. Hopefully she could just –
"Hey!" The man – Kennedy – who was just welcomed to join them, suddenly furrowed his eyebrows and squinted. He hiccupped, telling the rest of the bar he was most definitely drunk when his loud voice rose higher than the usual chatter. "I know her!"
And then Ruby's eyes widened, and she really felt like she wanted to melt into the floor.
"That's the rat from earlier today!" Come to think of it, this man did look a little familiar. She had told him off in the very first bar, telling him that he had too high of an ego, and that they were all really gross – she was just looking for some free drinks…
He'd also been one of the ones who'd barged into the last bar she'd done before their break, accusing her of being the girl from Tantalus.
"You're that Ruby girl that Lord Kuja's looking for!" He grinned, "You thought you could pull one over on me you son of a bitch!" He sauntered closer. With her back to the other guards and him teetering ever closer, her heart dropped into her stomach.
There was nowhere to go, and the boys had already slinked out of the bar.
"Shit." She mumbled, true fear welling up in her throat. There was no way she could take on the whole group.
"You are so going to pay for all of the trouble you've caused me, Miss." He sneered, reaching out to grab her.
She backed up, only to have her back hit the counter of the bar.
"Shit," she repeated again under her breath, at a loss for any real coherent words.
A/N: So I hope that things are still going okay! I hope that the chapter was interesting, and I'm glad I finally got to change Ruby's hair color… When I first started writing this story, from the shitty game graphics, I thought her hair was blue, but after I made the connection and found out it was blonde, I have just been waiting for the time when I could change it. Yahooo!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that flimsy chapter! It will pick up again next chapter, I promise!
-zesty-
