Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

thirty [completed]

'Dyrroth...?' Ruby said in hardly more than a whisper, fearing that unrecognizing look in his eyes, fearing what it meant, fearing how everything had turned out. 

Dyrroth merely stared at her for several more seconds, blinking his eyes vigorously. Ruby hated how clueless, how confused he looked, although the person in front of him was someone he ought to remember. 'Um,' he said uncertainly in that ever so familiar voice of his, 'hello...'

Gritting her teeth hard, Ruby fought back the tears rising to her eyes with everything she had. Unable to control herself, she spun on her heel and began to walk swiftly towards the exit, wanting to get out of here if it were the last thing she did. Just when she'd hardly taken three steps forward, however, she felt someone's fingers close around her right hand.

'Wait,' the boy behind her said quickly. Ruby bit on the inside of her cheek, so hard that she could taste blood, and stiffly turned her head around to look at him. He looked desperate, almost pleading, but determined. 'Stay. You need to tell me what happened.'

Unable to bear his touch, Ruby slapped his hand away from hers, ignoring the way he winced, looking a little hurt. 'Why should I?' she snapped, feeling anger rise rapidly inside of her, a sort of violent anger created from pain and sorrow which she'd never felt before. 'It's your own fucking fault you don't remember anything that ha-'

As much as she hated to, Ruby paused. 

Was it, though? Was it his fault? It was the Abyssal demons who'd kidnapped him and placed the crystal in his heart, blinding him with an illusion that didn't exist. Was it really Dyrroth's fault? Of course it wasn't. What had gotten into Ruby?

She inhaled deeply, steadying herself, and forced herself to be a bit nicer. Even if he didn't remember her, Dyrroth probably wasn't in the calmest state right now. She ought to cut him some slack. Ruby rearranged her face into an impassive mask and moved a stool next to his bed, carefully sitting down beside him. 

'Ask away, then.' She made sure that her tone of voice revealed none of her emotions, none of the immense, heartbreaking pain threatening to crush her entire world. 

A look of relief flitted briefly over Dyrroth's face, or should she say, Prince Aurelius'. He couldn't remember being Dyrroth, anyway. He was no longer the person he used to be, no longer the boy Ruby had fallen in love with. 'Thanks,' he said quickly, sounding oddly panicked. 'I...I can't recall anything that happened to me recently...nothing at all. It's...' He suddenly wrapped his hands around his own head, looking pained, as if he were having an unbearable headache. 'Everything feels so out of place...'

Ruby remained silent, not knowing how to help him. In the end, she merely settled on asking, 'Do you need the nurse? I can go get her.'

'Uh, no,' he said hurriedly, shooting her a glance. 'Just explain everything that happened to me. I think I'll be fine.'

Ruby swallowed. She didn't want to be in the same room as him, let alone speak to him, but she nodded anyway. Then, for some unknown reason, she found herself asking him, 'Do...do you know who you are?'

He didn't say anything for a moment. Afterwards, however, she was shocked to see him looking at her with eyes so desperate, he seemed to be on the verge of tears. '...No. I don't.'

Ruby let out a sigh, twisting her fingers together in her lap. 'I see.' She cleared her throat, then began to tell Dyrroth the tale civilians of Moniyan used to pass to one another when they spoke of their kidnapped prince. Then she was forced to explain the part about the demons' first invasion of Moniyan, and her meeting Dyrroth shortly after.

'A while after you launched an attack on Moniyan for the first time, you met me,' Ruby said carefully. 'You destroyed my village where all my friends and relatives had lived, but decided to let me go. Soon afterwards, however, your demons kidnapped me and imprisoned me in the Abyss, along with two of my friends who tried to help me out and failed. Their names were Kagura and Harley.' Although it was useless to hope, Ruby found herself hoping desperately, even as she pushed down her overwhelming urge to cry at how hopeless everything was, that Dyrroth would recall knowing Kagura and Harley even just a little.