1034/Tempest at Present || Phigros Fanfiction

Chapter 13

Ruby charged into the storm towards 1034 Pigeon Lane. Miele asked him where he was going. 996 tried to stop her from asking. He heard only the wind and rain.

There was only one other person afraid of the number 1034. Now he knew what all that meant. 1034 meant a tempest, a tempest happening right at his doorstep, right now.

Most of the water had been drained, soaked up by the Mopemope meadow. But Ruby's trail home was still lined with puddles. He took no notice of that, not even when the water splashed against his shoes, leaving a wet chill. He ran through the curtain of rain, under the dark clouds, in a desperate world. The long silks he wore, with EK written in the middle, were tossed around and dragged by the wind, along with his dark brown hair.

He looked down at the golden phi on his tablet, gleaming amongst a field of green. He was victorious, but why did his victory seem so grim? Like a mistake, the biggest mistake he has ever made, like what GOODRAGE said with her last words. Why should he believe her? She was making it forboding on purpose. He had avenged Lado, after all.

PhigrOS. Why does that sound familiar. Oh. 996's chart was sent to Gino and Geopelia from PhigrOS, supposed to be another realm. Ruby wished he had his Guide to the Realms with him, or that he should read it more times and memorize all the details instead of handing it to Lado. But now he only saw a field of blank memory in the place of that book, except for the Starborne he knew he will never meet. Why is he so good at remembering useless things.

The pigeon shaped City Hall fell behind him as Ruby glanced at every doorplate he passed, as if those numbers were the combos he achieved step by step until the final phi. City Hall was at 207 Pigeon Lane, and Pigeon Lane ended at Mopemope Meadow. 208. 209. 210. 212. Ruby traced each number.

He nearly lost count when he reached 498 Pigeon Lane, where the line of houses paused, where his rhythm gamer friends would meet, where he took Lado to for the first time, and discovered her stamina.

His fingers throbbed, like on that first day he met Lado. Raindrops seeped into the spaces between the chains and his left hand, reminding him to take a look back at the glittering rubies Lado bought for him. But the heavy rain swept all of that aside.

He just needed to get to 1034 Pigeon Lane. To see Lado. To see if he would become a hero. Though in his mind he knew something was not right. He would, of course, he reassured himself. Lado will finally be free from the ICU, free from her nightmares, free from...whether or not GOODRAGE was right. Something must be off.

He nearly ran past 1034 Pigeon Lane, skittering to the door. "LADO!" Ruby cried, flinging it open.

But there was no reply.

--498 words--

He found her lying alone in the hallways of his basement.

Rage was flooding from a stab wound deep in the middle of her chest, drowing her in green. Her coat was badly torn, as if just out of a fight she lost. Her hair was in a mess. Eight dreaded capital letters were etched into her neckline. Her left arm was melting into the puddle of rage. Her once blank white arm and leg cuffs were scrawled with words "222" and "RAGE", words that shouted at Ruby. She was so near to death, just like that day Miele took her to the ICU, but much, much worse.

Because that time was only a scratch. This was a phi.

And those eyes. Ruby couldn't describe those hollow yet bright eyes. Her left eye was nearly closed, but still showing a trace of glowing green between her eyelids. Rage was covering the entire right side of her face. Her right eye was a white x.

"Ruby, I'm sorry, it was the..."

"Lado, no!" Ruby dropped his tablet, which still had his score and knelt beside Lado, his hands rested on her chest, trying to stop the bleeding, soon covered with more rage dripping out.

He hated himself. GOODRAGE was innocent. She did not maim Lado, did not put her into the ICU. The slash that landed her into the ICU was done by Ruby himself. It was Ruby who caused all of this. But how didn't she know?

Because of the Sub-dimension rule, that's what. Why is he so stupid? He could've realized it, if he believed in his strangest dreams, that songs could become humans, that they could live inside his world, that the imaginary enemies he fought were his real life friends.

Now Ruby was beginning to regret everything. He believed that what he heard, that unfinished sentence Lado uttered with all her might in the ICU, was "It's GOODRAGE...she's actually me. Don't fight her, please, Ruby."

But it was all gone. Gone the second he swore revenge on his own best friend. He turned out a hero, a vicious one.

"Lado, is there anything I can - do I need to call the -" He frantically asked, without even forming a whole sentence.

Instead, her head swiveled peacefully to her right, where Ruby's tablet was still showing his biggest mistake.

"beautiful..."

And then, she dispersed into rage, leaving Ruby alone in a lifeless green swamp.

No chart could survive Taptap City. If they did, no chart would survive EKRuby. Even the one he tried his hardest to protect.

Indeed, it cost him more than stamina.