𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐋𝐄 || 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗸

𝟐.𝟎𝟑 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭

╔══ஓ๑☼๑ஓ══╗
— 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝟐 | 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑 —
╚══ஓ๑☼๑ஓ══╝

(Ruby's POV)

"What happened?" I asked the half-fairy as I quickly closed the door to their dorm behind me before hurrying to her side to comfort her. She sniffled and flinched away from my touch in frustration, trying to take a couple of deep breaths.

"I'm sorry I just... I can't stay here Ruby," she said and looked at me, her eyes screaming in pent-up misery and anxiety. My brows furrowed as I looked back at her sadly and reached for her again, pulling her into a tight hug. She didn't resist me this time as she gently put her arms around me and sobbed.

"What do you mean Mal? You belong here, with all of us. With your found family." I said gently and rubbed her back in slow circles.

"No, I don't, I don't belong here. I can't get accustomed the way my friends did, I hate the dresses, I hate the fake smiles, I hate the pressures of being a Lady of the Court, I hate this stupid blonde hair, I hate the expectations everyone's put on me, I hate hiding my magic, I hate not being able to be me, I hate hiding how miserable I am!" She yelled in complete frustration, breaking down in my arms fully. My eyes shook as I tried to process it all, I knew she was stressed and that all of this was hard on her but I had no idea it was this bad, how could I be so naive?

"Have you spoken to Ben about this?" I asked and pulled back to look at her. The girl scoffed and shook her head, before sitting on the edge of her bed.

"We got into a fight..." Mal sniffled and looked down. I grabbed a tissue and sat next to her, handing it to her with a sad smile. "Thanks," she said before blowing her nose and drying her tears.

"What happened?" I asked and rested my hand on hers once she was done.

"With all this stress and work, I forgot about our date today so I had none of the food prepared." she croaked and tried not to cry again "I didn't wanna disappoint him so I used my magic to make the feast." I nodded through it for her to continue, keeping my eyes on hers to let her know she had my full attention "H-he found my spell book, in the basket... He started flipping through the spells I had tabbed and found the cooking spell before he lost it on me. He found out exactly what Evie had been warning me about and I feel like such an idiot." she sobbed. I pulled her in and let her lean against me, wrapping my arm around hers tight.

"I'm so sorry Mal, he shouldn't have handled it like that. I'm sure he was proud of you for believing you had it all figured out but, he shouldn't be so hard on you about using your gift." I said softly and wiped her tears. "You shouldn't have lied, but he shouldn't have yelled at you, you both have some apologizing to do." She looked at me with big sad puppy eyes in almost disbelief, her lip trembling lightly.

"But I can't, I can't stay," she whispered and got up, grabbing a pencil box and stabbing some holes in it while trying to steady her breathing. I got up, a worrying look crossing my features as I watched her. 

"What do you mean? Where will you go?" I asked as she opened the lizard tank, picked up Maleficent, and put her in the little box.

"Home." she sniffled, looking a little more determined before she began scribbling on a piece of paper. I felt my heart drop to my stomach at her words as my mind raced at what she said. If she could be going where I think she is, this could be my chance...