Red Like Roses (Ruby Rose x Male Reader)

Chapter 5: Lost Story

You and Ruby are fighting a pack of Grimm. Ruby fired Crescent Rose at the Grimm and you shot a hail of bullets with Ivory Nexus. The Grimm are wiped out, and Ruby checked off a mission on her scroll.

Ruby: "Done. Now we just need to head back to the mission boards to collect our payment."

"Well, to get our supplies."

Ruby: "I know. I still think about the first few weeks I was an actual Huntress."

"Well, we just have to keep pushing forward, but it doesn't hurt that much to reflect and take a moment on everything that happened."

Ruby: "Yeah. I learned that that hard way when me and the others escaped from the fall."

You and Ruby walked away from the town you secured and headed back to Argus.

"I've been meaning to ask you Ruby, where were you and your team after evacuating Atlas? You guys were presumed dead for months."

Ruby: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Anything is possible, Ruby. A lot of people never thought they'd see the light of day again during the war against Salem, but you and your team saved the world."

Ruby: "We didn't save everyone though."

"That's what sucks about this career, you can't save everyone."

Ruby took a deep breath and exhaled.

Ruby: "Have you read the story of the girl who fell through the world? The one with the girl Alyx?"

"Yes. I read it a bunch when I was a kid."

Ruby: "Well... me and my team fell into the Ever After."

"The Ever After is real?"

Ruby: "Yes, but I wouldn't recommend going there on purpose. At first, we thought we were in the book, but it turned out to be long after the events of the book. Things were different and going through them all made me doubt my actions in Remnant."

"What happened?"

Ruby: "Everyone else was focused on other things when you'd think they'd notice my growing distress. Eventually, I just snapped, lashed out at everyone, and ran away."

"I'm not taking sides, but I do think they should've paid more attention to you when everything went downhill."

Ruby: "That's what I thought back then. Anyway, Neo found me and pushed me to my breaking point. I decided to get sent to the Great Tree and talk to one of its manifestations. They gave me the option to be something else, but a bittersweet memory of my mom made me realize that I just needed to be myself, so that's who I chose. I managed to mend things with the others and the Tree sent us back home."

"Did you find out what happened to Alyx?"

Ruby: "She... chose to stay while her brother Lewis returned home. Then he wrote the story in a way he wished it went in memory of her. She did learn her lesson, just when it was all too late."

"At least you finally know what it means to be a true hero. Even though life isn't a fairy tale."

Ruby: "That doesn't mean we can give it a happy ending."

"I learned that during my own adventure. Argus is close. Want to catch a ride?"

Ruby: "I'm okay with just walking."

"Fine by me."

The two of you reached Argus and enter the city.