Ruby Redfort Fanfiction: Look Into His Eyes And Take Your Last Breath

Clancy Takes a Step Too Far

Ruby cried. She cried for days. She kept on crying, and it didn't fell like it would stop. It was like she was falling into Tartarus, the pit which a Greek poet once claimed it took nine days to reach the bottom. Ruby hoped it was no longer than nine days. Clancy didn't say a word. He just comforted Ruby. Hitch told Ruby's parents that one of her dearest friends had died in a car accident, which was the closest Hitch had ever come to telling Ruby's parents the truth. They had immediately sympathised with Ruby and she had been excused from school for two weeks. Hitch himself had shown the initiative to bail Clancy out too, and had told the secretary of the school that they were suffering severe bouts of depression. Again, this wasn't far from the truth. Hitch himself mourned Blacker in a completely different way to Ruby. He did not cry, or kick or scream, but just gritted his teeth and forced himself to push through it as quickly as possible. This made the recovery time quicker, but the pain hurt ten times more. While Hitch was forcing himself through the five stages of grief in record time, Ruby was stuck on step two. Clancy didn't make an attempt to move her to the next stage. Hitch was a trained agent and had seen plenty of grief in his life and it did him good to get through the grief faster. He would come out the other end faster and over it. Hitch was a great believer in the celebration of people's lives, rather than mourning when they lost it. If Ruby had done as Hitch had done, she would have probably never really got over it. Ruby had lived her agent life with relative ease for the past year, with a few hiccups here and there, but it never really distracted Ruby for more than twenty-four hours. But here was Blacker, someone who had supported and protected her, whether she wanted him to do that or not. How could she have considered him to be the mole? In Ruby's eyes she had delivered a premature accusation and paid the heavy price for it. Clancy felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest, it stressed him and hurt him to know Ruby was upset, and he couldn't do a thing to make her feel better. So Clancy just sat with Ruby, day after day, watching television, drinking banana milk, reading comics, and always there to put an arm around her or hold her hand when she needed it the most. And Ruby, looking back on it, had never felt so grateful. Ruby and Clancy were on the closest terms they had ever been and Ruby was very, severely tempted to tell him what was the matter, why she was crying so much. But Clancy had growing fears of being so close to Ruby. He too felt like he could tell her everything, but from Clancy's position this was the worst possible scenario. Being so close made him feel like Ruby would forgive him, perhaps even fling her arms open and say, "I felt the same way all along!" But the moments always passed and the overwhelming feeling went away, and Clancy was left feeling sadder than ever. But he didn't show it. Clancy didn't drop the ball. The two weeks was almost up and Clancy could get some breathing space to mull this over, to decide what he was going to do under a non-pressurised environment. But it all blew over on the third final day.
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Ruby and Clancy were sitting in the front room as usual, watching Crazy Cops and Clancy kept up the chatter in front of the television, Ruby looked fragile. She hadn't cried in a day and looked like she might break at any moment. Ruby was allowing herself fourteen days of mourning and no more. From then on Ruby would be back at school, business like and without a hint of sadness. Clancy marvelled someone who could be so cool when their insides were in turmoil. But this was what Ruby Redfort had grown up doing, and she would do it over and over again. Clancy fell silent and Crazy Cops blared without interruption. It only took Ruby five more minutes to crack. She curled up into a ball and hugged her knees, rocking back an forth. It was like she was experiencing real, physical pain, and it was tearing Clancy apart. So he did something he had never dared to do before. He crawled beside Ruby and gingerly placed his hands around her waist. When she didn't object, he pulled her into a tight hug, her petite frame fitting perfectly into his lanky one. Clancy's chin was on top of Ruby's head and he made soothing shushing noises. The racking sobs and convulsions eventually stopped underneath him, and all grew still beneath him. If it wasn't for Ruby's slightly irregular breathing, Clancy would have assumed she was asleep. The longer Clancy stayed in this position, the more he felt like he should blurt out everything on his mind. How he felt, how she made him feel, how she was constantly on his mind and wouldn't go away, not even when his own life was being threatened. How she made him feel like living life was worthwhile, and she made him feel like someone cared for him. Clancy couldn't risk it. Anyway, Ruby was in no position for any confession of any sort, and Clancy was terribly self conscious about being selfish. So he unattached himself and reluctantly peeled away from Ruby's back. His chest felt freezing cold from the loss of heat and contact. Ruby's head snapped upwards.
"What's wrong Clancy?" Clancy was unnerved by her sensory feelers.
"Nothing, Ruby. My foot fell asleep and I needed a switch of position."
"Don't lie Clancy Crew. You sat like that very comfortably with fine breathing till about a minute ago, when your breathing sped up. Something is on your mind, my friend." Clancy felt a wave of disappointment wasn't over him at being called a friend, and it reminded him to keep to himself.
"Maybe later. I don't feel like talking." Clancy knew he would regret this later, putting her off made her come back with even more curiosity. But at least he would have time to think of a viable, maybe even honest excuse. But Ruby put a finger under his downward facing chin and forced him to look her in the eye.
"Clancy, someone told me something like that before, and he didn't get the chance at the end." Clancy took a deep breath. "Life is valuable, Clance. You need to take every chance you get." the words echoed around in Clancy's head. Take every chance you get, take every chance you get, take every chance you get... and Clancy Crew took heed to this advice.

"I don't know when it started." Clancy began quickly, then with more confidence. No going back now. "I might have been when we first met, but I'm not entirely sure-" Ruby frowned.

"Whoa, Clance, backtrack a second. What are we talking about?" Clancy delivered the next sentence so quickly Ruby hardly caught it.

"Well, the thing is Rube, I am kinda very in love with you." And Clancy leaned in and kissed her, very gently, even more so than on the wall.

Funnily enough, the first thing that came into Ruby's mind was, Dan was right.

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FINALLY. MY SHIP HAS BEEN PARTLY SATISFIED. Sorry for the cliffhanger, you'll have to wait till tomorrow ;) Friday is a holiday for us, so I'll have more time to write. Yes!