Queen Ruby

Chapter 4

I open the bag, trying to be quiet and not wake my team. The book is old, very old and heavy. I open the first page. A sticky note is attached to it. /Please read carefully and hide from others. Contains everything you need to know. /
Well, Torchwick certainly plans ahead. I'll make sure to read it tomorrow. The Gift is wrapped in Red paper. Inside is a box, inside the box is a hairband. The hairband is made of some sort of metal, but I can't tell what kind. Its thin and light. On the front side, there are carvings, swirls, and forms that build the image of roses and thorns. Inside the carvings spell out the word Rose. At the bottom of the box lays a letter. I recognize the handwriting from the note in the book. /This belonged to your mother. Put it on. It will take in a form that it will only take on your head. See it as a self-customizing headband. It will change its appearance when you're fighting, using your powers or it will go back to its original form when needed./ I almost laugh at this. He really is crazy. I put on the headband and go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow I can make sense of all this.
I'm walking. Around me are trees. It's going to snow soon. The leaves are falling around me and I can feel the sun warm the cold air. From afar I can hear fighting. I start to run. I'm scared of what I will find, but I keep running. I know these woods and my feet know the way. I run until I find them. The fight is over. They are dead. Cut up into pieces. Their blood runs warm on the floor. I recognize them, they are my friends, they are my family, they are my people. I know deep down who they are. I never met them never saw them but I know them.
My legs can't hold me anymore and I fall to my knees. My White cloth is soaked in the blood. I start to cry. I can't hold it back, all the memories of them come to me. Hair falls on my face, but it's not mine. Its longer and white, but the tips are red. When I finally look up from my hands I see my reflection in the blood. I'm not Ruby. I am a Stranger. I'm older and scars mark my face from my battles against Salem. My right eye, usually hidden beneath my hair is showing. The skin around it is burned and my eye is missing, but my existing eye is silver. Just like my own.
''You're too late. So sorry you didn't get to see them die. They were brave. But in the End...'' A voice said in front of me. Laughing at how easy it had been for him to kill them. Amused by their struggles.
His Voice fills me with anger. How dare he make fun of them. He killed them. He took them all away from me. He did this. I can't hold it back anymore. My body is too tired. I give in to my emotions. My head hurts. My blood is burning. It all hurts so much. Everything goes white and all I'm left with are the screams of the Man who killed them.