Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

sixteen

'Ruby!'

When she heard that ever so familiar voice, Ruby's eyes - eye, actually - nearly filled with tears. She rushed forwards to meet her friends, forgetting all about Dyrroth, who was waiting behind her awkwardly.

Ruby was hit by a wave of recognition and relief when she saw Kagura's concerned face. Her unusually disheveled white hair had streaks of grime in it. Before they'd been kidnapped, Ruby would never, ever have seen Kagura in a state of such disarray. It simply wasn't like her. 

In the next cage, Harley was blinking slowly as if in a daze. 'Ruby, is that really-'

'Who else could it be, you dummy?' Ruby blurted, still overcome by emotion. 

'We missed you,' said Kagura in a small voice, extending her hand out of her cage. Ruby took it without a second's hesitation. 'I was so worried about you, Ruby. I kept thinking they would hurt you, and I wouldn't be there to help.'

Ruby shook her head. 'It's fine, Kagura. I had help.'

Her friend lifted an inquisitive eyebrow elegantly. 'From...?' For a moment, her pale blue eyes flickered towards Dyrroth. Ruby was glad to see that those eyes hadn't lost their lively gleam. 

'Yeah, from me,' answered Dyrroth, before Ruby could. She turned away from her friends just enough to shoot him a look. 

'Ah,' said Kagura. Ruby couldn't really tell what it was in her voice. Dismissal? 'I knew it.'

'For God's sake, Ruby, just marry him already,' muttered a voice from beside Kagura. Ruby almost jumped. She'd forgotten all about Harley. The amber-haired magician was curled up in his cell again, his back turned to the rest of the people in the room.

Ruby only registered what Harley had said after several seconds. 'Uh, excuse me, what did you say?' she asked belatedly, flushing.

Harley cocked his head to one side, appraising her slyly. There was a smirk on his face. 'Nothing,' he replied sweetly.

Ruby gritted her teeth. Damn you, Harley. She'd forgotten how much the young boy got on her nerves. 'You know, my life was more peaceful without you.'

'Don't worry, it's mutual,' he said.

Behind her, Dyrroth let out a scoff. 'How many boys do you talk to in one day?' he said scornfully.

With exaggerated slowness, Ruby rotated to face him, her face blank. 'No, I should be asking you, why are you getting jealous of a six-year-old?'

From the corner of her eye, she saw Harley freeze. 'Six-year-old?' he echoed. The look on his face practically screamed that he was about to give Ruby the most gruesome death ever. 

Dyrroth stared from Ruby to Harley intently. 'He doesn't look six years old,' he said.

Right at that moment, Kagura decided to end their bickering. 'Okay, shut up everyone ,' she ordered. She looked at Ruby. 'So...Dyrroth let you come here?' 

Kagura's nearly imperceptible pause before she voiced the word Dyrroth was not lost on Ruby, but she didn't comment on it. Again, before she could respond, Dyrroth answered a little impatiently, 'Who else?'

The white-haired girl's eyebrows lifted again, but thankfully she didn't say anything. The last thing Ruby wanted to do was listen to her two friends fight.

She got a sudden idea. 'Hey, Dyrroth, is it okay if you just leave the room for a short while?' she asked. 'There's...stuff I wanna talk about with my friends.'

The prince sniffed, wrinkling his nose in reluctance. 'Ah, fine,' he sighed. 'You're aware that I can't really stand outside the room without getting caught, right?'