The Crimson Crusader (Ruby Rose x Vigilante Male Reader)

The Crimson Crusader

Ruby's PoV

"Goodnight, Ruby, I'll see you tomorrow! And don't even think of taking that shortcut!" I heard Yang yell from the kitchen.

I sighed as I saw the normally illuminated sign behind me turn off. The restaurant was Yang's idea. Her girlfriend, Blake, came up with the name. "The Drunken Huntress," not nearly as elegant as one might expect, but still, Lien is Lien, and I have to pay my bills somehow.

My thoughts returned to me as I reached the shortcut that could take me back to my house about five minutes faster. Yang always tells me not to take the shortcut, she thinks it's shady. Well, it is, but it's nice to be able to get home a bit faster.

I stopped in front of it, contemplating what to do. Should I take it and get home faster, which would ultimately mean getting to sleep at a better time, or take the safer route and get home later?

"Screw it," I said as I started walking down the alleyway. Gosh, Yang is right, this alley is too sketchy, I should have never done this! Maybe it isn't too late to turn around? I looked behind me and turned around, looking to the ground and fast walking toward the entrance, but I bumped into something.

"Hey, you need to watch where you're going!" said a gruff male voice.

I quickly looked up, "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention." I apologized, twiddling my thumbs.

"Yeah, I can tell, you know what, you can make it up to me." He said harshly.

"How?" I said hopefully.

"By dropping your wallet for me." The man said as he pulled a knife out of his jacket. Blake and Yang had always told me to keep a "drop wallet" on me, and ever since then, I've always kept it with me. All it had was a few Lien and some expired gift cards. I quickly dropped it and he picked it up.

"You know what? On second thought, I don't think your wallet is enough, little girl." He said, with a sickening smile spreading across his face, I knew what he meant, and tried to make a run for it, but he managed to grab hold of my hoodie and pull me back, pushing me against the wall and punching me in the back of the head.

Just as he was trying to cut open my hoodie, I heard an impact from behind me, the man was pulled off me but managed to slam my head into the wall beforehand, my vision was blurry, but I could hear a struggle and could see another man who had a cross on his chest and a beaked hood fighting my attacker, he was way bigger than my attacker.

The bigger man parried a strike from my attacker, jabbing at his face with his left fist, uppercutting with his right fist, elbowing him in the face with his right elbow, and hooking his face again with his left fist. The devastating combo put my attacker on the ground, where the bigger man continued to beat him, punching him a total of seventeen more times before kicking him in the head. If that beating hadn't knocked him out, the kick was enough.

I felt my consciousness slip away as the bigger man began to walk toward me.

Timeskip

I woke with a start, hoping it was all a dream, but quickly realized it wasn't when I was hit with a splitting headache. I knew I would need to take some aspirin to get to sleep, so I turned over to try to turn my lamp on, but it wouldn't.

"Power must be out." I thought out loud.

"Been out for a few hours, it started storming pretty bad when I got you back here." Said a voice that came from one of the dark corners of my room.

Lightning flashed, which let me see the man for a few seconds, it wasn't long enough to get a good look at him, but I could see it was my savior.

"Please don't hurt me!" I yelled, cowering up to my bed's headboard, hugging one of my pillows.

"Why would I hurt you after saving you, and carrying you back here, Ruby?" asked my savior, but that didn't help me, because I felt my heart drop when he said my name. I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them close.

"How do you know my name!" I exclaimed, moving further away from him.

"I looked at your driver's license." said the man in his same cold voice, though I could hear his smile behind his mask. I relaxed a little. It made sense, he knows my name and where I live, my driver's license has both of those things.

"Okay, that makes sense, sorry for yelling. Can you at least come out of the darkness?" I asked.

He seemed to contemplate it for a minute, before stepping into the beam of moonlight coming in through my window. I could see him clearly now. He had a cape that was more so leather strips, he seemed to be wearing a modified and repainted Hockey mask, along with a Kevlar vest that was painted and had clearly been resewn multiple times. His theme seemed to be the color red, the color was present at least once on every piece of his suit. His bracers were clearly homemade, I could see the welding of the blades on them. On his hands were police-grade SAP gloves and on his hip, he carried a sword in a specially made scabbard.

I saw him wince a little as he put his right hand on his side, as soon as he pulled it away, I could see a stab wound. He got unlucky and got stabbed in one of the few places he doesn't have armor.

"You're injured, I have a first aid kit in the bathroom, will you let me help you?" I questioned, which caused him to hesitate.

"How do I know you won't call the police while you're getting it?"He enquired while squinting his eyes.

"I don't even know where my phone is, how could I call the cops?" I answered, which he seemed content with.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, flinching a little at the feeling of the cold hard ground. I found the first aid kit and walked back into my bedroom, but something had changed. My lamp was on, and my window was open, thankfully the rain had stopped, otherwise, my floor would be soaking wet.

The man had disappeared, most likely jumping out my window, I ran up to it but saw nothing on the ground.

I sighed but heard my phone ringing. I looked and saw it on my dresser, I picked it up and saw that it was Yang.

"Ruby, did you make it home safe? You didn't take that shortcut did you?" asked Yang.

"No, why?" I lied, there was no way I was going to tell her the truth, especially after what just happened.

"Dad said that the police found a body in the alleyway by your apartment, they said he died from blunt force trauma, he had a bunch of bruises on his face," explained Yang, causing my eyes to widen.

"Thanks for letting me know, I'll make sure not to take the shortcut unless it's daytime from now on. Goodnight, Yang." I said as I hung up the phone.

My mind turned back to the splitting headache from before, which made me thankful for my first aid kit, I quickly took some aspirin and laid back in my bed, but before I could turn my lamp off, I saw something on my nightstand.

It was a rose, my favorite flower. Underneath it was a note.

From your ever-faithful servant, The Crimson Crusader.

I smiled and put the flower back on my nightstand, turning the light off and falling asleep.