Defendants B1:Black and White Decent

Chapter 27

There was a silence between the three as they walked through the alleys.  Ruby was the one to break it.  "Does it hurt?"

"Not much.  I'm... I'm used to that..." Varian mumbled.

Ruby stopped and grabbed his shoulders and made him face her so that she could see the side of his face that had been slapped.  He blinked with surprise as she frowned at seeing the red mark on his face.  She muttered under her breath angrily.  After a moment, she looked at Cassandra.  "Does your parents... you know..."  Ruby pressed as they continued their walk.

"It's actually just me, my sis and mother," Cassandra answered.  "She's more manipulative than anything else.  She'll rarely  ever hit us, but sometimes, I wonder if it would just be easier for her to just slap and then move on.  Varian's got it way worse.  I was always kind of jealous of Freddie and Celia, ya know?  They love their dad and he loves them.  Or Smee and his twins, they have a happy family.  Although Lady Termain is strict and harsh to Dizzy, she seems to actually care about her.  It's just those times where you have that craving for something, love of any kind.  To the point where you're desperate..."

"Cassandra..."  Ruby looked at her sadly.  "I know I can't replace anything, but I can be your friend.  If you want to..."

"Aurodon kids are that easy to win over, isn't?"  Cassandra chuckled.

"In a good way," Ruby smirked as she held out her hand.

Cassandra accepted it.  "You can call me Cass now."

Ruby's eyes brightened up.  "Really?"

"Yeah, but don't make me regret it," Cass huffed.

"Ok!"  Ruby grinned.

"We're here," Varian announced as he imitated Jay by throwing a rock at the sign.  "Mal's gonna kill me for the extra member, but honestly, I don't care what she thinks.  Especially now that her Boyfriend's in danger."

"Speaking of which, you haven't told me why you're back on the Isle,"  Cassandra frowned.

"Oh... I'll explain as we make the solution," Varian assured her.  "But first, you don't mind helping us against Uma?  You can just leave if you'd rather not."

"You're cutting ties with Uma?"

"No, she knows what I'm doing.  We talked about it."

"I'm not exactly in the mood to get tangled up in a mess like that.  Besides, two hours until I need to hit the hay."

"I get it, but I won't forget my promise.  Just... it just might not happen right away, but I won't stop until I make my promise a reality."

"Kid, you're better at keeping your word than me.  I know you will.  I'll see you on the other side?"

"Yeah," Varian agreed.

She gave a small wave and nodded to Ruby.  With that, she left.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Finished," Varian announced as he set the final glove full of solution in his bag.

Mal and Evie entered the room.  "We've got the smoke bombs," Evies held up a bag.

"We have the solution," Ruby replied.

"Good.  All we need now is Jay and Carlos to come back with the wand," Mal said.

It didn't take long before Jay, Carlos and the addition of Lonnie came in the room.  "We have the wand," Carlos handed it to Mal.

"I made them bring me," Lonnie explained.

"You know what?  I'm glad they did," Mal admitted.

Ruby waved.  "Hey, Londie!  I made them bring me too!"

"Nice," Lonnie grinned.

"Alright, it's almost noon.  We have to get to Uma's ship.  We've hot one shot at this.  There's no turning back, and no do overs, but we can do this.  Because we're rotten," Mal began

"To the core," the others finished.

Note: Wow, this story has come so far.  I didn't expect to have gotten this far so soon.  I've got two more books after this one planned, so this story is still far from over.

Thanks for reading!