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Post by Ruby on Mar 24, 2013 2:59:36 GMT -5
The gentle breeze carried the long strands of brown hair with the curtains before they settled back down to rest against the woman's back. A few bold stands clung to the two apparent tear tracks that curved along her cheeks, but the woman seemed to pay them no heed as new ones joined the old. She hung in the heavy window cill, one legged draped precariously out of the two story drop, gently swinging back and forth while the other held her right arm carrying a piece of paper that felt as thick as lead. She was bathed not in royalty gowns, or outfits befitting her stature, but the plain, simple, bartending uniform that she had met Dorian in the first night she had met him. Her heart clenched painfully at the name, choking her.
He had been gone for the better part of two weeks, away for business that his stature demanded of him and it would be incredibly improper for a woman to attend such meetings, no matter how much he insisted he would not care, she refused to tarnish his reputation any farther and so she had stayed. Not a day later, Cora hit her and then sickness had crippled her. Finally she had swallowed her pride and gone to the doctor. Dr. Whale's assessment was still ringing in her skull. It had been the final problem that had led Red to such an extreme decision. She twirled the ruby encrusted engagement ring upon her finger.
"Miss Red? I have done what you have asked?" Victor's familiar voice drifted to her ear drums and she turned. Nervous, unsure, anxious. Loathing Dorian's return no doubt. She swung her legs back inside the room that Dorian had given her, a hollow feeling settling in her gut as she realized this was truly happening. Every piece of finery that demonstrated a woman living here had been stripped away, no dresses, no satin sheets, no perfume or make-up... the room was bare, stripped of everything save for Dorian's original furnishings. She had burned it all... or more accurately had had Victor do it. "If I may ask why? Dorian intends to marry you shortly, surely the gowns could have been altered to suit your tastes." She tried to smile, truly she did. She embraced the elder man in a tight hug.
"I have to leave Victor." He ripped her backwards, eyes wide and color draining from his face. He opened his mouth no doubt to ask if she was insane, but she beat him to the punch. " Cora is back. She knows of me, my power. She will come for me. So long as I stay." That snapped his jaw shut, his gaze searching her own for lies and finding none. A tense silence settled between them and finally, he spoke again.
"Dorian would not care, he would see you here still." Red chewed her bottom lip hard enough for it to bleed, willing the pain to stop. Her heart was cracking, breaking into tiny pieces, but she could not risk his life, and Cora did not let go of power once she had obtained it.
"I will not place him in her path, Cora would kill him without hesitation, you know that. I'm sorry Victor, tell him I died, tell him my body was found a mangled corpse. I have to go!" She brushed past him, attempting to maintain enough composure to escape the manor, the city, Aledon's borders, she had to leave, Cora would hunt her and Cora would win. In her haste the small parchment slipped from her hand and she never saw Victor pick it up.
She slipped from the manner, the breeze attacking her full force, but she did not slow her furious gait. She greeted the stable boy with a brisk nod and he tried to slow her down, stop her, he had not gotten a single piece of riding equipment upon Crescendo. Red paid him no heed, ushering him away. She let the skirts slide from her waist. The heavy riding pants beneath keeping her bottom half covered. She tossed the skirts to the stable boy with the instruction to burn them as well. She ripped the heavy Red riding cloak from its peg on the wall and swung onto the top of Crescendo.
The beast, unused to a rider without equipment bolted forward. Red coiled her fingers in his mane, pulling back hard to keep her balance as he reared and she calmed him with a soothing, gentle voice. He danced and scraped the earth, hooves diving in deep, she finally managed to calm him when Victor burst out of the mansion.
"You cannot leave Red! This changes everything!" He shouted at her from the doorway, the small parchment held tight within his hand. "He deserves to know Ruby, and he deserves to hear it from you! Since when have you been a coward?" Victor shouted at her, the stable boy watching the interaction with piqued interest, but Red did not bestow upon the old man an answer, she urged the black stallion onward and the beast took off at a dead sprint, Victor shouting her name until the cloak of Red vanished from his sight. he steadied himself against the banister as he glanced down at the parchment for a second time.
I ran the test seven times Ruby, to assure that it was accurate. You are pregnant my beloved friend, congratulations.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Mar 24, 2013 20:23:41 GMT -5
Dorian had been long on a business venture, on behalf of the kingdom he was supposed to serve and never did. This was, to be fair, the first and only time he'd been called upon for diplomatic intervention, but he still resented it regardless. What had been the reason for sending him? Supposedly something along the lines of notable eloquence and fetching looks. Why this helped, he did not know, but he wasn't the only one being sent so he'd chosen to spend most of the trip in silence, meditating on his breathing and trying not to slip to his usual state of disarray when it mattered most. Sometimes, he could keep on his good and valiant face for long enough to go through with a deal of some sort, but sometimes his charm shone through and even ended up landing Aledon some good end of a bargain. It was odd, to say the least.
After two weeks and probably a little too much money spent on trinkets and things for his fiancée, who he'd been loathe to leave for so long, Dorian was finally dismissed and on his way back to the mansion he'd left. It had felt like forever since he'd been there, and he wondered often throughout these two weeks if Ruby had been okay, if Victor had been treating her well and if she'd found enough to eat, wear, and do. He did not let her want for anything, and if she did he made sure she had it as soon as it was available for him to get. Yes--he was trying to make up for being such an awful person and impendingly an infidel of a husband.
As he rode home, Dorian thought on the things he was bringing back with him for her: three gowns (all of silk and embroidered with jewels aplenty), two necklaces (one of gold with encrusted sapphires and the other of silver with encrusted topaz), a variety of coloured ribbons for her hair, several books, and many more little things that she would certainly not be expecting. He wanted to be good to her, sometimes... As he approached that wondrous sight of his manor, Dorian sighed. He had missed it, and Ruby, bitterly. And now, he expected an open-armed embrace from the one he loved and a nice evening never leaving his bed. But as he dismounted and passed over his horse and treasures to the stable-boy, Dorian sensed that something here was amiss. Something was terribly wrong. The air didn't taste right; the sounds around him were too shrill and imbalanced. This was not what he was expecting. With a rapid heartbeat, Dorian tore through the door, hoping to see Ruby and Victor there awaiting him, albeit with some terrible news. But he saw not his fiancée. Instead, he saw the broken heap of a servant in his parlor.
"Victor?" he asked slowly, his voice low. The man looked up at him, only to meet Dorian's wary, scared, angry, frightening face. "Where's my lady?" he asked, even though he could see the jarring tears on his butler's face. Victor didn't seem to be able to find it in him to speak. Dorian shook him. "Tell me!" he demanded, and managed to get from Victor, "She's... gone."
Dorian couldn't understand. "Gone, as in dead or as in she left me?" Victor shook his head furiously, and Dorian tried to soften his look with a deep breath. "She told me to tell you she'd died but... I haven't the heart to say that to you. She left. Rode away ten minutes ago. I do not think she wishes to see you again." This all came as pure shock to Dorian, who did not know what to do when he was able to process the information. Victor had a paper in his hand, too, and Dorian ripped it away to see if there was something being kept from him. As he read, his mouth dropped and his glare hardened. "Why didn't you say this?!" he yelled, and stormed out, back to fetch his horse. He was going to ride after her, whether she wanted him to or not.
He rode hard for three hours, hoping that he was going in the right direction. Finally, he saw a rider up ahead, on a horse that looked familiar. But he was going to be cautious. If she didn't want to see him, she could hurt him.
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Post by Ruby on Mar 24, 2013 21:03:17 GMT -5
Ruby rode Crescendo hard, his hooves pounding the cobblestones drummed through her skull like her frantic heartbeat, pounding away at a relentless force. She was not so accustomed to riding bareback and she found her legs tightening around his broad abdomen, fingers tangled in the thick mane. She urged him softly, harder, faster, more powerful with every damnable stride and he obeyed her. Tears still traced the soft curve of her face, she had barely slept in days so worried, so nervous was she for her lovers sake, but she would have to be no longer. She could not get to Dorian if she did not know her beloved existed. It was the tainted darkness of the demon within her that had attracted Cora and God only knew what she would do to her Dori. Her cloak snapped behind her, the force of the wind ripping the sturdy cloth.
Cobblestone changed to dirt, dirt changed to grass and she did not slow the horse until she was well lost in the forest, far away from prying eyes and judging stares. She pulled her heaving horse to a slow canter and then a walk, sliding from his back as they approached a stream, allowing him to fetch a drink and regain a bit of his strength. She wasn't sure where they would go but she knew Cora could find her with a snap of her fingers, it wouldn't matter, nowhere was safe, but Dorian would be.
Her gaze caught the glittering ring still heavy upon her finger and she lifted the hand, the rubies glinting in the sunlight and shining brilliantly. She stepped backwards, sliding down one of the large oak trees and burying her face in the palms of her hands. She could handle the baby, she wouldn't like it but she could. She couldn't handle Cora. Cora would kill the child, cora would kill Dorian, Cora would kill anything and everything that stood in her way and what good was a beast who felt love? What good was a monster who would not fight. No... Ruby had a choice, face the witch herself, or lose everything that mattered to her. She would die, but no one else would have to.
Something nudged her and she blinked, jumping slightly, senses dulled with the scent of her tears. Crescendo nudged her again and she clung to his neck crying into the thick mane of her prized stallion. Agony ripped through her chest, the act of leaving Dorian was killing her. Her heart surely could not take such pain, but what could she do? He did not ask for this, for her the babe, or for Cora.
She steadied herself taking a deep breath and freezing. Dorian She spun, eyes bloodshot and frantic, wild panic coursing through her blood as she tried to see past the water that lingered in her gaze. She couldn't bring herself to speak, couldn't bring herself to make even the softest of noises. Please Dorian, please... just go home.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Mar 25, 2013 14:34:48 GMT -5
He could not at all fathom any reason why Ruby would leave him so suddenly. She so oft professed her love to him in ceaseless vows, she always spent her nights in his company and sacrificed her reputation to be with him, he knew. So why on Earth would she be running from him? And now--especially when she was pregnant? Carrying what he assumed was his child? He did not understand. There had to be something going on that he was not aware of, something that she had not told him or written to him--in fact, in his time away, she'd not written him once and he'd gotten a bit worried but eventually dismissed it. What was wrong, then? Why was she leaving him now? There were so many questions that were circling endlessly in Dorian's mind, and he had to get answers. She wasn't about to just leave and get away without talking to him first.
He rode on for a long time, knowing that he was tiring out his poor mount by pushing him so hard. This was not his favourite horse; this was another that he sometimes used, a bay gelding named Dorcha. But he was fast, and he ran under the hard hand of his master. For three long, agonizingly lost hours, Dorian rode, hoping all the while that he was even going in the right direction. What if Ruby had cut back another way to mislead him? If she really wanted him gone from her forever, she could certainly pull it off.
It worried him. Troubled him. But when he saw up ahead a figure, after three hours' hard riding, he felt a warmer sensation in his heart. It looked a hell of a lot like his fiancée. The horse looked much like Crescendo, and he would recognize them together. His heart dropped. She was dismounted, holding onto the horse's neck, and it looked like, from this distance... crying? Poor thing, he thought, his conscience seeping back. He wasn't going to be the cruel man he normally was today... Or, so he thought. Until a surge of something seemed to rush through his veins, through every part of him until he was flooded with it. He sent Dorcha on at a gallop toward her and dismounted swiftly at her side.
"Ruby. Do you think you can just leave me?" He looked at her, his voice steady but his eyes hurt, angry, melancholy, pained, not understanding. He knelt at her side. She wasn't going anywhere until he had the answers that he wanted. He placed a hand on her waist. "You've my child. I know now. Until you have it out of you, you should not be so much as leaving my manor." His voice grew colder. He thought she did not love him and that was why she'd left. And it hurt his heart.
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Post by Ruby on Mar 25, 2013 15:21:32 GMT -5
She stood amongst the trees and every logical thought in her brain told her to run. To abandon this weakened state of being and become the beast most everyone assumed she was, but she could not leave Dorian and now that she had tasted his scent upon the air, she was damned.She could deny him nothing and so she stayed, rooted to her place. She knew she looked horrible. Her hair was messy, tangled, heavy bags fell beneath her eyes, her cheeks and body were hollowed and thin from the lack of a good meal. She dreaded his arrival, knew he was coming, she had been stupid to think that Victor would obey her, or that Dorian would simply allow her to vanish. No doubt Victor had told him that she would soon grow with his child, of course that entailed her living that long and at this point, that looked grim. She could hear the pounding of the horses hooves as Dorian drew his stallion closer to her, she did not have to loft her head to know it was he. He who always found her and came for her time and time again.
He swung from the horse swiftly approaching her, towering over her and instinctively she toyed with the ring upon her finger, spinning the delicate rubies, a nervous habit she had developed in the last few days. She backed up as he approached her, biting, angry, furious words that he had every right to spew and she took them all, each and every one, wincing as he commanded her, demanded things of her. Things she would like nothing better to do, but no longer had any control over. She finally looked up to meet his furious eyes knowing she could not avoid him forever and for the first time in her life, Red felt weak, because she knew not what to say. Dorian could read her like an open book if she lied, denied her love for him, swore the child wasn't his he would see right through it, but if she told him the truth would he try to protect her? It wouldn't matter. Cora would find her. he touched her and Ruby shook, new tears spilling from the corners of her eyes as his fingers curled around the small of her waist.
"I don't... I didn't want to leave you. Never." She squeezed her eyes shut willing the tears to cease before opening them again, taking a large breath to calm her frayed nerves. She reached out to Dorian tangling her fingers in the heavy jacket and dragging him to her, burying her face in the curve of his neck, breathing him in like oxygen. She clung to him with all the strength afforded to her and she would have given anything to stay right here for the rest of eternity, but the world did not work as such. Her body trembled in fear, shaking beneath his fingertips, she could not remember ever being so terrified. "The child is yours, but it won't live to see its first breaths." Once Cora realized that Regina was not here, she would rip her heart from her body, rendering her soulless and cold. She would become Cora's personal pet and nothing more and the babe would not survive that traumatic experience... or perhaps Cora would be furious enough to just kill her.
Either way Cora was coming for her, it was only a matter of time. She took one last, deep inhale, forcing himself to remember him, she may not remember the feeling but she would remember him if it killed her. She swore upon it. The beast shifted within her, not too keen on this sudden turn of events either. "You can't be here Dorian, she can't know how much I love you."
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Post by Dorian Gray on Mar 25, 2013 17:51:32 GMT -5
"Then why did you?" His mouth got away from him and Dorian sighed. He should think before he spoke, and especially now when he was completely baffled as to why his dear fiancée would have left him so suddenly, with no note and instruction of his servant to let him know she'd died. Of course Victor told him the truth; he knew better than to not. Dorian could be a menace when he so chose, and even Ruby knew his angry side. Of course, even angry he was the passionate being she always claimed to love so very much, and he had thought (albeit foolishly, apparently) that was the reason she always chose to stay with him. He was thinking too much, again, wasn't he? He did not know why she'd left. But, ever the egotist, Dorian could think only shallow thoughts, all centered around who? Oh, himself of course. He was such a narcissist that he had not even inquired yet as to why she left so suddenly. He really did need to watch his bastard tongue.
He looked down at her, and a thought crossed his mind for the first time in... well, ever. How pitiful she looked. How scared, how weak. If he were more hotheaded, he would keep berating her, as he was already standing imposingly above her, but Dorian could never bring himself to do such a thing to Ruby. He did love her, whether or not he told her, and it was a hard thing to admit but she had half of him in her clutches. That was more than anyone else had ever gotten. Even, should he be so bold as to admit it, Sibyl Vane.
"Shhh," he whispered suddenly, crouching to place a gentle hand on her temple. He needed her to explain whatever she was gargling. He wouldn't have her murmuring half-truths that did not even make any sense, because he wanted--no, needed to know. He could not, above all else, handle tears should they spill from her eyes. "The child better be mine," he said softly, trying to make it a little lighter. But it was to no avail. He did not even care about the child right now. He only cared about her. Once this was all sorted out, he'd have time to think about why in the world he was supposed to become a father, something he never wanted to be. And if the child died, well... he was only concerned about keeping his to-be bride safe right now. She looked so frightened, so troubled. And he needed to know why.
Looking into those deep emerald eyes that were always so captivated by him, Dorian directed all his focus. "What is happening, my love? Please explain yourself. Your words do not connect--in my naïve mind, at least. You do not have to leave me for anything. I can take care of you and I can take care of myself. And you will stay at my manor until you die. I don't understand why you would ever want to leave me." It really did hurt him, because he had yet to fathom any good reason she'd gone away so fast. It was a pain that he had not felt, possibly ever, and though he could just as easily find himself addicted to any sort of new emotion, he was not a sentimentalist. He was just a concerned fiancé right now.
"Ruby? Please? Come home with me." He resorted to begging.
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Post by Ruby on Mar 25, 2013 18:48:44 GMT -5
His harsh words only calmed her as terrible as that sounded. She had spent the last two weeks jumping at shadows, trembling at noises, barely sleeping, eating even scarcer, and being sick. She was weak, exhausted and horribly drained, mentally, emotionally, and physically. He shushed her, locking her in his warmth and she could of cried out of delight if she had had anything else left to cry, instead she forced herself to calm, let the familiar feel of his body against her own calm her, let his scent soothe her tattered nerves and let the sound of his voice ease her mind. He really was perfect for her. She buried her face in his chest as she ceased the last of her cries. He deserved an explanation for her insane actions. He attempted a small stab at humor, but no humor in all of Aledon could make her smile right now. She wanted to pretend this was naught but a dream, fall back to sleep and never awaken.
She drew back from him, fingers wiping the tears from her face as she steeled herself to speak, her eyes seeking his own to find them trained upon her, intense and demanding, despite the give to his requests and his demands, his eyes demanded her to speak. and with a deep steadying breath she would try.
"A day after you left, I went riding with a few nobles on the way home I encountered a small child who swore her parents had been killed by Regina. Regina is a powerful sorceress, whose taste for vengeance and bitterness is damn near crippling. She has tried to kill Snow for years, centuries, she was the one who cursed us all, locked us in time for many years, I had to investigate her claims. She led me to her so-claimed house and revealed herself as Cora." A shiver traced her spine despite herself. " If Rumple is the devil, Cora is his mistress. She has a pension for ripping people's hearts out, not to kill them, but to drain them of any and all emotion, to turn them into a puppet that she can control at will. Those who disobey her she kills, those she does not like, she kills. She wants to find Regina and I have no choice but to help her. If she sees you as a threat or a nuisance to her gain of power, she will kill you without hesitation." She spoke quickly and quietly, fingers twirling her engagement ring endlessly. Nervously.
"I do not have the power or the strength to fight her and I am not so naive to think that she will release me once she had found her daughter. She will take my heart or she will kill me and there's nothing you can do." Her bottom lip quivered, but no more tears fell from her eyes and finally she looked down and away from his face. "I thought that if I left, if you thought I was dead, that Cora would never know about you and that she would leave you be. You would swear loyalty to her if she became queen and you would be safe. I love you so much, I just want to protect you, I just wanted you to be safe, to be happy."
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