Post by GO FUCK YOURSELF NICK on Jul 25, 2015 21:09:40 GMT -6
December 27, 2013
Please, please let me be dead.
But if she was in fact dead, she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to hurt this much. Laying on the floor, Ruby exhaled painfully. From somewhere behind her, there was a deep, mocking laugh and she groaned in response.
“You’re a strong one, aren’t you? Poor little Hunter… don’t worry, sweetheart, it’ll all be over soon.”
And for the first time in her life, Ruby hoped he was right. The fight had already given her three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a badly twisted ankle, and a broken hand from him driving a nail through it with a mallet. He’d yanked the nail out just before kicking her to the floor and the wound was bleeding profusely. She tried to haul herself up at least into a sitting position, but the demon kicked her in the side and she rolled over onto her stomach, trying in vain to shield herself from the blows.
“What’s… taking you so long then?” she asked through gritted teeth, trying to get her knees up to take the pressure off her ribs and shoulder. She was answered with another swift kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Coughing, she spat blood out onto the floor.
Internal injuries too. Son of a bitch.
The blood from her mouth mingled with the blood from her hand and she found herself wondering distantly how long it would take for her to bleed out like this. No major arteries had been severed, but she was still losing entirely too much for her own liking.
As if following her train of thought, the demon knelt by her side and took her wrist in his hand, gently drawing a blade over the soft inner flesh. More blood joined the pool on the floor and Ruby began to feel dizzy.
“Oh, darling… don’t you know? Your suffering feeds me. I want to make this last all night… I want you to beg for death at my hands.”
Ruby stared down at the blood running over her hands. If this was her last night on Earth, if this was going to be her final act, then she had to make it count for something. Another Hunter would, someday, have to finish this Job, but Ruby refused to let this thing have the satisfaction of hearing her plead with him to kill her. Slowly, painfully, she forced her injured hand into a fist and squeezed, causing even more blood to trickle down. The demon was laughing again, but Ruby didn’t take much notice. Her focus was on the blood in front of her and on the symbols she was drawing within it.
“Exorcizo te, immundíssime spíritus, omnis incúrsio adversárii, omne phantasma, omnis légio, in nómine Dómini nostri Jesu Christi eradicáre, et effugáre ab hoc plásmate Dei.” The Latin felt awkward on her tongue, but these were words that Ren had driven into her head practically from the day she had begun training with him. She whispered the words, not bothering to look up at the demon who stood transfixed as Ruby’s voice grew stronger and louder. “Ipse tibi ímperat, qui te de supérnis cæaelórum in inferióra terræ demérgi præcépit. Ipse tibi ímperat, qui mari, ventis et tempestátibus imperávit. Audi ergo, et time, sátana, inimice fidei, hostis géneris humáni, mortis addúctor, vitæ raptor, justítiæ declinátor, malórum radix, fomes vitiórum, sedúctor hóminum, incitátor invídiæ, origo avaritiæ, causa discórdiæ, excitátor dolórum: quid stas, et resistis, cum scias, Christum Dóminum vias tuas pérdere?” As she posed the question, Ruby pushed herself up so she was kneeling on the floor and he could see what she had done. Arcane symbols, rendered in her own blood and punctuated by three crosses. The demon shrieked and ran at her, and Ruby quickly yelled the final words of the prayer.
“Recéde ergo in nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti: da locum Spirítui Sancto, per hoc signum sanctæ Crucis Jesu Christi Dómini nostri: Qui cum Patre et eódem Spíritu Sancto vivit et regnat Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum!” Slamming her hand down on top of what she’d drawn, Ruby grinned in victory as white light shot out and enveloped the demon. It was an exorcism, so all it had done was banish the demon temporarily, but it gave her enough time to get to her car and drive back home.
First though, she needed to get moving. Crawling over to a busted up table, Ruby pulled herself and tested her ankle. It couldn’t really hold any weight, but all she needed to do was hobble to the car. It wasn’t far, but the journey seemed to take her hours. By the time she got into the driver’s seat, all she wanted to do was sleep, but her wrist and hand were still bleeding. They were the only injuries she could do anything about, so she opened the glove compartment and dug out an old black bandana to wrap up the wounds. It was a clumsy job, but for the moment, it was enough.
As soon as she pulled onto the road, Ruby knew she shouldn’t have been driving. She was woozy from pain and blood loss and with her injuries it was hard to keep control of the steering wheel, but she bore down on her broken hand to keep herself awake and focused. She needed to get back to Ren and the boys. She needed to make it back home, whatever it took. Even if she was driving erratically and risking her life to do so. She’d already faced down a demon and survived, so how could a drive down a back country road in the California desert be any worse?
When an eighteen wheeler appeared directly in front of her, Ruby knew the answer. She was in the wrong lane, the Mustang having drifted along with her thoughts. The truck honked at her and Ruby swerved off the road completely, aiming the car down into a ditch. The car jerked to a stop and Ruby’s head bounced off the steering wheel.
Mercifully, after that she blacked out.
She woke several hours later in a hospital emergency room, with her ribs taped, her shoulder in a sling, and her hand and ankle in braces. There were tubes and wires sticking out of her, which she immediately began removing to the horror of the nurse who was coming in to check on her.
It took far longer than it should have for Ruby to argue them into discharging her. She knew they wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but staying in the hospital risked too many questions. So finally, after arguing with the doctor on duty and with the nurses who had been caring for her, Ruby discharged herself against medical advice and went to go retrieve her car from the lot where it had been taken. Because of the cut on her wrist, the doctors were assuming it was a failed suicide attempt and were looking to keep her for a psychiatric evaluation as well, but she insisted that they were wrong and that she was fine.
Though after getting her car out of the lot and putting herself back on the road to the Kanemoto house, there was a part of her that wondered just how close to the truth the designation of attempted suicide actually was.
The lights in the house were off save one - Ren’s office. He must have sent the boys out on a Job, and for that she was thankful. The last thing she needed was Masato’s look of disappointment with her taking liberties with her mission objective, and Tsurugi would have been overly attentive, seeking to tend to her every nonexistent need and swearing revenge on the creature that had done this to her.
Letting herself in, she was surprised to find Kegare on the other side of the door, watching and waiting in the darkness.
“Jesus, Kegare! I hate when you do that.”
“My apologies, Miss Ruby. We were not expecting you. Everything did not go according to plan?” He gestured to her and she glanced down at all the bruising and bandages.
“Yeah, you could say that. I need to talk to Ren.”
“As you wish, miss. He is -”
“- In his office, I know. I saw the light on.”
With a nod to the erstwhile butler, Ruby climbed the stairs slowly, pausing every two or three to catch her breath. The drugs they’d given her at the hospital were still in her pocket, waiting until it was time for her to finally rest from her ordeal. For now, she needed to be alert and able to focus on this discussion.
The door was slightly ajar, but Ruby knocked anyway before entering and she was met with an expression of shock from Ren.
“Ruby?”
“I know, I know. If Kegare ever showed emotion I think he would have had the same reaction. It’s… well, it’s pretty much as bad as it looks. And I didn’t actually fight him to the death. But I mean, I figured better to come back in a couple bruised and battered pieces than not at all, right?”
She attempted to laugh but only winced as her ribs reminded her why that was a poor decision. Ren, however, did not look amused. He was muttering under his breath in what Ruby thought was Japanese, but it was too low and too quick for her to catch it.
“How did you survive?!” he demanded angrily, meeting her eyes in a way that made Ruby wonder if coming back here had been the right decision after all.
“Blood… I was bleeding. I made the marks, I used the prayer you taught me… I… banished him. So he’ll be back. I failed, I know, and I’m sorry,” she told him, her tone pleading. “I know you’re disappointed and this’ll probably mean my test against Masato will be pushed back -”
“You know NOTHING!” he bellowed at her, and Ruby shrank back toward the door. “You don’t have any concept of what you’ve done!”
“Ren?”
“This has completely upset the natural order of things! This was not supposed to happen by any stretch of the imagination!”
“But we can banish demons temporarily as a last-ditch tactic in order to survive, and this was way harder than I thought -”
“It’s not the demon that’s the problem, it’s you! You were not supposed to return from this mission!”
Now it was Ruby’s turn to stare in shock and horror as the implications of Ren’s sudden admission hit her full force. Ren too seemed to regret what he’d just said and the words hung in the air between them.
“I… what?”
“You heard me.”
“Is that why you told me that it was just a simple assignment? Perfect for a rookie, you said! And I get in there and it’s a fucking right-hand-of-Satan level demon!” She was yelling now despite how much it hurt to do so, moving away from Ren.
“I told you what I was told to tell you. Just as you have your orders, so too do I as your Guide.”
“But that’s the point! You’re my Guide! Aren’t you supposed to be the on telling me things like oh by the way, you’re going up against a hellbeast so you might want to prepare yourself or bring some fucking backup! If I’d had Masato and Tsurugi -”
“This was not their assignment. It was yours. And you were told what you needed to know.”
“The hell I was! I knew nothing going in there and according to you I was supposed to have died!”
“I cannot go against the orders I have been given.”
“Why not?! Don’t you give a shit about me at all?”
“Ruby…”
“No, let me finish! You took me into your house, you and Masato and Tsurugi worked with me and trained me and freaking sponsored me for the Order! I know what a big deal that is - Masato told me that you guys rarely do this for outsiders. I’ve been with you guys for almost a year and for what? For you to send me to my death without telling me?”
“Do you think that this is something I wanted to see happen?”
“Looks that way to me since you sent me flying blind on a suicide mission!”
“Ruby! I have told you. I cannot go against the orders I have been given, no matter how much I may want to! I am sorry for this, I truly am, but you would never have known any of this if you had just -”
“If I had just laid down and died like I was supposed to. Yeah, I get it.”
“What do you want me to say, Ruby?”
Ruby’s breath hitched and she bit her lip, her eyes shining with uncried tears. She wanted him to say that if it happened again, that he would go against his orders and tell her the truth of what was going on. But she knew that he wouldn’t. Like Masato, he needed to obey his orders to the letter, even if it meant sending her or the boys to their deaths. She was so lost in her own pain that she couldn’t see how tortured Ren looked as he watched her struggle with this new knowledge.
“Nothing. There’s nothing more you can say, Ren. I’m going.”
“Yes, I understand. Go get some rest. You look as though you need it after everything you’ve been through.”
“No, I mean I’m leaving. I’m out. I’m done. I can’t do this knowing I can’t trust you when you had me a Job.”
Ren closed his eyes and nodded. “I wish that you would stay, Ruby. At least take the night to sleep on it. Masato and Tsurugi are due back soon, and I’m sure you will want to talk this over with them.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be in my room.”
She shut the door forcefully behind her, waiting until she reached the small guest bedroom she’d called hers for the better part of the year to let herself cry. With the loss of her father still fresh, Ren had fallen into the role and made her believe that she had found family again. But the revelations of the past hour were too much for her to bear. Taking her suitcase and duffel out from under the bed, Ruby started throwing her stuff into them, barely taking the time to fold her clothes or organize her books. It didn’t matter. She needed to get out of there, and she needed to get out fast.
It was only when she heard a car pull up that she stopped and turned off the light. If that was Masato and Tsurugi coming home, she didn’t want them to know that she was back yet. And if Ren told them that she was, she was sure that he would tell them that she was resting and was not to be disturbed until morning, which was fine by her.
The footsteps on the stairs confirmed her suspicions, so while she waited for the boys to settle in and fall asleep, Ruby took out a notebook and pen and started writing. Maybe it was cowardly to leave notes instead of facing them all, but given what she now knew, she wasn’t sure how she could.
By four-thirty in the morning, the house was quiet again and Ruby was all packed up. She left notes for Masato, Tsurugi, and Ren underneath their respective doors and exited the house, ignoring the watchful stare of Kegare from the shadows of the living room. Ruby forced herself to not look back as she drove off into the sunrise, not stopping until she came to a rundown motel several hours away. She handed money over to a front desk clerk who barely even looked up, just took the money and handed her a key. Only once she was in the room did she pop one of the painkillers, laying down on the bed with her phone near her pillow. Although she had no intention of answering if they called, she wondered how they would react to the notes that she had left. They’d wake up soon and discover that she was gone and then…
Well, then she could figure out what was going to happen. After she got some sleep.
Please, please let me be dead.
But if she was in fact dead, she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to hurt this much. Laying on the floor, Ruby exhaled painfully. From somewhere behind her, there was a deep, mocking laugh and she groaned in response.
“You’re a strong one, aren’t you? Poor little Hunter… don’t worry, sweetheart, it’ll all be over soon.”
And for the first time in her life, Ruby hoped he was right. The fight had already given her three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a badly twisted ankle, and a broken hand from him driving a nail through it with a mallet. He’d yanked the nail out just before kicking her to the floor and the wound was bleeding profusely. She tried to haul herself up at least into a sitting position, but the demon kicked her in the side and she rolled over onto her stomach, trying in vain to shield herself from the blows.
“What’s… taking you so long then?” she asked through gritted teeth, trying to get her knees up to take the pressure off her ribs and shoulder. She was answered with another swift kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Coughing, she spat blood out onto the floor.
Internal injuries too. Son of a bitch.
The blood from her mouth mingled with the blood from her hand and she found herself wondering distantly how long it would take for her to bleed out like this. No major arteries had been severed, but she was still losing entirely too much for her own liking.
As if following her train of thought, the demon knelt by her side and took her wrist in his hand, gently drawing a blade over the soft inner flesh. More blood joined the pool on the floor and Ruby began to feel dizzy.
“Oh, darling… don’t you know? Your suffering feeds me. I want to make this last all night… I want you to beg for death at my hands.”
Ruby stared down at the blood running over her hands. If this was her last night on Earth, if this was going to be her final act, then she had to make it count for something. Another Hunter would, someday, have to finish this Job, but Ruby refused to let this thing have the satisfaction of hearing her plead with him to kill her. Slowly, painfully, she forced her injured hand into a fist and squeezed, causing even more blood to trickle down. The demon was laughing again, but Ruby didn’t take much notice. Her focus was on the blood in front of her and on the symbols she was drawing within it.
“Exorcizo te, immundíssime spíritus, omnis incúrsio adversárii, omne phantasma, omnis légio, in nómine Dómini nostri Jesu Christi eradicáre, et effugáre ab hoc plásmate Dei.” The Latin felt awkward on her tongue, but these were words that Ren had driven into her head practically from the day she had begun training with him. She whispered the words, not bothering to look up at the demon who stood transfixed as Ruby’s voice grew stronger and louder. “Ipse tibi ímperat, qui te de supérnis cæaelórum in inferióra terræ demérgi præcépit. Ipse tibi ímperat, qui mari, ventis et tempestátibus imperávit. Audi ergo, et time, sátana, inimice fidei, hostis géneris humáni, mortis addúctor, vitæ raptor, justítiæ declinátor, malórum radix, fomes vitiórum, sedúctor hóminum, incitátor invídiæ, origo avaritiæ, causa discórdiæ, excitátor dolórum: quid stas, et resistis, cum scias, Christum Dóminum vias tuas pérdere?” As she posed the question, Ruby pushed herself up so she was kneeling on the floor and he could see what she had done. Arcane symbols, rendered in her own blood and punctuated by three crosses. The demon shrieked and ran at her, and Ruby quickly yelled the final words of the prayer.
“Recéde ergo in nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti: da locum Spirítui Sancto, per hoc signum sanctæ Crucis Jesu Christi Dómini nostri: Qui cum Patre et eódem Spíritu Sancto vivit et regnat Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum!” Slamming her hand down on top of what she’d drawn, Ruby grinned in victory as white light shot out and enveloped the demon. It was an exorcism, so all it had done was banish the demon temporarily, but it gave her enough time to get to her car and drive back home.
First though, she needed to get moving. Crawling over to a busted up table, Ruby pulled herself and tested her ankle. It couldn’t really hold any weight, but all she needed to do was hobble to the car. It wasn’t far, but the journey seemed to take her hours. By the time she got into the driver’s seat, all she wanted to do was sleep, but her wrist and hand were still bleeding. They were the only injuries she could do anything about, so she opened the glove compartment and dug out an old black bandana to wrap up the wounds. It was a clumsy job, but for the moment, it was enough.
As soon as she pulled onto the road, Ruby knew she shouldn’t have been driving. She was woozy from pain and blood loss and with her injuries it was hard to keep control of the steering wheel, but she bore down on her broken hand to keep herself awake and focused. She needed to get back to Ren and the boys. She needed to make it back home, whatever it took. Even if she was driving erratically and risking her life to do so. She’d already faced down a demon and survived, so how could a drive down a back country road in the California desert be any worse?
When an eighteen wheeler appeared directly in front of her, Ruby knew the answer. She was in the wrong lane, the Mustang having drifted along with her thoughts. The truck honked at her and Ruby swerved off the road completely, aiming the car down into a ditch. The car jerked to a stop and Ruby’s head bounced off the steering wheel.
Mercifully, after that she blacked out.
~~~***~~~
She woke several hours later in a hospital emergency room, with her ribs taped, her shoulder in a sling, and her hand and ankle in braces. There were tubes and wires sticking out of her, which she immediately began removing to the horror of the nurse who was coming in to check on her.
It took far longer than it should have for Ruby to argue them into discharging her. She knew they wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but staying in the hospital risked too many questions. So finally, after arguing with the doctor on duty and with the nurses who had been caring for her, Ruby discharged herself against medical advice and went to go retrieve her car from the lot where it had been taken. Because of the cut on her wrist, the doctors were assuming it was a failed suicide attempt and were looking to keep her for a psychiatric evaluation as well, but she insisted that they were wrong and that she was fine.
Though after getting her car out of the lot and putting herself back on the road to the Kanemoto house, there was a part of her that wondered just how close to the truth the designation of attempted suicide actually was.
~~~***~~~
The lights in the house were off save one - Ren’s office. He must have sent the boys out on a Job, and for that she was thankful. The last thing she needed was Masato’s look of disappointment with her taking liberties with her mission objective, and Tsurugi would have been overly attentive, seeking to tend to her every nonexistent need and swearing revenge on the creature that had done this to her.
Letting herself in, she was surprised to find Kegare on the other side of the door, watching and waiting in the darkness.
“Jesus, Kegare! I hate when you do that.”
“My apologies, Miss Ruby. We were not expecting you. Everything did not go according to plan?” He gestured to her and she glanced down at all the bruising and bandages.
“Yeah, you could say that. I need to talk to Ren.”
“As you wish, miss. He is -”
“- In his office, I know. I saw the light on.”
With a nod to the erstwhile butler, Ruby climbed the stairs slowly, pausing every two or three to catch her breath. The drugs they’d given her at the hospital were still in her pocket, waiting until it was time for her to finally rest from her ordeal. For now, she needed to be alert and able to focus on this discussion.
The door was slightly ajar, but Ruby knocked anyway before entering and she was met with an expression of shock from Ren.
“Ruby?”
“I know, I know. If Kegare ever showed emotion I think he would have had the same reaction. It’s… well, it’s pretty much as bad as it looks. And I didn’t actually fight him to the death. But I mean, I figured better to come back in a couple bruised and battered pieces than not at all, right?”
She attempted to laugh but only winced as her ribs reminded her why that was a poor decision. Ren, however, did not look amused. He was muttering under his breath in what Ruby thought was Japanese, but it was too low and too quick for her to catch it.
“How did you survive?!” he demanded angrily, meeting her eyes in a way that made Ruby wonder if coming back here had been the right decision after all.
“Blood… I was bleeding. I made the marks, I used the prayer you taught me… I… banished him. So he’ll be back. I failed, I know, and I’m sorry,” she told him, her tone pleading. “I know you’re disappointed and this’ll probably mean my test against Masato will be pushed back -”
“You know NOTHING!” he bellowed at her, and Ruby shrank back toward the door. “You don’t have any concept of what you’ve done!”
“Ren?”
“This has completely upset the natural order of things! This was not supposed to happen by any stretch of the imagination!”
“But we can banish demons temporarily as a last-ditch tactic in order to survive, and this was way harder than I thought -”
“It’s not the demon that’s the problem, it’s you! You were not supposed to return from this mission!”
Now it was Ruby’s turn to stare in shock and horror as the implications of Ren’s sudden admission hit her full force. Ren too seemed to regret what he’d just said and the words hung in the air between them.
“I… what?”
“You heard me.”
“Is that why you told me that it was just a simple assignment? Perfect for a rookie, you said! And I get in there and it’s a fucking right-hand-of-Satan level demon!” She was yelling now despite how much it hurt to do so, moving away from Ren.
“I told you what I was told to tell you. Just as you have your orders, so too do I as your Guide.”
“But that’s the point! You’re my Guide! Aren’t you supposed to be the on telling me things like oh by the way, you’re going up against a hellbeast so you might want to prepare yourself or bring some fucking backup! If I’d had Masato and Tsurugi -”
“This was not their assignment. It was yours. And you were told what you needed to know.”
“The hell I was! I knew nothing going in there and according to you I was supposed to have died!”
“I cannot go against the orders I have been given.”
“Why not?! Don’t you give a shit about me at all?”
“Ruby…”
“No, let me finish! You took me into your house, you and Masato and Tsurugi worked with me and trained me and freaking sponsored me for the Order! I know what a big deal that is - Masato told me that you guys rarely do this for outsiders. I’ve been with you guys for almost a year and for what? For you to send me to my death without telling me?”
“Do you think that this is something I wanted to see happen?”
“Looks that way to me since you sent me flying blind on a suicide mission!”
“Ruby! I have told you. I cannot go against the orders I have been given, no matter how much I may want to! I am sorry for this, I truly am, but you would never have known any of this if you had just -”
“If I had just laid down and died like I was supposed to. Yeah, I get it.”
“What do you want me to say, Ruby?”
Ruby’s breath hitched and she bit her lip, her eyes shining with uncried tears. She wanted him to say that if it happened again, that he would go against his orders and tell her the truth of what was going on. But she knew that he wouldn’t. Like Masato, he needed to obey his orders to the letter, even if it meant sending her or the boys to their deaths. She was so lost in her own pain that she couldn’t see how tortured Ren looked as he watched her struggle with this new knowledge.
“Nothing. There’s nothing more you can say, Ren. I’m going.”
“Yes, I understand. Go get some rest. You look as though you need it after everything you’ve been through.”
“No, I mean I’m leaving. I’m out. I’m done. I can’t do this knowing I can’t trust you when you had me a Job.”
Ren closed his eyes and nodded. “I wish that you would stay, Ruby. At least take the night to sleep on it. Masato and Tsurugi are due back soon, and I’m sure you will want to talk this over with them.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be in my room.”
She shut the door forcefully behind her, waiting until she reached the small guest bedroom she’d called hers for the better part of the year to let herself cry. With the loss of her father still fresh, Ren had fallen into the role and made her believe that she had found family again. But the revelations of the past hour were too much for her to bear. Taking her suitcase and duffel out from under the bed, Ruby started throwing her stuff into them, barely taking the time to fold her clothes or organize her books. It didn’t matter. She needed to get out of there, and she needed to get out fast.
It was only when she heard a car pull up that she stopped and turned off the light. If that was Masato and Tsurugi coming home, she didn’t want them to know that she was back yet. And if Ren told them that she was, she was sure that he would tell them that she was resting and was not to be disturbed until morning, which was fine by her.
The footsteps on the stairs confirmed her suspicions, so while she waited for the boys to settle in and fall asleep, Ruby took out a notebook and pen and started writing. Maybe it was cowardly to leave notes instead of facing them all, but given what she now knew, she wasn’t sure how she could.
By four-thirty in the morning, the house was quiet again and Ruby was all packed up. She left notes for Masato, Tsurugi, and Ren underneath their respective doors and exited the house, ignoring the watchful stare of Kegare from the shadows of the living room. Ruby forced herself to not look back as she drove off into the sunrise, not stopping until she came to a rundown motel several hours away. She handed money over to a front desk clerk who barely even looked up, just took the money and handed her a key. Only once she was in the room did she pop one of the painkillers, laying down on the bed with her phone near her pillow. Although she had no intention of answering if they called, she wondered how they would react to the notes that she had left. They’d wake up soon and discover that she was gone and then…
Well, then she could figure out what was going to happen. After she got some sleep.
~~~***~~~
Masato -
I know you won't understand why I'm doing this, so it may be pointless to even put this down on paper. But I have to try. Truth is, I'm not the hunter you thought I was. I can't just wait around for orders from on high. I have to be out there, going after leads for myself. I'm forever grateful that you agreed to sponsor me alongside your father, and I'm sorry that it's ending this way. I know you'll be disappointed, but know that I have my reasons for doing what I'm doing and that I truly believe this is the right thing for me to do. Goodbye.
~Ruby~~~***~~~
Ren -
After everything that's happened, I wish I could have done this in person, but I don't trust myself to get through it without completely breaking down. So this will have to suffice. When Masato and Tsurugi brought me here, I wasn't expecting that you three would become like family to me. I knew of you through my father's writings, and I thought you and I would be acquaintances at best. In the last year though, you have become like a second father to me, and having you has helped me not only as a hunter, but as a person. Losing my dad was the worst thing that's ever happened to me, and taking up his work helped me feel more connected to him. So to have someone who knew him take me under his wing to train me as a hunter meant everything to me. You helped keep him alive for me at a time when I was afraid that I would start to forget things about him. You trained me, gave me a place to live, and taught me what it was to be a hunter. After today, though... I realize I can't do this. I can't be in a situation where I'm constantly second guessing you and wondering if what you're telling me is the truth or what you were ordered to say. If I'm going to be taking orders from someone, I need to be able to trust them, and I don't know how I can trust you again. I know that I said that I would take the night to sleep on it, but I don't think another few hours of tossing and turning in my bed is going to change my mind. Thank you for opening up your home and your family to me. I'll miss you and the boys more than I could possibly say.
Always,
Ruby~~~***~~~
Tsurugi -
I have a feeling that you're going to read this after Masato reads the note I wrote him. But to you, maybe I can explain why this is happening. You know I've had doubts from the beginning about whether or not what we're doing as Hunters is the right thing. And even though you were always there to reassure me and help me get through some of the toughest parts of this past year, I don't think you can do that anymore. The doubts have grown too strong. So I'm going back out on my own. I know you were really looking forward to seeing me make it through training and join the Order, but I can't. I'm not the kind of person that's cut out for this life and I hate that things fell out the way they did, but I've spoken to your dad about it and this is the only choice I feel I have now. You and Masato have been my best friends and brothers for the last year and I can never adequately put into words how much that’s meant to me. Take care of yourself, Tsurugi, and stay safe. Je t'aime, mon frère.
Yours,
Ruby
Demons.
We’ve all got them. They take different shapes, they attack different parts of ourselves, but in the end, they’re all there.
Waiting.
Waiting for that first sign of weakness.
See, Kevin, you talk a lot about your demons. Your pain, your loss, your need for love and some kind of affection. And you know what?
I understand it, more than you realize.
Let me take a moment to tell you about a girl who lost her father too soon, in a stupid accident that could have been avoided. After that, she took up his mantle and his mission, using his contacts and his writings to continue solving mysteries. That path lead her to another man, a man who took her into his house and gave her the training and the tools she needed to succeed in her mission. More than that, he gave her a second family - two brothers, one older, one younger.
And she turned her back on all of them for her own self-preservation.
Leaving them behind brought me to some dark places. Granted, so did being with them, but it’s a lot easier to lose yourself if you don’t have anyone around to remind you of what’s important. They helped keep me grounded when I felt like my world was spinning off its axis and without them, it took a lot longer for me to find my hope and my strength again.
It’s almost funny, in a way. Over these past few months, Kevin, you and I have traded barbs and blows back and forth. I’ve tried to take the high road with you too, because I’ve gotten to know you so well and I can’t shake the feeling that inside of you, there is something worth saving. I’ve watched you, I’ve listened to you… I feel like I know you much more intimately than I’ve ever known another opponent.
And here we are, in another battle for the belt you love so dearly. The belt that I won from you last month, the belt that nearly cost me my voice, if not my life.
That’s the second time, Kevin, that you’ve cost me my health and come dangerously close to costing me my life as well.
So this time, it’s personal. I know that belt is on the line, and so do you. But I think for both of us now, it’s about more than the San Diego Bay Championship.
This is about reaching down deep and tearing you apart, knocking you down until you can’t get back up again and showing you that no matter how many times you try and bring me down, I will always get back up again. And in the process? I will fucking destroy you.
Because you see, Kevin, with the constant attacks and your apparent desire to remove me as a threat to your precious Family, you’ve somehow made things even worse for yourself. There is a part of me that I buried a long time ago, a part that I never thought I would want to reach for again.
It took you - Kevin Hardaway, the violent psychotic First Son of the Family - to unleash that in me. Thanks to you, I’ve rediscovered my killer instinct. The thrill of the hunt, the utter satisfaction that comes with knowing that you have your target right where you want them before you go in for the lethal blow… I’d forgotten how utterly intoxicating that can be.
I remember now, though. And I’ll remember right up until I’ve given you that final blow with a chair and beaten you so badly that you can’t move. I didn’t want to have to go to these lengths the last time. I didn’t want the world to see the true power and joy a Huntress takes in going in for the kill.
Looks like that’s what it’s going to be though. If I want to win this match - and trust me, I do - I’m gonna have to dig deep and bring out all that ugliness that I’ve kept locked away for so long. And you know something?
God, it’s gonna feel so fucking good.
To finally, finally end this thing between us.
To put you in your place, once and for all.
To take that next step toward my ultimate goal of dismantling your entire Family, starting with you and working all the way up to your precious Allmother. I will lay every single one of you to waste and when I have…
That’s when you and I will finally be through with one another, sweetheart.
So on Monday night, I dare you to do your worst. Pull out every single one of your tricks, hit me harder than you’ve ever hit anyone in this ring before.
Because that’s what I’ll be doing to you. And I won’t settle for anything less than your absolute worst, baby.