[hider=Edgy introduction stuff]Ruby shuddered, then suddenly buckled backwards and let out a ragged, sharp gasp. She started shivering and started slowly opening her eyes, taking in the sight of the atrium. All was quiet. The silence was [i]almost[/i] tangible. Ruby set her left hand on the cool stone floor and pushed herself to her feet, though her legs had a mind of their own and kept giving out under her. She staggered for a few moments before she caught her fall with her shield, leaning all of her weight onto it. The shield cracked the stone of the floor under it, and the solid [i]thunk-c-crack[/i] from the impact resonated through the room. Once again, Ruby was racked with violent shivers and wrapped her white cloak from Nera tightly around herself, staring at the fine white mist slowly gathering around her as she breathed. The Ruby in her chest glowed the soft orange color of fear and anticipation, and she finally glanced around her. Bodies everywhere. Strewn about like a child's playthings. One with three eyes, one clutching an anchor, one with a large pillar, one yet grasping a bow... Were they dead? Was Ruby about to become one of the corpses? Where is the blood if they had just died? Ruby's breathing became frantic, and she started hunching over as she leaned on her shield. [i]Wait, no... That's not right.[/i] The soft orange glow slowly became the green glow of recollection and confidence. [i]The horned goddess sent us here... Lost souls, to serve her, to fight for her... These are the people I was just with, up there.[/i] Ruby cast her glance up, though, and there was nothing but the unforgiving stone ceiling of the atrium. "I guess I'm alone, then.." She sighed. This was an all too familiar feeling. Ruby staggered to the nearest person, kneeling down next to them. "You are the... three eye.. guy? Girl? I could find out for sure..." She grinned like a wolf and shook her head. Ruby patted its face lightly, then rubbed its cheek and booped their nose. Nothing. "Some sort of voodoo spooky magic sleep, or something, I guess? Why did I have to wake up first? It's so uncomfortable, cold, and.. lonely.." Ruby looked away, trailing off into a long tangent, staring as its chest slowly rose and fell, as the coating of slime squiggled around and oozed on top of its clothing. Eventually, she got up and inspected everyone around, hoping someone would wake up soon. They didn't. On the bright side, some of these people were some [i]real[/i] eye candy. Without really thinking about it, Ruby licked her lips. She turned around from the corpses, deciding to go walk down one of the hallways. Now, there was that spooky staircase... Though, that was spooky, and a staircase, so Ruby decided against that one. Then there was the path to the east, but that one was musty and smelled like books and corpses. To the north was the glowy passage, but light is bad, and being lit by light without other people is worse, so Ruby avoided that one, too. To the south was a tight, small hallway that winded down into the dark depths below. To the west, though... To the west was a wide, colossal hallway, dimly light by the light of the atrium, but beyond that was true darkness. Ruby felt compelled to go down that one, and before she knew it, she was off, her feet taking her where her heart desired. As she set off, the gemstone above her breasts glowed the soft purple light of adventure and lust. [/hider] [hr] [hider=good ol' transition] Ruby surrendered to her thoughts in the hallway, thinking about an endless number of things, but mostly her past. She idly kept walking, mainly as an excuse to just get away from it all, as if to shun what was really happening as some bad dream. It's not like this sort of thing happened to real people, right? This back-and-forth questioning with herself went on for ages as she tried to explore how she really felt, where she was going, and what was even happening. But only one thought stopped her in her tracks. [i]Have I died?[/i] Ruby was stopped when she hit a wall head-on, falling backwards onto her shield. This stone wall was the end of the line- at least for now. She needed to get back to the group of people anyway, being alone for so long was starting to creep in to more and more of her self questions, and she felt more paranoid by the second. About halfway down the hallway, though, the sound of voices spurred her on to go and join in with the other people. [/hider] [hr] [hider= The useful part of the post] Just as she came back into the light of the atrium, her vision went straight to the fight happening in front of her. Ruby closed her eyes, breathing deeply, trying to drown out the noise of the conflict. But she couldn't. The conflict lived inside of her, burning like fire through her veins. She wanted nothing more than to run in and bust some heads open, and she could barely keep herself from running in. After a bit, she opened her eyes, seeing the girl with the whip sword struggling to attack... the ceiling? There was a man with a hand cannon nearby, blasting at two of their fellow souls, and she was fighting the architecture. [i]Nothing good can come of this.. You're going to collapse this building onto yourself.. You're going to die..[/i] Ruby sprinted, awkwardly hobbling as the shield randomly scraped the ground and otherwise impeded her progress. [i]Don't die, don't die...[/i] The girl with the whip sword succeeded in ripping the roof apart, only to collapse to the ground, writhing in pain. [i]Don't FUCKING die![/i] Time slowed to a crawl as Ruby doubled her efforts, more resolved than ever to stop the ceiling from getting a killstreak. As she crossed the last few feet, she crouched down low, bracing her shield above her head as she ran into the falling rubble. [i]DON'T FUCKING DIE![/i] Ruby's gemstone flashed the blinding scarlet red of self-hatred and regret. Suddenly, time sped back up, and she dropped down next to Isabelle and planted her shield into the floor behind her, the spikes on the outside facing the collapsing hallway. Rocks the size of her head barraged the shield, causing it to slam into her back. Ruby strained to keep the shield up, each breath coming out ragged and agonizing. The muscles in her arm protested against the weight they were holding up, and as she looked into the tortured eyes of the girl on the floor in front of her, Ruby drew in a deep, final breath. She hooked her arm under Isabelle, wrapping her arm around her waist, and pulled her close towards her. In the next instant, Ruby felt the power of her grim determination pushing her on. Ruby un-anchored the shield, buckling under the weight of the rubble that dropped down. But she pressed on, walking slowly with Isabelle on one arm, their only protection from the rocks on the other arm. Ruby crossed the ten or so feet back into the main atrium room at a snail's pace, patiently and painfully getting there, one step at a time. When she and Isabelle were finally out of the danger zone for rubble, she dropped Isabelle and collapsed, aching all over and completely exhausted. Ruby's shield was still part of her arm, though, so it draped over Ruby like a lean-to. Ruby closed her eyes, blocking out everything in the world except for the soft blue glow of satisfaction and fulfillment. [/hider] [hr]