Truth and Lies - Part 2

"Ruby?!" Sakura swiftly turned around when she heard the voice.

Ruby had slowly sat up from the bed, holding her head in pain.

"What...What happened? How did we get here?"

Ruby was shocked when Sakura suddenly threw her arms around her. Her eyes glowed with a glint of red for a few moments, before she shook her head.

"Ruby I'm so sorry. I have...so much to tell you"

Sakura slowly let go of Ruby to give her space, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"To be honest," Sakura swallowed hard in fear, would her best friend still trust her after this? "I'm-"

"Not human?" Ruby had cut off Sakura before she could finish her sentence.

"How...how did you know?"

"I've known you for how long now? I know when something is wrong with you, and you've been anything but normal. I followed you the day you ran home, saying you had forgotten something. I saw through the window how much pain you were in...what you had to do. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I...was so scared you'd be afraid of me. You're the only one I have."

"We made a promise Sakura, remember? No matter what challenges the future brings, we'll stick together till the end? I don't see this as the end."

"I remember...you're not mad? not scared?"

"I only wish you would have told me earlier, we could have tackled this together."

Sakura stayed silent for a moment, Ruby's words sinking to her core. She's right, Sakura was in the wrong for not trusting her. After all, they had been through, why didn't she just trust Ruby?

Sakuras train of thought was broken when Ruby grasped her chest in pain.

"I feel so...hungry?"

"Ruby I'm...I'm so sorry. I did what I had to do to save you, you're like me now because of it..."

"Like you? You mean..."

"Yes, A monster, I'm sorry."

Ruby didn't quite know how to feel about that. She was thankful for Sakura saving her, but this was something entirely different. Her words couldn't quite describe the conflict within. All she could do was wrap her arms around Sakura, and cry her eyes out.

-- March 5th, 2075--

The buildings went whizzing past as Agent Autumn sped down the road on her motorcycle. The school was another 20...no 30 miles away. She leaned herself down to become more streamlined, speeding up until she heard a monstrous scream nearby.

"Another attack, in broad daylight? Disciple just what is your plans."

Quickly she drifted around the corner, pulling onto a side road and rolling up to where she thought she had heard the scream.

Stepping off the bike, she checked to make sure she was equipped. Light Suppressing rounds were loaded, all looked good. She switched on the small emergency beacon attached to her watch to signal an attack, and to signal if she were to, unfortunately, fail her mission.

Autumn walked down a dark alley, surveying the surroundings until she came to the remains of a horrid sight. In the dead-end of the alley the walls were painted red with blood, something definitely had been here.

Suddenly there was a thud behind her, as autumn turned around to stare up at the creature towering over her. It was large, almost 12 feet tall, with long clawed arms that dragged along the floor. It looked to be made of black smoke, all except for its gaping fiery maw in its head. It raised its hand to swipe at Autumn, but she was quick to the draw. The bang of her gun firing pierced through the air, followed by the screech of the creature.

Autumn smiled a devious smile as she switched her gun firing mode, and pulled the trigger. A blast of light emanated from the barrel, sucking the weakened creature in until there was nothing left. Autumn ejected the filled canister from below the barrel and reloaded it with an empty one, slotting the filled one in her bag along with hundreds of others.

Autumn started to laugh maniacally, as she holstered her gun.

"How foolish you are Mr. Cross! Your time in the spotlight as the leader of the Red Moon Seekers is coming to a swift end. Do you think I'm going to just investigate your daughter? I know what I saw, I saw a monster!"

Autumn took a moment to catch her breath, before continuing to speak to herself.

"I'm going to kill her, then I'll expose that secret to everyone! You'll have no choice but to hand over the keys...to me. Out of respect for you as my mentor though, I'll give her a quick painless death just like that shadow."

Autumn hopped back up onto her bike, kickstarting it with one swift kick. The engine growled with a ferocity only shared by Autumn herself. She peeled away from the alley now, heading back onto the main road. She grinned wildly as her hair blew in the wind, it was all going according to her plan.

--

Sakura could only console ruby as she cried, it seemed like hours had passed before Ruby had gone quiet. Ruby slowly let go, rubbing the dried tears from her eyes.

"We'll be okay," Ruby convinced herself, "You and I will stick together until the end...no matter what."

"Yes, No matter what..." Sakura responded, "I'm going to go get us something, stay here."

Sakura got up from the bed and went to her parent's room. She pulled open the medkit, grabbing the two remaining bags of Blood Substitute. She walked back into her room, giving one of the bags to Ruby. Ruby looked at, with a hint of disgust.

"Don't worry," Sakura said as she tore open the bag, "It's tasteless."

Ruby seemed hesitant still but opened up the bag. The two of them gulped it down within seconds.

"Do you feel better now?" Sakura asked.

"A little, the hunger is gone at least."

The two sat now in silence staring at the floor until Sakura started to hum. Ruby's closed her eyes when she heard the song, as her memories flooded back. They used to sing that song every second of every day when they were young, it annoyed their babysitters so much. Slowly Ruby found herself singing along to Sakura's humming.

The two started to sing together in sync, despite everything that had happened, their friendship...

Could never be erased...