Shades of Gray and Crimson -- Chapter Two: Holiday
Author’s Note: This is a post-SV bunny that has been lurking in the corners of my brain for quite some time. And of course where there’s one, there’s more - so there are likely to be more chapters in this story arc. This chapter occurs a few months after the botched heist (May of Year 2), probably around late August or Early September of Year 2.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, its characters, or the world they live in. I am only borrowing them for the sake of entertainment. The other “Sues” depicted or mentioned in this work are the property of their creators, my fellow Supervillianess, Inc. authors. Ruby is mine, for good or ill. We make no money from this work.
Chapter Two: Holiday
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
Ruby pried an eyelid open to glare at the alarm clock. She reached for it and missed, groaning as her body protested the motion. It took two more tries, each just a little less clumsy than the last before she silenced the thing. She sat up, drawing her knees upwards to slump into a loose ball of sore muscles and fuzzy memories. A small tray sat beside the clock holding a glass of orange juice and a bottle of Tylenol. The side of the glass was beaded with condensation.
Which meant…
“Oh, fuck. What did I do?” She scrubbed at her face and pushed snarled hair back over her shoulders. The room didn’t just smell of sex, it reeked. She could smell the scent of soap drifting through the bathroom door, but there was no sound of water. No sound of life, actually. He was gone. But he hadn’t been gone long. “Shit. Oh shit.”
Memory came back in disjointed flashes as she reached for the bottle of pills and the juice. Wine. They’d had wine with dinner and they had talked. The balcony. She’d tried to climb inside his mouth and drag him down right there beneath the stars.
She swallowed two pills and downed the juice. Then she started pulling herself together. She didn’t hear him. She thought he was gone, but she should check. Right? She stumbled, her legs protesting as she put her feet to the floor. Room by room she padded naked through the condo finding bits of her clothing discarded here and there. Like breadcrumbs left by a careless child. He’d left a plate with crumbs on it in the sink and a glass with a few drops of juice in it, too. There were damp towels hanging on the towel bar in the bathroom and the shower was still slightly warm. Everywhere she went, there was a sense of his having been there just moments ago.
He’d snooped. There was no tangible proof, but she could feel it just like she could still feel his fingers skimming along her spine. Or feel his mouth nibbling along her jaw. Or feel his cock driving up into her. They’d fucked on the floor in the living room, her on top, riding him. The memory was a visceral thing, tightening things low in her body and making her knees weak. Her power gave a sleepy purr of contentment, curling about the memory like a cat full of cream.
That brought her wandering to a complete stop. More memories followed, like beads on a string. He’d spread her out on the loveseat, hands curved under her ass to lift her up to his mouth while he’d fed at her until she’d screamed for him. The hallway, where he’d stood with her legs wrapped around his waist, body pumping into hers while the walls shook. In the bedroom, not on the bed, but bent over it, her fingers knotted into the burgundy colored spread. On the bed at last, his weight pinning her down while he took his time nibbling and sucking until she begged him to fuck her.
She closed her eyes and pressed her palms against her eyelids. She’d completely lost it last night. Lost all control. And he’d kept it. In the face of all that lust and power gone wild, he’d restrained himself and her. She was sore but not broken, not even really bruised. The only things out of place were her clothes and the bedding. He’d picked up after himself, even.
And he was gone. Not forever. Just for now. He hadn’t wanted to face her. But he must have waited. He’d stayed until morning with her, and then left just before the alarm. Guilty. And that was just as well, because she didn’t want to face him either. Not now. Not yet. She’d say not ever, but to have the starving thing inside her full to the brim and content -- that was too much a relief. She wondered if he felt the same.
Her stomach growled and she debated between breakfast and a shower. The shower won and by the time she finished, she was humming to herself. Donuts and coffee would do nicely. Donuts filled with strawberry jelly and coffee laced heavily with sugar and cream. If she hurried, she had just enough time to pick them up and make it to the library on time. Wouldn’t do to be late on her last day. Miss Morrison was due back from her maternity leave tomorrow and would no doubt be by with the little bundle of joy. Better not forget the little red box with its tiny red dress inside.
Every girl needed a red dress, didn’t they? Best to start things off right. She was smiling by the time she hit the street. It was hard to be anything less than content when her power was so well fed.
~*~
The contentment lasted throughout the day and into the early evening as she began to pack. She wouldn’t take much. The condo was hers and was always just a mirror away. It was quiet, only the sounds of her own movement breaking the stillness. Her work in this city was done for the time being. And she’d prefer to be gone before Logan got over his guilt enough to return.
She was in the middle of packing her suitcase when the distant roar of surf and the scent of salt breezes filled the room. She stopped, dropping the armful of red and gray fabric into the open case. She turned her eyes to the large gilt-edged mirror that hung on the wall between the closet and the bathroom. Not on the back of the door. Never that, the figure that was forming in the mirror might take it as a slight. The scent and sound of ocean grew to a soft crescendo as the woman in the mirror grew distinct and three-dimensional. She was smiling, her clothes modern and fashionable, a chic white dress shot through with threads of gold. Her hair gleamed gold in a sun that couldn’t be seen and her ocean-colored eyes sparkled with good humor.
“My little gem. Packing, I see. Very good.”
“I’m done here, at least for now.” Ruby smoothed back a stray lock of hair. “And I’ve been found. It’s a good time to move on.”
The goddess nodded and smiled. “I am well pleased with the work you’ve done here. I expect it to bear fruit in good time.”
“Good. I hope so. There were more potentials here than I expected.” Ruby drifted closer to the mirror. She reached out to touch the edge, tracing the whorls of gilt-covered metal. “My goddess, the power…my control…”
“I know, child.” The immortal’s voice was gentle and the sound of surf faded. “It must be fed. You cannot simply put it on a shelf like a book you’ve finished reading.”
“I know. But it is asking a lot of Kurt to accept all this.” Her fingers continued to trace the curves and whorls around the mirror’s edge.
“Are you asking me to take back my gift?” The pounding of the surf grew louder.
“No! No, my goddess. I would never disrespect you like that.” She looked up anxiously into the mirror. “I am your creature. I am… I suppose I’m asking for your advice.”
“My advice?” The goddess laughed, a soft, intimate sound meant for long nights spent with a secret lover. “Take a holiday. Take your lover to the little house by the sea and enjoy yourselves. Talk. Make love. Forget for a while.”
“A holiday? I’m not needed somewhere else?”
“No. Not by me.” The image behind the goddess changed from the reflection of Ruby’s bedroom to a view of the ocean. A view Ruby knew well. It was the view from the balcony where the Goddess had first appeared to her. “Go there, Ruby. Be just Ruby and Kurt for a time. None shall find you there or offer you harm.”
“A safe haven?” Ruby’s spirits lifted at the thought. “Just the two of us?”
“Three days. Surely his people can spare him for that long.”
“Three days.” Ruby nodded and smiled. “Yes. Thank you, my Goddess. Thank you.”
“Three days. And when it is done, you will know where to go next.” The woman in the mirror returned her smile. Then she faded away with a roar of surf and a fresh burst of sea-scented air. The mirror fogged over and when the fog cleared, it showed simply Ruby’s bedroom again.
“A holiday.” Ruby grinned at her own reflection. “A real one. With Kurt.”
~*~
“Ruby? Liebchen? Where have you been?” Kurt’s astonishment at finding Ruby’s face in the bathroom mirror was quickly replaced with concern. “It has been weeks…”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She spoke softly. It wouldn’t do for anyone to hear them talking. Though why someone else would be in his room, she wasn’t sure. “I’ve been working. And thinking. And missing you.”
“I have missed you as well.” He wiped at the mirror with a towel so that he could see her better. “And just what have you been thinking?”
“That we need some time together. Just the two of us. I have a place by the sea. Very private. Can you get some time off?”
“How much time?” He returned to drying himself off with the towel. She’d caught him as he was climbing out of the shower, dripping wet, his wet fur darkened to nearly black. This was the only time when she could truly see the lines of his body without the subtle softening of fur over muscle. It made her breath catch and her heart beat faster.
“Three days.” She leaned closer to the mirror, pressing her palm against the glass. She lifted the chain with its coin from inside her blouse with the other. She let it dangle where it would catch the light. “I’ve been given a holiday.”
“Ah.” It was more an exhalation than a word. He nodded. He understood. “I will ask. Then I will meet you at the café.”
“I’ll be there.” She let the mirror go, letting it return to it’s normal state. She had just a few more things to pack…
~*~
There he was. She knew him, even under the holographic disguise he used at times like these. It was hard to miss Errol Flynn in the afternoon sunshine. She watched patiently from behind the glass until the server left him alone with his coffee. Then she stepped through the mirrored-glass window into the little cobblestone courtyard. She sat down across from him where a second cup sat, the liquid warm and frothy and smelling of cinnamon. She picked it up and took a sip, savoring the mix of bitter and sweet.
“Ruby.” He smiled at her and the smile was his, even if the face was not.
“One day someone’s going to question the disguise, Kurt.” She returned the smile.
“Then at least I’ll know I’ve met another fan.” He winked and reached for her hand. She let him take it. “You look well. More relaxed than when I last saw you, liebchen.”
“I’m just happy to be able to spend some time with you. This job wasn’t too bad. I actually got to be a librarian again. It felt good.”
“You miss it?”
“Sometimes.” She sighed and squeezed his hand. “I never stopped loving the books or the job.”
“Ruby…”
“Please, don’t. I don’t want to spend this holiday arguing about things I can’t change. Your god might be all about forgiveness, but mine… I can’t just ask her to take it back.”
“Would it hurt to ask?”
“She could take it back. All of it.” Including Ruby’s life. Or the love of the man in front of her. She lifted the ancient coin from within her blouse and twirled it on the end of the chain. “She’s been generous. Incredibly generous.”
“So nothing changes.”
“For now. But if things work out as they should maybe I won’t have to carry the burden alone for too much longer.”
“Ah. So that is what you have been doing. Recruiting.”
“More or less.” She sipped her coffee. “There’s parts you wouldn’t like. So I’d rather just skip them, OK?” Like fucking his teammate. He knew what she was, what she did. And so far, he’d been willing to let it go as long as she didn’t give him too many details. No lying. Not really. Just not over-sharing.
“All right. For now.” He sipped his own coffee. They sat together, holding hands, watching the occasional pedestrian walk past the café.
They finished their coffee, then he left a few bills on the table. He picked up the small suitcase that sat next to his chair. After a quick look around to check for witnesses, Ruby took him by the hand. She pulled him with her, reaching for their reflections, giving a little mental twist of magic that would turn the glass into a portal. They stepped through the window into a bedroom. It was done in soft shades of gray and blue with just a few touches of red here and there: a red throw pillow on the bed, a burgundy afghan draped across the chair in the corner, and a vase of with a single red rose.
“Where are we?” He asked, setting the suitcase down and looking around. He let go of her hand to walk toward a pair of French doors. Soft blue sheers did little to hide the ocean view. Outside was a balcony that over-looked the shore. Here, next to the house, it was a rocky shore, where the ocean growled at the stony earth, slowly wearing away at it.
“The west coast. I’ve had this place for years, but I haven’t used it much in a long time.” Ruby followed him to open the doors and let the breeze in. It was cool with more than a hint of autumn riding on it. She stepped out onto the balcony and he followed. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You can turn it off. No one will see us here.”
“How can you be sure? I can see houses in the distance.” He nodded to the left where there was a row of similar houses. “If we can see them, they can see us.”
“She’s promised us a safe haven, Kurt. If they do see us, they won’t notice us as long as we stay here. She said, ‘be just Ruby and Kurt’. I’m sure.”
“Very well. I am tired of hiding.” He touched the watch at his wrist and his image shimmered for a moment, vanishing to reveal his true, blue self. “Is this better?”
“Oh yes, much better.” Ruby smiled and wrapped her arms around him, savoring the feel of his body next to hers. “I’m really more of a Kurt Wagner fan than an Errol Flynn one.”
He laughed.
It was a good holiday. A lovely one. They watched the sun set from her balcony wrapped in each other’s arms under that burgundy afghan. They made love in every room of the little beach house, taking the time to trace each line and curve of the other’s body. They shared simple meals by the fireplace or grilled on the little grill on the balcony. The watched movies together or read side by side. They walked hand in hand down the beach far enough that they could see a few neighbors on their own balconies. But they turned around before they reached hailing distance.
For two days and two nights, they talked about safe subjects. Movies, books, the weather. But as their third day passed from morning to afternoon, the talk grew more serious.
“I wish we could stay here forever.” Ruby sighed and snuggled into the curve of his arm. They lay curled in a nest of cushions and blankets on the living room floor where they could enjoy the fire in the fireplace. The salt-sea breezes held a hint of the winter to come. Too bad they wouldn’t be there for it.
“I would miss my friends, my teammates. They are like family to me.” He ran his thick fingers through her hair, lifting it and letting the strands drop slowly to fan over her shoulders. “Is there no one you would miss? No friends? No family?”
“My family hardly misses me, so why should I miss them?” Ruby sighed and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. “And my friends? Other than the other members of Supervillianess, Inc., I don’t have any.”
“You would not miss them?”
“I suppose I would.” She continued her rubbing as she thought about it. She did actually miss them. She’d distanced herself from them as much as from him as she’d tried to sort things out. She’d kept so many secrets, some because she had to and some because it was so much a part of her.
There had been times where she’d been so tempted to spill all. But how would they react to know that she’d seen so far into their hearts so early? They would be convinced she’d orchestrated the whole thing. Not much of a stretch considering her patron. But if she’d had a part, it was an unwitting one. Not that she wouldn’t put it past Aphrodite. No, she hadn’t deliberately helped matters along. But she had been forbidden from interfering in any substantial way.
“Ruby?” She’d been quiet too long.
“Sorry. Thinking too much. We should be making the most of the time we have left.” She reached out to caress his face, but he caught her hand.
“No. That is not Ruby. That is the Siren. She would rather seduce than talk.”
“Kurt…”
“Tell me the things that I would not like to hear, Ruby. Tell me why I cannot take you back home with me. Tell me the truths that you hide behind your kisses and mirror tricks.”
“Please, Kurt. I don’t want to spoil this time together.” It was The Talk. The one she’d know was coming but still hoped not to have.
“We have had our time together. It has been a wonderful holiday, liebchen. But the world outside still waits for us and we can’t simply ignore it.” His tone was gentle, but firm.
“OK. Fine.” She sighed heavily. “I stayed away because I wanted to see if I could control it. I wanted to test my limits. I know you don’t like sharing me.”
“I have not asked you for monogamy. I have watched you and seen what your powers can do. And what they can do to you.”
“No. You haven’t, Kurt. Not really. I myself only suspected what might happen. Now that I know I won’t let it go that far again.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Celibacy, Kurt. I was managing it for the most part. Until he found me. I’m not sure how he found me, but he did.” She paused, her eyes playing over his face, watching his reaction. How would he take it? Not well. How could he? But he wanted the truth and that was what she would give him. “It wanted him and I couldn’t stop it. I guess it was lucky that it was him and not a random stranger. There are parts I can’t even remember, Kurt.”
The man beside her let out an explosive sigh. “That is where he went. He has been acting strangely and disappearing for days at a time.”
“That’s funny, that’s almost exactly what he said about you. Except that you would come back smelling like me.” She angled her head to better study his face. “Are you angry? I would have run, but I think that would have just made him more… I don’t know. Determined?”
“Hmm…” His eyes were fixed on the ceiling and his features were set in hard lines. His body was no longer relaxed. It was tense, full of coiled energy. She started to pull away, but his arm tightened around her. “You are right. These are parts that I do not like.”
“I’m sorry, Kurt. I really am. I won’t leave myself that vulnerable again. I’ll keep moving.” Her eyes were beginning to prickle with the threat of tears.
“He is hunting you.” He turned his head to look at her. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” Ruby’s eyes were wide in a useless attempt to keep the tears from falling. “No. He had more control than I did this time. When I woke up in the morning I didn’t have a mark on me.”
“He knows you are mine.” There was a shadow of the jealous fury that possessed him before, during his captivity. “We will have words.”
“Please don’t do anything rash.” She clung to him. “Don’t. I’m not sure if it was my powers or Rose’s experiments or the pheromones. But I think maybe he’s developed some kind of addiction to us. It could have been one of the other girls, maybe. But I’m the most accessible.”
“The easiest target.” He growled. “He will try again. I know him.”
“I’ll run next time.”
“No. You are right. It will only arouse his instincts more.” Kurt slowly relaxed and resumed playing with her hair. “I remember what he did to you that first time. Do not try his control. Especially if you are alone. I will speak to him and we will see.”
“I don’t understand, Kurt. He’s your friend, but the way you are talking about him…”
“He is my friend. But he is a dangerous man, Ruby. I have seen him struggle with his instincts and his rages. If what has happened has weakened his control…”
“He didn’t hurt, me. Really, Kurt. He wasn’t like he was at the lair.”
“You are sure?”
“You’ve touched every inch of me, Kurt. Not a mark on me.” Ruby shifted, rolling over him so that her weight rested on his body. She propped her chin on her folded hands and met his gaze. “Don’t ruin a friendship over me.”
“Ruby.” He studied her face, his amber gaze steady. He played with her hair again, stroking it back from her face. “Logan has done far worse in his time than anything you’ve dreamed of doing. Remy has been a thief and worse. My own hands are not as clean as you seem to think. There are too many of us who have no room to throw stones. Come back with me.”
“Oh, Kurt.” Ruby sighed heavily and lowered her head to rest her cheek on his chest. “Love really is blind sometimes. You see the best in them and you really think they’ll see the best in me.”
“Why shouldn’t they?”
“Because they have no reason to. I took away people they cared about or even loved. I did bad things to them. I’ve slept with practically half the team - it would be a mess, Kurt. Not only would they think I’ve been mind-fucking you all along, they’d be afraid that I’ll go right ahead and mind-fuck the others, too. Or just fuck them. Hell, with Logan it would even be true.”
“Ruby!” His protest was both automatic and heartfelt. “In time they would see that it is not true.”
“If they gave me the time.” Ruby wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tight enough to make him grunt. “I don’t belong, Kurt. Please tell me you aren’t having delusions of my joining up? What am I supposed to do? Fuck for the greater good? Seduce supervillains into giving up their evil ways?”
“No.” He gave a rueful chuckle. “No. That, even I can’t see. But I don’t like this hiding, this sneaking around. It feels wrong. I am not ashamed of you or of us. But the deception, that feels shameful.”
“I’m sorry.” Ruby loosened her grip, instead smoothing the fur she’d disturbed back into place. “I don’t want you to feel ashamed of anything. But I also don’t want you losing friendships over me.”
“If they could hear you, they would know you are sincere.”
“If they did hear me, they would think I’m feeding you a line.” Ruby rolled off of him and sat up. She glanced at the windows where the light had taken on an orange cast. Their last day was drawing to an end. She looked back to him and reached out to finger a curl that had fallen over his forehead. She toyed with it, attempting to smooth it back and watching it spring back to its original shape. “Of all the powers I have now, only one was mine from the beginning, Kurt. Just one. I know love when I see it, in all its forms. Whether it’s pure or twisted, new or old, romantic or platonic. They love you. It’s written all over your aura. And you love them. If you lose them over me, it’ll poison what we have.”
“Do you mean that?” Kurt sat up, resting his arms across his knees, his tail curling around in front of his feet. “That you see love?”
“Always the bridesmaid and never the bride.” Ruby nodded solemnly. “Until you came along. It was one of the reasons She wanted me, I think.”
“So, the others…”
“Yes.” Ruby nodded. “It’s the genuine article. Or articles. Though I don’t know how they’ll make it work any more than I know how we’re going to work.”
“We are going to work.”
“I wish I had your faith.” Ruby sighed and glanced again at the light that was growing more and more red. “She promised me that I’d know love before I died. I fell in love. I died. I came back. Nowhere in there was I promised a happily ever after.”
“We will find our own happily ever after, Ruby.” He pulled her into his lap and hugged her as only he could, with both arms and a tail. He held her as the sun sank into the sea and darkness spread through the little house at its edge. “You, a priestess, should have more faith in your goddess. And if not, then you should have more faith in me.”
“You play dirty, Kurt.” Ruby sighed and snuggled deeper into his arms. “Really dirty.”
“I do what I must, liebchen.” He pressed a soft kiss against her forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”