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This article, Hidden Feelings: Exposure, is the sole property of Phantom and cannot be used, edited, or referenced without his permission, with the exception of collaboration articles, whereas terms listed above are unserviceable. |
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This article, Hidden Feelings: Exposure, is property of True-Clown-Prince. |
Confusion[]
Two days passed since the incident with Shu, which left Ruby alone with her own thoughts, though Geiger had forgiven her for what she did, Ruby felt sadden by everything she did. After handing him the disk, Ruby stayed in her room, ordering room service while she thought of how she was gonna find Shu.
Shu was in a nearby bar he wore a cloak with a hood covering his face. He sat down in front of a barkeeper and handed him a an envelope. The barkeeper slid the envelope off the counter in placed it in his pocket. "My sources tell me there is a deal going down tonight." The barkeeper told Shu .He scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it over to Shu.
Shu nodded silently amd walked outside of the bar and disappeared down one of the dark alleys. "Tonight vengeance shall be mine wait for me Dai Matsumoto."
A knock came at her door, "Ruby, you need to get ready, there's a deal with that bulky guy at the ports tonight and we need to go now" Geiger said as Ruby sighed and got ready before leaving her room.
Hell Brawl[]
The night sky surrounded darkness around the port as nothing but shadowy figures could be seen, out of all of them one was massive and bulky with two others following him. When they reached a dock port, the man shined a light on out to the sea causing a submarine of sorts to emerge.
In some of the other buildings, Shu was hiding in the windows, while on the ground the trio were close by to see what this deal was about.
The hatch opened as two individual's came out with a small box.
"Was it damaged?" The man took off his hood to reveal himself as Dai under his memberane mask.
"No, it is in perfect condition, now let's talk money" Dai motioned his men to drop two large bags of jewels as the seller gave Dai the box.
"Leave now meat, you're worthless husk is no longer needed" He said with a growl as the merchants bowed in respect and left.
Shu looked on hoping that Dai would open the box to reveal the contents but with no such luck. "I'll trail him today so that I can find out where the base of operation is." Shu thought to himself.
He summoned Galea and began instructing him on the plan "I want you to silently scout out the area make sure we aren't being followed or tailed."
"Yes my master." With no sound at all Galea disappeared from sight. 'I can sense that Shu's heart heavy and his mind is focused on other matters tonight, never the less I shall server him faithfully' He thought before disappearing.
The Trio kept their eyes peeled, making sure that they stayed focusing on finding out what Dai had in his possession.
"Shall we open it sir?" One of the agents said as Dai nodded and slowly lifted the lid, causing a bright red light to shine all over the port. Dai smiled under his mask and lifted up a small stone the size of a large gumball, "The master will be most pleased with this source of magic" He said before putting the case away.
"What the hell is this magical energy? Even though he closed the box I can still that heavy magic lingering in the air. I can't allow him to keep that stone in his possession." Shu said as he glared at Dai.
"What in the hell was that...." Dominic said as he tried to get his body to stop shaking, the trio managed to get in close proximity to Dai and his agents, and felt the full force of the item making both Ruby and Dominic shake in fear.
"That thing... it's malevolince is something.... we need to destroy it..." Ruby said hugging her knees as a way to try and keep herself from shaking.
"My thoughts exactly..." Geiger said as he himself was keeping his fear in check, knowing that if they managed to harness that power, then we're all in deep trouble".
After wrapping the box in a special container, Dai cracked his neck as he looked around, "Sir what is it?" one of his agents asked noticing the strange behavior.
"It seems we have meat bags following us".
Shu stayed calm before reacting to Dai comment. "There is no way he knows me or Galea are here I've kept my presence to a minimum which mean someone else is here or I've underestimated my enemy." Shu thought to himself.
Master. a voice came to Shu head. It would appear the three siblings are also here its quickly likely Dai caught wind of the two younger one's fear.
"There" Dai smiled as he used Titan to enlarge his hand and hit the barrier the trio were hiding behind sending the three of them flying into the nearby debris. "Found the meat rats, worthless and useless like always" He said enlarging another fist to send a shock-wave hitting all three at one.
"Idiots There going to ruin everything." Shu's gaze fell on Ruby. Why is she always around? Well I'll let Dai and the sibling take care of one another, if I'm lucky they will at least tire him out for meShu thought to himself, though he continued to look down at Ruby.
The trio stood up, glaring at their opponent as he cracked his neck, "This time the three of us attack him together, Ruby and Dom, time for the tag team, keep him busy, I need to release my full strength and I won't be able to back you guys up" Geiger said as he focused his magic and held a meditative stance with a magic circle under him producing a shield.
"Time for the old one two special" Domino said using Take Over to go into his Black-Wing Form while Ruby released her magic making her body liquid.
"I hope this time you will provide me some entertainment meat" Dai said smiling.
Shu continued to watch the fight. "what a joke those two stand no chance against Dai. I see the oldest brother is willing to sacrifice them to have a chance. A smart tactic if nothing else."
As Shu watched Ruby prepare to fight he began to feel a pain in his chest, along with a slight fear, although he wasn't sure where this feeling was coming from.
"Riptide!" Enlarging her arms with water, Ruby shot out a powerful burst of water that made a strong impact, but didn't make a budge.
"Is that all Meat?" Dai said pushing the current while walking towards Ruby.
"Thunder Shout!!" A powerful shock wave of electricity impacted the water, electrifiying it and causing a powerful strike to Dai as the water steamed off of him, stopping him in his tracks.
Shu watched slightly impressed with what he saw. "So she soaked him with water so the electricty would be more effective. Its a goo idea, The should attempt to finish him now."
All three of them were shocked when Dai shook his entire body and cracked his neck, "Ah, nothing like a warm electro to calm the nerves, and take away the tense muscles" He said smiling as he used Chain Magic, making the appear from below the duo's feet.
They both managed to dodged the chains, though they were both hit by a few as they jumped back.
"Hydro Balls!!" Ruby shot out multiple high pressure orbs of water right at Dai taking them head on, but he simply chuckled as his skin somehow shook off the water with ease.
"Seriously, the water spray hurt more" This time Dai did another Titan Shock Wave hitting Ruby and sending her into the warehouse where it crashed down on her.
"RUBY!!" Dominic roared as he soared high into the air and dove down right towards Dai surging his entire body in electricity as he impacted with Dai. However, when the smoke cleared all that could be seen was Dai holding Dominic by the neck.
"Worthless meat bag" He said slamming Dominic into the ground and breaking it as he returned to his normal form.
Turning his sights on Geiger he smiled, "Killing you wouldn't be fun just yet, however I see no official use for your worthless meat sibling" Dai summoned his chains and whipped them at the rubble, gripping Ruby before he pulled her close to him and grabbed her by the neck.
"NO! LET HER GO!!' Geiger yelled knowing if he moved now, it would be all over for all of them.
"This is what happens to worthless meat" Dai started putting pressure on Ruby's neck choking her to death as she kept trying to fight back but to no avail.
Shu looked down at Ruby being chocked. "Ruby.... I have to help her." Shu jumped from the roof, calling for Galea. The sacred spirit emerged from the shadow and lept into the air towards Shu becoming a sword. Shu quickly grabbed it an sliced through the chain and caught Ruby before she hit the floor.
"Guh.... Shu..." Ruby said weakly as she looked up to see her savior's face.
"What are you doing here?" Geiger asked as his magic was reaching completion.
"Finally, I was thinking you wouldn't be showing your worthless meat face" Dai said as he cracked his knuckles to get ready for another fight.
Shu walked and placed Ruby on the floor a safe distance away before returning to Geiger. "Geiger together me and you can take Dai. All my instincts tell me to fight him alone, but I don't want Ruby to get hurt so please help me protect her." Shu looked Geiger in the face as he showed the most human emotion he could remember.
Geiger saw the honest emotion on Shu's face, he wanted to protect Ruby just as much as he and Dominic did, which made him nod before releasing the full energy of his spell.
"Secret Arts: Wood Magic: Nature Zone!!" The pure natural magic energy erupted from Geiger's body as it gave an appereance of a glass-looking wooden skin on his body. "Let's take him down Shu"
"Come and get me meat!!" Dai summoned multiple chains from his gauntlets sending all towards the duo.
Shu swung his sword and sent out blast of fire to intercept the flames. "Listen to me Geiger don't worry about dodging Dai's attacks I'll be your shield just make sure to hit him with everything you got."
The duo ran towards the remaining chains with Shu in the lead slashing the incoming chains. Shu would occasionally use his own body as a shield to block for Geiger if he could slash a chain in time.
Geiger was amazed at what he was doing, but decided to later praise him as he kept focusing on making it through the barrage.
"Worthless meat" Out of nowhere Dai's skin began to shriek as it morphed around his arm, creating a long blade that he swung at both.
"I got it, Wood: Multi-Layer Barrier!!" Large wood pieces came from the ground surrounding both Shu and Geiger as the blader pierced it but couldn't move from it.
Shu began to focus magic into his sword, causing it to release more flames the usually. "Geiger this is our chance be careful when we get in close his skin is dangerous don't let your guard down even for a second, you understand we can't miss our chance right?"
Geiger nodded as he focused the energy, expanding the shield, and broke it apart causing Dai to get temporarly disoriented, "DO IT NOW!!" Geiger said sending a Wood Hammer and making it's hit right on Dai's chest pushing him back.
Shu followed up with a final slash that exploded upon impact. Shu quickly backed up and returned to Geiger's side.
"Did we get him?" Shu asked wondering if their attacks had any effect. All the duo could do was wait for the smoke to clear.
As the smoke slowly created all that could be heard were small chuckles that escalated into small and then turned into evil laughing as Dai still stood tall, with barley any damage done to him.
"No way.... That attack had enough to obliterate a small warehouse, what in the hell are you?" Geiger said as he suddenly realized his magic boost was wearing out quickly.
Dai was about to deal another attack when he realized that the sun was already coming up, "Lucky for you meats, I must take my leave, but next time I will skin your worthless husks" Dai said dropping a smoke bomb causing the duo to be blinded as the man had disappeared.
Shu released Galea and turn to Geiger. "He escaped again and he took whatever that stone was with him. It seems vengeance will have to wait for another day." Shu sighed the remembered Ruby was probably still in a lot of pain and ran over to her.
"Are you okay? Can you move?"
Ruby groaned as she looked up to see Shu's worried face which surprised her, "Yeah, I'm okay, DOM! Is he..?" She moved a bit to find that Dominic was alright but wounded.
"I need to heal him..." Ruby groaned as she tried to move but found herself falling back into Shu's arms.
Shu's heart began to beat faster as he held Ruby tightly in his arms before picking her up. "I'll take you to him." He told her kindly
He carried her over to where Dominic was. He gently placed her beside her brother so that she could heal him. "What will you three do now. Dai got away with that stone meaning you failed in your mission."
Ruby immediately began to heal Dominic, but then gasped a bit as she realized something, "Dom took more damage than I thought, he won't be able to stay and he needs real medical attention" Ruby started to tear up, her little brother was in critical danger and she couldn't do anything about, which caused her tears to release as she covered her face.
"Damn, I wanted us to move on to the next mission, but with Dom is need of medical attention we can't take any chances. Shu, take Ruby back to her room and keep her company, I gotta take Dominic to the hospital" Geiger said as he quickly scooped up his brother and ran.
Shu looked at Geiger as he ran then back at Ruby. He picker her up once more and began to walk back to the hotel.
"Are you uh feeling okay? I notice your eyes are leaking again is that because you almost died?" He questioned her as he walked through the silent and empty streets.
"No, it's because I'm so weak that I couldn't heal my baby brother and now I'm even holding both of them back all because I wouldn't listen to Geiger about going after you" Ruby continued crying as she grabbed onto Shu's shirt, sobbing into his chest as they continued walking.
Shu continued to let Ruby cry as he walked through the door and into the hotel. He continued to silently walked up their stairs and into their room. He placed her on one of the beds and looked down at her.
"You may not be as strong as others but even so people need you. If you were to disappear today many would be sad. You continuing to just exist is a strength in and of itself. If I disappeared tomorrow no one would notice. My existence has no meaning I have no memories to justify who I am"
Ruby's crying just slowed down to small sobs as she curled up in her bed, still feeling the pain that she was put through as she slowly relaxed into the sheets.
Shu gently patted Ruby's back before getting up. I'm going to lock the door on my way out please get some rest Ruby you've been through a lot today." Shu said in a tender voice.
Ruby slowly moved up as she slowly moved towards Shu's face, through some unknown force, until their noses almost touched. "Yeah... I have...." in one quick moment, Ruby mashed her lips against his, kissing the person that caused her so much trouble.
At first Shu was confused about what was going on, but after a few seconds wrapped his arm around Ruby and returned her affection for him back in kind.
Unlocked Secrets[]
The morning sun was high in the sky as Lexio Town was still filled with it's usual thieves and dark mages in the streets along with the rough looking sky it usually had. The sunshine passed through a small gap in the curtains as Ruby slowly woke up with a throbbing headache.
"Ugh, my body is throbbing" She said rubbing her eyes to get a better view of her surrounding, and immediately regretted it as she found herself snuggled into Shu's chest as he had his arm over her waist. She quickly looked down and sighed in relief as she saw that her clothes were still on
Shu noticed movement in the bed and woke up. At first, he was too groggy and confused, until he felt his arm warped around Ruby. He seemed a little surprised at first but soon smiled.
"Good morning Ruby are you feeling better?" Shu asked with a gentle look on his face.
"Yes, thank you for staying, and about the kiss.... I... I'm sorry" She said lying back on his chest to not have to look Shu right in the eyes. "You must think I'm crazy"
"No, in fact I love you Ruby. It's thanks to you that I can feel this way at all. You taught me what it means to have emotions even if its just a little bit. I even had a dream last night about something I had forgotten. It's because of you that I got back a lost piece of me Ruby thank you."
Ruby gasped, moving her head from it's spot and looked at Shu who was smiling at her for the first time since the two of them met up. She blushed realizing that she was in love with the stranger too, which made her blush even redder, causing her to move close to him and give him another deep kiss.
Shu kissed her back before breaking off. "As much as I'd love to do this all day Isn't about time you met up with your brothers and got going? Shu said as he stepped out of bed.
"Aw, don't go" Ruby whined as she quickly got up to wrap his chest, "Stay with me, I'm sure my brothers will be fine without me, pretty please??" Ruby said in a girly voice as she hugged him tighter.
Shu placed his hand on Ruby's cheek. "I'd like that to but that can't happen right now. I have to sort some things out myself you know? Plus your brothers need you. Don't worry Ruby you belong to me my heart and body are your and yours alone, so wait for me okay?"
She looked at him with big eyes before pouting, "Fine Mr. Shu, but you better not make me wait long, or else I'll find someone else" Ruby replied before looking away with her pout still on as she hugged his neck.
"Well if you gonna make cute faces like that maybe I'll take my time." He replied as he hugged her tightly. "Before I go I want you to have this." Shu pulled out a feather from his pocket. "I've had this since I lost my memory and while I don't know what it is, it must be important to me. Will you hold onto it for me?"
She gasped at the feather's beauty as she slowly took it in her hands, feeling it suddenly warm up as it glowed brightly in her hands. "I will keep it safe Shu" She said smiling at him.
"Now I have to precious things to return to." Shu said as he gathered what very few things he had with him. "Do you need me to walk you half way?"
"Yeah, I'd like that" She said smiling as she put the feather away in her backpack and walked with Shu, clinging on to his hand as they walked out the door. Through the streets the two talked about how things were going, what was gonna happen to them, and what their initial plans were.
After about an hour's walk, they finally arrived at the front of the hospital, Ruby sighed deeply before letting go of Shu, "What if he hates me? I couldn't heal him, I couldn't save him, and now I wasn't there to see if he was awake or not"
"Don't Worry Ruby your brother is probably more worried about you being with me then he is about himself. Just go be your cheery self when you see him. Tell them I said thanks and to look after you or else." Shu said as he prepared to depart.
With one last blush, Ruby turned him around and crushed him with a big kiss that knocked him and her down to the ground for a good few minutes. After moving away from his lips, she looked deep into his eyes "I love you Shu, come back to me soon okay?"
"I love you too Ruby I'll be back before you have time to miss me." With those last words Shu walk down the street in the opposite direction of the hospital. With each step Shu became further and further from Ruby until he was completely out of her site.
She sighed before looking at the hospital, "Shu, you better come back to me" She said before sighing as she entered the hospital to visit her brothers.
End