Although the sight of the chain around Emily's neck made Ruby want to whirl around and punch the Dark behind her in the eyes, Ruby's overwhelming worry, sadness, and relief were stronger than that urge. She had immediately pulled her daughter into her arms, sobbing in a broken way that she never knew she was capable of. It had only been five months, but to Ruby it had felt like eons had gone by without seeing Emily. Simply the sight of her young daughter was enough to scatter the fight in Ruby's chest. 

It was obvious that Emily felt the same way. She was clutching Ruby like her life depended on it, her hands gripping Ruby's shirt and her face buried into Ruby's collarbone. Her whole body was shaking with repressed sobs, ones that broke Ruby's heart. Emily hadn't cried like this in years, and Ruby had hardly been able to stand it the first time. 

After what seemed like hours, Ruby finally took ahold of Emily's shoulders and pushed her daughter away to examine her. The princess looked thinner, paler, and sadder - her usually bright hazel eyes were almost lifeless, like she had lost sight of her happiness. Looking into her daughter's eyes made Ruby's throat tighten and tears rise to her own eyes again. 

"Mother," Emily whispered, but she couldn't seem to say anything else. "Mother." Tears began flowing down her cheeks again, and she hugged Ruby once more. 

"Oh, Emily," Ruby murmured, resting her chin on Emily's shoulder and stroking her daughter's hair. "What have they done to you?" Her vision was swimming with tears, but she could plainly see that her daughter was trapped, chained, in her own room. 

"Are you done yet, woman?" the Dark behind them spat impatiently, his grating voice like gravel against Ruby's skull. She hated that voice from the moment she heard it, and that wasn't even thirty minutes ago. 

"Where is he taking you?" Emily asked her mother, ignoring the persistent man and glancing up at Ruby. "What's going on?" Her hazel eyes searched Ruby's eyes expectantly, nervously. 

Ruby shook her head solemnly, uncertain. "I'm not sure myself," she answered quietly without looking down at Emily. She just wanted to hold her daughter for a while longer. Was that so much to ask? 

"Where's Dad?" Emily asked, pulling away from Ruby but not letting go. "Is he with you? What about the others? Are they okay?" Her questions were spilling out in an eager rush, and Ruby couldn't blame her daughter for her nervous earnestness. 

Ruby sighed lightly. "Your dad is with me, and so is Falte. We're..." She hesitated, unsure of how to answer her daughter's last question. What was she was supposed to say when Falte's spirits were crushed, Ruby's hope was slowly diminishing, and Marcus was battling hard against himself? 

"We're as all right as we can be," Ruby answered, feeling as if everyone had said this way too many times. But how else could Ruby answer? She didn't want to worry her daughter more than she already was.

"Why did they take you up here?" Emily prodded, tilting her head and glancing at the guard behind Ruby with a look that seemed like disdain. 

Ruby shook her head again. "I don't know." 

"You're bound to find out," snapped the Dark, "as soon as you cut the sappiness." 

That was crossing the line, which was enough to cause Ruby's anger to come flooding back. She kept one hand on Emily's shoulder, but she whipped around to face the man with a scathing look. 

"What if this was your child?" she shot back, looking the guard up and down challengingly. "What if you hadn't seen a member of your family in five months, and they're lives could be in risk without your knowledge? Wouldn't you be quite relieved to see your family again?" 

The Dark was silent for a moment, but he drew himself up and crossed his arms. "Don't talk to me about how I would or wouldn't feel 'if it were my family'. I don't have any, so I would feel nothing." 

Ruby paused, refusing to let pity slide into her heart for this man. "But if you did?" 

"I wouldn't know," huffed the Dark, keeping his chilling gaze locked on Ruby. "The family I did have cared nothing for me, and I cared nothing for them." 

Ruby bit her tongue hard, holding onto her refusal to pity him. This man had to know what he was doing was wrong, and Ruby wouldn't allow herself to feel pity for the people that ruined the lives of everyone on earth.

"I'll give you time to say your goodbyes," the Dark said snappily, "but that's all. Hurry it up." He looked away with an annoyed huff, his eyes catching on something down the hall. 

Ruby turned back to her daughter with a solemn look, and Emily immediately wrapped her arms around her mother again. 

"I don't want to you go," she whispered, in a way that Ruby had never heard. Just hearing the desperation, the brokenness in her daughter's voice made Ruby want to break down into tears and never leave Emily's side again. 

"I don't either," Ruby said quietly, but she shook her head. "But I have to go. I'm afraid this man is going to drag me if I don't go with him soon. I'm sorry, Emily. I'll try to be back as soon as I can, okay?" 

Ruby was certain both of them knew that there was a low possibility that it would be soon, but they clung to that hope like they were sure. 

"I love you," Ruby said, and her mind said it over and over again, like a promise that she would never forget. She would always love her daughter, she would always love her husband, she would always love her kingdom, her people. No matter what happened. 

She promised that to herself. 

~

After leaving Emily's closed door while holding back her tears, Ruby realized that the moments with her daughter had seemed too fast. During their reunion, it could have lasted forever - but now that it was over, Ruby wished she could go back in time and make it longer. She'd spent far too little time with Emily, and she wished she could rewrite that moment. 

Now, she was walking silently behind the harsh Dark guard, her eyes fixed on the back of his head. She couldn't help but think about what he had said before, about his family not caring for him. She figured that was a just reason for him not to care for them either, but they had been his family. How could he not know the answer to seeing his family again? 

"What's your name?" Ruby asked suddenly, the question leaving her mouth before she could even think. As soon as it was out, she cursed herself and clamped her mouth closed again, angered that she'd tried to make conversation with a Dark. But there was no turning back now. 

"Why does it matter to you?" the Dark asked flatly without missing a beat or looking back.

"Well, I don't think you want me to call you 'Dark'," Ruby countered with a shrug. "Because that's what I've been calling you in my head. If you don't mind, though, I can keep using it when I speak to you." 

The Dark harrumphed, but he answered her question. "It's Wraith." 

This made Ruby tilt her head at him with a frown that he couldn't see. "That's all?" she asked, but that wasn't really what she was curious about. Was that really his name? Who named their child Wraith? Was he originally from a Dark family, because Ruby had read from history that some Darks were given extravagant, war-like names?

"That's all," huffed Wraith, his pace speeding up as if he wanted to get away from her. "Don't call me anything else." 

Ruby had to skip a few steps to catch up with him, although he wasn't that much taller than her. Probably four to five inches taller than her, which made him about 5'9. 

"Tell me, Wraith," she said with a conversational and reasonable voice, "what do you hope to gain out of all of this?" 

The question obviously caught him off-guard, because for a while Wraith didn't answer. When he did, his voice was slightly hesitant. "The Dark Lord has offered a rightful home to the Darks." 

"Do you really think that's worth all of this?" Ruby countered, bringing out her argumentative side. She was hoping to make him question his morals and what he was doing, hopefully to spread that doubt like wildfire throughout the Dark's ranks. "The Dark Lord is using you like puppets, just to give you a home that wasn't rightfully yours? Besides, the Darks have the Abyss as a home." 

"I've never been there," Wraith shot back, "but from what I've heard, it's not a place even a Dark would want to call home. Sure, it belongs to them, and Shadows reside there... But it's worse than what you've heard. No Dark wants to live there, even though it's their natural home." 

Ruby paused to process this, but a moment later she was back on track. "The Dark Lord is using you as slaves, Wraith. He doesn't want to do his dirty work himself, so he is recruiting innocent people to do everything for him. Do you know what that is?" She didn't give him time to answer. "A coward. Your leader is a cowardly, slave-owning beast that is promising you something that he doesn't have the right to give." 

"He does now," Wraith said without hesitation, making Ruby wonder if her points were really getting across to him. If he was actually thinking about what she was saying. She couldn't see his expression, so she couldn't tell if he was being thoughtful about this. "The world can do nothing to stop The Dark Lord, so he has the right to everything now. Fight back and die, cooperate and... well, live." He shrugged but didn't turn around.

"I want you to answer me honestly, Wraith," Ruby said in a voice as kind as she could get toward a Dark. "Do you really think it's worth it? All of the things he makes you do, how he rules through fear... Do you really believe, in the long run, that things are going to be better for you?" 

This made Wraith fall silent, and Ruby mentally smiled at herself. She was getting to him. 

But she didn't hear his reply, nor could she continue with her speech, because voices somewhere up ahead caught her attention. 

"Come on," one voice snapped, but there was delight underlining his tone. "Shout. Scream. I want to hear your pain!" 

"You haven't even said a word," another voice, slithery and female, said smoothly. "It's impolite not to answer someone when they're talking to you." 

Ruby slowly inhaled, confusion and worry drowning out the next argument she was going to make to Wraith. Who were those two - undoubtedly Darks - speaking to? Or rather, who were they tormenting? She could hear the impact of blows being handed out. 

Wraith paid the voices no mind as he continued walking with his eyes ahead, but Ruby's gaze was firmly locked on the room that the sounds were coming from. As they neared, she saw that the door was open wide enough for her to peek into when she passed by. 

When the two of them were a few paces away from the door, she could hear the crack of someone's fist against another's face. She winced and picked up her pace, eager to see who it was. If it was one of her friends, there was no way she wasn't going to interfere. 

Wraith bypassed the door without looking into it, but Ruby halted where she was, looked inside, and inhaled sharply at the scene. 

Two Darks, a male and a female, were circling the room with devious grins. Caynen was on his knees in the center of the room, his arms held apart by chains attached to either wall beside him. He was hunched forward with his face to the floor, but Ruby didn't have to look hard to see the wounds inflicted upon him. There were splatters blood on the floor by his head, and she could see drops of it falling from his face. His arms were bruised and battered, but they were held firmly by the chains so he couldn't lay them at his sides. He was shirtless, and Ruby realized why when she saw the curled whip in the female Dark's hand. Ruby couldn't see Caynen's back, but she was sure it was ripped and red from the whip - or it would be soon. 

As Ruby watched in silent horror, the stout male Dark stopped in front of Caynen and kicked his boot into the Light's face. Caynen jerked sideways against the impact, but he quickly caught himself - and made no sound at all. 

"Do something, old man!" the Dark yelled, stomping his foot back down and grabbing Caynen's loose hair. He pulled Caynen's head up forcefully so that the poor Light was looking directly into his eyes. "I want to hear you scream. I won't stop until I do." 

Caynen's gaze, somehow calm and painless, didn't waver. There were several cuts and bruises along his jaw and forehead, making Ruby catch her breath in pity and worry. As the Dark held his head up, his expression shifted into a harsh scowl.

And he spat blood defiantly straight into the Dark's face. 

As the Dark jerked back with an angry yell, swiping at his face, Caynen's distant gaze found Ruby in the doorway. His focus narrowed in on her immediately, his mouth opening in a startled and confusion frown, but he quickly looked away as the Dark in front of him recovered angrily.

Before Ruby could cry out, the woman behind Caynen had unfurled the whip and raised it above her head. The same crack that Ruby had heard just a while before snapped through the room, and Caynen jerked forward, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth - but again, he made no sound of pain.

Ruby opened her mouth to stop the woman as she raised the whip again, but a firm hand caught her arm and yanked her away. Startled, Ruby struggled helplessly as she was hauled several paces away by Wraith, who was much stronger than he looked. By the time he stopped, the room was at least seven doors down. 

"What the heck were you thinking?" the Dark snapped, turning around without letting go of her arm. "Do you want to get yourself killed? Those two are notorious for disobeying orders and attacking any prisoner just for fun. They've been eight of your people to death just because they could.

"Besides," Wraith added, jerking his hand away and turning back around. "You're supposed to be coming with me." He kept walking without looking back, leaving Ruby blinking in startled confusion as her mind tried to catch up.

Did those two Darks want some sort of information from Caynen, or were they just beating him because they wanted to? Ruby turned her looked over her shoulder, biting her lip. She wanted to run back to help the weary Light, especially when her mind went back to the old injury in his back that he'd strained five months ago; but she knew that it would do her no good. 

So she quickly hurried after Wraith.

~

OH MY GOSH

I UPDATED

FRIGGIN' 

FINALLY-

I'm SO sorry this took so long!!! I had the beginning of the chapter written out, but I didn't really know what else to do with it...

Until my brain was like "AYE WHAT ABOUT THIS?"

and I went with it XD

Thanks for reading!!

I hope to update more often, but I'm still not sure lol

P3ac3!!!~~~~