#(aka a quick antagonist I whipped up with one of those three things prompts littering my dash)

[maideninorange]

"...And what is there to consider?" Ruby asked. What little emotion was in her voice, beyond the mania of battle, had dried up completely, "It doesn't matter what meaning is behind your actions. You hurt people. Left the whole damn village afraid of stepping out of their homes for fear of being whisked away, never to be seen again."

Alexandra whimpered, scuttling back. The slash wound throbbed, and she hated it. "It was a necessary cost, you see, I-"

"And would you describe ripping out the hearts of those you do end up taking as a necessary cost, too?" Ruby took another step towards her, "Because I found the room you keep them in."

Alexandra's blood turned cold. Or at least, what remained of it in her form. All she could say to that were not words but a loud groan. And not because she actually had a rebuttal in mind.

This did not bother her assailant one bit, however. She continued like it was nothing, "Old storage closet. All of them in jars. What was left of the bodies was in the basement."

Ruby hovered over her now, and it was only then Alexandra realized this was the first good glimpse of her face she had gotten since taking that fatal slash across the belly.

Cold and unfeeling. Like a knight that wears her face like a helmet. Except even emotionless, her voice trembled with the same ice of a shooting star across the sky.

"What the hell could be worth all that needless suffering, I would ask. But you know what?" She gave Alexandra's prone body a disgusted kick, ignoring the loud choked sob at the pain from it, "I do not care to know. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could be worth such the cruel deaths of innocents. If humans are monsters, as you called me, than what are you, that would dare to hunt them?"

A Creature. The answer went unsaid.

Alexandra could feel her body turning to mush with each passing second. It seems this swordswoman, a living breathing human, had discorporated her. How humiliating.

"I'm gonna haunt your dreams, little swordswoman," She snarled as Ruby raised her sword up to deal the killing blow, "Next time we meet, I'm going to have your heart on a silver platter."

But Ruby only had a sick grin split her emotionless face, as if amused, "You're welcome to try, ghostly heart ripper. Ain't the first, won't be the last. But mark my words: if we ever meet again, I'm going to exorcise you so hard, you'll never be on this plane of being ever again."

And then her sword comes down, and everything goes black.

I don't normally fill these kinds of Hero/Villain style prompts (mainly because it ain't my thing as a writer), but this one was just vague enough and gave me enough ideas that I felt like it would be great to use with Ruby, lol. Because sometimes, there's just no excuse, as she'd like to teach.

Prompt #239

"You don't understand," Villain seethed, hand pushed tightly against their wound, "how hard I worked. I did..." They took several moments to pant and whimper through the pain. "I did everything I could, but you- you're the real monster here."

Hero was quiet.

"You don't"- they paused to groan. They kept bleeding, and it hurt. "You don't know me, Hero. You only see my actions; you don't- you don't consider their meanings."

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Main writing blog: @amethystpath-writes