#aroomofonezown

[raniatsaran]

Ruby x Christina: for some reason Ruby is in danger and Christina chooses to save Ruby instead of complete her immortality spell. The fic is Ruby coming to at the house and Christina explaining to her what happened.

So. This kind of got away from me and ended up a little over 1k. I blame the episode 10 trailer, honestly. But thank you for the prompt! Also available on AO3.

The first thing she notices is that she’s back in Christina’s house, in Christina’s bed. The second is that the woman herself is sitting in a chair beside her. There’s a book in her hand but the dazed look in her eyes suggests that she’s not actually reading it, just lost in thought as she stares at the pages.

Ruby tries to move, to get Christina’s attention, and succeeds only because the brief movement makes her acutely aware of the throbbing at the front of her skull and she lets out a hiss of pain.

“You’re awake.” She sounds tired - no, exhausted, and when Ruby opens her eyes again she realises that Christina looks about as bad as she feels. There is a bruise forming on her jaw and several cuts are scattered over her face, the one on her forehead particularly nasty looking but, thankfully, appears to no longer be bleeding.

“And you’re hurt.”

“Not as much as you,” Christina replies, but she knows there’s a question in there - how are you hurt? “I haven’t been able to reapply my mark. My magic has been… somewhat depleted. Hopefully temporarily.”

She places her book down and leans forward, resting her arms on the edge of the bed. It’s then that Ruby remembers just why Christina had to remove her invulnerability in the first place and she glances at the window, carefully, noting the sunlight making its way through the small gap in the curtains. “Is Tic-?”

“He’s fine. No doubt sleeping off the events of last night with Leti and the rest of the family.”

“What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Ruby shakes her head, regretting it instantly. Christina grasps her hand then, instantly looking like she’s considering pulling away until Ruby’s fingers tighten around her own.

“I remember… some idiot jumped in front of the car?” Christina nods encouragingly. “After that everything’s kind of a blur. I think I saw more of Tic’s demon dogs.”

“Shoggoth’s,” she corrects. “And technically only one belongs to him.”

Of course this woman has a small army of monsters, Ruby thinks. “You planning on filling in the blanks for me?”

“The idiot who jumped in front of the car was Titus Braithwhite.” Ruby’s eyes widen at that, Christina having told her enough about her lineage for her to know that Titus Braithwhite should not have been walking around Chicago. “I swerved and crashed, blacked out, and when I woke up you were gone.”

“He took me?” She hums. “Why? And how is he here?”

“Apparently I’d gotten it wrong - the whole Order had gotten it wrong. He had achieved immortality. And he wasn’t too thrilled about a woman, even one of his own blood, doing the same.”

“But why take me?”

Christina stares down at their clasped hands for a long moment. She opens her mouth to speak then changes her mind twice before she finally answers Ruby’s question. “He’s been watching me. Since Ardham, since all of this began. He knew that we were close. I suppose he thought that I would choose saving you over immortality.”

“He was right.”

It comes out as a whisper because Ruby can’t quite believe her own words. Immortality has been Christina’s goal for longer than Ruby has known her, something she always made clear that she would achieve no matter the cost. And she gave up her shot at it. For her.

“Caring for others doesn’t come easily to me.” Christina begins, finally looking up to meet Ruby’s eyes. “I was raised to believe that people were simply a means to an end, nothing more. But you-” her voice wavers slightly and she clears her throat. “I never needed you to spy on Atticus.”

"What does that mean?"

"I wasn't lying when I said that I saw magic in you, though the details of when I first saw you were altered." Ruby gives her a quizzical look. "I followed Tic for a while to make sure that he made it to Ardham - he's a lot of things but he has the self preservation instinct of a dodo." That gets a smile out of both of them. “I saw you at the block party.”

Ruby looks at her, surprised. “You were there?” She thinks of the crowd that gathered that night and knows for a fact that Christina would have stood out like a sore thumb.

“I parked in an alley, mostly stayed in my car,” Christina clarifies. “But I heard you, saw you - you had that crowd wrapped around your little finger. It was incredible.”

“And you didn’t know that I had any connection to Tic?” Ruby asks, swallowing.

“I worked it out eventually. When I saw Leti with him, I remembered seeing her on stage with you. But that was it.”

“So that night at the bar-”

“You were right. When you said that there were a thousand coloured girls that I could have shared my magic with.” Christina looks at her then with the kind of intensity that never fails to knock the air out of Ruby’s lungs. “I didn’t want them. I wanted you. As William, as myself, it didn’t matter. And yes, I needed your help to take down Lancaster, but that is the only time I have ever asked anything of you other than your company.”

Ruby gives herself a minute to take it all in. Because she’s right. Although Ruby has constantly had her doubts about their relationship, usually because of her sister getting into her head, Christina has never taken from her, only given.

“What happened with Titus?” She asks. The conversation has gotten away from them and, honestly, she feels like it’s a safer subject to move onto while she lets herself really process Christina’s words.

“I came after you - Tic, Leti and Hippolyta, too. They didn’t trust me in the slightest, but all Leti cared about was getting you back.” The just like me remains unsaid, but Ruby hears it all the same. “It took a lot, but we were able to make him mortal again.” As she speaks she turns her free hand over, Ruby only now noticing the bandage wrapped around it, dried blood staining the fabric over her palm. “Leti and Hippolyta got you into the car - they just about had to carry Tic and I back, too.”

“I’m sorry I missed that,” Ruby smiles. Then, after a beat, “You missed your chance to become immortal.”

“I did.”

“That’s all you’ve wanted this entire time.”

“Not all I’ve wanted,” Christina says pointedly.

“You keep saying things like that, I might actually start to believe you.”

Christina chuckles at that, squeezing Ruby’s hand. “I’m not good with people.” Ruby gives her a look, one that clearly states I’ve noticed. “Like I said, I don’t know how to care about someone, how to-” she cuts herself off, shaking her head. “But I’d like to learn. If you’ll teach me.”

“You said you wanted an eternity of firsts,” Ruby reminds her.

“I think I can experience quite a few with you.”