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Ruby was at least over her "moping around the house and making Jade worry" phase, but that didn't mean she didn't spend most of her time at home. At least she was actually doing things like cleaning and cooking for herself instead of ordering endless takeout and kicking the trash out of the way. Arceus, her sister was too good to her. Ruby was supposed to be the one taking care of her, yet Jade had spent a full... had it been a month? Time didn't have a lot of meaning to Ruby anymore. It was a lot longer than Jade should have spent making sure her big sister didn't waste away in her grief.

[break][break]She hadn't told Jade exactly what had happened, of course. Just that Cerberus was gone and that Ruby had been an idiot for not staying in the shelter with Jade. Jade had wept in her arms. Ruby had held her close and let silent tears escape for the first time in years. As it turned out, she'd been wrong about not being able to cry anymore.

[break][break]When the anger had subsided, apathy had slunk down to fil in the gaps. But Ruby's life didn't leave much room for lethargy. She needed to make money to live, which meant going back to doing grunt work for Rocket. The thought had been giving her chills ever since that fateful day in what was now called the Silent Icelands. She didn't balk at the idea of doing a crime syndicate's dirty work; that was par for the course at this point. But she couldn't stop a single dreadful thought from running through her head:

[break][break]Who else will they take from me?

[break][break]A knock on the door snapped her out of her stupor with a sharp gasp. Right. She'd been sweeping. Who the hell was knocking? Arceus, if it was Rocket... She took a deep breath and stepped around the half-formed pile of dust and debris at her feet. If it was Rocket, what could she do but fall in line and do her job? At least it paid the bills.

[break][break]She peered through the peephole. Well, she'd been partially right. The dread churning inside her settled a bit, but she refused to let complacency form in its place. Even if it was just Isaac, he was still a Rocket. There was still a chance he'd been sent to drag her out for some job or something. Might as well get this over with before she got any ideas.

[break][break]She opened the door a crack. "What?" Dammit, that didn't have nearly the bite she'd wanted. She just sounded tired and mildly annoyed.

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Ruby looked unimpressed at Isaac's first attempts to get words to come out of his face. But in the stifling silence, Ruby had time to realize something: Isaac had an eyepatch. How the hell had it taken her this long to notice? Arceus, was she still that out of it? If only Isaac had seen her before she'd gotten to this point. That would have looked a lot more Ruby.

[break][break]She almost looked startled when Isaac actually started talking. Her brain had to take a second to process his words. "Oh, yeah, it's one of those," she said. Well, it had been. Jade had quietly wished her a happy new year when midnight had rolled around, but they hadn't done much actual celebrating. Fuck, another thing for Ruby to feel bad for thanks to these goddamned emotions dragging her down.

[break][break]Wait, shit, Isaac was still talking. She snorted derisively, grateful to have something to riff off of. "What, so you could have someone to babysit your drunk ass?" Okay, that was slightly better, but something about her tone still rang hollow, like her voice was still groggy after being stirred from its slumber.

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[attr="class","rubyw"]

If Isaac had said that out loud, Ruby would have rolled her eyes with an "I know what year it is, dumbass." She did, at least now that she'd remembered to add one. Time was just weird right now. Meaningless. Who cared what day it was, really?

[break][break]Isaac's barb probably didn't garner the reaction that Isaac had been looking for. Instead, Ruby straightened up, inadvertently opening the door a bit more in the process and looking downright pissed. "Just because I'm not a fucking idiot doesn't mean I've got some stick up my ass," she nearly growled, as if Isaac had legitimately offended her.

[break][break]With the door opened more, Isaac might have been able to see some of the apartment's interior. Despite Ruby's unkempt appearance, her living space was surprisingly well-organized. It was far from perfect, but there weren't items haphazardly strewn on the floor or anything like that. Actually, the floors were extremely clear of any hazards or debris besides some dust collecting in a few spots.

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One other thing about the apartment may have stuck out to Isaac, assuming he could see it past Ruby and the crack in the door: a Dusk Ball sitting next to a picture frame, turned just out of view, on a side table in the living room. In turn, Ruby got a better view of Isaac's face and the eyepatch he now wore. So it hadn't just been the shit light playing tricks on her.

[break][break]Ruby had been prepared to slam the door in Isaac's face. It would have been satisfying, a way to release that pent-up... anger? frustration? whatever that had been building up, falling limply over, and then struggling to get back up again for the past couple of months. Of course, most of it hadn't been Isaac's fault. He was just a good outlet. But then he went quiet, and Ruby's momentum stumbled to a clumsy stop. The strength drained from her arm, leaving it hanging from the doorknob.

[break][break]His next words were more of a disorienting blow than any insult could have been. How the hell could anyone become so sincere mere moments after an insult like that? The answer was probably "because it's Isaac," but trying to untangle what the hell that meant was beyond Ruby at this point.

[break][break]"What the hell is up with you?" she asked, completely missing the irony of the question. "Why are you really here?"

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"What, your deal of not actually being able to commit to being an asshole?" Okay, wow, that may have been Ruby's worst attempt at an insult ever. Even if it was true.

[break][break]She was about to point out that, yes, she'd heard what Isaac had said but had asked why he was really here, but then he asked something else. He asked if he needed a deeper reason for checking on someone he cared about. Fuck. Ruby and Isaac hadn't spoken since their ice cream outing with Aurelie Lefevre. Since then, the three-pronged METENO operation had happened. Despite him saying he wanted to be part of the meteoroid mining, the absolute mad lad, Isaac hadn't been there. And now he was at Ruby's front door with an eyepatch.

[break][break]Fuck, Ruby hadn't even thought to ask after him, had she? If Isaac was incapable of committing to being an asshole, Ruby was a master of being one by complete accident. And that should have been fine! Ruby wasn't exactly known for being the friendliest grunt this side of Rocket. Hell, that kind of thing could mean weakness in an organization like this. So why did it feel so gross right now?

[break][break]"For all I know, you're here to make me get back to work." There wasn't an ounce of an actual accusation in that sentence. "If you are, just tell me instead of giving me the run-around."

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Okay, Ruby knew she wasn't firing on all cylinders (to put it nicely), but what the hell was Isaac going on about? "What, are you trying to be an asshole or something?" she asked, genuinely confused.

[break][break]And then, as if to prove that he very much wasn't, he called Ruby dependable. Said she was fun to spend time with. Said she was capable. And apologized if he'd ever made her feel any other way.

[break][break]"Stop," she bit out, punctuated by her fist hitting the door frame. "Stop fucking... complimenting me. Arceus, what the hell are you going on about? You're not making any sense." The fight was coming back to her voice, but it sounded pained. It was almost as if the fight wasn't against Isaac, but against herself. "What the hell do you mean, what I think of you? I just said you're shit at being an asshole, didn't I?"

[break][break]Even Ruby could see that Isaac's smile was hollow. "You look like shit," was all she knew to say about it.

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"Oh," Ruby echoed back. "No, you're just... you." How else was she supposed to describe Isaac's Isaacness? "But you're fucked if you ever actually need to be an asshole to someone."

[break][break]Ruby smirked sardonically at Isaac's comeback. That was more like it. If he was gonna be concerned, he could at least pretend to be a dick about it. ... Arceus, what the hell was their relationship?

[break][break]"No," she said automatically, but the word tasted bitter on her tongue. The only person she'd told about Cerberus—aside from those who'd been there to witness his fate, of course—was Jade, and she hadn't even gotten the full story. It wasn't like Ruby could just tell her that she'd joined the world's stupidest Rocket operation and gotten one of her best friends frozen to death in the process. She'd been forced to bury the truth in her heart, and it ached for that.

[break][break]"But you're gonna find out, anyway, so fuck it." She finally opened the door fully and stepped out of the way so Isaac could come in.