Sage's dorm room was a wreck — papers, files, and open laptops scattered like battlefield debris. She had been searching for hours, her eyes burning as lines of data flickered across the screen.
The door creaked open.
Harley blinked. "Uh… Sage? What happened here? Did a tornado hit your side of the room?"
Miccah followed, hugging her book to her chest. "You look like you haven't blinked in hours."
Luna lingered by the door, silent. Watching.
Sage didn't glance up. "Just… checking something."
"Checking what?" Harley frowned. "You've been acting weird since we got back. And Ruby's fine now — like, super fine. She even offered to help with tomorrow's orientation."
That made Sage freeze mid-typing. "She did?"
"Yeah," Harley said. "She's totally harmless. I actually feel bad for her — first day on campus and she sees something like that."
Miccah nodded. "Maybe we just imagined that dark aura earlier. She smiled after all that — probably just shock."
Luna's gaze sharpened, though she said nothing. Her eyes slid across the room to Ruby's side — neat, spotless, every item perfectly arranged. Too perfect.
"Anyway," Harley said with a yawn, "don't stay up too late, Sage. You'll fry your brain before classes even start."
Miccah chuckled, following her out. Their laughter faded down the hall.
Luna lingered for a moment longer, quiet. She didn't speak her thoughts — she didn't need to. Let them believe Ruby was harmless. It would be far more entertaining to watch the truth unfold on its own.
When the door finally clicked shut, Sage exhaled and turned back to her search.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, slicing through the school's firewalls, diving into digital archives and personal records. Ruby Rose. She ran the name again and again. Every file came up spotless — too spotless.
The deeper she dug, the stranger it got. A girl like Ruby couldn't exist without a trace.
And that was when the door opened again.
Ruby stepped in.
Her entrance was quiet, casual. Sage's hands moved instantly — windows minimized, files hidden — but her pulse betrayed her, hammering in her chest.
Ruby's eyes flicked toward her briefly. Warm. Harmless. Unreadable.
"Evening," Ruby said lightly, dropping her bag beside her bed. "Ugh, can you believe my parents dropped me off without enough allowance? They must really think I can live off cafeteria food."
Her tone was playful, innocent — perfectly human. She sat cross-legged on her bed, back turned toward Sage, twirling a pen between her fingers.
But Sage's curiosity burned hot against her skin. Ruby could feel it — like the heat of a candle held too close.
She'd anticipated this.
Hours earlier, before leaving the dorm, Ruby had sent a single encrypted message to Draven:
> "Erase every trace that ties me to the Ravens.
Start from the records, end with the whispers.
No one breathes my name."
And just like that, the underworld obeyed.
By the time Sage reached the last digital fingerprint that could've led her closer — it was gone.
Overwritten. Replaced with harmless school data and forged records.
"Impossible…" Sage whispered, jaw tightening. "No one could cover tracks this cleanly."
But Ruby could.
"Curiosity's a dangerous thing," Ruby murmured under her breath, her eyes flickering crimson for the briefest heartbeat before dimming again. "Let's see how long she lasts."
She lay back, hair spilling over the pillow, a faint smile curving her lips.
The game had only just begun — and Ruby Raven always played to win.
> Secrets buried in glass never stay silent for long.
Not when they belong to Ruby Raven.
Ruby turned onto her side and pretended to sleep.
The dorm was quiet — too quiet.
Only the soft rhythm of the others' breathing filled the air, but her mind refused to rest.
The dead girl's face hovered behind her eyelids like an echo that wouldn't fade.
She shut her eyes tighter.
Then — everything shifted.
Cold. Still. Weightless.
When she opened them again, she wasn't in the dorm anymore.
She stood in a vast, gleaming void — the floor beneath her shimmering like liquid glass.
Her crystal space.
A sealed dimension that belonged only to her.
And someone else was there.
The same pale girl — small, calm, haunting — whose lifeless face had followed Ruby all day.
The girl's eyes brightened the moment she saw her.
Without hesitation, she ran forward and threw her arms around Ruby's waist.
> "It's okay," she murmured, voice trembling like ripples over still water. "You came… that's all that mattered."
Ruby didn't move.
Then — she vanished.
The girl gasped, arms closing on air.
When she looked up, Ruby sat upon a throne of black crystal, posture regal, aura sharp enough to cut through silence.
Her eyes glowed crimson — not warm, not kind.
Dangerous. No longer Ruby Rose or Raven it was the Red Crescent feared by all that breathes and even the dead.
> "What," Ruby said, voice low, "are you doing in my space?"
The girl flinched but found her voice.
> "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to intrude. I just—"
Ruby tilted her head, a faint smirk ghosting her lips.
> "No one enters here unless I allow it. Start explaining before I decide to tear your soul apart."
The girl lifted the faintly glowing crystal embedded in her chest — the same one Ruby had unknowingly placed there.
> "Only my master could have sealed me this way," she whispered. "That's why I could enter. I had to see you… one last time."
Ruby's aura rippled — invisible knives swirling through the air.
> "'Master'?" she repeated, tone colder than frost. "Don't speak as if you know me."
The girl smiled faintly through trembling hands.
> "I do know you. I was one of yours — before the Mafia, before this life."
The ground trembled. Cracks spread through the mirrored floor.
> "I have no past before the Mafia," Ruby hissed, her fury edged with something she refused to name.
Sadness softened the girl's eyes.
> "Master… when the time comes, you'll remember us all. But I know you won't forsake us. You never did."
Ruby rose from her throne, her gaze slicing through the air.
> "My past is none of your concern."
The girl bowed and summoned a small cup of shimmering wine. Kneeling, she poured it onto the crystal — an ancient sign of loyalty and farewell.
> "If you ever need me, summon my soul," she whispered. "I'll answer… like I always have."
Her body dissolved into shards of light that faded into the void.
Silence fell.
Ruby's reflection stared back from the glass floor — and around her wrist, a charm she hadn't worn in years.
The same one the dead girl had worn.
She exhaled slowly, voice low and bitter.
> I always felt Rose was hiding something.
Like she knows something she expects me to also know.
Could it be related to the past that annoying little brat spoke of?
Her fists clenched.
> And Alex… even with a fake face, he should've known it was me.
Was our separation enough to make him forget everything?
Idiot. Maybe I should beat him to a pulp until he remembers.
Her reflection smirked back — regal, cruel, heartbreakingly lonely.
> Pain, she whispered. That's new.
Then she raised her head, eyes blazing crimson.
> "I don't care what truths they've buried. I'll find them — every last one."
Her voice echoed through the void, final and sharp.
> "I swear it."
The crystal space shattered into dust.