It's been awhile since the first installment since I'm stuck with a very annoying project that finishes (for the most part) sometime between mid December to early January. Yay. As always, extra story notes and behind the scenes stuff is up on my tumblr, including some facts that will greatly clarify a few minor details mentioned in passing.

I'm hoping the last section will surprise you, because it threw me for a loop before I shrugged and decided to go with it. If not, then darn, I suck forever and ever. But I already knew that.

I'm still getting a handle on my characterization for these guys, so apologies if they seem off to you. Also, I don't actually know anything about fashion. I made everything up. Help.

Ruby was four when he got the scar on his face.

He doesn't remember how he got it. When he reaches for the memory there's only blinding pain, cold weight in his stomach, hot breath washing over his face like the shadow of death itself. His parents tell him he was attacked by a dog in the park. Sad but true, and it will forever ruin his dreams of being the perfect fashionista.

His parents think that's a little dramatic, his dad in particular, but really, have they looked at the latest trends? They can't possibly understand how much harder it is to design outfits properly when he has to work in a hat each time. After all, hats went out of style years ago, although clearly no one told Queen Elizabeth. You can coordinate them into an outfit, but you have to compensate for so much or make the hat the center. And only hats that cover his entire scar will do.

Ruby would wear makeup, but simply nothing blends into his skin tone well enough, and bad makeup is a worse crime than no makeup. Bad makeup implies failure, unless it's just daring enough to suggest artistic rebellion. One slightly off-color splotch to cover up his scar does not count as daring. No makeup, on the other hand, says very little about skill. It says, "Maybe I don't have time, maybe I don't know how, maybe a dozen things, but wouldn't you like to know?" No makeup is clearly the way to go. So Ruby tilts his hats at rakish angles (depending on the hat, of course) and tries to get away with it.

It's a doomed effort, of course. So, so doomed.

It may actually be fortunate that none of his friends have any fashion sense whatsoever. Much as he bemoans what heathens they are, it means none of them know how deeply he fails.

Well, it helps that none of them know he's failing at something. Ruby doesn't talk about his scar or show it to anyone. Why would he? It's not a cool story because he doesn't even know the story, and Ruby isn't one of those foolish boys who'll make up one to sound tough to his friends. In fact, that kind of story is more likely to make Wally worried and Sapphire laugh.

They're good people, even if their color sense leaves something to be desired. For God's sake, Wally dyes his hair green. But anyways, Ruby knows they wouldn't mind his scar. He just doesn't feel like sharing. It's not like it's something important, so who cares, anyways?

The scar is just something to live with now.

. . .

"You are such a sissy," Sapphire says, punching him affectionately in the arm.

He glares at her and sniffs, "Fine, be that way. Next time you need help choosing a gift, I'll be at home working on new designs. Safe, dry, and clean."

"Uh, Ruby, it's just grass," Wally says. He squints at the damp field in front of them. "Well, it's a bit wet, and there's some bugs too, but nothing really bad. And you've never had a problem with this before. Even I don't have a problem with it, and my asthma acts up from everything."

"Chicken," Sapphire adds.

"It's mud," he says flatly, wrinkling his nose at the ground. He digs one sneaker in experimentally and grimaces at the faint squelch. "I did not work on these pants for a week to ruin them for lunch."

Sapphire sighs loudly, then lays her jacket down on the grass. "There. Now will you sit?"

Ruby grumbles, but sits down obediently.

"Drama queen," she mutters as she joins him. "How do you deal at your job? You groom pets, not boxes."

"I wear an apron. This might surprise an ignorant brute like you, but those exist," Ruby answers, the sarcasm so thick you could slice it up and serve it on a platter. If an alien were to see Sapphire's limited wardrobe, they'd conclude the only clothes in the world are sweatpants, shorts, and t-shirts.

"Guys, if you keep arguing, lunch will be half over before you even open your bags. Actually, at this rate I'll finish before either of you," Wally breaks in.

They both glance over. Wally's the type to nibble delicately at his food and the slowest eater out of all of them, but he's already finished the crusts of his sandwich and is working steadily on the rest.

"That," Sapphire says, with a gleam in her eyes, "sounded like a challenge."

Wally jolts in shock. "What? No!"

"Oh, I think it was," Ruby agrees. He won't participate himself, of course, but he'll enjoy egging Sapphire on.

"Last one to finish buys ice cream!" Sapphire crows triumphantly, pulling out her lunch and digging in voraciously.

Wally whimpers.

Ruby laughs and starts on his own lunch. It's good to have friends.

(He generously waits for Wally to finish his apple before taking the last bite of his cheese. Sapphire scowls at him but has to concede that Ruby lost, fair and square)

. . .

Ruby and Wally are the part of the small minority of kids in their grade who don't take gym. Wally because of his asthma and Ruby because he's not going to bring hideous clothes to school just to get them dirty. Sapphire, being the brute she is, enjoys gym, of course.

Instead of gym, they have a free period, and they spend it studying together in the library. Wally is astonishingly savvy with bare numbers but Ruby's better at visuals, like graphs and geometry, so they always try to do math homework at the same time. Wally's also the only one out of the three of them who's really, truly good at English. Ruby and Sapphire can manage acceptable work, but the ambiguity frustrates Sapphire and she hogs Wally when all three of them are doing homework, so Ruby takes what Sapphire-free time he can get. In return, Ruby supplies Wally with facts, since Ruby's the best at rote memorization.

Basically, their homework system is a symbiotic relationship. Lance would be proud.

If they have extra time, Ruby spends it working on designs in a sketchbook and Wally reads books and dreams of adventures. Sometimes, Wally tells him stories of his larger-than-life uncle. Ruby can't always tell how much is exaggerated, but he enjoys them anyways.

It's fun, even though they mostly do work. It's much more peaceful than when Sapphire's there. She has a way of derailing conversations and dragging all the attention to her without even trying, in part because she usually shows up with clothing damage or another scrape or just something that makes you ask, "What happened?" With Wally, there is no need for talking, no need for noise, just a comfortable silence that neither is afraid to break.

Wally reads a line and laughs.

Ruby looks at Wally and smiles.

. . .

In chemistry, they're supposed to be doing something with pH levels when one of their classmates slips on a puddle of water some idiot forgot to wipe up. She has the misfortune to hit her head on the corner of the lab bench as she falls.

"Oh my God, that hurts," the girl groans, picking herself up. Her head is dripping blood.

Ruby fetches her some paper towels, careful not to get any of her blood on his sleeves, and the teacher sends her to the nurse with another student. It's not until they've left the room that Ruby notices Sapphire hasn't moved since the beginning. She's white and wide-eyed, staring at the puddle of blood on the ground.

If it were Ruby there frozen, Sapphire would jam her elbow into his ribs and tease him for being a sissy. Since he likes to think he has a little more finesse than that, he taps her on the shoulder. She blinks and looks at him, startled.

"Sorry," she says. She laughs, but there's a fine sort of edge in there like a hairline fracture. "Big amounts of blood freak me out. I mean, it's kinda creepy, you know?"

Her eyes says she's lying. Sapphire was never good at that.

. . .

Some nights, Ruby dreams of a girl with dark hair and a tear streaked face. Don't cry, he wants to tell her, but she always blurs out before he can.

He wakes up in the morning and never feels satisfied. And somewhere inside him, on a level so deep he can find it in his bones, he's aware that there's something he should know. It's a powerful feeling, more images and purest desire than words. It's one of those things that transcends language, so he doesn't know how to explain it to someone.

Maybe once he finds this something, everything will make sense. But he doubts it will. Panaceas don't exist.

"Pay up, Ruby!" Sapphire sings out, dropping into the chair next to him.

He arches an eyebrow at her. "I don't remember agreeing to go along with it. Wally didn't either. In fact, you're the only one who even mentioned it."

"Too bad, you've lost your chance to complain," Sapphire says gleefully. "Your own fault for losing on purpose!"

He can't really argue with that. "Fine," Ruby says, as graciously as he can. "I will buy you ice cream. Tomorrow. I have work today."

Sapphire grins and claps him on the shoulder hard enough to make him shudder just as the bell rings. She's one of the stars of the wrestling team for a reason. Grabbing her bag, she heads out of their homeroom calling out, "See ya then!"

"You really don't have to," Wally says, as they head towards English, Sapphire safely out of earshot. She would never actually try to force you, goes unsaid.

"Yeah. But we haven't done anything fun in a while," Ruby answers. They should go out and actually enjoy their spare time. Even if it's on his dime.

Wally smiles at him. "You're a good person, Ruby," he says softly.

"Not really," he says back. They're friends, right?

. . .

When they were little, Wally was always in the same classes as Ruby, but since he was absent so often they didn't known each other very well. Even once his health improved and he came to school regularly, they didn't talk much. Ruby mostly knew him as a friend and neighbor of Sapphire Birch, the girl teachers kept seating him with.

One day in elementary school, Ruby was talking with Sapphire and offhandedly mentioned visiting Professor Oak, since he knew her dad worked with him, and Ruby himself was connected to him through some convoluted web involving one of his cousins. Wally's head whipped around at the sound of the professor's name and he immediately started asking how does Ruby know him and how did he manage to get a visit to him could he possibly go again and bring Wally too he would be grateful forever and ever until Wally actually had a mild asthma attack

As Sapphire explained to him, it turned out Wally had a passion for animals. He didn't get to see them very often, since his overprotective parents didn't let him outside too often, so his childhood companions were mostly whatever pets his parents had determined did not aggravate his asthma.

Ruby felt kinda guilty about that so he did go and ask his cousin if they could set something up for Wally. After that, Wally was one of his friends whether he wanted him or not.

It's a good thing Ruby wants him.

(Not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter)

. . .

"Two toppings maximum, Sapphire," Ruby tells her sternly.

"Stingy," she mutters, staring at the buckets of ice cream. Her nose is pressed to the glass. How inelegant.

"I'm trying not to go broke. They don't pay me that much, you know," he replies. He also needs to save money for a new sewing machine. His old one is on its last legs.

Wally, meanwhile, stands patiently to the side. He's clearly already chosen.

"Fine, fine," she sighs, and makes her selection. Ruby pays dutifully once he and Wally have ordered as well.

They sit down with their ice cream, and Sapphire says, "Did you hear about the new wildlife preservations efforts near Route 66?"

"No," both of them answer, though Wally's response is decidedly more energetic. He leans forward excitedly. "Is your dad involved? Can we go visit?"

Sapphire nods to the first and frowns at the second. "Dunno. Maybe. We'd probably have to wait a while, though."

Wally has already pulled out his phone. "Where is it?" he asks, tapping keys to get a map on the screen. Even Ruby leans in to see where she points, and they start discussing specifics and suggesting ideas for how to arrange a visit, already checking their calendars to see when they're all free.

The outing dissolves into conversation that's half wishful thinking, and for a while, they just live.

. . .

Ruby finds Sapphire pretty.

He couldn't explain it at first. She's perpetually covered in some kind of grime, there are cuts and bruises all over her body, and the pigtails she favors are childish, if anything. Her clothes do nothing for her looks, so that doesn't explain it either. But somehow, he still feels like she's pretty.

It's not surprising when you really look at her, he realizes after a long period of scrutiny. Sapphire is loud and lively and always in motion, and that's what you focus on at first. But the effect's worn off on Ruby cause he's known her a long, long time. Ten years by now. Long enough to see the rich shade of her hair and the depth and shine in her eyes.

Sapphire is the last person you'd call graceful, but there's a peculiar kind of beauty to her bold, rough-and-tumble strength. It's eyecatching. And no matter what she's doing, her passion is bright as a star, so once she has your attention she will burn herself into your memory.

She is not beautiful. She's showy and raucous like a vulture, full of blunt, ugly edges protruding so sharply that they're impossible not to notice. Her flaws hack away at her potential like an axe to rock. But something unyielding survives beneath. Those edges could be smoothed down, and he is certain that inside would be something wonderful.

Maybe one day he'll ask her to model for him.

The sequel's called And All Your Love Lies Bleeding. If all goes well, it should be out in a couple months.