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Ruby blinks.
Hm.
Something’s not right.
The last thing she remembers is snuggling up in Aqua's bed, eyes fluttering shut as the steady sound of his breathing slowly lulls her to sleep.
So, uh, how in the heck is she here now, standing in an unfamiliar room, holding an equally unfamiliar script in her hand? Actually, wait, maybe that script has some info in it that can help her get a sense of what's going on. As she brings it up to get a better look, though, she feels… something. An itch, or a poke, coming from what feels like the back of her brain. Before she can retch at that mental image, though, that feeling intensifies, and then-
Her eyes widen.
Oh.
Oh no.
What the fuck happened to her in this world? What happened to them? How did things turn out this way?
She looks up from her script, and in front of her is Aqua, older and more worn down than she's ever seen him before. His eyes, though, they shine with confusion, staring back at her like he's not sure if he should recognize her or not.
Ruby doesn't even hesitate. Dropping the script, she wraps her arms around him, hugging him tight. He tenses for a moment, before his arms come up and around her, returning her hug. She lets out a sigh, burying her head against him as she relaxes into him.
“You're my Aqua, right?” She murmurs. “Not this world’s?”
She feels him suck in a short breath. “I- Yes? Maybe? I mean, I’m not from this world, but… if you aren't either, then where are you from?
“Uh.” She pauses. Shit, that's a good point. She’d just kind of assumed that the Aqua inhabiting this Aqua's body is hers, but who knows, maybe there's an infinite sea of Aquas out there, and she just got paired with one at random.
Heh. Aquamarine sea.
Ahem. Anyways. “How should we check if we're from the same world or not, then?” She pulls back, looking at him directly.
His brows furrow, and his eyes flicker over her before he answers. “I suppose… we could list out some important events that have happened in our lives and see if they match up. Unless you have any better ideas.”
Ruby gives it a think, but nothing else comes to mind. And, well, considering the one big difference between this world and hers, doing a match the memory doesn't seem like a bad place to start. “Sure! Me first, then: when did we find out about each others’ past?”
Aqua blinks back at her, before realization dawns on his face. “Ah. I see why you chose that. Good pick. Uh, when we were five,” he answers. “You called the hospital, and I overheard. We talked, and I realized who you were when you were describing your past.”
Okay, yeah, that's basically what happened. He's definitely not this world's Aqua, at least. But Ruby can't help wanting to poke at him a bit. “Overheard? Don’t you mean you listened in like a creep?”
His face turns exasperated. “I wasn’t being creepy!” He defends, “I just had no idea who you would be calling, or why. Of course I’d want to find out.”
“You were still sticking your nose in my business,” she counters, letting go of him and stepping out of his arms to cross her own. Is she being a little dramatic? Nnnoooooo. Totally not. Trust!
He mirrors her, arms crossed as well, and she notices that he's still holding his script in between two fingers. “And you were technically sticking your nose in mine. Literally, since I used to work there.”
She glares at him, before relenting, letting her arms fall back down to her side. “Well, you sure act like my Aqua. Your turn, then.”
He rolls his eyes, but doesn't argue. “Alright. How about…” He brings his free hand up to his chin, thinking. “Ah! Since we’re on the topic of pasts, when did we tell Miyako about ours?”
Oh, that's easy. “When we were twelve. And, uh, after I had a mental breakdown about B-Komachi,” she adds, grimacing slightly. Man, that was only four years ago? It feels like forever ago at this point.
He winces. “Not sure I’d put it that way,” he says, because of course he has to argue just a little bit, “but fine, that tracks. I'm feeling more confident now, but one or two more questions couldn't hurt. Something a little more recent, maybe.” He chews on his lip for a second, thinking, before wincing again and shutting his eyes. “Okay, maybe not that one.”
“Eh?” She blinks at him, and when he doesn't answer, she grabs his arm. “Oi, don’t hold back on me, tell me!”
He barely even reacts, only cracking open an eye. “Do I have to?”
She gives his arm a quick squeeze. “Uh, duh.”
He sighs, looking away as he tugs his arm away from her grasp. “Ugh. Fine. First kiss?”
Her eyes widen.
Ahhh.
So that’s why he didn’t wanna ask. Ruby grins. “Oh, you mean the one you stole from me when we were thirteen?”
His head whirls back towards her. “See, this is why I didn’t want to ask! We bumped into each other by accident! Stop counting that one!”
She pouts. “Our lips met, of course I'm counting that one!”
“It’s not the physical action that's important, it's the intention behind it!”
“A kiss is a kiss! Stop using that argument!”
“You first!”
“No, you first!”
“Nya!”
“Nyeh!”
For a moment, they're locked in a standstill. She doesn't dare blink first. Neither does he.
And then his shoulders relax, and he lets out a breath. “Okay, now I'm certain you are my Ruby.”
Ha! He broke first, which means she gets to have another shot in. “Oh, so now you wanna claim me as yours, even though you won't take responsibility for your actions?”
“Ruby.” His tone doesn't change much, but she wilts regardless.
“Eugh, fine. You probably are my Aqua.” She lets out a big sigh. “And I guess I'll hold off on asking when our second kiss was.” And she was having so much fun with that bit, too. But it's probably for the best. They've got more interesting things to talk about right now, anyway. “Hey, so, you've got a bunch of memories of this world's Aqua and Ruby, right?”
“Oh, right. Yes, I do.” He pauses. “Okay, I was going to suggest we compare those memories as well, to make sure we're fully on the same page, but I just had a different thought.”
“Eh?” She tilts her head to the side. “Wazzup?”
He hesitates for a second longer. “...this is a dream, right?”
Ruby does a double take. A dream?
Wait, no, of course this is a dream! Alternate universes and body-hopping aren't real! Reincarnation notwithstanding. And the last thing she remembers before being here was falling asleep, so that tracks too.
That being said.
“This feels pretty real for a dream, though, dontcha think?” Taking a step back, she does a quick twirl, and it's as dizzying as it would be in real life. Her clothes feel like clothes. The air feels like air. It's all as real as can be. But it's still gotta be a dream, right?
“Right, that's true. And you're here, which-” He frowns, cutting himself off. “Wait, yeah, you're here. That's not how dreams work. We can't just share them, even if we're twins.” He pokes her arm. “Hey, are you real?”
Wha- after all that, he has the audacity to suggest she’s a figment of his imagination?! “Hey! I’m totally real! You think you could make up the shit I said?”
“Yes, actually.” Ah, shit, he's probably right, too. Not that she couldn't make him up as well.
“Oi.” She puts her hands on her hips. “Just for that, I’m gonna say I’m the real one, and you’re the made-up one here.”
He raises an eyebrow at her, even as his lip twitches upwards. “Mh, sounds fake. If this was your dream, there’d be more kissing involved.”
Ruby sputters. “N-not true!” This fricken guy. It was one dream, ages ago! One! Nevermind the other times it happened that she didn’t tell him about. It still wasn't that many. She holds in an exasperated sigh. Fricken hormones and stuff. Why does being a teenager have to ruin so many things?
She waves that particular annoyance away. “Okay, anyway, since we both think we can imitate each other well enough, let’s just agree that we’re both real and in the same dream, because I don't think we're going to get anywhere otherwise.” She grabs his free hand. “Deal?”
His eyes flicker down, and she can tell he's absolutely thinking of a comeback, but thankfully he just shrugs, shaking her hand. Ah, restraint. Good Aqua. She'll have to remember to give him headpats for that later. “Yeah, alright. We have more important things to explore right now, anyway. For one, comparing the memories we have of this world.”
Right, he suggested doing that! She lights up, clasping his hand in hers. “Sure! I dunno about you, but from what I can tell, the biggest difference between this world and ours is that this Aqua never snooped around when his Ruby called the hospital, so they never found out about each other.”
“Yeah, that’s what’s in my memories as well.” He grimaces. “I feel bad for them. It really feels like that one change made so many things worse. The butterfly effect in action, I suppose.”
“It feels a bit bigger than a butterfly flapping its wings,” she comments, “but yeah, this Ruby’s had it kinda rough. No real support from her Aqua, considering his depression and vengeance-ing, then she got fricken sabotaged by him when she auditioned for that idol group-”
“As opposed to the corporate sabotage that led to you not getting in, yes.”
She gives him an amused look. “You know my ego’s not that fragile now, right? You don't have to keep insinuating that I didn't make the final cut just cuz it was a sham designed to drum up interest for them.”
“Insinusting?” He sounds genuinely offended, but his face betrays him. “Get it right, I’m outright accusing them!”
She rolls her eyes, smiling back at him. “And it wouldn't have mattered either way, since I wasn't gonna join them regardless.” She shakes her head. “We're getting off-track. Uh, do you wanna keep comparing memories?”
He hesitates, his smile faltering. “We could, but there's something that’s sticking out to me right now.” He purses his lips, looking down at their hands. “This Aqua… even after finding out about his Ruby, he’s…”
His fingers tighten around hers, and she swallows. Oh. Right. That.
This world’s Aqua never had a Ruby the way hers did. He never opened up to her or Miyako. He just carried all that guilt and rage and hurt by himself, heading onto a path of self-sacrificial vengeance with nothing to tether him. Finding out about his Ruby’s past, revealing the truth about himself to her, that should have been it. But it feels like it might have been too little, too late, and that's not good. That's very not good.
Fuck, Ruby admits that she doesn't really like how she turned out in this world, but even so, she wouldn't even think about damning her with losing her Aqua. What a cruel fate, to bring him back into her life, just to tear him back out.
She knows her Aqua wouldn't. He's not so consumed by his vengeance. And maybe some of that’s because of her own simmering hatred, because seeing her so badly want to kill their father— (Kamiki, Ruby remembers. Kamiki Hikaru. She’ll keep that name in mind once they wake up.) —seeing that forces him to pull them back from the edge, but he's also got Miyako to lean on now. He's got friends that don’t just put up with him because they were hers first. Her Aqua isn’t so lost, not unmoored in a sea of grief and pain.
And yet. She knows that if he had to choose between her life and his, he’d make the selfishly selfless choice, every single time. It's too ingrained in him, the desire to help at the cost of his own well-being. And she'd have no other choice but to live on, without him.
Or, Ruby thinks, she could follow him.
She's never going to say that to his face. It’d be too cruel. And it might not even be true. Maybe. Like, the obvious ‘good’ choice would be to force herself to live on, for him, for Ai, and bear the pain of a halved existence for the rest of her life. But she knows how dependent she is on him, how easily he could end up following her if anything happened to her, how intertwined their fates have always been.
This world’s Ruby doesn’t have that same connection with her Aqua. Would that help, in its own twisted way, if the worst ever happened? Or would that just break an already fragile heart, only just now getting used to an Aqua that isn’t quite so distant? Would this Ruby be able to survive, without her Aqua? Would she fall? Or would she be able to stay afloat?
Ruby doesn't know. She hopes neither of them will ever need to find out.
It takes her a second to realize Aqua’s arms are around her, and she sniffles. Ah. She's crying. She reaches up with her hand to wipe at her face. “S-sorry,” she mumbles. “Thought about things too much.”
“...mh.” She hears him sniffle too. Oh no, he's crying too, isn't he. God, this world is depressing. “I- I get it,” he says. “I want to hope that things will turn out okay for them, but…” He sucks in a shaky breath. “It's hard not to see where the signs are pointing.”
She hugs him tighter, shutting her eyes as she leans closer into him. “M-maybe when we go back to our bodies, they'll get some of our memories, and, and, I dunno, realize how they could fix things?” She lets out a watery laugh. “This sucks.”
“Eloquently said.” He chuckles, and even if his heart isn't really in it, she still feels herself smile a little. Her heartbeat starts to settle down a little, and she feels herself relaxing in the warmth of his body. Second by second, her breathing evens out, and her eyes flutter shut.
She doesn’t know how long they stay like that, but at some point, she feels his arms loosen around her, and she hears the sound of pages turning.
Oh, right, that. “You taking a look at the script?” She murmurs.
“Myeah.” He nods, his head bonking lightly against hers. “In terms of ideas for revenge, it's probably better than murder, and hopefully safer, but I don't know how effective it'll actually end up being. Not to mention the, uh, kiss scene.”
She can't help but groan at that. “Oh my god, this Ruby's being so embarrassing! Why can't she be more chill about it?!”
“There's also the part where this Aqua doesn't actually want to kiss his sister,” he notes, and she can practically feel him raise an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she mutters. “Consent and boundaries and all that. I'm just annoyed at her, cuz she's making me look bad! Like, c'mon, I've never been this cringe!”
He hums. “True. The worst you got was after the not-kiss.”
“Well, duh!” She scoffs. “You stole my first kiss, and it wasn't even in a romantic way!"
“Sure, but neither was our actual first kiss,” he points out, which, fair enough. “And you didn't freak out about that one beforehand.”
“Cuz I'm better than her! And you asked first!” Even if he was a bit embarrassed about it at the time.
…hm. Actually, on that note…
“Hey, d'you think we could do that kiss scene better than them?”
She feels him freeze momentarily, before he pulls back, his hands resting on her shoulder as he gives her an unimpressed look. “Really?”
Her face heats up. “W-we don't have to actually do it! But, like, as a thought exercise, y'know? Since I'm not trying to get in your pants, and you're actually okay with the idea of kissing me.”
He closes his eyes with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, but when he doesn't immediately shut her idea down, she knows she's won. “I can't believe you might actually be right about that,” he eventually mutters.
“Ha!” She does a mini fist pump. “Suck it, other Ruby!”
Aqua clears his throat, his expression turning neutral as he opens his eyes to look at her again. “I think this Aqua would rather she doesn't, actually.”
Her eyes widen, and she tries (and fails) to hold in a laugh. “Pfft- Aqua!”
“What? Am I wrong?” He tries to hide it, but the hint of a smirk flashes by, and she reaches up to flick his nose. “Ow! Rude.”
“Mnyah.” She sticks her tongue out at him. “If I don't get to make sex jokes without you berating me for them, then you don't get to make them either. It's only fair.”
“Make better sex jokes, then,” he snips.
Wha- the nerve of this guy! “Whaddya mean?! I haven't even made a single one this entire time!”
“Exactly,” he replies, all smug like the fucker he is. She tsks. “Well, you don't get to act like your joke was high quality, either.
“Didn't you laugh?” He points out.
Oi. No facts and logic allowed here. “Irrelevant,” she snaps back. “Your face makes me laugh.”
He just blinks back at her. “Said the twin.”
“Yeah, but I'm the cuter twin.” She punctuates her statement with a flip of her hair. Oh, wow, her hair really is way longer here. Maybe even too long, honestly. As much as she likes her current hair length, as much joy as it brings her to see herself in the mirror, to have it flow so nicely behind her wherever she walks, it really is a bit of a pain to wash and dry. Would having it be even longer be worth it? Hm. Maybe she should consider growing it out even more once they wake up.
When they wake up. When? She frowns. “Uh. Question.”
“Eh?” He tilts his head. “About what?”
She starts to fidget with her hands. “So, like, if this is a dream,” she asks, “then how do we actually wake up?”
He straightens up, his expression turning just a little worried. “Huh. That's a good question. Do we just… wait it out? Or is there something we can do to trigger-” He cuts himself off, inhaling sharply. “Oh no. Are we actually going to need to kiss?”
Her eyes widen, and she can't help the giggle that escapes her mouth. “Oh my god, we totally are! It's like those doujins about being stuck in a room unless we-”
“I don't need to know your reading history,” he interrupts, “thank you very much.”
She pouts at him. “What, are you saying you've never seen those kinda stories before?”
“No comment.”
She gives him a knowing look. “Uh huh. You know that saying no comment is basically the same as a yes, right?”
He looks away, and is that a little flush in his cheeks she sees? “...no comment.”
She has to resist the urge to cackle. Oh, he definitely knows. but she'll play nice this time. “Well, either way, I never really liked those stories that much. Like, I get the idea that it can force people who are way too tsun-tsun about each other to finally confess and stuff,” she explains, “and that can be pretty entertaining, but honestly, the way a lot of those stories play out feels way too, uh, nonconsensual for my liking.” She shrugs. “I dunno, maybe it’s just the ones I’ve seen.”
“...uh huh.” He’s still not looking at her.
She rolls her eyes. “Alright, I’ll stop. Point is, if that’s what’s going on here, but with just kissing, then I say screw that.”
Aqua startles, turning back to her. “O-oh. Okay.”
She squints at him for a second. Is it just her, or did he sound a little disappointed? “I mean, unless you wanna.”
He lets out a short laugh. “I think I’ll pass this time. It’d feel weird to do that in this body, anyway.”
Ah, right. These technically aren’t theirs. “Good point. But I guess that means we should just wait it out, then.” She looks around the room. Dang, no chairs. The floor will have to do.
“Alright, c’mon.” She plops down onto the ground, patting the floor beside her. “If we end up having to wait a while, we might as well get a little comfier.”
He stares at her, then at the spot beside her, then back at her. And then he shrugs, settling down beside her. “You know what, sure. I'm game.”
She smiles, scooting a little closer to him. The urge to use his shoulder as a pillow is pretty high now, but she pauses, as her eyes lock onto something on the ground. Oh. Right. She reaches out with a hand, picking up her script, the one she had discarded at the start of this dream. Staring at the cover, at that Fifteen Year Lie, her smile turns sad.
“I wish we could do more to help them,” she murmurs. “But I think all we can do is hope now.”
“Unfortunately.” He reaches out, his hand easily finding hers, and she intertwines her fingers with his. “To be honest,” he says, a little quieter, “knowing him, knowing myself, I… I can only hope that those around him can save him.”
“Yeah.” Her voice cracks, just a bit. “The world would be all the worse without him in it.” Finally, her head tilts down, finding a resting spot against him. “You'll stay, though, right?”
“Of course,” he all but whispers. “I still need to grow old with you, remember?”
“Mh hm.” Her eyes flutter shut. “In sickness and in health and all that.”
He chuckles. “Right, because Miyako would be so understanding if I broke my promise to her and gave you a ring. Not to mention, y'know, your Akanee-san?”
She grins at that. “Yeah, I wouldn't wanna cuck her like that. But you two are still on break, right?” She cracks open an eye. “Unless you two snuck off without telling me.”
“No, you're right, I'm still giving her space.” He squeezes her hand. “But that's all the more reason not to propose to you right now.”
She scoffs, closing her eye again. “And who said you were gonna be the one to propose?”
He pauses, before inhaling in surprise. “Ah, I see. So this really is your dream, after all.”
Behind her eyelids, she rolls her eyes. “Oh, shush, you.”
He hums. “Mh, I'd say make me, but we both know where that would go.”
“You're really trying to convince me that this is my dream, huh?” She drawls.
“I speak no lies,” he replies, without missing a beat.
And speak no lies he does, at least for a while, because she lets the conversation fall quiet, letting the sound of his breathing, soft yet steady, fill the emptiness of the room.
The thing about getting married to him is that there would actually be a tangible legal benefit to it, technically. Like, sure, she's already his sister, but if she's understood the way wills work and all that, unless otherwise specified, his stuff would go to his partner first, then his parents and/or guardians, and only after that would it go to her. Though, uh, maybe that just means they should actually sit down and figure out their wills like reasonable people instead of, y’know, doing an incest.
A non-wedding ring would be nice to have, though. Or, like, some sort of physical thing she can have on her at all times. A symbol of their love, as it were.
“Y’know what,” she says, breaking the silence, “if you do end up wanting to get me some jewelry, maybe you could get me a necklace. So I can keep you by my heart forever.”
He doesn't answer immediately, but his fingers curl just a little tighter around hers. “An aquamarine one, I presume? Does that mean you'll get me a ruby necklace in return?”
Ehe. Yeah, maybe. It’s a predictable choice, but sometimes predictable works best. “That sounds nice. Maybe expensive, but nice.”
“Mh,” he agrees. “I’m pretty sure aquamarines aren't considered as precious as rubies, so I can see that.”
She snorts. "Of course you'd know that. But you're priceless to me.”
He bonks his head against hers. “You're pretty okay, too.”
“Dingus.”
“I try.”
Ruby opens her eyes to give him a look, and-
Oh.
That's a ceiling.
The ceiling of Aqua's bedroom.
She blinks. Once, then again, and again.
Huh. She's awake. When did that happen? The last thing she remembers is…
Uh…
What was that dream about, again?
Aqua was there. They were in… a different world? In the bodies of their other selves? And there were a bunch of memories, stuff that might be the same for them and their world, stuff that could help find their father, bring him to justice-
What's his name again?
Slowly, she shuts her eyes, scrunching them in concentration.
It's no use. Nothing comes to mind.
Groaning, she opens her eyes back up, rolling to her side. “Aqua?” She calls out, quietly. “You awake?”
“...myeah,” he responds, his voice groggy as he turns his head to face her. “Did- Uh, did we just share a dream?”
“I, think so? We had a whole thing about verifying who we were and the memories we had of that other version of ourselves, but…”
“Ah.” The overdramatic actor that he is, he manages to make that one word sound so dejected. “You don't remember either, do you.”
“Yeah. Sadge. All I can think of is…” She pauses, and a smile forms on her face. “You wanna go poke around some jewelry stores?”
He does a double take, letting out a sound of disbelief. “Why are you making it sound like you want to commit a heist?”
She giggles. “Well, you did say rubies are expensive, right?”
He sighs. “We are not robbing a jewelry store, Ruby.”
“Ugh, fineee,” she concedes. “Killjoy.”
“Dingus.”
“Nya.”
“Nyeh.”
Dang. Not just cuz he shot her totally legit idea down, but also because the only memories that didn’t stay seem to be the ones about their alternate selves’ lives. Memories that could be of use for them now. Memories that could help find their father, get their revenge, and face the future with a clean slate.
She sighs. Oh well. Even if they don't have those future memories, at least they have each other. The same way they've always had each other. The same way they always will. In sickness and in health, from now until the end of their lives, she knows he’ll always be by her side.
Hopefully, Ruby thinks, that other Ruby will be able to say the same.