[red_inactive]

Ruby paused for a moment, glancing over her shoulder at Silver who was holding onto her hand nervously. She smiled, swinging it back and forth. "Don't worry, Silver." She hummed, blinking kindly at her. "You'll be able to be with your sister soon, I promise." She raised her other hand to her ear, tuning back into the intercom channel. "Alright, Jack." She blinked, cursing under her breath. "Dammit, I left the Prime kids back at the diner. Silver, you stay here, understand? Keep hidden, I'll be back in a minute."

"W-wait, what? You can't do that, Jack might not be able to pick you up!" Silver exclaimed worriedly, grabbing Ruby's hand again. She studied Ruby's face for a moment, biting down on her lip nervously.

"I know where the base is. If I have to, I can get there myself. But you? You need to get in that van no matter what." Ruby said quickly, taking her hand briefly before pulling away. "You need to get to your sister, Silver. Don't worry about me." She paused, glancing down. "... I missed you. I didn't think you'd ever come back."

Silver moved forward, placing her hand against Ruby's cheek and tilted her face up, parting her lips open as if to kiss her. But much to her surprise, Ruby pushed her back all of a sudden, jerking away. "R-Ruby?"

"I can't." Ruby looked away. "Silv, I... I've moved on." She scratched the back of her neck, looking down at her feet and frowning. "... I need to go now. I'll catch you later, Silver." She turned on her heel and ran off before Silver could say anything, leaving the bionic girl behind with an empty throb in her heart. Ruby gritted her teeth, ducking under a drone and shooting it with the makeshift gun in her hands, dodging other bionics left and right and just running. "Prime!" She yelled, ducking into the diner and skidding to a stop. She glanced around for a moment. "Chaka? You here?"