A few years later
Ruby moved her fingers on the young boy's wrist, checking the pulse which was fading, as the monitor beside her beeped slowly. Sweat had gathered on her face, and her gloves were stained with blood and iodine.
The boy was not older than ten and had just survived a critical seizure, one both the boy an the parents didn't expect.
But he was breathing now.
He was stable.
She exhaled loudly, and pulled off her gloves as her assistant entered the room.
"Vitals are holding," the nurse confirmed it. "You did it."
Ruby nodded to her words and pushed back a strand of hair from her face.
"We did it."
She returned her gaze back to the boy for a moment, before leaving the room. Her body ached her all around, from the hours of standing and finally, the stress of the past few weeks was beginning to kick in.
Ruby had found refuge in a nearby city, when she left Viesta years ago. She struggled at first in settling down and had little to survive on.
She took on different jobs to make ends meet. Cleaning jobs. Laundry. None of them provided her the life she wanted for her child. Then she began mixing herbs for sick people where she stayed.
Then it blew. The herbs worked like magic and people from far would come to get treated.
She then spent the following years learning modern medicine. And with the knowledge of both the herbal side medication and modern side.
She became a very successful doctor faster than most did in their lifetime.
But being successful also came with the perks.
Her clinic was short staffed due to the screening process of new workers,
She had worked the whole day and the boy was her last patient for the day. Her daughters had been waiting since school ended.
Her daughters. She had given birth to twins.
Gold and Silver.
She trained them the way she had been trained. To be peaceful and obedient. But left out the part where there weren't humans. Left out Viesta and everything that had to do with it.
She looked at the clock and cursed under her breath.
She promised to pick them at school by herself today.
No more delays.
No more "Mommy's just got one more patient."
Ruby quickly washed her hands, took off the messy doctor's coat and wore her brown coat and grabbed her bag. She didn't stop to check paperwork on her table or the staff who had something urgent to tell her.
Her girls were waiting.
"Mommy!" Gold called out as soon as she caught sight of her, running straight into Ruby's arms as soon as the school gate opened. Silver followed just behind her, her usual soft smile making her face glow.
"You're late," Silver muttered as she wrapped her arms around her mother.
"I know, I know," Ruby said, squatting to their height. "But I came, didn't I?"
Gold puffed her cheeks. "Barely. We were the last ones here, waiting for you."
Ruby rubbed her daughter's hair and stood up straight, "How about I make it up to you both with dinner and dessert. Wherever you choose."
"Anywhere?" Silver raised her eyebrow.
"Anywhere." She nodded back.
The twin both chose a small café, just at the edge of the city. It was quiet, comfortable and very family friendly. Ruby sat opposite them, watching the two girls argue milkshake flavors, which was better, while they were waiting for their food.
She smiled at their little argument. Everything felt normal.
Like this was her heaven.
Like she wasn't hiding any secret they would surely need to..
And then just at that moment Gold leaned forward.
"Mom?"
Ruby looked up, snapping back as she sensed her daughter's tone had shifted.
"Can I ask you something?" her eyes sharp and staring at Ruby as if staring past her.
"Of course."
"Do we have a dad?"
The question landed like a bomb in Ruby's ears. Her fingers froze around the drink she held just close to her mouth. Silver had gone quiet too, expecting an answer.
Ruby inhales lightly. "Where's this coming from?"
Gold fell back into her seat. "Everyone at school always talks about their dads. And Father's Day is coming up. We just….we wanted to know. Do we?"
Ruby's mouth felt dry. She looked at her two daughters, completely speechless.
They needed an answer.
She always knew this day would come. She just didn't expect it to happen like this.
To feel like this.
"We don't need him," she said quickly.
A bit too quickly.
"You have me. You have each other. That's enough."
"But that's not what I asked," Gold pressed on. "Do we have one?" she asked again.
"Gold, stop…" Silver tried to stop her, sensing the mood had changed, but Ruby was already fuming.
"I said we don't need him!" she snapped, her voice louder than she intended it to be. A few people turned from their tables towards theirs. "He made his choice, and he doesn't matter."
Both girls stared at her now, the meals before them getting warmer.
Gold's eyes began to fill with tears. "You didn't have to yell..."
Ruby's heart drops.
She leaned forward towards the girls. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice." She spoke with a more gentle voice this time.
"You always say that," Gold said, trying to clean the stream of water on her face.
"I just..…" Ruby covered her face with her hands. "It's just complicated."
"No," Gold said coldly, her voice raising a bit. "You just don't want to tell us."
"Gold….." she stretched her hand for Gold's hand, but the girl sat back in her seat.
"I don't want to talk anymore." The last Gold said in the café.
The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence.
Later that night, Ruby went into their room and sat on Gold's bed, gently moving the hair from her daughter's face. Gold was pretending to sleep and turned from Ruby, facing the other way curled up like she always does.
"I'm sorry," Ruby whispered to her
No response.
"I should have answered you calmly. I'm sorry."
Still, no response.
Ruby stood slowly and turned to leave the room.
She couldn't hide it from them for too long.
She couldn't hide her past from them for too long.
Not Viesta.
Not Han.