"Rias' Queen, retired"
Ruto stopped his stride when he heard Grayfia announce that. Akeno had been defeated, and she was arguably their strongest piece besides Rias herself. He shook his head and carried on looking for the office, not allowing himself to dwell on Akeno's defeat.
Not too long after, he'd found the office and kicked the door open. He carefully looked around and found nobody inside, and so looked behind the desk. Sitting in chains attached to the wall, bloodied and bruised was Siris. She looked up and saw Ruto standing before her with an angry expression on his face.
He knelt down and looked her over. He didn't see any visible wounds, as they'd have likely healed completely a long time ago. "Siris, you alright?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Gee, I don't know, feel as if I'm chained to a wall and really need to go to the bathroom. Not to mention I've been beaten and taunted by my Peerage. So yeah, I'm just peachy." she replied flippantly.
Ruto scoffed and stood up. "Oh well, I guess I'll be on my way if you feel you can escape on your own." he said and left the room. After a few moments of staring out of the doorway, Siris lost her patience.
"Get back here and get these chains off me you ass hole!" she shouted, her reply only being a haughty laugh from the hallway. Ruto walked back in with a grin on his face. He looked around the room and saw Siris' sword propped up against the wall next to the desk. He picked it up and was surprised at how light the large sword was. He placed the sword against the chains carefully as he prepared to swing.
With a loud clang, the chains were broken and fell loosely to the floor. Siris stood with a stretch and looked at the metal cuffs on her wrists. "Any chance you could get these off?" she asked. Ruto gathered a small amount of mana and lightly touched the cuffs, putting tiny magic circles inside the locks. After a moment, the circles exploded with just enough force to break the locks and spring the cuffs open.
"You're welcome." Ruto said smugly. He handed Siris her sword and adopted a serious expression. "So tell me, how'd you get captured?"
Siris sighed and placed her sword on her back. "As you know, Mira found me out. She was always around when we were in contact, so I guess I looked kinda suspicious. But a couple of days ago, when I was messing with the Phoenix Tears, Mira confronted me with Isabella and Karlamine. So, they still have access to the Phoenix Tears."
Ruto was quite disappointed that his plan had been foiled completely, but the look on Siris' face made him rethink berating her. She looked just as, if not more disappointed than he did. But her reasons were totally different. In her mind, she'd failed someone who she was quite fond of, and was appreciative of her not because she was a member of the Phenex Peerage, but because he saw more in her than that.
During her sabotage mission, they'd talked casually when she wasn't sneaking around. She'd learned quite a lot about him, nothing about his past, but about him as a person. His likes, dislikes, hobbies and other idiosyncrasies. But he'd said something she wouldn't be forgetting any time soon.
Four days ago…
Siris had nearly been caught. Again. She wanted Ruto's plan to work as she wanted her freedom from Phenex. She was under constant suspicion now, always being seen talking on her phone, which was out of character for her, and always in the background. Mira was constantly watching her too. She was starting to doubt her ability to remain under the radar and pull off Ruto's plan.
She lay on her bed, her clothes haphazardly scattered across her floor. Stress and pressure were weighing her mind down and making her jumpy. Her phone rang, making her jolt slightly. She sighed and gave a dry laugh at how jumpy she actually was. She flipped open her phone and as expected, Ruto was calling. She smiled slightly and answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Siris. How's the plan coming along?" Ruto asked energetically.
"Honestly, I don't think I can do this, Ruto." she confessed. Ruto was silent for several seconds which made Siris rather uncertain of his response.
"Okay, and why do you think that?" he asked surprisingly softly.
She took a moment to collect her thoughts and organise them in her stress addled mind. She breathed deeply. "I'm under constant suspicion now, Ruto. Mira's always watching me, and she must have told Riser something because he's suspicious of me too." she sighed heavily. "I really don't think I can keep this up."
"Listen, Siris." Ruto began. "I know what I'm asking you to do is unfair. I know I'm putting you in a very bad position that has a lot of stress, but I know you can do it." Despite herself, Siris smiled in relief. "Even if it fails, just know I will come for you. You have a lot of potential that is wasted with Riser, and I wanna see you reach it. I'm counting on you, alright? I won't ask you to do anything like this again. I promise." he sounded unusually warm and kind. While she hadn't known him all that long, she could tell this was not the norm for him.
"Alright, I'll keep going. Thanks Ruto, I mean it." Siris said gratefully. She heard Ruto give a soft chuckle.
"Don't worry about a thing. And I'm sorry about this. Seriously." he apologised sincerely. "After this, you can hate me, think I used you, or whatever. But just know that you're the only one I can depend on for this. Make me proud, and trust me, I will get you away from Riser. You're worth much more than you think."
Present.
Siris smiled to herself at the memory as she followed Ruto through the halls of Riser's base. It occurred to her that she didn't actually know where they were going.
"One of Lady Rias' Knights, retired."
"Oh for fuck's sake. We need to hurry up and end this bullshit game." Ruto growled in annoyance. His patience had worn thin and now he just wanted this ridiculous Rating Game to end. He was hoping that at least Rossweisse was okay. She was pretty powerful, and a trained warrior, so he was sure she could look after herself. But something felt off, and she was out there with Yubelluna, the Devil that took down Akeno.
"One of Lord Riser's Rooks, and one Knight, retired."
That's my girl. You show 'em how it's done Rossweisse. Ruto thought proudly. But what happened next would send dread and cold fury through his entire being.