Ruby wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious, only that when she woke up, she was at Cait Shelter, a Legal Guild, under the care of Roubaul and Wendy Marvell who, surprisingly, was a Sky Dragon Slayer. Wendy has used her magic to help Ruby recover from her injuries. Wendy was also accompanied by Carla, a flying cat like the blue one she saw accompanying her sister and her allies. Only Carla was rather stuck up and Ruby, on a number of occasions, had considered eating the annoying creature.
For the most part, Ruby didn't say anything while planning to leave once she was well enough. But she also couldn't help but feel indebted to Wendy for helping her, and she didn't like being indebted to people. So, once Ruby was able to walk again, she took Wendy aside and helped her train her Dragon Slayer Magic, both so she could have better control of it and make the attacks stronger. But also given that just being a Dragon Slayer made her a target for Acnologia, and Ruby wanted to give the girl at least a fighting chance, if she encountered Acnologia before Ruby could face him.
Sure, it'd be a hopeless effort to fight the Dragon King, but better to die saying you gave it your best shot.
Though, while Ruby wanted to keep strictly professional, she couldn't deny that Wendy was a kind and sweet girl. It reminded Ruby of herself and Erza growing up in Rosemary, innocent little girls that dreamed of becoming mages, before they saw how terrible the world can truly be.
But what really made Ruby truly accept Wendy was when she came to her one day with a surprise.
Ruby sat up on the bedroll thinking over her battle against the Tartarus members.
There's a chance other Etherious are in Tartarus, hell the entire guild could be Etherious. If that's true, then they're likely much stronger than the Etherious I've killed, probably the strongest demons Zeref created. I'll definitely need to get stronger if I encounter any of them again or any of the other Balam Alliance Dark Guilds. Ruby thought, before looking up when she heard someone open the door.
She saw it was Wendy standing with her head lowered shyly and holding something in her hands.
"What is it Wendy?" Ruby questioned, as the loli approached the older girl.
"I, uh, saw these were damaged in your closet, I'm sorry for going through your stuff! But I thought you'd like it if they were fixed, so I repaired them for you." Wendy said, holding out the items and bowing.
Ruby stiffened when she saw it was her cloak and mask, the items that identified her as Rose. Narrowing her eyes at Wendy, while cursing herself for taking them out of her Requip space. Ruby had been planning to repair them, but between recovering and training Wendy, she never had the opportunity to do so. Slowly, Ruby took back both items while looking at the Sky Dragon Slayer warily.
"If you saw those, then you should know who I am and what I do." Ruby stated in an emotionless tone.
"Yeah… you're Rose. I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" Wendy said quickly, with Ruby looking at her with a quirked eyebrow.
"Really? And why should I believe you?" Ruby demanded.
"Because, because, you're my friend. And I don't think you're a bad person or hurt innocent people, I also think you're really nice, even if you don't show it, and if you really were a Dark Mage, you wouldn't have helped me with my magic. Thank you for that by the way, I really appreciate it." Wendy said with another bow and a faint blush on her cheeks.
This surprised Ruby, not expecting to hear something like that from a little girl of all people. Looking at her mask and cloak, Ruby saw all the damage done to them from her fight was completely repaired.
"Thanks." Ruby muttered, causing Wendy to beam a bright smile at her, before nodding and leaving the room.
While Ruby wouldn't admit, she developed a soft spot for the blue-haired girl.
She still didn't like the annoying cat, though.
"I'll be going now, thanks again." Ruby said, before looking at Wendy and bending down to be at eye level with her.
"Wendy, take care of yourself and thank you for… everything." Ruby said, patting Wendy's head with a small smile, while the loli girl's face burned red at how close Ruby was to her.
"It-it's n-no problem, R-Ruby." Wendy stuttered.
"Still thank you and I'm sure we'll see each other again; I hope to see you have gotten stronger little dragon." Ruby said.
With that Ruby rose up and left giving a short wave to them.
All the while Ruby knew this recent lost was a major wake-up call. If she couldn't defeat two Tartarus members, then what hope did she have against Acnologia and Zeref.
One thing was for sure, Ruby needed to find a way to get stronger fast if she ever hoped to reach her goal.
And I will, no matter what. I will kill Zeref, and then I'm coming for you, Acnologia. Ruby swore, though she now had more of a reason for the latter, since she now had someone she wanted to protect from her adoptive father. For it would be a cold day in hell if she would let Acnologia lay even a claw on Wendy.