Chapter Text
Emma kicked her feet up into the air. She stretched out on the couch, humming a little tune she learned from Ray a while back. The only other sound coming from the room was the sound of Norman's pen behind her as it sketched at the papers on his desk. The hum from Emma's lips never stopped as she stared at the ceiling and took in her surroundings.
It's not like she was trying to be lazy on purpose. No... She could only be this carefree because the cattle children were all free now. Rescued. Helped. ensured of a peaceful life.
After remaking the promise years ago, the cattle children were free. All were free... except Emma's family. Emma is still living in the demon world along with the rest of her family. It was of their own free will to stay in the demon world. They wanted to watch over the demons. Understand them. To be friends with intelligent demons so long as they don't try to eat any humans.
And so far... it was great. Emma was now 18 years old, and ever since the cattle children escaped, no living human was ever lost to a demon since. Of course, it wasn't always this peaceful. Norman has been working hard at keeping the demons in check. He's constantly in his office working on keeping his family safe from demons- both stray and intellectual.
But... it was so boring. Emma was constantly cooped up in the jaw of the lion with her family under Norman's watch. Sure it was safe, and she had her family to keep her company, but Emma craved adventure. She wanted to leave this place. Not just for a week like with some of her outings with Ray, but longer.
"Emma, are you bored?" came Norman's soft-spoken voice from his desk. It was considerably deeper from the time they were kids. Not only that, but Norman's grown much taller. Still, there were some features that stayed the same, such as his kind smile and his, unfortunately, weaker body.
"I'm just thinking..." Emma said, not sparing him a glance. She continued humming for another minute over the sound of Norman's pen before Norman's voice came from behind once again.
"Well? What are you thinking of?" Norman asked her. She could hear that he's put the pen down. Even without looking, she knew that she had his attention.
Emma turned around on her stomach to look at Norman. "Well, I was just thinking that the demon world is pretty safe now," Emma told him, "Children aren't getting eaten anymore, and we have all the time in the world."
"True, true," Norman said with a little hum in his throat. He picked up his pen and once again started writing.
"And since we have so much freedom now, I just think I'm getting a little lazy," Emma continued with a sigh, once again rolling on her back and kicking her feet up into the air.
"You could always go on one of your explorations with Ray," Norman suggested, once again putting his pen down. He put a hand under his chin and smiled at Emma. "You love going on those, don't you?"
"Yeah, but it's not the same!" Emma moaned, turning to face Norman once again. "Ray and I are only gone for a week at most, And even then, we're only gone to get supplies and stuff."
Norman's eyes grew the tiniest bit wider. He slowly sat up in his seat and crossed his arms. "...Then what are you saying?" he asked her in that deep voice of his. "You want to go out for a longer period of time?"
"That's right!" Emma said confidently. She loved her outings with Ray the most these days. She's always wanted to stay out longer, not that she ever had the chance to.
"Emma, that's too dangerous," Norman stated matter-of-factly. "If you leave for that long, how will we know you didn't get eaten up by some stray out there? More importantly, where would you even go?"
Emma opened her mouth but paused. He was right... where would she even go? A demon village was still too risky, even after remaking the promise all these years later. Would she go sight-seeing? If there was a place she'd want to go, that would be...
"The shelter."
"Hm?" Norman said, watching her. He saw Emma's eyes light up, and he knew he was in trouble.
"The shelter!" Emma exploded, jumping on the couch despite her age. "It's perfect! If there's anywhere I'd want to go, it's the shelter from back when we were kids!"
"E-Emma, that shelter was destroyed, remember?" Norman said hurridly, jumping out of his chair.
He felt the need to stop her before things escalated. If there's one thing you'd have to know about Emma, it's that she's an unstoppable force.
"Then let's remake it!" Emma exclaimed, looking at Norman with those bright eyes.
"W-What?" Norman mumbled, his voice trembling.
"I'll rebuild the shelter with Ray!" Emma told him with a wide grin on her face and outreached arms. "We'll bring supplies and rebuild it to be just like the old times! It can be like our second home! It'll be great, Norman! "
Norman trembled. He could see the excitement in her eyes. It was like she's already set her mind on going. Oh, why wasn't Ray here when you needed him to knock some sense into her?
He quickly walked over to Emma and took her hand. "Emma, sit down. Let's talk, okay?"
Emma looked down at him from atop the couch. She could see that Norman wasn't as excited as she was. She bit her lip and reluctantly sat on the couch as Norman sat on the one across from her.
Norman took in a deep breath before gazing at her. "Emma, it's too dangerous," Norman repeated once more. "You can't go to the shelter."
"Why not?" Emma asked. "You know I'm athletic. I can take care of myself."
Norman couldn't argue with that. Norman was confident of Emma's athletic abilities. She's always been that way ever since she was a child. He knew fairly well that she could take care of herself even without him around.
"I'm just looking at the worst possible scenario," Norman said calmly. "If things go wrong, we can't exactly send a person out looking for you if you're going to get devoured whole by a demon. You- You also said that you'd be gone for months, and that means-"
I won't see you for months.
Norman pushed the words back down his throat. No, now isn't the time.
"Anyways, you said you were going to bring Ray," Norman mentioned instead.
Emma nodded. With a wide grin, she said, "Yeah, I think if it's Ray and me, we can do it by ourselves. Piece of cake! I won't bother the rest of our family to go."
"No, no," Norman said, shaking his head slowly. "What I mean is, are you sure he'll go with you?"
Emma paused, looking at Norman in the eyes. She could have sworn it was a bad joke, but looking into his eyes, Emma could see that he was serious.
Emma tensed up. "What do you mean?" Emma asked with a shivering voice. "Ray always comes with me. You know that!"
"But it won't be for a week. It won't even be 2 weeks. Emma, you're bringing him around with you for months. To rebuild a shelter. Are you sure Ray's willing to go with you for that long?"
Emma bit her lips. No, she wasn't sure if he would come. But... Ray was always there. He was always by her side. It even felt weird to be in Norman's office without him. She couldn't even imagine going on a trip without Ray with her. It just felt wrong.
Emma started sweating bullets. She made up her mind, after all. She wanted to go back to the shelter. But if Ray wasn't there... would she still go?
She couldn't even imagine it.
Emma quickly shot up from the couch, surprising Norman. "I- I'm going to go ask him!" Emma shouted all of a sudden.
"What?! Emma, wait!" Norman yelled, reaching a hand out at her. But Emma briskly ran out of his office and out the door, leaving him there.
Norman's hand slowly dropped back down. All of a sudden, he was alone. Like the wind, she was gone.
Norman covered his head in his hands, slowly shaking his head. "I can't believe it... she wants to go outside... for that long?" Norman mumbled. After all, Norman couldn't stand being separated from his friends for that long ever again. He didn't want to be away from them whatsoever. So he had to sit there and hope that his other best friend would keep Emma in check. "Surely Ray... can stop her.... right?"
Meanwhile, Emma was making a full sprint down the stairs and back to the house her family lived in. She knew Ray was there somewhere. She just had to find him.
She ran past the gates and to the front doors, stopping for just a minute to catch her breath. Then she looked up, and her face was filled with determination. She had to ask him... She had to ask Ray if he'd want to go along with her, otherwise...!
Emma gulped. She stood up straight and took in a deep breath as she placed a hand on the doorknob. As soon as she were to open the doors, she was to look for a tall, black-haired individual. Her best friend. One she couldn't live without.
"Emma."
The call of her name made Emma squeal and almost jump into the air. Rather, it was more so because she knew who the voice belonged to that was more surprising.
Emma glanced to her left and found Ray under the tree. He had a closed book by his side, which she assumes he had just put down after seeing Emma. He put his hand on his chin and gave Emma a big old smirk. Even though she came all this way to look for him, he was the one who found her first.
With a wave of his hand, he gave her his signature greeting.
"Yo," He said with an amused chuckle at seeing her surprise. "What are you up to?"