Chapter Text
In our first life, we grew up in a world of lies. At twelve years old, we escaped our comfortable prison and our dark fate, and towards a Promised Neverland that we’d only seen in our dreams. Each day was a never-ending fight for survival. We started just as friends, two of what once was three, but though we did not know it, our feelings for each other had grown beyond ‘friendship’.
Quiet footsteps tapped along the branch of the giant tree, a wide, wooden surface that hung over a sea of trees and wild undergrowth amidst a forest of twisted growth and deep, lurking shadows. This “Paradise Hideout”, as Norman had called it, made Emma feel uncomfortable. It felt… too big. Too unfamiliar. Too different. Just like Norman, she thought to herself with a frown. Looking up at the stars that peeked through the thick layers of leaves above her head, she recalled the last time she’d seen him before the escape from Grace Field. Short, cute, dressed up in a suit and hat and about to die… But he hadn’t. Which… which was good, right?
She glanced down at the wooden branch she stood on, the dark and smooth bark under her feet illuminated around her shadow by the dim light emitting from the opening to the hollow tree. It is a good thing, she chided herself. There was nothing wrong with Norman. He was just… Too big, too unfamiliar, and too different. He was so tall and so serious now. He didn’t smile like he used to, he didn’t have the warm aura that she’d loved about him. It had all faded away with the pain Emma knew he’d gone through.
“Of course he’s different, now. Pain can really mess someone up,” Emma mumbled to herself with a half-hearted smile, seating herself at the edge of the branch to look out at the expanse of darkness beyond. She would never be able to sit with Ray and Norman and simply enjoy their company again, like they’d done as innocent, oblivious children back at Grace Field. Not with Norman so serious and all… William Minerva-y. And not with Ray…
Emma’s face heated up at the mere thought of Ray. She blamed this strange thing that Gilda had explained to her called puberty, which, according to Gilda, was a period of change that humans experienced during their teen years as they became adults. Now that she thought about it, the children probably didn’t learn about it at Grace Field since they weren't supposed to live past twelve. Emma could already see the physical changes, she even felt taller now. She could also identify the mental changes, which she was the most grateful for. However, out of the three big changing factors, she dreaded the emotional changes the most. Especially the romantic emotions.
Emma couldn’t exactly recall when she’d started feeling like this, but she’d become very self-conscious and flustered around Ray. She couldn’t think straight or act normally around him, and even thinking about him would get her all red-faced and mushy-brained. Her worst mistake, though, was consulting Gilda about it. Emma had originally thought she was sick, but the real issue was much, much worse. The absolute worst part about her confession was the endless teasing she faced after Gilda realized what Emma was experiencing. Emma inwardly sighed just thinking about it.
Focusing on the deeply-colored leaves that hung from the branches of the tree around her, Emma’s mind wandered off as she began to reflect on her experiences since escaping Grace Field. She was only thirteen, yet she’d survived eleven years in a house of lies, escaped said house and into the forest beyond, survived wild demon attacks and being chased by the officials of the farms, made friends with the nomadic demons Sonju and Mujika, found the shelter at B06-32, survived Goldy Pond and destroyed it, almost died after being impaled by a demon, searched for and nearly found the Seven Walls to reforge the Promise, came to a hidden paradise full of freed cattle children, met Norman again, and was currently facing conflicting views with Norman and their separate plans to free the cattle children.
Emma frowned at the list she'd formed in her head. She knew she'd done other things, but she didn't need to bring up the memories at that moment. Instead, she added "relationship problems" to the list. Only thirteen, Emma thought to herself as she watched a single leaf fall, disappearing into the expanse below, yet I feel more like thirty.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reopening them to focus on the stars past the thick layers of leaves, their hidden yet shimmering beauty reflecting on her glossy emerald irises. She wished she could run among those stars, free and able to do as she wished, without having to watch her back every five seconds for the looming threats of the world. How nice it would be to leave this painful, cold world of demons and reach that Promised Neverland they dreamed of.
Emma continued to stare at the sky, taking in the sights, sounds, and feelings. Each small speck of light she could see past the leaves, each soft rustle of the leaves, each change of the breeze on her face. She was so immersed in her thoughts and her surroundings that she failed to notice the light tapping of footsteps growing closer.
“Yo,” a sudden voice said next to her, startling her back to reality as she instinctively jumped to her feet, lashing out and punching the stranger straight in the stomach. A split second later, after becoming fully aware of reality again, her eyes widened in horror as she realized who she’d just sucker-punched.
“R-Ray?!” She exclaimed as her raven-haired friend smiled past the pain he felt in his gut.
“I’m good, I’m good,” he assured with a pained smile, raising his hand to stop her from panicking as he hunched over, one arm gripping his abdomen.
“A-are you sure?!” Emma fretted, her eyes wide with panic. “You scared me! I’m so sorry! It was an accident, I didn’t realize it was-”
“I said I’m fine, Emma,” Ray laughed, the sound light but strained, which did not help Emma’s case of worry.
“No you’re not!” Emma retorted as she crouched down so that her eyes were level with is. She looked him fiercely in the eyes - well, eye, as his hair was in his face per usual - and frowned. “I know for a fact that I don’t hit lightly! And you don’t look okay at all!”
After a moment of prideful hesitation, Ray sighed in defeat, deciding to sit down on the large branch in order to catch his breath. With a breathy laugh, he glanced at Emma. "I know how strong your punches are, Emma. Besides, I don't plan on dying. That's behind me now.”
A split second passed before Ray realized what he'd said, as Emma smiled sadly, almost painfully, as she glanced away from him. The atmosphere took a sour turn as both of their thoughts immediately darted to the clear, painful memory of Ray's suicide attempt on the night of their great escape from Grace Field.
Emma cautiously sat down beside her friend, her hand gingerly reaching up to feel the dull nub that remained of her ear, and the two of them awkwardly focused on the leaves as they gently rustled in the breeze. They sat in silence for a time, and Emma lost track of the minutes that passed before the silence was broken by a sudden, heavy sigh from Ray.
“Er… I shouldn’t have said that,” Ray apologized, avoiding her gaze as he continued to watch the leaves sway.
“No… It’s okay. You’re right,” she smiled nonchalantly. “We’ve really grown since Grace Field. We've survived the forest, and Goldy Pond, and the attack on the shelter… We’re really lucky to be alive right now.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Ray said, finally turning his head to face Emma, his brow furrowed with concern. “It’s not luck. Luck has nothing to do with it." He leaned forward, forcing Emma to meet his gaze as he looked up into her emerald eyes. "Our will to survive has gotten us this far. We've fought to survive this long. We are here today because of our own strength and perseverance, not the chance of fate."
Emma smiled at that. “That was way too poetic for you,” she chuckled, but her smile did not match the uncertainty in her gaze.
"Hey, we will survive this. And I'm smart - and poetic, according to you - so you can trust me, alright?" Ray grinned, and Emma raised an eyebrow, a cheeky smirk broadening her lips.
"Why, of course, oh wise one!" Emma grinned back with a giggle. She held his gaze, finding herself lost in the silvery depths of his eyes. Ray was so kind and selfless on the inside, past the icy film of unreadable emotion and the layer of pride and distrust that he often portrayed. He always did his best to comfort Emma when she was scared or uncertain, and made her laugh when she felt like crying. He was her rock that kept her grounded, centered, and focused. Which was probably why he meant so much to her.
But she could never put her thoughts or feelings into words. She'd die of embarrassment before she could say anything. Plus… She could tell that Anna really liked Ray, too, and it wasn't an unknown fact. Gilda was the only one who knew about Emma's crush, and if Emma just controlled her feelings, then Anna and Ray could be happy together. They were a cute couple, anyway.
As her mind wandered in her mesmerized state, Ray, seeming equally entranced, reached up and swept a few stray hairs out of Emma's face, his gentle fingertips brushing lightly against her cheek, his soft touch lingering for just a moment too long. Emma came crashing back to Earth, her eyes widening in shock and surprise as realization washed over her, Ray seemingly reflecting her own reaction, and both of their faces flushed a deep red as they snapped their heads in opposite directions. "I- Uh- That was-" Ray started.
"I-it's okay!" Emma cut him off, sounding just as flustered as Ray had. Emma squeezed her eyes shut as her bottled-up feelings immediately surged, threatening to overflow. You idiot! She scolded herself, taking a deep breath to push every ounce of her boiling emotions back down. Weren't you literally just thinking about Ray and Anna?
“Hm," Ray simply hummed in response, his head still facing away from her. An awkward silence set itself in between the two of them, weighing down the atmosphere.
Emma looked down at her hands in shame. Nice going, Emma, she thought, gritting her teeth. Now he hates you. Emma bit back her frustration with herself, wishing she could crawl into a hole and hide.
"Hey," Ray began, interrupting her thoughts, "I… I'm sorry. That was… I shouldn't have said that."
Turning to glance at her raven-haired friend, she saw that he wasn't looking at her, but starting out at the expanse of leaves spread out around them, each one reflecting the soft yellow light of the lights inside the hideout. The gentle breeze carried his voice, each word a note in a beautiful, somber song.
Emma smiled softly, following his gaze. "It’s fine, you know. I’m not angry." Not with you, anyway, she added to herself.
"No, it's not,” he retorted, and noticed Ray clenching his fists. “…I probably shouldn't be out here with you right now," Ray said with a sigh that carried an emotion Emma couldn’t quite pin down, his hands unclenching as he stood and began walking back towards the inside of the hideout.
"W-wait, Ray!" Emma called after him, quickly scrambling to stand and catch his hand before he could get too far. His usually warm, comforting hand, that was now trembling.
"Emma…" Ray turned to face the short redhead, an almost irritated expression taking hold of his features. “Please let go. This isn’t right."
"Why not?" Emma demanded, clinging onto his hand for dear life, as if she'd lose Ray forever if she let go.
"If Norman found out-"
"Norman?” Emma blinked, finding herself very confused. “What does Norman have to do with this?”
"W-well, you and Norman seem to be really close these days…" Ray said, his face reddening as he focused his gaze on their clasped hands, "a-and I don't want to get in the way of that-"
"Wait wait wait, back up," Emma said, shaking her head in confusion. "Norman and I are together a lot, but we're not… on the best of terms.” She frowned, glancing downward for a moment, thinking about Norman’s sudden obsession with the idea of killing every last demon. Shoving the thought away, she looked back up at Ray, passion and frustration illuminating her gaze. “The three of us have always been best friends, working and playing together, and almost even escaping together. You’re the last person to be getting in the way of anything, you belong!" The thought of Anna’s crush suddenly flashed across her mind, and almost involuntarily, she pointed at herself with her free hand and said, “if anyone is getting in the way of something, it’s me.”
Just as soon as she let the words slip, Emma realized what she’d said, her eyes widening in surprise at her own words faster than Ray could frown at the statement. Crap, why did I say that? She bit her lip nervously, about to attempt to continue on as if she hadn't said anything, but Ray was too quick.
"What?" Ray asked simply, stopping her before she continued, his brow furrowed as he tried to work out what she’d said.
"I- Uh…" Emma stammered, feeling her heart sink in her chest. In a moment of panic, she let go of Ray's hand, slipping past him in an attempt to escape the question. "I think I hear Gilda calling me! Coming!"
This time, it was Ray who reached out, latching onto her wrist, pulling Emma back and holding her in place, the proximity of their faces way too close for Emma's comfort. Emma could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as Ray stared down at her, the scrutinizing gaze of his beautiful, silver eyes seemingly locking her entire body into place.
"Answer the question, Emma," he said in a low voice, making her cheeks burn even more.
"I-" Emma started, her voice choking up. Swallowing hard, she forced her voice to work with her. "I don't want to get between you and Anna. She really likes you, and you two make a good couple. You guys deserve to be happy," she gushed in a single breath, letting the words spill out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Ray blinked, caught off guard. "Anna?"
Emma nodded in response.
"Huh, I had no idea.” He murmured, almost more to himself than to Emma. “But you can't throw away your own happiness for the sake of others, Emma. That doesn’t make anyone happier," Ray continued. "You deserve to be happy too."
"... You two belong together," Emma smiled sadly, taking her wrists back and holding her hands against her chest. "And… that's okay with me."
Ray clicked his tongue. "Well it sure as hell isn't okay with me!" Ray shouted in response, startling Emma. "Anna’s my friend, at most my sister. Don’t go deciding who or what makes me happy, you hear me? Making assumptions and killing yourself over them will help no one!"
"Then go be with whoever makes you happy," Emma responded with a somewhat raised voice, but a calmer tone than Ray's. "Whoever that may be, I don't-"
"It's you," Ray cut her off, his hands falling to his sides with clenched fists as he avoided her gaze.
Emma's eyes flew open at the very sudden, very unexpected comment. "W-What?"
Ray’s face visibly reddened as his fists tightened. "The person that makes me happiest is you, Emma."
The temperature of Emma's cheeks skyrocketed once more, and it only worsened as Ray continued. "You’ve always been right next to me. At Grace Field, in the forests, at the shelter, and even now. You’re the sun that lit up my world in my darkest hours. When you disappeared at Goldy Pond, and when you were impaled by Leuvis, I had never been so scared in my life."
Emma could feel the tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes, but Ray only smiled softly, releasing his clenched fists and raising one hand to rub the back of his head.
"I don't even remember when I started feeling so much… admiration of you. I’d always seen you as a stupid idiot that could run really fast, but now… you’re like my destined partner, the other half of me. If you hadn’t been next to me this whole time, who knows where I’d be right now?” He said, lowering his hand to grasp the opposite arm. “I've been wanting to say something for a while, but I just… never found the chance, I guess. Everything’s moved so quickly since we escaped from the shelter, and suddenly Norman was alive the whole time? I was so happy in that moment, when I learned that Norman was alive, but he'd always loved you, even before we’d ever left Grace Field, so I didn't want to get your way. Apparently, that was a mistake," he added with a light laugh.
Emma, completely dumbfounded, stood like a statue and stared at Ray in silent shock, tears gently streaming down her face. Upon a lack of a response, Ray glanced up and her, and jolted when he saw her face. “Ah- I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to-”
"Hey, Ray, let's make a promise." Emma suddenly said, cutting him off.
"... A promise?" The boy echoed, to which Emma nodded.
"A promise to make sure that we're together forever and ever," Emma said with her usual bubbly grin. “That we’ll always stand together, no matter what, and get through any challenge that’s thrown at us.”
Ray smiled at that, meeting Emma’s passionate gaze, and holding out his hand. "Alright then, I promise to stand next to you, no matter what happens.”
"And I promise to stand by your side, forever and ever, no matter what!" Emma replied, firmly taking hold of his hand as an assurance that their newly formed promise would not easily be broken.
The moment their palms connected, the two of them suddenly felt a strange sensation, an electrical current coursing through them as their fate suddenly shifted, giving them both a chill. Before they had a chance to react, however, a new voice interrupted their moment alone.
"Awww, you two are so cute!" Gilda mused from the entrance to the hideout from the branch they stood on,
Ray and Emma simultaneously turned as red as tomatoes. "H-How long have you been standing there?" Emma stammered, whirling around to face her best friend.
"Long enough," Don said with a casual shrug, suddenly standing behind Gilda. His eyes sparkled mischievously as a huge grin formed on his face. "Just wait until the others hear about this!"
"You wouldn't dare," Ray's gaze narrowed threateningly.
"Hey guuuuys!" Gilda called, running back into the hideout with Don, giggling furiously.
"Get back here!" Emma shouted, giving chase, and disappearing into the hideout.
Ray sighed in exasperation, tilting his head up to face the sky, a smile widening his lips as he pushed the thought of the strange sensation to the back of his mind. Right then, he was probably the happiest person in the world.
We promised each other that we would always stand together, no matter what challenges fate brought to us. We promised that we would continue to fight, not as friends, but as partners. The future seemed bright as the end to our struggles drew near.
But fate works in twisted ways.
"I'd like you two to go looking for the missing hunting party. They were sent out on a short hunt earlier this morning north of the hideout, but they haven't returned," Norman explained, standing with folded arms as he leaned against his desk, facing Ray and Emma, who were standing side-by-side as they listened to his instructions.
The two of them had been doing laundry with some of the other children just fifteen minutes ago, when Hayato had suddenly burst into the room and relayed Norman’s summons. Ray inwardly sighed, thinking about the research he could be conducting about the Seven Walls right now. Instead, he was standing in Norman’s office, about to be sent out for a supposedly missing hunting party. Ray doubted they were in trouble, they may have just discovered something interesting or caught a large animal and were struggling to drag it back through the thick, wild underbrush of the demon forest.
"I don't want this mission to take a long time, which is why I'm choosing the two of you. As a means of contacting the hideout, use this," Norman said, breaking through Ray’s drifting thoughts as he held out a small device with a button on one end.
"If you find the hunting party, press the button once. If the party is safe, press it once more. If they are injured and you require assistance to carry them back to the hideout, press once and then press and hold for one second. If you can’t find them at all, press and hold. And, worst case scenario, if you come across an extreme danger, press the button three times. Hopefully you will only have to press the button a maximum of two times, however, fate is almost unpredictable. Is the assignment clear?"
"Crystal clear," Ray agreed as he nodded lightly, accepting the device from Norman's hand. He looked down at the object, a small silver cylinder about the diameter of a penny with a button in the same color on one end.
"Aye aye!" Emma chirped, holding a hand to her forehead in a poorly-performed salute.
Ray smiled as he glanced at her, amused by her failure of a salute. Seeing Emma acting just as sprightly as she did on any other day made it seem as if last night’s promise had never happened, as if nothing had changed. No, he thought, it has changed. Before, they’d been best friends, but incomplete. They’d always been a trio, he, Emma, and Norman, but once Norman had been shipped out, that friendship had been broken. Now, they’d mended that broken friendship. They were no longer a broken trio, but a complete duo.
His smile widened ever so slightly as returned his gaze to Norman, but the smile immediately vanished as he met Norman’s fierce, scrutinizing blue eyes that seemed to be digging into his mind, trying to figure Ray out. Ray flinched slightly.
Norman wordlessly lifted himself from the edge of his desk, walking around the edge of it’s wooden structure to seat himself in his chair. Norman placed his elbows on the desk, folding his hands together as he watched Ray and Emma with a sharp, dangerously observant gaze. “I trust you’ll succeed in finding the party. Please head to the entrance once you gather your supplies, Barbara and Cislo will be waiting for you there.”
With a final confirmation from Ray and Emma, the two of them turned to leave the office, the walls of which seemed to be closing around Ray as he felt Norman’s gaze burning into his back. Ray had never liked how observant and clever Norman was, it scared him. It was as if he could never hide anything from Norman’s watchful eyes. Ray was all-too eager to leave that stuffy room, but he paused just as he stepped outside when Norman called Emma’s name.
“Ah, Emma, can I ask you to stay for a moment?” He asked Emma, who stopped right before following Ray out the door. The sudden call back surprised her, as she flinched and whirled around when her name had been spoken.
“Oh, uh, okay,” she answered hesitantly, glancing at Ray.
When their gazes met, Ray saw his own confusion reflected in her eyes, as well as something else. Something more along the lines of… worry. Ray decided to ask her about it later, since Emma was back in the office and approaching Norman’s desk before Ray could blink. As the door softly swung shut, Ray met Norman’s scorchingly cold, analytical stare one more time. He returned the stare head-on, at the same time trying to figure out why Norman was staring at him like that.
The door clicked shut, and Ray was left alone in the hallway, his only company the pulsing glow of the lanterns and the swirling thoughts in his head.
The sound of Ray's footsteps echoed down the halls of the Hidden Paradise as he walked along the twisted paths, his mind working to wrap around what had just happened. The moment had passed by quickly, yet it had felt as though time had briefly frozen in the wake of Norman's icy stare. Why was he looking at me like that? Ray thought to himself, the image of his friend's piercing blue eyes engraved into his mind.
By the time he'd reached the level that the bedroom was located on, he had only two ideas, both of which seemed like the only likely options. On one hand, Norman may have suspected that he and Emma were planning something behind his back concerning his plan to annihilate the demons as a whole, which… wasn't wrong, considering that the two of them were planning to go to the Seven Walls to reforge the Promise.
On the other hand, however, it was just as likely that Norman had noticed a change in their relationship. Did he notice the change since the encounter last night? Probably not, as that was a little too soon for Norman to be able to… Ray shuddered, realizing that it was possible for Norman to have noticed a change. The guy was too damn smart. Ray shook his head, pushing the thought to the side as he stopped in front of the bedroom door. Ever since they were little kids, Norman had loved Emma in a way that Ray had never understood. The other reason for his icy stare, Ray had realized, was likely because that love had never diminished once during the years they were apart. However, while Norman was alone, Ray and Emma had gotten closer as they escaped death countless times. Because of that, if Ray's theory was right, Norman saw it as a threat to his relationship with Emma, and wanted to know just how close Ray and Emma had gotten over the two years they'd been apart.
"Yeah, right. You're probably overthinking it, as usual," Ray muttered to himself with a sigh, opening the bedroom door and pushing his theories to the side. Right now, he needed to prepare himself for this little rescue operation, not focus on stupid love triangle theories.
Ray shared a bedroom with eleven other boys closer to his age, including Don and some of the Goldy pond boys. Accordingly, there were six bunk beds lined up perpendicularly to the walls they were against, and the far wall was set with dressers and small wardrobes that held their limited amount of clothing.
While grabbing his travel bag from under his bed, Ray recalled a time when he'd heard Emma complaining to Violet and Gillian about the limited amount of clothing she'd always had no matter where she was, and how she dreamed of wearing a pretty green dress like the one worn by the main character in a story she'd always loved. Emma had made Ray read that story to her every day, even after she'd become literate around the age of three. A soft smile graced his lips as Ray pictured her pleading eyes gazing up at him as she begged him to read to her. He never did tell Emma how much he loved reading that story, the one of the girl with the green dress, to her. He never had the confidence, or the will to get in the way of her relationship with Norman. He'd always been like that, a background character. Aiding his best friends from the shadows, making himself the bad guy to keep them safe.
The sudden image of a match flashed across his mind. A small, innocent flame that in mere moments would end his life, but would allow Emma and the others to live. He would finally atone for his sins, knowing the fate of each of his siblings each time they were "adopted", yet each time doing nothing. Now, he would get what he deserved, and finally do something to save those he loved. All he had to do was drop the match…
A sharp pain snapped Ray back into reality, a soft "ouch” escaping from him. The image of the match was replaced by the sight of a metal coat hook that was attached to a bedpost, the coat hook he'd just walked into and cut his brow against. Ray hissed a curse, setting his bag down and walking over to the mirror set on the back of the bedroom door, examining the injury. It was a small cut just above his eyebrow, and thankfully it was the brow usually hidden by his hair.
As he walked over to the nearest nightstand to grab a tissue to stop the light trickle of blood that dribbled down the side of his head, the sight of Emma catching the match mentally replayed itself. Her burned hand suddenly grabbing his collar as she screamed, her voice filled not with anger towards his recklessness, but fear for her best friend's life. Ray's hand gripped the tissue, his knuckles turning white as he gritted his teeth. Why? He thought, his mind filling with the sight of Emma's bright, fearful emerald eyes that had been engraved into his memories. I don't deserve to live, I want to save you all…
Blood dripped onto his hand from his chin, reminding Ray that he needed to stop the bleeding. He grabbed the whole box of tissues, returning to the mirror to wipe his brow off. He sighed, pushing his guilt, along with his memories, back into the box they'd crawled out of at the back of his mind. For now, he didn't need to focus on those wretched, depressing thoughts. He was expected at the base of the tree soon, and this cut wasn't helping. He glared at the injury as it was reflected in the mirror, lifting the bloodied tissues to check and see if the bleeding had stopped. Ray sighed heavily. He'd delayed his preparation for his mission with Emma because of his stupid guilt, and now he was bleeding, which definitely wasn't good, considering that he'd need at least some energy to find and rescue the supposedly missing hunting party. He still doubted it was anything serious, since this territory was marked, and it would be unnatural for a wild demon to wander into this neck of the forest.
Once he was sure the bleeding had stopped, he tossed the bloody tissues out and simply returned to preparing his bag. Emma's probably already waiting for me, Ray thought with a frown, before he remembered Norman calling Emma back into his office. "I wonder what that was about," he murmured aloud, slinging the bag over his shoulder after pulling on his coat. To himself, he added, they could've talked about anything . His hand gripped the shoulder strap of the rifle he'd taken from the shelter as Ray shook his head to clear his mind. "Why am I doing so much thinking today?" He growled, glaring at the rifle.
"You're always thinking, though. That's just you being you, Ray," a new voice replied, amusement lining their tone.
Ray whirled around in surprise, meeting Don's iconic, cheeky smile. That smile always made anyone who saw it feel better, because they knew there was a mischievous plan or dumb joke attached to it.
"You're always so lost in thought, sometimes the rest of us think you've been possessed. You just completely focus on some mysterious thing that you see in your head," Don continued, waving his hands around as he stepped through the doorway. Stopping next to Ray, he threw his arm over Ray's shoulders. "You gotta cheer up a little, man! Or you're going to get permanent frown lines all over your face!" Ray frowned at that, making Don crack up. "See?" The taller boy cackled, " you're doing it again!"
Ray sighed in defeat, letting Don have his fun. He couldn't help but smile as he allowed Don drag him into the hallway and in the direction of the entrance. Don had been one of his best friends since before they'd escaped Grace Field, and after Emma and… Emma, there was no one he trusted more, other than possibly Gilda.
Don continued to ramble about how Ray was always thinking too much, but his topic of mostly one-sided conversation switched several times, from Ray's thinking habits, to the beds, to Gilda, to all of the girls around their age. By the time they reached the main entrance into the hideout at the bottom of the giant tree, just listening to Don's continuous maundering had drained Ray of his energy.
Just as Norman had said, Barbara and Cislo were standing at the entry gate. The two of them seemed just as spiteful of Ray as they always did, Barbara standing with a hand on her hip and her club on her shoulder, casting a sidelong glare at Ray as she pointed her nose in the air, and Cislo also glaring at him with folded arms and something of a snarl. Ray sighed. The two of them were jealous of his connection to their "boss", or Norman. Ray personally found it a stupid reason to be envious of someone, but to each their own.
Emma was also there, dressed in her own adventure gear, consisting of black pants, a black turtleneck, a sand-colored coat… pretty much the same clothing Ray wore. She also wore a supply bag, as well as a quiver full of arrows that rested against her shoulder, the bow in the quiver as well. She had been talking to Barbara and Cislo - she never failed to make friends with the most unlikely of people - and upon Ray's entrance, she'd started grinning.
"Stop smiling like that," Ray told her as he approached. "It makes you look more stupid than you already are."
"You're so mean, Ray!" Emma retorted, her cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk's as she pouted.
She only got more frustrated when Ray ignored the comment, turning to Barbara and Cislo with the same neutral, seemingly uninterested gaze. "So? Anything we need to be told? Did Norman give you a message for us or something?"
"All the boss said for you was 'be careful' and 'keep me updated'," Cislo answered, meeting Ray's eyes. "We're just here to see you off."
"Don't get all soft on any demons you encounter, now," Barbara sneered, her teeth showing as her mouth formed a sort of twisted smiling snarl.
Behind Ray, Emma scowled, aggravated by the taunt, but Ray shrugged and turned on his heel, placing a hand on Emma's head. "Alrighty, then!" He huffed, glancing over his shoulder at the two figures that now stood behind him. "That's all then, right? We free to get on our way yet, or do you need to delay us some more?"
Barbara clicked her tongue, the scowl almost transferring from Emma's face to hers, and Cislo frowned. "Get out already before the boss comes down and yells at us," the man said, shoving open the entry door to the massive tree.
Ray led Emma, who stuck her tongue out at Barbara as she passed through the doorway, out into the forest. He waved his hand to Cislo and Barbara with a final "see you", and continued north, where Norman had said the hunting party had gone.
Maybe it was just his intuition, but as the two of them stepped foot into the wild, untamed forest of demons, a stone seemed to sink in Ray's stomach. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, dismissing it as a small wave of nervousness, but the thought still lingered there:
Something was going to go horribly wrong.
A twig snapped under Ray's foot, making Emma jump from where she was marching ahead in front of him.
"Ray," she cried, "don't scare me like that!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll try to be more careful," he said, waving a hand dismissively. Truth be told, she wasn't the only one on edge. The forest was quiet. Too quiet. They'd been walking for at least two hours, now, following the small trail indicators they'd spotted along the way, praying to be led to the hunting party. But as time passed by, the eerie silence and the continuous search made both of them apprehensive. Even Ray had begun getting jumpy at sudden movements and sounds.
"... Should we just report that we can't find them at all and go back?" Emma suggested, stopping to look at Ray.
"No," he answered, shaking his head. "We'll keep looking for as long as we can, even if we don't like it."
"Oh…" Emma frowned, but turned and continued on. "If that's what you think we should do, then okay."
After their brief pause in their trek, they continued to search almost wordlessly, aside from the quick notices of trail indicators.
The silence lay thick overhead, ceaseless and steady, coating both Ray and Emma, and the surrounding forest. As they persisted through the thick of the foreboding, soundless forest, Ray began to hear a soft ticking sound in his head.
The soft ticking of the grandfather clock in the dining hall of Grace Field House, counting the seconds until midnight. And then, the clock struck twelve, the chime beginning to ring. Once. Twice. Each time it chimed, the eagerness rising inside of Ray. He wouldn't let them win. Not Isabella, not those demons, none of them. He would take away their meal from them, their meal of the highest grade. The faint heat of the flame on the tip of the match warmed his fingers, contrasting to the cold of the air on his oil-soaked body.
"Bye-bye, Emma."
The warmth left his fingers as the match plummeted to the floor. The moment it touched the floor he'd soaked in gasoline, the room would go up in flames. He would win. His ultimate victory, and his ultimate demise. It had to be this way. He would die, and the demons would lose, and he would atone for all of the times that he allowed his siblings to die, for the pain he'd caused Norman and Emma, for everything.
The small light of the fire extinguished in a blur as Emma darted forward, closing her hands around the flame. She whirled around and grabbed his shirt, and again, he saw her eyes - those wide, green eyes, filled not with anger, but with fear. Ray couldn't bear to look at those pained, terrified eyes, yet he couldn't tear his gaze away. The emerald depths seemed to latch onto him, pulling him deeper and deeper into an endless pit of guilt and regret...
"-Okay?" A voice suddenly asked, ripping Ray out of the ever-closing walls of his memories as he whirled around, coming face to face with Emma, who was staring up at him, her eyes - those deep, emerald eyes - clouded with concern.
"Ray?" She asked, her brow furrowing. "You didn't answer me when I called your name the first three times. Are you feeling okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost," she noted, putting a hand on Ray's forehead, uncovering the scabbed-over gash from the coat hook. "... Ray, why do you have a cut on your forehead?"
"Damn it, Emma, stop asking so many questions," Ray sighed, taking a shaky breath. Why did his memories have to come back to haunt him at the worst times? Why at all? "I can only answer so many at a time."
"Fine, then. What's wrong with you today? First you and Norman were giving each other funny looks, then you walked up to the doorway looking all worn out, and now you space out while we're walking through a forest that is totally safe for spacing out in. Oh yeah, not to mention the cut on your brow!" Emma exclaimed, flinging her hands about as she paced back and forth, something she'd gotten into the habit of during their time at the shelter. Yuugo used to pace when he was angry or frustrated, or in deep thought. Emma had caught on, but it was more amusing when Emma did it because her "antenna" bounced about with each step.
"Oi, slow down. You're going to make your tongue fall off- Emma?" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing Emma had frozen, her eyes wide with cold, empty terror. "Emma?" He repeated when she didn't answer, "what's wrong?"
Emma lifted a shaky finger, pointing at something on the ground near the tangled undergrowth. Ray turned his head to follow her gaze, and all of the blood in his body turned to ice.
There, lying on the ground, surrounded by splotches of crimson, was a hand . A singular human hand, it's fingers crushed and deformed, the skin ripped and the bone seemingly cracked off from where it should've been attached to an arm.
"... Whose hand is-" Ray began, but stopped as Emma took a few steps forward, passing the hand and going to look at the other side of the bushes it lay beside. She didn't get far before her breath caught, her hands quickly lifting to cover her mouth.
Ray followed her footsteps, stopping next to her at the edge of a small clearing of level earth. The sight before him burned itself into his memory as his eyes widened more that he thought physically possible.
Blood .
So much blood, splattered against the ground, the trees, and the plant growth, which was cracked and splintered as if something had crushed it. Across the red stains that covered the small clearing, the mangled remnants of the hunting party lay, cold, broken, and lifeless. Most of it was unidentifiable heaps of flesh and bone, almost looking like someone had chewed them up and spat what didn't appeal back out, but Ray could identify certain limbs here and there; a couple of arms, a leg, one lower torso that was missing it's legs. If just the sight wasn't enough, there was also the smell . The heavy, putrid smell of blood and death.
“The hunting party…” Emma sucked in a breath, her words just loud enough for Ray to hear her.
Ray wanted to deny her assumption, but the scattered pieces of dismantled weapons and supplies and torn bits of clothing that resembled what he and Emma were wearing proved any other possibility impossible. Ray just barely managed to keep himself from vomiting, but Emma wasn't as successful.
"What… happened here?" Ray breathed, his voice barely a whisper.
As Emma caught her breath, Ray cautiously stepped into the bloody clearing. The blood matted down the grass, making his footsteps almost silent but for the soft squilshing noise his boots made as he walked across the blood-soaked ground.
His gaze slowly swept across the gruesome surroundings as he turned in a slow circle, taking in every detail. “How- What could have done this…?” Ray murmured. It couldn’t have been the same people that had driven them out of the shelter, there was no way for them to know where the hideout was. Ray highly doubted Norman had set it up, as much as it pained him to think about it. Norman would’ve been… cleaner. It was too messy to have been a normal animal, or even a group of animals. The damage to the surroundings was too severe, and there wouldn’t be a large amount of missing limbs. That left one option left, but there was no way it could’ve been a wild demon. This territory was marked, as Norman had a group of scouts go around the area every morning and evening with what they called “marking fluid." Wild demons were naturally territorial, and respected territory boundaries as well. Unless…
Ray whirled around to face Emma, his heart rate beginning to quicken. “We need to get out of here,” he said quickly, but his words fell flat when he realized Emma wasn’t listening. She was frozen in place, her eyes wide with terror and her mouth agape, as if she was screaming, but no sound came from her lips. She was focused on something past Ray, not daring to so much as breathe.
“Emma…?” Ray repeated, a stone of dread catching in his chest. He began to turn around, slowly turning his body to look behind him. “What are you looking… at…”
His gaze met twisted legs, deformed beyond those of a human or those of an animal. As Ray’s eyes lifted, he could feel a knot forming in his throat as his sight came to rest on a warped, horrendous face, littered with eyes and with a slobbering mouth filled with seemingly endless rows of jagged teeth.
The beast’s breath smelled of blood and death - the same reeking stench that bathed the clearing. Ray’s heart sank into his stomach, realization washing over him like a bucket of freezing water. Ray slowly moved his hand to reach into the pocket of his coat, his hand wrapping around the rounded surface of the communicator Norman had given them. He quickly pressed the button three times, hoping that backup would arrive quickly. Unfortunately, the communicator button clicked every time Ray pressed down on it, alerting the demon’s senses. The demon’s lips parted in a snarl, and it lounged for Ray. Ray stumbled backwards, tripping over a tree root, and the demon’s massive jaw snapped closed where Ray had been standing a moment ago.
Ray wasted no time, scrambling to his feet and grabbing Emma’s hand, bringing her out of her trance as he dragged her with him.
“Ray!” She gasped, having come back to her senses. “Oh my God, Ray, what do we do?” Her voice cried over the sound of rushing wind and the howling demon behind them. The demon that, Ray noted, was quickly gaining on them.
“We run, obviously!” He shouted back, tugging his friend sharply left around a gargantuan tree trunk. “Backup should be on it’s way!”
“You used the communicator!” Emma exclaimed, glancing behind them at the demon, who had skidded to a halt in front of the tree to get around it, it’s legs moving to keep pace with the two of them.
“Of course I used it, you idiot!” Ray called back, yanking on her arm to pull her under a fallen tree. “Keep your eyes in front of you!”
“Look out!” Emma screamed, pulling Ray to a stop with both of her hands, causing both of them fall to the ground. A boulder rocketed overhead, crashing into the ground against the base of a nearby tree, sending splinters of wood and clouds of soil flying.
Ray didn’t have time to be embarrassed about their position before Emma pushed him off of her, standing up. “Come on,” she said urgently, her eyes trained on the demon as it lumbered forward, quickly closing in on them. Ray rose to his feet as quickly as he could, running forward, with Emma right behind him.
Ray noticed the cracking sound of splitting wood a moment too late. As he and Emma ran from the demon that crashed through the forest behind them, Ray saw the plummeting form of the tree that the boulder had crashed into.
Emma did not.
“EMMA!” Ray screeched, too late whirling around to pull her out of the way, and instead watching her collapse under the weight of the tree, caught beneath the thicker branches and tangled between the smaller branches.
Emma didn’t have time to react, or the strength to scream, as all of the breath in her lungs was drawn out under the force of the tree. She helplessly lay under the cage of branches, pain flaring up her spine.
“Emma? Emma!” Ray cried, desperately parting the branches and tossing aside the broken growth, searching for her face as panic flared in his chest. “Talk to me, Emma!”
The sound of weak coughing from underneath the tree brought a wave of relief over Ray, and after pulling another branch out of the way, he found Emma’s wild orange hair, and gray eyes met green as Emma lifted her head to give him a pained smile.
“I’m alive,” she huffed, short of breath.
“Hang on, I’m getting you out of there,” Ray assured her, but he had no idea how he was going to go about getting the massive tree off of his friend.
The loud roar of the beast that had been chasing them reminded Ray of its presence, and he scrambled back instinctively as the tree’s bulky form was lifted off of Emma, and dropped just behind Ray.
With the tree gone, Ray could clearly see Emma’s body. Her arms had lifted her chest slightly off the ground, and she coughed madly, but her back was crushed, and her legs were bleeding and broken.
Ray began to reach forward, opening his mouth to speak, but his words caught in his throat as a boney, deformed limb wrapped around Emma’s broken body, lifting her up off the ground.
Emma’s eyes lit up with fear and panic, and she began to scream, a bloodcurdling mix of pained wails and desperate calls for her friend, who was frozen on the ground in horror, unable to do anything. Ray could only watch as Emma was lifted to the demon’s gaping maw, her gaze meeting his with a heart-shattering look of pain. Her lips moved slowly, forming a word that Ray couldn’t understand, and then…
The ear-splitting crack of bone met Ray’s ears as Emma was devoured by the gruesome beast, her blood splattering against its face and spilling to the ground, staining the soil. He could feel light drops of the crimson liquid splash against his skin as he watched his best friend being devoured by the demon, pieces of her equipment and her limbs falling out of the monster’s mouth as it greedily swallowed what was once Ray’s source of happiness.
Ray sat on the ground, his hand, that had been reaching towards the girl that was just consumed by the enormous fiend before him mere moments ago, now limply draped against his leg. His throat was dry and his eyes were pinned open as he blankly stared in horror at the demon’s face. He felt numb, the strength gone from his body, tears beginning to stream down his blood-splattered cheeks. His best friend, his partner, his ray of hope… was gone.
He motionlessly waited for the demon to lick its lips and reach for him, to swallow him just as it had swallowed Emma. He waited for it’s boney, crooked limb to wrap around his body and lift him up…
He blinked, a wave of realization rushing over him. Emma tried to tell me something, he remembered, his mind racing to replay the memory in his mind. Ray watched in his mind once more as Emma was lifted up, screaming and calling his name. He remembered as she’d stopped, admitting defeat and meeting his gaze. The shape of her lips as they’d moved one last time flashed past his eyes. What had she said to him? Ray began to sweat as he worked his mind to focus on the scene of the memory, to work out what she’d said.
Her lips moved once more in his memory, and his eyes flew open. Now he remembered.
Ray pulled the rifle off of his back just as the deformed hand of the demon closed in on him, and he let loose, releasing a scream of rage as he blasted the hand away, relishing the pained howl of the demon as the bullets penetrated it’s form. Ray backed up as the monster, greedy for more flesh, romped closer, its body regenerating each time a bullet blasted a hole through its body.
Because of his angle, Ray couldn’t blast it’s core, the eye at the center of its head. But Norman was on his way, at least Ray hoped, so he settled with distracting the monster long enough to have the last laugh.
Ray’s back met the rough bark of a tree, and he hissed a curse under his breath, continuing to pull the trigger of the weapon as the crooked hand began to reach for him once more. He couldn’t let it end here. He wouldn’t let it end here. Ray was done running. He'd been hopeless and pessimistic enough. He was over with giving up.
He let out his rage through his voice, lifting the rifle to blast at the beast's face. The monster howled, more with annoyance than pain, reeling back and moving it's arm to block the metal pellets from bombarding its chin.
The gun clicked suddenly when Ray tried to fire it, no bullet blasting from the barrel. Ray tried firing a few more times, and the weapon clicked each time Ray pulled the trigger. He was out of ammo. Ray cursed as he threw the now useless weapon at the demon, watching it bounce off of it's side as the demon inched closer.
Ray clicked his tongue in frustration. There was nothing more he could do to hold the demon at bay. He pressed his back against the trunk of the tree as the beast's arm reached out, the deformed fingers extending to wrap around Ray's torso, pinning his arms to his sides. He kicked his legs around in a feeble attempt at freeing himself, but as he turned his head away from the brutal odor of the demon's breath, he caught sight of Norman leading a group of twenty-or-so others behind him. Time seemed to slow as their gazes met, and Ray saw the fear and dread that took over Norman's expression. For a moment, he thought he heard Norman calling his name, but the growl of the monster drowned out any sound that reached Ray's ears.
Despite the situation, Ray felt oddly calm. He let his legs go limp, taking a final breath as his body was carried ever closer to the waiting jaws of the monster that held him. "Sorry, Emma," he whispered, "I can't fulfill your wish."
As the demon's mouth closed around him, agonizing pain shot through his body as the rows of jagged teeth sank into his flesh, his blood draining from his body. Ray didn't scream in pain, though the feeling was unbearably painful. He simply let himself be eaten, knowing he had failed. The one time he'd finally pulled himself together and fought, the sole moment he'd stopped being a scared coward. He'd failed himself, and he'd failed Emma.
As his world went dark, his head spinning due to the excruciating pain and sudden loss of blood, all he could think about was Emma's final request, her lips moving silently to form a single word just before her death. His life slipped away as the word replayed itself in his mind, everything going dark as Emma's voice whispered into his ears.
Live.