My Muse || READER X RAY || The Promised Neverland

🔒 My Muse || Chapter Seventy

"On the 26th day of January, April, July and October there's a hunt. There are three rules."

Nigel, the boy in the aviator's hat, lifted his index finger. "Music."

Middle finger. "Monsters."

Ring finger. "Survive."

"Lucas here has been our leader for four years." The boy smiled, giving a thumbs up to the man sitting across the table. He chuckled. "Don't call me that. I'm just a friend." I held my mug nervously, the hotness of the mug warming my hands. "Lucas, if it's alright to ask, how old are you?" He smiled. "I look old, right? It's probably the scar. I'm twenty." "Twenty?!" Emma knocked over her glass, spilling water on the table. Gillian laughed from across the room. Lucas nodded. "I was sixteen when I first arrived here, with my family." "And where are they?" I blurted out. Someone pinched me. "Sonya." The red haired man hissed, glaring at the brown haired girl. She adjusted her glasses, giving me the look before walking away. "She's... Quite sensitive for me... And my family, they all should be dead."

"Should be?" Emma asked, wiping the table with her sweater sleeve. "Hey!" Oliver yelled, throwing her a napkin. She had stolen the only sweater of his she managed to find.

I looked at the man. "Lucas..." His name... It sounded so familiar. And an accident four years ago... "Do you happen to know a man named Yuugo?" Emma glanced at me, understanding. He trembled. "I-I haven't heard that name in years." He said, keeping his composure. "Yuugo is our friend," Emma said. "He brought us here."

"He's... He's alive?" His eyes started to shine underneath the lights. He blinked back his tears, smiling from ear to ear. "I'm... so glad."

A hand touched my shoulder. "Zack!" I turned around, smiling. "You said you wanted to see that... thing?" He winked, chuckling. I nodded, excusing myself from the table. "Wow, I've never seen him smile like that." Gillian whisper shouted. I watched Nigel nudge her shoulder, hissing her quiet.

I did notice that Zack was... a man of few words. When I first met him at least. It's been a week since that day. When I kissed him.

"Do you... Like me?"

He blushed. "Isn't it... Too early to know?"

"I wouldn't... kiss someone I wasn't interested in..." I whispered, booping his nose.

He laughed at that, booping me back. "I think you're cute. I think you're brave. If I were to be with a girl, I'd want it to be you."

"Is that a no?" I pouted, sliding onto the bed.

"Yes. I mean- I-" He grabbed my wrist, pulling me into his chest. He was warm and his hands were shaking. This was the first time he was with a girl. I could tell. "I like you, y/n. And I want to know if it's love, so please, spend some more time with me."

Was Ray ever this earnest? Innocent?

Zack was tough, hardened by the war in Goldy Pond. But he found a way to stay kind, he had hidden these emotions for so long. Ray was always mean. He pushed me away, so many times. He wants what's best for me, ignoring what I wanted to do.

Zack might be... someone I want to stay with.

"Earth to y/n..?" Zack lightly flicked my forehead, bringing me back down. "We're here." When I turned around, I was in a large concrete gray room, with all sorts of sports gear. "Punching bag!" I cheered, hugging the suspended red bean bag. He smiled, watching me zip around the room.

He pulled out a small piece of paper, unfolding it. He barely scanned it, reciting what was written as if he'd memorized the words contained.

"Your right leg never fully healed. Even now, it's still sprained. Right after you amputated your ear, you escaped so the wound never got to heal. The combination of your fever and broken leg completely stopped your body's ability to heal." He stepped towards me, tracing my collarbones. He was so close. I was wearing one his loose t-shirts. It slid over my shoulder, exposing the top bit of my chest. "And that scratch on your chest, even though it was a skin wound, didn't heal either."

"Doctor Zack, do you have a plan to save me?" I teased, touching his cheek. His voice was low, pulling my waist towards him. "Maybe... We can start with..." "Cardio?" I asked, kissing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pushed me against the wall. "Zack..." I moaned his name through the long kiss. "Mhm..."

"y/n?" I pulled myself away, jerking towards the door behind us. Emma was staring, mouth gaped open. "I thought- You and Ray- Were together-"

"Ray?" Zack's voice trembled. He pulled his hands away, stuffing them into his pockets. He turned to Emma, then to me. His eyes were cold. "Who's Ray?"