Reborn into The Promised Neverland//RayxReader//

//Relieved//

"Then the bandits decided to attack the nearby village to lure us out. I intentionally walked into the trap, and ended up getting captured when Cozbi told them who I was, and that I'd go for a high ransom. She thought I was going to die otherwise, and decided being held captive was the better option, you know.

"We travelled with them until I escaped, leaving Cozbi behind with her crazy old relative, Zev– the super royal-hostile captain of the bandits.

"After that, I was injured and lost. Thanks to some maps I'd memorized a while back, I figured out where I was, and was able to catch up to the capital's battalion to ask for shelter. I knew them decently well, because I used to visit the barracks on better days for sparring...

"Turns out they knew I was human already, and offered to let me stay, but then I separated to go see if Cozbi was okay. I returned to Lambda to find that she hadn't returned yet, and Aurelia and Benny had set off after her. So I followed them and the bandits, for quite some time. Then..." I stopped now, looking down at my hands.

"What is it?" Yuugo prodded me.

I closed my eyes a moment. "...the battalion was attacked by the bandits. They'd circled around and planned... an ambush. All of them were... dead.

"Maybe I didn't know them all very well, but... yeah, I liked them. And many of them were close to Sonju. I... went back to the capital after that, to warn Sonju of the bandits, who were circling towards the capital, for what I thought was an attack.

"I spent a day relaxing, sort-of, and then snuck out to the bandits camp. I found Aurelia, Cozbi, and Benny there... Cozbi told me the bandits' plan, and I took it back to the capital to tell Sonju."

Trying to be helpful to erase the guilt.

"I... doubted it, though, but when I told Sonju a different plan I had, he told me it was too risky. So I left again to find proof, and I did find that the bandits had changed their plan. But before I could tell Sonju... X pulled me away to Day and Night to propose a deal."

"A deal?" Yuugo soon asked. I hadn't realized I had stopped speaking.

I nodded. "...yeah. A deal for a new promise. He told me... that I could go to the human world. But if I did, there would be no passing between them... ever. And I... even though he told me it would likely be my last chance to make a promise... and it was a best-case scenario— where I wouldn't need to sacrifice anything more... turned him down."

Yuugo smiled softly. "Good thing you did, else we'd be trapped here forever."

"No..." I shook my head. "I mean, I'm glad I didn't make the promise, of course, but... I didn't know you were here. I had... what I thought was a chance to see you all again, but... I chose the demon world over you guys. Nothing will change that."

I took in a deep breath in the following silence. "So... X dropped me in the middle of the capital, shortly after the attack began. I killed... a lot of bandits, and tried to save as many citizens as possible. A lot of people died...

more guilt.

"In the end, Cozbi and I fought against Zev. And that's when you all came in. I saw you and... ran. I kept running to make the deal, but... I started because I was... scared, maybe. Of you all to see me... like this. To confront you after everything...

"Then, what you wanted to know... I made it to the seven walls after that. I hadn't had to face them in a while, 'cause after going to Day and Night so many times, they disabled for me. But it'd been so long since I'd last visited, I had to face them again...

"It wasn't easy." I grinned. "It was pretty shit, actually. I made it, though. X accepted my deal and let you all stay here for the time being, and then I left Day and night, but...