Out of touch, out of time [RAY X READER]

32~ Old photographs

Everyone was sitting around in a circle on the ground as Y/n and Ray handed around mugs of soup to the children and their demon friends. "Wow! This is just as good as back at the house!" Alicia said drinking her soup. "This is delicious!" Emma said with a smile. "How did you make it taste so good?! What is it?!" Chris asked. "It's cooking" said Ray bluntly. "We got a few tips from Mujika though!" y/n said with a wink. Ray handed y/n a mug of warm soup and a spoon. "Go sit I'll serve up the rest" he said.

Y/n sat down beside Emma who was looking into her mug of soup with a sad smile. "What's the matter?" Y/n asked. "Nothing...it's just that there's so much happiness in food" the orange haired girl said. "I agree" y/n smiled with a nod.

Three days passed and the escapees of Grace field had made progress. Sonju showed them around the maze of a cave they were staying in and took out a map to show them further. "You want to go southeast, eh?" Sonju asked, pointing a stick at the map on the ground. "Yes" nodded y/n. "Then you should exit the forest from the north side and go around" the demon replied. "The north side?" Asked Emma. "If you keep going south-east, you'll run into the territory of wild beasts twice after you leave the forest" Sonju said. "There's more of them?" Don asked sighing. "If you go north, there's only wasteland. No horde of demons. You can get out of the forest in about five days. After that, if you walk for about a day, you'll reach your destination" Sonju explained.

"Before you part you should learn some new things. Mujika and I will teach you. Things that will help you survive outside. The minimum amount of knowledge...and skills" Sonju said.

Over the course of the next few hours the children learnt how to make medicine from plants around the area and perform archery. In just a short period of time they all became very good at holding the bow an arrow, especially Emma.

"We have to go up to the surface and cross the river ahead, So I'm going to scope out the area first. Be careful" Said Sonju Holding up his spear. "You're going up?" Asked Emma. "Yeah" "Then can you please take me with you? I want to check out the surface too. I promise I won't be reckless, and I'll be careful not to get in your way" Emma asked. "...fine. But don't ever stray away from me or him" Sonju said as he pointed to his horse.

After a few minutes Sonju and Emma reached the surface as they sat on Sonjus horse. "Woah!" Said Emma as she gazed at the large trees and plants. They stopped by a crystal clear river for a few moments "The river isn't that deep. The water is cold, but you can cross it on foot. The issue is your pursuers" Sonju said as the horse carried them further into the forest. "Are there pursuers near you? If they are, how do you run away?" Sonju asked. "Got it. I'll look out and come up with a strategy" Emma said. "That's good. It doesn't look like there are pursuers. So, what do you want?" Sonju asked getting off of the horse. "I know you didn't come with me for a change of scenery or to investigate the surface" he said. "Yeah...to be honest I want you to teach me" Emma said. "Teach you what?" "How to kill a living thing" the girl said holding her bow and arrow firmly. "You've taught me a lot of new things, how to cook, which plants are edible, which herbs were useful and how to use a harpoon and a bow and arrow. But I haven't hunted on my own yet. I have two more days with you and Mujika, I want to be able to hunt before we say goodbye to you. Until now, all of our food had been prepared for us, ready to cook whenever... fruit, vegetables, meat and fish is all something we need to be able to get on our own. Please teach me how to capture, kill and prepare animals"  Said Emma as she hoped off of the horse too. Sonju stared at the orange haired girl for a few moments before nodding.

Sonju and Emma walked through bushes near a tall tree that was full of birds. Sonju pointed to a large bird soaring through the blue sky and Emma raised her bow and arrow. She started to panic but steadily prepared herself again as she let go of the arrow. The arrow soared through the air stabbing the bird right into the stomach. The bird fell into the cold ground with the arrow piercing through its body. Emma ran towards the bird. "It's warm. It's still alive" Emma said as she brushed her hand over the birds body. "Good shot. Next we prepare the gupna" Sonju said. "The...Gupna? That's..." Emma said as her eyes widened. Sonju handed Emma a familiar white small flower. "Be careful handling it. It's a vampire plant called Vida. They grow wild anywhere. We need this to pierce through the heart of your game. You dedicate your food to the gods. If the gods accept it , the flower will bloom. Then you can eat the meat. This is Gupna. This is how we demons traditionally slaughter meat. It also works to drain the blood. Helps to preserve the meat longer" Sonju explained.

"You pierce it while it's still alive?" Emma asked with a sad expression. "Yes, or else you won't be able to drain the blood. It's okay it's unconscious. It won't feel any pain" Sonju said. Emma gazed at the bird with sad eyes. "This flower pierced a girl called Conny. She was part of our family. She was a kind girl with a cute smile" Emma said. "So you've seen it before?" "Yeah.." "I see, the flower was placed there while she was still alive" Sonju said quietly. "Ceddy, Hao, Conny...everyone..even Norman... I hope it didn't hurt for them. I hope it wasn't too scary" Emma said quietly.

"Gupna is a way to show gratitude to the gods. It won't work without respect" Sonju said. Emma raised the flower and tears formed in her eyes. "Okay..." she said. "Don't worry. I'm sure those children didn't suffer. Emma Held the flower above the birds body. "We don't have to do it this time" Sonju said as he walked closer to Emma. "No- I can do this" Emma said as she closed her eyes. She pierced the white flower into the birds body. "Thank you Sonju. We don't want to be eaten. We want to live, but we've been eating others too. And if we don't continue to eat, we can't survive" Emma said to herself as she gazed at the birds body. "What's wrong Emma?" Sonju asked. "Nothing" Said the green eyed girl.

Back at the cave y/n was sitting on the ground looking at the photographs she brought from the house. "Hello y/n, how are you feeling?" Mujika asked sitting next to the girl. "Oh I feel much better. Thank you so much for looking after me, back at the house I would always get sick" y/n said with a smile. "I'm happy you feel better" Mujika said with a smile. Mujika looked at the photographs in y/ns hands. "What are these?" Mujika asked pointing to the photographs. "Oh! Ray took these photographs back at the house. Let me show you some" y/n said. "This is Me giving some of the children piggy backs back at the house, I didn't even know he took that one" y/n laughed as she pointed to the photo. "Who is this?" Mujika asked pointing to another photograph. "That's Phil, we left him at the house. He's a great kid and very kind" y/n said. "And this one?" Mujika pointed to another photograph. "That's Emma, me and baby Carol outside on the grass . She's only one years old, and she's so cute!" Y/n smiled. "Oh and this one is of me! I was in the library looking at books when Ray put the camera up to my face" Y/n laughed. "You and Ray are very close. It must be nice to have each-other" Mujika said. "Yeah he's always looked out for me. Ever since we were little kids" y/n said with a smile. Y/n picked up another photo "This one is of Me, Emma and Norman...he didn't make it out with us" y/n said sadly. "I'm sorry about your friend" Mujika said. "It's okay, I'm sure he would be proud of us and how far we got" y/n said.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" Ray asked as he patted y/n on the head. "Just looking at photographs" Y/n said as she handed some to Ray. "Look at your face in this one!" Ray said as he passed the  photo graph of y/n in the library, getting a fright from the flash. "Hey! I already showed that one to Mujika" y/n said swiping it off of the raven haired boy.

Suddenly all the smaller children cheered and ran towards the other end of the cave. "What's going on?" Y/n asked. "Emma's back. Where did she even go?" Ray asked annoyed as he walked up to Emma. "Stop doing everything yourself! Y/n and I are here also!" He said. "It's okay Emma, next time let's go together" y/n said as she put a hand on Rays shoulder. "Let's cook something delicious Yeah? We're crossing the river and resume walking tomorrow. The exist of the forest is just around the corner" y/n said taking Rays hand in hers as everyone walked back to the main part of the cave.

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