(I'm writing this on my phone so please comment corrections for any mistakes you come across. As well I will be re-publishing this once I've updated it on my laptop)
"What can we do?" Emma's voice trembled slightly as she spoke. "This is really... B06-32..." She fingered the pen in her hands nervously as everyone looked around.
"What does it mean?" "There's nothing here!" Everyone was murmuring nervously and I sighed, looking around for the entrance hopefully. We'd been walking for so long my feet were hurting and my throat parched.
"Oi Ray." I called after him, no longer caring particularly about messing up the timeline. "Check your pen now. Being in this location will probably trigger a release on the rest of the information." Reina and Ray who were in possession of the two pens gasped along with everyone else- thankfully distracting the kids who were about to enter a panic themselves.
Reina and Ray opened the screens on their pens and entered the passcode 'History'. In that moment the map opened up and the two of them gasped once again.
"It's a map..." Reina hummed.
"There's an underground entrance!" Ray exclaimed. "Around that area! Go look for it!" He pointed to the left and all the kids immediately swarmed the area.
Meanwhile I took a break, sitting cross-legged on the rocky ground. Meeting Yuugo soon would likely require some energy itself, so at least I had an excuse to relaxing at a time like this.
There was a faint crash followed by the sound of Emma's voice.
"Ray! Look! Something's happening!" She called, pointing in the direction of where the entrance would soon be accessible.
I yawned and stood up, brushing off my knees. We all walked over to the entrance and peered down the dark hole.
"Welp!" I said happily, stretching out my back. "In I go!" Without a moment's hesitation I began climbing down first.
"Wait- shouldn't we make sure it's safe first?!" I heard Chris call from above.
"I'm sure it's fine." I heard Reina say calmly, following my descent.
- - - - -
"This is... an underground shelter for human beings...?" Ray's voice echoed through the seemingly empty shelter.
"No, it's obviously shelter for talking dolphins." I said, placing my hands on the walls. "It smells fishy." I turned to all the other kids to see them all giving me looks of equal concern and disgust, Ray especially. "...I'm kidding." I reassured them to no avail.
"Emma!" I heard Jemima suddenly call out. "I heard someone from behind that door!" She said, tugging on the ginger's sleeve.
"She's right..." Hayato was saying, his head leaning into the door and listening. The mood suddenly turned tense as we all approached, Emma knocking hesitantly.
"Hi there." Yuugo's voice rang out through the room, sending chills down my spine. "You've come a long way. Congrats... and welcome to shelter B06-32."
"Congrats my a*s..." I muttered under my breath, Ray giving me a side-glance. I shooed his question away and turned back towards the old man I'd cried over so many times.
And then he continued munching on his cookies, crumbs spraying everywhere. He then took a gracious slurp of that teacup of his and I snorted. Air tea. I knew he wasn't right in the head beforehand but...this is something else.
After a few minutes of silent suffering Emma broke the silence with a quick question; "Are you Mr. Minerva?" She asked, curiously and hope in her voice.
"Nope" the raven-haired male answered dead-panned, continuing to eat his cookies nonchalantly as he crushed the hopes and dreams of 23 children onlooking.
I snorted, deciding to piss him off as much as possible. "I mean, have you seen him? Does he look like a Mr. anything?"
Yuugo gave me a glare but instead of taking me up directly he chose to be obnoxious. "To bad for you, kiddies. I'm not Mr. Minerva." His voice was full of humour but laced with venom nevertheless- and to be honest, it was getting on my nerves. I just wanted to sleep~
'Can we get this over with quickly?' I yawned while Ray asked Yuugo about Minerva.
"Though... I gotta say, I'm grateful for this shelter, y'know?" The tall raven-head said coolly, leaning back on his chair. I sighed.
"And we would be too, if you could hurry up and let us leave..." I muttered to myself, really wanting that warm bath. Oh, how I've taken a warm bath for granted. I mean, if I stayed at Gracefield farm I probably wouldn't die before Emma showed up again... I could've stayed with those warm baths and clean clothes... ahhh... let's not think those thoughts... I yawned again. Damn. Loss of sleep and continuous movement really takes a toll on your mental state. I just wanna sleep-
"EMMA!!" All the kids suddenly yelled. Sure enough, the old man's gun was up against Emma's head.
"...oi old man." My voice came cold and deadly. "I hope you know that this knife will be right through your head before you can kill every single one of us." I looked up through my white bangs, my knife ready in the throwing position. Half of what I was saying was a bluff. Not only would I never kill Yuugo, I hadn't been able to practice with the throwing knife since I received it from Sonju. But at the same time I was dead certain. If this blade left my hands it would pierce his skull before he could shoot more than a few kids.
"Oi Y/N-!!" Ray shouted angrily. "What the hell are you doing??!" He raged, pissed that I was risking Emma's life. Except I knew I wasn't. Yuugo would never shoot. Especially if it meant risking his own life.
"Oh~" The old man himself teased, despite his face looking angry. "That's quite a scary face you're making, kid." He snarled. "I'll give you one chance. Fork over the pen and put the knife down." He growled, pushing the gun closer into Emma's head. "Well?-"
Taking her chance while the man was distracted, Emma smashed her fist into Yuugo's...jewels.
"NNNGH-" The man groaned in pain, doubled over on the desk.
In the chaos that immediately ensued I crouched down out of view and dashed quietly behind Yuugo's desk. There was a high chance he'd notice me, but after spending time working with and observing Sonju I'd hopefully learned how to move silently quite well- that and the extreme amounts of pain Yuugo must be going through would hopefully serve as an extra distraction.
I waited for my chance while Emma spoke to the others. When Yuugo suddenly lifted his arm to shoot I moved quickly, wrapping my arm around his neck and placing a knife against his throat, nearly grazing his adam's apple.
"You may be able to fire that gun but you'll be dead before you can do it again. Don't move." I said quietly. This would've been dealt with without my interference- but I wanted two things, to test my abilities and intimidation, and to hurry this the hekk up so I can take a bath and go to bed.
"WAA Y/N-!!" Everyone shouted suddenly in shock.
"Go on, Emma. I'm sure he'll listen now." I said happily, my knife still against Yuugo's throat.
Emma hesitated before deciding to continue her speech about the importance of family and comrades while I stayed crouched on the desk, channeling my inner gremlin, whilst my knife kept the old man from any form of violent movement.
Yuugo looked angrily at Emma and the rest of the cattle children once she finished speaking. All of a sudden I felt him twitch. I quickly backed away, knowing what came next.
He started mumbling and thrashing around, covering his ears. He argued with himself while his face contorted in pain. I covered my mouth at the disturbing sight.
"YOU SHUT THE HELL UP LUCAS!!" Yuugo screamed, covering his ears. I looked at him in pity as he continued thrashing about before finally passing out.
"...well, now that that's over with, why don't we hog tie him and help ourselves to the food. And hot baths. And beds. And clean clothes. And-"
"Y/N's scary-!!" the younger kids cried, running to Gilda, Emma, and Anna.
"Wha- Y/N??" Poppy gaped, walking up to me. "What the hell was that??!" She cried, shaking my shoulders.
"Haha..." I sighed, scratching my head. "I'm just a bit tired, I guess."
"THAT WAS SO COOL CAN YOU TEACH ME??!-" Don asked, pumping his fists.
"I mean sure-" I began, but Gilda cut me off with a glance in my direction.
"No. I don't think we need two of those." Gilda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
The kids then began tying up Yuugo before leaving to explore the rest of the shelter.
"That was cool, Y/N!" Emma said, patting me on the shoulder as we walked to the baths. "But...was it necessary?" She asked curiously.
"Ah-umm...no, I don't think so..." I admitted, feeling just a tad bit ashamed.
"It's ok!" Emma reassured me, waving her hands back and forth. "I'm just glad you didn't hurt him for real! But your moves were really awesome!"
I smiled at my friend, happy to have her reassurance after all. "Alright!! To the baths!! And then to the beds for a good night's sleep!!" I cheered, pumping my fist in the air.
"Yeah!!" Emma echoed, pumping her fist in the air in agreement.
Ray sighed as he watched from a distance. "Those two idiots..."