(ANYWAYZ ENJOY ESPECIALLY SINCE THE FIRST PART CONTAINS MY BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS, PLS IT WAS SO AWKWARDDDD DHDGSFDGFJHKJ
IDK SO LET ME KNOW HOW IT TURNED OUT)
I awoke with a small groan, shifting slightly in my uncomfortable position. As I opened my eyes groggily, I began to realize what exactly was wrong. I was still sitting up, leaning against Ray's bed, a blanket draped across my shoulders...only...
I was laying against that very ravenhead's chest while he leaned over me, the end his bangs falling into my line of sight, snoring quietly. His arm was draped around my shoulder, and one of my own hands was clutching onto his shirt. I made a quiet squeak and considered getting up then and there, releasing my grip on his shirt and letting it fall gently to my lap. But could I move without waking him up? Could I do that?
Ray's position suddenly changed as there was a pause in his snoring, his face falling onto my shoulder, nose buried in my neck.
I blinked twice, stuck in my position, face heating up dangerous amounts as I felt his small, warm breaths against my neck. I panicked for quite a large amount of time, considering the best course of action, before making a decision. To avoid embarrassing myself- in my poor pride-based logic, I'd pretend to still be asleep until Ray woke up- considering how much he was moving, it shouldn't be long, anyway.
So I relaxed my body once again, slowing my breathing, my head hovering above Ray's chest slightly, until I got tired of holding it up and rested it against the chest that moved as he breathed gently. It didn't take long for the ravenhead to wake up after that, a pause occurring in his snoring. He rubbed his eyes cutely- and me, who was still awake despite pretending to stay asleep, was doing my very best to suppress my inhumanly fangirl screech, barely managing to keep my breathing steady.
Ray shifted around a little as he woke, blinking his grubby eyes. As soon as he was up I felt him freeze in place, realizing the position he'd been in, and I bit my tongue, trying so hard not to make a single sound.
"Sh*t." Ray muttered, rubbing the side of his head as he looked away. He then carefully picked his way from the floor without disturbing me, the blanket that was draped around us falling to the floor. As he moved I changed to a more comfortable position, my *ss rightfully sore, resting my head on Ray's bed in doing so.
I peeked through my eyes and watched the ravenhead pace around the empty room, glancing back to my "sleeping" self a few times. He let out a groan and stopped pacing. "Those idiots..." He muttered, rubbing his head furiously.
Ray then turned to me, his eyebrows scrunching up. He walked towards me, coming inches from my face, before crouching and picking up the blanket that I hadn't noticed had dropped, re-draping it around my shoulders.
He backed away to exit the room and I relaxed, glad for him to be leaving at last, but he sighed once more, walking back over to me. He hesitated, looking at my pitiful- and rather uncomfortable- position. He looked around quickly before leaning in closer and lifting me up in a brides carry, placing me on his bed. I screamed internally, biting on my cheek so hard it drew blood. He quickly pulled the blanket over my shoulder and then left, closing the door tightly behind him.
I stared into space for a moment, my eyes wide, as something I'd forgotten- thankfully, suddenly triggered in my memory.
-----
"Do you need help?" Zack asked Ray as the ravenhead helped me- half awake and swaying on my feet, walk, one of my arms wrapped over the ravenhead's shoulder.
We were in Goldy pond, shortly after meeting Zack for the first time, my hands stinging with their fresh injury, clearly standing on a merry-go-round, because nothing else could spin the world this much.
Ray raised a hand, turning over his shoulder. "No problem." He answered Zack's question with a wave then turned around and began walking with me, weaving past the injured children from the demon's attack that occurred prior. I stumbled a few times, tripping over my own feet, and Ray paused for a moment for me, and I slumped and laid my head on his shoulder, breathing heavily.
"Oi, you alright?" Ray asked, turning to me. I nodded my head tiredly, despite the world spinning around so much I could barely see. Ray raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Mhm?" He let go of my arm and I stumbled, landing roughly on my butt.
"Argh. *sshole." I muttered while Ray extended his hand to help me up, gripping my arm to avoid my hands.
As he pulled me up the world spun again and I stumbled once more, falling into his chest. Ray let out a long, exasperated, sigh, before scooping me up into his arms in a bridal carry. "Up we go."
"Put me down-" I murmured quietly, before falling silent as my consciousness finally slipped from my grasp.
----
I groaned loudly, covering my bright red face with my arms. "Idiot, idiot, idiot Y/N!!" I rolled off of Ray's bed and walked to the washroom, cleaning my face. I looked at myself in the mirror and cringed at my still heated cheeks. I sighed and brushed my hair quickly, pulled up my hair into a messy ponytail. I looked in the mirror and snorted at my bangs which stuck straight up. I attempted to flatten them to no avail and gave up, leaving the room with a sigh.
I walked tiredly to the kitchen, approaching the sound of the clamouring children inside, opening the door with a wide yawn.
"Good morning Y/N!!" Little Chris called with a wave as he brought plates for breakfast.
"You overslept!!" Poppy laughed as she dug in to her food.
"Not that that's new..." Hayato- the Gracefield one- grumbled, picking at his meal.
"Oh, hush." I mumbled, grabbing my own plate of food and taking a seat at the dining table, near where Emma, Ray, Zack, Poppy, Reina, and Oliver where already sitting and talking. "Why didn't you wake me up~" I whined, as I sat, setting my head on the table.
Oliver laughed. "But everyone looked so peaceful sleeping."
Emma sighed. "It was the first time ever sleeping in for me-" She held her chin with a frightened sigh. "I don't even remember sleeping in a bed." She spoke, her eyes wide.
"Oh, Zack carried you to your bed." Gillian laughed as she took a seat at the table, setting down her food.
Emma looked at the bandana man in surprise. "Thanks!"
Zack raised his hand. "No problem." He then fell silent as he continued eating.
I thudded my head into the desk. "But why not meeeee." I sighed, reliving my embarrassment from this morning. 'Wait. Ray doesn't know that I know that I know what position we woke up in- As far as he's concerned you woke up in his bed- Wait. Oh god.'
Gillian let out a loud laugh. "Because you and Ray were so-" Emma covered up her mouth, hushing her with a serious face that soon turned into a grin as they began snickering.
I bit the inside of my lip and tried to look confused. 'Emma, you scheming little bastard. You're worse than Poppy-"
I looked to see Ray's reaction, who was sipping tea nonchalantly. 'HOW THE HELL CAN HE BE SO CALM!!?" I yelled to myself, unable to see the light blush that dusted the ravenhead's ears and cheeks.
"What about Norman?" Emma asked, changing the subject like the sly fox she was.
"He probably left early." I crossed my arms with a huff. 'Little bastard probably elected to keep Ray and I together. These children are all too intelligent, the little sh*ts.'
I finished my breakfast quickly and excused myself, making my way to Norman's office.
"How boring." Vincent's voice echoed from inside once I arrived. "Are you the usual boss now?" The football man hummed in amusement. "It's as if you were a different person yesterday. You caused quite the uproar. I saw it too, you know-"
"Don't mock me." Norman's voice rang out, cold and hard. I sighed once again, being overtaken by his tone of voice. "Enough with the idle talk."
I sighed, turning away from the point I was listening from, chewing on the inside of my lip. 'I feel... so useless....Even despite me being here, the changes in the timeline are lowering once again. Norman... Norman was the biggest factor of my worry. The problem is his intelligence... if he still wants to keep Emma- or me, this time- from making the promise... will he find another way to stop it?'
I swallowed dryly. 'No, it's as you said, Y/N. The changes are becoming less and less. I'm sure Norman is still... following the same plan...'
I walked to where all the Gracefield kids were doing their laundry and caught sight of Emma. "Yo, Emma!" I called, running up to her. But then I realized something that made my blood run cold. Ray...wasn't here? But wait, he was supposed to be. This is a change that wasn't dictated by me directly... worrisome... "Where's Ray?" I asked with a wave, keeping the worry out of my voice.
"Oho~~" Emma giggled, elbowing my chest. "Are you curious?" She asked slyly.
I sighed. "Yeah, I suppose... so where is he?"
Emma hummed, pinching her chin. "I think he said something about meeting up with Norman..."
My eyes widened. "With...Norman?" 'That's new...I wonder...what could he be seeing him about?' "I'm going to go check up on him!" I exclaimed with a wave, dashing away from the ginger head. I ran up several flights of stairs and across several bridges, and to my surprise, ran into Ray as he exited from Norman's office.
"What is it?" He asked upon seeing my dishevelled appearance.
"Oh..." I paused, my stomach twisting in knots at his collected appearance. "Nothing..." I bit my lip with a smile. "Uh, I wanted to see if you were also curious about Emma's opinion on Norman's plan...?" I made my excuse with a cool-headed smile.
Ray hummed. "I suppose..." He brushed past me, walking down the stairs with an indifferent air about him. "I was going to ask her later anyway."
I swallowed as I listened to his cold attitude. 'Did I do something wrong?'
We walked back towards Emma in silence, my hands fidgeting in my pockets. Once we arrived near the ginger, who was still doing laundry, Ray asked aloud in a loud voice, "I wonder what Norman's plan is.", catching Emma's attention.
"Didn't what he say make you curious?" I continued faking a conversation with Ray while baiting Emma. "I know I am." I gave the now-interested ginger a smile.
"Yeah..." Emma sighed.
"But this is Norman we're talking about." Ray edged on with a hum. "We definitely have nothing to worry about." Ray sighed. "And he also said 'A future where where we don't lose anybody...'"
I leaned up close to Emma's face, wearing an intimidating expression. "But are you actually glad?" I asked.
"...huh?" Emma recoiled in shock. "What do you mean?"
"Norman's talk of destroying the plantations." Ray reasoned. "You and Y/N oppose this after all, don't you?"
I blinked. 'Me too? I'm getting investigated as well!?'
"Ahahahaha what?" Emma laughed nervously. "There's no way I could oppose it..."
Ray rolled his eyes. "You sound like Y/N when you laugh like that." He raised an accusing eyebrow.
Emma clapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh no...."
I irked at their comments. "Oi, oi, what do you mean by that?"
Ray hummed. "You mean the way you do this nervous laugh whenever you're hiding something?"
"Ahahahaha." I laughed anxiously. "I have no idea what you're talki-" I clapped my hands over my mouth in realization. "Oh my god..."
Emma let out a loud laugh while Ray sighed in disappointment. "I didn't want to let you know you your tell, but oh well."
"Hey, weren't we talking about Emma here?" I changed the subject with a nervous smile. 'So this whole time they've known that, eh? Oops...'
Emma let out another nervous laugh. "But..." Emma took the bait on my subject change. "If we follow Norman's plan, we won't have to run away! You said it too, Ray..." Emma looked out over the railing to the surrounding village. "'If there really is a strategy to eliminate all the demons, That would be the most reliable option.'"
Ray hummed. "Yeah, I said that. But, that's not the future you're looking for, is it?" He then turned to me. "And Y/N...that's not the route the 'Original timeline' takes, right?"
I swallowed dryly while Emma spoke. "Yeah... I'm a bit weird... Norman's kindness and honesty... I can understand how everyone would be so delighted...if there were no demons..."
"But you know..." I watched Emma's face contort into one of sadness. "I don't want to kill the demons." She exclaimed, looking to the ground. "Isn't it strange? Even though everyone is so happy..And although we could continue to be happy this way... I also want the demons to be happy."
"Emma..." I murmured quietly. 'This girl...is so unselfish it loops right back around to being selfish. I had no idea that was even possible-'
"This isn't just about ourselves. I was too eager to think that... Even so, I dragged everyone into more dangerous situations, causing Y/N and everyone to clean up after me... all in wishing I could make decisions I could be proud of..." Emma leaned down on the railing, placing her hands on top of her head. "It disgusts me. I don't want to want to be eaten... I absolutely will not let them eat us. The shipments...the hunting... I hate it all."
She began to sweat intensely, eyes wide. "Even though they're the enemy... just what is the difference between a demon and I? Demons have friends and family too. They think like us, live like us, laugh like us... And though they eat humans... which is something I absolutely despise... demons do it for the same reason as humans. They do it to survive. All they're doing is eating... Is it okay to murder them just because they're the enemy? No matter how much I hate them, or how scared I am of them... Is there really no other way than eradicating them?" Ray silently listened to Emma as she continued speaking, an unreadable expression on his face. "Besides, Mujika is our friend. I don't want to destroy Mujika's family."
"If that's how you really feel," Ray leaned against the railing, raising an eyebrow. "Why didn't you say anything yesterday."
I raised an eyebrow. "And here's why you're antisocial." Ray hummed in distaste.
"How so?" He grumbled with a frown.
"You'd have no problem stating your opinion, even if it risked going against the majority. Emma, on the other hand..." I turned to the ginger girl. "Well, she wants everyone to be happy. It would be hard to say something like that, in front of so many happy people...Especially since, not only were they happy with Norman's plan, the seven-walls route is unreliable, and also, even if you use the promise to take everyone to the human world, demons will eventually degenerate anyway, because they can't eat humans. It would be...difficult... to propose an unreliable, dangerous, plan like that in front of everyone while they're in that state."
Emma nodded along as I spoke, before turning to the ravenhead with a frown. "I don't want to kill the demons. But I absolutely don't want want any more of our friends to be eaten." Emma looked between Ray and I, a conflicted expression on her face. "What do I do? Ray, Y/N?"
"I don't know." Ray stated plainly.
"...Huh?" Emma muttered in surprise. "Why did you get me to release my deeply suppressed feelings then!" She groaned in exasperation.
Ray shrugged. "I said I don't know what you should do. But Y/N does."
I blanched. "Hm?" 'Oi, you bastard. Don't throw me over the bus like that!' I gave him a scowl which he returned with a smirk.
Ray sighed while rolling his eyes. "At least there was no 'nervous laugh' this time. You know, don't you? The way we get out of this."
I held back my instinct to laugh nervously. "W-well, uhh... I guess..." I mumbled, rubbing my head.
"Then, why don't you tell us?" Ray asked, intertwining his fingers in front of his face. I hummed. It shouldn't be a big deal to bring them to their conclusion sooner, right?
"I don't see why not..." I murmured with a sigh. "But Emma, you should explain your feelings to everyone first. It's not fair to keep them in the dark like this, hmm?"
Emma sighed. "I suppose we can... but shouldn't we go to Norman first?"
I sighed. "Don't worry about telling him. He'll disapprove the plan and move forward with it anyway." 'Something about Norman and Ray is making me feel uneasy... maybe it would be best to leave ASAP and avoid telling that scary albino...'
"Why not tell him anyway" Ray asked curiously.
I feigned a grin. "Oh, he'll know our plans already."
Ray startled, eyes wide. "Why would he know them?" Emma inquired with a tilt of her head.
I stared at Ray's pale expression. 'No way...' "Well, Vincent- oh yeah! You don't know him yet. He's one of Norman's...friends... from Lambda. Super smart. Foot-ball head. Has camera's everywhere. He's probably letting Norman know everything."
Ray held his chin in thought. "I suppose that's plausible... We should be weary of him, for now."
I nodded my head. "Yeah." I paused for a moment before continuing. "Don't worry, we'll still talk to him before we leave. I also have some things to tell you before we explain the plan to the others."
"And what would that be?" Ray asked with a hum.
I cupped my chin with a sigh. "Well, some stuff about Mujika and Sonju, Norman and his 'friends', and about the promise..." My voice trailed off at the end.
"The promise?" Emma asked curiously. I smiled thinly.
"Maybe a little, ahaha." I pursed my lips.
Ray raised an eyebrow. "There's that laugh again." He observed with a suspicious stare.
"Sh*t." I cussed quietly. 'I really need to do something about that laugh...'
"AH!" Emma exclaimed and I turned to her in shock. "Y/N, you messed up!"
I tilted my head. "Uhhh which time are you talking about now?"
Ray's lightbulb suddenly lit up and he grinned. "Sucks to be you." He smirked slyly.
"What is it????" I exclaimed in worry, my stomach dropping. 'Did they figure out about Yuugo's cookie stash?? Or maybe even-"
"The swear jar!" Emma cheered, causing me to pale on the spot.
"You guys weren't actually being serious, right?" A bead of sweat rolled down my face. "Right?"
Ray hummed, looking to the sky. "Maybe not..." The ravenhead leaned into my face, his own wearing an expression of triumph. I swallowed dryly. "...If you tell us what you're hiding, hmm?" 'This bastard-'
I hesitated, holding my chin in thought. 'I could give up the information about the promise, or lose a day of cookie rights every time I'm caught swearing... then the choice is obviously-'
(The end! This chapter with A/N is over 3,350 words lol. See you tomorrow! Be expecting another long chapter to make up for...forgetting...? yesterday, haha.)