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ꜱʜᴏʀᴛ-ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴇᴅ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ. Being short with people is not something you enjoy being either, but somehow, someone finds a way to push your buttons once and a while.
And as you hear Norman, Emma, Ray, Gildan, and Don discuss something you already knew about (but didn't bother to comment about), you were trying very hard to not just walk out. Out of fatigue/hunger, out of boredom.
Don's small argument with Ray about, 'Why can't we just take a look at the secret room!?', is mildly stressing you out too.
Because of your abilities, your mood is sometimes very much affected by the moods of other's thoughts. It doesn't help either that you are hungry and lacking sleep. Neither does Ray and Don's rising voices.
And the fact that both Don and Gilda are suspicious of you four, especially you. Whom they have only ever seen with the other three and Phil, as you aren't really the social type. In the last couple of conversations that they've had, you didn't really contribute at all.
You just stand there, while the other three talk...
Which is confusing, why do you still seem super important in this plan Norman keeps telling them about? Things aren't adding up.
You rub your temples, Don's upset and frantic thoughts are starting to make your head hurt.
"Don, why don't you do us a favor and start on dinner?", Ray asks, also a bit annoyed with having to explain himself to Don, "If some of us don't go-"
Don raises his hands, "Yeah, I know."
Gilda follows the other thirteen-year-old outside the room, her thoughts a flurry of worries for all of her siblings.
You wait a moment, so you can be sure that they are both gone, and sigh, "Jeez. I feel like telling them might become a little more trouble than it's worth..."
Emma frowns at your statement, "Y/N...! Have faith in them, I know that they'll be able to get the hang of it. They're just in shock now."
Ray's thoughts agree with you, but he doesn't say a thing.
Norman nods, "Emma's right. We'll need their help as much as possible when we all escape."
You purse your lips before sitting yourself on a bed, "Oh. Right."
'I'm going to do it, I'm going to find out the truth,' you hear Don thinking, his voice for some reason registering in your mind very loudly.
You rub your temple again, 'This is Emma and Norman's fault for thinking that that could lie to them... now there'll probably be some sort of outburst from them... just great," you think.
"The next thing we look at is...", Emma starts.
"Outside!", the three of them say in unison while pointing at each other.
'How the hell did they synchronize that so well??? I'm a freaking mind reader and I'm the only one who didn't do that.'
Norman catches a glimpse at your expression of bewilderment and holds in a chuckle, 'Oh Y/N, sometimes you really have no poker face.'
"Training is going well," Norman crosses his arms, "And the trackers can be broke, leaving..."
Ray continues for Norman, "Leaving everything about the outside and outsmarting the adults," he sits on the bed next to you and looks up to Norman and Emma.
The latter nods, "So next is figuring out the escape route."
"Our plan consists of three major steps," Norman starts walking towards the window, a form of pacing, which is something you've noticed that he often does when he thinks.
"One: We ascend the wall. Two: We safely get away as far as possible. And Three: We learn how to survive and become self-reliant."
Norman stops just in front of the window, seeming to gaze at the forest and the possibilities beyond it, "We have everything we need to achieve the first step. As for the second... knowledge on the outside is key."
Ray glances at you and you shake your head, 'I don't know anything about the outside-outside, just other facilities...'
Ray nods and the two of you continue to listen to Norman, "We need to run as far as we can. So we should examine and then prepare."
"We need info on the outside," Ray states.
"No shit captain obvious," you mumble, Ray rolls his eyes and ignores you.
Emma raises her hand, "Ooh! Ooh!," she waves it, "I saw a biiiiig forest!" The pride in her voice makes you snicker.
Ray struggles to keep his patience, "Okay... but we need to confirm things like that. Plus that's not nearly enough information."
Norman turns from the window and towards you guys, "We will look into it starting tomorrow."
The three of you nod until Emma interrupts, "Oh yeah! There was one more thing I needed to tell you guys. I have someone I want ya to meet!", she finishes with a determined smile.
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"The person I wanted you to meet is...", Emma reaches for a book, "Here!" She holds out for Norman to read.
"Mr...Will-iam...Min-er-va", he says.
Emma nods, fully handing the book to Norman.
You frown, closing your eyes, thinking, 'Willaim Minerva... Minerva, Minerva....William Minvera...? Where... where have I heard, no- seen that before...??'
"Who's he?", Norman quizzes.
Emma shrugs, climbing down from the library ladder, "I dunno! All I know is that he is the former owner of these books."
"Is he.... on our side?", you ask.
"I think it's possible!"
Norman tilts his head, "What do you mean?"
"He's been delivering a message through a book from the library," Emma holds her finger up, "And not just one book, many of them!"
"So this sticker...?", asks Ray.
"It's a bookplate!", answers Emma.
"So it shows who previously owned the books before they came here."
"Yep, yep!"
Norman looks down at the books, "Okay... but where is the message..?"
You look at the bookplate a little further and point, "It's the circles!"
Emma makes finger guns at you, "Bingo!"
"Huh...?", Norman slides his finger along the circle and gasps, "It's morse code!"
"Correct!"
Norman looks at each book, "It says... Run. This one says doubt. Then there's Dan-ger, and this last one is Truth."
Still unsure, Norman says, "Still this doesn't exactly mean..."
You tap his shoulder and he looks up at you in confusion, "The ones she gave me say: Harvest, Monster, and last but not least; Farm."
Norman gasps slightly, "This is..."
"It's a message from the outside," completes Ray, "If not anything/anybody else, I think we could at least trust these."
You raise your eyebrow, "You really think so?"
Ray gives Emma a light bop on the head as he says, "I tend to be more suspicious than Emma, so yeah. It's possible that this Minerva guy could be an ally to us, but... unfortunately, we don't know whether or not he's dead or alive," Ray shrugs.
"So we shouldn't get out hopes up to high, is what you're saying," you conclude.
"Basically."
Emma huffs at you and Ray, "You guys are always so negative!"
"Willaim Minerva," Norman still looks down at the books, "He's someone from the outside who's aware that our farms exist. And while it might be indirect, he definitely seems to be trying to help us."
Emma nods happily, "That's right!"
You watch as Norman smiles hopefully, "An ally on the outside, he might even still be there," he turns to you with a hopeful expression, "So that means it's possible that a society of humans may also exist!"
You can't help but softly smile with him, his hope becoming a little contagious.
"Perhaps!"
"It's kind of hard to tell when these labels were put in them, but this one," she knows the three of you a book, "We know that it was at least done after the year 2015."
"I see," Norman replies, "Are we aware of anything else? Like if the books have some kind of similarity?"
Ray flips through multiple books, "Nope! The genera are all different and in no way related, same goes for the publishers and authors."
"Hm... Also, with these two," Emma hand one book to Ray and one to Norman, "I don't understand them."
"This one," Ray opens the book, "Is a run of the mill adventure book, and there's no morse code. The one that Norman's holding, that one is a confusing mythology book."
Norman opens the book and reads the morse code, "It says... Pro-m..ise. What does that mean?"
You put your hand out, "Can I see that book?"
"The mythology one?"
"Mhm."
Norman hands it to you and you open it, tracing your fingers over the morse-code, mumbling, "Promise..."
One second there is nothing, the next you feel a splitting headache start to take over. You immediately yelp in pain and hold your head, "AGH!"
"Y/N!?", Emma exclaims.
They watch you as you fall out of your chair and clutch your head, whimpering.
Norman tries to knock you out of whatever might be happening and shakes your arm, "Y/N? Y/N?"
Ray watches helplessly as your eyes are closed tight and a tear falls from your eye down your cheek.
You begin to rock back and forth, "Promise, promise, promise. Promise! Promise... Promise, promise, PROMISE!"
One second there is nothing the next you are no longer in the library.
The word "Promise" keeps being repeated in your head.
Promise, promise, promise. Promise! Promise... Promise, promise, PROMISE!"
You think you start to see something flashes of images.
The shaking of hands.
A silver armored hand and a black gnarly one.
The kneeling before an enormous throne of bones.
"A promise, both sides will forever keep."
The falling of a woman before the throne, blood seeping from her neck.
"A prophecy, promising the breaking of thousand-year corruption."
Promise, promise, promise. Promise! Promise... Promise, promise, PROMISE!
You gasp for air, your eyes wide open as you see the three of them looking at you with great concern.
"Y/N...?", Norman crouches next to you, softly rubbing your back.
You try to regain oxygen, your lungs hurting.
Norman coaches you through it, "Inhale, 1...2...3, Exhale, 1...2...3..., Inhale, 1...2...3..., Exhale, 1...2...3... A little better."
You nod and stand up, setting yourself back in your chair. You wipe the wetness off your cheeks.
"I think I just had a vision," you look up at the three of them.
"What...?", Ray questions.
"How?", Norman asks.
"Because you touch the bookplate?", Emma ponders.
You nod to her, "Yes, I think it triggered something. Other than that I don't really know how, I've never really had visions before."
Lie.
You have, in your dreams, but you just prayed that those were just nightmares.
"What happened...if you don't mind us asking," Ray says carefully, not wanting to upset you.
You rub your head, it's still aching a bit.
"I think I saw...uhm. A long black hand and a smaller silver hand, shake hands. And then the word promise kept repeating."
Norman scratched his head, "Does it means anything to you? Becuase I can't make anything of that."
"Yeah, me neither," says Ray.
You shake your head 'no', "And also, there was a throne, a really big one, but it was made of bones. And then I saw a woman fall on the ground, I think her throat was slit...."
Thinking of the image makes you feel nauseous, you don't think that you will be able to have dinner anymore.
You sigh, "Do you guys mind if we go over this tomorrow, this vision thing felt horrible..."
Norman looks to you with pity, though you are powerful, clearly, there are things that come with the package, very unpleasant symptoms and feelings.
"Of course."
Emma sits next to you and puts her hand on yours, you look at her with questioning look and she smiles.
"Thank you for being so strong Y/N."
So strong...
So weak.
So fake.
You smile, and Emma pulls you up, "What do ya say we go have dinner, yeah?"
You look to Norman and Ray as they nod, "Okay. Thank you."
Ray walks behind the three of you as the four of you head to the dining room. He has a soft smile on his face that no one can see.
'Oh, Emma... if only you knew how strong you are...'
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"So...how did you find the morse code, Emma? I would've thought Ray would find it since he reads so much," Norman wonders.
Ray walks beside Emma now, "Yeah, so how the heck did you manage to find them??"
Emma chuckles (though feeling a little offended that they wouldn't think she could find something like them), "I didn't (even though she really didn't), Phil showed one to me! It was in one of his children's books."
You hum, feeling a little prideful since Phil is your favorite.
The four of you walk to the dining room but you pause at the doorway, scanning the room for Don and Gilda.
"They're not here..."
Emma gasps in worry, Ray clicks his tongue in annoyance, and Norman checks in the kitchen.
"Don and Gilda!"
"Not in the kitchen!"
You hear the tapping of shoes against the wood floor and angry thoughts, you spin around and call, "Guys.....!" What you fear would happen did.
Don stomps over to you guys with an angry look while Gilda timidly watches the ground as she walks.
"Don! Gilda!," Emma walks in front of you with the other two, she sighs in relief, "Oh good... I thought."
You walk past the golden trio and stand before Don and Gilda, giving them a stern glare, "Where were you?"
The first words that you've really spoken to them, and those words made them quiver in a bit of fear.
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The six of you meet in a dimly lit room, you and Ray stand together in the dark background while Norman and Emma stand near the bright lanterns. Gilda and Don sit at the table, they don't look anyone in the eye.
"Well," Ray interrogates, upset that time has to be wasted on this and that they might've created more problems for him.
Don frowns, "We were, we were just in Mom's secret room."
You scoff, and Norman gives you an odd look, 'He says 'just' like it's minor, no biggie. Norman. If this doesn't get figured out both Ray and I might just lose it.'
You watch as Norman sighs and listen as Emma asks, "How!?"
Gilda spares a glance at Emma, "Well, Don stole Mom's key and-"
"He what!?"
Norman leans forward, "Did anyone see you? Did she..."
Gilda looks at the table, "I don't think she noticed, we put it back..."
You watch as Ray scowls, "That was fucking idiotic move! Did you not even stop to think that the room could've had a camera or even an alarm?? What would've you done?? If Mom or Krone found out then you two, no all of us would be-"
Don turns to Ray, snapping at him, "Tell us what would happen Ray."
'How annoying...'
"Would we all be... killed? When we searched the secret room, we found Little Bunny!", Don slams his fist on the table, standing up, "You kept us hopefully, said we could save them! But we can't save them can we!?"
Tears start to gather in his eyes, "But we can't can we?? Because they're all, they are all......"
Emma stands up, knowing that she can not lie to them anymore, "Look," she bows her head, "I'm so, so, sorry!"
Gilda stands too, "So... they're really..."
Emma gasps as Don continues, "You see Gilda, they were lying to us after all," Don leans towards Emma, who still bows her head, "What are you hiding," his tone is dangerous and it's starting to make you anxious, "Just tell us the truth!"
"I will," you say from the darkness, leaning against the wall.
It's the second string of words you've really said to them, and somehow, it made them even more anxious than before.
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Don's eyes are as wide as saucers when you finish explaining.
"Demons... A, Farm???"
Gilda's are tearing up, "You're saying... every one of us was made to be...?"
"Mom is the enemy? Y/N has mind powers??? And Ray is... a spy?"
Norman interrupts him, "He did it for us, he did it to help us."
You hope that Norman will have the same grace when it's your turn.
"Then," Don's tone is again, dangerously low, "So Ray... knew that Conny was going to be shipped out, and Emma and Norman you guys lied because you didn't want us to know you were taking us into a world full of demons???"
Don lets out a sigh, and you hope that he is finished throwing his tantrum.
"Ah... Ahah... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
'Welp doesn't look like he is...'
Suddenly, Don's laughing is ceased and the next thing you know Ray who stands next to you is on the ground from being sucker punched.
Before Don can hit Norman in a rage, out loud, you command:
"Don't. Move."
Suddenly, Don's bones and blood feel like ice, and he can't move, his entire mind, his thoughts screaming, 'DOn't MOve! DON'T MOVE! Don't MOVE!!"
Gilda gasps, covering her mouth, unable to believe that you actually do have mind abilities.
You help Ray up, and push Norman {who still stands frozen (not because of you) in the way of Don's fist} behind you.
"Violence won't solve a thing," you watch as Don gits his teeth, trying to command his body to move, "Though, try to hit someone again and I'll make you break your own wrist," you release Don from your whisper. And he drops his fist and his head.
Your tone makes Norman a little afraid, the angry glint in your eyes makes Ray a little uneasy, your threat makes Emma a little worried.
'And here come the waterworks....'
"Seriously?? Are we that much of a burden, do you think that Gilda and I are so weak and useless that we can't get by without you three protecting us," his voice cracks, "That time you asked us to help you... I thought you were actually replying on us...Was that a lie Emma?"
You feel a bit bad for being a little harsh on Don and Gilda, after all, they're only kids.
He sniffles, "I know we're not nearly as smart as you all, but we're family," he sobs, "Aren't we!? We're siblings right!? I just want you to have a little faith in us..."
You tug at your hair lightly... the feeling of betrayal...
Don takes a big inhale and exhale, "Sorry, but I need to cool off for a bit, I'm going outside."
"Don... wait!", he and Gilda exit the room.
The feeling of betrayal.
The feeling of a promise broken.
A promise spun from a tale another told.
You have told tales and have made promises... if Don could have a reaction this badly to something like a minor lie then...
Who is to say that your promises made, that you'll have to break, won't warrant a worse reaction?
A reaction that will be totally unwilling to give you grace.
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(unedited - 07/20/21)
A/N:
So.... visions amiright?
thoughts...?
((i don't really have anything to say abt this chapter haha))
(totally unrelated but do you like her? a lil oc that i made for a book idea :)) )
see you next chapter (o'▽'o)ﾉ ~ ~
stay safe lovelies ♡
- noli