Promise || Ray x Reader

28

With Normans wonderful last words previous chapter, I let a final breath escape my lips too and utter a "sorry" alongside with a sweet thank you to one of the readers of this book who has reached out to me and pulled me out of my little misery hole :)
I'm talking about the lovely Amaya-raysfriend  who had kindly tracked me down to see if everything was okay and remind me that I'm not alone and got a lot of people left wondering and worried, which I never took into consideration :(
I've dealt with a lot and I'm here to try updating regularly now (for real)..
Now I'll keep this short since I want you all to enjoy the book and not enjoy my little messages :)
I should get room for talks at the end of my story, or should I say—

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your?

🌸🌸🌸

That day, Norman did not intent to escape the Gracefield orphanage.
No doubt, he did try to, yes, though it was to no avail as his ocean blue eyes had caught on to what was behind the wall, which had separated the outside world and the orphanage like farm.
As far as he could see, his eyes found a sea of big trees, green everywhere, though while standing on top of the wall, letting his orbs trail down he sweat dropped.

His new accomplished feeling of freedom washing away, letting Isabella earn another point of victory, since turning around, Norman took a step back and jumped down, using the rope and hiding it again.

"The wall was a cliff", is what he had said when he met with Emma and walked towards the private room that (Y/N) had occupied during her depressive phase. "A cliff you say?", managed the quiet girl to press out of her now chapped lips. "You mean the other side of that wall, right?", with a stone like hard look on her visage, (Y/N) looked Norman dead in the eye. He in return only nodded.

"Sister Krone wasnt lying to us, though the demons weren't taking us lightly either.", said Norman, looking down at his shoes, deeply in thoughts, "So instead of crossing the wall, I ran along it to see where it would take me.", glancing back up, the faces of his friends also lit up, "Norman, that's genius!", screeched Emma, holding on to her shin.

Norman looked around, quickly finding what he needed; a piece of paper with a nice wooden pencil. Sitting down besides Emma, he started scribbling something that looked like a hexagon. "When I finally arrived at a corner-", he explained, "what I found was another wall, split into two.", trying to make the drawing as accurate as possible he added a simple yet maybe important fact: "The corners were roughly in a 60 degree angle."

Scratching his neck, the albino sighed, his blue eyes searching for answers along the paper, "The other side of that wall of course was a cliff too and when I stood dead in the middle of the corner, each side looked completely symmetrical."
"This means that there are indeed other farms around here, right?", asked (Y/N), Scanning the Layout of their living intensely, almost reaching out for the paper to take an even closer look and think of a plan.

"Yeah, this possibility could be indeed true.", his eyes furrowing, there was another thing he had to add "The reason why I'm explaining this lay out is because each edge is surrounded by an incredibly steep cliff..", sighing he leaned on to his free hand, letting go of the pencil, "If you all plan to escape-", letting his eyes drop to the single paper which was surrounded by then: "do it through here."

Pointing his finger at their location he slight it upwards, sliding past two other farms until reaching the third, stopping there and leaving his finger on the edge: "I was able to spot a bridge connecting to the other side."
For a moment it has been silent- what did he mean with 'If you all plan to escape', he's not including himself—?

Knocking caught them all off guard.

It was Phil who had entered, standing Schily behind the door, looking disappointedly at the ground, mumbling a small "Norman, mama is looking for you."

Adjusting his tie, the albino stood up and smiled at everyone one in the room one last time, "Well then-", gifting the little boy a sweet smile he waved him off "Tell her I'm on my way."
As the door fell back into its place, closing, Norman rummaged through his pockets, holding up the device that Ray smartly put together which allowed to destroy the tracker, planted in each of the children's ears.

"Here", said Norman, "You take it back, I haven't used it.", snickering a bit at Rays dumbfounded look, he continued to stutter under the ravens crucifying gaze, "So, well, it's still usable", pressing it against Rays hand pushed further: "Use it when it's your time to escape this place."
"You-", mumbled Ray, realizing and connecting all the clues and hints the albino has been giving before completely roaring at him, "Do you mean you intended on returning from the very beginning?!"

"That's right..", with a delusional tone in his usual stoic and sure tone, he grew angrier, "The cliff has nothing to do with you returning, you could have told us all of this information later on, while you were supposed to be hiding!", pointing at the door harshly to show he still got time, he began gesturing wildly. To be honest, (Y/N) didn't know that moment who had it more rough the past couple of days. It seemed like Ray was just holding on to the last bit of strings, keeping him alive. And while the struggle of holding on, he had been here with her the whole time, carrying her weight as he climbed on.

Hasn't he always been doing that?

"Why?!", was his question as his head dropped, "You promised us!", did he really though?
Thinking more about this, it hasn't been Norman who had promised his survival to them, but Ray.
"You said that you would live with us-",
Spouting these sweet nothings into her ear, trying to keep her safe.

"I'm sorry, I lied"

Trying to keep her safe while slowly loosing his own grip,

"I can't afford to make any mistakes.", mumbled Norman, reminiscing each of his fellow siblings that had been send off to their death. "I need to make sure everyone else must survive."

I need to make sure she will survive.

"If I ran first, my plans would have been ruined.. escape after that would no doubt become a lot harder.", Norman tried to stay rational but none of his friends listened. Taking heavy steps back, Ray couldn't hold himself anymore— he lost his grip and the string seemed to break ever so slightly.
Sitting down at the edge of the bed, the raven haired boy let his head slide on to his hand, in need of support.

"No matter what you tell me", looking at Ray, "it'll be in vain.", he glanced to Emma, "My decision will not change." And at last his gaze landed on (Y/N) sight, lingering longer than it should. "I've accomplished everything I could wishing my abilities today."
Gulping, he let his eyes fall, turning around and opening the door, "I'll leave the rest to you to make sure that the escape Is a success."

Walking out, the door closed shut.
Silence.

"Damn it..", mumbled Ray as (Y/N) silently sat down next to him, taking his hand into hers, squeezing tightly. Emma crossing her arms, dropping her gaze and trying her hardest not to cry herself.
This just simply couldn't be the end of it, she was sure that this just couldn't be how Norman would die, he simply just can't.
But it wasn't her place to decide wether a character in her life would lose meaning to exist— it wasn't.
All she could do was helplessly watch, as her dearest friend struggles to stay the hero she always thought of him to be.

Though it pained her just as much as it pained him.