Reborn into The Promised Neverland//RayxReader//

//Literature Projectiles//

I wrote this chap in one go late at night in an attempt to kill my writers block. I wasn't gonna post it but I thought you deserved the extra content LOL. It's basically filler but that's okay because I think it's cool ;)

The cover art is something of a preview for the rewrite, LOL

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I awoke with a start, disoriented. It took me a panicked moment to remember where I was. The Grace Field room was still dark, as the sun had yet to rise. I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or two.

I made my way quietly out of the room to avoid disturbing the still-sleeping others, and wandered down the stairs. I washed my face at the sinks, pleasantly surprised to find that the water was still working at the long-since abandoned farm. Then, feeling a little chilly, I rifled through one of the storage rooms until I found an old sweater that would fit. It smelled like dust, but it'd do the trick.

It appeared to have gotten colder overnight, as frost clung to many of the windows. I glanced outside to check for snow, and saw that there was none. I noticed my breath fogged up the glass, so I drew a goofy little smily face in it.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, I spun, my hand moving to my hip. I realized a moment later that there was no knife there, and sighed. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" I exclaimed. "You're lucky I'm not armed– I could have stabbed you!"

Ray's eyebrows rose. "I'm pretty sure that's a you problem and not a me problem."

"You're right about that," I acknowledged readily. "Except, I'm pretty sure a knife in your gut would actually pose a bigger problem to you, and you know, your life." I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall. "What are you doing up?"

Ray shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

"Really? No offence, but I'm pretty sure you could use it." I pointed at his face. "Your eyebags are beyond gucci at this point, they're like, chanel."

"I'm not even going to pretend that I know what that means," he mumbled in response. "Plus, you don't look so..." –he gestured widely with his hands– "...healthy yourself."

"That's a pretty roundabout way of saying that I look like I've just risen from the grave," I hummed. "Believe me, I saw myself in the mirror a few minutes ago, and thought I was looking at a haunted portrait." Ray huffed a half-chuckle as I continued, "I'm pretty sure I'd lose to Norman in an arm wrestle right now! How sad is that?"

"Tragic," Ray sighed melodramatically, "that you would lose in an arm-wrestle against someone twice your size."

"Norman is different," I retorted. "And twice my size is too much!"

"One and three-quarters?"

"I'll give you one and a half, tops."

"One and two-thirds, then?"

"One and a half!" I repeated, and Ray laughed quietly now. "So?" I eventually asked. "What were you doing down here?"

"Oh," Ray gestured over his shoulder, "I was in the library when I heard you walking around."

"The library? Why?"

"I wanted to see if there were any books we didn't have in plant 3," he explained.

"Oh. Did you find any?"

"Yeah, actually," he admitted. "I found a couple."

"Really? I thought the libraries were identical." We started walking back to the library as I asked, "What were they called?"