𝐢𝐝𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐜 | 𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐩𝐧

𝟑𝟗| 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚: 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐡? 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲! 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠.

   𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 and lined them up in the bedroom. Some were still groggy after Emma came in banging two pots together while others were happily jumping out of bed.

   "Sleeping on a mattress is the best!" Eugene shouted.

   Alicia, Mark, and Jemima nodded, "oh I slept so, so, so well! Say, were mattresses always this soft and fluffy? Right? Feels so good!"

   Y/n rubbed her eyes and smiled at the snoring ravenette next to her, "Ray...~ wake up!"

   He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her close to him, "no... five more minutes."

   "Ray, we can't sleep in all day... as much as I'd like to, we have a lot to do."

   He frowned but nodded, getting up, "okay. I'm up, I'm up!" The two got up and started folding sheets and blankets. Halfway though, Dominic and Rossi ran up to them, "Y/n! We made our beds right and proper! Can we go yet?"

   "Of course! Go ahead and enjoy it! You've been waiting for this since last night, right?"

   "Yes!!"

   "Don't overdo it," Ray warned.

   "Okaaaay!" The boys ran off to the baths. They tossed their clothes off, disregarding anything else and turning on the showers to clean themselves off. They relished in the warm water, happily soaping themselves down and rinsing off, just to jump into the bath to soak.

   Y/n and Ray laid out folded clothes for them to change into after their bath. They smiled as they overheard the conversations taking place. "Go take your bath, Y/n. I got the rest covered," he said.

   "You sure? I can finish up for us."

   Ray shook his head, "don't worry. Go relax in the tub, you've worked hard. Besided, there's not much left."

   The girl nodded and placed down the clothes, "thanks, Ray." She kissed his cheek before running off to the girls' baths. Unlike the boys, the girls were modest and kept their dirty clothes organized, covering themselves with a towel when they traveled from the showers to the baths. They sighed in relief as they soaked in the warm bath, their worries from the past week drifting away.

   Y/n got out of the bath, drying herself off and changing into clean clothes. She went to the bedroom to relax a little more before dinner and saw Ray there, his hair still dripping wet. "You're gonna catch a cold if you dont at least dry the water off," She sighed, grabbing a towel and placing it on the boy's head, rubbing it and drying it.

   He smiled and relaxed into her touch, the mix of the fluffy towels and her gentle touch, not to mention the massage he was receiving felt nice, "thank you, Y/n..."

   She lifted the towel off of him to smile at the boy, "of course, Ray." She threw the towel back over his head before giggling and running off, "breakfast's almost done! Let's help set up the table."

   The children all gathered around the table after it was set, their hands clasped together as they prayed, "thank you for the food!"

   "This place is seriously impressive," Ray mentioned, "there's a working toilet, bathtub, kitchen... And even a vegetable garden, somehow! It's much more than I would expect. The water is from a large underground reservoir and we both employ geothermal energy and organic waste matter to generate electricity. If the power runs low, there's an auxiliary generator able to run on different fuel."

   "Organic waste matter?" Don questioned. Ray whispered in his ear, "Wha- With poop!? For real?!"

   "And kitchen garbage, I said!"

   Gilda shouted, "Don! Ray! We're eating here!"

   "To pit another way, as long as we're careful, we won't be lacking in water or energy. Waste production will stay minimal, too."

   "The food stockpiles were running low, but..." Y/n added.

   "Well sure," Don nodded, "that guy has been at them for thirteen years."

   "I spotted birds outside. And lizards and snakes, too. The supplies we bought with us are holding out better than expected, too. Musica gave us several different seeds to plant. We can try and convert one room into another 'garden'. This is a place where we can live."

   "Yeah," Ray agreed, "Minerva is gone, there's some weird guy around, and plenty of questions to answer... but still. B 06-32 is the ideal hidden home. And in this home we're safe. We're clean. For a group of our size, this place should provide for us comfortably for a long time. We won't be lacking in food, either."

   After breakfast, Gilda and Alicia offered to do the dishes and everyone else ran to the common area. "Huh," Nat hummed, "there are some music sheets here. Can I try my hand at them?" No one objected and soon, cheerful tunes echoed through the area. 

   Ray and Y/n had been going though some of the books provided by the archives when she felt a tug on her sleeve. Her eyes met Yvette's, "Y/n, can you play with us for a little while?" Y/n looked at Ray and he nodded, signaling that he was fine by himself. He watched as she danced with the younger children, admiring her smile and laughs. It was like he fell in love with her all over again.

   After a few more playful songs, a waltz was the next piece Nat played. Ray set the folder he had on his chair and walked up to Y/n with his hand out, "may I have this dance, milady," he laughed.

   She pretended to curtsey with her skirt, "you may." Her hand was placed on his shoulder while the other was in his hand while his hand held her hip. They slowly spun around the floor, peacefully dancing to the music. Everyone was too distracted to see them but Emma did. She smiled to herself before looking back down at the book she held.

   After the dance, Ray held the girl's cheek, slowly leaning in. He kissed her gently as his thumb brushed her cheek. "Okay..." he sadly let go of the kiss, "we can't keep Emma waiting and working by herself."

   Y/n nodded, "mhm.." She smiled like crazy and her cheeks flared a bright pink while they walked to the dining area, placing down some folders and books on the table where Emma worked.

   "How was your dance?" Emma smirked.

   The two blushed and smiled, "it was nice... Especially after everything we had just gone through, it was a nice change of pace..."

   "Yeah, I understand! Watching everyone play and smile like they used to, it's relieving. But... Phil and the other kids deserve to know this happiness. All of our family must go together to the human world."

   "Yeah."

   "Oh, I want so bad to meet the kids again... and Norman..."

   Ray smiled, "we will meet Phil and the kids one day. That's why we're looking for leads, right?"

   "Yes! We've already found the archive room... Let's start by looking for Minerva!"

   Y/n nodded, leaning onto Emma, "the keys of this mystery must be hidden among the archived materials... and with that man. So let's get to work!" She lifted her head back up and started scanning the pages, writing anything that seemed of importance down in her notebook.

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𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫

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