The Meaning of Love|| The Promised Neverland || (Ray x Emma)

Obstacle: Emma

A familiar feeling passed through Ray's body. That feeling of transcending the borders of the physical world, and taking a dive into the seven walls.

Nothing had really changed. It was still a deserted wasteland of sand. It was extremely quiet as well. The debris was being pushed by the wind slowly as the dead leaves were flying across the dimention.

He took a few steps from where he was and looked around. There was no one in sight.

"Emma!" He called.
No answer.

He motioned his arm over his eyes to shield them from the bright sun. He continued to call her name, hoping for a response.

He saw a movement beside him and turned quickly. A girl was running in his direction.

"EMMA!?" He called out with hesitation. She kept running to him with an extremely big smile. Her orange hair was bright against the sunlight as it bounced with each of her steps.

Rays smile got bigger as he started running to her as well.

But when he got to her, she didn't stop. She passed through his body instead and kept running behind him.

"..huh?"

He turned around and saw that she was running to Norman.
"Hallucinations? Already?"

Right after, Emma touched his shoulder. He looked at her with that unmistakable smile.
"Hey, Ray!" She said.
He touched her and of course, it was another fake.
He moved backwards with fright as his fingers passed through her body.

"So it can touch me, but I can't touch it..?"

He didn't lose any hope with finding her though.
If Norman was right, since Ray entered the seven walls near her real body, he should be near her in the seven walls too!

He disregarded the fake Emma and kept walking as she disappeared.

He kept walking around, aimlessly and in just 20 minutes of real time, he's already encountered almost a hundred of fakes that tried to act like the real Emma.

Already, he felt nauseous by the physics of the place.

"EMMA!!!" He called out once again.
More fakes had come into his view as if they were answering his calls.

"Emma! I mean the real one dammit, get out of my way you fakes!"

More and more 'Emmas' had come to him, hugging him or leading him somewhere else.

He pushed them aside with fear.

"What are these things!? One moment I can touch them and the next, I just pass through!"

They tackled him, all the while, laughing as Ray struggled against the crowd of 'Emma's'.

"I'm the real one!" One of them said. Ray looked at her with hope but when she started laughing to herself, he realized that was a lie.
"I'm real! Come on! Take my hand!" She said, still laughing.

They pinned him harder to the ground as they repeated the same haunted lines.

"I'm the real one, choose me!"
"I'm the real one, choose me!"
"I'm the real one, choose me!"

Their sweet, and welcoming voices became demonic and horrifying.
He couldn't get them off of him. The ground under him started to crumble as they all pushed him down, still laughing hysterically, climbing onto him so he couldn't move anymore.

He was stuck in a little hole as he couldn't do anything about them. He feared them. He was actually a bit scared as they violently pushed him deeper.

In rage, he raised a fist and w as about to strike one of them...
But she yelled in fear of his punch and he stopped with hesitation.

"Please don't hurt me..!" She said, angelically.
"Erm-" he stuttered.
She started laughing viciously as she used the distraction to her advantage and tried to choke him.

His body was exhausted. They were treating him like a doll as he struggled to even catch his breath.

"It's me! I'm the real one!"
"Do I have to use force to make you believe it's me!?"
"I'm the real one!"

"CHOOSE ME" "CHOOSE ME" CHOOSE ME"

He was starting to black out. It was like someone was tampering with his mind. He wondered why he was so out of breath and exhausted already.

He looked at his hands.
They were turning old...

"I see... I'm withering away with age. But if Emma was the reason I died... I would actually be fine with that..."
He said, smiling.
But then he snapped.
"No... they.. these things aren't Emma!! Wait...
Emma...

Who is that?