The birds sing from the trees and children laugh as they play in the grass. You walk out of the door in the kitchen and begin to walk to the wooden table and chairs behind the house to meet Don, Gilda, Ray, Emma, and Norman.

"Hey Y/n!" A small voice yells in the distance. You turn your head and see Phil wave hello before running over to you, a few other kids following behind him.

"Hi Phil, what's up?" You ask the small boy. You crouch over so you're leveled with him.

"Will you play castle with us?" He asks. The other children behind him nod and smile.

"I'm a little busy right now, but later we can play whatever game you want, okay?" You say. The kids nod and wave goodbye before running back to their patch of grass. You stand back up and circle around the house.

"Oh Y/n is here. Let's go over the plan" Ray says as he waves hello to you. You wave back and join everyone around the small table.

"During the free time we have after lunch, I'll be distracting Mom. Meanwhile Norman and Emma will inspect above the wall. Don, Gilda, and Y/n, stand outside where you can see the second floor window. Stay alert, I'll signal to you if I'm not able to distract Mom. That'll be when you two tell the others to cancel the inspection" Ray explains, "According to our original plan, there are six days left. But we have the two and a half months until I get shipped out. So if things go wrong we can bail. We do everything in secret and pretend to be controllable". Ray's standing against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest.

"Don! Gilda! Come play with us!" A young child yells from the field.

"Sure! Ready for some tag?" Don yells back before he runs over to a group of kids, Gilda following him.

"Ray, Y/n, we need to talk" Norman says to you and the other boy. You look at Norman and then at Ray. Ray has a confused look on his face that matches yours.

.

"What? Krone found out we can break the devices?" Ray yells. Emma and Norman led the two of you into the shared bedroom that was empty before you entered.

"Yeah, so I want to move up the escape. When can you break them?" Norman asks. Ray pauses for a moment before sighing and reaching down behind his bed. He stands back up with an object in hand. He puts it near his eye and points it at Norman and Emma before a bright flash is emitted with a shutter sound. Emma flinches and Norman just shuts his eyes before laughing at her reaction. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion before taking a closer look at the object and realizing what it is.

"What even was that?" Emma asks.

"With this, I have all the necessary parts. I can break them whenever" Ray says as he takes the photo from the camera and hands the object to Norman. You watch as Ray examines the photo before his eyes widen and he smiles, letting a laugh escape. Emma walks over to him and looks at the photo in his hands and you follow her. In his hands is a photo of Emma and Norman who both look like they've seen a ghost.

"Look at your weird faces" Ray laughs with a devilish smirk.

"Hey! That's mean!" Emma says in annoyance.

"This is quite a double edged sword isn't it" Norman says, making everyone turn their attention to him, "Are we going to break the tracking devices and escape first? Or is Krone going to find the evidence and turn us in before we have a chance to do that?".

"Don't worry, I handled it" Ray says with a smirk.

"Huh? What did you do this time" You say jokingly, but i'm in actuality you're curious as to what he did to 'handle it'.

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"Don! Y/n! Gilda! Ready to play?" A small child asks as she tugs at your skirt.

"Sure! Do you guys still want to play castle?" You ask as you pick her up into your arms. She nods with a smile and you softly smile back. You glance over at Gilda, who's eyes are glued on the window Ray told you to watch.

You play with the children in the grass behind the house, making sure to check the window whenever you have the chance. There's no sign to stop the inspection yet.

"So far so good" Don mumbles to you. You nod in agreement and keep your eyes on the window when suddenly you hear the door open. You look over and see Mom walk out of the house. You look at her and then back up at the window but there's still no sign of Ray.

Huh? What's going on here?

Mom walks over to the three of you with a sly smirk painted on her face, keeping eye contact with you as she moves.

"Wait, what's going on?" Gilda says under her breath, "Ray didn't signal us yet". Mom walks by you and gives you the side eye, which gives you a bad feeling in your stomach. Something isn't right.

"Y/n, what should we do?" Gilda asks in a worried tone. You think for a moment before responding.

"Stay here, I'll go inside" You say before starting to run towards the house, "I'll be right back". You run through the door and quickly ascend the staircase. The house seems completely empty, even Sister Krone isn't in sight. You reach the top of the stairs and hear a loud banging noise. You run towards it and hear it growing louder and louder before hearing Ray grunt as the noise happens again.

"Ray? Is that you?" You ask as you approach the source of the noise.

"Y/n? It's me!" Ray says through the door. You reach for the handle and attempt to turn it, but it's locked.

"I don't think I can kick down the door by myself, I'll try though" You say in a panic. You walk away from the door and quickly sprint towards it, throwing yourself into the door but it doesn't move. Suddenly you hear another pair of footsteps come close.

"Y/n? What's going on?" Don asks as he approaches you and the locked room.

"Don! Ray is trapped in here, break down the door!" You say frantically. Don nods and steps back before throwing himself into the door, knocking it over and revealing Ray standing on the other side.

"Y/n! Don!" Ray says with a slight smile, "You okay?".

"I'm fine, but we've gotta hurry!" Don says as he gets up from on top of the knocked down door.

"Yeah, you're right!" Ray says before you nod and sprint towards the stairs. You slide down the railing the run out the door, not taking wasting any time. You turn around and see Ray following close behind you while Don has stopped to fill Gilda in. You turn your head forwards again and continue to run across the field and into the forest. Ray suddenly speeds up and starts running side by side with you. The two of you run and jump over the short fence before continuing to sprint as fast as your legs can take you. The adrenaline pumping through your body is keeping you from feeling tired, the only thing on your mind is stopping Emma and Norman. After a short while, Gilda and Don catch up with you two and you run until you hear a high pitched scream.

"That sounds like Emma" You say with the tiny bit of air you have. The scream turns into cries and suddenly you come across the clearing where Norman and Emma were supposed to inspect the wall. The four of you stop in fear of what's in front of you. Norman is standing far away holding the rope while Emma is in Mom's arms crying in pain.

"Awe poor thing, my adorable Emma. This is why I told you to give up, but I'm glad you hugged me for the first time in a while" Mom says as she hugs Emma closer.

"Wha- What" You stutter in confusion. You look at Emma and see that she's grabbing her knee. She moves her hand and you see that it's turned deep purple and the bone isn't aligned.

"And you realized it quickly Norman. I'm impressed. Yes, I'll control all of you until the very end because you're different than most of the other children. You're special food, that only a special One can eat" Mom says as she takes a roll of bandages from her apron and starts to wrap Emma's knee as she continues to cry, "The highest quality of children I've ever raised".

"So then..." Ray spits out as his voice shakes.

"That's why I have to protect you. No matter the cost. I was forced to do this because it was clear you weren't going to give up" Mom says as she palms Emma's cheek before the girl screams in pain.

"You won't be able to move for a while, which is why I have no worries for tomorrow" Mom says.

"Tomorrow?" Norman asks.

"Yes, that's right. You can stay and celebrate Emma" She says before turning to Norman, "There was a notice from headquarters, so congrats Norman. The time for you to be shipped has come". You gasp in shock as Normans eyes widen and the blue in them seem to turn into fear.