//Awkward//

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(Cover image by LucyYeung5 !!!!! More of their fanart at the end of the chapter!~~)

I groaned, rubbing my head. When did I fall asleep?

"Not fine my ass." Emo-*sshole Ray himself muttered as he entered the room.

"Where am I?" I asked, taking the glass of water he was carrying from him.

He hummed. "In one of the houses." He shrugged. "But now that you're up, Violet asked us to go to the windmill. She wants us to meet someone." I nodded, draining my glass of water. Ray made sure I could walk properly but I was fine. My hands were a little sore, but besides that, I was back to my usual self.

"So, what exactly happened?" I asked as we walked the short distance to the windmill.

"Nothing much. After declaring you were fine for the 8th time you passed out standing up on your feet." He stated simply as we arrived at the door.

"I- isn't that kind of bad?" I stuttered, wondering how Ray could say that with virtually no sign of worry.

"Oh? You actually acknowledge how dangerous that is? I'm impressed." He huffed sarcastically, raising an eyebrow."

I sighed. "Maybe now that I look back on it I wasn't in the...best condition..." I admitted reluctantly, knocking on the windmill door.

"The best condition? Do you know how hard it was to haul your *ss-" He stopped as the windmill door opened, revealing the purple-haired Violet. She blinked in silence, looking between the two of us.

"I'm glad to see you two getting along as usual." Violet observed nonchalantly.

"We're not." Both Ray and I scoffed at the same time.

"Very convincing." The purple-haired girl remarked sarcastically.

We followed Violet in silence as she greeted Adam and walked towards a room of the windmill. "I brought them." She announced our presence as we entered. "I'll introduce you..." Violet said as she turned to us. I was grinning a little despite myself and Ray was analyzing everyone in the room. "...to my comrades." She finished, a satisfied expression on her face.

"From the right, these are Sandy and Zack." Violet said, gesturing to the two who were providing first aid. 'Headband guy's name is Zack- how could I forget that!' I mentally groaned and face-palmed. I gave him a nod in thanks for helping me bandage my hands and he received it with a similar nod of his own. Ray side-eyed us suspiciously but didn't say anything.

"Nigel is our mechanic. Sonja's the second in command." Violet continued introducing them, my eyes falling and remembering all of them one by one. "Pepe, Gillian, Paula- they're in charge of provisions." Violet introduced the three characters standing together. "Then there's me, Violet, and also..."

"A girl?" I heard Ray mutter, a little bit of shock in his voice. Nigel snickered in acknowledgement. I watched as Oliver came forward, his tall presence dwarfing me completely.

He held out a hand to shake and I took it first. "...Oliver, our leader." Violet finished. Being in a room with all these older teens is really making me realize just how short I am. I hope I receive a Norman-sized growth-spurt soon.

"Nice to meet you." Oliver said, his voice completely different than what I imagined. 'Lucas' son!' I tried not to exclaim out loud as he held out his hand for Ray to shake. Ray took it hesitantly and shook it with a strong grip. "Nine members in total. We all know the truth, like you... and we're surviving together in the hunting grounds. We're the ones who managed to stay alive for months... years in some cases."

"And you two, what's your names!" Gillian peeped up, leaning in closely to my face.

"I'm Y/N!" I exclaimed. "And this cheerful ray of sunshine," I said, elbowing him in the ribcage. "is- well, Ray!" Ray gave me a scowl before turning to the 9 people grouped together in front of us.

"As this self-sacrificial idiot here said, I'm Ray. We escaped from the Grace Field plantation and ended up here..." Ray explained before addressing everyone else. "And you're not escapees?" He asked it like a question but he clearly didn't believe otherwise.

"Nope." Violet confirmed and Ray nodded.

"All of us were taken here, as live game." Oliver explained, pulling his jacket aside to reveal the numbers written on his chest. I had a minor epiphany at that moment and rethought my apparent love life choices- moving on.

"Just like the other newbies you've seen." Paula reaffirmed, pulling aside her own jacket to reveal the same numbers and lettering in the same place. Everyone showed their numbers in a similar fashion. (To what you originally commented here Alex; N O -Anna)

"And we're all from Grand Valley- the plantation that Lord Bayon manages as a purveyor." Oliver paused for a moment before continuing. "The other kids are supplied here are almost always from Grand Valley, too. We think it must be the only one where Bayon has any real influence." Oliver continued his explanation while Ray and I listened quietly. "Including you two, there's only 4 kids from other farms."

"Ray and I, Adam, and Lucas..." I counted out loud accidentally. I looked up suddenly as I realized what I'd said and stared back at the surprised and confused faces of everyone else in the room. "O-oh!" I exclaimed, trying to cover up my slip up. "I heard Violet say Adam's name as we came in, and saw the emblem on his chest and assumed he would be from a...uh... mass production farm! We read books about those while in a..uh... shelter we were living at before!" The 9 other kids still looked rather unconvinced. "Is Adam not from another farm...?" I asked, despite knowing the answer, for the sake of my cover.

"Well, yes, but..." Oliver stuttered, likely trying to form the words asking how I know about Lucas.

"Is Lucas not here?" I asked, feigning sadness. "I assumed since we met one of his comrades who was here before, who mentioned the name Lucas- and then I was wondering how you all managed to learn the truth about stuff and the outside without having any outside help, and then just assumed it was one of the man's comrades who was helping you since the timeline- judging by your apparent ages- would add up...?" I managed to formulate a somewhat-reasonable explanation off the top of my head and prayed that the others would buy it.

Ray looked the most shocked out of the group but covered it up quickly. "I was actually wondering if you had some escapee backup or something of the sort as well." Ray muttered before turning to me. "Although I didn't think that far ahead..." He admitted before turning to the rest of us.

"Wow!" Gillian exclaimed. "Grace-Field kids must be really smart! Escapees too!" She said excitedly.

"Is Y/N right about Lucas?" Ray asked Oliver curiously.

Oliver nodded. "Yes, but, I wasn't planning on talking about him for a while..." He murmured like a kicked puppy, likely because his plans of seeming like a bad*ss leader was ruined by my slip up.

"It's alright!" I said apologetically. "I'm still interested in what you had to say!" I said quickly, hoping he would continue. Oliver nodded and cleared his throat before continuing.

-----

"I'm Lucas." Lucas said as he made his grand entrance. "You got a pen, right?" He said, looking at Ray and I. I grinned, holding it up for him to see. Lucas smiled. "Then, let's talk about... William Minerva."

"We'll be taking our leave then." Oliver said, everyone else ushering out of the room.

"Thanks." Lucas smiled, turning to the two of us. We stood in silence for a moment, Ray's gears turning and myself admiring the man who I was hoping to save. His appearance hurt me in a similar way to Yuugo's- like an ache that reminded me of my past life.

"Ah! I found out you're from Glory Bell- and you know-!!" I began, Lucas' back turned to me as he was deep in thought.

"Then those clothes-" He asked, "you really are from B06-32 as well?" He spoke carefully, as If worrying one wrong move would send him spiralling into a panic.

"Yeah." I grinned while Ray nodded.

"I'm terrified of asking..." Lucas' voice trembled, his hand on his cane trembling to match it. "It's been over 13 years already..." He turned to face Ray and I, his face shining with hope and worry. "Is that guy still alive?"

The look on his face caused a lump to rise in my throat. I nodded my head to avoid speaking, for fear of crying if I did. "I see..." He said, bittersweet tears beginning to pour down his face. "That's great!-" He sobbed, burying his face in his hand. He cried for a moment while Ray and I watched somewhat awkwardly. "I'm happy... that's great!" I smiled, my lips pursed as someone began cutting onions again, trying not to cry.

Ray elbowed my in the side, but instead of it seeming hurtful or directed angrily it seemed to be intended to be comforting. I let out a snort and wiped my tears which were for so many reasons neither of these two could even comprehend them.

"You're extremely socially awkward, aren't you?" I turned to him, looking up at the Raven haired boy.

"No." He said quickly, turning away.

"What kind of a person elbow's a crying person then!" I exclaimed, laughter evident in my voice.

"What! Would you rather I hug you instead?! Or kiss you on the forehead?!" He asked, turning to me, his ears flushed red in embarrassment.

"Uh-" I said, certain that my own cheeks was flushing to match his red ears.

Now it was Lucas' turn to laugh, wiping his tears as he watched our immature bickering.

(A/N: That's one more chapter finished!

And on that note-

LOOK AT THESE! AND THE COVER IMAGE! LucyYeung5 made these as well! I'M GOING TO CRY- They're drawings of the throwing knife Sonju gave to Y/N- And they're exactly like I imagined!

I also feel like I should mention Y/N kept these knives in a thigh-harness under her jacket- which were unfortunately all taken away upon entering Goldy Pond!

(I'll be editing the earlier chapters and adding that in later -Anna)

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net