(No one:

Y'all reading the chapter name:
👁 👄👁💧

me writing it: 💃💃

THE FANART IN THE COVER IS NOT MINE, BTW.

THE WAY BOTH Y/N AND RAY WOULD DO THAT TOGETHER- LMAO Y/N PUSHING EMMA WHILE RAY SHOVES NORMAN

I'LL LEAVE NOW-

PLEASE ENJOY~~~)

My feet made barely audible sounds on the ground as I walked. My hands clenched and unclenched on my gun and I swallowed dryly.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. A while ago, everyone had gone to bed, albeit a few of us older kids choosing to keep watch for the night. I'd taken watch from Ray a few shifts ago, but this uneasy feeling in my stomach still churned, and I found myself unable to sleep. So I traded with Emma and continued to keep watch.

I nimbly climbed up into a tree nearby the cave entrance and nestled onto one of the large branches. I leaned back against the tree and sighed, closing my eyes. After listening for a few minutes I opened my blue eyes slowly, peering through the tangle of branches up above to the starry night sky.

There was a sudden flutter of feathers and I flinched at the sudden noise, turning beside me in shock.

An owl sat staring emptily into my soul. I blinked for a moment before smiling. I reached out and patted the motionless owl nestled beside me before turning back to my surroundings. After a minute of silence I sighed.

"Have you seen anything, totally inconspicuous bird?" I asked. The bird clicked and whirred all of a sudden but stayed silent. "Wow. Those are some totally normal noises for an animal." A cold breeze blew past me, sending strands of my longer hair blowing into my face. I brushed them away carefully and tucked them into my ponytail. I continued talking to myself- or the "person behind the bird camera", rather, while I waited in the tree for a disturbance. "Did you receive my message? Ah, I suppose you can't answer me. Are you confused? Do you have your suspicions? I wonder if you're any different now. Oh!! Did you listen in on my explanation?" I turned to the bird curiously to see it staring at me blankly. "B*stard." I cussed the silent bird out. Norman should've equipped it with a mic so he could talk to me through it-

"Who are you calling a b*stard?"

I jumped a foot in the air. "WHAA- IT SPOKE, IT SPOKEEE!!" I yelled frantically, waving my arms around and nearly falling off of the tree. "EHHH-??!" I fwipped my head around to look at the owl again but it was gone.

"...what the hell are you doing?" My eyes widened again. I whipped to the side and saw none other than Ray climbing into the tree. I've got to stop doing stupid things around him.

I rested my head in my hands and sighed. "Ohmygoddontscaremelikethat." I exhaled, trying to calm my racing heart.

"Scare you-?" Ray muttered, climbing the rest of the way, flopping down a few feet away on the massive branch. "So who exactly were you talking to?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yourself again? Or maybe the woodland critters?" He made a sparkle motion with his fingers, as if adding pizazz to his "woodland critters".

I leaned back onto the branch and looked up at the heavily obstructed night sky. What a beautiful sight. It's almost as obstructed from sight as my crippling depression. "Oh, just Norman."

Ray recoiled back from me and gave me a concerned look. He placed the back of his hand on my forehead. "No fever." He removed his hand and sighed. "Have you just finally gone crazy?"

I stared at him wide-eyed before snorting while starting to laugh. I sat up while I tried to suppress my laughter.

"Oi-!! Shut up!! Are you trying to wake up the whole goddamn forest??!" Ray exclaimed. I snorted, covering my mouth.

When I finally calmed down I cleared my throat and wiped my tears. "Funny you should call me crazy for that, considering who you were talking to up on the wall the day of our escape way back."

I saw Ray's eyes cloud in confusion for a moment before they cleared up. "HAAH-?! YOU SAW THAT??!" He exclaimed, turning bright red and waving his arms.

"Who's going to wake up the forest now." I scolded, elbowing his side. He stopped making noise and hung his head in embarrassment.

We sat in a comfortable silence- as comfortable as you can be up in a tree and waiting to be bombarded by demons. After quite some time Ray began speaking again- in hushed tones to avoid disturbing the ecosystem and alarming demons.

"Why are you still up?" He asked quietly. I jumped a little but stayed silent. "You traded shifts with me a while ago. You should've had a chance to switch with someone several chances since then." I chewed on the inside of my lip. "Is something bothering you?"

I sighed in relent. "I'm worried that at least one of the soldiers managed to survive." I said with a yawn.

"E-ehh?? Isn't that kind of bad?" Ray exclaimed.

I shrugged. "Probably. That's why I'm still up." I yawned again, resting my head against the trunk of the tree.

Ray hummed. "The size of that explosion was massive. There's no way someone inside could've survived."

I shook my head. "In the Original Timeline there was a survivor in the room Yuugo and Lucas blew up. He was bleeding out of multiple places and barely clinging to life. And he still managed to kill several people. I can't let that happen this time." I clenched and unclenches my hand around my gun's handle, before rubbing my eyes tiredly. There was a light bump to my shoulder as Ray nudged me gently.

"And how exactly are you going to do anything half-awake?" He chided, crossing his arms.

I pursed my lips. He had a point, but...

"I'll stay here and keep watch. I've already gotten a few hours of sleep." Ray placed his hand on my head lightly. "I know you're a dumb*ss who takes pride in their ability to survive on the bare minimum amounts of sleep, but please, for the love of god, get some real rest." And then, without another word, he got into position, resting his gun beside him for easy use, and turning straight ahead.

I stayed for another few minutes before relenting, beginning my journey down the tree. "See you tomorrow, ya stubborn butt. ...and you're the dumb*ss." I saw Ray roll his eyes before I scampered down the tree like the squirrel I was and walked sluggishly into the cave.

I laid down in the bedding besides Emma and sighed, pulling my blanket up to my chin. I tried to calm my fluttering heart. Why was it pounding so hard? It can't be...

-----

"Y/N!! Y/N!! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!" I awoke to someone shaking my roughly in the shoulders.

"Wha-what? What's going on?" As my eyes cleared up from being blurry I recognized Emma. I shot up suddenly, hearing the alarm in her voice. "What's wrong?" I exclaimed, looking around frantically.

"Ray!! He's gone!!" She exclaimed, tears spouting from her eyes.

"Ray's...what?" I felt my heart drop to my feet.

We gathered outside the entrance and I chewed on my lip. I climbed up the tree Ray had been keeping watch in. Sh*t!! While I'd been sleeping like a baby, something must of happened!! Dammit!! I searched frantically for any signs of what might've happened to him.

But there was nothing. No signs of struggle, no hostage note, no blood, nothing. It was as if he'd disappeared. But a sudden voice echoing from down below sent shivers down my spine.

"AWAKE YET, KIDDOS?" The voice was garbled and horrifying. I felt my whole body tense as my nervous feeling spiked. There's no way...

I looked down from the tree and felt my stomach drop to my feet. A while away, the top of a light-headed male sent shivers down my spine. And in front of him, held at gunpoint, was the ravenhead gone missing. I wanted to drop down right then and there and beat the sh*t of that b*stard, but I stayed up in the tree. 'Calm down, Y/N. He hasn't noticed you yet." I prayed to god no one looked up to me and gave me away.

Sitting the rest of the way in the tree I quieted my breathing and tried to listen closely to what was going on.

"Ahhh there you are!!" Andrew exclaimed. My heart clenched as Emma, followed by several other children came inside. 'Stay inside, Yuugo, Lucas. He has no idea you're alive. He has no idea there are any adults. If given the chance we can utilize that. If I fail we'll be relying on you' I prayed to myself.

As I watched I didn't see them leave, and they seemed to not be leaving anytime soon. Perhaps they were still keeping watch on the other side? Or maybe they're were smart enough to understand the situation. God I hope so.

I climbed further up in the tree, careful not to knock any flimsier branches and send any leaves drifting to the ground that would give away my position. One I reached a height better out of view but still close enough that I could take proper aim, I laid flat on my stomach, staring through the scope on my rifle-like gun.

As soon as Andrew got closer I froze, calming my breaths. Be silent. Don't move. Not even an inch. He can't know you are here. Wait for the right moment. Breathe. Disappear. I rested my eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing my whole body.

I need to avoid Ray. If I hit him... well, it would be bad, to say the least.

Focus. Take aim. Don't move. Breathe. Watch. Listen.

-----

//RAY'S POV//

I felt the trigger of the gun press into my head and cringed, swallowing a lump down my throat.

"ALL OF YOU GET ON YOUR KNEES RIGHT NOW!!" My captor yelled, shoving the trigger further into the back of my head. Everyone dropped to their knees, throwing their weapons into a pile. I cussed internally. Last night... is this person the reason why Y/N was so uneasy? The one who survived in the original?

"Every-one. I'll erase you all. You're going to be slaughtered." My eyes flicked to the left and I caught sight of a small team hiding among the trees. Was Y/N with them? Speaking of which, where was that obnoxious girl?

"INSOLENT!!" The guy yelled as soon as the team of teens dashed from the trees in hopes of attacking my captor, who raised his gun and began firing at them. I heard the sound of more of his blood dropping onto the forest floor. Immediately after he pulled his gun and aimed it at my leg. I felt my whole body tense as he prepared to shoot. Time seemed to slow as I shut my eyes, preparing for the incoming pain.

A gunshot rang out and I froze. But no pain came. I opened my eyes slowly as there was a commotion behind me. I whipped around as Andrew stumbled back, gripping onto his left shoulder, where blood was now oozing out of.

"GET BACK!!" I heard a yell from up above and immediately stumbled away from the half-dead, bumbling around guy. He raised his gun and shot wildly into the direction of the person who must've shot him in the shoulder. Soon after two more gunshots rang out from up above and I watched as one hit the man straight on the forehead. The light-headed male flopped over backwards. I inched up to him slowly and nudged him with my foot carefully before crouching down.

He was dead.

At that moment there was a thud from a nearby tree and approaching footsteps. A pair of hands met my shoulders and turned me around and I was met face-to-face with Y/N.

"Are you hurt??!" She asked, checking my arms for any bleeding. "I didn't hit you, right?!" She asked frantically.

"N-no, I'm fine!!" I exclaimed, raising my hands. She let out a sigh of relief and plopped to the forest floor. "More importantly, are you okay?" I asked, crouching on the ground. "You... just killed a guy!"

I'm not sure what kind of reaction I expected, but it certainly wasn't "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, *sshole." I blinked once, twice, no, perhaps three times before what she said settled in.

"Oh my god what is wrong with you." I sighed exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of my nose as I sat down on the forest floor. "At least you're back to normal, though." I rolled my eyes, the tension of being held hostage releasing from me with each passing minute.

People began crowding around us and asking both of us if we were okay. After quite some time of reassuring them and such, they began to disperse back into the cave. I turned to Y/N beside me and recoiled in shock when I noticed she was trembling. "Oi-!!" I exclaimed in shock. Is she crying again?? "You're not okay after all, are y-!!"

She turned to me all the sudden, her face sweaty as she wore a slightly-intimidating smirk. "Do you have anything I can break? I think I need to let off some stress." She said darkly, eyes wide, standing up and brushing her legs off.

"I-uh-" I stuttered out, standing up beside her.

She snorted suddenly, that obnoxious, infuriating sound, that always seemed warmed my heart whenever I heard it despite how much it annoyed me.

"...You should see your face. You look stupid." She flicked my forehead and stalked away, in search of a poor object to release her pent up stress on.

Never mind. That snort is just infuriating after all.

(HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAH I'M LAUGHING RN. I ALMOST ENDED IT WHEN ANDREW SHOWED UP WITH RAY- ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER LMAO- )