The Right Path?

"You're doing what?!" I yelled.

"You heard it right. We're going to go to the Seven Walls and we're going to fix the promise." Emma said with determination in her eyes.

"I-I can't..hold on a minute. You're telling me, you're going to go the Seven Walls that only you know of its location and you're going to fix the promise although you are not sure how to get out." I summarized what they had just explained.

"Right." Ray nodded. I felt a migraine forming. This isn't good, what happens if they get hurt? What happens if they torture them? What happens if they fail to fix the promise? What happens if they get eaten? What happens if they don't come back alive? Wh-

"Y/n, stop worrying about us. We've handled plenty of dangerous things and we always come back alive. We managed to escape death countless times. So Y/n, don't worry about us. We're not kids anymore, heck we're older than you." Emma reminded.

"I know...I know you can get through it..but, I can't help but worry. We've been apart for almost 2 years, and you're all finally in my arms and you're going to leave again. It's just..." I couldn't finish my sentence as I was suddenly embraced. This warmth, this scent, this feeling, I miss you so much, Ray.

"Don't worry about us, Y/n." Ray said before leaving and walking away with Emma.

'He's gotten so cold lately...but he's always around and seems really close to Emma...maybe I did something wrong? Maybe, he's sick of me? Maybe Emma is way better than a bloodthirsty demon like me' my train of thoughts was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go, Y/n." Barbara said as she removed her hand from my shoulder and proceeded to walk. I nodded and followed her.

After a while of walking, I have come to the conclusion that we are going to the 'Demon Chamber' or how I like to call it.

We went down the flight of stairs, and I looked around, seeing the jars with demon heads in them.

"Yo, Y/n, Barbara!" Cislo greeted. That's how Ray used to greet us when we were in the House.

I nodded and Barbara replied with a 'sup' as she looked at the demon chained up.

"Yo, boss!" Cislo greeted. I turned around and saw Norman going down the stairs with Zazie.

"I was looking for all of you." Norman said as he had finally finished climbing down the stairs and he approached us.

"It's been a while since I've come to this place." Norman said as he slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, I come here often." Cislo said as he crouched down.

"Yeah, it puts me in a good mood." Barbara agreed with what Cislo had just said.

"So, what did they want to talk about?" Cislo asked as he looked at Norman.

"Many things. First, they don't want the demons to be exterminated." Norman replied making Cislo go dead silent.

"I knew it..." Barbara muttered under her breath.

"And, what's your position?" Vincent asked as one of his glasses lenses shone.

"Calm down. Nothing changes with the plan. Also, they say that the girl with the cursed blood is alive." Norman informed them which made them visibly flinch.

"Wha?! That's kind of a big deal!" Barbara exclaimed as she was shocked.

"I am thinking about what to do. Just leave it to me." Norman reassured them.

"Apparently, Emma's group met her. They're friends even." I mentioned which made them surprised.

"Huh..." you could tell that Barbara herself couldn't believe what I just said.

"With that cursed blood girl?" Cislo asked as she seemed to look disgusted at the thought.

"I can see good opportunities in that, but it can also be an inconvenience." Vincent stated with his 'matter of fact' tone.

"This is the reason she doesn't want to kill the demons. How in hell...friends? With them? What the hell is this! How? Why?" Barbara started shouting which startled me.

"The demons aren't like that! Not like that at all! Ugh!" Barbara bent down and held her head. It's happening again.

"Gah...damn it! Urgh...Gah! It's happening! My head...it's splitting apart!" Barbara kneeled on the floor as she held her head.

"Barbara!" I yelled as I went to her side and tried to comfort her through this.

"Same thing as always, crap!" Cislo cursed under his breath.

"It's been only a few days...the fits are happening more often. For all of us, you know?" Vincent said.

"Where is your medicine?" Cislo asked as he stood up.

"In...my room...ngaaah!" Barbara held her head again as she replied. I pulled her to my chest and comforted her.

"I have some to spare. Come, Barbara, have them all." Vincent offered to take out his pen that contained some medicines. Barbara quickly took them and swallowed.

(A/N: Ehehehhe that's what she said)

"We've had to increase the dosage too. It's not just the increasing frequency, the condition itself is worsening. I believe we have less time than we thought." Vincent informed.

I continued to hug Barbara and I gently stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"Y'see? This...this is what they are. This is what the demons do to humans. This is what we are to them. How could anyone doubt that." Barbara cried as she gripped my f/c hoodie.

(A/N: Eyoo! Forgot to mention that you changed your clothes on the way to the Demon Chamber)

"If only...if only they were all gone!" Barbara shouted as she started sobbing into my chest. I hushed her and told her that everything will be okay as I drew circles on her back.

"You know boss...while you were out, we had a little chat with Emma and Ray." Cislo mentioned which seemed to catch Norman's attention.

"They're good kids. They kept blurting dumb, optimistic things, but...they're good kids after all...for real...so I'm wondering" Cislo said as he seemed to be deep in thought.

"You're still on this side, right, boss? You're still our boss, right, boss? You're not regretting it or anything, right?!" Cislo asked which seemed to make everyone silent, including Norman.

"Look at all I've done. Of course, I can't go back anymore." Norman said. I sighed in relief, knowing he was still on our side.

༻✦༺ ༻ 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤༺ ༻✦༺

"And these are the results from this place? The date from Lambda? It's not enough..." Norman said as he scanned some kind of data book.

"Well, it's not really a surprise that most of it are about humans. But what about the demons? What do they eat? How do they transform, regenerate, evolve, devolve?" Y/n asked as she pointed her ax at a demons eye.

"Their eye is their weakness. Strike it and they're gone. That's what I know so far." Y/n mentioned and Norman nodded at her.

"We're going to need much more data on the demons." Norman said as he glared at the demons which seemed to frighten them.

༻✦༺ ༻ 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 ༺ ༻✦༺

"I'm perfectly sure of my path. Y/n started it all and I'm the one who should take care of it. These are the burdens that I alone must take" Norman replied.

"Emma and Ray are wonderful, kind people. But I realized, in a world like this, kindness isn't enough." I commented.

"That's true. If we hadn't decided to be shipped, back then. I wonder if everyone would've been able to escape. I have no regrets." Norman said as he made his way upstairs.

"How about you, Y/n? You don't regret anything, right? You're still our Ruthless, right?" Cislo asked me.

"There are a few things that I regret, but I don't regret the path I have taken." I replied.

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

"Sorry, friends, but we're going to check out the Seven Walls! Be back soon!" Emma announced.

"WHAAAAAAAAA?!" they all yelled.

"W-wait right there..." Lannion said.

"What do you mean?!" shouted Thoma.

"Norman already said he'll have all the demons exterminated!" Nat retorted.

"Yes, he did, but you know...I tried very hard to keep quiet about it but in the end, I couldn't hold it back anymore. I kind of don't want them to be exterminated." Emma sheepishly said as she scratched her head.

"WHAAAAAAAAA?!" they yelled once more.

"Extermination...extinction...I can see the logic in it. It's the safest, surest, from a practical point of view. Maybe if all the demons were just evil, but the village demons are just trying to live their lives. They have families, children, and babies. If possible, I don't want to kill them. I don't want anybody to kill them." Emma explained her point.

"There's also a matter of Mujika and Sonju. Will we kill them too?" Ray asked and this caught the attention of those who have met them.

"But, I know this is all about my preferences. I'm only telling you what I'd like to do, personally. I have no intention of involving any of you. And Norman told us that he has no intention of stopping or delaying his plan, either. We don't even know yet whether there is a way out of this other than extermination. So, I'll go check it out a little bit with Ray, ok?" Emma announced.

"I don't want to do anything that I'll regret later. I want to choose the future." Emma continued.

"I see..." Lannion commented.

"I guess we didn't really consider the consequences." Thoma said as he seemed quite guilty.

"Well, you haven't been out to the cities. You haven't seen the demons' lives with your own eyes." Ray said to Thoma.

"There's more than enough reason to hate them. But even then, I didn't even consider that the enemy might have another side." Sandy stated his opinion.

"But I still hate the demons. Emma, I get what you mean and I don't want to kill your friend Mujika and all but...but.." Gillian paused to catch her breath.

"Our family matters a lot more to me than all of them! You matter! I can't bring myself to go easy on them. More than anything, I want safety for my friends. If that's what it takes the children...the babies..." Gillian couldn't take it as she began to cry into Paula's chest.

"How come? You were almost killed by them, just a while ago! Why?" Gilda yelled.

"She's funny in the head. I couldn't get it when I first heard it." Ray replied which made Emma turn to him with a funny face.

"Well, that's her opinion, you know?" Don came up behind Emma and grinned.

"Guess that's it, then. Be back soon, you two!" Don smiled at them.

"Don!!" Gilda and Anna yelled at him.

"Hey, it's them. You know? This decision must have come after some mind-boggling discussions and so on. I too was happy that we could avoid that dangerous thing with the Seven Walls, but on the other hand...I'm not opposed to Emma's ideals. After all, one has to choose a life that won't bring regrets, even if the risks are great. That's how we've made it this far, right? That's the freedom we chose." Don looked at them with a serious expression that you would rarely see on a guy like him.

"And at any rate, even if we're against it, we'll never stop them anyways!" Don chuckled.

"But still! There's no need for you to put yourself in danger again. And this path is very, very dangerous, you know that right?! It's not necessary at all...why, Emma? Why do you always have to be the one who.." Gilda couldn't finish her sentence as she was cut off by a hug.

"I'm so sorry...I'm sorry to always go away like this. But this is the only choice where I can face myself in the mirror, later on, you know? And also, this time, it isn't just about me. I want to stop Norman and Y/n from killing themselves." Emma said which seemed to surprise them.

"Huh? Norman? Y/n?"

"Yeah. They're doing it all over again." Ray explained.

"He's not planning to literally get himself killed, but he's killing his own heart. He's trying to shoulder it all alone and for our sakes. Just like back then." Emma explained.

"Y/n is drowning in bloodlust. Y/n is planning to kill every demon just to see us smile and relax even if it means taking her life away. Emma and I can't accept that." Ray said.

"They got themselves shipped and we could escape. They must think that this was the best solution. That it was a success." Ray mentioned.

"It's no success at all! Everybody worked very hard and I'm grateful. Though it's not over yet. But for us, that escape plan stopped being a real success. The moment that we made use of Y/n and Norman like that. I don't want to fall to the same logic again. I won't let them. I want to prove to Y/n and Norman that there are certain things we can only be sure of if we try. Again, that's just my personal feelings." Emma said.

"But it's another reason why we're going to the walls." Ray said as he crossed his arms.

"I want to go check out what's possible and come back to tell the tale. We'll be back as soon as we can before Norman and Y/n can execute the Demon King and the nobles!" Emma sounded determined as she said this.

"But if worst comes to worst, I want you all to choose a path that you can be proud of." Ray said.

"Please take care of Norman and Y/n! Make sure she gets enough rest and make sure Norman eats well." Emma said.

"You dummy..." someone said. They all turned to the direction of where they had supposedly heard the voice to see a girl leaning against the door frame.

"I don't even want to think about the worst-case scenario. Make sure you come back alive. I'm still against that idea of yours, if I have to be honest...what you said was right. I indeed am treating you like children when I know you're all grown up." Y/n said as she sighed and looked at all of them with soft eyes.

"Y/n..." Emma and Ray mumbled as they stared at the girl with f/c horns on her forehead.

"You better come back alive." Y/n said as she approached Emma. She dragged along her ax as she walked.

"Or I'll kill you again." Y/n smirked as she placed the ax an inch away from Emma's neck which made her stumble.

"Honestly..." Y/n said as she giggled. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and her reflexes came and she grabbed the hand and lunged them forward which seemed to startle everyone.

"Awaaahh..." Zazie groaned as he stood up and rubbed his back. Y/n panicked and quickly checked him for injuries.

"I'm sorry, Zazie! You startled me." Y/n said as she placed her hand on her chest.

"Awaahh..." Zazie said as Y/n nodded.

"I see, I'll be there right away." Y/n said as she nodded.

"Awaaaaah..." Zazie said and Y/n shook her head.

"No, I'm not hungry but I could eat a sweet or two. Ne, let's go eat some together!" Y/n smiled as she grabbed his arm.

'Sh-she understands what he's saying?!' they all thought the same thing as they watched the two have a conversation.

"Awaah..." Zazie said which made Y/n grin.

"Great, let's go! See you guys around, make sure you come back or I'll kill you! Bye-bye!" Y/n waved as she dragged Zazie.

Emma smiled until she looked at Ray's expression. He was pouting while glaring as he held his chest with his right hand.

"Ray?" Emma called out which seemed to catch the attention of the raven-nette.

"What is it?" Ray asked as he stopped glaring but his pout was still visible.

"Why were you glaring at them?" Emma boldly asked which seemed to make the emo looking boy flustered.

"I-it's not-" before Ray could finish his sentence the naughty duo joined in on the convo.

"That's 'cause..." Lannion started as he looked at Thoma, waiting for him to continue.

"He's jealous!" Thoma yelled which seemed to make Ray heat up more as his ears got hot.

'What is this feeling? She looks so different now and I can't help it. Whenever she smiles she makes me have this weird feeling in my stomach and when she hangs out with Norman or like Zazie right now, it makes my heart hurt. What the hell is that girl doing to me? This is way different from how I felt back at the House!' Ray thought as he covered his face in embarrassment.

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

"No way is that Ruthless?"

"Look, Zazie is with her too!"

"Do you think they're dating?"

I smiled and waved at them which seemed to surprise them but they smiled and waved back.

"Ne, remember that time I got you that tiger plushie." I said as I smiled at the thought of him still wearing it. Zazie looked at me and made his usual sound.

༻✦༺ ༻ 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤༺ ༻✦༺

"Shhh, it's ok. You're safe now. No more experiments. No more bad stuff will happen to you." Y/n said as she comforted him.

Zazie cried into Y/N's chest that night since he had a fit in the middle of the night when nobody is awake to help him.

"Oh! Wait here for a moment. I'll be right back." Y/n said as she patted Zazie on the head and went to her kitchen.

Y/n hummed a tune as she prepared some tea and as she finished, she slowly pours the tea in the cup.

She went back to where Zazie was while humming a sweet tune but she stopped as she noticed that Zazie was staring at a tiger plushie.

Y/n smiled under the hood and placed the tea and cups on her table and grabbed the plushie off the shelf and handed it to him.

"You can have it. I like to make some of those, so I'll be happy if you had them." Y/n said as she grabbed Zazie's hand and placed the plushie in larger hands.

"Awahh..." Zazie said as he looked at the plushie in an adoring manner which you would rarely get from him.

"Now, let's have some tea." Y/n said as she gestured to the table with 2 seats on it. She sat down which made Zazie sit down too.

"How are you feeling? Did the medicine work?" Y/n asked as she sipped the cup. Zazie removed his paper bag and sipped the cup.

Zazie only shows his face to Y/n since he knows of Y/N's condition and why she hides her face. Y/n, feeling slightly delighted, knowing that Zazie trusted someone like herself, she removed her hood and continued to drink the tea.

"Awahh..." he said as he immediately finished the tea and showed her his empty cup.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Y/n smiled as she poured more tea into his cup as he waited excitedly.

༻✦༺ ༻ 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 ༺ ༻✦༺

"Awahh!" Zazie exclaimed as he nodded eagerly which made Y/n giggle. Not knowing of a certain boy watching behind a pillar, glaring at Zazie.

"She's mine, I loved her first. Hold on...love is a strong word, but that's how I really feel about her. Is it love? Or do I just like her? No way, I do love her, but it's really embarrassing to say such a thing" Ray groaned as he blushed uncontrollably.

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

(A/N: Eyoo! It seems like a certain someone is really jelly. OOOoooO. Anyways, that's 3288 words for you. Peace out!)