(LOL, ENJOY THIS CHAPTER. I BET YOU'LL BE HAPPY WITH THE LENGTH, AT LEAST. 😳 💖

The image of Y/N was, PER USUAL, drawn by me, and posted on my instagram, thefricksidontgive,

uhm... good afternoon, to those of you who are probably awake rn,, LMAO-

AND GO TO BED, for those of you in EST time rn. If you woke up to read this, I wont forgive you.

ANYHOWWWW I love y'alll and have a good dayyy- morning- afternoon- and evening, LMAO-

pls enjoyyyy~~~)

-----

"But what do we do from here on out?" Ray asked mere moments after we'd confirmed the queen's mildly horrific death. "The queen and all five regent houses were killed. The capital and the other demon territories have all lost their societal leaders. It's not just about negotiating for peace, at this rate..." His tone was anxious. "There'll be widespread chaos... riots even. If we don't handle this correctly, it'll spiral into a war-"

"Oh? About that, it'll be fine." I shrugged simply, completely destroying the serious atmosphere in a single breath. My specialty, of course.

"It'll be fine?!" Norman and Ray echoed, while Mujika blinked and Sonju raised confused eyebrow.

"...How do you know that?" My demon bro inquired curiously, crossing his arms as he tilted his head.

"Oh, right. I haven't told you yet." I scratched my cheek with a light chuckle. "In 20 words or less, I get visions that can see into the future, only what it would be like without my existence."

"Hohh...?" Sonju crossed his arms while he sighed, a nice change of pace for a reaction to my excuse. "That explains a lot, then."

"A-ahh anyway, what exactly is going to happen?" Norman cut in anxiously, still not quite used to me and my... weirdness...?

I hummed. "Don't remember the details, but Leuvis is going to come back, Sonju will revive his old mentor using his blood, and it'll work itself out. Oh, wait." I tapped my chin in thought before grinning. "Sonju and Mujika are going to be nearly executed first, though."

"-WHAT?!" Ray and Emma exclaimed in shock and worry.

I shrugged. "As long as we didn't somehow manage to kill Leuvis twice, they'll be fine." Both Emma and Norman looked ready to simply pass away standing.

"Y/N's right." Mujika smiled. "It'll be okay. We'll figure our own problems out, so you should all hurry back to the hideout."

"But-!!" Emma started, but I quickly cut her off, by laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Emma, it'll be okay." I grinned. "Once humans are out of the picture, it'll be much easier for Sonju and Mujika, anyhow."

Mujika nodded. "Now you can go do what is really important. Stopping anyone else from dying, and stopping the flames of hatred from growing any larger. And besides," Her voice hitched, hesitating for a moment. "I have a really bad feeling. The royal army... in the unlikely event that they attack the hideout, it'll be terrible. So please go. And hurry. As for here, I have an idea of my own."

"Thank you, Mujika!!" Emma exclaimed, embracing the demon girl tightly, burrowing her face in Mujika's neck. "Thank you so much!!!"

"We owe you our lives." Ray nodded in agreement, wearing an appreciative smile on his face..

Emma then turned to Sonju and leapt into him, wrapping her arms around him tightly in a sudden hug. "Oof-" Sonju grunted, looking down to the ginger girl in surprise. "...Huh?"

"Thank you too, Sonju." Emma thanked him. "So much has happened these past two years. Me thinking that I don't want to kill the demons was thanks to you two." She pulled away from the her arms, looking up to his face. "And me being able to make it this far was because of how much you helped us since we first met. Thank you. Really, thank you so much!!"

I smiled before taking a turn to hug Sonju myself. "Thanks, Sonju. I'm glad I got to meet you... in person..." My voice trailed off as I finished, remembering the times of the past, and my conflicted feelings of this massive demon man. Who would know, he would grow to mean so much? Sonju hesitated for a moment before gently patting my head with his massive hand.

"Yeah. Thank you too, Y/N." I looked up to him in surprise as he smiled, somehow a happy, heart-warming smile, despite his jagged teeth that would slice through human flesh with ease. "For teaching me the importance of human life."

My eyes widened in shock before I snorted. "You learned the importance of human life from me?" I chortled in amusement. "Are you sure it wasn't the opposite?" I pulled away from the hug as Sonju laughed.

"I'm sure." He grinned widely, ruffling my hair. "...Although, I was pretty worried about the future of the human race, when it came to the terrifying combination of you and your ability to completely null your innate self-preservation, -when it comes to the combination of hunger and tasty-looking berries, at least- along with that so-called 'Suicidal arsonist', of yours."

I puffed out my cheeks. "Ignoring that last part," I irked crossing my arms, "You're going to keep on bringing that up, aren't you."

Sonju grinned. "Of course. Now, get on your way." He pushed me gently towards the door, and I turned to face him one last time, holding my fist out for a fist-bump.

Sonju obliged, hitting his fist against mine gently. "See you later... pipsqueak." My eyes widened at the nickname before I snorted. I suppose, to a 6ft-god-knows-how-much-taller- man, I would appear that small.

"See you later, old man." I retorted as I turned around and began jogging lightly after my friends.

"OI, I'M STILL IN MY PRIME-!!" He loudly called after me, surprisingly stingy when it came to poking at his age.

I turned back around to face the demon with a wave, sticking my tongue out. "YOUR THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF LIFE SAYS OTHERWISE!!"

Sonju inhaled deeply, cupping his hands over his mouth, before releasing in a single, loud, shout, "OI, Y/N!! DON'T REPRODUCE!! THE HUMAN RACE DOESN'T NEED ANY MORE SUICIDAL GENES IN THEIR GENE POOL IF THEY HAVE ANY INTENTION OF STAYING ALIVE!!" He roared angrily despite the amused smile on his face. "GOD KNOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO COULD KILL YOU WITH THE FLICK OF THEIR FINGER THOSE TINY BLACK-HAIRED BLUE-EYED CHILDREN WOULD PISS OFF, FOLLOWING IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS-!!" Too far away to be heard, I simply raised up the middle finger as I dashed away, following after Emma, Norman, Ray, and Zazie. 'That asshole.' I then blinked, considering his choice of words. 'No way...' I blanched as I ran, turning to face back forward, my ears tinting bright pink. 'Even Sonju ships it?!' I groaned internally, wishing I had an encyclopedia on hand for... reasons... 'Jesus Christ, Gilda, Don-!! What exactly did you talk to them about on the way to the capital...?!'

Our group of 5 proceeded to haul *ss throughout the entire demon city, until we encountered Don and Gilda, the scheming butts in question, who called out to us excitedly immediately upon catching sight of us. "Emma, Ray, Y/N!" Once Glasses girl and Bean finished hugging their ginger and ravenette companions, Ray's nose wrinkling as his ribs were crushed by Don, the eyes of the two 12-year-olds soon drifted to the albino 13-year-old, who trailed slowly behind us, along with Zazie. "Norman...!" Gilda smiled excitedly.

"Ah..." Norman hummed guiltily, his lips pursed and his eyes wide.

"You had us worried!!" Don exclaimed, patting Norman's shoulders, no doubt nearly breaking the back of the frail boy.

"Yeah. He's right." Gilda agreed. "Welcome home." She spoke softly, her words piercing the albino's heart with their sincerity and meaning.

Norman's eyes crinkled for a moment, shining in near tears, before hugging his two siblings tightly. "I'm back." His voice trembled. He then turned to Ayshe, an apologetic expression readable on his face, his guilt palpable in the air. He murmured in the demon language and Ayshe's eyes widened, flicking to mine a moment, to which I smiled, nodding my head reassuringly.

"What was that?" Emma asked, glancing curiously between Norman, Ayshe, and I.

I shrugged with a smile. "Nothing important." My light-hearted grin was quickly replaced with one of my more- and rare, determined and serious expressions. "We need to get moving, and meet up with Oliver's group." 'To see if they managed to save any...'

At our fast pace, we were soon out of the demon's society, moving in a dead sprint through the woods, barely creating any audible noises, even at our fast pace.

"Boss!!" Vincent voice called as he suddenly emerged from the trees, cutting in front of us, followed by a mass of Adam-like buff lambda-children who crowded behind him.

"Vincent... You guys...!!" Norman exclaimed at the sight of Barbara and Cislo behind his football-head companion.

I then began glancing around me as I listened for the sound of the horses I knew would be approaching soon, Norman's conversation with his Lambda companions echoing faintly in the background.

I whipped around as I heard the distant hoofbeats from behind before feeling them under my feat, turning to the group of travellers wide eyed as my heart thudded loudly. Oliver, Yuugo, Lucas, and several others arrived by horse, but there was no sight of any additional children. "Oliver!" I exclaimed, cringing at the sight of his pale face. 'I thought so...'

"What was the situation?!" I asked as the light-haired teen caught his breath after hopping down from his horse, panting heavily.

He clenched his teeth, looking to the ground in worry. "It's terrible! Everyone... they were all gone!"

The scouts briefly explained the situation and I sighed, covering my mouth with my hands. "I see... so it happened anyway..."

"You mean you already knew what would happen?!" Vincent yelled, face purple in rage as he whipped towards me. "And you just let whatever happen?! They were kidnapped, and you're sitting here, perfectly okay with the situation?!" His roared, voice dripping with venom.

"Vincent, stop-"

Vincent clenched his teeth in anger. "But this brat is treating this situation like it's nothing-!!"

"Oi, calm your tits, foot-ball head." I scoffed, crossing my arms in disappointment and anger. "Yes, I did know what would happen. But if we didn't head back, all of you would've been slaughtered by the queen." Vincent's face was still heated with anger, but I had bigger problems to deal with then a child throwing a tantrum. "Plus, they're still alive. For now." I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my racing heart. 'Chill, Y/N. Peter Ratri shouldn't've tried anything yet...' A bead of sweat trickled down the back of my neck, when a voice suddenly cut through the tense atmosphere as Vincent glared at me hostilely.

"Firstly, she's not 'perfectly okay' with the situation." Ray added suddenly and I blinked in surprise as he stepped between the angry teen and I. "I'm sure she's just as worried for them as you are, except, since she knows the current situation, she's keeping a cool head, because she's treating the situation with the level of importance it has. If you would cool down and listen to her for a minute, then you'd know what was going on, okay?" He spoke as if scolding a brat, which was mildly amusing, considering his choice of insult from earlier, and equally true. "So can you sit your *ss down and listen?"

I blinked while everyone immediately calmed, the tense situation surrounding myself defused, only, unfortunately, everyone was now looking towards me expectantly, some taking seats on the ground. 'Do you always have to shift all the responsibility onto me?' I asked Ray with my eyes, a mildly irritated expression on my face.

'Sucks to be you.' Ray responded, raising his eyebrows. 'I'm sure you'll be fine, though.'

"Okay..." I sighed, sending the ravenhead one last distasteful glance. "So, firstly, the so-called 'current situation' is that they were all taken to Gracefield, although many of you have probably figured this out." I received several nods of confirmation, so i inhaled another breath."So, that's where were headed. I have a plan, as bullcrapped as it may be." Poppy, in the back of the crowd, snorted.

"Not like that's anything off the norm!!" She cheered.

I rolled my eyes in response. "Hush while the adults are speaking." I stuck my tongue out and Poppy scowled, sitting back down nevertheless. 'I'm nearly two years older than you-!!' She was probably thinking in annoyance.

"Now, you may be thinking, 'Why go with Y/N's bullcrapped plan?'" I continued without further regard to the sighing strawberry-blonde. "Well, usually it's because it's the only option. And although that is also the case this time, I figure I may as well add some..." I cleared my throat. "Extra motivation. So pretend you didn't hear that last part."

"Jesus Christ." Ray muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're the one who put me up to this, you can deal with my bullsh*t." I hissed under my breath, before clearing my throat once again. "Now, the reason why we should go with this plan, is because it's better than wallowing in self-pity and thinking 'What can we possibly do', right? It's better to think 'We can do it! No matter how damned likely we are to die!!', right? I know we've got more than just Ray, Norman, and I for suicidal b*stards in this squad, hmm? Oliver, Zack, and Emma, looking at you-!!" I called, shooting them finger guns.

Which all three of them returned with equal energy, of course. Although Oliver looked a tad confused, per usual.

I then took a deep breath, my expression becoming slightly, emphasis on slightly, more serious. "Norman's back together with his pals, there's significantly less injured this time around, and we've even got Yuugo and Lucas by our sides!" I reassured everyone, their eyes shining in something hope... or maybe it was the result of being near tears. I mean, if I was listening to my speech... I'd be... let's say... conflicted... as well. "All of you have done- or attempted,- some batsh*t crazy things in your life, so what's one more! All of us were once kids, raised simply to be eaten," 'And I was once an anime-obsessed socially-inept weirdo from another dimension, but we don't talk about it-'

"-but look where we are now-!!" I continued without pause, despite the chaotic thoughts in my head. "Just a little closer before we're all free!! The Ratari b*tches and the 2,000 troops will be easy peasy lemon-squeezy! We can do it, as long as we work together!" I looked across the sea of inspired- or possibly devastated- children and twitched. 'I somehow managed to say something both inspiring and uninspiring again...'

I quickly glanced to Ray, who was watching me with a shockingly proud smile on his face. 'What are you, my father?' I muttered in my head, my eyes suddenly flicking to Yuugo and Lucas in the audience, snorting at the sight of their expressions. 'No, those are the expressions of real fathers.' I laughed to myself as Yuugo was pinching the bridge of his nose in disappointment and Lucas was wiping happy tears from his eyes.

"Heh." Norman chuckled for a moment and I watched as he snorted while his shoulders shook. 'Hehe... hahahaha!!" He laughed, throwing his head back. 'Was it really that obvious that I was spewing bullcrap-??' "-Somehow, despite being so reckless and weird all the time, when Y/N says we can do it, it feels like we can!! Even if there's a possibility she may be a psychopath!" His words caught me completely off guard. 'The words intended for Emma... for me? ...albeit they are a bit different.' I cringed as I thought the last part, my eyebrow raising while my eye twitched.

Poppy laughed, back to her usual cheerful self. "You're right about that!"

Nigel nodded. "She's been right about everything until now, so..."

"We would've failed before without her, that's for sure." Ray spoke with a satisfied smile. "We'll manage it, definitely, as long as she's with us. I'm glad to say we've been putting our lives in the hands of a psychopath..." His eyebrows raised, and his eyes narrowed as he spoke his next words. "-So long as those lives remain, well, actually alive, for the time being."

I flustered a little at everyone's words, blushing in embarrassment as I backed away from the crowd everyone clamouring in excitement about the plan and finalizing what to do while I watched them in silence. "By the way..." Ray hummed, appearing beside me after a few minutes had passed. "You said 'see you later' to Sonju. What was that about?"

I blinked, cocking my head to the side in confusion for a moment. "Oh, well, he said it first, so it was kinda like an immediate reaction. Plus, even when you don't know whether you'll see them again, you still say 'see you later', hmm?" I explained reasonably.

Ray shrugged, despite still seeming unconvinced. "I see..." He then glanced behind me, his eyebrow raising, before walking away. "I'll talk to you in a minute, then."

I raised my eyebrows in confusion until I felt a hand on my shoulder, coming from the same direction Ray'd been looking. I turned to face Vincent, who was wearing a strange expression on his face. "Wassup...?" I murmured, my lips pursed, trying to figure out what I did to deserve being in his... delightful presence.

The football head sighed, as if gathering his courage, while I rocked back and forth on my heels. "I'm sorry for freaking out at you earlier, and even before that." He unexpectedly apologized, and quite sincerely at that. "That was improper of me." He then pushed his glasses up his nose and turned away, walking away swiftly. "In return, I will allow you to continue calling me 'football head'."

"E-ehh?" I stood dumbstruck, mildly weirded out, a nervous smile plastered on my face. "Uhm... okay then..." 'I was going to keep calling you that anyway, though...'

"They're waiting for you." Ray hummed, tilting his head and blowing his bangs out of his face as he once again appeared behind me out of nowhere.

I blinked before sighing. "I never asked for this position of leadershipppp." I groaned, walking sluggishly to where everyone was already packing up for our soon-to-be-journey.

"You're good at it, though." The ravenhead hummed, as if saying that made everything okay.

My eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Do you really think that?" Ray's eyebrows drew together in thought, and I sighed as he pinched his chin, the particular position he did whenever he was making good use of his braincells. "If you have to think that hard about it, I'm probably not." I crossed my arms in unamusement.

He shook his head, as if shaking himself out of his thoughts. "No... it's just weird to think that if you didn't have your... "visions", you wouldn't be here. I was thinking about who would be taking the leader position in that situation..."

I raised an eyebrow with a shrug, as if it was obvious- which it was. "Emma, duh. And easily, as well. She probably did it better than me, too, that ball of straight-up charisma, naivity and fluff."

Ray's eyebrows raised as he hummed."I see. Then I wasn't?" He asked, turning to me.

I sputtered, unable to tell if he was disappointed or happy to learn about his lack of leadership finesse. "Although you did add the occasional input for plans, you weren't particularly the leader type, at least when combined with the charismatic presences of Emma and Norman." We arrived at the horses prepared for those of us still needing a ride. I grabbed hold of a horse with suitable stirrup length for myself, mounting quickly. My eyes slid to the ravenhead, with his hands in his pockets, standing on the ground beside my horse. "Are you riding with me, or...?" I asked tentatively, trying to figure out which response I'd prefer from him.

Ray shrugged. "I may as well." He then hopped up onto the horse and I grabbed gentle hold of the reins, easily leading the steed to the front of the gathering of people, addressing the group of comrades one last time before we rode off.

"Okay, everyone. We'll finalize the plan on the way. For now, we'll be prioritizing speed over safety. To make up for that, we'll spread out in groups of two or three. Hayato, Jin, and the other Lambda escapees who can't ride horses will travel on foot. Then... uh... we'll be off...?"

------

IDK I'M ON A ROLL RN SO HERE'S THE FIRST PART OF THE NEXT CHAPTER. I'M CALLING IT;

//Norman's horses can put people in a boat//--BONUS CHAPTER//

-----

My jaw tightened subconsciously as we rode, my knuckles pale as they squeezed on the reins, the hours of constant riding bearing down on my weary nerves, eye bags- or even bigger ones, beginning to form under my eyes. 'Peter Ratri... At the moment, he's probably  torturing Nat and threatening Jemima's life. That bastard... How dare he...!!'

"You okay?" Ray asked from behind me and I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts, my shoulders stiffening.

"Yeah." I hummed through clenched teeth, my horse responding unhappily to my hands clenched on the reins, my knuckled white as my nails dug into my palm.

"Wow. Very convincing." The ravenhead sighed, clearly unconvinced and sarcastic as he stared at my clenched hands. "So? What's on your mind?"

I chewed the inside of my lip, letting out a loud sigh. "Peter Ratri being a bastard." I swallowed dryly, trying to relax my hands on the reins in an attempt to calm my agitated horse. "I probably should've had everyone escape the base early..." I was muttering without realizing it. "Everyone would've avoided so much suffering..." I slipped up, the results of my constant hours without sleep beginning to show as I accidentally spoke my thoughts aloud.

Ray sighed loudly, freeing one of his hands from being secured around my waist to bop me gently on the back of the head. "I don't think you need to hear it from me, but I suppose there's no harm in such." He sighed, wrapping his arm back around my tightly to avoid being thrown off the suddenly wild horse. "Firstly, even if they escaped, they have cameras, and would likely rediscover the children quickly, especially since we couldn't've gone far with such a large group. Secondly, if they weren't found and brought to Gracefield, we wouldn't've been able to pinpoint their location for a final takedown. And thirdly," He unexpectedly leaned forward and rested his chin on my shoulder with a sigh, before rotating to rest his cheek on my shoulder, staring at my face, which was likely bright red. "This would've happened anyway, in the first place. You chose this path because it'll be fine in the end, no?"

I nodded stiffly, my heart beating fast as another bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Ray hummed, switching back from his cheek to his chin as he stared back ahead, his arms around my waist resting on the saddle. "See? Then it'll be fine."

I nodded again with a sigh, turning my attention back to the front as I steered my horse. 'They're still suffering, though.' Although I wonder who's suffering more- them, or me stuck here on this horse.'

"Have you finished putting your big brain to use yet? Have a plan?" I asked after quite some time, and Ray nodded.

"We'll stop and figure out the plan now, then." He sighed. "You need sleep and rest, just like everyone else, anyway, and I've pretty much figured out the basics of horseback-riding."

I wanted to resist the offer of rest, but every cell in my exhausted body refused. "Okay-"

The horse suddenly began making unnecessarily large leaps and bounds, nearly bucking Ray off the back of the horse, causing him to need to tightly grab hold of me to avoid from falling off. Immedietely after he did, the horse stopped, and I swore I saw it look back at me in amusement. 'There's no way the horse would ship it too... right...? RIGHT-?!' But a feeling of unease rested in my stomach, even after we stopped for a break, the eyes of the horse staring into my back as Ray and I presented the final plan to everyone.

'What the hell... What kinda horses was Norman raising on that hideout-?!' I shivered as we ate our quick meal before re-departure.

-----

(OK, so as some of you know, my geo teacher sUCKS so I barely have any time to write compared to my other subjects :') I may not release a chapter tomorrow again, but this chapter was OVER 4,000 words, ACTUALLY- UHM- anyhow, if I do miss tomorrow, I'll release another long one the day after to make up for it. Probably, lol.

LOL IT'S 2:00 AM RN AS I PREPARE TO PUBLISH THIS CHAPTER, HEHEHEHEH. I'm running solely on late-night-sugary-cereal, pure motivation, and Detective Conan at the moment, and tbh... mood.

So yeahhh!!

Although this chapter wasn't particularly mentionable in any way,,, it's kinda satisfying hehe...

ALSO,,, MANGA Y/N (this was before I quickly and messily coloured it, HEHE)

PLS IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY AT THIS POINT I'M SO DAMNED IN LOVE WITH HER AGH

Yeah, anyhowww,,,, see y'all tomorrow... or the day after...?

YEAH, BUH-BYE, GN Y'ALL- not that I'll be going to bed anytime soon.

...I need to stop leaving such long A/N's LMAO. DW I delete them (or shorten them) later for the late readers who have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTEXT and are probably binge reading.

Anyhow, bye for real now, bebs.)