Lullaby: Ray x OC (The Promised Neverland)

Lie

That night, Emma led Penny, Norman, and Ray quietly down to the library, light in her hand. The four crept up the stairs to the door, and Emma turned to them. "Please, guys, juts follow my lead."

"Follow?" Penny mumbled in confusion, while the boys just stayed silent.

Emma opened the door, and just as planned, Don and Gilda were sitting on one of the tables, waiting patiently for them. Don turned to them with a huge grin. "Hey, Emma, what's up?"

Penny cringed slightly, scooting closer to Norman as Emma told them the exact opposite of what they knew about the house.

"Human...trafficking?" Don slowly asked. "Are you sure?"

Gilda's eyes widened slowly.

"Yeah..." Emma said slowly. "All of our siblings...were sold off to some really bad people."

Silence.

Don burst out laughing. "No, no, no, no, there's no way! C'mon!"

"It explains the walls and gate." Norman said coolly. "And also why the kids who get adopted over the years never send us any letters."

Don calmed down and turned to Norman and Penny. "All right, guys, so what's the punchline? You almost had me there for a second."

Emma lowered her head in response, and Penny slowly hid behind Norman, a little ashamed of what they were doing. She couldn't face Don directly in the eyes right now, she felt guilty.

When no one spoke, Don sweated. "Uh... hey, why aren't you guys saying anything?"

"Because it's true." Ray suddenly said from the top floor of the library, gaining everyone's attention.

"Wha?" Don stuttered, turning to Penny. "Wait, but Mom..."

"I-I-I-" Penny stuttered, but thankfully Emma spoke, gaining Don's attention. "She's the one...who sells us to people."

Don's mouth dropped open. "H-huh?! THERE'S NO WAY MOM WOULD EVER DO THAT!!!" He yelled, clenching his fists and glaring at the ginger-haired girl. He grabbed her shoulders. "Take it back, Emma!"

"Don..." Gilda said softly. "Emma loves Mom in this house just as much as the rest of us. Why would she make this up?"

Don sweated, slowly letting go of Emma's shoulders. Emma glanced at Gilda. "So, Gilda?"

"To tell the truth...." Gilda mumbled shakily. "I did think it was weird. The night that Connie left, Emma, Penny, and Norman both went down to the gate."

Don narrowed his eyes and turned to Norman and Penny. "Wait, you did?"

Norman answered for Penny. "Yeah."

"In those cases, even if you broke the rules, you'd eventually come clean about it and things would come back to normal, but you haven't done that yet." Gilda continued. "Emma, Penny, I wanted to ask about it. But I always got too scared to bring it up! Penny has been awfully quiet since that night, and she hardly never smiled much anymore, just so serious. I-" Gilda broke down, sobbing right there. Penny's heart melted and she and Emma ran up to the green-haired girl, hugging her comfortingly.

"Gilda, please don't cry," Emma said soothingly.

Penny nodded. "Hey, I'm sorry for making you worry. That night was such a shock to me it just haunted me into not saying anything for a while. I didn't mean to make you worry...." The brown hair girl choked on her words, pulling Gilda tightly in a hug.

Gilda clutched onto Penny. "Did you see it happen?" she sobbed. "Did you see Connie being sold off to the bad people?!"

Penny shared a look with Emma. How do we explain it?

Norman nodded. "Yeah. But we didn't make it in time."

Don turned to Norman. "Okay, but, is Connie safe?!"

"I don't know." Norman mumbled.

Ray glared at them from his spot.

"I-Impossible..." Don stuttered. "This can't be real!"

"I don't know if this proves much," Norman said softly. He took a slip of paper from his pocket. "But Emma, Penny, and Ray have spent the last few days looking into everyone's test scores."

"Our test scores?" Don and Gilda asked together. They took the paper from Norman and glanced tensely at the scores written down.

"According to this, kids over six are adopted in order of lowest scores first." Norman said. "Weird, huh?"

"So not just Connie's scores," Don mumbled. "But...Howl and Setti."

"It's just like Norman said." Gilda said softly, her eyes wide as she scanned the paper.

"Don? Gilda?"

Don and Gilda glanced up from the paper up to Emma. "Let's all escape. So that we can help everyone. We can do it. If we work together! Please, help us!"

Don glanced at Penny, who was glancing at him with pleading eyes. He nodded at her, and then turned to Emma. He and Gilda both nodded at the ginger in sink.

Emma smiled softly.

After saying good night to Don and Gilda, Emma took Penny's hand and led her to their bedroom, leaving Ray and Norman. Ray glared at his brother. "What was that?!"

"Not to your liking?" Norman said, not looking at Ray.

"'So we can help everyone?!'" Ray snapped. "We should've told them they'd die!"

Norman narrowed his eyes. "We did what we had to, so they'd join us."

"If they end up not being spies, then that was a cruel thing to do to someone!" Ray gritted his teeth. "Connie is dead. You shouldn't have given them false hope!"

Norman said nothing.

"They need the truth!" Ray continued fiercely. "When are you going to tell them?! Can you?!"

"Maybe when the time is right." Norman responded. "We still have to assume they might be spies, so then we should lay a trap."

"A trap?"

"I'm going to tell them were the rope is hidden. I'll tell Don that it's behind my bed. Gilda will know that it's in the second floor bathroom ceiling. And at that point, how's Mom going to find out? We'll just have to see."

"Okay, but what if the ropes are gone and it turns out that neither of them are the spy?"

"I've already considered that." Norman smiled.

Ray sighed, putting down his hands. "Seems like you're prepared for everything."

Norman chuckled. "Yeah, I told you. The key here is to outwit."

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"You remember?" Emma giggled as she, Penny, and Gilda talked before going to bed that night. "It was so fun!"

"Yeah!" Penny nodded. "I know I will never forget that time."

Gilda giggled and smiled at them. "This is nice, Emma, Penny. It's been a while since we talked like this."

"Weird, right?" Emma giggled.

"Yeah." Penny added. "Since we're always together."

Gilda smiled gently, grasping Penny and Emma's hands tightly. "Let's keep it that way. Together forever."

Emma and Penny glanced at each other, and then turned to Gilda with a smile, placing their other hands on top of hers. "Yeah."

Penny smiled. "Together forever."