RayEmma Oneshots

Remember This

RayEmma week 2022—Day 1: Stories

"Remember this?"

Emma flipped to a page in the worn-out photo album containing several photos depicting a scene in various stages of development—Thoma and Lannion dumping a bucket of water on Yugo (bucket of water supplied by Gillian, and photo taken by Nigel, as they both proudly exclaimed after the whole ordeal), and Yugo chasing them around the shelter for the next half hour. The four tried to defend their 'master plan' by saying that it was payback for the time Yugo had figured out how to make water balloons out of old, worn out latex gloves and assaulted the four with them. Which in turn, Yugo had explained, had been payback for yet another scenario that no one even bothered to keep track of—the group was very good at holding grudges. Their rivalry of chaos had reached to the point where most of the bunker's population just didn't care anymore and saw these random outbursts as commonplace.

Gilda sighed from Emma's side, shaking her head as she relived that particular memory. "Why do they have to wreak havoc in everything they do... we already had enough to deal with in that bunker."

"Because Yugo was more of a child than any of the actual children," Ray cut in from behind them, sitting on the roots of the tree they were leaning against. "He was responsible enough during actual life-death scenarios, but when we were just living out the other parts of our lives in the shelter he acted like a toddler."

"This Yugo sounds like quite the character," Mujika giggled from Emma's other side. Emma, along with Gilda and Ray, were showing Sonju and Mujika photos they'd taken since the time they'd first met a couple years ago and telling the stories that went along with the pictures. It served as an amusing pastime, a way to relax now that the noble demons and the queen had been defeated, and they no longer had anyone else to fight or anything else to get done. But it was also a bittersweet farewell—both to the demon pair, as they planned to leave for the human world sometime within the next day, but also to the world where they made all these memories. They hated to admit it, but they felt like they were going to miss parts of this wretched world, mainly from their time in the bunker. Time spent with Yugo and Lucas. Another thing to add to the list of sad goodbyes; they had been so caught up as of late in making deals with the demon god, stopping a genocide, and completely upheaving demon politics, they hadn't had time to properly mourn their deaths. They still didn't, but maybe soon they would.

"Yugo was irrational and downright stupid at times. Lucas often wasn't any better," Ray grumbled, before shifting into a softer tone. "But they were the closest to fathers we ever had."

Emma had a pained expression on her face, Gilda looked downcast as well. Mujika gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry..."

"They sound like they were great people. I'm glad you all had someone to look up to," Sonju solemnly added, the first time he'd spoken since sitting down a few minutes ago.

"Lucas was the only one of the two who could be considered a 'good role model'," Emma added, trying to lighten the mood.

Mujika just frowned. "It's all right if you don't want to keep telling us these stories, if it's too painful to continue-"

The escapees just shook their heads. "This is the last time we'll be able to catch up and just relax together," Gilda said, a soft smile returning to her face—one that didn't reach up to her eyes. "We don't want to ruin it."

"Are you sure-" Mujika continued, not feeling convinced, until Jemima and Mark ran up and tried to flip to a different page. "Show them the baking contest, show them the baking contest!" They cheered, flipping to a bookmarked page as Gilda tried to keep them from ripping said page.

The page had several images of various baked goods. Some yummy-looking cakes, some seemingly-edible pastries, and a few lumps of ash that probably shouldn't be consumed by anyone or anything. And also Ray's winning dish of a perfectly baked apple pie.

Jemima pointed to one of the photos, showing a small cake—one of the more edible out of the selection. "That one's mine!" She proudly exclaimed. Mujika clapped, congratulating Jemima on her newfound cooking skills—and Ray as well, for coming so far in his culinary expertise.

They went on for another hour, recounting stories of the times in the bunker that were more fun than others. Gilda eagerly showing some photos of outfits she'd helped Gillian make, Ray showing some pictures of strange plants and animals they found over the years, the smaller kids showing more competitions between the children that had been documented. Norman even came over at one point, and laughed at Ray when Emma showed him various photos of her beating Ray at chess.

Eventually, Sonju and Mujika had to leave to sort out the chaos in the demon capital, and the children had to gather their things to prepare to leave fore the human world Everyone was getting up to leave—except for Emma, who remained seated against the tree. She grabbed Ray's wrist to keep him from leaving as well.

"Hm?" Ray hummed in confusion, looking down at her. Emma was staring down at the ground, not looking at him. She seemed to be contemplating something, and her grip on his wrist tightened. "We're going to go to the human world soon. We've finally done it," She started to say, her words feeling slower and more empty than it should be. Ray was expecting her to be more excited, bouncing off the walls in energy and anticipation. But instead, these past few days she's just seemed... tired. Anxious. Weary. As if she's been constantly on guard for an attack that still hasn't come yet. Ray has asked her about this several times, but she always either shrugs his question off with a laugh, or changes the subject. She's hiding something.

"What's going to happen to-"

As if predicting his thoughts, Emma looked up to him with a smile. "Nothing bad is going to happen, I've already told you so many times that there wasn't a reward!" Emma said with a laugh. Ray didn't seem entirely convinced, so she stood up and embraced him in a half-hug, her other hand still gripping his wrist—more loose now than it had been before. "It's all going to be fine."

Ray didn't return the hug, feeling conflicted. Something was wrong, he could feel it in his gut. There was no way that there wasn't a reward. But also, he and Emma were partners. She would tell him if something was going to happen, right?

Emma, picking up on his confusion, looked back up to him and smiled. "You trust me, right?"

It was that that broke his resolve. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, willing himself to calm down. She was right, he did trust her, and he would follow her anywhere she went—this was no exception. And he was probably just not used to not having to keep his guard up to prevent from an enemy attack, that he felt so uneasy.

"...All right," he mumbled. "I'm challenging you to a rematch in chess once we arrive in the human world."

Emma laughed and let go of his wrist to fully hug him. "All right, have fun losing again!"

"You'll be the one to lose this time. I'll completely destroy you, just you wait."

They shared a laugh again, settling into their typical banter. Though once their voices died down, that uneasy silence returned at full force.

"Hey, Ray..." Emma began, her voice quieter than it had been a moment before.

"Whatever happens...

...please remember this moment, too."

Ray looked down, and saw this time she was staring straight into his eyes, a pained smile on her face. He felt that spark of worry again, but tried to brush it off just like she had asked him to earlier. He didn't want to be the forever-pessimistic boy he had once been; he'd grown in his time out of Grace Field. "This is the result of all our hard work. Like you said, it'll surely be fine," Ray responded with a small smile.

How Emma wished their story could be that simple.