After All

Chapter 4

A/N: No Pixel wiki said that Ray moved to Los Santos on March 25th. I for one remember her moving March 24th. Some remember Mundoversary on March 25th and some on March 26th. So I'm posting now since it's 25th for me and 26th everywhere else, a compromise. Added a bit more CC stuff. ENJOY!!!

Ray/Araminta

Yuno has gotten more lenient with Ray, trusting her to wander outside the house by herself, well...to a certain degree because majority of the time she is with the CG Babes. Just last week they went to the city over to get matching forever bracelets with their initials, a little cliché but it was something special for the five of them. Obviously they got in trouble because they didn't get permission but Yuno kept in mind that maybe it was a little safer since no one would know her; even then it still worried him.

Witnessing her improvements, as well as her mood change while being out with her girls, gave him some space to be able to breathe and let him loosen the reins a bit and realizing that she wasn't meant to be locked in. She's as impatient as him, maybe even more. It took at least two weeks to convince him but all their hard work eventually paid off. The only condition was, if she can last longer than 2 hours everyday for a week during speech/physical therapy, then he would at least think about it.

"Just- please be careful, it's only been a few months since you woke up, you don't have to push yourself too much either. I know you're eager to be out, but we can't risk another episode outside of these walls." Ray and Yuno recall the first time she tried to leave the house but she didn't get too far due to her body still feeling the effects of being in a coma.

"Don't blow this."

"I know I know."

"I mean it."

"If it makes you feel better, I can have April with me or any of Radiant..." she says.

"No no, I trust you. We made a deal and you went above and beyond. Your doctor said it's your fastest improvement yet so a deal is a deal. Plus April said she has therapy in the morning and I have another meeting with the boys, then one with Radiant and Chaos to finalize the decisions into what is going to happen. If things don't turn out as we would hope then we'd have to ask for someone else's help." Yuno explains to Ray. She felt bad that, because of her, her brother as well as Radiant had to take over. They don't show it but she knows how exhausted and stressed they are.

"Also, still no luck on the investigation. Do you remember anything?" Ray shakes her head no.

"It's okay, we'll find the person who did this to you..." Just hearing those words come out of his mouth scared Ray.

~Did this to me? What happened to me?

"And we need to talk about something else but we can do that tonight when you come back home and you can tell me all about your day and what you did from your adventures."

"Gotcha."

"I guess this gives you practice with how you talk and think again. Longer sentences woo!" Ray playfully punches him knowing that she's doing better.

"Alright I'll see you at dinner!" He hugs her before leaving the house. She starts heading back up to her room to wave goodbye to him from the window, then begins to plan out her day.

Starting out with an outfit change, maybe a crop top and some high-waisted jeans to go with the nice weather. She checked herself in front of the mirror to see how it looked.

~This makes me look like the person I'm not supposed to be, I really need to get new clothes. She sighs.

Ray stares at herself. The rose that used to be on her right arm was lasered off when she was still in her coma. The skin is still healing but it has faded almost to nothing. She turns a bit to see the branding that Randy "gave" her. This one wasn't actually a tattoo, this one was technically an engraving. She runs her fingers on the phrase "I Love The Queen" that has already healed. No one would notice this unless they were staring at her lower back, seeing the difference between the shade of her skin. She grabs an oversized hoodie knowing that it would at least cover it up and some jean shorts.