This Isn't A FairyTale.

Chapter 4: Be Natural.

It was early morning. Norman, Emma, and Y/n were sitting on Norman's bed as they discussed on what to do.

"Listen Emma..." Norman began, looking over at Y/n aswell. "We have to act like nothing happened."

"Sure, we might have broken the rules by going to the gate last night. But, that doesn't mean we saw anything." Y/n continued.

"But, we left Little Bunny there." Emma replied, a worry tone creeping up on her voice.

Norman looked over to Emma. "That's right, and we have to assume Mom found it. But that doesn't tell her anything about who left it behind."

Y/n softly smiled. "We have to act like we didn't see anything that night. Otherwise, she'll notice that something is wrong." She looked at Norman and Emma. "We can't let that happen, so smile."

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"Good morning!" Phil called out as he ran into the dining hall.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys to stop running?" Gilda sighed, rubbing her temples.

Emma was quietly stacking plates together as she prepared to bring them to the dining table.

"And this goes there?" Mark asked Isabella.

"Yes, well done! Can you finish setting the table, Mark?" She replied, a soft and calm smile on her lips.

Emma's eyes widened as she heard Isabella's words, and her mind snapped back to last night. How can she be so.. so calm about this? Emma heard some footsteps in front of her, and looked up to see Y/n and Norman entering the dining hall with two of the littles. Vivian and Sherry.

"Hi, Emma." Norman waved to her, having a calm smile on his face.

Y/n waved, having a happy expression on her face as well. "Morning, Emma!"

Emma stammered, trying to respond as they approached her. "Come on.. smile.." Y/n whispered in her ear as she passed Emma.

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In one of the testing classrooms, they met up again.

"The delicious food, the white clothes that show when we're dirty, our regulated lives." Emma fiddled with one of the buttons on her all white shirt. "All of it is to keep up our quality of life as merchandise. The only thing left for us to do is wait while we're shipped out randomly."

"But, the demon confirmed it wasn't random." Y/n's [H/c] hair bounced a bit while she shook her head. "He said 'Another six-year-old. They've all been average lately.'"

"What's it mean?"

"Based on what the demons said," Norman began. "Our ages determine their grades of meat. And if I remember correctly, the siblings who were shipped out before were all between six and twelve."

Y/n put a hand on her chin. "So, if six years old is ranked as normal, then the highest quality must be..."

"Twelve years old!" Emma finished. "But, what about our test scores? Meat won't start tasting better because of how well it did on some test, will it?"

"True. The results weren't announced unless we received full marks. Which means.."

Y/n gasped. "The shipping order?!"

Norman nodded. "Yeah. When we turn six, we're harvested in order from lowest test scores up, and once we've reached the age of 12, it seems we get shipped out, no matter what."