Norman x Reader || SAUDADE

27-D-efend

It was the next morning, at the crack of dawn. 

"Don't worry too much. We'll save everyone!" I heard Norman took a seat next to me. 

"I know we will," I smiled back at him. 

"I'm just reminiscing about the moments all of us had back at Grace Field. I kind of missed those memories." I hugged my knees closer as we waited for the others. I

f there's one single thing that did not change in Norman, it would be his smile, he still smiles with his eyes. 

"Which memory stood out the most to you?" He asked, looking away for a little bit. 

"Hm, that's a difficult question. We've made a lot of memories now that I thought about it." I hummed as I tried to look for a specific piece of a frozen time inside my mind. 

"Mine would be that time when I was down with a cold and Mom made me stay inside the whole day. Even though you didn't appear recklessly in my room like Emma did, Mom told me you helped her make the warm soups, those were very good. The three of you really did cheer me up in your own ways." He chuckled lightly. 

"That's right, you got sick frequently, especially during winter. And I was a very obedient child that I've never gone against mom's orders." I said. 

"But at least, you're not always stuck inside alone, there's one time when we can't play out in the summer, because we're really weak against the sun, remember?" I laughed at that time when we were forced to stay indoors to avoid heat stroke or even sunburns. 

"Of course I do." He looked at me with a very gentle smile. 

The butterflies reappeared in my belly, not-not now. 

"Right! We were very small back then, now look at how far we've reached. Even you, you're now very much grown up huh?" I nervously said, as I forced myself to look away in an attempt to cool my head down. 

"We do change a lot. A lot has happened since that time." His smile went a little distant. 

"But, Emma's still that ball of positive energy as usual, she could lift everyone's spirit in a matter of seconds. And you're still full of smiles." I can see from my peripheral vision that his hands are reaching out into me, I turned my head into his direction in surprise. 

"Undoubtedly beautiful too." His hand went beside my left ear and brushed my hair at that section. 

"N-Norman?" I felt my face heated up at the sudden contact. 

"Your hair was sticking out." He said and smiled sweetly before returning back to his original position as if nothing happened. 

Wh-What just happened? My heart felt as if it was running miles without any break, I tell you. The temperature seemed to rise, my stomach was churning, and everything else was spinning in my head. 

"Hey ________, Norman! Are you guys ready? It's about time to leave!" Gillian's voice snapped me out of my daze. 

"We are!" I immediately stood up in response. I heard Norman was chuckling beside me. 

"Let's go save the others." He said. 

"Y-Yes!" I nodded and marched off a little too quick, leaving him behind me. I must have lost my mind to feel those things now!

All of us then proceeded to go to Grace Field by the time the sun rose from the dark sky. Norman was leading the briefing regarding the grand plan as well as everyone's role and position in it. 

"But, most of all, I need everyone to put their lives above anything else. We'll minimize bloodshed in our side no matter what, got it?" He emphasized before moving on. 

Before carrying out the plan accordingly, we decided to do a last observation at the house from our current position, a higher ground. The scene displayed before us, the whole plantation of Grace Field, in all its glory. I found myself lost at my thoughts as I stared back at the house we grew up in, the house we loved so much. 

"Whether we like it or not this is it." Emma breathed out at the sight. 

"Let's go, everyone's waiting!" Emma said to signal the start of our attack. 

According to the plan, Emma, Ray, Norman and I will infiltrate into the electrical room and create a blackout in an attempt to confuse the enemy, and the others will go from the other side to save the captives. Ray immediately cuts off several wires connected to the operating generators inside. 

"Ready?" Ray asked before cutting the last wire. In the blink of an eye, the whole room turned dark, and I was having trouble seeing my own hands. 

"They'll switch to auxiliary power in a while." Norman nodded as we readied ourselves to go to the appointed place. 

"Gillian said there are still a few inside B-3 waiting to be disposed of. We should hurry there." Norman ordered as he listened to the earpiece he had connected to Vincent who was stationed inside the control room. 

Norman and I shot multiple times at the metal door, before Ray and Emma kicked it down, making it collapse all to the ground. Inside the room, there were at least more than 5 kids inside, restrained with ropes around their torso. 

It's alright, they aren't completely immobile, "Over here! Let's go!" I yelled alerting the hostages. 

"Emma, ________, Norman, Ray!" Nat exclaimed in glee. 

I was assisting everyone out, that I just noticed something from the corner of my eyes. From our position, there was a mirror probably for someone to observe via bird-eye view, about one story above our level, there stood two huge demons and... mom! I felt my blood run cold at the sight of the woman I've trusted and loved my whole life, siding with demons. And tried to dispose of Nat and the others. It struck a nerve at me, but I quickly shook it off and reverted back my focus into the plan. We have to pull this off without flaw! Ray led the kids off to the bunker while Norman, Emma and I guarded from behind. I looked behind me occasionally, and no demons were going after us, this is good, so far it's going smoothly. We zipped off into the bunker before Don and Ray sealed off the bunker almost immediately to ward off the enemies from coming inside.

"_________!" Yvette and Jemima immediately ran to me. 

"You're back!" Jemima shed tears at the sight of me. Everyone was tied up with the rope, mostly crying and scared. 

"I am, didn't I promise the both of you?" I forced out a smile to make sure they won't be worried and  hugged the both of them, before I cut off the ropes and unleashed them from their restraints. 

"I need you to go and help the others out okay?" I told them to help the others free themselves. 

"But what are we going to do? They're blocking out all the exits, how are we going to run away?" Yvette held my hand stopping me from regrouping with Emma, Ray and Norman. 

Emma smirked at Yvette's question, "We knew they would. That's why," She said while cocking her gun on her hands, "We never intended to escape, we're taking over Grace Field." She stated. 

"What?" Everyone gaped at Emma's statement. 

"For now, all of you must stay put inside this bunker. A few of us will go on offense out there and reclaim Grace Field!" Ray explained the whole situation. 

There's Violet, Sandy, Nat, Anna and the others inside, I know they'll be safe for now. Emma, Ray, Norman, Gillian, Gilda, Don and I were exiting the bunker, readying ourselves for the attack. I heard the door behind us being sealed off to hold any possible attack from outside. As soon as the bunker door stopped producing any noise we nodded at each other, it served as a signal to start our ambush. Ray quickly took the lead and placed his hand on the door, waiting any moment to slide it open. 

"Let's go and start this game of tag!" Emma stated before Ray flung the door open and we dashed out of it into the storm of demons outside.