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Emma had dragged them both off into the forest again, Ray wished she'd be more inconspicuous about it.
"So what happened with the rope? Did you find out who the informant is?" She asked as she stopped in her tracks and turned to face them. Leaving Ray to vaguely remembers the events of yesterday.
The sound of footsteps echoes as Norman drags a chair up to a shelf, pulling down a beige sack and handing it over to Ray. The raven checked the contents. Nodding to the albino. The rope was still there.
They moved onto the next location, Norman's bed. Said boy crouched and grunted as he moved and searched for a bag, only to come up missing. The albino stood silent and empty-handed,
"No rope?" Ray asked.
"It's gone," Norman replied, shaking his head. Turning to face his desk.
"Really?" Ray spoke up from behind him, hands carelessly shoved in his pockets as he smirked slightly, "Well, then, guess it was Don."
Norman hummed, watching from the corner of his eye as Ray's posture relaxed, before turning to face him, inching closer to his face.
"Actually, it's you who's the traitor, Ray." The raven's eyes widened. The clock ticked as silence overlapped them. Suddenly, Ray broke out into a fit of chuckles.
"Are you serious? Cut it out."
Norman sighed, "Ray, you've realized, right?" Norman was met with silence.
"I set a trap for three people. I told Don it was behind my bed, and Gilda was told it was in the second-floor Bathroom's ceiling." He gestures to the other rooms with waves of his hands, "At least, that's what I told you, but I actually told Don the dining hall, and I told Gilda the library."
Ray's light smile dropped, and he sighed.
"The rope behind my bed ended up being gone. So what about the other two spots? Should we go over and check them out?"
Ray let his mask drop, and he moved to sit on Norman's bed before dropping onto it and lying down with his arms spread out. They sat in silence for a moment. Then Ray brought an arm up to his face, covering his eyes and showing his crazed smile,
He laughed, which puzzled Norman. How could he sit there and laugh like that?
"Aw, man. And here I thought I was doing so well." He lifted his hand slightly to stare at the albino from the corner of his eye. He lazily sat up, then, crossing a leg over the other, he continued, "Yeah, you're right. I'm the one who's been spying for mom."
"So what gave it away?" He asked, and Norman was still slightly disconcerted by his friend's calmness. He sighed and shook his head, then moved in front of the other and crossed his arms over his chest. Before explaining.
"It was when my sister first came to the house. I was disgusted with myself. I suspected you instantly..." He answered honestly, his eyebrows relaxing.
"My own friend. It was really the worst-case scenario. I wished that I had been wrong about it, because you being the traitor would be quite problematic for us, but for the enemy, picking you was the obvious choice. You would be able to provide input to our plans, which would be perfect for keeping control of the situation. You were the best one for the job." Ray smiled at him.
"Can't get anything past you. How embarrassing. I walked right into your little trap."
"There's one more thing." His arms dropped to his side as he began to explain, "You see, I have a feeling this isn't the first time you've done this." Ray's smile disappeared again, and Norman moved closer to him, closing in, "If one of us suddenly started giving Mom tips, I doubt she'd be so trusting. Just how long have you been Mom's spy?" He asked, crouching down in front of Ray to meet him face to face now.
"For a while now," Ray answered honestly, and Norman gasped in shock.
"I can't remember when I wasn't her spy. Guess you could say that I'm a sheepdog for a shepherd."
"You knew about all of this and helped Mom out anyway?" Norman accused angrily,
"Yeah." He said simply, Norman's eyebrows furrowed as they stared at each other.
"Everything we talked about, all the planning, it was nothing but a series of lies? How much have you been telling Mom? Can the trackers even be broken?"
"What are you gonna do with that info? Gonna ditch me based on my answer?" he asked with the same crazed smile on his face. Norman sighed before he stood fully.
"No, I won't. I want you to stay close, like you always have been." Norman jabbed.
"Isn't it great, Ray? You get to hide your mistake. You tried framing Don so you could keep spying on us, correct?"
"Just tell me what you want." Ray spat out.
Norman lifted his hand, "Three things. One, you will continue to stay with us and promise to guarantee our safety. Two, I want you to share all the information you have. Three, flip to our side... and become a spy for our team instead."
Ray stiffened. He looked up at Norman, who leered over him.
"You're gonna use me as your trump card?" Norman hummed.
Ray sneered, "Are you an idiot? If that was your objective, then you should've kept quiet and used me, and, when it was time to execute the plan, you could have cast me aside. It would have been easy!" He hadn't thought Norman to be the type to show his cards early.
Norman stared at him with a closed-mouth smile, "You're right about that, but..." He looked off to the side as if in thought, "She reminded me we're family, so..." Silence enveloped them once again, and Norman moved to lean on his bedside desk. He made himself comfy and smiled as he explained to Ray.
"That's what made me change my mind. I wanna believe in you, too. We're friends before enemies, right? After all... Aren't you the one who hid little bunny the night we went to the gate? If you hadn't told us we could make it in time, we wouldn't have gone. You laid out the bread crumbs for us to find out the truth about this house for ourselves. You set this up for the three of us to escape, didn't you? Why did you become Mom's sheepdog?"
"Why not?" Norman sighed. Ray wouldn't give him an inch.
"If you were completely on Mom's side, then it wouldn't make sense to reveal the truth to us. You've been controlling our actions, about the trackers, the timing of our escape, and how quickly the plan moved forward. That's why you didn't want us leaving ten days from now. But, at the same time, you were also keeping Mom under control. You're actually not our enemy, are you?"
Ray chuckled as he looked at him. "You still think that, huh? I volunteered." Norman looked at him in surprise.
"I guess it's more like I sold myself, really." He said calmly, Ray looked down at his lap then away, "And all of it was to prepare for the escape we're planning!" he suddenly yelled.
"If you're going to learn more about the enemy, it's best to do so from the inside, which is why I ended up offering a deal to Mom."
"That's risky," Norman commented.
"Not really. I'm one of the finest products she's raised here. She cared a lot for me. She wouldn't throw me away. That's how I saw it. She's someone who cares more about profit than rules. I made sure to ask for two things." He lifted two of his fingers as he explained, "First was not to be shipped out if I cooperated. The second was rewards in exchange for results."
"What kind of rewards?" the albino leaned forward, curious.
"Various junk. If it isn't in the house, she secures it for me."
Norman's face lit up as he finally realized, he looked to Ray, who nodded at him,
"My reason for doing it was to check what I could and couldn't get, but also to research the outside. Turns out, as long as it was safe, she could get me lots of things, but everything she brings back is dated." Ray noted.
"So, then, when you said you had an idea for breaking the trackers..."
"I've seen the real device. I did testing. It took me a few years," Norman barely registered the word years, "But I figured it out. It is possible to break the tracking devices." Ray looked at him wide-eyed, and Norman stared back.
"You get it? Norman, I'm the strongest card you'll ever have. No one else compares. And I don't just have info about the tracking devices and Mom. You can't even begin to imagine how much I've learned over the years. From the moment that I discovered the truth, I started preparing."
"Ray..." Norman mumbled his friend's name.
"I had you and Emma go to the gate without having anyone notice. All of this, just to make sure you both don't die!" Ray yelled in his outburst, and Norman stared at him in disbelief.
"It's like you said, Norman. I'm not exactly your enemy, but I'm not your ally either. Let's make a deal. If you agree, I'll become your trump card. I'll tell you everything I know and leak false info to Mom if you do one thing."
"What's that?"
"Trick Emma." Norman gasped, Ray ignored it and continued explaining, "We'll pretend we're taking everyone, then ditch them later, but we can take Don and Gilda, too."
"Are you saying we should give up escaping with everyone?"
"Yes." He replied bluntly. The albino's face scrunched in a hundred different barely concealed emotions.
"But the training helped them grow more than we expected. You even said that they had potential. You meant it, didn't you? Then, all of us can—" Ray interrupted his desperate attempt to change the raven's mind.
"Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that they're a huge burden."
Norman closes his eyes as he processes this, sighing, "You said you were going to help us, didn't you, Ray?" Ray moved to stand, walking in front of Norman.
"What I'm doing now is helping. You don't like it, then you two can die here." He pointed to the ground.
"But I thought you wanted me and Emma to stay alive." He looked up at the raven,
"Honestly, I'd rather you get shipped than die once we escape."
"So do we have a deal?" He asked as he placed a hand on his hip, waiting. Norman looked down and contemplated.
The albino sighed, "Fine, then." He stood. Ray walked up to him, grabbing his shoulder and leaning down to whisper in his ear, "Listen, if I find out you lied to me..." He didn't finish.
"Don't worry. I'll keep my word."
Norman looked off to the side as he sweated nervously, trying to forget Emma's question, "Actually..."
Ray interrupted himself, "Oh. That? It's me." Norman jumped from beside him, turning to face him in shock, "I'm the one who's been leaking info." He pointed to himself.
"Oh." Emma said, then a moment later, "What?! It was you?!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the raven, then paused, "Uh... oh, sorry 'bout that reaction, but I don't really understand, so can you please help me?"
"Uh, right! Let me explain!" Norman offered, then jumped into an explanation. By the end of it, Emma stood with her arms crossed and her finger holding her chin in thought.
"So, Ray is Mom's spy, but he's not our enemy, and the reason he was helping Mom this entire time was for our sake?" She asked.
"Yeah," Norman confirmed.
"The truth is, I was planning on telling you, as soon as you came back from the gate, in fact." He paused and watched him as he sighed, "But you left little bunny behind and mentioned bringing everyone with, so I had no choice but to hold off. Then mom found out, which meant I had to work around all that while also handling your reckless actions. I figured it was best to stay quiet and keep things under control."
Emma hummed along with his explanation, "Basically, you were covering up the mistake that Norman and I made. Are you still against escaping with everyone? 'Cause we could use your help."
Ray smirked at her, "I had a change of heart, so I will help you escape with everyone."
"That's unlike you." She admitted.
"Do you think he's lying?" Norman asked.
"No. I'm glad! Having Ray there to help everyone escape is gonna be great! And now we have all kinds of info to use so we can trick Mom from the inside! We're at an advantage!" Then she paused, "Although, that means... You knew for a long time, didn't you?"
"Yeah... Six years." Ray answered quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground.
"I bet it was tough, knowing and sending them all off, so many of our siblings. Hey, about the tracking devices, they were tested on our siblings, weren't they?"
Norman and Ray gasped and looked at her in surprise.
"So, then, tell me. What happened to all those kids? You didn't make them get shipped out early, did you? I sincerely hope you didn't sacrifice someone for us." She asked as she stepped closer to Ray.
"Actually, I should thank you. Because of that, all of us can run away. But... You have to promise me that you'll never do that again." She grabbed one of his hands with both of hers, the pressure increasing every second. "You're not alone. You've got us now, so..."
Ray closed his eyes and sighed, "All right, fine. I give you my word. Let's all escape from here together." The redhead jumped in joy, and Norman and Ray watched her, used to her antics.
Emma tilted her head in thought, tapping her chin, "Can I ask you a question, Ray?"
The raven shrugged, "Sure."
"Why'd Mama choose you to be her spy?"
"Like I said, I've known for a while. She thought I could be useful." He explained,
Emma hummed in thought. "Ok, but still, why didn't she just ship you out when you found out?"
Ray paused at that. He remembered six years ago, sitting against a tree with a book in his hand, when he confronted his mother. He remembers humming a familiar song he'd never known the words to.
Isabella hummed as she walked along the outer walls of the orphanages, her hand gliding across the concrete wall. She paused when she heard another voice. She stayed silent and followed the voice, her eyes widening in horror as she realized the familiar sound.
She walked up to the person behind the sound. Ray, the small boy, hummed as he leaned against a tree. The humming stopped when Ray's head turned at the sound of footsteps, and he saw the spooked expression on his Mother's face.
"Ray... How do you know that song?" She whispered in barely concealed horror. Her voice wobbles. She reached for her stomach, and Ray smiled at her. She stifled a sob at the confirmation.
The small boy giggled, "Hey, Mom... Why'd you give birth to me?" The woman calmed her features, sighing.
"Well, Ray, I did it to survive... Longer than anyone."
Ray sighed; that memory was particularly unpleasant. He closed his eyes,
"I'm Mom's biological son." He answered. He opened his eyes after he was met with silence, confused, then he stared at his friend's faces, who stared back at him in shock and disbelief.
"W—what?" Norman mumbled. The boy's face seemed to be even paler when he looked over to Emma; the girl had tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
Damnit.
"It's really not that big a deal, you guys. I mean, she raised us all like we were her children, right?" He needed to calm them down; he couldn't deal with Emma crying.
She sniffled, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "Yeah, you're right, it's not that big a deal..." She mumbled, Norman looked at her in shock, but Ray sighed in relief, got that cover—
Emma bonked him in the head, really fucking hardly. He cussed sharply under his breath, "Except, oh, I don't know, that's the biggest freaking deal like ever?!" She screeched,
Damn, shoulda knew she wouldn't've bought it. Beside her, he saw Norman fold his arms over his chest, close his eyes, and nod his head solemnly, apparently agreeing with her. Ray sneered at them as he rubbed his head from the hit.
"Why didn't you tell us?! You can't just drop surprise after surprise on us, y'know, my brain can't handle it!" Distantly, Ray thought about replying with, 'Yeah, we know your brain can't handle it,' but he decided against it, lest he get hit again.