The Custodes

Chapter 28 - The God Killer

"You're late." Hector said from behind the desk of his study right as Synthia and Milo walked through the doorway. It took the pair a second to figure out that he was sitting on the floor out of sight instead of...using the chair right in front of him. They'd grown used to his peculiar actions, but this one just seemed to be out of spite for whoever invented chairs. "What are you doing back there? Shouldn't you be helping the others train?" Milo asked, slightly confused as he peered over the desk to spot the old man on his knees, staring down at an open book before flicking swiftly to the next page. "Can't an old man take some time out of his day to do some light reading?" Hector grumbled back at him, eliciting Milo to share a perplexed look with Synthia before shrugging "I mean...you're not a normal old man. And that doesn't look like a normal book." Hector paused for a second, before sighing and waving his hand in the air "Yes, yes, you're right. I confess - we're making the 'Zuro-Killer' today, and I kind of need to refresh my memory on it." "We're making it today?" Synthia said incredulously, having expected Hector to at least tell them a few days in advance. "Did I never mention that to you? Well, since Kayla's back with us we have everyone we need. I would've done it earlier this week but I couldn't find the book I needed." Hector explained, as Milo glanced around the not-so-large library "How'd it take you so long? There's not that many books here." "What? Oh, you think these are the only books I've got?" Hector let out a laugh, shaking his head as Milo grew slightly embarrassed, before he stood up with the book and placed it on the desk "Anyway, I think I know everything I need to in terms of making it. We'll do it downstairs, just in case there's any sort of...explosion." "Explosion?" Synthia said objectively, not sounding the least bit happy about the notion of this literally blowing up in their faces. "Very small chance. Still, precautious are necessary. Come." Hector said, closing the book and placing it under his arm as he walked down the open staircase leading to the training area. Synthia and Milo lingered upstairs, watching Hector disappear before looking at each other. "Should we really go through with this?" Synthia asked him, suddenly uncertain about what consequences may come with the weapon they're making. "I don't really think we have a choice. If it'll take down Zuro, I'll do it. Plus, you know Hector. He's probably just...joking." Milo tried to sound reassuring, but Synthia simply let out a sigh and brushed some hair out of her face, before walking down the stairs looking a tad bit uneasy. When she entered the training area, she saw that Hector was standing by the mats, speaking to Kayla, Noah, and Neo as he beckoned them over. At that point the group was missing Axel, Kyro, Zeke and Rose, since actually heading to Hector's every day was optional, and they were all likely busy doing their own thing. Kelsie was near the entrance when Synthia entered, flashing her a bright smile as she made her way over "Hey girl." "Hi Kelse." Synthia said, wearing a smile of her own, but Kelsie's expression suddenly turned a tad bit more serious as she gazed thoughtfully at her friend's face. "What's wrong?" The brunette asked, her brow furrowing in concern as she looked at Synthia's, apparently obviously, troubled eyes. "My Dad. He came by the house this morning." Synthia confessed, her gaze shifting to Milo as he spoke to Quinn across the room. "And? I can tell that's not it, come on." Kelsie said softly, trying to get to the bottom of her friend's troubles. "Milo was there. And I totally freaked out. I'm still not sure why, but my Dad just-...him being there after everything that's happened since the last time I saw him..." She let out a deep breath, looking into Kelsie's sympathetic eyes as she waited silently for her to continue "I'd convinced myself that with Zuro being such a big problem all my other problems would go away. I'm overreacting - I know I am - but it's still gnawing away at me even now." Kelsie pursed her lips, thinking of some way to help her, then she smiled the way she always does and took Synthia's hands in hers "You know what you need?" "What?" Synthia asked, humouring her despite not being sure she'd have a proper solution. "A distraction. To take your mind off things. You have a boyfriend, remember? Those things are awesome when you feel like shit; go to Neo, do something fun with him. I promise you'll feel better afterwards." Kelsie said, sounding entirely convinced with her own solution as she squeezed Synthia's hands. The girl thought about it, before looking at Kelsie uncertainly. "Just try it, yeah?" Kelsie said, keeping her smile fresh on her face "Promise?" "Yeah, fine. I'll try get Neo to take my mind off it." Synthia smiled back at her - a real smile this time - before Hector suddenly called across the chamber and interrupted her and Kelsie. "Synthia! Milo! We're doing this now, c'mere!" "What're we doing?" Kelsie asked curiously, as she glanced towards the group before moving over to them along with Synthia. "Making the weapon with our powers. The one that might kill Zuro." Synthia answered, fully expecting the stunned "What?!" that Kelsie let out straight after. "Alright." Hector said, kneeling down on the mats once the full group had gathered around him "You five form a circle with me. The two healers...back up a little. And let's hope we don't need you to intervene." Quinn and Kelsie stepped back accordingly, allowing Kayla, Noah, Neo, Synthia, and Milo to form a ring, leaving a decent enough space on the floor in front of them. "Hey." Neo said to Synthia with a smile as the girl kneeled beside him. "Hi." She replied, returning the smile, before she thought about what Kelsie told her and chewed the inside of her lip slightly "Can we talk after this? Just, out of the way of the others." "Oh, yeah, 'course. There's something I really need to talk to you about too." Neo said, though his features didn't give much clue as to what it might've been. "Alright. Now, what I'm about to do to you all is a simple knowledge transfer. I'll impose on you what you need to do to craft the weapon with your powers, just be patient and remain still." Hector explained to all of them, causing them all to exchange a few glances; however they knew better than to question Hector's judgement at this stage. The older man closed his eyes, and suddenly a burgundy stream of light emerged from either temple and stretched out towards the five teens. It flowed horizontally, running like water and breaking up into smaller streams as it moved closer and closer to the others, before it attached smoothly to their foreheads. The next instant Synthia's mind filled with the precise knowledge of exactly what she had to do to make the weapon. Down to the most intricate details, she understood how her metal should bend and shape, and could only guess the others had experienced something similar. She watched as the brown strips retracted form everyone's heads, returning back into Hector's before dissipating entirely. "Synthia, you're first, so if you'd please-" "You've been able to do that since the start?" Neo interrupted Hector mid sentence, causing the man's expression grow exasperated as he turned on the boy "Yes. Now be quiet." "No, no, wait, are you serious? This whole time you've had the ability to just...make us know things. But instead you make us practise with our powers until we get them right." Neo sounded both stunned and unimpressed, but Hector hardly flinched "Yes. If you do not put the work in, I promise it will not work out in the end." "But Zuro could attack us any minute! Surely it'd be more worthwhile to just dump the knowledge in our brains and be done with it?" Neo said, only for Quinn to clear her throat from outside the circle and step closer "I can answer that. The obvious reason is that your brain would probably blow up. But even if we did it slowly - learning and knowing are two different things. You might know what you can do, and even how to do it, but there are still physical and mental limitations to being able to pull things off. And also...the old man probably just likes making you work for things. That might be the main reason." Neo seemed to think for a second, in order to muster up some counter argument, but as he glanced at Hector and saw him beaming with pride he decided to count his losses and pipe down. "Well said, my niece. Now, if we're done with pointless interruptions, Synthia. You're first. The metal will be the backbone of the weapon, everything else will form around it - which means it is a particularly key part." Hector told the girl, as she nodded her head before holding out both hands and focusing on the empty space in the middle of the circle. Her shiny, sleek metal began to form in the air, starting out a simple rectangular sheet before it began to mould and form the way she knew it was supposed to. Eventually it was sculpted in such a way that it looked usable as a sword itself - with a thick handle, etched with lines, and a diamond shaped pommel at the end containing an empty space in the middle. There was no guard, as well as a hole in the centre right where it should be, but Synthia assumed that someone else would be covering that base. The strangest parts, however, were the small, uneven trenches in the blade itself. It was long and fairly wide, but it was as though numerous trails had been scooped clean out, leaving room for something else to be added and giving it a strange, ghastly look. "Milo, next." Hector instructed, as the blonde boy straightened up slightly and closed his eyes, hands pointed at the blade in a similar fashion to Synthia. Slowly and meticulously Milo's shimmering clear crystal began to form around the edges of Synthia's metal blade, providing an extra casing for it. The pommel was covered in what appeared to be a finely cut layer of crystal, but the handle was left bare as he instead went to work on the guard around the strange, empty hole left in the blade. Thin, lethally sharp spikes of icy crystal began to emerge from the shell of the weapon, protruding outwards as through threatening to slice those who came too close. There were five on either side of the blade's base, the top and bottom two being curved at an angle to serve as an actual guard on the weapon with the central spike sticking perfectly horizontally out. The notion of a guard seemed fairly silly to Synthia - she never knew much about swords, but she understood that a guard was to protect the wielders hands when crossing blades with another. This sword seemed far too huge and far too broad to ever be used efficiently in a duel; whichever one of them would be chosen to wield it would struggle to lift it, never mind actually use it in a fight. Regardless, she kept her thoughts to herself, and watched as Milo's crystal worked perfectly up the sides of the metal blade of the sword, leaving it encased in white crystalline and managing to make it look even more intimidatingly broad and scarily sharp. When he was finished he let out a sigh, sitting back on his heels as everyone admired his precise work. "Alright, that's the physical properties of the weapon finished. Noah, you know what to do - add your powers to the blade, and store it in the pommel." Hector instructed as Noah obediently nodded like he knew exactly what to do. Which with the knowledge transfer, y'know...he did. He reached forward and placed a single finger on the exposed metal blade of the sword, then seemingly sent a jolt of electricity through it. The blade sparked brilliantly, the electricity travelling all the way up the tip of the blade as well as through the guard and handle before it settled in the pommel. As the small hole left in it shone with electrical power, the blade remained filled with energy, buzzing faintly as its edges grew a faint blue hue to them. Noah sat back, satisfied with his work, which is when Neo moved forward and held his hand up to silence Hector "Me next, I know." The old man mumbled some sort of curse at the boy for stealing his thunder, but Neo ignored him as he hovered a hand over the blade. He stayed still for a second, like he was gathering energy in his palm, before a beam of darkness fired straight from it and hit the blade straight on. It clattered loudly from the force of Neo's hit but stayed in place, as everyone watched the dark energy seep into the metalwork of the blade. The small creases and trails that had been dug into the metal were soon filled with Neo's powers, like it had entered the very core of the sword and was oozing outwards. It travelled down, engulfing the handle and swirling until a perfect grip was formed in black, providing an easier way to hold the weapon that gripping the bare metal beneath. The darkness seemed to almost pulse within the weapon, but it remained contained as Neo smiled and sat back down. Everyone's gaze turned to Kayla, who was the only one left, and she actually looked slightly embarrassed at this as Hector cleared his throat "This is the...complicated bit. Right now the weapon is pretty much charged, and infused with your powers but...it's not exactly a God Killer just yet. The accounts of this weapon I read recall that it isn't whole until the final power has been added. Which means two things: A, this is where the possibility of explosion comes in like I said, and B, this is the make or break moment. If nothing happens, we've fucked up. This thing is useless to us unless everything goes according to plan. There's also some details about once the weapon is crafted, but we'll get to that. Anyway, Kayla. Go ahead." Kayla looked particularly uncertain about this, but she didn't exactly feel like she could back out now. She was the final piece, so whether it worked or not she at least had to try - and Synthia did not envy her position in that sense. Inhaling deeply she copied Neo and held her hand over the weapon, as a green glow began to flow down towards her fingertips. It swarmed her hand, reaching its peak, before she placed her palm down against the blade and sent a burst of green out from it. Exactly the way the past two powers had, it ran along the length of the blade and covered it in a faint green sheen, however this disappeared a second later as a permanent green glow filled the centre hole right where the guard was. As soon as this happened the blade began to shake in place, with the green light growing brighter and brighter. The sword began to rise on its own, still shaking wildly like it was about to fly off any second, while both green, blue, white, black, and grey shimmers began to swirl around it. "Everyone back!" Hector yelled as the group rapidly retreated away from it, every single one of them waiting in horrified anticipation of what would come. The lights were every growing, so bright it was blinding, until they reached a crescendo of flashes and the sword reached high up in the air...then clattered lifelessly back down to the ground. The lights dissipated the same instant, leaving a less than impressive, dull blade on the ground. The group was still hesitant, but Hector quickly moved forward and stared inquisitively down at the weapon. He grabbed the handle and picked it up - or rather, dragged it so it stood on the tip of its blade - before looking at the others standing around him "This is...unexpected." Both Neo's darkness and Noah's electricity remained in their respective positions on the blade, but Kayla's green light had vanished from the centre hole. "Let me try again." Kayla said, moving over to Hector before placing a hand on the base of the blade. She tried her best to send another burst of green energy into it but it refused to do anything, like the sword itself was rejecting it. "Hector, what am I doing wrong? Why isn't it working?" She asked the man, her voice filled with concern at the notion that the group had failed their task. "Don't be so quick to blame yourself, my dear. There must be an explanation. Milo, grab my book." He pointed time the book sitting against the chamber wall, the one he had been reading when Synthia and Milo had found him. The man did as instructed, fetching it and bringing it over to Hector, who set the sword down once more and began to flick through it. The teens waited in silence, hardly wanting to believe the fact that they'd somehow done something wrong and that they wouldn't have such a key asset during their fight against Zuro. "Ah, of course!" Hector suddenly shouted, slapping a hand against his forehead in an unintentionally comedic fashion "The wielder hasn't picked it up yet." "Hector. This is the part where you need to explain to us what's going on." Neo told him, as he rapidly nodded his head and tossed the book to the floor "Yes. Right. We've done everything correctly - the blade is whole now, and it can't ever be broken. It holds all the properties of the powers invested in it, but our issue is that we can't readily access or use these powers from it. The thing with this blade is that it can't be used by just a random bystander, it has to be someone worthy. Someone powerful, and with the right willpower and morals." "So...can one of us wield it?" Noah asked, trying to extract from Hector what he was failing to get out. "Yes. Kind of. Heimskor himself is the original maker of this blade, and it will answer to him or someone he sees as fit to wield it. A connection to him will allow us to use it. Basically...Neo. You have to be the one who uses the sword." Hector said, flashing a quick smile as everyone turned to look at Neo the same way they had to Kayla earlier, albeit with a little more shock. "Why me?" Neo asked almost right away, not liking the idea that everyone would be relying on him to carry out such an important task. So far he'd just gone with his gut, and what he'd deemed right, but suddenly being counted on didn't feel too good with him. "Cause-...well-...ack, I'll tell you another time. As always. Just pick the damned thing up." Hector said, urging him on by nodding at the stationary blade. Neo didn't argue his case, quietly walking over to where the sword lay before kneeling down and hovering his hand over the handle. He paused, then gripped it with both hands and lugged it to an upright position in his grasp, turning to face the others in the room. Everyone watched in anticipation, waiting for something similar to the lights that had emitted from it earlier, and even Neo wore a fairly tight expression like he was bracing for something. But after a further second, the blade remained exactly as it had been. Neo sagged his shoulders and let the top of the blade fall against the floor, as a deep exhale escaped him "Nothing." Hector stood where he was, tight lipped, before he began angrily mumbling incoherent nonsense to himself as he trudged over to his book and lifted it up from the ground. He said nothing to the group as he walked straight for the stairs, flicking through his book and continuing to grumpily ramble even as he ascended and disappeared from view. "Okay, how fucking anticlimactic was that?" Quinn said, before a string of laughter escaped her as Neo frowned down at the blade. "Guess I'm not worthy..." He mumbled, before looking over at Noah and motioning to the blade "Hey Noah, wanna see if Heimskor picks you?" Noah looked at the boy, then the blade, then the boy again, before shrugging and walking over "Yeah, sure." Neo held the handle out and Noah took it, lifting the blade up into the air slightly and watching it "Lighter than I thought it'd be...but still nothing." "Hey, let me try." Milo said as he walked over with a grin, though once again the blade didn't react in the slightest. "Kelsie. Kelsie's gotta be pure." Neo said, pointing at the girl as she laughed, then rubbed her shoulder awkwardly. Even she couldn't elicit a reaction from the weapon, and by this point everyone wanted to try, each failing at creating so much as a spark from the weapon. "Kayla, you're the last one. Wanna try it?" Milo asked her curiously, but she was quick to raise a hand in objection and shake her head with a laugh "Oh no. I definitely don't need a magical sword to know I'm unworthy." Everyone seemed to be fine with that, so they left the sword on the floor and returned to their respective training areas. Only, as Synthia was moving away, Neo grabbed her arm "Can we have that talk now?" She smiled and nodded, though he remained solemn as he began to walk towards the stairs with her. They passed Hector as he walked down to the chamber again, though he still had his face buried in the book and didn't utter a word to the pair. Once up in Hector's study Neo turned to the girl, struggling to find the right way to start off the conversation. He opened his mouth to speak a few times but the words never seemed to come, eliciting the tiniest bit of laugher from Synthia. "You seem nervous." She observed, though a part of her grew somewhat concerned about Neo's strange hesitation. "Why don't we talk about what you wanted to first?" Neo asked, chewing his lip fairly vigorously as he tried not show how much he was struggling. "How about going at the same time? Let's both get it off our chests at once, yeah?" Synthia said, which seemed to relax Neo at that moment as he gave a quick nod. Her words seemed to make him think that their topic would be the same, however he would soon learn how wrong a judgement that was to make. "Okay: three...two...one..." "I think we should break up." "I want to spend more time with you." The words came simultaneously, but both of them managed to hear exactly what the other had said. A painfully tense silence descended almost instantaneously, as Neo's whole body turned completely rigid while Synthia's sagged like she'd had the life sapped out of her. "You...what?" The girl's voice came as little more than a quiet whisper, her features filling with a look of utter shock. "I-..." Neo really didn't know how to form any sort of words at that moment. Seeing her reaction right in front of him had made him realise just how unprepared he was to actually face her. The guilt was washing over him like a tsunami, and he didn't have a clue how to deal with it. "Aren't you going to fucking explain?!" Synthia suddenly snapped, anger seemingly taking over her upset as Neo was knocked out of his silence "Synth, I'm sorry-" "About fucking what?! You haven't told me a thing!" "Alright, alright. Just calm down, let me explain." Neo said, raising a hand and moving closer to Synthia only for her to immediately back away. She stayed silent, waiting for some sort of explanation, but it was clear her fury was rapidly building, and that Neo would have to at least say something if he wanted to quell it in the slightest. "I don't have the same feelings for you as you do for me Synthia. I thought I did but I don't, and I've been meaning to tell you. I'm sorry." Neo stood a little more firmly, looking Synthia in the eye with an extremely apologetic expression. Synthia took a minute to absorb his words, tightening her expression and pursing her lips before she exploded on him "What the fuck are you talking about?! The fuck do you mean you don't 'have the same feelings for me'?! You're acting like I've gotten down on my knees and confessed some sort of undying love for you - I haven't done anything like that! Is there something wrong with me, is that why?! If there is, please, go right on ahead and say it rather than fucking trying to sell me bullshit straight to my face." "Synthia calm down." Neo said with as much authority and sympathy as he could muster, trying to keep a hold on the situation while simultaneously trying to make things easier on her "Please listen. I'm ending things now so it doesn't spiral out of control in the future. I was convincing myself I loved you, alright. If I'd continued to do that until things had grown more serious, and then come to realise it I-...I couldn't do that to you." Synthia had quietened down a bit, her anger slowly fading despite her still tense stature. It wasn't entirely gone, but she didn't have the willpower to yell at him some more, and had resorted to staring down at his shoes while she attempted to get her emotions in check. "I care about you Synthia. I did, and I still do. But we're not suited for a relationship, and I need you to understand that." Neo took some hesitant steps towards Synthia, but she didn't back away this time. He reached out and took her hand gently, holding it fragilely in his "If someone else came along further down the line think of how betrayed you'd feel. I'll take whatever repercussions come now over-" Neo was cut off speaking as Synthia suddenly yanked her hand away from his, stepping back as she stared at him wide eyed. Horrified realisation and a look of devastated betrayal filled her features, with Neo only able to look back with a completely puzzled expression. "Kayla..." Synthia whispered quietly, placing a hand over her mouth, as it took Neo a further few seconds to figure out what realisation she had come to. When he did, his face filled with as much shock as hers "No, no, that's not-....me and Kayla, you've got it wrong, we're-" "Kayla?!" Synthia shouted suddenly, her eyes brimming with tears as her features tightened with rage "'Someone else came along further down the line'?! How fucking dare you! I actually almost believed that shit you were spilling!" She let out a short laugh despite herself, before the first tear spilled from her eyes and Neo felt his heart shatter into pieces. "Don't jump to conclusions Synthia!" "Oh no, I've figured you out completely. I'm just glad you had the dignity to wait at least a week before you broke the news to me." Synthia let out another laugh, but more and more tears were spilling now. All Neo wanted to do was grab and hug her, but he knew fine well how badly that would go down. Noah had been right about it all - he should've done it before Kayla came back into his life. If only he'd understood that before now, but it was all too little too late. "Please just-" "Oh my god! To think I was actually okay with you two living together! I said yes. And I-...I bet you both laughed about it together later!" Synthia was hysterical now, but still putting up her bravado of giving Neo a piece of her mind. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, forcing a grin as she looked at Neo, who opened his mouth one final time to defend himself, though he didn't get so much as a word out "You know what. I'm just happy I figured it out." Despite what she was saying, Synthia's smile faded slowly from her face, as though her true emotions had finally come to the surface, and she glanced down at her cheeks like she was realising for the first time that she had been crying. "D-don't worry I-...I won't get in the way." Her voice was ridden with spite and sarcasm, but also a grief that could only come with heartbreak "B-but I-...I wish you both all the l-luck and happiness with-...w-with your-...your l-lives toge-...toge-...togeth-" It was then she seemed to finally break, a gut-wrenching sob escaping her as she slammed a hand over her mouth - tears quickly spilling over it - before she hurriedly turned around and ran straight for the exit to Hector's, leaving with a slam of the door. Neo stood alone; left with nothing but the twisted knot in his gut and the sharp pangs of guilt and regret emitting from his heart. He knew he couldn't chase her down - what more could he say, after all? Instead he turned towards the stairs, and after taking a second to ensure he wasn't going to break down the second he entered the chamber, he began to descend - leaving Synthia to face all of her trauma completely on her own.