The Custodes

Chapter 29 - A Mixture Of Emotions

When roughly an hour or two of training had passed, Neo decided it was time for him to head to Kelsie's and speak with Synthia. After all the training and his numerous spars with Milo, he felt like his head was in a much clearer space and that he would be able to explain himself properly to Synthia this time. Noah was doing some test runs with his powers against Hector's shadow-men, and Kayla was over in her own area of the chamber - a section Hector had set up just for her with numerous objects she could safely practice using her powers on. Neo and Milo were both sweating like hell and panting for breath, but they both knew the other would be more than able to go for longer. "Thanks for that, Milo. I think I'll call it a day though." "Anytime. Hey, I hope things with Synthia get sorted. It was obvious how highly she thought of you - whatever happens, try make sure she's able to deal with it all when the dust has settled." The boy said in a cryptic but helpful manner, with Neo nodding in response "Of course. Trust me, I'll do everything I possibly can to keep her from harm." "You're a good guy. I'll see you later, then." Milo said with a smile, before he moved past Neo and towards the stairs, saying a quick goodbye to everyone else. "Noah, you coming to Kelsie's with me?" Neo asked his friend, who had just sent a swivelling trickle of electricity into a shdaow's head, exploding it completely before he stopped in his tracks and looked over at Neo. "Yeah, course. Kayla?" Noah called to the girl across the room, right as Hector let out a groan and pushed himself to his feet, dissipating his shadows into nothing. "Nah, I'm gonna stay and practice with Hector for a bit." The girl said without so much as turning round to the pair. "What? After all that, you're not gonna help me convince Synthia? You play a pivotal part in this Kayla." Neo said objectively, only for the girl to glance over her shoulder with the tiniest smile "Coaches don't play, Neo my boy. Plus I...don't think you're right. If we showed up together it could just flare up more anger in Synthia. Better if I stay here." Neo sighed, but couldn't waste time arguing with the logic she had come up with "Alright then. We're off, in that case." "Best of luck." Kayla said with a wave, as Hector gave a muffled mumble of agreement "Yes. Perhaps if you sort out this whole ordeal the sword will find you worthy." "If we're lucky, I suppose. Have fun training." With that, Neo and Noah both moved towards the stairs and exited the chamber, leaving the other two to their own devices as they headed for Kelsie's.

Neo wasn't feeling particularly talkative on the drive to Kelsie's, instead taking the time to try and figure out exactly what he was going to say to Synthia when he got there. He still didn't have much of a plan even when he and Noah arrived and began ascending the stairs of the apartment complex. On the floor just below Kelsie's however, Neo grabbed Noah "I don't think I can do this." "What? Why not, I thought you decided this was the best way to go about it?" Noah said with a look of perplexity. "Now that we're here it's...different. I don't think I can face her Noah, I really don't. If she cries, or gets angry again or...or..." "Neo. Stop overthinking this." Noah said, clasping an arm on his friends shoulder "You know Synthia. And deep down, she knows you'd never do anything to hurt her. You just need to do the best you can to make her realise it, before she hurts herself like Kayla said. Everything will be sorted out easily." He gave Neo a reassuring smile, one that actually did convince him that it would all work itself out. The boy was really on a whole other level when it came to being a beacon of hope, inspiring others came so naturally to him it felt like some kind of secondary superpower. And Neo was especially grateful to the way Noah was portraying certainty in Kayla's idea, despite the fact he'd been completely against it from the start. "Thank you." Neo said with a genuine look of gratitude, before Noah grinned and spun him towards the stairs, then gave him a shove from behind "I thought we were long past saying thank you in this fucking friendship. Now hurry up and knock on the door." Neo almost felt a smile come to his lips, but then as he reached the top of the stairs and Kelsie's door loomed menacingly over him, he realised once more what he was about to do. Still though, Noah's words had sparked some resolve in him, so he walked to the front of the door and knocked quickly. It opened slowly, or perhaps Neo just imagined that it did, and Kelsie was soon revealed to be standing in the doorway, her gaze flicking between the pair quickly. "Hey." She said breathily, looking somewhat conflicted about Neo being there but trying to put on a pleasant smile anyway "Come in." Neo had forgotten to even ask if Synthia was actually there, but found himself entering the apartment anyway with Noah close behind. "Are you looking for Synth?" Kelsie asked softly as she walked down the hall with Neo, who nodded grimly "Yeah. Why, is she not here?" "I'm afraid not." Kelsie replied as they entered the living room, with Neo noticing Axel as he stood up from the couch and made his way towards them "I found her, after Hector's, but she said she wanted to go h-" Kelsie cut off with a sharp intake of breath right as Axel reached Neo, and unflinchingly sent a punch brutally into the side of his jaw. Neo was so stunned by the sucker punch that the force sent him straight to the floor, his instincts not having remotely helped him due to how unconsciously comfortable he'd become around Axel. The boy was on him straight away, fist raised as he gripped his torso tight "What did I tell you the day we met?! I told you not to dare hurt her! And you leave her for Kayla after months of you two dating?!" His fist fell again, but Neo was already fully recovered from the daze of the initial hit and blocked the punch with his forearm. Before he could counterattack however Noah and Kelsie intervened, both dragging Axel off of Neo as he wrestled in their grasp. But Neo's anger was already broiling inside of him, and he suddenly lunged forward to tackle Axel himself, cracking his own fist against his face "Fuck you Axel! I know your fucking secret, I'll kill you here and now if I have to!" It was Neo's turn to be dragged off, but with some quick thinking he suddenly pivoted and pushed back Kelsie and Noah with a wall of darkness, sealing them in the hall with it. Just as he turned however Axel smashed him clean in the nose with a semi-overhand punch, causing Neo to stumble back as his vision went blurry. Another blow hit him, and another, but with a roar of anger he sent a blast of darkness towards where Axel vaguely was. He missed, however, and instead the beam went straight through to the kitchen and caused a cupboard to blast open violently. He was hit with an uppercut to the chin next, sending him to the floor, but his vision returned enough to allow him to kick both feet into Axel's chest and blow him back with a blast of darkness. The boy flew to behind the couch, hitting the wall first, then the ground with a loud thump, before Neo dragged himself to his feet. By that point Noah had teleported into the living room, visibly fuming at Neo's attempt to seal him out which he soon demonstrated verbally "THAT IS FUCKING ENOUGH!" Neo understood how far he'd taken things and opened his mouth to apologise, but that was when Axel emerged from behind the couch with a glowing red arm and fired a roaring red beam straight at the boy. Not even Noah was quick enough to do anything about it, and the blast hit Neo so hard he moved through the air and collided violently with Kelsie's flat-screen TV, destroying it completely. Noah yelled something at Axel as he ran right at Neo, who had slid down to the ground with a sore groan, clutching the horribly seared flesh on his stomach through the now open hole in his clothing. Axel grabbed him once again by the remainder of his shirt, kneeling above him, as another beam charged up his arm - this time pointed straight at his head "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about Neo, but you hurt my little sister. If I ever see you near here again-" The beam charged fully, ready to be fired, but Axel seemed to suddenly realise just what he was about to do to his friend. His eyes widened in surprise, and immediately he went to lower his arm, however Noah wasn't able to see any of this from where he was. All he saw was one lifelong friend about to execute another, and that sparked something inside him that he'd never felt before. Whether he teleported or moved so quick he never noticed, the boy didn't know, but the next thing Noah knew he was beside Axel, and was sending as hard a kick as he could muster straight into his ribs. A blast of electricity went off the second it collided, sending Axel crashing straight into the plastered wall and leaving him embedded in the new formed hole in it. "I'll kill you if you try anything like that again." Noah said with a coldness his voice had never held before, glaring at Axel before he offered a hand down to Neo and helped him up. Neo gave him the tiniest of nods, wincing, then lowered the barrier Kelsie was trapped behind and looked down at Axel, who had fallen from the hole in the wall and lay still on the ground. Kelsie rushed into the room, taking in everything that was shattered and broken, then locking her eyes on her boyfriend, who lay lifeless next to a human-shaped hole in her wall. She turned on the other two boys - standing victorious - with a terrible glint in her eyes that was so foreign it didn't even feel like it was coming from her. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TWO DO?!" Kelsie screamed it at them, but the voice seemed to be coming from all around them rather than from her. Noah was about to explain but found the words caught in his throat as a deep, dark purple substance began to creep towards the pair from Kelsie's feet, travelling inches above the ground and moving in a swift, mist-like fashion. In an instant it was on them, and the second it was remotely close the two felt their strength sap away from them. The mist swirled upwards from their feet, as Kelsie stood with a deathly glare, her eyes glazed over as the mist swivelled around her fingers. It began to slowly engulf her too, wafting up towards her nose and mouth before slipping elegantly inside both, causing a shiver to spasm through her body as her eyes began to roll back. "Kelsie what are you-..." Noah's voice escaped his mouth in a measly moan, as he suddenly crumpled to the floor and curled instinctively while the mist washed over him. "Noah something's-...oh god, it's-...it's-...ack!" Neo similarly collapsed as his throat let out a horrible choking sound, staring up at the ceiling as the mist slipped in past his eyelids and clung to his skin. He could feel each atom of it fill the pores on his skin, then begin to suck out any and all life contained within. It was like nothing he'd ever felt - there had never been anything so horrific ever inflicted upon him. His life was trickling away the longer he lay in the mist, the roots of his hair were being leeched, their stems turning grey before starting to disintegrate entirely. He looked over at Noah as he lay on the floor, going through something similar as he stared up at Kelsie's form, his hand reaching out towards her. "Kelsie...? KELSIE!" With the last of his breath he yelled her name, before his voice gave out in a whimpering croak and he resorted to silently screaming at her. Kelsie wasn't responding to anything at all, her eyes were fully rolled back in her head as the mist ran along her frame in a thin layer - like a pet curling up against its master. The rest of the room was entirely untouched by it - only the area surrounding Neo and Noah was effected, which was when they understood that the attack had been on them directly, and had come straight from Kelsie herself. Before his very eyes, the flesh on Noah's hand began to whittle away. His skin turned a ghastly shade of grey, then slowly began to shrivel up and crack, turning wrinkled and thin, only to grow thinner and thinner until their was scarcely any at all. This was happening all over his body, and he felt his life rush towards its end all at once, as Neo screamed out when the same realisation of what was happening came to him. There was nothing they could do, both their lives were being taken away by the quivering, blank-faced girl who had dedicated her entire life to others, never so much as hurting a fly. That was when someone else's voice shouted out, and a figure began to rise from beside Kelsie, but at that point both Neo and Noah were reduced to next-to-dead, shrivelled corpses that couldn't see nor hear a thing. Everything was dark, but still they felt their lives being leeched, until suddenly they didn't. And after that came the rush of the unimaginably horrific, sickening feeling they felt in having to live in the state they were in. Like they were corpses given consciousness, something so vile that both their minds screamed for death in that same instant.