The Custodes

Chapter 30 - Countdown

53 Minutes Remaining
Quinn
Quinn awoke with a start as a hand roughly shook her shoulder, immediately jolting up as her eyes searched for the cause of her awakening. She settled slightly when she found it was Daigo, but it didn't cease her scepticism or anger at the manner of her awakening. "What the fuck?" She said, roughly pushing his hand off of her as she shot him a dangerous glare "What'd you think y-" "Nexus has made his move. Neo encountered Zuro and him and wants me to take you to Kelsie's, where I'm assuming the others are meeting." He told her in a fairly calm manner, not seeming in the slightest hurry to get her up. "Shit...alright fine, I need to throw clothes on, give me a sec." She said before standing up, moving over to her wardrobe as Daigo stood watching her thoughtfully. Quinn almost started to change, before glancing behind her and seeing the man's gaze remain on her "Turn around." "It's not like I-" "Turn around!" He sighed, before making a show of spinning on one foot and facing the wall, returning to his thoughts as she hurriedly changed out of her pyjamas. When she was done she walked back over, yet he remained turned around. That didn't bother her however, instead she just placed her back against his and let out a sigh "Alright. Let's do this then. Go on." Daigo didn't speak, or move, causing Quinn to grumble before turning around to face him "Daigo, hurry the fuck up and-" "What are we doing here, Quinn?" The man said, causing her to pause with surprise before narrowing her eyes at him "The hell are you talking about?" Daigo slowly turned around, looking at her with a strange neutrality before shaking his head "You know exactly what I'm talking about. What the fuck are we doing? Are we just gonna...walk out there and try kill Nexus? Or are we gonna stand with him and watch him take out the others? Or should we just...run away forever, I don't know. My point is that we need to decide." "I know what I'm doing." Quinn stated firmly, her gazed locked on Daigo's "Do you?" The man didn't reply, glancing away from Quinn for a second before sighing "Do you still love Nexus, Quinn?" The girl seemed to recoil at the question, immediately growing both defensive and sceptical "No. Of course I don't." "He's our friend, regardless. We might still be able to stand with him - like we used to." Daigo looked at her in what she thought was an almost pleading expression, trying to appeal to her the alternative path she should take. "Daigo...have you been in contact with Nexus?" Quinn's eyebrow slowly raised as she looked at him, her expression growing far more sceptical alongside her accusing tone. The way the man was talking to her almost seemed like a plea for her to join Nexus and him, she needed to figure out if his decision had already been made. "No...I haven't spoken to him for just as long as you. Since that day in Kelsie's." Daigo told her, looking right at her to show the sincerity in his voice. Quinn didn't know whether to believe it or not - but if Daigo was lying he was certainly pulling an incredible acting job. "Then why have you still not come clean, Milo?" Quinn said with a scowl, making her distrust of him blatantly obvious. "It's not something I can just come clean about! What would I say? 'Hey, I was planning on betraying you all to Nexus, but I promise I'm not anymore'? I like where I am with them right now, I don't want to cause any discord." Something about what Daigo was saying held an element of truth to it - Quinn could tell. Her concerns about him were someone lessened now; she'd figured that he was simply just weighing up the options he had before they were thrown into the fight. He'd been friends with Nexus for far longer than her, after all. Regardless of her opinion, she knew it couldn't be easy to turn on such a close friend like that. "Okay...and if Nexus asked you to, would you turn on them?" Quinn asked him seriously, testing his loyalties as she stepped closer and stared him firmly in the eye. "Of course not. I just mean...maybe we could leave them to deal with Zuro. And you, Nexus and I could just...go somewhere. Anywhere, I don't know, we'll figure it out." Daigo looked right back at her, his expression uncertain and thoughtful as he spoke. Quinn sighed, shaking her head as she stepped back once again and looked at the man apologetically "Sorry, Daigo. But I meant it when I said I wasn't in love with Nexus anymore. It won't happen, I-...I'll kill him if I have to." Her voice wavered despite her best efforts to sound firm about it. But to make up for it she forced her expression to grow hard and determined, showing Daigo plainly that she was being truthful in what she said. The man watched her, silent, before he suddenly stepped towards her and placed his hands on both her shoulders, staring hard at her "What are you fighting for Quinn? Tell me." She laughed, shaking her head as she tried to pull away from him, only for his grip to hold firm as he showed how serious he was being. "I don't know. Revenge, maybe. I want Nexus to pay for leading me on, and making me-" "Bullshit!" Daigo suddenly shouted, pulling away from her as he grew irritated by what she was saying "Tell me the fucking truth Quinn. You could've left forever, never having to deal with Nexus or anyone ever again but you stayed. Do you still love him? If you do then tell me, cause right now I don't have a clue what I'm gonna do!" Quinn stared at him, mouth slightly open, before her fists tightened by her side and she jabbed a finger hard into Daigo's chest "You are the only one who's still clinging to Nexus! The only one! I'm DONE with him! You asked the reason I'm still fighting, right? I'm fighting so that I never feel the way he made me feel ever again! I thought that...with the two of us, we could take on the world together. That it didn't matter how selfish, or heartless, or...whatever, I was. And that things would work out no matter what; that I'd get what I wanted in the end simply 'cause I wanted it. But that's not how the world works! You get exactly what you put in; if I want happiness, or a good life or...something! Then I need to actually do good, for the sake of doing good. So if you're asking what I'm fighting for...that's it. I'm fighting for the common fucking good, for the first time in my shitty, selfish life." Quinn breathed heavily after her outburst, staring with an almost defiant glare at Daigo, who seemed to be at a complete loss for words at that point. He slowly, carefully, nodded his head, before his sense supposedly came back to him and a tiny smile found its way to his face "Okay...alright. In that case...let's go fight for the common good." Quinn gave a firm nod of her head, before Daigo turned around and the pair moved back to back. A few seconds later they were encased in ice, before they teleported away and reappeared in Kelsie's living room.