Neo
Neo re-entered the training chamber with a sullen look, only to find six pairs of eyes staring right at him. Knowing that everyone else had heard what had transpired upstairs seemed to only add to the heavy weight on his shoulders, causing him to slump the slightest bit further. It seemed no one quite knew what to say for a few seconds, but then Kelsie suddenly moved towards Neo with a concerned expression, though it wasn't exactly for him. "I'll talk to her." The girl said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder before she headed for the stairs and disappeared from view. With that, Neo started to walk towards one of the designated training areas, not making eye contact with anyone else in the room as he strode meagrely past. He was vaguely aware of Quinn saying a few words to Hector, before she too left the chamber, but he didn't care to look or find out where she was going. "Neo." Noah said as he went quickly to his friend, feeling the need to speak to the boy before he worked himself into a serious funk "Listen, she's not had time to process what you've said. Once her emotions stop getting the better of her, she'll come around. It's not as bad as it seems." "No...sorry Noah, you're wrong. And you know it too." Neo said as he locked eyes with the boy, which seemed to immediately shatter the lie he was trying to sell to him. "It-...it might not be as bad as-" "It's worse! You didn't see her face, she-...I-...you were right about waiting until Kayla came back. Everything came down so much harder-" Neo quietened himself mid sentence as he realised how loud he'd been talking, though it seemed too late. "What about me?" Kayla was already saying as she moved towards the pair, her expression more curious than accusing. Neo considered making something up on the spot, but his motivation quickly ceased and he instead settled on being honest with Kayla. "Noah talked to me about my feelings for Synthia not too long ago. He told me I couldn't put off telling her the truth, and said things would be even worse if you came back into my life before I did. I...see why, now. She thinks I'm ditching her because of you, that I-...that I love you instead of her." Neo couldn't figure out how, but he knew what was coming next after a short hesitation from Kayla. "Do you?" She asked with slight trepidation, though her tone was blunt and plainly curious. "No. She's got it wrong." Neo said, attempting to match Kayla's blatancy by refusing to shy away from something he might usually keep quiet about. Despite this he couldn't quiet meet Kayla's eye, thinking for a split second that she might still hold some feelings for him and be hurt by his comment. But she answered with barely a seconds hesitation "Then we need to make her aware of that." "I don't know if you overheard, but I tried that already." Neo said in a slightly snarky tone, which surprised even him. It seemed he was unknowingly trying to take the attention away from what he'd said about loving Kayla. And yet he couldn't quite get his focus away from the frantic beating of his heart either. How strange. "Alright Miss Pissy, well you could've handled it with a tad bit more decorum." Kayla fired straight back, though her words never held any sort of challenge to them. "Sorry, I just-" Neo rubbed his head, giving Kayla a brief apologetic look before sighing "I'm stressed. I really hurt her guys. Really. I don't have much experience with women-" "You can say that again." Kayla chimed with a quiet snort, only to be silenced by an elbow in the side from Noah "-but even I could see what it did to her." Neo frowned at the floor, looking more downtrodden and defeated by this than anything he had faced with Zuro so far. "Maybe you should try talking to her again." Kayla suggested with a tiny shrug. Having had her fair share of moments where anger got the better of her, she had a decent idea what Synthia was feeling at that point. And she was aware of how quickly that could fade from her system. "Like...right now." "You really think?" Neo asked cautiously, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it was. "I disagree entirely." Noah intervened, shaking his head as he stared thoughtfully at a distant wall "I think she'll still be in the state she was. Give her at least a day." "No! No, that's bad." Kayla said with a rapid shake of her head "He should talk to her before she gets in her crying phase. Although she's probably in that with Kelsie right now already. Trust me, as someone who's been in plenty of fights with Neo, I know how she's gonna react. Things will go a lot smoother if he speaks to her soon, rather than giving her time to do something stupid that might hurt someone. Mainly herself." Noah chewed his cheek, but didn't say anything else to argue his case. Overall, it was Neo's choice, and both looked at him to see what he wanted to do. "Let's-...she'll probably be at Kelsie's right?" Neo asked Noah, who nodded in somewhat confident confirmation "Alright well...I want to give her some time, but I think talking to her today is the way to go. I'll head to Kelsie's after training and hopefully catch her there." "Alright, I'm happy with that." Kayla said with a nod, as Noah gave a "Me too" in return. "In that case." Milo said from behind the pair, looking in Neo with a small smile and ignoring the surprised looks from the other two "Want to de-stress by throwing a few punches at me?" Neo considered the proposition for a second, before shaking his head with the tiniest fraction of a smile "Yeah sure. Lets go."
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.
Soon, though - only a short second later - they felt themselves being revitalised, but with no way to scream out about the horrendous pain they were enduring they had to simply wait to be restored back to health. It took less time than they expected, and before long they were able to hear and see again, then even speak as both Neo and Noah screamed in terrified agony at once. Though it served more as a delayed reaction, since by that point the pain had entirely ceased, and yet the thought of what they'd been through still elicited the churning of their stomachs and the slow, paranoia-induced breakdown of their minds. Neo found Kelsie standing over him and Noah, tears spilling in buckets from her cheeks as Axel stood behind her and kept a hand on her shoulder, though he looked as fearful as Neo in that instant. The second Neo laid eyes on her however he scrambled backwards, letting out another scream as his eyes widened in terror at her. Noah stayed exactly where he was on the floor, face up as he stared blankly towards the sky. He was broken. That much was obvious by one simple look at him. But Neo was a tad bit stronger than him mentally after everything he'd been through, which allowed him to still function after such an experience. "Neo." Kelsie sobbed, still exerting a huge amount of healing energy despite Neo and Noah being completely rejuvenated and not the least bit harmed. Physically, at least. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please, just-" She reached a hand out towards him as she cried some more, but Neo let out another guttural wail of fear as the image of the mist spilling from her fingers filled his mind. Kelsie retracted her hand in horror at his reaction, which gave Neo the time to launch himself to his feet and sprint for the front door. Faster than any human should realistically be able to move he flung open the door and was gone in the next instant, leaving Kelsie, Axel, and Noah to deal with the mess that had been left behind.
Neo sat in his apartment hours later, feet up on the couch as he stared at the floor, trembling violently even after all that time. It was the feeling that got to him. Not the fact that it was Kelsie, not the shock, but the memory of exactly what he'd experienced. He didn't know what it was, but it was cruellest way he could ever possibly imagine to take someone's life. And the fact he'd come so close to that, too. He knew he was a literally hair's breadth away from death, which sent a cold shiver down his spine as his eyes darted to the door, like Kelsie would walk in and do it all over again at any random moment. Suddenly the door handle turned and Neo tensed in fear, darting up to sprint across the room as fast as he could, only for the door to open and for Kayla slip inside. "Christ...you're the same. I didn't want to believe it." She mumbled as she walked towards Neo, only for him to scream manically for her to shut the door. She raised her hands in surrender, kicking the door shut as she started to walk over to the trembling husk of the boy she'd once known. "You poor thing. I can't even imagine what it must've been like if it did this to you and Noah." Kayla said with a kind yet pitiful tone, as Neo stayed right where he was, watching her approach "I was going to tell you that I'm sorry about this. And that I was only doing it because she asked me as a favour but...I see now that I need to." She walked cautiously up to him, until she knew he wasn't going to lash out or anything, then placed her fingers against his temples. Kayla's eyes flashed green for an instant, and the maniacal look that had filled Neo's eyes slowly faded, leaving her standing there with the person she'd always known.
"Whoa." Neo suddenly said, backing away from Kayla in surprise. She stayed silent as she looked at him, waiting to see that what she'd done had worked as she bit her lip in anticipation. "Where have you been?" Neo asked casually, confused by her - what was to him - sudden appearance, yet not so puzzled as to think something was amiss. "Well...somebody happened to smash up half of Kelsie's living room and kitchen. I was repairing all the damages." Kayla had practiced those lines on the way over - she didn't fully trust herself to act completely normal after she'd wiped his memory of the whole Kelsie thing. "Right...that happened." Neo rubbed his head and suddenly took on an extremely downtrodden and regretful look, before he walked over to the couch and slumped down on it. Kayla exhaled, trying her best to forget the version of Neo she'd seen when she walked inside the apartment. No matter what, he and Noah could never learn of what transpired that day, or the fact that she tampered with his memories in the slightest. To him, it never happened, and she had to act like it hadn't for his and Kelsie's sake. If there was one thing she was good at with all her resets, it was being able to go on - to act like nothing had ever happened. "What exactly did happen there?" Kayla asked Neo, both trying to ensure his memory had been destroyed and offer him some console about it. "I went to talk to Synthia and...met Axel instead. He wasn't happy about what happened with her and things broke out into a fight." He placed his head in his hands and let out a small groan, gripping his hair tight "I let my anger get the better of me. Again. And I feel terrible. Mainly because of what we did to Kelsie's place, though. And because of Synthia." "And...what happened after the fight?" Kayla asked as inconspicuously as she could, testing the waters with him and his erased memory. "We-...Noah intervened. And then Kelsie yelled at us. And then we left, and I came here." Kayla let out another silent exhale of relief. He didn't remember a thing. Which meant she could forget about absolutely everything, and instead deal with him like his mind hadn't been completely shattered in two. Before she could offer any response Neo's phone buzzed, and he quickly took it out and scanned the screen. His features tightened, before he pocketed his phone again and stared back at the floor, his eyes shaking slightly in their sockets. "Who was that?" Kayla question softly and curiously, watching as Neo sniffed and glanced in the opposite direction from her "Synthia. Tell-...telling me to not go near her or...o-or speak to her in any way. She's blocked my number, too...Jesus I fucked up." Neo let out a shaky breath, holding his head in one hand as his eyes brimmed with tears. He glanced around his apartment, then peered behind him over the couch and stood, inconspicuously flicking a tear away as he moved for the bathroom "Forgot this place doesn't have any bloody privacy." "Neo." Kayla said, quickly catching his hand and pulling him off course from the bathroom "If I'm stripping away your privacy I'm offering something else in return." She dragged him to the couch, then made him sit as he still refused to look at her, before dropping down onto the armrest section. "Come here." She said gently, holding his head before pulling it against her chest. "W-What are you-" Neo was quick to try and pull away, his voice still quaky and tears still ready to spill, but Kayla stubbornly pulled him back until he stopped resisting and let her hold his head against her. Her arms fell loosely around his neck as she simply let him listen to her breathing, before he began quietly sniffling as tears slipped down his cheeks. "You didn't do anything wrong." Kayla told him as she gently brushed her fingers through his hair. "Yeah I did..." He mumbled, wiping a sleeve across his nose as he lay against her. "Okay maybe you did a few things wrong." Kayla said admittedly with a tiny smile, as Neo let out a quick laugh before gently punching her leg "But it's nothing that can't be fixed. I seriously can't believe that after everything you've fucking been through you're sat here crying over girl problems." "Hey." Neo said slightly defensively, though in the vulnerable state he was in he couldn't exactly be intimidating "Girl problems suck a lot. I-...I remember crying like this with you. That day when you had the black eye..." "Oh yeah." Kayla said with the tiniest chuckle, looking blankly on as she reminisced about it "I remember that." The event now felt like a lifetime away from her. With all the years she'd lived out, she'd undoubtedly seen too much for her age. But still, having some grasp on her past experiences with Neo made her smile. "I cried as well." She said, which actually caused Neo to look up at her with teary-eyed shock "You did?" "Yes." She gave another small chuckle, shooting him a look "I'm not entirely heartless." "No, no, I didn't mean that. I just-...huh. After everything you've experienced..." He mumbled to her, as Kayla suddenly grew the tiniest bit more gloomy. "I think it was the added weight of everything I'd been through that caused me to break down the way I did." She explained to him, letting out a small sigh as she still subconsciously played with his hair "Back then you-...after living my entire life trying to save my parents, you were-...I kinda...latched onto you. You became this...thing, this piece of hope I held close to me. I think I needed it at that point, my life was going nowhere and I was close to giving up on everything. I don't know why my expectations for you were so high, but it pissed me off when you did something I didn't like. I realise now how fucking idiotic that was but, back then, when I yelled at you, and said all that horrible shit, I thought I'd lost you forever. That was more unbearable than anything else. Not having that piece of hope with me as I went on." Everything was silent for a few seconds, but Kayla stayed firm about what she'd just confessed to Neo. It was all true, and she knew she wouldn't regret telling him any of it. Suddenly, she felt his arms slip around her waist, though he stayed in the same position again her as he squeezed her tight "I'll stay with you...you only need to ask." His voice was quiet and shallow, but he said everything he needed to reaffirm all of Kayla's beliefs in him. She smiled genuinely, relishing in him being close to her as she closed her eyes and hoped to remember the moment for as long as she could. Until a certain moron had to go and speak up, that is. "Hey Kayla? Have you ever...done stuff with me and then jumped back to erase it?" Kayla's entire body went rigid in an instant, and her whole face heated up in a burning blush at what Neo was insinuating. "You-...what-...why-...you little horny, disgusting, vulgar boy! How dare you accuse me of something so...so...so dirty!" She yelled at him, giving his face a shove as he suddenly shot up on the couch and waved his hands insistently "That's not at all what I meant by that! I didn't mean sex, I meant...anything, really. You know what, it was stupid, I shouldn't have-" The boy paused as he caught a look at Kayla's face for the first time, seeing the embarrassment held in her bright red features as well as something else. Was that...? Holy shit it was. Guilt. "I fucking knew it!" Neo suddenly exclaimed, pointing his hand right at Kayla face. "W-What?!" She shouted, trying to disguise herself, but Neo had already gotten a good look right at it, and there was no mistaking it. "You totally fucking have! Oh my god, you dirty-!" "Shut up!" Kayla screeched, horrified, before suddenly darting off the couch and heading straight into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Neo wasn't going to drop it that quickly however, and hurriedly moved towards the door to begin taunting her "What sort of stuff did we do Kayla? Did you think I'd never find out, huh? Tell me some details~" The bathroom door suddenly swung open again, and Kayla clubbed Neo straight in the side of the head with her fist. He let out a yell and held his head as it throbbed, looking at Kayla's utterly infuriated face in front of him "I did NOT fuck you!" She yelled, knocking him about the head again as he rapidly retreated to the other side of the couch "Alright I get it, just relax! I won't make jokes anymore. I WON'T MAKE JOKES ANYMORE!" He exclaimed loudly in fear as she stalked towards him once more, ready for more of her blows to fall.
For the rest of the night, Neo tried his very best not to piss off Kayla further. And at the same time Kayla did her best to quell her embarrassment every time Neo incessantly asked her for details about what they'd done in some alternate timeline. Overall, the two felt like they were closer than ever, and Neo even thanked her later for - quite literally - being his shoulder to cry on. That seemed to settle things between them, and they both went to sleep that night content and even comforted by the other's presence. Yet, still, there were things that were kept unsaid. And until one of them overcame the distance, the pair would remain as far apart as ever.
Kayla
The girl woke up in a sudden panic in the middle of the night, yet her body remained perfectly still where she was laying on the couch. From her position she could see Neo's alarm clock on the floor. 4:38. Every hair on her body stood up on edge - she didn't know what she was afraid of, but it was enough to remove any hint of tiredness she might've had from waking up abruptly. Something was wrong. Her body was screaming it at her, but she couldn't bring herself to move an inch in that instant. Which is when she heard the tiniest shuffle from behind the couch. Someone was moving across the room - no, two people - and they were being careful, though not cautious, to remain quiet. "There he is." A grim voice said, as Kayla had to bite her lip to stop her breath from escaping her. For a second she didn't recognise the voice, then instinctively she thought it to be Neo's, only for the realisation to hit her. Nexus. He was here. Right behind her, not a foot away. "Excellent." The second voice spoke, causing Kayla's eyes to widen hugely as she trembled where she was. The voice could only have belonged to one person, and despite only having one encounter with him she recognised Zuro's cruel and sinister tone immediately. "Just hurry up and do it. Quickly and quietly, so we can move on to the others." Nexus said in a bland, neutral manner, like all emotion had been wiped from his person entirely. She knew what had happened between Neo and Nexus a few months ago; he mentioned it fleetingly in this timeline, but in another she'd heard the story in full detail. Still, after what he'd told Neo that night, she couldn't believe Nexus was there. With Zuro. To kill Neo in his sleep. Kayla knew she had to do something - Neo's quiet breathing could be heard from the mattress across the room - but no option she came up with was plausible without alerting the duo. Panic surged through her despite her best efforts to stay calm, and she was left to lie helplessly as the pair crossed the room to stand right over where she knew Neo was. "I hate this tactic. I wish I could draw it out, make him suffer. This little shit cost me my life...the torture he would endure..." Zuro seemed to grow both enraged and enlightened as he thought about enacting his revenge on Neo, but he soon realised it was a future he'd never get the chance to carry out. "Do I need to remind you that we're doing things this way because he is your biggest threat." Nexus said, just as casual as if he were chatting amiably with a work colleague "Now hurry up. Get it over with already." Kayla was stunned by the utter lack of compassion Nexus had for his brother. There was simply...nothing. The only reason he was rushing Zuro, it seemed, was because he was bored waiting around. For an instant, Kayla suddenly felt like Nexus was as - if not more - cruel and heartless than Zuro himself. But it was something she didn't have time to dwell on. Zuro never responded, which meant he was about to take care of Neo and Kayla would have to intervene or let him die. Even if she managed to wake him up she didn't think he'd be able to take on the pair himself, but it was all she could do in that moment. As fast as her body allowed she darted upright, peering over the back of the couch to see Nexus and Zuro - in his human form - looming over the sleeping form of Neo, with the latter pointing his hand straight at the boy's head. She sucked in a gasp of air, causing both men to tense in realisation, before she yelled with all her lungs. "NEO!" The black haired boy's eyes snapped open in shock and panic, only to look up at the red-eyed man's palm pointing straight down at him. And that was when Kayla realised her effort was wasted from the start. A red flash filled the room as Zuro fired straight into Neo's skull, not giving him a single second to move and obliterating his entire head with that blast alone. Kayla turned away from this with a horrified cry, which singlehandedly saved her life; as she locked eyes on Nexus just in time to see him spin to face her, then point his hand straight at her and flick his wrist. If not for the brief millisecond her turning gave her, the beam he shot would've no doubt taken her clean out, but luckily she had the time to throw herself to the side with all her weight, causing the invisible beam to cut the entire side of her head and slice her ear in two. "What the fuck is she doing here?!" Zuro shouted right as he had finished with Neo, but Kayla understood how close she was to death and was by no means going to risk waiting around a second longer. Her eyes flashed green, and the next thing she knew she was waking up once again an hour earlier, gasping for breath as she shot up and hurriedly touched her ear, just to ensure she'd gone back okay. Without a moment's hesitation she sprinted to Neo, grabbing him roughly and shaking him with all her might "Neo! NEO!" "Wha-...what? Kayla? What the fuck, what is it?" He asked, immediately alarmed by her frantic attitude as he sat up and looked at her worriedly. "Zuro is back. And Nexus too. They were both here." She said hysterically, as Neo's eyes widened to the size of golf balls "Here?!" "Yes! We need to leave. We need to leave now."