Kayla
Kayla's eyes snapped open in an instant, her consciousness returning much, much faster than it should have. She felt woozy straight away, the side of her head aching so badly that she had to place a hand against it to convince herself it was actually intact. "We'll handle this for now! Just take the time to heal up and come back as soon as you can!" A female voice shouted from somewhere beside her, but Kayla couldn't bring herself to look at anything that didn't look like the ground in front of her. The girl - Kayla was trying her very best to connect the voice with a face - muttered something, causing some sort of purple glow to cover Kayla's entire torso for a second before it disappeared. The spell immediately relieved some of the pain coming from the side of Kayla's head, but she could tell it was a slow kind of healing in comparison to Kelsie's fast acting one. "Wait, Quinn, wait - what the hell happened to you? Where is Kelsie?" That one was Noah's voice, and it was much closer to her. Kayla actually looked up for the first time, taking in her surroundings as well as the two people speaking to one another. Noah looked like utter shit - half of his face was masked with blood, the same with every item of clothing he wore, and Kayla was fairly certain his ear wasn't there anymore; though she might've just been seeing things. Quinn had been through some shit as well by the looks of things. Her clothes were covered in an equal amount of blood - though unlike Noah it had dried to form a more brown, murky colour - and there was a patch of Milo's white crystal where two of the fingers on her right hand should've been. "Nexus happened. I dealt with him so he's no longer a problem, but he moved Kelsie somewhere underground and nearly fucking killed Daigo in a fight." Quinn explained rapidly to both Noah and Kayla; though the girl was only half listening as she watched Axel, Synthia and Milo all clash with a one-armed Zuro just outside the building. Why are the siblings here? Didn't they refuse to come? "Where is Kelsie?! We need to go help her as soon as possible. And-...and who the hell is Daigo?" Noah tried to stand up - his concern for Kelsie and confusion at the mention of a 'Daigo' showing through his voice - only to collapse back down almost immediately and clutch his stomach with a cry of pain. "Stop fucking moving, the healing's gonna take time. And we can't help Kelsie right now - it'll take too long to find her and incase you haven't noticed, Zuro isn't even down one fucking form yet! And I meant Milo, not-...ugh!" Quinn let out a frustrated groan, before her gaze fell to something behind Kayla which she pointed her hand at as quickly as she could "Mankima." Kayla's gaze followed the purple glow that fired from the girl's hand over to the unconscious Neo behind her, her breath catching in her throat as she remembered everything that had happened before she was knocked unconscious. Neo getting thrown through the building; the way she'd realised something had gone wrong when Zuro attacked Noah out of the blue during his evacuation; the moment Quinn and the others showed up and bought her enough time to run all the way there; and then when she ultimately found the boy in the exact spot he was in now - long dead with a hole straight through his chest. She'd watched him die more than once now, but much like her parents it was something she was never going to get used to. It would devastate her the final time just as much as it did the first. "Fuck...how long will it take for us to be back to normal?" Noah asked Quinn, his features twisting in pain with even the slightest of movements. "I don't know. Daig-...Milo seemed to be alright after five or ten-ish minutes. But your guys' injuries are worse so it might be longer. Anyway, I need to go help them fight. Don't waste any time, get back there as soon as." Quinn said emphatically to the both of them; only receiving a response from Noah in the form of a reluctant nod. Kayla's focus was still on Neo, and she was slowly beginning to make her way towards him even as she heard Quinn's words. The girl turned and took off in a sprint towards the hole in the building, the four who'd been engaged in a fight having moved to somewhere else. "Kayla...Kayla." Noah watched as the girl woozily moved to her feet, walking unsteadily towards Neo as she held a hand against her throbbing head "Kayla!" She turned on the third calling of her name, eyes glazed over as a look of dreamy puzzlement filled her face. "Are you okay? Your head..." Noah was worried - his eyes made that particularly clear - and it was that fearful uncertainty that snapped Kayla out of her wispy stupor. "I'm-...I think I'm okay." She mumbled, inhaling shakily as she covered her eyes with a hand and tried to regain her composure. "Okay...should-...um...I don't want to ask this of you. But you can send Neo and I back to remove our injuries...right?" Noah was hesitant in bringing it up, knowing full well what it did to Kayla when she messed with time, but in this situation - especially with their top healer missing - it seemed they would have to make some drastic moves. "Back...? Right, of course, I can yeah." Kayla shook her head slightly to wake herself up more, quickly walking - or stumbling - towards Noah before laying a hand on his shoulder. "N-no, I wasn't suggesting me specifically. I more meant Neo, he's the one who-" "Shut up." Kayla instructed, her eyes flashing green as she sent Noah back to the state his body was in before the scuffle with Zuro. The blood that covered him disappeared instantaneously - taking the wounds on both his face and stomach with it. The fatigue in his body lingered, but all his physical injuries were completely nullified with Kayla's powers. "Thank you." Noah said a second later, with Kayla responding with no more than a small nod as she turned to walk back over to Neo. "Alright, when you finish with Neo I'll take us to wherever the others are. We need to-" "There's something I have to do first." Kayla interrupted, meticulously walking over to the pile of rubble before finally dropping a hand against it and using it to keep herself upright "Join the others, don't hold back one bit. Neo and I will-...we'll be there in a short while." Noah watched Kayla in confusion, not understanding what could possible be so important that she would risk the safety of absolutely everyone trying to take on Zuro. "Kayla don't be crazy, what is it you need-" "Please Noah. I told you I wasn't going to let anyone die and I stand by that. Just...give me five minutes...please..." Kayla's gaze fell to the floor in an almost submissive manner - like if Noah reprimanded her any further she knew she would abandon whatever plan she had. Noah had never seen her like this in all his years of knowing her. She looked sad - really sad. Even when everything with her parents happened, she seemed more defeated than actually upset. She was begging him, right to his face, to let her have this, and putting her emotions on full display for him. Or maybe she was just forgetting to hide them. Regardless, Noah knew there was no way he was going to deny her whatever it was she wanted. "Okay. I love you Keta. Make sure you keep yourself safe...and him too." Kayla managed the smallest of smiles when Noah used his personal nickname for her, looking him in the eye as she waved infinitesimally "Love you too, Buzzie." With little more than a look of reassurance, Noah teleported away and left Kayla alone in the ruined building with the unconscious Neo beside her.
Noah
Noah materialised on the roof of the building they'd been in, his eyes immediately searching for any sign of Zuro and the others. It didn't take long - a red beam had just come firing down the street, and a little further up Noah could see a mix of powers all clashing with one figure's red ones. He teleported again, appearing directly in the middle of the fight and only having a second to compose himself before everything kicked off. Zuro was standing opposite him, hand slashing outwards to obliterate a white-crystalline attack, but then he was gone the next instant. Noah saw only a faint flicker of him as he moved, but his eyes caught enough of the man to watch as a flurry of red tendrils escaped his palm and flew straight towards where Axel stood. Noah shifted his footing - about to move to help the boy - except Axel had already thrust his arm out and released a wide, powerful beam to incinerate each and every tendril at once. Despite this Zuro was undeterred, and Noah realised it a second too late when the man sidestepped to avoid the beam, then continued moving for Axel. He blitzed over as fast as he could, but by the time he was by Axel's side Zuro was long gone - replaced by a slender arm attached to a very fed-up brunette. "Rejy!" Quinn's blast hit the tyrant full on, propelling him backwards at an incredible speed straight through the wall of a health centre - and taking a few nearby cars with him. "You healed quick." The girl chimed in a way that showed she knew there was something more to it. "Kayla helped." Noah answered quickly, eyes only glancing at Quinn before turning back to where Zuro was. "And where is she now?" She asked sceptically, though it was obvious she was more interested in dealing with Zuro than discussing their friend's whereabouts. "With Neo. I think. Maybe. I don't-...listen, they'll be with us soon. What's our plan here?" Noah asked, head nodding towards Zuro right as Synthia and Milo appeared beside Axel. "Plan?" Milo said with a small laugh, a sentiment that was mirrored by Quinn's slightly amused expression. "Plan is to hit him till he doesn't get back up. And try not to die while doing it." Quinn said, shaking her head as she watched the building Zuro was inside with caution. "That might be harder than you think...I don't know if we stand much of a chance guys." Noah told them, though the determination in his voice seemed to speak for itself. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't prepared to die fighting this prick." Came a reply from Synthia, who flashed Noah the slightest of smirks "Plus, we're the Custodes and all that shit, right? Fucking god-awful name but I like what it stands for." Noah exhaled quietly through his nose, nodding his head with a small smile "Yeah. I guess-" "WATCH OUT!" Something small and red came flying straight out of the hole Zuro made in the wall, zooming towards the group with incredible speed. Luckily, Milo was fast enough to fire a short beam of ice from his palm that collided with the orb - but what he hadn't anticipated was the enormous explosion that it would trigger an instant later. Noah had only managed to raise his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself before a sound louder than anything he'd ever heard emitted from the heart of the blast - deafening him and the others instantaneously. His eyes squeezed shut as a wall of devastating, fiery heat slammed straight into him, only to disappear a second later. The skin covering his arms and face still tingled from their brush with what felt like the sun itself, but as he opened his eyes he found himself entirely unscathed - thanks to the large purple dome in front of him. Upon peering past its see-through interior, Noah was able to make out the form of Zuro himself emerging from the building, before two more orbs fired from his hand and collided with the dome. Noah jumped at the impact, the explosion shaking the ground but being mostly held at bay by Quinn's shield - which also silenced it completely. Someone grabbed Noah's arm right as the second explosion hit, yanking him so violently that it caused him to spin all the way around; coming face to face with Quinn's panicked features. Her mouth was moving - screaming at him - but Noah couldn't make out a single word. "What are you saying?!" He tried to yell back, not even hearing his own words leave his mouth. Quinn spoke a single word, and suddenly Noah's hearing was back in an instant - and the noise of the explosion right outside was filling his ears. "I'm telling you to fucking MOVE! It's about to break!" Noah took a single glance back at the dome, noticing for the first time the enormous cracks beginning to form along its surface due to the force of Zuro's blast. His head snapped back around to Quinn, though his eyes were looking past her at the backs of his other three friends, all sprinting out of a small opening formed in the back of the dome. "Shit!" He shouted, realising how oblivious he had been to all around him, before he grabbed Quinn and teleported both of them in front of the trio. As soon as they appeared the dome behind them shattered, and a wave of heat crashed over all five of them - thankfully not hot enough to do any real damage. "We need to stop those explosions!" Axel shouted, looking over in their direction just as they began to die down, revealed Zuro standing perfectly still behind them. "Close the distance! Don't let him fire them and we should be alright." Milo yelled in return, receiving a nod from Axel before both of them attempted to run forward. They were halted in their tracks by Synthia, who had grabbed each of their collars to hold them back, before she immediately started to reprimand them "Are you two stupid?! You run at him and you'll get blown to all hell! We need a plan!" "Shit, there's another one coming!" Quinn's warning brought all their attention back to the immediate danger: a small, harmless orb that sped through the air. Noah's hand shot out rapidly, hitting the orb with a blast of electricity dead on and triggering the explosion that took up the full width of the street, allowing Quinn to mutter "Cifa." and conjure another dome. "Everyone on me, grab each other's shoulders!" Noah ordered, a command which everyone immediately obeyed. A second later they were off the street, insead on the roof of one of the nearby buildings right beside where the explosion had gone off. "Synthia's right. Hitting Zuro a bunch of times isn't going to win us this fight." Noah said as soon as they had the chance to breathe, though he was sure the moment wouldn't last for long "We need a plan." "Do you have one?" Milo asked, looking at Noah expectantly while Quinn took cautious glances over the edge of the building. "I have-...sort of. Yes." Noah answered, running a hand through his hair as he tried to tie together the parts of his plan "Zuro's skin is tough, even in his human form, but Axel fired that blast clean through his chest, right?" "Speed it up Noah, he doesn't look happy." Quinn chimed, keeping her gaze locked on Zuro from atop the building. "Okay, basically, I'm going to try to immobilise him so that someone can get a good hit in. Synthia, you need to try and get some sort of metal bar or something - anything that will stay in place and conduct - inside the wound on his chest. I'll strike it with electricity and hopefully force his muscles to contract for a few short seconds. Axel, while he's stuck you take a shot. I'd suggest the head, but if you go for that then Milo will need to use his crystal to hold Zuro's neck in place - since I'll be prioritising his limbs. After that...we can figure something out. Maybe run some of the drills we learned at Hector's depending on whether he changes form or not. Quinn, throughout all of this I need you to support us. Keep Zuro's attacks at bay all you can - you're best suited for that sort of thing. Everyone understand?" Before anyone could so much as nod, Quinn had spun around and grabbed both Milo and Synthia by their arms - practically throwing herself and them towards Noah "TIME'S UP, GET US OUT OF HERE!" Noah didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Axel's shoulder, then Synthia's hand, and the next instant the five of them were back down at street level - just as the rooftop they'd been standing on was obliterated by one of Zuro's explosions. "Noah we're going with your plan." Synthia said immediately, peering down the street at where Zuro stood "I might need help getting that bar into his chest though..." "We'll be right beside you. Let's go." Noah said, not waiting for anyone else's confirmation before he took off running down the street. Synthia was right behind him, having ran off almost as soon as he had, and it didn't take the other three very long to gather their wits and do the same. As Noah ran he watched a smirk appear on Zuro's face, right as one of his signature orbs formed in his palm. The street was far too narrow to provide them with any cover; unless they happened to come across an alleyway at the very moment Zuro attacked. There was no guarantee of that though - which left them with little more than their powers to deal with it. The orb fired from Zuro's hand, zooming towards Noah who already had his arm raised to fire an attack straight at it. "Leave it!" Quinn's voice came from behind him, and without even thinking he listened and lowered his arm. "Jabuka." A purple bolt shot past Noah's head, striking the orb full on and causing it to completely dissipate into thin air. Noah's surprise was plain on his face, but Zuro wasn't one to be remotely hindered by such a thing. More orbs were already being conjured, and as Noah and Synthia drew closer and closer to the man it left a much smaller margin for Quinn to successfully contain them. "Strike the ones he's holding! If they leave his palm, I'll get them!" She instructed, with Noah and Synthia each firing their own attack at their respective orb not a second later. Zuro repositioned his hands as soon as any attack grew near, the orbs seeming to stick to his palms and avoiding any potential blasts with ease. As soon as the orbs had grown to their full size they launched themselves from Zuro's hands, only to be hit with a wave of purple and disintegrated away as Quinn shouted "Jabuka!" once more. "Now!" She yelled as soon as they were gone, spurring Noah and Synthia into moving straight for the man. Noah shot as big a blast as he could right off the bat, aiming straight for Zuro's chest and missing completely as the man easily sidestepped out of the way. Synthia was on him, an array of sharp shards of metal forming around her head before all shooting towards Zuro in a flash. There was far too many for him to avoid entirely, but that resulted in them being too weak to do much damage. He raised his arm to protect his face, the rapid pace he was moving at already carrying him out of harm's way, and a few lodged themselves in his skin - though most skidded harmlessly off or missed completely. A chunk of crystal attempted to connect his foot to the ground, but the limb was torn free before it could grow strong enough to hold him, allowing Zuro to leap backwards as a powerful red beam shot straight past him. "Synthia, you remember Hector's drills?" Noah asked the girl, keeping his eyes on Zuro as Axel, Milo and Quinn continued trying to hit him. "Yeah, most of them I think." She replied with a nod. "Good. Let's try a four alright? If we can weaken him enough it'll make getting that bar in his chest a lot easier." Noah instructed, watching as Zuro ducked under another one of Axel's beams, then punched straight through one of Milo's blasts of crystal. Right now the only reason they were surviving was because Zuro wasn't attacking them. That seemed to be a common theme with the man, Noah realised; getting a feel for the sort of attacks his opponents were throwing before trying anything himself. In basic combat it was clear he was leagues ahead of them - but that was why Noah decided to start pulling off some tricks. Synthia and him ran forward, entering the fray again, with the girl conjuring as many spears and shards of metal as she could above her head. "Axel, Milo, get back a little!" Noah shouted at them, knowing he needed an opening for what he was trying to pull off. The two men heard and obeyed, still firing off shots to keep Zuro at bay but backing up enough for Synthia's attack. "Synth, now!" As Noah shouted he spun and fired a beam of electricity right into one of the metal spears hovering above Synthia's head. The second it hit it spread across the entire length of the metal, then lunged outwards in a hundred different strings to strike every other piece the girl had conjured. Once they had all been infused with Noah's electricity, Synthia threw her hands forward and sent her entire array of weapons right at Zuro. As expected the man moved as far out of the way as he could, avoiding the brunt of the attack and remaining unbothered by anything that wouldn't severely harm him. Noah watched as the majority of spears and spikes flew aimlessly past Zuro, then stopped himself in his tracks and closed his eyes. His senses sprung to life, the electricity held within Synthia's weapons guiding him and latching on to his subconsciousness. Then, with more instinct than thought, Noah began to move them. The weapons disappeared into thin air with the faintest crackle of electricity, materializing all around Zuro in the next instant. The man's surprise was evident by the way he stopped completely in his tracks, but his combat-ready mind didn't let that surprise linger for more than a second. Zuro rapidly began to dodge and twist his body every which way: his head darted sideways to narrowly avoid a sharp, metal spear; at the same time he pushed off with one leg to jump out of the way of a school of speeding shards; his hand moved like a flash through the air, knocking the weapons to the side with just enough force so that they missed striking anything vital. By the end of the first attack, his body was littered with shards of shrapnel, but not one attack had hit him deep enough to incapacitate him. Luckily for Noah, he had predicted just that, and every weapon that Zuro avoided teleported once more to attack from a different direction. Zuro continued to dodge, but even he knew it would be impossible to keep up for any longer than a few seconds. His eyes scanned his surroundings once over, and as soon as they had his palm shot out to fire one of his red beams right at Noah. This single move resulted in a few things happening; Zuro was struck by a long, crude shard of metal clean through his only working arm, and then again by a perfectly crafted spear through the back of his right calf, but his attempt at knocking Noah's focus had succeeded. The boy's eyes shot open as he hurriedly sidestepped away - resulting in the beam colliding with a car behind him and melting a hole straight through the middle. Zuro masterfully slipped past the last few weapons, which flew for much further before ultimately being stopped by whichever objects ended up in their path. No one said a word - they didn't need to, of course. Zuro was still breathing, and that fact alone made their objective inescapably clear. They weren't going to let him catch his breath - the second he had cleared the hurdle of Synthia and Noah's combined attack, they were on him once again - like a herd of sheep doing all they could to overthrow a menacing, murderous wolf.
Kayla
The girl sat on a pile of debris, holding an unconscious Neo in her arms as she thought about what came next. What a strange moment it was - the devil himself waited outside, and here she peacefully sat, heart thumping against her chest as she tried to muster up the courage to speak. What the fuck is this, some sort of romance novel? The situation was almost laughable, but Kayla had become desensitized to the utterly bizarre aspects of life long ago. And at that very moment, her resolve had been steeled to such a degree that there was nothing that could stop her from saying what she wanted to say. But then why was she still so nervous? She looked down at the boy in her lap, his features completely neutral despite the blood that covered half of his face. He's not even conscious. Kayla thought to herself, trying her very best to work herself up to the task given that no one else was around to do so. Just talk like he's here. Man up or you'll regret it forever. She stared at his face for a few seconds - long enough for her to become aware of herself and realise just how creepy it was. "Shit...okay." Her voice came out much more shaky than she would have liked. The more she thought about her nerves the more they piled up - resulting in her embarrassment increasing tenfold. "Neo, I'm just going to start talking. Quinn's healing will probably finish up soon enough, so I'm on a slight time limit for this. I really don't know if you waking up would make things better or worse." The shit you wanted to say. Hurry up and just say it. Kayla sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled it once again as she tugged Neo's unconscious form a little more securely into her. "I um-...you're sort of-...listen, I-" She looked down at the boy's face again, his blank expression causing irritation to surge up inside of her "Oh for fuck's sake! He's fucking unconscious you dumb bitch. Talk." Another inhale, then another exhale. The thumping of her heart wasn't keen on slowing down, so she elected to ignore it instead. "Neo...I don't have any sort of clue how you might feel towards me right now. It's kinda funny, I think. I was sure that with the power of time travel I would end up knowing you waaaaay better than you know me but...that's not exactly how it turned out. You've caused me more fucking confusion than anything else. Truth is, I'm uh...well I don't quite know what the word is. I know the word I want to say but I'm not gonna say it now. That's for when you're awake, and you're actually able to respond to the shit I say." Kayla managed the tiniest of smiles despite herself, gently brushing away some of Neo's untamed black hair that had overstepped its boundaries and fallen over his face. "See...you've only known me for what - five months? I know technically we've been neighbours for a lot longer, but we uh...barely even spoke to each other before Zuro arrived here. Those five months, three of which you spent in a relationship with Synthia while I was...occupied, can only develop so much of a relationship between us. Five months. Only...I've lived those five months out a good few times more than you have. If we make it out of this-...when we make it out of this, I want-" Kayla paused, taking the time to calm herself a little and trying to stall the jackhammer beat her heart was following. Despite Neo's complete unresponsiveness, this felt exactly like a real confession to her. She knew it would, that was why she was so desperate to do it, but it was still shocking for her to experience just how many emotions were circulating around her body there and then. She slowly relaxed to a manageable point as she placed her hand against Neo's cheek, but as soon as she opened her mouth all of her emotions came surging back at once. "I want a life with you, Neo. I want to be happy with you. It's been eight years since that day at Kelsie's for me. I've lived out all that time - all those years, all those alternate lives, day after day after day - thinking only about you. You were my constant...exactly like I told you. I-...I can't even put into words how deep my bond with you is now...but it doesn't matter. Cause no matter what, it's still only been five months. I can't just make you experience all that time with me. Trust me, if I could I would. Your feelings - whatever they are - won't be anything like mine. But...just maybe, if...after this, if we stay together. Maybe you'll eventually feel the same. I really do hope so - I mean it when I say I'd do anything to make that the case." Kayla felt her fingers start to gently draw circles on Neo's cheek, a motion that actually managed to soothe her a great deal. She looked down at his closed eyes, sitting with waited breath to see if they would open or not. There was more she wanted to say, of course, but if he chose to wake up now she knew that would be it; she'd be forced to be content with everything she'd said so far. Luckily - or maybe unluckily, given the sudden resurgence of all her nerves once more - Neo never so much as stirred, his breathing remaining completely level as Kayla shifted into a more comfortable position. "Okay...guess I keep going then. This kinda leads nicely into what I wanted to say next. I know how much you would object if you were conscious, so I'm glad I can get this off my chest without any repercussions. Hector told me that if this battle we've found ourselves in ends up being unwinnable, I should focus on getting everyone safely out rather than waste away the rest of my life. I'm not going to do that, Neo. I know, I know, it completely contradicts with what I just said about getting through this and staying together and all that but hear me out. I'm ending this here. You'd probably call me an idiot and cuss me out to all hell but I've already decided. We're all going to make it out of this alive. All of us. I don't care how many different iterations it takes, I'll find a way to make it happen and I mean that. The reason I'm telling you this is...well, to clear my conscience I suppose. I know how selfish and backwards that is, but if I tell you this now it'll help me rest easy if I end up-" The word hitched in Kayla's throat, catching her completely by surprise. Over time she'd come to learn that death was a funny thing. Having the ability to undo it entirely tended to give you a different spin on the whole concept. But still, sitting here spilling her heart out to the boy she was...attached to...she struggled to actually admit exactly what it was she was risking. She could feel the lump in her throat - its presence proving shocking to her - as she forced herself to push past her foolish sentiment and return to talking once more. "-if I end up dead. Cause that's what's going to happen if I can't find a way to beat him in time. God...when everything happened with my parents I thought I was more than ready to die for them. But every time I went back, all those months of trying different ways that just might keep them alive, I found myself becoming more and more entangled with you. And now...it's a whole lot harder to just lay down and die." Kayla let out a deep sigh, running a hand along her dust and debris ridden hair, before she peered at Neo and leaned down to plant a very faint kiss on the top of his head. That would probably be the last time she did that. The thought entered her head with all the elegance of a punch to the gut, and suddenly Kayla felt tears brimming at the edges of her eyelids. She had to look away from the boy to focus on fighting them back for a few painful seconds, and when she thought she had them under control she let her head tilt down once again. "I don't know why I fell for you to this extent..." She half whispered, holding Neo's face delicately with one hand as her thumb softly rubbed his cheek "Actually, scratch that...I know exactly why. I just hope you know that...if we don't manage to live out our future together..." Kayla dipped her head a tiny bit lower, listening to Neo's quiet breathing as she lingered in the serenity of the moment for a few short, silent seconds "...I'll cherish these moments we've had until the very bitter end." As soon as the sentence left her lips a tear managed to slip past her defences and fall straight down, landing without a sound on the tip of Neo's nose. Kayla turned her head up as soon as it did, trying to prevent any more accidental tears from spilling as she wiped her already rapidly drying-up eyes. A breath of gratification escaped her, and as she looked at the ruined building around her she knew it was time for her and Neo to get back in the fight. Everything she wanted to say had been said, and she could finally go on and give everything she had into destroying Zuro.
"Kayla?"
The quiet voice in her lap immediately drew her attention back to Neo's face, and her heart skipped a beat in finding his deep, black eyes staring blearily back at her. "You're awake. Ah, sorry, I should've sent you back a long while ago. Let me just-" Kayla reached her hand down towards Neo's shoulder, ready to send him back in time to completely remove the head injury that Quinn's magic had been healing this entire time. Quicker than he should've been able to, Neo shot his hand out and grabbed onto Kayla's before she could focus on doing her thing. "Don't." He didn't shout the word, or show any signs of being alarmed, but the mixture of seriousness and desperation in his tone made Kayla halt immediately. She looked into his eyes, finding them filled with the determination that she already knew lingered inside regardless of anything going on around him. "Okay..." She said quietly, slowly retracting her hand as Neo loosened his grip and placed his own hand against his temple. "What happened?" He asked, trying to shake out the last of his dizziness as he sat up and out of Kayla's lap. The girl could feel the faint warmth filling her cheeks, but judging from the way Neo was talking it was obvious he'd heard very little - if any - of what she said. "We don't have time for details, the others are fighting Zuro right now and we need to help them." Kayla said, shifting off the pile of debris and swiftly standing up. "Others..?" Neo's puzzlement was obvious - as far as he was aware Noah was the only person who could possibly be fighting Zuro at that point. "Quinn, Milo, Synthia and Axel. Quinn and Milo dealt with Nex-" "Axel is here?!" Neo shot to his feet as soon as he heard the name, dropping down from the pile they'd been sitting on only to completely lose his footing the second he touched the ground. Kayla lunged forward just in time and safely caught the boy, preventing him from smashing his face off the floor as he leaned heavily into her. "Thank-" He looked up and found his face particularly close to Kayla's, their gazes locking as his words caught in his throat for a second. Kayla said nothing, unable to tear her eyes away from his, and if they had been anywhere else she would've leaned in and closed the distance between them without any hesitation. But in the here and now, she couldn't. And she could read Neo's face well enough to know that he was waiting for her to make the move. When nothing happened after a second or two, Neo knew the moment had been lost. "Thank you...but I'm serious Kayla. Axel killed your parents, he'll kill the others too if we don't intervene." Neo had shifted his weight off of the girl by now, his legs planted firmly in place as his momentary loss of balance faded away. "Well it's a good thing we're headed that way anyway. Right now, Axel is helping us fight Zuro - so you are not going to run in and attack him." Kayla spoke sternly; the last thing they needed in that moment was for Neo to do something rash like execute a member of their group. The only member who had actually done significant damage to Zuro in the past, mind you - excluding the boy himself. "I'm not waiting around for him to betray us." Neo stated stubbornly, eliciting a fed up eyeroll from Kayla "You'll fucking have to. Now lets hurry up before I miss the chance to undo everything." With that she turned on her heel and headed straight for the large hole in the building, hearing Neo grumble something incoherent under his breath before following closely behind.
Synthia
Zuro was good. Synthia had never seen any living thing move with such speed and precision in her life. She knew he was from another planet, lightyears away from Earth, but it still hurt her head to dwell on the fact that something with such human-like features and structure could be so vastly superior to them. After her success with the joint attack with Noah, they hadn't been able to land any sort of blow on him - granted, they'd only been trying for half a minute or so. Zuro was calculating every move - it felt like each and every little thing they threw at him was immediately absorbed into some sort of memory bank - so he would be able to counter later when it actually counted. Synthia didn't have the time to concern herself with any of that though; she had to focus on getting that bar inside Zuro's chest wound as soon as possible. But how would she do it? Practically no-one could land any sort of blow from a distance, and they were much too cautious to move within a certain distance of him. If she was going to pull it off, she'd need to sacrifice some element of defence to do so. In the short few seconds it took her to consider all this, Zuro had dodged a series of spells from Quinn intercut with Milo's attempts of impaling him wherever possible. Her gaze flickered over to Noah and Axel. The latter was taking the time to charge up some pretty powerful attacks - despite having missed every single one - and the former looked too weary to even keep up his attacks. Noah was exhausted; his body seemed to be permanently hunched over, his arms hung heavily from their sockets and he was panting for breath like a dog in heat. She didn't want to rely on him, but she saw no other way of getting close enough to Zuro. Something flickered in the corner of her eye at that moment, drawing her gaze over to Zuro's only remaining arm - and the large shard of metal still embedded in it. The early light of the morning had reflected off it just right, and as Synthia spied it a new plan leapt into the forefront of her mind. "Noah!" She shouted to the boy, drawing his curious gaze before she beckoned him over hurriedly. He appeared beside her in a second, though his gaze was still on Zuro as Quinn and Milo held him at bay. Or rather, held him as much as they could when he wasn't fighting back. "I have an idea. I need access to his chest like we planned, take me as close as possible." "Synth are you sure? He might-" "As long as I can get in before he attacks we'll be fine. Plus, I highly doubt he'll start fighting back all of a sudden." The girl was set on it, and it was obvious Noah wasn't going to refuse her. He laid a hand on her shoulder, watching Zuro to pick the perfect moment where he wouldn't be moving. "Ready?" He asked, with Synthia instantly nodding "Whenever you are." They let a few more seconds pass, with beams of crystal and purple objects zooming past the man's form. Zuro darted elegantly across the ground, but the second he took the time to stop and change direction, Noah and Synthia had materialised in front of him. Synthia stared into the eyes of the beast, and with an utterly chilling, emotionless ease his hand had shot out to immediately reach towards her. It was exactly as she had predicted. Both her arms when already moving when she had appeared - one reaching for his chest and the other snapping outwards - and suddenly Zuro's only limb was being dragged backwards by the sharp, uneven shard protruding from it. Synthia's hand made it straight into the wound in his chest, and half a second later a stiff, vertical bar had been locked inside - rearranging Zuro's ultimately useless human organs with a loud squelching sound. Despite his arm being wretched away from her Zuro was still in perfect control of his legs - a fact which he didn't hesitate to exploit. Before she knew it the sole of his foot had slammed directly into her stomach, sending her flying through the air with a guttural cry of agony. The pain was so overwhelming that she didn't even notice herself tumbling to a grazed and bloody stop halfway down the street; her sole focus was on how horrifically winded she was, and her certainty that some sort of permanent damage had been done to her digestive system. She felt like she would've thrown up, if only the vomit was able to leave her stomach and enter her throat. There she lay, clutching her stomach and silently trembling in pain - but she knew the battle they were in was far bigger than her. Her head slowly lifted to try and make out what was happening with everyone else, and when it did she had to focus her vision repeatedly just to ensure what she was seeing was correct. Everyone was moving, attacks were flying out from every direction - but at their centre was Zuro, dodging as vigorously as ever. Synthia realised two things immediately; the first was that some of the attacks were landing - in fact it was safe to say a good portion of them were - and the second was that Zuro's head was gone. Where it was she couldn't say. It was possible it'd been torn straight from his neck and had tumbled off somewhere, but it was also possible that Axel's attack had disintegrated it entirely. Only one thing was certain - their plan had worked. They now had a much needed advantage, but Synthia wasn't quite sure if she'd be able to re-join the fight or not. She tried desperately to get up, but every shift sent a jolt of pain across her entire abdomen. With great difficultly she was able to make it to her knees, leaning against the car by her side as her face contorted in anguish, and even if she could stand she knew her chances of so much as walking were slim. Her head hung low as she let out staggered and raspy breaths, trying to will away the pain in order to get back in the fight and help her friends. It was impossible not to focus on it, however; her stomach felt like it'd been squashed to half the size, and spots clouded her vision as she stared at the ground in front of her. I've been hurt before. Her thoughts were the only thing she could focus on, and little by little they began to overpower the pain. Neo and the others have been hurt before. They're fighting the same fight as me. They wouldn't give up so easily. Granted, when the others got hurt Kelsie had always been around - but that was something she didn't want to think about at that moment. She slowly dragged herself up further, practically climbing up the car until her hand slipped off of the wing-mirror she'd been grasping and her body toppled sideways. An arm wrapped around her waist right as she thumped into somebody's chest, and she clung desperately to them without even looking at their face. "Synthia? What happened, why are you over here?" That voice, was it really..? Synthia could've laughed at how absolutely typical it was that he would be there - just like always - in her time of need. At that moment her heart hurt almost as much as her stomach did. Almost. A small, measly whimper of agony escaped her, and as one arm wrapped around Neo's neck the other clutched her stomach tightly. "Kayla, I think she's hurt..." No shit. The thought made Synthia feel bad right away, after she picked up on the concern lining the boy's tone. A hand dropped onto the girl's shoulder, and an instant later she was sucking in a deep breath of air as the pain in her abdomen completely vanished as though it was never there. "Th-...Thank-" "Don't mention it, just get up." Kayla's stern voice jolted Synthia's body back into action right away. With some unnecessary assistance from Neo she stood all the way up again, stunned by how instantaneously her friend's time powers could erase such a horrific injury. As she looked in the direction of the fight she saw Quinn running towards the three of them, though she stopped upon seeing Synthia with less than a scratch on her. "I was just coming to help her, but looks like she's alright." She said, addressing both Kayla and Neo now that they were finally joining the fight "Daigo cut off Zuro's head, this is one of the best chances we're going to get to destroy his human form." Synthia glanced at Neo just in time to see his eyes widen in shock, though she could tell straight away it was at something other than Quinn's quick run down of Zuro's condition. "Daigo?!" The shock was made evident in the way he shouted the name, but it appeared to only serve to irritate Quinn. "MILO!" She spun around with a grunt of frustration, and without another word took off once more towards the others. The trio didn't waste any time in following her, but as Synthia spared another glance at Neo she could see that his surprise hadn't settled in the slightest. "Who's Daigo?" She asked as they ran together, rapidly approaching the open area at the end of the street where Axel, Noah, and Milo all fought a headless Zuro. "One of Nexus' men...or friends. Either way, he's very closely associated with him...did Quinn tell you what exactly happened between the two of them and Nexus? I don't like how this looks to be turning out..." Neo didn't have to explain his point any further. Quinn was in love with Nexus, Milo - or Daigo - was a close friend, and the two of them were the only ones to escape Nexus's apparent ambush? Either way, at that moment the term 'bigger fish to fry' could not have related to their situation any more closely. "However it looks, you need to focus on the real task at hand." Synthia said to him, pointing ahead of them at where Zuro stood, firing beams loosely off wherever he could to throw the three boys off each time they tried to land any sort of big attack on him "There's a headless alien over there we need to go destroy. And he's still giving us a fucking run for our money." Neo was focused on exactly what they were running straight for, and he responded with little more than a determined nod. She recognised this side of Neo - it was the no-bullshit time-for-a-fight side - and in seeing it she immediately grew a strengthened resolve as they entered the fray and attacked without hesitation. A trio of beams fired from Neo's hand, all swirling through the air as they blasted towards Zuro only to narrowly miss as his body twisted out of the way. Synthia was cautious about getting close to Zuro again, but from a distance she was off little use - only able to fire off either an array of small shards or a single, complete spear in quick succession. Zuro's movements were like a dance - after Neo's beams had passed, a huge blast of red fired from Axel's arm; however it lacked any sort of versatility and merely shot past Zuro after he'd moved easily out of the way. Noah teleported close to him for a quick second, slashing with some sort of electrically bladed hand at Zuro's one arm, but he pivoted and swung his arm in all the right ways - his instincts so uncannily heightened that if it wasn't for her actually being able to see that his head was gone, Synthia would've thought he still possessed one. She fired off a blast of shards herself, still running to move into a better position, and she actually managed to land the attack straight into the man's back. A few shards pierced his skin and remained there, but they obvious caused him no trouble as he fired a beam right at Neo's head and knocked the boy's next attack off target. This wasn't working. Things were a mess - what the hell had happened to all their training over the past three months? Firing off simple attacks one after the other might be working now, while Zuro was in his human form, but the second he entered his actual one and began to attack; what would they do? They had to step things up a notch, put one hundred percent into absolutely everything. If not - what was the point? All of them would end up dead, without a shadow of a doubt. Synthia knew she had to find a way to spark something in the others, to make them see that everything was on the line and that what they were doing wouldn't be enough. She couldn't exactly sit them all down and talk to them at that point, but she knew there was another way. The phrase 'lead by example' cropped up in her mind. She knew she wasn't a leader; however, if the others were all willing to lead, she figured it couldn't be that difficult to be their example. With those thoughts in mind, she closed her eyes and focused on stilling her mind and forcing her powers to obey her will. She felt the sleekness of her metal crawl across her body - like water, trickling down her arms and legs all the way to her toes and fingertips. Her clothes remained entirely intact, but underneath her skin became encased in a solid, strong metal that she knew would be able to handle a good few blows from Zuro. The suit travelled upwards, reaching her neck but leaving the outline of her face open as it travelled up the back of her head to slide over it to the front. Even her frilly, ginger hair was soon covered in the metal - completely frozen in one position with each curly strand dangling perfectly still in the air. After it had reached the top of her forehead, it was complete and she was ready. And without a shred of mercy or reserve she sprinted forward and headed straight for Zuro. The headless body seemed to sense her incoming, as it spun in her direction right away and stood - ready and waiting for her. Synthia's eyes quickly scanned the body, realising that Zuro had taken the time to remove the metal in his arm, leg, and chest, meaning she wouldn't be able to pull off any stunts like last time. It seemed the two of them were waiting for the other to attack, but neither did as Synthia continued running with focused eyes. A blast of red fired for Zuro, but he suddenly leapt forward out of the way and closed the distance between Synthia and him long before she had expected it. She only had a second to react before a beam shot for the only exposed part of her suit - the head - and after rapidly ducking she darted forward and attempted to stick Zuro with a bladed fist right in his side. He was gone before it even landed, and Synthia's instincts immediately told her to watch for an attack from behind. She pivoted sideways, her movements fluid thanks to her training with Hector, and hardly even acknowledged whatever attack Zuro had attempted before lunging for him again. Her hand shot towards his chest once more, but at the final second she pulled back and slammed her foot straight into Zuro's. A sharp spike protruded from her sole as she did, piercing straight through Zuro's shoe-clad foot and embedding deep into the concrete beneath to pin it there. Zuro's hand swung for her, but her right hand had already shot out to slam directly against his forearm. Another spike immediately formed from the metal covering her palm and impaled his arm, only to mould into a wide, four bladed arrowhead shape in order to lock the metal in place. Synthia kept her hand pointed downwards, forcing Zuro's to do the same as he tried to tug his only usable limb free from her trap. In a quick second Synthia willed the arrowhead to instead form a four fingered claw which instantly wrapped around Zuro's arm and grew as tight as a vice, solidifying her hold of him. With her free hands she conjured a long, sharp blade on the tip of her knuckles, then drove it straight down into Zuro's torso - stabbing him over and over and over again as her eyes watched and waited for any sign of him changing forms. In all honesty, Synthia had no clue how she was supposed to force Zuro into his second form. Neo had mentioned that he'd be forced into it when he was about to die, but her repeated piercing of his chest hardly seemed to be phasing him. Not that he had a way to show it would be. She kept going, hoping that the others would take the chance to deal their own damage, but then Zuro pulled a sly move that she hadn't expected. His free leg suddenly pulled upwards, moving extremely flexibly until the sole of his foot had been placed directly against Synthia's stomach. She thought she was about to be kicked with all his might once again, but it seemed the position was only to allow Zuro leverage in suddenly tugging his arm backwards and dragging Synthia's spike all the way down it until it split his hand in two - completely cleaving his arm in half but allowing him to swing it freely up. Before Synthia knew it she was staring directly at the centre of Zuro's mangled palm, and just as a red glow filled her vision she felt her head be pushed roughly to the side clean out of the way of the attack. A female cry of pain sound from beside her, causing Synthia to turn her head to see Kayla with her arm completely blasted off by Zuro's red beam. The girl refused to linger on the pain for very long; her eyes flashed green and a second later her arm was as good as new - and by then Synthia had retracted her foot from Zuro and jumped backwards to put some distance between them. Was I supposed to die from that attack? The thought was so intrusive that Synthia forgot about the murderous madman standing not three feet away for a second. The only thing to snap her out of her trance was Neo's shouts, which cut through the air like a knife as he suddenly clashed with Zuro. "THIS IS IT! We need to destroy every last atom!" As he spoke, Neo sent a series of thunderous punches right at Zuro, who could do little more than dodge thanks to the state of his arm. The boy was donned in his black shadow armour, obviously having taken some sort of inspiration from Synthia's suit-up as he swung again and again and again at the headless figured in front of him. "Quinn! Stay close, you need to negate those tendrils if he tries to escape! If you have a spell that stops him from teleporting, use it! Everyone else...hurry the fuck up and help me rain hell upon this asshole!" Neo's shadow-coated foot swung for Zuro's ribs but the man bent his knees and shifted his top half backwards just enough to avoid it. He tried to grab at Zuro's cleanly split arm, but the man's shoulder managed to yank it far back before he could. Suddenly a hand was on Synthia's shoulder, and Noah was looking into her eyes "That was brave. Well done. But I really hope that isn't all you've got. Give me a metal stake or something, then hurry up and do what Neo said." Synthia gave a quick nod of her head, hurriedly conjuring and handing Noah a thick spike of metal before the boy disappeared once again. She watched as he reappeared behind Zuro, and as quick as a flash attempted to drive the stake into the man's leg. It didn't work - Zuro lifted it outwards just in time - but Noah was determined and began rapidly plunging it towards either leg even as Zuro attempted to jump away from both boys. Synthia decided to actually move, taking off towards the three right as Milo appeared by her side. They ran even with one another, and Milo took the time to flash her a cocky smirk before they were in the fight once again. Milo's palm shot out and struck Zuro from the side, but with those perfect instincts of his Zuro manage to flip cleanly through the air over it - landing right beside Milo. His leg shot out as quick as a flash, about to strike Milo's back, but suddenly Synthia was there; both arms raised as she hurried conjured a thick, tall shield of metal before taking the hit clean on. She was sent straight into Milo, both of them tumbling through the air and landing in a heap together, but the shield had absorbed enough of the damage to leave them both unscathed. Synthia looked over Milo's shoulder, just in time to see Noah pierce Zuro's calf and hold him in place for just a second, while Neo raised both fists together and slammed them straight down into him - burying Zuro in the ground. Her gaze moved to Milo just in time to meet his, and she watched as a hint of amusement flickered through them. "What?" She demanded, somewhat appalled that he could find anything funny in a time like this. "If we make it out of this alive, will you go on a date with me?" Synthia almost laughed as soon as the proposition left his mouth, but she was in a much too serious mood to actually do so. "Are you a fucking idiot?" She quickly stood up, with him doing the same, before they both began running back towards the others. "I'm serious Synth. Give me an answer." She turned to see if he was teasing her, but was left stunned when she found him staring steadily forward - his gaze almost as determined as hers. Had this guy hurt his head when they fell? She knew he was flirty in every sense of the word, but this was not the time or place. "Whatever. Sure. If it'll give you the motivation to stop fucking around then fine." He seemed content with that answer, and even if he wasn't he had no time to argue - they were back in the fight once again. "-then get Axel to hit him." She heard the last of what Neo was saying to Noah as they approached, and at the mention of her brother she peered around to search for him; finding him not too far off with two glowing red arms as he struggled to maintain the power within them. Zuro was back on his feet, still dodging for his life as the two boys and Quinn threw more attacks at him. "What's the plan?" Synthia asked as she moved over to beside Neo, who had only just noticed her presence. "Immobilise him. Aim for the legs, basically, then finish him with one of Axel's hits." The boy said, before jumping forward to continue his furious shadow swings. Aim for the legs. Sounded easy enough. An idea suddenly formed in Synthia's mind, and without hesitation she put it to work. It took a little bit of focus, but the others seemed to be keeping Zuro busy for the time being so she could afford to do it. She began conjuring small, rounded squares of metal which linked together until a long, solid chain had formed. It wasn't very big, but with her control over it she didn't exactly need it to be. "Noah!" The boy looked up at his name, catching Synthia's gaze as he halted his slash of electricity at Zuro. "Same strat as earlier, only with this!" She held up the chain in her hand, and the boy nodded before firing an electric bolt straight at it. Synthia watched the metal glow and sizzle with the faint hue of electricity, before she pulled back her hand and launched it at Zuro with all her might. It spun straight for his chest - however he apparently saw it as something so insignificant that he didn't need to block it. She hoped he soon learned that mistake, as a second later it had teleported and was instead spinning through the air towards his legs. The instant it was close enough Synthia willed it to wrap all the way around one leg, and once that had been done she focused all her might in making it constrict further and further around. Zuro was still dodging everyone's attacks, his arm being surprisingly viable despite its horrendous injury as he fired repeated beams to throw them off, but it seemed he was too preoccupied to notice - or deal with - Synthia's chain. The metal all slowly melded together, the links disappearing as it instead formed a single, sleek band before continuing to constrict harder and harder and harder. Synthia closed her eyes and focused, her body trembling as she exerted all her strength into willing the strip to grow tighter. Noah was right about the strength of Zuro's skin, but she could feel the tension in it as the band tightened to unimageable scales; turning the skin around it completely purple as it condensed further inwards. And then - just like that - Zuro's leg popped. The bottom half burst off with so much strength that it rebounded off the ground and bounced away from then, causing Zuro to fall to one knee and land on his newly opened stump. At this, the battle seemed to pause for a second. Neo was right in front of Zuro, the surprise of the sudden injury making him falter for a single second. And that was something Zuro instantly used to his advantage. His hand shot up, a beam leaving his palm instantaneously and missing Neo's head by such a small margin that it undoubtedly singed a few hairs. The miraculous dodge was thanks to Kayla, who had all but tackled Neo out of the way during his small moment of repose. And just like that, the fight was on again. Synthia retook Neo's place directly in front of Zuro, slashing with a bladed hand at the man's arm as soon as she ran in. He yanked it back just in time, but the momentum carried it all the way behind him - allowing Noah and Milo to simultaneously slash it in two different spots; causing the arm to separate smoothly into three pieces. Zuro tried to stand with his lone leg, but Milo had brought his foot rapidly down atop it, solidifying a huge chunk of crystal that bound it to the ground. "Axel now!" Synthia shouted, remembering the direction her brother had been in when she saw him earlier and quickly dragging Neo and Kayla out of the way. Axel let out a shout of exertion from far away, but Synthia watched as red tendrils began to crawl across Zuro's skin - getting ready to teleport him away. Her eyes widened at the notion that he would escape when they were so close to bringing out his true form, but her fears were pointless as a wave of purple suddenly washed over him. "Jabuka!" Quinn's spells caused the tendrils to dissipate away into nothing, and as soon as it did Noah grabbed her and Milo and teleported them out of the way of the huge, rumbling blast rapidly approaching them. Axel's enormous spiral of red crashed straight into Zuro - who was still stuck against the floor - and Synthia, Neo, and Kayla all watched as he was overcome by that angry, sizzling beam that completely engulfed him and began to melt him away almost immediately. His shadow was very faintly visible, and all three pairs of eyes watched eagerly to see what was going to happen. Synthia saw, in a single instant, the outline of a new head suddenly appear atop Zuro's stump of a neck. A large, wider shadow suddenly sprouted from his back - it was next to impossible to make out what the hell it was, but Synthia could've sworn she saw something gleaming from the tip inside the devastation Axel's ungodly attack. Slowly, the sea of red that had streamed across the street began to cease; and the first thing Synthia saw was the pristine, shining white spike that sat perched atop Zuro's enormous, thick black wings. Even kneeling he was much taller and much larger than any one of them from the group, and his perfect blood red skin stood in direct contrast to the grey of the city around them - like it had drained every ounce of colour from their world. At the top of his head three polished, red horns protruded in a perfectly symmetrical manner, all curving inwards to point towards one single focal point. Zuro eyes lay closed, the four half-circles etched into the skin below them giving him an utterly demonic look. His jaw seemed especially wide, but suddenly Synthia didn't want to see the set of teeth that were concealed behind his closed mouth - after recalling Neo talk about how sharp they were. He'd described the appearance of Zuro's true form to the entire group before now, but every description he'd given had paled completely and utterly in comparison to seeing the real thing. Synthia couldn't help but let her eyes travel further down, an action she immediately regretted as the long, scythe-like claws he had at the tip of each finger came into view. She felt sick to her stomach, wanting nothing more than to turn in the opposite direction and run wherever she can as fast as she can. The air around Zuro took on a shimmering haze, as small sizzles of evaporation wafted upwards from every inch skin on his body. The heat coming off of him must've been unbearable, but all of a sudden Synthia wasn't concerned at all with how much heat he was giving out. Zuro had shifted, very slightly, and her entire body tensed with panic the instant he did - every one of her instincts screaming at her to get away from him. The sheer terror Zuro's true form evoked from anyone around him was unrivalled, a fact the man immediately proved as he shifted once more, his leg sliding up from his kneeling position. With his eyes still closed, Zuro elegantly and easily pushed back up to his feet, standing there in all his glory as he inhaled an easy breath through his nose. The leathery, pitch black sheets of wings at his back flexed subtly, like he was getting used to controlling them once again, and then - after a silent minute of pure, terrified anticipation - Zuro opened his eyes.