The Custodes

Chapter 11 - Past and Future Scars

"I'm heading out alright. There's some scraps in the fridge if you wanna eat." Nexus said as he pulled his coat on, looking over at his younger, darker haired brother as he sat on the couch watching some show on their crappy miniature TV. "Alright. Where exactly are you going?" Neo asked as he glanced at Nexus, turning the volume on the TV down a tad. "Just meeting Daigo" The fifteen year old boy replied dismissively, before heading over to the door. "I still don't have a clue who this Daigo person is. Or how the two of you suddenly became all chummy." Neo said condescendingly, but Nexus wasn't too bothered by his attitude. "Maybe I'm just not as much of a loner as you are. Anyway, I'll be back sometime later, don't wait up for me." Nexus told him as he opened the door and started to head out, waving just before he did so. "Bye" Neo called, watching as his brother disappeared from view and closed the door behind him. He waited a few seconds, then hit the power button on the TV and quickly grabbed his hoodie, pulling it on over his head as he hurriedly moved towards the door. He slowly opened it, peeking his head out just to ensure Nexus wasn't anywhere in view, then slipped outside and turned to lock the door before hurrying down the staircase of the apartment building. He'd been suspicious of Nexus' late night activities for a long while, and tonight was the night he found out exactly what sort of things his brother got up to. Neo had considered plenty of possibilities, but none of them had much basis behind them since Neo was pretty much completely in the dark about everything. All he knew was that Nexus went out extremely frequently at night, was somehow earning money to buy enough food and pay all the bills, and spent a lot of time with this mysterious 'Daigo' person. What sort of name was that anyway? He wanted to find out more about them, and if they were potentially dangerous, and also how they were linked to Nexus' strange income despite the fact he never worked during the day. Hopefully all his questions would be answered tonight, and if not Neo fully intended to make following Nexus a regular thing until he found out more. He made it to the ground floor but suddenly froze as he spotted his brother standing just beside the front entrance to the building. Neo quickly ran further back up the stairs and out of sight, but stayed with his back against the banister to listen to Nexus. He seemed to be on the phone, and Neo began to pick up on what the boy was saying "...is anyone else gonna be with us tonight? I told them we were planning on trying our luck with that one street but I don't know if they're coming along...mmhm...yeah, alright...got it. I'll meet you there in about five minutes, sound good?" Nexus waited for a response before hanging up the phone, then walked out of the building and into the street. Neo figured the coast was clear, and that he'd have to keep an eye on where Nexus was going if he wanted this to go off without a hitch. He hurried outside after the boy, being met with the noticeably chilly night's air, then quickly looked both ways down the street to try and spot him. Luckily the streets weren't too busy, so he wasn't difficult to find, but it also meant that if Nexus were to glance behind him while walking then Neo wouldn't be able to take cover in any sort of crowd. It was a risk he'd have to take, so after letting out a misty break and shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets, he took off walking down the street after Nexus. As he walked he began to silently wish he'd taken more than just a hoodie with him into the night, but it was far too late to go back now. He followed Nexus all the way to the entrance of an alleyway, until the older brother stopped walking and instead just stood leaning against the wall. Lucky for Neo there was a store close to the alley, so he walked over and began inspecting some items through the window halfheartedly in an attempt to seem inconspicuous. Slowly he started to worry, however, that Daigo wasn't going to show for a while, and that he only had a few seconds until Nexus noticed him and his cover was blown. He knew he had to move, and quick, but he needed somewhere he could keep an eye Nexus, and Daigo when he arrived. He glanced at the shop in front of him then looked further up the building and to the roof. The building was made so that a large number of apartments were situated above the store, making it high enough so that it'd be very unlikely for Neo to be seen, but low enough so that he'd still have a good view of Nexus and the alleyway. He turned and began walking the opposite direction from the man, before quickly darting around the second alleyway to examine the side of the building. He saw his ticket to the roof, a fire escape that went up past all the apartment windows. The ladder up didn't exactly seem reliable, but luckily Neo didn't need ladders. He checked no one else was in the alleyway with him, then conjured black steps in front of him to lead up to the fire escape. He quickly ran up them and dismissed them once he had pulled himself over the metal railing, taking a second to warm his hands up with his breath before starting to make his way to the very top. Eventually he reached a spot he could climb onto the roof from, grabbing a hold of the edge before hoisting himself up. Once on the roof he immediately moved towards the opposite edge to see if he could still spot Nexus, and when he peered over into the alleyway below he found that his older brother had been joined by a white haired boy of the same age, with the two of them still standing just in front of the entrance to the alley. Neo breathed a small sigh of relief and relished in his accomplishment, despite the fact he couldn't get a proper look at his brother's accomplice. He stayed there for a good fifteen minutes, waiting for something to happen with the pair, until he noticed a woman and her child walking down the alleyway from the opposite end. The woman seemed to be in her forties, she was fairly tall with flowing, dark black hair, which made her look a lot more youthful than she was, and although Neo couldn't quite see her eye colour he was sure they were some shade of green. She was dressed modestly, with some casual clothes underneath her cozy fur jacket, a patterned scarf draped around her neck, and a purse hanging from her shoulder. A flash of familiarity flew through Neo's head as he looked at her, but he was completely certain he hadn't the slightest clue who the woman was. The girl by her side appeared to be fairly young, probably around ten or eleven and only a few years younger than Neo. She had blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail, contrast to the darkness of her mother's, which she covered with a hat, and also donned a puffy pink jacket. Neo watched as the pair walked down the alleyway, talking to each other as they discussed whatever it was they'd been away spending the night doing. He also watched, however, as Daigo and Nexus turned around and began walking towards the woman and her daughter side by side in menacing silence. Eventually they met in the middle of the alleyway, but when the woman moved to pass by they both stopped in front of her, blocking her path. Neo watched as his brother said a few words to the woman, her face suddenly becoming shocked as she pulled her daughter close her. The girl stared at at Nexus and Daigo in fear from her mother's side but the two continued standing threateningly, hands in their pockets, until Nexus raised one hand and held it out, clearly asking the woman to hand her things over. The woman reached for her purse, but suddenly froze with her eyes locked directly on Nexus. She muttered something that Neo couldn't make out, but whatever she said caused Nexus to actively recoil in surprise. There was a moment of silence, until Nexus shouted at her to stop talking and hurry with what she was doing. The woman didn't move however, her gaze remaining on Nexus as she lifted a hand to cover her mouth, a gesture Neo couldn't quite understand the reasoning behind. He stared, transfixed on the scene as Nexus suddenly grew extremely impatient and shouted threateningly at her, pulling his hand back as though preparing to the something. Neo knew the gesture from the numerous times Nexus had shown off his powers to him, and watched in stunned horror as his brother flicked his wrist and a sharp whooshing sound filled the air. The woman suddenly cried out and lunged in front of her daughter, her throat erupting with blood as a horribly deep gash cut clean through it instantaneously. Neo's eyes widened as he slammed a hand over his mouth, stopping himself from screaming out while watching Nexus and Daigo stand in place with shocked expressions. The woman remained standing for a second, her hand clutching her bleeding throat, until the life left her eyes and she fell to the ground, laying in a crumpled heap. Her daughter let out a traumatising scream as she watched her mother collide with the alleyway floor, tears immediately streaming down her face as she looked from her mother's body, to Nexus and Daigo. Daigo remained where he was, while Nexus took a step towards the girl and started to raise his hand slowly, a cold glint in his eyes. The girl grew silent as she shook with crippling fear, before she took off running for her life in the opposite direction. Nexus pulled his hand back again, and Neo suddenly threw himself away from the edge of the building and squeezed his eyes shut. "NEXUS NO!" He heard Daigo shout, but it was much too late, as the whooshing sound filled the air again to pierce straight through the girl before the sound of it colliding with the wall echoed up to the rooftop. Neo stayed perfectly still, curled up on the rooftop with his forehead resting against his knees as he tried to calm his terrible shaking. Tears streamed down his face as everything he'd just witnessed replayed over and over in his head, the image of the woman's throat being slashed extremely prominent in his mind. He heard some scurrying from the other roof across the alleyway, and raised his head to turn and look in the direction. Nexus and Daigo had somehow made it up to the roof, and were now pulling themselves to their feet before taking off running across it. Neo decided there was no way he'd let Nexus get away without confronting him, so quickly got up and sprinted after the duo. As soon as he got to the gap between the roofs he conjured a dark platform that he used to jump on and then across to the other side, eyes locked on Nexus and Daigo as his brother used his powers to similarly help them over any gaps they needed to jump. Neo decided it was useless being caught in the open, so made sure to create a thin shroud of darkness around his body in case either of them glanced back and he had to hide in the shadows. Eventually Daigo split off from Nexus and began making his way down a fire escape to the street below, so Neo continued following his brother back in the direction of their apartment building. After a decent while Nexus arrived on the roof of the building, being none the wiser about Neo still hot on his tail. He quickly used to entrance to the roof to get back into the building, and once Neo had reached it he dismissed the shadows and ran after Nexus. The boy hurried down the stairs and to his apartment door, finding it already open and Nexus already inside. He ran in and saw the older boy standing in the centre of the living room, his head in his hands as he remained still. The images and loops of the woman and her daughter were still fresh in Neo's mind, and without a moment to even acknowledge it he clenched his fists and shouted out in rage, lunging at Nexus. The boy looked up just in time to see Neo descend on him, but there was nothing he could do to stop the flaming dark fist from crashing straight into the side of his face. The force alone caused him to be flung back and smash into the wall, momentarily disorientated from receiving such a hit. Neo was completely ruthless, letting out another shout as he fired a beam of darkness right at Nexus' head. Luckily he had just enough time to put his hands up and conjure a weak barrier, which was enough to stop the beam from reaching him. As fast as he could he pulled himself to his feet, just as another of Neo's beams came right for him. He blocked it again but suddenly the boy was beside him, swinging a dark coated foot right at Nexus' ribs, who managed to just back out the way in time. Neo moved with extreme precision and speed, his eyes burning with fury almost as though it was his anger fuelling his powers. Quick as a flash he turned and sent another punch at Nexus, but the boy was ready this time and managed to catch it by surrounding his hand with a thin invisible barrier. Just as Neo swung again Nexus threw his other hand forward, hitting him with a wall of air and causing him to fly backwards into the wall. The older boy kept his hand where it was however, using an invisible hand to hold Neo up in mid air. The boy scrambled to escape but couldn't do much, only managing to flail his arms side to side ever so slightly. "Listen Neo, let me explain-" Nexus started to say, but was quickly cut off by a snarl from Neo "You have nothing to say to me! Nothing!" The boy shouted, sending two beams at Nexus simultaneously from his hands even in his constricted position. Nexus quickly darted to the side of one and put up a barrier to block the other, but in doing so let Neo drop to the ground. The boy didn't hesitate to sprint at him yet again, conjuring a lethally sharp black blade in one hand which he swung at Nexus with all his might. The boy put a hand up, causing the sword to bounce off his barrier, but Neo took the chance to reach out and grab Nexus by the throat. Nexus grabbed his wrist and tried to pry him off, but the boy had a vice like grip and he could feel the oxygen rapidly leaving his lungs. Neo was trying to crush his windpipe completely, but just as his vision started to go blurry Nexus pointed his hand at Neo's side and sent a sharp beam right at him. The beam shot past his waist but sliced him deep enough to leave an extremely nasty cut in his flesh, causing Neo to shout out in pain and loosen his grip. He glanced down at his side purely on instinct, rendering  him unable to stop Nexus from throwing his hands off his throat, before swinging his fist powerfully down on the side of the boy's head and sending him crumbling to the floor in an instant. Neo was completely dazed on the ground, and it was all he could do to raise a single hand weakly as he anticipated another attack. Nothing came however, and when he looked up at Nexus he was met with the tip of his own dark blade pointed straight at his throat, with Nexus holding it by the hilt. Neo realised he was completely at the boy's mercy, but that didn't stop him from scrambling away in a last ditch effort. Nexus didn't bother following, instead keeping the blade pointed directly at him in case he tried anything again. They both looked into each other's eyes again, Neo's filled with burning rage and Nexus's filled with emotionless solemnity, before Neo glanced at the door to the apartment, trying to judge if he could get to it. Without another glance in Nexus' direction the boy scrambled to his feet and sprinted towards it, swinging it open as he darted out and ran as fast as he could down the staircase and away from his murderer of a brother.