The Custodes

Chapter 16 - Recovery and Romance

"STOP THIS! PLEASE!" A woman's hysteric screams came from down the corridor, frantic and horrified as a lone man walked casually towards her. He left behind him a trail of blood and bodies, littering the colourful floors and tainting the light-hearted poster covered walls with gory brutality of an unimaginable kind. The woman cried in anguish, head darting around to look for an escape from the horrific fate that was staring her right in the face. She tried to run towards one of the doors, but was met with a barrier than hadn't been there an instant ago. The man was there, in front of her now, having moved so quickly that she barely even noticed the movement. Her mouth opened as a scream rose in her throat, but before she could let it out hands wrapped around her neck, cutting it off as she immediately struggled for breath. His thumbs were pressing into her windpipe with so much strength that she knew it was fruitless to try and break free, but slowly they started to move up. Her head was held between his hands, causing her feet to leave the ground as the pressure on her throat suddenly loosened, allowing her to suck in a raspy breath as a burst of relief fluttered through her. That relief was almost immediately replaced with dread however as her vision went completely black and his thumbs slipped over her eyes. Another scream rose from within her as the man began to squeeze with all his might, her body flailing like a fish in his grasp. She screamed her lungs out as he took his sweet time with the task, pushing harder and harder and harder with his thumbs until finally-

Neo's eyes shot open, met with nothing but darkness for a short second. Quivering and trembling he looked around, reminded of his surroundings, but his thoughts were soon interrupted as he felt the fresh, warm tears that were already streaming down his face. It was the middle of the night, the alarm clock to his right read 3:27 and the curtains were pulled shut over the window to keep out the lights of the city. Kelsie's bedsheets surrounded Neo comfortingly, but he slipped out of them to sit against the headrest as he tried to wipe away his tears. It'd been a week since the encounter with Zuro. After his anger-fuelled assault ended and the realisation that Zuro had gotten away kicked in, Neo had a breakdown in the middle of the park, though luckily the others were there to help. Synthia was by his side doing all she could to bring him back to his senses, but when that fell through Noah thought to get him away from the scene as soon as possible and took the three of them back to Kelsie's. After that Noah quickly went back for the others while Synthia held Neo on Kelsie's bed, and after an hour or two of blank stares and no responses he fell asleep. The memories Zuro had implanted haunted him every second for the first few days after that, crippling him so much that he couldn't even leave the room or speak to anyone. Synthia stayed by his side through all of it, spending hours at a time simply stroking his hair or talking soothingly to him, and Neo knew for a fact that without her he likely never would've come out of his trance. Eventually he managed to keep the memories in check somewhat, leaving room for his old self to come back to the light. After a week he was still reminded of it fairly frequently, and had vivid nightmares at least three times a night, but by comparison to how he was previously it was definitely an improvement. Two days prior he left the bedroom for the first time, sitting down in the living room to talk everything through with Noah Synthia and Kelsie, who all spoke to him like they always had, albeit with a hint of understandable sensitivity. It definitely helped him go back to functioning properly even more than he already had, and he let them all know how incredibly grateful he was to all of them. They explained everything that happened in the park afterwards to him, and how in the meantime there hadn't been a single Zuro sighting since. Noah mentioned that he'd actually called the girl who's number he'd gotten at the cafe, and how they'd gone out together on a 'sort of first date' as he put it. That had filled Neo with a tiny burst of happiness, and he immediately pressed to hear all the details. Her name was Rose and she was an extremely nice person, apparently. Noah explained how he'd decided to meet her just for the sake of it, and was half hoping she'd take his mind off of things, but that they'd gotten along incredibly well and she was not at all what he expected. They had another date planned already, though Noah made sure to tell Neo that he'd cancel if he wanted him to now that he was on the way to being back to normal. Neo had actually laughed in the boy's face and told him there was no way in hell he was missing that date, which seemed to lighten Noah's mood up even more. Kelsie went on to tell him that Axel was away busy with work and things at that moment and so were her parents, though they both knew he'd been staying with her and were equally concerned about him. Although her parents never knew the full extent of what happened, Neo was grateful for their concern and told Kelsie to let Axel know he could see him anytime. The thing at the back of Neo's mind at the time however was that neither of them mentioned Kayla, and since Axel had come to visit him the next day it meant she was the only person he hadn't spoken to in the group. He never brought her up to any of them either, merely thinking back to the park when she'd turned her back on him and ran. It was clear to him that he was hurt by it, he knew himself well enough to know that. It felt like he was being kicked while he was down, though Neo knew in comparison to what he'd seen it shouldn't have been such a big deal to him. Which is why he was surprised that it hit him that hard. He'd had the time to mull over it, and since he was back in his right mindset he managed to think about it as realistically as he could. Kayla didn't want anything to do with him, that appeared to be a given. Even in his time of need she refused to go near him, and although he understood that she had a lot going on and had finally realised his mistake in trying to deal with her father, her heartless attitude towards him caused him even more upset. So he made the conscious decision to try and force himself not to care. For her sake and his. He would stay out of her path as much as she wanted him to, and maybe if he did there would be no need for her to be so blatantly cold to him. It might be a struggle with the mutual friendships between them but he was sure it was an easier option than chasing after her. Neo let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes, though more out of tiredness since his tears had stopped flowing a decent while ago. He quietly slipped out of bed and moved towards the door, entering the living room and shakily making his way through it over to the bathroom. Quiet snoring filled the air and caused Neo to spare a glance in the direction of the couch. Kelsie was fast asleep on it, hugging a stuffed animal and subconsciously pulling her covers tighter around her, while beside the couch lay Synthia in a makeshift bed, her back to Neo and her ginger hair sprawled out in a mess as she slept. Neo cracked a small, short-lived smile at the pair, before entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. When he was finished he washed his hands and splashed some water on his face in an attempt to quell his still noticeable trembling, turning off the light as he exited the doorway only to see Synthia's drowsy gaze fall onto him. Neo paused, looking at her apologetically, though he doubted she could see it through the darkness "Sorry. I didn't meant to wake you." Synthia looked at him for a second longer, then raised her hand and stretched it out towards him "Come here." He watched her with a hint of hesitance, inclined to leave her be so she'd go back to sleep, but despite this he did as she asked and walked quietly over, standing next to her bed. She reached up a little further and took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb along the back of it as she looked up at his slightly rigid form "Nightmares again?" Neo felt his heart twang slightly as her soft, concerned tone reached him, like he was being reminded that someone cared about him all over again. He never doubted it of course, but having someone like Synthia who made it seem like he was her biggest concern at all times was a heartwarming thing to have. Over the past week the two had grown far closer than they ever had been, mostly due to Synthia refusing to leave his side for almost anything. She was the first one he spoke to after it had happened, of course. The conversation started extremely small, only a few words being exchanged, but that slowly grew until Neo was more than happy to go and talk to the others. Sometimes during their earlier conversations Neo would be reminded of the memories and immediately shut down again, but not once did Synthia push him to talk more when it happened. Back then it felt like she understood him perfectly, in fact it still did, and no one else had been there for him the way she had. Certainly not Kayla. "Yeah...but I'm fine. Go back to sleep." Neo said to her, but just by looking at her he knew that wasn't at all what she was planning, which was further solidified when she threw off her covers and stood up, hand still in his. "Lets go to the bedroom." She said, already turning and leading him away before he could open his mouth to object. He knew the chances of actually refusing were slim though, that's the type of person Synthia was. They walked back to Kelsie's bedroom, shutting the door behind them before both plopping down on top of the bed. "Here." She said, leaning her shoulder against the headrest and opening her arms as a gesture for Neo to lean into her. That was another thing. Synthia had always been very open, but her treatment towards Neo was far more affectionate now. It was either that, or simply to comfort him, or both maybe. Either way, her small gestures did relax him a great deal and keep him particularly calm, so he didn't object. He scooted up beside her and let himself fall against her, her arms wrapping around him and pulling his head back to rest on her chest. She didn't say anything, though what exactly could she have said in that situation. She couldn't tell him it wasn't real, or that he was safe from it, so instead she held him just like she had when he'd blocked out everything, knowing full well that it was what he needed. Neo felt himself relax, not realising how tense he'd been even after waking up from the nightmare. It was a soothing atmosphere, with Synthia talking quietly into his hair "I can stay with you tonight. Much comfier than sleeping on the floor anyway." Neo smiled slightly, resting a hand on her arm to show his gratitude "Thank you." Synthia pulled the covers up to cover both of their lower halves, then slowly adjusted so that they were both comfortably resting on a pillow, though still in the same position. She brought a hand up to his hair, gently twirling a strand of it around a finger, and Neo felt himself begin to grow drowsy and inch closer and closer to sleep, until before he knew it he was snoring peacefully in her arms. Synthia smiled, continuing to play with his hair, then planted a small kiss on his head and let herself slowly drift to sleep as well.