The Custodes

Chapter 21 - A Return To Form

Neo
Neo's head lurched backwards as he sucked in a sudden gasp of air, his strength failing him as he crumpled to the floor completely limp. Luckily Synthia was there to catch him, shouting his name as she stopped him from hitting the floor hard and held him against her. She met his gaze, her expression quickly filling with shock as she saw blood gushing out of his nose and streaking down past his chin. "Hector!" She called, trying to prevent herself from immediately panicking as she turned to look at the older man. Hector was already on his feet, hurriedly moving to the other side of the room to fetch something that she hoped would help the situation. She looked back at Neo but suddenly felt his hand gripping her arm, giving her a small reassuring squeeze and communicating to her without words that he was alright, and just needed a minute. His breath was coming in short, broken bursts, making it sound as though his lungs were being crushed, but slowly he started to gain more control over it. Hector returned with a white rag, quickly handing it to Synthia as she began to mop up all of Neo's spilled blood, holding it under his nose to ensure no more spilled out. They stayed like that for a good few minutes, until Neo finally got his breathing down to a manageable level and reached up to hold the rag in Synthia's place. She helped him back to his feet, only to sit him back down on the couch straight away and look at him with concern. "I'm okay..." He murmured into the rag, waving off Synthia's concern like that would magically make it disappear. "Well..." Hector said, dropping back into his seat as he cleared his throat "It seems the side effects were much less extreme than I feared." "And what exactly did you fear?" Synthia said accusingly, spinning on Hector angrily before Neo took a hold of her hand and pulled her back down onto the couch. It appeared Neo had finally stopped bleeding, so he pulled the rag away from his face, sniffed a few times, then looked between Hector and Synthia as the latter crossed her arms and leaned back. "Are you gonna let the dramatic effect settle in for a minute longer or you wanna start talking?" Hector said, eliciting a snort of laughter from Synthia since it was precisely what she'd been thinking too. "Where do I start?" He asked simply, taking the time to think back to the memories that weren't his own, picking out the key points of Zuro's life he should cover. "A summary, for now. We can delve deeper in a bit." Hector answered, as Neo nodded before beginning "Okay. The planet, uh..." "Dathmos." "Right. Dathmos is ruled by a royal family. Years ago, when Heimskor took the Dohlkai's powers like you told me, he left the Dragnura family with theirs so that they could keep order established. Charon and Hadi, or rather...er...Zuro and his twin brother, were members of the family - the current King's sons to be precise. But a man kidnapped them, his name's Dolion, and-" "I said summary Neo, Jesus Christ." Hector interrupted, flashing Synthia a slightly sympathetic look as she tried her very best to keep up but ultimately failed. "That-...that was the summary." Neo said, scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of how else to simplify it. "Just forget about everything you've seen for the time being. Think about now. What have you learned about Zuro that can help us defeat him?" Hector said, leaning forward slightly in his chair as he awaited Neo's answer. "He has another form." He stated, feeling as though that was probably the biggest thing he'd learned from his memories "A far, far more powerful one than the regular human body we've seen him in." "You're fucking kidding me..." Synthia said, looking at Neo incredulously. "It's true...what happened at the park - I wasn't even remotely close to killing him. I destroyed his human form, but I promise you if he'd chosen to transform into his true one we would've all been dead. He actually spared our lives by running..." He almost couldn't believe the words were leaving his mouth as he said them. It was a horrible thought, one that made him feel sick to the stomach, but when he looked at Hector he saw that the man wasn't satisfied with just that at all. "What else?" He prodded, with Neo pausing to think for a second "There's a weapon we could use. A blade from his home planet, that kills Dohlkai entirely even when in their human form. It seems like something we could definitely use to our advantage, and I know exactly where he's hidden it here on this planet." Hector rubbed his chin for a second, nodding as he thought on it "It may be in our best interests to find it then. What else did he take with him to Earth?" "Books. Two of them, enchanted I think. One about humans and the other about the artefact." Neo spared a glance at Synthia, but she had her eyes on her clasped hands,  clearly in her own thoughts. He had a good idea of what she might be thinking about, deciding not to interrupt her as he watched Hector. "I do love a good book..." Hector mumbled half to himself "We should get them. Is it somewhere easily accessible?" "It's on a rooftop. Should be easy enough to get to assuming Zuro either isn't there or hasn't moved it." Neo explained, as Hector nodded understandingly "Alright. Go now, if Zuro realises the risk of us peering into his memories he may have already retrieved them." Neo gave a firm nod and stood up, unintentionally shaking Synthia from her thoughtful trance as she got up as well. "I'll be back soon. We can discuss this further." Neo said, moving to leave as Hector waved goodbye. "Thanks for everything. I'll keep him safe." Synthia said to Hector, who chuckled and smiled at her "I'm sure you will." She returned the smile and quickly left after Neo, as Hector leaned back in his chair and looked down thoughtfully.