The Custodes

Chapter 34 - True Feelings And True Forms

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.