Slayer: Here we are for the last time until we finish both the Void emperor.
Judan: And the Black dragon story. Still we'll do our other ones periodically.
Slayer: Yeah it's not like I've been doing the Dark Guard series for five years now.
Judan: Still need to rewrite the first one.
Neos: Ain't that the truth… But still, what was up last chapter?! You've made me lose an eye!
Shadow: It was an interesting fight while it lasted at least.
Neos: You're not involved in this!
Shadow: Meh suit yourself.
Sun: My gun chucks were destroyed to!
Shadow: Again it was an interesting fight.
Kuros: Don't worry everything will turn out fine in the end.
Slayer: Maybe… Maybe not…
Judan: That sounds cryptic… YEAH!
Neos: Oh my gosh...
Sun: Should we be worried?
Kuros: Probably. But you know what? I don't care anymore! Let's just get on with the story!
Shadow: Uhh… Fine! Just stop yelling. Now then ahem… We here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but OC's, and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their respective owners. Now without further ado…
Everyone: Here's the story!
(S/N Slayer's notes)
(J/N Judan's notes)
"Dark inner voice/Hollow"
'Light inner voice/Zangetsu'
Thinking/talking to inner spirit
"Telepathic communication"
Arc two: The real enemy
Chapter Twelve: An eye for a tooth, an arm for a leg, a but for uh…never mind
Time during the fight at the docks
Location unknown
When Neos first began to wake, the first thing he felt was a sense of weightlessness. As if he was just floating around in mid-air. Though he was used to flying as a dragon, this was something completely different. Finally having enough at not knowing what was happening, he forced his eyes opened. As Neos did so, he frowned as he observed everything around himself.
Okay so what is this place? Is this an illusion? His questions were well founded, since everywhere that he looked all he saw was white. It was as if he was in a giant sphere of nothingness. The closest comparison he could come up was the Void. But even then there were differences for one… if he was in the Void the Outsider would've already contacted him. Seeing how he had yet to see any trace of the eccentric ruler. He had to assume that this wasn't the Void.
It was at this time when his curiosity weakened, that he noticed something off with his sight. That being that he could only see out of his left eye. For any normal person this would've been a cause for alarm. However having already experienced getting his eyes gouged out, burned, impaled, pulled out, and even slashed. Neos instead just sighed at the loss of his perfect ocular prowess. Especially seeing how this time, he couldn't just off himself to restore his sight. As was the norm in Boletaria, when his soul was tied to the nexus forever reviving and dying.
That however didn't mean that he didn't feel any shame. For he had been taken out early, and easily during the fight with Jauk. Though logically he knew he did everything that he could. After all how could he foresee Jauk, having a device specifically made to take him out? The answer was simple… he couldn't. Still that didn't ease any feelings of guilt, especially since he knew that the others, specifically his mother and Ruby. Would be extremely disheartened over his new condition.
Sighing he spoke out loud to himself. "It's just one thing after another isn't it?" He was startled as a voice actually answered back.
"It always is for people like us." Turning around so fast, that it would've given whiplash to a regular person, he observed the only other person in the area. He had to raise his brow at what he saw. Because standing before him was someone he had never met, and yet… seemed so very familiar. From his shoulders and posture he could easily tell that his companion was male. They were also the same exact height, and even had the same exact build.
However their clothes differed. The one before him wore a black leather trenchcoat. It stopped four inches above his feet, while on his feet he wore black leather combat boots. The coat also had a red zipper, which ended right above his waist and went up to his neck. This allowed the coat to flow out, and not hamper his movement. It also came with a hood that obscured his face in darkness.
As he looked closer Neos saw that, he was also wearing red chainmail underneath his coat. Then finally on his hands were red leather gloves.
It was at this time that Neos, realized that the stranger before him was rather patient. He had after all just waited for Neos to finish observing him. Smiling slightly Neos decided to finally speak to him.
"Sorry for just staring at you like that, but I like to know what the person I'm talking to looks like. But enough of that let me introduce myself." However before he continued the stranger cut him off.
Although Neos' response was to just blink uncaringly. "You're Neos Drakon Goodwitch, formerly Neos Draconis, and code named Bladedancer. Yes I know who you are… in fact I know you better than yourself." This part actually got Neos to furrow his brow in thought.
Strange… the only person who should know me better than myself is… At the conclusion of his thoughts his eye widened, but after a moment his face morphed into an interested smirk.
Then chuckling he spoke. "Hehehe, well then… what would I like to talk to myself about then?" His now identified other self started laughing. It wasn't until he was out of breath did he stop to breathe.
Then looking at his original he spoke. "Of course you'd figure it out quickly, we are pretty smart after all. But that isn't really what I've called you here to discuss." At hearing his serious voice Neos also became serious as he listened. "As you may or may not have guessed, I am indeed a part of you. Your Broodknight part which you've decided to reject." At his words Neos couldn't help but let his face become downcast.
He knew that he was right, but that didn't stop him from speaking up. "You know why I've rejected you. If you're me than you understand my true feelings about what I am, and what I can do." His Broodknight self sighed warily before dropping his hood. This revealed a face identical to Neos. Except his eyes or eye in this case, along with his hair were both different. His left eye was a silverish blue, and his hair was pure white. These particular shades reminded Neos of his father Maxos. Seeing how they were exactly the same as his.
However looking upon him, only made Neos hiss in pure disgust. This caused the frown that marred his doppelgangers face to deepen.
But even still he kept on speaking. "Neos you need to let this go, for as long as we aren't one. You'll never reach your true potential; this fight with Jauk had stirred something within you. This something woke me up; as such it is time for you to wake up. Just think on this, because if you don't everyone you know and love could be killed. Besides if you can accept the literally personification of your darkness. Than it is quite possible to accept me." Neos shook his head at that, before staring at his doppelganger with his lone eye.
When he spoke his voice sounded tired. "That situation was rather different, as you know we just didn't want to be part of the game any longer. If it wasn't for our "dear" old dad interfering we would've died that day. And you know what? We would've been perfectly fine with it!" His voice became angry as Neos started shouting. "I've just recently remembered everything, and yes I do mean everything. And you know what? The more I think about our past the angrier I get! I never wanted to be a fighter!" BK (brood knight) Neos cut him off at that point.
"Yes I understand I am you after all. We wanted to be a writer, a story teller. Someone who came up with make believe fantasy worlds, with heroes and monsters. We wanted to inspire feats of bravery, and even just bring out the imagination of all those who read our stories." Neos growled before speaking up.
"Only it didn't turn out that way, no it didn't turn out that way at all! Instead mother was killed, dad became detached to everything, and he sealed away our memories for the first time. He then sent us off to some backwards future of earth!" All through this his BK self just waited and listened, until Neos was out of breath. However seeing how he was a dragon, this took quite some time.
But when Neos stopped to breathe was when he spoke. "Yet you do not blame him for everything, you only blame him for pushing you away. Also for forcing you to become what you are now. Yet you do not reject all of me. No! Your dragon forms are proof of our Brood Knight blood. It's affecting them, transforming and evolving them into something new. So how can you say you hate him so?"
Sucking on his teeth for a second Neos folded his arms before speaking. "Because… even through everything I understood what he was doing. Even if I didn't like it, however when he did the same thing to Blake… I understood what he had become. A coward too scared to fight his own battles; instead he uses us as pawns. He's even become detached enough to scar her terribly. Not to mention dragging Ruby into this, which is part of the reason I have accepted you. I need your strength to protect the first girl I've ever truly loved. But that isn't enough for me to accept all of you." Neos then watched as his Bk self sighed before speaking.
"I knew all of this, which you no doubt already knew that I knew. But I had sincerely hoped that me talking to you would change your mind. But I can now see that it won't be that simple." He then turned around before giving his parting words. "I guess this is all that I can do for now, so goodbye for now that is. After all… we will meet again someday, when you feel a little more accepting." He then disappeared in what looked like a heat wave. This left Neos all alone to think about his other self's words.
Line break
Location City of Vale (With Ichigo and Velvet) near the shipping yards.
Ichigo was now extremely frustrated with his opponent. It didn't help that he saw, and heard a large explosion near the docks. The place where he knew the rest of his friends were at. At that moment his thoughts were interrupted, as he intercepted a thrust to his head.
"Get your head in the game king!" Needless to say Ichigo actually followed that advice, as he jumped back from his strange opponent.
This is taking forever! We need to find a way to catch him off guard.
'Agreed, but the question is how?'
"We could always blitz him. But then again we aren't as fast as we were in Bankai."
If we had Bankai we wouldn't even be in this mess right now! The conversation in his mind was then swiftly interrupted, by his opponent's right blade. Bracing himself Ichigo blocked it with the flat of his own. Seeing another one coming in to impale his head, Ichigo quickly blinked away. He was now panting heavily as he observed his opponent. So far this fight had been extremely tough, not because his opponent was insanely strong. No in fact they were about equal with his opponent being a bit stronger. He was also just a little bit faster than it. But that was exactly what made this difficult.
He couldn't afford to make one mistake fighting him.
So with both of them leaning forward they once again clashed blades. All the while poor Velvet was watching, while holding her hands clasped over her chest. To her this was more nerve racking than actually fighting. Seeing the boy she liked fight for his life without being able to do anything, was almost too much for the normally timid girl. However she couldn't help but narrow her eyes in confusion. Because for some reason the shadows, the two swordsmen had were somehow twenty times bigger. It wasn't until a second later that she realized that it was just a single shadow.
It was also getting smaller by the second, deciding to find out what it was she looked up. She couldn't help but let her eyes widen before shouting out to Ichigo.
"Ichigo ABOVE YOU!" Her yell startled both fighters, but both looked up quickly enough.
"AHHH!" Yelling out in surprise Ichigo blinked out of the way, as a giant black and white dragon landed where he was fighting. But unlike Ichigo himself… his opponent wasn't so lucky. In fact at the moment he was underneath the left front paw of the dragon. Then much to his surprise the dragon lifted said paw to look underneath it. It saw the now smashed body and to everyone's shock spoke.
"Well there goes another fighter literally crushed under foot." The dragon then looked towards the greatly confused teens before speaking. "Hello there my name's Kuros Wik Suun. I was heading over to where the explosion was with my companion. But then I saw you fighting and decided to give you a hand... or a paw in this case." As he said that said companion slid off of his back.
"Whew! So that's what it's like to fly on someone else!~ You should carry me around more often!" As both Ichigo and Velvet looked at the blue haired girl, they were reminded of one other person…
"Why?! Why does there have to be two of them?! One Nora was bad enough!"
Agreeing with his hollow Ichigo decided that just standing around, staring wasn't doing anything. It also helped that Neos explained who Kuros was. Mostly because he predicted that he wouldn't be too far from Artemis' side. At least not until he was found that is.
So clearing his throat he spoke. "Ahem… sorry for interrupting, you are here to find Neos right?" Quickly looking at the ex-Shinigami Kuros observed him for a moment, before his mouth formed into a sharp toothy grin. To both Ichigo and Velvet that was actually rather terrifying. Especially since he was big enough to eat them whole, not even Neos' dragon form was quite as large as Kuros. In fact if he had to guess… Ichigo would say Kuros was fifty percent bigger.
In other words he had a wing span of thirty seven and a half meters across. Was twenty two meters tall, and was forty five meters from head to tail. It was no wonder that Kuros had crushed his strange opponent when he landed on him.
Still even though their nervousness showed heavily Kuros still spoke to them. "I take it you two know him fairly well then yes? After all he has told you about us. As such you know where he is at this moment don't you?" Though it was voiced as a question, everyone knew it was actually a statement.
Still Ichigo regaining his composure spoke seriously. "Yeah we know him, he's a good friend of ours. But as to where he is… that would be where the explosion happened. We would've gone sooner, but the guy you just stepped on got in our way." Kuros looked down at the strange man he had crushed before snorting.
"Sorry but this "man" isn't even a human. No he's not even like your bunny eared friend. He's a construct, made for the sole purpose of aiding his creator. Still I've never seen one designed like this before…" Turning back to Ichigo and Velvet he spoke seriously. "We need to get to Neos; something isn't right about all this. I fear that his life might be in danger. So hop on I'll take you there." Kuros then lowered himself to the ground, as Irukuku gleefully climbed back onto him. Turning to Velvet Ichigo shrugged before both of them climbed on as well.
However as he rose to his full height, Velvet gripped onto Ichigo in fright as the large reptile took off.
Line break
Location City of Vale (With Neos' group) at the shipping yards
Everyone stared as they saw Artemis easily withstanding Jauk's attack. But although they were surprised they were relieved as well. Jauk however was quite furious, which was easily reflected in his voice.
"Gravelord… what an… interesting surprise. Truly we didn't think that you'd be here, but then again I guess a weakened Brood Knight would need a body guard." He then brought down his other sword, however Artemis held firmly. This only irritated Jauk further as he continued to taunt him. "To be honest I always knew that we should've killed you long ago. But here you are… a mistake I'll recti…" He was cut off as a powerful gust of wind slammed into him. Causing him to skid and roll across the ground. However he recovered quickly and jumped back to his feet.
Growling he spotted his attacker. However seeing them brought a feral look to his eye. The one who attacked him was Charlotte, easily using a powerful wind spell to blast him away. The others could only watch in awe as these two, tossed around an opponent they couldn't even scratch. Of course they had the element of surprise, and they were trained by fairly powerful individuals. But it was still impressive. However While Jauk glared at them, Artemis turned to his female companion.
"Hey Charlotte I'll handle this guy, but I need you to heal Neos as best as you can." Her response was a nod of the head, before she ran behind him and knelt next to the dragon. Ruby watched as she approached, but didn't do anything to deter her. She knew that Neos would need all the help that he could get. However her eyes widened as Charlotte held her staff above his body, and a green glow enveloped him. She was even more shocked as his wounds slowly started to heal. The others seeing how he was being taken care of ran up to Artemis. They then took fighting stances, however seeing this Artemis spoke to them.
"Sorry but this is my fight now. Not to insult any of you, but you're not strong enough." Reluctantly everyone but Zach pulled back. Looking at the voidspawn Artemis chuckled before speaking. "You're brave I'll give you that, but that will only get you so far. But now is no time for heroics. Besides Yukari wants to see not only you but Ruby, Neos, and his sister. So really you won't be here long enough to even fight." Everyone was about to question him, before a black tear opened up.
It was pitched black inside and filled with eyes. However before anyone could act, the before mentioned persons, were sucked up into them before they disappeared. The others could only watch in shock at the scene before them. But before Yang could threaten Artemis they felt strong winds, and heard the sound of the ground cracking. Turning around they saw Kuros in all his glory. Mouths easily dropped at the size of the dragon. However Jauk could only look on with his eye twitching furiously. Especially when three individuals slid off of the giant lizard.
Irukuku was the first to speak. "Hello everyone!~ The heroes are here to save the day!" No one responded to her words making her pout. Watching the scene play out Hide appeared on his master's shoulder.
"Master may I suggest retreat? We's not strong enough to take both Gravelord, and Darkheart. Not to mentions Chilling wind, and all the others here, I suggest retreat, train, and then murder." Jauk slouched as he sighed. He already knew that things were bad, so he really didn't need to hear Hide say anything.
So making a decision he spoke. "As much as I would love to slaughter you all in cold blood… I know when I'm out matched." His words quickly gained everyone's attention as he continued to speak. "However I will be back, so please wait for me. But until then… I bid you all adieu." He then gave them a mocking bow as a black portal appeared behind him. Walking backwards into it, he gave Charlotte one last glare before the portal closed. As soon as he was gone Yang walked over to the device, which had caused so much pain. Sneering at it she raised her foot and promptly crushed it.
Then turning to Artemis she glared at him before speaking. "I think we deserve an explanation, don't you?" Looking around to everyone's serious faces, Artemis sighed before nodding his head.
"Alright I guess that's fair enough, but right now I hear police sirens. So any explanation will have to wait." Though she was annoyed that they'd have to wait, Yang still understood what he was getting at. So instead she just nodded her head. Seeing her agreeing with him Artemis quickly turned to Kuros before speaking. "Alright back in the bag." Giving an airy sigh he began to glow, everyone then watched in amazement as the now glowing dragon shrunk. When the glow stopped he was now very tiny, and they couldn't help but blink as he jumped into the bag Irukuku was carrying.
Luckily it was right on time as a swarm of police zipped into the area. It wasn't long until they were questioned on what happened. Though the questions didn't last too long. Seeing how they were hunter, and huntresses in training. Well most of them… still everyone became nervous as a bullhorn landed near them.
Especially when both Glynda Goodwitch, and Ozpin stepped out of it. Looking around Glynda was the first to spot them, and at first was relieved. Until she saw four of their members missing, one of them being her deceased best friend's daughter. The other being her own adoptive son and half-sister, along with said sister's boyfriend. Her glare quickly froze them with fear. Well except for the ones from another dimension. This was mostly due to the fact that the woman couldn't harm them.
Still even they had to flinch at the anger her voice contained. "What in Oum's name happened here?! And where is Neos and the others?!" Everyone looked at each other, trying to quickly decide who would tell her. Thankfully Artemis decided to bail them out.
"I believe I can explain everything Ma'am." Glynda quickly turned to Artemis, waiting for him to continue. This action made everyone who knew her personally sigh in relief.
Observing the white coated boy before her, Glynda nodded her head for him to continue. "Please do explain, and while you're at it… please explain why a giant white and black dragon, was flying over the city."
Mentally cursing Kuros Artemis started to explain what had happened. To why he and his team was here, even to the device that was used against Neos and Zach. Something he learned from Weiss, as they were talking after the police questioned them. However he did pause when he got to the point where Neos lost his eye.
This caused Glynda to frown and question him. "Why did you stop?" Artemis now pursing his lips sucked some air in before speaking.
"Well I don't know how you'll take this but… the explosion managed to rough Neos up pretty badly. He may have also… lost his right eye…." There was an eerie silence as Glynda digested that bit of information. As this was happening, everyone had started to back away from her. So as to not get caught into whatever she was going to do to Artemis. But what happened next truly surprised them. Hanging her head down, she began to cry.
As the tears flowed she spoke with a shaky voice. "That stupid, stupid, yet brave boy… why does he always have to play the hero? Why can't he just let others fight for him? I guess he wouldn't be Neos if he didn't." She gave a small desperate sounding laugh when she was finished speaking. At this point everyone was also laughing a bit, but like Glynda's it was a hallow laugh. Looking at everyone sadly Artemis continued his explanation.
"After he lost his eye was when me and Charlotte got here. So seeing everyone in a desperate state I jumped in. Managing to block an attack meant for Ruby and Neos. Soon after I asked Charlotte to quickly heal Neos before Yukari sucked him, Ruby, Zach, and Blake into one of her gaps. It wasn't too long after that when Kuros showed up with Ichigo, Velvet, and Irukuku. Jauk pretty much retreated after seeing who our reinforcements were. You pretty much know the rest after that." After hearing about what happened, Ozpin thought for a moment before speaking.
"Why would this Yukari person want to speak with those four?" Everyone turned to Artemis at that point, because that was something they were wondering about just the same.
The boy couldn't help but smirk before answering the question. "Why that's simple… you see Yukari Yakumo is actually both Neos', and Blake's godmother. So really she just wants to check up on them." Everyone just stared at him. Because that had pretty much, thrown all the reasons they had come up with out the window. Truly they hadn't thought that this Yukari person, was just making sure that they were all right. However that did leave one thing left unanswered.
Weiss was also the first person to pick up on that. "Wait… then why did she take Zach and Ruby?"
Artemis just shrugged before answering that question. "They were both the other twos boyfriend and girlfriend respectfully of course. I guess she just wants to get to know them." Everyone accepted his answer after a few moments of consideration.
Thinking of something Ichigo asked one final question. "Does Neos know that this Yukari person is his godmother?"
Shaking his head sadly Artemis answered him. "No he never knew, nor did Yukari realize who he was until just recently. By that I mean two years ago, but as you already know he was here on Remnant at that time. It also didn't help that he didn't have any memories, but that was to be expected." Everyone nodded solemnly as they hoped that Neos, and the others would return home safely.
Line break
Location Yukari's Gap (a day later)
Groaning Neos opened his eye after having finished yet another, conversation with his Bk self. He was groaning because once again he was starting to annoy himself. However the moment he tried to move he ended up wishing he hadn't. He was sore, painfully so.
I haven't felt like this since the time I fought Damian. So trying to stay as still as possible, he ended up noticing movement on either side of himself. Knowing he was going to regret it, he slowly sat himself up using his arms for leverage. Looking to his right first he smiled lightly at seeing Ruby. She currently had her head on the bed and was sleeping lightly. However she was also wearing a red yukata. It fit her nicely, and was trimmed in black. She also had a red obi around her waist holding her outfit together. Still smiling he gently rubbed her hair as he turned to his left.
Instantly recognizing who it was his gaze softened even more. It was a small girl with medium length red hair with a pink cap over it. She was also wearing a red dress with a white blouse under it. And though he couldn't really see the rest of her, Neos was fairly certain she was wearing white socks and brown shoes. However what was really unique about her, was that she had two iron like poles coming from her back. They were rounded and rather thin, but went out three feet from her in either direction. They also zig zagged and had different color gems hanging off of them.
This small girl, who looked no older than nine, was his adoptive sister Flandre Scarlet. Although she was older than him by at least four times… but that was to be expected from a pure blooded vampire. On another note… he wasn't still pretty sure that she could beat him to a pulp, if she really wanted to. Although with Neos' increased abilities he couldn't be certain. Because if he could just get these seals off of him, he'd be tremendously stronger.
Using his free left hand he started to rub her head much like Ruby's. Because Neos could never forget the time when he first met her.
The dragon chuckled at the memory, mostly because she was more insane than he'd ever been!
But luckily with my amazing mental and spiritual abilities I was able to help her. Mostly by literally destroying one half of her madness, than taking a quarter of it inside myself. Yeah… that really did contribute to my craziness back then, but hey! Everything turned out alright in the end. Or well… mostly that is… Looking around the room he decided to take in his surroundings. The room had white walls with tatami mats for flooring. The door to the room was a Japanese sliding door.
After looking around a bit more he realized where he was with a smile. However his thoughts trailed off as he felt Ruby starting to stir from her sleep. Yawning cutely she stretched her arms out wide, before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Blinking away her blurry vision, she squinted at Neos before her eyes opened wide. Seeing this he smiled with his eyes closed before waving at her.
He then decided to greet her vocally. "Good morning Ruby, did you get a good sleep?" She didn't reply instead only stared at him, after a few moments her eyes started to fill with tears. Ruby then proceeded to pull Neos into a hug with her head resting on his chest. However seeing how he was still rather sore he winced, but trying for Ruby's sake, managed to wrap his arms around her smaller frame.
As they held each other Ruby spoke through her sobs. "You're such an idiot! Wh-why did you have to always sacrifice yourself? W-we can fight alongside you to you know?" Closing his eyes Neos used his right hand to gently rub circles on Ruby's back.
After a few moments he spoke with a calming tone. "I'm sorry Ruby I know it must've hurt to see me in such a state. But I couldn't just sit by and watch all of you get hurt. Especially you Ruby, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you died."
Ruby still sniffling spoke up at that. "You're not the only one who feels that way; I already lost my mother I don't want to lose you to." Ruby then leaned back so she was looking in Neos' lone eye. Then with fear in her voice she continued speaking. "Neos… please promise me that no matter what happens you won't die." It took a few moments but Neos eventually gave his answer. This was a loving kiss on her lips, which made the red clad girls eyes widen. It was their second kiss they've shared. But like last time her shock eventually faded, and Ruby quickly returned it.
After a few moments they pulled their lips apart as Neos spoke. "Ruby with this I promise you that I won't ever leave you." Eyes brimming with joy Ruby would've kissed him again, if it weren't for the young (for a vampire) starting to wake up. Quickly turning to her Neos braced himself for the inevitable pain. You see… Flandre was at least two hundred times stronger than Ruby. Although she has gotten better in controlling it, he had no doubt that she would completely forget about control when seeing him.
He didn't really blame her, after all the last time she heard from him was a note saying that he had died.
Oh yeah speaking of which I need to get my books back from Patchouli. He would've elaborated on that thought, were it not for the wide eyes of the pink capped vampire.
"ONII CHAN!" With those words she jumped up and tackled him in a hug. He really only had one thought on this…
ARGGHHH!! Yep poor old Neos, trying to be the big man by holding in his overwhelming pain. Still throughout all of this he was able to wrap his arms around Flandre. All the while she cried into his chest, which he noticed was covered in bandages. Seeing the scene before her Ruby only giggled at his misfortune. You see over the last day she had gotten to know Flandre a little bit. The two of them really had a lot in common, although most of that happened to be kill lucky attitudes.
This meant that both of them agreed that if you see a big new monster… than you had to kill it. Truly they couldn't understand why others didn't see it that way.
"Well it's nice to see you finally awake." Doing his best to look Neos looked towards the door to see a familiar blonde. And through the pain he grinned as he spoke.
"It's nice to see you again Yukari." Yukari seeing her godson smiled before making her way over to him.
Looking between Neos, Ruby, and Flandre she giggled before speaking. "Seems like someone is still popular with the ladies.~" Neos couldn't help but groan at her comment, as Ruby turned to glare at him.
Trying to clear things up he quickly spoke to Ruby. "Don't worry Ruby you're my girlfriend and I would never betray you." She was almost placated when Yukari spoke again.
"Oh my poor Alice and Reimu would be devastated if they heard you say that.~" She was now grinning at him while he just stared at her in shock. While Ruby went back to trying to burn a hole through him, with very narrowed eyes.
As Neos went back to trying to calm Ruby down, Flandre and Yukari looked at each other before laughing. This got Neos to stop trying, and just sigh with a cloud of depression over him. He never could win against these two. He also doubted that he'd be able to anytime in the near future. Luckily for Neos his salvation came when Blake and Zach entered the room. Seeing his best friend up and running Zach smiled before speaking.
"Well look at who's finally awake, I was beginning to think that we needed a grave." Looking towards him Neos smirked before retorting.
"Sorry but unlike you it takes a lot more than this to bring me down." Both grinned at one another before laughing, Blake rolled her eyes at their antics but still greeted Neos.
"It's good to see you awake… brother." Neos' eye widened before he smiled softly at her. It was slow going but they were slowly getting used to the idea, that they were related. At their interaction everyone couldn't help but smile.
After everyone was around Neos' sick bed, Yukari pursed her lips before speaking. "Neos there's something that you need to know." Looking up at her and seeing the look on her face, he frowned and was about to question her. However the door to the room opened up again, and this time he wasn't happy to see who it was. Standing there in the doorway were two people he really didn't like. The same went for just about everyone in the room though. Blake seeing who they were quickly hid herself behind Zach for protection.
One individual they knew well, he was the one in the back with a kabuki mask. He was also rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. The other was one Neos knew all too well, now that he had his memories back.
So growling a bit he spoke to the one in front with venom. "What are you doing here Maxos?" Hearing his name called, Maxos looked over to the angry face of his son. His usual hard gaze softened a bit, before he turned to the fearful face of his daughter.
Sighing he began speaking. "Blake, Neos, Yukari, I need to talk to you three in private for a few moments."
Zach hearing this instantly narrowed his eyes before yelling. "What do you take us for?! We're not about to just leave them with you alone! Who knows…" He was interrupted by Blake's calm voice.
"Zach that's enough, please just do what he says." Surprised Zach turned around, and was about to question her. But he stopped when he saw the determined look in her eye. Seeing this Zach took a deep breath before speaking calmly to her.
"If this is what you wish I won't stop you, but we'll be in the other room just in case." She smiled and nodded her head in understanding, smiling back Zach gave her a quick kiss before turning to leave. As he made it to the door he glared at Maxos before leaving. Seeing how the most overprotective one of them had left. Zach was soon followed by a nervous Ruby, and an angry looking Flandre. When they left Haze sighed before leaving as well. The four left in the room started speaking a minute after Haze closed the door. Surprisingly it was Blake who made the first move, by walking up to look at Maxos in the eyes.
Looking at his daughter Maxos started speaking. "Blake look at how…" He never finished his sentence as a loud slap echoed through the room. Maxos blinked in surprise as he touched his cheek. Everyone else was just as surprised by this turn of events. Blake had just slapped Maxos' left cheek. Her glare was also enough to burn through steel.
Lowering her right hand she clenched both hands into fists as she spoke. "Don't you dare… Don't you dare try and say anything fatherly to us. After everything you did to me, after everything you did to my brother! You no longer have the right! So just say what you really want to say and get out!" To say everyone was shocked at Blake, slapping the arguably most powerful person in existence… was to put things mildly. Although Neos was more impressed than shocked. Mostly because she did a watered down version, of what he was going to do.
You see Neos was going to be a bit more verbally abusive, and was going to slug him instead of slapping him. But he could tell what Blake did, was a lot more emotionally painful than what he was going to do. So he decided to nod in appreciation. Yukari however was extremely worried that Maxos might lash out at her. But to her even greater surprise, Maxos just sighed and nodded his head in resignation.
He then spoke seriously. "Alright then if that's what you want dau… I mean Blake." Blake folded her arms, and nodded her head seriously prompting him to continue. "In truth I came to do a few things, one was apologize but I see that won't work here. So I'll just skip that and go onto the other reasons." He then proceeded to walk over to Neos before speaking again. "Neos I've decided that it's time to unlock your powers again. But not only you but everyone's, Blake, Zach's, and even Ichigo's." While Blake looked surprised Neos just huffed before speaking.
"Well it's about time; if it weren't for these seals I could've easily handled Haze. Or even Jauk!" Maxos nodded his head before speaking again.
"Yes but I also have something to replace your old eye. Which I'll say was never really part of the plan."
Neos sighed at this. "Hah…. I guess I can forgive you for that at least, after all this was mostly my fault. But still what do you mean by replace?" instead of speaking Maxos waved his hand, and with a slight distortion a container appeared before them. The container was made of glass and had some kind of green liquid in it. However there was also something else in there… an eye, a dark purple eye to be exact.
Seeing the solid purple eye Neos frowned. "Um… do I really want to know what that is?" Blake nodded in agreement while Yukari looked shocked. She knew what kind of eye that was and quickly hounded on Maxos.
"What in creation do you think you're doing?! That's a nethermancer's eye! You can't be thinking of implanting it into Neos?! He's already part of the void, putting something like this in him might kill him!" Turning to look at Maxos in shock due to Yukari's outburst, they became confused at Maxos' chuckling.
When he stopped he spoke with some pride. "Do not worry, you also forget that Neos is a Brood Knight. Adaptability is pretty much in his blood, I am positive that he'll be able to handle it." At his words Yukari's gaze softened immensely.
I guess there's still some hope for him after all. With those thoughts she smiled before turning to Neos. It would be up to him on whether or not he'll accept the eye after all.
Neos however was rather conflicted, he didn't know if he should take it and risk death. Or just ignore it, he still hadn't accepted his Bk half after all.
Still if I'm going to continue to fight I'll need both eyes. So with a sigh he turned to look at Maxos.
"I'll accept but you need to take these seals off first." Maxos nodded his head before gripping the container with his left hand. Then lifting his right he pointed at Neos, almost immediately he glowed for a second. After the light died down Neos seemed a bit different. Not in looks or appearances but his aura just felt different. Raising his hands to look at them Neos clenched and unclenched them. Grinning he laid himself back onto the bed before speaking.
"Alright I'm ready; begin the operation or whatever you want to call it." Moving forward Maxos removed the bandage around Neos' right eye. Then opening the container the eye floated out of it and stayed in mid-air. Maxos then proceeded to open Neos' right eyelids, before taking the new eye and placing it into his socket. For a second nothing happened as Blake and Yukari watched nervously. After a few seconds the eye glowed then… nothing.
Blinking in confusion Neos sat up before speaking. "Is that it?"
Maxos looked at him before scoffing. "What did you expect to be wracked with unimaginable pain? Or maybe you expected to have to fight for control of the eye?" Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly Neos nodded in confirmation.
"Actually I thought both things would happen. This was actually pretty anti-climactic." Although they didn't say anything, both Yukari and Blake, thought the same thing was going to happen.
Shaking his head Maxos spoke. "Not everything has to be extremely painful you know?" Neos sighed before nodding his head, but then he looked at Maxos gratefully.
"Well I guess I can thank you for the eye then. But one last thing… How does it work?" At his question everyone turned to Maxos, who to their dismay shrugged.
"How should I know? I've never been a nethermancer, you're just going to have to train and find out." So like that all respect for him was once again lost.
Slayer: Well that's it for now I'm afraid. Really I think this is the best place to stop, hopefully we can finish the stories we really want to work on at the moment. That way we can come back to these ones with a fresh mind.
Judan: Meh I just want to continue to write mine.
Shadow: Yeah but still this was my story so I'll be a little sad for a while.
Neos: Oh don't worry you'll be around still, after all you are the mascot for the Dark Guard.
Shadow: Yeah but it's just not the same…
Slayer: Oh get over it, besides you'll have to deal with your brother soon enough.
Shadow: Please don't remind me…
Judan: Sorry but we just did. But I think we should just end this soon.
Slayer: In agreement, so can our young Vampire finish for us today?
Flandre: Of course! Ahem… this has been a Dark Guard production signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!