Reaching Salvation: Post-Acer Part 3

Joey mentally groaned when he heard Neo's voice. No wonder the villagers seemed irratated.

"Not you..."

"Yo, Erika, Sage, Zacky, and...Oh! My long lost love, Joey! Oh how I have missed you so much! All these villagers are sticks in the mud, now I know who to blame!" Neo said, the last part in mostly sarcasm as he walked up to them.

"Neo!" Sage called out, smiling. "Been a long two years!"

"Yeah, and how's my favourite...split triple personality guy? I see his Calm persona's out today," Neo commented then looked over at Erika. "And how's my favourite, beautiful illusionist?"

"No, no you're not, Nathan. Why do you think I brainwashed Tom? He's too strong to be left unchecked. Had to stop him. Now I'm unchecked, not even you can stop me," Shima smirked, the earth rising up around him. A tendril of earth went to wrap around Heidi's neck from behind and hurl her into the dust cloud, while a spear rose up towards Nathan's spine, behind him so he couldn't see it as easily.

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OOC: Now I remember how much of a boss Neo is.

Neo quickly found hismelf inveloped in a glomp of sorts by Erika.

"Whoa, didn't know ya loved me that much," Neo said as Erika 'glomped' him. He chuckled and patted her on the back. "What's new?"

"That kind of respect should be saved for people who're of greater position than you. We're like family now." The Pregnant woman replied with a stick out of her tongue.

---

Nathan smirked and darkness needles ripped the spear to pieces. "He may have more pure flow power than most people around, but we both know that he wouldn't beat me not even with your influences. If we ever thought all out against each other we'd end up killing each other."

Tom grunted, a light appearing in front of his face.

"The hell is going on?"

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Shima laughed along.

"C'mon then, Nathan, show me how much stronger you've gotten!"

"Should I be calling you mother than? Or sister?" Victoria quarried with a smile on her face. She liked Amelia, she didn't make her feel...strange. Or alone.

"Sister will be do." Amelia smiled back. "I'm already going to be a mother soon enough."

---

Inside Tom's head, Nathan frowned slightly. "You okay?" He asked the giant man. "Where's Shima?"

---

"I'd rather not hurt Tom..." Nathan trailed off as shadows curled around him. He snapped his hand and they all split and turned into what looked like thousands of shards of darkness. With another flick of his hand the blades appeared in front of Shima in the blink of an eye and then aimed to crush him.

The light lifted up higher, becoming brighter and revealing a giant labyrinth in Tom's mind. Tom grunted, fists clenching.

"He's at the center. In a room, alone."

"If that's the case. Let's go." Nathan said confidently. "Together we're more than a match for him."

"Alright then," Victoria said, bringing her arms behind her neck. "Sis."

"We'll see," Tom replied more calmly, moving forward through the twisting labyrinth.

"I'll let you lead the way." Nathan noted.

---

Amelia smiled before looking in the direction of her own hut. "What've you got planned for the rest of the day?"

Victoria brought her hand to her chin to think about what she would do. "Already done my training for today...still need to figure out what I can actually use for a weapon...uhm, nothing really planned..." she responded to her new found sister.

There were many dead ends on the way, curses being muttered as Tom met them, but they did seem to be getting closer to the middle. The labyrinth itself seemed to be moving, responding to Tom.

Erika rolled her eyes. "Missed you, moron. And... well, a lot has hapepned today."

"Yeah, we'll go with that so that the giant troll over there doesn't get hurt," Neo said sarcastically as he patted her back again. "Missed ya'll. God, it's been boring the past five years without anyone really to yap to. People don't appreciate my yelling anymore."

Adeline smiled, watching the little reunion.

"Neo, they never did." Erika said slyly, dodging any rebuttal. She looked over at Adeline with a smile. "Ade. Guess who's back!"

No one, ever, appreciated your yelling. Joey thought with a mental sigh, before smiling.

As annoying as he was, it was nice to see Neo again.

"Oi, you loved my yelling," Neo retorted quickly. "She kinda already knows. She's the one who let me in."

"Oh, alrighty then." Erika said. "Uh... it's really good to see you again, Neo." The woman was happy, even though a lot of difficult things ocurred that day, it ended up... moderately okay. I'll never forget my wedding day, at least...

Paul watched the reunion passively, taking little interest in it. He simply sat up against a wall, AK next to him.

Nathan just followed carefully.

---

Amelia smiled at the girl. "Well I'm probably going to go have a nap."