-Persona-(Neo L. Collins FF)

Chapter 7

With a low screech, the black creature descended down, it's large dark wings casting an ominous shadow. Astraea stayed in place as the creature flew straight towards her. Flying up the moment it grew close. With a nod of approval, she stretched her arm out, giving the bird a location to perch on as she communicated with it.

"Seems like Alix is making good use of the radio tower" the girl comments as the bird continued relaying the information it was able to gather. "Knowing Alix shell most likely go through with saving her mother, even if she has to do it behind Mr. Collins' back. As for Mrs. Collins..." she sighs. "Keep an eye on her, it's bad enough sanctuary is slowly getting closer to our base. The possibility of throwing them off track is slim to none, especially with how large our group is."

"I shall report back when I have succeeded the tasks you have given, my lady" Lune screeches once again before flying off and disappearing in a wisp of dark clouds.

•|•|•

Keep calm, keep calm.

That's what the brunette had been repeating after receiving Mana's request to meet with her outside. She would have refused had she not felt the undead snake get out of its box containment.

'Annoying snake, you really know how to mess up my day...' The girl ran a hand through her hair as she felt the presence of the snake run off once it sensed her close.

Mana beamed at her as she stood with her arms crossed, facing the ash haired teen.

"You finally showed up!"

Astraea tilted her head with the girl's perkiness. "What do you want now?" she questions, she made sure there was a bit of distance between the two before she stopped walking closer. Although all her efforts went in vain when Mana decided to come closer to her herself. The two were now only a few steps away from each other, "I told you we're a team. We have to discuss things more with each other. Us girls have to stick together!" the blonde says, a determined look settling in her eyes.

The younger of the two furrowed her brows at the other's bold statement. "When did we become a team?"

"Well, why wouldn't you want to team up with me?? I can tell the future!"

she argues, prompting Astraea to counter back with, "So can I."

Feeling a creeping presence in their surroundings, the ash haired girl subtly looked around trying to locate its whereabouts.

"Stop joking around. Like I said, I can become a great ally to you, with my powers combined with yours then we can survive and avoid getting into any problems in the future. Plus, you're bound to get tired just hanging out with Neo all the time. He also doesn't speak a lot so I would be a much better companion than he will." seeing the unfocused state of the other girl, she waved her hands in front of her face. "Hey are you even paying attention to me?"

Seeing Abel was able to get the snake in time before it harmed Iva, Astraea focused back to her conversation with Mana before she bid the latter goodbye, using the excuse of finding her brother and Elise to get out of the situation quicker.

______

Once she was far away enough that Mana couldn't chase after her anymore, Astraea changed her course and walked towards the direction of Neo's room to see how the boy was doing.

Upon reaching the small quiet room, the girl knocked quietly as she balanced the bowl of cold water in her arms before walking in.
She sighed when she saw the squirming body of her friend drenched in sweat. Quietly making her way over, she set the things she was holding down on the floor. Dipping the towel in cold water, she made sure it wasn't dripping before she placed it on Neo's forehead, effectively calming him down and waking him up from his nightmare filled sleep.

Seeing him instinctively reach out to the spot beside him that usually had Hail lying down on it, she sent him a sympathetic smile. Taking her hand, the raven haired boy could do nothing but squeeze it tight, silently asking for reassurance. The two stayed like that in quiet silence until the girl fell asleep.

After making sure she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, the boy slipped his hand out from her grasp and quietly walked out of the room, going out of the place to meet up with the Undead Girl.

"All preparation is ready,"Looking at the boy with her crimson red eyes, one would feel unnerved by the intensity of her stare. Neo remained unfazed. "I've made sure no other undead will bother this place anymore."

"Thanks"

Although his face showed no emotion, the girl could feel his sincerity being conveyed. ''When are we going?" she asked, the undead cat jumping down one of the crates before it wrapped around her shoulder, making itself comfortable as she walked.

Neo thought about her question before coming to a conclusion. "Tomorrow, before Noah comes back... and before Astra wakes up & notices something's wrong."

"Noah? That blood bender guy? Didn't you give your dog to him? Don't you want it back? And I thought that girl would be coming. Didn't you say you and her were gonna stick together throughout all this?"

The ravenette looks away, unable to think of an appropriate response.

"Noah can keep him. I'll be fine."

"After all the work you put into that dog? He's a pretty strong ally, you know? And you still haven't answered my question about the girl. You're wasting so many powerful allies."

"I can handle myself. That man is clumsy. Sooner or later, he'll bite off more than he can chew. It's better for him to hold on to Hail. Plus, Astraea can handle herself. She's much more of use here anyways."

The undead shook her head slowly. "How wasteful, its a shame. You always complain about that man, but at the end of the day, you do care about him, after all. I'm not surprised with your answer on the girl anymore."

Neo narrowed his eyes. "What does an undead know about caring?"

Taking his question seriously, the girl had already started explaining until he interrupted. "It was a rhetorical question, you didn't have to answer it."

"So I'm right?"

"Shut up. I'll probably try to leave tomorrow. You should get a move before me. You have a lot of baggage to bring with you."

The undead looked away.

"Don't talk about my friends like that. Anyway you're right. I'll get going then. Don't take too long. The red moon is coming."

With that said, she silently hopped over the wall of their base.

"The red moon. Huh? This place should be fine during the blood moon, Anon already took care of all the undead wandering around."

Staring at the big round moon illuminating his surroundings, Neo could do nothing but stand there.

"Before the military finds this place, I need to leave and redirect their attention somewhere else. Someone else among the military officers seem to also be a returner. But who?"

He spoke the words out loud, unaware of the person standing a few feet behind him.

"You're gonna leave?"

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