-Persona-(Neo L. Collins FF)

Chapter 8

After listening to the disappearing footsteps of her friend, Astraea opened her eyes. She laid there unmoving. She already had a hunch what her companion was planning to do. After all, he was never one to stay at one place for an extended period.

"You annoying ass..." she mumbled, slowly getting up and walking out the door.

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"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."

'Tsk, father or not, you take after that guy way more ways than you think,' the girl thinks, clenching her fists in frustration. '... Fine, if me staying here is your plan, then I'll stay. I have too much to protect this time, I can't lose this chance..'

Seeing as the Undead girl had already gone, leaving the ravenette alone, Astraea deemed it the perfect time to reveal her presence.

"You're gonna leave?"

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Now, fate had always worked to tear the two apart. There had never been a situation in which the two were left without the other. It was now routine for them. Wherever one decides to go, the other one follows closely after. Even if the boy had tried to leave multiple times in order to get her away from the danger surrounding him.

However, as soon as a possible lead to his whereabout was found out by the girl, she would be up and about on her way to his location. Standing in front of the boy, he assumed it would be the same situation. But, the next words that left the girl's mouth momentarily stunned him.

"I wish you luck on your journey then, I'll send you a message every once in awhile," her mint eyes were blank, holding no trace of emotion. Her appearance was what another member of their party would consider as her "normal look" but it was different whenever it was just the two of them, it was a first for Neo to see her look at him in such a way. "Dion and Elise... I don't- no, I can't lose them again. They were able to survive this far, and I intend to protect them as long as I can."

"Trust me. I'll stay by your side. I'll choose you, over and over again. With no hesitation.''

The words echoed in his mind as he stood still. Before he could finish processing what she had told him, the girl had wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Releasing her embrace soon after and without another word, she had strutted off. The shadows reaching and bending towards her as it consumed her entirely.

•|•|•

Astraea stayed in her room until the next night. Only coming out for meals and finishing her chores, she had also spent more time with her brother and Elise before secluding herself back in her room. Lying down on her bed staring at emptiness now seemed to be a new routine she's was going to do in Neo's absence.

The girl had been reflecting on her past lives. Or, what she could recall from them.

It was another day of staying with the Collins family, from inside the room the teen could eavesdrop on the conversations happening outside with the use of her shadows.

"I told you he's a monster!" the yell was followed by the loud sound of papers being thrown down on a hard surface. She could guess that it was most likely done by the older of the 2 Collins brothers, Neo's adopted uncle, and his biological father.

She could hear a sigh come from the younger brother. "Why do you think it's Neo?" he asks, tone full of exhaustion.

"Hah, doesn't he have some weird power that allows him to steal others' powers? All these people were found with their heads busted open and their cores clearly stolen." Ian reasoned. A smirk most likely evident on his face, clearly happy at the thought of him being correct.

"Nobody can prove we also possess cores like the undead." Noah countered back. "But nobody can disprove it, either. You yourself know better than anyone it's very likely that we also possess cores. Don't play dumb, Noah" the older one tsks.

Feeling uncomfortable with the constant accusations of her nephew, Lena spoke up. Her lavender eyes emitting concern for the boy. "Dear... Neo is part of the family. Don't accuse him of such a heinous crime without any proof like that."

The older Collins let out a sound of disbelief. "Family? When is that brat part of the family?"

"How could you say that? Neo helped us so many times-"

"You only say that because he's actually useful to keep around. He can pull his own weight and earn more than enough food for all of us. Aren't you the same too, Noah?" his words exuded an air of mockery towards his younger brother who ignored his taunts.

The next sound was the creaking of the door, the brunette had assumed her companion had finally came back. With a few more snarky remarks from the unimportant Collins, Astraea could hear Neo and his aunt having a small conversation. The talk ultimately ending after Neo had asked where she was and had given the small gift he had acquired to the lavender haired woman. His next conversation had been one with his 'uncle'. She could tell he had slowly lost his patience after his parting words.

"If I want to kill that badly and blatantly, you'd be the first to go... Done yapping?"

Astraea couldn't help but let out a sigh. "A normal life... I forget how that feels like now."

•|•|•

The next few days had been filled with the same routine, Theo took lead in Noah Collins' absent and led a deal with the other sanctuary that they had found. With the influx of new survivors coming to them, the two parties decided on having a small checkpoint that would enable them to survey the people coming in or out of the base.

Strolling to check on the two people assigned to guard the entrance, the girl couldn't help but let out a huff of frustration as she neared them and saw the situation.

"Please help!" the dark haired man pleaded, recognizing the girl who only looked at him with an uninterested expression. Seeing another familiar face, Hail couldn't help but jump over the barricades to greet the brunette.

By this point, the commotion had already attracted the attention of the other adults who quickly rushed to see if Sanctuary had tried to attack again. The discussion that had ensued around her was in no way her focus as her mint eyes made contact with the unmistakable blue of the young Collins.

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