Neo kept walking until the ruined walls narrowed into a half-covered corner where broken stone and a leaning slab gave him enough privacy. It was not far from the group, just far enough that no one would bother him unless they had a reason.
He stopped there, unfastened his trousers, and began to piss without much ceremony.
Not long after, he heard footsteps behind him.
Nep.
Neo did not turn. He had already known the bastard had followed him on purpose. His company was not the problem. It was the reason for it. Nep had not co here because his bladder had suddenly beco urgent. He had co because he wanted a conversation away from the others.
So Neo waited.
Sure enough, Nep spoke first.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot, don’t you?"
Neo kept his eyes ahead. "You think? I haven’t done anything wrong. You’re the one who started all of this."
That bought him a brief silence. Neo expected irritation, or that stiff tone Nep used whenever he wanted to sound in control while clearly not being in control at all.
Instead, Nep surprised him.
"Yeah," he said after a mont. "Fair enough. I’ve been a dickhead. Sorry."
Neo glanced at him then, just once. Even people like Nep could back down when they needed sothing. That was exactly why it felt off. It did not sound like guilt.
Neo finished, gave himself a short shake, and tucked himself back in. Nep had already done the sa by then.
Neo turned properly toward him and rested one hand near his belt. "Anything else?"
Nep let out a small breath through his nose, as if he had reached the part he actually cared about.
"Do you really not want the boost?"
Neo only looked at him.
Nep continued, his tone calr than before. "I’m serious. It could save your life if things get bad. A little more strength, a little more defense. You might think you can handle yourself, and maybe you can, but this could still be your first ti in a Breach like this. For so of us, it isn’t."
Neo looked at him without much interest. "Every Breach is different."
"I know," Nep said. "That’s not what I an." He shifted his weight, watching Neo closely. "I an that things go wrong fast inside places like this. Faster than people expect. When that happens, even a small advantage matters."
Neo listened, then let out a quiet sigh.
Nep really was trying.
That was what made him harder to read.
"Look," Neo said, voice flat, "I get that you want what’s best for , but I’m really not interested."
Nep held his gaze for a second longer.
Then he nodded once. "I see... too bad"
Neo did not answer. He only kept looking at him, waiting for the next move, because he still did not believe this had been the real point of the conversation.
But Nep said nothing else.
That, made Neo uneasy.
He had expected pressure. Another push. So little crack in the mask.
Instead, Nep just stood there, quieter now, like he had decided this was enough for the mont.
Neo narrowed his eyes slightly.
’Yeah. I still don’t trust you.’
Snot appeared soon after from between the broken walls, one hand still near his belt as if he had only just finished with the sa business.
"Oh, there you are," he said, glancing between them. "I went off to piss too. Looks like everything’s fine now, right? We should head back. The others are waiting."
Neo gave no real answer. He only turned and started walking.
Snot accepted that much and fell into step ahead of him without pressing it. The path back cut between cracked stone and half-collapsed walls, narrow enough that they had to move one behind the other for a few seconds. Neo had already put two or three steps between himself and Nep when he felt it.
A hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry," Nep said behind him. "You had sothing on your shoulder."
Neo turned on reflex, the words already there.
"Tha—"
They never finished.
A stupid thought crossed his mind before he could stop it. Maybe the bastard was trying to act normal. Maybe that awkward little talk back there had actually been what it looked like.
Then he saw Nep’s face.
That thought died there.
Nep had gone still in a way that did not belong on a man who had only brushed dust off soone’s shoulder. His eyes were wider than they should have been. His mouth had not opened, but sothing in it had tightened. The whole expression looked wrong, like he had seen a door crack open where a wall should have been.
Fear. It was the closest word Neo had for it.
Not the loud kind. The kind people buried fast because showing it would only make things worse.
Neo stayed where he was, watching him.
Snot noticed it too. He stopped half a step ahead and looked back at the two of them, his brows drawing together just slightly.
"Sothing wrong?"
Nep blinked.
"No," Nep said. "Everything’s fine. Let’s go. They’re waiting."
His voice held. His face mostly did too. If Neo had not been watching him directly, maybe that would have been enough. Maybe anyone else would have let it pass.
Neo did not.
Snot held Nep’s gaze for a mont longer, then gave a loose shrug that did not quite hide the fact that he had noticed sothing off as well. "Right," he said. "Then let’s move before Max starts thinking we died."
He turned and started back toward the others.
Nep followed close enough behind him to look almost deliberate about it.
Neo stayed one step farther back.
His shoulder felt normal. Nothing he could point to. Even so, the question kept circling in the back of his head, sharp enough that it would not leave.
’What the hell was that?’
Nep had touched him, then looked at him like sothing was deeply wrong.
Neo’s eyes settled on the back of his neck as they walked.
’You did sothing.’
The walk back was quieter than it should have been.
Snot stayed a little ahead, close enough to keep the pace moving without turning it into a march. Nep stayed close to him, quieter than usual, his shoulders set tighter than before. Neo ca behind them, saying nothing, his attention moving between the two and settling more often on Nep than he liked.
By the ti they reached the others, that strange silence had only grown heavier.
Marika looked up first. "Finally. Can you wait now? Alice and I need to go too."
Snot answered at once, so of his usual ease slipping back into place. "Yeah, of course. Don’t worry. I’ll keep the boys here so nobody peeks."
That drew the faintest smile from Marika. "Thanks, Snot. Though I doubt anyone would try. And if they do, I’ll burn them alive. Or Alice will cut them in half."
Snot gave a small, nervous laugh. "Very reassuring. Glad we had this talk."
Alice said nothing, though the way she rested one hand on the haft of her axe made it clear Marika had not been joking for both of them.
Marika and Alice moved off a mont later, disappearing past a cracked stretch of wall and a half-collapsed doorway that gave them so cover.
Snot stayed where he was, throwing out a comnt to Max about how unfair it was that everyone suddenly needed to piss one after another. Max ignored most of it and adjusted the strap of the bag with the Soul Cores inside. The sound of tal and glass clinking softly against each other reached Neo’s ears for a second before fading again.
His attention kept drifting back to Nep.
The bastard looked nervous.
Neo had been watching closely enough to catch it. Nep’s face had lost so of that earlier hostility and settled into sothing stiffer. A faint sheen of sweat had gathered near his temples. He stood too still, like movent itself would draw attention he did not want.
Neo watched him and let the pieces turn over in his head.
Nep had followed him on purpose.
He had pushed the boost again.
He had touched his shoulder.
Then that look.
And now this.
Neo still had no idea what the trick was. He did not know what Nep had done, only that sothing had happened in that mont. Sothing real enough to leave him rattled afterward.
’Yeah. I like this even less than before.’
Snot was saying sothing again, half to Max and half to himself, but Neo only caught fragnts of it. His eyes stayed on Nep.
The more he looked, the less this felt like a man who had simply embarrassed himself.
It felt like a man who had seen sothing he should not have seen.
’Nep did sothing.’
The thought had barely ford when a sharp scream cut across the ruins. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Marika.
Every head snapped toward the sound at once.
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