Chapter 89: Chapter 89: Richards’ Warning

Richards had chosen a place with walls thick enough to keep voices inside.

It was not his apartment this time. Just a quiet office tucked deeper inside the same government building Neo had already started associating with questions, forms, and truths people only said behind closed doors. Morning light fell across the desk in a pale strip that stopped short of Richards’ hands.

Neo sat across from him and waited.

Richards did not waste much time.

"You’ve crossed paths with the Duplains twice now," he said. "That stops being bad luck."

Neo stayed still.

"The first time was Roderic," Richards continued, leaning back slightly in the chair. "Zone 0. The old man dead. A scene cleaned too well for the place it happened in. The second was Leo inside the Breach, and that one came with bodies, witnesses, and a mess his family will spend a lot of time trying to wash clean."

Neo’s mouth hardened faintly. "You say that like you already know how it ends."

"I know how families like that work."

That answer came with enough weight to keep the rest of the room quiet for a beat.

Richards folded one hand over the other and looked at him properly. "Listen carefully, Neo. Right now, you’re young, newly awakened, and easy to dismiss. That protects you a little. It also makes you easy to erase if the wrong person decides you’ve seen too much."

Neo held his stare. "Then I just get stronger before they try."

Richards’ expression didn’t change. "Yes. You do. But strength and caution are meant to walk together, not separately."

Neo said nothing.

Richards let out a slow breath and went on. "If things keep moving the way I think they might, one day you may have to testify against them."

That pulled Neo’s attention tighter.

"Testify?"

"Yes." Richards’ voice stayed even. "Not today. Maybe not soon. But you’ve already seen two Duplains in situations that should never have touched your life at all. Roderic in Zone 0. Leo in that Breach. If more pieces appear, if I get enough to force open the right doors, then what you know stops being private memory and becomes evidence."

Neo leaned back slightly in the chair.

"And if I refuse?"

Richards did not answer at once.

"If that day comes," he said at last, "I’ll ask you to choose with your head clear. That’s all. I’m not dragging you anywhere today. I am telling you to understand what sort of road you’re standing on."

The room went quiet again.

Neo looked toward the window for a moment, more at the light than at anything beyond it. The whole thing sounded rotten. Families like the Duplains did not fall because someone made a decent speech and pointed at them hard enough. If they ever did fall, it would be because enough people bled first.

Richards watched him and added, "Be careful with names. Don’t say Roderic’s name around strangers again. Don’t speak about Leo like you think you’re invisible. You aren’t anymore."

Neo’s eyes shifted back to him. "That because of the Breach?"

"That because of everything." Richards tapped one finger once against the desk. "You came out alive from something that killed plenty of others. You’re moving faster than you should be. You’re meeting people you shouldn’t meet this early. That draws attention."

Neo clicked his tongue softly.

"Attention is annoying."

"It gets worse." Richards leaned back again. "What are you doing after this?"

"Funeral."

At that, something in Richards’ face softened.

"Max."

Neo gave a short nod.

Richards said nothing for a moment, then rose from the chair and crossed the room toward a side cabinet. When he came back, he placed a small box on the desk between them.

Neo glanced at it. "What’s that."

"Something decent to wear there." Richards’ tone stayed practical on purpose. "A funeral deserves better than whatever disaster you’d choose on your own."

Neo looked at the box, then at him.

"...Thanks."

Richards gave the smallest shrug. "Go. And Neo." He waited until Neo had his attention again. "If you want to grow strong enough that families like the Duplains stop feeling untouchable, good. Hold onto that. Just don’t let anger decide the pace for you."

Neo stood.

"I won’t."

He left with the box in one hand and Richards’ warning still sitting in the back of his mind like a blade laid flat across a table.

The funeral was smaller than Neo expected. Heavy in a way that made everything else around it shrink a little. The room smelled faintly of flowers and polished wood. Quiet voices passed from one side to another and died quickly, as if nobody wanted to be caught speaking too loudly near grief that fresh.

Neo stood with his face as cold as ever.

That part came easily. He had spent too much of his life learning how to stand still while uglier things happened nearby. The difference here was that the ugliness had a name and a shape he knew well.

Marika was crying.

Not the same broken way she had outside the Breach, not collapsed and shaking like then, but the tears kept coming all the same. The kind that carried weight because they had already survived the first storm and refused to leave. Alice stayed beside her from the beginning, silent, one hand near enough to touch whenever Marika needed it. Snot stood on the other side in clothes that made him look deeply uncomfortable and strangely younger.

Max’s family received people one by one. Words were said. Hands were held. Promises that meant something and promises that meant nothing got mixed together in the same air.

Neo did not pretend to be good at this.

When his turn came, he only inclined his head, gave Max the last respect he could, and stepped back again.

Marika lasted until the end.

After that, outside, with the day already turning lower and the city washed in that dim gold that made everything look tired, she finally looked at the three of them properly.

Her eyes were red. Her voice came out rough.

"I still can’t do it," she said. "I know you all understand that, but I need to say it again anyway." Her hand tightened around the strap of her bag. "I’m not going with Gray Hand. I’m not stepping into another Breach. Atleast for now."

Alice gave a small nod. Snot did the same.

Neo said, "We know."

Marika drew a shaky breath and pressed her lips together, trying to keep herself together. It only held for a moment. The tears came again. She wiped them away with the heel of her hand and looked at the three of them one last time.

"Be careful," she said, her voice rough and unsteady. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. "And... I hope one day I can come back and go with you."

Alice stepped forward first and hugged her without saying anything. Marika held on harder than she probably meant to. When they separated, Neo gave her a small nod. Snot did the same.

"Take care," Marika said.

Then she left.

The three of them stayed there for a while, watching her go until the distance swallowed her figure and all that remained was the quiet after the funeral.

Snot let out a breath and dragged a hand through his hair.

"Well," he said, forcing some life back into his voice, "you two are going tomorrow, right?"

Neo nodded once. Alice did the same.

"Good." Snot pointed at them with a crooked grin. "I’ll join you in a week. My sister’s already doing better, so don’t get used to running ahead without me."

Neo gave him a flat stare. "That depends on whether you stop talking long enough to train."

Snot snorted. "Heartless."

Alice’s mouth moved just slightly at that, almost a smile.