Becoming a Monster

"We are all planning on leaving soon after we collect some things from the dorm, are you two coming with us?"

Silence was all that followed, everyone, including the newcomers waited while holding their breaths, all for two different reasons. One side wanted the maniac to go away while the other felt that the journey would be literal hell without him. Noah looked at her as if he was looking at an idiot.

"Of course we're not going t-"

"Noah, wait!"

Ailetta interrupted him, her face full of concern. Hearing her behind him, Noah's shoulders slumped and he breathed out slowly before turning around.

"Don't tell me you want to follow them, even after they used you?" His question confused the people listening in, they weren't sure what he meant by those words at all since all of them had also agreed to share their things.

He noticed the slight reluctance in her behavior, but she still looked him in the eyes and said.

"Yes, but…I just want to make sure they get there safely…after that then I don't mind going anywhere else, with just us.." She spoke the last part almost in a whisper from embarrassment, but Noah's focus was on another particular bit she said.

"Make it there safely? What are you talking about? Make it where?" He asked, Noah wasn't privy to the information about the government making one of their many checkpoints that was nearby. Ailetta took the time to explain to him how they had bought a radio from the mystery seller that actually worked, and how they were able to find out about the location that was supposed to be safe.

This was definitely news to Noah, but he felt that it was also logical. They had guns, vehicles and a better mentality to fight back what was happening. Of course, he wasn't aware of the fact that using guns not only would cause monsters not to drop any loot, but it would also lower the quality of their advancement. But as he was thinking these things, Ailettta pressed on.

"And remember when you told me to get a good 'deal' from Jas last night? Well we thought that giving you rights to a certain amount of their loot would be nice, and…and not just that but if we go in a large group then wouldn't that mean that we would attract more things for you to kill? I thought that even you would like that.." she tried to find reason with what she was saying but noticed the dissatisfaction on his face. "I'm sorry Noah…I just want to make sure they get there safely…"

She told her true feelings in the end, but Ailetta had no idea that her words had struck a chord of fear into most of the people there. Instinctively they believed that there was safety in numbers, but they failed to realize that even though that may be the case, their large numbers are bound to attract more monsters. The wheels in their panicked minds turned fast while Noah considered Ailetta's plea.

"Noah" Hearing Arachnes voice call out to him, he turned to hear what she had to say.

"Food attracts bigger food." She said while licking her bottom lip, thinking about all she would be able to eat. Yet her words frightened everyone even more.

"Maybe we should stay here and wait for the army."

"We should have enough food to hold out for a week."

"No! I can't stay here another week!"

The discussions had already started again, lowering the morale of everyone one at a time.

Noah knew that the two had a point, but it was still hard for him to accept, accepting would mean being around these annoying people even longer. However he knew that it meant a lot to Ailetta, if all it took for her to finally move on was to just take them to that location then it didn't seem like such a bad decision anymore.

"Fine.." His agreement caused Ailetta to smile, also causing the few that actually wanted him to join to sigh in relief.

"But I'm not part of their group, if they die then it's not on me, and don't pull a stunt like you did last night. If you were to die saving them then wouldn't they just die anyway when they find themselves in danger again afterwards? I'm not going to make you stronger just for you to sacrifice yourself for these pathetic people.

"H-hey"

"Why are you even coming then?"

Noah turned to see the angry faces of the newcomers pointing towards him. He also noted a few from the original group, as well as many that clearly showed dissatisfaction.

"I'm not coming for you, just act like I'm not even there, how about we start now?" Noah turned his back to them and began to address Ailetta again, wanting to hear her response.

"Grrrr!" The ones that were the most upset with how Noah treated them wanted to lash out, but when they heard the growling of Fenrir next to Noah they were smart enough to hold their tongues.

"….So it's fine for me to still help them?" She asked to be sure, earning a slow nod in return.

On the outside, Ailetta was relieved that Noah agreed, but inwardly she was nervous about what could happen. Jasmine, who was listening this entire time, thought this would be a good chance to interject.

"If you decided then know that we will be leaving soon. But we all have to make a decision now before we go anywhere. After last night, we thought that maybe it would be better if we acquired transportation to reach the checkpoint or would it be better to walk there? We need to all come to an agreement on this, and soon."

"Of course we should go by car!

"South Kenyastad is almost on the other side of the town! It would take at least the entire day to get there if we walk! Even longer if we run into those things!"

Immediately the masses began to make their decisions, but the majority were an overwhelming yes for using transportation. They just didn't know that there was really only one person who had the final say.

"What do you think?" Jasmine asked in worry, she knew best about the difficulties they will have to endure if Noah didn't come. The best outcome would be making it to their destination with half of them still alive, and the worse? She didn't want to think of it.

Ailetta looked to Noah and saw that he was frowning. She looked towards his creatures and immediately assumed that he would rather walk because of them.

"Jas, That's not fair to Noah, his creatures are too big, they won't fit in a car.."

"Then they should just follow along, I've seen how fast that wolf is. It should be easy for it to follow along even if we are in a car, that spider….thing, should be no different!"

"Right! If we all decide to drive there then what does it matter what he thinks?"

Their words even caused Ailetta to grow upset listening to them. Noah's frown only deepened, but his eyes were resolute as if he had always had his answer.

"Like I said before, you all are pathetic. Ailetta, I'm sorry, well not really, but I'm not going if killing themselves is their way of staying alive." He walked towards Fenrir and Arachne, prepared to leave if Ailetta still decided to follow them. His heart was restless, but he just couldn't go through with what they were doing and he couldn't follow Ailetta's decision if she still chose to go through with their idiotic plan.

"No-Noah wait!" This time, to Noah's surprise, it was Mark who called out to him. Noah was ready to hear stupid blabbering about self sacrifice and stuff that didn't pertain to him, but when he turned towards Mark. That spiteful, arrogant demeanor wasn't there. He looked, troubled?

"What do you mean by killing ourselves? What do you know?" He asked, but his face began to look distorted, Mark was trying hard to keep his real thoughts to himself. He couldn't help getting upset seeing how selfish and uncaring Noah was, but he had to admit that Noah was stronger, stronger than him, stronger than their entire group, he had to respect his strength at least.

Noah was stunned to hear Mark speak to him without hearing a tone laced with venom, for a second he didn't respond, but seeing that even Ailetta looked curiously to his reasoning, he decided to explain.

"Look at Fenrir here." He patted Fenrir's thick leg full of muscle. "He can easily knock a car over and probably even cut it in half. There are creatures out there that could do the same thing, and yet you would gamble your lives in something where you would have no escape or no way to fight back to protect yourself?

But most importantly. How will you grow stronger if you are avoiding the things that will make you stronger? Like I said, just pathetic."

His reason wasn't enough to convince them all. If whatever could kill them while in a car then wouldn't that mean their death would be more certain if they had to fight it? However the people who were slowly accepting what the world was turning into knew that Noah was right.

And then there were people like Mark, Ishii and Ailetta who took his latter words to heart.

"Jas, we're walking." Mark suddenly said to her. Surprising the masses.

"What? What about all of us deciding? You can't make that decision!" Regina shouted in protest, but then from her surprise Ishii spoke up next.

"I think driving is a bad choice as well, I'm with Mark." With Ishii agreeing, the entire group that came with him from the library supported his decision as well. Everyone else was too afraid to speak up.

"If only we decide to walk, will you still come with us?" Ishii asked Noah.

"Isn't that what I said before?" Noah's confirmation made Ishii's eyes light up excitedly.

"Do our voices not matter! We don't want this!" The people who were against the decision raged, leaving Jasmine to respond to their frustrations.

"Well it seems this is where we part ways then. Who knows who is making the right decision, but I hope we will all get to where we are going safely." Jasmine had already made her decision when Noah had made his stance. He may not feel obligated to help them, but she's seen the way he's done things and she didn't believe that he would let them fight on their own all the time. He was obsessed with strength. As long as they handled their part then he would be potentially saving them unintentionally.

However her words put the others in a tough predicament, those people were the same who believed in safety in numbers and now those numbers were cut by half. What was worse was that the half that was cut consisted of most of their strongest people. Forget about what if they encountered a creature that could destroy a car, they would have difficulties with everything they encounter if they couldn't solve the problem by driving away.

"He's just one person….why are you doing this?" Neal was the one to cry this time. He didn't want this to happen. Who cares about trying to get stronger? They can do that after they reach safety!

"We made our decision, there's still time before we go if you want to grab anything from the rooms before we leave!" Jasmine declared, spurring the people to start moving. The girls were the ones who most needed to grab their things, but they wouldn't do so if there was no one to accompany them. Everyone had to go in groups.

There were some people who were smart enough to change their minds to stick with the group, but the majority of the new arrivals, along with a few others, still decided that taking vehicles was a better plan. They were desperate to reach safety as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry…" Ailetta approached Noah with a guilty conscience.

"Just don't make me regret this, are you going to go grab anything?" He asked, but Ailetta only shook her head in response.

"Then go put on that gear you put in the bag before we go." He motioned her back to the dorm.

There were still few people outside, but none of them mattered as he turned to his creatures, specifically Arachne. After frowning most of the time, he had finally revealed a small smirk.

"Now let's see how strong you became."

....

A/N: Some or you may not like the route Noah took, but this is the best way for Ailetta to progress faster that doesn't seem forced.