Cloud - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

"I need you to help me," I told Frederick as I put the big book of Cloud in front of him on his desk. I needed to find some answers and Frederick was the only one who could help me at the moment.
"So, you are finally speaking to me," Frederick said looking at me and I sighed.
"I needed time to think clearly and I simply didn't want to speak to you," I told him.
Since I learnt the truth about everyone, I didn't speak to anyone of them. I completely acted like they weren't there. I ignored them all. At the high school, Cloud tried to speak to me but I still ignored him as well as Rain and the twins. And at home, I ignored Frederick.
So this week was one of the most lonely week that I had since a very long time. I ate alone at every lunch and didn't speak to anyone. I couldn't speak to them. They lied and hid things from me. Things that not only concerned them but also myself.
"Luffy," Frederick started at last, "I know that you are angry because I lied to you and hid certain things from you, like the vision, but I was just trying to protect you."
"I don't know how not telling me the truth was going to protect me," I snapped at him and he sighed.
"I was trying to protect you from the truth of this world," he told me, "You know sometimes not knowing the truth about everything is better as we get to keep hope and never give up on our life. We still have the ability of seeing the beauty of this world."
"Listen, Fred," I said, "I understand okay and I don't want to talk about it. So let's not talk about it right now, we have more important things to talk of."
"Alright," Frederick said, his eyes going to the book in front of him, "So, what are you doing with the book of Cloud?"
"I was trying to learn more things about the Vins so I thought about searching in the book but I can't read it," I explained to him. Of course, I could always remove my glasses to read the book but since I learnt about Frederick's last vision, I was a bit on guard concerning Mr Alexandro Vins.
He was the one to give me the ability to see everything and even thought, I still haven't test this new ability, I knew that it was true. I just didn't want to use it. It might not be the only thing that Mr Vins did to me and I didn't want something bad to happen so for now, I wouldn't remove my glasses and I would try to act like I was a simple human boy who didn't see anything.
"I know that you are no longer an oracle and that you are human now but can you read the book?" I asked Frederick as he opened the book.
"I can still read it," he said as he flipped through the blank pages, at least they appeared blank to me. "But you won't learn anything about the Vins in it."
"But Alexandro told me that there is everything about the creatures in the world in it," I said, frowning and Frederick looked at me.
"This book is called the book of Cloud for a reason. It tells us about Cloud's history through time. Everything that he did, every creatures that he met, things about his family are all written in it. Cloud did write some part about the Vins in the book but these notes are not really helpful," Frederick explained.
"But then how am I supposed to know more about them then?" I asked him.
"Nobody truly know them. We don't even know what they are and this book won't be of any help," he replied, "This book belongs to Cloud and in it, we have everything about him but at the same time not everything at all."
"I don't understand," I said, giving him a confused look.
"Everything in his book was written by Cloud's own hand. So this book is more like a big diary for him. A diary which Cloud can decide what goes in it or not and there are some things that he didn't mention in the book, some important things like the things about his father. This book mainly contains the dark moments of Cloud's life," Frederick explained to me.
"His dark moments," I repeated just as Frederick arrived at a page which was familiar to me and also the only page that I could really see. I stopped him as he was going to turn the page again and he gave me a confused look. "Tell me what it is saying there," I asked Frederick as I looked at the man in the black cloak and the hood still hiding his face.
My nightmare.
I only had it for one night and I didn't get it again but it was still fresh in my head.
"You are seeing something?" Frederick asked me in disbelief and I nodded slowly.
"Remember that nightmare that I got a few days ago?" I asked him.
"Yes, the one that you didn't want to talk to me about," he replied, nodding.
"It was about this man," I said pointing to the picture of the man in the cloak, "He was chasing me in the woods and when I woke up, the book was on my bed opened at his page which I strangely could see but I still didn't understand anything that was written."
"This man is not everyone, it's Cloud," Frederick told me, "And this passage tells us about the night that Cloud killed his first lover."
"What?" I exclaimed but it came out more like a whisper. "He killed his own lover."
"Not only his lover but the whole village where his lover lived," Frederick said, reading the lines, "He killed everyone. The children, the adults and he kept the love of his life for the end. Cloud chased him through the forest and then killed him."
"Why would he do that?" I asked.
"Because Cloud didn't want to be changed," Fred replied, "Eden, his lover, was kind and loved by everyone and he knew the truth about Cloud, Cloud told him about it. When Cloud met Eden, Cloud was nearly heartless and didn't care about anyone that he killed but Eden saw something good in him and tried to change him but Cloud..."
"Didn't want to be changed," I completed for Frederick and he nodded. "Is it a good reason to kill someone?" I asked no one in particular.
"It's Cloud," Fred said, "Everything is a good reason to kill someone for him but don't be too hard on him for this."
"How do you expect me not to?" I asked him in disbelief and he looked at me like it was obvious.
"Because he changed," Fred told me, "And maybe that he doesn't regret killing all the people that he killed but now he doesn't do it anymore and it is enough for me to forgive him."
I couldn't believe it. I knew that Cloud killed people but I never thought that he could kill someone he was supposed to love. He didn't want to be changed so he just killed the person who was trying to make him a better person.
"Let's just not talk about him, will you? We have more important things to worry about," I said slowly, closing the book angrily and Frederick looked at me worriedly but I ignored him, "How is it possible that I got a nightmare about Cloud chasing me through the woods when it was Eden that he was chasing? It seemed so real to me."
"Because it is real," Fred said, "You relived the moment when Cloud chased Eden in the forest but as Eden himself."
"But how is it possible?" I asked him.
"Someone must have been playing with your mind," he replied, "With a bit of practice, some people can make other people see things that they want or even make them relive a memory."
"But who would do that to me?" I asked him in confusion and he sighed.
"I don't know, Luffy," he replied and I huffed in disbelief.
"Okay, so the book is of no importance then. But what about the Vins? I still don't know anything about them. And what about the vision that you had, is there a way to prevent it from happening?" I asked Frederick.
"Honestly, I don't know," he replied, "One way or another every single one of my vision had became true whether I wanted it or not and this one won't be an exception."
"But I don't know the Vins nor what they are or what they want," I exclaimed.
"It's you who they want, Luffy," Frederick told me and I gave him a look of disbelief. "You are the one that they want. Since the night of the party, they are trying to get their hands on you and we don't know why."
"But I'm just human. So what so they want with me then?" I questioned and Fred sighed again.
"That's what we are all trying to know. The vision that I got wasn't really clear and I don't know when it will happen but I know that it will happen," he told me, "A few years passed since the vision and nothing happened but then a few weeks ago, I got a call from Cloud and he said that he saw you."
"That's why you came here then," I concluded and he nodded.
"The night of the party I was going to discuss about the vision with them and we were going to decide what we were going to do with you," he said.
"And what were you going to do with me?" I asked him and he looked at me hesitantly.
"It dependded on something," he replied.
"It depended on what?" I questioned him.
"It depended on if you were human or not," he answered.
"But I'm human," I exclaimed.
"I know, Luffy but the others weren't sure about it," he said as I folded my arms over my chest.
"But now what do they think?" I asked him.
"That you are completely human," he assured me immediately, "And it was partly thanks to Amelia. The cursed ones can't marked everyone that they want. They can only marked humans and when Amelia marked you, the others then knew that you were truly human."
"I can't believe it," I said, going to sit on Frederick's bed, "This thing is literally going out of control."
"There is more," Frederick told me, "After the party, I wasn't really avoiding you, I was just searching for the place where my vision was going to happen."
"And did you find it?" I asked him and he nodded slowly.
"I did," he said, "It is here somewhere in the middle of the forest in Storm Hill."
"So this place is where everything is going to happen," I concluded and Frederick nodded.
"But it still doesn't make sense thought," Frederick added, "What does the Vins want with you? You are just human and you won't be of any use to them. And to make things more confusing, you were ruling them in the vision which doesn't make even more sense."
"But how do you know that I was ruling them?" I questioned.
"Luffy, they were all kneeling and bowing their heads to you while you, you were standing high in front of them all," Frederick exclaimed and I sighed.
"Could it be that you confuse me with someone else?" I asked him.
"I know how you look like, damn it, I'm your cousin and this person that I saw in the vision was exactly like you till the smallest imperfection," he replied really sure of him and something came to my mind.
"Do you have any other proof that it was me apart from my appearance?" I asked him quickly and he looked at me in confusion.
"The fact that the person looks like you is enough proof. He had the same hair, the same eyes color, he was wearing the same damn glasses and he was the same height as you," he said and I shook my head.
"It can be my body but not necessarily me," I told him and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"But what are you talking about?" he asked me as I jumped off of his bed.
"I just remembered something that I completely forgot about," I replied.
The meeting with myself.
I didn't tell anyone about it as I simply didn't believe that it was real. I had learnt so many crazy things which were really hard to believe so I kind of forgot this meeting which for me didn't make sense at all but which was also impossible to even be true.
But if this was true then the vision of Frederick made complete sense then. It was not me that he saw ruling the Vins, it was the other me. And the other me clearly said that we were two souls in one single body and maybe that the person, who Frederick saw, was the other me having control of the body.
"Do you know someone apart from Cloud and Rain and the twins who might know more about the Vins and what they want?" I asked Frederick quickly.
"Yes, I think that there is someone who might know more about them but Luffy-" he started but I cut him off.
"Take me to this person," I ordered him.
"But-"
"Frederick, just do as I said," I told him and he sighed before nodding reluctantly.
"Alright. Let's go then," he said, standing up from his seat. He walked out of the room and I was going to follow him but then I stopped and looked at the book resting on the table. I walked to the desk and then took the book with me.
I might need it later, I thought as I walked out of Frederick's room.
***
"So this is the house of the person that we are going to see?" I asked Frederick as he parked the car in front of a big house.
"Yes, it is," he replied and he cut the engine with a sigh.
"Who or maybe what is this person?" I asked Frederick.
"An oracle," he simply replied and I looked at him surprised.
"There is another one here," I exclaimed and he nodded.
"Yes, he is one of the few oracles that doesn't hate me," he said and I gave him a questioning look, making him continue his explanations, "The others hate me because I didn't die like I was supposed to. Personally, I think that it is just jealousy. They are jealous of me because they are going to die and nothing is going to prevent their death unlike me who survive from this whole dying thing."
"By the way, why did Rain save you?" I asked Fred and he looked at me, something flashing through his eyes.
"I...," he started but then he shook his head, changing his mind, "It's complicated, we will talk about that later."
With that said, Frederick opened the door of the car and walked out. I remained sitting in the vehicule some more seconds, trying to think about what Fred was going to say but nothing came to my mind so then I got out of the car myself, bringing the book with me.
I followed Frederick as he walked to the door of the house. I caught with him just as he arrived in front of the house. He was going to knock at the door when it suddenly opened to reveal a feminine face which was familiar to me.
"Jennifer," I exclaimed in surprise and she too looked like she was surprised to see me there.
"Luffy," she said, crossing her arms, "What are you doing here?"
There was a bit of harshness in her voice and I instantly knew why. Emma was her best friend and naturally she must be thinking that I was the one reason why Emma and Nicolas broke up.
But what was she doing here at the house where a supposed oracle was supposed to be living?
"Jennifer, what is it?" another familiar voice asked, appearing behind Jennifer.
"Ken," I exclaimed again in surprise but he didn't look surprise to see me here. His eyes darted to Frederick before looking back at me with a smile.
"Luffy, Frederick, good to see you," Ken greeted us.
"Ken, what is Luffy doing here? You know what he did to Emma," Jennifer reminded him with a hard look.
"I think that you should go home. I will talk to you later," Ken told her.
"But-"
"Jennifer, just go home, we will talk later," Ken repeated again, interrupting her and she nodded reluctantly. She gave him a peck on the lips before walking away, bumping into me hard on the shoulder as she passed by me. I gave her a glare before looking back at Ken who was shaking his head at her.
"That girl seem to really like you, Luffy," Frederick told me sarcastically with a smirk and I glared at him.
"She is just under the influence of a prostitute. These one really know how to cause trouble," Ken said with a sigh, "But anyway, don't stay outside. Come in."
Frederick and I did as Ken's said and he closed the door behind us. He told us to follow him to the living room and we did. The TV was on when we arrived in the living room and Ken switched it off before turning to us.
"You  can sit on the couch," he told us, showing us a long couch and Frederick went to sit on it while I remained standing, looking at Ken.
"Wait a minute, what is happening here?" I asked them while I looked at Frederick, "You said that we were going to see an oracle."
"Yes, here he is," Fred said, pointing to Ken, "Here is your oracle."
I looked at him in disbelief before looking at Ken for confirmation and he nodded at me, telling me that it was in fact the truth. I sighed miserably as I let myself fall back on the couch, the book on me as I let this news sink in my head.
"You're an oracle," I repeated in disbelief, "Is there any more people that I know who are not human?"
"Don't worry the others are humans, I mean apart from Emma who is a prostitute," Ken replied as he sat on the opposite couch in front of us, "So, how may I help you people?"
"The Vins," Frederick simply replied and Ken nodded, thoughtfully.
"Do you know them?" I asked him and he looked at me.
"Who doesn't," he replied, "And I saw their arrival in a vision."
"Why didn't you tell us anything about it?" Frederick asked him in disbelief.
"I did," Ken replied, glancing at Frederick, "I warned Luffy about it."
"What?" I exclaimed in both surprise and confusion, "When?"
"At the night of the party. Who do you think was the voice that you heard in the car?" Ken asked me in return.
"It was you," I exclaimed in disbelief and he nodded.
"What voice?" Frederick asked in confusion and it was Ken who replied.
"I kind of got the vision of the arrival of the Vins while I was dancing on the dance floor and while I was literally lying on the floor with everyone asking me what I was getting, I warned Luffy about them," he explained to us, "But I was having some problems reaching Luffy's mind. Something was preventing me from reaching him and I wasn't sure if he heard me."
"I did hear you," I told Ken, "I mean I forgot about the party but when I was with Alexandro getting my memory back, I heard your voice and Alexandro said that he was going to find out who it was."
"Do you think that the Vins are searching for you?" Frederick asked Ken who nodded.
"They are," he said, "But Alexandro Vins is not an enemy. We can trust him."
"How do you know that?" I asked him.
"I saw it in a vision," he replied, "He is not here to warm us in any way. It's the complete opposite, he is trying to help."
"Okay then. What did you see apart from that?" Frederick asked Ken.
"I saw the reason why they are here and also what they want," Ken replied, his eyes going to me, "You already met him, didn't you?"
I instantly knew what Ken was talking about at that moment and I knew that he knew that I knew what he was talking about.
"Met who?" Frederick asked.
"The other me," I replied and Frederick gave me a confuse look while Ken nodded. "So he is real."
"Yes, he is," Ken confirmed, "But who he is is still a mystery."
"Who are you talking about?" Frederick asked us in confusion.
"The other soul living in Luffy's body," Ken replied before looking at me, "You didn't tell him or anyone else?"
"I didn't know if it was true or not so I kept it for myself and besides, I completely forgot about it," I informed him.
"How can you forget something as important as having another soul living in your body?" Frederick asked me in disbelief, "And you should have told us about it the moment you knew it."
"If I had, you would have made this about me and not tell me anything about all of you," I told him.
"You could have told us after you learnt everything," Frederick exclaimed angrily.
"I just learnt that I was going to be the boss of some creatures that I didn't know anything about, I needed to be some time alone," I snapped back at him.
"Guys, now is not the time to fight. We have more important things to talk about," Ken told us and we calmed down a little bit. "What did you and the other soul in you talk about?" Ken asked me once we had fully calmed down Frederick and I.
And then, I told them everything that I saw and everything that was said. I told them about the fact that this soul living with me inside of my body was not only exactly like me but that I was also one of his replicas. I told them everything that the other me said and informed me about.
At the end, Frederick and Ken was completely silent. Frederick looked like he didn't believe his own ears while Ken looked like he was thinking about something.
"So," Frederick  started at last, "The one that I saw in the vision wasn't exactly you, Luffy, but some kind of other you."
"Yes," I simply said and I looked at Ken, "Your thoughts about it, Ken?"
"Give me the book," Ken told me in response and I gave him a questioning look but passed the book to him anyway. He flipped through the pages obviously searching for something.
"What are you looking for?" Frederick asked Ken.
"The place where Luffy or more like the other Luffy is going to take full control of the body that they are both sharing," Ken replied as he continued to flip through the pages.
"I already know where it is," Frederick told Ken, "It's here at Storm Hill in the middle of a forest."
"You don't know everything," Ken said just as he stopped turning the pages, "Here it is. This is the important part that you missed."
Ken turned the book to us, showing us the page where he had stopped. I looked at him in confusion as well as Frederick.
"How is Cloud killing his first lover is important to us right now?" I asked him as I looked at the only page that I could see in this book.
"What is important is where it happens," Ken explained, "It's here at Storm Hill that everything happened. You know that Cloud massacred an entire village as well as his lover. All of it happened in one of the forest of Storm Hill."
"Okay, it's the same place but what exactly is your point?"  Frederick asked him and Ken looked at him like it was obvious.
"Luffy told us that the other him, we really need to find a name for him by the way, was betrayed by someone very dear to him and it was the same thing that happened between Eden and Cloud. Eden loved Cloud but the latter betrayed him by killing him. If the other you need to one day take control of your body, this place is exactly the best place to. And that would also explain why the Vins are searching for the book of Cloud. They are searching for this place," Ken explained to us.
"So the Vins are searching for the book to find this place," I said and Ken nodded.
"Yes, I saw it in my first vision about them. They can't put their hands on the book," Ken said, closing it and giving it to me, "Hide it, do everything you want with it but don't let the Vins get their hands on it."
"Maybe they won't need to get their hands on the book to know where the place is," Frederick said suddenly as I took the book from Ken.
"What do you mean?" I asked him and he looked at me.
"You had a nightmare about this event," Frederick explained, "And I told you that maybe someone might have made you seen it and maybe this person is the other you. He was the one to make you get the nightmare."
"It doesn't make sense," I told him, "The seal was not even broken then. He couldn't have done anything."
"Maybe the seal was weakening," Ken said, "Think about it, if you were going to imprison someone very powerful with a seal, the seal in question needs to be really powerful and nearly impossible to break and even thought, Alexandro Vins is someone pretty powerful, he is not powerful enough to break a seal of this strength unless the seal was starting to get weak."
"So as the seal was weakening, the other you could make you see the memory in the book," Frederick added, "He didn't even need a great amount of power to do so. The book was there in your room so he just had to transfer what happened to your head."
"Okay, I understand all of that," I said before adding, "But I had two questions: Why did he do that? And how did the seal weaken?"
"You're human," Ken said, "Basically everyone can get in your head and play with your memory. The Vins don't even have to get the book to know the place, they just had to come near you enough so that they can get in your mind and know where the place is."
"Great, now not only do we have to hide this book but we also have to make sure that nobody get in Luffy's head," Frederick said, letting his head flop back on the couch with a sigh.
"But what about the seal then?" I asked them.
"I don't know, Luffy," Frederick said.
"I have a theory," Ken added.
"Which is?" I asked him.
"I'm not sure about it but I think that-" Ken stopped in the middle of his sentence suddenly. I gave him a questioning look but he didn't reply anything, he just sat down and then his body just fell forward onto the floor. His eyes wide opened, his whole body started to tremble violent from up and down.
"Shit!" Frederick exclaimed, getting off of the couch to run to Ken's shaking body from the ground and I followed soon after him.
"What is happening to him?" I asked Fred in panicked as I kneel beside Ken's body, "Is he having a vision?"
"No, it's something else,"  Fred replied as he took Ken by his shoulders, "Ken, snap out of it! Damn it!"
Ken didn't look like he was hearing Frederick's shouting , he looked like he wasn't even there with us. He was babbling incomprehensible words quickly under his breath as he continued to shake from everywhere, his eyes were turning white.
Just as I was going to open my mouth to say something, a white light suddenly appeared from nowhere. It was literally blinding my eyes and I needed to close them to prevent me from seeing it.
"Fucking damn it," I heard Frederick cursed before I was suddenly projected in the air. My back hit something hard and my body fell to the ground. I groaned in pain.
What was happening? I asked myself as I slowly tried to open my eyes. The light was still there but not as blinding as before and soon, it started to fade to reveal the last person that I was expecting here.
"Nicolas," I said slowly as I looked at the latter in confusion and he looked at me the same confusion on his face. He was standing, shirtless and with a short, in front of Ken's lying body on the ground.
"Buffy," he said, looking completely lost, "What am I doing here?"
"It's Luffy,"  I murmured as I tried to get my body off the floor but I ended up sitting against the wall. "What are you doing here? What did you do?"
"He is.." I heard Frederick started and I looked around to see him trying to sit up a few centimeters across the room. He was bleeding across the forehead which meant that he must had hit something hard. He caught his breath before finally completing his sentence, "He is the guardian of Ken."
"What?" I exclaimed just another light appeared. I instantly closed my eyes as I waited for the light to disappear. This time I wasn't projected anywhere and when I opened my eyes again the first thing that I saw was Nicolas with an afraid look on his face. I followed his gaze to see that it was in fact Cale and Calum that had just appeared in front of Frederick.
"Well," Cale started with a smirk, "It looks like we arrive just at the right time for the fun part."