Cloud - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

"What's happening here?" Nicolas asked in confusion, looking at everyone of us. "And what am I doing at Ken's?"
"It's not important," Cale replied with a smirk, "You are going to die soon. So on guard."
"Die," Nicolas repeated in disbelief. "Hold on. I don't understand. What's happening?"
"Well," Cale replied, stepping forward, "It's simply. I'm going to kill you."
"Cale, let's not jump to any conclusion," Calum told his brother, putting one hand on his chest to stop him. "We don't even know if Nicolas is really a guardian."
"He is," Cale protested. "If he wasn't, he wouldn't have appeared here. Our mission is to protect our oracles and Nicolas is here to warm Frederick so I'm going to protect Frederick by killing Nicolas."
"Wait!" Nicolas shouted, "I don't even know this Frederick guy and I..I..I was at the pool but then I don't know how I appeared here. I'm not here to warm anyone. I didn't even want to come here in the first place."
But Cale didn't listen to him. He pushed Calum out of his way and went to Nicolas who quickly stepped back but Ken's body was laying on the ground behind him so he stumbled over the body and fell back on the couch where Ken was previously sitting. Cale didn't stop thought. A white light came to his hand and soon a white sword appeared in it.
Nicolas' eyes widened in fear at the dangerous object in Cale's hand but he didn't try to run away. The fear was paralysing him in place. Just when he finally snapped out of whatever he was in, it was too late. Cale was already in front of him ready to blow.
"Cale, stop!" I shouted as the latter raised his sword to blow at Nicolas. "Don't you dare hurt him."
Cale looked back at me, his sword still in the air, as I finally succeeded to get off the ground. I couldn't let him hurt Nicolas. I didn't know what was happening currently but I knew one thing, nobody was going to get hurt.
"Put your sword down," I ordered Cale and he looked at me in disbelief.
"I don't take orders from you," he told me, "Frederick, an oracle or not, I need to protect him no matter what. Nicolas is a danger to him right now and I need to eliminate the danger."
"Put your sword down," I ordered him again, "I won't let you hurt him."
"I would like to see what you can do to me," he laughed, "I can kill him before you can make two steps towards us."
"Cale, listen to Luffy," Calum told his brother, "Put your sword down. Talking is better than fighting."
"Please," Nicolas pleaded him, looking at Cale's with teary eyes and he laughed at him.
"Look at you, Nicolas. You are so strong at the high school, but now you look like you are ready to pee in your pants," Cale mocked. He pointed his sword at Nicolas' neck and the latter gulped, looking down at the sword with fear clearly in his eyes. "This sword forms part of the few weapons who can kill a guardian. I promise you that your death will be quick."
"I'm not a guardian," Nicolas protested quickly, "I don't even know what a guardian is."
"Don't play dumb," Cale told him angrily.
"Maybe he is telling the truth," Calum said, "We have been to the same high school as him for years now and Nicolas has never showed that he was a guardian. And he doesn't even have a twin. All guardians must consist of a pair of twins and if Nicolas had one, the twin should have appeared at the same time as him here."
Cale frowned as he realised that Calum was right but he still didn't lower his sword. It was like he wanted to kill Nicolas. No matter what and whatever the reason was, he wanted to kill him but I couldn't let that happen. I was slowly approaching Cale without notice. Nicolas and I were not really the best of best friends and we never really talked to each other but I wasn't going to let him die.
"Cale, I told you to put your sword down," I said again as I was coming closer to him.
"And I told you that I don't take orders from you," he said, turning his sword my way. I stopped dead in my track as the sword was now point to my neck. "Luffy stay out of it. You are just human and these matters don't concern you in any way."
"It is if you are trying to kill one of my friends," I told him and I tried to step forward but he pointed the sword closer to my neck, touching the skin.
"Take another step forward and I swear that I won't hesitate to hurt you," he threatened me and I must say that I was a bit taken back by the harshness in his voice.
What the hell was happening to him? I didn't know him for long but I knew that he wasn't in his normal state. He wasn't supposed to be like that. I swallowed hard not knowing what to do to stop him. I glanced at Nicolas from the corner of my eyes and he still hasn't made a move as well as Calum. God! They couldn't be fearing Cale that much, could they?
"Cale, hurt Luffy and I swear that I will kill you," I heard Frederick said and I immediately looked at him. I almost forgot that he was here, even thought he was the main concern of this conversation.
A little bit of blood was dripping out of his mouth. And his face was partly covered in blood from the wound he got from his forehead. He looked weak. I frowned. How did he become like that in a matter of seconds? He looked better a few minutes ago.
"P-put..your sword down," Fred ordered Cale, his voice becoming a whisper at the end. He was having difficulty to speak normally and he looked ready to black out at any moment.
"God, Frederick," Calum exclaimed, coming to kneel in front of him. "Stop speak. I'm going to heal you."
But Frederick pushed Calum to the side and looked at Cale with warning eyes. "Lower your sword Cale. Your job is to not only protect me but you also need to follow my orders so now obey."
Cale looked like he wanted to protest but he chose otherwise and he finally lowered his sword. He sighed and soon the sword disappeared from his hand, leaving him unarmed. He glanced at me before looking at Nicolas who gulped under his gaze.
"Next time you won't be so lucky," Cale promised him before turning around and walking to Frederick. I looked at my cousin with worried eyes.
"Are you alright, Fred?" I asked him and he let out a laugh, blood dripping from the corner of his lips.
"I don't know," he replied, "Do I look fine to you?"
"Not really," I told him. I took a step towards him and he shook his head at me.
"No," he said, "Ken is more important than me right now. Look if he is fine."
Ken.
I nearly forgot about him. I looked at his body on the ground before looking back at Frederick who was now being taking care of by Cale and Calum. He was going to be alright, I thought. I looked back at Ken, more preoccupied by his current state. I kneeled down in front of him, not knowing what to do. He had stopped moving now. He was just laying on the ground, unconscious.
"What happened to him?" Nicolas asked me and I looked up at him.
"You, you tell me about it. You are supposed to be his guardian so you should know more about what is happening to him," I told him and he shook his head.
"I'm not a guardian. I don't even know what the hell it is or even what is happening here," he said again, looking around in confusion and a bit of fear, and I sighed, looking back at Ken.
"What should I do?" I asked no one in particular. All of this was new to me. I didn't know what I was supposed to do and I didn't know either what had happened to Ken so I couldn't help him in any way humanly possible.
"Maybe we should take him to the hospital," Nicolas suggested, kneeling beside Ken. He was glancing at Cale from the corner of his eyes from second to second. He was surely afraid that Cale tried to kill him again.
"I don't think that the hospital is a good idea," I told him, shaking my head. I took Ken's pulse and thankfully I could feel it. At least, he was still alive. "I need some help here," I told the other guys, looking back at them. My eyes widened slightly at the view.
Calum's hand was pressed against Frederick's forehead. A white light was surrounding it. It was the first time that I was seeing something like this in real life. I could see the wounds of Frederick slowly healing and in a matter of seconds, he was fully healed. Frederick wiped away the blood from his lips and got off the ground, blood still present on his face but he didn't take care of it and immediately walked to us, Cale and Calum following behind him.
"He doesn't look well," Cale said, referring to Ken as all three of them arrived in front of us. At his turn, Frederick looked at Ken before touching his forehead with one hand.
"A vision?" Calum asked but Frederick shook his head.
"It's not a vision," he replied.
"How do you know?" Cale questioned.
"If it was one, he should already be awake," he said. "Something else happened to him. I think that something attacked him."
"But what?" I asked.
"Wait, can someone explain to me what is happening here, damn it?" Nicolas asked, looking at us. The confusion was clear on his face.
"It's a long story, we will explain later," I told him.
"But I want to know now," he protested.
"Shut up, you are in enough trouble," Cale snapped at him, pointing his finger at him. "If anyone should know what happened to Ken, it should be you. You are his guardian and you appeared here for a reason and this reason is protect him from the thing that was warming him."
"For the last time, I'm not a guardian," Nicolas exclaimed angrily. "And I don't know how I appeared here. As I said, I was at the swimming pool and I was ready to jump in the pool but then this sort of white light appeared and I ended up here."
"He really looks like he doesn't know anything," Frederick said.
"It's because I really don't know anything," Nicolas exclaimed.
"It's not possible," Cale said, "The reason we are here is because we sensed that Frederick was in danger and you were, are, the danger. I can still feel that you are here to hurt him."
"I don't want to hurt anyone, damn it," Nicolas snapped, standing up to be to the same level as Cale.
"Then why the hell are you here?" Cale asked him in disbelief.
"I don't fucking know," Nicolas shouted.
"Calm down," I told them. "Ken is more important right now. Let's take care of him first then you can continue your cat fight."
Cale gritted his teeth while Nicolas glared at him but they didn't say anything else and returned their attention back to Ken. I looked at Calum.
"Can you do something to help him?" I asked him and he looked hesitant.
"I don't know but I can still try," he said. He took a deep breath and pressed his hand against Ken's forehead. He closed his eyes and the same white light surrounded his hand once again.
I watched him in fascination. It was the first time, or the second time considering that I saw him healed Frederick, that I saw something like that in my life. And to think that one week ago, I wouldn't have thought that these things could possibly exist or even possible be done.
Calum opened his eyes at last with a frown now on his face. He removed his hand from Ken and sighed before looking at me.
"You should take him to the hospital. He isn't going to wake up so soon," he told me and I looked at him in disbelief.
"What? But why?" I asked him.
"Someone put him to sleep," he replied. "He is still alive but he can't wake up. A seal was put on him so that he doesn't wake. I could feel him trying to fight it but he can't and it's a bit difficult for me to undo this sort of thing."
"But if it is a seal, it can be broken," Frederick said and Calum looked at him
"Yes but we need to know who put it on him first," Calum said. "The person who did that must have been closed to him."
"But who?" Fred asked. "Luffy and I were the only one here."
"And there is something else," Cale added. "If someone was hurting Ken, Nicolas should have appeared to the person putting the seal on him but instead he appeared here."
"He was there to eliminate the danger," Calum whispered in realisation. "Which mean that it was either Frederick or Luffy who was putting the seal on Ken."
"Are you crazy?" Frederick asked him in disbelief. "Why the hell would we hurt Ken? And besides, I have no power anymore and even if I had, I couldn't have put a seal on anyone as I am just an oracle and Luffy is just like me a human."
"I'm not fully like you," I denied, standing up. "I think I know who did that to Ken."
"Who?" Cale asked me.
"Me," I replied, realizing everything. "At least, it was the one living inside me."
"The one living inside of you," Calum repeated in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"I have another soul living in my body," I informed the twins who then looked at me in disbelief. I closed my eyes, sighing. "God, it makes sense. Ken was telling Frederick and I about the Vins, that's why he, the other me, shut Ken up."
"Wait a minute," Cale told me, "You are saying that there is someone else in your body and that this someone put a sleep seal on Ken because he was telling you about the Vins."
"Yes, that's exactly what I am saying," I told him, looking at Frederick, "So now it's certain we really need to get rid of this someone inside of me."
"But we need to know who he is first or even what is his intention as well as the Vins," my cousin told me, "Ken was the only one who could truly help us right now."
"That's why I cut him out of the game."
"What?" I asked, frowning and they all looked at me.
"What what?" Cale asked me in response.
"I just heard something," I replied before shaking my head. "I must be imagining things."
"Oh, you are not, dear Luffy."
"Luffy, are you alright?" Frederick asked me but I didn't reply anything as I tried to find out where this voice came from. I stepped back, putting my hands on my temple as my head started to hurt.
"Luffy," Calum said, stepping towards me but I stepped back.
"I'm not feeling well," I told them.
"Maybe you should sit," Cale advised me but before I could reply the voice spoke again.
"Oh no, you are going to come visit me," the voice said and it was like something clicked in my head before I fell back, darkness surrounding me.
***
I was at this place again. The same place where I met my other half. I had the same sensation as before here. I could feel the others moving and speaking around me but I couldn't do anything to tell them that I was here. I was trapped in my own body.
The place was the same. Darkness everywhere. I was just standing here in the middle of nothingness or more like my head.
"Where are you?" I asked out loud, looking around in search of the other me.
"There, Luffy," I heard someone replied behind me and I turned around to face this person. And here he was there. Standing, his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. "Good to see you again," he told me and I walked to him, an angry look on my face.
"What the hell did you do to my friend?" I spat at his face, gripping his front shirt. He didn't try to push me away, no, he continued to smirk at me.
"Calum already explained it to you, didn't he?" He asked me and I glared at him.
"Undo it," I ordered him, "Wake Ken up."
"I can't do that. Sorry," he told me but he didn't look sorry to me. "Ken is a really intelligent boy and being an oracle, he saw things that nobody did and he met people who nobody ever knew about. He was a real danger for my future plan and he was also your only hope to find out who I am so I needed to get rid of him. But you know, as I don't have enough power to kill him, I just put him to sleep."
"Why are you doing that?" I asked him. "You said that you are not afraid of me and that you didn't think that I could stop you but then, why are you trying to prevent me from knowing the truth about you?"
"I'm not preventing you from doing anything," he informed me, "Trust me, you will know everything about me in due time but..." he paused. He put his hands on my wrists and pressed hard on them. I yelped in pain and immediately let go of his shirt but his grip around my wrists tightened making it more painful for me. "...Ken was making everything too easy. You want to find the truth about me find it yourself. But believe me even if you do find the truth, you won't be able to do anything."
He finally let go of my wrists and I fell down on my knees. God, it hurt. We were supposed to be in my head but I still felt pain here. How was it even possible? I looked up at the other me, my mind already made up.
"I'm going to stop you," I promised him, "I will find who you are and prevent you from doing whatever you are planning to do. You won't take control of my body."
"You are so full of illusions," he told me with a sigh, "A vision is a vision, Luffy. You can do whatever you want but you won't prevent it from happening. Every vision always comes true and this one won't be an exception."
"I will still try to prevent it and I'm not gonna stop until the end," I said and he looked at me with something in his eyes.
"You truly are like me. You have the same determination in your eyes," he said, "But too bad for you, the end is more close than you think."
"Who are you?" I asked him and he laughed.
"It's a funny story, isn't it?" He asked me, "One week ago, you wanted to know who Cloud was and now that you do, it's me who you want to know about."
"Yeah, I realized that Cloud wasn't the one who I needed to know more about. It's you," I told him and he smirked.
"You are in the wrong. Cloud forms part of everything," he said. "Why do you think that you feel this sort of attraction to him?"
"I don't feel any attraction to him," I protested. "Yeah, I wanted to know him but the few things that I learnt was enough for me to not want to speak to him again."
"You are lying to yourself," he said, "You will speak to him again. You will feel the need to know more about him even if it's the horrible things that he did, you will want to know all of his secrets. You will embrace him in a way that is not humanly possible. You will fall for him, love him more than anything in the world. And when this day comes, the day where he will be your everything, this will be the day of your end. Just like me."
"I'm not like you," I told him angrily.
"You are," he protested, "More than you think. You will do the same mistakes that I did. The only difference is that it will be with someone else."
"Who?" I asked.
"Cloud of course," he replied, "Open your eyes, Luffy. It's Cloud the key to the truth about me. Know more about him, learn about me. But I'm sure that before you realise it, it will be too late."
"You are confusing me," I said.
"I am more like helping you but like I said, you won't listen to me," he said, looking down at me.
"I don't trust you," I informed him and he chuckled.
"Do whatever you want. Read every book you want, talk to the people you want, search everywhere for the truth but you won't find it because you can't see what is just right in front of you," he explained and I finally got off the ground.
"I will find out who you are," I promised him.
"I'm sure that you will," he smirked, "But for now, return to your body. Your prince charming is waiting for you."
And I felt it again. A force pulling me away but this time I didn't resist it. I just let it pull me away from here.
***
My eyes peered open slowly and the first thing that I saw was the red ceiling. I groaned and realised that I was laying on something comfortable. Really comfortable. A bit too comfortable to be the floor if you asked me.
"Luffy," a familiar said beside me and I looked to the side.
"Cloud," I exclaimed, sitting up. I looked at him in confusion as to why he was here when I realised that my environment had suddenly changed. I was in a bedroom and I was laying on a bed. "Where am I?" I asked him.
"At my place," he replied, "My bedroom if you want specific."
"Your place," I repeated. "No, I was at Ken's. Why am I at your place?"
"It's Nicolas," he replied. "He ran away when no one was paying attention to him and he called the cops to come at Ken's place. Cale went looking for him to get him here and Frederick is with Ken at the hospital while Rain is with the cops surely lying to them about what truly happened. They will all be here soon."
"That still doesn't explain why I am here," I told him.
"I brought you here when you blacked out. Rain and I didn't know where you were until Frederick called us. So I brought you here. It was more safe anyway," he explained before adding, "Do you want to drink something or are you hungry? It has been about one hour since you got unconscious."
So long.
In my head, it didn't seem to be so long. It was short. Maybe time passed by differently or maybe it took time for me to wake up.
"No, I don't want anything" I simply replied, looking around again. "So it's your bedroom."
"Yes," he said and I hummed.
"It's really gothic," I told him, not knowing what else to say. The walls of his bedroom were painted red while they was a black carpet on the ground. It was a simple room but also a big one. A bed, a desk with a flat screen computer, a wardrobe and a shelf full of books.
"I like dark colors," Cloud told me, glancing around before his eyes came back to me. "How are you feeling?" He asked me, touching my cheek and I flipped slightly at the sensation of his hand against my skin.
"Good," I replied, removing his hand from my cheek. I didn't want to speak to him right now and I also didn't want to be near him. I think that he knew it but he acted like he didn't.
"You are angry with me," he stated.
"I'm not," I lied, "I just realized that you are a heartless bastard who killed people, tortured them and that you also killed your own first love with your bare hands."
"How do you know about Eden?" He asked me, surprised and I looked him, incredulous. He looked unfazed by what I just told him but he wanted to know how I learnt about Eden. I searched for a bit of regret on his face but I found none. I searched for a feeling but still nothing. He was just in his normal state.
"You are unbelievable," I told him as I tried to get off his bed but he stopped me by taking my arm.
"Luffy, wait, let me explain," he said but I shook my head.
"There is nothing to explain. Everything is already clear on your face," I told him. "Do you regret anything that you did in the past?"
"Why is it so important to you that I regret everything that I did? Why do you want me to feel guilty?" He asked me in response. "I don't regret anything. I don't regret killing people, I don't regret every little child that I killed, I don't regret making people's life a living hell, and I don't regret killing Eden. If I needed to regret everything bad that I did, then I wouldn't be able to live with myself. So why is it so important to you that I do?"
"Because I don't want to think that you are a monster," I snapped at him, "I never thought that you would have been like that. I never thought that the rumors were true but they are. You are evil, you killed people, you did horrible things and I didn't want to believe that you were like that but you are and it..it.."
I didn't finish my sentence as I realized that I was crying. The tears were falling but I didn't wipe them away. I just let them fall. I simply had enough. Everything was too much for me. I felt like I had an enormous weight on my shoulder and I couldn't get rid of it.
All of these mysteries that I needed to solve. All the things that I learnt about me and the people around me. Everything that was going to happen in the near future. All of that were too much for me. I needed a break but I knew that I couldn't get one.
"I wish that I never came here," I said at last, "I wish that I never met you."
I didn't know why I said that but I just said it. I just needed to let it out. I didn't care what it did to Cloud but still...I looked at him to see his reaction. I would have felt happy if he felt hurt by what I said but he didn't. He just stared at me, the same expression as before on his face.
He just didn't care.
"You are not how I imagine you to be," I told him and he cupped my face with his hands, pulling me towards him as he leaned forward. "What are you doing?" I asked him as I tried to pull away but damn, he was stronger than me.
"I'm Cloud, Luffy," he said at last, "I'm heartless, I don't care about anyone, I killed and I will surely do it again and maybe a part of me still hasn't changed but one thing that I am sure about is that I want you and I'm going to get you."
And then, he kissed me for the second time.