Cloud - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

"Hey, Luffy, are you going to the high school today?" Nicolas asked me as he got down the stairs. I shook my head negatively.
"Not today. I don't feel like it," I replied to him and he seemed disappointed.
"Oh, okay..."
"Did you want to go?"
"Well, yeah," he admitted, looking embarrassed. "I had been locked here for days. It would have been nice to go out a little bit but Cloud doesn't want me to put one feet outside alone."
"Sorry, if I had knew, I would have brought you with Cloud and I the last time," I told him sadly.
"Forget about it," he said quickly, shrugging it off. I looked at him hesitantly.
"I was about to go see Cale and Calum. Wanna come with me?" I asked him. "Calum must surely have found new information about your past when he went to heaven."
"Sure, yeah, I would like to come," he replied and I nodded.
A new day had risen but things were still as bad as they were yesterday. Estella and Storm had gone back to Egypt with Nova. The latter wanted to use me again as a catalyst to find the other remaining replicas but this time, I categorically refused to coorperate.
I had enough of this shit. The Vins killed the first replica. I had hope when we succeeded to find the second one but then he had to kill himself. I had this feeling that no matter what I did, they would all end up dead anyway. So what was the point in continuing to search for them? Let the Vins deal with the search part themselves. I gave up.
That was mainly why Nova asked Estella and Storm to take her to the replica's place in Egypt. She would try to do her weird witchy spell there in order to find the others. Good luck to her. I was clear on the fact that I did not want to hear any news about any replicas.
I had another important problem on my shoulders. Well, a new weight was added on me. Due to another replica's death, I was waiting for new type of powers to appear.
A fortune teller he was.
Like, was he a charlatan or did he really see things that no one else could?
The answer to that question kind of scared me.
I reached the door of the basement and I pushed it open. It was dark inside but I noticed lots of stairs going down and at the end, there was some light. Nicolas and I exchanged one look before he sighed.
"Right," he said and he passed in front of me to get down the stairs first. I followed behind him and got down carefully so that I did not miss one step. Once at the end of the stairs, we saw another door made of metal. It was half opened. Nicolas walked forward and opened it widely. We both entered.
The room inside was simple. There was a small cell and Calum and Cale were in it. Cale, as I expected, was chained to the wall and Calum was sitting beside him, talking happily. Cale was the first one to see us and when he did, the smile on his face immediately disappeared.
We must surely be the last persons that he wants to see right now, I thought as I advanced towards the cell.
"Oh, Luffy!" Calum exclaimed at the sight of me. He stood up and went to unlock the cell using the key. He pushed it open and stepped aside for us to come in. Once we did, he locked it again behind us.
"You don't have to do that," I told him.
"Cloud's order," he simply said and I sighed. I looked at Cale and of course, he was glaring at me. It was still cold between him and I.
"What are you doing here?" he asked me and it was clear in his voice that he did not want me to be here.
"I came to see what Calum found in heaven," I replied. "We still haven't talked about it."
"Of course, you're only here because you need something," he spat at me.
"Cale, don't be rude," Calum scolded him. "You know, as well as I do, that you have no right to be angry at Luffy. We already talked about that."
"You talked about it. I simply remained quiet and listened to you," he retorted. "Besides, Luffy has always annoyed me. Now is the time for me to stop pretending to appreciate his presence."
That was really a punch in the face and from the look on his face, he seemed to mean every word. Nicolas intervened:
"Hey, you are as guilty as he is in that story. You attacked him first so now don't act like the victim."
"Did I ask for your fucking opinion, Nicolas?" Cale snapped at him and they exchanged a glare.
"Enough," Calum exclaimed. "Let's stop fighting. We are allies here. We shouldn't fight against each other. We should work together."
"I have no want to work with them," Cale made it clear and Calum gave him a glare.
"Stop acting like a kid. I know that you were worried about me but I'm back now, so stop taking your anger out on others," Calum told him and that shut Cale up. "Now let's get to the important stuff."
Calum clapped his hands twice and puff, a book appeared in his hands. I recognized it as the book that was with him when he came back from heaven. He opened it and quickly turned the pages. He came to me and showed me the book.
"I imagine that you can't see anything, right?" he asked me and he was not wrong.
"White pages," I said and I sighed. "Why does it always happen to me?"
"I figure that this would happen," he said with a frown. "Only creatures of light can read whatever the angels have written."
Creatures of light?
It was clear on his face what he meant to say by that. I was not light. I did not think that he was trying to hurt me with this but it felt like a punch in the face.
Not saying another word to me, he walked to Nicolas and basically threw the book at his face.
"See? It's you," he said and Nicolas frowned. He grabbed the book and touched the page that Calum was showing him. He seemed to see something in the opposite of me.
"That's me," Nicolas slowly said and he seemed to not believe it. "That's me and..."
"Your brother, Nike," Calum completed for him. "I found it, the truth that you wanted. Us, guardians are connected. I know about all guardians that exist and that existed but concerning you two, there are no records of you in my mind. Though, this book showed it all."
Calum slowly placed his hands on the book and took it away from Nicolas.
"This was so hard to find," he said then, referring to the book. "I nearly gave up on searching but then, I found it. The book was hidden and if it wasn't for my clumsiness, I would have never found it."
"What does it say?" I asked him as I folded my arms over my chest. "Care to read what's written?"
"Well, Nicolas' and Nike's whole existence is much more complicated than I thought," he started. "Firstly, they are one of the first guardians that were ever created but there is more to them. At the very start, guardians were not really the perfect beings, they had a few problems, so the angels thought of making an experiment. They made Nicolas and Nike but they were not like the others. Instead of staying at heaven to watch over their oracle, they had the right to come on earth and interact with the oracle, without of course, revealing their true identity."
"Don't you all do this?" I asked him, cutting him off and he shook his head.
"No, we don't. That's the rule. We appear only when the oracle is in danger. Guardians are not allowed to talk to their oracle before that. We can't befriend them or make them know about our existence. We watch out for them from heaven and only when danger comes, do we have the right to intervene in their life," he explained and he paused. "Though, it was different for Nicolas and Nike. They remained on earth and actually talked to their oracle. It's the bond that they form with the person that made them stronger. It's that particular connection that makes them guardians...which explains why Nicolas is the guardian of Ken. Nicolas and him are best friends, they're connected and through this connection, Nicolas became Ken's guardian. It makes more sense for me now. Angels did not choose Nicolas to be his guardian, Nicolas did it himself and that's what makes Nike and him different from us, they have the right to make choices."
I wanted to ask Calum at that moment, did his brother and him have the right to make any choice? It did not seem like it seeing the expression on theirs faces. How was it to be a guardian? What did it feel like? It looked too complicated for me to understand. Calum, Cale and Nicolas looked like humans to me but when I listen to them talk about what guardians really were...they appeared to be like puppets, robots who were only there to serve others.
"So you are saying that the friendship that I formed with Ken made me his guardian?" Nicolas asked Calum who nodded right away. "So without even knowing, I decided to protect him from danger."
"Cut the crap, Nicolas," Cale snapped at him. "It's all real. Wake up from dreamland. You wanted proof, here it is right in front of you. Now you know your origins, experiment 006."
"Did you just call me experiment?" Nicolas asked him in disbelief and Calum intervened.
"That's how angels called you," he clarified. "Nicolas, experiment 006, and Nike, experiment 007. Both of you, your way of functioning appeared to be good in the early decades but then, you became dysfunctional."
"Dysfunctional?" I repeated and Calum nodded.
"Yeah, Nike fell in love with his oracle, Mila," he reminded me and he let out a small laugh. "It was unevitable obviously. The angels should have predicted it. I mean, if guardians rely on their bond to theirs oracles to become stronger, it's obvious that feelings may develop, feelings stronger than simple friendship. That's exactly what happened between Nike and Mila and yeah, for angels, this experiment was a complete failure."
"That's why you have no right to talk to your oracle then," I concluded. "The angels did not want the same mistake to happen again."
"Yeah," Calum agreed with a sad expression. "But that's not only what we lost. Nowadays, us guardians have no right at all. Heaven's orders are our main priorities. Getting attached to anyone is not possible for us. Oracles are simple people whom we need to protect, nothing more, nothing less. We know their fate, and we have no sadness nor do we regret them when they die."
"The only bond that matters is the bond that we make among brothers," Cale added, looking right at me. "We're connected. Without Calum, I'm nothing more than a soldier who obey the orders over and over again."
"Oh, that's sweet, Cale," Calum told him and Cale rolled his eyes. "But he's right."
"And you just accept that?" Nicolas asked them and I could hear the disbelief in his voice. "So that's the meaning of your whole existence. Obeying the angels' orders and protecting people that are meant to die sooner or later. You don't do anything else in your life."
"We were created for a purpose and we live for that purpose," Cale exclaimed at him. "There is no need to ask ourselves how else our life could have been because our life will never be any other way."
"That's pretty dumb. Just do something about your life," Nicolas snapped at him and Cale huffed.
"Why do you even care about this?" Cale asked him in confusion.
"Because I don't want this to be the purpose of my existence," Nicolas exclaimed angrily. "If that's what it is to be a guardian then I sure as hell don't want to be one. I have feelings and I don't want to give them up to anyone, specially not to angels."
Cale was surprised by his words. He said then, "See? That's what makes you dysfunctional. You and your brother have that rebellious DNA in your system."
"Well, that rebellious DNA as you said is what makes me who I am," Nicolas retorted and I decided to remain quiet on the matter. It was theirs to discuss anyway.
Sure, the guardians' whole existence was interesting. Beings who were only created to obey orders. The only guardians who had the right to have a true existence were Nicolas and Nike, but their fate wasn't a pleasing one. They were broken.
I glanced at Calum and saw that he was reading the book with a frown on his face. His eyes widened suddenly and that captured my attention.
"Calum, is there something wrong?" I asked him and he blinked at me.
"I-I just read a passage that I did not notice before," he replied. "It talks about Mila's last vision."
"What about it?" I asked him.
"Her last vision was about Nicolas and Nike," he explained and he glanced down at the book in his hands. "She saw everything. One brother would help in the awake of the fallen one while the other would protect him. Is it just me or does this sound familiar to you?"
The fallen one...
"It's about the original," I realized. "Is there anything else said about him?"
"No, it's only said the fallen one," he continued to read. "Apparently, learning about that prediction, the angels decided to eliminate Nicolas and Nike but they both disappeared suddenly. Later on, Nicolas came back into the picture but the angels who were sent to kill him got killed. It was Nike's doing."
"Hold on a second, Nike killed them," Cale exclaimed in disbelief and Nicolas blinked. Calum hummed before closing the book and it instantly disappeared.
"That's it," he said. "I'm guessing that the angels tried to hide Nicolas' and Nike's existence from everyone because of that."
"Why would they do that?" Nicolas frowned and Calum shrugged.
"I don't know," he replied. "Their actions are not always crystal clear."
"Ah, fuck it," Cale said and he let out a sigh of frustration. I observed him for some seconds.
Maybe, just maybe it was time for some peace.
I walked to him and he glanced up at me. He opened his mouth to probably say something not so nice to me but before he could talk, I grabbed his chains and pulled on them. They immediately disappeared into smoke and Cale was finally free.
"Hey, how did you do that?" Calum asked me in disbelief.
"It just came to me," was my reply as I stepped away from them. Cale looked up at me as he rubbed his wrists. "You can get out of here now and I'm sorry."
I did not even need the key to open the cell. I just flopped my hand and the cell was unlocked. I got out and went towards the stairs but suddenly I fell someone grab my arm. Then, it happened. Quick images passed through my mind. I saw a man, standing near a cliff. He had a sword at his feet and a smirk was present on his lips. His face was familiar.
I pushed Nicolas away and backed away from him. He looked at me in confusion due to my sudden reaction to his touch.
"I need some air," I told him.
"Let me-"
"Alone," I cut him off and I was out of here before he could say something else.
It was him. It was Nicolas standing near that cliff but it did not make sense. I was seeing things. I got out of the house and walked towards the forest. I did not know where I was going but I just needed to have a little walk.
What was wrong with me suddenly?
I swear I was on a mood swing.
I continued to walk around aimlessly. I never got into this forest before. It was suspiciously quiet around here. It wasn't reassuring. Just when I decided that it was time for me to head back to the house, I stopped dead in my track and my mouth hanged out open at the sight in front of me.
"G-Gina," I stumbled over my own words and I shook my head in horror. "No, it-it can't be..."
Though, there she was standing right in front of me with no emotion in her eyes. I glanced around and saw no one else. I took a step back and she took one forward. Then it happened. She placed her hand around her neck and started to scratch her skin. Blood started to pour out and I let out a scream.
"Stop," I exclaimed and I turned around to run away but she appeared right back in front of me. I jumped away in fear and stumbled to the ground on my back.
"You did this to me," she whispered as the blood went down her body. "You killed me. Killer."
"No, you are dead, you can't be here," I told myself in horror and she reached down at me. I pulled my body away. I got on my feet only to realize that I was now surrounded by unfamiliar faces. "What?"
Here, around me were a lot of people all staring at me with the same expression as Gina. They seemed to be lifeless but at the same time, so real that it made me mad.
"Oh god, what is happening to me?" I grabbed my hair and they all started to advance towards me. I wanted to run but the fear got me paralyzed in place. I fell down on my knees and covered my face with my hands. "Go away!" I shouted again and again and soon I felt someone touch my shoulders.
"Luffy, are you okay?" my hands were pulled away from my face and I looked up to see Cloud looking down at me with a worried look in the eyes. I glanced around and frowned.
"Where are they? Where is Gina?" I whispered and from an outside perspective, I would look really paranoid at this exact moment.
"Gina? What? Luffy, we are the only ones here," he told me. "I came looking for you and I heard you screaming."
"No, there were people here a few seconds ago," I protested and I pulled away from him. "I saw them, they were looking at me and Gina, she was there, bloody and she said that I-that I-"
"Calm down," he told me and he tried to pull me into his arms but I pushed him away.
"No, I can still feel them. They're here looking at me," I glanced around quickly, a bit like those crazy people.
"Stop," he shouted at me and I looked back at him. "There is no one else here. Only you and me, there is only you and me."
He continued to repeat the same words and I slowly started to calm down. He pulled me towards him and wrapped his arms around me. I was about to lay my head on his shoulder when I noticed someone behind him.
Him again.
"Who is he?" I whispered in Cloud's ear.
"Who?" he asked me with a frown. He glanced back. "I don't see anyone."
"But he's here," I persisted. "He's the same boy that I saw in the kitchen."
Seeing his confused look, I decided to describe the boy to him and I saw it. I saw the way his expression change but he tried to cover it up by giving me a fake smile. I did not appreciate that.
"You know who he is," I realized and I did not give him time to protest. "Don't you dare lie to me."
"No, it's impossible, let's just go home."
"Tell me who it is, Cloud," I exclaimed at him and we exchanged a long look before he finally gave up. Though, it was not the answer that I was expecting.
"Eden."