Cloud - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

When I opened my eyes back, I found myself in a room plunged in the dark. My vision was still kind of blurry and my body hurt, specially my head. I tried to move but I quickly realized that I was tied up to what felt like a chair. I began to panic.
Where the hell was I?
Suddenly, the light was turned on and I was finally able to see my surrounding. The room that I was currently locked in was small and surely not in the best state. The light bulb was just above my head and there was only one door to come in and out of the room.
"What the hell is going on?" I whispered to myself, completely lost. I looked down at myself and instead of finding ropes, I discovered that it was chains that were preventing me from escaping. I tried to move once again but the chains did not budge. I let out a groan, "Damn! Somebody help!"
No one seemed to have heard me. Was there even someone else here? Most likely. Those guys in front of the bar, they attacked me and injected me with some sort of liquid which made me KO instantly. Why did they do that? Did they happen to form part of the Vins? I shook my head quickly at that thought.
No, no, no, it couldn't be. It was way too soon.
Alexandro himself said that his dad would only come for me when all the replicas would be dead and not before that. Cedric was still alive as far as I knew and I was sure that they wouldn't be able to get their hands on him so soon, at least not when everyone was at the house.
Then, if it wasn't the Vins who kidnapped me, who could it be? No matter the answer to this question, I knew that I needed to get away from here. I was not going to wait for my kidnappers to come and see me. I thought of a way to remove those chains so that I could escape and the most obvious way of escaping came to me.
By using my powers, of course.
Looking down at the chains, I concentrated on them and tried to use my powers to break them but as hard as I tried, the chains did not even loosen, instead, something completely unexpected happened; they lighted up in a yellow shiny color. I was confused at first seeing this and without any warning, the chains suddenly tightened around my body.
"Ah!" I screamed as I felt the chains crush me. I immediately stopped using my powers and the chains instantly stopped crushing me. I let out a sigh of relief and looked down in confusion when the chains slowly returned to their normal state.
What the-
No, this just couldn't be.
Just to test if I was right, I used my powers again to untie the chains and soon enough, they lighted up and started crushing me for the second time. I stopped right away. Fucking great! Those chains were going to crush me entirely if I persisted on using my powers That was just what I needed!
Suddenly, I heard the door unlock and just after, it was opening. I prepared myself to face whoever it was or even whatever that was and much to my surprise, five guys entered the room. I recognized them as the ones who attacked me in front of the bar. Unfortunately for me, they were all fairly built and very tall. One of them, the boss I presumed, stepped forward and I allowed myself to speak.
"You-" I was interrupted in my sentence when the guy unexpectedly punched me hard in the face. I felt something metallic scratched my cheek during the impact. "What the-" I was punched once again on the other cheek. Then, like if it wasn't enough, the punches continued and I couldn't do anything to stop them. The other guys just stared at the scene, unfazed, as their friend hit me. After multiples blows, my attacker grabbed me by my hair and lifted my head up by force. I hissed in pain. My face was surely bloody.
"You little son of a bitch," the guy spat at my face and he pulled on my hair even more, I let out a cry, "We finally got you. Now you are going to pay for what you have done."
Huh?
"You succeeded to escape the last time but you won't go anywhere with those special chains," he informed me and I was even more confused. Okay, I already guessed that the chains were blocking my powers but why was he looking at me like if he already knew me? Why was he employing such accusing tone with me?
That scene looked kind of familiar to me somehow.
"Wh-who ar-?" the words got stuck in my throat and I swallowed hard, the blood tasting strongly in my mouth. I reformulated my sentence, "Who are y-you?"
I was answered with another punch and I spit out blood on the ground. I was not healing from the blows that I received. That was for sure. I could feel it. God, why was I feeling so much physical pain lately? I was basically being the punching ball of everyone.
"Shane, enough," the violet haired guy of the group finally intervened and Shane, the one who seemed to take me for a punching ball, was pulled away from me. Though, letting out a loud groan of an animal, Shane pushed his friend away and looked down at me with eyes that could kill.
"Let me deal with this, Samuel," he told his friend and then he added, "Cedric needs to pay for his crimes."
Cedric...
"Cedric," I repeated in confusion, "I'm not Cedric. I'm-"
"Cut the crap," Shane shouted angrily and I jumped, "You thought that you could run away from us forever, didn't you? Just because you can teleport and go wherever you want, you thought that you were the strongest but you were wrong. You knew that X was tracking you, then why the hell did you use your powers to teleport in Paris? That was the easiest way to get yourself captured. Are you that much stupid? Well, it doesn't matter. You let your guard down and that will be your end, Cedric."
Hearing those words, I was even more confused. It was clear to me that those people were after Cedric and whatever that ass did, they were going to make me pay for his wrong doing. That was just my luck. Cedric was safely locked in Cloud's basement while I was here getting punched and shouted at for what he did.
It's a trap, I heard the original's voice in my head and I was taken by surprise.
How long had it been since he last talked to me?
What do you mean?  I asked him back.
Cedric, he tricked you.
Tricked me?
Yes, this whole fight with you in Paris was simply a trick to get you captured in his place.
What? No, this can't be. He couldn't have planned this. He did not even know about my existence before.
Think a little bit, Luffy. This was all an act played on his part and you let yourself get fooled easily.
But how could he have knew about me? I was supposed to be the only one who knew about the replicas. It doesn't make any sense.
Nothing in this world makes sense, was the last thing that the original said and his voice was no longer heard. I did not even have time to think about what he said that Shane was punching me back into reality life. I let out a cry and an expression of pain came on my face.
"Stop!" I shouted, stopping Shane from punching me again, "I'm not Cedric, you hear me? I'm not him. I'm Luffy. Cedric and I are replicas. That's why we look alike but we are not the same person. I don't know you people and I have no idea what Cedric did to you but punching me won't solve your problem."
My words only seemed to anger Shane and his fist came into contact with my cheek again. F!ck, he was not listening to me and I had no idea how I was going to make him understand that I wasn't Cedric. He was too blinded by anger and my words weren't reaching him. How could I prove to him that I was telling the truth?
"Cedric has a tattoo," I realized suddenly, remembering the words that Nicolas had told me and the little group looked at me in confusion. "If you know Cedric, I'm sure that you know about his tattoo. I don't have it, you can check and then you will see that I'm not him."
Shane huffed and rolled his eyes but still, he mentioned for one of his guys to check my neck. The violet haired guy advanced forward and roughly pulled my head down, pulling my shirt down a little bit to get a better view.
"He has the tattoo," he confirmed and my eyes widened in disbelief.
"What? No, it's impossible!" I shouted as the guy stepped away from me and Shane shook his head.
"Lying again, Cedric. As always you cannot be trusted," Shane said and I was quick to protest.
"I'm not lying," I exclaimed, "I don't have a tattoo, I never had one. You need to believe me. I'm not Cedric!"
I was talking for nothing. No one was believing me but I did not have any tattoo. I would have already noticed if I had one. Damn, could Cedric have really tricked me? He was supposed to not know about me but did he happen to know about my existence? I saw the fear in his eyes when he looked at me for the first time so he couldn't have possibly knew about me, right?
Unless, he was a really good actor.
"You can lie all you want, I'm not listening to you, not again," Shane told me and I did not have enough will in myself to protest. "Now, I'm sure that you know what I want."
"I don't," I told him and it was the bad thing to say. His hand made its way around my throat and I gasped.
"Let me refresh your memory then," he spat at me as he started to choke me, "You took my brother to the world of the dead. Now you are going to take him back to me or else, I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully and you won't be able to run away from this."
"The world of the dead?" I repeated and I actually thought that it was a way of saying that Cedric killed his brother, "Sorry, but I can't resurrect the dead and I don't think that Cedric can do it too."
"Don't play dumb with me and stop talking like if you are not Cedric!" he shouted and I pulled my face a little bit away from his as he was spitting on me. "We're not talking about resurrection here. Just teleport yourself there and take Warren back! You are the one who took him there in the first place and now you are going to return him to me."
I was slowly realizing the extent of Cedric's powers. I knew that he could teleport but I never thought that he could go this far. Me, I could see through the world of the dead but being in the world was something completely different. Cedric went there? And why did he take Shane's brother over there?
"So, all you want me to do is to get to the world of the dead and to take your brother back? If I do that, you are not going to kill me," I summed it all and Shane laughed along with the other guys.
"You won't get away so easily, I'm going with you there and when we will get back, I promise that I won't kill you just yet," he said and I gulped.
"Okay, I'm gonna help," I agreed, even though I did not know how the hell I was supposed to do that. I needed help and quickly.
Estella was at the bar with me. She must have surely realized by now that I had disappeared, right? She must have surely told the others about it and they were probably searching for me right now. Some part of me seriously doubted that.
My god, there was no way I could help those guys and there was no way they could understand the truth. I was trapped and I was going to get killed because of an ass. I did not know Cedric for long but I already hated him.
I need your help, I thought to the original. How can I get to the world of the dead?
The original did not reply and I asked myself why he was deciding to shut up just when I needed his help the most.
Hey! I'm talking to you so reply to me! They are going to kill me if I don't do something! Those are your powers so I'm sure that you know what I need to do!
You can't do anything to save yourself, he replied at last. The world of the dead is off limit to you and unless you are dead or have the powers of Cedric with you, you won't be able to go there. Guess that you should have killed the replica when you had the chance to.
Killing him was not an option.
He was trying to eliminate you. He's evil. I could see it in his eyes and I know that you saw it too but you still chose to simply imprison him.
You are not helping me right now.
There is nothing to do.
No, there must be something! Tell me what I should do now.
You're a pain. Just ask the big angry dog how long his brother has been stuck there. Do it now.
I frowned in confusion. How was that going to help? I did not know but I preferred to not question him about it and simply asked Shane the question. The latter was now whispering quietly to his guys.
"How long have your brother been in that world?" I asked out loud and they all turned their attention to me. "I don't know when Cedric took him there."
"You are really going far with that lie, aren't you?" Shane asked me in disbelief. "He has been there for one week. Now prepare yourself. In a few minutes, we will go."
With that said, Shane went out of here along with two guys. The others remained here to guard me. It was not like if I could go anywhere anyway.
Done. You got your answer. One week he has passed there already. Now what?
He's doomed. You can't do anything for him anymore.
What? No-
Listen to me, the living can't live in a place where death reigns. If one living being is taken there and left there, they will eventually perish. It normally takes one day for the soul to die and one week is over the limit.
But I can't tell Shane that! He is going to kill me for sure!
There is nothing you can do at this point.
You are supposed to be strong! The powers that I have are yours, if you were in my place, what would you have done to get ourselves out of this situation?
If I were in your place, I wouldn't even be in that situation. You don't use your full abilities and there's nothing that I can do for you.
And he was gone. I called out for him but he never replied to me. He just left me alone to save myself. I let out a shout and it surprised the ones that were looking after me. I tried to move, to remove those chains by force but it was useless. My kidnappers simply watched me in amusement. Eventually, I started to feel tired and I gave up.
I looked up at the dirty ceiling, thinking that I was going to die for sure when suddenly, some sort of explosion was heard and the place shook. The two guards looked at each other, worried, before leaving the room in a hurry. They left the door wide opened behind them. I peered outside, seeing a long dark corridor. I could see dark silhouettes moving in the distance and I wondered what was going on. Were they under attack or something?
Just then, there was another explosion, that one seemed to be closer to me than the first one, and the ground shook once again. I let out a yelp when the chair that I was sitting on reversed and I fell down along with it. I groaned. Soon, I heard footsteps coming my way and a guy came into my sight. I did not know him but from the looks of it, he seemed to know who I was, or more like who he thought I was.
"You damn shit," he shouted at me and he kicked me in the face with his feet. I felt my nose crack and I screamed in my head. It fucking hurt! "I finally get to be alone with you." He raised the chair back in its original position and removed a knife out. I did not even have time to process what was happening that he was burying it in my knee. I screamed.
He took the knife out and buried it into my other knee. My screams only got louder. The tears fell and I did not even know why I was being assaulted like this. When the knife left my body again, he brought it to my throat, cutting my skin.
"S-stop," I stuttered. "S-stop it - p-please."
In response, he plunged the knife in my stomach. I gasped and he turned it around, the blood pouring out at an incredible speed. "I'm going to make you pay for everything that you did. I don't care if Shane is going to kill me for this but I want you dead, Cedric," he told me and I literally cried in pain.
He started hitting me with the knife; he pulled it out of my body before digging it back in. He continued this never ending circle as I screamed in pain in front of his eyes. He seemed to be enjoying himself and I couldn't help but wondered what Cedric did to him to create such madness in this man. I knew that my end was close.
It was difficult for me to keep my eyes open, it was difficult for me to resist the pain. I couldn't heal myself. I was losing too much blood. I would die soon, I could see it coming but just as I lost hope completely, my attacker was pushed away from me. I couldn't see clearly but I noticed a flash of light and I heard a scream.
"Luffy!" I heard my name. I recognized this voice immediately.
"N-Nicolas," I stuttered and against my will, my eyes closed.
"No, stay awake!" he shouted but it was hard for me to listen to him, "My god, what did they do to you? I'm so sorry. I should have came sooner. I just couldn't find you."
It was alright, it wasn't his fault. I wanted to tell him that but I couldn't. I was in pain, I couldn't concentrate on what was happening around me. I heard more screams in the distance. The air felt hot and suffocating. The chains around me were removed and my body fell forward but someone caught me just in time. My name was said a few times and then I felt a warm light surrounding me. It made me feel better, it made me feel safe and the pain slowly went away.
"Luffy," Nicolas breathed out near my ear and I forced my eyes to open a little bit. I was feeling dizzy and he leaned my head against his shoulder.
"You found me," I whispered, relieved.
"I-"
"We need to go," Cale said and it was only then that I realized his presence in the room. I glanced in his direction and found a bloody sword in his hand. There was no sign of my attacker around. I concluded that Cale took care of him. "We need to get out of here before others start to come."
"What about Cloud?" Nicolas asked. "We can't leave without him."
"He can take care of himself," Cale said, making his sword disappear. He walked towards us and suddenly, a shout of anger was heard. We turned our attention towards the door and found Shane, bloody face and unexpectedly, his left arm was missing. My eyes widened in disbelief. What the hell happened to him?
"You," he said, his eyes directed on me and he moved forward but he fell down on his knees due to the lack of strength. He coughed, spitting out blood. Just then a shadow formed itself behind him and when it dissipated, Cloud was seen. Blood was on his face and judging from the look in his eyes, he was not happy.
He grabbed Shane by his hair and lifted him in the air easily. Shane hissed in pain and Cloud threw him against a wall. Slowly, he made his way towards Shane and I just knew what he was about to do.
"Stop," I said but he ignored me. "Don't kill him, Cloud, please."
I pushed Nicolas' arms away from me and forced myself to get on my feet. Shane seemed to get the same idea as he soon got on his feet and tried to attack Cloud. That was a totally stupid move on his side. Cloud, with ease, pushed him back against the wall and he broke one of his legs. Shane screamed in pain and I quickly advanced towards Cloud to stop him from hurting Shane even more.
"Stop, please," I told him and I placed my hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from Shane. He looked at me and my legs felt weak suddenly. I threatened to fall but he caught me just in time. I tried to regain my balance but in the end, he took me into his arms bridal style. Giving up and extremely drained, I leaned my head against his shoulder and glanced at Shane. "I'm sorry about your brother," I told him with difficulty, "I can't save him but don't worry, I'm going to take care of Cedric personally."
Shane was furious at my words but he could not really do anything against us in his situation. I buried my face in Cloud's neck and whispered to him to take me back home, to take me to Cedric. He looked down at me, a serious expression on his face, before nodding. In a matter of seconds, we appeared back into the house with Nicolas and Cale. We were in the living room, away from any danger.
I was relief to be out of that place.
"Cloud," Nicolas said and Cloud walked away with me still in his arms. The two guardians followed him as he took me to Cedric but when we arrived in the basement, we did not find the replica in his cell, instead, we found Rain, Estella and Nova lying on the ground, completely KO.
"What the hell," Cale exclaimed in disbelief at the sight of his friends on the ground.
"Damn it," Rain groaned, turning around on his back, "I'm going to kill that kid."
"My head hurts," Nova complained and Cale helped her to stand up.
"Rain, what happened here? Where is Cedric?" Cloud asked his brother and I immediately got out of his arms to get on my feet but he kept his arms around me in case I fall again.
"He ran away," Estella was the one to reply as she got on her feet. She grabbed her head, "He attacked us and disappeared."
"What? But he was supposed to be chained," Cloud exclaimed angrily. "How could you have let that happen?"
"I don't know," Estella said and Cloud glared at her. "We heard a noise coming from here and when we arrived, he was no longer chained."
"Impossible," Cale protested, "Those were chains to block powers. Unless someone helped him, he couldn't have removed them." Cale looked around with a frown, "Where's Calum? He was the one to chain Cedric."
Nova blinked at that, "Calum is not here. He went with you to get Luffy."
"No, he told me that he was staying here to look after the replica," Cale corrected her.
"And I'm pretty sure that I did not see him here," Rain confirmed and it was silent suddenly. Everyone seemed to think of the same thing at that moment and Cale looked at all of us in disbelief.
"No!" he exclaimed with wide eyes, "You can't - don't tell me that you think that he did it! Don't tell me that you think that Calum freed Cedric!"
No one replied because no one could tell for sure what really happened here.
Calum might have betrayed us.