Cloud - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

"You son of a bitch! I'm going to fucking kill you!" Rain shouted at Cale as he tried to jump on him to attack him but Cloud and Nicolas came in his way and grabbed him, pulling him away from Cale by force, "Where the hell did Calum take Frederick?!"
"I-I-don't-know," Cale stuttered, stepping back until he hit against the wall behind him. He seemed to be completely lost and to most importantly not know what was happening. "I'm sorry, I did not know. Calum-"
"He's your fucking brother!" Rain cut him off angrily, "Don't you dare tell me that you did not know what he was planning! I'm going to kill both of you!"
Rain succeeded to push Cloud and Nicolas away and those two fell on the ground. Nova and Estella intervened but they couldn't really stop Rain who soon grabbed Cale by his shirt and threw him against the opposite wall. The guardian did not even try to protect himself as Rain appeared in front of him once again only to punch him hard in the face.
"Do you work for the Vins?" Rain shouted at Cale's face as his fist connected with the guardian's face again. "Tell me where he is! Tell me where your brother took Frederick!"
"I don't know anything," Cale insisted on saying, "I'm sorry."
That answer only angered Rain and he punched Cale a few more and I just couldn't bear with this anymore.
"Rain, stop," I said, finally doing something. I walked to them and grabbed Rain's arm as he raised it in the air to hit Cale again.
"Let go of me, Luffy," he ordered me, looking at me angrily, and I shook my head.
"Stop hitting him, he did not do anything wrong," I told him but he did not seem to want to listen to me so I pulled him away by force, coming to stand between him and a bloody-face Cale. "It's Calum the one at fault here, not Cale so don't take your anger out on him."
"And how can you know that Cale is not lying to us?" he asked me. "Just get out of my way so that I can beat the truth out of him."
"No," I refused, "You are going to calm down and listen to me. Frederick is my cousin and I'm as worried as you for his well-being but I'm not punching one of my friends in the face because I know that this is not right so now, do the right thing."
He did not seem to agree with what I just said but he also seemed to know that it was better for him to not go against my will, so he did the only thing that he could do; he turned around and walked away. I let out a sigh and turned around to look at Cale. The latter looked into my eyes, full of shame.
"Don't," I said as he opened his mouth to speak. "Don't say anything. Just go. I don't want to see you."
He only nodded, clearly hurt by my words. He lowered his head and walked out of the living room without another word. No one spoke and my eyes suddenly fell on the phone on the floor. It was Frederick's. That was the only thing that Rain could find when he went to search for him. Other than this, there was no trace of Fred anywhere.
"All of you get out of here," I said, not feeling good. I was lacking air all of a sudden and I just couldn't breathe properly. "Get out!"
My heart was beating fast and it was then that I realized what I just lost, so I broke down. I fell to my knees and started to cry. I could feel many eyes on me but soon, one by one, the others started to leave the room.
Though, he stayed.
"Luffy," Cloud said as he knelt beside me. I continued to cry, the tears blurring my vision and he wrapped his arms around me. "Shh, it's alright."
"No, no, no," I protested, shaking my head quickly. "This is all my fault. Frederick got captured because of me. The Vins got him."
"We're not sure if Calum is with the Vins."
"He has to," I insisted, "Why else would he have done such thing? I saw him with Cedric. They captured Alexandro and now they have Frederick too. What's the meaning of this? I should have never let him go."
I knew from the very start that Frederick leaving the town was a bad idea. I should have listened to my instinct and asked him to stay here. I should have protected him. The Vins attacked my mom once, I should have guessed that they would attack another one of my dear ones. Though, why did they have to take Fred? What were they going to do with him now? I could not deal with this.
"You're not to blame," Cloud tried to make me feel better. "It was completely unpredictable that Calum would turn against us. None of us could have seen it coming. You're not responsible for this."
Were we so blind?
Were we so blind to not see that Calum was playing with us? I thought that I could trust him. I thought that with Cale and Calum as his guardians, Frederick would be safe from any form of danger. How ironic. The one who was supposed to protect him turned out to be the real danger.
"I won't be able to survive if anything happens to him," I whispered in pain.
"He's going to be alright. We're going to find him," Cloud reassured me. "I won't let anything happen to him, I promise you."
"Don't make promises that you can't keep," I told him, "Maybe I shouldn't have existed. Frederick would have been safe then and everyone would have been happy."
"Stop talking like this," he exclaimed, "You're not the cause of every problem. Things will get better. I will do whatever it takes to bring Frederick back. Believe in me." He kissed me at the top of the head. "Now let's go back to our room. You need to rest. You lived through a lot today."
I just couldn't do that.
"No," I refused, pulling away from his arms. "I can't rest now. Frederick need to be found."
"I know but you can't do anything right now," he said.
"So I should do nothing?" I asked him in disbelief, "I should just sleep and let Frederick be in the hands of people who can hurt him, or worst, kill him at any moment? I'm the one responsible for all of this. You can deny it all you want but that's the truth. I need to do something."
"You don't know what you are saying," he told me while shaking his head, "It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault. That's just how life is and you couldn't have guessed that things would turn out this way. Blaming yourself won't change anything at all."
"But I should have knew," I persisted to say and the tears fell out of my eyes once again, "The same thing happened with my mom. I nearly lost her and I should have been more vigilant. I should have protected him. I should have!"
I was crying like a little baby and Cloud's eyes softened. I buried my face in his chest and grabbed his shirt. Deep down, I knew that he was right. I could not really do anything right now. I was tired and my strength was not at its maximum level. My head felt heavy and my only want was to actually sleep.
Though, the idea of Frederick being hurt because of me was pure torture and I felt like dying.
"Come, I'm going to lay down with you," Cloud whispered against my head and I did not have enough strength to reply to him so I simply nodded. We got up from the floor and he walked me out of the living room in the direction of our bedroom.
Though before we could go really far, the doorbell of the house rang and Cloud frowned. I shared the same confusion. The last time someone came here, it happened to be Cloud's mother and she broke her son's neck before trying to kill me. Now, who could it be?
"Stay here," Cloud told me as he walked in the direction of the front door but before he could even open it, the door opened by itself surprisingly and a really handsome man came into our sight.
His long silver hair was tied into a ponytail and his eyes were as white as snow. He was wearing a black suit which hugged him perfectly and his skin was so pale. He was standing with such elegance with his hands placed behind his back. I was hypnotized by the sight of him but it was not the same for Cloud.
"You," he said in pure horror and he stepped back. I watched him in confusion, "What are you doing here?"
"Pardon me for the intrusion, Sir Cloud," the silver haired guy replied and I frowned at his choice of words, "But I am here to deliver an important message to the one we call Luffy."
"Me?" I said in surprise, stepping forward and the man glanced in my direction. I opened my mouth to say something else but Cloud suddenly pushed me back.
"Luffy, go now," he ordered me.
"Wait-"
"Go away!" he exclaimed, interrupting me but I did not obey him.
"Who is that man?" I asked him. "Who is he, Cloud?"
"You don't need to know," he replied, "Just go please."
"Allow me to present myself," the man said before I could reply anything to Cloud and I looked at him, "My name is Calius. You may not know me but I am the oldest son of Vance Vins."
My eyes widened at the mention of Vance's name. Calius stepped inside of the house and his eyes traveled around before coming back on me.
"I am here to talk about an important affair on behalf of my dad," he continued, speaking in such unique tone of voice, "I believe that you have a cousin by the name of Frederick. We got our hands on him."
He did not have to say more. My body moved on its own and I lunged forward, ready to attack but Cloud grabbed me just in time.
"Let me go!" I shouted angrily, trying to fight my way out of his arms. "Let go, Cloud! I'm going to force that piece of shit to tell me where Frederick is!"
"Luffy," he said, keeping his arms around me firmly. "He's dangerous."
"I don't care," I exclaimed and Calius tilted his head to the side.
"Sorry but I mean no harm. I'm just here to talk," Calius said and I looked at him in disbelief. He cleared his throat, looking embarrassed suddenly, "Do you happen, by any chance, to have a blood bag? I'm kind of thirsty."
What was up with that dude?
"I don't have anything of the sort here," Cloud replied to him and he sighed.
"That's a pity."
"Sorry but I don't receive vampires often in my house," Cloud informed him and my eyes widened at the mention of vampires. "I may have something to pass your thirsty though," Cloud continued and Calius looked at him with interest. Me, on the other hand, I could not believe what was happening. "Come with me."
"What the hell are you doing?" I exclaimed at Cloud. "You can't just offer the enemy a drink like this! Are you out of your mind?!"
"He's here to talk about Frederick so we are going to listen to what he has to say without trying to kill him," Cloud told me, "Can you stay calm for me?"
"They have Frederick. How do you expect me to stay calm?" I asked him. "And who said that he won't attack us if we let our guard down?"
"I won't attack anyone," Calius assured me, "I am not here for a fight nor to cause any trouble. I am just the messenger. If you will allow me to talk, I will be glad to inform you about your cousin's situation."
I did not like this and I surely did not like this guy but Cloud seemed to have already made up his mind. He told Calius to follow us and by force, he dragged me back into the living room.
"Behave," he whispered into my ear in a firm tone. "I'm going to let go of you so don't do anything stupid. If you attack Calius, blood will be spilled for nothing and you won't be able to know where Frederick is."
He let go of me and went to take an old bottle. It did not seem to have been opened in years. Cloud took a glass and poured some of the liquid of the bottle in the glass. It was red and the odor that it gave off was horrible. I pinched my nose and looked at Calius who was staring at the liquid with an intense gaze. Cloud walked to him and handed him over the glass which he gladly took and brought to his lips.
I watched the vampire with murdering eyes as he emptied his glass in a matter of seconds. When he was done, he licked his lips and closed his eyes, humming in pleasure.
"Okay, where is Frederick?" I asked him, impatient, "Why did you kidnap him?"
"May I sit?" Calius asked Cloud, ignoring my questions.
"Cut the crap!" I exclaimed angrily at him, "Answer me before I decide to kill you."
He stared at me. He slowly placed his hands behind his back and then cleared his throat, "Okay, let's get down to business then. I'm sure that you know that my dad wants you. Well, I am here to inform you that if you want to see your cousin alive, you will have to admit defeat."
"What?" Cloud was the first one to react.
"Tomorrow, at exactly noon, I will come back to get Luffy and he will have to come with me. If he doesn't cooperate, his cousin will be killed and his head will be sent through the post," Calius stated, "Now, will you cooperate or will you resist? The choice is all yours. Take your time to think. I will be back tomorrow."
He could not just go away like this.
"No, wait! I'm coming with you," I exclaimed and Cloud looked at me with wide eyes. "I don't want to wait for tomorrow. I want to see Fred now."
Calius blinked and he stared at me for some seconds, "You're not in your right mind. I'll come back tomorrow. It's preferable. Think wisely and know that only you will come with me. Your friends won't be permitted to come along. Farewell for now."
"Wait!" I shouted but he still walked away. I tried to go after him but Cloud prevented me from doing so, "Get out of my way, damn it! I need to save Frederick!"
"No, you have to think this through first," he said. "You can't just go away like this."
"You don't get it. Frederick is my main priority. I don't care about anything else."
"And you are my main priority," he informed me and I shook my head.
"Why do you even care?" I asked him, "I'll just exchange myself for Fred. Things will go back to the way they were before you met me."
"But I don't want things to return to the way they were," he protested and I could not understand him.
"Why?" I questioned him then in confusion and he placed his hands on my cheeks, grabbing me firmly. He pressed his forehead against mine, looking at me directly in the eyes.
"I can't lose you," he admitted quietly, "Because if I did, I would lose my mind so please, be forever with me, Luffy."