Cloud - Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Too much power.
I can't control so much.
My head is going to explode.
I want it to explode.
Frederick...where are you?
Help me.
My wrists were burning. I was chained to the wall as I sat down on the dirty floor of the cell that I was currently locked in. I was not unconscious but my eyes were closed and I could not move one inch. I felt like the powers of Cedric were slowing killing me inside. They were too much for me to handle all at once.
It was so easy for Nike to drag me there. I could not fight him even though I really wanted to kick him in the face when he tried to touch me with his bloody hands. I did not know what was happening to me. I did not have the control of my own body. I needed to get a grip because I knew that things were going to get a lot worse.
Frederick, I wanted to see him. Where did Vance lock him? I came here to save him but I did not even know yet where he was. When was Vance going to let me see him? Or maybe he already let him go? I seriously doubted that.
"Luffy," my name was said but the only thing that I could move were my fingers but I was sure that it was barely visible. "Luffy, are you okay?" I knew that voice but I could not remember whom it belonged to. "Luffy, reply to me, please." I really wanted to reply but I did not have enough strength to speak so I remained quiet. "Damn it!"
It was silent again after this and I did not know how many minutes I remained like this or even how many hours but slowly, I started to regain enough strength in me to move some parts of my body. So I raised my head a little bit and forced my eyes to open. I could not see clearly at first but then I saw the one who was talking to me earlier.
"Alexandro," I called out his name, capturing his attention. He was there in the cell just in front of mine, chained to the opposite wall. He was dressed in the same clothes that I saw him in my vision and blood was dripping down his forehead. "You're here. W-why?"
"I can ask you the same question," he said and he let out a sigh, "One of your damn replicas attacked me and I could not get away. Now my dad doesn't want to see me so he is going to let me rot in here for some time. This is my punishment for helping out the enemy, but what about you? Why are you here? How did they succeed to get you?"
"My cousin, they captured him and I had no other choice but to surrender so that they wouldn't kill him," I explained it to him and he let out a curse.
"But why do you seem drunk?" he asked me and I chuckled.
"I'm overflowing with powers. There's too much in my system...I think that we can say for sure that I am drunk in a way," I told him and I took in a deep breath, "Nike killed the last replica. I have all the powers of the original now."
That news did not seem to please him.
"Damn it," he exclaimed angrily and he pulled on his chains. He did not succeed to go so far with them, "This is the end that I wanted to avoid. You shouldn't have came here."
"What else did you want me to do?" I asked him, "They have someone very dear to me. I couldn't let them kill him when I knew that I could do something about it."
"Luffy, you don't seem to realize what is going to happen now," he told me and his words just angered me.
"How do you expect me to know anything?" I asked him in disbelief, "I spent months trying to find out the answers to my questions but I got none. I still don't know why Vance is trying to free the original, I don't even know anything about Vance and the people who know about the original, including you, are not telling me anything. Nothing is clear so don't you dare tell me that I was wrong for coming here. It's hard to make the right choices when the truth is hidden from you. So now tell me, Alexandro, what is your dad planning to do?"
He lowered his gaze to the ground, analyzing my words. He knew that I was right. The truth had always been hidden from me and I always had to make choices with the little amount of knowledge that I had. It was going to change now though. This was my final chance and everything would be said here and now. The end was close.
"If all the replicas are dead, I'm guessing that my dad is making the final preparations for the ritual of tonight," Alexandro started and I frowned. "He already got the necessary ingredients for it."
"What are the ingredients?" I asked him in confusion and he sighed.
"First of all, all the powers of the original being, including himself, must reside in the same body. Then my dad will have to find your trigger."
"My what?"
"Your trigger," he repeated, "That's the one thing that will make you lose your mind. Remember when Azra tried to kill your mom? That day, you completely lost control and my dad wants that to happen again. He wants you to let all the powers that you received free."
"But why does he want such thing? What's the point?" I asked him, still confused.
"Your soul will be easier to reach ," he replied, "You will let out an immerse amount of power if you lose control but if my dad succeeds to contain your power, he will be able to come close enough to you to touch your soul and he will trap you in your own body, that means that you won't be able to have any control over yourself. Things will get more complicated from there. While my dad is trapping you, the original will be able to escape to the surface as a door will be opened for him. Then it will be over. You will be blocked and he will be free."
"My head is really going to explode," I told him and I closed my eyes, breathing in and out slowly. I needed to process his words and make everything clear in my mind. Once I was done, I asked him, "But how is your dad going to make me lose control of my powers?"
He simply stared at me. I knew that he knew the answer to my question but he decided to remain quiet about it. He just continued to look at me, not wanting to say the words that I needed to hear. So I decided to think of the answer by myself. The first time I completely lost control was when my mom nearly got killed in front of me. I never felt so scared and out of my mind when that happened. How was Vance going to recreate such a moment?
It only took seconds for me to realize the answer to my question and my eyes widened. Fear started to slowly consume me and the beatings of my heart accelerated as I realized what was about to lose. I began to panic and I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe properly.
"No," I said, shaking my head quickly. "This can't be. This can't happen. There has to be another way. I can't be right!"
"I'm sorry but that's the only explanation that I can get," Alexandro told me and I looked at him angrily, clenching my fists.
"You are saying that your dad is going to kill Frederick!" I spat at him and he averted my eyes again, "No! This won't happen, you hear me? He can't hurt Frederick! I accepted to surrender for him to be free! If anything happens to him, I'm going to break."
"That's the whole point," he said quietly but I still heard him.
"No!" I shouted, pulling on my chains, "No, no, no!" I tried to rip the chains off but no matter how strong I pulled on them, nothing happened. I tried to stand up but my feet were too weak to hold my body weight and I ended up back on the floor. "Damn it! Fucking hell!" I slammed my head back against the wall behind me. Even if it hurt me, I continued to slam my head against the wall, each time hitting it stronger as the tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Stop this, Luffy," Alexandro exclaimed at me, worried about my well-being. "You're going to hurt yourself. Stop!"
"No, he can't die," I cried, "There has to be something that I can do. Please, I will do everything to stop this. I will gladly give my place to the original but I won't accept to lose Fred. There must be another way for me to trigger those stupid powers!"
"I don't know," he said, giving me the sorry look, "I'm not really sure. My dad did not tell me much. I only know what he told me before I left the clan."
"Then tell me what the fuck you know!" I shouted at him with rage. "Enough with the secrets! This is the final chapter! Everything will end now so tell me what I want to know! Why does your dad want to free the original that much?! Is he really that important?! Reply to me now or I swear I'm going to kill you!"
I was so damn serious with my words and Alexandro realized that I was telling the truth. His eyes traveled around. He seemed to be having a little debate in his mind but then, finally, he sighed and took a deep breath.
"My dad has always considered the family as the most important thing ever," he told me at last, "That's all that he has always wanted; a big reunited family. He never had one actually. He grew up alone and that's why he adopted Calius and I. He did not want us to feel what he felt when he was a kid. He wanted us to have a parent to look after us."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked him as I did not see how that was related to our current topic.
"My dad wants his dad back," he replied, staring at me in the eyes, "The original being is his father and because of this, nothing is going to stop him from freeing him."
I remembered now.
The eyes of Vance, they seemed familiar to me and now I knew why. I saw them before and I remembered where exactly it was. They were my own's, they were the original's. Everything just made more sense.
Before I could react to Alexandro's news, I heard a door open and a cheerful Vance entered, clapping his hands, capturing our attention.
"You're ready for the final show, Luffy?"