Cloud - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

"You motherfucker! Where the hell is Frederick?!" I shouted at Vance as one of his guards dragged me through the corridors of his mansion.
"Please keep your voice down, Luffy," Vance told me and my only want was to chop his head off.
I tried to fight my way out of the guard's grip but the latter literally looked like a bulldozer and there was no way that my little body could overcome his. And, like if things were not enough worse, my hands were handcuffed behind my back. Those handcuffs happened to have the same abilities as those special chains which prevented me from using my powers. I really tried to use them but each time I did, I was like suffocating and the handcuffs would crush my wrists.
"I know that the original is your dad! I know it now!" I exclaimed and Vance laughed, shaking his head.
"I don't see how that will help you," he told me casually and he really did not seem to care that I learnt about that little information.
We stopped in front of a door and another one of the guards that was with us opened it. Humming, Vance entered the room and I was forced to follow. The first thing that I saw was the long table, in the centre of the room, where a lot of food was placed on. Vance went to sit down in front of a plate already full of food and he mentioned for the guard holding me to place me on a chair.
That was how I ended up sitting in front of Vance with a glare on my face as he ate his food. I could not really go away as the two guards remained by my side like statues.
I found myself personal bodyguards it seemed.
"If you hurt Frederick, I'm going to kill you," I spat at Vance and unexpectedly one of the guards hit me in the face with his elbow.  I gritted my teeth, bearing with the pain. "I promise that I'm going to fucking kill you, Vance." The same guard grabbed me by my hair and slammed my forehead on the table. I yelped. The pain that I felt did not stop me from telling Vance that I was going to kill him again and before the guard could hit me once again, Vance intervened.
"Calm down, Igor. He needs to be in his best state for the ritual," the master said, eating his food happily and I spit out blood on the table, boiling with rage inside.
"You're a fucking liar," I told Vance who looked at me with a frown, "You said that you were going to free Frederick and I was dumb enough to listen to you. I'm going to make you pay for this. I swear to god, you will die."
I was not even kidding. As soon as the opportunity would come, I would kill Vance without any hesitation. I was going to kill anyone who would dare stand in my way. I did not care if I lost the control of myself like I once did with Cale. I was going to let the darkness in with opened arms and crush every one of my enemies. Blood would be spilled tonight.
Vance ate a piece of his chicken, a smile dancing on his lips, "I did not lie to you, Luffy. I am not going to kill your cousin."
I frowned at his words and I sure as hell did not believe him. I said, "Don't take me for a fool, not again."
"I'm not lying. I did not capture your cousin," he said and I gave him an 'are you serious' look.
"I know that Calum got him. Just like Cedric did, he works for you too. I know all of that," I informed him and he smirked.
"Exactly, Calum is the one who kidnapped your cousin and he is currently the one who has him," he told me, "To be honest with you, I wanted to use your mom for the ritual. I know that when Azra tried to kill her, you lost control of the little amount of powers that you had at that time and I thought that I could use her again to have the same reaction but you know, the little guardian had something else on his mind."
He paused, taking the time to chew his food before swallowing. Then he continued, "I asked Calum to bring your mom to me but instead, he came back with your cousin. I had to adapt myself to the change of plans so I sent Calius to inform you about the current situation and you came to me. Now it's Calum who has your cousin and I have no idea where they are. They will come back when the ritual will start. That guardian really wants to see your cousin dearest dead. He even insisted to be the one to kill him. I agreed."
Vance shrugged and continued to eat like if he did not just throw a bomb at my face. I lowered my eyes, staring at my blood on the table. Calum was going to be the one to kill Frederick. After everything that happened, he was going to be the one to take his life. How was that even possible? How him, the one that I thought was kind and right, could do such thing to someone that he was supposed to protect? That was not like him. That could not be him.
But did I even know the real him?
Just like Cedric, he could have been playing a role. He could have been fooling all of us from the very start and now he won. I did not know what was his motives, I did not know why he joined the Vins but one thing for sure, he was going to pay. I was going to personally take care of him.
"Are you planning to kill Calum now?" Vance asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts and I looked up at him with a murderous look in the eyes. "I will take that for a yes."
"Since when do you have Calum wrapped around your finger?" I asked him.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I want to know for how long he has been playing dumb with me so that I can make his death as slow and as painful as possible."
"Sweet," Vance chuckled and then he said more seriously, "He has been with us since the very beginning. It's Nike who brought him to me. Of course, I did not trust him at first but Calum turned out to be really loyal to me. He's one of my loyal servants. He's a good spy too as you can see."
"Why are you doing all of this?" I asked him then, "Don't make me believe that you just want to be reunited with your little daddy. You wouldn't do all of this just for that."
"Oh, yes, I can," he protested, "Just like you would do everything to save your cousin, I would do everything to have my dad back. Since I was born, I never got the chance to meet him. Even my mom did not know where he was and when she passed away, I was left with nothing but pain. I searched desperately for my dad and you know what I found? I discovered that some people imprisoned him because apparently he was too evil. I made it my personal affair to free him. Now I'm close to my goal and nothing is going to stop me."
He continued to eat his food quietly. I tried to ask him other questions but I was responded with only silence so I gave up on trying. I decided to reach for the original but just like his son, he remained quiet in front of my desperate attempts to have answers. Their silence just enraged me even more.
I really needed to kill someone.
Suddenly, the door opened and a girl, who was dressed like a maid, walked in. She went directly to Vance and she leaned down to whisper something into his ear. Vance nodded.
"Seems like our last guests have arrived," he declared and he stood up, "Let's go."
Once again, the guard grabbed me and dragged me away. We went out of the mansion where the same car as earlier was waiting for us. It was already dark outside and I realized that a lot of hours already passed since I arrived here. I was pushed violently inside of the car and surprisingly, Vance sat beside me. There was no one else on the backseat.
I tried to jump on Vance at that moment but with one simple movement of hand, he succeeded to paralyze my whole body and I got stuck in place. He laughed at my annoyed expression and soon the car started to move. The ride did not take long this time and after some minutes of driving on a rocky path, the car stopped.
Vance immediately got out. I was still paralyzed so I could not really make a move. Minutes passed and I was still stuck in the car. I started getting scared then. I was scared of what was going to happen. I had a feeling that I would not be able to do anything to stop what was coming.
How much I wished that the others were there to help me. I should have listened to Nicolas. We should have tried to find another solution to free Frederick. I shouldn't have came here alone. I should have fought till the very end. I should have done something else over than simply giving myself to the enemy.
But I was so scared to lose Fred. I was desperate and the only thing on my mind was to save him. God, I did not even get the chance to talk to him. I did not get the chance to give him a proper goodbye. The last time that we really talked was when there was that party. If only I had knew what was going to happen, I would have done things differently.
I wanted to see him so much.
Without me even realizing, the door of the car opened and a hand pulled me out by force. I was met with the cold wind blowing. Only trees were surrounding us and torch of fires were placed around so that it was more clear to see. There were a lot of people but a particular group caught my attention. They wore black dresses and each one of them had a black bandanna covering their eyes as they chanted some incomprehensible words.
"Those are ancient witches," Vance informed me as he came to me. "They are kind of scary but still extremely powerful. They are going to assist me in the ritual." He started to walk away and the man that took me out of the car ordered me to advance forward. I did not listen to him though and impatient, my new bodyguard simply raised me in the air and threw me on his shoulder like if I was a simple bag of potatoes.
He followed Vance and those group of witches came after us, still chanting. They made a shiver ran down my spine. Soon we found ourselves in a big opened space and I was threw on the ground. I immediately got on my feet and I did not like to see what was in front of me.
"No," I said in disbelief and mostly horror, "What are they doing here?"
Here in front of me were Cloud, Rain, Nicolas and Cale. They were all handcuffed just like me and they were in pretty bad shape. They seemed to have been beaten. Each one of them had a guard behind them to prevent them from escaping. Cloud was the first one to see me but he seemed too weak to do anything about it or even to move.
"Vance, what the hell are they doing here?!" I shouted at the master angrily.
"Well, we do need spectators," was his reply.
"Luffy!" Nicolas exclaimed when he saw me and he tried to stand up but the guard standing behind him grabbed him and forced him back on the ground.
"Let him go," I shouted but I could not do anything more.
Against my will, I was pulled away from them and dragged in the middle of a circle which was drew on the ground. There was a large flat stone which rested in the middle. I was brought on top of it and forced to my knees. Unexpectedly, my handcuffs were removed but before I could even do something about it, suddenly, new black chains came out of the soil and wrapped themselves about my wrists. I was blocked once again and I could no longer stand up.
The people of Vance surrounded me, keeping some good distances between them and me. Those witches continued to sing and their voices were starting to become pure torture to my ears. I could see my friends in the distance and like me, they were trapped unable to do anything. My fear only grew bigger. Then, one flash of light and suddenly Frederick appeared joined by Calum.
"Frederick!" Rain and I shouted at the same time at the sight of him.
"Luffy! Rain!" he shouted our names back as he tried to run away from Calum but the latter quickly caught him and pushed him on the ground. Frederick was forced to lay down on his back and the same chains that were imprisoning me came out of the ground to imprison his feet and wrists, preventing him from moving.
"Calum, what the fuck are you doing?!" Cale shouted angrily when he saw that his brother was doing nothing to help Frederick but Calum ignored him.
"No more shouting please," Vance said and out of nowhere, Nike appeared beside him. The latter had something in his hands. It was long and large. I did not know what it was as it was covered with a large piece of black cloth. It looked like a weapon though. He gave it to Vance and the master smiled in satisfaction.
My eyes left him and went back to my cousin who was still laying on the ground, trapped. Calum was standing right on top of him but something was different. His guardian sword was now in his hand and my eyes widened. Rain, Nicolas and Cale started shouting but no one paid attention to them. And as for me, my attention was centered only on Frederick and Calum.
Time seemed to slow down and every sound around me was cut off. I saw, in the corner of my eyes, Vance removing the cloth, revealing the weapon in his hands. I was not even surprised when my eyes fell on it. He then turned to Calum, telling him to start and the guardian smirked.
I knew what he was going to do then.
Calum looked down at Frederick and said a few words to him but I could not hear them. Vance came to stand behind me, the weapon still in his hands, and he brought his lips to my ear.
"The truth is what you want, replica. You are going to hear it now," he whispered and more words left his lips soon after. I listened to every word. Though, I did not care about whatever he had to say. Frederick turned his head in my direction and looked right into my eyes.
"Luffy, it's okay," he said loud enough for me to say. My eyes started to water, "Everything will be okay, I promise you. I love you, little cousin." I shook my head quickly.
"No! No! Please! Don't do this! Please! Stop! Frederick!" I shouted in vain as the tears rolled down my cheeks. Frederick closed his eyes and Calum grabbed his sword in both hands, raising it in the air. My screaming only got louder and I tried to move to get to him but the chains prevented me from doing so.
It seemed to happen in slow motion as Calum pierced the sword through Frederick's chest.
My eyes opened wide in horror and time stopped on that one and only image.
I raised my head towards the dark sky full of stars and let out a loud scream.