Cloud - Chapter 46: Chapter 46

I was lost in a familiar darkness.
I was still on my knees, unable to move, unable to fight. My ears were filled with the sound of my own screams. The continuous images of Calum burying his sword deep into Frederick's chest replayed again and again in my mind. My chains were no longer here but I could still feel them around my wrists.
"Aren't you going to fight?" the original asked me as he appeared in front of me. I did not look up at him. I kept my head down, my eyes fixed on my knees. I did not even question myself as to why he was here. My strength was leaving me slowly and the dark was drowning me.
There was no reason to fight anymore.
"Pitiful," he said and he touched my forehead before pushing me back.
My body moved on its own and I fell backwards. My eyes closed and I felt something surrounding me, nearly choking me. I did not resist it and continued to fall. I was losing control of my own body. My mind was going blank. The pain in my heart only grew bigger and a thought came to me at that moment.
He won.
***
It felt like forever had passed since I last saw the light. It was too dark around here, too silent. I was feeling cold and lonely. I was weak, so weak and pathetic that I wanted death to come and take me. I would feel nothing then, I should cease to exist and forget my life.
I would be nothing.
Suddenly, I felt another presence.
It was the original again.
"Why are you here?" I whispered, my head still down. I did not even know where I found the strength in me to say something.
"You lost. You are trapped here," he replied but that did not answer my question.
"Why are you here?" I repeated myself and I felt him move around me.
"To give you the answers that you have always wanted," was his reply, "This darkness is your home now. The battle is over for you. I'm slowly taking control of your whole body. Soon you will be trapped here forever and there will be no way out for you. Can you hear them, Luffy? Can you hear theirs voices?"
Yes, I could. The witches were still chanting. I could hear theirs voices at the very far end, even though I couldn't see them. They were blocking me. They were containing the powers that I just let free while Vance was opening a way for the original to be free. It seemed to be happening so slowly.
I could feel every second of it.
I slowly lifted my head up and looked at the original with hatred in the eyes.
"I'm going to kill you some of these days," I promised him in a natural tone. I let my emotions take control, "All of this is your fault. He died because of you. I hate you so much. I will kill you. I promise that I will make you suffer. You will die-"
"Axel," he cut me off and I was confused. "My name is Axel."
At last.
I could finally put a name on this face, a name on my own face. After so many months of calling him the original, I finally found out his true name. In another situation, I would have been satisfied but at that moment, I did not care because for me, he was still the reason behind my cousin's death. Whatever his name was, Frederick died because of him.
Axel took a step back and turned around. Now that I was thinking of it, we were in the place where I used to come visiting him and now he would soon be the one who would come pay me a visit. How did things end up being like this? How did things become bad so fast? I could not explain it. I could not accept it but at the same time, I could not change any of it. No matter how much I wanted it, I could not go back in time to save him.
"I used to make experiments, a lot of experiment," Axel started suddenly, capturing my attention. "I'm a scientist, a creator. I wanted to understand the things around me. I wanted to understand my own existence. My powers seemed to be unlimited so I decided to test how far they could go, how strong I could be. I needed to know more about the powers that I had."
He paused and then turned around to face me. "That's when I discovered how to absorb the powers of other beings. I found a way to divide the powers and to transfer each part into different vessels. It was a pretty big discovery at that time. I tested my theory and I ended up killing one of the most powerful beings on earth. I absorbed every last drop of his powers and made them mine. Well, people got scared of me because of this, they were scared of what I would do next so they used my own discovery against me and created what you know now as replicas to hold my powers."
"But to what end?" I asked him in a whisper and he stared at me with no emotion on his face. "You're free now and one question still remains. What are you truly, Axel?"
He smirked and then replied, "You already know the answer to that question. You knew it from the moment you laid eyes on the weapon in Vance's hand, my weapon. I'm sure that it's familiar to you."
He was right. I already guessed what he was. Vance also told me. He whispered it into my ears before Calum ended up Frederick's life. It was still hard for me to believe though. I couldn't understand it clearly. I needed explanations. I needed him to say it for me to be able to process it.
"You are here since the beginning of existence," I said, quoting Vance's words, "You are a symbol of death. You're-"
I stopped and my eyes closed by themselves. My body fell forward on its own but he came to kneel in front of me and took me into his arms. I leaned my head against his shoulder and really, I just wanted to get away from him but the heat of his body against mine made me feel, somehow, less cold in this place.
"You are getting weaker," Axel stated, hugging me tightly, "This place will entirely drain you, you'll see, but don't worry, you will get used to it."
Why not simply kill me already? I thought as I was unable to speak and surprisingly, he seemed to have hear my thoughts.
"Because Luffy, we are connected," he replied to me, "True, I could just absorb all of you and destroy this place. You would cease to exist then and I would be safe in the future as I wouldn't be able to return here. Though, you are an important part of my being and I cannot live without you. Your existence is capital to me."
I don't understand you, I thought and he chuckled.
"You will in due time," he assured me. "Though, for now I need to go."
He slowly removed his arms around me but before he could go, I succeeded to find the strength in me to grip his shirt tightly into a fist.
Say it, I told him, I want to hear it. Tell me what you truly are.
I felt him smirk. He brought his mouth to my ear and whispered a few words. Then, he left and I was alone in the dark once again.
***
I remembered that once, the original, Axel, told me that if I wanted to know more about him, I should learn more about Cloud. I did not believe him at first but now when I thought of it, I realized that he was right. Cloud was the key to understand his existence. Cloud was related to him in a way that I could not understand until now.
I should have dig a little deeper about his past.
Then, when I met Eloise, she seemed to be surprised to see me with Cloud. She said things that should have made me ask myself questions. She saw the danger and decided to eliminate me because she knew the truth. She could have said something about it, instead of keeping her mouth shut.
Now what was going to happen to all of us?
Me, I was trapped here but what about the others? What would happen to them? What would the original do now? What did he even plan on doing before he was imprisoned? Probably not something good. Now he must have something big in mind. And what about Vance? He said that he wanted to have his dad back but no one asked Axel if he wanted to have his son back.
Things did not feel right and I felt like something was missing in all of this.
There was always a reason behind our actions and really, I was not buying that finding daddy crap story. I had a feeling that Axel was also hiding something. I doubted that being with his son was the only thing that he wanted. He did not even mention anything family related to me so far.
There was still so many things for me to find out but me, I was simply giving up. I was giving up because I was too weak. I was giving up without even trying to fight. I let Frederick die and I did not do anything to save him. I did not use my powers as I should have. What would he think of me now? He would think that I was a coward surely? If he was still there, what would he advise me to do?
He would want me to fight.
The answer was obvious to me.
***
My eyes opened slowly and I only found darkness around me. Hundred of thoughts were running through my mind and I realized that I had been acting like an idiot since the very start. I needed to snap out of whatever I was trapped in and act at last. There was so much left to do. I pushed myself off the ground and stood there in the dark. I glanced around and found no one.
"Axel!" I shouted at the top of my lungs but I got no reply. I turned around on myself, not knowing what to do. "No, damn it," I told myself, "I can't stay here."
I started to run. I shouted the original's name, asking him to come back to me. I ran and ran and shouted and shouted but it was all in vain. I was going nowhere. This place was everywhere the same. There was just nothingness around me and I was lost into it. I was starting to feel what Axel felt when he was trapped in here.
After some time, I started to feel tired so I stopped running and tried to catch my breath. I needed to get out of here. I wanted to get out. I should have never stopped fighting. I was not going to let Vance win, I was not going to let Calum get away after what he did and I was surely not going to let my friends get killed. I did not know where I found enough motivation in myself but there was no way that I would remain trapped here forever.
"Axel!" I shouted once again and something weird happened at that moment.
I received some sort of electric shock and the darkness around me changed. My eyes widened. Everyone was there in front of me. I saw Cloud and the others. Rain was there with a dark expression on his face, Cale was still shouting at Calum who was completely ignoring him. Nicolas too was kicking and shouting, though that only made him get punched.
I felt different in front of them. There were so many eyes on me but it was like if no one could actually see me, the real me. All of a sudden, Vance's people knelt on the ground and I felt my body raise to its feet, even though I was already standing up. It only took a few seconds for me to understand what was happening and it instantly clicked in my mind.
Frederick's vision.
I was no longer in control of anything.
He was finally free.
Axel, the 13th reaper.