Chapter 15
Chapter 15
ONE YEAR LATER
January 11, 2047
[Ryu Mitsukai - 20 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence - 24 years old]
[Tezuka Kejinto - 20 years old]
So much stuff has happened during the past year since Ryu and Tezuka joined another organization, 5-U. The United States declared Skylar Lawrence and Tezuka Kejinto as war deserters and placed $100 million on each of their bounty. That didn’t matter to them at all, now that Tezuka and Ryu had finally discovered the truth.
The Big Five started the over-20-year-old war. They managed to steal the largest missile from South Korea and then launched them at the entire California and murdered thousands of citizens. It has never been Japan or South Korea all along. When it was discovered that the missiles were made in South Korea, the President of the United States of America declared war on them.
Next day, Knapp introduced Tezuka and Ryu to the entire 5-U team. 5-U stands for Fifth Universe. Apparently, after he left when he was only 18 years old, he managed to bump into Danielle Medina, who was only Major at that time. After talking with her and confirming her own suspicions about Sunny Wing Squad, she somehow found someone who was willing to donate them a spaceship, which only consisted of a bridge, cabin, and a few other rooms that could be used for a bedroom or training area.
That was when his journey began outside Planet Earth. He met so many amazing people on the way, but only a few of them were selected by Fifth Universe to join the 5-U team. Starting with, of course, Clear Dawn from Planet Crystal, she is the engineer and pilot.
Johnny Shiba, also known as Atom for his codename, was born and raised on Planet Inu. What everyone feared him the most was that he has the ability to create an orb that can blow up into large explosions, which can vanish a planet into nothingness. He is the bomber for the team.
Next, coming from Planet Zap, Jade Wolf, also known as Gravity, is an assailant. He can even crash a planet into even one molecule with his gravity energy if he wants to. That's how powerful he is. He usually gets sent for missions in order to assassinate certain people who were likely to have a big influence on a country or a planet, such as the President or King.
Logy Oib, from Planet Fantasy, is a deaf guy with brown hair with two black bangs in front. Although he cannot hear, he can speak pretty well. His mother was the only one who could use sign language with Logy but she soon died from cancer. It did not take long for Knapp to convince Logy to join the team. He is currently one of the spies, but unlike other spies Zack or the deceased Danielle, he was often sent to spy on the leader of the Big Five organization.
From Planet Mu, Zack Kyota, his codename as Void, used to be undercover as a Sergeant. With the help of Danielle, he managed to go up the ranks in a short amount of time. He got Danielle’s email saying that she would finish off Colonel Leon Alvarez for good. That was when Leon started taking everyone’s souls in the same S.W.S. building so he managed to escape.
And then, there was Skylar Lawrence... Tezuka didn't want to hear about him at all so he left right away. Ryu, however, stayed and listened a little more.
Sky, also known as Starry for his codename, came from Planet Lune, which was full of healers. He was the last one to get chosen by the Fifth Universe. It took quite a while until a powerful monster showed up and destroyed an entire city. After Knapp and his team defeated it, Sky finally agreed to join them.
It turned out that 5-U wanted to make sure Ryu and Tezuka were safe. Zack, Danielle, and Sky went into the U.S. Army and eventually into Sunny Wing Squad. That was how Zack chose Tezuka and Ryu for the S.W.S. right away. They risked their lives for them.
The last person, who was not part of the 5-U team, was apparently Knapp’s wife, named Sybil Mitsukai. They had a daughter together a while ago; her name was Katja Mitsukai. A few weeks later, Sybil unexpectedly got pregnant with another child of Knapp’s, so he wanted her to stay with them until Earth is freed from the chains.
One month after two former American soldiers joined the 5-U, Tezuka was having a really difficult time. He took his father’s death much harder than everyone expected. He isolated himself from everyone, hiding himself in the training room and trying to focus on his training for an upcoming mission. He barely said more than one sentence to everyone, including Ryu. That was not even helping Sky at all because he was trying to apologize and make up with Tezuka, who only shrugged in return.
But after one month, Tezuka just bounced back and got involved in the stimulation training with Ryu and Sky… although he still hadn’t forgiven Sky yet. He knew that his father would’ve wanted him to move on and to do what he needed to do in order to save the world.
Just three months ago, Clear was able to discover the location of Rosa and Akane. It turned out that they were much further into the south of Mexico than they initially thought. Like Ryu always told them, Rosa was absolutely, he meant, completely terrible at the sense of direction. At least, Akane was smart enough to just follow her around.
Knapp sent Tezuka, Ryu, and Clear to pick them up in Huixtla, Mexico, where almost nobody had ever heard of. It was a very small and poor village with a lot of farms near the river called Rio Huixtla.
Akane was so, so, so pissed off that she literally beat up Tezuka to nearly death, but at the end, she gave him a painful hug. Rosa, on the other hand, just bawled out her eyes into Ryu’s chest for about ten minutes and was crying about how scared she was for the past months, only to make Ryu apologize repeatedly.
Now, they are getting closer and closer to the mission, which will be in one of the forests in Bolivia. That is where one of Big Five’s bases is. They had already sent Logy to spy and to collect evidence stating that there was an abandoned facility in the middle of the forest.
But they are more worried about Jikan’s prediction about Tezuka dying, but the former lavender-haired American soldier insists that he goes anyway.
~*~
Sybil is in labor. She has broken water a few hours ago and is now in the clinic room with Sky, Knapp, Rosa, and Akane. Having come from a home planet full of healers, Sky has years of experience with medicine as well as healing.
Knapp sends Ryu and Tezuka to the training room, but Ryu cannot help but get so excited about his brother’s new child that he keeps getting hit by flying balls that are being shot from the tubes within the wall.
After two hours of training, Ryu is completely satisfied and leaves the training room while Tezuka is still doing some kind of martial arts training.
That’s when he finds his older brother holding his newborn baby. However, Knapp has a very sorrowful look on his face. Fathers are not supposed to be this unhappy with their new child.
“Knapp? Is your baby ok?” Ryu asks, sitting on a bench next to Knapp.
“Yeah,” Knapp simply answers, his tears threatening to come out of his eyes. “He is completely fine. His name is… Ketsu Mitsukai. S-Sybil has always wanted a son named Ketsu.”
“And… Sybil?” Ryu hesitantly asks. “Is she ok?”
"Double God is... cruel." Knapp smiles sadly as his eyes are filled up with tears, as Ketsu coos playing with his new father’s fingers. "He gave me an offer that he knew I couldn't refuse."
“What was it?”
“They were both dying. Sybil lost way too much blood, and Ketsu was struggling. I had to choose between them both dying or exchanging Ketsu's soul with a certain soul…” Knapp looks away, as if he does not want to look into his newborn son’s dark eyes, “A powerful soul… Dark Angel’s soul.”
Ryu glances at Ketsu, who is very alive and smiling brightly, in Knapp’s arms. He shakes his head in disbelief, “D-Double God did such a thing? H-he didn’t even try to save Sybil?”
“I love her,” Knapp mumbles, his younger brother barely understanding him. At this point, he cannot stop tears from sliding down his face. “But she wanted him to live. She wanted to take Double God’s offer. That was her last wish.”
Ryu does not know what to say, so he just wraps his arms around Knapp’s shoulders, surprising him completely. They had not hugged each other in many years.
They do not move until they are interrupted by Ketsu’s loud cries, complaining of hunger.
~*~
“T-Tezuka,” Sky almost stutters, only making Tezuka scoff in return. “Ryu is outside. Zack wants him to come back inside, but Ryu refuses to listen.”
“Why would he go outside? He should know that we are not supposed to do that. The enemy can find us.” Tezuka crosses his arms with a raised eyebrow.
And so, Sky tells him about Knapp’s loss.
As soon as the former blonde-haired American soldier finishes the story, Tezuka rushes past him, heading for the outside.
He finds Ryu just standing a few yards away from the abandoned building. He is about to call his name but stops when Ryu screams at the innocent sky.
“Double God!” Ryu yells angrily, his angry dark eyes glaring at the bright blue sky. Hot tears streaming down his face. “I know you’re listening to me somewhere! Why didn’t you save Sybil?! You… you took her away from Knapp and then turned his own son into one of your puppets! He loves her! Why did you do that to him?! Is it because he is the Universe Warrior, chosen by the Fifth Universe? You don’t like that, do you?! Is that your revenge?! Or is it because you didn’t get to choose him?!”
He pauses briefly, as he is breathing heavily. He continues, but with a soft tone, “Puppets… Are we… Tezuka and I… are we your puppets as well? Were our grandfathers your puppets too?! Did they die… just because they did your dirty work?!”
He is getting angrier and angrier every second he has not gotten any response from Double God. He clenches his fists hard enough to draw blood.
Suddenly, his dark eyes glow with bright white orbs, bursting with so much aguila energy. Only if he can find Double God somewhere out there…! He keeps looking further and further into the sky... Through the chains...
Into space… Further and further into the empty space…
Why is Double God not there?! Why?! Ryu wants to scream, but for some reason, the words are not getting out of his mouth.
“Ryu! Stop!!” Tezuka yells in concern, running toward his combat partner.
As soon as Ryu hears Tezuka’s voice, he stops using aguila energy quickly and turns around fast.
Only to realize that he cannot see anything at all. Everything is very dark and pitch-black. Suddenly, he feels dizzy with a strong feeling to throw up what he had eaten for breakfast this morning. His eyes are burning so badly. He cries in pain, as he quickly grabs his own face, trying to stop the burning pain in both of his eyes.
“Ryu!” Tezuka yells again, finally getting to Ryu who then collapses to the ground.
~*~
“It’s my fault.” Knapp shakes his head sadly, holding the sleepy Ketsu in his arms. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told him about Double God.”
Katja is whining loudly, grabbing and tagging Knapp’s pants but her father ignores her. Noticing Knapp’s annoyance, Logy quickly picks Katja up, smiling brightly at her.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Logy asks sweetly, as he glances at Knapp as if he is asking for his permission.
Tezuka is watching in fascination as Knapp is doing a few interesting gestures. After a few seconds, he realizes that it is apparently sign language.
“Fruit salad, it is!” Logy grins widely, and Katja returns a big grin as well. As they are leaving the clinic room, Logy asks, “Maybe I can teach you some signs for fruits?”
“It is not your fault.” Sky shakes his head. “Double God isn’t… He is not kind most of the time, you know? He is God, after all.”
“Fairly? The problem is,” Tezuka shakes his head. “I understand how Ryu feels. We were supposed to be dead a few times before. Yet, Double God saved us every time. Yet he allowed Sybil to die. If…” He glances at Knapp. “If Knapp were my brother, then I would’ve done the same thing or maybe worse than what Ryu did.”
“How soon will he wake up?” Rosa asks softly, holding Ryu’s hand tightly. She lightly touches the bandage around Ryu’s eyes. “It’s been hours since he was brought here.”
“He should be awake by now,” Sky says. He places his hand on Ryu’s sweaty forehead. “He overused his aguila energy, and that hurt his eyes. He’s lucky that he did not go blind. But he will be fine if he rests enough tonight. He will be out of here tomorrow. So, Knapp, you shouldn’t worry at all.”
The frown on Knapp’s face still has not gone away yet. “Even so… The mission is only a few days away --”
“He will be fine by then. Right, Sky?” Tezuka receives a ‘yes’ nod from Sky. “Like Sky said, we don’t have to worry.”
“Oh!” Rosa says, almost startled when she feels Ryu’s hand lightly squeezing hers. “Ryu, are you awake?”
“Y-yes,” Ryu says dryly. “Wha-what happened?”
Sky quickly grabs Ryu’s wrist before the former black-haired American soldier can even touch the bandage. “Don’t touch your eyes. I’ve placed my healing energy into the bandages so that your eyes are consistently healing - only faster this way.”
“My e-eyes?”
“Here.” Rosa places a glass of water into Ryu’s hand. “You must be thirsty. Have a drink.”
After Ryu completely empties the glass which is then taken away by Rosa, Tezuka loses his temper suddenly.
“You dumbass!” Tezuka punches Ryu in the face pretty hard, surprising everyone in the same room. He grabs Ryu’s shirt harshly. “Why the hell did you do that?! Becoming blind just because of Double God isn’t worth it at all!”
Ryu realizes that Tezuka must have heard him yelling at Double God. “B-but D-Double --” He is interrupted.
“He doesn’t control our destiny! He may have chosen us at first, but we are not his puppets! Have you forgotten our goal back then? When we first met?”
“T-Tezuka, calm down. Please let him go,” Sky says nervously, more worried about Ryu’s health.
“End the war,” Ryu says simply. “I remember it very well.”
“End the war,” Tezuka emphasizes three words, as he lets go of Ryu. “That does not nor will never change our goal. At least, not as long as one of us is still alive.”
A huge grin slowly appears on Sky’s face. He places each of his arms around Ryu’s and Tezuka’s shoulders. “How could I have forgotten about it? When we just joined the S.W.S, we had the same goal… no, we still have the same goal.”
“Damn right,” Tezuka says simply, as he turns away from Sky and Ryu, on his way out of the clinic room. “Don’t ever forget that.”
“Well, well, what the hell just happened?” Zack asks cheerfully, entering the clinic room only to notice Tezuka leaving.
“Nothing,” Ryu and Sky say at the same time.
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