Chapter 4

Chapter 4

YEAR 2045

[Tezuka Kejinto (Falcon) - 19 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Nightingale) - 23 years old]
[Ryu Mitsukai (Owl) - 19 years old]

“I’m hungry!” Sky whines.

“We already ate ten minutes ago!” Tezuka snaps at him. “We are already behind schedule. We can’t afford to waste more time!”

“Falcon is right. We can’t allow this mission to fail. It is our only one lead,” Ryu says calmly.

“But, but, our only lead is just a piece of paper that has the list of the shipments! They must have given us the wrong location! There’s no warehouse around here. Not even a single weapon in sight!” Sky whines again.

Tezuka raises an eyebrow in suspicion. “Are you not loyal enough to the United States? Didn’t you learn about the no-fail policy in the U.S. Army?"

Ryu rubs his forehead in frustration. “Why the hell did they hire this idiot for this mission?”

“Hey!” Sky yells angrily. “We were just at the war with Planet Volesmash! I mean, we don’t need any more war with our very own kind!”

“Every country has their own culture that is their pride,” Tezuka sits down on the ground. He begins cleaning his pistol with a rag. “Of course there must be something that they did not like about what we were doing in our country."

“But… back then… we got along very well,” Sky says.

“When Planet Volesmash attacked us for our valuable resources a few decades ago, all of the countries on our planet worked together in order to defeat them. That was when our world leader was born. Earth President is the liaison between Earth and other planets,” Tezuka checks his pistol for any dirty spot to remove. “Well, it’s time to go. We are already wasting our time.”

“Ugh,” Sky whines again, as all of them start walking again through the deep forest. Why did I accept the invitation to Sunny Wing Squad in the first place?

“Hey, did you hear that?” Ryu asks.

“What?” Tezuka asks in annoyance.

“I don’t know, but I think I heard something above us... maybe in one of the trees?” Ryu asks almost nervously. After all, this is a secret mission, so they are not supposed to get discovered at all. Otherwise, the United States will place blame on them and call them terrorists in order to save themselves from other countries’ possible angry attacks.

“It must be your imagination,” Sky walks past Ryu. “You must be hungry. Should we stop and eat?!”

“No!” Tezuka snaps at Sky. “Is food all you think about?!”

“Lala~” Sky sings to himself, as he sits down on the ground and takes a banana out of his hiking bag.

Suddenly, a small monkey leaps onto Sky’s back, making him scream in fright. It snatches the banana from the blonde-haired soldier’s hand and then runs over to a nearby tree.

“You little...!” Sky yells angrily, as he starts chasing after the monkey. “Give my banana back!”

“Sky, no!” Tezuka yells angrily at Sky. He and Ryu start running after him as well. They cannot afford to get split up at any cost. Only Tezuka has the map of this place, so if Sky gets separated from them, then he will definitely get lost in a forest like this.

“So, that was the sound I heard!” Ryu gives Tezuka a glare while they are still running. “You did not listen to me at all!”

“Shut up!” Tezuka shouts at him.

Soon, their lungs eventually begin to burn badly so they have to stop running. They pant heavily, and they realize that they have actually lost Sky. On their first mission.

“That bastard...!” The team leader says angrily. “He had the nerves to do his way! Let’s just go, Owl. We gotta finish this mission as soon as possible.”

“But, what about Nightingale?” Ryu asks, clearly and deeply concerned about Sky’s safety. What if Sky gets caught... and worse, gets killed?

“He is on his own. This mission is much more important.”

Ryu frowns at the leader. Didn’t Tezuka ever learn about the U.S. Army’s motto, Never leave your comrade behind? “Are you going to live with this decision if we abandon Nightingale? What if he dies?”

“We have to. Or else, we will lose another lead for the clue to where the missiles came from,” Tezuka says sternly. “We have to follow the order.”

“But he is our medic. What if one of us gets wounded?” Ryu asks, hoping to convince Tezuka to change his mind somehow.

Tezuka turns on his radio device, “Hummingbird, this is Falcon. We lost our medic, so we are requesting for a back-up medic as soon as possible.”

“How in the world did you lose Nightingale?” Lt. Colonel Medina asks in surprise.

“He was eating a banana, and this monkey... Eh, never mind,” Tezuka sweatdrops at how stupid it must have sounded when he is trying to explain. “The point is, he got separated from us, and we can’t find him anywhere at all.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I don’t think it’s possible for us to send another medic, as Nightingale is the only one who trained under us.”

“But, neither of us has any experience with treating wounds!” Ryu exclaims as quietly as he can.

“I’m sorry. The decision to save Nightingale or not is entirely up to you. I hope you make the right decision. Good luck,” Lt. Colonel Medina says before she cuts off the link.

“What should we do?” Ryu asks.

Tezuka looks away from Ryu. Sky may be their comrade, but completing the mission with a success is also important. This is, after all, what he had been training for the last few years. “We move on.”

“Without Nightingale?”

“Yes.”

“How can we leave him behind?! This is not what the Army is about!” Ryu says angrily. “Look, I don’t know you very well yet, but every citizen, soldier or not, in our country is our comrade!”

“Then, you are allowing our enemy to get away and murder thousands of our citizens just because we have to save one comrade?” Tezuka  asks angrily.

“No,” Ryu narrows his eyes, as his anger is rising. “We can save Sky and then we can finish the mission.”

“Ok, fine,” Tezuka throws up his hands in the air. “You lead this time. I’ll see what you can do, Japanese.”

Before he knows it, he is already on the ground with a large fist print on his aching face cheek.

“You fucking bastard! You’re just like the rest of others!” Ryu shakes his angry fist. “You look down on me just because I look like one of our enemies! My father served in the exact same squad as us!”

“Fuck! That hurts!” Tezuka yells back. “I had no idea that you would be so sensitive to such a simple term. Geez! You didn’t have to hit me that hard!”

“You’re a fucking asshole,” Ryu snaps. He cannot believe how cold heart this bastard has. If Tezuka does not care a little about a comrade, then how the hell did he get selected to serve in the first place?

Tezuka scoffs at Ryu’s insult, as he gets up wiping his dirty pants. “As much as you may want to begin the search right now, it’s getting dark. How about we take a break and start again tomorrow?”

Ryu glances at the darkening sky. He knows that Tezuka is right. It will not help anything if they cannot see anything in the dark anyway. Besides, the enemy knows his area better than they do.

“Fine,” Owl crosses his arms. “We start early tomorrow.”

~*~

“Zuka... zuka... Tezuka...”

Tezuka snaps his eyes open because this voice is completely unfamiliar to him. Does that mean the enemy has discovered them already?!

“Ra... Kira... Free...”

But... this accent... it is not Chinese at all. Who was that just now? Tezuka carefully gets up from his sleeping bag. Only to realize that it is not the sleeping bag he was sleeping in. In fact, there is nothing around him.

He is not in the tent. Not even in the forest. Hell, he is not even in China.

“Where... Where am I?” Tezuka asks in confusion. He must be dreaming because the place he is in is made out of nothingness. He is only seeing blackness everywhere, as if he is in an empty space. He shivers at the coldness. 

“Tezuka,” the voice finally becomes much more clear. “Please follow my voice. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Tezuka glances over at the area where the voice comes from. He spots an obvious white spot on the floor. He asks himself, “Hn, what is this?”

He walks over the spot. He is not sure if he shall touch it or not. “W...who is there?”

All of sudden, he feels a warm hand on his own shoulder. He freezes at the touch. He is not even sure if he should turn around or not.

Warm lips barely touch Tezuka’s ear. “I choose you, Tezuka Kejinto, the grandson of the great Kowareta Kejinto.”

Kowareta Kejinto? Tezuka frowns at the name. He has never heard of such a name before. His own father never talked to him about any of his relatives.

“Your heart is made of darkness and chaos,” the hand starts to pull Tezuka’s shoulder a little bit. “Earth is in danger right now. I need your help.”

“D...danger?” Tezuka asks.

“Yes, for now. There are bad people out there… who want to harm your planet. One of them is called Kira.”

Kira... Tezuka widens his blue eyes in shock. It is not even possible...! Kira was sealed by Double God a thousand years ago! How did she get freed?

“She is not freed yet... but she will be.”

“You can read my mind?” Tezuka asks nervously.

“No, but I can tell by your reaction.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” an amused chuckle echoes throughout the area. “Tezuka, listen to me carefully. I won’t repeat this.”

Tezuka can clearly feel the stranger’s warm smile, even though he is not looking at him. He is not even sure if he wants to.

“Hope of Earth will bring us peace. Faith of Heaven and Hell will end all of suffering and torture. Bravery of Angels will protect the people of the universe. Love of Light and Darkness will bring me back.”

Tezuka widens his eyes in shock when he recognizes the quote. He had read about it back in his high school during his mythology class. He asks softly, “Double God?”

“From now, what you do depends on the safety or destruction of Earth, which has been trapped in chains for decades. Safety or destruction… Tezuka, with the darkness and chaos in your heart, I leave the rest up to you.”

All of sudden, the warmth is leaving him. Tezuka glances at the white spot only to discover that it is completely gone. Now, he is completely trapped in the darkness. “Double God? DOUBLE GOD!”

~*~

Tezuka bolts straight up from his sleeping bag. He is panting heavily and takes a look at his shivering hands. He is really, really cold. “Double God...?”

Was it a dream? He wonders at himself. He is trying to remember as much as he can, but the memory of his dream is fading away slowly.

He quickly turns over and takes his bag. Still shaking from the coldness, he takes out his empty notebook, which he has been saving for writing down the enemy’s information. But, he has to write something down so that he will not forget. 

He glances at Ryu who is still sleeping peacefully. He turns to the book and begins to write,

Dear journal,

Look, I’ve never written any journal before, so I’m only doing this once. I have to write this because of the dream I had a few minutes ago. Yeah, it’s almost four in the morning. Ryu and I have to be back on our feet in one hour. He is still sleeping, so I don’t want to wake him up.

But, that’s not the point. This is not about me. It is about my dream. The nightmare of the universe will be freed sooner or later. I didn’t even know about it until my dream told me. I don’t know if she will be set free tomorrow, a year from now, or even ten years later. I have no idea.

For a minute, I thought we were doomed. The Light and Dark Gods died a thousand years ago. Then, Double God disappeared... until he showed up in my dream. I refused to look at his face. I was not even sure if it was him at all, but now I am sure. Even in the cold darkness, he was very warm and gentle.

He spoke to me. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember a lot of his words. Said something about darkness and chaos, I guess. But the way he spoke only made me feel comfortable. I remember feeling his sweet smile, as he told me the words I will never forget:

“Hope of Earth will bring us peace. Faith of Heaven and Hell will end all of suffering and torture. Bravery of Angels will protect the people of the universe. Love of Light and Darkness will bring me back.”

Tezuka Kejinto
May 2045