Chapter 33 "Eclipse: Part II"

Chapter 33
Eclipse
Part II

Sybil has been holding Knapp’s hand ever since the three of them started moving from one room to the next. Every room they enter, the darker it becomes.

“Are you sure you know where we are going?” Knapp asks.

“Yeah, this girl showed me a way out.” Sybil gives him a bright smile. “I promise. I’ve already seen it but I came back to get you.”

“What about… them?” Knapp asks. “Why can’t I remember their names? What did the enemy do to my head?”

“I’m sorry but who are you talking about?” She asks as she takes Knapp’s hands. “It’s always been just the two of us. You became the Universe Warrior and saved Earth… so we just travelled through space and helped a few planets.”

Her hands are so warm. Just like I’ve always remembered. Knapp glances at Sybil’s hands. But for some reason, it feels so wrong. Not only her but… everything’s wrong.

“You look like you’re conflicting yourself inside. Is there anything I can do to help you?” She asks gently.

Knapp wants to get away from her but at the same time he feels like he has always missed her so much. He cannot help but vaguely remember that Sybil is not supposed to be here. Like she was supposed to be dead.

“How about a kiss if it helps?” Sybil suggests as she presses her body against Knapp’s. She wraps her arms around his shoulders. “I was struggling with which stuff I am supposed to remember as well. So, we are in the same boat, right?”

Knapp has not noticed the little girl but she is now hovering over Sybil with a big grin and a touch up of gold color in her eyes. It is as if he is under her spell.

He touches Sybil’s smooth black hair and then places his hand on the side of her face. He leans forward, about to land a kiss on her lips.

He freezes, his lips just a couple of centimeters away from Sybil’s. He has sensed a powerful presence approaching really fast. He begins to hear the little girl’s deep growls. Suddenly, Sybil grips Knapp’s hair harshly but before she can kiss him, he pushes her to the floor hard.

He turns around to run only to stop at the sight of a boy with dark blue wings. The minute he sees his face, a name comes back to him instantly. “Ketsu?”

“How did you get in here?” Sybil asks angrily as she lifts herself to standing in the most unusual way - in a way a vampire normally does. 

“Same goes for you!” Ketsu shouts as he draws his sword from his dark blue scabbard. “If I ever find the real you, I’ll be your nightmare for real!”

“Curse you…!” Sybil hisses loudly as she and the blonde haired girl disappear into the air.

“Dad… I can’t believe you were about to cheat on Logy with some random woman!” Ketsu sighs as he puts his sword back into the scabbard. 

“That’s no random woman. She’s your mother. You better have some respect for her.” Knapp snaps. “And who the hell is Log… Lo…?”

“Oh my god…” Ketsu covers his face as he mumbles in worry, “I can’t believe she finally made you forget him… We’re in trouble now!”

“Ketsu, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know where to start…” Ketsu looks around, trying to find a door or some kind of portal to exit. “We’re in your deep consciousness right now. I’ve been looking for you for a long time, and now I don’t remember a way out of here.”

Knapp raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“We’re in your dream right now.” Ketsu releases another sigh. “Your comrades are also in their dreams. All of your dreams are connected, but that girl… She found a way to block you from finding each other. She even made sure that you didn’t remember each other. At all.”

“She?”

“Eclipse.”

Knapp suddenly starts to feel nauseous at the mention of her name. He gulps, trying to hold back whatever’s trying to come back up his esophagus. “Let’s just go back to the beginning. You said we’re in my dream right now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Are we trapped?”

“Yeah, well… just you, Katja, and the whole Dark Team. I have been trying to bring you guys back into the real world. Kawaii tried to get inside but Eclipse kept him out. Her goal is you. Because you have the power of the universe. If she ever consumes it… there’ll be no stopping her. That’s why she was with you this entire time, manipulating you to open every door to your deep, dark consciousness.”

Knapp turns away from Ketsu. Shit, this is way too much to be real.

“We need to get out of here. We need to find Logy. We believe it’s the only way to leave your dream…” The young Dark Angel walks past his father. “Do you remember anything before you woke up in the middle of the night when we ran into each other?”

“I remember saying good night to L… Lo…” Knapp stammers at first but for some reason he can’t just get his name out so he decides to give up. “..to him before I fell asleep.”

“How about before that?”

“We landed…” Knapp stops. Who is ‘we’?

“Go on…” Ketsu urges.

“Well, we landed on this planet because we needed to replenish food and supplies. Because Cle…Clean?”

“Clear?”

“Yeah. Anyway, she said we’d stay here for a while because she needed to do some maintenance.”

“Dad…” Ketsu shakes his head. “You all have been trapped in your dreams for nearly one year. Since then, I’ve been trying to find a way to reach you with some help. One year.”

Knapp chuckles softly at first as soon as he hears ‘one year’. He stops when he realizes that Ketsu looks very serious. Not to mention he looks a little taller and older than he remembers. “We’ve been asleep… for one year? You must be kidding.”

“I’m not trying to be funny.” The youngest Mitsukai raises his hands. “This entire time, I’m the only one who hasn’t been asleep. I’m working with--”

Suddenly, a large ray of light comes into their vision. It is a new door appearing out of nothingness and opening to let the light into the dark space.

After a while of trying to get used to the bright light, Knapp rubs his eyes and then looks at the open door one more time only to make out an outline of a person. As his vision becomes more clear, he detects wild brown hair and hazel eyes. Black jacket with F on either side of upper sleeves, black tank-top, dark brown baggy pants, black gloves without tips, and white headband with a black star in the middle wrapped around his upper arm.

“What?” Ketsu asks in surprise as soon as he realizes who it is. “What are you--”

“Logy, is that you?” The second Knapp sees Logy’s face, all memories of him come back rushing into his head. Before he knows what he is doing, he is already running towards him. As soon as he gets close, he trips on his own foot, crashing into him on the floor.

They are staring at each other with Knapp on the top of him. Logy’s face is turning redder and redder.

“Logy, I really missed you.” Using sign language, Knapp leans forward, about to place his lips on Logy’s only to be stopped when the deaf man quickly puts his hands on the other’s face. 

“H-hold on!” Logy cries with a clear embarrassment in his voice. “I-I’m not who you think I am!”

“What?” Knapp blinks in confusion.

Logy glances at Ketsu with teary eyes along with an obvious look asking for help. In return, he only receives a big grin from him. That brat…!

“Okay, okay! Dad… that’s not Logy.” Ketsu snickers. “That’s just, well… What do you call her?” He rubs his chin, trying to think of how to explain to his own father. “A persona of the artificial intelligence system that we use for our spaceship? That person is just… a copy of Logy. Her real name is Ash. Artificial Intelligence Service for the Hope or ASH.”

“Ash…?” Knapp gets up and then helps Logy, er… Ash to get up. “I’m sorry that I tried to kiss you. Logy has been my partner for several years…”

“All good!” Ash shakes her head with a smile on face. Knapp cannot help but think how exactly her smile is the same as Logy’s but remembers that she’s just Logy’s clone.

“Ash, how did you get in here?” Ketsu asks in awe. “You know you’re just a computer program…”

Ash pouts angrily as she crosses her arms. “I’m just a computer program to you?”

“C’mon… you know what I mean… How did you, a computer, get into a real person’s dream?” The Dark Angel asks again.

“I built a new coding program that behaves like a Halo device. Although it was only tested through targeted brain stimulation using algorithms per the past records, I’ve tried repeatedly to enter Knapp’s dream with it until I succeeded.”

Ketsu frowns. Damn, did Clear know how fast this AI system accelerated with learning and creating? That may be a problem in the future…

“Hold on…” Knapp glances forth and back between Ketsu and Logy-- er, Ash. “What is this computer stuff? Where did you learn how to use the computer from, Ketsu? Aren’t you 10 right now?”

“Well…” Ketsu flashes a big grin. “Clear taught me! And then eventually when I realized you all wouldn’t wake up, I had to learn on my own along with Ash. She’s been keeping you all alive. She taught me how to build new robots and machines to feed what your bodies need.”

Okay, I definitely didn’t want to know that… Knapp sweatdrops as he turns to the new door. “Why don’t we just get out of here?”

~*~

Every room they go through, the less dark it becomes. Ketsu explains that they are looking for an exit at the surface of the dream world but last time he tried to bring Knapp, Eclipse was there to toss him back right at the beginning.

“So, we need to look out for Eclipse, huh?” Knapp takes a look at his hands. “Did I even use my powers?”

“No, but… it’s kinda tricky when you try to use your power in your dream -- like you know how we sometimes struggled to move our legs but couldn’t when we were dreaming? It’s similar.” Ketsu explains. “Have you tried to draw out your universe energy?”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t.” The Universe Warrior admits.

“Universe energy is everywhere. Even in your dreams. Give it some time.” The Dark Angel nods his head. “It’s the only way to fight back. But for now, we’re going to jump into someone else’s dream. Hopefully Eclipse will lose her sight of you.”

“If my algorithms are correct… we will get into someone else’s dream in the next room,” Ash says as they stop at the front of a large double door, made of steel. 

“I’m really hoping it’s Clear,” Ketsu says. “She’d know what to do-- only if we manage to convince her that we are in a dream.”

As they step in the next room, this staircase is not like every other staircase. It is enormous like a typical giant would use. 

“Hey Logy--I mean, Ash…” Knapp says as they stop in front of a large first step. “Just out of curiosity… Why did you pick Logy’s form to present yourself? Out of all Dark Team members? Or you could just randomly create your own person?”

“Logy is the love of your life,” Ash says without any hesitation. “I did calculations, and just you seeing Logy, compared to others, would repel any manipulating attempts of Eclipse’s faster. And to warm up to me faster as well.”

She looks up at large but empty spider webs at the corners of the staircase. She then glances at Knapp with hope in her eyes. Her look is eerily very similar to Logy’s. “I’m amazed at how strong you are. You lasted this so long… for nearly a year. You fought back Eclipse every time she had a chance to take you. I honestly didn’t predict that she would go so far by removing all of your memories, except the ones with Sybil.”

“I didn’t know a computer program like yourself would get emotional.” Ketsu chuckles softly. “I know you’re fairly new but for my entire life, my dad has always been strong.”

I wasn’t strong before you were born… Knapp thinks to himself but then pushes those negative thoughts away. 

“Anyway, I’m detecting a movement.” Ash begins to climb up the first step and then helps to pull Knapp onto the step, which is twice as tall as a normal door. Ketsu uses his wings to leap onto the step.

“No wait.” Ash frowns after they make it to the tenth step. “There are two movements…”

“Did Eclipse already find them?” Ketsu asks nervously.

“I’m not sure but they seem to be moving together. I hope Eclipse didn’t trick your friend.”

Just as they turn around to the next set of the stairs, two people have already jumped down from the step.

“Jade! Gules!” Ketsu exclaims both in relief and happiness. 

“Wait… Tell us any of your memories with one of us…” Jade says cautiously as he narrows his purple eyes in suspicion.

“Gules always told you that your eyes have the color of a galaxy,” Knapp answers easily as he shrugs his shoulders carelessly.

Jades blushes furiously as he turns to glare at Gules who grins widely in return. He then smacks him in the head. “I always told you to stop flirting with me in front of them! It’s embarrassing!”

“I’m so sorry, heheheh!” Gules laughs, not even bothering to look apologetical at all. Jade scoffs at him.

“Yeah, it’s them,” Ketsu says. He turns to Ash. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Scanning them. Just in case,” she says. There are several running numbers in her hazel eyes. “Okay, they’re clear.”

“So, do you know what’s going on?” Gules asks. Ketsu begins to explain what he told Knapp once again.

“Eclipse, eh? Ka--I mean, Kawee… whoever he was - he did mention her name a few times, but she was so hard to find, right?” Jade says in wonder. 

“I remember looking into every planet we can think of.” Knapp nods his head. A few more memories are starting to come back. Is it because he just saw Gules and Jade? “Kiawie was having a hard time as well.”

“Kawaii,” Ketsu corrects them. “It’s Kawaii. How did you not get his name right? Aren’t you supposed to serve the Fifth Universe? His name is Kawaii!”

“Kawaii sounds right,” Gules says.

“Ecilpse used her powers to eliminate most of their memories,” Ash says. “It’s not their fault.”

“Wait a minute…” Knapp looks around at the large staircase along with the empty spider webs just sitting at all of the top corners. “So, Eclipse removed our memories of each other… separated us… tried to get me to lead her into my deep consciousness…”

“What are you onto?” Ketsu asks curiously.

“Obviously we all know her goal. The power of the universe. However, there’s one flaw in her power… whatever it is,” the Universe Warrior continues. “Our dreams are connected because of our bonds. So, when we see each other, our memories are also connected.”

“And that’s why some of our memories came back right away.” Jade widens his eyes in realization. “But if we are separated once again…”

“...We’d be back to the first square,” Gules finishes.

“Right. When I first saw Ash in Logy’s form, I started remembering him right away.” Knapp grins widely at Ash who fidgets with her fingers nervously. He walks towards the next door. “She saved my life.”

“So Eclipse used the appearance of my mother because she wanted to make sure that you’d not remember each other at all. My mother who has been dead for years…” Ketsu says softly.

“Then, we have to find the rest of the Dark Team members and get the hell out of here,” the Universe Warrior says as he opens the door.