Jack's eyes widened in horror at his words. He knew what the man was implying. A sudden outburst of anger, disgust, and guilt welled up inside both young Jack and the adult one who was watching this scene unfold in the dream.
The man ran a hand through Diana's hair. He slowly brought his other hand to Diana's face, but before he could, young Jack stood up suddenly, his face livid with anger and covered in blood.
"You. Don't. Touch. Her. In. Front. Of. Me," he said slowly and clearly in an intimidating tone, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Just a couple of strands left, he thought.
"Playing hero, are we? Both you and your father are quite nosy, playing hero all the time. Be careful now, we don't want you meeting the same fate as him," the man said, backing off and walking towards Jack. "And how do you plan on stopping me?" he said, smiling wickedly as he stood tall in front of Jack.
Jack jumped up with everything he had and drove his head right into the man's chin.
The man stumbled backwards, his face flaring with anger.
"PESKY BRAT," he growled.
He straightened up and drove a kick right into Jack's gut. The force lifted him off his feet and he smashed against the metal doors of the van at the back.
The man returned to Diana and touched her sleeping face. At that moment, something came over Jack. He lost all sense, something took over, and the next moment erupted with movement.
Young Jack broke free of his confines and dashed towards the man, lifting him by his neck and pushing him against the passenger seat at the front. The driver turned around and aimed at Jack with his handgun.
Jack used his other hand and grabbed the driver's wrist, twisted it, breaking his arm. The gun slipped from his hands and landed on the carpet of the van with a thud.
The driver screamed in pain and Jack let go of his hands. The other man continued to flail around in his arms as he pressed him against the seat. Jack spread out his palm and pierced his hand through the driver seat's neck, taking hold of the man by the back of his neck and pulling him with a mighty force.
The seat itself came off its fastenings and Jack threw the seat, with the man still on it, against the back doors of the van. There was a nasty crunch and clang as the metal doors pushed open, and the man fell down under the seat he was sitting on.
Cold mountain air blasted inside through the open doors. They were driving on a secluded mountain path.
Sensing the absence of the driver, the car slowly steered itself into the side of the road. Jack grabbed the other man he was still holding by the neck and threw him outside the van through the back. And with that Jack turned and walked out of the car, his eyes emotionless, his expression unreadable.
It was as if he was unconscious, or maybe didn't have control of his own body.
The man gasped for breath, steadily getting up and trying to run away.
Jack broke into a run, caught up with the man, grabbed him by the neck and pummeled him right into the ground.
"P-Please let me go. Please," the man begged through a mouthful of blood.
Jack opened his mouth to speak and instead of words, what came out was a cold scream of pain.
Jack proceeded to straddle the man's chest and began to pummel his fists into his face. His kada hit the base of his hands. He slipped out of it and used it like a knuckle duster and continued his rampage.
The man put on his Ortho Sapien helmet to protect himself, but with a few hits it broke apart at his punches. A hole formed at the front. Jack grabbed either side of the helmet and tore it apart before continuing his assault.
Blood splattered. The sound of cracks and thuds of bones breaking and his fists hitting continued to ring through the silence of the mountain alongside the groans and screams of the man.
Jack stopped again, this time to discard the kada that had broken into pieces, and then proceeded to punch the guy's face.
Every time Jack watched this scene, he would be horrified, unable to keep his eyes off the carnage he was seeing his younger self commit. But now, considering all he's been through, and all he has done, he looked around for the first time, and he wasn't ready for what he saw.
In the dark place he was standing and watching the scene unfold from, beside him stood his teenage version, watching it with him. Dressed up in the same attire, blood-soaked clothes, broken nose, and face covered in blood.
Jack walked towards the child. He tried to touch him, but his fingers phased right through him.
That younger self was part of the memory.
Then who was the one controlling his body?
Jack looked at the boy that stood with him. He was shaking and his gaze frozen in place while mumbling, "Stop! That's not me!"
Jack's attention was diverted back to the scene at the sound of the police sirens. His grandfather had arrived with the police. The police tried to separate Jack from the man but they failed. Every time they got close, Jack would just push them aside and throw them away like dolls. Eventually his grandfather entered. He held Jack in place with his Ikanami and walked over to him gently.
Then without saying a word, he tapped both of Jack's temple depression with his fingers and Jack fell unconscious, and the place turned dark again.
Soon, light shone again and another room came into focus. It was Jack's own room. Young Jack stirred, still covered in blood. He could hear voices coming from downstairs. One was his grandfather and the other was someone else.
He looked at his hands, then he walked in front of the mirror to look at his blood-covered figure.
The time shone brightly on a wall clock, reading 10:00 P.M.
"Am I really me?" he said, trembling, half expecting his reflection to talk back to him.
He went straight into the washroom. He touched and pressed every bone he could on himself, hoping to encounter pain from his injuries when the man was beating him.
None. His body was completely fine, all healed up. He stepped into the shower. The warm water cascaded down, leaving his body as trails of crimson as it washed away the blood that covered his body.
After the shower, he descended the stairs. The voices grew louder and clearer. He looked outside, the main door was open and Jack could see a black police car parked outside.
He walked towards the source of the sound, the dialogues grew clearer. It was an argument, his grandfather was arguing with someone, probably the police officer.
"He has killed people sir, be reasonable," the man said.
At hearing this, young Jack froze. He walked towards the door and leaned against the wall and leaned against the wall.
Did they really say I killed those people? I didn't... I didn... he thought.
"They were terrorists, moreover he was defending himself," his grandfather said calmly.
"There is no proof that they were terrorists, here are their identities. As for the latter part, we will get the truth once we arrest him and investigate," the officer said firmly.
"There is no proof they were terrorists? Listen, they were literally wearing the uniforms of the Ortho Sapiens, what else proof you want," his grandfather asked, still calm.
"You can't label a black bodysuit as a uniform. We didn't find any proof there suggesting their link to a terror organisation."
At this point, young Jack slid down against the wall, fell on his knees, crying.
They are the bad guys, they put their hands on her. I didn't kill them, someone else did. It felt as if I wasn't in my own body when it was happening, he mumbled, his voice hitching between ragged breaths and silent sniffles.
Usually at this point, in the dream Jack would find the floor beneath him turn into a pool of blood, the two men tugging at his feet, their bodies bloodied and grotesque.
"You killed us," they would scream, spitting blood and then proceed to drown Jack in the blood pool. He would feel his breath running out and wake up.
However, that didn't scare Jack anymore. He looked down, the same scenario happened again. However this time the people tugging him weren't just the two men, there was a whole crowd of rotten corpses pulling at him.
"Ah, we have some new faces," he said nonchalantly, unaffected as he started to scan the crowd.
There were the many Ortho Sapiens he had killed, he then spotted the doctor and the commander he fought back at the hospital, and many other people. He scanned the crowd, and spotted him, Kosuke, who was crawling on top of others, making his way towards him.
Kosuke grabbed Jack's hand and started tugging.
"Sorry, I still haven't fulfilled your last wish Kosuke. I have yet to meet Kazetora and have that duel with him. Forgive me," he said, smiling softly.
There it was, the mighty pull, that would drown him and he would be freed from this nightmare. He felt himself sinking, below, he sank, and sank and kept sinking, yet he didn't run out of breath.
Why the hell is it not ending, he thought bitterly.