13

We Finally Meet

 

There he stood. The man who was their target and possessor of the Eterna Ruby, Dominic Eterna. His well put together suit and relaxed face highlighted his sense of confidence as he walked towards Luna’s. Seeing him face to face, the world around Luna felt much heavier. Like another sense in her brain was going off, but she couldn’t understand why. An alarm that couldn’t be turned off.

“Still hiding in the shadows, are you? That’s no fun at all!” Dominic said.

As Dominic approached her, Luna dropped a smoke bomb and disappeared in an instant. She hid amongst the various furniture where Dominic could not easily find her.

“I’ve been looking for you for quite some time, don’t you know? I’d say for about seven years, give or take. Who would’ve guessed you’d be the one to come towards me though. I think that qualifies as irony? Although, you kept me waiting here for quite some time.”

Luna stayed hidden. She already knew this man was the one after him considering he’s in control of the Void. Based on everything she’s put together, they’re both related to the Eterna’s who lived in this mansion. The biggest question she had on her mind was his motivations. Why did he want to kill someone he could be related to? 

Dominic continued talking with his pistol still in his hand, knowing Luna was listening.

“Now I know staying here until you’d come out sounds like a huge waste of time, but that’s something I never run out of.”

What the heck does that mean?

“Change of topic. What happened all that time ago was truly unexpected. The Starlight Gift has blessed you with quite the power. Not a single soldier in Makewell survived that day. Perhaps that weighs on your mind?”

Don’t get hasty, Luna! That’s exactly what he wants. Think of the best course of action.

“Although based on my recent reports, there are others that you have blessed with powers. Is that not dangerous? Think of how reckless it is to give such destructive abilities to those you care about.”

This won’t work. It won’t.

“Maybe it wasn’t even you who murder my men back then. You could’ve gotten a friend to do the dirty work themselves!”

Shut up…! Shut up…!

“If you weren’t around, they could be living safe, normal lives. But because of you, I’ll guess they’ll need to be taken care of!”  

That’s enough!

Rushing in without his notice, Luna delivered a neck chop to Dominic from behind, causing him to fall to the floor. His body went completely limp as he lay unconscious. 

Luna was honestly surprised at how easy that was. He didn’t have his guard up at all. Surely he didn’t plan to catch them all himself?

With this concern in mind, Luna turned on her earpiece and contacted Melody.

“This is Eclipse, Dominic Eterna knew we’d be here and confronted me himself. Tell everyone else to be on guard as he likely brought reinforcements. Let Sunlight know I’m in the living room of the second floor. I’m going to personally detain him myself.”

“R-roger all that!”

Melody quickly disconnected from Luna’s communications. She could tell from her voice that Melody was thrown off by everything Luna said, but she trusted that she’d understand and do what she was told. With that, all that’s left would be to use a rope Luna had in her belt to tie up Dominic and-

“Wow! I went out like a light, didn’t I?”

Luna stared with utter disbelief as the unconscious man rose back up from the floor and came to his senses. He got back up in the exact same way he collapsed, but in reverse.

“How on earth…?” Luna murmured.

Dominic straightened his tie.

“I commend you for your efforts, but that’s not going to work.”

He aimed his pistol once more at Luna and fired. She quickly rolled out of the way. She rushed straight at him again and smacked the pistol out of his hand. If making him unconscious won’t work, she’d have to injure him in a way that’d keep him down. 

Putting everything into her left leg, she kicked his left leg with tremendous force. He fell to his knees before Luna swiftly stomped that same leg. 

Based on the crack she heard, she knew that this broke his leg. It was an injury that would eventually heal, but one that rendered him currently immobile. 

She saw him wince in pain for a brief moment, only for a smile to spread across his face directly after.

“You’re surprisingly strong. That isn’t just the Starlight Gift at play, you must train really hard, huh?”

He stood up without any issue. His supposedly broken leg worked without any issues. Luna didn’t understand what was happening. Was his leg no longer broken?

Dominic yawned in boredom. “Are you done yet?”

Luna split into 5 versions of herself, all attacking Dominic at once. With every hit each Luna made, she knew none of them would have any lasting effect. She didn’t want to resort to using it, but the real version of her pulled out her knife and stabbed it straight into his right arm. 

The blade went in. Dominic’s body flinched. He finally reacted to an attack again. 

There! He’s not really invincible! 

This hope Luna obtained was quickly dashed away as without her control, her arm holding her knife lifted itself right out of Dominic’s arm. She witnessed with her own eyes how the stab wound on his arm closed, and the fabric of his sleeve stitched back up. All her clones vanished as her body moved itself back to where she originally stood before her clones formed.

What just happened to me? Did my body just reverse all its actions?

Dominic snickered a bit. He calmly walked to where his gun fell and picked it up.  

“I think by now you’ve realized anything you do to me is meaningless? Come on, say something to me already! I feel like I’m talking to myself over here.”

Thinking about her situation carefully, Luna finally spoke to him.

“How are you recovering from all your injuries?”

“Ah! The girl herself finally uses her words!”

“Shut up and answer.”

“Sorry, but that’s something I prefer to keep to myself.”

This answer gave Luna a logical path forward.

“Then this isn’t the power of the Eterna Ruby.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow, “What are you on about?”

“You could’ve easily said a gem with that name has granted you this power. Based on our previous heist, you must know we’re plenty familiar with the ruby, yet you chose to be coy. You’re not as good at talking as you think, are you?”

Dominic chuckled, “Well then, little miss detective, where are you going with this?”

“Before that, there’s something I must do.” Luna shot her grappling hook directly at Dominic’s right hand. Knocking the pistol out of his hand just like before. “You’re not that good at fighting either, are you?”

Dominic chuckled again, though it didn’t sound as sincere as before. With everything Luna had put together, there was only one explanation for why Dominic could not be hurt.

“This is a Curse, isn’t it?” Luna asked.

Dominic’s obnoxious grin returned. “From how I was raised, we call these powers ‘Gifts.’ They’re a beautiful wonder that has blessed our family, and I’ve been so lucky to have been given an incredible gift.”

“These powers have only held back my whole life. They’re a burden that must be controlled.”

“Right you are!”

Wait. He agrees with me? 

“Your ability and mine are not exactly the same. The Eterne Gift was one that could pass down supernatural abilities through the bloodline. Your whole ability to pass it to merely those you’re in contact with is alien to even me. But I agree! Your own ability is one that needs to be restrained.”

“So…why am I like this?”

“The answer is simple! Whatever you are, it’s a mistake! An error in my family’s legacy born from what we’ll call an… incident. If I’m being real, you’d be a problem regardless of if your gift worked the same as mine. But your perversion of our gift only further proves that you need to be dealt with?”   

“How the hell am I a problem? What have I done to warrant everything you’ve done to me!?”

“Hey, dummy, were you not listening? You’re a distortion in my family’s legacy. You’re an offspring created by the selfishness of a traitor. You and your ‘Curse’ were never meant to exist.”

While Luna’s face remained composed as she focused on her enemy, her doubts festered on the inside. Everything that happened back then occurred due to the narcissism of a single man. The very concept made her blood boil.

“If you want to kill me so badly, then why bother talking to me so much?”

“I’ve been hoping you can come to an understanding with your place in all of this. If you gave me a bit more time to explain, surely you’d see where I’m coming fro-”

Luna didn’t allow him to finish his sentence, for as he was talking, she shot her grappling hook at a nearby vase. With the rope wrapped around it, she swung the heavy object right at Dominic.

“Uphold.”

Dominic raised his hand. The vase moved backwards and landed back on the shelf it originally rested on. Luna’s grappling hook unwrapped itself from the vase and returned back to the muzzle of the gun.

Dominic slowly walked towards Luna, his body now emanated a white aurora.“It looks like my power hasn’t clicked for you. My gift allows me to reverse time on anything that I make contact with. This also includes my very own body.”

Luna slowly backed away while attempting to gauge what he might do. His voice grew more sophisticated and calculated. His casual demeanor and voice had vanished.

“No matter what you do to me, it can be undone in an instant. Break my bones, slice me apart, punch and kick me as much as you want. It’ll all be a waste of your energy. I’ve mastered this very power for over a century. You’re clones are pathetic in comparison.”

The sound of his fingers snapping echoed all throughout the room. A few seconds after, four flying drones busted through the windows. They were all armed with rapid fire machine guns pointed directly at Luna. 

A sweat drop rolled down Luna’s face as she looked around. 

I knew he must’ve had back up! Can I even get out of this in one piece?

“Evelyn was a fool to have abandoned her family. Here I am decades later having to clean up her mess.” He looked at the drones around him. “Go ahead and kill her now. I’ve already gotten bored by her.”

Luna became ready to move at a moment’s notice, but deep down, she was uncertain if she could even survive this. Regardless, she knew not to give up. 

I can’t die here! Serene would be heartbroken if I never came home, and Aurora, she would…

Before Luna could finish that thought, the nearby door burst open as if a bomb had been planted on it. The blast roared throughout the room as the sliced apart door had its pieces fly into the air. 

Those pieces soon stopped in place until they flew straight into all four drones. The various pieces of wood stabbed each one and caused them to collapse onto the floor, malfunctioning shortly after. Both Luna and Dominic were surprised at the speed this all happened.

“I’m sorry for taking so long.”

Aurora entered the room. Each step she took was careful and refined. Her face was pleasant and welcoming when looking at Luna. She was relieved to have been fast enough to save her. 

“And hello to you, sir!” 

She greeted Dominic with the same positive attitude as Luna, except something felt off about this. That positivity no longer felt genuine. 

Aurora stared at the man who was ready to kill Luna. It was unclear what was going through her mind at that moment, but the tides of this conflict were shifting rapidly, for an outsider had entered this family quarrel.