CHAPTER 25: SIXTH SENSE

When Giroro awoke, he was no longer in Jeroro's home. Instead, he was surrounded by an endless darkness, save for a lone streetlight, which illuminated two occupied park benches. From his position the two occupants' identities were undecipherable and the annoying buzzing from the streetlamp's florescent bulb drowned out their voices. "I remember this place," Giroro thought to himself as he began to walk towards the two distant beings. He had been here once before, when he had passed out in the old Keronian's shop. Cael I Fera had been there too, informing the confused corporal that this was his subconscious—a dark realm reserved for times there was too much stress on the soldier's body for him to dream properly.

His shoulder throbbed as he neared the two figures. Even in sleep, Giroro couldn't outrun the pain shooting through his arm. He had really done it this time. As he grew closer, their speech became audible, and what sounded like an argument grew between them.

"The only things you should be carrying with you on a battlefield are your gun and your wits." The shorter figure scoffed as he leaned back on the park bench, his four yellow eyes staring at the alien across from him. The voice was Cael's, who laughed when he saw the red Keronian, his incest mandibles twitching in delight.

"No, you're wrong," the other figure asserted. He was much larger than the Reaper and his reptilian body was covered in raised scars which glistened under the lamp's warm light. "Without love there is no point in fighting. That's where a warrior's true strength comes from." The Galean smiled, his expression softening his giant appearance.

"Claudius?" Giroro heart sank. Now there were two people occupying his subconscious, both of which the corporal had killed. The large gladiator just smiled down at tiny frog, his kind expression making Giroro feel even guiltier for killing him.

Why was it always the dead that haunted this realm? Why couldn't he dream of Natsumi sauntering around, teasing him with her beautifully innocent features, and then stroll off into the distance, causing him to chase after her? Sure, those dreams typically ended on a down note, but it was better than his mind being possessed by his victims.

Noticing the stark confusion on the soldier's face, Cael chimed in, his mandibles parting in a teasing smirk, "Oh! Corporal! We were just talking about you. Have you found that girl you were looking for? What was her name again…?"

"…Natsumi." Claudius mumbled. Wait, how did Claudius know Natsumi's name? Giroro had never told him. The only thing he had divulged was that he was fighting for love, something the two warriors had in common. Oh, yeah…this was all in his head.

There was no way of knowing when he would wake from this horrid place. Last time, he smashed the Reaper's head in and Natsumi had materialized. Perhaps that would work again, except now there were two embodiments of his fragile mental state and the pain throbbing through Giroro's arm make him reluctant to have another mash-n-bash session with the captain. As he gently rubbed his wound, he jumped up onto the bench Claudius was seated on and edged over to the side. He would wake up eventually. Everything before that was a waiting game.

"So you found her, didn't you?" the Reaper gibed, "When you saw her, did you remember what I said?"

Before Giroro had blown out the slaver trader's brains, he had asked him to remember what he had said next time he saw Natsumi. But what did Cael want Giroro to remember him saying? Prior to the corporal shooting him, all the Reaper captain had really talked about was his love's location, followed by some disgustingly crude remark about her virginity. That couldn't have been what Cael was referring to though. He must have been recalling an earlier conversation they had, when Giroro was interrogated deep within his ship's hull. Before the captain had left his captive to stew in his humiliation, he had called him an idiot—a true idiot.

"By the expression on your face, I'm guessing you remember. You've let that Pekoponian whore ruin you as a soldier. You could have rescued that little harlot by now, but you're constantly letting your unnatural infatuations interfere." Cael spat, resting his head back onto the park bench. When it came to the topic of interracial couples, the captain was a fundamentalist. He believed that love should only coexist between two people of the same species and anything other was unnatural and wrong. However this was Giroro's mind, so Cael's racism was hardly heard.

Claudius shook his head at the shallow-minded captain, "I said it once and I'll say it again," he sighed, his breath causing Giroro's hat ears to flap in distress, "Love is the reason people fight. His "unnatural" feelings are what make him a soldier. So it's impossible for them to be "interfering". Even you fought for love, Captain—the love of your filthy money." Although the Galean's words were meant to offend his counterpart, the alien's face would not relax from that gentle smile, his cheeks lifting in an almost sarcastic smirk. Claudius then turned his attention towards the small frog seated beside him and all the malice suddenly disappeared from his heart, "What you need to do is surrender yourself to your emotions completely; then you'll be able to find your inner strength."

A burst of laughter shook the air as the Reaper lurched forward, "Is that what you did? Cause it looks like it worked splendidly!" He sneered, his words soaking in sarcasm.

The fallen gladiator's eye twitched as his head clicked towards his rival and his eyes narrowed in contempt, "Oh yeah? Well your blunt logic got your brains blown out! What, did you not think he was going to shoot you after he got what he wanted?"

Cael scoffed, "No, I didn't. He had no reason to."

"No reason!? You kidnapped his love!"

"I told him where to find her!"

"That's not the—"

"SHUT UP!" Giroro yelled. Their bickering was driving him insane. The constant arguing of these two manifestations of his opposing personalities was giving the Keronian a headache, and he massaged his forehead in a desperate attempt to alleviate the stress.

His mind was a battlefield between the two sides, visually represented by the ghosts of Giroro's recent past. Cael represented his inner solider, with all his positive emotions replaced with blunt logic and war tactics. Claudius was his inner lover, preaching about the power of the heart and yearning to be the valiant white knight in any situation.

They both had their strengths and weaknesses. As a soldier, Giroro was vicious and calculating. He could savagely dismember someone with a pen knife, or he could stalk his target for weeks, waiting for the perfect moment for a precise sniper shot to the temple—whichever one got the mission done successfully. He was a perfect solider, obedient, attentive, and ruthless. However, he was too perfect a warrior, and lacked any emotions that would save his sanity. The smell of blood was all he needed to get through the day and anything that threatened his philosophy was just another target for elimination.

Giroro's heart, however, was another story. As a lover, he was sensitive and caring. He would gladly march through hell for his love's wellbeing, or live in silent misery if it meant her happiness. His heart bled romanticism and his soul radiated with poetry. But when came to fighting, his feelings clouded his judgment. He would throw himself into a hail of gunfight to protect his woman, acting as a meat shield for her safety. He was irrational and impulsive, and the simplest words could shatter his willpower.

Either one of these alone was not Giroro. He was both a lover and a fighter, and used his heart to guide his aim. However, these two sides were dangerously unbalanced, each yearning for more pull on his sanity. When his heart pushed the scale, his combat skills slipped and he made careless and life threatening mistakes. When his bloodlust took the field, the outside world would disappear and his inner beast would thrash against its cage.

As each side forced their campaign upon the tiring frog, it began to be more noticeable that he would have to choose one. He could either abandon Natsumi, at least for now, and easily defeat all his opponents as he sank into his inhumanity—or—he could rely completely on his heart to guide his actions, and although Natsumi would have his full attention, he would also run the risk of death within the Arena. The only question left was which he would choose.

Giroro closed his eyes as he leaned back on the bench and thought carefully over his options. Neither was perfect, and each had their faults, but if he kept going like he was, he was sure to be hurt again. His arm was already injured and the left half of his face was lightly swollen. He had never fought such a powerfully race like the Galeans, and could see why the Keronian government was eager to let Galea do as it pleased.

As if a miracle had washed over his turbulent mind, the two bickering aliens suddenly ceased their argument. Giroro peeled open one of his eyes to check the reason for their silence, only to be plunged into further confusion. Claudius and Cael were completely frozen, after if time had stopped in this dark world. Their bodies were positioned as if they were still fighting, and yet their muscles were locked into place. It was strange and slightly frightening, as the nervous soldier scooted away from his frozen neighbor. Suddenly, the light on the streetlamp grew in intensity, whiting out his view. A loud whistling sound pierced his eardrums, causing him to clutch his head in pain. "What the hell is going on!" he mentally seethed as the light grew brighter, bathing this realm in a luminous sea.

So, school started back, finally. Although I can already tell this year is going to be a pain. Too many hard classes all stuck together x_x. This will probably be my schedule from now on, with a lot slower updates because of school. You got your fair share of me churning out chapters, so now it's time for the slow decent XD.

Oh yeah, I'm still missing art from one person, you know who you are.

Review!