Eclipse (chapter 3)

The next morning, as the witch and the duchess were in their bathroom, the latter was making the former try on what she bought her the previous day : a quite simple, yet elegant purple dress.

“You’re beautiful”, Claire commented as her wife looked at her own reflection.

“I… I can’t wear that”, the redhead mumbled, her left hand desperately trying to pull the top part of the dress up to cover the long vertical scar on her front.

Why did her spouse buy her something with cleavage? She knew she didn’t want her scar to be seen. The witch didn’t want to see it herself…

“Don’t worry chérie : we’ll try the make-up thing again, but with better stuff this time”, the blonde explained while taking a small box from the paper bag. “I bought it with the dress. Can I?”

The red-haired woman looked up at her wife, nodded, took the dress and her bra off and let her paint over the scar.

This time, the result actually looked good : the witch couldn’t tell the difference between the make-up and her own skin. Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes started to water as she got a glimpse of how her body used to look like before her encounter with Aku four years prior.

“We should have used this brand sooner!” the duchess smiled as she handed her partner her clothes.

“I haven’t felt this beautiful since our wedding day…” the duchess’ wife stated once she was fully dressed again. “Thank you ma chérie.”

“I remember… That suit you wore that day was incredible… But you know what the best part about it was? The person wearing it.”

“My Raven Queen, I swear you’re too sweet with me”, the witch said, wiping her tears with the back of hand before giving the woman she loved a passionate, long kiss.



Jack was fully aware that a solar eclipse was a rare occurrence, yet he didn’t understand why everyone in the village seemed so excited and were all gathering in the square, wearing special glasses made by the duchess and her wife and smiling brightly at the idea of being able to witness the phenomenon.

He had the chance to be there when an eclipse occurred long ago, in a distant land. Soon after the sun came back, his childhood brutally ended with the destruction of his hometown. He couldn’t see how anything good could come from this event.

He had a bad feeling about this.

As the warrior was standing near the castle’s entrance, the blue man, visibly enjoying the sound of his brand new voice, was talking for both of them. And since his voice came from the device on his neck instead of his own vocal chords, he didn’t even need to take pauses in his speech to breathe.

The witch and the duchess finally arrived, the former clad in purple and the latter wearing a white dress similar to the one she wore the first time the samurai saw her in her real, human form.

“Making friends with Mister Blue Sky I see?” the red-haired woman smiled.

“Your friend is… surprisingly talkative”, Jack commented.

“What else is new?” the duchess’ wife laughed. “Even when he could only use our sign language I couldn’t get him to stop talking. He’s always been the most talkative man on Earth.”

The blue man replied with a sign only he and his red-haired friend could understand.

“I take it you’ve known each other for some time?” the samurai guessed.

“Since school”, the witch’s friend explained. “You’re friend with Miss Fireball one day, you’re friend with her forever, man. And if you hurt her friends or anyone she cares about, you will be sorry.”

“Anyway, here’s your glasses”, the duchess said while handing the two men special dark glasses. “Eclipse or not, the sun’s dangerous and can burn your eyes.”

The blue man took his own pair right away ; however Jack was more hesitant.

“Speaking of sun”, the witch said, “when exactly is Helios supposed to arrive?”

“He just told me he’d send a message when he does”, her wife replied. “Anyway that’s pretty weird… I mean, we’re not even that close, why does he bother coming all the way here?”

“Because this is an awesome day for a first meeting!” the blue man guessed.

“Do you mean you’ve never met this man before?” Jack asked. “He is your friend but… you’ve never seen him?”

The blonde replied with another question :

“What century are you from again?”



To the others’ surprise and confusion, Jack decided to remain inside instead of going out to see the eclipse with them. When he said he didn’t want to reveal his presence to the whole village and attract too much attention, they finally left him alone.

As the duchess, the witch and the blue man approached the square where the village’s inhabitants were gathered, the former received a message on her phone. Of course, it was from Helios and it read “I’m on my way ”, to which Claire replied “you’ll find me where everyone else is. I’m the tall woman in the white dress. Hurry, it’s gonna start soon!”

Minutes passed and still no sign of her friend.

The moon obscured the sun, creating night in the middle of the day, and then slowly continued her course, letting the mighty star reign over the land once again.

“He missed it…” the woman in white said, disappointed.

“No, I didn’t” replied a familiar voice behind her.

She froze, took her special sunglasses off and noticed the giant shadow on the ground.

The whole village collectively turned around, gasped and took several steps back. Some of the older citizens even fell on their knees at the sight of the immortal ruler of the world towering over people and buildings alike.

“I certainly couldn’t miss my, how did you put it? Rendez-vous with the moon?” Aku continued.

The witch, even though she was trembling so much she could barely stand, instinctively stepped in front of her wife in an attempt to protect her.

“Did you miss me?” the Shogun of Sorrow asked her with a smiled that bared his fangs. “Bah, it seems that you’ve learned nothing, witch. CAN’T YOU SEE YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE POWER OF AKU?”

“It was you… you were Helios from the beginning”, Claire guessed, stepping back.

“Yes, it was I indeed”, the demon confirmed. “How incredibly observant you are…”

As he started laughing, sending chills down everyone’s spines, the redhead prepared a spell.

However, she never had the chance to finish it, as Aku pushed her away with a flick of his finger and took the duchess in his gigantic coal-black hand.

As Samurai Jack, alerted by the sound of his mortal enemy’s characteristic laugh, was rushing towards the square, the Deliverer of Darkness was already flying away, holding the witch’s wife in his talons.



“I should have been outside with you”, Jack said as the witch, the blue man and himself were back in the castle. “I’m sorry…”

“I shouldn’t have introduced her to Helios…” the blue man added.

“You introduced her to him?” the duchess’ wife shouted, raising her left hand.

Some kind of dark energy appeared around her hand as she slowly approached her childhood friend. The latter stepped back, holding his hands in front of his face.

“I- I didn’t know it was him! I’m sorry!”

“This is all your fault!” she screamed, ready to use her hex on him…

When Jack interposed himself between the witch and her friend, she realised what she was doing and lowered her fist, making the dark energy disappear.

She covered her face with her hands and lowered her head.

“I… I can’t believe it… this is the worst thing that could ever happen…” she whispered to herself.

“Why did he do that?” the blue man asked.

His friend raised her head again.

“If it weren’t for Jack and Claire, Aku would have raped me four years ago! What do you think he’s gonna do to her? We have to save her!”

As she was speaking, the witch removed the make-up from her chest with her sleeve, revealing her scar. Before any of the two men could reply anything, she stormed out of the room.

“Did she… did she really say… what I heard her say?” the blue man’s robotic voice asked the samurai.

“She did”, he confirmed. “And it is true. There is no evil deed this demon wouldn’t commit.”

Only dead silence followed.

Soon, the witch came back in the room, now clad in her grey and brown travelling clothes and holding her staff firmly in her left hand.

“Where’s the fortress?” she asked.

“I’ve heard it appeared in the ruins around the river”, the blue man replied.

“We need a plan if we want to save your wife”, Jack stated.

“I have an idea”, the redhead said, “but you might not like it.”