Unanswered Love - Chapter 2

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It was a clear sky above Alaska. Dark because it was night, but the numerous stars in the sky were sparkling brightly and the moon shone down to offer some light to those who were still abroad late in the day. Or at least one that was abroad late.

That one person sat on a bench near the town's cemetary with a bottle of liquor in his hand. Occasionally he brought the bottle to his mouth and drank of it. It was a blond young man, clad in a white uniform that clearly stated he belonged to the Space Knights program. David Kruegel, to be precise, otherwise known as Tekkaman Zommer. While he was drinking booze, he didn't notice he was being watched by another person who seemed to have insomnia.

It was a tall man with long dark hair, dressed in a lose shirt and black trousers. He sighed as he watched the young Space Knight with pity. It was more than obvious to him why David sat there on his own with only the bottle as his company. He had often seen him like that, even if David wasn't aware of his presence. Slowly he started walking towards the bench, intending to have a conversation and bringing relief to the young man by ending his torment.

David only noticed that he wasn't alone when the man was already standing beside him. He took another drink and then said, without looking up: "What do you want?" "Do you mind me taking a seat here," responded his new company. The blond Space Knight shrugged his shoulders. "Why should I? You're Blade, you're the hero here."

D-Boy, otherwise more commonly known among many as the Tekkaman named Blade, or the White Tekkaman, lowered himself next to David and stared at the cemetary with him. He had noticed the bitter and sarcastic tone in which David had spoken. Then he took a closer look at the man next to him and frowned. "Do you hold some kind of grudge against me, David Kruegel?"

Zommer's human persona lowered the bottle of alcohol and turned to look at D-Boy. His eyes were burning, burning like two small flames that wanted to incinerate the man in front of him. His rival, his superior, the man in who's shadow he would always be and also the man he had always admired for his strength and his courage. "Yes. Yes, I do. And no, I don't." He rose his slender but muscular frame from the bench and positioned himself in front of D-Boy as if to challenge him. He made fists of his hands and his shoulders shrugged wildly.

"What is it with you? What have you got that I haven't? What makes you more a man than me? What do I have to do to become like you?" He released a loud scream and buried his hands in the thick mass of blond hair.

D-Boy's eyes showed nothing but pity for David. It was so sad to see a man who was in his full strength, who had a great future in front of him, so desperate and frustrated. Slowly he retoriated. "What makes you think you are less a man when compared to me?"

David lowered his head and stared to the ground. His shoulders kept on shrugging. "I don't know." It remained silent for a while and David pondered about the question just presented to him. It was hard to make up his mind, make understandable sentences and put his thoughts into words. After a while he looked up, straight into D-Boy's eyes.

"When I was younger I heard about you. The great legendary Tekkaman Blade who saved Earth from the invasion of the Radam. You were great. Strong and courageous, a hero, our saviour. And now that I've met you and seen you in action, everything proved to be true. You are all that they say you are, what I thought you would be."

A short pause followed.

"And then the disaster at Plaher took place. I still remember all the chaos and the fire and how scared I was. My whole world was burning. Everything I had known was going up into flames, everything gone. Do you know what that's like?"

"Yes, I know it all too well."

"Suddenly she was there, amidst the fire and the other Tekkaman, fighting her way through. A red angel, a red saviour. She protected me from the fire and saved me. My angel. I loved her the moment I saw her. When she left me in a safe place I left it to follow her. I wanted to go where she went. That's when I saw her and you. She transformed back to her human self and you held her close to you, even if you were in your Tekkaman armour. I saw the look in her eyes when she turned."

For a moment David's eyes sparkle as he remembers his encounter with the Scarlet Tekkaman, but also turn sad.

"Because of her I joined the Space Knights. I would have done anything to be near her and dreamt of being with her. But after you fought with Dead End and I saw the Chief holding your hand at your bedside I knew my hopes were in vain. I saw how much she loves you."

Blade's human persona took off his sunglasses and frowned. "And that's why you want to be me. You want to be like me, so you think she will look at you differently than as a member of the Space Knights under her command." He stared at the moon and placed a few strands of black hair behind his ears.

"Let me tell you something, David. The Chief and I have been in love for more than ten years. Our love dates back to the first attack of the Radam, in which my family and I were made into Tekkaman. It is a long story and I don't feel like telling it all again. But I had to kill my family, David, because they nearly destroyed the planet. I had lost all. The only things I had were the Chief and the Space Knights. The Chief's love got me through everything. She loved me no matter what I was, or who I was." At that moment a smile appeared on the usually cold and serious man's face.

"Being like me will solve you nothing. You are a person of your own, with his own qualities and characteristics. You're a good man, David. Stop lurking in my shadow and come out. Show everyone who you truly are."

Tears sprung forth from David's blue eyes. "Who am I then?! I don't know who I am."

D-Boy rose from the bench and positioned himself right in front of David. "You're Tekkaman Zommer, a Space Knight. You protect Earth against all threats from outerspace and when necessary also threats coming from Earth itself. But you are also David Kruegel, the man behind Zommer. A man who hides behind a façade of being a total playboy and cocky, but who is in reality very moody and depressed, a very sensitive young man who seeks to be loved and seeks to love."

D-Boy paused for a minute. "But you'll not find that love with the Chief, David."

David looked up. "What about Yumi? She loves you."

The older man crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking thoughtfully. "Yumi is not truly in love with me. Not the way in which I love the Chief and in which the Chief loves me. What Yumi sees in me is an ideal, a dream, the knight in shining armour. The way a soldier admires a great captain."

David froze where he was standing. The words he heard were coming through into his brains. A few seconds later he started realizing what he had been doing and how childish it had been. Now he realized it, now he heard the words. He was the same as Yumi. The same reason why they had sought comfort with each other was also why they had been blind. He had also been following a dream, an ideal, something that was not reality. What a fool he had been. Now he understood it all.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. D-Boy stood in front of him with a sympathic small smile on his face. "Don't waste your energy on an ideal, David. Look for something real, that which you can grasp." And then the man behind the Tekkaman known as Blade turned to leave the man of the new generation alone. But before he could walk away, he heard David ask him to stop.

"D-Boy!"

He turned and looked across his shoulder.

"Thanks."

Then the man otherwise known as Blade walked away. David turned around and looked at the moon. There was a new start for him. He would no longer try to be Blade in order to get the Chief's attention. It was no longer necessary. He was Zommer. And indeed the summer had now finally started after winter.