Skye Prower

Skye shielded his eyes as Shadow lit the flares, mumbling “What was that?” as the shape moved back into the darkness. His sister’s eye fluttered open. “This isn’t over Skye,” hissed Melody. She lept at Skye, forcing him against the wall, which then rotated, trapping both kid’s on the other side. (ooc: Sorry, off for an hour or two so needed two write myself out for a bit.)

"Oh NoNoNoNoNO! You're meant to be a mindless beast Dylan. Sic Him! SIC HIM! Hmm, change of plan. I'll seal off the crypt and send Shadow's 'red-eyed friend' after him. And I think now may be a good time for the other little brat to awaken. If anyone can cause Skye to break down, it's his sister." Meanwhile in the crypt. "I suppose we could try and bring down part of the roof, but that might be too big. At least, we should see if the insanity book is down here, try and do something productive." Skye pondered. Then Melody began to stir in Shadow's arms. "Melody," exclaimed Skye, "You're still alive. Please, I'm sorry about what happened." So engrossed in his sister, Skye didn't notice the pair of red eyes nearing in the darkness.

"Shadow, what can we do? Is there anyway to stop it.... him? Are the crypts even safe? ***** Meanwhile on the roof, laughing triumphantly: "That worked out even better than I expected. Two of Skye's little guardians are now occupied. Time for Shadow..."

"Unless he's hiding it in plain sight. If you want to hide an apple tree you put it in an orchard, C'mon, we gotta find that book." Skye began heading towards one of the shelves then paused. "Did I just ask you two to essentially go rummaging through my brain...? That's... a slightly creepy idea." Then Skye turns as something lands behind them. "Oh ****!"

“Wait, are you saying that one of these books could be a manifestation of my insanity. Does that mean destroying it would… cure me? No, it can’t be that easy.” Skye shook his head. ***** “Here we are Dylan, the roof. Hmm, I think you can see the full moon through that gap in the clouds there.” The hand on Dylan’s arm began to smoke slightly, forming wispy tendrils that slid into Dyaln’s teleporter, causing it to spark alarmingly. Skye grinned wickedly at Dylan. “You spoiled my fun with the scanner. I wanted to see what that curse would do. But I know your secret, and it’s time for some payback.” Skye stepped back from Dylan, laughing insanely. “I think your friends would like to see you. How about a direct route to the library?” Skye laughed as the floor beneath Dylan began to vanish. “I know my way around this castle, like I know the way around my own mind. A shame Skye doesn’t. Heh heh.”

"I... I think I can find the roof again. Come on," Skye took Dylan by the hand and started leading him through the castle. ***** Skye gulped as he walked over to where the book was. He opened it. The initial pages were covered in childish scrawl and drawings. But as the book went on both writing and illustrations became more refined. Yet, for most of it the text remained gibberish. Here and there the letters swilled, forming legible passages. "This... this books seems to be my memories. I can't read much of it. We should keep this safe, I don't know what will happen if we loose this." Skye looked around the room. "I wonder what the rest of the books are if this one is my memories."

“I don’t know what happened to the others. Shadow stayed behind to battle a winged monster on the roof and Locke… Locke just vanished. I-I don’t k-know where he is,” Skye began to sniffle slightly. ****** Skye clutched to both Locke and Shadow as the voice disappeared. “You’re right, we should keep going. The library must hold some answers. I can’t let… me? It? Win.” Skye tried to sound brave, but his voice was quivering. (ooc: apologies for double post)

(ooc: Yeah, Dylan is seeing just the insanity. He's not with the rest of us. If I use italics it's the insanity talking. I've done it before we even got to the dream world.)

“Heh heh heh. Really Greybread? Even that bump on the head couldn’t make me disappear from Skye. As long as Skye is alive, so am I. Oh, and before you get any ideas, heh heh, I just need his body alive, not the snivelling cowardly personality next to you. And I’m not desperate Shadow, I just wanted to point out to the Kid it is useless to match his will against mine. But you might be right about your demons. Maybe instead of jumping into your head, I should let them out to play here? Yes, heh heh. I’ve other matters to attend too, and Skye will break soon enough with my tender guidance.” The voice feel silent, and one of the torches flickered back into weak life. Ahead of Dylan, a light began to appear, then Skye appeared round a corned carrying a torch. “Dylan? Thank goodness.” Skye gasped in relief. “ I’ve lost everyone else and I thought I was all alone!”

“Skye’s dream, my dream. There’s no difference. Skye has simply forgotten me, that’s all. But it’s only a matter of time before he gives in to me again, into his insanity. It already happening. Didn’t you wonder Skye why the off button didn’t work on your scanner? That was me, I took over and removed the circuit. I wanted to see what the curse would do. A shame Dylan had to spoil my fun, but I’ll return the favour. Heh heh.” “That’s not true,” Skye weakly tried to counter. “That can’t be true.” “I will show you your past Skye, and you will welcome me back. As for the rest of you, you have come into Skye’s head. Which means, I can go to your’s…”

"You mean, Locke you mean that if I tried I could change what's happening here?" Skye pondered the thought, then tried to will the pain in his side away. Instead, he cried out as suddenly the pain intensified. A voice spoke from the darkness. "Heh heh. You aren't the one in charge here, scared little boy." The voice was a echoing, mocking version of Skye's own. The candle in Shadow's hand suddenly erupted in a blinding flash, then went out. Below them, the stairs and floor seemed to shift. "Don't die too soon my little playthings. I want to enjoy this experiment." (ooc: In short, this whole dreamscape is the domain of Skye's insanity. Have fun!)

Skye sniffed slightly and rubbed his eye's. "Let's get to the library, we'll try and aviod the crypt if we can. I don't want to think what I could have put down there. I wonder what that other creature is?" he said, trying to push his grief aside and began walking slowly clutching his injured side. "This isn't fair. If this is a dream, why am I in pain?"

"That sounds like a good idea Shadow. If nothing else we may find a clue there. And that thing wasn't just after her, it wanted to kill me as well." Skye blinked slightly as more memories came back to him. "She was hired by Alicia Acorn to kill us. An attempt to retake the throne. And she did manage to kill Melody because... because I couldn't save her. I tried to fly after her but my tails were too injured and she... she..."

"She? That thing was a she?" Skye shuddered. "I'm not doing great. This place is freaking me out. Which means I'm being freaked out by my own head. I just want to get out, but I've no idea how."

"I'm pray you're right. So far the only happy memories I have are the few hours I spent in Haven." Skye turned and looked back up the stairs towards the roof. "I hope Shadow's okay."

"You're right. I just wish I had good memories coming back to me, rather than the bad ones. (ooc: and that's me off, see you later)

"I had hoped so. But seeing my mind laid out like this, in this nightmare... I'm not so sure now."

"Maybe," muttered Skye, "Maybe the reason the world is so broken is because I am."

"Can you do that? Can you just change memories? Is that a good thing to do, with my memories being what they are."

Skye face lit up despite the pain when he heard that Melody was alive. "That great. I'm sure I can make her understand I didn't run away. But..." His face fell. "This seems... wrong somehow. I don't know why." Skye legs suddenly buckled and he clutch his side in pain.

Clutching his side, Skye picked up the knife that Melody had dropped, then staggered to where Locke was. "Locke," Skye asked, "What happened to Melody? Is she okay?" (ooc: Goodnight Shadow. Hmm, I wonder what will happen now that Locke has broken the path of Skye's memories... ;) )

"Don't hurt her Shadow, please" begged Skye through the pain, "I can make her understand..." Melody wriggled in Shadow's grasp, then suddenly unleashed a flurry of kicks towards Shadow's arm, causing his grip to weaken. Dropping to the floor, Melody made a grab for her knife, but at that instant the winged monster returned. It swooped down, slamming into Melody's side and sending her flying off the rain-soaked roof. Skye cried out in despair as Melody fell, trying to wriggle free of Shadow's grasped. "One Prower brat down, one two go," the monster chuckled, turning towards Shadow and Skye. (ooc: Anyone who wants to control monster-rouge can, I just did so to have the memory play out a bit more.)

The two children faced each other atop the roof. Skye could hear his friends calling, but could only manage to blurt out "Up here," before he suddenly found himself unable to speak. “You left us Skye,” Melody hissed in anger, “you ran away from Mother and I. You should have let those assassins working for the Acorn’s kill you, because I’m gonna make you suffer for your betrayal.” “I didn’t run away. Father took me from you.” Skye replied, the words emanating from his mouth despite that he wasn’t saying them. “You’re lying. And you’ll pay for that,” Melody screamed and charged at Skye. With her speed Skye had barely time to even twist away before she was on top of him. The knife slashed out in Melody’s hand and embedded itself in Skye’s side. Blood oozed from the wound onto the flagstones and over Skye’s backpack. (ooc: And that’s how those bloodstains came to be on Skye’s backpack.)

“Please,” Skye begged to his younger self, “I’m not a monster, I don’t want to be one.” His younger self just ran to the other side of the room, trying to put distance between them. Then, once again, Skye hear Locke’s cries, but it was impossible to determine their origin. “Locke, I’m here. Can you hear me?” called Skye. At that moment the lights died in the room. Shadows reared up in the darkness, lunging towards Skye. Panicking, he drew his knife from the holster and began to slash wildly. Then he realised that one of his wild swings had caught his younger self. The whole room suddenly began to collapse. With no other choice Skye unlocked the door and sprinted out. But rather than finding himself back in the corridor he had come from, now Skye was standing on the roof of the castle. The rain poured down around him, and in a flash of lightning Skye saw another figure on the roof. A figure hold the same knife that Skye held in his hands, the same knife that had embedded itself in Haven’s floor. “Melody?” Skye asked in surprise.

Skye got up and walked around the room. His room, he reminded himself. "Did I really live in such luxury?" he asked himself in surprise. Then he heard cry coming from behind the bed. Look round, he saw something he didn't expect. Himself, curled up and crying, but a few years younger than he was at present. "Um, hello?" Skye greeted his other self as he laid a hand on his shoulder. "Get away from me you monster!" the younger Skye screamed and ducked underneath the bed. "But... I'm not a monster," Skye responded to surprise. "Am I?" he asked, as he realised that, given his amnesia, he very well could have been. (ooc: I'm back, much earlier than I expected. Though, I think that Skye might be in danger, because if Skye dies in the dream, i.e. this version of Skye's personality, his insanity is free to take over. Cause if there's no danger to Skye it's not as fun. Hmm, we have kinda turned this into Inception, Mobius style haven't we!)