Here's my start to Skye's story, which is a parallel to my Vaughn Vaults story. It begins a little earlier, but soon they will tell what happens to whom during the course of each story. I hope you enjoy this side of the story as much as my first!
Chapter 1- New Places and New Faces
Skye was bored.
As he washed the few dishes from the night's turnout, he wondered about what he would do. This place was just getting more and more dull lately.
When he first started working at Luke's diner around five years ago, he thought he would finally be set for life. Everyone was amazed at how good of a cook he was, and would come form miles away to try his famous curry. He was sure he would never have to go back to stealing for a living.
Now however, customers were getting scarce and he slowly resorted back to small time cat burglary for a little excitement.
Luke, The owner of the diner, always wondered how they were still making so much money when business had slacked so much, but Skye just told him he was doing a little work on the side.
The diner itself was just a few minutes outside of Mineral Town, and he had been sneaking there every now and then to break into people's houses late at night.
Not that the folks had much of anything of value. After going through every house at least twice, he just settled on pillaging the shipments from the local ranch.
He wasn't a perfect thief, since every once in a blue moon the folks would almost catch him. But he was a master escape artist, and would use his "special" skills to get away before anyone got a good look at his face.
But now, after a few years at this with little trouble, he was getting bored of this as well. He needed to branch out, because nothing in town held his interest anymore.
He finished the dishes and went to bed early, thinking about where he could go next.
Now that he thought of it, there was this one place he heard of close by…
After Luke had went to bed that night, Skye snuck out and headed for the road. Instead of turning towards Mineral Town like he usually did, he turned down the path going the other way.
He had heard here and there that the livestock from the Yodel Ranch was sent to a farm in a little town down deep in the valley. Maybe, just maybe, he could find a little excitement there.
Not to mention the fact that no one knew about him there, meaning he could be a little more brazen and probably flirt with some girls.
He smiled at the idea and quickened his pace.
After about an hour walking down the deserted road, he saw the faint shape of windmills in the distance. Just passed them, he could see lights coming from a small farmhouse.
As he got closer to the windmills, he stopped at a sign. "Welcome to the Forget-Me-Not Valley" it read.
He noticed several signposts showing the directions to various place like an excavation area, several houses, and the main town. He did his best to memorize these places in case he decided to come back later on. For now, he just wanted to get a feel for the area.
The owners of the farm house had started to turn off their lights, so Skye moved on towards the main part of town. As he crossed the bridge, he was getting a little more hopeful about his success.
The buildings didn't look like much to him, but they did have a "richer" look about them than the houses in Mineral Town.
He worked his way down the main road, thinking of all the new things he could swipe from a place like this. Eventually, he reached the end of the road where he was surprised to find a huge marble staircase. This certainly looked promising. He could only begin to imagine all of the wonderful things this could mean.
He smiled to himself and started to run up them until he finally saw a huge mansion emerge at the top.
"Jackpot."
---
Skye could hardly wait to go back to the valley that night.
As he was cleaning tables, he couldn't help but grin to himself at the thought of that huge mansion. If he hadn't forced himself to return home last night, he very likely would have broken his golden rule of never breaking into a place the first time he saw it.
But still! Just the thought of that place made his hands itch in anticipation. He couldn't help himself!
Luke, of course, was not completely oblivious to his sudden change in mood from the day before.
"What's with the huge grin, Skye? You look like you just won the lottery or something."
"Wha-? No, no," he said, holding back a laugh. "I just..."
"Just what?"
He had to think for a moment.
"Let's just say I've found a new job"
"What?! That's funny, Skye. You know I can't just let my best chef go. I'd have next to no business without you."
"Aw, no it's nothing like that. I just found a way to make a little money on the side"
Luke looked at him long and hard for a minute, trying to figure what he meant. But he knew Skye, and Skye would never say what he was up to.
"Fine then. Just let me know if you get a good chunk. I can always count on you when I need to borrow a few bucks."
They laughed at this for a long moment and finally went back to their work.
Skye was better prepared as he entered the valley later that night. He brought his little "kit" filled with his collection of lock picks and other stuff, and a small sack.
Instead of scoping around for more potential areas to hit, he headed straight for the mansion.
As he got to the top of the stairs, he was glad to see the last lights go off inside. He waited about ten minutes before he decided to try the door.
He started to pull out his kit, but was surprised to find that the door was unlocked. He smiled to himself. The people here seemed so naive, it wa salmost a shame to rob them blind.
Skye slowly pulled the door open just enough to let himself in and looked around at the grandness of the main hall.
Everything was just so amazing that he didn't know where to start.
He walked around a bit, picking up stray pieces of jewelry the residents had foolishly left lying around. As he came to the side of the main staircase, he saw a light coming from the room at the end of the hall.
He slipped in to find that it was the kitchen.
As he rummaged through all of the drawers picking out the finest silver he could find, he failed to notice a noise behind him.
A young girl had wondered in half asleep, her face buried in a book entitled Phantom Thief. She headed to the sink for a glass of water and bumped directly into Skye's butt.
They both nearly jumped out of their skin. Skye stood there looking at the mousyhaired girl, trying to think up the best way to escape. She just stood there staring blankly at him through the sleep in her eyes.
She slowly looked around the room, taking in all of the open drawer, shelves, and finally, his bulging sack. Suddenly, she looked down at her book.
"Hey, wait a minute aren't you-"
He was long gone and halfway to the front door by the time she looked back up.
"Hey! Stop!!" She shouted, chasing after him.
He pulled the door open, locked from the inside to buy him some time, and closed her inside.
He started to make abreak for it when he ran straight into another girl, a brunette this time.
"What the hell! Can't you watch where your going?" She said rubbing her head angrily.
Great. Now Skye had to find a way around this girl too. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve though...
"I'm so sorry Beautiful. Are you hurt?"
"You bet your sorr- What!?" She started to stammer when she realized what he said.
She looked dumdfounded at Skye, but he just winked at her, which only caused her to turn a deep shade of red.
She closed her eyes and shook her head furiously, trying to ignore how cute this random stranger had just become.
"Wait, who are you? You a friend of Lumina's?" She asked quickly, trying to put on a straight face back on.
"Why, my love, I'm only the Prince of the Night, the Phantom Skye," he chuckled.
She once again stood dumbstruck by his answer. She turned red again when she realized he called her "my love."
Skye was very ammused at how easily he seemed to paralyze her with his charm. He also noticed that she seemed to have a rather large bulge in her right pocket.
"You know, such a pretty girl shouldn't be wondering around so late at night," He said softly, leaning in close to her face, which only caused her to blush more. "There are thieves out this time of night..."
He almost had his hand inside of her pocket when the door to the mansion suddenly burst open. The two of them quickly jumped away from each other, both cursing under their breath.
"Lumina" seemed to have finally finished fumbling with the lock in her sleepy haze, and stood there for a minute looking at the both of them. She broke out of her trance as soon as she recognized Skye.
"Hey you!" She yelled, quickly walking up to them. "Aren't you that one thief who goes around leaving notes before he robs a place?"
Now Skye was confused. He had never left a note anywhere before.
She must have gotten that idea from her silly story, he thought, looking at the book in her hand. But then again, that wasn't such a bad idea...
The brunette girl seemed to snap back to her senses when she heard the word "thief."
"What?! Your a thief! and to think I almost..." She started angrily.
Lumina turned to her, almost confused. "Jill? when did you get here?"
"Oh, wake up Lumi! Let's get this guy before he makes off with your stuff. Hey STOP!!"
Skye had started of inch his way off, but now only found himself trapped by two angry girls.
"Now now, Ladies," He said smoothly, taking a few steps back. "You shouldn't let such anger ruin your beauty."
This line always worked. They stood stunned for a minute, studdering incoherently. He ran as fast as he could down the stairs and out of sight.
He could just make out the voice of one of them yelling after him, but he knew they could never catch him now.
He smiled to himself at his first succuessful burgulery in the Forget-Me-Not Valley. He was sure it wouldn't be his last.
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Finally finished it! In case you guys were wondering, this is what I've been working on instead of Ch 5 for my VV story. It took so long because I had to type it at school, and that threw me off some days since I like writting everything at once. The middle got kinda yucky for me, but I think I saved it with my ending.