Animal - Chapter three
When he woke, the first thing that Sky noticed was that the headache had returned. That, and he no longer wanted to murder anybody. He kept his eyes closed, slightly scared at what be would see when they opened.
He kept telling himself that everything that he thought had happened was a dream. It had to be; it was just a sick, twisted nightmare. But Sky doubted what had happened was a dream. No, Sky knew that it wasn't a dream.
And the cold, smooth tentacle draped across his arm proved it.
Sky was laying on his stomach, extra appendages splayed out randomly. They were lifeless until he moved them, but Sky had no desire to do so. He groaned, shifting slightly and cracking open his eyes. The room he was in was blessedly dark, curtains drawn tight over the window. A soft bed was under him, a nightstand to his left and a blank wall to his right.
Sky didn't recognize the room, so he wasn't at his house. But what really drew his attention were the hard, steel chains strapped onto his wrists. They weren't tied to anything except his wrists, but the bindings' presence alone made Sky want to retch. Just thinking about his friends, and how they were the ones to place the chains (for who else would have?), made Sky's migraine worsen. Sky sat up, eyes half closed. The darkness didn't bother him. In fact, it took the edge of the migraine away.
He stared down at his hands, glaring at the sharp, navy-colored claws growing from his fingertips. Sky grimaced, clenching his hands into fists and snapping his eyes closed. Nothing about him was normal anymore-he doubted he'd ever be normal again.
He sighed and slung his legs over the bed, only just now realizing he was shirtless. Either it had been ripped off carelessly when the foul tentacles grew, or someone had taken it from him.
Sky stood shakily, leaning a hand against the wall to steady himself. He ran a hand through his hair and continued forward, searching for a door. The chains on his wrists clanked against each other, sending short jabs of pain to his head. Finally, Sky's hand brushed against a door knob. He turned it and wasn't surprised that the door was locked tight. Sky growled and yanked on the door, kicking it once, then turning around to further explore the room. All the while, emotions raged through him. He was angry, for starters, angry that his friends would shackle and lock him inside an unfamiliar room.
But he was also angry at himself. After all, he was the one that let this happen; the animal in him took over and he did nothing to stop it. The animal in his mind still raged against him, fighting for control. Every so often, the tentacles on Sky's back would slap something, only to fall still.
His temple hurt from the blow Jerome had given him. He was slightly grateful, though; for if the baca hadn't, he would have killed-
No. . . No, no, no!
"Ty! Dawn!" Sky shouted, running back to the door. Were they alright? He didn't hurt them, did he? . . .
And that was what he was terrified of. That the animal would hurt-or even worse, kill-one of his friends.
The animal chuckled inside his mind, making Sky jump. There was another presence inside of him, but it wasn't nearly like a human's. It was more of a primal instinct, a bloodlust. But it was also another being, an entirely different mind living in his head. . . And he was terrified of it. He didn't want it to be there, lurking in the shadows of his mind. The thought horrified him.
Sky kicked the door once more, but it still didn't budge. He scowled, baring sharp canines, and slammed his shoulder into the windowless iron door.
"I wouldn't do that, Sky. I don't really want to have to pay for that door."
Sky whipped around, bristling. The voice belonged to Jason, but the space suit-wearing man was nowhere to be seen.
"Where- where are you?"
"Um . . ."
Sky narrowed his eyes, the instinct slightly taking over as he listened. Did they think he was some animal at a zoo? Were they watching and laughing at him right now? Voices murmured to each other, then another voice replaced Jason's. One that snapped the instinct from his thoughts.
"Sky? It's okay, we're in Jason's house. Um, there's been a, uh, uh. . ."
It was Dawn. Sky breathed a sigh of relief. "Dawn? Are you okay? Is Ty okay?"
There was a slight crackle, then Ty's voice sounded. "Yeah, we're fine... Sky, we're fine. But, the more important question is: Are you alright?"
Sky hesitated, doubting that his friends would want to hear his inner thoughts. Instead, he changed the subject. "If Jerome's there. . . tell him I said thanks."
There was a snort on the other end of the speaker. Somebody said something that Sky couldn't decipher. For a moment, he thought it was the others talking amongst themselves. Sky turned an settled down on the bed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Sky? . . . Sky? SKY?!"
"Hm?" Sky looked up, staring to where he thought the speaker was. Had they been talking?
"Did you even hear a word I said?"
He shook his head, noting that Jason had taken the mic.
"Oh. Well, I was saying that we may have a way to reverse this."
Sky bolted up, hope sparking and lighting within. He'll be able to get rid of this animal forever. "Really? Do you know what's wrong with me?"
"Well, we have a few theories, but. . ."
"But?"
"We might need to go to the squid's dimension to reverse it."
Sky could feel his hope crumble as the animal howled in laughter. This was just what it wanted. If it was in its home land, it'd be all the more stronger. Making it all the more harder to keep it in check.
"N-no. . . No!" Sky shouted at the wall, stumbling backwards and tripping over the bed. He landed on the ground with a thud, but kept scrambling backwards until his back hit the wall. The mutated Minecraftian curled his knees into his chest, hugging them tight to his body and tuning out go friends' concerned voices. Subconsciously, the tentacles curled in and wrapped around him, shoving out any light or sounds.
It was a long time of silence on his part and worried questions on his friends' until he spoke.
"I-. . . I can't. It'll take over again. . ." He hugged himself smaller, talking into his elbow. "And I don't- I don't think I'll be able to stop it if it wants to ki-"
He cut himself off there, afraid that if he said it it would happen. He buried his face in his arms.
"Sky, we all know you wouldn't intentionally harm us, let alone kill us. Just. . . fight it Sky. I know you can."
Jason sighed and set down the mic when there was no reply. The group was standing right behind Sky. The wall that their possessed friend was curled against was a one-way glass pane, allowing them to see inside of the room. The group had talked Sky's. . . condition over and over, but it seemed they only got so far until they hit a wall.
And that wall was getting Sky through the portal to the squid's dimension. The group talked in hushed whispers as they thought of a plan (not that Sky would be able to hear them). Finally, they came to a conclusion.
No matter what, they had to rid Sky of this monster. Even if that meant going against his will.
Sky fell asleep curled against the wall. It was then that the others slipped inside the room and carried him out. Deadlox had Sky by the ankles, Husky holding him under the arms. They set him in a cart, which was attached to two horses. The squid-like Minecraftian groaned in his sleep, sunlight trying to fight its way behind his eyelids. Dawn quickly covered him with a blanket, preventing any curios eyes from seeing the Sky Army's leader in such a state. Soon enough, they were off, Jerome taking over the reigns. "Yah, horsies, yah!"
Dawn rolled her eyes and looked down at Sky, who tossed and turned. Ty sat near the edge of the cart, one leg hanging off over the road. Jason was next to Jerome in the front so he could point the way to the portal. Husky was sitting on the other side of Sky, averting his eyes away from the mutated Minecrafter. The frog was sorting through their supplies and weapons.
The group had brought along extra supplies, armor, and weapons with them. The journey was going to be short, but once they got in the squid dimension, there was no telling what would happen.
Soon enough, Jerome slowed the horses down when they came to a sealed entrance to a cave. Dawn looked up from Sky, staring down into the tunnel. This was the place where she had first been captured, where the others had come to save her from the evil squids in the first place.
She turned to remove the blanket, only to find that Sky was already sitting up and awake. "You're gonna make me go through the portal, aren't you?"
The others glanced over. A short silence suffocated the clearing until Kermit spoke up. "Sorry man, but. . . yeah."
Sky sighed, cracking open his eyes to glance around at each of them. To everybody's relief, his eyes were their normal chocolate brown.
"You can at least tell me why, though."
Jason bit his bottom lip, then started his theory. "Well, we think you've been. . . how do I say it?"
"Infected," Deadlox quickly said. "We think you're infected."
Sky frowned, arching a brow. "What does that mean?"
Jason looked over, strapping a small backpack to his shoulder. "Well, it depends if you were hurt when we last came to the squid dimension. Were you?"
Sky shrugged, thinking back. Now that it was brought up, one of the squids had nicked him on the shoulder. . . The same shoulder that had started to turn grey first. His eyes widened, and he looked up. "Come to think of it, yeah. Some small squid got me on my shoulder I didn't really think much of it at the time. But that was weeks ago, why would I just now turn?"
A shrug answered him. "We aren't sure. But, if you did get harmed by a squid, it must have infected you. If we find a squid, it may be possible to reverse what happened to you. . . But there's a catch. The squid has to be royalty."
"Royalty?" Sky mimicked.
"Well, yeah. Or it has to be related to the squid ruler."
Sky frowned. "But that could be any squid. We don't have time to walk around asking for the nearest squid prince."
"I know, but we can find the squid's ruler."
When Sky heard that, he grinned. This wasn't one of his joking, playful smiles. This was something demonic, sharp fangs gleaming and crazed eyes narrowing. The others looked away as he stood up.
"Then let's get going."
