4. Inner Demons

Sydney woke to see Skyler staring blankly at the ground. "Sky?" She sat up and did a big stretch.

Skyler jumped. "What?"

"Are you okay? You look-"

"I'm fine." He forced a smile.

Sydney squinted at him. "Sky, you know you can talk to me about anything. Did you have a nightmare last night?"

Skyler shook his head. "No. I'm just worried about Anna is all. We should get moving as soon as possible."

Sydney studied Skyler. He had an expression on her face that she couldn't read. "Whatever it is that you're not telling me, it's okay. Everything will be fine."

"It's nothing, really." Skyler again forced out a grin. "I'm just anxious to get moving."

Sydney gave Skyler a sympathetic look. "Okay."

Joe shifted next to Sydney as he slowly woke up. He noticed Sydney sitting up already. "You're up early." He straightened up quickly. "You didn't have any nightmares, did you?" He had concern written all over his face. He knew first-hand how bad her nightmares could get. He didn't want to imagine how bad they could get in a place like this.

Sydney shook her head. "Surprisingly, no. What about you?"

"None. Is that a good sign?" Joe looked hopeful.

Sydney had a half-smile on her face. "Not necessarily. That doesn't mean it won't happen eventually"

"Oh." Joe saw Skyler watching them from a few feet away. "Did you have any nightmares?"

"Nope. Guess we all just got lucky, huh?"

"Odd how we've never been this lucky before." Sydney continued to study Skyler.

"Well, let's not jinx it. Come on, we should get moving. We don't want to keep Anna and Jade waiting." Skyler stood up. His energy showed that he had been up for a while.

Joe rose and helped Sydney to stand. She swayed on her feet. Joe gripped her arms. "Are you okay? You're not still having symptoms from your vision are you?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. Just a little morning nausea." She patted her stomach.

Joe frowned. "You shouldn't have come. What if you miscarry?"

"Joe, I'm not going to miscarry, okay?" She softly kissed him. "Besides, there was no way I wasn't going to not come. The baby and I will be fine. I promise."

He still looked concerned. "Okay, it's not like I can send you home anyway." He pulled out The Book, completely useless to them now. "So what do we do?"

"Continue on. We need to find the main prison as soon as possible." Skyler started to walk east without looking back.

Sydney and Joe exchanged glances. "What's up with him?"

"He's been weird. I don't know what, but there's something he's not telling me." Sydney's mouth turned down. "It's not like him at all. We've never kept secrets from each other."

Joe wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sure he's just worried."

Sydney appeared unsure. "We'll see."

The trio dragged their feet through the dirt. They moved sluggishly, but each of them had a hard look in their eyes that said they weren't giving up anytime soon.

"Where is this place again?" Joe turned to Sydney.

"East. So as long as we keep walking in the opposite direction of the sun, we'll get there eventually." She trudged on.

"Eventually. That sounds hopeful." Joe sighed. "You sure you're doing okay? We can stop anytime you need to."

"No." Sydney folded her arms. "We can't afford any stops."

"You need to think about the baby here too. I want Jade and Anna back too, but we shouldn't risk its life if we can help it." Joe placed his hand on Sydney's shoulder.

"I know, but Jade needs us. She's four, Joe. She can't survive in this place." Sydney bit her lip and clutched her chest. "I can't leave my baby girl alone. I need to get to her."

"We will. Just don't push yourself. You know you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if something happened to the baby."

Sydney took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just-"

"Stressing out. I know." Joe caressed her cheek. "We'll get Jade back. I promise."

Sydney smiled. She opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes locked onto something behind Joe. She stopped in her tracks.

"What? What is it?" Joe spun around to find what she was looking at.

"Why did you two stop? We need to keep going." Skyler was a few feet in front of them. He hadn't looked at them the entire walk. "What are you staring at?"

"You guys see that too, right? It's not just me?" Sydney stepped forward.

"Uh…" Skyler and Joe looked at each other. They didn't see anything.

"The air here is… different." She reached her hand out. "It's wav-"

Crack!

Sydney screamed and collapsed onto the ground.

"Sydney!" Joe dove for her. He could feel his heart slamming against his chest. "Oh god… Are you okay? Talk to me."

Sydney groaned. "I think so."

Joe tried to slow his breaths. "I don't know. Are you sure you're okay? You went airborne."

"I just want to know what happened." She looked around, dazed and confused.

"I happened."

Sydney's eyes hardened and locked onto the figure in front of them. "Kerk."

Joe had a split-second to grab Sydney before she leapt at Kerk. He struggled to hold her back.

Sydney glared at Kerk murderously. "You've got quite the nerve to show your face."

"Why? Because you'll let your inner demon out and kill me? You can't hurt me here. This is my kingdom." Kerk sneered. "No, no, little sister. You won't hurt me. You see, you're just a piece on my chessboard, and I've got you exactly where I want you."

Sydney tried to jerk out of Joe's hands, but he held on. "Sydney, he's right. You aren't exactly in any condition to fight."

Sydney's shoulders dropped, but she continued to glare at her brother. "So why are you here? I can't imagine it's just to make idle conversation."

"I just wanted to see how my prison was treating you. I do hope you're enjoying your stay. I'd hate for this to be an unpleasant experience for you."

"Well, you could use a new interior decorator. Ever thought about a plant or two?"

"Still have the sharp tongue I see." Kerk frowned. "Joke all you want, sister. I have all the power here. And I will make sure that by the end of this, that strong spirit of yours is permanently broken."

"Why are you doing this? Wouldn't it just be easier to kill us all and get it over with?" Joe was debating whether or not he should let Sydney go. Kerk deserved the beating she wanted to give him.

"Kill you? I have no desire to kill you."

"All because of some little fight? You're still alive, no matter how much I wish you weren't."

"Fight? You mean our small skirmish eight years ago? The reason I went into hiding? The reason I have this scar?" Kerk's voice gradually grew louder. He pointed to the scar on the right side of his. Identical to the one on Sydney's face. "We're practically twins now, aren't we?"

Sydney touched the scar on her face. "It didn't have to be that way."

"Oh but it did. Your fate was sealed the moment you were born. The moment you replaced me!"

Sydney furrowed her brow. "Replaced you? What do you mean?"

Kerk clenched his jaw. "If you'll excuse me, boys, my sister and I need to have a short chat." Kerk latched onto Sydney's wrist. He pulled her out of Joe's arms and in a flash of green, they were gone.

"No!" Joe fell to his knees. "Where did they go?"

Skyler's jaw dropped. "I don't know. Kerk could have taken them anywhere in After Time."

"We have to find her!"

"How? We have no idea where they went. You heard him, he doesn't plan on killing anyone. He'll bring Syd back when he's done with her… I hope." Skyler ran a hand through his hair.

"We can't just stand here!" Joe scanned the horizon. "He could be torturing her."

"Joe," Skyler placed a hand on his shoulder, "we have no choice. We're going to have to wait this out."

Sydney and Kerk landed on the edge of a cliff. Sydney immediately swung at Kerk with her fist.

He caught it with ease. "Not so fast, sister. I said I wanted to have a talk, and you're going to cooperate." He grabbed the collar of her shirt and forced her to lean backwards over the edge.

Sydney waved her arm to maintain her balance. "I thought you weren't going to kill me?"

"I'm not. This fall won't kill you, but it could break few bones or paralyze you." He tightened his grip. "Now, behave."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to have never existed. I was supposed to be the favourite, not you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't think you were mother's first choice, do you? It was supposed to be me! But no, I wasn't powerful enough. Not even good enough to be given a second chance. But then you came along and you were just oh so perfect. Mother's dream come true. Lucky you." Kerk pushed Sydney farther over the edge.

"Choice for what? You know I didn't want anything from her." Even dangling over a twenty-foot drop, she stared defiantly at Kerk and remained confident.

"That didn't matter, did it? She still choose you over me. Her perfect creation to fulfill all her dreams. Someone she could mold into the ultimate machine. Even when you gave it all up and left Draylon, she didn't come back for me. Leaving Draylon wasn't enough, you know. She's not done with you yet."

"Well, I'm done with her."

Kerk sneered. "We'll see about that."

"And what is the point of this conversation exactly?"

Kerk smirked and pulled Sydney in. "The point? You have ruined my life, made my existence unnecessary and worthless. So the point, little sister? The point is to tell you, that even though I may not kill you, I will make you wish you were dead."

A flash of green light brought Sydney back to Joe and Skyler.

"Sydney!" Joe ran up to her. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He checked her up and down for any torture marks.

"No, he just wanted to intimidate me." She put on a smile. "I handled it. I'm fine."

"You were gone for hours. What happened?" Skyler stepped forward.

"Hours? It felt like a few minutes." Sydney looked at them.

"You've been gone all day. We were worried." Joe pulled her in close and held onto her.

"It's okay. He didn't hurt me." Sydney returned Joe's embrace. "But we should probably sleep for the night."

"Sleep? We barely got anywhere today." Skyler looked to the east. "We need to keep moving and get out of here as soon as possible."

"Sydney says to sleep, we sleep." Joe led her over to a place where they could lay down. "We've had plenty of action today."

Skyler sighed. "Fine."

Sydney stood frozen on the edge and watched the battle before her with unmoving eyes. The two sides raged on in a bloody match. One side was bathed in light and their armor was stark white. They fought against an army clad in all black with a dark shadow looming over them. There was clear division line down the middle, neither side gaining an advantage over the other.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Sydney stiffened. "I don't want to deal with you."

"You have no choice." Another Sydney stepped up beside her. "How you have managed to stay sane this long is a miracle. I mean, look at this mess."

Sydney remained tense. "I said I don't want to deal with you."

"And I said you have no choice." The other Sydney crossed her arms. "Stop fighting yourself. Listen to your husband and relax for once in your life."

"If I say please, will you leave me alone then?"

"No."

"Of course not." Sydney sighed. "So this is what the dreams here are like? They make you face the worst part of yourself? Subjects you to the mental torture of being trapped by your fears?"

"Mhmm, but your no stranger to that are you? How are those Pluphoria nightmares by the way?"

Sydney winced. "I've been doing well, actually. The longer I'm away from that hellhole, the better I am."

"You'll be back, and you know it. That place hasn't lost its hold on you yet."

"I refuse to go back there."

"Jesus Christ, again with the fighting yourself. Stop it already. This is one fight you cannot win. Don't you ever grow tired of fighting?"

Sydney was silent.

"You do, don't you? I bet it'll feel good to stop. Just take a deep breath and let it all go."

"No." Sydney looked away from the gruesome scene in front of her.

The other Sydney frowned. "You're not going to heaven." She grabbed Sydney's chin and turned her face back towards the battle. "So why not raise a little hell?"

The dark side shifted forward.