Chapter 12: Nightmare

Lucas

I had had no idea that she had blamed me for her mother's death. The worst fact was that I felt that it was completely called for. If I hadn't have started the war, then the portal would still be open and Deborah could have had the medicine she needed. For the first time in a very, very long time I felt guilty. I didn't understand why I should feel guilty over this when I felt absolutely nothing at all for killing Alicia Washington. I had shot her in the head, though after what she had said to me she deserved it.

Skye had already moved on from it and had started playing her game again. But I couldn't get passed this. She blamed me. I knew how blaming someone for your mother's death could change who you were. I loathed the idea she would hate me as much as I detested the old man.

"Helloooo, Earth to Lucas..."

I shuddered out of my thoughts and back to the here and now with her, by my side. I had missed what she had been babbling on about, so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Technically we're not on Earth...we're in a different dimension."

I watched as she rolled her eyes at me. I liked the way she did that. I was beginning to like absolutely everything she did.

"Alright smarty pants...how'd you figure that out?"

I liked it when she tested my knowledge; especially when she actually was interested in the answer. I had noticed that she did seem to enjoy picking at my brains. I had actually seen her once, at Snakehead falls, completely mesmerised by my drawings. Back then I hadn't known who she was. I hadn't even known that she was the spy that Mira had been banging on about. When I had seen her that day, she had just been another pretty girl. If only back then I had known who she was and how she was going to affect me.

"Back in our timeline they had not found Terra Nova's remains. There was no indication that any of this had existed. Besides, we being here would change the future if we were in our own timeline."

She frowned out me.

"Give me an example."

"Well...For example, if we killed the wrong Carno then maybe one of us would never have been born." I smiled, satisfied with my answer.

I knew I was about to be challenged. She had an answer for everything. Right now she had her thinking face on. I could literally see the cogs turning through her eyes.

"But what if all of this had happened already...I mean, if we killed a Carno now, then what if we had already done it in the past in our own timeline. So every dinosaur which dies due to our intervention had already. That wouldn't be altering our future, it would be confirming it."

I smiled. Her wording wasn't that great, but I thought I could grasp what she was getting at.

"Then where did Terra Nova go?"

"What?"

"If we are in the same timeline, then how come in the future we have never found any remains of Terra Nova?" I questioned, oddly excited to hear her answer.

"It could have just been destroyed."

I nodded.

"Perhaps. But what about my diagrams, the ones I carved into the rocks. They would be there."

She shrugged.

"Perhaps." She mimicked the way I had said it. I chuckled. "Anyway...it was your turn." She pointed out.

"My turn?"

"To ask the question."

I thought about it. There were so many things I wanted to know about her; silly little things like her favourite food, or colour, or animal. I settled on a question which had been bugging me since I was 14 years old. The question had only been reignited the night I had killed Washington. I knew Skye would be honest with me if I asked, so I did.

"Do I really have his eyes?"

I couldn't look at her. Instead I moved down from the log and rested my head against it, enabling me to gaze up at the starry night sky.

"Honestly? No...Well...not, literally. Obviously you don't have his eyes cuz he's got blue eyes, but...I think it's more about what's in your eyes...if that makes sense..."

She came and sat down next to me, looking up at the stars as well. I frowned at her answer, not satisfied by it.

"What do you mean what's in my eyes?"

I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke.

"You and Taylor both have this way of looking at something, like you're analysing every little detail. You both do it, it's really funny. But it's other things as well. When you both smile, and for you I mean when you are genuinely smiling, there is this warmth...kinda like a happy glow that tints your eyes. I notice it most though when you are mad. You both get this...this...stony look and it makes your eyes seem to go this deeper darker shade of what they normally are."

My mind was swimming. It always did when it processed a lot of information, not wanting to forget any little detail. I had always wondered since, as Skye had pointed out, my father had blue eyes and mine were green. I had never considered it was the way we expressed ourselves through them.

"Y'know...they say eyes are the windows to your soul...maybe that means you and Taylor are more alike then what you think..."

If anyone else had said that to me I swear they would be dead by now. But, as it was her, I let it slide. I did turn and glare at her though. She giggled and pointed at me.

"That's it! That's the pissed off Taylor look!" She grinned, I did not.

I quickly turned back away from her, suddenly more aware of my eyes then I ever had been. I seriously regretted asking her the question now.

A cold breeze blew over us. The fire trembled as did Skye. I felt her shuffle slightly more toward me. I glanced across at her. She was looking up at the stars, but she quickly met my stare. It was a full moon tonight, and the sky had no clouds, causing Skye's face to glow. Her face was half golden by the fire, and half silver by the moonlight, causing her to look like this beautiful unearthly creature.

I became more aware of how close she was to me. Her body was mere inches from my own. I could practically taste her lips. I could feel myself moving slowly closer to her. Her hand found mine and our fingers entwined. I was so close to her now, but I still desired to be nearer. I could never be too close to this woman. I looked in her eyes. They sparkled like the stars above us. I could see a reflection in them, but instead of it being me, all I could see was my father staring back.

I jumped away, snatching my hand back. Space was put back between us. Skye looked startled by how quick I moved. But I looked away, focusing my attention on anything that wasn't her. I turned my back to her and stared at a tree. She didn't say anything. But I did feel her extend the distance.

We said nothing more. I eventually heard her deep breaths as she slept. She muttered something incoherent. I took longer to fall asleep. But eventually I did fall into a light slumber.

I was in Somalia, though I was not fourteen. I was the same age as what I was today. I was in a filthy room with three armed soldiers. A woman's agonising screams echoed from the room next door.

"MOM!" I shouted for her.

I tried to get to her, but the soldiers kicked and punched me, leaving me bloodied and broken. I was dragged outside into blinding sunlight along with my mother. We were forcibly shoved onto a hard, concrete ground. I could see a silhouetted figure on the other side of the patio.

"Commander Nathanial Taylor."

I watched as my father stepped forward, all emotion wiped off of his face. I stared into my father's eyes, begging him to choose my mother. My death would be quick, one bullet to the brain. She would be tortured and raped before they finally butchered her alive. No, my father wouldn't let that happen. He would make the correct decision; the humane decision. He would choose her. He had to choose her.

"You may choose only one." Announced the sadistic voice. "So who will it be...Lucas Taylor or Skye Tate?"

All the life was drained from me. I looked over at my mother. My dream had inexplicably turned her into Skye. Her face was swollen and red. Her blood had drenched her thin cotton shirt and she already looked close to death. But she still smiled at me.

"I choose my son...Lucas." My father's voice shook.

"NO!" I screamed as I was shoved forward, toward my father. "SKYE! NO...TAKE ME INSTEAD...PLEASE...SKYE...SKYE!"

She looked at me, tears running down her cheeks. I struggled to get back to her, but I was shoved toward my father.

She opened her mouth and said the words. The three words I hated more than any other. My mother's final words to me.

I continued struggling and shouting, kicking and punching, but I could not get back to her. My father grabbed me.

"They'll kill you too." He hissed into my ear as he dragged me away from her.

"LET THEM." I shouted at him. "I CANNOT LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE SHE IS DEAD!"

My father wouldn't let me go. We were then made to stand there and watch. My father told me to cover my eyes, but I didn't; I couldn't.

Skye's eyes locked on with mine as she took her final breath. Still smiling comfortingly at me, I watched in horror as the axe came down and lodged into her head.