Beyond Recollection – A Sonny & Skye FanFiction

A/N: I just wanted to give a little warning for this chapter. There are some curse words and it does deal with a very serious subject. I don't think it should be rated 'R' but if I'm wrong please tell me and I will change it.

Chapter Sixteen – Courtyard Memories

The early morning Sonny encountered, as he walked along the paved paths, was nothing like the night from his most recent memory. This sky was free of dark heavy clouds, and instead littered with fallen snowflakes. The July heat he had encountered in his memory was nothing like the current January frost biting painfully at his nose and cheeks.

Like the memory though, the paths and ground were still slightly littered with debris from the recent holiday. Pieces of colorful confetti and paper noisemakers began to disappear under the falling powder of snow. New Year's had always been a time Sonny tried to rectify himself. Unlike prior years, wiping away past sins and violence was not in his thoughts this New Year. All he wanted was his memory, a task that now seemed unattainable.

Sonny was miserable. He was cold, tired and no where near finding the courtyard he was so desperately searching for. Pushing aside the edge of his black leather glove, he groaned as he read the time on his wristwatch.

"2:09am," he grumbled returning his hands into the warm depths of his coat pockets. "This is impossible!" he groaned coming across his own footprints. "I'm going in damn circles!"

Turning his head towards the sky, a wave of desperation fell over him. Just as he was about to give his search up completely, a voice spoke from behind.

"Why are you out here Sonny?"

Turning, he looked to his best friend with eyes of regret. Their friendship had been taking a turn for the worse these past weeks. Ever since Carly had moved back into the penthouse Jason practically stopped all communication between them. Aside from business phone calls and meetings Sonny never saw the man that used to be a constant presence in his life.

Jason would not step a foot near Sonny's penthouse and he now kept his own locked. Most of the time Sonny didn't even know where Jason was and the idea of having him followed crossed his mind more than once, but in the end he couldn't. He wouldn't push him even further away. If someone had done to Courtney what he had done to Skye, they would be dead. He broke his sister's heart, and now his own was bruised because of it.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked, ignoring Jason's question.

"Max called me and told me you had come out here," he spoke stepping closer. "Why Sonny?"

"I needed answers," Sonny spoke honestly looking down at his hands.

"What answers could you find here?"

"What does it matter to you?" he spat out, his anger towards himself preying on Jason.

"Because its important, Sonny!" he shot back before calming his voice. "Did you remember something?"

"How did you know?" he asked with wide eyes, a whisper of desperation in his voice. Jason did not answer; instead he walked past Sonny in silence.

"Where are you going, Jason?" he called out.

"Just follow me," he answered with his back still to Sonny. The snow fell heavier now as they walked deeper into the vacant park.

"Where are we—," he fell silent as he watched Jason veer off the paved path and enter the bushes to their right. Recognizing where they were headed he quickened his pace and practically pushed past Jason as they entered the disserted courtyard from his memory.

"How did you know?" he asked with shock as his eyes wandered over the stone fountain and benches.

"Do you remember what happened here?"

"I—I had heard screaming."

"What did you see?" Jason pushed on.

"Two people ran, I don't know who they were but they ran away from me. Then," he paused looking towards the fountain and then to the ground he had fallen by. "I found a knife and a body."

"That's all you can remember?" he asked before he grasped onto Sonny's shoulders. "Can you remember anything else? Please try Sonny," he pleaded.

"I am trying!" Sonny shouted pushing Jason away. "That's why I'm here!"

"I'm sorry. Sonny, I'm sorry."

"What happened here? Why is it so important?"

"Two summers ago," Jason started but paused.

"What? What happened here two summers ago?"

"Two summers ago, July 2003, you killed R—," Jason began before Sonny cut him off.

"I killed him here?" Sonny asked with confusion, remembering woods and snow from that memory.

"No, you killed him because of what happened here. Because of what he did."

"He was here with Carly wasn't he?" Sonny questioned, his temper rising. "Did I find them here? Did he hurt her?"

"You didn't know about them yet, Sonny. You didn't kill him because of anything he did with Carly or did to Carly," Jason paused taking a breath. "You killed him because of Skye."

"Skye? But—."

"You killed Ric because of what he did to her that night."

Many miles north of Port Charles, a woman cried in her sleep. Her auburn hair was matted to her forehead with sweat as silent moans of agony stung her lips. Tossing and turning she tangled her green and white quilt at her feet, her soul begging to wake. Trapped and defenseless, her mind repeatedly played the events of the night she prayed to forget. Lost in her nightmare she witnessed the memories one man, miles away, desperately wanted to remember.

"Just great," she grumbled looking down at her broken stiletto. Shifting her purse and the silver flask she carried to one hand, Skye wobbly bent forward and retrieved the damaged heel. Glaring at it with disgust, she slurred, "If you where Brenda's shoe you wouldn't have broken."

"No, no, no," she spoke as she continued further down the path she walked. "Only my things. My brief marriage, my life, and my heart, broken! All of them."

Stumbling slightly, she moved further into the center of the park, the dark and silent night only complementing her wretched mood. Raising her flask to her lips she frowned, realizing she hadn't removed the lid. Finding her arms full she let her purse drop to the ground before discarding the broken heel beside it.

"There we go," she mumbled in celebration, her fingers free to twist the top of the flask. "Here's to you Jax," she snapped, raising the flask in the air. "May you live a miserable and lonely life, because I know I will." Tossing her head back to take a sip of her drink, she threw off what little balance she had left and fell unceremoniously on her back.

"Owe," she moaned, squeezing her lids shut and rubbing her forehead in an effort to cease her sudden headache. Slowly moving up on to her elbows she scanned the grass for the flask that she had lost in her fall.

"Where are you?" she muttered, rolling onto her hands and knees. Crawling sluggishly through the grass and bushes, her mumbled complaints and curses ceased as she spotted the flask a foot away. Snatching it from the dirt, she suddenly became aware of the voices interfering with her undisturbed evening.

"What took you so long?" a man asked.

"I'm sorry baby, he took forever to fall asleep and I had to sneak past the fucking guard," a familiar voice replied. Interest peaked; Skye parted the bush with her free hand and nearly gasped at the couple standing in the small courtyard. Beside the stone fountain stood Carly Corinthos and Ric Lancing, arms and mouths locked in an embrace.

Skye could hardly believe her eyes, let alone her luck, to be the one to discover their affair, and hopefully the first one to use it against them. Practically the first word that crossed her mind was blackmail, after taunting that was.

Unable to conceal her amusement any longer, Skye rose from the ground and pushed herself through the brush. She stumbled into the courtyard, flask in hand and adorning the broadest smile seen since the Cheshire cat.

"Well, well," she feigned shock. "What is going on here?"

"You interfering bitch!" Carly shrieked. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, dear. And with your husbands brother no less. Have you no shame?"

"If you say a word I'll –

"You'll what?" she taunted the blonde.

"I'll kill you!"

"Calm down Carly," Ric spoke, holding Carly back from the laughing auburn. "Skye won't be saying a word about this."

"Oh, I won't?"

"You won't," he assured. The hairs on her arm and neck suddenly stood at the coldness in Ric's voice and eyes. "Go home Carly," he ordered turning to her. "Skye and I need to have a chat."

"But –

"Don't worry," he soothed before turning his gaze on Skye. "She won't say a word."

Time moved faster after that moment. Suddenly Carly was gone and she was left with a man she really knew nothing about. Not understanding the hint of black in his gaze, she backed away, suddenly frightened.

"Where are you going?" Ric questioned before he lurched forward, a hand to her throat as he pinned her body to the tree behind her.

"W-what are you doing?" Skye gasped, her hands trying to remove his own.

"Insurance," he replied simply as one hand tightened around her neck, his second disappearing into his back pocket.

"Insurance? For what?" she whimpered, frantically searched his eyes for a trace to what he was thinking of doing. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him remove the small blade, tracing her jaw line with the dull edge.

"I need your silence Skye," Ric spoke.

"You have it! I'm not going to say a word."

"The promise of a drunk isn't one I ever trust."

"I won't say anything," she cried out, fear running through her.

"And I'm going to make sure that you can't," he responded before raising the knife, ready to thrust it towards her. Before the knife could fall, Skye fought back. Kneeing him hard, she then blocked the advancing blade with her left hand, grasping onto his wrist and stopping him from striking. He released her throat instantly and at first Skye thought she had done it.

He backhanded her quickly, smashing her head against the rough bark. Through the cloud of pain she registered his angry curses and turning her head towards him, her eyes focussed in time to see the flash of silver before it disappeared into her chest.

Her scream was unavoidable. The pain she felt, unimaginable.

She cried and slumped forward as he pulled the blade roughly from her before pushing her to the ground. Clutching her right arm over the bleeding wound, shock tore through her system. Using her free arm, Skye tried desperately to scramble away from him.

"Where do you think you're going?" his sinister voice broke through her hysterics. Approaching slowly, Skye watched in horror as he loosened the belt that he wore

"No, no, no, no," she whimpered. "Don't."

"You did this to yourself Skye," he informed, standing above her. Lowering himself, he pinned her kicking legs with his body as his hands tried to contain her arms.

"Help! Help me," she screamed as he pinned her wrists with one hand above her head. "Someone help me!"

Ric roughly covered her mouth with his free hand, leaving the knife at his side. Leaning forward, he spoke next to her ear, "No one can hear you, Skye. No one would save you if they could." The tears that fell only caused him to laugh and torment her even further. "You have no friends, no family, and your husband just left you for another woman, you have nothing. No one. You are a nothing to this town, and no one would believe anything you tell them about tonight. Not what you saw, and certainly not what I'm going to do to you."

Releasing her mouth, he was unfazed by her screams as he tore open her blood-covered blouse.

"NO!" she shouted, tears burning her cheeks. "Please, no," she sobbed into her hands as the memory played on. She clutched at the soft quilt, racking her nails across it as the images polluted her vision. The vision of him roughly undressing her and later stabbing her for a second time in order to subdue her struggles finally pulled her from her sleep.

Bolting to an upright position, she gasped for air as her sobbing slowed. Heartbeat pounding in her ears, she blinked rapidly, clearing her vision of tears. Frantically her eyes scanned the large loft for any sign of her attacker. She jumped slightly at the moving shadows and crawled into a fetal position. Pulling the comforting quilt to her ear she repeated the same phrase over and over until she finally fell into a restless sleep.

"Let me forget, let me forget, let me forget."

TBC