A/N- Wow, I'm trying to update both stories in one night- go me. If you have any ideas for where this should go, just pop it in a review or an email- I check both daily.

Disclaimer- The world of our beloved champions does not belong to be, nor the idea which sparked this story. (The Truman show for those of you who do not realise the similarities.)

Thanks to AW1, who helped with ideas for this chapter, and the Tortall descriptions are altered slightly to match the upcoming story.

The Neal Show

Chapter 2: Top of the Morning

As Neal wandered down the deserted corridors that made up the lonely palace, he realised he'd never been outside the castle walls which surrounded them. The castle was engulfed by woods on all sides, with only a narrow road leading to and from the drawbridge. Inside the walls there was a small village, but still, it was very same old same old.

He passed by face after familiar face, everyone greeted him by saying, 'Well hello there, t'top of the mornin' to you' and he would reply, 'and the rest of t'day to yourself.' It had been said to him ever since he was little, it seemed to be a Tortall saying.

He climbed down the outside palace steps, enlaced with ivy.The steps were rounded down and it would become a ramp soon enough. He'd lived here all his life, he was told his parents had died by raiders, just before his seventh birthday. He had discovered their mangled bodies, but had been shooed soon after. The memory had plagued him since.

Flashback:

It was a windy day, and his parents were in their house, watching him from behind the window. He scrambled up the steps coated with ivy, and began to climb upon the wall. Neal turned from his perch and waved happily to his parents.

"Neal, get down from there!" His father had shouted, and Neal's smile quickly vanished when he registered the anger and distress on his father's face.

"I mean it Nealan, get down here now!" It was his father's unnatural anxiety that made the top of the wall even more tantalizing. He could have listened to his father, and probably should have, but he was so close to the top, he'd never been this far before. He put his hand on the rock above him, to stretch up and sneak a peek at the other side. One good stretch would have done it. But before he time to reach out, his father seemed to have read his mind.

"No!"

"Why? What's over there?" Neal sensed that his parents were keeping something from him.

"Nothing's there son. It's just a forest. Nothing special." His father's words were pleading to Neal, desperately. "Come down please. For me."

Neal looked around, and was suddenly aware that the other villagers had stopped their daily activities to stare at him. The silence was broken by a high pitched scream, his father turned and ran, and Neal reluctantly began his descent down.

:End flashback

If only he was faster he might have been able to save them from the madman that killed them both, his mother first, and then his father when he came to the rescue. The killer had left Nealan alone, with only a memory of a tattoo of a dragon on his left arm imprinted into his memory. He had vowed to find the man responsible that day.

He was an only child, but he did have an older cousin-

"Dom!" shouted Neal, and ran down the remainder of he stairs, into the dusty village.

"Well hello there, t'top of the mornin' to you Nealan," Dom said, embracing his dear cousin while hiding the earpiece behind a lock of hair.

"Improvise Callum..yes, how he's doing etc. Cue a chicken escaping out of the front left coop- now."

"and the rest of t'day to yourself, Dom. How's life outside the walls then?"

"Nothing interesting really, just bits and pieces, youngings playing about is all. And inside?"

"It's dull, repetative and o so tedious. You know how it- hey, whats that?" Neal walked over to the middle of the road, where glass was scattered about.

"Dom, come over here and see this…it's shattered glass, but it looks like it had something in…"

"Orange alert people, orange alert. This is NOT I repeat NOT a drill. It seems that a light from the sun has broken and he is putting pieces of the puzzle together. I need extras one to seven to make a bustle across his pathway, stop him from getting a closer look, Callum- try to slow him down, put the chicken is his path- do something people!"

"What do you think it is?" Neal walked closer to the remnents of the lightbulb, but his view was obscured by a group of travelling players.

"Excuse me," he said, forcing his way through the performing crowd, "Coming through…"

They'd gone. But so had the glass.

"That's funny…I could have sworn there was something here just a minute ago."

Dom hurried up behind him, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, just like he was told to do.

"Don't worry, get some rest. You look like you had to rush to that meeting with Alanna this morning."

"Ye- wait, how did you know about that?"

"Stupid mistake…"

"Nothing stays a secret long around here Meathead- you know that as well as I do…"

"Close call Callum. Don't let it happen again."