Animal - Chapter six

When Sky woke up he was in an unfamiliar place. Cracking open his eyes, he glanced around. The room he was in was empty. Only the walls had color to them, which was strange, moving dark grey swirls. It reminded him of fog.

Sky sat up, only just realizing that the heavy weight of tentacles wasn't rooted onto his back. Gasping, he felt along his spine with his hands. Nothing. Even his old shirt was back. Hope swelled in his chest. Maybe Seto had made the cure while he had been knocked out? He had to make sure.

Sky looked around for a mirror, but couldn't find any type of furniture in the room. He stood up and grabbed the sunglasses off his face and inspected them. But these had been shattered, hadn't they? He frowned and looked at his reflection. The frown turned into a smile when his normal reflection showed in the glasses. It had worked! He was free from the animal forever! But then something caught his eye. Sky looked closer into the reflection, then whipped around.

His squid form stood about ten feet behind him, sharp incisors poking out of his lip as he smirked. The real Sky faced the monster, eyes wide. "Wh-what? But how?"

The animal took a step forward, crooning a claw up in a 'come here' gesture. Sky took another step back, shaking his head. This couldn't be happening. The monster nodded, tentacles whipping around. Sky finally saw how much of a monster that he had been.

Grey-blue skin cast the monster's facial features into shadows. Navy blue, six inch long claws sat on its fingertips. Six long, slender, but powerful tentacles had grown from its back. The animal was shirtless, showing off the gills on each side of its ribs. Its hair had turned a dark shade of grey, almost black. And its eyes. Its hideous, horrifying eyes: Half lidded with a blue ring surrounding a black pupil.

Sky gulped and took another step back. "W-what do you want from me? Why do you do this?" he asked quietly. "Isn't harming my friends enough?"

"Sky, Sky," it tsked "harming your puny human friends was just a small stepping stone. I have plans, Sky. And they are just in the way. First it will be Tyler, then Dawn, then Kermit, then Jason, and so on."

Sky snarled. "No way. I won't let you. I'd rather die than let you hurt my friends."

The animal cackled, tentacles waving randomly. It grinned evilly at Sky. "Such a strong spirit. It's almost a shame that I have to make that spirit submit to me."

Sky growled at the monster and took another step back. Maybe he could turn tail and run. It stung his pride at the thought of running from such a monster, but he didn't have many options. "Never," he said "I would never submit to such a freak as you."

It laughed again, stalking towards him threateningly. "But don't you realize, Sky, that I am you? Look at us, we are brothers, you and I. Join me. I can give you power, all the power in the world. Haven't you ever wanted to be stronger? To have unlimited access to anything you ever wanted? You can have anything and everything, and all you have to do is take my hand..." It held a clawed, grey hand out to him. Sky hesitated and stared at it. He had the urge to reach out and...

No. He would stay strong.

Sky narrowed his eyes and took a step away from the animal. "No. I will not listen to you. I- I will not join the squids! There isn't a single way! I'll- I'll kill you!" A long, buttery sword materialized in his hand. The animal looked surprised, stumbling back a few steps. The angered Sky made his way towards the monster, hand grasping the sword's hilt tightly. "I'll kill you, and be rid of you forever!"

The animal grinned after Sky said that, shock fading. "You would now, wouldn't you? Oh, if only it wouldn't end your pathetic life, too."

"What do you mean?" Sky asked, pausing. The squid chuckled darkly. "Dear, Sky. Didn't you know that if you kill me, you die as well?"

"H-huh? No, that isn't possible..." Sky stuttered, sword dissipating into thin air. "But-but that would mean..."

"Yes, go on..."

When Sky clamped his mouth shut, the squid continued for him. "That would mean that you have hurt your friends, and you only. As I said before, Sky. I am you. And you... "

"No... No! Don't say it! I'm not a squid! I'm not!" Sky shouted, clasping his hands over his ears to block out the monster's words and squeezing his eyes shut. It chuckled again. "Yes," it sneered "you are a squid. Don't deny it Sky. Don't deny your very existence."

Sky opened his eyes again and looked up, only to be faced with a giant mirror. He gasped and stumbled backwards at the reflection staring him down. It was the animal, but when he moved it moved. It was him. He was it.

Oh Notch, no...

The animal cackled again as Sky turned on his heels and ran. The echoing laugh followed Sky as he sprinted, running as far away as he could. The swirling grey fog parted as he went through it, then closed up behind him. Soon, he lost all sense of direction. All he could see was the fog, and all he could hear was his own heavy panting.

And the animal's insane cackling laugh. It followed him, poured over him and suffocated the very air he was breathing with evil. Sky stumbled and fell, scraping his elbows and knees on the ground. The panicked Sky stood and continued to dart away. He needed to get out of there, out of the heavy, suffocating fog. It swirled around him, smothering his sight and hearing. Sky slowed and turned in a full circle. There was nothing but fog. And then a weight landed on his back, and a sword jabbed through his abdomen. Blood poured from his wound as the blade swept across his back, leaving a deep incision. The sword pierced his leg. Then his shoulder.

Sky screamed, trying to top the bleeding as best as he could. He twisted out from under the person's weight and stood shakily, only to be knocked down again. "This is for what you did to me," an achingly familiar voice hissed in his ear. Prying his eyes open, Sky saw Deadlox, bruises and cuts that Sky himself had inflicted littering his features. And then Sky knew no more as the butter sword was plunged through his chest.

Sky bolted up, a sheen of sweat covering his face. He shivered, curling into a ball on the bed that he had been passed out on. He knew that it had been a dream, yet not a dream at the same time. Ty had killed him, taking his revenge on Sky after the infected Minecrafter had hurt him. And Sky had actually talked to the animal, had actually replied back to it. And that scared him. If what the monster said was true, then that meant there was no getting rid of it without killing himself.

So the cure Seto was working on was useless... Unless it worked and got rid of the monster. But in the process, it would also kill Sky... He had no other choice. He needed this thing gone. And that potion was his only choice. He would save his friends, and himself by ending his own life.

And if that didn't work, then he always knew when a butter sword would come in handy.