Window to the Past
By Multikirby
Cameron was helpless. He had no idea where he was. Everything was white. He couldn't tell where the floor ended and the horizon began. Cameron had tried running as far as he could in one direction, but after about two minutes, he began to get paranoid that he was on the edge of a cliff and one more step would send him careening off the edge.
He had no idea how long he'd been here. Just like earlier, when he had been with Chaos, fatigue didn't seem to be applicable here. There was no day-night cycle to speak of, and consequently, there was no time to speak of. Had he been here for ten minutes? Twenty-four hours? Seven days? A year? He couldn't tell anymore.
Cameron began to talk to himself.
"Hello?" he called. "Multikirby?"
"You haven't spoken to me in a while," he answered, pretending to be Multikirby.
Cameron scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, not since I...well...you know...left Earth."
"Well, you did always ask me to take you along." Multikirby stretched, relaxed. "Figured the time was right."
"Yeah, why did you end up doing that, anyways?" Cameron questioned.
Multikirby seemed to ignore him. "Hey, uh...do you know where you are right now?"
"Um...not really," Cameron said, looking around. "I know I came here after Chaos crowned me. Is this like some sort of limbo?"
"Don't you recognize it?" Multikirby looked surprised. "I mean, you've never been here personally, but you know what I mean, right?"
Cameron nodded. "Yeah. It looks almost identical to the place I popped up in when I first met Chaos. Right after I finished the trilogy." Then he frowned. "It sucks that it isn't going to be finished."
"Oh, no, it's going to be finished, don't worry," Multikirby comforted him.
Again, Cameron nodded. "Well, I made Chaos promise that if I died, he'd finish it. But he's got his own story going on, you know?"
"He isn't the one writing it, dude," Multikirby interrupted. "Cameron is, remember? The guy behind the laptop?"
"But...Multi, that was me, up until I-don't-know-how-long ago."
"No, it wasn't," he corrected. "I'm the guy behind the laptop. I'm writing the story. You're the persona right now. We switched."
Cameron squinted. "What do you mean?"
"I've been writing the story from the beginning," Multikirby told him. "You know that dude who was impersonating you while writing in the first person? That was me."
"You know, if it was anyone else, I'd be mad," Cameron said with a smirk. "But we're pretty much the same person, so I guess I can let it slide. So...since you're here, actually, when do I go back to Earth? When the story ends? Because I know you're there right now, being me and everything, and I'm being you, so...when are we going to switch back?"
Multikirby suddenly looked a lot more uncomfortable. "Um...yeah...about that..."
"...Fey?" Toby asked quietly. "...Why is the library on fire?"
Fey slowly sat up, her eyes plagued with a haunted look, as if she wasn't really there.
Toby stood up and carefully tapped her. "...Fey?"
Fey turned her head to look at him. "We need to leave now."
"What? Why?"
Fey didn't respond. She stood up, grabbed hold of Toby's stub and proceeded to run.
"Hey! Wait!" Toby protested. "Where are we going!?"
She didn't turn to look at him. "We're leaving."
"You told me that, Fey, but why?"
Fey stopped and looked at Toby. "This town is insane, Toby. Everyone in it is insane and staying here a moment longer would be insane."
"Everyone's...insane?" Toby shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'm sure that's not true. I don't know what they did to you, but I'm sure if you got to know them better, you'd see-"
Fey interrupted Toby by grabbing hold and shaking him. "If you were with me in that library, you'd know. Obviously, you weren't. Now go and get your sack. I've got some stuff to do before we leave."
Toby began to protest, but Fey had already run off. He looked across the street at the clinic. Heaving a sigh, Toby walked up to the front doors and entered. Liz, who was just entering her office, waved hello as he came in, but said no more. Toby returned the wave just before she went into her office. He proceeded to go into his own 'room' himself.
Opening the door, Toby stared into his 'room'. He had been here only for a couple of days, and he was leaving...because...everyone was crazy? He shook his head again. It didn't make sense! But Fey was his big sister. She knew best. Right? He began to pack up the few things he and the others had taken out of the bag. As he walked around the room solemnly and reluctantly, he began to think a bit. Finally, Toby came to the journal on the bedside table. Maybe he should ask what they think.
It can't be true, can it?Toby asked himself as he stared at the journal.Linden, Liz, Ash...they can't all be insane, can they? It's ridiculous. But...Fey wouldn't say anything about it if she had something to back it up, right?
Not unless she's insane.
Toby stopped. Where had that thought come from? It was his thought, yeah, but...it was kind of out of the blue.
With another sigh of reluctance, Toby gave in and started writing in the journal.
Cameron was starting to feel strange talking to Multikirby. As if he really was talking to somebody else instead of somebody he was creating the lines for inside his head.
"What...what do you mean, 'about that'?" Cameron asked.
Multikirby shuffled his feet uncomfortably on the ground. "Well, it isn't really that simple, Cam."
"Yeah, it is," Cameron interrupted. "It is simple. It's very simple." He laughed. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it by mistake!"
"You're taking this pretty well," Multikirby said, a little confused.
Cameron's smile vanished. "What? What am I taking well? I mean, I'm kind of dead, but Chaos will finish the trilogy, and I'll be back on earth with my family and stuff! Why wouldn't I be taking that well?"
Multikirby pursed his lips into a frown. "...Because that isn't what's happening, Cam."
"Okay, so what is happening, then?" Cameron asked. "Because if what I think is happening isn't happening, then I'm confused."
Cameron was only met with a sigh from Multikirby. It was...almost as if he could see Multikirby in front of him...as if they were two separate people.
"Um, guys?" Toby wrote. "I'm hoping for some sort of explanation as to why Fey's saying everyone in Wyvern is crazy and we need to leave now. Could someone please fill me in?"
"It won't do to give you bits and pieces of one story, so I'm going to step in and give you the entire story," Mabel replied. "Alice and Fey went into that library to research Corfort, which I presume is our next destination. Linden saw us looking at interdimensional travel and became interested in us. He and Tristan engaged in a debate that resulted in Linden admitting he was not sound of mind, Linden begging us to kill him because of his headpiece making him nothing more than a machine himself, and Linden burning to death in the library he set on fire. Through this conversation, we gained evidence that Ash has been repeatedly sending puffballs to their deaths up by the river, and Liz is keeping test subjects in the basement of her clinic."
"You know, Mabel, it's funny," Daphne wrote. "They seem to love you for the same reasons they hate me."
"Shut up, Daphne," Tristan wrote with hostility.
"Thank you for proving my point, Tristan," Daphne responded. "Don't you think it's strange to have a romantic attraction to yourself?"
"What are you insinuating? That Tristan likes Mabel?" Adrian scoffed. "What are you smoking?"
"I wasn't insinuating that particular relationship, Adrian," Daphne retorted. "And I think drug jokes are highly inappropriate, as I'm sure Alice would agree."
"So..." Toby wrote. "Do we leave? Do we stay?"
"I say we leave," Tristan answered.
"If you were in the library, too, Toby, you'd agree with us," Alice agreed.
"I'm not sure if I can believe right away that everyone in Wyvern is insane," Mia pondered. "But you guys seem pretty sure about it, so I'm going to side with you."
Toby closed the journal. So there it was. Everyone was pretty much unanimous. They should leave Wyvern. But Toby couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something about this plan bothered him. He just couldn't believe that everyone in Wyvern was out to kill him. It was ridiculous! But he couldn't leave Fey...she was his sister.
Toby, let me make one thing clear to you.
"AAGH!" Toby screamed, not ready for the voice he was hearing. "Who's there!?"
"Sorry," Liz's voice came from outside his room. "I slammed the door."
"O-oh, okay," Toby replied shakily, though he knew what he had heard was no door slam.
It's Daphne, Toby, the voice said tiredly. Now before you write me off because I'm Daphne, I want to say something to you. Keep in mind, Toby, that even though I'm a so-called 'renegade', I'm still as much a part of this body as you are.
It was true. Toby didn't want to hear a word she was saying. But it was also true that she was Matthew as much as he was.
No, no, no, don't go thinking that, Toby. You're smarter than this. I can't be Matthew. But you might be. Do you think you are Matthew, Toby? Do you think you're the original?
"I...I don't know," Toby whispered, so Liz wouldn't overhear. "I mean, it could be me, Adrian, Tristan, or David! It's a one in four chance!"
No it isn't, Toby,Daphne said.It is up to you. Do you think you are Matthew, or do you think you're a made up figment of someone's imagination?
"I...I don't..."
It's a yes or no question, Toby. Do you think you are Matthew?
"It's hard to say-"
Do you think you are Matthew?!
"I don't know..."
ARE YOU MATTHEW, TOBY?!
"Yes!" Toby screamed suddenly, surprising himself.
He froze as he heard a knock on the door. "You okay in there?"
"Uhh...yes...?" Toby said sheepishly.
Toby, you have a choice. Whether you're Matthew or not, you need to make choices to keep yourself alive. Do you go with Fey, out into the cold upper continent? Do you let her lead you into a place where neither of you have been, into the unknown for the small hope that you might find something that'll take us home?
"She's my sister, Daph, I'm sure-"
Or do you stay here in Wyvern? You don't have a home yet, but you've seen all the vacant houses. You could easily move into one of them. The others seem to think Liz and Ash are not sound of mind. But you don't, Toby. You don't believe them.
"Well...they've got to be on to something if-"
It's circumstantial evidence. I saw it. For someone supposed to be driven to dementia by logic, Linden made a lot of assumptions and jumps to conclude his verdict on Liz and Ash. Personally, Toby, I don't believe it.
"...You don't?"
No, Toby. I don't. And I'm hoping that you aren't blinded by the others. You're Matthew, Toby. You can't rely on the others. They don't matter. Focus on yourself.
"But I can't just disregard them! They're my friends!"
I'm not asking you to disregard them, Toby. I'm asking you to keep in mind that you are the alpha. You are the original. You have the final say in the decision.
"Am I really that important, Daph?"
Yes, Matthew. Yes, you are.
Multikirby grabbed Cameron's shoulders and looked him in the eye, almost more for himself than for Cameron. "You aren't going back to Earth at the end of this, Cameron."
"What?" Cameron made a face and wrested himself out of Multikirby's grip. "Of course I am! That's how the story ends! The story starts with me literally self-inserting myself into the story as Multikirby, I write all of the stories to the end, I promise to rewrite the trilogy, and me and the three kids go home! That's how it ends!"
Grimacing, Multikirby shook his head. "No, Cameron. You wrote that 'Multikirby goes home', not Cameron. And...that's how you and I switched. But...this isn't your story, Cameron. It's mine."
"No, it isn't!" Cameron's voice took on an angry tone. "I've been writing it this entire time!"
Multikirby began to look guilty. "Cameron...technically speaking, you aren't even Cameron anymore."
Cameron's angry expression melted into one of confusion. "...What?"
Multikirby looked down at the ground and closed his eyes. "Cameron's...always been the guy behind the computer, on Earth. Multikirby's been the persona, the one Cameron made that represents him in works of fiction." He looked up at Cameron, whose face slowly became more and more horrified as he began to get it. "Who's who, Multikirby?"
Tears sprung from Cameron's eyes as his heart sprung up into his throat. "I'm not...I'm not Multikirby!"
Multikirby stayed silent. Cameron stalked up to him, his fists balled up.
"I think you already know the answer, Multikirby."
"Stop calling me that!" Cameron screamed.
THOK
Multikirby fell to the ground, his cheek growing red from Cameron's punch. He looked up at Cameron, breathing heavily. "Punching me isn't going to change anyth-"
THOK
"OUF!"
Cameron's foot retracted from Multikirby's stomach. His expression was contorted into one of absolute hatred. "I am NOT Multikirby! YOU'RE Multikirby!" he roared.
"There's...there's a reason...I can't let you...go back to Earth..." Multikirby panted, wincing from pain as he stood back up. "I can't let you go...back..."
Tears streamed freely down Cameron's cheeks as he shouted in Multikirby's face. "Why!? What makes you think that you can just take my life away from me?!"
Toby sat on his bed, thinking. Daphne had stopped talking to him. She realized he needed some time to think. He appreciated the consideration.
He had decided; he was going to stay in Wyvern. It made him really sad that he'd have to abandon his sister, but he had to make these decisions. He was Matthew, and he couldn't let his body get hurt because the others couldn't let go of false hope. But could he really get away with thinking these thoughts? Was he absolutely sure that he was Matthew? Was he absolutely sure that he was the original?
...Yes, Toby thought. I am. I can't be made up. I'm sorry, guys, but...we have to stay here.
He picked up the journal and threw it in his sack. That suddenly reminded him of something. What was he going to tell Fey? She definitely wouldn't be happy...But he knew this was the right choice. He had to stay here in Wyvern where he knew everyone would be safe.
"Sorry, Fey. I can't come with you," Toby practiced, pacing around the room. "It's nothing against you, trust me. I just...think it's better for me to stay here. It's safer."
"Look, I can't go with you to Corfort. There's just too many variables, and I don't think Liz and Ash are totally completely insane."
"I just don't really like the cold, and-"
"I'm tired of not knowing-"
"What if we don't-"
"Nice weather we're having-"
Toby flopped back onto his bed. How was he going to do this? He couldn't refuse without making Fey sad! It was impossible! Then he sat up, realizing something else. The others are going to want to leave, too. What was he going to do about them? Would he be able to convince them that this really was the best option? Without claiming that he was Matthew?
He still wasn't really sure about that either. He certainly felt like he wasn't made up, but does that really make him Matthew? How could he know for sure? Because the other three candidates could use the same reasoning he was...
Maybe it was the fact that he wanted something different. If he wanted to stay in Wyvern while everyone else wanted to go to Corfort...didn't that make him different from everyone else? It set him apart. Didn't that mean that he could be different from them in other ways, too?
Shaking his head, he looked at his sack that he had packed the journal into. This was it. That sack could accompany him with Fey to Corfort...or it could accompany him to a new house and a new life in Wyvern.
This was his choice to make, and his choice alone. This was Toby's choice.
This was Matthew's choice.
Fey rushed back and forth in her house, packing up everything she felt like she was going to need going to Corfort with her brother.
"Dang it, Matthew, why did you get the magical bag with infinite packing space?" she grumbled, looking at her relatively small backpack. It was already stuffed full with supplies, and she still felt like there was more to be done. "I hope you make use of that thing, or I'm going to hurt you."
Lifting up her backpack, she put it on before rushing out the door into the snow.
She looked up at the sky. It was overcast, tainted grey by the blanket of clouds that stretched from one horizon to the next. Light snow was falling from the sky in small wavering groups, painting the ground a pure white. She had never really noticed it before, but Wyvern was quite devoid of colour. The buildings had no life to them; they seemed dead, as if frozen in time. The frost that settled on each window of each vacant house seemed to symbolize the cold emptiness contained within the walls of wood and stone. Hearths that once warmed families of puffballs now only sat in wait, wondering where their masters went, and when they would light up the heart of the hearth once more into a burning flame. There were only three houses in this village that had masters, three houses that were given purpose.
And Fey was going to make it two.
"Cameron, listen to me, please..." Multikirby pulled himself up from the ground, grimacing from the pains his counterpart had inflicted upon him.
"Why should I!?" Cameron screamed, glaring at Multikirby with a look that seemed to want to ignite him and burn him alive.
"I have a reason I need to keep you here, Cameron...I'm not doing this for me," Multikirby tried to explain.
Cameron's face contorted as his eyes threatened to tear up again. He pushed them back. "You liar!"
"I'm not lying," Multikirby said quietly, distancing himself from Cameron. "I'm sorry, Cameron, but I can't allow you to go back. I can't finish the story."
"Chaos'll do it! He'll finish it! He...he promised!" Cameron pointed at Multikirby accusingly. "You can't make him break that promise!"
"He's in on it, Cameron," Multikirby replied. "He...killed you, remember?"
Cameron began to choke. "I...I don't know why he did that, but Chaos would never try to hurt me!"
This only made Multikirby look even more guilty. "He...he was tough to convince. He got really sad when I told him he had to kill you."
"Wait," Cameron stopped him. "When Chaos got all depressed. That was you?"
Multikirby nodded solemnly. "I'm his friend, Cameron. I don't like seeing him like that. But we both knew it had to be done."
"Why?! What did I do to deserve this?!" Cameron's voice began to crack, and sadness began to seep through, leaking into his tone.
Multikirby took a deep breath. "It was a mistake, Cameron. You made a huge mistake."
Fey took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the clinic. Liz opened the door. "Oh, Fey. Hi," she greeted.
"Hey. Is Cece here?" she asked, trying not to betray anything with her tone of voice.
Liz nodded. "He's in his room. Should I go get him?"
"No, no, I'll get him," Fey said quickly.
"Alright," Liz said with a nod. "Don't forget, you have follow-up tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Fey dismissed absently. She knocked on the door to Toby's room. "Toby? You in there?"
"Yep," came his voice, though it was a bit shaky.
Fey opened the door slowly, and entered the room. Toby was on the other side of the room, sitting on his bed. He was staring hard at his feet, seemingly concentrating very hard at something.
"You okay, Toby?"
"H-huh?" He looked up at her, his eyes red. It was as if he hadn't slept in the past week, though he had looked normal when she had left him.
"You...you are Toby, right?"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah, I am. I'm Toby," he said, before going back to staring at his feet.
Fey walked up to him, concerned. "Are you ready to go?"
"Um...Fey, I need to tell you something," he said, his voice straining suddenly.
"Okay, shoot."
"I don't think you're going to like it, but you have to hear me out, okay?"
Fey heard a small alarm go off in the back of her head, alerting her that something wasn't right. She dismissed the feeling for now. "Yeah, of course."
Toby took a deep breath. "I...I wasn't in the library with you, Fey. You know that, right?"
"Yes..."
"So I didn't hear the stuff that Linden said."
"Uh huh."
"But...somebody told me about what was said, so I sort of know what went on."
"Okay."
"So I don't want you to freak out when I say this because it's my opinion, okay?"
"What is it, Toby?"
"I don't think Liz and Ash are crazy," Toby finished, "and I'm going to stay in Wyvern."
Fey stared at him for a few moments, before frowning. "Toby, I'm not really in the mood to joke around right now. We need to go."
Toby closed his eyes and shook his head, grimacing. "No, Fey. I'm not going. You can leave if you want. But I'm not leaving."
The alarms in her head began to grow louder. She peered at him curiously. "Toby, please. I'm serious. I'm leaving right now. Have you not finished packing? I can help you," she said as she began to look around the room for things to put in his bag. "Actually, I was wondering if I could pack some of my stuff in your bag; my backpack's really small, and-"
"Fey."
She stopped. "Toby...you aren't serious, are you?"
"I'm serious. I'm staying here. I'm sorry, Fey," Toby said solemnly, looking at the ground.
"B-but..." Fey tried to search for some sort of reasoning as her eyes grew hot from holding back tears. "What about mom, Toby? What about Earth?"
"What about it?" he asked. "How do we know it even exists, Fey? What if there's no way back? What if mom's dead?"
"Toby!"
Toby's voice began to waver, too. "I've been thinking a lot about this, Fey. I don't want to admit it, but...mom's probably dead. She lost you. She lost dad. And then she lost me. I...I don't think she'd be able to take it."
Fey stalked up to him with fire in each step. "Don't you dare say that!" she scolded him hotly. "She's still alive! I know she is!"
"No, you don't, Fey!" Toby retorted, raising his voice. "You think she's alive! And I think she's dead! And we're doing what we both think is right!"
"You're being stupid!" Fey screamed.
"I'm being smart!" Toby shot back.
"No, you aren't!"
"Yes, I am!"
"No, you aren't!"
"Yes, I am!"
"Idiot!"
"Idiot times infinity!"
"You want me to leave? Fine!" Fey turned around quickly for the door.
"I don't even care!" Toby yelled. "Go ahead and die up there!"
"I think I will! I'll tell mom you were too scared to come!"
"It's going to be hard to tell her when you're six feet under!"
The two siblings stood there, breathing heavily. Neither of them moved as the anger slowly dissipated from the room.
Fey let out a breath. "So you're serious about this, Toby?"
"I am."
She walked closer to him, slowly, tears welling up in her eyes. "What about me? I've...I've looked all this time for you...I've spent three years looking for you, and now you're saying you're going to leave me?"
"You can stay with me, Fey," Toby said hopefully. "We could live together!"
Fey's look fell even farther. "I can't," she whispered. "I want to go home. I need to go home."
"So this is...goodbye, then?" Toby asked, his voice barely above silence.
Fey nodded, squinting her eyes shut to try to push back tears. Brother and sister walked forward and embraced for the last time.
"Goodbye, Fey."
"Goodbye, Matthew."
"What mistake?" Cameron refused to look at Multikirby now. "What mistake could I have made to deserve this?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I just can't. I'm sorry," Multikirby said, sitting down.
Cameron knew that it was useless pressing the matter. He sat down next to Multikirby. They sat beside each other in silence for a long time.
"...So what happens now, then?" Cameron asks.
Multikirby looked up at him. "You stay here, I guess."
"And you?"
"I'm...I'm not even here right now, Cam."
"What?"
"And neither are you."
Cameron stood up. "What?!"
"You're just pixels, Cameron. You only exist as words on a page. I'm writing every word you say right now. And I'm just a projection of my actual self behind the computer. I'm not actually talking to you."
Cameron began to back up. "No..."
"I'm sorry...but this is the way it has to be. I'm only writing this because I cherish realism in the plot. And...it's finished," Multikirby said finally. "I'm really sorry, Cam, but...this is how it has to be."
"No! Multi, don't leave! Please!"
Multikirby gave him a sad smile. "Don't worry. You'll have company soon."
And suddenly he disappeared, leaving Cameron alone in the empty whiteness.
Toby looked at his sister for the last time before the door closed with a quiet click. He walked back and sat on his bed. He'd made the right decision. This was the right choice. It was what Matthew would have done.
So why did he feel so sad?
He picked up the journal and flipped through the pages, reading through everything he and his alternate personalities had gone through since the beginning. There was still so much unexplained. But he'd have all the time in the world to figure it out.
Deciding to tell the others the news, he opened the journal and began to write.
"Okay, guys, I've weighed all the options, and...I think it's the best idea to stay in Wyvern," Toby wrote. "Fey and I said goodbye to each other, and she's gone up to Corfort alone. I know it seems wrong, but I know that it'll be better for all of us this way. It's safer. So I've decided we're staying here, okay?"
"...You best be jesting, Toby," Adrian replied. "That had better be some kind of sick joke."
"Toby you didn't really say that stuff did you?" David asked. "When's Fey coming?"
"No, he isn't kidding," Daphne wrote, smiling the entire time. "Fey's come and gone. Matthew made the right choice."
"Matthew made-" Alice's jaw dropped. "You didn't."
"Toby...?" Mia wrote slowly. "Toby, you don't actually think you're Matthew, do you? Wait. No. That came out wrong. We can't be certain that you're the original."
"...I'm sorry, but I just feel like I know," Toby tried to explain. "It's hard to pinpoint why, but...I just know."
"Ooh, so do I!" Adrian mocked. "I have this feeling deep inside! I'm Matthew! My heart tells me, so I know it just has to be true! Don't you think so?"
"Toby, I don't think I have to tell you that you're being an idiot," Tristan said caustically.
"We're all Matthew, Toby. We're all Matthew equally, right?" Alice tried to pacify the situation. "That makes sense, right? We're all one eighth of Matthew."
"You and I both know that's crap, Alice," Daphne replied. "Someone was here first. One of us is the original person that this traumatized brain belongs to. The rest of us are results of a disease."
"You're trying to start a fight..." David pointed out. "Why?"
"If you think you're Matthew, Toby," Tristan said lowly, "I can prove you aren't."
"Dude, I know you think you're some hot shot after facing off against Linden, but don't oversell yourself," Adrian retorted.
"I think we're all important," Toby tried to defend himself. "I just think that I'm the original. Am...I not allowed to think that?"
"You aren't allowed to overrule the rest of us based on an assumption you don't have any substantial evidence for!" Mia scolded. "Fey is gone because of you, and the rest of us were going to go with her! But because Daphne gave you a power trip, she's going alone! And we're never going to see our family again!"
"In all honesty, most of our family is probably dead," Daphne added.
"Toby, let me ask you this." Tristan fiddled with the pen in his stub before he came up with a good question. "If you really were Fey's younger brother, and you really grew up with her in the hard times with your dad being sick, and you losing your voice...if the two of you developed that bond - and Matthew and Fey did have that bond, as evidenced by the fact that she spent three years looking for a way to get back to you - then why did you abandon her on a quest you thought to be both pointless and life-threatening? Why did you leave her alone when she clearly wanted you to come with her? Why did you let her go in lieu of two complete strangers whom are said to be dangerous by everyone close to you? Would Matthew do that?"
Toby stared at the words on the page. He felt as if a stone slab had settled itself over his heart, crushing it further and further into oblivion. Tristan...he was right. Matthew would have gone with Fey, if for no other reason than to help her through. Matthew wouldn't have abandoned his sister.
But he did.
"Oh...oh, no...what have I done...?" Toby's entire being was filled with guilt as he realized he had taken his sister away from his friends.
The guilt ate away at Toby as the gravity of his decision sunk in. He drove his face into the pillow on his bed and screamed. Breaking into heavy sobs, he kicked and punched the bed, yelling his vocal cords hoarse. After he couldn't speak, Toby resorted to weeping. He spent what felt like an eternity of remorse on that bed as it slowly became soaked in his tears.
Finally, he sat up. He felt empty, hollow. He didn't deserve to be here. He wasn't a part of the body. He'd caused everyone harm. He'd hurt them. He couldn't be here anymore.
And so he didn't resist when he felt something pulling him back. And he didn't resist when he got the feeling he would never surface again.
Fey wiped away the tears in her eyes as she left Wyvern. This was it. She was leaving her brother here. If he could survive...good on him, but...
Looking back at the once-bustling village, Fey took a deep breath. Matthew was there. And she'd never see him again. It was painful...
But he had had a point. Her mother was unstable from the beginning. Every second she wasted being sentimental was another second her mother spent alone. And she couldn't bear that. So, keeping a stiff upper lip, Fey set out for the river.
The journey was quiet, filled with self-reflection. All that time she had spent looking for Matthew...it was gone. This is what had resulted from it. Fey was leaving him in this world alone. Her younger brother...
Though was he? Really? They had both grown quite a bit during the time they've been here. They'd both changed. But Matthew had changed the most. He...was that orange puffball in the clinic even her brother anymore? There were eight of them...eight people in his body...
No. That wasn't even his body. It was...a vehicle. Some sort of vehicle for the disorder. Those eight personalities that have hold of that body...she'd never thought about it much, but...
Which one is Matthew?
Then another thought occured to her.
Are any of them Matthew...?
Looking back on her life on Earth, she knew her brother. He was very...complicated. Even before coming here, he seemed to have different sides to him. But then again, who didn't? Even Fey herself acted differently depending on who she was with.
"I guess everybody has Multiple Personality Disorder in a way," Fey said aloud as she walked through the frozen field. The snow that was falling in Wyvern had long since dispersed, giving a feeling of stasis among the grey landscape before her. The world, for that moment, was silent, inhabited only by Fey and her footsteps, crushing the icy grass below her. Eventually the small crunches were accompanied by a distant roar.
The river.
She could see it now. There was a gap in the scenery, a gap that heralded the presence of the raging rapids. Upon approaching the monochrome waters, she realized with dismay that the level had risen since she had last been here. Not only that, but the current seemed much too strong for her to swim through safely.
Her view was pulled to the small hill that ended in a cliff above the river. If she could build up speed, she may be able to jump the gap. She slowly climbed up the hill and looked at the waters below. Bubbles of air swirled below her in a demented dance, threatening to swallow her up and chill her core until there was nothing left.
She was understandably apprehensive about this. She turned around to give herself room to run up and build speed.
Fey's eyes widened as she saw Matthew running towards her. "You came!" she yelled happily, waiting for him to catch up at the top of the hill.
But as he came closer, Fey began to notice something...unnatural about him. Just the way he carried himself. It was nobody she had ever seen before in his body. He walked up to Fey with a strange look in his eyes.
Suddenly, with a swift kick, she was hanging off the ledge, over the grey rapids, screaming.
"MATTHEW!" She tried to make herself heard over the rapids. "HELP ME UP!"
But Matthew shook his head. He placed his foot on Fey's stub, and began to press down. There was an evil glint in his eye as he bent down.
"It's nothing against you, Fey..." she whispered. "I want them to suffer..."
And with a painful grind against the frozen grass, Fey fell into the rapids below.
"NOOOOOO!"
Water was everywhere. Fey panicked, trying madly to surface, but the uncontrollable currents of the water disoriented her, removing her sense of direction. The absolute cold of the water chilled her to the bone, stiffening any movements she made. She cried out in pain as she struck an outstanding rock in the riverbed, depleting her of what little air she had left. Flailing her limbs, hoping against hope to grab onto something...
Water began to fill her lungs as Fey began to feel lightheaded. Her movements became more and more sluggish, her struggles becoming more and more subdued, until as Fey took her final breath, they stopped altogether.
Fey Choreman was dead.
Fey woke up gasping for breath. She rubbed her eyes free of any of the frigid river water that was left, and looked around. There wasn't that much to see...there was only white...
White...and a boy.
"No...no, you can't be...he killed you!? No! No, no, no!"
This boy was a teenager, and from the looks of it, he had been crying. He seemed absolutely distraught to see her here.
"No...You're dead? You can't be dead!" he murmured as he sank to his knees on the blank ground.
"What's going on here?"
He raised his head to look at Fey. "I'm...I'm so sorry. This is my fault."
"Who are you?"
"My...my name is Multikirby. I brought you to where you were. I put you through a lot of what you just experienced. And...I killed you."
"W-What? I'm dead?"
"Y...Yes. You're dead. We're dead. I'm...I'm so...so...sorry."
TO BE CONTINUED...