4 years, 10 months and a week post SSundee's 'death'

Sky's POV
"GUYS GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW!"

I stood up. I'd been sitting at my computer sifting through old photos of our friend group; now I crossed the room and opened my bedroom door.

"WHAT IS IT?!" I hollered back down to Mitch.

Deadlox bolted past my door and downstairs. I strained my ears and heard the sound of the TV being turned up. I left my bedroom and started down the stairs, walking into the living room and stopping dead when I saw the TV screen. The newsreader was talking but I couldn't hear her words. The picture beside her was of a granite wall. That wasn't anything close to the thing that scared me. There was a thick blood smear all the way across it. A dead body was propped up against the wall, it's stomach gouged open, blood pooling around it. My stomach turned when I saw bloody handprints on the wall too, like the murderer had scooped his victims insides out with their bare hands and pressed their blood covered hands to the wall, making a grisly statement. The murders were getting worse, and worse...Minecraftia was living in perpetual terror now.

Then, the picture changed, a close up shot. It panned round and I saw Ty's eyes widen, the flickering light of the television screen in the darkened room dancing in his eyes like firelight. There were words on the wall, painted with the blood.

I. AM. ALIVE.

Mitch glanced at me, eyebrows raised. "Check this out, someone's trying to make a statement." I snorted bitterly in agreement, then I looked at Ty again.

I froze.

He looked horrified.
He gripped the back of the nearest armchair, his fingernails digging into it as his legs shook. Like he was trying to seek an anchor to reality in the wood. "N-no...this can't happen again...it can't!" Mitch didn't say anything, just looked at Ty in confusion. I took a shallow breath, suddenly feeling unsettled. "Ty...what are you talking about, I know you are probably blaming yourself, but it's not your fault you missed the murder-?"

"WE SAW IAN FALL OFF A CLIFF SKY! HOW COULD ANYONE, EVEN HIM SURVIVE THAT?!"

The room went silent.

"Wh-what?..."

Mitch had gone deathly white.

"Ty...you're...you're making this up. I know you're stressed, but...this is not time for games. This isn't funny, Ty!"

I struggled to swallow.

"Ty...Ian didn't survive that. Whatever these crimes are, they're something different..."

None of us moved. None of us spoke.

"They...they have to be."

We were all frozen in shock.
Ty was gasping for breath, like a beached whale.

"I-I saw Ian...I swear I did. About 4 months ago...in a village. I didn't tell anyone - I didn't want to believe it. I didn't even tell my men. And...now..."

I couldn't move. I could only hear my heart pounding in my head.

"Ty. Ian, is, dead. Remember that."

Ian's POV
YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD CONTAIN ME?! I was backed up against the wall, Derp's face, contorted and twisted in fury and triumph, inches away from mine. "WHAT ELSE WAS I MEANT TO DO?! I wasn't going to put my friends in danger again after nearly dying for nothing!"

He growled, baring his teeth in a grin. "You, are, nothing."

I stood in shock at the harshness of his words, then red hot, burning anger flowed through me. It hit my brain, like molten magma. "I HATE YOU!" I leapt at him, sending him crashing to the ground as I punched him. He grabbed my throat, fury burning in his eyes. Then, he threw me at the wall and I heard a crack as my head hit it hard. My vision blurred as I slumped to the floor, blinking tears away as my head throbbed painfully, my neck aching from whiplash. I saw his red eyes staring down at me. He was laughing at me. Hate burnt my entire being to the core and I struggled to my feet. "You. Have. Ruined. My. LIFE!" I grabbed his collar and kneed him in the stomach, before getting him in a headlock. He gasped in pain and twisted out of it, grabbing the back of my neck and throwing me to my knees, kicking me in the ribs. I exhaled sharply in pain through my nose and whipped round, taking his legs out from beneath him and getting my hands round his throat.

He growled and kicked out, hitting me hard in the stomach. I yelled in pain but refused to let go. "I WILL KILL YOU!" As I stared into his crooked eyes, I realised it wasn't just him staring back at me. I stared deeper and saw a flicker of myself inside of him. I saw fear in his eyes. No...I WASN'T him. I wasn't a murderer.

I wouldn't let him make me think that!

I let go of his throat, still staring at him as he back-pedalled away from me, fear still etched on his face. Wait...he, was scared, of me? I got to my feet and stared down at him.

"I don't even know you.", I hissed. "You have ruined my life, but you're a stranger to me. Who are you Derp SSundee? Are you me? Or are you someone else? Something else?"

He swallowed hard and got to his feet. Same height as me. Same scars as me. Same everything; but, different eyes. Different past. And, as I stared at him, I saw a different person. Someone trapped in darkness.

...For years, in darkness. Alone. Then, a screen appearing.
Hope.
Companionship, again? After so, long...?
Then, hate, brewing.
Jealousy.
Why-

That was as far as I got, before his hand seized my throat, dragging me towards him. Don't ask me, I don't know either. Then, he dropped me and melted back into the shadows in my mind, leaving me even more confused and scared than ever before.