My head hurt. My own body felt heavy, almost foreign. Did I fall asleep? The last thing I remembered was... what was the last thing I remembered? I could only recall being in the warmth of my room, messing around on my laptop. But now I was lying on a hard floor, with no laptop in sight, and surrounded by bitter cold. What was I doing here?

I heard someone calling a name. My name. But the things being said didn't make sense to me. What had I missed? What had happened?

Someone I didn't recognise was looking down at me with a concerned look on their face. "Did it work? Are you Darren again?"

"What do you mean?" I said, confused. "Of course I'm Darren."

The person gasped. "Martin! Martin, it worked!"

"Who's Martin?" I asked. "What did you mean, 'again'? Did what work?"

There was no reply. The person had gone away. I got to my feet slowly. All around me were big science-y looking things. I didn't remember any places like this where I lived. Where was I? I looked around and saw the person again, now crouched over another body on the floor. Somebody else was crouching next to him. Then suddenly, I realised why the person I'd seen earlier seemed so familiar.

"D-Deadlox!?" I yelled.

"What?" he said, turning to look at me.

I didn't know what to say. I just gawped. "What are you doing here?"

He stared back. "You okay buddy? You seem to be acting... real weird. Like you've forgotten why we're here or something."

"Uh... why are we here?"

Deadlox stared at me. "Martin?" he said slowly. "I think we have a problem."

"What is it?" came a voice, heavily accented.

"I think Darren's forgotten... um... everything."

The crouching person came running over to me. His face was familiar as well, and when I realised who it was that I was looking at, I could barely believe it. "Bodil!"

Bodil didn't even greet me. "Wow. This is definitely a problem."

"Should I just... explain everything to him?" Deadlox said.

Bodil sighed. "I think that's the only option."

But before Deadlox could tell me what the hell was going on, another voice cut through the air. "What? Where am I?"

And this time, there wasn't a trace of doubt in my mind as to who it was. I wasn't even in disbelief. After all, how could I not recognise the voice of my idol? "SKY!" I yelled, and ran over to the source of the voice. The body that was previously lying on the floor was now sitting up and looking at me. There was no mistaking it. This was Sky's face.

"Okay I don't really get what's going on but OH MY GOD SKY!" I yelled in excitement.

Sky just looked dazed. "Who are you? What happened?"

Deadlox laughed as he walked over. "You sound just like Darren did."

"Deadlox? Did you put me up to this?" Sky asked, before noticing Bodil. "And Martin! Since when did you visit America?"

Deadlox and Bodil looked at each other. "Well," Deadlox said, "I guess I'd better explain everything to both of you, then."

And he explained absolutely everything. He told us about the animium, his time spent with me, and the journey to Bulgaria. Mere hours ago, I had been in Sky's body. It was a lot to take in, to say the least. I couldn't remember any of it. It didn't seem real at all. And yet, looking at the situation I was in, it somehow made sense.

Being dragged out all the way to Bulgaria by two famous YouTubers had to have an important reason. And what could be more important than getting back to the body I was in? If this were some sort of prank, it'd have to be the most elaborate prank ever. And their story seemed so absolutely unbelievably absurd that it couldn't be made up. Somehow the unlikelihood of the whole ordeal just made it seem easier to believe.

Sky seemed to not be as believing as I was, though. "Nice one, guys," he laughed. "You had me for a moment. Did you drug me or something?"

"I think they're serious," I said quietly.

Sky looked at me. "Who are you anyway? Are you a fan or something? Or... Deadlox's brother? Anyway, I know you're in on this."

Deadlox sighed. "Don't bother trying, Darren. He'll realise soon enough."

Bodil nodded. "He'll believe you when you get on the plane."

"Plane?" Sky said. "Wasn't that whole Bulgaria bit a joke?"

"It was true. Like everything else," Deadlox said.

Sky smiled. "Fine then, Crazylox, let's get onto that plane."

Deadlox and Bodil exchanged looks. "No time like the present," Deadlox said eventually. "Let's go."

~o~O~o~

During the car ride to the airport, Sky was constantly looking outside, oddly silent. I realised that he was looking at the road signs, which were, of course, all in Bulgarian. The reality of the situation was probably just starting to sink in for Sky. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him being dragged along on this wild ride, even if I was in the same situation. Well... almost.

For me, this situation was completely insane considering who was present, so I didn't really have any better explanation as to why I'd suddenly be chilling with my idols. I was kind of gullible to boot, and had swallowed Deadlox's story fairly easily. But for Sky, this definitely seemed like a weird joke to him, and he was taking the reality hard.

All the while, Deadlox and Bodil were making casual conversation in the front. Occasionally they would try to include me in the conversation, but I was too afraid of saying something weird to actually say anything, and I was too busy contemplating the situation anyway.

The plane ride back was even more silent. Deadlox's attempts to strike up a conversation were futile, and Sky was staring out of the window again. Maybe he was asleep. We didn't dare to wake him.

The landing went without a hitch. We collected our bags, passed through all the gate checks, and finally stepped outside. Once we had exited the airport, Sky spoke.

"Hey... Darren," he said. My heart jumped a little when Sky addressed me.

"W-what is it?"

"Look. Frankly, I don't know who you are, and this is all... a bit too weird for me to handle. Forget this all ever happened, and go back to being a normal kid. To me, you're just a random fan, and that's how I'll always see you."

"Adam, you don't need to be so harsh on him," Deadlox said quickly. I barely heard him.

Even though he did have a point, it still felt like I had just been stabbed right in the heart. I couldn't respond. I hadn't even realised the stupid dream that had been building up in my head, that Sky and I would somehow become best friends, talking every day, recording videos together, and having fun.

But he was a famous YouTuber, and I was just a random fourteen-year-old. I couldn't blame him for wanting to cut me off. Why would he ever be interested in me? According to Deadlox, we had become somewhat close over the short time that we had been swapped, but Sky had forgotten all of that, and so had I. Even if that was what had really happened, it didn't feel real. It was easier to just ignore everything.

"Darren, are you okay?" Deadlox said eventually. I nodded.

"Sky's... right. We shouldn't talk to each other any more," I said, unable to look Deadlox in the eye.

"You don't look so sure."

Sky sighed. "Ty, you're making me look like the bad guy here."

Deadlox glared at him. "That's because you are the bad guy."

I looked at Deadlox, surprised. He was... defending me?

"Adam, I know you don't remember anything, but I do," Deadlox said fiercely. "You two were good friends before you forgot everything. I saw it all. Even if you won't be friends with Darren... I will."

My heart stopped. "What? Really?"

Deadlox smiled at me. This time, I looked him in the eye, and smiled back. I could feel my eyes welling up with tears of happiness.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Ty, please. He's dead weight. It really is best to leave him."

"For you, maybe," Ty snapped. "But unlike you, I actually care about Darren's feelings."

"Do we really need to discuss this now?" Sky sighed.

"You started the conversation!" Ty yelled. "Why are you blaming me for this?"

"I'm not blaming anyone. I just think it'd be better if we had this conversation later."

"You're just running away from this argument because you're losing, aren't you?"

"And so what if I am? Does it matter when we have this discussion?"

"You're shameful."

Deadlox turned to me. "Darren, we'll get a taxi. Let's ditch this guy."

"So now you're running away?" Sky called.

As they kept yelling, I felt increasingly uneasy. Why did I have to be so selfish? So what if Sky didn't want to talk to me? Deadlox had even said he'd be happy to stay friends with me. "Hey, Sky," I blurted out. Deadlox looked towards me, surprised, but Sky just let out a sigh.

"Oh look, it's the newest member of the 'let's make Sky out to be a total douche' club," Sky mocked. "What insightful things do you have to say?"

"If you really don't want to talk to me... that's fine," I said bravely.

Sky raised his eyebrows. "Well, all right then."

"Then it's settled."

"You hear that, Ty? It's settled."

"I'm sorry, what?" Deadlox said. "This argument isn't over."

"Yes it is," I said quickly, before Sky said something to provoke Deadlox. Sky merely nodded in agreement.

"Well." Deadlox looked a little confused. "I guess that's... okay then?"

Sky remained dead silent. Deadlox was preoccupied by trying to phone a taxi or something. So I was left alone with my thoughts.

Had I really done the right thing? My throat still felt tight. Even if I told myself otherwise, I really did want to talk to Sky some more. Who wouldn't? But he didn't want to talk to me. That's fine, I told myself. I'm being too selfish, I told myself.

The taxi arrived fairly quickly. Deadlox and I climbed in. Sky didn't follow. I only looked back once.

~o~O~o~

At first, the neverending sound of the Skype ringtone had really got to me, but now, it was only background noise. Landon hadn't stopped calling me ever since I got back. He'd even come round to my house and almost knocked down the door with his banging, but I completely ignored it.

I still couldn't remember anything from during the time I was in Sky's body. But Deadlox had told me more during the ride back, and even though I couldn't remember anything, I still felt betrayed. I knew Adam couldn't remember anything either, but... couldn't we at least be friends?

I turned over in my bed, my eyes tracing over the ceiling, the shelves, the wall... wait. Something was different. That mural... it was different.

My eyes widened when I noticed it. Very slightly more shaky than the other figures, and slightly unfitting. It had clearly been drawn by my own hand, but not from my mind.

I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Sky may no longer care about me, but other people do. I couldn't just lay around forever.

Skype was still ringing. Putting my headphones on, I moved the cursor over the 'answer' button. It was a little embarrassing, having such a childish outburst. Sure, it sucked that Sky wasn't going to talk to me, but who was more important: some guy who didn't really care about me and I'd only met less than a month ago, or a friend who I'd had since I was too young to know what the word 'friend' meant?

I picked up the Skype call. Before Landon could speak, I spoke first.

"Let's record."

~o~O~o~

"Hey guys and welcome to another Minecraft video. Today we're playing some survival games with my best friend Pixel."

"Hi."

"Sorry for not uploading much for the past few days, I've been... busy. So here's my first ever round of survival games on this channel. Get ready for failure!"

Landon laughed. "Come on, Fly, you're not that bad."

"I could be worse, I guess... I could be you."

"Ouch."

"Oh, oh, the clock's starting!"

As the numbers ticked down to zero, my mind wandered a little. A year had come and gone, and still no contact with Sky. Deadlox remained on my Skype contact list, but it'd been a few months since I'd last talked to him. I knew he was only talking to me out of pity. As I grew older, I realised how annoying I must have been back then, and I was probably still annoying honestly. Sky and Deadlox and everyone else were too old to care for a teen like me.

'Everyone else'... was there even an 'everyone else' now? Team Crafted had all split apart. I didn't even watch Sky's videos now. Yet Landon and I were still friends. That gave me an odd bit of satisfaction. I was sure the people of Team Crafted were still friends, but hey, Landon and I had our own little brand name now. The Bytes. Sure, there were only two of us at the moment, but we were still young. We'd recruit more members, and who knows? Maybe we could even surpass Team Crafted one day. Although that day would probably be a long time coming.

"Go go go!" yelled Landon. I ran away from the centre, into a small forest, following Landon. As I picked up weapons and food from various chests, a thought slipped across my mind. A thought that had been bothering me for a long time.

I couldn't remember anything from the time I was in Sky's body. Was that because I was actually in Darren's body? There was no way of finding out if the 'cure' had actually worked. Sure, I had memories of my... Darren's... earlier life, but how could I know that that wasn't the 'cure' doing something weird? For all I knew, it could've been some random other substance that induces fake memories.

"I'm getting attacked!" cried Landon. I gripped my sword in my hand and charged towards the fight. With me helping him now, it only took a couple seconds for our enemy to fall.

"Oh yeah, this still isn't Fly's one thousand subscriber milestone video, by the way," Landon said as he sorted through the items. "That's coming soon. Well, that's what he says."

"Yeah, I've been working on something special," I said. "I know it's a bit late... okay, a lot late, but hey, I'm only human."

"You're not only human, you're Fly, the laziest human ever," said Landon.

I laughed. "Yeah... that's me. Fly, the laziest human."

That was me. I wasn't Sky or anyone else. Maybe I had been at one point, but this was who I am now. And the present was the most important thing. It'd been a long journey, and I'd probably have trouble in the future to look forward to, but hey, I could at least enjoy life as it was now.

I am me. I am Darren. And that was good.