So, a new departure for me. This is hopefully the start of a much longer work, with shifting POV and a fair amount of originality. As such, I would love comments either positive or negative. I think this initial story stands on its own...

Broken Lyric:
Broken Dreams

It was a dark, grey morning on the outskirts of Neopia Central. I drained the last of my coffee from the mug, wondering even now if what I was doing wasn't wrong.

"Dazzledawn," I called up the stairs again. "Come on. It's nearly nine o'clock."

"You're mean." My Uni's hooves clattered on the landing as she headed downstairs. "I wanted to sleep some more. School doesn't start until ten on Thursdays."

"No excuses, Dazzledawn." I used her full name again, something I had only used to do when she was in trouble. I wondered if she could detect that something was wrong. "Come down here."

"I'm coming, Lyric." With a yawn, she jumped off the bottom stair and dragged her hooves to the kitchen table. "You OK? You look kind of grouchy. What's for breakfast?"

"This." Without looking at her, I pushed a plate across the table. "You'd better eat all of it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dazzle sniff at the cold omelette I'd just put down. It wasn't the Neocrunch she'd been used to getting from me. Over the last few days, as the plan of what I was going to do had become clearer in my mind, I'd quit spoiling her in a variety of ways, but the cheerful breakfasts before school had been the last to go. With a slightly startled expression, she chewed her omelette in silence and drank the glass of water I'd set at her place.

"You have to sign my school planner," she told me. "There's a note in it about the trip next Tuesday. We're going to Shenkuu."

Tuesday. I counted in my head. Five days from now. Perhaps, if she was very lucky, it would work out that she could go after all. The chances were against it.

"You're not going to school today, Dazzledawn," I said, keeping my voice flat. I had no intention of giving her the impression she was receiving some kind of treat. I owed her that much. "We're too busy. Get your breakfast finished, we're going out."

While Dazzle toyed with her scarf in front of the hall mirror, I entered our bedroom, my oldest bag slung over one arm. The bag was big enough for a few of the toys she actually took an interest in, and I felt we should take them with us. The fur brush landed on top of her favourite Fuzzle with a dull clatter. I slipped Dazzle's lucky shoe into the pocket of my jeans, taking care not to let it fall as I bent down to fasten up the bag.

The rain started just as we were leaving the house. Dazzle wrinkled her nose, but she didn't say anything. We headed past the school gates and towards the centre of the city.

Lyric without a melody. Song without a tune. Who will I become?

The words echoed in my head, a flash of emotion that I did my best to ignore. Now was no time for such feelings.

"Lyric?" Dazzle paused, flicking a wet leaf from her mane. "Can I go and stay over at Neill's house for a few days? He says I can."

I hesitated. "This is sudden, Dazzledawn. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know…" She shifted her hooves, a little uneasy. "I think it'd be nice if we got to do our own stuff for a bit. You know, I could make ice cream sandwiches and play Godori and braid my mane and you could…" She trailed off. Evidently, she was stuck for ideas of what I would do without her. "Knit socks. Or something. I think we could do with the space."

"Space. Yeah." I took a deep breath of the rain-filled air. "Dazzledawn, there's something I have to tell you."

"We're moving house?" she guessed. I knew she had wanted a room of her own for a long time, but my expression checked her, and the smile vanished before it had begun. "Lyric, what is it?"

"You must have noticed that we just haven't been getting along lately." That was a half-truth. Dazzle had continued with her happy life as easily as night following day, while my mind had become clouded. "The truth is… Dazzledawn, I just can't say that I like you any more."

"You don't like me?" She almost laughed. "Lyric, if I've been misbehaving, you can tell me off like normal. You don't have to try and act like my best friend. You're my owner. Just tell me what I did wrong."

"I don't know where to begin." I studied her with ice-cold eyes, watching the half-smile that pleaded with me to tell her what she could mend, what she could change. "You're always late for school. I've read you dozens of books, but if I ask you the simplest question, you giggle and shuffle your hooves like some airheaded Usul. You've used up all my savings on treats and games and that Spotted Paintbrush, and never once thought if I'd like to do anything for myself. You stay up late and eat all the ice cream in the house. You—"

"Lyric, why didn't you tell me this before?" Dazzle gazed at me puzzledly. "I can change, you know. You don't have to be upset."

"It's too late for that, Dazzledawn." I sighed. "I've tried to put up with you for this long, but it just isn't working. It isn't enough for you to change. You can't be someone totally different from who you are."

"Then what's the point in telling me all this?" Her voice had started to tremble. "Lyric… you wouldn't tell me I'm a bad pet just to be cruel, would you? Why tell me, if I can't change?"

"So you'll understand," I said quietly, tossing the bag across for her to catch. "We're here."

My Uni's eyes turned to the contents of the bag, then to the building opposite us, and back to me. For a moment, she stood speechless as she suddenly realised what I had been trying to tell her.

"L-Lyric, you wouldn't!" The words came out in a breathless rush. "Lyric, you're my owner! I love you!"

"This morning you told me I was mean," I pointed out, scrabbling for Neopoints in my pocket. "Now you're telling me you love me because you think it'll change my mind? I told you, I don't like you, Dazzledawn—"

"Dazzle. Dazzle." She was in tears now, hammering her hooves against the wet pavement. "My name is Dazzle. You can't be the real Lyric. She would know not to call me by my full name."

"This isn't some kind of Neopian Times story, Dazzledawn." Her foolish hope just frustrated me further. "Nobody's impersonating me. I am the real Lyric, and…" With a sigh, I pushed open the damp-swelled wooden door. "I've changed."

The Techo doctor was on duty at the desk. One small comfort, at least. He'd seen this scene a thousand times before. As Dazzle struggled, trying to run for the door, he held her back with one claw while the other scratched a few words in ink-bleeding biro. "Dazzledawn. Spotted female Uni, no Petpet. Old owner, Lyricalised. Reason for disownment…?"

I gave a careless shrug. "We just don't suit each other any more. I'm fed up with trying."

"Very well." The sound of the rubber stamp slamming down on the disownment form echoed like a funeral bell. "Two hundred and fifty Neopoints' upkeep fee. Everything seems to be in order. This Uni is now under the care of the Neopian Pound and no longer your responsibility."

"Lyric, Lyric." Dazzle kept calling for me even as she was led away, tears streaming down her face. I could hear Dr. Death attempting to offer what comfort he could, talking about kind adopters, new friends, his colleague Rosie who was a Uni herself. She stayed inconsolable, the stereotype of an abandoned pet to the end.

I slammed the door of the Pound behind me. The pets nearby were busy with selling and buying, painting and speculating. No-one paid me much attention as I slipped through the maze of alleyways behind the shops and out onto the quietest path I could find.

The rain was harder now, soaking me to the skin. I shook the worst of it from my sleeves and raised my eyes to the grey sky.

"I've done it," I said softly. "I've abandoned her."

Glad to hear it. You've taken long enough since we last spoke.

"You told me she was the one," I snapped, clenching my fists tightly. "You said it was over. I used my real name, you know. She wasn't another foster project. I had a real life this time."

No. You had a normal life. This is your real life.

I could feel the winds whipping my hair off my face. For a moment, I closed my eyes to keep off the sting of the rain. When I opened them again, my hair was still straight and swept by the wind, but a few strands lay at my feet, sliced to brutally shorten what was left. Already what remained was turning from caramel brown to black, scorched dark in a moment's time.

"Will I ever see her again?" The question was quick and unsubtle, but I was in no mood for games.

The Uni will find a new owner, came the response, casual and efficient as ever. You did a good job. With her Spotted coat and attractive manner she will have no trouble being adopted quickly. You need not worry about her.

"Worry about her…" The laugh that escaped my lips was half a sob. "What about me?"

Your name is Charmeir. You are nineteen years old, and a Neopian for six months. Your pet, a Darigan Zafara, before he flew away to Mystery Island and left you alone, spoke of a sister. That is the pet you are trying to find.

"No." I had been misunderstood once more, and it hurt. "I don't mean my story. What about me? Who am I without Dazzle?"

You are one of ours, Charmeir. The answer was not unkind. You are one of the only ones to know what is actually happening in Neopia at this moment. We know you will not let us down.

No. I wouldn't let them down, it was true. This was far more important than me, than Dazzle, than Kera or Liss or Lucky Angel or Trinye or any of the others. I had lost so much for this already, whispered the voice in my head. To carry on would only be a little more pain. Only a little.

Charmeir?

I took off my jacket absently, laying it on the pavement next to the last few clippings of my hair. "All right. I'm coming."

Somewhere, the autumn rain was scattering on the roof of an empty Neohome that would never be lived in again. Somewhere, the ornament I'd tried to sculpt for Dazzle's room would never be completed. The jacket I'd cast off lay behind me on the wet ground, darkening as the rain continued to pour.

Lyric was dead.