Content Warnings 

-Racism

-implied swearing

-gambling references

-coughing

Lyn and Armina dropped down into the dome. The crystular shell closed outside, locking them inside, but keeping Taipan out. Below them were the big metal hands holding Amara.

There was a blinding flash of silver light. A long blade struck at Lyn, sending her flying back to the walls. 

She landed perfectly, but Armina not so much. Armina fell to the ground, coughing like wild.

Silver mist covered Armina. 

“I'm….sorry…,” she called out.

Eventually, she ceased her coughing and stood up. She pointed her sword at Lyn.

“You’ve got ‘bust’, Reaper,” the newly transformed Amara called out, looking down from where she was, glaring at Lyn.

“Is that right?” she questioned, the wound from her strike healing.

Chapter XXXI

Lynception

AKT XII

Bet

Lyn circled her, “Looks like ya found the secret ingredient,”

“Get fricked,” she snapped.

“Ya get fricked,”

“Get friiiicked!” {reference to DMC: Devil May Cry}

“Such a Shakespearean dialogue,” Lyn chuckled, snapping her fingers. “What d’ya think yer doin’ Patridiot?”

“Stop. Calling. Me. That!” she snapped, pointing, her frick off sized sword.

“Hypocrite much, ya just called me ‘Reaper’ a sec ago, ahn-,”

“Should I call you ‘mede’ instead?” she snapped, gritting her teeth.

Lyn narrowed her eyes, “Only if I can call ya racist,”

“Oh please, ya medes call each other that as ‘term of endearment’ all the time,”

“Wow, really goin’ mask ain’t ya. I had higher hopes fur ya Patri-,”

A silver light almost struck Lyn. She sidestepped it. It left a crack in the wall.

“-diot,”

“Frick! OOOFFFF!” she exclaimed, her hands and knees on the edge of the hands.

“If yer gonna censor yer swearin’, at least expand yer vocalubary{vocabulary}, like kob, stick, twitch, blunt, tat, ace, clock. Darn, that's an easy one,”

“‘Re ya done yet?” Amara growled.

Lyn flipped her scarf like a mean girl flips her hair and chuckled, “Oh lassie, I wish, I don’t even know the joys of falling asleep. So there is no off switch,”

Amara took a deep breath, and sighed, “What d’ya want, Mede?”

“Money. Lots of money actually. Bein’ loaded as that tat that raised me is one of me life’s aspirations,” she remarked, snapping her fingers, tilting her body to the left and winking upwards.

“I meant, what d’ya want in…I hate ya,” She responded, slouching down.

“Oh, thanks fur appreciatin’ me work P-,”

“SHUT UP! I’d ask if’ya knew how irritatin’ ya were, but I know *darn well* that ya do!” She exclaimed, having the torso bring her down. “Yuv lost. The nightmare controls this here dream realm-,”

She pointed at the white hallway behind them, “an’ soon the grey’ll fill the Hollow Realm too,”

“Is that really what ya want?” Lyn asked, eyes narrowed, voice cold.

“I want respect,”

“Yer a Drescher supporter,”

“An’ Dreschers have *respect*,”

“From other Dreschers, moron. Everyone else is either afraid of ‘em ‘r hates ‘em,”

“That’s just another form of respect,”

She pointed a finger, “Ahn that’s how lonely people cope with no one likin’ ‘em. Yer sis has been quiet since ya let the grey in. Is that what ya call respect?”

Amara sighed, “I’ll give ya whatever information ya want, as long as ya leave me be. Ya ain’t needed ‘ere no more,”

Lyn glanced around the room. Armina showed no signs of personality, not that it was easy to tell through the armour. The armour still had a bit of purple on it though.  

She glanced up at the giant torso that once housed the grifters. It showed no signs of movement, but would definitely be an annoyance in combat. Taipan was outside, trying to break in, and she’d find a path in eventually.

Lyn looked back at Amara and sighed, “Yer so annoyin’ Patridiot. This was supposed to be a simple, smash ahn grab job! Yet ya just had to make things consistently annoyin’ fur me!”

“Ditto,”

She pulled down her hood, revealing an appearance close to her Colour Realm form, albeit unstable, “Ditto? DITTO! What d’ya know about ditto!? This would’ve all been over nice ahn easy if ya hadn’t caused so much trouble back at the newspapier world! By Omnes, I’m ready to throw me own funeral at how much trouble this crap has been! Yer sis got in me way twice! TWICE!”

She pointed her finger, “Yer nightmares trapped me in the walls of a boardin’ school while ya pranced ‘round doin’ nothin’! Ya thought we should watch yer wet dreams with the ex ya prolly got killed! Everythin’ yuv done has made this mess worse fur both of us. If ya just shaddup while I did me job, none of this would’ve happened!?”

Amara shook her head, her lip twitching, “What’s yer answer, Lyn?”

“Eh, why not? I’m lookin’ fur information on whether anythin’ has washed up on the shores of Hafennest,” she shrugged.

“hm…I know that the Gate formation would’ve caused disturbances in the silent waters, but I don’t recall any news about rubble. Most of the news going about Reisenest is about that big train derailment near Rem,” Amara questioned leaning against her big frick off sword and placing her hand on her chin.

Lyn hunched down.

[She was reminded of the events of Reaper on the Rails. How she slipped on the train, only to encounter Thorn Red. Thorn Red then got her in trouble and destroyed the engine of the train, leading to it spinning wildly out of control. From that point onward, she was forced to walk for around a week].

Her eye twitched, “‘re ya sayin’ that I’ve been wastin’ my Omnes darned time!?”

She exploded, jumping around and flailing her arms, “NO WONDER IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO FIND THE INFORMATION I’M LOOKIN’ FUR, CAUSE IT AIN’T HERE! WHY DID I WASTE SO MUCH TIME!?”

“Cause yer a real moron,” Amara chuckled.

“I guess ya got that right,” Lyn smirked.

Amara snapped her fingers, “Now hold up yer end of the bargain,”

“Fair enough,” she responded.

She raised her right hand up high. She brought her thumb and her middle finger together. Aaaand….

She raised her pointer finger.

“Ya know ‘why not’?” she asked, flashing a wink.

Amara’s eyes widened. They sharped, her fangs laid bare.

“Bet,” she called, readying her ruler.

In a flash, Amara SMASHED her blade down on Lyn. Lyn pulled out her ruler and using two hands, she blocked the strike.

End of Scene I……….