Nightmare

Chapter 29

"Aren't you going to come in?"

You and your siblings look at one another. With a shrug, you push open the door cautiously. Stepping into the room, you come face to face with the one person on this Earth you hate the most. But, they look wrong.

Amos is standing in the middle of the room, their signature smile resting lazily across their lips. Their black hair tousled the way it normally is, swaying with the light breeze coming from the open window in the room. The issue comes from Amos' pale skin, stretched tightly over visible bone, and, from what you can tell, looks like black veins traveling all over their body.

"You've noticed the consequences of my actions, huh?"

"Those veins..."

"Came from me trying to transfer your power to me," Amos confirms, wincing as they shift their stance. "From what Circe can tell, she believes that your shadows were moved to me, but were not permanently melding with my body. Which leaves shadows I have no control of taking over my body."

They sigh, shrugging their shoulders. "A truly unfortunate side effect. But, considering you haven't launched a shadow at my heart, you don't seem to have control over them either."

You clench your fist, glaring at him. "Yeah, well I'm still pretty good with blades."

"I know." Amos coughs into their fist. "So am I."

"Yeah, I've got a few scars to prove that," you huff. "Echo and Gaia do too."

Amos' eyes move down to the karambit you are clenching in your hand. Their smile grows at the sight. "You know that blade won't be enough to kill me. It's cute though. Small."

"You don't exactly look as formidable as normal. In fact, you look like a strong gust of wind could knock you over."

"Looks can be deceiving."

You don't like the glint in their eye.

"Erebus," Gaia cautions, inching closer to you. "Careful."

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Echo tensing up.

"Yes Erebus, be careful," Amos mocks, moving a step forward. Then two.

"Amos, stop fucking moving," Echo hisses from his position by the door.

"You know Erebus," Amos hums, wincing a little on their next step. "Or is it Sol you prefer? A bit bright for such a fucked up person, but hey, I'm not judging."

"Shut up."

At this point, you are white knuckling your dagger.

They stop a few feet away from you. "The last time you and I went face to face, even with your abilities, you were left impaled on a rusted fence. And look at that little scar peaking out!."

Your free hand moves to rest against the aforementioned scar.

"And again, you had your abilities then. Now you don't. Do you really think that you can beat me without them? You almost bled out when you had them."

"You had a fucking army!" You snap, crossing the remaining space between you. Your hand shoots out, grasping their collar and tossing them to the side.

Amos makes no indication that it hurt them. "There's that fire!"

Amos shoots forward and you whip your body around to avoid their hand grabbing you. Your knee slams up into their chest, kicking them back. Amos grunts, a cough ripping from their throat.

"You're slower now," you comment, raising an eyebrow. "Wonder why that is?"

Amos lets out a rough laugh. "You get one good hit in and get cocky?"