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✧.* C H A P T E R     F O U R *.✧

"...I'm pretty sure I just broke an NDA by accident...."

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"Jesus, you look rough," Skylor commented with a smile as Lyra trudged through the glass doors of Chen's noodle house the next morning. She was midway through placing the chairs on the floor to prepare for the Saturday of selling noodles when the single mother arrived with her son in tow. Skylor's smile dropped however when neither party entering the restaurant so much as glanced over at her.

Lyra ignored the comment, her grand total of four hours of sleep really taking a toll on the normally upbeat attitude of the single mother. Well, the lack of sleep could only account for part of the problem, the other was something Lyra was almost convinced was a dream if not for the sight that greeted her upon walking out her room that morning. She would have thought a massacre had taken place at her residence with the amount of blood that just seemed to be everywhere.

It all came quickly back to Lyra when the sight of a green mask slightly hidden under the sofa came into view upon her closer inspection of the place. Green Ninja. Lloyd. Stab wound. Destruction of her living room. Hard to completely forget something like that.

Lloyd was gone, however. Not a trace of him left behind bar the mask and a note she found a little later. Not that either thing could really make up for the amount of money this was going to cost – money she definitely didn't have to spend on these luxuries. In fact, Lyra found herself feeling spiteful towards the Green Ninja. He left without a verbal thankyou; a handwritten note didn't mean shit when compared with words. Clearly he hadn't appreciated the effort and trauma she (and Atlas) had gone through to save his ass from bleeding out in an alley.

Save him from an ironic death for someone so great.

Annoyed yes, but with little time to do much before her shift began, she decided to just leave it. A problem for a later time – or at least not a problem until her roommate arrives home from visiting her boyfriend and sees the mess. Lyra could only expect a scathing call from her sometime throughout the day, either demanding she pays for a complete renovation or even contacts their landlady and get them kicked out.

Yeah, Lyra didn't want to be anywhere near that woman when she saw the mess.

At least Atlas hadn't seemed to upset about the events the night prior. Sure, he clung to her the entire walk to Chen's and refused to go anywhere without her, but as far as Lyra was concerned, he hadn't seen the extend of injuries Lloyd had received and was shielded from most of the traumatizing sights. In fact, bar the extra clinginess, Atlas was calmer than she expected, and even overjoyed at the fact that Lloyd had left his mask at their house.

The worst part though was the fact that Lyra herself didn't seem to be affected by everything. She had seen it all – the fight, the stabbing, the literal insides of the green ninja, and yet she was processing it remarkably well. The only downside was the fact that she didn't get a lot of sleep and had a tremendous amount of debt coming her way. The latter worrying her the most.

"Jeez, rough night?" Skylor asked with more sympathy as Lyra directed Atlas to sit on one of the bar stools. In his right hand he grasped onto the green hood, and Lyra didn't miss the lingering confused look Skylor gave to the piece of fabric. "What you got there, AJ?"

AJ, whose left hand clutched the fabric of Lyra's cardigan looked to his aunt with big eyes, "The Green Ninja mask."

Skylor's amber eyes flicked to Lyra and with a tilt of her head she continued, "...A Halloween Costume?"

Lyra breathed in a deep breath, "Girl, do I have a story for you."

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Skylor listened with intense curiosity as Lyra retold the watered-down version of events from only 12 hours prior. The single mother kept the story as PG as she could, only subtly hinting at the atrocities of what she witnessed as to not allow Atlas to hear the parts he was not privy to. Lyra hadn't realized how absolutely absurd all it was until the words were out in the open, the story she recalled sounding made up if not for the small fact that she had lived through it. Her experiences vastly out of the ordinary and completely unheard of in her otherwise mundane life.

The redheaded manager, however, didn't react in the way Lyra had presumed. She believe her friend would perhaps call bullshit and demand the real reason for the less then energetic mood, or perhaps even fire the girl for in fear Lyra had gone mad, calling CPS in the meantime to have AJ taken away from her.

But no.

Instead, Skylor believed it all. Took on all she had to say with the utmost belief in her story and even quickly excused herself to call someone only to return after a few minutes with a plate of dumplings for Atlas and a hug her friend, whispering words of comfort and the state of her wellbeing.

"You shouldn't have come into work today." Skylor declared with a shake of her head, "You should have stayed home and relaxed, made sure AJ was okay."

Lyra glanced at Atlas who was kicking his feet under the bar as he munched on a dumpling, his hand having finally left Lyra's sleeve. "He appeared fine this morning. Honestly he's taking this far better than I would have hoped, I'm slightly concerned."

Skylor hummed, "Well you did say he didn't see much." She shrugged glancing over to the young boy, her eyes flicking down to the green fabric still in the boys' grasp, "Is that his then? The Green Ninja's mask?"

Lyra followed the redhead's gaze to the piece of fabric. She had checked it over for any blood stains before using it as a blindfold to lead Atlas out of the house without him seeing the bloody living room, and now he refused to part with it. Lyra wasn't overly fond of AJ keeping it, but was too tied to try and argue with the four-year-old. "Yeah that's Lloyds."

Skylor's head spun so fast back to Lyra she almost got whiplash, "Lloyd-? He showed his face and told you his name?"

Tense shoulders slumped as Lyra slapped her forehead, "Shit," She whispered, "Probably shouldn't have said that. God I'm such a mess this morning," She mumbled. Lyra breathed in a deep breath meeting Skylor's eye – although while she was expecting astonishment, Skylor only appeared annoyed, but not directed towards her, but rather to something Lyra couldn't quite grasp. "Yeah he... Told us his name. To calm AJ down I think. Make him seem less frightening or something. Crap- don't tell anyone. I'm pretty sure I just broke an NDA by accident."

"Hon, you really should have stayed home this morning, I doubt it'll be busy today, I can handle it if you want to dip?" Skylor suggested, placing a hand on Lyra's shoulder. "If not for AJ then for you. You seriously could use it after a night like that."

Lyra sighed again, "Honestly, being home is the last place I want to be. I'd show you pictures but the ass that ambushed us broke my phone."

Skylor's eyebrow raised, "Pictures?"

"Of my living room. It's a mess. Just picture what it would look like if a Saw film was shot there. That's what I'd have to deal with when I get home, so I'm putting it off for as long as I can."

"Crap," Skylor commented, her hand slipping off Lyra's shoulder, "What about your roommate? She's an ass on a good day, I can't imagine her reaction to this will be anything less than chaotic."

Lyra's face dropped into her hands, "Tell me about it. I left a note on the door for when she arrives home. Said a cat got ran over and I tried to help it, not that I think a cat could even produce that much blood in a lifetime, but if she's thick enough she'll believe it. I said I'll pay for everything and to call the restaurant when she get home if she wants to yell at me." Lyra shrugged, "So maybe don't answer the phones at all today."

Skylor nodded, "I've only met her a handful of times, but she's quite literally the worst person on this earth, I'm not touching that phone if it rings."

Lyra chuckled. At least Skylor had her back of things got worse from here.

And boy did they...

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