The scene shows two familiar shadows on the pinnacle of a cylindrical tower. A tower where darkness once corrupted the very essence of time. The shadows… one looks human, the other looks like some kind of quadruped. The humanoid shadow speaks to it.
"Don't you agree? 20 years from now, Lincoln's family would have moved on with their lives, and will abandon him. Independence…neglect…abandonment…what is the difference between the 3? They all lead to the same predestined ending. Lincoln...I have to show you the error of your ways before it's too late. Don't you agree, my friend?"
The quadrupedal being lets out a mighty roar of approval.
"I knew you would understand. Well, I'd better not keep him waiting."
Meanwhile, Lincoln is having the time of his life in his dreamscape, galivanting around like a rich billionaire protecting a wretched hive of a city, at least no parents were murdered this time. It seems that his motif is all based on cards. Well, after Ace Savvy defeated and captured some nameless low-level criminal for the police, he decides to move to a different section of his dream.
"Ah, that's enough Ace Savvy for one night." Lincoln says as he goes to his next dream.
This dream's scenery looks like an archive of all of Lincoln's most treasured real-world possessions. Among the exhibits are all of the hand-me-downs he received, some Ace Savvy comics (some even signed by Bill Buck himself), a few Muscle Fish games and there, at the epicenter of the repository, is Lincoln's stuffed rabbit, Bun-Bun! He notices someone else gazing at the exhibit. Normally, he wouldn't mind, as his dreams are normally populated by many versions of Lincoln, but this character doesn't look like Lincoln, it looks like Lily!
"Don't you remember?" The Lily-like stranger asks
"Remember what?" Lincoln replies in response
"You probably don't, since you were only 2 years old. But I remember it. Leni gave it to you for your second birthday. She's such a good sister, isn't she?"
"Wait, how come you can talk, Lily?"
"It's a dream, so of course I can talk. It's also YOUR dream, so you can do whatever you want, which includes making me talk. Now, go to the Synapse Station, a girl will be waiting for you there, you'll know who it is because she's the only one who doesn't look like a female version of you."
With that, Lily disappears. Lincoln does what she says and heads to Synapse Station, A transit system made up of interconnected neurons that can send anyone to any part of Lincoln's brain so fast that the station boasts the feeling is just like teleportation! He sees a young girl wearing lilac clothing and she doesn't look like Lincoln, this must be the person Lily was talking about. She looks like if Lily was Lincoln's age. Lincoln walks up to the girl.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my dream?" Lincoln inquires
"Me? I'm a part of your consciousness, so unless you're dead, you're stuck with me and my siblings for the rest of your life, but don't worry, it's our job to protect you…subconsciously, of course. I am what our creator, in this case, conscious Lincoln, is called a Mental Torture, although that is a bit of a misnomer, considering we help both you and him, dream Lincoln…with varying degrees of success. It is justified, as Lincoln does have to deal with his 10 sisters on a daily basis. My name is εγκατάλειψηςφοβία."
"I don't know how to pronounce that name." Lincoln states in a cynical tone
"Maybe you should have paid attention to Lisa's lesson on Grecian language, after all, you want to still do well in Mrs. Johnson's class, don't you?" She taunts, as well as burning Lincoln with that comeback. "Fine, I'll say it in English. My name is Egkataleipsisphobia."
"Egg-at-all…" Lincoln tries to pronounce the complex Grecian word, but Lincoln has never encountered a word that hard. He's exerting so much mental energy that the synapses start to become supercharged!
"Ok! Stop! Don't strain yourself! You're going to destabilize the synapse axolemmas and derail all of the neural transports! Just call me "Katal" for short!" Egkataleipsisphobia pleads with him
"Katal? Like the French dressing?" Lincoln questions
"No, Lincoln. Catalina is not a musician, just like how mayonnaise isn't an instrument, though it should be." Katal amused to both herself and Lincoln "Either way, I want to take you to my favorite hangout, we'll use the transport to get there faster than a planck! Well, not THAT fast, but you know what I mean.
Both Lincoln and Katal walk up to the terminal. A snobby looking Frenchman looks at Lincoln and responds in disdain with this.
"Nous ne servons pas sale américains!" He responds with fury
"Ranvier, Il s'agit de l'esprit d'un Michigander, tout le monde est américain ici, même moi!" Katal responds back
"Ah, mais vous et vos frères et sœurs, mademoiselle Kaitlin, sont exemptés de la règle américaine. Surtout parce que votre patron/sour aînée me fait peur. Mais il est interdit d'utiliser le voyage de synapse!" Ranvier backpedals
"Il s'agit de Lincoln! Il s'agit de son cerveau!"
"Tout le monde dans ce cerveau, en dehors de moi, vos frères et sœurs et vous, est nommé Lincoln ou Linka, vous aurez besoin de faire mieux que ça!"
"Je dois appeler mon patron?" Katal threatens
Ranvier's smug look turns into a panicked one! He cracks under the thought of encountering…HER…the Mental Torture's boss…
"Non, il n'est pas nécessaire, vous et votre ami peuvent parcourir, Kaitlin..."
Ranvier hands Katal and Lincoln their Synapse Pass, which they used to access the synapse.
"Head to the Cerebrum." Katal says as she puts the pass into the synapse control. Suddenly, both Lincoln and Katal rocket through the synapse network and arrive at the Cerebrum!'
"Woah! That was faster than the last Dairyland ride I rode on!" Lincoln comments
"Yeah, those synapses can cross the entire length of your brain in 0.006 seconds!" Katal boasted "Now we need to get to Cortex Coffee, it's a coffee shop/internet café that just so happens to be my favorite hangout, and you're coming along with me!
After walking throughout Lincoln's Cerebrum, eventually, they find the Cortex Coffee Shop and Internet Café, the duo head inside and take a seat inside as the scene cross fades to black…
Author's Note: When Katal refers to conscious Lincoln, she means the Lincoln in the real world, the one that's asleep right now. Dream Lincoln is the one who's with her right now, and he is the original Lincoln's link to the dreamscape. Unfortunately, Dream Lincoln can't pass info in the dreamscape to the original Lincoln, because IRL Lincoln isn't lucid dreaming this time. Egkataleipsisphobia is 1/11th of Lincoln's consciousness, and tries to help Lincoln cope with the future. She's there to remind him that even if everyone else has moved on and forgotten him, Lincoln hasn't forgotten them (which is technically true, since all of the pieces of Lincoln's consciousness are modeled after him and his sisters. In this case, Egkataleipsisphobia is Lily, but it's how Lincoln thinks Lily will look when she turns 11).
I forgot to mention, all of the Mental Tortures can change their age if they want. Maybe that "Lily" at the repository wasn't Lily...
Yes, this is a dream world fanfiction, things might get weird...and reference heavy.