NiGHTS: Hope in Reality 13

"Is there peanut butter?"

"I'll give it to you in a sandwich," Says Xavier, who then pushes August back down onto the couch, "Sit, stay, good nephew."

Bucky lays down next to him on the floor.

Xavier smiles at him, then looks at the other kids, "Helen, Will, Ryan, anything you want?"

"A sandwich is just fine."

"Yeah but what kinds? Come on, guys, you three have to be more specific, otherwise I could give you a really bad sandwich."

"Ham is just fine for us."

The former robotic jester soon whips up three tasty looking ham sandwiches, two egg salad sandwiches, and one peanut butter sandwich for the addict. He is soon seen stiring a pot of vegetable soup for the new arrival while the four young friends eat their sandwiches.

Molly comes out a few minutes later with the now unmasked boy, who has been washed, dried, and dressed in a white, long-sleeve shirt and long brown pants. His feet are covered by white socks, his hair is in a braided ponytail, and his face is covered in new bandages which are already gaining some small red spots. Even with all this care, the boy still looks like he could cry any minute.

Now one must understand this from his view. He was in a strange place, wearing strange clothes and unable to understand anyone or be understood. His face hurt....and he was awfully hungry.

Ryan gives him a little smile to try and tries to comfort him a bit.

"Come on, kiddo. Let's get you something to eat," Xavier leads the boy from Molly to the coffee table in the living room with the others. Once there, he gives the boy warm soup and puts a spoon in his hand, "Go ahead, eat up."

The boy is confused at first by the generous amount of warm food in front of him, wondering if this was a cruel joke. But when Xavier walks off to eat his own food, the boy tentatively begins to eat the soup.

He is aware of when the strangers he rescued come to sit by him, bringing the shape changing boy with them. He hoped that the nice girl, 'Ryan' as she was called, would sit the closest to him. He trusted her the most, even if he couldn't tell what she was saying.

He felt safe around her.

He slowly looks up at the four kids. His eyes gravitate toward the boy who could change shape. Unaware, August is munching on his peanut butter sandwich.

Xavier looks over at Molly, who is just coming into the kitchen, "I think perhaps we should hire a translator tomorrow."

"Right. I can start looking for one right away." She answers back.

Xavier nods, "First thing tomorrow."

Will soon looks at the clock, "Well, it's getting late, and I should get the girls home."

"Alright," begins Xavier, "I'll driv-"

"It's okay, Mr. Daniels," interrupts Will, "We can walk, it isn't that far. And we will make sure to stay in well-lit areas."

"Be careful guys.." August looks at them.

"Don't worry about us," says Helen.

The three leave, and all is quiet in the house, save for the occasional klink of the new boy eating his dinner.

Soon the soft sound of snoring from August, added to the lone sound.

Xavier comes in, and carries him off to bed. The new boy sees this, becoming a little jealous and homesick.

"Zuhause..."

Xavier soon comes back to show the boy to the guest bedroom, and bids him goodnight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, the dreamers that can go go to the Dream Gate.

"Hello Ryan," says Elliot, who is standing with Will, Helen, and Claris, "I was just talking about Megan."

"She is weak, but very safe," adds Claris.

"August will be happy to know that."

"So....now, what are we going to do with our new friend?" asks Will.

"We are going to find his name first," Helen replies quickly.

"But what to do with him after that?" asks Will.

"Maybe we can find out who he is and where he comes from."

"To do that, we need to check his records. Blood tests, fingerprints, dental, anything," says Claris.

"I wonder if he has a family out there.."

"Maybe," Elliot answers Ryan.

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on it with how he behaved," adds Helen, "He seems so alone...so afraid."

"Poor guy..."

They hear a giggle, and Jackle drops in, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Hi Jackle."

"Hello kiddies, have I got news for you." The caped jester floats down with a twirl.

"Apparently, the night dimension is bending, warping. We don't know why, but where is easy. Remember the tower where NiGHTs was used to open portals to the real world? That is the 'where'. Why, how, and by what or who, that is still unanswered."

"Wait. you said 'warping'?" Elliot stares at Jackle.

"Yes."

"How so?"

"Come. Better to show than tell."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jackle turns and flies off, the others following right behind him.

It doesn't take them long, for the mad jester leads the dreamers to the tower....or at least where the tower was.

"There, that is the thing of which I uttered and spoke of," announces Jackle, pointing a clawed glove at a huge tangled mass of gray and flashing lights bending in on itself as if being pinched in the middle by invisible fingers. Dust clouds can be seen racing into the hourglass-shaped warp. The dreamers find their voices gone.

"I thought at first that this thing was a portal that we missed, but this is nothing I have seen before," continues Jackle.

"Just wow."

"I wouldn't get any closer to it, even if I am a fool," says the jester, "We must find the cause of this thing before it gets really bad. As a representative of all thingies dreamy, I ask you to save this world. Again."

"You know we won't say no Jackle." Helen smiles.

Jackle smirks, "Again."

Will gives a huge sigh as he looks at the warping tower, "Question is, where do we start? We don't even know what that is."

"There's not much we can do from here. But I don't think we should risk check it yet with the jester till we know more."

"Claris is right," adds Elliot.

Helen suddenly shushes the group."Get down," she commands, urgency in her voice.

Everyone quickly ducks at her order.  "What is it?"

"The evil fog creatures."

"They certainly are freaky."

"Quiet, dreamers, lest the big bad wolves hear us..." whispers Jackle, his smile now upside down.

They soon hear the savage snarls of the creatures.

"Cerberus," whispers Will. "I thought that nightmaren was gone by now," whispers Helen in reply.

"He should of fell though the ocean."

"Cerberus did," whispers Jackle, "And like NiGHTs and Reala, this is the dream of the nightmaren. Question is, is it the dream of the dog(s), or the dream of the human(s)."

"Troublesome...."

"Yes.....Get down, quick." The group ducks as the dogs trot by, growling and snarling as they search for prey.

The wispy, ghost-like form of an evil hound soon comes close enough that its jaws can be seen, malice burning in its eyes.

Jackle covers Claris's and Ryan's mouths to keep them from screaming, his widened eyes never leaving the vicious beings. Will and Helen hold each other tight, praying frantically in their minds not to be found.

"Lookawaylookaway..."

But they cannot regain will over themselves to turn their heads, to close their eyes, to stop watching the predator. The beast paces back and forth, it's other two halves investigating other parts of the area.

Their minds kept chanting those two words over and over.

It was an eternity before the hound was called by one of the other hounds. It moves away from the heroes' hiding place.

Jackle releases Ryan and Claris, not taking his eyes off the beasts as the humans begin breathing again in relief.

Elliot looks around, his neck stiff from being still so long, "Let's get out of here before they come back."

"Agreed," utters Claris.

As they leave, Will thinks he hears voices coming from the direction of the hounds and the distortion. He stops to listen, and is surprised to find that the hounds are the source of the voices since the nightmaren(s) never spoke before, and familiar voices at that. Claris pulls Will away before he can find out what they are saying.

--------------------------------

Zane, meanwhile, is looking at the images of NiGHTs and Reala in his scrap book of evidence with a cold expression, his mouth in a faint, thin-lined frown.

His cell phone rings with three beeps, and he picks it up.

"Ready to receive input," he says.

"Your findings of these particular dream jesters directly match our data on their major appearances 3 years ago, along with suggestions of their appearances up between 10 and 30 years ago," a filtered voice answers.

"So they HAVE been targeting Earth."

"Yes, the reasons are yet unknown, but our intel believes that they have been targeting Earth as long as there have been jesters in our history."

Zane stands and looks out the window, "What are my orders?"

"We still do not know the full capabilities nor the intentions of these aliens. So your orders are to capture and contain any and all beings emitting dream energy. If they prove to be hostile, we will soon have the means to take them out on their homeworld."

Zane narrows his eyes, "What about the humans who help these creatures?"

"Do not worry about such trivialities, that is our job. They will be taken into custody until further notice to put it simply. You have your orders. Confirm."

"Confirmed, Commander," says Zane.

"Don't let anything distract you from your mission. We cannot afford mistakes, Z072-D0N3. Command out."

With that, there is a click from the phone as the other line hangs up. Zane looks at the phone, then sets it on the table. Grooves from his fingers indent the sides of the phone as if it was made of clay. Zane growls.

"My name is Zordone."

He disappears out the window, beginning the hunt for the jesters.