"So where are we going?"

"You'll see"

Two Days. Two days ago, Jack had followed his fangirl along a wide dirt path in a grassy field. She had told him to wait for him as she went back to get something, promising a picnic on her return. Two days had passed and he was near death, he felt it. The sun had burned his albino skin mercilessly and the near 90 degree weather wasn't helping. She left him some kudos bars when she left, but those lasted only till the morning, and He was now almost hungry enough to eat his foot like that pirate in one of her 'mangas' (So it was from Japan? It was still a comic book to him.)

The sun began to set and a vast array of stars came into view. He was nowhere near civilization so he couldn't tell which way to go and no lights polluted the sky, leaving only the twinkling stars and the moon to light the path he was on. He gave up on her last night and headed along the path, walking in the night and sleeping at day. Eventless, the night rolled on and Spicer saw the early morning glow. Sighing, he lay down in a ditch on the side of the path.

It was a weekly trip to Forgotten City for Ms. Sadism. Visiting all the characters she pretty much grew up on never seemed to lose its appeal to here, but she had to keep business in her mind. Visit Forgotten City, then get Guile to drive escort to the Sue Asylum to bring the reformed Mary Sues and Gary Stus back to the Forgotten City to be productive members of society. Crossing Kelwyn field was always the more scenic route between Hub and the FC. The clouds were looking especially picturesque today, but enough about the sky, she had to keep her eyes on the road ahead.

She noticed about thirty feet off was something white in the side ditch. Stopping her jeep, she looked closely, quickly recognizing the human shape. Quickly hopping out and grabbing Jack's wrist to check for a pulse. Catching his faint pulse, she wrapped her arms below his shoulders and pulled him into the back of the jeep. Frantically digging out a first aid box from below the passenger seat and tore a long strip of gauze off the roll. Folding it over, she opened a cooler and dunked the gauze in the ice water. Turning around, she dripped water into Jack's mouth and massaged his throat to make him swallow. Quickly cursing her mind, she put up the collapsible top of the jeep to make shade. It was well into the afternoon when she finally got Jack to stabilize.

Making sure he wasn't going to flop about in the back, she floored the gas pedal and sped towards the nearest place, the Forgotten City.

Jack didn't believe he survived the field, and that he was in some sort of heaven. There was no way he made it to civilization without a really fast car. He was sitting in what looked like a hospital room with an IV drip on his right side and a bed table on the left with a card and a jar of what seemed to be ointment. Reaching with a sore arm, he took the card and read:

Dear Jack Spicer;

You may not know me, but I defiantly know you. If this sounds like I'm a stalker, I'm sorry. But to put it bluntly, most Fangirls are stalkers. By now you probably realize you're either dead or in a hospital. The latter is true; I picked you up on the side of the dirt path in Kelwyn Field. You had rather desperate case of dehydration and malnutrition. I brought you directly to this hospital for two reasons; 1, it was the closest, and 2, I have connections with the staff so they'll help you settle into the FC if you wake up and leave before I get back.

Right now you're probably wondering 'what the heck is the FC?' To put it into short terms, FC stands for Forgotten City. This is kind of a misnomer because the City is pretty well known; the Occupants however are 'forgotten'. The FC is a city for all the characters that have been forgotten, even fan characters. That is also a bit misleading since major characters tend to be remembered, but once they lose enough of their fanbase, they'll wind up here, like you just did. Your last fangirl ditched you in the field, right? While it's not the preferred way to get here, it is the most common.

You see, the FC was established to prevent 'turning'. Turning is what creates the monsters of lore and under your bed/wherever. Those monsters are just characters looking for some attention. A long time ago, Characters were often dumped in Kelwyn field. Eventually they would turn and come back to the Hub world, where fans live. Once it was realized that just dumping characters into the field wasn't a good solution, various Fans set up the Forgotten Village. As you can plainly see, the village grew and is now a mega-city. Tech and magic are just about everywhere, sometimes mixing and sometimes segregated.

I've asked Mashiro Shirosaki to give you a place to stay until you can get up on your own feet in the city. He works as a DJ for a local Radio Station and has a part-time job as a Janitor at this Hospital. Please call me sometime at 218-6624.

Hope you feel better: V. Sadism

Taking note of the number, he reached for the Jar. Taped to the lid was a note;

Jack, I know how much sun-burn sucks with literally white skin; so here's some magically generated ointment to lessen the pain. It really helps burned skin and it constantly refills itself every time you close the jar, so don't lose the lid! See you soon!

-Mashiro

Jack shrugged and opened the jar, taking a bit of the ointment and layering it on his burned skin. It glimmered green and disappeared, leaving his skin repaired and looking like new. He instantly applied it to every burn on his body and felt refreshed. He looked at the IV on his side and saw that it was nearly empty. He found a button on the side of his bed to call a nurse. Pressing it, a Purple Jester-like being literally flew into the room wearing a nurse cap on top of its purple hat, "I see you're finally awake, Mr. Spicer. Welcome back to the living world, and to Forgotten City." The Jester floated by the side of his bed and bowed, "I'm NiGHTS, the resident nurse of Pioneer Hospital Wing."

Jack was surprised, "Resident nurse? And what are you?"

"Pioneer's hospital staff is pretty small since we act mainly as a starting point of many characters' lives in the FC. There's not usually such severe problem with health from new Arrivals, or as many Arrivals, from the field. The Pioneer building is pretty much a gateway between Kelwyn field and the city; we're only a wing of the building. To answer your second question, I am a Nightmaren, a native of the dream-world, or so we thought." NiGHTS said with a sad tone to the last part.

Jack cocked his head to the side, "Are there more nightmaren?"

NiGHTS brightened up considerable, "Yes, my brothers are all here in the city. You'll meet Jackle when you sign out of the health wing and get your city ID. If you happen to watch the City News Channel, you'll see my twin brother, Reala. There are others, but I shouldn't waste your time."

Jack shook his head, "It's fine, I think about now I've got all the time in the world."

"You may think that, but you should really get signed out since you're OK now. There's a credit system running the city, so time is literally money. The more time you waste here…" Nights took the IV out of Jack's arm, "…the more you'll owe the government." NiGHTS knelt down and took a basket out from under the bed, containing Jack's clothes.

Jack happily took the basket then paused, "One last question, NiGHTS?"

"Shoot," NiGHTS turned to the IV, tying the tubing and placing it into a biohazard bag.

Jack nervously asked, "Which gender are you exactly?" Nights stopped, and then doubled over laughing. Jack looked puzzled, "What's so funny?"

Nights settled down to giggling, "Nothing, it's just, I don't really have a set gender. I'm a personification of masculine traits in female dreams and feminine traits in male dreams. I'm neither and both, but for the sake of ease, most people treat me like a female."

Jack laughed, "Well then Madam, thank you for your hospitality. We'd better get me clocked out now."

NiGHTS put her hands on her hips, "Well then, allow me to lead the way." Jack followed NiGHTS to a small waiting room where another Jester-like being sat behind a counter lazily playing Solitaire with a deck of cards. Unlike NiGHTS, Jackle was bright orange with several other colors and apparently lacking skin or a visible body.

NiGHTS cleared her throat, startling Jackle. He whirled around on his swiveling chair and faced NiGHTS and Jack, "Oh, Yeah, the Arrival! I've already taken the liberty to set up the majority of your papers and just need your signature." Jackle grabbed a clipboard and gave it to Jack with a pen. As Jack signed, Jackle got out a radio, "Shiro, Jack's up and you've worked enough today. Call it a day already and get him settled at your place." Jack handed the clipboard back to Jackle and Jackle handed Jack several more papers to sign and took a photo. As Jack signed those papers, Jackle set up an ID card. When Jack handed back the papers, Jackle handed Jack the card for his signature. Once Jack signed the card, Jackle laminated it and gave it back to Jack with a small book, "That's a book of the basic city laws, anything not listed should be common sense."

A man in his late teens or early adulthood walked into the room wearing a blue jumpsuit. He had white hair, Black and gold eyes, and pale white skin like Jack. He smiled, "Jackle, NiGHTS, I'm guessing this is Jack Spicer. Hi, I'm Mashiro Shirosaki, but call me Shiro." He held out his hand for Jack to shake, which Jack took.

"Hi, I heard you're supposed to be helping me get on my feet here?" Jack cautiously asked

"Rumors are true buddy-buh, Vimpess asked me herself to help you last night." Mashiro smirked.

"Last night? How long was I out?" Jack was shocked; he didn't realize he had been so dangerously close to death that he'd be out for more than a day.

Mashiro shook his head, "Relax, She found you a day and a half ago in the Field and got you here about sundown. It's late in the morning now; I was waiting all night for you to wake up!"

Jackle mumbled, "Yeah, and sleeping in the lobby yesterday."

Shiro made a face at Jackle, "We should get going. Steve would be filing a missing person report right about now."

"Steve?" Jack wondered about his living situation. "Is he a roommate?"

NiGHTS jumped at the question, "Steve is part of a major Housing Group Committee with our sister Isabella. He pretty much orchestrates a whole bunch of apartment complexes. He's been around the FC for a while, but just recently got a rehired by his original publishers, didn't he?"

Jackle butted in, "Yeah, I hear his authors are contemplating making him a villain!"

Shiro put up his hands, "We don't know that for sure and there's no sense in making pointless guesses." He quickly grabbed Jack's wrist, pulled him from the room, outside the building and down a street.

Jackle leaned over his desk and watched the duo, "God save that kid."

This story line has been circling my head for a bit o' time, so be kind

Yeah, Hichigo is a Janitor, only I call him Shiro. I think it means 'White'.