I don't own anything from NiGHTS. Sega team does.
My current second fic in the Nights universe. Playing with some different ideas than the last one. Lovely thing about this place is that it just seems to encourage ideas and interpretations. So, while the other one will continue, I'll also be writing on this one too.
If you like this one or my other Nights fanfic What Dreams May Come, please write a review.
A new chapter of What Dreams will be coming up later this week, I'm in the middle of moving and been taking a bit of time to edit that chapter a bit more before putting it up. This one ended up sort of writing itself one afternoon and really hasn't been nearly the amount of thought into it as I am putting into the story and dream building of the other story.
I really don't go into explaining Lucid Dreaming even though I make mention of it. Look it up, it's a fascinating read.
Enjoy and Review. Thanks.
*8*
Shattered Dreams Chapter 1
*8*
It was a horrible dream. Well it had actually started as a rather cheesy nightmare.
Maia had always been different, as a bit of a horror buff and a strongly lucid dreamer, she'd always had fun shaping her dreams. Often creating wonderful nightmares that would scare anyone she told about, who then didn't understand why she wasn't afraid.
Who could be afraid of something they themselves created? In a world of her making, where she could look like anything she wanted. Here, she was a demi-goddess, a being of radiant light and benevolent love. The creator of her own destiny. She resembled nothing of the being she was in the waking world. A crippled 15 year old girl.
She'd been nurturing this dream, shifting the angle, the story of it. Re-writing and creating something truly unique when she heard the voice.
"My my, what a talented little Dreamer you are."
Blinking she turned to find herself suddenly more in her dream than she had been before. Before, it was about like moving a character about on a screen, like a video game, or watching a movie with a remote. Now suddenly she was in it.
Not a good sign.
"Glad that you like it" she said, holding the little nightmare she'd been nurturing in her arms. The odd little shadowy creature gave a catlike chirp and purr snuggling contentedly in her embrace. She loved her nightmares. As much as she loved her normal dreams. Each as she had them got her full attention. Her full devotion, and she made them into the best she could in the nights of dreaming she had with them.
But this creature that stood there in her dream, didn't belong.
He was dark, like a clown, or perhaps better described as a jester or harlequin. Red and black dominated his colors, along with a pale blue. It took a long moment of getting past just the utterly intimidating aura of fear and hate that seemed to radiate off him before she could notice the almost cute little bat wing designs on his tight sleeves and pants. Or just how utterly blue his eyes where. Things that should have made him less scary, but was easily missed as she looked at that painted face. Something was just so horrifyingly wrong and she couldn't put her finger on what. He smiled and started coming closer to her. In her arms the catlike shadow being hissed and growled. She could feel the claws prickling the skin of her arms, but she couldn't bring herself to chastise the little creature.
She wanted to hiss at him too.
His smile was shark-like and intimidating as he drew closer to her. "Yes, a perfect crafting of a nightmare if I have ever seen one, yet you are not afraid." it wasn't a statement or a question. But an almost odd mix of both.
"Why should I be? I live in a world that can be many times worse than a dream, but here I am free. I can craft this world as I see it, good and bad, here they are my children." it was a strong statement of fact. This little shadow, while it would likely scare a grown man, was her baby, as much as the happy animal in the good dream was bouncing about the flowers.
"Such a wonderful view of the dreaming world you have, so.. idealistic" he stated and she backed up a little more. Suddenly very afraid and not sure why.
"I think" he continued as he drew closer to her "It is time you learn that you aren't in as much control as you think you are little dreamer." he raised his hand, nails glinted, a part of her mind registered that his nails where pink, but the way they currently caught the light gave her a stronger impression of pale fresh blood.
She backed up a couple steps and then narrowed her eyes "You won't scare me, not here. This is MY place" she said and tossed out her little Nightmare.
Who wasn't so little anymore.
The other's eyes widened in surprise and then he dodged before snapping out with a clawed strike against the Shadowy cat, who cried out in pain. She wasn't sure what he did but suddenly he circled her nightmare and the shadow disappeared with a cat-like squeak.
"My kitten!" she said feeling her chest tighten painfully. Suddenly it was.. difficult to breath. It felt like everything was being slowly stripped from her. She collapsed, losing the dream appearance she wore and instead appearing as she was in the waking world. Small, with shoulder length curling hair brown, grey eyes with glasses, and a damaged leg that didn't allow her to move all that fast or much at all without her brace and cane.
He didn't bother walking towards her, there was no eminent step of booted feet, none of the proper nightmare elements that would have made her more comfortable. This one glided towards her, gracefully.
"So the little dreamer had spunk, but you are not a match for me little girl."
She slowly caught her breath and stuck out, sending the hand he had been about to place on herself away. She backed up, wheezing like an asthmatic. Why did whatever he'd done to her nightmare hurt so much?
He just smiled wider, "Having some trouble are we? Now, if you let me, I'll make it all go away" his voice was just so, smooth, sweet even. As if all he was doing was offering small talk on the weather. She shook her head, trying to force herself to wake. But as she stumbled back she found herself unable to. Her eyes watered as the nightmarish being came closer to her.
"No more shadows to fling at me? I'm more powerful than you." he said and she found him closer than she thought he was. Fingers curling themselves in her hair and pulling back her head. He laid a hand on her chest and she screamed. It hurt! Gods above it hurt! His hand sunk into her body and he pulled from her chest a glowing orb, his smile was wide until he noticed a blemish upon it. A crack down the glistening red side. "This Ideya somehow got damaged." he murmured, he shoved it back into her and painfully extracted another this one a brilliant deep blue. She could only cry and gulp painfully as he pulled from her several more of these things. Each another color. Once he had them, he dropped her as if she was nothing but so much useless trash.
"These are strong Ideya" he commented "Too bad about the broken one. Never seen an effect like that before." he shrugged and laughing evilly he gave her a mocking bow, even as she laid in a pile of limbs and panting breaths. "I shall be on my way, but really.. since you enjoy Nightmares so much little girl. I'll leave you with some shadows to play with, stronger than that little 'kitten' of yours." he laughed again disappearing into the growing swirling blackness that began to close in on her dream. Wiping away all other scenes or carefully crafted settings.
Around her she sensed the nightmares all around her. She was too pained and out of breath to move, even as they started to close in on her. She heard a soft mew and looked up, seeing briefly outlined her little shadow, eyes glowing dully against the other nightmares weakly holding them back from her with nothing but its own bravado. It turned and she saw beyond it.
A light.
Slowly she drew on strength she didn't know she had, she managed to get up and make a dash for that light. managing to make her way over the morass of a dream that should have turned into an 'impossible to escape dream chase'.
She made it to the light, then collapsed on the other side of it.
*8*8*
"Oh my!" she woke hearing a growling and looking up she tried to focus her eyes. The first thing she noticed was a bird flapping frantically, the second she noticed was her Kitten growling and crouched over her prone form.
"kitten, play nice" she said softly and rubbed her face, pausing as her hand hit her glasses. No.. Maia looked down at herself and shook her head feeling her heart stop. No, she shouldn't look like this! She was meant to look like any number of things in her dream, but not this form! She took a breath as she felt her shoulder being butted by her Kitten. She hugged the shadow "You're alive, I was afraid he killed you!"
For a moment she did not know where she was, but she was safe. Where ever this place was there where no nightmares here.
She heard a sputtering and looking up saw the bird again. It was a rather fluffy owl, dressed in stuffy looking clothing of a vest and even little round spectacles on his beak. He was flapping frantically and loosing feathers, spluttering incoherently but it sounded more like he was trying to speak, not screeching or making any number of noises that a proper owl would make.
"Nightmaran! A Nightmaran at the dream gate!" he flapped and this time did screech -in panic- dashing away.
Maia blinked and sitting up she looked around. Kitten leaning on her shoulder and purring loud enough to rattle her bones.
Just in time to see something purple dash towards her. Kitten yelped and ducked, she wasn't so fast and with a pained 'oof' she was shoved back along the ground and found herself looking up at a surprised face. Large eyes, a deep clear blue. They seemed familiar somehow but the startled face didn't.
She made another squeak as more weight was suddenly added when Kitten tackled whoever tackled her.
Maia struggled to breath and once she had enough breath she shouted "Kitten! Off!" the moment the shadow nightmare got off the other did as well. "Settle" she held her hand to the shadow who was crouched and looking dejected that she yelled at it. Seeing her hand it shrunk to something the size of the kitten she called it and hopped into her lap, seeking cuddles and assurances that she wasn't angry with it. She turned her attention to the others at this place. The Owl was peeking from around the dried up fountain in the center of this odd place, and floating nearby staring at her intently was a being who for a moment made her heart stop.
Maia found the resemblance to the one who'd attacked her uncanny. This one in purple and pink, with a slim figure that could easily be male or female with no real cues as to which gender it was. There seemed to be something a little less threatening than the one who hurt Kitten and herself. She clutched Kitten a little closer to herself as she struggled to get up. Falling back again with a pained oof.
This was meant to be a dream, so why was she having the same trouble she would in the waking world? Without her cane and brace she could barely stand and her leg could not support any of her weight on its own. Let alone her glasses had fallen and where somewhere to her side out of reach. Which made everything further than a few feet a great big blur to her. All the things that made her dreams and imagination preferable to the real world. Not that she retreated to her dreams and pretended the real world didn't exist. She struggled and fought for ever moment of joy she had there.
She loved her dad, who did everything he could for her. Working to pay the rent and the bills that she incurred because of her poor health and increasing medical expenses. He would still take time off work just to go to the beach with her on a sunny day, or take her horseback riding. He'd promised her a kitten for her birthday, a little black one. She hoped it had yellow eyes like her little Shadow Kitten she held.
She had her friends, several people she'd met online and who's friendship had moved into the offline world when they had discovered how closely they'd all lived to each other.
Maia had her tutor. A wonderful woman named Joanne, a college student, who helped her dad home-schooled her as her mobility issues made going to public school much too difficult. Joanne encouraged her imagination, giving her random things to write about just to see what she could come up with. Maia hoped to go to college soon, and maybe become a full time writer or journalist even.
She knew it wasn't her fault she was born with a body that betrayed her or a Mother who left her and her father because she couldn't handle taking care of Maia's needs. Maia had always been a very mature girl, she had to be.
In the end, all she had where her dreams and the ambitions that came because of them, and she was beginning to wonder if those where now going to be taken from her too.
The flying harlequin gave a blink and then suddenly smiled in a way that just seemed to deflate every ounce of fear in her. "Its Ok Owl, I think this is a good Nigthmaran." and it did a bit of a lazy twirl in the air circling her as if looking her over from all angles. Even the vioce gave her no real clue as to the gender. But the graceful movements she started to pin 'female' on the creature just to give her something to call it without sounding so rude as to keep referring to the being as an 'it'.
"Hoo," the Owl seemed to almost breath in a sigh of relief.
Maia blinked at both the odd creatures. The purple creature turning lazy circles as if the whole situation didn't much matter anymore to her. The Owl came into a comfortable speaking distance and flapped his wings, keeping himself hovering in a way that a normal bird could not manage. Periodicly loosing a feather or two, which faded to nothing before touching the ground.
"Hello Visitor" he said much more politely. He still looked a bit ruffled and definitely unsure of the Kitten who was eying him with large intent yellow eyes.
She paused a moment and looking around she attempted to scoot over to get her glasses. Kitten hopped from her lap and picked them up for her carrying them over. She took them and wiped them off with a corner of her sleeve. Once she had them on she felt much more comfortable. The Owl waited patiently which was a kind consideration. Especially after all that had just happened.
"Er, yes.. Were am I?" she asked looking up at the Owl who then cleared his throat.
"Yes, you are at the Dream gate which is part of the Night Dimension." he said in a way that suddenly made her feel that she was in for a long, possibly very boring, carefully prepared speech.
He was cut off before he could get far by a blur of the purple harlequin. "Hey, I'm NiGHTS, what's your name? How did you come to have that nightmaran? Do you like Flying? It's way better than walking let me tell you. How about we Duelize and I can show you around the Dream Gate, I promise it will be much more fun than listening to Owl prattle on!"
"Hoo! How Rude!" Owl fluffed and lost a few more feathers, that Kitten was now below him and trying to catch before they disappeared. He nervously added some more height, trying to stay out of reach of the Nightmare that was staring at him with a fixed intent gaze of a kitten with a teaser toy.
She found herself smiling and any remaining feeling of unease was lost. This Nights reminded her more of an toddler with a sugar high eager to play, or maybe more of a humming bird on speed. "Maia," she said introducing herself and handling each of the rapid questions one at a time. "I made Kitten." she said of the Shadow Nightmare. "What's Duelizing?" she rubbed her hands nervously together as she stared at the twirling purple jester.
"Made a Nightmaran? Wow, you are talented!" she laughed and came down closer to Maia, "Duelizing, it's kind of a way that the two of us can sort of merge into one body. It lets me take you around. It sounds much weirder than it is, so why don't you try it?" she held out her white gloved hand invitingly to the teen age girl.
Maia stared at the hand a moment, then attempted to get up so she could take it, but fell again. Nights flew down closer so she wouldn't have to stand and Maia took the offered hand. There was a brief odd feeling before suddenly she felt, weightless, free. There was a lack of pain that made her suddenly want to cry.
Nights flipped them through the air and Maia felt herself giggle. This was what a flying dream should feel like! A rollercoaster that was free to go in any direction. She glanced at her hands and found that she was looking at Nights instead. So it was like being in the same body then, only it was Nights' body. Maia didn't mind, she was use to being in a different form in her dreams. Something she preferred over the clunky hardship her real body gave her.
"Come on Maia! Let me show you around!" there was a feeling of utter joy and happiness that at first Maia wondered if it was herself but realized it was Nights. The jester was ecstatic, happy, joyful. She enjoyed this merging and sharing her joy of dreams and flight with the people she merged with. Maia found the joy infectious and joined in the feeling as she felt her body tilt in a twirl through the air. Nights took her spinning around the courtyard and through the trees. Maia didn't realize when Nights had flipped control from herself to Maia, who tumbled joyfully through the air in estatic freedom. Not concerned with flying gracefully, but just discovering how each turn and twirl made her belly flip and tickled like taking a rise in the road at high speed.
She came to a stop as she found herself faced with the still ruffled looking Owl. Below Kitten was mewling and lashing tail as if contemplating make a jump for the bird. "Have you gotten acquainted with flying? Perhaps I can help lead you through some of the finer points." he said. He didn't even wait for her to answer before he continued. While he talked a lot, and she and Nights started trading private jokes about it with each other, he did have some good points. Showing her what some of the things Nights could do could be used to do various aerobatic fetes, like swinging through rings of yellow dots, gathering blue globes of light and how to use them. She also discovered the move that the other one had done was called a paraloop, and it could cause damage but also sent dream creatures elsewhere. Which explained how Kitten came back to her. And why he'd looked so strained as well.
By the end of Owl's tutorial she was more familiar with some of Nights moves, like a touch dash and drill dash, as well as paralooping. Then Nights stopped the merge and set her on the ground where she was able to sit at the edge of the fountain. Kitten perched on her lap happy to have her back on the ground where it could get her attention again. She wished she could go walking around the area a bit more, explore the ground as she and Nights explored the air. Nights floated over her shoulder and twiddled her long fingers at Kitten who batted playfully.
"What about Kitten?" she suddenly said almost randomly.
"Huh?" Maia was brought out of her thoughts.
"Kitten gets big right? Maybe you can ride it?" Nights said this like it was the most obvious thought in the world. "I don't think Kitten can Dualize like me, its only a third level Nightmaran."
"What's teh difference?" she asked. Having a feeling that Nights was just like her Kitten, and like that one that attacked her.
"Hmmm.. well.." Nights seemed to be thinking how to answer that one.
"It is a matter of intelligence and power." Owl was the one that offered. "Ones like your Kitten as much weaker and less intelligent than those of higher levels."
"Like Nights?" she said scratching Kitten under its chin.
There was a silence that made her look up "How'd you guess?" Nights said looking a mix of shocked and uncomfortable.
"Considering I ran into one that looked alot like you?" she said "Only he was red and black, he had eyes like yours..." she gripped her chest feeling remnants of discomfort from what he did to her.
"Reala?" Owl looked shocked and flustered.
"Was that his name? I don't know, I just know I was crafting a really good nightmare when he came in, attacked Kitten and then he..." she trailed off and tightened her jaw. He'd made her feel so, weak, and helpless. She hated that feeling above all else.
"What did Reala do to you?" Nights asked going from whatever conflicted feelings she'd had on how Maia guessed about her being a Nightmaran to consern for the pain that was reflected in the teen's face.
"He, ripped out these glowing spheres" she indicated the shape and size with her hands "Right out of my chest, it.. really hurt"
"He stole your Ideya then" Owl said.
"My Ideya?"
"Its like, how to say this, a piece of your heart. The parts of you that reflect growth, intelligence, purity, hope and courage. Green, blue, white, yellow and red respectively." Owl perched on the fountain next to her, his warm fluffy body almost comforting.
"He left me with my red one." she said and Nights seemed to perk.
"Red, that is a powerful one!"
"Well, it was kinda broke, so he didn't want it."
Owl seemed confused "Broke? How does one break an Ideya?"
"I don't know, but it had this crack down its side." she shrugged.
"That is very weird." Nights commented and then flitted around the courtyard "Might be why a gate hasn't formed then."
She looked up at the broken arches Nights flew by, "Gates? I thought this was the dream gate?"
"Well, it is, but it's more of a nexus between the various dreams that a Visitor like yourself will have. Each reflecting the Ideya that you have, or should have. The power of your Ideya form these gates from those broken arches. When you open the door it leads you to a world formed from the pieces of your heart." Owl pointed with one of his wings at the gates and Maia nodded.
"So, if one doesn't form then what?"
Owl seemed sad "there would be no way to retrieve those stolen pieces of your heart."
Her brows knitted together "Then what happens to me? I mean, what happens when I wake and I don't have those things that that guy took from me?"
"You will loose the benefits of the reflected Ideya, without growth for instance, you will have a harder time with the wisdom you need to grow as your body ages."
She was silent for a long moment before suddenly she found herself picked up by Nights. "Lets not be so depressing!" Nights laughed and kitten tumbled along the cobbled ground and bounced after as Nights flipped the teen into the air and caught her, merging the two of them again.
It really was hard to feel depressed when one was flying though the endless twilight. Flipping around one of the various little islets around the edges of the main gate she found herself stopped suddenly.
"Careful" Nights' voice said, at if it was spoken right over her shoulder and she saw Nights' arm point to the dark shifting clouds below "Don't get too close to that."
"What is it?"
"That is the way into the viod of the Nightmare, if you fell down there, you could be lost. Forever." Owl said flapping his way over.
"That doesn't sound cool" Maia said.
Nights laughed and rested her hands on her hips "well, there is still plunty of space to fly, lets just head back towards the gate shall we?" and she flew them back.
Nights was nearly level with the ground so that she could release Maia once again when something hit them both and Maia found herself tumbling on the ground painfully. She looked up and saw Nights pinned by another figure.
It was the one from earlier. The one that stole her Ideya, Reala.
Kitten growled fiercely and Maia found paws on either side of her shoulders as the little kitten became a large shadow beast and stood over her. Owl was nearby sounding like he was on a verge of a panic. Nights struggled in that painful grip.
"Nights, been a long time." Reala said almost sweetly.
"Let. Me. Go!" Nights said clawing at the hand holding her against a tree.
"I don't think so, right now I have some business with that little visitor you've been flying about here and I really don't need you ruining things for me. Wizeman would not be pleased."
"oh no" Owl said softly.
Nights looked shocked "Wizeman's back?"
"Oh yes, and he is very displeased with you, but will be willing to leave you alone, so long as you stay out of his business. So me? I know what a busy body you are, so I'm going to make sure you stay out of the way." his smile was evil and wide. He snapped his fingers and soon they both disappeared into a ring of blackness. Nights' gave a cry and Maia held out her own hand.
"no!" she started to try and pull herself towards the spot, but it was gone before she could get far. She wasn't fast enough. Or strong enough.
"this is horrible! Horrible!" Owl cried. "Wizeman back? And Reala has taken Nights! Oh what can we do?" he moaned.
She gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet. Beside her Kitten stood letting her use it as a leaning perch to get herself to her feet. "I have to do something." she said with determination. She didn't notice the glow that started in her chest, a pulsing red glow that spred to her hands. It seemed itself to have a black mark in the glow over her heart as if reflecting the blemish that was upon the orb that the color reflected.
"Your Ideya" the Owl said in wonder as behind her one of the gates formed and a doorway stood there.
She blinked and the glow faded.
"What?"
"Hurry! We have to go through that door, perhaps we might be able to catch up to Nights."
"Huh? Wouldn't Reala have taken her somewhere we can't get to?"
"Perhaps, but the dream world has a way of shaping itself to the desires of the Dreamer." Owl told her. and she suddenly smiled widely herself in a way that was not all that different from the smile Reala had worn.
"So you are saying then that if I want Nights to be on the other side of the door, I will likely be able to find her?"
Owl looked a touch disturbed by her smile "Um, yes, very possibly if you desire it strong enough."
"Well, lets go then!" she said and with Kitten as her crutch she made her way to the door. The couple steps where a pain, but she got to it and gripping the handles she took a deep breath.
Take me to Nights, she thought to herself and opened the door into light.