Time for the next chapter! Oh, and I forgot to mention that this story takes place shortly after the events in Journey of Dreams, but you probably already knew that. ;) And hey, thanks so much for the reviews!

Note: I still do not own the NiGHTS characters and I never will. …Now I feel really depressed about that. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go eat some chocolate.

Chapter Two: Returning the Favour

At last, the streetlights of Nightopia came into view, followed by the silhouettes of buildings and shops. Reala flew down lower and began weaving between streets and alleys. He was hardly aware of the frightened Nightopians that ducked into dark corners as he passed by. Right now, his main priority was to get NiGHTS to a hospital quickly. Reala glanced at the Nightmaren he was carrying. She still hadn't moved, but she had lost a lot of blood. Reala had to fly faster, before it would be too late.

Reala eventually made it to the nearest hospital and he sailed through the doors and went straight to the front desk.

Immediately, the Nightopian at the desk shrieked and cowered away. The other Nightopians that were in the vicinity also shied away behind things or fled in fear.

Reala growled in frustration. "Please! I have a patient who needs help! NOW!" When he saw that nothing was moving, he tried again. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just need someone to take care of her!" He lifted NiGHTS a little, and the Nightopian under the desk peeked out from it.

Reala glanced around the room and saw that other Nightopians were watching him, or rather, watching NiGHTS. Reala knew that Nightopians were very fond of NiGHTS, seeing as she was the only Nightmaren who never scared them. Still though, they didn't budge. He tried again, this time in a gentler voice. "Please, she really needs help. I'm not even supposed to be here, and it's probably my fault she's even in this mess. I should've been protecting her." He wasn't sure if that last bit was true, but it seemed to convince the Nightopians.

The Nightopian behind the desk floated out slowly towards Reala. It spoke timidly in its Nightopian language.

Reala understood it and nodded. The Nightopian doctors arrived in the lobby with a stretcher and Reala carefully laid NiGHTS down on it. He watched as she was taken away to one of the E.R. rooms. He wanted to go with her, to see if she was all right. But he also had to leave. If he wasn't back at the castle, Wizeman would wonder why, and he would get his suspicions. "NiGHTS is in good hands," Reala reasoned with himself. "She'll be taken care of. There's nothing more I can do." He turned around and left the hospital.

And then stopped himself. How could he just leave NiGHTS when he had saved her? The least he could do was make sure she was ok. Wizeman could wait, Reala finally decided. He turned and went back inside.

"Where is her room?" Reala asked the Nightopian at the desk. "I must know if she's all right."

The Nightopian seemed wary at first, but led Reala to the room NiGHTS was in. But the Nightopian told Reala he couldn't go in at this time, that he would have to wait until the doctors were done.

Reala briefly thought of forcing the Nightopian to let him in, after all, he was bigger and stronger, but he decided against it and he sat in a chair outside the door to NiGHTS' room.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days. Still, he didn't move. He could hear the Nightopian doctors and nurses chatting to each other in the room, busy using instruments and managing the wounds on NiGHTS. Nightopians that passed by him, simply minding their business, gave Reala skeptical glances. He wasn't concerned about that, though. He was, however, concerned about NiGHTS. Reala didn't think he would be this worried about another living thing besides himself. Why did Reala feel the need to rush into the room, grab NiGHTS by the shoulders and jerk her awake to make sure she was alive? Reala closed his eyes and held his head in his hands, sighing.

Not soon enough, the door to NiGHTS' room opened and the Nightopians floated out. A Nightopian nurse turned to Reala, who looked up expectantly.

"How is she?"

The nurse explained that NiGHTS was going to be fine and that she just needed rest. She also added that Reala had gotten NiGHTS there just in time. Then she told him he could go in.

Reala understood. He rose from the chair and grunted. His legs were sore stiff from sitting all the while he was waiting. After a quick moment of stretching, Reala floated in the room.

NiGHTS was sleeping in a bed with white bandages covering her injuries; Reala could see one visible cast on her arm. The dried blood was cleaned from her and her breathing was steady.

Reala was hoping NiGHTS would be awake, but then he thought that it was best she wasn't. "Besides," he told himself, "what would NiGHTS say if she knew I had been the one to save her? I doubt she'd thank me." In all his years of knowing NiGHTS, though, Reala knew NiGHTS would do anything to help one of her friends, even Reala.

Reala instinctively thought back to the time when he had been chasing a Visitor along a mountain path, when a rockslide came tumbling down. The Visitor woke up just in time, but the boulders had crushed Reala's leg. NiGHTS offered to take care of Reala and that's what she did, even when Reala protested.

But that was before, when NiGHTS was still loyal to Wizeman. Who knows what she'd do if that were now. Then Reala wondered if NiGHTS even remembered that time she took care of him. Surely she must have, for it wasn't like NiGHTS to forget things like that.

Reala glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was getting late. "Well, you saw she's ok, so now you can leave," Reala instructed himself. But before he departed, he grabbed a pen and small piece of paper and wrote a note. He left it on the night table beside NiGHTS' bed, hoping that she would wake up soon and read it. Reala went over to the window and looked back at NiGHTS.

"Goodbye, NiGHTS," he whispered. With that, Reala opened the window and flew out; he didn't feel like taking the stairs. He set his course for Nightmare, but along the way, he thought of stealing Ideya from Visitors as an excuse for why he was gone for such a while.

NiGHTS slowly opened her eyes. Everything was a light blur at first, but when her vision returned to her, she could make out bed sheets, counters with doctors' instruments and equipment on them, and the scent of the room was sterile. She realized she was in a hospital. But how? Wasn't she just being beaten brutally by Wizeman? He gaze shifted to a piece of paper on the night table and she used her good hand to reach it.

The note said:

Just returning the favour.

Nothing more. For a split second, NiGHTS was puzzled. Then her memory returned to her like a boulder to the head. Or a leg…

"Reala," she whispered in surprise. Then everything started becoming fuzzy again and she knew she was going to pass out. She didn't know if it was the shock or the anesthetic, but she could no longer keep awake. As soon as she put her drowsy head to the pillow, the blackness enveloped her.

Good? Bad? Just ok? Tell me what you think of this chapter. Constructive tips only, please! No flames!