"Reala! What are you doing here?"

Above Bellbridge, England, two almost-humanoid figures known commonly as Nightmaren float in the night sky, silhouetted by the edge of a huge silver moon that is slowly but steadily setting. The two seem like night and day in appearance, one clad in a twisted-circus-esque red-and-black theme, while the other seems more jester-like, dressed in pastel pinks and purples.

The dark clown- Reala, as he is called- smirked. "Nice to see you again too, NiGHTS. I should ask you the same question." The smile starts to fade. "You're not supposed to be alive after destroying Master Wizeman, and quite frankly neither am I. Why aren't we dead?"

"Do you...realize how odd that question sounds?" The jester known as NiGHTS asks, repressing the urge to laugh.

"This is serious." Reala snaps, getting a bit closer to the jester. "You're the one that started the stupid little rebellion against the Master in the first place. You must have known what you were doing!"

"Of course not!" NiGHTS snaps back, getting into the other Nightmaren's face briefly before backing off a little. "I said that so that Will and Helen wouldn't be afraid. I honestly thought the same thing you did. We're both supposed to be dead." She glances up at Reala and smirks. "I'm as clueless as you are, but I really can't complain."

At that, she spins upward a bit, inhaling deeply. "This is the free air. It's so much more fun flying around out here than it is in the Dream Gate or even Nightopia." She spread her arms. "It's cold. It's actually cold outside!" The Nightmaren looks down at her counterpart, grinning before stating in an almost taunting manner, "Loosen up a little, Reala. You have no one to listen to anymore."

"That's the problem I'm facing." The clown hisses, flying upward to meet the obviously apathetic jester, who still wears the taunting grin. "Master Wizeman is, presumably, gone because of you. You didn't and still don't know what will happen now; and what's worse, you probably don't even know how to get back to the Night Dimension, do you?"

NiGHTS floats in thought for a few seconds before shrugging. "Nope. Not at all. But so? I don't see anything wrong with being here a bit. Just as long as we don't get caught." She flies in a circle around Reala.

"Wait, NiGHTS!"

"Really, Reala, you need to start getting used to-ah!" Before she can complete the sentence, and before the duo knows what's happening, a Paraloop appears as NiGHTS completes the circle. Being at the center, Reala isn't able to say much before falling victim to its suction. To her utter shock, NiGHTS, too, finds herself actually having to attempt to fly away from the force of it- something she'd never had to do before.

She ultimately fails and flies backward into the center with a shout of shock, the black hole of the Paraloop promptly disappearing with her.

Below, sitting at a bus stop, a drowsy-looking man looks up at the sound of screaming, shrugs when he sees nothing, and takes a bite of his sandwich.

/*|*\

In the midst of a few short seconds, Reala is able to figure out two things: One, his sibling is apparently not as observant when she has no obligations to stop Wizeman, and two, he had been sucked into a Paraloop. As he is deposited and shoved a couple of feet sideways in the air, he wonders how this is possible. This attack had never affected him before aside from slowing him down, and even then he usually recovers pretty well.

When the surprise wears off and he regains his senses, the Nightmaren looks around, recognizing his location almost immediately. He is in the Dream Gate. Yet, it isn't the same. There are many more Visitors being greeted by Owl as they wander in, and the square in the center seems a bit...bigger somehow.

On the ground below, a number of the Visitors- most of them children- scamper about the fountain and in and out through their own doors to Nightopia. Any lower-level Nightmaren present is promptly hit with one of the many blue chips laying around. Very few Visitors are on the stairs, however. The ones that are stare tentatively down into the dark unknown below, and step down immediately afterward.

Needless to say, Reala isn't happy with what he sees. There are far too many of those little dreamers around with even one of their Ideya still intact!

Before he can do anything about it, though, he suddenly finds himself bumped to the side by some form of projectile. He turns, fully expecting to punish a chip-throwing Visitor. The sight he is met with, however, is his sister, upside down and looking just as confused as he'd been.

"Whoa!" She murmurs, turning herself the right way. "That's not normal. That Paraloop was just supposed to be a jibe. I didn't think that..."

"Let me guess: Yet another instance in which you didn't know what you were doing?" Her brother replies almost tauntingly.

"Shut up!" She shoots back. "At least I got us back...into...the Night Dimension?"

It is then that NiGHTS started to take in her surroundings, appearing surprised at what she sees. "Wow...I didn't think that the Dream Gate could be this big." She comments, moving to the side a bit as a third-level Nightmaren flies dizzily by her. "It's...amazing..."

At this, she unleashes a cheerful laugh and proceeds to dart downward, weaving among the many dreamers who stop to watch her in amazement as she goes by. A few even follow. As she flies, NiGHTS scans over the Visitors, hoping to spot a familiar face or four. Either number would do, but instead she finds herself meeting with someone completely different.

"Hoo! Please stop throwing those chips at me, I-NiGHTS?" The owl-like figure turns to face the Nightmaren it just flew into, almost immediately recognizing her and reacting with shock. "You...you're...alive?"

"Owl! You're still here!" NiGHTS replies. "Have you seen this change? It's like Nightmare doesn't even exist anymore!"

"I have noticed- hoo!- and it's certainly an adjustment, but alas- hoo!- I wouldn't count on this little square being so full for very much longer." The owl known as...Owl...answers with a shake of his head.

"Huh? Wait, what?" The jester isn't entirely sure what her companion is getting at, nor is she very excited about the prospect of yet another Night Dimension disaster when she has just returned from defeating the God of Nightmare. "Owl, what are you talking about?"

"Hoo! You mentioned that with the Dream Gate the way it is, it's like Nightmare doesn't exist." The bird states in a voice reminiscent of some wise storyteller. "Of course, this isn't true. Due to the nature of the hearts of Visitors, nightmares will still occur. Hoo! There will still be that darkness in their subconscious."

She listens to him with more interest then usual, especially when he mentions the hearts of Visitors, remembering with a grimace that Wizeman had made a similar remark just before he was defeated for the last time.

"So...Nightmare is still around, then?"

"Hoo! Of course. Surely you've noticed that there are still Nightmaren drifting around? Though, granted, they're not doing a very good job of taking any Ideya."

NiGHTS looks around with concern, taking a more precise note of the lingering 'Maren. She hadn't given them much thought previously and, as Owl said, they aren't proving to be very successful in bombarding any Visitor into losing their Ideya. In fact, many of the ones that try are hit by chuckling children with Blue Chips.

Despite this, it occurs to her that perhaps not everything is as perfect as it seems.

"O-oh...well-but...what are they doing all over the Dream Gate? They seem so..." she moves out of the way as yet another Third-Level drifts by. "...disorganized."

"Hoo, but of course they are. They have no leader." Owl meets the gaze of the First-Level Nightmaren. "As I'm absolutely positive that you're aware, he's no longer present for duty."

As hard as it is, NiGHTS has to admit that he has a point. Wizeman was the creator of Nightmare and the creatures that resided- or in her own case, used to reside- there. Why those creatures are still here after the wicked god has been destroyed is beyond her, but whatever the reason, the fact still stands that there is nobody to organize and/or control them. They're just...there.

"So...with Wizeman gone...who's going to-" Before the jester can finish the question, however, a bout of chaos breaks out, cutting her off. "What the-?" she turns to see a large amount of Visitors scrambling about, chased by small herds of Nightmaren. Yet it is one pursuer in particular who catches her attention, holding in one arm a blue, a white, and a green Ideya while more of them start to scatter.

"Hoo! It seems you're not the only one making a surprising return!" Owl cries in alarm.

"Reala!" NiGHTS calls, now ignoring the wise bird as she readies herself to defend the panicked Visitors against her brother. Before she can get very far, however, a cry particularly filled with horror diverts her focus. Upon discerning the owner of the shout, she can immediately see why it is so spiked with terror: The young man to whom the call belongs is on the top landing of the stairs to the Dark Sea, being backed dangerously close to the edge by a butterfly-like 'Maren.

The pastel Nightmaren looks rapidly from Reala to the boy in peril for a moment before dashing toward the child and easily dispatching his assailant.

After that relatively minor task, she is surprised to hear him scream once again, crouching and placing two hands over his eyes. "Eyah!" He cries, "W-wait! D-don't hurt me! Please!"

"Wha-hurt you?" NiGHTS replies quizzically, gazing at the shaking lad confusedly. "Why would I do that? You're going to be fine. I'm here to help."

Reluctantly, the child peeks out from behind his hands, revealing two frightened green eyes that look over this new presence. He glances back and forth from her to another point behind her before shaking his head, backing up a bit more, and pointing to said other point. "You...you look just like him, though."

She follows his finger, finding her sibling on the other end. "Reala? What makes you think that we look anything alike?"

"Your height, your hats, you guys both have some sorta carnival-y thing going on!" He accuses.

The Nightmaren, annoyed, turns to leave once more rather than defending her case any longer. Right now, there are bigger fish to fry

"What makes you think that I can trust either of y-uahh!"

NiGHTS gives a small start as she quickly turns to find out what cut the child off. Unfortunately, she quite literally finds nothing there.

"Oh no." She mutters to herself, diving downward from the edge of the platform.

Diving into the ominous darkness below, it isn't extremely difficult to find the boy falling- especially since he flails as he falls, enabling her to quickly pick the great amount of movement out of the haunting stillness around them. Dashing through the air, she catches him bridal-style, wasting no time in speeding back up to the platform above. She lowers him onto solid ground, lightly commanding, "Stop doing that! I'll explain everything later. For now, you need to get out of here!"

With that, she flies off to tend to the rest of the attacked Visitors, which, to her dismay, had dwindled in number due to either a successful retreat into their Doors to Nightopia, or to losing their Ideya and taking the plunge into Nightmare. Of course, it's easy to get rid of numerous Third-Levels in any amount of ways but, after what happened in Bellbridge, NiGHTS is quite reluctant to use the Paraloop, which is probably why the entire ordeal of putting the madness to a stop lasts a bit longer than intended.

By the time the jester goes to face her sibling mano-a-mano, there doesn't seem to be any Visitors left in the Dream Gate, and, in fact, not even Reala himself can be found.

"Hmph. Coward." She utters to herself before starting to fly off to...somewhere. Even she isn't entirely sure where.

However, she is halted in midair by a whistle and the word "Wow..."

"Hm?" NiGHTS spares a glance back over her shoulder, double-taking when she sees the same boy she'd saved twice standing there, applauding. "Wh-what?" She approaches him quizzically. "You...you're still here? Why? I told you get away! You could have been in danger!"

He shrugs. "I dunno. I think I made it out alright."

The jester shakes her head and sighs in exasperation. "There was still the possibility that you could have lost your Ideya. Most Nightmaren don't tend to be very sparing, you know! You're very lucky."

"I'd say. Now, can you explain the stuff about that guy like you said you would?" The young man clasps his hands together, looking up at the pastel Nightmaren with intense interest.

"What? Okay, wait, before I explain anything, we need to get you somewhere sa-hey!"

Before the sentence can end, NiGHTS' wrist is grabbed, and she herself is rapidly pulled toward and into one of the remaining doors of Nightopia. Once the two are through, she jerks her arm out of the lad's grasp, quite irritated.

"That was so not necessary! I could have gotten myself here of my own accord, thank you!"

"You're welcome!" The young man responds, turning to face his Nightmaren companion with earnest interest.

So easy...

"You really are a bad listener, aren't you?" Said Nightmaren companion shakes her head, "Suppose I can't hold that against you, though. I wasn't much of a listener, either..." Wizeman! The throne! Could that be where Reala's gone? Not good... "L-listen, can we meet up another time? I have something important to attend to."

"Huh? Aww! B-but wait, please, just one thing." He counters with almost disappointment, "I never got your name. Mine's Sim." He extends his hand.

Crucial. She seems to have realized. Hope she's not in too much a rush to extend a friendly gesture...

"Uh..." she sighs and smiles, "My name is NiGHTS. Nice to meet you." She extends her hand.

I don't have time for this!

Smiling broadly, the boy known as Sim quickly shakes hands with his new acquaintance.

Perfect! All according to plan! Not let's see if this works...

I need to make this quick. Who knows what Reala could do with that amount of power?

But if this doesn't work...no! I can't be thinking that right now!

No! I can't let these stupid thoughts slow me down!

I just need to focus!

Yeah, I-hey! Did something just happen?

It worked! So far, so good...


Author's Note: Hey, y'all! I've updated again. I'm SOSOSOSOSOOO sorry that I haven't updated this thing in almost a year! I can't believe that I've been focused more on Operation: Rock-a-Bye, which gets significantly less of a response. Sorry. At least I'm updating now, though! By the way, in case you're confused, the italics schpeal at the end was supposed to look confusing, it was a flurry of thoughts on both ends that happen in a split-second, and the bold is a thought that they both have simultaneously. Just in case you're confused.

Thanks to One Little Star for editing, and thanks also to PopPrincess456, BlessedMC, Brink of Insanity777, Celestriakle, and cottoncandy903 for reviewing! Oh, and Brink of Insanity777, yes. He comes in later, but yes.