When Dot and Wakko made it back to their water tower, they could hear low whimpers being emitted. They were faint, but they could still hear them. They followed the sounds into their bedroom, where they happened upon what was possibly the saddest sight they ever encountered.

Curled up on the bed with the blankets wrapped around him like a protective cucoon was Yakko. His eyes were clenched shut tightly. His cheeks stained in tears. His body's shaking shook the bed a little.

Just one look at this sad sight, the two knew something was very wrong with Yakko. They walked up to him, careful not to startle him. In response to their weight pushing down on the bed, Yakko opened up his eyes. Wakko and Dot were shocked at just how reddened they were from all the crying he did.

His eyes growing big, Yakko realized he was caught. He sat up in his bed and wiped the snot dripping from his nose. Yet he still managed to put on a small smile and tried to pretend that none of this was happening. He was still in denial. "Whaddya want?"

"I wish you would tell us what is wrong." Dot was the first to speak. "It will help you feel better."

"You're scaring us, bro." Wakko nodded his head once, agreeing with Dot.

Yakko was still defiant. He closed his eyes and looked away from his siblings, not making eye contact with them. After being silent for a minute, he turned around and crawled back into bed. He pushed himself under the covers and put his back to them. His siblings watched him sadly, uncertain of why he won't speak to them about this.

Wakko took off his hat and held it lightly in his hands. "Why won't you speak to us? Why won't you tell us? Why?" Dot put a hand on his shoulder as a tear started to emerge from his eyes.

Dot inched closer to Yakko. She wasn't about to let him get off the hook that easily. She grabbed the covers and pulled them up. "Yakko, if you tell us, maybe there could be something we could..."

Yakko swerved towards her so fast she almost fell down. "I don't want anyone else involved in this! I...I don't want you to..." His voice trailed off. He gave a long sigh. "A-a-ah can handle this on my own..."

Dot wanted to keep going. She wanted to believe that if she pestered him enough, that he would finally tell what was going on. All she knew is that something happened the other night and he was suddenly afraid of pencils. No, not afraid, terrified. She wanted to know what happened the other night. Yakko was just fine before then.

It dawned on her that the incident must have happened between the time Yakko left the meeting and when he got back to the water tower. She felt tears rise up in her eyes as she began to wonder just what had happened to him. Someone, or something, must have..hurt Yakko somehow. Who could do such a thing to Yakko? Sure he liked to pull pranks, but he never did anything to deserve this...

Knowing her brother was in pain caused her heart to clench in agony. It hurt even more knowing that she and her brother can't help him. If Yakko keeps pushing them away from the subject, how could they ever get any closer to discovering the truth? As much as she hated to admit it, she and Wakko would need to back off until Yakko was ready to speak. She knew her brother well enough to know that, eventually, he'd come around.

"Well..." Dot said, breaking the silence, "Don't forget that you have to go to Dr. Scratchensniff's office tomorrow."

This got Yakko's attention. He lifted his head up, not caring to hide his tears. "Why do I need to go there?"

In an uncharacteristically low voice, Wakko said, "Dr. Scratchensniff wants to examine you. If you don't come to the office, we are instructed to bring you down."

Yakko didn't give much of a protest groan. He just laid his head back down, his eyes closing. Dot and Wakko decided to leave him alone for now. They shut the lights off and walked out of the bedroom. Giving him one last sympathetic look, they shut the door, allowing Yakko to get some rest.

At first, his sleep was peaceful. But come the thirtieth minute, his composure changed suddenly. His eyes clenched tightly, his teeth gritted, his brows furrowed. He began muttering under his breath. Unintelligable words, mixed in with whimpers.

A nightmare had gripped him.

Yakko walked down the street, like any other day. His arms behind his back, he whistled happily. The water tower was just up ahead. Instead of going straight there, he decided to take a detour around the buildings. What harm could it do? The worst that would happen is that he'd be netted and thrown into the tower, which was where he was going anyway.

As he walked between two of the buildings, he noticed a shadow moving along the walls. He frowned. The shadow's shape looked very familiar. Wanting to know who it was, he moved towards the shadow. It moved quickly, taking Yakko away from the Warner Studios and out onto the nearby streets.

Despite this, he still followed. He was Yakko Warner, of course. He could easily slip away at the first sign of danger. As he got further away from the studios, the shadow itself seemed to grow smaller, and he knew he was catching up.

When he did, he saw a figure walking towards what looked like an apartment building. This one was quite a distance away from the Warner Studios. Yakko was surprised at the ground he had covered.

Getting closer, he could see the face of this person. A wide smile spread across his face.

"Oh it's you!" He called out, waving at the person. The figure obviously noticed him. "Hello mister! How was your trip in Antarctica?"

He laughed to himself, pressing a hand against his face in an attempt to stop himself. He remembered the look on the guy's face when he and his siblings deliberately gave him the wrong address and sent him to Antarctica. The guy was a jerk, more so than any other jerks they had to deal with. The bloke was looking for trouble and he got it.

When Yakko saw the man approach him, he thought nothing of it. He remained where he stood, giggling as the man, covered in bits of snow from just having returned from Antarctica, got ever closer. Only when the man was five feet away did Yakko's laugh slowly, nervously, stop. He saw the look on his face, the look in his eyes.

"I...should probably get going." Yakko pointed behind him and nervously smiled. "You know how siblings can be..heh heh. I need to make sure they're behaving. Someone's gotta be in charge, yanno?"

Yakko started to back away from the man. When the man continued to get closer, Yakko put his arms out in front of him, trying to urge him to back off. Still, the man continued advancing on him, the glare in his eyes making them seem like they were glowing. In his hands he clenched a recently sharpened pencil.

"Mister, you're getting too close. What are you, a magnet?"

The man ignored him.

"What's the matter? Can't take a joke?" Yakko continued to grin at the man, hoping to put him at ease. "Look, if my sibs and I upset you with the whole Antarctica thing, I apologize."

Suddenly Yakko found himself backed into a corner. In an alleyway with no windows. Just his luck. He looked around to find a means of escape. There was none. For the first time he could think of, he felt his heart start to race from fear. Surely this man couldn't be that bad, could he?

The man got so close that his breath hit against Yakko's face each time he exhaled. He inched so close that Yakko couldn't escape.

"Okay that's close enough. Heh heh.."

The man suddenly gripped Yakko's throat with strong fingers. Yakko cried out in a mixture of shock and pain. The fingertips dug into his skin as the grip tightened further. Yakko started to gasp for air and he struggled in the man's grasp.

"Please please please don't do this! A-a-a-a-a-ah'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please let me go!"

The man threw Yakko into the ground hard. The Warner groaned in pain as his head slammed against the concrete. He tried to get up, but he was immediately pushed into the ground. He struggled frantically as the man held him onto the ground. His eyes widened as he saw the man pull the pencil back, poised to strike.

"No..please..."

The man struck.

sss

A loud scream echoed through the water tower. Wakko and Dot jolted up from what they were doing. Hearts pounding, they raced to the bedroom.

Upon opening the door, they could see Yakko flopping back and forth on the bed. A river of tears covered his cheeks. He was crying out things like "Stop it" and "I'm sorry". They hollered his name. He didn't reply. They ran to his side and held him down. Doing so caused the cries to become more frantic, more pleading. They held him down until he slowly stopped, and the nightmare that was plaguing him left his mind.

As Yakko returned to a peaceful sleep, Dot and Wakko looked at each other worriedly. They knew now just how important the visit with Scratchensniff was. The nightmare must have been about what happened to him. If Scratchensniff could get him to talk about it, then maybe they could get to the bottom of what happened to Yakko.

They were about to leave, but they stopped. No, they couldn't leave him. Not like this. Not when he needed them the most. Although there wasn't a lot of room, they both got in the bed with Yakko. Wakko laid down at his side, resting his chin against the top of his older brother's head. Dot laid across her brother's legs. It wasn't comfortable, but right now, she didn't care.

All she and Wakko cared about right now was their brother. They would do whatever it takes to make him feel safe again. Anything.

"Guys, guys, I'm fine!"

Yakko was sitting at the restaurant-style dinner table. In front of him was a bowl of cereal. He slowly ate it, his eyes wandering to look at his siblings. They hadn't stopped look at him since he sat down. It was starting to irritate him.

"Can you tell us about your nightmare?" Wakko asked after swallowing a small amount of food. Small at least in terms of Wakko.

Yakko stared at them, his eye brow cocked. "Nightmare? I slept like a log last night. What are you two talking about?"

"You screamed!" Dot exclaimed, using her hands to emphasize her point. "We heard it all the way on the other side of the tower!"

Yakko blinked. "Really?"

"You really frightened us." Wakko said, lowering his head.

Yakko bit his lip. He didn't realize he scared his siblings that much. He felt bad. He rubbed the side of his face as he glanced back at the two. They were waiting for an answer.

"Gee guys I..." Yakko said, struggling with the words to say. "I'm really sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to." He hesitated for a second. "I don't really remember any nightmare."

Dot shook her head. "Enough with the lying. I know you don't want to talk about it. And as your siblings, we will be willing to give you time. But after last night, how terrified you looked as you struggled in whatever heck nightmare you were having, something needs to be done."

Before Yakko had any time to retort, Wakko spoke up, his voice a little firmer than usual.

"Dot is right, Yakko. You really need some help. If you don't want to talk about it now, then you can talk about it at Scratchensniff's office. You've helped us in the past. Now let us help you."

Yakko swallowed hard at this. He stared at his brother and sister. He saw the pain practically shining from their dark eyes. This was starting to get out of hand, and he knew it. How much longer could he deny them? How much longer could he really put this off?

He didn't have a choice. He knew they'd keep dragging him into Scratchensniff's office, that they'd keep pestering him until he finally told. If only that nightmare hadn't occurred. He remembered it, but he hoped lying to Wakko and Dot would make them back off. He should have known better.

He didn't want to think about the nightmare. He didn't want to remember what happened. He wished he could forget. He wanted things to go back to normal. He wanted to feel like his old self again, genuinely, not an act. He didn't want to lie to his siblings anymore.

Finally, he spoke.

"...I'll try..."

At that, Wakko and Dot smiled softly. They gave their brother a reassuring hug, promising him that everything would be all right. Yakko hoped that they were right.