Note: Shut up. I know I haven't updated, alright? I promised my DeviantART fans there would be an update. Jeez... -sigh- Well... It's crappy, it's quick, and it's thrown out to appease my fans, but here you go, a new chapter for you ravenous beasts. Sorry I sound so gruff, but I was stuck in the doctor's for four hours yesterday while they drew blood and stuck needles in me and did all sorts of other painful tests to my frail human body. I'm an angry, angry human being today, despite the fact that today was the last day of school and I now have the entire summer to waste away on my chair, typing fanfiction. Ten glorious frigging weeks of nothing but sunshine, beaches, and then I turn the TV off and write fanfiction in my nice dark little room as I grow pale and gaunt. Ah, sweet, sweet summertime.

I don't own NiGHTS, nor will I ever. So don't ask.

Chapter Seven : Let Me Fight Your Battles

Reala punched the very pillar from which he'd torn out wood to make a fire. He punched it hard enough to fracture it and splinter the wood. He swore loudly as he heard the police cruisers siren overhead.

"Shit!"

"Reala, shush! Do you want them to hear us?" NiGHTS whispered frantically.

"At this point, I don't even care! We're back where we started, we're stuck with you, and worst yet, I'm still a blasted human! How long must we suffer for?" Reala snapped.

"Reala, we must lie in wait until ze prey comes near uz, zis time."

"Jackle, your small, feeble mind cannot possibly begin to comprehend what is going on right now. We're trapped. Trapped in the Human world. We're possibly going to be trapped here for the rest of our days, awaiting a lesson that is never to be learned. Wizeman's never going to take us back, not after what happened. Even if we miraculously make it home, we'll be trapped in limbo forever. We're in a lose-lose situation and dammit, it's all my own fault." Reala's voice cracked, shaking Jackle by the shoulders gently, but then letting him go and turning his back.

"Il qui supporte le blâme pour lui, est destiné pour aussi porter la culpabilité, mon cher." Jackle said softly, not looking Reala in the eye but instead inspecting his blunt, vibrant, neon-orange fingernails lazily, his glove held limply underneath the opposite arm.

"Don't call me 'dear'." Reala snapped in response.

NiGHTS groaned. "Jackle, either speak English or teach me French, ok? Either way, I'm not being left out of this conversation."

"Like trying to be teaching you anyzing iz going to 'elp any." Jackle muttered, biting back curses. He was getting irritated with NiGHTS' apparent inability to understand 'plain French'. Jackle had a bit of a mental block going on where he had the naive idea that if he could speak French, the rest of the world must be able to as well.

"Ex-cuse me? What did you say?" NiGHTS snapped.

"You 'eard me, you little toad!"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. You did not just say that."

"I am to be believing zat I did, monsieur."

"Shut up!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Reala shouted through the resultant arguing to no avail. He rolled his eyes, stuck his pinkies in his mouth, and let loose a piercing shriek of a whistle. "We all quiet now?" NiGHTS and Jackle nodded, covering their ears with their hands.

"Good. Now, listen to me. Listen to me closely." Reala said through gritted teeth. "We are trapped beneath a pier in southern somewhere. We know it's southern because it's warm, and south means warm, right, NiGHTS?"

"From what I understand, yes. I believe we're somewhere called California, but I could be wrong."

"Close enough. We're trapped beneath a pier in southern California, we're hungry, we're homeless, we've no way to get home, we're fugitives from the law, and as much as it pains me to say it, if we're going to make it, we need to form a team. Three heads better than one and all that."

There was awkward silence among the group for a long moment. Finally, NiGHTS nodded and stuck his scarred arm out in front of him, followed by Reala's nicotine-stained fingers (although he knew full well it wasn't nicotine, but just his transformation, but still, it looked like nicotine, therefore Reala referred to it as nicotine stains.) , and finally Jackle's shaking orange-gloved claw.

"All for one, one for all and all that crap?" Reala said.

"If it gets us home." NiGHTS replied.

"À l'infinité et au-delà ?" Jackle offered, a goofy grin on his face. He was promptly smacked by Reala, who, believe it or not, was smiling.

Jackle smiled back and put his hand on Reala's shoulder.

"Regarde, ce qui arrive, ou ce qui vient notre voie, je serai là pour vous. Je ne me soucie pas si je meurs en le faisant. Vous êtes ma première priorité, parce que je vous aimerai toujours. S'il est sur le champ de bataille, ou si c'est ici à côté des signes roulants, savoir que je suis votre frère, votre protecteur, votre ami et votre amant." Jackle said firmly, his one undestroyed eye locked onto Reala's two with fiery determination and fierce devotion. Reala reached up and placed his free hand over Jackle's gently.

"I know. Jackle, you and I are brothers, and as much as my conscience won't let me get you hurt any further, I know, for my sake, I cannot stop you. But Jackle, for both of our sakes, you've got to stay alive for me. That means you've got to take orders that might seem unreasonable. If I'm in trouble and I tell you to run, you've got to run. You can't look back. Just run, and trust that I have a plan, okay? Jackle, back in Nightmare, you took blows for me that would have ended my life, and if not for you, I wouldn't be alive. I owe so much to you, and in return you ask for nothing. It amazes me how you continue to put your life on the line for me again and again and still remain so modest and shy. You've done so much for me, and I feel as though I do not deserve it. So please, let me earn it. Stay alive for me. Let me be your protector for once. Too long have I hidden in your shadow while you fought my battles. It's time I fought some of yours." Reala dipped his head in and captured Jackle's lips with his own, and the latter returned with long-overdue enthusiasm. Enthusiasm enough that Reala was able to lift him off his feet and Jackle wrapped his arms around Reala's neck, before the kiss broke for air and the two exchanged twitchy smiles.

NiGHTS sniffled, unnoticed, from behind the pair, truly touched at Reala's words, although he couldn't understand Jackle's. And the kiss; gasp! How beautiful! NiGHTS hadn't known of Reala's feelings towards anything up until now. Or anyone.

Reala turned to NiGHTS, arm around Jackle's shoulders, whose arm was around Reala's, and they seemed to be glued at the hip.

"Let's start thinking of a game plan, here." He said.

"It iz 'ard enough with no food and no zhelter, mon amour." Jackle scolded gently. "Let uz fulfill bazic nezzezetez firzt."

"Basic necessities, yes." Reala looked around. "So, what have we got here? We've got sand, and wood, but not a lot of wood, because we don't need the pier collapsing on us--"

"Oh, don't worry, no one uses that pier anymore. It's been deemed unsafe. We can rip out as much as we like and as long as we get out of the way we can tear down this whole mad dream house and build ourselves a bloody mansion." NiGHTS interjected, sort of crowbar-ing his way in between Jackle and Reala to throw his arms around both of their shoulders.

"Ap, bup, bup, bup, bup," Reala scolded, bumping NiGHTS back out, "That hip's for Jackle only." He grinned, "But that's nice to know. Let's get building, boys!"

End of Ch 7