Nightmare

~…X…~

Black looked at the Clover Tower standing before him. "….I wonder if it's worth coming all the here." He mumbled under his breath, his red eye never leaving the entrance to the Clock Tower. "I don't think that caterpillar will be any help to us."

"He may be." White said standing beside his warden counterpart while looking around his surrounding for no obvious reason. "He is Nightmare."

"Just because that caterpillar has the dream doesn't me-" Black stopped when a man with gold lizard eyes came walking towards them. It was Gray and he seems not to happy about seeing the Jokers. "…great, lizard boy is here." Black sighed.

"Don't be mean, Black." White smiled before waving his hand towards the ex-assassin. "Good day, Mr. Ringmarc."

"Lord Nightmare wishes to speak with the two lf you." Gray said with a calm expression, though his eyes show something else. "He's been trying to contact the both of you and the new foreigner for the past time change but for some odd reason he couldn't."

"Well that is very odd," White smiled, tilting his head to the side a little before continuing, "And I wonder why…"

"Can we just go to him now?" Black asked in an irritated tone, "I'm really busy and I have to go back to my territory as soon as possible."

"Then please follow me." Gray said turning his back to the two and started walking away.

White turns his head towards Black, a slight irritation on his face, "Why are you such in a hurry?" He asked.

"I don't want to leave Lucian alone. Who knows what she might do."

"She's not going to do anything reckless if that's what you're thinking. She's old enough to be by herself."

"Fine." Black lowered his head down as he followed Gray. "I'll blame you if anything happens to her."

"You're being the worrywart here." White softly chuckled before following behind his counterpart.

The three role holders entered the room where Nightmare was, and the first thing they saw was Nightmare being his usual self, crawling underneath his desk. Gray sighed as he made his way towards the sick incubus while Black and White waited by the door way.

"Lord Nightmare, what are you doing?" Gray asked, pulling the chibi Nightmare by the collar of his shirt. "Why do you always hide under your desk?"

"Uh…" Nightmare scratched the back of his head, "I dropped my contacts…" He laughed nervously avoiding the cold stare the ex-assassin was giving him.

"Lord Nightmare, you don't wear contact lenses." Gray stated in a monotone, "Now please act like an adult, you have visitors to see."

"I know!" Nightmare pouted, turning into his chibi form as he was carried over to one of the sofa in the middle of the room by Gray like a tiny cat being carried by its mother. "Now then," Nightmare then turned his head towards the two Jokers still standing in the doorway. "Please don't just stand there come and sit."

"Thank you," White said politely before walking in the room with Black tagging behind. They sat on the other sofa, opposite of where Nightmare was sitting.

"We came here to ask you something," Black said crossing his arms over his chest.

"About what?" Nightmare raised an eyebrow before looking at Gray standing next to him. "Can you make us some tea, please?"

"Of course," Gray bowed his head a little and walked out of the room but not without looking back at the two Jokers once, worried that something bad might happen if he were to leave Nightmare alone with the Jokers. To Gray it's like leaving a baby zebra alone with two large male lions ready to eat the zebra. I have to hurry and come back. He thought as he shuts the door behind him.

"Before you ask me a question, I just want to ask you both something." Nightmare said leaning his back on the black sofa. "What is the foreigner's name?"

"Huh?" Black looked at Nightmare with a confuse look. "Shouldn't you know that already? You're usually the first one to know the foreigners entering this world."

"For this one I don't," Nightmare shakes his head, "I'm sure that Gray has told you both about me unable to contact you both."

"Yeah," Black nodded his head.

"Well, I tried to enter the foreigner's dream for the past time change but I couldn't. It's weird, this never happened before."

"Her name is Lucian," White said not liking that Nightmare is calling his beloved woman foreigner instead of her name.

"Lucian?" Nightmare moved his eye towards the ring leader, "Well she has a very beautiful name. Has she met the other role holders yet?"

"No, she met the knight though," White replied.

"Lucian is living in your territory isn't she?" Nightmare said looking at the two Jokers.

"Yes." White said. "Is something wrong with that? She is allowed to stay at the territory that she wishes to stay."

"Yes, but she hasn't met the others yet." Nightmare retorted back, "Maybe she might like the other territories too."

"Are you saying that my territory isn't fun and that Lucian doesn't like it?" Black said dangerously, "Listen you little caterpillar, you're-mnph!" Before he could continue further White has covered Black's mouth with his hand.

"I'm sorry about Joker." White apologetically said.

"I'm not saying that your territory isn't fun, I'm just saying that Lucian should visit the other territories and meet the role holders. It's part of the rules." Nightmare said. "She is a foreigner."

"Lucian will visit the other territories, but she has already chosen my territory as her place to stay." White said as he removed his hand from Black's mouth. "And I can't kick her out."

"I see." Nightmare nodded his head once, "It seems that you two have developed some feelings towards Lucian."

"A long time ago." White smiled. "Anyways, it's my turn to ask some questions."

"Don't ever put your hand on my mouth again," Black frowned but was ignored by White.

"Actually just one." White said and the door opens, revealing Gray pushing a cart with tea and sweets on top. "Is it possible for faceless to have eyes?"

"Huh?" Nightmare's mouth slightly fell at the odd question. "Eyes?"

"Are you deaf?" Black asked, glaring at Nightmare. "Yes, eyes!"

"…." Gray looked at Black before placing the three black teas on the coffee table and the sweets.

"No. Faceless can't have eyes," Nightmare said picking one of the tea up from the coffee table. He takes a sip before continuing. "It's not possible. That'll be going against the rules."

Black looked at White, "So Lucian was lying then?"

White shakes his head, "No, I don't think that Lucian is lying."

"Wait," Nightmare placed his tea cup on his lap. "Are you saying that Lucian can see eyes on faceless people?"

"Yes." Both Jokers nodded their heads.

Nightmare said nothing and turned his head towards the window on his right side. "…..hold on." He stands up and walks over to a door leading to another room. Moments later he came out holding a folder in his arm, "This is second time that I've heard someone being able to see eyes on faceless people."

He placed the folder in front of the two Jokers before sitting back down. "The first one is from her," he lifted the cover of the folder and what was inside shocked both Black and White but they quick enough not to show their expression. Inside was a picture of a young woman with long layered blonde hair and emerald eyes, sitting on a white throne holding a clear staff made of crystal. Standing on her right side was a young man in full black, holding a scythe, and the thing that sticks out the most from his feature was his medium layered silver white hair, and his sapphire eyes.

"I'm sure that you two know who the young lady is, Aria, Queen of the Looking-Glass Land or should I say Queen of the Diamond Country." Nightmare said his eye staring at the picture. "I've only heard rumors about her from the old role holders, about how she was able to see eyes on faceless people. I don't really believe if it's true though."

It's true, Black and White thought. White reached his right arm out and picked the picture from the folder. "Is that all you know about Aria?" White asked.

"I know that she disappeared along with the White Knight." Nightmare pointed his index finger towards the young man on the picture, "I think his name is Leonardo."

"It is." Black said looking at Nightmare, "I've known him for a long time."

"You have?"

Black leaned back on the sofa. "I've been alive longer than you, idiot. I've met countless of role holders before you and the others."

"Oh right, you're the ghost role holder." Nightmare placed his lips on his tea cup, "The one that never dies."

There is one role holder who is close to being the same as Black and White, and that is Julius Monrey. The "living dead man", the one that cannot die but is fated to be killed.

"You're wrong," This time it was White who spoke, "I can die."

"I know," Nightmare smiled a little. "Joker dies if both Jokers' clock breaks at the same time before one of you gets to even be replace by another Joker."

"Is that true, Lord Nightmare?" Gray asked.

Black laughed and looked at Gray, "Caterpillar is right, lizard boy. For example if me and clown here gets shot in our clock at the same day we both die. As long as one of our clocks is still ticking and moving I won't die. That's why I always try to avoid coming into caterpillar's dream territory while clown here always enters and ends up dying all the damn time. It doesn't matter how many times clown dies. As long as my clock is ticking, he'll come back over and over again."

"That's creepy." Gray looked away. "I've never heard of that before."

"That's because you're still new to being a role holder." White said. "You'll understand someday."

"Joker is the only role holder that's been alive the longest," Nightmare said looking at Gray from the corner if his eye. "Let's go back to where we were talking about Lucian seeing eyes on faceless people." He looked back at the two Jokers. "She may not be a normal human then. Maybe she might have some connection with Aria and her disa-"

"We're done here." Black said cutting Nightmare off. "Clown, let's go." He got on his feet and walked over to the door.

"But, Joker, didn't we want to know more about Luci-" White closed his mouth when Black turned his head over his shoulder, his eye was so dead serious that it made Nightmare curl into a ball out of fear.

"We're done." Black said once again his eye narrowing, "I've heard enough. If you want to stay here go ahead. I'm going home." He pulled the door open and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

White sighed and turned his head to Nightmare, "Thank you for taking your time talking with me and Joker." He bowed his head once before running out of the room, trying to catch up with the warden.

"…what was that all about?" Gray asked looking at the open door.

"Gray," Nightmare said staring at the photo of Aria and Leo in front of him, "Do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"Since I can't enter Lucian's dream, I want you to visit her in Joker's territory. Take a picture of her as well. I have a feeling that she's related to these two." Nightmare picked the picture up from the table, "But I won't know for sure if she is until I see what she looks like."

"Lord Nightmare, do you know anything about the White Knight?"

"…no, I don't know anything about this man." Nightmare got up on his feet and walked over to his desk. "After I became a role holder, the older role holders were ordered not to talk about Leo and Aria. Talking about them was a taboo and I don't know why. Being new I decided not to push my investigation. I forgot about these two until Joker mentioned about faceless having eyes. And now a foreigner is seeing eyes on faceless people….something is going on."

"It seem like Joker knows something that he doesn't want to let anyone know." Gray said.

"Visit his place when you have time." Nightmare pulled one of the drawers and placed the picture inside.

"I will."

~…X…~

Black and White returned and the sky was already dark, the moon and the little tiny millions bright dots were the only things that were brightening the night sky.

"Why didn't you let Nightmare continue back there?" White asked as they entered the circus tent.

"What he's telling us, we already know. What he doesn't know is that Leo and Aria are Lucian's parents and I'm not planning to tell that caterpillar." Black said. "No one has spoken about Leo and Aria after they left this world. I thought that everyone has forgotten about them but I guess I was wrong."

"…it'll be a problem if they were to find out that Lucian is a child of Leon and Aria." White lowered his head down. "Especially him. When he finds out, he'll take Lucian away from us for killing his older brother."

"Let's not talk about that bastard." Black turned his body towards the exit. "We didn't kill Leon for no reason, and we had no choice. We'll deal with him when the time comes. If you need me I'll be in Lucian's room." He walked away and his body started to disappear.

"I'll be there later. I still have worked to do." White said to no one as he walked towards the backstage.

Black ignored all the prisoners that were behind the cell as he made his way down the long cold hallway of the prison. All he wanted now was to be by Lucian's side. He's tired and he needs her. He stopped when he passed one of the prisoners. He turned his head to the side, his eye looking at the man wearing a cat mask.

"You're the man that tried to help the foreigner, right?" Black asked.

"Yes." The man said nodding his head.

"Why'd you do it?"

"I didn't really help her since I couldn't get out of my cell."

"But you did shout and I was able to run to her. So you basically did help, somewhat." Black walked over to the man's cell and pulled his key out. "You're the only prisoner that I know that ever did something like that. A prisoner wouldn't care about the safety of a foreigner, but you, you're different." He unlocked the cell and removed the shackles from the man's wrist, "Come with me."

"Why?"

"Once I remove that mask off your face you're gonna tell me the truth in why you helped my Lucian." Black said. "And if I'm not satisfied with your answer you're gonna die tonight by my own hands."

The man nodded his head and followed behind Black to his office. Once they got there Black pulled the mask off of the man, revealing a young man, maybe in his early twenties. He had medium layered blonde hair a little wavy; his face a little dirty from wearing the mask for too long, and has sky blue orbs staring back at red ones.

"!" Black blinked, not believing what he was seeing in front of him. This man has eyes! "You have…"

"My name is Rein," Rein bowed his head and looked up at Black. "The White King and I am here to protect the young master Lucian in the order of my master Leon."

"!" Black mouth fell, staring shockingly at the man standing in front of him, claiming himself as the White King. What in the world is going on?

~…X…~

Author: "Rein is an OC of mine."