RuRu: HOWDEE! ::looks at Word page:: You know it's hard to write a fic when Word doesn't show you when a new page starts. Well it does, but....ANYHOO! Thanks to the four people who reviewed! - I appreciate that, and seeing as how mine is one of the only stories getting updated, I'll go with that! I don't care how many reviews I get now, as long as I know its read!
Chichiri: You were angry that there were only 4, no da!
RuRu: No, I was kinda freaked out I got 4 after looking at the other stories. I mean some only had 1. Anyway I'll be trying to read the stories where there are only 1 or if there are none! Everyone should have at least 1 or 2! ON WITH THE CHAPPIE!
Disclaimer: I don't own NiGHTS, but I am playing as I write! It's a bad habit! ::dies:: ....crap....
The Outcast Hero
By: RuRu
Chapter 2 PART 1
Reunited
Claris looked around her, she definitely wasn't in her dream anymore. There wasn't any calm music, soft ground, or any happy surroundings for that matter. It had all nearly been destroyed. The ground was rough, almost rock, with metal sticking out of it. The sky was red with at least 3 suns. There was twisted metal strewn everywhere, and VERY few plants; most of which had dried up from the unbearable heat. Claris covered her mouth, she was shocked at how this world had become. She knew this world; it was Elliot's dream. She knew Elliot's old dream was like a desert, but this was horrible.
"What happened?" She asked, still looking around.
"The Nightmaren got to it." Katrita said, grabbing both her young boys hands.
"Then why isn't the Ideya Palace destroyed?" She asked, noticing it appeared new.
"They can't get near it, now let's go too your friend." She said, in a depressed tone.
Claris followed Katrita and the other two carefully. She stepped over the sharp metal and the jagged rocks, sticking out of odd places. After about 20 minutes they reached a small place where there was grass and a small hut made from an unidentifiable substance.
"A liquid house?" Claris said under her breath, confused.
The house was a blue-green liquid; it looked like water only thicker. It wasn't see-through, but did move in waves. (as in when the house moved waves went around it. 0.o)
Katrita hovered in front of the door and said a few words Claris couldn't understand. Then the door dissolved into thin air, allowing them to come inside.
"Well come on, you wouldn't want to be stuck out HERE would you?" Nek said, grabbing Claris's shirtsleeve.
She followed them inside the "house" which was surprisingly huge! She saw the furniture was normal, but if they got things from people's dreams then most of the furniture WOULD be normal. (except for the abnormal furniture! -')
"Okay, where is the boy?" Katrita asked, crossing her hands.
"Why does this boy matter to you anyway?" Asked another Nightopian.
"It matters to the creator of my world, therefore it matters to me." Katrita said, getting more annoyed.
'He's not an "it".' Claris thought annoyed.
Nek and Nevan rested on Claris's shoulders.
"My mom says THESE Nightopians are idiots, she says they like to-"Nek's mouth was covered by Nevan's hand.
"Hush, mom's gonna get mad." Nevan whispered.
Nek stuck out his tongue at him. Claris sighed, she just wanted Elliot with her again; she couldn't do all of this by herself. After a few minutes of "babysitting" Nek and Nevan; Katrita returned with a happy face.
"They say we can go back and see him!" She said, with a large smile.
Claris didn't need to hear anymore, she looked for a doorway and rushed through it. She ran down a small hall to see a room at the end of it. She rushed through the doorway to see Elliot sitting on the bed, rubbing his wrists.
"Elliot!" Claris exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Oh, I've been so worried about you!" She said still holding onto him tightly.
Elliot had braced himself so as not to fall back on the bed. He knew that wouldn't be a pretty scene.
"Good to see you too." He said, hugging her back.
"We're back in Nightopia!" Claris said, overlooking that Nightopia was the main world and they were just in the sub-worlds.
"So I've noticed." Elliot said, smiling.
Claris released him, but she still sat there in his lap unknowingly. She explained what all had happened to her, and who she had met.
"So what happened to you? Are you okay? Did they hurt you? If they did I swear I'll-"Elliot placed his hand over her mouth.
"I'M FINE." He said, chuckling at her reaction.
"Sorry," She said, her cheeks turning a pale pink.
"So Reala is behind this? Seems odd, I thought NiGHTS and I defeated him...." He said, rubbing the back of his head in confusion.
"Well apparently you guys didn't." Claris said, holding one of his hands.
"You okay?" Elliot asked, noticing her hand.
"No! I want to save this world and then go back home! But how are we supposed to save this place without NiGHTS?" Claris exclaimed, beating her head lightly against Elliot's shoulder.
"Well, we have to at least try, because NiGHTS probably isn't gonna be around this time. And, yeah, I honestly don't know how we're going to beat Reala, but oh well." Elliot said, sighing.
Claris laid against his shoulder, tired. She had felt energy being drained from her when she transported here with Katrita, Nek, and Nevan; but the effect had just hit her. She closed her eyes and began breathing heavier. She had never been this exhausted in her whole life.
"Claris? You okay?" Elliot asked.
"Yeah....just sleepy." She said weakly.
Elliot laid her down on the bed and covered her up. She snuggled up to the large pillow that rested on the bed and went to sleep. Elliot stayed with her for a few moments then went to the room where everyone else was.
"Where's Claris?" Nek asked, zooming up to Elliot.
"Asleep, she was really tired." He replied, noticing Katrita and Nevan as well.
"Asleep?" Katrita asked.
"Yeah, asleep." He replied, confused.
"No! She can't go to sleep here!" Katrita exclaimed and frantically flew back towards Claris.
Elliot turned and ran after her, confused. Katrita zoomed in the room and gasped in horror. Claris was hovering above her bed, a Nightmaren holding her there. He had his hand pressed firmly on her forehead and was laughing evilly.
"What the hell!?" Elliot exclaimed, having entered the room.
"You have to stop it!" Katrita exclaimed, waving her arms hysterically.
The Nightmaren had a dark, scaly body, with what looked like thorns sticking out everywhere. It's eyes were slits, with a yellow center; it's huge, sharp teeth curled around the corner of it's large mouth and it's claws were now digging in Claris's back. He cackled and his hand began to glow. (It's a he, and the hand on Claris's forehead.)
Claris still had her eyes shut, and appeared to still be sleeping. Elliot jumped up on the bed and tried to hit the Nightmaren, but it dodged his hit and flew up higher. Elliot grabbed a chair and threw it at the Nightmaren's back.
He dodged it again and this time threw it back at Elliot. It struck Elliot and he flew back into the wall with a sickening thud. He slowly stood up, ignoring his pain, and ran again at the beast. He jumped up and grabbed the Nightmaren's hand, trying to pry it away from Claris's head, but to avail.
He fell to the ground and tried to get back up, but felt a force pushing him down.
"Stay out of my business boy." The Nightmaren hissed.
"Le-leave her alo-ne" Elliot managed to stay, overwhelmed by the pressure.
Katrita looked at Elliot, "If you don't save her he'll take away her memories and her ability to dream! Hurry up!"
"I'm trying!" He said, managing to get to his knees.
"What the...." The Nightmaren mumbled, shocked.
"You shouldn't be able to stand! What the hell are you!?" The Nightmaren exclaimed, moving up higher with Claris.
Elliot grasped the post of the bed and pushed himself all the way up to his feet. He stumbled over to the Nightmaren and grabbed his arm, pulling him down. The thorns in the beast's skin managed to slice Elliot's hands open in several places, but Elliot knew he had to get Claris back.
'I won't let him take her away from me.' Elliot thought, and pulled the monster down as hard as he could.
The beast managed to escape Elliot's grasp, but dropped Claris; his concentration having been broken. He growled and cursed under his breath.
"Wait till he hears about this little encounter, I doubt he'll be pleased." He said angrily, then vanished.
Elliot immediately ran over to Claris and knelt beside her. He raised her up a little and tried to wake her up. Katrita sighed and looked at the two rather nervously; she knew what had happened.
"CLARIS! WAKE UP!" Elliot yelled, trying to get some reaction from her.
Claris still had her eyes closed.
"Elliot it's no use, you won't be able to wake her like that." Katrita said, a sad look on her pale face.
She floated down and touched Elliot's hands, healing his wounds he had got from the Nightmaren.
"What? THEN HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAKE HER UP!?" He exclaimed.
"Don't raise your voice at me." She ordered sternly, giving him the "mom" look.
"Just tell me how to wake her up, please." Elliot begged.
"Okay, here's what you did wrong: you let her go to sleep, you left her alone, and you didn't think about your actions. Here's what happened: Claris can't dream here, and if a human can't dream; they have nightmares. When she began having a nightmare it called that Nightmaren here to her. In your world Nightmaren usually can't do that, but since there is no seal on this world anymore they can come here." Katrita explained.
"What's a 'seal'?" Elliot asked, confused.
"You can ask questions when I am through explaining."
"Okay, what the Nightmaren was doing was stealing her thoughts, memories, dream ability, anything that has to do with the complexity of the human mind. Not the thinking part though. Since we Nightopians understand the human mind a lot better then most human's we can usually take your thoughts and imaginations and put them to work to form our worlds, and your dreams."
"So now Claris probably has lost a portion of her memories. It takes so much longer to get everything else....luckily you stopped him before he could complete his task." Katrita finished.
"So she lost some memories?" Elliot said, basically to himself.
"That is the most logical answer, it's not like we can just ask her." Katrita replied, frowning deeply.
"Mom will Claris be okay?" Nek asked, tugging of his mom's arm.
"If Elliot can find that Nightmaren and get her memories back she will be." Katrita said, mostly to Elliot.
"....How do I get there?" Elliot asked, laying Claris on the bed, then facing the others.
"You go to the world in which the Nightmaren cam from." Katrita said, giving him a small smile.
"Can you show me the way?" He asked.
"Meet me outside in 5 minutes, I think you'll want to wish Claris goodbye, will you not?"
"....yes." Elliot replied, looking at Claris forlornly.
Katrita pushed the two other Nightopians out the door and her children followed behind her.
Elliot sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Claris.
"I'm sorry I let this happen too you." Elliot said, taking one of Claris's hands in his own.
"But I'll be back in a little while."
He brushed a hair out of her face and squeezed her hand gently, then got up and walked out. He met Katrita in the other room and nodded his head; signaling he was ready to go. She kissed her kids on the forehead and threatened the other Nightopians that if they hurt her children or Claris she'd kill them both. (And she meant it!)
Meanwhile, at the other world....
"So they've finally returned, I thought I'd gotten rid of them...." A voice hissed.
"I'm sorry master, I tried to get the rest of her memories, but that boy stopped me." The Nightmaren said, bowing his head in defeat.
A tall, shadowy figure rose up from the chair he was sitting in. A hush fell over the crowded room.
"....Jackle!" The voice exclaimed, calling Jackle over to him.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" Jackle replied, kneeling down.
"....find the boy, I don't care how you do it. I need the other one here with me....we need to decipher her memories and find the one that....well....you'll see some enough."
Jackle bowed and disappeared.
END THE VERY SHORT CHAPTER 2 PART 1
RuRu: Yes I realize that this was a very short chapter, but I can't just pack all of it in at once. THAT'S WHY THERE ARE TWO PARTS! The quote thing happens in the second part. By the way, this story will probably have like 15-20 chapters or more. If that's okay with you guys!
Chichiri: It took her three days to write this. No da!
RuRu: That's because I....I went EVERYWHERE! I just got home like 20 min. ago. BTW excuse the typo's, I wrote this in a rush. Please excuse if there are any words wrong like if "and" doesn't sound right in a certain place, it's "an". Stuff like that! Welp see you guys in the next chappie, which I WILL update faster.