Chapter eight: The truth

Ring around the rosy,

Pocket full of posies,

Ashes ashes,

We all fall down.

Nights looked around the darkness for the singer of the song, but no one was with him.

The song started up again, it was slow and tuneless.

A spot light flickered on and Nights saw Elise, turning in a circle and singing.

He floated over to join her, "Hello Elise,"

Elise looked at him, head cocked to one side. She smiled, but the smile was too wide and fake, her eyes were faded and dead looking.

"Hello Nights," she said in a monotone, "Master is good to me."

Nights backed away from her in horror, and ran into something, he turned.

Nights doubled looked at him mockingly, "what? Don't like seeing someone you care about become brain dead," then his double's face became solemn, "How do you think your friends feel," Nights' double pointed to the spot light, and there was Reala his face was sad.

"I have a hard time not blaming my self for Nights' condition."

Then it was Adia, "Nights, what have they done to you?"

Then Helen, "it's so sad to see Nights like this he seems so…lost.

Then E.C., "Nights, what's wrong, you're acting very un-Nights like."

"What is this?" Nights asked his double.

"These are the words of your friends," Nights double explained, "They're afraid for you because you don't understand."

Nights was about to yell 'understand what?' but then he remembered his double couldn't tell him, "what do I need to do to understand?" is what he said instead.

"Ask your friends to tell you the truth," his double said kindly, "then you will understand, but only if you want to."

"What do you mean," Nights asked.

Nights double pushed him into the spotlight, "you might not like what you hear."

Nights opened his eyes, and looked around.

He walked up the small hill, and saw Reala, but instead of running into his brothers arms he walked over to him purposefully and said, "Tell me the truth."

Everything stopped. All the Nightopians listened for Reala's answer.

Nights looked around anxiously, "Did I do something wrong?" he asked Reala.

"No," Reala said trying to wipe the shock off his face, "you just did something unexpected, that's all," Reala put his hands on Nights' shoulders, "what do you mean by the truth?"

"I don't know," Nights said, "My double told me to ask you to tell me the truth."

Whispering erupted from the crowed of Nightopians.

Nights looked around in fear, all the noise hurt his head as he tried to pick it apart so he could hear the words, he clutched his head and screamed, "Shut up, shut up, shut up, it hurts!"

The Nightopians stopped, none of them liked to see Nights in pain.

Reala came over and cradled his little brother, "Do you really want to know the truth?"

Nights nodded.

"O.K." Reala led Nights over to where Adia, Helen, and Will were; he was going to need their help.

"No that can't be the truth!"

Nights was about to run down the hill, but Reala held him back, "You wanted the truth Nights, and we told it to you, don't you trust us?"

"I knew he wouldn't believe us," Adia said angrily, "He doesn't want to hear that his 'beloved master' is the bad guy!"

Nights stopped trying to get away, "you might not like what you hear," Nights quoted his double.

"What," Reala said anxiously.

Nights turned to Reala, realization lighting his face, "My double said that I would understand if I heard the truth and accepted it," Nights hugged Reala, "And I do, I understand now, I feel like this because of master; this isn't what I am!"

Reala cried tears of joy, he finally understands.

Nights' pupils dilated painfully and changed from white to yellow to blue to black, the color and shine returned to his irises, and his persona slipped off his face.

Nights laughed and cried and hugged Reala tightly, "I'm back Reala, I'm back!"

Reala held Nights at arms length and looked into his lively colorful eyes, "You are back,"

Reala hugged Nights and spun around in pure joy; he was finally able to hug his real brother.

"I'm so happy," Nights said excitedly, "I could kiss you!"

Nights leaned in as if he was going to kiss Reala, but Reala held him back, "Pleas don't."

"Fine then," Nights said disappointedly, "I'll kiss Adia instead!"

Nights ran over and hugged Adia, and she allowed him to give her a quick peck on the cheek.

"We're here too," Helen said happily.

"I know," Nights picked Helen up and hugged her, "how old are you?"

"Fifteen," Helen said.

"Are you fifteen as well?" Nights asked Will.

"No I'm fifteen and a half," Will said proudly.

"Oh," Nights said sarcastically, "What a difference!"

Reala walked over to Nights, "How much do you remember?"

"Not much," Nights said, scratching his head, "a lot of it is fogy, like I'm in a dream, then there are some blank spots," Nights looked at the ground trying to remember the details, "I remember thinking light was pretty, and I hated loud, confusing, noise."

"Do you remember us?"

Nights turned around and saw a pink and white female Nightmaren, a blue and green male Nightmaren, and Reginald the guard.

"I remember you," Nights pointed a Reginald, "but I'm not to sure about you two, I know I've seen you before, but I'm not sure about my relationship with you two."

"You don't remember us," the blue and green Nightmaren said, "we're your friends, I'm Matsu and she's E.C., we even had a name for our group!"

"The group of oddities," Nights said silently, "I remember that."

"What's the last thing you remember about me?" Reginald asked.

"I remember being afraid that you were going to be eaten by Cerberus," Nights turned on Reala, "And the last thing I can recall about you, is you holding my head stationary so the Wizemin could make me stupid!"

Nights ran at Reala ready to attack, but Reala grabbed him and hugged him sadly, "I'm so sorry," Reala said, holding back tears, "this is all my fault; I never thought that this would happen, I'm sorry." Reala couldn't hold his tears back anymore, so he gave up.

Nights tried to be angry but he finally broke down and hugged his big brother, "I forgive you Reala, I just wish we didn't have to go through all of this to figure out you were being an idiot."

Reala laughed, "I was, wasn't I?"

"It's the Wizemin!"

"Why now," Reala said angrily, "I just got you back!"

Nights ran over and grabbed his persona, "Don't worry," He said placing his persona on his face, "I've been brain-dead for a year, it'll come naturally."