Note: Didja like the shortness of the last chapter? I'm making up for it here, I swear. No, not really. I'm busy lately and so these chapters may get progressively smaller and smaller for a while yet. I don't own NiGHTS or any references to any copyrighted material that may appear in my work, such as the numerous brand-name cereal names that appear in this chapter. I only own the full names of the characters (Harsh Reality, Shadows of the NiGHTS, Jackle in the Field, and Know Thyself) and this plot, oh, and the fact that I made Jackle French. I did. But I don't own anything else so please don't sue me.

Chapter Six: Lesson

NiGHTS hid behind a bush along with his brothers as a thin, spindly old lady went skulking around, mumbling in a foreign language to inanimate objects and other things.

"Is she always like this?" Reala asked in a low whisper.

"Yep. Apparently she had a nasty nightmare once when she was a kid and it changed her."

". . . Her name wouldn't happen to be Angelique O'Marion, would it?"

"I think so, yeah, why?"

"That would be my bad."

"REALA!!"

The woman named Angelique noticed the rustling in the bushes and began beating it with her cane, hitting the three brothers in the process. The three rushed into the house while the woman ran behind them, waving her cane and screaming, "THEY'RE AFTER ME LUCKY CHARMS!!"

NiGHTS ushered his brothers into his apartment and slammed and locked the door behind them.

"NiGHTS, as your twin brother I have to tell you that perhaps you should consider looking for an apartment in a less... insanity-riddled neighborhood."

"One, technically this is your fault. Two, this is the lowest rent apartment I could find."

"I wonder why."

Jackle, who had been silent up until this point, pointed out the window frightenedly.

"Look! She iz rounding on our skateboards! We have left zem out zere!" He exclaimed.

"Shit!" Reala swore. He looked out the window to see the old woman beating the three skateboards with her cane, screaming at them that "Trix is for kids!" and "keep away from me Lucky Charms!" and "You'll be cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!"

"Damn!" NiGHTS said. He called out the window. "Miss O'Marion! Miss O'Marion! Calm down!"

"You'll be after me Lucky Charms too, boy?!"

"No, I'm not after your Lucky Charms! I just want you to stop beating up our skateboards!"

"You're not after me Lucky Charms?"

Reala stuck his head out the window.

"No one is after your damn Lucky Charms, you old coot! Throw up the boards!"

Miss O'Marion seemed to calm down and she picked up the boards and walked inside. She walked up to the apartment and opened the door.

"Silly rabbits, Trix is for kids!" she said cheerfully as Reala took the boards and placed them under the kitchen table. Miss O'Marion left, smiling.

"Take care, ma'am!" NiGHTS interjected before nervously closing the door. "Man, she's nuts." He added after he was sure she had gone.

"Et c'est toute votre faute." Jackle muttered at Reala.

"Oh shut up. Never thought I'd run into the old bat again." Reala responded, raiding NiGHTS' mini-fridge for a soda, a beer, a juice-box, or any other sort of refreshing beverage. He settled on some generic-brand cola and shut the fridge door. "So," he asked NiGHTS, "How do you propose we get back home?"

"I don't think we do, Reala. I've been stuck here for months. I've tried everything. I even tried pledging my 'eternal allegiance' to Wizeman, and that didn't work. I tried absolutely everything and I don't think we're getting out of here."

"There's got to be a way; we couldn't have just been dropped here randomly!" Reala exclaimed with a wild gesticulation of his hands that sent soda spraying all over Jackle.

"La montre où vous agitez qui peut, vous l'idiot!" said Jackle angrily, wringing out his shirt and sputtering.

"Sorry, Jackle-- anyway, as I was saying, there has to be a reason for all of this! It's not just random; nothing is random! Everything happens for a reason and I want some goddamned answers!" Reala crushed the can in his claws, sending more cola spraying out everywhere like a fizzy fountain. NiGHTS raised an eyebrow and gave him a look.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm cleaning it up..." Reala mumbled, grabbing a rag and dropping it on the floor, then using his foot to move it around and wipe up the mess, then grabbed the rag and tossed it behind him into the hamper to be washed later. He grabbed another soda.

"Peut-être nous devons ici apprendre une sorte de leçon, comme un Rêveur dans notre monde, seulement à reculons, parce que nous sommes les rêves. A-t-il du sens ?" Jackle asked.

"Jackle! That may be the most intelligent thing you've ever said!" Reala responded, grabbing Jackle by the shoulders and planting a long-overdue kiss on him. Jackle squeaked in surprise but made no other effort to push him away. Reala broke off and laughed.

"What? What did he say?" NiGHTS asked, not being able to understand French.

"He said 'Perhaps we're here to learn some sort of lesson, like a Dreamer in our world, only backwards, because we're the dreams. Does that make sense?'" Reala responded. "I think it makes perfect sense! Dreamers come to the world of Dreams because they've got something they need to accomplish, right? Some lesson that needs to be learned, right? Well, perhaps we were sent here, to the Waking World, because we need something accomplished, but we can't be sent to the Dream world; we already live there! So the powers that be or whatever sent us here, like a reverse Dreamer! We're reverse Dreamers and we need to find out this lesson and learn it so we can go home!" Reala exclaimed, laughing madly. "Don't you see?! It was right in front of us the whole bloody time and we didn't see it!" Reala almost began to cry.

"Iz Reala all right?" Jackle asked.

"I don't know, he's kinda actin' crazy." NiGHTS responded. "But he's making sense."

"It wuz my idear!" Jackle protested.

"I know, but I don't speak French so I couldn't tell."

"Hmph... Anyway! Reala! What do you think zis lezzon iz zat we need to accomplish?"

"I don't know, but when the time comes, we will." He said, calming down. He tried to pop open his soda and his previous waving and wild motions had pressurized it, causing the whole can to explode on him when he opened it. "Gyaah!"

NiGHTS and Jackle exploded in raucous laughter.

Suddenly sirens were heard outside.

"Oh no! Jackle, you and I need to hide! NiGHTS, if those are the cops, we're not here. You live alone."

"Right!" Reala and Jackle ran out of the room and ran into a nearby guest bedroom, hiding in the closet.

NiGHTS answered the door. Two officers stood there.

"Hello, officers, what can I do for--" The bigger officer put up a hand to silence him.

"Are you Shadows of the NiGHTS?"

"Y-yes sir..."

"We've gotten a tip that you're harboring two wanted men. Can you confirm this claim?"

"N-no, sir, I can not. I live alone here." NiGHTS lied through his teeth.

"Mind if we take a look around?" The officers walked right into the apartment.

"Um, do-do you have a warrant?" NiGHTS tried to sound more confident.

"We're taking a look around, young man." The smaller officer said nastily.

"Er... er... um..." NiGHTS rushed upstairs, grabbing the three skateboards, yelling, "Reala! Jackle! We need to get out of here now!"

And so, three former Nightmarens ran out the back door, two cops in a cruiser on their asses, on skateboards, screaming for their lives.

"Reala! Jackle! Where will we go?"

"N'importe où mais ici, Nuits!" Jackle replied.

"What?"

"Anywhere but here!" Jackle called.

"Stop! In the name of the law, we order you to stop!"

"KEEP RUNNING!" Reala screamed.

Finally, the three managed to evade the cruiser underneath the same pier they started from.

They stood catching their breath.

"We are back at zquare one!" Jackle cried.

"Damn. Well, now what do we do?" Reala replied.

"Well, I think we can't go back to my apartment now." NiGHTS said.

All three of them exchanged a similar look.

"This sucks." They said in unison.