We go deeper into this from here on out. Desperately seeking answers with fragmented results for Yakko and company. Let's move forward.

Chapter 6: Murder

Yakko was sitting on a small stool at Wakko's beside. He was just sitting there and staring right at him. The ever unpleasant and prominent frown on his face was plastered there and it wouldn't waver.

Dot watched Yakko as he just sat there and watched his brother as if he were some sort of still picture on a projector screen. There was nothing to talk about, nothing to react to, and nothing to help accomplish. It was a horrible, awful, vulnerable feeling he had right now.

The pit in his stomach and his ever confused mind were telling him just how ashamed he should be. This was constant. It wouldn't go away because Yakko was convinced that it was true. As the oldest, this isn't something your efforts concerning the well-being of your siblings should lead to. Other older brothers probably helped their younger brothers and sisters by preparing them for the future or making sure they stayed out of danger. They probably made sure their sibs were well fed and didn't constantly get into fights or something.

Meanwhile, his big brother resume included the opposite of all that. Wakko was in a coma for goodness sake! What the hell is this?

Yakko felt himself shiver a bit.

Looking back, he probably wasn't the best role model. Trying to remain the most mature while still being extremely crazy and zany didn't always work out for the best. He was still angry at himself for how stubborn he was being in refusing to accept that he might've been acting childish when he got into that fight with Dot on their trip to the Circus.

Yakko let out a bit of a grumble and winced a tiny bit. It was that embarrassing.

'Recounting my failures isn't going to help a darn thing.'

But what can I do? Wakko is in a coma. Maybe this is just retribution for going against what I say.

'No. That's not right. Wakko doesn't deserve this for disobeying me. No one does.'

He was stupid enough to get caught and even stupider to let them do this to him. Look at that I-V and the work that had to be done to get the poor kid stable. It's bad enough he has hypoglycemia and had to go a week without his shots. It's the picture of patheticness.

'Yeah it is… No! No it isn't! He can't help that.'

Plus, he did all those idiotic things from before for a rather simple revenge. If someone wants revenge, they should just go the extra mile.

'No. Stop it.'

Something horrific and terrifying is what he should've engaged in. It should've been something that let the public know from the get go that there were no second chances.

'I don't wish what happened to Wakko on anybody…'

Yes you do. There are tons of people you wish it on. You just don't want to admit it. But you are. Right now. And that moment before when you contemplating committing mu-

'That was a spur of the moment thing…! I don't really want to… I can't really want to… I shouldn't… '

Why shouldn't you? Nothing matters anymore. You already know this.

'… '

Yakko was sitting there in extreme silence now. Dot was in a fit of extreme worry. She hated seeing him suddenly go limp like a zombie and stare down at nothing with those soulless eyes he had steadily developed over the course of these recent events.

Yakko suddenly swallowed and grabbed at his head with both his hands, as if trying to squeeze all the current thoughts out by pressing his brain inward.

He didn't like thinking all these things. He thought he didn't at least.

He didn't want to hurt anybody. At least, he thought he didn't.

But then, why would he think he didn't want to if he was constantly telling himself that he did want to?

"Make sense! I'm losing my mind!" He suddenly blurted out, hopping off the chair, and scaring Dot. She was getting so much more cautious around him and with good reason too. He was certainly unstable. It's so scary not knowing what exactly was wrong with him and what action he might take next.

"Y-You're what? Who do you want to make sense?" Dot couldn't let that statement slip by despite her instant fear.

"H-Huh?" Yakko let his head go and looked down at Dot. She jumped. He noticed it right away too. What was he doing? Scaring his little sister and failing to protect his little brother was one thing, but now he couldn't even control his own worthless thoughts. It was bad before but now the stuff he didn't want to admit to himself just kept coming. The urge to act on it was too strong. He needed to get out of this stuffy hospital.

It's too cramped! It's way too hot. Wakko's bandaged and wire connected body is making him twitch and itch about. Just looking at him made him think Wakko was going to die. If he was as good as dead he might as well kill him to make it go faster. NO! Why would he say something like that? How selfish would it be to cut off his sibling's life span just so he could be less worried and feel sadder sooner? Stop talking as if he's going to die. The only people dying are those bastards who did th-

"Augh!" Yakko grabbed at his head again and stomped toward the door. Dot was attempting to reach out to him. She even mouthed his name by accident. It was an attempt to call out to him but the sound just didn't reach her throat. Yakko managed to catch the look she was giving him. It made her reel back.

"Y-Yakko… y-you should head home… someone should escort y-"

"I don't need no stupid escort! I can go home by myself!" Not two seconds after having said that, Yakko hacked up a wad of blood into his glove. Dot's eyes widened, as it was the first time she had seen blood come from his mouth. Was this sickness reaching a dangerous climax?

"Yakko!" Dot made a grab at his hunched over body in order to support him. Yakko, however, shook her off and stepped back.

"Stop looking at me like that… with all that pity and fear. I'm not sick. I'm not crazy! Just leave me alone!" Yakko yelled and almost bowled the doctor over as he came in to demand they remain quiet with the patient here. Yakko burst right past him and Dot raced after him from behind.

"Yakko! Stop! You can't go-!" Dot slipped on the tiled floor and fell flat on her face. The tiny stars that filled her vision caused her to lose sight of Yakko when she lifted her head back up. Shaking them off did nothing, as he was already gone by the time her eyes cleared up.

She just sat there, on the floor, confused and scared. She was scared about so many things right now. She didn't know where Yakko was going. She didn't know what Wakko's true condition was. She didn't know what she was doing! She felt so helpless!

Dot scrunched up in the fetal position on the floor, catching the passing people off guard. Some wondered if she was extremely sick or abnormal. Others simply ignored her. She didn't care at all about what they thought. Her ever growing pile of tears was her only concern now.

How would it be possible to make these excess piles of tears disappear? At this point, was that possible?

"So it was working correctly." Brain muttered to himself. It was about the 12th time he did it though, which made Pinky extraordinarily confused.

"Are there more than 10 machines Brain? Were they all running at the same time? If so than I may need glasses. Gadzooks, Brain! My eyes! They burn!" Pinky started to freak himself out.

"Your eyes are fine Pinky."

"Oh. If you say so. NARF! Haha." Pinky fixed himself as Brain sighed and laid down the blueprints for the machine they had used to try and trace Wakko's whereabouts.

"The machine was working just fine. The problem was one of the conditions I mentioned. I was so frazzled I didn't think of it sooner but it's the only thing that makes sense." Brain said standing up straight.

"Wakko's a ghost?" Pinky suggested.

"No. He's not dead. I mean one of the other conditions where it wouldn't work. He was buried." Brain began pacing for a bit before stopping on a dime for no particular reason. His mind was in a daze. He was so tired. Pinky was too. His energy just kept pushing forth despite that though.

"Um… no. You also said that he couldn't have been buried because of the stuff he needs to breathe and eat and not die and junk." Pinky looked at him with his hands outward in confusion.

"If he were truly just buried into the ground, yes. However, this is special case." Brain sat down suddenly and grabbed at the paper, feeling his fists crinkle it as anger overtook him. The frustration of this machine's current shortcomings bothered him immensely.

"The people who did that to Wakko… wherever their hideout is, it's definitely underground…"

Yakko had just needed some time to himself.

Yeah, that's all that commotion was.

He needed to get away and think about all this. That usually led to good things right? Wait, no it didn't. He hated being alone with his thoughts. However, he couldn't just stay there with Dot and Wakko. He had felt so claustrophobic. He felt so ashamed with the fact that he had left but…

Eventually, Dot came home and saw Yakko curled up on his side on the couch. He was just looking at the T.V. Old re-runs of their show were on and it was one of their earlier cartoons. She saw him admiring how all three of them would bounce across the screen in happiness. The way the "special friend" of the episode would either submit and give up or eventually concede to their exploits and be better off for it was astonishing to watch play out. They seemed like gods. It was as if they could accomplish anything.

Dot made her way to the side of the couch, looking at the cartoon as well. She only turned away from it to look at Yakko when he let out a rather harsh and shaky cough. His mouth was bleeding.

Dot sighed heavily and sat next to him. Yakko didn't move or make a motion that acknowledged her presence. She had wanted to tell him that he needed a doctor. She also wanted to tell him that her efforts to keep him in bed and to make sure all the right people were spoken to in order to ensure his safety weren't just for making a play at being the oldest herself. She was doing all this because neither Wakko or Yakko were in a position capable of doing so for themselves.

She wanted to tell him all that but the way he was shaking and the way his glazed eyes wouldn't react to her presence made it impossible.

Yakko remained that way. After he was done watching the T.V he stumbled off to bed by himself, not saying a word as he passed Dot. He looked as though he had just finished arguing and fighting with someone though. She knew that he hadn't moved at all despite that.

She had done all that she could as the youngest sibling and was still determined to do more. The days went on with Yakko remaining the way he was, wrestling an idea unknown to Dot as she went off to seek probable help in finding knowledge about Yakko's illness. Absolutely nothing turned up. Just like before, no one seemed to know what he had or if it was truly dangerous.

It had to be dangerous. Blood meant danger, right? Of course it did.

Wakko didn't come out of his coma. The hospital was the only place Yakko would often leave the water tower to go visit. He always left at the exact same time during the day. The clock always read 12:03 or 12:04 when he had shut the door behind him and slumped his way across the lot, toward the hospital.

He never spoke to Wakko at his bed side. He didn't mention a thing about his own problems. He didn't say a thing about how the Water Tower seemed to be his only place of comfort. He simply sat there and looked at Wakko. His eyes were vacant, all the time, and they hardly ever blinked.

What he was thinking was to forever be a secret apparently. Yakko, the chatterbox, hardly spoke anymore. It only got worse as the days dragged on.

And on. And on.

Wakko wouldn't wake up.

A week passed. He still slept.

Yakko's consciousness bite at him as he continued doing what he did when he visited him. He sat there and did nothing.

He didn't want to confront what was happening. He didn't want Wakko to stay in that coma though, that was for sure. Would he wake up soon? When would it be?

More days passed.

Was Yakko ready for any kind of confrontation. Any at all?

It finally reached 10 days.

The routine stayed the same. It didn't change. Yakko didn't change. Nor did Wakko.

And with the sense of thinking he knew just what happened to Wakko biting at his consciousness, he had been unquestionably taken aback and a bit scared when he had received the news on the 12th day that Wakko had finally woken up.

And there he was.

It was the day after he had effectively woken up. The 13th day.

Sitting up slightly straight in the hospital bed with all the I-V cables stuck to his body was Wakko Warner. The heart monitor beeped steadily to his side. He had felt as though he had been pounded with a mallet made from a literal ton of bricks. His eyes were barely open and his vision was barely functioning.

Still, he was alive. It alarmed him that he actually was alive though. He was confused as to where he was for so long after initially waking up. He had heard the doctor say some weird stuff that he couldn't understand. Him and Hello Nurse did some weird tests and eventually he was left alone for about an hour before being informed that his siblings were on the way to greet him.

Throughout all of that Wakko had made conclusions concerning the situation in his head, never once speaking a single solitary word. It was still an improvement over yesterday though. The day he woke up, he literally couldn't form a thought. He wasn't even sure who he was or where he was to be sure.

These people were caretakers. They were doctors. The blonde was Hello Nurse. He knew her. She was real pretty and nice. He liked kissing her cheek a lot. She worked on an off the lot as an assistant for Scratchy and a nurse for the hospital. He knew all that.

Next was the info about his predicament. From what he could tell, his body had no longer felt so cold and drained like it did the incredibly long week or so away from his readily available shots helping to treat his hypoglycemia. His case of it wasn't too severe of course, but, he still considered it a miracle that he was able to be brought back from such a long absent care with the condition.

His body had bandages all over. He couldn't exactly remember why at first but his breathing almost halted and his heart monitor beeped a bit faster when he recalled what had happened. The faces of those three lunatics with their knives and the way they were cutting into his body while soaking in the pleasure of seeing him scream and cry and beg for mercy was just grouse.

He had managed to calm himself down a bit. Forcing the thoughts out of his mind now that they had come back had been surprisingly easy. His head was throbbing. It must be because of that. He decided to think about what else was going on with him.

He had managed to piece together pretty much everything as of right now. He even realized that he was currently in a diaper underneath the hospital gown. How fun.

With all of what he knew was going on in his head now, his harsh thoughts from before started to force themselves back in. He didn't want to remember all that but what else was there to think about? He remembered the end of the party and how he had heard footsteps approach from behind. He remembered his head suddenly being dealt a sharp blow that had caused him to bleed from the top. He remembered stumbling about and seeing enough singing birdies to last a millennia.

Than he remembered how dark the place he woke up in was. He recalled how dank and wet everything seemed to be. He remembered their already bloody knives cutting into his skin. He remembered them taunting him and calling him poor. They had told him over and over that this was his older brother's fault and he hadn't believed them.

He loved Yakko. He may have said that he didn't believe in his exploits anymore but… that wasn't something he felt he could control. Plus, it was a simple truth. It didn't mean he didn't love his older bro. However, worry flooded his system when those three kids started to outline what his reasoning for being here was and why it is that they had chosen to kidnap him.

All of what they said made sense. That was what scared him the most.

More visions of them torturing him, cutting him, beating him, making him vomit by sticking their fingers in his mouth just for kicks… all of it was making Wakko cry. He sat there, alone in his room, forcing his eyes closed and allowing the tears to gush out from under his eye-lids.

Why him? No, why them? Why the Warner Siblings? Maybe they had acted like brats quite a lot but they were just kids. Was all this really necessary? If it was a lesson in being good and not acting out than he'd more than abide by it. No problem. He didn't want anything even remotely close to this ever happening again. He'd apologize to whatever divine being he had pissed off a thousand times over and bow at their feet if they promised to let up on this harsh punishment.

That's all that this could've been; a really harsh punishment. One that… his older brother of all people had probably set into motion.

"Wakko!" Dot yelled as the door burst open, shocking the middle child, and ran over to Wakko's side. She wrapped her arms around him in a rather careful hug that avoided all the equipment attached to him. "You're awake! You're really alive!"

She hadn't meant to say 'alive' but how could he blame her?

Wakko blinked in confusion, as if not knowing how to react, before spotting his red cap in her hands. She had found his favorite cap. It was enough to make an older brother cry. Having her here, right now, hugging him close in a warm embrace had sent him over the edge though. He summoned whatever strength he had and managed to slightly return the hug. His body was so weak and tired that he was stunned by how clear everything was becoming in his line of sight.

He could easily make out the solemn and relieved expression on his brother's face as he entered the room.

Dot finally broke away from Wakko with a small smile formed on her lips. She looked at Wakko and put her hand over his. "He's been coming over here every day without fail. You're all he could think about during the time you were missing and unconscious."

Wakko didn't say anything to that. He stared ahead at Yakko with his tired eyes and realized how awful it was that he wasn't particularly happy to see his older brother like he was to see Dot. Yakko looked… weird. He couldn't tell if that expression he had was one of relief, happiness, sadness, or fright. Yakko himself looked awful. Did he ever sleep? He looked about ready to fall over dead…

Yakko forced a small smile to his features. He looked ahead at Wakko at the position of the bed side where he had always been to stare at the younger Warner sibling while he was in his coma.

"You're a sight for really, really tired and sore eyes. Welcome back bro." Yakko spoke. It was the first time in a long while that Yakko had said anything resembling something his old self would've said. Dot had to grin at this. Wakko's expression didn't change.

"… It's…" Wakko was about to say that it was good to be back but that didn't feel appropriate for some reason. He didn't want to engage in any uncomfortable formalities. He needed his questions answered immediately, less he be unable to sleep at night.

"It's what?" Yakko asked, resting his hand on the bedside with Dot.

"… Yakko…" Wakko wasn't looking at his brother. Trying to find words to say and trying to make sure they came out right was hard enough for someone in his condition. He wouldn't be able to take facing his older brother's possible reaction faces. "… Please… tell me the truth…"

Yakko's eyes widened slightly. Dot made a confused expression. She turned to Yakko and saw a very sudden look of fear etched on his face. He was already beginning to sweat.

"T-Tell you… what truth…?" Yakko muttered, gripping the sheets on the bed.

"… Were you really borrowing money from those people…?" Wakko's question reached Yakko and Dot's ears. In one swift burst the truth behind Yakko's actions from before were revealed to Dot and the identity of the culprits was revealed to Yakko.

He remembered the words of that one kid who acted like the leader. He recalled him saying that he'd extend the time Yakko had to pay them back and that no harm would come to him. Indeed, no harm came to him. His little brother took the full force of the punishment in his stead...

Suddenly putting these thoughts together, Yakko slapped his hand over his mouth. He began to reel a bit in dizziness and felt extremely sick. The implications behind this were starting to cloud his mind.

"… I… I didn't have a choice… " Yakko started to talk with his hand lowered. "I couldn't rake in anymore money from the re-runs or the DVD sales… I couldn't find anymore money and the rent and the food and the supplies we needed… we needed…" Yakko's words were disjointed and panic ridden. Dot was now fully facing his direction, total shock and awe dominating her facial features.

"You… you took money from those… from those people… people from some back alley who won't shut up about their boss and how much money he already has…" Wakko started to articulate his rather raging thoughts. "Someone like that… you can't… you shouldn't have… why would you…?"

"I'm sorry!" Yakko blurted out, with both his hands clutching the bedside. Dot was still standing there, shocked to her very core.

"Sorry! Y-You're sorry? Look at what they… DID to me…!" Wakko was started to shout. He was panting and sweating already though. He was too weak and frail to be getting so worked up but he just felt so legitamitely betrayed by his older brother. He couldn't help it. This experience had been so terrifying! He thought they were going to kill him!

"I did it so that we could live better. I was trying to help us. I didn't want this." Yakko was pleading down at his younger brother, tears dribbling down his face. "I would never dream of hurting you Wakko!"

Wakko was already crying as much as Yakko was. "I… can't believe it… after all those things those freaks did to me and how sleazy they were… they were actually telling the truth…"

Yakko's tearful eyes twitched. "Wakko, please forgive-"

"Yeah right…"

"Wakko!"

"GO AWAY! Don't EVER visit me here again!" Wakko yelled, effectively helping to drain what little energy he had left. He felt himself plop against the pillow covered in sweat and out of breath. Still, he wouldn't face Yakko. Not anymore. He turned away quickly and shook off the hand that had come to his side, knowing it was Yakko just trying to regain his discarded attention.

Yakko just stood there with his hand out toward his brother. He couldn't handle this. He had just come to realize his huge mistake in the worst possible way imaginable.

Now, his little brother had been effectively tortured, put into a coma, and had landed into a hospital room because of him. It had all been because of him. Now, to top it all off, he wasn't loved anymore. Wakko didn't love him anymore. He was certain of it! And Dot, probably hated him too now.

All this was his fault. The failure doesn't get much more obvious when the action you took to try and help out your sibling's life does all this to him instead. He didn't want to not be loved by them anymore but he knew he no longer deserved their affection. He couldn't ask for it back. He'd be the lowest form of scum to have tried.

Yakko backed his way toward the door, catching a glimpse of Dot simply standing there and staring at the floor, before he rushed right out of the room. He ran down the hall just like he had that one day during Wakko's earlier hospital conception.

When he stopped running, he had realized that he was in front of the Water Tower. The empty space on the lot took hold of his plight and made him scream in frustration. He shouted out loud into the sky and pulled at his ears before sinking to his knees and planting his face into the dirt. There he just cried. It was loud and it was hard but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to help it. He deserved this anguish.

'Wakko… doesn't love me anymore… he's hurt so badly too! What have I done? What kind of a monster am I?'

No. He's angry but it doesn't mean he no longer loves you.

'R-Really? N-No… I can't hope for something like that. I don't deserve it.'

I know where they are.

'Eh?'

I know where those three are. It's almost time for our annual meeting in that place outside of the studio.

'Right… I forgot… the time for the next chance to pay is here…'

I know where they are.

'Yes.'

I can go to them.

'Yeah… I can go there… and…'

Night fell.

The Acme labs had their lights on still as Slappy Squirrel made her way toward the front doors. Huffing in exhaustion, she burst her way through it without knocking or even alerting the resident mice that she was there. Of course, they heard the door and took it to mean that she was there anyway.

Brain sighed as he immediately hopped from one monitor to the next and pulled up a screen highlighting the insides of the Water Tower. The instant Slappy made it to the table, she had it in her sights.

"Ah. It's just what I came here for. You really are smart." Slappy patted Brain's head. The large headed mouse simply rolled his eyes.

"I'm hardly getting any sleep anymore. You should be grateful that I'm taking up two projects at once like this." Brain grumbled as he typed something out on the keyboard.

"Oh. My heart aches." Was her drained response.

Brain pointed at the picture of the Water Tower's interior. "The analysis from the probe Pinky planted on the tower-"

"You're welcome Brain!" Pinky waved from where he sat by the television.

"Uh-huh. The probe has given me a clear definition of the Water Tower's inner workings. The way the pipes are and the water that constantly rushes through it despite the absence of any maintenance is clearly disturbing. I can understand why the studio would be so hush-hush about a phenomena this strange." Brain looked up at it with intensity.

"Your conclusion?" Slappy asked.

"… Everything in it… everything about it is fit the exact same way I'd expect a fully recreational, recently built Water Tower to be. It obviously hasn't changed a single iota since it's conception over 60 years ago." Brain sighed. Confirming something like that had been a bit testing. He still couldn't believe just how strange that thing was.

"Hmph…" Slappy blinked and looked down at the side for a bit before taking out a small mug of water and setting it on the counter. "That's water I extracted from the Tower last night. I don't have much of a reason to wander around this God forsaken lot otherwise."

"You do a poor job of convincing me that you're not overly concerned for the Warner children…" Brain remark almost slapped her in the face.

Slappy cleared her throat and continued, deciding to wave the comment off. "Yeah, okay. Anywho, I left this mug outside my house. By morning, it was warm and dirty just like I expected it to be. Now, you say the water in that tower has never once been drained or replaced, am I correct?"

"Yes…" Brain hated talking about this. Every discovery made regarding this tower betrayed sound logic.

"Heh. And yet when I took the water out of it, it was as clean and clear and crisp as it probably was when the thing was first built. None of it was old and dirty and yet that one little mug I took away from it ended up changing so much in the span of a single night." Slappy's grin was wide.

"It's inconceivable. The tale was true than. The Warner Siblings and the water and probably everything within that tower doesn't wither or grow old. When you take stuff out though…" Brain stopped.

"It's the tower itself. There's no doubt. That thing… if I were to wager a guess… I'd say it was stuck in time." Slappy eyeballed the screen where the tower's insides were being put on display.

"That's absurd." Brain replied swiftly.

"I dare you to tell me why I'm an old prune and yet those guys are still as young as they are. Being locked away in that thing for so long… I'd give anything to have an extension like that. It's like a genuine time machine." Slappy began to chuckle to herself. This was just… incredible…

"60 whole years…" Brain mouthed before shaking his head and groaning. "Why now? Why is this being looked into, now of all times?"

"It's because of Yakko." Slappy's answer was shockingly quick. Brain raised a brow at her as she took out a few pieces of paper. "Plotz let me have them. Says they're Hello Nurse's reports concerning Yakko's body and his health all the times he went to the doctor."

"Because of Yakko… ? Are you talking about his sickness…?" Brain snatched the papers from her and looked them over. His eyes widened a bit at what he was reading. "These symptoms… they can't pin-point what disease he has and yet they know all this?"

"Strange isn't it?" Slappy replied with a bit of snide in her voice.

"And why just Yakko? The other two live within that tower as well. They've all been inside it for the same number of years. Does his sickness even connect to the tower itself?" Brain felt like he was developing a migraine.

Slappy blinked and slumped into the chair at the table, looking the science lab and the tables over with deeply rooted concern.

"When you leave the tower you're growing older again… Yakko's diminished fun-like personality and the developing sickness happened over time, after they were released from it after 60 years. Yakko's condition and that Tower's mysterious brilliance are connected. I'd stake my eardrums on it."

"Hahaha! Awesome! I can't believe you actually got a chance to do that when you were that young." One of the teens, while wearing a black jacket and chugging down a beer laughed as he stood arched against a fence.

"Yeah well, growing up where I did, I had to learn to adapt quickly. There, stabbing people was popular so, you know." The leader of the three smirked and played with his hair happily. The final member was chuckling to himself, imagining a five-year-old cutting off the ear of an adult and looting him for money.

"Is Yakko not here yet?" The second kid spoke up, annoyed.

"Do you see him here moron?" Chimed in the third.

"Relax. He'll show up. He'll have to. He must've put it together that it was us who did that to his little bro." The leader finished his drink and slammed the bottle onto the grass. "That said, he IS late. I guess he's just an idiot."

The other two laughed in agreement with their half-empty bottles sloshing a bit before they heard footsteps approaching. The three of them looked straight ahead at the silohette approaching them from the fore-front of the quiet and empty park.

"Geez. I know meeting in the dead of night takes away from your little baby naps but come on. Why so late? We've got a lot to discuss." The leader walked forward with the other two happily tailing him from behind.

The object of the ridicule was indeed Yakko Warner; standing there hunched forward a bit with one hand at his side. The other was slightly covered by his back.

"Did you find the present we left for ya?" The second kid smirked.

Yakko stood there, wide-eyed, not exactly looking at them. He was looking downward and his eyes flickered when the second kid opening his big gullet.

"He was all choked up about not being able to be with you for that week he was with us." The third one spoke up next.

"We did say that no harm would come to you. We didn't lie. We've always kept up our end of the bargin and now it's time you paid up. The time for extensions is over Yakko. Our boss has been really lenient with you. He liked your show." The leader's words seemed to echo a bit.

Yakko still didn't react. He didn't seem as though he was all there. The teens were getting a bit frustrated with his lack of a reaction. He was continuing to stand in that position and stare at nothing as if their words weren't getting through. Surely he knew that they were here. He came here to meet with them after all.

When Yakko continued not to answer, they grew even more annoyed.

"What the hell? Is he retarded now?" The third kid sneered.

"He probably doesn't have the money." The second kid spoke up next.

The leader blinked, his face now straight and serious.

"He probably doesn't. Oh well. It was his last chance. Seems like you and your siblings have run out of time."

Yakko glazed over eyes finally faced the three boys.

They came toward Yakko slowly.

Yakko's retaliation was that much faster.

Yakko didn't return home that night.

Dot had stayed up until four in the morning before sleep forced itself upon her. She was waiting in the Water Tower, hoping that Yakko would just come back so that they could talk whatever happened over. She wanted to, at the very least, make sure she knew the whole story behind whatever was going on.

However, he just didn't come home. Dot had to sit there by herself contemplating what was going on with a burning desire to fix whatever was going wrong. She had tried to talk to Wakko after Yakko left about how he's been getting so much worse lately.

Wakko didn't say much in response though. He faced away from her and insisted that he didn't want to hear it. She honestly had hoped he meant that he didn't want to be told the truth regarding Yakko's health and state of mind. She hated how she wasn't sure whether or not Wakko actually cared about him anymore.

She had even tried to defend Yakko's actions before stopping herself and realizing that even she couldn't forgive it. Did that make her a bad person?

She just needed to be sure of herself. When she left the hospital and told Wakko that she'd be sure to visit again the next day she noticed how quickly Wakko went back to sleep. His body was exhausted and it was such a hassle to maintain stability within his system. That week with virtually no food, little water, tons of bodily harm, and a lack of care for his hypoglycemia had left him in such a devastated state.

At least his hat was back on his head. She liked seeing the hat on his head. It made her realize that Wakko truly was back and alive.

He was far from being okay though. Yakko was nowhere near being fine himself. She even wished that she could probably get him checked out too. The bloody coughs and the way he's been acting is just way too scary. She wanted to just let all her concerns out when he came home.

However, she went to sleep without seeing him.

When she woke up though, she heard sounds from the television. She hadn't touched the T.V at all since coming home.

Dot made her way into the living room and spotted him. Yakko was there; lying on the couch on his side, staring at the fuzzy screen with the low volume emanating from it.

She felt uncomfortable. Instantly.

"Y-Yakko…?" Dot walked around to the front of the couch and shook his body a bit. Yakko's eyes were wide and frantic. He sprung straight up when Dot touched him which made her fall back in surprise.

"Oh… D-Dot… Dot… S-Sorry…" Yakko looked so flustered. His eyes were a bit glazed and he didn't look like he had slept a single wink.

Dot stood up and looked him over. He looked so much worse than he did yesterday. Each day that goes by, Yakko just looked worse and worse. He was so young. Why did he look so frail and weak? Why was he even sick?

"It's alright… what were you watching?" Dot asked, hoping to start a relatively simple conversation before she bombarded him with questions.

"… The news… " Yakko fidgeted as he looked at the T.V. "I… It's talking about something that happened last night..."

"Huh?" Dot looked slightly interested.

"… Three teenagers were found dead in the park… apparently some one murdered them… with an axe…" Yakko's wide open eyes twitched slightly as he took a soft seat on the couch. His inflections were odd and his voice was a bit cracked.

Dot just kept analyzing his inflections and movements. They were so intriguing to her. Not in a good way though.

"Where were you last night anyway?" Dot asked him. Her fear regarding hearing that news took an instant backseat to her concern for Yakko. "If something that dangerous happened last night than you could've been wrapped up in something horrible and gotten hurt."

"I don't exactly remember… I left the hospital for the Water Tower… and then went looking for something for a long time… I don't remember what…" Yakko's talking was shaky and quiet.

The three teens that were identified on the news were the same ones he had grown accustomed to meeting for his issues with debt. He felt like breaking down and wailing in contempt.

He didn't understand why this news was making him feel so giddy.