With Wakko and Dot's support, Yakko told Scratchensniff about his nightmare. He didn't leave any details out. As he told the story, he would see Wakko and Dot cringing as he described every detail, including where he was stabbed and how many times he was stabbed before he lost consciousness. Both Scratchensniff and Plotz were horrified, but did their best to keep their composure.

When Yakko was finished, he became eerily quiet. His ears lowered down and he looked at the ground. Wakko and Dot, both on either side of him, scooted closer to him and placed touched his shoulders for comfort. Yakko did his best to look strong and hid his tears.

Scratchensniff had a hard time writing everything down. It wasn't because of the amount of info Yakko gave him, but the disturbing quality of the info. Who in their right mind would stab a child with a pencil four times in the face? Such an injury wouldn't yield a lot of blood, which would explain why no one noticed it before. But from Yakko's voice, he knew this was a truly traumatic experience.

When he was done writing, he looked over at Plotz. The man no longer held a look of horror on his face, but instead it was slightly red, and Scratchensniff knew that anger had taken ahold of him. Without warning, Plotz jumped out of his seat.

"Dr. Scratchensniff, treat Yakko's injury! Make sure to get any splinters out so there won't be an infection!" He turned to Wakko and Dot. "You two! Stay with Yakko at all times. I don't want a repeat of this happening!"

The two gave him a grim, understanding nod.

"As for me, I am going to get in contact with the authorities! I want whoever did this to be found and brought to justice!" Plotz stormed out the door and slammed it.

For once, the Warners shared his sentiment. Although the guy claims to hate the Warners, he wasn't so bad, and this moment proved it. It was almost touching that he was willing to do whatever it took to keep Yakko safe. Wakko and Dot prayed silently that the culprit will be found. The sooner, the better.

Yakko got up. Now that he had finished telling the nightmare, he thought it was time for him to go. Before he got too far, he was stopped by Scratchensniff.

"Wait! I am not done yet!" Scratchensniff said.

"Look, I told you everything." Yakko said, a slight irritation to his voice. "Can I please just go now?"

"Zere is zomething I need to tell you." Scratchensniff said, gesturing for the tallest Warner to sit back down. Once Yakko did that, the bald man continued. "Zince it was a nightmare you were telling me about, I zuzpect that it your subconscious did not yield every bit of information, only some of the most traumatic. I know zis will be hard for you, Yakko, but you muzt tell uz the complete story."

This would have caused Yakko's face to pale if it weren't already white. "Th-the full s-s-s-story?"

Wakko looked up at the doctor. "Does he really have to? Today?"

Scratchensniff nodded. "Yez, if we want to find the culprit and stop him in caze he strikez again."

"But the nightmare was pretty much how it went down, wasn't it?" Dot asked. She looked over at Yakko, expecting him to confirm her suspicions. When he looked at her silently, then turned hsi head away, she grew concerned. There was more? No please, don't let there be more...

"Yakko, I promize that if you open up to us about this, you will be zafe. No one will ever hurt you again." Scratchensniff gently patted the tall boy on the head. This time, he offered no resistance. "It'z alright, you'll be fine. Tell uncle Scratchy what happened."

Yakko stared at the old man in the eyes. A part of him wanted to trust him. He had known Scratchensniff long enough to know when he was being genuine. The look in the man's eyes, he knew he genuinely wanted to help.

So why was he hesitating? How did he find it easy to tell them about the nightmare, but not about what happened? But he couldn't deny it. The nightmare did not show everything. It cut off before the...really terrifying stuff happened... He didn't want to relive that. The aches and pains were returning just thinking about it.

Seeing her brother hesitate, Dot said, "Maybe tomorrow will be a better time? I don't think Yakko is up to talk more about this. Please, it was hard enough for him to talk about his nightmare."

Scratchensniff let out a sigh. "Oh, all right. You can go. Just make zure to be here tomorrow. Same time." Scratchensniff got out a bottle of disinfectant and a pair of tweezers. He gave them to Dot. "Clean Yakko's wound as soon as you can and apply the disinfectant a couple times a day. It'll sting, but he must recieve the medication just in case he develops a serious infection.

Dot nodded in understand. "You can count on me."

With that, the Warners headed back to their tower.

sss

Yakko wanted everything to be back to normal. He tried to fool himself into thinking it was. As soon as they were back in the tower, he tried to shift into his cheerful self once more. He didn't want his siblings to worry and he didn't want to live in fear. So he tried to live out the rest of the day as if nothing had happened to him.

His siblings, they knew that he was just trying to cope. They were still willing to help him and went along with it. They played games like tag and hide and go seek. They rode on their train and played board games. Yakko's laughter warmed his siblings' heart. It was nice to see him back to his usual self, even if it was just a desperate attempt to hide his pain. They loved seeing him happy. They believed that laughter really was the best medicine.

Before they knew it, the sun was setting. The light in the water tower started to dim. They turned the indoor lights on and went to the dinner table. Dot had been cooking a nice roast chicken, caushing Yakko and Wakko's mouths to water, literally causing a waterfall of drool come forth.

Dot placed the chicken on the table. They all whipped out forks and knives. Licking their lips, they dug in, tearing off pieces of food and swallowing them whole. It only took minutes before the chicken was stripped dry. Dot would have thrown it away if it weren't for Wakko, who inhaled the bones in a single gulp.

Dot put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Wakko, the bones aren't for eating!"

"Neither are thought bubbles but that's never stopped me before!" Wakko grinned.

Dot nodded, "You do have a point there."

Yakko slyly grinned and stared over at Wakko. "Hey Wakko. Remember the time you swallowed the wishbone of a turkey?"

Wakko's eyes widened. "Don't remind me! I never want to go through the car wash again!"

Dot blinked in confusion. "Car wash?" She held out her hands, looking at her two brothers. "Where was I when this happened?"

Yakko covered his mouth and laughed. "It's a long story!" He waved it off. "I'll tell you in the morning." He headed to the bedroom. "Well it's time for me to hit the sack!"

"You better not t...wait..." Wakko looked at the clock. "It's only seven o'clock. Why are you going to bed now?"

"Yeah, you never go to sleep this early." Dot said.

Yakko just shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just tired, that's all. If you two want to stay up, be my guest." He disappeared into the bedroom. "Well goodnight!"

Dot and Wakko watched him go. Something didn't feel right. Why would Yakko be going to sleep this early? He never did before, not unless he was expecting something bright and early the next day. But the only thing happening tomorrow was another visit to Scratchy's. And they both knew he wasn't looking forward to that.

So why was he suddenly so tired? Dot would have thought it was the poultry, but chicken doesn't make anyone tired. It was turkey that did that, or so people have said. She wondered if it was an infection starting to set in. That worried her. She may have to get some more medication for him in case he got sick.

Wakko wished he could be more of a help. He felt he didn't have anything to offer to really help Yakko except make him feel safe. He wanted to go out there and find the culprit. If he could just get a whiff of his scent, he'd find him faster than Jimmy Neutron can create a problem.

But he couldn't just go off on his own. What if...what if the same thing happened to him? Then Yakko would really be scared, then not just for himself but for his siblings' safety. Wakko did his best to put away his 'smash the bad guy with a mallet' impulse for the same of his brother.

He stared at the door once more and said, "Be safe...big bro."

sss

In the middle of the night, Dot felt the call of the bathroom in her stomach. She groaned in pain. Man, she should not have eaten all that chicken. She got up out of bed and rubbed her eyes. She looked over at Yakko and Wakko's bed and saw that Yakko was missing.

She frowned. She hoped Yakko wasn't hogging the bathroom again. The last time they had a big poultry like that, Yakko didn't leave the bathroom for three days. That was...quite an interesting time for everyone else on the studio. She could still feel the sting of Slappy's purse when she tried to use her toilet.

As she made a turn towards the bathroom, her foot caught onto something soft. She let out an oof as she slammed into the ground. She groaned as she got up and brushed herself off. She hated getting her night gown dirty. She turned around to face what she had tripped over, to kick it away so it wouldn't bother her again.

It was a black mass. She groaned, rolling her eyes. Wakko must have been playing with his wigs again and forgot to put them away. She walked over and grabbed onto the mass. She pulled, but it was much heavier than she thought. She tried again, and she had to let go and rest her arms. She stared at the black mass, panting. What kind of wigs did Wakko have?

The 'wig' stirred a little. Dot realized it wasn't a wig. It was Yakko. She groaned in annoyance. Was he really that tired that he had to fall asleep in the hallway instead of waiting until he got back to bed? The youngest Warner knelt down next to her brother and shook him.

"Come on, get back in bed. You are taking up space in the halls." When Yakko didn't reply, she shook him harder. "Come on now! Get up!"

She pushed him over onto his back. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him again, yelling at him louder. She started to get worried. Yakko wasn't that heavy of a sleeper. That would normally wake him up. She then realized that his breathing was lighter than usual. She pressed a finger against his neck. She put a hand to her mouth and gasped in horror at how faint it was.

Realization and horror set in. Her heart began to pound. No, not Yakko. No...

"Wakko!"

Wakko jumped out of bed, fur standing on end like a frightened cat. "Who what when where why?" He said quickly, looking left and right.

"Wakko get out here!"

Recognizing Dot's voice, he dart out of the bedroom and found her and Yakko on the ground. Seeing Yakko's motionless body, Wakko's ears flattened back. "Dot..what happened?"

"I don't know! He's not moving!" Tears streamed down Dot's face. "Call Dr. Scratchensniff!"

As Wakko ran over to the phone, Dot elevated her brother's head and sat it in her lap. She stroked his cheek gently. She wished she had paid closer attention to him. She wished she had seen the warning sign when he went to bed early. She should have known something was wrong. If they had done something sooner, then maybe...

Her thoughts were interrupted when Wakko slammed the phone down. She looked over and saw him approach her. She waited for him to speak.

"Scratchy will be here as soon as he can." Wakko explained. He looked down at Yakko's prone body. "He said we should move him onto a table so he can be examined."

"Did he say what it could be?" Dot asked. Her ears dropped down when Wakko could only shake his head at her. She stared down at her brother and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'm so sorry this happened to you.."

She and Wakko helped each other carrying Yakko to the table. They both hoped as hard as they could that it was nothing they couldn't fix.