For the first time in months Timmy found himself somewhere unfamiliar in his dreams. There was nothing in the room, no windows, no furniture, no source of light, no signs of anything to tell any of the walls, floor, or ceiling apart. Everything was white, bright white. It was a bit blinding. He tried to shield his eyes but the brightness kept finding a way to make seeing difficult. Finally he covered his eyes waiting for something to happen, anything to happen. After what felt like an eternity the light began to dim. Uncovering his eyes, the brunette saw that the walls, ceiling, and floor had all turned a light grey blue.

Cautiously he walked up to one of the walls to run his hands over it. Things were never what they seemed in his nightmares, anything could happen. He slowly made his way around the room, hoping to feel a door or find an opening, something. But there wasn't, the walls were smooth and solid, and he was trapped. So he sat in a corner and waited for some terror or other to make an appearance, anything to make this stupid place more bearable.

Time didn't seem to exist in the room. The more he waited the less time seemed to pass. Why wasn't something happening? Where the hell was he?

Suddenly he could hear what sounded like distant knocking. First from one direction and then from another until the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Irritating, that was what it was, more so than the sound of pencils furiously writing away back in the classroom. Then it all stopped, dead silence followed by a quite knock from the other side of the wall. Confused he stood up to see if it would happen again. It didn't, instead he heard another knock not too far away, another pause, another knock a bit further away. Someone was walking around knocking on the walls!

At this point he didn't care if they were friend or foe, he just wanted to get the hell out of there. So he started knocking on the wall. Whoever was knocking outside began to make their way back towards him. He jumped when a loud knock from the other side of the wall broke the silence but quickly regained his composure and knocked back.

"Found you." That voice, how could it be so familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time?

He yelped when a sudden burst of light temporarily blinded him. Once he was able to see again he found himself back in the hallway from his nightmares. The sound of claws clicking on the floor sent him running but his curiosity made him look back. Heading in the opposite direction, tails tucked and whimpering were a few of the creatures that mauled him every night. Down the hall, between him and the creatures was the hooded figure from the classroom.

Just as he turned around to face them, everything began to fade out.

"Timmy?"

Still half asleep, the teen rolled over and ended up falling off the edge of his bed. "Ow."

"You alright sport?" Asked the pink haired woman standing above him, concerned that he'd hurt himself.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You were having a nightmare weren't you?"

Rather than answer he sat up to see if he'd woken up the two small children that had insisted on sharing his bed. Separately he could get the duo to mind him, better than his fairies anyway, but throw the pair together and all bets were off. They fed off each other's energy, add in Poof's magic and good luck getting them to go to bed. Typically Timmy would wish up a second bed for them to avoid waking them when he inevitably tossed and turned, once in a while they stayed in the four year old's room in the castle, but last night they were dead set on sleeping with him. Only reason he'd even been able to get them to sleep in the first place was because Wanda whipped up some sweets that made them tired. Thankfully they hadn't woken up. Thank you Wanda for waking me up.

"…Sort of."

She tried to ask more about it but thought better of it, it wasn't like she'd get a straight answer anyway.

After waiting a minute to make sure they wouldn't wake up the teen left the fairy to watch over the kids, mainly to keep Poof from being discovered if for some reason Vicky walked in unannounced. The house was dark and quiet, there were still a couple of hours before he needed to get ready for school and drop Hope off with Mrs. Dinkleberg. A few months ago if he found himself in this situation there would be plenty of little chores to keep him busy until getting ready for the day. Now there wasn't. When he was at work Chester came over to look after Hope and normally he'd come home to whatever mess the pair had made but, according to his friend, the redhaired she-devil kept the house picked up. Odd since she never cleaned anything back when she babysat. Sure he expected her to clean up after herself but not keep house. Hell he hadn't heard a single complaint from her about his friend making a mess that she cleaned up rather than make him do it once his shift was over.

Slightly annoyed to not have the distraction anymore he laid down on the couch to think back on the dream he'd had. This mysterious person that suddenly appeared twice now, that stopped his nightmares in their tracks, that was trying to help him, why were they there? What could have prompted his subconscious into making that happen? Surely not coming up with more terrifying monsters to torment him would be a simpler feat. Maybe it didn't come from me. No that didn't make sense. Then again…Hadn't that feral version of him said this was all a reflection of his deteriorating mental health?

Pushing that question aside, he went back to the origin of the hooded figure. Nothing about his waking hours could have caused this person to manifest, they pulled him back from the brink once, but why? A last ditch effort to rescue his sanity maybe but was there really even a point anymore? Or…nausea overcame him at the thought that this was a cruel trick his mind was playing on him, the same part that brought Cat to like, meant to lull him into a false sense of hope before destroying him.

Whatever the reason for the figure wandering around in his sleep, he hoped they would go away. Better for them to not be there than to potentially cause him more misery.

It wasn't until the stairs creaked that he realized he'd dozed off. Looking up he saw his roommate pausing on the steps for a second before going about her business. That meant it was about time for him to go get ready for school and get Hope ready to go next door. Back upstairs he found a very stressed out fairy unsuccessfully trying to take her son's wand away while staying under the younger child happily giggling in the air.

"Poof stop that put her down right now!"

"No."

"You do as I say this instant or I'll take all your human toys away."

The four year old's face fell at the threat. His collection of human toys was carefully guarded from his parents after they decided to 'spruce them up' last year. Several hours were spent calming him down from the resulting tantrum in which he rampaged in downtown Dimmsdale and Fairyworld as a purple clam-dragon thing. Timmy wasn't sure why the toddler loved novelty toys so much, he'd given him the first just to see what the young fairy would do with his magic to make it better. Since then he regularly brought more home or took the child into town with him to pick one out. Another reason his parents tried so hard to instill a fear of humans into him. Something that would probably never happed since his godbrother took him around them so much. However his fairies had asked him not to buy the child anymore toys, a request he 'forgot' about once in a while.

Upset, the boy turned himself into a purple clam and his mother barely caught Hope before she dropped to the floor. With a huff the little girl squirmed free of the fairy and plopped down next to the clam, patting it sympathetically. "Poof good."

Well that was different, she didn't normally talk around Wanda or really anyone other than him, Chester, and sometimes Poof. Often it was meaningless babbling towards the young fairy, babbling he understood, but hardly any English words.

Both fairies were magiked away into the fish bowl so the family could get ready for their day and the siblings could get ready for their's. An hour later the teen was carrying his sister, her bag, and his school bag downstairs, there was just enough time for him to make breakfast before school. Leaving the bags in the living room he walked into the kitchen to find his roommate adding more pancakes to a growing stack on a plate, way too many for one person.

"Morning Twerp and Twerpette."

"What are you doing?"

"Making food, now go sit."

Confused he looked to see the table set. Turns out having breakfast with your not-so-evil ex-babysitter and baby sister is as weird as it sounds. No conversation as they ate but it also wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence…Okay maybe a little awkward, it did remind him of his life a few years back, eating breakfast with his parents before everything went bad…Yeah that did not make things any less weird. Nor did the woman's insistence that he leave her to clean up, that right there wasn't normal but he was cutting it close so he let her have her way.

At school his friends pointed out he seemed in a better mood, one Chester was convinced was because his friend had finally asked Ryan to be his girlfriend. While that probably played some role, the brunette wasn't so sure it was the sole reason even though he couldn't come up with any other. Maybe a not so restless night's sleep or the fact that he and Tootie hadn't been butting heads lately. She wasn't over him trying to undermine her authority over their friends by any means, but also wasn't picking fights. Judging by the shiny new, top of the line cell phone and laptop, her rich boyfriend was once again paying attention to her and she returned it to keep the flow of fancy gifts coming.

Reasons aside their friends were happy for the little bit of a breather it provided. Tootie was more tolerable to be around while he was getting better. As far as they were concerned that was a sign that things were slowly returning to normal…well as normal as you can get in Dimmsdale.

After the last bell rang Chester went off to watch Hope while his friend worked and Timmy waited for his dad to take him to work. However the strange peacefulness of the day was destroyed about a half hour into his shift when he received texts from his best friend. For some reason the blonde's dad grounded him for his poor grades. They were two weeks into a new term, how could he be doing that bad already? Also, since when did his dad start punishing him for his school performance? It was no secret he saved his grades by the skin of his teeth for the last three years but he'd never been grounded for it. What was weirder was the absence of the neighbors and Mr. Turner, who had told his son they all planned on having a nice dinner at home then watch a movie, which left the teen with no choice but to leave the child in the care of the pink eyed she-demon. Let's just say that sent Timmy Turner into a panic for the remainder of his shift, honestly if you wouldn't have the same reaction there is something very wrong with you.

One last problem, with his father no longer answering his phone after his mysterious disappearance with the Dinklebergs, the teen now had no way to get home. None of his friends were allowed to drive anywhere but to and from school on week days so he had to walk. Actually he ran home, worried about his roommate being left alone with his sister, changed or not that was a terrifying thought.

Unfortunately running home gave him plenty of time to relive all the horrors he experienced as a child at the hands of his roommate. Those memories quickly led his panicked mind to think up countless ways his sibling could be mentally or emotionally traumatized. Irrational as it was, the woman wasn't foolish enough to try something that could get her tossed out on the street, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Fear and panic gave way to anger, anger that, if she was back to her old tricks, she would dare do so to his sister. Before he could stop himself he was coming up with malicious threats.

Finally back on his street it wasn't long before he burst in the front door completely out of breath. There was a squeal of delight before a pair of tiny arms latched onto his leg. Looking down he saw his sister no worse for wear than if Chester had watched her, minus the multicolored marker lines from coloring time. Hope raised her arms up, giggling when she was picked up, but her brother was distracted. Vicky was on the couch looking pretty hurt but not surprised that he'd rushed home to check on the little girl. Both of them knew some things can't be forgotten.

"Hey Twerp."

"Uh…hi?"

"Whatever." Definitely offended that he thought she'd try something. "Me and Twerpette had pizza, leftovers are in the fridge."

Now he felt bad. "Vicky I–"

"Icky!"

Huh?

The little girl was pointing at the older woman, grinning from ear to ear. "Icky."

"Uh…?"

"Blondie's apparently been teaching her my name's 'Icky' unless you wanna fess up to it."

"No, uh..I didn't…" Dammit Chester.

With a dismissive wave of her hand the redhead went upstairs to her room.

Great, just what he needed. Going upstairs he wondered if Vicky would be as hard to apologize to as her sister, hopefully she'd be less bitchy.

Hours later he was still trying to word his apology as well as the best way to say it. He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to say but the thought of saying it to her, it wasn't easy. Actually the thought of apologizing to either was hard. On one hand he only made up with Tootie for the sake of others, he never meant a word of it. Then she'd point out how the entire thing was his fault, why he was wrong, it tried his patience. At one point he'd have felt the same towards the elder but…she looked like he'd accused her of doing whatever act she thought was the most despicable thing a human could do. And he couldn't help the guilt at letting his thoughts get out of hand when he saw her be nicer to Hope than anyone else every day. Had he overreacted some?

Two parts of him began to argue, one saying he was fully justified in behaving the way he did and it served her right for those years of anguish. The other, his more forgiving nature probably, pointed out the changes in her since her reappearance, pointing particular instances that would seem insignificant were it anyone else. A third, far louder voice simply said 'I don't know'. Well weren't they helpful, now he was even more confused.

Beside him, Hope whined, he'd been fidgeting while having his internal struggle. With a quick tap on the night stand that the fish bowl sat on he got up to go downstairs. What he really needed was a distraction for a bit, just until he cleared his head and could revisit the question of whether or not he'd been unreasonable in panicking earlier. However there was nothing he could use to distract himself with, no dirty dishes, no straightening up the living room or putting toys away, all the things that should have been waiting to be done since he hadn't bothered before hiding in his room. It made his guilt grow knowing she'd been nice enough to do that despite him making her feel bad.

At the same time he was irritated to not have the welcomed distraction, actually just her tendency to keep the house cleaned up in general. What else was he supposed to do in the early morning hours when he couldn't sleep or needed time to collect his thoughts? School work used to be the backup but now that he absorbed more information in class it didn't help. Internet was out, the desktop in his room would eventually wake his sister and she was a grouchy little thing when her sleep was interrupted. Mind numbing television was easily tuned out plus there was never anything good on at this time of night. He wasn't a big reader either so that was out.

With no better ideas he laid down on the couch, at least if he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up the occupants of his room. For a while he stared up at the ceiling, looking for outlines or figures in the material. After that he tried going over material from class, they were still on basic stuff so that didn't last. Last he tried something the girls had been suggesting he give a shot for months, meditation. Eyes closed he slowly started quieting his thoughts, mentally shoving a few in closets or down deep wells, some of them he had to go back to several times before they were shut out. He didn't notice the nothingness fading to grey or the low rumbling building into a growl, not until it was too late anyway.

Grey gave way to white. As everything focused dark spots appeared that soon enough took on color, brown and red, eventually it was all crisp and clear but notably different. It was the hallway, his blood smeared on the walls and floor, but it wasn't right. Behind him something was growling¸ what he saw when he turned around was one of the creatures with its teeth bared, body tense, eyes trained a couple feet to his left…Wait, what? Looking over he saw the mysterious hooded figure, completely at ease despite the threat poised to attack in front of them. Even this close he couldn't make out a single feature about them, the hood has pulled too far down. Loose, travel worn clothes gave no hint to their gender or anything, all he could tell was that they were a few inches taller than he was.

Unimpressed with the creatures display, they took a step towards it and it backed off. Fifteen feet ahead of them was the hand smear, still bright red, where the entrance to the mirror room was. Which seemed to be the destination of the stranger, a destination the creature was trying to block. It continued to back up, still growling and baring its teeth, lunging when they got a couple feet away. But with a quick flash of light it was sent scurrying away. Timmy stayed beside them, wondering why he hadn't been attacked or even acknowledged.

"How'd you do that?"

Silence as they opened the door and walked in, it snapped shut behind them quickly. He tried to open it but when he reached for the knob there was nothing where his hand and arm should have been. Shocked he held his arms out in front of him with the same result. Somehow he was there yet invisible. Almost like an out of body experience, an analogy that didn't work when it was someone else he was trailing.

Can I go inside? Do I even want to?

His curiosity answered in the affirmative. He could hear a voice talking on the other side, one that made his blood turn cold. Cat was talking, he couldn't make out what was being said and would prefer not finding out. Again his curiosity encouraged him to go, worst that could happen is he slams his face against the door, if the creatures couldn't see him than Cat might not be able to either.

This is a terrible idea. Still he walked towards the door expecting to hit the wood any second, a sensation that never occurred, instead he went through. Inside Cat was prowling around the room inside the mirrors as was his custom, eyes wide with excitement at the new toy that had found its way into his lair. There was something else though, it seemed uneasy about the intruder.

"Well, well, well, look friend we have an uninvited guest in our midst."

From inside the cell there was the quiet clinking of metal, a bit of shuffling, and there was a distinct lack of labored breathing noises. Was Cell stronger than the last time he'd been in here?

"Now look what you've done." Cruel, feline eyes glared at the hooded figure, stopping to face them. "Giving him strength, very underhanded of you, especially since you don't belong here."

He wasn't paid any mind as the figure walked up to the cell, placing a hand on the field that kept Cell inside.

"Oh! I see now." Cat clapped his hands together in delight. "Oh yes this will be far more fun now, it'll be more of a challenge now that we have another player in the game."

The figure now faced the man behind the glass. Timmy swore there was hate and anger radiating off of them despite not being able to see their face.

"You won't make a difference you know, my hold's too strong, you'll only prolong the inevitable but by all means come in and play." He stepped aside as though he were allowing the figure to cross a threshold, arm held out in invitation for them to enter. An invitation that was accepted, the figure walked towards the glass and wasn't block, they actually walked through. Well it looked more like the glass was a liquid that was allowing them to pass and a moment later they were on the other side.

Without warning the brunette shot up from his spot on the couch, head colliding with something hard, his breathing was erratic, heart racing, eyes searching for monsters that weren't there, and someone was shaking his shoulders. For several minutes he couldn't hear anything other than his pounding heart, finally he could make out another voice, annoyance masking panic.

"Earth to Twerp."

Kneeling beside him was Vicky, face a bit paler than normal.

"Jesus kid it was just a nightmare, calm down."

"S..sorry."

She rolled her eyes, "you can't exactly control them Turner."

"No…for earlier," what brought that on? Oh right, distraction to calm him down faster. "You were trying to help and I acted like an ass."

"An ass who was justified in worrying."

He shook his head. "no, I shouldn't have jumped to the worst conclusion, sorry."

"Yeah, yeah." She got up. "How long have you been havin' nightmares?"

Lie, she doesn't need to know anything.

"Get them once in a while, no big deal."

She gave him a skeptical look but decided to not press it. "Go back to bed."

"Giving me orders again?"

"Friendly suggestion." Vicky smiled at the joke.

Once his heart returned to a somewhat normal rate he went back upstairs. There'd be no more sleep as he tried to make sense of what the hell had just happened in his dreams. What did Cat mean the figure didn't belong there? It had to be a part of him, where else would it come from?