I apologize in advance for any OOC-ness, which this fic includes. If you don't want OOC-ness, then no flames, please. You have been warned.

The Warners were walking in the park one day when it happened the first time.

They rounded a corner, not doing anything zany, when someone grabbed Yakko's leg, startling him. The trio looked down to see what appeared to be a man dressed in a very expensive-looking suit that was torn and weathered. He was caked in mud and he smelled horrible!

"Please, spare change?" the man asked. Yakko gulped.

Now, his siblings knew that he wasn't disgusted by the man. He had raised them not to be, and it would be terribly hypocritical of him to be so now, but they knew that Yakko found something unappealing.

"Please, please, please?" the man begged, over and over. A crowd had gathered around to see the commotion, but Yakko still looked horribly annoyed.

"Oh, please, I BEG of you! Spare change?"

Yakko finally kicked the man off of him. Literally, he used the leg that the man was still grabbing and kicked him in the face, making the man fly backwards with blood dribbling from his nose. Wakko and Dot were speechless, not ever having seen Yakko behave like this. Their big brother shoved a hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a wad of cash, throwing it at the man. He also pulled out some tissues for the poor guy.

The crowd around them seemed to still be in shock along with the youngest Warner siblings. Yakko took their hands and ran out of there, dragging them along.

The second time it happened was when they were recording a new episode. By now, the directors had given up on any hopes of a script and would allow the Warners to play the episode how they wished.

This episode was about a dragon attacking Camelot, so king Arthur had Merlin summon a brave, strong knight. Except, instead of getting a knight, he got the Warners.

So far, the episode was as normal as an Animaniacs episode could get. But, when the king bent down and grabbed Yakko's feet and started begging, the directors were shocked with the disgusted look Yakko was giving the actor. They could all tell that it was taking all of the Warner's willpower to not kick off the king as he had done the man in the park.

Instead, Yakko yanked his foot out of the king's grasp and stared at him for a moment with a look of pure disgust on his face. It was such a fleeting moment that you would have to look extra close to see it on his face.

But the moment had passed and the episode continued as normal.

The third and final time it had happened had been the biggest shock. No one knew what it was about, but out on the lot, Wakko and Dot were asking their brother for something. They could tell he said no, but the youngest Warners wouldn't accept that answer.

They dropped to the ground and grabbed their brother's feet, clearly begging him for something. Everyone on the lot had expected Yakko to get angry, or maybe even upset with them, but they didn't expect him to reach down and yank them both up by their ears.

No one heard what he said, but they could tell that it was quite the talking-to by the looks on Wakko and Dot's faces, who weren't expecting this kind of reaction, either. After a while, Yakko dropped them on the ground, almost without care, and stormed off. Wakko and Dot sat there, stunned and speechless, for ten minutes. They finally climbed into the Water Tower to wait for their brother to come home.

Dr. Scratchnsniff looked through his notes. That was three recorded times that someone had begged Yakko for something, and Yakko had always responded with either anger or disgust. It was strange, especially considering how the Warners typically acted.

With a sigh, he picked up the receiver and dialed in the Warners' number. He waited for a moment, listening to the rings.

One.

Two.

Three.

"Hellooooo nurse!"

Scratchnsniff was glad that Yakko had been the one to answer. It meant that he was home and, judging by the tone of his voice, he had calmed down from whatever he said to Wakko and Dot.

"Hello, Yakko," Scratchnsniff said. "I vas vondering if you could shtop by my office later?"

There was silence on the other end. Slight murmuring. A moment's pause. More mumbling.

"Why do you wanna see us?" Yakko finally asked. Scratchnsniff shook his head as if Yakko could see him which, in all honesty, wouldn't surprise the doctor in any way.

"Just you, Yakko," he said. "I only vant to talk."

Another pause as Yakko considered this.

"Alright, then… I'll be down in a few minutes," Yakko finally said. "See you then, Scratchy!"

He hung up. Scratchnsniff let out another long sigh and looked back through his notes again.

Yakko was never late for an appointment with Scratchnsniff, so, true to his word, he was knocking at Scratchy's door in less than ten minutes. Hello Nurse was the one to open the door for him. The oldest Warner sat down on the chaise, hands in his lap and solemn expression on his face. Scratchnsniff took a deep breath.

"I can assume you already know vhy I asked you here?" he tried. Yakko shrugged.

"I think I have a vague idea," he said. Scratchnsniff nodded.

"Yakko, I'll get shtriaght to zhe point: vhy do you seem so disgusted vhen someone begs someting of you?"

Yakko took a deep breath, almost as though he were preparing himself to answer.

"I… truth is, I… well…" he started stuttering. This sent off red flags in the psychiatrist's mind. Yakko doesn't stutter. It's just common knowledge.

Yakko sighed, looking annoyed with himself for not being able to say it. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I despise when people beg me for something," he said. Scratchnsniff blinked. He knew this, it was obvious. It was the whole reason he had called Yakko to his office in the first place! But Yakko kept going, clearing things up.

"I hate it! I think it's so disgusting when a person thinks that throwing themselves onto the ground and grabbing at someone else's leg is going to get anything done! It won't! They're just embarrassing themselves and causing a scene! People only help those people out to get them to stop or go away, and they'll just keep doing it! It's sad, it's pathetic, and it's… it's…"

Yakko seemed to have lost his words now, staring at the ground and trying to come up with something else to say to justify his opinion. He sighed again, clearly agitated, and got off the chaise, pacing around the room and clutching his head as if there was something else going on there, something else he wanted to say but he didn't want to say it at the same time.

Scratchnsniff watched this attitude with growing curiosity, and maybe a hint of suspicion. He had seen it before, millions of times, and it was quite worrisome that Yakko, who could be no older than nine or ten years old, was stuck in this situation.

Scratchnsniff finally took pity on the boy… wolf… bunny creature, whatever he was. He put a hand on Yakko's shoulder, making him jump, surprising Scratchnsniff a little more. Whatever was going on in Yakko's mind, it had to make itself known or Yakko would go crazy.

Well, crazier.

"Yakko, vhy do you hate begging so much?" he asked. He and Yakko were making eye contact, Scratchnsniff not backing down and Yakko slowly breaking.

Finally, Yakko sighed again and looked to the floor in shame, eyes closed and pain in his voice.

"Because I used to have to beg every day… and I hated it. I hated every moment of it… feeling helpless and weak, and like I couldn't take care of my sibs…"

Scratchnsniff sat there and listened patiently, not saying anything. When Yakko seemed like he couldn't continue talking about how weak he had felt when he was forced to beg, he reached down and hugged him. Yakko didn't hug him back, he just stood there, not moving, not saying or doing anything. It was like hugging a tree.

After a moment, Yakko asked, "Could you not tell this to anyone… please?"

Scratchnsniff pulled away and smiled at him.

"Of course not, Yakko," he said. "I'm bound to keep my patient's secrets."

Yakko offered him the first smile Otto had seen since the Warner entered his office.

"Thanks, Scratchy," he said. Scratchnsniff nodded.

Only minutes after Yakko had left did Otto realize that he may very well be the first person to see this side of any of the Warners, especially Yakko. A sober, melancholy side that no one knew the Warner siblings possessed.

But then he started wondering. Yakko said he used to beg every day. For what? As far as Scratchnsniff knew, the Warners had been given everything they had ever asked for, and if they weren't given what they wanted, they found a way to get it themselves.

What could have happened?

Yakko made sure his siblings were asleep before getting out of his bed. He exited their shared bedroom and made his way to the massive door of the water tower, bumping into a couple things along the way. He wasn't used to making this trip in pitch black darkness.

How long had the door been locked now? One week? Two? He had lost track.

How long were they going to be locked in here? And why had they been locked up?

His heart started pounding again, afraid that they would never get out of there, never see the light of day again.

His eyes burned with that thought. His sibs didn't deserve this… punish him, sure, but his sibs?

He started turning the handle of the door, just like he did every night, desperately hoping that it would open up.

'Please open! Please, someone let us out! Please, I'm begging here! Someone please just open the door, I don't wanna be trapped in here! I don't want my siblings trapped in here! Please, someone just let us go!'

Every night, night after night, at 12:00 he would do this. Every night, his silent begging became more and more audible, until one night five years after their imprisonment, Wakko and Dot came out of the room to see their big brother curled up on the floor of the water tower, right in front of the only exit in the whole structure, crying and begging to be released.

Yakko had never been in such a position before. He had never been so unable to help or provide for his siblings, so openly broken, especially in front of them. It was too much.

He hated feeling so pathetic. As Wakko and Dot rushed to comfort him, to make sure he was alright, he made a silent vow.

'No more begging. Ever. I don't care if it takes a hundred years… I WILL bust us out of here. Once we're free, I'm never begging anyone for anything. Ever again.

'They thought we were zany before? Well… they don't know what they've just unleashed.'