Hello! So, I'd just like to say to Maren570 - Thanks, but I'm not going to be using fan characters.

Don't wake me, 'cause I don't want to leave this dream.

Don't wake me, we're happy like we used to be.

- Skillet, Don't Wake Me.

.:THE STORY:.

In the still night air, people were strolling through Central Park as they usually do. It was later in the evening, and the sun had descended from the sky.

Lieutenant Perry had left with NiGHTS just minutes ago. He had been able to carry NiGHTS all the way to his police car, which was parked at the station that was on the outskirts of the park, without confrontation. He laid her down gently in the back seat, his eyes roaming her face one more time. Her pale, smooth face seemed much more peaceful, instead of screwed up from the nightmare.

He sighed and laid his jacket over her still body.

Jonah climbed into the front seat as Jessie jumped into shotgun and quietly drove away, the questions on his mind distracting him from the world around him.

And a good thing, too, for the thief who was now just leaving as well.

Her dull blue eyes darted around as she left her hide out. She had changed clothes, now wearing the typical attire of any teenager - skinny jeans, a t-shirt, and light jacket. Unnoticeable enough. If anyone did happen to ask her what she was doing, she could always give them the usual spiel - Dad forgot something at work, he's busy with the kids, so he sent me. Simple (and effective). Quickly, she raced towards home, just reaching the parks exit in time to see her father hop in to the driver seat of his undercover police cruiser.

Yes. Her own father was the same one chasing her down earlier that day.

Silent as a bat, she latched on to the car's fender. She knew the way he would take home, down a few back streets with no traffic, and really this was a big plus. Now, she wouldn't have to put in the effort skating home.

Though it wasn't uncommon for her dad to stay at work late, something seemed… off. Usually, he went home to check on the girls, went back to the station, and didn't return until midnight. And though she did not know what time it was exactly, it surely wasn't that late. There were other little things she noticed, too. Like the way he was driving. He was usually painfully considerate of other drivers, but tonight, he just kept going instead of stopping to that the old lady who had been waiting to turn left could go ahead.

She just chalked it all up to a hard day at work. I mean, the thief scoffed smugly, they did fail to catch a 'man' on the run. Even with Jess!

Two little minutes later the car was pulling into the parking complex attached to their building. As he pulled through the raised plastic yellow barrier arm, she popped her skates in and bolted toward the nearest elevator.

Mr. Perry, to put it lightly, was flipping out.

He had no clue what to do with the unconscious creature in the back of his car. He would have to bring her up to the condo (which meant smuggling her up to the 16th floor) get her a room, and basically play nursemaid until she was out of this coma.

He parked the car on the ninth floor. After fashioning a leash on Jess' collar, he walked around to the back of his car. He lifted NiGHTS out of the back with the coat still draped over her. There was no one around. He walked less then confidently to the elevators, pressed a button, and got in.

There was one other person standing in the far corner of the elevator with his head down. Mr. Perry smiled, trying his best not to look suspicious. "Hello."

The person said nothing.

That person was the thief.

The thief quickly glanced up. OH SHIT! She screamed in her head. In front of her, with his head down, was her father, and Jess next to him. But… who was that in his arms…?

She didn't know what scared her more - the fact that she was about to get caught, or the fact that her father might be cheating on her mom.

Mr. Perry walked in and looked to the person next to him. He had his head down, hood up, headphones in. Didn't seem much for socializing. But, politely as he could, he said, "Sorry. She," he hefted NiGHTS a bit in his arms. "had a… a few too many drinks tonight." He chuckled nervously. The unfriendly Goth grunted a little, keeping to his self. Mr. Perry pressed his lips together awkwardly, breathing a sigh through his nose.

The Goth pressed the button for the 11st floor. They were currently on the 10th.

When they reached the next floor, the Goth left without a word, quickly and with his head down.

After the doors closed, Mr. Perry tut-tutted. "Some people."

The thief threw off her hood and sprinted down the hall. She was going so fast, she was sure that she would just fly into the wall as she rounded the corner. She scanned the labels on the doors, searching for her last hope -

The stairs.

She had never climbed the stairs so fast. Heck, she doubted anyone had even climbed five floors faster than she did that night.

She fished her key card out of her back pocket and swiped it, opening the door. Before she shut it, she heard the elevators ding open down the hall.

She dashed for her room, pulling her clothes off and throwing them under her bed. She grabbed a pair of fleece pants and a tee out of the top dresser drawer and jumped on to her bed. She heard the dook open with a soft click. She sprayed on some perfume to mask the musty scent of her hideout, let down her hair, and grabbed a random book from the shelf just as her father opened the door to her room.

"Hey there, Haley."

The thief, Haley, stared back at him unemotionally. "Hi," she said, sounding like a usual bored teen.

Mr. Perry smiled. "Thanks for putting the kids t'bed."

He was, of course, referring to her little triplet siblings, Kaitlin, Emile, and Molly. Haley just decided to go along with it. "Yeah… no problem."

Her father coughed a little. "Say… would you happen to know where we put that old cot we used to have…?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah. Triplet's room, under the bunk bed."

"Thanks." Mr. Perry stepped into the room a little. "Whatcha reading?"

"Oh… y'know…" She waggled the book back and forth a little, concomitantly.

Mr. Perry smirked. "You're reading 'Sense and Sensibility' upside down?"

Haley gagged and quickly turned it around. "Heh, oops."

Mr. Perry smiled. "Night, love."

Haley was still shaking after he shut the door. "Yeah… night…" She paused, and fell back into the covers with pure and utter relief.

After Mr. Perry had said goodnight, he crept over the triplet's room. Inside it was dark, and three bundles spelt peacefully. Mr. Perry tucked the one of the bottom bunk, Molly, in a little tighter and carefully eased a gray cot out from underneath.

While moving to the extra room, the one his wife used as her office, Jonah looked over at where he had laid NiGHTS down on a small suede couch.

Still asleep.

Carefully, he creaked open the door to the office. In the dark, he heard a stack of papers fall over. The different mountainous stacks of books and papers and baskets made it hard to manuver with the cumbersome cot. Trying his hardest not to trip, he leaned over and flicked on the light switch.

As the soft yellow light spilled over the cluttered room, in the corner of his eye Mr. Perry saw something dash at him. He flinched as the shadow went out of his field of vision, out the door.

Mr. Perry looked around. "What was that?" After a moment, he shrugged. "Probably nothing."

He moved in a little more to the stack that had toppled over. As he picked them up, he noticed a small brown paper package tied in white string among the mess. Looking at it closer, he saw that there was no name or address on it. Without a care, he set it on top of the now organized pile.

He cleared a space among the papers and set up the cot. He put NiGHTS down, gently, and rubbed his forehead. He didn't have to worry about his wife coming home and seeing her. His wife, Mrs. Perry, was an all-business businesswoman who made money from travelling. If she ever did stop at home, it was just to drop off another stack of papers to store in her 'office.'

Tired, he sat down on the couch, mulling over the day's events in his mind.

Every hour for three hours, he went in to check on her. Check her temperature, check her breathing, try to wake her up. And every hour he would pick up the phone, dial the NYPD, and hang up before the other line would even ring.

"What are you?"

"I am… well… oh, Owl was so much better at this than me!" NiGHTS rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I… I guess I am…"

Should tell them? I should, but…

"I'm NiGHTS, from the world of dreams." She bowed grandly, sweeping her arm down as if she had just preformed an opera.

"Dreams," stated Mr. Perry.

"Sure. That's where you go after you fall asleep."

"Right."

"We call it the Night Dimension. And your world - this world - is the Waking world."

"So… you're Nights, right?"

"No. my name is NiGHTS."

"That's what I said-"

"No! you said it big N, little i-g-h-t-s. My name is big N little i big G-H-T-S."

"So… NiGHTS?"

"There you go!" she smiled.

My. Perry rubbed his forehead. "So… you said Owl. There are more of you?"

"Yes!" said NiGHTS brightly. She thought a moment. "Well, no. Well, sort of." Nights looked to the ground. "Owl isn't… like me. He's the Gatekeeper."

"Is he an owl?"

"No," NiGHTS piped, "he's just Owl. Not 'an owl.' What's 'an owl?'"

"What I mean is," Mr. Perry whipped out his Blackberry, "Does he look like this?" On the screen was a Google image search of a great horned owl.

"Yes! But not so… scary. And he has a petticoat and eyeglass. And he's much... plumper," she giggled.

"So you're a… dream being?"

Nights bit the inside of her cheek, eyes darting to the side. "…yes."

"And you're from dreamland-"

"The Night Dimension." she pointed out.

"Whatever!" he barked. "And you have a friend, named Owl, who is an owl, but you are here because…?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure. One moment we were in the Aqua Gardens - A Nightopia in the Night Dimension - having a party for Reala, and the next, pfft! I'm in that… awful… place," she shuddered, closing in on herself.

"Who's Reala? Another owl?"

"Reala is…" she began brightly. "Well, he's my…" She crossed her legs huffily. "Oh, why is this so hard?"

she moaned. "Reala is… like me? I guess. But he, well, he and I, it's just that… oh no."

Jonah slumped into an armchair across from her. "Boy trouble?"

"No! It's nothing like that!" started NiGHTS, frantically waving her hands. "It's just we used to be close, but some… problems arose and for awhile things were pretty hostile between me and him… and every Nightmaren in creation…"

"What is a Nightmaren?"

She shuddered. "Nightmaren are not good."

NiGHTS sighed. "Just as things were starting to look up. Wizeman was gone. We had the chance to be happy. But now I'm in the Waking World…" She slumped her head down. "Oh, he's gonna KILL Jackle!"

Jonah rubbed his eyes. "Look, NiGHTS, I'm sorry. I know now that you're from an entire different dimension so I should expect other people… beings, there. But you can't just keep throwing around names! I don't know them! I don't know what's going on!" He chuckled a little. "How did you even come into existence? I mean, the scientists! The psychologists! Surely they would have discovered something like this by now…"

NiGHTS chuckled as well. "Our world is nearly inaccessible, and when visitors do show, usually they aren't lucid enough to notice."

She leaned back. "How were we created? Well, finally, a question I can answer."

She moved forward knowingly, hooking Jonah into a stare with her cat's eyes.

"Everybody has a different story of how it all came to be. Visitors have… God, right? Or science? Well, we have a story too." She smiled warmly. "Owl has it written down, folded up in one of his pockets at all times. Whenever I'm exceptionally bored, I make him read it to me. I think I can remember most of it…"

She sat up, cleared her thought, and began.

"In the beginning, there was the Will.

The Will consisted of the hopes and thoughts of beings not yet brought into existence. She floated in the matrix of space, content to venture where she pleased and observe the stars that hung in the distance like millions of lamps lighting the way home.

Like all sentient beings, the Will became lonely. She spread her arms and, taking in all kinds of matter and dust, formed the Earth.

She then created several smaller beings in a wide variety of shapes and colors to inhabit this beautiful place, each with a small Will of their own. The Will bestowed them with the name 'Human'. Under the Will's careful watch, they multiplied to fill the Earth. Things were good.

The Will loved her creations, and knew they would not stray from her guidance. She left the Earth to roam the stars in search of other things to bring back to her lovely Earth. She found a lone red star and placed it near the Earth to give the Humans warmth. She rescued a small, cold star and placed it close to the Earth so that the Humans could gaze upon it and be comforted in the night. She gathered plants and shrubs and all sorts of exotic and wonderful animals to aid her Humans and be of company to them.

By now, the Will was growing weak. Her creations grew intelligent, and began to forget about her. The Will was terribly saddened, and her great anguish manifested in the minds of her creations. And so the Humans knew sadness.

But the Will was not ready to give up on her little ones. With her last strength, she created a mirror world where she could rest and regain power. Her little Humans could visit her while they slept, while they were most attuned to their Wills and not their bodies.

There she rested. She created Night Humans to help her watch over and protect the dream world. The Night Humans did have their own Wills, but because of the weakened state the Will was in, they were smaller, and simpler. They were not able to communicate as the Humans did, or create amazing things out of their own hands. But they happy, just as the Humans were in the beginning, and floated above their troubles in their marvelous world of dreams.

She had fun with her little ones in the dream world, but over time, the number of visitors decreased. The Will was frightened that something had gone horribly wrong. She rushed to the Earth, and was horrified by what she saw. The Humans she had once loved so dearly were now turning upon each other, ruining her Earth and misusing their Wills. She tried to talk to them, turn them back to her, but they had become too deeply rooted into hate and were unable to sense the Will. This caused the Will to cry out in terrible sorrow and once more return to her dream world, weaker than ever. She was deeply saddened by the Humans.

She grew angry and resentful, because while he had been on the Earth, the evilness of their Wills had grown on her, making her a representation of the Humans instead of the Humans a representation of her. She had become two persons, one good and kind, the other hateful and evil. The evil grew like a disease, and soon was more powerful than the Will itself.

The evil pert of the Will wanted to become wise, as wise as Man. This being became called the Wise Man. It began to attack the Will, and with her last power the Will broke itself into 5 Ideals. To combat the evil of the Wise Man, the Ideals became instilled in all humanity. These Ideals were Courage, Hope, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Purity. What little that was left of the Will stayed in the dream world, in each Night Human, to protect the good left.

The Wise Man grew hateful and tried to steal back the Ideals from those on the Earth, but the Will had also created a wall that stopped the Wise Man from fully crossing over.

The Wise Man was furious. He learned from his brother's mistake, and created things without their own Wills. Instead of creating beings to match his own image, he made terrible monsters of strange proportions, able to manipulate the dream world and scare the visitors while stealing their Ideals. But, like the Will before him, Wizeman became lonely.

In a fit of madness, he created one perfect being to rule beside him, one with its own free Will, looking almost like a Human but almost like the Wise Man's monsters.

But…

NiGHTS paused her story and sighed.

Instead of one being, two were born. Two perfect beings to rule beside him, each with free Will. They were like two sides of the same coin, so different and yet so similar. One was interested in the dream world, and in the visitors and Night Humans. The other was more interested in the Earth, like his creator. The first he named the Nights, the other, the Reality. Each day he would look upon his twin creations and a strange feeling would come into his chest. That feeling, though the Wise Man did not know, was love.

The Nights and the Reality weren't like anything the dream world had ever seen. Strong as the Wise Man's monsters, but as free floating as the Night Humans. Together, under the Wise Man's careful watch, they became experts at taking away Ideals, bringing the dream world down to its knees. Though the Reality was just as wanting of the Earth as the Wise Man, the Nights began to feel differently about their terrible deeds. The Nights became fond of the visitors and Night Humans. Soon, her love for the Ideals surpassed that of her creator, and she left. She would take part in the wicked Wise Man's plan no longer.

This caused a terrible madness in Wise Man's black heart. He set the Reality against the Nights to restrain her, but she would not obey. The Reality… the Reality tried to stop him. But he couldn't neither of them could.

The Wise Man was unwilling to destroy half of his perfect creation, so he locked her away in a gilded cage. In the fear that the Reality would turn against him, he gave him a golden mask to restrain his free Will.

The Wise Man thought that he had gotten rid of the problem. But what the Wise Man did not know was that the Nights had become a part of the original Will. The Will had survived through her, and the powerful red Ideal of Courage was nestled deep in the Nights' heart. The Nights finally understood the true meaning of free Will.

Now, every so often, a Human would be born with an especially strong Ideal of Courage. That particular Ideal was a gateway into the true dream world, not just the illusion set up by the Wise Man. At the time of the Nights' capture, there were two visitors who possessed the Ideal of Courage, and because of their corresponding Wills, they were able to assimilate their bodies with Nights and give her a strength she had never known before.

With the power of the original Will coursing through her, the Nights confronted the Wise Man. Though the battle was long and difficult, at the cost of her own life the Nights was able to defeat the Wise Man, returning peace to the dream world once again."

NiGHTS folded her hands in her lap. Jonah blinked his eyes, inwardly astounded. He stiffly sat back in the chair and let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Well, that's… interesting."

NiGHTS narrowed her eyes, muttering gruffly.

"Unfortunately, it was a lost cause. Wizeman is the representation of evil in the hearts and minds of the Humans, so he will never be defeated. He will be back."

Jonah gulped. "So… so this Wise Man… he's real?"

"Just as real as I am." NiGHTS folded her arms. "Though I'm not sure how much of it is real. I know the ending of the story is real, but I've never been so sure about the beginning."

.:ACT 3, SCENE 2 - FIN:.

It's a cliffy!

Review, mk?

- smileyox5150