AN: I don't know what Puffy is, some people say she is a rabbit…but I think she is a balloon so for now she is a balloon.

Jackle walked through one of the many corridors, it was narrow, but everyone made space for him. Jackle scowled, the people moving past him quickened their pace, eager to get away from him. He hated this, but this was his castle as much as it was anyone else's. He had every right to walk through it if he wanted to. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to anymore, if he was always going to be treated like this. He when he had been created, Wizeman had decided to use Jackle as a guinea pig. He used Jackle to test how intelligent he could make his creations. Jackle was a success, sort of. Whilst he was extremely intelligent, when compared to Wizeman's previous creations. He was mentally unstable. This didn't mean he was insane, it was a strange condition. No one, in the world of dreams had it, except for Jackle. He was normal 99% of the time. Though, occasionally, he would go completely crazy. This only happened, around once or twice a month. It happened more frequently when Jackle was under stress, because of this, Wizeman didn't send him out on assignments very often. He could crack under the stress, and do something to ruin the entire operation. Whilst a small number of nightmaren knew the truth about Jackle, the others had chosen to believe some of the many rumours about him. They thought he was completely insane, and would avoid him whenever they could. Jackle grumbled to himself, irritated. He made his way up a set of stairs and continued walking. He wasn't really going anywhere, he just wanted to walk around for a bit. He stepped out into a large hallway, there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. When Jackle looked up at the chandelier, he noticed something up there next to it. Or rather someone. It was Puffy. Puffy fumed when she saw Jackle, and soared down to confront him. Jackle just stood there, Puffy was floating in front of him now.

"I've wanted to talk to you for quite some time now, Jackle." She said angrily, the nightmaren had been looking at Jackle at first. But now they stared at Puffy, surprised. Jackle supposed it was because of the way she was treating him. Jackle had heard some of the rumours that had been circling round recently. Some said he ate other nightmaren alive. Others said he would possess people, making them his servants. If any of them believed this, (Which a surprising amount did) they would probably think it would be wise to treat Jackle carefully. The rumours were ridiculous, the thought of them made Jackle smile.

"What's so funny?" Puffy asked, in an icy tone.

"Nothing." Jackle replied calmly, but the smile didn't leave his face, "So, what do you want?" Nightmaren had began creeping into the hall, to watch. Puffy was known for flipping out at people that annoyed her, and Jackle was known for many frightening (But untrue) things. This would be interesting to watch.

"Do you remember that joke you pulled on me?" She said 'joke' in a way that made it clear she hadn't found funny in the slightest. Jackle always pulled pranks on the other nightmaren, there wasn't much else to do in the castle. He spent most of his time stuck here, because Wizeman didn't trust him on assignments, so Jackle used this as a way to pass the time. Besides, he wasn't very fond of the other nightmaren. He didn't hate them, he understood their reasons for avoiding him, even if they were just rumours. He just grew tired of the way they treated him, and this was how he got them back. Jackle played dumb, pretending to think hard. Puffy waited impatiently for a while, then yelled,

"Hurry up!" The other nightmaren flinched, expecting Jackle to flip out. He didn't. He looked up calmly at Puffy and said,

"I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific." He was still smiling.

"Two days ago," Puffy said slowly, fuming.

"Oh, of course!" Jackle said mockingly, "How could I forget?" He remembered it quite well. It had been one of his less imaginative pranks. He had simply stolen one of Clawz's fireworks, it was the smallest one he could find. He just wanted to scare Puffy not actually hurt her. It was a small bomb, which didn't let off a big explosion, but made a very loud bang. When it went off Puffy had flown backwards in shock. She bounced off the wall, then fell into another and bounced off that as well. She had moving too fast for her to stop herself. She had bounced through the castle for a while, until someone finally helped her. Jackle grinned mischievously.

"Now," Puffy said, she inflated, Jackle thought she was about to explode. She did (Not literally). She screamed at him for two whole minutes. More nightmaren began pouring into the room, to see what the fuss was about. When Puffy finally finished, Jackle adopted an innocent look and asked,

"Sorry, didn't catch that. Could you tell me again?" Puffy fumed and yelled,

"I'm a balloon!" She cried,

"I figured that out for myself." Jackle said, the other nightmaren snickered.

"But…no…that's not…" Puffy tried to explain, then she yelled, "Why did you do that? I'm a balloon! Of course I'm going to bounce around!"

"Hey, I was just trying to scare you." Jackle replied, honestly, "It's not my fault you decided to fly straight into a wall." The nightmaren snickered again.

"Oh, I'm a balloon! That's so funny!" She said sarcastically.

"Actually it is." Jackle said, "The fact that you're a nightmaren makes it even funnier. Why should a dreamer be scared of you?" Puffy glared at Jackle.

"I'll have you know, that visitors are terrified of me." Puffy snarled.

"Oh, I'm sure." Jackle said sarcastically, "Who wouldn't be frightened of somebody, who has to be careful not to be blown away by a light breeze?" The other nightmaren laughed. Puffy inflated angrily. Jackle just grinned.

"Look who's talking!" She exclaimed, "Living clothes? That isn't exactly scary!" Jackle said nothing, still smiling. He did have a body it was just invisible, so the 'living clothes' part wasn't true. As for the other bit…he had to admit, he wasn't exactly terrifying.

"True." Jackle admitted, "I might not be the most scary looking thing inside this castle." Puffy smiled. "Although," Jackle continued, "I can make up for it with strategy." The other nightmaren, looked at Puffy expectantly.

"Strategy?" She scoffed.

"Yes," Jackle said simply, Puffy stopped smiling and glowered at Jackle.

"If you believe what you are saying, then your crazier than I thought." Jackle looked at Puffy for a moment, then said,

"At least I'm not afraid of pins." The other nightmaren laughed, Puffy froze. She was secretly terrified of sharp objects, Jackle had overheard her confessing to one of her friends. She looked ashamed. Then, she floated off. Jackle smiled to himself, turned back the way he came, and walked back down the stairs. He had had enough for today.

Jackle sat in his lair, examining his deck of cards. Not that he was really looking at them, he was just thinking. He sat on top of a giant blue box. There were many other, over-sized boxes in his lair along with enlarged toys, like jack-in-the-boxes and rubber balls. They were all scattered around the room at random, a white mattress lay in the middle of the room. Jackle sighed, he was bored. His conversation with Puffy, had been entertaining while it had lasted. But now there was nothing to do. Jackle frowned, then put down his cards, and jumped off the box. He decided he might as well go to sleep, he made his way towards the mattress, then somebody coughed behind him. Jackle turned around, to see a nightmaren. He was dressed in a purple jester's outfit which had a red ideya shard stuck on the front. The shard meant that this person, was a first-level. The nightmaren ranking system was very basic. First, you had the third-levels. They were the lowest rank, they were created by Wizeman to have no intelligence of their own, to be simple servants. They could be ordered around by anyone, they stayed down in the cellars all of the time, only coming out when Wizeman needed them. Alone they were powerless, but made up for it in numbers. Then there were the second-levels, they were average, to put it simply. They were relatively intelligent, and relatively powerful on there own. They had free reign of the castle, except for some of the restricted areas. They could order around the third-levels. And finally, there were the first-levels. They were extremely powerful by themselves, and only answered to Wizeman himself. They could order anyone else around, they all wore ideya shards on their chests, to show their rank. Jackle would have been a first-level, if he had been created the way Wizeman had wanted him to be. But, because of his unstable mentality, he was demoted to second-level. Someone in his condition couldn't be trusted with power. Jackle frowned, the jester didn't look like first-level material. He looked rather timid and unimpressive looking, none the less Jackle treated him like he should. When he saw the Jester, he bowed. The jester pulled a face, Jackle looked up at him, confused. The jester looked embarrassed. Then the jester spoke,

"You don't have to do that you know." Jackle stood up straight, and gave him a puzzled look.

"Yeah, I know, I'm a first-level…." The jester began, his cheeks were glowing red, "It's just I don't like it when people treat me as though I'm better than them." Jackle's jaw dropped.

"Please, pardon me if I am being disrespectful, sir." Jackle said, in an astonished voice, "But you are better than me. You were created to be superior to everyone else." The jester just shrugged, and said,

"I know. I just feel uncomfortable with it, could you…" He stopped for a moment then said, "Just treat me like you would any other second-level, ok?"

"O-okay…" Jackle said, still rather surprised, "So…who are you?"

"My name's NiGHTS." The jester said, looking a lot happier now, "what's yours?"

"My name's Jackle." He had been about to say 'sir' but, he managed to stop himself.

"It's good to meet you." NiGHTS said enthusiastically. Jackle was still rather confused.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Jackle began, taking a step forward, "What are you doing down here?" NiGHTS just smiled and replied,

"I'm just getting to know everyone."

"You're new then, I take it?"

"Yep!" NiGHTS replied cheerfully.

"Didn't any of the other nightmaren tell you about me?" Jackle asked.

"What do you mean?" NiGHTS asked, frowning.

"Well…I'm not exactly a great guy to hang around with." Jackle said slowly, he couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

"Why not?" NiGHTS asked, "You seem like a alright guy to me." Jackle didn't say anything, hoping NiGHTS could figure it out...

"What…?" NiGHTS began, but he stopped and said, "Oh! You're that Jackle!" Jackle didn't know how NiGHTS would react. But he hadn't expected him to say,

"Thanks." Jackle stared at NiGHTS for a few second then said, dumbly,

"What?"

"Wizeman told me about you." NiGHTS explained, cheerfully, " He said, when he created me, he got all of the skills from the other nightmaren that made them strong, and gave them to me." He smiled and said, "For example, he gave me your smarts." NiGHTS tapped the side of his head, "He told me what happened to you, when he created you. I figured that if you went through that, so people like me could be better off, I should at least thank you for it." Jackle continued to stare at him, then he said,

"Well…er…no problem…I guess…." Jackle was confused. He didn't know what to say. Nobody had ever treated him like this.

"So," NiGHTS began, looking at Jackle expectantly.

"So, what?" Jackle asked. NiGHTS sighed, and said,

"Are you going to tell me about yourself, or what?"

"What? Why would I do that?" Jackle asked, bewildered.

NiGHTS sighed, "You don't talk to people much do you?" Jackle shook his head. "Why not?"

"It's not my choice," Jackle explained, "Everyone thinks I'm crazy, they don't want to be around me." NiGHTS looked annoyed,

"That's stupid!" NiGHTS exclaimed, "They can't judge you if they know nothing about you!" Jackle had been sceptical at first. But, now he took a sudden liking to the jester.

Talking to NiGHTS felt more comfortable after that, Jackle wasn't sure how much time he had spent with NiGHTS. But he did know, was that he wished he had a bit more, when NiGHTS left. To Jackle's surprise NiGHTS returned the next day, and the day after. He learnt that NiGHTS had been created with a twin, named 'Reala'. According to NiGHTS, Reala wasn't very pleasant. Apparently, he was a bit boring. NiGHTS seemed to find Jackle interesting. He kept on asking about Jackle's body, and what sort of pranks he'd pulled. They talked a lot over the next few days. Jackle had never had a friend before, but he thought that he had just made one.

Fifteen years had passed. Jackle hadn't lost control as often since he had met NiGHTS. For some reason, he was a lot calmer when he was around him. But, that didn't mean Jackle didn't lose control at all. And yet, somehow NiGHTS put up with it. Sometimes, Jackle would come back to his senses, to see that he had attacked NiGHTS (When Jackle lost control, he was usually violent). NiGHTS could easily defend himself, but he didn't. Jackle never knew why. NiGHTS never blamed Jackle for what he did when he lost control, either. Jackle was grateful. The other first-levels disapproved of NiGHTS friendship with Jackle. But just let him be, they had lots of work to do and couldn't be caught up with thing like that. But, somehow NiGHTS would manage to make time, for Jackle. Jackle didn't know how he did, but NiGHTS would always manage to visit him in his lair. Except for today.

Jackle was pacing in his lair, whistling. It had become a habit of his, when he was worried or frustrated he would whistle the tune that NiGHTS played on his flute. He found it calming. He was anxious, NiGHTS hadn't been himself lately, he was failing the tasks he was given by Master Wizeman. Jackle was worried about NiGHTS. Had it been any other nightmaren, Wizeman would have executed him and been done with it. But he had put a lot of work into NiGHTS and he didn't want to get rid of him so quickly. Today, he had summoned NiGHTS to the throne room. That had been three hours ago. Jackle was sure Wizeman was punishing him in someway or another, but he didn't think that he would kill NiGHTS. He was too valuable. Jackle was still pacing when he entered. Jackle turned around,

"NiGHTS!" Jackle exclaimed, happily. Jackle couldn't see NiGHTS clearly, because he was standing in the shadows. Then NiGHTS stepped into the light. He was in bad shape. He had several cuts on his face, and red stains on his clothes (Which suggested that he had deeper cut across his body). His arm was bent at an awkward angle, and he was limping.

"NiGHTS!" Jackle said again, only this time in shock, "What happened?"

"I had a little chat with Wizeman." NiGHTS replied. He spoke quietly, and without emotion.

"Well…do you need any help?" Jackle asked, concerned.

"No, I'll be fine." NiGHTS said, in the same emotionless tone, "Besides, I've got things to do soon."

"One of Wizeman's assignments?" Jackle asked. NiGHTS looked at Jackle for a moment, still not giving away any emotion, then he said,

"Yes." Something about the way NiGHTS had said it didn't feel right... but Jackle trusted him.

"Are you ok?" Jackle asked. NiGHTS smiled, but it looked forced,

"Never better." Before Jackle could point out that his arm was. most likley, broken, NiGHTS asked, "Jackle, have you thought about what we're doing?"

"What do you mean?" Jackle asked, confused.

"I mean," NiGHTS began, he was showing emotion now, he looked nervous, "what Wizeman tells us to do." Jackle frowned,

"Why would I think about it, we do what we're told and that's that. Right?" NiGHTS looked even more nervous now, he was actually shaking.

"No, you don't understand," NiGHTS said, slowly, "I mean don't you think it's…wrong?" Jackle stared at NiGHTS for a few second, then said,

"Are you feeling ok, NiGHTS?"

NiGHTS took a while to respond, "No, I must've got hit in the head, or something." NiGHTS was backing out of the room now, Jackle thought he looked sad, for some reason, "I'd better go and lie down." Jackle watched him leave, then shook his head,

"Well…that was weird." He thought, "He didn't even seem to be bothered that he was hurt." Jackle sighed, "Well…maybe he'll be better tomorrow…" Jackle lay down on his mattress, "Maybe…"

AN: Ok, that's it. I'll give it more of a plot in later chapters. I wanted to get to the main plot earlier, but the chapter was getting too long. Anyway, R&R.