Author's Notes:

-Since Nights:Journey of Dreams was released in 2007, this fanfic will take place the following year. If you look at the beginning of Helen's story to where the calendar for the current month shows, you'll see that the storyline for Nights:JoD takes place in August of 2007. So the story begins on September 25th, 2008.

-Helen and Will are 13 years old, Claris and Elliot are 15, Henry(OC)is 14, and Tori(OC) is 15 but will turn 16 sometime before the story ends.

-Since Nights:JoD had subtitles for the cutscenes (or most of them) the actions will be enclosed in parentheses, narration will be shown, and speech will be in a script like format.

-There will be multiple first-person narrators throughout the story. When the narration changes it will say who will narrate next before the story progresses. Sometimes there may not even be a first-person narrator, and it may come from no specific point of view.

-I don't know much about the game that Claris and Elliot are from (Nights:Into Dreams) but I do know that they come from a city called Twin Seeds. For the purposes of this story, they both live in Bellbridge, London and go to the same school that Helen and Will attend. The school is called Big Ben Junior High (which is completely made up), while Wisdom School is not made up.

-Since this story takes place in London, when someone mentions football, they're referring to what Americans think of as soccer. Europeans call soccer football, and they call what Americans know as football American football. (I know it's confusing but try not to overthink it.)

-I know that all nightmarens are genderless (if you didn't know that, then surprise), but for fanfiction purposes, all nightmarens will be given a gender. NiGHTS will be a girl, Reala is a boy, and so on.

Ok, now that all of that's been said, on with the story.

Will's POV

Oh, uh, hi. My name is William Taylor, but you probably know me as Will. Ok, about me. I'm 13 years old, I'm a student at Big Ben Junior High, and I'm the star player on the boys football team at my school. It was 5:30 pm. We were 30 minutes into a soccer game and we were taking a 15 minute break time to regain lost stamina, strength, and et cetera. It was Big Ben Junior High vs Wisdom School. We were in the boy's locker room, resting up for the final round. Since it would be later than six by the time the game was done, it was highly advised by our coach that we eat a snack before we get back onto the field. I ate a granola bar and looked at the time on my phone. 5:32pm. It wasn't that late, but yet, something seemed a little off. Maybe I was just working too hard. I briefly remembered the story that everyone knew of how I had met my friend, Helen. According to what we told everyone, I was looking for a new football at a local sporting goods store while Helen was looking for a pair of running shoes for gym class.

(Will tries to get a football from the top shelf, standing on his tiptoes on the ladder, he falls off and gets covered with balls)

Will: Ow! Ouch, I hurt all over. (Helen comes into view)

Helen: Are you ok?

Will: Not really.

Helen: Oh dear, you poor thing... (she drags Will out from the pile of balls)

Will: Um, thank you. (she lets go of his hands) I'm Will.

Helen: Hi Will. I'm Helen.

That was what everyone at our school knew, but it wasn't the truth. In reality, I saw her for the first time in my dreams after being banished from my dream world by Reala, and thrown into her world. Later on, after me, NiGHTS and Helen defeated Wizeman, I found her in the real world while trying to retrieve my soccer ball. The fake story was not my idea, it was Helen's actually, but since she spoke before I did, I just went along with her version of how things happened. I looked over at my teammates, who were relaxing and trying to rest. I noticed that one of them was clutching his head in pain.

Will: Henry, are you ok?

Henry Dunbar was an 8th grader at the age of 14. As a 13 year old 7th grader, I was below him by one year. Like the rest of us, he wore red t-shirt and black shorts as part of our football uniform. He wore soccer shoes with red knee-high socks. His brown hair was messy, as if it was ruffled by the wind. He had blue eyes, pale skin, and seemed as if he was having a mental breakdown.

Henry: I... I'm not fine... I think I need to leave... (he runs off)

Football player 1: He's ditching us? (sarcastically) Great, just great.

Will: I don't get it. What's wrong with him?

Football player 2: I have no idea.

Coach Armstrong: What's the matter?

Will: Henry didn't seem to feel too fell. He was getting a really bad headache and he left. I don't know what's going on with him.

Coach Armstrong: I'll talk to him at the next practice.

Mr. Armstrong was the coach for the soccer team, as well as my PE teacher at Big Ben. We were all confused by Henry's sudden leave, but we continued on with the game nonetheless. We got into our positions. The whistle was blown and the game began again. The score was 5-5. It was the final match. We had to get one more point and the game would be ours. The goalie was being kept very busy as the other team tried to kick their ball into our net. The goalie (which was normally Henry, but not this time) had to do everything to stop them from getting their ball into our net. I ran and took the ball from another player, but I heard something.

(William runs towards the right side of the field, he hears a dog bark and stops)

Was that..? No, it couldn't be. I told myself to continue running, and then I heard it again. I heard a wolf howl and was knocked down in the face with a soccer ball.

Referee: Foul! (the other team gets a yellow card)

The game was temporarily paused and then resumed once I got back over to the bench.

Coach Armstrong: You are okay, Will? This isn't like.

Will: Okay, I know it sounds crazy, but it felt like I was hearing a loud dog bark, and then I heard howling...

Coach Armstrong: Really? I didn't hear anything like that, and neither did the others. (the howling continues, Will covers his ears)

Will: I gotta go.

Coach Armstrong: Where are you going?

Will: To find someone who can help me understand if I'm insane or not! (he runs off) Let me know if we won!

Something was wrong. I had to find the one person who wouldn't think I'm crazy and would have an idea of what was going on. If Cerberus had really returned, then I was in a lot of trouble, because he had already been defeated a long time ago.

Helen's POV

Hello there. My name is Helen Cartwright. Like my friend Will, I'm also a 7th grader and 13 years old. Since I was part of the Big Ben Junior High Advanced Orchestra, I was at an orchestra rehearsal the same night Will played in the soccer game. I was the 13th chair of the first violin section in the orchestra, so unlike most of the musicians, I didn't have a stand partner. That didn't bother me too much. What really bothered me was that some people didn't want me in this orchestra and didn't believe in my skills. You see, I was the first 7th grader to be in the Advanced Orchestra, so some were skeptical that I can handle everything that Mrs. Moore (the orchestra teacher) throws her students. But it is because of my talent, and my nine years worth of experience of playing violin, that got me into this orchestra in the first place. We were playing a number of pieces, trying to get ready for our fall concert, and we had started playing an arrangement of the Hallelujah Chorus.

(the orchestra finishes the Hallelujah Chorus, Helen frowns and softly sighs)

Mrs. Moore: Helen, is something wrong?

Helen: To be honest, Mrs. Moore... Even though I have been a part of this orchestra for a number of weeks, I still feel like I'm unwanted by most of the musicians, especially those in the first violin section. I want to prove to them that I'm capable of handling any challenge you assign me. If I could, oh, I don't know, move up a chair or two, or maybe, lead the section?

Tori: You want to be the concertmaster? In your dreams, little girl!

Tori was a 9th grade girl, and almost 16 years old. She was cocky and overly confident with herself. She said that she practiced but she never brought her violin home from school, so I didn't see how it was possible. Tori had long dark brown kept in a bun and had blue eyes. She wore a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and black tennis shoes with purple sparkles. She touched her own pale skin when she put her finger to her chin, put her hands back on her instrument, and chuckled.

Tori: You have no chance to become the concertmaster, even when you reach the 9th grade. (Helen glares at Tori)

Helen: Is that a challenge?!

Mrs. Moore: Girls, girls! No need for arguing! Although now that you mention it, Tori has been the concertmaster for quite a while. Perhaps it is time that we have a newer, and younger girl lead the first violin section.

I smiled at this. Our first violin section was made up entirely of girls. Why, I'm not sure, but because this, sometimes I had thought of us as The Amazons. The Amazons were a group of female warriors in Greek Mythology, similar to Artemis's hunters, but that was another story.

Tori: Are you sure that she is capable of leading us? Last I looked, she's never been the leader of any section.

Mrs. Moore: I'm not sure, but that is why we'll be having a violin duel between you two. Not this upcoming Friday, but the one after that, you guys will play a certain section from a certain piece to decide if Helen will take Tori's place as the concertmaster. That will be October 10th, after school.

Tori: And what section will that be?

Mrs. Moore: The Hallelujah Chorus is definitely the hardest piece we'll be playing for the winter concert. We're still trying to prepare for our fall concert on October 9th, so... how about each of you play from Letter B to C, and then the last 20 measures. Since Helen is the challenger, she will play first. Good luck to you both on the 10th.

Tori: You are a fool Helen, a... Ahh! (she holds her hand to her forehead and screams)

Mrs. Moore: Tori, are you okay?

Julia: Tori?

Tori: Ugh... I... I need to be alone... Excuse me. (she runs off)

Mrs. Moore: Well this is strange. I don't know when she'll return. Julia, do you mind leading the orchestra?

Julia: Um, alright. I'll do it.

We continued on through practice, and we put our stuff away. As I was about to pick up my case and put it into my locker, I heard a strange sound and looked at the ceiling. There was a spider, but... wait a second! That wasn't just any spider! It was Queen Bella, the same nightmaren I had faced over a year ago. But... but how was this possible?! I gasped and dropped my violin case. She fired a silk beam and I quickly walked past the chairs and broke into a run.

Mrs. Moore: Helen? Helen?!

I ignored her and dashed out of the room. Whatever I was seeing, no one else seemed to see it. This was bad. Really really bad. I had to figure out what was going on, and fast.