A/N: I know I should be working on the next chapter of "Reckoning," but this plot bunny hit me and I just had to write it. Plus, I was always a little disappointed with how the original "Gaz's Nightmare" turned out, so I had to rewrite it. With that out of the way, read on!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the story idea. Everything else belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.

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Gaz's Nightmare: Rewrite

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Gaz had the strange feeling something was wrong as she sat on one of the benches outside the Skool playing her GameSlave. She'd had the feeling all morning… at least, she thought she did. Come to think of it, she didn't really remember anything that had happened that morning. That felt weird, but she shrugged it off. Every morning was pretty much the same, so they all blended together, that was all.

She became aware of people giggling. She frowned - she hated that sound. She turned up the sound on her GameSlave, hoping to drown out the annoying sound. However, the giggling continued, and even increased. Finally reaching her breaking point, Gaz looked up to try and see who was laughing and what they found so funny, so that she could shut them up and continue her game in peace. She saw Zita standing with a bunch of other girls standing a short distance away. They were the ones laughing, and some of them were... pointing at her?

Gaz blinked in surprise, and then glared at them. How dare they laugh at her? No one laughed at her. She was about to get up and teach them a lesson when Zita gained some control of her laughing and stepped forward.

"Hey Gaz," she said, still chuckling a little, "We all like the new look - it suits you."

This comment started a whole new round of giggles amongst the others girls, and just left Gaz confused.

'What new look?' she thought, as she looked down at herself - and instantly wished she hadn't.

"WHAT THE HELL?" she shouted, as the GameSlave fell from her hand. But she barely noticed that. She was a little too preoccupied with the fact that instead of her own clothes, she was wearing a tutu. A frilly, puffy, PINK, tutu! Gaz could only stare at her own body in shock and horror, wondering how in God's name she ended up wearing something so ridiculously girly, before the giggling suddenly burst into loud, uproarious laughter. Gaz looked up, and her eyes widened in further horror.

Mere moments ago, she and Zita's group had been the only ones in the skoolyard. Now, there were dozens of people there, all of them pointing and laughing at her.

"S-Shut up!" Gaz yelled at them, her face going red from anger and embarrassment. However, the crowd ignored her and continued to laugh.

"Shut up or I'll make you all suffer!" she yelled, desperate for them to stop.

"Yeah, like we're going to be afraid of someone dressed like that," Zita said between laughs. That snapped what little patience Gaz had left, and with an outraged shriek, she lunged at Zita. However, before her fist could connect with Zita's head, Zita moved to the side and stuck out her foot. Gaz tripped over it and fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of mud.

"Aw, did you get your pretty dress all dirty, Gazzy?" Zita asked in a mockingly sweet tone. This caused the crowd to laugh even harder than before. Now blushing entirely from embarrassment, Gaz stumbled to her feet. Looking at all the people laughing at her, undermining the authority she'd exerted over them in the past, she did something she never thought she'd do.

She ran.

She dashed towards the Skool, heading towards the nearest door. She could hear the crowd chasing her, their laughter ringing in her ears. She slammed into the door, forcing it open, and then slammed it shut behind her. She leaned against it, and closed her eyes as she panted for breath.

Suddenly, a bright beam of light shined down on her. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyesight, and found that she was now on a stage, standing in front of a crowd ten times the size of the one outside. And they were all laughing at her - some even threw in a few wolf whistles. Gaz looked down at herself again, only to find that the tutu had disappeared. Now, instead of wearing a horrifyingly girly outfit, she wasn't wearing anything at all!

She was standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people completely NAKED!

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"AAAAHHHH!" Gaz shot up in bed. She looked around wildly, before realizing what had just happened.

"Oh thank God," she muttered, "It was just a dream."

She reached over to her bedside table and switched on her lamp. As soon as she did, she let out a scream.

Her room had completely changed. The dark-colored walls and ceiling had become bright shades of pink, yellow, and blue, so bright they hurt her eyes. And her deadly dolls had been replaced with disgustingly happy-looking stuffed animals. As she watched, they came to life and started walking towards her, with creepy smiles on they faces.

"Come play with us, Gazzy," one of them said in a high-pitched voice.

"Yes," another one said, "We'll have a tea party, and play dress up, and have all kinds of fun!"

"Not happening!" Gaz screamed, "This is so not happening!"

She stood up in the bed and jumped over the dolls, and ran towards the door. She grabbed the doorknob, only to find it wouldn't turn. Gaz's eyes widened in fear, and she started jiggling the knob and slamming her shoulder against the door.

"Open, you damn thing!" she shouted, "Open!"

She looked over her shoulder to see the living toys slowly walking towards her, their arms outstretched and those creepy smiles on their faces.

"Come play with us, Gazzy!" they shouted, all together, "Forever and ever!"

"No!" Gaz yelled, as she continued to try and open the door, "No, no, no, no, no, nooooooooo!"

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Gaz sat tossing and turning in her bed, clutching at the sheets and mumbling as sweat poured down her forehead. Outside in the hallway, Dib - who had gotten up to use the bathroom - paused as he heard the sounds coming from his sister's room. He was about to go in and check on her, but decided against it. It was too late (or early) to get maimed by Gaz's security dolls.

'So she's having a nightmare,' he said to himself, 'how bad can it be?'

And with that, Dib continued down the hall, leaving his sister to her nightmares.

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A/N: And that's that. I didn't really want to do the cliché "Public Nudity" nightmare, but I needed something to shock Gaz into "waking up," so that I could do the "Dream-Within-A-Dream" thing, which is something that I did want to do.

To all my "Reckoning" fans, let me assure you that this is the last side project I have planned (for now), so I'll be focusing on that story.

Read and review!