Oh god. This is terrible and very short and I regret writing every word of it, but it's finished and I need to post something to keep my account active, so... yeah.

This fic is based off the song Kagerou Days, search it on Youtube if you want, but you don't need to listen to it to understand the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG. If I did there would be a sequel by now.

"We've gotta help Sandy!" Jack shouted to North as they flew past Sandman on the sleigh, who was currently battling nightmares alone with just his sand whips. His eyes widened as he saw Pitch aim the arrow at the golden man, and was about to stop the man before he could do any more.

But he was too late.

"NO!"

The Nightmare King let go of the arrow, and Jack could only watch in horror as it hit its intended target. Pitch laughed triumphantly, unaware that Jack was now flying towards him at lightning speed, about to make him pay for everything he had done.

"Don't fight the fear little man!" More laughter resonated from the man as he and the Sandman's allies watched as the sand that made up his body slowly turned a sickening black.

"I'd say sweet dreams," he began, a smug expression filling his face, "but there aren't any left."

Sandy collapsed to his knees. Pain took over his body, showing clearly on his face, and he could only close his eyes as he accepted his fate. The black sand finally covered the guardian – and that was it for Jack.

"No... NO!" the frost spirit screamed as he once again charged towards Pitch. He had been seen this time, giving the black robed man the opportunity to create a wave of nightmares which came crashing down onto Jack.

However, to everyone's surprise, a blue light emerged from among the mess of black. Tremors shook the earth as the light grew, and suddenly frost was growing up the nightmare sand towards its origin – Pitch Black.

A scream was heard as the man was flung backwards, but Jack was not concerned. The world seemed to be fading gradually away, and he vaguely felt like he was falling.

The last thing he heard before the world went dark was laughter that somehow sounded strangely familiar...

"Oi, Frostbite, anyone home?" Aster said while waving a hand in front of Jack's face.

"Huh?" he said, snapping out of his trance. He realised they were collecting teeth – hadn't they done this earlier? He brushed the thought off, for it must've just been his imagination – and he had apparently zoned out.

'Strange... I could've sworn I was just battling Pitch... And Sandy... Sandy!' he thought, about to fly off in a rush to check on Sandy and make sure he was okay, but stopped himself. He had just been daydreaming, obviously none of that had ever happened, or why would he be here right now?

'Although... It all felt so real'

He shook his head, wondering what was up with his mind today. Anyway, he had more pressing matters to attend to at the minute. He turned his head to see the pooka regarding him curiously, most likely also wanting to know what was happening in Jack's mind. He dismissed Bunny's stare and turned to fly away, however swivelled around just before taking off.

"Come on kangaroo! How about we see who can collect the most teeth?"

A long while later, Sandy was walking over to Pitch, who was lying on the floor after being defeated by the golden man. Before the Guardian of Dreams could reach the man however, he felt a tug on his sleeve, and turned around to see Jack looking slightly embarrassed, but also worried at the same time.

He was about to ask what was wrong when Jack spoke.

"Hey, uh, Sandy? Um, well, I have kind of a bad feeling about this, y'know... And I was thinking maybe we should go help the others, 'cause they could need us right now, and I don't think Pitch is gonna be getting up anytime soon, so..." he trailed off, looking nervously to Sandy, then following his gaze to where Pitch was still laid on the ground. It was true that it didn't seem like he would be up and about that fast, but this was the Nightmare King they were dealing with – he could be up to anything right now and there was a fair chance they wouldn't know a thing about it until it was too late.

But it had been a long day and the duo were much too tired to consider what other schemes the Nightmare King might be planning, and so remained oblivious to the imminent danger they were currently in.

Sandy nodded in affirmation, and they were ready to make their way back to the others when-

"You thought I would go down that easily?"

And in that split second, the universe seemed to pause.

Pitch fired the arrow towards Sandy. All Jack has time to do was let out a scream.

Jack opened his eyes. He stared emotionlessly at the sky. How many times had it been now? He had lost count. Surely someone must have noticed the endlessly repeating days by now.

He felt numb. No longer did he feel the immense guilt and remorse when Sandy died; instead it had been reduced to a dull sadness, a light scratch on his skin replacing a knife driving violently into his heart.

He wanted to feel bad. He wanted to feel the soul-crushing pain that came with losing someone close, but he couldn't. He was broken. He had seen too much too many times. All he wanted was for it to end.

And then he had an idea.

As he watched in a daze from behind the hazy fog of his mental exhaustion, he replaced Sandman. His head turned to the kind golden man one last time, and he smiled as the nightmare sand arrow pierced his body. He smiled as he plummeted from the sky, vaguely noting the frantic calls of his name. He smiled as his vision turned black, and he smiled as he left this endless cycle for good.

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