The Dream Shepard

Author's note: This story was inspired by HezuNeutral's PowerSwap AU. Of HezuNeutral's PowerSwaps, Jack being swapped with Sandy is one of my favourites, so I decided to write Jack's beginnings if he was the bringer of dreams.

If enough people like this, I might try and write a full story for this and stories for the other PowerSwaps of Jack.

The full moon shone bright in the night sky, it's glowing reflection cast over the rolling waves of the ocean. The sea was calm and silent, save for the ripples of the water licking at the small wooden vessel as it drifted over the water.

In the vastness of the ocean, it was a small and insignificant thing, hardly noticeable at all. And yet, the moon's light caught it where it drifted, casting over its cargo.

The boat stopped in its listless drifting, though the waves remained unchanged, and began to move with purpose though the water, as if pulled by an invisible force.

In the moonlight, an island interrupted the expanse of the ocean, silent and still. And into the rocky arms that formed its cove, the boat was delivered.

The boat became still once more as the moon presided over its precious cargo, caressing the still form inside.

A boy lay inside, eyes closed as if in sleep but pale as in death.

The boy wore simple clothes that were decorated with string that held beads and feathers, and held in his hands and resting over his chest lay a shepherd's crook that held similar decoration. More strings decorated with beads, feathers and even flowers were draped over him, telling that the entire decoration was something added.

The ocean air gentle ruffled the boy's brown locks while the moon's light continued to reach down towards him.

The ocean and island continued to remain silent, as if in mourning.

Then, the cove began glow in the moon's reflection, the ocean floor beneath it coming alive, specks of golden light breaching through the water around the boy in the boat. The boy and his boat remained undisturbed as the golden specks danced above him in the moonlight like fireflies, the moon drawing them further and further upwards, but there was no one to witness the ethereal light show save for the boy whose eyes remained closed.

All at once, the moon's light dimmed and the light show came to and end, the golden specks floating downward once more. But rather than returning to beneath the waves, they settled down onto the still form of the boy or remained floating around him, and as they came to a rest, they returned colour to the boy's pale skin and changed his hair from brown to gold.

All was still again, until the boy opened his eyes.

The boat rocked under his movement as the boy sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Where am I?" He quietly asked, looking around the cove.

The bright light coming from the sky caught his attention and he looked up at the moon in fascination.

Jack Sand

The name was not spoken to him aloud nor did he hear it in his head, yet he understood that it was his name, given by the moon.

Jack's attention was taken away from the moon by his boat making a quiet thump and giving a small jerk, looking behind him, he realised that in his time gazing at the moon, his boat had drifted away from the middle of the cove and come to a stop at the sandy beach.

Jack looked up at the moon again, but it no longer shined so brightly that it captivated. So, he resolved to explore the world around him.

Grasping the staff that had fallen beside him, Jack stood unsteadily in his boat, the flowers and most of the strings of beads and feathers falling off him, save for a few wrapped around his legs and the top of his staff. Just as Jack stepped forward to leave his boat for the shore, his boat rocked to the side, causing him to lose his balance.

"Woah!" Jack's arms pinwheeled as he fell backwards towards the water.

But instead of getting wet, Jack landed on something soft.

Looking down, Jack was amazed to find that he hand been caught by a cloud of golden sand that floated in the air between him and the water. The golden sand responded to the movements of his arms, shifting from over the water to the island's shore, where he slid off and it remained drifting around him.

Jack explored the little island he had awoken too, from the sandy shores to the highest peak, his own body providing a golden glow to light his way. The island was very beautiful, and he could feel the small creatures that slept within their homes, but there wasn't that much more.

So, he stood on the beach and looked out of the cove, out into the endless horizon of the ocean, and knew that there was so much out there waiting for him. But, how to get there?

Jack stepped back into the boat he had arrived in and sat down, he looked at the sides of the boat but there weren't any oars, and neither was there a sail to catch the wind. As he examined his boat, trying to figure out how to get it to move, the golden sand that floated around him responded to his wishes, moving down to envelop his boat.

Jack cried out in surprise and then laughed in excitement as his sand took form around his boat, much more than there had been before, changing the form of the boat to be larger and giving it a sail, his improved boat now had a way to move.

The wind caught the sandy sail and Jack's boat moved away from the shore, but rather than move across the ocean, it took off into the air, trailing golden sand behind it as it flew. Jack laughed joyfully as he was lifted higher into the air and away from the island.

Jack's boat sailed quickly above the water until it reached more land, coming to a stop above a small town. The boat remained in the sky as Jack held tightly to his staff and stepped out, he was once again caught by his golden sand before he could fall, this time intentionally.

Carried around by his cloud of sand, Jack explored the town. Just like the island, all were asleep, wrapped up in their beds, or some making due with what they had, leaving Jack with no one to talk to.

Jack floated to the ground on his cloud but stayed on it as he wandered through the streets rather than walk on his own.

He stopped when he heard a sniffle followed by a whimper. Heading towards it, he found a small child huddled under a plank of wood in an alley, wrapped in a thin and ratty-looking blanket.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jack asked the child.

His cloud dissipated as Jack put his feet on the ground, walking over and kneeling down next to the child. From his new angle, Jack could see that the child's eyes were scrunched shut, they were sleeping but not in a restful way.

"It's okay." Jack said comfortingly.

The child gave no indication of hearing him, continuing to whimper.

Jack wondered what he could do, he didn't want to wake the child, but he couldn't leave them like this. Looking up at his staff in for ideas, he saw that his sand was weaving in and out of the strings tied around the crook, and so he lowered his staff over the child's head, giving it a small shake. A sprinkle of sand fell from the staff and onto the child, who stopped whimpering, their face smoothing out into a smile as the sand took the form of a dog above their head.

Jack laughed as the sand dog ran around him excitedly before running back to the child, who now slept soundly.

Now Jack understood what he could do, that his sand could bring good dreams.

Rising with his cloud, Jack flew back to his boat and stood in it, conducting his staff around as his dream sand amassed around it, before sending out into the night. Dream sand spilled down from the boat in the sky, slipping through windows to reach the children in the beds and give them good dreams, lighting up the streets with spectacular light.

Jack's boat began to move again, the boy spreading dreams across the land as it went, smiling widely as he felt the dreams of the children.

Eventually, Jack's spread of dreams came to an end as the sun began to peak over the horizon. At the sight of the sun, Jack yawned, aware of his own tiredness, wanting nothing more to sleep himself. But his tiredness was forgotten when he spotted motion below him, people were waking up and wandering around, going about their early morning tasks. At the thought of meeting people, Jack called his boat to a stop and floated to the ground on his dream sand.

"Good morning." Jack said joyfully to a passer-by.

They continued walking, paying Jack no mind.

Jack frowned at their apparent rudeness before turning to someone else.

"Hello." He said to them.

They continued walking too.

Jack frowned again but then he heard laughter, turning to see a young child chasing after a dog.

"Oh, hello, can you tell be exactly where I am." He crouched down to talk to the child.

Only to receive the shock of his life at the child ran straight though him.

Jack gasped and clutched his chest, shuddering at the empty feeling left there by the child running through him, he stepped back only to be walked through by another person, and then another as he tried to move away from them. The street was getting more crowded as more people woke up and went about their business, causing more people to walk through Jack, and the hollow feeling to grow stronger.

Jack managed to stumble his way away from the growing number of people, breathing hard in panic, his golden glow from before now hardly present. He summoned his dream sand, this too dimmed, and floated back up to his boat, which was dipping lower in the sky.

He lay down in it as the boat floated back the way it had come, back towards the ocean, no longer trailing golden dream sand behind it as it went. It dipped lower and lower the further it got across the ocean, until it touched the water as it entered the cove of the island, coming to a stop in the middle.

A bleary-eyed Jack looked up at the moon, which was now faded and hardly visible in the day's sky, searching for answers. But none came.

Rubbing his eyes, Jack lay back down, dream sand forming the inside of his boat into a bed. Yawning, he fell asleep to the sound of waves and the wakening wildlife of his island.

Author's note: I tried to combine Jack's origin's with Sandy's as best as I could, including things like the island and ship, but including that Jack was human rather than an alien like Sandy.

I also changed Jack's method of death to fit with his new powers, since falling into a frozen lake links to his winter powers. The new method of death for sandman-Jack is that he got ill and died, as if falling asleep, and his family sent him out on his boat as their way of parting with the dead. And during life he would always chase the nightmares of children away by telling stories, telling the children he'd protect them, etc. which is why he was chosen to be the spirit of dreams.

Remember to give your love to HazuNeutral if you liked this story.