In Burgess, Jamie Bennett was also having a nightmare. It was one of the worst he could imagine. His friend, his brother, his guardian was being kidnapped. He watched as Jack settled down near a tree, fell asleep, then didn't wake as he was dragged away by a onyx nightmare. Pitch, who Jamie had given little thought to over the last few months, stood by. Pitch chuckled darkly, showing his pointed teeth, then reached for Jamie menacingly. Jamie tried to scream, to run, to do anything, but the nightmare continued.
oOo
Bunnymund was having quite the time. He had searched around the lake for two hours or so, then tried the surrounding forest. By the time he had abandoned that area, it was well into the night. He decided that he would check around Jamie's house, which seemed to be another frequent haunt of Jack's. If the sprite wasn't there, Bunny would have to accept that against high odds, Jack had found somewhere else to rest.
He jumped silently out of his rabbit hole, into Jamie's bedroom. The young boy was asleep, as where most children at this late hour of the night. A quick glance around the room told him he was alone with the child. He hopped to the window, peeking out into the night. He was about to climb to the roof when a sudden yelp from behind him nearly stopped his heart completely. He spun around to find Jamie sitting bolt upright in bed, breathing hard. He turned on the lamp near his desk, and Bunny could see the sweat glistening on his forehead, clumping his hair together in a messy disarray. He noticed Bunny, made to scream, then strangled the cry within his throat when he recognized who he was with.
"Easter Bunny!" He cried, tears welling in his young eyes. Bunny hopped closer, concerned.
"What's on ya, mate?" He asked. "Did ya have a nightmare? Are ya all right?"
"Jack's not all right! You have to help him! We have to find him!" The boy was nearing hysterics. Bunny hopped to the bed, then sat down. He wasn't fond of emotional displays, but he could tell the boy needed some serious comforting.
"Look, everythin's okay." He placed one paw around Jamie's small shoulders, then ruffled his hair with the other. "It was a nightmare." He then turned to the important question. "How did ya know Jack was missin'? Did he come ta see ya? Is he still around?" Jamie's eyes only grew wider and more frantic.
"So Jack really is gone! Then it's true! The boogey man has Jack! The nightmare I saw told me!"
"It was just a bad dream. Trust me, Jack is just flyin' around like the show pony he is. Pitch hasn't kidnapped anybody."
"It was a bad dream! That's how I know. Listen."
Caleb, Claude, Jamie and Cupcake were sitting on a bench at the park, eating ice cream. The battle with Pitch had only ended a few days ago. Jamie had a question for the others.
"Hey, you guys said that back when Pitch had almost defeated the guardians, you had nightmares, right? So does that mean that those creepy black horses were in our rooms?"
"Probably." Said Cupcake, shivering. "Those were the worst nightmares I ever had. Sometimes they were normal, like being chased by a monster or something, you know? But sometimes they were worse. I had one where the tooth fairy had lots of little tooth fairies... And I was eating them. I didn't want to!" She added in a hurry at her friends horrified faces. "And they were alive inside me. Somehow. It was the worst."
"I had one like that too." Said Claude. "Only, I was fighting the Sandman. I didn't want to either, but I couldn't control myself. He fought with me, too, and then... And then he got shot with an arrow."
"But... From what the guardians have told us, all of those really happened. How did we have dreams about them?" Asked Caleb, giving his lemon ice cream a lick before it could drip onto his hand.
"What if..." Jamie thought he knew, but it sounded ridiculous. "What if when the nightmares came to give us... Well, nightmares," he took a bite of his sherbet popsicle, then continued. "They gave us the nightmares of their memories?"
"That would make sense." Agreed Claude easily, surprising Jamie.
"But its still horrible." Said Cupcake. "I never want to be inside one of those horrible creatures minds ever again."
"See?" Asked Jamie after his recap. "If Jack is missing in real life, the nightmare I saw was true! We have to save Jack! What if Pitch wants revenge on him? What do we do?!"
"Listen," said Bunny. "I know how upset ya are. And if that's the case, the memories of that nightmare might be what ya saw. But ya don't need ta worry. We have a letter from Jack. He just went off for a little alone time. I'm only lookin' for him 'cause we don't know exactly where."
Jamie took a moment to process this new information. "Is it in Jack's handwriting?" He asked eventually.
"I... I dunno." Admitted Bunny. "I'm not all that familiar with his handwriting."
"Then how can you be sure it's from Jack?" Bunny's mind was processing things at hundreds of miles an hour. Thanks for taking care of me while I was sick, the letter had said. Jack hadn't been sick, he had been injured. "Come to think, he did not sound like usual self in letter, da?" North's voice resounded in his memories. The were small evidences. Maybe Jamie's suggestion was just making him paranoid. It might be worth it to compare handwriting, though. Just to be perfectly sure.
"Okay, I understand what you're sayin'. I'll figure it out, and if anyone needs Savin', you can count on me. Is that fit with ya?" Jamie began to calm slightly for the first time at his words.
"Kay." He replied. He felt better, having relayed his urgent message. "Thanks for being here. I don't know how we would have saved Jack if I couldn't have contacted any of you."
"Don't you worry. We'll always be around when ya need us most. Now get yourself back ta sleep, all right?"
"Yeah." The word turned into a yawn as the boy lowered himself back into his bed. He closed his eyes. Bunny stayed for a few moments, to make sure there were no lingering nightmares, then disappeared down a new hole.
oOo
Bunny was inspecting the tag of some wrapping paper carefully. He knew Jack had helped North with inventory a couple of months back, and it was a simple matter to ask the yetis which ones Jack had entered. They were the only ones crossed out multiple times, and sometimes spelled wrong. He had borrowed 'Jack's' letter from North, then brought the two papers side by side. It was easy to see the difference. The curve of the e's, the length of the stick on the p's and r's... There was no way these were written by the same person. Bunny stood, turned and made for the door, only to have it fly open and almost hit him as someone threw it in from the other side. It was North.
"I was cleaning out Jack's temporary room, and... Well, look." He opened his hand to show the black sand that glittered in his palm. "It was under bed, in corners... I know it was not there before we left for Tooth Palace with Jack. How did it get there?" His distressed face only put Bunny more on edge.
"I think I know exactly how." Said Bunny darkly. "Round up Sandy 'n Tooth, then get ready. This is a doozy, but I'm reasonably confident it ain't too impossible. I think Pitch has done somethin' ta Jack."
oOo
Jack was still asleep. He twitched from the horrible dreams that permeated his mind, memories twisting and looming frighteningly. His memories were coming back, but in the wrong order. Slowly, but without doubt, Jack was beginning to question his opinion of the guardians. Had they really cared about him? They had wanted to get his memories back... But maybe that was just because he couldn't use his powers as well without them.
In his mind, the memories were true to a point, than warped drastically.
He was in an alleyway, talking to Bunny. Then, why he recognized as the yetis from santa's workshop dumped him into a bag. He tumbled around for a while, then landed painfully at the bottom of a ravine. The middle of the memory was a little fuzzy, but then he was alone, only a tiny fairy and a broken staff to comfort him.
He rolled over in his sleep, a soft moan escaping him. Had the guardians done that to him? He didn't know, he didn't want to believe it.
Sandy lashes out at him with a whip of sand. Why were they fighting? A haze took things again, then he slammed into a wall, falling into a garbage can. The others ran over to him, calling his name. They sounded concerned, but he was growing more confident that they only wanted to to hurt him.
The nightmare continued its grim work on the vulnerable teen. Interchanging it's own memories with his, patching and piecing things together like some patchwork quilt of horror. Jack grew more and more uncertain about what little he had thought he knew while the guardians met and painstakingly pieced the chain of events together.
When they landed on the true chain of events, and were reasonably confident in their deduction, they would thank the Man in the Moon for letting them find things out quickly. They did not know that at this point, no amount of fast moving would stop the things set in motion within Jack's mind. They would agree with vehemence later that no memories were better than the corrupt replacements growing now.
A/N: So there's the next chapter! Things are about to take a turn for the somewhat dramatic, so I'm really fired up. The next section could be split into two short chapter, or one very long chapter. I don't really mind either way, so let me know what you guys want. I'm so excited! Its about to reach its climax! Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews, By the way. Your suggestions and comments make my life as an author happy:)
Love, Mariah.
