Happy late Valentines Day everyone! Sorry you had to wait so long for this!
Songs for the chapter:
Beginning and Mich's Dream: Home Sweet Home by Detekivbyran.
Jack's Dream: Nattoppet by Detekivbyran.
Both are supposed to be instrumentals/experimentals, okay?
The memory of the world crept in slowly this time, as if to adjust them to this new one. The Guardians were once again in Jack and Mich's bedroom during the mother was tucking them into bed as she told them one last story. It had been about half a year after the last memory.
"…and so the Guardians saved the day from the Boogeyman," she finished with a soft smile. Mich seemed satisfied with the story but Jack had on a curious expression.
"But…" he began. "But what if the Boogeyman was a nice person? What if he was only a bad person because he had to be?"
"Jack…" Tooth sighed, saddened by the fact that maybe what the five-year-old was true. Maybe Pitch was only a bad person because he had to be.
North laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. She smiled back, grateful for the comfort.
"Jack…" his mother sighed, like Tooth did moments earlier. "It's… There's… more to it than that."
"Like what?" he asked, tilting his head in wonder. His mother didn't answer, only smiling down sadly at him.
"Good night," she whispered finally, standing up and moving towards the door. Jack and Mich murmured a 'good night' back at her and both gave twin yawns. Settling under the covers together, they began their own whisper debate.
"Jack, you should go to sleep when your mother tells you to," Tooth scolded, waving a disproving finger at Jack. North laughed.
"Is fine Tooth," he boomed, giving a soft pat on the back (which was still a bit too hard but he tried). "Boyz must have alone time away from their mothers."
"Yeah, lay off the lad," Bunny added. "I'm sure that they'll go to sleep soon."
"Guys," Tooth groaned. "That wasn't… Sandy, you agree with me right?"
Sandy nodded in agreement with Tooth. But when she turned away to rant to North and Bunny, he waved his crossed-fingers towards the two. The fairy took no notice with her back turned but the other three guys did. Jack tried to cover his laughter as Bunny and North stared open-mouthed at the Dream Guardian. Even Sandy knew that boys needed their alone time.
After Tooth finished her speech about the health of sleep (and somehow working teeth in as well), they focused in back on the twin's conversation.
"…so that's why you don't climb a tree with honey on your hands," Jack informed Mich, nodding his head in a sagely manner.
"Do I even want to know?" Tooth asked in despair. North laughed again and Sandy gave a silent chuckle.
"Had to learn the hard way, didn't ya kid?" Bunny teased, ruffling Jack's hair. Jack flashed him a mischievous smile.
"Maybe."
Mich shook his head at Jack with a smile. "You're crazy Jack."
"I am not," Jack protested, puffing up his cheeks in defiance. Mich giggled at him and he stuck out his tongue in retaliation. After a battle of seeing who can make the funniest face, Mich yawned.
"Jack," he slurred, slipping in and out of sleep. "'m tired."
Jack yawned in agreement. "'Night Mich."
"Mmm, don't let tha bed bugs bite."
"Yeah, you too."
"Sweet dreams."
"I thought you were going to sleep."
"Ah am."
"Then sleep."
Mich gave another grunt and turned over to face the wall. He curled up to save heat. Jack gave another yawn and twisted so that he was facing the window. He watched the moon rise and slowly closed his eyes.
"…Jack?"
Jack groaned and lifted his head to glare at the figure behind him. His voice came out snappier than he intended, "What?"
Mich was silent and for a moment, Jack thought he had hurt his feelings. Then, "Do you think dreams mean anything?"
Jack gave him a confused look, not that Mich saw it as he was still facing the wall. Mich cleared his throat then continued.
"Sometimes I have… weird dreams. It feels as though I'm floating in the air but I'm not. I know I'm not because I'm not actually there. I don't know how else to explain it, I'm just there but not actually there at the same time. Jack, I'm scared."
Mich finally turned around as small tears leaked out of his eyes.
"Oh dear…"
Once again, it seemed that Tooth was the spokesperson for the group.
Jack was surprised at the sudden change. He desperately tried to comfort his twin.
"Shh, it's okay. Dreams don't mean anything."
"But Jack… they do. Remember? The Sandman brings you dreams."
Sandy seemed put off by that. Do children really believe that much into their dreams? Though, Mich's sounded more like a nightmare.
"That doesn't mean anything," Jack weakly protested, not really believing his own words either. He took a deep breath and looked Mich in the eye. "Explain."
Mich shifted as a faraway look came over his face.
"It's winter in my dream because it's snowing. I think that it's really important that it's snowing because it's like that every time. Everything is white and white and white and really, really, really quiet."
Mich took in a small breath and shuddered.
"There's someone there in my dream. I can't see them but I know it's always the same person. I don't know how I know but I do and… I want to protect them. I love that person a lot. A whole, whole lot. But something went wrong. It's snowing and…"
Mich began to shake and his voice trembled.
The Guardians looked concerned but Jack looked as though he was hit in the face with a hammer. Recognition flooded his face as he remembered what Mich was talking about. Now he was flooded with guilt.
"…and I can't find them. I can't find that person but I know that something happened and I can't figure out what. I know I'm supposed to protect that person, keep them safe but I think I failed. I failed and now I can't find that person. I want to scream and I'm trying to do something, hit something but I can't because I'm there but not there there."
Mich began crying again.
"I failed but…"
Mich's voice cracked.
"But they come back."
Jack blinked and looked at him in confusion. "But isn't that a good thing?"
Mich shook his head.
"They come back but they're not the same. They're different and they don't know they're different and I try to tell them but I can't because I'm not actually there and it hurts a whole lot. They're different and I can't tell them so they stay different. And even though they're the same person… they don't know me because they're different.
Jack. They forgot me."
The room was quiet for a moment. Jack didn't know what to say so in the end, he just hugged Mich and Mich hugged him back. They stayed like that as they drifted off to sleep.
The memory began to shift but it didn't fade. Instead, it seemed to pull at something else and a pure white room took over.
"Where are we?" North questioned, looking for some sign of familiarity. Nobody answered because they didn't know. Even Jack looked confused at the new settings. Sandy, though, has an inkling of where they may be…
The space they are in is white and silent. It's as if there is, was, and will never be anything here. Just a blank space and silence. Then…
A pair of footsteps is heard, pounding fast on the ground. It sounds like the person is running, though no other sounds can be heard. Suddenly, Jack breaks into view, sprinting into the room from out of nowhere. The strangest thing was, there were no doors in the room.
"What…" Bunny trailed off, looking confused as everyone else.
From the opposite side of where Jack entered, Mich comes running out. Big grins spread across the boys faces as they spot each other and tinkling laughs float out of their mouths. They meet together in the middle and clasped hands, dreamy smiles on their faces. Without warning, they fall—better yet, sink—through the floor.
"Woah!" Jack yelled out, with the background noise of 'bloody he—' from Bunny and a string of Russian words from North. They land with surprising ease and Sandy finally points out what he suspected from the beginning.
'We're in a dream,' he writes to the others, understanding lighting up their faces.
The twins laugh again and seem to be completely at ease with the dream. Mischief lights up Jack's face and he jumps, launching out into the air. He floats without any trouble because it is, of course, a dream. Mich's face lights up and he, too, joins his brother in the air.
They fly across the sky, which has entered the dream as a passing thought. With each passing thought, the dreamscape grows bigger, more defined. Trees and fallen snow paint the background as the evening sky darkens. The boys pay no mind to the darkening dream as they continue to play their game of chase in the sky. Finally, a frozen lake is brought into view as the sky turns to night.
"Jack, you better hurry home, even if this a dream," Tooth said with a hint of anxiousness in her tone. Something about the darkening sky struck a bad chord in her, in all of them. And that frozen lake didn't look children friendly either…
The boys continue frolicking in the sky when Mich stops and points towards a blurry house in the distance. Jack nods and they fly off with childish looks on their face.
A collective sigh of relief goes out as they see the twins leave the grounds.
Abruptly, Mich stops and turns to ask Jack a question. They are too far away from the boys to hear what they are talking about but it seems that Mich is heartbroken. He flys back to the lake with a worried Jack on his tail. They stop over the lake and an argument seems to take place.
"Mate, it would be better to have this on the ground," Bunny nervously says, eyeing the two boys. Even if this is a dream, he doesn't want them getting hurt. Jack looks on with a look of half-confusion and half-remembrance.
Jack tries to tug Mich towards the house, pointing and, by the how fast his mouth is moving, trying to comfort Mich. Mich has tears running down his face and struggles to get out of Jack's grip. He finally throws Jack's hand aside and they hear a shout, though it is still far enough that they can't make out the words. Jack's expression is full of stunned pain.
The moment seems frozen in time…
And all at once, Mich falls.
Tooth lets out a sharp gasp, already flying side-by-side with Sandy to reach the boy. Jack follows but with some hesitance. Something is going to happen. He speeds up and overtakes them, reaching out towards his twin at the same time his dreamself does. They both pass through him.
"Mich!" Jack shouts, the Guardians finally in range to hear the words. His hand passes through Mich's, the same as the real Jack's, and he crumples. He lets go and falls with his brother.
They hit the ice with a jarring CRACK and sink down through the water. Jack tries to grab Mich but the cold takes away his strength. The water transforms all of the sudden into a dark mass of shadows, withering and clinging to him. He reaches towards Mich again but everything is black, black, black. All he can see is his own hand and the moon.
"Jack!" Mich's voice echoes and Jack sees his hand, Mich's hand, through the gloom. He makes one final stretch before he is consumed. He grasps Mich's hand and he thinks that everything will be fine. For a moment, time is frozen again.
Just as suddenly, Mich disappears.
"No!" Jack yells, throwing himself at the dream. Sandy and Tooth stop him before he could possibly hurt himself. Bunny twitches, wanting to do something but not knowing what to do, and North looks on with sad eyes.
Jack screams, thrashing in his dark bonds and sobbing Mich's name. Slowly, the shadows creep in and begin to swallow him. They start at his and sneak up his legs, circling his waist a few times before shooting up to this chest. They take their time, almost at a leisurely pace as they consume his shoulders and neck, reaching his chin. They finally crawl up his face, covering his shining eyes, and his arms fade out of existence.
A staff whips out of the darkness and slams into the ground. Jack emerges but not as younger Jack. This Jack has familiar snow white hair and fun-filled blue eyes. In a broad sweep of his staff, he chases the shadows away, frost designs etched into the ground as snowflakes fill the air. Snow begins to fall gently as Jack grins widely and dashes off.
The Guardians are even more confused now. Was this really a dream? Or was it a vision of the future? They hoped it wasn't a vision, if only for the sake of Mich and Jack.
The background begins to fluctuate, as it does in dreams. The ground Jack is running on slopes up, beginning to look like a mountain or a steep hill. Actual mountains of teeth erect themselves alongside him and dreamsand lines his path. With every step he takes, he kicks up new toys and other Christmas themed items from the sand. He reaches out a hand and colors shoot out to paint the flowers.
A gust of wind blows past Jack, making his grin spread even wider. He reaches the edge of the mountain and smiles at the figure waiting there for him. It looks like another Jack but with brown hair instead of white, though they have the same blue eyes. The figure looks unstable and wispy, as if he might blow away at any minute, but he and Jack look as happy as can be.
"Took you long enough," the figure teases, matching Jack's grin. Jack laughs and looks down the mountainside. Below them is a frozen pond.
"Take me home!" he shouts, leaping off the cliff.
"Jack!" Tooth screams shrilly, wanting to strangle him while wanting to hug him at the same time. The guys glare at Jack, some out of concern, some out of Tooth's shrieking.
Jack gives them a sheepish smirk.
Younger Jack jolts awake in bed, heart hammering as he feels like laughing and crying at the same time. He can't remember what his dream is about, though he feels that it is important. Maybe dreams do matter.
The memory fades out for good this time.
Yes, this chapter was all about blatant foreshadowing. Poor Jack. And Mich. I can't wait to write those chapters.
Thank you to all the readers and reviewers and followers and favoriters and whoever-else-I-missed.