AN: Hello, faithful readers! Tyira here. Sorry about the extra week. The wifi wasn't working. I hope you enjoy this chapter despite the wait.
By the way, if anyone's interested, we could use a Britpicker or two. Thanks!
Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them.
Veronica Roth
Jack sat straight up, sweat beading his forehead. He looked at his hands. Not pale. He dashed out of his room, still in his boxers, and into the bathroom. His hair was as brown as it always had been. He exhaled deeply. Just a dream.
But the dream still plagued him.
He washed his face, dressed himself, and went downstairs, half-expecting messy-haired Eira and half-clothed Leon to ignore him.
"'Morning," he murmured groggily.
Two silent nods were all he got in response. Jack panicked. Did they actually acknowledge him, or were they nodding for different reasons? Eira had a fantasy novel and Leon had headphones on as he waited for his coffee. Was she nodding because of the book? Was he nodding in beat to the music?
"How did you sleep?" Jack asked nervously, the sweat starting up again. The two shrugged simultaneously. Jack's confidence grew. "I didn't sleep so well. I had a terrible nightmare where-" he stopped and gazed at their two motionless forms. "You're not listening to me, are you?"
"Jack, shut the hell up and eat some breakfast," Eira murmured irritably, turning a page. Leon turned up the radio. Jack grinned with relief and prepared himself a bowl of cereal.
The phone rang. Neither Eira nor Leon made any move to answer it, so Jack stood from his seat, shoved a bite of cereal in his mouth, and went over to the phone.
"Herro?" he said around a mouthful of Cheerios.
The person on the other end sniffed loudly. "Jack?" the voice asked. "Are you okay?"
"Rapunzel?" He gulped down his bite. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said comfortingly, sitting down in the living room.
She burst into tears. "Oh, thank God!" she sobbed.
"What, did you think I was dead? Rapunzel, what is the matter?"
She sniffled, and Jack waited a few moments for her to dry her tears. "I had the /worst/ dream! Everyone-" her voice cracked "-everyone was dead. Butchered. And she tried to feed you guys to me. And imprison me."
Jack barely knew her, but he desperately wished he could be where she was so he could throw an arm around her. Her heartbreak dug deep, and he was never quite so empathetic. And he assumed it was because of his nightmare as well. "I'm fine. I'm in one piece and safe..." he crooned. "Don't worry, perky. It was just a dream."
"Thanks, Jack," she said with another sniffle. "I'm going to call the rest-oh. Here you go."
"Jack, something is not right." The new voice shook in a way Jack never thought it would.
"Oh. Flynn." His voice displayed surprise. "I didn't think you ever wanted to talk to me."
"I don't." Flynn gulped, and Jack could hear static as the phone trembled against Flynn's ear. "But I-I know your mom is a Trustee. Rapunzel and I both had nightmares, and I think it's because of the nightmare we saw last week. Did you have one?"
"Yeah." Jack began to shake, mirroring Flynn. It had been so real. He could still feel that awful empty feeling when someone walked through him.
"Did it involve your worst fear?"
Jack swallowed. "Yeah."
"Ours too. Double-check with Hic and Mer. Then tell your mom exactly what you saw and what happened as a consequence." He sighed. "This is a big deal, Jack. If this nightmare has no human companion, there'll be no stopping it unless it's dead."
"Will do. Thanks, Flynn." Jack hung up and took a nervous breath. He knew there was nothing to be afraid of. It was just a dream. But when Flynn mentioned it, it set off the terror all over again. He tried to force his legs to not wobble as he walked up to his room.
He found the scrap paper with three ten-digit numbers on it. He skipped past Flynn and Rapunzel's and went to Hiccup and Astrid's. He found another of the many phones in the large lodge Eira and Leon had inherited and dialed.
"Hello?" Hiccup's voice shook, reminding Jack of Flynn's greeting. He was definitely affected. Hiccup cleared his throat and repeated the greeting.
"Hiccup?"
"Jack," he growled, terror shooting through his hostile tone. Jack was someone who thought he was pathetic and had little to no respect for him. Just like his dream.
"Shut up, Haddock. If you won't play nice, put on your girlfriend." Hiccup couldn't handle talking to someone who didn't care about him. Distantly Jack could hear Astrid's name being called.
"What's up, Jack?" Astrid asked, her usual casual confidence replaced by the angry tone Hiccup had. Without doubt, she was trying to hide her fear. Jack didn't have to ask, judging by her tone, but he wanted to double-check.
"Did you have a nightmare last night?" Even at the word nightmare, Jack shuddered.
He could almost see her skin go white. He heard a loud clattering. The phone had hit the ground. When it was recovered, Astrid croaked, "How did you know about that?"
"So far, everyone who saw the nightmare last week had a nightmare last night. One involving their worst fear." He began to perspire again as he spoke.
Jack waited a moment, afraid she didn't know he existed. Just like everyone else. "Yeah," she said finally, "I had one. My worst fear." He exhaled.
"And Hiccup?"
"Hold on." Through the receiver, Jack could hear a muffled conversation between the two Norwegians.
"Yeah, I had a nightmare," Hiccup confirmed after a while, his voice shaking again. "Toothless... there was no Toothless."
Jack nodded. "You're not alone, buck tooth." Ignoring a terrified-sounding outburst from Hiccup, Jack hung up and dialed Merida. It was busy, likely because Rapunzel was talking to her. He counted to sixty five times before trying again.
"Hello?"
"Merida?"
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Jack froze. She couldn't hear him. No one could. He didn't exist. He almost expected to hear that taunting voice from nowhere.
"Merida?" he rasped tremulously.
"Jack?"
"Carrot-top!" he greeted with the utmost relief, glad she couldn't see him.
"Not necessary," she told him firmly. "What do you want?"
"Ach, I wont to taalk to ye, lassie," he said, grinning. She could hear him. How could he not grin?
"Also not necessary. If you have something important to say, say it. Otherwise, I'm hanging up."
He chuckled, but quickly his tone changed. "Did Rapunzel call you?" he asked softly, knowing he'd strike a painful chord with her. It almost hurt his heart to remember the conversation.
She gulped. "Aye," she said quietly, almost choked up. But it was over the phone, so Jack couldn't be sure. "You had a nightmare too, then."
"Yeah. I'm going to tell my mom and they'll sort it out. No more nightmare. No more problem." He was still sour that she had won the Tintagel Olympics, but he felt the same amount of empathy he had for sweet Rapunzel. And certainly more than that he held for both Hiccup and Astrid. He disliked Hiccup and Astrid would slap him if he thought she had feelings.
"Thanks, Jack, I'd hate... hate to see anyone else suffer like that."
"Bye, Mer."
"Bye."
Jack took a deep breath and called his mother from their most recent number. The family currently lived in Kenya.
"Joye Overland," she said professionally.
"Mom?"
"Jack!" she exclaimed. "How is everything? Is school going alright?" Thank goodness she could hear him. And she wasn't crying for help either.
Though he truly wished otherwise, though he truly wished for motherly comfort, he said, "Mom, I'm talking to you as a Trustee. Not as my mom."
Joye cleared her throat and her tone changed to the one she had when introducing herself. "I'm listening."
"A few new friends and I saw a nightmare on Tintagel," he began.
"You can't be serious," his mother interrupted incredulously. "They're all dead!"
"I'm very serious. We saw one and last night, all six of us had nightmares about our worst fears." He inhaled deeply as he again remembered his own. "Everyone is noticeably affected, even over the phone. I can hardly talk about this without panicking."
"I see," she replied, but her motherly instincts were leaking into her professional voice.
"So we were thinking that you'd need to speak to the Trustees about this. We wouldn't want anyone else to have nightmares the way we did. We'd never wish pain like this on anyone else."
"I'll see what I can do. Bye, honey."
"Uh, Mom?" he asked nervously. "You'd never forget about me, right?"
"Never," she replied firmly. "I love you."
"Bye."
Two of the Trustees were in India to remedy a matter of people fighting one another because their companions fought one another. One was in Denmark to control the otter penguin population, and Joye herself was in Kenya to help the only other Cerberus companion in the world.
So when Joye called them to regroup in England, it was no small worry.
On wooden folding chairs in a forest clearing sat the four Trustees and one boy. Four companions accompanied these Trustees. "Now, I know this inconveniences you, but I hope you understand how important this is," Joye began, sitting beside Melopita, her Cerberus, and Jack.
"Yes, I do suppose that a nightmare without a companion is a sure-fire way to get many too terrified to go outside and some even killed." The man who spoke was Frederick Cony, the oldest of the Trustees. He was companion to the rock dwarf species, Gard in particular.
"I suppose this is a matter that needs seeing to," agreed Kinga Potowska, companion to Morjik the dragon.
The final two Trustees, Eagle-Child and his companion Storm-Bird, nodded. "What do you propose?" inquired Eagle-Child.
"After doing a little research," Joye stated, "I've identified the nightmare as Kozmotis, a companion to a Mr. Pitchiner Black. Mr. Black was killed in an accident and the nightmare hasn't been seen since.
"Since appearing again after almost ten years, it went straight to the English Tintagel and struck its trademark fear into the hearts of six young individuals: my son here and five of his friends. As you may know, if someone has looked into the golden eyes of a nightmare, a few weeks will in turn be plagued with crippling nightmares and terror because of this creature."
Jack shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "And, Jackson," asked Kinga, "can you describe your nightmare?"
Jack took a shuddery breath. "No. Sorry, but..." he trailed off, the nightmare echoing through his mind.
This made the Trustees' eyes widen. Though only Cony had seen a nightmare's effects on a person, they all knew Jack had certainly seen one.
"Thank you, Jackson."
"What we need to do," continued Jack's mother, "is find the nightmare and contain it. They were thought extinct for a reason: frightened individuals got rid of them all. Until we can find a companion to nightmares, we have no choice but to keep it in solitary confinement."
Four people walked into the clearing at that moment, sweating from the hike to the clearing. "Oh, yes," said Joye. "These four were friends of Mr. Black before his death, and they told me they could fill us in on some information about Kozmotis."
"Hello," said a large man with tattoos on his arms, a thick white beard and Russian accent to match. "I am Nicolas St. North, companion to the yeti."
"E. Aster Bunnymund, companion to jackalopes," greeted the next, a tall thin man with a grey goatee and Australian accent.
"Ana Punjam," said a tiny woman, her side bangs dyed rainbow. "Oh, and, um, faeries!"
A very short but stout man with golden hair and eyes waved. "And this is Sandy Mansnoozie," introduced North. "He is companion to the Baku."
"What can you tell us about Kozmotis and Mr. Black?" asked Gard politely, his voice like rocks grinding against one another.
The one named Bunnymund stepped forward. "The four of us had been friends with Pitchiner since childhood. His nightmare was well-behaved and fed off the fear Pitchiner had. To a nightmare companion of course, this soothed him instead of the adverse effects everyone else suffers."
Ana cut in. "Pitchiner died in a car accident in 1983, exactly ten years ago. Kozmotis fell apart. Though we could not speak to him, our companions could. His words didn't make sense. He was literally falling apart."
Sandy tugged on North's sleeve and began to sign with his hands. North began to translate. "One time, Tooth's faerie followed Kozmotis and watched him pour fear into a lone man on the side of the road. Everything he had went into terrifying that man. Needless to say, it worked. The man screamed in horror, almost as if he was being pulled apart limb from limb. The man... well, he ended his own life that night."
North looked away from Sandy's hands to complete the story. "Tooth's faerie told us she heard Kozmotis speak to himself. His sentences made no sense, but the words she received were dark and full of power. He enjoyed manipulating a person until they couldn't handle it anymore. He enjoyed the power he had." North sighed. "That was the last anyone ever saw of him until recently. We do believe that now, he is not alone."
"Why do you believe that?" Joye asked skeptically.
"I feel it," North said passionately, putting his hands on his stomach. "In my belly." Bunnymund shot North a look.
Sandy looked at Aster convincingly, his hands a blur. "Aw, never mind," he mumbled to Sandy.
"Thank you for your time," Kinga said politely. "So it's clear. We will gather a force of companions and people to find Kozmotis-and maybe his followers-and put a stop to them." She turned to Jack sternly. "I expect you to remember your place and keep yourself separate from the situation. We will handle it ourselves."
Jack nodded sourly, then as he was dismissed, ran to catch up to the four who had spoken. "Excuse me," he said, "but do you think you could help stop him?"
"Anything we can do," Ana said hopefully, "would be great. He is our friend and we intend to stop him before this gets bad." Jack traded numbers with three of them-Sandy could be reached by first calling North-and promised he could get them in.
"Thank you," Jack said, looking up at North, who seemed to be the leader of them all.
North slapped Jack on the shoulder with a big hand, causing him to stumble and even drop his pen. "No problem!" he said with a jolly laugh, and the four hiked off toward their vehicles.
Jack had absolutely no intention of following Kinga's rule.