"Jack! Jack, please, you have to help us! You have to! You're the only one who can stop this!"

"But, I don't know how. I don't understand how this has happened. It-it's not…" Jack searched through the thick white for the voice that sounded so close, yet felt so far away, like an echo. He tripped over something, and fell onto the soft ground. As he turned to see what it was that had caused his fall, a hand began pulling on his hoodie.

"You did this! This is all your fault! You are a murderer! A spineless, whimpering, cowardly creature! You can't control yourself and now look at what has happened. You have destroyed everything!" And the voice was correct. Jack could see nothing but white all around, and when he looked back at what he had tripped on, he could only see a hand, frozen and grey. This was his fault. He had killed them. His fault. He did not deserve to live. He has caused so much trouble. He needed to leave. Needed to leave this world. Stop the suffering. But he couldn't stop crying. His tears froze on his cheeks as he began to scream, at anyone, anything that was listening. It was over. It was all over…

"Jack…"

"Jack, wake up!"

"Mate, snap out of it!"

Jack snapped his eyes open and found he was face to face with Aster, North standing directly behind him.

"Glad you finally stopped all that yelling." Aster sneered, then backed off as North stepped forward and wiped off the tears Jack just noticed were on his cheeks.

"It was just a nightmare, Jack." North soothed as Jack's heart rate finally began to deescalate. North made a small motion with his hand and Aster put a cloth in it. That cloth was then placed on Jack's forehead.

"When did…" Jack choked out, his dry throat causing him to cough a little.

"About an hour ago. You've been out for a few hours, from what I've heard. Little after noon, if you're wonderin'." Aster announced behind North, then took a seat in the loveseat.

"Want to tell me what the nightmare was about?" North mused, hoping for a positive reaction. Jack's eyes simply wandered to the cup of water sitting on the table, and North understood, giving it to him. Jack sat up slowly and, after his thirst was somewhat quenched, glared at Aster.

"Only if the kangaroo leaves the room. I don't want him to have something to blackmail me with later." Aster shrugged at the comment and left the room. Once Jack was sure he was gone, he turned to North, tears brimming his eyes.

"It…" Jack took a deep breath, recalling his all too vivid dream, "I killed… I mean, I felt so out of control. I don't remember what it was about, but… I saw," Jack choked up a bit and swallowed before continuing, "I saw… you and Aster and Sandy and Tooth all… all dead." Jack closed his eyes, ashamed of himself. North just stared at the boy. Jack had mentioned Tooth a few months ago, when he went on about Santa and the Easter Bunny. North had hoped that he had forgotten about that and had moved on, but it was all too apparent that Jack had not moved on, just simply stopped talking about it.

"My boy, you know this is not real. It was all a dream. Nothing more. You just need more sleep. It's just your body's negative effect of a lack of rest." North tried reasoning, but the silent tears now streaming down Jack's cheeks told North that he was not reaching the boy. North had hoped that this would not happen, and Sandy had warned him that his mind was unstable, but North was still hoping for the best, that Jack would simply move on, let go of these memories and try to accept his life as it is. North was at a loss for words and options. He was not going to give up, no, just try something new. Perhaps Sanderson could help.