"…can't possibly be that stupid. Come on, man, toughen up. Be a man for once. Get your stupid head out of the clouds and… hey! Are you even listening to me?! Loser, I'm talking to you!" Jordan, one of the many bullies who made sure Jack's life was a living hell at school, shoved Jack back against his locker. Jack looked away, ashamed of not fighting back, but he knew he could not. For North. He promised. Jack unclenched his fists and took in a deep breath, trying to remain calm. Jordan, frustrated, shoved Jack again.

"Hey, are you deaf or something?" Jordan yelled, then startled when he heard a door open a few feet away from them. A teacher glanced around, and caught the two boys, who stared back as if they were deer caught in headlights.

"What are you boys doing out here? And what is with all of that yelling?" Jordan pushed off of the locker, and patted Jack on the shoulder. Jack winced, but gave a half-hearted smile for the teacher.

"Nothing, just getting out books for class Mrs. M." Jordan lied and smiled at Jack. Jack nodded once and turned back to his locker to retrieve the book he had come out here to get in the first place until Jordan came along. The teacher nodded, then asked for them to hurry along and closed the door. Jack sighed and walked away from Jordan, refusing to meet his gaze again, terrified that if he had to make eye contact with that…that horrible person one more time, he would inflict some serious damage.

"This isn't over, Frost. I hope you know that. I'll get back. Just you wait."

Jack turned a corner and leaned up against the wall, holding his head gently. A sharp pain resonated through the back of his head and echoed to the front. He sucked in a deep breath, gaining his composure, thinking maybe it was just from the emotional stress, and pushed from the wall. He had taken too long getting back to class. He could not afford another detention.

"…think that he's another one of us? I mean, he seems so…"

"Human. And sad," Brulant finished. "Sure as heck reminds me of us. We just have special powers."

"Yeah, I guess," Frost sighed and tried to pay attention to the surroundings they were both seeing through the eyes of their new dimensional counterpart. "Do you think he can hear us?"

"I don't think so. I mean, it seems he can feel something, because I think he was in pain back there. It's strange that we can't feel anything from him," Brulant sighed.

"Well, considering we've only been like this for, say, maybe a day, I don't think we can judge just yet what is normal and what is not."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll just have to wait and see what happens then. How did we even get here in the first place?"

"Well, it's a possibility that since both of us were asleep at the same time that he was a third option we could not previously access because either of us had been conscious."

"Either way, I think we should help him out. He seems down in the dumps, but a pretty brave kid. I wonder how we could help him, though, if we can't necessarily communicate with him. What do you thing, Sunburn?" Frost paused, then noticed the world had suddenly gone black.

"Jack…" Frost's attention was brought to a singularity. He felt the weight of something, and suddenly had the urge to open his eyes, just to see if he could.

"Jack!" He felt a weight fall on his right shoulder and he forced his eyes to open, blinking up at the sudden blast of light, but inviting it in as well, not enjoying the negative space behind his eyelids any longer. Perhaps he was becoming accustomed to waking up as he went to sleep now?

"Jack, there you are. You gave Sandy quite a scare." North's voice boomed from directly beside Jack, and Jack sat up, with the help of Sandy's dream sand. Jack turned to Sandy, who simply stared back in worry and confusion.

"How…how long…?" Jack seemed to have a hard time finding his voice as he turned away from Sandy's gaze to find North's on his other side, staring back with a softer tone of worry. North's hand was still on Jack's shoulder, and Jack felt comfort in it.

"Has been few days." North smiled, but it did not reach his eyes, and Jack found it both soothing and worrying.

"But… that can't be…" Jack whispered. He let his thoughts wander, waiting to hear Brulant's snarky comments in the background, but all was silent within his own mind. Jack took in a deep breath, trying to remain calm as the realization hit that he was alone again. Jack shut his eyes and let go of the breath. Although he should have felt relief, he could not get the tight knot in his stomach to loosen. Something was wrong. Or maybe the potion wore off. Either way, Jack still felt unsettled by it.

"Jack?" North prompted, hoping to hear why Jack was so confused all of a sudden. He glanced up at Sandy, who caught his gaze and wore an expression that seemed to say "this is not over yet". Jack's thoughts remained a jumbled mess as he tried to fit in the possible meaning of that expression on top of everything else that had happened, but was pulled from his thoughts by North laying a large hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe should lie back down?" North asked gently, pulling slightly on Jack's shoulder. Jack wanted to, he really did, but something was telling him that that would be a bad idea. Sandy simply floated beside him with an innocent smile spread across his face. Jack's mind went back to that expression. Sandy knew something that he did not, and that was one of the many things that were now bothering him. What does he know that I do not? Does he know about the other Jack? I didn't say anything to them. They shouldn't know anything. Unless I was talking in my sleep again. Man, that would suck.

After another soft prompt from North, Jack laid back down on the bed. His eyes had suddenly become itchy and heavy, and Jack was having a hard time keeping them open. He stared at Sandy, wondering if he was putting him under, but Sandy had not moved, only kept on that same smile; that knowing smile. As Jack's eyes closed, he saw Sandy wave goodbye to him. What does he know? Jack wondered loosely as his mind went blank and the world became black.