A/N : I just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome reviews and for the support while writing this story. You guys all rock :D And here is yet another chapter. Enjoy :)

Chapter 27

Jack and I watch as Bunny opens a hole, winks, and plunges out of sight. Tooth hovers over.

"I have to get back to my palace to coordinate a search effort with my fairies. Be careful, you two."

She hugs me and holds me tight, then lets go. Afterwards, she hugs Jack goodbye, too. I hear her whisper something to him when she thinks I can't hear.

"I know you'll keep her safe. If anything happens... Just take care of yourselves, ok?"

He nods in understanding. Tooth glances back at me, smiles and waves as she leaves the workshop through a snow globe portal. I see Sandy out of the corner of my eye waving. I turn, and so does Jack, as the little golden man floats high up into the workshop. A bi-plane, constructed of dream sand of course, appears and Sandy is whisked off from the workshop.

"Little one, have you seen the sleigh?"

I turn to face North, who waits for Jack and I by some sort of elevator. I shake my head 'no' and North waves me over. The elevator takes us down, and I can feel the air grow warmer by the second. Finally, it shudders to a stop, and the doors open to reveal empty stables lining an enormous, stuffy room. It smells of hay and... Some sort of animal.

"Is this where the reindeer are kept?"

"Yes, little one. Come, this way."

We walk through the stable area and into a chilly space sculpted from the ice. There is a tunnel to my right, and two large wooden doors to my left. They swing open, and I catch a wide smile appearing on Jack's face. Jingling and ringing and stomping fill my ears. Large yetis lead the team of reindeer towards us. Jack pulls me back with his staff, and my cheeks glow red. That was close. The reindeers charge and rear until coming to a stop. Behind them is a sleigh, sleek but rather old fashioned at the same time. Now Jack isn't the only one smiling.

I run up to it, seeing my reflection in the gloss, and look at North who sits proudly on the front bench. He grabs the reins from a yeti beside him, and waves as I, once again, am pulled back by Jack. North snaps the reins, and the reindeer lurch forward through the tunnel. It is suddenly quiet, except for the chattering yetis, who leave the same way they came. Jack turns to me, a grin showing on his face.

"Come on, we should go back up."

The ride back to the main floor of the workshop is slower than going down. Maybe the elevator sort of free fell going down? We step out onto the wooden floor and walk forward until we are in front of the Globe of Believers. The twinkling lights remind me of the river in Mississippi with Jack, and Arizona too. My eyes wander over the globe until they rest on my home. Or where it should be.

"What're you thinking about?"

Jack is leaning over the railing when I glance over at him. The lights on the globe reflect off his hair.

"Home. Stars. The meaning of life. Stuff like that."

I notice that his face is more serious than usual. Then I remember. He wants to know what I've kept from him about the dark Jack.

"I'm guessing you want to know about what I saw last night?"

"What aren't you telling me? You're always so straightforward."

"Well... I'm just a little, surprised. By what I saw."

"Which was...?"

"Ok. Well, that guy in the cave was a perfect resemblance of you! Apart from the skin color and hair, and eyes, you could have been twins. I didn't know Pitch could make something so... Lifelike."

My voice gets quieter as I go on.

"And I hate to admit it... but I was actually really scared. The way he moved even. It was like he was a monster. I guess he really was, though."

I look up at Jack, feeling embarrassed that I had admitted that I was afraid. Guardians shouldn't be afraid of anything. His face is unreadable, though. I continue speaking.

"I've just been thinking, what if... ah never mind."

"What?"

I sigh.

"What if dark Jack shows up here?"

Jack's eyes narrow. His face looks determined when he looks at me.

"Then we beat him."

He's missing my point.

"Ya. But I guess I'm trying to say... I'm afraid of him."

I look down at my hands gripping the railing and relax them.

"What?"

I look straight at Jack and repeat myself.

"I'm afraid of him. And every time I see you, I get a glance of him."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them. They sound harsh, like they're not mine. Jack's eyes narrow in pain as be leans away from the railing.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I... I just mean that... I literally see him when I see you sometimes. Like... Your eyes. They change, flicker, to gold."

"Really? That's... Strange."

"I don't know why, but it just happens. And I'm just afraid that he'll turn up, ya know?"

Jack steps closer to me, and my breath hitches.

His eyes are gold. And they're not changing back to blue like usual.

I instinctively step back from him as he looks down at me in confusion.

"Uh, you ok?"

"J-Jack... Your eyes..."

"What... oh, are they gold?"

He stays in place looking worried, but reaches out to me.

"Hey, it's me. Ok?"

"But you look like him..."

"I'm not. You know that."

I stare into the gold, tell myself that its the real Jack steadily, and watch in relief as his eyes fade back to bright blue.

Jack notices my face relax.

"Are they... Normal again?"

"Yes. I think so."

"_, we have to find out what's causing this. It's not good for you to be seeing this stuff."

"Ya got that right."

He puts his hand on my shoulder and guides me around the globe. His hand brushes my wing as we walk, and he stops abruptly.

"What the..."

He looks down at my injured wing, and peers closer at the spot where I was injured. I feel nervous. What does he see there? He carefully touches the spot where the feathers are missing, and draws his hand back quickly.

"Jack, what is it?"

I try looking at my wing myself, but can't see the spot that's injured. Jack holds me still, then guides me down a hallway I haven't been through before.

"Where are we going?"

"The medical bay."

"Hey! What's wrong? Tell me, I can't see."

"That's why we're going there."

He shoves the door open and pulls me over to a white sheeted bed. I sit on the edge while he runs across the room to grab two mirrors. He returns and holds one behind the spot I want to see, while I use the other to reflect the other mirror's image to my eye. My eyes go wide at what Jack shows me. He pulls the larger feathers back, and below them are tiny black veins branching out from where my feathers were missing.

"What... what is that?!"

"Probably Pitch's work, but do you know how you got it?"

I think back to the cave and dark Jack. He had to be the one who did this. The veins looked like they were filled with Pitch's nightmare sand.

"I remember dark Jack pulling on that wing, and it hurt a lot. Back in the cave. He must've done something, infected it with nightmare sand."

I look at the spot again, and the shimmery veins.

"Jack, this is causing the hallucinations. This fear sand. It has to be."

"We need to figure out how to... Get it out of you. And how far it goes into your body. It's obviously in your bloodstream if you're seeing things."

"What if it gets further, or more gets in?"

"Then I guess your hallucinations get worse."

"More lifelike."

He nods silently, and sits down on the bed beside me.

"What if... I took a syringe and pulled the sand back out? Could that work?"

"Maybe."

I hate needles.

"But could we find some pain medication first?"

"_, we don't know if the sand could mess with the meds, like morph it into something harmful instead of helpful."

"Oh."

"So, should we try this?"

I consider my options. Keep hallucinating dark Jack, or have the real Jack.

"Yes. It'll only get worse if we don't."

"Ok."

He moves over to a counter with several drawers and cabinets. Everything in here is white. He opens them and searches until he finds a syringe in a package of plastic. I hear the plastic tear as he rips it open with his hands, and he walks over to me. The syringe is thick compared to shots I've had as a kid. I can see the opening on the tip of the steel.

"Maybe you should lay down."

I center myself on the small bed and watch with wide eyes as Jack comes closer.

"Have you ever done this before?"

"No."

I laugh nervously.

"This is going hurt, ok?"

I nod quickly.

"Ok."

He seems to remember something, and goes back to the cabinet. I exhale deeply, and watch as he comes back with a small, white towel and some rubbing alcohol. He rolls it up and hands it to me.

"You should bite down on this, ok?"

He moves over to my right side, and I extend my wing out for him. Every feather is stretched out to make it easier. I put the towel in my mouth and clamp down on it.

"Hold on to something, alright?"

I nod before scrunching the sheets into my tight fists. Good enough. I close my eyes as he leans over me and pours some rubbing alcohol onto my feathers. It's cold and slightly stinging. Then, I feel him carefully move my wing closer to himself, and the needle piercing my skin. It plunges into my muscle, right where it's the most tender. My teeth grind against the soft towel, and my toes curl in pain. My fists tighten the sheets and I open my eyes to see my white knuckles and Jack's expression. He really doesn't want to do this. I can feel the plunger sucking out the sand, and watch as the syringe fills with sparkling black. I feel some tears roll out and down my face. Jack glances down at me, and I must look like mess.

"Hold on _... I almost... Ok! Got it!"

He draws the long syringe back out, and I see my wing beside me. The veins are nearly gone, and there's a hole where the syringe was. Jack puts the syringe down, and starts fixing up my wing. He uses cotton balls to soak up the blood coming out, and bandages the whole area where the veins were. Then, he sits up from his work and looks at me.

My face is wet from tears and sweat, and my eyes are red and puffy. Worst of all, I have a runny nose. My vision is blurred from the pain, but Jack's face is coming back in sharp detail. I search for blue, find it, and focus on it until everything is clear again. He looks down at me with worry, but I offer a half smile.

"Thanks."

I wipe my eyes and my nose, and attempt to sit up. It hurts to move, though.

"_, maybe you should just chill out for awhile. Let your wing heal."

"But... I have to look after the workshop with you."

"I got it for now."

"Well, we could take watches. Like you first, obviously, and then after... I dunno... 6 hours, I could go."

"_, I don't need to rest."

I stare off into the distance.

"Oh ya."

The pain that's still present is dulling my mind. Jack looks pretty worried at my condition.

"Ya, you're definitely resting."

He stands up, and I rest my head on the pillow. I just want to sleep now. I pull the sheets over me and start to drift off. Jack walks away towards the door, but something makes him come back. My eyes are shut when he leans down and kisses my forehead. And then I sleep.

It is bright and sunny where I am, but cold. I hug myself to keep from shivering as I look out at the rolling fields. Strange. Shouldn't it be warm for grass to be so tall and green? I dismiss this thought when I hear someone shout my name. It's coming from the field, deep in the grass. I run forward, happiness pushing me along, searching for whoever wanted to see me.

I hear my name again, and this time it's urgent sounding.

"I'm coming!"

I hope I don't sound too annoyed. I really just want to find them already. I feel like I've been searching for hours.

"_!"

Now the voice is laced with fear. I power through the grass, sprinting towards the sound.

"I can't find you!"

And then something catches my eye. Something blue and to my right. I run towards it instinctively, grass whipping and scratching at my face. I squint to keep my eyes from getting poked out.

"_!"

"I see you, I'm coming!"

I finally reach the boy in blue. His hair is white. He is on his knees facing away from me, and is holding his head with his hands. It's Jack. I become worried and peer over his shoulder to see what he's looking at. What could be causing him to panic like that?

It's my grave. I stumble away after glancing at the name on the headstone, and remember my grave back at the cabin.

"I'm... Dead?"

Jack doesn't respond, but falls silent. He doesn't call out for me anymore. He kneels there before me, staring ahead at the headstone.

"Jack? Look at me, ok?"

No reaction.

"Jack! I'm not dead! I'm ok! Look at me! I'm right here!"

Is he even breathing? His hoodie doesn't rise and fall like usual. He's stone still. What the heck is going on?

Then, he moves. His head turns slowly to face me, and his eyes are blue to my relief. But what unsettles me is his stare. His eyes aren't focused on mine, but they seem to be focused on something behind me. I whirl around, but nothing is there but grass taller than myself. I turn back to Jack, and speak up.

"What are you looking at?"

He doesn't answer, so I wave my hand in front of his face, trying to provoke a reaction.

"Hello? Jack?"

Nothing changes about his expression, and it starts to scare me.

"Why can't you hear me?"

And then it hits me. He doesn't see me, hear me, notice me in any way.

I'm invisible.

He doesn't believe in me.

I drop to my knees in front of him so that we're level. His eyes have no expression in them as he stares through me. I reach forward cautiously for his face, and feel cold as my hand becomes translucent and passes through his cheek. I draw it back, feeling like a ghost.

"Why... why don't you believe in me anymore? Because I died?"

I don't expect a reaction, and I don't get one. I look away from Jack's blue eyes, and at the ground. When I look up, I scream and fall backwards.

I should've expected it. This is a nightmare after all.

Cruel golden eyes bore into mine from behind black bangs. His skin is gray, and his teeth are visibly sharp. Even his hoodie has changed to a darker color. I start scooting backwards to escape him, and stand quickly. He does the same, and stares at me.

"What are you...?"

He smiles sickly and I see a canine tooth. He saunters forward and I find that my feet won't respond. He comes close enough to where I can feel the cold from his breath.

"Your worst fear."