Enjoy! I should be doing some precious studying, but this is more relaxing. Are you guys noticing a pattern here?

It was morning that brought with it the nightmares. I knew it was punishment. For too long I'd avoided Pitch's torments and here he was to bring them back to me. I was back in my prison and nearly lost my self-control right there. It had felt so real, my time with the Guardians. Why did I let myself fall for such a trap? I hadn't comprehended the depth of Pitch's cruelty until now when he'd stripped away every glimmer of happiness I'd found.

He walked up to me with a sharp toothed smile, eyes glimmering and hungry. In his hand, he held a torch. My eyes took to the fire more kindly than to his presence. I watched the flickering flames, hoping to lose myself in them so I wouldn't have to truly be here while he did whatever it was he had planned.

"Look at me!" he demanded, sharp nails digging into my cheeks as he forced me to meet his gaze. The fury there made me recoil with fear.

Come back. Find me again. Please! I begged inwardly.

Pitch snarled, as if sensing my thoughts. "You think they can save you? That they care about you?! They care about keeping themselves alive and nothing else! Look at me," he snapped again. I did not. "LOOK AT ME!" he screamed, putting the torch so close to my face that I could feel it singing my hair and even smell the burn. "You prefer the fire then? Then have it!" Pitch thrust the torch at my feet, my clothes immediately catching fire. The heat was unbearable and I screamed with terror, fighting to break free of my restraints.

"No, no, no!"

"Wake up, Alice!" Cold hands shook my shoulders roughly and I bolted awake, fearful eyes looking into worried icy blue. "Hey, it's okay," he assured. Jack's smile was far more reassuring than I'd given it credit.

"I'm s-sorry," I stuttered, trembling from the aftershocks of the nightmare. On the contrary, I was far from cold. I felt as if I was still on fire and my skin was flushed.

"No need to apologize," he told me, reaching a hand out to ruffle my hair. "That sounded like a bad one. Want to talk about it?" Immediately, I shook my head in denial. "Yeah, I probably wouldn't either." The pair of us fell quiet, but his presence was welcome. The cool proximity of his skin helped ease the feeling of the lingering fire.

What I couldn't comprehend was how this all worked. Had I fallen asleep again? Was I dead? I could no longer tell what was dream and what was real. It all felt jumbled together and frustrating. But I had to know. Even if it was part of a dream, I wanted to know. "Am I dreaming?"

He cocked his head, white hair falling across his eyes while his brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm as real as you are," he said. "Why would you think that?"

I didn't want to admit it. If this was a dream and Pitch was listening in, it would give him far too much power over me. Not like he didn't have enough as it was.

"Come on, you can tell me," Jack assured, his brows still lowered with growing concern.

Right when I felt my defenses slipping and nearly relented, I heard a commotion just outside my room. There was all manner of excitement that had the both of us staring at the door expectantly. Jack jutted his thumb towards the door, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Wanna go see what that's all about?" I nodded, hesitating for a moment when he offered his hand before taking it. It was cold and welcome, cooling down my feverish temperature.

Without the mound of blankets that my body was well-adjusted to, I found myself feeling far better as Jack led me out of the room. There was a hint of sun peeking through the frosted windows, filling the atrium with a jaded light. My feet slowed as we walked past huge flying toys, causing Jack to look back at me. Seeing what had my attention, he grinned. "We'll come back and play with them later if you want."

I fought back the smile, still uncertain if this was still a dream. I didn't want to get my hopes up. Hope was something I hadn't had in a very long time. But now was not the time for finding it. Something was amiss!

I heard the bellowing voice of an alarmed Yeti while elves were scattering about like mice underfoot. I quickened my stride to get closer to Jack, my grip on his hand tightening. "Don't worry!" he told me, his confident smile doing much to ease my growing anxiety. Spotting Bunnymund, Jack raised his free hand to get the rabbit's attention. "What's going on Cottontail?" he asked, peering around at the chaos.

Bunny turned, those large ears swiveling around first to catch the sound before the rest of him followed. His eyes glazed over me quickly before he gave his attention to Jack. I began to wonder if I'd ever done anything to offend him. "Just a few reindeer havin' a blue. Probably from all the lollies around here. Too much energy," he said. I took it he wasn't a fan of reindeer.

"May I see them?" I asked quietly.

"Them stinkin' Bitzers? Why would ya wanna do that?" Bunny demanded even as Jack replied, "Absolutely!" The pair shared an annoyed look for each other before the rabbit pushed off the wall and uncrossed his arms. "Do what ya like, little Sheila." He found somewhere else to be and I battled down my disappointment. I had a feeling he really didn't like me.

"Come on!" Jack urged. His excitement was infectious and I couldn't hide my smile anymore. I was going to see reindeer! Santa's reindeer!

The stables smelled thickly of animal. Immediately, I decided it was my most favorite place. It wasn't as quiet as I had expected, however. The reindeer weren't the docile creatures I'd been expecting. Instead, they were rutting stags ready to go a row. In fact, it looked like two already had. North stood between the pair while a Yeti fought to restrain one and Tooth, Sandman and a few elves tried to keep the other back. My eyes caught on the blood dripping down a foreleg of one and an abrasion on the muzzle of the other.

"Jack!" North called, spotting the pair of us. "Some help, if you please." The winter sprite dropped my hand to rush to assist. I stood there uncertainly, my bare feet rubbing against the hay on the floor. I didn't mind that it was dirty, but I worried if I should have found something to wear. Instead of standing there uselessly, I stepped forward to offer help. I was drawn right to the worst of the wounded and touched his brilliant hide. There was sweat from his exertion and his nostrils flared in response to the other stag's bellow of challenge.

"It's okay," I told the reindeer, as I'd been told so many times since I had been brought here. My voice was soft and quiet, causing the trumpeting reindeer to quiet to catch my words. North was finally able to get the other male away and with the help of the others, they secured him back in his stall. I leaned down, heedless of how easily the animal could have kicked my head and ended my life. Gingerly, my hand trailed down from his thick deltoid until I reached the gash along his lower front limb. "You were just angry he got you, huh?" I asked, unaware of all the eyes on me.

I looked to my side when an elf tugged on my pajama pants. He pointed to where two more were struggling to bring over a pail of clean water before handing me a cloth. I smiled and gave thanks before dipping the white cloth into the cold snow melt water. Wringing out the rag, I gently washed away the blood, circling closer to the wound in slow motions so as not to startle him. The stag lowered his head to sniff at my hair while I carefully cleaned the wound. I peered around to my side again when another elf came up with a tube labeled as triple antibiotic ointment and a roll of bandaging. Taking both, I quietly set to work while the others watched in silence. I enjoyed the quietness of the work as I could listen to the majestic animal breath and snort. When his leg was thoroughly wrapped, I gave the bandages a small tug to be certain they weren't too tight. I'd read of painful edemas in books caused by wrappings made too tight. While the book had been for small animals, I could only hope it worked the same. Satisfied, I stood to pet the reindeer's muzzle. It was softer than I imagined and I longed to run my cheek against it. But my work wasn't done yet. I had another patient.

With a clean rag, I approached the reindeer that had been returned to his stall. He leaned his head over the top of the door to sniff at my outstretched hand before deciding it wasn't interesting enough to nibble. As gently as I had with the other, I cleaned his wound before dabbing a little bit of the ointment on his abrasion. "You shouldn't fight," I told him. "You're on a team."

The work complete, I looked to the Guardians. Each had an expression of awe save for Sandman. He only smiled as if he knew what it meant to me to help the animals, even in such a small way. "That was amazing!" Tooth cheered, Baby Tooth squealing near my ear in congratulations. "Weren't you afraid?" she asked.

"There are worse things," I murmured, instantly regretting it when they fell quiet.

Sandman was the first to recover and floated over to me. On a small golden sandy cloud, he rose high enough to wrap his small arms around my neck in a hug. I returned it with all my heart. He knew of dreams. He knew mine. Even if I hadn't dreamed while I slept, I was able to live it. That was better.