Chapter Twenty-five- Dreams are Memories too
He didn't really move, but he did let out a breath that sounded painful. Had he been holding it? Sandy started flashing images above his head that no one caught…but James. He had used dream-sand, and nightmare sand but that wasn't important at the moment. Through that he could honestly say it was like normal speech to him.
"It's…fine, Sandy." He murmured with a ghost of a chuckle. Sandy split a huge smile at his comprehension.
"Hey, I'm not the only one!" Jack whooped semi-teasingly. Sandy shook his head as he laughed, leaning on the side of the bed and resting his face in one of his hands. Oh Moon, here we go.
The mood instantly lightened leaving everyone with a smile at worst, and laughing hysterically at best. Sandy and Jack fit snugly in that category, leaving Bunny floundering in the middle trying not to chuckle leaving North and Tooth in the dust. If it wouldn't have been painful, James would have joined the two pranksters in their mirth.
"You weren't before." Bunny pointed out.
"Yeah, but you guys took so long to figure it out." Jack defended. Sandy nodded to him, indicating that he agreed. Jack had a valid point.
"We do well most times." North jokingly defended.
"Not from…what…I've seen." James grinned, having recovered a bit. He tried to squirm into a somewhat sitting position and was met with a 'stay put' look from Sandy. He leveled a challenging look at the little golden man. He wasn't going to back down.
The others weren't too keen on stepping in, they watched the battle of wills for a moment before Sandy won and James let himself fall back down with a grunt and a slight indignant huff.
Sandy flashed a few symbols indicating that he just needed to give it some time. He nodded, not really wanting to argue with the dream-maker. Sandy didn't really give him an option, to be fair. He just knocked him out and turned back to the others. Remembering the horrible dreams he had been stuck in, he had heaped on the golden sand until an image formed over his head. As he was quietly shooing them from the room Jack stopped dead and looked over Sandy's head in awe.
"Woah." He whispered in wonder.
Sandy flashed a question mark which, as he was still firmly planted on the floor, didn't even make it to Jack's peripheral vision but Jack knew he would be curious. He nodded to James' sleeping form.
It was a beautiful, intricate scene in which James was…dancing? There was a young woman that reminded Jack a whole lot of his mother, although she quite obviously was not, and they looked so happy. The woman's golden dress swirled around delicately as they waltzed and as Jack and Sandy watched, the others having left already, a little girl ran through the crowd in a little golden dress, curly hair bouncing.
The golden image of James and the woman turned, laughing as James scooped her up and swung her through the air.
"His life." Jack guessed, awestruck. He looked down to Sandy who was as shocked as he was, but also smiling so wide it had to hurt. Sandy nodded, confirming the question Jack hadn't really asked. They backed out of the room as the image swirled to James sitting with the little girl on his lap, bouncing excitedly.
"What kept you, slowpokes?" North teased.
"Just a really awesome dream, it was about his family, we think." Jack offered casually, swinging his staff over his shoulder as he walked up to the three curious guardians.
"Oh?" Tooth asked, instantly a thousand times more interested now that memories were involved. Jack chuckled with Sandy.
"You can ask him all about it later, Tooth. Right now, I'm due to make a few snowstorms and I think we should check for leftover magic from Boogey." He offered questioningly, glancing to Sandy for confirmation. Sandy nodded, making an image of the Bennett family appear.
"Yeah, I'll check on them too, just to be safe." Jack offered.
"Be careful, we don't know what's still out there." North cautioned as Jack took off out the workshop window. Tooth's wings picked up their speed.
"I should go too, I'll be back to check up later." She smiled sweetly, clearly still worried but less so. As she fluttered off Sandy followed, tipping a sand-fedora as he did.
"Go on back to your work mate, I'll wait in case somethin' goes wrong." Bunny offered, settling down in an armchair outside the expansive medical wing having selected a book from a nearby shelf. North nodded and headed off through the shop. Bunny's sensitive ears could hear him yelling orders merrily all the way back to his personal workshop where toys made of ice would start taking life. Every now and then he could hear James turning in his sleep, or the faint sound of North's chainsaw as he made blanks.
The small living-room type space was cozy enough that Bunny found himself drifting off, losing interest in the novel he had selected. His tired eyes wandered from the intricate fireplace to the high wooden ceilings, the plush red carpet, the intricately carved thick wooden end and coffee tables, the plush recliners and sofas. North really knew comfort, he would hand it to him. As he curled up in the oversized armchair his thoughts drifted to the Bennett family, and his memories.
As they had worked through the whole Boogey incident he had slowly recovered memories of the time they had spent with Jack and Jessica. He suspected the same was true of the others, although they probably wouldn't be discussing it soon. He couldn't help being impressed with Jack and how, with a meager few extra years of maturity, he had taken care of the four of them. The false memories he had been given were there too, but obviously fake now that things were normal.
With the thought in mind that those false memories had to have been believable it was astonishing how much Jack had sacrificed for them. Even when the memories turned real he had gone out of his way to make them happy. As he finally drifted off he had one more lucid thought; If anyone tried to tell him Jack wasn't a guardian ever again he would likely laugh in their face.
Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! Y'all make my day! Here's another short update because quite frankly this writing is what's keeping me sane becauseclasses are hitting me like a mac-truck. Let me know what y'all think and as always thank you! ^.^