Chapter Forty-two- Divide and Conquer

The moment they made it through the portal to the Pole Sandy lost all control of his stomach and wretched. Bunny was fortunate enough to remember that could be a side effect and had made straight for the garbage and narrowly avoided getting upchucked on.

Thanks, I'd hate to repay you by covering you in dream-barf. He made a mental note to chuckle at that thought later. The next place he found himself was curled up in one of the many medical rooms at the pole on a soft bed, with pillows and plush blankets propping him up while Bunny fussed over him.

"We need to check joints and make sure we're right before we try fixing anything. North, can you bring me that miniature xray?" He asked while finding pain medicine in a cabinet.

"I knew this would be handy sooner or later!" North couldn't help it, he loved when he invented something helpful.

Yeah, but why do I need to be the one that tests it?! No offense but you have a pretty crappy track-record with first-time trials of your tinkering. I'd like to keep my bones where they are, thanks. Sandy's mind went wild with all the ways that could backfire and Bunny chuckled. It was only then that Sandy realized he must look worried.

"I think Sandy's a bit skeptical." Bunny pointed out lightly. Sandy rolled his eyes and gave Bunny a 'you don't say' look.

"Relax, Sandy. I tested it on myself, it works fine." North assured, trying not to chuckle at the skeptical, worried look he was getting. Yeah, you have padding, I'm a lot smaller. Ow! Hey, that was a nerve. He grumped in his own mind playfully when Bunny jabbed him with a painkiller. He caught the face that earned.

"Sorry mate, nerve?" He asked. Sandy nodded. "Sorry." He persisted, ears dropping back a bit. "Let's see what's wrong here…"

Now, when magical painkillers are involved, they work fast. Almost instantaneously, and they were strong. Sandy was drifting off rather than passing out until Bunny started talking.

"Okay, so don't get me wrong, there's no way you wouldn't be black and blue if you weren't bright gold, but I only see one break and that's a rib." Bunny offered, then he started thinking out loud. "I can pop ya back into place, and bind that rib, but you're still gonna be out for a while. We need ya to not channel Jack and just take a whole lot of naps." Bunny warned.

Come on, I'm not that bad. He mentally insisted.

"And don't even give me that look, you'd give him a run for his money." Sandy just sighed. When he was right, he was right.

"Alright, should he be asleep when he does this?" North asked from where he had been preparing a healing potion/medicine hybrid.

"No, not yet. Sorry Sandy, but I need your reactions to make sure I'm not doing anything harmful." He offered. "Will all the painkillers in your system if somethin' I do hurts I need to know." Sandy nodded his understanding. He couldn't help the nausea bubbling up in his stomach at the thought of what that would feel like.

To North and Bunny's eyes he actually changed colors. Yes, the Sandman actually turned green. Literally. His face actually took on that slight tint and Bunny and North just shared a look of mutual pity. This was going to stink.

When James found his opening he gathered up all his energy and did his best to feign his death in the "eyes" of the possessed mortals and that energy swirling and doing its best to form. It worked and he sprinted out the door and collapsed on the ground as soon as he made it to where the others had been waiting.

"Did you get him?" Tooth and Jessica floated up in almost identical excitement with flipped colors.

"Yeah, North and Bunny took him to the Pole. We need to stop them. They used Sandy's magic. He needs it back. How he's usually bright, creates his own light? Its dimmed. We need to get his magic back to normal or he'll have trouble getting himself back to normal." He offered staring up at the sky and trying to catch his breath.

"So, plan?" Jack asked casually as he swung his staff over his shoulder. He sat beside James and smacked his shoulder in the classic 'good game' type way and it cooled the overheated spirit immediately.

"Well, we have some options, thanks Jack." Said winter spirit nodded his appreciation. "Whatever we do it needs to be quick. We distracted him, it's gonna take him another minute or two but we need to get it done fast. We could draw bits of him out here and I can take them out here, someone could stay and watch my back. Or we could all run in there and try to collapse the place and I can then focus on converting him all at once." He offered, pushing up and sitting there, not bothering to stand back up yet.

"Um…I like the first one better." Jack offered.

"Yeah…" Tooth drew out, if they weren't mistaken she was a bit pale. "Agreed."

"Okay, maybe…maybe none of us need to go back in. Maybe Jessica, your magic could fool them. You might be able to draw them out by sending a trail of raw magic." James mused.

"Or, or those ice birds you made!" Jack offered, motioning Jamie's way.

"That would be even better!" James agreed, standing back up. "But we need to be semi-hidden."

"Oh, I think I can help." Jessica offered in a semi-cocky way that just made Jamie and Jack's heads tilt in confusion. She was never that way!

"Oh?" James asked, raising an eyebrow in friendly challenge. Shrubs and trees started to shoot up in hunting-stand type structures. The four stopped and just stared at her for a second.

"Okay then." James nodded. "Let's do this."

Back at the pole North was sitting in a big squishy chair with a sketchpad and Bunny was double-checking for bone fractures while Sandy did what he tended to do best; sleep. The really sad part was how any time he took a particularly big breath he'd wake partway up because of that rib.

He looked a little confused this time, like he didn't remember how he had got there or what had happened, which wasn't far from the truth. He blinked up at Bunny with his little vial with a frown. He was so sleepy and drugged up that he couldn't place what exactly had happened. Why does he have medicine? Why does my chest hurt? How'd I get here? There was…there were things walking around and…darkness, and… He tried to work through it but his thoughts were sluggish and he was only confusing himself.

"Go back to sleep, mate." Bunny said soothingly, giving his head a pat in a friendly way that held the expectation that he'd never get the chance again. Sandy just gave him his best 'question mark' look. "Just, trust me okay? Just go back to sleep, you'll feel better later." He urged.

Evidently that did it because he slipped back under.

"Is he alright?" North asked, not really knowing how they were going to diagnose him with his different anatomy and makeup. Bunny sighed and ran his paw over his ears as he set the vial down.

"I don't know, mate. We're just gonna have to wait and see." He offered as he sat in the chair beside him. "Maybe when he wakes up we can get him a pen and paper until he's rested and his magic works."

"Is good idea." North nodded. "I will go get one so we have it." He offered, sitting his sketch down in his chair. Bunny nodded and settled in, pulling out a brush and an egg.

As he sat he saw something out of the corner of his eye. When he looked up he swore he saw Sandy brighten up a shade or two. He rubbed his eyes, he was going nuts.

Then it happened again, and again.

North walked back in and caught Bunny's expression.

"What, what is it?" He asked quickly. Bunny nodded to the brightening Sandy. It was like someone turning on those old-school industrial lights that takes forever to turn back on.

"They're winning." Bunny grinned.

"Should one of us go check?" North threw out.

"I'll send an egg to check, we could really mess them up by dropping in." North nodded.

"Good idea."

When the egg showed up Jack lost concentration and almost got knocked out of the air. He quickly scooped it up and sent a message back.

"Bunny, North, everything's fine now, but if this keeps up we'll need some help. James can't keep this up." The message didn't exactly reassure them but it also didn't scare them too much.

"I'm assuming that means sit tight and if we aren't back in an hour, send help." Bunny guessed.

"Well…at least there is good odds." Bunny sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot recently. It seemed like it was because he was unsure but it was really because of North's english at the moment. He was better at it than that, and sometimes it just killed him. Everyone had their moments with North's silly language slip-ups, and that was confusing, but that wasn't what he needed to be focused on at the moment.

"Yeah, they've got this." He offered.

They waited what felt like way too long before they heard sounds in the workshop, loud destructive sounds.

"The cavalry's back." Bunny commented, standing up to meet them. They were behind the actual main medical area (lots of yeti to take care of, they had lots of space) and they might get a little lost.

North waited and didn't quite know what to make of it when he heard Bunny in the hall;

"What on earth happened to you?"

Alright, next chapter's in the works, wanted to get this out to ya! I promise this'll come together, don't worry!