Chapter Forty-three- Story time!

"Long story." Jack panted. "Is he okay?"

"A lot better now, mates." Bunny assured. They all gathered in and, satisfied that Sandy was indeed breathing they let North and Bunny patch them up before settling in and waiting to make sure he was alright and trying to get some sleep before going for cleanup.

"So, what happened?" North asked, unable to take it. They were too funny to look at when you got past the bumps, lumps and bruises.

"Well, I made us some cover, and Jamie and Jack made some of those ice birds and we drew him out. He didn't come in one piece, luckily, and we held them off while James changed them back to dream sand." Jessica offered, kicking off the story time circle, but at a whisper.

"Yeah, it was really cool." Jamie admitted.

"Well done, love." Bunny praised quietly, he was sure only she had heard it. The way they were gathered they had scooted the various moveable fold-out chairs in a semicircle by Sandy's bed to talk and they were sharing a love seat. No one had the leftover attention to notice and if they did they kept quiet. There would be plenty of time to deal with that later.

"Alright, then why do you look like you were in paintball gun fight?" North asked, having no choice but to find humor in this. He had to admit that it was funny.

"We're getting there." Jessica insisted. North held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"It had been a while, and we were getting tired and your egg popped up." Jamie offered.

"Yeah, I was the one that sent the message." Jack offered and Jamie snickered.

"He almost got knocked out when he saw it." Jamie explained.

"Hey." Jack grumbled with a little half-hearted glare that held playful betrayal.

"Well he's right, Jack." James chimed in. There were plenty of agreeing nods. Jack just sat back and rolled his eyes.

"Well if anyone cares, the egg took me through the warren for supplies."

"So that's where you got those!" Tooth chimed in.

"Yeah, emergency egg-bombs." Jack chuckled.

"How did that backfire?" Bunny snorted.

"How do you think?" Jack sassed. "when the bigger ones started to come after us I started using them. I tried to keep them aimed away from friendlies, but you know things happen." Jack shrugged. "Mostly got myself anyway."

"I can see that." North chuckled. "Must be why all the scrapes." He guessed.

"Knocked himself outta the sky." Jamie supplied readily. That got everyone giggling enough that Sandy woke up. All he really got from waking up was a blurry approximation of his friends and a bit of lightheadedness as his vision swam. He tried to breathe, maybe a little more air would help clear up his mind, but all that really did was remind him that his ribs weren't in a condition to handle that.

Luckily for him they didn't really notice, as he hadn't moved much and he couldn't really make much noise. He hated when they were fussing over him, he'd never needed that kind of care in his immortal life. He had been on good terms to most people when he had been chosen and by the time he had to fight anyone he had been fairly adept at defending himself. As his head cleared he couldn't help feeling like something else was wrong. Sure he was hurt and exhausted and probably drained to an extent he didn't care to think of, but that wasn't what got his heart pumping.

He couldn't feel his center, and that's what got him worried.

"It happens, sweetie." Jessica half-teased.

"Well, what then?" Bunny asked, trying to help his baby brother out at least once, so he could never say he didn't try.

"Well, all the chaos must've caught the attention of some of Jamie's friends. Given that one of them had a basketball, I'd assume that would be a pickup game." James offered, eyes went wide, including Sandy who had finally managed enough energy to pay attention.

"They could see ya?" Bunny asked in shock. North and Bunny were leaning forward at this point. It was a shocker.

"Well they were talking to us, so I'd say that's a yes." Jamie chuckled. "They're gonna meet us at the lake when we get everything sorted out."

"This is wonderful news!" North's booming voice had grown back to its original volume which drew everyone's eyes to Sandy to see if he had been roused by the noise. They found him, eyes wide and looking a bit stunned.

Crap, they know He hadn't planned on letting them know he was awake, but there they were all looking at him. He broke into an apologetic smile three seconds before Tooth began smothering him with her own special brand of mother-like worry. Normally he would give her a friendly but dry, unimpressed look that would get her off his case.

No dice today. She was too worried about the wrapping on his ribs and the severe lack of movement he had. He was wiped, so he really couldn't follow her either. Everything blurred into a buzzing noise he couldn't make sense of.

He started getting lightheaded trying to track her so he missed Bunny pulling her back and calming her. He blinked a few times and evidently passed out because everyone had sat back down.

"Don't worry, they'll understand! If nothing else they trust me, and that should be enough." Jamie assured. He's worried they'll hate him. Sandy put together sympathetically as he drifted back off.

"Of course, Jamie's right, don't worry about it. You'll have a great time with them when everything's over. We've just gotta go back in rested and take care of the rest of that magic, then Sandy'll be fine and we can all go meet with them." Jack offered. There was a lot of nodding and Sandy closed his eyes again, wiped.

I hope you're right. I really do. He thought as he finally fell into a peaceful sleep again. A dreamless, restful sleep.

"He's been drifting in and out, you know." Jack offered suddenly, frowning in Sandy's general direction in one of the only legitimately, maturely concerned ways they had ever seen from him.

"He'll be okay, mate." Bunny assured which drew Jack's eyes to his.

"He looks so…I don't know…restless." Jack thought out loud to the pooka. "He's never like this. He's been in and out, and that just…" He pinched the bridge of his nose and it became increasingly clear how worried the boy was.

Bunny wasn't about to dismiss his worry either, as Jack was closer to Sandy than any of them, and the boy's instincts were rarely off.

"I know, mate, but until we take care of Boogey's leftovers we can't do much more for him." Bunny reminded.

"I know." Jack agreed uncharacteristically quietly and quickly.

"Come on, let's all get some sleep and then we can take care of this problem." North suggested to fill the silence. Bunny stood and brought Jessica with him, flipping out their loveseat into a bed. Everyone started doing the same thing and North excused himself to get heaps of extra blankets and pillows, and everyone bedded down for the night.

"Don't worry Sandy, we'll figure this out." Jack whispered as he curled up to sleep. "We'll bring back dreams."

Sandy was having an interesting experience, but that message got through.

'Where am I?' He was walking around in a vast expanse of nothingness. He was still dimly aware of his body aching and his head swimming in the waking world. 'I know a dream when I see one, but this…this isn't…maybe it is a dream. How can that be, though? Aren't I dreams?' He pondered as he walked around, trying to find anything to latch onto.

Somewhere in the distance, a light was glowing. It was so warm, so welcoming.

'Alright, I'm not stupid. I think I'll just go this way.' He said to himself as he spun on his heel, heading in the opposite direction. Soon he found himself wondering once more why he was there.

As he walked he found himself inexplicably pulled in one direction or another when something occurred to him.

'Maybe…I can connect this like a dream.' He mused, sitting down and finding that there was a bench of some sort underneath him. 'Where'd…eh who cares.' He closed his eyes and found, disturbingly, that there was no difference to be found. He searched the empty space for any sign of any other form's consciousness and only found one.

His head started to feel like it was being ripped apart. He stopped and shook it.

'Come on, come on you can do this.' He scolded himself. He found that the other consciousness was Jack.

"Sandy?" that voice was heaven. He tried to test the dreamlike state by calling out but nothing happened. He waved his hands over his head and found a small blue dot off in the distance. It started moving toward him. "Sandy! Is this a shared dream?" He called. Once again he tried to call out but got nowhere, having to wait for Jack to get close. When he did, he started to sign with his hands, not wanting to manipulate more of his magic here.

'I don't think we can call it a dream.' He insisted.

"Are you okay?" Jack was suddenly very concerned where he had been happy to see him a moment ago.

'I'll be fine, just the weird effects of-' He stopped signing when Jack straight out gave him a look that screamed "bullshit".

"Sandy?" He drew the name out.

'It's…it's my center.' He admitted. 'My magic and my center are very connected and…' He didn't want to finish that thought so Jack did it for him.

"They were…breaking off from your core, weren't they? That's how they drained you." Jack guessed and Sandy nodded.

'My lights are all dying out, and unless someone starts spreading dreams soon I don't think I'll be able to recover. What you're going to do, it's important, it needs done but…'

"But if we take too long it'll kill you." Jack finished.

'In all likeliness.' He admitted.

"So…you can't dream?" He asked sympathetically.

'No, the drain is making everything going wrong a bit distracting, and my magic being gone…' Sandy really wasn't sure what to say, how to explain it.

"Maybe James can teach one of us to spread the magic, or…or the Burgess kids, they still believe! We can get them to change the last of the magic while James spreads your dreams! Would that work?" He asked excitedly. Sandy nodded, trying to look enthused but he just couldn't get excited. Jack was right, of course, but he was wiped.

Everything hurt.

"Hey, you-woah." Jack had sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, the moment it hit Sandy glowed bright gold. That wasn't the most impressive thing that happened though.

The whole room flashed a dream-like environment. A forest, like the one by Jack's lake. He put his hand back and the image held. They were sitting on a log and Sandy looked both relieved, and incredibly confused.

"What happened?" Jack asked in quiet awe.

'My guess is that you're sharing your energy with me.'

"Wouldn't that help recharge you?" He asked.

'Well, when you break contact it goes away, so…'

"That's a no then." Jack sighed. "Hey, maybe that'll add some restfulness and you'll feel a little better." Jack offered and Sandy had to smile. He shrugged.

'Better than any idea I have.' He offered and the forest floor softened under them, creating a cushioned pile of moss and grass which they leaned back on.

"Nice first date, huh Sandy?" Jack teased, Sandy nudged him back and couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up in him. Before he had the chance to really say/do anything else he was fast asleep. Dreaming.

'Dream inside a dream…that's a new one.' He mused as he let the relaxing scenarios play out uninterrupted.

Thanks for the reviews and follows/favorites everyone! I love the feedback and reviews tend to make me smile a lot. Here's the next instalment of craziness and the next will be right behind it! Thanks, y'all are wonderful!