The Greatest Fear of the Nightmare King

Chapter 14

Light. This blinding, white light is everywhere I look. It doesn't hurt my eyes as much as I thought it would. It's warm glow is like that of the Guardians and their believers. How repulsive. Everything is forced to be revealed in a light like this. There's nowhere for my shadows to hide. I don't even have a shadow. This place is so empty.

Is this it? There's nothing in my subconscious mind about my past, instead just white empty space? That's very encouraging. I'm sure Jack will be just thrilled to find out that his last hope for saving the children rides on a revelation that doesn't exist. As I thought, I had simply been imagining things when I thought that girl's face looked familiar.

"That's not true. You never thought that you were imagining things. You knew it was important, but you were just afraid." 

Who does she think she is? Of course I'm afraid. I'm always afraid. Who would I be without fear? Certainly not Pitch Black. Whomever it was that spoke doesn't seem to have a body. She sounded young and...familiar. Just to make sure, I glace around myself to check that there isn't anyone there. Just white. Useless.

"I assume you're the girl I keep in my locket?" I speak up.

No response.

I begin to walk in whichever direction I'm facing, not caring very much about my destination. "We both know why I'm here. Show me the memories and get it over with, now." I look up and around me, hoping that the sand will recognize my commands. Nothing really changes very much, but there's a blurry image in the distance. A...body. ...Is that Jack? I thought I saved him from those disgusting men, did I not? I'm sure I did. He should be alright... what is he doing lying around in my subconscious?

Well, I suppose enough time spent with him would do it. I shouldn't be so surprised at that. I also shouldn't be surprised that the particular image my mind chooses to show me is his bloody corpse lying on the ground. Getting closer to the form, It's certainly a lot more disturbing than I would have imagined. Jack is someone whom I can relate to on some level somewhere, but mostly he just makes me want to strangle him, so it's odd that I feel distraught at seeing it. Then again, dreams, especially nightmares, intensify every emotion you feel. That would better explain why I feel like I can't move. That has to explain why I suddenly feel so terrified at the prospect of losing his presence.

There's not other explanation. I kneel down to get a better look. I know I could make him disappear if I disregarded him and mentally threw him away or something, but something is preventing me from doing that.

His bloody face is pissing me off. Jack's body was a corpse even before it had blood all over it and he was just fine then, so he should be just fine now. He's already dead, he shouldn't even be bleeding in the first place.

Jack's snow white hair is turning not-so-snow-white. Its regaining color, turning brown, and his cheeks are turning pink like he's been in the cold for too long. He's human. He's so vulnerable and weak. If he would just open his eyes, it would be so easy to scare him out of his wits, but he won't open them. He's gone. Jack isn't even in there anymore. Why do I care so much? I shouldn't be caring about this. Jack Frost is a brat that I do not care about. I could betray him any second and I wouldn't even feel guilty about it. I don't care about him.