A Cure for Hiccups

Chapter 10: Dream

"I have no hopes! This dream you sent is what killed my soul and made me what I now am! DEATH, I say, to who made me thus!" (Joyce, William. The Sandman and the War of Dreams. Atheneum Books, 2013.)

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Sandman sighed, he tried to explain how his dreamlines work to Pitch but it was difficult. Pitch couldn't understand with only his pictures and sign language. He didn't grasp the concept. It also didn't help that his hiccups would break his visual aids.

That's when a lightbulb popped above his head.

Pitch looked down at Sandman. "What are you thinking?" Sandman rubbed his hands together, forming something out of his dreamsand. Pitch raised an eyebrow, he was standing close to Sandman's bed, but a good distance away. Sandman had one power–dreamsand–and though it might not seem that power, he wasn't the first guardian of nothing. Sandman grinned at Pitch before he threw a ball of pure dreamsand at the Nightmare King. Before Pitch could react and get away it hit him straight in the face. The great Boogeyman was brought to his knees as he gracefully fell asleep on the floor. Sandman quickly made a dreamline and connected it to Pitch. If the man wanted to know how they worked then being connected to one might help him understand, Sandman reasoned.

Dreamlines were like a telephone line. It sent information to and through, from Sandman and to the dreamer. Though Sandman didn't really need the information because if he wanted he could hear and see everyone's dreams, but sometimes when Pitch would mess with someone's dreams, the dreamline would make it easier to pinpoint who's dream he made into a nightmare.

Sandman hopped off of his bed and walked over to the black figure on the floor. His eyes were closed and they looked almost peaceful. Sandman could only make good dreams, unlike Pitch who made corrupted dreams. What amassed Sandman was the dream that Pitch was dreaming. It was a young girl, though her long hair blocked her face as it wiped in invisible wind. Her mouth was open and it looked as if she was crying out of help or someone's name. Sandman recognised that this was what Pitch was telling him earlier. But there was more to the story. The wind turned into a dark figure and Sandman watched in horror as part of the dreamsand turned balck. It included the little girl and the monstrous wolf-like being stared at him with glowing eyes.

"Hicc!" It scared Sandman so much that the hiccup was more like a sharp intake of breath. The dreamline was cut and Pitch would soon wake-up. Sandman didn't bother reconnecting it, this was more serious than he first expected. Fear was corrupting Pitch's dreams and it seemed that he didn't have any control over it. If he didn't have control over his own nightmares then what else didn't he have control over?

Sandman waited for Pitch Black to awake. This got him thinking of his past. Before he crashed landed on Earth. Back when he was a star pilot. Back when he met the shooting star. There was a hero who looked just like Pitch; his daughter was the shooting star.