I do not own RoTG or GoC. Potential Spoilers for the last book.

It is rare for Jack to dream. Most often, there is far too much to do. People to watch, games to play, snacks to be stolen...

But every now and again, Sleep beckons, and Jack dreams. His dreams are strange, and often wondrous things that fill him with a hundred possibilities, and many more ideas for games and fun.

This dream is not like those. In some ways, it is more of a memory. But there is all strangeness to it, and he is almost certain that it has never happened. But it pulls somewhere at him, and it makes his heart ache badly with the what – if of it all.

He is content, and happy now with the life that he has. And he would not trade it for the world. He likes teasing Sascha and William-the-Youngest (now no longer the absolute youngest), and playing with their children. Likes tracking down Petter and Fog, and seeing what new thing that they have dreamed up for North.

He likes seeing Bear, now the supreme commander of North's Most Royal Polar Company, and joining him for his exercises. Likes dropping in on Ombric unexpectedly, and seeing when the wizard has gotten himself up to this time.

Would it be better, he wonders, if his life was more like the dream? To know clearly of his past, and be closer to his friends? To Katherine? To trade one adopted family for another? To have certain victory over Pitch, and lose all that he has attained in the here-and-now?

It's hard to say for absolute certain, if one or the other would be better. But as far as Jack is concerned, the way that things have turned out right now is pretty good.

He forgets his dream almost as swiftly as it came. There are games to play, and foes to face. And all the time in the world to do it.

I've got some mixed feeling about the last book, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, there's a lot that I liked. On the other hand, I'm severely disappointed with it. It'll take some time to sort out my feelings on it.

From this point onwards, I'll be embracing the Alternate Universe nature of my story. To try to mesh back with canon at this point would be, I think, to ignore how the story has evolved, and do it a disservice.

If you have any ideas for chapters, please let me know in the reviews. From this point onwards (and to give myself a kick in the pants and do some more writing) I'll be taking chapter prompts, and will do my best to write what you all send me.

Let's see where this story takes us.