Homesick Nightmares

[Jacket]

They kept falling deeper in the hole and felt like there was no end. This dream sense like it could never end which made Jacket think was this it? A dream that he can't wake up to and must relive it over and over and over again? Also, he barely knew these people that tried to save him. Jacket could tell their real just like him but they must've been unfortunate dreamers trapped in the same realm as he was. Wind brush under his body as he continued to fall. The other two appeared to be above him and were falling still.

Jacket blinked a couple of times still seeing the same scene but can hear a faint voice calling out to him.

"Hello? Excuse me… are you on earth man?" said the faint voice that Jacket could recall familiar.

"Hey, what's the matter with you?" said the same voice which began to sound louder than before.

"Wake up man!" yelled the voice one more time at Jacket.

The dreamer opened his eyes once more but in a quick motion and noticed that he was standing in a convenience store that he usually shopped at back in his old life. Jacket was standing in front of the counter that the cashier who was his bearded friend.

"Christ, looks like you haven't slept in days. What's been bothering you lately? You still can't get over the breaking up with your ex?" questioned the bearded clerk concerned for his friend.

A moment of silence fell upon the two in the store who were the only ones in the building.

"Listen, you need to stand up and be encouraged again. You can't just let yourself be beaten up all the time. You need to find your fighting spirit and not focus on the past. I know you can be confident about who you are. That kind of attitude could've gotten us killed back in Hawaii. Look how far we've come. We can't just stop now about one thing we worry about. Don't let someone or something control your own life. Cheer up man, you'll get better." encouraged the bearded clerk for his friend.

He was right, nobody can control his life and bound him. After all, he was still a human being who had feelings.

"Don't worry about it. It's on the house…" said the bearded clerk in a positive attitude.

After those words, Jacket blacked out for a minute then opened his eyes noticing he was back in the nightmare of the astral verse. His body was laying on the ground next to the sage prime who was trying to make sure that Jacket didn't die. He saw that he had the mask off after they've fallen. Jacket still had his rooster mask on after the fall but before the sage was about to take it off and check if he was alive, the masked prime grabbed his hand to let him know that he isn't dead yet.

This did give the sage a little relief knowing that the dreamer wasn't killed. He helped Jacket to get back up on his feet. As he stood up, Jacke could see that they were engulfed in total darkness but he seen that Renji was trying to fight off a big and fat disgusting monster which the body consisted of fused bodies from the other masked nightmarish killers seen in the city, undead Russian mobsters from 1989 Miami, and undead orc mobsters from Coruscant. The monster had a wide mouth filled with deformed human teeth and fangs. Green glowed from the eyes that were awkwardly placed having one up higher than the other. Its height was about the size of a two-story building.

The thing screamed in frustration while Renji was trying to fight it off with his powers. Eight black tentacles came out from the monster as its weapons. Suddenly, the sky became purple mixed with darkness and showing the Haunter's eyes and mouth took up the horizon. His laughter boomed across the land about their doom.