Work Text:
It’s around 2am at the Celestial house, everyone (well the kids most definitely) are asleep.
Jack was sleeping like a rock, but he was shifting around a lot. His brows (or forehead ig) furrowed.
~in the dream~
Jack was standing in a black void, alone. He called out.
“Dad?….. Sun?…. Moon?….. anyone here?”
Jack then spotted Solar standing in the distance, back turned to him. Jack was relieved and he ran towards him, he hugged Solar’s waist tightly.
“Dad! Glad you’re here” Relieved that he wasn’t alone anymore. But he was confused by why Solar wasn’t facing him.
“I never should have made you. it’s all your fault.” Solar said coldly, Jack’s eyes widened, he let go of Solar and stepped away. He pulled his hands closer to his chest and he rubbed the back of them nervously, something he did on the daily basis when he got nervous or anxious.
“W-what? D-Dad what do…what do you mea-“
”It’s your fault he’s dead, Jack. If you weren’t so incompetent in getting rid of the overseer the moment he got there, then Molten wouldn’t be dead.” Solar turned around, face blacked out and glitched. Jack stepped back, more hunched over and on guard, his eyes watering.
“N-no I—….”
Solar irrupted Jack mid sentence
”IT’S YOUR FAULT JACK!! IF MOLTEN DIDN’T HAVE TO PROTECT YOU THEN HE WOULDN’T HAVE DIED!!” Solar yelled, fists clenched, he stayed put though. Jack was trembling, he looked down at his hands with clouded eyes. He’s never been this…scared.
Around him, he heard the voices of his family. Moon, Dazzle, Cosmos, Terra, Monty, and even Molten himself, they repeated the same thing “we hate you”, “it’s your fault”, “you should do us a favor and just die”.
Jack clenched his eyes shut, he trembled and sobbed as he fell to his knees, gripping his face plate. He felt someone standing over himself so he opened his eyes and looked up. It was Molten, his face was shadowy and glitching.
“You’re the reason for my death. It’s. All. Your. Fault.”
”I’M SORRY MOLTEN!!!”
Jack screamed in agony, clenching his head tightly, the voices surrounding him, getting louder and louder. He screamed again until he jolted himself out of it.
Jack opened his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks, he trembled like he was freezing, drenched in a cold sweat. He sat up and curled up against the wall at the top of his bed, he gripped at Solar’s hoodie.
~meanwhile~
Solar jolted awake to Jack’s first scream, he scrambled out of bed and bursted out of his bedroom. He sprinted out of his room in his nightmare before Christmas pjs Jack gave him. Moon heard Jack’s scream from the kitchen, he stopped eating his midnight snack and he went up the stairs shortly after Solar.
Sun had heard Jack’s screams and immediately woke up, he got out of bed in his pink hello kitty pjs, not even pulling his sleep mask off. He left his room in a sprint while pulling his sleep mask off. He got to Jack’s room first since he was the closest.
Sun opened the door and went inside, Moon and Solar followed in.
“Jack!? What happened?” Solar yelled in concern, he saw Jack curled up against the wall shaking. He moved towards him, hand stretched out to comfort him. Jack looked up and curled up more in on himself. “Jack?”
Moon moved closer, he crouched down next to the bed, trying to coax Jack to talk. “Hey Jack, what’s wrong? We heard you scream, are you hurt?” Moon whispered. TJ and Dazzle were still asleep, thankfully. They wouldn’t go back to sleep knowing Jack was hurting.
Jack shook his head no, he was still shaking and crying. “No stop! Don’t come any closer!” Jack cried, he had pulled his knees up to his face. Sun’s father instincts were on high alert, he moved closer to the bed and sat down on the edge, putting one leg up onto the bed, all their faces filled with deeper concern.
“Hey Jack” Sun said in a hushed voice, low but soothing. Jack looked up, teary eyed. He hesitated for a second before he crawled over and hugged him. Sun was taken aback by the sudden hug but the feeling pasted quickly as he reciprocated the hug. Jack instantly fell apart, he trembled like a broken washing machine doing laundry.
Sun shifted their position so he was holding Jack more comfortably and not this weird side hug. He gently pulled him to sit on his lap, he rubbed his back to calm him down.
“Shh, you’re safe Jack. It’s gonna be okay, you’re safe with me Jack. I promise.” Sun whispered softly.
Jack had let every emotion out from the nightmare, he didn’t want to see Moon or his dad. Not after everything they told him in the nightmare. It might’ve not been real, doesn’t mean it didn’t sting. But Sun wasn’t there, he didn’t hate him. Didn’t want him dead. So he’d seek out his comfort.
Solar stood at the side, lost. He was lost, he was more lost than when he was finding the overseer. Why didn’t Jack let him go closer? Why didn’t he let Moon come closer? Why was his own son seeking comfort from his own uncle instead of him? These questions were swirling around in his mind continuously. He watched Sun slowly calm down Jack, Jack’s sobs slowed to sniffles and the trembling ceased.
Even after Sun had calmed Jack down, he didn’t let go or stopped rubbing his back. He moved them both to be leaning against the headboard of the bed, Muffin and Cleo snuck into the room and jumped onto the bed, they were concerned about Jack. They curled up on both sides of Sun, they could see the grief Jack held. Jack had tuckered himself out and was asleep against Sun’s shoulder.
Silence fell over everyone, Sun had subtly told Moon and Solar that he had it covered and that they could go back to bed. Both had hesitated but figured that they could talk about this in the morning. Solar didn’t go back to sleep afterwards.