Jackson was sitting on a riverbank. They had been in Wonderland for a few days already, and there were no signs of what to do.

"I beg your pardon? I am a sign!"

Jackson looked to his left. There was a sign saying, "This way" on it. He sighed. Talking, mind reading signs. Just another crazy thing in this world.

He stood up and stretched. It was almost lunchtime. He started back on the path to the village.

"Mr. Caterpillar. How nice to see you out here."

Jackson spun around. Maxlar was standing against a tree, examining his nails. "Fuck you, fuck your attitude, and fuck your very existence." He spat.

Maxlar laughed. "You are a feisty one aren't you? Reminds me of someone I know. You're a lot like her. Except, you're a bug and she's in another dimension."

Jackson shook his head. "I have no clue what you are talking about. Now get out of here before I snap your neck."

Maxlar stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. "Awww dang it! I so wanted to see the destruction my pet was causing! Ah well. C'est la vie. Have fun." He waved a couple of fingers at Jackson and walked off into the forest.

Jackson looked at the direction he went, then towards the village, then back at the forest.

"Damnit." He muttered and ran after Maxlar. He caught up with him just as he stepped through a purple door and into a shining light.

His hand reached for Maxlars back and passed through the doorframe. He jerked back suddenly and fell to the ground. His hand had passed through into a cold void. It had felt so unnatural, Jackson thought as a shiver ran through his body.

The door disappeared and Jackson  alone on the forest floor. (The people across the creek from me are having some sorta party and they're being so loud, I'm about to kill them. I can't close the window cause then I'll get overheated. I. Hate. Hormones.)

He slowly stood up, still staring at the spot the door had been. He sighed and began walking back to the village.

Halfway there, he smelled something. A scent that after a lifetime in the mountains, registered as danger in his mind. Wildfire smoke.

He sprinted the rest of the way and skidded to a halt just outside the forest. A giant, lumbering creature was stomping around in the flames that were burning the already tumbled buildings to ash. It was blue and brown, with wide wings and hard shingy scales. If it weren't for the bear-like head and tail, Jackson would have said it was a dragon.

The others stood in a small group near the castle remains. Jackson ran down to them just as a huge cloud of smoke billowed out to them. Out of instinct, he threw his hands up in the air.

The smoke slammed to a stop as if a brick wall had suddenly appeared in front of it. Jackson looked back at them, getting a glimpse of what they looked like. Covered in soot, exhausted, and scared, the group stood around a person lying on the ground. It was Ace.

Katherine and Whitney were kneeling beside him. Jackson carefully pushed the smoke around them so they would be safe, and then released it. He ran over to the man on the grass and looked down. A charred plank of wood had lodged in between his ribs.

"What happened?" Jackson whispered in shock. Michael moved to beside him. "That creature attacked us about 10 minutes ago. We managed to escape before we were killed, but Ace got injured."

May was now also kneeling and examining the puncture. "I suppose we could try pulling it out and then bandaging it, but I'm not a doctor so I don't know how..." She trailed off uncertainly.

"I-I can try." Jackson stuttered. "I kinda taught myself some first aid when I was bored once... Not that I'm experienced, I'm actualy quite the opposite. But it was a rainy day and the TV-"

"Just do it." Whitney cut him off and she moved away from her boyfriend. Jackson nodded. "Okay so I'm gonna need a bundle of cloth, some water, and umm yea I think that's it."

Michael grabbed one of the canisters of water and stripped off his shirt. Jackson's eyes widened and he tried not to stare at Michael's sweat and soot streaked chest.

Jackson forced his eyes away, ripped off the bottom of Michaels shirt so he had a long strip of it, and knelt beside the injured boy. He carefully removed Ace's shirt, which was stuck to the bleeding wound. He tentatively touched the piece of wood, causing a muffled yelp to come from the other boy. Jackson took a deep breath and gripped the charred plank. He swiftly pulled it out and Ace let out a high pitched, blood curdling scream.

Jackson poured the water over the gushing wound, eliciting more screams, and covered it with half of Michaels shirt. He held the bundle against the bloody ribcage and wrapped the long strip of cloth around Ace's torso, binding the already bloody ball to the puncture.

Jackson pressed his hands to the slick cloth, that was slowly becoming soaked with blood, trying to apply pressure and stop the bleeding.

"Get me more cloth! Now!" He yelled over his shoulder as he pushed down harder. Blood was seeping through his fingers and Ace's eyes were beginning to glaze over.

Someone handed him another shirt and he quickly balled it up pressed it down. "Come on, come on. Stop bleeding. Please." He muttered. Ace's hands weakly covered his own. Jackson looked up into the darkening eyes. Ace shook his head at him. Jackson heard a choked sob above his head.

He frantically pushed harder down on the cloth. "No no no. You are staying alive." He said as he felt Ace's hands grow heavier on his. "Nope. You're still alive." He kept his eyes on the blood soaked shirt. The red liquid was flowing down the sides of Ace's chest and over Jackson's hands. "No." He whispered and looked up at Ace's dull eyes.

He felt strong hands pull him up and away from Ace's body. "You did your best." Michael said softly into Jackson's hair as he pulled him away from the sobbing Whitney and shocked Wonderlandians.

Jackson turned and sobbed into Michael's bare chest. "No my best would have been saving him. I failed. I didn't try hard enough. Whitney probably hates me."

Michael rubbed his back. "Its okay. You tried. That's all anyone could ask for. You weren't even a trained doctor, but you still tried. That was so brave."

Jackson just sobbed harder, fingers clenching into balls, and he felt his knees give out. He stayed standing, supported by the arms of his best friend.

I failed

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I love you all? Sorry I'm not feeling very creative today, I wrote a 7 thousand word oneshot the other day, so my brain is still recovering from that. See you all next chapter, which will be a little less angsty.