Chapter Text
A week had passed ever since Jack Skellington had defeated the hideous Boogeyman for a second time. While everyone seemed to go on with their lives nothing was the same as it had been. A lot of damage had been caused to the town when Oogie Boogie took over Halloween Town while Jack was gone and there was no mystery about how he was revived. Many of the citizens reasoned that they were children and perhaps didn't know any better, but most of them agreed that they went too far this time. Way too far and something had to be done. As much as Jack Skellington and Sally discussed and reasoned that the trio were young they knew there needed something to be done so they could restore the town to make it better without them in the way to cause any delays. Jack sat in his study, thinking hard as he was writing down the plans for next Halloween while thinking about what to do with the trick-or-treaters. He heard a faint knocking on the door and saw his beloved Sally stepping into the room. He smiled proudly at his lovely rag doll who was his dearest friend. She returned his smile with the sweetest grin only a rag doll like her could make as she gazed lovingly at her husband, the Pumpkin King.
"Still working on the plans?" Sally asked sweetly, kissing him on the cheek. Jack kissed her back and put a gentle bony hand on her shoulder. He just smiled at her and took a moment to take in the beautiful woman he had married. She was his pride, his joy, his soulmate... his everything.
"Why yes, I am," he replied and yawned, stretching out his bony arms a little and arched his back. "I got a few more things to write down and I am all done."
"Don't stay up too late," Sally replied and sat down next to him on the bed where he sat, placing a her gentle fabric hand on his shoulder, her stiched smile weak yet so tender. "You still have plenty of time left."
"I know," Jack Skellington said, stretching his arms a little and put his papers and pencil away. He stood up and began to pace back and forth. Sally watched her husband pacing and gave him a worried look as it meant that he was deep in thought whenever he did so.
"Is there anything that troubles you, dear Jack?" she asked with a voice so soft and gentle that it soothed even the most fearsome of creatures. Jack turned to face her, his features relaxing somewhat yet his determination shone through his stoic attitude.
"I'm thinking about what to do about Lock, Shock and Barrel," he sighed, placing a bony hand to his skull and massaged it. Sure they were trick-or-treaters and it was their job to play trick, but after they brought Oogie Boogie back, this went too far and it caused a lot of damage, not just for the town but its citizens as well when they were frightened to hide in their homes and leaving the town so dead and quiet.
"Jack, they're only children and they're doing their jobs," Sally said gently, trying to be reasonable even though she knew deep down that they had gone too far but still, they were young and maybe there was a reason behind their decision but one could never be too sure with them. "Don't be too hard on them."
Jack nodded in understanding. She did have a point but still, they went too far this time. He sighed but walked back and forth one last time before turning back to his beloved wife.
"I will think of it," he said truthfully. He let out another deep sigh and sat down on the bed. "But you know how they are."
"I know," Sally replied sadly, her tender eyes showing sadness and concern. Even though they did wrong, they were still children and they had worked for Oogie, not necessarily by choice but rather that he chose them and raised them after he lost the competition to Jack when they competed for the famous tite of being the Pumpkin King.
Oogie was the one they knew, the only one they could have turned to until now yet they were so afraid of him. She hadn't seen them so often but she had a feeling that maybe it was so and maybe, just maybe it had something to do with them deciding to bring him back. A fear of ending on his Boogie List if they didn't show their loyalty but it could as well been out of boredom and a lust for pranks. She didn't know for sure, but she thought of it.
A tiny smile spread across her stitched face. "I'm sure we'll think of something. I'm sure there's something we can do to repair the damage that has been caused."
Jack hugged her and smiled brightly, patting her wife's shoulder. "You're right! And I just got an amazing idea of how to fix that! And I'll tell everyone tomorrow!"
Sally nodded slightly and hoped this wasn't going to end up in a disaster but unfortunately, she had a feeling in her leaves that told her that it was…
At the same time in a treehouse near the outskirts of Halloween Town, there a lot of noise. The trick-or-treaters and Laura were in the Treehouse going on with their usual routines. Lock and Barrel were snickering as they played with some darts and practiced throwing it at a dummy which they had found earlier while Shock was reading in a book of spells with Laura. Lock and Barrel snickered as they were teasing some smaller bugs while Shock was reading a book of spells with Laura.
The witch gazed out of the window. Tonight a crescent moon were present on the sky. She closed the book and went to see her collection of Stinkbugs as Laura helped her sorting the books on her shelf. After that was done the dragon walked over to the boys and sat next to them.
"Having fun?" she asked, smiling at them. Barrel nodded and Lock did too. Ever since Laura had decided to stay with them, things were a little more lively now when they could ride on her back or fly in the sky at night if they pleased. Other times they had ventured into the other holiday worlds to cause trouble and wreak havoc there with the assistance of their new friend and it certainly came in handy as she was so ferocious that no one dared to fight her once they saw her.
"Yeah, but it's more fun to play with you." Barrel said, trying not to laugh at the thought of sneaking up on her from behind and tickling her, though she wasn't very ticklish, the little play fight was fun and she was relatively easy-going too, so it never got too serious.
"How did the hunt go?" Lock asked eagerly, grinning mischievously. He always loved to hear about her wild adventures and travels across different realms. "Did you catch anything? Where is it?"
"Well, for your information it's in my stomach," Laura said with a grin, flashing all her razor sharp teeth which made Lock smile nervously. He swallowed a lump and felt his shoulders becoming tense.
"Oh, heh heh." Lock laughed nervously and immediately tried to shake the horror away despite the fact that he was impressed by her toughness. "More than I might wanna know."
She just laughed and gave him a light pat on the shoulder, making him relax slightly. Barrel, however, was impressed. The little ghoul had only seen Oogie Boogie as a great hunter, but Laura was a master of sneaking up at her prey and lurking in the shadows without being seen and her sense of smell was far better than any creature he had seen in Halloweenland.
"You must be a great hunter!" he said.
Laura smirked at him and raised an eyebrow, her eyes showing smugness.
"You bet." she said and flashed a grin.
Barrel just stared at her in awe at her razor sharp teeth, completely unaware that she might very well eat all three of them if she ever desired, however, since she had an alliance with them, he saw no reason to worry but Lock, on the other hand, knew otherwise but didn't say it out loud. He had read about it in the book about dragons, but then again, one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, though in this case it was better to stay on her good side and hopefully, she would stay loyal to them.
Shock came out from her room and shoved Lock from where he was sitting, sending him rolling into the wall. Lock grunted and pouted as he rubbed his head. He sat back up and crossed his arms. Shock just sneered at him and cackled wickedly. Barrel just laughed along and teased him for being such a sissy. The little devil was about to say something back but was abruptly stopped when Laura snuck up on the other two from behind, growling playfully and the witch and ghoul jumped in fear over to where Lock was.
Lock, as well as his cohorts were startled by her growling. They weren't used to anyone growl in a playful manner, especially from a dragon as they had limited experience with creatures like them, but Laura just smiled calmly at them and said:
"Aww, I was just fooling around," she snickered. "Dragons like me play like that, y'know. And in Halloween Town, jump scares are quite common, right?"
Lock, Shock and Barrel nodded frantically and smiled nervously. Laura just smiled at them gently and sat down so she was more in their level.
"Don't worry, little ones," she said softly. "When I sound like that, it's all in good fun. It's like when dogs or cats growl when they're playing. Ya get it?"
They nodded, feeling a little relieved.
The dragon laughed to herself and the three trick-or-treaters decided they wanted to watch a movie. First they bickered about which movie to watch but then Barrel suggested they watched a movie they've never seen before and Shock immediately knew a good one and when she showed them the movie, it was apparently a sad horror movie.
Lock immediately smirked and mockingly stated that it would no doubt make his comrades cry and Shock immediately challenged him and soon all three of them agreed on the "competition".
As the movie went on, the more challenging it was for all three of them to keep themselves from sniffling, but Lock put up a very forced smile to hide that he was indeed about to cry. Shock began to look a little glum herself but blinked a few times and then the tears were gone while Barrel was grabbing more and more handfuls of popcorn, and he was too feeling quite miserable. The only one who didn't really reacted with such misery was Laura, sure she too thought the movie was sad but it was still a movie. It wasn't real.
After another painful 45 minutes into the movie it became harder for the three and Barrel sniffled a little but a few tears were threatening to escape from Lock's eyes despite the incredibly forced smile on his face which at this point was beginning to ache real bad. Shock was also looking a little sad than she did earlier but she took a few deep breaths and reminded herself that it was only five minutes left until the movie was finished.
When the final scene came, it did it for Lock who was crying but hid face in his hands and laid down on the sofa to make it seem as though he had fallen asleep instead of the fact that he was indeed weeping. Barrel's lower lip quivered and soon even he began to cry and Shock held one arm around her ghoul friend while the tears slowly ran across her face. They hugged each other as the credits rolled and the turned off the TV and agreed to do something else that was more fun.
Shock and Barrel noticed that Lock still laid on the sofa with his head laid in his arm. They exchanged confused glances and walked over to him. Barrel gently nudged his shoulder and said:
“Hey, Lock, are you alright?” he asked, his brow slightly furrowed in concern.
Laura raised an eyebrow at him and nuzzled him in order to see if he was alright.
“Wake up! Wake up!” Shock said in an encouraging voice. Lock groaned and pretended to “wake up” before he sat up he rubbed his eyes with his sleeve and slowly sat up in a sitting position to see Shock and Barrel staring at him. He put on another forced grin and said:
“Yeah, I'm fine!” he said in a steady voice, hoping it was enough to convince them. To his relief, they did fall for it as they both looked rather disgruntled that he did win the bet after all and not them.
“Heh! Looks like I won the bet, ha ha! You were weepin’ more than I ever did!” he teased, his smile being more genuine and soon he was guffawing. Laura rolled her eyes and thought to herself:
“Speak for yourself.”
However, Barrel noticed that Laura had been the only one without getting tearful one single time, however, the one who cried first lost, but Laura didn't even tear up at all.
“But your eyes were tearful,” Barrel pointed out. “Laura didn't even get that far.”
Lock swallowed hard. Oops.
“Yeah, so that makes her the REAL winner of the bet!” Shock said. “Nice try though, sissy!”
Lock stuck out his tongue and answered:
“I know you are but what am I?”
The other two just laughed at him and soon they were having another short yet rather good-natured bickering and the next minute they were practicing different pranks they were going to play on the citizens tomorrow.
Meanwhile in the Skellington Manor, Jack and Sally had gone to bed but Zero was laying awake in his basket, looking on as he watched the silhouette of a huge reptile flying in the sky. He had gotten used to the trio's friend by now but with a sigh he laid down, hoping the next day with his two owners would be horribly wonderful and he would get a bone or two. He smiled at the thought as he closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.
Everything seemed to be normal, except that was going to change…