Hello and welcome, it's Jade.Darkmoon here, Jade for short and writer of this fic. First and foremost, I do not own The Nightmare before Christmas. I do own Holly and the plotline, so if you use her or the story in any shape, way or form, give me credit. I did strain my noodle on this. Also, please review and/or rate, your suggestions help me to better my writing, and suggestions for storyline could show up in later chapters! So go ahead and "what-if" away. This is my first fic written, and first fic published, so please don't bite my head off, but as before stated, constructive criticism helps.
The Yule before Halloween
Once upon a busy Christmas eve, the elves of the North Pole were rushing about, gathering presents together and loading them into the bag atop the mighty red sleigh. As the elves continued their labor, Santa made the last checks on the reindeer. Finding all said and done with that, he turned to his trusted companion, "Ah, Prancer. It seems a perfect night to deliver the presents to all those good little boys and girls. It's such a nice winter sky, don't you think so?"
Prancer, the great beast with elegant antlers and arched head gave a nod and a soft bellow in agreement. Pawing the ground, he lifted his head to the sky, anxious for things to commence.
Santa let out one of his famous merry chuckles and glanced about, noting that the last preparations were nearly done. Signaling to all that they should gather, he let the last few things finish and everyone gather around him before he cleared his throat and merrily preceded to speak, "I would like to thank you all for the hard work you have put forth for this year's Christmas. You have all worked hard and persevered, struggled, and finally come together to create presents of unprecedented quality this year. As you all know..."
A younger elf in the middle of the crowd covered her mouth with a hand and yawned. With a small sigh she thought to herself, "He always does this dumb monologue when he could be delivering the presents, and in the end he finds some way to turn around all the honor for himself and makes us, the ones who do all the work seem like mere servants, when in fact he is merely the delivery guy! He doesn't even manage his own reindeer for blizzard's sake! He merely checks off the kids on the list and leaves all the other managing to Mrs.Clause. She's the real wonder here. Sure, he can squeeze himself into tight places despite being very fat, but my uncle Iggy can do the same thing! Then again when angry husbands find out he's been sleeping with their wives, there probably isn't too many other escape routes. Jeez, when is the guy going to stop talking? He's been talking non-stop for how long?And when all we really wanna do is go home and take a much needed rest before we have to come back to work tomorrow. Oh, this sounds like the end, I might as well hear what the old sack of wind has to say." With sigh, she folded her arms and paid attention to the fat man in the red suit.
"...and without you I don't know what would go on here, but it certainly wouldn't be Christmas. Now if you all would like, I'm sure that Mrs.Clause has a nice pot of eggnog on the fire at home, go ahead and take some for yourselves. I shall be off now, farewell and Merry Christmas everyone!" With these last words, Santa jumped into the sleigh and cracked the whip over the back of the reindeer and took off like a flash, zooming off to deliver the presents that had been entrusted to him.
Back with the young elf, she followed everyone to the giant cauldron of eggnog steaming in front of the Clause house. Mrs.Clause called everyone to take their fill of eggnog, for she surely has had enough to last a lifetime and slipped into the house. The elf gave a smirk as she watched a familiar shadow cling to Mrs.Clause's skirt and slip in with her. With a small wicked smirk, she muttered, "Ah, just as expected... Uncle Iggy is up to his old mischief again." Taking a glass of eggnog, she raised her cup, and did the only vocal thing she ever did out loud. "A toast! To Mrs.Clause! For bringing happiness to those far away, and very near." Everyone raised their glasses in reply and a loud clattering could be heard for miles at everyone's enthusiasm. Smirking at the innuendo that she slipped into the toast, she sipped her eggnog. Only scant moments later, she could hear her name being called over the immense hubbub, which was all the elves in their celebration of their night of freedom. "Holly, Holly! Are you going to do your usual this Christmas? Or are you actually going to be social and join us for the present opening?"
With a sigh, Holly turned around, her red hair blowing in the wind across her cheeks. "Yes Jeffrey, I am going to do my usual, and what is wrong with wanting a little privacy in this place? All year long we're crowded into tiny little areas, being forced to do work even 3rd world countries wouldn't even settle for, and all for no pay? If I just want a little piece and quiet for my x-mas, is that so wrong?"
Jeffrey's eyes widened at the words that came out of Holly's mouth. "How can you say things like that? We make the presents so everyone can be happy, we need no pay! And it's not all that bad being surrounded by people who care and love you? Can't you get that?"
Covering her face with a hand Holly gave an exasperated sigh, "I suppose you will never understand, just like everyone else. Well, I'm going to enjoy what evening I have left. Merry x-mas I guess." With a wave of a hand, she turned around and started plowing her feet through the snow to the one quiet place left in this area. As she slid past the great gates, she glanced up at the metal letters reading "Cemetery" and gave a sigh of happiness. "Everyone, I'm back." She called, pleasure in her voice audible. Swiping snow off a nearby bench, she stooped and plopped herself down. "If only there was a place that I could be alone, and yet people would understand me. I'm sure that as long as I'm enslaved here, I'll never get that satisfaction." Leaning to the side, she fell over onto the other side of the bench, resting her cheek on the cold, wet bench. "After all, even sometimes this graveyard isn't quiet enough."
Just then she heard something crunching through the snow behind her, the sound was somehow eerie enough to send shivers down her spine and the hair on her neck rise. As she slowly turned around she saw a long lanky figure outlined by the snow behind him. A man made of bones stood from just inside an open tomb. With a tug on his bat-tie and brushing off his black pinstriped suit, he looked around, immediately spotting Holly. "Why hello there, I didn't think that Sandy Claws would have known to send a welcome greeter for my arrival. I didn't think he was expecting me at all."
Holly couldn't help but stare. The man who's stature was entirely of bone blinked and looked at her back. As she watched the hollows of his eye sockets and his jaw and mouth move, she was sure that there could be no other explanation. "You are the J-jack Skellington I have heard so much about?" She quietly asked, feeling the fear knead itself out now that she knew he wasn't here to eat her. "You would have to be right, Santa didn't know you were coming. In fact he's already left to deliver the presents." Hoping that he was all that the stories said he was, she watched Jack expectantly. Thinking to herself, why was Sally the lucky woman to get him? He's quite a catch. After her initial shock wore off, she noticed how gracefully his hands gestured as he spoke, with great diction he chose his words. He was obviously an educated curious man. Well, if I can't have him, I shall do the next best thing... admire him. That shall do. What was that saying? If you can't beat them, join them? Oh, that won't do at all. Perhaps if I switch the wording? If you can't join them... oooh, I like the sound of that. With a small mischievous grin, she looked back up at Jack. "Perhaps I should take you to where everyone is celebrating. I'm sure that a celebrity such as you would be more than welcome."
"Oh no." Jack hastily declined, "I think it best I not get too caught up in the cheer. You remember what happened last time don't you?"
Holly's eyes lit up. "I'm not sure I know the story correctly, could you tell me?"
With a sigh, Jack shook his head. "I simply got so excited by Christmas that I ended up forcing everyone to let me do their job, and so I messed up Christmas."
Holly patted the man's bone shoulder. "I don't think it was as bad as you make it sound. I thought it was a nice change of pace myself."
With a small smile, Jack patted her hand with his own skeletal one. "Thanks for the kindness, but I did mess everything up. But that's in the past, I still have to get back so we can properly celebrate Christmas there. Well, ta ta." With a small salute, he gracefully hopped into the same tomb he popped out of, and disappeared with a slam as the doors of the tomb shut. Holding her chest from the alarm the clatter of the door made she smiled happily.
Allowing herself to drift back to the dorms where the rest of the elves were merrily celebrating, Holly simply slipped past all the ruckus and almost shadow-like, drifted into her bunk without notice. The only sound she emitted was that of a content sigh as she curled under her covers, letting her mind drift off. "If only more christmases ended like this... I could possibly grow content with the whole thing..." she muttered, slipping off into her very own dreamland.