A.N.: Okay, so I've decided to write a birthday fic for my sister, and she chose this one out of a great multitude of pairings. I am kind of surprised that she picked it, but hey, I love The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Despite the chaos before and directly after Halloween, the Mayor had not been pestering Jack as often about preparations for the ever-important holiday. In fact, Sally thought, it was almost (she dared to laugh), scary.
The weather had become dry once more, but being a rag doll, Sally was unaffected by the so-called harsh wind. She walked down the main street, greeting the denizens of Halloween Town on the way. She was headed for Jack's house, and while she could get there using a short cut, this was the time of year when rumors spread the most between the citizens. They talked of a new speech that the Mayor was thinking of giving, and, of course, the conversation would soon turn into one about Jack.
"I haven't seen him lately," one of the vampires drawled, glancing over warily in Sally's direction. She smiled lightly and walked on, wondering as to why she was the one getting all of the strange looks.
"I heard he's up and vanished!" a witch cackled to the vampire. "'Heard he was getting too serious with Rag Doll, and he just ran away."
It wouldn't surprise me . . . Sally thought to herself, giggling at the extreme foolishness of the townsfolk.
"You know, I bet that's why the Mayor hasn't been working on Halloween this year! He's trying to get him hitched!" the Clown whispered to the Hanging Tree. The skeletons attached to the tree remained motionless, despite the Hanging Tree's incessant swinging of its branches. Sally found this odd, as they were always the center of attention. "Get some skeleton babies! An heir and a spare!"
Doctor Finklestein would have no problem with that, she reasoned, slowing down her pace to savor the curious looks of the people. They all stopped mid-conversation to stare at her, and she waved gently.
Ever since Jack had publicly (and embarrassingly), expressed his love and want to be with Sally for eternity, she had become somewhat of a public figure. Jack told her that it was something called a limelight, though she just found it as intrusive and bothersome. Thanks to her appearance, she rightfully hated being the center of attention, but she had made the exception only if it applied to Jack. Truth be told, he hated public appearances as well, as he had confined that in Sally.
Actually, Jack hated every 'advantage' of being the Pumpkin King. Which is why, he had told her, he had made that huge Christmas stunt. He wanted to 'add some spice to my dull existence, dear Sally!'
She couldn't help but smile at the odd way that he happened to talk. It was theatrical, much like his entire personage. Jack was never one to parade (actually, he was), though he seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. And, being the social figure that he was, he most usually was the topic of everyone's conversation. Which, in turn, made Sally the topic of everyone's conversation. And she usually despised it. But today was an exception. She had seen Jack yesterday, and he had not been acting any different than he usually did. He was a bit slower in his normally fluent movements (though she chalked it up to stress).
Though these rumors were just getting ridiculous! Deciding it so, Sally made her way quickly past the Guillotine and down the street, finding herself in front of Jack's 'Foreboding Aboding', as he so affectionately called it. She was about to ring the doorbell when Zero flew in front of her, barking wildly.
"Down, Zero!" she giggled, patting the dog on its translucent head. "Is Jack inside, boy?"
The spectral canine only barked once and turned to the home, whimpering lightly. "Let's go see him and ask what's going on."
Sally found it that, while she had never made too many friends, Zero was not very condescending on anyone. He liked mostly everyone (much like his owner), though Sally was one of his particular favorite people.
She raised a hand and pressed the doorbell and heard the customary shriek. She waited for three seconds, as that was usually the time it took Jack's long legs to stumble downstairs. Really, he was quite the clumsy skeleton. After five seconds, she pressed it again, becoming impatient.
Perhaps Jack fell, she reasoned. After all, it wouldn't be too hard; and he was most likely trying to put himself together again. Though, if that was the case, he would most likely give some sort of dramatic greeting, like, 'I am terribly sorry, whomever you are! I have fallen and am now trying to put myself together! Though, it would be wonderful if you should choose to help me!' But there was nothing of the sort, and Sally started to become increasingly worried.
Perhaps the citizens were right. Maybe Jack really did run away from it all. They weren't too serious, not at all. In fact, Jack was rather shy, and she had no sort of companionship or anything. They should probably be closer.
"Jack?" she called softly, looking up at the top window. "I'm coming in now! Zero, you stay out here, just in case he comes back. Bark once if it's him and twice if it's the Mayor. Okay?"
She was given a bark in response. Sally nodded, finding herself completely silly for putting so much faith in a dog. Though, Jack did happen to trust his pet for everything that he was worth, so Zero couldn't be completely incompetent. She opened the door hesitantly and examined the sitting room that Jack never used. It was piled high with scrap pieces of paper filled with ideas of future Halloweens and ones from years ago. He really needed to clean up, or he might just get lost! Sally thought, considering for a moment if that's where the Pumpkin King had gone.
She climbed her way up the steps and into the hallway. Pictures adorned the walls of Zero and, Sally started blush (if only her cloth would allow her), one of her. She opened the already half-open door that she was quite certain was Jack's. It was the one with a large pumpkin on it.
The door made an uncomfortable creaking noise as it slowly opened.
"Jack, why are you just sitting in bed?" Sally questioned, placing her arms on her hips in an uncharacteristic scolding. Let it be said that the Pumpkin King was quite the 'Lazy Bones'. She saw his head turn ever-so-slightly to face her but not completely. "Jack?"
He opened his mouth to speak but found that it would not open adequately. Instead, he only made an odd sort of grunting noise that was apparently supposed to inform her of something vital.
It was then that Sally realized at Jack's furrowed expression that he could not move. "Oh, Jack, what's wrong?" she asked, hoping that after the third question unanswered she might actually realize he could not speak, only grunt.
Sally's mind drifted back to the skeletons on the Hanging Tree. They were quite motionless, as well, which had not really bothered her at first, but apparently it was 'Lethargic Skeleton Day'. All joking aside, Sally was quite perturbed as to what was wrong with her . . . would it be wrong to call him a boyfriend? Her dearest friend, yes, that was it. Sally glanced over at a bedside table and noticed a jar beside it. "What is this?" And then she practically smacked herself on the forehead for asking something that Jack could not answer. She glanced at the label, written in Jack's curly handwriting 'Salve of Strychnos Toxifera.'
"Is this supposed to help you move?' she asked, still gaining no response but a rathe!r rude eye roll. "Work with me, Jack!" He sighed heavily and worked to nod his head, making no progress whatsoever.
It was enough, however, to give Sally the signal. "I'm sure since this is a salve, that it's supposed to go on your bones. I'll put it on your arms, and you can do the rest!" Despite their so-called relationship, Sally still refused to go past the chest. She delicately rubbed the ointment onto his face first and was bombarded by many thanks. She rolled up the sleeve of his nightgown and applied it onto his bones. After a few seconds, his fingers started to flex slightly, extracting and contracting.
"Oh, Sally, dear! Thanks ever so much! I don't know what I'd do without you!" he exclaimed in his jubilant voice, grabbing the jar from her. "This happens quite often, though it takes quite a long while for someone to find me! You truly are a bone-saver!"
"What happened, Jack?" she asked, now fully confident that he would answer her.
"You see, when the air gets dry like this, I just can't seem to be able to move, and it's quite the bother. Luckily, you found me, and I am as limber as my old self again!" He leaned in to her cheek to press something of a kiss there. Jack Skellington did not have lips, which made it quite odd for a kiss, but Sally couldn't care less.
And the two sat there in his room, completely ignoring the Mayor's pleas from outside the house. "Jack! Skeleton Jack! We need to discuss plans for next year's Halloween! We've only got 294 days left, and we've hardly even started! Jack!"
A.N.: That went well. I chose the Strychnos Toxifera plant because it was used as a natural paralysis, so I wanted to reverse the effect for Jack and make it more of a relaxer. Also, as a fun fact, it was used as a tubocurare arrow poison by Indians! Hope you enjoyed, and reviews are awesome!