Skelllington Girl requested this crossover fanfic. Her OC Raven is used with permission and I only own my OC Rachel. All other characters belong to their recognized and respective owners. Enjoy!

Letting Go

Jack Skellington sighed as he watched Raven play in the yard with Zero. He was thinking back on the past, when he had battle Oogie to stop him from entering the human's world, but that was when a horrible accident had happened.

Flashback

Jack was firing as many fireballs as he could to stop Oogie, but the villain was quicker than Jack had thought. They were getting too close to the human realm and Jack didn't want to risk either being seen or hurting one of the humans.

Oogie didn't care and raced through the door with Jack following behind him until Jack ran into a tree. It took him a moment to recover but when he did, a squeal of tires echoed through the forest he was in and he heard two terrified screams before seeing an explosion occur only a few yards away from him. Jumping down from the tree, Jack immediately went to the place and found a car with the hood in flames and there were two people inside it, a man and a woman, both dead.

Jack felt sick that Oogie would harm these two innocent humans and was about to turn to find his enemy when another cry made him turn back to the car.

Looking in the backseat, Jack saw a little girl crying in there. She must have only been about four years old. With the flames getting hotter now, Jack knew he didn't have much time to save her.

Grabbing the buckling metal, he managed to pull some of the car apart enough to where he could reach the little girl easily and hopefully get her out. She watched him with tearful eyes and began to cry again as the flames started to get closer to her.

Jack managed to reach her and he undid her seatbelt, grabbing her and jumping away into the trees.

Just before the car exploded.

Jack held the little girl to his chest, trying to calm her down as he shook his head, sad that the people had died and that the little girl had lost her parents.

"Shh," he said to her. "Don't cry, little one."

She looked up at him and when the cops came and identified the bodies, Jack memorized the last name and immediately headed off in the direction of the surviving family members. He arrived just as the police were finishing up and leaving. When the three men came outside, Jack appeared before them, noticing how they looked a little surprised.

"Greetings," he said to them, his expression respectful. "Please accept my condolences on your loss, but I believe this little girl is related to you."

The younger man came closer and pulled the little girl into a hug. "Oh, Rachel," he said to her. "Why?"

Jack sighed. "My enemy Oogie doesn't care about anyone but himself," he said. "I'm so sorry about this."

The men nodded and decided to take care of their niece right then. Jack went to leave, but then stopped.

"Please, may I watch over her? Check on her to make sure she's alright?" he asked.

They nodded and the younger man spoke again. "You saved her life," he said. "You deserve a place in the family."

But Jack had politely refused as he felt responsible for what happened, but promised to watch over Rachel. He then went back to Halloween Town and told everyone the news.

Flashback end.

Since that time, Jack had always returned to the human world about four times a year to check up on her and leave a gift for her. Leaving a gift and checking up on how she was doing eased his conscience a little, but the guilt was still there, even though it had now been close to twenty years since the accident.

Now, Raven was having a hard time sleeping because she was hyper a lot, more than her sister. Jack sighed and decided to call his friends in hopes they could help his daughter.

Charles was experimenting with a new device he had created with his older brother Joseph when the special phone rang. Curious as to who was calling, he set aside the tools in his hands and picked up the phone that allowed anyone from any friendly dimension to call them.

"Hello? Charles speaking," he said.

"Charles? It's Jack Skellington," said the other speaker.

"Jack, my friend! Hello!" Charles greeted warmly. "It's that time again, hmm?"

"Yes, but I was hoping you could help me. My little girl Raven can't sleep at night and I was hoping you might have a solution."

Charles thought for a minute. "My niece has many alien friends and one of them has powers to put people to sleep. Perhaps that might help," he said.

Jack sighed audibly. "Charles, I can't thank you enough my friend. My daughter and I will arrive in a few hours," he said.

"Alright," said Charles as the two hung up, Jack going to get Raven and Charles going to get Rachel.

Rachel had been playing basketball with Swampfire, Big Chill, Jetray, Whampire, and Rook when her uncle had called her name. Stopping the game, they all headed over and Charles explained what was going on. Rachel immediately ran to find Pesky Dust who agreed to help out when he heard the situation.

Then, Snare-Oh called Rachel to come to the Grant Mansion for some help with some things, to which Rachel agreed and headed over there after promising she'd be back in time and she kissed Rook, who kissed her in return. Smiling, Rachel headed off.

Jack and Raven had arrived in the human world after getting Raven a holographic amulet that would put a human disguise over her current body state so that she wouldn't scare anyone. Now, they were walking towards the Jocklin Mansion.

"Daddy, are you sure this alien can help?" she asked him.

Jack smiled at her and stopped for a moment, picking her up and hugging her. "My good friend is certain and therefore I am certain," he said reassuringly to her. "You trust me, don't you?"

Raven hugged her father. "Yes, Daddy," she said. "I trust you."

They then reached a clearing and Jack went off ahead to be sure it was clear while Raven stayed behind to wait. Suddenly, the local bullies that often troubled Rachel came into view.

"Well, well, a little girl here. Let's get her," said the lead bully.

Raven didn't know what to do when all of a sudden, a small, fairylike, creature flew in front of her and faced the bullies. "That's not nice," the creature trilled in a musical, soft voice as he smiled a mischievous smile.

The boys scoffed and came closer and that was their big mistake.

"Sleepy time," the creature crooned and pointed his finger at them all. A flash of green dust circled the boys and they all dropped faster than rocks, all sound asleep.

The creature laughed and turned to Raven. "Hello," he said happily.

Raven was stunned and was about to speak when Jack suddenly leaped between her and the creature.

"Who are you?" he thundered. "What were you doing to my Raven?"

The creature backed away and Raven turned to her father. "Daddy, he saved me," she said and pointed to the boys who were still asleep. Jack looked at the boys, then at the creature, and then at Raven, who looked up at him with giant eyes. He then sighed.

"Alright, my little one," he said, hugging her in relief that she was okay as he turned to the fairy creature. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said the creature. "You must be Jack and Raven. Dr. Jocklin told us you were coming."

Jack now relaxed, realizing that this creature was a friend. "Yes," he said. "And you are?"

"Pesky Dust," he said. "I can put people to sleep and enter their dreams to alter them if I want to."

Jack now smiled. "You're the one Charles was speaking about," he said. "Can you take us to the Jocklin Mansion?"

Pesky nodded and led the way. Meanwhile, Rachel had finished helping Snare-Oh move some furniture while he vacuumed the floor. It was his turn with the chores and Rachel helped out before realizing the time.

"Oh dear, I need to get back to my uncles' place," she said, quickly making herself presentable.

"I remember you said company was coming," the mummy alien said.

Checking the mirror to be sure she was presentable, she hugged Snare-Oh, who affectionately returned her hug, before she ran out the door, making it back to her uncles' place about the same time Pesky arrived with Jack and Raven.

Pesky talked to Raven, who admitted that she was hyper and had a hard time sleeping. In talking, Pesky realized Raven had a lot of unresolved issues and helped her to resolve them in her dreams when he put her to sleep.

While this was going on, Rachel met Jack and she realized he looked vaguely familiar, like she had met him before.

"Jack, have we met before?" she asked. "You look familiar."

Jack nodded. "We did meet, but you were only four years old when we did," he said.

Rachel then remembered the dream she had of the little girl in the fire. The silhouette she saw that rescued the little girl who was her. "It's you!" she said suddenly, surprising Jack. "You rescued me. I've been having that flashback for some time now. You're the one who save me when my parents died."

"Yes," Jack nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't save them."

Rachel saw that he was tortured that he hadn't been able to save her family and suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"Is that why you leave the gifts?" she asked. "Because you feel guilty that you couldn't save them?"

Jack was surprised how quick she caught on. "Charles, your niece is smarter than you say," he said with a smile, to which Charles and Rachel smiled.

"Jack, it's okay. You saved me. Thank you," she said.

Jack now pulled something out of his pocket. Rachel recognized it as her mother's favorite necklace that Rachel's father had given her long ago. "I found this not far from the accident and saved it for you to give to you when you were older," he admitted, giving it to her now.

Rachel took it and held it as a stray tear fell. "Mom's necklace," she said, holding it tightly as she looked up at the Pumpkin King. "Thank you, Jack."

With that, she hugged him. "I forgive you," she said and Jack felt all of his guilt lift away as he finally let it go and hugged Rachel back.

Raven now did the same thing, deciding to become a better person and all of her issues disappeared too. "Thanks, Pesky," she said.

"Anytime," he answered.

That night, Jack and Raven went home, both feeling much better. "Daddy," said Raven. "Can we visit again sometime?"

Jack chuckled at her eagerness. "Yes, Raven. We'll visit them again sometime."

To Skellington Girl: Thank you for your patience. I hope you like it!

Please leave a review, y'all!

GoldGuardian2418