Well, this one's a little longer =3 that's at least good...anyway, enjoy. Oh, I forgot to add in the last chapter; this is my first time making a Nightmare Before Christmas story and it's been a while since this idea was inspired, so NBC fans, go easy on me, okay? ^^; But let me know if there's something I can do to make Jack and the others more accurate when they make their apperances in the next chapter.

Chapter 2: The Jensen House

Kaity looked over at Charmy for a second unsure as she placed the receiver on its cradle.

"We should wait for the others, but then again, we've only got a ten minute window…and if we wanna get Cream back, it'd probably be a good idea ta go." The chameleon locked her cool blue gaze on the youngest Chaotix member, hoping he would pick what the two would do. The small bee broke her gaze and stared at his feet, hovering only inches from the ground. He'd heard the whole call, and was still having doubts about both options.

"If we're gonna save Cream, we should go now." he said quietly after a moment's silence. The reptile nodded; saving an innocent life was more important than following orders.

"Alright, we'll leave a note and go, 'kay?" she said, already scribbling a quick note summarizing what had happened and where they would be. "Hopefully we're not gone long enough for them ta see this."

Charmy nodded, buzzing up to Kaity's height and flipping mid-air. "Ready? Let's go!" He didn't wait for the answer of his partner or the word of caution she would have thrown out. Instead, he rocketed out the door in excitement. Kaity quickly followed Charmy, running a little faster to keep up with the little bee in his excitement.

OoOoO

Charmy slowed as last, allowing the chameleon girl a break. Both looked up at the hill that stood before them; the Jensen's House. No one had lived in the house for years, and it had long since started to show it. The white paint had peeled almost completely off, a few windows had been broken and the yard was amazingly under-cared for, almost up to Charmy's waist. Plenty of stories surrounded the house, stories of murder, suicide, and hauntings. Both seemed a bit skeptical of going in, but for different reasons.

"…Charmy, do ya smell somethin'?" Kaity asked, suddenly straightening with caution. Said bee sniffed the air, it was a faint scent, but he knew he'd smelled it before…but what was it? "Be careful in here, Charmy. And stay close." Kaity cautioned.

"Okay." Was all the bee managed before the self-appointed leader of the two started up the hill. The smell was getting stronger, but Charmy still could not place it. With every step, the old house grew bigger and bigger, towering over the two detectives until it stood at its full height. 'As if it hadn't looked bad enough from the bottom of the hill...' Kaity thought. The porch looked old and broken, like the rest of the house. Charmy took a deep, calming breath as his friend grabbed his wrist gently and started forward onto the porch. It moaned under weight it hadn't felt in years. They approached the door and took instant notice of the door. It was still old, but in better shape than the rest of the house. The paint looked to have just started peeling and the knob had been polished to look like new. And that smell, it was stronger now. But neither could distinguish it without a doubt in their mind. After a moment's hesitation, the youngest detective took the knob in his hand and flung the door open with a quick movement.

The two detectives looked in; the house was completely empty save for carpeting on what they assumed was a living room floor in the next room and wallpaper from the last family living there. Kaity took a few cautious steps in, Charmy right next to her, hovering as quietly as he could through the air. The young detectives continued in, a foreboding feeling gripping both as they looked around for any sign of Malice.

"Down this hall." Charmy said, pointing down a dusty hallway.

"What makes ya think that?" the chameleon asked. The bee responded by showing her a playing card that had been lying on the ground.

The older detective shrugged, secretly feeling foolish for not spotting it earlier. "Alright, down there, then." Charmy eagerly took the lead down the hall. Both stopped at the third and final door of the hall, leaving only a dark end to the hall, another card sat at the foot of the old door.

"They're in here!" Charmy squealed quickly throwing open the door. The room itself was bare, like the rest of the house. As they stepped into the room, confused, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them and a pounding of footsteps quickly quieted as if someone was running. Charmy and Kaity jumped as the sudden sound, spinning around in the process.

Kaity was by the door in a few quick steps, grabbing the handle and pushing against the door with all her strength. "It's locked from the outside." She grunted, giving one final effort to open the door. She looked back at Charmy, who was trying in vain to open a window. It had been locked and nailed shut from the outside.
"We're trapped!" he cried out, a note of fear hitting his voice. An explosion sounded from somewhere in the house, followed by the sound of crackling flames. It was a miracle their room hadn't been taken by the explosion.

Charmy made the connection first, "Malice planned this…that was gasoline we smelled." The door suddenly sprung open, as if a ghostly force had influence over even a locked door, a wall of flame eagerly ate up the area around the two and weakening the wooden interior around the Chaotix members. The young bee screamed and held tightly to the older detective, whom was already feeling the effects of the heat waves on her. Thick, black smoke filled the room, making the detectives choke and gasp for clean air.

A sharp crack! came from above them, the she-ninja, with her heat-induced speed, leapt away from a falling beam. Charmy wasn't so lucky, the bee found himself pinned under the wooden beam, letting out a yelp of surprise as he hit the ground.

"Charmy!" the female chameleon gasped taking a step forward to help her tiny ally before another sharp snap! pinned the chameleon as well, slamming her head on the hard ground in the process. The blaze around them grew bigger and hotter and blackness was already eating away at the sides of both detectives' vision. The beams were obviously too heavy for either one to even try and lift, they could do nothing but hope their dumb luck as Chaotix detectives kicked in and they were found. Kaity looked over at Charmy, he wasn't too far away. She reached over and took the little bee's hand, hoping it would comfort him even the slightest bit. "Don't worry, Charmy. We're gonna be fine, alright?" the chameleon assured. Her attempts did quite the opposite; Charmy had hung around the female long enough to know she only bothered to comfort someone else was when she was worried too; he nodded, none the less. Charmy gripped his partner's hand tighter, feeling sudden lack of air, in a matter of moments, his vision was black and no other sense would respond.

Charmy woke up after what seemed not even a minute after collapsing, with renewed energy and strength. The little bee wriggled out from under the beam, finding a way he hadn't thought of before because of the panic, and buzzed over to Kaity, who was now also waking up. The bee tried and failed to lift the beam holding his friend down in the blazing room.

He looked at his friend and co-worker, still stuck on the ground. "Help me lift it." He grunted, trying again to lift the beam on his own. This time, Kaity put herself into the closest she could get to a push-up position under the weight of the beam, putting in just enough power to lift the beam enough for her to slip out. They had been lucky so far, the fire hadn't touched them and their escapes were pretty much painless and fast. But now they had to get out of a flaming room into a most likely flaming hallway to get out of the torched building. The door was still closed, but maybe it could be broken down. The two tested their theory by simultaneously ramming the door with all their might, landing in the hall.

"Well, that kinda worked." Kaity muttered, getting to her feet and grabbing Charmy. The fire still blazed around them, complete with smoke covering the hall they were running down. "When we get outside, stay quiet, alright?" the chameleon instructed immediately after going into a fit of coughing from the smoke. Charmy nodded, flying low to avoid the smoke in the air.

Cliffhanger, whee! =D Okay, I promise I'll be working on my other stories while I'm getting this one written...I just want this one done before SS graduates =3 so it'll be an on-time present...yeah, I'm done talking, sorry ^^;