**Hello all! I apologize for this, but I realized recently that I had posted this story minus a chapter! So I have deleted the rest of the chapters and am adding this one in where it should, and then I will add the rest of the chapters as I edit them.**

Disclaimer: I do not own NBC, but I have an awesome Jack and Sally lamp. :)

So, Jack. You're from the Real World, eh?" the Mayor said as he led Jack into his little office. He took a seat behind a lopsided desk and motioned for Jack to sit in the chair across from him. The chair looked an awful lot like an electric chair, Jack thought somewhat uneasily as he sat down.

"Yeah, that's right," Jack replied.

"Hmm. Don't get many Real Worlders here in Halloweenland anymore," the Mayor said. He was still wearing his grinning face. But as he spoke his head whirled around to reveal the worried face. "Halloween isn't what it used to be, Jack," the Mayor said with a sigh.

"Uh, how's that?" Jack asked.

The Mayor stood up and began pacing around the room. "Halloween used to be a time of fear, of fright. Now it's becoming just a time for kids to dress up and get candy." The Mayor sighed heavily.

Jack looked at him, wondering exactly what the Mayor was trying to tell him.

"We need to do something, Jack," the Mayor said, coming to a halt in front of Jack.

Jack raised an eyebrow, so to speak. "Do something like what?"

"I need for you to tell me what we need to do to make Halloween scary again."

Jack thought about that, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Jack had spent the better part of his life obsessed with Halloween. Each and every year he had spent months planning that year's Halloween theme. But he had noticed, over the years, that each year he had to do more and more to scare the kids. They were getting jaded, things didn't scare them the way they had scared kids when he was a kid. Of course, things hadn't scared him, but he had seen how badly he'd scared the kids his age with his costumes.

The Mayor was right. Halloween was losing its…spirit. It had become a day for kids to get free candy and for adults to go to fashionable parties.

He didn't say it, of course, but he thought that it was because the citizens of Halloweentown weren't doing their jobs. He couldn't remember the last time he's seen a ghost (besides Zero, of course), and as for demons and ghouls and vampires, well, he'd never seen any of them.

The Mayor sat back down in his chair and sighed again. "The citizens of Halloweentown mean well, Jack, they do, but they just aren't….motivated anymore. They've become lazy, and it shows. I've been Mayor of Halloweentown for almost a hundred years, and for the first time ever, this past Halloween, well, absolutely no-one died of fright! Not one person! There were no reports of ghosts or goblins. Not one werewolf sighting. Not a single report of a closet monster attack. I've failed, Jack, failed!" the Mayor moaned, his head dropping onto the desk with a thud.

Jack looked at him in alarm. "Uh," Jack said. "Is that what you guys do on Halloween, kill people?" Jack asked.

The Mayor looked up. "Well, uh, you see that's just a figure of speech," the Mayor said sheepishly. "We don't kill people, just scare them."

Jack gave a relieved sigh. Scaring was one thing. He could do scary. He could do terrifying. But he was pretty sure he couldn't do killing. He was glad to know that he hadn't been wrong about the citizens of Halloweentown. They were a scary bunch, no doubt of that, but none of them had seemed evil, definitely not capable of murder.

"I need your help, Jack. I need you to help me figure out what to do so that Halloween can get its reputation back," the Mayor said, his voice pleading.

"Well," Jack said slowly. "You're right, Halloween hasn't been as scary lately as it used to be."

The Mayor moaned again. "Go on, go on," he said waving his hand weakly when Jack paused.

"I think you need a new approach to Halloween, Mayor."

"A new approach?"

"Yes. Something to get everyone motivated again," Jack said. His mind was working furiously, thinking of all the ways he could get Halloween its reputation back. He'd been scary in real life with only Zero to help him. Here in Halloweenland, with every kind of ghost, ghoul and monster at his disposal, well, the possibilities were endless!

"And you'll help me?" the Mayor asked hesitantly.

"Of course I will," Jack replied.

The Mayors head spun around, and he grinned. "Oh thank you, Jack, thank you! I knew you'd be able to help!"

"I'll need some time to think and come up with a plan," Jack said.

"Of course, Jack of course. Take all the time you need. Well, not all the time you need, because there's only 350 days left until Halloween," the Mayor said. Just then a clock struck twelve and the Mayor's head spun around again. "Oh my only 349 days left!" he said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Mayor. Leave it to me, I'll take care of everything," Jack said confidently and Zero barked his agreement.

xxx

Once they were done with their meeting the Mayor took Jack on a tour of Halloweentown. Even though it was after midnight there were a lot of people (creatures?) moving about. Jack saw a tall zombie looking guy wearing tattered overalls. He had an axe lodged in his skull and Jack winced at the thought. The Mayor waved at him and the zombie guy waved back.

"That's Bubba, the town behemoth," the Mayor said and Jack waved at him, too.

Bubba waved back. The Mayor pointed out places of interest. There was a cat shaped building, which the Mayor said belonged to the witches. There were cottages that belonged to the ghouls. The Mayor spoke rapidly, pointing out the buildings and who they belonged to. When the finally reached the edge of town Jacks head was spinning from trying to remember everything the Mayor had told him. It had, Jack thought, been a very long day.

"And this is the residence of Dr. Finkelstein," the Mayor said, pointing out yet another odd-looking building. It had a tower with a large round top and barred windows. "He's our resident mad scientist," the Mayor added in a hushed whisper. "He does all kinds of experiments."

"What kind of experiments?" Jack asked.

There was a pause. "Well, I don't really know. Scientific kinds of experiments."

"Oh," Jack said, following the Mayor as he kept walking.

"And this, this is where you will live," the Mayor said, coming to a stop and waving his hand triumphantly.

Jack stared up at the building, certain that at any moment it was going to come crashing down on their heads.

But Jack was beginning to realize that looks in Halloweenland could be deceiving. As ramshackle as the buildings looked, they were obviously a lot more stable than they seemed.

The Mayor was looking expectantly at Jack, so he gave a big grin, a hearty laugh and said, "It's perfect!"

And it was perfect, perfect for a skeleton man. It was just taking some getting used to, the fact that he was a skeleton.

The house was impossibly tall and impossibly thin. The house part was a tower on top of a spindly base that rose several stories off the ground. Jack stared up at it in amazement.

"You don't mind if I don't go up with you, do you?" the Mayor asked.

"Oh, no, not at all," Jack replied.

"I think you'll find everything you need. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call," the Mayor said. "Now, I'll be waiting for your Halloween ideas."

"Of course, and thanks," Jack said.

"Any time, my boy, any time," the Mayor replied and hustled off down the street back towards Town Square. He had a new spring in his steps as he thought of Jack Skellington and wondered if maybe, just maybe, Jack would be the one to help them save Halloween.

Jack looked over at Zero, who was regarding their new home speculatively. "Well, Zero. Shall we go see our new home?"

Zero barked happily and followed Jack as he climbed the long and winding flight of stairs that led to their new home.