Back at Grandma Jackie's House…

"Ya know," said Hannah, "I think I liked Jaden better as a ghost than Kaiba and Yugi."

"Wouldn't it be creepy if Jaden and some miserable guy were in here? Watching us? Right now?" Charlie said in a scary tone as the younger children nervously scanned the room.

"So is that how Jack met Elodie, Gran?" asked Addy curiously.

"That was the first time he saw her, yes," Jacqueline replied, "but they don't actually meet until later."

"The children in the story were creepy!" Piper shuddered. "Ignorance and Pride… what creepy names!"

"Bad children!" Joseph declared with the resolve of a toddler.

"They weren't actual living children, guys," Amber said, rolling her eyes. "They just symbolized those traits. They were only bad because people made them bad."

"That's right, hon," smiled Anita, squeezing her daughter's shoulders. "Pride and Ignorance and born of mankind, and it's best that we keep them away from us."

"But who was the third Spirit, Grandma Jackie?" Charlie asked eagerly. "Was is some tall, hooded creep with a pale pointing finger?"

"As a matter of fact, no, it was not," answered Jackie as the children leaned in to listen. "The identity of the Ghost of Christmases Yet to Come was actually rather surprising…"

STAVE FOUR: THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS

Part One: Observations

As the floating figure came toward Jack like mist over water, his only thought was that whatever he had expected the final Spirit to look like, this wasn't it.

The Spirit looked like a cross between an alien and an elf: it had blue skin, which emanated a pale, shimmering glow that radiated from its body; pointed ears, and strange, spiky hair that rose up above its head like a tuff of long, equally blue grass, even though Jack could not see a hairline. The creature appeared extremely fragile and delicate with its spindly limbs, which looked about as strong as toothpicks, but there was something dangerous in its countenance that made Jack feel weak and helpless in comparison. It had an impish face with a small, pointed nose and small, thin blue lips pursed in a thoughtful frown, and almond-shaped eyes, one of which was molten gold while the other was blazing white. The dark blue symbols and geometric shapes that marked its whole body added to its extraterrestrial appearance.

Jack swallowed hard as the Spirit approached. Despite the fact that he was much larger and stronger than the creature before him, he felt ridiculously small, even though the thing's feet were floating about two feet above the ground, but It barely towered over the Champion.. The spirit exuded power, darkness, and mystery, its very presence filling Jack with apprehension and doubt. He suddenly felt very cold and shaky as the Spirit stopped before him, glaring at him so powerfully that his gaze pierced through Jack's soul, emptying him of every good feeling. The Spirit's aura was as effective as the presence of a Dementor. Jack was never going to watch a Harry Potter movie again.

There was a moment of silence, during which the Spirit glared with narrowed, austere eyes and the champion stared back in fear. Jack gulped again, licking his lips as he tried to muster the courage to speak. Finally, he said in a gruff, quavering voice, "Am I in the presence of the Ghost of Christmases Yet to Come?"

The spirit nodded. The thing suddenly released Jack from its glare and floated soundlessly away from Jack, heading toward the street at the end of the square behind the champion.

What?

Jack blinked in confused shock, staring at the creature's retreating back. No introduction? No hello? No grandiloquent speech, magic video games, or flashing lights? Just nod and float away?

After several seconds of hesitation, Jack decided he was supposed to follow and jogged to catch up to the Spirit.

"You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened," Jack continued, walking alongside the creature, "but will happen in the future. Is that so, Spirit?"

The Spirit did not respond, still moving toward the end of the square. Jack took the silence as a yes, but his confusing and anxiety deepened. Why wouldn't the creature at least say something? Was it incapable of human speech?

After another prolonged silence, Jack decided to try one last time. "It's hard for me to admit, Spirit, but I fear you more than any Spector I have seen, and I fear even more what you will show me tonight. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to travel where you wish, and do it with no complaint. Will you not speak to me?"

The Spirit stopped so suddenly that Jack almost tripped over himself to keep from getting ahead of it. Closing its eyes, the Spirit heaved a heavy sigh and said, "Observation number one: humans talk escessively when they are nervous, and they ask numerous, unnecessary questions when they are confused."

Jack just stared, not even bothering to hide his bafflement. "Excuse me?"

"Astral."

"Come again?"

The spirit turned in mid-air to face the champion, staring down at him inquisitively. "I am the Ghost of Christmases Yet to Come, Jack Atlas, but you may address me as Spirit, as you have my brethren, or you may call me Astral."

"Ah," Jack croaked. The fact that the Spirit was now talking to him was not as assuaging as Jack had thought it would be. The Spirit, Astral, had a soft, sharp baritone voice that sounded inquisitive, but erudite, and cloaked in dark secrets and mystery. It gave Jack the willies.

"Well, um, Astral… Spirit… whatever," Jack tried to recover, clearing his throat and shaking himself slightly, "whose form are you taking? The first Spirit was Yugi, and the second was Jaden, but I don't recognize you."

"Of course you don't," Astral retorted sharply. "I take the form of one from after your time."

"So… you're not… your form isn't… human, right? I mean, humans don't evolve in the future or… do they?" Jack was appalled to think that the human race might somehow change into floating blue elves over the next hundred or so years, depending on how far into the future Astral was from.

To Jack's surprise, Astral actually rolled his eyes and said in exasperation, "Observation number two: humans ask ridiculous, even stupid questions when they are befuddled or afraid."

"Wha- I am not scared!" Jack declared indignantly.

"Were you not just saying that you feared me?"

"I did fear you. But now I'm more annoyed than afraid!"

The glowing aura around the Spirit and the light in its eyes flashed dangerously, and Jack found himself more afraid than annoyed.

"To answer your quixotic question, Jack Atlas, no, this form is not human. I am rather like, shall we say, the Yami of Yugi Muto, or the Spirit of Yubel, which resided in Jaden Yuki, except I am bound to one who is beyond your time."

Jack swallowed hard again, clenching his hands to keep them from shaking. He absolutely hated being intimidated, but Astral made him feel like a frightened child who cried when he had to sit in Santa's lap.

"Now then," continued Astral, "if we are through with the interrogation, I think we shall be off now. There is much to do before the night wanes."

Jack nodded in hurried agreement. "Oh, yes, alright. The night is waning fast, and I know it's precious time to me. Lead on, Spirit."

Astral turned back to the square and raised a hand, his long, spidery blue fingers outstretched. The air before him shivered, like heat waves rising from the concrete, and Jack cried out as the world was rent apart. It was like a huge black hole had been ripped through empty space. A loud, howling wind roared as invisible hands grabbed the champion and pulled him into the abyss that stretched to the future.

Christmas time is buzzing im my skull
Will it let me be? I cannot tell
There are so many things I cannot grasp
When I think I've got, and then at last
Through my bony fingers it does slip
Like a snowflake in a fiery grip

~ "Jack's Onsession" from Nightmare before Christmas