Chapter 25

"Unhand me!" Jack heard a voice yell as he came to. "You are definitely on my naughty list you little hoodlums!" Jack heard the tiny, annoying laughter of Lock, Shock and Barrel ringing through air. He shook his head and squinted.

"Sandy? Is that you?" Jack muttered groggily. He heard chains rustle. He was almost completely shrouded in darkness.

"Jack Skellington? Where am I?" Santa shouted to him. Jack allowed some time for his vision to adjust and attempted to move, thus finding out he was tied in chains as well.

"Wha-what's going on here?" Jack stuttered.

"You tell me! I was checking my list a second time when those three hooligans came knocking! Next thing I knew I was here!" Santa exclaimed. Where even is here? Jack thought to himself. He blinked and could see more of what was around him. Chains hung from the rafters, torture devices littered the floor, and what looked to be a pit of molten magma lay in the center of the floor. Jack looked behind him and noticed he was chained to a torture coffin. Suddenly it hit him.

"Oogie!" he shouted angrily.

"What?" Santa yelled. Jack wriggled within his chains.

"It's Oogie Boogie! This is his lair! He must have sent Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap us!" Jack replied.

"Who is this Oogie Boogie? And what does he want with us?" Santa asked. Suddenly a hideous laugh filled the air. Jack wriggled harder.

"Why I'm Oogie Boogie!" Oogie shouted, appearing out of the darkness. "And what I want with you two is actually quite simple, although it might be a bit messier now that our little Eve decided to leave!" Jack suddenly stopped wriggling.

"Eve? What about Eve?" Jack demanded.

"What do you care, Jack? After all I'm sure you know by now that Eve lied to you?" Oogie taunted.

"Oogie I demand you tell me what Eve had to do with this!" Jack ordered. Oogie laughed.

"Oh why not? After all, it won't even matter in a few minutes!" he scoffed. Jack ignored this. "Being leaders of holidays, of course you both know what happens when you're not there to maintain them right?" Jack thought about this. Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"They cease to exist…" he muttered.

"Bingo! Now put little Eve into the mix…now let's see if you can guess that!" Oogie squealed in delight. Jack glared at him, but thought about it. He scrambled through his memories of the past two months.

"Christmas…that's it isn't it? You convinced Eve to help me with Christmas…so…"

"Yes, yes go on…" Oogie urged teasingly.

"So my mind would be swayed from Halloween! So that's where Eve got the idea in her head that I had volunteered to take on Christmas! And how she also thought Sandy was too ill to do it himself!" Jack concluded to his dismay.

"Jackpot!" Oogie howled. "And now that I have you and Sandy, there will be no way for either of you to follow through with Christmas tonight and when that happens…both holidays will cease to exist! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Jack yanked at his chains angrily.

"Why Oogie? Why do you want both holidays to diminish? You will be destroyed as well along with Halloween!" Jack yelled.

"Not true Jack…for I plan to take both destroyed holidays and make one of my very own! Thus becoming the leader of one, master holiday! And knocking you right off of your thrown, your Majesty!" Oogie scoffed. Jack sneered. How could he have let this happen? Halloween and Christmas would be destroyed, he would fall, and Eve was now gone. "But don't fret Jack, this is nothing new…in fact you've had just this very thing coming for quite sometime. You even survived my first attempt at killing you…but this time I doubt you will be as lucky!" Oogie added.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked harshly. Oogie opened his mouth to answer, when a soft sigh caught his attention. He smiled evilly at Jack…

Eve crawled through the storm pipes that led into the secret underbelly of Oogie's lair. She peered past the bent bars of the drain pipe, spotting Jack and Santa tied up. Oogie had been talking this whole time, but had now suddenly stopped. She looked over at him, smiling wickedly at Jack and then snapped his fingers. Annoying little laughs filled the air, then all at once became silent. Eve's breath caught in her chest. Sensing something, she turned around and was face to face with Lock, Shock and Barrel. Taking advantage of her shock, they tied a cloth around her mouth and bound her hands. She struggled against them, but to no avail. They dragged her down to the dungeon level and left her at Oogie's feet. She looked up and glared at him.

"Eve!" she heard Jack yelled in surprise. She turned, attempting to look at him, but she could not see him.

"Jhmmmmm!" she muttered. Oogie grinned widely at her and hoisted her to her feet. She could see Jack clearly and felt tears reach her eyes.

"Hmmm…well it's not very interesting if you can't talk, let's take this off of you shall we?" Oogie taunted, taking the cloth from Eve's mouth.

"Jack! Jack!" she yelled, wriggling against her bindings. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to deceive you. I just wanted to seem worthy of you and thought if you knew I was human, you wouldn't give me a second glance. But now I ask for a second chance! Please Jack! I love you!" Jack stared at her sadly.

"I'm so sorry as well Eve! I should never have sent you away like that. It's just I wanted you safe and-"

"I know, I know, Doctor Finklestein told me everything and even though I might die staying here that much longer to save you…it's so worth it!" Eve said, choking back tears. Jack shook his head.

"Eve I don't want to loose you again, please you must leave!" Jack urged.

"No Jack! I'm not leaving you!" Eve insisted. She struggled against her bindings. Oogie laughed.

"She's right, she's not going anywhere! And besides you two loosing each other because of death wouldn't be a first!" he grinned.

"Let her go, Oogie!" Jack yelled, jerking himself somewhat loose of his chains.

"What do you mean, it wouldn't be a first?" Eve asked, confused. Jack ignored this and managed to break free of his chains. Oogie threw Eve down on the ground and Jack raced to untie her. As soon as she was free he held her in his arms tightly.

"Now don't tell me neither of you remember? Oh come now! 1810? October? Perhaps this will refresh your memory?" Oogie spat as he snapped his fingers yet again. Instead of imp like henchmen appearing, a mist sprung out of no where, fast and harsh. No face ghosts whipped around Jack and Eve as they clung close to each other. Flashes of grey ghostly images sailed around them until finally two images stopped cold in front of the couple. Eve gasped as a shady mirror image of herself in period clothing stared her in the face. Jack as well felt weak as he stared at a young, handsome man of about 23 in period clothing as well. He had black hair that fell unruly upon his forehead and eyes as dark as the darkest Halloween night.

"Jack, Eve…" Oogie jeered. "Meet Jack and Eve."