April 2nd, 1993

Sindlefingen, Stuttgart

7:45am

Ivy Kunze was accustomed to being part of two worlds.

It made sense, of course, when you grew up with two languages under one roof, with two different passports were kept at the bottom of your nightstand, when two sets of currency sat together in your wallet. She'd gotten used to it, over the years. German mom, American Dad? Sure. Going to Oktoberfest with her friends and walking past tanks on base? No big deal. The "so, what/who am I?" question? Ok, not fully solved, but she could wait for some middle-aged crisis to solve that. Or at least until after she got her driver's license.

Throwing a third world into the mix had changed things. And when that world was Halloween Town, home to monsters and masters of fright, things got downright complicated.

Case in point: Here she was, waiting for the school bus for her first day back at school, despite it being in the middle of the year. Going missing for four and half months (especially if you couldn't quite explain where you were, thanks Halloween) apparently wasn't enough to get her out of the rest of the school year. Sure, the police investigation had been dropped, but adjusting back to her normal life wasn't as smooth as she'd hoped.

Not to mention, she hadn't heard from Jack in days, so -

Thwap!

Ivy recoiled as something solid hit her face, a jolt of alarm racing through her system. Black obscured her vision until she grasped a smooth envelope, smelling faintly of ink and leftover sewage.

"Of course." She ran her thumb over the shaky, silver outline of her name on the jet-black paper, raising one eyebrow to the air in front of her. "He can't think of a less violent way to deliver messages? I've got a CMR, you know."

The Wind didn't respond, instead swirling around her head in a manner Ivy had long ago recognized as teasing. Huffing (and shaking hair out of her face), she broke the gold wax seal on the back and leaned against the flimsy plastic shelter of the bus station, smiling unconsciously at Jack's frantic hand. Somewhere in the distance, car horns blared, and kids called to each other as they got ready for school, their yelling carrying through the chill spring air.

"Ambassador Ivy -"

Ugh, he knew she hated the formalities -

"We urgently request your presence at the rise of the full moon tonight for a Town Meeting regarding new trainings for the next few months. Please recall the handbooks you were provided -"

(Yes, the ones that were helping to balance out her uneven desk chair -)

"- and we look forward to screaming upon seeing you. A Gateway will be provided in the usual location.

All my best,

JACK SKELLINGTON."

After a quick glance to make sure nobody else was around, she muttered aloud. "On a school night? Do you know how hard it is to sneak out when your family keeps waiting for you to vanish again?"

The Wind blew again, this time in mild sympathy. She bit her lip and let one finger trail across Jack's familiar signature, feeling that dark thrill within her gut at the thought of navigating the two worlds.

She could do it. She had a handle on it all, right? No sweat.

A few kids ran around the corner, giggling as they jumped through puddles left by the rain, and Ivy hastily shoved the letter back into the envelope and slid it into her bag. "Tell Bone Boy I'll be there," she whispered. "And quit messing up my hair! I'm going to get stared at enough as it is."

The children drew closer, their cheers almost drowning out the whisper in Ivy's ear. "You will do fine, Miss Ivy," the Wind breathed in the usual faded breathlessness. "You have faced far worse, have you not?"

Ivy pulled a face, but didn't reply at the bus pulled up, the kids pushing over one another to be the first on the Solo Seat.

Right, she thought to herself. You've got this. It probably won't even be that bad.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ok, scratch that. It absolutely was.

"Is that her? Oh my god, her hair looks so different."

"Doch, dude, all of her looks different."

The bus. Class. The hallways. No matter where Ivy turned, she could feel eyes staring in nosy disbelief, her new hearing picking up whispers she would have missed before and only enhancing her paranoia. Having never walked down the halls with anything less than surefire confidence, it was… rattling, to say the least.

"I heard she got kidnapped."

"I heard she was spying for the Americans in Berlin."

"I thought she just ran away?"

She couldn't even bring herself to glare fully, the light weight of Jack's letter in her bag keeping her grounded.

"Miss Kunze, welcome back," one of her Lehrers droned. "Final projects will be starting soon, so make sure you make a meeting with me."

"Jawohl," she muttered, slinking down in her seat.

"What was that?"

"Ja, Herr Himmel."

When the noon bell rang, Ivy all but bolted from the school, slowing at the sight of her friends gathering near the rock by the entrance. The sight was so familiar it made something in her chest tighten longingly. A new girl was there, fitting perfectly into old Ivy's spot.

A hushed silence fell over the group as she approached, all her strength devoted to not fiddling with the strap of her bag. "Hi, guys," she managed weakly, internally cringing at how it sounded in judgmental silence.

"Hey," one of the girls finally said, feet shuffling almost nervously. "Um, it's good to have you back."

The rest of the group muttered in agreement, the awkward tension growing by the second. Ivy realized, in a flash of heated embarrassment, that none of people standing before her had bothered ask her parents where she'd been or drop by in the weeks since she'd been back. She hadn't spoken to them since last October.

What the hell was she thinking?

"Um, yeah, good to be back," she muttered, kicking herself mentally the more she spoke. Get it together, Kunze. Six months ago, they were dying to hang out with you, just get back in there. "Look, I know it's been a while, but I was wondering – "

"I don't want to be rude," the first girl cut in, a strange look on her face, "but you can't – you can't just show up and act like nothing's happened. That's, like, not cool, at all."

Ivy blinked rapidly, fighting the glare she knew was forming on her face. "Um, what? What do you mean, I'm just – "

"I mean, you can still hang out sometimes if you want and everything, but like – you just left and didn't say anything, how were we supposed to know we were still even friends? You couldn't, like, shoot us something over AOL?"

No, Ivy thought venomously, I really couldn't. No service under the earth.

"I'm not trying to pretend that nothing happened," she tried again. "I'm just – "

The faces of the girls were carefully neutral, their eyes betraying them. Ivy's fingers twitched at her side, and she felt as though the ground beneath her was tilting. "I'm – I'm just – you know, never mind."

She turned away, biting her lip and hoping the entire school yard couldn't sense, with the uncanniness of teenagers, that the social order had changed. But nobody was looking at her, all occupied with their backpacks or their friends or –

Ok, except for one boy, who had ridiculous eyeliner and was staring at her way too intensely across the yard. She marched past him, channeling all of the confusing emotions twisting inside of her into a snarl.

"What the hell are you looking at?" She snapped, leaving the school, and her dignity, in the dust.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ivy's father was the quintessential American in many ways, from his love of his country to his love of ice water. He was also rather fond of the phrase "fix your face". Often, it was muttered across the dinner table or whispered in warning when Ivy's temper made itself too visible. She'd never been, well, fond of it, but found herself pausing all the same before the entry to her house, key halfway into the lock, her father's advice ringing in her ears.

"Fix your face, Ivy," she whispered. Then, summoning the most genuine smile she could plaster to her face, she pushed her way inside.

Instantly, a force hit her legs and wrapped around them with all the strength that a six-year-old can possess. Ivy's smile melted into a real one and she hugged her little brother's head, mussing the top of his straw-colored hair.

"Yeah, yeah, missed you too, Little Leite," she said, before taking large steps towards the kitchen, Anton stubbornly clinging to her leg and giggling all the way. "How was kindergarten? Gut? Toll? Schlecht?"

Anton made a disgusted face, tongue sticking out.

"Yeah, me too bud. I think a Happy Hippo would make it better, naturlich?"

"Hippo!" Anton cheered, running to the cabinet. She hoisted him up, his Hausschue falling from his feet as he kicked eagerly, one chubby hand reaching for the package.

"Well, welcome home," came an amused voice from behind the pair. Ivy and Anton both looked guiltily over their shoulders at their Mama, who leaned against the doorframe and raised one perfect eyebrow at them both. An aura of authority hovered around her, and Ivy quickly put her brother down, though not before he'd managed to hand one Hippo off to her, hiding the other behind his back.

Selena Kunze was not a woman easily fooled, but she let it go all the same, fixing her dark gaze on Ivy instead. "How was school?"

"Oh," Ivy said, feeling herself deflate, "fine."

The stare turned a bit more intense.

Luckily, Ivy knew the trick. "It was weird, yeah, but not… not as bad as I thought." She turned the Hippo over in her hand, hoping distantly that the chocolate wouldn't melt. Maybe Jack would like to try it later. "You were right, I guess. It'll be better soon."

Her mother came forward, brushing Ivy's hair back in a way that made her want to lean forward into her mother's lavender scent and tell her everything. "You're sure? You've been out of school for a while, we can see about -"

"No, no, it's ok," she said, forcing a laugh and leaning away from her mother's hands. "It was just a weird day, but it was good to…go back to normal."

Selena nodded, pulling her hands back, and looked like she was going to say more when Anton took off, tearing the wrapper from his Happy Hippo as quickly as he could.

"Anton! Do not get chocolate on your bed!" She followed the boy, leaving Ivy to slump against the kitchen counter, clutching her bag strap and feeling a wave of exhaustion sweep over her.

Gott, it was going to be a long few months.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sun crept slowly over the buildings of Sindlefingen, painting the tops of the red roofs gold and casting deep shadows across the streets. Somewhere in the distance, a church bell rang, the deep and solemn sound echoing through the still evening air. Her room was small and cramped, the setting sun bright orange against the wooden walls. She toyed with the edge of the Rolladen handle, but ultimately abandoned it, keeping the view of the dusk outside her window.

It was getting close to where the human world went to sleep, bodies slowing alongside the coming of the night.

Which meant, of course, that Ivy was just getting started.

She paced as silently as she could in her room, having managed to escape dinner early via homework. It wasn't a total lie - Ivy didn't dare look at the stacks of catch-up work sitting ominously on her desk - but sitting down to do English grammar or a paper about Wilhelm II was the furthest thing from her mind. Stepping over piles of laundry and discarded papers, she swept one arm across her desk, sending pencil scattering until a space was clear for her books. They fell with a thunk, rattling the light and -

She shot one hand out, steadying the candle that sat in a rare empty space. It was thick and short, a deep black that stood out in the growing darkness of the room. The wick was an almost neon orange, and there were drawings of dried leaves and bones etched into the wax. She let her fingers brush it, inhaling the peace that came from the smell of smoke and cedar.

Deep inside of her bones, she felt the exact moment that the sun went down and something within her waking up. She turned Jack's letter over in her hands, eyes fixed on the doors of her closet.

It wasn't the most elegant solution, but given her house arrest for the foreseeable future, it was the only one that worked. Ivy felt a pinch of envy for Jack and his ability to create Gateways no matter where he went. If she could learn to do that, to just figure out how to bend space and time to her will, she wouldn't have to wait like this, anxious about her parents walking in, just in time to see -

Under her sleeves, the skin on her right bicep tightened and burned.

Grinning, Ivy grabbed her schoolbag and flung open her closet door. Her shoes and ever-growing pile of laundry had vanished completely. Instead, the thin membrane between worlds had taken over her closet, transforming it into a black void. A slight breeze came through, carrying the familiar scent of rotting pumpkins with it and Ivy inhaled deeply, the restlessness she'd been carrying in her chest finally beginning to ease.

She gave one last look around her room. Window, locked. Door, secured with her chair. Bed, stuffed with pillows. She'd said good night to her parents. The full moon was rising, it was time.

With the easiest smile she'd had all day, Ivy stepped out of the Human World and into Halloween.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

SMACK!

"Ugggg."

Ok, as graceful landings go, not her best. Ivy glared at the box she'd tripped over on her way outside of the Gateway, shaking her head to clear the spinning. Maybe one day she'd manage to glide between worlds without a single care like Jack did, but for now -

Where was Jack?

She clamored to her feet, looking around the dark mansion. The sitting room looked the same as when she'd last visited - rotten wood walls, an over-dramatic candelabra displayed on a sagging bookshelf, piles and piles of books and papers decorating the dirty floorboards. What there wasn't was a familiar skeleton face, ready with a smile and a cup to some awful-tasting tea.

Ivy's heartrate spiked. Maybe there'd been something in the letter she'd missed? Was she somehow late? Was Jack too busy? Had he changed his mind about wanting her there?

But before she could think on it any longer, the door swung open, and Ivy's anxieties melted away.

Jack stood there, tall and imposing, his thin frame blocking none of the warm light emulating from the kitchen. He gazed down at her with an expression of pure delight, and Ivy felt a pavlovian smile of her own forming.

"Hello, love!" Jack beamed, bounding forward, and bending down to wrap her up in a hug that lifted her cleanly off the ground. "It's been a while!"

"Yeah, well," Ivy said lightly, hands trapped at her sides, "I caught Mama and Papa looking at new window locks at Obi the other day, so I figured I should lay low for a bit."

Jack shook his head and tsk'd, finally setting her down. "Grab me an extra of what they get, will you? Can't have you getting ideas about that window upstairs again."

"Oh, ha ha."

A strange bark came from under the couch and Ivy frantically dug in her bag for spare treats before the ghost dog barreled into her, pumpkin nose fighting her hands for precious space in the bag's openings.

"Zero, come now!" Jack scolded, lightly tugging him away. Ivy stuck her tongue out at the dog, who managed to scowl back, before immediately breaking into a doggy grin as she deposited some of his favorite treats on the floor.

"You're welcome, Null," she said to the dog happily ignoring her in favor of his salmon bites.

"You should eat as well, before the Meeting starts." Jack was already moving back to the kitchen, and Ivy wondered with a surge of warmth if he'd been anticipating her arrival. She'd eaten, but her stomach still craved the strange combination of burnt and baked that only Jack could achieve. "You know how the Mayor gets when he's… excited."

Ivy groaned, flopping into one of the bar stools and propping her feet on the other, causing Jack to wince. "How does somebody talk for two hours about makeup? Who cares if there's a difference between oxblood and crimson?"

"Every detail of Halloween is important," Jack sniffed haughtily, passing her a bowl of thick, questionable soup.

"Yeah, that's why you were doodling the whole time," she snarked back, shoveling it down.

"Feet off the chair, please." Master of evasion, he was. "How was school today?"

"Ugh." Ivy immediately planted her face against the smooth grains of Jack's countertop, soup forgotten. She lifted it slightly as though to speak, only to slam it down once more.

"It can't have been that bad," Jack tried, poking at her with one bony finger.

"It sucked." Her fingers returned to the hole in her jeans, scratching at the fraying thread. "Everyone was staring at me and talking about me but nobody would say any of it to my face. They kept looking at me like I was about to do a Scare on them or something."

Jack hummed thoughtfully, fingers drumming on the countertop. "That sounds frustrating."

"It totally was!" Ivy looked up at last, flinging her arms wide. "Even my friends were being weird, and school doesn't end until August plus I might have to repeat a year which is, like, so not cool! How am I supposed to get through the next few months without going nuts?"

"Honestly, I'm a bit surprised at you. I'd think you'd be used to this."

"Ex-cuse me?"

Jack held up his hands, that weird all-knowing glint in his eye immediately making Ivy suspicious. "Think about it. What was your life like when you first got to Halloween?"

"Oh, it sucked," she said automatically. "Uh, no offense - "

"Some taken, but understandably so."

"- but everyone kept acting like I was a bomb about to go off and there was nothing to do except wait until -" she broke off, eyes narrowing at Jack. "You think you're smart, huh?"

Jack shrugged, pushing the soup towards her once more. "All I'm saying is, you've been in this situation before. And this time, it's with your own kind in a dynamic you're used to! Just give yourself time adjust. I know you can do it."

"Fine, Dad," she snarked, returning to her soup - partly to distract herself from the strange comfort his sentiment brought, and to see the small, disbelieving smile that always snuck onto Jack's face when she called him that. "I'll do my best."

"I'm sure you will."

They sat in a peaceful silence, Ivy kicking her feet and wondering how much of a pain she felt like being. Hey, she'd had a long day, some entertainment was necessary.

"Soooooo…."

Jack's skull snapped up, one finger jutting towards her threateningly. "Do not."

How did Anton manage to look innocent again? "What do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well," Jack huffed, shoulders shuffling about. "Sally and I have hardly spoken, recently, so get that look off your face."

The sly grin did vanish, but not for the reason Jack might've meant. "What? Why not? Is everything ok?"

"Yes, yes." Jack flapped his hands at her, one coming to rub at his skull. "She's simply busy, you know. Anytime I deliver things to the Doctor she's working away on her science."

"On her - on her what, exactly? What does 'science' mean?"

Jack scoffed at her, somehow managing to crinkle a nose that didn't exist. "Come now, Ivy. Surely you must know not to question a scientist's methods. Hardly our business what they discover or how they go about it."

Ivy's internal scale of the logic of Halloween and plain logic, damn it, waged fiercely. "That's - that's actually the point of science, to learn-"

"Perhaps your science," Jack said, in an expert tone that was somehow condescending and well meaning. "This is mad science, my dear, with its own rules."

The human rolled her eyes, forcing herself to put aside the argument. (See, Jack, she was capable of that.) "Ok, fine. She's doing mad science, or so the Doc says, because he's reliable."

Jack sighed deeply, drumming his fingers on the wood of the table, the sound loud without the padding of skin. "I do wish you'd put aside this petty argument with him - "

"And I wish he'd put aside the stick in his metal ass, but we don't all get what we - ow!" She rubbed her nose, stinging from the sharp flick Jack had inflected upon it.

"The point of the matter is," Jack said primly, "I haven't seen Sally for several weeks, so I have no messages to report on that front."

Ivy turned the spoon over in her hands - an old, silver metal that felt way too heavy to actually use. Distantly, she wondered which was thicker: the spoon or Jack's determination to ignore the "nothing, I assure you" that she'd seen popping up between him and the ragdoll. "Ok, Jack. Maybe I can see her soon?"

She hadn't meant for it to sound like - like that, so uncertain and full of - ugh. Whatever. Just a long day, right? No need for Jack to be looking at her like that, like he was trying to see into her mind and untangle her thoughts with those long fingers.

"I'm sure we can arrange that." He smiled at her and damn if the ball of tension still lingering in her chest didn't loosen a bit. "Now finish that up, or the Mayor will turn into a pumpkin before we're there."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Mayor hadn't taken on any new shades by the time the pair arrived, but the gradual ticking of his head towards the distressed side gave them their countdown. Jack paused from where he stood amid the open doors, his presence instantly capturing the attention of the monsters within. Ivy, just behind him, gave an awkward nod and felt a mixture of envy and awe at the ease with which Jack made himself known. The moonlight was behind them, causing Jack's skull to glow and casting a long shadow into the hall, illuminating the meeting table.

Scattered around it were a mix of monsters with appointed positions and those simply following the call of civic duty, all vying for an opportunity to add their own flair to the holiday.

Well, perhaps not all… Ivy gave a cheery two-fingered salute to the Midnight Council, huddled in the corner. Vlad, with a roll of his dark eyes, stared pointedly above her head. The Creature nodded once, then resumed the exhausting-looking task of making his massive form look smaller. Nicholas, who's fur was looking far rougher than usual, ignored her altogether. She (naturally) couldn't see Marvel but prepared herself to flip off the Invisible Man as soon as she could.

"Horrid evening to you all," Jack called into the reverent silence, garnished with a genuine smile Ivy could never hope to pull off. "I trust we are all ready?"

"Yes, yes, Jack," the Mayor sniffed, though the skeleton's arrival had instantly swung his face back to - well, it could never really be called normal, but certainly preferable. "Everyone, do take your seats!"

Begrudgingly, the monsters followed the order, giving one another side eyes and slinking away. The Wind gave Ivy one final parting whirl before shutting the doors, leaving her grinning as she took her own seat at the far end of the table.

Vlad slid in next to her, aquiline nose high in the air. "Evening, bloodbag."

"Yeah, you too, Mosquito Man." The table was a bit too high for her, so she tucked one foot beneath herself and hoisted herself up, scanning the table and stubbornly refusing to look at her watch.

"I see your time away has done nothing for your stature." Vlad's lips hardly moved; his red eyes fixed firmly ahead even as he began to fold a piece of paper under the table.

"And it's done jack shit for your art skills, too," Ivy returned, pointedly staring at a sad-looking swan origami wilting between Vlad's fingers. "Why don't you pop up to the Human World and get a book on it? Oh, wait - "

"You dare -"

"On this day, 212 days until Halloween, I, as Pumpkin King Jack Skellington, welcome you to our Town Council Meeting!" Jack stood at the top of the table, clapping his bony hands to draw the attention of the group. He beamed his usual craggy grin, sockets sweeping across those clustered together around the sharp table. "And, of course, thank you to Ambassador Ivy for joining us."

"Always a terror," Ivy responded, throwing up a peace sign as the monsters turned her way, Jack fighting a smile at Vlad's disgust next to her.

"Well, I believe it is time to get underway. Timore coniungit nos."

"Timore coniungit nos!" The hall repeated, Ivy alongside them, who shared a wink with Jack.

Let the fun, she thought, begin.