Beginning A/N: Here's the next chapter of the story thus far. As usual, I have done some editing to this chapter so that it flows well with the story, but nothing too major. Mostly just correcting some spelling and grammar mistakes. Anyway, as always, please read on and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Legend of Korra or The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Dialogue Key
"..." = Regular Speech
'...' = Someone's Thoughts
... = Songs
Korra's Lament
The people of Halloween Town were still laughing in delight at the incredible Halloween they just pulled off this year. Truly a masterpiece of fright and horrors. And they all had their own positive opinions on the matter. The Witch Sisters cheered as they tossed their hats into the air while everyone else began voicing their thoughts.
"IT'S OVER!" Clown cheered loudly.
"We did it!" added Behemoth.
He and Clown shared a celebratory chest bump as the others were no less eccentric in their celebrations.
"Wasn't it terrifying?" the Werewolf asked.
Mister Hyde wrapped a link of chains around the Cyclops's neck as they exclaimed in unison, "What a night!".
"Great Halloween, everybody!" congratulated the Mayor.
"I believe it was our most horrible yet! Thank you, everyone!" exclaimed Jack as he and Korra stepped off the fountain.
"No, it's thanks to you and Korra, Jack. Without you two and your brilliant leadership…"
"Not at all, Mayor." Jack said modestly, cutting off the Mayor.
He and Korra were still smiling, if a little uncomfortably as the people of Halloween Town began crowding them and voicing their opinions on how well the two of them did this year. The citizens always had high praises for their leader and his apprentice, and even though it's only been a year since she became the apprentice to the Pumpkin King, Korra has found that all of the praise, fame, and attention can get a little overwhelming sometimes.
"You're such a scream, Jack!" exclaimed the fat Vampire Brother.
"You're a witch's fondest dream!" the Tall Witch added.
"You and Korra made walls fall!" exclaimed the Short Witch as she clung to Jack's leg.
Korra raised her hands in a form of surrender as she tried to diffuse the situation before it got too uncomfortable for her and Jack. She appreciated the kind words of the people, as these were genuine compliments and words of praise rather than people just trying to get in her good graces due to her Avatar Status. But, like I said before, it got a bit overwhelming for both her and Jack sometimes.
"Please, everyone, Jack and I may be the best, but we're not that great." she said.
"Oh, you're so modest, Korra." complimented the Tall Witch as she pinched the girl's cheek like a grandmother would.
Much to the embarrassment of the current Avatar.
Watching from behind the Hanging Tree, gazing at the skeleton she admires and not-so-secretly loves with all her heart, the rag doll woman from before was blissfully unaware of an approaching presence. That is, until she was grabbed by the wrist and pulled down by an old man dressed as a mad scientist. This man has a jaw that looks more like a duck's beak, a large bald head with several bolts going around it, and was wearing a pair of safety shades for his more chemical based experiments. He's also confined to a motorized wheelchair, much like how Korra once was.
"The Deadly Nightshade you slipped me wore off, Sally." the man said, sounding slightly cross.
"Let go!" demanded the now named Sally.
But his grip didn't waver. If anything, it just got a bit tighter, but not tight enough to be painful.
"You're not ready for so much excitement." the doctor said, trying to reason with the rag doll.
But she was having none of it.
"Yes I am!" she protested.
"You're coming with me!" grunted the doctor as he tried to drag Sally back to his lab.
"No, I'm not!"
That's when Sally did something the doctor didn't expect. She reached for her upper arm, and undid the stitching holding it in place, knocking the doctor to the ground and out of his chair while she ran away.
"Come back here, you foolish… Oof! Oh! Oh-hoho!" grunted the doctor as Sally's arm seemed to have a mind of its own and was now rapidly bonking him on his bald head.
A truly humorous sight, indeed.
Back with our resident rulers of Halloween, the two were slowly backing up as the crowd of admirers was getting a bit too close for comfort. Not that any of them seemed able to tell. Either that, or they just didn't care about the concept of personal space.
"Oh, Jack! You and Korra make wounds ooze and flesh crawl!" exclaimed the Undersea Girl.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much." Jack managed to say through his growing stress.
"This is becoming a rather serious invasion of my personal space…" mumbled Korra.
Fortunately, it seems help has just arrived in the most unlikely of people.
"HOLD IT!" the Mayor exclaimed into his megaphone, getting the crowd's attention. "We haven't given out prizes yet."
The crowd of monsters and ghouls all broke out into excitement at the prospect of winning an award for their Halloween contributions, thus temporarily forgetting about their heroes. Jack and Korra made a mental note to thank the Mayor for the distraction later, and quietly bolted like a pair of wolfbats out of hell.
"Our first award goes to the Vampires for 'Most Blood Drained in a Single Evening'." the Mayor announced, giving the Vampire Bros a trophy. "Our next prize goes to the Witches for…"
While the Mayor was busy handing out awards, Jack and Korra rounded a corner, thus ensuring their escape. After making sure they hadn't been followed, both sighed and wiped the sweat from their foreheads. They were both physically and mentally exhausted from such a long and eventful night and just wanted some time to themselves for the night. And perhaps a nap.
As they walked down the road to the cemetery, the two passed by a small band of zombies who were playing some slow jazz on the side of the road. The leader of the band played a Saxophone made of bones, a tall member played an accordion that seemed to be made from a dead fish, and the last member was playing a bass that looked like it was made from a coffin. This bass also had the head of the fourth member within its resonating chamber, sticking out of the hole where the sound would emit. As they passed, both Halloween leaders reached into their pockets and fished out a coin before tossing them into the tin can the band was using.
"Nice work, Bone Daddy. And to you as well, Raven Queen." said the Saxophone player.
"Yeah, I guess so. Just like last year." Jack replied tiredly.
"And the year before that." Korra added.
"And the year before that." Jack finished.
Meanwhile, in the cemetery just outside of Halloween Town, Sally was sitting by a large grave pushing the autumn leaves that made up her stuffing back into the hole left by her unstitching her arm. But little did she know, she was not alone. A certain Airbender child had actually followed Korra to Halloween Town that evening, still dressed up in her costume from when her mother took her trick-or-treating. This was Jinora, and she was dressed up as her favorite comic book superhero, her brother Meelo got her into the series, before you ask, Black Panther. And even though she's a girl, she worked hard on the costume and enjoyed dressing up as her favorite hero. Her costume consisted of a black bodysuit with a necklace made from faux fangs from a big cat, a utility belt, a pair of boots, and a cowl with a pair of cat ears that left her face from the nose down exposed.
She and Sally both gasped as they heard somebody enter the graveyard before hiding behind separate graves.
Korra had just entered the cemetery and had begun to walk along just thinking as she unfurled a pair of pitch black wings like a crow from her back. The final part of her Raven Queen uniform that she had kept retracted so that her feathers wouldn't get soaked or burned during the annual song to welcome Halloween. As she passed by the graves, Sally and Jinora peaked out to watch as Korra walked by. The Avatar stopped at a grave that looked kind of like a dog house and tapped her lap before continuing on. Out of the grave rose the ghost of a dog with a long snout tipped with a glowing jack o' lantern nose, long floppy ears, and a body that looked more like a bed sheet. This was Zero, Jack's pet dog who Korra sometimes looks after.
Turns out, he and Naga get along like a house on fire.
But as Korra continued her walk, she began to become more and more depressed by everything that she has been through in her life and her brief career as the Avatar. And as she thought of these things, a musical tune that was very familiar to Korra began to play through the air. No one from Halloween Town knows where this music comes from or why it plays, but whenever it plays, people always take the opportunity to sing. And Korra is no exception. For as she rested against one of the larger graves, she began to sing a song very close to her heart.
One that describes how she feels just perfectly.
[Korra]
There are few who'd deny,
At what I do I am the best.
For my talents are renowned far and wide.
When it comes to surprises, in the coldest night,
I excel without ever even trying.
As she sings her song, Korra begins to dance around the graveyard in a manner that would make a certain skeleton proud. She does this until she comes across a pair of graves that look like a frightened horse and its rider.
[Korra]
With the slightest little effort, of my black bird charms,
I have seen grown men give out a shriek.
With the wave of my claws, and a well-placed screech,
I have swept the very strongest off their feet!
That's when the music takes a drastically sad turn as Korra begins to feel her insecurities and depression creeping up on her like it has been ever since she had been confined to a wheelchair. And even though she no longer needs it, the feelings are still there.
[Korra]
Yet year after year, it's the same old thing.
As she reaches a tombstone that looks like a screaming man, she draped her arm across its shoulders for a moment.
[Korra]
And I grow so tired of the sound of screams.
And I… KORRA…
The Raven Queen,
Have turned so weary of the same routine…
Sally and Jinora couldn't believe their ears. Korra really felt this way? Did Jack feel the same way? If he did, then both master and apprentice hid their sorrows remarkably well. Korra slowly walked up a hill that curled inward at the top in a spiral pattern as the music took an even sadder tune to suit her mood, completely unaware of a the ragdoll woman and the airbender child watching her from behind the graves, even as they stealthily walked closer. Not that she'd care, anyway.
Sally and Jinora had immediately noticed each other, but resolved not to say anything unless they wanted to be discovered. So for now, they continued to listen as Korra vented her sadness and frustrations in song form.
[Korra]
Oh somewhere deep inside of my heart,
An emptiness grew part by part.
There's something out there far from my home,
A longing that I've never known.
As the music began to pick up once again, Korra started to list off her various accomplishments since becoming Jack's second-in-command of Halloween. Things that would seem impossible to any ordinary human. Whether they can bend the elements or not. As proven by how she caused tiny ghosts to appear from out of the pumpkins in a nearby pumpkin patch before they disappeared with but a wave if her hands.
[Korra]
I'm a mistress of fright, and a demon in light,
Yet I'll scare you right out of your pants.
To a guy in Kentucky, I'm 'Mistress Unlucky',
And I'm known throughout England and France.
As she sang, Jinora and Sally slowly crept closer as they stayed hidden behind the graves so as to not give themselves away. But it was a bit tricky to do since Zero seemed to be aware of their presence. Well, if he was, he didn't choose to give them away.
But Jinora was even more startled as she witnessed Korra do something that shouldn't be humanly possible as she kept singing.
[Korra]
Now, as for my head,
I'll just take it off instead(removes her head),
And recite Shakespearean quotations
No animal nor man(puts her head back on),
Can be strong like I can,
With the fury of my deathly motivations!
The music once again turns sad as the poor girl begins to release all of her bottled up emotions of sadness and anger at the world, and how she now realized… she was so eager to become the Avatar as a child, that she allowed herself to be robbed of her childhood. And in such a short amount of time, she's dealt with powerful enemies such as Amon and the Equalists, her own uncle, Unalaq, and the Dark Spirit, Vaatu, and even the Red Lotus. She was just truly tired, emotionally. But she felt like she had no one to truly reach out to.
[Korra]
But who here would ever understand,
That the Raven Queen with her confident grin,
Would tire of her burdens?
If they only understood,
She'd give it all up if she only could…
Jinora and Sally softly gasped as they ducked down behind the tombstone, having almost been seen. Fortunately, they did so just in time as Korra sang the finishing verses of her song. The hill began to unfurl as Korra slowly walked down from her perch and began to make her way towards the Hinterlands, which, in her world, have been disguised as a forest of dead trees that have been encased in a thin layer of ice due to the cold. A fine way for her to get away from everyone. Her voice began to crack as she could feel herself beginning to cry. But she refused to let her tears fall.
Not just yet.
[Korra]
Oh, there's an empty place in my soul,
That calls out for what I don't know.
The pain and scorn come year after year,
Does nothing for… these broken tears…
As the song finished, the music seemed to vanish into thin air as Korra walked into the Hinterlands with the ever-faithful ghostly canine, Zero, close behind. And it was at that moment... Korra allowed her tears to fall as she silently cried out her bottled up sadness and frustration. All from feelings that she wasn't willing to share with her friends and family. She was the Avatar and she had to be strong in times of conflict. At least, that's what the White Lotus have always told her.
Although, she's beginning to have her doubts about the legitimacy of their teachings.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: And there's the third chapter of this story. I hope you all enjoyed it. As usual, please don't forget to leave a review for the chapter if you haven't already. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all in my next update!
