Holiday Crisis

Chapter 20: The Obligatory Boring Filler Chapter

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A/N: I know there were only going to be three more chapters, but since all the action will start up soon, I thought I'd separate it from this boring stuff and make four chapters instead. So sue me. Wait, no! Disney, don't take me seriously! NO! *Disney kidnaps me and claims my plot as their own. And then I wake up to find I've fallen asleep at the keyboard.* hlstxns;fvhszrojqfnrsdlrlo...*drools* Don't I wish? No, seriously, I don't own SC one or two, neither of the Halloweentown movies, Angel, the Labyrinth, or Garz and Zarg. No, wait, scratch that last one. I DO own Garz and Zarg! Well, what do ya know? *Huggles them till their eyes bug out* They're mine, all mine!

Anyway, enjoy the boring filler chapter! The action will begin in the next one, I promise.

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The older Luke had been voted as mayor of Halloweentown a year back, and was obligated to attend Council meetings whenever Agatha could not. He hated the meetings, as he found them too formal and frankly to boring for his liking. However, this meeting was anything of that sort. He turned the Eye over in his hands (which were adorned with rubber gloves just in case contact with skin was the way it activated) and frowned. "I've never seen one of these up close before."

"You know what it is?" Merope demanded.

He looked up at his daughter. "Yes, and it's a good thing you dropped the one you were holding during transport or you'd be evil right now."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's what SHE said. You don't really buy that, do you?"

His frown deepened considerably. "Yes, I buy it. YOU didn't live through the Dark Time. You didn't see your own people enslaved by these things."

"You did?" Diana asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Luke nodded curtly. "I was extremely young, mind you. But I can recall every detail with perfect clarity.

"They got my uncle. He was such a nice guy. He had a flower shop and always helped the mortals out with their problems. Everybody loved him. But then the Dark Dimension opened up and he was just one taken out of a large group of us... After that, some of the elders got together and decided to create Halloweentown. It was a long and tedious process, though, and right before we left, those who'd been taken came back and started terrorizing the mortals. They all wore one of these" -He held up the Eye for everyone to see- "around their necks. The mortals didn't understand what had happened, and so they violently drove us out of the dimension. All the people who'd been captured were slaughtered by the mortals, my uncle included. In front of me, might I add?" He winced; he had not intended to share THAT with them.

There was a long pause. "So," Destiny piped up, "Does that mean it's safe to assume that neither my brother, nor Marnie went evil of their own free will?"

Luke wet his lips and finally tore his gaze away from the thing in his hands. "Yes, I think so. Marnie would never go evil on her own. I know this for a fact."

"I'm not so sure about Chris, though." Bernard grumbled. This statement received many glares. "We had a really bad fight, okay? I'm sure he was looking for a place to feel more... More loved. He probably just wanted to belong somewhere or some crap like that."

"Well, DAD," Cupid spat, "You could have been a bit easier on the kid. He only seeks for your approval, you know."

The Easter Bunny's ears shot up. "That's right, Bernard. That's one of the most important things in the world to a child. Ya know, having their parent's respect; even when they go into that awful teen phase. Take it from me. After all, I do have several thousand kids." He chuckled.

"Would you two please stop telling me how to do my job?" Bernard rounded on them, glaring daggers. They shut up. Cupid held out his hands defensively, whilst the Bunny's ears flopped over again.

"You know," Charlie said quietly, and leaned his chin on his hands. "That's part of your problem. You treat your kids with the same detachment as you do your workers. I'm sure they don't exactly appreciate it."

"I'm sure," Bernard wouldn't dare argue with his boss/friend. But he stared at Destiny, just daring her to say something. She refused to meet his eye, but played with the hem of her shirt. "Anyway, Chris is really emotional. He probably thought our fight was the end of the world or something."

No one replied to that.

"Now, the question is," the Tooth Fairy interjected. "What are we going to do about Agatha? She's still there, you know. And from what Marnie said-"

"You actually believe anything SHE says?" Merope growled, narrowing her eyes at the poor man. He froze like a deer in headlights.

"Jackie!" Luke yanked his daughter back into her seat. She hadn't even been aware of standing up. "Don't talk about your mother like that, I won't have it. Any more and you'll be asked to leave this meeting." She folded her arms and pouted, but said nothing.

The Molar-nater cleared his throat and resumed nervously. "As I was saying, she said she overheard Kalabar Jr. saying he would torture Agatha. We must rescue her before he does so, or even worse."

"Alright," Bernard said, standing up and placing one foot on the seat of his chair. "Now we must organize a rescue mission. Bring the other me and Marnie in here."

Without another word, Merope stormed out of the room.

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Marnie found Chris in the only place he felt remotely comfortable: his lab. He sat in the corner of the room, shaking a set of drink shakers with a far off look in his eyes. He stopped when he noticed her presence, but refused to meet her eye. But his thoughts were so plain to her he might as well said, "You made me evil. I don't know if I can trust you anymore." She took a seat and said nothing. He stared at her wearily, but resumed shaking his latest project.

"So..." He began, but didn't know how to make any other words form in his mind.

"So?" She lifted an eyebrow at him. "I didn't have any choice either you know."

"Really."

"Kal's a really good manipulator. He had you right where he wanted you. I was... I was only doing his bidding really. I thought I was in control, but now that I've come to my senses, I know better. He used me. He used you." She laughed bitterly. "He used me to use you. And the cycle goes on."

"But why me? I'm nothing special, right?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "You're kidding, right?" He shook his head. "We've been through this before, you know."

"Yeah, but how much of that was just hot air?"

Her face scrunched up. "Why else would Kal care? The only reason he'd be interested in you at all is if you had great powers. You have serious self-esteem issues."

He glared at her. "You seem pretty okay with yourself."

She shrugged uncomfortably, refusing to tell him otherwise. The hatred she saw in her own daughter's eyes wounded her deeply. And she couldn't say she didn't blame Merope, either. She should have been able to resist. But she couldn't. Worse yet, she didn't WANT to resist. Ignoring the sudden tightness of her throat, she changed the subject. "Whatcha making?"

"Oh, uh..." He looked down at the shakers, clearly having forgotten what he'd been doing before she showed up. "Uh, well, I'm ATTEMPTING to make a healing potion. But I've never been able to make it work. I thought that after all the negativity I'd been feeling lately, something positive would be good for me, you know?"

She nodded. "I completely understand."

He carefully poured the mixture into a plastic vile and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. "I'll test it later."

She tilted her head and looked at him questioningly. "How exactly do you test a healing potion?"

He smiled bitterly. "How do you think I test it? I'll give you a hint: I'm feeling rather self-destructive today."

Her eyes went wide, and then narrowed in concern. "Chris!"

Before she could say anything else, Bernard (our Bernard, not the jerk-wad one) opened the door and stuck his head in. "Sorry to interrupt, Marnie, but we're needed at the Council meeting. Oh, hi, Chris!" He waved awkwardly, only to receive a sarcastic wave in return. He made a face, upset and yet completely sympathetic. Even he thought his older self was a cold-hearted *cough, cough*, and that was saying something. It seemed as though he'd reverted to the way he was before he'd allowed himself to fall in love with April, and this confused him because they still seemed happily married. He shoved the thought aside as he and Marnie left the Workshop, headed for Council Castle.

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"Why should I go and not you if you're so much more 'qualified'?" Never, ever in his life did Bernard would be arguing with himself. And losing for that matter. "What if something happened to me? It would screw up the timeline!"

His older self shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure you'll survive."

"PRETTY SURE? YOU'RE ONLY PRETTY SURE?"

Older Bernard rubbed his eyes, his patience running thin. "I'm sure, alright? But if I went, I couldn't guarantee that I would survive. My destiny, to the best of my knowledge-" He threw a weary glance toward Father Time, who was absorbed in staring at the ceiling. "-Has been fulfilled. I could easily not come back. You on the other hand, probably will. I mean, I DO have two kids, not just one."

Our Bernard rolled his eyes. "Okay, that made so much sense."

*Exasperated snort* "I'm still here, and I went when I was you. I think." He made a face, wondering why he couldn't remember the incident at all. His younger self gave him the Look of Doom, but said nothing. "You'll be fine."

"Well, if I die, I'm going to haunt you forever..." He sat down with a humph. He scowled at everyone else, just daring for them to tell him that the other Bernard would cease to exist, so logically that statement made absolutely no sense. They gazed back at him with completely blank expressions. "So besides Marnie and myself, who else is going?"

Finally getting down to business Older Bernard slapped his pencil on his palm distractedly. "Merope and Destiny, Curtis (since he won't stop bugging me about it), your Maigri, and uh... your Luke."

"That's a lot of people who could disappear off the map if something were to go wrong. Are you sure you want to risk your own daughter's life? I mean, they've probably stepped up security since they left. Right?"

Marnie answered the last question for him. "Most likely, yes. Kal's no fool, he knows we'll be back, and he'll be ready for us. What I don't understand is why he let us go in the first place. That's not really like him. Anyway, I think you should take Chris too."

Both Bernards looked at her as though she'd sprouted an extra head. Of course, each had different reasons. "What if something to happen to him?" and "There's no way I'm letting him go back!" Came out at the same time, jumbling together so nobody could tell exactly who said what. They then re-engaged themselves in argument.

"You don't care at all about him, do you?"

"Of course I care! I care about him helping this Kal guy instead of us."

"I can't believe I'm going to become you some day. You're a cold-hearted, self-serving b-"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" *Insert cat screech here*

"Okay, that's enough!" Charlie separated them before things could get really ugly. "I won't tolerate this from either of you. Look-" He spoke to our Bernard. "I know you don't want to put your son in danger, but he is more than capable of taking care of himself. Ask Marnie if you don't believe me. And you-" He turned to the other Bernard. "He's your son, for crying out loud! Take heart, he was confused and the fact that you treat him like crap didn't help. Now both of you sit on opposite sides of the table." He pointed and the two reluctantly did as they were told. Charlie tightened his belt angrily. "For holiday's sake you're thousands of years old! Stop acting as though you're five. I don't like playing your father, thank you very much."

"Oh, but you do it so well, Calvin." Charlie shot the Easter Bunny an icy look that was returned by a wink. "Who knew the Regent could be so..."

"That's enough." Charlie growled. Realizing this was neither the time nor the place for this, the Bunny shut up. But the meeting had been going on for six hours now, and everyone was feeling a little edgy. He'd just been trying to relieve the tension.

"Well, I say we vote on it." Uncle Sam piped up with a nod to all. "Those in favor of letting the Sulley boy go say 'aye'."

"Aye."

"Those opposed say 'nay'."

"Nay!"

He smacked the table enthusiastically. "The 'aye's have it. Sorry boys, but Chris goes. That is, if he wants to go."

"That's right," Stated Lady Luck in her melodic voice. (Whenever she spoke, it sounded like change falling on the marble floor of a large bank.) "No one's really given any thought about whether he would want to go or not. Don't either of you value HIS opinion?" The two Bernard's stared at their hands and refused to answer the question. She turned to Destiny. "Would you bring your brother here?"

Destiny winced. "I'm not sure he'd want me to. We're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment."

"I'll go." Marnie exited before anyone else could get a word in.

Destiny left right behind her, saying she'd get everyone else together. In truth, she just didn't want to be there when Chris arrived. She didn't think she could face him after he'd tried to kill her, even if he wasn't completely in his right mind when he'd done it. She knew that deep down inside, he'd wanted to strangle her for quite some time, and she didn't completely blame him for it. She was a bit of an attention hog... And she didn't tell her Past parents that she even had a brother... That surely made him feel loved... Feeling shameful tears welling up in her eyes, she sped up her pace. But because of the tears, she couldn't see very well, and ran into someone fairly hard. Suddenly, she found herself on the floor. "I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, no," said the familiar voice. "My bad. Let me help you up."

Destiny wiped the tears from her eyes as she stood up. "Oh, Maigri..." She gave him a big hug and began sobbing. Confused, he awkwardly put his arms around her. He let her cry herself out of her panic, and finally she pulled away and smiled. "Thank you. I needed to get that out."

"And you did," He said without any hint malice, "all over my shirt."

She barked laugh.

Still concerned, he handed her a tissue and asked quietly, "Do you need anything?"

"I'm looking for you, can you help me?"

This statement thoroughly confused him. "I'm right he-"

"No, no!" She waved her arms frantically making the tissue dance in her fingers. "The OTHER you. You know the cranky one."

"Oh! THAT me! I see. Yeah, sure. I'll take you right to him. Me. Whatever." He placed his hand between her shoulder blades and gently guided her in the right direction. He handed her a tissue. "Any time you need to talk about anything, you know where to find me. Right?"

"I'm not ready to talk about it yet, thanks though. I'm... I'm kinda on business right now."

He nodded in understanding. "You know, I can't believe I was ever such a jerk. He drives me completely nuts! How on earth did you put up with him?"

She took a deep breath, thankful for the change in conversation. "Deep down inside, he's still you."

He laughed. "Somehow I doubt that. I really do. He's hopeless!"

"No one's hopeless, Maigri." At that, Destiny abruptly stopped walking. Then, more to herself, she whispered, "No one's completely hopeless. Everyone deserves a chance." And with that, she set her jaw and silently resolved to make up with her brother even if it was the last thing she did.

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A/N: Okay, I know that's a really weird place to stop, but all the good-byes and crap will take place during the beginning of the next chapter. This time there really are only three chapters left. Honest! Please review. Reviews make me happy-happy.

Oh, and would somebody please tell me if anything I've written lately contradicts with anything I've written before? I feel like I'm writing something wrong, but I can't put my finger on it. I would really appreciate it. Just tell me in a review okee? And please be specific. If you spot anything, ANYTHING, let me know so I can fix it. Thanks a bunch!