Spirited Away on Halloween 6
We're on the road to Aphrodite's house.... not much happened during this part of the movie, so it's mostly thoughts and things. Soon, this story will sway from the original Movie Storyline, so expect a new (and surprise... I think...) ending.
Sally watched with disinterest as Zero and Gecko marveled as the scenery flew by the coach windows. Oogie Boogie happily hummed a bouncy tune, every now and then singing "I am the Shadow on the Moon at Night, Filling your Dreams to the Brim with Fright" and starting over. The slow rumble of the horses' hooves and the rickety coach wheels eventually drowned themselves out. It was a very long ride... and Sally started to think...
Why was she in such a hurry to go back to her world? It wasn't as if it was better than it was here in the Halloween World. Yes, in the living world, there was no oppressive tyrant who kept people as slaves and stole their names to control them. Or was there? Hmm. At least, here, Sally had friends.
There was Popsy. Motherish. In her own way. She was calm and reassuring when she had to be, which wasn't all that often. She was funny if you took her words the right way. She was more of a big sister, actually, than a mom. Or an aunt. Or a really close babysitter which could have been a big sister or an aunt. The comparissons Sally made in her head made her laugh, which earned an odd look from Oogie before she was ignored again.
The Mayor. Now, there was a nice man. He said he was her grandfather... was he? Did that mean that her parents were somewhere in here too? The Mayor did have that elderly warmth to him. And he gave her the coach tickets; something he could have used to escape. That was the kind of sacrifice grandparents gave for their grandchildren. A tear ran down Sally's cheek, catching on her newly forming stitches.
Sally glanced out of the window, and quickly jumped out of her seat to take a closer look. IT WAS THEM! THE HOLIDAY TREES! This was it! She could stop the coach, get out, and head back to her own world! She could forget about Hirac, and the Mansion, and Oogie Boogie, and Jack-
And Jack.
Jack was still lying down in the Cellar, cursed with a spell that was slowly killing him. Sally sat back down. She couldn't abandon him. Not after all he had done for her. Helping her into the mansion, giving her her clothes back (oh, they're still in the Mansion! D'oh!), doing that... tail... thing that got rid of Aphrodite's bat thingie. Jack was just too nice to leave back there. She couldn't abandon him. Not now. Not ever.
Gecko and Zero made their way into Sally's lap, where they quickly fell asleep.
Sally wondered about what she saw when she and Jack were falling through the gutters of the mansion. The orphanage room... evil laugh.... who was that laughing? It was nobody she knew. At least, nobody she knew back then.
***
"Jack...."
Blackness.
"Jack...."
Kerry's voice... I must follow it...
"Jack...."
Shadows. A far away light...
Jack slowly opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings. He was in the Cellar... there was The Mayor... Popsy had been here... he could smell her.... along with....
"Kerry?" Jack struggled to stand up, pushing with his arms and his wings. The Mayor was asleep at his desk, so Jack crawled to his side and nudged him awake. "Mayor, wake up."
"Huh?" The Mayor stared at Jack with his worried face. "Jack, you're okay!"
"Where's Kerry?" Jack demanded. "Did she go somewhere? Can you tell me what happened?"
"Calm down!" The Mayor pushed Jack's shoulders back so that he would let up. "You blacked out. Don't you remember?"
"I remember darkness," Jack looked to the side. "I remember the darkness ingulfing me... and then I heard Kerry's voice calling out to me. So, I followed it and woke up here feeling better than ever."
"Pure love; it broke her spell," The Mayor spoke to himself. "Poor dear, now she's going to Aphrodite's for nothing."
"Aphrodite?" Jack asked with fear in his voice.
"Yes, she went to Aphrodite's to get the antidote," The Mayor explained. "She did it to save you."
Jack slowly rose to his feet, which were wobbly and unstable. "I need to talk to Hirac."
***
"Sstupid manssion sspiritss, can't fix anything; pipess breaking, roof'ss leaking, and now my two head henchmen are GONE!" Hirac complained to Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who were the few cronies he had left. "I jusst know that human girl had ssomething to do with it. I JUSST KNOW IT!"
Hirac's head flame was scorching his pumpkin head, flaring outside of his mouth. Eeoski sat to the side, eating fancy chocolates by the bushel full. The Boogie Boys (and girl) kneeled on the floor, confused as to what put Hirac in a bad mood so quickly.
"Um..." Barrel raised his index finger.
"That doesn't seem like a very... um... what's the word?" Shock struggled to remember. "It's on the tip of my tongue, start's with an.... L..."
"Logical?" Lock asked.
"LOGICAL! Doesn't seem like a logical answer, sir!"
"YOU BE QUIET, YOU LITTLE SSWAMP RATSS!" Hirac hissed. "Only reasson you're in here iss becausse you know Oogie better than anyone elsse. Where could he have gone?"
"Um..." Barrel scratched his head.
"We donno," Shock shrugged.
"Maybe if we look around the buffet?" Lock suggested.
"No need."
"Jack?" Hirac was surprised to see Jack (much less, Gargoyle Jack) in his office. At all.
"JACK! THANK GOODNESS!" Shock yelled happily.
"Have you seen Oogie?" Lock begged. "PLEASE, tell us you've seen Oogie!"
"In time, in time." Jack pushed Lock behind him with his tail. "Right now, I need to talk with Hirac. Privately."
The kids ran outside without hesistation. Jack stared solemnly at Hirac, who smiled eerily. "Jack, how nice of you to come back. I wass worried."
"You seem very calm for the situation you're in, Hirac," Jack monotoned, swishing his tail behind him.
"Don't get fressh with me, young man!" Hirac snarled. "What makess you think you've got the right to sspeak like that?"
"You don't seem to have noticed that something precious to you has been replaced."
"Replaced, hmm?" Hirac hissed. He surveyed his desk, opening boxs and chests and looking under scraps of paper. Jack just shook his head and cast a weary look at Eeoski. Hirac took a look as well, then gasped. He waved his hand while mumbling something in Celtic, and Eeoski quickly changed back into the three little hands. They looked at eachother in shock and ran out of the door.
"Ee........e...........Eeosski!" Hirac squealed, holding his pumpkin head. "EEOSSKI!"
Hirac literally flew into Eeoski's room, throwing aside pillow, toys, and blankets looking for him. "Eeosski! Eeosski, darling! Where are you!? Come to Daddy!"
Hirac's head snapped around to see Jack stumbling into the room. A burning realization came over him. "You......... Where Iss HEEEEEEEEE?????????!!!!!!!!!!!"
Hirac burst into flames, zooming over to Jack until he was half-an-inch away from his face. Fire spewed out of his mouth, licking Jack's skull. "WHAAAAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BAAAABY!?"
"He's with your sister."
"Aphrodite?" Hirac's fire doused itself quickly, making Hirac looked old, drained, and scorched. He took a few steps backward and sat down on a pillow pile. He sighed. "Alright, Jack, I undersstand. You'll get Eeosski back for me, but at a price. What'ss the offer?"
"Tear up Kerry's contract and send her back into the human world."
"Alright!" Hirac gave up. "On one condition. You find her and bring her directly back to me, do you undersstand?"
"Yes, sir," Jack nodded.
***
"Is this Swamp Gulch?" Sally asked Oogie, tripping out of the Coach.
"Uh huh," Oogie rubbed his head. "I think. Looks swampy."
It, indeed, looked Swampy. Cypress and willow trees hung over the murky waters, offering shelter to passing fish, birds, toads, and Lagoon Monsters. Sally saw one splash by her feet, offering only a glimpse of its tail fin before returning to the water. A single thatched hut stood in a small clearing, billowing smoke coming out of its chimney. A soft, yellow light pulled Sally towards it.
"This is Aphrodite's house?" Sally asked in wonder. She couldn't believe it wasn't a mansion or something more like Hirac's.
"Uh.... I think so. Looks house-ish."
Sally shook her head at Oogie Boogie's stupidity and knocked on the door. Zero and Gecko shivered inside of her uniform pocket. "Hello? Miss Aphrodite?"
The door opened slowly, and Aphrodite stepped out. She was wearing not her purple with the bat belt. She was wearing a leather daycoat over a pink slipdress. Her hair had been pulled back, and she had on a small pair of golden glasses shaped like sideways teardrops. Aphrodite blinked when she saw Sally, then smiled politely.
"Kerry! How are you? I was just settling down for dinner, I hope you don't mind."
Both Sally and Oogie were a bit surprised by her warm greeting. Sally spoke first. "I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but I came to apologize for Jack and ask for the antidote to that curse."
Aphrodite blinked again, but kept smiling. "Was he alive when you left?"
"Yes, ma'am," Sally rubbed her hands together. "Barely."
"Then he will be fine," Aphrodite smiled. "You look like you've come such a long way. Why don't you come inside for dinner? I'm cooking a rice roast, and I'll have some rice and mashed potatoes for the gravy."
"I like rice and gravy," Oogie raised his hand.
"Then come inside," Aphrodite led them through the heavy oaken door. "And please, call me Davina; I like my middle name so much better."
*
Aphrodite/Davina's house was very reminicent of pictures of grandmother's cabins in fairy tales. Little knickknacks and paintings of meadows and forests covered the walls. A roaring fireplace occupied the north wall, and a black cauldron occupied the fireplace. The place smelled of roast beef and cypress wood, which may or may not have been a pleasant aroma; depended on who was smelling it. One small table sat in the middle of the one-room house, and a bed covered by a gingham quilt was pushed out of the way into a southern corner of the hut.
Gecko and Zero chomped away at their roast, forgetting to chew and promising a stomache ache later. Oogie slowly munched down his rice, but Sally couldn't eat; she was explaining her situation to Davina.
"So, you're name is Sally? It's a beautiful name; it means 'princess'," Davina chuckled in between bights of roast. "And your new name...?"
"Is Kerry." Sally pushed back a lock of hair.
"Kerry..." Davina looked pensive. "Kerry was the name of a doll Hirac used to play with. The name means 'dark princess'. What a coincidence..."
"Why's it a coincidence?" Sally asked.
"I just find it strange that not only did he give you his doll's name, but you also look like her." Aphrodite ate some roast and swallow it slowly. "It's uncanny. He valued it so much, he held it at an almost sacred value."
"I look like his doll?" Sally examined her stitches. "I do look like a doll!" she realized loudly.
"Ow! Not in my ear, woman!" Oogie murmured.
"Sorry!"
"I'm sorry I gave you that little scare at Hirac's place," Davina patted Sally's shoulder. "I always get so tense at my brother's. I never liked him."
Sally was surprised, once again. "You don't get along? I thought brothers and sisters always got alon-"
"HA!" Davina laughed. "You're an only child, aren't you?"
"As far as I know," Sally remember her lost connection to the Mayor.
"No, no, no!" Davina laughed again. "Me and Hirac are sorcerer siblings; we were trouble from the minute we saw eachother. We hated eachother; still do."
"Oh." Sally curled into a little ball on her chair. "Davina? What happened to Hirac's doll?"
"He lost it," Oogie answered for Davina.
"That's right, Oogie," Davina took a sip of water and continued. "The King of Halloween Town before him sent him to slay an unpunished murderer, and he got lost and decided to kill someone else. The king had to go back and stop him. When he got back to Town, his doll was gone."
"He took it with him?" Sally asked, the grip on her wrists cutting off the blood supply to her hands.
Aphrodite jumped upright, as if she just realized something. "I guess he did. I thought it just a coincidence that he lost it after that mission. He must've taken it with him. My idiot brother, he was too old to be carrying around some stupid doll..."
Sally thought back to her recently surfaced memory. Her room in the orphanage, and the evil laughter... Hirac's evil laughter. She also heard someone yelling at him to stop... who was it?
"Who was the King before Hirac?" Oogie asked for Sally.
"I'm....... not sure I can remember," Aphrodite adjusted her glasses. "No one can. That's why it's been so easy for Hirac to keep his Kingly posistion without someone opposing him."
The windows suddenly started to shake and rattle, and thatch started to fly off of the roof. Sally and Oogie huddled together, screaming in terror, but Davina just smiled again. "More visitors! How wonderful! Sally, could you be a dear and get the door?"
"Yes, ma'am." It was a habit now, saying "Yes, ma'am." Sally opened the door just a bit, to make sure it was no one dangerous was outside.
"JACK!" Sally screamed happily. Gargoyle Jack stood a ways behind the door, closer to the Coach that the hut. Sally ran to him, hugging him like he had come back from the dead (which he basically did). "JACK! You're okay! You're not dead!"
"JACK!" Oogie scooped up the both of them, ruining the moment. "JACK! YOU'RE OKAY, BUDDY! I thought I wasn't gonna have a roommate no more, but you're back, and I have a roommate again!"
"That's nice, Oogie," Jack hoarsely squeezed into the conversation.
"Jack Skellington," Davina smoothly bid him good day. "Just who I wanted to see." She walked up to the three monsters and gently pushed Jack out of the fray. With one flashy movement of her hand, a golden beetle broach and a marble-sized jelly ball shot out of Jack's chest nd into Aphrodite's hands. "Good. Now, I'm willing to forgive you for stealing my broach, but only if you watch over Sally very carefully. Is that clear?"
Jack nodded, stretching his wings discreetly.
"Very good, boy," Aphrodite laughed. Her handed him the jelly ball. "Now, this belongs to you... you should be off now-"
Aphrodite/Davina stopped as a little gecko bumped into her ankle. In all the commotion, they had been left inside the house.
"Oh no! I forgot! Aphrodite, can you change these two back to normal?" Sally asked, still being held tightly in the air by Oogie Boogie.
"Their spell wore off ages ago," she laughed. "Change back if you want to."
Zero changed back into a dog, but Eeoski stayed a gecko. Which gave Aphrodite an idea. "Oogie, there might be a problem with you getting back home."
"Why?" he asked stupidly.
"Let me help you a bit," she chuckled.
**
Sally rode shakily on Jack's back as he flew towards the Mansion. Zero followed faithfully, holding Gecko in his mouth and a miniturized Oogie Boogie on his neck.
"This is embarrasing," Oogie scowled, keeping an almost painful grip on Zero's ears. "Riding on the back of a dog- Oo! Look! I can see my old house from here!" He pointed to a long treehouse down on the ground. "HI, HOUSE! YA MISS ME?"
A low groaning noise emminated from within the tree, as if the house was answering him.
Memories flooded Sally's head again. Her dark room in the orphanage, Hirac's laughter, and.... and... a voice. A stop, yelling at him to stop, the sounds of a struggle and Sally's valiant run out of the room and onto the street. Sally ran the memory over and over inside of her head until she knew who the voice was.
"Hey, Jack," she whispered into Jack's ear, making sure no one was listening (Oogie was still yelling at his house.) "Listen, this happened when I was really young; like, six or seven or eight, or something, so my memory's a little foggy.
"Listening," Jack whispered back.
"When I was still living at the orphanage, someone I think might have been Hirac tried to attack me. It didn't work; someone stopped him. Before I ran back to the Head Lady's office, I heard whoever was trying to stop him..."
"And?" Jack was eager to hear the rest of the story.
"It was you," Sally whispered with confidence. "In fact, now that I think about it; Jack, you were the King! You were the King of Halloween Town before Hirac!"
Jack put on the brakes, his wings fluttering forward and his body going upright. Pieces of him began to break of, revealing a bright, shining light beneath his bones. (Fangirls are screaming right now "OH NO! JACK'S DYING! AGAIN!" Don't worry, he's not. You'll see.) The light blinded Sally and Zero, which caused them to flail about frightened until they started to fall.
When vision finally came back to Sally, she realized she was skydiving down into the sky, Jack holding on tightly to her hands.
"SALLY, YOU DID IT!" Jack cheered. "I remember now; I was the King of Halloween Town before Hirac!"
"It WAS you that saved me all those years ago!" said Sally, tears streaming onto her skin and up into the air.
"I remember it all now! I remember your little room at the orphanage, and I remember having to go and get Hirac before he killed you!"
"Oh, Jack, how could I ever thank you?"
"You're the Mayor's granddaughter!" he laughed. "What else could I do?"
With a powerful sweeping motion, Jack pulled himself back into gargoyle form and carried Sally back to the Mansion, Oogie Boogie following closely behind on Zero, screaming demands of "Tell me what just happened!" and "You get back here and explain!"
I'm gonna go astray from the original plot line here, so I'll stop at this chapter. Fangirls are now split half-and-half, one half going "Oh, how sweet! Jack saved Sally's life and he loves her!" and the other half is going "DROP HER, JACK! YOU BELONG TO ME!" Oy... I hate Fangirls.
We're on the road to Aphrodite's house.... not much happened during this part of the movie, so it's mostly thoughts and things. Soon, this story will sway from the original Movie Storyline, so expect a new (and surprise... I think...) ending.
Sally watched with disinterest as Zero and Gecko marveled as the scenery flew by the coach windows. Oogie Boogie happily hummed a bouncy tune, every now and then singing "I am the Shadow on the Moon at Night, Filling your Dreams to the Brim with Fright" and starting over. The slow rumble of the horses' hooves and the rickety coach wheels eventually drowned themselves out. It was a very long ride... and Sally started to think...
Why was she in such a hurry to go back to her world? It wasn't as if it was better than it was here in the Halloween World. Yes, in the living world, there was no oppressive tyrant who kept people as slaves and stole their names to control them. Or was there? Hmm. At least, here, Sally had friends.
There was Popsy. Motherish. In her own way. She was calm and reassuring when she had to be, which wasn't all that often. She was funny if you took her words the right way. She was more of a big sister, actually, than a mom. Or an aunt. Or a really close babysitter which could have been a big sister or an aunt. The comparissons Sally made in her head made her laugh, which earned an odd look from Oogie before she was ignored again.
The Mayor. Now, there was a nice man. He said he was her grandfather... was he? Did that mean that her parents were somewhere in here too? The Mayor did have that elderly warmth to him. And he gave her the coach tickets; something he could have used to escape. That was the kind of sacrifice grandparents gave for their grandchildren. A tear ran down Sally's cheek, catching on her newly forming stitches.
Sally glanced out of the window, and quickly jumped out of her seat to take a closer look. IT WAS THEM! THE HOLIDAY TREES! This was it! She could stop the coach, get out, and head back to her own world! She could forget about Hirac, and the Mansion, and Oogie Boogie, and Jack-
And Jack.
Jack was still lying down in the Cellar, cursed with a spell that was slowly killing him. Sally sat back down. She couldn't abandon him. Not after all he had done for her. Helping her into the mansion, giving her her clothes back (oh, they're still in the Mansion! D'oh!), doing that... tail... thing that got rid of Aphrodite's bat thingie. Jack was just too nice to leave back there. She couldn't abandon him. Not now. Not ever.
Gecko and Zero made their way into Sally's lap, where they quickly fell asleep.
Sally wondered about what she saw when she and Jack were falling through the gutters of the mansion. The orphanage room... evil laugh.... who was that laughing? It was nobody she knew. At least, nobody she knew back then.
***
"Jack...."
Blackness.
"Jack...."
Kerry's voice... I must follow it...
"Jack...."
Shadows. A far away light...
Jack slowly opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings. He was in the Cellar... there was The Mayor... Popsy had been here... he could smell her.... along with....
"Kerry?" Jack struggled to stand up, pushing with his arms and his wings. The Mayor was asleep at his desk, so Jack crawled to his side and nudged him awake. "Mayor, wake up."
"Huh?" The Mayor stared at Jack with his worried face. "Jack, you're okay!"
"Where's Kerry?" Jack demanded. "Did she go somewhere? Can you tell me what happened?"
"Calm down!" The Mayor pushed Jack's shoulders back so that he would let up. "You blacked out. Don't you remember?"
"I remember darkness," Jack looked to the side. "I remember the darkness ingulfing me... and then I heard Kerry's voice calling out to me. So, I followed it and woke up here feeling better than ever."
"Pure love; it broke her spell," The Mayor spoke to himself. "Poor dear, now she's going to Aphrodite's for nothing."
"Aphrodite?" Jack asked with fear in his voice.
"Yes, she went to Aphrodite's to get the antidote," The Mayor explained. "She did it to save you."
Jack slowly rose to his feet, which were wobbly and unstable. "I need to talk to Hirac."
***
"Sstupid manssion sspiritss, can't fix anything; pipess breaking, roof'ss leaking, and now my two head henchmen are GONE!" Hirac complained to Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who were the few cronies he had left. "I jusst know that human girl had ssomething to do with it. I JUSST KNOW IT!"
Hirac's head flame was scorching his pumpkin head, flaring outside of his mouth. Eeoski sat to the side, eating fancy chocolates by the bushel full. The Boogie Boys (and girl) kneeled on the floor, confused as to what put Hirac in a bad mood so quickly.
"Um..." Barrel raised his index finger.
"That doesn't seem like a very... um... what's the word?" Shock struggled to remember. "It's on the tip of my tongue, start's with an.... L..."
"Logical?" Lock asked.
"LOGICAL! Doesn't seem like a logical answer, sir!"
"YOU BE QUIET, YOU LITTLE SSWAMP RATSS!" Hirac hissed. "Only reasson you're in here iss becausse you know Oogie better than anyone elsse. Where could he have gone?"
"Um..." Barrel scratched his head.
"We donno," Shock shrugged.
"Maybe if we look around the buffet?" Lock suggested.
"No need."
"Jack?" Hirac was surprised to see Jack (much less, Gargoyle Jack) in his office. At all.
"JACK! THANK GOODNESS!" Shock yelled happily.
"Have you seen Oogie?" Lock begged. "PLEASE, tell us you've seen Oogie!"
"In time, in time." Jack pushed Lock behind him with his tail. "Right now, I need to talk with Hirac. Privately."
The kids ran outside without hesistation. Jack stared solemnly at Hirac, who smiled eerily. "Jack, how nice of you to come back. I wass worried."
"You seem very calm for the situation you're in, Hirac," Jack monotoned, swishing his tail behind him.
"Don't get fressh with me, young man!" Hirac snarled. "What makess you think you've got the right to sspeak like that?"
"You don't seem to have noticed that something precious to you has been replaced."
"Replaced, hmm?" Hirac hissed. He surveyed his desk, opening boxs and chests and looking under scraps of paper. Jack just shook his head and cast a weary look at Eeoski. Hirac took a look as well, then gasped. He waved his hand while mumbling something in Celtic, and Eeoski quickly changed back into the three little hands. They looked at eachother in shock and ran out of the door.
"Ee........e...........Eeosski!" Hirac squealed, holding his pumpkin head. "EEOSSKI!"
Hirac literally flew into Eeoski's room, throwing aside pillow, toys, and blankets looking for him. "Eeosski! Eeosski, darling! Where are you!? Come to Daddy!"
Hirac's head snapped around to see Jack stumbling into the room. A burning realization came over him. "You......... Where Iss HEEEEEEEEE?????????!!!!!!!!!!!"
Hirac burst into flames, zooming over to Jack until he was half-an-inch away from his face. Fire spewed out of his mouth, licking Jack's skull. "WHAAAAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BAAAABY!?"
"He's with your sister."
"Aphrodite?" Hirac's fire doused itself quickly, making Hirac looked old, drained, and scorched. He took a few steps backward and sat down on a pillow pile. He sighed. "Alright, Jack, I undersstand. You'll get Eeosski back for me, but at a price. What'ss the offer?"
"Tear up Kerry's contract and send her back into the human world."
"Alright!" Hirac gave up. "On one condition. You find her and bring her directly back to me, do you undersstand?"
"Yes, sir," Jack nodded.
***
"Is this Swamp Gulch?" Sally asked Oogie, tripping out of the Coach.
"Uh huh," Oogie rubbed his head. "I think. Looks swampy."
It, indeed, looked Swampy. Cypress and willow trees hung over the murky waters, offering shelter to passing fish, birds, toads, and Lagoon Monsters. Sally saw one splash by her feet, offering only a glimpse of its tail fin before returning to the water. A single thatched hut stood in a small clearing, billowing smoke coming out of its chimney. A soft, yellow light pulled Sally towards it.
"This is Aphrodite's house?" Sally asked in wonder. She couldn't believe it wasn't a mansion or something more like Hirac's.
"Uh.... I think so. Looks house-ish."
Sally shook her head at Oogie Boogie's stupidity and knocked on the door. Zero and Gecko shivered inside of her uniform pocket. "Hello? Miss Aphrodite?"
The door opened slowly, and Aphrodite stepped out. She was wearing not her purple with the bat belt. She was wearing a leather daycoat over a pink slipdress. Her hair had been pulled back, and she had on a small pair of golden glasses shaped like sideways teardrops. Aphrodite blinked when she saw Sally, then smiled politely.
"Kerry! How are you? I was just settling down for dinner, I hope you don't mind."
Both Sally and Oogie were a bit surprised by her warm greeting. Sally spoke first. "I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but I came to apologize for Jack and ask for the antidote to that curse."
Aphrodite blinked again, but kept smiling. "Was he alive when you left?"
"Yes, ma'am," Sally rubbed her hands together. "Barely."
"Then he will be fine," Aphrodite smiled. "You look like you've come such a long way. Why don't you come inside for dinner? I'm cooking a rice roast, and I'll have some rice and mashed potatoes for the gravy."
"I like rice and gravy," Oogie raised his hand.
"Then come inside," Aphrodite led them through the heavy oaken door. "And please, call me Davina; I like my middle name so much better."
*
Aphrodite/Davina's house was very reminicent of pictures of grandmother's cabins in fairy tales. Little knickknacks and paintings of meadows and forests covered the walls. A roaring fireplace occupied the north wall, and a black cauldron occupied the fireplace. The place smelled of roast beef and cypress wood, which may or may not have been a pleasant aroma; depended on who was smelling it. One small table sat in the middle of the one-room house, and a bed covered by a gingham quilt was pushed out of the way into a southern corner of the hut.
Gecko and Zero chomped away at their roast, forgetting to chew and promising a stomache ache later. Oogie slowly munched down his rice, but Sally couldn't eat; she was explaining her situation to Davina.
"So, you're name is Sally? It's a beautiful name; it means 'princess'," Davina chuckled in between bights of roast. "And your new name...?"
"Is Kerry." Sally pushed back a lock of hair.
"Kerry..." Davina looked pensive. "Kerry was the name of a doll Hirac used to play with. The name means 'dark princess'. What a coincidence..."
"Why's it a coincidence?" Sally asked.
"I just find it strange that not only did he give you his doll's name, but you also look like her." Aphrodite ate some roast and swallow it slowly. "It's uncanny. He valued it so much, he held it at an almost sacred value."
"I look like his doll?" Sally examined her stitches. "I do look like a doll!" she realized loudly.
"Ow! Not in my ear, woman!" Oogie murmured.
"Sorry!"
"I'm sorry I gave you that little scare at Hirac's place," Davina patted Sally's shoulder. "I always get so tense at my brother's. I never liked him."
Sally was surprised, once again. "You don't get along? I thought brothers and sisters always got alon-"
"HA!" Davina laughed. "You're an only child, aren't you?"
"As far as I know," Sally remember her lost connection to the Mayor.
"No, no, no!" Davina laughed again. "Me and Hirac are sorcerer siblings; we were trouble from the minute we saw eachother. We hated eachother; still do."
"Oh." Sally curled into a little ball on her chair. "Davina? What happened to Hirac's doll?"
"He lost it," Oogie answered for Davina.
"That's right, Oogie," Davina took a sip of water and continued. "The King of Halloween Town before him sent him to slay an unpunished murderer, and he got lost and decided to kill someone else. The king had to go back and stop him. When he got back to Town, his doll was gone."
"He took it with him?" Sally asked, the grip on her wrists cutting off the blood supply to her hands.
Aphrodite jumped upright, as if she just realized something. "I guess he did. I thought it just a coincidence that he lost it after that mission. He must've taken it with him. My idiot brother, he was too old to be carrying around some stupid doll..."
Sally thought back to her recently surfaced memory. Her room in the orphanage, and the evil laughter... Hirac's evil laughter. She also heard someone yelling at him to stop... who was it?
"Who was the King before Hirac?" Oogie asked for Sally.
"I'm....... not sure I can remember," Aphrodite adjusted her glasses. "No one can. That's why it's been so easy for Hirac to keep his Kingly posistion without someone opposing him."
The windows suddenly started to shake and rattle, and thatch started to fly off of the roof. Sally and Oogie huddled together, screaming in terror, but Davina just smiled again. "More visitors! How wonderful! Sally, could you be a dear and get the door?"
"Yes, ma'am." It was a habit now, saying "Yes, ma'am." Sally opened the door just a bit, to make sure it was no one dangerous was outside.
"JACK!" Sally screamed happily. Gargoyle Jack stood a ways behind the door, closer to the Coach that the hut. Sally ran to him, hugging him like he had come back from the dead (which he basically did). "JACK! You're okay! You're not dead!"
"JACK!" Oogie scooped up the both of them, ruining the moment. "JACK! YOU'RE OKAY, BUDDY! I thought I wasn't gonna have a roommate no more, but you're back, and I have a roommate again!"
"That's nice, Oogie," Jack hoarsely squeezed into the conversation.
"Jack Skellington," Davina smoothly bid him good day. "Just who I wanted to see." She walked up to the three monsters and gently pushed Jack out of the fray. With one flashy movement of her hand, a golden beetle broach and a marble-sized jelly ball shot out of Jack's chest nd into Aphrodite's hands. "Good. Now, I'm willing to forgive you for stealing my broach, but only if you watch over Sally very carefully. Is that clear?"
Jack nodded, stretching his wings discreetly.
"Very good, boy," Aphrodite laughed. Her handed him the jelly ball. "Now, this belongs to you... you should be off now-"
Aphrodite/Davina stopped as a little gecko bumped into her ankle. In all the commotion, they had been left inside the house.
"Oh no! I forgot! Aphrodite, can you change these two back to normal?" Sally asked, still being held tightly in the air by Oogie Boogie.
"Their spell wore off ages ago," she laughed. "Change back if you want to."
Zero changed back into a dog, but Eeoski stayed a gecko. Which gave Aphrodite an idea. "Oogie, there might be a problem with you getting back home."
"Why?" he asked stupidly.
"Let me help you a bit," she chuckled.
**
Sally rode shakily on Jack's back as he flew towards the Mansion. Zero followed faithfully, holding Gecko in his mouth and a miniturized Oogie Boogie on his neck.
"This is embarrasing," Oogie scowled, keeping an almost painful grip on Zero's ears. "Riding on the back of a dog- Oo! Look! I can see my old house from here!" He pointed to a long treehouse down on the ground. "HI, HOUSE! YA MISS ME?"
A low groaning noise emminated from within the tree, as if the house was answering him.
Memories flooded Sally's head again. Her dark room in the orphanage, Hirac's laughter, and.... and... a voice. A stop, yelling at him to stop, the sounds of a struggle and Sally's valiant run out of the room and onto the street. Sally ran the memory over and over inside of her head until she knew who the voice was.
"Hey, Jack," she whispered into Jack's ear, making sure no one was listening (Oogie was still yelling at his house.) "Listen, this happened when I was really young; like, six or seven or eight, or something, so my memory's a little foggy.
"Listening," Jack whispered back.
"When I was still living at the orphanage, someone I think might have been Hirac tried to attack me. It didn't work; someone stopped him. Before I ran back to the Head Lady's office, I heard whoever was trying to stop him..."
"And?" Jack was eager to hear the rest of the story.
"It was you," Sally whispered with confidence. "In fact, now that I think about it; Jack, you were the King! You were the King of Halloween Town before Hirac!"
Jack put on the brakes, his wings fluttering forward and his body going upright. Pieces of him began to break of, revealing a bright, shining light beneath his bones. (Fangirls are screaming right now "OH NO! JACK'S DYING! AGAIN!" Don't worry, he's not. You'll see.) The light blinded Sally and Zero, which caused them to flail about frightened until they started to fall.
When vision finally came back to Sally, she realized she was skydiving down into the sky, Jack holding on tightly to her hands.
"SALLY, YOU DID IT!" Jack cheered. "I remember now; I was the King of Halloween Town before Hirac!"
"It WAS you that saved me all those years ago!" said Sally, tears streaming onto her skin and up into the air.
"I remember it all now! I remember your little room at the orphanage, and I remember having to go and get Hirac before he killed you!"
"Oh, Jack, how could I ever thank you?"
"You're the Mayor's granddaughter!" he laughed. "What else could I do?"
With a powerful sweeping motion, Jack pulled himself back into gargoyle form and carried Sally back to the Mansion, Oogie Boogie following closely behind on Zero, screaming demands of "Tell me what just happened!" and "You get back here and explain!"
I'm gonna go astray from the original plot line here, so I'll stop at this chapter. Fangirls are now split half-and-half, one half going "Oh, how sweet! Jack saved Sally's life and he loves her!" and the other half is going "DROP HER, JACK! YOU BELONG TO ME!" Oy... I hate Fangirls.