Spirited Away Chapter... wait, I forgot, let me check.
(Audience sits around. Idle chit-chat floats in the atmosphere. Someone starts throwing M&Ms and it hits someone in the head. The smell of popcorn wafts into the air.)
OKAY!
(People jump, spilling nachos and cola.)
It's chapter 7, and the last chapter of all! I'm hoping to do a sequel! Who wants a sequel?
(There is an excited murmur, and people start asking themselves and their friends if they want a sequel or not.)
Oo, controversy! I'll leave you to decide with this last chapter! Not related to the movie whatsoever! Well, a teensy eensy bit. But the ending's completely different!
**
"Where are they?!" Hirac growled to the Boogie Boys, who bowed cowardly on the floor. "They sshould have been here minutess ago!"
"If you don't mind us askin', Sir King Hirac person Sir; why is it so important?"
Hirac shot a look at Shock, his face equally threatening and calm. "Do you know Eeosski, Sshock?"
"I know 'im!" Lock raised his hand, forgetting all fear. "Yeah! I had to get him medicine that time he got bitten by the werewolf!"
"Oo, yeah, I remember that!" Barrel laughed.
Shock responded by making a hole with his fist with her right hand and stuffing her other hand into the hole, twiggling her fingers as if reaching for something. "Hey, remember the time when Oogie Boogie had to have us reach in his mouth to pull out the-"
"SSILENCE!" Hirac shouted, smashing the children's happy banter to pieces. "You don't think I actually care about that overgrown iguana, do you? Eeosski iss the assset to my immortality! Without a chossen being to be kind to, my immortality sspell will break, and I will DIE!"
"Ooh," Shock realized. "It's like not being able to get into Jack's hope chest without his key!"
"His skeleton key!" Lock laughed.
"Bad joke! Bad joke!" Barrel sirened.
"QUIET!" Hirac shrieked, scaring the children once again. He turned once again to the window. "Where are they?"
"Wonder who gave him the immortality spell," Lock mumbled to Shock.
"I don' know. Maybe it was the king before him," Shock shrugged her shoulders.
"It wassn't a 'who'," Hirac started to explain. "It wass a 'what'. A magical artifact called a Powerssphere which I obtained from another world. Without it, my immortality sspell weakenss. And without Eeosski, it disssappearss ENTIRELY!"
"He's like a bad movie villain!" Barrel whispered naively.
"SSHUT UP!" Hirac roared, flames shooting out and brushing Barrel's delicate face. "Sshut up, you little sswamp ratss. Sspeaking of sswamp ratss, where are the other oness?"
"Us, sir?"
Hirac swiveled to see Jack fly into the room, a solemn expression on his face. Sally stood behind him, admiring the stitching that had formed over her clothlike skin. Zero floated just below Jack's hand, waiting to be petted. Oogie Boogie and Eeoski sat on his back, although Hirac didn't notice this right away.
"Finally!" Hirac stormed, stomping up to the shorter-than-him Jack. "My patience iss trying, Jack! Where iss Eeosski?!"
With one fluid motion, Zero dropped Oogie and Gecko onto the ground, where they quickly regained their full and appropriate forms. Eeoski looked less- than-happy to see his "Daddy", scowling childishly and failing to feign interest.
"Eeosski!" Hirac held his baby. "Eeosski, little preciouss! Daddy'ss misssed you!"
"Why?" Eeoski growled. "I'm just an asset."
Hirac flinched for a second before ushering Eeoski into his room, urging Oogie Boogie and Zero to follow. As they walked through the hallway, Hirac shut the wall behind them, making the opening dissappear.
"Now," Hirac hissed, knocking on the wall to make sure it was solid. He regained his smooth, businesslike manner. This was easily how he persuaded the Halloween Town citizens that he was their true king, no doubt. "Onto bussinesss. You brought Kerry, as I pressume?"
Jack hesistated for a moment, then pulled back his wing, revealing a trembling Sally. Hirac leered her eerily, making her shuffle behind Jack again.
"Now, deary, don't be sshy," Hirac coaxed his way around Jack (who was trying to keep himself between Hirac and Sally) and held Sally's hand in his long, wooden claws. "There'ss nothing to worry about. I'm jusst going to give you a little tesst to make ssure you are ready to go back to your world."
"That wasn't part of the agreement!" Jack almost shouted, snapping his tail down on Hirac's middle foot.
The Evil King just grinned, making teeth pop out of his pumpkin mouth as if they were being carved as he smiled. "It wassn't a sspoken part of the agreement, Jack. Now, Kerry, if you will come with me?"
"I-I-I think I'd rather stay here," Sally tried to sound brave.
"Too bad."
And before anyone could comprehend what happened, Hirac and Sally had disappeared, leaving Jack alone in Hirac's office, head spinning violently and calling out Sally's name.
*
Sally, herself, was coughing as a thick cloud of smoke enveloped her. As the smoke cleared, she saw she was in no ordinary room.
It was a ballroom. A ballroom, like she had seen in a hotel before, with marble walls and smooth floors made of some unknown material. Large windows, framed by thick, lacy curtains (Wait... is "Thick and Lacy" an oxymoron? Hmm.... guess you can have oxymorons in the Nightmare world) dominated the walls, which were a light peach in color. A magnificent centerpiece added a little life to the enormous ballroom, starting at the floor and stretching up to the high ceiling. The centerpiece resembled a pearl-ordaned stalagmite, swirling like a ice cream cone to a dull point at the top. Sally hugged herself in fear only to realize she was no longer in her uniform; instead, she was in (say it with me) a patchwork dress. (sighes as everyone mumbles something different).
"What the-?" Sally patted her hips, trying to find something that would clue her in to the sudden wardrobe change. She saw that her feet were no longer bare; tiny black shoes, complete with black and white stripey socks, covered her tiny toes now. Fit tightly enough; the shoes were so ill- fitting, for a moment Sally thought she had no toes from being unable to move them.
"How do you feel, my ssweet?"
"Wah!" Sally seemed to notice that people around her liked sneaking up on eachother. "Hirac? Where are we?"
"We're in my real manssion," Hirac hissed, still leering Sally evilly. "You don't think I lived in that vile place with all of my servants, do you?"
"What-what happened? Why am I in this dress, I look like a-" Sally gasped. "I look like YOUR rag doll!"
"Intelligent little girl, aren't you?" Hirac sultrily crooned, stepping closer and closer to Sally. Sally, feeling overbeared upon, backed up as he moved forward. "Yess, ever since I losst my firsst Kerry doll, I wanted a replacement. You fit the desscription perfectly."
"That's why I turned into a doll-" Sally whispered to herself before shouting into Hirac's face. "I'M A STUPID DOLL! I'M FULL OF STITCHES AND DEAD LEAVES! HOW COULD YOU FIND THAT APPEALING?!"
"Well, you're getting braver," Hirac mumbled over his shoulder. "Humanss have a different perception of beauty than we monsterss do. To the human race, you're a walking child'ss toy, but to me... you're a vixen..." Hirac stretched out his claws, reaching towards Sally.
"To you, I'm still a doll, you stinkin' pervert!" And with that, Sally slammed her fist down on top of Hirac's pumpkin head. He snatched her hand and pulled her to his face.
"YOU ARE TO SSTAY WITH ME!"
"LET ME GO!" Sally tugged away at her arm until she heard something pop. There was a zipper-like noise, and she fell back onto the floor. When she opened her eyes, she realized that while most of her body was on the floor, she had left her arm back in Hirac's fist.
"AAAAA!" Sally shuffled backwards, clutching the leaf-filled stump that was previously her left arm. Hirac threw the arm behind him and lunged at Sally, but a large, bony foot got in his way.
"JACK!"
(Fangirls are going "YEEEAAAH! Jack came to rescue her, just like in the movie!" Teeheehee, I love these fangirl jokes!)
Jack stood in between the two, still in Gargoyle form, and still looking extremely angry. His breathing was heavy, fangs slipping in and out between his lips.
"This wasn't part of the agreement either, Hirac," Jack spoke with a mocking tone, his voice unusually loud.
"WHO CARESS ABOUT A SSTUPID AGREEMENT!?" Hirac roared jumping to his feet and shouting. "Now, get back to the manssion!"
With a mighty snarl, Jack lunged at Hirac, teeth bared and ready to tear into his body. Hirac dogded in smoothly, leaping majestically out of the way. With one wave of his hand, the mansion went dark, the curtains flying shut. All light except for one was gone; and that was the light of Hirac's Jack-O-Lantern head.
"Manssion sspiritss, get Kerry out of the way!"
Sally felt millions of tiny hands grab her body and throw into a wall. A slam and a click made her realize she was being locked in a cage. She groped blindly for a wall, her eyes straining to see something other than Hirac's dayglow head. "JACK! GET ME OUT OF HERE! KILL HIM!"
Jack swiped blindly into the darkness, trying to find out just how far away Hirac was and how many things were in his way. Five times, he tripped over some chair, or a knotch in the floor, or got his wing stuck on a coat rack, something slowed him down and kept him from his one, primary goal.
THE KING MUST DIE.
Sally watched hopelessly as Hirac's head bounced up and down, stomach tight with worry. She couldn't see Jack. Where was he? Did he hit Hirac yet? The snap of a whip-tail and a shriek announced that Jack had succesfully struck Hirac... somewhere. However, in an equal moment of shock, there was a loud crunch and a horrifying yell.
"JACK!" Sally's tears burst forward suddenly, running down her cheeks in torrents. "STOP IT! Stop it, Hirac, leave him alone!!"
AND SUDDENLY, THE LIGHTS CAME ON!
Hirac stood bold upright, leaving a broken-winged Jack on the floor. His head turned violently, trying to find what happened. Curtains were open, torches were lit, Oogie Boogie had his hand on a lightswitch.
Wait.
"OOGIE?!" Hirac howled. Oogie Boogie just stood on the far side of the room, his hand (well, he ain't got no hands (Kingdom Hearts joke) placed tenderly on the lightswitch. Hi laughed weakly, mouthed hello to Jack, and bolted out of the room. Sally took note of where her cage was; it was inside the centerpiece.
"OOGIE YOU IDIOT!" Hirac screamed to the world. "That sstupid potatoe ssack hass no idea where hiss loyaltiess li- OOW!"
In the time it took for Hirac to ramble on, Jack had woken up and landed a stinging blow on the back of Hirac's neck. Hirac's head flame flickered out for a split second, then raged into an inferno again; Hirac swiped his hand behind him and clutched Jack by the throat. He tried to weasel his way out of the king's grip, but to no avail. Jack was having trouble breathing at this point.
"You inssolent little brat!" Hirac shook him violently. "You have been one of my mosst obidient sservantss for eonss now, and you think you can defy me now jusst becausse of some measely little ssubhuman! Well, you little anarchisst..."
Hirac raised his clawed hand, ready to crush Jack's skull.
"Thiss iss what I think of your little rebellion!"
"NO!"
Hirac turned his head quickly to face Sally. She sobbed pitifully inside of the cage.
"Don't hurt him!" she cried pitifully. "I give up; just... don't hurt him."
"That'ss much better." Hirac growled. He threw Jack to the ground, leaving the gargoyle to stare at Sally in disbelief. Hirac stepped forward as Sally's cage opened and the mansion spirits pushed her out. She stood in the doorway, muscles tense.
Hirac picked up his pace quickly, and was soon galloping towards Sally. She stood very still, breathing shallow and quick-
SHE JUMPED OUT OF HIRAC'S WAY!
Yes, just at the last minute, Sally rolled out of the way of the raging scarecrow, causing Hirac to crash into the cage, slamming the door behind him!
There were a few minutes of silence before Sally stumbled to Jack, picking up her arm on the way. Jack was resting dispondently on his knees, dead to the world. Sally reached over and stroked his forehead, alerting him to her presence. Okay, well, maybe not alerting, but he did wake up.
"Sally?" Jack slowly picked up his head, coming face to face with Sally. She smiled and nodded, her eyes starting to string with withheld tears. "Oh my go- SALLY!"
The two were soon locked in a tight embrace, crying and whispering joyfully to eachother. It took a few minutes to realize What they were doing, however, and as soon as they found out...
"WAH!"
"AH!"
Jack rubbed the back of his head while Sally concentrated on the patterns of her dress. They both spoke at once, overlapping eachother's pleads for forgiveness.
"Sorry, sorry, didn't realize.... Won't happen again... sorry..."
"I'm sorry... no, I'm sorry, it's my fault... it- it was a very emotional moment..."
"ZAR!"
Jack just managed to pull Sally out of the way as Hirac lunged at their throats. The Evil King turned back to them, crouched low to the ground like an animal. His head fire was back up again, although there was something uncontroled about the flame this time.
"What are you doing back?!" Jack shouted, pushing Sally behind him.
"The hand iss... quicker than the eye.... Jack Ssskellington." Hirac's voice was airy and malificent, and he was breathing deeply. He reached into his mouth and pulled out a little jelly ball. "Much quicker." He popped the thing back into his mouth.
"The PowerSphere!" Jack whispered. "Sally, go hide!"
"OKAY!" Sally ran away quickly while Jack kept Hirac from running after her. She flung herself behind a curtain and considered herself lucky. Her arm was still held tightly in her hand, moving it's fingers on it's own. Sally peeked from behind the curtains to see Hirac shooting fire out of his mouth, searing the sleeve of Jack's coat and part of his wing.
Sally got another crazy idea, and ran out from behind the curtain. Before Hirac or Jack had a chance to react, she had hit the Evil King square in the back of his head, knocking out the PowerSphere. As Hirac turned to kill her, she stuffed her arm into his mouth.
The result was astounding. Her arms held tightly onto his stem, keeping him from pulling the thing out. Hirac clawed at his throat, attempting to cut open an airway. His body writhered and twisted itself until he finally fell to the floor, completely and FINALLY dead.
Sally's arm crawled out of his mouth, looking burn but not burnt. It gave Sally a thumbs-up before reach upwards to be picked up.
"Ha ha ha!" Sally chirped lightly, a sort of unbelieving uphoria swimming in her head. "What... what just happened?"
"He's dead, Sally," Jack gasped. "We killed him."
"Is that a good thing?" Sally asked.
Jackds. More than likely, it's a good thing," Jack picked up the Powersphere while he talked. He held the sphere up to Sally's shoulder- stump, and her arm floated to it and resowed itself to her body.
"Now," Jack sighed happily, holding the ball tenderly in his fingertips. "We can send you back to you're world, and-"
"No."
Jack looked surprised. "Wai- no?"
"No," Sally spoke determinedly. "I don't want to go back. I had no life in my old world. I'd rather stay here, with the monsters, and The Mayor..."
Sally looked into Jack's "eyes". "I wanna stay with you."
"Oh!" Jack still looked surprised, but he was also very confused. He scratched his chin in thought. "Well, um... I don't see why, but..."
And Sally reached up-
And kissed him.
(Fangirls are screaming right now.)
As Sally pulled away, Jack stepped backwards in shock. It seemed impossible, but he looked even paler now than he did before. Sally realized something.
"You... you've never been kissed before, have you?" Sally asked.
"It that what that's called?" Jack asked.
"Well, consider this a precious moment," Sally smiled. "Something you'll never forget."
"Forget?" Jack talked to himself. "Forget. THAT'S IT!" Jack started holding the PowerSphere even tighter, and it began to glow with a yellow light. "I'll just make it so that no one ever remembers Hirac! It'll be perfect!"
"That is a wonderful idea!" Sally shouted with gusto. But, then, something came to her.
"Wait..." Sally's happiness began to melt away. "If we don't remember any of this happening, then we'll forget..."
Sally didn't need to finish the sentence. Jack gently embraced her and stroked her hair. "I know, Sally, it'll be hard. But, if we were truly meant to be together, it won't matter. We'll still know."
"Okay."
Jack closed his eyes and thought to himself. "No one must ever remember any of this-"
BOOM!
**
"AAH!" Sally screamed as she sat up in her tiny bed. "DADDY!"
"What?" Dr. Finklestien rolled into Sally's room, holding a lantern above his head. "Sally, what is it?"
"I had a nightmare!" Sally moaned as the Doctor patted her shoulder. "There was an evil scarecrow king, and Jack was there, and they had taken over Halloween Town, and..."
"Sally, calm down," Dr. Finklestien comforted the girl. "It was just a dream. But you might as well write it down, it may mean something."
"Okay," Sally hopped out of bed to reach her desk, which held his writing paper and quills.
"I'm going back to bed," Dr. Finklestien mumbled. "G'night, Sally."
"Don't call me 'Daddy', Sally."
"Okay."
Sally wrote down every detail of the dream she could remember by the moonlight seeping in through her window. Was it a dream? I mean, the PowerSphere had made everyone forget, but what if there was some kind of malfunction, and she could remember it? She wondered if Jack knew. It was nearing Halloween; she would ask him. Although he had seemed a bit distant lately.....
***
IT'S OVER!
(Audience member: You did it!)
The two bump chests.
AH HA! Oo, that was fun! And I made up the ending myself! Yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah! OO, that was so much fun! You happy it's over!?
(There's a mixture of "Yes"s and "No"s.)
Alright! Tell me if you want a sequel! I guess, by the ending, you can tell when this story is set.
(Some mumbles.)
Anyone?
(Audience member: Uh... before the movie?)
RIGHT! You get a cookie!
(Audience member: Hoorah!)
Okay, I'm done, my arthritic fingers are sore, let's finish this up.
DONE!
(Audience sits around. Idle chit-chat floats in the atmosphere. Someone starts throwing M&Ms and it hits someone in the head. The smell of popcorn wafts into the air.)
OKAY!
(People jump, spilling nachos and cola.)
It's chapter 7, and the last chapter of all! I'm hoping to do a sequel! Who wants a sequel?
(There is an excited murmur, and people start asking themselves and their friends if they want a sequel or not.)
Oo, controversy! I'll leave you to decide with this last chapter! Not related to the movie whatsoever! Well, a teensy eensy bit. But the ending's completely different!
**
"Where are they?!" Hirac growled to the Boogie Boys, who bowed cowardly on the floor. "They sshould have been here minutess ago!"
"If you don't mind us askin', Sir King Hirac person Sir; why is it so important?"
Hirac shot a look at Shock, his face equally threatening and calm. "Do you know Eeosski, Sshock?"
"I know 'im!" Lock raised his hand, forgetting all fear. "Yeah! I had to get him medicine that time he got bitten by the werewolf!"
"Oo, yeah, I remember that!" Barrel laughed.
Shock responded by making a hole with his fist with her right hand and stuffing her other hand into the hole, twiggling her fingers as if reaching for something. "Hey, remember the time when Oogie Boogie had to have us reach in his mouth to pull out the-"
"SSILENCE!" Hirac shouted, smashing the children's happy banter to pieces. "You don't think I actually care about that overgrown iguana, do you? Eeosski iss the assset to my immortality! Without a chossen being to be kind to, my immortality sspell will break, and I will DIE!"
"Ooh," Shock realized. "It's like not being able to get into Jack's hope chest without his key!"
"His skeleton key!" Lock laughed.
"Bad joke! Bad joke!" Barrel sirened.
"QUIET!" Hirac shrieked, scaring the children once again. He turned once again to the window. "Where are they?"
"Wonder who gave him the immortality spell," Lock mumbled to Shock.
"I don' know. Maybe it was the king before him," Shock shrugged her shoulders.
"It wassn't a 'who'," Hirac started to explain. "It wass a 'what'. A magical artifact called a Powerssphere which I obtained from another world. Without it, my immortality sspell weakenss. And without Eeosski, it disssappearss ENTIRELY!"
"He's like a bad movie villain!" Barrel whispered naively.
"SSHUT UP!" Hirac roared, flames shooting out and brushing Barrel's delicate face. "Sshut up, you little sswamp ratss. Sspeaking of sswamp ratss, where are the other oness?"
"Us, sir?"
Hirac swiveled to see Jack fly into the room, a solemn expression on his face. Sally stood behind him, admiring the stitching that had formed over her clothlike skin. Zero floated just below Jack's hand, waiting to be petted. Oogie Boogie and Eeoski sat on his back, although Hirac didn't notice this right away.
"Finally!" Hirac stormed, stomping up to the shorter-than-him Jack. "My patience iss trying, Jack! Where iss Eeosski?!"
With one fluid motion, Zero dropped Oogie and Gecko onto the ground, where they quickly regained their full and appropriate forms. Eeoski looked less- than-happy to see his "Daddy", scowling childishly and failing to feign interest.
"Eeosski!" Hirac held his baby. "Eeosski, little preciouss! Daddy'ss misssed you!"
"Why?" Eeoski growled. "I'm just an asset."
Hirac flinched for a second before ushering Eeoski into his room, urging Oogie Boogie and Zero to follow. As they walked through the hallway, Hirac shut the wall behind them, making the opening dissappear.
"Now," Hirac hissed, knocking on the wall to make sure it was solid. He regained his smooth, businesslike manner. This was easily how he persuaded the Halloween Town citizens that he was their true king, no doubt. "Onto bussinesss. You brought Kerry, as I pressume?"
Jack hesistated for a moment, then pulled back his wing, revealing a trembling Sally. Hirac leered her eerily, making her shuffle behind Jack again.
"Now, deary, don't be sshy," Hirac coaxed his way around Jack (who was trying to keep himself between Hirac and Sally) and held Sally's hand in his long, wooden claws. "There'ss nothing to worry about. I'm jusst going to give you a little tesst to make ssure you are ready to go back to your world."
"That wasn't part of the agreement!" Jack almost shouted, snapping his tail down on Hirac's middle foot.
The Evil King just grinned, making teeth pop out of his pumpkin mouth as if they were being carved as he smiled. "It wassn't a sspoken part of the agreement, Jack. Now, Kerry, if you will come with me?"
"I-I-I think I'd rather stay here," Sally tried to sound brave.
"Too bad."
And before anyone could comprehend what happened, Hirac and Sally had disappeared, leaving Jack alone in Hirac's office, head spinning violently and calling out Sally's name.
*
Sally, herself, was coughing as a thick cloud of smoke enveloped her. As the smoke cleared, she saw she was in no ordinary room.
It was a ballroom. A ballroom, like she had seen in a hotel before, with marble walls and smooth floors made of some unknown material. Large windows, framed by thick, lacy curtains (Wait... is "Thick and Lacy" an oxymoron? Hmm.... guess you can have oxymorons in the Nightmare world) dominated the walls, which were a light peach in color. A magnificent centerpiece added a little life to the enormous ballroom, starting at the floor and stretching up to the high ceiling. The centerpiece resembled a pearl-ordaned stalagmite, swirling like a ice cream cone to a dull point at the top. Sally hugged herself in fear only to realize she was no longer in her uniform; instead, she was in (say it with me) a patchwork dress. (sighes as everyone mumbles something different).
"What the-?" Sally patted her hips, trying to find something that would clue her in to the sudden wardrobe change. She saw that her feet were no longer bare; tiny black shoes, complete with black and white stripey socks, covered her tiny toes now. Fit tightly enough; the shoes were so ill- fitting, for a moment Sally thought she had no toes from being unable to move them.
"How do you feel, my ssweet?"
"Wah!" Sally seemed to notice that people around her liked sneaking up on eachother. "Hirac? Where are we?"
"We're in my real manssion," Hirac hissed, still leering Sally evilly. "You don't think I lived in that vile place with all of my servants, do you?"
"What-what happened? Why am I in this dress, I look like a-" Sally gasped. "I look like YOUR rag doll!"
"Intelligent little girl, aren't you?" Hirac sultrily crooned, stepping closer and closer to Sally. Sally, feeling overbeared upon, backed up as he moved forward. "Yess, ever since I losst my firsst Kerry doll, I wanted a replacement. You fit the desscription perfectly."
"That's why I turned into a doll-" Sally whispered to herself before shouting into Hirac's face. "I'M A STUPID DOLL! I'M FULL OF STITCHES AND DEAD LEAVES! HOW COULD YOU FIND THAT APPEALING?!"
"Well, you're getting braver," Hirac mumbled over his shoulder. "Humanss have a different perception of beauty than we monsterss do. To the human race, you're a walking child'ss toy, but to me... you're a vixen..." Hirac stretched out his claws, reaching towards Sally.
"To you, I'm still a doll, you stinkin' pervert!" And with that, Sally slammed her fist down on top of Hirac's pumpkin head. He snatched her hand and pulled her to his face.
"YOU ARE TO SSTAY WITH ME!"
"LET ME GO!" Sally tugged away at her arm until she heard something pop. There was a zipper-like noise, and she fell back onto the floor. When she opened her eyes, she realized that while most of her body was on the floor, she had left her arm back in Hirac's fist.
"AAAAA!" Sally shuffled backwards, clutching the leaf-filled stump that was previously her left arm. Hirac threw the arm behind him and lunged at Sally, but a large, bony foot got in his way.
"JACK!"
(Fangirls are going "YEEEAAAH! Jack came to rescue her, just like in the movie!" Teeheehee, I love these fangirl jokes!)
Jack stood in between the two, still in Gargoyle form, and still looking extremely angry. His breathing was heavy, fangs slipping in and out between his lips.
"This wasn't part of the agreement either, Hirac," Jack spoke with a mocking tone, his voice unusually loud.
"WHO CARESS ABOUT A SSTUPID AGREEMENT!?" Hirac roared jumping to his feet and shouting. "Now, get back to the manssion!"
With a mighty snarl, Jack lunged at Hirac, teeth bared and ready to tear into his body. Hirac dogded in smoothly, leaping majestically out of the way. With one wave of his hand, the mansion went dark, the curtains flying shut. All light except for one was gone; and that was the light of Hirac's Jack-O-Lantern head.
"Manssion sspiritss, get Kerry out of the way!"
Sally felt millions of tiny hands grab her body and throw into a wall. A slam and a click made her realize she was being locked in a cage. She groped blindly for a wall, her eyes straining to see something other than Hirac's dayglow head. "JACK! GET ME OUT OF HERE! KILL HIM!"
Jack swiped blindly into the darkness, trying to find out just how far away Hirac was and how many things were in his way. Five times, he tripped over some chair, or a knotch in the floor, or got his wing stuck on a coat rack, something slowed him down and kept him from his one, primary goal.
THE KING MUST DIE.
Sally watched hopelessly as Hirac's head bounced up and down, stomach tight with worry. She couldn't see Jack. Where was he? Did he hit Hirac yet? The snap of a whip-tail and a shriek announced that Jack had succesfully struck Hirac... somewhere. However, in an equal moment of shock, there was a loud crunch and a horrifying yell.
"JACK!" Sally's tears burst forward suddenly, running down her cheeks in torrents. "STOP IT! Stop it, Hirac, leave him alone!!"
AND SUDDENLY, THE LIGHTS CAME ON!
Hirac stood bold upright, leaving a broken-winged Jack on the floor. His head turned violently, trying to find what happened. Curtains were open, torches were lit, Oogie Boogie had his hand on a lightswitch.
Wait.
"OOGIE?!" Hirac howled. Oogie Boogie just stood on the far side of the room, his hand (well, he ain't got no hands (Kingdom Hearts joke) placed tenderly on the lightswitch. Hi laughed weakly, mouthed hello to Jack, and bolted out of the room. Sally took note of where her cage was; it was inside the centerpiece.
"OOGIE YOU IDIOT!" Hirac screamed to the world. "That sstupid potatoe ssack hass no idea where hiss loyaltiess li- OOW!"
In the time it took for Hirac to ramble on, Jack had woken up and landed a stinging blow on the back of Hirac's neck. Hirac's head flame flickered out for a split second, then raged into an inferno again; Hirac swiped his hand behind him and clutched Jack by the throat. He tried to weasel his way out of the king's grip, but to no avail. Jack was having trouble breathing at this point.
"You inssolent little brat!" Hirac shook him violently. "You have been one of my mosst obidient sservantss for eonss now, and you think you can defy me now jusst becausse of some measely little ssubhuman! Well, you little anarchisst..."
Hirac raised his clawed hand, ready to crush Jack's skull.
"Thiss iss what I think of your little rebellion!"
"NO!"
Hirac turned his head quickly to face Sally. She sobbed pitifully inside of the cage.
"Don't hurt him!" she cried pitifully. "I give up; just... don't hurt him."
"That'ss much better." Hirac growled. He threw Jack to the ground, leaving the gargoyle to stare at Sally in disbelief. Hirac stepped forward as Sally's cage opened and the mansion spirits pushed her out. She stood in the doorway, muscles tense.
Hirac picked up his pace quickly, and was soon galloping towards Sally. She stood very still, breathing shallow and quick-
SHE JUMPED OUT OF HIRAC'S WAY!
Yes, just at the last minute, Sally rolled out of the way of the raging scarecrow, causing Hirac to crash into the cage, slamming the door behind him!
There were a few minutes of silence before Sally stumbled to Jack, picking up her arm on the way. Jack was resting dispondently on his knees, dead to the world. Sally reached over and stroked his forehead, alerting him to her presence. Okay, well, maybe not alerting, but he did wake up.
"Sally?" Jack slowly picked up his head, coming face to face with Sally. She smiled and nodded, her eyes starting to string with withheld tears. "Oh my go- SALLY!"
The two were soon locked in a tight embrace, crying and whispering joyfully to eachother. It took a few minutes to realize What they were doing, however, and as soon as they found out...
"WAH!"
"AH!"
Jack rubbed the back of his head while Sally concentrated on the patterns of her dress. They both spoke at once, overlapping eachother's pleads for forgiveness.
"Sorry, sorry, didn't realize.... Won't happen again... sorry..."
"I'm sorry... no, I'm sorry, it's my fault... it- it was a very emotional moment..."
"ZAR!"
Jack just managed to pull Sally out of the way as Hirac lunged at their throats. The Evil King turned back to them, crouched low to the ground like an animal. His head fire was back up again, although there was something uncontroled about the flame this time.
"What are you doing back?!" Jack shouted, pushing Sally behind him.
"The hand iss... quicker than the eye.... Jack Ssskellington." Hirac's voice was airy and malificent, and he was breathing deeply. He reached into his mouth and pulled out a little jelly ball. "Much quicker." He popped the thing back into his mouth.
"The PowerSphere!" Jack whispered. "Sally, go hide!"
"OKAY!" Sally ran away quickly while Jack kept Hirac from running after her. She flung herself behind a curtain and considered herself lucky. Her arm was still held tightly in her hand, moving it's fingers on it's own. Sally peeked from behind the curtains to see Hirac shooting fire out of his mouth, searing the sleeve of Jack's coat and part of his wing.
Sally got another crazy idea, and ran out from behind the curtain. Before Hirac or Jack had a chance to react, she had hit the Evil King square in the back of his head, knocking out the PowerSphere. As Hirac turned to kill her, she stuffed her arm into his mouth.
The result was astounding. Her arms held tightly onto his stem, keeping him from pulling the thing out. Hirac clawed at his throat, attempting to cut open an airway. His body writhered and twisted itself until he finally fell to the floor, completely and FINALLY dead.
Sally's arm crawled out of his mouth, looking burn but not burnt. It gave Sally a thumbs-up before reach upwards to be picked up.
"Ha ha ha!" Sally chirped lightly, a sort of unbelieving uphoria swimming in her head. "What... what just happened?"
"He's dead, Sally," Jack gasped. "We killed him."
"Is that a good thing?" Sally asked.
Jackds. More than likely, it's a good thing," Jack picked up the Powersphere while he talked. He held the sphere up to Sally's shoulder- stump, and her arm floated to it and resowed itself to her body.
"Now," Jack sighed happily, holding the ball tenderly in his fingertips. "We can send you back to you're world, and-"
"No."
Jack looked surprised. "Wai- no?"
"No," Sally spoke determinedly. "I don't want to go back. I had no life in my old world. I'd rather stay here, with the monsters, and The Mayor..."
Sally looked into Jack's "eyes". "I wanna stay with you."
"Oh!" Jack still looked surprised, but he was also very confused. He scratched his chin in thought. "Well, um... I don't see why, but..."
And Sally reached up-
And kissed him.
(Fangirls are screaming right now.)
As Sally pulled away, Jack stepped backwards in shock. It seemed impossible, but he looked even paler now than he did before. Sally realized something.
"You... you've never been kissed before, have you?" Sally asked.
"It that what that's called?" Jack asked.
"Well, consider this a precious moment," Sally smiled. "Something you'll never forget."
"Forget?" Jack talked to himself. "Forget. THAT'S IT!" Jack started holding the PowerSphere even tighter, and it began to glow with a yellow light. "I'll just make it so that no one ever remembers Hirac! It'll be perfect!"
"That is a wonderful idea!" Sally shouted with gusto. But, then, something came to her.
"Wait..." Sally's happiness began to melt away. "If we don't remember any of this happening, then we'll forget..."
Sally didn't need to finish the sentence. Jack gently embraced her and stroked her hair. "I know, Sally, it'll be hard. But, if we were truly meant to be together, it won't matter. We'll still know."
"Okay."
Jack closed his eyes and thought to himself. "No one must ever remember any of this-"
BOOM!
**
"AAH!" Sally screamed as she sat up in her tiny bed. "DADDY!"
"What?" Dr. Finklestien rolled into Sally's room, holding a lantern above his head. "Sally, what is it?"
"I had a nightmare!" Sally moaned as the Doctor patted her shoulder. "There was an evil scarecrow king, and Jack was there, and they had taken over Halloween Town, and..."
"Sally, calm down," Dr. Finklestien comforted the girl. "It was just a dream. But you might as well write it down, it may mean something."
"Okay," Sally hopped out of bed to reach her desk, which held his writing paper and quills.
"I'm going back to bed," Dr. Finklestien mumbled. "G'night, Sally."
"Don't call me 'Daddy', Sally."
"Okay."
Sally wrote down every detail of the dream she could remember by the moonlight seeping in through her window. Was it a dream? I mean, the PowerSphere had made everyone forget, but what if there was some kind of malfunction, and she could remember it? She wondered if Jack knew. It was nearing Halloween; she would ask him. Although he had seemed a bit distant lately.....
***
IT'S OVER!
(Audience member: You did it!)
The two bump chests.
AH HA! Oo, that was fun! And I made up the ending myself! Yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah! OO, that was so much fun! You happy it's over!?
(There's a mixture of "Yes"s and "No"s.)
Alright! Tell me if you want a sequel! I guess, by the ending, you can tell when this story is set.
(Some mumbles.)
Anyone?
(Audience member: Uh... before the movie?)
RIGHT! You get a cookie!
(Audience member: Hoorah!)
Okay, I'm done, my arthritic fingers are sore, let's finish this up.
DONE!