"Jack!" Sally exclaimed, "You scared me."
"Well, it's what I do," Jack replied with a happy grin.
"Where have you been?"
"Roaming the night, alone and looking for someone to share it with."
"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me before. It was as if I couldn't trust you," Sally said before noticing Jack's cringe at the remark, "I know, silly, isn't it?"
"Quite," Jack said flatly before throwing an arm around the rag doll, "How about we get out of the cold weather and catch up on some much needed sleep?"
"Sure. I could use it after tonight," Sally said as she kissed his bony cheek.
Jack smiled at his yawning companion as they walked back to Skellington Manor, both tired and happy to be together once more. The Pumpkin King figured whatever problems had risen in Valentine Town must have subsided by now, and was unknowingly right. While Jack had made his way back to Halloween Town, Venus managed to have quite a chat with Psyche. The younger deity was convinced to resume her duties of blind faith if the Council of Celebrations sent one of their members to the Real World in search of Cupid. The lucky one chosen to venture into the world beyond the forest was none other than Jacob. He was not too happy with that.
"I already made one perilous journey, over a rough ocean mind you. I'm not making another one!" Jacob yelled on the hill overlooking Valentine Lake.
"Lad, that was years ago. Get over the past, we've got more important things to do," said Saint Patrick.
"Why must I be the chosen one?"
"You'll fit in better in the Real World better than any of us." Tevel said, with an obvious nod from the Easter Bunny.
"Just a slight change in fashion and you'll pass for a dashing young mortal," Venus said as she walked around him.
"Miss Venus, am I mistaken, or is Cupid your son?"
"You know very well we have not been on good terms. He is only my primary Deliverer of Love, nothing more."
"He couldn't have been that bad; he never made it on my Naughty List," Santa Claus said, "We are running out of time. If Cupid has not returned to his duty by February fourteenth, then there will be disaster."
"Mr. Claus, be reasonable. Jack cannot possibly be that horrible."
"As the voice of experience, I can tell you we have great reason to worry, Venus."
"Mr. Claus, you are only one voice of experience. Until I hear the rabbit give his testimony, I refuse to go into that barbaric domain," Jacob interrupted firmly.
"Aye, he's got us there, boys. The wee rabbit cannot talk," Saint Patrick pointed out.
"I doubt that. Come on, we're going to Easter Town," Santa Claus announced, watching the Easter Bunny hop for joy.
"You know, I was only teasing about that. Really. Fellows, wait a moment!" the unfortunate pilgrim begged as he chased after the rest of the Council.
"Managing Love has never been this difficult," Venus sighed to herself before making her way home.
While the men of the Council of Ceremonies traveled to yet another world, in Halloween Town, Eris was impatiently waiting for the first of her allies to arrive. Now, she had made the grave mistake of waiting in Oogie's Lair. Unfortunately for the Goddess, Oogie Boogie was in a true gambling mood tonight and would do just about anything for even the smallest round of 'Go Fish'.
"Come on, Eris, it'll be fun," Oogie said as he elbowed the Goddess of Discord.
"Gambling is not my area of expertise," Eris told him through narrowed eyes.
"I bet ya two bucks I won't get snake-eyes. Watch," Oogie said as he threw the dice he kept and landed on, as usual, snake-eyes, "Wait, wait, I'll get it."
"Is this what you do? Stay in your bloody lair for hours on end rolling dice?"
"I eat bugs too. Don't look at me like that, I'm just starting to get back into my routine. You know, scaring the townsfolk, casting a shadow on the moon, and getting even with Bone Head."
"In my world, I made lovers distrust one another and end their pathetic little lives in tragedy."
"That's not as fun as Blackjack."
Before Eris could yell at Oogie for wasting her time with more casino games, the pipe above the gigantic neon roulette table opened. Out fell three figures in dark robes carrying staffs. They all helped one another get up and face Eris and Oogie Boogie.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my lair!" Oogie Boogie demanded to know.
"Calm down, Oogie. They're allies, Druid priests to be exact," Eris said as one of them lowered his hood to reveal a green-eyed gaze underneath white hair.
"Can it be that a goddess has summoned us?" asked the one Eris addressed. "You're certainly not one of ours, Lass."
"She looks rather mischievous, Bram. Her eyes could make a severe tempest look like a drizzle," said another Druid, this one with blue eyes under white hair.
"Aye, that she is, Cathair," said the Druid known as Bram.
"Why thank you. Now, you three have the power to manipulate time, yes?"
"Oh yes. We can easily turn days into nights. Unfortunately, we cannot turn nights into days. But we can do this," added the third Druid priest, a brown-eyed elder man who threw his staff to the ground, which turned into a hissing serpent.
"Lovely work. Where are the children who brought you? I must commend them on a job well done."
"Ah, the little goblins. Yes well, they went off to look for some others in that strange creature they were riding inside. They liked Sloane's little snake trick as well," Bram said.
"Perfect. Now you must test your powers. I wish for you three to manipulate the time. Make it so that we never see another full day until thefourteenth of this month. I need it for my work of chaos."
"Yes, Goddess of Discord. Come along," Bram said to his fellow Druids.
With that, they all gathered outside the Treehouse and formed a circle. They walked around in a circular motion, hooded and chanting in their native Celtic tongue over and over again. In the center of their circle, a black energy seemed to gather. All of a sudden, when the jack o'lantern sun was just about to peek over the horizon and begin a new day in Halloween Town, the great ball of dark energy shot towards it.
Hours passed rapidly as the darkness followed the sun. As it made its way across the sky, the sun left a trail of dark night following it. Finally, the sun set once more and night had once again fallen, as if the morning had never come. The Druids smiled at their work as Eris stepped towards them, clapping.
"Gentlemen, you and I are going to have quite the alliance," the Goddess said as she led them back into Oogie's lair.
Unknown to Eris, she was not the only one who witnessed this change in time. A small cat girl had watched the sun run away from the night just after it was about to rise. She walked over to the Guillotine Square and looked at the clock on one of the buildings. It was true; one day had gone by, yet there was no daylight, only the night.
"This isn't good. The sun was just as scared by that dark stuff as I was," Kitty said to herself, "I hope it only happens once, or else something really bad is gonna happen," she finished as she saw a chubby, short man with a hat taller than his body run clumsily towards Skellington Manor, "The Mayor will get Jack and then he can fix stuff, I hope so anyway," Kitty said before slinking off into another dark corner of Halloween Town.
Uh-oh, bad things are starting to go down. And what's this, the Easter Bunny will break his silence? Oh my, what a story! What could that fuzzy pink bunny have to say? Find out next time. (Re-edit Comment: Yay! Names are so very wonderful.)