a/n: I didn't know how to split this up, so here's a really long chapter:
I walk down the tunnel that leads to Oogie's lair. The others aren't here.
It was my turn to take the fall. And I fell hard.
I reach the door and knock. The door opens slowly, creaking as it does.
"I--I'm here," my voice quavers.
He turns to me, "What happened?"
"Shock and I were talking. I turned and accidentally hit her in the arm. She yelled a bit and I punched her," the last words almost a squeak.
He lifts me by my collar, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," tears coming to my eyes.
He throws me down with a 'hmph' and turns toward his desk.
"Why did you hit her?" the answer will bring pain no matter how I answer.
"I guess I was a little mad at her," at this he spins sharply and shoves me against the wall.
"You know better," he hisses.
I gulp and he shoves me.
"Leave!" at this I scramble for the door.
Once outside I limp halfway up the tunnel and collapse. I look at my leg and see that the clothes are torn, and I'm bleeding. I roll up the pant leg to reveal a bad gash.
The rest of the way up the hall is pure torture. When I reach the end something hits it and I howl out in pain…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I wake up, covered in a cold sweat, seeing both Jack and Sally over me.
Shock walks over, and I realize I'm the only one that was still asleep.
"Where'd he go?" my voice still lined with terror.
"Where did WHO go, Lock," Sally asks.
"Oogie Boogie! He was there, and I was in his lair and he hurt me, and then…" my voice trails.
"It was just a dream," Shock starts. "Sally's been trying to get you awake for a while now."
"Huh?" I look from Shock to Sally.
"Oh yeah! Sally came here and decided to help Jack out. I guess she was just trying to see what happened. When she apparently realized that not only Jack was missing, but us as well, she got worried and thought just to come here first. Good guess huh?" Shock apparently is feeling better.
"I see," I look around the room to see that it's spotless. Barrel's apparently upstairs. I can here the floorboards creaking. Shock is looking at me and I finally sit up, fixing my now demolished hair. It seems that no matter how permanent the changes we got when we were younger; I still have to work sometimes to fix my hair.
Sally turns and grabs Jack's arm. Jack, in turn, hugs her closer to him and Shock grabs my arm, headed toward Barrel's and mine room.
"What's up?" I hustle to catch up.
"I had a dream like that too. And so did Barrel. This is a little odd. I mean I would understand having these nightmares, but not right after you brought them up and not right after Oogie dies. There HAS to be a reason," she explains.
We head up the steps to find Barrel in a chair in the middle of the room, with two other chairs waiting for us.
"Did you?" I know the drill.
Shock lifts a piece of rope, showing that the trip line that sets off our alarm has been set at the bottom of the steps.
"Alright, I get that Sally showed up, I get that Jack killed Oogie, and I get that Sandy went off. But what I'm missing is why we all had those dreams," I look.
"Well, let's start with happened in them! I'll go first," Barrel volunteers. "It was the first time that I had gone down into the tunnel. I went and called, the door opened and he made me explain. Afterwards he threw me to the ground so hard I couldn't move my leg." His eyes had gone watery by this point.
"Mine began almost the same, except in mine he didn't throw me down, instead he pushed me, hard, and I went straight into a spike-like contraption near his desk," Shock doesn't end in tears, instead, in fiery anger.
"Mine was a combination. In the beginning he threw me down and at the end he shoved me. But also, when I left I only made it part of the way, collapsed, then tried to go the rest of the way, and hit my leg on something," I explain, seeing clearly why mine was longest.
"Well… then what did we all have in common?" Shock asks.
"It was my first time," Barrel thinks.
"Yeah, I think me too," Shock thinks.
"I don't think so with me, but mine was just you two combined. And the only part that I got extra was the end. Who knows? Maybe it was just that I'm so close to you?" I'm thinking hard, but there is no clear-cut similarity.
The alarm starts to scream and we quickly shut it off, as we listen to someone now at the top of the steps.
"Anybody hungry?" Sally yells in.
"YES!" we yell back in unison, just to go along.
In truth, I am hungry. Between the scare and being sick yesterday I NEED food!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Downstairs we see Sally pouring bowls of some sort of soup.
I sit down, then Shock to my right, and Barrel on my left. The smell of the soup isn't something that we've smelled before, but I really don't care. I take the first spoonful tentatively, but I'm not so careful after that. This soup tastes good!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
(a/n: in this chapter I use italics to see what Jack and Sally are talking about, to show the emotion behind the discussion. You'll see what I mean)
I finish first, then Barrel, then finally Shock. We've already forgotten the nightmares.
"So, what are we going to do?" Barrel asks me. Jack and Sally have finally left, the room at least.
"About what?" I answer.
"Well, I know that Jack isn't going to stay here willingly! Heck, he wouldn't be here if it weren't for the point that we were guardianless," Barrel answers.
"You made a word up, Barrel," Shock hates it when Barrel or I do that.
"So?" Barrel defends.
"So, I told you to stop it," Shock growls.
"So what if he doesn't?" I ask.
"Shut up!" Shock yells.
"Make me!" I yell back. (a/n: I love that part of the movie!)
"Fine," she grabs my throat, but Barrel slams her and so she goes after him instead.
I back off, seeing no chance of me winning. Instead I sit against the wall.
I hear voices in the other room:
'What are we going to do Sally?' Jack looks exasperated.
'I don't know,' Sally's face is full of concern.
I want to help them out, and leaving them alone here is a terrible idea, but what can we do?' Jack's face is now in desperation.
'We can take them back to your house. We could help them there,' Sally tries.
'They wouldn't agree to leave here,' he knows it's true.
'You don't know that Jack. They don't have ties left here. You could find room for them! We could move his or her stuff into the space and make it seem like home all over again, for everyone!' Sally wraps her arms around Jack's waist.
'I think we should wait and see,' he wraps his arms around her.
I stop listening and run back to the others.
Shock, who easily beat Barrel, looks up at me.
"I heard Jack and Sally talking," this catches their interest.
"What did they say?" Barrel pushes.
"They were saying that they might take us somewhere else. I didn't hear it that well, but they said that they'd move us!" I panic.
"What?" Barrel yells.
"No," Shock protests.
"Yes," I confirm.
"But why?" does she need an answer?
"It's like Barrel said," he grins at Shock, "Jack won't stay here, but he certainly won't leave us alone. He knows that we can't take care of ourselves."
"What do we do?" Shock asks.
"Well, we have two choices, let it happen, or fight! It's not complicated," I snap.
"But still. We don't want to leave, do we?" we look at each other.
"No way," we answer in unison.
"They'll make us," comments Barrel.
"We'll fight," Shock answers.
"They'll drag us!" Barrel tries again.
"We'll bite!" I grin, my sharp teeth reflecting the light.
"Is there any reason to stay here?" God he's annoying.
I think about it though. "No…" I whisper as Shock frowns.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
We watch as Jack and Sally enter the room again. We smile, trying to act innocent.
"What did you do this time?" fear strikes me, but I don't show it.
"Nothing," we smile.
We get a glare, but the two of them blow it off.
"You guys okay?" Sally asks.
"Yeah," I comment.
"Sure," Shock adds.
"I guess," Barrel finishes.
Sally comes over and kneels down next to us, "You sure?"
We nod and run into Barrel's and my bedroom again.
"Do they get what 'yes' means?" Shock exclaims, exasperated.
I snicker, "Of course not, what do you expect?"
"Intelligence to some level above us. I mean, Jack is the Pumpkin King," Shock answers.
"That was rhetorical," I comment, while Barrel goes into a fit of laughter.
I roll my eyes at both of them. Are they really that thick? Sometimes it makes me wonder if we really are related.
We watch the cage in the corner of the room start to rattle about a bit.
"Barrel, when was the last time that you fed the cobra?" Shock stops him mid-laugh.
"About a week ago," he answers.
"Do you have food for it?" she pushes.
"I did, but I think it ran away!" he gulps, "We could always give it one of your scorpions or crows."
"Don't you dare, you won't even get their alive," even as Shock says this Barrel makes a dash to the door, Shock in close pursuit.
"Get back here!" I listen as Shock jumps down to the main floor, then pounces onto Barrel, all in one motion.
They tumble around a bit, and, finally, Shock gets a slight upper hand, pinning Barrel to the ground. Jack walks in to see the two pounding each other. Barrel, now almost with the upper hand again, is clawing for a good grasp on some of Shock's hair, while Shock knees him in a place only a guy could know hurts. (a/n: I am trying to keep this at a low rating people XD)
Jack quickly strides over and ends the fighting, picking up my siblings by their collars.
"Hey!" Shock yells in protest, as Barrel is hung up in a pain filled silence.
"You two trying to kill yourselves?" Jack yells at them, losing his cool.
"No, just each other," Barrel grinned, as Shock nodded in silent agreement.
I hop down and walk over to my currently suspended siblings.
"Lock, tell him to put me down!," Shock wriggles to get free.
"What's the password?" I grin.
"You know darn well there is no… stupid…password!" before she hurts herself Jack lowers Shock to the ground.
"Can you three ver get along?" Jack sighs, putting Barrel down as well.
"Yes," I answer.
"Sometimes," Shock corrects.
"No," Barrel finishes, smiling. But Shock and I give him a death glare.
We walk over and slap him upside the head, perfectly in sync. He turns to me, but Shock head locks him before he can make a move. I laugh and Barrel kicks my shin.
"Hey," I punch his shoulder.
"Ow," he replies with another kick.
The three of us end up in a pile up, only to be quickly pulled apart, again, by Jack.
"I guess that answers my question," he mumbles. He also adds something in audible, like he was making some tough decision.
"Look," he it comes, "I know you might have seen this coming," bingo, "but I won't stay here, and I won't let you stay here alone. So, I'll ask you nicely. Will you three please, come back to Halloween Town?"
I prepare to answer 'no', but then Shock pulls Barrel and me into a group huddle.
"What the…?" I start.
"Deal making time," she answers.
"Oooh," we were never allowed freely into certain parts of Halloween Town. Pretty much we could go to the store and back. This might open up some interesting deals. I don't need to be told twice.
We break up and all look over at Jack.
"Where would you take us?" Shock starts the negotiation.
"My house has plenty of extra rooms," he answers and she nods.
"Isolated?" Barrel presses.
"Not too much," Jack answers, Barrel frowns at this.
"How much?" my turn.
"There's a separate area up some steps from the first floor. A total of six rooms," I nod my approval.
Shock goes up and shakes Jack's hand. Then Barrel, and finally me.
Sally comes up to us and looks to Jack, who smiles and shrugs.
"What have my business men, and woman," she adds the last part after a glare from Shock, "agreed on?"
"Jack's house," Shock starts.
"A little isolated," Barrel adds his part.
"Up some stairs from the first floor, six rooms," my part last.
"I see," she looks to Jack, who shrugs and pointedly looks to us.
"Maybe you three want to pack then," she states.
"Yeah!" we all yell in unison and we run up to our rooms. (a/n: if you have the DVD this is like that one deleted scene)
0o0o0o0o0o0
I go for the essentials. Barrel goes for the food, and Shock goes straight for the weapons, naturally.
"Take this one, Barrel," I yell, tossing our cobra over my shoulder, only to hit a pile of boxes that, I guess, have the rest of our pets, because just as the cage hit an ear piercing screech ran through the room.
"Stop tormenting the crows, Barrel!" Shock yells across the room.
"I didn't do anything, Lock hit the cage!" Barrel whines.
"Lock!" the wrath of Shock is upon me.
"Oh, I'm so scared," I fake shiver. "Get over it!"
"I'll teach you to tell me that," she growls and pounces on me. I wrestle with her for a few seconds, and then grab some rope and tie her to the pipes that run through the room.
"Let me go," she threatens.
"No," I look at her and smirk.
"Lock!" she yells.
"Shock!" I mock her.
"I'm warning you," she pulls to get free.
"I'm warning you."
"Stop it, Lock," she pulls again.
"Stop it, Lock," I copy again.
She gives one last pull and charges at me, breaking free of my terrible knot.
She tackles me again, and we wrestle around until satisfied there will be no winner. Then we see no point in the fight, and resume packing. It's amazing how simple some acts can be.
We pack completely and go down the stairs, trying hard to pull everything that we packed, seeing as how we packed everything in the whole house almost.
We struggle all the way to the front hall and then stop, all three of us collapsing from the work.
"Good, everybody's ready," Jack smiles.
He grabs the stuff bag by bag and loads it into his car. He then gets us up and takes us to the car, taking us to the start of a new life.
"What do you think?" I whisper to my siblings in the back of the car.
"About what?" Barrel asks.
"Our new life," I answer.
"Its not going to be the same," Shock answers my original question.
"So, not everything has to be the same all the time you know," I defend where I stand on the subject.
"But not everything should change!" Shock answers.
We hear Jack and Sally enter the car, so we drop the subject.
I don't care! For better or for worse I think this new life is going to be a change.
Sometimes, that's all everybody needs.
a/n: that's it! I might do another sequel, but not for now... right now I have my Smith fic and Spiderman 2 fic, plus another one that i might put up shortly! please check those out too, but only if you want. until next time!