Terribly sorry. I had to fix some stuff and re post this chapter. Yea…it's like what…two weeks later . I need to pay more attention to this stuff.

I'm working on chapter seventeen as we speak. I'm sorry it has taken as long as it has.

Chapter Sixteen:

Something From Before

It was yet another Halloween. Everyone was miserable, their eyes downcast as they wondered the streets bitterly, wondering what said night would bring.

On the outskirts of town, looming above the morose scene was a giant tree house, looking out over the town in defiance. The gates at the bottom of the tree house were closed off to anyone in Halloween Town who might wonder in. There were two shadows visible in the window and one just barely standing off to the right. There were noises. Upraised voices. If someone had been listening in, the conversation may have sounded like this:

"WHAT! That move was IMPOSSIBLE. You cheated!" Came a deep voice, from of figure whose eyes were glowing unpleasantly in the shadows.

"Ha! Don't be a sore loser, Oogie! How could I have cheated? You were watching me the whole time." Came a lighter and melodic voice.

"I haven't lost yet, corpse boy! And see you or not, Murdock I KNOW you cheated!" His voice grew dangerous as he ended his statement. The dark figure he was addressing, grinned.

"Think so?" Murdock asked quietly. "Call it Jack! Did I cheat or not?" Murdock turned to a tall figure sitting in the corner.

Jack raised his head and examined the table…already knowing the answer.

"You couldn't have made that move without cheating, Murdock." He said quietly.

"Ha!" Oogie Boogie mocked from the other side of the table.

Murdock gave Jack a dirty look before turning back to the game.

"Fine, but I'm still winning, even without that move." Murdock's voice was bitter now.

"Not for long." Oogie answered quietly.

Jack sighed and sat back in the dusty chair, gazing out the window as he did. He didn't really have any interest in the game. He knew who was going to win. He knew who ALWAYS won and it didn't matter.

For the last two years Murdock and Oogie had played a game that they had both made up, using each other's rules. Murdock used his cards and Oogie used his dice and they played long into the night of All Hallows Eve. The rules were hard to follow, the game was hard to comprehend, and no matter who the winner was, Halloween Town itself suffered a great loss.

Oogie always won. And Jack was just waiting for the day when Murdock would finally slip and bet Halloween Town as the prize. That would be the day when they lost one terrible king and gained another.

Jack had been watching the two for a long time now, and he wasn't sure which one was more horrible. As far as he was concerned, the town would be a lot better off without either of them. And yet, here he sat, under the Pumpkin Kings orders, moderating their game and waiting for the boogie man to win and get his prize, so that he could leave and perhaps steal away to the spiral hill for a bit before he had to participate in another of Murdock's cruel and ridiculous celebrations.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of victorious laughter. Then came a crash as Murdock lost his temper and tilted the table, spilling all of it's contents onto the floor.

Jack looked up and sure enough, the game had ended and it looked as though the winner was obvious.

"Haha! Best control that temper of yours, Murdock." Oogie Boogie said with a sneer. It was clear that he was enjoying himself.

Murdock straightened his collar, which had been knocked off kilter slightly when he had tipped over the table.

"Fine! You win this time!" Murdock said angrily. He shot Jack a dirty look before heading towards an opening that served as the door. When he got there he turned and removed something from inside of his jacket and threw it at Oogie.

"There, the key to The Gate. Although I doubt you'll find much use for it." He stormed out the door. Jack and Oogie Boogie watched him go apathetically. When the echo of his footprints could no longer be heard, Oogie turned to Jack with a wicked smile.

"Good call, Jacky-boy." He removed something from underneath the table and handed it over to Jack, who took it hesitantly. It was a large leather bound book. Jack gave Oogie Boogie a dark look before clutching it tightly and standing.

"I'm not going to help you again." The statement held no emotion. His words were just stated as a fact. Oogie smiled.

"Of course you aren't, Jack." There was a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Jack's eyes narrowed. And he took a few steps forward. He towered above the Boogieman, whose smile faded slightly.

"I'm serious." He said softly before exiting the room. Oogie Boogie looked after him in hatred.

"After I get that barmy king, I'm gonna come after you skeleton man." He said acidly.

A few minutes later Jack was at the gate at the bottom of the tree house. He stepped through the metal entrance and took a few steps before someone grabbed his arm forcedly.

"Jack…" Murdock's eyes were hidden by the gathering shadows on his face. Jack tried to shake his arm free from the corpse but was incapable of doing so.

"Let go, Murdock!" Jack said icily. Murdock's grasp tightened.

"You disappointed me tonight, Jack. You had a chance to get on my good side, but like so many other instances you've given me reason to consider whether or not your services are even needed in Halloween Town." Jack tried to wrench his hand free once more, but stopped immediately when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"So? What do you have to say for yourself…" Murdock's sentence was brought to an abrupt halt when Jack yanked something out of a nearby tree and held it out towards Murdock who recoiled. The noose made a bereaving shadow on the corpses stitched and gnarled face.

Jack pulled his bony arm out of the mans long fingers and took a few steps back, still holding the noose out in front of him. Murdock glowered at Jack in detestation.

"Who do you think you are? I am the Pumpkin King and I will not be treated this way some boneheaded idiot such as yourself!" His eyes were visible now in the faint light. Dark veins lined within the discoloring whites and encircles the irises, which had turned a bright red.

Murdock stepped forward, a look of danger overcoming his countenance.

"One more chance, Jack, just one more. The next time that I feel you've stepped out of line I will personally make sure you have a permanent assignment in the Netherworld." He gave the noose one last distrustful look before straightening and walking quietly towards The Town Square.

Jack glared after him. He eyed his skeletal hand, still clasping the noose wearily before letting it fall to the ground and walking slowly towards the other side of town. He really wasn't sure of any destination in particular. He just wanted to be somewhere where he wouldn't have to worry about either Oogie Boogie or Murdock.

In the distance the pumpkin sun rose, marking the beginning of Halloween.

As the shadows began to dissolve in the early morning light and the shapes of the buildings became more identifiable an indomitable thought popped into Jack's skull without hardly being summoned. This had to stop. He had to do something.

He had to do something.

Jack opened his eyes and for a moment was not sure where he was. He sat up and looked around the strange and dreary room, lit only by the bit of sunlight coming through the large window by the bed.

He frowned and grasped at the sheet obscuring much of the afternoon light. He had fallen asleep. He remembered now. He had planned to stay up late into the night, trying to work the plan that had come upon him suddenly, through his mind before he decided whether or not it was a good idea to follow through with it.

He didn't get very far. But that was all right. Because he had been trying to remember things from his earlier days in Halloween Town from the moment Murdock stepped back through the gates.

He was glad it had been that particular memory as well. Because of it, he had a feeling that he had his answer. And he was all the more convinced that his plan was the only thing that would work, short of waiting for someone to arrive, a thing that may take weeks, or months, or years, knowing the system of the underworld. (People rarely concerned themselves with time when they were dead. It was still a long wait…but it wasn't as though they were wasting precious moments of their time, doing so.)

Jack stood from the bed and with some difficulty he wrenched the chair from in front of the door. He hoped that things had gone smoothly the night before. Not only because he had desperately wanted to get Sally away from Murdock, (Although, that was probably his biggest concern at the time.) but also because, if they hadn't, then his plan was already in trouble even before he started executing it.

The Grim Reaper was fast asleep. Which was odd…because on normal occasions, he almost never slept. (But he did often make sure that others did.) He was woken abruptly when someone hammered on his skull irritatingly.

The reaper sat up and looked around him in a moment of disorientation. He then looked up at whoever had the gall to wake him up in such a disrespectful manner. What he saw was an impatient elder woman with a cigarette smoldering between her pale fingers.

"Juno." The reaper greeted her groggily. The woman frowned down at him impatiently.

"I really shouldn't have to come down here because your causing trouble in the waiting room, Charles. THIS isn't my job." She said irately.

"I know." The reaper said apologetically. "But I can't wait any longer. Those idiots in the board…"

"I know, I know. They didn't take away your assistants charms, they left him unguarded on the truck, and they haven't been taking the search seriously. What is demanding to be seen before all of these DEAD people who have been waiting here for weeks going to do for you?"

"I just need Murdock's files. That's it." The reaper explained. "I'm sorry if I've caused any trouble…but I need to see his past information so that I have some idea of where he is."

Juno looked as though she were considering this.

"Fine. Jasper, take The Reaper to the file room." A large zombie dressed in a police uniform nodded stupidly to Juno and motioned for the reaper to follow him.

"Thank you." The reaper said to Juno in a relieved manner before following the large guard.

"Yea…just don't bother me with something like this again." The woman said before heading back towards her office.

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