Chapter Eighteen:

According To Plan

The Grim Reaper had dozed off. Looking through several thousand stacks of old dusty files generally did have that effect. He awoke when someone, clearly aggravated, began to bang something against his hollow skull.

"Wake up!" The reaper pulled himself from his doze and peered into Juno's angry face.

"Are you finished yet? I have too many unnecessary wondering spirits on my hands due to your absence in the mortal world. I had to put a padlock on my office door to keep them out!"

The reaper sat up and sighed.

"I haven't found anything on Murdock yet."

Juno rolled her eyes and began shuffling through a stack of files on the shelf above her.

"Here it is." She handed the Reaper the file, who looked at it with some annoyance. "These are organized alphabetically you know." Behind her, just as she finished her sentence a giant red light above the door began flashing. Juno's jaw tightened.

"Not another one!" With that she turned on her heel and headed out of the file room angrily.

The reaper gazed at the file .

Manifesto. Murdock Malevolence.

Assigned To: Halloween Town

He opened the file carefully and began reading.

In the dingy room, seemingly hit with a violent dash of purple, one crimson eye shot open. Floating within the retina's stew, the start of anger became apparent, though the eye was still clouded over. Finally, after a few moments in which it took him to awaken fully, he clutched the side of the bed with his claw like hand and pulled himself up. His face was livid.

"You will pay for that, darling!" He growled into the darkness.

Though his head ached (Only feeding into his anger.) he threw back the covers and angrily (Though quite silently.) stormed through the halls, ignoring the way his head seemed to have taken on a pulse.

First, he came to her old room and threw open the door. His eyes were bulging as he peeked in…and his lips were pulled back in a grimace that showed his wretchedly white teeth. When he saw no one was there, he gave a cry of anger that would have chilled just about anyone to the bone. (For though it sounded much like Jack, the hatred and wickedness was there as well.)

He turned his head, inadvertently snapping two of the stitches on his neck. At the end of the hall, the desolate almost organic few steps up to the Play Room could be seen glittering in the moonlight.

Murdock shut the door to Sally's room and headed towards the stairs angrily.

"Oh boys, you shall regret the day…" He spoke to himself. His eyes were glowing in the darkness.

When he finally reached them, he climbed them elegantly. At the top, the room stood up like a crypt, he pushed, and there…was no one. For a moment he just stood, then, finally, rage took over and he clutched at the mirror and threw it out on of the openings which served as a window. It shattered on one of the thick tree branches, and the remains tumbled silently into the darkness.

Murdock stood at the window watching it fall. If he had the gift of breath, his would have been coming out in harsh gasps. As it were, he just stood silently, the darkness folding around him.

After a while, he grinned.

"Well," He said to no one in particular. "If that is how you want it, then do be it. If Jack is still alive…you shall all perish with him. He clutched at the symbol hidden beneath his chemise and grinned broadly.

"Then, there shall be no one left who can stop me…and even old Charlie will have to bow down in fear."

"Let's play, Jack." He laughed silently to himself, vanishing into the shadows and waiting for the other to make his first move.

The streets of Halloween Town were unusually bare. Autumn leaves blew down the fracturing cobbles and brushed weakly against Sally's stitched ankles. Her purple dress was torn in many places, the lace falling about chaotically, the ribbons torn and flailing in the breeze. She had ripped the skirt purposefully so that it would be easier to move in…she could not wait to get her old clothing back.

Sally looked around uncomfortably, as though making sure that none of the shadows were shaped oddly and then set off in silence towards her and Jack's house.

The strange stillness greeted her with unease. There was no music, no voices, humming the Halloween song under their breath (Breath used in a metaphorical sense of course.) there wasn't anything at all.

Sally was relieved when she finally reached the gate. She pushed it open, causing it to emit a long and agonizing creak. She then stepped in and headed towards the front door. Above her, the tower window was cool and dark.

Once she was inside, she was struck by a the sort of mournful feeling that one got in an empty house, where no one was present, or had been for many years. She ignored it and began her ascent up to the tower, still keeping an eye on all of the shadows.

When she opened the trap door to the tower, the feeling that came to her was that of sorrow. It struck so bitterly that she almost began to weep. Home. She thought. And yet, even if she could go on living there after Murdock was defeated, it would still feel so empty without Jack.

Sally closed the trap door and crossed the room. Her head was lowered, as she no longer paid any mind to the shadows that engulfed the interior. It had struck her, all at once, that she would never spend another night or day in this house with Jack. Even if they were able to destroy Murdock, Jack would still perish…the sadness was almost more then she could bare.

Underneath where their bed had been, the trap door was still standing open. Sally reached in and pulled out the bundle of cloth. Touching it brought a feeling of terror to her, but she had no flashes of precognition, and therefore tried to ignore it as best as she could.

She then closed the wooden door and began her way back to Jack.

Lock, Shock and Barrel stalked slowly through the forest, approaching the Tree house at a speed that would get them there…eventually. This was mostly do to the fact that Shock kept having to stop and strike both boys until they started moving again.

"But Shock," Lock complained from behind her. "You don't understand, he's worse then Oogie Boogie…he's worse the Jack! You never worked for him…we did!"

Shock wheeled around and struck Lock in the gut.

"Shut up Lock!" She whispered furiously. "Or he'll hear us!"

Barrel, who was as silent as always peered up at the tree house nervously, ignoring Lock as he was yelling to Shock about betrayal, and how both of them were against him. For a moment, Barrel froze, as though afraid of something, then, slowly, relaxed again. Finally, he turned and looked at both of the older kids, who were staring each other down angrily.

"I don't think Murdock's at the tree house anyway." Barrel said casually. Both children broke eye contact and stared at him as though he had appeared out of thin air. Shock straightened.

"What makes you think that?" She asked, a little mockingly.

"He just walked by the mouth of the forest, towards town. He was talking to himself."

Lock looked out towards When Murdock had been a second before.

"He…he didn't see us?" He asked a little shakily. Barrel shrugged.

"Well then lets hurry to the Tree House before he does see us!" Shock said, snapping both boys out of a stunned silence. They nodded and followed her, at a quicker pace, towards the towering lair of the late Oogie Boogie.

Meanwhile, while the others were out, slowly making Jack's plan a reality, Jack sat by himself in the doctors kitchen, staring at a candle as it flickered in the darkness. He could hear the doctor working in his lab, a thing that ensured him that things were moving along as intended.

He had no doubt that things would have to be done on the next evening. This meant that tonight and tomorrow would be tiring for everyone as they hurried to set everything up before jack turned into a pile of dust.

Beside him, the clock struck nine. Jack blew out the candle and stood up. He'd take one vial of potion tonight and the last three would be saved for him to take on the next evening.

Then…he would just have to see how things turned out.

Once again I apologize for the immense wait. This chapter is fairly short, and the next one may be fairly short too…but right now I estimate the number of chapters left to be at two. Yes, two chapters…we're definitely getting there. Then three, if you count the "Afterward" and there will be an Afterward. After that, I'll move back to Pumpkin Town, since it, too is reaching it's end. After I'm done with that, I'll go to Special Keys For Special Doors and then once that's done, everything will be done, but I hope we have fun with it until then.

I had really hoped to be pleased enough with Corpse Bride, so that I might write something for it…but alas, it's quality didn't even come close to TNBC. It was good, but I think Tim Burton could have done better.