Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Aubrey.
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Chapter 8
Aubrey ran through the tree house, back up to the Playroom. 'A weapon. I need a weapon.' She thought as she shoved the stubborn door open. The fight down below echoed through the pipe on the left side of the room. Aubrey could barely hear Shock's 'tsk'. "Boys are so stupid." A pause. "Hey, where'd-"
"Surprise." Oogie laughed. Aubrey heard Lock and Barrel let out a cry of surprise, then silence. "Now, to finish what I started."
"Self-destruct countdown started. Ten minutes and counting. Nine minutes fifty-nine seconds. Nine minutes fifty-eight seconds. Nine minutes..."
Oogie chuckled again. "If you'll excuse me, I have bigger fish to fry." Silence greeted Aubrey's ears. Then, a cackle floated through. "Aubrey..."
"Shut up!" She growled, her fingers curling around a spiked mace. She smashed the pipe into the ground. 'Oh, brilliant Aubrey. Now he knows you're still in the Tree House!' She berated herself. 'How do I get out of here?' Aubrey's eyes fell onto the cooked window on the far side of the room. The thick chain that raised and lowered the elevator hung outside it, swinging loosely.
'I must be insane.' She thought, attempting to shove the window open. Then she noticed the nails hammered into the frame. Swinging the mace hard, She shattered the window, reaching out and grabbing the elevator chain swinging outside it with her free hand. She glanced at the mace, then the chain, then back at the mace before tossing it behind her and gripping the chain with both hands.
"This is such a bad idea." She muttered to the air before warily climbing out and sliding down.
xXx
'Lucky the elevator was down.' Aubrey thought, running through the forest. Behind her, she faintly heard the sound of the elevator being raised. Her fear sped her up, the entire left side of her body screaming in protest. She ignored it and kept her fast pace, reaching the tree in record time.
The doorknob turned easily and she jumped through, landing, quite painfully, on her knees. She scrambled around and pulled the amulet out from under her dress, then flipped it over. There, carved in small, flowing script, were two words.
'Dragon's Breath.'
Aubrey unclasped the necklace looked from the bright stone to the door. Carefully, she pointed the gem at the tree. "Dragon's breath."
A jet of flame shot out of the pendant, covering the tree in flickering orange and white fire.
After a minute, Aubrey realized that the tree wasn't burning. The fire had consumed the branches and everything three feet above the door, but the fire just crackled around the trunk, sitting there as though the tree were fireproof. Her mind racing, Aubrey tried to think of a reason for this phenomenon. Then, she smacked her forehead. "The trees are connected. To get rid of the door, both have to burn." She groaned, staring at the pumpkin's grin. It seemed to be taunting her. "I have to go back through."
Aubrey reached through the flames, crying out as the flames seared her hand, and gripped the doorknob. Tears rolled down her face and she bit her lip as the metal of the knob made her skin sizzle painfully but turned it nonetheless and shoved the door back open. Flames licked at her as she jumped through, landing in a pile on the other side. The cool air was a relief on her skin, but she couldn't sit and enjoy it for long; she had to finish it.
She shoved herself up and made sure that the pendant was still firmly in her hand before raising her arm, wincing painfully as the burned skin stretched, to aim the pendant once again. "Dragon's brea-" Something clapped over her mouth before she could finish the 'breath', rough fabric scrapping her lips. She was forced to stand up, then was lifted off the ground
"I can't let you do that Aubrey." Oogie chuckled, wrapping his other hand around the necklace in her hand and pulling it out of her hand and throwing it to the side before moving it to her neck and gripping it. Aubrey followed it with her eyes, the ever full moon illuminating its path as it bounced away. She thrashed angrily, doing all she could to make him drop her. She pulled and kicked at Oogie fruitlessly, until something that felt like a strand of hair brushed her arm. A loose thread!
Aubrey wrapped it around her finger as Oogie pinned her against the door. "Don't hold your breath." He chuckled as he tightened his grip on her throat. She couldn't breathe, only make little choking noises. It was now or never.
Aubrey tugged on the thread, and the seams in Oogie's right side came undone. He dropped her in an unceremonious pile to stop the bugs from escaping. She had to move fast. Hard to do when you're injured.
She dove for the necklace and her fingers closed around the chain. Pulling it into her hand, she flipped it over and aimed at the grinning pumpkin. "Dragon's breath!" The jet of fire hit the jack o' lantern's crooked teeth dead on, and the flames climbed up the dry, dead wood like it was covered in gasoline. "You lose, Oogie!" She yelled triumphantly.
The bogeyman let out a roar of pure fury before running over and grabbing Aubrey by the neck with his right hand, the left occupied with covering the hole in his side. "You'll pay for that!" He slammed her against the burning tree. "I'll still kill you!"
Aubrey screamed in pain as the fire ate through the fabric of her costume and skin. Her hair caught fire and her scalp started to burn. The necklace dropped to the ground as the flames burned through the muscles in her wrist.
"Hey, Oogie!" He turned to see Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Jack standing behind him. Lock had a torch in his hand. "Open wide!" With the expertise that could only come from tossing javelins, axes, maces, daggers, plungers, and other weapons at his fellow trick-or-treaters, Lock tossed the torch down Oogie's big, never fully closed mouth.
Time for an actual lesson: bugs are NOT fireproof. If you've ever taken a magnifying glass to an ant, then you already know this fact of nature. And from his earlier incident with Lock, we know Oogie's 'skin' isn't either. And because no part of Oogie Boogie is fireproof, it only took seconds for him to burst into flame, burning from the inside out.
Jack, having the longest reach and nothing to burn on his person but his sleeves, reached into the fire and grabbed Aubrey.
It was bad. Most of the back of her costume had burned off, as well as her skin. Her hair had been singed to almost an inch from her scalp, most of it burned black. The burns spread over not only her back, but her arms, legs, chest, and almost three-fourths of her head. Her breathing was ragged and bruises were visible through the burns on her throat.
"Let me see her bonehead." Shock ordered. Jack set Aubrey down in front of the witch.
"Shock, what're you going to do?" Lock asked. He obviously didn't trust her still.
"Relax. I'm not going to hurt her." She assured him. Shock muttered something under her breath and snapped her fingers over Aubrey's back. The various shades of red burns covering her body receded, leaving smooth skin. "Can't do anything about her hair or costume." She said, looking over the unconscious figure before her. Shock swayed slightly. "Ooh... dizzy..." She started to fall back.
"Shock!" Barrel ran over and caught her before she hit the ground.
"Get off me!" Shock shoved him away. "I can stand on my own. I'm just tired. That's all."
"That's enough." Jack ordered, picking Aubrey back up. "This is no time for fight-" The last syllable was cut off as a loud explosion shook the Hinterlands, and they turned in the direction of the tree house. A large amount of smoke was drifting into the sky.
Lock groaned. "There goes the tree house."
Barrel glanced from Lock to Shock. "Where are we supposed to go?" Shock turned to him, ready to scold and/or yell at him, but stopped as she realized he was right. Their home had just been blown into smithereens.
Jack smiled at all three of them. "Lock, you still have a room at Skellington Manor, and there are plenty of rooms for the two of you to choose from if you want."
"Whatever." Shock grumbled. "Can we just go? I feel like I'm about to pass out."
xXx
When I opened my eyes, I was surprisingly warm and comfortable. "About time you woke up." I looked around to see Shock standing in the doorway.
"Where are we?" I murmured. I felt like I should have known, but my head was fuzzy and I couldn't remember.
"Your room in Jack's house. You've been asleep for two days." She told me, sitting down in the chair next to my bed.
"Oogie?" I questioned. The fuzz was starting to clear now.
"Went up in smoke with the door." Everything that had happened last night, or two nights ago if I'd been asleep as long as Shock said, rushed back to me.
I sat up quickly, expecting to be in horrible pain. "I healed all the burns, if that's what you're about to search for. I couldn't fix your hair or costume, though, but Sally took care of it."
"Why?"
Shock shrugged. "Because even after everything I'd done to you, including helping Oogie Boogie try to kill you, you'd actually been concerned about me. You saved my afterlife." She smirked. "I guess I finally realized you really hadn't done anything to me."
"So... does that mean we're friends now?"
She laughed. "I wouldn't go that far. Buddies, maybe. Not friends." There was an unspoken 'yet' behind her words as she shook my hand.
"So where are the boys?" I asked, standing warily. My caution was pointless, though, for my balance was fine.
"I dunno, probably downstairs trying to kill each other. We'd better stop them before Jack and Sally have to again."
"Again? What did I miss?" We walked toward the door.
"Nothing much. They just like to egg each other on." There was a crash. "Ah crap, here we go again." She ran downstairs ahead of me, leaving me to catch up.
xXx
"Geez, I leave for a little while and they turn into animals. How old are you two again?" Lock and Barrel looked up from their wrestling to see Shock at the end of the stairs.
Aubrey walked up behind her and laughed. "Well that's certainly an interesting position."
Lock was sitting on Barrel's back and bending the younger boy's leg toward him, probably trying to break it, while Barrel had Lock's tail in his hands and was about to bite it. "Aubrey!" Lock tugged his tail out of Barrel's hands and ran over to hug said girl.
"Hi Lock. Um, I kind of need my ribs unbroken."
"Oh. Sorry." He let go of her. Barrel snickered behind him. Lock blushed. "Come on, let's go talk outside." He half-pulled Aubrey out the door. As soon as it shut, Barrel burst out laughing.
He stopped as a rock hit him in the side of the head. "Ow!"
"Shut up." Shock ordered, walking back upstairs while tucking her slingshot back in her pocket. Barrel scrambled up and went after her.
There were several concessive thuds as Barrel rolled back down the stairs, with Shock trying to strangle him.
xXx
Aubrey smiled as she held onto Lock's hand. "I've never seen Halloween Town in the daytime."
Lock smirked. Aubrey was acting like a kid in a candy shop. He should know. He acted like that every Halloween. Well, except this last one, but that didn't count. He was hypnotized for most of it! "And?"
"It's a hell of a lot less scary." She confirmed after a moment. Lock laughed.
"Better not let anyone hear you say that. You'll hurt their feelings."
She shrugged. "Whose feelings? Yours?" She asked teasingly as they passed under Guillotine Gate.
"Maybe." He muttered.
"Aha! So you admit you have feelings!" She laughed, letting go of his hand to point an accusing finger at him.
"I admit nothing."
She giggled and hugged him. "Ah, you aren't scary to me, Lock."
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not, huh?" He let out a low growl and walked toward her, claws raised. Aubrey let out an undignified shriek before turning and running.
She didn't make it far before Lock caught and tackled her. "You were saying?" He asked, grinning down at her.
"That you are an incredibly terrifying monster."
"Thought so." He climbed off of her and helped her up.
Aubrey looked deeper into the Hinterlands. "So... is it really gone?"
Lock blinked. "Is what gone?"
"The door. Is it gone?"
He took her hand. "You can see for yourself."
xXx
I heard Aubrey gasp as we walked into the clearing where the door once stood. "Woah..." She let go of my hand and walked forward, crouching down at the edge of the ash pile that was surprisingly still sitting there.
I walked up behind her. "Aubrey, you know that you can't go home now, right?"
She nodded slightly. "Yeah. I know." She replied quietly. "It's not like I had much to go back to. IV needles, therapy I didn't want or need, and a family who doesn't give a damn about my well being."
I sat down next to her. "Consider yourself lucky you have a family." I shut up immediately. My life was not a fun subject for me to remember. Why I'd even brought it up, I didn't know.
I felt Aubrey squeeze my hand. "You don't have to talk about it, Lock. I know it bothers you." She kissed my cheek. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Come on, let's head back. We don't need Shock strangling Barrel." She pulled me up and back toward town.
"Hold on." I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and put it back around her neck. "I wanted to be able to give it to you at least once since Barrel had to do it for me the first time."
She smiled. "Thanks."