'Smell the Roses' will be written from Esme's point of view. All NBC characters and themes are © Tim Burton. All STR characters and themes are © to me, please ask if you would like to use them.

-

I push through the solid wall of elves in front of me hoping to escape this madness, I never meant for my brother to actually disappear. It was a prank! I never meant for any of this to happen! I see my parents out of the corner of my eyes giving me disappointed looks and I cannot blame them, what I did was wrong and I know it.

I hit a very solid object and it stops my frantic race to the exit of the workshop. I raise my eyes to meet the condescending stare of none other then Santa Claus. I can tell that I will not be forgiven this time. There will be no slap on the wrist and 24 hours of community service. I've gone too far this time. But nothing could have prepared me for my punishment…NOTHING.

-

"Esme Roman Marry Thwarn!" The judge shouts my name as if it were that of some hated creature, which by now I most likely am. "You will retrieve your brother, fix what you have done to the toy workshop, and once you have completed these tasks, you are never to set foot in Christmas Town again."

My mother lets out a heart-wrenching sob the echoes in the large courtroom. Said courtroom hasn't been used in several hundred years, which is of course until I, the bane of Christmas Town, came along. Oh, how I am such the disappointment.

I still haven't seen Zach. Is he ashamed of me? Does he not want to see me one last time before I leave? I thought we were friends, but apparently that was only true as long as I didn't get in this much trouble for one of my pranks. Everyone's just out for themselves.

I'm escorted out of the courthouse by an elf not much older than myself; he's muscled, but not ridiculously so and he has a tuft of brown hair at the top of his head. He's not wearing the standard red and green uniform that most elves wear, no, his ensemble is entirely blue with gold lining the cuffs of his sleeves and a large silver badge fastened over his left breast pocket.

I've lost sight of my parents in the large crowd that has formed. It seems that my departure is a bigger deal than I had originally thought it would be. A single tear travels the length of my cheek as I am shoved through a passage that I had never before noticed and I hear a voice call my name and a quick 'I'll miss you' before my vision blurs and I black out.

'Well, at least he came to say goodbye…"

-

"Okay, I'm officially lost." A dejected sigh escapes my lips as I bang my head off a nearby tree. These woods are unfamiliar to me and I know that I am nowhere near Christmas Town. My head is pounding and my stomach is impossibly empty, so empty that it feels as if I will hack up my nonexistent dinner. I stand there for God only knows how long before I feel a set of eyes boring into my back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" My tone is snappy and harsh, but I don't really care about my manners at the current moment. It doesn't seem at if I have thrown the person off balance in the slightest.

"I do believe I'm the one who should be asking you that question." The voice is female and sounds like whoever it is should be about my age. "You are after all in the outskirts of Halloween Town and I have not seen you before which means that you could not possibly be from around here."

"And your point being?"

There was a shuffling of feet and a bony and sewn together hand was placed on my shoulder. "I'll be needing you to follow me now deary."

I give an irritated growl, but turn and follow the gray girl. No seriously I swear she's gray. Greenish gray anyways. And she's sewn together just like all of the rag dolls I used to make back in Christmas (mine were a lot more attractive mind you). Her hair is cut short so the length is almost equivalent to that of my own hair.

"Could you not do that?" My tone is flat and I'm fighting against the fatigue that has suddenly come over me.

"What? Hum?"

"Yes."

She looked back at me for a moment and scrunched up her noise. "If it really annoys you so much."

The rest of the rather long walk continued in a peaceful silence and I noted that she seemed to wobble slightly when she walked and her ankles were impossibly thin, anorexia maybe, she did seem deathly skinny. I nearly fainted when we arrived at the 'Town' that she had been talking about and I did faint when I saw the skeletal man waiting at the gate. I now knew that jolly old Saint Nick hadn't been lying about Halloween Town. Oh, how I wish I'd listened to him.

-

AND WE HAVE LIFT OFF! And some of you didn't believe me when I said Christmas was not the main setting.

Zue