•• AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have done research about the characters in the movie and if you find anything that might be not in character, please let me know, but please remember to be constructive and NO HATE or anything along those lines.

I mainly write these stories for fun and I am NOT shipping any of the trio as I have no knowledge whatever it's canon or not, but I have full respect and understanding for those who do ship them but in this story and the other stories I don't ship them, except for "The Jealous Little Devil", but IT IS BY NO MEANS related to my other stories or my personal headcanons of them, it was just for fun. To avoid any unnecessary confusion.

Some facts and events are based on the thoughts I have heard from the animators behind the movie when I met them on a special event in class. Thank you for understanding and happy reading! ••

Chapter 1

A few months after Lock, Shock, and Barrel revived Oogie Boogie, the Townspeople grew incredibly tired of their reckless pranks and behavior. The town needed to recover after the latest chaos they caused, not to mention the damage and suffering that followed.

As punishment for their misdeeds, they were sentenced to live separated for 11 months. This may seem a bit harsh for kids so young, but they were not exactly innocent since they always could come up with a new prank every few minutes, as the citizens thought.

The only one who was completely against this was Sally. Surely she knew they had been naughty, yes, but they were still children. Shock and Barrel lived with their relatives they didn't know they had. Lock however…. Was another case.

His parents were dead, for all he knew, and no one knew anyone who could take care of him. Many viewed him as a rambunctious, naughty kid who was anything but innocent. Others thought he probably didn't care much about leaving his friends, since he seemed not to be the one to care about anything, except for himself. Then, they knew nothing about him.

After they got separated, life was much harder for the little devil boy. This was much more than a seven year old boy could handle on his own, not to mention how guilty he felt for causing such suffering for his friends he cared deeply for. They didn't deserve this horrible penalty. He was the one in charge and the one who was responsible.

He never should have made his friends bring back Oogie. It was a stupid idea and now he had made life miserable for his loved ones. He did like Oogie mostly because he was so rebellious, a troublemaker and knew how to boss other people around. He could often get caught up in Oogie's power-hungry ways. He did like that mostly because Oogie was a leader, though not the best role model, and he wanted to be in charge too, to show the others that he was capable of leadership just like Oogie himself, if not better.

He had always liked to be large and in charge, similar to Oogie. It was his way of getting respect and being respected by others. Then, nobody dared to tease him just because he was weaker than everyone else. It was then his total lack of physical strength didn't matter because he had enough power and respect to keep the bullies away. He had almost no physical strength and was very thin.

He had never realized that Oogie was so evil until the Boogeyman went too far. It was at that point that Lock realized how cruel and mean Oogie was. And how grave his mistake for not realizing this became….

The consequences for this were not only losing his friends but also causing others harm he did not intend to cause. He just didn't know the difference between right and wrong, and he simply didn't understand that what Oogie did was actually mean and harmful. However, when Oogie decided to reward them, it turned out he wanted to eat him and his friends and hire better henchmen. It was then he really understood that Oogie wasn't a great guy. He was despicable.

If he only had understood that from the very first beginning, these things wouldn't have happened. His parents died when he was only a baby and Oogie Boogie was the only one to actually take care of him and his friends, as Oogie told them, but he didn't really care for them at all. It was Oogie who had raised Lock and his cohorts into their troublemaking selves. They only knew right from wrong that came from him.

The worst thing, however, was how upset his friends were when they had to leave their beautiful treehouse. To see the woeful look on their normally cheerful faces which always shone with glee and pride. And he caused misery they didn't deserve.

His guilt was unbearable. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't live alone all the time without them. It was hard enough when he had no one to help him around the house.

The thoughts were spinning around in the devil boy's head as he sat in the old treehouse, looking out of the broken window.

He had tried earlier to go to the Queen of Suea whose name was Anna Goodwille to get help, which she, to his fortune, did. But when he finally arrived with the papyrus from her to show Jack Skellington and Sally, he unfortunately lost the papyrus in the lake as caused by a mean monster which grabbed the piece of paper and tossed it into the lake. As he sat in the treehouse, a thought suddenly popped up in his head.

Lock immediately rose to his feet and climbed down to the cage elevator and walked over to his pet dragon, Laura who was snoozing.

"Laura. Psst! Laura, wake up!" Lock whispered. The dragon opened her eyes and yawned loudly. She looked at her master with a kind smile.

Lock looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry for waking you up, but I need your help. I need to fly into town." he said.

Laura snorted something in her Dragon Language and nodded. Of course she wanted to help him and seeing him so thin and pale (he had been getting thinner and paler the last couple of weeks because he was sometimes too sad to take care of himself.) she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Ever since he had seen what had happened to his parents when he was young, he had become withdrawn and often hid in the shadows where he cried. However, what he didn't know was that the lake where he saw the things from the past, where he saw his parents being dead was actually an alternative reality lake that showed anyone the most horrific past that didn't exist.

She had seen it all and it was not how he acted normally. He had changed a little to say the least. A few days earlier, a young dragon had come to the treehouse. Lock bought the egg in hopes of getting a meal, but he didn't know the correct temperature for the egg to cook, so the egg got just the right temperature to hatch instead. He named the little dragon Jimmy and unlike Laura, Jimmy had no wings and were yellow scaled instead of green scaled like Laura was.

Jimmy was sleeping in his basket inside the treehouse, because he was too small to have the energy to go on a trip to Town with Lock and Laura. He was used to this and wasn't too scared of being alone as he knew they would come back as soon as possible.

As the two friends flew, Lock gazed over the view of the Town. He soared over the buildings with ease while riding on Laura's back, gliding peacefully through the air. His view was amazing to say the least.

When he finally landed near Town Hall, he told his beloved pet dragon to stay where she was so she didn't get lost in Town. She got lost one time and she ended up causing a mess in the Pumpkin Patch.

Lock ended up planting seeds for every pumpkin she had mashed because of his recklessness of not keeping an eye on his pet. He didn't blame her though. She was just worried about him and she had every right to be. He knew that she was feeling bad for causing him trouble but he said she did good as being a Trick-or-treater meant that one had to be good at doing tricks.

Most of the time, he used his time to teach her and Jimmy all kinds of mischief and mayhem he could. She was one of his closest friends, alongside the new dragon, being his pet, and he was grateful for having a companion like her. She was like Zero but better and more fun.

He stopped short and thought of his pet scorpion Stinger. After he got sick two weeks ago, he had been with the other two scorpions at Shock's house. Her mother Helga took good care of them until Stinger was well, though unfortunately it would take a few weeks. Shock and Barrel had been sentenced to do chores at Agatha the witch's shop. Lock had also been given chores to do, but he always skipped them and stayed in the Treehouse. Though Jack had caught him a few times and forced him to work, much to his dismay and annoyance.

He never put a leash on her nor did he have any rules for her. She was as free as he was. She didn't need many rules either mostly because she knew, unlike Lock, the difference between right and wrong and could make decisions on her own, despite being a dragon.

She was extremely clever for her species, which made her stand out from other dragons. More often than not she had to keep her master out of trouble or save his hide. But she didn't mind, as long as he was safe and sound, she was happy to help him. She was always by his side whenever he needed her the most.

Lock walked across the streets and headed towards Town Square. He stopped for a moment to think. He couldn't enter the Witches' Shop. Firstly because he had no money nor anything to exchange. Secondly they weren't too fond of him and he really didn't want to end up getting hexed by them, now that he was all alone. If Shock and Barrel were with him, he would take the leader role and cause a mess the witches wouldn't forget soon, but they weren't with him, so that possibility was gone. At least for another 11 months since he screwed up the last chance they got to see each other.

They could see each other again earlier than 11 months if they behaved, but Lock instead decided to cause a mess near Town Hall and because of him another 11 months were added. He did regret his actions but never admitted it out loud. It was too embarrassing to say since he was a troublemaker and loved trouble. Trouble, mayhem, mischief and pranks were the only things he understood the most.

He sighed when he thought of that memory. He walked through the Town, but everywhere he went, people seemed to resent him or avoid him (as he thought) and they seemed to be unhappy with him.

He passed by the Vampire Castle and headed towards Headlock Homestead where two people lived. He hoped they were home though.

Lock walked over to the doorstep of an old, stone building and knocked three times. First a bit timidly, then a bit harder. He waited for a moment and held his breath. He looked up and saw a sign which said:

"Agatha's Healthcare Shop"

Footsteps were heard and an old witch opened the door. She had purple hair and wore round glasses. She had warts on her nose and looked pretty funny, but Lock didn't dare to laugh since she also looked creepy.

"What do you want, young man?" she asked calmly, eyeing the boy. She knew far too well of his many tricks and she was going to make sure he didn't pull a prank on her.

"I… uh… is… is Shock here by any chance?" Lock asked timidly, with a low voice. The old witch's serious gaze softened a little but kept looking serious.

"Yes, she is. I believe it's time for her and Barrel to come over to you for today, but they will be back here tomorrow." she said gruffly. Lock nodded and kept his gaze onto the ground, too scared to meet her glance. She sighed slightly when she saw the frightened boy. It wasn't her intention to intimidate him, but she had to make sure they didn't cause more trouble here in Town.

"I'm sorry, dear, but these are Jack's orders, I'm afraid. He said it was best this way. It would be too cruel to put any of you kids in prison, so this was the lightest penalty for the crime." the witch said with a softer voice. Her name was Agatha Jackie, though others simply called her Aggie.

Behind her stood two children. It was Shock and Barrel. Barrel had come over to Shock to prepare to go home to their friend Lock today. They were only going to stay for tonight and go home to their respective homes as soon as it was morning. These were the orders from Jack and the Mayor who had decided this together, alongside with the other residents. Jack didn't really want to do this, but there was no other way to keep the citizens' anger down other than doing what he did.

Shock and Barrel were allowed to visit Lock, because Sally had seen that Lock had become weaker and she was worried it was because he didn't have someone to help him, so she had talked to Jack about it. Jack was also concerned, and as much as he wanted someone to take care of the little devil, he knew it was impossible. Firstly because no one wanted him inside their houses because he could cause trouble whenever he got the chance and secondly, Jack knew Lock wouldn't accept help from either him or Sally as caused by the separation penalty.

They bid the old witch goodbye and walked with Lock on a stroll back to Laura, who was sitting patiently waiting for him to come back. By the time they came to Laura, she was snoozing. When she heard Lock's footsteps, she quickly stood up and wagged her tail. It was kind of her way to greet him, normally.

"Hey, Laura!" Barrel said cheerfully, petting the dragon's head softly. She licked him sweetly on the cheek in response. He giggled softly and wiped his cheek where she had licked him.

Lock jumped onto Laura's back and winked to the other two to do the same. After they were safely seated on her back, they took off and flew straight to the treehouse.

When they arrived, they bid the dragon good evening (it was closer to evening, since the other two had been working most of the day in Agatha's shop) and stepped into the elevator cage.

Inside the treehouse, Shock immediately started to watch the TV. Barrel followed her example while Lock prepared a snack for his guests to eat. The horror movie had just started when he came in. Unfortunately it was one of the last things he could eat now. He knew he was running out of food but he was too tired to go shopping. He had been feeling very tired recently and it was getting worse each day. Maybe he was getting sick or something?

Jimmy had woken up and he was hungry, so Lock had given him some Pumpkin Pie and water to drink. He knew it wasn't exactly what dragons ate, but unfortunately it was the only good food he had to offer for now. When the baby dragon was satisfied, Lock turned to his friends with the bowl of popcorn.

"Here. Here's a snack for you, if you'd like to have some." Lock said, trying his best to hide the guilt he felt when he saw his friends laugh when they saw the movie. He loved to see them happy, but he felt guilty because he knew they probably weren't this happy now that they were punished for eleven months. Shock turned around to face him. Barrel did the same.

"Gee, thanks Lock!" Barrel replied, taking a handful of the snacks and ate them in one gulp. Shock picked a handful too, but left one for Lock. Lock watched them eat and nibbled a bit on the popcorn, but barely ate any of it. He just didn't feel hungry and he knew it wasn't a good sign. However, he didn't care.

They watched the movie which lasted until 10 PM. Then, they decided to go to bed. They needed to sleep as they were going to help Agatha with her shop. It wasn't on Lock's list of things to do though. The things he wanted to do when they left tomorrow was either to sit near the window and just mindlessly gazing out or he could just sit in the old closet.

Jimmy had already gone to his basket under Lock's bed and curled up into a small ball of yellow scale.

"Let's get to bed, guys." Shock said with a yawn. "Barrel and I have many things to do tomorrow."

Barrel nodded and yawned too. Even though they had to help Agatha around the shop, she was actually nice to them and gave them candy as thanks for their help. Barrel didn't live with Agatha and Shock but he lived with a lovely ghoul family who were very nice to him. He loved them all and they loved him. Barrel sometimes wished that Lock could stay for a sleepover at his adoptive parents' house. They would've given him a very warm welcome, despite how mischievous and naughty he was, they viewed him as a small kid just like Barrel who only wanted to have fun and nothing else. They would have understood him.

Lock, who sat on the living room floor, tried to get up, but to his dismay he was too weak and exhausted to do so himself. Shock and Barrel literally had to carry him into his bedroom because he had no strength left. They even had to help him put on his pajamas. When they had tucked him in, they lightly closed his bedroom door and went to their own ones, though they were starting to feel worried about him. How could he be so weak nowadays? It wasn't like him to be this helpless.

Lock never went out of the house often. Mostly because he was getting weaker each day and today he was barely able to step out of the bed, which was very unusual for him. He was most of the time full of energy but now, that seemed like ages since that happened.

A few hours later….

"WHAT?! DID YOU LOSE IT?!!!" a loud voice boomed through the casino, which almost caused the walls to shudder. Three small creatures were huddled near the wall next to the roulette wheel, quivering with terror as the Boogeyman spat fire at them.

"Who made this mistake?" Oogie said calmly with a sinister tone.

Neither of the children replied.

He slammed on the table with his massive sack fists and hollered:

"WHO WAS IT?!!!!"

Lock gulped loudly and said shakily:

"I-i-it was m-me, Sir." the little devil boy stuttered, shivering like a madman. This did not ease Oogie's anger.

Filled with rage, he grabbed the little boy and shook him violently. Lock tried his best to protect himself but to no avail. However, the torment didn't stop there, unfortunately.

"You ungrateful devil brat. You ought to be taught a lesson and you and I are going to have a long conversation about this. You can't act all silly around your friends, especially not lazin' around." Oogie growled, dragging the struggling boy away.

Lock shouted that he was sorry but his apologies fell upon deaf ears.

"Help!" he cried. "Help!"

He saw the other two staring at him horrified and this was the last thing he saw before everything went black…….

Shock woke up due to Barrel's rumbling snores. It was so annoying to listen to! Unable to fall back asleep, she decided to go up and read in her favorite Book of Spells. That would help her fall asleep again.

She tiptoed on the wooden floor as she made her way towards the living room, but stopped short in her tracks when she heard a soft noise coming from the other bedroom..

Out of curiosity, she peeked into the dark room which was only lit up by the moonlight as the only source of light. It wasn't the best of light as it was dim, but she could see through the dark a silhouette laying in the bed. Then, she heard the noise again. It sounded like someone sobbed. Apparently Lock was crying. Was he awake or was he asleep?

Carefully, She took a step forward to investigate, but she tried to sneak in as quietly as possible so she didn't wake him up in case he was sleeping. Through the dim light, she saw his tear-stained face. It was covered in tears and as he sobbed like his heart would break, more tears slipped out and ran slowly down his face.

She had no idea what he was dreaming about, but perhaps it had to do with them being separated, she guessed. Judging by the sound of how hard he cried, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The little witch could feel her heart melt a little when she heard the painful wails coming from her friend. It was always hard to see her friends cry, even though she didn't admit this to anyone.

Shock sighed and gently dried away his tears from his eyes with her hand. She stroked his hair softly, but was careful not to wake him up. He became quiet and he was breathing more calmly than earlier.

Upon feeling her hand, Lock smiled a little in his sleep and his tail wagged a little, showing that he was content with her comforting gesture. He didn't know it was her, since he was sleeping deeply and she was grateful he was. It would have been embarrassing if he found out she did that. He would tease her like there was no tomorrow.

When she saw her friend was finally starting to relax, she went back to her own bed to try and get some sleep herself. It was going to be a busy day tomorrow.

The next morning……

All the three of them woke up late. The clock was already 8 AM and Shock and Barrel needed to get ready in an hour. They ate breakfast and got dressed as they usually did in the morning.

Lock watched them from the living room, feeling gloomy about having to leave soon. Thousands of emotions were swirling around in his stomach and he was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the sudden rush of all those emotions at once. He just couldn't take it anymore.

Just as they stood in the hallway, they heard rapid footsteps coming towards them. The thing that happened next shocked both Shock and Barrel.

Lock threw his arms around them and hugged them tightly. This was very unusual for him and they stared at each other, shocked beyond words.

Barrel then hugged back to return the hug. Shock was a bit hesitant but after seeing Barrel's pleading look, she gave in and did the same.

"C'mon silly, it's not like you won't see us anymore. We will come over to you tomorrow." Shock said. If she wasn't so stunned by her friend's sudden action she'd have either shoved him away or slapped him in order to snap him out of his daze, but she didn't have the heart to do so at this very moment since he WAS truly upset.

Lock muffled something but it sounded more like a whine.

"It's okay, Lock. We can have lots of fun tomorrow." Barrel said softly, trying to comfort his friend, patting his back soothingly.

Lock pulled away and took a deep breath. The tears were streaming down his pale face.

"I'm sorry, guys. It's all my fault! I shouldn't have done what I did! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" he wailed. Barrel gave him a sympathetic look and hugged him tightly. He took one of his arms and rubbed it up and down his back in a soothing motion. Barrel sighed deeply and felt a little sad himself. If it was one thing he hated the most, it was to see anyone he loved sad and upset. He listened to Lock's hiccups as he cried and shivered in his embrace.

"Hey, buddy. We're still your friends. Don't worry." Barrel whispered. "You're our best friend. We won't leave you. "

Lock didn't say anything but kept crying. Shock rolled her eyes at him. Normally she would have teased him right now or told him to snap out of it, but he was really depressed. He really was. It wasn't often she saw him like this and she honestly felt bad but she was still unsure if he would tease her if she showed her more tender side to him.

With an annoyed sigh she begrudgingly put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, stupid." she said in a soft voice similar to the tone Barrel used. "You might not be the smartest but we love you no matter what happens. We can get through this together like we always do. Three of a kind."

"Birds of a feather." Lock said with a raspy voice from crying. He had forced a smile on his face.

"Now and forever!" All three of them shouted in unison and made a high five.

They weren't going to let a few townspeople separate them like this. They were going to get through this and once they were together they were going to pull the best prank ever.

While the witch and ghoul walked into Town, Lock watched them from his window. Now he was alone again.

"I guess I am alone again. Great. Just great." Lock thought to himself, while walking over to the kitchen and took away the dirty plates from the table and put them into the sink. This was really getting old. Same old habit of being alone and doing everything all by himself was getting extremely tiring. He needed something else to do other than doing the dishes and waiting for the next time his friends would arrive.

Laura slept on the living room floor while Lock was busy doing his chores. She did want to help him too, but there weren't many things she could do due to being an animal, especially a dragon and doing the dishes wasn't her best speciality. It wasn't her prio one, plus Lock always told her that he was doing well on his own and she didn't need to help him unless he asked her to, so she did as he said out of respect but she would step in and help him in case he was in risk of harm or getting into trouble. Then she wouldn't care whether he liked it or not. She WAS his companion and family member and she felt it was one of her duties as his friend to look after him. That was the last thing she could do after all the kindness he had given her and the good treatment, something her previous owner lacked completely.

The baby dragon Jimmy was playing with Lock's tail while he was working, and messed around with his owner from time to time. Lock however, was patient with him as he knew baby dragons loved to play and he did show great potential in becoming a great trickster just like Laura. With a little training of course.

The hours passed by and when the clock was around 5 PM Lock was done doing all the daily chores around the house and he was tired and wanted nothing more than resting and watching TV. He stretched his arms before walking over to the sofa and slumped down as he lazily grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. When he flipped through the channels he saw a commercial with a cat and a happy gnome speaking about health for animals and recommending visiting the local veterinarian that was going to be established in Halloween Town.

"It's about time they have a doctor for the animals." Lock thought to himself as he looked down at Laura. "I know Doctor Finkelstein is great and all but he really doesn't seem to help the animal kind, only the monster-y kind. Anyway, I don't care as long as Laura feels well I got absolutely nothing to be worried about."

As the TV was on, Lock began to feel more sleepy and finally after thirty minutes he was unable to open his eyes. He quickly turned off the TV and put the remote back in the cupboard where he found it and went to the ratty old sofa to relax a bit. After a long, rough day he had earned himself a very well deserved rest.

Laura watched as he drifted off to sleep and when she heard his soft snorings, she went over to him and draped a blanket on him to help him keep warm as he shivered a little every now and then.

She sighed to herself. Would this whole separation ever come to an end? Lock really needed his friends and Laura had plans on who to talk to and maybe Lock would feel better.

She had to do something, but maybe Lock would come up with a plan, like he always did.

With no other thoughts, the young dragon went into the old weapon room where the trio kept their axes, poisons, bear traps and other weapons.

At the same time Lock had woken up and sat up and thought to himself while thoughts popped up in his head…..