After the visit of his two friends, Lock is left alone, laying on the couch and thinks about the event and how unfair it is. Then he decides that this has gone too far and he should be the one to set things right once and for all, but he was in need of a little help. And he knew exactly who to talk to. And this time, no one and absolutely nothing can stop him!

Determination Leads To New Discoveries

Lock laid on the ratty, old sofa. He hated being separated from his friends he liked so much. And one of the worst things about this whole separation was the fact that it was his fault to begin with.

If he hadn't told the others to bring Oogie Boogie back, this wouldn't have happened. How could he be so foolish? He was supposed to be the always responsible leader of the trio who did it perfectly. And now, he didn't.

This was one of the things he had not paid much thought to when making his decision. He had failed. He had screwed everything up and it was all his fault. He was the one to blame for this pathetic mistake which led to his best friends' miserable fate.

What kind of a friend was he? Who ever did these things, but him? Nobody. No one, but a disgrace like him. He was supposed to be the LEADER, not a foolish goofball.

The thoughts spun around in his head, constantly reminding him of his foolishness and his pathetic attitude. He wiped away a few tears from his face.

Lock felt angry with himself, not to mention how ashamed he felt for crying. He was supposed to be a tough guy, not a pathetic weakling. He had to be better than that. But could he?

He didn't know.

Lock sighed in frustration. Everything was so unfair! And his thoughts continued to torment his mind, reminding him of the unbearable guilt he felt for causing misery towards his friends.

If someone deserved to be punished for the horrible misdeeds, it was him. He should have been put behind bars in a rotten dungeon instead of witnessing his friends being tortured by the sadness caused by the horrible forced separation.

Couldn't they understand it was HIS fault and not blame his friends for it? Why did they have to get the blame too?

Lock's eyes were filled with sadness and rage. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something!

"If I was the one to put them in this mess, I have to be the one to get them out of it too." he thought angrily. "And I shall be the one to face the consequences, it doesn't scare me. I fear nothing!"

In his sudden determination, he raised himself from the couch, though he did it very slowly as he was so weak and exhausted. He had lived alone for five months now, and he couldn't say he had taken care of himself very well. Nowadays, he was too weak to do anything of his own, and it took almost all of his strength in his body to get up from his position on the couch.

He wobbled over to the closest and picked up the Magic Broom he had stolen from one of the witches in town.

He walked out of the little treehouse he called home and stood firm on a huge tree branch, ready to lift and take off. He clutched his hands tightly to the broom, ready to hold on it in case the broom was trying to shake him off. It had happened before and he was prepared for that in case it was to occur again.

To his surprise and great fortune, it followed his commandos perfectly and he was soon finding himself flying in the middle of the night, away from Halloween Town into foreign lands.

He was going to pay a visit to Anna Goodwille's place to seek help from the sea goddess, who was his and his friends' closest companion. She was like a rock. Always kind and supportive. He knew he could count on her. She could definitely help him and his friends out of this mess in no time!

But he wasn't able to navigate well enough in the dark, and it didn't take long for him to get lost into the dark surroundings.

Lock was starting to feel a bit scared, but he quickly came to his senses and regained his courage. Now wasn't the time to act like a coward. He had to look for clues to see and eventually get a closer look of where he might be.

He could see through the darkness that he was flying in a thick, dark, gloomy forest. The air felt moisture-laden and the mist laid like a layer underneath him as he dangled his feet in the air.

The fog was thick and it made it hard for him to see where he was flying. It made him feel uneasy the further he was flying into the deep, dark forest but he guessed he had no other option than heading through the forest until he was in reach of finding the castle so he could speak to Anna Goodwille and put an end to this mess. She was his only hope right now and he didn't want to miss that opportunity to get help from the powerful seagoddes.

All of a sudden, a mysterious creature flew behind him. Lock panicked and tried to fly as fast as he could in order to escape, but to his dismay the creature was faster than him. Sweat began to pour down his face and he trembled as he did his best to not let the creature stab him in the back. He looked frantically around, his eyes darting from left to right in order to keep track of the mysterious creature, but unfortunately, he had lost sight of it.

It appeared to be a denom with red, glowing eyes. It flashed with a stick and a strong beam of light was sent towards him.

It hit him hard in his side, and it broke all of his ribs in a flash. He had no idea what had hit him. He had never ever in his life experienced an attack like this, not even from Oogie Boogie or anyone else for that matter.

With no balance and being weak, he fell off the broom and landed in the dirt, which had a small layer of a white, cold thing that was coming every winter. He scooted a few feet away from where his broom landed and scraped his chin, face, arms and knees in the process. Lock grunted and groaned as he blearly looked up in the sky. He could see dim light and flashing bolts, but he couldn't see anything clearly and sometimes his vision went black and he felt the urge to sleep, but he decided to fight back the feeling the best he could. He couldn't fall asleep when he was in dire need of defending himself from whatever was about to hurt him. He knew he wasn't good at fighting, but he did possess a skill of talking his way out of trouble if he wanted to.

It hurt badly. Then he looked bleary to see the white thing again. It felt like water. Somehow it felt familiar but foregin at the same time. Lock tried to think but his mind wasn't in condition to think or remember anything properly at this very moment. Everything that happened was a haze and he tried to speak, but he was unable to hear what he was saying and no words came out of his mouth.

It was snowing, but Lock had never seen snow. Not since he had been to Christmas Town to fetch Sandy Claws for Jack or help Jack find Zero who got lost there. He grunted as he put his hand to the back of his head, when he felt everything pounding inside his skull. He looked bleary at the rocks he hit his head against when he fell off the broom.

He suddenly felt the urge to throw up, but managed to swallow it just in time, though it was anything but pleasant.

Everything he saw was spinning around, and he could hardly focus onto anything. He closed his eyes when he saw the demon named Pyros raising his enormous staff ready to send off a final flash of dark magic which could kill him instantly.

Just as he saw the demon was about to finish him, getting ready to send him to his doom for intruding, Lock could hear sounds of a roar he recognized very well and then another roar was heard but it came from a smaller creature. And he was more surprised when he saw a familiar girl running through the forest with a wand in hand ready to fight. The young devil girl swished her wand and hit Pyros hard in the side before he could do much damage and hurried over to Lock who was lying down on the ground.

He looked up at the creature which was standing in front of him.

It was Laura, his pet dragon and the baby dragon Jimmy! She had come to rescue him! She must've been following after him when he took off like he did. She always cared for her owner and wanted to help him the best she could. Lock opened his eyes and saw the devil girl as well. He recognized her right away.

"L-Lyvia?" he asked weakly. "Is-is it really you?"

"Yes, Lock. It's me." Lyvia replied softly. "Don't worry, I can handle this."

She turned around and faced Pyros who was looking at her with a mixture of disbelief and disdain.

"So, it's you then, peasant girl." he said coldly.

"You killed my mom and my dad, and I'd say it's highly unforgivable." Lyvia snarled through her sharp teeth. "But I won't let you lay a finger on my friends or anyone I consider a loved one, mark my words Pyros!"

"So what are you going to do then? Kill me?" Pyros scoffed.

"No, I didn't plan to do that." Lyvia replied coldly. "But I WILL stop you if I have to and you will face magic worse than you ever dreamed of!"

With these words she struck him again with her magic before he had a chance to react. Pyros was so surprised by her knowledge in dueling but he couldn't let her win, so he raised his staff again. However, she was even faster than him and could easily dodge any attack he dealt and she in return hit him repeatedly with her flashes of magic. It wasn't enough to kill or hurt him, but whenever he was struck by the flashes it felt as though he was struck by lightning bolts.

Laura stood between Lock and the threat which was the demon, ready to fight, but before she could do anything, another creature appeared and stopped the fight between Pryos and Lyvia before he could do any damage towards the little girl.

It was a red devil with dark black hair and white eyes with dark black pupils like Lock, the difference was the Lock's iris was yellow instead of white and the red devil man looked almost like a human and was not so similar to Lock in appearance.

The red devil spoke up.

"You have absolutely no right to cause harm to an innocent child nor his pets. And definitely not another child like this little girl over here. Or anyone else for that matter. This was completely unnecessary. You know the consequences if you harm a hair on his head, including the girl and the dragons as well." the devil said threateningly, wagging his finger towards the demon.

"I'm sorry master, I thought he was an intruder and as the guardian I have to hurt them so they won't cause any trouble." the demon replied. "And the girl even put up a fight with me."

"The rule is: Never attack unless necessary. Never forget that, Pyros. He didn't do anything that could cause harm to you. A child like him is harmless. I can't think about what would have happened if you hurt him more than you did. And the girl had every reason to fight as she was only acting out of self-protection and was concerned for the well being of her friend. This is your first and final warning." the red devil replied coldly and waved his hand. "Now leave, I will take care of this. Go home to your family. You are excused young man."

The demon boy obeyed without questioning and left in a matter of a second.

The devil turned to Lyvia and said in an apologetic tone:

"I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, my dear. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. I am sure your parents are worried about you by now."

"No worries, Mr. devil." Lyvia replied. "My parents are dead, so they don't have to worry about me, unfortunately they were killed by the guy who attacked my friend."

The older one shook his head sadly, remembering the whole event that happened seven years ago.

"I am awfully sorry for your loss, Mrs Lyvia." the red devil said with a tone of sorrow. "That was a terrible deed he did, but he, like you, was a child back then and I couldn't punish him as much as if he was an adult. However, he did get to do community service followed by a sentence to pay off every single thing he has done to you and anyone else. If you would like, you can stay over at the mansion. It's very cold tonight and all three of you have to go somewhere safe. It's very dangerous to wander around in the forest all alone, even if you are fully capable of taking care of yourselves just fine."

Lyvia nodded and jumped up on Laura's back and was ready to go. Laura gently picked up the little dragon hatchling in her mouth. Jimmy hissed playfully and swatted at her, but she calmly snorted something in her dragon language, telling him that now wasn't the time to play right now.

The older devil turned to Lock, who was laying on the ground, helpless and injured. Lock would have fallen asleep if the man hadn't spoken to him.

"A little boy like you shouldn't be out here alone." he said softly. "It's dangerous to fall asleep in this cold weather."

Lock hissed and swished his tail as a weak attempt to scare the devil away. Lyvia tried to call out to him that the devil was only trying to help, but Lock didn't hear her.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for him, the older devil was completely unfazed by his threat and ever so carefully picked him up instead and took Laura with little Jimmy and Lyvia with him too.

Laura walked quietly after them, still holding Jimmy in a gentle but firm grip, with Lyvia riding on her back and they were walking towards a huge mansion, big enough for the dragon to live in.

Lock tried to stay awake, but his powers failed him and before long, he fell asleep….

A few hours later….

Lock slowly woke up when he heard the faint sounds of voices around him.

"Do you think he'll recover, doctor? How bad is it?" a voice asked. It seemed to be the older devil man, and Lock didn't know why, but somehow he could recognize the voice. It sounded just like his father.

He opened his eyes, but his vision was blurred and he saw three fuzzy figures standing next to his bed in his room he remembered so well, for some inexplicable reason.

"He seems to have been hit by a paralyzing spell, so he'll unfortunately face the side effects that come with it. Headaches are common, but it wouldn't be impossible if he started to hallucinate as well. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it. There is no cure for this, I'm afraid." the doctor said somberly. "The only thing you can do is to wait it out until he starts to feel better. I don't see any severe injuries on him, except for a few scratches on his body, though all of his ribs are broken, and he has a slight concussion. But other than that, he seems otherwise unharmed."

The doctor paused and thought for a moment.

"However, he does not seem to have eaten in a while as he is extremely skinny for a child his age. And he looks very ill. You should definitely keep an eye on him tonight and a few more days. Unfortunately magic cannot cure this, so my powers aren't enough to solve this problem, unfortunately. I do have healed his ribs fairly well, but it takes more serious magic to heal them completely. Mr. Lucius, Mrs Athena, I bid you goodbye and the best of luck to you both. Adieu."

With these words, the doctor left the mansion. The only ones who were left in the room were Laura, Lucius and Athena.

Lock remembered the name all too well. It was his parents. He had once met them through a call he did with his crystal ball. He couldn't forget them. He never would for as long as he lived. Oogie had told them that they were dead, but in reality they had been alive all along and what he didn't know was that Oogie had stolen him from them when he was only a year old.

His head was throbbing again.

He took a moment to look at his own reflection, and he felt angry when he saw his hair was a complete mess.

Couldn't they at least have combed his hair before they wrapped his head up in the bandages?

"How are you feeling?" Lucius asked kindly, seeing that he was awake. "Are you still feeling sick?"

"I feel sick just by looking at my own reflection." Lock muttered, but was feeling a little surprised that someone actually cared about what he felt. It wasn't often anyone expressed such kindness and sympathy towards him. He had either listened to the same old lectures every time he had caused trouble or been shooed away due to his mischievous nature. Not many creatures trusted him, and that was mainly because he was Oogie's henchman. Of course being a Trick-or-treater was a fine profession in Halloween Town and the citizens didn't care too much about the pranks he and his cohorts did, as long as they didn't get out of hand and caused real descrution to their old beloved town of Halloween nor any holiday worlds for that matter. However, deep down he did know that at least Sally cared about him, maybe Jack did too but Lock wasn't sure, but his friends Shock, Barrel, Lyvia and his beloved pet dragon Laura did care, that's for sure.

Wait, Laura? A sudden rush of panic flooded through his veins as he remembered what happened before. He was just about to open his mouth and ask about Laura's presence when he noticed her sitting right beside him by his bed. She had been watching him the whole time as she waited for him to wake up and then she could make sure he was alright.

Jimmy was with Lyvia in the guest room. He laid on her bed and snored softly. Lock didn't know this, but Laura grunted something in her dragon language, telling Lock about where Jimmy was.

His sudden feeling of surprise at Lucius' statement was quickly turned into annoyance (or as he pretended to be). He wasn't sure if they would accept him or even want to have anything to do with him now that he was guilty of bringing back the horrendous Boogeyman. They would definitely hate now, he was certain of it.

Lock narrowed his yellow eyes and hissed in a weak voice:

"Back off, will you! Leave me alone!" he hissed. "I don't need your help. I don't need anybody!"

Lucius shook his head and smiled softly. He was as stubborn as his mother, if not worse. This was going to be a very long night.

Athena laughed a little, which was very unusual for her, as she was always serious and almost never smiled. This reminded her so much of herself, sure she was a handful when she was young, but she was positive he was a boisterous rascal just like her and she was proud of it. In fact, she did admire his rebellious side, as she also was rebellious. Then she knew he could speak his mind and he wasn't afraid of telling others off if they did him any harm.

"I'm afraid we can't leave you alone just yet, little fellow." Lucius said softly. "You have to drink this up."

He held up a glass of water. Lock wrinkled his nose and turned his head away. He knew he was acting a little childish here, which was pretty common as he indeed tended to get a bit immature whenever he were to do something that he did not want to do. And he wasn't going to give in so easily either. They had to beg him before he did something like this. He wasn't a fool and they could't trick him, he needed proof to see if he could trust them and drinking the water they were about to give him was a dumb thing to do.

People who hated someone usually played nice and when they did something helpful, it was a way to trick them into drinking the poison water so they could get rid of him once and for all.

He was NOT going to drink or eat anything they gave him. It was probably poisoned. They probably wanted to get rid of him, like most people wanted, except for his friends and Laura of course. He prayed in his mind that they at least would have mercy and not cause any harm towards Laura or Jimmy. They were innocent. They didn't deserve to meet the same fate as he probably would. It would have been too horrible and not the good kind of horrible.

At the same time Athena was whispering something to Laura, who listened with great interest, of course Lock didn't know this as he was occupied with Lucius right now.

"I am NOT thirsty." Lock said, snorting. "Now, get out!"

"Please, Lock." Lucius said in a pleading voice. "We will leave you alone if you drink up this glass of water. Dehydration is not a thing to be messed with. It can be dangerous."

"I don't care. I don't need anyone's help. I can take care of myself." Lock muttered stubbornly.

"Get out!" Lock demanded sharply.

Lucius was completely lost on what to do. He was beginning to feel more worried than ever, but then Athena spoke up.

"Alright then." she said calmly, completely ignoring her son's angry look. "We'll give you your privacy. Come along, Lucius, let's not bother him. But if you want anything, you send your dragon to fetch us, right Laura?"

Laura nodded happily. Athena blinked one eye at her and Laura did the same.

She was up to something, but Lock was feeling too frustrated and upset to even care at this very moment. If Lock didn't trust them it was better Laura dealt with him as she was the one who could get through his stubborn attitude and possibly make him drink the water as he was in dire need of drinking something to avoid getting dehydrated.

She motioned for Lucius to follow her out of the room so they could give Lock his privacy, but they would enter his room as soon as he had calmed down a bit to check up on him to make sure he was feeling okay and that he was safe.

Lock was prepared to just throw his pillows away so they would leave, but luckily, they walked out of the room before he could do so.

When they finally left him alone, Lock banged his fits into the pillow. He was rapidly becoming overwhelmed by the rush of his emotions. He wasn't used to seeing that anyone cared. He supposed this was all an act in order to just betray him and leave him on the streets if they found out he had been working for Oogie Boogie. They probably knew that he had and now he was going to be thrown out. He was certain that it was going to happen.

All he ever knew was that no one but Oogie cared for them, and they couldn't turn to no one but him. That's what he had been taught ever since Oogie Boogie decided that Lock and his friends would be his minions. But they were too young to remember anything and they had learnt everything from him.

He grunted as he hit his pillow once more, but it wasn't very hard at all, with almost no muscles, it felt like mere strokes if one were to feel his fits, but he never wanted to fight. Mostly because he hated fighting but also because he knew he wasn't capable of it, because of his total lack of physical strength.

He sucked in a deep breath and hid his face into the pillow, trembling violently.

Laura knew what was happening and recognized this all too well. He did this when he was feeling really upset and desperately tried to keep his emotions under control. Unfortunately, he couldn't.

Laura gently nudged his arm with her snout and he immediately looked up at her.

His eyes were filled with sadness and pain.

"What do you want?" he snarled in a voice unlike him, but Laura didn't take it personally. He was in pain and it seemed that the pain took control of his emotions. He wasn't being his normal self and she knew that he regretted that he sounded so brash as he put his hand to his face and wrapped his tail between his legs.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Laura." he sobbed, now he was crying. "I don't know what's going on with me."

The dragon gave him a sympathetic look and she grunted softly as if she was saying:

"Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it. I know you're not feeling well right now, but please drink the water. You'll feel better soon. Let them help you. They seem pretty nice."

Lock shook his head.

"You don't know what happened," he wailed. "You don't know what it's like to be abandoned. They don't want anything to do with me. No one does. No one likes me anyway. I know it."

She shook her head and grunted again, and this was what she was trying to say if she ever could use words:

"This is not true. You can trust them. And you got me, Shock and Barrel, and even your parents. They are your family. They gave me water to drink and I am fine, please give them a chance. Trust me, I can see that they are reliable. Dragons like me have that ability, you know it too. And you do trust me, don't you?"

Lock nodded and dried his eyes. He did trust her. Even though she was his pet, he treated her more like a big sister.

Laura nuzzled him again, as an attempt to cheer him up.

She carefully pushed the glass towards him on his nightstand. She wasn't going to give up. She knew Lock was stubborn, but she was as stubborn as he was and he really needed to drink something. It was about time he took care of himself.

Lock eyed the glass and then he looked at his pet. She looked very convincing and he did trust her well enough to do things.

He obliged and took the glass in his hands, sniffed on it and when he was sure it was only water in it, he drank it down slowly. Laura helped him hold the glass so he didn't spill any water on himself, as she knew he was so weak from his illness caused by the long period he had lived alone and not really cared for himself.

When he was finished, Laura helped him to put the glass away.

He still looked gloomy and his face was blubbery.

Laura gently nuzzled him, as a way to show him that she loved him no matter what happened and that he could always count on her. He wasn't alone and he could feel safe with her. She wasn't going to allow anyone to hurt him. Never.

Lock was feeling secretly touched by her affection and hid his face in her huge shoulders. He could feel her wrapping her wing around him as he sobbed like his heart would break.

He had lost his friends because of himself. How could anyone like him at all? It seemed whenever he tried to please everyone that he either got them into trouble or made things worse. He felt like he always messed up.

But Laura didn't see it that way. To her, he was the best owner a dragon could dream of. No one had ever been treating her with so much kindness, patience and love as he had done. He had a heart for animals like her. He was anything but mean.

She also knew that Shock and Barrel saw it from her point of view too and even Lyvia did so. They had never thought of it as it was his fault. They went along with it and they all had the same plan, not just Lock. Lyvia wasn't part of the plan and she never knew any of the deeds they were up to as Lock didn't want to involve her with Oogie as he knew she would oppose his plans and Oogie would eat her as a result for her disobedience.

They were probably worried about him now, but Lock didn't know that. He was too busy feeling upset to really care about anything.

After what seemed like forever for the little devil, he finally started to feel more comfortable in his new home. With his best animal friend, he began to feel more secure.

As Laura sat there, next to his bedside, with her wing still wrapped around him, she could feel his shivers began to fade away. Lock looked up at her and gave her a watery smile.

"Thank you." he said weakly.

Laura smiled softly and grunted gently, as if she was saying:

"You're welcome, Lock. I'll never leave you. You can always count on me. And I will always love you no matter what happens or what you do. You're my friend."

At the same time in another room in the mansion, Lucius and Athena were watching what was going on through a magical crystal ball.

"How did she manage to make him drink the water?" Lucius asked, feeling surprised.

Athena just laughed.

"Hahaha! Don't you get it? The only thing it takes to make a stubborn loudmouth like him do something, is someone who is as stubborn as he is." she smirked.

Lucius looked confused.

"But you're as stubborn as he is." he said softly.

"I know, but he doesn't trust anybody. He doesn't trust any of us yet, I'm afraid." she answered. "But he'll come to his senses and snap out of it anyway. I think he's just trying to be difficult. He has always been rebellious, I should know that from the time he was with us before a creep stole him, he's just like me, but I suppose he'd get better eventually."

"I don't think he's trying to be difficult." Lucius said sadly and took a look into the crystal ball. "He seems to have been through many things. We need to help him. He won't trust us if we don't show him that we are reliable."

Athena sighed. He had a point there. A very good one.

"I know you want him to be a tough guy, but even a tough guy needs help every now and then. He needs to know we love him no matter what happens or what he does." he said. "That will help more than you can imagine and maybe he won't be so troublesome in the future."

Athena nodded, truly understanding what he meant. She knew that she wasn't good at showing that she loved anyone, including her own son, but she had to try. She couldn't just pretend to ignore him or dismiss him if he was feeling upset, it wasn't that she didn't care, it was because she had never been good at showing her emotions very well.

Lucius thought for a moment and looked up at his wife, who looked exactly like Lock himself.

"Shall we go into his room now? We really need to check on him, to make sure he's alright. The doctor even told us to keep an eye on him throughout the night." he said.

Athena nodded again.

And with these words, they walked all the way over to his room.

Athena knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Lock shouted.

"It's me, your mom." Athena answered calmly. "May I come in."

"Yeah." he replied to their surprise.

Lucius opened the door and both of them sat down onto the chairs they had placed next to his bed. The chairs looked very comfortable and they were even good enough to sleep in if they wanted to.

Lock swiftly dried his eyes before looking up at them through his weak eyes.

"How are you feeling now?" Lucius asked gently.

Lock shrugged his shoulders and looked away, refusing to meet their worried glances. Could he tell them why he felt so bad? How would they react if they found out the truth? What should he do?

He shuddered a little and looked down at the ground. Lucius gently sat down onto his bedside and placed a gentle hand onto his shoulder.

"It's okay, little one. We just want to help you." Lucius said comfortingly.

Lock suddenly had tears in his eyes. He bit his lip hard in order to keep his emotions under control.

Athena saw this and moved her chair closer to his bed. She placed her hand on his back and rubbed it up and down soothingly.

"Is something troubling you, dear?" she asked softly. Lock cringed at how nice she and Lucius were to him. They would probably not like him anymore if he told them the truth but since they saw that something was wrong, he had no other choice but saying as it was, knowing he would be kicked out either way. Maybe he could win some good graces if they believed him, but he doubted it.

"Yes." Lock answered with a low voice. "You know that I have not been growing up here right?"

They nodded.

"I…. I also lived with my friends the whole time, but we had a person who did take care of us, even though he wasn't always nice." Lock continued.

"And who took care of you?" Athena asked.

"It was a guy. The meanest guy around." her son said, wringing his hands. "His name was Oogie Boogie."

"The Boogeyman?" Lucius asked, somewhat shocked.

Lock nodded. He whimpered pitifully and hid his face in his hands. He couldn't take it anymore.

He broke down, sobbing. Again. He was certain they would throw him out now. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that he probably wasn't wanted anymore.

Seeing this, Athena gently picked the crying seven-year old devil up and sat him on her lap. She wrapped her arms around him as she hummed on a soft tune she had been singing a long time ago.

Lock was shocked by this, as it wasn't what he had been expecting, but he immediately hugged her back with his skinny arms, as she shushed him softly, helping him to gradually relax.

Lucius was still feeling startled and shocked by the fact that his son had been working for the hideous Oogie Boogie. The Boogeyman. The meanest creature ever seen.

"I'm sorry, Lock." Lucius said gently but sadly. "I am so sorry you had to go through this. You didn't deserve any of the treatment he gave to you."

"B-but, I-I worked for him. I had to." Lock stammered through his sobs. "My life was depending on it. If I didn't obey, he'd eat me. But he often used to hurt me most of the time though."

"Did he hurt you?" Athena asked, quickly feeling a little angry, but she tried her best to stay calm. "How often did that happen? What did he do?"

Lock hesitated, but said with a shaky breath:

"He used to beat me a lot. One time he nearly killed me, but I did survive." He took a pause to just breathe. "It was pretty much it, plus it was inside his lair and it happened whenever he was in a bad mood, which was, well, quite often."

Athena had to take a long, deep breath in order to stay composed. It wasn't that she was angry with Lock. She was furious with Oogie Boogie. How could he have the guts to cause harm to such a small child?

She sighed and put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Lock." she said softly. "Nothing of what he did to you was right. He was the one to blame, not you, understand? And we are more than happy to see you alive and well. That's the only thing that matters."

Lock looked up at her, his tearful eyes met hers. She looked at his tear stained face.

"But, I was punished for bringing him back and I got separated from my friends because of me." Lock answered, shivering again.

He began to breathe rapidly and uncontrollably, feeling panic flooding through his veins.

"Please, don't kick me out. I didn't mean any of it. I never meant to hurt anyone!" the little devil said in panic. "I am sorry! Just please don't hurt me! I am truly sorry."

Athena gently shushed him. She gingerly swayed the little child back and forth, cajoling him into taking it easy. She murmured gentle words of reassurance into his ear while gently swaying back and forth slowly. Lock tried his best to keep his emotions under control, though in his delirious state, it was difficult. But the more he listened to his mother's tender voice, he couldn't help but feel calmer.

"Easy there, little one, no one's going to hurt you." Athena said soothingly and patted his back. "We won't kick you out. You are our son. We won't just leave you like that. After six years wondering where you were, nothing can be better than seeing you again. We have really missed you, little guy."

"You won't?" Lock asked in confusion.

"Of course we won't." Lucius replied, taking his son's hand and holding it in his own. "It wasn't your fault. None of it was. Why did you bring Oogie back?"

"Because we didn't have anyone else. He was the only person we could turn to. And his shadow told us to bring him back otherwise we would be his food if we failed." his son answered. "And we failed to keep his Town protected from Jack, so he was going to eat us as a reward for our clumsiness, he told us." This was all Lucius had to know.

"I understand. You wanted him back because he was the only person you trusted and since he threatened you, you had no choice, right?"

Lock nodded.

"And you didn't realize what the consequences were going to be either?"

Another nod.

Lucius gave him a comforting smile and gently stroked his little hand.

"I see." the older devil man replied slowly. "No worries, little fellow. We will always love you no matter what happens. I know you made a mistake, but I don't blame you for it. It wasn't even your fault to begin with. You just wanted your "guardian" back, as he took care of you and I know he had a ghost, so he technically forced you to bring him back to life. But you have to know he was by no means good to you. The way he treated you was wrong."

Lock nodded again and shuddered.

His mother, on the other hand, was humming the soft melody as she gently ran her hand through his dark red hair. Lock smiled contentedly, as he began to feel more secure. He had never been treated with such kindness before. It was all new to him, but he liked it. He really did.

His eyelids began to droop and he was feeling sleepy. He yawned and he soon found himself fast asleep in his mother's arms. Athena smiled at the now sleeping boy in her arms. She was happy that he felt safe and comfortable and that was all she wanted him to be. She didn't want him to be mistreated and neglected as he had been under the years of Oogie Boogie. That was going to change and he was going to have a much better life from now on. She and Lucius would make sure that he was going to be as happy as possible and they also wanted to introduce him to his other siblings. They would be delighted to meet him and he would be happy to meet them as well.

She sat on the chair, holding the sleeping seven year old for a while longer to make sure he was safe before gently placing him back into his bed. Lucius smiled gently and gingerly stroked the little boy's hair to help him sleep more peacefully throughout the night. After that he used his magic as a tool to make sure his son was safe and would alert him and Athena if anything was wrong with Lock.

Lucius told Athena that he was heading towards the bedroom and they made an agreement that every hour, they would take shifts in watching over the injured boy. After making sure that Lyvia and the two dragons were alright and if it was anything she needed, the devil man went to bed and was ready to sleep for about an hour, then it was his turn to watch over Lock.

Athena stayed with Lock a while longer until it was her own turn to sleep for about an hour. She carefully leaned over and placed a small kiss onto his forehead. She swore she could see a tiny smile forming on his face.

Athena couldn't help but smile back. As long as Lock was feeling safe and cared for, she was happy as well. He really needed that after all the years of being under the rule of the Boogeyman. That was for sure. She sat on her chair and glanced over at the clock on the wall. It showed 12 PM and it had only been a half hour since she began watching over her son.

She got up and fetched a book of pranks from the bookshelf and began reading it. She flipped through the pages of different pranks with water and some with glue. All fun and games for a mischievous trickster.

At the same time, Lock began shifting uncomfortably in his bed. He began to whine and he flailed with his tiny arms.

"No… no…" he mumbled, breathing rapidly. "No…"

Athena, who was in the middle of reading about the prank with a bucket and the door, immediately looked up from the book and shifted her focus onto the little boy in the bed.

"He seems to be delirious." she thought to herself. She suddenly began to feel very unsure about how to deal with the delirious boy. As much as she wanted to help him, she had no clue of what to do. Every time one of Lock's siblings were sick, Lucius usually took care of them and helped them through times like these, she never did.

However, with her husband asleep for about half an hour, and with no one else to help her, Athena decided she had to at least try to help him, even though she was horribly inexperienced.

She cleared her throat and tried to get his attention. It worked for a short time, as he looked up at her for about two seconds before trying to get out of the bed. Lock had a very confused expression on his face and he didn't seem to know what he was doing.

She quickly ran over to him and stopped him, by grabbing his arm before he could go any further. He needed to sleep and she definitely didn't need him running around in the mansion in the middle of the night like a madman.

He turned around and stared at her, giving her a bewildered glance.

"Uh… where am I?" Lock asked bluntly, clearly feeling dizzy. "This is not the treehouse."

"You're in the mansion, in your room." Athena answered plainly, rolling her eyes at him. "You got here a few hours ago."

"I did? I remember flying with a broom and then I crashed… and then it went black. I don't remember what happened after that." Lock said, trying to remember the event.

His eyes widened.

"I'm not going crazy, am I? AM I?!" he asked anxiously.

Athena struggled not to laugh.

"Not at the moment." she teased in good humor, however, Lock didn't take it that way. Instead, he believed her. Was he really going crazy? Had he been crazy before and didn't know it?

Seeing his frightened look, she sighed and rolled her eyes again before answering:

"Aw, come on, I was just joking around." she said with a chuckle. "You're not going crazy. You might be feeling dizzy right now, but it's only a side effect from the spell. You will get better soon."

Hearing these words, it put Lock's anxious mind at ease. If it was because he was sick and he would get better, then he didn't have to worry about the effects lasting forever. That would have been awful.

He looked around at his surroundings. He suddenly heard noises, but his mother seemed not to hear anything. It sounded like a sizzling noise, like something was on fire. Fear filled his mind and he made a new attempt to try and escape.

This time, his mother grabbed him and lifted him from the ground. Lock struggled in her grip but it was useless. Athena, like most people, was so much stronger than he was. He mentally cursed under his breath for letting his weakness take over.

She placed him in his bed and sat on the bedside, keeping an eye on him.

"You should rest now." she said calmly when she noticed him rubbing his forehead with his hand.. "Running around won't make your headache go away."

Lock nodded and tried to keep still, even though he felt nervous about the sound he heard. What if it actually was burning somewhere? Where should he run if the fire caught up to his room?

Maybe he was just imagining things, but since he wasn't in the right state of mind, he couldn't tell for sure which was reality and which wasn't.

It didn't take long for his fear to take over his delirious mind. Ever since the horrible accident happened three years ago, he had been acting very nervous around the sight of fire. He had told Laura about it but he didn't dare to tell someone else. He wasn't too sure about how his friends would react nor his family.

Athena picked up on her son's anxiety. Something was bugging him, but it seemed to be something that was very serious and probably a thing he was sensitive about.

She cleared her throat in an effort to gain her son's attention, which worked. She took a deep breath and tried to think of a good way to speak without sounding too brash.

"Ahem… Say, little guy. I can see that you look somewhat anxious. Is anything troubling you, Lock?" she asked, trying to sound as gentle as Lucius did, but failed horribly.

Lock shrugged his shoulders, but nodded anyway. Judging by the little he had seen of his mother, she seemed to be just like him, which meant no one could lie to her in any way. She was far too smart and would immediately notice if anyone wasn't telling the truth, so it was better to say it anyway.

"Well, the thing is… Uh… well, you see…" Lock stuttered. "I am scared of fire because I was witnessing an accident and I am beginning to hear sizzling sounds here too…"

His body went rigid when he heard the sounds again, unbeknownst to him, they were just hallucinations but he wasn't awake enough to realize that.

"Mom…" he said anxiously. "Is it burning here somewhere? Is it?"

Then he heard the noise again.

"Help!" he shouted and bolted upright on the bed. Athena gently put her arm around him and patted his back soothingly.

"Lock, darling." she whispered in a surprisingly gentle tone. "There are no sounds of fire here. These things you might see or hear right now are only hallucinations. They aren't real. And if anything was burning, me and Lucius would save you right away."

"You-you will?" Lock asked hesitantly.

"Of course we will." she replied softly.

He began to sit down in relief. Having a parent was new to him and suddenly a thought popped up in his head. He turned to his mother and asked in a timid voice:

"Uh, mom…?"

"Yes?" Athena answered patiently.

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep? It's geta kinda creepy when I am alone."

Without words, his mother nodded and let him climb up in her lap and he sat there for a long time.

Athena hummed on a gentle tone while she was slowly swaying back and forth while holding the little boy in her arms until he finally couldn't keep his eyes open and slowly drifted off into sleep in her embrace. After all the years of abuse he needed to feel secure and safe and she promised herself that she would try to help him the best she could. He had never really known what it's like to feel loved by a parent, surely Oogie liked him and his friends, but not in that way. Parental love is different from being treated as a henchman, way different.

For the first time in his seven year long life he had finally discovered what it felt like to experience the love and care from a parent, something he had not believed he would ever experience. Maybe things will change for the better now when his parents are there for him. Maybe they could get Anna Goodwille II and put an end to the whole separation together?