Okay kiddies, in this chapter we get some back-story time! I don't own the characters of TNBC and...you know the rest. (seriously I don't have to repeat myself EVERY time, do I)?

Chapter 7: Memories Gained and Lost

It was warm that summer day. Many of the children in town were all gone away on vacation, except for one: Little Jack Skellington.

He couldn't leave the town because his parents wouldn't allow it. They were strict and uptight about everything. Worst of all, his best friend (who refused to let him call himself anything but "Mayor") was out of town.

So all the little eight-year-old skeleton boy could do, was play and explore the outskirts of town. And today, Jack was exploring plain that he had never seen before. It had a red glow to it due to the sunlight and swayed in the breeze. There wasn't much there, except for a long dead oak tree that stretched up to the sky. It left Jack in awe. He had never seen such a big tree before, and he was determined to climb it.

"Papa said I'm going to be tall when I grow up!" Jack grinned mischievously, "But why not be tall now?"

Jack dashed off to the tree, running as fast as his legs could carry him. Soon he was next to the tree and gazed up at its godly height.

"Wow, it's a lot taller from this angle." Jack said, slightly intimidated, "But that's not gonna stop me!"

It wasn't long before Jack reached the top; he never took a moment to look down, he was too determined to reach the top. He only looked down once, and by then it was too late. He was at the top.

"GAAAAAAH!" Jack screamed. "There's no way I can get down from here! There're no footholds! My parents are going to kill me if I don't get home in time! Uhh…HELP!"

For several moments Jack proceeded to call for help and occasionally trying to get down himself. However both options brought neither assistance nor a good footing on the ground.

Eventually Jack gave up. "Someone will come looking for me…..I hope."

For a while, Jack did little things to keep him entertained. He would see how far he could throw tree branches, or simply stare up at the sky. Then he noticed something in the sky, something shiny and it was moving incredibly fast. Too fast for Jack's eye sockets to follow. He was better off following the gust of wind attacking the plains, which followed the object.

It was strange, it was fast and it was heading right above him! Jack covered his eye sockets so nothing would get caught in them, and in that darkness of his own skull Jack felt the wind fly all around him.

It felt horrible, like he was in some kind of nightmare. The wind kept whipping around him, showing no sign of stopping and the feeling went on for several moments.

Soon the wind died down and Jack hesitantly opened his eyes. Everything was the same; Jack was still in the tree and nothing had changed.

Except for one thing, there was girl there and she was looking at Jack and smiling.

She was young, but much older than Jack, and she seemed very different from what Jack had seen. There was a spark of life and happiness to her, which no one in Jack's town had. A little strange too, she had red hair and stitches, much like a ragdoll.

"Were you the one that called for help?" She asked.

Jack's cheekbones turned pink, he wasn't used to having a girl like her talk to him. "U-um…..y-yes?"

"Okay," She said, "I can help you get down.

"How!" Jack said, "It's impossible for anybody to get down from here! What are you going to do? Jump down?"

The girl nodded, which made Jack think he was talking to a crazy person. "Are you out of your mind! We'd both die!"

The girl chuckled, "You've obviously never met my sister. She jumps down from all kinds of heights, and she makes me do the same."

"I don't believe you-" Jack said, but before he could finish his sentence, the girl had lifted him up and jumped down from the enormous tree.

Once Jack was at the bottom of the tree (still being held up) his eye sockets were wide with excitement. "That…was….AWESOME!" He shouted.

The girl set him down, and Jack quickly spun around and gave her hug. "I've never hugged a pretty lady!" He thought. The girl was surprised at first, but happy.

Jack felt warm and dreamy. He closed his eyes for a few moments and pretended he never had to leave. But soon the warm feeling faded, and a strong gust of wind flew around him. When he opened his eyes she was gone.

"Was it all a dream?"

…..

Jack woke up from his childhood memory and rubbed his skull, but something felt different, there was something cloth-like on his head and beneath his head was something soft and a little lumpy.

"Oh good, your awake." Sally said, looking down at Jack. She was covered in bandages and had an ice pack- eye patch (custom made by Sally) on her left eye.

Jack lifted his hand and felt what was under his head, and was a little shocked. Apparently, his head was resting on Sally's lap. He quickly pulled his hand away.

"Sorry." He said.

"That's okay." Sally said, even though she thought Jack had enough adventure for one day. "I bandaged you up, by the way."

"Thank you." Jack said as he began to sit up.

"Be careful not to fall!" Sally said

"What do you mean fa-GAAAAAH!"

Jack looked down and noticed he was in the same tree he was in when he was a kid, where he first met Sally.

"Oh god!" He shouted, "Not this tree again!" He peered down once more. "Did it get taller than the last time!"

"Sorry," Sally said, "I would have left you back at the ship but Torako didn't want an extra patient to take care of, so she made me take you with me."

"By 'patient' do you mean the Mayor?" Jack asked

"Yes."

"And by 'ship' do you mean that thing you and Torako rode on?"

"Wow, you saw us? You're pretty attentive Jack. Not to mention brave and adventurous, you haven't changed a bit."

Jack was surprised at her response. "You still remember me?" He asked

Sally smiled back at him. "Of course I do!" She beamed, "You may have grown up, but your face hasn't changed a bit!" Upon saying so, Sally pinched Jack's cheekbones and stretched them apart for her own amusement.

"Change." Jack thought, it made him remember that Sally hadn't aged a bit since the first time they met.

This caused him to ask her "Why haven't you changed since the first time we met?"

Sally stared him, smiling melancholically. "I don't know." She said. "I don't have any memories of my past. But I've been alive for centuries."

She looked down with a lonely and distant look on her face, but then she felt something wrap around her and move closer. She looked to the side and saw Jack hugging her.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay, I've gotten used to it."

"Not just for that, for leaving you in that battle. If I hadn't fallen into that coma, you wouldn't be like this."

Jack had never felt so terrible, and Sally knew it, but this feeling was unusual to Sally. No one had ever been nice to Sally, let alone hug her (well aside from Torako who wasn't much of a hugger….more of a slap across the face and a pep talk kind).

"Thank you." She said.

For a while, the two of them stayed in each other's arms, but a loud snap caused them to pull away. They looked down and noticed that the branch beneath was about to break.

"Move Sally!" Jack shouted, but it was too late, they were already falling to the ground.

Sally sprouted her wings and tried hard to slow their fall. But her wing was tattered and it was too hard to lift Jack too. There was only one thing left to do. Sally shifted herself in mid-fall making sure she was underneath Jack. Then she pointed her wings straight to the ground in hopes that it would break their fall.

"No, Sally!" Jack shouted, "Don't do it!" But before he could do anything about it, shattered glass and pieces of metal were everywhere.

…..

Sally slowly opened her eyes and noticed Jack's face light up.

"Thank goodness you're alive!" Jack shouted.

Sally sat and looked back at where her wings would have been, but they weren't sprouting out of her back, they were all over the ground in pieces.

"My wings…" Sally said, "They were the only clue I had to my past…"

Jack couldn't believe what he had heard; Sally had just sacrificed something extremely important to her just to save him.

"Sally…" he said.

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll make it up to you!" Jack said.

Sally looked back to him, not sure what he was going to say. "How?" She replied.

"I'll come with you!" Sally was shocked; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Someone out there must know who you are, and I can come with you to find them!"

"Jack-"

"I mean it Sally, I want to help you."

There was a moment of silence as Sally fiddled around with the broken pieces of glass, then she turned around and faced Jack and hugged him.

"Thank you."