Chapter 26 The Pumpkin King
Back in Christmas Town, Terra and Aqua are sitting on a wooden bench outside Santa's workshop. It has started to snow, and Aqua is beginning to worry. "When is he going to come back Terra?" She asks leaning against him.
"I don't know," Terra replies with an arm around her. "Maybe we should go look for him. He couldn't have gotten that far."
Aqua sits up and looks around. "Which way would he have gone?" She asks.
"Well, he would have wanted to be alone, so he might have headed back to that hill," Terra guesses.
Aqua nods in agreement. "Let's start there," she says and they get up. The fresh snow crunches under their feet as they walk out of the town and back to the hill they had landed on. At the top, they stop and look around.
"There," Terra says pointing at footprints in the snow starting to be filled in by the falling snow. "It looks like he was pacing."
Aqua walks slowly over to the solitary tree, keeping her eyes on the footprints. "They stop right here," she says pointing at the base of the tree. Her eyes narrow and she looks more closely at the tree. "Terra there's something here."
As he walks over, she reaches out and pushes on the tree trunk. There is a small click and a secret door in the trunk swings open. "A door?" Terra says in surprise. "Where does it go?"
"I don't know," Aqua says peering into the dark opening and looking down at the seemingly bottomless hole. "Is this where Ven went? Why would he go off exploring without us?"
"Because he's Ven," Terra replies looking into the hole as well. "He's like a trouble magnet. Now c'mon," he says taking her hand. "Let's check it out."
"Terra, is this really a good idea?" Aqua says in protest, but Terra jumps in pulling her after him. "Terra!" She screams as they fall into the darkness.
…
"I can't do this," Jack says to Ven as they stand at the entrance to the town square. "What if they don't get scared? What if they laugh again?"
"Don't worry," Ven says supportively. "This is going knock their socks off. And I'll be there the whole time to make sure nothing goes wrong. Is everything in place?"
Jack nods. "Showtime," he says in a nervous voice.
"Break a leg," Ven says giving him a shove to send him into the crowd. Watching Jack awkwardly make his way to the center of the square, Ven can't help but feel a twinge of nerves for his new friend. Lost in his thoughts, he starts slightly as someone taps on his shoulder. "What- Ah!" Ven shouts as he turns to find himself face to face with a zombie.
"Brains!" The zombie yells in Ven's face causing him to stumble back in fright. The zombie then starts laughing at him so hard he has to hold onto the nearest wall to keep himself upright.
"T-Terra," Ven says in surprise and then in anger, "What the fuck was that for!"
"For that look on your face," Terra gasps out still laughing. Glaring at Terra, Ven takes in the costume he is wearing. His skin is tinged a grey green color and fake blood is dripping from fake bite and scratch marks that cover his arms and face. He has on a plaid shirt hanging open over a grey undershirt and tan pants. All his clothes are faded and dirty, ripped up so much it is surprising they don't just fall off. Terra's hair is matted with dirt, and his feet are bare.
"Who was that you were talking to?" Aqua asks curiously coming up to Ven as well. She is obviously a witch with a pointed black and purple hat on her head. Her top is a dark purple corset with white ribbon ties. She is wearing a high low skirt made of shredded black netting and purple velvet. In this outfit, her leggings are a shimmering black and her black boots come up to just below her knees.
"Oh that's Jack," Ven says turning back to look into the square to see that Jack is almost in position. "I'm helping him scare the crap out of this town."
"You're what?" Aqua asks giving him a look which he ignores.
"I don't have time to explain, just watch," Ven says craning his neck to see Jack is now next to the fountain. He gives Ven and thumbs up which Ven returns. "Oh and don't interfere," Ven says quickly to them before hurrying away into the crowded square.
"Gather round monsters and ghouls. Gather round," Jack shouts loudly catching the attention of the crowd. "Prepare for a fright you'll never forget."
As Ven moves through the crowd to be closer to the front, he hears the townspeople talking to each other.
"What is he doing?" A small and hairy boy asks.
"Who is that?" A large hunched over man with half his face missing asks.
"Aw it's just Jack. He can't even scare his way out of a paper bag." A short witch with a very large wart on her nose says.
"A chance good people," Jack says gesturing around to them all. "A moment of your time. For you see, I have a tale to make your hair stand on end."
"Let's hear it," Ven shouts from the crowd and some of the townspeople nod moving closer to hear Jack's story.
"Listen close and listen good," Jack says adopting a fierce look on his skeletal face. "What I tell you is true, every word of it. Some may scoff and some may scorn, but I swear on my undead mother's grave that if you do not heed my words you will find yourself at the mercy of the most terrifying monster to walk this land."
As Jack talks Ven is on the move and now in the back of the crowd he calls, "What monster?" He ducks his head again a moves to his right coming to a new spot behind a group of short witches.
"His name is," Jack says rising up to his full height and taking a dramatic pause. "Oogie Boogie. That's one. Speak his name three times and he will appear out of the night time fog to take you back to his lair."
The witches in front of him gasp and Ven calls over their heads, "But what is he?"
"What is Oogie Boogie?" Jack shouts dramatically. 'He is devious, cunning, unfeeling. He is sly, scary, sneaky. His presence attracts the creepiest and crawliest of creatures. He comes in on a sea of bugs and leaves no trace except piles of crushed beetles. Silent in his coming and going, none have ever lived to see his face, said to be terrifying enough to scare a witch to death."
"Oh my!"
"Oh dear!"
The entire square is standing in front of Jack listening attentively and holding their breath.
"So lock your doors and stay inside when the fog rolls in like tonight lest Oogie Boogie comes to take you away into the night," Jack says leering at them.
"You said his name three times!" A little zombie girl shouts from the front of the crowd taking a step forward to point accusingly at Jack.
"No no. I most certainly did not," Jack says waving her off. "I would never make such a horrible mistake."
"You did! You did!" The girl shouts back.
Jack's scary smile collapses into a fearful frown. "No...No! Oh goodness! I did! He's coming for me! He's-" Jack suddenly stops mid sentence and looks out over the crowd with a look of terror.
The crowd all spin around to look in the same direction, but there is nothing there. When they look back at the fountain Jack is no longer there, and panic begins to set in.
"He's gone!" A skeleton shouts.
"Oogie Boogie has him!" A banshee shrieks.
"Don't say his name!" A headless man says somehow to her, and Ven stares at him wondering how that is possible. "He'll come after you next!"
Ven listens to the crowd becoming more and more terrified. He keeps his eyes trained on the sky waiting for the next stage to begin. He is only looking for a few moments before he sees it. "What's that?" Ven shouts pointing towards a white object falling out of the sky.
The crowd looks up as the object falls to the ground in front of them where Jack used to be standing. It bounces slightly, and they watch in silence as it rolls to the feet of the townspeople at the very front of the crowd who are the first to scream when they see what it is.
Jack's head stares up at them with a look of pure terror in his dead eye sockets, and the townspeople turn and try to run away from the horrible sight. The mob tries to head for the exit out of the square, but before the first monsters can get out, the gate comes crashing down trapping them inside. Screams of fear erupt from the crowd as they shake the bars of the gate trying to get out.
Ven stands slightly apart from the crowd with his eyes on the fountain not the gate. The water in the fountain turns a slightly brighter green, and Ven takes his cue shouting, "Do you hear that?"
The crowd is too loud however and no one hears him. Ven takes a deep breath and tries again. "Hey!" He shouts louder than before and succeeds in getting almost everyone's attention. "Do you hear that?"
As quiet descends on the crowd of townspeople, a soft, sinister laugh reaches them. It get's louder and louder until they can tell it is coming from the fountain in the center of the square. A few of the braver townspeople hesitantly step forward only to leap back in shock as bugs of all different colors and shapes begin to spew out of the well and flood into the square.
"He's coming!" People shriek pressing themselves against the walls, getting as far away from the fountain as possible as a shadow looms bigger and bigger from its depths. A black figure suddenly jumps out of the fountain.
"Boo!" It shouts and all the townspeople scream in fright.
Jack Skellington stands tall and proud next to the fountain with a huge grin on his face which is still attached to his body. As the townspeople begin to realize that it is only Jack they let out a collective sigh of relief. Jack takes a bow as a short man with a face on both the front and back of his head waddles forward. "Jack! You scared us all to death!" He cries as Jack reaches down to pick up 'his head' which now looking closer all the people can see it is just a painted pumpkin. "That was the best scare I've seen in years!" The two faced man continues. "Well done!"
The whole square breaks into applause and Jack stands in the middle soaking it all in with the biggest grin on his face. "Thank you, thank you," Jack says as the applause dies down. "It was an honor to scare you all today. I'd just like to give a round of applause to my assistant Ven who helped make sure you all got riled up."
The townspeople begin to clap and look around for Ven, but Ven backs up blushing trying to disappear into the crowd behind him. However, someone pushes him forward, probably Terra, and he stumbles into the center of attention next to Jack. With his face now bright red to match his shirt, Ven tries to get away, but Jack prevents that by throwing an arm around him.
As the applause dies down, the two faced man begins to talk again. "As mayor of Halloween Town, I would like to name you as the scariest, most terrifying monster in town. If no one objects..." The mayor waits, but no one objects. "Then, Jack Skellington, you will be hereby known as The Pumpkin King!"
The square erupts once more in cheering, and Jack's mouth drops opens in shock. The crowd rushes forward, and Ven is forced away from Jack by the many hands reaching out to shake Jack's. Now outside the circle of adoring fans, Ven looks around and catches sight of Aqua and Terra standing near the gate. He gives them a 'one moment' gesture before diving back into the mob around Jack.
Shoving his way back to the center, he makes his way to Jack. "Jack! Jack!" Ven shouts and Jack turns to him with a huge grin.
Jack grabs his hand shaking it vigorously. "Thank you Ven! Thank you so much! I can't ever make this up to you!"
"Don't worry about it," Ven replies. "It was a lot of fun, but I gotta go Jack. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye Ven! Come back and visit!" Jack calls, and with a final wave Ven pushes his way back out of the adoring crowd. He walks over to Terra and Aqua with a grin, but then he remembers what had happened in Christmas Town. His face hardens as he brushes past them without a word.
"Ven wait up!" Aqua calls after him, but he doesn't slow down. Hearing them break into a run after him, he begins to sprint down an unfamiliar path. He runs through the trees not caring where he is going, just trying to get anyway from them and his feeling of anger and betrayal. It isn't working.
Knowing he can't run away forever, he slows to a stop at the base of a strange hill that curls at the top. Breathing hard, he looks back to see Terra and Aqua nowhere in sight; he must have lost them in the dark woods. He makes a move to go back and look for them, but before he can nearly fifty heartless appear around him. He gasps in shock and summons his keyblade. He quickly observes his enemies to see what he is up against noting their names and moves from Master Eraqus' lessons.
Hovering around are about 10 Search Ghosts each with crooked smile and a loose eyeball. Ven knows he has to watch his back around them because of their ability to disappear and reappear at will. Intermixed with the Ghosts are about fifteen Gargoyles flapping around with their sharp talons ready to claw at him. From the ground he is faced with even more heartless; there are over twenty Wight Knights each with their arms stretched out towards him.
Ven swallows hard trying not to let the heartless see his fear, but they seem to sense it as they advance slowly and menacingly. With no escape route, Ven steels himself to fight his way out, and with a determined warcry he throws himself at the nearest Knight taking it out in two strikes of his keyblade. Its comrades whistle eerily as they jump forward landing on their spindly legs. As a group, they scratch at him with their sharp hands, and Ven quickly ducks behind a block to avoid getting cut.
A slight sound behind him makes him turn, but before he can attack, the Search Ghost that had appeared behind him lands a solid punch sending Ven stumbling back into the mob of Knights. Before he can regain his balance, they jump on him knocking him to the ground. For an instance, Ven's mind flashes back to a day that now felt like a lifetime ago. He remembers the heartless piled on top of him, ripping him to shreds in Carinol on the day he had met Terra and Aqua for the first time. It is the same thing that is happening now with the Wright Knights, but Ven has grown stronger since that day that changed his life. Stabbing up at the heartless, Ven kills enough of them to make enough room for him to get to his feet.
Ignoring the minor cuts he had sustained, he wastes no time in cutting through five more Knights with 3 successive combos. He is about to attack another when three yellow orbs appear in front of him and three Search Ghosts jump out at him. He avoids them by taking several steps back. Looking over his shoulder, Ven sees that he is back at the base of the curly hill. Still outnumbered, Ven needs every advantage he can get, so he turns and runs halfway up the incline. Now on the high ground, Ven drops into a ready position as he faces the heartless once more.
He has taken out over half of the Wright Knights, but he has not killed any of the Search Ghosts or Gargoyles. He had forgotten the Gargoyles until one attempted to dive bomb him. Having only saved his neck by luck and quick reflexes, Ven mentally curses himself for not paying enough attention as he whirls around to face the Gargoyles. They flap in the air just out of reach leaving Ven unable to attack. Not wanting to let the heartless make the first move, Ven throws his keyblade at the nearest one, knocking it out of the air. It slams into the ground and disappears on impact. As his keyblade returns to his hand, Ven hears a shout.
"Ven!"
Looking quickly in the direction of Aqua's voice, Ven sees her and Terra run out of the woods and clash with the Wright Knights and Search Ghosts at the base of the hill. Sighing with relief, Ven gives the remaining Gargoyles death glares. After a moment, they dive at him all together and fly in circles around him forcing him to keep moving to avoid their claws. Whipping his keyblade back and forth as they fly past him, Ven takes down the Gargoyles one by one until only two remain. However, for every heartless he kills, the remaining Gargoyles force him back a step. Now at the very top of the hill, Ven still has the two strongest Gargoyles left to take out. They are both hovering out of reach, but as one they dive down at Ven forcing him to take yet another step back. He is now standing on the very thin and rounded coil of the curly top. It is all he can do to stay balanced as the two heartless swoop around and fly back at him.
"Fire!" Ven cries and the fireball shot from his keyblade kills one of the Gargoyles, but the other streaks towards him from the right. At the last moment, Ven is able to swing his keyblade in a horizontal slice that stops the Gargoyle for good. However, the momentum of his swing knocks Ven off balance, and he lets his keyblade disappear as he windmills his arms, fighting for balance.
"Wha-ah-oh-ah!" Ven cries as his feet lose their grip on the small foothold, but before he can fall off the steep side of the hill, a hand grabs him by the back of his shirt, and yanks him back to safety. He is forced to spin around and finds himself face to face with an angry zombie Terra.
"Don't wander off alone Ven," Terra growls, and Ven shrinks away nodding quickly. The zombie look makes Terra quite scary. Seeing that he had frightened Ven, Terra closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm down. Opening his eyes, he places his hand on Ven's shoulder and says, "Cura."
The small cuts Ven had gotten from the Wright Knights heal in the soft green light, and Ven follows Terra in silence down the the hill to where Aqua is standing at the base. She looks ready to explode in a lecture about exactly how dangerous it is for Ven to run off like that, but Terra stops her with a look and a small shake of his head.
Both Terra and Aqua stand together staring at Ven and waiting for an explanation, but Ven just shifts awkwardly under their gaze before finally blurting out, "Can we just go home?"
"Nope," Aqua replies right away. "Not until you tell us what has got you so upset."
"I'm not upset," Ven mumbles crossing his arms and turning away from her.
"Oh?" Terra says sarcastically. "Then what do you call running away from us in Christmas Town and Halloween Town?" Ven doesn't respond and just frowns harder. "Look Ven, if you have a problem say it. Don't hold back. Just tell us what's going on."
"I just want some answers," Ven replies with a sigh.
Aqua and Terra look at eachother a little confused. "Alright," Aqua says. "What do you want to know?"
Ven doesn't respond right away. Instead, he moves to the edge of the woods beckoning the others to follow. He sits against one of the trees, and Terra and Aqua sit facing him. With his elbow resting on one knee drawn to his chest and his head in his hand, Ven asks, "What are you all so worried about me doing?"
"What do you mean?" Terra asks slowly.
"I mean, before Master Eraqus sent us away, Master Yen Sid was talking about something important, something that had to do with me, and now Master Eraqus won't tell me anything," Ven says. "All I know is there is something I'm not being told, and I am sick of being treated like a child. You guys and Master Eraqus are keeping something from me and I want to know what it is. I can handle whatever it is I swear."
Terra and Aqua exchange a long glance before Aqua replies, "Alright, we'll tell you what we know. No more secrets okay Ven?"
Ven nods quickly and leans forward in anticipation. "I guess you remember Master Yen Sid talking about you bringing a change to the worlds," Terra says. "Well, Master Eraqus told Aqua and I that it really is impossible to know if it will be a good change or a bad change. Basically, from what I understand, like Master Yen Sid said, your heart is half light and half dark. You can go either way. If you lean towards the light side the change will be good, but if you lean towards the dark side...well..." Terra trails off letting the rest go unsaid.
"All Master Eraqus told us was that we have to keep you safe from darkness," Aqua says picking up where Terra stopped. "We don't know anything more than that. If there are more secrets Master Eraqus has, we don't know them either."
"See, we really weren't lying to you Ven," Terra says. "We just wanted to keep you safe."
"I'm not a child," Ven says tiredly.
"We know," Aqua replies gently. "But you are our friend, more like a brother, so we will always do everything to protect you."
Ven doesn't reply for a moment, thinking hard about what she had said, then he says, "Just no more secrets okay?"
"No more secrets," Aqua says in agreement and Terra nods. Ven smiles and gets to his feet, and Terra and Aqua do the same. Before Ven can react, Aqua pulls him into a tight hug.
"Aqua," Ven complains trying and failing to pull away.
"You scared me when you were fighting all those heartless alone," Aqua admits hugging him even tighter. "And if you ever do that to me again I'll lock you in your room for the rest of your life." Ven stops struggling to look at her in surprise. "But only 'cause I care!"
Aqua lets Ven go and he takes a step back saying, "Can we go home now?"
The others nod and together they summon their armor and keyblades. Moments later they are flying away from Halloween Town at top speed eager to get home.
…
"We're back!" Aqua calls out as they walk into MEKA. Sora and Riku come running to the front door to greet them.
"Guess what! Guess what!" Sora says tugging on Ven's arm in excitement.
"What?" Terra asks.
"Master Eraqus took us shopping and we got lots of cool stuff!" Riku says dragging Terra and Aqua to the sitting room with Ven and Sora close behind. The room looks like it had been hit by a toy filled tornado. Plastic trucks and cars lay flipped over or on their sides are all over the floor. A box of Legos and half built houses are in one corner and in another a mini basketball hoop leans against the wall. Sora and Riku run straight for the cars on the floor and send them crashing into each other while making explosion noises.
Ven and Terra stand stunned in the doorway, but Aqua moves to the coffee table that has been buried under construction paper and crayons. "Did you guys draw all of these?" Aqua asks Sora and Riku who nod. "They're great," Aqua says holding up one to show Terra and Ven. It is a crudely drawn image of a firetruck.
Ven sits down with Sora and Riku as Master Eraqus enters. He smiles warmly taking in the scene. "I'm glad you're back," he says. "And don't think I left you three out because you are older. There are gifts waiting upstairs for you as well."
"Thank you." Both Terra and Aqua respond, but Ven says nothing and continues to nudge Sora with his toy car.
"Stop it Ven," Sora says pouting, but Ven continues poking him with the toy. "Fuck off Ven!"
That gets Ven to stop. He stares at Sora in utter shock and hears the others gasp. "Sora," Master Eraqus says in a cold voice. "Where did you learn that word?"
"That's what Ven said when I was poking him to get him to wake up," Sora says innocently, and Ven facepalms.
"Ventus," Master Eraqus begins in a dangerous voice, but Ven jumps to his feet.
"Well I'm exhausted," Ven says quickly. "See you all in the morning." He then runs out of the room ignoring the looks Aqua and Master Eraqus are both giving him. He takes the stairs two at a time and soon he is alone in his room. Unable to hold back any longer, he bursts out laughing. "Oh Sora," he says to himself. "What are we going to do with you?"
Still chuckling, Ven begins to walk to the bathroom to take a shower, but stops seeing a pile of books stacked neatly on his bed. His smile fades as he walks over. He picks them up and reads the titles. Eragon. The Warrior Heir. The Ranger's Apprentice. The Lightning Theif. Disgusted, he gathers them all in his arms and walks back out of his room, heading for Master Eraqus' office.
Under different circumstances, he would have been happy to have stories to read, but he knows what Master Eraqus is trying to do. It would take more than gifts for Ven to forgive Master Eraqus. The books are just a distraction to trick Ven into forgetting the problem at hand, and Ven is not so quick to surrender. Dumping the books on Master Eraqus' desk in a messy manner, Ven stalks back to his room hoping Master Eraqus gets his message; Master Eraqus is going to have to do better than that to win back Ven's trust and his love.
Oops, Ven should be more careful about what he says around Sora since Sora repeats anything he says. And Ven is still mad at Master Eraqus. He'll have to do something huge to redeem himself in Ven's eyes.
And now you know how Jack became the Pumpkin King :)
Mexi: I'm attempting to draw the outfits both for Christmas Town and Halloween Town. I'm not a very good artist, but if they come out any good I'll post them on deviantart.
MLSoT: Zactus lol! I love it!
Soooo it took me longer than usual to get this chapter out. I'm sorry! But in my defense this chapter was super long.
Next chapter is going to have it all. Xehanort, Keric, Aqua and Terra, and Ven and Zack!
Ven and Zack's part is going to be their date, but I still haven't decided what they are going to do. Right now I'm leaning towards scary movie so they can cuddle XD but I'm still open to suggestions.