[A/N: This chapter is a lot shorter than the previous one, but I only had two major ideas planned out for it. Hopefully I did this well loved movie justice which I'm sure you'll recognize pretty quickly. I hope you enjoy the chapter.]

This world was dark like Prankster's Paradise had been, but there was something eerie about it. There was a full moon in the sky and headstones littered the meadow type area they'd come out into. Juliet looked down at her feet when she realized that her clothes had changed again. "Clementine, did you do this?"

Clementine's appearance had changed from her usual tall willowy stature to completely see through and legless. She floated over to Juliet and put a hand through her chest. "Isn't this place cool? Look I'm a ghost. And you're a…..you're a vampire and Akio he's a….where is he?" She heard a scuffling noise from behind a headstone and floated over to it. "What are you doing back there Akio?"

"I'm hideous don't look at me." Indeed Akio's appearance had changed like Juliet and Clementine's, but he looked a bit hairier. His ears had sprouted out, were pointed, and were covered in fur. Likewise his hands and feet had gotten bigger and were also covered in fur and he had a tail.

"You're a werewolf." Clementine was giggling as she floated around him.

"Yes, I can see that." Akio walked past Clementine when he saw Juliet coming towards him. "What are you supposed to be?"

Juliet's tongue ran over her newly sharpened canines. "What does it look like? I'm a vampire." She looked around the meadow to see off in one direction to see a curled hill behind a gate and a wooded area off in the other. "Maybe, just maybe one of the seven pure lights is here." Juliet turned and started walking off towards the gate when she saw a bunch of ghosts fly off towards the entrance of what looked like a town.

Seeing more of those who looked like her Clementine glided after them into the town.

It was a bit hard to run as fast as she normally could since she was wearing heels now, but by the time Juliet got over to the entrance to the town she heard a high pitched scream. "Clementine? Clementine, are you ok?" She looked back at Akio and waved her hand at him. "I think Clementine may be in trouble."

With some difficulty due to the size increase in his feet Akio walked after Clementine into the town. By the time they got into the town Clementine had disappeared along with the rest of the ghosts who had just flown into the town square.

Juliet looked around in confusion from the guillotine in the middle of the square to the houses tucked up against the sides along a brick wall. "It doesn't even look like anyone lives here." She turned around when she came face to face with a tall skeleton wearing a black suit.

The skeleton was leering down at Juliet with what looked like a horrifying look on his face. It looked like he was expecting screams of terror, but instead he was met with a perplexed look.

"What are you doing?"

The skeleton took a step back and straightened out some wrinkles in his suit. "You must be new around here to not be scared, but that still doesn't make sense. I'm terrifying. Why aren't you scared?"

Juliet shrugged. "I guess I don't scare easy." Well they were in a new world and now she couldn't find Clementine. Maybe he could help. "Have you seen a ghost with a braid around here by chance?"

"Braid? I did see a ghost who looked like that, but someone came and scooped her up. In fact all the ghosts around here have disappeared lately."

Juliet looked a little crestfallen. "Well thanks for your help. I guess I can take it from here. Come on Akio let's go look for Clementine." As she started to walk back towards the meadow she could heard the clatter of bones behind her.

"I couldn't possibly let a young lady traverse Halloween Town by herself at least now without knowing who's trying to help her." The skeleton waved his arms out in a grand welcoming gesture. "I am Jack Skellington; King of Halloween. Or you may call me the Pumpkin King."

Akio glanced over at Juliet with a look on his face that said: 'what kind of guy is this?' He turned back up to Jack with the same look on his face. "So if you're the King of Halloween does that mean Santa Claus is real too?"

Jack looked quiet confused at this. "I don't know what you're talking about. My main concern is making Halloween as scary as it can be. Anyway you said you're looking for a ghost with a braid. How about this: I help you, you help me."

"I guess we could help you. What do you need help with?"

"Oogie Boogie has kidnapped a friend of mine and I need to go get her back."

Juliet looked over at Akio with another confused look on her face. "Who's Oogie Boogie?"

"You know the Boogie Man. He frightens people by doing all kinds of scary things."

"I'm not scared of the Boogie Man. We'll go help you look for your friend if you help us find out friend first."

Jack clapped Juliet and Akio on the back with his skeletal hands. "That's the spirit! Maybe if you stick around afterwards I can show you how much Halloween can be." He started to walk off before turning back around suddenly baring his teeth at them, but was met with the same reaction as before. "I guess you really don't scare easily."

Once they were back in the meadow Jack stopped walking. "All right, here's where we split up." He pointed at Akio. "You come with me to Curly Hill and you," he looked back at Juliet. "Go look in the forest."

As she entered the forest Juliet saw a series of trees in a circle with one in the middle. She was staring at the middle one that had a Christmas tree painted on it with a stack of presents leading up to the door knob. Curiously, she approached it and had her hand on the door knob when she got the feeling she was being watched. "Are you here Erik?"

"Am I really that obvious?"

Juliet turned around to see Erik standing beside one of the other trees. "No, I just think I'm getting used to you popping up. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Just checking up on your progress. So, have you made any or do you still only know of the one?"

"Actually, now that you mention it I did find someone in Wonderland." She saw him to start to walk over to her; an oddly hungry look in his eyes.

"Really? Tell me more."

"Yeah, there was this little girl named Alice who was wandering around who is one of them."

Erik stopped in his tracks for a moment. "You haven't told anyone what you're looking for have you?"

Juliet cocked her head. Why would Erik be so concerned about her telling anyone? "No, I haven't. Are you worried about that?" She was continuing to look at him in confusion. He only almost looked scared. "What's the matter? If you don't want me to tell anyone I won't tell anyone."

The nervous look melted away and his normal serious expression returned. "Well, I was a little nervous about you having others help you, but if you promise not to tell anyone I suppose I can trust you." He started to walk back towards the meadow when Juliet called out to him.

"Can I tell you something?"

Still keeping his back turned Erik stopped walking. "What is it?"

This had been mulling around in Juliet's head for a while, but now that she had the opportunity to say what she wanted to say her nerve was failing her. "I've been thinking about this for a while and I just wanted to tell you that I…..I….um….never mind it's stupid."

This interested Erik who turned around and started to walk back towards her. As he drew closer he could see a blush on Juliet's cheeks. "What is it?"

"It's nothing." Juliet started to back up when her back collided with the Christmas tree door. "All right fine I'll tell you. I think I have a crush on you."

"You think you have a crush on me?"

Juliet's cheeks turned a brighter pink. "I do have a crush on you." She didn't see his expression change and laughed nervously. "Well, now that you know….."

Erik leaned down so that he was eye to eye with Juliet. "While its very flattering that you have a crush on me I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there. You hardly know anything about me."

"About that….why haven't you told me anything about yourself? I thought people loved to talk about themselves."

Erik stood up again and took a step back. "My private life is none of your business. You're here to look for the seven pure lights not to inquire about my life. Now, why don't you continue on your way?"

Juliet walked after him out of the forest when like the previous times she'd followed Erik out he was gone. "Well, now he knows…..and now I feel really embarrassed. Oh well time to go look for Clementine."

"Oh, by the way you might want to go look for Oogie Boogie if you want to find your friend."

By the time Juliet turned around Erik had disappeared again. "Ok, so I guess Akio and Jack are on the right trail." She walked over to the gates that led to Curly Hill and pushed them open. She found both of them looking around the gravestones that were around the hill. "There wasn't any trace of Clementine in the forest." She decided to leave out that she'd run into Erik thinking that Akio would get upset again. "By the way I think we should look for Oogie Boogie's house. I think that's where Clementine is."

Akio stood up from the headstone that he'd been crouched next to. "Why do you think we should go there?"

"Well, Jack did say something about Oogie Boogie and if Clementine isn't in the forest or here maybe she and Jack's friend are there."

Jack walked over to an inconspicuous lever on the side of the hill and pulled it. "This is the quickest route to Oogie Boogie's mansion." As he said this the curly part of the hill unrolled and stuck out so that it was level with an elevated area. He led the way over the top of the hill.

This new area had a stone bridge that went over a small gully towards another gate. Jack was leading the way and pushed the gates open to reveal a towering mansion.

The manor was tall and awkward looking with a series of winding rickety wooden steps that went up around it. There were various turrets that stuck out along the stairway with lanterns in metal cages hanging off the sides.

Juliet followed Jack and Akio down the stone pathway when she saw a group of ghosts hovering around the bottom of Oogie's manor. I guess Erik was right about this. She looked up to see Akio and Jack walking towards the ghosts and had to hurry to catch up.

As they drew closer Juliet was able to see one ghost in particular flying over to them. "Clementine, what are you doing here?"

Clementine looked like she'd had a fright. "We need to get out of here. There's this headless thing running around on a horse." She tried to push Juliet and Akio away when she saw Jack and shrieked.

"Finally the reaction I've been looking for!"

Tearing her eyes away from Jack, Clementine grabbed onto Juliet and Akio's hands and began to pull them away when a giant black horse started running towards them.

Atop the horse was a large man wearing dark armor and like Clementine had said was headless with fire coming up out of the hole. There was echoing laughter that was coming up out of the hole as it turned its horse around so that it would be facing them.

Juliet summoned her Keyblade and looked over at Jack. "You should go look for your friend. We can handle whatever this is." From the corner of her eye she saw Jack going off towards the entrance of the manor before she ran towards the Fright Knight whose horse had reared up on its hind legs.

The Fright Knight pulled its sword out and put its arm down to charge at them.

Clementine shot a fire ball at it in the attempt to set it alight only to have it bounce off and sail through her head. That's not going to work. Might want to try something a bit more advanced. She used a gravity spell on the Fright Knight's horse causing it to float off the ground.

Now that the horse had been knocked off balance Akio threw his disk at its arm knocking the sword from its hand.

When the Fright Knight hopped off the horse to retrieve the sword Juliet's Keyblade swung out and sliced its arm off.

The Fright Knight howled as it cradled its stump arm to its chest.

Juliet looked back at Clementine who was floating near the hole. "Clementine, try casting a blizzard spell in the hole we might be able to freeze it from the inside out."

Clementine glided up over the top of the Fright Knight so that she was right above the hole and cast a blizzard spell down into it.

The Fright Knight shuddered violently as the fire continued to sputter weakly from the hole. Finally, it fell from the horse's back before the horse itself disappeared back into darkness.

Juliet was thinking about leaving since there still weren't any of the five remaining pure lights when she heard the door of the manor creak open.

Jack came out holding the hand of a ragdoll with long red hair wearing a patchwork dress. "This is my friend Sally."

Sally looked curiously over at Juliet and seemed to focus on her while ignoring Akio and Clementine. "You're not from around here are you?"

"No."

"But you can't tell me where you're from or what you're doing right?"

Juliet blinked in confusion. "You're right, but how did you know that?"

Jack put a comradely arm around Sally's shoulder. "Sally knows lots of things that others don't."

Sally was still focusing on Juliet with wide staring eyes. "Its best if you leave here as quickly as you can. The darkness is coming soon. I've seen it that's why Oogie Boogie kidnapped me and brought me here."

Juliet quirked an eyebrow. This was starting to bother her. The King of Atlantis, Mama Odie, and Grandmother Willow had told her about the darkness and she was starting to get more curious about it. "What does the darkness look like?"

The ragdoll looked down at the ground. "It looked like a man with these animals. It was hard to make out, but he was tall and was wearing robes of some kind. His eyes though….his eyes were awful."

As Juliet thought about this she could feel her heart start to sink. "What did his eyes look like?"

Sally didn't look like she wanted to talk about it and swallowed hard. "His eyes were bright red. Like fire or blood. His eyes were the worst part of him."

"How did you know his eyes were red if you didn't get a good look at him?"

"He looked at me." Sally was still shaking as Jack patted her on the shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Juliet looked downwards. "Well, I guess we should get going." She turned around and started walking off with Akio and Clementine coming close behind.

Akio was nearly jogging to keep up with her. "What's the matter?" He didn't need to know the answer it was clearly written on Juliet's face.

"Nothing…..nothings the matter. Come let's go."

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