As they returned to the lab, Sora and Ruby explained everything to Jack. The explanation about the Keyhole was joined by some rather harsh, lecturing words from Donald and Weiss in particular. How the Heartless came to Halloween Town trying to find the Keyhole so they could consume Jack's world, and that locking it would protect it and them from the Heartless. It was then that Jack finally realized the full extent of the danger they posed. And that trying to get those Heartless to dance with him was playing with a fire that almost incinerated his entire world. Sally was right all along.
The theatrical skeleton felt a great wave of regret and sadness wash over him when they returned to the lab. The Mayor, Dr. Finklestein, and Sally were all waiting for them. They explained the situation, resulting in Finklestein's frustration, the Mayor's relief, and Sally's joy to see they were alright. Jack felt most remorseful for disregarding Sally most of all. "Sally...Why didn't I listen to you?" he said, slumping sadly. He put his world, and all his people, in danger, all because he wanted to do something new to spice up this year's Halloween.
"Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween," Sally reassured with a relieved smile as she approached him, laying her hands within his. All that mattered to her was that Jack and his new friends managed to save them despite his misjudgement. Jack looked up at Sally, his morose face now hosting a smile of gentle admiration as she then said, "Next time, we'll do it together."
Together...Now that was something Jack was more than happy to consider as he gently closed his bony hands around her stitched ones. Everyone who watched from the sidelines, with the obvious exception of Dr. Finklestein, smiled warmly at the sight. Though none were more happy and adoring of the sight than Ruby who let out a great, dreamy sigh. "How romantic~"
The tender moment between him and Sally came to a satisfactory ending when Jack let go and turned back to Sora. "I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween Festival for now," he said, knowing what needed to be done despite still feeling a little disappointed. Yet his smile returned again as he he handed something to Sora. "Here. I want you to have this. Visit us any time, Sora. Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!" Sora looked at the gift Jack gave him, which looked almost like a small jack-o-lantern. He wasn't sure what it was for, but he smiled at Jack, nodding to him in thanks.
Weiss raised an eyebrow at how quickly Jack shifted gears. "Wow. He seems over it already. That was fast." she remarked, earning a shrug from Yang. "Might be for the best. That way he doesn't feel inclined to try again." Ruby's sister commented. That was a sentiment everyone could get behind. No more dancing Heartless was for the best.
Dr. Finklestein groaned, mulling over the book bearing the recipe on the artificial heart. "Emotion, memory... We put in all the necessary ingredients." he muttered, turning in his wheelchair. "What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out."
Sora, Ruby, and their friends looked at each other as the doctor wracked his mind to make sense of how his experiment failed. But perhaps...it was never meant to succeed. "I don't think that's something science can explain. Not for certain, anyway." Blake said. Ren nodded in agreement as he spoke up as well. "Indeed. Some things simply aren't comprehensible by logical or practical means. One cold hard fact of life is that there's more to life than just cold hard facts." Nora looked at Ren with that same dreamy expression as when he saved her from the the fireball. A sigh emerged from her lips as she mumbled, "I love it when he gets all philosophical."
"Well...I guess we'd better get going..." Ruby said, her tone noticeably morose. Of all the worlds they'd been to so far, she had loved Halloween Town the best, bar none. The whole birthday angle definitely played a large role in it, but at the same time she'd really come to adore the world itself. Especially Jack and Sally. And she was so looking forward to joining the Halloween celebrations. "Oh, come on now Ruby. Chin up. It's your birthday, after all. End it with a smile." Jack said, patting her shoulder encouragingly. She looked up to see Jack giving her the biggest grin she'd seen from him yet. Unable to help herself, she found herself instinctively smiling as well. It was like Sora's funny face. Not quite as funny, but it certainly warmed her heart.
"There you go! And here. If you'd like, have a birthday present! You've earned it for saving my friends and my world." Jack said, reaching into his pocket and procuring what looked to be...a music CD of some sort. "This contains the song of last year's Halloween festival. Our biggest one yet, in fact!" he said as he placed it in her hands. Ruby's silver eyes widened and her smile absolutely shined like the moon in the sky. "Oh, Jack! Thank you!" she cheered, wrapping her arms around his bony waist in a tight hug. Jack chortled and lightly returned the embrace. The action drew a smile of adoration from Sally who couldn't help loving how sweet Jack was to the girl.
As they broke away, Ruby looked at the ragdoll cheerfully and said, "You and Jack take care of each other, okay Sally?" she said cheekily. Sally blinked with a tiny gasp and, what Ruby was certain was a blush upon her pale cheeks. Just as planned. Her reaction drew a small laugh from the rest of the group, or at the very least a smirk from the more serious ones. Jack however didn't seem to notice as he scratched his skull looking between Ruby and the suddenly flustered Sally. Was he missing something?
"Well, we'd better get going." Sora said, turning and waving to the four Halloween figures with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Goodbye everyone! Happy Halloween!" Ruby said, waving to them joyfully as she ran after everyone else. "Happy Birthday, Ruby!" Jack wished her one last time. With that, the group walked through Halloween Town's gates, returned to the Gummi Ship, and off they went.
"This is Halloween~ This is Halloween~ Doo doo doo doo-doo-doo doo doooo~ This is Halloween~ Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo~ Doo-doo-doo-"
"Ugh...She's played that song twice times already and she hasn't stopped singing it." Weiss groaned in annoyance. Blake looked between their singing team leader and Yang with a concerned expression. "Is she...always like this on her birthday?" Yang simply sighed and said, "Unfortunately. But at least it's not as bad as previous years." At least she wasn't denying her family all of the candy by playing the birthday card over and over and over, so...that was something at least? Still, seeing her little sister so happy...did make it worth it. Plus, their costumes were fun while they lasted, as Halloween often is.
Team JNPR was at least more patient, if only because they had other things to focus on. Pyrrha for instance was...lamenting the loss of Jaune's wolfish ears and tail, while the Arc boy in question was relieved at that loss...Though he did miss that nice feeling that Pyrrha's scratching gave. Not that he'd admit that out loud. Ren meanwhile found himself asking Nora, "So Nora, what was with the way you stared at me when we were fighting Oogie Boogie? You didn't get sick or anything, did you?" His question caused the Valkyrie girl to stiffen with flustered shock, realizing that she must have been even less subtle than she usually was. "Oh! Uhh, heheh. Nevermind that, Ren. I didn't look at you in any weird way. Like I'd ever endanger our friendship in any way! You're such a silly head." A flurry of statements she emphasized with a bizarre, and sudden shift of facial expressions, complete with her even grabbing Ren by the head and lightly shifting it side to side. All of it succeeding in further confusing Ren.
"In this town~ We call home~ Everyone hail to the Pumpkin Song~" A collective groan rang out among the huntsmen and huntresses as Ruby continued to sing. This was going to be a long trip to Traverse town...
Fortunately for them, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had a way to make the silence less full of Ruby's singing "Hey guys! Let's check out this Ansem report." Sora called to the others, specifically making sure that Ruby could hear him, which fortunately she did. Though she seemed disappointed to have to stop the song as she followed the others to gather around Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
Sora cleared his throat and read the report aloud.
I am studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch, and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records even mention such a substance.
Was it introduced to this world when I opened the door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world... I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow.
But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place.
"Hold on. Is he talking about gummi pieces?" Blake asked as Sora finished reading the report. "Sure sounds like it." Goofy said, scratching his head alongside Donald. "It's gotta be. There's no other explanation." the duck wizard added. Everyone went silent as they went over what they'd learned so far. Ansem was studying the Heartless, he discovered the existence of gummis, and was drawn to the idea of the existence of different worlds. Of course, such a dream was not so unrealistic after all, considering the eleven friends were now traveling to different worlds together.
Though there was one other outstanding issue. "Hey. Has anyone else noticed that these reports are skipping over numbers?" Jaune said, putting down the others they had collected. Sure enough, they simply had report 1, 3, and 7. Weiss looked at Jaune with a deadpan expression. "That doesn't mean they're skipping numbers, Jaune. It's obvious that those villains we defeated simply had these specific numbers." Weiss said, making Jaune cringe with embarrassment which Pyrrha acted quickly to quell as she lay her hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Leon told me that the pages were scattered across the worlds." Sora piped up. "Hey, Aerith and Professor Oozepan said the same thing to me and Donald.
Donald simply sighed with a frown, not even bothering to correct Goofy on the professor's name. Of course, the ever present mispronunciation of the professor's name drew a small snicker from the lips of the huntsmen and huntresses present. Especially Yang and Nora. "Wow. I can't believe I never thought of anything like that." Yang muttered to her teammates, her voice trembling with laughter.
"ANYWAY!" Weiss exclaimed, trying to get things back on track...and trying to hide the fact that she too was snickering. "So the other pages are still out there?" she inquired. With everyone calmed down, Ruby answered, "Yeah. And Cid told me the same thing. If they've all fallen into the hands of these evil people...That might explain how they're using the Heartless. They've been using Ansem's research." Yang broke up the tension by pounding her fists together, confidently saying, "Well if we've gotta beat em all to get the other pages, then bring em on." "You said it!" Nora agreed just as eagerly.
No matter how many villains came their way, no matter how the Heartless tried to stop them, or even if more Grimm were to rear their ugly heads, they'd beat them down, save the worlds, and find some way to get things back to normal...at least they could hope for the last one.