Bloom Skellington

"Come on, guys!" Bloom shouts back at her friends. The redhead is wearing her usual black gothic dress with white stripes while running through a graveyard. The girl's hair is being held up in a bun by a spider-like bow.

The rest of the Winx Club hesitantly follows her.

Flora wearily glances at a tombstone. "Is this holiday that big of a deal?"

"Of course, it is!" Bloom beams at them. "It's the most horrible day of the year!"

"Is that the good horrible or the bad horrible?" Musa asks as she steps over a bone.

"Good horrible!" the Fire Fairy laughs while clarifying. "I still can't believe that horrible can mean something bad."

Tecna then voices, "The technical definition of horrible is to cause horror."

"Don't bother," Stella says as she carefully tiptoes over the bugs in her path. "Horror is a good thing around here."

Musa turns to the Solarian Princess. "How are you calm? I figure you'd be the first one to want to get out of here."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I may be keeping my cool on the outside but on the inside I am freaking out a little," the blonde informs them. "But what helps is the fact that I've already met Bloom's family."

Bloom is then heard shouting, "Come on, guys! You don't want to miss it!" the redhead is ahead of them waiting at a set of iron gates.

Flora worriedly turns to Stella. "What can we expect from Bloom's family? Not that there's anything wrong with her. She's our friend and we love her despite the unusual…" the Nature Fairy tries to find the right words as she recalls the time her roommate stuck her arm down a snake's throat to retrieve her homework. "…quirks."

"Let me put it this way. Here in this town, things aren't exactly what they seem. Just keep that in mind no matter how unsettling it gets," Stella starts walking ahead of them. "It be much easier for you girls to see for yourselves."

The group finally catches up to Bloom who happily threw open the gates to let her friends in.

The Winx figured that the town itself would be a little more pleasant than the graveyard. To their surprise, it was gloomier.

The girls carefully followed their redheaded friend as they near a fountain with green liquid pouring out of it.

The fairies, minus Bloom are suddenly unsettled by several creatures coming out of the buildings. From a man with an axe in his head to a walking tree with skeletons hanging from its branches.

The girls were then surrounded by them and were backed into something. Turning around, they find a pumpkin headed scarecrow that catches on fire as it reaches out for them.

The entire Winx Club lets out a scream, Bloom out of delight while the others from terror. Tecna instinctively blasted the scarecrow with a spell, knocking it into the fountain.

The group of monsters gasped at what transpired but none of them made a move towards the fairies.

Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Musa approaches the fountain. Suddenly, a skeleton in a suit erupts from the green liquid and lets out shriek. Out of reflex, the Music Fairy smacks the skeleton, knocking its head off. Flora caught the head but quickly passes it over to Tecna who did the same to Stella. The disgust is evident on the Sun Fairy's face but held onto the head regardless.

The head lets out a laugh. "How terrifyingly unexpected!" At that the crowd of monsters cheered.

Bloom shouts, "Dad?"

Hearing that, the rest of the Winx minus Stella questions, "Dad!?"

The redhead runs up to Stella and takes her Dad's head with the Solarian Princess relieved to be rid of it.

"There's my Pumpkin Princess!" he happily greets. "Glad you could make it for today."

"I'd never miss out on this day, Dad," Bloom walks to where her dad's body had crawled out of the fountain and passed the head to it. "Sorry that I only caught the end of your performance."

"That's all right, Bloom," he places a hand on her shoulder. "At least you're here now. Ready?"

At that the teen nods her head and both turn to the gathering of monsters to shout. "Happy Halloween!" and again they all cheered.

All these creatures started gathering closer making the fairies uncomfortable. A hand was placed on Musa, causing her to shriek. Turning around, they found what could only be described as a living ragdoll wearing a patchwork dress with obvious stitching across her body.

"Oh, I am so sorry," the ragdoll apologies. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Sally. Bloom's mother and you've already met Jack." She gestures over to the skeleton as he and Bloom are approaching them.

"Where did that scream come from?" Jack asks. "That was splendidly horrible!" the fairies turn to Musa. "You must come around next year? I'm already getting inspiration for its performance."

"Jack!" Sally looks worriedly at the teens and sees them shivering and pale. "I think this is too much for them," she turns to her daughter. "You did explain everything to your friends, right?"

"Yes, Mom," Bloom beams. "I told them that this day is the most frightful time of the year and that they'd get so scared they'd die!" the redhead is getting giddy as she recounts exactly what she told her friends word for word.

The ragdoll looks among the teens and notice them glancing at one another before eyeing the citizens of the town as a short man in a tall hat was passing out awards.

"Perhaps we should go somewhere more private?" she suggests.

.oOo.

Withing the Skellington household, the strange family and fairies sit withing the family room enjoying what Sally reassures the Winx is merely tea.

"Once again, I apologize," Jack looks at them in worry. "Terrifying people is just what our town is about."

Flora shakes her head. "It's not your fault. It's just that we have a hard time understanding the way Bloom talks."

"Understanding? How?"

That's when Tecna spoke up. "You see, Mr. Skellington, the terms such as horrible, terrifying, and frightening are used in good form here in your town. But where we're from, it's quite the opposite."

At this, Bloom sighs. "I try my best to adjust. I honestly thought I gotten good enough to talk clearly about everything."

"And you have," Stella admits with a sheepish smile. "But when you told us about this Halloween, I had a hard time figuring it out. But I should have known that since everyone here loves a good scare, you meant everything literally."

The Fire Fairy sighs once again as she leans back in her seat. "It's okay, Stella. It's just hard. You know? I love being with you girls. But sometimes I wonder if the atmosphere at Cloud Tower would be more fitting for me? I just wish it wouldn't require me to be mean."

"And we love being with you," Flora tells her roommate as the rest of the Winx smile at Bloom

Hearing this, the redhead couldn't help but smile in return. "Thanks, girls."

The Winx are then startled by a scream.

"Oh?" Sally walks out of the kitchen. "Someone's at the door."

Musa turns to Bloom and asks, "That was your doorbell?" and receives a nod.

"Where is she!?" comes a hateful shout.

Sally returns to the kitchen followed by a pale old man in a wheelchair being pushed by a woman identical to his appearance.

"Ah!" he lifts his arms up. "There's my precious granddaughter."

"Grandfather! Grandma!" Bloom rushes to him and hugs the old man and then the woman. Once they break apart, the girl turns to her friends. "Girls! This is my grandfather, Dr. Finklestein and my Grandma, Jewel."

The man nods towards the group of teens. "Pleasure to meet my granddaughter's acquaintances. He then turns back to Bloom. "How's your teaching's going?" he asks before letting out a huff and mumbles. "Now that I'm no longer the one teaching you."

"It's quite different," the granddaughter pouts. "For one, I'm not allowed to use any of their dangerous chemicals for personal experiments."

Tecna enters the conversation. "To be fair, you did blow up the lab with one of your experiments."

Hearing this, the doctor laughs. "That makes the fourth time you blew up a lab. I fondly remember the second time you've done the same to my lab. After that, I made sure to keep a better eye on you." To the surprise and disgust of the Winx girls, the man opens the top half of his head to scratch half a brain.

Stella then asks, "What about the first and third time?"

Finklestein closes his head before growling as turns and shouts at the Light Fairy, "Never mention the third time again!" he then calms down. "Now the first time? I am somewhat fond of."

.oOo.

Jack Skellington had just left Town Hall and was on his way to Dr. Finklestein's lab. He is hoping to discuss with the good doctor about a possible device for next year's Halloween Performance.

That's when the Pumpkin King hears an explosion. Even in this town, that sound cannot be good. So, he rushes to the source only to find people gathering outside the entrance of the lab.

Jack watches as Dr. Finklestein is being dragged out of the lab by Jewel.

"Doctor!" the Skellington runs up to them to assist in Finklestein's rescue. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I'm fine," the doctor lifts his dome as if to check to make sure his brain is still that. "But I'm not entirely sure what went on. I wasn't even working with combustibles this time," he then looks among the gathering townsfolk and then back at his burning lab. "Sally's still in there!"

Jack had no time to think as he rushed into the building.

"Sally!" he shouts in the direction of the flames. "Where are you?"

A woman's voice is then heard. "Over here, Jack!"

Heading to the source of the voice, the Pumpkin King can make out Sally cradling something beyond a wall of fire.

"Sally! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she looks down at something in her arms. "But I'm worried!"

"It'll be okay, Sally. I'll figure a way to get you out!" he shouts back. As the skeleton takes a step back, his foot hits something, causing a clank sound. Looking down, he finds a solution to the problem in the form of a bottle containing a green slime. "I remember you."

Jack was quick to grab the bottle and opened it. The slime oozes out and wraps around the skeleton's wrist. The Pumpkin King searches up and spots a part of the rafters that seems stable enough and swings his arm at it. The slime extends itself in the form of tether to wrap around the rafter so that Jack can swing himself above the flames. As soon as he is beside the ragdoll, Jack was quick to grab Sally and uses the slime to go back the way he came from. The rafter held on long enough for them to get across.

Once they were outside, Jack and Sally found themselves surrounded by the townsfolk.

Dr. Finklestein is led to his daughter where the good doctor scolds her. "What were you thinking, Child!? You were closer to the door and could have easily gotten out, you insolent…" he is silence by the sound of babbling. "What?"

"You see, Father," Sally holds up the bundle to reveal that it's wrapped in a blanket. "I had to go back for her," she partially removes the blanket to reveal a baby with a tuft of red hair on its head.

.oOo.

Dr. Finklestein finishes the story. "I figured that the child had somehow started the fire but could never figure out how. At least not until you…" he points at Stella. "…nearly destroyed my lab!"

"Hey!" the blonde stands to defend herself. "That was the ogre! Not me!"

The doctor rolls over to her. "And why was he here?"

That causes the Light Fairy to silence herself while sitting back down.

Flora turns to her roommate. "So, you're adopted?"

Bloom tilts her head. "Adopted?"

Sally smiles at her daughter while telling her, "It means that we are not your birth parents, but we love you as our own no matter what."

"Oh…" the redhead turns back to the Nature Fairy. "Of course! Did you really think that a skeleton and a living doll would have a kid of flesh and blood?"

The group looks among themselves before Musa adds. "Haven't you ever wondered where you came from?"

At that, Bloom shrugs. "Sometimes. But I really love it here with everyone else. I guess…" she looks down. "I guess I'm mostly afraid that if I found my birth parents, that would mean I wouldn't belong here. And not afraid in a good way."

"Oh, Bloom," Sally wraps her arms around. "You'll always belong here. Even if you find out where you came from."

"She's right!" Jack stands up. "When you find your real family, we'll gladly accept them as I'm sure they'll accept you, my Pumpkin Princess!"

The Fire Fairy smiles at him. "Thanks, Dad. I think I really needed to hear that. Just one thing. You guys will always be my real family. No matter what."

Hearing this, Jack hugs Bloom and they are soon joined by Sally.

The Winx girls look upon the heartwarming scene that. Their attention is caught by the sound of a dog bark. They turn to the source and Flora, Musa, and Tecna had to stifle a shriek at the sight of a ghostly dog. The god just floats over to the family to nuzzle the daughter.

The girls blinked at the sight before Tecna asks, "They have a ghost dog."

Musa adds, "Of course they do."

"That's just Zero," Stella tells them as they watch Jack remove a rib to throw for the ghost dog to fetch. "He's strangely the most normal thing around here."

The remaining three Winx look at one another before shrugging as they continue to watch on as Zero brings the rib over to Bloom to have her throw the bone.

End

NOTE: I just felt the need to do something for the season. Happy Halloween, everyone!

NOTE 2: Guest (Austin) I'm sorry for your loss. I know how hard that can hit. Happy late birthday. And unintentional or not, glad that I could brighten things up if only a little.