She adjusted the final piece of her costume. It's perfect for the night's events. It's a pair of overalls, and a blue/green striped shirt. This is the closet she could get to looking like the killer doll from the 80's. It had front pockets, side pockets, and back pockets. She tucked pencils into the front. Her other pocket was heavy with notecards.
Her wig needed some work. She hadn't wanted it to stick much anyway. Red hair was such a nuisance. It wouldn't serve much use until she could reach the Halloweentown bus.
She stepped out of her room. A boy barrelled into her, slamming her back onto the bedroom door. "Ow!"
The boys just laughed. They kept laughing as they ran up the hallway. She ground her teeth.
"Laris! Doug! That hurt!" She shouted.
The boys sneered. Laris even stuck out his tongue. Both wore overalls the same as her. Douglas, the eldest, wore bright red and a hat with an M. Laris wore the same but green, and with an L.
"Good! We wanted to ruin your hair but you already did that." Douglas reached over to ruffle the wig.
She tried swatting his hand away. Douglas laughed.
"What are you, a demon?" Laris mocked. "You look disgusting."
She bared her teeth. "I'm a classic horror icon!"
"You were supposed to be Wario." Douglas pushed her on her door again. She balled her fists up. Rage filled up her tiny body. "I'm Mario, cause I'm the eldest and better than you. Laris is Luigi, and even he's better. Kasper is Waluigi 'cause he's so thin. And we all know why you're Wario, Mardolla."
She could attack. Douglas left himself entirely exposed and defenseless. A swift hit to the gut, followed by hard kicks to the knees could send him down. A final slap of the face would send his face into the nearby wall. Laris would be harder- farther away and likely to attack to save his brother. She could find a way of disabling this opponent as well. He left one of the straps off on the overalls. She could use it as a leash.
Except, Laris was also a snitch.
The moment Douglas goes down, Laris shouts for their father. The man wouldn't hesitate to punish her for misbehavior. He made it his mission to make her work.
She's not even fat! It's muscle! She just hides it under baggy clothes that make her look fat! The two boys were just assholes. Her punishments in this house often involved making her exercise until curfew. Not that she minded, she appreciated being able to keep up her workout routine. That doesn't mean she likes it being a punishment.
That's just her life in the Dunn house as Mardolla Dunn. She's not saying being Morgan Spencer is any better. At the Dunn's, she's the youngest of four, and the only girl in the house. There's no mother in sight.
Mardolla hopes this mysterious mother lives in Halloweentown.
Douglas grabbed at her wig. Mardolla reached up, trying to whack his hand away. He laughed. He curled his fingers. Mardolla tried kicking his shins. He yelled in pain. As he stumbled back, he yanked off the wig. Mardolla shrieked.
"Enough!"
The three teenagers turned. A short, portly Toad dressed man stood in a doorway. Their father, Brennainn Dunn. A tiny, lanky teen in overalls and a purple shirt stood beside him. Ah, yes, the other snitch, Kasper.
The five of them painted a particular picture. They were all on the shorter side as a family. Brennainn stood the shortest. At some point, all his children were equal height with him. As years went on, and puberty kicked in, the boys shot up past him. With Brennainn at 5 feet, his kids dwarfed him at 5 '5. Douglas in particular stood at 5'8. It's not very tall for people, but he's enormous in this house. Mardolla is the only one still under 5 feet.
She's also the only one with bright amber eyes. The rest of the Dunns had dark brown. Her hair was dark black. It's a matted mess thanks to Douglas, frizzy and untamed without the wig. The boys had short, black hair.
"Mardolla!" Brennainn snapped. Mardolla braced herself. "Go in your room and change!"
Mardolla dropped her jaw. A childish urge to stomp her foot came to mind. She contained herself. She's 72, not 13. "I don't see why!"
"It's inappropriate." Brennainn told her.
Mardolla widened her eyes. "It's ankle length!"
"She's a freak, Dad, she actually likes this stuff!" Douglas chuckled. He elbowed Laris. "Remember we caught her watching murder mysteries yesterday?"
Laris nodded, resembling a bobble head. "We did."
Brennainn gasped at his youngest. "Mardolla!"
"I'm 13! I can watch that stuff!" Mardolla insisted. She'd watched it for decades. Hell, she lived it too. None of these people knew that. That doesn't change the blow of the insult.
"It's for 14 year olds, like Kasper. You're a baby." Laris mocked.
"No I'm not!"
"A fat baby." Douglas added.
Okay that childish urge was becoming a grown up need. Her jaw clenched again. She reached in her pocket. It only had white note cards.
She missed having weapons in reach. All her weapons were in a storage unit on the original boring Earth.
"Children!" Brennainn snapped. The teens all shot upright. "Mardolla, go change. Now! Any more protests means laps until midnight!"
"Just make her stay home." Douglas asked. "It'll be just as useful."
"If she stays home, so do you!" Brennainn warned him.
Mardolla stomped back into her room. The yellow shirt sat on the floor, crumbled under the flipped over yellow hat. The initial looked like her own.
==TB==
They bought an itchy yellow shirt. It grated on her skin. The hat poorly hid her wild curls. Brennainn made his disappointment clear.
"How did you even find that wig?" Brennainn grumbled.
Mardolla crossed her arms over her chest. The colored pencils were still there, and a few used notecards. "I bought it."
"Your allowance is for your school lunches." Brennainn reminded her with no warmth. "Not for silly things like wigs."
Mardolla held back a roll of her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady!"
"I didn't!" Mardolla replied. "It's a wig. That's not a big deal."
"It is a big deal. Dressing as a horror movie villain is a bad thing." Brennainn explained. Her three brothers excitedly laughed. Kasper shoved Laris. Laris got his footing back. Douglas grabbed Kasper by the shoulders to give his head a noogie. "Think of what the neighbors will say when they see you, or your classmates."
Mardolla shrugged. "Then they see a cool costume."
Brennainn scoffed. "You need to start thinking about these things. You're growing up, and need to behave like a normal person." Mardolla gagged. "That's why we're going out tonight to serve at the local church's Halloween party. They need volunteers on this unholy night. Their souls need salvation. It's how I've raised my children to be. You'll be next to lead people back to the pasture."
Mardolla searched the crowded streets for a familiar face. Any of them. Aggie Cromwell, the Halloweentown bus, even those three classmates of Marnie. She would take literally any of them. She fully supported serving people in need, obviously. People that needed help deserved to get it. But Brennainn phrased it in such a way that it left her skin crawling.
Passerby children laughed. Brennainn grimaced. Mardolla noted the children dressed as witches and fairies.
"It's disgusting. Parents will just let their children do as they please." Brennainn shook his head. "You'll understand when you're older, maybe 14. It's better to be normal than fall into depravity."
That's not the problem. Mardolla understood perfectly. She's 72. Her age came from jumping between universes. Everybody still thinks she's some little kid. She's spent so many of those years trying to look normal. All that gets her is more scorn. From her real family, the Spencer's, and from other children.
Halloween is different. Halloween lets you be weird and odd. To dress up as someone us, anyone you pick. Grownups play along. It's all good fun. For one night a year, Morgan Spencer was accepted by people around her. She doesn't even get that on her birthday.
She wanted things to be different in Halloweentown. Instead she's greeted with a religious father, and brothers that bully her.
She wants to have fun. This is a universe of weird and welcoming people. How did she end up around hateful humans first?
"Brennainn!" A woman called from down the street.
The short man froze. His mushroom hat bobbed on his head.
"Brennainn! Is that you?!"
Mardolla knew this man for only two weeks. Annoyance often filled his face. Rage powered his voice. She's surprised he hadn't dressed as Bowser tonight. At the woman's voice, Mardolla caught a new kind of rage.
She looked back. An older woman ran up the street. Now that was a citizen of Halloweentown. Dressed in colorful robes, hair in a mess of wild black hair, and an even better mix of necklaces and bracelets. Every part of it called out to Mardolla.
"Brennainn!"
The boys groaned. Mardolla could only stare, smile growing and eyes going big.
"I hate when dad runs into friends."
"We'll miss all the good stuff!"
"They'll put us on trash duty again."
Brennainn reached over. He grabbed Mardolla, trying to shove her behind him. He made a mistake. She's a lot stronger than him. She yanked her arm out of his hold. He grabbed at her again. The woman got closer.
"Brennainn!" She called out again. She reached the family by then. "You- is that Mardolla?"
"Go back." Brennainn snapped. "Stay away from my children."
She continued to smile. "You mean our children."
Mardolla gawked. The boys stopped complaining.
She noticed the lack of a mother. There were no pictures on the walls of the Dunn home. There's not even an altar, or things being avoided. If the mother died, Brennainn would've built a shrine or a dedicated space for her. Mardolla saw no trace of another woman in that house. They divorced, then, with the mother framed as 'the bad guy'. It's something Morgan Spencer commonly saw in child custody arrangements, or from UNSUBs with a vendetta against their wives.
She hadn't expected the wife to be from Halloweentown. Perhaps, looking back, she should have. It was so very obvious in hindsight. By his revulsion of the bizarre, Mardolla pegged Brennainn as the Halloweentown citizen with a wife that hadn't been 'normal' enough.
But this was so much better.
"What?" Douglas asked.
"Dad, who's that?"
"Dad?"
Mardolla tried to slowly move aside. Brennainn focused more on putting himself as a barrier between her and the children. He ignored the real locations of his children. "No. You gave up those rights."
"I gave up nothing." The woman argued. "Boys. It's me, Mom. Remember?"
"You- what?" Laris asked.
"Dad. Is it Mom?"
"Dad, you said Mom left." Douglas said. "That she was gone forever."
"She is." Brennainn argued. "She decided her work was more important than her family."
"Your father hasn't told you everything." The Mom said. "He's kept things from you, especially you, Mardolla."
"No. They've got nothing to do with you." Brennainn snapped. "They're over 13. That makes them useless to you. Stay away from her!"
"Bren, please. I didn't do anything!" The mother insisted.
"You are never allowed near my children again!" Brennainn barely kept from shouting. He kept glancing around the street, hoping to avoid catching the attention of the crowd.
"Please, it wasn't harmful! I would never do anything like that to our children. Believe me!" The mother tried.
"No. I saw you as you really were." Brenainn snapped. "You and all your kind. You only want to hurt people. You mask behind goodness and being righteous, but that's not true. You lead people down a path of indulgence and sin! Well not anymore. Not for my family, least of all my daughter."
He grabbed at Mardolla again. He hadn't realized he grabbed Kasper. "Come on, guys, we're going home." He bodily yanked the child with him. The two older boys gawked at their long lost mother.
"She has magic! You already stole it from my boys. Don't take it from my little girl!" The mother called out.
Brennainn long since stopped listening. "Boys. NOW!" Douglas and Laris jumped back to action. They obediently rushed after their dad.
Mardolla, on the other hand, stayed hidden against a nearby building. Her Wario hat tossed aside to the trash. Sometimes it really pays being the much ignored child.
==TB==
She probably had until they made it home to be noticed. Brennainn drove them, and it was a five person car. Even if he noticed, she'd be long gone by the time he made it back here.
The Halloweentown bus was notoriously late, and slow going.
It's so exciting. Marsolla thought she would miss the chance. Brennainn kept such a tight hold on the kids. She knew her only way to the bus was waiting until after curfew. Having expected that, she left her other items back at the house. All she had on her was notecards and colored pencils.
She won't take a risk. Brennainn could be even stricter tonight, given his disdain of his ex. Mardolla wanted none of that. She wanted to visit.
This dimension has been a plan for ages. Since she first ever felt magic in her hands. Morgan Spencer jumped to other realities too, for more magical training. King Arthur's court for one. Becoming the ultimate evil of his legacy hadn't been a Plan. She tried to shake off the reputation, it took visiting Phineas and Ferb to make her feel capable again.
So here she is. The best, weirdest witch world she could find. Evil is obvious and frowned upon. The citizens of Halloweentown are nice and good. If Morgan turned evil again, or was accused of it, people would defend her.
Then she met the Dunns.
Her hopes of an affirming witch village were dashed away. She packed a tiny knapsack under her bed to run away, forge her own path in the town.
Now she's got a mom, and that's a great pathway.
Was she suspicious about the Dunns splitting up? Obviously! But the people of Halloweentown are good and nice. Any ill will from Mrs Dunn can't be anything more than Kalabar's spell.
Mardolla is willing to leave her backpack of supplies behind. She can get new, better things. Maybe even a whole new bag.
==TB==
AN: I wrote this during jury duty.
(Okay I wrote the plot during jury duty, and spent the remaining months writing out the plot. It was supposed to be 4k words and now it's 15k and like…sorry? This should've been out for Halloween! I was gonna do a whole series that month with all the movies)