It was a bright evening in Halloween Town. The leaves danced wonderfully with the small breeze that blew through Halloweenland. An owl was screeching in the forest and the bats were flying in the dark. A cat passed by the window where Sally sat to herself and stared at the moon lovingly. She loved looking at the moon as she was reminded of the wonderful wedding day when she and Jack finally were married. When she saw the cat she smiled and opened the window slightly to greet it and when it hopped down again, she closed the window. Tomorrow was a big day and she had to go back to sleep, she thought to herself. The three little pranksters, Lock, Shock and Barrel had caused trouble for the ghosts again and she promised to help the ghosts to fix the damage after Jack had spoken to them, though there was one problem. Neither Jack nor Sally could find them and both of them began to worry, even though they knew that they could make it on their own, they were still children.

Without hesitation, she made her way through the hallway and quietly turned the doorknob and in a flash the door was open. Zero perked his ears and followed the rag doll into the night as she began searching for the mischievous little demons.

In the Hinterlands were more than seven different Holiday worlds. Each of them with a beautifully decorated door in the wood. One of the doors that led to Christmas Town was opened with a little creek...

"Hey, watch this!" Lock shouted as he made another twirl as he skated on the ice. Shock and Barrel watched on with a mixture of amusement and excitement as he came closer and closer to the hole in the ice. Shock sneered and kind of hoped he would fall in since he tripped her just to tease her. He could be such a show off, so he better get a taste of his own medicine.

Lock laughed as he slid dangerously close to the hole with ice cold water but he couldn't care less. It was fun to do risky things and show his friends how cool he was compared to them. He was the coolest guy since he was the leader after all, which meant he was the best (or so he thought).

Barrel was about to cry out "Watch out for the--!"

SPLASH!!!

"...Hole in the ice." he said, finishing his sentence. "Hey, Shock do you think he would look like an ice cube when he comes up?"

"You mean IF he comes up, you dope!" Shock sneered, though underneath she was a little worried about him. Even though he could be a stick-in-the-mud with his arrogant ways, he was their best friend. "He's such a moron sometimes!"

Then they heard a bubbling sound and in the next moment Lock gasped for air and coughed while shivering like a madman.

"Lock!" Barrel and Shock shouted happily at the same time, glad that he was alright. They rushed over to him and helped him up from the cold water. Lock, however, continued to shiver and spit out the water he accidentally swallowed when he fell into that hole.

"Is it cold, already?" Shock teased, cackling evilly. "You're pretty hot-headed so I thought you could stand the cold so well."

Lock glared at her and sneezed.

"S-s-shut up!" Lock hissed as he crossed his arms, trying to warm himself. "J-just get me home instead!"

She rolled her eyes and silently nodded at Barrel to help her. Barrel took gently Lock's arm over his shoulder and Shock did the same, carefully guiding Lock out from the frozen lake. When they came near the portal to that led from Christmas Town to Halloween Town, they saw Sally coming running towards them with Zero following her closely. They stopped and Sally began to speak after a short pause. She gave them a gentle smile and the trio started somewhat in a way where they seemed a little unsure, that they weren't too used to anyone being this nice to them.

"We have been looking all over for you," Sally said gently yet concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Barrel replied softly. "But Lock tripped into the frozen lake though."

"I meant to do that!" Lock answered, still shuddering with cold while shooting a glare at his youngest cohort. Couldn't he just spare him from the embarrassment? It was getting more awkward as it was, especially since Jack probably would make them pay up for the damage they caused those darn ghosts today. There was no way he nor his friends were going to do that compensation willingly, they did nothing wrong, Lock thought to himself stubbornly.

Sally frowned with concern when she saw that the little devil's lips were turning a darker shade of blue and he looked somewhat paler than usual, if that was even possible considering his usually grayish white skin.

"Lock, is something wrong? You're all shivering." she said sweetly.

"No!" Lock grumbled stubbornly, crossing his arms. Barrel just gave him a kind smile and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Lock acknowledged the kind gesture of his friend but didn't say anything, too proud to admit he liked it.

Sally sighed a little but said gently "Let's go home. It's getting dark."

And soon the little pranksters followed her and Zero home to their beloved town of Halloween, Sally offered to give Lock a blanket so he could be warmer but he insisted firmly that he indeed did NOT need any help. Everything was fine and Sally calmly nodded in respect even though she felt worried about him and after a quick check she made sure the other two were okay as well but Lock had fallen into the ice cold water and his friends didn't.

With a soft smile she bid them good night and watched the walking bathtub going up the ramp to their secret passage to their treehouse.

While she walked home, Sally thought to herself whether she would go to the Treehouse tomorrow and make sure they're alright, but she probably had to go alone as she knew that they expected to be in trouble with Jack as he was the Pumpkin King and all. Sally was the Pumpkin Queen, but they still treated her as Sally or an another authority figure, which meant they didn't respect her as much as they did with Oogie, unfortunately. She guessed that they obeyed him out of fear and perhaps they didn't trust her enough to accept help, but she promised herself that she would try and help them.

"I'll speak to Jack tomorrow." Sally thought to herself while walking home towards the Skellington Manor with Zero by her side, wagging his tail as he longed for his basket, ready to go to sleep. When being safely inside her wonderful, comfortable home she went to bed feeling quite sorry for the children but reminded herself that she would try and help them if they let her. Zero yawned loudly and curled up into a ball of ghostly fur next to her feet and snored softly as he drifted off into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, inside the Treehouse, the three trick-or-treaters were playing tossing axes at the practice wall and chased around the scorpions for fun, all the while Lock was still freezing and every now and then he sneezed and sniffled, but it couldn't be that bad, could it?