"Put me down!" Lock yelled while Sally walked back into the guest room, carrying him with her, doing his best to wriggle out of her grasp, but unfortunately for him, the rag doll was stronger than him this time. Sally gave him an apologetic look and said gently:

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you have to stay in bed until you get better."

Lock glared at her, but gave up complaining after a while. It was no use arguing against Sally and she was pretty nice and she never lied to him either so he reasoned that perhaps he could lay down and rest for a while since he did feel more exhausted after walking around in the Manor, but she didn't have to know that.

"What were you doing in the library?" Sally asked in her sweet voice. "Was there anything you were looking for?"

"My friends but I took the wrong door," Lock thought to himself but answered: "I was looking for a book about scary dragons!"

Then Laura woke up.

"What? I thought I heard you speaking about dragons." she said, newly awoken. "I am one. Was there a book about us?"

Sally nodded. "Yes there is a book about dragons, would you like to read it?"

"Would I? Would I? Fork it over!" Lock replied energetically. Laura nodded eagerly, interested in what the non dragonic people were writing about her species.

After a short while Sally came back with the book and handed it over to Lock who took it and immediately started to read it. It wasn't as fun as spending some fun time with his friends but Laura was with him and was the best part of it all, and it did pass the time when they read the book together.

Suddenly Lock heard hissing next to him and saw his beloved scorpion Stinger hiss at him.

"Heh heh, sorry Stinger." Lock said softly and picked the scorpion up and let it perch on his shoulder. "Better?"

Stinger hissed again and sat there to sleep.

Meanwhile...

Shock and Barrel were enjoying themselves while they walked around in Halloween Town with Jack Skellington. They didn't admit it out loud but Jack could be pretty nice when he wasn't lecturing them for going overboard with their pranks. He took them to the ice-scream stand as promised and he gave them each some extra money so they could buy some for Lock to cheer him up, surely Jack could have done so himself, but Shock and Barrel knew him better than Jack did so it was better they fixed that and also it was good they came outdoors so they could let loose some energy and give Lock some space so he could rest. It was good whenever they were together but since Lock was ill, he also needed to have some space too.

Shock bought an ice cream with the flavors of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate and Barrel bought vanilla, chocolate and strawberry and also an ice-scream with chocolate, vanilla and raspberry for Lock.

Along the way the saw Cyclops and the Devil doing their chores and Bat Kid laughed as he played with Ethan the Corpse Kid, but stopped short when they saw Shock and Barrel coming walking but greeted them happily when the passed by and said hello to Jack as well. Jack smiled at them and gave them a light-hearted scare as they pleaded for him to do so, making them squeal and laugh out of pure joy.

They passed houses, buildings, Town Hall, Town Square until they finally entered the Skellington Manor. When they came inside Barrel called: "Lock! We brought you some ice-scream!"

Lock had just woken up when he heard Barrel's voice calling his name and his face lit up when he heard that they've brought him a treat but he pretended to be asleep to he how they reacted.

"Is he asleep?" he heard Barrel ask.

"Yeah, looks like it, perhaps that means you can have his ice cream." Shock teased.

Lock bolted upright in a flash.

"Oh no you don't!" he hissed. "You give it back to me!"

"I didn't know you were awake." Barrel replied softly, being startled by Lock's sudden outburst but gave the ice cream to him nevertheless.

The day went on as well as it could be until it became supper. Sally prepared some chicken and frogs breath soup for Lock and made pancakes for Shock and Barrel and Jack. She eyed a bottle of a potion for coughing and poured some of it into a little glass and went upstairs. She swallowed inwardly as she didn't know how Lock would react or whether he would be stubborn or not, but she wasn't going to give up so easily.

She carefully entered the room, holding the glass while studying the little devil's expressions. He didn't seem to be in a bad mood at the moment, so maybe he would be more agreeable. She couldn't blame him for being rather cranky because he was sick and she knew that there was nothing more than he hated than being unable to have fun and laying down in a bed all day long.

"Lock, I have something for you to drink. It's a remedy that will help for your coughing." she explained gently. Lock met her eyes for a moment and shrugged his shoulders a little.

"What's it like? Bitter? Sweet? Awful?" he asked with curiosity, though underneath his tough exterior he was secretly a little nervous about what the liquid would do to him.

"I put in some honey so it doesn't taste so bad," Sally replied, trying her best to reassure him. "It'll make you feel better."

He took the glass from her hand and sniffed at it. It smelt good, no signs of anything bitter or poisonous. He tasted it and he found nothing strange about it and within three minutes he drank it down and swallowed it whole.

Relieved, Sally took the empty glass from him when he was finished and said:

"Rest easy now and try not to get up as much. You need to save your strength."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Miss Sally." Lock said in a mock sweet voice while crossing his fingers behind his back. Being given the remedy, he felt it kicking in and it made him feel very hungry for mischief and mayhem. Laura groaned in exhaustion and hoped he would stay in bed this time. The dragon had to place him in bed seventeen times today and it was getting a little tiring, but he was her best friend so she wasn't actually angry with him though she did wish he could listen to her a little more often.

A mischievous, devilish grin spread across his face. He saw that he had a little water left from his cup of tea that was on his bedside table, after Sally gave him tea along with supper. He knew that it could contain a little bit of Deadly Nightshade, which could put anyone to sleep.

He took the cup and poured a little into Laura's bowl which she borrowed from Zero. She didn't notice this and he watched her drink it up and he sat there, waiting for the opportune moment.

The hours passed by and after he was certain that Jack, Sally and Laura were sleeping deeply he snuck out of his bed and tiptoed over to the room Shock and Barrel shared for the night. He gently shook the witch's shoulder and Shock cracked an eye open and rolled her eyes when she saw him. Shouldn't he be in bed when he was sick? Didn't he understand that simple concept?

"Go back to bed, dummy!" Shock mumbled, not wanting to get up.

Lock pouted.

"You're no fun! Come on! I got an idea!" he whined.

Shock sat up and elbowed Barrel in the ribs. The ghoul groggily opened his eyes and smiled brightly when he saw Lock being with him and Shock.

"Are you feeling better now?" Barrel asked curiously.

"You bet!" Lock said, snickering deviously. "Now, here's my idea. We get out through the window and then... Then we play the biggest prank on Town Hall and the fountain!"

Shock and Barrel were astonished. Maybe he was getting better, at least he had some very interesting ideas.

They listened intently to what he had to say and it didn't take long for them to set their newfound plan into action. While Barrel was standing to watch, Shock opened the window and one by one they snuck out, running wildy into the night, cackling madly as they ran to Town Square.

Upon arriving at their target area, Lock immediately pulled out some party bombs and small fireworks that he always had in his pockets and placed them near Town Hall, the fountain and the Mayor's house. When he was done he took a can of fog juice and poured it into the fountain, lit a match and set the fireworks and bombs off, resulting in loud bangs and colorful lights intk the usually quiet darkness of night.

And saving the best for last, he found a flower powder which he had stolen from Easter Town and poured it into the fountain and thousands of sparkles and nice, cute, disgusting flowers spurted out of it, covering the streets of Halloween Town which was usually gloomy and dusty.

Shock and Barrel laughed with wicked glee. This was so much fun and they had to admit even though Lock was sick and had wild, crazy ideas, they were surprisingly fun to go along with.

However the fun didn't last very long when Shock saw Lock holding a huge firework in his hands, forgetting to let it fly free. She and her ghoul friend rushed over to him and took the buzzing firework from his hand, throwing it up in the air.

"Let it go, you idiot!" Shock scolded.

Lock just laughed and said: "Hahaha! Kaboom!"

Meanwhile Laura had just woken up when she heard strange noises that sounded like loud bangs and she could guess where they came from when she saw the empty bed where Lock was supposed to sleep in.

Great, just great. Amazing. Now she had to get up and search for him before he and his friends decided to turn the town upside down and get plenty of work to do for weeks to come. She flew out of the open window and struggled to see through spurts of flowers and fog until she were able to get a glimpse of them. At this point Shock and Barrel were chasing after Lock who was balancing on the roof of Town Hall, laughing madly. His clothes, hair and tail were completely drenched in water after he had jumped into the fountain just for fun.

She steered straight into the direction he was going and grabbed him before he could fall off and also grasped his friends with her tail in the process, carrying them off into the air while flying home.

"Heeey! Let me down!" Lock muttered. "What're ya doin'?"

"I'm saving your skin, apparently." Laura hissed through her teeth, as she held him in a tight grasp. "You better pipe down or you'll wake the whole town!"

"Oh, right." Lock answered bluntly, feeling a little dumb.

The gang managed to sneak in pretty quietly and Shock put the window to a certain angle so it just looked like it was opened to give Lock some fresh air and tiptoed into their room. Lock quickly hopped up in his bed after changing into new, dry clothes and Laura laid down on the mattress, hoping to get a good night's sleep for once.

Suddenly the door opened and Jack Skellington and Sally stood there and turned on the lights.

"What is going on?" Jack asked.

"Oh, nothing!" Lock lied. "I asked Laura to open the window and she did so, right Laura?"

Laura nodded sleepily, barely able to keep her eyes open. Jack gave her a sympathetic look.

"Have you three been nice to her?" Jack asked, noticing how exhausted she was. "She's your friend after all."

Lock nodded while also lying again, just feeling slightly guilty for putting her through the trouble but mostly amused that he could test her patience and see how she would react from time to time to see whether he could trust her or not.

"Why, Lock your hair is wet!" Sally exclaimed, sounding very concerned. "What happened?"

"I just took some water and dipped my head into the tub. I wanted to cool myself a little," Lock lied yet again, smiling "innocently".

Sally didn't say anything but closed the window and took a towel fron the closet and put it onto Lock's pillow. She gave him another glass of water since he needed to drink again since his fever had risen again.

Lock frowned when he saw the glass.

"I'm not thirsty!" he whined, getting tired of having to drink these remedies.

"It'll make you feel better and this is the last one, I promise." Sally said sweetly.

Lock rolled his eyes and said mockingly "It'll make you feel better. Sure thing! I feel better already!"

"Lock..." Jack said gently but warningly, still retaining his polite tone but he wouldn't have any of Lock's rudeness directed towards Sally. That was his limit.

Lock just sighed and complied, taking the glass and drinking it up and since he felt that he had a high temperature, he slowly drifted off into a light slumber, seeing all kinds of strange creatures and funny things around him.

Jack took the glass and put it away while Sally gently tucked Lock in, pulling the covers up to his chin. She put a hand to his forehead and gave a faint sigh when she felt that it wasn't as bad as before but he was still feverish. However, he had been given a fever reducing potion so she had to wait it out until it kicked in and he was beginning to feel drowsy.

With Laura sound asleep and Jack going back to bed, Sally decided to sit next to Lock's bed to watch over him for the night. She slowly drifted off into a deep slumber herself, not knowing that Lock was thrashing about in his bed, whimpering pitifully.

"It was dark inside Oogie Boogie's lair. He remembered the mocking laughter from the sack man who cackled while chasing after him and his friends or yelling at them while he was putting them on the roulette wheel, stretching them more and more.

He saw Oogie Boogie grabbing Shock and Barrel, bringing them closer and closer to the boiling pot..."

Lock sobbed as he flailed with his arms in the air, trying to reach for his friends.

"No," he mumbled. "No. Leave them alone."

Sally woke up when she heard him cry and listen to him.

"If you stop hurting them I can guarantee to bring you Jack's bowtie or his special top hat, that's what you wanted, right?"

He sobbed again. With nothing but sympathy filling the rag doll's heart, Sally put a hand to his shoulder and shook it gently.

"Wake up, you're having a nightmare." Sally whispered meekly. "You're okay."

Lock opened his eyes and looked confusedly at her.

"Sally?" he asked, not really focusing at her. "Where am I? What happened? Where are Shock and Barrel?"

"Don't worry, they're alright." Sally soothed. "You're in the guest room in the Skellington Manor. You're sick, remember?"

"Why?" Lock asked, feeling even more confused. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because you're not feeling well. Me and Jack care about you." she replied softly. "You're not feeling well right now, but we love you and you'll feel better soon."

"Really?" Lock asked innocently, the words sounding so broken it nearly smashed the rag doll's heart to pieces.

"Of course," Sally said softly, hugging him slightly. "Laura care about you and so do Shock and Barrel too. They were really worried about you and they love to spend time with you. And me and Jack want the best for you too."

Lock looked at her with disbelief, but he was ill so he couldn't quite think straight. He wasn't in the right state of mind to do so.

Sally began to tell him a lighthearted story in order to bring him out of his sad mood and halfway through the story, he was fast asleep.

With a tender smile, Sally planted a gentle kiss on the little devil's forehead and whispered:

"Sweet dreams, Lock." She said, hoping he would sleep more peacefully.

After she left, she turned off the lights and went back to bed, completely unaware of the chaos unfolding outside...