Author's Notes: Ho-kay, this certainly took long enough. There's been so much going on between family health problems, trying to find a career, still working in retail, getting distracted by other things, and now we're getting some home renovation done that's it's been so hard to get anything done, whether it be doing the RP with GiovanniGo, working on the review for the latest Disney/Toho Movie Night for DJ Rodriguez (don't worry, I'm at the early parts of the actual film itself, so I don't think I have too far to go now), or working on my own stories. But finally, FI-NAL-LY, I've got something done. And who knows, the response to this latest chapter may give me the energy I need. Heaven knows I've needed some with what's been going on and all.

That being said, Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully things are going smoothly where you are. I've been hearing about the fires going on in the South Palisades in California, and it leaves me sad how many people have been affected by this and how much history is being lost to the flames; all my prayers are with those who are going through this hard time.

I don't think there's much else to report on my end for right now, so we may as well jump into things.

Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Skellington or any "Nightmare Before Christmas" characters, they are owned by Disney and Tim Burton, nor do I own the characters of "Five Nights at Freddy's", they are owned by Scott Cawthon and Steel Wool Studios.

Recap: One Halloween night in the mid-to-late 1970's, a young Jack Skellington comes across an establishment in Hurricane, Utah called "Fredbear's Family Diner" and decides to investigate. After getting in through a somehow-unlocked loading dock door, Jack looks around the closed diner and finds the two main attractions in the Parts and Service room: A golden bear and a golden rabbit. After an accident involving springlocks, Jack is introduced to Goldy (the golden bear) and Spring (the golden rabbit), who tell him that they are animatronics. Marionette/Puppet soon makes his appearance and is firm on the young child leaving and not returning; he faces resistance from his younger siblings. In the end, Jack vows to keep the animatronics' sentience a secret and takes a Spring plush to seal the deal and as an after-hours admission fee. Dawn soon rolls around and Jack takes off with Puppet following. The pursuit leads Puppet to going outside and discovering that the strange boy is long gone…which pretty much leads him to wondering what trouble he and his siblings may have gotten themselves into. Here is what happened during and after that time…

Chapter 2

Spring was trying so hard not to let Goldy's impatience get to him, but with her pacing about and fretting quietly, it was getting difficult. Not to mention the microchips, processors, and code that constituted his mind were running full tilt as he began a retrospect of this rather eventful night.

As most days do, it had started out like the usual ever since Mari, Goldy, and himself had been moved out of the workshop and into the diner: Spend 6 hours and 50 minutes in Parts and Services until the morning crew arrives, get checked out and put on stage on time for opening at 8 AM, perform with small breaks between shows until closing at 11 PM, get escorted into Parts and Services at 11:10 PM, rinse and repeat. That's how it had been for as long as he could recall, and that's how it would have been tonight if not for a somehow-unlocked door, a strange, costumed boy taking the opportunity to sneak in, and then getting scared awake by that same boy, which led to his springlocks going off.

That had happened before back in the workshop—luckily, with no-one inside—and it hurt now as much as it did then. He honestly had to wonder why he and Goldy were built like death traps. Apparently there was some sort of technical reason, but he never really paid much attention to those sorts of things, he left that to Mari. Then again, even coming from Mari, the only details he paid attention to were that fast movement and moisture would trip the springlocks and if someone was inside him when that happened, everyone would be in BIG trouble. He reasoned that as long as he kept those in mind, he would be careful and that horrible consequence would never happen.

He had been lucky tonight, that was for sure; no-one had been wearing him and Goldy had been there with the crank. But that wasn't all: Jack had been there this time, helping with the stubborn springlocks that Goldy would normally have to push back on her own, which was honestly quite painful for him.

Speaking of painful, hearing Jack cry for him like that had given him a…sensation of some kind in his chest…but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. What emotion was it? But…Mari, Goldy, and himself were never programmed with emotions; they couldn't have any. They were just machines.

But still… Maybe it was the fact that no-one had ever cried for him before. And, again, he was a machine, so why would they, really?

But Jack didn't treat them like that at all. If anything, he treated them like they were real, living beings. Even after they explained to him what they were, he didn't treat them any different. Honestly, one could attribute that to the fact that before now, the boy had no idea what animatronics were, so he just had to eventually comprehend that fact.

But then there was the matter of Jack asking them if they wanted to be his siblings. That was something that couldn't be brushed aside. Spring couldn't. He…didn't want to.

But why? That was the question. What was so special about this one boy who snuck in after hours to make him, and the others, feel this way? Jack was just a child like any other.

Right?

…

Spring sighed and put a hand to his face. There were way too many questions that he wanted to ask, but given the circumstances, could he really ask William or Henry without putting the agreement the three made with Jack at risk?

"Hey."

Spring lowered his hand and looked at his little sister, having been brought out of his thoughts by her voice. At this point she had stopped her pacing.

"You OK?" Goldy asked gently.

Spring started opening his mouth to answer when—

"OH, HANG IT ALL!"

The sudden and rather loud outburst from Mari (who was in the kitchen at this moment) made Spring and Goldy jump a bit, (no springlocks went off, luckily) making the golden rabbit's ears go ramrod straight and the golden bear's ears go up as high as the joints and suit could allow. …And making Goldy's hat fall off. Again.

Spring chuckled at Goldy's little huff of frustration as she gave her wayward headwear a death glare. Which turned into a deadpan look of "Really?" when she looked in his direction.

"Sorry! Sorry," Spring managed to get out as he got himself under control. "You OK?"

"Yeah," the female golden bear replied as she picked her hat up, gently brushed the top to get rid of any dust and dirt and put it back on. "What on Earth was that all about?" she then asked, getting a little concerned. "I hope Mari didn't hurt himself."

"Believe me, we would've heard something worse if he did," Spring said.

Goldy sighed and her ears twitched back for a second; she was still a little sore about Mari using a swear word in front of a child.

Spring noticed; he wasn't exactly happy about that, either. He was aware that people used words like that when they got frustrated or angry, but he honestly wondered where Mari had picked up such words in the first place.

"Hey, whoa! Where are you going?"

Once again, Spring's thoughts had been interrupted, this time by Goldy preparing to head out the double doors to the Main Party Room.

"I can't wait any longer, Spring!" Goldy exclaimed. "I gotta know what's going on!"

"Mari told us to stay put," Spring reminded.

"But—"

"I'm worried, too, but do you want to aggravate him more? Tonight's put him in a bad enough mood as it is. Now, wait!" he said quickly before Goldy could even think of arguing. "I'm not trying to take sides here, but you do understand that he's just trying to be the best example for us and look out for us. You get that, right?"

"Yeah, I do," she sighed. "And I know that Jack wasn't in the right for sneaking in, but what's the harm of having an actual friend? Someone who wants to look up to us like we're his family? When was the last time that ever happened?"

To be honest, the only one who had an actual answer to that was Mari, and that was when both Spring and Goldy were created. It had been Henry's idea to put the three of them together and have them interact, like a team-bonding exercise. He had no way of knowing that it would turn into a family-bonding exercise.

As for Spring and Goldy, they likely would have gotten the experience once the four new animatronics were done, but thanks to Jack, they got it had been some strange moments, yes, but it had seemed to be an overall positive experience.

"Probably not since we were first built and Mari got saddled with us," Spring answered.

Goldy giggled, her ears wiggling as she thought back to those days. The staff may have looked after them during the day, but it was Marionette who was the true guardian, making sure the two didn't cause any mishaps or give away the fact that there was more to them than what the public saw. And putting up with whatever shenanigans the then-young bots had up their figurative sleeves after hours that would make Mari lose an hour or two of "sleep".

Man, no wonder Mari was so grumpy all the time.

Having to deal with that afterwards wasn't fun, but it was worth it for the giggles, Goldy thought. Besides, it wasn't like there was much to do after hours and after so many days and nights of the same thing, she wanted a little spontaneity.

And tonight, she got it in the form of the most unique and strangest child she had ever come across.

She had to admit, seeing Jack cry over Spring being in pain had caught her off-guard. No-one had ever done that. Not that she could ever recall. And then he got so stubborn when he wanted to help despite the danger; it reminded her of herself a bit. Well, actually, all three of them were pretty stubborn when they wanted to be. Wonder who they got that from.

And then there was the fact that Jack had never heard of animatronics before. Then again, Jack had said he was from out of town and they didn't have animatronics where he lived. Goldy and the others hadn't heard of any other animatronics being anywhere else, so maybe that shouldn't have been a surprise.

Speaking of surprises, Jack had been full of them, from the crying over a possibly hurt being to having the ability to sneak up on people so well (man, she was SO lucky that her own springlocks hadn't gone off; that would've been disastrous) to the mention of opening bodies with this Dr. Finklestein. Honestly, she would've thought something was wrong if it wasn't for the fact that the boy's sweet personality was so genuine.

If someone were to ask her about how she knew that, she really couldn't give a clear answer. All she knew was that despite only knowing him for a couple hours, all that strange stuff and that bit about breaking in, Jack was a genuinely kind boy with a bit of a slightly sassy charm who would stand up for those he cared about. If that wasn't a good friend, she didn't know what was.

And if that wasn't enough, he offered to be part of the family despite not being from around here or being related to William or Henry. When he put out the offer, it was like a warm feeling had spread throughout her endoskeleton, making her feel…what was the word for feeling so happy that you felt lighter? …"Giddy?" Yes; she felt giddy. But there was something else, too; something that was telling her to look after this strange, sweet child with every fiber of her being, especially since he had no parents to look after him.

Goldy looked back at Spring as she held on to that thought and found herself seeing it in Spring's own green eyes.

What was this?

The golden duo barely had any time to reflect further before Marionette entered Parts & Service, his unsteady, staggering steps suggesting that either he was winded or he had been startled badly. Either way, the two were at his side in a hurry.

"Mari, are you OK—" Goldy started, but Marionette put up a hand before she could go any further.

The living marionette took a moment to gather himself before slowly walking over to the table Spring had been sitting on earlier and doing so.

Spring and Goldy just watched and followed their older brother, concern evident in their expressions.

The most obvious detail the two could see was that Mari had been unsuccessful in catching Jack, but the big questions were where had the boy gone and what had scared Mari so bad.

The two golden bots looked at each other, silently asking who was going to pose the first question.

Goldy decided to volunteer. "Mari?" she asked gently. "What happened?"

It would have been rather dumb to ask "Are you OK?" at this point when it was obvious that he wasn't.

The silence persisted as Mari now put his face in his hands, mumbling under his breath. Through the mutters and sighs, Spring and Goldy were able to pick out phrases like "why did you do that", "you bloody idiot", "stupid, stupid, so stupid", and the occasional swear from both American and British dictionaries.

"Marionette," Spring called.

"He's gone."

The golden bear and rabbit blinked.

"Um…?" Goldy trailed, confused.

"He's gone, disappeared, vanished without a trace, vamoosed, departed, hit the road, went bye-bye; understand?!" Mari ranted.

"OK, OK, OK, OK, OK! Easy!" Goldy said, her hands up in a placating gesture. "Well, considering how fast and silently that kid can move, I guess I shouldn't be surprised," she added after a pause.

"I just hope he managed to get back to his fellow townsfolk in time," Spring said.

"I'm sure he will," Mari muttered.

"But what I want to know is what happened in the time between you going after him and you coming through the door. I've never seen you like this before," the golden rabbit said. "Did he scare you?"

"No. I'm fine."

"Did you accidentally—?"

"I said I'm FINE!" Mari snapped, his white eyes glowing brighter for a moment before returning to normal. He then sighed and said, "Look, I tried to retrace his steps, but…*sigh* We have to face it: That boy is long gone by now. And the best thing for us to do right now is move on from this."

"…You're kidding, right?" Goldy deadpanned. "After all that? Mari, you can't just pretend that what happened a few hours ago didn't happen!"

"Well, you're going to have to; you know that if William or, Heaven forbid, Henry finds out about this—"

"We know, Mari," Spring cut in. "And the last thing I want is to get Jack into trouble."

"My dear Spring Bonnie, we will ALL be in trouble if one of us says the wrong thing."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Spring asked, feeling hurt that Mari was thinking that Spring cared more about Jack than the others.

"Guys, come on, please. Don't fight," Goldy beseeched, wanting to stop a potential argument.

Another moment of silence filled Parts and Service before Mari said, "Goldy's right; there will be plenty of time to discuss this later. In the meantime, we may as well just get on with our routine."

"I suppose," Spring sighed. "At least we have next Halloween to look forward to; Jack said he would be back by then."

Goldy nodded, but there was nothing from Mari.

Spring crossed his arms and his upper eyelids came down in a glare position. "You don't believe that?" he asked.

Mari stood up. "Spring, you have to remember that he said that he was from out of town. That could range from a different town to a different county to a different state. Maybe even a different country, for all we know."

"But he's going to have to come back at some point, otherwise how else is he going to pay back what he owes?" Spring pointed out.

"That is true," the spindly animatronic conceded. "But after that, I wouldn't count on any more future visits. Look, it's almost 6 AM; we'll continue this later. Get back to your places. I'll see you both later tonight."

With that, Mari strode his way out of the room, ignoring the hurt looks his younger siblings were giving him.

Spring let out an exhale, closing his eyes and putting a hand to his face again; he hadn't wanted to end this night on a sour note. Now all three of them were going to be in bad moods for the rest of the day.

Goodness gracious, how could one child cause this much…chaos?

Spring was about to sit down on the table when he heard Goldy huffing and the sound of a tarp being lifted multiple times. He watched her for a couple minutes as she struggled with getting the tarp over herself before quietly chuckling and going over to assist.

"May I?" Spring asked.

"Please!" Goldy exhaled, rolling her eyes. "Just…watch the hat, OK?" she added as she sat down.

Spring rolled his eyes in amusement before carefully moving the tarp so that it would be behind Goldy; that way, when he let go it would lay evenly on her. Some dust particles fell off in the process.

"Ah-choo!"

Spring stopped for moment, the forced, rather squeaky sneezing noise catching him off-guard. He looked down at the gold bear, who was giving him the best "innocent look" that she could muster.

"Bless me," she said sweetly.

He couldn't help it; a staticky snort erupted from his voice box and the two gold animatronics were soon laughing.

"Hey, Spring?" Goldy asked once the laughter had died down. "Don't mind Mari; he's just being grumpy from tonight, like you said. Jack'll come back. He's not one to break his promises. And before you ask how I know that, I'll just come out and say that I don't. But…at the same time, it's like there's…something that's telling me that we can trust him. You've got it, too, don't you?"

"Yeah," Spring nodded after a minute. He then chuckled and said, "Y'know, sometimes I wonder how you're such an optimist, Goldy; you always seem to know how to make everyone feel better."

The reply was a combination of sincere and cheeky: "Well, someone has to keep the mood light for you grumpies."

"I'm not grumpy!" Spring protested.

"Eh…sometimes, no, but…"Goldy trailed.

"What—Oh, spare me the goofs!" Spring grinned as he rolled his eyes, Goldy giggling from the reaction. "Good night, little sister," he said, gently letting the tarp go.

"You mean 'Good morning', right?" came Goldy's voice from underneath.

"What? I mean, yes. I-Oh, for the love of—You know what I mean! Now, good morning!" he laughed, leaning over and playfully pushing where her forehead would be with a finger.

The action made Goldy move a little, and…

Schwip! Tunk!

"D'o-oh! You goofball! I told you to watch the hat!" Goldy shouted, but there was a smile in her tone.

Spring just laughed, wished her good morning again, and went to the table to lay back down.

Ah, Goldy, what would we ever do without you, the gold rabbit thought fondly as he watched his little sister settle down.

Truth-be-told, he didn't want to think about that at all. He didn't want to imagine a world without her and Mari. Or Jack, now that he had somehow deeply ensconced himself in their lives.

Goldy's right; he'll come back, Spring told himself. He'll be back next Halloween, and we'll have a grand ol' time. Besides, I've got a ton of questions, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

Spring closed his eyes and quietly wished Jack well wherever he may be just as the 6 o'clock chimes went off.

Meanwhile, Mari's mood was no better than before as he stalked his way back to his box in the Prize Corner. He still couldn't get over the fact that he had just broken one of his creators' biggest rules. It was to find a child, yes, but still! There was no way he was ever going to tell Spring and Goldy about it; if he did, the greater the possibility that either William or Henry would find out.

But then again, maybe they would find out, anyway. The place was filled with cameras, after all, and there was a night guard watching them. Frankly, he was surprised that the guard hadn't come out to look, especially when Jack and Goldy had screamed or when Spring's springlocks went off. Then again, when he had gone to check, the guard had been taking a nap, so he wouldn't have seen them with Jack.

But then what about the stretch of time before his nap? He would have seen something!

Mari groaned and put his masked face in his hands, another "migraine" coming on.

He could have just walked out with that child to the security office, but no! He had to get himself drawn into that conversation, then force himself outside, only to find that he had lost the child anyway.

…This was going absolutely nowhere.

Mari looked up to find himself in front of the Prize Counter, where he had given Jack that Spring plush and where the young boy posed the unbelievable offer to become part of the family, as it were.

He had no idea what to make of that, honestly. After all, one doesn't just ask complete strangers—let alone robots—to become family members, yet Spring and Goldy decided to accept it without question. This was going to have negative repercussions, he could feel it.

"Feel"? Hmph, don't be absurd; you're a machine, you don't feel. You're not even a true being. Your interactions with the Aftons and Emilys made that clear enough.

…But what about that boy? You can't deny you felt something when he made that offer. Or how about when he asked if William was your father? Didn't it hurt when you said no?

It was the truth, simple as that.

…Maybe. Or maybe Jack could be the key to something you want. Something you three are missing.

Marionette finally stirred himself out of the rut he had thought himself into and got into his box in the Prize Corner just as the 6 o'clock chimes went off.

I just hope that we haven't made a big mistake.

Come on! Come on! Faster! Faster! Jack urged himself as he practically flew down the street, his plushie held tight in his arms.

The first rays of dawn were starting to creep up, which would bring the early risers, and Jack was nowhere near the graveyard he and the others had come out of when their venture into the human world began.

Man oh man oh man, Teach is gonna skin me alive for this! That is, if I had skin, the bone boy worried as he kept running, not entirely aware of his surroundings. The graveyard has gotta be around here somewhere—"OOF!"

The next thing Jack knew, he was rolling head over heels with something rough, knitted, and brown before both conveniently came to a stop at Hurricane's local cemetery.

"Ow… What the heck hit me?" Jack groaned dizzily.

"Whaddya mean who hit you? You hit me!"

Wait, who—? Oh. Whoops. Welp, that answered that: Jack had collided with Oogie Boogie, one of his best friends and Boogeyman-in-training.

"Heh, sorry about that," Jack apologized sheepishly. "Are you OK? Nothing came loose, did it?"

"Nah," the living burlap bag answered. "You?"

Aside from almost losing my skull again, Jack said in thought, finishing by saying "Horrible as always" in that skeleton grin of his.

I guess now's as good a time as any to tell you that beings from Halloween Town speak differently than we normal folks do.

"What was that all about anyway? You forget about the curfew?" Oogie queried.

"Uh…yeah. Guess I did," Jack replied vaguely. "Well, you know me on Halloween; always looking for as many scare opportunities as possible. I guess I went a bit too far into town though, so I had to rush back here."

"Yeah, that's you, all right. Well, I got news for you: I managed to scare about 30 humans. I even made 5 of them faint! Ha! You should've seen it!" Oogie said.

"That is impressive," Jack admitted. "You keep that up and you'll get the 'Most Scares in a Single Evening' award."

Oogie gave a smug chuckle at that. "So…how 'bout you, huh? How many did you scare?"

Jack opened his mouth…only to find himself blanking. How many humans had he scared? Well…there had been that one guy at that diner place. And the teenager who had knocked his skull off. And then… And then…

"Well? C'mon, Jack! How many scares did ya get?" Oogie queried, getting impatient.

Jack was stunned; how in the world did he lose track? Guess he was so preoccupied with getting into the diner and getting to know its inhabitants that scares became the last thing on his mind.

C'mon, think! How many can you recall?

"I'm afraid you've outdone me there," Jack sighed good-naturedly. "Best I can recall is at least a dozen."

And there was no need to mention your skull getting knocked off, either.

"Only a dozen?" Oogie repeated. "Hah! Ah, well, better luck next time." he said with a smile.

Considering my plans for next Halloween, it may have to be the next "next time", Jack thought. But I don't mind that, not as long as I get to see Spring, Goldy, and Puppet again. Of course, I need to figure out how to get the money to pay them back for the—

The young skeleton's train of thought came to a screeching halt when he made to grip his Spring plush…only to grab empty air.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he heard Oogie ask. "Ya worried 'bout me winnin' again?"

In all the time Jack had known Oogie, he had never minded when the living bag of bugs won; it was all in good fun, after all. But right now, he could care less about that; he tried over and over again to retrace his steps to find where he had lost the plush, but his panic was fouling up his recall.

"Hey. Hey! Jack? Jack? What's goin' on? You're actually startin' to scare me," Oogie said, growing more unnerved by the terrified look on his friend's skull by the second.

"Where is it?" Jack finally managed to breathe out.

"Where's what? Wait, did you have somethin' with ya?"

"Yes! About so big, yellow, green eyes, and two long appendages on top of its head," Jack said, holding his hands a certain length apart to show the size then putting them to the top of his head with the pointer fingers up to give the impression of rabbit ears.

"Eh… Nope. Sorry, haven't seen it," Oogie shrugged.

Something twisted in the young skeleton's ribcage. He couldn't believe it. How could he have lost it?! After he had promised that he would take care of it! It was more than just a second admission; it was a gift from his new siblings! He would never forgive himself for this; never, never, never—

"Oh! Hey! Waitaminnit!" Oogie called, snapping Jack to attention.

The young Boogeyman had turned around and bent to the ground and was now in the process of straightening up.

"Ya said what you was lookin' for was yellow and had green eyes?"

"Yes," Jack answered, though the response sounded more like a question.

Oogie then turned back around, revealing an item in his hands. "Well, I went to turn around and found this. Guess I musta landed on it when ya—Hey!"

The reason for the exclamation was that Jack had snatched up the yellow rabbit plush faster than the speed of thought and was now hugging it tightly, happy tears falling from his eye sockets.

"Geez, no need ta get mushy," Oogie grumbled as a string of "thank-you's" tumbled from Jack's lips. "How'd you even get it?" he asked once his friend had calmed himself down.

For the second time that day, Jack blanked. Howwashe going to explain how he got the plush, especially after that emotional outburst? Just passing it off as a prize from one of his scares was not going to stick.

"Ah, no big deal!" Oogie said suddenly, a wide smile on his face. "You got it and now we can go home!"

"Y-Yeah. Yes, let's," Jack said, moving to follow Oogie into the graveyard.

—

"What's wrong?" Oogie asked after an hour or two.

At this point the two friends had reached an old crypt near the back of the graveyard; the portal to Halloween Town. And Jack was now looking as tense as a skeleton could get, his hands practically squeezing the golden rabbit plush.

"N-Nothing," Jack replied weakly.

Oogie didn't buy it.

"It's-It's just…"Jack started but cut himself off. "It's… What you said, about where I got it. Uh…"

Oogie sighed heavily. "Oh, for the love of—Why don't ya just take it back?"

"I didn't steal it!" Jack shouted defensively. "I…I found it and it's nice. You know I don't have much."

"'Don't have'—Pffft! Jack Skellington, you got the biggest and most lavish place in town with all them rooms and things! Not sure how ya got it, but you got it, and you say ya 'don't have much'?!" Another heavy sigh. "I'm tellin' ya, ever since those Sanderson witches left town in a hurry last year you've been…different."

"Different how?" Jack asked, starting to feel offended.

"It's just that you seem more interested in the Human World than you are in Halloween," Oogie answered bluntly.

"But I am interested in Halloween! No, scratch that; I LOVE it! I've loved it for my whole afterlife! It's a part of me! The Human World is…interesting, but it doesn't hold a candle to our home! Besides, I can't do what I want to do in the Human World; I can only do it in Halloween Town."

"What's that?" Oogie asked.

A cheeky smile formed on Jack's skull. "Sorry, that's a secret."

"What?!" Oogie yelped indignantly. "How come?"

"If I tell you, it may not come true."

"That somethin' yer Teach taught ya?"

"Something like that."

Oogie just sighed and decided to end the conversation right there. Sometimes talking to Jack was like talking to a riddle-spouting Sphinx, but he put up with it.

"Anyway, gettin' back to the original question, what's got ya so nervous?" the young Boogeyman queried.

Jack looked at the open crypt then down at the plush and back at the crypt again.

"D'ohhh!" Oogie groaned. "Give it here!" he yelled, snatching the plush out of Jack's bony fingers.

"Hey! What are you—NO!" Jack yelped as Oogie opened his mouth and dropped the plush rabbit inside. "OOGIE, WHAT ARE YOU—?!"

"You can thank me later!"

"WHAT—?!"

"Now come on, before someone notices we're late!" With that, Oogie grabbed Jack by the hand and dragged him through the entrance.

—

Of course, the boys thought that they had moved fast enough—at least to Jack it felt like it since he was being dragged by the short, living bag of bugs—but…apparently it wasn't so. Both boys got lectures from the Mayor and from current Pumpkin King Edgar on making sure they stuck to the curfew as well as not be followed. Couldn't have humans making their way into Halloween Town, now could they?

Jack took in what both were saying, but his mind kept drifting to the precious plushie that Oogie had swallowed earlier. He knew Oogie could control the bugs inside him, but he couldn't help but fret: What if the bugs started nibbling on the plush? What if they put holes in it? What if they wreck it completely? What if—?

"Jack?"

The named skeleton boy started at the sound of Edgar's voice and looked up at him.

For the longest time, Jack could never understand why Teach never liked Edgar. True, Jack didn't exactly agree with how Edgar ran Halloween, but he couldn't exactly do anything about it at this point. However…staring into those empty, probing, triangular eyes on Edgar's withered pumpkin head was starting to give the young bone boy a pretty good idea on why Teach was wary. It also reminded him that Edgar was Pumpkin King for a reason.

"I said, do you understand?" Edgar repeated, his voice low and calm. A bit too calm, it felt like.

"Ye…Yes, sir," Jack nodded.

The elderly king nodded in return and drew back. "Very good. Now, run along, both of you and get some rest," he said, waving a hand.

"Yes, sir. We will, sir. Have a horrible morning, sir," Jack said respectfully.

"Later," Oogie remarked casually.

"You as well. Goodbye," Edgar replied, apparently taking Oogie's farewell in stride.

"Horrible morning, boys," the Mayor added, internally miffed at the disrespect from Oogie.

Edgar seemed to pick up on that, though: "Something the matter?"

"If you'll forgive my saying-so, Oogie could have been a bit more polite," the short, literally two-faced politician admitted. "Especially towards you."

"Mm, yes; after all, the position of 'Pumpkin King' does demand respect, but do remember that he is still young. The respect will come in time," Edgar said. Especially when I help him become Pumpkin King in my quote-unquote stead, he thought deviously to himself. I have no intention of giving up my position, or of letting that Skellington boy become Pumpkin King. Something about that boy makes me…uneasy. And if I suspect about what I sensed from that Salem town to be true, then it's all the more reason to make sure Skellington never takes the throne.

—

"You could have been a bit more respectful, Oogie," Jack said as he and the young Boogeyman approached Skellington Manor.

"Well, Edgar didn't seem to mind," Oogie shrugged.

"All the same…"Jack trailed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; I'll remember next time. Now, 'scuse me a sec," Oogie said before turning around.

Jack was about to ask when he heard Oogie make slight retching noises and took a nervous step back. The sounds continued for a minute until the other youngster spit something out that flew up, up, up and came down into the bone-boy's arms.

"You're welcome," Oogie deadpanned as Jack checked his plushie over for any damage.

"Uh…thank you," Jack answered slowly.

"A word of advice, Jack: What I did was a one-time-only deal, so you better find another way to carry that thing around with ya. Now," Oogie said before stretching, "I'm gonna head home and get some sleep; I am undead tired. See ya later, Jack."

"Oh, yeah. Dream of bedbugs tonight!" Jack called.

He then turned and looked up at his rather imposing home, holding his plushie close.

"Well, Spring, this is it: home," the young skeleton said to his plushie, pretending that he was talking to his friend. "Pretty big, isn't it? There's only me living here right now. And Zero. And Teach hangs out here from time to time. Come on, I'll show you around."

Jack climbed up the staircase leading to the front door before taking out his skeleton key and unlocking the door.

The foyer was a bit big, especially when one was a small skeleton, but the living room was much bigger. There was a window on the far wall that was as tall as said wall, with a gothic-looking chair that was definitely too big for its current owner sitting off to the right. Further along the wall was a hall that would lead to the first floor bedrooms and the staircase that would lead to the second floor bedrooms and the study on the next third floor. On the left wall was the entryway to the dining room which would eventually lead to the kitchen, a large fireplace, and a couch.

"And that's pretty much the first floor," Jack told his plush after giving it directions. "Next up is the second floor. I'll show you my study soon, but…(yawn)…I'm a little tired, and I think it's a sure bet that you are, too. I'm sorry about Oogie doing that, by the way," he continued as he made his way upstairs. "I wasn't sure on how to hide you; I mean, I can't exactly hide you in my jacket, someone would've noticed. And—No, no, let's not think about that. But what it comes down to is that you're not gonna be leaving my room for a while, not until I find a way to carry you around with me in a way that no-one can see you. Maybe Teach knows something. Maybe. Anyway, here's my room."

The bedroom was a bit smaller, but the bed itself was more suited for a grown skeleton instead of a small bone-boy, but he made do.

Jack put the golden rabbit plush down on the bed before going over to the chair where his nightclothes were folded (the wooden, black wardrobe in the room was a bit too tall to hang any of his stuff in; not that he had much in terms of clothing).

At that moment, Zero, Jack's puppy, decided to make his presence known by materializing on the bed. The pup was about to announce his arrival when he noticed the new, foreign object next to him.

A cautious sniff told Zero that this strange thing was not from home; it didn't smell dead or rotten. But it just…sat there, not blinking and not breathing.

The ghost pup narrowed his eyes and growled quietly at this thing, finally deciding to do something about it. He opened his mouth and bit down on what looked to be the left ear before shaking his head a little bit.

No reaction.

Zero shook it a bit harder.

Still nothing.

Zero upped the severity of the shaking again and the object flopped about from its bit-into ear.

"Zero! No!"

The ghost puppy quickly stopped and found himself looking at his unhappy master.

"Let it go," Jack ordered sternly.

The command was obeyed and Zero backed up with a whimper as Jack, now dressed in his nightclothes, came to the bed and picked up the plush. The inspection for damage turned up negative; no tears or loose parts whatsoever.

"This plush isn't for you, Zero. And it's not gonna hurt you or me, either, OK? It's just a souvenir I brought back from the Human World. Its name is Spring. Come say 'hello', Zero," Jack beckoned to his pup.

Zero slowly floated forward, not wanting to be scolded again. He sniffed the plush again, then gently nudged it with his jack-o'-lantern nose. Some more sniffing cemented the mixed scent of new cloth and his master in his mind and the plush was no longer deemed a threat. Zero even licked the spot where he had bit the plush and whined in apology.

"You're forgiven, Zero," Jack smiled, petting his best friend. "It's not like we were expecting me to bring anything home, anyway. Ah, I wish I could tell you what happened, boy, but I made a promise not to tell."

Zero tilted his head in confusion. Why couldn't his master say what happened while he was gone? Did something happen like last year with those three suspicious witches? Honestly, that was something he didn't want to repeat. Granted, it was fun watching his master become fascinated with the Human World and make new friends, but he had missed home and he had come close to losing Jack. There was no way that was going to happen again; not on this pup's watch!

"Woof!" Zero barked, his bright nose pointing at something hanging off the plush's right ear.

Jack brought up the tag and looked at it; on one side, it read: "5 tickets". On the other, it read: "$9.23".

"Oh, yeah; I still need to figure out how to pay for this. The question is, where am I gonna get $29.23? It's not like I have—"

Wait a minute. Wait a—He did! At least, he hoped he did.

Jack got down on the floor, beckoning Zero to follow. The ghost pup's jack-o'-lantern nose lit up in anticipation of his young master's wishes as the two went under the bed.

Jack looked and felt around for a specific floorboard. He had hidden some knickknacks down there that he had gotten from last year's adventure, including a wallet given to him by Max. In fact, it was Max's own wallet.

To make a long story short, Jack may have bought a few things whilst in Salem but used Halloween Town currency, which was extremely out of date, so when the adventure was over, Max gave Jack his wallet so that he could use "real money" to buy things. It had never left its spot under the floor under the bed since then.

Jack let out an "ah-ha!" as he found the loose floorboard and pried it back. At that point, Zero decided to take over, stuck his head in (and through) and brought out the item in no time.

Once they were both out from under, the next thing to do was to take count of how much money was inside. Jack carefully pulled the wallet open and began pulling out the green pieces of paper that Max had called "dollars". It was so fascinating how these little numbered pieces of paper with faces had different values. He had asked Max why that was so, but he didn't know. He'd find out the answer someday, though, he knew he would.

By now, Jack had pulled out 18 paper dollar bills, all still in good condition, surprisingly. They consisted of 1 $20 bill, 2 $10 bills, 6 $5 bills, and 12 $1 bills. And after that came the coins, which consisted of about 10 quarters, 30 dimes, 25 nickels, and practically a hundred pennies. Added up, the amount came to…

"$116.75. That's a lot more than what I need. That's enough for a few visits," Jack said. But then he remembered: "Max said that if I use it all up without a way to get more, that's it. But I can't get a job like humans do, and Halloween Town currency won't work. What to do?"

Zero had no idea what Jack was talking about, but he tried to put his doggy mind to work to help solve the problem. Of course he had heard about "jobs", but apparently Jack needed money from the Human World to do…whatever this was, so getting a job here in town wouldn't work. So, what did that leave?

Meanwhile, Jack was putting the remaining $87.52 away after pulling out the $20 bill, a $5 bill, four $1 bills, two dimes, and three pennies. In the process of putting the coins back in, a few slipped out of his bony fingers and began rolling across the floorboards. Jack managed to snatch up some, but the rest were caught by Zero, as some fell through holes in the floorboards.

"Nice job, Zero!" Jack praised the pup. "If only getting money was that easy."

…

Hold on.

Maybe it was. After all, humans accidentally dropped coins all the time, right? He could look on the sidewalks on Halloween night to find any dropped coins! Brilliant!

"Zero, you're a genius!" Jack beamed, giving his ghost pup a hug.

Zero was confused on how he managed to give Jack the idea, but he took the compliment with a happy woof.

"Now I'll be all set for next Halloween," Jack smiled, putting the withdrawn money into the pocket of his folded pants. He almost made a move to put the wallet back under the floorboard, but then he realized it was probably better to go prepared next time, so he put the wallet in the other pocket.

Then he spotted the Spring plush and realized one more thing: "How am I gonna carry it around so that no-one notices?"

Unfortunately, there was no immediate answer to that question and on top of that, the excitement from earlier was wearing off, so Jack decided it was time for a nap. He climbed into bed, picking up the plush and tucking it in alongside him. Zero took up a spot at the foot of the bed so as to keep a close eye on his young master.

"Sweet nightmares, Zero. You too, Spring; though, in your case, I better say 'Sweet dreams'," Jack told his loyal pup, then the gold rabbit plush before drifting off to sleep.

And…finito! Whew! Man, this took way too long! Hopefully this chapter more than makes up for all the silence. That being said, said periods of silence may start becoming normal due to me about to get a crash course in self-sufficiency through making meals, taking care of laundry, and other tasks around the house for certain weeks. Plus I want to put a focus on doing exercises to keep myself healthy in light of…certain things. So, just a heads-up for you all in case I go quiet for a while.

But rest assured, I do not want to give up on this hobby of mine; I've got WAY too many ideas bumping around in my noggin that I wanna get out, this one included! XD Seriously, my brain is already formulating story ideas for my fanfic-verse version of "Security Breach" and I haven't even started the main story yet!

However, to get there, I have to get through this story first, so let's into the after-story thoughts:

Basically, this chapter details the aftermath of events from the first chapter, such as the thoughts of the animatronics as well as what Jack gets up to as he gets home. We start off with Spring basically trying to comprehend what just happened; I mean, no kid has ever somehow gotten into the diner after hours before, let alone one who acted as genuinely as Jack did. Or asked to become part of the "family". It's certainly a lot to take in, especially when you're a being made up of coding, wires, and servos that ACTS lifelike. Also, possibly lousy attempt at foreshadowing about the springlocks and Goldy at 12:00 high! *sigh* That's one aspect of my writing that I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about; I mean, a lot of people know what's going to happen already, so… But, then again, there's a lot of people who don't, so hopefully I'm at least getting the execution right.

Honestly, I have to credit Envious Razor for the bit where Spring and Goldy get startled by Marionette's outburst. For context, in their video "Monty brought home a pizza…and a wild Chica appeared", Monty Gator brings a pizza into a room and Chica basically tackles him. What also happens is that in another room, some kids are minding their own business until they hear the sound of Monty being tackled, which makes them jump. That bit made me giggle so much, I decided to reference it here. Man, poor Goldy and her hat troubles, huh? Speaking of her, we soon get her thoughts on this crazy night and the outlook seems pretty positive.

Then Mari comes in and things start turning a bit sour. As I'm sure I've said in the previous chapter, you have to understand that Mari isn't trying to be mean; as the de-facto guardian of his younger siblings, it's his job to protect them from danger. Spring and Goldy are aware of this, of course, but to them, Mari seems a bit closed-minded.

I'm sure you've heard of the thing of how the middle child sometimes takes up the role of peacekeeper (or maybe it's just something I heard a long time ago) but in this case it looks like that has fallen to Goldy, along with the job of being the positive one. Which she does here in probably the sweetest way possible. *sigh* Oh, I wish I knew what VA I could put with her character! Same with Spring. I am seriously loving the dynamic I've made between them. Too bad it won't last.

Next up on the list is Mari, and he's still pretty angry at himself for what he just did. Not to mention he's worried out of his circuits about William and/or Henry finding out about what happened. Overall, his thoughts are one big ball of understandably nervous and negative energy. Maybe he'll open up in time? Who knows.

Last, but not least, we get Jack's side of things and this is honestly what took me the longest to write. Mostly because of writer's block and a shifting focus. Honestly, I'm glad I came across the TOKYOPOP graphic novel "The Battle for Pumpkin King" because it was a big help in detailing what things were like before "The Nightmare Before Christmas" happened. Now, I realize this book has probably thrown people into a tizzy considering we already had an origin story of sorts with the Game Boy Advance game "The Pumpkin King", but considering this new angle that's come up, all it would take is some small changes in the dialogue of my fanfic-verse version of that game to tie things together. If you haven't read "The Battle for Pumpkin King", I would recommend doing so so that certain things are easier to understand. Reading this has also opened up a whole new angle for the Oogie Boogeyman, at least in my case, so there is the potential that certain things will come to light for our debonair Skellington.

On the subject of Oogie, I want to take a moment to mourn the loss of his voice actor Ken Page, who was called up to Heaven on September 30, 2024. A man of the theatre and the voice of King Gator in the Don Bluth film "All Dogs Go to Heaven" as well as the iconic Oogie Boogie in "The Nightmare Before Christmas", his talent will live on in the memories of those who knew him through his performances as well as personally.

Getting back on track, the young Skellington and the young Oogie literally run into each other and, after much trouble with Jack's new item, they make it back to Halloween Town. If you've read "The Battle for Pumpkin King", then you're aware that Oogie has a bit of a competitive streak, hence why he talks about how many humans he's scared that night. Of course, the competitiveness is all in fun, but that's gonna change pretty soon. In that same graphic novel, we are also introduced to the Pumpkin King before Jack, Edgar, and he is determined to not let his position of power go or let Halloween become a more light-hearted celebration as it were. At this point in time in the story, Edgar is thinking of "ending of his tenure", so all this actually takes place a bit before "Battle for Pumpkin King", but he still does not want Jack to take the title, especially after what happened last year. I have a prequel sitting in the development closet somewhere that will probably explain the beef between Edgar and "Teach", but if you've read the graphic novel, you are likely aware of the kind of dark being that Edgar is.

After getting his plush back after the meeting with the Mayor and Edgar and bidding Oogie farewell for the day, Jack arrives at home. Crafting the inside of Skellington Manor took quite a bit of looking around various "Nightmare Before Christmas" fanfics as we're only familiar with Jack's observatory-level study from the movie. I drew most of the inspiration from NintendoGal55 and AzureNintendo's collab fanfic "Meant To Be" with some details from rainbowthefox's fanfic "Two Dearest Friends" and Hannah Melissa's fanfic "Ready Or Not" to properly craft the first and second floors, so thank you all so much! As Jack gets ready for bed, Zero in puppy form makes his appearance and gets himself in a little bit of trouble, but all is quickly forgiven. Next, Jack wonders how to tackle the money problem...only to remember that at the end of his adventure in Salem last year, Max gave him his own wallet with quite a substantial amount of cash inside (the way I figured it, Max, Dani, and Allison each contributed an amount of cash, which is why there's so much in it). Trying to find a price for that plush was a nightmare; since it's a toy from the 70's, I wanted the price to reflect that, but is there a place where you can specifically find prices for 70's-era plushies? Apparently not. So, what I ended up doing was borrowing the price of $7 and some cents from a 70's toy I found in some article online and basically bumped it up by 2 bucks and some cents, which is how I got $9.23. Tack that onto the $20.00 entrance fee and you got $29.23. As for getting more, Jack decides to go hunting for dropped money whenever he goes out to the Human World. As for how he's going to carry his plush around in secret...well, there's no clear answer just yet, but who knows?

And now, for the questions:

What are your thoughts on Spring, Goldy, and Marionette's retrospectives on what happened? Any thoughts of your own that you would add?

Based on the dynamic between the three animatronics, what do you think their "roles" are?

How would you have helped Jack smuggle his new plush into Halloween Town?

Any alternate ideas for Jack to get more (Human World) money?

Small amount of questions for such a big chapter, I know, but those were really the only major things I could pick out. The only other question that's burning in my brain right now is more of a "Who do you think could voice who" type of question like the one I posed in the second-to-last chapter of "The Energy Beast" for my OC characters Tritannaus and Azusa. I know that one is tough because you only got a section of a chapter's worth of material to go on, but here we have two chapters worth of material...but then of course there's the main story and there will be changes to the characters' personalities, so...maybe I should hold off on that until I get there. *sigh* Never easy, is it?

Anyhow, Chapter 3 is slowly being crafted, so no worries about me stopping this story anytime soon. And in the meantime, there are other stories that I want to work on, so no worries on me updating anything else, either. That being said, I'm still a bit stuck in my FNAF fixation, so updates on the other stuff won't come as fast, so all I ask is that you bear with me.

Next time, will Jack be able to go back to Fredbear's and will he ever find a way to carry his new gift without anyone seeing it?

As always, please read and review! Thank you!