“Allow me to make myself perfectly clear. I have always done what I had to do, and I am going to continue to do whatever it is that I have to do, whether I get the approval of others or not. The humans are going to be envious and frightened, and witches will always feel that persecution - but let them lay it on me, I can take the blame for this one. If you don’t like me now, well, you will like me a good deal less as I carry on doing what it is that I must against our enemies.”
“That being said - an announcement - I have not the slightest regret for the taking of Frank Skellington - that dark-hearted, criminal mind-reader who twisted the heart of who could have been the greatest Supreme that New Orleans could have known. This is not a boast of who Delta Triton could be, nor is it an opinion but it is an actual fact, for the potential of that girl, as you had all doubtlessly seen in the news footage where she destroyed a part of the city rescuing this boy. It is this power, these pure chaotic emotions, that made me do what I had done, for imagine just for a second, all that she could do if she was not the target of this boy’s constant mental conditioning.”
“Now, it would be a great deal of trouble for you, humans and witches alike, to try to seek justice on behalf of someone who has already gotten all that he could want - fame, fear, the most powerful witch of the young age protecting him. Do not despair, I don’t fault you for being taken in by the young face of someone whose very bloodline assures that he stays that way for a long time, or the declarations of love for a poor girl so in need of affection and security. But the warning applies - I will continue to throw down my chips where I know that they will be useful, and I will continue to play my cards for one bad bet does not a bad gambler make.”
“Still your rumors, your worries, for Delta Triton and her lover are both back from the dead - suicide, if you recall, right in front of the boys mother. And Arthur, the third part of this lovers triangle, has always been safe inside of my halls, and has in fact been given more opportunities than any other student here at Halloween Town High, being put under the guidance of a legacy student from a great and powerful family. This school has always been at the forefront of expanding powers, of reaching potential, and learning that no sacrifice is too high to achieve your best life. Delta Triton refused to learn this lesson.”
“This is it. This is my statement. No finger pointing, no accusations, no secrets, no throwing anyone under the bus, just the pure truth of it all. I hope you weren’t expecting apologies. My name is Oogie Boogie, and I will continue to do what is right for my people - witches, vampires, werewolves, the very people that have been prosecuted against since the beginning of time. Come, find sanctuary in my home, my halls. We have nothing to hide. And you have all to gain, if you let go of the baggage.”
A podium was set up on the stairs leading to Halloweentown High School. Oogie, almost properly clad - she’d still have ample cleavage but at least her black gown fell to the floor - stood behind it, with her son Barrel on one side of her, and her daughter Spade on the other side. Both had been instructed to look dour for the cameras, of which dozens were pointed at her for this little press conference.
“It is, of course, a great tragedy that has occurred,” Oogie spoke to the press. “Delta Triton and Frank Skellington were both beloved members of this school, although their time here had been short. In fact, Delta had been like family to me, and had been a great friend of my own daughter. The last time we spoke, it was about Christmas presents that we had exchanged, in fact. And Frank - Frank is family, the half brother to my son Barrel.”
Used to playing up for cameras, she even forced a tear out of her eye, and wiped it quickly to get the sympathy of the press.
“Teenage suicide rates in this country, and even in this city, are disgustingly high, and it is a challenge that we here at Halloweentown High School are willing to take. The guidance counselors and teachers are going to be undergoing classes of their own to recognize the symptoms of depression in our students, so we can better aid them in moving forward in a healthy way through conversation, group therapy and meditation. I believe that in time, we will help to bring these statistics way down, so that no one ever has to feel alone in this world again, nor does anyone have to feel the pain of losing a loved one to these overwhelming feelings.”
“We can’t turn back the clock and bring these students back, but what Halloweentown High School is prepared to do is make sure that Delta Triton and Frank Skellington are never forgotten. Not only will we be helping to cover the financial arrangements to make sure they get the headstones that they deserve, but their names will be a part of this school forever. A famous sculptor in the region is making a memorial piece that we will be unveiling in the main hall when it is completed.”
“There is a fundraiser happening by one of our own students, Agnes Renault, to raise money for the affected families, and we encourage you to give what you have. It’s a tough time for anyone who knew these two amazing students. Our condolences go to the families - and we would just like to remind anyone else out there who are having these thoughts - help is out there, all you need to do is reach out. The sun always rises again, and even nightmares fade in the daytime.”
Oogie Boogie has managed to spin some of what was happening in New Orleans in her favor. Of course she did. She had to throw the dice. Everyone was watching her do so. A shimmy, a shake, and she let them go and though it wasn’t perfect snake eyes, she was making do.
It was a shame that she lost her pretty sex ed teacher, and her prettier gym teacher over in New Orleans. She’d make a show out of it, of course. An assembly would be called for in the school - after New Years, of course. There was still a lot to celebrate. Fireworks went off in Halloweentown. She might not rule over the entire town but she had her sway with the ‘mayor’.
The assembly was to explain some of what was happening. The Horned King uprising. The dead attributed to him. The dancing? Well, that was Maleficent’s daughter of course. Delta, who had once been a part of this school. Where did she learn such magic? Well, it was a gamble but Oogie might insinuate she learned that sort of devilry from right here. Halloweentown High School.
Those that were lost were mourned, dramatically. Pictures of Aphrodite, of Bubbles, of the other staff and students whom they had lost. Prevalent were the Horned King’s own sons. Hypno and Lena. Ace and Libi. Even Maz, Jax and Babyface were on there, since they hadn’t been seen in a while. She wasn’t looking that deeply into Babyface. At least, not yet.
But she also took this opportunity for a little fun manipulation. By telling the truth. Those spells have not worked their way into Halloweentown. Even if the portals had become closed - well, that just meant that they were all the safer here.
She would take the survivors into her own large busom. Those that were affected by the magic, who lost loved ones, should consider themselves to be little Boogies, for she was going to take care of them. They were a family, here in Halloweentown.
Not many were left. Students used to come and go between school and the city all of the time. And it was around the holidays, so people were going through to do their holiday shopping. It was a mess. But there was still her loyal Spade. Her Barrel.
But there were the vultures. There were always vultures after the smoke cleared. Much like the redhead that they had seen darting through the halls, they helped themselves to what was left. Scavenging.
Christmas came early for the Vultur boys. Presents that people left behind, sitting gift wrapped and pretty. They had some solid finds. Watches and magical items, clothing and sex toys. Valentin felt like the luckiest boy alive when he unwrapped a present full of art supplies, hugging it close to his chest. Nicolai wasn’t as easily amused, but he found some trinkets, things that he could use, books that he could read.
Classes would continue. Not all of them of course, masters of their field were missing but some. The essentials. Oogie herself would put on a class in the auditorium each day, teaching about life. Not something that could be found in every class.
Things like how to brew your own Plan B, or a quick magical abortion. How to break a man’s penis before he could rape you with only one quick movement. How to best clean blood out of clothing, and get the red traces off of skin. How to frame someone else for murder. What essential things to have in your car if you plan on being on the road for a while. How to count cards while playing games. How to not get caught counting cards while playing games. How to use your physical assets to their utmost potential.
None of these were graded. You got an A just for showing up. The marking system was always more on the lax side here, with Oogie actually recognizing that different people were in different places education wise, learning wise, mentally, socially, and it all took it’s toll on how work was finished.
That was probably thanks to Barrel and his own deficiencies. He was brilliant in some ways, but ... very mentally challenged in others. It helped her to recognize it. And to recognize that recognizing it would earn her favor. It was an easy win.
So she’s laying low and taking care of what she’s gotta take care of. The timing was unfortunate. She did so hate when the holidays got ruined. And the door being closed was a pesky problem too but she would figure it out.
As a part of Halloweentown and not the high school, Jock chilled out in the cellar of the drag club. Not that there was much in the daytime when it came to sunshine but one can never be too cautious. The weird shirt selling, drug making, sometimes DJing vampire was affected by the changes in NOLA cause damn, there went his drug lab and now he’s gotta start from scratch. Gotta start again with the supercrack.
The day started out like most. Alarm clock. Get up. Take a shower. Get dressed. Go down to the bakery, say hi to the staff, have breakfast, ask if any help was needed but nope, they had it under control. Take a few sweets for later. Tease dad, make a joke to mom about something or other, upstairs, work on homework. After finishing what needed to be done for the day, and the hours counted down to the right hour, tell the ‘rents she was going out, skateboard on down to the crib, make sure no one was looking while slipping into it and spending time with the crew. Maz was there now. It was the four of them, like it always should have been.
Day after day. Some good days, like April Fools when she and Maz put worms in Babyface’s clothing drawer at the crib where he kept some spare sets. Valentine’s Day dates where it was just her and Babyface together, having a makeshift dinner and he presented her with some flowers that he picked out of someone’s garden on the way there. Shopping days with Maz. Jax finally came into his powers. He couldn’t die of ordinary means. He fell and impaled himself on a fence but he was able to climb off and was healed within a couple of hours. Completely healed. Happiness.
And there were bad days. Getting into fights among the crew over little things like treats being left out and getting ants all over the place. Accidentally freezing half of the living room when she blew out the candles on the birthday cupcake that Maz made for her. The day when Babyface did come up short on cash, due to no fault of his own, and he had to deal with the consequences and it was so hard to see him beat up like that. Bad days. Not horrible ones.
One rainy night. It was just the two of them at the crib. Jax and Maz were spending the night with the dads. Babyface’s room. Virginities were taken. It was sweet, somewhat short, but definitely special. Fumbly and awkward but there was some laughter after, because they were just too close for it to be entirely serious. There wasn’t any regret. There wasn’t any feeling of having rushed it. They’d do it again a couple of hours later. Less short that time. And then watch a movie and eating treats.
Graduation. There wasn’t actually a ceremony. It came to her in the mail. But did the Bjorgmanns throw a party? Hell yeah. Everyone was invited. Dale and Piper came back out, since things were settled in Peru by then. The crew, of course. Maddy, Bastien, Wulf brought Agnes, treats were brought out, Ellie got applause. Was she going to university? No. A gap year, she’d call it, while she made up her mind. But mostly, she knew she was going to keep working with Babyface. Nothing else was as appealing as being with her boyfriend.
Jax found someone. She was pretty cute. She didn’t necessarily fit into the crew as easy as the original four but she was welcome and she was trusted. Maz - she joined in sometimes with Babyface and Ellie for some things. Nobody wanted her to feel lonely. She was more than welcome to come and cuddle up in their bed. Ellie unofficially moved into the crib, but kept a part time job at the bakery so that she could have some income coming in and people wouldn’t question where she got money. Her parents - they were worried about her, obviously. They didn’t like what they thought that she was doing. But they didn’t want to drive a wedge in their family either, so they’d just keep it to light questions, and knew that she was lying.
Not everything was perfect. There were still arguments. There was still tension sometimes. It was life. But overall, things weren’t terrible. Until there was a night when a lot of alcohol had been drunk during a crew party, and Babyface and Ellie forgot the protection one night and there was a plus sign on the pregnancy test. Though stressed, it wasn’t Ellie’s initial reaction to want to get rid of it. She was an adult now, a grown woman. She sat down with Babyface and they talked through it. There was going to be another Beagle coming into the world - and then Babyface proposed that there should be two, and she should become one as well. A proposal. An acceptance.
It wasn’t going to be a big thing - until the Beagles found out about it. And then it turned into a big thing. No church, nothing fancy, definitely nothing expensive. A trailer park wedding. Ellie wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. She wore a simple white sundress, had Elsa and Maddy as her bridesmaids because one turn deserved another. Maz was the ‘Maiad of Honor’ though it was a title more that showed her best friend than having any real responsibilities. Her parents disapproved. Majorly. So she asked Dale to walk her down the aisle, which was more of a dirt road than anything. Watching Elsa have to walk with Bouncer was worth it alone. Pictures were taken by their friends because why hire a photographer when everyone was going to have their phone out anyway? She barely even showed in those pictures, but her happiness did as she kissed Babyface and said I do.
They got a trailer of their own, but they always had the crib. The area beneath was still sitting empty. It had been years and Babyface still didn’t know what to do with it. He liked it to still be a private thing. Somehow, the rest of the Beagles never found out. They didn’t do a honeymoon thing. They didn’t need to. They could love each other right in New Orleans, they didn’t have to go anywhere else to do it. Besides that, there was work to do. Always work to do.
Pop went the Ellie. And out came the newest Beagle boy - Blaise Beagle. And wouldn’t you guess it, the name fit. Little guy got his mother’s fire blowing powers. Another dragon to add to the bunch in NOLA. Definitely a handful. That’s when the Bjorgmann’s would start to come around to the way that Ellie was living, but only just. She stayed home with the kid, since Babyface was always deeper into Circe’s shit than she was. He’d keep bringing home the money and she would count it for him, on top of managing their own money. At least she was good at that. She could handle the books just fine.
Days went by. Up came the age of twenty-nine. Every time that Ellie looked in the mirror, she saw more and more of her mother. It - wasn’t nice. She loved her mom, yeah, but that fake happiness, that never-stop cheerfulness, that was something that she saw as a flaw. Their parenting styles were different. Their wife styles were different. Babyface would find her that night, crying in the bathroom, having a bit of an identity crisis, half of her hair cut off with kitchen scissors. The next morning, she put on a brave face, went to a salon and got her long red hair cut to her shoulders, something younger, something - less Anna like. But she’d never get rid of the fiery color. That was all her. That same day, she fell ill and found out she was pregnant again. A girl. Brianna Beagle.
Did Babyface ever mature? A bit. Enough. He never finished his high school, but that mattered very little. He still put on that tough guy persona a lot, especially when they weren’t in their trailer or in the crib. He backed it up well. But Ellie never fully stopped worrying when he went out to do whatever it was that he needed to do that particular day. She mothered him a bit. She couldn’t help it. Not with the lectures, no, but taking care of him. Making her own ice packs and making sure that his food was never cold when he got home.
Blaise and Brianna were a lot like their parents. Mischief. Ellie had her hands full with them. Especially when Uncle Jax and Aunt Maz came over and played with them, then things got intense. Usually she just gave in. She never wanted to make her kids feel confined in any way, not like Elsa had when she was a kid, or the way that she felt when her parents really began to disapprove of Babyface and realized that he wasn’t just a phase. Outright fantasy battles happened in the trailer with Blaise on Jax’s shoulders, blowing fire, being a menacing dragon, Babyface being a Lord Farquaad in this instance because of course the kids knew about Shrek. Ellie was the Fiona in distress, since her hair was the right color, tied with skipping rope onto a laz-e boy chair, while Maz and Brianna were Shrek and Donkey coming in to save her.
She loved this family. Oh fuck did she ever. Well into her thirties and not really showing any sign of slowing down. They were her energy. They were her fuel. Her husband, her kids. Her friends. Things weren’t always perfect, but day to day, she was mostly happy. The kids were happy. They tried to put them into school buuuuut it didn’t work out too well. There was too much Beagle in them. Ellie had to meet with the principal of an elementary school to even get the kids in, since they were rejected just by the name alone. Nope. No more Beagles. Not in their halls. There was a pretty big shouting match which ended up in middle fingers and burning paperwork and their kids were going to be homeschooled by her and Babyface - she could do the academic stuff, Babyface could do the real life stuff.
The dreaded teenager years. Blaise and Brianna never lacked friends. There were so many Beagles. Uncles, cousins galore. There were Chip’s kids. There were Maddie’s - Frankie came over once in a while too. Of course there was drama. ‘Mom, Blaise tried to set my hair on fire again!’ ‘Well if you didn’t use so much fucking hairspray, it wouldn’t have caught!’ ‘Mom, Brianna made Wiggins mow a dick onto our lawn’ ‘I did not, he chose to do that himself!’ But after dealing with the problems, Ellie would always relay them back to Babyface, and they would laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
It was a good life. Which was exactly what Oogie wanted her to have. Oh, she was there, lurking. This, though it felt like it was twenty years, this was one night. This was one dream. Like most ‘good guys’, Ellie’s biggest fear was losing the people that she loved. She didn’t have one big enemy the way that Maz did. She just had a secondhand account of loneliness and never wanted to feel that way, and had enough faith in her friends and family that the only way she would was if they died.
She created love so that she could take it away. Ellie, nearing her fourties, would go to bed with Babyface one last time. Snuggled up to him. Planning on working with Brianna on her calculus the next day, since she was struggling a bit. If she did well, then she’d take the kids to a skate park and show them a couple of moves. She wasn’t Tony Hawk, even old Tony Hawk, but she could still do a couple of ollies, and a few other tricks. And then she would wake up, a teenage girl, long messy hair, not a wrinkle in sight, all alone in her bedroom above the bakery which had long since been turned into a guest room for the grandkids.
She was dazed, at first. Not remembering where she was. Then took in the posters and signed pictures on her walls. The pictures that she printed off of her and Maz during their sleepovers and put in tacky frames with feathers and glitter all of them. She ran her fingers through her hair. It was long again. Her hands. The chipped green nail polish. And they were smooth. Hands showed age, and all that this showed was youth. It took her a couple of minutes of just sitting there, staring at her own hands, at her cherry print comfortable pajamas, to realize that the life that she had thought that she lived, the husband, the children - they were all just a dream. It hit her like a freight train. The loss. Raising the two Beagles, loving them with all of her heart, every moment, just to find out that they weren’t real and she had a very big hole in her heart for some time.
She wouldn’t keep it entirely to herself. She told Elsa. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Babyface about it because it was just too embarrassing. They only just said that they loved each other and meant it in a romantic way, not just a friendly way. They never got past just a bit of light groping. To tell him that she had this whole life with him in a dream - it was too much. Too cringe.
On top of the homeschooling that she did, and found that she was pretty proficient in learning things by herself, she didn’t need someone over her shoulder explaining every little thing to her, not when she could just look up how to do it if she had trouble, she was taking those mindfulness lessons that Koda had taught to Elsa, and that she in turn was now being taught. But a bit of that damage was done. There didn’t need to be a second nightmare. There didn’t even really need to be a first one, since life had been good in the dreamworld. She kept expecting to see the blue eyed teenagers come into her room once she got settled into bed or she’d accidentally put cranberries into her morning oatmeal, which she didn’t like but Brianna did. Maybe once things got a little more serious with Babyface she’d tell him how Oogie didn’t entirely let her go, but if he asked if there were any nightmares - she could honestly tell him no. Just good dreams.
That’s how Summer felt, especially when the parents were out of the house and who knew when they were going to be back. She could be clueless when it came to people’s thoughts, but not so much anymore. She’d gotten to know this family. She loved them, each and every single last one of them. River, that much was obvious, he had been her rock, her protector, her savior. Dale, though he could be grumpy most of the time, he had a generous heart sharing his room with her, and she tried to repay the favor as much as she could with gifts of snacks that she’d get when she’d go into town. Turns out she inherited her father’s love of driving. Chip, the one that made her realize during one of their few conversations that she had to fight to be worth all of the sacrifices that this family had made for her. And she really did try. She was fighting all of the time. And Scout, that girl was a full sister to her, she’d do anything for that girl.
But with the break up with River? Yeah, she felt like they didn’t want to get close to her at all. So it was to another that she found companionship with. The older man with the dark golden curls at the back of his neck and the whiskey-colored eyes. Not only did she find a papa in him, but a conspirator. And oh, on this day, they had a plan, and walked out of the house together, a bag full of apples and spray paint, got into Thomas’s inconspicuous vehicle and went into town.
They’d be coming back with the giggles, but would say nothing, no matter how many times that they were questioned.
It would be all over Social Media before the news would get it, as such things typically were in today's days. Reddit and Instagram was a better source of news than anything on the telly.
Oogie Boogie had been meant to perform a small show. Her reputation had been being damaged since the Sherwood Massacre, and she wanted to give a concert in good faith. But before the doors of the venue had been opened, while the line was long outside, a horse came a trotting all by itself down the street, stopping traffic, cars a-beeping. But it wasn’t the horse itself that had been the main source of the attention. Such things happened around here, with all of the carriages, sometimes a horse got loose.
But what was the source of all of the laughter, the pointing, the gasping, the picture taking, was the fact that there was a very large naked man sitting backwards atop of the horse’s saddle. Tied down with purple and gold scarves that seemed never ending. weaving about, securing hands behind the back, securing legs around the saddle, a gag to keep him from saying anything. He wasn’t going anywhere, and no one was stepping forward with knives to cut the scarves to help. There would be a few who would recognize him as Cobra Bubbles, the gym teacher of Halloweentown High School.
On his back would be spray painted in white, as to contrast his dark skin, ‘Oogie Boogie’. And on the front of him, which would be seen afterward. ‘Stay in Halloweentown’.
The horse would stop in front of the venue, tail a wagging as it let loose it’s bowels right near the front doors. A couple of the staff would exit out of the side door and try to help but those bonds were tough to break. An embarrassing display, no doubt. One of Oogie’s strongest men humiliated publicly. One might think his reputation might never recover.
Oogie Boogie had never lost like this before. Every gamble that she had made backfired. And it was making her crack at the seams. When things went well, she was well. When things did not go well, it was like glass breaking inside of her mind. She was on a losing streak. Not only did she have to get all of the vents replaced in her home because someone had stuck disgusting things down there, but she kept losing the cornerstone.
She was certain at this point that the Renaults had it. What else explained their disappearance? Their going into hiding? That running had made them seem guilty as sin itself. And though she knew where they were staying now, some lavish apartment that Esmeralda’s boss had owned until they get a house sorted out, she still did not know where the Cornerstone was. Every single time that she had intruded upon that apartment, they were gone with only the faintest bit of magenta smoke lingering in the apartment. She suspected a leak in her family, in her associates. Someone was telling them when she was going to conduct a raid.
So more than once, she had gone under the cover of night. There was a block around their minds, a block that she had discovered was little Agnes’s power. That’s how little Katrina Von Titty Tassles had not been able to find it, further proving that it was this teenage girl who hid the cornerstone. But she assumed that they were sleeping when she went. Telling no one. Driving on her own. And still - still when she walked through that apartment, heels clicking on the hardwood floors, they would be gone. Not leaving through any of the doors. Not exiting out onto the street. Just up and vanished.
She needed more information. So she would text her children.
Clopin wasn’t always the picture of sophistication. He could be cruel. He could be crude. He could be downright lewd. And what he was doing to the Oogie Boogie house, walking on borrowing one of Thomas’s hardhats and safety vests, fake leg hidden beneath the jeans - well, it was downright childish admittedly. But sometimes, sometimes the best things in life were like that. Just a bit immature.
He wasn’t going to kill Oogie. Not yet. He was going to play a bit of cat and mouse. She didn’t even know that he existed which made it so much easier. Any of the Laveaus, the Savages, their friends, they’d be caught before going anywhere near the premesis of the almost fully complete Boogie house. But a stranger with golden eyes and not the slightest wiff of magic? Just another construction man on the job.
Whistle, whistle, whistle. Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to work we go.
He had a toolbox with him, though the only tool that it carried was a single screwdriver. The rest - well, the Boogies would be finding that out soon enough.
“Who are you?” Oogie would ask, eyes narrowed as this stranger entered her home. She’d already fucked through a line of these construction men, but this one was new.
“Air conditioning, ma’am. Wouldn’t want a pretty face like yours to boil in this heat, would we?” He asked, managing not to gag on the fake kind words. She waved him off, the compliment working. She was still stewing on her failures. Finder, gone. Vampire, on the loose. Hunters hanging around. Stone still who knows where.
So to the vents within the walls that he would go. But he wasn’t there to fix anything. Probably wouldn’t know how even if he had been. That’s what the other things in the toolbox were for. He was left alone to his own devices, which was rarely a good thing for a Clopin to be.
Step one? Spray cheese. Cover up those vents, using it like a damn caulking gun. Everywhere. Inside. Empty out a ziplock bag of cut up hot dogs. Uncooked. It stuck into the cheese. A bottle of ketchup, give that a good spray. It could cause a surprising stench. Everyone under-estimated condiments.
Next up, pulling out of that tool box was three bags of frozen cooked shrimp. Empty that in there, watchin some of it fall down the vents never to be found again. Oof.
And then
The piece de resistance
Since Oogie seemed to like dick so much -
There had been an odd surge in the city of men coming in claiming that their dicks had been caught off by a - well, none of them would come out and say prostitute because that would admit that they had been going to those women, but by a woman nonetheless. Might not have Claudette’s face but he could still fit into those pretty dresses. And Scout had a plethora of wigs to choose from.
More ziplock bags. Dicks on ice. Big dicks. Little dicks. Foreskin dicks. Diseased dicks. Black dicks. White dicks. Skin-tagged dicks. Toss em in, toss em in. Probably a great metaphor for how wide Oogie’s vagina was from all of the dicks that she had taken. Then the bags, the bottles, the spray can, all back into that tool box, the vent cover right back onto the walls and out he would walk with a wham bam, thank you ma’am to where the dune buggy of the gods was hidden and away home he’d drive.
It wasn’t something that was going to make the news. Oogie would never admit to anyone that she had been gotten the better of. But Clopin would have that slick satisfaction. Next time someone would mention shrimp, you could bet that he would get the giggles.
For the second time in a week, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker. This time, it was in the morning rather than the afternoon, while Frank was waiting for the lunchbell to ring. He never sat with Delta during lunch, since she was with her little girlpack all of the time. But he sat near, eating whatever his mother had packed him that morning, looking at her every couple of minutes while sitting on his own.
“Frank Skellington, please report to the Headmistress’s office. Frank Skellington, to the Headmistress’s office.”
He’d had a week to think about how this was going to go. At first, he saw it the way that Oogie had laid it out. He had to make a decision. His mother, or Delta. And with the way that things were going with his mother lately, he thought that it was going to be the latter. He’d barely been speaking to Sally. Not with the way that she was going over to Christopher’s. No matter how many times he put those images in her head, she kept going back. She was fighting against him for the first time, and he had no respect for it. He hated it. But he didn’t want to pick Delta just out of Spite either.
But there was a reason that he had been placed in the Pegasus house at the Magisterium.
He wasn’t just a quiet boy, he was a thinker. Wheels were always turning. And he could pick up ideas from other. Even just a snippet of a thought from someone near him could inspire a whole new way of thinking. It wasn’t like that in this time, but it was actually something that Christopher Triton had said. That Delta had changed since staying with Frank and Sally. And it seemed that she had in some ways. She was here at Halloweentown because of him. He was going to make sure that wasn’t in vain.
He got up from his seat, once more to the astonished looks of his classmates, a couple of them teasing about how he was ‘in trouble’ or ‘so lucky’ to have a private audience with Oogie. His expression gave nothing away. It never did. He picked up his backpack and made his way through the halls. He didn’t stop to say hello to the secretary, just walked straight into the office, and closed the door behind him.
“I always forget just how tall you are,” Oogie said, this time not seated at her desk. Rather, she was standing, pouring herself a glass of brandy. It was good to be the boss. “Do you partake?”
“We both know where I get it from,” Frank said, but shook his head about the alcohol. Oogie just smirked and put the bottle down, having poured herself the one glass. She posed near the cabinet that held her liquor, in a way that even Frank found seductive, but he wouldn’t let those thoughts stay very long. He had a reason for being here, and he wasn’t going to forget it. Also, he knew that he would be a fool to accept anything that Oogie had to give him, lest it be a drink or her body.
“That is very true,” Oogie said. “Why don’t you take a seat. This might be a long conversation. Or a very brief one, depending on what your answer is.”
That was the one thing that he would accept. He did sit down in the chair that was offered, the same chair as last time. Because he was not going to just give over a simple yes or no answer. Oogie circled around him before going behind her desk, brandy swirling in her glass. “Interesting. So what is your answer, Frank?”
“I’m not giving you one,” Frank said. Oogie looked interested, rather than annoyed by this proposition so he continued. “I think that you need me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I bring out the best in her.” Frank said, not boasting about it but he just genuinely thought it was true. “Or what you think is the best in her. Think of what happened when you tried to separate us the last time.”
Of course. Her house had burned down. Because Delta had erupted as a dragon to save her darling little Frank. She sighed - yes, yes, he had a point. She didn’t like that. “So you stay with Delta - and what does that mean for your mother?”
“You’re not going to go into her dreams. Because she will bring it up. She can’t keep secrets. And Delta will find out. And whatever weak alliance that you have with her, just because you bailed her out, it’s going to end. She’ll never put any trust in you again.” Of that, Frank felt sure. He thought he knew Delta well enough to say that. She might hold a grudge against Sally, but she had still told her that she loves her.
“Dear oh dear, I hate when little boys think that they are so smug,” Oogie said. She crossed her legs, and in doing so, bumped a button that was situated under her desk. Another cross of her legs hit a second. Iron rungs came from out of the chair, locking Frank’s ankles and wrists in place. There was a reason it was such a hefty seat. She got to her feet, rummaged through the candy jar that she kept near her desk, and pulled out one of her son’s tasty treats. Truth. She was going to get it all. And find a way to make this work, potentially using one of Frank’s own ideas.
“Seriously?” Frank hissed, feeling himself being bonded to the chair. His first instinct was to try to wrench his wrists out, but it was just too tight, and his hands were too big. Not even breaking the bones seemed like it would work.
“There’s a third for necks, but I’m afraid your height just won’t make that possible,” Oogie said cheerfully. She approached Frank, unwrapping the candy, and sat herself right on his lap, wiggling her ass up against the beautiful thing she had seen while he had been stretched out in her dungeon. “Have a candy.”
“Fuck you.”
“In good time.”
Frank closed his mouth, refusing to take the candy, but Oogie had seen movies. She knew to plug his nose and eventually, it would open all on its own. He lasted longer than she thought though, he was already starting to go blue by the time he finally gave in, and she shoved the sweet treat right into his mouth to met on his tongue. “That’ll take a couple of minutes. But it’s okay. We have all the time in the world, don’t we?”
Frank did manage to spit out the candy in question, but it was too late, it had already started to dissolve onto his tastebuds. The candy came out of his mouth and went right into Oogie’s ample cleavage, making her laugh. She put her hands underneath her breasts and pushed them up to his face. “Do you want to try to get it? Fish for the candy?” She laughed.
“No.” Frank said, automatically. A truthful answer.
“Oh, working faster than we thought.” She said, not taking offense at his answer. She wiggled herself against him even more, getting comfortable. “How do you feel about our Delta, really?”
“She’s not our Delta, she’s mine.” Frank found himself saying. “She’s everything.”
“And what does everything mean?”
“I love her.”
“Aww - how sweet. You’re going to give me cavities!” Oogie pinched at his cheeks, found them to be lacking in the fat that she needed to do so, then moved to his lips which were pleasantly plump. She pinched those until they started to turn red. “And what about your mother?”
“I’d do anything to protect her, including killing you so you don’t get into her head anymore.”
“Awww,” Oogie said again, a hard pinch on his bottom lip. He tried to turn his head away but she kept pushing it back. “What are you most afraid of?”
“Not being needed by them anymore.”
“By your mother and Delta, you mean?”
“Yes.”
It was a fear that Frank had never spoken aloud. Had never even admitted to himself, but it was the truth. That was why he was so against Triton. Because if Delta had her father figure back, she wouldn’t need him anymore. And if Sally found someone else to love - she wouldn’t need to depend on her son. He’d always felt needed by his mother. He had always taken care of her. Until the seafood King had come into the picture.
“Why would a mother ever need you?” Oogie laughed, loving this.
“I need to find her cure.”
“The cure to what?”
“Her curse.”
“What is she cursed with?”
“She’s falling apart. I thought it might have something to do with the fact that you tortured her years ago, but now I think it has to do with her father. Frankenstein worked with my grandfather. That’s why I need to talk to him.”
“Interesting, interesting.” Oogie said, snuggling up against Frank’s surprisingly strong chest. He had muscle for a boy who looked as skinny as he did. Just like Jack. He even smelt the same. This was bringing back good memories for her. But she couldn’t focus on that. She had to keep up with the rapid fire questions before the treat wore off.
“Why do you think you bring out the best in Delta?”
“I make her happy.”
“Do you think she’s happy when she’s learning more about herself?”
“Yes.”
“What has she learned?”
And Frank spilled about the fae world, though he was trying to fight against it. He had been trying to keep that a secret, despite the fact that Delta hadn’t told him to. And he told her about how her magic reacted when she was sexually stimuated, something else that he had been wanting to keep private.
“Do you think, right now, she would come after you if you went missing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“We’re not on the best of terms.”
“Why?”
“I hate her father.”
“Well everyone does. Why do you?”
“He’s trying to take my mother from me.”
Oogie laughed again. “Do you think your mother would come looking for you if you went missing?”
“I don’t think she would notice.”
Another heart-wrenchingly true answer.
“Do you have any enemies other than me and Triton, Frank?”
“Arthur.” Frank spat, without meaning to.
Oogie climbed off of Frank, her fingers tired from pinching. She had all that she needed to know, for now. But she wasn’t just going to let him go to continue on with his life. No, she was going to see what Delta really could do. “Thank you for your co-operation. This has been a most ... interesting conversation.”
“Are you going to let me go now, bitch?” Frank hissed. He really was not a fan of having that woman touching him. Of having her anywhere near him, actually.
“Of course I’m not.” She snapped her fingers and two of her own goons came from Oogie’s private bathroom, where they had been filming the whole exchange through a hole in the wall. Little Halloweeners, all dressed up Lock style. She still missed her son, and if she couldn’t have him, she would have replacements. “Make sure to plant some evidence with this Arthur. Let’s see what our girl really can do.”
The goons laughed, one of them hitting Frank over the head with his thick and meaty fist, knocking him out. They then picked up the chair and would carry it through one of the many secret passageways in the schools, taking it right down into the villains lair Oogie had built right in for her late-night poker games with the girls. They’d have fun with him once they all gathered together once again.
