#amystis

~

“You’re lucky I didn’t rip it up,” Inukashi muttered as they came into the house hours later, book in hand. Shion stared at the book excitedly and Nezumi sighed as he grabbed the book. The cover was a bit ragged, which he expected from Inukashi, but the fact he could still see the cover was a miracle. 

“Where did you keep this?”

“Somewhere safe, all you need to know,” Inukashi replied as they entered the house shaking some of the snow from the coat they quickly took off, “So, what did you need it for?”

“Nezumi found an old DVD and this book has that DVD’s story,” Shion told Inukashi as they took off their shoes and walked into the living room to crash on the couch. 

“DVD? Those old things? We couldn’t have watched it even if we wanted to, those things don’t have a way to be read properly.”

“Hence the need for the book,” Nezumi said, sitting down and narrowly missing Inukashi’s head. This gave the Dog Keeper no choice but to sit up and lean against his shoulder. Nezumi shot them a glare that they returned before Shion excitedly sat down to Nezumi’s right.

“So this book is smaller than I expected but does it have the whole story, you think?”

“Let’s hope so and that Inukashi’s mutts didn’t rip out any pages.”

“Hey, my dogs are well-behaved!” Inukashi huffed.

Nezumi opened the cover of the book and was surprised the pages really were all intact. He ran a finger through the book’s spine, and he thought he heard someone sing as he turned the pages to read the book title. That, however, was surely his imagination. 

“The Nightmare Before Christmas by Daphne Skinner,” Nezumi read.

“Is that a famous author like Shakespeare or whatever you read?” Inukashi asked, interrupting Nezumi.

“I haven’t heard of them,” Shion said, pressing his head on Nezumi’s shoulder to try to read over his shoulder because he was practically bouncing with excitement. 

“Are you going to let me read it or not?” Nezumi shot back, trying to get back space for him to read. Shion and Inukashi both went silent because both were interested in the story that the book contained.

Without further ado, Nezumi began to read.

“Under the orange disk of the moon, in a place called Halloweenland, the creatures of the night were busy. Grinning jack-o'-lanterns danced in the graveyard. Werewolves howled. Corpses, vampires, and witches joined their voices in a ghoulish chorus of glee. Tonight was their favorite night of all—Halloween!”

And so, with the three of them curled up in the safety and warmth of Shion’s house, they began to learn about the inhabitants of a world based of an old holiday that predated the end of the old world. Halloween was a place filled with monsters of the night that crept in places you never expected. They were terrifying, a perfect addition to the holiday of Halloween. And the scariest of them all was their leader – the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington. 

The trio were intrigued by this skeletal Pumpkin King who, bored of the holiday he seemed to embody, became interested in another old holiday they had heard about in books and old textbooks. Christmas seemed like the type of holiday the king would not like. It was filled with bright lights and snow while Halloween was dark and spooky. It was time where gifts and not frights were given, and their leader was a jovial large old man named Santa Claus.  

“But Halloween sounds so much better, why would he care about Christmas? It’s not that cool,” Inukashi interrupted with a huff, “If I was Jack, I’d leave that Christmas place and not look back.”

“Don’t say that,” Shion laughed, sharing a glance with Nezumi, “When you do and see the same things every day and you’re exposed to something new, of course you’re going to be curious. You want to get to know more about this new thing that has entered your life and you want to tell everyone. I understand his delight at this Christmas.”

Nezumi had a feeling that Shion’s words had something to do with his old life and when the two of them met but he didn’t pry. Instead, he continued to read because he wanted to know how someone meant to be terrifying could end up loving something so beautiful. With that thought he didn’t want to pursue, the three of them became engrossed in the story once more.

They were charmed at Jack’s spooky interpretation of Christmas and worried over Sally’s visions. Shion became more worried when Jack had gotten Santa captured and the poor old man was taken to another monster named Oogie Boogie. Inukashi, who claimed to find Christmas boring, was concerned that Jack had “ruined Christmas” and was at the edge of their seat as Jack went to save Santa. To their delights, Santa was set free, Christmas was saved and even Jack and Sally had become a couple. 

“. . . At the end of every visit, Santa always asks Jack the same question,” Nezumi read out as Inukashi was half-asleep on his lap and Shion was dozing off too, “’Jack, my boy,’ he says with a twinkle in his eye, ‘if you had it to do all over again, would you? Could you?’ To which Jack always replies, with a smile of pure delight, ‘Of course I would. Wouldn't you?’ And that’s the end of the Nightmare before Christmas.”

“Read the part where Jack finds Christmas again.” Shion said half-asleep as Nezumi set the book down on the table in front of them carefully. He didn’t want to agitate Inukashi too much because, for the first time, the rough younger child looked peaceful and happy.

“I want to hear it again,” Inukashi muttered.

“Not with the two of you half-asleep.” Nezumi said, “I’d be wasting my breath.”

“I wanna celebrate Christmas or Halloween.” Inukashi said as Nezumi returned to his position and Shion curled up against him.

“Maybe if we knew more than what the book showed,” Shion said, yawning, “Maybe we could know more if we did more research like Jack did.”

Nezumi sighed, looking up as Shion and Inukashi drifted to sleep. He closed his eyes, thinking still of the fantastical worlds where the long lost holidays remained. With his last thought in his wakeful hours, Nezumi thought, ‘It would be nice to see it’.

As the three drifted to sleep, they were not aware that a certain winged individual looking at them decided to change their peaceful night.

~

When Shion woke up, the first thing he noticed was the water fountain he was propped up against. He jumped back as the green water flowed freely from the mouth of a monster and he could see eyes looking at him. A lot of eyes. He moved away and turned to see a sleeping Inukashi. . . except Inukashi didn’t look like Inukashi. They had fluffy ears on the top of their head, claws on their hands that looked like claws, an equally fluffy tail and their bare feet were now paws. And Nezumi who was asleep right next to them also looked not quite himself. His hair was long and covered his eyes while his skin was unnaturally pale like a corpse’s. 

“What is this?!”

Inukashi jumped awake, making Nezumi jolt awake too. Inukashi looked at Nezumi, saw the fangs on him alongside the long hair that covered his eyes, and screamed. Nezumi, in turn, saw a dog-like Inukashi in front of him and yelled. 

“Hey, it’s okay, guys! We’re all-.”

Nezumi and Inukashi turned to look at Shion for some normality, but they were instead greeted with Shion who had red scales all over his body and a small forked tongue they could see. They screamed and Shion screamed at them back. 

It would be these screams that would bring to attention their presence in this strange world.

They heard the barks first. They all looked in that direction and saw a ghostly dog make its way towards them, pumpkin nose glowing. Inukashi’s eyes widened as the dog stopped in front of them and somehow nudged Shion. As Inukashi tried to pet the dog, the three of them suddenly saw a tall and thin figure make their way over to them.

The tall thin figure moved in a way that was very inhuman while the silhouette was paired by the glowing of a full moon. It was the moon that illuminated these streets, also making the shadows of the figure appear longer. Finally, the figure was in view of them and they saw a very dapper skeleton grinning down at them for he towered over them. Nezumi tried to push Shion back but the snake-like boy was stuck in the spot and only Inukashi hid behind him.

“He-hello?” Shion asked.

“Hello!” The figure said excitedly, waving at them excitedly, “You’re awake! I didn’t want to wake you so soon before all the decorations were set but it seems I don’t have to! Hello, hello, guests, to Halloweentown!”

A couple of ghosts swirled around them, making Shion cling to Nezumi. The ghosts didn’t look malicious. They also seemed to be wearing little red hats on their heads. They were all singing, and they had actually good vocals.

“Boys and girls-“

“And those who are neither, both or depends,” The skeleton chimed at them, although he was ignored by the ghosts who continued their song.

“of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange?”

“Come with us and you will see! This, our town of Halloween!”

Inukashi gasped, “This is Halloweentown! Like from the book!”

“Yes! Yes, it is!” The skeleton said gleefully, extending his hand and shaking Inukashi’s immediately, “My name is Jack Skellington, it is a pleasure for you to join us!”

“Jack Skellington? Like from the book?” Shion gasped out loud as Jack shook his hand and then Nezumi’s.

“Are we dreaming then?” Nezumi questioned.

“Well yes but not really,” Jack said, straightening himself to his towering height that intimidated the trio. He waved his hand around to gesture at the small town that encompassed the spirit of Halloween, “You can view this as a dream! But we’ve always been here, just humans don’t cross here as themselves. So we had some help from a certain individual to bring you here.”

“A certain individual-?”

“That doesn’t matter! What matters is you’re here in a great time! Today is Christmas Eve and we’re celebrating!”

“I thought you couldn’t steal Christmas!” Inukashi spat out.

“Well, I can’t. My old friend will get cross with me if that happens again. But that doesn’t stop us from celebrating Christmas in our own way! Come, follow me!”

Jack walked forward and Shion immediately followed after him in curiosity and joy. Inukashi and Nezumi stared at each other, which was odd since Nezumi’s eyes couldn’t be seen, before following after the Pumpkin King and Shion.

The trio watched in awe as bright lights turned on in Halloweentown. They were red and green but they could see the lights were in the shape of tiny ghosts or pumpkins. As Shion stopped to examine them, a tiny spider waved at him with a small shout of “Happy Christmas!”

While there was no snow, Inukashi marveled at the somber music being played by a monstrous band while others sang happy Christmas carols. Inukashi stopped to stare at a vampire trying to sneak in a present into a house but failing by being unable to enter the house. They laughed and they felt the nudge of something. Inukashi turned and grinned down at the ghost dog that they knew to be Zero from the book.

“Good boy!” Inukashi said, petting the ghost dog and impressed their hand didn’t go through Zero.

Zero barked and led Inukashi back to Jack, Shion and Nezumi. Nezumi was quietly taking this in with a small shine in his eyes. The three of them continued this awe as they saw numerous ghouls singing outside their homes, sea monsters were putting up trees decked with creepy décor that surprisingly matched. Witches were brewing something in their cauldrons and an interesting plant was put on an archway. Jack stopped Inukashi from standing underneath it.

“This is mistletoe, you have to kiss whoever is underneath it with you.”

Nezumi and Shion both stopped and Shion would’ve blushed if he could. Jack covered Inukashi’s eyes as Nezumi leaned forward to give Shion a kiss. Despite them not looking like themselves, the kiss still grounded them to who the other was.

“Christmas is fun, isn’t it?” Jack said, uncovering Inukashi’s eyes.

They continued the tour throughout Halloweentown until it began to get even later. Regardless, the trio and Jack came across a lot of celebrating monsters who convinced them to play games with them and even dance. There was a certain wolfman that was very happy to dance with Nezumi despite Shion’s jealousy. Inukashi ate some of the sweets they gave them, regardless if it looked safe to eat or not.

Shion got a lot of canes that had red and white stripes that were really delicious. It was unfortunate that a snake was given to him once with that same coloring and he had to cut back the scream as three kids ran from him giggling.

They danced, ate, and even sang with the happy monsters as the night went on. Even if they were filled with holiday cheer, the hours caught up to them and they were soon tired. When Jack eventually turned to his guests who, while enchanted by this beautiful world, looked exhausted, he knew it was time for them to get some needed rest. Zero was nudging Inukashi still, trying to keep them from falling over.  

“We’ve seen a lot already so we should stop by my house before you go back home. Based on the festivities, my wife should be home by now.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nezumi said.  

Zero kept close to Inukashi as Jack led them to his house. It was decked in decorations. His gate had glowing Christmas lights that were circular and less spooky than the others. These same lights lit up his house and, from the windows, they could see a large tree bright with red ornaments and golden lights and an equally golden star. 

“My wife and I were preparing for the event tonight so don’t mind the mess too much.” Jack warned as he entered his foreboding yet warm-looking home. 

There were presents wrapped in white with black lines, red with spiders making silver threads for decoration and black presents with spiderwebs engraved on them. In the middle of this was a rather tall woman with reddish hair, stitches in several parts of her body and blue skin. She was wearing a red dress with white lining and sowing a similar one with little black embroidery.

“What is all this?” Shion asked.

“Just some gifts for the wonderful citizens of Halloweentown,” Jack said as he began to count the presents, “Sally and I wanted to show our appreciation of everyone with gifts to show our love and thanks. After all, Christmas is a time for family, friends and merry cheer.”

“Then the reason you brought us here was because?”

“Well, for a long time, humans haven’t been celebrating Halloween, Christmas or any other holiday anymore. It’s become kind of lonely and we kind of miss the holiday moments. When that certain individual told me to introduce you to this place, well, I jumped at the chance!”

“And who is that individual?”

“Classified! She said I shouldn’t tell you. Also, not important! Today we’re in the middle of Christmas Eve! In just ten minutes, Christmas is coming!”

“And is it really as wonderful as the book says?” Inukashi asked.

“No, it’s even better!” Sally chimed in from her spot sewing, “See, Christmastown is always hard to capture even with pictures. It’s entirely magical and bright and very snowy! Santa Claus is always a gracious host too.”

“Always so eloquent, Sally,” Jack said and, even without eyes, he looked at her with adoration, “And she’s right as always. We can’t visit Christmastown this year, but we wanted to bring our own spin on Christmas. Everyone has gotten into the cheer.”

“It is really nice here,” Inukashi said, petting Zero and grinning as the ghost dog licked them.

“Jack, do you have the hot chocolate ready?” Sally asked and Jack almost jumped as he ran to the kitchen. She laughed before turning to look at the group.

“He’s very excited this year and it’s thanks to you three. We’ve hardly had cause to celebrate as less and less humans remember Halloween but, with you three, it’s reignited our holiday cheer. Thank you for cheering up Jack and me.”

Nezumi scratched the back of his head, “Uh, no need for thanks. We just wanted to know your story.”

“And how wonderful of you to do so,” Sally answered as Jack came in with tiny black cauldrons that were hot with steam. Tiny bones were there and Jack used them to stir the hot chocolate.

“It wasn’t boiling, was it?”

“Of course not, Sally, I timed it right.”

“Did you?”

Jack and Sally shared a look before laughing and Inukashi glanced at Nezumi and Shion because these two inhabitants of this magical world acted a whole lot like them. Inukashi wondered if they had even noticed.

Jack passed them the hot chocolates and, when he gave the last to Sally who had to stop sewing, he threw a match into the looming fireplace. Tiny spiders in tiny red hats were moving about, picking up where Sally left off.

“This is a really nice place,” Shion said, drinking the hot chocolate and it was surprisingly warm.

“It’s really spooky but bright!” Inukashi chimed in, Zero barking as he nudged himself closer to them.

Nezumi took a sip from the hot chocolate, “So what event are you two doing?”

“All we’re doing is the presents, honestly.” Jack said.

Nezumi hummed, “Really? How come your wife Sally is making those outfits for the two of you?”

Sally and Jack looked at each other before Nezumi continued, “I think you’re going to do your own version of Christmas, Halloween-style. You’re going to Santa Claus for one night like you did in the book.”

“You’re smarter than I expected you to be.” Jack said sheepishly.

“You’re gonna be Santa Claus again?” Shion questioned, “But, Sally, isn’t that a bad thing?”

“Well, it would be if he that outside of Halloweentown. Jack and I are only doing this here on Halloweentown. I’m helping him tonight, so I was fixing up this old outfit of his. I’m afraid Zero played with it too often.”

“And he’s going to be pulling the sleigh tonight, so he needs his rest too.”

“Are we gonna get to see that?”

Jack looked sad if a skeleton could be sad before looking at the clock. He sighed, “No, it seems that we’re running out of time.”

“Oh, can’t they stay longer, Jack?” Sally asked, grabbing a box filled with cookies, “We have so many activities to do with them and they didn’t get a proper meal.”

“You know it’s not my time, Sally. She said that they were to return before the morning came and it’s almost time.”

“Who is she?”

A timer rang ominously, and Jack went to hug the three without any regards for decorum. Sally hugged them from the other side as Inukashi, Shion and Nezumi saw their bodies slowly turning into snow. Inukashi felt themselves panic and Zero whined sadly.

“This was a fun Christmas thanks to you three. We needed some fun people to celebrate after so long.”

“I don’t want to leave, I want you to deliver the presents!” Inukashi yelled.

“Don’t be sad, Inukashi,” Sally said, “We’re not gonna disappear forever. If we’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of us on Halloween. Give you a proper spook.”

“But-.”

“But what about Christmas here? We didn’t make it to see Christmas in the town of Halloween like in the book!” Shion yelled.

“Maybe that will be another day, I’m afraid.” Jack said, “But don’t forget the fun you had! Keep that joy in your hearts and, eventually, Christmas and Halloween will return to the humans again like so long ago.”

“The world’s changed so much, do you still want to go and do that, Jack?” Nezumi asked, recalling barren wastelands and empty, desolate buildings he’d seen in the two years away from the cities.

“Of course! So long as there are people to celebrate, we will go.”

“Thank you for being so fun!” Inukashi said, giving one last hug to Zero.

“No, thank you for reminding us again how fun it is to celebrate with humans again. See you soon, Shion, Nezumi, and Inukashi!” Jack said as the trio turned to snow and began to fly out into the night. Even in this form, however, the trio still heard the parting words of the jolly Pumpkin King:

“Don’t forget the holiday cheer when you wake up! Merry Christmas!”

~

With a jolt, Nezumi woke up first. Inukashi sat up, wiping the drool from their mouth as Nezumi looked at his lap in disgust. Shion rubbed his eyes, looking at his hand as if expecting his scales to still be there. He sighed, setting his hand down.

“Was it all just a dream?” Shion wondered.

Inukashi sighed, touching their head as if expecting their dog ears to still be there, “I guess it was. It was really fun, too. . . I didn’t say bye to Zero, too..”

Nezumi was about to say something when he saw a tiny Christmas tree like the ones he had seen in Halloweentown. It had a tiny jack-o-lantern as the tree topper and tiny bats were hanging alongside some sparkling Christmas ornaments. By this tiny tree were three presents wrapped in all black with white spiderwebs as decoration and a skeleton head like a ribbon.

Nezumi let himself smile, “That Pumpkin King knows how to celebrate.” 

“We got presents?!” Shion and Inukashi asked excitedly.

The three went to grab their gifts. In Jack’s neat writing, they saw how they were all addressed to each of them. It was awfully thoughtful of the Pumpkin King when he’d been so busy during Halloweentown’s tiny celebration of Christmas. 

Inukashi opened theirs first and smiled as they took out one of the many outfits they’d seen Sally making. Inukashi put on the red hat with the white ball at the tip on, grinning as they put on the red coat too. They also noticed there were several dog snacks as well, the perfect number for their dogs. Attached to those dog snacks was a note that read “Zero likes these and wanted to share!”

Nezumi opened his next and his gift was a heavy looking book. When he opened it, it read “The Chronicle of Halloween and Christmas” by Jack Skellington and Santa Claus. Nezumi laughed, looking at the illustrations on the pages. There were notes from both figures throughout the pages besides their own professional writing. 

Shion opened his gift next and gasped. Inside was the DVD box, fixed with the box restored to its former glory. There was also a system that appeared to be made to play the DVD based on the instructions. In a note, it read “whenever you miss our world, play me!”

“How about we put this on?” Shion asked.

Inukashi nodded, their white ball in their hat bobbing up and down. As the three excitedly chattered over their presents, they didn’t see Jack Skellington outside their window looking in and grinning at his partner in crime.

“Well, seems to me like this was a successful Christmas!”

“Safu” laughed, stretching her colorful wasp wings as she looked at the window, “We all deserve a bit of Christmas cheer once in a while, after decades without it. Let’s just not forget Halloween when it comes this upcoming October.”

“Never, my lady!” Jack promised, “On my word as Pumpkin King, we’re bringing out the best Halloween next year! It’ll be to die for! Oh, I’m running late, Sally might be upset. I promised I’d give her that present I made her when I returned. See you in Halloween!”

As the Pumpkin King vanished into the snowy morning to return home to Halloweentown, “Safu” smiled at the trio in the living room. Shion had finished setting up the disc player with Nezumi’s help and they had settled in to watch the Halloweentown they’d met in their dream. “Safu” disappeared right as a familiar tune filled the small house in that Christmas morning.

“Merry Christmas, everyone.”