World of Dreams

A World of Dreams

A/N: WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE SEQUEL NOVEL, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, WRITTEN BY SHEA ERNSHAW. If you haven't read the book yet or want to avoid spoilers, please do not read the fic!!

This fic is considered to be part of an AU and not compliant to my other TNBC works. Please keep that in mind while reading! Thank you!

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The Hinterlands forest is an eerie place, when one is in Halloween Town. It begins with tall, impeding trees - branches following the wind to form unsettling faces and figures. These are tricks to the unknowing eye, but the lands do it intentionally. To make one feel truly alone while wandering, susceptible to scares the creatures can impose on them. Nature purposefully winds down the longer you go, to make victims feel like the world around them is physically spinning .

It is a natural delusion - a safety measure set it in place, to drive humans to madness before they'd stumble upon the town.

Jack Skellington walked down the dirt path with ease, his arm interlocked with a shorter figure beside him. Sally admired the bats scurrying around in the dark sky - listening to the distant howls and screaming from Halloween Town, which was left far behind them. In her other hand remained a wicker basket, filled with Halloween-like goodies and presents. To present to her family in Dream Town, as a formality for their first proper visit.

The ragdoll bowed her head at the thought. Family . The concept was hard to grasp - having a father and mother of her own, who looked and acted just like her. Ragdolls of her own kind...in a town only several minutes away. She belonged in Halloween Town - with Jack and Zero, and the rest of her people...but it gave her a sense of belonging elsewhere . One that made her giddy, fingertips buzzing as she held onto her skeleton tighter.

He noticed her grip, the usual smile etched onto his skull. "-Nervous?"

"...A little." She confessed. He brought his hand down to interlock his fingers with hers, giving an assuring squeeze of the palm. She reciprocated the gesture. "-I know I met them already, and I've seen the town before, but...it's our first dinner with my parents. How can I not be?"

"The way I think of it, it'll be the first of many." He noticed the look on her face and added: "-I'm positive it will go well."

They approached the set of holiday trees. While they normally glistened in the pumpkin sun, each of the seven doors had a slight glow to them in the moonlight. To symbolize their presence in the magical forest, so any wandering soul can find their way back home. The two walked past them, deeper, into the part of the Hinterlands where light did not quite reach – and found the once-hidden, abandoned crescent moon door. This one had a slight bioluminescence to it, after finally being uncovered from the thickets of thorns that once blocked the doorway.

The King of Halloween stepped forward and opened it. He was greeted with scents of lavender and chamomile. The gust embraced his figure and brought a strange calmness - the numbness one feels in their limbs right before they fall asleep. He shook out of his dozing to step back and bow politely, motioning in its direction with a bony wrist. He winked at her.

"After you, my Queen."

Sally Skellington grinned as she took his hand. They were soon falling, almost flying, into the gentleness of the cloud-like transportation.

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It was the skeleton's first time in Dream Town, so he was understandably curious with everything he saw. His sockets observed their surroundings intently, looking at peaceful streams of colored water in nearby creeks. He listened to the sounds of crickets and other sleep-inducing noises around them. They soon approached the lavender crops. The large wall still circled the town, but residents were free to come through as they pleased now.