Oogie Boogie Strikes Back

chapter 1

It was about time for Halloween, Akito and Estelle woke up in their room to have their costumes lying on bed with them. They both smiled fondly as they took their costumes, went to the mirror and decided to get themselves dressed as it was a lovely holiday spent by scaring people and getting candy from strangers. They both were going in costumes they each had made with the help from their parents. Estelle was dressed as a ballerina princess and Akito was dressed as his own made up superhero.

"Here, sweetie... Your grandmother Elizabeth made this for me when we'd go to church." Mo took out a flowery ribbon to tie in Estelle's dark brown hair.

"Thanks, Mom." Estelle smiled as it was tucked in place.

"Oh, you look so cute in your ballerina princess costume, Estelle," Mo said, adoring her daughter in her costume. "And Akito, you look like Superboy, but without the S symbol on the chest."

Akito chuckled. "This is so exciting."

"Be careful while trick-or-treating," Atticus warned their children. "Also, your Uncle Forte and cousin Felicity will be home, now don't remind them of your Aunt Cherry... They feel miserable enough already without her."

"Yes, sir." Akito said.

Akito and Estelle gathered their trick-or-treat bags and went to go off trick-or-treating with the other kids before they would go see their relatives. They were so excited to go trick-or-treating, but still missed their Aunt Cherry.

"Do you think Aunt Cherry is okay where she is...?" Estelle frowned as they lugged their heavy candy bags.

"I hope so." Akito said, not having any trouble with his candy bag.

Estelle rang the ominous sounding doorbell.

Forte walked over and cracked the door open, looking to the Fudo twins. "Akito... Estelle..."

"Hello, Uncle Forte." The twins said in unison, happy to see their uncle.

"Welcome..." Forte allowed them inside.

Felicity looked to her cousins. "Bonjour..." she greeted them softly. She was a little unhappy because she was forced to be separated from her mother and nobody knew where she was, she could only come over if she found a good time to escape to see everybody.

"How have you both been doing?" Akito asked.

"We're fine... Thank you..." Forte gave them two pieces of candy from his bowl.

Akito and Estelle took them after thanking him.

Felicity sighed as she looked out the window, she knew Halloween happened to be her mother's most favorite holiday. "I am missing her..."

"I know, Flick, I know..." Forte soothed. "I miss her a lot too... Her not being here makes me wonder if she's stumbled after getting lost with her first Halloween away from home... Now that's an interesting story."

"Ooh." The twins said, sounding interested.

"Sil vous plait, Papa..." Felicity tugged his coat. "Tell us..."

"I don't know if I should..." Forte sighed. "I miss your mother to pieces... I would give anything for her to come walking right through that door right now..."

Suddenly, the door opened as it looked ominous and frightening outside and there came an adult woman wearing a cloak. She removed the hood a little sharply and was revealed to be Cherry.

"Maman..." Felicity whispered, then hugged her legs. "I thought you could not come..."

"Long story..." Cherry said, keeping her left eye covered by her long-lasting dark brown hair.

"What happened, Aunt Cherry?" Estelle asked, fearing that something might have happened to Cherry's left eye.

"I'd rather not talk about it..." Cherry said softly for a change.

"How did you escape this time?" Forte asked, letting her sit in the chair across from him.

"It wasn't easy," Cherry said as she sat down. "Luckily they don't know what Halloween is and they went to a council meeting for the Queen, but they told me to stay in my room, I went out my bedroom window since there were guards at my door. What're we talking about?"

"Papa was just about to tell us the first Halloween you had spent without your Earth parents." Felicity said as she wanted to sit in her mother's lap.

Cherry saw this and lifted her to sit there, looking to her husband. "And you were gonna tell them? You weren't even there! That was before I even knew you!"

"I think me and Estelle are gonna head out now." Akito said, feeling like this could be situation only for the Forte family to handle.

Cherry rubbed her eyes, flinching slightly. "You kids want a Halloween story? Let me tell you about what I like to call the nightmare before Christmas."

Estelle gave her aunt a look. "Halloween and Christmas are different though..."

"Yes, but they're important holidays involved on this adventure I took once," Cherry said, trying to ignore her pain with her eye once she accidentally had touched it. "You can hear it if you wish. Perhaps one year..."

"Yeah." The twins said.

Then Estelle noticed something glowing in a forest. She wondered what it could be. Akito looked in the same direction and followed.

In the middle of the forest, there appeared to be some candy in a bag. There were mischievous giggles heard however.

"Did you hear that?" Akito asked.

"Yes I did, let's go and grab the candy and then run out of the forest as fast as we can." Estelle said.

Once Estelle and Akito had their backs turned, they grabbed the candy and turned to see a devil boy, a witch girl, and a zombie/goblin boy. This startled Estelle as Akito began to his twin sister.

"We need your help." The witch said.

"Where did you guys come from?" Akito glanced at them, not recognizing them from their little trick-or-treating expedition.

"That's not important right now," the devil said, urgently. "We really, really, really need your help..."

"Yeah, it's not looking good where we come from." the zombie added.

"What's wrong?" Estelle had shifty eyes around the three kids.

"Mr. Boogeyman is back and we can't find Jack Skellington anywhere!" All three trick-or-treaters yelled.

"Whoa, back up," Akito stopped them. "Who's Jack Skellington?"

"And Mr. Oogie Boogie?" Estelle added.

"And who are you guys?" the twins asked at once.

"Didn't your aunt tell you about us and her adventure in Halloween Town?" The witch asked.

"You know Aunt Cherry?" Akito asked.

"We know Felicity too," the zombie explained. "And her older son, Thomas."

Estelle looked to her twin brother, not having known that. "Aunt Cherry has an older son?"

"She never told you?" The devil asked the twins.

"Mm-mm..." the twins shook their heads.

"We usually leave most business to the Forte family to themselves." Akito explained maturely.

The witch removed her hat, gripping the ends of it. "Take us to your aunt... She can help us..."

"Okay, follow us." The twins said, making their way back to the Forte family.