AN: I OWN NOTHING OF THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS FRANCHISE!

They were walking through the woods together, it had been a long day of being teased at school and they needed the break. Colby was skipping and twirling every few steps, but that was mainly because she was a little mamby pamby if you asked Erica who simply trudged through the snow alongside her friend. They were walking a lot farther than they normally did and Colby was surprised when she tripped suddenly and came tumbling down a snowy hillside and into a circle of trees. Erica caught up to her and pulled her out of the snow. "Well, that's one way to do it," she laughed as Colby shook the snow off of herself. Colby gasped and pointed and soon Erica realized what Colby had seen. The trees surrounding them had small doors carved into them into different shapes of different holiday objects. One in particular caught Colby's gaze and she walked up to and reached out to grab the handle of a jack-o-lantern shaped door. Erica grabbed her wrist to stop her then. "Don't be stupid." Erica chided and Colby took a step back.

Erica opened the door and jumped to the side, but only a warm autumn breeze rolled in from the tree. Colby stepped forward and looked inside, orange leaves were dancing far below her as she looked down. She leaned forward for a better look and soon found herself being sucked in. Erica quickly made to grab her but she herself was blown in by the force and they were soon falling through endless darkness. When they landed on a damp bed of leaves there was another jack-o-lantern door and Erica opened it just enough to peek through. They were back in the woods but there was no snow. She got out gingerly and rolled her eyes as she heard Colby trip as she followed her. She pulled her up once more and they looked around. Colby gasped and pointed to the sun.

"Don't look at it too long, you'll hurt your eyes." Erica said sarcastically, but Colby insisted on her looking. Erica glanced up at the sky and jumped about six inches into the air at what she saw. "Sweet mother of hell, what the fuck is the sun doing as a jack-o-lantern?" She shouted and Colby hid slightly behind her as she pointed towards a road going through the trees.

"Should we go that way?" She asked in a timid voice and Erica surveyed what she could see of the dusty road. She nodded when all looked clear and the girls headed down the lane together. They walked for about ten minutes when Erica saw something white bobbing in the distance. At first she thought it was her imagination but soon enough a ghost-like blanket thing appeared before them and Colby screamed before hiding behind Erica. The thing barked at them and Erica looked at it's nose in amusement.

"Apparently everything here has a jack-o-lantern." She reached out her hand and the ghost floated up to it and licked it. "Relax, Colby. It's just a dog's ghost. It's not going to bite you or anything... maybe." Colby stood up straighter and approached the ghost timidly. She reached out and touched it's jack-o-lantern nose and giggled softly. She noticed the tag hanging from the collar and looked at it closely.

"Looks like his name is Zero." She told Erica. As Erica was about to speak, a voice rang out calling the ghost's name. A man's skinny figure appeared in the distance and the ghost dog barked happily to let his owner know where he was. When the man reached them it took everything Colby had not to scream. Before them stood a six foot tall skeleton with a bat for a bow tie around his neck.

"Why, hello there." He said cheerily. That's when Colby screamed and hid behind Erica. The skeleton frowned. "I haven't done that to a human in months."

Xx

Erica smiled at the memory of their first visit to Halloween Town. Colby had honestly grown warm to the idea after a while, though she did prefer Christmas Town merely because not everyone there tried to scare her easily scared self for fun. Jack was sitting beside her, patting her hand in their old age at thirty five. They had been married for several years now and had four or five, they couldn't really remember, children that were now almost all grown. Jack kissed the top of her head and she blushed. He was the only person that could so that to her. Colby giggled from the corner where she was snuggled up close to her own husband, Shawn Spencer, a detective from Santa Barbara whom had grown used to the insane idea that these worlds exist. Their newest baby, baby number six, settled snugly in her lap; their other children causing havoc just as their parents had taught them how. Erica had to admit, life turned out pretty alright... until Colby's baby threw a spit-covered rattle at her face. Who the hell said babies were cute?