Here is the happier, slightly-bittersweet ending to wash the taste of tragedy out of your mouths from the previous chapter! :D

One hundred years of trick-or-treating passed in much the same way, one hundred more Halloweens the trio spent roaming the streets, collecting candy and playing pranks. On December twenty-fourth after that hundredth Halloween, Skeleton Jack destroyed the Boogie Man and millions upon millions of children in the Human World slept more soundly in their beds, no longer afraid of that massive, hulking, fearful presence that had now been wiped from their minds and memories. Lock, Shock and Barrel's initial reaction was to be upset, for they had served the Boogie Man for so long… but then they realized that they were now just as free as those human children were. Free from the fear, free from the beatings, free from being slaves to that chute and the offerings that they were forced to send down daily, free from the lies he had fed them that they were unwelcome and unwanted by everyone in their own town. They were offered safe harbor from the Pumpkin King himself and the children accepted - for out of all the residents of Halloween Town, he was the one who had always truly understood and accepted them for what they were. When the children returned home after that first Halloween one hundred years ago, Jack had looked down at their masked faces, their bags full of treats, the dried bits of smashed pumpkin on their feet… and he had understood. They weren't just a failed witch, devil and ghoul - they had found their purpose, and Jack was delighted for them and for this new facet of the holiday that made up his very bones. He respected their job and he made great efforts to convince the rest of the townspeople to feel the same: "Trick-or-Treating is a part of Halloween. They have a job to do, as do we all. We must not punish them for it." He had told them over and over again through the decades, and slowly some of the residents had come around to this point of view and gradually things began to change. At this newfound tolerance - and even acceptance - the children felt a happiness that they had never known. They still were quite naughty, but their tricks became less violent and harmful and could be staved off almost entirely with regular treats from the other townspeople, just like in the Human World. They burned their old treehouse to the ground and watched with satisfaction as the ash and melted metal settled down into the pit, and then they spit upon the Boogie Man's grave beneath it. A new treehouse was built closer to town and many of their neighbors helped with the construction, and when their new home was finished the children treated their helpers to a spectacular show from the last of the fireworks that Oogie Boogie had given them.

As the trio softened, so did trick-or-treating itself: no more was it a desperate gesture to ward off evil spirits, but rather a fun and benign activity that gave children joy and brought neighborhoods together. By the time another fifty years had passed very little wickedness remained in the three of them, for it had all been replaced by a playful mischievousness that became more endearing than it was annoying. Two hundred more years followed, two hundred more Halloweens spent gleefully fulfilling their purpose… but then something began to change.

It was slow at first: Shock noticed a wart on the tip of her nose like the grown-up witches had, and more warts soon followed. Then they all three realized that she'd grown even taller… and to her horror, she grew slight hips and breasts. Then once in the middle of a fight, Shock yelled a curse at Lock and the power of her words flung him across the room and into the wall - she had never exhibited any magical abilities before and it was so surprising that Lock wasn't even mad, and the fight ended immediately. She looked at the broom that she kept in her closet and wondered… she had never tried to ride it before, she just figured she couldn't, so why waste the time trying? But she picked it up and sat astride it, then shrieked when it lifted her five feet off the ground. She put it away quickly, for what use was a flying broomstick to a trick-or-treater? When they ventured to the Human World that Halloween, they noticed fewer homes had their lights on for them, and fewer bowls of candy were left on the porches. Those that opened the door for them spoke as if Shock was chaperoning the boys and were reluctant to give her candy. "You're a little old for this, aren't you?" the humans said, and while Lock and Barrel giggled, Shock destroyed the Jack-o-Lanterns and mailboxes of every human who had questioned her with a fierceness above and beyond their usual tricks.

Lock teased her mercilessly, but then he began growing taller as well. Real horns forced their way painfully out of his skull, pushing aside and making redundant his carefully-styled hair that had mimicked the real thing. Then during a fight when it was his turn to yell, a faint lick of flame escaped his lips as he lost his temper. He slapped a hand to his mouth in surprise and his cohorts' jaws dropped… then he experimentally snapped his fingers like he'd tried a thousand times before, but this time he sent a throw pillow up in flames. They stared at it stunned, until Shock came to her senses and smothered it out with a tattered blanket, and Lock was careful not to snap his fingers again - at least not in the house. When they ventured to the Human World that Halloween, even fewer homes had their porch lights on, they noticed the number of costumed children dwindling, and now Lock got dirty looks right along with Shock. "Getting kind of old for this, aren't you two? And you should be getting your candy at a party instead of on the streets." the humans said in disapproving voices as they handed the devil and witch single pieces of candy instead of the usual handful. And while Barrel still got more than his cohorts, it was much, much less than in years before and houses that would give even a cute little ghoul treats were getting harder and harder to find… but oddly, Shock found herself not caring as much as she used to. Candy was fine, it still tasted good, but she felt quite content to munch on the few pieces she'd been given while Lock angrily set fire to the Jack-o-Lanterns of any human who had been stingy with him.

Barrel still craved the candy and was pleased that his modest haul was at least better than his cohorts'… but that wasn't saying much. At first he had to hide it to keep Lock from stealing it, but then Lock felt his interest in candy beginning to wane just like Shock's had, and he didn't bother to steal it much anymore. Then even Barrel began to grow, his baby-fat melting away into thick muscle, his wide hands and feet becoming even wider and tougher, and bristly green hair sprouted from his arms and legs. Then when they were hanging out in the graveyard one night he saw a half-decomposed raven sticking out of the dirt, and - inexplicably - it looked delicious. He crept over and sniffed it, and couldn't resist… "Gross!" his friends cried as the carrion disappeared into his wide, toothy mouth, but to Barrel it tasted even better than the soup that Shock had made for them that night. He burrowed around, hunting for more, and from that point on he always had a raw rat or crow along with his dinner - the more rotten, the better. When they ventured to the Human World that Halloween, there were hardly any children out roaming in hardly any of the streets - and the few that they saw were nearly as old as the three of them appeared to be now, and seemed to be having just as little success. They searched the world and found only a couple of houses that would give them candy, and the trio heard the same two phrases from each house they found: "You three are definitely too old for this!" the most elderly humans would say, and "What are you three doing out? No one trick-or-treats anymore." said the others, and the trio were stunned. They returned to their world with only a few pieces of candy, which they divided amongst themselves. Then they went to see Jack.

"What's going to happen to us?" Shock asked, twisting the fabric of her new dress in her fists - she had to sew a new one when her old dress became just too small.

"The humans are saying that nobody trick-or-treats anymore." worried Lock, wringing his hands and coiling his tail protectively around his leg. Shock had made him and Barrel new clothes, too.

"Candy doesn't taste as good as it used to." Barrel said sadly, though he found he was missing the idea of it more than the taste.

Jack smiled at them sympathetically and couldn't help but be amused that they had taken so long to come to him. They had all grown so much over the last couple years that no one could miss it, but clearly the trio didn't understand what it meant. But Jack had seen many traditions come and go over the centuries, and it was clear as the moon to him that the custom of trick-or-treating was coming to an end. "Its just one of those changes that Halloween goes through. Out with the old, and in with the new! Just listen to your hearts, and you'll know what to do." he smiled cheerfully at them, proud of his little poem, and while the trio rolled their eyes at the Pumpkin King's candy-corniness they felt comforted by his words.

The next Halloween they ventured to the Human World… and stood in the cemetery not knowing what to do. Not a single child roamed the streets, not a single home offered candy. They walked down a street and each wrecked a mailbox, but it just didn't satisfy that gnawing unease, an unsettled feeling that they hadn't felt for hundreds of years… that feeling that they weren't doing what they were meant to be doing. "I think I have to go back to the cemetery." Barrel finally ventured. That was where his kind spent most of their time, so he thought that perhaps that's where he belonged now, too.

"I think you may be right." Shock replied, glancing up at the silhouettes of two witches flying across the full moon. She found herself yearning for that freedom of flight, to ride with the moon in the dead of night. She turned to Lock and asked, "Where will you go?"

For once in his existence, Lock didn't know what to say. His kind haunted minds and souls, not graveyards or skies, and he wasn't sure himself how to get there. He thought of Jack's words, closed his eyes, and listened like his King had advised him… and when he opened his eyes again that unease had disappeared. "I think I know." he said, then he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of fire, leaving only a faint scent of sulfur behind.

When they returned home after the post-Halloween celebration they sat closely together on their ratty old sofa, for it wasn't nearly as roomy as it once was. "That was so fun!" Barrel said happily, for his belly was full and his heart was at ease.

"What did you do?" his cohorts inquired.

"We ate dead things wherever we found them and frightened the humans who saw us! I scared lots of them by eating a roadkill deer, and I dug up some stuff out of the cemetery, too!" He held up his hands and showed the bottoms of his broad feet, all covered with dirt, and his cohorts were impressed by how revolting his job was and how much it must terrify the humans who saw him. "What did you do?" he asked Shock.

"I found Helgamine and Zeldaborne and they got me a broom and taught me to fly with them. Then they taught me how to transform into a black cat, we cast a few spells and made some potions under the moon and we scared lots of humans!" Her eyes gleamed with excitement recounting her night, and her cohorts were amazed by the magic she could do. "How about you?" she asked Lock, and he grinned.

"Yeah, you just disappeared!" Barrel said, his eyes wide with astonishment.

Lock grinned even more. "I went into the hearts and minds of humans and whispered every wicked thing I could think of to them. Tried to convince them to do frightening things, and then they got even more frightened because they had those awful thoughts, even if they didn't act on them! Lucius helped me and some are weaker than others, but I'm gonna try and go for the hard ones next time, maybe hit up a convent. I like a challenge."

Shock rolled her eyes though secretly she was impressed. "How did you do it?" Barrel asked eagerly.

"I don't know how I did it, I just did." Lock shrugged. It sounded lame, but there was no way to explain it. Fortunately his cohorts were satisfied with that answer, for none of them could really explain how they did what they did, either… they just knew it somehow, like they'd known how to trick-or-treat.

They were quiet for a moment, each one of them thinking how odd it was not to be sharing their candy and comparing the number of tricks they had played. They had left their masks hanging from their nails on the wall, and hadn't even realized until this moment that they had left them behind. "I guess we're not trick-or-treaters anymore." Shock said softly, and they all three felt just a tiny bit sad. It was strange to have new jobs after hundreds of years, but at the same time they knew it was time to move on - time to take their place as a witch, devil and ghoul, and deep in their bones it felt just as good, just as right, as trick-or-treating had. But they were all so different all of a sudden, and Barrel started to worry. He loved being a ghoul, but he didn't want to leave the treehouse or his best friends - not ever.

"We're still three of a kind, right?" he asked with his round, worried eyes.

"Of course." Lock said firmly, wrapping his arm around Barrel's wide shoulders, for he felt the same. "Birds of a feather."

"Always." said Shock, as she followed suite. "Now and forever."

Author Note: Much better! This is the ending I definitely prefer both because it's not totally depressing and because it goes along nicely with my stories where they're all grown up. :D