I'm not dead.

I know, I know. Not updating in forever was bad. Bad author, no donuts. But I have returned and plan to keep with this story to the end. Unfortunately, I can't quite remember all I had planned but I've got some new ideas too. Reviews/feedback/suggestions are all welcomed.

Disclaimer: All rights are given to respective owners, no money is being made off of this, Lu is mine. Please ask permission before use. Unless it's art. I will love anyone who draws him (or the trio because much 3 for pranks) for me.

Dedicated to Amanda because without her you never would have had another chapter.

And now:

This is Halloween

Ch. 5: Discoveries

The council resumed shortly and Lu once again took his place next to his father. Boredom began to creep back in after a mere four sentences and the young skeleton took to amusing himself by watching Santa. The winter holiday was definitely making an effort to keep his familiar shape and had a small tray of sweets next to him, downing a few whenever he wasn't speaking. Despite this, Lu quickly decided Santa was rather intelligent. His leadership probably strung from directing elves all year in toy making and Lu wondered if the man could help him reason with his father.

The idea was dismissed almost as soon as it had come. From what he knew of The Christmas Incident, Santa had been kidnapped and very nearly killed and still had been the second holiday to willingly cross the breach, in fact bringing snow to Halloween. No, even if Santa and Jack had their differences, they seemed fairly united when it came to the importance of Holiday interaction.

It was those trees. Lu's eyes turned slightly away from the table, focusing on the doorways to the other worlds. Why were they here in the first place? It made no sense for the holidays to be connected like this. And if Jack had never found them, surely his father's genius and ingenuity would have instead been redirected at his own holiday rather than at others. It could have been so good. Instead of Cupid and a turkey, Oogy Boogy could have been seated there with them, planning. Oogy was sloppy and stupid, but at least he'd know what to do with a visitor: scare him out of his wits.

"-Of course Lu would volunteer!" Jack's voice rang through his head, bringing Lu's attention sharply back to the table. The skeleton king was looking a little disappointed but pleased. The other holidays looked unconvinced.

"Don't you think a more… neutral holiday should be tried first?" Cupid offered diplomatically, a red pen paused above pink paper where he'd been keeping notes.

"Aye, or at least one that would blend in," John added bluntly, trying to pull the turkey away from nibbling on the candy in the Easter Bunny's basket. "Your boy there would cause a riot if he went strolling around town."

Jack's smile turned around into a deep protective frown. He glanced down at his son and opened his mouth to retort as Santa stepped in. Lu noted with interest that when Santa spoke, most of the others fell silent and respectful. The turkey was still squawking of course, but there was no helping that.

"Now we all know Jack has earned the right for his holiday to try this. It was his idea after all, as was these meetings. And Jack," here Santa turned to the skeleton, eyes friendly but firm, "You know how delicate something like this is. You want your project to succeed, don't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then you're going to have to accept you may not be the front runner for all encounters. If we establish do manage to establish visitations between holidays, it is important the citizens manage to accept the transition as much as the heads of Holidays do."

Oh. So that was what this was about. The topic of visitations had come up again and while Lu was day dreaming his father had volunteered him for a test subject. Lu was rather annoyed, but grudgingly realized his father probably assumed he'd wanted to go. God knew Jack himself had been itching to explore the other holidays himself. It was touching in a way. He still didn't appreciate being volunteered without being asked though.

"Dad," Lu spoke up, laying a hand on his father's arm to get his attention. "They're right. You need to take this a little at a time if you want it to work." And I don't really care what the other holidays are like, he added silently.

'Throw yourself in headfirst' had always been Jack's motto, but looking at his expression Lu could tell he'd won. The Pumpkin King was happy enough that his son had even shown an interest in the idea working that he was content for the moment to let the others sort it out.

In the end, it was decided the first visit would be between Valentines and Christmas since the culture shock would hopefully be minimal. A couple of lower ranking cupids would help the elves for a few days after Christmas when it would be less busy in the workshop and at the same time a few elves would take the place of love's messengers. Details weren't discussed since the problems would only deal with those particular holidays.

It had been eight hours since they'd arrived and candles were being lit around the table, the ones near Jack and Lu standing out as the only black candles. Others ranged from plain white (near Christmas) to outrageously bright swirls (Easter) to decidedly annoying (the candle Yankee pulled out kept shooting off mini sparks in the growing darkness).

"Are we going to be here overnight?" Lu asked his father to the side, skull propped up on one boney hand as he suppressed another yawn. At least now he could blame them on the late hour and not the dragging meeting. The holidays were now discussing the growing black market of trading between the holidays, most of which seemed to be blamed on Halloween and Thanksgiving, though a fair amount had been slipping through to the Fourth of July as well.

Halloween was the next holiday scheduled to occur and there was a lot of work to do before it was ready. Especially with the plans Lu had running through his mind. There wasn't enough time to make it big, but it would serve as a test. Then he could have the entire year to build up something that would shock his father and the rest of Halloween into remembering what the time was about.

"It looks like it's going to continue another night," Jack said as he tried to stretch his old bones discreetly. "Do you want to go home? It'll probably wrap up by morning and there's no sense in keeping you awake."

Lu nodded, completely bored with the conversation going on around him. Besides, if he wanted to ask about the black market, all he had to do was find Lock and ask where he'd gotten that candy cane he'd seen in his mouth the day before. A small smirk lit his face at that, but Jack didn't appear to have seen.

"Alright. Take the hearse back. I can walk in the morning or get a ride..." Jack's face suddenly turned to a pleased smile and Lu could almost see Jack riding into town on the covered wagon or floating on a borrowed pair of cupids wings. That last image in particular was almost enough for him to offer to walk himself and leave the hearse for Jack but he wasn't confident he could find his own way back.

Lu excused himself politely from the table, the other Holidays wishing him goodnight and the Easter Bunny shoving a basket of chocolate at him for the ride before he could refuse. He waved briefly until the clearing was out of sight and then collapsed back against the seat with a groan. The hearse steered itself along dutifully with no prompting from Lu and he'd nearly fallen asleep when a violent bumping on the roof of the hearse jolted him awake. A bit disoriented from his near sleep, Lu blinked and had to shake himself to realize that something heavy had just landed on the hearse's roof.

A wide grinning face poked in through the window and Lu chuckled. "Let me guess… just because I said don't come to the council, you decided that didn't include near the council." Barrel's only answer was to awkwardly climb through the window, tumbling to the floor at Lu's feet.

"And that's why everyone loves you, Pumpkin Prince," Shock said as she slid in the opposite window, patting Lu on the head condescendingly. "So quick on the uptake." She put her feet up so they were sticking out the window, hands comfortably behind her head.

"What the hell is this crap?" Lock asked, his demon mask pushed to the side. He was still halfway through the window, having used the same one as Barrel. One foot in the door and he'd managed to step on the Easter Basket, squishing a good bit of the candy inside. Making a face he lifted his foot and drug it down the side of the nearest seat making a large chocolate stain. Sally wasn't going to be happy.

"It's candy, you moron," Shock answered lazily, rolling her eyes. "You get thicker every year, I swear."

"Listen, thunder-butt, I-"

"What are you all doing here?" Lu asked, trying to stop one of the inevitable fights. Or at least keep it at bay until after he found out what they were up to. The trio was inseparable yet spent most of their time together fighting. It was strange but something you had to get used to in order to tolerate the three's presence for any length of time.

"Why the pleasure of your company of course," Lock answered, grinning devilishly as he sprawled out next to Lu, half crushing Shock as he did so. Lu raised an eyebrow and the young man relented with a shrug. "Or maybe we wanted to show you… this."

The triumphant faces around him made Lu wary but curious as Lock pulled from behind his back a few grimy pages of what looked like parchment, a distinct stench of decay replacing that of melted chocolate. Boney fingers reached out and delicately took the pages, dark eyes scanning them carefully before a shadow passed over his face.

"Where did you get these?" he demanded. Lock rolled his eyes, unimpressed at the dangerous look Lu was giving him.

Barrel was the one who answered. "The Mayor's house. Duh." The boy had always been a bit slower than the others, but even he should have recognized that this was the wrong answer.

"What part of 'lay low' didn't you all get?" he grimaced, eyes turning back to the page in front of him. The town's official seal was at the top and beneath it "Official Amnesty for Crimes previous to the Halloween Revolution offered to the following individuals. Official amnesty offered to-" The list of names was long and a bit surprising in parts. Doctor Finklestein and Igor along with Oogy Boogey and one or two of the vampires he'd seen around. Some names he didn't recognize but he was pretty sure two belonged to the musicians he'd seen around the streets and the eldest of the witches.

"What is this?"

"Dunno," Lock answered, amusing himself by watching Barrel lick at the chocolate stain and then pick bits of fuzz of his tongue. "But you're always looking for old crap. This was the oldest thing in his study. And Oogy's name was on it so…"

Lu was annoyed at the short attention span, but at least they'd done something useful when they'd ignored his orders and broken into the mayor's house again. It had probably just been vandalism, but he was glad Lock, Shock, and Barrel had at least attempted to make it up to him. They'd probably done the same with Oogy Boogie. Now if only the actual crimes had been listed… he was particularly interested in the mention of 'Halloween Revolution.' What was it? And which side had won enough to give the others amnesty.

Something he'd overheard Jack say about Oogey 'surviving by being one of the more tame' flew across his mind. This definitely had to do with Old Halloween. He allowed himself a grin. "Good job, boys and girls. Come on. We've got work to do."

Next Chapter after at least One review.