Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Creatures came to Halloween Town in a variety of ways and stayed there for a variety of time spans. Some, like Jack, had been there ever since the idea of Halloween had been birthed from the minds of humans and it seemed unlikely that he would ever die until Halloween ceased to exist or he was somehow crushed into dust. Others such as small animals like the bats, rats and bugs were born much like their human-world equivalents: through mammalian reproduction or hatching eggs… and also like their human-world counterparts they often ended up perishing at the hands of creatures higher up on the food chain than themselves. Other creatures and townspeople just sort of appeared as the folklore, meanings and traditions of Halloween were created and expanded by the humans, and just before the early 20th century three new residents appeared in Halloween Town.

The first was a tiny baby witch, pale green with just the faintest fluff of dark hair, found one night in the garden outside of the older witches coven headquarters. She lay sleeping peacefully beneath some deadly nightshade leaves and nearly frightened Helgamine out of her skin when she pushed them aside and discovered the infant – it seemed that the little witch was off to a good start in the scaring department. The new arrival was announced and celebrated at a town meeting that very night, and everyone was delighted because it had been a very long time since a new witch had come to Halloween Town.

One year later, the second arrived in a rather dramatic fashion: a fire broke out randomly in the middle of the town square and it was odd because nothing actually seemed to be fueling the flames… but when the residents extinguished the blaze they discovered a tiny baby, stark white with a red devil's tail and two thick curls of red hair on the top of his head. He wailed loudly until another devil picked him up and held him aloft for all to see and the town celebrated his spectacular arrival right then and there. Demons knew how to make an entrance, Lucius bragged, and everyone else had to agree.

The last new arrival came one year after that when a pale, chubby, bald little baby was found in the cemetery, tucked safely amongst the tombstones and clumsily shoving fistfuls of dirt and whatever else he could reach into his wide mouth with his pudgy little hands. He cooed happily when he was picked up and cradled by another ghoul, and a big celebration was held that night with plenty of food and dancing because three new arrivals in the span of three years was very special, indeed.

The babies were raised amongst their fellows for the first few years, each group eager to teach their young wards the tricks and duties of their species, but before too long it became apparent that these particular babies weren't quite suited to their jobs. As they got old enough to crawl and eventually toddle around, none of them showed any inclination towards the traditional behaviors befitting their kind: Shock – so named by Helgamine due to the fright she had given her upon being discovered – was uninterested in potions or spells and by the time she was three years old she still hadn't developed the ability to fly on a training broomstick, which was highly unusual. But she was incredibly sneaky and the witches had their hands full trying to prevent her from sabotaging everyone else's potions and spells. She laughed naughtily as she pulled the twigs loose from brooms and tossed them into the fire beneath the cauldrons, set all of the frogs, lizards and bats free or dumped herbs out of jars and stomped on them with her little black leather booties. 

The little devil had gone without a name for the first two years of his life because none of the demons could agree on one, but eventually they went with Lock because one of the very first skills he developed was picking them - a talent he had accidentally discovered by putting a stick in a padlock out of sheer boredom and wiggling it around experimentally until it made a satisfying click. He was so proud of this achievement that he did it every chance he could and whatever he found behind the lock he immediately destroyed with a wicked giggle. The demons wouldn't have minded this destruction so much if only Lock had used his fire to do it, but by the time he was two he still had yet to ignite a single thing. He laughed and clapped excitedly whenever a fellow devil snapped their fingers and set something on fire, but he never did it himself no matter how many times he was shown and encouraged. He did, however, become quite proficient at stealing and fighting and he would frequently start fights with creatures much older and larger than himself, which wasn't very dignified devil behavior - devils were supposed to charm others into doing things, not pummel them.

Barrel got his name thanks to his round little shape and endless capacity for eating, and because the other ghouls thought it sounded as cute as he looked. It was typical for ghouls to have a hearty appetite, but it wasn't typical for them to prefer food that was seasoned and cooked over raw, rotten meat. He was particularly drawn to sweets and once while in town when he was just one year old, his guardian put him down for only a moment and he crawled over to a basket full of candies and ate half of them – wrappers and all – before he was discovered and scolded. They kept trying to get him to dig up the soil with his wide hands and feet to unearth worms and dead things to eat, but he just rolled around happily in the dirt instead and then cried with hunger until they fed him something from the market that no self-respecting ghoul would prefer. He was a good-natured, lovable, easy baby besides that, but his strange appetite and unwillingness or inability to forage for his food was a source of great embarrassment and inconvenience for all of the other ghouls.

Several months before Shock turned four years old, Lock three and Barrel two, the witches, devils and ghouls called for a town meeting. They had been commiserating with one another nearly the entire time the toddlers had been there, fretting over their strange behaviors and venting their frustration about their troublesome wards. After several very stressful Halloweens spent trying to keep the children in line they were finally all at their wits end. "They're not normal!" the eldest witch announced, and everyone nodded in agreement. Even townspeople outside of the witch, devil, and ghoul communities had noticed this.

"What are we supposed to do with a ghoul who won't eat carrion? We can't be leaving the graveyard to go to the market and waste time fixing up meals all day, he'll eat that expensive fancy food until we're broke!" 

"And whoever heard of a devil that can't start fires? He's a disgrace to demonkind!"

Jack winced a bit at the harshness of their words, but he had to admit that he'd never seen anything quite like this even in all of his many, many years as the Pumpkin King. The three children were sitting on the floor in the aisle, blissfully unaware of the discussion and happily playing together until Lock roughly shoved Barrel, who landed against Shock and started crying. Shock pushed Lock right back but before the situation could escalate further each of their caretakers picked them up and separated them - but then Lock and Shock started crying, too, because they didn't like being apart. Everyone had noticed that the three of them were unusually close despite their infantile bickering, which worked out well for their caretakers when it came to trading off babysitting duties and play dates, but also led to long, hysterical temper-tantrums when it was time for them to go back to their respective homes. Finally the individuals holding the children were forced to leave the hall so the meeting could continue free from their deafening screams.

"Everyone, please!" said Jack, raising one bony hand to quiet the disgruntled, murmuring crowd. "I realize that Lock, Shock and Barrel don't quite seem to be following the typical development that we expect of them…"

"That's an understatement!" someone yelled, and Jack frowned and continued:

"But surely there is a reason they are here, just like the rest of us. Rather than them failing as a witch, devil and ghoul, perhaps it is we who are failing them by not figuring out what their purpose is." When Jack said ‘we’ he actually meant himself, for as the Pumpkin King it was his duty to keep tabs on everything Halloween, but these kids had him stumped and he could only hope that their purpose would become clear in time. "I'm sure that eventually we will know what roles they are to play in Halloween, we just need to let them grow up a little bit more."

"Well, what are we supposed to do with them in the meantime?" one witch angrily demanded, and all the other witches, devils and ghouls nodded. "That little brat is constant trouble, she's always ruining our potions, spells and broomsticks and she's going to ruin next Halloween for us again if you don't do something about it!"

"And you demons can't keep your little brat under control, either, he's always breaking things and starting fights with the other children, especially my little Ethan!" chimed in Bertha the corpse, and the whole group of demons looked at her angrily. They knew it was true, that Lock was embarrassingly rowdy for a species that was supposed to be all wicked charm and persuasion, but it was still an offensive thing for her to say.

The ghouls stopped short of calling Barrel a brat since he really was quite good-natured, but the fact remained that he couldn't dig up his own food yet and wouldn't eat what he was supposed to, and he was simply too needy and time-consuming because of it.  How were the other ghouls supposed to do their jobs of lurking around in the cemeteries scaring humans if they had to pack a bunch of strange food and feed him all the time? It simply wouldn't do and one of them shouted, "And we can't take care of Barrel anymore, he's completely helpless! He must be slow in the head, there's no other explanation for it!" Soon the whole hall was muttering about how all three of the children were probably slow in the head, even though in reality Shock had proven to be quite clever and Lock seemed to at least be of average intelligence. The jury was still out on Barrel, but he was still very young so Jack felt that calling him ‘slow in the head’ was a bit premature in addition to being just plain mean.  Jack raised his hand again and the room fell silent as he quickly tried to think of a solution. 

"Well,” he said diplomatically, “I think that perhaps the best thing to do is to place them with one individual or family so that their negative impact on Halloween is minimized.   Is anyone willing to volunteer?" He knew that this was probably a completely pointless thing to ask, that the odds were exceedingly low that anyone would volunteer to take on three extremely difficult little children. He was certain that it would fall to him to assign the duty to someone, and he didn't relish that thought. He would happily take them in himself, but there was no way he could realistically do it because as the Pumpkin King he was just too vital to Halloween and it would be a disaster to take his time and attention away from his duties to raise three very young children.  But before he could decide who to stick with the job a deep, booming voice came from the very back of the room:

"I'll take 'em in, Jack. Those kids are trouble, and I like 'em just fine that way. Besides, keeping kids in line is part of the ol’ Boogie Man’s job. They ain’t nothin’ I can’t handle.” Jack looked over the crowd and saw Oogie Boogie taking up an entire bench by himself, his burlap face twisted up into an amused expression. Jack was surprised that he had attended the meeting, for it wasn’t often that he participated in town affairs on not-Halloween. The Boogie Man had been in Halloween Town for nearly as long as Jack himself, the long-standing embodiment of terror and threats that parents made against their misbehaving children to scare them into obedience. Jack felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of Oogie taking in the toddlers… he was known to be capricious and especially coarse around the edges, not to mention a compulsive gambler. But he was correct in his assertion that his Halloween duties had a large focus on scaring children, so perhaps he was a reasonable choice for the job after all, especially since the three children in question were showing more and more naughty tendencies as time went on – especially Lock and Shock. Plus now that Oogie had volunteered it would be downright rude for Jack to refuse his offer and force the task on someone unwilling, so despite his reservations he decided to accept, making a mental note to himself to keep an eye on the situation and step in if things seemed to be going poorly.

“Thank you, Mr. Oogie Boogie, that is very gracious of you.” Jack said politely even as the crowd glanced at one another out of the corners of their eyes, not quite sure if Oogie was the best choice… but none of them wanted to get stuck with the three little monsters so nobody said a word.

The very next day the children and all of their belongings were delivered to his lair: a series of catacomb-like chambers below a great pit in the ground beneath a huge, gnarled tree. It was quite a ways out of town but the townspeople didn’t mind this distance one bit because it would help keep the little troublemakers out of their way. Oogie directed their former guardians to smallish side room where they placed Shock and Lock’s little beds and Barrel’s crib, as well as their toys and clothing and a little potty that was small enough for Lock and Shock to use without falling in it, as Barrel was still in diapers. They had also brought a sturdy cage big enough for all three of the children at once – padlocked from the outside so that Lock couldn’t reach it – but Oogie claimed he didn’t need it so they took it back, and then their former caretakers left them there. The witches were glad to be rid of Shock and the demons felt relieved to be free of Lock, but the ghouls felt just a tiny bit sad about giving up Barrel… but again, there was simply no way he could stay with them so they placed him in his crib and turned away, ignoring his happy babbling and the way he reached out to them with his chubby little hands.

“Well now, kiddos!” said Oogie Boogie cheerfully once they were alone, looking down at the toddlers with his hands on his hips. “Ol’ Oogie’s gonna take good care of you, and we’re gonna have fun.” The trio craned their little necks to look up at him, and they started to feel afraid because he was the most enormous thing they had ever seen and now that their usual guardians were nowhere to be found everything was suddenly a bit too scary. Barrel started to cry, and Lock immediately followed him. Shock’s lip quivered for only a moment as she tried to keep from crying too, but her efforts failed and soon she was wailing right along with the boys. “Oh, now we can’t have that!” Oogie said, and he picked Barrel up out of his crib with a gentleness that belied his size and brought him right up to his face. Barrel instantly stopped crying out of sheer terror, but then Oogie smiled and started babbling at him in a soft, goofy tone of voice and very gradually the tiny ghoul’s sniffles quieted and a shy grin started to spread across his face. Soon he was giggling and then he burst out into full-throated belly-laughter when Oogie tickled him beneath his chin. Lock and Shock noticed and stopped crying too, then Lock stood up and very cautiously took a step towards the Boogie Man, who bent down and scooped him up with his free hand. Shock stayed where she was, carefully assessing the situation. “There now, that’s better!” Oogie said, and he chuckled when the little devil reached out and curiously grabbed his rough burlap face. He put the giggling Barrel back in his crib and held his hand out to Shock, who was still looking at him suspiciously but starting to feel a little jealous of the attention the boys were getting. “Come on over here, princess, I won’t bite ya’.” he said encouragingly, and she finally stood and took a few tentative steps towards him and he picked her up as well. Barrel reached out from his crib, hopping up and down and wanting to be held again so Oogie leaned close enough that he could climb out and nestle himself next to Lock in the crook of the Boogie Man’s enormous arm. “There ya’ go, kiddos.” Oogie said, bouncing and rocking them gently. “Ol’ Oogie’s always wanted to have a little henchman or two, and I think you three’ll do just fine.”

Chapter Text

The months passed, the nights got longer, the air got cooler and the children continued to grow. They did indeed have fun with the Boogie Man, for he rarely scolded them and he didn't made them go to bed on time. He gave them plenty of gifts and whenever they fought amongst themselves he never intervened - in fact, he placed bets with himself on who he thought would win and the more fiercely they fought, the more he would laugh with approval.  But in addition to fun there was work to be done, especially for Shock.  

Right out of the gate the Boogie Man taught her to feed her youngest cohort and change his diapers, and even though it was an unpleasant task she did as she was told for otherwise she wouldn't get dinner that night. He taught her how to cook, telling her it was her duty. "You oughta be good at it, princess, if you're any sort of a witch at all."  He taught her to sew, so that he would no longer have to mend the rips and tears in his own burlap skin.  He taught both her and Lock to clean and he made Lock gather and bring in the firewood and tend to the fireplaces. "If you can't start fires outta nothin' then you'd better learn how to do it the old fashioned way, devil boy." he said, and both children spent many hours working hard.  When they weren't working, they were playing just as hard and they grew strong and tough and self-reliant.  Barrel followed in their footsteps and before long was out of his diapers and Oogie took his ratty old crib mattress and put it on the floor beside his friends.  Soon he was put to work in the kitchen as well, cleaning the garbage and setting traps for the insects and rodents that the Boogie Man constantly devoured. They were all three taught to hunt and forage, and Barrel had broken the neck of his first rat the day before he turned two. Lock and Shock took particular delight in tormenting the animals they caught, and the Boogie Man chuckled and advised them, "Do it slow and the meat is tough with fear. Do it fast and it stays tender."  So eventually their kills became more efficient, just like the rest of the skills Oogie taught them.

The Halloween of Shock's fourth year, Lock's third and Barrel's second found them venturing to the Human World for the very first time, tucked beneath the wing of the Boogie Man as he haunted the moon and crept in the shadows of children's closets and in dark alleys. They watched the fear that he caused, relished in the shivering terror of his victims, saw how he devoured lost pets and strays with the powerful sucking vortex of his gaping, hungry maw. As entertaining as it was, though, the children found themselves drawn in a different direction... for the Boogie Man's job was not their own. They felt it somewhere deep in their growing bones, that there was something else they were meant to be doing... but exactly what it was, they did not know.

When Shock turned five, Lock four and barrel three, Oogie Boogie said it was about time they moved above ground. He was tired of three little babies always underfoot, he said. "You can serve ol' Oogie better from above" he said, and the children cried at being sent away once again... but they didn't cry for long because the Boogie Man withheld their food until they obeyed. "You ready to go on up now, you three?" he boomed, and the children nodded weakly from their beds. "Good. Smart little henchmen like you need a place of your own." he said, and when he put it like that it became a point of pride.

Before long a ramshackle house was constructed, wrapped around the great tree rising up from the pit. The children dragged heavy boards and grating and sheets of metal, hammers and nails and ropes and chains, and under Oogie's direction they built it themselves. It was cold and it was bleak but even though they were now alone, they somehow felt they were finally home. A pipe was installed that led straight down to their master's lair and on the day they moved in Oogie Boogie handed them seven traps. "Send me down bugs everyday, little ones. Remember who raised you, who feeds you and keeps you. No one else wanted you, so you pay ol' Oogie what he's due." They knew it was true, that no one else wanted them, so they thanked him and bowed and he fed them some snake and spider stew that was the best thing they had ever eaten. On their first night alone in their treehouse above, they created a shrine at the mouth of the chute, lit candles around it, and sent down their first offering.  And even though they didn't see the Boogie Man much anymore they always remembered who raised them and kept them and fed them... who wanted them, even if only from a distance.

The Halloween of Shock's fifth year, Lock's fourth and Barrel's third found them in the Human World once more, but this time they were alone.  "The Boogie Man don't need three little babies in his way." he had said, and by now the children knew better than to cry. He left them there in the graveyard before swooping back to shadow the moon once more and the trio stood outside of the crypt, listening to that feeling deep down in their bones, the yearning for a purpose that was just on the edge of their little minds... still foggy and faint but somehow so strong, like a memory or dream they could almost recall.

"I think I know..." Lock said that night, his white face glowing in the light of Oogie's haunted moon and Shock and Barrel waited with bright, eager eyes, wanting to know as well... they were so close, they thought, so close to knowing what would ease the unsettled feeling inside them.  He led them from the cemetery to the streets of the town, the bright lights from the houses calling them like the moths that fluttered and died around the lanterns above the stoops. They crept close to a house and saw a Jack-o-Lantern carved in the grinning visage of the King of their land.  Lock picked it up and his cohorts watched in transcendent excitement as he lobbed it through the the thick glass windowpane of the home it belonged to, and the sharp sound of the shattering glass was thrilling. They heard a shout from inside and they laughed as they ran and hid themselves amongst the brambles, then watched with glee as the humans emerged from the house, cursing and calling for the culprit. They repeated this act all down the street and each time one of them destroyed a symbol of their King and the property of the ones who had carved it, their satisfaction grew and grew.  "You kids are trouble." Oogie had told them, and by the satisfaction now warming their guts they knew it was the way they were meant to be... but still, something was missing.

"I think I know..." said Shock on the Halloween of her sixth year, Lock's fifth and Barrel's fourth.  Her black eyes glinted in the light from Oogie's haunted moon and her cohorts watched transfixed as she walked boldly to a door and knocked three times.  The door was answered and she plucked her dress from her bony little knees to form a sort of hammock, the way she did when she carried the delicate toadstools she foraged at home for their dinner. "Trick-or-treat!" she cried, and she didn't know from where those words had sprung but the joy and sense of completeness they gave her was indescribable. Lock and Barrel felt that same flood of purpose and relief as they echoed that phrase in their minds and watched as the human placed a small cake and a coin in the basket of her dress before retreating back inside. The warmth spread through them and what had been an uncomfortable restlessness down in their bones was melting and changing to different sort... an exciting sort, a pleasing sort.  They repeated this act all down the street and they returned to their world with their pockets full of sweets and coins and little trinkets. The treats that they ate filled their souls as well as their tummies... but still, something was missing.

"I think I know..." Barrel said on the night of his fifth Halloween, Lock's sixth and Shock's seventh, and his cohorts looked at him in surprise for rarely did the the youngest of them lead the way. His teeth shone in the light of Oogie's haunted moon as he grinned widely and led them behind a merchant's shop in the middle of town that they had seen every Halloween but always passed by.  This time they crept through the back door and their little hearts pounded when they saw shelves full of carved masks. The evil-looking things called to the children and they inspected each one with wide-eyed wonder and excitement before Shock saw one that stopped her dead in her tracks: it was green like her face only darker, the lips turned down in a menacing grimace and the nose as large and as curved as her own. She reached out to take it with trembling hands and when she placed it against her face it felt as though a part of her that she didn't even know was missing had been restored. It fit perfectly without need for a string to keep it in place, and her cohorts grinned and oooh'd in awe and in jealousy before hurriedly searching for masks of their own. Lock found his next: it's carved features were as sharp as his own from the pointed teeth of it's wicked smile to the two horns at the crown, and when he placed it against his face he felt for the first time that perhaps he could start fire out of nothing someday with the power and completeness that this new mask had given him. Barrel searched frantically, so afraid that he might be left out... but then he saw it: as round and as pale as his face with a matching grin of unsettling skeletal teeth. Putting in on felt like coming home, and beneath it he smiled as wide as the mask.

"You look great!" Shock told him, "But not quite complete." She looked down at his clothing, all dirty and plain and grey, and somehow she thought that she knew what was missing. "When we get home I'll sew some bones on your clothes to go with your mask. Your costume." she said.  Shock didn't even know the word she had just used, and Lock and Barrel stared at her in amazement for it felt as though she was speaking in tongues just as she had when she'd cried trick-or-treat. A costume. That's exactly what they were, what they had needed.  They swiped three empty flour sacks from the merchant then crept back to the streets and the houses once more, knocking on doors and speaking their phrase, collecting their treats and playing their tricks on the humans who denied them.

Now nothing was missing. They had found their purpose at last.

Chapter Text

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: a sort of restlessness began to plague them, an uneasy feeling that something was slipping away, but they couldn’t quite put it into words. “Something’s not right…” Shock said anxiously one Halloween, and while Lock scoffed and reassured her that everything was fine, deep down in his bones he felt it too. Barrel stayed quiet, though worry gnawed away in his gut… if Shock was afraid, then he was afraid, too. They noticed the number of houses offering candy decreasing, saw fewer and fewer human children roaming the streets on Halloween night. They played just as many tricks as before - indeed, they actually increased them in a desperate attempt to succeed at their work - but they brought home less and less candy with each passing year. Their anxiety grew as they searched the Human World for their fellow trick-or-treaters, and one Halloween they came home with barely any candy at all. Terrified and hungry, they finally told Jack.

“Something’s not right.” Shock said once again, twisting the fabric of her dress in her fists.

“There’s hardly any of us out on the streets anymore.” worried Lock, wringing his hands and coiling his tail protectively around his leg.

“We can’t find much candy.” Barrel said sadly, and Jack looked down at them all sympathetically and then smiled as he patted each of them on their little shoulders.

“Don’t worry!” he said in his typical enthusiastic voice. “It’s just one of those changes that Halloween goes through. You’ve been through it before, the way customs evolve. Just hang on tight and everything will work out fine.” he reassured them, and while his words comforted them a bit, still that worry prickled at their minds. As they turned away from him Jack’s face fell and his heart ached, for he could not bear to tell them the terrible truth: that over so many centuries he had seen Halloween traditions come and go, had witnessed their births and watched them fade away. It hadn’t happened for a very long time, much longer than the trio had existed, so they didn’t know… didn’t know that if the humans stopped practicing their ritual, that if trick-or-treating died out completely, then the three of them would as well.

They began to feel tired, much more tired than children should feel. That Halloween they barely found the strength to travel to the Human World and they trudged through the streets with their very bones aching, their muscles exhausted and their hearts full of fear. They travelled the world and found only one house that would give them a treat, and the elderly human inside had to scrounge up something to offer. “I haven’t seen trick-or-treaters in ages, I didn’t know kids even did it anymore.” the human had said, and the packet of gum, one apple and one candy bar was just barely enough to sustain the children on their journey back home.

They crawled into bed and drifted in and out of restless sleep all through the post-Halloween celebration, and while the townspeople noticed and questioned their absence, Jack alone came to check on them. He crept away from the crowd as the awards were doled out, ascended their treehouse with fear in his heart and called out to them before walking inside. He knew what he would most likely find, but he still felt a sharp twist where his guts would have been at the pathetic sight before him: the three children were huddled on one ratty mattress, holding one another in their shivering arms and Jack knew that their time was near. “What’s happening to us, Jack?” they asked him, tears falling slowly from their terrified eyes, for they were too weak to cry any harder.

“Shhh…” Jack whispered, and knelt on the floor to wrap a blanket around them. “It’s alright. It’s going to be alright.” he lied, for he didn’t know where the creatures of Halloween Town went when their purpose had ended.

“Stay with us.” they pleaded as Jack wiped away their tears, then he cradled them close in his long, bony arms.

“I promise I will. You should try and sleep now.” he said softly as his heart broke in two.

They all three closed their eyes and their breathing got slower, their shivering stilled and their tears ceased to fall… then without even a whisper, their little hearts stopped.

Jack wept as he hadn’t for hundreds of years and kept holding them tight as their bodies went cold. He looked down at their faces, now peaceful and still, imprinting their features inside of his skull. Like many before them, they would disappear soon and he wanted to remember them for as long as he himself carried on, no matter how many centuries may pass until he vanished as well. Perhaps, Jack hoped, someday they would come back… perhaps in some time the humans would recall this archaic tradition, would resurrect it and keep it… and maybe someday a newborn witch would be found in the garden, a devil would set the town square alight, and a ghoul would coo happily amongst the tombstones once more.

Chapter Text

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.”