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Chapter Text

Life in the forest was always exciting, and it has always brought Laura so much joy ever since she came here as a young hatchling. Hunting gave her the neccessary exercise she needed and it temporarily gave her a small dose of excitement that made life not seem too boring at times, other than that life was mostly simple; guarding her hoard, chasing away intruders and hunting for fun and occasionally finding small creatures to manipulate before she devoured them.

It had been like that for about seven years, until one day it was going to change her life forever. She had come home from a flight one stormy night. It rained and the sound of thunder echoed through the Great Forest, and the wind whipped through the trees making them move violently in the harsh weather. Still, it didn't bother her too much as she could always seek shelter in her enormous cave and her den which was located inside the deepest, darkest part of the huge cave system where she kept her massive treasure and various bottles of potions, elixirs, books from various scholars and other luxuries she wanted to have.

A wicked smile spread across her face as she eyed a chest full of huge diamonds she had taken from some adventures who had tried to enter her lair to steal her treasures. Boy were they in for an unpleasant surprise when they learned just how dangerous she actually was and they their fear made them taste deliciously after she took them down, poisoning them with her breath and she had grilled them when she used her fire on them. Revenge was sweet in every way possible, and she couldn't help but lick her lips as she longed for another creature to hunt. Maybe she could hunt a bard, or a knight, or maybe even wizard.

She looked at her potions and she smiled proudly at how good she had become at making them. Four years ago she had needed to look at the recipes but now she remembered them clear as day and she barely needed to look at the recipes anymore and she saw her books, pieces of weapons she had taken from her intruders she had defeated after they entered her territory.

All in all, she had everything a dragon could ask for. She laid down onto a pile of gold coins and she smiled as she observed all the luxuries she had received through the years. She had endured fights, she had defeated other dragons and she had gained more territory over the years but somehow she couldn't help but feel bored. The forest didn't have much excitement to offer besides the occasional hunt but not many people dared to go into the territory, knowing they'd end up in her bone-crushing jaws.

Her gaze shifted from the gold to the books and to one book about other realms. She raised an eyebrow out of curiosity and picked up the book with her tail and started to flip through the pages. It was descriptions of many ancient realms and what they stood for but there wasn't much to catch her interest at the moment. She had seen so much and been traveling almost everywhere, except for the Holiday Realms. She snorted a little as she thought of how silly those names sounded but maybe they weren't so bad after all. Maybe she could visit one of the places to see what it was like but it had to wait for tomorrow as she was feeling quite worn out after chasing away two intruders and killing them.

With a yawn Laura laid down as she slowly allowed herself to drift away into sleep and dream of new adventures awaiting for her to come...

Chapter Text

Morning came to the Great Forest, the sunshine rising slowly up from the treetops and a few small birds began to tweet to welcome that a new day had begun. Inside the huge cave room, Laura had began to wake up. She yawned, letting her razor sharp teeth strike terror into the mouse that lived in a hole in the cave, making it run and hide as quickly as it could. Everyone knew better than to come near a dragon and she didn't mind that people were scared of her. It was all part of her overall charm as a dragon. The more people were afraid of you, the better.

After checking on her hoard a few times and making sure everything was in order, she decided to go outside to patrol the territory. After walking through the long tunnels she finally entered the hidden entrance to her cave. She took a deep breath to feel the fresh scent of the morning air, but it was something that wasn't right. The air was filled with different scents than usual and they seemed to come from... a bathtub, yes it was a bathtub and it was also from a young witch, judging by the smell of the potions and there was also the smell of a ghoul, a young one it seemed and lastly there was also the scent from a young devil.

Laura frowned. It wasn't often creatures such as these came near dragon territory, unless they wanted something to get there; preferably the treasure in question. Her frown deepened. There was no way she was going to let those kids get her valuable treasure even though she had to fight to the last blood drop. She walked slowly out of the cave and went down the mountain to get a drink near the river. She heard a squirrel squeaking something to her and she just nodded. She knew she had trespassers nearby. She'll deal with them eventually but they didn't seem to pose too much of a threat, but if they did she'd always enjoy a good challenge.

She licked her lips and snorted as a deer immediately ran away from the spot. She wasn't hungry right now but she was interested in those three kids. It might not be too big a piece of meat, but it was always something, wasn't it. Her ear perked up when she heard a shrill voice calling through the air:

"You idiot! You should've brought the bear trap! What if you can't catch your beast?" a young female voice yelled angrily.

"Don't worry," another voice called. It was smooth and nasal and carried a sneaky undertone with it. "I can handle it."

Laura's eyes narrowed.

"We'll see about that."

An angry snort escaped from her nostrils and she flew up in the air. On the ground near the forest she saw the witch and the ghoul collecting some poisonous herbs and didn't seem to be too interested in her precious gold. That was almost expected, since they were so young, they might not necessarily be interested in silver and gold and they looked like they were very into the customs of Halloween, carrying a large Trick-or-treating bag, a few spears, a pickax, a few spiked clubs and two small bear traps. Not weapons that were dangerous enough to harm her but they didn't have to know that.

As she soared through the sky she did her best to find the little devil. Unsurprisingly he seemed to be heading towards the mountains. Of course devils were the greedier ones and extremely annoying for a dragon. She had almost lost count of every single devil she had killed or chased away throughout the years and she sighed in annoyance as she bared her teeth and claws as she headed to the mountains.

The flight was relatively short and problem free and when she landed on a huge rock, she saw the little devil stopping near an almost dried up lake and she heard him let out an audible gulp when he noticed the skeletons of dead creatures she had killed a long time ago. Good thing for him he didn't seem stupid enough not to be unafraid of the potential threat she posed to him. He didn't have any good weapons either, only a spiked club and a tiny bit of rope. Did he just think he could make her his pet? She was going to teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

"If you want to see a dragon, you'll get that, but beware little devil. You won't find it very pleasant." Laura thought to herself.

She carefully snuck up behind the huge stones, the little devil seeming to not notice her just yet. Just when she was about one meter from him, he slowly turned around and his confident features were swiped away from his face and was instantly replaced by fear and nervousness. He held the spiked club to himself tightly as though it was his last lifeline as he tried to back away but she went forward in his direction.

"Well, well, hello there little devil," Laura purred evilly. "What a pleasant surprise. Not many people dare to come here, is it bravery or perhaps stupidity?"

She flashed a grin, showing her sharp teeth. The little devil began to tremble and let his tail slip between his legs like a terrified puppy.

"H-hello M-Miss dragon." he said nervously, his voice trembling with fear and he took a few steps backwards. "N-nice to meet you."

He stretched out his little hand in an attempt to try and be friendly. Laura gave him a suspicious look. Was he so naive that he thought she'd accept him so easily or maybe it was part of his scheme in an attempt to win her over. Her eyes narrowed in anger and he immediately gave her an apologetic look.

"S-sorry," he stammered and when Laura snapped at him with her jaws he immediately bolted away, running for his dear life.

He tried to run up through a small tunnel in the cave but Laura spurted her fire through the tunnel, prompting him to escape through it. He tried to run but he came to a dead end when he saw how steep the cliff was and his heartbeat sped up when Laura suddenly appeared through the air. It was the element of surprise that was one of her strengths aside from her physical strength and ferocity.

When she saw him run down the mountain towards the forest she decided to go in for the kill. She drew in a deep breath and spurted fire, forming a circle around him. Apparently the fire seemed to scare him, something that was very ironic considering he was a devil. When he stood there, trying to look for a way out she pinned him to the ground with her huge paw. He squirmed under her grasp and he whimpered pitifully.

"Please don't hurt me!" the little devil said in desperation. "I'll give you anything if you let me and my friends go!"

"Promises, promises." Laura said disdainfully, making a 'tsk' sound. "And what will you give me?"

"I'll give you access to take over Halloween Town if you want to," he offered, desperately hoping that she would let him go. She just shook her head. There was no way she would let him up so easily.

"Taking over cities is of no interest to me," Laura answered, uninterested.

The little devil swallowed hard and trembled.

"We have weapons you might like, and.. and there are good hunting grounds there too!" he tried again.

This sounded interesting. It wasn't much of an offer but he didn't seem to have any intentions of giving up his bargaining if that meant helping his friends. That was new. It wasn't often devils were that loyal to their friends. Mostly they'd betray their friends and even their family if it meant any benefits for them.

"Hunting grounds, you said?" she said smoothly. "And where were they if I may ask?"

"Near the northern border of this land and there are some huge forests in Halloweenland too," the little devil answered, his voice growing more nervous by the minute. "Please don't hurt us! We didn't mean any harm! We'll never ever trespass here!"

"Hmm, that was a good start." Laura said sarcastically. "Why did you come here at all?"

"I came here to see if any dragons lived here." the little devil said truthfully. "I thought that maybe we could have an alliance, you know, a great friendship. Are you interested?"

This surprised her even more. He wasn't at all interested in her treasury! Instead he wanted to be friends with her but she wasn't easily fooled either. She knew very well that others would say anything just to get to her treasure using all kinds of different methods but they never succeeded anyway.

"Interesting, the prey wants to make an alliance with the predator." she said sneakily. "And what are my benefits from this alliance?"

The little devil struggled to think of something.

"Well, you can have lots of fun!" he said. "And you can have new hunting grounds too and new territory to call your own."

A smile spread across her face.

"Alright, little devil. I'm interested. What are your conditions?"

"If you want to be with us, you must promise not to hurt my friends." the little devil said earnestly. "That is my only condition. Deal?"

He stretched out his little hand.

She took it into her huge paw, giving it a shake.

"Deal." she answered and let him up.

"Great!" the little devil said cheerfully. "My name is Lock! What's yours?"

"Laura." the dragon replied.

The little devil tried to get up but his legs were as wobbly as a newborn kitten's and when he saw the fire he began to shiver again. 

She rolled her eyes but lifted him up by grabbing him by the shirt and flew away from the area where the fire was and she used some magic to put it out so the forest wouldn't burn down. She flew until she reached the place where the walking bathtub was and his friends were waiting for him there.

"What took you so long?" the little witch said and rolled her eyes but it was clear that she had been worried about him. The little ghoul looked worried too.

"I got lost on the way." Lock lied, not wanting to admit that he had been scared senseless by the huge dragon. Laura put him down carefully. "By the way, this is Laura."

The other two looked at her with a somewhat frightened look but they smiled politely out of fear of angering her.

"Nice to meet you, Laura." the witch said. "I'm Shock and this is Barrel."

Barrel waved at her with a wide grin.

"Pleased to meet you," Laura said politely. Lock quickly came back to his senses after he took a brief look behind himself to see if the fire was gone.

"Welcome to the gang!" he said brightly. "Let's go back to Halloween Town now, shall we?"

And off they went. Laura looked back one last time before shrugging it off but not before using the protection spell that only she knew and other dragons didn't know. One couldn't be too careful, especially if it was a question of treasure and territory.

She smiled to herself as she followed the trick-or-treaters. Maybe paying a visit to Halloween Town wasn't such a bad idea after all...

Chapter Text

As they went through the Hinterlands, the walking bathtub with the three children and the dragon right behind them finally reached the grove of trees. Before them were the Holiday Realms, each tree carved with a door related to every holiday; Valentine's Day had a heart-shaped door, Saint Patrick's Day had a door formed as a four leave clover, Easter had an egg-shaped door, Independence Day had a door shaped like a firecracker, Thanksgiving Day had a door shaped like a turkey, Christmas Town had a door shaped like a Christmas tree and Halloween Town had of course, a door shaped like a jack-o-lantern.

Laura raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling very interested by this door. It definitely was her cup of tea when it came to scary things and the trio smiled with mischievous glee when they pointed towards the jack-o-lantern door before them.

"We live here!" Shock said proudly.

"Only the scariest creatures live here!" Lock bragged and puffed up his chest, making Laura roll her eyes at him but decided to cut him some slack. He sure had a big mouth but when he was faced with a scarier creature like her, he was anything but scary in her opinion. Of course, she was a dragon and she was born without the ability to feel afraid and since dragons didn't have any natural enemies, they were naturally fearless.

Barrel opened the door and jumped up into the bathtub.

"Let's go!" Lock exclaimed as the walking bathtub jumped into the black void inside and Laura jumped after. They tumbled down and landed softly on the ground beneath them. Unlike the grasslands in her territory, it was mostly dried grass or solid ground, mostly rocks but not much vegetation so far but there were some swamps and a forest of dead trees and a huge Pumpkin Patch and a river that floated through it and a river was built nearby.

Laura almost couldn't believe her eyes. This place was absolutely magnificent in her eyes. Despite the lack of living trees, it didn't matter that much and the sky was a creamy orange and the sun had the shape of a grinning jack-o-lantern.

"Fascinating!" Laura thought to herself as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. There was a Graveyard and a hill that was curled, there was also a treehouse built in a tree near a steep ravine that surrounded it like a circle with a rough up bridge that made it possible for the trio to enter a cage that worked as an elevator that would take them into their place they called their home.

This time, however, they decided to take the back door to the Treehouse. Lock pulled a ladder and the backdoor fell down and motioned for his friends to enter. Laura followed them inside and looked around in the treehouse. It wasn't that big but it looked comfortable despite almost looking like it could tip over at any moment. It had a living room with a ratty old sofa, a makeshift kitchen, a weaponry room and a chute and another part higher up where they had their rooms.

Barrel led the bathtub into the weaponry room while Shock showed Laura into the living room and Lock ran over to the "kitchen" to prepare a meal for them. He took a bug that Barrel had caught and Shock tossed the cage to him. He poured some ingredients in a pot and dipped the bug into it, making it turning into a sickly green color. After it was done he picked up the cage and gave it to Laura.

"Here," he said proudly. "My specialty: a boiled green bug!"

Laura sniffed at it and took out the bug from the cage. It smelled lovely and she ate it in one gulp and licked her lips in delight. It wasn't enough to fill her stomach but it was scrumptious!

"Thanks kid," she said softly. "That was really nice."

Lock's eyes beamed with excitement, she loved his cooking!

"You're welcome!" he said cheerfully and laughed.

Shock and Barrel looked at each other briefly before smiling and shaking their heads.

After they had dinner and showed her around the house, the hours had passed by and it was already nightfall. While Shock and Barrel prepared to go to bed, Laura had walked out of the Treehouse and laid on a huge tree branch close to the ravine. As she watched the sun slowly disappearing and the sky became darker she couldn't help but be reminded of her old home before she had to leave her nest and have a life of her own...

"She had opened her eyes for the first time and she drew in a deep breath as she felt the fresh air after spending half a year inside her egg. She let out a tiny roar and flapped her wings to shake off the rigidity in them. Her mother and her father smiled at her lovingly and the cheered on her when she tried to hunt for the first time. She had only been three months old at that time. 

When she was about a year, her parents told her that she needed to leave as she now had learned everything she needed to know to survive on her own. Of course the moment after they hatched they were fully capable of fending for themselves but her parents wanted to at least be with her for a year so that they knew she was doing alright. They had observed her from the distance as she had explored the world on her own but they had been there to guide her when she felt that she needed it, other than that she had no real relationship with them.

It wasn't very uncommon for dragons or reptiles either for that matter. As soon as they were hatched they were fully capable of hunting and fighting and they could spend some time with their parents for the first year if they wanted to and Laura had taken the opportunity to learn from them that year. From them she had learned how to find the best treasures and how to use her cunning and strategic skills to gain territory and other things that suited her best interests.

One day, when she was about to celebrate her first birthday, things didn't go as planned... her parents had been out hunting and when they were forced to leave to chase away some intruders, they didn't come back for a few years. When she had turned four years old she had seen them occasionally and she was informed that they were forced to leave their territory and when they returned to see she wasn't home three years ago they had been looking for her, though they had been hindered during to begin injured by the magic the intruding dragon who had attacked them.

And after that brief family reunion they went separate ways. This was the dragon's way of life to live in solitude. Everyone knew that and it was never questioned. She didn't really miss them as she had almost never spent time with them other than the occasional advice and guidance they gave her. She flew away from her old home to find a territory to call her own..."

She sighed to herself as she remembered her past fondly but couldn't help but feel happy for her newfound friendship with the three trick-or-treaters.

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she heard a voice calling to her from under the tree branch.

"Hey, Laura! How's it goin'?" Lock called to her. Laura raised her head to look at him.

"It's going fine, thank you." she answered. "I like it here in Halloween Town."

"Glad to hear it!" Lock said brightly. Then he thought of something.

"Can I join you up there?" he asked. Laura raised an eyebrow at him but smiled and let him climb up to sit next to her and they both watched as the orange sky had almost turned black.

Lock turned around to look at his new dragon friend. She appeared to be thinking of something, but it seemed to be something positive as she looked as though she was reliving something nostalgic.

"It's fun looking at the sunset, huh?" he said, trying to strike up a conversation. Laura nodded in agreement.

"It reminds me so much of what I do at home," she said softly. "And it reminded me of the day when I set out on my journey to find a place to call my own after I left my parents to be on my own."

Lock was astonished.

"Wow! That's awesome! Did you find any cool friends too?" 

Laura shook her head.

"Dragons don't have friends or alliances," she replied honestly. "Not usually, anyway. We live alone and I am perfectly happy with that."

This made Lock's heart sink a little. He desperately hoped he hadn't said anything to offend her.

"Yeah, right. Sorry," he said nervously and corrected himself. "That's how it works for dragons, right?"

The dragon nodded.

"Couldn't said it better myself." she said calmly. Lock bit his lip and thought for a while before asking:

"How do you feel about your friendship with us?" he asked innocently. "What was your motive for being friends with us? I, uh, I heard that dragons don't form friendships unless they find something beneficial from it."

Laura smirked.

"What was your motive for being friends with me?" she asked teasingly. "I know that creatures like you also have your motives too."

This made Lock flinch a little and an unease was clearly seen on his expression.

"Well, you see..." he stammered, trying not to give away how uncomfortable he felt when he had to admit the truth. "The first reason was to have a friend, you know, so we could have fun together and the other reason..."

He swallowed and his gaze shifted to the ground.

"The other reason was that since you're a dragon, you can be our bodyguard... in case.." he said softly, his voice trembling slightly.

He stopped himself and fell silent. Laura gave him a sympathetic look. Apparently he wanted someone to protect him and his friends from someone or something, judging by the look on his face it seemed as though he was afraid someone would do anything bad to him.

"In case someone would try to hurt you or your friends?" she guessed.

Lock nodded.

"That's right, but only if you want to." he said softly. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Laura just gave him a soft smile.

"I want to do that and do you want to know what my motive was for being friends with you guys?"

Lock nodded.

"It was also to have fun," she said softly, her voice carrying a tone of honesty. "When I saw you three in the Dragon Valley and how brave you were, I knew that we had something in common. The same desire to have fun and excitement."

Lock grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! Exactly!" he said, then without warning his expression turned a little solemn, his eyes showing a tinge of sadness.

"Before you came here we had to work for a creature called Oogie Boogie..." he said. 

Laura nodded. Even though she had never met them before she had heard of three people known as Oogie's boys. However, she didn't know who they were until she met them today.

"I know, I heard a little about you." she said. Lock kept his gaze downcast as he wrung his hands.

"And then you also know that we worked for him to have fun, but the truth is that we were always afraid of him." he confessed and his voice carried an undertone of underlying sadness. "We had to do our best to please him to stay on his good side, if he got mad, well... it didn't end very well.."

His voice trailed off and he looked at her, shame faced. Laura couldn't help but feel sorry for him and she gently patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry kid, I understand." Laura said soothingly. "I get it and I promise you that I'd never ever hurt you under any circumstances and I'll do what I can to keep you guys safe, deal?"

Lock gave her a shy smile and he nodded.

"Deal."

He looked up at the sky and saw that it was night. He gently tugged at her tail and she helped him down to the ground.

"I need to go to bed now so I can show ya around in Halloween Town tomorrow." Lock said earnestly and he yawned as he started to walk into the Treehouse. "Good night, Laura!"

"Good night, little devil." Laura called after him and when he was out of sight she laid her head back down on the tree branch.

She definitely earned herself a nap after all the new discoveries today and tomorrow would be a day with new experiences.

As she drifted off to sleep, a few bats flew through the sky and an owl shrieked as it flew into the woods. Unbeknownst to the young dragon, a blue rag doll creature had seen her and she hurried home to think about what she had seen...

Chapter Text

As the night went on, Laura flew across the huge landscape to explore. She wasn't tired at all and she was quite impressed by all the new things she saw; there were ghosts, mausoleums, graves, undead creatures coming up from below the ground and she even heard the howling from werewolves. She saw bats flying near the caves and a swamp monster was eating some fish near the swamps. There were many spiders in the forest and the ravens flew in panic when they saw her soaring in the sky.

Laura grinned. It wasn't such a bad place after all and her newfound alliance with those three little pranksters had been a great investment in making the time pass by. She flew past another mausoleum and decided to land near an abandoned old gaveyard, far beyond from the place where the trio had their treehouse and the town of Halloween was located. This was way deeper into Halloweenland, maybe a place where not many people had been to, judging by how quiet it was here compared to the flying ghosts and grinning pumpkins near the Pumpkin Patch.

She looked around the unnamed graves and saw a little about Lock's age sitting behind one of the graves. He looked very similar in appearance too, except that his hair locks were more curled and he wore an orange shirt and pants instead of the red clothes Lock chose to wear. When he saw her, he gasped and tried to hide but Laura called out to him:

"Don't run, little fellow. I won't hurt you," she said softly. The little devil looked up at her shyly and he wrapped his tail around his legs, as though he was trying to protect himself from something.

"Who are you?" the little devil asked timidly, his gaze darting around nervously. 

"I'm Laura, I am a dragon." Laura answered calmly, trying not to scare him too much. "And what is your name, little devil?"

'It's Lockie," the little devil replied, his voice trembling with fear upon seeing how huge she was but he bowed to her respectfully. "I escaped from the Dreamland."

Laura raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Dreamland?" she asked, puzzled. "Is that a holiday town?"

Lockie shook his head and sat down on a nearby fallen gravestone.

"No, no," he said softly. "It's another dimension, I believe. It's inside the dreams you dream at night. That was my home..."

"May I ask why you left?" Laura asked gently, trying her best not to scare him any further even though she did enjoy to strike fear into others, now wasn't the appropriate time to do so. She had more important business to take care of when it came to see who this little devilish creature was and if he was a person of interest to her or the trio in some way.

Lockie's gaze shifted down to the ground, and he wrung his hands slightly.

"I didn't like it there," he said truthfully and he sighed deeply. "It was very scary at times and I wanted to see how it was like in your dimension. I can't go back to the Dreamland now even though I wanted to. Once I was given a potion of life, I was given a body of flesh instead of floating around like I did in my spirit form."

Laura nodded and looked at the horizon briefly before returning her focus onto him.

"Who gave the potion of life to you?" she asked with curiosity.

Lockie put a hand to his chin as he tried to remember.

"If I remember correctly I think it was a woman. A witch to be exact." Lockie said slowly. "Her name was Helga. She was very kind to me. She saved my life when she saw I was about to fade away in the moonlight, but she had to leave after she helped me. She was looking for someone. Her daughter if I'm not mistaken..."

His voice trembled a little and he felt his throat began to feel a little strained. He drew in a deep breath to try and compose himself. Laura watched him carefully, eyeing his every moment, from the changes in his expressions to the body language. It was clear that something was bothering him. He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it again and didn't say anything for a moment.

He let out a sigh of sadness as a tear rolled down his face.

"I miss my parents," he said quietly. "My brother and I were separated from them when they accidentally were hit with a spell by some wizard and me and my brother Mock were sent into the Dreamland while they were somewhere in the other dimension, in one of the older realms if I remember correctly."

Laura nodded and gave him a sympathetic look, though she couldn't help but see the possibilities of having him work for her in secret, she decided that now was not the time for those kinds of plans. Especially not since she could feel that his scent smelled of sadness and grief. She could tell by his expression that he had been afraid and insecure of the new environment.

"I understand," she said softly and a small smile formed on her face. "I may be able to help you find a place to stay if you want to."

Lockie's eyes brightened and his swished happily.

"Really?" he asked innocently, eagerly hoping that he heard right. "You think you can help me?"

Laura just nodded while thinking something to herself. This was all going according to plan and if he followed her to the cave, he wouldn't have to sleep outside and get himself eaten by other predators who could hunt creatures like him. Lockie might be a dream creature who was given life to live in this dimension but that didn't mean he was immune to the diseases or being invulnerable like other monsters who were inhabitants of Halloweenland.

She extended her huge wing so he could hold on as she carefully lifted him up on her back. When he was safely seated she flapped her wings and she flew off into the darkness. Lockie did his best to hold his arms around her tightly, afraid he would fall off if she wasn't careful enough. Laura didn't mind this and let him cling to her... as long as it didn't become a habit. Oh well, if he was scared of heights she guessed she could cut him some slack after all. He wasn't able to float anymore.

At the same time inside the Treehouse the three trick-or-treaters were sound asleep, some more peacefully than others.

Lock tossed and turned, his memories of that horrible night coming back to him after he saw the fire today when he entered the Dragon Valley. Suddenly he sat upright, panting. He looked around and took in his surroundings. He was home and there was no signs of fire anywhere.

He laid down again, not entirely awake but he hoped that no one had heard him shout, and that absolutely no one, especially not his friends were to know what happened all those years ago. He closed his eyes as he tried to sleep and it didn't take long for him to drift off, hopefully he wouldn't have the same dream again in some time.

What he didn't hear was that Barrel was outside in the kitchen having a midnight snack before he went into his room. Shock heard her youngest cohort in the kitchen from inside her room but decided not to get up and call him out on it. They had to be in perfect shape tomorrow if they wanted to show Laura around and have enough energy to pull as many pranks as possible.

When Laura and Lockie finally arrived outside the forest next to the Treehouse, he jumped down from her back and thanked her for the lift even though he had been quite terrified of flying it was better than walking all the way. She showed him a small hole in a large tree where he could sleep for the night before she would help him find a better place to stay tomorrow. Lockie thanked her many times and climbed up in the tree and into the hole where he laid down, trying to make himself more comfortable.

Laura laid down on her tree branch and decided that it was best to get some sleep before dawn came if she didn't want to be tired all day when the three tricksters were going to give her a tour of Halloween Town. She let her eyelids droop until they finally closed.

As she slept a bat flew past her, squeaking a little as it chased moths and other small bugs before dawn were to come...

Chapter Text

When dawn came to Halloween Town, the skeleton rooster crowed loudly as the inhabitants slowly started to wake up and get ready for a new day of preparations for their big event; Halloween. The Mayor had ran up to the Skellington Manor to discuss the ideas for next Halloween with Jack and Sally, but this morning Sally had told them that she was unable to participate and she had gone upstairs to her room to look at some of the books her parents had given to her.

The rag doll picked up a book about ancient creatures and started to flip through the pages, hoping to find out what she saw last night in the woods when she was taking an evening walk with Zero. She frowned when the pictures of the creatures didn't match the ones who lived in the Holiday Realms. She sighed but told herself that she would figure it out eventually.

Suddenly she heard someone knocking on her door. She swiftly turned around and said:

"Come in!" she said sweetly.

The door opened and Jack, her darling Jack came in. He looked concerned but when she gave him a reassuring smile he sat down on the bed next to her and gently placed a bony hand to her shoulder and gave her a small kiss on her cheek. She smiled lovingly at him and gave him one too.

"Finished discussing with the Mayor?" Sally asked, a little smile forming on her red lips. Jack chuckled a little and nodded. The Mayor had had a lot to say to him about everything; the plans for Halloween, the shenanigans of the three trick-or-treaters, how Undersea Gal had found something interesting in her lake and so on.

"What are you reading, my dear Sally?" Jack asked softly.

She sighed again.

"I saw a creature yesterday when I was taking a walk with Zero," Sally said slowly as she put the book aside and ran a stitched hand through her chestnut brown hair. "I've been trying to see what it was but I didn't see it here in the book about the creatures from the Holiday realms."

Jack nodded and put a finger to his chin as he frowned as he thought. Then a grin spread across his face as an idea came to his mind.

"I'll investigate the matter," he said as he took his wife's hand into his own and caressed it tenderly. "If I see something, I'll tell you all about it."

But Sally put a finger to his mouth, her expression gentle yet serious.

"No Jack," she said softly and placed a hand to his shoulder. "We should go together. I have defeated the Sandman on my own, so I might as well go with you."

Jack's eyes widened slightly but then softened when he realized that she was right.

"Of course," he said gently, his voice as tender as ever. He looked at her apologetically. "I'm so sorry if what I said offended you, Sally. I didn't mean any harm, I just didn't want you to go through that horror on your own when the Sandman stole the dreams here."

Sally smiled and pulled her husband into a hug.

"I am truly grateful to have you as my husband," she said tenderly. "But I am ready to take on the challenges that we're facing, we can do this together."

They shared another hug and off they went...

At the same time the three tricksters had woken up from a quiet yet eventful night. Shock had been awoken twice by Barrel who had eaten a midnight snack but that wasn't unusual at all. Lock had slept relatively well with the exception of reliving some memories that he didn't want to talk about, and he knew that neither Shock nor Barrel knew anything about it either. That was what he preferred it to be and he hoped that it would stay this way.

The only thing that made him nervous about it was that recently he had run into the two ghosts he had tried to escape from a few years ago, but they had been humans back then and he was four years old. Now three years later they had found him and whenever he was alone in the woods they had dragged him to that old mansion that haunted him so. And if he was lucky they had only teased him relentlessly. It wasn't pleasant but it could be a lot worse. The last thing he wanted was for them to tell his friends about their encounter, then that would mean the end of their long friendship.

He told himself not to think of it too much but whenever he saw the bonfires, even though he found it fascinating whenever Jack lit himself on fire, he couldn't help but fear the flames. Even worse, he couldn't help but be reminded of that horrible night. Especially now when they had returned to torment him for his crime. They had told him that they were coming to show him what happened when someone angered them, and they were especially angry with him.

As he stood there in his room after stretching and getting himself dressed, he went over to the window to take a look. The sky was cloudy even though the sun was shining. Perfect weather for causing trouble. He took a look at his left and saw Laura sleeping on the tree branch like she was yesterday. He smiled mischievously and he when his gaze shifted to his slingshot, then to her he cackled wickedly.

He picked up a small pebble and aimed carefully. Just as he fired it the pebble flew at the dragon but before it hit her, he saw the dragon flapped her ear and it flew right back at him and hit him in the face.

"OW!" Lock yelled and he immediately dropped his slingshot and rubbed his forehead.

Outside the Treehouse, Laura snickered and smirked to herself. Shooting pebbles at her wouldn't work. She had heard him and when she had opened one eye to see him aim at her, she pretended to be asleep and when the pebble was close enough she smacked it away and sent it away back to him.

Lock looked at her and stuck his tongue out at her but she just chuckled at him.

"How did you see that? I thought you were asleep!" Lock groaned and grumbled as he massaged the the area once more. Laura laughed at him.

"I'm a dragon," she said smugly but her tone was mischievous. "My senses are more sharper than yours, and we have excellent hearing and eyesight too."

Lock pouted a little but shrugged it off.

"No fair!" he whined but then he felt a little worried. What if she had heard him last night? Maybe she had heard him dreaming. He felt his heartbeat quickening and he drew in a deep breath to try and compose himself. He looked out of the window again and offered her a small smile. Despite the pain he was impressed by how smart she was and since she was a dragon she had sharp senses too! That was actually pretty cool now when he thought of it.

"Did you hear something interesting tonight?" he asked with curiosity. Laura put a paw to her chin, pretending to be in thought.

"Well," she said slowly. "I have heard noises from bats, ghosts and howling from the werewolves. On my nightly flight I have been on an exploration of my own to see it there were any great hunting grounds like you told me there were."

Lock nodded and smiled nervously.

"Did you find any?" he asked innocently.

She nodded.

"I did," she said plainly. "You were right about that. One can never know what you find out there."

The little devil let out a deep sigh of relief and told the dragon that he was going to eat breakfast with his friends and after that they would give her a tour of Halloween Town and maybe introduce her to everyone. Maybe the citizens would fear her and maybe, just maybe, would they be more careful about messing with him and his friends now when he had a dragon as a friend.

Laura watched him close the window and he disappeared into the room wherever his friends were. She looked to her right where the hole in the tree was and saw that Lockie was still asleep but by the dark rings under his eyes, it appeared that he had not slept well at all for a couple of nights. She gently nudged him with her snout and he stirred a little. He slowly opened his eyes and yawned as he stretched out his arms and his legs after curling up in that hole in the tree. He had barely slept at all during the night but it was considerably more comfortable there than sleeping underneath the trees or in his case, barely sleeping at all because he was afraid of the creatures that might want to eat him or who knows what they would do to him.

He gave the dragon a sleepy look and he could barely keep his eyes open and he was close to nodding off every now and then but he was grateful that she was nearby, then he would at least be safe if he were to fall asleep here. 

Just as he was about to get up and climb onto down, he nearly lost his balance but Laura caught him with her tail just in time and carefully put him safely on the ground. He leaned against the tree trunk and let himself sliding down so he was sitting on the soil. He didn't mind getting his clothes dirty even though he knew probably should be thinking about those things. In the Dreamland he didn't have to worry about those things since he was always floating around but now when he had a real body of flesh things were completely different.

Laura jumped down from the tree and looked at the half-sleeping little devil before her. She hadn't known him for long but she could tell that he had been on his toes for the rest of the night and probably fell asleep at dawn. That was perfect if she wanted him to be her spy or even better, her personal "assistant" who gained information about the adventurers who dared to cross her territory and helped her charm them into giving their treasures to her. However, since he was so innocent and naive it probably wouldn't be too hard to teach him a trick or two, but maybe it had to wait until she got to know him better. If it turned out he had some moral it wouldn't be as easy to fool him into doing those things but he could still be a worthy ally nevertheless.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Laura asked gently. Lockie nodded weakly but he sighed.

"I didn't sleep at all last night," he said truthfully ans rubbed his eyes with his hands. "I know this sounds dumb but I'm scared of the dark, especially when there are scary things in the forest."

Laura nodded in understanding and patted his shoulder.

"I get it," she said softly, her tone sincere. "I know that it is scary in a new place but now that we know each other a little, I want you to know that I won't hurt you nor will I let anyone hurt you."

Lockie gave her a small smile.

"Thank you," he said timidly. "I'm really grateful for that. I really am."

Then he noticed the Treehouse.

"Who lives there?" he asked innocently.

Laura looked at the gnarly building before replying:

"Lock, Shock and Barrel live there," she said calmly, telling herself to be patient with him. "They are trick-or-treaters, I believe."

Lockie was awed. Being a trickster was one of the best things you could be in the Devilish Realm, and there were yearly competitions to see who was the greatest trickster of all. He didn't know many champions but he knew his parents were there somewhere in the Devilish Realm. Maybe he would try to go there but he needed to know where to look and he didn't know if they were alive or not. For now it was best to stay in Halloween Town for the time being but when he had found a way to talk to them, if they were alive, he would try to find them and his brother Mock as well.

Before he could ask Laura more questions, he noticed the three trick-or-treaters coming down to her in the walking bathtub. They had their masks on but he could tell they were a little suspicious of him. Lock jumped down from the bathtub and went over to him, eyeing him curiously.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice smooth. "I haven't seen you around."

Lockie swallowed nervously but did his best to sound brave.

"I-I'm Lockie," he said softly. "Nice to meet you. Are you guys Lock, Shock and Barrel?"

Lock nodded.

"That is correct." he said sneakily. "And you must be new here, aren't ya?"

Lockie nodded and looked away, feeling shy.

Lock grinned mischievously and made a gesture to the other two and they started to snicker as well.

"Since you're new here, would like us to give you a tour of our home town?" he asked in a mock friendly voice, his tone hiding an undertone of wickedness.

Lockie nodded shyly.

"Sure, what are we going to do in town?" he asked.

"Oh nothing special, just shop for groceries and clothes," Lock said smoothly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Lockie didn't like the sound of his voice but decided to go along with it anyway if it meant he was going to be accepted in the gang.

"Can I join your team?" Lockie asked hopefully.

Lock put a hand to his chin.

"Hmm, I don't know," he said truthfully. "We have to think about it."

Lockie nodded respectfully even though he secretly was hoping that he could be friends with them. It would be fun to have a friend so he wouldn't be so lonely. Laura was his acquaintance and that was a great start but he was really longing for a group to belong to. If he proved himself a good trickster maybe he would be accepted by them all, even Laura too.

As they went into town, many of the citizens were awed and impressed by the dragon and some of them were even a little afraid of her. Lock, Shock and Barrel discussed something amongst themselves before telling Lockie that he could be a part of the gang if he promised to play tricks and scare those who didn't give them candy. Lockie promised this and made a small promise to himself not to let them down.

As they played pranks on some of the citizens, the three tricksters put him on a field test to see how he did there and when they saw him successfully pranking several citizens without being caught they decided that he was indeed a worthy member of the group and since he wanted to have fun, they all had a common goal which they all shared together.

Just as Lockie had jumped down in the bathtub after his first round of "practicing" trick-or-treating as a test by the trio he had been given a small candy bag and he picked up some candy and munched a little on it, he saw a skeleton and a rag doll walking down the streets towards them. He felt his body tense but when he saw how calm the other three were he tried to relax as well. Laura watched them carefully to see who those two were and what they were going to do, ready to defend them if they possessed a threat to them.

Jack and Sally were both shocked and curious to say the least when they say the dragon who had befriended the trick-or-treaters. Jack extended his hand to Laura and said:

"Hello, I don't believe we've met. I'm Jack. Jack Skellington, and this is  my lovely wife Sally," he said politely, motioning to his wife who gave them a shy smile.

"Pleased to meet you," Sally said softly.

Laura grinned.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Jack, Sally," she said politely as well. "I'm Laura, I'm a dragon. I come from the Dragon Valley. This must be Halloween Town, right?"

"You're so correct Miss Laura," Jack said gracefully. "Won't you come join us, we'd love to show you around and who are you, my young fellow?"

Lockie looked up from behind the other three.

"I'm Lockie," he said shyly. "I'm also new here."

"Please come with us and we'll show you around town," Sally said gently, then she turned to the three trick-or-treaters. "There are newly baked cookies in the bakery, you can have some if you want."

Lock, Shock and Barrel nodded in agreement. This sounded interesting and they agreed to join The Pumpkin King and Queen as they showed their new friends around town this once.

As they went and looked at everything around them, Lock couldn't help but notice a burning torch near the Town Square and his thoughts shifted immediately to the two ghosts who were lurking somewhere in the forest in that one mansion where it all happened, which happened to be the place where Shock and Barrel were heading to after they got bored walking around in town.

Lock swallowed a hard lump in his throat as he hurried after them. He just hoped he could get to the mansion in time to warn them before the ghosts decided to have their fun with all three of them...

Chapter Text

As she flew through the dead forest in the Hinterlands, she noticed that there were traces of a certain scent she had smelled before. Judging by the smell it appeared that the traces came from two ghosts but she had never seen nor heard about them before but when she saw the footprints of three people she knew very well by now, she quickly got the feeling that something was amiss. When she finally reached the spot near the living world, it was coming from a haunted house, a white mansion in a thick forest and the front door was slightly damaged by what looked like a previous fire had broken out several years ago.

Her ear perked up as she heard screaming and yelling from inside the mansion and she hurried through the forest until she was near the large building. She flew up to a window and saw two ghosts pinning Lock to the wall while holding a burning object in their hands while Shock and Barrel did what they could to stop them, only to be thrown away into another wall by the larger ghost.

Her eyes narrowed in anger and she snorted furiously as she smashed the window and crashing a door in the process as she ran into the room where the ghosts were and as she used her massive strength to break another wall, Lock, who had been released by the ghosts when they were perplexed by the rumbling in the house, jumped away to be with his friends as they pressed closer to the door. 

"Leave those kids alone," Laura said sharply, her gaze piercing and she snorted angrily.

The ghosts sneered at the creature before them.

"Well, well, if it isn't a large lizard. Did you really think a harmless lizard would scare us, little devil?" they mocked. The dragon's pupils slimmed as the anger intensified inside her, when they tried yet again to approach the three trick-or-treaters who by now had run to stand next to her, cowering behind her dark green wings.

Laura snarled and let out a furious roar as she inhaled deeply.

"Aww, is the little lizard going to spurt water at us?" One of the ghosts taunted.

Just then, Laura spurted out a large amount of fire, hitting the unexpected ghosts. They shrieked in pain and terror as the fire licked up their bodies yet again before disappearing in a flash of smoke, never to be able to come back alive ever again. They were destroyed.

"This is what you get for trying to harm my friends," Laura snorted at the remaining ashes of the former ghosts.

Shock and Barrel carefully peeked out from behind her large wings, looking frightened. Lock, who had seen the ghosts disappearing in the burst of fire, just stood there next to Laura's right fore leg, looking shocked and frightened to say the least. He didn't like what the ghosts had done to him or was going to do to his friends, but he couldn't say he wished them such a horrible fate to go. He shivered as he exhaled but he trembled slightly as he nudged her paw.

Laura motioned for the three trick-or-treaters to jump up on her back, and she bent down so the could climb up on her. When they were properly seated, she flew out of the mansion and into the safety of the forest in Halloweenland. She landed gracefully on the ground and bent down again so that the children could jump down without hurting themselves. A sniffling sound was heard from little devil, but it was so faint and soft that only she heard it. 

Her eyes softened and she watched him carefully. He didn't say much, nothing to be exact but the more she saw his movements, the more clearer it became. It was no doubt that this event today had been rattling, but she couldn't help but notice that he was hiding something from them, as though he felt ashamed or embarrassed for it, and maybe he was afraid of them finding out about whatever he was hiding.

Shock and Barrel turned to their devilish friend.

"What happened three years ago in the mansion the ghosts were talking about?" Shock asked, raising an eyebrow. Lock wrung his hands anxiously and tried to back away but the witch grabbed him by the tail, yanking him back.

"Is that so embarrassing? Is that why you don't want to talk about it?" she asked firmly but her tone wasn't mean or harsh but rather worried.

Lock stopped in his tracks and he slowly turned around to face them. He was crying and a few tears were trailing down his cheeks.

"It's because I'm a murderer." he sobbed and he sank down onto the ground. "It's my fault that they died!"

Shock and Barrel were shocked but quickly came to their senses and sat down next to him.

"What happened?" Shock asked gently. Barrel hugged him in an effort to try and comfort him.

Lock drew in a deep breath as he shivered.

"When I was four years old I was on my way home after the trick-or-treating route but they came to me and asked me if I was a real devil and I said yes, but they didn't believe me.." Lock explained as more tears formed in his eyes. "So they wanted me to prove that I was scary by showing them something scary so I took them to the old mansion you saw today. When we got there they didn't think it was scary enough so they got mad at me and they pushed me into a table and the candle fell off and it started to burn."

He took a pause to try and compose himself.

"They said it was my fault it happened and if they died I was the one to blame. They pushed me into a burning room but they got trapped and I couldn't do anything... and they died. I saw it all..."

He cried harder and the witch and the ghoul hugged him, giving him a sympathetic look.

Laura couldn't help but feel sorry for him. So that's why he had been so anxious about them finding out about this whole thing. No wonder he was afraid of fire nor wanting anything to do with it. He was afraid to lose his friends in the same way those bullies died and worst of all, they had blamed him for that even though it was clearly their own fault it had happened to begin with.

She walked toward the trio and knelt down to their level. She gently nuzzled her crying friend and sat there next to them.

"It's not your fault that died," Laura said soothingly. "There was nothing you could do. It was a horrible accident. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Lock swallowed hard but looked up at her, his face tear stained and  his expression showed confusion.

"Really?" he asked innocently.

Laura nodded.

"I can assure you that you're not to blame for what happened." she said softly. "You were only four years old and they bullied you. It was very cowardly of them to bully you when they were much older than you and pushed you into the table."

"Don't worry Lock, we don't blame you for that." Barrel said softly as he dried away a few tears from his face.

"Yeah, we're just glad you're okay." Shock said gently. "We're already the perfect team."

"We don't think any less of you because of this," Laura said reassuringly.

Lock smiled despite his sadness. He was grateful to have friends like them.

"Thank you," he said softly.

They returned his smile and sat with him for a long time until they decided to do something fun to try and cheer him up.

As the trio set out on a journey into town by jumping up into their walking bathtub, Laura couldn't help but smile at them. Even though they were troublemakers they never ceased to surprise her and she promised herself to always stay by their side whenever they needed her protection or guidance, they were her new best friends after all and she was glad that she had accepted their alliance. Now things wouldn't be as boring or uneventful as they were before she met them.

She flied after them as the sun slowly disappeared and a few ravens flew on the cloudy sky, as another day went on in the land of Halloween.

The End