Sk: Hodihoha, peeps! Chapter 8 is here and now!! >_> I'm having fun writing this, now. XD
Jack: Oh god... that means you're going to keep writing, eh?
Sk: ..... Yup. n
_n
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Chelsea tiptoed up to the treehouse, with Casey very much in tow. The adults were still discussing, but they had promised they'd be out in a minute. Chelsea crept in, looking around. She gasped and nearly screamed as she was yanked into the darkness with a hand clamped over her mouth. She began beating her tiny fists on her captor's chest, before she heard him speak.
"Chelsea, I'm glad you're safe."
Lock's voice sounded uncertain, as if he said anything more, something terrible would happen to the ragdoll. Chelsea looked up as Lock let her wrists free, and took a step back. "Lock, oh gods, it's you!" she whispered loudly, her hazel-brown eyes the size of dinner-plates. "I thought you were someone who was going to hurt me."
Lock smiled, running a hand through her hair. "I'd never." he smiled, his tail curling around her waist delicately. "But if you're planning to go down to your brother and cousins, Mister Oogie definitely will."
"He can try." Chelsea smiled confidently, folding her arms. "My daddy's gonna be there. And my uncle, and my aunty too."
"They can try and stop him." Lock whispered, looking down at her, and pulling her into a loose hug. "Just be careful."
"Come ON, Lock!" came Barrel's voice. "Hurry up!"
"Yeah!" Shock shrieked impatiently. "Oogie wants us down there now!"
"Oh, bloody hell! I'm comin, I'm comin!" Lock snapped back, narrowing his eyes. He looked down as Chelsea wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest.
"Be careful, wherever you're going." she whispered, before giving him a brave smile and climbing out to where Casey helped her out of the darkness. Lock's tail flicked in the air as he turned around, trudging in a surly fashion down to Oogie's Lair with the thought in mind of how Chelsea would react to realising whom his master was.
---
"Gods, Chelsea, I'd vought somet'ing had happeened to you." Casey sighed nervously, looking up into the doll's tired eyes. Chelsea smiled and ran her hand over his short, black hair.
"You'd definitely know if I were hurt, Case. You can be assured of that." she laughed, shrugging. Casey nodded, and smiled, before letting out a yelp and flying into Chelsea's arms. Chelsea held the little vampire close protectively, staring out angrily. "Who's there? Friend or foe, if you will!"
"Vriend, leettle Chels! Vriend, ov course!" giggled a high-pitched voice. A rather short, slender and ghostly figure floated above them, laughing. She ran a hair through her mattered, black hair as she made a somersault, her ghostly tail following her, whilst dancing gracefully the whole time. A pair of crystalline fangs glinted in the afternoon sunshine, baring a similarity to young Casey's.
"Kelly!" Casey sighed, nearly laughing from relief. Kelly nodded and smiled.
"Yup! Eet's me. So sorry I spookied yvou just now." she laughed. She turned. "I know vhere dey are!"
"Gods, Kelly!" Michael's voice shouted back. "We've known where they are for two whole bloody hours!"
"Well so-o-o-o-o-o-o-orry!" she shouted back, before turning to them. "You have to geet down dere now and fight! Caroline 'as been captured too!"
"What?" Chelsea cried, her eyes growing wide. Kelly sighed, her little wings twitching.
"Yees. Viona's gone back to break eet to de Mayor."
"Well, ve'd beetter go down und save 'er!" Casey cried, beginning to make his way back to the adults. Chelsea nodded, and followed, whilst Kelly began singing as she followed, trying to raise everyone's spirits. Pardon the pun.
"I vanna touch a llama... I vanna touch a llama... Michael ees a llama..."
---
A soft whisper caressed Caroline's ear as she sat in the corner of her cell, her knees pulled up to her chest and resting against the wall, as was her shoulder, side and head. Her eyes were no longer the rich orange and fiery red they usually were, but were now a deep, creamy blue. Nearly bluer than any other time in her life. But her ears pricked up as she heard this one word, from a very familiar voice. She scrambled over to the bars, staring at the young skeleton that was peering through at her, apology clearly written on his features. "B-b-bayley?" she whispered hoarsely, her throat completely dry with fear.
"Yeah, Caroline, it's me." he explained softly, reaching through the bars with one hand and caressing her cheek. Tears once again began to stream down her face.
"Bayley, wh-why am I i-in here? W-what is th-this place?" she cried, letting her hand rest on his upper arm. Bayley shook his head and sighed, looking away.
"This place is called the Caged Kings." he whispered, running a slender, bony hand though her hair. She stared up as he sighed sadly, running his other hand down one of the bars of cold steel. She whimpered, tightening her grip on him.
"Bayley, I-I'm scared..." she whispered, staring up at him. His gaze returned to her, as he cupped her chin softly. "Can you g-get me o-out of h-here?"
"I'm sorry." he stated quietly, now looking behind him nervously. It was a rare sight to see Bayley anything but mischievous. But here he was, a completely shattered, nervous wreck. "I can't do it. I'm not even supposed to be in here... We were told to capture you and use you as bait to lure the Pumpkin King here."
"Your own father?" Caroline gasped, horrified. "Why would y-you want to lead Mister J-Jack here? Are y-you going to h-hurt him?"
"I... don't know." he lied, looking back again. "But Caroline, believe me. I really want to set you free, I truly do." Caroline could hear the sympathy and truthfulness in his usually cackling voice. "But if I do, not only will I get punished, but Maree and Anne will too. Now do you understand why?"
"Yes." she whispered, nodding slightly. He pulled her towards the bars, placing his lips on hers. She gasped slightly, her sea-foam eyes growing wide as he buried his hand into her hair and finally pulled away, kissing her again on the cheek. She blinked as he pulled back, smiling at her.
"I'll get you out of here, no matter what." he smiled, before the sound of a rather puffed-out Maree hit the air.
"Bayley? Where the hell are you?" the were-cat panted. "They're outside, and we have to get ready, unless you want your little ass kicked! By them or us!"
"Oh, don't be so harsh!" Anne's voice cried. There was then the sound of a scrap between the two. Bayley sighed and shook his head, beginning to leave the huge, nearly empty room.
"Okay, babe, I promise I'll get you outta here, or my name ain't Bayley." he promised, before leaving and consulting Maree and Anne. Caroline sighed and curled up, wrapping her arms around the soft lace of the sleeve of her sky-blue dress.
"Goodbye, Bayley..." she whispered, resting her head against one of the cool metal bars.
---
Kris looked up, and her face turned pale at the sight of the spirit floating about the group. Michael's eye sockets grew wide. "You three had better not be lying to us!"
"Ve're not!" Kelly snapped back, folding her arms. "Eef yvou vant to, yvou can eeven go down und look!"
"Kelly, Michael, this is no time for a domestic." Hanging Tree joked, nearly earning him a crack to the trunk from Jack's brother. Jack sighed and shook his head.
"C'mon, we have to go and save them!"
"Well, if this is the Oogie you told us about, it'll most definitely be very difficult." Chelsea sighed, looking away. She then looked up. "This can't happen to Bayley! He's only fifteen!"
"Ve'll geet heem back. And eef not, ve'll die trying."
Chelsea nodded, although there was no stopping the crystalline tears that graced the stitches on her face. Jack wrapped his lithe arms around his daughter as she began to cry into his chest, at the very thought of loosing her brother. Kris sighed and looked waywardly out toward the treehouse.
"I am ever so sorry this happened to you all." she apologised, her ever-present cheeriness fading. Jack smiled and her and nodded. The Hanging Tree and his Hanged Men agreed with the young girl. Kelly smiled and began ranting on about how she shouldn't be sorry and whatnot. Michael just sighed and shook his head.
"C'mon, guys, c'mon, c'mon, c'moooooon! We're not saving anyone just standing around here, you guys know that very well."
"And you know very well that we need to go into this prepared." Jack snapped at his older twin, running a hand through his daughter's hair. "I mean, Lock, Shock and Barrel are much older now. Just because Anarchy, Link and Cask aren't here to help them, doesn't mean it'll be easy."
"Meh."
"Lock is definitely a lot stronger than he used to be, and a lot smarter. Shock is still the smartest of the group, and her spells have definitely improved. Did you see what she did to the Pumpkin Patch and Spiral Hill on April Fools? Worse than anything Bayley's ever done in his life."
"That's hard to believe..."
"And it's obviously expected that Barrel will be a lure, being the agile little bugger he is. And knowing you, you'll probably go after him the first chance you get."
"I will not!"
Michael folded his arms and looked away. Kris sighed. "I hate it when people fight..." she murmured, remember Nicholas. She looked up, and narrowed her eyes. "Okay, you have both got a point. We have to get to them as soon as possible, if I'm correct. But we can't just barge in there, obviously. So, why don't we enter in pairs or something?"
"That's a good idea."
Everyone looked at the Hanging Tree, the one that had spoken up. "A pair of you go in now, and take out whatever he's got in store for you first. Then the others can follow, and free the captives."
"That's a great idea, Hanging Tree!" Kris smiled, looking up. She looked over at the treehouse and smiled. "Who's going in with me first?"
A gasp arose from Chelsea and Kris as the silhouette of a black, fiery cross flared up behind Michael. His figure grew dark for a moment as a staff materialized in his hand. His clothes were now grey, under a grey trench coat with a hood. As he looked up, it revealed the engraving of a cross around his left eye socket. "I'm going." he growled, every ounce of horse-playful intentions draining out of him. Kris smiled and nodded, heading for the door.
"Wait!"
The pair looked back, to see Chelsea. She had broken from her father's grip, and was now just behind them.
"I'm coming too. He's my brother, after all."
The older pair hesitated for a moment, seemingly having a silent debate with each other. Kris then smiled and wrapped an arm around Chelsea's shoulder. "Okay! That's good, then! Well, let's get going!"
Jack sighed sadly and looked way, refusing to watch his daughter run with her friends toward what could be her death.
---
Sk: Hoo, ha! There ya'll go! >_> Is that what you call a cliffie? I'm still rather uncertain with the term.
Chelsea: (shrugs) I dunno. Am I really going to die?
Sk: Well-
Kris: (covers Sk's mouth) Don't tell them! It's a surprise, you idiot!
