Post by Snow on Nov 2, 2014 18:13:33 GMT -5
[12 years ago]
A small child sat in the amusement park, crying. A tall, thin figure approached it cautiously, as though it didn't really know what to do.
"... Little one, where are your parents?" it asked, a male voice.
The child sniffed. "I don't know. We were playing and then they left... and they left me here!" The child wailed.
The figure didn't really know what to do with the small crying child. So it hesitantly asked, "Little one, what's your name?"
The child sniffed again. It had gleaming silver hair, like moonlight. "Z-Zel."
"Well, Zel," it sighed, "I'm Jack. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween. I'm going to take you somewhere safe, okay?"
Zel nodded and reached for the figure's long, winding arms. "Okay." Clearly, the silverette had never heard of "stranger danger".
The tall figure picked Zel up and carried him towards the forest.
"Hey, Mister Jack Skellington, why's it that you got no eyes?" Zel asked.
"It's because I'm a skeleton. Besides, not everyone has eyes."
"Oh, okay."
The child apparently wasn't an asker, because he said no more until they reached a ring of trees, each with a door on it.
"Ooo, look, that one has an egg! And that one has a Christmas tree!"
"Yes." Jack walked towards the one with a pumpkin. "In we go!"
They were greeted by the town mayor at the town square, of whom Zel found great amusement in making faces at his "other" face. Jack took Zel's hand after the brief talk and tried to give the child a reassuring smile, but ended up giving the boy a menacing grimace.
He went trick or treating with Sally, a pretty lady who made him a mask. They tried to get him home after that but, due to rules saying that they could only enter the mortal world before midnight, they were too late. Jack waited until Christmas to bring the boy to Santa hoping that the jolly old fellow could find Zel's family. But in the short time in which Zel stayed at Halloween Town, he changed greatly. His already wide silver eyes grew wider and very pale, almost white, and very sunken in. His skin became immensely pale, and he grew fangs.
Santa was outraged.
"What have you done to the boy?" he cried. "He is no longer human! He is-"
"A changeling," the Doctor said when they got back. "A being who is neither one species nor another. He has changed to adapt to Halloween Town."
"Changed?" Zel asked. "But I don't feel any different."
"Well, FEEL again," the Doctor said. "Look, you've got wings."
"I'm sorry we couldn't find your family, Zel," Jack said.
"Oh, that's alright," Zel shrugged. "All I really remember is that they sent me away, so it's okay if I stay here with you guys, right?"
[present time]
"Zero!" called a small, silver-haired boy in baggy clothing, who had impossibly large silver eyes.
Zero barked at him.
"Aww, Zero," Zel sighed. "I don't know what's wrong. It's like... an ache in my bones. I don't know why it's there, but it's there." He pulls his shirt down, showing a patch of his chest, close to his heart, where his skin had rotted away to reveal the pristine white bone underneath.
"It's just... I can't explain it. It's like a longing... but for what? Something I don't know."
Walking, Zel nearly tripped several times, and didn't even notice when he wandered into the Hinterlands. Until, of course, he crashed into something. ADD did that.
"Huh? Oh... you know what, Zero, this place... it feels familiar. Maybe Uncle Jack brought me here once. I don't suppose you would know?" Zel looked hopefully at Zero, but the ghost dog only shook his head. "Oh. Well, worth a shot."
The dog nudged Zel towards the thing he'd crashed into, a door on a tree.
"Okay, okay! I get it. You want me to go in there, right?"
Zero barked.
"Well, okay. Tell Jack, okay?" With that, Zel leaped into the unknown.
When he landed, he slid right down the tree and landed into something white and soft and cold on his face.
"Oof, that was really wet..." Zel looked around. "So... where am I?" He turned around, but there was nothing behind him. "Huh? Well, there's no going back..."
He wandered, gawking at everything. Multiple times, he crashed into people.
"Why are the children throwing the white stuff at each other instead of heads?" Zel wondered to himself. "I've got to know, what is this place that I have found?"
Of course, Zel slipped and crashed face-first into a metal pole. But it didn't hurt much. So Zel read the sign, reading easily just like Mrs. Claus taught him to.
"Gold City, huh? Cool. A new place."
"Hey!" A blonde boy with a blonde girl behind him came running up to him. "Hey, are you okay? You just fell off the wall!"
"I'm fine. Can't you guys fall safely?" Zel had a very confused look on his face.
"Um, no," the girl laughed. "Most people can't fall 20 feet and land safely."
"Well, I did hit my face on the metal pole." Zel shrugged. "But it didn't hurt."
"Are you cold? I've got an extra jacket-" the blonde boy offered.
"Why would I be cold? it's not cold here," Zel laughed. "You people are weird."
The girl immediately said, "We're keeping him."
So they brought him to where they lived and the girl (whom he found out was named Ally) gave him hot chocolate and put him in front of the magic box that talked and the boy (named Kai) gave him a blanket and talked with him a bit until Zel stole things out of his room, hoarding them. He only gave them back when Ally, whom he'd dubbed Mummy, made him. Of course, he stole them back later. She'd stopped trying to be on Kai's side after a few minutes and just laughed. Currently, he had Kai's "wrist weights".
He had also gone into another boy's room and taken the smaller magic box into the living room and took it apart and put it back together for fun. He was really just fixing it. In fact, he was taking it apart for the fourth time because there was something wrong with it when he heard Mummy talk to someone.
"Oh, Caiden, good, you're home! You really have to see what Kai and I found today. It's so adorable! But, um, it took your computer and has been taking it apart and putting it back together for a while." She walke din with another person behind her. "See, adorable!"
Zel blinked at her. "Mummy, the magic box had something wrong with it so I took it apart again and I think I've fixed it this time." He screwed on the last part and picked it up and held it out to her. "All done!"
"Zel, sweetie, that's Caiden's. Caiden is the person behind me. Go put it back where you got it from."
So Zel did that and when he walked back out she was explaining to the boy that Zel really was quite friendly, but he was just a little grabby... and possessive. To prove this, Kai tried to get his wrist weights back. Zel smacked him.
"They're mine, you can't have them." He stuck his tongue out and climbed up the wall and sat on the ceiling, completely ignoring the blonde boy.
"Zel, please, can I have them back?" Kai wheedled.
"No!"
"Zel, look at the red dot!" Mummy called, and Zel actually fell from the ceiling. Onto his face. Looking up, Zel grew angry at the sight of the taunting red dot that he could never catch. He leaped for it, tearing the wall apart where it was. On the sight of it on the inside, Zel slammed his fist through the wall, breaking it further, until he came across something hard. He pulled his hand back and there was red smeared on it.
He looked at Mummy, who looked very shocked. "I caught the red dot!" He showed her the red on his hand and she sighed and dragged him through the house into the bathroom and spent a few minutes picking splinters out of his hand. She turned around for a second and when he turned back to him, bandages in her hand, he was gone.
He stole more of Kai's stuff and completely ignored the blonde boy, who tried futilely to get it back from a hissing Zel.
A small child sat in the amusement park, crying. A tall, thin figure approached it cautiously, as though it didn't really know what to do.
"... Little one, where are your parents?" it asked, a male voice.
The child sniffed. "I don't know. We were playing and then they left... and they left me here!" The child wailed.
The figure didn't really know what to do with the small crying child. So it hesitantly asked, "Little one, what's your name?"
The child sniffed again. It had gleaming silver hair, like moonlight. "Z-Zel."
"Well, Zel," it sighed, "I'm Jack. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween. I'm going to take you somewhere safe, okay?"
Zel nodded and reached for the figure's long, winding arms. "Okay." Clearly, the silverette had never heard of "stranger danger".
The tall figure picked Zel up and carried him towards the forest.
"Hey, Mister Jack Skellington, why's it that you got no eyes?" Zel asked.
"It's because I'm a skeleton. Besides, not everyone has eyes."
"Oh, okay."
The child apparently wasn't an asker, because he said no more until they reached a ring of trees, each with a door on it.
"Ooo, look, that one has an egg! And that one has a Christmas tree!"
"Yes." Jack walked towards the one with a pumpkin. "In we go!"
They were greeted by the town mayor at the town square, of whom Zel found great amusement in making faces at his "other" face. Jack took Zel's hand after the brief talk and tried to give the child a reassuring smile, but ended up giving the boy a menacing grimace.
He went trick or treating with Sally, a pretty lady who made him a mask. They tried to get him home after that but, due to rules saying that they could only enter the mortal world before midnight, they were too late. Jack waited until Christmas to bring the boy to Santa hoping that the jolly old fellow could find Zel's family. But in the short time in which Zel stayed at Halloween Town, he changed greatly. His already wide silver eyes grew wider and very pale, almost white, and very sunken in. His skin became immensely pale, and he grew fangs.
Santa was outraged.
"What have you done to the boy?" he cried. "He is no longer human! He is-"
"A changeling," the Doctor said when they got back. "A being who is neither one species nor another. He has changed to adapt to Halloween Town."
"Changed?" Zel asked. "But I don't feel any different."
"Well, FEEL again," the Doctor said. "Look, you've got wings."
"I'm sorry we couldn't find your family, Zel," Jack said.
"Oh, that's alright," Zel shrugged. "All I really remember is that they sent me away, so it's okay if I stay here with you guys, right?"
[present time]
"Zero!" called a small, silver-haired boy in baggy clothing, who had impossibly large silver eyes.
Zero barked at him.
"Aww, Zero," Zel sighed. "I don't know what's wrong. It's like... an ache in my bones. I don't know why it's there, but it's there." He pulls his shirt down, showing a patch of his chest, close to his heart, where his skin had rotted away to reveal the pristine white bone underneath.
"It's just... I can't explain it. It's like a longing... but for what? Something I don't know."
Walking, Zel nearly tripped several times, and didn't even notice when he wandered into the Hinterlands. Until, of course, he crashed into something. ADD did that.
"Huh? Oh... you know what, Zero, this place... it feels familiar. Maybe Uncle Jack brought me here once. I don't suppose you would know?" Zel looked hopefully at Zero, but the ghost dog only shook his head. "Oh. Well, worth a shot."
The dog nudged Zel towards the thing he'd crashed into, a door on a tree.
"Okay, okay! I get it. You want me to go in there, right?"
Zero barked.
"Well, okay. Tell Jack, okay?" With that, Zel leaped into the unknown.
When he landed, he slid right down the tree and landed into something white and soft and cold on his face.
"Oof, that was really wet..." Zel looked around. "So... where am I?" He turned around, but there was nothing behind him. "Huh? Well, there's no going back..."
He wandered, gawking at everything. Multiple times, he crashed into people.
"Why are the children throwing the white stuff at each other instead of heads?" Zel wondered to himself. "I've got to know, what is this place that I have found?"
Of course, Zel slipped and crashed face-first into a metal pole. But it didn't hurt much. So Zel read the sign, reading easily just like Mrs. Claus taught him to.
"Gold City, huh? Cool. A new place."
"Hey!" A blonde boy with a blonde girl behind him came running up to him. "Hey, are you okay? You just fell off the wall!"
"I'm fine. Can't you guys fall safely?" Zel had a very confused look on his face.
"Um, no," the girl laughed. "Most people can't fall 20 feet and land safely."
"Well, I did hit my face on the metal pole." Zel shrugged. "But it didn't hurt."
"Are you cold? I've got an extra jacket-" the blonde boy offered.
"Why would I be cold? it's not cold here," Zel laughed. "You people are weird."
The girl immediately said, "We're keeping him."
So they brought him to where they lived and the girl (whom he found out was named Ally) gave him hot chocolate and put him in front of the magic box that talked and the boy (named Kai) gave him a blanket and talked with him a bit until Zel stole things out of his room, hoarding them. He only gave them back when Ally, whom he'd dubbed Mummy, made him. Of course, he stole them back later. She'd stopped trying to be on Kai's side after a few minutes and just laughed. Currently, he had Kai's "wrist weights".
He had also gone into another boy's room and taken the smaller magic box into the living room and took it apart and put it back together for fun. He was really just fixing it. In fact, he was taking it apart for the fourth time because there was something wrong with it when he heard Mummy talk to someone.
"Oh, Caiden, good, you're home! You really have to see what Kai and I found today. It's so adorable! But, um, it took your computer and has been taking it apart and putting it back together for a while." She walke din with another person behind her. "See, adorable!"
Zel blinked at her. "Mummy, the magic box had something wrong with it so I took it apart again and I think I've fixed it this time." He screwed on the last part and picked it up and held it out to her. "All done!"
"Zel, sweetie, that's Caiden's. Caiden is the person behind me. Go put it back where you got it from."
So Zel did that and when he walked back out she was explaining to the boy that Zel really was quite friendly, but he was just a little grabby... and possessive. To prove this, Kai tried to get his wrist weights back. Zel smacked him.
"They're mine, you can't have them." He stuck his tongue out and climbed up the wall and sat on the ceiling, completely ignoring the blonde boy.
"Zel, please, can I have them back?" Kai wheedled.
"No!"
"Zel, look at the red dot!" Mummy called, and Zel actually fell from the ceiling. Onto his face. Looking up, Zel grew angry at the sight of the taunting red dot that he could never catch. He leaped for it, tearing the wall apart where it was. On the sight of it on the inside, Zel slammed his fist through the wall, breaking it further, until he came across something hard. He pulled his hand back and there was red smeared on it.
He looked at Mummy, who looked very shocked. "I caught the red dot!" He showed her the red on his hand and she sighed and dragged him through the house into the bathroom and spent a few minutes picking splinters out of his hand. She turned around for a second and when he turned back to him, bandages in her hand, he was gone.
He stole more of Kai's stuff and completely ignored the blonde boy, who tried futilely to get it back from a hissing Zel.
