Chapter 15 Welcome Home

If Kevin said anything after that Lock and Shock didn't hear. Sirens filled the air around them. People where coming. If they found Kevin they would discover his half dead state.

"We have to go," Lock said, helping Kevin up, "Now!"

Lock and Shock got Kevin to his feet and rushed him through the back door. They barely made it out before the police stormed in; to see that the dead body everyone was panicking about had disappeared. The only evidence of homicide was a bloody knife lying next to a skeleton mask on the floor.

They were almost to the graveyard before Kevin felt good enough to walk again. He was still a bit shaky but he had gotten over the worst part of realizing he's dead. When the locket's memories had come to him he was filled with the knowledge of death. So his dying body became a half dead corpse almost instantly. Kevin couldn't remember most of what he had seen, not that he understood any of it in the first place. The graveyard was now in sight.

"So this whole place is underground?" Kevin asked, confused.

"For the last time," Lock said, annoyed, "Halloween Town is not underground. The way we get there is."

They went through the gates, Barrel, lollipop in hand, came toward them saying, "Guys wha…" Barrel stared at Kevin, Kevin stared at Barrel. Like if he had been in a trance himself, Barrel slowly stuttered, "I…I know you. Y…You gave me this lollipop, 'cause you knew I liked them. You gave it to me just before... Aaaaaahhhhh!" Barrel fell to his knees holding his head.

"What's happening?" Kevin screamed, crouching next to the shaking Barrel.

"Memory Recall," Shock said, "He's remembering everything death made him forget. It doesn't happen until it's triggered by something he otherwise would never ever forget. Seeing you again reminds him of how he pushed you out of the way to save you."

"Anyone would," Barrel whispered, "for his brother. Kevin… Why did mom and dad hit me with the car?"

Shock gasped. Kevin stared at Barrel, his voice shook as he said, "They were looking for us Barrel. We didn't come home, they came looking for us. Something was wrong with the car. Barrel, they crashed, into you."

Barrel stared with blank understanding and stood up. Shock asked, "I don't get it. How could you two be brothers, you look nothing alike. And why didn't you tell me Kevin?"

"I was adopted," Kevin explained, "That's why I was a terrible little kid. You could say I had some issues. But when I finally was adopted, Barrel and I just clicked. We were only together for one year before the accident. I didn't talk about it because I lost the only family I've ever had."

"Well, it looks like you got one back," Shock smiled, she put her hand out in front of her, "Four of a kind?"

"Birds of a feather," Lock continued, putting his hand in.

"Now," Barrel continued, adding his hand and inviting Kevin to put in his.

"And forever!" They all said in unison.

Suddenly a pounding noise came from inside the portal door, making them all jump. Barrel, being the closest, opened the doors. A huge dog shaped creature jumped out of the darkness and tackled him to the ground. Before the other three could do anything Barrel started laughing.

"How did you get here?" Barrel said to the creature, and then said to everyone, "While you guys were fixing towns and making enemies I made a friend. This is Klondike." The dog looked like a mixture of an arctic wolf, an Alaskan husky, and some other dog. The dog barked happily and liked his face, "He's a mutt. I found him just after getting to Christmas Town. For some reason he likes me. He probably followed my scent through the portal."

A siren broke through the air. "That would be the police looking for me and your body," Shock said, "Run for it!"

Lock threw open the portal doors again and disappeared into darkness, followed by Barrel, Klondike, and a somewhat reluctant Kevin. Shock paused a moment, looking back at the world that she had lived in. She was surprised to feel that she would miss it. But with a disappearance like that meant she couldn't come back. Flashing lights started coming toward her, she disappeared into the portal.

"Ok Lock what's the big surprise?" Shock said. She, Barrel and Kevin were blindfolded just before they left the Hinterlands. Lock said that he had a surprise for them.

"You may now remove your blindfolds," Lock said theatrically, "and welcome home."

They did, to see the biggest house ever in front of them. Well sort of, half of it was under construction. Three stories high, a dozen windows, stone steps leading to large double doors, a black tiled roof, in the front yard was the mangled tree that used to hold up the old tree house, and a tower going up the side. At least that's what the front looked like; some of the side walls weren't finished.

"Two words my fine friends," Lock said proudly, "Haunted Mansion."

"You did this?" Shock said amazed, "By yourself?"

"Like I had something better to do?" Lock said, "The town repairs only took two months with my help. This place isn't even done yet, it's going to get bigger and bigger. And did you really think I was really let you come home to that dingy little room in the Town Hall?"

"Well I guess there's one thing left to do," Barrel said, "Dibs on the best room!"

He ran through the doors with Kevin and Klondike trailing after him. There was a sound of a spring being released and Kevin and Barrel giving a scream. Shock ran up the steps but when she opened the doors Lock held her back. In the high hallway Barrel and Kevin were hanging upside down, a rope trap around their legs. Klondike was wagging his tail and looking up them with what appeared to be a smile on his face.

"Did I mention that I booby trapped most of the house?" Lock smiled at them, "We'll come cut you down after I show Shock around. Rule one: never try to get upstairs through the first floor."

Lock stepped on a floorboard on the right side of the door. The ceiling opened up and a big, brand new cage elevator came down. They stepped inside and Lock pulled a chain hanging inside the elevator and they started going up. The second floor was clearly the living room. Lock showed Shock the kitchen, which most of it looked outdated but still working, the weapons room, which was mostly tools and an ax or two, and the candy vault, empty for the moment but not for long thanks to Barrel. They entered the elevator again to the third story. Lock lead her to her room. It was a big room with purple wallpaper, carpet, and bed. A large window gave a great view of spiral hill.

"Lock this is amazing!" Shock said looking out the window, "How could you afford to do all this?"

"I worked it out with Jack," he said, "I fix the graveyard, fix the town, and actually help with the Halloween preparations and the Christmas celebration for the rest of my life, I get whatever I need for this place."

"Oh Lock, you did that for us?" Shock said sadly.

"Don't be too surprised yet," Lock said smiling, "Come with me."

They headed back to the elevator and went all the way down to the basement. Lit by electric bulbs the cobble stone basement was filled with potion jars, tubes, beakers, and a few cauldrons. But they didn't stop there; they went across the room to a vacant corner. Lock pushed in a stone, the wall was pushed back to revel a hidden staircase. They climbed up three flights of stairs.

As they were climbing Lock said, "I made this place a long time ago but I didn't know what to do with it until recently. You can come up here whenever you like, I won't tell Barrel or Kevin."

Finally they reached the room on top. It was an art studio; windows ran all the way around the room, letting Shock see everything from the Hinterlands to Halloween Town. There was a desk covered in art supplies right next to an easel.

"Lock…" Shock said quietly, "How did you know?"

"I.. I found these," Lock said, holding up some pieces of paper, "You're really good."

They were the missing drawings. The breaking portal had sent them into the Hinterlands and into the sight of a waiting Lock. Shock looked at them, one was the full moon over Halloween town, another was the old tree house, and the last one was Shock and Lock walking in the moonlight. Shock blushed really hard; Lock blushed too, unconsciously fingering his gloves.

"You must have looked into the locket a lot to draw everything so well," Lock sheepishly added.

Shock tried to change the subject, "You've never liked wearing gloves before."

"Y..Yeah," Lock said, "Just a precaution you know, sharp tools."

Shock didn't believe him. With the speed that would impress a ninja, Shock grabbed his hand and pulled of the glove. Underneath were the slivery lines of healed scars, calluses, and most importantly, burn marks on his palm and fingertips. Lock took back his hand, she stared at him.

"I thought I was going insane," Lock said quietly, "I kept hearing you talk to me. I didn't know how but I heard your voice out of nowhere. I thought… that something happened to you. The door burned me but I still tried to claw my way in. Then I heard you talking about the tree and the woods. Shock, I was an inch under the ground. I've heard everything you told me since you found me."

Shock didn't know what to say. She had told him a lot. Everything that was happening to her, every bad day, and everything she was feeling.

"It's strange. With you talking to me I didn't feel, alone."

Shock was past blushing at this point, "You want to know a secret? Before last night I never opened the locket. I never forgot about any one. Especially you."

And before she really knew what she was doing, Shock kissed him. To another surprise, Lock kissed back. When it was over they were back to blushing in silence. A bark came from downstairs and by a silent agreement they went to cut down Barrel and Kevin.

Barrel ended up sharing a room with Kevin and Klondike, which was fine with him. Lock spent the rest of the night showing them the secret compartments and booby traps of the first floor. Lock was serious when he said that he was going to make the house bigger because most of the back of the house was under construction. When asked why, Lock said that they'd find out what to do with the spare rooms once they're built. Everyone ended up working on the house, adding their own personal touches to each one.

Klondike turned out to be the best dog in the world. Barrel had taught him tons of tricks and he usually understood when they said "Get that out of your mouth!" which happened a lot. Kevin and Barrel really reconnected and were back to being best friends and brothers. Shock and Lock were kind of stuck blushing at each other for a while but eventually got back to being rivals when it came to who was leader. But when all was quiet and they were alone they would sometimes kiss again. Then go back to being terrible to each other, which was just fine with them.

THE END

Or is it?

Somewhere…

A shadowy little creature stirred inside a small closet. It was time. It slid under the door and into the next room. The hospital floors were cold but it couldn't tell, hard to tell when you didn't have any skin. The patient's room was dark but the patient wasn't sleeping, she was wide awake. She stared at the ceiling, after a while she pulled at her restraint jacket again. They put it on her after the police had come to question her and she reacted violently. The little shadow climbed up the food cart next to the bed.

It started to speak, at loudly as it could manage but was still very quiet, "It's me again. I know you think I'm not real, but I am." The patient looked to the shadow with blank eyes. "I can help you ya'know. I need help too. We could help each other." The patient looked away. "Now don't do that. Tell me, would you like to be beautiful again? Would you like to speak again?" Belinda looked back and nodded. "Would you like to be powerful?" Another nod. "I can help you with that, I can! But you need to help me get a new body." Belinda shrank back. "Oh no it's ok; we're going to make one. Once I have a new body and you're powerful and beautiful, we can go after those who made us this way." Belinda smiled. "Yes Shock, I know where she is, both her and Kevin. What do you say? Deal, partner?" Belinda nodded again. The shadow gave a little laugh. It moved onto the bed and unlocked the restraint jacket. Belinda offered out her hand and it climbed on. They were running from the hospital before the shadow said, "You should know who you're working with, my name is Oogie Boogie. I am the boogie man."

Author's Note:

If you haven't noticed by now, I love cliffhangers. Of course you know this means a SEQUAL! Keep and eye out for my next story, Stone Cold Revenge. Whenever it may come! Thanks to all the people/creatures/other who commented. You guys rock! Thanks! :)