LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

The high fives were accepted with much enthusiasm. After a few more rounds of laughter, the trio settled down.

"It's gonna be hard to top this one," Lock said. "It might be the greatest trick we've ever pulled!"

Shock settled down beside Carver.

"And it was my idea," she said with a grin.

"I should make something to celebrate!" Barrel said gleefully. He got up to do just that, before he remembered the empty spice cabinet and instantly deflated. "Oh. Wait..."

That got Lock and Shock to start laughing again.

"Forgetting something there?" Lock asked.

"Guuuuys!" Barrel whined.

His misery only lasted a moment.

"Although...she doesn't remember, right?"

"Not a thing," Shock said.

Barrel grinned.

"So we should be able to get them back!"

"Gotta be careful, there, bro," Lock said. "If she catches you and asks why, she'll start to remember why she has them."

Shock quickly perked at that.

"...The brooms are still glued in the shop."

She gave a quick glance to Carver.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock, Shock, and Barrel barely managed to hold in their laughter. In lieu of it, Shock threw a mini tantrum decrying it wasn't fair, Barrel started pulling candy from his hoodie to munch on to "comfort" himself, and Lock just buried his face in his hands as his tail twitched in a frantic mess behind him.

They kept it up as they headed back to the tree house, as some of the ghosts, shadows, and other incorporeals trailed with them for a time to make their way back to the graveyard. Once in the safety of their home, Shock lost it first.

"You were right, Carver! The Mayor's head almost came completely off!"

Lock fell over as he howled with laughter.

"The looks on all their faces!"

Barrel's giggles joined in the chorus.

"Even Jack didn't know what to do!"

He stopped for a moment.

"Well...I kind of feel bad about that..."

Shock scoffed.

"Jack will bounce back. I bet when he recovers, he'll think this was great!"

"We're going to-going to be in so m-m-much trouble when he does!" Lock exclaimed through another round of laughter. "W-w-worth it!"

What genres do you like?

I'll dabble around in a lot of things, but I find mystery, horror, and the supernatural tend to be my go-tos. Even if those aren't the base plot, they always end up creeping in sooner or later. If it has monsters, I want it.

Superheroes is another one I'm more likely to get behind, simply because it's so easy to AU. If you don't like modern day, try putting some of those characters in another era and see what comes up.

I also like slice of life, but it has to be with extraordinary characters/situations (fandom-specific, give me a handful of inmates at Arkham just getting on each other's nerves, forming alliances, and making enemies over who took the last pudding cup). I don't care about Susie worrying about who's going to take her to prom; I want the Riddler and the Music Meister being forced to share a cell, learning each other's tics, eventually planning an escape utilizing both of their talents, then becoming on-again-off-again partners in crime (did that once; it was tons of fun).

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock turned to her and pondered that as well.

"The fog should be clear by then," she said, "but you might be right. The best thing we can is observe--"

She shot a glare to both of her brothers.

"--And not screw anything else up. Got it?"

Barrel shrunk back with a gulp and a nod. Lock rolled his eyes and flicked his tail.

"Fine," he said.

"I'll periodically check to make sure it's safe," Shock said, with an indication towards the broom. "Once it clears, we'll go from there."

~~~

It took several hours for the fog to completely disperse. Shock used the broom to keep a safe distance, not only from the fog, but prying eyes. Remembering what Lock said about memory triggers, if someone saw her and questioned it, it could lead to further questioning. On her final check, she avoided the main gate and instead flew close, hid the broom, and climbed up the brick wall to peer over.

Everyone was going about their business. No one had noticed the clock yet. Shock then went back to the tree house to get Carver and her brothers. After stashing the broom again, they all went back into town to legitimately assist with preparations, making sure to be in or near the square. They also worked to keep their fellow citizens from taking a close look at Town Hall.

At long last, a frantic, desperate howl echoed throughout the town. It took all of the tricksters' effort to not laugh, and instead, they came running with the rest of the town to see what was up.

"What's going on?" cried the devil.

All three witches came running from the shop.

"There isn't a full moon!" Agnes cried. "What's he howling about?"

"It sounds urgent," Aggie said. "Hurry, Agatha!"

Agatha trailed behind her aunts and quickly joined the crowd. The Mayor and Jack both rushed out of the doors of Town Hall.

"What's all this?" Jack asked.

Wolfman desperately pointed to the countdown clock. Thanks to Shock's tampering earlier, it now read, "365 Days to Halloween" once midnight had passed.

"It's Halloween!" he cried with a frantic growl. "We missed it!"

A wave of panic surged through the crowd.

"No scares?" cried Clown.

"No blood-draining?" the vampires exclaimed in chorus.

"No tricks?" Lock, Shock, and Barrel said in fake solidarity.

Jack stared at the clock.

"I--how could this happen?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock glared at Carver.

"Oh, like you'd do better against Lillith's speed!"

Shock glared at him.

"Regardless," she said, "you still screwed up!"

Lock glowered as he sucked on the cigarette. A thought came to mind, and he smirked as he slowly let out the smoke.

"Actually..." he said, "this could be a good thing."

Barrel reached over to take a handful of popcorn, intrigued. How was his older brother going to worm his way out of this one?

"A good thing?" Shock asked. "What can possibly be good about this?"

Lock glanced at her, then at Carver.

"How long was my memory wiped," he asked, "and what brought it back?"

Shock's glare darkened, then softened as she realized what Lock was getting at. This was something they hadn't actually considered.

Or tested.

"...Filling you in," she said.

"I also pieced some of it together myself," he said, "when I saw and heard certain things."

Lock took a final drag to finish off the cigarette, then snuffed it against an already damaged part of the wall, where a few other round, cigarette burn marks were etched into the wood.

"And I can tell you, even with reminders, it takes time for a monster to remember something, but once it's triggered, it'll start reversing the forget-me-lots' effects. I still don't remember everything, but it's coming back."

"You also only had a small dose," Shock said. "It'll probably take longer for the rest of Halloween Town to get their minds back in place."

"True," Lock said, "but if they see or hear something familiar enough, even by accident--"

"--They may start to remember sooner than we want them to," Shock finished.

She paced the room a few times as she pondered it.

"...Then we need to strike--"

"--As soon as--" Barrel continued as he picked up on it too.

"--The fog clears," Lock finished.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock took a drag as he listened. As Carver spoke, a few more pieces clicked into place. He started to recall a few details, such as the prank preparations, and even this morning. He pondered on it, and just let the information come to him. By the time Shock and Barrel rejoined them, he at least had a decent grasp of the whole situation, and was starting to remember his side of things.

Barrel climbed up into the tree house first. He looked pleased with himself, as things has gone well in the pumpkin patch, and he was beaming about what little he heard went down in the graveyard. Sounded like Lock messed up big time. Lock worked on his third cigarette as the pieces of his encounter with the vampires began to fall into place.

Shock entered last. She flew up into the tree house on the broom, then gently landed on the middle of the room. Lock flicked some ash as he waited for the inevitable and brought the cigarette to his lips again. Barrel was still beaming until he picked up on his older brother's demeanor, then his smile began to fade. It worsened when Shock set the broom aside, crossed her arms, and glared at Lock. Barrel decided to join Carver as Shock set her sights on the middle trickster.

"You almost cost us this whole thing," she snarled. "Fortunately, I spotted Lillith and Carmilla in the square on my way back, so they shouldn't be a problem."

Lock's tail flicked in irritation.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" he cried. "Lillith dodged my hit!"

"Yeah, after you got distracted!"

"Nuh-uh," Lock said as he flicked a bit more ash. "What Carver told you was utter corpse rot! She wasn't there! Lillith cornered me before I could reload. I kissed her to distract her so I could smash a balloon on her head."

"So this whole thing is because you're a lousy shot?" Shock asked.

"They're affected and won't remember this, so shove it." Lock took a forceful drag, then pointed to Barrel. "At least my screw-up was an easy fix!"

"Hey!" Barrel exclaimed.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock tossed the old cigarette into the ravine once they got there and climbed up the rope ladder first. He then lit another cigarette as he turned to Carver.

"Might as well explain now so I know why she's going to chew my head off when she gets here."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock stared at Carver for a second. All right, that sounded plausible, especially when Shock asked about his "stash" and took a bucket of water balloons. He caught the rock and threw it back at her cage.

Shock nodded as she hovered on the broom. She then clicked on the walkie-talkie.

"Barrel, do a final sweep and head back to base," she said. "We'll meet you there."

"Got it," Barrel replied.

Shock then turned to Lock and Carver.

"You two head back," she said. "I'm gonna do a final check."

She gave a pointed glance to Lock.

"Straight home," she said with a glare. "You're lucky the twins won't remember this, or I'd clobber you right now."

Lock glared back and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine, Your Majesty," he said.

Shock glowered at him.

"And don't you forget it."

Lock stared her down for a few seconds, then slipped off the tombstone and headed for the tree house as Shock took off again. He pulled out his cigarette pack as he walked with Carver and paused only long enough to light one up. All of this memory bullshit was stressing him out, and he knew he'd need to have some of the edge taken off by the time his older sister got back.

Shock swept the graveyard a final time, then went to the pumpkin patch to relieve Barrel of any extra balloons. Any stragglers she caught from above would find themselves drenched. The rest of her ammo was relieved in the further residential areas of town as a secondary assurance that not a soul in Halloween Town aside from the four tricksters remained unaffected. Shock then headed back to meet the others at the tree house.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock glanced at her, frustrated.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," he said, "except I did something to the twins, kissed Lillith, and that somehow got their attention to whatever we're doing."

He crossed his arms and flicked his tail.

"...And something about the witches' shop. I remember that."

Lock glared at Carver.

"So if you're going to go on about what I screwed up, at least tell me what the hell this is all about."

He glanced over at Shock as she returned.

"Probably," he said. "They both flew that way."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

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