Quintessence by Hugs.And.Kisses (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

back. C'mon, we gotta go talk to Sally." Lock said, running down the ramp.

Aubrey smiled as he realized what he was planning. "He's just on a roll today." She laughed, hopping over the railing and gliding down. Shock grabbed her broom and followed her, while Jack headed after Lock.

At Skellington Manor

"-so if he's basically got all the same habits as Doctor Finklestein, I pretty much figure that he won't be smart enough to figure out that you put Deadly Nightshade in the soup."

"That's a very good plan, Lock." Sally agreed. "I'll start making the soup right away- the faster we fix the doctor, the better. Aubrey, would you mind coming to help me?" She said, walking into the kitchen.

"Sure mom." She said, hopping off the back of the couch and following Sally into the kitchen. As the two began pulling ingredients out of the cabinets, Aubrey glanced over at the ragdoll. "You're really worried, aren't you mom?"

Sally blinked, surprised, then smiled sadly. "I suppose I am. Doctor Finklestein is the closest thing I have to a father, after all."

Aubrey smiled a little. "Wouldn't have caught you saying that about him a few years ago."

"Things have changed since then." Sally chided. There was silence as the two went back to work on brewing the poisonous soup.

Aubrey glanced over at Sally as she grabbed the jar of Deadly Nightshade out of the cupboard to see the ragdoll gazing out the window with a distant look on her face. "Doctor Finklestein isn't the only one you're worried about, is he? You're worried about Mercy, too."

Sally sighed. "I am very worried about her. I don't know why she'd do something like this. It just seems so unlike her. I can't help thinking that Oogie's done something to her, to make her behave this way."

"That would explain why she thinks he's the good guy here." Aubrey conceded. "I just wish it would be as easy to fix her as it hopefully will be to fix Doctor Finklestein."

Sally hugged her daughter. "So do I, sweetheart. Now, let's get this soup finished."

"Aye, aye captain."

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Shock asked as they crossed the square back to Doctor Finklestein's lab.

"No idea." Lock confessed. "I know that Mercy must've used this same tactic on the real doc, so the monster brain might be on to us. On the other hand, it's pretty likely it still thinks you're working for Oogie, so it won't think about it."

"It didn't even notice us taking down its security system." Aubrey pointed out. "It's probably so focused on making Oogie's monsters, it doesn't pay attention to much else."

"Well, let's cross our fingers." The witch muttered.

Lock looked over at Aubrey. "You ready?"

"Yep, just give me the brain in a box." Jack handed her the box.

"Be careful." He warned.

Aubrey smiled. "I know, I will be. Meet you up there." She said to Shock, heading off to the back of the lab.

Shock shifted the bag slung over her shoulder. "Time to give the doctor his dinner."

"Put those acting skills of yours to good use." Lock said, patting her on the back.

Jack put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be right behind you, Shock."

Shock nodded and shoved open the doors, walking into the kitchen and rummaging through the cupboards for a bowl.

Let's hope this works. The witch thought as she waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the top floor of the tower.

The gate screeched open as the elevator stopped at the lab, and Shock was careful not to slop any soup out of the bowl. They were going to need as much time as they could manage to pull that parasite out of the Doctor's head and put the real brain back in it.

If the doctor could be saved, this was their only chance to do it.

"You're late." The familiar voice snapping at her pulled Shock out of her thoughts. She scowled, walking over and plunking down the bowl in front of him. It doesn't know, she repeated in her head, it doesn't know that I'm not under Oogie's control. It doesn't know…

She almost sighed in relief when the soup disappeared down the doctor's throat. She counted her steps to the door, getting to seven before snoring filled the room. Without hesitation, she ran over to the window, pushing it open. Aubrey landed inside, the box held safely in her hands. "Guess it worked." She noted, speed walking over to the doctor and setting the box down on the wheeled cart next to the elevator. "What is all of this?" She asked, looking at the machinery surrounding the wheelchair bound man.

"No idea, but Lock and Barrel spent a week hauling up parts for it." Shock shrugged, sending the elevator back down to get Jack and Lock.

Aubrey touched one of the saw blades resting above the doctor's head, wincing as it cut her finger neatly. "Real friendly looking. Let's pop his head open and get that thing out of there." Her eyes widened as she took a good look at the doctor. "Oh no… Shock? Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."

"What? Please tell me things didn't just get complicated." Lock said, coming out of the elevator.

"Things just got a lot more complicated." Aubrey muttered, turning the doctor around to reveal the thick black rune burned into his forehead.

"Oh f-" Shock bit her knuckle to stop from cursing. "That's one of Oogie's marks. He used to put it up whenever he didn't want us going somewhere."

"I don't suppose either of you know how to break through it?" Jack asked, crossing his arms.

Lock and Shock both shook their heads. "We were just kids. We didn't have the magic to fight him." Lock muttered, tapping the mark. He winced as black lightning curled up around his hand, yanking it back. "And apparently still don't." He muttered, cradling his hand to his chest.

"How is that even possible, that he's gotten stronger while he was dead?" Aubrey demanded to no one in particular. "You killed him when we were kids."

"It must have been Raphael." Jack murmured, crossing his arms. "Oogie's ashes would have been mixed in with the ashes of the door. When Raphael tried to resurrect the doorway, he brought Oogie back with the key's power."

"I'm… slightly sickened by the thought that Oogie's running off of my powers." Aubrey said, scrunching her nose just slightly. Lock patted her shoulder.

"Shock? You've broken through Oogie's barriers before. Think you can manage this one?" Lock questioned.

"Maybe. If he's using the key's power to do this, then I don't know if I can." Shock said. "I'll try, though." Holding out a hand, Shock winced as the black lightning that had attacked Lock wrapped around her arm. "Nngh- come on, come on." She growled through gritted teeth as she fought her magic down her arm and into the mark. Lock and Jack caught her as she stumbled back. "Did I get it?" She asked dazedly.

"You got it." Lock said, watching as the rune floated away like smoke. "Let's hurry."

Aubrey pulled the top half of Doctor Finklestein's skull up, grimacing as she saw the toxic green brain. "Ooh, that's…"

"Nasty." Shock finished, standing on her own. "Someone yank that thing out."

Lock took a step toward the unconscious Doctor. "Why don't I just burn it out?"

Shock grabbed his arm. "Because you could seriously damage Doctor Finklestein's head. Is fire your solution to everything?"

"Yes, it is." Aubrey said. "Move, I'll take the stupid thing out." She said, reaching for the monster brain. Her hands were mere inches away when red eyes snapped open and a low growl sounded. "What the-"

"Thought you could poison me, did you?" The voice came out of Doctor Finklestein's mouth, but it was twisted and distorted. All four jumped back, away from the iron console surrounding the doctor as he sat up and his fists slammed on the controls, activating the buzz saw blades hovering above their heads.

"Jeezus!" Lock yelped, barely leaping out of the way as a saw came across the space where his neck had been a moment before. "Shock, can't you knock him back out or something?"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" The witch snapped back. "That stupid brain has some kind of ward up! Jack, Aubrey, you two have the long range weapons, try and yank his head back open!"

"Maybe you'd better handle that one, dad." Aubrey said, slicing through an approaching blade with the Morningstar. "I think I'd do more harm tha- aah!" She cried out in pain as a small, metal sphere popped up in the saw's place and shot a laser through her wing.

"Aubrey!" Lock sliced through the laser's mount, and it fell to the floor next to its new friend the broken saw. There was a clean, smoking hole near the top edge of Aubrey's wing. "You okay?"

"It hurts, but I'm fine." She said, her fist clenching around her scythe's handle. "I'll deal with it later, for now, let's get some of those defense systems off of Shock and dad's back."

Lock grinned and held up his sword. "Let's go break some stuff."

Jack wasn't faring well against Doctor Finklestein's machinery- the parasite was operating the blades and claws and lasers with deft precision, and wasn't giving the skeleton any openings.

A flash of metal beside him caught his eyes, and a claw and a laser had suddenly made their new home on the floor. "Need a hand?" Lock asked, the Devil's Advocate's thin blade stained with oil.

"I'd appreciate it." He said with a nod, lashing out at the blade coming toward them with the Soul Robber. The blade ground to a halt as the gooey weapon destroyed its mechanism. Jack glanced across the room to see Aubrey and Shock dealing with the menagerie of weapons focused on them.

"Oh, forget this!" Shock growled as a rotating claw knocked her against the wall, her hat falling to the floor. "Fulgar!"

Electricity crackled around the machinery as Shock's spell hit it, traveling from the claw she used as a lightning rod all the way to the control panel… and Doctor Finklestein's fingers. The doctor jerked in his chair before slumping down, unconscious.

"Hurry, switch the brains back before he wakes up again!" Jack ordered, reaching through the now fried machines to pull open the Doctor's skull. The Oogie-brain was smoking and shuddering in his skull.

"No chances this time." Lock raised his arm and thrust it forward skewering the brain and flipping it out of its stolen resting place. Aubrey carefully replaced the doctor's real grey matter in his skull, and Jack flipped the lid down.

There was a moment of tense silence. "Is it too late?" Aubrey whispered, looking up at Jack.

"I…" Jack hung his head. The Pumpkin King looked back up as Doctor Finklestein let out a low moan, sitting up in his chair and holding his head. "Doctor Finklestein!"

"Ohh, my head… Jack? What are you doing back so soon?" The mad scientist asked, frowning.

"Grandpa," Aubrey asked, walking up behind Jack, "What's the last thing that you remember happening?"

"Hm… I believe that Mercy had brought me something to eat. I must have fallen asleep."

"Um, not exactly. You see-"

"Holy shit, is that thing still alive?" Lock's exclamation distracted everyone as he pointed