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Fanfic / Count Your Missing Sheep

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Count Your Missing Sheep is a Nightmare Before Christmas Continuation Fic. From the author's description:

Years after the infamous nightmare, once again the spirit and joy of Christmas is threatened. But this time, it is not the Pumpkin King and his good intentions at fault. Someone else is stealing away the children of the world, and Jack Skellington, alongside the other Holiday leaders, must find a way to rescue them from the monstrous Krampus and his underworld.

The fanfic can be found at Archive of Our Own and FanFiction.net.


This fanfic provides examples of:

  • Big Brother Bully: Santa's storybook spell features one of these, who is then kidnapped by Krampus.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Implied with Ophelia towards Clive in particular.
  • Calling Card: The Ruten, a small bundle of birch branches Krampus leaves to let the parents of naughty children know what happened.
  • Distinguishing Mark: Clive has a blue birthmark on his forehead shaped like a stitch. Apparently Dr. Finklestein has suggested it's a remnant from Sally.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come / Seers: It turns out that Clive has inherited Sally's ability to have premonitions, as he has had "waking dreams" of Krampus coming to steal him away.
  • Evil Cannot Stand Cuteness: Dark rather than evil, but Shock is utterly horrified and disgusted by the fluffy pink earmuffs Lock grabbed for shrieking mandrake harvesting. And Jack's threat of gluing them to his ears is enough to get Lock to stopping insulting Clive.
  • Free-Range Children: It's noted that Halloween Town, Jack and Sally included, allow their children a reasonable degree of independence within the town's borders.
  • Friendless Background: Clive, despite being the son of the Pumpkin King, doesn't have any friends, which is why he befriends Lock, Shock, and Barrel. It's implied this trope is also why the trick-or-treaters allow Clive to hang out with them.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Adrian and Ophelia, respectively. Though her Proper Lady attitude doesn't stop Ophelia from sticking her tongue out at Adrian when he teases her.
  • Good Parents / Parents as People: Jack and Sally are shown to be understanding parents, however Jack realizes he should have made time to help Clive with his lack of friends, and Sally didn't realize Clive was suffering from fear from his premonition of Krampus coming to kidnap him rather than simply feeling ill. Both are for understandable reasons, with the former being busy with Halloween preparations and the fallout of the enchanted pumpkins causing havoc, and the latter having no reason to presume anything other than what Clive told her. Doesn't stop them from feeling guilty about it though.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Lock, Shock, and Barrel still act like children despite technically being at least decades old.
  • Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Considering the fic centers around children being kidnapped by a terrifying supernatural figure. It is even stated that the reason Krampus leaves the Ruten is to let parents know what happened to their missing child. Jack and Sally get hit with this when it's revealed that their own child Clive is marked to be stolen by Krampus because of his involvement with the trick-or-treaters' prank. And then Clive runs off into a dangerous storm to get Lock, Shock, and Barrel due to Clive angrily assuming that no one cares about the trio enough to risk the storm to go help them.
  • The Krampus: Naturally, and the main villain of the fic.
  • Massive Numbered Siblings: In line with the original Closing from the soundtrack, Jack and Sally has five kids.
  • Never Grew Up: Lock, Shock, and Barrel haven't aged one day over the years. Jack's inner monologue notes there are other children in Halloween Town that don't age either.
  • Pet the Dog / Hidden Depths: Krampus kidnaps the entire population of naughty kids in the town of Haven, yet he takes the time to return a stolen teddy bear to a child, and even attempts to reassure the girl when she wakes up. It's also implied that he doesn't care for bullies or parents that don't discipline their children when the latter harms others.
  • Plucky Girl: Shirley Skellington is one, as she is introduced by boldly declaring that she'll take on whatever is bothering Santa, and Jack notes that she would gladly face down the dangers of the Hinterlands if she could.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: Shirley and Mary, with the former being a Plucky Girl and the latter a quiet artistic girl.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Ophelia wears her hair in one.
  • Proper Lady: Ophelia Skellington.
  • The Quiet One: Clive Skellington is introduced as talking in a very quiet voice, and generally has a timid demeanor. Mary is also shown as being more subdued, especially compared to her twin sister Shirley.
  • Retcon: Originally Shirley and Mary were Clive's younger sisters, with him being the middle child. The author changed them to his older sisters due to them ending up sounding older when the author were writing the sisters. Another more minor retcon is that of Sally's namedrop of the St. Patrick's Day holiday town; originally St. Patrick Town, now St. Patricksdale, changed to match Easterdale, the Easter holiday town.
  • Shout-Out: A few:
  • A Storm Is Coming: When the fic gets to Halloween Town, a massive storm is headed towards the gothic town. It's stated that most of the time, a storm is considered a good thing for the fear-loving citizens, but there's an uneasy feeling accompanying this one (especially for the Mayor and Sally). And this is before anyone in Halloween Town is aware of Krampus.
    • When It Rains, It Pours: Naturally, this storm is unusually large and downpours almost immediately when it gets to Halloween Town. Which makes it more alarming when Clive runs out into the storm to find the trick-or-treaters.
  • Switching P.O.V.: The POV changes with each chapter, so far from the POV of Krampus, Jack, Sally, and the Mayor.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: Sally knows that something bad is coming, but unlike her premonition with Jack's Christmas, she doesn't have any visions to indicate what might be coming, much to her concern.
  • Villain Opening Scene: The first chapter is from Krampus's point-of-view, showing him stealing the naughty children of a small town.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Krampus is implied to be one, as he has shown great disdain towards bullies and parents who coddle their children's bad behavior. Santa also states that he had only taken the worst of naughty kids in the past, which makes his current targeting of kids who aren't as naughty like Clive rather unusual.
  • The Wild Hunt: The plans for the next Halloween involves Jack and co. recreating this, though without actually hunting down humans. The idea is to invoke some "old-school terror", as in recent years Halloween Town, while having greater and greater reach in the Human World, have been having trouble scaring humans as effectively.

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