Viola! The long awaited next chapter of TNHD! Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! ^_^ So here's your reward!

But first, I have some great news! I'll be turning 18 this Wednesday, October 21! 8D I'm so excited! X3 AND you guys should be too because on that day, as a treat for you wonderful readers, I'll be posting a oneshot =D So be on the lookout!

Now, enjoy the chapter~

The Pumpkin King paced incessantly around his room extremely anxious as he continuously glanced out the window down at the town below. He was still searching for any sign of his heir's reappearance, or a least a clue to where she might have gone.

"Could she have gone back to the human world?" He asked aloud. "No, no, she would have told me." He paced around for a few minutes before coming to a sudden stop.

"Is it that she didn't want me to go back with her? Did she not want me there anymore?" His face became stricken with fear and worry, but then he shook his head. "No, that can't be it either. But then…why would she just leave like that? This isn't like her."

"Could she possibly be pulling a prank on me? I wouldn't put it past her." He chuckled as he put his hands on his hips. "So I guess she must be back to normal finally if she's doing that sort of thing again. But…" He rubbed the back of his neck, "isn't this taking it a bit too far?"

He scratched his head as he pondered other possible options but none seemed to make any sense.

"Wait a minute…could she have possibly been…" his eyes widened in pure terror, "kidnapped?"

He shook his head and slumped into a chair. "Now I'm just jumping to conclusions. Everyone in Halloween Town loves her! No one would dare do such a thing, or even have a viable reason to!" He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side as the thought for a moment.

"Wait," he gasped, "could it have been Oogie Boogie! He's the only one low enough to pull such a vile stunt!" He shouted angrily as he jumped out of his chair. But then he fell back into it and took a deep breath to calm down, holding his head.

"No, he was banished from Halloween Town with a spell that Amelia herself cast." Jack stated as he recalled the Halloween disaster nine years ago, "So he couldn't have possibly returned even if he wanted to."

He stood up and resumed his pacing, holding his arms behind his back as he stared at the floor.

"Not to mention Amelia is an extremely powerful sorceress now and could more than handle herself if she ever did get into trouble. If she's not a master yet, she's certainly close. There is just no way could she have been taken." He stopped then turned to gaze out the window.

"So… what happened to her?"

A spectral mist quickly flew over to the worried skeleton man.

"Zero! Did you find anything?" Jack hastily asked, clasping his hands together with hope.

The ghostly canine solemnly shook his head as his long, floating ears drooped. The Pumpkin King lowered his head sadly, heaving a sigh of disappointment.

"Where could she have gone?" he mumbled sadly.

Another day passed and Jack's worry only increased with each passing second. He hopelessly searched every room in his house repeatedly, even the secret place where he had hidden the box which Alucard was sealed away in. But he hadn't been released nor were there any signs of anyone tampering with the box. Again he frantically searched all over town, asking anyone if they might have seen her, but turned up with nothing. He wanted to be able to search the human world, but the risk of time resuming because of his presence was too great of a chance to take. Not knowing what else to do, the Pumpkin King called for an emergency town meeting.

Worried chatter was spread amongst the citizens as they sat in Town Hall, waiting for Jack.

"This has never happened before!"

"It's suspicious."

"It's peculiar."

"It's scary!"

None of the citizens had been using their Halloween Speak as they talked to one another about the situation at hand. All of them turned toward the stage as Jack walked up to the podium.

"Settle down everyone." He asked and immediately the entire building was silent with their attention on toward him.

"I am certain most you all know why I have called this meeting, but in case you do not," he took in a deep breath as his face became stricken with dismay. "Our Princess, Amelia Brave, has gone missing."

A few gasps were heard among the crowd but mostly their expressions reflected the sadness everyone felt.

"She was last seen two days ago and no one has seen or heard from her since. I am certain she did not return to the human world for she wouldn't have done so without at least telling someone." He sighed, "So thus I cannot help but fear the worst. I believe she may have been taken."

Now there were several sharp intakes of breaths throughout the audience.

"I must be honest with you and say I haven't a clue who could possibly be the culprit, that is, if my assumption is correct. So if any of you have an idea as to who is behind this then please let me know as soon as possible." His eyes pleaded much more than his voice. "The fact that a human has gone missing in our world is very dangerous. If time was to resume itself on the other side then panic would surely ensue. So we must, at all costs, find Amelia." The volume of his tone increased as he said the last line.

"Therefore, I am ordering a town-wide search party. Also, there will be a select number of teams who will travel to the other holidays to search for her there, as well as to notify the other Holiday Leaders of her disappearance." Jack declared. "If we have everyone searching then we are bound to find her."

The Pumpkin King then proceeded to designate and organize the teams that would go to the other holidays in search of the missing sorceress. Almost immediately afterward, the citizens hastily fanned out to their assigned destinations, determined to find the Halloween Town royal. As Jack left Town Hall, dragging his feat in depression, he heard a familiar mechanical whir as someone came up next to him.

"I think I might have a way to locate Amelia," Doctor Finklestein stated, adjusting his glasses, "granted, it won't be precise. But it just might be enough to give us the needed information as to where she is."

"Really! Oh anything will do Doctor, anything at all! Thank you so much!" Jack practically cried out in joy.

"But I will require something of Amelia's to track her," The scientist pressed his fingers together and arched an eyebrow, "a photo perhaps?"

"I have just the thing!" The skeleton man exclaimed happily.

"Good, meet me back at the lab as soon as you can."

With that as his cue to leave, Jack quickly dashed away back to his home to grab the picture Amelia had sent him a year ago. Just a few moments after the scientist had returned to his observatory home, the King of Halloween burst through the door and ran up the spiral incline.

"Will this do?" The skeleton man asked after catching his breath, holding the picture out to the slightly mad scientist. He regarded the picture for a moment and then gave a firm nod.

"Perfectly." he replied and proceeded to lead Jack through his laboratory until they came across a peculiar looking machine. It was big, square, and bulky, oddly resembling one of the first computers ever built, with a tall and awkwardly bent antenna on top of it.

Doctor Finklestein held out his hand for the picture and the respected king placed it in his grasp. The scientist then placed the image on a level piece of small, foggy glass attached to the machine. He closed the lid over it and, after a few seconds, a bright light emitted from behind the cover. The machine made a series of odd beeping sounds, whirs, and random colorful lights that flashed in a strange pattern. The doctor wheeled himself over to a nearby box that looked like a computer monitor as yellow numbers of coded information appeared on the green screen.

"Hmm…" Doctor Finklestein rubbed his chin as he pondered. "According to these coordinates, it appears that she is still in Halloween Town."

"What!" Jack yelled in surprise for it was the last place he had expected her to be, considering all of his search efforts that he had thought to be in vain.

"I wouldn't call off the search parties just yet though for she could quite possibly leave before we even have a chance to find her." The scientist advised. "Not to mention it's good to let the other Holidays know about the situation at hand."

"O-of course, b-but if she's still in Halloween Town…" Jack's face fell as he began to think the worst possible conclusion.

"She's not dead." The doctor stated bluntly as though he had read his mind. "This tracker wouldn't have picked her up if she was."

The Pumpkin King heaved a great sigh in relief. From all the worry and lack of sleep, exhaustion finally began to take its hold on him. He slouched and let his arms dangle at his sides as a look of fatigue crossed his features.

"Jack, go home and get some rest, you obviously need it." Doctor Finklestein stated. "Don't worry, we'll find her. Who knows, she might find her way back soon." He chuckled, "She can't stay away from you for too long."

"Huh?" the skeleton man blinked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing," the genius, if slightly mad, scientist shrugged nonchalantly. "Just try to catch up on that lost sleep if you can."

"Alright." he replied tiredly and slowly turned on his heel when his friend's voice stopped him.

"You might want this back." The doctor said as he handed him back the picture of Amelia.

"Thank you." Jack gave a half-smile as he carefully took the image and tucked it inside his jacket. Wearily, he made his exit and trudged his way home in a depressed slump.

After another day of searching, no one turned up any information on the missing Armonia sorceress. All of the Holiday Leaders were notified and promised to keep a look out for her, but it felt that any ray of hope was getting slimmer as precious time continued to pass without any sign of the sorceress. It was as if the Princess of Halloween had vanished of the face of the earth.

Once again, Jack was pacing incessantly in his room, his face contorted with worry and something else that bordered on anger.

"This is insane!" He shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "She's been kidnapped, but by who!"

His ever loyal ghostly companion floated up beside him and whimpered worriedly.

"I don't know what to do, Zero. I just don't know!" He cried out as he flopped into his chair. His eyes closed and propped his head up in his hand with his elbow on the desk, his expression still stricken with grief. He remained that way for several moments before his eyes snapped opened as he gasped with realization.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner!"

Jack suddenly shot up and began to race around his room, pulling out assorted and random objects from a black cauldron to several oddly colored vials. He piled all of the potions and liquids onto his desk and then grabbed Doctor Finklestein's book which he had borrowed and still had yet to return. He opened it and flipped through several pages before coming across what he was looking for. Quickly reading over the instructions, he opened several of the vials and poured them into the cauldron. When they mixed, a small cloud puffed out from the pot, causing the sorcerer to cough a bit and wave the smoke away. He then held his hands over the concoction and his would-be brows furrowed as he stood completely still, concentrating. After a few minutes, the potion began to bubble before coming to a full boil. Letting out a deep breath, he relaxed his arms and went back to the book. He read over a passage several times before he turned back to the bubbling cauldron with a steady fog rolling over the brim. Jack carefully peered over to stare into the lavender colored liquid.

"Show me Amelia Brave."

The bubbles moved to form a ring along the sides of the cauldron as the pastel colored liquid in the center became smooth and glassy. A foggy substance began to surface in the sheen and gradually came into focus. Though fuzzy, Jack could make out a face but something was amiss.

"Huh?"

He saw that the person was female with long fiery red-brown hair, angry scarlet colored eyes, an odd tattoo which resembled a red hourglass on her forehead, and what seemed like long dark crimson scars that trailed down the sides of her lightly tanned face. Whoever this woman was, she was not Amelia.

Jack leaned down to peer closer at the image for it was still hazy but slowly clearing up. Then suddenly, the whole potion was quickly becoming consumed in a black fog, causing the sorcerer to gasp in fear. He jumped away, landing sprawled on the floor as a large dark blast shot out of the cauldron, a thick smoke then emitting from it. Hesitantly, the skeleton man turned to look back at the aftermath, which was his tower becoming filled with a thin grey haze. Warily, he stood up with a fear-stricken expression as he gazed at the still smoking cauldron.

"No…" he breathed. "That can't be…"

He knew it could only mean one thing. The reason why he wasn't shown Amelia was because she has been taken prisoner by either an equally powerful, or most likely, a stronger sorceress.

Dun dun DUUUN! Ok readers, you know what this means! Our diabolical villain is about to make her entrance!

Ok now that I got the soap opera-ness out of me, there's just a particular funny bit I'd like to mention. That being Amelia's feelings are so blatantly obvious that even Doctor Finklestein has noticed XD Ah that is probably my favorite part, so tell me readers, what's yours?

Another note, I made a little announcement I would like you guys to read back up at the top in my Author's Note. Please and thank you! ^_^