Halloween Chaos
Prompt: The students are stuck in places they didn’t expect. Who is behind this Halloween Chaos?
A/N: Happy Halloween! You can read the scenarios as individuals, but they all tie in together.
What was this? One second, they were in their dorm; the next, the Diasomnia students stood in the heart of a funhouse filled with mirrors. They started at their twisted reflections, some eerie and others more comical than words could describe.Â
Lilia mischievously chuckled as he stared into a mirror that made his eyes huge and his mouth tiny. “Isn’t this a surprise? It’s like we are in another dimension.”
The dragon prince tilted his head and studied his reflection; the mirror made him look even taller and caused his horns to swirl higher. “How interesting. I wonder if these mirrors could show us secrets of other worlds.”
“I think…they’re just mirrors, but it’s unsettling,” Silver replied, moving back and forth. The mirror he stood in front of stretched his legs to be ninety percent of his body while his torso and head were squished.
Sebek’s voice boomed through the funhouse and caused the mirrors to tremble. “THIS PLACE IS CLEARLY DESIGNED TO TOY WITH US! DON’T BE FOOLED, YOUNG MASTER!”Â
He tried to march forward with determination but crashed into one of the mirrors. Rubbing his nose, the green-haired knight gritted his teeth. “HOW DARE THIS MIRROR!”
Lilia snickered, “Careful, Sebek. The mirrors bite back.”
As the group moved deeper into the funhouse, their reflections became creepier with each twist and turn. One mirror gave Lilia a Cheshire grin; another made Silver look like a skeleton; a third gave Malleus’s eyes an eerie green glow while making his grin appear sinister. Seeing the grin, the dragon quickly pressed his lips together and sighed. “Is this…a curse?”
Sebek refused to take this torment any longer, especially after seeing Malleus dejected. The guard glared at his distorted reflection. “We must defeat these mirr-“
“Sebek,” Malleus quietly interrupted, “they are mere illusions.”
Meanwhile, Lilia saw a perfect opportunity to jump-scare his dorm members and popped up behind them, making a spooky expression for the mirrors surrounding them. He was delighted to see Silver jump back, and Sebek let out a startled, ‘Ah!’
“Lilia,” Malleus said with an amused smile, unfazed by the general’s antic. “You’re enjoying yourself a bit too much.”
However, the prince’s smile disappeared when the lights in the funhouse turned off, and a haunting tune filled the area. Sebek was the first to run and collided with every mirror in his path. He was sure he would get countless bruises, but his fight and flight response was on overdrive. Silver followed closely behind him, focusing on the sounds of Sebek’s footsteps and collisions to avoid running into the mirror himself. Lilia and Malleus casually strolled through the maze while having their hands stretched out to avoid running into any mirrors.
Once they were out, Lilia laughed, “Sebek. You look like you saw a ghost.”
“W-WHAT? I…I ONLY WANTED TO GET YOUNG MASTER OUT OF THERE QUICKLY!” The green-haired knight exclaimed, puffing his chest out to show he wasn’t scared.
“Sure. Sure,” the general replied. “Hey, there’s a mansion in the distance. Should we head there?”
All the while, Malleus stared back at the dark funhouse. What was that feeling, and how did they get to this dimension? Something seemed off.
The Savanaclaw and Scarbia students stood in a dusty foyer of an old, creaking mansion. The walls were decorated with faded portraits, and the air smelled thick with decay. As they walked forward, their footsteps ominously echoed through the abandoned hallway.
“This’ll be fun!” Kalim exclaimed, his eyes excitedly darting in every direction.
Jamil sighed and held onto the back of the leader’s cream-colored sweater to prevent him from wandering away from them. “Kalim, did you forget we don’t know where we are? We’re not in an amusement park attraction. There could be danger ahead.”
His charcoal grey eyes narrowed when a cool draft brushed his skin. But all windows were shut, so where was the wind coming from? “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“I was gettin’ ready for a nap,” Leona growled under his breath. “Haunted house…tch.”
Jack had been silent, but his ears twitched as he picked up on a faint sound. He was ready to attack if needed but decided to ask the group first to ensure he wasn’t being paranoid – not that he would ever admit to that. “Uh…does anyone else hear that?”
“What’s wrong, Jack?” Ruggie snickered, failing his arms, pretending to be a ghost. “You scared of a little – AH!”
The hyena yelped when a suit of armor creaked beside him, and the helmet slowly turned to look at Ruggie. Without a second, though, he scrambled and hid behind Leona. “Did that…armor just…?”
“Wow. That effect looked so real!” Kalim grinned and clapped, oblivious to the heaviness in the air.
“Kalim…that didn’t look like an effect,” Jamil quietly replied. He did his best to keep his voice steady because the vice leader of Scarbia didn’t want anyone to know he was nervous. The flickering lights didn’t help his situation.
Jack jumped when the door behind them slammed shut, but he could only growl under his breath, his voice refusing to cooperate with him. While the others were on edge, Leona grew more irritated and rolled his eyes. “It’s just a draft. Relax. All of you look like you saw a ghost.”
But just as the lion finished talking, a cold hand rested on his shoulder. Sighing heavily, the prince massaged his temples. “Will you stop touchin’ me? If you’re scared, cling to someone else.”
“Uh…Leona…” Jamil whispered in a trembling voice. When the lion met his gaze, the vice leader looked around him; Jack, Ruggie, and Kalim stood close to him. Before the prince could react, an eerie giggle filled the air, making all of them jump.
“We…should go. Now!” Ruggie yelled and tugged at the door handle close to him, but it wouldn’t budge. “Why isn’t it opening!?”
“Oh, look. Ghosts! Hi, ghosts.” Kalim waved to the floating candlesticks a few feet away. The leader of Scarabia was the only one unfazed by the hauntings.
“Kalim, no!” Jamil hissed, tightly holding onto his arm. “Ghosts are not friends!”
“Leona…Jack…Ruggie…”
A thin voice called out in the distance, but no one was there when the three snapped their head in that direction. Jamil clutched Kalim’s arm tighter, mentally reminding him to stay strong and composed to maintain his image.
“Alright. Who’s doing this? Show yourself!” Leona snapped. His roar echoed through the empty hallway but was eventually swallowed by the darkness at the end of the hallway. Instead of silencing the whisper, the prince’s anger stirred a series of laughter.
“Leona, maybe don’t antagonize the…the…whatever they are,” Ruggie mumbled and tugged on the lion’s sleeves. Drawn by the hyena’s voice, a red specter with dark holes for eyes and a joyless grin materialized in front of them. Jack’s soul nearly left his body, Ruggie stepped backward, Jamil’s face grew pallid, and Leona stared in intrigue and annoyance.
“Hey, another ghost friend. Hi, Lady in Red. Are you stuck here like us? Wanna come with us?” Kalim beamed, taking a step closer to the apparition. The ghost stared at Kalim in confusion, baffled at his friendliness and lack of fear before fading into thin air.
“R-Run…now’s our chance!” Jamil loudly said, snapping the others out of their thoughts. Their rapid footsteps echoed through the entire house as they rushed toward every door to find an exit.
Once the group bolted out of the haunted mansion, they didn’t stop running except Kalim, who turned around and cheerfully waved to the specters lingering in the doorway.Â
“Is that a cornfield?” Ruggie asked when they stopped to catch their breath. Leona furrowed his brows and growled under his breath to warn them to stay away from it.Â
Vil and Azul led their dorm members through a maze-liked cornfield shrouded in an eerie light from the ghost orb in the night sky. The tall stalks rustled around them as they pushed past in silence. While most wondered how they got to this unknown dimension, Floyd and Rook curiously studied the rotted blue corn.
“The gall of these corn husks…,” Vil huffed, carefully navigating the fields while he swatted at husks that dared to brush his flawless skin. Â
“Your skin will be fine,” Floyd drawled, snapping corn stalks with one hand for fun. “Besides, they’re just small cuts…it’s not like someone squeezed your organs out or something.”
Vil shot him a look of pure horror. “Scars? On me? That will not happen! Not to mention, the stench is unbearable.”
Epel ignored the conversation as he was too focused on the nostalgic moment. He stomped on the stalks Floyd snapped off while chuckling to himself. “This is just like back home. It ain’t nothin’…uh…it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Perhaps,” Jade mumbled. His eyes narrowed when a group of twisted and unnatural scarecrows loomed in the shadows of an opening in the maze. “But, I do wonder why the corn is rotten. And…I must say, those scarecrows look rather…lively.”
Azul adjusted his glasses and squinted at the nearest scarecrow. “Do you mean…the one that just moved its arm?”
“Excuse me?” Vil asked quietly, snapping his gaze to the scarecrows before scrutinizing them. “I see no movements. Azul, when was the last time you visited an optometrist?”
“Ah, but Roi de l’Effort speaks the truth. How delightful to find the spirit of Halloween in such a bleak location,” Rook exclaimed. As if startled by the hunter’s loud voice, one of the scarecrows twisted its head with a drawn-out creak. Its hollow eyes stared at Rook while its sewn lips curled into a chilling smile.
“Uh…anyone else find that creepy?” Epel nervously laughed, taking a step back and hiding behind Pomefiore’s vice leader.
Without warning, Floyd skipped forward to get a better look at the group of straw bags. He leaned in, examined the closest scarecrow’s face, and mimicked its sinister grin. “Nah, the scarecrow isn’t creepy. I’ve seen worse in the ocean.”
Another scarecrow with stitched eyes tilted its head before taking a slow, unnatural step forward. Its straw and corn husk-stuffed limbs bent in impossible ways, drawing a laugh from Floyd while taking a step back. “Okay, maybe they’re a little spooky…and smell…bad.”
“We’re leaving this instant!” Vil declared.
“I agree,” Jade calmly said, motioning Floyd to back away from the scarecrows. The normally calm eel’s hair stood up as the scent of the haunted straw bags stung his nostrils. “Floyd. Return this instant.”
“It’s best if we…retreat. There is no need for us to engage with supernatural farm decorations,” Azul quietly gulped.
“Ah, but where is the fun in that?” Rook curiously said, but his voice lacked the usual energy. Even the hunter could tell something was off with the scarecrows, but he knew better than to investigate and stick his nose into matters that didn’t concern him.
The group hurriedly left the open area while the scarecrows slowly creaked behind them. They lost track of how long they aimlessly sprinted until they found the exit to the maze, but at least the scarecrows didn’t catch up to them.
“Let’s…never do that again,” Azul sighed, patting the wrinkles off his school uniform.
“Agreed. But those scarecrows…” Vil whispered but let his voice trail off as he didn’t want Epel to realize what the others were thinking.
“Hey, is that the entrance to a cemetery?” Epel curiously asked.
“Just what we need,” Azul mumbled before turning his head one last time to ensure the scarecrows weren’t nearby.
The Heartslabyul students stumbled through the graveyard, guided only by the ghostly moonlight. Long shadows of the decaying trees and their bodies stretched across the uneven rows of tombstones. Ace grinned and nonchalantly folded his hands behind his head, “Man, this set looks fake.”
“Yeah, but we’re not supposed to be here, and I don’t think this is a set,” Deuce muttered, his eyes darting to the gravestones as though he was expecting a ghost to jump out any second. “This place is creepy.”
“I agree with Deuce – the heavy presence is alarming and -” Riddle exhaled softly but froze when he felt a strange feeling around his ankle. “Ace. Now is not the time for pranks.”
Startled, Ace looked at the dorm leader. “What’re you talking about? I’m right here.”
Trey squinted his eyes to figure out what Riddle’s leg was caught on, but his face drained when he saw bony fingers wrapped around his friend’s ankle. “Riddle…that’s not Ace.”
The dorm leader gulped and slowly lowered his widened eyes, but when he saw a skeletal hand, he desperately tried to yank his leg away. Trey took a deep breath, ran up to Riddle, and kicked the hand. For a moment, their eyes followed the bony arm that flew to the other side and eventually vanished into the nearby forest.
“U-Uh,” Deuce tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. Another hand burst from the ground near him, followed by another and another.
“RUN!” Cater yelled. The boys scrambled and stumbled over each other as more skeletal hands erupted from the earth around them. Their fears were visible to the point where Trey lost his composure, and Cater forgot to take photos for his beloved social media account.
“This is way past spooky!” Ace yelled, visibly rattled while dodging another arm grabbing at him. Behind the men, the skeletons dragged themselves out of their graves and stared at the men with their empty eye sockets.
Deuce tripped, but Riddle grabbed his arm and pulled him up. “Don’t stop running!”
Standing by the gate was one final skeleton that blocked their way and forced the men to halt in their tracks. Trey swallowed hard, but Cater looked back to ensure the other skeletons hadn’t caught up with them.
“We’ll have to dodge,” Deuce whispered. Before they could put a plan into motion, the rattling bones lunged at them, but they quickly scattered and dodged the skeleton.
“Thank you, Vargas!” Ace yelled as they busted through the dilapidated metal gates, but they didn’t stop running until the graveyard was a dark blur behind them. Once they stopped, the students exchanged looks but didn’t say anything. However, they all had the same questions: how did they get here, and who brought them here?
Idia hunched over his tablet in the safety of his dark room and cackled as he monitored the chaos unfolding. “This is better than any horror game.”
His blue flames flickered with excitement when Sebek ran into the mirror, and the hyena yelped. Ortho floated beside him and watched the students with curiosity and guilt. “Big brother, are you sure they’re having fun? I thought you said these were harmless areas.”
“Eh, small details,” the dorm leader quietly said. “They’ll get over it…eventually.”
He paused to snicker at Floyd and Jade’s realization. “Look at them! It’s like all those classic horror movies coming to life. They pretend to be heroes but are scared.”
Ortho’s eyes flickered from one camera view to another as he hesitantly replied. “But some of them seem really scared, especially Riddle. Should we tell them they’re in a game dimension that you created?”
“W-What? And ruin the suspense?” Idia nervously questioned and shook his head. “They’re party members, bonding over horror. Yeah…that’s it. Besides, it’s Halloween. They’re…in the Halloween spirit…”
Ortho was not convinced by his brother’s reply but gave in. “Well…as long as no one is in real danger…”
“Nothing will happen to them…I think. If anything happens, we will remotely unlock all the exists. That’ll send them back to their dorms. Easy, right?” He grinned and shrugged. “What’s Halloween without a few harmless scares?”
The robot giggled, “Happy Halloween, big brother!”
“Happy Halloween, Ortho.”