Banshee: Hello~! I'm going to be writing some holiday oneshots. Here's the Halloween one. I've had it done for a while, and I thought I'd post it since Halloween's coming up. Hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I only own my OC and the plot.
It was a lovely Saturday afternoon.
Roxas, Demyx, Zexion, and I were playing a game of Monopoly when Axel ran into the room. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, and he was smiling excitedly. Straightening out the paper in his hand, Axel slammed it in the middle of our game board, scattering the pieces. We were about to yell at him when he pointed to the paper, which turned out to be a flier.
"This is what you interrupted our game for? A stupid flier for Fright Fest?"
Roxas picked up the flier and looked it over, his eyes landing on an advertisement for a hayride. The font was black, and looked like blood running down a wall.
"Hey," He said, turning the flier around so we could see it, pointing to the advertisement. "They're having haunted hayrides on the weekends. Why don't we go? It might be fun."
Everyone that knows me, knows that I am not a fan of anything scary. I can't watch a horror movie, or even read a horror novel, without stopping halfway through - or a quarter of the way through - because it became too much.
Why am I afraid of scary movies, you ask?
A few years before she died, my sister Aubrey was friends with a guy named Bobby for about a year. He was two years older than her, and was really into horror films; the more blood and guts, the better.
I didn't like Bobby too much… no, scratch that… I didn't like him at all. Since he was into horror, and I was only five-years-old (and didn't like horror), he would make fun of me behind my sister's back. Also, he would scare me every chance he got - in other words, when Aubrey wasn't around… which was a lot, because she was busy with her schoolwork. And since my parents worked all day, she didn't want me to be left alone so she would have Bobby watch me when he got out of school. He would always spend the day terrorizing me by dressing up like the psycho killers from the movies (Michael Myers, The Miner, and Freddy Krueger, just to name a few).
Aubrey came home one day to find him imitating Jason from Friday the 13th, chasing me around the house wearing a goalie mask and waving around a fake machete. Her reaction was both reasonable… and violent.. The fur really started to fly when she found out, after talking with me, that he had been doing it behind her back for a year.
She finally broke off all contact with him, making the unanimous decision that my mental well-being was far more important than their friendship - which was now officially over.
As for me, it took several years of therapy before I was able to get over what had happened.
And that's why I don't like horror.
Okay, on with the story.
…
- Later, In The Fields Just Outside of Twilight Town -
- Axel's POV -
…
It took a lot of negotiating, but we managed to get Nikki to go on the hayride with us… but on one condition: If she was right, and she hated the ride, I had to do all of her chores for a week. If I was right, and she enjoyed the ride, then she would have to stay in my room with me - in my bed - for a week. Nikki seemed confident that I would be wrong because of her previous experiences… but, what she didn't know, was that I wouldn't have made that deal if I wasn't sure that I was right.
We also managed to convince Sora, Kairi, and Riku to come with us.
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" I heard Nikki groan as we went to buy our tickets.
She squeaked and hid behind Sora when a scary-looking man passed by us. He wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off, torn jeans, hiking boots, and a burlap sack on his head that had certain parts painted black (the nose, eyes, and mouth). An ax rested in his hand, the blade chipped a little. Luckily, he was looking the other way, and didn't see her trying to hide from him. Instead, he went to scare a group of high school girls, who screamed and ran away.
"Can we please just get our tickets and go to the end of the line, away from the scary guy with the ax?"
"Shh! Not so loud, Nikki.. He might hear you…"
I felt kinda bad for Sora.. He had Nikki and Kairi on either side of him, clinging to his arms.
Jeez… we haven't even gotten onto the ride yet, and they're already scared out of their freaking minds..
"He's not gonna come after us, is he?" Demyx asked, shaking.
"He will if you don't shut up." I snapped, smacking him upside the head.
We were glad we arrived when we did; where we were standing, we would be waiting for at least a half hour before it was our turn. Everyone behind us, however, would have to wait for at least an hour, maybe even longer.
"I don't care how scary this hayride is." Riku grumbled, crossing his arms. "These goons can try to freak me out all they want. I don't scare easy."
Just as he said that, a masked man carrying a chainsaw came walking by. He apparently heard what Riku had said, for he started creeping up behind him with the chainsaw raised. I shushed the others before they could say anything to him, and we sat there snickering, leaving Riku to wonder what the hell was wrong with us.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
All of a sudden, the man behind him revved up the chainsaw, the loud buzzing sound startling Riku and making him fall to the ground. The 'Chainsaw Guy' (as everyone affectionately called him), seemed very pleased with himself as he walked away with an extra skip in his step. Once he was gone, Roxas and Sora helped Riku off the ground. He turned around to find the rest of us laughing hysterically, which made him blush in embarrassment.
"What were you saying about being scared?" Nikki managed to choke out. "Oh, wait, now I remember! You said that you don't scare easy. Well, I think Chainsaw Guy just proved you wrong."
With that, everyone, except for Riku, burst into more fits of laughter.
…
- Fifteen Minutes Later -
- Nikki's POV -
…
The line was moving faster than I would have liked, and, before we knew it, we were right at the front of the line. A woman dressed as a zombie took our tickets, and told us to enjoy the ride, and we proceeded to the large wagon attached to the tractor. Once we got on, we did what any group of teenagers would do: Go straight to the back. The tractor before us had already left, and the man driving our tractor was preparing to start the engine.
There were about twenty people in the wagon, and we were so tightly packed that I felt like a sardine.
Once everyone was seated, the same woman that took our tickets came onto the wagon and filled us in on all the rules: No smoking, no cameras or recording equipment, etc. After that, the tractor started moving and followed the winding trail.
Except for the occasional colored lights, small bonfires, and the lights from the nearby neighborhoods, it was as dark as it could get. It was the kind of dark that was pretty dark, but you could still see.
The first stop we made was at a skeleton chained to a makeshift wall that repeated the rules we heard before the ride began. Nothing was really happening until we got to - what looked like - a dummy chained up in a cage on the left side of the trail (or right, depending on where you are. Where I was sitting, it was on the left). The tractor stopped, and we sat there watching the dummy for about thirty seconds. Then, out of nowhere, the dummy (which turned out to be an actual person) sprang to life, his arms reaching outside of the cage while he screamed like a maniac. The action scared several people, and shocked others, especially the people closest to the cage. Kairi, who happened to be sitting on that side, screamed and wrapped her arms around Sora's neck, nearly choking him. Lucky for me, I wasn't sitting that close so my reaction wasn't as extreme; I only jumped and emitted a frightened squeak. The slight jump made me press up against Axel, who was sitting on my right.
"Feeling a little jumpy?" He asked coyly, with a small smirk.
"Shut up!" I hissed, ignoring Roxas' snickering.
We felt a slight tug when the tractor moved again, taking us further up the trail. After a short trip, we arrived at another setup. This one looked like a hospital room. Bloody handprints covered the walls, and the room looked like a mess. A doctor with a bloody coat stood next to a table, where a woman sat. The woman was positioned on the kind of table a woman would sit on when she would go to the gynecologist, or when they were in labor. A white blanket covered her stomach. When we arrived, she began crying out in pain, like any woman would when she was in labor. Her cries turned to screams, and then the blanket sprang up, revealing a bloody devil baby.
The tractor began moving again soon after that, heading towards a small bonfire, then turning right past a hanging dummy. It stopped again, the dummy starting to thrash about. The dummy made loud shrieking noises, and everyone in the wagon was pointing to it and saying how cool it was. Then a loud banging sound rang through the air. Since no one knew where it was coming from it earned a few genuine exclamations of shock. After the bang, the tractor moved into the woods. There, we saw some walls that had scary clown faces painted on them. I was looking in all directions warily, expecting a freaky-looking clown to jump out. I was paying so much attention to what was in front of the tractor, that I didn't notice that we had stopped. Hearing a couple thumps and then some screaming, I turned around to see that two clowns had jumped onto the wagon. They were walking around the wagon, picking out random people to scare. Sometimes they scared the same person at least three times before moving on to the next victim. One of them ran to the back of the wagon, right up to Roxas, and made a scary face accompanied with a banshee-like screech. Not being the kind of boy that would laugh off a scare attempt, Roxas let out a little scream and turned around, burying his face into my shoulder. I stared at the clown's scarred face with wide eyes, and hung onto Axel's arm in a tight grip, nearly cutting off the circulation. After a certain point, the clowns decided that their scaring was done and jumped off the wagon. Asking Roxas if he was okay, I was relieved when I received a laugh in response.
"That was great!" He exclaimed, laughing some more.
…
- Roxas' POV -
…
I had to admit, that clown freaked me out… but it was so awesome!
The next stop on our hayride was at - what looked like - an abandoned shed. It was really shabby-looking, like no one had paid any attention to it in years. A robot stood in front of the door, talking about a containment malfunction. The tractor passed by a mechanized alien that lunged towards the wagon, its claws just touching the side. Its head hung over the side of the wagon, just inches from touching the back of Sora's head. He slowly turned around, coming face to face with three inch long teeth.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed, falling backwards and landing on the floor.
"What's the matter Sora?" Riku asked, smirking. "Did that big mean alien scare you?"
"No!" Sora growled defensively. "I wasn't scared! It just… caught me off guard, that's all.."
"Sure it did…"
Sora pouted and got back into his seat, ignoring Kairi's snickering at his expense.
The tractor moved again, taking us out into an open field. There was a small bonfire up ahead, marking a fork in the trail. On the left was the regular trail, and the right was a trail leading into the woods. For reasons unknown to us, the tractor turned right. Now there were no lights, except for the headlights on the tractor. Suddenly, the headlights went out and the tractor began reeling off the trail and hit a tree. The driver stepped out and told everyone to stay in the wagon while he checked the engine.
Ten minutes went by, and he haven't heard anything from the driver. I turned around to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Where did he go?" I asked.
"I don't know…"
I saw Nikki take out her phone to try to call someone, but obviously it failed because she groaned and flipped it shut.
"What's wrong?" Axel asked.
"My phone's dead." She said, putting the phone back into her pocket.
Other people checked their cell phones as well, only to find that theirs were dead too.
"This is no big deal… We're probably in a dead zone.." Demyx said in an effort to calm himself down.
"Demyx.. I know you're trying to stay calm, but do you think you can let go of my arm?"
The nocturne looked over at Zexion, who was sitting next to him, and saw that he was clutching his arm so tight that I wouldn't be surprised if it was blue.
"Oh… sorry.." He said, letting go.
All of a sudden, we heard a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. From the sound of the shot, it was very close. Though trying to run isn't the best option, neither is just staying put like some people were trying to tell us. We were too far away for anyone to hear us if we screamed, and even if they did hear us they would think it was because of the ride.
As for our driver… we had to assume the worst; that he had either abandoned us… or he's dead..
We sat in that same spot for a good forty-five minutes. The trees were blocking the moon, our only source of light, making it so dark that we could barely see three feet in front of us. No one dared to make a sound, out of fear that whoever shot that gun was close by.
Suddenly, an arm shot up from behind where Nikki and I were sitting, and wrung itself around her neck. I grabbed the arm and tried to pry it off of her, but another arm came up and grabbed my shoulder. With little to no effort, it shoved me away and onto the floor. A body followed the arms, revealing a man wearing a Scream mask. He jumped onto the wagon, forcing Nikki to stand up, and reached into his pocket. As he pulled the object out of his pocket, I caught the faint glimmer of metal, and, apparently, so did everyone else, for they started screaming.
"Shut up!" He ordered in a deep, rough voice.
When no one listened, he aimed the gun into the air and fired, the sound scaring everyone into submission.
"That's better."
"Let Nikki go!" Sora yelled, pointing a finger at the man.
Normally he would have summoned his Keyblade, but this situation was too risky.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Kiddo. You see, I'm a wanted man… and this little cutie will make a good shield in case I run into some cops."
As the man said this, he used the same hand that was holding the gun to cradle Nikki's face. The look on her face was practically screaming for help, but there was nothing we could do since her captor was holding a gun. Taking a look at Axel, I saw that he was furious, and was just about ready to rip his throat out.
He lunged at the man, shouting angrily, "Get your filthy hands off her, you son-of-a-!"
Axel stopped dead in his tracks when the man pointed the gun at Nikki's head.
"I'd love to stick around, but I have a schedule to keep. If I see anyone following me, I'll blow this girl's brains out."
With that, he tightened his grip on Nikki and jumped off of the wagon. We could do nothing but watch as he dragged her away. Within moments, they were gone.
"What're we gonna do?" Demyx asked no one in particular. "We can't just let him kidnap Nikki!"
"We're gonna follow him." Axel said, his eyes narrowing.
"But he said-"
"Forget what he said! We're not gonna let him get away with this!"
He jumped off the back of the wagon and signaled for me to follow him. He then told the others to stay put and make sure everyone was safe while we went to rescue Nikki. The more people that came along, the higher the risk of someone getting hurt. Besides… I'm sure we wouldn't need any help anyway. From the look on Axel's face, and the way he was acting, he would tear the guy apart before anyone else could have a shot at him.
"Axel…" I began as we trudged through the trees. "Do you think Nikki is okay?"
"As okay as she can be." He answered. "Hopefully she'll hold out long enough for us to catch up with her."
…
- Nikki's POV -
…
Okay, why is it that I always get kidnapped?
Seriously, this is getting old.
"I have to go to the bathroom!" I shouted in a toddler-like voice.
This was the fourth time I had said that within the past hour. The first two times were legit, but I faked my last bathroom break in order to plan my escape. I could tell I was annoying him, even though he was wearing that stupid Scream mask.
At my exclamation, he groaned in annoyance.
"Again? Ugh! You have got to be he biggest pain in the ass I've ever met!"
That's what all my kidnappers say to me after an hour..
"So… can I go to the bathroom, or what?"
"Fine, go to the bathroom. Jeez.."
He turned his back to me as I made my way to the nearest tree, a small smirk on my face the entire time. I made sure to pick the biggest, fattest tree so that he wouldn't be able to see me once I put my plan in motion. Once I was safely behind the tree, I made my move. Taking careful steps, and avoiding any leaves or twigs, I tiptoed in the direction that would take me back to the tractor. All seemed to be going well, until I heard the man ask, rather rudely, "Hey brat, you done yet?"
I froze and turned around in time to see him check behind the tree. When his eyes landed on me, I panicked and my tiptoeing turned into an all-out run.
"Hey! Get back here, you little brat!" He yelled, running after me.
I didn't take him long to catch up with me; hell, he wasn't even out of breath when he caught me. He grabbed the back of my neck and shoved me down onto the ground, taking out his gun and pressing it roughly against the side of my head.
"That's it! I've had it with you!"
"Oh no," I thought. "This is it… I'm going to die.."
"I've been waiting a long time for this… almost a year, actually."
At this, I raised an eyebrow.
What the hell was this guy talking about?
"What! But I've never seen you before!"
"You sure about that?" He asked in an 'are you stupid?' tone of voice.
I narrowed my eyes at him and asked suspiciously, "What are you getting at?"
From the way he was laughing, I might as well have told a joke.
"You mean you still haven't figured it out? Man, you're dense!"
He removed the mask, muttering something about me being a complete numbskull. What I saw beneath the mask surprised me, but, then again, it wasn't that surprising at all. I wanted to kick myself for not figuring it out sooner…
…
- Axel's POV -
…
Roxas and I were continuing our search through the woods, when we heard a familiar voice.
"You're a real jerk, you know that?"
"Is that Nikki?" Roxas asked.
I motioned for him to be quiet and we moved towards the source of the voice. As we moved closer, the voices got louder.
"Come on Kiddo, where's your sense of humor?"
"That was not funny. You nearly scared me half to death! … And stop calling me 'Kiddo!'"
She looked okay enough… in fact, she looked downright pissed…
"Nikki? Are you okay?"
When she heard Roxas' voice, she turned around. Her anger disappeared immediately and she smiled, running over and wrapping her arms around Roxas.
"Roxie! I'm so glad to see you!" She exclaimed happily, nuzzling her face in his hair.
"Hey!" I exclaimed dejectedly. "What about me? It was my idea to come rescue you!"
Nikki looked up from showing affection to Roxas, her expression going from happy to emotionless in a millisecond. "Oh.. Hey Axel.."
"Nikki!"
"Aww, how sweet.." I heard an eerily familiar voice say from behind me. "If I had a heart, it would be aching right about now."
I turned around, seeing that familiar eye-patch and scar, and sighed, wanting to slap myself for not figuring it out sooner…
"Xigbar…" I groaned. "I should've know it was you."
"Xigbar? What're you doing here?" Roxas asked.
"I heard you kids were goin' on a haunted hayride, so I thought I'd have some fun and mess with ya. You should've seen the looks on your faces! It was hysterical!"
Bringing himself back to the moment he had us all scared, Xigbar started laughing hysterically. Nikki frowned and punched him in the side as hard as she could. Even though it didn't hurt him, it still got his attention.
"It wasn't funny! I actually thought you were gonna kill me!" She exclaimed heatedly, hitting him some more.
"Nah, I wasn't gonna kill ya…" Xigbar said, patting her on the head. "I just wanted to get back at you for trashing my room."
Nikki blinked. "When did I do that?"
"When I was on that special mission."
"You mean 'vacation…'"
Oh yeah… I remember that…
Man, Nikki sure was pissed when she found out that Xemnas had taken the rest of the Organization on a vacation. He took everybody but me and Berserker Boy, and he had her 'baby-sit' us… The only good thing about it was that I had more time alone with her - for the most part. If Saïx hadn't been there, I would have had her all to myself..
"Whatever.. The point is, I got you back, so ha." Xigbar said, emphasizing the word 'ha.'
"You're an asshole."
"Come on Kiddo, lighten up."
"I hate you."
"Give it a day or two, and you'll be back to followin' me around and callin' me 'Uncle Xiggy' like you always do."
…
- Later -
- Nikki's POV -
…
After saying goodbye to Xigbar, we teleported back to the tractor. There, we found our driver, safe and sound. It turns out that our gun-toting superior had paid him one-hundred munny to take a wrong turn so he could scare us - mostly me. Once we got back, the others bombarded us with questions, mostly asking us if we were okay. When they found out it was only Xigbar, all the fear they had turned to laughter.
We went through the rest of the hayride without any more interruptions. I had to admit… despite my past experiences with horror… this hayride wasn't so bad. It was actually really fun. After someone got through scaring me, I would laugh just like everybody else did.
When the ride was over, we got off the wagon laughing, talking about how funny it was when one of us got scared.
"Oh my God, did you see Riku's face when that guy came after him with that machete? He looked like he just crapped himself!"
Everyone thought that was funny… except for Riku, who refused to talk to us for the rest of the night.
"How about when Demyx screamed like a girl?" Sora recalled, laughing. "Honestly, I didn't know his voice could go up that high."
Demyx pouted. "That wasn't funny!"
"What about Zexion? When that guy with the chainsaw came after him, he jumped up so high he almost fell off the wagon!"
Zexion glared at Axel and crossed his arms.
"Oh hardy har har.." He said in a sarcastic tone. "I'd love to see how you'd react to someone running at you with a chainsaw.."
Axel noticed how hard I was laughing and asked, "So, Nikki… did you have fun?"
"I sure did! It was the most fun I've had all month!"
"That's good. You know what that means, right?" He asked with a coy smile.
I blinked confusedly, not knowing what he was getting at. "… No. What does it mean?"
"Here's a hint… See you tonight, Honey."
With that, he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, and then ran ahead to the snack bar. When I finally figured out what it meant, I felt the urge to kick myself.
"Ah, damn it! The sneaky bastard got me!" I shouted angrily.
"At least you'll have some practice for when you two finally settle down." Zexion snickered, his voice breaking out into laughter at the end of the sentence.
"That's not funny, Zexion!" I growled, pushing him.
"Look on the bright side," Roxas chimed in. "It could have been a lot worse."
"Yeah." Sora interjected. "He could have had you walking around the castle wearing a maid outfit with fishnet stockings and high heels."
The three of them snickered, ignoring my glare.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea.." Axel mused, having overheard our conversation. "I'll have to do that next year."
"Over my dead body!"
…
…