Gaius looked at himself in the mirror, admiring his costume. He felt ready. Ready for all the candy he was going to devour tonight. This was a quest. A quest for sweet, delicious, sugary sweets. This was a competition between him and everyone else who was trick-or-treating tonight. Those 2 year olds would stand no chance against Gaius. He was going to completely devastate the candy supply of everyone who decides to give out candy. They would regret saying 'you can grab more if you want' or just leaving out a bowl on their porches. 'Only take one,' pfft, Gaius laughed in the face of all who thought that puny sign would stop him from looting the entire bowl. He was a master thief, but he was especially good at stealing candy. It was something he had done since before he had even lost his first baby tooth.
He had dressed as Willy Wonka for Halloween. Quite the fitting costume. He had actually worked quite hard on it. But now was not about the costume. It was about all the wonderfully sugary, tasty pieces of candy he was going to digest so fucking hard.
He left to go find the others. At least, the people who were actually going to come trick-or-treating, too.
He found Gerome, who wasn't dressed as anyone ("I'm not fit to trick-or-treat with anyone"), but was accompanied by Robin, who was dressed as Gerome's sidekick... Robin.
"C'mon, trick-or-treat with me, Batman!" Pleaded Robin. She and Gerome were married, so that made this 10x funnier to everyone else. "We'll be the Caped Crusaders! The Dynamic Duo! I'm the Boy Wonder to your Dark Knight! Pleeeeaaaasseee? Pretty please with a cherry on top? I went to the trouble of making this costume, c'mon!"
"...No." Gerome answered every time she asked.
He also found Vaike, who was dressed as a teacher. It was funny seeing him in glasses and formal wear.
"Are you going to go trick-or-treating, Vaike?" Asked Gaius.
"Hell yeah! Teach is gonna get so much candy!" Laughed Vaike.
"I bet I can get more candy than you." Gaius grinned at him.
"Oh yeah? Let Teach take ya through the motions!"
Gaius found Donnel soon after. He was dressed as a scarecrow.
"Are you dressed as a scarecrow because scarecrows don't have any brains?" Snickered Gaius.
"Hey now, that was a bit uncalled for, dont'cha think?" Donnel replied, frowning slightly.
Gaius just giggled and went on his merry way.
After that he found Ricken and Henry, goofing around as usual. Henry was supposed to look like a crow (he even had a bird's beak), and Ricken was a giraffe (because they are very tall).
"Hey, you two! Are you going to become my enemy in the fine sport of candy-acquiring tonight?" Gaius asked.
"Oh, I will! I love it when it gets dark! Spooky!" Henry replied cheerily.
"I wonder if there's any candy that can make you grow taller..." Ricken murmured dreamily.
Soon after that, he found Morgan, the last person who was wearing a costume. Morgan was going as... His mother?
"Look, Gaius, look! I'm a master tactician!" Said Morgan proudly.
"Are you wearing Robin's cloak?" He asked, looking Morgan up and down.
"Yes! It really completes the costume, don't you think?" Morgan stated.
"Huh. Yeah, I guess so. Have fun with that." Gaius chuckled before walking away.
Gaius left with everyone to go get their candy.
"Alright, we're going to split up, because we can't just have eight people at once asking for candy." Gaius stated. "Perhaps we'll meet up and see who got the most candy afterwards?"
Most of them agreed. Ricken and Henry went together, Morgan went by himself, Donnel went alone, and Vaike went alone, too. Gerome and Robin went together, after Robin begged him enough.
"Ugh... As you wish. But it will be a temporary alliance. Do not get too cozy." Gerome said when he finally agreed.
They all then set off around Ylisse, each wanting to get more candy than the others.
Gaius rang the doorbell to a house, feeling optimistic. One of those generic villagers opened the door.
"Trick or treat!" Said Gaius immediately. The villager looked at him funny.
"Aren't you a bit old to be trick-or-treating?" Asked the villager.
"Uh, no." Replied Gaius. The villager just slammed his door in Gaius's face. "Wow, rude."
"Huh... This might be harder than I thought." Said Gaius to himself.
Meanwhile, back at home, trick-or-treaters knocked on the door.
Tharja opened the door. "Well, lah-dee-dah, don't you look happy. We're not giving out candy, go away." She hissed.
"Oh, c'mon, Tharja, give the tykes some candy!" Anna came up behind her, her pointer finger resting on her chin, as usual. "...For a good price!"
"Treat or trick!" Said Vaike, grinning, as someone opened their door for him. The person looked at him weirdly and gave him some candy. "Aw, a present from one of ol' Vaike's fans? How thoughtful!"
Henry fed every piece of candy he got to his crows.
"Henry, we're supposed to keep the candy so we can win the candy-counting competition!" Ricken told him as he fed a full-size Hershey's bar to one of his crows, who nearly choked on it.
"Nya ha ha! I didn't learn a thing from last year's competition!" Said Henry, still with that airheaded grin on his face.
Ricken huffed. "I want to win for once! I need to show Chrom that I'm capable in any and every competition!"
"Nya ha ha! You're funny!" Henry said. As he was walking he tripped over a rock on the path and scraped his knee.
"Oh, gosh! Are you okay, Henry!?" Ricken gasped.
"I don't like ouchies!" Henry wailed, holding his knee.
Gerome and Robin had gathered quite a bit of candy.
"Oh, what a cute Robin and Batman! I see you both put a LOT of work into your costumes!" Said one lady. A lot of people commented on how Gerome's "costume" was apparently soooo accurate.
They knocked on the door of one house. A woman opened the door. Gerome and Robin saw she was giving out sugar-free candies. Minerva was having none of that shit.
And that's the story of how Gerome and Robin nearly got arrested on Halloween night because of a wyvern, some sugar-free candies, and a very bite-able arm.
"Haha! I cant believe we tricked those kids' parents into paying money for some candy!" Anna laughed, rattling her bag of gold, making it make a satisfying rattling sound.
"'We?'" Tharja looked at her, wearing her usual gloomy face.
"Well, I. I convinced them to." Anna shrugged. "Hahaha, cha-ching!"
"You made the children cry by refusing them candy and then told the parents you'd only give them candy if you got gold in return." Tharja stated in a dull tone of voice.
"Genius! I love myself! Haha, I smell a big day ahead for business!" Anna kissed her bag of money. Tharja thought she probably loved that gold more than she could ever love any human being.
Gaius hadn't gotten too much candy. Then, an idea came into his head.
He rushed back home, and came out, with a few children. They were three to seven years of age, compared to their future-selves. There was Lucina, Morgan, Brady, Cynthia, Yarne, Laurent and Nah. Nah was the youngest of the group, going as a fairy princess, to match 5-year-old Cynthia's costume, a "pega-pony princess," as she called it. Little Yarne was wearing a dinosaur onesie as his costume (with holes for his fluffy little ears and tail.) Lucina, who was oldest, decided to go as Wonder Woman, and Morgan went as a zombie. Brady just had the generic sheet ghost costume. Laurent decided to go with a vampire.
See, these kids were going to go trick-or-treating, but no-one had taken them yet.
"Alright, kiddos, I will take you trick-or-treating. BUT! You must share a bit of your candy with me!" Gaius said.
"Why'n the heck would we share our candy with you?" Brady asked, nearly tripping over his ghost costume.
"Because, if you do, I will get you whatever you want!" Gaius answered. "Also, you can give me the candy you don't like. I like all candy."
"Can you get me a pegasus!?" Asked Cynthia excitedly.
"You got it, squirt." Gaius nodded. "I don't want you all to say what you want right now, tell me after we get the candy. Alright now it's time to embark upon our quest for as many pieces of candy as we can get!"
Soon everyone had returned home with their bags filled with candy. Well, except for Gaius and the kids. They came home at least an hour later than everyone else, slamming open the door. Gaius fell over into the building as soon as the door was open.
"Wh-why... would you give... a four year old... a dragonstone..." He breathed, obviously out of breath. His costume was singed, though it wasn't burning anymore. Nah looked very pleased with herself.
Apparently, Nah had not taken to the idea of giving Gaius any of her candy, and rebelled. A four year old with a dragonstone is a very dangerous four year old indeed.
After Gaius had changed into some clothes that weren't burnt, everyone counted their candy (Anna, on the other hand, counted all the gold she had gotten from parents that were desperate to make their kids stop crying.)
Turns out, Gaius's little plan worked. He had gotten more candy than everyone else, even without Nah's candy, though without Nah's candy he had only beaten Gerome and Robin by about four pieces. Still, a victory was a victory, even if there wasn't necessarily any prize for having more candy than the others.
"Hey, you guys, you wanna hear a spoooooooookyyyyy story!?" Robin asked cheerily. She was having a bit of a sugar rush.
"Sure!" Said everyone in unison.
"Alright, so, it's a four-word horror story. You ready for how fricking SPOOKY it is!?"
Everyone nodded, looking skeptical.
"Sully and Kjelle's cooking."
"OOOOHHHHHH" Almost everyone cried out, marveling at the extreme burn Robin just laid down on Kjelle and Sully.
The children were put to bed early, before they could consume TOO much candy. Some of the grown ups passed out, too (some from getting drunk, others just tired out.)
The only adults still up were Anna, Tharja, Gaius, Robin, Gerome, Henry, Ricken, Donnel, and Chrom. At the stroke of midnight, they heard a faint moaning coming from one of the rooms.
"Wh-what's that sound!?" Ricken cowered behind Henry.
"It sounds like the sound a Risen would make..." Robin shuddered.
"Let's go check it out!" Chrom said. They all followed behind him, tiptoeing towards the sound.
"BOO!" Yelled a dark figure coming towards them fast. Ricken screamed a very girly scream and fainted right there and then, Donny jumped so hard the pot on his head went clanging to the floor, Gerome cowered behind Robin, and Anna clutched her bag of gold tightly to her chest.
Chrom lit some matches he had in his pocket. The monster... was Kellam.
"Hey guys." Kellam greeted them, giggling. "Did I frighten you?"
"Nya ha ha! You got us! I think my heart stopped beating for a bit there!" Henry said. "If you had scared us any harder, I think it would've stopped beating for good! Heehee!"
"You guys didn't notice, but I went trick-or-treating too. Look at all the candy I got!" Said Kellam, handing the candy to Anna, who counted the candy for the contest.
"You... You got FORTY more pieces of candy than Gaius!" Anna gasped. Gaius fainted, joining Ricken on the floor.
The next morning, everyone woke up, some hungover, some feeling that post-halloween sadness.
"Su...gar..." Gaius moaned as he woke up. He looked around. The calender said it was November first. His whole world was crashing around him. His favorite holiday was over... and he had eaten all his candy last night.
"Hey, Gaius?" Nah poked him in the side.
"Yeah?" Responded Gaius, sitting up.
"I decided to give you some of my candy after all... To say sorry for setting you on fire and everything." Nah looked a bit shy and hesitant. She held out her hands, and in her palms were Hershey's kisses and gummy bears.
"Thanks, kiddo. Sit down and eat with me." Said Gaius. So, Nah and Gaius had Hershey's kisses and gummy bears for breakfast, sitting next to each other and laughing together.
The end. Happy Halloween!