HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Here's my Halloween story, JUST before Halloween ends! I hope you like it!
Thanks to Dawn for reading it over to make sure it was readable! Damn you sugar, my brain hurts now...
Maaary, I'm on the third step.
Maaaaaary, I'm on the fourth step.
Maaaaaaaaary, I'm on the fifth stair.
Maaaaaaaaaaaary, I'm on your landing.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary, I'm outside your door.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary, I'm in your room.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary, I'm on your bed.
I'm coming to fiiiiiiiiiind you. Coming to geeeeeeeeeeet you. Coming to kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill you.
And the doll picked up the kitchen knife, and stabbed Mary with it over and over –
"What the hell are you doing?"
"YAH!" Vanille, Serah and Hope jumped in unison. Serah growled and turned to face her older sister.
"Gee, thanks for ruining the mood Lightning!" She grumbled. Lightning raised an eyebrow.
"There was a mood?"
"Yes, and YOU wrecked it!" Vanille pouted, crossing her arms. "We were telling stories."
"Stories?" The woman wrinkled her nose. "What kind of stories?"
"Horror stories." Hope explained. "You know the sort you tell at sleepovers."
"..." Lightning had a slightly blank look on her face. "What?"
"I was telling the one you told me when I was little." Serah said, sitting up. "The one with the cursed doll."
"Oh that's not scary." She waved one hand in the air.
"Yes it was!"
"It's scary when you're six or seven. But you guys shouldn't be scared by a little tale like that. It's all a load of baloney anyway."
"Well obviously it's not true." Hope said. "There's no such thing as cursed dolls."
"Thank you Hope."
"But I know a story that is true. It was in the news and everything." He smirked. Vanille rocked backwards and forwards in anticipation.
"Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat?"
"Vanille, breathe between each word."
"There was a girl, yeah?" Hope leant forwards and dropped his voice to a whisper. Lightning face palmed.
"Why is it always a girl?"
"Shut up and listen Light!" He snapped, before dropping his voice back down to a hushed hiss. "Anyway, she had a baby brother. And her parents went out one night, and hired a babysitter. So the girl didn't want to deal with her baby brother, and went on the computer to talk to her friend on the internet."
"Is this meant to be scary?"
"Lightning!" Vanille sighed as Serah slapped her sister on the kneecaps.
"Shush!" With a roll of her eyes, Lightning sat down between Hope and Vanille.
"As she spoke to her friend, the friend said 'Have you heard about this murderer? She tortures children to death-"
"How can she speak if they're on the internet?"
"LIGHTNING!"
"Sor-ry!" The soldier raised her hands under the triple glare attack. Hope cleared his throat.
"'She tortures children to death.' And the girl said –" Lightning opened her mouth. "Sorry, typed 'No'. So her friend sent her a picture. And she clicked on the link. And the picture downloaded... slowly..... slowly......................" A tense silence followed.
"Oh, the horrors of slow downloads."
"LIGHTNING!!!" The trio yelled yet again, causing Serah to lean over and tug on a lock of her sister's hair.
"Hey!"
"Just shut up for once!"
"You always tell me to talk more!"
"Not in the middle of a story!" The young girl shook her head before turning back to Hope. "Please continue."
"So, the picture downloads bar by bar. Meanwhile, she hears a creak on the staircase, and realises that she hasn't heard anything from her brother. Then she puts two and two together, just as the picture appears on her screen. 'OMG!' She sa – Types. 'That's my babysi-' But she got cut off by the axe that slammed across her fingers."
"Ewwww..." Vanille shuddered. "This is true? Really?"
"Yes, it was in the newspapers!"
"That's horrible."
"So, the friend ran down to her friend's house and walked through the front door-"
"Why was the front door open?"
"Because it was Lightning! So she walked through the front door into the corridor, and felt something drip onto her head. And she looked up.... and blood was dripping down from the ceiling onto her head. She ran out screaming and called the police. And the babysitter murderer was arrested for torturing the girl and her brother to death and executed... but not before she swore revenge on the girl."
At which point, Lightning yawned loudly.
"How scary." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, it is! Especially since the friend dropped dead at the funeral...." Hope dropped his voice to its quietest yet. "They say she died of fright..."
A long silence ensued.
"....... COME ON CHILDREN, TIME FOR BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Lightning burst out laughing at the expression on their faces. This caused Serah to hit Lightning on the head hard.
"You're so mean!"
"You're all so gullible! That's an urban myth, it never actually happened! There's no such thing as avenging ghosts!" The older woman laughed until she had to bend over to stop her stomach hurting.
"So you don't believe in ghosts?" Hope asked.
"Of course not." Lightning took a deep breath in. "I bet you guys still believe in the bogey man."
"Oh give us some credit!" Vanille sighed as the older woman stood up.
"Whatever munchkins. I'm off to bed."
Lightning sighed and stared upwards. She couldn't sleep easily tonight. It was almost as if something was holding her back, not letting her sleep.
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. No use. She couldn't fall asleep. Damn it. She climbed out of the sleeping bag and left the tent she shared with the others. Lightning glanced around the campsite and saw a small figure by the edge of the forest.
"Who's there?" She pulled Blaze Edge out and pointed it at the figure, who, to her surprise, giggled. She blinked. "Dajh, is that you?" The figure just giggled again.
Lightning growled at the thought of having to deal with a hyperactive six year old who was obsessed with chocobos. Damn Snow for giving him marshmallows this evening. She knelt down and attempted a smile.
"Come on Dajh. Let's get you back to the tent." At which point, Dajh ran into the forest. "Oh for...." She chased after the giggling toddler. "Dajh, get back here! Your dad will try to kill me if I lose you, and then I'll have to kill him because it would be very bad for my reputation if I got beaten by him. And you don't want that, do you? So just... come back."
No reply. Not even a giggle.
It was only then Lightning realised she was utterly lost.
"Damn." She looked around. "Dajh? Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaajh?" Still no reply. "I am never having kids. DAJH?! ...... Ever. Never ever having kids. What were my parents thinking?" The woman rubbed her temples in an attempt to stave off a threatening migraine. At which point she heard another giggle, the perfect pitch to make her nerves jangle.
Spinning around, she saw Dajh sitting in a tree nearby. Lightning didn't even want to know how he got up there.
"Don't do that!" She snapped, reaching up and pulling him down from the tree. "How do we get back to camp...?" Dajh bit her. "OW!" She looked down at her finger which was bleeding. "You little devil!"
The toddler dropped out of her arms and raced off again. Lightning decided that the wisest thing to do would be to castrate Sazh so his genes were never passed on again. With a snarl she ran after him again.
Dajh had vanished. He was nowhere in sight, and now she was getting worried.
Then, to top it all off, she tripped over a tree root. She decided that if there was a God, he hated her, a lot.
With a small grumble, she pushed herself up onto her knees –
And promptly fell down a hole.
Now, for the first second, Lightning thought it was just an ordinary hole... until she was nearly blinded.
"Holy shit!" She snapped, covering her eyes. Before it even occurred to her to use her gravity shield... thing.... she landed with an almighty crash on the ground. "Ow." She groaned and rubbed her head. After a moment or two of blinking, she realised something.
This was not a rabbit's den or anything like that. Rabbit's dens didn't look like barren landscapes with purple and black skies. Rabbit's dens weren't that big.
"... What the...?" Lightning blinked and looked around. It was unnerving, to say the least. "Hello?"
A giggle.
That bloody kid!
She growled and turned to face the giggling Dajh. Oh, she didn't care about child abuse anymore, she was going to give that kid a right slap in the earhole.
At least, that was her plan.
"You little-!" Lightning snarled and stormed towards him. The toddler glared at her. Without warning, Dajh vanished without a trace, leaving some strange shadow creature, towering above her. Lightning blinked and stepped back, her head spinning.
The thing staggered towards her with a deep roar, sending a strong whiff of bad breath in her direction. She felt distinctly nauseous. Then a whistle pierced her ears.
"Here shadowy!" Lightning looked at the whistler, a man who was holding what appeared to be a piece of meat. The creature turned to stare at him, and sniff the meat. "There we go. That smells nice and tasty doesn't it – Hello there." He smiled at Lightning before turning back to the creature. "Nice and bloody smelling, and I'm going to guess it's kinda chewy." A snarl. "You don't like chewy? Tender then. Now... FETCH!" And with that, the man threw the piece of meat far away; the creature raced after it like a dog.
Lightning rubbed her head. This was bizarre. The man turned and flashed her a killer smile.
"Hello there." He winked. "Sorry about that. Bogeyman forgot to feed him."
"......What?" The woman blinked, before shaking her head and pulling out Blaze Edge. The man raised an eyebrow.
"Feisty."
"Who the hell are you?!"
"The hell indeed." He grinned. "My name is Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, but please call me Noctis or Noct. I'm not pushy. And what might your name be?"
"None of your business."
"It's nice to put a name to a face. And I'd be nice to me if I were you, human." Noctis kept the smile on his face, but now it was less friendly and more unnerving.
"You say that like you're not human." Lightning muttered, keeping her gunblade pointed at him. He said nothing. "... It's Lightning."
"Lightning." He nodded. "Interesting. It suits you. Come along then." He took a few steps forwards.
"Stay back." She snapped. Noctis kept walking. "I said to stay back!" He grinned.
"What are you going to do if I don't?" Something in Lightning snapped, and she fired her gun right at him.
The bullets hit him, holes opened in his chest... then closed.
Oh... what the....?!
Noctis slammed her back into the ground and picked up her dropped weapon.
"I don't like guns." He explained. "This is staying with me, understand?" Lightning snarled.
"No. That's mine, I'm keeping it."
"I'm not letting you wander about with a gun."
"It's not a gun, it's a gunblade." She pointed out. Noctis paused before grabbing her wrist and twisting it.
"If you hurt anyone with this..." He whispered. "...Oh, the things that'll happen to you. Clear?"
"As the driven snow." Lightning shrugged. The Prince handed her back her weapon before pulling her to her feet.
"Good. Let's move then." Noctis walked ahead, leaving her with the feeling that her only option was to follow him. She did so with a snarl.
"What is this place anyway?" Lightning asked, jogging to catch up with him.
"The space under your bed and in the back of cupboards."
"... And for those of us who don't speak weirdo?"
"The underworld." He looked at her blank face. "Ah. Not a believer, huh?"
"Believer?" She repeated.
"Yeah, a believer. In the supernatural."
"... You mean ghosts?" She felt a smirk appear on her face.
"Ghosts are only a small part of it." Noctis shrugged and side-stepped a twisted tree. "I mean ghosts, demons, vampires, banshees, zombies, faeries-"
"Stop right there." Lightning held up one hand, making him stop dead. "You want me to believe in faeries? You're kidding right?"
"Titania will be pissed off when she meets you. Come on." The Prince grabbed her arm and dragged Lightning along. "Faeries do exist. So do all the other things I listed, and many more. They're everywhere."
"They don't exist." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh?" He quirked an eyebrow. "So, what's this place then?"
"A figment of my imagination. I'm dreaming, that's all." Lightning shrugged.
"It's alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll a dreaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!" Noctis drew out his words and waved his hands in front of her face. She blinked, then punched him hard on the arm. "OW!"
"Shut up." The Prince frowned.
"Listen. You need a friend here. Humans aren't meant to get in here, ever. How did you get here anyway?"
"I fell down a hole."
Noctis stared at her with an utterly straight face. He managed this for about 2.078193 seconds, before snorting with laughter.
"Shut up! I didn't know it would lead into all this!"
"You fell down a hole?"
"Yes! Do you have a problem with that?"
"No problem." He bit his lip hard. "Anyway, my point is...." He paused to snort with laughter yet again. Lightning scowled and made a fist. "My point... My point is that you need a friend. I'll keep an eye on you. But you've got to be a bit more... accepting. Even if you still think it's a dream. Deal?"
"................" Lightning looked around the landscape again. It was harsh, unforgiving, and eerie. Her every sense was telling her it was dangerous. And if she was getting an offer of help, it was foolish not to take it, even if it was a dream. "... You'll help me get home?"
"I'll try."
"... It's a deal." She grumbled.
"Good. Let's go." The duo walked along, Lightning looking around at the bruised sky and warped trees. It was getting increasingly unnerving.
"OI, YOU LITTLE BITCH!!!!!"
Lightning and Noctis both jumped and spun around to face a very angry woman with a crew cut, pointing a knife at Lightning.
"YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE MY STORY!!!!!"
"... Now I know I'm dreaming." Lightning muttered as the woman who she presumed was the babysitter murderer headed towards her. "Damn you Hope."
"Piss off Linda." Noctis sighed. 'Linda' shook her head.
"I WANT MY REVENGE!"
"THAT'S NOT PISSING OFF!"
"FINE!!!" 'Linda' growled. "But mark my words Thunder, you shall die!"
"My name is Lightning."
"... Damn. Well Thunder shall die as well!" And with that, 'Linda' vanished. Lightning rubbed her forehead.
"This is just proving that this is a strange nightmare." She said with a grim smile. Noctis looked at her.
"Is that what you want to believe? Or what you honestly believe?" He took a step forwards. Lightning blinked.
"It's both."
"If you say so-"
"OH MY GOD IT'S BACK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A very pale man ran past. He also had fangs.
"... Not again..." Noctis murmured.
"What's back?" Lightning had a feeling she was going to regret asking this, but what the hell.
She had to stop using the word hell.
"The pretenders." The Prince explained, as quite possibly the dullest looking teenage boy appeared in front of them. "... Lightning, this is Edward Cullen. Edward Cullen, go drop into a hole and die."
"I have," Edward said, putting lots of pauses in. "As much right, to be here, as you do. As much, if not, more."
"Whatever." Noctis shrugged. Lightning blinked.
"... Um... Edward or whatever your name is..." She asked quietly. "Why the hell are you sparkling?"
"Because I'm a vampire."
There was a long, clunky silence.
".................................... Okay then....." Lightning said. "I'm not dreaming, because there's no way my brain could come up with that shit."
"BUT I AM A VAMPIRE!!!" Edward sniffed. Lightning found the temptation to punch him unbearably high.
During this little exchange, Noctis had pulled out some matches and set fire to Edward's trousers. Not that the other two noticed, as Lightning had decided that giving into temptation wasn't so bad after all.
"NO! MY NOSE! BUT WOMEN ARE MEANT TO LOVE ME! AND MY MANHOOD'S ON FIRE!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And with that, Edward vanished in a sparkly cloud of dust.
"............................................. Does this happen a lot?" She eventually asked.
"Not really. He only appears now and again." Noctis turned to check on a flying vampire bat. Lightning crossed her arms and sighed.
It was starting to look more and more like this was all real. And she didn't know what would be worse – The fact that all those terrifying creatures you learnt about when you were little were real, or that her mind could come up with the idea of sparkly vampires.
It was a close contest.
She was slammed backwards into a gate, her back scratching against the spikes. A non-sparkly vampire was nose to nose with her.
"Interesting." He muttered. "It's been 17 years since a human dropped in on us. I've had to hunt for blood so much." He smirked.
Lightning was regretting not eating that stupid garlic soupy stuff earlier today. Although, she felt surprisingly calm. Her heart wasn't racing, no sweaty palms or anything.
He scratched her arm, allowing a dribble of blood to run out. She growled as he gathered it up onto one finger and tasted it.
"Hmm... Slightly acidic, with a metallic tang... oddly refreshing..."
"What are you, a blood taster?"
"Something like that." He smirked. Now sick of it, Lightning brought all her strength into her legs and kneed the vampire in the stomach. "Oof!" He doubled up, allowing her to smash him on the back of the head with Blaze Edge. She then ran head first into Noctis.
"Sorry about that." He said, grabbing her arms. "Dracula's a bit of a snob."
"Yeah, I was so offended by him testing my blood, and not at all worried about the fact he was going to suck me dry."
"He would have left some blood."
"... You're not so good at this whole reassuring people thing."
"It's been 7 years since I've met a human, give me a break." Seemingly thinking that the subject was closed, Noctis walked away, dragging Lightning with him.
"So you're not human?"
"Evidently not."
"Then.... what are you?"
"Does it matter?"
"Well, kind of."
"Fine, I'm a demon. And please, no jokes about horns, or tails, or tridants." Noctis gave a small smile. "I've had enough of people going 'Watch out, here comes horny!'"
Lightning snorted.
"Shut up."
"Hey, you laughed at me falling down a hole!"
"You should stay here." Noctis suddenly said. She blinked.
"What?"
"You should stay here. In the underworld, it gets lonely down here." He explained. "Just the same old same old. The newest resident joined 16 years ago, that stupid stabby doll."
"She's real too?" Lightning muttered. "This place is fucked up. So I won't stay." Noctis blinked. "I've got a sister, friends. They need someone to look after them."
"I want you to stay."
"No. Now tell me how to get out of here." She paused before realising that wasn't going to work.
"I want you to stay, I get so lonely."
"I need to look after my sister, so tell me how to get out of here!" She yelled. Noctis sighed.
"Fine..." He sighed. "I didn't want to show you this." He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to another tree.
"Show me what?" He didn't answer. "Show me what?" The tree had something etched into the bark, a sphere. "Show. Me. What?"
He smiled coldly and pushed her hand onto the sphere.
The world spun around, and she landed face down on grass and mud. Home. Damp, muddy and grim as it may be, it was home, it was normal. But there were creatures, hiding everywhere. And now she was scared of it.
Noctis clenched her shoulder and pushed her face up out of the dirt.
"I'm sorry." He hissed as her vision focused.
On herself, lying face up on the ground. Her body, still and lifeless.
"Humans don't go into the underworld because they die." He whispered in her ear. "Every creature, demon and spirit in the underworld is a human who fell through a hole. They slipped through the net, and no-one noticed."
Lightning stared at herself. Dead. She was dead and.... now what?
"Mutation begins soon." He explained. "You'll change into a creature... I'm afraid there's no chance to choose, you just have to hope for the best. I think you'll do better than a sparkly vampire." He grinned.
Lightning clenched her fists.
"Now is not a time for jokes."
"Sorry."
"... My sister... my friends..." Lightning shuddered. "They'll never know what happened..."
"It's best they don't." Noctis was keeping one arm on her shoulder. "Would you really want to know?"
"I don't know..." Lightning sighed. "I just..."
"Go back down. I'll look after you. Don't worry."
"I'm dead, it's kind of hard not to." She took one last look at herself in the dirt, the brightening sky and the hole which had led to her death. With a grimace, she plunged back into the hole.
Noctis smirked as she vanished.
"So easily led..." He leant over to her body, sleeping easily. "It's all about illusions." He summoned a sword and plunged it into her chest.
In the underworld, Lightning froze as ice seemed to pour from the centre of her body and spread out. She shook her head. It must be the beginning of the mutation.
Noctis pulled the sword out of the now lifeless body.
"Murder's a horrible thing..." He muttered. "But at least I won't be alone anymore."
Yeah, both the doll story and the babysitter murderer story were stories that I heard at almost every sleepover party when I was a kid.
I hope you guys have/had an awesome Halloween!
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooer!
Please enjoy and review!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!