"I swear to God if Paulo thinks he's going to try something again this year, I'm going to make sure he gets a trick he won't ever forget." Lucy sighed and looked back to Mike, just a few steps behind her on his phone. The rustling of leaves and the occasional snapping of twigs breaking the otherwise silent walk into the woods. Mike simply smiled, not looking away from his phone. "I don't think he'll have to try anything. After last year, why would he even bother? He got y-" His statement was cut short when Lucy stopped dead in her tracks, swinging around and grabbing his phone before turning it off and holding it clenched in her hand. Before he can interject, an annoyed face of hers met his eyes. "You PROMISED you'd stop checking that thing for tonight, and since you seem to have poor self control, I'll give it back tomorrow, ok?" She smirked slightly and turned back around, proceeding ahead, Mike unable to think of a retort as he simply nodded and caught up, walking at her side.

"So, Daisy said both Paulo AND Abbey will be coming out tonight, right?" Mike curiously asked as he tried to discreetly take his phone back from Lucy, only for her to nod to his question and store the device somewhere among her person. Accepting that he won't see it again for the night, he simply continued the conversation. "How exactly does she plan to make that happen?" She can't help but laugh a little as she shrugged. "Don't ask me how, but it seems like she's gotten better at getting those two to calm down. Said something about how if they start up, she'll leave them both here in the woods." The look on Mike's face was one both of confusion and amusement as he too chuckled. "What, you mean she actually can manage to put on a mad face towards either of them? I'll believe it when I see it."

The wind began pick up a bit, the two looking around carefully to see how much further ahead they have to go as their conversation shifted from one topic to another. It took them a fair while, but the two were on better, albeit not completely mended, terms. Before things had gotten shaken again, they all had talked about making sure they got to spend at least some time together on Halloween. Daisy herself seemed the most adamant about it, and the others found that they could let things go, even if just for one night.

Finally, they arrived in a cleared area of the woods, a small fire pit at its center. Multiple logs surrounded it, forming a welcoming circle for the night of stories and socialization to come. As they took their seats at the nearest spot available, Mike looked around, slightly perplexed. "Huh. You know, for how much Daisy wanted to do this, I'm surprised we're the first ones here." With that being said, however, Lucy simply looked a bit aggravated as she shut her eyes, letting her tone of voice speak for itself. "We're not." She suddenly grabbed back behind her, a yell omitting as Paulo was thrown onto his back in front of both Lucy and Mike, both of whom shared a look of apathy and irritation towards him.

Grunting, Paulo stumbled back up to his feet, dusting off the black cloak he wore before sitting down next to Lucy and letting out a little annoyed puff as he used a finger to wiggle one of his fake fangs back into place. "Y'know, you didn't have to be so rough! I don't always mind it, but right now, all I want is to sink my teeth int-" He was interrupted by Lucy placing a hand over his mouth, rolling her eyes. "Yeah yeah, I get it, Count Pervsalot. So where are the others? And what's with the get up, anyways? We're all too old to trick or treat now, ya know." He shifted slightly in his seat, the three now staring into the pit as he set it ablaze with the strike and flick of a match. "I'm sure Daisy is getting Abbey, and God knows he likes to take his precious time." A scoff escaped from him as he continued. "I saw David earlier, but he said he had to go get something first, so who knows when he'll show up."

A satisfied grin formed on his face as he rests a small bag in front of the trio, a variety of candy stored inside. It wasn't a lot, but enough to share. "And yeah, we did say that... But nobody ever said I couldn't go scare some out of the little punks running around town." Mike couldn't help but sigh and rest his chin in his palm as he simply looked at the bag before taking a piece and poping it into his mouth, while Lucy couldn't help but let out a both amused and slightly irritated scoff, a smile crudely formed. "So in other words, you got that crap on and scared some little kids out of their candy? Classy." Retorting with his own sinister grin, he scooted just a bit closer to Lucy. "Hey, I say I did pretty decent with myself this time! And I just took some off of some older kids messing with the little ones, anyways."

Mike watched, a bit perplexed as to what Paulo was up to as he reached an arm around Lucy's waist, but couldn't help but try to take advantage of the situation and try to retrieve his cell phone. "Besides, I got everyone some sweets, right? Doesn't that mean I should get some sugar, too, Lucy-ba-" Paulo's voice is cut off as he again was thrown down into the dirt by Lucy, but also this time being joined by Mike, the two heads colliding at her feet. She rolls her shoulders before taking a few pieces of candy from the bag and sitting back, shaking her head. "Seriously, you're just as tacky and sad as always... And Mike, if you try to frisk me for your phone again, I'm going to bury you. Now, switch sides. I want the perverted vampire on the far side, and I want the cell phone baby next to me."

The two couldn't help but sort of grin as they got back up, complying with her demands. They found their seats at both of her sides, the three getting themselves comfortable in front of the fire. Mike let out a puff of air before looking across to Paulo, smirking. "So I saw you and her have been doing more online again. Whatever happened to you not talking to the cradle robber, as you like to call her?" Paulo couldn't help but smile faintly, rubbing his hands together somewhat nervously. "It's not like it's anything major, man. We just decided we could talk more, ya know? I wanna look into school and ever-" At this point, Lucy couldn't help but laugh a bit, almost choking on the candy she had in her mouth. "Ok, I'm sorry. I know you're serious about getting into college now, but can you come up with a better cover for your ass than that? It's not like we're judging you two for talking again once we all graduated, you know."

He couldn't help but lose some of his smile as he faintly nodded, looking away for a moment, only to have his attention drawn back by Lucy's hand gently patting his lap, Mike smiling from his own position looking over. Paulo soon in turn returned the look, a simple nod of thanks to them both. "Yeah... I appreciate it." He reached into the bag for more treats, but found himself disgusted at the results: candy corn. He practically pelted Mike as he lobs over the pieces to him, an audible sound of disgust escaping him. "Mike, you like this shit, take it." Mike winced slightly before nailing him right back in the forehead with a lone piece. "I do, but next time you can just hand it over, you jerk!"

Of course, Lucy being in the center, she soon found herself laughing as the two bickered back and forth. "Okay children, behave. It's gonna be a long night if you two can't handle yourselves for longer than a few minutes." Her feet started to lightly kick at the dirt below, a smile formed as her thoughts got rather nostalgic and somewhat difficult. "We've all really come a long ways, haven't we? I never thought we'd have a night like this again." Both Paulo and Mike stopped what they were doing and simply nodded, their own faint smiles having formed. Everyone had been through so much, but now after some time has passed, it seemed like they were coming to terms with everything that had happened.

"I didn't either, to be honest. I'm really glad." Daisy could be heard as she and Abbey both approached an adjacent log to the trio and took their seats for themselves. Abbey soon let out a grunt as he felt something hit him, his eyes immediately darting up to Paulo, a smirk on his face. "You still like these, don't you, jackass?" Paulo's words were at first met with some confusion before looking down, Abbey himself smiling as he saw his favorite treat now in his lap. "I do, actually. Thanks, but I might have to return the favor if you throw things at me again."

Daisy sighed happily, relieved that what would have likely resulted in some sort of conflict in the past is now just light joking between the two. She looked back up to Paulo, about to ask a question of her own, before catching a treat of her own that he had lobbed carefully to her. "You guys can just take some when you want to. I brought this to share with everyone." As he was about to reach again for the bag himself, however, he found nothing. "Alright, who's hording it for themselves?" Paulo's eyes looked over everyone, each showed their own response with lack of knowing what had happened. As he sat up, about to stand, suddenly Daisy let out a gasp and looks over her shoulder, only to see nothing there.

"Daisy, are you ok? What's wrong?" Abbey immediately was drawn closer to her, putting himself between her and whatever it was that had disturbed her. "I-I thought I felt something touch me..." She whimpered, startled by the lack of any evidence of whatever had touched her. By the time she had stated this, Abbey was already on his feet and looking behind where they were seated, then looked over at Paulo with a frown. "Let me guess, you had something to do with this?" Paulo quickly darted to his feet, the accusation easily irritating him. "Oh right, because I'd do something to scare her after how much she wanted us all to do this. God, you're such a dick. I'm not THAT bad." With a sigh, Lucy walked over and searched at the immediate surrounding area, finding nothing. "Well whatever it was, it's gone now."

She had no more than turned around to face her friends and the fire, though, and she saw all of them staring back, shocked and terrified with what they saw and she didn't. "What? Come on you guys, that isn't funny." All of them had gotten up from their seats and taken some steps back, pointing over her shoulder, where a completely cloaked figure now lurked. As she turned to see this figure, she couldn't help but let out a scream as she threw a punch into their chest, but ran towards the others as she quickly saw it did very little. "Who the Hell are you?!" Paulo took a singular step forward and spread his arms to shield Lucy as she rejoined them. Rather than a response, though, the culprit simply brandished what appeared to be a flimsy blade.

With that single act, the group ran into the darkness of the woods, the unknown person shortly behind them. Jumping over fallen trees, sprinting beneath branches that had long lost their leaves, they made their way further into the woods. After what seemed like quite some time, they found themselves at a dead end, another clearing with nothing but a small creek running through. The group turned to face their pursuer, and at once, both Lucy and Mike nod to each other and rush them, Abbey and Paulo only just barely behind them while still ensuring Daisy was safe. "Hey guys! Did I sc-" The familiar voice was cut off as Lucy and Mike both drove hard punches into the figure, the blade flying to the side as Paulo and Abbey tackled them to the ground and pull off the hood. As Mike recovered the knife, only to discover it's a fake, Paulo and Abbey both could be heard letting out a grunt in both irritation and disgust. "Goddamnit David." Both of them speaking at once and the exact same words wasn't anything anyone was used to, including themselves, who looked briefly at each other before turning their attention back to the ill-flavored prankster.

Absent-minded as always, David sat up and waved to everyone around him. "I guess I DID scare you. Cool!" As he turned to face Daisy and the others and say something, he was suddenly cut off by Lucy backhanding him, his head going back to the ground one more time. "That was really damned stupid of you! You could have hurt us or yourself, you dunce!" Her voice displayed the shared irritation of them all, but very quickly they simply found themselves relieved that the threat wasn't real and was now over. "Heh... I guess it wasn't bad, but yeah. Maybe think more about what you're doing next time before chasing people around with a weapon, dude." Paulo showed a small smile towards his friend as he reached out a hand to help him up.

"Are you all alright? Is anyone hurt badly?" Daisy rushed to them all, checking on everyone nervously before sighing, relieved. It took them a few moments of regaining their composure, but they quickly found they couldn't really stay mad at the oblivious goofball. He stood in the center, eating from Paulo's candy bag. "Wow, you decided to trick or treat, man? You got some good st-" He was interrupted by Paulo growling and snatching the bag back and turning it over, revealing that David had already eaten the grand majority. "Dude, that was for sharing with everyone!" David simply pointed over Paulo's shoulder, tilting his head. "Maybe they'll share with you?"

Everyone turned around to see another cloaked figure standing there, a bloodied mask covering their face as they're seen with a bag in hand. Before anyone could react, a scoff is heard and the mask is pulled off to reveal Tess, a slightly irritated but sinister smile on her face. "Damnit, David. First you nearly give them all heart attacks, then you ruin the surprise!" Everyone let out a relieved sigh before they excitedly rushed to greet her. "What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be at some party?" Daisy was the first to ask anything, which was met with a more sincere smile by the long gone friend. "Yeah, but Paulo and I were talking not far back, and I thought it'd be more fun to come out and see you guys again. Haven't seen any of you since you graduated, so I thought why not."

None of them could argue with that. It was nice for them all to be together again for the night before they all resumed their now post-high school lives. "Well I'm not sure about you all, but I'm cold. Let's go back to the fire. Tess, David, try not to do anything else, ok?" Lucy had probably the most pure smile of them all on her face as she turned to walk back to their spot, the others joining her shortly behind. Before he can move, Paulo is stopped by Tess hugging him from behind. "I'm glad we're talking again, and that you told me about this. Let's go have a good time with our friends. It sounds like you all really could use it." Her voice, albeit serious, had a very caring and sympathetic tone to it. Paulo smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'd really like that. I think we all missed each other more than we'd like to admit." He was happy to have everyone back together for that night.

What followed was a night of pure fun, recounting events of the past together, and plenty of treats and attempts at scary stories by the fire. They all had been through a lot, but at the end of the day, drama comes and goes, but true friends will always find their way back to each other.

Happy Halloween everyone!

A Random Fellow