Werites Beacon was in a frenzy, rushing through the crisp, chill air, erecting decorations of leaves and pumpkins, posting prominent images of witches, ghosts, and black cats in every possible nook and cranny. The Halloween Festival had come upon the Legacy, and with it, the famous Masquerade.

Among the joyous frenzy, Will and Harriet sat in their living room, waiting for their friends to arrive. Harriet was busying herself with crafting a chain of paper rings, colored the traditional colors of orange and black, to decorate both the inside and outside of the house. Will, on the other hand, tidied the house, in grim anticipation of the utter destruction it inevitably faced during the after party. Silently they worked, letting nothing distract them from their duties, until a knock sounded on the door.

"Hiya, Hattie! Teach!" Norma grinned, stuffing her way inside. She was laden with a pile of packages, which she promptly set down on the part of the floor that Will had just finished cleaning.

"What are those?" Will asked, trying to mask his annoyance.

"They're your costumes, of course!" Norma grinned, "I got one for everyone, even Hattie!"

Another knock sounded, and Jay slipped in. His reasons for sneaking around were soon clarified, as Moses sprinted towards the hosue, somehow managing to run right into the doorway, rather than through it.

"Owww…." He groaned.

"Stupid bandit," Jay sighed. Ignoring the angry remark that he evoked from Moses, he asked what the packages were. When Norma told him that they were costumes for everyone, and that she had chosen them, he visibly paled.

The rest of the group made their way through, none dressed up for the festivities. Norma quickly remedied this, handing everyone their respective packages and demanding that they changed immediately. Senel, Shirley, Will, Chloe, Jay, Moses, Norma, Grune, and Harriet went in to change in the bathroom, leaving only a small time to rest before they had to plunge into the festivities.

Walking towards the crowded plaza, Chloe suddenly found herself knocked over by an enthusiastic nurse, who she recognized as Elsa. "Chloe, you make a wonderful superhero!" Elsa gushed, referring to the strange red-colored spandex bodysuit and cape that Chloe was awkwardly sporting, along with an equally gaudy green mask.

"Er…thanks?" she said awkwardly.

"Elsa, what do you think of my costume?" Harriet beamed, twirling in her ballerina's tutu.

"You look so cute!" Elsa smiled.

"Where's Arnold?" Senel asked Elsa, once she had gotten off of Chloe.

"Wait…Moses? Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were Moses," Elsa said, "My father is…I don't know where he is, really. I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Senel sighed, now feeling thoroughly awkward about his pirate costume, especially if it made him look like Moses.

"Senel, did you need to talk to Arnold?" Shirley questioned, moving ever so slightly closer to him in her stunning mermaid guise.

"No, I didn't," Senel negated.

Further talk was halted with the crackle of fireworks.

"Ooh! That was loud, kind of like fireworks! What was it?" a knight yelled, his hide pants showing through the metal.

"Red, they were exactly what you thought they were: fireworks," Norma groaned, putting a black-sleeved hand to her face. She was dressed in an enhanced French maid costume, which she, for one, was thoroughly enjoying. Taking her hand off of her face after a moment, she glanced around. "Hey, where's JJ? I didn't hear any support for my insult!"

"He's right here," Moses grinned, sticking his arm into the crowd; a moment later, Jay popped into view, knocking into Will, who was dressed as an old man.

"Oh, Jay, you look so cute!" Grune smiled, making her witch costume even more ridiculous, "You're even blushing in just the right way!"

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" Jay asked weakly. Although he was not one to boast, he was quite certain that he had the worst costume of all present. His hair was down, falling softly to his shoulders, beneath a pink, conical hat. On the rest of his body was the most humiliating thing he had ever worn: a gauzy, pink dress.

"Princess Jay, I, Sir Moses, am at your service," Moses sniggered.

"Then do me a service and switch costumes!" Jay snapped at him.

"I cannot do that, milady," Moses said through a loud snort.

"Moses," Jay said flatly.

"Milady, it would be wrong for me to cross-dress, I am a knight," Moses continued.

"Moses, enough!" Jay interrupted.

"Jeez, way to ruin the moment, Jay!" Moses grumbled.

"I think you should know that we have officially lost the rest of the party, thanks to your incessant mockery," Jay told him, ignoring the comment.

"So now you're scared? Don't worry, I'll protect you; it's my knightly duty, after all!" Moses cooed.

"You couldn't be truly serious for once, now, could you?" Jay asked him; the question of how he got stuck with this moron, of all people, threatened to pulverize his mind.

"I am being serious!" Moses protested. Jay sighed exasperatedly, starting to weave a tentative course back towards Will's house. With Moses clumsily following his every move, he dodged left, right, took a few steps back, and dodged left and right again, using every nearby particle of empty space to his advantage. Although the course he had plotted was leading towards Will's house, the sudden appearance of an impenetrable clot of people forced him to take the longest long way around: going past Senel's house, he would have to go around the horseshoe at the bandit's camp, near the lighthouse, and come back down past Fallingwater in order to reach his final destination. There seemed to be no other alternative to this, so, after a few moments of consideration, he grudgingly began weaving his way back.

"Jay…where…are…we…going?" Moses panted, nearly collapsing on top of the smaller boy, who showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

"We're taking the extra long scenic route to Will's house, as it is the most convenient," Jay replied, his eyes darting around, searching for the next point he had to reach. He saw an opening, and leapt for it; Moses followed, finding that they were in a suddenly desolate stretch of roadway just south of Musette's house.

"Whew…Jay, since nobody's here, can we take a break?" Moses pleaded.

Jay's mouth was in the midst of forming a flat 'no', but he decided against it. "If you really insist upon doing so, I see no valid reason against it," he admitted. The two sat down against a nearby fence, Moses doing so with great relief, Jay showing his annoyance at this hindrance to his plan. Snores soon sounded from a dozing Moses; cocking his head to keep his ears away from the aggravating noise, he looked into the ground, using this time to think.

"Hello," a voice interrupted, disrupting the few moments of rest that had occurred. Jay relaxed his eyes, which had threatened to pop out of his head at the voice. He was praying that he had heard the voice wrong, that it had been mangled through his thoughts; the voice he had heard could belong to only one person, one person that he was now fervently praying was nowhere in the vicinity.

"Hello," Jay said calmly, his eyes fixed to the ground. He had to convince himself that he had been wrong; there was no reason to panic.

"I see you're alone; I hope I'm not imposing upon you by sitting with you?," the voice said, and the control Jay had built up melted into a void of panic. He had heard it quite clearly that time, and the voice hadn't changed. It was no mistake now: on this Day of Nightmares, his own worst nightmare had come true. He looked to his left to wake Moses, only to find that the bandit was not there. In his place, Solon's cruel eyes leered at him.

Jay started, propelling himself into a standing position with lighting speed. To his horror, his master did the same, grabbing his wrists and twisting them behind his back.

"What did you do to Moses?!" Jay demanded, his body shaking from the unpleasant mix of fear and anger.

"The bandit is alive," Solon replied vaguely, "But he does not matter. I wish to talk with you, Jay."

"Solon—" Jay started, but was silenced by a hand over his mouth.

With a firm force, he was forced onto his knees, now sitting to the left of his master. "I prefer to be called Jin-E during this masquerade, as he is the one I am dressed as," Solon corrected Jay coldly, uncovering his apprentice's mouth; he could evidently tell that Jay was too paralyzed by fear to scream.

"Fine then, Jin-E," Jay spat, treating the pseudonym with the same venom as his normal name for his master.

"Thank you. Now, Jay—"

"Yeehaw!" an interruption yelled, coming from the Bandit camp. Moses stood, awkwardly dressed in his knight costume, spear at the ready. Having made his battle cry, he charged towards the two ninja.

"People today are so rude!" Solon snarled, standing to greet the charging bandit.

"Moses, you idiot, stop!" Jay yelled, knowing the inevitable result of this conflict.

"Yah!" Moses grunted, hurling a spear at Solon. The ninja unsheathed his sword, easily deflecting the projectile.

"You'll have to do better than that," he smirked.

"Watch me!" Moses yelled, sending a flurry of spears that were again deflected, one by one.

"That was pathetic," Solon sighed; his eyes widened, however, as he felt a searing pain in his side. Looking over in surprise, he saw Jay holding one of the fallen spears, its point embedded in his master.

"You insolent…" Solon growled, jumping back. "Remember, you may have won the battle, but you have not won the war!"

"You all right, Jay?" Moses yelled, running over.

Jay swallowed hard, trying to conceal his panic. "I'm fine," he said.

"All right, then let's go to Will's house! It's time for the party!" Moses grinned.

Jay smiled weakly. "Yes, and forget about this, I agree."

Leading the younger boy by the hand, Moses and Jay set off along their original course, eager to enjoy the rest of the Halloween festivities.

Author's Note:

Jin-E : This is a reference to a swordsman in Rurouni Kenshin, who bears some similar characteristics to Solon.