Matthew hated the idea of going on a Halloween camping trip from the beginning, but he knew his brother would make him go anyway, so he didn't really put up a fight. Alfred, along with some of their friends, decided that camping in the woods of West Virginia would be the perfect way to celebrate the holiday. They were going to have a bonfire, try to scare each other with creepy stories and eat loads of junk food. The idea itself wasn't even that bad, but Matthew wasn't someone you'd consider a social butterfly - he felt uncomfortable around people, even if it was just a couple of friends. They weren't even really his friends, they were Al's. He just figured they considered him a bit of a "buy one, get one for free" deal.

So on the 31st, just as they were about to set off, the teen decided to give his last possibility to stay at home a shot. "Alfred?" he asked as weakly as he could.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not feeling too well. I think I might be developing a cold or something. It's probably best I stay home…" he added a cough for good measure. Alfred raised an eyebrow and proceeded to throw the last bag into the trunk of his SUV. "C'mon, Mattie! I can tell you're not sick. We're twins, remember? I know those things!"

Matthew slumped his shoulders slightly and emitted a painful sigh.

"Aw, Matt, don't be like that! It's going to be fine, you'll see! Besides, it's the last chance for us to spend Halloween with our friends. Next year half of them will be in College!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right" he sighed. "Fine, let's go. But no stupid pranks, okay?"

"Yeah, sure" Alfred replied, not looking at his brother.

"Al, I mean it! No pranks, or I'm staying!"

"Alright, alright, Mr. Uptight, no pranks!" the older twin raised his hands in mock surrender and chuckled. "Now get in the car, we're gonna be late." Matthew rolled his eyes and opened the passenger door. "Since when do you care about being on time?" he muttered.

Sometimes he truly cherished his ability to not be heard. And his brothers tendency not to listen to him. Right now it would probably save him at least twenty minutes of whining.

Upon arrival, Matthew gave himself a moment to take in their surroundings. The clearing they were camping at was quite big, but it was surrounded by a thick forest which gave it a sort of ominous atmosphere. A perfect place to celebrate Halloween, Matt thought, still not entirely comfortable with the idea of spending the night there.

They weren't the first ones to arrive (which was to be expected, as Alfred had stopped at McDonald's at least three times on their way), so by the time they got there the campsite was already partially assembled. The twins quickly said their hellos and started to put up their own tent (a really badass one, as Alfred liked to call it, it had two separate rooms and everything). As they were both well acquainted with the techniques of tent-setting the job was done quite quickly, and they both decided it would be a good idea to start setting things up before the rest of their friends arrives. Hence, Alfred started setting big logs, which were supposed to serve as benches, around the fireplace, and Matthew went to the car to retrieve some of the things they would be needing.

"Hey, Arthur, do you know where the- Ow, gross!" Alfred recoiled from the Brit's tent, currently also containing Francis, the two obviously in the middle of a make-out session. Seconds later Arthur stormed out himself, red as a beetroot and clearly very angry.

"Alfred! You can't just let yourself into someone else's tent like it's you own! What if I had been changing!?"

"Oh, so that's what you kids call it nowadays, huh?" Alfred raised his eyebrows with a smirk. Arthur opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, apparently looking for a suiting remark, until his other half emerged from the tent and put his arm around his shoulders. "Well, if my opinion counts for anything, I don't mind people watching" he purred.

"Oh, for goodness sake! No, it does not count, frog!" Arthur shook the Frenchman's arm off. "You're both impossible!"

"Nah, just improbable" Alfred grinned innocently. "Now, back to the subject - do you know where the briquette is? We should get started on the fire, it's starting to get dark."

"It's right here, Al" a voice from behind him informed quietly. The teen whipped his head around to see his brother with a pack of briquette.

"Matt! When did you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time… you asked me to go grab the briquette from your car ten minutes minutes ago."

"Oh, did I? I must've forgotten. Sorry, dude!" he scratched the back of his neck.

"It's alright" Matthew sighed and put the packet down on one of the logs. It wasn't like this had happened for the first time. People tended not to notice him until he spoke, and sometimes even then.

"Are Antonio and Lovino back with the firewood?"

"I think they're… Ah, speak of the devil" Francis smiled at his best friend and his… well, something. No one was really sure what Toni and Lovino where, but it was quite apparent they were definitely something.

"Mes amis, you're back! And how was the walk?" he winked at Antonio playfully.

"Oh, it was-"

"It sucked balls" Lovino didn't let the Spaniard finish, apparently desperate to make his opinion known to the world. "It's wet, and foggy, and cold, ant this trip was a terrible fucking idea. Yours, I have no doubt" he sent Alfred a glare.

"Lovi! Don't be so rude! This trip is a great idea to spend time with our friends before we graduate!" Lovino's face visibly darkened at the mention of Antonio's graduation.

"Whatever, bastard. Just start the fire, alright?" and with that he disappeared into the tent he shared with his brother (who was presumably taking his afternoon nap at the moment). Antonio sighed sadly and looked at Francis helplessly.

"I just don't know what to do anymore. I mean, he's always been a little jumpy…"

"Now, that's an understatement of the century" Arthur muttered, but Toni didn't (or just tactfully pretended not to) hear him.

"…but ever since we came back to school this year it's been getting worse and worse. I'm worried about him."

"The guy throws curses at you like frisbees, and you're worried about him?" Alfred asked, incredulously.

"Ah, you wouldn't understand, Alfred, you've never felt the sweet pains of l'amour…" Francis stated dramatically, risking a hand on Arthurs hip and getting away with only a scowl and a barely audible 'bloody frog'.

"Er… Yeah, sure. How about we get on with the bonfire, huh? Where's Mattie?"

"Alfred!" The younger twin exclaimed with exasperation "I'm literally right next to you!"

"Oh, right, sorry. Alright then, let's get crackin', shall we?" Alfred's voice was as cheery as usually, which came as no surprise, so everyone just muttered in agreement and set off to fulfil their respectable tasks.

The night had been going pretty well, Matt thought, taking a sip from his red cup. They were all sat around the bonfire, chatting to each other and generally having a good time. Every now and then someone would tell a scary story and either be laughed off (like Alfred) or have his sanity questioned (like, surprisingly, Antonio).

Currently the teens were divided into smaller groups, everyone caught up in their own conversation. Feliciano, Lovino and Antonio were squabbling, their hands flying around even more than they usually would. From what Matthew had gathered, Feli started seeing some boy his brother didn't approve of. Antonio was only a part of the conversation as sort of a safety net for Lovino's outbursts, as he was the only one who was able stop them. The other conversation was the one between Alfred, Francis and Arthur. It was probably just meaningless banter, as usually - Matt had stopped listening to them a while ago. At he other side of the bonfire Erszébet was animatedly discussing something with Feliks, while both Toris and Rodrich looked like they were desperately trying to grasp what had their other halves so pumped up, but judging by their expressions they were failing miserably.

"I have to go pee, I'll be right back" Matthew informed his brother, getting up from the log.

"Oh, wait, I'll come with you!" came Alfred's quick reply. Matt raised an eyebrow. "Al, are you still scared to go on your own after those stories?" the older twin scratched the back of his head and looked down. "Yeah, a bit… You don't mind if I go with you though, do you?" he looked at his brother hopefully. Matthew rolled his eyes and smiled "Sure, you can come along. But we're not peeing next to each other, Al."

"Fine, whatever, let's go."

They walked towards the forest, exchanging their thoughts on how they both thought the trip was going until they reached a narrow pathway leading forward into the thick darkness. They walked in just a bit and decided to split.

"Alright, I'll go left, you go right, and we'll meet back here." Alfred decided and started walking off into the woods. Matt turned right, as told, and started walking in a straight line not to loose the path. After he was finished doing his business he turned right back.

However, what he didn't foresee was a huge branch that got tangled around his right leg, causing him to topple over.

"Ouch" he mumbled, massaging his shin and trying to get back up without causing any more damage to his body. When he managed to get on his feet again he made his way back to what he hoped to God was the same path he had parted with his brother on.

"Alfred?" he tried. No response. "Al, are you playing a joke on me? I told you, no pranks!" he whined, but he still heard nothing but the silent sound of crickets. "Great" he said to no one in particular, as he was apparently all alone in a pitch black forest.

He decided it was probably best to just continue walking on the pathway until he reached the edge of the forest.

After about five minutes he started to grow anxious as to his whereabouts. He should've been close to their camp by now, but he still couldn't see the bonfire. Hell, he couldn't even see the moon. This is bad, he realised, feeling his heart start beating faster. He was in a forest, in the middle of the night, alone. And on top of that, his allergies had decided to suddenly make themselves known with a loud sneeze. In the middle of October, seriously?

"Gesundheit!"

Matthew froze. So apparently he wasn't alone after all. "Hello?" he spoke hesitantly. It's probably just a lost german hiker, he told himself in attempt to calm his frantic heartbeat. "Is anyone there?"

"Well, obviously, I just spoke to you, didn't I?" the same voice responded, sounding slightly amused. Matt did not like that. "Could you maybe help me find my way back to my friends then? I got a bit lost…"

"Now that's an understatement" the voice chuckled. "I don't know, I was kinda hoping we could have a little fun."

"W-what?" the boy squeaked, his voice getting stuck in his throat. That didn't sound like a lost german hiker, not at all. "Who are you?" he asked, still sounding pathetically terrified.

"People call me a lot of different names" came the response. "Mostly very unimaginative ones." Matthew suddenly noticed a pair of bright red eyes in the tree above him. He swallowed hard. "A demon. A vampire. Even the Devil. Some call me the Earlking, which is kinda cool, I guess." The eyes started getting closer really quickly, and before he knew, there was an extremely pale, red eyed figure hanging upside down from a tree right in front of Matt's face and grinning widely. "But I just prefer Gilbert. Or Gil, for short."

Matthew shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling on his butt and shutting his eyes in the process. The… creature let out a weird breathy laugh and, assuming from the quiet thud, jumped down from the tree. "Men Gott, what was that? I would've thought you were a girl if I didn't watch you pee just now." The teen opened his eyes again in surprise and instantly turned crimson. Thank God for the darkness…

"Aww, you're cute when you blush!" the offender took a few steps in his direction, still grinning.

"How did you even see that?" Matthew exclaimed before he had the time to actually think. Whatever was standing in front of him just chuckled, now getting too close for comfort.

"I have really good eyesight" it whispered, wiggling it's eyebrows.

Matt took a deep breath and tried to stop panicking in favour of taking a good look at the weird phenomenon in front of him. The creature was wearing some sort of weird leather trousers, but besides that it's skin was completely exposed. It wasn't even wearing any shoes. Now that he thought about it, it looked like a boy, not much older than him, who just happened to have really sharp teeth and nails, demon eyes and freakishly pale skin.

Right.

The boy gulped and looked up with fear. "Are you here to kill… someone?" he bit his tongue. If this demon-boy was here to kill him and his friends, the last thing he should be doing is leading him to them.

"Nah, killing's boring. It's much more fun to mess with people. So, you're here with friends, huh?" the creature asked nonchalantly. Matthew opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before choking out a shocked "What?". The vampire-demon-thing rolled it's eyes at him.

"Please, I'm a supernatural being you've just met in the middle of a forest. You shouldn't be surprised I read minds. I'm just awesome like that." Suddenly a frown crossed the unnaturally pale face. "And I would appreciate it if you stopped referring to me as 'it'. It's kinda rude, even if it's just in your head. After all I did tell you my name, didn't I?"

"Um… I guess you did… Gil" Matt replied hesitantly. Was calling a mythical creature by it's first name really something he should be doing?

"U-uh" Gilbert waggled his finger in front of Matthew's face. "No 'it', got it? If we're gonna be friends, you have to treat me like a person, birdie."

Friends? Birdie?

"Now you're just repeating words" Gil raised his eyebrows.

"Wha… I'm not repeating anything, you're breaking into my brain!" Matt exclaimed with exasperation.

To his surprise, the boy replied with a beaming smile. "Feisty, aren't we?" he chuckled. "Alright, let's make a deal; I'll stop reading your mind and show you the way to your buddies if you tell me your name. And why you're all even here."

Matthew thought about it for a second. It seemed like Gilbert wasn't going to try to kill him. And it also seemed like he was his only chance of getting back to the clearing. The teen sighed and rubbed his temples. "Fine. My name's Matthew." Gil started walking along a narrow trail next to them, and the boy followed him quickly. " And we came here because it's Halloween."

"Hallo-what now?" Gilbert looked confused. Matt looked at him with disbelief.

"You're a demon and you don't know what Halloween is?"

"Why are you so surprised? It's a human thing, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. It's just the whole purpose of Halloween is to sort of celebrate all scary supernatural things, so I thought you'd know. But I guess it makes sense that you don't, now that I think about it."

"So you have an entire holiday to celebrate my awesomeness?" Gil let out that weird breathy laugh again. Matthew smiled a bit and rolled his eyes. "Not really, but you can think that if it makes your ego feel nice and cozy" he retorted. When exactly did he start feeling so comfortable around this guy? "It's technically called All Hallows Eve, which means it's the eve of the All Hallows Day, or All Saints' Day."

Gilbert scratched his head in confusion. "So… to celebrate all saints you dress up like demons? How does that make any sense?"

Matt chuckled. "I'm not sure. I think nowadays it's just an excuse for people to dress up, eat candy and tell spooky stories."

Gil still didn't look convinced. "You humans are weird, man"

"Says the guy with fangs, claws and super creepy eyes" the teen pointed out.

"Hey, I can't control the way I look, but nobody's forcing you to celebrate pointless holidays."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Matt put his hands in his pockets, wondering wether it was alright to ask about what was bothering him. "So, how does that work?" he risked after a while.

"Huh? How does what work?" Gilbert furrowed his brows.

"The whole you being a demon business. Do you have, I don't know, a family or something?"

Gilbert's face darkened slightly, and suddenly Matthew felt guilty for asking. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's fine. It's just that being… what I am is a bit different than being a human, y'know? I wasn't born or anything. I just sort of… appeared, really."

Now it was Matt's turn to be confused. "What do you mean? Surely you must've been born somehow. Or created, maybe…?"

His companion sighed and looked briefly up to the sky. "Yeah, technically I was. Or I think I was, I'm not sure. I don't really remember it, I just woke up in the middle of a forest looking like this, and the moon was staring at me. It was kind of creepy, really."

"Wait a second" Matt raised his hand and furrowed his brows. "Did you just say that the moon was staring at you?"

Gilbert chuckled. "Yeah. The moon is alive, you know? He's the closest thing I have to a family. He doesn't talk much, though. Which is a shame." His face darkened again.

They walked in silence for a long while after that, until suddenly Matthew realised he could already see the edge of the forest. They made their way to it in a couple of paces and Matt's jaw dropped when he noticed just how far off he had wondered.

"We're at the whole other side of the clearing! How did I even get this far?"

Gilbert scratched his forearm and smirked at the boy. "Well, I might've taken the slightly longer path… I hope you don't mind, birdie" he grinned. Matthew rolled his eyes at that. "Of course you would. It's fine." And after a second he added "Why'd you ask my name if you just keep calling me 'birdie'?"

"It suits you" Gil shrugged, still smiling. "The first time we met, you were scared like a little bird, and you wanted to run away. But the longer we talked, the more you realised I didn't really want to hurt you."

Matt blushed, this time painfully aware that Gilbert could see it, and cleared his throat hastily. "Well, thanks for seeing me off. It was nice of you. I'm sorry I was a bother, I'll be off now." He started to walk out into the clearing.

"Matt…?"

The teen turned around to see his companion looking down, as if… uncertain? It was definitely a strange view. "Yes?"

"Do you think we could maybe… see each other again sometime?" It was mumbled, but still clear enough to understand. Matthew just stared at the pale boy in front of him with his mouth agape for a while, before smiling warmly. "Sure, I don't see why not."

Gilbert let out a breath and finally looked up. "It's not like I'm desperate or anything" he defended himself quickly. "I've just been on my own for so long and everything's so boring when you're alone all the time…" he tried to look annoyed, but his eyes betrayed that he was actually just terribly, terribly lonely.

"Yeah, I get it" Matthew replied, turning around towards his campsite. "I assume I don't have to give you my address, you'll probably just follow the car anyway." He didn't see the bright smile on Gil's face, but he suspected it was there.

As Matt made his way through the dark clearing towards the bonfire, his brain was exploding with thoughts. 'Was it just my imagination? No, it can't have been, even I wouldn't make up something like that. I hope I can see him again. Wait, why do I hope that? Isn't it a bit stupid? I don't even know him. I don't even know what he is… But it looks like he doesn't either, so that might not be the most important information about him. Oh my God, why am I so giddy all of a sudden?' He kept on walking, not really paying attention to anything, until…

"MATTIE!"

A cannonball of muscles, clothes and blond hair suddenly attacked him from the side, causing him to loose his balance and fall on the wet grass.

"I was so worried about you, Mattie! I thought you were eaten by wolves! Or werewolves! or alien werewolves!"

"Al, I can't breathe" the younger of the two gasped, to which Alfred responded by picking them both up in one swift move. "Right, sorry!"

Matt sighed "It's alright. Now stop panicking, I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yeah… I was really worried though. What happened, dude?"

"I got a bit lost… But it's all fine now, no need to worry" Matthew patted his brother on the back.

"I guess you're right" Alfred threw his arm around his twin's shoulders and let out an uneasy laugh. "Man, I'm really glad you didn't get eaten by a demon or something…"

"Don't be silly, Al" Matt smirked slightly. "There's no such thing as demons."

Yeah, right, he thought. If there was no such thing as demons, then why was he suddenly so eager to invite one for a cup of coffee…?

A/N:

Well, if you though I was dead - surprise!

I'm honestly sorry about my sudden ninja mode, but my University apparently actually wants me to study.

This was supposed to be a Halloween special (as you can probably tell), but ended up terribly late. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Also, hey, my first PruCan fic! I do adore these two, so please tell me wether I screwed them up or not (I really hope I didn't, I would love to write more of them in the future). And yeah, that moon thing was a "Rise of the Guardians" reference, good job for noticing!

Other than that have a great day filled with rainbows and sunshine!