AN: I should probably apologise for this but I won't. Just some pure anachronistic Halloween crack commemorating one of the greatest things ever to be associated with Halloween. Happy Halloween everyone!
Samhain's Eve was the night when the veils between the two worlds were at their thinnest; it was a night of magic, spirits, ghosts and ghouls; when anything was possible. There was a sense of eeriness in the air, as though you could feel the thinness of the Veil; it was a night of remembering those who had already departed from this world and into the next. Like all major celebrations, Samhain's Eve was commemorated with a feast and despite the holiday and the beliefs and atmosphere attached to it; the Samhain's Eve feast was usually so dull.
This year however things were a bit different. It had only been weeks since Morgana's betrayal and attack and therefore it was Arthur's first feast residing over as Prince Regent and he wanted things to go smoothly. Yet as he looked around the room, he noticed the conspicuous absence of some certain people. Gwaine, Leon and Percival had been held up whilst returning from patrol, Guinevere was looking after Uther and Merlin had disappeared a short while ago with Elyan and Lancelot. As Arthur turned back to his uncle to continue their conversation, the doors crashed open and Merlin ran in.
"You need to get out of here! We're all in danger!" Merlin shouted and everyone stopped and stared at him. Arthur frowned and started to move towards Merlin, determined to find out what was going on.
"What on earth are you talking about Merlin?" Arthur asked.
"The knights and Gwen! I tried to save them but…" Merlin trailed off and Arthur reached for his sword. Gwen and the knights were in danger! He had to help them! But before he could do anything, there was a loud resounding echo of footsteps and a door creaking and then it happened. The main doors were flung open as a strange musical sounded echoed from nowhere and six people lurched into the room. As the figures moved forwards, Arthur's mouth fell open and someone screamed.
It was Gwen and the knights but they looked absolutely terrifying. The knights were all in broken and blood stained chainmail and Gwen's dress was stained with blood and the skirt was slashed in various places; causing them all to look as though they had been massacred. Their arms and faces were smeared with dirt and blood and all of their hair was in tangled messes. They had dark rings under their eyes and their mouths were smeared with blood and had their teeth bared. In that moment everyone realised these weren't just knights and servants; they were zombies. As everyone stared transfixed at the sight of the zombies, a strange bodiless voice echoed off the walls.
It's close to midnight
Something evil's lurkin' in the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed
"What is going on?" Arthur asked as the music seemed to get louder and everyone stared in horror as the zombies grabbed Merlin and surrounded him. Merlin let out a scream before he fell silent and straightened up to reveal his own torn and blood stained clothing and his darkened eyes. Merlin stood in front of the zombies as the music got louder and they all moved almost into position, standing at an angle to each other.
'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
And no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight, yeah
As the faceless singer sang, the zombies all raised their hands into a claw shape and their arms to chest level before swinging their arms to the left and to the right before raising their right leg, stepping forward a few paces, turning and repeating the movements to the left before dropping their arms and the song continued. As the song continued, they kept dancing, raising their arms above their heads and shaking their hips before lowering them, kicking their legs out before the chorus started again and the repeated the arm and legs movements. In the verses between the chorus, their dancing consisted of varying actions such as placing their arms on their legs to move forward whilst bending, shaking themselves and turning to stand at an angle before bending their knees before repeating the arm movements in time to the chorus.
This kept going for a few more verses and choruses before the zombies stopped dancing and began lurching around the room; everyone had still been frozen and watching everything completely stunned. The zombies moved all around the room. The zombie Gwaine, Elyan and Percival focused on moving around the table, grabbing people's shoulders or else leaning close into the faces of some of the stunned knights and noblemen. Lancelot and Leon approached the servants doing the same and the zombie version of Gwen lurched over to Arthur and hissed in his face. Then another voice began singing and it was different to the other.
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighbourhood
And those whoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
At this point all the zombies turned and lurched back towards Merlin who had remained standing in the middle of the room, his arms were spread out and his head was tilted down as the voice kept speaking. As they approached Merlin, the zombies began to surround him just as they had done earlier. All the while the second bodiless voice kept speaking as everyone else watched in horror. The foulest stench's in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the Thriller!
On the last word all of the zombies fell lifeless to the floor and Merlin tilted back his head as an evil-sounding laugh filled the room, miming the laughter as being his. As the laughter faded, silence fell over the room before Merlin stood normally and grinned as the 'zombies' got to their feet, took each other's hands and bowed deeply before straightening up and grinning at each other and the people in the room. After a few minutes Arthur found his voice.
"What was that?" he asked.
"It's something called Thriller wherein zombies rise from the grave and dance. Since it's Samhain's Eve we all thought it'd be appropriate." Merlin grinned. He decided not to mention the strange device which had something called The Internet which provided him with the music and moving images of something called 'Thriller' by a man called Michael Jackson a few weeks ago. It had been one of those moments of inspiration for Merlin and once he had had the knights and Gwen on board; it had been all systems go. Arthur looked at his friends before rolling his eyes.
"As impressive as this was, do you think that next year you could not do the whole un-dead zombie thing?" Arthur asked and the 'zombies' looked at one another and nodded.
"We suppose so," Gwen commented even though watching and learning the dancing, preparing their performance and pretending to be the un-dead to scare everyone had been so much fun! The end result and everyone's reactions had been better than expected.
"Yeah I guess but it was only a bit of fun." Merlin protested. This was definitely had been one of those feasts which everyone would remember. The Samhain's Eve Feast that even the un-dead came to celebrate.
"Besides, everyone knows there's no such thing as zombies." Lancelot shrugged.