Disclaimer: Hey guys, guess what I got?! A letter from Square Enix saying, "From this point on, Kingdom Hearts shall belong to you, you amazing yaoi goddess you!" I fainted from the joy and then I woke up in my bed. Dammit, it was only a dream.
Author's Note: I originally planned this 'lil oneshot waaay back around, you guessed it, Halloween '07. But since it's '08 now, I figured I'd use '08. And I dug this little plotbunny out of it's grave because I needed to write a short story for my Creative Writing class, and the theme was "horror", so I figured, "Why not make a fanfic out of it?" It actually is a lot stupider with the alternate names I used. Oh well.
Not too much shipping in this one. There's mostly Zemyx, plus a little Marlu/Larx and mentions of Kairi/Yuffie. Also, I don't play FFVII, so I probably got Sephiroth and Zack completely wrong. Have fun kiddies!
Halloween was a special event. It was the biggest party of the whole year. Everyone came no matter what. If you had prior plans, you canceled to go to the party. If you were halfway across the world, you came back for the party. If you were dying of the plague, you would go to that party (but you'd be forced into a protective bubble). The point is that the Halloween party was everything. And this year, Riku was assigned to host it.
"Welcome, welcome, ghosts and vampires!" Riku said solemnly, bowing his friends into his house, which was so decorated that no one could see the inside through the cobwebs blocking the door. Riku also dimmed the lights to the point where it was even more impossible to see, if that was possible at all. "You're the last ones to arrive."
"I'm a werewolf!" Sora pouted. Riku laughed good-naturedly and waved the brunette werewolf inside. His blond brother Roxas, looking disgruntled in a witch costume, shot Riku a deadly glare as he passed through the doorway.
"Don't say anything." He snapped, as Riku looked close to bursting out in laughter. "Not a word. Kairi and Namine dressed me up like this, against my will."
"Yeah, it really compliments your masculinity." Riku managed to choke through his held-back giggles. "I like the skirt the best." Roxas kicked him hard in the shin and promptly disappeared into the darkness, where no one could see him.
"I think it looks cute." The sweet redhead Kairi sailed forward and stole a quick hug from Riku. Fair-skinned Naminé followed, a slightly detached air about her. The girls looked adorable in matching devil and angel costumes.
"I like it, too." If Axel was intimidating on a usual day, he was positively terrifying in his vampire costume. The top hat was a rather attractive touch, as well, and it cast a shadow that made the shiny red makeup on the side of his face look mysterious, like blood.
"Nice makeup!" Riku commented appreciatively. "Where'd you get it?"
"What makeup?" Axel asked, a creepy grin taking over his face, and he walked inside without another word.
Inside the house, the party was already underway. The snacks had already been attacked, the music was thumping through every room, and everyone was sitting around, chatting or dancing. Well, Demyx had dragged Zexion out to dance, and everyone else had decided that it was best to stay out of their flailing way to avoid injury. Marluxia and Larxene had already rooted themselves in the corner and were glued together by the face, so no one really wanted to bother them. Saïx and Cloud were facing off in the Dance Dance Revolution showdown of the century. This in itself was perplexing, since Saïx himself was not generally a bouncy person, so DDR was most definitely not his forte, but he was so determined to win that the indignity of jumping up and down was thrust to the side. Tifa was engaged in a fierce eating contest with Xaldin, and despite her petite figure, was actually winning.
Sora sidled up to Riku as soon as the host had finished greeting all his guests. "So, where's your oldest brother?" he inquired casually, noting Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo, the inseparable triplets, the middle children, bugging Xemnas, who was looking murderous.
"Sephiroth? He's still upstairs. Not a people person, you know." Riku smiled lightly at his best friend. Sora nodded, reassured, and turned away just in time to miss the devilish grin that replaced Riku's former charming smile. "Maybe I should go get him soon." Riku added airily. "Zack will get bored without his favorite introvert to annoy."
"That's a good idea." Sora added, detached, getting distracted by Saïx's and Cloud's DDR death match.
Perfect. Riku thought mischievously, slipping away up the stairs without anyone noticing.
Nobody saw Riku again for quite a while. Too long, had someone decided to think rationally. But it was a overwhelming party; there was no time to think rationally amidst all the chaos.
Perhaps it was lucky that Sora tended to have something close to separation anxiety when it came to Riku.
"Kairi!" Sora whined to the devil girl. "Where's Riku? He said he was going to get Sephiroth, that's it! That shouldn't have taken this long."
"No, probably not." Kairi didn't seemed too anxious over Riku's disappearance, though. She was too busy comforting Tifa, who, though having miraculously won the eating contest, was now plagued by the worst stomachache ever known to man. Sora bit his lip and wandered off in the direction of the stairs that Riku had disappeared up. He tried to peer up them, but the darkness rendered this impossible. Although... was that a glint of silver hair? Frowning, Sora strained his eyes harder against the dim light, but whoever had been at the top of the stairs was now gone. He sighed and made to return to the party, but a piercing shriek froze him in his tracks. That voice was unmistakable.
"Th... That was Riku!" Sora whispered to himself, mortified. Half of him wanted to sprint up the stairs to his best friend's aide, but the other half screamed at him to go get backup first. The latter half won, so Sora raced as quickly as he could back into the heart of the party.
"Guys, I just heard Riku scream! Something's wrong, we need to help him!" Sora screeched at his friends. A few of them dropped their previous activities and stared at him, concern and fear etched in their faces. A few more dropped their previous activities and stared at him, disbelief and irritation etched across theirfaces. The rest either didn't hear him or ignored him. Impatience and anger took hold of Sora. "Come on! I heard Rikuscream, for god's sake, something is wrong! Help me find him!" he shouted furiously.
"It's probably nothing." Zexion replied calmly. "He probably just saw a mouse or something." This sent a ripple of appreciative laughter across the party.
"Riku isn't a girl, like you are, Zexion,he wouldn't yell at something so stupid." Sora couldn't help but snap. Zexion's brow furrowed at the insult.
"Excuse me, I happen to top--" Zexion was abruptly cut off by Demyx's hands clapping over his mouth, which also earned them a group chuckle.
"Look, who cares?! If you won't help Riku, then I will!" Sora raged, and whirled furiously around, heading for the stairs, but again was stopped in his tracks. This time, it was by a body. A tall, lean, elegant body with the longest, most luscious silver hair on the planet, including Riku's.
"O-Oh! Sephiroth!" Sora squealed. After all, it wasn't every day that one was graceless enough to bump into Sephiroth."H-Hi! Nice of you to join us! I was just going to look for Riku..."
"Don't bother." Sephiroth's smooth, deep voice cut the brunette werewolf off. Sora squeaked a very distressed noise.
"Dare I ask, why?" Sora managed to force out of his mouth. The next second, he really wished he hadn't, because Sephiroth's mouth twisted into the most heart-stopping, blood-lusting smile he'd ever seen. At the same time, a sword appeared in Sephiroth's hands. The thing had to be at least as tall as Kairi! It forced one to wonder where it had been hiding before Sephiroth took it out.
"Because he won't be moving any time soon." Was it just them, or did Sephiroth's voice manage to get even creepier? With all the grace in the world, The sword in Sephiroth's hand arched up and pointed itself lazily at Sora's neck.
There was silence for a few shocked moments, while everyone absorbed the implications, then all hell broke loose. Pandemonium everywhere as everyone tried to escape the room at once. Zack, Sephiroth's best friend and sparring partner, managed to rush at the taller man and pin his sword, but Sephiroth was too quick for him. He leaned in and whispered something in Zack's ear, most likely whispering all sorts of horrible goodbyes, and then punched him right in the gut, sending the man flying across the room. He didn't rise again.
This, of course, only increased the hysteria of the room. In the frenzy, Sora slipped past Sephiroth and sprinted up the stairs, his heart hammering madly. He ran straight for Riku's room, but the place was empty. Undaunted, Sora headed into Sephiroth's room and for the third time that night, was frozen in place.
The room was covered in blood. Blood on the walls, blood on the carpet, blood on all of the furniture. Blood... Riku's blood... but no body. Curious. Once Sora managed to pluck up the courage to move again, he inched carefully into the room, trying desperately not to step on any of the blood, gazing around the room as best he could. Nope. Besides the blood, the room was empty.
Something smelled suspicious to Sora, so he abandoned Sephiroth's room and snooped around the other upstairs rooms. The panic that had taken hold of his heart slowly slid away, until the floorboards snapping underneath someone's foot warned him of another person nearby. Sora gulped sharply and ducked into a bathroom to his left. Footsteps rocketed toward his hiding place, and just as Sora was getting ready to bolt, his friends burst into the room. Roxas was leading, followed quickly by Kairi, Naminé, Demyx, Zexion, and Axel, who was constantly glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren't followed. Sora nearly screamed out of relief.
"Guys! You're safe! Over here, it's Sora!" Sora leapt out from behind the shower curtain and clung to his brother's neck, who patted his back awkwardly.
"Yeah, just barely. Sephiroth's gone completely insane. Besides Zack, he got Cloud, Tifa, and Marluxia already." Roxas reported grimly, sounding slightly nauseous. Sora shivered, tears leaking through his eyes.
"Any sign of his first victim up here?" Axel asked unhelpfully. Sora glared fiercely at the redhead through his tears.
"No. I checked his room and Sephiroth's room..." he gulped, trying unsuccessfully to swallow a huge lump in his throat. "Seph's room was covered in blood. But I didn't see Riku anywhere..."
"Maybe he got away then." Kairi suggested hopefully.
"With as much blood as Sora seems to be implying? Not a chance." Zexion said gruffly. Everyone scowled daggers at him, except Demyx, who was clinging to his neck.
"We don't really appreciate your pessimism right now, Zex." Roxas said coldly. Zexion just sent him a cynical stare and busied himself with nibbling Demyx's neck.
"Wait, what was that?" Sora squealed. And his sharp ears picked it up again; footsteps outside in the hall. Someone else was hiding upstairs with them. Everyone heard the steps that time.
"Should we go see who it is?" Kairi asked, somehow managing to stay quiet though her voice was rising octaves every time she spoke.
"What if it's Sephiroth?" Naminé whispered.
"Everyone else ran off to hide somewhere... this is a big house. It could be that someone else thought to hide upstairs." Roxas commented logically.
The footsteps were getting louder now, and everyone just remembered how loud they were talking. It wouldn't matter who it was, since they heard the group in the bathroom anyway. All the teens waited with baited breath as the door was thrown open.
As fate would have it, the mad killer Sephiroth was standing in the doorway. The whole group screamed terribly and all rushed at the door at once in an effort to throw Sephiroth off and push through the door. Sephiroth stayed calm, though, and caught Axel in the throat with his fist, sending the redhead flying backward into the bathroom. Roxas roared and dived after his friend in a last attempt to save him. Sora shoted and tried to go back to pull Roxas away, but Kairi caught his wrist and tugged him down the stairs, into the living room.
The party was dead. Everything was torn up. Food littered the floors, half the lights were blown out and the stereo had gone silent.
"Wait, where are the others?" Kairi whispered, mortified.
"What do you mean?" Sora questioned.
"The others, the ones he..." Kairi gulped, "killedalready. They aren't here anymore." Sora frowned around the room. She was right. He specifically remembered Zack falling not too far from the TV, and others should have been lying around the room too, if Roxas had been telling the truth. But the room was completely empty, save Sora and Kairi. Odd, the exact same had happened to Riku...
"Maybe Sephiroth moved them." Sora heard his own voice suggesting shakily. "Maybe... oh god, maybe he's going to take the bodies outside, rape them and dismember them so the police will never find the evidence! Oh god, oh god!"
"Rape them? Seriously, Sora?" Kairi sounded even a little bit amused underneath the terror. "Tifa, maybe... but the others? No way."
"Well, they didn't just get up and walk away!" Sora retorted defensively.
Then both teenagers' mouths snapped shut as a faint scream reached them. It sounded a lot like Demyx's voice, shrieking, "No! I'm too young and handsome to die! I have my whole career ahead of me! NOOO!" before mysteriously falling silent. Sora and Kairi only had to cling to each other for a few moments before Sephiroth once again cornered them. Sora and Kairi screeched at once, clinging tighter to each other.
"Well, Kairi, this is it." Sora sobbed.
"Yeah... Sora I never got to tell you," Kairi cried in a rush as Sephiroth advanced on them, "I'm gay."
Half of Sora completely forgot about the crazed murderer looming over them. "What?! Seriously?"
"Yeah, you know at Yuffie's birthday party last year, how we both kind of disappeared for an hour and a half..." Kairi seemed sheepish under Sora's intense stare.
"Well, my plans for asking you out just flew right out the window..." Sora lamented. Kairi patted his back comfortingly. Sephiroth looked ticked at being ignored. He cleared his throat ominously, drawing the two teens' attention back to him. They both started shrieking again.
"Don't kill us!!" they screamed at the same time, cowering against the wall. Sephiroth leered menacingly at them.
"Oh, I won't." Sephiroth promised in a deep, scary voice, which only increased the screaming. At least, until the teens figured out what he said.
"Wait... you won't?" Sora asked, confused. "This is the punchline, right? Now you're going to say something like, 'I won't kill you... quickly!', right?" Even Kairi had to giggle at Sora's attempt to deepen his voice, which failed on an astronomical scale.
"No." Sephiroth's face remained completely blank. "I meant what I said... and that is because..."
"... Because we got you good!!" another voice, one that Sora thought he would never hear again, burst out of the background. Sephiroth swept away to reveal his little brother Riku behind him, doubled over on the floor with laughter. Sora's and Kairi's faces twisted with irritation and confusion.
"Riku?! We thought you were dead!" Sora shouted at him. Riku wiped a few tears out of his eyes.
"Yeah, I know. That's the utter beauty of it all! Congratulations, Sora and Kairi, you are the official receivers of the prank of Halloween '08!" With this announcement, Riku was overcome with peals of laughter again and couldn't speak.
All around them, the other party-goers were coming out, all of them joining in the laughter. Zack, grinning jovially, waltzed over and clapped Sephiroth on the shoulder. Axel was clinging to Roxas's shoulder, trying to hold himself up against the force of his laughter. Demyx and Zexion were in the same state.
When Riku composed himself again, he stood up and helped his childhood friends up from the wall, smiling too widely to be legal. Despite themselves, smiles took over the faces of Sora and Kairi as they both hugged Riku.
"Riku, you jerk!" Sora laughed. "I call that Ihost the party next year!"
The annual Halloween party was a huge event, but the annual Halloween prank made by the party's host was even bigger.
Author's Note: You know the drill! Review please! And if you could give me advice on whether I should leave the gay parts out of my Creative Writing paper or not, that would be nice too.
