Karin: Hey people

Karin: Hey people! Since it's October, I promised myself I would write a Halloween fic in celebration of… well, Halloween! Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: For the life of me, I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Title: The Nightmare on Halloween

Rating: Teen

Pairing: Sora/Namine

Genres: Fantasy/Romance/Humor/Drama

Summary: She hated Halloween; in fact, Namine Kizuki could very well say she downright loathed Halloween. However, fate seems to have other plans for Namine when she somehow winds up in Halloween Town—a place were it's all about Halloween all the time. Will she be able to get home back to the normal world or will she find herself falling in love with the Pumpkin Prince? Sora/Namine


Twas a Long Time Ago

Longer Now than it seems

In a place that perhaps you've seen

In Your Dreams.

For the Story

You Are about to be told

Took place in the Holiday Worlds of Old.

Now You Probably Wonder

Where Holidays Come From.

If You Haven't

I Say it's Time you Begun

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The Nightmare on Halloween

Chapter One:

The Door

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An alarm blared noisily sitting on the nightstand beside a bed with dark blue covers. The covers were curled up over what appeared to be a blob since the person under it was not visible. The alarm continued to scream as the blob of blankets shifted before going still again.

After what seemed like forever with the insufferable alarm going off, a pale hand reached out from under the haven of the covers and felt around for the black digital clock disoriented. Once it grasped what appeared to be the evil menace, the hand raised and banged on it hard to shut it up. With the noise gone, the hand once again disappeared back under the blanket to resume blissful slumber.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

…Maybe that was too much to ask for apparently.

An exasperated groan sounded from under the mass of comforters. Once again, the pale hand reached out—this time not disoriented—and grasped the solid object known as the alarm clock and chucked it against the wall.

Ah, silence once more.

"Namine!" a voice called.

'Can't someone get sleep around here?!' Cerulean eyes opened irritably. A head with messy blonde locks poked out from under the covers to look at the clock—the one that wasn't destroyed—on her wall reading 7:05am. The female made a whiny sort of noise before turning her bed head towards the calendar on her wall.

It read the 31 of October.

Another whining noise erupted from her parted lips before the voice from before called her name again. Running a pale hand through her messy locks, the blonde dragged herself towards the window sill.

There on her front lawn stood a girl at fifteen—the age she herself was—with long dark chestnut hair down to her mid back and sparkling emerald eyes. Her skin—unlike her own pale color—was a healthy tone with a slight flush on her cheeks from running here.

The girl wore a light blue plaid skirt with a long sleeve white blouse and matching light blue plaid tie. On her legs were navy blue knee socks and black school shoes. When her emerald eyes caught sight of tired azure ones, the girl's face uplifted into an enthusiastic smile and waved up to her.

The blonde—despite despising her slumber being interrupted—gave a sleepy smile with a slight wave before going back into her room to change for school. Once she was done, the blonde haired girl raced down the stairs and put on her black tennis shoes before opening and locking the front door behind her.

"Good morning" the brunette female greeted her when her friend approached her.

"Morning" the blonde haired girl greeted back meanwhile finishing off her low ponytail resting on her right shoulder. Both of them then proceeded to travel to their learning institution known as school all the while with the brunette smiling cheerfully while the blonde walked with half lidded eyes in drowsiness.

"Why did school have to be so early?" the blonde asked. Her friend smiled sympathetically and patted her on the back.

"It's not so bad. Some high schools make their students get up at six instead of seven" the brunette replied.

"Which is really stupid if you ask me" the blonde said. A low grumble then sounded from her stomach making her clutch it as a red flush spread across her cheeks.

Her friend let out a giggle and reached into her bag to retrieve something. She brought out a wrapped breakfast sandwich and handed it to the blonde.

"No, what's stupid is the fact that you never wake up in time to eat breakfast making me have to feed you" the brunette told her with humor shining in her emerald orbs.

"Thank you" the blonde said with a soft smile and proceeded to nibble on her tasty treat. Still, it wasn't her fault that she was as dead as a rock in the morning.

"Ah! I can't wait until tonight! There's going to be a party at Hayner's at six today, you know" the girl said smiling excitedly. It was clear she was the more outgoing and bubbly of the two.

"Oh really? Did you tell him you like him yet?" the blonde asked with genuine curiously. The brunette's smile disappeared as her face mirrored that of a tomato.

"Namine! Stop teasing me!" the brunette exclaimed embarrassed.

The blonde held up her hands in a defensive manner and took a step back.

"Woah, easy there Olette. I was just asking" she replied to pacify her friend. She then took another bite out of her breakfast sandwich and continued walking along the sidewalk. The brunette walked beside her.

"Yeah, but it's so embarrassing!" she whined to the blonde while blushing. Talking about the brunette's crush on their other friend always made her embarrassed.

The blonde smiled gently and patted her on the head.

"Why are you embarrassed? Hayner obviously likes you" the blonde said to her friend. The brunette's head snapped up to look at her shocked.

"He does?" she asked in surprise. To this, the other girl could only raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"You didn't know? Olette, you're the smartest one out of all of us and you didn't even think that his stuttering and clumsiness around you meant that he likes you?" the blonde asked incredulously.

"When you like someone, Nami, that's when you'll understand" the brunette said sagely in which caused the other girl to roll her eyes.

"Whatever, but it's either you tell him or I will" the blonde told her. The brunette knew that she wouldn't do it; her friend would never do something like that to her. However, she did see what her friend was trying to get across.

"Alright, I'll say something tonight, but you have to be there" her friend told her stubbornly.

"Why would I?" asked the blonde. She then turned her head to stared ahead "Pff, as if there's anything festive about today" she muttered but her friend heard her perfectly.

"Come on," the brunette took her arm as they walked. The brunette was two inches shorter than her standing at 5'3 while the blonde was at 5'5. "You never go to any parties. Can't you make an exception at least for today?" she pleaded her friend.

"It's Halloween. There's nothing to make exceptions about" the blonde said remorsefully.

Namine Kizuki was a shy girl at the age of fifteen who kept to herself most of the time and had the tendency of being socially awkward to anyone not close to her meaning anyone not close friends and family. She for the most part was average and a little on the pale side making her seem like a ghost if you only flickered your gaze to her for a split second. She never stands out nor does she fit in with any cliques only having three friends since elementary. The reclusive girl—despite being reserved and quiet—was very caring when it came to her friends and had the tendency to take the role on as the "big sister". It wasn't really noticeable of course, but Hayner, Pence, and Olette could always see the subtle hints now and then letting them know she was always be there for them.

Consequently though, there was one more thing about Namine Kizuki that needed to be said…

…she hated Halloween.

No, that's not right; she downright loathed Halloween.

Of course, it wasn't always like that. Olette could recall a time in her life when Namine was very fond of Halloween—in fact, it was her favorite day of the year when Namine was younger.

But then there was the drastic change; it's been about ten years now and Namine's hatred for this day was as strong as ever. Hayner, Pence, and herself tried to get Namine to move on, to love Halloween like she did when she was a child, but nothing had worked.

This day was just too painful for Namine Kizuki.

Olette Fujioka—her best friend since preschool—knew that more than anyone.

The brunette let out a sigh as Namine suddenly lost her appetite. She felt Olette's grip on her arm tighten slightly in a comforting manner letting her childhood friend know that she was there.

They walked like that the rest of the way in silence.

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"Happy Halloween!" A boy with exhilarated brown eyes and wild light brown hair shouted when he saw the two girls walking towards them. He wore the boys' uniform required for their school which was only light blue plaid pants instead of a skirt. Also, like Namine, he wore running sneakers instead of the school dress shoes.

"Namine's not going Hayner" Olette said when they were in front of him. The boy, Hayner, had his jaw drop in disbelief.

"Again?! Come on big sis! It's not going to kill you to have a little fun!" Hayner waved his arms up and down like a turkey trying to get away from being Thanksgiving dinner.

"Yes, but your special punch most likely will" Namine replied and walked past him.

"Okay, so I put alcohol in it by accident and got everyone drunk, but that was only once!" he shouted and chased after her with Olette behind him.

"Hey Namine" a plump boy with wild dark brown hair and warm brown eyes greeted when he saw the blonde walk into the school.

"Morning Pence" Namine said smiling slightly. Pence raised an eyebrow when he noticed Hayner running towards the school entrance with an enraged expression on his face and appeared to be yelling something.

"What's with Hayner?" he asked her.

"I brought up the special punch incident" Namine said sheepishly.

"You mean where he took some apple juice and put some in his punch and it turned out to be alcohol?" Pence asked curiously. Namine nodded.

"Evil big sis! It's rude to walk away when someone's talking to you!" Hayner scolded Namine when he entered the school building.

"You should learn to follow your own advice" Olette growled at him panting. She then brought up her fist and brought it down on his poor skull. Hayner let out a yap and turned to glare at Olette.

"What was that for, Olette?!" he yelled at her.

"For you being an idiot!" she retorted fiercely.

Pence let out a sigh and rolled his eyes at his friends' antics. Honestly, why couldn't they just admit they liked each other?

"Okay you two," he brought himself in between them with a tired exasperated look. After all, he was the one to usually break up their squabbles on a daily basis, "Time to stop fighting like a married couple and get to class" he told them with a teasing note in his voice..

At that statement, both Hayner's and Olette's faces turned bright vibrant red and began venomously protesting Pence's statement. Namine just carried a fond smile as she watched them while they all proceeded to class.

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The day had remained uneventful. Namine, Olette, Hayner, and Pence treated the day like any other. Hayner didn't bring up the subject of Halloween again since this morning for he knew his "big sis" didn't like Halloween. Pence kept up normal conversation whereas Olette and Hayner bickered about things such as schoolwork and how lazy Hayner is not to do it.

Namine walked into her front door with an exhausted sigh escaping her lips. She slipped off her tennis shoes and trudged towards the living room. Dropping her bag on the floor, she allowed her body to do an ungraceful plop on the sofa. She was deadbeat tired.

The fifteen-year-old felt her eyes droop and her body begin to relax. Without much struggle, she let sleep take her.

Five-year-old Namine sat in her living room impatiently. Her big, innocent cerulean eyes drifted to the grandfather clock in the foyer for the hundredth time before going back to the carpeted floor on the living room.

A man in his mid-twenties came in to see her kicking her legs back and forth and taking quick glances at the clock every five seconds. His identical cerulean eyes sparked in amusement at her behavior.

"Namine," he called out to her from the edge of the living room. The child snapped her head up to look at him. Her pale blonde hair a more neutral shade than his vibrant blonde hair.

"How come Mama ain't home yet?" she asked him continuously swinging her legs back and forth. The man smiled slightly—something that people assumed were out of his character if they did not know him—and walked over to his child. He sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap gently.

"Mama has work to do before she can come home" the man told her stroking her hair.

"Well, how come she doesn't come home the same time as you do?" Namine tilted her head to the side cutely.

"It's different where she works" her father told her, "But don't worry, she'll be home soon" he told his child. This brought a big smile to appear on Namine's face.

"That's good! Then I can show Mama my cool cat costume!" Namine cheered. She was wearing a black cat suit complete with big cute cat ears, whiskers on her face, and her nose was painted black. The hood with the cat ears attached was currently not on her head though.

Suddenly the phone rang bringing the two out of their chat. Namine raced off her father's lap and jumped up to reach the phone on the stand in the foyer of their house.

"Hi Mama!" her adorable voice said happily. A female laugh sounded on the other line when she heard her.

"Now, Namine, didn't we tell you to say 'Kizuki Residence'?" asked the woman on the other line.

"Yeah, but I knew it was Mama so I didn't need to say that!" Namine said beaming. "Mama, when are you getting home? Papa says it's soon, but soon is taking too long" Namine said in all one breath.

"Well, soon is what you'll have to deal with, Namine" her mother said amused at her daughter's impatience. This caused a pout to appear on Namine's face.

"Really? But I can't wait that long" Namine said.

"Well, why don't you get your father to take you out trick-or-treating instead?" the older woman suggested on the other line. To this, Namine shook her head vigorously.

"Uh-uh; Mama promised she'd take me out" Namine reminded her. Another laugh sounded.

"You're right, I'm sorry" her mother said to her. "Okay, I'll try to hurry as soon as I can, okay?"

"Kay!" Namine replied enthusiastic.

"Bye, sweetie. I love you"

"Bye Mama. I love you too!" Namine said before she hung up the phone and went back to her father where they watched television until her mother would walk through the door with her usual sheepish grin.

Namine never got to see her mother grinning at the doorway…

Azure eyes snapped open and Namine sat up with a jolt. She raised a hand to her eyes to rub them sleepily. The grandfather clock on the wall chimed seven. The same exact time when Namine had found out she had lost her mother forever.

A police officer had called them at seven, she remembered. It was getting dark and her father was wondering where his wife was. They spoke for a few minutes quietly as she sat on the couch waiting for her father to join her once more.

Namine would never forget the sorrowful expression her father wore when he reentered the living room. Her father hadn't been able to smile in years after that day.

Oh how she remembered him taking her into his lap and quietly explain to her what he heard from that dreaded call! Her mother was hit by some drunk teenagers while driving. Her car skidded off the road and collided with other cars exploding on impact.

Her mother never had a chance.

Unconsciously, a pale hand reached into her blouse and took out a thin silver chain with a skinny silver ring hanging on it. It was simple, yet elegant with a garnet gem in the middle of the top. Her mother never really wore her wedding ring with her to work since she had a tendency to lose things. It was the only thing she had of her deceased mother.

She never once departed from it since that day.

The front door opened and closed with a click signaling the other occupant of the house has returned from work. A man in his mid-to-late-thirties walked in sluggishly. He had blonde spiky hair and identical cerulean eyes as the teenager.

His daughter, her father.

"Hey Dad," Namine greeted out tiredly. Her father nodded in her direction before going upstairs most likely to take a nap from a long day. Namine didn't mind; she was quite used to her father's brooding behavior. She supposed she had inherited her quiet and reserved nature from him.

Still, he was never the same since her mother had passed away. His smiles—which were gentle and fatherly—hardly ever shown. Namine couldn't recall a time in which her father had smiled since her mother's abrupt passing. Nonetheless, the girl never pushed her father. After all, she too experienced and still was experiencing the same grief.

Deciding that it was time for dinner to get started, the teen rose from the couch and walked into the kitchen to prepare her meal knowing that her father would not join her.

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'Olette and the others are probably having a fun time' the blonde thought as she looked at the clock in her bedroom. It was well near nine thirty and Namine remained engulfed in her homework. Writing down another answer for her math assignment, her ears perked up when she heard the hallway and stairs creaking. Her father was awake, she thought and continued with the next problem not bothering to go downstairs to greet him. She made sure to wrap his dinner and leave it out where he could see it.

It was another twenty minutes before Namine placed down her pencil worn out from work. A voice in the back of her mind told her that she had to finish her English paper, but Namine couldn't care less. Her head dropped onto the desk and her azure eyes drooped in slumber yet sleep did not claim her.

Her azure eyes just stared at nothing while she lied there. A distant thought in her mind interrupted her foggy senses telling her she hadn't heard her father come up the stairs again. Wanting to have any excuse really to get away from homework, the blonde haired girl rose up from her workload at the desk and proceeded downstairs into the foyer soundlessly.

Her steps were light and quiet across the wooden polished foyer. Another trait she inherited from her father—Hayner once joked that she could sneak up on people without even trying, like a spy or FBI agent.

When she reached the entrance of the living room, she didn't walk any further. Cloaked by the shadows of the foyer, Namine watched with her eyes widening slightly.

Her father was there, sitting on the couch by the dim lighting of the lamp. He was quiet and unmoving except for the occasional page turn. Consequently, that was not what shocked her. It was what he was looking at.

It was their old photo album.

And when Namine meant old, she meant the one filled with her mother's pictures. From her parents wedding to Namine's birth to her early childhood. Everything was there. That photo album was a symbol of their happiness before October 31st nearly ten years ago. It was like all the life they once had was sucked and preserved into that single, dusty photo album.

She just stood there watching him with painful cerulean eyes. She was so sure they had locked up that album in the attic. Neither one of them had the courage to ever look at it. It just hurt too much.

Another part of her though had questions racing in her mind. Did her father look at the album every October 31st? Did he force himself to remember the good times with their mother even though it felt like a thousand knives were slicing through them every time they saw a remembrance of her mother's smile?

He was hurt just as she was. Nevertheless, her father had a different way of dealing with his grief she supposed. Maybe instead of refusing to acknowledge this day as anything fun and festive, he focused on remembering the good times before tragedy enveloped them.

She honestly could say she didn't know why he put himself through the pain. He turned a page and wiped his face softly—as if he was erasing any nonexistent tears—gazing at more of its contents. After her mother's passing, both father and daughter had locked away any pictures of their life when her mother was alive. The blue walls were bare of any photographs whatsoever.

They haven't taken a picture together since.

She felt it. She felt his pain—the mirror of her own pain. It hurt; all of it just hurt. Standing there and watching her father show emotion for the first time in years, only for it to be shown by grieving, made the impact of her mother's death hit her like a truck just as the day when he had told her her mother was gone from this world. The wounds opened themselves breaking her heart.

Namine didn't know why she was backing up slowly to the back door in the kitchen, but she just wanted to get away. Far away. She felt so alienated seeing her father openly grieving for their loss. Her shaking hand grasped the doorknob tightly and turned it softly never taking her eyes off him.

Once she was out of the door, she bolted and ran straight into the cloaking shadows of the night.

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Her black tennis shoes beat against the dirt ground of the woods behind her house. She didn't know how long she was running for but her head just kept screaming at her to run, to not stop for anything.

To not look back.

Her lungs and legs on the other hand couldn't comply with her brain's commands. Tired and out of breath, Namine's legs wobbled causing her to slide down to the ground on a tree for support. Perspiration hung on her face as she greedily gulped oxygen into her system.

Once she was done catching her breath, the teen looked at her surroundings. Tall, dark trees only met her view. How deep was she in the forest? Where was she even in this vast leafy domain? She had no idea how where she was going now nor did she contemplate on her sudden rush of adrenaline running away from her house. She just needed to get away from reality for a bit and forget about the horrible aching in her heart.

The teen hugged her knees to her chest shivering slightly from the cold night air. Needing a source of comfort, the girl pulled out her necklace with her mother's wedding ring and let in hang by one of her hands.

The garnet was very beautiful—her favorite jewel actually. Her mother once told her that when she was younger, her father had gotten a garnet for the gemstone because it matched her eyes. Her mother's eyes were indeed very beautiful. She once remembered being jealous of her mother's eyes and asked why she didn't have them.

"It's because you look much more beautiful with blue eyes" she had said.

Namine bit her lip as she stared at the trinket to keep her from sobbing. Tears began to stream down her pale face as she thought of her mother. Oh how she missed her. Why did her mother have to die? Her mother was a kind and gracious woman. She didn't deserve to die!

Her head tucked into her knees crying. She felt incredibly alone in this dark forest.

All of a sudden, a bark sounded and her mother's ring was snatched away from her hand. The blonde's head snapped up to see a white thing with a speck of red light flying away with her mother's ring.

"Hey! Come back here!" Namine exclaimed and left her spot on the ground in pursuit of the white… err… thing. Her legs pushed her to go faster unless she wanted to lose the most precious thing to her.

She couldn't lose it. Not her mother's ring.

Namine pushed herself harder in order to keep up with the thief. The muscles in her legs whined out in displeasure for having to run so much, but Namine ignored it. There was no way she was stopping when that thing had her mother's ring!

Keeping the creature in her sights, Namine used her remaining adrenaline to pursue him. Her pursuit of the creatures caused her to go through multiple twists and turns deeper into the deep and empty forest. Her bearings were frazzled and her heart pounded against her chest in fear of the possibility of losing her most precious thing in the world.

Too preoccupied in her thoughts of her mother's memento, the blonde failed to notice the tree branch right in front of her face. She made a rough impact with the branch and lost her balance tumbling down the dirty and rocky slope consisting of several thorn bushes and stray twigs.

Finally hitting solid ground, the girl let out a painful groan. Everywhere her body felt immensely sore. Namine straightened herself up seeing that she had several scrapes and her clothes were dirty and tousled.

Standing up and fixing her clothes, Namne looked around wondering where she was. She was still in the forest that was certain as there was trees even despite the change in elevation, but she had a feeling she was very far from town due to the fact that no lights at all were in view.

An owl hooted making the poor girl jump in fright. Great, now she was stuck in the middle of nowhere lost, sore, and miserable. Could it get any worse?

Suddenly, the barking of the creature almost made her jump out of her skin. It did some flips around her playfully allowing Namine to see what exactly the culprit was.

It was… a dog?

The white floating dog then flew away towards the middle of the ditch. It wasn't as fast as before permitting the girl to follow him with her eyes. She then watched cautiously while the dog flew towards the middle tree.

However, this tree was not any normal tree. Smack dab in the middle of the trunk staring at her in the face was a door the shape of a large pumpkin. The blonde shrank back a little as its face leered at her creepily.

The dog barked again at her before disappearing straight through it. Namine stared in disbelief and pinched herself a couple times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. I mean, there was no way that flying dog just went through that door without it opening, right?

…Right?

She wanted to turn back. She wanted to climb up the slope she fell down and try to find her way home. But a nagging voice in the back of her mind told her to follow the dog. After all, he had her mother's ring; and if she wanted her mother's ring, she had to follow the dog.

Gulp. No matter how much she had a bad feeling by doing so.

With the thought of her mother's ring in her head like a mantra, Namine proceeded to the creepy door hesitantly. She concentrated on the thought of her mother's ring in order to ignore the pumpkin grinning evilly at her. She felt like it knew something she didn't. As if it knew exactly what she was getting into if she opened that door.

A shaky hand reached out and grasped the wooden doorknob that was the pumpkin's nose. The rough bark jagged on her fingers. Taking a deep breath and counting to three, she swung the door open with her eyes shut tight.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Namine opened her eyes to peer inside. There was nothing there. All it was was black. She placed a hand inside and waved it up and down as if she was expecting something to be there. She stepped closer placed her head in looking around. Nothing—only empty, pitch darkness. Even sound was lost on this hollow confinement.

All of a sudden, a harsh wind blew from inside the door. Namine panicky tried to move away from it, but it was too late.

"Ah!" she yelped out trying to regain her balance but ended up tumbling forward into the dark abyss.

The wind pulled her forward and the door shut behind her making her fall into the dark empty depths of the confides of the door.

Or at least, what she perceived to be empty. Oh, how Namine was wrong.

It was far from empty.


Karin: Okay! There you have it! I hope you liked the first chapter to my first chaptered Namine/Sora story. Please leave a review on the way out. Thank you!

By the way, if any of you are wondering—Hayner and Namine are not related. He just calls her "big sis" because he's showing his respect for her and the fact that she is indeed older than him by a couple of months. Hayner looks up to Namine as his big sister since she always looks out for him. Sorry, just wanted to explain that if anyone was confused.

Preview of Chapter Two:

"W-Where am I?" Namine asked herself with wide eyes frantically taking in her surroundings. All the trees were barren and she could see the yellow full moon hang eerily in the black sky. She tried to figure out where she was but all her mind was doing was coming to blanks.

End of Preview: Ooh! Namine's in an unknown place of some sorts! Of course, we all know where she ended up. Hehe!

See ya Next time!