"Hellooooo there?" Fai called as the group stood before the iron gates. "Anybody home?"
"We need to enter, please!" Syaoran yelled.
There was silence on the other side of the gates for a while, and then someone beyond cleared its throat.
"Er…eh…" it said, the voice high pitched and reedy. "Er…"
"You gonna let us in, our not?!" Kurogane yelled angrily. It had been a long night, and Fai had chattered incessantly during their trip up.
"Er…state your business!"
"We just need a place to stay!" Syaoran called.
"Hm…why?"
Kurogane let out an angry snarl and drew Sohi. "Because it's been a long trip, we're all tired, and I've got a sword!"
What sounded like a hurried, whispered conversation took place beyond the gates. All the four could see beyond was a town square, with a fountain in the center, surrounded by buildings. Syaoran thought they looked rather grim for houses, but he'd been to many worlds, and seen much stranger things…
Finally, the reedy voice cried out "Okay! I can let you in now! Welcome to Halloween Town! Ahahahaha!"
This immediately set the conscious members of the group, even Mokona, on guard. They exchanged a glance, and then Kurogane shrugged and led the way inside. Syaoran nodded. If it was a choice between letting Sakura sleep with a roof over her head or braving the graveyard again, he was more than willing to risk it. Fai, with Mokona still piggy-backing on him, trailed behind.
There was no sign of the mysterious gatekeeper, and Syaoran paused by the fountain, staring around. "I don't like this place," he murmured. "I don't think…it's safe here…"
"Then why'd we come?" asked Kurogane testily, sitting down. Fai peered at the fountain and chuckled.
"Kuro-chan, are you sure it's safe to sit on a fountain with green water?" he asked.
Kurogane glanced at the water gushing from the fountain behind him, spotted its poisonous green color, and hurriedly leapt up.
Syaoran was just about to suggest that they leave, cemetery or not, when an earsplitting shriek cut through the silence, making them all jump and bunch together.
"Mokona agrees with Syaoran…" said Mokona with a shudder, using its ears to cover its eyes.
And then they heard another sound, the sound…
…of singing.
"Boys and girls of every age.
Would you like to see something strange?"
A shadow flitted across the wall in front of them, immediately setting Kurogane into a battle stance.
"Come with us and you will see,
in our town of Halloween…"
Syaoran and Fai were positive they felt something tap them on the shoulders. Both of them whirled around, but there was nothing there. That soon became just another minor worry, however, when the singing broke out again…
"This is Halloween! This is Halloween!
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!
Trick or treat 'till the neighbor's gonna
DIE OF FRIGHT!"
Two ghosts flew out of the fountain, moaning horribly and flying straight through Syaoran. Spiraling away, both ghosts continued the song:
"It's our town! Everybody scream!
In our town of Halloween…"
Sakura chose that moment to stir in Syaoran's arms. Staring up at him, bleary-eyed, she asked "Syaoran? What's going on?"
"I don't know," said Syaoran, setting her on her feet. Sakura noted the urgency in his voice. "But stay behind me!"
Fai was the next to receive the surprise when something jumped out at him from under a bench, a great shaggy thing, all hair and fangs and blood red eyes.
"I am the one hiding under your bed!
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!"
Kurogane, about to set to work on the thing, was distracted when something slithered over his foot.
"I am the one hiding under your stairs.
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!"
Sakura, as the "Stair Monster" rose up in front of her and Syaoran and hissed, the snakes it had for fingers hissing as well, let out a scream of terror.
"This is Halloween! This is Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!"
A door opened to the right of Syaoran and Sakura, and four vampires strode out boldly. As they prowled towards Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona, the vampires sang:
"In this town we call home
everyone hail to the—"
They got no farther. The monsters had crossed the line when Sakura had screamed. Syaoran, rage bubbling inside of him, pulled out Hien and slashed at the vampires.
Kurogane and Fai saw it, and at the gasps of horror that echoed around the square knew that Syaoran had just made their lives a whole lot more difficult.
The vampires leapt back and then, as one, let out a bone-chilling wail and turned into bats that swarmed over Syaoran, nipping at his exposed skin, and tugging at his hair. Sakura gasped again and tried to help Syaoran swat the bats away, but they wouldn't be dislodged.
Fai was about to go and help, but then the shaggy monster tackled him from behind, bearing the man to the ground. Kurogane soon ended up in the same fix, when a large pumpkin flew out of nowhere and exploded in his face. Wiping goop out of his eyes, he soon had another problem to contend with when a witch on a broom flew straight for him!
"STOP!!!"
And, at the bellowed order, the chaos…stopped. The monster on top of Fai froze. The witch landed. The bats disentangled themselves from the children. The monsters that had poured out into the square, surrounding Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona froze…and parted.
An avenue was left clear, and someone or something was striding towards them.
"Friends, friends!" said the newcomer placatingly, speaking to the crowd of monsters. "Come now! We got caught a little off guard, but so what? These people had the power to frighten even us, the masters of terror! Anyone with that kind of power should be welcomed here! Come on! Let's give them a frightful welcome!"
The newcomer was over six feet high, tall enough to look Fai in the eye. He was dressed in a black and white vertically striped suit, with a bowtie under his chin. In fact, he would have looked like a gentleman…
…if it weren't for the fact that he was a skeleton. Just a skeleton, his polished bones gleaming in the moonlight. But, whoever or whatever he was, the monsters let out a scream that actually sounded…cheerful. Like, with a few short sentences, their attitude about the newcomers had been completely reversed.
Somehow that was just as scary.
So, how'd my little musical number turn out? There will be more.
