In the last hours of October, during the last bits of enjoying Halloween, I try to be stylefully late and post accordingly, a Halloween Special!

Like the Christmas Special, this chapter is OOC, and is disconnected from the rest of the story, just meant to show how the cast would celebrate Halloween and as a little fun in between their regular story. Next chapter, the crew will be right where they were again, continuing the story. So if you want, you can fully skip this chapter and just wait for the next^-^ (Please don't though, I put effort in this and would love to have it read)
Also, I wrote this in about the span of a day, so for those who fear this is the other part of the massive chapter I split in two, don't worry, that material is still in the waiting and shall arrive in time:3

Well, lastly, I hope you will enjoy this one too^-^ Reviews or PMs are always enjoyed and fully welcome, as always!

Halloween Special

'Hayden, can I ask why the fuck people have been acting like it's a pumpkin fuckfest for over a whole week already now?' a partly curious and partly irritated Vi asked Hayden over a lunch snack in the kitchen on the middle of October the 31st, gesturing at Ellie, who was in the living room and happily cutting a creepily smiling face in a pumpkin she just had brought in.

'Look at the date and your language, sweetheart.' Elise casually replied before Hayden could respond, while turning over a page in the book she was reading. Vi threw the mage seated at the kitchen table as well a quick scowl and turned towards the calendar on the wall, tracing over the days with her finger.

'It's Wednesday today, right?' she asked to be sure, frowning her brows a bit in doubt.

'Glad to hear you're mentally capable of keeping track of the weekdays, dear.' Elise mused, letting the sarcastic tone freely flow through her words.

'And it's the thirty-first...' Vi mumbled, temporarily ignoring Elise's remark. '...WAIT.'

She firmly slammed her hand down on the wall next to the calendar, making Hayden reflexively look up in concern for the wall's well-being.

'Is THIS how you people go around the Harrowing?'

-'Yeah, that's more or less it...' Hayden apologetically smirked at seeing Vi's surprised face. The Piltoverian woman took another look at Ellie cutting out a face in the pumpkin with a smile and back to Elise, who was still focusing on the pages in front of her rather than the confused face of her fellow Runeterran.

'And of course you knew all about this, right?'

Elise gave her hair an exaggerated flick and looked at her nails.

'Dear, I come from the Shadow Isles, sure I would remember when it's our time to party, right?' she smirked with a sugary sweet tone, letting her eyes gleam blood red for a split-second. Vi made a disapproving sound and lowered her arm again.

'As long as you keep your witchcraft far away from this.'

Elise let out a honest laugh and flipped a page in the book, glancing over at Vi.

'Scared, little puppy? I'm sure my magic would fit perfectly in this atmosphere. Look at how spooky they're trying to be.'

She gestured at the various attributes Ellie was and had been setting up next to the pumpkins, like bats and skeleton figures. 'And to be honest, this preference for black decoration all over fits me well. If this keeps up, I'll honestly look forward to what tonight might bring.'

-'Maybe you can help Ellie, she'd love having more enthusiastic people.' Hayden grinned, noticing the genuine interest the woman seemed to have worked up beneath her unusual calm demeanor. Elise filled her cheeks with air and let it out in a long stretched breath.

'Dear me, no. I'm not that far gone yet. Maybe when the dear starts to bring in spiders, I might give it a chance. Speaking about things that fit us, where's Zyra hanging about now that Ellie's molesting those pumpkins?'

Vi started laughing at the mage's question, and Hayden also had to grin widely, quickly turning into full laughing thanks to Vi's laughter, making Elise raise a brow in confusion. He waved to gesture the hilarity was not meant at her question and tried to stop laughing to explain.

'We...had to laugh at things that happened before and your question made us think of...well, you couldn't know since you were out, but-'

His sentence was interrupted by a cluttering sound coming from the attic door at the other side of the kitchen. Immediately after, the handle was pulled down and a somewhat dirt-covered Zyra stepped out, briefly blinking because of the bright kitchen light.

'Talk about the flower devil.' Elise smiled. 'What have you been up to, dear?'

Zyra quickly glanced over her clothes and brushed off some dirt spots, a bit suspecting about Elise's sudden curiousity.

'A good day to you too, spider demon.' she replied in kind, it being the first time today seeing the other mage. 'Why the random interest?'

Elise just gestured at the other two.

'Ask your dear boyfriend and Punchie, they started laughing as soon as I asked where you were since I hadn't seen you since I arrived here, and I have been here since lunch, I think. But really though, what are you doing? Ellie is molesting plants in the name of the Harrowing and you just disappear?'

Hayden snorted out again when hearing Vi's new nickname, but a reply from the Piltoverian or Zyra herself were drowned out by Ellie storming into the kitchen in response to the noise, knife still in hand and ready.

'Zyra? Are you back?' she enthusiastically called out, immediately locking onto her target with her bright blue eyes.

'Oh god no…' Zyra sighed. Elise raised her brow again.

'So you are at the root of this after all?'

-'Start of what?' Ellie curiously asked, comically turning her whole body to the new questioner. Elise pointed at the slowly-trying-to-sneak-away Zyra with her thumb.

'Why did she lock herself in the basement for the whole seeming day so far and why does everyone start to laugh when I ask about it?'

To this, Zyra just gave up and let her head bump against the basement door in defeat and Ellie just started to laugh in the same fashion as Hayden and Vi did before, soon joined by Vi and Hayden once more.

'Okay, this is genuinely starting to concern me, I might need a reality check. Where's Riven when you need her?' Elise commented in between the laughing group with a small sigh, putting down her book. A soft knocking sound coming from the living room drew everyone's attention.

'Here i am, dear.' Riven said in a pretty good imitation of Zyra's way of mocking Elise's speech, standing in the door frame with a curious smile. 'I could hear you all the way into the backyard. What's going on?'

-'You're a lifesaver, sweetheart. They might have gone crazy here.' Elise sighed, acting overly relieved. 'What in the world has Ellie or Zyra, or both, done that makes everyone here lose it as soon as I ask?'

To her surprise, Riven quickly hid her mouth behind a hand, slightly bending over and averting her eyes. Elise narrowed her slightly glowing eyes.

'Riven, no. Don't do this to me.'

The warrior tried her best to stop herself from shaking, but soon enough her soft laughter joined the chorus of people losing it in the kitchen, leaving a bummed Zyra still resting her head against the basement door and Elise for once leaning back in her seat and giving up.

'This is fine. I'll just wait until Quinn and Ezreal return. They better be sane or I'll personally call the Harrowing over to this realm.'

-hours earlier-

'Zyra?' Hayden tried, hearing movement behind him as he sat at the kitchen table for breakfast alone. No answer, but two hands gently embraced him from behind and trailed down a bit as their owner bent over. Tresses of red hair fell in front of his vision as he turned his head to see, and he immediately felt soft, full lips touching his as Zyra gave him a loving kiss to greet him.

'Goodmorning, love.' she smiled after she broke the kiss again. Hayden grinned in return, seeing her stand there in morning robes.

'You must be very certain that no one is around to act that open, aren't you?' he teased her, playfully tickling her cheek. She puffed her cheeks in return and ruffled through his hair, stepping away from his chair.

'Or maybe I'm just less caring about it by now, hmm?' Zyra continued, opening the fridge and taking out the milk.

'You, less caring about Ellie? Who are you and what have you done to Zyra?' Hayden laughed as she took seat next to him.

'At least try to encourage me when I show more confidence, maybe.' the redhead frowned, looking genuinely offended for a bit. Hayden put down his bread and brought his both hands to her face, brushing through her crimson hair. He saw her both eyes curiously switching between his eyes as he brought his face closer. They started showing the trademark drops of gold in her anticipation, a peculiar sight he could look at forever. But most noticeably, they showed the love and affection she held so deeply, reflected in that myriad of blue and golden, and he couldn't help but smile.

'...Hayden?' he heard her voice, pulling him back and making his time tick again. Quickly, he reached forward and gave her a gentle kiss, which she gladly answered, surprised, but quickly putting her hands around his neck.

'...I love it when you show confidence, don't worry.' he smiled, moving his head back. She playfully rolled her eyes.

'I wasn't that upset, okay-…'

The last tone of the word halted in the middle of being pronounced as her eyes trailed from him to the counter behind him. It was decorated with a small, carved out pumpkin in celebration of Halloween.

'What,' she began, pointing at the little vegetable, 'is that abomination?'

Hayden followed the trail of her finger and raised his brows in surprise when the pumpkin came into sight.

'Hmm? That's a decorative pumpkin. It's a tradition we have here to decorate our houses with during the festivities of Halloween, which is today. I guess Ellie put it there, she loves carving out several different...you look severely pissed.' he ended his explanation abruptly, looking back at her and noticing a scowl forming on her face. She raised her brows and quickly massaged her forehead with one hand, brushing away some stray strands of hair in the process.

'It's just, eh...the usual reaction. For me, my heritage, this just is needless torture of the dead.'

Zyra let go of a breath and smiled again. 'Sorry, I should get rid of those overreactions.'

Hayden shook his head and gently caressed her cheek with one hand.

'It makes you who you are, and you should never throw away your heritage.'

He took a bite of his bread and a look at the time. 'Ellie will be home any moment now, you can talk to her about it.' he smiled after downing his bite. As if he had summoned her, they saw two figures appear in front of the kitchen window, one white haired, carrying lots of bags, and one brown haired, carrying less bags but making a excited pose and showing them a victory sign.

'...Please do never ever say again she will be there any moment now, you have dangerous powers.' Zyra commented as Ellie already started impatiently pointing at the handle of the window to let them in. Hayden laughed and got up, walking up to window.

'Wait, first make her shut up to not wake up Vi and Ezreal.' Zyra quickly added.

'Do you really think they wouldn't get up from the noise we made?'

-'Hey, gotta take every chance you have.' she dryly shrugged. 'And don't act as if we made as much noise as she does on average.'

He couldn't really counter that argument, so he first made a gesture to be silent, pointing at the closed living room door. When Ellie nodded, he turned the handle and slid open the window. Ellie tiptoed in, followed by an amused Riven. Hayden took over some of her bags and put them on the kitchen table, turning over to Ellie who was impatiently waiting for him to turn to her.

'We got aaaaalll the Halloween goodies, yeah BOI!' she excitedly whispered, jumping up and pumping her fists in the air.

'She's really amped up, how much did you buy?' Hayden inquired Riven, who smirked in defeat.

'I made her ensure me it was all her money after seeing the amount of different goods she picked up in the store.'

-'You wished you had come along, they had fantastic things!' Ellie continued her happy whispering, starting to unpack. 'Lots of decorative papers, candy, posters, candy, tens of kinds of candles with different atmospheric lights, candy, cakes, funny little masks, ca-'

-'We get it, you bought sweets, damn sugar addict.' Zyra sighed.

'But look!' Ellie yelped, showing candy packages with several kinds of Halloween-themed cats on them. 'How is this even a question to buy?'

-'Exactly, who in their right mind would ever think of buying that?' the redhead retorted, smearing some chocolate paste on her slice of bread. Ellie just stuck out her tongue and put the candy back, rummaging in the bags for something else.

'You'll love this too!' she grinned, taking out a fake pumpkin. Zyra narrowed her eyes a bit again.

'That's exactly the same as you have there on the kitchen counter. And about tha-'

Ellie didn't let her finish, happily shaking the pumpkin up and down.

'No, no, this is way better, see, when you put batteries in and then press down-'

While Ellie was explaining, her fingers trailed over the prop's surface and suddenly, a ghastly laughter of ridiculous volume for such a small pumpkin filled the kitchen. Ellie yelped, Riven reflexively jumped towards her and the noise almost made Zyra lash out at it in surprise, eyes flaring golden.

'What the fuck, Ellie?' Hayden yelled through the pumpkin's echoing laughter.

'Sorrysorrysorrysorry,' she rambled, flipping the thing to look for an off-switch. Not immediately finding one, she just lifted her sweater and muted the sound by covering the piece with her clothes. 'The package said batteries weren't included! We were bamboozled!' she defended herself, looking at the judging stares of the rest.

'That's probably our loudest silence to date…' Hayden sighed, looking at the package and indeed seeing "batteries not included" on the cover. 'How even…'

A second jumpscare made Zyra drop her bread another time when Vi came storming into the kitchen in her slightly too small gummi bear pyjamas (Author's note: blame Ellie), looking severely confused and only seconds awake.

'W-What's going on?' she asked, ruffling through her bed hair, 'We heard a mindwreckingly disturbing noise and…'

She stopped when she noticed Ellie, still being the center of the slowly fading pumpkin's laughter and simply leant against the door frame, grinning and rubbing her eyes.

'I could've known...goodmorning, Giggletits.'

Ellie fittingly giggled at Vi addressing her like that and removed the now silent pumpkin from under her sweater again.

'Had to get something to wake you up, amirite?' she added on a tone as if she had planned it all and placing the pumpkin next to the real pumpkin she had carved earlier. 'Damn, they look very alike...everyone, the left one is the dangerous one, remember it!'

-'Alright, anyone who dares to activate that nuke of laughter again will be personally strangled in the roots of the nearest plant.' Zyra firmly stated, immediately pointed at the set of pumpkins.

'What if there's no plant around?' Ellie wondered, flexing her fingers at the fake one suggestively.

'I will make an exception and have no problems strangling you with my bra.'

'Now that is a yuri kind of death if I've ever seen one.' Ellie whistled while Hayden started laughing. Ezreal now also walked into the kitchen following the noise, apparently having been in a deeper sleep than Vi.

'What'sgoingonhello?' he mumbled, rubbing his eyes in an expectedly similar manner to Vi. Ellie burst out in laughter as soon as she saw his bed hair, which stood straight up in blond spikes.

'You look like a goddamn Super Saiyan!'

-'Superwhat?' Ezreal blinked, ruffling through his hair and starting to wake up a bit more.

'Actually, Ellie, now that I have seen both your real and fake pumpkins, could you please stop with either?' Zyra suddenly interrupted her, again pointing at the set on the counter.

'What? Why?' the brunette looked up, surprised. 'Oh, don't worry, they are specifically grown for this, we don't go out and carve out every pumpkin we find.' she continued, getting what Zyra was about to say by the look in her eyes. Zyra pursed her lips in doubt, still not enjoying it. Hayden frowned his brows for a bit.

'Actually, why is this such a big deal? We had Christmas before, and thousands of pine trees have to die for that every year, yet you only complained about the way of growing them.'

Zyra folded her arms and softly ticked her fingers against her arms.

'It's...well, first off, those pine trees still lived. But more importantly, these pumpkins, as you call them, fruits like them were kind of revered back in the Kumungu Jungle since they were very rare and showed the soil on which they were growing was kind of "chosen". I mean, we as carnivorous plants had nothing to do with that specifically, but it was still kind of special to have those fruits within my territory...You just seem to throw them around and, well, molest them into some kind of kids' entertainment.'

She noticed everyone had turned silent listening to her story and abruptly stopped. 'I-I'm sorry, I kind of got lost in memories there.'

Ellie energetically shook her head and started clapping, embracing Zyra.

'No, no, it's great you tell us why! You are always so silent about your heritage that's it's good to hear why you feel certain connections with kinds of plants! It's incredibly interesting, you know that?' she smiled. Zyra's eyes turned big at Ellie's honest interest and she coughed a bit. Ellie grinned and tickled Zyra's cheek with one finger.

'Say...what if we let you grow those pumpkins here in honour of this soil being special to you? We can afterwards still see if there are leftovers that are enough to spare for decoration.'

Hayden was pretty sure Zyra didn't even hear the latter part anymore, her eyes filled with golden drops as she turned to Ellie again.

'Can I do that?'

Her words were so filled with honest, almost childlike excitement that all the people probably felt it and, so utterly unused seeing Zyra like that, started smiling.

'These pumpkins probably aren't the exact same kind as the fruit you had back in the Kumungu Jungle, right?' Ellie continued, a big smile now plastered on her face.

'Well, no, different environments, of course, but I might-'

-'Be able to recreate them?' Ellie finished Zyra's fast words, growing in enthusiasm equally with her.

'Loverboy, I'm kind of scared to see them both be equally excited, this is against rules of nature…' Vi whispered to Hayden.

'We might just cause a singularity by letting this happen, but no way am I going to let a moment where they are both so happy pass.' Hayden smiled, looking at the two riling each other up more and more.

'Tell you what, how about you try to recreate the fruit from the Kumungu Jungle, and I use the failed creations to work with instead of otherwise grown pumpkins?' Ellie tried, her bright eyes twinkling now as well. Zyra stopped for a bit, clearly mentally being drawn to the idea. She pursed her lips again in doubt, fighting the internal excitement and dilemma.

'...O-Okay. But if I succeed, the final fruit remains untouched!'

Ellie pumped her fists in the air at hearing Zyra's ok, hugging the redhead again afterwards.

'Don't worry, I'll make sure I'll decorate them way better than anything else you'll see!'

-'Pft, you can't win against the original fruit anyway…' Zyra scoffed, taking a breath but unable to hide the excitement in her almost golden eyes.

'I can't take this anymore, she's like a girl getting candy and denying she likes it, this is too cute…' Vi grinned, with Riven nodding, nearly laughing.

'Wanna make it a challenge, then?' Ellie smirked. 'My pumpkin art will blow away any plant you create!'

Now, Zyra, got up, clearly reaching the edge of her patience.

'Oh, you're on!' she fullheartedly agreed, pointing at Ellie with her eyebrows raised. Ellie jumped up as well, walking away until there was about a two meter distance between them.

'Prepare to get destroyed!'

Afterwards, she raised an arm diagonally up into the air and craned the other one behind her head, enthusiastically raising her eyebrows and her now opponent repeatedly.

'Okay, now I'm lost, what did she just do?' Riven wondered while Vi already lost it laughing and started to infect Ezreal as well. Hayden just tried to hold his laughter back, but when Zyra pumped her arm into the air and took on a pose as well, he just threw his head into his hands.

'They have been watching Dragon Ball Z together...They're doing Ginyu Force poses...Kill me now.' he managed to bring out in between bursts of laughter.

'I don't exactly get it, but this looks ridiculous…' Riven smiled, seeing them pose off. Zyra quickly stopped, seeing them all fall into laughter one after another.

'Okay, I got excited, I get it…' she mumbled, turning a tint red. Hayden quickly sent her a blow kiss with a smile still cracking open his face, and Zyra just blew air against it in return, clearly noticing his mocking. With Ellie still dancing and the rest laughing with the two of them and themselves ,she turned around with a determined look in her eyes.

'I'm going to take your first pumpkin to gain the plant's cellular information now, if you don't mind.'

-'No, wai-' Ellie tried to stop her, seeing her reach for the set of pumpkins on the counter.

'What?' Zyra grumbled, turning around to look at her and blindly grabbing one of them. Within seconds, the crazy loud ghastly laughter of the fake pumpkin echoed through the kitchen again, making the people already laughing with the situation completely lose it and Zyra nearly throw the fake pumpkin through the kitchen.

'I said left! Don't touch the one on the LEFT!' Ellie yelled through the noise, starting to laugh as well.

'If you hadn't distracted me while I was going to take it, this wouldn't have happened!' Zyra fumed, taking the real one.

'Just make sure you make your ones laugh like that, it's a must now!' Ellie continued, leaning on the kitchen table.

'Just make sure you imprint your boobs on every one you carve, you'll draw all the boys to the yard.' Zyra sighed, slumping down, but still looking at the pumpkin with a smile. 'Let's get going.'

'...So all this ridiculous laughter because of them being stupid and one laughing fake mutated orange?' Elise raised a brow after having heard the story from Ezreal, after Quinn and him had returned. 'I was right, you sweethearts need that reality check.'

-'Well, I guess you had to be there, it was funnier at the moment itself.' Hayden grinned.

'Maybe she just needs a dose of our Laughing Overlord…' Ellie suggested, stretching one arm towards the fake pumpkin.

'I will really strangle you with that bra.' Zyra coldly interrupted her, not even having to look up from the wall to know what was going on. Ellie's eyes lit up seeing Zyra enter the convo again and skipped towards her.

'Never mind that! Did it work? Did it work?' she eagerly asked, trying to peer at the redhead's face. Zyra took a breath and pushed herself off the wall.

'I'm getting really close. You better start getting your best artistic designs out by now, else I'll take you out without competition from your side.'

-'That means more pumpkins to harvest?' the brunette continued undisturbed. Zyra sighed and rubbed her forehead.

'All the ones in the front are for the taking. You'll see a distinct opening between the two batches, don't cross it or pay the price.'

-'Ye BOI!' Ellie yelled and immediately opened the basement door, storming downstairs.

'So, dear, you have basically been in there since the morning, mutating pumpkins?' Elise wondered, still not too sure about the mental state of the group. 'And what about that "pay the price"?'

-'For the first, yeah, basically. I created an environment where the plants take in my magic best and the soil works optimally and have been overseeing the results, adapting when needed. For the second part, I have been trying to mix in some of the Kumungu fruits to see if I could get different results related to it. The plants recognize me as their ruler, but they might have interesting reaction when a foreign entity enters…'

'I absolutely love how carefree you mention that, love.' Elise smirked. Just as she finished her sentence, an intense, animalistic schreech could be heared from downstairs, followed by very frantic movement on the stairs. A slightly pale Ellie came bursting through the basement door, accompanied by small pumpkins still rolling down the stairs.

'Happy Halloween, dear Ellie. Let your curiousity get the better of you? Got spooked to your satisfaction?' Zyra smiled.

'W-What was that? How can a plant do that?' the girl sputtered, taking a breath. 'That was a way too realistic scream, it was like a monster suddenly appeared next to me!'

-'Semi-plants with unstable genetic codes. They're carnivorous and intelligent and will try to copy parts of the corpses they devour. If they weren't so unstable, I suspect they might have evolved into walking plants, but they all die too fast. These were able to pass on hearing and voice box-esque systems. Isn't it perfect for your Halloween?' Zyra explained with a bit of pride in her voice. Ellie smiled again, getting over the first scare.

'Alright, I give you that one...Let me get the pumpkins from the stairs and continue.'

She disappeared into the basement again, and right after, the doorbell rang. Quinn looked up a bit suspiciously.

'Are you expecting visitors?'

Hayden looked at the time and jumped up.

'Oh shit, it's already this late? Don't worry, those are most likely kids going around for trick and treating.'

Elise cocked her head.

'More clown fiesta-like business?'

Hayden laughed again and shook his head.

'Basically, they try to scare you, and you act as if you are scared and give them candy for their tries. It's pretty cute.'

Elise's eyes lit up and she rose from her chair as well.

'As one of the sovereigns of the Harrowing, I feel like I'm obliged to see how the kids of your world celebrate. I'll go answer, if you don't mind.'

-'Take along the candy, quick!'

Elise quickly shot out a web from her arm and retracted the bag of candies, losing no time walking to the door.

'I'm sure she has been reading "Spider-man" comics you have laying around, that pose was too clean.' Ezreal commented.

'Who knows, she can be very sneaky.' Hayden smiled. Vi sighed and turned towards, her expression less festive.

'Say...aren't you, you know, a bit afraid?'

The pinkette's tone was dead serious, and it made him also switch demeanor.

'What do you mean?'

-'Like she said herself just now. She is one of the sovereigns of the Harrowing. Or well, Halloween, for you here. On Runeterra, the Harrowing is one of the most dreaded periods. Not as much for us who live far away from the Shadow Isles, but every person living in Bilgewater can tell you endless stories about the Black Mist. Shouldn't we be a bit concerned about what she might be able to do on this day?'

Hayden frowned his brows a bit in thought.

'Well, to be honest, I didn't think about it yet. Halloween is purely a festive occasion for us, all the things with monsters and ghosts and stuff is just remains from the superstitious belief in them from ages ago. We don't have any magic or ghosts or anything here until you guys arrived, so there is nothing to be afraid of that matches the Shadow Isles. Anything-'

-'She does is purely her own abilities and intentions.' Elise finished his sentence, appearing from the hallway again. 'I appreciate your fear, dear, but as Hayden points out, we are not on Runeterra. This world does not hold any known source of magic or supernatural beings. Even if I'd summon the Black Mist here, all it would do is scare people, probably. Well, unless I would want it to harm them, of course. But that's such a hassle, and I wouldn't gain anything from it, so...'

Hayden couldn't exactly say he was fully reassured, but this was probably her way of telling she meant no harm, even on this day where her powers would be revered and feared.

'Oh, and dear, the kids were cute indeed. Flashy costumes, but they sure do try and scare you, it's adorable...wait. How about I summon the Black Mist next time to scare them in return? I can make it deliver the candy afterwards.'

-'No way.' Vi immediately denied.

'Hush, dear, I really mean no harm.' the mage smiled. The rules of our world don't count. We fear for our lives, here they fear to be spooked. And that's exactly what we can give them.'

Her eyes lit up crimson again, but her smile seemed honest.

First Zyra overly excited, then Elise of all people? This Halloween is truly full of surprises…

'Well, I don't mind if it's just to scare them, I'll be honest. But if you overstep the boundaries, I probably don't have to mention there will be five people here who will gang up on you, and I'll make sure to kick you out of the house. Elise smirked at his probably fruitless threat, but she clapped her hands anyway.

'A good response. Don't fear the supernatural beings, show them their place...I shall confine myself to scaring them, you have my word, sweetheart.'

-'As if that's worth much.' Vi scoffed. Elise waved her concern away with a gesture of her hand.

'Yes, yes, dear. You should actually be more excited. This is one of the days where you could go out looking as we usually are, and people would think it's a costume. "Cosplay", as they name it. With that said…'

She quickly started to undress, taking off her shirt, making her full bosom only covered by a lacy bra.

'Hey, wait!' Zyra protested, not able to hide checking on where Hayden was looking. Elise noticed and gave her a sultry smile.

'Don't worry, dear. If I compare quickly, we are nearly dead similar in bust size, so you don't have anything to fear in that regard…Besides, I'm not planning to fully strip.'

As she was talking, the dark "clothing" that covered her in her usual form started to form under her bra, after which she removed the thing.

'That's one.'

She undid her pants evenly quick, with the coverage following her trail and growing in place of the clothes. 'And that's two. You should transform too, dear. It feels nice to be your usual self again after some time.' she coaxed Zyra, stretching her arms and stroking the spare spider legs that had grown from her back again. Zyra quickly glanced at Hayden, who just smiled at her unasked question and just folded her arms.

'M-Maybe in a bit.'

Elise shrugged.

'You can come and scare the children along with me when you are "dressed properly", I'll add that as convincing element.'

Zyra pursed her lips in thought, clearly interested in the idea. While Elise waiting for her response with, the doorbell rang again.

'Oh boy, time for the test run.'

Not saying anything else, she apprehended another bag of candy with a web and walked up to the door, humming an ominous melody. Hayden's eyes grew big when he heard and shook his head, smiling. Ezreal frowned, curiousity piqued by Hayden's heavy response to the song.

'Wait, what was she humming? You recognized it, right?'

-'She was humming her own login screen music…' he smiled, partly in disbelief.

'Own login music?' Zyra chimed in, now also interested. Hayden realized he mentioned something rather unexplainable, but a chorus of yelling children saved him.

'She really did it…' Vi remarked when a stray wisp of black smoke came drifting into the living room, visible all the way into the kitchen before it faded. Soon after, the scared yelling turned into happy laughter.

'Well, she did keep her word, I guess. Candy after the spooking.'

Zyra suddenly got up and walked up to the stairs.

'Alright, I'll join her next time, I want to see that.'

Right as she disappeared upstairs, Elise came walking into the kitchen with an indeed empty bag of candy and a smile on her pale face.

'You have to love kids...so uncorrupted.'

Hayden cocked his head in surprise.

'Is that an...almost motherly remark from you, Elise?'

Elise showed an almost affectionate face for a split second, but it was quickly replaced by her usual smirk.

'Who knows...spiders have lots of offspring, so maybe I was meant to have a lot of kids in another life?'

-'Well, you're near immortal now anyway, so nothing stops you from breeding and reaching your desired quota, I'd say.' Vi quickly destroyed her small moment, quick to take the chance and get back at her.

'Well then, please do us a pleasure and don't reach yours, we don't need more boars like you.' Elise countered, looking at her nails. Vi just laughed, noticing Elise's slight irritation. Zyra returned from the stairs in her original form, but at the same time, Ellie opened the basement door again, having donned a carved out pumpkin over her head. At nearly the same time, they noticed the silence and turned to each other with raised eyebrows and a shared 'What are you doing?'.

Hayden started to laugh and applauded their impeccable timing while Ellie removed the pumpkin from her head.

'Well, your talk about semi-plants got me thinking. What if a pumpkin could walk? And before I knew it, I was experimenting with making a pumpkin mask. You have to admit it looks good! And what about you?'

Zyra coughed a bit.

'Elise noted that didn't have to conceal our normal looks today since people would think we would be wearing costumes anyway, so we switched back, and…'

Ellie noticed Zyra was kind of reluctant and started to smirk.

'...Aaaand?'

-'And to try and scare the kids.' Zyra added in a tiny voice, quickly glancing over at the candy. Ellie caught her attention shifting and her smirk grew. She nuzzled up against the mage and whispered,

'You want to surprise them and see them happy after you give them candy, don't you? You cutie…'

-'I have vines to strangle you now…' Zyra warned, but hiding a smile. Ellie quickly stepped back and put on the pumpkin mask again.

'Can't strangle me when you can't reach my neck!'

Zyra calmly raised her hand and brought her fingers together in a strangling motion, soon making Ellie panic inside the pumpkin when she felt the edges press against her neck. The redhead laughed and brought the pumpkin back to its original measurements.

'Very bad move to proclaim higher ground over a plant mage hiding within a cage of fruit.'

Ellie stuck out her tongue, but it wasn't really visible within her mask. 'I still think this will beat anything you create.'

After a few minutes that the group used to move to the spacier living room, the doorbell rang again.

'Spooky Scary Halloween time.' Elise smirked, looking over at Zyra for confirmation. Zyra quickly took a bag of candy and nodded excitedly.

'Let's roll.' the other mage said suggestively, stretching her spare spider legs. As they walked into the hallway, Elise quickly briefed Zyra.

'Just let me do the talking unless they especially address you, then you can do some light magic. Definitely try to keep your eyes from glowing until the Mist surrounds us, that's the perfect setting. And keep the candy behind your back, the Mist will pull it from you once it rises.'

They had reached the doorknob and Elise winked. 'Ready, fellow witch?'

-'Let's bring a feel of the Harrowing upon this world.' Zyra smirked. With an unrelenting smile, Elise turned the doorknob and opened the door to a group of four kids, all donned in dark costumes, ranging from typical vampire or witch costumes to fairies.

'TRICK OR TREAT!' they all yelled in unison, blowing confetti and making hissing sounds afterwards. Zyra quickly copied Elise's way of pretending to be scared, making the children smile with glee. The spider mage overactingly placed her hand on her chest and let out a breath.

'You kids certainly scared me...I think that definitely deserves a candy. But...do you want to see something really scary and cool first, too?' she asked with a sugary sweet voice, enticing the kids, who had already been on her lips from her first words. They all enthusiastically nodded, their eyes full of curiousity. Zyra almost felt bad for the trick Elise would pull on them, but quickly pushed away her smile at their waiting faces.

'Very well, then...prepare for Halloween!' Elise spoke solemnly, slowly raising her arm, spreading her fingers towards the sky. The kids all followed her movement, making them not notice the first wisps of black smoke gathering around their feet. The Mist rose quickly, covering both Zyra and Elise in the fog.

Your eyes.

Elise's mental message made her remember her role in the play, and she quickly made her eyes into the luminescent golden they usually were, shining brightly within the otherwise cloaking mist. 'BOO!' Elise shouted, half in her spider form voice, making her spare spider legs spread out and become faintly visible through the smoke. The children yelped in fear as the Mist also covered them and started to turn around, but halted when Zyra felt the Mist taking the candy from her hands, so she figured it had landed in the little hands of the children. As quickly as it had risen, the Black Mist dispersed again, and Elise started to laugh, bending over to the kids, who turned back in surprise.

'Well? Were you scared?' she playfully taunted them. The kids were silent for a second, but then two of the boys quickly shook their heads and puffed out their chests.

'I-I wasn't scared for one second!'

-'But Ethan was!' the third one shouted, pointing at the second.

'Was not!'

They quickly started arguing, but eventually started to laugh in relief after the scare that obviously had caught all of them. They made quick bows and thanked for the candy before walking to the next house, talking animatedly and reenacting how the Mist blanketed them.

'You might just make Hayden's house the talk of the town after this evening.' Zyra grinned. 'But you did indeed keep your word.'

-'Even an evil Spider Queen can just like kids now and then.' Elise replied with a honest smile, waving a last time when the kids gave them a last greet. 'I'm also human, somewhere. Or maybe being away from the Shadow Isles for all this time made me more sentimental.'

They turned around and closed the door again, but Elise's smile turned into a smirk again.

'You are one to talk, though, dear. The Rise of the Thorns, carnivorous murdering plant-turned-human, can't resist the opportunity to go out and surprise kids with gifts and candy? I saw your smile at their happy faces, sweetheart...Maybe we both feel a similar influence, love.'

Zyra pouted her cheeks, not really knowing what to say in her defense.

'What lovely dark witches we are, no?' Elise smiled before opening the door to the living room again.

'So, how was it?' Hayden asked immediately when the two women entered the living room again. Elise formed the thumb and index finger of one hand into an "o" and closed her eyes theatrically.

'A true success, once again. Our dear Zyra can testify.'

Zyra smiled, copying Elise's gesture for the heck of it.

'They were spooked and surprised, that's for sure.'

She looked around the group and noticed something amiss, asides from Ellie still wearing the pumpkin. 'Wait, where's Riven and Vi?'

Hayden pointed at the brunette.

'There's your culprit.'

Zyra raised her eyebrow at Ellie, silently waiting for her explanation. Ellie audibly grinned and clapped her hands.

'So! Since you two already kind of "dressed up", I figured we should do the same...And totally not because I definitely want to see Riven in the suit I bought for her during Christmas last time. All in the spirit of Halloween.' she started, not even trying to hide her obvious intentions. 'So, she didn't want to if she was the only one. BUT! I thought about this possibility, knowing my shy waifu, so I bought more of the same suits. I first suggested I could wear one with her, but then she got kind of embarrassed and mentioned something about "curves too good", so then Vi chimed in and is trying them on with her...they will return soon.'

-'Wipe away your drool, you perv…' Zyra sighed. 'Let me guess, you ordered those suits in nearly everyone's sizes just to be sure?'

Ellie just shrugged, her expression neatly hidden behind the carvings this time.

'I shall not further go in on that topic to save what's left of my grace.'

-'Yeah, as if-' Zyra started, but they heard noise on the stairs, which made them all turn to the kitchen in wait. Vi turned her head around the door first, giving them a wink and a thumbs up.

'We're totally ready! But snow white''s just a bit shy, I'll get her in here in a sec!'

She disappeared again and they heard her excited laughter from the kitchen seconds later.

'Were those...bunny ears?' Zyra slowly wondered, voicing the question of almost everyone. Hayden just dropped his head in his hands, having expected this but still being disappointed.

'Ellie, you fucking degenerate…'

The brunette herself didn't care anymore and just raised her fist in the air.

'Bunny girls hell yeah!'

Soon after, both Vi and Riven appeared, although the first was almost dragging the other along by her arm, both indeed dressed as proper bunny girls, like a certain infamous skin. Riven's face showed a dangerous blush, being countered by Vi's excited smile.

'Not this again...I can't even escape this in this world...' Riven sobbed, but she was roughly pulled from her mood when Ellie took off her pumpkin head and jumped at the warrior with the broadest smile ever. Riven had to pull her fastest reflexes to catch the incoming girl, who just started laughing.

'You did it! My girl in her best dress!'

Riven couldn't hide enjoying the attention from her lover, but she still kind of looked away.

'How is this my best...or even a dress.'

Ellie smiled again and brushed through the ex-Noxian's white hair.

'I was just teasing you...But you have no idea how good your butt looks in this.' she whispered suggestively, quickly giving Riven a kiss before she could react. Vi whistled in approval and clapped her hands together.

'Alright, who wants to change into something next? There are enough suits left…'

Elise ticked against her chin with one finger.

'You know, we could use the Black Mist to give you all lifelike makeover towards this Halloween, if you want. I can weaken its power to make it only visual.'

-'Oooh! Yeah! And then we can go out partying wearing the best costumes there are!' Ellie enthusiastically nodded.

'I'm not that inclined to be cloaked in the Black Mist, to be honest.' Quinn commented. 'How do we know it's safe?'

-'That's simple, love. There are no Shadow Isles here. I can emit my own influence over an area, and it will resemble the Shadow Isles, but I can't transform living creatures into denizens of the afterlife, because I simply can't harness that power here. I can show you what it could be like with the Black Mist, but that's about it. I'm also not saying you have to, it's a suggestion.' Elise explained. Zyra surprisingly nodded.

'I trust you on this one, seeing you with those kids back there.'

Elise rose her eyebrows and smiled.

'The sentiment is appreciated.

'Well, if Zyra's in, then I'll follow, too.' Hayden shrugged.

'Me too, then!' Ellie grinned.

'...Can't be worse than this.' Riven mumbled.

'You have a point, I guess.' Vi laughed. 'You in too, blondie?'

-'Sure, I'm in for that party.' Ezreal smiled. Quinn took a breath and shrugged.

'Aw well, we're here now anyway. Let's see what we get.'

Elise nodded.

'Splendid! Go get your feathered soulmate, I'll prepare the Black Mist in the meantime.'

-'Prepare?' Ellie wondered while Quinn was out getting Valor.

'Normally that'd mean adapting to the magic, but in this case I guess I mean adapting to your superstitions, your myths and legends, so we get visuals from your world, not Runeterra.' Elise explained, summoning the Black Mist, which slowly started to cloak the living room. 'I basically just need you two for that. Step into the fog and it will read this world's "supernatural" side through your knowledge.'

Ellie and Hayden looked at each other for a second and then stepped into the fog at the same time. Right before they got completely surrounded, he heard Elise say 'No, Zyra, I lowered its amplitude, your lover won't be affected…'

And then there was silence.

An eerie silence, which made him surprisingly aware of himself and Ellie. He knew she was right there next to him, he heard her breathing, unnaturally loud in the silence, but it felt like she was meters and meters away, separated by all the ominous feelings the fog injected his mind with. It quickly rushed through his thoughts, like a virus, spreading fear and filling his inner vision with images of unknown monstrosities, while he started to almost physically feel the mist surround him, like thousands of damp hands clinging to him. Right as he felt like it would only get worse and worse, it was gone. The Black Mist loosened its grip on his mind and drifted away. Suddenly, Ellie stood against him again, holding onto him. He gently returned her embrace, also enjoying the comfort of feeling her close.

Sorry about that, dears. It was a bit rough, but think of the fact the Black Mist usually kills and corrupts, so this is its "harmless puppy" mode, in a sense. Now, ready to change?

The voice of Elise sounded through the fog, and both he and Ellie nodded, not wanting the previous experience to be for nothing. Quickly, the fog rushed over them again, but this time it felt like a tickling, although a bit ghastly. In an instant, his clothes changed into those of a gothic genre-esque dark wizard, complete with hat and stylish beard. His visuals stood no chance against Ellie's though, who had been completely changed into a fusion between a witch and a kitsune, with a long, western witch style dress, but sporting ornaments of asian influence, and especially, nine flowing tails, whisker marks and fox ears standing attentively on top of her head.

'Wow. That's like Ahri but with an outfit that would actually make her modest and occult looking.' he heard Vi comment when the mist started to disperse around them.

'Ellie, you degenerate...even your supernatural knowledge is dominantly asian?'

The girl curiously turned her ears towards him and gave him a disarming smile.

'Nya!'

-'No cat puns, don't you hear me?' Hayden warned her.

'Purrfectly clear.' she grinned. It earned her a slap on her head from Zyra, who stepped into the mist next together with Vi and Ezreal. After a few moments of waiting, they also reappeared. Zyra had taken on her form of Haunting Zyra, which definitely fit the theme. Ezreal had been turned into a blonde vampire, complete with cape and all, curiously testing his new fangs. Vi came out as a zombie, having a foul skin colour and several stitches everywhere.

'Yo, why am I the only one like this?' she growled at Elise, who laughed and pinched her nose.

'Go away, you boar, you smell like the dead.'

Vi growled again, but everyone's attention turned towards Quinn and Riven now, who stepped in last. After a similar passing of seconds, they also reemerged from the smoke, with Quinn curiously checking herself, but Riven just burying her head in her hands in helplessness. Quinn had gotten the outfit of a witch hunter, complete with her crossbow remodeled, cape and several intricate details, but Riven had kept her bunny outfit, with the only changes perhaps the details so it looked exactly like her skin.

'Why did exactly I keep the bunny outfit?' she sighed. Ellie jumped up in glee and immediately hugged the warrior.

'Don't worry, this is perfect! Now we can be cute fox and bunny girl together!' she excitedly spoke, already pulling Riven towards the hallway.

'Why does the transforming process actually go so fast?' Hayden curiously asked Elise while they all followed the two.

'Because it's only visual changes. Done in a second. Well, except for Ellie, I guess. Perhaps the Mist likes her interest in supernatural beings, because she has been given actual physical integration. We'll see…'

As they were walking through the streets, getting lots of views and getting closer and closer to the partying, Elise lingered behind slightly, looking behind them. In the far distance, starting in the forest, mist was building. Not the kind of fog she had summoned or that had lingered around her forest in Maine, but thicker, pitch black fog, looking like it carried pure dread. With a small, ominous smile showing her fangs, she noticed how the mist slowly drew closer, closing in on the city. Her eyes started to glow in their trademark crimson red again, looking at all the partying people.

'You had your Halloween, now prepare for the Harrowing, Earth…'

...

...The end? Who knows...

Well, that said, this is the end of the chapter. Sorry for people who had hoped for an actual scary story, that might be in store for a next Halloween Special:3

And that said, I will also excuse myself for not replying to the reviews, I really did this all in extreme high speed and if I would dedicate myself to replying here, I would lose the bit of time that I have left xD

Don't worry, though, I will compile them together with the reviews on this chapter (so don't fear to leave some here either hue) and reply to them all on the next update!

Hope yall enjoyed the shitposty chapter with some good and some bad feels in it:3

Have a good day or night further, and thank you for reading~

ADamnGoodName out.