Whoa, I'm writing something that's not vocaloid. Well, more like, Whoa! I'm writing in general! Anyways, yah it's an ROTG fic. I don't know if people still read stories about this universe, but I wanted to contribute. This is kinda centered around a random Holiday who I turned into spirit to figure out her own purpose, also meeting some familiar faces along the way. I'm making this up as I go, sorry! (Also I'm sorry I kept alternating names for Hallow. Keep in mind Hallow and Spook are the same person. But if ya'll could mention which name you like better or if it's okay with alternating, that'd be great!
"Aaaaaah! It's freezing here! I think I'm also sensing it might snow soon as well! Why did you think meeting up outside the realms was a good idea?" The loud complaints of a young female voice harboring a slight Eastern European accent mixed into the busy street air.
"I figured it'd be healthy if you got out again, you've been holed up and hiding in your realm for way to long" Another female voice responded, looking over at her distressed friend. "Plus, bringing you out where it could snow would keep you on your toes" she smirked.
Next to her stood a toffee skinned girl with the current physical appearance of a seventeen year old. Her hair was a gorgeous shade of platinum white, falling down to her hips. Her bangs bouncing slightly with every step she took. Her ears were elvish and dropped downwards, but for the sake of blending in she made them look like human ears. Her eyes were dual colored, the right eye was a mixture of a noble bluish purple while the right was a pumpkin orange.
She wore a soft cotton black dress, short sleeved and trimmed with white and orange lace. She had thigh high socks that were striped black and purple. Her boots were black and had buckles on them, going up to her knees. Upon her head was a broad black witch like hat with an orange ribbon tied around it's based.
This girl was Hallow Night, the spirit and keeper of Halloween. She also went by the nickname Spook, for obvious reasons.
"You know, couldn't you have dressed more normally? We're roaming the Earth plane and you're dressed for Halloween, which is a month away. I know you have tons of clothes because of your holiday! People are staring!" It was now Hallow's friends turn to start complaining, making the spooky girl roll her eyes.
"I didn't want to come out in the first place, why would I change when I don't care Rose?" Hallow answered bluntly as she seemingly made a black gothic laced parasol appear out of nowhere and opened it as she walked.
Rosemary, one of Hallow's closest friends and the keeper of the famous Valentine's Day. Although it had other names in other places. Because of all the different names in a variety of places, Rosemary herself also went by many different names.
Unlike Hallow, Rose was of a pale skin color with a pinkish hue, although to blend in better she made her skin more fair to match a human. Her hair looked to be as soft as rose petals and as pink as cotton candy. Her eyes were an enchanting shade of red, almost as if they were made of garnets. She was wearing a dark red sweater decorated with pink and white heart graphics on the front with black skin tight jeans. Her pink hair was tied up in a neat ponytail and her bangs were neatly clipped back with some heart clips. She wore black converse to match her pants. Her physical appearance was that of an eighteen year old female.
Unlike other spirit's and keepers, Hallow and Rose got to dress up quite a bit. Especially Hallow.
Hallow watched people walk by the two girls, and like Rose pointed out, some did give the Halloween spirit a good look at, over her apparel. She didn't mind though, she liked being seen. It was a spirit's worst fear to stop being seen after all it meant the people of the world stopped believing in you.
Although, she and her pink friend did possess a certain power. If enough people globally believed in you, then they could make people see them. Not everyone had this ability, but Halloween did know Sandy, North, Rose and herself did. There was one other person who once had this ability but, he wasn't around anymore and probably for good reason.
The thought of her lost friend dulled her mood a little bit, and Rose caught the sadness on her friends face.
"It's been five months since the guardians defeated Pitch" she said quietly towards her witchy friend. "Hallow.." she used her real name. "He was trying to kill the others, hurt the children, destroy ev-" Rosemary was cut off when Hallow intercepted.
"I am fully aware of that!" She snapped at her fellow spirit. "I'm not saying I approved of what he's done and what he tried to do! If he'd succeeded, the world would have been miserable" the last line came out as a quiet whisper. "I know he's "bad" but he wasn't bad to me" she sighed in frustration.
Ever since the incident with Pitch Black five months ago, some other spirits and guardians had become wary of Hallow. Since they assumed she and the boogeyman thrived on the same thing. No, she thrived on the thrill and power the children showed when they overcame fear, while Pitch fed on pure fear.
But since they shared some interest in common, with both of them being who they were, they'd created a friendship. Sometimes he'd join in on her fun for Halloween, creating fear for her to turn into thrill to give to the children. Hallow used to send some of her demons and monster minions to help Pitch be the boogeyman. Though it might have been too much or too scary for some children and adults, causing the Moon to scold her one day. She had to stop lending her creatures to Pitch after that. He never really did explain what he did with them to her.
But in her eyes, Pitch wasn't a completely bad person. After all they did share some fun moments together. Good memories, he was capable of making good memories.
But because of what Pitch had done, others had started to make assumptions perhaps Spook wanted the same thing Black did. But that was wrong.
"Uuuugh! He ruined so much for me! I worked so hard to get the other keepers, spirits and even the guardians to like me and now..I feel like everyone can't stand me" Spook sighed, pulling some hair that fell in front of her face behind her ear. "You know what the leprechauns did to me just four days after the guardians defeated Pitch? Dropped green paint all over my hair!" She cried out.
"It took me weeks to get it out!" She trembled at the memory, if the leprechauns could do that to her, who knows what else the other spirits could do. "If it wasn't for Bunny it'd still be in my hair!"
"Oh Spook, please. The Leprechauns can be little snots! They prank almost everyone whenever they can when it's near 's Day" Rose said, looking over at a nearby cafe to scope out a place to sit.
"Uh, no. I'm literally the embodiment of Halloween. I know the difference between a fun prank or a mean trick" she huffed. Hallow could feel her tail swishing back and fourth behind her. Yes, she had a tail, although she made it invisible when on the human plane. It was much like the devil's tail, a thin black string but instead of an upside down heart at the end, there was a mini Jack O lantern instead.
"Well, I don't hate you. I love your company, and I think Katherine and Bunnymund would agree" The love keeper hummed as she changed the two girls direction toward the cafe.
"Well, that's because you three have known me since like...almost since I became Halloween. You three are biased" Spook couldn't help but smile a little bit at this. Although the happiness she felt faded as she realized she'd hid herself away from Bunny and Katherine for five months.
"So what if we're biased that doesn't mean our love for you isn't vali-" Rosemary had started to speak but stopped as snow started to fall from the sky. Her head quickly whipped towards Halloween. She didn't actually expect it to snow here today. "It wasn't actually supposed to snow, Jack must be nearby" she kinda swooned at the mention of Jack. "We can go back to my paradise if you want" the pink haired girl started ushering her friend in a new direction.
The darker girl giggled softly, appreciating how much her friend cared. "Rosie, it's okay. Don't panic too much, I brought this umbrella after all" the snow had picked up and was falling to the earth at a steady pace. Her black umbrella slowly turning white as it got covered by the white flakes. "But I think I will head out first. I still rather not meet Frost yet" Halloween hummed as she spun on her heels and started to head down an alleyway nearby. "He probably wouldn't even like me either" she said this more to herself than to her friend in a soft tone.
It was hard for her to face any of the guardians. Although she wasn't particularly close to most of them. She didn't need to sleep, being the keeper of Halloween and a creature of darkness. So that meant she didn't have many dreams given to her by the Sandman. Plus she was afraid he'd assume she'd mess with his sand like Pitch did. Although she still had no clue how he did it. Starting to slowly realize it might've been a new power for Pitch Black instead of a teachable ability.
Halloween also never met Jack Frost. She never made the effort. He practically helped control ice and snow, two things she wasn't very fond of. Though she heard rumors from her monsters that Jack had tried to visit her realm quite a few times to meet her but was always met with a door slammed in his face. If he'd controlled anything other then frost, then maybe they could've gotten along. She was only a hundred years younger than him, close in age. Both loved pranks and mischief. What a shame.
Then there was Toothiana. Pretty self explanatory why the Tooth Fairy didn't like her. She was the spirit of Halloween, which is basically a cavity catastrophe. Tooth's biggest nightmare. They obviously didn't talk to one another.
But then there were the two who she was particularly fond of. Bunnymund and North. The names bringing a small smile as she continued to walk deeper into the alleyway. Every step she took making the area around her darker and darker.
She met North before Bunny. The jolly old man was the second person she'd ever met since becoming a keeper. They both practically worked one day a year, so with all that spare time, she'd come play in his workshop. All the yeti's and elves knew her, and she adored all of them. Sometimes he'd have told her stories or showed her new toy ideas. Spook occasionally fell asleep there a few times. Yes, he lived in a blizzard wasteland but he himself was warm, so she didn't mind.
Next there was dear old Aster, or otherwise known as Bunnymund. Halloween felt a small sadness recalling her friends. She'd grown close to Bunny and was allowed to call him Aster. For whatever reason, Spook loved spring. All the life, the colors, the hope. Spring was his and she'd always sneak into his warren to pick flowers and prank Bunny. It was practically a running gag between them.
The hollow feeling inside the young spirit shot a sharp pang in her heart. Perhaps Rose was correct, maybe it was time to visit some of her other friends again. She had five months to hide away and Halloween was next month. Spook would be out and about celebrating her night with the world. So it was either she came out now or then, might as well do it now.
The wall at the end of the alleyway was fading in to a dark mist as she reached it. The walls around her had already been swallowed by darkness. The familiar cold of the darkness embracing her came greeted her. If anyone looked into the alleyway, they wouldn't find her. There was no trace of the young keeper or her darkness.
The alleyway was just that again, a normal alleyway.
Her destination was the warren, and with that in mind, the dark must around her began to fade.
Rubbing her eyes as her vision adjusted to the lighting, she noticed she must've spawned in one of his tunnels.
The immediate smell of spring is what hit her first, and she felt a slight thrill go through her. Oh how she missed this place. The grass crunching ever so slightly under her shoes. The slight cool breeze going through the tunnel. She let one of her hands slide along the smooth mossy covered walls as she walked.
Hallow knew her way around his Warren, he'd taught her how to maneuver it. It had taken a while, but she figured it out. She remembered the first couple of time she had gotten lost, and Aster's cheesy line to 'never give up hope' came to mind. The female stifled a giggle, he was so bloody corny when he wanted to be. Her earlier unease of meeting him again was going away as she thought of more good memories.
A light started to come into view near the end of the tunnel. "Ooooh Bunny! Guess whoooo!" The girl started to sing as she got closer to the end. "Poooka, pooka pooka! Where's everyone's favorite spring pooka!" delight practically radiated off the girl.
Stepping out of the tunnel and into the light, she was greeted by the familiar sight of the gorgeous underground oasis. Although there was a few new paint filled streams and ponds.
"That's cute, this is cute. I like the changes" she hummed as she looked around. As much as she liked exploring, where was Bunnymund? Was he doing spring on the other side of the hemisphere..? Was it even spring there now?
As she contemplated, she seemingly made a hair tie appear out of nowhere to tie her hair up. She didn't want anymore paint splashing on it, especially since Aster didn't seem to be here to help her get it off (he was professional at paint removal she learned).
Tying her platinum white hair up in a high ponytail, she found a plain white egg. Smiling and tickling the little thing, she sat by the colorful stream and picked up a paintbrush nearby. Well, since her fluffy bunny wasn't around to play, she'd just leave him a little sign that she'd visited and she was out and about. Smiling softly, she painted the egg base orange. Perhaps she'd make a Jack O lantern egg.
Some time had passed and while she started to paint an eerie black mouth on the egg, she suddenly felt the air change. Her focus changing from the egg and centering. Spook didn't move an inch or change her motion, she kept painting as if she hadn't noticed.
One things for sure, she wasn't alone anymore.
Where, where had the disturbance come from? Behind her, yes whoever or whatever it was was a few feet back. Were they armed? What were they doing in the Warren? Only friendlies could make it in before triggering Aster's defense system. But if they were just a friend of Bunny's...why hadn't they said anything or made their presence known?
All she could tell was that, whoever it was was just staring at her intently.
It was starting to creep her out a little, and that was a big feat to accomplish since she was the Queen of spooky. Taking a deep breathe, in one swift motion, she took an attack stance. Suddenly standing and turning towards the direction of the intruder, a long black staff with two sickle like blades on each end appeared in her hand. But, there was no one there.
"What the…" she said in confused tone. She'd for certain felt someone there. "Don't think I'll be fooled this easily" she hissed. Using her free hand, she let it gently glide over her forehead. Suddenly a slit that hadn't been there before appeared. The slit snapped open and revealed a glowing red eye with a white glowing star in the center.
Hallow Night's third eye gave her the ability to see things that weren't there, from this plane or another. Her vision blackened as the third eye scanned the spot she'd thought someone had been. Some sort of orange residual dust had been left their by something. Someone had been there. Looking closely, she noticed the orange trail was leading towards...where she stood.
Gasping, she whipped around. Looking for anything or anyone near her, holding her weapon defensively. There was nothing here or near her though, not even her third eye could see. Although she couldn't see anything, she could still feel the stare on her. Maybe it was time to leave the warren.
Closing her third eye and the slit disappearing, she made her weapon vanish. Turning back to place her egg somewhere, she caught her reflection in the river stream. But it wasn't her reflection, no, it showed a tall figure dressed in a black and red cloak, wearing a cat kabuki mask with red circles, streaks and the eye holders were black.
Startled, she blinked and the image was gone. Now she was super weirded out. What the heck was that? She wasn't even sure she saw what she saw. Suddenly, her hands moved by themselves and a perfect replica of the kabuki cat mask appeared in her hands. "D-did I just make this?" She asked herself.
Making outfits and accessories out of her magic was nothing too challenging for her. Though her body had never acted on its own to do so before. Maybe this was the proof she needed that whatever she saw she did see. Her slender fingers running across the designs and curves of the mask. "What's going on?" She whispered to herself.
Were one of her ghouls messing with her? No, they weren't powerful enough to do things like this. Although water reflection wasn't too hard to change for creatures with medium magic ability.
Touching the mask, a surge of an powerful uneasy feeling overcame her.
"Ay, look what we have here lads" a voice interrupted her thoughts.
You've gotta be joking me she thought. She knew that voice, and she was sure he wasn't alone.
"We've found our culprit" a certain leprechaun came out of a tunnel. Most people generally think leprechauns are short, but no, some could be the normal height of humans. The one before her was Cashel. Clad in a classic green suit and tiny hat. Following behind him was shorter leprechaun Don and another normal sized one, Conor.
These three were the goons who dropped paint in her hair.
Spook knew the head Leprechaun Cillian was generous, lucky and polite. Although his minions varied.
"Cashel look, she has the mask! It was her!" She heard Don pipe. "She's the one breaking in and wrecking havoc! I knew we couldn't trust a no good spirit like Halloween!" He spat.
The young female spirit bristled at this, "Cashel, you better shut your boys up before I do it myself" she snarled. Of course his words angered her, but what was this about breaking and entering?
"Before that Halloween..what are you doing here?" Cashel spoke calmly at first.
"I'm.." she hesitated on telling Cashel why she was here. It wasn't any of his business if she was here or not.
"What? I don't recall you or the bunny being friendly" he replied, his tone hiding some malice.
"What do you know about me?" She retorted.
"I know that you vanished for five months, rumor has it you hold yourself away in your realm. You've broken into the hope guardians warren, haven't answered our question and you have..that" he pointed accusingly at the mask in her hands. "Why?"
"What, this?" She held it up so they could see it better. "I..I don't actually know. I kinda just made it" she wondered herself as to why she had this mask now.
"You made that?" He said incredulously.
"Yah, and?" She drawled, smirking at him. She didn't know why he was making that face but she must've done or said something that startled his stupid face.
"Get her" Cashel boomed the command, making the girl jump. Suddenly, Don and Conor we're rushing towards her, swords in hand.
"What!?" Spook screeched as she dodged Don's swing and countered Conor's sword with her own weapon reappearing causing the metal to collide and resound across the underground spring base. "Have you lost your minds?" She yelled as she pushed Conor away and jumped back, quickly pulling out what looked like normal pieces of candy.
Conor came swinging at her again and she threw the candy at him as a counter. The candy made contact against the red headed man and they exploded into smoke. The force knocking the leprechaun across the floor. Smoke filled the cavern and she could hear the scampering and screams of eggs/flora running for cover.
She suddenly remembered where she was. "Wait no! Stop! We can't fight here!" She cried out as Don appeared from the smoke hitting her with green dust and knocking her down. Catching her off guard, she hit the floor with a heavy thud, knocking the wind out of her. The short man held her down, and she could hear footsteps approaching.
Cashel, weapon drawn and making his way towards her. Were they planning on actually killing her?
Spook's third eye suddenly snapped open again and the red eye suddenly made her other two eye color shift to the same shade of red. Massive black feathered wings broke out from the middle of her back near her waist. She used them to push herself and Don off her and into the air.
Spook now floated in the air, wings flapping and all three red eyes glowing. Weapon in hand, her tail now visible and swishing back and forth aggressively.
"Ah, the beast has come out although I think you're holding back. I heard your real form is horrendous" Cashel laughed as he faced her. "The monster causing harm and hurting the children!" He yelled.
This statement made her flinch, she knew she was a monster but hurting the children..? What was he talking about? The very thought of hurting children pained her. "What are y-" the girl began but was cut off by a loud bang.
The defense system in Bunnymunds warren had just activated. It only activated against threats.
She quickly looked around and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the water again. Only this time it really was her this time. Yes, she was terrifying in this form. Her aggression subsided a bit as she felt her senses coming back to her. What was she doing? She should've teleported to one of the guardians immediately. Instead...instead..she looked down at her hands, dropping her weapon. Her nails curved into sharp claws.
She really was a monster.
Instinctively, her wings wrapped around her and before she could look, a heavy object crashed into her. Sending her flying at intense speed through a portal that had appeared on the Warren's wall. Extreme pain crashed through her, but her right wind had blunted the blow protecting her body, unfortunately not the wing.
The portal opened somewhere and all she could see was white as she tumbled and crashed into the soft embrace of deep snow. She was immediately freezing, the last thing she heard before being hit out of the warren:
One out of three threats evaluated: Hallow Night, Keeper of Halloween.
Status: Aggressive
Weakness: Ice and Snow.
Lifting her head up weakly she watched the portal in the distance close, Cashel looking at her with pity. She was about to open her mouth and scream at him from the distance but she suddenly watched the Kabuki mask she had created slowly floating up from behind him and grab the man.
Her scream suddenly tried to turn into a warning but before she could see anything else, the portal closed. Leaving her alone in a dark freezing winter wasteland.
Where ever she was now it was blanketed with snow. It covered the area for miles and a heavy blizzard was going on at the same time. Hallow attempted to get up but gave a cry of pain. Looking down, she finally noticed her wings were absolutely destroyed. Feathers were missing, bones poked out here and there and twisted in awful angles, oozing blood.
"No!" She screamed, and the sudden movement she made caused more pain go through her. The white snow around her started to turn red as her blood soaked it. She couldn't feel much of her limbs anymore and she hadn't even been in the snow for that long.
She forced her hands to raise as she tried to use any ounce of magic she had left to call for help but there was nothing left in her.
Hallow fell into the snow, weak, exhausted and broken. Turning onto her side, she forced one of her broken wings to drape over herself for a little warmth. This simple action caused enough pain for her to scream, but it was drowned out by the unforgiving blizzard winds.
Can keepers die? She thought to herself. She knew they could stop existing if people didn't believe but that wasn't death.
"Bunny…" she whimpered softly as she let her cheek rest against her broken feathered wing. "Hope's starting to look a little bleak.." her eyes wandered off towards the night sky. The sky was clear of clouds and the moon shone brightly down on the earth.
"Can I die?" She asked this out loud, now directing her question at the moon. Remembering The Man on The Moon, also known as MiM could see her right now.
Silence.
"I know we haven't talked all that much but I think I'm dying right now and I'd like someone to talk too while I die" she huffed at him. The Man on The Moon created her, and she realized on her own what her purpose (kinda) and just never talked or attempted to talk to him again.
"You know it's kinda mean, just watching me die.." she bummed sadly to herself. "Then again, I'm probably one of the worse keepers you've ever given a chance too...if I were you, I'd probably watch me die too.." she laughed bitterly.
Silence.
"I didn't ask for this!" She cried out at the moon, his silence hurt more than any injury of hers. "I didn't ask to be hated. I didn't ask to be born a creature of the night!" Tears pricked her eyes but she blinked them back, refusing to cry. Her patience wore thin and her body grew ever colder.
"Did you make me just to lurk in the boogeyman's shadow? Am I his shadow!? Because that's what everyone thinks!"
Silence.
But that's not what you think, the thought came into her mind and it hit her.
Yes, she was physically a monster, a demon, a creature of the dark. But she was not the boogeyman's shadow and she was Halloween and it's keeper.
"you haven't said a thing but it feels like I just got amazing advice" a melancholic smile painted her lips. "I just have to live and figure out what I am huh?" She laughed softly, a beautiful laugh coming out of her broken body.
"I have a feeling, that Cat Kabuki has something to do with this" she said determinedly now, throwing away the idea that was she saw was no illusion.
My hopes not gone and my courage is still burning bright! Hallow thought with a newfound vigor and pulled her limbs closer to her and curled deeper into her wings.
"Keep your courage. Hold out Spook..you've got this.." she quietly encouraged herself as she laid in the cold snow and felt her temperature dropping. Waiting.
The Man on The Moon may always be silent, but somewhere...the gears of fate was turning.
Somewhere...
"Oy mate, I ain't no bloody kangaroo!"
THAT'S ALL FOR CHAPTER ONE! Whooooa, I threw way too much into this chapter. I may come back and edit this because this was originally me spitballing ideas. You can tell because I actually am reading into Joyce Williams series for more ideas. Sorry we didn't see any of the main cast this chapter, I just spilled a whole lot of introduction and it won't be awhile until we run into the actual problem in the story. But next chapter you can already guess who we're seeing (:
Rate and Review! It gives me more motivation to keep writing! v (btw I'm still writing all this on my phone during classes)
Cya next time!