Excited to post the Halloween chapter on the actual Halloween! Since it's on a Sunday I've done most of my celebrating in other ways but at least we'll always have fanfic! I also wrote a Big Hero 6 and Ducktales Halloween crossover called Flesh Monsters that you should read if you're caught up on Ducktales season 3.

"Thanks for blowing off your plans for me," Mo said, glancing towards the backseat at Paige.

"It's no problem," Paige said hastily, "I wanted to spend Halloween with you, anyway."

"And thanks for getting along for me," Mo said, glancing towards Leo now.

"Pfft," Leo said, rolling his eyes a little before returning his attention to the road, "Come on, Mo, like we can't get along for one night. I'm cool."

"I'm cool too," Paige said hastily.

"After tonight you can go back to being broody, I just… I needed both of you with me."

"Of course, Mo. We know how important tonight is to you, and we have your back. Right, Leonardo?"

"Of course, Bookmark."

Paige rolled her eyes in the backseat and Mo shot pleading looks between them. Tonight was one of the most important of his life and he needed his little support system.

Leo had pulled him aside a little earlier before they'd gone to pick up Paige.

"Hey, dude? I'm here to support you- always, but I kind of wanted to check in. Make sure you're okay, make sure you don't expect too much from tonight."

"I'm not expecting too much from tonight."

"Yeah, just… This isn't some horror movie, Mo, it's not the night of the living dead. We can pay respects, but they're going to stay buried."

Mo's eyes had widened, and he'd fidgeted with his sunglasses so he wouldn't have to look at Leo's face as he calmed down.

"I know that, Leo. I know that. But I just barely found out who they are. I want to grieve and move on best I can, but I need to see them, y'know?"

Leo nodded, "I understand." He was trying his best, at least. He'd never had any parents other than Dewey, no one to know, no one to grieve. He refused to wonder what-if, or even who. Why should it matter, what had happened to the people who had thrown him in a trash can? Mo didn't have that kind of self-assurance though. He was still in his what-if stage, and so Leo and Paige were going to be there to support him through it, together.

Paige had joined the party with a bouquet of delphinium.

"I hope you don't mind, I thought your mom and dad deserve flowers." Paige lived in a house where everything was always blooming and the concept of death was still new to her.

"My bio-mom and bio-dad," Mo murmured, accepting the bouquet and spending most of the rest of the car ride staring at the long blue flowers.

"Do you mind if I put on some music?" Leo asked when they were a few minutes away from the cemetery. Leo kind of went insane when forced to sit with the silence of his thoughts and Mo clearly wasn't very talkative.

"Whatever," Mo said with a shrug, continuing to stare at the flowers.

Leo switched on a playlist of songs from musicals Angelo had been in. Angelo and DJ always made him playlists, competing for their little brother's admiration. With graduation and Angelo's inevitable departure growing closer, Angelo had been sending him more and more personally curated playlists, a promise to always be there for Leo even when he was far away. Leo treasured these playlists almost as much as he treasured the distraction from his darkest thoughts. He hoped, somehow, that the Waitress soundtrack was breaching the dark thoughts in Mo's head.

As What Baking Can Do played, Mo contemplated what had led him here. He was obviously endlessly lucky to have family and friends who supported him the way his family did, Leo and Paige showing up for him like this meant a lot to him. But his love for his family didn't mean he still wasn't plagued with what-ifs on this spirit-raising night. And he couldn't help still being a little upset at his dads for what had happened over a decade ago.

"Do you remember when we used to dress up in matching costumes on Halloween and try to convince people we were twins?" Leo asked, trying to pluck Mo from his gloom.

"They never believed us," Mo said before falling silent again.

"I think it's because I'm older than you."

"I think it's because you're green," Mo said.

"Wow, cutting deep."

Mo didn't respond for the rest of the ride, but eventually, they arrived in the cemetery. It was six in the evening and not quite dark yet, but it was getting there, getting a little creepy. Paige and Leo didn't say anything about the creepiness though, since they were there for Mo.

"My parents got married in that church," Mo said as they passed, "I mean, my dads. I don't know about Satoshi and Janice."

"Your mom's name is Janice?" Leo asked.

"I think so. I guess we're about to find out. Satoshi and Janice Kojima."

"Janice is a pretty name," Paige said.

"I think it's nice that you know their names," Leo said.

Paige looked at Leo and it occurred to her, suddenly, that he probably didn't know the names of his birth parents. She momentarily wondered how much that affected Leo and began to really think, for the first time, how big of a change this must have been for Mo, to suddenly know even a fragment of who his birth parents were. She felt lucky for knowing who all of her parents were, despite how non-traditional her family was and how hard it was sometimes even in the most loving of blended families. She slipped her hand into Mo's and offered Leo the other one. Leo hesitated before taking it.

It would have been smart to go into the cemetery knowing where his birth parents were buried. In reality, he'd barely managed to get the location of the cemetery from pop. This wasn't exactly the kind of thing Louie liked talking about, which was kind of fair but also kind of annoying. He shined his flashlight over tombstones, checking names, feeling more than a little bit spooked. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for any creeps out tonight, his flashlight was also a taser. His dads had made sure he was protected in case anyone got the wrong idea. They had always looked out for him…

"Mo, I think I see something!" Leo said, causing Mo to startle and then rush ahead, falling down on his knees in front of two tombstones.

"Mo?" Leo asked, "Do you want a moment alone?"

Mo didn't look at them but nodded, tears already forming in his eyes. This was real- painfully real.

Leo let go of Paige's hand, looking a little bit embarrassed, and nodded away from his grieving cousin. Paige followed him, staying silent until they'd gotten some distance.

"I feel really bad," She said quietly.

"Why? These things happen, we just have to give Mo the chance to mourn."

"Yeah, I just wish I could do something. Take some of the pain away."

"I understand," Leo said, "But you know we're doing everything we can, right? Being here, I know it means a lot to him. You know, you're a good friend, Paige. To Mo, that is."

"Oh! You… You too. I know we don't always get along but I'm glad that we can both be here for Mo tonight. I'm glad he has good friends like us."

Leo laughed a little, "Yeah. I'm glad he has us. Let's give him a few more minutes and then check on him."

Mo was reeling. He was dizzy with sobs, tracing his fingers over the names and dates, the sum of two lives carved succinctly onto stone slabs. It was too much. It wasn't enough. Why was he here?

His knees sank into the soft cemetery soil and for a moment he felt like he was being pulled into the grave. He stood abruptly before panic could erupt in his chest and walked away. He hadn't managed to say anything, he didn't know what to say. He'd wanted, at least, to tell his birth parents that he was okay, but he very clearly wasn't, so he just kept walking far away from his friends.

"Mo, do you want some company now- Mo? Mo?!" Leo suddenly turned on Paige, looking frantic.

"We lost my baby cousin in a cemetery! Fuck!"

Paige looked at the delphiniums set next to Janice's grave, and the knee prints left in the ground.

"He had to have gone that way, come on!" She grabbed his hand again and they stumbled forward in the dark.

Mo was mumbling to himself.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." It seemed like ghosts were watching him from tombstones. The ghosts didn't believe him either.

"I'm okay," he said a little louder, shining his flashlight over the spectres. The wind blew through his hair and he'd wished he'd worn something a little warmer instead of trying to look cute on Halloween.

"Okay, so I'm lost, that's fine. I just need to think. I can't go back to my parents, I just can't… So where do I go?" Mo looked around, pointing his flashlight forward. He could go back to the church… It would probably be warm in the church. But then he'd have to explain why he was out dressed like a teenage dirtbag in the cemetery on Halloween night in a way that didn't make him sound like a delinquent and-

"Mo!" He stood still, frozen in fear, forgetting for a moment who knew his name here. Who- Oh yeah. He'd come with people, people who were trying to bring him back, wake him up. He let out a muffled sob, shoulders hunched. He was so cold…

"Mo, it's gonna be alright," Paige said, grabbing his hand.

"He's like, frozen," Leo said with a grimace, shedding his black army jacket and pulling it over Mo's shoulders. Mo instinctively dropped the flashlight and pulled the jacket on, still dazed and otherwise glued to his spot.

"Here," Paige said, helping him put her rainbow gloves on his hand before scooping up his flashlight, "Let's get you home."

Mo could barely nod as they left the cemetery, trading one set of parents for another.

Mo shuffled into the living room, seeing his dads cuddled up on the sofa together. Pop was asleep, practically in dad's lap, and dad was watching old horror movies with subtitles.

"Those are not the clothes you left in," Boyd assessed, before noticing how vacant his son looked, "Everything alright, Bug? Did Leo and Paige fight again?"

"No… It's just. I just…"

Boyd patted the sofa next to him and Mo collapsed into his father's arms, tears beginning to leak down his face once more.

"Let it out," Boyd whispered, rubbing his back soothingly.

"I…" Mo took a little longer to collect himself and Boyd took in his appearance, he was shivering despite wearing Leo's jacket (which had R. Duck embroidered on the pocket) and Paige's gloves. Boyd tore the blanket away from Louie, who was beginning to stir, and wrapped it around their son.

"Morio?" Louie asked sleepily, "Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Ghosts," Mo murmured, before breaking down into tears again.

Louie frowned and reached over to check Mo's temperature.

"He certainly doesn't have a fever…" Louie told Boyd quietly, "but I'm gonna get him some tea."

Mo didn't even protest his dads talking about him like he wasn't there. He was so out of it, mentally dragged back to the cemetery and the lives that had flashed before him, represented by a couple stupid carvings. He wanted to know them but all he could tell was that before this evening no one had come to those slabs of stone for years. He came from a forgotten and unloved family that had only ever had each other. No one visited his parents, no one spoke fondly about how they were missed. The world had lost two people and no one even blinked. He knew he was in a new world now, a new family. He had love and he had privilege but he was still a lost little kid wandering the necropolis. He was still so cold.

"Mo, do you want to tell us what happened?" Boyd asked as Louie made tea in the other room, the horror movie on the tv entirely forgotten.

"I had this idea…" Mo started, squeezing his hands together for a bit of comfort. Louie came out and handed Mo a pumpkin-shaped mug full of chamomile tea with a leaf-shaped stirring spoon.

"You can tell us anything, Mo. As spoon- soon as you're ready."

Mo laughed a little at the slip-up, still disconnected, stuck in his head. Small sips of tea brought him out of it a little, beginning to warm him up.

"I went to the cemetery, I wanted to see my mom and dad. I made a mistake."

Louie and Boyd exchanged a look and Louie took a deep breath. They'd known this was coming, of course it would come. Mo had been destroyed by the revelation that Louie had destroyed his birth family. It had only been a matter of time before their inquisitive son had sought to learn more.

"What happened?" Louie asked gently.

"I found them, Paige gave me flowers to give to them and I wanted to tell them I was okay but I couldn't talk to them, I could barely look at them but I can't forget the tombstones, they're burned into my memory. It was everything and nothing all at once. Like no one ever really knew them, no one ever had anything to say about them and definitely no one ever visited. Ever since I found out they have mattered so much to me and it's like they never mattered to anyone else. I shouldn't have gone. I didn't want to find out I came from a family of nobodies who lived and died unnoticed."

"You didn't," Louie said instantly, "Mo, your father worked for me. He was tough, he was a genius, and he was passionate. He really, truly loved your mother and it destroyed him when she was gone, to the point he was willing to kill for her. It might not seem like the rest of the world noticed when they were gone but they mattered to each other, and they matter to you. Isn't it enough to have a few people who really, truly care about you?"

Mo thought about how Leo and Paige had put aside their differences to help him tonight.

"Maybe. I just… I still feel weird about it all. I need to get out of my head."

"We could restart the movie if you want," Boyd offered, "Or watch one of your Halloween favorites."

"I'll make popcorn," Louie added.

"Yeah, that'd be good…" Mo was still going to wrestle with these thoughts for a long time. He would still show up at the cemetery with flowers regularly after this. And he would never be able to tell his birth parents that he was okay, but he was really trying to be.