On Halloween night, a wizard, a monster, and a box left the Dreemurr house. The three Trick-or-Treaters carried large sacks, ready to squeeze Hometown for all the candy it had. Of course, they were prepared for unforeseen shenanigans, prank opportunities, and a couple of unspoken plans. With the sun's setting, the witching hour had begun, and with it the night's fun!

Kris led Susie and their older brother Asriel down the short road to the first neighborhood. Kris was dressed as a swamp monster, covered in reeds and moss. It took all their restraint to not keep picking at the costuming and eat it. They also had to slap Susie's claws away from plucking the costume apart.

Susie for her part was dressed as a large, city smashing dragon. She also wore a large box around her waist. As she explained, "It's no fun scaring people right at the door. They're all expecting you to hiss, scream, and spit. But no one expects a box! And then as they start passing out the candy… WHAM!"

She demonstrated bursting out of her cardboard box, roaring, "RAWR!" Kris watched with passive admiration at her dedication and tactics while Asriel jumped slightly. Laughing, Susie said, "See? It'll work just fine. And when they're spooked, they'll jump and scatter more candy for us to collect!"

Kris agreed, hefting their empty bag. They were going to trick-or-treat until they had so much candy that the load dislocated their arms! Asriel laughed, adjusting his hat.

"You might have gotten the jump on me just now, but I'm not sure it's going to work all night."

"Just watch me," Susie declared.

Kris gave her the thumbs up.

Asriel rolled his eyes but laughed good naturedly. Kris and Susie had forced Asriel into a Ralsei costume. After begging Toriel months ago to stitch together the long coat, pink heart, and green hat, the two had conspired on how to transform Kris' older brother into the bigger version of their huggable Dark World friend.

They told Asriel to come to the backyard to help them get ready for Trick-or-Treating, but when he came out, the teens were waiting on top of the porch. They upended two buckets of black paint all over him. After shouting at Kris and Susie for not just asking him to just paint himself, Asriel was now scratching at the clumps and flakes coming off his once pristine white fur.

"Are we still committed to the plan tonight?" he asked Kris.

Kris gave him a serious, sharp nod. Asriel returned it, straightening his glasses.

Puffing out his chest he proclaimed in a voice that nearly cracked, "Alright! Let the Halloween festivities commence!"

"And the Trick-or-Treating, too," Susie added.

"Susie, that's part of the night," Asriel said patiently. He scratched at his chin, whether thoughtfully or because the cheap paint was bothering him Kris couldn't tell. "Well, it wasn't always the case. There's a fascinating history to Halloween, actually! We borrowed the traditions from the humans, who had this fascination with us and the dead!

"They believed that during the Autumn solstice, the world began turning to its own annual death. Ancient humans thought that seasons were the earth's life cycle, and the fall were the twilight years. The ghosts of lives past would come to mingle with the monsters. But it was a dangerous time for the humans to be out, so they'd dress up as-"

"SNORE!" Susie said dramatically, slouching backwards as if Asriel was boring her to death. She straightened up and socked him hard in the arm. "Come on, Azzy! It's Halloween, not history class! Who cares why anyone started it? Let's just focus on getting the candy!"

Asriel rubbed his arm gingerly and said weakly, "Yeah, you still hit like a freight train."

Kris assured him that he'd get used to it eventually. Not the punching, but the permanent numb feeling down the arm.

The three friends reached the first house in good time. The sun was nearly set, casting its last deep golden rays across a cloudy sky full of purples, blues, pinks, and a growing darkness. The first stars had not peeked out behind the veil of day. The wind was chilly, and the magic of twilight filled the air. Kris and Susie drank in that magic, their excitement for the evening growing with each step.

Despite the anticipation, all three glanced at the Holiday manor as they passed by. Mayor Holiday had her family relocate to the town hall to supervise the Halloween festivities going on near the church. There was once a time when the Holidays threw the best Christmas-themed Halloween parties and handed out delicious chocolate-coated candy canes. Those days were long gone.

Kris hoped deep within their heart that maybe that would change as things slowly got better around Hometown. Noelle had already come so far.

"First house in sight! And look, tons of kids. Play nicely Susie," Asriel said.

"Oh, I'm going to play alright!" Susie said, bearing her fangs.

Adults chaperoning their younger children called out to Asriel but put some distance between their kids and Hometown's delinquents. Kris and Susie didn't mind. Kris was already helping Susie get perfectly situated for maximum effect when it came time to scare the people behind the door.

"Let's see how well your idea works," Asriel muttered to Susie.

"Hey! Don't give me away!"

Kris was also anxious to see how their friend's plan worked. They punched the doorbell and summoned the dwelling's denizens. Two monsters dressed as bloody parakeets and holding a full bowl of candy opened the door just as Kris and Asriel cried out, "Trick-or-Treat!"

"Hey buddy, aren't you a little old to be trick-or- OH! It's Asriel! Good to see you back! Here, have some candy!"

The monster gave Asriel two large handfuls of sweets and one to Kris. There was a brief snicker before Susie's box erupted. She leaped out, roaring, "TRICK!"

"Gah!"

The monster in the doorway jumped, scattering bits of candy from their bowl all over the porch. Susie proudly thrusted out her bag, eagerly awaiting some candy for her great fright. The adult hesitated and then gingerly handed her one piece.

"Well… That was something! Azzy, it's great to see you back in town. Hopefully you'll be here for church? We could use you again in the choir!"

"I might be able to do that," Asriel said, sounding a little uncomfortable. The other monster missed the tone of voice and clapped him hard on the shoulder, shaking some flakes of black paint loose.

Meanwhile, Kris hurriedly gathered up all the spilled goodies. Susie glared at the one piece in her bag before stooping to quickly help Kris. They didn't want the annoying homeowner to realize that he had just been had.

"Excellent! Looking forward to worship! Happy Halloween!"

"Happy Halloween!" the friends replied, getting off the porch.

A small group of kids were gathering outside the lawn to make their attempt at the door. Susie gave them a small, playful growl. A few tiny monsters leaped with fright, making her laugh.

"Well, I guessed it kind of worked," Asriel said, gesturing to Susie's box.

"Of course it does! Just wait until we hit more houses!

"Hopefully not like how you hit people's arms."

"I might get more candy that way, actually," Susie mused.

Asriel paled under his paint. "No, Susie! Don't!"

They reached the next house and once again set themselves up like they had before. This time when Kris rang the doorbell, two large parakeets answered the door, dressed as monsters. And just like the previous house, they gushed when they saw Asriel.

"It's so cute that you're going trick-or-treating with Kris again! It was always so nice to see the two of you going up and down the neighborhood in your cute costumes. Did your mother sew these?" the female parakeet gushed, spilling two wingfuls of candy into Asriel's bag.

Kris only got one. They didn't care about the repeated injustice. In fact, everything was going exactly according to plan.

"RAWR! TRICK!" Susie shouted, exploding out of her box once again. And just as before, the monsters inside jumped in surprise, spilling candy. She held out her bag and said breathlessly, "Trick-or-Treat, give me something good to eat!"

"Sure," the lady said slowly, giving Susie two pieces of candy.

Kris was already cleaning up the mess of spilled treats across the doormat.

"Thank you so much for your generosity," Asriel told the big birds, giving them a grateful smile.

"Awwww, it's our pleasure! It's Halloween after all!"

"Happy Halloween," the three friends said again, backing away.

"See, I told you this would work," Susie said to Asriel, grinning triumphantly.

"Please don't put your genius to evil uses. I don't think the world is ready for you," Asriel muttered.

"Don't worry about that! I have Kris to do all of the evil planning and work. They come up with some great ideas, and some truly awful ones! Like that one robot of death…"

Asriel gave Kris an inquisitive look. Their sibling smiled back and nodded. It was all true, everything Susie said. It was also their ingenious, devilish plan that was going to make this Halloween's haul of candy the greatest in Hometown history!

Kris led Asriel and Susie down the rest of the street, harvesting candy at each house on the block. Susie's box was already showing signs of immense wear and tear after house number six. But she insisted on maintaining her own strategy until the very end. And who could argue? Her roaring and jumping out at the homeowners continued to scatter extra bits of candy.

It did come with the drawback that Susie kept on only getting one piece of candy…

"Scaring these lame idiots is making me hungry," she muttered, gulping down her entire stash in one go.

Kris gave her a few handfuls of candy from their bag. The teenage dragon needed to be satiated, but if given the chance, Susie would consume all their goodies before they got to the best part of Trick-or-Treating!

"Thanks dude. Hey! Who handed out these Mr. Adequate Bars? Which house was it? I'll egg their cars, teepee their lawn, and take a squat-!"

"Susie, please!" Asriel shushed, as a worried looking family passed by. "We don't want to make any enemies out here! If people think that you're going to pull any more pranks beyond your box trick, we might not get very good receptions at the other houses."

Kris was loathed to agree but gave Susie a confirming nod.

"Fine! I won't do that!" she groaned. But when Asriel was a little further ahead, she leaned into Kris and added in a whisper, "Not when he's looking at any rate!"

They smiled back at her.

"Hey, four-eyes! Why aren't we going this way?" Susie asked, pointing down the obvious curb.

Asriel stammered, "W-Well, um, w-we thought th-that it'd be good to hit the far side of town first and swing back around. Yeah! All of the f-f-festivities will still be downtown and l-later there w-won't be as many kids!"

"Are you alright? It's not even that cold," Susie said, squinting back at him.

Kris tapped her arm and assured her that everything was fine. They had planned it all out with Asriel ahead of this night.

"If you say so," she said with a shrug. "I was hoping we'd get to see that wild party Catti's sister is supposed to be having. There's no way her folks are going to let her get away with that!"

"Well, they are helping out with the mayor's spooky barbeque," Asriel said, his voice squeaking a little. "They'll be out late, so if should still be going on when we drop by."

Susie shrugged. "Coming later might mean that we'll get to see the whole thing get shut down. Ha! Maybe it'll be Undyne who gets there first!"

Kris wondered why Susie was so excited about this. Didn't she love rule breaking?

"True, but it's just as much fun to watch suckers other than yourself get caught for breaking the rules! If you don't get caught it makes you feel that much more accomplished," she declared, puffing out her chest. Kris took notice.

Asriel laughed. "I'd like to see you try that out in the college dorms! Those RAs are vicious!"

"Yeah? I bet they haven't seen what I can do to them!" Susie snarled viciously. She followed it up with a dark laugh.

Kris and Asriel stared at her, the older brother mortified and watching her teeth with concern. Kris' eyes were elsewhere and inscrutable behind their bangs.

The three continued their adventures up the next block, making their way to the apartment complexes. Here, a lot of the families had already migrated downtown to partake in the spooky festivities there. Some families had left out bowl, naively thinking that kids would be considerate and not steal the whole thing. There were a few holdouts still waiting on the street to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It was around this time that Susie's box finally gave up the ghost.

"Dammit!" she cursed as her box burst at all the seams and creases. "I was hoping it would last all the way until we got to the carnival games. Damn cheap cardboard…"

Kris patted her arm and indicated that they might still be able to do something about her box. Asriel chimed in, "Yeah! We could make a mask or something like that for you. It won't hide you, but you could still throw people off and pretend that you're something other than Susiezilla at first."

"Hey Kris! Hey Sooz! What's up?"

Just then, Monster Kid walked over, dressed up like a bowling pin. He was accompanied by Snowy, who was dressed in a fine suit with a tie and the sleeves all buttoned up. Kris waved, Asriel gave them a hearty greeting, and Susie gave a grumpy, "Hello."

"Wardrobe malfunction, Susie?" Snowy asked.

"Mechanical failure," she grumbled. "How am I supposed to scare people now? We were getting so much candy!"

"I think you could still be plenty scare just by yourself," Monster Kid, experiencing a small amount of PTSD as he said that. Even though they were now all friends and heroes of another world, the memories of angry Susie continued to haunt him and several other classmates.

"What are you going to do with her costume?"

"We're going to make a mask for Susie," Asriel replied to Snowy's inquiry.

"It's not my costume, but part of my master plan to get more candy," Susie snorted.

Kris hurried explained and mimed that Susie was hiding in the box while they and Asriel rang the doorbells. She would then pop out and cause people to freak out and drop candy. This way they could harvest even more goodies than normal.

"You don't say? Are people really that butterfingered?" Monster Kid wondered.

"Geez, I wonder," Susie snicked, looking him up and down.

"Looks like it's been working for you; that's a lot of candy you have there," he remarked, totally missing the tease.

"No, people have just been very generous," Asriel said, hefting his bulging back.

Kris was doing some quick calculating to make sure that everything still went according to plan. The box breaking so soon and meeting the others were not variables they had expected this early into the evening.

"Looking snappy there," Asriel told Snowy.

"Glad someone noticed," he said, ruffling his feather and shooting a glare at Monster Kid. "I'm dressed up as Rogier Wallums, the famous monster comedian."

"Oh, him! His voices and impersonations were always brilliant!" Monster Kid gushed.

"I loved him in that movie Safari," Susie said with a wicked grin. "You know, the one where the kids get sucked into the board game and have to battle their way through a jungle full of deadly animals and curses. Only for it all to end up in the real world!"

That was too on the nose for Kris.

"Eh, that's movie's graphics have not aged well," Snowy said. "But his portrayal of humans was absolutely hilarious! Makes me crack up every time!"

"Um, are you sure that you…?" Monster Kid began saying before trailing off.

Kris laughed. It was okay; they had long accepted that they were the weird ones in town. Besides, after everything they had all been through, there was no reason to get offended by well-meaning jokes from a beloved comedian.

"There, Susie! It would be better with tape, but folding the cardboard into place, I think this will be suitable mask," Asriel said, proudly handing to her a bulky mask on a cardboard 'stick' with crude eyeholes bored through just for her.

"It'll do," she said with grimace, taking it from him.

"Then, are we all going to go together?" Monster Kid asked.

Kris agreed that it would be good. They just weren't going to let the other two in on the plan. And with that, the gang of now five proceeded. It was fun seeing all of the decorations up around town. And with the sun down, Halloween was in full swing. The screams, the laughs, and crying all added to the evening's joyful ambiance.

They rounded another corner and passed by Asgore's flower shop where he was handing out lovely flowers instead of candy. The poor guy really needed to get his business up and running. And they double back towards Catti's place, the group picked up Temmie, dressed as an egg and accompanied by Eg dressed up as a Temmie. Kris had to admit that both were impressive costumes.

Susie's fears were confirmed as she was no longer able to easily scare anyone. It wasn't for lack of trying, and she did get plenty of people to jump by roaring in their faces, but no, everyone saw it coming from a mile away. They would glimpse the mask and hold their candy close for the inevitable jump scare. But she was surprised by the unexpected receiving of more candy. People now laughed after she was done and gave her more than one piece.

Happiness and disappointment warred within her, but in the end, candy won out.

"Whuy does Eg keep getting' stones?" Temmie asked as they neared Catti's house.

"Um… Because he's an egg?" Susie ventured.

"Yuz! But dat's no reeson to descrimunate!"

Asriel wasn't even going to try and steer right, while the others just laughed.

They crossed by Napstablook's house, where the lights were out, but a strand of lit black bulbs led them to a bowl on a small table covered in a white cloth. A small sign read, "Take One, Please." The bowl was empty.

"Looks like Napstablook is another one of those too-trusting people," Monster Kid said, shaking his head.

Asriel and Kris were pros and knew what to do. They took out small plastic bags and marched up to the bowl They reached inside and scooped something out and stuck them inside their baggies.

"What the hell?" Susie sputtered.

Kris repeated the process as Asriel explained, "Napstablook gets ghost candies every Halloween. They're invisible unless you're a ghost. But that doesn't mean you can't eat them. They're really, really delicious! And he gets new flavors every year. Just most people don't bother with his house, so Kris and I always take extra to keep him happy. He gets depressed if he still has a full bowl by the end of the night."

"What's with the bags then?" Snowy asked.

"Do we just have you here to ask questions and generate exposition!" Susie demanded.

"Te baggiez are there to help them find Nap's invizibull candies laytur," Temmie said knowledgably.

"Bingo," Asirle said, as Kris snapped and pointed at her.

"Wow. Good thinking ahead," Monster Kid said in awe.

"Why not just take the whole bowl?" Susie asked.

"Because that would be rude!" Asriel sputtered, shocked.

"Well, given how Monster Kid here though there was nothing there, it can't hurt," she said, striding up and swiping a handful. She dumped the invisible goodies into her bag, muttering, "Damn, I didn't really think there was anything there!"

Kris handed out small baggies with the ghost candies to the others, while Asriel gave a shake of his fluffy, painted, and itchy head. Indeed, the older Dreemurr appeared to get even more uncomfortable the closer they got their next friend's house. Catti and Catty's house was decorated to be a large doghouse.

When they knocked on the door, it took a little while for anyone to answer. Heavy music was thudding from within. It finally burst open before Susie could punch the doorbell herself. Catty stumbled out, looking breathless and bewildered.

"Uh? Who's there? Oh!"

"Hi," Asriel said weakly, waggling his fingers.

"Azzy! I hardly recognized you!" Catty gushed, pulling him into a tight hug. "So, you all will be wanting your candy?" she asked over Asriel's shoulder.

"Trick-or-Treat!" the teens all said dutifully.

Catty let go of Asriel and ripped open a large bag of goodies. She poured the contents in their waiting bags and buckets, draining the whole thing. Susie and the others were shocked at her generosity. But not Kris. They had pulled Asriel aside and whispered into his ear.

"Don't worry. I'll leave it out by the window in the bushes," he hissed back.

Kris replied by dusting off their older brother's costume and straightening the hat before wishing him good luck.

"Staying for party?" Catty asked Asriel coyly.

Before he could reply, Catti elbowed her sister out of the way, grumbling, "Took you long enough to get here, Kris."

They beamed back at her as Catty pulled Asriel inside and slammed the door shut.

"I know what you're up to…"

Kris replied they had no idea what Catti was referring to, pointing towards downtown.

Gathering themselves, the teens marched as a troop, hitting the last of the homes before arriving to the downtown area. Here, the lights were bright and the decorations were not so scary. Noelle's mother had insisted that everything be kid friendly within the confines of the Halloween carnival. Smiling scarecrows flanked them on all sides as they walked down the road, their straw hands bearing aloft electric lamps. At least someone had the sense to not put real flame inside them!

The town square was bustling with kiddie games, including bobbing for apples, donuts on strings, pin the tail on the werewolf, and other such silly things. Asriel had not been entirely correct, there were still lots of kids milling all over the place with their parents and friends. There were still plenty of chances to win prizes, baked goods, and candy, so Kris wasn't going to complain. They also needed to spend some time.

So far, everything was still going according to plan!

Kris led the group through the chaos to the Whack-a-Snake game overseen by Noelle and Jockington. Berdly was dressed up as a snake and getting whacked over the head by children wielding heavy, Styrofoam mallets. Berdly's eyes were spinning and he seemed to no longer understand what he should be doing, popping out of the same hole each time and getting clobbered by three kids laughing in delight.

"I think he's going to need some healing from Malius later," Susie whispered to Kris. They heartily agreed.

"Susie! Kris! Everyone! Welcome," Noelle said excitedly.

"Hey there everyone! How's the trick-or-treating been?" Jockington asked.

"It's been fun, though we haven't hit all of the houses yet," Monster Kid answered.

Catti glared at Kris and Susie and said, "I got started late."

Noelle waved them over, asking Jockington to keep the kids occupied. Kris was certain that poor Berdly was already doing a bang-up job himself but kept that thought to themselves. Noelle led them around the Whack-a-Snake. Behind the wooden box was a pile of large candy bags.

Flustered and grinning in a rule-breaking way, Noelle said excitedly, "My mother bought too much candy for tonight, but she was too stingy with the prizes. Even if every kid wins every game tonight, because we are instructed to give out so little candy, we'll neve get rid of it all. Though I think Mr. Gussac was hoping for that all along."

"The fat hippo guy?" Susie snorted.

"Checks out for a fatso like him," Snowy laughed.

"Here," Noelle said, tearing open a bag. She poured generous amounts into Catti's cauldron, Monster Kid's bag, Snowy's Jack-o-lantern, and Temmie's ghost baggies. She gave Susie a heaping ton, blushing a little. But Noelle hesitated when she got to Kris. Their bag was already full, but she didn't want to be rude, so Noelle only poured a little for them.

"Thanks!" Susie said excitedly. "I've never gotten this much candy on Halloween before!"

"Really?" the others chimed in.

"I think these delightful children are, believe it or not, beating sense and smarts into me," Berdly said from within the box, his words slurred in a punch-drunk way.

"He's doing just fine," Noelle assured everyone. "You're doing amazing, Berdly!"

"All for the perfect gamer girl," he called back dizzily.

Kris and Susie shared a knowing look, before Susie said, "You all should ditch this lame ass game and have some fun with us!"

"SURE!" Noelle said happily, causing everyone to snicker.

They eventually rescued Berdly from the children, put up a sign saying, "Out to Treat!", and then went out to enjoy the rest of the Halloween carnival. The friends all had fun playing a few of the games for small prizes of candy. Susie finally repaid Kris by swiping a large stuffed doll of a vampire and kept a doll of an axe murderer for herself.

"I love Eddie! Sure, it's a cheesy franchise," she gushed. "But all that blood and gore is so freaking cool! And no! Eddie vs The Sparkly Vampire is NOT canon to the series of movies."

"I think Eddie Part III was the best it ever got. All downhill from there," Snowy said.

"Nightmare on Yew Street is better," Monster Kid insisted.

Noelle was trembling from fright and delight at all the horror movies being talked about. She was ready to explode with everything she knew about all of them. It was then that the chainsaw guy revved his machine to life. The teens all screamed and threw Berdly at him at make their escape.

"Don't worry! I got this!" Berdly shouted, falling limp at the adult's feet.

"Hey kid! Are you alright?"

"I'm doing it for the gamer girllllll!"

"Guy seriously needs a girlfriend," Susie muttered to Kris as they ran.

After bobbing for apples, Kris went back with Monster Kid and Jockington to retrieve Berdly. The gang all had fun fishing for donuts, pumpkin smashing (which Susie excelled at), and they stole some of the pumpkin pies from the Hometown Pie Contest. Though Toriel's was the best, Kris didn't swipe it. They wanted their mother to win the prize, even if she wasn't there to accept it. Instead, Napstablook took it in for her while she stayed at home and greeted Trick-or-Treaters.

After enjoying their spoils, Noelle began to grow concerned about her mom playing hooky. It was the perfect chance to advance the plan forward, so Kris directed everyone back to the Whack-a-Snake. Berdly said, "Jockington, it's your turn now."

"But you make such a good snake!"

"You are a snake!"

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it."

Kris took advantage of the distraction. Taking Susie's hand, they led her away and back out of the carnival.

"Huh? What are we doing now?"

They pointed back up the street, explaining that they needed to get something from Asriel. As they left the carnival, they further elaborated that Asriel was going to stay at Catty's party for the rest of the night, so they could take his candy and make off with the greatest haul ever.

"Woah! Really? We already have so much," Susie said, noticing Kris' wobbling arms. She relieved them of their burden and slung it over their shoulder. "Hell, I'm not going to say no to more candy!"

The night was getting on and the air grew colder. People were beginning to dim their porch lights and kids were returning home. Halloween was not over, but the kiddie hour was coming to a close. Anticipation grew within Susie for what they would do next.

When they arrived at Catty's house, the same thudding music from before broke through the walls and made their teeth chatter. Kris poked around where they knew Catty's window was, combing through the bush to see where Asriel should have stashed the loot.

As they ducked into the darkness, Susie gasped and said, "Uh… Kris… What's going on?"

Confused, Kris emerged from the bushes and looked at their friend's face. She was blushed a deep maroon, her yellow eyes bulging. They followed her stare and looked through the window. Their own crimson eyes popped out of their sockets.

"Well… That explains the loud music…" Susie mumbled.

Kris nodded.

"I didn't know anyone could do that with their bodies…"

They were likewise shocked and appalled. Asriel would have a lot of confessing to do. Well, he'd feel like he'd need to do it. May Toriel never find out!

"Catty should really take off Ralsei's hat… I won't be able to look at the fluffy guy the same way again…"

Indeed, the image was horrifying and mesmerizing. It was already seared into Kris' memory.

"Any, um… Luck find that candy?"

Kris fell back into the bush and landed on top of the loot. Reacting quickly, Kris hauled out the bag, asking for Susie's help. Working together, they held up Asriel's bag. Kris shouted that they get to the lake and away from the terrifying scene.

When they got out to the dark shore, Kris recovered enough to regain their wits and retrieve the stash of candles and matches they had hidden behind a nearby tree. Susie was still numb with the shock of what they had witnessed. Kris assured her that some candy would help, while they used the light of the waxing moon to strike the matches. As the small flames fwiped to life, Kris set the candles around the table nearest the water.

Susie recovered enough to finally say, "You had this all planned out, both of you, right?"

Kris nodded.

She blushed again and said, "Then this was always a date?"

Yes, a chaperoned date.

"Some chaperone," Susie scoffed. She barked a laugh and said, "I'm never going to let him live this down! Ha! He should have known better!"

Kris wondered if they shouldn't have used the outside grill to cover up the window so no one else saw what was going on. They hurled the heavy bags of candy onto the table and beckoned Susie over. The best part about Halloween, they explained, was divvying up the candy with someone you cared about.

"Sure you're not referring to Onion?" she joked.

Kris looked over her shoulder and saw Onion floating around with a massive hockey mask. Where had they gotten that?

Susie began rifling through the sweets. "So, what? We'll share? Swap? Everything's kind of spilled together?"

They were going to eat it all together and get super sick, Kris said with a smile.

"Right on! My stomach of steel is ready! I've been training for this ever since we got sick eating all those chocolate from Alphys."

They began sorting through the candy. The really good stuff was set off to the side, as a pile of other candies accumulated around the Mr. Adequates Bars, such as the gummy chairs, chocolate-coated reaper peppers (though Kris pocketed a few), candy corn and peas ("Double yuck!" Susie shouted.), and overly sweet corn flakes.

"Goodbye loser candy!" Susie said, throwing the rejects into the bushes and some into the water for Onion.

Kris warned her that it could be bad to throw away perfectly good bad candy. Besides the littering, what horrible things could happen? A child might find one of those discarded bars, eat it, and choke to death on it.

"I'm fine with being haunted so long as I have good candy," Susie said, holding a king sized Betwixt bar.

Kris held up an equally large Laughter bar, snickering.

Luckily, the pile of good cany was huge. And by the light of candle, moon, and reflected lake, they enjoyed the tooth-rotting goodness. Kris made sure their wrappers and trash made their way into a separate bag. They reminisced about the decorations, the haunts, the costumes, and the carnival while stuffing their faces.

They stayed firmly away from the topic of what they had seen Asriel doing until Susie leaned back, tapping her claws against the perforated table, saying, "This is all fun, but now what? If it's a date, shouldn't we be kissing or something?"

Kris noticed that even in the dark, she was changing colors. Blushing themselves, they shakily reached out and took one of her hands. Their quaking fingers interlocked. By some magic of the witching hour, the two moved faster than their trepidation would have suggested. They leaned into one another and shared a quick kiss.

They broke it off almost immediately.

"There. We did it," Susie said. "No need to be a freak like Asriel and Catty."

Kris wondered why their parents would name their daughters Catty and Catti. It was very confusing.

"But… I wouldn't mind trying again," Susie said, looking out over the lake.

Kris saddled up closer, knocking some candy onto the grass. Susie turned around, grinning nervously. With her free hand, she cupped Kris' face and they shared another kiss. This time they allowed themselves to melt into it. Eventually, their tongues propped past sharp and flat teeth.

"Hmm, you taste like you've eaten too much chocolate," Susie mumbled into the kiss.

Kris thought it tasted like she had snuck some candy corn.

Feeling embarrassed, the two eventually parted, though their fingers remained interlaced. Breaking the silence before it grew awkward, Kris fished out the baggies where he and Asriel had stashed Napstablook's invisible candies.

"Oh! I almost forgot about those!"

Kris carefully unwrapped it and handed it to her.

"I can't believe this is real," she said before popping it into her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as saucers as she smiled. "Wow! It tastes like blueberries and berries!"

Booberries, Kris corrected her, earning them a sharp punch to the arm.

"Man, this was so much fun tonight, Kris. What could we do to make Halloween even better next year? Pull some pranks? Break into Father Alvin's store of sick juices? Have Halloween in the Dark World?"

Kris thought they should do all of it.

Susie grew nervous again and added, "And maybe we could try that whole kissing thing again?"

Kris smiled up at her. Hopefully they wouldn't have to wait until next Halloween for that!

Susie shook her head and said, "Hey, Kris. We can do the rest of this at your house. Let's go and get Mr. Adequate Bar's house! Asriel won't be there to stop us!"

Kris beamed at her and reached around another tree, producing plenty of teepee. Susie's grin widened maliciously Halloween night was far from over.