About a week later, it was finally time for the event itself. Five was so excited for the entire day, especially as the android started bringing out some of the food she'd been making for them to sample. The pumpkin pie was particularly delicious, and Five couldn't wait to try everything else.

That kept her going until the afternoon, when they could finally start getting ready. Then, grinning uncontrollably, she pulled out the bags containing all her costume stuff from the bottom of her wardrobe, and got to work.

She'd decided to go as a witch. She'd found a really nice black and greeny-blue dress, with criss-crossed ribbons on the front and lacy skirts that puffed out around her, and thought it was perfect. The greeny-blue colour even matched her hair. So she'd looked for the other parts to go with it, and soon found a black witch's hat, black and green stripy leggings, a long wooden wand, and a set of green and black face paints.

Once she had the outfit on, she went into the bathroom to start on her makeup. First, she covered her whole face and neck in a light green paint with a sponge. Then, she added some darker, glittery green around her eyes, and black to her lips. And to finish it off, she took a finer brush and painted a spiderweb on each cheek, dusting those with a splash of silver glitter. As she stood back to admire her handiwork, she grinned at her reflection. Not bad for someone that had barely ever done makeup before.

As she started to put the paints away, there was a beep from her door.

"Come in!" she called.

She turned as the door slid open, and in came the android. Five took in her costume with an astonished smile.

It was pretty clear that she was meant to be an alien. She had painted her face and whatever bits of her body were visible a kind of shimmery silver-blue. She wore a bright-blue full-body suit with strange spacey designs and symbols. On her head, she had a headband with two antennae, and attached to the sides of her costume were two extra fake arms.

"Hello, human," she said, in an even more exaggerated version of her usual staccato and minimally inflected voice melody. "I am an alien lifeform here to study the behavioural patterns of your species. Meep zorp borg."

Five gave a disbelieving laugh.

"You look amazing!" she said, coming closer to get a better look.

Dropping character for a moment, the android smiled at her, looking down at her own costume. "Thank you, Five. I was quite proud of how my costume turned out. And the idea. People do always comment on the way I speak being rather like an alien…"

Five chuckled. "I love it," she said fervently.

"I love yours, too," the android said, taking in Five's witch costume. "I gather you're a witch?"

"That's right," Five said, smiling as she picked up her wand and swished it around towards the android. "So don't mess with me, you alien invader, or I'll turn you into a frog."

"That does not sound like an appealing outcome," the android said, back in her alien character. "I will do my best to not get on your bad side, Human Witch."

"Good," Five said, giving her a pretend stern look. But then she dropped the act and grinned again. "I can't wait to see everyone else's costumes!"

The android smiled back. "Yes. It will be interesting to see what everyone has chosen," she agreed. "Are you ready to begin the trick or treating?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Five said, grabbing the basket she'd picked up along with the costume. The android was also carrying one in one hand. "Let's go!"

The plan was that Five and the android were going to go trick or treating around everyone's quarters. Then, each person could tag along with them to the next person's room, so they got to do some trick or treating too.

First up, it was Two's room. Five and android went up to her door and pressed the button to tell her they were there.

A few moments later, the door opened, and they were face to face with Two in her costume. It was safe to say that she had gone in for the sexy side of Halloween. The body of her costume was more or less just the normal sort of clothes she would wear: tight black trousers and a tight black vest – only instead of separate items of clothing, it was all one skin-tight full-body suit. Around her waist there was a belt with a tail attached at the back. On her head, she wore a pair of black cat ears, and had painted whiskers onto her cheeks and coloured in the end of her nose black. And on her feet were her usual boots, coming up to just below her knees. She also had painted her nails black.

As Five and the android took her in, she smiled and twirled her tail in her hand.

"What d'you think?" she asked.

"You look incredible!" Five cried.

"Yes – this outfit looks great on you, Two," the android agreed.

Two chuckled. "Thanks. You guys looks great too."

Five grinned back. "Well then," she said, holding up her basket and her wand. "Trick or treat!"

Two smirked and reached over to the table behind her, bringing over a bowl filled with sweets – chocolate and jelly sweets and lollipops. She offered it up to Five and the android, and they both picked a small handful out and put them in their baskets.

Five grinned up at her. "Thanks!"

"Will you be coming with us, now, Two?" the android asked.

"Yeah, sure," Two said, smiling a little. "I'm up for some candy."

She picked up a basket of her own from beside the bed, then joined them in the corridor, closing her door behind them.

"So, who's next?" Two asked as they started walking.

"One," Five answered. Then she gave Two a sly, amused look. "I think he's gonna like your costume."

Two's lips curved at the corners.

The three of them headed over to One's quarters and pressed his door's button. The door soon opened and there was One, though he looked so different it took a second for Five's brain to register that it was him. He was quite clearly a zombie, and he'd gone all out on the face paint. His whole face and neck were painted green; he had darker grey paint forming hollows around his eyes, and red paint in the form of cuts and injuries on his cheek and forehead. He also had red paint around his mouth, dripping down like blood. Clothes wise, he was wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers, both of which he'd ripped holes in and added blood-stains to. He'd even painted his arms green and done a few fake cuts on them.

"Hey," he said, smiling at Five and the android. And then, when his eyes fell on Two – as Five had expected –, they widened a little, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

He didn't say anything for a few moments, just looked at Two distractedly as she smirked back at him. Five was torn between laughing and rolling her eyes.

"Um… One?" she said, waving her wand at him until he looked over, an embarrassed expression crossing his features.

"Huh? Sorry…"

"You're not meant to say, 'Hey'," Five pointed out, smiling when One's brow creased in confusion. "You're meant to say, 'Braaaains'."

One looked confused for another second, until he remembered what his costume was.

"Oh," he said, smiling a little. "Right. One sec." Then, with a sheepish grin, he stepped back and closed the door again.

When it reopened, he had his arms out limply in front of him, and a slack expression on his face. He walked a few slow, wobbly steps towards them and moaned, "Braaaaaaiiiinnnssss…"

Once he'd come to a stop in front of them, Five giggled.

"That's better!"

One dropped the act again and smiled a little self-consciously back.

"I thought you said you weren't a natural artist!" Five said excitedly. "Your face paint looks great!"

"Oh… thanks," One said, grinning a little. "I, uh, I guess I'm more of a painter than a carver. I like your spiderwebs as well."

"Thanks!"

"I take it you're a witch?" he asked, and she nodded and gave her wand a couple of swishes. "And…" He looked at the android. "An alien?"

"Yes," she said. "I am an alien lifeform here to study humanity. So far, I find it rather strange, and very entertaining. Boop. Zeep."

One laughed.

"Right. And…" His eyes shifted to Two again, and his lips quirked up a little at the corners. "Well, I don't think I need to ask what you are."

Two just smiled back, and then lifted up a hand and started pretending to lick it like a cat and wash her face. One watched, torn between amusement and adult appreciation.

To get his attention back again, Five poked him with her wand.

"Hey, zombie man! Trick or treat!"

Looking a little sheepish again, he said, "Right," and ducked back into his room to grab his bowl of sweets. He offered it out to the three of them, and they all took a few pieces. Once they'd added them to their baskets, One put the sweets back, grabbed his own basket, and joined them out in the corridor.

"Adrian's next," Five told them, as she led the way to his quarters.

When they laid eyes on Adrian's costume, all of them were left speechless. But not because it was so impressive. Because they had no idea what it was supposed to be.

He was grinning widely at them at first, until he took in their bewildered expressions. Then his grin drooped into an embarrassed smirk.

"What… are you?" Two asked eventually.

Whatever he was, it wasn't your typical Halloween costume, like the rest of them had gone for. He was wearing old-fashioned-looking clothes that brought to mind some kind of old-world explorer – tan trousers, cream shirt, brown leather jacket and boots, all looking rather worn. Over the top of this, he had a long black and red cape that was buckled at the top of his sternum, and fell down over his shoulders to his ankles. He was also wearing a brown fedora-like hat, holding a coiled up whip, and had his face painted white, with dark eye shadows and a red mouth dripping blood. There was also fake blood on the fangs in his mouth.

"Um, wmfh –" He paused to take out the fangs when he realised he couldn't really talk with them in. "I, well, you see, I… couldn't decide on what costume to go with," he admitted, shifting on his feet awkwardly. "At first I thought of a sort of old-timey adventurer, you know, like those really old movies – but then I thought of the ultimate classic – the evil undead vampire – 'I vont to suck your bloooood!' and all that… And… they were both so good I just… couldn't choose. So I thought I'd just do both."

The others couldn't help laughing a little. That was so typical Adrian.

"So… specifically, I am an adventurer that got bit by a vampire," he summarised.

"Right – of course," Two said, smirking a little in amusement. "We should've guessed."

He gave them a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, now that we know what you are," Five said, "you look like an awesome vampire-adventurer."

"Thanks," Adrian said, smiling at her. Then, remembering why they were here, he said, "Ah – hold on."

He darted back into his room and returned with a bowl of sweets, which he handed around to everyone. Then he joined them in heading on to the next person's quarters.

"He's not going to answer," Five said with a sigh, as they walked up to Four's room. "But we might as well try."

They pressed the button for his door, and after a few seconds it did open. But as expected, Four wasn't remotely dressed up, and didn't look remotely impressed. He just glared at the five of them for a moment before shutting the door again.

Five looked around at the others and shrugged.

"He's even worse than Three," One said, looking caught between irritation and weariness. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Don't speak too soon," Two said, giving him a look. "We've haven't got to Three yet."

As they carried on walking, Five said, "Guess we might as well get Solara out of the way, too."

So they went to her quarters next. But when they pressed the button, the door didn't open. Not for over a minute. Five sighed.

"Guess she's not even gonna open up," she said.

Adrian frowned. "No – I bet I can get her to come out and play nice. At least to say hi."

He stepped forward and tried opening the door. It slid open, and he peered through the doorway… but there was no one there.

He looked back at the others and frowned.

"Maybe she… went to train or get food, or something?" he suggested.

They carried on, Five and Adrian a little more subdued than they had been. But it was Six next – he'd be enthusiastic about joining in on the fun. That thought cheered Five up.

As they turned a corner, something big and red with horns and claws and glowing purple eyes jumped out in front of them, making every single one of them scream. Two and One started scrambling for their weapons before realising they didn't have them; Adrian and Five darted skittishly behind the others, holding whip and wand up defensively; the android got her fists ready; Two then belatedly seemed to get her head straight and bent over, whipped a knife out of her boot and aimed it menacingly at the creature.

It was only then that their hearts stopped pounding enough for them to hear the laughter.

"Oh my god! That was priceless! You guys are hilarious!"

Frowning, they all strived to get a better look at their attacker. It was undoubtedly red all over, with horns and purple eyes and a forked tail – it looked very much like a demon. But as they looked closer… it became clear that it wasn't. It was Solara, her face intricately painted to look like an unfeasibly realistic demon, with scales and ridges and severe eyebrows. She was wearing contacts that gave her bright purple eyes with slit pupils. Her hair was tied right back and had been sprayed red as well, and she wore a pair of horns on a headband. A thick red hooded cloak was draped over her shoulders, and under that was a red scaly-looking costume that included a forked demon tail. She also had long stick-on claw-like nails.

"What the hell?!" Two said loudly. "Solara! You're lucky we didn't kill you! If me and One had had our guns…"

She was still laughing, bent over with her hands on her knees. Eventually, she pulled herself together enough to talk.

"I'm sorry," she wheezed. "I couldn't resist. When Four and Three were refusing to play along I had the idea and… it was too good."

"Oh my god!" Adrian, along with the rest of them, was still panting a little. "You scared the crap out of us! I don't think my heart's meant to be beating this fast. Is this a heart attack?!"

When Five had got her breath back, and her heart was almost back to its normal rate, she grinned at Solara in astonishment.

"So… you were just pretending to not want anything to do with it?" she confirmed. "And really you were planning this all along – to dress up and scare us…?"

"Yep," Solara said, looking very pleased with herself. "And it worked like a charm."

Having seemingly recovered from his brief heart attack, Adrian smiled wondrously at his bodyguard.

"Aw, that's great!" he said emphatically. "I'm really glad you decided to get involved. I knew you'd enjoy it if you just let loose a little! I mean, you know, not that you're not normally very… fun and sociable…"

She just looked amusedly exasperated. "Sure."

"Well, I'm glad you're joining in too," One said. "But you are very lucky we didn't have our guns. Or that Two didn't throw her knife."

"I could've taken you two down if I needed to," Solara assured them bluntly.

"Or that I didn't execute my defence program," the android added.

When Solara looked at her, she paused for a moment, and then grimaced slightly. "Right… Guess that would've sucked…"

One and Two exchanged slightly offended looks.

"Or that I didn't… whip you with my whip!" Adrian added, brandishing it menacingly.

Solara looked at him, along with the others, and then none of them could hold back their laughter. Even Adrian, who had (mostly) been joking, grinned back at them.

"Yeah – I could've blasted you with my wand," Five said, grinning as she waved it at Solara. "Send you back to whatever hell you came from, you demonic fiend!"

"I have fangs as well!" Adrian added. "I could've bitten you and turned you into some kind of-of vampire demon! … Ohh – oh, no – that is not a good idea – that sounds worse!"

Five laughed. "At least you're already a vampire, so she couldn't do much to you," she pointed out.

"That's true," Adrian said, looking thoughtful. "I'd just have to take her down before she got to any of the rest of you!"

Solara just smirked a little, folding her arms. "I'd like to see all of you try," was all she said.

-o-

They only had Six and Three left now. Six was first, and when they rang his bell, he looked mildly alarmed as he opened the door.

"Did I hear screaming?" he asked.

"Oh – yeah," Two said, with a slightly awkward laugh. "That was us."

Six raised his eyebrows. "What happened?"

"Solara just… scared us," Five explained. "We thought she wasn't joining in with Halloween, but then she jumped out at us looking like… well…"

As Six took in Solara's costume, he chuckled in understanding. "Right."

Six had quite clearly come as a cowboy. He wore a leather vest jacket over a long-sleeved shirt, tucked into brown trousers with a large-buckled belt. He also had a holster, but a bit different to their normal ones – it was brown leather not black, and didn't buckle around his leg but just hung down his thigh. On his feet were cowboy boots, and on his head a wide-brimmed cowboy hat. He also had a red neckerchief around his neck.

Five grinned up at him. "Howdy, partner."

Six smiled back, bending forward and tipping the brim of his hat. "Howdy, milady."

Adrian was looking very excited. "Hey, our costumes are kinda similar! Well, at least, half of my costume…"

Six took him in and looked just as confused as the rest of them had been. "Um… what… are you exactly?"

Adrian got a little embarrassed again. "I'm… an adventurer that got bit by a vampire."

"Oh." Six's expression became amused. "Right. No, yeah, I can see that. Definitely."

After looking around at everyone else's much more straightforward and guessable costumes, Six went to grab his treat for them – only he hadn't been so simple with his. Rather than just putting some sweets in a bowl, he appeared to have submerged them in some kind of greenish goo. Five and the others looked at him with confused expressions, and he smirked slightly back.

"Hey, I didn't want to make it too easy for you," he said teasingly.

Five laughed a little in disbelief. "What even is this?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Six said, his lingering smile betraying his serious tone.

Five just giggled a little more. Then, she reached one hand into the bowl, wrinkling her nose up at the feeling of the cold gelatinous goo. She grabbed a couple of sweet packets and pulled them quickly out, then shook the slime off them before adding them to her basket.

The rest of the trick-or-treaters then took their turns fishing sweets from the bowl of goo. One made an upset noise after his go as he wiped the goo off his hand, and some of his green body paint was rubbed off with it.

"Aww – now my hand's come back to life," he said, making Five and Six laugh and Two smirk.

"You can go touch it up after we've been to Three," Five reassured him.

He nodded, then started to look a little amusedly embarrassed – presumably at how that sounded like a girl at a party going into the toilets to touch up her makeup.

So with Six now also in tow, the seven of them headed over to their final stop: Three's quarters. None of them were really expecting much. But they walked up to his door and pressed the button.

It took a while to open, and Five thought he might just ignore them. But eventually, clearly dragging his feet, Three opened the door. As he looked around at them all, Five noted with satisfaction that, though he tried to hide it, there was definitely a bit of an impressed look in his eyes as he saw how much effort they'd put into their costumes.

Three, on the other hand, was a bit of a different story. He appeared to have gone for the most basic and low-effort costume he could think of. As far as Five could tell, the only thing he'd actually bought for the costume was an eyepatch. Other than that, he was just wearing some of his normal clothes – a white T-shirt, his well-worn leather jacket, and black cargo pants. He was also holding a sword that Five recognised as one of Four's from the training room. Presumably, he was meant to be a pirate.

Five sighed and gave him a disappointed look. But he had noticed Two and her costume and, like One, was now rather distracted. In a very similar way, his eyes had gone a little wider and he was having a little trouble swallowing. Two just kept smiling. She certainly wasn't having any aversion to the attention.

"This was the best you could do?" Five said disparagingly, pulling Three's attention back to her. After he'd taken a moment to focus on the non-tight-sexy-black-cat-costume-wearing female, he shrugged.

"Hey – I'm wearing a costume," he said defensively. "That's more than I should've given you!"

"You're mostly just wearing your normal clothes!" Five complained.

"Yeah – 'cause they go with the costume!" Three insisted. "I'm not gonna waste my money buying specific clothes for this one day when I already have plenty of clothes that work! And I got an eyepatch and a sword!"

"You didn't even buy the sword! That's just one of Four's!"

"He wasn't using it!"

Five just sighed weakly and gave in.

"Fine… Trick or treat?" she said, holding up her basket.

Three, looking bored, leaned back into his room. He came back with a cardboard box, rather than a bowl. And instead of offering it out to all of them, he reached into it himself. Then he pulled his hand out and showered them with the contents – some of them managed to catch the objects, but most ended up on the floor. Five got hers, and saw that it was not any kind of treat, but a toothbrush.

Five, along with the others, gave Three a baffled and outraged look. He just smirked back.

"Someone's gotta make sure all your teeth don't fall out from all that candy. I'm just being responsible."

Then, before any of them could say anything, he stepped back into his quarters and closed the door.

The trick-or-treaters just stared between the door and their toothbrushes for a long moment.

"What a jerk!" Adrian finally said.

They all started wandering slowly away down the corridor, grumbling between themselves about Three and his obnoxious behaviour.

"All he had to do was buy some candy," One was saying irritably. "It's not even like he didn't buy anything – he took the time to buy the toothbrushes! He just did this on purpose just to be an ass!"

"We should trick him," the android said suddenly. "And Four."

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"Trick them?" Two said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, traditionally, 'trick or treat' wasn't just an idle threat," the android explained. "The practice stems from early Celtic beliefs that the dead returned to life on the night of 'Samhain', which we now call Halloween. The Celtic people would dress up in order to drive away spirits, and lay out food to placate them. This later grew into the tradition of dressing up as ghosts or monsters and going house to house asking for treats. The phrase 'trick or treat' is meant to inform the house owners that the visiting 'creatures' will perform a trick on them unless they receive a treat to appease them."

They took that in for a moment, and then Five started to grin.

"So Four and Three… both refused to take part," she mused. "They didn't give us a treat. Meaning – as a bunch of evil monsters, we're meant to get them back with a trick!"

"Exactly," the android confirmed, smiling.

Five looked around at the others, who were all starting to grin too. There were no objections to be seen.

"Let's do it," said Two.