Author's Note: Better late than never. I got sick while writing this chapter, hence why it's so delayed from its original date of Halloween, but instead of just holding it back for a year, I'll just spook you a bit from outside the expect date. It's as they say, the unexpected spook, is the spookiest.

An Unfinished Scrapbook

The Fourth Picture

The Halloween Special!

Spooky, Spookier, Yet Spookier

October 31st, 20 P.R.

It was that time of year again, Halloween, the bipolar holiday that was supposed to be both spooky at fun at the same time. Where you honour the dead by celebrating, and where more than one spooky scary skeleton rose from its death into its… well, undeath.

Fortunately, most paranormal activities had diminished enough to have massive spookatrons be a problem of the past, and the holiday in all planets had slowly drifted away from quiet festivity into something that held its ground against the big heavyweights like Christmas.

In any case, our family was all but inexperience in Halloween, in fact, some of them had already entered the festivities with everything planned for the night, for the most part at least.

Tina, always fashionably late when it came to dress-ups, was trying to finish up her own dress by adjusting the small bat-wings that served as hair adornments. Daring costumes was something she did not shy away from, she embraced them, and this year, she'd just bit the big one when it comes to daring. Not many girls had the… gall so to say to dress up as a succubus, but Tina had all of it and more. Sure, she didn't pick the most revealing of outfits, after all, let's face it, Shin would die from seeing her using an over PG-13 succubus costume, so, she had just taken inspiration in one of the more "teen-friendly" ones she knew. Her legs were fully covered by violet leggings with bat symbols all over them, and she black boots and a matching dress that just showed quite a bit of her cleavage and a small, heart-shaped form just below her chest. She adorned her arms with the same kind of tissue as her legs, and used a few bat-wings props to get the Halloween feeling going with two small wings on her head and a large pair hanging from her waist. Because the succubus she was dressing as, Morrigan, had straight hair, she had just cheated a bit with her lightning magic to force it uncurl itself. Would be hard getting it back to straight, but oh well.

In any case, with a pose to the mirror to confirm that she was, in her mind, the sexiest thing alive, she found her job enough to call it and left her room. The entire house had been decorated for the occasion, mostly due to the most enthusiastic members of the household when it came to Halloween, with pumpkins being dime of a dozen, all with a different art to them, not to mention the fake cobwebs and all that came with Hallow's Eve.

"Can't believe you're actually not the last one to get ready," Kefka said with a tiny bit of frustration on his voice. As much as he liked the atmosphere of Halloween, he did not enjoy their plans for the year, or waiting. Heck, if not for Cuore verbally threatening him into dressing up, he would not have at all. She had even picked his dress for him. With a bit of help dying his hair with magic, he now sported silver hair and the dark trench coat look you had come to expect from the more noble vampires of yore. With a pair of amber lens and an Enhancer sword taken right out of their parent's armoury, Kefka's nerdier appearance had vanished and given way to a much more sinister one, fitting, considering Cuore had basically forced him into dressing as Sorin Markov.

"I'm probably the last one to get dressed, but Pris' more than likely sneaking around the kitchen right now for some sweets. Nimbus… probably lost track of time," Tina admitted, chuckling at how her sister was so amazing at keeping track of workout hours but when it came to dressing up, she always overestimated her speed. She wasn't slow per say, but she'd just leave everything to the literal last minute.

"Sorry I'm late!" Nimbus shouted just in time to prove Tina right, soaring from the top of the stairs, landing heavily on the ground floor moments later, huffing and puffing already from hastily putting her costume on.

"Wow, you're not Goku this year? Did you grow some originality in the backyard while I wasn't looking?" Tina teased. Nimbus had not changed her costume code for the last… seven years give or take which had made her a bit of an inside joke on the family, her admiration for heroic characters taken a bit to the extreme sometimes. She also loved to incorporate her trance, and that just fit previously. Right now however, she was just wearing a red gi with a pair of leather hand-guards, a black belt and no shoes to speak of. And she still managed to be late.

"Well, Leo kinda poked around at that too, so he suggested we'd just do a couply thing for once and wear matching outfits. I wanted to be Ryu, but I'm blonde," she said, gesturing to her entire body covered in golden fur. "So I took Ken, and he got Ryu!"

"Priscilla! Our fridge was full a couple of ours ago! Back into the porch before we have nothing to give out for trick or treaters!" Shin's voice cried out in a volume that warranted an raised eyebrow even from his family. He really got into the spirit of whatever holiday he was in, especially if it involved costumes.

The white draconic-esper literally was thrown out of the kitchen, spinning around and landing on her feet due to only their mother's magic hampering her fall. How Terra was able to keep that control while she was at the doorway, answering the never-ending calls of trick or treat, the younglings had no idea.

Finally, the last of the four was in front of them. Priscilla did not dress to shock. Her hair was dyed white, something she had learned from Iris since the last time they went out, she still wore a white dress, however this one was longer and puffier, lined with white fur. Two white wing props hanged from her waist down, at around the same height as her tail, which looked part of the costume by now. Two prop white horns had been attached to either side of her head, her eyes had red contact lenses in them, along with matching face paint. She looked like the perfect humanoid White Fatalis. She also had chocolate smeared all over her mouth.

Tina swooped into action and cleaned it all right off with a handkerchief she had gotten from go knows where, scolding Pris for overeating in the process. Luckily for her, she somehow never got fat. Maybe her tail did?

"You're all ready to go?" Terra asked, returning from the entrance with the basket of sweets on her hand. She smiled at her children, she always liked them being enthusiastic about anything, and they were all, well, almost all, really into the holiday. She was too, she had died her hair blue and wore a black skin-tight suit with red markings on it to match her husband.

"Yeah, just waiting for our neighbours to come along, I promised Iris we'd all go together!" Priscilla exclaimed, noticeably hyper from all the chocolate she had swiped from under the rug.

"Can you please take me with you? Your father is a complete maniac in the holidays…" Shinryu's small apparition begged, having been tucked into a… mole suit. The group was far too busy laughing to acknowledge his plight. "Do not laugh! He takes festivities far too seriously!"

"Far too seriously?!" Shin roared, leaping out of the kitchen and slamming his fist right atop the wyrm's head, instantly blitzing him grounded. "Grit those teeth Shinryu! We must relish in the peace we earned with our blood!" Shin was wearing the most over-the-top costume known to man. A long navy blue trenchoat with gold studs, grey jeans, no shirt at all, coupled with star-shaped glasses made him look like a maniac. But at least a cool looking maniac. "Kiddos, go out there, and have fun! Any rules I'd give you would just be made to be broken! Carve your own path and…" the bell rung and the kids left Shin to over-dramatize the hell out of the holiday on his own, so self-absorbed was he that he didn't even notice them leaving through the middle of his speech of heaven piercing or something. Terra had opened the door and wished them all the best, staying behind to deal with her husband. And maybe do some more.

"Pris!" Iris exclaimed, hopping from her position as soon as she saw her friend appearing, glomping her in the process. What she did not expect, was the sugar high Priscilla had entered. The small girl had quite a bit of strength due to her ancestry packed into those small muscles. Iris was barely able to hold on as Priscilla spun her around fast enough that her vision was nothing but a blur during the spin.

"Sorry Iris, I got ahead of myself!" Priscilla exclaimed just as she realized what she had done. Her eyes started to change and the flow of time shifted, causing Iris to immediately raise her hand and say:

"I'm okay…" even though she felt her dinner nearly reaching her mouth. She just didn't like to see Priscilla abuse her powers like that.

With that out of the way, Iris picked up her brown fedora (with cuts made to accommodate her ears) and put it back on. That, combined with her brown coat and pants and white shirt, and of course, her whip, made her a surprisingly well done Indiana Jones cosplayer. If there was any secret talent Iris had, was looking like someone else after all.

The group of teens quickly segregated into their own little groups while still banding together. Priscilla stayed with Iris, Fay, wearing a fortune teller's gown and assorted jewelry, went to Kefka for some attempt at small talk, even if she did not expect much of it, while Nimbus had quickly made sure Ceres would not scamper off on her own. The quietest of the neighbours was wearing a white robe garnished with a single red gem and a shawl in an ancient Grecian style.

Tina on the other hand…

"You… you dressed up as…" Tina said, still gasping for air at the sight of what Ciro had picked as his garments. Green tunic, green pointy hat, companion fairy. "Peter Pan?!" she managed to said after stabilizing a bit.

"I don't see what's so funny about it," Ciro said, crossing his arms and puffing out loud. Why did everyone find his costume so hilarious? Heck, even Min had refused to go out and be Tinkerbell with him. He was stuck with just Nim, which, let's face it, was the polar opposite of Tink.

"No… nothing. If anything, it's adorable how you're still in contact with your inner child!" Tina exclaimed, pulling Ciro under her headlock again. Due to the nature of Tina's costume, this disabled Ciro's mind for a while, at least until Ceres started talking.

"We're already late for that buffon's party. Are we going to attempt to be there or can I go home?" Ceres questioned, taking into the beaten path on her own without giving them any chance for an answer. Most of the group just shrugged off her attitude and took it as their sign to get going. They were getting too good at stalling anyway.

As they walked, they spied the town's decorations for the season. As the world rejuvenated, more and more effort had been put into these celebrations, and it had started to show now. Using the advanced technologies available to them, not only were the houses and streets decorated with the usual plethora of spooky adornments and pumpkins, but it wasn't rare to pass by a hologram or magical illusion of a monster roaming the city, some of them were even actual festive robots, although those were rarer for their slight danger.

"Anyone know why Gilg's suddenly throwing parties? For us even?" Iris asked after a few minutes of walking through town, often excitingly looking around at this year's new attractions or at particularly elaborate costumes.

"Who knows. I mean, he's rich, isn't he? Best chef in the world and what-not? Probably has nothing to do with the mad cash he's been getting," Nimbus said, shrugging at the question. She didn't really think much of it, as she was aware of what it was to have more money than to know what to do with it. Shin's eccentric vacation schedules had given her that vibe.

"I've been wondering that myself actually," Kefka said, everyone looking at him from the corner of their eyes.

"You care about stuff other science and Cuore's trials?" Priscilla asked, genuinely surprised, which made it all the worse really.

"I'd say obviously, but you all clearly don't think it is," Kefka replied, rolling his eyes at the response. "Anyway, no Iris, I don't know why, but I'd reckon someone else knows, considering how she's obviously been holding out for a while and is just now coming to say her piece," a moment of pause came upon the group as they tried to decipher the meaning of the line.

"It just so happens Gilgamesh is going through a midlife crisis," Tina did a double take at the voice. That was no one that belonged on their group, and she hadn't seen or heard anyone approach. The entire group but Kefka snapped to its centre to see who the unknown voice belonged to. "You look shocked. I suppose it is strange to even admit that Gilgamesh is on his midlife at all…" Cuore said, touching her lip and looking puzzled herself. Cuore's disguise was an intricate one top and bottom were short and very revealing. They were white and connected by crisscrossing, dark purple straps. They crossed above her cleavage and above her bellybutton. The straps continued to crisscross down her left leg. On her right leg was what could have been a blue gem of sorts, glowing brightly. Now, she didn't have sleeves with her top. No, these sleeves were all by themselves. They were also armored, with multiple colors consisting of pink, purple, and the same dark purple as the straps. Her gloves were gray with a stark white cuff on each. A necklace, or a collar would be better to call it, rested around her neck, a gem in its centre. She had always enjoyed meddling in stories on her free time, and apparently had found special interest in Milla Maxwell.

"It's not that… one, how did you find us? Two, how did you-"

"Sneak on you? My father's a ninja, my brother's a ninja. I'm programed to possibly be a ninja. Should be obvious," Cuore said, trampling over Tina's words quite effectively. "As I was saying, Father and Gilgamesh are often drinking partners, which is unsurprising for the worst reasons. At some point he divulged with my father about how Bartz's child had one day called him "Sir Gilgamesh" one day, and that broke him. The years of cooking for a living all came back at him, and he went into a complete training spree, entered Dragon's Neck Coliseum, won a seven tournaments while dodging his job as much as he could… but even then he was treated as they would an adult,"

"So he's just… trying to be 'hip with the kids'?" Tina asked with the added quotation marks for emphasis.

"That's a way to put it, yes," Cuore replied, giving way to a chuckle from the lightest hearted members of the team.

"How did you find us though? We were supposed to meet in the party itself," Kefka asked, to which Cuore pointed towards Kaze, who was, in himself, feeding a hawk that had perched on his shoulder. At first, he looked like he was simply wearing simple Eblanese ninja attire, just in violet, as he was no stranger to a mask or the gi, but the green overcoat and the headband covering his eye, which he revealed to be red when he took it off, meant that he did take the easy path and dress up as someone who had already taken a cue or two from his dad, Kakashi Hatake. The hawk strangely seemed disgruntled while he was eating, as if he didn't really want to take it. Seeing that he was being watched, Kaze turned to Kefka and just said:

"We arrived earlier than expected, and my sister insisted we'd spent our time finding your group, I summoned Madara here from Eblan to find you all. He did it in minutes too," Kaze explained, pointing at the also peculiarly dressed up Hawk. He just wore a simple, Samurai-ish red Armor, and a miniature headband to match it all, along with a pair of contact lenses to make his eyes look purple and circly. "Don't mind the outfit, Cuore forced me to make him fit the event, much to his dislike,"

"They were hardly a challenge to find. Now, send me back so I can get rid of these threads. I could barely fly in them," the Esperian bird spoke, not really shocking anyone, they had all seen at least Choby talk, if Kaze had summoned a bird from the Feymach, it was second nature for them to talk.

"You earned it so… "Kaze made a sign with his hand and closed his eyes, sending the hawk back to its home in a glimmer of light. "Shall we get going? It is already past the opening hour,"

No one in the group objected, and so their trek continued, far less eventful than before.

Before they knew it, they had reached the end of the city Mobliz and followed the directions the pamphlets Gilgamesh's agents had distributed at school contained, reaching the open air party location. It was open to entry for anyone, so there was not much in the way of bouncers, if anything, the security was there to keep order.

Gilgamesh had gone to great lengths to make sure this was a Halloween party, not just a party at Halloween. Not only were all the decorations of the tables what you'd expect from them, but the employees were all wearing their own, personalized costume, each of them spookier than the last. Not only that, but the magical illusions and holograms on the party were almost impossible to ignore, and even the music was, for the most part, fitting to the time.

As soon as the group reached the party, they all dispersed naturally, either to find their respective friends, or in specific cases, because Nimbus found Leo waiting for her at the entrance and they went to truly incarnate their characters before joining into the party. Ergo, fight. Pris on the other hand, had bolted to the tables, intent on trying every pumpkin flavoured dish in the festivity, and she was fully aware at how many there'd be.

When all was said and done, Tina and Ciro were the only ones left there with not really much to do. You see, Ciro and Tina were not a couple of loners, as much as Tina's persona would seem to scare people away, but their group of friends had all been unable to join the festivities, either by being sick, preferred to spend the time with their families, or they were on a trip to their family's home world to try out their version of Halloween.

This left Tina and Ciro to simply mingle in the party for the first hour of it. During the entire time they sampled the food, talked with acquaintances or admired some of the most intricate robots and/or employee disguises, Tina bid her time, who are we kidding, she didn't bide any time, she was simply too scared to suggest to Ciro they could try and dance to the music. Quite a few people were when the music selection landed on more sombre and danceable tones.

The problem was… Tina was not good with intimacy. For all her flashiness and apparent openness, it was all physical. She'd sooner let a complete stranger get away with a grope or two than she was able to open up to anyone when she was feeling down. She was shameless, not fearless.

If you didn't guess, no, she didn't ask him for a dance. It was only when the first hour rang and midnight was just an hour away that anything of note happened between the two of them, and this was ironically in the hands of Ciro's sister.

After a mere hour, Ceres had approached the pair with a disheartened expression. Clearly Nimbus leaving her in the dust had been part of it, but they weren't sure how much.

"Something wrong Sis?" Ciro questioned, Nim hovering over Ceres to get a better look at her.

"She's not hurt," the fairy assured, making Ciro even more clueless. He thought she may have had a bit too righteous for her own a good again, but no cigar.

"I don't really like it here. Too many people abusing the spiked pumpkin juice, and I'm not really a dancer. I thought Gilgamesh would actually give us something interesting to do, but apparently not," Ceres told the two, which did highlight strangeness to the party. It was… too normal. That being said, Tina, as if she were a tiger cornering a prey, jumped on a chance the moment she saw it.

"Aw Ceres, no need to be ashamed of the real problem here. Can't get a date?" Tina questioned, all the haughtiness she could muster turned up to eleven on her voice. Picking on Ceres was not only easy, it was her best way to handle frustration, and she was suffering from not little amount of it at the moment. Ceres' ice cold gaze had actually sent shivers down her spine. She knew she had pushed the right button.

"Unlike someone who throws herself on every guy she can get her claws on, I actually have standards, which have not been met yet anyway," Ceres snapped back, breaking eye contact with Tina and going back to Ciro.

"The difference is that, if you threw yourself onto them, they'd run away screaming," no sooner had Tina uttered the words, that she knew she had crossed the line with that. She just had no idea how much. She fully expected a fight to break out from it, but it was far, far worse. Ceres had simply frozen for a moment before looking into Tina's eyes with a look so dark, and, much to Tina's shock, so hateful and hurt. She then proceeded to turn her back to the two and stalked off into the crowd, ignoring Ciro's calls.

Tina just stood there, trying to process what happened. She had scarcely seen Ceres get emotional… much less from something she had said.

"Tina, this isn't something I can just let pass by," Ciro said, for once, his voice telling Tina he was not gonna take her shit. "Are you even aware of what you did?"

"I am. I was aware of it even as I said it…" Tina replied, not being able to meet the young man eye to eye. "I just didn't know how grave it'd be,"

"You don't get Ceres… heck, 'I' don't get Ceres, but unlike you, I'm not constantly pushing her to her limits, for fun of all things!" Ciro was angry, that was not a common occurrence, Tina's understanding of how much she had screwed up only grew. Ciro sighed: "Why do you do this Tina? Do you hate my sister so much?"

"I don't. I kinda like her, she has guts, but me and her just don't match, we always get into fights, so I just… derive pleasure from them? It's the best I could do. That and a lot of her actions do annoy me so that's more fuel to the fire," Tina explained, letting out someone that no one but Kefka was aware of. Most people did look at them as two people that just couldn't stand each other, and while this seemed the case with Ceres, Tina had never really felt like it. But she did play the part for an unhealthy sense of fun.

"Well, I'm going to go find Ceres, and when this party is over, regardless on if she has even cooled down by then, you're going to apologize. In front of me. Can you promise that?" Ciro demanded, stomping his foot just on the edge of Tina's downed field of view to force Tina to look him in the eyes. "Or aren't you sorry at all?"

"I am, I am! And as much as I dislike the idea of facing Ceres so soon after this, I made my own bed. I will apologize to her, I promise," Tina said with a secure nod. She knew she wasn't above consequences after all, no matter how she acted the opposite.

"Alright… I'll leave you off the hook for now. I'll be back when I can, don't expect this to be sooner than half an hour from now. Didn't you want to stalk… I mean watch over Priscilla?" Ciro questioned, Tina's eyes shooting right open as soon as she heard that. She had been too busy trying to get herself to ask for a dance that that somehow had evaded her mind.

Overly exaggerated thoughts of Priscilla getting kidnapped and having unspeakable things done to her haunted her every thought, and as such, she graced Ciro with little more than a scared nod before bolting into the crowd. Ciro sighed and shrugged.

Just why did he find her attractive again?

For as much as her nanny instincts had hit her, Tina was still on edge while looking for her sister. This was hardly ever a good thing, but she knew that if there was something or someone that could calm her, was a happy little sister like her.

It didn't take her long to find Priscilla. She'd only be at one place. The tables. Priscilla had inherited, like Tina, Terra's appetite… just on a whole different magnitude. Girl literally was a bottomless pit. No one in the family had ever seen her declare she was full, and they'd rather not spend the money to try and get her to do it. Luckily, when she found Priscilla, she was accompanied by Iris, the girl devoting more time playing the chaperone part, trying to distract her from the food with disguises or just people they had known in general.

The effect was ultimately slightly more than minimal, but hey, it was all-you-can-eat, Tina did not mind.

She decided to just head on to Priscilla and see how she was doing, halfway preoccupied, halfway trying to cool off, but a couple of people got there before her.

"Hey, that tail is real, right?!" a girl exclaimed, taking notice to Pris' tail wiggling as she ate food. Before any of the siblings or Iris could think otherwise, the onlooker squealed with joy. "Oh my gosh, a white tail, and you look like a dragon! Are you Priscilla Branford Verus?! I'm your mother's biggest fan!" This raised more than a few eyebrows on the people on the receiving end. "And you're awesome too! Look at your tail, soooo fluffy!"

Did Pris just get a… fangirl?

Well, Tina wasn't gonna complain, it certainly beat bullies, that being said, she did notice Pris was taking it a bit hard. She wasn't that used to physical interaction with other people, and the squealing girl was now touching her tail directly, something that was a really personal action for anyone with a brain to understand. As a result, she was squirming, barely articulating a phrase as it all happened. It only escalated from there.

"Hey everyone, get in here! I found a Verus!" the girl exclaimed, calling out for all of her friends, and others to hear. Then Tina realized that, while this town was in Mobliz, Gilgamesh throwing a party was a big thing… meaning there'd lots of people to which a chance at meeting Terra Branford in person was more than an appealing concept to not take advantage of the chance now.

"Is it Terra? Please tell me it's Terra!"

"I'd settle for one of her daughters, I heard they are hoot!"

"A Verus? Count me in!"

"Hehe! Pile on!"

"Can you get me an autograph, or better, can you call up your mom? Please?!"

It amazed Tina just how fast the mob had gathered. She had lost sight of Pris in seconds. And Pris hate hate hate hate hate hate HATED crowds!

"This is why I can't leave her out of my sight!" Tina exclaimed inwardly as to not gather up attention. It didn't work.

"Tiiiinaa baby! I knew I'd find you here!" she heard the clearly drunk voice of one of her prime… well, boot polishers would be a nice way to put it.

"Geoffrey, not the time!" she dismissed, not even sparing a glare as she tried to move into the crowd.

"Oh, but girl, it is the time! Music's blarin', eyes are glarin', and you are smokin'!" the teen that had taken far too many swigs pointed out. Normally, Tina would just ignore him and go about her way. But the guy was holding her by the hand.

Tina didn't like that kind of contact.

"Geoffrey, I'm warning you, if you don't let go I'll…" she threatened, still trying to find her sister through the crowd.

"As a man, I cannot let go of such a fine catch," how he articulated himself when his brain was basically mush; Tina didn't know. What she did hear, was Iris crying out for Priscilla. She didn't know why, but she heard Iris call her name.

"You have five seconds…" she told him, not even bothering to count. Her claws sprouted, she was not going to beat around the bush. Moments later, Geo had not let go… which prompted Tina to release a slashing motion onto his wrist. The sound of gears coming to a halt and immediately restarting came with an immediate change on Tina's point of view. Geo was still there, but on the ground, sitting up, his hand out of reach from her claw. Between them, was her own sister.

"When my big sister says no, it means no!" Priscilla growled, surprising even Tina. This wasn't the usual sweet girl that nibbled on sweets all day whilst playing with chocobo. Not that Tina cared about it, she was more worried about her mental health than anything.

"Pris, are you alright? I know you hate crowds," Tina asked, to which, when Priscilla turned to her, her expression was back to the soft and fragile one she knew and loved.

"I will be… I just need to lay low for a while." she explained, taking advantage of the confusion of everyone, considering she had just vanished from the midst of them. "Please, don't get into trouble for me, okay?" she asked, something that only made Tina feel all the more guilt for snapping. A wolf burst from the crowd and stopped by Pris and Tina, nudging Priscilla to do something. "I'll be back later Tina, I promise!" Priscilla exclaimed, hopping onto Iris, laying herself on her back as Iris began to run. "Go ask Ciro for a dance, I'm sure he'll like it!" she blared from the horizon as the mob sped past her, completely unaware she was just as much of a target as her sister.

"Huh, now there goes my big sister pride all in one go…" Tina mused to herself. Still, seeing Priscilla not only hold her own, but actually stop her from doing something really stupid filled her with determination. "Alright Pris, I'll make ya proud!"

And so she searched, and searched. It had been just about half an hour, she was pretty sure Ciro was back already. He always played it safe when it came to establishing an ETA, unlike her. She eventually found a familiar fairy floating around, conveniently dressed as Tinkerbell to make no mistake about it.

"Easier than expected," Tina commented, waving at the fairy to come to her. Nim, however, was… less than excited to see her. If anything, she was terrified. She started fidgeting in her place, crossing fingers as Tina approached her. "Hey Nim, where's Ciro? I gotta ask him about somethin',"

"Y-you may not want to see master right about now!" Nim exclaimed, trying her best to cover Tina's line of sight. That raised all kinds of red flags.

"Come on, it will be fun!" a distinct Eblanese accented female voice was captured by her well-honed ears to be right behind the fairy. Not wanting to talk about it, she simply grabbed Nim, silencing her with her thumb in front of her mouth, and marched in that direction.

"I appreciate your offer, but I promised someone I'd meet them right about now!" Ciro's voice exclaimed in the distance, and then, she saw it, a girl, for all she cared she was just that, a girl, she could barely register her features, her eyesight was basically blacking out in pure hatred at the moment. Said girl was dragging Ciro, by his hand mind you, into the dancing crowd. Tina felt her skin crackle, but the memory of Pris' words stopped her from going too far. But she was not going to just sit there and take it. She threw the two men blocking her path to the side with one hand, and marched towards the duo faster than they could react. The girl and her met eyes for a brief moment, murder and gore being promised through Tina's glare. The girl froze under the pressure, just for long enough for Tina to get Ciro by the wrist, take flight, and end up landing on the edge of the event.

As soon as she landed, Tina, took a deep breath, and, as calmly as she could, asked:

"Ciro, what was happening over there?" Tina questioned, her tone telling Ciro to tread lightly. As confused as he was, the cracks on Tina's skin did warn him something bad had just happened.

"Oh Tina… well, I was looking for you," he began, scratching the back of his head, trying to put this in words that wouldn't drive him even deeper on the wedge. "And then this girl, Sakuya I think her name was, just well, came onto me. Not in the worst way mind you, she was rather charming, and pretty shy, probably took her lots of effort to…" Ciro quickly realized that praising the girl was not helping his case. As such, he stepped it up a notch and tried his best to get his thoughts out as fast as possible. "In short, we talked, she was nice enough, but I did promise to go and find you, so I politely asked her that I needed to go for a bit. She wanted a single dance before me going, and she wasn't taking no for an answer… and then you showed up and just flew me away! What was up with that by the way?"

"Me flying you away?" Tina asked, surprised that Ciro would ask something like that. Still, she was slightly calmer when she realized Ciro was being somewhat forced to go with the girl's wiles. That being said, she didn't really have an excuse. "W-Well, the girl is from Eblan! And I she was trying to steal something!"

"Really? I would never have guessed… but I guess that's the point of Kunoichi. What was she trying to steal? And how did you know?" Ciro asked, clearly not completely convinced, but wanting to hear Tina out. He did trust in her to some degree after all.

"Don't say his heart, don't say his heart, don't say his heart, don-"Tina was a fuming mess by now, completely unable to even form a sentence. She was as red as tomato too which played to her advantage as it only gave her a bit more time while Ciro was surprised about it.

"She was trying to get your wallet. And I warned Tina about it," Kefka explained, suddenly appearing from the shadows. Tina looked at him, and was speechless. Was he really backing her up? "Before you ask, Kaze told me that it's a custom for Kunoichi to try and get some "field practice" when possible, and parties are the best way to scout for targets. Stealing the wallet of someone is often seen as the equivalent of having put yourself in a situation you'd have had him murdered, or had your target acquired from his body. It's also a better alternative than to ask them to sleep with their training partners," Kefka explained, shivers running down Tina's spine. "It's not a pleasant custom, but it's mostly harmless, the girls usually find the person after the party and give it back to the man. Tina probably just didn't like the idea of you having to go through that," Kefka told Tina, patting her on the shoulder and whispering into her ear:

"Kaze's working on Sakuya right now. On my request. I won't let you forget about this, sis," he told her with a devilish wink. She owed him so bad she shivered at the thought of how she would have to pay the debt.

"I… was totally played. Thanks Tina, I really didn't want to go back home empty-handed. Ceres would never let me hear the end of it," Ciro told Tina, smiling at her. He had been still angry at Tina for what she did to his sister, but this had served to at least somewhat tide the tides.

"Attention, young hip people! It is I! GILGAMESH! Greatest Host of All!" the booming voice of the Gilgster erupted from the speakers on stage. It really came as a surprise to no one he'd make an appearance.

"Alright, I knew this thing was too normal for something authored by Gilgamesh. Let's see what he pulls this time," Kefka commented, patting Tina in the back and nudging his head to the party grounds. "Care to check it out, dear sister?" Tina wanted to shut him up so bad, but… she really couldn't at this point. Not after what he had done for her.

"Midnight is finally approaching, the prime time for this time of gore, horror and general spookiness! I think it's about time I unveil the true attraction of this party. Gentlemen, behold! CORN!" Strange wording and announcement aside, the siblings and Ciro got closer to the stage to find that Gilgamesh was clearly incapable of costume design. One could only cram so many themes into a costume before it became ridiculous and impractical. Gilgamesh's main body had been dressed to mimic a skeleton, his head was now covered by a flaming Jack-O-Lantern, yes, flaming, I'll leave to figure out how he was still living, and not only that, but each of his eight arms was spoofing a different horror monster, from Dracula to the Werewolf. It didn't mesh at all… and that was perfect.

Now, for the details on the announcement. As soon as the "corn" had been announced, the stage lights focused on the northern end of the party grounds, illuminating various hedges of corn, grown to easily three times their normal size mind you, covered the seen expanse of fields.

"A corn maze? That's your surprise Gil? Laaaame!" Prishe shouted from the open air grill to the side. She had always helped Gilg with his crazy projects and today had been no different.

"Ah, but you see Prishe, it is in its simplicity that lies its ingenuity! This maze is no regular maze! It is a maze designed by "I" Gilgamesh! And it shall set the stage for the night's main event! For tonight, we race!" he exclaimed, Tina's smile growing wider. She was a sucker for competition. Well, less so for the actual competition and more so for the winning part. "The rules are as follows! You shall be grouped in groups of two, for it is in pairs that lie strength, isn't that right Enkidu?!" Gilgamesh exclaimed to the skies, his green demonic companion giving him a thumbs up.

"I call Ciro," Tina quickly said, rubbing Ciro's scalp excitedly.

"I'll go get Kaze…" Kefka retorted. Figures he'd want to compete against Cu, not with her.

The rumbling of the crowd was noticeable, as everyone scrambled to find their pairs. Gilgamesh waited for a bit, and, when it died down, he continued:

"Truly an honour to see you so eager! Very well, rule number two. You must not trespass through the corn, nor can you elevate your point of view to ignore it. Flying is strictly prohibited too my dear mages. Use your feet! Running builds character!" Tina sighed. There went the easy way out. She couldn't even fly! "Enkidu will survey the contestants from the sky. There is nowhere to hide! Thirdly, if you meet another pair… only one may pass. While the other pair has not been disqualified or given up, neither of you may proceed!"

"Now we're talkin'!" Nimbus yelled from the far right, so pumped was she Tina had no issues hearing her even past all the distance.

"That is it for rules! Your goal is simple! Rush to the centre of the Labyrinth and procure the Excalipoor! The one to hold the blade for more than ten seconds shall be deemed the winner!" half the crowd scratched their heads, unaware of what it was, but who knew of Gilg's troubled issue with the sword couldn't help but laugh. "As for prizes… well, the winning pair shall get a pair of tickets to an all you can eat buffet at my greatest restaurant, the El'Calibur!" Gilgamesh announced. Well, Tina knew who was going to try her luck at the maze now. The crowd was very much excited at the chance to win a prize that was worth easily over the millions of gil. El'Calibur was the world's most expensive gourmet cosine, and Gilgamesh's personal restaurant. Even Tina's mouth started watering at the thought of eating there… and then nearly bit her tongue off when she realized she'd be doing it with Ciro.

She had to win this. No matter the cost.

"Oh and by the way… if there are lethal accidents, well, just know I won't be held accountable for it! Kay? Thanks bye!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, quickly throwing down a smoke bomb and escaping the stage just before the pumpkins started to fly in his direction.

"I take it you're not shaken by that?" Ciro asked Tina rhetorically. While the entire crowd had hated the fact that the maze had become frankly a death cage, Tina only smiled more. More chances on winning was basically all that translated to her. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You are?" Tina asked Ciro, who, while it was clear in his expression, he was, he knew that that was not what he should be saying.

"After spending so much time with you, I've lived through worse," he told her before hiding his face as fast as he could before she could see the sweat beads running down his face as he did. He had managed to sound awesome, he couldn't let his looks betray his tongue.

"Good answer!" Nimbus exclaimed, literally patting Ciro into the ground. "So, Tina, ready for a beat down?! Literal or not, I'm not picky!" Nimbus exclaimed, hopping on her feet happily. Tina surveyed Leo to see if he would be at least trying to slow Nimbus down. Turns out, her boyfriend was already doing warm-up exercises quietly on the side.

"He's quieter, but by god he's just as bad as you Nim," Tina dismissed off handily. Nim smiled and gave her a resounding:

"Yup! That's why we date after all!" Nim exclaimed, jumping to go join him for his stretching. Tina heard a pair of footsteps approach them, and just by her instinct, she knew who it was.

"Can't really get between you and food, can I Pris?" Tina questioned her younger sister, who had just returned with Iris.

"You're letting us go just like that? I thought you were like a robot guardian for Pris or somethin'!" Iris exclaimed, a small dripple of saliva still uncleaned on her right cheek. It was obvious how Priscilla had convinced Iris into letting her go into danger.

"You of all people should know never to get between Priscilla and her food," Tina pointed out, pointing at the side of Iris' jaw in the process. "And stop thinking about the food you'll get if you win. I'm planning on taking Ciro out for dinner!" she proclaimed, biting her lip at the wording. Too late for regrets. With that, she just headed to the maze's entrance before anyone else caught on.

"Alright everyone, pick an entrance for yourselves," Ultros exclaimed, his slimy tentacles handing the miniscule amount of participants a pamphlet with a map for the entrances. Finally appearing in a story that has had VI as a very focused point, Ultros could not help but cry a single tear. "Not the most glamorous of debuts, but I'll take it!"

"Hey, Octoperv, me and my partner will take the northeast!" Ceres exclaimed, slamming her pamphlet back into the octopus' tentacle moments after.

"You're still feisty huh? Juts my kind of- Gaah I'm on fire! AGAIN! Why's it always fire magic?!" Ultros cried, sliding away into the nearby riverbank for confort. "Anyway ladies, and brawn brains… just tell Enkidu what entrance you'd like! He'll take you there. Once you're there, wait for the half-an-hour bell ring to start things of. I'll be here, chillin', relaxin', maybe shoot some b-bals considering I have no school?" By now, no one was really giving a crap about what Ultros was saying, instead, the participant were just informing the demon. Ceres was the first to go, Stratus being sacrificed to the still stewing maiden for partnership. Nim uttered a small sorry, she knew how her friend was when she was angry.

Next, Kaze and Kefka flew on, followed suit by Cuore and Fay, the one pair Tina was completely unafraid of. Finally, Priscilla and Iris took flight. Tina, always one to take the easy path, simply picked the entrance right in front of her. After a few minutes of idle talk with Ciro, the bell finally rang, signalling the start of the race.

"Try to keep up!" Tina told her friend as she began sprinting towards the entrance.

On the western entrance though, something fishy was happening.

"You're looking smug Kaze. That's not you, got something up your sleeve that I should know about?" Kefka asked the usually calm and gentlemanly prince. His usual expression had been replaced with a confident smirk for whatever reason.

"Well, remember the rules? They told us participants cannot fly," Kaze began, his hands twisting and forming a variety of ninja seals that Kefka had seen so many times before. By the time Kaze finished his formations, he clasped his hands together and reopened them immediately, from the empty space between them his trusty hawk appearing. "They never said anything about the ones that aren't participating, did they?"

"Kaze that's… incredibly out of character," Kefka said, less shocked than Kaze would expect someone that had known him for so long to be after such a reveal. Kaze did not seem the type to cheat at all.

"You don't really look surprised," Kaze iterated while at the same time expertly drawing a map of what would be their best path to the centre, at the instructions of Madara.

"You're a ninja. The fact that we haven't seen you cheat only proves you're good at it, not that you don't do it," Kefka pointed out, as if it was the easiest of things to read that on someone you were supposedly friends with. Kaze smiled beneath his mask, finishing the map mere moments later. "You really are a perfect match for my sister," Kaze said with a nod, thanking Madara for his help and sending him back.

"Yeah, right. I wish. Pity this won't be much of a match…" Kefka said with a sigh. This was the one kind of battle that Cuore's brain would not avail her. Still, he had reasons to want those tickets. He knew someone that needed them desperately. That and he didn't really want Tina to win.

"Time's wasting, and in this kind of match, it is our greatest resource. Ready for a swift victory?" Kaze asked, Kefka nodding in return. "Well then, ride the wind!"

And with that, the favourites departed, the few minutes head start they had given the others hardly mattering, at least in their minds.

The maze was really what you'd expect from a corn maze, although Gilgamesh had really put his all to make it feel as Halloween as possible, as there were no shortage of fake skeletons scattered about, cobwebs had already formed somehow in the corn, and of course, the path was littered with Jack-O-Lanterns. This did come in handy though, as Ciro and Tina traversed the labyrinth, with barely any, if at all recognition of where they were going. Eventually clouds covered the full moon above, stranding the pair in absolute darkness if not for the sombre lighting of the wayward pumpkins.

"You know, for how ridiculous it may sound, I never liked the dark…" Tina confessed, slowly moving closer to Ciro. Ciro knew of this, whenever Tina's family and hers did something like camping, Tina had always slept with her Chocobo, never able to leave the campfires at night without a partner. He didn't know what she had experienced to have that happen to her, but he didn't really care.

"Nim, can you cast Dia? It'd get some light in here," he told his fairy.

"Sure thing Master!" she exclaimed, cupping her hands and releasing a small continuous burst of light to illuminate the surroundings. Ciro turned to Tina, asking:

"Better Tina?" however, this would not be a time of peace, behind Tina Ciro saw something. Towering over the girl, a Skeleton clad in black Armor on its shoulders, arms and feet heaved a giant broken blade at the duo. Ciro did what he could and tried to chant an evocation, but he was quickly swatted back like a fly, hitting the ground hard.

"In this grand tournament, you live…" the Skeleton Knight began, sliding the claymore in Tina's direction with prejudice. As the slash completed though, there was nothing there.

"Or you die!" Tina completed as she soared above the skeleton with a single leap. Her hands crackled with electricity and she unloaded it all on the spooky scary skeleton, dispersing all of throughout the maze's floor.

"Tina, you okay?" Ciro questioned, making himself stand up by force.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. Something's only really scary when it's left to the imagination…" she commented.

Bones rattled, damaged parts of the Skeleton flew through the air, forming themselves just behind Ciro, far too fast for Tina to take action. Before she knew it, Ciro was in the same situation she had been in. Just far less prepared.

"Pay the iron price!" Or so it had seemed. The blade once again came down on its target with perfect accuracy, however, this time, it bounced back as a green barrier blocked its path.

"A bit too predictable there, took the necessary precautions ages ago," Ciro said, taunting a skeleton was not exactly how he expected to spend the night. The rest was up to Tina, and did she deliver. A withering gale swept past him, enveloping the Skeleton before transforming in a veritable tornado which flung the Knight away into the distance.

"Not agaaaaaaaaaain!" the skeleton shouted as it turned into a small star in the night's sky.

"Can't beat them, blow 'em!" Tina said, congratulating herself before patting Ciro on the back. "Good going fairy boy. You're getting better,"

"You keep getting me in trouble, kinda expected," Ciro pointed out, both of them, and Nim, sharing a healthy laugh. The clouds had cleared, leaving them to bask on the moon once more. "Shall we?"

"After you!"

"Well, this is awkward…" Nimbus said as she and her boyfriend met up with another group.

"It's like we attract each other, huh Nim?" Stratus replied, swiftly removing both of her compact blades from the side of her angel-robe. She didn't have much in the way of spooky at home. "That's mostly why I always keep these around,"

"You really know how to get me pumped up Strat!" Nimbus exclaimed, getting into combat position.

"Hey Ceres, way this out… I'll get them both of your back," Stratus promised. Ceres was suspicious, but she would at least let Stratus try her luck out before jumping in for the rescue.

"Well, I'll sit this one out for now then… don't go overboard Nimbus," Leo told his girlfriend, slouching back into the corn walls. The Esper girl clearly had either not heard him, or not cared about it. Why should she? Her whole shtick was going overboard at every available chance.

The two girls clashed on the centre of the corridor just like they had done so many times before. The next exchange of kicks, slices and punches went about like synchronized dancing, so well did the two know each other. However, Stratus knew something about Nim that while she may have been aware, she couldn't control. Nimbus tried to incarnate the people she admired, something that a night like Halloween only exacerbated.

You'd think this would help Stratus better dodge the incoming onslaught, right?

Wrong.

"Gotcha!" Nimbus exclaimed as she found a strange opening in Stratus defences. She quickly dashed in, delivering a straight uppercut to her friend's jaw. "Shinryuken!" she exclaimed, adding flames to her fist as she sent herself and Stratus into the skies in a spinning shower of embers. "Guess this means I win, huh?" Nimbus commented as she and Stratus flew high above the maze…just too slowly realize what she had just done. "Oh, you didn't!"

But Stratus had done it. There was still a smile on her own, scorched cheeks even after a punch of that magnitude. That was because, before Nim could try and cover her tracks, Enkidu was upon her, pointing at both her and Leo while holding up a "Disqualified!" sign, a-la Willy E. Coyotte.

Downside? Well, even with Nimbus grabbing onto Stratus and laying her down on the floor, she was not a sore looser after all, Stratus was… well, down for the count.

"Ceres… where you go, I cannot follow… go on, without me… blerg," Stratus told the brunet, dramatically enacting the most sappy death scene she could muster before losing consciousness for real. Ceres was still estranged by all these circumstances, but Nimbus made sure her loss was not in vain.

"Come on Ceres, you technically beat me! Don't let Tina win this one, she'll never let us hear the end of it!" Nimbus encouraged the girl, who, still pissed at what happened earlier, needed nothing else to make her bolt into the heart of the maze.

Meanwhile, Cuore and Fay spotted an opening in the hedges.

"Just as calculated, this should lead us to the center of the maze," Cuore confidently said, waltzing pats Fay to the moonlight stricken doorway in front of her. Fay could only sigh and shrug. She was used to this.

For you see, once Cuore emerged from the doorway, she was met with a surprise. It was the party grounds.

"Not… again…" she groaned, cursing her own sense of direction. Or lack of thereof.

"You really sure you wanna go on Cu? This is the third exit you find. In some ways, that's remarkable," Fayette pointed out, trying to quell the girl's misguided ego. But it refused.

"No. I will find the centre, if it takes me the entire night. Back into the labyrinth Fay, I will be beaten by no plant!" she stated, grabbing her friend's hand and dragging her in tow back to the labyrinth. Fay could just smile in pity but a bit of amusement at Cuore's predicament.

"Alright, I guess we're getting close to the centre," Ciro commented as he saw what lay in front of him. The edges had grown more and more far apart as they walked, leading them to a larger room, which they had assumed would be the end of it. It wasn't quite that.

"Yeah, I don't think they'd put something like this here for no reason at all…" Tina pointed out, looking down the giant chasm that lay in front of them. The wider hedges had only served to make the cross harder, as the only way across, besides flying, seemed to hop on onto the floating Jack-o-Lanterns in front of them, as they moved through the room from one side to the other horizontally. There were a total of five of these contraptions, five jumps they'd have to time exceptionally well, as they weren't exactly close to each other either. The entire obstacle was about 15 meters long, meaning that each jump would cover over 5 meters in itself.

Before worrying about any of it though, Tina got on the ground and smelled it. Frowning, she stood back up and smelled the air in the same way she had the ground. This search proved far more successful, as she identified familiar scents.

"Kefka and Kaze are past this. We just got to find a way to get across…" Tina said, starting to analyse the environment around them. Ciro couldn't help but question this.

"Hum, Tina, we just have to jump on these," Ciro said, pointing at the spaced out pumpkins. "I mean, it's pretty obvious what they want us to do, independent on how dangerous it may be,"

"True but… there must be another way…" Tina told him, biting her lower lip in the process.

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?" Ciro stated, catching her red handed.

"Well, it's just that… I'm not really used to jumping. I fly so much I barely jump at all. I don't know how to calculate the jump strength to land on those things…" Tina confessed, her problem sounding so outlandish to Ciro that a part of him had wanted to laugh. But the other half knew that this was haunting Tina. In response to that, Ciro walked up to her, nudged her in the shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Don't worry Tina. I'll go first, if you fall, I'll... well, I'll just catch you, okay?" Ciro assured her, making sure to sound as convincing as possible. Attempting these jumps seemed a bit crazy just for a pair of tickets, but the fact that Tina would never accept giving up, coupled with how if they failed Tina could bail them out by just flying made him have the necessary courage to try.

With that, Tina swallowed hard and nodded back to him. Ciro was first, and he took the chance to cast Haste on himself. Let's face it, Tina could fear jumping too far past the target, Ciro could not. He needed as much of a boost as he could. With that, the teen took a running jump and started the cross. Every jump became closer and closer to failure as he lost momentum, but fortunately luck did not leave him and he made it to the other side with just adrenaline to show for it. He had to admit, he was relieved the pumpkins were actually able to keep up with his weight.

"Your turn Tina!" he exclaimed, trying to stay as positive as he could for her. There was still fear in her eyes, but determination outweighed it. With a deep breath, Tina jumped her first jump. Turns out, her body was far more apt than what she had first imagined it to be, as in a single jump she had landed on the second Jack. She took this a hint to let her built up stress go and leapt again. How did she regret it?

She passed over the third pumpkin, and the fourth, and even the fifth. Without any restraint it, she had made an almost leap over the dark abyss.

Keyword, almost.

Tina soon realized she had bitten off more than she could chew as her body began to go downwards at a faster rate than horizontally while she neared the edge of the pit. She reached out with her hand, barely scrapping the ground. She would have fallen down, if Ciro had not been so on point in grabbing onto her hand with both of his. Then, without any hesitation, the teenager pulled her unto sound soil.

"Wow Ciro… I didn't think I'd actually have keep that promise," Tina said as she tried to call herself from the near fall.

"Yeah well… I didn't expect you to jump that far, so we're even… You're surprisingly light too," Ciro told her, shocked that he had been able to pull a girl of Tina's size up that easily.

"Most girls would take that as a compliment, but I'm more than half mana Ciro, of course I'm lighter than one'd expect," Tina pointed out, standing back up and offering her hand to Ciro. "But thanks anyway," she said as she helped him up. "Let's finish this,"

"Right there with you!" Ciro replied, both of them mustering their remaining strength and dashing towards the unknown. Quickly they realized that at the end of the corridor was an opening. All of Tina's senses told her that it was there that her brother was. Part of her wondered if they were too late and he had already won. But, she captured another smell. A strange one… but not one she could not identify.

As soon as they passed the corn arch, they found themselves assailed by strange flying object, one that Tina quickly snatched and laid against her chest.

"Quite the predicament you seem to be in, heh, Bro?" She taunted at Kefka's exhausted figure before letting him fall down onto the ground nonchalantly.

"Just shut up and help us out here," Kefka spat back, looking at where he had flown. Kaze soon appeared by the group's side, visibly damaged throughout his costume.

Just as Tina expected, picking up the Excalipoor wouldn't be as simple as reaching the centre of the labyrinth. They had one final obstacle. And it was the most obvious of them all.

"Aha! What is this? Yet another speedy pair? I had thought to dispose of the first two before you had come, but you have left me in quite the predicament now!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, his six arms all yielding Halloween themed blades, except for one arm, his upper left one, that one yielding the not-so-Legendary Excalipoor. "Oh what the heck, all of you, come at me! The one to hold the Excalipoor for ten seconds shall be the winner!"

"Does this make us allies or…?" Tina asked Kefka, who just shrugged.

"As long as you watch you back and remember your debt," Kefka replied with a snide smile. Tina cringed, but she knew she had no real way out at this point.

"Less talking, more slicing!" the six-armed swordsman blared, Jumping into the centre of the group like a true Dragoon. All managed to safely dodged just before the attack hit, though they were left wide open in the process, all but Kaze at least, who had vanished from sight. "Overwhelming force!" exclaimed Gilgamesh, creating a twister around him with his blades, scattering the mismatched party. Suddenly however, he felt a force pulling on the Excalipoor. Looking up, he saw Kaze flying by him, pulling on a chain wrapped around the blade. "Not so fast!" he exclaimed, counter pulling on the chain.

Kaze was quickly brought down, Gilgamesh was far stronger than most humans, even trained ninjas. However, he did not come down easily. Making signs with his hands, by the time he found himself in front of Gilgamesh, he was ready.

"Hyoton!" the Eblanese Ninjutsu took effect immediately, freezing what was right in front of Kaze. Which, fortunately, were Gilgamesh's legs. Just before hitting the ground, Kaze vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind.

"Argh! What is this? They didn't tell me ninjas were mages too! I'll have a word with the artists about this!" Gilgamesh shouted before sensing something approaching from behind. Fortunately, his octo-arm-ness meant he was able to slash at almost any direction, and so, he was able to counter Tina's lunging assault from behind, managing to bring a sword straight into the now-tranced girl's torso. Fortunately, green light protected her from any injury, even if the blade still pushed her back. "Oh don't think I forgot about you fairy boy! Rocket Punch!" Gilgamesh chanted, shooting three pairs of… giant boxing gloves from his free fists. Blue Magic can be weird at times.

Regardless, it can also be effective.

"Oh fruit baskets!" Ciro's last words in this challenge were, the fists all made impact, leaving him entangled in corn and seeing fat chocobos.

"Aha! One down! Now for the other th- Huh? Who turned off the lights?" Gilgamesh suddenly saw his field of view shrink to merely a small tunnel of light, unable to see anything past the length of his arms.

"I did!" Kefka exclaimed, swiping his Enhancer at Gilgamesh's Excalipoor. The blow connected, however, it did not hand enough strength to blast the weapon of the man's hand, meaning Kefka needed to retreat ASAP.

"Thanks for giving away your positioning! Tsubamegaeshi!" Kefka gulped as Gilgamesh started to randomly slice the terrain in front of him, and while he was able to dodge some of the blows, one of them caught him by the side of the neck, luckily, it had only been the flat of the blade, so instead of becoming the Headless Horseman, he would just have neck pains for the next couple of days.

"You know, it's pretty obvious you won't just let that sword go so…" Gilgamesh's sight slowly returned as the one afflicting blindness on him had lost consciousness, and he turned to see Tina gathering the biggest quantity of thunder mana she could muster. "Before Kefka wakes up to claim it, I'll just beat it out of you! Thundaga Burst!" putting her all into that one ball of lightning, she hurled it at the self-proclaimed master swordsman. Seeing Death stare at him so intently, what else would Gilgamesh do but break the laws of logic?

"If you want to bring out the big guns, I'll do it… literally!" he proclaimed, jumping into the air and conjuring a comically oversized missile. "FIRE!" the missile's engines erupted and catapulted itself into the oncoming attack, blinding everyone with the explosion coming from it as both attacks negated themselves. "Great job kitten, but how will you deal with the second one?!"

"Second on-"famous last words from Tina. A couple of seconds and an explosion later, she had found a comfortable spot halfway into the ground.

"Alright. Only one more to go! Now, where is that boy?" Gilgamesh asked himself, surveying the room. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…" he cried out as he saw what he had done.

"Thank you for the alone time Gilgamesh… I'm sure Ixion appreciates being summoned once in a while!" Kaze taunted as the horse of thunder rode around him, clouds of thunder gathering up above due to his influence. "Now, catch this, will you? Raiton…" Ixion neighed and flew upwards, merging with the weather as Kaze did one, final mudra sign. "Kirin!" with the chanting and charging having been finished before even Gilgamesh looked at him, the red swordsman could only cry inwardly as a giant horse made of thunder emerged from the clouds, galloping throughout the air and impacting against him almost immediately, causing a large scale explosion.

"My only regret… was never visiting Eblan…" Gilgamesh said, his charred husk laying on a giant crater of his own making in a sense. Seeing that, Kaze slowly approached the fallen swordsman, appearing to be the last man standing. Gilgamesh was unmoving, by all accounts Kaze looked to be the victor. That is, until he reached for Excalipoor. "Fell for it!" the fallen swordsman's eyes suddenly shot open and took to the skies, hitting Kaze heavily on the way with the Excalipoor. Which ultimately meant he did one point of damage to him.

"Ah yes, this is the feeling! The feeling I missed for so long! The flame of youth!" Gilgamesh cried out, tears streaming out of his eye sockets, the monster rapid casting shell, protect and haste on himself. "With my morphin' time completed, it's time for phase two of this ba-"

"One more word from that hellish mouth, and I cut off your head. Now, drop 'em!" Ceres threatened, every word sounding as real as it could get. Real enough to make her opponent let go of all his weapons on the spot. A blade made of thin glimmering ice had made itself known, resting just before Gilgamesh's neck. "Alright, now… the Excalipoor please,"

"No fair! You can't sneak in in the middle of my sp-"Gilgamesh felt the ice blade touch his neck, sending chills down his spine. "Fine! You win! It's in the pile!" he exclaimed, much to Tina's chagrin. She had just gotten up, and it was just enough to have Ceres' smile cut all the deeper.

However… out of all the swords Gilg had dropped, the Excalipoor was not one them.

"You think I'm kidding?!" Ceres threatened, faking a swipe at Gilgamesh's neck, who was by now trembling all over.

"No! You got it all wrong! It just… vanished!" Gilgamesh swore, in a way that while Ceres couldn't really see a lie, she felt it had to be one.

"He's not lying you know?" a final voice spoke in that challenge. Standing at one of the unused entrances, Priscilla held the blue version of Excalibur on her hands, both her and Iris smilling wildly.

"And ten! We won!" Iris exclaimed, hugging her best friend out of joy. Tina, Kaze, Gil and Ceres all dropped their weapons, fell to their knees and just mouthed:

"How…?" they all said. Faced with that question, the white haired girl didn't have a problem with enlightening them.

"Well, I just rode Iris here faster than anyone else, but I knew that I couldn't snatch Gilgamesh's sword away, not even with my magic, while he had a firm grip on it. So, me and Iris just hid ourselves in the corn and waited. The moment you ambushed him Ceres, he let go of all his swords, so I just used my powers to grab it!" Priscilla explained, puffing her chest out in a rare display of outward pride. Ceres grumbled heavily unable to let go of her frustration, even though Priscilla and Iris had technically played by the rules. Just not in the most honourable of ways.

While the two younger girls just hopped around excitedly while they told Gilgamesh what they wanted to have for that dinner, Tina approached Ceres.

"They got us good, huh?" she asked her rival, getting little to no response, verbally or otherwise. "Look, Ceres, I know you're still mad about that but… well, I'm sorry. I went way over the edge. I don't really mean half the things I say, you know that, right?" Tina tried her best to be honest and approachable, but alas, no cigar. Ceres didn't even acknowledge her existence.

"Sis, don't be rude. Tina's actually apologizing to you, at least acknowledge it. You don't need to accept it," Ciro told his sister, still sore from the giant boxing gloves, but otherwise functional.

"She only apologized cause you made her. I don't see why I should care," Ceres told her brother before taking her leave.

"That's Ceres for you…" Ciro told his best friend, trying to quell Tina's sadness. "Hey, don't be so down, she'll come around to it!"

"It's not that. I kinda expected having to wait for her to calm down to get any results," Tina answered, Ciro's questioning look prompting her to continue. "It's just that, well, I kinda told promised you I'd win and then we could share the tickets on Gil's restaurant. I don't hate my sister for winning, but I'm bummed out I missed a promise like that…"

"Oh, that's it?" Ciro asked, scratching the back of his head. "Well, we can still go to Prishe's. It's not as expensive on Mobliz, and I can afford a three star restaurant for now. Think of it as a consolation prize!"

Unable to quite process what Ciro meant with the request, Tina swallowed back any shame and simply nodded, being too red and flustered to talk.

As Priscilla and Iris called on Ciro and Tina to join them, Kefka and Kaze for a photo of the runner-up's to the prize, Tina couldn't help but think this was a good night. Not a bad way to spend Halloween at all!

Post-Chapter Note: Yeah, this was a very slow, down to earth special. Not exactly what I usually do, but I did think these people needed more intergroup interactions, and some realistic events in their lives. A party where they all attended just seemed to be a cool choice. I hope this shed some light on the characters a bit more, and overall, was an enjoyable read. In any case, tell me what you thought of it in the box bellow! Sayonara, next time it WILL be the Crystal Tower!