Who can take a sunrise (who can take a sunrise)?

Lincoln was swimming through a whole world of candy.

Sprinkle it with dew (sprinkle it with dew)?

Huge, scrumptious, and colorful confections as far as the eye could see.

Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two?

The boy could hardly contain himself. Chocolate bars, gumdrops, lollipops, gummy bears, and marshmallows everywhere.

The Candy Man (the Candy Man)

Oh, the Candy Man can (the Candy Man can)

And best of all, no one to have to share it with.

The Candy Man can cause he mixes it with-

"-incoln?"

The candy world dissolved and Lincoln jolted as everything went dark and he felt cold, hard dirt pressing up against his back.

"Lincoln?"

"Ugh," he moaned as he slowly opened his eyes. His head and body were aching all over. In the light of the moon above, he saw a blurry, bony face right in front of him.

"AH!" Lincoln tried to crawl back, but his body was too sore. "GET AWAY FROM ME DORMUS!" he cried. "Bro, it's okay!" the skeleton cried, their voice sounding more and more desperate. "It's me, Luna!"

Lincoln stopped struggling. His vision cleared and he found himself gazing into two very familiar, very concerned-looking brown eyes.

"Lu-Lu" he stammered, "Luna?"

"Yes," a smile formed under her smudged face paint and the teen rock star gently pulled her brother into a hug. "It's me, bro."

Relieved, Lincoln wrapped his arms around her body (now fully flesh and blood again), joining her in the embrace. He looked out over her shoulder. The night sky was now calm and quiet and the full moon above illuminated the huge swatches of the maze now crushed by huge heaps of dead beanstalks and vines.

"We did it," he whispered, only to suddenly flinch in pain as more feeling returned. "Ow."

"Right there with you bro," Luna said, placing a hand to her head. "My head's killing me. In fact, I…" she paused, looking around. "I don't know what's been going on all night. Did we overdo it with the maze?"

Lincoln smirked. "Something like that." Groaning, he pulled himself to his feet. "Clyde and I will tell you-wait, Clyde?" He looked around, spotting his friend's feet buried under a clump of dead vines. "Clyde!" He and Luna rushed over and unburied the boy. "Clyde, are you okay?"

Clyde responded by spitting out several leaves. "Ugh, fine, I guess." He got to his feet, slipping his glasses back on. "D-did you win?"

"We won, Clyde!" Lincoln hugged his friend. "Look, Luna's back! Dormus is gone!" Luna raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Who the heck is-"

A series of moans cut her off. From the path emerged the other Louds, all rubbing their heads and looking dazed and tired.

"Guys!" Lincoln cried. "You're okay!"

"Speak for yourself, Linky," Lola grumbled. "My head's killing me."

"I feel like I got hit by an anvil," Luan moaned.

"Guys, there are drums inside my head!" Leni cried.

"Ugh," her older sister scoffed, her dress and queasy-looking face stained red. "Belch, what is this horrible taste on my tongue?!"

"Poo-poo," Lily whimpered from Lisa's pouch. Rita picked her up, straining a bit due to her sore arms. "Why are we even here?" Lola asked, looking to her twin. "Where's all our candy?"

"And what happened to my maze?" Lisa said, looking around at the damage.

"Yeah dude," Luna added, "And who was this Dormus guy?"

The two boys looked at each other.

"It's a…

"long story."

"Of my own doing," came a sad voice that made everyone jump. The crowd parted, revealing a very glum, very guilty-looking Lucy Loud. The tiny Grim Reaper dragged her scythe to the front of the group, stopping to give a hug to her older brother.

"Thank you, Lincoln," she whispered before turning back to face everyone.

"Lucy, what are you talking about?" Rita said, her tone turning stern.

Lucy opened her mouth, but was cut off by the sound of groaning. Everyone turned to see Rusty, Rocky, Zach, Jordon, and all the other scarecrow captives pushing their way through the cornstalk wall, all of them pale, shivering, and whimpering as they trudged back onto the path.

"Uh guys," Lincoln called out. "you okay?"

The crowd looked up. Their eyes went wide at the sight the Loud family and they took off screaming down the path. All eyes went back to Lucy.

"Sigh. This is going to take a while."

Epilogue

"-and that's what happened last night," Lucy finished, looking around at her audience.

They were all gathered on the couch in the Loud House living room, all still in the costumes and in various states of shock and disbelief from her tale. A normal-looking Cliff sat in Leni's lap, while Lana lay next to Charles in his doggy bed. Lincoln and Clyde had been tended to by Rita's first-aid kit and were now sporting multiple bandages over their injuries from the night before. Lynn Sr stood at the far back, his arms crossed and a look of sheer disappointment on his face.

"So, let me get this straight," Rita said, Lily in her arms. "You summoned a demon all because you were afraid this Halloween wouldn't be scary enough?"

"And we were all possessed and turned into monsters?" Lori added.

"And if it hadn't been for Lincoln and Clyde, the world would have ended?!" Lynn joined in.

"Yes," Lucy said, "but I swear, I NEVER meant for any of this to happen! I just wanted this Halloween to be perfect and-," her voice cracked. "I put us all in danger because of it." Tears leaked out from under her bangs. "I'm sorry."

For a moment, the room was silent. Everybody looked at each other, trying to contemplate everything that had just been described to them. Finally, Rita got up and walked over to the crying girl.

"Lucy," she bend down and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Do you remember what your father and I told you when you started all this?"

"T-to be careful," she gulped, looking up at her mother.

"Yes," Rita went on, "Your father and I have always supported your interest in the supernatural ("ahem," Lynn Sr coughed), but we trusted you to be responsible with it. What honestly shocks me the most is that you had such little faith in your family that you resorted to this."

"I…" Lucy sniffled, tears streaming down her face. "I'll never do another séance again."

"Darn right, you won't!" Lynn Sr spoke up, causing the family to jump. "That book of Harriet's is going straight in the trash. And that's not the end of your punishment either young lady. Oh no, you can forget about your poems, your vampire show, or your mortician club for the next year!"

"Lynn, that's enough!" Rita snapped.

"Yeah dad, we told you she was possessed too," Lincoln added.

Lynn Sr. huffed, crossing her arms.

"Let this be a lesson for you Lucy," Rita hugged her daughter. "Please, think of us first before you do something like this again. We already have enough to put up with Luan on April Fools. Let's not ruin another holiday for this family."

"Oh, there won't be another Halloween in this house," Lynn Sr declared again. Everyone groaned and yelled in response.

"Oh no, I'm serious," he said. "From now on, this is a Halloween-free home. No jack-o lanterns, no trick or treating, no scary stuff!"

"Yeesh pops, man up a bit, why don't you?" Lynn Jr groaned.

"Yeah, we didn't see you on the battlefield last night, did we?" Lana added.

"Did Linky say you stayed up in the attic all night?" Leni asked.

"'Girls, I'm-!"

"ENOUGH!" Rita yelled. Her husband (as well as everyone else) went silent. The only thing scarier than a demon was an angry Rita.

"If anyone deserves to lose Halloween, it's me," Lucy said. "The rest of you shouldn't."

"Lucy, you know we can't do that," Rita said, before taking on a more stern tone, "but you will be loosing all your privileges for two weeks and you have to help us and the neighbors clean up all those vines down the street. I'll also be taking that," she took Aunt Harriet's spell book from Lucy's hands, "until you earn our trust back."

"Oh yeah, about the neighbors," Leni said. "Are we, like, in trouble?"

"Normally yes, older sister," Lisa appeared on the stairway.

"Wait, Lisa have you been gone this whole time?" Rita asked, suddenly realizing that she hadn't noticed her disappearance.

"I listened to it all on my hidden cameras," the tiny genius explained, descending the stairs. "I just got off the phone with the authorities and in a cruel twist of irony, the events of last night have played in our favor. Apparently, the officers from last night are too scared of us to press charges. As are the rest of the neighbors."

"Wow, really?" Lori asked.

Lisa nodded. "Unfortunately, I had to use my fertilizer profits to pay for the damage to the festival." She shut her eyes and shook her head sadly. "All those cures I won't get to develop now."

"Plus, I think all my friends are now terrified of my sisters," Lincoln said.

"Man, Dr. Lopez is going to be rich," Clyde muttered.

"Oh, who cares about them?" Lola grumbled. "We lost all our candy!"

"Yeah, all that effort into our costumes and we didn't get jack," Lana agreed.

"And it kinda' reeks that we didn't get to do any actual scaring," Luan sighed. "I spent hours making Mr. Coconut's costume."

"I know, right?" Leni said. "You know how long it took me to make this dress? I even shredded Mom's curt hmmph!" Lori smacked a hand over her mouth.

"I'll make it up to you all," Lucy said. "I swear on my own grave."

"Sounds fair," Lynn Jr said. "so you have to wash my jockstrap for my next game."

"And you're on poop patrol until I potty-train all our pets," Lana said, patting Charles on the head.

"And I get to pick out your costume for next year," Lola piped up, greedily rubbing her hands together. "Princess Lucy."

"I await with dread," Lucy said, her mouth actually twisting into a small smile. "Now that will be a scary Halloween."

Everyone laughed. Getting up from their seats, the family crowded around Lucy and shared a family group hug.

"I still wish we had some candy though," Lana said.

Ding-Dong!

Curious, the family moved to the front door and opened it, nearly getting buried by an avalanche of candy that poured in. They all popped up confused.

"What's this?" Lincoln found a small card admist the sea of sweets. " Please take this offering of peace and spare us your ghostly terror. Signed, the mortal and weak acquaintances of the Loud Family, " He turned to Clyde. "Dr. Lopez really is going to be rich."

"Mom?" all the siblings looked to their mother with pleading eyes.

She smiled. "Dig in."

With a collective scream, the girls all plunged into the sea of confections, wrappers flying everywhere. "Oh look, full-sized candy bars," Clyde handed one to his friend. "What do you say, Linc?

With stars in their eyes, the boys pulled back on the wrappers, revealing the sweet, creamy, full-sized goodness they'd been seeking all night.

"Well, I'd say this is looking like a pretty sweet ending," Lincoln said to the audience. "THHATH'S MHY HINE!" Luan yelled, her mouth bulging with sweets.

"Just goes to show that even in the literal face of fear, nothing can tear apart the Loud family."

"Except maybe cavities," Clyde joked. He held out his bar in a toast. "Clincoln McCloud?"

"Friends, heroes, monster hunters," Lincoln toasted him back. "For life."

They bit greedily into their bars, huge smiles on their faces.

"Oh, I can already picture their next dentist appointments," Rita sighed. Munching down on some candy as well, she eyed her husband and added, "You really do need to get over Halloween, Lynn. I'm thinking we bust out our cowboy costumes next year." She winked.

"Okay fine," he sighed, giving a yawn "but I've been up all night. I'm going to go rest my head." He walked off for the bedroom.

"Speaking of heads," Lana popped out of the candy, her mouth covered in chocolate. "Have you seen Geo, Leni?"

"Oh, he was real tired from last night," Leni responded, "so I put him to bed."

"In my room?"

"Uh, I think so."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

THE END