The spookiest time of year was about to be here. Halloween, the holiday every child looked forward to almost as much as Life Day. The one day of the year they could dress as anyone they wanted, and get free candy.
The royal family of Solaris was no exception, and they were all so excitedly for the holiday.
This year was going to be a very special Halloween because it was Omega's first Halloween ever. She'd never once celebrated in any way. And now, she was eager to celebrate with her family.
"A whole night when you get free candy." Omega said, trying on a masquerade mask. "And dress up too."
"Yup." said Gabby. "It's a lot of fun. You also get to play pranks on people. You should've seen how we scared the daylights out of Caleb last year."
Gabby and the other kids laughed.
"Yeah," said Lamenta. "We pranked him with a fake singing plant from this movie we saw, and we made him think it was taking over the Temple and turning people into plant zombies."
"It was hilarious!" Boba said. He was dressed as Indiana Jones this year.
"And good payback for that scary clown prank he played on me." Gabby said.
That was when Qui-Gon entered the scene, already dressed in his police officer costume.
"Children, have you selected your costumes yet?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Not yet." Omega said. "Nice costume, Grandpa."
"Thank you."
"I picked mine." Gabby said, going behind the divider and coming out dressed as Princess Powers. "I'm Princess Powers, Queen of Justice, and evil's royal pain."
"Me too." Lamenta said, motioning to the baby blue dress and hair bow she wore. "I'm Wendy. From Peter Pan."
"Just wait till you see the babies in their costumes." said Anakin, coming in, dressed as a musketeer.
"Ooh! You make a great musketeer, Daddy." Gabby said.
"Thanks. I wanted to be a vampire, but Kara and Carmine insisted we dress as something in a threesome since it's our official first Halloween together."
"The three musketeers. I get it." Boba chuckled.
"You like mine?" Remix asked.
"Ahh!" Boba exclaimed, falling to the floor when he saw Remix's costume.
He was dressed as the Demogorgon again.
"Remix! Why do you still have that thing?" Boba gasped.
"Sorry, Boba. Did I scare you?"
"Uh... no."
"Boba had a scary dream after too many late-night Stranger Things marathons." Gabby whispered to Omega.
"I never get to wear this thing." Remix whined. "A good scare is the best way to get a ton of candy, and Omega's missed out on thirteen years of Halloween candy. Think about it."
"Well... if it means more candy." Boba shrugged. "But don't jump scare me with that thing. It's like a living nightmare."
Boba shivered as he remembered that nightmare.
"No promises." Remix said. "It's Halloween, and there are bound to be others dressed like this."
Omega, however, was having trouble picking out her costume. There were so many fun choices. Some were spooky, some were funny, some were crazy, and some were beautiful. This was her very first Halloween, so she wanted to pick just the right one.
"How am I gonna know which costume to pick?" Omega asked.
"You could always partner with someone." Gabby said. "Our first Halloween together, Boba, Remix, Carousella, and I dressed as circus performers."
Gabby took out a photo of that day.
"I was an acrobat, Carousella was a carousel pony, Remix was a lion, and Boba was the ringmaster."
"Looks like fun." Omega smiled.
"Maybe you and Estrella can do something together."
"Maybe."
However, that was when Anakin's comm started beeping. He left his kids to their things with the costumes, and rushed as quickly as he could to the portal to the Temple where he joined a meeting with the Jedi Council.
The Jedi Council had some rather distressing news. Recently, on Mandalore, hundreds of children went missing in the middle of the night. And over the last few days after that, the same thing happened across the Galaxy.
"Concerned, many parents are." Yoda said.
"You think it could be the work of a Sith?" Anakin suggested.
"We have sensed a dark disturbance in the Force," said Kit. "But we have not yet identified who or what is creating it."
"We've sent scouts across to help the local police in the search for the missing children." said Master Plo. "And we are taking precautions to protect the younglings as well."
Anakin suddenly got worried. What if his kids were next? Who or whatever was causing all these disappearances could have been very dangerous. Was it even safe to let them trick or treat?
"What am I supposed to do? What do I tell Carmine and the kids?" Anakin asked.
"We've traced a route of the most recent locations of the disappearances." said Mace. "For now, it may be best you relocate your children here until the threat has been taken care of."
Anakin sighed. "And this was gonna be Omega's very first Halloween too. She'll be so disappointed if she has to miss out on tricks and treats."
And as expected, the kids were all shouting at once when Anakin told them they might not be able to trick or treat this year.
"Do you have any idea how much weightlifting and how many push-ups I had to do to make my arms strong enough for any amount of candy this year?!" Gabby said, flexing her little arms.
"It took me forever to perfect this costume." Estrella whined, motioning to her giraffe costume.
"And I finally just picked out mine." Omega said, motioning to her safari girl costume.
"Look, kids, I know you're all disappointed." Anakin said. "But I have to put your safety first."
Anakin explained to the kids about how other kids were currently disappearing across the galaxy, and no one knew where they went or who was the mastermind behind this.
"Look, we're going to stay in the Temple for a while. It's farthest from where disappearances have occurred." Anakin said. "It's just until the threat's been resolved."
"And don't worry, children." Qui-Gon said. "You can still have a happy Halloween."
"How?" Omega said.
"Well, lots of people do different things." Carmine said. "Some people like to have parties with games like bobbing for apples."
"Oh! I remember that." Carousella smiled. "I'm really good at that."
"You could also make jack-o-lanterns." Caroline said. "Lamenta, remember how much fun you had making stars in the pumpkin you picked last year?"
Lamenta nodded. "They look so pretty when the candle's in the pumpkin."
"We could also watch scary movies." Boba said. "And tell spooky stories around a fireplace."
"That's the spirit." said Anakin. "And you could always play pretend in your costumes. Now, all of you, go pack some things for a few days."
So, the kids went to do just that.
Padme, however, was worried.
"Ani, how can we be sure the children will be safe?" Padme said.
Anakin was silent for a moment.
"I don't know, Angel." Anakin wrapped his arms around his wife and kissing her. "But I do know we have to do everything we can to keep them safe."
"Ani, come look at the babies' costumes." called Shmi.
Anakin and Padme couldn't resist going gaga over how cute Luke and Leia looked in their Halloween costumes. Luke was dressed as a little elephant, and Leia was dressed as a giraffe.
"Look how adorable these two are." Shmi smiled, holding the twins.
"Look at you." Padme giggled, looking at her babies in their adorable costumes.
"You weren't kidding when you said the twins' costumes were wildly cute." Anakin chuckled.
He only hoped they would stay safe from whatever threat was out there.
The Skywalker-Jinn children and their parents and grandparents moved on to their quarters in the Jedi Temple, and the place was to be put on lock-down every night.
"Don't worry kids," said Anakin. "Everything is gonna be okay."
"I know you said Halloween is supposed to be filled with frights," said Omega. "But is this one of those kinds it's supposed to have?"
"No." Gabby shook her head. "Fearing for your life is not the kind of fear we should ever have to face, not even on Halloween."
Qui-Gon contacted Obi-Wan to see if he had any new information regarding the disappearing children.
"I do have some rather... odd information." Obi-Wan said. "According to many parents, they heard... singing. Just before they learned their children were missing."
Qui-Gon was confused at first. But then he remembered what he knew about different magical creatures.
Sirens could charm people by singing, but most of the disappearances were on land, nowhere near water. But then again, it could be a half-siren or someone on legs with musical magic of his own like Carmine. But why go after kids? And why did they not seem to be going after specific children?
There was no pattern to any of the disappearances other than the fact that all of them were children. Not even a ransom note or a hostage situation came to light. What could it all mean?