The yellow moon gleamed across the dark sky in unison with the twinkling bright stars. Small layers of mist floated through the air with the night breeze, but the weather was clear and perfect for an event such as Halloween with the many Jack-O-Lanterns, fake tombstones and people dressing up for the night.

Seventh Heaven fighter Tifa Lockhart stood by a pair of pumpkins and a large tombstone, holding a red-white fan in her hand. She was eager to enjoy the night, and she'd dressed up, sporting the revealing kunoichi outfit of her friend Mai Shiranui.

Not many people minded, a few men had wolf whistled at the sight of Tifa Shiranui for a while though, but Tifa had her eyes on Cloud and she'd been with him for a while, especially as they looked after their dearest adopted son Chris Thorndyke. For the past year-and-a-half, Tifa had taken good care of the boy and they'd been a happy family.

Oh, she'd defended him from many a dreadful monster that had tried to hurt him, including the sword-wielding psychopath who'd slain Chris' whole family before Tifa had met the young boy.

Even after all of those hardships, Chris was safe and Tifa felt blessed to have someone as sweet as him in her life. And despite adopting him, she'd allowed Chris to keep his surname. "Thorndyke" sounded too precious, but she did often call him Chris Lockhart-Thorndyke with the "Lockhart" before "Thorndyke."

"What do you think of my costume, mom?"

The shapely bartender looked down, seeing Chris had arrived, and she saw whom Chris had decided to dress up as for the Halloween night; Batman's sidekick Robin, and Chris looked so cute in the yellow cape and the red-green outfit along with the mask.

"You look so sweet, Chris." Tifa pat her son on the head, "Do you have your candy basket?"

"Got it." Chris held up the basket, "And you look sweet as Ms. Shiranui."

"Hopefully, we'll run into her and Charmy while we're out, ok?" Tifa hugged her adopted son with a smile.

Eager to enjoy the night, Chris and Tifa set out, waving to the other trick-or-treaters as they gathered candy or chatted with their friends. Chris took the time to interact with a kid dressed up as the Batman, a delightful interaction that Tifa snapped a photo of with her new phone that she'd gotten a few days prior. Batman and Robin, who could forget an iconic superhero duo?

Tifa and her son made their way down 8th Avalanche Heaven Rd, where they visited a large house that was decorated with ghost decals and fake spider webs. They rang the doorbell and a burly man answered the door as he sported a farmer's costume.

"Trick or treat!" Chris said happily as he held out the basket.

"People can't get enough of superhero sidekicks, can they?" The man said as he dumped a handful of crunchy candy bars into the basket, he then looked at Tifa, "You are lookin' very pretty tonight, Ms. Shiranui."

"I already have a man." Tifa giggled.

"Happy Halloween." The farmer costume-clad man quipped.

Tifa pat Chris on the shoulder, then they departed the house and moved on to the next where they got candy from a wheelchair-bound elderly man with a mustache. The man smiled happily and wished Chris and Tifa a safe Halloween as they departed the premises. Tifa often waved her kunoichi fan, and placed a hand to her hip, while striking a few gorgeous poses along the way.

As the two of them adventured down Enix Drive, Chris was surprised to bump into a boy dressed up as The Joker. Thankfully, it was only a costume and the boy was quite friendly, he greeted Chris and complimented his Robin costume all while Tifa snapped a little photo of the moment on her phone.

"Have fun candy-collecting, Robin." The boy in the Joker outfit said gleefully.

"You enjoy the spooky season too, Joker." Chris playfully told his acquaintance.

Tifa and Chris traveled to the edges of town, taking in the festivities, and a wolf howled in the distance as they approached a small wooden house. Luckily for Tifa and her adopted son, they didn't have to contend with vicious wolves as long as they stayed within the town's borders, not to mention that it was rare for wolves to intrude in the place.

When they rang the doorbell, a very pretty woman with red hair dressed in a Tyris Flare chainmail bikini-like outfit answered and gave them some special red candy before a man dressed in a leather speedo with a belt gave Chris some cookies.

"You like her outfit, love?" The woman in the Tyris Flare outfit asked the man next to her.

"Not as much as I like yours, babe." The man replied in a flirty mood. He kissed the woman aggressively, surprising Chris and Tifa. The woman giggled, briefly pushed her soulmate away, wished Tifa and her adopted son a happy Halloween, and closed the door.

Chris stepped away from the house along with Tifa, even as they heard the sound of the costumed couple making out. They decided to leave before things got weirder and headed off through the streets, interacting with more trick-or-treaters while collecting more candy from whatever nearby houses that Tifa and her adopted son passed by.

As they headed down Sixth Strife Street, both Chris and Tifa were met with a surprise as they ran into a woman with brown-hair tied back in a ponytail with a black-yellow anthropomorphic bee by her side. The woman was dressed in a revealing fighter outfit akin to Kasumi's costume, and the bee was dressed up as a pirate, but both Tifa and Chris recognized them at once.

"Charmy! Mai!" Tifa said happily, "It's been a while."

"Hey, Tifa." Mai quipped with a wave.

"Hi, Chris!" Charmy tacked Chris with a quick hug, which Chris carefully returned since the bee still had a stinger.

"I see you dressed up as me." Mai remarked as she looked at Tifa's outfit.

"Any plans to dress up as me next Halloween?" Tifa asked, "I see you dressed up as Kasumi."

"Kinda hard, given you have so many outfits." Mai shrugged, "But I am thinking about giving that purple dress of yours a go."

"I like pirates! I like pirates!" Charmy said excitedly.

"Yeah, they're cool." Chris remarked, "But do you like superheroes?"

"Don't eat too much candy, Charmy." Mai told the young bee.

"Have a good night, Mai." Tifa said happily.

"You too, Tifa." Mai hugged the Seventh Heaven bartender, "Take care, Chris."

Tifa and Chris carried on as Charmy and Mai headed to a nearby house. By this point, Chris was a little tired, Tifa saw this and decided they would do one more house. They visited a small house on the other end of the street where a skinny man dressed as an alien gave them Silver Space Bars, a special sci-fi-themed candy, which Chris started to like as soon as he saw it.

And with that, Tifa and Chris' Halloween adventure was over. Almost. Tifa reminded Chris they would be spending the rest of Halloween with Cloud, Chris was eager to see his adopted father and hugged Tifa happily, the bartender smiled and returned the hug. She too was eager to see Cloud.

Chris and Tifa strolled through the streets, taking in the night air and seeing the decorations along with other trick-or-treaters as they were enjoying the evening. Soon, they arrived at the Fifth Fantasy, their current residence where Cloud was waiting for them. Chris hugged him on the doorstep and Cloud kissed Tifa in a sweet manner.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Cloud asked his adopted son, "That's a lot of candy."

"It was great, dad." Chris replied.

"This Halloween's been fun." Tifa said as she held Cloud's hand, "But we know it's not over yet."

"Can't forget our Halloween Swim." Cloud nodded.

The family entered the house and closed the door behind them, then Cloud headed downstairs, which led to the swimming pool room. Tifa looked at Chris with a sweet smile. "We have one more Halloween costume to wear now, Chris." She said, "You think you'll be able to handle staying up for a swim?"

The young boy hugged the shapely fighter. "I'm happy to be with you and dad, mom." Chris said to Tifa.

Hearing her son's sweet words, Tifa kissed him gently on the forehead, then she headed off down the hall to the next room. Chris went to his room and took off his costume, then he picked out a pumpkin-themed bathing suit and put it on. With the change in wardrobe complete, Chris headed down the stairs to find his adopted father waiting by the pool in ghostly-white swim trunks.

"Chris." Tifa's voice called.

Both Chris and Cloud turned, seeing Tifa enter the room, clad in her last Halloween costume for the night; The Marin Kitagawa bikini, and she'd died her hair a shade of rose. Chris hugged his bikini-clad mother and Cloud came forward to kiss the lovely fighter on the shoulder, which made her giggle.

"Not in front of the kids, Cloud." Tifa chided.

"Family photo!" Cloud then called, he pulled over a camera and the trio stood by the pool as the camera went off; the picture was taken.

Chris sat on the edge of the pool, feeling the water on his feet, and watched as Tifa leap off the edge in a graceful dive while Cloud did a cannonball. The two fantasy fighters swam around the water and Chris joined them, swimming with his parents and enjoying their Halloween pool night. Tifa playfully splashed Chris now and then, which made Chris laugh.

Cloud joined in, splashing Tifa hard, and Tifa splashed him back until Chris swam into the middle and hugged them both. They swam in the pool for minutes, laughing and enjoying themselves. Just then, the pumpkin lights flickered and a sinister laugh echoed throughout the room.

"Oh no..." Chris whimpered.

Tifa gasped, surprised by the laugh as well, even Cloud was frightened. Red eyes flickered in the shadows beyond the pool. Chris gulped and his parents huddled around him, hugging the young boy in a protective manner just as another laugh carried throughout the room.

And then, a large blue hedgehog with black-red eyes appeared, snarling viciously at Tifa, Cloud and Chris, making them yelp with fear.

No, it couldn't be. How could it?

Chris never forgot about him, he often had bad dreams of Sonic EXE, and so did Tifa, especially after their run-in with that creep during a prior Halloween. But he was here, snarling viciously. And then, EXE stopped and, when he laughed again, they heard a female laugh.

EXE reached up and removed his face, which turned out to be a mask, revealing the face of a sweet woman with tan hair. Tifa giggled, Cloud chuckled, even Chris laughed a little. It wasn't every Halloween when you got spooked by a good friend of Tifa Lockhart and Cloud Strife, namely, one Aerith Gainsborough.

Happy Halloween...

The End