A/N: The mission is over, and Winter seems to show a soft side for our little Mercenary friend. Sadly, not enough to break the ice between them. Who knows, maybe things will never get better for Patrick and Winter, and Patrick has to protect Winter from this evil organization that nobody knows of. I'm talking too much, am I?
Moving on, it's Halloween Night and team PASM is in for a spooky time.
Chapter 17: Night of Hallow's Eve
The bell chimes.
It's the end of classes and the students are excited for school to end and for Halloween to begin. Patrick is the only one who isn't excited. He doesn't have any "special" reasons like on his birthday. Just his normal self.
Patrick goes to meet up with Akira and Marlene. Marlene is already in her costume: A Scientist with Bride of Frankenstain's Hair. And Akira is dressed in a fully armed and armored Samurai, not all that impressive since that's pretty much what she is.
"Hey there, Patrick. You excited for Halloween?" Marlene asks. "Where's your costume?"
"I'm wearing it." Patrick says, sarcastically.
Marlene just looks at him, he's in nothing but his school uniform. "You're going...as a student?"
Akira just facepalm. "You know, for someone smart, the obvious really elutes you," Patrick says.
Marlene still doesn't get it. "He's not wearing a costume." Akira turns to Patrick. "I understand you have your ways about people and events but can't you at least enjoy the holiday?"
"Akira's right. Even Selena is getting into the spirit as herself." Marlene says.
"She's just throwing a concert as Selena Akimura, not as Sherry Farron," Patrick says. "But does she really have to go so far as to make an air travel?"
After the mission, Selena asked Winter and Clover to drop her off at a certain location that's not in the Kingdom of Vale. Before departure, she explains to her team and Team CPER that she has plans for Halloween as Selena Akimura. But nobody knows where she is. To wear off any suspicion she will return home and make travel to Vale as herself. Everyone questions why this early when there's still a week left before Halloween but Selena explains that it is to prevent any connection. Sherry Farron suddenly left Beacon whereas Selena Akimura appears a day later.
"Well, she is an Idol in disguise. I suppose there are rules she must apply to keep up her secret image." Akira says.
"I suppose. Anyway, I'm just not into Halloween." Patrick says.
"Well, you should find something to do. You can't just spend the night all alone." Marlene says.
"Do you even know me? I prefer to be alone." Patrick says. On that note, Patrick turns and walks away, leaving the two girls alone.
Marlene sighs in disappointment. "What are we gonna do with him?"
"Believe me, I wonder the same thing. But I suppose all we can do is hope he'll learn." Akira makes her leave. "I have to get going, the Kendo Club is getting ready for our assignment."
Meanwhile, Patrick is in Mashika's Apartment. Mashika is dressed in a Lara Croft costume. Or Lauren Craft is really what she is referred to in the world of Remnant. As the instructor is getting ready for her own Halloween Plans, she wonders what her student is doing here. Patrick tells her about the conversation he had with Marlene and Akira.
"You know, I think you should take their advice, Love," Mashika says. She sits across from him and opens a can of beer. "If Halloween doesn't have any painful reminders of your life, I think it's something you should enjoy doing."
"You just don't understand. Every day I've spent my time being crowded with other people, whether it's my own team, team CPER. Or even your little fan club giving me a hard time." Patrick says, which only makes Mashika laughs nervously. "You know, they're only bothering me because they're jealous that I'm getting 'Special Attention' from you."
"I know, I really am sorry about that, Love. But it's not something I can control." Mashika says. "But you know, you should try spending the night with someone, even if it's one person." Mashika thinks for a moment. "Didn't you say Miss Akimura is making an appearance as herself? You could pay her a visit."
"I'm pretty sure she would prefer that me and the others who know her to stay away so we don't...I don't know, risk exposing her relationship with us?" Patrick says.
"True. But still, maybe you should pay a visit. I'm sure she'll feel comfortable seeing a familiar face. Besides, I'm sure just one person isn't going to do any harm." Mashika says. Mashika gets up then starts heading out the door. "Give it some thought, Love."
With Mashika gone, Patrick starts walking down on the streets of Vale, streets that are filled with Trick or Treaters. He only mutters, not really upset but just does what Mashika tells him to do. "Give it some thought. Some thought. Hmm..."
As he walks, it takes a while before he realizes he stumbled into a crowded zone. The citizens are all gathering in excitement. On the street in front of a hotel, a limo is parked in front. Patrick can already tell what this is all about.
"Oh boy, well since I am here..." Patrick climbs up a nearby tree then leaps onto a building roof. He uses his Scope Vision to get a closer look. The door opens and screams fill the air as...Someone who is not Selena comes out. "Huh?" The girl appears to be 20 years old, with a beautiful face and long raven hair. She waves as she walks towards the hotel. "I thought Selena was the one appearing."
Next comes out another beautiful girl, the same age as the first with a body a model could have and long red hair. The third comes out of the limo, an 18-year-old with pink hair in a ponytail. The fourth is a 16-year-old, the cute one of the group by the looks of it, with short brown hair. Patrick realizes this is nothing but a waste of time, of course, that was before he sees the fifth idol who comes out. Who is none other than Selena Akimura.
"Sure, now she shows." He says annoyed.
Like the other idols, Selena waves at the fans as they scream and shout. Selena even blows a kiss to a group of them, of which they raised hands as if to reach the invisible kiss. Patrick only rolls his eyes and groans. "Idols..."
Once Selena is inside the hotel, it takes a while for the crowd to die down. Most of them leave easily cause of Trick-or-Treating. When it's clear enough, Patrick makes his leave. "Honestly, I get people would go all gaga over idols but it just feels ridiculous."
Patrick goes to Market Street. Most of the shops are closed, which gives the young Mercenary Student a hard time. Luckily for him, the Dust Store is one of the few that remains open.
Once he gets what he needs, he starts heading back towards Beacon. Only the route he has to take is completely crowded. Full of excited people. Patrick already knows what is going on here. He tries to escape when... "Hey there, Patrick." Patrick turns to see Marlene approaching. "Here to see the concert too?"
"Unfortunately," Patrick says. "Why are you here? I thought you were helping out the Drama Club with the Haunted House."
"I got someone else covering for me. Sadly, I only have about 30 minutes." Marlene says.
"Well, I don't think we should even be here. Because I'm pretty sure Selena doesn't want us getting involved in exposing her secret identity." Patrick says.
"Just how are we gonna expose her? It's not like we're gonna spill the beans or scream Sherry Farron instead." Marlene says.
"I don't know. I can't think like an idol." Patrick says. "I suppose it's only a good thing that Akira isn't here.
"What is it about me not being here?" Just their luck, Akira shows up, but with a group of youngling trick-or-treaters.
"I just had to say that," Patrick says to himself. He turns to Akira. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm in charge of protecting this group of Trick-or-Treaters." Akira leans in to whisper to Patrick. "Besides, I believe I should be here in support of our teammate Selena." Patrick just sighs. He understands the feeling of supporting a fellow teammate. "Come on, let's take our places."
"Yeah, come on let's go," Marlene says. Both Akira and Marlene grab Patrick by the arms and start dragging him, despite his protests.
The three of them found a spot in the middle of the crowd. Patrick just feels trapped being in the hard of crazed fanatics. As the concert begins, the lights turn off, and the crowd's chattering dies down. After a moment of silence and darkness, a spotlight appears, revealing the first Idol. The crowd cheers loudly. Even deafened by the cheering roars, the idol's voice still booms above all house.
"Hello, Kingdom of Vale. Are you ready for a good time!?" The audience cheers 'YAH'. Patrick and Akira are the only ones who didn't. "I'm glad to hear you all say that! Cause you are all in for a Magical Night. I'm May!"
Another spotlight appears revealing the second idol. "I'm Chiaki."
Third Spotlight, third Idol. "I'm Karen."
Fourth Spotlight, fourth Idol. "I'm Cinnamon!"
Last Spotlight, revealing Selena. "And I'm Rosemary."
Hearing that name instead of her own has Patrick caught by surprise. "What the-Rosemary?"
One thing he only just noticed is all the idols are in witch costumes. Not the evil ugly kind but really cute attractive stylish kind. As expected for idols. The costumes are in black and one other color, each other color different. Clearly a cosplay they're doing. But one that Patrick will soon regret witnessing.
"And we are-" The first idol speaks then all of them in unison. "The Witches of Magic Academy!"
Patrick's eyes widen as he facepalms. "Oh brother! Not that annoying kid series."
Patrick spent the time suffering torture from this concert. Of course, that is only his perspective. The show was pretty amazing in general view. Even Akira shows signs of excitement once and a while, much to Patrick's surprise. The Idols begin the concert with the opening theme to the series. The way they dance cheerfully and in rhythm with their proud and charming voices and stunning good looks from lights and costumes and make-up. Especially from Selena, the crowd can't help but cheer gleefully like dogs howling.
While he does not enjoy being here in this 'annoying' anime-themed concert, he admits that he finds some impressiveness in Selena. Since coming to Beacon he only viewed her as the shy Tomboy who always keeps a quiet distance from everyone. Tonight, he actually gets to see a side of Selena he never got to know. Just a Leader's Pride to his own Teammate one would think.
Once he's finally had enough of the Witches of Magic Academy Songs, Patrick makes his escape against the crowd. He quickly retreats to sanctuary at Beacon. Patrick spends his time in the training room, where he starts working on a new device. Once and a while, Marlene would send him texts and pictures about the concert, up until she had to leave as she said. Patrick feels lucky Akira is not a crazed fan of Selena Akimura, of course, that doesn't save him from receiving a text about the concert from her, even if it is just one.
He grumbles as he works. "I could pay her a visit, she says. Feel comfortable seeing a familiar face, she says. She's accompanied by other idols! And what do I get? My head filled with songs from that annoying witch series!" Patrick softly growls. "Sometimes, I hate that woman." Somewhere out that, Mashika sneezes, getting the strange feeling that somebody is talking about her. Patrick comes to a halt on working his device, just stares at its incomplete condition. "If only the stores were open, I'd finish the Wrist Flamethrowers tonight."
With nothing else to do, Patrick does a little training, shooting arrows at target dummies. While practicing, Patrick's Scroll buzzes. He opens it to find he had received a Text...from 'Sherry Farron'. He opens it only to find a submitted order to a restaurant for Pick Up, then a message just appears that says: 'Would you mind picking this up for us? Pretty please.'
Patrick rolls his eyes. "Oh brother. Well, I suppose I should help her out. Probably wouldn't have texted me if there wasn't anybody else."
After putting his stuff away in the dorm, Patrick starts heading into town and to the restaurant. When the order is ready, Patrick picks it up and starts heading towards the hotel. He heads towards Selena's room to deliver the food.
Expect there is one Obstacle blocking his way.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Says a large bulky bodyguard.
He's twice Patrick's size and, by the looks of it, three times his strength. But Patrick does not feel immediate by his opponent. He shows the bags of food. "I'm here to deliver an order one of the idols made."
"Oh sure, do you think I'm dumb enough to fall for that old trick?" The Bodyguard asks.
"No, but apparently dumb enough to forget the order the Idol's gave him," Patrick says.
That didn't help with Patrick's situation. The next thing that happens, Patrick gets tossed out the window, screaming as he falls and hits the pavement. Followed by the bags of the food falling on him, miraculously luckily they remain undamaged.
"Yeah, I had that coming." He said through the pain. He sits up, thinking. He can't go through the front door of the room, doesn't have time to trick the bodyguard, given he doesn't appear to be easily fooled.
He has to think of another way in.
Meanwhile, the idols in the room are all settling in, the first one, Paige, brushing her hair while the second, Amanda, looks at her scroll, and Selena is playing cards with the third, Kayla, and the fourth, Isabela. All of them are pretty much in their natural states, no make-up and wearing only bathrooms or pajamas.
"Where's the food?" Amanda asks.
"I know, I'm getting hungry." Kayla looks at Selena. "You sure this friend of yours can deliver?"
"I'm not even sure he's someone we can trust being in a room full of Idol's." Isabela says.
"Don't worry about him. He'll only look scary and cold, but he's a trustworthy guy." Selena says.
"I don't really know him, but I trust Selena. So I'll trust him." Paige says.
"You are just too gullible, Paige," Amanda says. "I just hope he's not the creeping type."
"Trust me, he's nothing like that," Selena says.
Suddenly, there's some knocking on the window. Amanda puts down her scroll to check it up. She opens the window and looks out. Only that's a mistake as a hand pops out trying to reach her. Amanda screams and backs away, settling the other idols. The hand grabs on the window ledge, then another hand raises...showing the bag of food.
"Huh?"
Patrick pulls himself up, exhausted. He pulls himself in and crashes onto the floor, panting and groaning tiresome. "Climbed up 20 flats of stairs only to get thrown out the window and land on pavement and had to climb 20 stories up the building wall. I just had to pick a bad day to begin the upgrades to my Dust Bracers!"
"Oh, Patrick." Selena moves to his side and helps him stand up. "What happened?"
"What happened?! You're Building-Sized Bodyguard happened. He didn't believe I was delivering the food you ordered and threw me out the window." Patrick says.
"He what?" Selena suddenly has a realization. "Oh...Whoopsy."
Patrick figured out what it is she's thinking. "You forgot to tell him, didn't you?"
"I did, sorry. I'll make it up to you." Selena says.
"You certainly owe me big time." Patrick hands Selena the bag. "Anyway, here's your food."
"Thanks. Why don't you stay and eat with us? I ordered something for you as well." Patrick doesn't say anything, just stares at her with an obvious answer look. But Selena doesn't change her mind.
Patrick sighs in defeat. "You're just lucky I'm exhausted from falling and climbing to leave right now."
Amanda is against the idea of a strange boy, even younger than her, to be eating with them. Isabela feels a bit uncomfortable but nothing to complain about. Paige and Kayla don't seem to mind at all.
The Idols and Patrick eat their meals in a circle. Most of them talk about the concert and some of the fans they met. Amanda skips the fan part, she only mentions she doesn't waste her time getting to know them even for a second. Patrick is pretty much quiet the whole time. Patrick often exchanges a look towards Amanda, when he does she notices her glaring at him.
"What do you want?" Patrick asks.
"I don't trust you to be here," Amanda says.
"Like I even wanted to be here in the first place," Patrick says.
"You don't want to be here? Having Dinner with Idols?" Kayla asks, astonished.
Patrick turns to Kayla. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-no, sir. It's just, I don't think we've ever met a boy like you." Kayla says.
"Well, there's a first for everything, I suppose," Patrick says.
"Well, I don't buy it." Patrick turns his attention to Amanda. "I know you're putting up this whole 'I don't care' act just to get closer to us," Amanda says.
Patrick glares right at her with daggers. Amanda doesn't say any signs of imitation. After a while, they just resume eating. "Don't take Amanda too seriously. She's just the kind of person who shows Tough Love to everyone." Paige says.
"I prefer to be known as the one who actually takes our career seriously," Amanda says.
Paige laughs at the comment. "I know, and we all love you for that." Paige turns her attention back to Patrick. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"
"He's not really an open book kind of guy. Not even a two-page book." Selena says.
"A bit insulting but accurate," Patrick says. "However, I can tell you about that I am on Selena's Team in Beacon Academy."
"Oh yeah, Selena did mean about being in the same team as you," Isabela says.
"I bet he's that perverted womanizer," Amanda says coldly.
Hearing that causes Selena to flinch in fear. Her reaction is correct, for she takes nothing that Patrick's grip tightens enough to snap chopsticks in half and notice the aggressive expression on his face.
"Patrick, Calm down," Selena tells him. "A-Amanda. That is Peter you're thinking about. Trust me, you can't say such things like that about Patrick."
"I-I concur with Selena." Isabela leans to Amanda and whispers. "He's a scary-looking person, and I don't think we want to get that kind of person angry."
"Yeah, she's screaming tough love, all right," Patrick mutters under his breath.
"Uh, so Patrick. How is it that you and Selena met?" Kayla asks.
Patrick doesn't say anything for a moment, but answers in an attempt to forget about Amanda's spiteful attack. "Only at Beacon. But it was actually before we were made into a team."
"That's right. I was in an empty room to sleep for the night, and then he showed up while I was myself. He's even the first person who knew who I was and trusted with my secret identity." Selena says.
"Sounds more accidental than trust," Amanda says.
"E-Even so, he still kept his promise." Selena looks at Patrick. "It's even because of him I was able to trust the rest of our team with my identity. Marlene was...a bit hard since she was a fan, but Akira she handled it as well as Patrick did."
"If I recall correctly, Akira already figured it out when you two were paired in the forest." Patrick says.
Selena nervously laughs. "I guess that's true."
"I think it's nice. It's a reminder of a special bond you two share." Paige says. Selena feels a little comfortable about that comment. Patrick is just...not caring.
Once he is done eating, Patrick is ready to take his leave. Selena and Paige bid him a farewell, Paige does hers by giving People her Scroll number. Just her part of contributing to the trouble he went through.
"I'm really not interested, thank you," Patrick says.
"Oh please, I insist," Paige says.
Patrick doesn't say anything. "Paige, would you give us a moment?" Paige goes back inside. "Listen, Patrick. I understand you don't have any interest making friends, but an Idol is trusting you to become one to her. You may not realize it, but it's not easy for an Idol to be friends with people."
"Maybe I should be an idol," Patrick says sarcastically.
Selena gives Patrick a serious look. "Patrick, I'm serious. Not everyone is like you...well, maybe except for Amanda, but that's beside the point. When I came here to Beacon, I thought I was going to be all alone as Selena Akimura. I wanted to make friends, but I want friends to like me for who I am, not my fame. Or being the daughter of Elizabeth Akimura."
"All right, all right! I get it." Patrick says. "But I can't make any promises I'll keep in touch with Paige."
Selena smiles. "Thank you. I'll see you guys in a few days. Give my regards to Akira and Marlene too." Selena walks back into the room, closing the door behind her.
Patrick lets out an exhausting sigh. "I hate it when she does that to me." Then makes his leave.
"I can't believe you gave him your number," Isabela says.
"I think it's foolish to do it for a guy you just met," Amanda says.
"Aww, don't be like that. He's a nice guy. And I think he's kind of cute." Paige says with a giggle.
"Why don't you marry him, then?" Amanda says.
"I'll plan the wedding." Kayla jokes. Selena can't help but feel annoyed hearing that.