[i]Intermission post.
[/i]
[center][b]Lost Haven, ME[/b][/center]
[center][b]A future Halloween[/b][/center]


Seven days before Halloween.

A casually dressed young man briskly walked through the hallway, breathing heavy and hard. The campus was surprisingly big, and he had a ways to walk before getting to his car. Seeing as it was night, it was obvious there wouldn't be as many people walking around, but it seemed off.

"Whew, super empty..." He muttered to himself. There were rumors about a vampire walking around, but he knew that was just some kind of bullying, he actually had a class with her. Nice girl, great notes, she only got treated like that for being quiet. Still, the rumors about ghosts were a little more valid. That terrorist attack had left an awful feeling for everybody still attending classes, and he could swear he could hear voices under the wind. Sometimes he thought he saw blood under the flooring late at night. But these were just rumors, and tricks of the eyes. Is what he would usually say, out loud too since he was alone, except the wind was pretty loud.

"Brrr... too cold." He muttered again, and then realized what he had just said. The man was still inside, in a building with a perfectly fine AC unit. The wind started howling, then a bright light dashed somewhere behind him.

"Who's there!" He shouted. The wind had stopped, and a voice called back.

"Who's there!" Someone shouted replied from farther up the hallway. One of the classrooms? The man thought. He was about to shout back until he realized something. The voice that shouted back, sounded a lot like his, his legs immediately turned him the other way.

"Nah, no no no, not like this, hell no!" The man started shouting, his backpack swished wildly on his back but he dealt with it.

[color=662d91]"Go away.."[/color] The voice came as an quited whisper, this time it sounded like it was right behind him. His heart stopped, and he briefly hoped it was just some prank. Maybe the football team was standing behind him with cameras, they'd all laugh about it later, good fun. The voice had caught up to him so quickly, so obviously he couldn't run from it. Probably was the football team, right, could be track?

He turned around, and then he screamed.

[center]-----[/center]

[center][b]Halloween day, the 31st[/b][/center]

It was 10'o clock pm, hundreds of families had been out trick or treating, or celebrating the spirit of Halloween. The Jones family were not an exception, having spent the last few hours going around the neighborhood. They eventually made their way to Sherman Square to take part in a special event held being held throughout Lost Haven, everyone throughout the city had hung up decorations in the spirit of fun to help recover from the recent attacks.

Both parents and children were encouraged to participate in costume, which is what David had done. He wore a store bought version of Iron Knights' costume, unfortunately no helmet, and Cecilia wore a Radiance costume. While their daughter, Maddison ,had taken to wearing a TV hero's costume, Pheonix-Man. It had a flashy design, red 'pauldrons' and vest, with gold and black streaming down the rest of the outfit, along with a gold feather pattern on the back, the mask it came with had also featured gold feathers around the edges. 

"Geez, I got a ton of candy corn, I hate those..." A girl travelling with them complained. Alice, one of Maddison's friends from school, whom had come with her family; with each of her parents wearing costumes of their own.

"Let me have some of your snickers!" Alice tried to dip her hand into Maddison's 'pumpkin' shaped basket. 

"Nooo!" Maddison quickly turned on her heel and ran around her Dad. 

"Now, now, no need to get grabby. The night's still young, plenty of chances to get candy later. Here, I'll give you some of mine." David dipped into his own basket, and pulled out a handful of twizzlers and tootsie rolls after a moment of digging around. Alice and Maddison both looked at him.

"Bleh." They said synonymously.

"David, you're still so childish. Stop trying to give them candy you don't want.." Cecily hooked her arm around his. "Well, like you said, the night's still young. Let's get that candy." She smiled.

[center]-----[/center]

After another half hour of visiting and looking through the hundreds of attractions, they finally returned to their cars to drop off their haul. While the parents were busy talking Alice pulled Maddison aside. "Hey, look over there!" She pointed towards another building, hidden off their path.

"Huh? Lost Haven University, so?" Maddison tilted her head and asked.

"Your dad works there right, haven't you heard, there's actually some spooky stuff that's supposed to happen at night?"

"Uh, you mean like pop quiz's, 'cuz it's a school?"

"Noooo! They say there's a vampire, and even ghosts!"

"In a school?" Maddison was skeptical, but everyone remembered the Hounds of Humanity, who had attacked the city several times, and even the school her Dad worked at. At the time she was home on summer break, when the news started reporting on the shooting she and her mom had tuned in to see if her Dad was okay. They never saw him in any of the videos at the time, but they were worried. They never called just in-case he was hiding, but they held out hope that the heroes then had saved him. Thankfully, it seemed like they did so they never pushed for details about it.

It made sense that people would think that there were ghosts haunting the place, but it was still a little outlandish. "Come onnn! It's not even that far away, let's just have a look around!" Alice started dragging her hand.

Well, it was Halloween, and what harm was a little exploring going to do? Still, she couldn't just leave so suddenly. "Mom, Dad! W-we're gonna check out one of the haunted houses again!" Maddison yelled out.

"Just come back soon!" Her mom yelled back and waved them off, her dad did he same, but he quickly turned back to say something.

[i]I guess adults have a lot to talk about... Football?[/i]

[center]-----[/center]

A soft wind had been blowing all night, they were relatively warm in their costumes, but away from the festivities they could actually hear it. It set the mood somewhat for a little late night urban spelunking. The lights were out accross the building, the night classes were apparently cancelled for tonight, and it seemed there was nobody home.

Alice led the way and hesitantly pulled on the door handle, and then stopped. "Ah."

"Ah?" Maddison raised an eyebrow.

"Ah! It's locked..." Alice turned and frowned. 

Maddison shook her head and sighed. "Of course it is, it's night time!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Hey!" Suddenly, a voice called out from behind them, surprising the girls.

"The university is closed today, you kids should go home." A man said, there were two other people with him, all of whom were wearing their own costumes. They clearly weren't the security guard.

"Chill, look at them, they probably want to check out those rumors too." One of them said. The first man looked over Maddison and her friend.

"Who are you guys?" Maddison asked, more on reflex than actually being curious.

"I'm Johan." The first man said, he was dressed as Icon, he had the mask resting on top of his head though.

"Rick." The second man said with a shrug, he was dressed as skeletal astronaut, with fake blood that slid down his 'helmet'.

"Dan." The final man said with a limp wave, he was dressed as a completely normal man. Maybe.

"Yeah, well, the door's locked. It's no use." She said with a shrug.

Johan pulled out a silver ring and smiled. "That's why we brought a key." 

After that, it didn't take long to enter the school, and it was as empty as it looked from the outside. It was possible to hear the faint sounds of celebration outside, but now that they were inside it was completely silent. The hallways were dark with only the barest of moonlight to illuminate them, the kids ultimately decided to use their phones to light their way. Eventually they even passed Maddison's Dad's office and classroom eventually; she didn't mention it, but she did get an off-hand idea to explore them.

They passed through a few of the outside areas as well as some of the smaller buildings, for Maddie, it was a little weird to see the place her Dad worked at, but mostly boring. Alice felt more or less the same, and spoke up to break the silence.

"So, how'd you guys get a key?" She asked the young men, Dan answered them.

"We stole it!" He said with a smile and made a fake 'hush' gesture. The three of them chuckled slightly.

"It looks like the ghosts are a total bust. You guys know about that vampire rumor?" Maddison asked.

"Oh that? Yeah, I'm actually not sure about it. But there's this really creepy girl in my history 1313 class. That might be what it's about." The Johan said, and put a finger on his chin.

"I dunno, some guy said he saw someone leaping the roofs one night." Rick spoke up next.

"That could have been some random meta. Dan what do you think?" Johan turned around, then stopped. "Uh.."

Johan's weird behavior caught everyone's attention and they all turned around, only to see nothing except an empty hallway.

"Maybe... he got lost?" Alice offered.

Johan tilted his head. "Maybe? He doesn't come to this part of the campus often, if he walked off on his own he could have gotten lost." 

"Hey, Dan!" 

"Daniel, did you get lost, you dummy?" The two men called out to him.

"Hey!" A voice called back from further back where they came. Rick and the girls were about to head that way when Johan held out his arm and stopped them.

"That voice, sounded a little weird."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, actually, it kinda sounded like m-" Rick stopped mid-sentence, someone had thrown a pencil at the back of his head. That caught everyone's attention. The entire group turned around to see a giant luminescent face flying towards them from further down the opposite hallway. It was nearly featureless, only resembling a face in shape with gaps in place of its eyes and mouth. While the entire thing glowed, it seemed to be at its brightest at the 'nose'.

[color=662d91]"Go away..." [/color]

They all screamed and in their panic, Maddison and Alice nearly took off in different directions, until Johan intercepted their hands to guide them. They ran for what felt like minutes before stopping, their hands each dropped to their knees as the three of them tried to catch their breathe. Now outside, they actually felt a little relieved, compared to the closed off and empty hallways. Outside, they felt more free, and the full moon illuminated much more of their surroundings. The wind was blowing much harder than Maddison remembered, it whistled loudly. Between heavy gasps, Maddie dared to be the first to speak.

"T-that was a ghost?"

"Muh.. maybe.." Johan said, he then took a glance around them. "We lost Rick."

"W-what should we do?" Maddison asked, Alice, still stood silently behind them. "Let's get out of here first." Johan moved to take Maddison's hand into his own, but the ground beneath him suddenly slid forward, and he fell onto his back. He let out a small groan before a hand came down to help him.

Johan looked up to see a skull. "Ah!~ Rick, like, thanks man." He grasped the hand offered to him, and it pulled him up. It even patted down his back to get off some clinging dirt and grass.

"H-hey, t-that's not your friend!" Maddie yelled out. Johan did a double take, his eyes made extra sure to examine the hand he had just taken, and the body it belonged to. Rick had a skull astronaut as his costume, but the only 'skeletal' part was the skull. He was now holding hands with a bare-bones skeleton.

Another one came staggering towards them at an incredibly fast pace. Maddie took Alice with her and ran off, while Johan began to panic behind them. "H-hey, let's call someone!" Alice suggested, and Maddison nodded. They had been using them as flashlights only before now so it completely slipped her mind, she didn't like calling for help, but they were lost, and something weird was happening.

I'll call my dad. She thought, then immediately searched for him on her contacts and called him. Only to realize there was no signal.

"Wha- what do we do?" Alice hesitantly asked, visibly shaking, probably from the cold. Her costume wasn't as heavy, and the wind had seriously picked up recently.

"I've had enough!" Maddison started shouting, she could only think about this logically for so long, but she had no idea what was happening. If weird stuff kept stopping them from running away, they'll run towards it.

"We're going right to the center!" She kept yelling.

"Hey, are you crazy! Keep it down!" Alice yelled back, and tried to cover up Maddie. She pushed Alice away long enough to say what her piece.

"I'm tired of running around with no clue! We've been running like crazy but the wind just keeps blowing that way. Whatever is happening, it's over there, I'm gonna see what it is!" Maddie roared out. She was at her limit, angry, impatient, and a little spooked. But the only way things will move on is if they find out what was happening.

The winds blew in one direction, but as they followed it towards its center it began to curve around a certain area. It looked like it was an old garden, it seems as if it was neglected, flowers had dried up and wilted. Suddenly, two of those glowing faces appeared from mid-air.

[color=92278f]"Go away!"[/color]

[color=662d91]"Go away..." [/color]The two of them shouted and mumbled at her, as their forms shifted and wobbled downwards towards them.

Maddison grabbed a hand full of the pebbles that surrounded some of the plants, and threw them up at the faces.

[color=ec008c]"Owwie.." [/color]One of them said.

"Huh?" Maddie stopped herself mid throw, something unexpected happened, those spooky gravelly voices, and turned into a very high pitched and girly voice. The faces merged into something more ferocious, fangs, blood, and a faded out skull beneath it. To join them, the skeletons from ealier emerged from behind a far off building, along with a stiff looking shadow. From what they could see it looked like a man, but half his skin had been torn off, revealing his flesh.

Alice screamed out, Maddison lost her courage and began to cry, when another voice descended down towards them. It was a reassuring voice, one that had saved her before.

[color=ed1c24]"That's enough. These kids look like they've had enough, don't you agree?"[/color] A glowing red-orange man slowly descended from the air with his arms out to the sides. It was Terra Firma. 

[color=662d91]"Foolish mortal, you can no longer contr-"[/color] The giant glowing mishapen voice tried to taunt him. Terra snaped his fingers, and a small blue line shot towards the face.

[color=ec008c]"Ahh!" [/color]He shouted in its high-pitched voice again. The giant face disappated, and several glowing motes emerged and danced around him. The skeletons and that other figure suddenly stopped and fell to the ground.

[color=ec008c]"Heyy, we're just having a little fun!"[/color]

[color=ec008c]"Yeah, you let us stay here!" [/color]They glowing orbs tried to make their excuses and raced around him angrily.

[color=ed1c24]"You came here for a reason remember, and it wasn't to scare kids."[/color] Terra said sternly and crossed his arms. The scene reminded Maddie of when her Dad would scold her, it was kinda weird, no, it definitely was.

[color=ec008c]"Oh yeah!" [/color]One of them said, and they all floated off. They split off into groups, then shot all accross the garden for a few moments. Now that things had obviously gotten way less dangerous, Maddie approached Terra, though Alice couldn't bring herself closer to this weird scenario.

"Uh, what's going on?"

Terra looked down at her for a second or two, then gave her a reply. [color=ed1c24]"Those things in the school, the animated skeletons, and that thing next to them."[/color] He pointed off towards the back of the garden. [color=ed1c24]"The anatomical model, and the skeletons from biology. It seems they look quite scary with low lighting. Brought to life by magic."[/color] Terra gestured his hand at the floating orbs.

Magic? Maddie questioned what she heard, but the situation was still too weird to ask that.

"Everything tonight was because of... those things?"

[color=ed1c24]"Pixies, from the stories."[/color] Terra nodded. [color=ed1c24]"Every bit as troublesome as you might think, but they never hurt anybody, those older boys are just asleep in the gym. The Pixies are responsible for everything."[/color]

'No, no matter what he says, I still can't believe this.' Maddie tilted her head to the side.

[color=ec008c]"Heyy~! Don't blame us for everything!"[/color] One of the orbs came back and rushed up to Terra in a huff. [color=ec008c]"Even y-"[/color]

Whatever it was about to say Maddie never heard it, Terra backhanded the pixie out of the air, it made a gasped in surprise and landed behind some bushes. He tried to disguise that as him reaching up to cover his coughing.

[color=ed1c24]"Ahem. Sorry you kids got involved."[/color] Terra then seemed to intensify his gaze on her. [color=ed1c24]"But this school was locked, and obviously closed. This counts as tresspassing, you know."[/color]

"W-well, you see..." This definitely felt like a lecture. Terra didn't go that far though, instead he gestured towards the garden again. The winds began to soften, the glowing orbs danced around flowers, trees, and through the pathways. Their colors made it seem as if a rainbow river was running through, pedals flew up and around them as the wind shot up.

"Whoa.." Maddison muttered. The plants in the garden glowed softly as they straightened back up, the ones that had wilted were blooming again, the leaves had returned to the trees, even the grass had suddenly grown just a bit taller. The entire area had a glow to it, as if the sun was out again, the flowers were radiant, the tree swayed back and forth slightly.

One of the orbs floated up to her face, and then she could see it. Terra told them that these Pixies were just like the stories, and they were. She was small, colorful little wings, and some kind of leaf dress.

[color=ec008c]"Looks like we had too much fun, sorry!"[/color]

"Hey, what's your deal? Why'd you try to scare us like that?"

[color=ec008c]"We just didn't want any humans nearby~."[/color]

"Hey, you know this is a building for humans, made by humans, right?"

[color=ec008c]"Sorry, not my problem! Anyways, good bye!"[/color] She said, and then flew off towards the sky. The rest of the pixies followed her up, and they disappeared beyond her sight.

"Wait, what was all this?" Alice asked, finally gaining the courage to come closer, and Terra answered.

[color=ed1c24]"It seems they made a pact to revive this garden. A silly old man's wish."[/color]

"And why did they have to scare us, can't they just use magic to stop us or something?" Maddie asked this time.

[color=ed1c24]"Well, Pixies in legend are famous for being supernatural pranksters. Their logic might not make sense to us, but it seems they just wanted to prank people too."[/color]

[center]-----[/center]

Afterwards, Terra offered to fly everybody home, but both Alice and Maddison declined. He was kinda weird looking, and it wouldn't be good if he told their parents they were sneaking around the university. So instead he went to recover the older guys, leaving Maddison and her friend alone again. They might talk about it again one day, but right now, it was just too weird.

"So kids, how was it?" Maddies father was the first to see them, and he greeted them with a smile. 

"Uh.. let's just go home?" She sighed with exhaustion.

"Nonesense, we talked it over, we're all going to visit a haunted house together." Her mom added next.

"Noooo!"



[hider=Writer's note]
Yeah, so i just wanted to have a little fun with it. Wanted to use some off-hand ideas I had floating around before I lost the chance to use them. I didn't have to time to polish it up, but I hope it wasn't awful. I wanted to give a small bit of scooby doo to this post too so I hope it never seemed like i was trying hard to scare you. You're behind a computer so that's hard to do.
[/hider]