Once upon a midnight dreary (Idol)

There's a certain air of both creepiness and poetic darkness that rests over the world during the month of October. The reason for it is, of course, Halloween. And so, depending on what type of person you are, you either love the holiday or you hate it. Lucas fit into the former group.

It wasn't the candy or the costumes that made the boy like it as much as he did—it was the essence of the day itself. People freely broke the shackles of what they saw as good and evil to touch on the darker, more interesting subjects of our history on this planet. On Halloween, you could let parts of yourself out that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Lucius had agreed to let Oliver take Lucas and Isalia to New York with him. The Masters brother was a busy man since Alpha lost his memory. He had to pretty much run the company as well as his brother's little section of Rise. Keeping it all running smoothly was giving him no time for himself, and this was no exception.

He wasn't in Empire City to take kids trick or treating, he was here on business. He'd give them both phones and put trackers on them, then go about his night. Besides, Isalia was responsible enough to watch Lucas, right?

Right.

Lucas was dressed as a vampire, all in black. It wasn't a hard outfit to put together, considering how many darkly colored long coats he owned. That said, it wasn't too shabby. He pretty much looked like he just walked out of one of those Underworld movies, fangs and actual handgun and all.

Isalia was dressed as a mime. Her entire outfit was black and white. She even dyed her hair back to it's original black just to pull it off. She was pale enough that she probably didn't need the white face paint, but she put it on anyway. All in all, they were both satisfied with their costumes.

"You think Oliver will join us for the last hour? He should be done with his meeting thing before we're done getting, like, all the candy in the city." Lucas asked as he and his sister walked down the dark streets of a rural New York neighborhood. The girl responded by shaking her head before miming going through paperwork, as if to say Oliver was really, really busy.

They both shared a laugh at that, then proceeded to make their way to the first house of the night..

Halloween had become a fasicnating subject ever since Cas had heard of the holiday itself. Its original purpose was something far different than what humans did these days, walking aboutin their wonderous costumes with the desire to get candy in their heads. That was partially the reason he had dragged Christian out, though new York was something else entirely. That had chalked up more to him visiting a few followers that lived in the city, giving unto them the blessings of their deity. It was in their hotel room that Christian was explaining the intracacies of the holiday.

This mostly consisted of Christian trying to convince him that he didn’t need to waste his time doing this, when he could just conjure up as much candy as he wanted. In the end Cas just stated he wanted to do this because it sounded really fun. Not much followed after the arguement, and so they had to actually pick a costume. Cas chose his own golden armor, writing himself off as some manner of paladin and Christian...well he seemed to be some manner of overly made necromancer type costume. Apparantly  he couldn’t bring around an actual weapona round, so Ikdol ended up carrying around what looked to be an oversized plastic sword.

”I have a feeling you’re going to amke me regret telling you about Halloween.” Christian groaned, letting what looked to be a cartoonish orange pumpkin pale dangle in his left hand.

”You’re just beng overdramatic.” Cas responded almost sure that was the case, and not that he was being a little rediculous. Idol had picked out a random neighboorhood, considering spending the next day just sorting out candy and maybe checking out the city itself.

”I mean, for all we know some of the candy might be laced with cyanide.”

”Who would do something like that?” Cas asked, sounding somewhat surprised a person would even poison someone. Christian rolled his eyes, almost flabbergasted by how naive he sounded.

”Don’t worry about it Cas, i’m sure no one would do that here.” He said patting him on a shoulder as a few kids gakwed at his shining gold armor, as the two picked out their first house. Cas just appreciated that he apparently looked young enough to mistake him for a few years younger.

"I got...... Two kisses. What did you get?" Isalia asked as her head turned to face her brother, who was walking behind her.

"Um....Two. Eh....... No, no three peanut butter cups." Lucas said as he rammed chocolate in his face, his hand fishing for more even with two pieces in his mouth.

"......" Isalia just seemed to stare. She was half amazed and half disgusted. But more importantly, why did Lucas keep getting more candy then her?

"Why are they giving me less?" Isalia asked, as if it wasn't obvious. Lucas just laughed with chocolate covered lips.

"Cuz you're older...... If you want lots you have to take advantage of the people that just let you take a handful. Use both hands." Lucas explained, as if there was some kind of divine ruling on how to get Halloween candy.

"That's a bit rude isn't it?" Isalia asked, eyebrows furrowed. She really was asking, because she didn't know if it was or wasn't.

"Sis, they're giving away free candy. Taking slightly more then a piece or two is still in the realm of social acceptability. At least, that's what Oliver told me." Lucas said, now moving toward a larger house that looked quite rich. A line of kids and teens stretched from the doorway all the way to the middle of the street.

"Darn. This guy probably has awesome stuff..... But we'll be waiting here all night. Think we should just go?" Lucas asked, looking back at his sister. Isalia had other ideas though.

"Leave? No. It's trick or treating. We either get our treats in a timely fashion, or we resort to tricks. Like so." Isalia said. Her mind then reached out to the crowd, and with a small bit of effort pushed the line apart. The telekinetic burst would more then likely knock everyone on their butt.

It was accompanied by an illusion of some sort of reaper in the walk way, which let out an intimating shriek at the children. The person giving out the candy would see everything as being fine, but the kids would be screaming and running for their lives from the literal bringer of death.

"Ok, that was rude." Lucas said with a frown, but he didn't seem to object to following his sister up to the door to get their full size candy bars.

"Don't eat it all at once now, children." The man at the door said. Lucas and Isalia just seemed to ignore him though, turning on their heels to get back on the hunt.

The night had been going rather well, or so Cas had thought as he walked around with his little pail clattering with candy. He appeared almost fascinated with how it made noise as they walked along, purposefully causing bits of chocolate and various other things to jostle about. Christian appeared silently annoyed by this, giving the garishly adorned male a sidewise glance as if expecting him to stop. ”Having fun there Cas?” He asked, causing the males eyes to snap from his candy to him with the usual friendly smile.

”Well yeah. This is a day where people literally hand out treats. What is there not to enjoy about it?” He asked with his usual air of odd seriousness, picking up a hersheys kiss from his plastic container and unwrapping it, popping the chocolate into his mouth.

”Well it’s usually for kids, but I guess...your technically a kid.” He began, before quickly digressing. As far a she knew Cas was a child by his own races standards, so that made some sense. It was probably obvious by the almost childish look of happiness on his face as he ate his chocolate. Just from looking at Cas, Christian could tell he was also fascinated by the little minor costumes that other children were wearing, wanting to ask what they were supposed to be.

That being until he noted what looked to be children running from something, a ghastly reaper. Cas seemed a little worried about it until his eyes glowed a soft gold, piericng the veil of illusions with his true sight. ”Ignore it Chris, it’s just some kind of illusion. Maybe one of those....metas I think you call them. Just doing the trick part of trick or treat I think.” he shrugged, walking past a few of the downed children, offering them a hand before walking up to the person handing out candy at this house. The change from his presence was subtle, plants growing through the pathway but nothing the the unobservant would notice.

He had to step around children in their pale face paint and all black, though his mind was more on the candy.

Apparently there were just random people with true sight. But then again, Isalia was a random person with the power to project illusions. Maybe it wasn't so far fetched that somebody special was in this crowd of otherwise normal brats.

It was pretty obvious that the kid knew this reaper thing wasn't real, and what was even more obvious was that he was some kind of meta. Lucas and Isalia didn't miss much—a benefit of being the product of some of the most intelligent individuals in the world. They saw the glaring signs without much issue.

"Damn...... Looks like you're busted Sis." Lucas said with a laugh, which earned him a nudge from Isalia. Her gaze looked suspiciously at the new arrivals, as if them merely being there was a challenge.

"Aren't you a bit old to be trick or treating?" Isalia said to the pair that moved around her and Lucas. Her brother laughed as he opened the candy bar he had just gotten from the man at the door.

"You should talk Issy. Besides, everyone likes some candy." Lucas said, taking a large bite of the full size chocolate bar he had just opened.

That was a big mistake.

Lucas fell over, apparently completely knocked out by the candy he had just eaten. If one were to look around, they would see the same thing happening to about a dozen other kids. And that's when the door slammed, and the house's lights went off. Nobody would be getting in to bring the old man to justice, as the house was sealed. More importantly, they would probably want to figure out what was happening to the fainting trick or treaters.

"Lucas! Dammit! Not again....... Oliver isn't going to let us go anywhere if this crap keeps happening." Isalia said. She was concerned, but she seemed more angry then anything. After all, weird things tended to happen whenever her and/or her siblings went out alone.

It appeared that Cas seeing through the illusion was enough for one of the kids to reveal that they were in fact responsible for it. Christian was more annoyed than Cas was, as he appeared to be almost amused by the concept. There was the statement about them being too old for trick or treating, though Chris just rolled his eyes. ”I dunno, you look a little too old too.” He shot back, as he began to dig through his own little pail and pulled out one of those twizzlers that you pulled apart.

”I..don’t think i’m too old.” Cas said with a shrug as Lucas suddenly passed out after eating the chocolate, followed by several other children. The young demi-god blinked as he looked around, slightly confused by the whole situation. All he saw with the true sight was a slight decrease in aura prominence, nothing that was out of place for sleep. Without much prompting, he picked up the candy bar that would have likely fallen from Lucas’ hand and examined it. It likely had something to do with the sweet.

”Have any idea where he got this?” He would ask, looking to Isalia as she would likely have an idea. Chris however has other things on his mind, such as glaring at the house as he extended a hand, fingers splayed. A stream of black flames spewed forward form his hand, washing over the door and spreading outwards as if it had hit some manner of barrier.

”You have got to be shitting me.” He growled, watching any stray flames seem to rapidly turn gold and dissipate before they could go out of control and hurt anyone.

”Yupp Chris, there’s some tampering with this candy. I guess someone wanted to spoil this All hallows eve.”

”Cas, it’s called halloween.”

”Yes that. Anyway, I believe that house holds the answer, but….it’s warded of with powerful magic. So we may need another way in.” He said certain, leaning over and settling the chocolate back in the unconscious Lucas' hand.

"Oh, you know, i think he didn't get it from the house that just shut all it's lights off before very clearly physically and apparently magically sealing itself. Maybe we should try the old lady down the street." Isalia said sarcastically as she chucked her own tainted candy bar at the house. She then saw Idol put the bitten chocolate back in Lucas' hand after examining it, which made her literally face palm.

"What....... what are you doing? What, why did you just put that back? He's out cold! And even if he did wake up, you think he would still want that thing? Freaking weirdo........" Isalia said, taking Lucas' candy bar from his hand before chucking it.

She had no idea what to do. Her first reaction was to call somebody but, well, that would just result in all of her privileges going down the drain. Maybe these guys could help? Figure it out before it was necessary to call one of her dads, or worse, Oliver? Yeah, she'd go with that assumption for now.

"So what's the plan guy? Dig under the house? Draw mustaches on their faces until they wake up?" Isalia asked. She wasn't looking to the strangers for all her answers, of course, but right now even her mind wasn't making any connections.

Fortunately, the group was about to get a fresh batch of clues in the form of a voice that echoed out into the yard. It was deep, erratic, almost tortured.

"No tricks and treats this hallows night, only souls in flight. A dozen who know the lore, and for three there's more in store. So riddle me this, and one shall not miss the sight of this delightful blight. What has gone, will never come again, and can be captured by an eye that isn't your own?" The voice itself made most of the children run, but some did listen to the words, confused by them at best. Isalia was already disregarding the questions of who this person was and what they were trying to do, focusing on the riddle instead.

Cas seemed almost unaware of the sarcasm thrown his way, lost in thought about the logistics of breaking through a magical barrier. This sounded like something his sister or maybe Christian would be able to do. Something had been said about him putting the chocolate  back into Lucas’ hand, though Christian was the one that gave her an almost annoyed look. ”Drawing moustaches.” Cas hummed to himself, a small point of fire forming within his hand before shaping into what looked like a black washable marker. Christian blinked at him as if confused at was going through his head at the time.

That was when the voice echoed out, tortured in tone as it spoke out the riddle. ”Riddles, hate these things. My aunt used to tell these, except she ripped apart the mortals that got them wrong.” He absently mentioned, furrowing his brows in annoyance.

”Maybe it has something to do with getting through this barrier.” Christian noted, leaning over to Cas.

”I guess that much Chris. I’m not as stupid as you think I am.” That only got a scoff from him in return, crossing his heavily robed arms over his chest. Both ended up thinking over the riddle, what the words could mean and the veiled meaning within them. ”I want to say time but that just doesn’t sound about right. Maybe youth…...”

”You’re just...guessing at this.” Christian sighed.

"That will get you a pass, but only for the lass. The past is the answer. A mess, but i won't cast away such a close guess." The voice said, allowing the door to open momentarily. Only Isalia could go in, presumably because she was seen as not slightly screwing up on the last answer. She didn't say anything, yes, but she didn't technically get the riddle wrong either.  

"Their soul is my goal, so put your heads together, and keep this from getting dull. Riddle me this: who is six and three and three quarters feet tall, has a billion heads or more, and can be found in your pocket?" The voice yelled out just as Isalia reluctantly moved toward the open door.

"Screw this up, and I'll end you." Isalia said to the two males before going into the house. She had no idea what she was going to find, but she had to get her brother. If the two dweebs managed to get in then all the better, she supposed.

Cas’ eyes widened as what looked to be a soul floated towards the house, assimilated into whatever it was that was drawing it inwards. His jaw had grown rigid as he thought over what he could do to prevent such a thing, and yet nothing beyond answering the riddle came to mind. ”We might not want to get any more of the riddles wrong afterall.” He muttered, Christian appearing to understand without even needing to be told why that was the case. So they thought hard over the thing asked of them, though idol’s mind was more on smiting whoever was doing this.

Christian was the first one to show the shadow of realization over the riddle, almost as if he had been told a really bad joke. ”It’s Abraham Lincoln isn’t it?” He asked with an annoyed sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose as Cas looked at him suddenly confused.

”I…have no idea who that is.” Cas said with confusion not hidden.

”Didn’t expect you to big guy. So is that the answer, or not?”

Indeed, one child's soul was torn from him, leaving only an empty body.  A black energy seemed to surge around the house when this happened, eventually forming into a silhouette which floated a few feet off the ground in front of the pair of males. This was, presumably, the individual they had been speaking to.

"Good........... Excellent...... Great..... One may enter, but one must stay. Another enigma awaits them today." The form said as the door flung open to let one of them in. Again, only one would be able to pass through the magical seal.

"Riddle me this: What cannot be touched and cannot be seen, has the power to sway the mind and inspire men, and is the tool of the patron of this hallows night?" The man said. It was a slightly different riddle compared to the others, that much anyone could guess. The answer, however, would take somebody well versed in the occult.

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For those who had passed out or walked through the door, all that would be seen is what seemed to be a firm, desert like terrain—that and dark grey skies with long streams of orange moving through them. Isalia, whoever chose to walk through the door after the last answered riddle, and Lucas would be the only ones standing. The rest were laying on the ground, too weak to get up.

"Isalia...... I feel funny...." Lucas said. You could see a bright paleness to his skin, and an almost blurriness to his overall aura. You didn't need true sight to see that....

"......Now what riddle man! You just bring us here to die?" Isalia yelled as she moved to Lucas, looking him over. How was she supposed to stop this? It was clearly some sort of game this guy was playing, but how was she going to win if she didn't know the rules?