Just a Bit Haunted by it All

A/N: Surprise! A double update! Since I missed an update due to travelling, I decided to write a little more and give you guys the next chapter early. :)

"Aika, I told you to be a bit more creative!" Lev's already complaining about my costume and he's only just gotten into Dad's car.

"Listen, I had a perfectly good witch costume that I can only really wear on Halloween, so of course I'm going to reuse it." I mean, it's like recycling, right? And everyone's all into recycling.

"I gave you an entire tub of paint, and you still scream 'Black Void.' How did you even manage that? Even Takumi's got a better costume than you." Takumi, the little shit, is sitting next to me with a dumb grin on his face. He's wearing a perfect red power ranger suit.

"That's not fair; Takumi bought his whole getup online. I at least thrifted and used some creativity to throw my costume together." Now even Dad's chuckling. What did I do to deserve this? This is why I hate dress-up. I just want to have fun without being judged.

"Well, Lev, Aika did at least put some dots of your glow-in-the-dark paint on her clothes," Dad says. Yeah, Lev, take that!

"She could've at least made a skeleton out of it! How cool would that be? A skeleton-witch! Or she could've drawn some sort of coherent shapes! Had a theme! Not blobs..." Lev groans. "Man, this is the last time I'm helping you out," he says. I roll my eyes. I highly doubt that.

And hey, I did my best. I think my costume looks cool, and they'll let me in the haunted haystack maze with this, so I count this as a win. Plus, at least people will know what I'm trying to be. Lev, with his sweater and white wig, just looks like his grandma. It's a pretty convincing getup, but he'll probably have to spend five minutes explaining every detail of his costume for people to get exactly who he is. Even then, people might not. I sure don't.

"All right, kids, have fun!" Dad says as he pulls into the fairgrounds parking lot. There are tonnes of weird monsters and characters all making their way through the entrance gate the organizers made out of hay bales. "Aika, call me when you want to be picked up. I might fall asleep and miss the text."

"Wow, so reliable, Dad," Takumi jokes as he gets out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Inoue," Lev says as he lightly shoves me out of the vehicle. I hiss at him. Billowing robes are not easy to move in.

"You're very welcome, Lev! Takumi, call me if something goes wrong with Alex. Now, if you three have everything, I'll be driving off to go take a nap."

"You do that, Dad," I say as I wave him off and start heading to the entrance to the fairgrounds.

The Fall Fair always has its staple craft market and agricultural awareness tents, but as the sun sets I can see most of the kids piling out to go home, some sporting rad face paint and others completely muddied. Probably from the tug o' war event or the tractor pull. I always liked watching the adults struggle to get that giant hunk of metal moving when I was a kid, and everyone got a little bit messy just from spectating.

"Hey, who's playing? This is some good music." Lev's question pops me out of my reminiscing. There are a few people huddled under the covered platform stage thing that sits in the park near the entrance. They're playing some vaguely folk-sounding music, but I can see that one member of the band is hammering away on an electronic keyboard. It must be them who are adding the occasional whooping effects.

"It does sound neat," I add before Takumi makes a noise of recognition.

"Oh, hey, that's Alex's band. I'm gonna go over and say hi," he says before he takes off and ditches us.

"A friend of his?" Lev asks. I shrug.

"Yeah, I'd guess. He's always been cryptic about his friend groups, though, so I can't confirm if that's his Alex. I haven't seen many of them."

"Maybe he's scared they'll think you're cooler than him." Maybe? Or he thinks I'm embarrassing... "All right, where to first?" Lev changes the subject. "The dance hall opens in an hour, so we've got time to kill! The Haunt has officially begun!" Lev does a weird overdramatic fist pump into the air. A few people passing by giggle at him. I immediately grab him, embarrassed, and make for the haunted haystack maze.

"Well, obviously we have to do the maze," I say as we queue to get in.

"Aika, we do this every year," Lev whines. Well, I like the maze, it's fun. "It doesn't even change."

"The people change," I argue. "And the haunted tours are always the same, too, so I don't know what you're complaining about, really." Lev sighs but drops it. He knows I'm right.

"Deux?" The usher in front of us, wearing some sort of goblin suit, glances at us when we're finally at the front of the line. I remember enough of my basic French to know that he's asking if it's the two of us, Lev and I, going in together.

"Yes, two," I say as I nod, and he lets us cross into the dark tunnel behind the curtain.

"Exercise caution, and beware the scares," he says spookily.

"That tagline is so cheesy," Lev says as we walk through the first area. I personally think it's charming. Cheesiness doesn't always mean 'not scary,' and the scarers in the maze always do a really good job.

"You were always so terrified of this place before, don't try to sound like it's all below you," I tease.

I can hear Lev begin a reply before he yelps at one of the props popping out beside him. I laugh. Honestly, going through the maze with Lev specifically is half the fun. Years of fighting have made me immune to most jumpscares, but Lev definitely can't say the same, even if he is an avid watcher of those same fights.

The mirror section of the maze is always hard to navigate, even though it's the same layout every year. I blame the haystacks never being quite identical. I haven't ever bothered to memorize the path; that would take away from the fun. Lev, on the other hand, totally has and is killing the mood as he narrates every turn.

I finally call him out on his nonsense. "Lev, if we purposely avoid the dead ends, we're missing the good scares."

"Yeah, that's the point!" he says smugly. "We win this way." I'm not sure I buy it.

"YOU CAN NEVER WIN!" A plant-person suddenly pops out of nowhere in front of Lev and me and Lev jumps nearly four feet in the air before grabbing me by the arm. The plant-person in front of us, who kind of looks like a swamp zombie, starts making clicking noises and moving her joints unnaturally as she stalks toward us in the dim light.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Lillian!" Lev squeaks out in between incoherent warbles in what sounds like French. Oh yeah, didn't Lev say Lillian was dressing up as some sort of plant character? She and Lev go to the same university, and we're all from the same high school, but I don't talk with her much. I didn't get to confirm with her. Either way, though, it looks really great.

"Wow, Lillian, your costume is awesome!" I say as Lev continues making angry squeaks in an attempt to calm himself down.

"Beware the scares..." is all the plant-Lillian says in response, but I can hear a bit of a giggle in her voice as she glides off into the darkness.

"Oh my God, she so did that on purpose," Lev sputters as he finally composes himself, lets go of me, and marches boldly onward to the end of the maze. I don't get the chance to say that scaring him on purpose is her whole job before he pipes up again. "Ok, now onto somewhere more exciting," he says as we pass through the exit. I think he was plenty excited in the maze, but I'll go along with it.

The crafts section is beautiful, as always, and I even manage to drag Lev on a short haunted tour of the woods nearby. The candied apples are a great treat, also.

"Looks like the booth to sign up for the costume contest at the dance hall is just over there." Lev points to a little tent with a line of tables as we throw the remnants of our treats into the garbage.

He's right, I forgot that the reveal is at the party. Maybe I should sign up; I always love a good competition. The friendly jeering, the hype, the loud cheering, the potential to own that crown and title... it's all so exhilarating.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Lev is suddenly at my side as I pick up a marker to write my name. I say nothing and just give him a look. "Wait, are you signing up? With that boring old witch costume? There's no way you'll win," he says matter-of-factly. Oh yeah? Well, guess what, Lev? I can do what I want. I'm writing my name down.

"Good luck," the scruffy-looking dude behind the table says friendlily as he gives me a badge to wear.

"Yeah, with that costume, you'll sure need it. Especially to beat me," Lev says. I have half a mind to tell him that at least my costume is properly holiday-themed, but I drop the thought as we come to the entrance to the dance hall. I've suddenly remembered that Lev used me as leverage to get an interview with Evren. The Evren. Kinnunen-Mwangi. The Commander of Space. I can feel myself starting to sweat. Why did I agree to this?

"Lev, when are we meeting...?" ...I can't even finish my sentence.

"Evren? She said around 8, so in 20 minutes or so," he answers. I can't believe he's so calm right now. He must be faking it. We're walking into the building now and I have to rummage around for my ID card as we're stopped by a bouncer. I can see the DJ up at the front and a bunch of costumed people already mingling.

"And what are you?" the bouncer asks Lev curiously as she ties a red bracelet onto my wrist. Lev gets a green one, so I'm assuming these are 'who gets to drink' passes.

"I am Bianca Devereau, from the hit '80s sitcom Bronze Belles," Lev says proudly. The bouncer gives him a funny look and a drawn-out "Sure" before she waves us off to deal with the next group. "Man, I even got clip-on earrings to complete her whole look," he's complaining, as I suspected he would, "and I still only get a Sure." I shrug and give him an 'I told you so' look before we start greeting the other partygoers.

Lev rambles about engineer stuff that I don't understand to some people I assume are friends of his. I can't resist tuning out, especially when there are so many bright colours everywhere, from the lights to the floor to the people dancing amidst it all. Also, I'm trying to think of what to say to Evren. How do I introduce myself and still seem like a calm, cool, and collected opponent? How can I convince her I could be even remotely near her level?

"Uh, hello? Earth to Aika?" Lev's waving his arm in front of me. He's holding a drink I don't think he had just a minute ago. "It's your first time at the dance hall and you're not even living it up. I think you managed to ignore everyone in our group as you stared off into who-knows-where. Come on, it's a dance party." He's wiggling his body in an attempt to dance, to punctuate his statement. Oh man, I've been too lost in thought, haven't I?

"Sorry," I sigh. "I'm just preoccupied with the thought of meeting the Commander of Space." Lev gives me a concerned look.

"Hey, listen, Evren's just a regular human who'll probably be in a costume that makes her near-unrecognizable anyway. You don't need to do anything except make small talk." He's trying to reassure me, but I hate small talk. "It'll all be over with soon, ok? Don't stress. It's not a competition." Everything's a competition.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and I try to relax. We know Lev's a good talker. I can count on him to clean up my awkwardness. "All right, it's almost 8," he suddenly says. "Evren said she'd meet us at the punch bowl with a couple of her friends, so let's head over."

We walk across the floor, now filled with costumed dancers and flashing lights. Everyone looks awesome, whoa-! Especially that sparkling person standing by the punch bowl, holy shit.

...Wait. "Is that...?" Evren?

"Oh, that must be her! Oh my God! Be cool," Lev says excitedly as he waves in her direction. Lev, just waving casually to the Commander of Space. How is he not fanboying? I can see her turning our way. Her hair isn't her typical bright purple and is instead a soft baby blue. It stands out against the dark of her skin. And it's sparkling? Her whole being is sparkling, how many buckets of glitter did she use? And are those... wings?

"Oh, hi, are you Levente?" Even her voice is sparkling. I feel like I'm staring and gaping, but she looks like a goddamn fairy princess.

"Yes!" Lev is shaking her hand. "Just Lev is fine, though. Thanks so much for agreeing to meet with us. I love your costumes by the way, they're so colourful."

"Thanks! And not a problem, I'll always jump on the opportunity to meet my fellow competitors." Oh no, now she's looking at me. Look cool, Aika, keep cool. "And here she is, the Fast-Forwarder herself! So nice to finally meet you. I'm Evren." She's extending her hand. Don't tremble, Aika, just shake her hand.

"I think she knows who you are already," I hear one of her friends speak up. "I mean, you're kind of famous."

"Doesn't mean I get to be rude, Maeva," Evren answers as she shakes my hand warmly. I half-expected her handshake to be somewhere on the level of godly: super firm and bone-crushing. But it's not. It's just normal.

"I'm Aika. Inoue," I reply. "You've already met Lev; he's sort of my unofficial cheerleader, next to my dad and my brother."

"Uh, excuse you, I would call myself an official cheerleader, thanks," Lev scoffs. Evren and her friends chuckle. I feel like I'm in a bubble filled solely with blankets and hot chocolate. I'm sweating though. Maybe it's more like a fireplace and I happen to be standing two feet from it.

"These are my best friends, Maeva and Faith." Evren points to the person in the rather terrifyingly realistic ghoul mask and slick cornrows, and then the angel with light brown curls standing beside her. "They're my unofficial bodyguards," she says, copying my own previous statement.

"Nice to meet you!" Lev says. "So, I'll leave you to it?" Wait, what? What is he talking about?

Why is he giving me that guilty look?

Wait, where is he going?

"Hey, so, how are you finding the NCC?" Evren is distracting me. "It's your first year, right? Everyone treating you well?"

I panic. "Your costume is so sparkly," I blurt out. Shit, Aika, can't you keep it together?! Evren's giving me a weird amused look. Oh no, now she's laughing.

"Thanks!" she says, still laughing. "I made it myself, though I admit I might have gone overboard with the sparkles... Not entirely my fault, though. One of my glitter pens kind of exploded, so I just went with it. I like your witch costume, though. It's traditional and a classic! And I see you've spiced it up a bit with some glow-in-the-dark stuff."

"I, yeah, thank you. Sorry," I reply. Focus, Aika. What did she just ask you? "The NCC is great so far. I've been meeting some really great opponents and training harder than ever." Those ice baths have not been fun, but the challenge sure has been. I smile. "It's a great challenge and it's all new and exciting. Though, you're probably used to it by now, huh? Being the Commander of Space and all." Evren gives me another curious look. Oh God, I'm saying all the wrong things.

"Kind of. The NCC is cool in that it's always changing. The stages and opponent matchups are always different. The crowd is always a blast. There are even people like you who come along and completely change the game. Make us sweat." Me? Making the Commander of Space nervous? "I definitely had a hard time adjusting at first; it was all so different from my MMA matches. It's hard to get used to fighting with your figure." Evren? Struggling? I don't believe it; she beat everyone right from her very first match. "You're giving me a look like you don't believe me," she laughs.

Crap, I've been gaping. Now I'm stumbling answering and Evren's still just giggling, sparkles and glitter falling from her face as her shoulders shake. "Well, you're a professional," I finally blurt out. "And you haven't ever lost a match in the NCC."

"Neither have you." She says it so simply, but something starts to click. "I've never gone up against time itself. I hope we get to spar sometime." There's that familiar twinkle in her eye and I forget what I'm about to say. Is Evren, the Evren, implying that I'm good enough to be on her level?

Holy shit. I've finally made it.

"Hey, Evren," Evren's friend, Faith, suddenly interrupts us from my left. I hadn't even noticed she'd moved from behind Evren. "Freaking Daniel is at it again. We need to bail."

"All right, works for me, this place is going to get crowded soon," Evren answers before turning back to me. "Hey, do you have your phone? Can I give you my number?" I'm dumbfounded – and also feeling kind of giddy and proud – but my hand seems to be working faster than my thoughts because it goes into my pocket and grabs my phone, unlocking it quickly. "Super," Evren says as she punches in her number. "Hey, it was great to finally meet you. Don't be afraid to chat anytime, with me or with any of the other competitors. We're all nice people, for the most part," she adds jokingly. "I'll add you to the Visalogue group chat. Enjoy the party, and Happy Halloween!" She smiles and waves as she takes off with Faith.

I gape after her for a while until I notice I'm not the only one. She's got a not-so-discreet small crowd following her. Fans? Fans. I suddenly remember what my jerk of a best friend just did and look around for him angrily. I can't believe he set me up. Is he insane?! Ah, there he is. Chatting with Evren's other friend, Maeva, along with his engineering friends again. Damn, I can't interfere now. The music's also getting louder and the dance floor really is starting to crowd. Maybe I'll text Takumi to check up on him.

Now I'm just staring at my phone screen. Evren's number is just staring straight back at me, in neat sans-serif. Am I in way over my head?