Spooks

The orange candy-filled bucket rustled again as yet another handful of candy was added. The blonde holding the bucket smiled down at the array of candy he collected, a small laugh escaping his lips.

The red-head beside him shook his head. "Have you had your fill now?" He gestured towards the filled plastic bin, almost overflowing with sweets. The red-head had his own, but it wasn't as filled up as the blonde's since he'd only go after a specific type of candy. He preferred getting the candy that his companion wouldn't go after, which was hard candy.

The blonde turned to the red-head and answered, "Yeah, I think I'm filled up enough. I'm just glad that there wasn't that much of that hard candy." He stuck his tongue out in disgust, the stitches on his face stretching slightly. "I hate those."

The red-head smirked. "Oh really," he said sarcastically, dragging out the last word. He moved closer to the blonde, his top hat falling into his face slightly. "Why is that again?" He always liked teasing the shorter teen about it.

The blonde's deep blue eyes rolled in annoyance, the color standing out in the mass of charcoal eye makeup he had on. "You know why, Axel. Why do I have to explain this to you every single time?" He shifted the obnoxious colored bucket to his other hand, the decaying skin of his zombie costume chaffing a bit.

Axel chuckled. "Because, dear Roxas, it's amusing hearing you tell it every Halloween." He mussed Roxas' hair up, causing the blonde to shove Axel's hand away from his head.

The pair had walked the dark cobblestones of Halloween Town, the dark decor lighting up the streets, and slightly scaring and creeping out tourists like themselves. Dark colored lights strung the lampposts, spiraling down in mahogany, pumpkin orange, and velvet purples. The always dark atmosphere helped the creepy mood of the town and inhabitants that lived there.

The blonde sighed, and told Axel again what his reason was for hating the solid sweet treat. "The reason why I hate hard candy is because when I was five-" he let in a breath and let it back out before continuing hurriedly. "Isleptwithitinmyhair."

"Hmm?" Axel voiced, holding a hand to his ear. "I didn't catch that." He bumped his body with Roxas' as he moved closer to him, his bow tie scratching his neck slightly. "You did what when you were five?" he teased.

Roxas sighed again, and said louder than he intended, "I went to sleep with hard candy in my hair!" The inhabitants looked at the blonde, hearing his outburst. His eyes widened sheepishly and he laughed nervously. "Move along, everyone," he said to them, turning to glare at Axel as he muttered, "Nothing to see here," through clenched teeth.

The red-head was laughing, clutching his price-tagged top hat as he threw his head back in amusement. The mismatched glittery eye shadow shone when he closed his eyes, one eyelid purple, the other red. He held his bucket with a gloved hand, trying to keep hold of it as the symphony of chuckles escaped his lips.

He looked to see Roxas with his arms crossed across his chest, waiting for him to stop laughing. He wasn't amused in the slightest. "There's nothing funny about me falling asleep with a piece of candy in my mouth and it getting caught in my hair, Axel," he said in a serious tone, which only made Axel laugh harder. "I was five, for God's sake."

"Y-yes there is something funny about that," Axel choked out, trying to compose himself enough to talk without spilling his hated-by-Roxas candy everywhere. "You," he gestured to Roxas, "with your hair getting cut off because the piece of c-candy wouldn't come out." He lost it again, sputtering out a laugh as they walked to their destination. "H-how in the hell you managed to fall asleep while sucking on candy is beyond me."

The blonde's mouth was a hard line. "It was Halloween night. I got sleepy while eating my candy. Sue me," he said bitterly, tugging on the wrappings that were coming off his costume, trying to tuck them back into the crevasses of skin-colored gauze.

Axel swallowed another laugh as he heard Roxas' tone, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. It's just it's so amusing that you'd get one of these," he rattled his bucket of candies, "stuck in your hair." He was calm now.

Roxas smiled a 'You're forgiven' smile as they walked the corners of midtown, done with their trick-or-treating and ready for some real fun.

Axel had mentioned earlier that Jack Skellington was hosting a Scary Story Contest in the middle of the town. You'd stand on the sitting spaces on the marble fountain and tell a horrific tale. The tale that was the spookiest won five-thousand gil, which was enough money for something decent. The catch was that it had to spook Jack, and that it didn't need to be a long, winding story. If it was, they pulled you off the fountain.

Axel knew of just the story, and hoped it would scare the pants off Jack. It sure scared Roxas when he told it to him a few days ago. Roxas wasn't scared easily, but he will get spooked and feel a little uneasy when scared.

The pair arrived at the fountain to a large crowd gathering already, awaiting the storytelling. Chairs were set down in all around one side of the fountain, like they would be in front of a stage. "You nervous?" Roxas asked him as Axel handed him his bin of sweets. The blonde clucked his tongue when he saw only hard candies in Axel's bin.

"Nah," Axel said, waving his hand in a dismissed fashion. "I'm excited, actually." His emerald green eyes scanned the audience, seeing spectators in a variety of costumes and people. "I'm ready to scare people."

Roxas grinned, the stitches on his face threatening to break. "Oh, you'll scare 'em all right. You sure scared me," he assured him as they both found seats near the front, reserved for the storytellers and their company.

A small spotlight shown on the Fountain, and Jack appeared in a billow of smoke. Just as the smoke appeared, it vanished, and Jack welcomed everyone. "Hello visitors to Halloween Town," he began. "I hope you are enjoying your stay here on this festive night, and that you've gotten some scares and chills." The crowd cheered in agreement. "Now, prepare for your mind to be petrified, for tonight we are having a scary story contest," he said, wiggling his fingers. He walked back and forth, eying the audience and the storytellers as he spoke. "Our contestants are to scare you out of your wits with their stories. But," he lifted a finger and wagged it. "the stories have to be creepy enough to scare me." He finished with a hand on his chest, indicating himself. He put his hands together and declared, "Now. Shall we get started?"

The crowd cheered a yes, and Axel was up first.

He rose from his chair and hopped up onto the fountain, turning around and bowing to the audience, his top hat held above his head as he bowed. He placed it back atop his head as he said, "Hello, Ladies and Gents. Are you really for a creepy story that'll leave you with goosebumps into next week?"

The crowd roared with enthusiasm, and Axel saw Roxas throw up a fist. The red-head smirked, and crouched on top of the fountain walls. "Well, this story is entitled Unwelcome Visitor." The lights dimmed, to where all you saw in the night was Axel's face, the light coming from a small spotlight installed into the ground. His eyes had an evil gleam to them as he told the story.

"You hear a small tap on the window of your bedroom as you're trying to sleep. Deciding that it was just the wind, you dismiss it and roll over, trying to get back into your regular sleeping position. Rat-a-tat-tat. There it is again. It's louder this time too. You sit up in your bed and decide to get up to investigate. Oh, but you have to have a weapon. Can't investigate without some form of protection. You look around your room briefly, and settle on a wooden baseball bat that you used to play ball with when you were younger.

"You felt the weight in your hands and thought, That should do it.

"You move in for the kill, your arms poised beside you as you reach for the string to pull the blinds up. You yank it quickly, your hand moving back towards the bat, ready to swing if necessary.

"Nothing's there. You lower your bat, looking outside from the safety of your room, the window being your only form of sight to the outer world. You don't see anyone, or anything. No animal, person, or insect. You unlock the window and pull it open, looking out again but not finding anything. You shut the window, supposing it could've been a tree limb, since there's a tree so close to the window. Yeah, that was it, you thought, and dropped the bat on the floor, not caring where it landed.

"You crawled back into bed and tried to go back to sleep again, succeeding. You are a heavy sleeper, so you didn't feel the tug, tug, tugging on your wrists, or the pick, pick, picking on your toes. You assumed bugs were evading your bed space, but were too tired with sleep to even care about that.

"Sleep. You wanted to sleep. The bugs needed to stop walking on you. You pawed at your wrists and curled your feet inward, warding off the bugs for a little while. But they'd keep coming back. The picking and tugging got worse, and you were worried that a stinging insect got in from when you opened up the window. Your right wrist got a particularly hard tug, and you hissed in pain, your closed eyes wincing.

"This is a horrible dream. A horrible, horrible dream. You tried to open your eyes but couldn't. A substance was preventing you from opening them. It's clear, you realized, and have come to the conclusion that someone had glued your eyes shut. You panicked, realizing this was no dream, nor was it bugs attacking your wrists and legs. You felt something tug on your left wrist and screamed in pain as your wrist was pulled upward. You felt a trickle of what you assumed was blood down your wrists, and whimpered, wishing someone would hear you if you screamed. You tried screaming, but no one would come to your rescue.

"You felt something cold across your throat and tried to scream again, but it's too late now," Axel finished, the air around the fountain dropping a few degrees once he was done.

The audience was quiet for a few seconds before a wave of clapping ensued, and wolf whistles were heard. Jack stepped forward, relieving Axel of the spotlight. "Well!" he exclaimed. "That sure gave me the chills. What about you?" A murmur of agreement sounded throughout the audience. "Contestants, I think you have some competition," he said to the others sitting near Axel, giving Axel an approving look.

Axel nodded his head at Jack before leaning back in his chair, giving Roxas a look that said, I was great up there and you know it. Roxas grinned at him and leaned into Axel as he laughed. The pair turned their attention back to Jack.

"Now to our next contestant, Sora." A brunette sitting next to Axel jumped up and stepped up onto the fountain wall and wove his tale of horror. Each contestant went up, some stories giving off obvious vibes, others with a serious "Boo!" factor, but otherwise boring. Some were very creepy, so Axel did indeed have some competition.

After the last person wove their tale the audience was on edge, wondering who's tale won Jack over. He walked back and forth on the fountain's wall, his hand under his chin in thought. He stopped pacing within a second and turned to the audience. "I've made my decision," he announced, eying each of the contestants. "The winner who succeeded in creeping me out the most...was our first contestant, Axel."

Axel grinned defiantly, and Roxas gave him a congratulatory hug, sneaking a small kiss on his cheek before he let Axel go up to get the prize. The Mayor held a large check in his hands, the tan smiling side of him showing. Axel's name was written on the check, right next to the sum of five-thousand gil. The Mayor had a few choice words to say to Axel, congratulating him on a job well done at creeping out Jack Skellington. Axel nodded and said thank you to the audience and to Jack before the contest ended, the audience dispersing. Sally then came up behind the red-head, giving him the actual check, as the larger one was a souvenir for him to take home and couldn't be cashed in. He thanked her before she walked off to find Jack.

Axel walked up to Roxas, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. The blonde had a lollipop in his mouth, keeping his mouth closed as it rolled around in his mouth. "So we get to keep this check as a souvenir," he said motioning the large one, "and cash this one." He patted the pocket in his jacket. He quickly rolled up the larger one, wrapping a rubber band he had in his pocket around it.

Roxas smiled, showing some teeth and a glimpse of a red lolly. "Wicked." He handed Axel his bin of candy, which Axel took in one hand, holding the now rolled up check in the other. The pair walked down the street together, the red-head eying the blonde every time the stick of the lollipop moved from him licking the red lollipop.

Axel swallowed, trying not to think about what he wanted to do to the blonde every time he licked that lollipop with the lazy expression on his face. After a few more minutes of licking, Axel couldn't take it anymore. At the next alleyway he flipped Roxas into the wall, the bin of candy falling from the blonde's hands and his.

"Don't I get a congratulations?" Axel's face was as close to Roxas' as his top hat would let him.

Roxas chuckled. "Congratulations." His breath smelt of strawberries, no doubt because of the lollipop.

Axel smirked lazily. "I need a little bit more of a congratulations than that." His emerald eyes were boring into the blonde's blues ones, hoping to get his intentions across.

Roxas caught on, and took the lollipop out of his mouth, giving Axel what he wanted.