The End is Nigh read the man's sign. His ragged clothes spoke of the hardships he had faced. His voice, carried by chilly October air, reached out to the colorfully clothed individuals traversing the sidewalks.

“Zombies are coming! They will attack tonight! Prepare yourselves!”

No one was listening. New York was full of crazies, full of hobos, full of people proclaiming things on street corners, and tonight it was full of monsters, too. A crazy hobo proclaiming about the coming of monsters didn't turn many heads. People had better things to do. Like collect buckets, bags, and pillowcases full of candy.

Katrina was an ice cream bucket kind of girl. She always thought the pillowcase people looked a little greedy. She wasn't really in it for the candy tonight anyway. She had a mission to accomplish.

According to Alister, some time tonight she and Aedus needed to be on this street. He wouldn't say more than that, possibly because he was crabby at her for still refusing to let him peek at her future directly. Hmph.

And since it was Halloween anyway...

A snow white artic fox girl with a whole row of tails down her spine stepped up behind Aedus and tapped him on the back, “Hey, are you ready for some trick-or-treating?”

Aedus hadn't quite planned for Halloween, So when he was told he needed to be on the street this Halloween. He had to throw something together, it wasn't hard at all to talk him into dressing up, it was a concept that he could definitely enjoy.

He didn't want to go out and buy something he could make, He had cardboard, foil and enough Sharpees to make it work. He was taking it old school this year, Cardboard robot. It was the way to go. Aedus turned around at the tap on his back moving in a clunky robot fashion. "I'm more a treat kind of guy myself, but yeah, we can play some tricks as well."

He hadn't actually intended on going up to the doors but he wouldn't rain on Kat's Parade either. Taking a good long look. "You look good!” He wondered if that was her mutation, If so it wasn’t too shabby at all. he didn’t however, want to make any casual comments about costume if this was something she could do everyday. She looked good as a foxy fox lady. “ And smart too.” He nodded to a pair of scantily clad heroines. “ They are going to freeze before the night is up.”

He looked at the homeless gentleman and hoped he was wrong and the turned his attention back to Katrina, “So, did Alister give you anything more than be on the street?" Aedus grinned. It was almost like they were being tested, weighed and accountable for their abilities worth. He for the record hadn't managed to find a blond to trigger his power, so he would just have to work that much harder.

Katrina twirled to show off. Blonde hair melded seamlessly into real white fur below her shoulders, then continued all the way down to her toes. It had taken her a long time to figure out how to make it realistic looking.

“Thanks, you look good too.” Home made always had a nice touch to it, so much more personal than the gimmicky things that could be found in stores.

She had to smile at the comment about dressing for the weather. In all actuality it wasn't because of the fur that she'd be warm, but because of the sweatpants she was actually wearing under all that illusion fur.

“Nope, Alister was a meany-mean face about the whole thing. He just said that it was going to be dark and trick-or-treaters would be around. He also said we'd know why we had to be here when we saw it. You know, the usual stuff. Maybe he doesn't want to tell us because we'd do something different, or maybe he just doesn't know anything more than that. Who knows.”

She held up her empty ice cream bucket, “We might as well blend in, though, until whatever it is that's going to happen happens.” Hopefully before midnight. She had tentative plans for the witching hour with a certain animal multi-shifter. Something they had planned long, long ago.

The man in the weather-worn outfit grabbed a random passerby, “Help me get all these kids off the streets! Help me save them!”

Katrina smiled up at Aedus, “You ready?”

His first compliment from Katrina, alright. Aedus grinned at his own inner monologue. Her fur looked particularly soft. He wanted to touch her ears, but he refrained, again he didn’t want to cross some line that he didn’t know about.

‘Hmmm, is that a running theme then? Be here and wait for it to happen, feel free to react.” He shrugged. “Oh well, at least I don’t know what’s going to happen in good company. Not that I expect to bring in much candy this year but I built a pocket into my suit.” He pointed out a flap in his stomach area with a small door. He pushed it in to reveal another small box that could hold the candy for him. Aedus glanced back at the homeless man again, checking to see if the person he was talking to needed help. He should’ve been more kind to the man, He knew a homeless kid that needed help, why was the old man any different….cause he was crazy perhaps.

Aedus Nodded and began his stiff robot walk in a random direction. “ yeah, lets get started. Beep boop beep.”

The sound effects were a nice touch. Even if he was too old for trick-or-treating, some candy passer ought to reward him at least for sticking in character.

The first house gave out Kit-Kat bars, which Katrina approved of on principle. The second one was dark, empty, and haunted looking. The third house lot was not a house, but a very spooky old church complete with a spooky old graveyard. Some of the stones were so old even the writing was worn away by the wind and the rain. Probably this was one of the earliest places where colonists had been buried.

“A graveyard?” Katrina's voice was suddenly quiet and contemplative, almost like she was speaking more to herself.

Katrina was not creeped out at all by graveyards. It was more of a sad place than anything. All of these people were long forgotten by now. No one even missed them by now. Even their decedents were probably gone.

It reminded her that many of the people that she had met and made friends with in Serbia were now in graveyards very similar to this one, but miles and miles away. Even if any of them were still alive they'd be well over a hundred now. No, they wouldn't still be alive. Not without setting some major records for longevity.

“We should go in and pay our respects. Even if we didn't know them, they might appreciate visitors.”

"I'm still mad at you," Amelia smiled, clinging to Maya's costumed arm as they walked the streets.

It was Halloween night, and the sky was dark. The world was cold, but she was warm in her soft panda costume hoodie.

There had been some dispute over costumes, hence the 'mad' comment, but that was behind them now. Hence why she was bringing it up. She had wanted them to go as a 'pair' from a comic she enjoyed reading, and Mirror... well, Mirror hadn't. She could respect it. But... she would have had a ton of fun in those fairy wings and that red god-hooded sweater. So. She was mad. (Not very).

Hmph.

At least the costume she wore now was cute. Black sweats. Black and white panda-themed hoodie with the hood set up to look like a panda's face and ears. No face paint. She was cute enough in the costume without it.

"Have I mentioned I like your costume?" Amelia added, still smiling up at Maya's face from her arm-clinging location.

She glanced around at the unfamiliar street. There was something someone had once told her about only going trick or treating in areas one knew. She'd disregarded it. "So. Where first?"

Maya knew Ami was not really mad at her. Independent and sassy as she was, she was the kind of girl who found it really hard to stay mad at people. Did she know that when she refused the comic costume? Maybe. But she had her own plans. And Ami was already smiling.

>>"Have I mentioned I like your costume?"

Bloodless grey lips curled into a smirk. Dark eyes glanced at her from under the shreds of a torn veil. The corpse bride chuckled and wanted to plant a kiss between the panda ears, but she knew it would leave ugly traces of make-up, so she didn't.

"Thanks. I like yours too."

Ami made a very cute panda.

>>"So. Where first?"

"Umm..." Maya shrugged, and pointed "Down that way. There is a church down there. I bet they have something creepy going on tonight...."

Aedus turned his head to think over Katrina’s suggestion. It was the true meaning of the holiday…at least in Mexico. Or so he had heard the day of the dead. And she wanted to show respect, she didn’t quite seem the cemetery prankster type. “Sounds like a reasonable idea. “ He hated graveyards. A traumatic childhood experience introduced him to the functionality of a graveyard, due to a friend’s death much, much too early. This wasn’t the cemetery but it still tugged at a memory he’d rather not dwell on.

He was about to ask if she had ancestors here when she answered his question first. Aedus opened the little gate which was to his surprise already unlocked; he had thought that there might be better security with hoodlums being on the prowl in bigger numbers tonight. “You’re interesting Katrina, I doubt most people would look on a cemetery tonight and think about being respectful. “He spoke with a tone of approval.

If it wasn’t his particular cup of tea, he certainly wouldn’t leave her to explore it on her own. “I’m not quite the praying type, but I certainly think some positive thoughts and reflection can’t hurt.”

The stones were so close together in these old fashioned cemeteries that it hardly seemed possible that there was room for everyone down below. Katrina imagined that she was off in another century, if only for a moment. The stones were real people, and they were smiling at their visitors. Among their faces were ones familiar to her: pilots, mechanics, revolutionaries, and friends from 1913. Students, rebels, teachers, refugees, politicians, and soldiers from 2019. She missed them all, and wished them all well.

It would only take a moment to recognize each of the people from her memories, and then they could be on their way again. She appreciated that Aedus came along with her, even though her request had been somewhat strange. It was reassuring to have someone real and solid to fall back on, a decent person who always seemed willing to go along with the flow of things, always ready to lend a...

...hand?

One of the graves had a hand sticking out of it. It almost looked like someone had buried a plastic skeleton arm in order to give someone the heebie-jeebies, except for the fact that it was moving slightly. It was stretching out it's fingers, then bending them back again to claw at the earth.

Katrina grabbed at her comapnion's hand, “Aedus?”

She pointed, her finger shaking in the dark. “Do you see that?”

Creepy? Church? Um.

Amelia was apprehensive.

"It isn't like I'm afraid of graveyards. At night. In the dark. When it's cold. On Halloween. But." She paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. Ultimately, she failed, so she settled on. "That."

Hey. It wasn't cowardice. It was common sense. One simply did not go gallumphing through graveyards in the middle of the night. Something was bound to happen. Even if it was just the police showing up to arrest someone romping through a graveyard in the dark.

>>"It isn't like I'm afraid of graveyards. At night. In the dark. When it's cold. On Halloween. But... That."

Maya chuckled and put an arm around the panda. She was a cuddly panda.

"C'mon, it's Halloween. There's gonna be a bunch of people there anyway. Plus, I don' think any scary costume can be worse than mine..."

She was probably, partially right. She did work a lot on the zombie bride thing. It was positively disturbing.

"You can hug me if ya're scared" she chuckled "I'm gonna protect you from the ghosts."

“OH Holy, ************* ****** ********* ********** ********!” Aedus shouted at the top of his lungs in what wasn’t quite his manliest of tones. Aedus hand snatched Katrina’s hand and pulled her behind him, it was like a bad scary movie that they didn’t know they were in. If he had been watching he would have derided the pair for wanting to enter a graveyard at night on Halloween, didn’t they know they were in Zombie night 3?

He held her peachy hand in a grip that wouldn’t let any zombie take her away. His other hand sneaked into the other side of his robot costume and pulled out a pair of shiny silver nun chucks. He assumed that when Alister wanted them there, there would be a taste of danger. Besides a robot with nun chucks was irresistibly awesome. He glance around the grave yard to see another set of fingers emerging with the same slow pace as the first one and a third zombie still that decided face first was the way to go. His gag reflex was tested as the face emerged with one eye mostly melted and the other infested with worms.

He looked behind him them and saw that for the moment the path was clear. “Katrina, get clear of the cemetery. He backed up slowly. If she broke into a run he would not be far behind. His wrist started to twists the nun chunks into a dangerous loop.

He was supposed to tell her she was imagining things. Surely she'd simply been dream walking without meaning to, and this was all a crazy side effect of her mutation. She was imagining things. Or she was going crazy. Or someone was playing a silly joke on them.

He wasn't supposed to start yelling and whipping weapons through the night air.

Because that meant that the hand clawing it's way out of the earth was real.

Katrina forgot all about keeping up appearances and was back to sweats without even realizing it. She turned to run, but Aedus still had her hand.

“I can't leave you here. C'mon!”

She tugged as hard as she could, and either she rolled a critical success or Aedus let go of her, because she tumbled away from him and rolled until she hit a tombstone. An arm shot out of the ground between her face and her shiny robot ninja defender.

“Aaiiiieeeeee!”

She didn't mean to leave Aedus behind, she really didn't, but there were some things that you didn't just stick around for and skeletal hands clawing for your face was one of them.

Katrina may have been going a bit too fast for the darkness and difficulty of the terrain. She took a quick turn to miss a tree and only narrowly was able to avoid the panda girl she suddenly came across in the other side. She did not narrowly miss the corpse girl in the wedding dress. She didn't miss her at all, in fact.

A ghoulish girls arms caught the illusionist as she plowed straight into her.

“Aaiiiiiiieeeeee!”

It wasn't like she was scared or anything, but... at least having a warm arm around her did help keep the cold away. And Maya was prooooobably right... Probably. Partially.

And would protect her from the ghosts. She could hug her, and get warmer... although wasn't she hugging an arm already? And that would get in the way of walking... someone screamed and lots of profanity drifted over the horizon... correction, running towards the source of that sound.

Not away from. Towards. It sounded like someone. Some people. Were in trouble. And. That's just the kind of person she was.

She broke free of the arm-hug and shirked the arm around her, snagging Maya's hand. "Someone needs help..." She stated. And then, she broke into a run, leading (or dragging) Maya the corpse bride along for the ride.

It wasn't a long ride. A bit of running, and then. Whoosh. Someone with blond hair and wearing sweats slipped past her. And. Did not slip past Maya.

>>“Aaiiiiiiieeeeee!”

Fwump.

She lost her grip on Maya's hand.

>>“Aaiiiiiiieeeeee!”

One moment, Ami did not want to go to to the cemetery; the next moment, Ami was running towards the cemetery, dragging Maya along. Before she could realize what was happening, someone, running in the opposite direction and screaming, run straight into her arms. Ami let go; Maya caught the person by instinct, heels digging into the ground.

"What the.... umpfh." she staggered, but didn't fall; thank Sam for all the training.

Something was wrong. Sure, people get scared on Halloween night; sure, some even get panicked. But this did not look like a scare...
... she, on the other hand, looked familiar.

"Katrina?..." she blinked "Hey 'tis okay, it's me, I ain't a zombie."

Just for the sake of clarity.