October 31st, 2138.

   "Guys, guys, Come on, we gotta go!" Lance bolted into the room, breathless as he leaned against a chair and caught his breath. He pointed out the window in his white plastic, stormtrooper armor. "It's starting! We gotta get out there before all the good stuff is gone!" Out the window, dusk had settled over the land and now kids of every age, human and alien alike, were wandering the street in search for the most delicious of treats outside Lance's house.

    "Calm down, Lance, we'll leave in a minute. We're just making a few last minute adjustments." Pidge assured him as she hefted a plastic battle ax onto her shoulder, dressed from head to toe as the dwarf she had once played as in Monsters and Mana.

    A large Balmeran came into the room, popping a fun-sized Snickers into his mouth. "Wow, Pidge, that--that looks great, how did you make your dwarf costume?" Hunk's voice came from the Balmeran. Pidge beamed and was about to go off on a tangent until Lance interrupted.

     "Hunk, is that seriously you?" Lance gawked at him, only to fall over from the plastic ax toy that smacked into him, "Ow!"

    Hunk moved his golden eyes to him and gave him a grin. "Heh, yeah, I had some help putting it together from the other Balmerans in town." He got busy unwrapping another candy as he looked back to Pidge. "But seriously, how? How did you do that?"

    Satisfied, Pidge smiled at the yellow Paladin. "Actually, it was a lot easier than I thought. I had to hack into the game system after recreating my dwarf character and search the source codes so I could transfer the data onto my laptop. From there, I constructed 3-D models and..."

    Lance, recovering himself and getting up from the floor,  looked around for everyone else. Just on time, Keith and Krolia entered the room. Krolia was only in her regular armor, but Keith was in his Blade of Marmora armor. Lance hurried over to him. "Keith, what are you doing? We're about to leave! You were supposed to dress up!"

    Keith paused to look at him in bewilderment. "Uh...I am?"

    Blinking for a moment, Lance snapped out of it with a shake of his head. "What? No, you're just in your Blade of Marmora stuff."

    Clearly expecting Lance to understand the concept, Keith gave Lance a once-over. "Yeah...? I am Blade of Marmora."

    "Exactly! You're supposed to wear a costume of something you're not!" The red Paladin exasperated, throwing a hand up while the other held his helmet on his hip.

    Keith and Krolia both gave each other a look. Krolia shook her head with a sigh. "It's alright, Keith, I don't understand it either." Keith just shrugged

    With a grunt of frustration, Lance slapped his palm to his forehead, hanging his head. He lifted his dull eyes to slide them across the room. "We don't have time for this." He muttered under his breath and then stood up. "Hey, Where's Shiro, Allura, and Lotor?"

    "Allura will be here shortly, but I'm not certain where Shiro is." Lotor glided into the room like he so often did nowadays. Ever since the war had finally ended, he had become a permanent presence. Lance wouldn't go so far as to say he liked him, but he had come to accept the prince's company.

    "Where's your costume?" Lance raised a brow.

    The prince chuckled, amused, and folded his arms behind him. "As much as I appreciate Earth customs, Lance, I'm quite content to observe," Lotor's white brow lifted, analyzing the blue Paladin, "Forgive me, but what, exactly, are you?"

    Heat rose to Lance's face as he pointed at his chestplate with his hands. "I'm a stormtrooper!" He exclaimed like it should be obvious, brandishing his fake, black blaster.

    Hunk had to laugh, leaning on the couch next to a snickering Pidge. "A stormtrooper, Lance? That franchise is ancient!"

    "Star Wars is a classic!" Lance marched over in protest, immediately starting a war over the topic.

    Lotor and Krolia were beyond confused. "Stars...that are in a war?" Krolia looked to the Galra prince for support, but he could only shrug and shake his head.

    "Human culture is, as of yet, still beyond me." He admitted over the drabble of the three Paladins just as Shiro, Allura, and Coran finally joined them. Lotor, Keith, and Krolia all looked over, and in an instant, Allura was in the sights of three different weapons. Shiro jumped in front of them, in his black paladin armor, and settled them.

    "Whoa, Whoa, whoa! It's only Allura!" Shiro assured them and moved aside. Sure enough, Allura's blue eyes blinked back at them from her purple, chameleon skin. Red Altean marks cut down her face, and her posture was folded over as her Galra robes draped over her whole form. The commotion had gained the attention of the other paladins, everyone gawking at her.

    "Allura...Why are you dressed up as Haggar?" Pidge hesitated to ask.

    Confounded, the princess slowly explained her reasoning, taking down her head and standing up straight. "Lance had been explaining what this 'Halloween' was and he said people would dress as things such as spiders and vampires and witches. So...I'm a witch?"

    The silence that came after slightly alarmed the princess, but her concern was quickly replaced by surprise when every paladin filled the room with laughter. Even Shiro was struggling to keep his own laughter back as he took her shoulder. "Witches look a little different here. I'm sure we'll get to show you one later."

    "O-Oh, I see." Allura blushed and brushed her hair back, then folded her hands in front of her.

    Lance raced around the room and basically shoved everyone out the door, "Come on, come on, we gotta get started!" As everyone was rounded up outside, they barely got off the front lawn before Lance froze.

    "Ay, mi chico!" Lance heard his mother squeal. His life was already over. He felt the life squeezed out of him as she hugged him from behind, turned him around and began to absolutely adore him in rapid Spanish. While he noticed the others, especially Keith, trying not to snicker, (He thought he heard Coran asking if she was trying to sell him something) embarrassment flushed his face, and he let out a soft moan, fighting his mother to let them go. She was so excited that his protests went unheard and she dragged him over to the sidewalk with his friends and held up a camera. "Come, come, toma una foto!" She insisted.

    As if Lance's reputation could suffer any worse, he quickly broke away and pushed the room down the street. "Nope, nonono, no time for photos! We're already late, bye, mom!" He called back to her, and they escaped into the neighborhood.

===========================

    Hours into the night, deep into the city, the group kept moving as haunting music consumed the city's atmosphere. Each of them was still going strong with a bag full of their own candy (except Shiro, who kept politely declining, and Lotor, but he had gotten a few to try.) and they only had a few more blocks to hit before going to the city park for the Halloween party. "I'm afraid I don't completely understand," Allura said to the others as she looked through her bag of colored sweets. "I was under the impression that this holiday was meant to be frightening."

    "I as well, princess." Lotor agreed as he walked beside her.

    "You know, It's kinda an optional thing." Hunk the Balmeran told them, looking over his shoulder at Allura as he smiled nervously and shuddered a little. "A-An option I'd prefer to live without, thank you."

    Pidge leaned in on the big guy with a smirk, "What, Hunk, you? Scared?"

    Flustered, Hunk stuttered out a reply. "W-Well, I mean, I-it's not necessary, right? So like, why even bother when there's candy?" He eased dreamily as he plunked out another chocolate, eager to savor it until Lance snatched it and ate it for himself.

    "Aww, Come on, Hunk! Halloween isn't complete without..." He began with his mouth full, swallowed it, sharpened his gaze and leaned back o his haunches as he wiggled his fingers spookily, "a haunted house...!"

    "A: No. B: give me a Twix back."

    Lance rolled his eyes and threw a replacement Twix at him, which he happily took. Keith, however, shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't mind a haunted house. It's better than walking around for candy."

    Shiro chuckled softly and shouldered him. "Not your style?" He teased gently, to which Keith responded with a small laugh.

    "Haunted?" Coran quizzed curiously, in a pirate get-up with a bag of booty over his shoulder. "As in the Castle of Lions' malfunction 'haunted'? For fun? Well, I wouldn't mind giving it a go!"

    Before Hunk could offer any more excuses, they all rushed through their big city of party music, smoke machines, and orange, black and purple decorations. Children ran around all over town with their parents in tow, laughing and playing innocent tricks like jumping out from behind benches and mailboxes and screaming as they chased after their friends. However, as they got further downtown, down by old warehouses and rundown business buildings. It didn't take them long to find it; the line was practically a mile long.

    "This has to be it!" Pidge eagerly got in line.

    Hunk moaned reluctantly as he followed. "Are we really going to wait in this long line?" He asked in a last ditch effort to get out of this horrid fate they were dragging him into.

    "Just give it a try, Hunk! It's going to be fun!" Allura gave him a smile to assure him, but it seemed they had already gained some attention. They heard excited whispers and murmurs all around them, eyes of every being on them.

    "Hey...You guys are...Voltron, aren't you?" A human teenager dressed a flirtatious Queen of Hearts asked them uncertainly.

    "That's us." Lance flashed her a twinkling smile and threw her a wink. "Name's Lance."

    She had to smile at all of them. "You guys...You guys really saved all of us. Are you waiting in line for the haunted house? You can skip ahead of our group if you want. It's the least we could do."

    Despite their insistence that they were perfectly fine waiting like everyone else, in no time at all, they were in front of everyone. The line had wrapped around to the back of the worn down warehouse where two Olkari, a girl and a boy, were waiting at a pair of heavy hatch doors that led down beneath the building. Hunk was just about to have a stroke, and Keith and Shiro were lugging him along. The Olkari boy smiled at them. "Happy Halloween, friends! Are you ready? Enter if you dare!"

    "We're ready for this!" Pidge clenched her ax powerfully with a grin.

    "Great! Now, before you go inside, I'm afraid you'll have to turn in any weapons that may damage the equipment." He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "We've already had one incident with a guy with quick-reflexes today."

    Shiro gave Krolia his Bayard, trusting it to her, and then every eye swiveled to Lotor who stood next to Allura and Coran, which he didn't notice for a moment. He finally glanced over at them curiously, before he rolled his up and sighed softly. He lifted his forearm and projected his armor status. "Alright, Alright, I'll disable them."

    Satisfied, the two Olkari slowly lifted the thick, creaking hatch doors, revealing a dark, concrete stairway leading down into the depths. "The haunted house should last anywhere from 15-30 doboshes and just remember that all of it is good fun! Enjoy and happy Halloween!"

    Now was the start of second thoughts. However, Lotor and Keith were the first to descend, and while Lotor kept going, Keith paused to look at the rest of them. "Well? Coming or not?" He asked and had to smirk for a split second at Lance. "Unless you're scared. We can't all have the guts."

    Lance's face flashed with heat, and he hurried down the stairs. "No way, you're going in without me, Mullet!" He grunted as he vanished into the dark unknown. One at a time, they all followed Keith's lead and made a slow, cautious pace down into the stairway. Coran and Pidge both were starting to theorize on the design of the place before they even reached the first room. Lance, however, had to grin as Allura took his arm and stayed close as they wandered through the pitch dark abyss. From somewhere beyond the humid hall, they heard a steady drip...drip...drip.

   "T-That's a busted pipe, right? Right? T-That's all it is..." Hunk stammered nervously, plowing through their group to quickly continue through the wet, concrete tunnel towards the dull light at the end, gaining some groans of irritation from those who nearly got ran over.

    "It's probably the blood of vampire victims." Pidge laughed.

    "Does no-one have a flashlight?" Allura asked, trying to follow the voices of her friends.

    "Here, Allura." Shiro offered, turning on the flashlight on his paladin armor. Suddenly, each of them felt terribly claustrophobic as the beam of white light burned the dark away only to reveal how closed off the tunnel really was. The walls seemed to close in the farther they got, the dust in the air was thick in the beam's blaze.

    "This is not good, t-this is very not good..." Their big Balmaran friend concluded as the small space felt even smaller for him.

    "Come on, Hunk, if this gets to you, I don't know how you're gonna make it through the rest of it." Keith patted his back.

    Allura agreed, still holding onto Lance. "You can do it, Hunk; you have faced much scarier things than a haunted house." She offered the yellow paladin a smile as they finally reached the end of the tunnel. With much-needed room to breathe, the tunnel opened up into a large, bare room of stone. The only feature this room seemed to have was a sullen fountain in the middle of the room, the only light was provided by flickering white lanterns on the rounded basin, including one on the pedestal on the very top. On each cardinal direction's edge of the fountain waited a draped figure of stone, their gaunt, bony hands resting over their precious lanterns as their hoods shadowed over whatever features were hidden beneath the dark void. Lotor was waiting in front of the nearest figure, examining it with intrigue.

    "I give them this, these guys certainly know how to create an atmosphere!" Coran guffawed as he made his way to Lotor's side, poking at the roped statue curiously. "What do you think? Will they move?"

    "If what I understand about haunted houses is correct, then I would say there is a great likelihood that they will, at some point, move," Lotor replied thoughtfully, blue eyes scanning them cautiously.

    "Dare you to hop into it, Lance." Pidge grinned expectantly at the blue paladin, who shifted on his feet and tucked his helmet closer to his side.

    "Why? What's the point?"

    Pidge went to reply but nearly jumped out of her skin as stone grating at stone scrapped into their ears. Each of them whipped around, Shiro's flashlight illuminating the tunnel entrance as two thick slabs rumbled towards each other and sealed their way out with a puff of dust. They were silent for a few moments until Shiro finally cut through the quiet, on edge. "It looks like we'll have to find a way forward..."

    "But it's just this one room, there's no way for--" Lance began to question until Lotor spoke up.

    "The Lantern." He motioned to the one patiently flickering from atop the fountain pedestal. "It's the only thing in the room we can interact with."

    They all, save Lotor and Keith, shared a glance that every one of them could easily read: I ain't gettin' it with those watchdogs around it. Scanning his eyes over them all, Keith rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Fine, I'll get it." He went over and hopped over the cold ledge, into the dry fountain base. A quiet shuffle of fingers settling over their lantern. Keith climbed onto the second tier that was filled to the brim with grimy, green water that swelled and dripped over the edge as his presence disturbed its peace. He climbed onto the third tier and reached over the pedestal. Hanging off the top, he waved the lantern at them with a smirk. "Not so bad, huh?" Suddenly, the lantern brightened in his hand, and they were blinded by a flash of white.

    Recovering, they slowly lowered their arms or lifted their faces out of their companions' shoulder and looked around. Immediately, they spotted the glowing white trail of drips and splatters, smeared handprints and shoe tracks that led to a large, red, glistening splotch on the left wall. No time to comment before a shrill howl echoed through the room so loud that they had to cover their ears while the shrieks of the damned pierced through them. Breaking out of their stillness, each cloaked figure burst their arms out wide, spraying every one of them with sharp specks of debris. They whipped into the central fountain, and Keith's eyes dilated as he jumped down and slid under a clawing swipe from one of the screeching figures. "Holy--!" He scrambled out of the stone structure and bolted past the others. "Go, go, go!"

    "What the heck is this?!" Lance cried as the group raced towards the opening wall that had been marked in the giant splotch of dripping red. The glow of white lanterns surged after them like sirens, gnarled stone talons reaching to pull them behind.

    "Just keep moving!" Shiro called back at them as Hunk was spewing panic-induced nothings as they each dove into the opening, one after the other, Coran barely making it through before slab door snapped closed again with a deafening clap. Wails of anguish and pain still rocked the opening as a stone hand wriggled around in the crack of the seal, snapping its claws into the door and etching tense claw marks into its short grip.

    The flashlight's beam shook as it illuminated the hand, each of them staring at it in horror or surprise as they panted and took a second to catch their breath.