Shu peered out the window as the heavy fog hung over the forest outside. He watched as the wind blew the silhouette of trees that made them dance around. The wind howled and moaned against the various buildings that made up the backyard as a whole. It sounded to him like the melancholy singing of some long forgotten ghost, lost and alone on a dark night. The old scarecrow that made of woods groaned against the dual assaults of the cold and the wind. The creaking and the moaning would have put another guy on edge, but Shu knew better. These timbers had held for long after the day of his birth and somehow he knew they had no intention of giving up the ghost anytime soon.

Others might not have had the same faith that he had.

"Hey. Shu? Are you sure that Wakiya's huge mansion isn't going to come crashing down on us in the middle of the night?"

Shu sighed, shaking his head. "Just like I told you the last seven times, Valt; it'll be fine."

Behind him, Valt hugged the cushion nervously. "...you promise?"

"You are really making me regret accepting an invitation to come over tonight." Silas rolled his eyes as he sipped from his glass of punch.

Silas!" Shasa's voice cracked slightly as she admonished her teammate from across the couch. "What a thing to say!"

Wakiya sipped his own drink as he looked up from the magazine he'd been reading. "That does beg the question; why are the BC Sol here? I thought this was the BeyClub sleepover."

Shu finally pulled himself away from the window and walked to his nearby chair. "I never specified one way or the other. How was I supposed to know that only Kris would give them permission to come over?" Shu spared Cuza a pitying look. "I'm sorry none of the others could come. You must be bored to tears."

Cuza chuckled as he scratched his head. "It's fine. To tell you the truth, Kris only let us come because she says we need to socialize more."

"Well, you do spend all your free time at the arcade." Lui was laying on the couch with his hands behind his head and his leg crossed. "But let's be honest with ourselves here; we're not just here because Shu asked us over. We're here so our parents could get rid of us for the night."

"Discarded on Halloween." Shasa muttered.

"So adults can do usual stuff and drink enough beers or wines to forget they even have kids." Silas pouted.

"Man, grown-up people suck." Rantaro grumbled.

"I'll thank you to respect your elders when you're in this mansion, Kiyama."

Their heads turned and watched as Rickson entered the room. He quickly unpacking the pumpkins from the cardboard boxes. He brushed the dust off his pants. His eyes remained focused on Rantaro. "Now... you were saying about grown-up people?"

Rantaro offered an embarrassed grin. "I didn't mean they all did."

"Rickson? That you?" Daigo walked out of the kitchen. "You make picking up those pumpkins alright?"

"Yes." Rickson flipped her hat over and picked up out a boxes of mini pumpkin pies. "Xander told me about last Hallow's Eve, the one Valt did the apple challenge and he actually laughed when he found it hilarious. So he asked to hand out some treats he made from Brazil." He looked back over at Everyone. "And Xander saids 'Hey.'"

"No he didn't." Lui muttered under his breath.

Valt threw one ball of Malteasers at him in the ribs and looked past Rickson. "Where's Toko and Nika? Are they lost in the woods again?!"

Nope." Came the reply as Toko, Nika and Honey walked into the room. He put the trick or treating bag on the floor. "But we did find someone else out there."

Keru and Besu poked their heads into the room. "Hiya you guys!"

"What's it hangin'"

Ken finally walked into the room to reveal himself. "Hi Valt."

"Ken!" Valt ran across the room and hugged Ken tightly, much to his discomfort and joy. "What are you doing here?"

"We didn't want to be alone on the spookiest night of the whole year." Ken said through Keru.

"So we just came her to celebrate with you guys." Ken said through Besu. "But we need a place to stay."

"And Ben?"

Keru scoffed. "Ben is Ben."

"Ain't that the truth." Daigo muttered before turning a kindly smile to his old teammate. "Well, there's always room for you in this house. Make yourself comfortable. Cookies are nearly done."

Shu made sure Daigo was safely in the kitchen before he turned to Valt laid on the mat and Cuza was between him and Kitt. "Why don't you give Ken a quick tour of the house, Wakiya?" He made a point of adjusting an ornament on the Halloween decorations. "Before Daigo comes back, I mean."

Ken blushed and gave Wakiya small, shy, secret smile. "Can you... like to see the house?" Ken asked.

Wakiya looked at Valt with a cheerfully grin, then turned back to him. "Of course."

Once the pair were gone and Shu had joined Daigo in the kitchen, BeyClub and BC Sol their pre-cookie activities.

"So... is this a Halloween tradition?" Lui asked with an exaggerated yawn.

Valt raised an eyebrow once he'd reclaimed his mat. "Is what a tradition, exactly?"

"Sitting around until we die of boredom."

Despite his recently reformed status, Silas could not resist giving a mean-spirited snort of laughter. Upon seeing the Valt and Cuza withering looks, he looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Lui has a point. Are we actually going to do anything tonight?" Shasa jumped onto the couch next to Honey and paid no mind to her barely suppressed squeak of surprise. "In my house, we play games on Halloween."

"There's a shocker." Rantaro muttered and put his lollipop in his mouth.

Shasa cut his eyes at him. "And what do you do in your house, if I may ask?"

Rantaro grinned. "Halloween in my house is the best. We do this creepy ouija board. Everybody puts their fingers on this planchette, and when they talks to the spirits, it moves to use those letters to speak. The others have to guess what it is."

Valt smiled. "That's totally cool, Honcho."

"But what did it say to you?" Kitt shoved a mini pumpkin pie over to Cuza and propped himself up on the pillow he was stretched out on. "The spirit who guesses the most times, I mean. What did they say?"

Rantaro laid on the floor and gave a cocky smirk. "They said they lived in the old village where all of the witches burned into ashes."

Shu rolled her eyes at Rantaro bravado and looked to Valt. "What about you, Valt? Do you have some old traditions?"

Valt thought about it as he levitated his drink away from him and onto a nearby coffee table. "Not sure about ancient traditions. Me and my dad did a little candy eating contest, if that counts."

"That's not a tradition." Lui whispered as he leaned forward. "That's therapy fodder."

Shu glared at his arch nemesis. "Can you please stop being such a smart-ass?"

"Well excuse me for actually wanting to have fun on Halloween night."

Silas looked sharply at Lui. "Is there a problem?"

Lui rolled her eyes and smirked. "It's not a problem. If we were at my house right now, we'd be doing tricks of Halloween." He looked around the room smugly. "I get so many sugar and spice each year that we have to start the night before."

Wow! You're such a lucky guy!" Silas sarcastically clapped his hands. "I sure do wish that my baby girl had to buy my love every season!"

"Please." Lui narrowed her eyes at the Silas' sarcastic tone of voice. "Don't get all mean just because your girlfriend is so poor that they had to come up with a tradition where you pretend that you're excited to get literally nothing."

She stood up and clenched his hands. "She isn't poor. And at least we know the real reason for the season."

Lui got out of the couch. "Just what I'd expect to hear from the boy who's shown up these past few winters in the same ragged coat."

"I like that coat." He took another step forward.

"You don't know any better." Lui mirrored her.

"Enough." Shu ordered. He just stood up from his chair.

Honestly, if we weren't in this building right now I'd kick your ass from here to where you belong."

Honey started to climb off the couch. "Silas, maybe we should all calm down..."

"You wanna fight? Let's fight." Lui put his fist on his hand, "It'll probably make Honey feel right at home if Shasa start acting like you being pathetic loser."

Honey froze, and then pulled herself back onto the couch.

Shasa gritted her teeth with rage. "If I were you, I punch him in the face!"

Cuza looked around in confusion. "Is this what normally happens at sleepovers?"

Silas tensed to spring. "Last chance. Take back what you said about my future wife."

"Hey!"

Lui crossed his arms and walked closer to Silas. "The only thing that should be taken back around here is that old, smelly, patched, stained, manure encrusted coat of yours!"

"THAT'S IT!"

The two rushed at each other.

"STOP!" Rantaro leaped between them and held out his arms to stop them. "Just stop all this right now!"

"Now what's going on in here?"

Everyone looked up to find Rickson staring at them, holding a tray of cookies and milk.

"Well?"

Daigo was standing behind Rickson, with a creepy facial expression. "Don't you worry about them, Rick. They just want to meet Slenderman is all."

Valt tilted his head. "Slenderman? What's that?"

Daigo stayed silent as he made his way to the black cushion by the fire. "Now don't tell me nopony's ever told you lot about Slenderman? It's as important a part of urban legend."

BeyClub and BC Sol stared at him with uncomprehending eyes.

Daigo sat on the cushion. "I guess it's up to me to spin the tale, then. Rick will pass out them cookies and milk. The rest of you get comfy."

They all returned to their original seats, Silas and Lui shooting looks at each other to make it clear that they were nowhere near done.

"A lot of kids were missing for many years and no one had seen them." Shu observed as she bit into a cookie.

"And if it happens to you?"

"You get touched." Rantaro muttered.

"Is Slendy bite?" Keru asked as Ken and Wakiya re-entered the room and sat on the floor behind the couch.

"I like getting coal for Hearth's Warming." Besu said.

Daigo shrugged and continued. "Sometimes, if he touches you, you're lucky to believe it's a bad dream. You might just attract the attention of Slenderman."

"Who is Slenderman?" Nika asked.

"He's tall and skinny, with no face. Even his arms and legs are long. He's wearing a black suit and tie and didn't change his clothes for long time. He got a shadowy figure right behind him."

Honey gulped and unconsciously pulled closer to Shasa.

"It's said that he lives all year round in the darkest forest, far beyond the distance, and he only comes out at night. He walked around field looking for kids, who got lost in the middle of nowhere. And when he finds them, then he approached and snatches them that he always makes them want to play with him. I heard tell that if you look at the static, it's already too late."

Everyone flinched.

"Wh-what happens to little kids that get snatched?" Valt stammered.

"Nopony knows." Daigo looked at the flickering flames in the hearth, his mouth set in a creepy grin. "I've heard it told that he drives them insane, which they can't get him out of their heads. I've also heard it once or twice that when they grow up, they'll be hanging up on the trees."

Shu's eyes widened in horror.

"The way Jin told it though was the worst of all. He told me that that the taken were spirited away to Slenderman himself. They're stripped of everything that made them who they were until they're nothing but husks, neither living nor dead. There they serve Slenderman until the end of time, deprived forever of the thing they treated so lightly; pledging their leader." Daigo looked back at everyone with a wide chilling grin on his face. "Oh, and one more thing you'll need to know."

BeyClub and BC Sol leaned forward in expectation.

"I'd wager that he heard that little spat you'll were having earlier and came a little early."

A pair of long arms began to rise from behind the sofa

Valt saw them first from his mat. He pointed at it and screamed. "HE'S HERE!"

Everyone screamed and panicked, scrabbling madly away from the couch. As if in response to their screams, a noise of the TV static came from behind the cushions.

Familiar booming laughter.

Beneath arms that were now shaking loosely.

Shu, however, was now the first to figure it out. His eyes narrowed with as he moved to take a closer look. "It looks like we have a prankster among us."

Cuza jumped up fully, almost doubled over with laughter. Held up those fake monster arms, soft spider toy on his back and stood on the stool. "Gotcha!"

Everyone soon joined him as Valt crossed the room and gave him a high five. "Nice one, Cuza!"

Shasa stared at the two, visibly unamused. "I hope you two are proud of yourselves. Now we got a bunch of little kids that they're not gonna be sleeping at all tonight."

"Wh-Whatever." Wakiya sat on the chair and did her best to stop himself from trembling. "It wasn't that scary."

Lui also scoffed as he settled back on the couch, making a point to be as far away from Silas as possible. "Yeah, like there'd ever be something as silly as a ram that snatches these brats away."

Wakiya found himself held hostage in the iron grip of Rantaro. "Uh? You can get off me now."

"Huh?" Rantaro noticed what he was holding onto and released it as quickly as he could manage. "Sorry." He muttered with a forced chuckle. "No idea why that happened."

Rickson sighed from laughing and she fixed his eyes on Lui. "This with Cuza was all a joke, you can bet on that. But you'd better believe Slenderman's real."

Lui did not flinch from Daigo's gaze. "I know that. Because Spryzen isn't real either."

The silence that followed was broken only by the crackling of the fire.

"What did you just say?" Valt gave him a angry look.

Lui rolled his eyes. "I should've figured that you of all people wouldn't have it figured out by now."

"Figured what out?"

Rantaro looked between the two in mounting horror. This was not how she had wanted this information to come out. "Okay, we all better tuck in..."

"Figured what out?" Valt repeated, ignoring Rantaro.

"Yeah. I guess I haven't figured it out either." Nika's face shared the same look as her big brother, curiosity and confusion.

Lui looked at his peers. "Really? Okay, raise your hand if you think Spryzen is real."

"Lui..." Shu whispered dangerously.

But the hands of BeyClub and BC Sol were already in the air.

Valt gaped at Shu, his arms were staying still. "You don't believe in Spryzen?"

Cuza's attention was pulled from the escalating tension by the realization that someone was missing. "Hey. Where'd Ken go?"

Daigo looked around the room where the ventriloquist had been sitting and snorted in irritation. "You must've scared him off with that trick. He could be anywhere in the villa."

"You guys go find that scaredy-cat." Rickson said, his eyes still burning a hole through Lui. "I'll make sure these six don't start rumbling again."

Daigo opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. Instead he looked to Cuza. "You take the upstairs, I'll take down here. And get rid of those fake monster arms before you give that guy a heart attack."

"Fine." Cuza muttered sheepishly as he left the fake monster arms by the fireplace.

Lui was smirking at Shu. "Of course he doesn't believe." He ripped off his white scarf. "Did you figure it out yourself, or did you abandon your precious bey?"

Shu sighed heavily. "Ever since I lost to Free, Theodore told me to throw away my weakness and be ready become more powerful. I showed him that I was ready to throw friendship and all of my emotions."

"Shu isn't weak! And he never will be!" Valt shouted. "He's the best blader in this whole world and one of the Supreme Four!"

"Then why does he always give you respect that aren't as nice as everyone else?"

Her words began to fan the flames of anger in Valt's heart. "Shu does what he can..."

"I bet your bestie told you that, didn't he?"

"That's enough, man." Rickson's voice was suddenly razor sharp in its tone. "It's not your place to be saying these things. I may be up in my years, but I can still tan your hide..."

A ding came from the kitchen.

"Dammit..." Rickson muttered as he made his way to the kitchen, casting one last wilting look at Lui.

Wakiya's eyes were now on Shu. "What did Glass tell you?"

Shu's eyes were on the floor. "He hadn't called me on the phone for months, so Spryzen's voice in my head told me to hide the secrets so no one could hear and put them out before I went to sleep."

Shasa laughed uneasily. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why would they go out of their way to lie about something like that?"

"Because Kurenai lied to us about it. And he did the same thing. It's a tradition to lie to your friends or family." Lui smirked humorlessly as he relaxed on the couch. "How messed up is that?"

"What is wrong with you tonight, Lui?" Shasa looked up with worry at him.

"Wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!" Lui jumped off her couch and started pacing in front of the fireplace. "What the FUCK wrong with all of you?! Newsflash, hot off the presses; all the people do nothing but lie to each other and keep secrets! Secrets and lies! Well, you know what? I'VE HAD IT WITH SECRETS AND LIES!"

The wind blew against the house again, creating a low creaking moan as though the house were warning Lui to stop.

"It is time to grow up, and growing up means facing the truth."

"I bet Luinor told you that, didn't it?"

Lui's jaw snapped shut and he gazed at Silas with unbridled fury. "What did you just say to me?"

"Is that what he told you after he told you Spryzen wasn't real?" Valt met Lui's eyes without fear. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? Luinor ruined it for you so you have to ruin it for everyone else?" Valt nodded towards Shu. "At least he had the decency to keep that information to himself."

"Decency?!"

Honey raised her hand. "I wasn't aware we had decided Spryzen wasn't real." She looked around in confusion. "Is that still not up for debate?"

"Decency is doing the adult thing and accepting the truth, not hiding behind foolish innocence." Lui turned his glare to Wakiya, sitting once again near Rantaro. "Here, I'll show you; hey Kiyama."

Rantaro looked up expectantly.

"Wakiya Murasaki has a crush on you."

Wakiya's mouth dropped open and her blush could be seen clear through his cushion. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" He cried, his voice cracking loudly.

"Oh please. It's not like no one noticed. He just didn't because he has the social skills of a little doll."

"That's enough, Lui!" Shu shouted.

"You're years away from your first heat and you're already practically raising your tail for him."

Silas shot across the room like a bullet and tackled Lui to the floor. He stood over him and raised his fist to strike. "Nobody talks to him like that!"

Lui's eyes rolled with madness. "Like you're any better! Go ahead and beat me up! Maybe that will impress him so much he'll stop focusing on the King of the Dorks over there and look at you for once like you've always wanted him to look at you."

Silas faltered, his eyes wide. "W-what...?"

Lui took the opportunity and kicked straight upward. Silas went soaring and landed over the coffee table with a crash.

"SILAS!" Kitt and Rantaro ran over to check on their fallen friend, Valt deliberately keeping away from Silas' arm and trying to process what Lui had just revealed.

Wakiya jumped from her chair and squared himself. "I don't care what you're going through right now. No one treats someone like that in my villa."

Lui got back on his feet and laughed madly. "Like we wanted to be in the rich-ass villa in the first place!"

Shu saw where his arch nemesis was going but it was already too late. "Don't..."

"Why don't you tell Aoi over here what you told me when you found out we'd be coming here for Halloween?"

Valt froze and looked over at his best friend. "What's he talkin' about, Shu?"

Shu opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, unsure of what he wanted to say.

"I'll tell you. And I'll use small words so your bumpkin brain can process it." Lui paced around Shu, now ignoring how off kilter they were. "He told me how upset he was that we had to spend the most magical night of the year crammed into this dusty, dirty old shack with pricks we get more than enough of at the tournament."

Each word pierced Valt deeper. "Did... did you really say that?"

Shu looked away, and it was all the answer Valt needed.

"Don't act so surprised, Aoi." Lui was beyond reason now, his body visibly vibrating with adrenaline and insanity. "Did you really think that whole incident meant that we were magically best friends forever now? Because that's not how real life works. Sure, I might pal around now and I won't mock you for being biggest losers. But in a few years, I'll start mocking how pathetic your beys are."

Rantaro looked up from between his doting friends to say something about the insult but found his gaze drawn to the big screen TV hanging on the wall, already turned on by itself.

The static seemed to be growing... louder.

"Beyblade, childhood, friendships... they all go away. After the tournament's over, we're all going to settle into the roles we were always meant to be in. Silas will always be poor, Rantaro will probably give Wakiya a boatload of babies, you and Shu will together until the day you die, and I will rise above you all to be the absolute upper crust of pony society. I'm the only strongest blader alive."

A punch rang out through the room.

All eyes found Lui holding his nose in shock.

Lui stared at Shu, his hand still raised.

Shu glared in hatred. "You're not acting strong. That makes you weak."

Lui's shock shattered as the rage returned. He squared himself in front of the roaring fire and stared at his arch nemesis. "Fine! I don't need you. I don't need any of you! I don't need my parents, or their lies, or their stories about mythical gift givers..."

A peculiar sound drew Rantaro, Silas, and Shasa's eyes back to the window.

The static was obscured completely by white. The panes of glass were starting to break.

"I don't need any of this! And when I have a kid, I won't waste his time with silly stories like Spryzen and Slenderman. I won't waste his time with nonsense like friendship! And come to think of it, I won't waste his time at all!"

Shasa whispered. "Does anyone else hear that?"

"You mean the static?"

"No, I hear it too." Silas put his ear to TV and tried to ignore the almost X symbol. "It almost sounds like they're..."

"Chanting for Slendy." Honey whispered in confusion.

"That's enough for this, Lui! Can't you just stop?!" Valt cried.

"NO! FUCK ALL OF YOU! FUCK MY PARENTS! FUCK SPRYZEN! AND FUCKING SLENDERMAN!"

The entire villa shook as an enormous THUD came from the roof.

A freezing wind blew down the chimney and blew the fire out completely.

Silence descended upon the room.

"...did the roof cave in?" Rantaro asked.

A sudden shriek of metal on stone came from the chimney. Everyone watched as a long length of arms shot out of the hearth and wrapped itself around a frozen in surprise Lui. It looped around her several times before the hook on the tip locked into one of the links, securely tying Lui.

Dangling from the black stems was a multitude of loud static.

Lui stared at the others, his mind unable to process what was happening. "What...?"

The stem was yanked back suddenly, violently, and Lui vanished up the chimney without another sound save for the cruel laughter of the bells hanging from the chain.

Nightmare Luinor hit the floor. The left lens cracked.

The screaming began.