As Shu hummed about how he was dreaming of a tragic destruction of the village, the others all did their best to reflect, rest, and recover. The living room's furniture had been pulled away from the center of the room and used to blockade the doors and windows. Spare linens and pillows had been used to build a huge pallet in the middle of everything and the eight remaining bladers and their three siblings were nestled in the warmth.

Shasa dozed on the couch away from the others, watching the stairs and afraid of the nightmares that would come if she fell into a deeper sleep.

Wakiya poked his head from under the blankets and ensured the coast was clear. Once he was satisfied that Shu and Valt were either asleep or otherwise occupied, he carefully scooted himself closer to Rantaro. "Rantaro? Are you awake?"

Rantaro rolled over so that he was facing him. He offered the weakest of smiles. "Wouldn't it be nice if I wasn't? If this was all just an awful dream?"

He returned the smile and made himself more comfortable in the blankets next to him. "That would be nice."

"It would be nice. But it's not true." Rantaro sighed as he laid on his back and put his hands on the back of his head. "Even if nothing else happens tonight, Lui's still gone, Cuza and you..." He caught himself and looked away. "Sorry."

"It's alright." Truth be told, Wakiya was still trying to process the idea that Silas was gone. He imagined that it would take quite some time before she stopped expecting Silas to come bounding up the stairs of the treehouse with some news of another boy or girl who needed help figuring out their souls. Even now he kept catching himself looking towards the stairway like Silas would just come gliding down, laughing that it was all just a big joke.

"Hey Wakiya?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it true? What Lui said?" When Rantaro did not immediately reply, he made to turn away. "Sorry. I guess now's not really a good time..."

"It's true. I used to not like you. But after that, I do."

Rantaro froze. "You do?"

"Yeah. I've had the biggest jerk and the biggest crush on you since earlier this year."

Rantaro smiled. "And cheeseburgers. Don't forget cheeseburgers."

"You were such a dork."

"I was so cute."

Rantaro reached out and took Wakiya's shoulder. "Well, not as cute as you are."

Wakiya scoffed quietly as he returned the gesture, crossing his arms. "You know I hate that you only found out about this tonight."

"Tell you what." Rantaro scooted a little closer. "I'll be Batman and you can be Robin. And if I can watch your back the whole night, then you owe me another cheeseburger this Friday."

"Interesting idea." Wakiya said sarcastically and mirrored his movement. "But I kinda wanna be Superman. You let me be him, and I promise to watch your back just like he watched Batman's back."

"Have I mentioned that your superhero comic book knowledge is just as striking as that blush on your cheeks?"

He sighed as he rolled his eyes. "That was smooth for someone who doesn't know the first thing."

He looked into his eyes. "I'm a fast learner. That's how I was able to master Joker's Revenge in just three days."

Wakiya broke eye contact and looked away, tormented by the swirling forces inside him. His sadness, his terror, and his burgeoning attraction all hammered away at his heart. "I'm... I'm so scared."

He wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. "I am too."

His soft lips found Rantaro's as he drew closer to his warmth. It was a short kiss, small and tentative. An average first kiss.

Which is to say that it blew Rantaro's mind.

While he recovered, Wakiya rolled over and snuggled deeper into the Rantaro's embrace. "Do me a favor?"

"Uh huh." He muttered dizzily.

"Talk like the Batman to me." Wakiya sighed as he finally relaxed. "Until I fall asleep."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Shu stopped humming and stared at a cracked Nightmare Luinor as though some part of him were afraid that if he let go of them they would vanish into nothingness.

Valt was nestled on Shu's lap, covered by a cozy blanket. In fear, he had to stick with his best friend for the entire night.

"Valt?"

Valt slowly opened his eyes. He and Shu had gone quiet since Silver Spoon's taking. "Hey Shu."

Shu whispered, still petting him. "I'm sorry about Cuza and Silas."

"Thanks."

"Are... are you okay?"

"Don't I look okay to you?"

"Do you... do you wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Valt sat up and Shu could see his teary eyes. "Talk about my dead rival? Or my dead best friend? Or my other dead rival who had a nervous breakdown first?" He glared. "Or, to focus on the small stuff first, we could talk about how you've been lying through your teeth about being my friend these past few months after you were Red Eye."

"Don't call me that!" Shu snapped. "I don't want you to call me that anymore!" He growled, his eyes burning a hole through, not Valt, but Red Eye, who looked like him.

Now it was his turn to glare. "Now who's not being fair? I wasn't lying about being your friend, Valt."

"Then why would you say that about comin' over tonight?"

"Because I had a nightmare once that Requiem ate me alive, but Spryzen would never do that to me!" His tears fell from his eyes. "Is that so wrong of me?"

Valt flinched as Shu's rant. "Look Shu, Just cuz you're mad at Requiem don't mean that you could say something so hurtful about me and my friends."

"I know that! Alright?" Shu sat up and sighed as pushed his hair back . "That's what's been getting on my nerves."

"Wha...?"

"How come I broke a promise to meet you at the finals? Even after that day, Lui had never lost to you and me. Why? What makes us outsiders?"

Valt rubbed Shu's arm. "Because we have been through a lot these past few years. We're more brothers than friends at this point."

"You helped me getting out of that nightmare." Shu said in a soft and gentle tone. "You saw deeper in me than even I saw. You gave me back the strength to change the very nature of my being, even I couldn't control my power. Valt, you changed me." He leaned back on the couch. "And then you just moved on. You carried on like nothing had changed."

"You make it sound like I was ignorin' you."

"You may as well have been." Shu covered his blanket on himself. "I thought, after that day, I would finally know what it was like to really have friends. It had always been just us, you know? I kept waiting for you to invite me back to your house or to go hang out at my place. That's what friends did."

Valt chuckled quietly as he leaned on Shu's shoulder. "It is."

"Then the only real friends you have are me, Rantaro, Ken, Daigo and..." Shu paused for a quick second. "You only ever hang out with them. The most I've gotten out of this friendship before tonight is a greeting on the street or someone eating dinner with me. Besides you guys were always there for me, nothing's changed at all."

Valt considered in the silence that followed. "You could reach out to us, you know. You could still be friends with us now."

"I... I..." Shu took a breath. "I don't want to get you hurt." He wiped his eyes and hugged Valt tightly. "You're my best friend. But Slender take you away, then what do I have now?"

Valt laid back on the couch as he processed what Shu had said. It was true that he most often hung out with her friends, but surely Shu was wrong about everything else. He had other friends. Like Boa... but he hadn't had a serious conversation with him since the day he lost to him all those months ago. But there was Free... who he hadn't said a word to before the world tournament.

He racked his brain, but he couldn't find a single one that he spent as much time with as he did his best friends.

"Do you still... love me?"

It was Shu's turned to flinch at a whisper in Valt's voice. "What?"

"For all those times you've been a complete jerk to me and almost destroyed Valtryek and then I saved you. Do you still love me?"

Shu smiled warmly. "I never hated you. I never will."

"That means... Forgive and forget?"

Shu looked at Valt with a kindly look. "Yeah."

The two hugged each other in silence a while longer, the only sounds in the air that crackling.

The clock struck midnight and chimed.

"Happy Halloween, Shu." Valt whispered, smiling.

"You too, Valt." Came the reply.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Silence descended on the room.

Outside, the wind's howling began to rise in pitch and strength.

Something huge on the roof shifted as though it sensed a change in the air.

The cracking noise echoed down the chimney.

A blast of cold wind blasted down the brick structure and blew the once roaring fire . It spread through the room, jolting everyone awake at once.

Rickson stared at everyone he'd failed.

He heard the chains shoot down the chimney before he felt them wrap around his body. The black tendrils snapped into place and pulled tight, splintering his chair to pieces. Slenderman chuckled maliciously as they mocked his failure.

"Run." He whispered.

Run was yanked back up the chimney less than a second later.

"NO!" Valt, Rantaro, Kitt and Shasa screamed together.

The windows shattered inward all at once, the howling wind filling the air of the house with eerie fog. The strong wind blew the furniture away and scattered it. The front door blasted open so hard that it flew off its hinges. Tendrils began to grow from the ceiling and floor, spreading towards them.

"We've got to make a break for the shed!" Shu yelled over the wind. He ran for the front door, trusting the others to follow him.

Valt, Rantaro, Daigo and Kitt followed closely, Ken was not far behind.

Wakiya, Shasa and Honey made to follow but a sudden dark shadowy tendrils caught their bodies and lifted them wholly into the air. They screamed as the black tendrils dragged them up the stairs and into the second floor hallway.

Wakiya was caught in a downdraft and blown against the door to Daigo's bedroom. The impact knocked him senseless and smashed the door to splinters. He smacked against the room's far wall and hit the ground, groaning in agony.

"Wakiya!" Shasa cried as the tendrils carried her further down the hallway. She was spun around just in time to see himself rapidly approaching the end of the hallway.

A pair of long arms waited for her like spikes.

She screamed as she braced for impact.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ken cried out as his ankle twisted. He collapsed on the floor and watched as Toko and Nika ran to the barn. He tried to call out to them, but his screams were swallowed by the storm. "HELP ME!" he cried in desperation, trying as hard as he could to put weight on his damaged ankle.

The sound of the static behind him, crystal clear above the fog, made him spin and stare.

Standing right behind him, It was an gigantic shape. It stood on long legs, wearing a black suit and tie, black as night. It stared at him with no face.

Ken opened his mouth to scream.

Tendrils emerged from the shroud. Looked like it claimed another soul for Slenderman.