Trick-or-Die

"Trick or treat!"

A group of costumed kids stood at a doorway, holding out bright orange pumpkin baskets. The lady at the door smiled and added some packets of skittles to their ever-growing stash of candy.

"Here you go! Have a nice Halloween!"

The kids smiled and thanked the woman, stepping off the front step and retreating down the sidewalk, on the prowl for more houses to get candy from. The lady closed the door behind her, setting the bowl on a nearby table. They were running dangerously low on candy; soon she'd have to run to Walmart to get some more.

ding dong ding dong ding dong...

"Hold your horses, I'm coming!" She picked up the bowl again and walked to the door, ready to open it to, what she was sure, was another group of impatient trick-or-treaters. She opened the door.

A black blur came flying in, ramming straight into her chest. She stumbled back, dropping the bowl of candy in the process. She stood there for a moment, eyes shut, looking quite dazed.

An eerie chuckle escaped the woman, sounding very out of character. Her eyes snapped open; they were black, not a spot of white left in them.

-----

"I love Halloween!"

Theta stood in the TARDIS's wardrobe, in front of a large mirror, putting the finishing touches on his costume. A long, black cape was draped from his shoulders. His shirt and pants were the normal white t-shirt and jeans, but he had taken the liberty to 'Halloween-ify' this pair by ripping them up and staining them with fake blood. In his mouth, his incisors were pointed; he knew it was more normal for humans of this century to wear those large, fake, plastic ones, but he couldn't resist getting some better ones from the 51st century; by then, the humans had invented every unneeded thing imaginable, including a way to sharpen your teeth, as well as revert them back to normal once you were done with that. Basically, Theta looked like a mix between a vampire and a zombie. Not one of those sparkly fairy vampires from Twilight, though, but a proper vampire-zombie mix.

The TARDIS burst into giggles at how ridiculous her Timelord looked. Theta pretended to be offended.

"Excuse me! Halloween is a great tradition, surviving all the way from the year 609 to atleast the late 83rd century! I'm not the only one that's in the Halloween spirit, you know!" a voice in his mind (probably the TARDIS) argued back at that, saying that 80 years old way too old to go trick-or-treating.

Theta grinned back joyfully, his pointy teeth showing "Oh, c'mon Lady, lighten up! The only reason you're grumpy is because you're not getting free candy"

Aleandra smiled softly as a very small Legolas came running up to her with two bags of candy. That was the only thing she could mark her little brother by was those bags. Otherwise he was geared up like the character. Small bow and arrows, and he was wearing her hunting knife like a sword. She had bought the bow and arrows earlier in the year while she had been wandering the continents. She chuckled softly before reaching out and ruffling his wig.

"Ally!! You know I hate that even on my hair!!" He whined in an annoyed way as she giggled. She squatted down careful of the dress she was in. "Alright. I'll stop. But it's getting close to the time Aunt Jen wanted us back and you in bed; so how about we hit a few more houses, head home and finish up The Two Towers and stuff ourselves full of candy!" She said grinning with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Yeah!!" Terrence cheered and ran ahead as she followed. She was dressed up as a pirate, a wooden sword accenting the vest, dress, and other accessories she wore. "Arrgh! I'll get you my little scalawag!!" She giggled and ran after him. He rang the doorbell of the next house as she watched from the gate.

Robin walked up to the wardrobe, knocking on the door instead of entering. It had been a fairly long amount of time, so he should be ready by now, but she wasn't going to take her chances on that... Crossing her arms, she waited impatiently for the Time Lord to answer, still feeling a bit self conscious, but telling herself over and over that no one would think they're real, that he'd already seen them so it wasn't a big deal. Really, she just didn't want to spend forever thinking of something creative when she could just pop out her wings and say good enough. She did manage to spot a black dress before she walked out though, deciding it would at least make it look like she tried. Sighing, she knocked once more, getting a bit anxious to experience this Halloween thing. Of course, Theta still didn't know about the whole New Earth thing, but she'd thought up a reasonable excuse to have never done Halloween like this - she had just never gone out. Simple enough, right? 'Oi, how long does it take you to get ready in there?' To be honest, she was curious about what he needed to sharpen his teeth for, but since he declared he wouldn't be any old vampire, she had no idea.

Oh, man, Lucius was certain he loved Halloween more than any other holiday. Why? Candy! Loads, and load of delicious, tooth rotting candy. There was no where in the near future the small boy imagined he would not go trick-or-treating. Honestly, why would anyone pass up a chance to get free candy? Candy...

He had been walking down the street for quite some time, the other children making a point to run away from him and state 'he has cooties'. It hardly bugged him, being left behind, it only meant sooner or later he would run into someone he knew. Lucius had noticed a pattern that way.

The small boy stopped at several houses along the way, gaining fake appreciation from adults on his self-tailored costume. No one seemed to get it but that suited him just fine. Even if they recalled the odd boxes of the earlier years Lucius doubted they'd even know its significance. The majority of mankind, or perhaps all though he didn't have that sort of evidence, were deaf to that reverberating hum that symbolized wonder and danger. Both things drew Lucius much like a light beckoned a bug. It was hard to stomp down his curiosity and that often led to either a fantastic discovery or terrifying situation he regretted getting himself into.

His attire was all blue, excluding his generic grey shoes, and he had a white sheet of paper taped to his chest that had "Police Box" written in a child's handwriting. No one could miss the blinking safety light taped to a helmet that was fit snuggly to Lucius' head. Yeah, it was a great costume that most people would not expect. In his experience and opinion, it wasn't zombies and vampires and ghouls people should be afraid of. Nah, they were nothing compared to-

"Legolas..." He murmured to himself, the boy dressed as an elf distracted Lucius from his thoughts. The trail to that particular house came to a halt. Instead of making any move to proceed or retreat, Lucius stared at the boy until the lady caught his attention. He appraised her quickly before shrugging and walking up to the house. When he got to the gate he hesitated again, reaching out a tiny hand to grip the wooden surface. That feeling... that odd feeling...

"Lady?" It was only after he said it that Lucius realized the woman he was awkwardly standing next to would probably think he was talking to her.

She looked down at the kid dressed up as a police box. "Lady?" She heard him say and frowned gently. "You okay kid?" She asked as she watched her brother get his candy from the house they were currently at.

"Oi! At least I was putting some effort into this, unlike someone I know" Theta stepped out of the wardrobe, glancing towards Robin's wings "I admit they'll work nice for a 'costume', but really, isn't Halloween for dressing up as something you're not? Like this!"

He lifted up his cape and hid half his face behind it in a 'dramatic' vampire pose. Honestly, it just looked dorky. To add to the dramatic effect (aka dorkiness) the Timelord attempted an evil, vampire-ish voice as he spoke "I'm not always a vampire, but when I am, it's to steal all your candy! Mwahahahaha!"

He stopped and blinked, feeling as if he were forgetting something. His eyes lit up when he remembered what it was.

"Oh yeah! Forgot something"

Theta ran back into the wardrobe, cape flailing out behind him. A moment later he stood in front of Robin again, wearing a black bow tie with little orange spiders on it.

"Ok! Ready when you are!"

Robin stared at Theta, trying to hold in her laughter... But nope. Only a few seconds after he burst out with his bowtie, she lost it and burst into a fit of giggles. 'I'm sorry, but that is just ridiculous. A+ for effort, though.' Giving him a thumbs up, she began strolling towards the console room, giggles finally dying out. 'And anyway, according to the rest of the universe, give or take a few, this is something I'm not, so hush.' Stopping once she reached the memorable room with fish-filled walls, she spun around and looked the Time Lord over once more, barely holding back her laughter. 'Don't be surprised if you get picked on for that, just sayin'.' Shaking her head at the immaturity of the 80 year old, she rushed the rest of the way through the room and to the door, waiting for him to leave first. Honestly, and she thought he was keeping an eye on her tonight. Is this what it was like being a babysitter?

Glancing up at the woman, Lucius began to nod slowly, carefully.  "Yeah, I'm okay.  And it's Tyler.  Uhm... I gotta go."  He absolutely hated being rude, but at this point something felt off and that made him very anxious to move on.  So with his heavy candy bag sung over his shoulder, Luci began to trudge in the direction the static feeling was originating from.  It was Lady, right?  But it felt off somehow.  

It was rude to just walk off, wasn't it?  That girl was nice enough to ask about him which was more than he could say about anyone else in this busy city... But Lady was here, maybe Lady, and that meant Robin and the Doctor.  Which incarnation was debatable.  So far Lucius had discovered there were several faces the alien could adopt.. and to add to that there were Doctors that weren't even from the original body... it hurt his head.

Lucius was simply speeding down the street until he finally slowed and turned back around.  Shaking his head and deciding he would simply apologize profusely to the lady and Legolas-child, he kept on his journey until the light on his head stopped blinking.  He stopped and started to prickle in paranoid fear. Well, on the bright side, he'd be able to run and hide if someone decided to run after him.  Wait, where did that thought come from?  Why was he being all jittery?

Theta just grinned, following after Robin. He honestly didn't care if he was picked on or not; bowties were cool, no matter what anyone else said. As he passed the control panel, he picked up two plastic Walmart bags that had been lying there; they needed something to put the candy in, after all. Theta jogged the rest of the way over to the doors, pushing one open for his companion. He did a mock bow, complete with the hand twirls and everything. While it could be read as polite, it was obvious that Thet just liked showing off.

"Ladies first"

Robin smirked, shaking her head as she left the TARDIS and started out onto the street. With how dark it was, it was easy to lose track of the girl in her 'costume'. Not if you counted her hair, though, which stood out rather brightly. 'Come on, not like we've got all night,' She called back to Theta, finding a bit of irony in the statement. She looked out at the children, dressed up as different creatures and monsters. A couple even resembled a few aliens she'd met, at least a little bit. Then one costume sparked her interest. It seemed to be a little person, trotting along with a light on their head. Catching a quick glimpse of the front, she realized it was meant to be the TARDIS. Eyebrows arching, she was about to call for the Time Lord to hurry up when the light shut off. Pity, she really wanted to know who would dress like that...

She watched Tyler walk off and frowned just a little. He had alerted some part of her that was screaming at her to go after him. She shook her head and watched Terrence walk towards her with both of their bags and smiled.

"How much did you get?" She asked and he grinned widely at her. "A LOT! She practically poured it in!" He beamed with glee which made Aleandra chuckle. "Alright!" She said and opened up the gate for Terrence and closed it as soon as he went through. "Where to next?" She asked. "This way! He said as he led her towards the other people close by.

Lucius scratched at his head and sighed before slowly shuffling forward again. It wasn't long until he could make out the shape of people and bit at his bottom lip. More people out, dressed up to raid people of their sweets, no doubt. But this was the right direction, the right direction to find out what was wrong.

What? Wait... As he got closer the young boy realized it was Robin who he was staring at. So he altered his path slightly and walked over to the redhead. "Hi..."

Theta grinned joyfully, handing Robin one of the bags and starting out in the direction of the houses.

"Of course we do! If we don't get enough candy in this time period, then we can just pop in to another one-" his attention was diverted by a young boy, wearing the most peculiar outfit. If he didn't know better, then he might have thought it was a TARDIS costume... though he began to have his doubts that it was any old call box when he came up to Robin like he knew her. Theta decided this needed a little minor investigating. He crouched down by the boy, addressing him with the friendliest voice he could muster.

"Why hello there! That's a very nice costume you've got; what's it supposed to be?"

Robin narrowed her eyes as she tried to make out what was coming towards her. Was that the TARDIS kid? It was, wasn't it? Smirking, she crossed her arms and waited for them to come closer so she could ask what they were doing dressed like that. Hopefully they were just being creative and randomly dressing as an old police box, but that was a really slim chance. Her gaze was only interrupted when Theta handed her a bag, but only for a moment. Then she focused on the little boy again, able to make out his face now. Tyler? Giggling, she assisted him in his walk and finished the rest of the way by coming up to him instead. 'Hey, Tyler. Nice costume.' She eyed his bag of sweets, impressed by how much he'd managed to collect. Then again, this was Tyler she was talking about, this probably wouldn't keep him satisfied for more than a few hours. When Theta came over, she raised an eyebrow at his approach. As a kid, she'd know how demeaning it was when people talked to her like that. Flicking him in the ear, she rolled her eyes. 'You know very well what it's supposed to be, now stop giving him the little kid treatment and talk to him like a person, yeah?'

Aleandra and Terrence were walking towards Robin and the others. Terrence talking away and telling Aleandra all the things she had missed out on, what they had been doing in school and other things. Ally laughed and nodded listening to her little brother when she had spotted Robin. That's that one chick that wanders with the Doctor! She thought to herself.

"Hey Terrence, want to meet some friends of mine?" She asked and grinned. "Sure Ally. Are they weird though? You have too many 'weird friends'. He asked referring to the conspiracy theorists and hippies that invited her out to different places. The weird friend thing was code for drugged up people.

She shook her head no and smiled "They are strange but they are good." She said and waved over at Robin. She then brought Terrence over to Robin and the young man, and the kid? "Hey Robin. Where's the Doctor at? Causing trouble somewhere?" She asked smirking a little. She had Terrence by her side but he was nervous and not sure what to expect from these people.

Theta straightened up, holding his ear and making a whiny 'I'm in pain' noise.

"Owww, why'd you do that? That hurt, you know!" he resisted the urge to flick Robin in response, just because he knew she'd kill him for it. That was always one thing that had always confused him; flick a boy, and he (somehow) deserves it. Flick a girl and suddenly you're the jerk.

Theta looked up as Aleandra approached, taking a moment to process her words. When he did, he couldn't help but laugh a little, both in surprise and humor.

"Another person who knows the Doctor? With how much your sort pops up, you'd think that everyone on planet Earth knows about him!"

Aleandra frowned slightly at the young man standing with Robin. "Rude much?" She asked haughtily and placed her hand on her brothers shoulder to make sure that he was within reach.

Artemis wandered past the strangers, her hood up and shading her blank expression. She had always hated this day... Always. She would look back at them for a few seconds before sighing deeply and continuing on her stroll. Her bow was tight in her grip and her pouch of arrows was strapped to the back of her dark, green cloak. She would immediatly stop as she felt somewhat, strange. She shook herself off the feeling and looked down at her bow, the feeling she had experienced meant she could sense someone or something abnormal, but this day made her feel strange anyways, so she continued on, but very slowly.