This is a Halloween side story!

Amelia pouted, swinging her feet back and forth as she sat on the metro station’s bench. Wei was in front of her, taking a break from one of his many guard shifts. All of his hair was tied up into a thick, dark bun above his head, and he looked over his shoulder and caught Amelia’s stare.

“What is it?”

Amelia blinked at him for a moment before sniffling and turning away, clearly upset over something.

Wei cocked his head and walked over before stopping just in front of her.

“Are you sad because Peijin is busy?”

“No,” she grumbled, crossing her arms.

“Then what?”

Amelia looked up, her brows furrowed as she gave a hard stare. “How could you forget?”

Jumping at her words, Wei nervously scratched the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly. “Is it your birthday? I can make a cake for you,” he quickly replied.

“No," she replied bluntly.

Wei looked like a nervous parent as he glanced around the metro, trying to catch Yang or Yue’s gaze as they gambled away their stars. He shot them a pleading stare in hopes that they’d notice him, but neither did.

Before he could say anything else, Amelia filled in the blanks.

“It’s Halloween. Shouldn’t we do something?” She drew out the latter half of her words and pleaded with Wei.

Amelia had quickly caught on that being cute got her very far.

Wei blinked with surprise and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. He hadn’t even realized it was Halloween—and to be fair, not everyone kept up with the holidays in the middle of an apocalypse.

Wei was surprised Amelia was even keeping track of the days. Time was hardly linear with all the arcs they had gone through.

Amelia's pout grew as she continued kicking her feet back and forth. “Can’t we throw a surprise party?”

“For who?”

“For Peijin!” Amelia exclaimed, her blue eyes lighting up under the blaring metro lights.

Wei laughed as his own face lit up at the mention of Peijin. At Amelia’s delighted expression, he couldn't help but ruffle the top of her head. “I’ll help you with it. What do you want to do?”

“I want to carve pumpkins, and I want to dress up as Aang from Avatar, and I want to go Trick or Treating, and—”

Thankfully, a vicious sneeze cut off her long list of demands.

Wei pulled out a handkerchief and quickly wiped her face before clearing his throat and commenting, “Well for your costume, you’re not exactly bald…”

Amelia gave him an exasperated look with her eyebrows raised, and she looked just like Peijin. She must have been practicing the expression diligently to have perfected it to this extent.

“Ha ha, forget I said that. Let’s get Yang and Yue, and then we can set up before Peijin gets back.”

“Thank you Wei-shushu!”* Amelia squealed, jumping up and hugging Wei’s leg while rocking side to side, “You’re the best!”

“I’ll let Yue-ayi* know.”

Amelia's expression quickly turned to one of horror. “She’ll kill me.”

Wei snorted, patting her back comfortingly before heading over to Yang and Yue. The two of them were gambling with a few others, but the figure that immediately caught one’s attention when looking at the setup was the towering man dressed in black.

Feiyu’s legs were crossed as he leaned back in the chair, his hand pushing his effortlessly styled hair out of his face. A cocky smirk was plastered on his face as he eyed the table.

Yue’s fists bashed against the table. “God damnit, he’s cheating! He hasn’t lost a single game!”

Just by approaching Feiyu, blue boxes quickly filled everyone's vision.

Observer Atlantic48: What is he not good at?? How many games has he won now?

Observer qwerty123: It's still fun to watch even though I always know what the outcome will be.

Observer BearDog: He can make me bankrupt.

Feiyu laughed before shrugging at Yue, pushing his cards back to the dealer. “I told you. I’m just lucky.”

Yang sat beside Yue but wasn’t playing himself; instead, he just watched Yue lose every single round. Yue reached for a random drink across the table to chug, but Yang grabbed her wrist and pushed the glass away.

Yue practically exploded in the seat, her face beet red as she protested vehemently.

Curtly, Yang responded, “You’re too young to drink.”

“I’m way over the drinking age! You’re not even that much older than me!” She pointed an accusing finger at Yang, and he gave a small shrug. Yue really did align with her demonic sponsor.

Yang had a bantering expression before he spotted Wei and gave a friendly wave. “Is Peijin back yet?”

“She’s probably going to be gone for another hour or two, but Amelia wanted to host a surprise Halloween party.”

Feiyu looked at the party members’ talk with casual interest, resting his head on his hand.

At the mention of a Halloween party, Yue’s face immediately lit up with excitement.

“Amelia, you’re a genius! I’d kill for a good meal right now,” Yue sighed, drooling at the thought.

With pride, Amelia puffed out her chest. “I want to surprise Peijin.”

Yue’s expression immediately fell, and Yang let out a soft laugh.

“You know,” Yang began while addressing Yue, “You and Peijin are so similar. It’s funny how much you two hate each other for the same reasons.”

Yue shoved Yang’s head back before jumping up from the table, giving the cards one last wistful look.

“I’ll beat you next time, Feiyu.”

He laughed, looking down at the ground as he stood up from his chair. “I'll empty a room in the back for you guys to use.” Feiyu didn't even have to ask what they needed or wanted—he was wickedly attune.

Stolen story; please report.

Yang immediately looked apprehensive, his orange eyes widening. “As long as Peijin doesn’t find out you helped.”

“Ha ha, she dislikes me that much?”

Observer BearDog: There’s a reason Feiyu has only 5 star ratings, though :)

Observer qwerty123: Peijin must be blind and deaf

Observer Socrates: Peijin is more fun to watch. Feiyu is so strong it’s boring.

Observer Atlantic48: Lmao who is this guy

Yue replied snarkily to Feiyu’s comment. “Peijin is probably just jealous. That’s also the reason she doesn’t like me.”

“I don’t think that’s why she dislikes you,” Yang replied quickly, earning himself a harsh glare from Yue.

Wei turned over to Feiyu and gave a polite smile. “We’d appreciate it. Thank you. Will your party leader be okay with it?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Feiyu said coolly, but he still received a raised brow from a nervous Wei.

They quickly snuck into one of the closed off metro booths, and they bought all the necessary items for the Halloween party: pumpkins, carving tools, facepaint, and ingredients. It was difficult to come by a typical bag of flour without it involving ground up monster limbs, but Feiyu spent extra to purchase the most organic brands.

It would've been more of a kind gesture if he wasn't practically a billionaire.

Feiyu and Yang quickly took up cooking pumpkin pies, brownies, and cookies while Yue taste tested along every step.

“Can you not shove your hands in the batter? When was the last time you even washed them?” Yang protested, sighing as Yue licked the brownie batter off her fingers.

“I bought a skill so that my hands are always clean,” she quickly replied.

“They have that?”

Yue shot him a grossed out look, side eyeing him. “It’s in the cosmetic section of the Azure Dragon store.”

Feiyu snorted and poured out the batter while Yang explored the store like an excited child. He had swept through every corner of it except the cosmetic section, and he was blown away by all the options.

Feeling rather embarrassed at Yang's callout, Yue began carving multiple pumpkins, using her spearhead to carve out angry or annoyed faces while grinning like a maniac.

Meanwhile, Wei dipped a face paint brush into light gray paint before reaching for Amelia. Her long blond eyelashes fluttered when he painted the arrow down her forehead.

“Hold still,” Wei said softly, squinting and backing up to make sure the two sides were even.

“Do I look cute? Will Peijin like it?” Amelia asked eagerly.

Observer qwerty123: Omg Amelia is just adorable I love her

Observer Panda: Amelia better get the best Halloween party ever right now.

Even though none of Peijin’s party members were as popular as Feiyu, Amelia was definitely a favorite among the observers. While many watched Peijin to witness her failures first hand, they watched Amelia out of genuine admiration.

Wei gave Amelia a reassuring thumbs up before Amelia summoned the dire wolf out of her silver wrist cuff.

“This will be Appa!” She exclaimed eagerly before placing a horned headband on his head and jumped onto his back. “Yip yip!”

Amelia squealed as “Appa” lept all over the room, tossing Amelia side to side as she pretended to fly through the air.

Suddenly, Yue let out a shout as one of the carved jack-o-lanterns latched onto her arm. Its carved teeth slowly bit their way up her arm, its eyes squinting with each chomp.

“What the fuck?!” Yue exclaimed as Yang tore the pumpkin off her arm.

“Don’t curse in front of Amelia,” Wei immediately ordered before Amelia let out a thrilled laugh.

“Fuck!” Amelia cheered.

“No!”

The pumpkin continued to leap around while chomping until, with one quick slash, Feiyu sliced off its teeth with his sword, and the pumpkin froze in shock before tumbling away in defeat.

More pumpkins quickly joined them, and Yue sent one flying against the wall with a swift kick.

“Bastards,” she grumbled, earning her a dirty look from one of the jack-o-lanterns. Yue quickly turned toward Feiyu. "Did you buy special ones or something?"

He gave a wide grin, and it was enough of an answer.

The pumpkins seemed to take a liking to Amelia as they gathered around her and the dire wolf, peeking up curiously at her and rolling around side to side.

Amelia suddenly looked up at Yue with an expectant gaze. “Aren’t you going to dress up, Yue?”

“Eh?!” She exclaimed, backing up.

With a pouty gaze, Amelia immediately widened her eyes and brought her hands up before her face. “Please, Yue! Peijin would’ve agreed.”

“Seriously? Then go ask her.”

“She’s not here!”

Many observers are ushering Yue to dress up with Amelia!

“Then I’ll be a cat,” Yue relented, glaring at the blue screens in front of her. Given her attitude, her ratings weren't the best, although they were miles higher than Peijin's.

Amelia shook her head vigorously. “You can’t. I want Peijin to be a cat.”

Before Yue could continue losing an argument with a child, a familiar blue dragon burst into the room, causing the pumpkins to scatter and dishes to go flying—until Feiyu quickly caught them without spilling any food, of course.

Yang couldn’t even react before Feiyu displayed all the snacks and promptly vanished, seemingly into thin air. Even though he was the master of the arcs, he despised every part of them other than the glory and fame.

“Why hello, hello!” Chang exclaimed, dressed up as a pumpkin. It contrasted his scaly blue skin, and he had the lid on his head. In his hands, he held a jar of candy.

Amelia raised her hand up high and quickly waved at the creature. “Hi Chang!”

Chang’s face turned red, and he quickly covered it and shook his head. “You’re the only person who greets me so kindly!” He sniffled dramatically.

“What do you want, Chang?” Yue demanded, her voice cold and eyes narrowed.

Chang reverted to his typical tone and floated through the air nonchalantly while inspecting the jar of candy he held. “There’s a lot of broadcast traffic here right now. The observers want to see something more interesting.”

“Are you seriously about to ruin some kid’s Halloween party?”

“Ruin?! I’m making it better!”

Yue’s eyebrow raised, and Wei quickly drew his sword before pointing it straight at the dragon.

Chang put his small clawed hands up in the air as if proclaiming his innocence. “I’m serious! The observers don’t want that, but there’s too many who want to see this story be more interesting!”

“Capitalist bastard,” Yue scoffed before also grabbing her spear and standing before Amelia.

Chang looked around for a moment, playing with his whiskers. “Peijin isn’t here?”

“If she was, she would’ve eaten half those candies,” Amelia pointed at the jar. “Can you leave some for her?”

“Oh, believe me, she won’t have any issues with that in a bit,” Chang grinned, his jagged teeth slowly being revealed.

Clearly oblivious, Amelia brought her hands up before her. “Really?”

“Believe me," Chang insisted with one last mischievous grin.

A familiar blue screen appeared before everyone in the station as mysterious figures popped up before vanishing into the crowd.

SIDE STORY

TRICK OR TREAT!

Difficulty F Task Beware of tricks! Collect as many sentient candies as you can. Time 30 minutes Reward All collected candies after they return to their normal state.