#halloweenverse

And it certainly didn’t help that he was lost. For some reason all the lights had gone off (might have been the thunderstorm outside), and Jason had really thought that the Waystation couldn’t be that big- but maybe he had simply been walking in circles. And Jason knew he was being followed- someone else was walking in the same circles and that meant that if he just-

“HA!” “AH!” you hit the aggressor in the face with the broom you were holding- soft side first, and started scrubbing him. It didn’t last long as Jason grabbed the stick handle and pushed the broom away. “(Y/n)? Why are you following me?” “You? Jason, to be honest, I am just a little lost.” you sighed, “And after yesterday I am NOT taking any chances, Grace. One of these doors should be welded shut- but I swear I have been hearing mechanical sounds everywhere, and I am not convinced that the cursed automatons can’t break out.” 

“You were there?” Jason seemed intrigued- but before you could respond a loud, mechanical clang sounded behind you. You gasped, as you grabbed Jason’s hand and made a run for it. 

You really hadn’t wanted to go back in here alone after what happened. To be entirely honest, you didn't want to be alone, period. But something bugged you- something being the thought of the automatons escaping and killing all your friends. The waystation didn’t have a security guard keeping watch, hence you felt obligated to check in on them for yourself, however scary that was. Luckily, Jason seemed to be hanging around dark hallways too. Unluckily, Jason seemed to be even more on edge than you were, and faster, as he took over and started pulling you. 

Whatever it was that was following you would not let up. It knew the Waystation better than either of you- every turn you had to feel for it just took. You heard nothing over your labored breathing, except for mechanical clangs following you. This was it, this must have been the end. Unless-

A door, a way out. Jason let out a labored yell of surprise as he kept pulling you forward- he reached for the handle and-

The door was welded shut. The automaton following you should be on the other side, yet as you turned around it was towering over the two of you, and Jason and you screamed. 

Lityerses was nervous. He never had expected to want to be a good host- but here he was, practicing to himself. Leo had explained all about Halloween a few years ago. It was some version of celebrations towards the triple goddess Hecate and heck (Lityerses wasn’t allowed to curse anymore) he had even gone trick treats with (Y/n) once. He knew the celebrations- yet now it was in his house. He had to make sure that the premises were safe. He had to make sure that the guests were comfortable. He had to make sure not to accidentally stab anyone. He had to make sure-

He didn’t know why he was this anxious for something that was not even life threatening. This feeling was also what set him on the move as soon as the power went out. He knew Leo could fix this easily- anyone living here could, but he was dead set on doing something. 

Lityerses wasn’t silent when making his way over to the place where he thought he could just flip a switch to fix it (what was it called? a break?). He had two swords on him, a few knives strapped to his belt too, and a small bag filled with celestial bronze projectiles the size of pebbles that he could throw. Lityerses found comfort in carrying these weapons, and besides he wasn’t going to be caught unaware by what Leo described as “cursed mechanical bears”, after he tried to explain why cursed automatons were funny to Lityerses. 

Yet- what if those darned automatons escaped? They could have turned off the power, and could be prowling these halls and-

Lityerses quickly turned as he saw something move in his peripheral, his swords clanging together. Right as his eyes locked on the perpetrator it ran away, and Lityerses started chasing it. 

He quickly cornered the two he was chasing, sword at the ready to strike- as the lights flickered on and his targets started screaming. Lityerses quickly stepped back, and by the time he had sheathed his sword again, the screaming finally stopped. 

However, you also saw that Meg and her siblings had deemed that to be a rather serious theme to decorate in, so here and there you found some more, handcrafted of reusable materials, generic halloween decorations. Except for carved pumpkins. There were so many pumpkins, but they were all uncarved. You guessed they didn’t want to show actual body horror to the dryads. There was some old-timey Halloween music playing, although you were unable to find any speakers. Guess the trees to really speak to you if you listen.  

As you saw Leo and Jason’s costumes you just knew that Leo had bribed Meg to know what the theme of the party would be like. He must have, why else would he think of these costumes? You had to admit, you didn’t know Leo owned a hat this tall, but you didn’t put it above him to have crafted it himself. 

“I don’t think the Onceler’s hat was that big?”  You walked up to the duo, “Or the Lorax’s mustache that big.”  

“I am lucky to not have to deal with the orange paint,”. Jason grimaced. Leo elbowed him. 

“Say the line Jason!”  Leo whispered, loudly. Jason sighed and deadpanned. 

“I am the Lorax! I speak for the trees!”  Jason tried to make a more spooky sound at the end of the sentence, after which Leo jumped forward, borderline belting.

“How ba-a-a-ad can I be?” Leo’s ‘be’ ended, somehow, on a S-tone so it rhymed with Jason’s phrase. He was grinning proudly. Jason tried to hide it, but he did seem to get amusement out of his friends' behavior. You laughed. 

“Jace, I have to be honest with you,” you looked at your friend, “I had a bet with Nico that you would be a tree. Will won though, he guessed the Lorax.”  

“You had a bet?”  Jason shook his head, “Let me guess, you do have a spare tree costume and want me to put it on so you win?”  You laughed again. 

“I wish,” you turned to Leo, “How is your hat staying up when it’s this tall?”  

“Support beams made out of metal rods and foam!”  Leo’s eyes sparkled, “carton in between, I can show you after the party, I swear it’s so structurally sound. Annabeth would love to know the skeleton of. this hat.”  Leo pouted,“ It’s too bad she has been so busy with school lately, she would have loved to work on this thing together.”   

“Everyone was suffering under me indeed,” you sighed dramatically, intentionally showing off your outfit. 

“Wait, you’re-“ Jason got up real close to one of your sleeves, “That’s my English essay! How the fuck did you get your hands on that!” Jason shivered, “I still haven’t heard back from it, I sure hope I passed.”  

“I shalt not say, dear Grace, whether you passed or not,”. You smiled, “However, I have my sources and thankfully an amazing artist who hand copied all of your work.” 

“Luckily I do not have anything on here,” Leo laughed, “Dying was the best decision for that.”

  —- 

You found two sheet ghosts with cowboy hats a bit further out, talking to each other. 

“But you’re so cute though!” Hazel exclaimed, “I’m sure Nico meant no harm.”  

“I know it was just weird seeing that.”  Frank sighed, “Hedge seemed really happy though.”  

“Boo!”  You yelled and the pair jumped up. After a second Frank leaned back. You couldn’t see his face underneath the sheet, but you figured he looked upset. 

“That’s our line (Y/n)!”  He faked exasperation. 

“Yeah! We’re the cow-boos after all!”  Hazel snickered while saying her phrase. 

“Cow-boo? Oh- I get it,”. You smiled, “Yeah that is funny.” 

“It doesn’t seem like that when you say that,”. Hazel sighed, “Well, what are you then?” 

“Oh, for you I have my left leg,”. You smiled deviously, “Praetor's have a lot of paperwork after all.” You held out your leg. Frank and Hazel moved their eye holes to see more clearly as they bowed down to take a look.

“Uh Frank,” Hazel hesitated, “I think we forgot something.” Hazel pointed at your knee, “I did not fill out this document which we had to hand in yesterday.” 

“I did uh, I did not either.”  

“Fuck” they said in unision. 

“Also how did you get these?” Hazel sounded panicked, “These are classified documents!” You laughed.

“Look, most of my costume is deadlines,” you added a spooky ‘ooooooohhhhhh’ to the last word, “but for you two I also choose to be a security breach. I can give you the name of the one who gave Calypso the files.” 

“That would be great.” Frank said, “Uh, Hazel, maybe we should quickly IM someone at Camp Jupiter about the deadlines we missed.”  

“Yeah, also (Y/n) you better hide your legs or we will steal your pants.” Hazel glared at you. You slowly backed away. 

“How about dinner first?” You joked, as you ran for it. 

——

You quickly weaved around the crowd, trying your best to get away from Hazel and Frank. You stumbled into what seemed to be the heart of a gathering. On one side of the circle you had Rock, Paper and Scissors. On the other side you had The Argo II, together with the seven demigod heroes who defeated Gaea. 

Except that Will was just standing on the side. You joined him quietly. 

“This was Nico’s plan?” You asked him and he sighed, 

“Yes and he stood on me being Percy.”  Will looked at you, “As if he wanted to rub in that Percy was his first crush.” 

“You look nothing like Percy though,” You laughed, “You’re blonde.”  

“Nico wanted to force me to wear a wig,” Will shook his head, “I opposed him, wigs are itchy.” Will smiled softly, “Although the Cocoa Puffs are adorable, and it warms my heart to see Hedge in his element like this.” 

“I look nothing like Will!” Percy’s voice sounded loudly. He seemed offended, “At least Frank looks really cute.”  Percy pouted. One particular Cocoa Puff puffed out their chest in pride. Nico stood in the middle of it all, dressed at what you assumed to be a Reyna costume, as Reyna stood next to him, dressed in Nico’s clothes. Nico could hardly stop smiling at the reactions to the Cocoa Puffs. You were about to ask Will something when

 “BAM!” Hege yelled as he hit you from behind with a blow-up bat, “YOU JUST GOT ARGO’ED!” 

“Amazing,” you looked Hedge up and down. He was wearing a boat around his middle, and on his head was a … Festus Hat? Hedge looked like an excited child. 

“Whatcha think, huh? Valdez even delivered on the hat!” Hedge let out an excited bleat, “Although it was all the kids idea,” he pointed at Nico, “I’m really happy to be included though! It’s been a while since all my cupcakes were in the same spot with me! And now I even got two batches! OH! I see Zhang over there, gotta hit him too!” And Hedge ran off. 

After a moment of silence Will and you locked eyes, and both started laughing. 

“He’s having a blast,” Will smiled, “Nico was right to get Hedge involved. How’s the scaring going?” Will turned to you. 

“Hazel and Frank are panicking about some forms they forgot and the security breach,” You grinned devilishly, “Jason is just mostly disappointed, and I still have to show the Rock, Paper Scissors trio my outfit.” 

—

Annabeth hated your outfit. Whether it was the fact that you got her only failing grade paper on the back, or the fact that she did not want to think about the last minute mistakes she made in two of the other papers she would not tell you. However, she did say she would find Leo to, and you quote, ‘definitely not set fire to your costume and ruin Calypso’s hard work’. Percy held in his laughter until Annabeth was out of earshot. 

“So where’s my work?” Percy eagerly looked around your jacket, and you pointed him towards  the sleeve. 

“Sally was eager to give it to me, she seems proud of your grades, even if they aren’t that high.” you said, and Percy had a bit of an embarrassed blush on his face. 

“Whenever I get a passing grade she keeps it,” Percy explained, “to remind me what I am capable of.” He was still inspecting your arm, but suddenly stopped, “Wait, is this- I wrote this when I was 7!” he was now a mess, “Please don’t tell me you read it.”

“I did, Percy.” you cackled crazily for a moment, “Percy Jackson or should I say Aqualad!  I am your embarrassing past!” Percy glared at you. 

“Just because I wrote a Aquaman and Little Mermaid crossover does not mean I wanted to BE aqualad (Y/n).” 

“I think it does,” Piper spoke up, “Also I appreciate the effort but I will not be looking for my work, thanks.”

“Aw, Pipes, come on,” you begged her but she shook her head. 

“Deadlines cannot be scary unless you face them, so I am procrastinating.”

“Unfair!” you glared at her, “Piper Mclean I will come for you! You can run, but deadlines always catch up to you!” 

After a moment of silence all three of you laughed. 

Your moment was interrupted by Meg calling for attention. She was dressed as Gollum, while Apollo stood next to her in a Frodo outfit. A bit further in the back stood who you guessed to be Grover from the satyr legs, dressed as Gandalf. 

“It is time to announce the winners of tonight's costume contest!” she yelled, and everyone cheered, “We have seen many amazing costumes, but one duo certainly blew us away.”

Percy, who still stood next to you, breathed out a soft ‘dam’.

“What? You really thought you would win with ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’?” you whispered and he just looked at you.

“I could dream okay?”

“Please come forth!” Meg paused, “Gideon Nav and Harrowhark Nonagesimus!” After a moment, filled with cheers, Calypso and Thalia took the stage looking absolutely stunning and creepy. Calypso was dressed as Harrowhark, with intricate face paint and basically wearing a skeleton around herself. Thalia was Gideon, with more shabby facepaint, the iconic sunglasses and with a six feet claymore on her back. They both bowed, looking up smiling. 

“By my rules,” Meg continued after a moment, “You get to decide where to host next year, so where will it be?” 

Thalia and Calypso looked at each other and Thalia shrugged, “I don’t know where I will be with the hunt, so it’s up to you Calypso.” Calypso looked a bit panicked, before taking a deep breath. 

“I guess it will be at the Waystation then!” she announced, and there were loud cheers from the crowd. 

As the party resumed, you hoped Calypso would be earlier with the invitations than Meg had been. After all, working with deadlines was pretty scary.

I don’t know whether you have ever been on a call with multiple friends, but simply said it was chaos. After everyone was in the IM there and said their hello’s a silence slowly seeped into the conversation. 

“So, has everyone gotten their invites?” Frank softly asked, “You know, as we all knew that Halloween was coming up, just checking whether everyone got the invites now.” He was clearly looking for any facial reactions as he made his statement. Percy was quick to give one of panic, and then school it back.

“Grover gave us one yesterday, he mentioned Apollo delivering them?” Percy looked around at the people in the IM. 

“Yeah, he loves helping Meg out. He also told us that you all seemed like you’re dying, so how’s that going?” You asked as most people in the IM except for Leo suddenly looked more tired. 

“Halloween this year is very on brand with the scare factor,” Percy said, “Saving the world? Easy. School?  The scariest of all. Luckily I got my wise girl here helping me out.” he pressed a kiss on Annabeth’s cheek as she smiled.  

“It did take us by surprise,” Hazel bumped into the conversation, “Frank and I had been very busy with Preator duties and then suddenly Apollo was there.” She laughed as if she was embarrassed, “I genuinely was about to fight whatever he was bringing, luckily it was only the invite.” 

“You could’ve brought it better though!” Frank exclaimed, “We have a quest from Apollo,” he impersonated Hazel, “It scared me half to death!” Hazel laughed at her boyfriend's terror, before shaking her head, “Sorry Frank, just wanted you to know how I felt when I opened the door.” 

“Do we know who else is coming?” Piper asked, “Is Reyna invited? Are there going to be more satyrs because it is in a grove?” 

“Coach Hedge is coming,” Nico said, “Don’t know about any other satyrs though. I do think Reyna is coming, if Artemis lets the hunters partake in the celebrations.” 

“Cool,” Piper nodded. 

“Anyways,” Percy drawled out, “How’s the costumes going? As clearly nobody forgot Halloween was happening. We just ran into uh, a problem with ours.” 

“You forgot, didn’t you?” You accused Percy, “Unbelievable.” 

“We might have,” he admitted, “but we’ll have to figure something out, we can’t disappoint Meg like that.” 

“I mean, it’s on her for sending out the invites that late.” Annabeth stated.

“It’s a Halloween party, on Halloween.” You said, “You knew this was coming all year, don’t blame her for your own tardiness.” Annabeth glared at you. 

“Well, I have a plan.” she said. 

“You did not yesterday.” Percy retorted, “Better yet, you wanted to fake sickness because of your construction deadline on friday.” 

“Are you underestimating me, seaweed brain?” You were glad you were not Percy right now, because Annabeth looked like she was ready to go for the kill. 

“... no?” Percy gulped. 

“I don’t have a costume yet either,” Will tried to break up the tension.

"Yes, you do.” Nico interjected, “I have you covered in my costume plans.” Will looked at him questioningly, and after a moment it seemed like he realized something. 

“Wait, you are still doing the thing?” Will asked and Nico nodded quickly, “Seriously? Then who…?”

“Can’t tell you, it would spoil the surprise for the rest of the people here.” Nico smiled crookedly, “Besides, you know you can trust me right?”

“I am not so sure anymore, my sunshine.” Will looked at his boyfriend skeptically as Nico let out a laugh.

“Love you too.”

“Speaking of costumes,” Hazel said, “Leo, could Frank and I borrow some hats from you? We’ll tell you the specific ones later.” 

“Of course! I should bring spare hats to the party anyways,” Leo grinned, “You never know how many people will come with bad costumes that my hats can fix. If a certain couple needs hats as costumes too,” Leo pointedly looked at Percy and Annabeth, “they just have to ask. I know you all love my hat collection!”

“No, thanks.” Annabeth grumbled, “I have a plan.” 

“I haven’t even thought of getting a costume yet,” Jason looked awfully guilty. 

“Jason, do you want to do a costume with me? I need someone to finish my mys-tree costume” Leo lit up. 

“Yes?” Jason hesitated, “Was that a tree pun?” Leo ignored his comment.

“That is such a re-leaf. Our costumes are gonna have so much chemis-tree together, trust me!” Leo’s grin got wider with each pun, “Fir sure we are going to have the pinest costumes at the party.” There was a mix of groans and laughs. 

“You’re not dressing us up as trees are you?” Jason looked scared. 

“Nope! Good guess though.” 

“Well,” Piper bumped into the convo, “Good things come in trees, so do you have room for one more?” Leo shook his head. 

“Sorry pipes, I don’t be-leaf I do but I can always lend out my hats.” 

“Maybe we should get the hats, Annabeth-” Percy whispered but Annabeth elbowed him.

“No way, seaweed brain. Some of them might be cursed, and besides that I have a plan.” 

“What plan?” 

Ignoring the lover’s quarrel, Piper turned to Calypso.

“You don’t happen to have a bunch of time to help me with my costume?” 

Calypso shook her head. “No, I’ve been so busy with (Y/n)’s costume that I have yet to start my own, sorry.” 

“No worries,” Piper seemed to start thinking, “no worries,” she mumbled. 

After some more discussion everyone realized the time, and as most people in the calls had deadlines to make (and costumes to get) you ended the meeting. You looked at Will and Nico as you smiled. 

“I think most people are royally screwed trying to get costumes this close to Halloween.” you laughed and Nico nodded.

“Luckily we’ve been preparing.” He said and Will sighed. “At least I know I won’t be a tree, poor Jason.”

“who’s this doof?” well, this sad bby is halloweenverse!flapjack’s original concept! he was supposed to be the ghost of a kiddo who died with his captain at sea (to match k’nuckles), but i figured “nah, let the kiddo be happy.”

i don’t know if spookster started out as a zombie or became that way because of unfortunate circumstances, but being a walking corpse was probably pretty nerve-wracking for the first few days.

o heck it him. nergal jr never met that one kid who became his human form in this universe, so he pulled a mimikyu and just wears a cloak to avoid horrifying everyone around him. he spends him time hiding in dark places and generally unnerving the populace.