[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fikushon no Nanashi-The Fanfiction

Author: Rally
E-mail: ladycrystalite@aol.com
Date: November 13, 2009

Disclaimer: Bandai, Sotsu Agency and Sunrise own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. I do not. This is just for your entertainment and my need to brush up on my writing skills.

A/N: This is for the October 2009 contest for The Official Fanfiction.net Guild on Gaia Online. The required quote is, "the shadow looked back at me." I know the ending is a bit late, but "Happy Halloween!" It didn't quite mold into that 2xR that I was predicting last chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Pumpkins with Faces
Jack's Smile

The promised "Stories 'Round the Bonfire" would have been more aptly named "Freakishly Scary Stories in the Near Dark with Only Hellfire to Light Your Way" and I might have been more amused if there was something besides absolutely nothing to my back. I'd like to say that I am not afraid of the dark. Really, I'm not, but for some reason the tales spilling forth from the mouths of my companions were making me think that maybe, just maybe, the shadow—Yes, that shadow, right there, looked back at me. Holy crap! Did it just blink?

Okay, calm down, Relena. No need to get worked up. In fact, it might a good idea to just stop listening all together, right? Right. Now, take a deep breath. And another.

"Relena?" The voice was right next to my ear.

I yelped nearly jumping out of my skin and would have sworn that my heart was trying to claw its way to freedom.

A chorus of chuckles rose up. "Having fun yet, Lena?" That came from the other side of the fire. Now, that I had a moment to calm down, I realized that it must have been Quatre calling my name.

I shook my head and forced my voice to work. "You call this fun?"

"Yup." Duo always did have a warped sense of humor. "Scaring the crap out of your friends is yet another part of the wonderful holiday of Halloween. You guys are enjoying it, right?"

There were heads nodding all around, but to my left, Dorothy spoke up. "Honestly, I didn't find those all that frightening. Perhaps, Miss Relena is just a bit of a... What's that term? Oh, yes. 'Fraidy Cat'."

"Hey," I protested.

"She was the only one screeching when the headless watchman gutted the defenseless school teacher," provided Wufei.

"And she was the only one hiding her eyes when the ghost of the Bloody Contessa appeared in the mirror," added Quatre.

Even the ever quiet Trowa had a contribution to my humiliation. "And did you guys see the way she cringed when the little girl found the severed arm of the ancient mummy in her closet."

"Hey," I tried again, louder this time. "Stop ganging up on me!"

That only served to make them laugh harder and that made me realize that this whole evening was some sort of set up from the start. Alright then, I'd let them have their fun. After all, it wasn't every day that I got to hear this much genuine laughter. It was nice. The fact that all the merriment was at my expense didn't really diminish my own enjoyment all that much.

I took a sip of the now lukewarm cider and took a few seconds to think through my options. I had to determine the best way to get past the predicament that Duo had gotten me into. The whole plan had his scent all over it. The bastard had set me up good and proper, no doubt about that. I couldn't really blame the guy, though. It wasn't like I hadn't put him through a fair share of embarrassment and misery. I had a feeling all those very formal, very elegant diplomatic parties that I had forced him to accompany me on would one day come back to haunt me. Who knew it would be an almost literal haunting?

Whining wasn't going to get them to end their teasing, neither was ignoring them. Anyone who'd ever been bullied in their lives knew that the old advice about ignoring the bully never ever discouraged them. Really, the only way I was going to get out of this one gracefully was to admit my defeat.

"You're right," I began, loud enough to cut through the still chuckling din. It immediately fell to silence. "Relena Peacecraft, once Queen of the Earth, can't handle a silly little ghost story or two. It's true. You got me." I stood and raised my cider mug in a salute.

The silence prevailed for only a few more seconds and then, as I was predicting, Duo hopped up, grinned at me from across the flames and chimed in. "Aw. We can't harass you if you're going to go all formal on us."

"Oh, you can't, can't you?" I returned the grin.

"Well, not really."

"What made you think you could get away with it in the first place?"

He held up a finger. "That's simple. It was your turn."

Okay, he just lost me. "Pardon?"

"It was your turn," Heero repeated Duo, not bothering to rise from his seat on the log. He looked up at me through untrimmed bangs with an expression in his eyes that I could only categorize as a mix of irritation and humor. "The story I told, the one about the demon, he told me that one three years ago. I had nightmares for a week."

If I hadn't learned to maintain my composure, I'm sure my jaw would have fallen off. "You did not."

He smiled and nodded to Duo. "I did. The ass convinced me that it really happened. He had me jumping at shadows for a month and I swear anytime I heard any sort of scritching or scratching sounds my heart skipped a beat. Trowa was his second victim."

The man in question gave a sort of half-smile. "The mummy thing wouldn't have gotten me alone, but with the way Duo got Heero to recount the 'absolutely true' story about the demon, I'll admit, it had me a bit spooked. And then a few months later, I had a mission with Quatre and we ran into these two," he indicated Duo and Heero, "And Duo decided on victim number three."

No way. There was no way Duo managed to scare Quatre with some silly stories. It was Quatre! He was an empath! He had to know they were lying. I looked to my left and Quatre sighed. "It's true," he admitted. He put up a hand. "I know. I know. How did they trick me? I don't know either, but they just all seemed so sincere and we were in the ruins of the Countess de Lancre's castle at the time, I'm afraid I avoided all mirrors for the duration and convinced myself that I could feel the Countess' agony. It was really quite pathetic."

Wow. "So, let me guess, Wufei was next?"

"Actually, that was me," Dorothy piped in. "Last October, I got an invite similar to yours this evening. I knew the stories were just stories, but when it was time to make my way home, I couldn't make it on my own."

"She insisted that we all walk her home," provided Duo. "Wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."

Dorothy was the toughest woman I knew and the idea that she needed four men to walk her home because she was scared was ludicrous. If it hadn't come from her own mouth, I would have called out Duo for lying. "And what about Wufei?" Now, I was curious.

"Wuffers was a hard sell," admitted Duo. "I figured he would be, so I didn't bother getting everyone together to scare him, I just brought in my secret weapon."

"Secret weapon?"

Wufei finally looked up. "If Quatre came to you and told you a story about the tragic death of a Countess and her suffering in the afterlife, would you have doubted him?"

He had a point. Quatre could tell you your hair turned purple and your butt sprouted roses and you simply would be unable to disbelieve. He was that convincing.

Right, so everyone had gotten the crap scared out of them by Duo; it wasn't just me. I focused back on Duo. "Why would you do this kind of thing to your friends?"

"Show of hands," he started, flashing the biggest grin I'd seen from him all night, "Who had fun scaring Relena?"

Everyone raised an arm. "Show of hands," he continued, staring directly into my eyes, "Who wants to help me scare some other poor sap next year and perhaps get away from a giant mansion, hundreds of her bodyguards and just forget about everything she's worried about for a couple of days?"

I felt my hand reach up.

His grin turned a bit more sinister. "Any ideas on who that poor sap should be?"

My own lips joined his, in an imitation of a Jack-o-Lantern smile. "I think I need to pay my brother a visit about this time next year."

"Lena, that's a perfect idea."

-End-

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