A/N: Short chapter of fluff and ??? as promised!! Sorry I wasn't able to write plot this week, 'cuz I was busy with another series' update so here is Flight School's! :D enjoy. 

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Scariest of them All

"Ha-llow-een," mouthed the sparrow with fair difficulty, turning behind to peer up at his eagle friend. "What's that?"

He returned to squinting at the words pinned up on the notice board.

"Food," Luka confirmed after scanning the images of candy and pumpkins littered around the poster. "It's a type of food."

Io's lips formed an 'o', to which he nodded in agreement and suggested that they take note of the date just in case the school was giving out free Halloween.

"What do you think it tastes like?" The sparrow asked as they exited the main building together and made their way towards the predator's common room. The plan was to complete their respective assignments by dinner, but with Halloween on their minds and hunger in their tummies, the author of this novel would be inclined to believe the task quite impossible.

"Sweet."

"Me too," piped the smaller one, unable to get the image of a pumpkin out of his mind. Pumpkins were tasty. "I wonder what the main ingredients of Halloween are."

It was at this timely moment that the pair spotted a bitter vulture coming their way, and almost at once, a similar idea popped into their heads.

"Let's ask Vaughn."

*

Dmitri was having a hard time making up his mind. As usual.

"Luci," the falcon caught up with his harpy friend. "You going to the Halloween party on Tuesday?"

She turned to him with a skilful raise of her brow. "Why?"

"Dammit, I need costume ideas," the teen heaved a sigh, trudging alongside Lucienne who seemed to be heading to the predator's common room as well. "Got any?"

She paused to consider his question, giving the impression that she was deep in thought. It was the only way to make Dmitri wait patiently. And quietly.

"What kind of look are you going for?"

"Something hilarious. I went as a potato last year and everyone loved it."

The falcon was exaggerating. In fact, not a single person at the party could recognize what, exactly, Dmitri had turned up as at last year's Halloween party; merely complimenting its supposed brilliance because he looked absolutely dreadful in it. Lucienne resisted the urge to roll her eyes but was unable to stop a smile from surfacing—one that spoke for itself. Ohmygod this idiot.

"Really? Then you should go as Dmitri Ford," the harpy eagle sighed. "He's the biggest joke I've ever seen."

"Holy shit, you're a genius Luci I love y—" It dawned upon him. "Oh."

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"Halloween is not a dish," snapped Vaughn the expert, having had enough of Io's village-boy-inexperience. "It is a celebration, at most an event. A festival celebrated by humans across the world, originally termed All Hallows' Eve."

The sparrow and the eagle turned to each other.

"Oh."

"We were wrong."

Vaughn could not afford to entertain such ignorant fools or he so deemed, convincing himself that he had better things to do elsewhere. Like what? Said his author from the sky, in perfect disbelief that her creation would refuse to interact with her other creations. Vaughn was quite the exception; he made a great effort to be.

Making my Halloween costume, responded the bitter vulture bitterly, with bitter on his tongue. This year, he had decided upon the most brilliant idea: Count Dracula.

A magnificent cape of darkness draped over a lavish suit; polished shoes that reflected a flawless inhumanity; completed by the sharpest set of false teeth. He was to be the evilest of them all. Very evil. Very, very evi—

You said the exact same thing last year! Protested the voice from above. That pile of handmade costumes tucked away in that wardrobe of yours? You never got to wear them, did you??

I—

Speechless.

The vulture could disregard any form of truth but that of his creator's.

No one's ever invited you to a Halloween party! You know that. Even so, you make one every year just so you could be satisfied with the illusion of having participated in a small part of the celebration that you clearly know nothing about! Okay, that was a long sentence. Should I edit that?

"Go away!" Groaned the vulture aloud, failing to realize that he was in the middle of the dining hall.

You know, I've always thought I made you quite self-aware.

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On the night of All Hallows' Eve, a dreadful sense of foreboding weighed upon the shoulders of those who dressed illegally (by standards of fashion) as ordinary and mundane were simply not the words to embody on an evening so special.

That said, Pipa and Vijay were sipping virgin Bloody Marys' (fruit punch, actually) and listening to music of poor taste as they waited for Io to arrive. They stared at the door.

"I suggested he come as a ghost," the canary—disguised as a banshee—wheeled her chair closer to the table of Doritos, dipping it into the homemade salsa before sending it into her jaws. "It's simple and cute. Cut two holes in an unwanted bedsheet and you're off to go!"

"Good point. Maybe I should have done that," Vijay wad close to drowning in his very own pool of regret, having come to the party as a...spiky thing that his author could not quite decipher as well.

"Oh! Io's here."

The world slowed to a stop.

Vijay guided Pipa's wheelchair towards the entrance of the hall, waving the sparrow over so that he could (at least) recognize that the spiky thing was friendly. A banshee in a wheelchair was not the most soothing sight to witness either. Coincidentally, Jing had turned up a banshee as well—and because she would sit very still in a corner of the room and observe the party through the unruly mess of hair (that was her own, uncombed and unwashed for three days), she was the more convincing scare.

"Pipa! Oh, you look amazing!" Io laughed, pointing at her blood-stained gown. "Who's that?"

"Vijay," said the spiked ball, waving tentatively. Their friend had arrived with two other predators, dressed as a zombie and Count Dracula respectively. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was which.

"Are you guys having fun?" Posed Io to his friends, squinting in the darkness in search for the food table. "Where did you get that blood-juice?"

"It's fruit punch," piped Pipa, severely out of her banshee-character. "Very refreshing. I was about to get more, too!"

Io turned to Luka and Vaughn and asked if they were keen on the blood juice as well, but they were promptly joined by the rest of his predator class that had filtered in late. Dmitri had something like devil horns atop his head, and Jeremiah was quite obviously a good-looking pirate. A very good-looking pirate.

"We could get an entire tray," the canary suggested after witnessing Io's dilemma. "I could balance it on my lap and you could push my wheelchair, so."

They agreed and headed towards the food table together.

"Zombie-Luka is the scariest thing I've ever seen!" Pipa was not afraid to comment as soon as they were out of earshot. The live orchestra had started on a grand score that featured the church organ, filling the hall with an air of dark refinement. Of course, it was far too early for some house music and ridiculous party-dancing so the orchestra was (thankfully) relevant.

Io laughed. "I drew that scar on his forehead. It looks good doesn't it? It looks real?"

"Definitely. It looks far too real for comfort!" His friend peered up at him from her wheelchair. "You on the other hand..."

The sparrow blinked.

"Me?"

"Yeah!" Pipa gave his outfit a once-over. It included a plain t-shirt, zipper jacket (unzipped) and denim jeans—nothing out of the ordinary. "You look...you look normal! You don't look scary at all!"

In fact, Io looked like he always did; save the shade of his pupils. They held a silver glow.

"Can you guess what I am?" He laughed once more, manoeuvring Pipa's wheelchair past the crowd.

She squinted, as though it would assist her in identifying what he was.

It hit her then.

"Ooohhh! I get it," she teased. "You're human. Is that why Luka's a zombie? Because you guys match? So, like, it's a movie."

Io hadn't considered that his eagle friend and him had matching Halloween costumes. Was it a coincidence? He stole a glance at Luka, only to see that the latter was already looking his way. Io smiled, waving in return.

"That's not why Luka's a zombie, but yeah! I'm human."

It was Pipa's turn to laugh.

"That's not scary at all!"

Her companion paused to consider her response, gaze surveying the entire room that was filled with students dressed up as their worst fears; of things that did not necessarily exist. He looked down at his friend and wondered if he was the only one, there and then, who was afraid of the very thing he loved.

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"But I'm so afraid of them."