THIS IS HALLOWEEN

Kuroki made a displeased noise in the back of his throat. What the fuck was he supposed to do? As tempting as it was, he wasn't gonna grab a hold of Fable and shake some sense into her. The fervent, almost frenzied look in her eyes told him she wouldn't listen, let alone actually hear him out. She was long gone, wandering down a path he wasn't sure she'd be able to return from. With his focus set so squarely on her, Kuroki hadn't really taken a good look at the creature, the shadows blurred around them as Kuroki did his best to ignore. To shove it all down to deal with one thing at a time. Despite the hopeful words he knew Fable was wrong, refused to drag his eyes away from her till she made him, asked him a question he could not deny.

Slowly his dark gaze settled on the beast and what lay ahead of them certainly wasn't Fable's father.

Kuroki smelled nothing but the reek of burning fur and melting skin. It sloughed off, wet and slick like blazing slugs, landing with a splat at its paws. Inhaling deep, the creature's breathing was pained and raspy, totally reasonable for a man who was being burnt alive. Kuroki had never met him but deep in his gut, awful and instinctual, he knew exactly who it was. His Grandfather, Archon, tossed in a volcano and left to burn. Or drown, perhaps both.

Heat and light radiated from it so fiercely it felt as though the pale of Kuroki's nose would catch afire too, like it would spread, vicious and unstoppable till all the Willows caught ablaze. Blazing white-hot, the skeletal remains stumbled forward, lighting up the darkness as its eyes popped from the heat, spraying juice all over Kuroki's face. It wasn't a matter of if he was going to be sick, only when.

"I don't- I can't." He was just a boy.