Work Text
Otama couldn’t wait. She’s just about shaking in her shoes, thinking about it. Today was the day. Ace told her about a holiday. She’s never heard of before. All about monsters, demons and candy. The things that showed up once a year for a night of terror. If she was brave enough to face the monsters, she could have a bunch of it.“Face monsters?” She asked as Ace tucked her in. Her small bed was in the shape of a ship. Because she was going to be her own captain one day.“That’s right. You see, once a year, monsters and demons are let loose. They run through the streets, taking any children they find. If a monster knocks on the door, you must give them candy to get them to leave. Monsters and demons hate sweet things, you know.”“THEY DO?!” Otama yelled. She had never heard about that.Ace nodded his head, “So people got together and wanted candy, too. So we found a way to sneak around and take some, too.” Otama was at the edge of her seat. Eyes wide and waiting. Ace looked around before leaning in to whisper to her. “We dress up as monsters and demons, then the real ones can’t tell the difference.”Otama gasped. That was crazy. She would be the best monster around. They wouldn’t get her. No way, no how. Ace promised to take her to where costumes were today. They were going to look for her perfect monster costume. Marco and Izou said they would join them on this brief shopping trip. The two hard ideas about what Otama wants to be for Halloween. They were now just waiting for Ace to wake up from his sleep attack to leave.Otama sat by the front door, waiting. Her blue dress, that Izou made her, wrapped around her knees. With the blue shoes Thatch got her to match, knocked against the floor in a steady rhythm. She didn’t want to rush them, but time was ticking. There was no time to wait. What if the night of monsters arrives sooner than expected? She wasn’t scared, though. No, she was strong and would keep them safe. That or Ace would burn them up.“Are you ready?” Ace asked, patting her head. Looking up, she nodded. “Are you sure? Do you need to pee or grab anything? Phone, keys, wallet?”Otama checked her backpack again. She had her emergency phone. The light green wallet, with frogs on it. A set of keys to the house that had a big monster kitty hat on one key to show that it was to the house. “YUP!”“Let’s go then.” Ace cheered. Izou lead Otama to the car while Ace locked up. They were buckling up and off to the store. It was a store that Otama had passed before. However, before there was nothing inside. Now it was full of all kinds of monster things. Walking in, one of the monsters leaped out at her, screaming.“AHHH!!!” Otama yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. They were too late. Monsters were about now!“Oh! Otama.” Ace said softly. He picked up the little girl, hugging her tight. Stepping out of the way for others to walk in, and away from the screaming decoration. Patting her back as she cried into his shoulder.“It’s okay, sweetheart. This is one of the fake monsters we used to scare off the real ones.”Otama made a small mumbling sound through her crying. Tears still streamed down her face. Ace let her cry a bit, rubbing her back and bouncing her softly. When she stopped crying, they were able to go find the costumes.“There’s our big girl. We found some costumes for you to try,” Izou said, as they entered the aisle made for kids her size. Izou held up two options; a princess, one with a crown, or a pirate one. The problem was neither was all that scary. Otama wanted to be extra scary to stop the monsters.Seeing Otama not taken with those ones, Izou moved them away. It was Marco’s turn with offerings for the little girl. Marco swooped in, smirking at Izou as he did so. “How about these?” Marco said, holding up two more options. One was a little girl as red riding hood, and the other was a fairy. Otama thought they were really cute, but cute wasn’t what she wanted.“Didn’t red riding hood get eaten?” Otama asked, looking to Ace. Who smiled at the question and nodded? Otama didn’t want to get eaten. Marco looked defeated.When Otama saw it. It was her perfect costume. She kicked her feet and leaned over. Trying to get closer while in Ace’s arms. Ace, being a good sport about this, moved closer.“BOO!” a skull yelled, leaping out from the end of the row. Right in front of the costume that Otama wanted. Tears welled up again in her eyes. “Awe don’t cry, Otama. You little strawberry yogurt.” The skull said. Thatch moved the skull off his face. Seeing Thatch and his strange nickname stopped the tears. The shock was stronger than the fear she had just had.“You’re scary.” She said, his breath still catching a bit. Ace glared at the other from over her shoulder. He had just gotten her to stop crying. It wouldn’t do for him to make her cry all over.“I am. Do you think I should go as a skull monster?” Thatch asked.Otama thought about it. Knowing Thatch, he would jump out at every corner, but it would scare the monsters away. Because it was so scary. If Thatch jumped out at every corner, she could get better at seeing monsters coming, then she would beat them without Ace. HE would be so proud of her too. “Yes!” Otama said, knowing she was going to be so strong after this.Ace reached beyond Thatch for the costume Otama wanted. It was a demon costume. With cute red horns. Otama wanted to be a demon to scare away any monsters. The red and black face paint would help a lot.