#<- was he EVIL? yes. but also it paid off bc now everytime we see a spider lady we can go This is justtt like brothers.

[itsalwaysdark]

brothers a tale of two sons is such a connor and lamp reference bc yes it ws like popular i think but i think me and lamp have referenced that game more than anyone on earth. and its all bc i was mean as a child

[followmetoyourdoom]

Halloweening // Chpt 1 - Trapped

So imma do Iristo weekend as like one fic, with (hopefully) one chapter each day. Iristo isn’t too heavy in this chapter, but it’s there. Also, bc I know this is gonna confuse some people, this is set after season 2 episode 2, except it’s still October in universe. Yeah I know, but *gestures to canon* they put the random-ass Halloween ep in there okay, not me, I’m just pretending it happened two weeks before Halloween and that the rest of season 1 and the first 2 eps of season 2 happened in those two weeks. It’s a stretch, I know. Let’s just pretend.

So, without further ado, I present Day 1 - Princess/Knight

The twins decide to hatch their next plan on Halloween, using the town’s infamous Haunted House as the location for their next devious plot. But when the twins run into a problem, it’s up to Iris to be their knight in shining armour.

Read it on ao3 or below:

As dusk fell on a vibrant and festive Sunny Bay, skeletons on the sides of houses danced a jig in the cold october breeze, pumpkins grinned eerily out at passersby in costumes, and giggles and shrieks of children and teens alike echoed down the streets.

The girls were making their way towards the infamous Sunny Bay Haunted House, open to the public for Halloween. To those brave enough to enter that is.

There was, of course, nothing haunted about the house. It was simply old and decrepit, and perhaps had an issue with rodents. That didn't stop the mayor of the town using it to rake in money for his retirement fund, especially not when it was also the murder scene of a family back in the 1960s. Murder was good for business.

This time, however, a certain pair of twins were going to make sure its patrons got more than what they paid for.

"Urgh, do we have to wear these tacky costumes, Mephisto?"

Her brother grinned, "C'mon, Prax. They're not all that different from our usual outfits. Besides, I like the teeth." He smiled again, showing off the razor sharp incisors the two twins had magicked onto their own teeth. "Besides, pretending to be ghosts won't work. So vampires it is."

Praxina curled her lip. "Ah yes, perfect pretty Princess Talia with her ghost vision. Please."

"Ew, did you just call Talia 'pretty'."

"No!" Praxina said defensively. "I meant it in an insulting way." She whacked her brother on the back of the head when he started chuckling. "Let's just get this over with."

Mephisto nodded and peaked around the door frame, spotting the girls in the crowd. He squinted slightly. "Okay. Iris is in… red? Yes, that's Iris, blonde hair, okay. Auriana… I don't know what Auriana is meant to be, but she has white paint on her face and-"

Praxina elbowed him. "I'm not the one that mixed Iris up with some random human last time. Just get in the coffin before I give you a reason to be there permanently."

"Fine fine, relax, I'm going."

She thought for a moment, then grabbed her brother's arm last minute. "Make sure you don't get trapped or stuck in there like an idiot. We rigged them to open from the inside, but just make sure you don't mess it up or-"

Mephisto cut her off as he smiled, recognising her worry. "I'll be fine."

Praxina nodded. She knew she was asking a lot of her brother, having him lie in wait in a tight dark spot, but he'd assured her he'd be fine. The months of Gramorr torturing Mephisto and playing on his fear of the dark were behind him, he'd insisted. Besides, his paranoia only kicked in when he couldn't get out.

The girls finally got to the front of the queue and Iris paid for the tickets. The three girls entered the house, Auriana rushing forwards, grabbing onto Talia's hand and dragging her with her. The Xerin Princess gave Iris a look that meant something along the lines of 'save me' before she was pulled into the depths of the house.

Giggling to herself, Iris made her way slowly around, trying to get into the right mood. But she'd seen the house a million times over, surely there was nothing that could-

An ear-splitting scream shook the entire house and Iris jumped, covering her ears.

She didn't recognise the scream and after a while, it faded. Clearly there was something good further on in the house.

Iris hurried through the next door, ignoring most of the second room and passing into the third - she needed to catch up with Auriana and Talia anyway. But they were nowhere to be seen in this room either.

Then a soft wail, a murmur, thumps, and knocks, came to her attention. She cast her eyes around cautiously, about to brush it off as sound effects when her necklace began to glow.

The banging started up again, coming from behind the next door and she hurriedly pushed through it, expecting to find resistance. But the door gave way easily and Iris tumbled to the floor, dust flying up everywhere and getting in her nose. She sneezed a couple of times and squinted through the dust, trying to see what the problem was.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Iris?" called out an unidentifiable voice, but it seemed heavy and thick with tears.

The Princess wandered over to the source of the voice, coming across two coffins lying side by side, various pieces of furniture tossed carelessly on top of them - more than likely the haunted house workers making some last minute touches to the interior.

Her name was called again and Iris' eyes went wide as she recognised the voice. "Praxina?"

"Yes!" she snapped. That was Praxina alright. "Release us from these death beds so we can attack you."

Iris frowned down at the coffins. "Is Mephisto in the other?"

"Well I'm not using the royal we!" Praxina snarled. "Now get us out before he starts freaking out again. "He needs help," she added after a pause.

So that had been Mephisto's scream.

Iris nodded to herself and used her magic to remove the furniture from the top of the coffins, Praxina bursting out of hers as soon as she was able to, then angrily turning and blasting the offending wooden box to smithereens. Without sparing Iris a glance, she tugged open the other coffin.

"Mephisto, Mephisto you're free, get out. Mephisto! Get out, stop fooling around… Mephisto? Mephisto, come on!"

But the Ephedian teen made no attempt to move and, when Iris walked over and stooped down to look, she found he was curled as small as he possibly could in the space allowed, eyes shut tight, his entire body shaking.

Praxina continued to shout at him, her demands turning to pleads as she tugged at his sleeve.

But he wouldn't budge.

Eventually, Praxina gave up, and hung her head, mumbling apologies. Iris didn't know what to do, she'd never seen this side of the twins before, this vulnerable side that reminded her that Praxina and Mephisto weren't that much older than her. That they were just child soldiers like she was, except they were on the wrong side of the war.

"Mephisto," Iris said softly, reaching in to pull his hand out, "Mephisto look." She used her light magic to illuminate the room, almost blinding herself and Praxina who fell back, shocked.

Opening his eyes at the light, Mephisto blinked and glanced around, roughly pulling his hand out of Iris' when he realised she was holding it.

He looked up at her like a deer trapped in headlights, the fear fading slightly as he processed what had happened and where he was. "You… saved me?" he asked, unsure where this was a good thing or not.

Praxina made a noise of disgust.

Iris nodded and magicked one of the glowing pumpkins towards the three of them so she could let her magic fade but still have light.

Mephisto thought for a moment, then shakily got to his feet, stepping out of the coffin. "Then thank you, Princess. That's the second time you've helped me." The vulnerability returned to his eyes as he looked at her, searching for an answer. "Why?"

"You needed help," Iris said simply.

Praxina had had enough and pulled her brother away. "We don't need some knight in shining armour or, well, Princess, to help us everytime we mess up," she snarked, hands shaking, but not out of anger.

"Prax… You weren't… well you were there but you weren't-"

"I know what happened," she snapped, "you told me. Then praised the Princess' fighting style for about an hour afterwards. It made me sick."

Iris blinked at this information while Mephisto laughed nervously.

"It's not funny," Praxina muttered, crossing her arms. She let out a puff of air and turned on her heal, trying to act like her old self. "We'd love to stay and chat, Princess. But we have evil plans to put into play."

"Are you sure you're both okay? You're still shaking."

And indeed they both were.

Iris smiled sadly. "Surely even villains deserve a break? Why not spend the rest of the night with us? Call it a Halloween Truce. We can go trick or treating later, there's free candy."

Mephisto's eyes lit up at this, his paranoia settling at the talk of candy. "Can we, Praxina?"

After a few seconds of pursing her lips and looking back and forth between her hopeful brother and Iris' kind features, Praxina caved. "Fine. But this first truce thing had better be the last."

Iris wasn't sure she could promise that.