black and white and red all over

Chapter 15

It's the end of the day on October 30th, when Claude comes over to talk to her before she leaves the classroom. She and Hubert have gotten in the habit of actually walking together now, so she and Claude have talked less lately, but today, he flags her down before she can leave.

"Hey, wait, before you go home, I've been meaning to ask you something," he says.

"What's that?" asks Byleth.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, tomorrow is Halloween," he replies. "I'm having a Halloween party, and it's mostly open invitation, but I just wanted to make sure you knew you were more than welcome."

"A Halloween party?"

"I don't know if it's really your thing or not, but it'd be great to have you there! And if I could get you to come, I could probably get Edelgard to come, and it'd be pretty wild to get to see her cut loose at a Halloween party, if that's even possible." Byleth is surprised at how openly he admits to this, especially with Hubert standing there in earshot. And, as if realizing that Hubert is right there, he continues with, "And you're more than welcome too, I know all three of you pretty much go everywhere together."

"I'm not so sure about that," Hubert replies. "Your questionable motives aside, I don't know if that's the sort of thing we really-"

"Maybe," Byleth interrupts, and Hubert gives her an odd look.

"Maybe?" he echoes, raising a brow.

"I mean, we'll have to talk about it with her, and just talk about it in general, but it's not a hard no," she says. "Just let me know where it is, and we might stop by."

"Alright, sounds great!" Claude replies, looking amused by the whole exchange. He writes down his address, and Byleth and Hubert go on their way.

"A Halloween party, huh?" asks Hubert.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just didn't really peg you as the party type," he replies.

"I'm not normally," she says. "But I've also never had friends to go to parties with, so I thought we could give it a try."

Hubert doesn't have much to say to that, but when they bring up the idea to Edelgard, she is surprisingly receptive. "Claude is always trying to get me to go to those kinds of things," she says, "but I never thought I could drag Hubert out, and I really didn't want to go by myself."

"I would have gone if you'd asked," he says, and if Byleth didn't know better, she'd say he was pouting over the whole ordeal.

"As if you'd really want me to subject you to that," she replies, and Hubert shakes his head.

"Maybe it's not my favorite place in the world to be, but if I'd known you were only holding back on my account...well, it doesn't matter now. I guess the three of us are going to a Halloween party, hm?"

They discuss their plans from that point on, deciding that they'll have to throw together last minute costumes, since none of them had planned to dress up before, but none of them want to deal with the teasing their sure to be met with if they show up in normal clothes. Afterwards, they'll go to Edelgard's house, since it will be empty, and hang out like they normally do.

They wait until it's late after school to go shopping, looking through the picked over accessories and things to put together a costume. Byleth is the one to suggest going as zombies, and just doing some makeup and wearing older clothes, so that they don't have to get a full costume.

~X~

The next day, all three of them bring older clothes, and tear their outfits a little more, dirtying them with the makeup before it applying it to their faces. They do what they can to make themselves look dead, with Hubert remarking, "I'm not sure I need that much work done."

"And you wonder why people at school think you're a vampire," Edelgard says.

"Did I ever say I wonder about that?" Hubert retorts. "I know why people think that."

Before long, they're ready, and since the sun has already set, it's time to load up and head to Claude's house. It's a big one, but Byleth expected as much. Edelgard's is pretty big too, but she supposes that's the difference between students there on their parents' dime, and students there on scholarship because their dad knows somebody.

"Time to satisfy my curiosity about high school parties," Edelgard says, before the two of them head inside.

Byleth supposes she shouldn't be surprised when she sees the number of vampire costumes there are in the room, but for a moment, she's taken aback. She expected to see one or two at most, considering it's a Halloween staple, but there's quite a bit more than that. There's no denying that, rather than thinking about it a little more sensitively, there are several students who are dressed as vampires specifically because of what's going on.

"That's...in poor taste," Byleth comments, wondering if it's bothering Edelgard at all.

"It was bound to happen," she says. "They're just as scared as anyone else, but isn't that what Halloween is about? Facing your fears through your costume, or something like that?"

"I'd say it's less that and more just riding the hype and trying to be funny," Hubert replies.

"In a way, that's the same thing. If it's funny, you can laugh at it, and if you can laugh at it, it's less scary."

Byleth isn't sure how to feel about Edelgard talking about herself in such a detached tone, saying "it" as if she isn't the one they're afraid of, and the one they need to laugh at to ease those fears. She knows it must hurt, but the fact that she's able to detach herself from it, without showing a hint of emotion on her face, means that she's spent a great deal of time thinking about it. Byleth can't even imagine.

Eventually, they run into Claude, who starts to thank Byleth for convincing Edelgard to come out, only to get distracted by another group of people trying to talk to them, and then, the three aren't sure what to do. They stand off to the side, watching their classmates have fun, and wonder why they bothered to come in the first place.

"Well, I never expected to see the three of you here!" They all groan in unison when Ferdinand comes over to talk to them, but he doesn't seem to notice, grinning. "How long have you been here?"

"Too long," Edelgard replies. "What, exactly, do we do for fun here?"

"You just have fun," he says, shaking his head. "Maybe mingle a little, and talk to people."

"I have to do enough of that at school."

"Edelgard, no offense, but why did you want to come, with that attitude?"

"I'm beginning to wonder that myself," she replies, and again, Ferdinand laughs.

"Well, it's great to see you all out and about either way," he finally says, and, after lingering a moment longer, moves on and leaves them alone again.

"Do you all want to leave?" Edelgard asks after a moment, and Hubert and Byleth are quick to agree. Their stay at the party is altogether brief, and the only person they really talked to there was Ferdinand.

Once they're in the car, Edelgard says, "Byleth, I...it's about time for me to...feed again. I was hoping it wouldn't have to be tonight, but I'm getting kind of hungry, and I'm afraid if I don't, I might..."

"That's fine, I understand," she replies.

"Well, if you'd like for us to drop you off at the house first...or, if you'd like, you can come with us?"

Her heart skips a beat when she hears the offer. She knows this shouldn't be something she's excited about, considering what it entails, but she also knows that to be included signifies yet another change in their relationship, and she wants to be a part of everything that she can.

"I want to go with you," she finally says, and Hubert nods, starting the car so that Edelgard can search for her next meal.