No, they aren't mine, unless fantasies count. I'm not making any money from this and I'll probably return them. The frat boys were borrowed from my checkered past. I'm not keeping them either.

This version is edited and expanded slightly from the original at the Lyric Wheel site.

"So where is this party, Methos?"

"Over at Arkham House. A couple of the kids in my "Evolution of Language" class invited me over."

"Isn't that a little odd?"

"Maybe..."

"You going is even odder."

"Well, the provost is a little worried about that lot. They seem to have a fixation on one of those role-playing games. Cthulu, or something."

Mac looked at his lover, "And this is enough for you to change your usual "let 'em go to hell if they want to" attitude enough to go to a Halloween party with them?"

Methos shrugged, "We were going over to Joe's later anyway. This shouldn't take too long. I just need to be sure they aren't torturing coeds in the basement."

"And you're going to explain me... as?"

"My designated driver, of course."

Duncan started laughing and took a swipe at Methos' ass as he picked up his keys and tucked them in the belt pouch of his Pirate King costume. "Grab your mask and don't be late."

His lover handed him a feather trimmed domino and put on his own gold one, completing his Tutenkamon outfit. Methos grabbed the cloak, "So, how do I look?"

Mac stepped back a space and eyed his partner slowly, letting himself enjoy the wide shoulders, now accented by the heavy collar of the Pharaoh.

"Good enough that we're going to be late if you don't get your elegant self out of here right now." He twirled his mustache just enough to add a villainous touch to his comment and bowed Methos out the door.

Cloaks swirling in the chilly October wind, the two men settled themselves into the SUV and started off.

It was still early in the evening and kids with their parents in groups of two or three and older kids on their own or with friends rang the doorbells of lighted houses calling "Trick or treat."

"Little ghosts are making lots of noise," laughed MacLeod.

Giggles and delighted laughter could be heard as the children scooted back to their parents to show off their loot. Here and there a mask slipped, a costume tore and the younger tots were bundled off, home.

"Did you have anything like this when you were growing up, Methos?"

"Yeah, Vikings. You paid Danegeld to get rid of them. Of course, once you paid, they came back every year to collect again."

"Oh, be serious. They didn't get as far as Egypt."

"Never said they did. I spent time up in the Hebrides, too. Besides, the principal is the same."

Mac shook his head, "These are kids, Methos."

"And some of them will grow up to be just as bastardly as the Vikings."

"You are such a cynical bugger."

"Humph... Turn up there I think that's the street. The house is down at the end."

They passed the single streetlight and MacLeod could barely see the house with all the trees surrounding it. There were lights on but the fog was rolling in across the whole area.

"There aren't a lot of cars..."

Methos looked around. "I wonder if I got the night wrong."

"Well... What do you want to do?"

Methos looked around again. "You know, I'm sure it was set for tonight. Drive around the back. Maybe that's where we're supposed to park."

MacLeod looked for a drive, finally seeing a break in the curb. He shivered, suddenly cold. "Methos... Why don't we just go on to Joe's party. I... I don't like wandering around in the fog. Getting shot at by irate homeowners doesn't strike me as a fun thing."

His lover was peering through the condensation wet windows, "It doesn't look terribly inviting, does it."

Suddenly a scream broke the silence. Mac stopped the car.

"That wasn't a recording."

"No... Let me call the police. I don't think we want to get into this one."

A second scream and MacLeod turned off the car. "I'm going to go see what that was. Go ahead and call, I'll be back in a minute."

"All right Galahad, but the line is busy. I'll keep trying. Mac, watch your head."

Duncan didn't answer, just nodded and left the car, moving quietly toward the front door of the house.

Methos watched for a moment then hit the redial button. Busy... "Modern miracle of technology, my ass..." He muttered to himself. "Mac..." he called.

He looked again, but the fog had obscured the door. "Must have gone in already." He settled back to try again, annoyed that the undergrads were messing with his plans for a quiet evening of drinking and Scot baiting with a little Watcher teasing on the side.

MacLeod barely touched the door and it swung back on well oiled hinges. The hair at the back of his neck prickled and he suddenly wished he'd stayed in the car with Methos.

There were sounds, now... Soft scuffling and the tinkling of broken glass echoed down the hallway of the house.

"Hey, where is everyone? Hello... Hello?" His words repeated themselves through the hallway.

There were footsteps, then something crashed into him from behind. A blow struck just behind his ear, everything was suddenly very bright... Then his vision blurred and darkness rushed in from all around him.

Methos tried the phone constantly for the next ten minutes. Then a small red indicator light told him the battery had given up. "Damn."

He peered out the window, glaring at the fog. "Where the hell are you, Mac? You've had time to rescue a dozen fair maidens and a couple of stray dogs. What the hell are you doing in there?"

He squirmed around, trying to get comfortable. A glance at his watch told him they were very late for Joe's party. Joe was going to make him pay his damn bar tab if they didn't show up.

The fog was cold and damp rising around the car. The combination of tired and cold made him sleepy. Slowly his head bent further back resting on the dark leather. His breathing slowed and deepened and Methos dropped into sleep.

Darkness. Where am I now? Is there anybody out there? What's happened? The moving light was making him nauseous. The room was rippling and the residual throbbing in his head wasn't helping anything.

"Who are you," came a booming voice. The voice came from all around him and somehow, inside him.

"I am Duncan MacLeod... Who are you?"

Hellish laughter sounded all around him and increased until the pain of it drove him back into the darkness.

A tap on the window woke Methos with a start. "Ah, Professor Pierson... What are you doing out here?"

Methos wrapped Adam Pierson securely around himself, "We heard someone scream. MacLeod went to see what was going on, like a good little hero, and I, being somewhat less energetic, stayed with the car."

The younger of the two underclassmen looked a little blank. "I didn't see Mr. MacLeod..."

"He could be in the house, he did go up to the front door... There was fog rolling in."

Donald, the younger man, Methos remembered, looked at his frat brother. "Well, no one's been here, sir. We were assigned to get the food and then the guys wanted to go over to the sorority houses a couple of blocks from here. We just came back for the trash bags."

Methos rubbed his eyes. "Can we go to the house? I need to use your phone."

He got out of the car, not waiting for the boys. There were still wisps of fog around. The door was a solid oak, probably part of the original house. Methos opened it cautiously.

Darkness greeted him.

The two boys crowded in behind him. "I think everyone but us is still over with the girls..."

"Well, I don't think MacLeod would have gone over there without telling me."

The light switch didn't work. "Is this place on a circuit breaker or fuses?"

"Uh... I don't know..."

There were footsteps ahead of them but all they could see in the fading gleam of the flashligh was the shabby carpeting and dusty, worn floorboards.

Methos called out,"Mac?"

The footstops stopped. Methos waited a minute then called again.

Nothing. There was a sudden breeze through the corridor, as though a door had opened...

"Methos? That you?" came a voice.

"Yeah, Mac. Where have you been?" He started toward the sound.

They could hear MacLoud, now and see a shadowy outline, "I... I guess took a fall... Must have hit my head."

The costumed figure approached. The two boys were shaking and Methos was uneasy too until Mac got close enough for the weak batteries to show his face.

The hall lights came on suddenly and they could hear the rest of the fraternity brothers pulling in to the drive, not completely sober by the sound of them.

Mac didn't look well. Methos grabbed his arm, and found his hand held tightly. "Adam, let's get home. I think I've had all the Halloween I want for one night."

They made their excuses and left.

"You drive," said Mac, tossing the keys to his partner.

Methos started the car, catching a glimpse of MacLeod's cutlass in the dashboard lights. "Mac, how did you get blood on your sword? What the hell happened in there?"

"I think... I hit my head on something, passed out and had a nightmare... Still too much of the Celt, I guess."

Something in Mac's voice wasn't right. "So tell me about the nightmare..."

For a long moment there was silence in the car. "Methos, please, just drive home. I think I'd rather talk about this after a shower and a large brandy with a fire to banish the darkness."

When they got back to the house, Duncan headed for the bathroom without saying anything else.

Methos watched, taking in the torn and slashed pirate costume, the bloody sleeve and the sword.

He changed clothes too and called Joe to let him know that something had come up and they'd see him for lunch. He had the fire blazing by the time MacLeod emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a heavy robe.

Duncan was still pale and Methos handed him the brandy, nudging him to the end of the broad couch. He waited until Mac took a long pull at the brandy. "Mac, what happened there?"

"It was dark, shadows everywhere and people calling me, Richie, Tessa, K'oltec... All of them trying to warn me, my mother... I think I even heard my younger self. Then I kept hearing another voice," he shivered.

Methos pulled him into an embrace, trying to warm him.

"It was all around, cold, inhuman... It spoke to me, it knew me, somehow.... It said, "I am the one, doom's in my hands. Now make your choice, Champion - redeemed or enslaved... I'll show you the passion and glory. I'll give you power and abundance!"

"I could hear you, too. You said, "He's the corrupter of man...""

Mac looked up at his lover, "I guess I reverted to my childhood, the youngster who fought the wolf. I was murmuring things my mother taught me, save me from the evil one. Give me the strength to carry on. I will fight for all mankind, for deliverance and peace of mind."

"What happened then?"

"We battled there in the darkness. I was fighting... I saw the Campbells, Colloden... I was on the Eiffle Tower and in that alley with Jim K'oltec... then I saw Ahriman. It seemed as though every battle I'd ever fought was being repeated and when I finally beheaded it... There was nothing. No Quickening, just absolute silence and I stood there shaking. There was some wind and whirling darkness.

Then I thought I heard a door opening and heard you asking about the lights."

"Well, the evidence of your clothes and the cutlass... It certainly looked like you'd been in a fight."

Mac shivered again. "I don't like things that go bump in the night."

"I think, my friend, that I'm very glad you won. You're much better at world saving than I am."

Mac colored slightly, "You know, I'm not sure about that Champion thing either. Sometimes it all seems like a bad dream... Except that Richie... all those people are dead."

"Well, Joe believed in you." He smoothed Mac's hair back from his forhead. "For what it's worth... I do to."

Duncan looked up, startled. "You do?"

Methos looked away for a moment. "Well, whatever it was, it's over now. You're here and safe. It looks like you were wandering with the spirits... Samhain, the walls between the worlds are thin... "

Duncan settled back in Methos' arms knowing that he probably wasn't going to get anything more out of his lover. "I think I'd rather go "Trick or Treating" next year, if it's all the same to you."

Later that night, as Duncan slept in his arms. Methos found himself stroking the dark curls, again. "If anyone has fought demons, Duncan I'd believe it was you. Champion? Could be. Joe thinks so. Sleep well, Mac. Who knows, we may need a Champion again."

He pulled the down quilts up over Duncan's shoulder and let the warmth of his lover and the quiet lull him into sleep.

~Fine~

"Halloween" By Helloween

From the Album KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PART I

Masquerade, Masquerade
Grab your mask and don't be late
Get out Get out well disguised
Heat and fever in the air tonight
Meet the others at the store,
Knock on other people's door
Trick or treat they have the choice
Little ghosts are making lots of noise

CHORUS:
In the streets on Halloween
There's something going on
No way to escape the power unknown
In the streets on Halloween
The spirits will arise
Make your choice it's hell or paradise
It's Halloween It's Halloween...tonight!
Someone's sitting in a field
Never giving yield
Sitting there with gleaming eyes
Waiting for big pumpkin to arise
Bad luck if you get a stone
Like the good old Charlie Brown
You think Linus could be right
The kids will say it's just a stupid lie
But watch out...beware - listen...take care

(chorus)

Magic in the air...on Halloween
Black is the night full of fright
You'll be missing the day
What will be here very soon
Changing your way
A knock at your door
Is it real or is it a dream
On trembling legs you open the door
And you scream...on Halloween
Darkness
Where am I now
Is there anybody out there
What has happened
Am I in heaven
Or is it hell?
I can see a light coming
It's coming nearer
It's shining It's shining so bright
It's shining on me
I am the one, doom's in my hands
Now make your choice redeemed or enslaved
I'll show you the passion and glory
He is the snake
I'll give you power and abundance
He's the corrupter of man
Save me from the evil one
Give me the strength to carry on
I will fight for all mankind's Deliverance and peace of mind
But watch out...beware
Listen...take care

(chorus)

It's Halloween It's Halloween...tonight