Welcome to A Collection of Meowsteries!
This is a series of 100 word drabbles, posted daily in the month of October 2021. All drabbles were based on Halloween or Autumn themed prompts from various sources. Some stories are spooky, some stories are cute, and there are a lot of AUs, even ones that don't make sense.
You can start reading from drabble 1 or jump around using the calendar.
You can also find this collection on Archive of Our Own. Feedback? Leave a comment on AO3!
Characters: Biarce, Enjyu, Yamato | Verse: Disciples of Marda-B
"There were a lot of ghosts in Marda-B's base," supplies Biarce just as Enjyu adds another log to the fire.
Yamato perks up. He'd been listening to the fire crackle, to the songs of crickets and insects as night settled in over the Banqsian forest they were camping in for the night. He leans forward, letting the warmth of the fire wash over him. "What kind of ghosts? Did you meet any of them?"
Biarce looks thoughtful. "...I did," he says quietly, absentmindedly petting Tommy curled up in his lap. "They were all little kids who looked just like me."
Characters: Terry, Yamato | Verse: Dieselpunk Dystopia
"Play with me!" exclaims the cat doll sitting precariously on a pile of junk. The sudden break in silence makes Yamato jump in surprise, and it takes all of Terry's willpower not to slash it in half.
"That doll just spoke to me!" shouts Yamato, eyes wide as saucers.
The thing laughs, and it flutters its eyes. "I'm not a doll. I'm a puppet."
Terry knows it was inevitable they'd run into someone strange out here in the windswept junkyard, but he was hoping it wouldn't be someone so dangerous right away. "Get away, lad. That's one of Borgnine's toys."
Characters: Bull/Karat | Verse: General Canon
Bull digs into the pumpkin with all the gusto he normally reserves for battles, making Karat laugh at the look of awe on her father's face. The kitchen table is swiftly covered in the pumpkin's insides and seeds.
Karat draws Bull's face on it, not unlike the city lights she'd managed to wrangle out of her father. She grins as Bull turns bright red at the sight.
Her father carves out the same smiling face he does every year, from a tradition her mother started. Karat lights the lanterns same as always, but this year Bull's pumpkins sit beside them.
Characters: Enjyu, Gray, Wen, Liena | Verse: University Horror AU | Reference to this...
The "hot pirate" Enjyu picks at Wen's suggestion is blond, is wearing a vest that shows off an impressive chest and abs, has his eyepatch pushed up to his forehead, and looks immensely like he doesn't want to be here.
"Don't," says the pirate with a grumble, "I'm just here 'cause my sister thought it'd be fun for our first party at university."
Enjyu lifts an eyebrow at him, then glances over at the punch table. "Your sister...you mean the medieval bar wench making out with my superhero boyfriend?"
"Your boyfriend—" The pirate blinks twice. "That's not a lesbian?"
Characters: Yamato, AU Bull | Verse: Immortal Yamato, distant future
"Y'know, I think I wouldn't mind it much," says the teen with Bull's soul as she leads Yamato past rows of maize. She glances back at him. "If the beasts took me away, I mean. I'd be outta this shithole."
Yamato finds himself grateful for the cover of night, for the blanket of twinkling stars overhead, that his companion cannot see his pained expression, that he cannot see anymore the bruise on her cheek. He has seen his friends live a hundred lives, watched them die and grow old, but he only curses his fate when he cannot save them.
Characters: Joe, Haja | Verse: General Canon | One of the only good things out of Fire Spirits was Joe/Haja.
Joe laughs at Haja's "accusation." So he doesn't approve entirely of Haja's idea of a Halloween event (which involves a lot of pranks, scorpions, and more pranks), but that surely doesn't mean he's as unfun as Haja wants to imply.
"Trick or Treat is just not really a thing in Tsubakura City," he tells Haja. "We have traditional festivals where we eat and drink a lot instead."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been there." Haja rolls his eyes. "Never cared about the festival, but I'd be down to...indulge traditionally."
He grins and follows this with a wink at Joe.
Characters: Kiba, Wen, Li | Verse: General Canon
"It's not like the ghost festival," says Kiba, and Wen tilts his head in response.
They are six years old and Kiba has just come back from investigating the commotion at one of the restaurants down the street. Wen likes the owner, a fellow from Cowtoon with an accent who lets them try out his new recipes.
"It's called Halloween," continues Kiba. "They have candy and skeletons everywhere. I think it's just an excuse to party."
"So it's not a day for the ghosts to hang out?"
"They hate it," says Li suddenly. "The ghosts say they hate this noise."
Characters: Liena, Gray, Enjyu, Wen | Verse: University Horror AU
"According to this, two kids died in this house," notes Liena, frowning at the board of newspaper clippings. She turns around to find Enjyu and Gray staring at her with wide eyes.
"That's awful." Gray scowls. "We should get out of here."
"If we can find the exit." Enjyu shakes his head, and Liena can guess he's the sort to put on a brave front. "C'mon, let's look again."
The lights flicker as if responding to Enjyu, making Liena jolt in surprise. "Wen, cut that out!"
"Uh, that's not me this time," replies Wen, popping out from under the desk.
Characters: Ababa, Tommy | Verse: General Canon
The cat that treads past Ababa is not like him. It is the lowest sort of their kind, pausing in the middle of the empty street to gaze at him directly. It sits and licks its paw, cleans its face without a care as if Ababa is not standing there with all the magic in the world weighing his feet down.
When he wakes, he forgets about the black cat that walks his dreams, that asks him if what he is doing is right.
When he sees Tommy beside Yamato at Winners, Ababa doesn't know why dread snakes through him.
Characters: Arsen (My OC), Naptha (Houx's OC), Wen, Li | Verse: General Canon
"I have never participated in this asinine celebration," grumbles Arsen as Naptha hands him a box of assorted candies. He scowls, glaring at its contents. "Nor do I intend to start, and I am not giving this unhealthy garbage to our B-daplayers."
Naptha rolls their eyes at him, just as someone knocks at the clinic's door. "Just shut up and hand out candy."
Arsen's scowl only deepens, particularly when Naptha opens the door to reveal Wen (superhero costume) and Li (impressive zombie makeup).
"Trick..."
"...Or treat!"
"Here." With that, Arsen stomps over and unceremoniously upends the box into their pumpkin.
Characters: Gray, Enjyu | Verse: University Horror AU
Gray spots it first—the somehow looping, even elegant handwriting appearing on the back wall in a horrible, horrible bright red.
"What is—Is that written in blood?" he barely manages to stammer out, prompting Enjyu to glance over as well.
"No way, that's probably just paint..." Enjyu trails off as more writing appears, and he hurries back to Gray's side, face pale. "Let's find Wen and your sister and get out of here."
Gray nods and hurries onward. It's hard to believe just that an hour ago, they had all been at that terrible party trying to get drunk.
Characters: Joshua, Cain | Verse: General Canon
Joshua bites back a sigh when he feels Cain tremble again.
It was, in hindsight, not a good idea after all to sneak into the mansion's entertainment room to watch the horror movies Cain's mother had very specifically banned them from watching. Joshua squeezes his eyes shut as he holds onto Cain while they lay in his bed, pretending the tapping on the windows are just trees, the howling is just the wind.
There are no real monsters, he reminds himself, only a father and mother he can't trust, and Joshua knows he has to be strong in Cain's stead.
Characters: Gray, Liena | Verse: Clue Crossover AU | relevant music of the day
"We have no choice but to stop here and walk the rest of the way," said Gray, squinting out the front of the car as he brings it to a stop. Water comes down in sheets, obscuring the surrounding woods, but it was still fairly easy to pick out the mansion's lights on the hill up ahead.
"As if this entire evening wasn't strange enough," said Liena, tucking away their dinner party invitation in her purse. It had been anonymously delivered, was unsigned, and had informed them that tonight they were to be called Mr. Green and Ms. Scarlet respectively.
Characters: Wen, Liena | Verse: University Horror AU
"How long have we been walking?" Wen stops in his tracks, prompting Liena to do the same and, not for the first time, examine the seemingly endless corridor into the void before her.
"It's hard to say," she admits, frowning as she pulls down the hem of her skirt. She'd come prepared for a terrible university party, not for...whatever this is.
"Okay, I've had it," says Wen, gritting his teeth. "Fine, let's get spooky."
With that, he runs off. "Wait, Wen!" is all Liena manages to shout before the child's laughter that had lured them here starts up again.
Characters: Marilyn, Alice | Verse: Home and Heart
"To save your sisters..."
The taste of blood does not bother Marilyn at all anymore. She drinks deeply from the cup this year.
"You've gotten used to the taste," remarks Alice, sitting across from her while cleaning the ceremonial knife with a rag. "I'll make a witch out of you yet."
Their victim today was a valuable goldheart, just like Cain. Marilyn feels the stolen power spread through her, settling into her weary bones and chasing out what remained of last time's earthheart.
She snaps her fingers, and turns the cup to gold.
"...you must give to me your future."
Characters: Jennifer | Verse: of elements.
To my dear friend,
I am writing to inform you of my decision to move to the idyllic town of Ombrasön and cut ties with the rest of the B-daworld. Pray do not seek me out, as I am now in the good care of House Romadik. As their permanent guest, I am afforded only the finest of luxuries within their manor and around the town. All the townspeople attend me and do as I say, like puppets.
I jest. I assure you this letter is real. I have not discovered sinister secrets or anything nefarious.
Yours truly,
Jennifer McDonnell
Characters: Terry, Bull | Verse: General AU
"As far as we know, they could all be dead." Terry furrows his brow at the huge iron gate.
Bull doesn't hesitate though, striding up to push it open. "It'll be like a walk in the park."
"Bull." Terry grimaces, hating to point out the obvious. "It's a haunted maze. A vampire literally lives at the end. What part of that sounds like 'a walk in the park'?"
He at least has the decency to look thoughtful at that, as if he's weighing Terry's words, but then he's just as quick to discard the warning.
"C'mon, Terry, let's fucking go!"
Characters: Liena, Wen | Verse: University Horror AU
Liena's tired, and her stupid costume's heeled boots aren't that comfortable, but she knows this ghost chasing them isn't going to let up that easily.
"Over there—" pants out Wen from beside her, gesturing to a break in the corridor wall. She was surprised to find he could keep up with her when she'd easily been the fastest runner back home.
They duck around the corner together, gasping for breath. Moments later, the strange, orange-haired child goes flying past, malevolent laughter ringing out after it.
"I always hated the color orange," grumbles Wen as soon as he's caught his breath.
Characters: Yannes (my OC), Fei (my OC) | Verse: of elements.
"Sir—?" Fei pauses as she steps into Yannes' office. "What's...what's all of this?"
She surveys the room covered in piles of candy and chocolate boxes, shaking her head as she makes her way to the desk. Yannes is just barely visible behind a stack of glittery orange and purple boxes.
"I'm having a Halloween party," comes the reply. He sits up, and Fei notes that he's wearing a vampire costume.
Fei just gives him an incredulous look, but this isn't the strangest of antics he's gotten up to, considering what happened just last week. "Sir, you're just hoarding candy."
Characters: Team Junk | Verse: General Manga-verse
"Um, that's not good," says Aquras as soon as the cabin's lights flicker and turn dark. He hears Gannos grumble and Biarce bark out an order about the windows.
"Yeah, I got it," Haja's voice comes through, followed by footsteps.
Aquras leaps to his feet, his eyes adjusting faster than the others', panic setting in as Haja and Kiba both stumble their way to the windows.
"Wait, there's a full moon—" he starts, but he's too late, as Biarce, in his impatience, throws all the windows open with a blast of magic.
Moonlight spills in, and Aquras's mind goes blank.
Characters: Enjyu, Wen, Biarce, Yamato| Verse: University Horror AU
Enjyu leaves Gray and Liena to their reunion, striding over instead to Wen, whose face is pale as a sheet. "Yo, you all right?"
Wen nods, then shakes his head, before lifting a quivering hand and pointing at something just out of sight.
Enjyu follows his gaze...and freezes.
Two children are walking towards them. He can hear them bickering about what to do with the four of them. Enjyu backs away, Wen follows.
"Let's kill them," says the dark-haired one with red eyes and bloodied hands.
"It's more fun if we keep them here forever," replies the orange-haired one.
Characters: Yamato, Terry | Verse: General Mangaverse
"Well, they're...uh...appropriate for the holiday?" supplied Yamato sheepishly once Liena reluctantly pulled the baking sheet out of the oven. As far as first attempts go, the blackened and hardened pumpkin-shaped cookies were maybe just a little worse than expected.
"Maybe Terry can find a use for them as decor," she replied, offering him a kind smile. She set the sheet aside on the counter. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of baking eventually. Here, I'll make some cookies too."
Yamato reached over and picked one up, grimacing. "Man, and here I was glad I didn't suck at cooking."
Characters: Haja, Jinbei | Verse: University Horror AU | Happy Birthday to Jinbei!
Haja steps out of his dorm room and immediately walks into a giant shark.
"...Jinbei."
The shark turns around to face him, and Haja's brow rises when he realizes Jinbei has even applied sloppy makeup. "Are you a shark, or someone being eaten by a shark?"
"Both," replies Jinbei with a stupid grin. "What's yours supposed to be?"
"What, never seen a sexy cowgirl before?"
Jinbei rolls his eyes. "Man, what happened to normal costumes?"
Haja decides to refrain from mentioning the party they are attending is most likely going to be full of hot pirates and bunny girls anyway.
Characters: Gray, Liena, Biarce, Yamato | Verse: Univeristy Horror AU
Gray grits his teeth as the ghost cutting into him laughs. The other ghost hovers nearby, sorrow in its eyes. It turns back to the other, catching its knife-hand by the wrist. "C'mon Biarce, let's just stop."
"Gray! Hang on!" Liena screams to him from across the room. He can hear her struggling against her shadowy bonds. He can just see Enjyu and Wen in the corner, both unconscious and bound.
Then he hears hurried steps, and realizes Liena has made a break for the glowing orb.
"I'm never going to a haunted house again," she announces, throwing her lighter.
Characters: Yamato | Verse: Shadeless and Endless
He casts out his B-daspirit across the palace, and the courtyard immediately comes to life. Invisible to others, slivers of long-dead B-daplayers dance past his senses, their presences amplified by the emotions they had been nursing when Marda-Biarce came for them.
He walks among them, these ghosts of the city that had once stood here proudly defying its conqueror. He knows some of them, even if he cannot remember a time before Marda-Biarce. He does not look at them on his way through the courtyard.
When he arrives in the throne room, he says nothing of the ghosts to Marda-Biarce.
Characters: Vinnie, Yamato | Verse: Vinnie Raises Yamato AU
Vinnie grimaces as he ushers Yamato back inside as thunder roars and lightning flashes over Battle City's skies. They are meant to be at the B-Dome for the IBA's Halloween party, but, not for the first time, the weather gives him pause.
Yamato bounds over to the windows, climbing up onto the windowsill. His catlike agility still amazes Vinnie, and he suspects that, when the time comes, it will help Yamato in B-dabattles in ways unknown to most B-daplayers.
"Dad! It's raining again!" Yamato proudly announces.
"It sure is." Vinnie reaches for the flashlight. "It's perfect scary story telling weather."
Characters: Wen, Enjyu, Gray, Liena | Verse: University Horror AU
Wen watches as the flames rise higher and higher. In the end, all they had been able to do for the two long dead kids was destroying their only connection to this world.
"Um, guess we'll see you guys around campus." Gray offers with a hesitant smile, one arm slung around Liena, staggering from his injuries.
"Yeah," replies Wen, grinning. They chat just a moment longer, then the twins stagger off together.
Wen looks up at Enjyu, strangely quiet. "Liena stopped them...guess I'm final girl huh?"
Enjyu startles, then takes a moment to sneer. "Nah, you cry too much."
Characters: Player, Li | Verse: Gnosia Crossover AU | Relevant Music
Another loop ends.
You're not sure how you managed to eke out a win this time against the Gnosia, not with Enjyu on their side, but here you are, human and safe and sitting across from Li in the ship's cafeteria. He has a cup of hot chocolate between his hands and, despite the win, an utterly dejected expression on his face.
You can't really blame him. For you, Wen following the Gnosia to the end is just another loop, just another timeline. For this Li, it's the deepest of betrayals.
You down your own cup as static envelopes you.
Characters: Gray, Liena, Ababa | Verse: Hansel and Gretel but it's B-daman
Gray drops B-daballs behind his back the first time the adults take him and Liena to the forest just east of Wintoon. They make it back hand-in-hand, so the adults take their B-daman away and send them out again.
Ababa finds them, takes them to his comfortable and warm home, then gives them bread and a B-daman each. He trains them and speaks eagerly of their growing B-daspirit and the strength of their souls, but quickly grows impatient.
Gray is the one who catches on first, but it's Liena who outwits Ababa and pushes him into the orb's soul-stealing ray.
Characters: Mie, Yamato | Verse: General Canon
Mie can't help but grin as Yamato runs on ahead, his fake cat tail waving along behind him. She strolls along behind him, taking in Cowtoon's playfully spooky decorations and fondly recalling her own Halloween escapades from not too long ago.
Yamato's cat costume isn't the most imaginative, but it is what Mie expected he'd choose, given that Yamato, with his big bright smile, is still relatively new to this whole "real boy" thing.
Ahead, he catches up to other kids a little younger than him, and she breathes a sigh of relief when they welcome him to their group.
Characters: Yamato, Yannes (My OC) | Verse: Scars of the Heart Redux
The mansion's motion slows to a halt, its great mechanical legs slowly lowering toward the ground. Yamato cannot quite tear his gaze away, committing the sight to memory.
But the scenery...it has been dark this entire time. Yamato turns to Yannes with an inquisitive look. "Why's it always so foggy here?"
Yannes doesn't answer right away, but he looks thoughtful, and does so with his usual elegance. His silken shirt and moss-colored hair flutter lightly in the faint breeze.
"I suppose," he answers, "It's the nature of this world." He smiles. "Perhaps you have the power to change it."
So you might have noticed a good chunk of the stories take place in this AU. Though I've labeled it as the "University Horror AU," it's proper title is "Hama City University AU" since the idea is that it takes place in said City.
This AU is exclusive to this collection, and kind of grew naturally as the prompts went on. It's basically if you took Enjyu, Wen, Gray, and Liena and dropped them into a typical college kids doing dumb shit horror movie.
Gray and Liena are still twins, attending the same University. Enjyu and Wen are boyfriends. Incidentally, while I ended up not using this fact, Wen's roommate is Kiba, who is friends with Haja and Jinbei (who are roommates themselves).
Main storyline: 04, 08, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 27
And bonus story set in the same AU: 23
