Chapter Text
October 31st, 2000
Preparing costumes in a normal context was bizarre for Elizabeth. Halloween, like many other holidays, had lost most of its significance as she buried herself in villainy and avoided observing them. She hadn’t really celebrated Halloween since before her mom left when she was a kid. So it had been…18 years now. The thought made her feel strange and a bit old too. Twenty-seven was still young! But the disconnect between her different selves over the years still made her head spin for a moment.
Luckily there was no time or need to dwell upon that, since it was nearly time to take the girls trick or treating. Everyone would be able to come along this time, which pleased Liz quite a bit. Carol and Alicia were often caught up in work obligations that kept them from doing more than just stopping by outside of special occasions. The Dallons also had another family to spend their free time with in the Pelhams, the family of Carol’s sister, Sarah.
Elizabeth felt a bit flattered actually that Carol and her daughter had chosen to go trick or treating with them instead of the Pelhams, even if it was most likely the product of Victoria wanting to spend more time with her friends over her cousins. Carol could’ve put her foot down and insisted they spend Halloween elsewhere, but she hadn’t. It was nice to think that some people liked Liz’s little family enough to actually choose to spend time with them over other options.
The other benefit to everyone coming together on the holiday was that they could choose to coordinate costumes as a group. The kids had all watched The Wizard of Oz movie a few weeks ago and they’d latched onto it tightly since then. Liz had to put the movie on at least once nearly every day so she could replay the songs for them or a particular scene that they wanted to watch again. Of course they wanted to pick the main characters of the film for their Halloween costumes as well.
They’d quickly divided the roles between themselves with much more agreeability than would normally be expected from small children. Amelia had taken Dorothy’s role, Victoria the Scarecrow’s, and Sophia the Lion’s. They hadn’t argued for a moment over who would be who. Apparently their favorite characters were already firmly set in stone. Victoria and Sophia had specified that they were the versions of the characters from the end of the movie, but beyond that they were all set in their roles.
There had been a minor moment of conflict when they realized they had nobody to play the Tin Man, but Sophia had been quick to volunteer her older brother Terry for the role. Elizabeth actually hadn’t yet met him, because (as Alicia explained to her) he was typically babysat by a neighbor of Alicia who refused to watch children below a certain age. He’d rejected the idea at first, but a bit of begging along with some pressure from his mother made him cave. He would be their Tin Man on the condition that he still got to wear the knight costume he’d already wanted to use for Halloween. The girls had all accepted that and the group of four was properly rounded out.
This being their first Halloween, Liz wanted to do something special and dress up herself. She decided that Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch would be a great choice for two of the adults of the group to wear, but when she had brought it up with Alicia she’d immediately been shot down. Apparently Alicia didn’t feel like dressing up for Halloween as a grown adult with children. She had been nice enough to help with Liz’s facepaint at least, providing a second set of eyes and hands to make sure it looked alright..
So, Liz had been forced to resort to lowly methods to convince Carol to dress up with her instead. She had organized a group ambush against Carol with Amelia, Sophia, and Victoria supporting her in her pleading. The four of them overwhelmed her resistance with a coordinated effort. Carol hadn’t stood a chance, and had fallen in moments. So she would be playing the Good Witch while Liz played the Wicked Witch. It all felt very exciting and novel!
Liz was the first to finish putting on her costume with Alicia’s help putting on the face paint speeding up the process significantly. The paint was less uncomfortable than Liz had expected and she was especially fond of the hat. The dark brim on the upper edge of her vision gave her a bit of delight for whatever reason.
Alicia left to go help the kids with their costumes while Liz waited in the living room. When they finally came out Elizabeth felt as if her heart might burst at the sight of them. Amelia was twirling in her white and blue gingham dress to make the skirt move, only stopping when she got dizzy enough that she nearly fell with a dopey grin on her face. Sophia was practicing her ‘Brave Lion poses,’ curling her hands up to make claws (occasionally running them through the costume’s mane) and going through a variety of roars to see which one suited her the best. Her big brother Terry was doing his best to look large and ‘knightly’ in his costume to maintain his persona despite being the Tin Man for his little sister and her friends. Victoria kept playing with the straw poking out from various points on her costume, idly flicking at errant strands whenever she wasn’t adjusting her hat and the strands on its back.
All of them were absolutely adorable. Liz still hadn’t gotten over this sight of them when Carol came out in her Good Witch costume. Carol had always been the tallest of their little group and the tall sparkly crown on top of her head only emphasized her height. Liz had severely underestimated how much shine was on the costume. The best world she could find to describe Carol’s appearance was radiant. It felt like it might even need to be capitalized to properly convey just how bright she was.
Carol was picking at the empty end of her left sleeve, with her nerves on clear display. Liz could tell she was moments away from edging back down the hall to change into normal clothes. That was an absolutely unacceptable outcome. Now that Liz had seen Carol dressed up she needed to have her in that costume while they went out.
“You look great, Carol! Goodest Good Witch I’ve ever seen!” Liz said, flashing a thumbs up and a grin at the younger woman.
“She’s right, you pull it off real well.” Alicia said, giving Carol a thumbs up as well. The children all gave their own support of Carol’s costume in an irregular chorus, also giving her thumbs up following the example of the adults. She couldn’t have asked for better if they had planned it in advance.
Carol took a deep breath, let it out, and set her shoulders before leading everyone to the door. It really was miraculous what a bit of support and well-intentioned peer pressure could do for a person’s confidence. The group split themselves between Alicia’s and Elizabeth’s cars to drive into a more affluent suburb which was likely to have the best picking for trick or treating. Tonight was going to be great.
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Elizabeth should have known something was wrong the second she saw the crew cut on the prick who opened the door.
The night had been going great up to that point, with the kids even scoring a few full-size bars from some of the houses they went to. Each time they’d returned to the sidewalk with a celebratory group cheer. Even the fun-sized candies had been of preferable candy brands, with the worst being Whoopers which were only really enjoyed by Amelia. They’d been going for long enough now that this was the last house they would be visiting before walking back to the cars and heading home. The kids had been giddy going up to it after seeing the kids before them going back with full-size candy bars.
They had all run up to the doorstep and given the mandatory ‘Trick or Treat’ greeting as their part of the holiday ritual. The man answering the door had placed a large candy bar into Amelia’s bag, then one into Victoria’s bag before shutting the door. The children stood in front of the closed door in shock at what had been done for a moment before awkwardly turning around and returning to their parents on the sidewalk.
The range of reactions in them revealed how much they knew about the city’s most hateful element. Amelia and Sophia were both confused and upset, with Amelia rubbing her friend’s back as Sophia held back tears in a failed attempt to conceal how affected she was at being denied something her friends had been given for no apparent reason. Elizabeth hadn’t felt Amelia was old enough for that discussion, and evidently Alicia had felt the same about Sophia. Terry had some idea about the motivation behind the man’s behavior, as shown by the squeak of his sword’s plastic handle as his hand clenched tight around it. Alicia had likely spoken with him about it, he might have even encountered it personally sometime before this at his age. Victoria’s rage was the most visible without any visor to hide it, glaring at the house with such strong intent that she would’ve turned the place to ash with her gaze if she could have.
There was a similar range in the responses of the parents. Elizabeth hated the man’s guts the same as she did every other Nazi she’d run into in this city. She might have come by later to pay him a visit, but she was trying not to be the kind of person who took the violent route anymore. She would also rather spend the holiday with those she loved than firebomb a racist’s house like it were any other night. She was awkwardly attempting to console the children along with Alicia, whose expression bore a sort of sad resignation. Alicia had likely been witness and victim to scenes like this hundreds of times living in Brockton Bay, to the point where most of her resistance had been worn down. It eventually felt too painful to hope for change, even as she watched her own children become the latest targets of the Empire’s contempt.
Carol reflected Victoria’s feelings at an even greater intensity, with a fire in her eyes Liz had only seen before when she’d made the mistake of asking about her work as a lawyer. She snarled something under her breath before stomping up to the door, banging her first against the wood. The man came out again, and Carol was on him in an instant. She verbally tore into him with a tirade Liz was unable to hear from her spot on the sidewalk.
The man became belligerent for a moment, puffing himself up and moving to invade her personal space. Then he noticed the gaze of the next group of trick or treaters on him, who had been escorted to the door by their parents who were now rightfully looking at him like he was the scum of the earth for nearly getting physical with a crippled woman for saying he shouldn’t slam the door on black kids asking for candy during Halloween.
He handed over the two bars in a pathetic attempt to play down his behavior and save face. Carol gave a parting line that made him go pale before she returned to everyone else on the sidewalk, wordlessly dropping the bars into Sophia’s and Terry’s bags. She made a blithe remark about how she couldn’t stand people like that, casually shoving the interaction into the past as some minor unpleasantness she had resolved. The kids were all staring up at her like she was a larger than life figure. Alicia gave her a small grateful smile. Liz couldn't take her eyes off her. In that moment, staring at Carol in her too sparkly dress, Elizabeth felt like she finally understood the appeal of superheroes.