CiRCuS MoNSTeRS

Is someone out there?
The world had suddenly stopped and Aki's eyes shrank as the bush that hid her amongst the shadows were moved. Her breath leapt to her throat closing in any air that she needed. She panicked and stood up to make a run for it, but her legs buckled underneath her and her body refused to move.
Come on legs, move! I can't afford to get law enforcements here, not now.
It's a little late to be out. Show's over. Are you lost?
The voice was movie towards her now. Aki's heart had now clogged her throat and she attempted to swallow it down, but a raw choking sensation the only thing she felt. Sweat started to race down her forehead as she felt her breath pick up. She looked down at her feet and panicked even more.
Come on, come on!
Though sneaking about like that, well...
She looked up to see who was making there way towards her, no one there. A sudden chill raced down her spine and she felt the world stop again. She breathed slightly.
...It's pretty suspicious.
Aki gasped and turned around quickly to see the magician standing right behind her, but fear and panic caused his appearance to be more life threatening. She took a step back, her lips quivering to form useless words, and eyes filled with tears. She was shaking terribly. The only thing she thought she could do logically was...
A...ahhhh!!!!
Her lungs felt as though they were on fire as she screamed like a banshee. Then her world went black.

 

♪The Shadow of the Circus, Night Cross♪

To say she was surprised when someone from the audience had decided to sneak back to the circus was an...over-statement. Night wasn't really expecting someone to try and get a peek at them, but it was a little surprising. The stranger had given themselve's away by stepping on a twig, this caused all four of them to look in the general direction of the noise. Ella had moved the bushes out of the way, revealing a girl. Holden then decided to ask his own question before continuing on and vanishing from sight before reappearing behind the stranger. The girl screamed as though her life were in danger before passing out. Realizing how loud the scream was, it was a miracle when Victor nor Amaya had shown up to investigate. It was sorta strange.

Night overheard Holden's question about him scaring the girl too badly and she shook her head in response. She crossed her arms over her chest as she thought of the right things to say to him so that she wouldn't make him feel guilty about her fainting. "It was...not your fault. I am guessing that...she was not expecting to...get caught. And when she did....she was just...surprised is all" she managed out in the best way that she could.

 

❝I came to see the Dark Woods Circus❞
___________________________​

Okay, so he hadn't necessarily been from the town where the circus was, he had left home for a few days to stay with a friend at their house, and that's where he had heard about the Dark Woods Circus. And when he found out Sammy was going too, he was going to ask her if they should go together, since they really didn't know what they were in for.

And so that's how he ended up in a different town, staying at a cozy bed and breakfast. He rather liked this place though, it was calm, clean, and more importantly, it was missing the one thing his home had that this didn't - his mom. He was pretty sure the woman hadn't noticed he wasn't at home anyway.

Cal had returned to the small inn before Sammy had, it seemed, but when he was standing on the balcony, eating an apple, he saw her figure off in the distance coming back. From what he could tell of her, she looked like she was in deep thought about something, "Yo Sammy!" he called out, trying to be as quiet as he could so that he wouldn't alert the other inn guests, "What'd you think of that circus? Pretty awesome, don't you think?"​

 

Ella jumped as the girl reacted as she did, she hadn't expected her to scream and be that scared. They weren't that scary, were they? Well she guessed they could have that impression, especcially when they used their powers but they didn't mean it. They were nice people, if only you looked past the first appearences. However her first reaction when she screamed was to look for the ringmasters appearing. She didn't think they'd done anything wrong technically but they probably wouldn't be too pleased about the girl sneaking in. She still got very nervous thinking about it though, she did not want to get on the wrong side of the ringmasters. Yet they didn't appear and she let out a slight sigh of relief before turning her attention back to the girl.

Thankfully Holden had managed to catch her, "We believe you, you were fine, we couldn't have known she'd react like that. Though, perhaps, we did go slightly far. She just wasn't expecting us to find her" She smiled slightly as she gazed at the mystery girl, wondering what she was doing here. She felt slightly guilty for scaring her, she hadn't meant her any harm. It was the first time someone had snuck into see them and she wasn't really sure how to react to it, it had been a long time since she'd spoken to anyone outside the circus. "But what do we do now? Surely, we can't just leave her here. Do we just wait for her to wake up? And what do we say when she does?" She asked the others, she wasn't quite sure how to deal with this situation.

 

"Guess she wasn't expecting to be found." Sky said as he thought about what to do with her. "If we leave her out here, she may get found by one of the ringmasters and that might turn out so good." That took away one option they had, so maybe they could take her back into the tent until she wakes up or something. "There still the option of taking her back with us."

As Gray made his way back to what he thought was the direction of the tent, he heard a scream nearby. Confused and surprised on what he heard he decied to investigate. When got arrived in the general area on where the scream had come from, he noticed three people standing in front of one that was lying down. Looks like she got over eager to see them. He thought just before the tree he'd stoped behind moved away.

 

Sammy looked up in shock, searching for the source of the voice calling out to her. Then she found it. Cal. Quickly looking around to see if anyone was watching them, she shushed him and said in as quiet a shout as she could muster, "Dude! We're supposed to keep a low profile, man!" Though she hurried closer to the bed and breakfast to talk with him in a more private manner than shouting outside. However just as she was closing the distance, a faint blood curdling scream stopped her. Sammy froze into place, unsure of what to do. Then she slowly turned around. It had been very quiet, but she was almost certain that it had come from the forest. The wind had been blowing at just the right moment. What...what was that? "Hey," called out Sammy to Cal, not bothering to muffle her voice, "did you heard that?" Did....someone try to sneak in already? What if they got caught? Oh god... She made an executive decision. "You coming with or not, man? Make it fast." She prepared her flashlight to go into the dark woods once more.

 

♪The Shadow of the Circus, Night Cross♪

Night listened to Sky's suggestion as she crossed her arms. "We cannot do that...Amaya and Victor will...surely check up on us. I mean...to make sure we are getting our rest." she replied. The ringmasters have given them something they called a curfew. The performers had two hours to themselves after the show was over before they needed to head back to their tents and get some sleep. They were very strict about this one rule too. "If we...take her back with us...it's more than likely that...she will get caught there instead" Night added, as she moved her gaze towards the ground. Thinking this, they were better off keeping her out here and using what was left of their 'free time' to wait for her to wake up. Especially since it seemed the scream hadn't attracted Victor or Amaya's attention.

 

❝I came to see the Dark Woods Circus❞
___________________________​

Cal waved his hand sheepishly at Sammy, apologizing more quietly as she hurried closer to the inn. Right as she was about to be there, a faint scream that Cal just barely picked up sounded. It came from pretty far to be so quiet, but Cal could define it for what it was immediately. His reddish-brown eyes darted down to his friend to see her stuck in her place, but then she slowly turned around.

Although the scream had been extremely, nearly deadly, quiet, Cal had immediately known it had come from the forest. "Hey," Sammy called to Call, who looked down at her, his face a little pale, "Did you hear that?"

Cal nodded slowly, "Yeah . . ." From the forest . . . where the Dark Woods Circus lay - what had happened? What went down there after the shows? The ringmasters did look a bit . . . strict - did they torture their performers - was that why the little fiery one was so rambunctious, was that why that girl, that girl with no blood or muscle, or anything, the way she was because of it?Or . . . had one of the other members of the audience tried to sneak in after the show - just like Cal had considered for a moment - and then were caught?

He felt a little sick at these thoughts, his stomach dropping as well.

"You coming or not, man?" came Sammy, pulling him away from his thoughts, "Make it fast," she said, clicking her flashlight on.

He nodded quickly - once Sammy was ready to go, she was ready to go. He leaped off of the balcony carefully and went into a tucked roll once he hit the ground, ending up next to his friend when he stood, "Let's go," and the two began back to the forest that held the Dark Woods Circus.​

 

"Wha- dude! How many times have I told you not to do that?! It's dangerous! What are you, Link?" scolded Sammy as she fastwalked doubletime. Although yes, they were in a bit of a hurry, she preferred not to run. It'll likely attract far too much attention for a little nighttime reconnaissance. And also because Sammy was still a bit too lazy to actually go out into a full out run. Whether Cal wanted to speedwalk or actually get there sooner was up to him, and she would of course follow her friend, but for now, she kept her flashlight low to the ground, almost covering it with her hand to hide the beam. Occasionally she would shine it into the forest, but she doubted that it was all that powerful from this distance. Sure it was a bright flashlight, but it had been used on more than one occasion. Blackouts, trying to find dropped items, etc.

While walking along, it occurred to Sammy that, she had no idea where to go from the edge of the forest. What were they supposed to do once they reached it? All they got was a slight scream and all they knew was that it came from the woods. They didn't know where it came from in the woods. Maybe someone had gotten lost and came upon a snake, or raccoon, or an owl. Who knows why that person screamed? Sammy chewed on her lower lip. She hid these thoughts from Dom, but decided to call out very, very softly once they reached the edge. She was practically notorious for getting lost fast, and didn't want to even step foot into the dark forest at night. That would no doubt lead into deeper trouble. When they had finally reached the edge of the forest, she swung her flashlight around at the trees and called out as planned, "H-hello?" Unsatisfied with that pitiful meekness, she cleared her throat and tried again with more courage, speaking now with her normal tone of voice, "Hello? Anyone there? W- I thought I heard someone in danger."

 

Petal sighed, "We can't seem to win here. So, we just stay here and wait for her to wake up?" She shook her head, crouching down to look at the girl closer. She was quite pretty, it just begged the question why she was out here. Had she come looking for them? If so why? Maybe she wanted to help them escape from this prison, she briefly thought before dismissing that idea as silly. Why would someone do that for them, a bunch of freaks? Ages ago she would of protested to being called a freak but after being called one so much, she'd come to accept that she must be one. That was a sad thing in itself. Either way, whatever this girl had come for, she'd got more than she'd bargained for and had left them with a real dilemma. "I guess that's our best chance, it just seems like we should be doing someth-" She broke off to listen harder.

Her entire body tensed up, there was a voice, it appeared someone had heard the scream after all. She looked round quickly at the others to see if they'd heard it and as if to ask what to do. She'd had little expirence with the outside world and really was unsure what to do. Should they answer or make a run for it or just stay still and hope they were not discovered?

 

♪The Shadow of the Circus, Night Cross♪

Hearing more voices coming from the edge of the woods, Night turned her gaze away from the others to find the exact source of the 'noise.' They didn't need anymore people coming around, or getting caught. If those who were sneaking around were caught, then it was more likely that they would be found by their ringmasters and be in even deeper trouble than before. Night didn't want that to happen and she knew that the others didn't either. She glanced over at the other performers and noticed that Ella was the one who noticed the voices also. That was enough to convince her that she wasn't hallucenating the sound.

Not waiting for the others to respond, she turned away from them with a mental sigh "I will check it out. You three...just make sure...no one gets caught." she told them as she walked off a few while slowly sinking into the shadows, provided by the dim moonlight. Night just wanted to find this person and keep them away from the tent. Who knows what'll happen if Victor and Amaya found...humans out here trying to see them. Getting to the edge of the forest where she heard the voices coming from, Night emerged from the darkness halfway. Only her head and shoulders coming into view as she remained hidden. She didn't want to scare them away, or cause that person to scream like the other. Noticing a bright light, no doubt it was a flashlight, Night pushed the rest of her body out the shadows, but remained hidden. She didn't want to be seen just yet, although she did take a peek at the one trying to find the circus. She was surprised to find that it was not just one person but, two. Night didn't recognize the girl, the one leading the way, but she realized that the boy following was from the audience. The only reason he seemed familiar was because of her performance when the shadow went through some of the audience members. He was one of them.

'Still...that doesn't explain why they're out here. I don't want to believe it's so they can see the 'monsters' but, what other reason is there' Night thought with a slight glare at nothing.

 

"Hmm...well it couldn't have been just me, because you heard it too, right?" questioned Sammy to Cal. Heaving a sigh as she made another sweep with her flashlight, she mumbled again, "Well I guess it was nothing...let's just go-" at that point, Sammy froze into place again. She thought she had seen...something strange. She concentrated the sweeps in one area, trying to find whatever it was from before. What was that? It was....it was....man I don't want to think about it anymore. "Dude, I'm starting to wonder if it was really worth all this trouble just to check if someone was all right," she said to Cal as an aside. Another couple sweeps with nothing found. Well maybe that was from my imagination.

 

The world was dark in Aki's mind as she felt a throb pounding in her head. There was a mysterious garble of vibrations racing to her ears. Where am I?
The noise grew louder. Am I dead?
Her eyes fluttered open to see shadows of figures above her, but her vision blurred and the world spun.
No...I don't think so.
She blinked unconsciously as her eyes reflected a dark pool of black.
I wonder if I'm in jail. Probably...heh. I always get myself into trouble. I'm sorry...
Mom. She muttered.

 

❝I came to see the Dark Woods Circus❞
___________________________​

Cal snickered at the scolding response he'd gained from Sammy after leaping off of the balcony. Now they were walking quickly, to the point where they were nearly running, but he knew his friend liked to keep it low-key, so they weren't going to do anything that would attract attention to themselves. Cal really wanted to hurry now, but he didn't want to leave Sammy behind, so he kept pace with her.

He had no idea what to expect when they got there - but they would worry about that when they got there. The thing was, they didn't exactly know where in the forest the circus was. The only clue they had in direction was that scream - and a very faint one at that. Perhaps . . . No, the both of them couldn't have imagined it, so the place had to be around here somewhere.

When Sammy meekly called out, Cal wanted to laugh at her, she was so cautious. He silently applauded her, however, when she piped up a little bit more. The blonde observed their surroundings - forest, forest, and more forest. He was sure the circus was around here somewhere - if he could only find that faint trail that he'd taken back to the inn - it lead straight from their to the circus.

"Hmm . . . well, it couldn't have been just me because you heard it too, right?" Cal looked at Sammy, "Yeah, I did - we both couldn't have imagined it." he replied when she swept her flashlight around a little more, "Well, I guess it was nothing . . . Let's just go -" Cal frowned when she abruptly stopped talking and looked at her with alert to see her frozen in place. It was then he could tell she was focusing flashing the light around one very small area. Had she seen something?

"You want me to climb the trees to check it out?" he asked her, looking in the general area - of course, while all of the trees were different, there was something odd about this little piece of the greenery . . . something whiter. Two whites, specifically. They felt familiar, as if he'd seen them before.

"Yo Sam, I think I'm gonna scout up in the trees, just hang tight for a bit." he told Sammy, heading towards the tree trunk.​

 

♪The Shadow of the Circus, Night Cross♪

Night was slightly caught off guard when the girl had started to scan the flashlight around the whole forest area. It was obvious that she wasn't as graceful at hiding then she thought she was. She quickly tensed up in her hiding spot and knew it was best to stay out of the direction of the light if she didn't want to get caught, but with her doing a double sweep of the forest, that was a difficult task to do. When the girl had finally calmed down, Night thought she was in the clear and mentally sighed as she relaxed slightly. It only lasted for a few seconds when the boy had decided to scout the forest from the tree tops. Hearing his footsteps coming closer and closer, Night did the only thing she could think of and quickly waved her hand, using the shadows to cover up the flashlight.

It wasn't much, but it was the only thing she could think of in this slight panicked state. Her powers worked just like Ella's did. They started to drain her after a while and using her powers to the max during that performance had really weakened her. It was still likely that she would get caught. No thanks to the moonlight and all, but she didn't have time to run back to the others. Even if she did leave now, it was likely that these two would follow her thanks to the sound of her running. Night huffed as she blew a strand of her lavander hair out of her eyes and remained hidden behind the tree. She had to keep the darkness around the flashlight as long as possible, at least until they got far away from the circus. There was no telling how long that'll last though with her energy slowly draining from her body. She could only hope that this would scare the girl just enough to want to go back and that would cause the boy to tag along with her.

 

​

"My name is..." She hesitated. Sometimes she forgot her real name entirely. "...You can call me Stitches."

She raised an eyebrow at Mai's question. First of all, she was highly concerned they would get caught out here. Secondly, she wasn't sure what she meant by help. What did she expect her to do? Run away? The girl's arms crossed, lips forming a subtle pout. She was confused and irritated. A part of her still very much wanted to go back to her tent and lay down; but another part wanted to take Mai up on her offer and attempt some kind of escape from here. The thought itself made her nervous and restless, her stomach twisting up in knots, her skin heated. It also frightened her.

"N-nothing happened," That much was true. Nothing had happened to set her off. It was just everything. She was overwhelmed. She didn't want to preform anymore. Her voice softened. "Look...I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm seriously going to get into...trouble if I'm seen talking to you, especially about this. I'm alright, really."

​

 

Mai Tokiha, the flames of Salvation​

Mai, sensing Stitches wasn't joking about that, decided to back off. "Okay, I don't wanna get you into trouble." Especially with THOSE two ringmasters. "I'll be coming to your next show. Maybe we could meet afterwards?

Flandre, the Scarlet Devil​

Flandre decided to go fly around outside a bit and go find a few trees to take out her frustrations on. I'll get that Victor if its the last thing I do. She reaches a large pine tree, nearly 50 feet tall. "I!" She slashed at the tree, putting a huge diagonal gash in it. "Will!" Another gash appears making it look like a V. "Rip!" Two more appear. "Him!" Now looking like an upside down star, she summons the Laevatein spear. "OPEN!" As the word comes out of her mouth, she stabs the star in the middle, activating a demonic pentagram. Her pupils shrink and her face darkens. With an unholy voice she shrieks and as she does she takes the spear and slices through the tree all the way to the ground. "RAAAGH!! With raging scarlet mist radiating from her wings, she stands there, in front of the cleaved tree. after awhile she calms down and turns around to walk back to her room. The next show will be my last...And Victor's too. She smiled, relishing that thought.

 

"No! Wait! Hey!" shouted Sammy forcefully at Cal's suggestion. She tried to grab the back of his jacket as he walked away. No way in hell she was going to allow him to do something that risky and dangerous at this hour of the night in this sketchy place. But then stuff started to happen. The first thing that Sammy noticed was that everything suddenly got dark to the point where she couldn't really see much at all. Eventually her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness and she looked down to her small flashlight. It wasn't illuminated like it was before. What? But it was working just fine before. Could the batteries have run out so quickly? After testing the button to turn the flashlight on and off a few times with nothing happening, Sammy called out to Cal while searching for the spare batteries in her pockets. "Hang on a sec. I think the flashlight ran out of power. I'm going to change the batteries. DON'T. GO. ANYWHERE," she said seriously. Of course after she said that, she became aware that it sounded like she was scared and didn't want to be alone. Which was partly true, but it was also for Cal's safety. Staying calm in the dark, Sammy managed to change the batteries of the flashlight in a timely fashion with some help from the moon. Again she pushed the button to turn it on, but to her surprise it didn't work. "Huh...well that's weird..." Briefly in the back of her head, she wondered if that one performer that could control shadows had a part in this. But as always, Nah...no way. What would she be doing here anyway? Come on, Sammy, get real. You would think that after years of having things messing up and being wrong because of not listening to the rational part of her brain, she would listen at some point. But no. Sammy was the kind of person that needed infinite second chances and most times it was the fourth time's the charm and not the third. "Dude, this flashlight is not working and I don't know why. Maybe I put in the batteries wrong..."