Disclaimer: I do not own -Man or any part of the franchise except for my story. Poor me.
The Start I
The crowd roared as the last performers of the day's show finished their act. The ringmaster cracked his whip and performers filed in and took a bow. There was a loud round of applause and the air filled with raucous cheers for encore.
Raye Thurston leaned back into the bleachers as people made their way out of the circus tent. She frowned as her eyes scanned through the crowd. The exorcist was dressed as a young boy, and she blended in amongst the families that had come to watch the circus.
Marian Cross wasn't here. He was probably – no, definitely in Britain now, doing what he did best. Boozing and seducing hapless and not-so-hapless ladies, occasionally dispatching a few Akuma here and there.
But her idiot of a master wasn't here now. Talk about extreme irritation.
All her efforts to slip out from the finders' noses in order to talk to her master had been wasted. She thought of the young man and woman that had assigned to her and snorted. Finders, my ass she thought. They were most likely Central operatives, disguised as Black Order fodder.
Or Crows, she thought darkly, but dismissed the thought. Crows would have never let her out of their sight.
She couldn't repeat this again. Central would be sure of it. As perfect as her behavior had outwardly been ever since she had joined the order, being Marian Cross' apprentice automatically meant that she was deemed a threat. She had been placed on missions of higher risk than usual, and her 'finders' carefully watched her every move, waiting for her to slip up and show that she was disloyal to the Black Order. This disappearing act would be concrete evidence to Central's suspicions that she wasn't as obedient as she had appeared to be.
Raye frowned at the thought of returning to face her finders. There would be hell to pay for this. That was definite.
Today would be exactly 3 months to the day when Central started suspecting that General Cross wasn't as loyal as he was supposed to be. He might be an Earl operative, they said. He's plotting to bring us down.
They had questioned her. What has he told you? You are an exorcist. Your duty is to God and the Black Order. Never forget that. You must report any blasphemous things that Marian Cross has said to you.
Raye usually didn't let talk like that go to her head. They were baseless accusations. They would never be able to dig up enough dirt to bury him. Besides, he was a General. He was one of the five most powerful exorcists. They desperately needed exorcists of his caliber.
Until that day.
Raye usually closed one eye to Cross' less than legal activities. Traveling with him was an exercise of patience and wit. Whenever she went on mission with him, she always ended up having to cough out money to pay for her master's exorbitant lifestyle. One day, if Central really sent accountants to sort through their spending records, she was sure they were faint at the real amount that Cross spent. No matter what Central thought of her being an obedient pawn, being the apprentice of Marian Cross usually meant doing illegal things, be it hustling to pay money for his alcohol or women, or surreptitiously claiming money from the Black Order's budget so that she could pay off his goddamn bills off for once, dammit.
Maria was already a black mark against his record. Raye was certain that Central suspected that Cross had been using some form of occult magic to use someone else's innocence.
But meeting a member of a family who are known to be Earl Sympathizers - even one supposedly against the Earl was a no-no. Raye had to talk to him, before he got himself – and most probably her – into huge trouble.
Raye was prepared to be killed one day, fighting against the Earl and his minions. She was an exorcist after all; it was her duty to fight Akuma. However, it was definitely not on her darn agenda to die because she and her master had invoked the wrath of Central.
Cross was against the Earl, that was for sure, but he was increasingly against Central too. It wasn't as if his apprentice didn't understand why. As the days passed, Raye herself was finding it hard to condone what the Black Order was doing.
But she definitely didn't want to be a martyr. She personally felt that the only path that she could take was to keep her mouth shut and kill as many Akuma as possible. Although she and her master's personalities were very much alike, she had of late clashed with the man over the approaches in which they dealt with Central. Raye preferred not to stick out, but Cross was open in his disdain of the higher ups.
"Little boy? The show is over. Have you lost your parents?" Raye snapped out of her thoughts. At first she was irritated, because she had been mistaken for a child yet again, then she thanked her lucky stars that she had the sense to dress like a man. I'm 15! She grumbled internally. The ringmaster was looking at her with concern.
"Ah! You're the ringmaster! My parents let me come today by myself." Raye said. "I really enjoyed today's show!"
The ringmaster was surprised. "A young boy like you here all by yourself? Looking at the way you're dressed, you should have a few servants with you. Are they outside? I'll call them to come get you."
"Oh, I sent them to town on an errand." Raye replied airily, fibbing her way through the ringmaster's various questions. "I thought all of the acts were very excellent. Is there another show in the evening?" Raye piled on the enthusiasm and the cheer, and was rewarded for her efforts.
The ringmaster gave her a wide smile. "Off course, young master. Would you be interested in watching the show once again?"
Raye pretended to think. "Hmm…well, I'm not sure. My parents said that I must be back before dark."
The ringmaster nodded sagely. "Young boy like you shouldn't go out in the dark by your lonesome, or even if you have a servant with you. You might meet up with some of those unsavory types. But since you're so eager, let me propose an offer. If you wouldn't mind paying a bit, I could let you come into our camp and talk to the performers."
Score. "Of course! My name is Eric Thornton, pleased to make your acquaintance." Raye told him.
Walking through the camp, accompanied by the ringmaster, Raye willed her master to appear before her. The girl was risking a lot, perhaps far too much in the vain hope of finding out what Cross was up to. Oh, she didn't have a chance in hell of dissuading him, but she wanted notice if the irresponsible man was going to plunge both of them into hell.
Firstly, she had managed, after much difficulty, to beg a mission to Lake District from Suman Dark. Then, she had to discreetly contact every one of Cross' acquaintances to find out if they knew where exactly he was; all while sending the finders off on wild goose chases so that she could talk to them personally. One of Cross' ex-flames in London that was still marginally polite had told her that the red-haired man was around here, in Dover. Another had mentioned (after she agreed to pay for the all the wine that Cross drank) that she had overheard him telling someone else he was looking for a clown in a circus in south England.
When in doubt, follow the trail of debt and broken hearts. The girl wondered why women seemed drawn to the red-headed man. He was a chain smoker, alcoholic and all-around jerk. Yuck.
Raye kept up polite banter with the ringmaster, even whilst scrutinizing everyone. But all she saw was unfamiliar faces and her heart sank. This is the last circus in the area, he should be here. Blast it, why isn't he here?
"Er – Mr Dawes," she interrupted the man's little lecture on the vitality of the circus' horses, "I loved the clowns. Could you take me there? I would like to talk to them." The man agreed and led her in a different direction, to the edges of the camp. There were tightrope walkers practicing and other kinds of performers touching up on their makeup. The next show would start soon. She was running out of time
Scanning around, she didn't notice when she plowed into a little boy. The boy was knocked to the ground. "Oh, I am so sorry!" She gripped his right arm as she hauled him to his feet. "Are you okay?" The little boy was probably around 8 or 9. Raye thought he was really scrawny for a child his age.
The brown-haired boy rewarded her with a terrified look, yanking his hand from her grasp and backing away.
__________________
Author's Note : Hello! This is my first fanfiction. My next update will probably be around 13 November onwards. After another chapter introducing what happened at first, I'll get into the latest arcs proper from hopefully the third chapter onwards :D