This is my first crossover and the first of a few Repo/Devil's Carnival one shots I plan to write. It's a collaboration with a friend of mine. She is editing pictures of certain pairings and I'm writing about them. This is different so I hope you enjoy!
Beautifully Broken
Pavi was confused. He could not figure out where he was or how he gotten there. It almost looked like the remains of the GeneCo Renaissance Fair but he concluded that it was impossible since the last one was months ago. That and Amber would have never would have used clown decorations. Well, maybe she could have used something here and there but this place seemed filled with images of them. Tacky, Pavi thought, as he continued to walk down the dirt path. He slowly begun to realize that there was more than just a clown theme to this odd place. He found carousals, a Ferris wheel, though it wasn't moving, and tents with signs of different attractions hung above them. The obvious difference was that the signs had nothing to do with promoting surgery. It couldn't have possibly been a GeneCo function. He was not in Sanitarium.
Could this be some kind of circus he wondered? He certainly couldn't recall to going to any circus, not since he was a child anyway. In fact the last thing he remembered was getting very close to taking a new face. He had been stalking the same woman for weeks at that point and was finally able to catch her alone and without prying eyes. Just as he was about to make his move however, he felt a sudden jolt and everything went black. When he woke up, he found himself in the middle of this seemingly deserted wasteland.
His eyes scanned over the empty carnival game booths. There was no other person in sight, no one who could clear things up for him. This was all so very strange…and frustrating. He sighed deeply and leaned against a wooden post next to him, crossing his arms. There was a sudden gleam in his eye and he looked down to see a small hand mirror on the game stand. It looked quite similar to his own, intriguing him. He picked it up to examine himself. Pavi was relieved to see the same face he had last attached was still there. He reached up a hand to touch it when he noticed the glove that he didn't remember wearing. He looked down at his other hand to find a matching leather glove with no fingers. That's when a full sized mirror which seemed to come from out of nowhere appeared in front him. Pavi's gave his reflection a once over, admiring his new outfit. Long sleeved fishnet shirt with a white vest, tight vinyl pants, black boots, at least his wardrobe looked familiar, except for maybe the black fedora he was wearing; he hated ruining his hair.
Pavi was about to discard the hat when he heard the sound of humming. Could it finally be another person? He stood completely still and concentrated. The humming grew louder and he was pleased to recognize it as a woman's voice. Whoever she was maybe she could help him in more ways than one. He followed the sound, careful not to make too much noise in his steps. He turned the corner of a tent and when he saw no one he figured the person must be inside. Pulling aside the tent flaps, he entered and sure enough found a young, blonde woman dancing around with what looked like a blow up doll. He raised his eyebrow and as he got closer he noticed that the woman was quite beautiful although the lighting was a bit dark. Her outfit gave him quite a turn as well, though he supposed he had seen weirder things in Amber's closet.
Since she seemed to be in her own little world and took no notice of him, Pavi decided to speak up.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse-a me?" When she continued to dance around, he raised his voice in a louder tone. "Excuse-a me?"
The girl then stopped and set down the doll she was playing with and turned to face Pavi. She cocked her head and looked at him with curious eyes.
"I am-a sorry to disturb you but I was-a wondering if you could help me?" he asked.
She took a step into the light, revealing all her features and Pavi couldn't help but be taken aback. The left side of her face was marred with cracks and her eye was a completely different color than her right eye. He quickly contained himself though. Makeup, he thought.
"Um, you see, I'm trying to find a way back home and was hoping you could point me in the right direction."
The ends of the girl's lips began to curl and then she giggled in low tone that was almost sinister. She turned back around proceeded to skip away.
"Wait!" Pavi cried out as he followed her. She may have been odd but she might also be his only chance and getting back home. Luckily she didn't go far and he found her sitting at a small vanity in the middle of the tent. She was dabbing some powder on her face. Pavi sighed and approached her yet again.
"Please." He began. "I just need a bit of-a information."
The odd girl merely smirked and continued to apply her make-up and Pavi began to feel his patience running thin. "I do not-a have time for this. Can you help-a me or not?"
She began to hum again and he groaned in irritation. "Can you even-a speak at all?"
"I can speak." She replied in a low, velvety voice. "Just as well as I can sing."
"Who are you?" asked Pavi. "What is-a this place?"
"I am the Painted Doll." She answered as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror.
Painted Doll? What kind of a name is that, Pavi thought. A light bulb then went off into his head. Ah, it must be stage name. That explained a lot.
"Well, signora Doll, care to explain-a how I got here?" he asked.
"Do you think I'm pretty?" she answered, changing the subject.
Pavi blinked. Was she actually answering his question with another question? Pavi half laughed, half scoffed. "Pardon?"
"Do you think I'm pretty?" she repeated, twirling her curls
Pavi scrunched up his brow. "…Yes, I do find you-a quite lovely, mia cara, but you did not-a answer my question."
She finally turned away from the vanity and sat with her legs crossed as she looked up at him. "What is that you want?"
Pavi shrugged. "I want to know how to get out of here."
The Doll shook her head. "I can't help you with that. It all depends on you, Pavi." She stood up from her stool and examined him from head to toe.
Pavi stared in confusion. "How do you know-a my name?"
She smiled. "I have my ways. Now, why don't you tell me what you really want?"
Pavi rubbed the back of his head. She was being awfully cryptic. "I'm not sure I understand, you, mia cara."
The Doll sighed and began to circle him like a vulture. "That's alright. I know the answer anyway."
Pavi raised his brow and decided to drop the fake accent. "And what might that be?"
"Beauty." she stated. "Your whole life you've been taught to cherish it, to embrace it, to be it."
Pavi stood still and listened to the doll, wondering where this sudden analysis was coming from. She continued to circle him, tracing and cold finger down his arm, sending him shivers.
"You are a handsome man but because of the incident you had, you believe that you lost it, the appeal of your physical appearance."
Now that stung. Pavi knew exactly what she was referring to; the surgery that had gone horribly wrong and scarred his face forever. He hated hearing others mentioning it to him. At that point he didn't care how she knew about it. He just wanted her to stop talking.
"Stop." He said calmly.
The Painted Doll ignored him and spun around so she was directly facing him. "Because of your fear and pride, however, rather than embrace it, you choose to be a thief. Stealing beauty and claiming it as your own."
"Enough." He hissed.
"Not only that but you have also taken the liberty of making others believe that you love them, just to them into your bed and then taking what is rightfully theirs. But what do you know about love, Pavi? What do you know about beauty? Your actions have only made you hideous."
"Shut up!" he yelled, lunging toward her. He managed to grab a hold of her shoulders and shake her but she only laughed and then leaned her head forward, trying to bite his shoulder. He released her and took a few steps back. Did she just try to bite them?
She batted her eyelashes playfully at him and he narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you to judge me, anyway? What do you even know about these things? You're just a circus freak."
Hissing at his insult, the Painted Doll stood up straight and threw her hand in the air. "I am the very essence of love and beauty here. I am the belle of the ball. You will learn." She made her way toward Pavi again and they glared at each other. She reached up and touched his pseudo face and he reached to smack her away but she caught him off guard, lacing her fingers in his hair and forcing him down so his lips met with hers. His eyes widened but he did not pull away. There was something wicked in the taste of her kiss.
The Painted Doll smirked against him as her hands left his hair and found their way to latches of his mask. She tugged on and then pulled away with a sudden force. Pavi gasped in surprise and then growled in annoyance.
"Give that back!" he demanded. She threw him a flirtatious gaze and then she held up the mask, ripping it apart. Pavi's mouth was agape. No one ever dared to insult him in such a way, not counting his siblings anyway. The Doll threw the ruined mask to the ground and stepped on it only to shock Pavi more. She then proceeded to grab a hold of his ear and forcefully pull him to the vanity that she was sitting at only moments ago.
Pavi instinctively shut his eyes, not wanting to see his horrid reflection. "Look." She cooed. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes tighter. The Doll leaned into to whisper seductively in his ear. "Don't be frightened of what you'll see."
Pavi gulped and still hesitating slowly opened his eyes. When he did, he was shocked. In the mirror, he saw his old, true face, before the accident. Pale skinned, chiseled, handsome. It was all he ever wanted. He reached up to touch his cheek expecting to feel smoothness but instead felt nothing but creases of his scars. That's when the mirror showed what he really looked like, without the mask. He stared hopelessly into the mirror and then looked down, feeling defeated.
The Painted Doll cupped his cheek and turned him to look at her. "This is who you are now, Pavi. You are blemished, torn, and broken, as am I." That's when Pavi realized that the cracks on her face were not make-up after all; they were real. He was astonished. "You need to learn to accept your flaws, only then, will you know peace." She stated.
Pavi closed his eyes and sighed. How could she possibly say that after all he's been put through? "I cannot." He replied.
The Doll suddenly became aggressive, pushing Pavi so hard back into the vanity that the impact cracked the mirror. She stepped between his legs and pulled him into an even more passionate kiss then before. Pavi gripped the sides of the vanity, feeling a strange mixture of shock and arousal. She bit down hard on his bottom lip and pulled away. He hissed and stared as he watched her lick some blood of her lips.
"Very well." She said, gripping his shirt collar. "Looks like you're staying, but as long as you're here you're mine, my pet. From now on, you answer to me." She pushed him back into the vanity and then strutted away.
Pavi sit with his chest heaving, feeling like the wind had been knocked out him. "Maybe it won't be so bad here after all." He mumbled to himself.
