HELLO!
omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg

Dark Woods Circus...

That's all I'm saying at the moment...

Oh! And it's my birthday.
I am officially 18 now!
And I have an exam today (ekk!) for maths (double ekk!)

So, wish me luck, read this story, and leave a review please

Oh, and this is the only time I will have the character layout down below (just so you can re-cap and remember)
New readers: read 'Late Night Madness' first before this if you want to understand everything

Enjoy~

Meiko – Lou 'Fly' Delux
Kaito – Shan
Miku – Fay Diana (aka Angel)
Rin and Len – Viv and Nick Slur

Chapter 1 –

The small boat which held an unusual bunch of passengers reached the edge of the swamp, the red water lapping at the side of the boat as the willow trees hung above like dead hands reaching for them. Fay looked around nervously before consulting the letter in her hand. Upon their escape, she had found this note from Dr. Marita Young, a woman who was supposedly dead, and followed the instructions. Now, they were outside and free, but utterly and completely lost.

The compass in the boat helped a little, but none of them had any real experience in the outside world, except for Fly who was sound asleep next to the twins. Nick and Viv both rested their heads on the floor, not having woken up since the escape. Their necks bore the marks of rushed stitching along with the smooth like cut of a blade. It was lucky on their behalf that Shan got to them when he did. Fay turned to look next to her, to where Shan was sleeping.

His blue skin looked normal in the dim light, his hair clinging to his skin from the humidity of the swamp. His arms no longer bound by the jacket; he had flung the jacket over the side of the boat before shivering and watching it sink.

Slowly, Fay nudges him awake. He looks up at her, a little groggy from sleep, before realizing they weren't moving any more. He sits up right and looks around. "Are you sure where here?" he asks. She shakes her head. "I dunno, but I was following the instructions in this letter so I hope were not lost."

He nods his head as they both turn towards Fly who just happened to open an eye to look at them. "We here yet?" she asks, receiving a warm smile from Fay and a grunt from Shan. "I think so." Fay replies as she looks down at the twins. "What are we gonna do about them?"

"They're going to be shocked when they wake up, that I know is certain." Shan replies as he stands up. The boat rocks with this motion. "But they're just going to have to get used to it now." He finishes before leaping out of the boat and landing on the bank. He grabs the stern of the boat as he pulls it onto the bank. The scraping sound of the wooden boat hitting the rocky shore awoke the twins. They look at each other and sit up.

"Wow, my head hurts." Viv says as she places a hand to her forehead. Nick shakes his before yawning. Nick goes to stand as Viv looks around, wide eyed as she is lifted to her feet as well. "What the..." she begins before looking down. Nick copies her action before they lock eyes again.

Viv screams.

Fay and Fly stand where they are, worried, as Viv begins to poke Nick. He looks at her, eyes wide with shock and horror, as he turns to the two girls standing in front of him. "What happened here?" he asks them as Viv begins to sob.

"There was nothing else we could do!" Fay cries out in a desperate plea of forgiveness. "You're heads had already been chopped off and this was the only body Shan could find."

"What do you mean 'our heads had been chopped off'? We would be dead if they were." Nick replies.

"They were. I managed to sew them back on to your body because both body and heads were still alive." Shan replies. The twins turn around to face him. "I had only two choices: let you die or save you whichever way I could. I choose the later, as you can see." He continues. Nick looks down at his, no, their body before sighing in defeat. Viv began to tremble, or what side of their joined body could as she turned from Shan to Fay and Fly.

"So what, we live like this for the rest of our lives?" she comments. "We have to live as conjoined twins?"

"Viv, we're sorry." Fay says with as much sympathy as she could muster. "This is the best we could do. There was nothing else, and I wouldn't want anything like this to ever happen to you. If I could have changed it, I would have saved you both from this fate. I would have prevented it from happening. But there was nothing that I could do: nothing at all. And I would rather have you like this than dead."

Viv looks up at Fay and nods her head slowly as Nick looks away. He didn't like the situation he was forced into. Maybe death would have been the better option...
'Don't you dare go thinking about such things.' He hears Viv say, or rather thought. He turns to look at her, a little baffled before smiling. Since they were now sharing the same body, he would have to get used to sharing a lot more than his privacy too. It was something to be expected, after all: they were twins.

The five of them walked for what seemed like hours before they reached a small town. Fay looked around at her friends, at their starving faces. She felt hungry too, the aching pain that comes with extreme hunger. But they had no money, and out of them all only Fay looked normal, if you don't count the countless bandages wound around Fly as normal. Shan places a gentle hand on Fay's shoulder and gives her a little shove.

She stagers forward a little and turns around. "Just ask for food." He says to her questioning gaze. His smile sent a wave of heat coursing through her body as she staggers forward. She pauses and turns around again. "Might need some help. Fly!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." The woman replies with a smile before following the girl into town.

Fay and Fly looked around in surprise. They both thought that they would stand out, regarding their clothing were plain white and in rags, but were not prepared to see so many people wearing rags too. Fay looks nervously towards Fly who gives an encouraging nod as they enter a store.

Fay was stunned. She had lived in Koo Island all her life yet had images of the outside world implanted in her mind. She now understood why she had to change personalities so many times. The shop looked exactly the same as the one from her 'Fay Diana' life: the life she thought was real but just a figment of her imagination. The clerk behind the counter looks up briefly before turning back to the newspaper in his hand. Fly walks over to the counter.

"We were wondering if you could give us some free food." She says. The man drops his newspaper and looks at her. "And tell me why I would do that?" He asks as Fay stands beside Fly. Fly tilted her head to the side and turns to Fay. "You're turn." She says.

Fay looks at the man. She had a vague memory of asking for something and receiving it with no hesitation, but as soon as the memory formed, the image was gone. To make things worse, it was a memory of a woman whom Fay had never seen before. Looking up at the man, Fay smiles sweetly at him. "Sir, I was wondering if you could spare a few provisions for me and my friends. We've been travelling for a very long time and we are quiet hungry." Through the corner of her eye, Fay could see Fly hiding a wave of laughter as the man looks down at her in sympathy.

"So, if we could have a bag of food that would be-" The man holds up a hand. "Say no more." He booms cheerily. "I'll prepare a bag of food for you and you're friends." Fay smiles in delight as he walks away. Turning around, she sees Fly doubling over in strained laughter. "What?" Fay asks as Fly stands up, wiping away invisible tears from her eyes.

"No, not, it's nothing." She says, standing up straight. "It's just... right then, you looked like your old self, I mean yourself as 'Angel' that is." Fay looks away, smiling sadly as the man returns. He hands the bag to Fay and waves the pair off as they begin walking back to the others. Fay knew she was Angel, but that was in the past. She didn't want to be constantly reminded of this fact, it just hurt her. She wasn't going to change anymore, she had made that promise, but to be constantly reminded of Angel just hurt her. It wasn't her fault that she had lost her memory, blame everyone at Koo Island for that!

Reaching the others, Fly and Fay places the bags of food on the ground. Everyone ate their fair share and to their hearts content. Shan raises an eyebrow towards Fay as he looks at Fly. She smiles at him as a wave of understanding pass between the pair. "So tell me Fay," he says as she turns around at the mention of her name. "How did you manage to get this food? Did you have to steal it? Kill someone for it?" At the last comment, Viv looks up in disgust and drops her food. Nick chuckles to himself and continues eating. "You didn't have to kill anyone for this, did you?" she asks.

"No, Viv. I didn't" Fay replies, giving Shan an icy gazes as she turns back to her own food. "I just asked the guy in the shop if he could spare some food and he came back with this." She waves her hand over the food and bags. Viv smiles and nods her head, picking up her discarded food and eating it again. "Sorry Fay." She says though mouthfuls. Fay laughs as Fly and Shan smile.

Night soon fell as Shan started a small camp fire. The cold, damp air clung to their skin as Fly rummaged through the bags. "Got some blankets here!" she calls out, pulling out a large, woollen blanket. The twins grabbed it at once and wrapped themselves in a cocoon. They soon fell asleep on the ground. Shan turned to Fly over the growing fire. They had sent Fay to grab whatever was useful from the boat and bring it back. "Did she...?" he begins to question when Fly holds up and hand and shakes her head. "She did what she normally does, nothing like back then though." Fly replies. Shan heaves a sigh of relief before poking the wood with a stick. "Does she know though?" he asks, looking up again. Fly was pulling out a second blanket and wrapping it around herself. She shakes her head. "It doesn't look like she does." Shan nods his head as the flame begins to grow.

The sound of Fay's returning footsteps alerts the pair as she returns with a lamp, the thin blanket and compass from the boat. "This is all I found." She says, holding up the provisions as they were illuminated by the light. Fly holds out a hand for the lamp and compass as Shan pulled the blanket out of her arms. Fay looks at them both in turn before going to one of the bags. Looking inside, she finds one more blanket and pulls it out. "You would think he might have packed more than three." She mumbles under her breath. Fly giggles, a sound most bizarre coming out of her mouth, as Shan shrugs. "You didn't specify how many 'friends' you had." He replies. Fay glares at him before wrapping the blanket around herself.

"That's not gonna keep you warm." She says, nodding her head to the blanket from the boat. It was made of a simple cloth, something that she could imagine being used as a bed sheet. "Why don't you take one of these?"

"I'm fine, the cold doesn't bother me." He replies. Frowning, Fay slides next to him and wraps one side of the blanket around his shoulder. It was large enough for them both to be able to sit up and have one side of their body covered, but they had to be huddled close to each other in order to do that. The cloth was placed on their outstretched legs as their breath fogged in the cold, night air. Fay could feel her cheeks heating up with the memory of the boat ride and their escape. She was glad that Fly fell asleep easily.

"Tell me," she says, avoiding the urge to look at him and instead chose to gaze at the fire. Shan looks down at her, his pale blue face brightening as the firelight danced on his cheeks. "What do you see when you look at me? I mean, who do you see: me or Angel?"

"You know you're both the same person." Shan says.

"I don't care. Who do you see? And be honest with me." Fay could feel his gaze shift from her to the fire. She sucked in a deep breath, anticipating his answer.

"I see Angel, not Fay." He replies. Fay looks down, sadly, as she nods her head. She knew this would be his answer, she somehow knew he would never let go of Angel. How could he, though, when the same person was constantly in front of him yet not the same as before? "Then answer this for me:" She says, her voice wavering with the effort to prevent herself from breaking down. She was sick and tired of hearing about Angel; it was time for them to move on. "Why did you kiss me?"

"You kissed me first," he says. She looks up at him, their eyes meeting as a shiver runs down his spine. Fay looks at him with a cold, emotionless gaze. He averts his gaze from hers, a pained look evident on his face as he whispers his true reply. "Because, you were once Angel."