Author: Snow Tigra
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (II)
Pairings: SoraxRiku, AxelxDemyx, RoxasxAxel and probably a few others
Summary: Sora has found a prize in one of the tents, something he's not supposed to touch or tell anyone about: a creature of beauty and darkness named Riku.
Warnings: Alternate universe. No real spoilers, oh and some lemony yaoi coming, I promise.
Chapter 1
"Welcome one and all, welcome to the circus. Come see sights beyond your wildest dreams and fantasies. See the amazing and ferocious white tiger who refuses to be tamed and is out for blood. See the amazing tricks of Luxord the magician who can beat out any magician in history with his tricks. See the mind bending talents of the amazing twins Marluxia and Larxene, who can see not only the future but into your very soul. See the horror that is the Living Shadow, a beast so evil and deadly it can steal your heart. All acts are guaranteed to delight and surprise. This is truly the greatest and most fantastic show on earth."
Sora rolled his eyes as he listened to the announcer for the umpteenth time. Booooring.
"Two tickets please."
A click of the register and the little printer spat out two more tickets, which Sora passed under the glass for the people in line. Every day the same old thing. He sold the tickets to the surprised and delighted children and parents in line until the large spotlights went out. Then it was to the animal tents, sweeping the cages out and picking up the garbage and finally getting sleep when the sun was rising, only to wake up hours later and be treated to a gourmet meal of slop that never even remotely resembled food, before doing it all over again.
"Sure, real life is real glamorous Sora. Leave the circus Sora, there's a better life out there Sora. You're such a horrible fool." Sora muttered under his breath as he faked another smile and gestured another family to the clowns for their free balloons. He'd been a part of the act before, a part of the circus and he's got the bright notion of leaving and finding his place in the world, no longer working with the so called 'freak show' and traveling life.
Now that he knew the difference, hell, he'd go back to getting knives thrown at him and riding blood thirsty tigers any day. This job was the pits, especially since he didn't really make any money. Just enough to keep a small apartment in the direct center of the bad neighborhood. Oh yes, something definitely worth leaving everything he had for. Not to mention there was absolutely nothing to do, and no pay, when the circus left town. At those times he got to rake leaves and mow grass until the next show, and live off of an even smaller paycheck then normal. So where exactly was this nice and clean suburban life that all these children and families were supposed to come from? It certainly wasn't anywhere near here.
Sora rolled his eyes as the last person in line came through and slammed down the window just to spite everyone around him. Just hard enough to satisfy his own temper but not hard enough to make his paycheck any smaller, as if he needed something like that right now.
Ticket booth closed up and lights out, Sora headed out to his next job, weaving through the park. He had his hat firmly in place, not meeting any of their eyes. Not that any of them would care what he was up to, he'd pretty much dropped them all when he'd left. This place had been like a family, and true to it being a family when you left you left. Sora was ok with that, he understood that part, but there was nothing wrong with him reminiscing a bit, just a little.
A foot moved out in front of him and before Sora could even come out of his thoughts to realize what was happening, he'd landed flat on his face in a pile of something too stinky to be mud. A familiar and distinctly feminine laugh sounded behind him and Sora set his teeth, standing to his feet with an angry glare. There was nothing to piss you off like the prospect of needing to wash your clothes several times to get the smell of animal crap out, especially when you needed them for work the next day.
"Well, it's been a while kid. So tell me, how much more glamorous is your new life? I bet you're just living it up with all the normal people." The voice dripped with sarcasm, as did the stance and nearly everything about him. When it came to showing an emotion or a thought, Marluxia had a talent for stealing the show. During circus acts it was great, being coupled with his sequined and brightly colored clothing for the largest effect - but when off the stage or out of the tent? Well, that was when this so called drag-queen was just outright annoying and bitchy as hell. Sora knew better then to let the feminine laugh and voice fool him, Marluxia was only part male, but all annoying.
At least he wasn't with his twin sister.
"Well it's nice to know you're as friendly as ever. Just let me do my job, asshole." Sora stood up and brushed what he could off his uniform before walking away. He wasn't in the mood to deal with that drag queen's attitude or teasing or anything really. Marluxia teased him when he used to be with the troupe too, but at least it had been tolerable. Today it was just worse, probably because the overly feminine man knew that there wasn't anyone for Sora to run to and tell on him to. Sora was alone in this now.
He'd originally lived with the troupe for a good portion of his life. In fact, life before the circus went by in a quick blur before he remembered standing in Xemnas' trailer asking for work or at least a place to stay. From there he'd been immediately accepted as the child of the full group. All of them took care of him - like better and worse siblings - all eager to teach him the tricks and tools of the trade. He'd never felt more at home in his life…
"So why'd you leave?" Sora asked himself quietly as he stepped into the large main tent. Grabbing his plastic bag and metal stick-thing, he began to clean out the rows.
He'd left because of the monotony of it all. One would think that the circus would be the perfect place to work, different and exciting everyday – but even the circus got boring. And one could only take getting knives thrown at him and riding tigers for so long before they got bored. Originally he'd wanted to try the 'real world' out, just for a day or two. But he'd gotten into a fight with Marluxia in Xemnas' office and just left in a huff. Not the best way to keep all his bridges open… in fact he'd pretty much burned all of them down.
Sora stopped on the main floor and sighed. Dropping the bag and metal thing, which he still didn't know the name of, he stepped out into the ring. The circus was closed now, all the families home and safe in their bed. So it was safe enough for Sora to close his eyes and imagine for a moment, if he'd stayed…
He remembered standing up against the large wooden board, dressed in a ridiculous outfit of big baggy pants and belts around everywhere, smiling as knives where thrown around him to please the crowd and make them gasp in worry. Then there was the tiger growling and snarling at him as he jumped on its back and held on while it ran around the ring. Faking being scared when it was the cutest and sweetest animal on the face of the earth…
Sora sighed and opened his eyes. Ok, he was willing to admit it, he missed that life. So much for trying new things… why didn't anyone tell him he'd have to give up being happy?
"Dusk, be nice."
Sora turned at the familiar deep and scratchy voice. Standing near the back door to the ring, was a tall man with long graying hair. He was older, a scar crawling up one side of his face, while his other eye was covered by a worn old patch. In spite of his scruffy appearance, a comfortable smile crossed his face when Sora spotted him and he nodded to the boy, all the while petting the large white tiger sitting beside him.
"Xigbar!" Sora ran over and knelt down by the tiger, grinning as he petting him, watching his hands disappear into the long thick white and black hair.
"Hey kid, miss us?"
"You have no idea. It's so boring here, cleaning and selling and when there's no circus there's nothing at all to do!" Sora turned his attention back to the tiger. "Hey Dusk, do you miss me? Who rides you now huh? I bet they don't sneak you bits of fish." Sora laughed as he was treated to the tiger trying to nuzzle his neck in a show of friendship.
"Xemnas has a new kid working for him, goes by the name of Roxas. He's a little prick and doesn't get anywhere near my Dusk, convinced the girl's gonna bite his head off." Xigbar smirked. "Between you and me, I wouldn't mind it."
Sora laughed again as he hugged the tiger. It was only after a moment that he realized Xigbar's shifty eyes and how much he was watching the door. That was enough to sober him up and make his smile fade.
"I should… let you take her back. You'll get in trouble for talking to me, and stuff. And I should just… go." Sora turned and stepped back from the tiger.
"Kid, did you want to come back? You miss it that much?"
Sora shook his head, biting back on his pride. Gods yes he did, but he wouldn't admit that, no way. "Naw… I'm doing ok. It's just harder then I thought it would be."
"I can make a case for you with Xemnas if you want."
Sora shook his head again as he grabbed his garbage bag and quickly headed for the door. "Night Dusk!" He didn't say anything else to Xigbar as he quickly stepped out and let the tent flap close behind him. There wasn't really too much to say on the whole issue anyway. He'd left, he was gone. He might wish for that life back, but no way was he going to come back only to be teased and bullied by the group that had once been his family. That certainly wasn't even close to what he wanted, nor worth the humiliation he knew would follow him the rest of his life.
Ducking around one tent and cutting through another, Sora managed to almost completely avoid everyone else in the troupe, only really running into a problem when he came up near the 'Freaks' tent. There his only route of passage was blocked by Axel, the fire eater, and another kid Sora's own size with sandy blond hair. Axel was juggling fire and showing off while the other kid watched him, so obviously watching Axel's hips more then he was watching the fire. Sora ducked into the 'Freaks' tent before they could see him.
So that was the new kid? Nothing special about him. And just like everyone else he was snuggling right up to Axel. Demyx was probably pissed as all hell, but the happy music playing clown wouldn't ever do anything about it. Demyx and Axel had been an item even before Sora had joined and everyone knew it, problem was it was one of those couples where Axel was a bit too free spirited and Demyx was a sweet little pushover. Sora knew for a fact that the new kid would win with Axel and Demyx's music would turn depressed until the new kid found someone else... and Axel returned to his old ways.
Damnit he still knew these people so well it scared him.
Sora shook his head, sobering up before he dropped back into that habit of pitying himself for leaving all he had. He was better then that, he didn't need to stoop down to beating himself up over this. So instead he concentrated on the tent around him, allowing himself a moment to enjoy the set up and pathetic worn out joke.
The 'Freak' tent was one of those things that honestly had no place at the circus any more. In a world of creeping science combining and explaining what people used to call magic, mistakes in nature weren't really considered freaks anymore. At least not in public and out loud. Everything was explained and walking through a tent looking at gelatinous masses floating in multicolored jars really didn't seem any more scary then the random kid's front porch during Halloween.
The attractions this year included a tall skeleton - reaching the top of the tent and sporting a flattened face named Jack - along with an oversized blowfish - who was said to have eaten two sharks on its own - , to some mix of a dog and man wearing clothes and giving an extremely fake bark sound even if he was stuffed, named Pete. Who came up with these names anyway? Nothing was new or, in Sora's mind, even remotely interesting until he reached the sign at the very back of the tent.
"The Human Shadow'. Well... that's a stupid name. Probably just some tricks with lights and wires." Sora moved the curtain and stepped inside, only to find himself in a pitch black room with no sound.
Darkness and silence surrounded him and Sora stayed perfectly still, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light. It took a moment, but he finally realized there was a small light in the room, glowing a dark purple toward the back. Focusing on that one light, his own eyes soon became accustomed to the darkness and shapes began to form in front of him. First they were blocky, lending no real clue as to what was there, then things began to move into focus.
The thing before him was alive, not some cheap trick put together with lights and mirrors. It was living, breathing and watching him.
Sora swallowed and went still again, honestly wondering if ducking through the tents had really been such a good idea.