Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Kingdom Hearts nor am I making any money by writing this.
Author's Note: My muses would not leave me alone until I worked on this, which is why I'm working on it instead of Naught But Ash or any of the other gazillion fanfictions I've started and never finished. Updates may be slow because I'm going to have a really busy semester coming up and I don't know how much time I'm going to have to write.
The First Day
"Why are we doing this again?"
Demyx turned in his seat as far as his seatbelt would let him and sighed. Roxas, sandwiched between his twin Ven and their younger brother Sora was scowling, as usual. He was determined to not let Roxas's poor attitude ruin it for him though.
"We're going to the Disney Circus because it's in town once every ten years and Mom and Dad got free tickets," he explained patiently. "We're going to see the show and then afterwards meet the owner and go on a tour backstage."
"The circus is for babies," Roxas muttered sourly.
"Not this one, trust me," Demyx said. "This is like the cream of the crop when it comes to circuses."
Roxas raised a pierced eyebrow. "And how do you know this?"
"Oh um…I did some research," Demyx said hastily.
He ducked his head so Roxas couldn't see his blush, though he suspected Roxas already knew how much research he had done. He couldn't help it, though. When he found out that they would be going to the Disney Circus, he had wanted to know everything he could about it because he had been so young the first time he had been and he could barely remember anything about the circus itself. It was pretty damn impressive, he had to say.
The Disney Circus was a traveling circus that had grown out of an idea by two men, Genesis and Angeal, who had been the original co-owners of the circus. After their untimely deaths, it had been continued by their mutual friend Sephiroth who had expanded it into the critically acclaimed show it was today. There were no animals, only human performers who were the best of the best.
"He's right!" Sora chirped from where he was squashed next to the window. "There was an article in the paper yesterday. Disney Circus is supposed to be amazing. It's really popular, which is why it only comes to town once every ten years, because it goes to so many different cities. And we got tickets for opening night! How cool is that?"
"Yeah, whatever," Roxas muttered, crossing his arms, and nearly hitting Ven in the face with his elbow.
"Aw come on Roxas," Sora protested. "Stop being such a sourpuss."
"He can't help it. That's just how Roxas is." Ven affectionately ruffled Roxas's spiky blonde hair, earning him a scowl in return.
They turned into a large parking lot that had been converted into space for the circus and Demyx's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the enormous tent and the sea of smaller tents beyond it. Roxas, Ven, and Sora were too young to remember anything the last time the Disney Circus came to town, but Demy could remember it vividly. They still lived in Midgar then and Demyx remembered because it was the night of the big mako reactor explosion. He remembered the fear and panic of the crowd as they left the circus, his father Cloud shouting at him to take the twins' hands so they wouldn't get separated, and the nightmare of being forced to evacuate the city, leaving everything behind. He still had nightmares about that night.
"Demyx!"
Demyx blinked as someone jabbed him sharply in the gut and saw Ven waving his hand in front of his face, Roxas being the one who jabbed him in the stomach.
"Wha?" he said stupidly.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "We're here. Now move."
"Right," Demyx said.
He got out first, then moved his seat up as far as he could so his brothers could get out.
"Why did Sora get to bring a friend and we couldn't?" Roxas muttered sourly, nodding to Sora's boyfriend, who was helping Sora out.
"Riku is the owner's nephew so he got a free ticket too," Demyx said, extending his hand to Ven.
"Whatever," Roxas muttered.
"Are you boys ready to go?" their mother Aerith asked, walking over to them. She received a chorus of "yeses" and a "no" from Roxas. "Good." She smiled.
Cloud silently locked the van and they walked toward the largest tent. The interior of the tent was finely decorated with sculptures and other expensive-looking artwork. A large crowd waited in front of a pair of red velvet curtains that presumably led to the show's entrance, held back by a pair of women in red velvet uniforms and large gold buttons. Aerith directed the family to the left where they joined the end of the line for the concession stand.
"You can have whatever you want tonight, boys," she said as they stood in line. "Just don't overdo it, okay?"
Each of them got a small soda and Sora got candy, Ven popcorn, and Demyx a pretzel.
"Are you sure you don't want anything, Riku?" Aerith asked the silver-haired boy as she dug in her purse for money. "It's my treat."
Riku shook his head politely. "No thanks, Mrs. Strife. I'm fine. Really."
"All right." Aerith turned to Roxas. "Are you sure you only want a soda, sweetie?"
"Yeah," Roxas said.
Aerith frowned but paid the cashier and they joined the crowd outside the theater. They chattered happily with the exception of Roxas who sulked and Cloud who just stood there until the women finally pulled the curtains back and allowed them to enter, checking their tickets as they went.
The interior was dark and cool with rows and rows of surprisingly comfortable-looking chairs. The ground sloped downward as they made their way to their seats in the very center of the first row.
"Wow, these are some good seats," Sora commented as they settled in.
"You should make sure to thank Sephiroth for the lovely seats when we meet him later," Aerith said.
"Yes, Mom," Sora said obediently.
Roxas hissed something that sounded like, "tool!" which earned him a jab in the ribs from Ven. No more was said as the theater slowly filled up with people. Finally, the lights dimmed signaling the start of the show. A man with rosy pink hair that absolutely could not be natural stepped out from behind the curtains.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Disney Circus!" he said loudly, his magnified voice echoing throughout the theater. "Please note that the use of smoke effects will be used throughout the performance. They pose no threat to your health. You, however, are not permitted to smoke. The use of video of cameras and photography, especially flash photography is forbidden because of the danger they pose to the performers. We also ask that you turn off all cell phones, pagers, and any other assorted electronic devices. And now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!"
He disappeared behind the curtains. A gentle piano piece began playing. A young sandy-haired boy around the same age as Ven and Roxas ran onto the stage, dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. The pink-haired man appeared from behind the curtains and the young boy ran into him. He reared back, frightened. The pink-haired man put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Without any warning, the young boy was lifted into the air, causing several audience members to gasp. He soared around high above the audience's head as the music swelled. Then, he was pulled behind the curtains and vanished. As the music built up again, the curtains parted, revealing the rest of the stage at last, though it was too dark to see much. They young boy laid sprawled out on the stage and the song ended.
A new song started, louder than the first. The young boy seemed to jerk awake and Demyx jumped in his seat at the suddenness of the new song's opening notes. The lights suddenly sprang up to full brightness, revealing a wondrous, fantasy-esque setting. As the song continued, people filed out dressed in elaborate costumes, the likes of which Demyx had never seen before. He quickly became immersed in the show, transfixed by all the beautiful costumes and the interesting-sounding music. The story, as far as he could tell, was of the young boy who was transported to a magical world filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes that seemed to come straight out of a child's imagination.
The young boy journeyed through the strange new world and met a myriad of characters, jugglers, acrobats, dancers, clowns, and many others, and found love with a beautiful princess. Demyx's personal favorite act was the trapeze act by a trio of silver-haired boys a few years older than him who flew through the air effortlessly, throwing themselves seemingly into space, but always catching one another without fail. The music was fun too, generally upbeat, but a few of the songs were slower and sadder.
Then the tone changed completely.
The bright lights dimmed and the music became tribal and almost primitive in nature. A man in his late twenties stepped out carrying a baton, dressed only in a pair of light-colored pants, his well-sculpted chest gleaming in the light. He had flaming red hair pulled back into a barely-contained ponytail and a pair of purple teardrop tattoos beneath each vivid green eye. The entire crowd, Demyx included, gasped when he lit one end of his baton on fire. Roxas, however, was not as impressed as everyone else.
"Twenty bucks says he sets himself on fire," he whispered, crossing his arms.
"Roxas!" Sora protested, covering his mouth to suppress a giggle.
"No way," Ven argued. "They're all pretty well-trained. He won't set himself on fire."
"Look at that hair," Roxas pointed out. "He's totally gonna set himself on fire."
"I still say he won't," Ven said stubbornly.
"Would you care to wager on that?" Roxas arched his eyebrows.
"Mind your manners," Demyx scolded under his breath, never tearing away from the man spinning his flaming baton.
"You're on," Ven said, pursing his lips.
They shook on it, leaning over a still-giggling Sora to seal the deal. Riku merely rolled his eyes good-naturedly while Demyx turned his attention back to the fire act.
The man spun the flaming baton around with expert precision, in perfect time with the music. With a catlike grin, he lit the other end of the baton and continued spinning it around. Then, he acquired a second one, and juggled the two of them, never missing a beat, never tripping up as the music reached its climax. Then, he held the flaming batons in the air triumphantly as the music ended to thunderous applause. Demyx could see he was covered in sweat, his chest heaving. The man made a show of blowing out the ends of the batons and gave the crowd a jaunty wave before trotting off the stage.
"Okay, that was impressive," Roxas admitted grudgingly, leaning over Sora again to give his twin a $20 bill.
A new, gentler song began to play. Demyx turned back to the stage and his breath caught in his throat as he caught sight of the dancer. He was young, around Demyx's age, if not a year or two older, though he was remarkably small. Charcoal grey hair cut across his face in sharp bangs that obscured it from view. One grey blue eye peered out from the curtain, thickly lined with black that really brought out the blue of his eye. The rest of his makeup was light, emphasizing the sharp contours of his cheekbones, small nose, and thin, delicate lips. His was beautiful, but there was something haunting about his beauty. His costume was silver with a spider webbing design in blue and like the other costumes, clung tightly to his small frame.
His dance was as beautiful and haunting as he was. It was filled with loss, regret, and betrayal. He moved gracefully in time to the music, and was surprisingly flexible for such a small boy. He was joined by a man who was twice his size. Their size difference didn't look comical, as Demyx expected, but actually worked. The smaller boy leapt through the air and was easily caught by his partner and lifted up, then set down with surprising gentleness. As the song ended, the boy's single blue grey eye locked onto Demyx's sea green ones and Demyx felt an intense, powerful connection to him.
And an even more powerful attraction.
The boy and his partner took a bow and vanished and the show went on, though Demyx barely paid attention. He couldn't stop thinking about that boy. He got another glimpse of him at the very end of the show when all the performers took to the stage for their curtain call. He stood next to his partner, their height disparity even more apparent when they stood side-by-side and took their final bows. Demyx couldn't stop staring at him. Ven followed Demyx's gaze and grinned when he saw what, or rather, who, Demyx was staring at.
"Someone's in love!" he teased.
Demyx blushed. "I am not!"
"Yeah, sure." Ven gave him a look that indicated he didn't believe him.
They remained in their seats until the theater was empty aside from them and the cleaning crew. The curtains parted slightly and the pink-haired man stepped out, still in full costume and makeup. He saw the Strifes and his face broke out into an enormous smile.
"Oh my gosh, you must be the Strifes!" he said in an excited tone as he came down the steps to greet them. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Marluxia. Sephiroth asked me to meet you and bring you to his office."
"Wow, and I thought the fire guy was flaming," Roxas muttered, earning him a jab in the ribs from Ven again.
"It's nice to meet you," Aerith said, smiling warmly. "I'm Aerith Strife, this is my husband, Cloud, and our sons Demyx, Roxas, Ven, and Sora."
"It's nice to meet all of you," Marluxia said. "Well, shall we? Oh, make sure you stick close to me backstage, okay? It gets pretty chaotic after the show."
They went up the stairs onto the stage. Up close, Demy could see how worn the boards were. The red velvet curtains looked threadbare as they passed through them. The stage was brightly lit now and full of people hurrying to and fro, some of them dressed in elaborate costumes and full makeup. Marluxia strode confidently through the very center of the mess, leaving the Strifes to hurry after him or be swallowed by the chaos.
They went through the backstage area and exited the tent. The fresh summer air was a relief after being in the cramped, chaotic mess of the tent. Marluxia led them into a nearby tent and they found themselves in a makeshift office. It was sparsely furnished with a couple filing cabinets on either side of a large wooden desk. A small desktop computer sat on the desk that was plugged into a strip cord in the corner along with a telephone. Sitting behind the desk was a tall, thin man with long silver hair like Riku's and green eyes with gold flecks in them. Demyx wasn't sure what it was about him, but he found the man absolutely unnerving.
"Good to see you again, Cloud. It's been far too long," he said in a surprisingly baritone voice that made Demyx even more uncomfortable. "And Aerith. It's a pleasure to see you again as well."
"Hello Sephiroth," Aerith said and her smile seemed a bit forced. "I don't know if you remember our boys. This is Demyx, Roxas and his twin Ven, and Sora, our youngest."
"Goodness they've grown," Sephiroth said softly. "They were all very small the last time I saw them. They grow up fast, don't they?"
"Yes," Aerith agreed. "And how are your boys?"
"All grown up," Sephiroth said with a smile.
"How old are they again?" Aerith asked.
"My youngest, Kadaj just turned nineteen. Yazoo is twenty-two and my oldest, Loz is twenty-four. Now…" Sephiroth turned to Marluxia, who hovered uncertainly near the tent's entrance. "Why don't you take the boys on a tour while their parents and I finish catching up?"
Marluxia visibly brightened at this. "I'd love to! Come along, boys. Let's go!"
They gladly followed the pink-haired man out of the stifling tent. It was much quieter compared to backstage. When Demyx pointed this out, Marluxia chuckled softly.
"Surprising, isn't it?" he said. "You'd think it'd be chaotic here too, but honestly, all the action is backstage right now. It'll get busy later, right before the show, trust me.
"We have three shows here, one at four, one at seven, which is the one that just ended, and one at ten. Each show runs or an hour and a half and the performers get a half hour break. We also have mornings off. We don't have to show up until the full dress rehearsal at two, just before the first show, though many people come earlier to practice, and of course they have to get dressed and put their makeup on.
"We're going to be in Twilight Town or a couple weeks before we move onto the next place. We tour from April until about October, depending on how well the weather holds up. We have a four-month vacation, I guess you can call it, though I'm not sure how much of a vacation it really is. Then in Mach we have rehearsals again before we start touring. It's kind of brutal at times, but there's really nothing like it. A lot of the performers have families who tour with them and after a while, everyone becomes like family too."
They walked toward the sea of tents. In the dying sun, Demyx could see that the tents were worn out and dirty, smeared with smoke and grime and it reminded him of Midgar, which was a dirty, worn out city that seemed to be in its death throes even before the mako reactor explosion. The thought caused goosebumps to raise on his arms and he forced himself back to reality by focusing on the words Marluxia said as they continued their tour.
Marluxia opened the flap to the first tent, revealing rows and rows and rows of costumes hanging on hangers and spread out on tables. There were sewing machines and a pegboard holding spools of thread in every color imaginable with multiple shades of each color. Trunks lined one wall and there was an area dedicated just to wigs. The rest of the tent was partitioned off into changing areas.
"This is our costume department, as you can see," Marluxia said. "And Isobel here is our head of costumes. He indicated a white-haired woman currently bent over a sewing machine with a piece of cotton candy pink fabric. "She's in charge of making sure all the costumes are in top form. Luckily, she has help. Isn't that right, Izzy?"
"Mmm?" the woman straightened up and turned to look at them.
She was a plump, pleasant looking old woman dressed in all blue, including a blue kerchief on her head, whose dark eyes sparkled when she saw Marluxia.
And yet up close, Demyx could see the dark circles under her eyes that indicated many sleepless nights and the way her fingers never stopped moving, like she had recently chugged a dozen Red Bulls.
"Hello Marluxia," she said with a smile. "I hope you don't have anything for me to fix. I'm completely swamped right now."
"Oh no," Marluxia said, laughing. "I was just showing the Strife boys around."
Isobel frowned. "Who?"
"The Strife boys," Marluxia explained patiently.
"Oh yes, that's right," Isobel said, shaking her head. "Forgive me, dears. The mind is the first thing to go when you're old like I am." She looked around. "Now where did Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather go? Off having a spot of tea when there's still so much work to be done, no doubt."
"Well, we should leave you to it," Marluxia said.
He herded the Strife boys out of the costume tent as Isobel muttered something that sounded like "Bibbidi-bobidi-boo." They went into another tent.
"This is our makeup tent," Marluxia said. "Our head of makeup is Jasmine here."
He indicated an exotic woman with dark eyes, golden brown skin, and dark hair braided behind her head in a single, long plait. She glared at Marluxia as they approached.
"Go away, Marluxia. I've gotta reapply someone's makeup because they smeared it, turning to glare at a young Chinese woman seated in front of a large vanity with very smeared makeup.
"But Jasmine, I told you, it's not my fault!" the woman protested. "Mushu squirted me in the face with a squirt gun!"
"Okay, Mulan, I believe you," Jasmine said in an exasperated tone. "Now hold still."
"Let's go," Marluxia whispered and he guided the Strife boys out of the makeup tent. "Next we have the weapons tent. We'll only peek inside because our weapons master, Larxene, is kind of a bitch."
He lifted the flap of the next tent and allowed them to peek inside at the rows and rows of wicked-looking weapons and a glaring blonde woman with poison green eyes dressed in all leather. Marluxia quickly lowered the flap and they hurried away.
"Here is the kitchen," Marluxia said, quickly showing them the makeshift kitchen before a fearsome man Marluxia called Xigbar chased them out. "Next is the infirmary," Marluxia continued, leading them on. "We have our own doctors who travel with us, Vexen and Hojo."
Vexen was a tall, skinny man in his fifties with long dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Hojo was also tall and skinny with long dark hair and dark eyes. Both were dressed in stained lab coats and gave Demyx the creeps.
"Finally, we have the lounge tent," Marluxia said, leading them into the second-largest tent. "This is where the performers mostly hang out between shows. There's about twenty to thirty performers total, plus even more crew who keep the show running."
The tent was surprisingly comfortable furnished with chairs and couches surrounding a big screen TV and even rugs on the floor. A corner was set up as a practice area with several performers practicing their routines. Marluxia led them to a couch facing away from them that appeared unoccupied at first glance. When they got closer, they saw a pair of long legs dangling over the edge.
"Axel! Hey Axel!" Marluxia said, giving the legs a swift kick.
They heard a loud yelp, followed by a long stream of curses, and then a red head appeared as the person laying on the couch sat up. Demyx instantly recognized him as the man from the fire act.
"What'd ya want, ya pink haired fairy?" the man said, yawning loudly. "Can't ya see I'm tryin' to take a nap here? Sheesh, you've got no respect, do you?"
Marluxia snorted. "That's rich, coming from you. I merely wanted to introduce you to the sons of Sephiroth's friends. These are Demyx, Roxas and Ven, sorry I don't know which is which, and Sora. This is Axel, our resident pyromaniac."
Axel turned toward them with bright jade green eyes, focusing on each of them in turn. When he spied Roxas with his multiple piercings and black leather, he raised his eyebrows.
"You're pretty cute," he said, his lips curling up into a smirk. "So are you Roxas or Ven?"
Roxas scowled at him. "Fuck off, creeper."
"Roxas!" Ven squealed. He turned to Axel. "I am so sorry! My brother has a hard time holding his tongue."
But Axel blinked and stared at Roxas for a few moments before bursting into laughter, showing off two rows of shiny white teeth.
"You've got some bite, don't you?" he said, still laughing. "I like that."
"Bit me," Roxas muttered.
"Just say the word and I'd be glad to bite you," Axel said with a wink.
"Psycho," Roxas said.
"Okay, stop flirting, Fire Crotch," Marluxia said.
Roxas raised his eyebrows. "Fire Crotch? That's an interesting nickname."
"I set my pants on fire once and now you all think it's necessary to call me that," Axel said, scowling.
Roxas looked like he was going to say something inappropriate so Marluxia wisely steered them away. "Sorry about that," he said. "He means no harm. He's just a big flirt, that's all."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Roxas said sarcastically.
"Over in the corner there are Sephiroth's sons Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj. They're the trapeze artists. They pretty much keep to themselves and no one really bothers them." Marluxia lowered his voice to a whisper and added, "They're kind of creepy. I'd stay away from them if I were you." The Strife boys nodded. "And over here we have Lexaeus and Zexion, one of our dancing acts."
Demyx's heart started racing when he spotted a familiar slate-colored head sitting on a couch in the corner next to his giant red-haired partner.
"Hello Lexaeus," Marluxia said. "I wanted to introduce you to the sons of Sephiroth's friends Cloud and Aerith, Demyx, Roxas, Ven, and Sora."
The red-haired man looked up at them with piercing blue eyes and merely politely inclined his head in their direction. Marluxia turned to the slate-haired boy and rolled his eyes.
"Are you ever not reading Zexion?" he said.
The slate-haired boy merely offered a shrug as a response, never looking up from his book.
"You're as talkative as ever, I see," Marluxia said. To the Strife boys, he added, "Don't bother trying to get him to talk. He's pretty much a mute."
Demyx peered at the title of the book Zexion was reading which was well worn, its pages starting to yellow and couldn't help smiling.
"The Tempest, huh?" he said. "That's one of my favorites. We are such stuff/As dreams are made on and our little life/Is rounded with a sleep."
This caused Zexion to look up at him with a single raised eyebrow. Not only that, but Marluxia and Demyx's brothers stared at him with stupefied looks as well.
"What? Did you really think I spent all my time playing music?" Demyx said.
Based on the expressions on his brothers' faces, that was exactly what they thought.
Demyx rolled his eyes. "Hey, I do in fact have a life outside music. And yes, it does involve reading Shakespeare. Some of this stuff is actually pretty good."
Zexion still didn't say anything, but Demyx swore he saw the corners of his lips curl up into a slight smile.
"Demyx really liked your dance," Ven told him.
Zexion continued to look up at Demyx and he felt like he was being x-rayed so intense was Zexion's stare. Demyx blushed deeply.
"Yeah, I thought it was a beautiful dance," he said, embarrassed. "The two of you were completely in sync with each other the entire time and when you jumped, Lexaeus caught you without fail. How do you do it?"
Lexaeus and Zexion shared a glance and then Lexaeus said in a deep voice, "Lots of patience and trust."
"There you boys are," Aerith said as she and Cloud entered the tent. "It's time to go. Did you have fun?"
"Yes," all of them except Roxas said at once.
They said goodbye to Lexaeus, Zexion, and Axel, who had wandered over at some point. Suddenly, Zexion closed his book and got to his feet. He walked up to Demyx and leaned over.
"Goodbye, Demyx. It was a pleasure to meet you," he said, his breath warm on Demyx's skin.
Demyx blushed furiously. "Y…you too," he stuttered.
"It was nice meeting all of you," Marluxia said as they walked toward the tent's entrance.
"You too," Ven said politely.
"Yeah! It was a lot of fun!" Sora added.
"You're all welcome to hang out with the performers if you wan while we're here," Marluxia said.
"Oh, we wouldn't want to be a bother," Aerith immediately protested.
"It's not a bother at all," Marluxia insisted. "The younger performers don't get a chance to hang out with kids their own age aside from each other and it gets boring after a while, as you can imagine. The only thing is that they can't interfere with the shows."
"Can we mom? Please? Oh please?" Sora begged, giving their mother his famous puppy dog look.
"Come on, Aerith," Cloud said softly. "It'll be a great experience for them."
"Oh all right," Aerith finally caved. "I suppose it's all right."
"Yay!" Sora beamed brightly, bouncing up and down.
Demyx turned away from his family when he felt like he was being watched. Zexion stood a few feet away, quietly observing them. Demyx took a deep breath, his mind made up. He slipped away from his family who was still chatting with Marluxia, and walked over to Zexion.
"I…I was wondering if you'd like to get breakfast with me or something tomorrow morning," he stammered. "I know you get your mornings off and all. I mean, it's totally cool if you don't want to. I can understand if you'd rather be alone."
Zexion shook his head. "Breakfast would be lovely. Shall we meet at the front gates tomorrow morning at eight?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Demyx said breathlessly.
"I will see you tomorrow then," Zexion said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to before the final show."
Without further ado, he breezed out of the tent. Demyx quickly rejoined his family as they finally left, unaware that they were being watched by Marluxia.
"You're taking a risk, you know, inviting the boys around like that."
"It's fine," Marluxia said, not surprised at the redhead's sudden appearance behind him. "As long as the shows run smoothly, Sephiroth doesn't care what goes on behind the scenes. You've been with the circus long enough now to know that."
"Yeah, but they might become corrupted if they hang around here too long," Axel said. "You know what effect this place has on people if they stay for too long. Remember what happened with Zexion?"
Marluxia looked at him in surprise. "I didn't know you were concerned about them becoming corrupted." Axel merely shrugged in response. Marluxia turned back to watch the Strifes exit the circus. "You needn't be concerned. Those boys won't be so easily corrupted. In fact, they may be exactly what this circus needs."
Then, he left to get ready for the last show, leaving behind a very bewildered-looking Axel.
Author's Notes
Inspiration: the original inspiration for this came from me watching Dumbo. My muses were like, "ooh you should write a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction revolving around the circus!" and then I watched Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann and things just sort of snowballed from there. Inspiration also came from Cirque du Soleil which I ended up doing research on and modeled the Disney Circus after. I originally intended for Axel to be the master of ceremonies, but then I went to see Cirque du Soleil's O in Las Vegas with my parents while there on vacation and when I saw the fire act, that was that. Axel had to be the fire act instead. Zexion and Lexaeus were also originally a knife act but then I listened to "Gamelan" from O and the muses went to town on that and so I changed it to a dance act instead.
Soundtrack: This is a list of the songs that I chose for the Disney Circus show in order, all from the various Cirque du Soleil shows (with the show it's from in parentheses): "Buster's Big Opening" (Iris), "Mirko" (Alegría), "Cold Flame" (Delirium), "Jeux D'enfants (Alegría), "Volo Volando" for the trapeze act (Corteo), "Propel" (La Nouba), "La Nouba" (La Nouba), "Distorted" (La Nouba), "High Bar" (Mystère), "Fanfare" (Nouvelle Experience), Liama (La Nouba), "Birth" (Journey of Man), "Imposteur" (Kooza), "Coelestis" (Zaia), "Terre Aride" for Axel's fire act (O), "Gamelan" for Zexion and Lexaeus's dance act (O), "Tzelma" (O), "Flight" (Kà), "Reveil" (Journey of Man), "Taruka" (O), "O" (O). I also listened to "Alegría" from the show Alegría obviously during the scene where Demyx and Zexion met, which is the song I chose to be their theme.
References: To Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII as well as Advent Children, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Mulan. Did you find them? There will probably be loads more references later as the story progresses so keep your eyes peeled!