The malevolent-looking silver tent was silhouetted by the pale moonlight. Anxious beeings walked in. The dark woods revealed more creatures who excitedly payed the entry fee. Once the clearing was empty, save for the tent, the show began.
Inside the humongous tent the thousands of visitors sat, high up in the stands, looking down at the center. They were completly silent, awaiting the first act. Their anticipation was greeted by a chilling song.
"Drink up baby down
Are you in or are you out?
Leave your things behind
'Cause it's all going off without you
Excuse me
Too busy
You're writing your tragedy
These mishaps
You bubble-wrap when
You've no idea who you're like." and eerie female voice rang out. "Let go!" The singer screamed, making the audience jump.
"So let go
And then jump in
And oh well, what you waiting for?
And it's alright
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
Let go
So let go
Just get in
And oh, it's so amazing here
And it's all right
Because there's beauty in the breakdown" A male singer joined, their voices entertwined in the fast paced song.
"It gains the more it gives
And then it fanasies with the poor
So honey back for more
Now can't you see that all that stuff's essential?
Such boundless
Pleasure, we've no time for later now
You can't await
You roll your eyes means
You've twenty seconds to comply
Let go
So let go
And then jump in
And oh well, what you waiting for?
And it's alright
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
Let go
So let go
Just get in
And oh, it's so amazing here
And it's all right
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
In your head
Your head
In your head
Your head" The female stopped.
"Drink up baby down
Are you in or are you out?
You can't wait
You roll your eyes
Twenty second to comply" The male screamed these lyrics with such forced that meeker members in the audience screamed at the sudden change.
"So let go
And then jump in
And oh, it's so amazing here
And it's alright
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
Let go
So let go
Just get in
And oh, it's so amazing here
And it's all right
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
Let go
So let go
And then jump in
Oh well, what you waiting for?And it's alright
Because there's beauty in the breakdown
Let go
So let go
Just get in
And oh, it's so amazing here
And it's all right
Because there's beauty in the breakdown" The melody finished eerily, fading into silence. The audience held their breaths. A bright spotlight was turned on, illuminating but the center of the stage. A tall, slender figure with long white hair walked out. He held the rim of his asymmetrical top hat low over his eyes with his right hand. His long coat floated centimeters above the dusty ground, swooshing at every step he took. He halted in the middle of the spotlight and grinned.
"I take it you liked our song?" He titled his head upward, revealing his deep purple eyes. The audience was broken out of their trance, cheering frantically. The mysterious figure chuckled and waited until they calmed down. "You'll meet the singers soon enough. I'm ringmaster Hand." The audience stared at the man.
"As you may have noticed, I'm one of the few remaining free humans." Hand paused. "This is my circus. I used to shelter us. I used to protect us. Then tragedy striked." The ringmaster shook his head. "But enough with the sad stories. You're here to see a circus. If anyone feels uncomfortable with watching humans perform, you can leave." he paused, and when no one moved, he smiled.
"Good." Suddenly, he disappeared from sight.
Members of the audience looked at each other in confusion as a larger-than-normal fox waltzed onto the stage. He sat down in the middle of the dusty ground, opening his grand jaws and licking his sharp teeth. His piercing eyes bore into the curious crowd. An average sized black haired teen joined him. His messy hair fell into his eyes and framed his dark face. His torso was bare, save for the big, black, arrow tattoo that snaked around his abdomen. He wore dark, purple tinted jeans. Ripped, bat-like wings protruded from his back, fluttering gently.
The tattooed male looked at the audience with curiosity-filled bright yellow eyes. The fox's gaze wandered up to the human. Suddenly it's eyes narrowed and it launched itself at the teen, mouth open and teeth bared. The audience gasped. The teen was no longer there, but was crouching atop a large tank of turquoise water, eyes narrowed at the vulpine, who was now a teen as well, sporting ears and a tail. His emerald eyes matched the green bandanna loosely wrapped around his tan neck. The fox-boy was wearing a light gray tank top as well as perfectly fitted, though badly ripped, navy dress pants.
"Welcome." The hybrid smiled charismatically at the audience. He then turned his attention back to the other human, who had started chaining himself up. Fox-boy walked up to him and welded the chains with a torch that was found near the tank.
"I need someone from the audience to come down, please." The brunette scanned the crowd. "You." He said, narrowing his eyes at a particularly strong-looking greap. It braved the jump from it's first row seat to the ground, the walked (rolled?) up to the performers. "Please test these chains."
The greap tried slicing at them, but it's long, sharp blades did not even scratch the metal. It then tried pulling them apart, to no avail. Fox-boy helped the black-haired teen into the tank of water, then sealed the top of the tank. He then had the greap try to open it, break the glass, among other things. He then sent the creature back to his seat.
"How many of you think he can escape?" The vulpine turned towards the audience. The crowd was a chorus of negative answers. Gazes were fixed on the male in the tank, who had his head bowed and eyes closed. His wings stretched out and some chains dropped down. Then his fingers pressed against the glass. He tilted his head up gazing at the stunned crowd. The last of his bonds sank to the bottom. The audience waited as he just stared. Suddenly the teen was gone, and a flurry of bubbles rose in the water. A scream rang out from the audience as he appeared behind a glice.
"Meta and Fox." Ringmaster Hand's voice rang out as Meta disappeared again, helping Fox wheel out the tank. "Defying gravity is something that takes years to practice. Unless of course, you have the abilities required..."
The stage went completely dark once again. A single shimmering feather fell from the ceiling, luring the crowd's gaze upward. Another teen sat on a beam. His shaggy brown hair drew attention to his cerulean eyes, set in a child-like face. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but large gray sweatpants that cut right below the knee. He licked his chapped lips, staring at his toes, as if he didn't know that he was the center of the audience's focus. He got up slowly, then started walking on the beam towards a rolled up gold ribbon. The brunette gently poked it with his foot, sending the silk ribbon tumbling down. He then proceeded to walk back to his previous spot. Just as he was nearing it, he jumped off, making it look like he'd tripped. The crowd gasped as he plumetted towards the ground. But their eyes were following a target that was no longer there. They drew their gazes up again. Beautiful white wings flapped gently, sending the occasional feather down. The heavenly appendages supported the teen, who had started to draw them back.
The angel dived, concentration etched on his face. He pulled up inches from the ground, twirling gleefully. The audience could hear his soft giggles and sighs of wonder. To him, there was no bigger joy than flying, and it was obvious. He folded his wings back, flipping down to the ground once again, landing gracefully. The audience was captivated by his innocent, albeit scarred, features. He started doing back handsprings until he was at the foot of the ribbon, where he looked up. The crowd followed his gaze, and spotted a beautiful blonde teen, clad in skin-tight blue shorts, as well as a skin-tight blue shirt. The blue matched her partner's eyes. She fixed her azure gaze on the golden silk. The blonde vaulted off the beam and expertly entertwined her legs in the ribbon, twirling downward, supported by nothing but the loose fabric. The hypnotized visitors watched as she tangled herself in the silk in various ways, stretching and falling, rolling and vaulting. When the girl was approximately ten feet off the ground, she parted herself from the fabric, flipping through the air. Her partner got into a handstand, and she landed on him perfectly, her feet on his.
She leaped off him lightly, and they ran to opposite ends of the stage. When they were in position, they locked gazes, then started chaining cartwheels, roundoffs, layouts, flips, and handsprings, among other things. They neared each other, seemingly set in a collision course. Right when the crowd thought they would run into each other, the boy dropped into left splits and caught his partner mid-flip. He threw her upward towards a trapeze, which she caught on to with her legs.
The blond twisted so she was sitting up. Then she proceeded to use the bar as a swing, grabbing the ropes holding it up. She twisted again, clutching the bar with the back of her knees, reaching out and grabbing her partner's hands. She flung him upward until he sat on the trapeze with her. She sat up again, and they swung, gaining momentum. The angel stood up and jumped off, landing gracefully near a hidden exit. He caught his partner bridal style as she followed suit. He put her down and they bowed, walking out.
"Pit and Samus." The ringmaster could be heard from the shadows. "Have you, creatures of subspace, ever seen a beast? A ferocious beast, that, if let loose, would kill all of you, without second thought?" At those words, a giant white dragon-like creature ran out, pink jaws parted in a ferocious roar. A blond teen with pointed ears and sharp features jumped over the beast and landed, facing away from it. He turned around slowly, dragging a heavy black chain. Electricity crackled from it as he stared down his pet. The teen wore no shirt, green-grey sweatpants, knee-high boots and bandages on his arms. The hand he held the chain with was covered with a heavy glove.
The beast roared in the blond's face, but the teen didn't flinch. Instead he took a step forward, looking the creature in the eye.
"No one move." He hissed. "One wrong move and he goes after you." The tension in the air was immense. The audience was petrified, save for one brave, albeit stupid soul.
"YOU'RE A FAKE! DO SOMETHING ALREADY!" the primid yelled out angrily. The blond's pet snapped his head towards the sound, where the soon-to-be victim was waving his arms. The beast ran extremely fast towards it's target, then, with an extraordinary leap, landed in front of the primid. It dug it's long pink claws into the primid's chest, throwing it into the arena. Shadow bugs sprayed the crowd. The creature bounded back in, ready to tear apart it's prey, but the electric chain caught it in the side. It was thrown across the stage. The blond teen glared at it, and it backed away into the shadows once more.
The ringmaster ran onto the stage, a grim expression on his face.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the circus will end now. Please exit the tent immediately." The crowd basically ran out, terrified of the beast, and assuming that was the reason the circus ended so abruptly. When they got outside, they were greeted by the Justice.
"What are you all doing here?" The lead soldier asked a small primid. It opened it's mouth and turned around. It stared in shock, not speaking.
The circus was gone.
A/N: So this is the fic I was talking about. Hope you enjoyed the prologue! I own nothing (including the song).
Oh. And cookies if you can guess which song is the theme of the circus.