Axel struggled as he tried to flap his wings, trying to get himself off of the ground and back to the safety of the thermals that carried him away from the circus. Now, his wings felt like lead because of the unforgiving rain soaking his feathers, causing them to become waterlogged and heavy. He felt a sharp pain on his left wing, so he turned around and looked. He silently cursed as he saw the damage on his wing.

His left wing was a bloody mess. From the fall that he took when he was shot down, he had landed heavily on the fragile bones, causing them to snap, but because they were so light, he barely even felt it. But it was mostly the bullet that shot him that caused his wing to be so bloody. The bullet was lodged deep in the fingerlike appendages of his wings, and because it was lined with both silver and a bit of gold, the bleeding on his wing couldn't stop. He was incredibly allergic to those two precious metals, although why he still has no idea.

He quit moving around when he heard the men yelling, barking orders like dogs as they tried to search for him. He tucked in his wings and ran deeper into the forest, making sure that the blood drops won't be so noticeable.

Axel eventually reached the end of his endurance. Being part of a freak show doesn't necessarily mean that he gets to work out very often, much less eat. He'd be lucky to even have a near empty bowl of moldy rice or the peanuts that get thrown at him from the audience.

"Over there!" a man yelled as he found one of Axel's bloody feathers. "He shouldn't have gotten very far."

Axel looked behind his shoulder and saw them coming. He looked up at the nearest oak tree, trying to find something that can let him clamber up its trunk. Fate was on his side, for he found a slightly low branch that he can grab. He jumped up, slightly using his wings for an extra boost, and clung on to the branch tightly. He swung his leg over the branch, and tucked in his legs to hide them from sight. He looked up to see more branches acting like a natural ladder, with it being very dense with branches and foliage near the middle. He scrambled over to the center, pressing himself close to one of the branches to hide him.

"Where did he go?" one of them, a man named Braig, told his companion, a bear of a man, Aeleus.

"Like I'm supposed to know!" Aeleus answered gruffly. He is also one of the freaks in the circus, but he was treated with respect because he was brothers with the man who ran the circus, Xehanort.

"He couldn't have gotten far. He didn't even eat anything." Ienzo said as he walked up to them, holding a flashlight. "He wouldn't have the energy to keep moving."

"Alright then, Mr. Know-It-All," Braig teased as he looked around for more tracks, his unnatural pointy ears showing. He was also part of the show, but he was related to Xehanort too, meaning that he isn't mistreated.

All of Xehanort's brothers were deformed in some way, including him, letting them become their own freak show. As their business grew, they bought, kidnapped, or surgically deform people to add on to their show so it won't bore the audiences. Axel was found by accident, when he was trying to steal some bread for himself. His unnatural spiky bright crimson hair and brilliant, piercing green eyes caught their attention, but it was his strange wings on his back that truly made him an outcast. His wings had black appendages like that of a bat, so they could've called him a demon in the show, but instead of the leathery membrane that connects the appendages together, there were red feathers with black tips instead. So in the show, he was considered as the "Demonic Angel", or the "Fallen Angel".

"There's no way he could've just suddenly disappear like that," Braig hissed under his breath, scratching his head as he inspected the ground, looking for bloodspots or feathers. "He's incredibly injured; no one will help him out because he's a freak."

"Eh, just let him die out here from hypothermia or blood loss. He's not gonna survive on his own out here for a few days, much less hours." Ienzo said, trotting away from the group.

"Let him die?" Aeleus said, not totally excited about the idea. "I don't know about that idea, Ienzo. He's Xehanort's number one prize, and he always attracted so many people from all around. People always spent good money to see him, and he's the reason why we're the best."

"Well, I guess Xehanort will just have to live with it," Ienzo shot back, shaking his head clear of the rain. "He's nothing but trouble, anyways. It serves him right to die out here."

"Now that's just cold, shrimp," Braig said as he messed with Ienzo's hair, who just smacked his hand in response. "But I do have to agree with you on that. Come on, I'm through with looking out here in this downpour. I just want to go back where it's warm and finish my dinner. We can continue looking for him in the morning."

Axel poked his head over to see them walk away. He continued watching them until the bouncing light from their flashlight became a speck in the distance. He heaved a sigh of relief, glad that he finally over came that obstacle. Now he has an even bigger problem, which is surviving to the end of the night. He shivered violently, finally realizing just how cold he is. He was shirtless, wearing only a worn out pair of black jeans, black leather knee high boots, and a metal collar that they kept around his neck so he won't get away. The collar used to be attached to a chain, but Axel managed to break it during the middle of the show, right when he made his escape. The only thing that he's happy about the collar is that it's not made out of silver or gold, but of iron, and he's not allergic to iron.

"Well, I guess I'm sleeping hungry again tonight," Axel muttered to himself as he brought his left wing closer to him to find the bullet. "At least I'm not at the circus anymore." He continued to feel around, using whatever light the moon is showing to see where the bullet hole is. He found the hole, completely encrusted in blood, and tried to remove the bullet with his hands, but that only made it worse. Every time he tried to take it out, he would only bleed even more, and losing precious blood is something he can't do.

He eventually gave up after a few painful and bloody tries. He leaned against one of the thicker branches of the tree, making sure to lean on his right side so his left wing wouldn't get damaged even further. To protect himself from the rain, he placed his left wing over his shivering body, offering him some bit of warmth as well. He closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep, but his freezing body temperature prevented him from doing so. He hunched his body closer to his torso, gripping his legs to his chest to conserve precious body heat. After a few minutes of shaking violently, he closed his eyes shut, praying silently to whoever might be listening to a freak like him, to let him survive at least one night.


Xion woke up with her brother Vanitas poking her on her shoulder. She didn't want to get up that morning, for her nice bed was extremely comfortable and warm that morning, and she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her annoyance.

"Xion! Wake up already! We're going to park today, remember?" Vanitas said as he pulled the covers away from her. She flinched at the sudden cool temperature.

"If I get up, will you stop bothering me for at least five minutes?" Xion said with her face buried in the pillows.

"Yes, just as long you get ready to go to the park now." Vanitas said as he ran out of her room to his other brother's rooms.

Xion sighed and got up reluctantly. She didn't want to leave the warmth of her bed, but she knew that Vanitas would be back, and with her other brothers, Ventus, Sora, and Roxas, as well. And besides, going to the park has always been the highlight of their spring and summer days, when they can eat all of the ice cream they pleased, and go to the circus that always comes around every year. This year, their parents finally agreed to let them go to the circus, and now the five children are even more excited than usual.

Xion took off her soft pink pajamas and wore a pair of blue jeans, her favorite purple shirt, a pair of her favorite rainbow striped colored socks, and her tennis shoes. She grabbed her soft dark blue scarf and wrapped it around her neck, knowing that it would probably be cold outside. After thinking for a while, she grabbed her oversized black turtleneck sweater as well, just in case it does get a bit colder than she thought.

She walked out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where her brothers and parents were already eating breakfast. She quickly took her seat next to her mother, and started to eat what was her plate: eggs, bacon, waffles, hashbrowns, and strawberries.

"So is it true?" Sora asked excitedly to his father, Cloud, with his mouth full of waffles and syrup. "Are we really going to the circus today?"

"Sora, don't talk with your mouth full," his mother, Tifa, told him.

Cloud chuckled slightly, swallowing the food in his mouth before answering. "Now who told you that?"

"Vanitas!" Sora said as he pointed to his twin.

"Don't point at your brother, Sora," Tifa reminded her son again.

Cloud hid a smile as he took a sip of his coffee. "Yes, we're going to the circus today, but stay away from the freaks that they have on display there. You may never know when they will steal everything that you have."

"But there's no way they will try to steal anything from us. You're a police officer, remember Dad?" Sora continued.

"Yes, I know Sora, but even police will get robbed from thieves." Cloud said in a serious tone. "Many of the people in the circus are frauds, and would try to kidnap people to be part of their shows to."

"But not everyone in the circus is that bad?" Ventus asked, his chin dripping with sticky syrup. Tifa reached across the table and cleaned her son's chin, much to Ventus's annoyance.

"I don't know, Ven. There is so many scums working in the circuses, that it's hard to find an angel amongst demons." Cloud said as he drank more of his coffee.

"But what about all of the animals that they have?" Roxas asked innocently.

"Don't know son, but I'm pretty sure they're treated nicer than the freaks they have."

"Are the deformed people nice?" Xion finally asked. Silence settled over the table like a thick blanket of snow.

Cloud rubbed his forehead as he tried to come up with an answer to her question. "I don't know, Xion. So many of the deformed freaks are frauds, and are the equivalent of demons from the Inferno. So be careful when you're around them, sweetheart. I wouldn't want to lose my only daughter." After he said that, he reached over and ruffled Xion's black hair lightly.

"So are going or not?" Vanitas whined loudly.

"Yes, after you finish your breakfast," Cloud said as he continued to eat his breakfast. His children all started to eat faster after he said that.


Xion walked around the park with her brothers, their parents sitting on one of the park benches, watching them play around the trees. Sora was trying to scale up the tree where Vanitas was camping out on, Roxas was trying to convince him that it was a bad idea, and Ventus was busy looking for birds with her. Ventus was usually the only brother whom she can relate to and get along easily with, besides his older twin, Roxas.

"What birds do you think we're going to see today?" Xion asked her older brother. Xion is the youngest in her family, with Ventus being the one closest to her age.

"Probably a red cardinal if we're lucky," Ventus muttered as he stared at the tree branches, looking for the red bird.

Xion giggled slightly. "You always look for that bird every single year whenever we come here, yet we still never found it."

"Yet!" Ventus said as he stared hard at the different tree branches. "I won't give up looking for it until I see it for myself."

Xion rolled her eyes as she looked at the leaf filled branches with her brother. It was a hobby that they picked up from one of their dad's friends, Zack, who had once brought an entire photo album filled with just pictures of birds that he saw on his numerous trips around the world. They became so fascinated about the different, beautifully colored birds, that they had picked up the hobby and started to take pictures of the birds they saw as well, adding them to Zack's bird photo album whenever he comes to visit.

"I think we're gonna need to go deeper into the forest if we're gonna find that bird, Xi," Ventus said finally as he broke eye contact with the trees.

"You're gonna need to ask Mom and Dad to do that," Xion reminded her brother.

"Which is what I'm going to do," Ventus said as he turned around and ran back to his parents. Xion, not wanting to be left behind, followed her brother.

"Hey Mom! Dad!" Ventus said as he ran up to where they were. "Is it okay for us to farther into the woods so we can find the red cardinal?"

"Again?" his mother said with a questionable look on her face. "Weren't you looking for that bird last year, and the year before that, and the year before that?"

"Yeah, but today I have a really good feeling that I will find it today. So please? Can we?"

"Ven, you know I want you in my sights whenever we're here."

"I know, but I really want to find that bird! It's the number one bird I always wanted to see in real life instead of on the TV!"

His mother sighed, unsure about what to say to her pleading son. Cloud on the other hand, took that duty off of her shoulders. "Sure, you can go, just as long as you don't go too far, okay? I heard that the circus is on the other side of the forest, but they won't open until later on."

Ventus only heard the first few words of what his dad told him. "Thanks Dad! We'll be back soon!" Ventus gave his dad a hug before scampering off into the forest again with Xion following after him.

"Ven, wait up a bit!" Xion said as she tried to catch up to her sprinting brother. Ven stopped under the tree where Vanitas was hiding in, waiting for his sister to catch up to him.

"Hey, where are you guys goin'?" Vanitas asked from the branches of the maple tree he's in.

"We're going deeper into the forest to find the red cardinal." Ventus replied to his brother.

"Again?" Sora said as he poked his head out from the same tree Vanitas was in. "You've been lookin' for that bird forever. You're never gonna find it!"

"Well, I think today is the day where I will find it! And I'll take a picture of it, and prove it to you that I did finally found it!" Ventus said as he started to march off deeper into the woods. Xion followed him wordlessly, facing Vanitas and Sora and twirling a finger over her temple and pointing at Ventus.

"Ven! Xi just called you crazy!" Sora ratted out to his brother.

"Not cool, Sora!" Xion yelled to her tree hugging brother.

"Stop yelling or else you're gonna scare all of the birds away!" Ventus hissed as he headed deeper into the woods. "Xi, are you coming or what?"

"Coming!" Xion said as she followed her brother into the woods, glaring at Sora as she went.

They walked into the forest, keeping their eyes peeled for anything red and their ears sharp for the whistles of the birds. The whole forest seemed to be holding its breath as they continued to look for the bird. No wind whistled in their ears, no songs from the birds floated in the air. It was the kind of silence where you can hear a pin drop from miles away. Ventus and Xion trotted lightly through the wet undergrowth, trying to be as silent as possible. They scanned the ground and the trees, looking for anything that shows the presence of the birds.

"Uhh… Ventus? Are you sure there are even any birds out here today?" Xion whispered, getting slightly unnerved about the deathly silence. Ventus gave no answer as he stared at something off in the distance. "Ven? Are you even listening-?"

"There!" Ventus exclaimed as silently as he could, pointing at something in the distance.

"What is it, Ven?" Xion said as she tried to find what her brother was pointing at.

Ventus said nothing as he crashed through the undergrowth to the spot he was pointing at earlier. He bent down on the wet undergrowth and picked up something in his hands. Xion raced over to him, curious to see what he had in his hands. She saw that he held a red feather with a black tip, soaked slightly from the rain and with some irregular splotches of dark red spots all over it. The feather was massive, and it took up all of the space of Ventus's palm. Xion looked up from the feather, and saw that the shrubs in front of her where covered with different spots of dark red. Xion was no botanist, but she was pretty sure that plants don't have spots on their leaves the color of dried blood.

"Uh, Ven, you should look at the shrubs in front of us." Xion said as she tugged on her brother's jacket.

"Why?" Ventus said, his eyes still glued on the feather.

"They're covered in dried blood."

"How do you know that it's blood?"

"Because I'm pretty sure plants don't have spots with drip marks on them, and have a trail of spots leading to somewhere."

"Eh?" Ventus looked up, and saw what Xion meant by the blood spots on the plants. His eyes followed the trail of blood, but it wasn't so easy because much of it was washed away from the rain.

"Do you think we should follow it?" Xion asked him.

"I don't know. It might lead to something dangerous." Ventus said as he got up and started to follow the trail anyway. Xion sighed as she followed her brother.

The crude trail of blood varied from light spots to large puddles to more of the massive feathers, which made it a difficult challenge for them. Had they not trained their eyes to detect the smallest of things from bird watching, they probably would've given up long ago. They reached the end of the trail, which lead up to the giant oak tree. Although the bark was darker than usual because of the rain, there were some streaks of blood on the branches. Xion and Ventus looked up at the tree in silence, wondering what to do next.

"I dare you to go up the tree." Xion said finally to Ventus.

"I double dare you to do it." Ventus responded.

"I triple dare you to do it."

"I double dog dare you."

"I triple dog dare you." Xion said as she reached the final and highest dare her siblings ever invented.

Ventus said nothing as he groaned in annoyance. He walked around the tree, trying to find a low branch for him to climb on. He finally found one, and he called Xion over to give him a boost. Xion did, and Ventus was soon clambering over on the branch. He lifted a leg on the branch and sat up on his seat. He looked behind him, to see that there were so many different spots of red hidden near the center of the tree. He also heard the sounds of light breathing.

"Uh, Xion? Either red cardinals are larger than I think, or there's something really huge and red here." Ventus called down to his sister.

"Really? Let me see!" Xion said as she raised her hands up for Ventus to grab. He grabbed her by the wrists, and dragged her over on the branch he is sitting on.

Xion looked over to where the sounds of something breathing were. "What is that thing?" she whispered to Ventus.

"I don't know. Come on, let's get closer and see what it is."

Ventus carefully scooted over to the center of the oak tree, silently removing the raindrop filled branches out of his way. They soon came upon a thing with a huge wing covering its body. Blood was soaked all over the wing, and there was a small pool collected at the base. Ventus could see that although it was covered with feathers like the one he found, there was something abnormal about it. The wing had black appendages like a bat wing, with small red-orange accents on them that slightly resembled tiny flames dancing in midair, but it had feathers instead of membrane. And he could also see that the wing was covered with the dark red spots of blood, and the bone that connected the wing to the creature's hidden back was snapped in half, leaving it at an awkward angle. He reached over to the shattered wing, and gently stroked it.

"Ven, what are you doing?" Xion exclaimed quietly, shocked that her brother would touch something covered with blood. "You're gonna get infected if you keep touching it!"

"But it's unbelievably soft, Xi. Almost like cotton." Ventus replied as he gently ran his fingers through the large feathers. He ran them towards the tips of the wings, suddenly feeling something hard and rubbery. He gently parted the bloodstained feathers with his hands to find grey soles of a black leather boot. He lifted the wing up as slowly as he could, to find that there was a pair of boots on a pair of black jeans clad legs.

"Ven, what is that?" Xion asked as he saw what looked to be the bottom half of a human.

"It's a person." Ventus stated like a professor.

"No duh!" Xion said, annoyed at her brother slightly. "What I mean is, what kind of person is this person?"

"I don't know," Ventus said as he stared at the boots. "Let's lift the wing to find out."

"Are you crazy? You don't know if this person is dead or is faking it or…or…"

"Just be quiet! If this person was dead, you wouldn't hear him snoring." Ventus hissed to his sister, grabbing the odd wing and lifting it gently. He heard what sounded like a small hiss of pain.

"How would you know that it's a boy?" Xion questioned.

"Because he is," Ventus said as he saw the face of the person. Xion moved over next to her brother, gasping slightly at the sight of the person.

The person was curled up in a tight fetal position, his face touching his knees. His hair was a brilliant crimson color, fashioned in spikes around his head like a lion's mane. His small red eyebrows were scrunched up close together, making him look slightly angry at something, and he had small purple upside down teardrops just below his closed eyes. His black jeans and leather boots were the only clothing that he wore, and around his neck was a thick iron collar that looked like it should've been connected to something, and it looked like it was rubbing into his flesh, making it stained with old blood and scarring whatever you can see of his neck. Because he wasn't wearing a shirt, Ventus and Xion could see that the wings sprouted out of his back, a little bit below his shoulder blades. Whatever they could see of his bare chest were the bones of his ribcage. His arms were also incredibly scrawny, as if he didn't eat a thing for a few days. But it wasn't his physical appearance that made them shocked. It was the unnatural hue of his skin. Ashy gray, almost white, and slightly tinged with blue around his lips, nose, cheeks, and fingertips, sprinkled every now and then with blood. All of the tell tale signs of major blood loss and extremely low body temperature.

"There's no way he can still be alive." Xion said in her normal tone of voice. She immediately took back what she said when she saw his eyelid quiver slightly from her voice. His eye opened and fluttered slowly, showing his brilliant green eye color, so bright for someone looking so close to death.

"I'm…not dead?" he wheezed, his words slightly muffled from being so close to his knees.

"No you're not, sir," Ventus spoke up, making the man turn his eye towards him. "You're sleeping in a tree."

"I… know that… Are… they gone?"

"Who's gone?"

"The…carny people…Braig…Aeleus… Ienzo…" The man started to cough violently, causing Xion and Ventus to flinch back a bit.

"We should get you down from here and find you some help." Xion said as she tried to grab one of his icy arms.

"No one would help… a freak like me… a freak from the circus…" the man continued, sneezing this time.

"Well you're wrong about that. We're going to help you, along with the rest of our family." Ventus said seriously, a stern look on his features. He firmly gripped one of his arms and tried to yank him up. "You're coming with us whether you want to or not."

The man didn't try to resist as Ventus pulled him up to his knees. He let his wings go limp, with his left wing suspended in the air. Xion noticed what he was doing, so she reached up and tore off a sturdy looking twig from one of the many branches above her. She pressed it against the man's wing, who hissed slightly at the contact. Xion gathered up her courage and grabbed the broken wing, pressing the twig against the broken bone, making the man groan in pain. She unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and winded it around the twig and bone, making a crude cast for the broken bone. While tightening the scarf around the makeshift cast, she felt a small crater underneath her fingertips. She looked to find a blood encrusted hole with something sticking out of it. She tentatively touched it, hearing the man resist screaming out in agony.

"Xion! Whatever you're doing, stop it!" Ventus called out to her.

"Sorry, but I was just trying to make a cast for his wing, and I think he has something stuck on his wing here." Xion replied as she tried to get the man to shuffle forward towards Ventus.

"Why didn't you try to take it out?"

"Because I just barely even touched it when he almost started screaming."

"Okay then, I hear you. Just try to make him move faster, or else Mom and Dad are gonna have heart attacks if we're not back soon, and this guy might not make it."

"I have a name, you know…" the man muttered as he tried to move faster, following the blonde in front of him.

"What's your name, then?" Ventus asked.

"It's Axel…" Axel muttered before he broke out into a long series of violent coughing that racked his thin body.

"That does not sound good." Xion said from behind Axel.

"I'll…survive…What are your names?" Axel asked them both.

"My name is Ventus, but I like to be called Ven." Ven introduced. "And that girl behind you is my young sister, Xion."

"Hello." Xion greeted as Axel turned his head around to see her.

After a while they finally got to the lowest branch of the oak tree they were in. Ventus jumped down first, with Xion following him. They offered help to Axel, but he refused it and insisted that he could do it. He dangled his legs over the branch, slowly inching his way down the branch. He lost his grip on the branch, and he crumbled to the earth below him. Xion and Ventus rushed over, but he continued to insist that he was fine, when it was obvious that he wasn't. Chills were racking his body, making him tremble like a leaf.

"You're definitely freezing, Axel. And there's no way you are saying otherwise." Xion said seriously.

"So what are going to do about it?" Ventus asked his sister. Xion replied by taking off her oversized black sweater.

"Okay, that could work, but what about his wings?" Ventus said, gesturing at the wings.

Xion looked at the wings, and what was left of the scarf that dangled about. She grabbed the scarf and wrapped it around Axel's body, making his wings press up against his back. She then took the soft sweater and shoved it over Axel's head. The sweater was a bit large on him, making the bulk of his wings almost invisible, and the turtle neck hid the iron collar around his neck.

"Okay, now take his legs and I'll take his arms," Xion said suddenly to her brother.

Ventus stared at her, wondering what she meant by that. "Why?"

"Because we're gonna carry him home with us."

"But what about Mom and Dad? Especially Dad?"

"They're not gonna find out anytime soon with that sweater on him. Now are you gonna help this guy live or not?"

Ventus sighed as he took Axel's legs and carried him along with his sister.