DISCLAIMER: I own no rights to Cirque du freak.
A/N: There is a death in a chapter. Sorry but wait until the later chapters and you will see why.
This is pretending that Murlough didn't die.
Thanks to RoxxiSanders, my beta.
TITLE: With or without you
SUMMARY: Darren wakes up one morning to find Mr Crepsley and Evra gone and he is all alone. Realising he has to go and find them before it's too late, he sets out to find them, meeting some people who can change his destiny along the way. Will he find them before it's too late and run his life as normal?
~CiRqUe Du FrEaK ~
Chapter 1- Where d'ya go?
"Monsieur Crepslaaay! Good morning." There was a long silence when Evra walked into Crepsley's tent. "I was wondering if you and Darren were gonna be in the show next week. Crepsley?" He knocked on the coffin lid just as a booming voice rippled out of it.
"Never call me 'Monsieur Crepsley' again, I thought keeping quiet would make you go away but it clearly failed. So, did you want something?"
"Actually, it was Crepslaaay and umm…I was wondering if you, Darren and Octa were in the show next week." Crepsley lifted the lid and looked at him with an exasperated expression on his face.
"Yes well…we are participating in the show. Now go and do your chores I have to sleep…Darren has lessons tonight." Evra pouted and wandered out of the tent, leaving Crepsley to rest for the following night. He then proceeded to knock on the door of Truska's tent and entered not long after.
"Evra can I help you in some way?" Her voice was quieter than usual and Evra raised an eyebrow. "I have a croaky throat so I will let you do the talking." She chuckled and sat down on a chest containing clothes, listened carefully to whatever Evra had to say.
"Well, I'm a little sick of these clothes so I was wondering if you had anything else, maybe more 'snake-ified'? Nothing too much just something like a t-shirt with a snake on it or a pair of jeans or something?"
She smiled then stood up and opened the chest she had been sat on. Pulling out a pair of darkened jeans, a shirt with green pinstripes on it and an old black blazer jacket with a snake emblazoned on the pocket, she handed the clothes to Evra. He tried them on then offered her a hug in thanks. He then waltzed into his and Darren's tent and grinned at him.
"Well, ya like?" Darren laughed and gave a thumbs up in return.
"That reminded me of something someone had once said to me. It was Murlough; he had asked me that night at the theatre, 'Does Murlough have talent?' When I had said nothing, he had said, 'No? Whaddya know about talent?' Darren tried to do his best impression of Murlough's voice but failed. "Ya like?" He said laughing afterwards.
"You sounded nothing like him." Evra's voice was sarcastic and mocking but Darren just pouted and flopped onto the bed behind him.
"I wasn't that bad. I thought I was quite good." He grumbled before standing up and checking whether it was dark outside yet. "I'm gonna go and wake Crepsley and tell him you're bullying me." Evra knew he was joking so thought nothing of it.
"No, don't set the big bad vampire on me!" He said, pretending to be scared and fake running to the door of the tent.
"Nope, you've done it now. Too late for apologies Evra…too late. He'll hunt you down and drink your blood you know."
"Dude, I'm a serpent so my blood would kill him. Hence 'Serpentine'." Suddenly there was another voice joining the conversation.
"Kill who, Mr Von?" Evra and Darren swivelled round to see Mr Crepsley stood behind them.
"Murlough! Not you…totally not you Mr C." Darren agreed and smiled sweetly at the towering Vampire. He didn't appreciate smiled but as far as they were concerned a smile was a smile.
"Right of course." His voice was unconvinced but he turned to face Darren anyway. "Come now Darren, we have work to do and not much time left."
Darren said goodnight to Evra then followed Crepsley to the woods for his lessons. He wasn't really in the mood but had to have a lesson tonight as Crepsley had let him off the past four nights. The bad thing was that his lessons were so boring now, yes they had been cool at the start but now he had learned almost everything he needed to know and was a little tired of it.
"Are you ready now? Today's study is exhaling the gas that we use when feeding. This way you can feed by yourself and I will not have to baby you anymore." Darren's ears pricked up when he heard it and he got a rush of excitement. He had wanted to learn this from the start but never had the chance to. Crepsley had always said that he was not yet ready but now he finally was. The lesson was long and hard but worth it, even though they only got back at dawn.
Darren clambered into his bed and pulled the covers to his neck before drifting off into a blissful sleep. Darren woke early in the morning and sat up in his coffin. He noticed that Evra wasn't snoring so looked over to his bed and gasped, he was gone! He scrambled over to his bed and searched for any trace of the snake boy but there was no luck. Next he rushed into Crepsley's room and threw up the lid of the coffin to find it empty. Gasping in horror he searched the whole of the tent for the vampire. It was daylight so he should've been asleep in his wooden coffin right? Where else could he go in daylight? Clearly this was not the case and Darren started to panic as questions raced through his mind. Where are they? Are they ok? Are they…DEAD?
Rushing across to Mr Tall's tent, he pushed his way in and looked up at the taller man. "Mr Tall, do you know where Crepsley and Evra are?" Darren's voice was strained and worried but Mr Tall just sat down with a glass of wine and sighed.
"No Darren, I am afraid that I have no idea…I was just going to ask you." Suddenly, something flashed through Darren's mind–Murlough! He could have taken them whilst he was sleeping but where would he have taken them to?
"Mr Tall, is there anywhere…anywhere at all…that Murlough could've taken them? He has to have done this." Darren's mind was all muddled up and he didn't know what to think anymore, what to believe. People were saying different things about the disappearances as news had already spread like wildfire across the Cirque, and every scenario was different but Darren only believed one. That was that Murlough had taken them back to the tunnels…the tunnels from a long time ago. He had to have done, he even told Darren that he loved them and now he was returning to them it was obvious…so obvious and Darren couldn't believe that he had let it happen. He knew it would happen and now he had to go and put it right because he had left it too late and he could hardly just say sorry you're dead but what the hell no hard feelings to his friends. He packed a bag and set off for the tunnels.
~CiRqUe Du FrEaK ~
A/N: Thanks for reading. Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought. Next chapter will be up soon.