Enjoy!


Chapter 2

"Don't try to lie to me, you know it's not even worth the trouble," I say bored already.

"Aw come on! I don't know what happened to your stupid stone thing!" whines Demyx. I can tell he's lying. I can feel his untrustworthiness coming off him in waves.

"You can tell me where it is or I'll just find out myself," I say reaching my hand up to brush my hair away from my left eye.

"Okay! Okay! Here, you can have it back!" shrieks Demyx seeing what I was about to do. He pulls my aquamarine stone out of his coat pocket and places it in my hand careful not to touch me.

I hold the stone up to my good eye to make sure it's right before putting it in my pocket out of sight, "You really shouldn't take my things."

"I'm sorry Zexion. I just like the color of it," apologizes Demyx scratching his scaly palm nervously.

"You're forgiven," I say shortly and walk away to wait for my time to become common entertainment for the imbeciles in tonight's audience. Larxene is on stage now making sparks shoot out of her hands. I don't even have to sense Larxene to tell she's enjoying her time on stage. It's pitiful how she needs the adoration of gullible idiots to stay happy.

"Look at how she channels the electricity with nothing but her hands! Any normal man or woman would be dead from attempting this dangerous feat! Give her a round of applause folks!"

The audience obediently claps for Larxene, The Spark Bug. Larxene takes her hand off the electrical wires and curtseys with little sparks still falling around her. The lights dim and Larxene walks off stage towards me, "Good crowd tonight."

I grimace as I brush past her feeling her self adoration. It's a very annoying trait. The stage is much darker and more mysterious now. Because that's the sense my act is suppose to create.

"The Seer of Souls! You can't hide your secrets from his eye of all knowing! Can we have a volunteer from the audience?"

Many people raise their hands excitedly. They giggle thinking they will be able to fool me.

They won't.

Nobody can fool me.

I point lazily at a woman in the front row. She gets up enthusiastically and walks up the stage stairs careful to not have her skirts catch on them. The woman walks towards me with some hesitation now. I don't care how unfriendly I look. I just want to get this spectacle of me over with.

"Hold your hand out," I order her.

She holds her hand out to me and I touch fingertips with her. I can feel her aura intensify.

"Your name is Clara. You're 28 years old. You came to this show with your husband Michael and your 6 year old son Thomas."

The woman's eyes become stunned, "Well…that's…that's right!" she says to the crowd.

"Your mind is like an open book to the Seer of Souls!"

The audience claps for us. But I can feel that they aren't quite convinced yet.

"Here take this bag. There are colored stones in it. I'm going to go behind this screen where I cannot see you and you are going to pull the stones out at random," I say to her before walking behind the screen.

"He can sense any color pulled out of the bag from behind the screen! There is no trickery to this talent!"

Since I touched Clara I can sense her more than I usually would be able to.

"Red," I say loudly. The crowd claps.

"Green"

"Purple"

"Blue and Yellow," I say when Clara tries to trick me by pulling out two stones at once.

I walk out from behind the screen. The crowd feels unnerved. They don't like my demeanor. I don't care.

"Well anyone can do that! There's a trick to it! There…there must be mirrors or something! You're just a fraud!" shouts a man in the second row standing up. I whip my head around to stare at him. The cocky expression on his face freezes.

He's regretting ever speaking up.

"You think I'm a fraud, do you?" I say walking down the steps to him, "I beg to differ…Jim." I shake my hair out of my left eye. My left eye is completely black. There is no other color but midnight black. I hide it from view not because I care about its appearance, but because it has a strange effect on people. Jim's face goes slack when I pierce him with one look of my eye. The other audience members have a fearful aura now. I don't look at them because I only want Jim to be under my control.

"Still believe I'm a fraud, Jim?" I ask.

He's stares back at me with wide fearful eyes. He can't move as long as I keep eye contact with him. I can feel every detail about Jim and the more I sense the more I dislike this man.

"Whose is this lovely lady sitting next to you? Certainly NOT your wife! Is it Jim?" I say coldly, "Your poor wife is at home hoping you will come home tonight. But here you are with Emily who is NOT your wife and NOT the mother of your four children."

I can feel shame and embarrassment from the woman sitting next to Jim.

"Go home," I order.

With a dazed expression on his face Jim walks up the aisle and out the doors. The woman named Emily rushes after him. I feel a little smug about putting that jerk in his place, although I'll probably have the Ringmaster after me about scaring the audience away now.

I can feel apprehension and fear from the remaining audience.

"Show's over," I mutter walking backstage. I don't care if I get kicked out of the show. I hate performing my "freakish talents". I can survive outside of the freak show. I just have to hide my eye and pretend I don't know too much when I first meet people. It's just easier to stay at the show. I get a room. I don't get bothered too much. I get fed on a regular schedule. Which is more than some people have now with jobs being scarce.

Some of the other freaks would be dead by nightfall if they left the show. The Twins are helpless. Demyx, Riku, Saix, and Marluxia look too strange to go among normal people. Nobody enjoys being in the freak show, but it's really the only place for us.

"You know, you probably shouldn't have done that," says a stage hand named Leon.

I ignore him and go deeper backstage to the lounging freaks.

I don't look up when any of the freaks try to call out to talk to me. I don't care what they have to say. With my freak talent I have realized I don't really like people. I know their underlying nature better than anyone else alive. And it's nothing short of vindictive.

I go into my room for privacy. I open up the book I was reading before my time to become a common spectacle. I like my time to sit and read in peace and quiet. Even though books are written by untrustworthy people I still find them amusing.

I'm in my room barely ten second before I hear a knock on my door. I sigh and close my book keeping my place with my finger, "Yes?"

The door slowly opens and Axel's bright red hair assaults my eyes, "Hey Zexion!"

I narrow my eyes at him feeling an odd emotion from him "Is there something you want to ask me, Axel?"

He scratches his head nervously and smiles wryly at me, "Nothing gets past you, eh Zexy."

I clench my teeth at that nickname that the Freaks have been trying to call me recently. I don't find it amusing at all. I don't know how putting a "Y" at the end of someone's perfectly good name is appealing. "I would appreciate if you used my given name. Would you please just tell me what you want? I really want to be left alone."

"Oh sorry, I forgot you didn't like that name," smiles Axel obviously lying, "I was just going to ask a favor from you."

I purse my lips unhappily. I don't like favors. But I do owe Axel a favor for fixing my door when Saix knocked it down in one of his rages, "What favor would this be?"

"Nothing big, I just need you to find out a name for me," replies Axel eyeing the bottles on my night stand.

"Who?" I ask shortly.

"A man that works at a newspaper stand on the corner of Sunset and Traverse," replies Axel with a glint in his eye. I feel…redemption from him.

"I'll go tomorrow," I say in a dismissing tone.

"Thanks, Zexy," smiles Axel before darting out of my room.

I wrinkle my nose at the mention of my "nickname". It is going to stop.

Axel's favor is easier than I though it would be, although I am not sure of the purpose for it. There is something off about Axel. Something in his past he's been trying to hide. I haven't pried much into it. But if Axel is trying to reconnect with his past then I may have to go searching for answers.

But not yet. I'll wait a while to see what happens.

Another knock on my door interrupts my thoughts. My face twists into a sneer. "Who is it?"

"Um…it's Demyx! Can I come in?"

"No," I say back. I really can't stand that scaly water loving freak.

The door opens anyway and said freak steps into my room, "The Ring Leader is pissed at you."

"What's new," I shrug. I'm not too concerned about the Ring Leader. I don't think he will do much about me scaring off the customers. I don't think what happened earlier will scare off any of our audience. On the contrary I think it will attract people hoping to see my eye for themselves.

"Well…what if he kicks you out of the show?" asks Demyx timidly.

"He won't," I reply.

"Oh…well…do you want to come out of your room…maybe?" asks Demyx. His aura seems somewhat frightened and somewhat hopeful.

"No," I say briskly, "Now if you please excuse me I'm busy."

"Oh…okay," says Demyx quickly backing out of my room the hopefulness vanishing.

I don't like Demyx very much because his aura always seems to be timid or frightened. I don't like those feelings. I am above such weakness.

I open my book and start reading again.

All I want in my life is peace and quiet.


I think The Twins story is going to end up being the most interesting.

And Axel's is taking shape in my head.

This chapter was just setting up a lot of the plot.

Plus it's easier to explain Zexion's freak talent through his own eyes.

So....Review? AND! Read Time Spent Alone. Cause you might just like it.