Chapter 2.
It looked like a normal place. Colorful, big and crowded —the typical image of a circus. And yet, there was something about the place that made Ciel feel strangely uneasy.
The four men sat down on the stands: first it was Ciel, then Tanaka at his right side and Soma at his left. Agni was the last one, sitting at the free seat next to his master. The place was almost full, but they were lucky enough to find good places.
After a little while, the lights went off and a single spotlight started travelling throughout the chattering audience. It stopped its journey when a single figure came into the stage, focusing only in it.
It was a young man. He was dressed in all kinds of colors and had ginger hair pointing in all directions, merely kept under control by some hairpins. What was unusual about him, though, wasn't any of this, but his right arm: it was bones only.
"Welcome to the Noah's Ark Circus! My name is Joker!" the young man introduced himself as he juggled with several balls. "If you'll look here… Whoops!"
All of a sudden and purposely, the balls fell and hit his head. The audience giggled and he smiled; he was good at making people laugh.
"Ahem!" he went on, "The whole circus is jostling for a chance to give you a fun show!"
It was when Ciel noticed that the whole crew was now accompanying the clown-like man. And so, the show began.
First, there was this big and strong man who ate fire. Next, there were two expert kids at the trapeze. When their act ended, there came a knife-thrower with excellent aim. By that point, Ciel had realized and stressed to Tanaka the fact that there was no music or anything outstanding about the performances. He was beginning to think that his suspicions about this place were merely a coincidence.
A tightrope walker came into view for the following act, introduced as "the princess of the circus". She was dressed purely in white and her attire was adorned by tons of flowers that brought out her beauty. She looked like a little angel, the perfect embodiment of innocence.
On the next act, there was a snake man. Nothing out of the ordinary, Ciel kept thinking; nonetheless, Soma and Agni seemed to disagree, for they started speaking frantically in Hindi during the whole act. Perhaps it reminded them a little of their home, Ciel assumed.
Joker reappeared on the stage when the snake man's performance had ended. He introduced the last act's performers: a magician whom he called "Black" and his "beautiful assistant", as he'd said.
The woman showed first. She was beautiful, indeed. Maybe a little exotic, but gorgeous nonetheless: she was all dressed in red and her hair matched her clothes too. It was very, very long and it looked silky to the touch. She was flat-chested and thin, and yet she possessed a grace that made up for her little flaws and caused everyone look at her more than once.
She was quickly preparing everything for the act. When she finished, the magician finally showed up. He was wearing a cloak and a hat that made him look mysterious and matched the meaning of his name. And the way he walked, he moved... it was obvious he also was graced with that poise that was very similar to magic.
The young magician started his act with the classic trick of letting animals out of his hat. However, the kinds of animals that he released were extremely uncommon and even disturbing: crows, bats and black cats filled the tent in a matter of seconds. People shrieked in fear and disgust. Ciel only hissed; worrying about his allergies, but he didn't have to dwell on it for long, because in a matter of seconds the black-clad man made all the animals vanish with a click of his fingers.
When the crowd calmed down, the man asked for a volunteer. For some reason or another, Ciel couldn't help being intrigued. There was something abnormal, dark, and extremely interesting about this man to be safe. He almost felt the need of raising his hand to participate, yet he was too hesitant and a young lady in the first line beat him to it.
The lady was enthusiastic and pretty, and it reminded Ciel of Elizabeth. He regretted that thought however, when the magician asked her to lie down with his assistant's help and cut her in half.
"Whaaaaa...?!" he couldn't help gasping like the rest of the public. This man had to be a sadist or something, because he'd never stopped smiling evilly at his own actions. And yet, with one or two words that Ciel couldn't understand, the girl went back to normal and she stood up in one piece, all smiles and awe.
Deafening applauses filled the place.
The magician bowed and then literally vanished in front of everyone, gaining more exclamations from the public. Joker appeared after that, making Ciel feel disappointed. "What a shame… this was finally starting to get fun," he thought.
The clown-like man thanked the audience for their attention and stated in the middle of some bad jokes that he hoped everyone had fun. Almost all the people laughed and clapped, except for the little earl. Now the show was over without any other surprise and he'd realized he still had no clues, his already bitter mood had worsened.
No sooner had Joker ended his final speech Ciel was already heading for the exit. "Let's get out of here," was all he said.
Tanaka walked after him and Soma and Agni followed, exchanging worried glances. Ciel's aura was scary.
The duo was quickly left behind. Both stared in amazement at the eccentric people around them —the circus performers—, the tents, the wagons and the animals as they talked softly in their native language. Suddenly, the noise of an elephant followed by a squeal at their backs caught their attention.
They turned around and met with the sight of a young woman sitting on the ground, rubbing her nape and her legs sprawled on the floor. She'd fallen.
In front of her, there was the elephant they'd heard, standing on two legs and trumpeting madly; clearly upset. The woman backed down, fearing it would attack her. And yet, she seemed to pluck up courage from God knows where and took the whip lying next to her, raising it to attack the elephant.
"Hey!" Soma shouted, approaching them. Agni did too. Soma walked slowly towards the animal, trying not to scare it and beckoning it to calm down. Meanwhile, Agni stopped the woman from hurting the animal by grabbing her hand just in time. When the elephant realized it wasn't going to be attacked, it relaxed and returned to stand in its four legs. Soma got confident and caressed its trunk while whispering soft, soothing words in its ear.
"What you think you doin'? Lemme go!" the woman barked at Agni, squirming as he did what she said.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. Are you okay?" he asked gently, immune to her rough treatment. She had a black, curly mane adorned with a hairband. Her eyes were crimson red and her attire was a little too... revealing, showing her beautiful figure. Nonetheless, what really caught Agni's attention was the hallmark that rested on one of her legs, visible due to the position she was in. And… Was that a doll-like limb?
"What you starin' at?" she roared, making Agni blush and avert his eyes right away. He helped her to stand up.
"Sorry."
"You should treat her better, don't you think?" Soma told the woman, still stroking the elephant. She raised an eyebrow.
"Her?"
"Yeah. Hurting her won't work."
Her, again. How did he know so easily? Did he know about animals?
"Beast!" A cheerful voice was heard, and it was followed by the appearance of the clown-like man from before: Joker, or something like that...
"What you doin' with these gentlemen?" he inquired, a bright smile in his face.
"Joker," she blushed and realized that she was still standing a little too close to Agni. She gave a few steps away. "Sorry. Malaya got outta control, and these guys helped me."
"Malaya? What a beautiful name you have," Soma said tenderly. It seemed as if she'd already grown fond of him and vice versa. "You remind me of home."
Joker's eyes widened. "Home?"
Soma flustered as he'd realized what he had said. "Of course. In my... home," —palace—, "there were tons of... pets. I guess you can say I love animals."
"I see," the grin returned to Joker's face as he glanced at the white-haired man that now was caressing Malaya as well, a look of affection in his face. "I take ya love animals too."
Agni nodded.
"Well then... what you guys think 'bout a job offer?"
"What?" Soma and Agni replied with surprise.
"Joker!" the woman, whose nickname was apparently 'Beast', exclaimed. "What're you thinking?!"
He shrugged. "Why not? They'd be good help, trainin' and takin' care of the animals. So," Joker's amethyst eyes went from Beast to the pair again; "What d'you think?"
The duo exchanged glances between them, not knowing what to answer. It wasn't like they were experts about animals, but they were certainly a little bit more experienced in the subject than other people. Plus, they didn't really need a job. Still, if they accepted, it meant that they would be in the circus and would have more chance to investigate and help Ciel; and in the end, that was what they wanted the most. So, without even needing to ask for time to discuss all the pros and cons and as if they were able to read each other's minds, they stared back at Joker and exclaimed:
"Sure!"
Joker beamed his brightest beam. "Awesom'! Lemme show you around!"
"Umm..." Agni spoke. "I'm afraid we can't stay today. We have to inform our... master."
Technically, he wasn't lying. Ciel had left them in charge of the townhouse manor, so that made him sort of their 'master' in a way.
Joker gave them a puzzled look. "So..."
"We were planning on quitting anyway," Soma added quickly, playing along as he understood what Agni was doing; "and this would be perfect for us, so we can start tomorrow if you want."
"Oh, I see," —another beam. "Come back tomorrow, then. Yer always welcome."
"Excuse me," Agni said, trying to invent a lie to include Ciel in this. After all, he was the mastermind behind solving the case. "I was wondering... there's a boy in the manor we work for, he's the littlest of us... but he's really agile and energetic, I think he might like working here."
Well, he'd probably gone too far. Ciel wouldn't be very happy about this, but it was the only plausible excuse Agni could find. He knew the boy liked taking care of things himself, especially if they involved the Queen's orders.
Joker seemed convinced with the explanation, because his face lit up.
"Really? Then why don't you bring him tomorrow? We'll make 'im an entrance test, and if he passes, 'e can be part of the circus too. We love seein' new faces."
Beast's expression contradicted Joker's words, but she didn't say anything.
"Thank you," Soma said, though it was more to Agni for making up such a good story.
"Welcome. See ya," Joker added and walked away. Beast, on the other side, lingered there for a few seconds more to dedicate them an intense glare.
"Umm..." Soma thought about something to say, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, the woman walked after Joker with her arms folded, clearly giving them the cold shoulder.
Soma glanced at Agni and shrugged. They walked away to meet with a raging Ciel who demanded what had taken them so long and they both sighed, preparing themselves for whatever the reaction the teen could have. This would be hard to explain.
What a pity, because if Joker and Beast had stayed a little longer, they would have been able to watch the meeting of the recently hired strangers with a little, moody earl; his old butler and the opulent carriage that would head them back home.
A/N: So, how is it so far? As you can see, Soma and Agni will be more active in this fic, since Sebastian isn't Ciel's butler x) omg, have you already seen the 2nd episode of the anime adaptation?! IT'S SO GOOD! They all look so well and it's really like the manga! I'm really excited about this series x33
well, please let me know what you think! :)