Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloid


Part 3: The Nightmare's Decision

Gakupo

"Welcome back, Nightmares," Master said as his nightmares entered his tent. Three of them lugged in three people who had their wrists bound behind their backs. The fourth dragged in corpses, while the rest were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the Ninja?" Master asked.

"He's being an idiot?" The Jester replied.

"And the Skeleton?"

"He's dead," The Vampire replied. "This one killed him." He yanked up Kaito, who was squirming around. I ducked my head down, hoping to not draw attention to myself if Kaito noticed that I was near the Master.

"Can I kill him for that?" The Jester asked, reaching for her gun as she dropped Luka to the ground.

The Master shook his head. "As frustrating as it is to lose a nightmare, I think that we have a potential candidate to join us."

"As what?" The Pirate asked.

The Master turned to me. "Why, as Gakupo's knife throwing assistant, of course."

My head snapped up and looked at Master. "An assistant?"

The Master smiled. "Yes, Gakupo. You will have someone to train with now. Isn't that nice?"

I slowly nodded. "Yes, sir."

The Master turned back and looked over Luka carefully, who closed her eyes after sitting up with some difficulty. "And what can this lovely lady do?"

The Pirate growled as he loosened his grip on Gumi. "She can do tricks on the tightrope, as demonstrated when she was assisted in her escape."

The Master smiled. "A tightrope walker, eh? Perfect. She'll replace the dead one."

Luka snapped her eyes at him. As he put his fingers on her face, she nearly bit him, causing him to retract his hand. I smirked, and the Master faced Gumi. Gumi looked pissed. Her glare made me flinch, and it made Master do a double-take. "And what can you do?"

"I can rip you apart, piece by piece," she replied. "And I will do so."

Master laughed. "Yeah right. Like you can do that to me."

"If you approach me," Gumi warned, her voice low, "I will bite off your fingers. So back off if you wish to be in one piece."

The Master sighed, obviously not taking her seriously. He approached her, and she suddenly lunged forward, sinking her teeth into Master's hand. He screamed and yanked his head back, blood cascading his fingers. He growled, and the Jester held her gun up to Gumi's head.

Gumi glanced at her. "Back off."

The Jester backed off for a second, but a second later, the gun was aimed at Gumi's forehead. Before she could pull the trigger, Master yelled.

"Akita, stop!"

We all faced him. His hand was still bleeding, but he was smiling.

"What is your name, girl?"

"My name is Gumi Midori, idiot," she snapped.

Master smiled. "I know what you can do. You'll be... The Ringleader. You obviously can command people to do whatever you want."

"Liar. If that was true, I would be home."

He sighed. "Regardless, you're lucky you didn't wind up in the freak show."

Gumi glared at him, but kept quiet.

"What about the corpses?" The Clown interrupted suddenly. "They're rotting already."

"Dispose of them. Meeting adjourned."

Everyone moved to leave. The three new "performers" were dragged to their new tents, and the others returned to their tents, with the Clown taking the corpses to their final resting place. I went to follow the Kagamines, but Master grabbed my shoulder and threw me across the tent. I landed on the ground with a thump, and my back screamed in pain. I gasped for air as Master approached me, seething with rage.

"You're lucky they didn't escape, Gakupo," he muttered as he stepped on my chest, causing me to gasp and suffocate. "If they did, there will be nothing left of you to be buried. Don't betray me ever again, boy." He stalked off, leaving to gasp for breath, hurrying to have the oxygen back into my system. After a few seconds, a familiar face stared down at me.

"Meiko," I wheezed.

"Baka," she replied as she helped me up. "You tried to play the hero again. You're lucky you didn't die."

"Don't remind me," I reply. "I've heard that enough times already."

"Mhm..." She noted, swaying her hips as she did so, making me notice that she wore the same outfit as me. "Can't say that I blame you. We've bury too many people."

Meiko slugged her arm over my shoulder as we left the tent. "I hate the new girl," she stated casually, as if we were friends meeting up for coffee.

"Which one?"

"The pink haired one. She's way too attractive."

I sighed. "She's not taking your place as fire breather. If anything, she is replacing Miriam."

Meiko lowered her head, and I did so too. Miriam had been the tightrope walker before Luka, and she had been the one to raise us when we first joined the Nightmare Circus 12 years ago. She had long red hair and green eyes, with a smile that could make anyone's day. Even though she was only two years older than us, she gave off a very soothing feeling, making us forget that we had been kidnapped. She was quite talented, and everyone loved her. Unfortunately, she disappeared three years ago, and based on the evidence that we could gather, she probably got killed by the Master when she attempted to escape. Lola has tried to take her place to raise everyone in her stead (as she arrived log after us), but had fallen ill after she tried training in the rain a few weeks ago. The same thing happened to Leon. Now the oldest members left in good health were Meiko, IA, and myself. We did everything in our power to make everyone feel at home, but I didn't work well with kids, IA was rather reclusive, and Meiko has PTSD, so we were no replacement for Miriam.

"Tell you what," Meiko stated, changing the subject and catching my attention as we approached our tent. "You can have Luka, and Kaito will be mine."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you think that Kaito will date you?"

"He's hot."

"That means nothing," I stated deadpanned. "That's like stating that Miku is cute." Miku was the lion tamer, a rather dangerous for someone so young. Yet she somehow got the tiger to act like an overgrown kitten. How she managed that is beyond me.

Meiko shrugged. "Who knows? I'll woo Kaito somehow when I'm not performing. I'll probably buy him food."

"Good luck," I replied.

Meiko nodded as we entered our tent. Apparently, Master decided that we had to share a tent, as we frequently worked together (by throwing knives and fire at each other - don't ask why, as I still don't know why he does that). The tent was split apart, with one side for Meiko and the other for myself. I went to my side of the tent and laid on my bed. Meiko spoke softly, making sure that no one could overhear us talking.

"Gumi's lucky that she's the Ringmaster. The last kid who did that wound up in the infirmary for six months, as he got really sick."

"There's a difference," I quickly pointed out. "Gumi bit the Master's hand and probably scarred him; the other kid approached the Nightmare Soldier and bit his neck, killing him instantly."

"So that's where the Soldier went. I thought he became the Skeleton."

"No, you're thinking of the Demon," I noted. "The Demon became the Skeleton because cursed him."

"I swear," Meiko began. "Akita will kill us all the second we blink. She's too unstable." She went into the back room and changed, returning later in her pajamas, which had red short sleeves and red shorts. "Do you remember why Akita cursed him?"

"Was she trying to punish IA? If I remember correctly, IA was supposed to be in her room, practicing her 'sorcery,' but she was busy healing Len after he sprained his ankle that one time he was goofing off near the Food Court."

Meiko laughed. "No, she was after Mikuo."

"Why the hell would she go after Mikuo? He's the Ninja, her teammate."

"He replaced her guns with dolls in frilly dresses and bows."

I sighed. "Of course he did. No wonder Akita hates his guts... She has horrible aim though."

"If you tell Akita that," she deadpanned, "she'd probably run you over with her motorcycle after making you dress as a ballerina."

I went into the back and changed into my sleep pants. I emerged and looked at Meiko. "Goodnight Meiko. Don't let the Pirate behead you in your sleep."

"Goodnight Gakupo. Don't let Akita strangle you to death," she yawned as she plopped onto her bed. I nodded, heading off to my bed and closing my eyes as soon as I hit the 'mattress.'


Ace: For the purpose of this story, some of the Vocaloids have different personalities, as Gumi has anger management issues with a bit of violent tendencies and Akita has clearly lost her mind.

I might add another Vocaloid later, but at the moment, I'm good with the Vocaloid number.

Ages (for this story only, as some ages had been changed from the official ages):

Luka- 20
Gumi- 19
Gakupo- 21
Kaito- 21
Yohio- 17
Aoki Lapis- 12
Len- 19
Rin- 19
Akita- 22
Mikuo - 24
Meiko- 21
Miku- 16
Gumiya - 17
Luki - 23
Akaito - 22
IA - 25
Lola - 26
Leon - 27
Miriam - 20 - provided that she's dead (which is very, very likely). If not she should be 23. But she's most likely dead.
Master- ?

For those who are wondering, the Master's alternate name is Nightmare. The soldiers are called Nightmares because they will give you nightmares... And because they work for a psychopathic egomaniac.

Also, Akita Neru is the Jester, and Mikuo is hiding from Akita due to the fact that she threatened to make him suffer a very horrible death, although it is currently unknown what her threat was.

And yes, Akita does have a motorcycle.

Ace