AN: Chapter 3. For anyone wondering, I have not stopped Shattered Looking glass the next chapter for that is very long.

Disclaimer: I do not own HNKNA.


Chapter 3: Blue flames under the big top.

A small child trapped in a dark forest, is trying to run from his fears. No matter how far he runs the forest never seems to end. He is surrounded by shadows as they reach out in attempts to grab him. "What are you running from?" he hears. The voice he recognizes as one that should no longer exist. He freezes in place, as the shadows around him recede to show him standing in an all too familiar clearing. He hears foots steps approaching him from behind but he doesn't move. His body is held in place by fear. "Why did you do it?" it asks. He doesn't reply, fear holds his tongue. "Did you hate me? Did you not want find mom? Maybe you hate dad as well. So I'll ask you again, why did you do it?" The voice grows harsher with each word spoken. Without any control of his body the child turns around slowly to be brought face to face with the undead corpse of his sister.

"WHY DID YOU KILL ME, CUINN?"

Cuinn startles awake, from his nightmare gasping for breathe. It takes a few seconds for him to calm down and catch his breathe. After collecting himself, he sits up takes a look around the meadow filled with tall flowers surrounding him, checking if he is still alone.

"I'm sorry Amari," he whispers. He lets out a tried sigh as he stares up at the sky. He gives himself a moment to think.

'If I'm correct, then I should be just within the borders of the Country of Hearts. I should be around the outskirts of Heart territory, so the circus must be across from here. And if I'm also right about the date, the circus event should be tonight. If I hurry, I can make it.'

Getting up off the ground Cuinn immediately breaks into a run, pushing all thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing only on getting to the circus undetected.

Two time periods later:

It had just turned into night over the circus territory with dozens of faceless arriving for special event soon followed by the role holders. As Cuinn hid in bushes of the surrounding forest, he tried to think of a way to sneak in. As he surveyed the circus grounds he saw a group of jester children run out from one of the circus carts outside, forgetting to close and lock the door. Cuinn smiled at his luck. Taking one quick look around to ensure no one was looking, he dashed across the grounds into the cart. Inside, he took a look at all of the costumes scattered around; he came up with a brilliant idea.

It had already turned into night by the time Alice and the other role holders had arrived at the circus grounds. Crowds of faceless were already entering the main tent in front of them grabbing seats on the inside. As Alice and the role holders approached the entrance, White stepped out to greet them. He wore his trademarked grin that all the role holders hated.

"Well it's good to see everyone again. And it's great to see you here too, Alice."

"Hello again White. Ready to start the show?"

"Of course. You better hurry and grab your seats, the show is about to start." With that the circus master disappeared back inside his tent. As Alice and the role holders took their seats inside, Peter mumbled something about how he didn't trust those Jokers and how he didn't like them knowing Alice. Alice took a seat between Boris and Blood, ignoring Peter who was trying to offer the seat next to him which ended up being taken by the Knight of Hearts. Alice waited patiently for the show to begin while some of the role holders began chatting amongst themselves.

"What special act do you think they are going to put on this time, Alice?" asked Boris.

"Looks like we are about to find out" replied Alice as she pointed to a smiling White as he stepped onto the raised platform center staged.

Cuinn sat atop the tightrope platform watching the spectacle from above. He was wearing a mismatched joker costume with a small mask to cover his eyes. He smiled as he watched his dad take center stage before starting the show. One thing he noticed though was that he was participating in any act like he used too.

'He must have stopped after we left' he thought sadly. 'Well, I hope this cheers him up. It wasn't easy convincing the acrobat that he was switched out, but I did it. Dad is going to be in for one big surprise.'

It was now done to the last act. Alice was surprised to learn that it was going to be the tightrope. She thought White would have done something more extravagant to end the show. When the lights went out and the spot light came on, she was surprise to see that one of the jester children was going to do the act. As the spotlight stopped on him she noticed that he was dressed differently from the other children. His was a mismatch of different colors. The most surprising aspect was that he was drinking from a cup of tea acting as if nothing important was going on. After taking a few more sips he finally started walking across, only to stop after a few steps. As Alice and the rest of the audience watched puzzled as to what he was going to do, he threw his tea at the platform across from him. The tea caused the platform to combust into flames. The audience gasped. The jester did not seem to care that he started a fire, for he waited patiently as it began to crawl towards him.

"What is he waiting for?" asked Boris aloud. While everyone was focus on the jester, Blood was looking at what seemed to be White yelling at one of his workers at the other side of the tent.

He could barely make out the words he was yelling, but it seemed that White wanted to know who that person was and why he was in his show. Blood was now very interested in this new development.

'Now that's odd. Seems White didn't plan this part of the show. This just got very interesting,' he thought as he returned his attention to the act above. As the fire was about to reach him, it stopped. Everyone watched as it started to burn upwards as if there was a wall in front of him creating a perfectly rectangular wall of flames a little taller than him. The jester child reached forward and pulled off a layer of flame as if it were a door. He then walked into it but never came out the other side. The door slammed shut and vanished, but the child was no longer on the rope. Gasps of surprise could be heard throughout the crowd.

"He disappeared!" cried Dee and Dum.

The audience watched as the spotlight searched frantically for him around the tent. While everyone waited in stunned silence, they began to hear knocking echoing around the tent. The spotlight move to a spot on the ground, where everyone realized was where the noise was coming from. A door appeared out of thin air on the floor where the light was resting. Everyone watched in silence as they waited for the jester to step out of the strange door that was facing upwards. Instead of climbing out as everyone expected he would, he stuck one foot out as if he was going to walk on air and his whole body was pulled forward so he was now standing up right. The door behind him slammed shut and disappeared in a burst of flames. The jester stood there staring at the crowd before snapping his fingers, conjuring a small orange flame on his right hand. He held it there for a moment while everyone wondered what he planned to do with it. He clasped his hands together making everyone believe that he had extinguished, but when he pulled his hands apart they became engulfed in blue flames. He had a surprised look on his face as his arms were engulf by the fire. Some people began screaming and shouting as they watched his whole body be swallowed by blue fire; believing that he was burning to death in front of them. The flame that had surrounded his body, that was no longer visible, lifted off the ground and condensed into a blue sphere. The audience watched in stunned silence waiting to see what was going to happen. The jesters face appeared smiling for sec in the sphere before it exploded outward. To everyone's surprise it didn't explode into flames, but into a large flock of blue doves. As the spotlight followed them, the birds flew over everyone's head up to the top of the tent. When they reached the top they went still and began floating down. As they drifted closer, the crowd noticed that they were no long doves but blue roses in full bloom. As soon as the lights came back on the crowd went into a wild round of applause. Alice though, was distracted by the raining flowers. One managed to drift close enough for her to catch it. She cradled it in her palm as she lightly stroked the pedals.

'I didn't know blue roses existed,' she thought. Unknown to her, that she was being watched by a curious pair of gold eyes across the tent.


AN: AN interesting show, don't you think and we learned that Cuinn has some speical talents. What are they? Find out next chapter.

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