As Allen tried to fall back asleep he could feel something warm beside him, he cuddled up to it sighing, and was about to drift off back to dreamland when he felt a finger poke his face. When he opened his eyes he saw that his face was inches away from Damon's. Yelping he jumped back only to fall on the floor.

"The hell, Elf?" Allen scowled, standing up.

"What?" she asked "you were the one snuggling with me"

"W-well ya could'a told me to get off" he said, red faced.

"But I didn't want to"

"What? why?"

"Cause you were warm"

He blushed an even brighter red, if that was even possible.

"Ye're an idiot..." he murmured. Then looking around their room of the inn Allen noticed that Mana wasn't there.

"Hey, Elf where's Mana?"

"He said he needed to make a phone call about a possible job" she replied, then frowned "hey it's been three days since you gave me a name. Why don't you ever use it?"

"I just gave ya a name cause Mana said ya needed one and having one of those girly names he thought of wouldn't 'ave suited ya, thats all"

"Do you do everything Mana wants?"

"Shut up"

Allen walked over to the side of the room where the suitcase was and began to dig through it, looking for their clothes. Finding them he handed Damon hers and she started to undress.

"Elf! I said ta dress in the bathroom."

She gave him a confused look "But why would I walk all the way to the bathroom when I can just change here?"

Turning away from her he said "Cause girls shouldn't change in front of boys"

Still looking confused she ignored his discomfort and continued to change, leaving him to covering his eyes and blush like a moron again.

When they were finished changing they put their boots on and walked out of the room and down to the main area.

"Hey, Alex" they had learned the Innkeeper name, "where's Mana?" Allen asked.

"Oh hey kiddos, ye're papa is over there" Alex nodded towards where the children's guardian stood talking on the phone.

"Thanks"

The Innkeeper smiled "No problem"

Allen started walking towards the clown then stopped, realising Damon wasn't behind him, he turned around to see her staring at the goldfish that swam in a bowl on the inn's front desk.

"Elf"

She didn't reply.

"Elfy"

She continued staring.

"Damon!" she jumped and glanced over at Allen, eyebrows raised.

Allen pointed to where Mana was and resumed walking, the girl now following behind him.

"Mana?" the boy whispered looking up at his guardian.

Glancing down at the two kids, the man smiled and gave them a thumbs up.

"Yes, yes of course. The children and I can be there within a few days" the clown posed listening to whoever was talking on the other line "a-huh... Great! See you then. Goodbye"

Mana put down the phone then looking at Allen and Damon, he told them that they would be leaving for a job at the circus that was currently in the town of Kenton, which was a few days away by train. This made the young boy very happy, but the elf was confused.

"Mana" she said "how on earth did you find out about this job when they didn't even know who you were?"

Mana laughed "Well do you remember when we were shopping three days ago?"

"Yes"

"That woman, you know the one selling apples-"

"Ya mean the one that kept tryin' ta shoo ya away from 'er cart 'cause she thought ya where a crazy old coot?" Allen interrupted in a mocking voice.

Mana puffed his cheek in a pout then continued "Well anyway she said I should go to the circus, and I asked if she knew of any that were nearby and she very kindly gave me a phone number to contact this one"

Damon choked back a laugh, the man was so happy-go-lucky all the time that he didn't even notice when people were trying to insult him.

"So we're leaving tomorrow." the clown smiled.

...

The next day the trio were on a train headed for their new job. On the way Mana and Allen were discussing what Damon could do for some of their acts, or what the man thought was discussing because all he did was ramble off about things they could teach her, things that were impossible to learn in only a few days."Um...we could teach her to balance on a ball. Or, or we could teach her to do a backflip."

"Be realistic, ya damn clown," Allen snapped "There's no way we c'n teach 'er ta do all that before we get there."

Mana pouted. "But... It would be so much fun..."

The boy stared at him for a second then slammed his palm into his forehead. He looked to Elf, who was sitting silently staring out the window, fiddling with the fingers the twin rings stuck to. They hadn't been able to get them off, Mana said that they seemed to be welded to her skin or something. Shuddering at the painful thought Allen pocked Elf to get her attention.

"Hey do ya have anything ye're good at? Ya know, besides beating people up?"

The girl shifted her gaze to him, said "Singing" then turned her head away, glancing back out the window watching the landscape quickly pass by, trying not to think of anything. But she could feel the expectant stars of the young boy and the clown.
sighing she began to sing:

What child is this who laid to rest,

on Mary's lap is sleeping,

whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is christ the King,

whom shepherds guard and angels sing;

Haste, haste to bring him laud,

the babe the son of Mary.

Why lies he in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christians, fear: for sinners here the silent word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce him through,

the cross be borne for me, for you,

Hail, hail the word made flesh,

babe the son of Mary

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh

come peasant, King, to own him

the King of Kings salvation brings;

let loving hearts enthrone him.

Rise, rise the song on high.

The virgin sings her lullaby

Joy, joy for Christ is born,

the babe the son of Mary.

The babe the son of Mary.

Allen thought her voice was like an angel's, a terribly sad angel that was mourning the loss of someone very precious to them. He was filled with a sudden loneliness as he listened to every heart wrenching note, tears almost escaping from his eyes.

As the song ended he looked at Elf and noticed something on her tongue.

"That, that was lovely Damon" Mana said, smiling at her softly "where did you learn that song?"

"Father Jacob" the clown was about to ask who Father Jacob was when Allen stopped him with a glare. He could feel that Damon didn't want to talk about her past. But he asked his own question "Elf, what is that thing on your tongue?"

She froze. The mark he was talking about had caused her a lot of trouble over the years, it was one of the reasons she talked so little. She squinted at the boy, debating whether or not to show him. But she did, for some reason she trusted him, she stuck out her tongue, revealing her birthmark that looked like an upside down star.

"Do ya get any weirder or is this it?" asked Allen, while Mana just kept his gaze on the floor, brow furrowing.

She thought of telling him about the ghosts. But decided against it.

"That's it."

He nodded, saying "Good"

...

And this is how Allen, Mana and I met.

All three of us were happy together. We went to many different places to perform, as Mana wanted I learned how to balance on a ball and do a backflip.

Though Allen and I fought a lot I really did think of him as my brother.

There were many hardships that we had to face. Like that time a shopkeeper accused me of stealing, another time we ran out of money and had to sleep under a tree for a week, that was terrible, and then Allen got beaten up by some guys in the bathroom 'cause they saw his arm, But none of that compared to the day we were separated. The day that had seemed so perfect only to end in tragedy. The day my family saw what I really was...

A monster.