A/N: Well, here it is, guys: the last chapter before my two-week absence. I would like to thank romance123lover, Lightmoon54, The Final Prayer, GingerificFabulousTime, Arcobaleno-lover, dancingteddy, Lou.D, Shonnyterra and Miss Avund for the fabulous reviews! :D You guys rock! I'd also like to thank rawrryy69 for favoriting and following! :) Wow, this must be a record for the proportion of people faving/following this story who also left a review. O.O I'm so happy! :D

Disclaimer: I have nothing against any of the characters who suffer dreadful fates in this story. I love all of the Fairy Tail characters! :)

And now...Chapter Four. :3 Kids, do not try these stunts at home. o.O Enjoy!

Chapter Four – Savior and Killer
"Even death becomes the prey…" ~the GazettE, The Suicide Circus

I felt my brows knit together as we mounted the stage from the back entrance. The curtains were still down, preventing the gathering audience from seeing the preparations being made onstage. But the audience wasn't the cause of my worry right now. As I took in the cluster of people on the stage, I realized that the act they had planned for this evening's performance was one that we'd had quite a bit of trouble with in the past; the triple-layer, seven-person pyramid tightrope walking.

My eyes darted off to the side when I heard a gasp of pain. Immediately, I felt my blood pressure rise when I saw Lucy lying on a mat, both of her legs wrapped to splints. A couple people were finishing settling her in to be transported on the mat. My eyes narrowed dangerously as I made my way over to them.

"What happened?" I asked in a frosty voice. Lucy was usually on the middle layer of the pyramid, and she had an exceptional sense of balance that was reminiscent of a cat. There was no way that her clumsiness had been at fault for this injury.

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed as she turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were glazed with pain, but her voice was steady. "It was nothing. I'll be fine in a day or two, after the healer has a chance to look at me."

"It was not 'nothing,'" I said in a clipped voice.

Bisca, the other person who stood on the middle layer of the pyramid, approached me with an obvious limp. One of her arms was splinted and wrapped to her chest, and a scratch cut across her right cheek. "The bottom layer is having difficulties today," she said testily, angling a glare at the group of people in the center of the stage. "Jet and Droy were being idiots during practice and decided it would be a good idea to start up a fight, evidently forgetting that they had three people balanced above them on narrow poles!" Her voice was heated as she finished, and I felt my own anger boiling up.

"Thank you, Bisca. I hope you recover quickly." She nodded at me and followed Lucy's stretcher out of the main tent. I turned my attention to the group on the stage. "Jet! Droy!" I snapped, approaching them with a menacing snarl on my face.

The two men cringed as they heard my voice. "Y-yes?" they asked, turning around.

"Are you fucking stupid? How dare you allow your focus to slip so terribly! It is a disgrace! Two women are injured because of you. Now, unless you get your act together, I will personally castrate you and string your balls on a cord around your throat for the world to see!"

They gulped visibly, sweat running down their pale faces. "Yes, ma'am! We understand!"

Laxus walked past me, ignoring the two idiots. "We've already had to delay the performance by ten minutes," he shouted to the performers. "That is unacceptable. You will get your act together and do this the correct way, or you'll take a little trip to the Ringmaster. Now, everyone in position in three minutes!"

We all jumped to do as he instructed. Since Lucy and Bisca weren't able to be the two middle people, that left Natsu and I to fill their places. We both hurriedly changed into the showy uniform that the tightrope walkers wore: a silver, sequined bikini for the girls and tight silver acrobat pants with black stripes running down the sides of the legs for the boys. As Natsu and I hurriedly slipped the thin black shoes onto our feet, the others prepared their balance poles.

The audience suddenly burst into applause, and I figured that Laxus had mounted the stage on the other side of the curtain. Sure enough, as soon as the cheering died down, I heard his voice say, "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! We apologize for the delay, and hope that you will still enjoy this performance. Concessions are available at the back of the tent. And now, we bring you…the Tightrope Walkers!" The cheers escalated again as the curtains were raised.

We all smiled brightly as we walked out onto the stage. After circling around a few times to let the audience admire us, we pulled into position in front of the ladder on stage left. The four on the bottom level went first: Gajeel, Elfman, Jet and Droy. The three of us still down below waited while they cleared the platform at the top of the ladder. Gajeel stepped out onto the rope first, bringing his balance pole up in front of him. His long black hair was tied back neatly, and it swayed a little as he walked out a few meters. Next, Jet walked out, bringing two poles with him. He rested one end of the shorter pole on Gajeel's left shoulder, and the other end on his own. Then he held up his longer pole for balance. Droy went next, and Elfman followed him. Once the pole was resting on both of their shoulders, Natsu and I started up, leaving the top person, Levy, at the bottom. Natsu cupped his hands for me to step into as a boost to help me climb onto the pole between Droy and Elfman. Taking my own balance pole in hand, I stepped carefully over onto the pole between Gajeel and Jet. I felt the tightrope sway beneath us as Natsu climbed up onto the pole behind me. Then he braced one end of a pole on my left shoulder and the other on his own.

The crowd cheered as Levy and an assistant mounted the ladder, anxiously waiting for us to complete our pyramid. Once she reached the top, she grabbed the chair that was already waiting on the platform. The assistant cupped his hands for her to step in, and then helped her to stand on the same pole as Natsu, just behind him. She then lithely climbed up his back with both the chair and her balance pole in her hands, and placed the chair meticulously in the center of the pole between Natsu and me. Levy took a moment to make sure that the horizontal bars connecting the legs were exactly balanced, and then she carefully skirted the chair to stand in front of it. Once she had seated herself on it, the crowd cheered again.

As one, the four men on the bottom began slowly walking across the tightrope. Natsu and I remained as steady as we could, so that Levy wouldn't be thrown off balance. It was a good thing that Natsu and I were the same height. Once we reached the center of the tightrope, Levy stood up on the sides of the chair legs, took a moment to get her balance, and then stepped up onto the top of the chair. The crowd roared as she smiled out at them. After a moment, I felt the subtle shift of weight that let me know that she had stepped up onto the chair's back.

We continued like this all the way to the end of the tightrope. The crowd was already going wild, awed by our skill and grace. However, we weren't done. In fact, we hadn't even gotten to the most dangerous part.

As one, those of us on the bottom two rows lifted the poles that were stretched between our shoulders and slowly twisted our bodies so that we were facing the other direction, and the poles now rested on our right shoulders. We began making our way back down the tightrope, the four men on the bottom stepping in sync with each other. The stage stretched out down below us, no safety net to obscure our view of it.

When we were about a quarter of the way across, our pyramid came to a halt. Laxus stood on the platform at the end of the rope, facing us. I suppressed a grimace as we prepared for the next part of our act, which Laxus was now getting ready to administer. He held up a flaming torch, and the audience heaved a collective gasp. Judging from the excited murmurs, they knew exactly what was coming. Unfortunately, this was always the start of where we encountered difficulties. I prayed silently that everything would go off without a hitch this time.

Laxus brought the torch down against the tightrope, which was coated with fireproof enamel so that the rope wouldn't snap. No, the men on the bottom just had to walk across a burning rope with only thin-soled slippers to protect their feet. I narrowed my eyes and sent mental pleas for the men to be able to get through it without a wobble. It was always a sore point with me that I wasn't tall enough to be on the bottom level with the other men, and none of the girls my height were strong enough to carry two levels of people above them. Otherwise, I could have used my superior pain toleration and composure to guide everyone across the burning rope. As it was, all I could do was silently cheer them on and hope that the thin coating of heat-resistant fabric on the bottoms of their shoes would hold up.

The fire raced along the rope towards us, and I saw Natsu's muscles tense in front of me. Thankfully, Elfman remained calm as the first of the flames reached him, and the bottom row continued to make progress across the rope. I felt the pole beneath my feet waver as Jet quivered, and ground my teeth as I fought to maintain my balance. "Focus, Jet!" I hissed as I tilted my balance pole to stabilize me. If I fell because this idiot couldn't handle a few flames, I was going to rip his entrails out.

When we were about halfway across, Laxus grabbed a bow off the platform and fitted an arrow to it. He then proceeded to hold the tip of the arrow to the flaming rope until it caught fire, and then straightened as he drew the flaming arrow back. The crowd went wild when he launched it at us. The arrow embedded itself in the pole beneath Natsu's feet, the fire spreading across it. I heard the hiss of pain as the burning pole pressed into Elfman's and Droy's shoulders. Next, an arrow thudded into the pole beneath me. By the time the third arrow's fire spread across the pole between Natsu and me, we were all clenching our teeth and sweating profusely as we fought to maintain our composure.

Just a little further, I thought to myself. The strain was taking its toll on us, and I felt Jet and Gajeel waver beneath me.

We were almost to the end when disaster struck. One moment we were making our way steadily across the rope while the audience watched with bated breath, and the next, the crowd had surged to its feet as all hell broke loose. Three lions had somehow broken free of their trainer—a girl named Yukino—and were now rampaging around the tent. I had no idea how they had gotten into the tent without being caught before, but didn't have time to dwell on it. The people in the audience were screaming and running for the exit, and Laxus had turned to aim three arrows at the lions. Too late, I realized that I had begun to fall. Jet had become so distracted and frightened that he had forgotten the need to focus, and had pitched forward to push the others toward the platform. The pole I had been standing on slipped from his shoulder, leaving me to tumble from the pyramid.

As I fell, I saw Levy begin to follow me down. Thankfully, Gajeel reached out and caught her before she could make it past the rope, and he pressed her firmly to his chest so that she wouldn't lose her balance. However, that didn't solve the little problem of me plummeting forty feet to a rickety old stage.

"Fuck you, Jet!" I screamed as I fell. The orange-haired man realized his grave mistake as soon as he heard my voice, and he looked down at me with terror showing plainly on his sweaty face. If this fall doesn't kill me, I swear that I will rip his arms out of his shoulders, I thought furiously.

I closed my eyes and tucked into a ball as I neared the stage, praying that I wouldn't break my spine. Just when I thought that I was about to crash into the stage, I felt something grab me. Rather, it felt like something had caught me. My eyes snapped open and I looked around in a near panic. I just about stopped breathing when I realized that I was in the arms of a man. But not just any man; it was the mysterious man who always wore a black cloak with the hood pulled up. He was crouched on the stage, cradling me to his chest. His head was bowed, the hood obscuring most of his face. However, at this distance, I was able to see the tip of a red tattoo extending down from his right eye across his cheek.

"You…" I gasped, still in shock at finding myself not only not splattered across the stage, but cradled safely in the arms of the mystery guest.

He directed his gaze to my face, and I caught a glimpse of dark blue hair falling across deep brown eyes. My eyes widened involuntarily as I realized that in our current position, I was sitting in his lap with his arms around me, and his face was mere inches from my own. And suddenly, I felt very aware of the fact that I was clad only in a shimmery bikini. A shimmery bikini that advertised my assets more than it concealed them. To my shock and horror, I found myself doing something that I hadn't done in years: blushing. The world seemed to stand still around us as I stared into his shadowy eyes, questions racing through my mind at a million miles a second.

"Why…?" I started to say in a whisper.

The frantic voices of my fellow performers reached my ears, and I turned to see that they had safely made it to the platform and were rushing down the ladder. As if I were on fire, the hooded man dropped me onto the stage and snapped upright. I looked up at him through the haze of shock that still covered my mind and saw him cast one last glance at me, his eyes steely. Then he turned and raced towards the exit of the tent, disappearing into the night.

"Erza! Are you alright?" Natsu demanded as he fell to his knees at my side.

"Oh Erza, I'm so sorry," Levy sobbed, her cheeks moist with tears.

I looked up at my friends, and just like that, the spell was broken. My eyes widened as I leapt to my feet. "Th-that man!" I exclaimed, nearly hitting my head on Natsu's face as he hastily leapt out of the way.

"Calm down! You shouldn't move around so much; you might be injured."

I cast an irritated glance at Natsu. "That's what I was trying to tell you," I snapped. "I'm not injured! That man caught me."

"Which man?" Natsu demanded with narrowed eyes.

"You know which one," I said testily. "The one you wanted to kill."

Natsu swore as he grabbed me by my shoulders. "I told you he's dangerous, Erza! What if he's the one who released the lions?"

All the others crowded around, anger rising as they demanded to know who we were talking about. "Which bastard was responsible for this?" Gajeel growled.

"I just told you, you fucktards!" I said testily. "He saved my life. I highly doubt he would try to kill us only to catch me when I fell. Speaking of falling," I said slowly, my eyes like icy fire, "where is Jet?"

The man in question stood quivering behind the others. At my words, they parted so that he could inch forward. "E-Erza," he began in a strangled voice, "I-I'm so s-sorry. I s-swear, I didn't mean to—"

"That doesn't matter!" I yelled furiously. My emotions were already running so high tonight, I was beyond control now. "You almost killed me! Do you know what that means?" My voice went dangerously quiet; the calm before the storm.

"P-Please, no—"

His words were cut off as my sword appeared in my hand. In one swift move, I plunged the blade into his stomach. A gut-wrenching cry echoed around the deserted tent, and I watched him coldly as I dragged the blade upwards, toward his heart. After one final gurgle, Jet toppled forward. I yanked my blade out, and he fell limply to the floor. His blood seeped into the wood, adding yet another stain to the stage. I curled my lip in disgust at the sight of his intestines spilling out, and the smell…ugh.

"Who's in charge of cleaning this week?" I asked distastefully as I wiped the blade of my sword on Jet's pants.

"Th-That would be L-Lisanna," Levy stuttered. Fresh tears were streaming down her pale cheeks, and I felt momentarily bad about having just killed Jet in front of her. After all, the two had been pretty good friends.

"Great. I'll go find her," I said without emotion as I turned and made my way toward the exit. I made a mental note to apologize to the girl for making extra work for her. And while I was at it, I would track down Yukino and find out what the deal was with the lions. After all, she was just as guilty as Jet was for my fall.

As I made my way between the rows of abandoned seats, I felt an overwhelming sense of weariness descend on me. I was so emotionally confused. There was concern for Lucy, fury at Jet and Yukino, sympathy toward Levy and Lisanna, and an emotion that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Confusion, mixed with something else. Curiosity? Fascination? Dare I say gratitude? The memory of his arms around me flickered through my mind. I had felt so…safe. This confusion was burning inside my blood, fueling my need to know who he was. I felt like a crazy woman, the need was so strong. A strange new thought occurred to me: What if he never came back? And what would I do if he disappeared forever? And perhaps the most disturbing thought of all: Was I worthy of being saved, when I killed people on a daily basis without even thinking about it?

Wow, is that a conscience I smell, Erza? ;D And I'm sure you have all been wondering how anyone could be a part of this circus (thank you, The Final Prayer, for asking about that in your review!). Are they really doing this because they want to? Well, that shall all be revealed soon. :)

Unfortunately, I will be going out of town tomorrow and won't return until next Saturday. :( Then, the very next day, I will be leaving for a week-long camp. I am terribly heartbroken to say that I will be unable to update during this time. T.T However, it would make me very happy if I came back to a bunch of reviews and faves/follows. ;) Let me know what you thought of this chapter, guys, and any suggestions for things you'd like to see in upcoming chapters! :D

See ya in two weeks! :)