Song: Clocks by Coldplay
Suggested by: Spottedfang
Lights go out and I can't be saved
This was how it started each night. Each desperate, unforgiving night this was how it was.
"Ladies and gentlemen! I am honored to welcome you to the Silver Lining Circus!" Ring Master would say into the microphone, salvages from wreckage. "Be ready to see the most dangerous acts you can imagine, death gripping moments that will stay with you for a life time, and lay eyes upon the most hideous of creatures in all the Land of Ooo!" This was how it always started. "Though I warn you, our beasts can be dangerous, so they are kept in cages for your own protection!"
The lights were off the whole time, only two spotlights were being moved around though the inky blackness of the tent. He knew behind his curtain there were hundreds of people waiting to see the animals, the acrobats, and the Cyclops. He was "Too Young"; Ring Master said he wasn't ready to be brought onto the stage for the people to see. That or she just wanted him to herself.
He was watch intently by a Faceless Man from outside his bars, behind a cloth, hidden from view. The Faceless Man was armed with a pole that had a sharp blade on the end, though he was not given permission to do anymore than prod or cut him. No stabbing, and no cuts to his handsome face.
On these nights, he could not howl to the moon. Though, it doth not matter- the moon is not going to rise each and every night only for a little boy to call to it until he falls from exhaustion. If the moon could speak, or feel emotion, it would snap at the human for keeping it from stepping back for the Sun.
"Get ready, for the greatest thing to ever cross your eyes!"
Tides that I tried to swim against
She's always been one to go her way, only her way; no one else's… ever, really.
Even if it was for her greater good, she was going it solo, her plan, and all the time. So when her dad forced her into the Nightosphere was a very clear reminder that humans are weak, and you can't beat Satan.
Well, did he really have to kill her that way? When she was thrown in, the way she was spinning contributed little to the whole. The fire ate her away, ripped her flesh from her bones, and sucked the life away from her frail body. This way to die was no fight you could possibly win; and Daddy knew it all along.
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh, I beg, I beg and plead
(singin')
He was to keep silent, always told that by everyone, including himself. Because honestly, begging was to get him nowhere, along with talking, and whining, and speaking with his eyes. Why was he not to do these? He doesn't know because he's never asked; and he was not in the position to at the moment.
He was lying on the floor of a cell, miles from any sort of compassion, love, or life worth living. Though he had no real idea of what any of those things were, he yearned for the inevitable; because that's what the hopeless do- they hope when they lost their hope, and then they say they're hopeless, when they're not. They hope, but their doubt is too strong for them to have faith in it. If only people were like Katara of the Water Tribe.
So, forlorn hope is what the human had going; and so far, it was working out. Maybe? Eh, no one really knows or cares; this kid's deal was freaky on unmarked levels.
Begging was going to get him no where, pleading might, though. Ring Master liked it when she saw the pleading in his eyes, loved it when she saw how deeply shattered he was.
Now she was the daughter Satan was looking for! Why in the Nightosphere was he stuck with that Half-Human Marceline, when he could have a Humanoid as one instead? He hears they're tougher, more loyal.
Now Marceline, or Ring Master? Was Ring Master even he real name?
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head
She has not eaten for nights, or perhaps it's been a week? She's lost count after four horribly stressing evenings full of tears and screaming and long one-sided conversations about the simplest things he's never learned about.
This particular night, she found it extremely challenging to keep her rabid side from ripping the boy's face off with her fangs, and breathe his blood mist while drinking the fluids from his skinny frame. Ah, a meal fit for royalty…
"Finn," She said from outside his door, "you awake?" She taps he knuckles gently on the wood, her head turned slightly, trying to hear inside.
There's a grumble from the other side, saying all he needed for her to understand. "I'm… I," She rests her forehead against the door, "I'll be back, alright?" she sighs, combing her fingers through her hair at the roots.
Another moan of annoyance of the late afternoon from his room floats out from under his door.
"So… I'll see you… later, maybe. I- I dunno, but I'll be back, I promise," she says, loud enough for only him to perceive. "I've been, starving myself for… a while. I needa go eat something, and there's nothing here for me," She pauses, squeezing her eyes shut, "I'll be back…" She chokes out, sucking in a breath to keep her from letting out an unintentional cry. She turned her head away, refusing to look at that door any longer.
Before she can promise anything else, she yanks the hood of her cloak over her head, and glides out of the home. She'll be back, she'll be back, she'll come back for him.
She loves him too much to just leave him behind like this. She's not leaving him behind, she's coming back, okay? She promised.
(And a)
Trouble that can't be named
Tigers waiting to be tamed
"Marceline,"
The house is asleep, along with all living in it at this hour. The groaning of the floor board beneath his feet was like the lost souls of the Nightosphere, when you first open the gates- at least it's what Marceline told him it was like.
He shies away when his bare feet touch a cold spot that leaks icy air into his room. Man, he hated that spot. Tiny, ghostly hands grappled at his toes, pulling him under the floor-boards to their little homes.
She had woken him an hour or so before at the last full grips of day light clawing its bony fingers over the mountains' ridge, even earlier than he usually wakes. He at that time was too tired to fully process what she was saying, and soon forgot afterwards as he was dragged back into sleep by his ankles without him struggling. He wasn't to be released from its grasp anyway, even if he did the invisible hands would still be wrapped around him… He'd never get away.
Well, sleep was one thing.
So like every evening, he climbed out of his bed, and started on his search for Marceline. He slowly toddled out of his room in his stiff legs, scratching the sand out of the corners of his eyes. "Marceline," He stretches out into a one-word note. "Where are you?" He croaks out, licking over his burning lips.
He walks out of the hall's shadow, "Where?" His voice of whole gets caught in his throat at the sight of the dog, all sense of protection gone.
Jermaine doesn't look up from his copy of The Ooo Review, "The Vampire? She left." His doggy legs are stretched out on the white (though tainted brown over time), crossed at the ends.
Liar. No she didn't. She wouldn't leave him!
"No," He growls, fury outweighing the fear in his eyes. His hands are in fists inside the long sleeves of Jake's sunflower yellow sweater. She could not leave him here. Not here, not now, not without a good-bye.
"Don't go all nutty on me, she said she'd be back… maybe. I don't really know. She just said she was going hunting," He emphasizes the word, nodding his head with the pronunciation as if he were reading it off the paper in his hands. His eyebrows are knitted, "Well, you know what vampires eat."
His eyes snap up, still not met by Jermaine's, "She's not like that!" His seethes. She doesn't drink blood, he knows that, she told him, she showed him. She wouldn't kill, she's not evil like Jermaine.
Jermaine pauses, glancing away from the article on parenting, "How would you know? Why are you up, anyway?" He finally looks him up and down, "Is that Jake's jacket?"
Finn's face goes sanguine, Marceline left him here with this son of a bitch? "I, am," He whispers, "going to hurt you."
Being a dog of course, he could still hear what Finn said ever so quietly. But he ignored it, why?
That kid was freaky. He needed to know some boundaries, he needed to be tamed. "Go to your room!" He commanded, "don't you dare talk to your… Temporary Guardian like that young man!" He was not his father.
What? Does being his Temporary Guardian give any sort of ownership over a messed up kid?
"Food," He murmured, no longer wanting to fight, he headed into the kitchen to find something-anything.
And true to the fact, there was no red. Jermaine had specifically eaten it all days ago.
(Singin')
You are, you are
Confusion never stops
Closing walls, and ticking clocks
Time. Time and the Vampire King. She hated both those things- but guess what? They're both gone with the wind now that he's… dead again, and she's got another few thousand years before Time becomes a problem… again.
Really, the clock on the wall didn't mean much but "Go to sleep" or "Wake up". Unlike mere mortals, the clock was nothing more. To them- their life was slipping away by the second! On birthdays they celebrated; was it for surviving the year, or being brave enough to face another full of danger and possibilities? Death was a cool guy and all, but why was his companion Time?
Her mom liked to tell her that Death was a gift, and Life was only how you earned it. Though, if you call on Death on your own too soon, you'll never fully receive your gift. Suicide isn't a great option…
(Gonna)
Come back, and take you home
Hah, heck yeah she is! Ring Master is going to capture you, put you in a cage, and torture you until you love her! Yes, she is gonna take you to the circus tonight, and make you into an animal.
She is going to break you.
"I, am going to hurt you," She whispers to him through the bars, on a day he was defying a little more than usual. That particular warning stuck to him, like a fly and fly paper- it was meant to walk along with him for the rest of his planned life, that's why she said it to him.
But you know what? The next best thing next to free candy, is free candy from strangers. Maybe he should've been more aware that Kidnapping is real.
And he never got his candy. Jerk…
I could not stop, that you now know (singin')
Come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
"Why?" He shouted into the mirror, glaring pointed daggers into his own reflection. He hated everything relentlessly at this moment, including Marceline, and himself.
How could she just… leave him? Why was she gone? Did he do something wrong? Did she hate him? Had she even loved him?
He let himself dream, he lost control and he let her get into his head. This was the consequence! HE DID THIS TO HIMSELF!
It's all his fault that he now felt this way…
There was so much more to learn, to say, to ask. Yet now all these possibilities were sent out to sea, along with his former hopes and dreams.
Tears. They came down from each eye like that was the true meaning of their presence how many times he sobbed in a week. He stared into his own for one moment, then another, and another…
There's glass on the floor along with a few drops of blood. There is pain in his hand, but it doesn't hurt as much as what is ripping away him from the inside. His hands are still in fists, small shards peaking out of his flesh. A scar for every memory.
Marceline, Marceline, Marceline. She was everything.
He still glares into the shattered mirror, he was no longer there. Neither was she.
Marceline. She's coming back…
He couldn't forget her, he couldn't remember why she meant so much.
Love, love, love. Love for Marceline.
He bows his head, trying to keep a scream from escaping the confinements of his mouth.
He falls to the floor, ignoring the tiny pricks of pain on his bare knees. Hopelessly loving.
She
Lied How
To Could
Him She?
A choked and strangled sob yanks the breath out of him; he loved her too much to let her go.
(Am I)
A part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?
Done right or wrong? A simple question she'd been trying to answer.
She set him free- right, correct? She left him- wrong, all the way.
But she HAD to! She wasn't planning on starving, and killing the kid without meaning to sucked if it were to happen (no pun intended).
Though now she questions herself. What if she hadn't heard the rumors? What is she never found Finn? Would he be around, still? Would he have given his heart to another; supposing she had his already?
Was she helping, or hurting him as she floated around the Grasslands, in the direction of the Strawberry Fields.
Why hadn't she taken him along? Maybe he'd like fresh strawberries.
The temptation was too strong for her to handle. Just laying next to him under the same blanket when his quick thinking saved her undead life made her want to snap his neck and suck him dry. She wasn't sure if she could make it all the way so weak carrying him- a delicious warm meal begging to be eaten.
She questioned her decision, yet knew it was for the better. She was coming back.
6X You are
And nothing else compares
Oh no nothing else compare
And nothing else compares
Her skin was tan, the other was blue.
Her eyes were brown, the others were sanguine.
Her voice was cool and frightening, the others was soft, loving, and feared.
Her challenge was to be loved, the others was to keep it.
Comparing… evil to evil.
Evil to love.
Desperation to intimidation.
Humans, to vampires.
Ring Master, to Marceline the Vampire Queen.
3X Home, home, where I wanted to go
Jermaine was wide eyed when he saw her. No words were needed, she knew precisely what he was trying to say.
Her large bag of strawberries fell to the floor, squashing a few to pulp on the bottom. It wasn't important.
She was gone from the threshold, now forcing his locked door open to his room.
The inky darkness was lit only by the iridescent glow of the moon through the open window. The curtains billowed in the evening wind of the unsealed pane, waving its curvy hands good bye to her like a message he left behind.
"Finn," She murmurs, her feet touching earth, eyes too wide to see, but no one but she was in the room to respond to the name
She wanted to sink to her knees and weep. She was too late.
Home, home, where I wanted to go
BAM!
Strangers have the best candy… but apparently they don't give it to you.
Incase you were stumped, sanguine is the color of blood.
Hope you guys liked this chapter. I was expecting it to be longer, 'cause the song is 5 minutes…
But anyway- song topics!
-Betrayal
-Love
-Returning
Review please! They make my heart burst with happiness! You don't need an account to review!
~The MasterHama