A/N: This explanation ended up spanning the whole chapter... That's not good... (Is it? I can't tell. SIIIIIIGH) That means all my plans are bumped back one chapter. But next chapter might end up being quite short. Not sure yet -shrug-
So later on you'll end up getting a deeper understanding of the members of the Clockwork Circus. I hope that works out all right :3
Act IX: Tell-Tale of the Freaks
The circus was in ruins. Back at the Baskerville mansion, buried underneath dirt, Charlotte was already beginning to decay. Leo randomly remembered he left his glasses back on the cold steps of the mansion. He could taste blood on his tongue. His skin was crawling. The circus was in ruins.
The main tent has crumpled in on itself, broken poles fallen and flaps billowing pathetically in the night wind that had suddenly picked up. Two of the boxcars had been flipped to their side, the wheels facing the sky spinning on their axis. On the underside of one of them, blood was splattered. Other than the whistling wind and rustling trees, his racing pulse and harsh breaths, there wasn't a sound.
Counting the cars, Leo realized that one of them was gone: Lacie's.
Without even looking at Glen and the others, the raven ran towards the destruction, eyes searching frantically in the dark. "Echo! Lily!" he called. Where were they? Where?
"Leo," came a hopeless sob. Leo heard it immediately in the shadows, coming from inside Philippe's car. He looked through the bars and then opened the door. Huddled inside was Lily, tears coming down her dirty and painted face. Bleeding, bruised, and breathing shallowly on her lap was Echo, sweat making her silver hair cling to her forehead in a dirty mop. Her dress ripped and scars revealed, she looked very much as when Leo first met her in the asylum.
The raven was by their side in an instant. "Lily, please, tell me what happened," he pleaded breathlessly. Not a second was wasted as he moved fast – removing his shirt and shifting Echo's position slightly so that her head was on Lily's skinny thighs. The cold that embraced his skin was nothing compared to the panic freezing his insides.
"I..I...I..." The youngest Baskerville was choking on sobs too much to speak properly. There was little that Lily cried about, but she was still a child – and one thing she was terrified of was having someone taken away from her. Leo spared her a glance before examining the silver-haired girl on her lap.
Several cuts ran over her face and arms, but they didn't seem anything to worry about compared to the bigger problem. The biggest wound Echo had was a line that ran from below her belly to in between her small chest. It was deepest at her stomach, where blood kept spurting out every few seconds, and thinner at her breasts. She'd been sliced upward. It was too thick for a knife wound. But for a scythe...it wouldn't be impossible.
Echo coughed, a sickening gurgle that convulsed through her body, making blood spray out from her stomach. As it pooled, Lily cried harder. Leo put a reassuring hand on her back as he firmly pressed his shirt on Echo's wound with his other hand. "Shh, it's fine. Glen's here. And Fang and Doug, so it'll be okay," he said, stroking Lily's hair.
"Wh-what about Lotti?"
Thankfully, Leo was saved the trouble of answering when the door creaked open again, revealing Glen and the others. His purple eyes, seeming luminous in the darkness, seized the scene with professional calm and he swiftly came over to bend down next to the trio.
"It's a scythe wound," he said, brushing his fingers over Leo's hand that tried to press Echo's cut.
"Lord Glen!" Lily exclaimed, relief crossing her face. "It was! It was the demon! It came and it attacked and Echo tried—Echo tried!"
Fang and Doug entered the car. Fang's eyes widened as he surveyed the state the two girls were in. But he pushed his shock aside and came over. Gently, he urged Leo aside and lifted the shirt and Echo's dress to fully scrutinize the damage. He then pressed the bloodied shirt on her naked belly again and exchanged a look with Glen before finally looking at Lily.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine. But if we wait any longer..."
"Tell me what you need!" Leo said urgently, grabbing Fang's Pendulum jacket. At that same moment, Echo's eyes opened slightly, a deep breath leaving her. As if suddenly realizing the pain she was in, tears fell freely from her eyes, and her body twitched, wanting to curl up.
Fang pressed down on her. "Try to calm down," he told her softly but firmly. "If you panic, it'll complicate things." As he spoke, he reached down and dipped two of her fingers in her blood, then used it as ink to write some symbol on her forehead. Echo barely uttered one cry before her eyes fell closed again, her body sagging.
"I put her under, but it won't last long with the damage of her body," he said, addressing the sudden worry on Leo and Lily's faces. He very carefully tucked his arms under her shoulders and knees, lifting her. "I'll be keeping your shirt as a make-shift tourniquet. But I'll use my scythe to get us back to the mansion. Everything to help her will be there."
Hot protest was fast on Leo's tongue as he sprang up. "The demon might come back and attack again," he pointed out. Never again would he allow the demon's threat leave his mind. Now it would haunt him forever, along with the stains of Charlotte's blood. He shook his head. "You can't go back."
Fang gave him a patient look. "I know that, but think now," he said, cradling Echo close to him. "Would it leave such a note, and have the circus in such a state if it would come back?"
The raven grimaced jut thinking of the contents of the letter. It was crumpled in his pocket at that moment, the words searing on the paper, through the fabric and into Leo's skin. With every movement, he felt the paper shift as surely as if it were some mutated part of him...
"Leo, I warned you that this would happen. You cannot say you found it unexpected. Believe it or not, demons are true to their word. We don't tell lies. Merely dance over truth," it had said. "But whatever you opinion of me is right now doesn't seem to matter to anyone but myself. To have you hate me is the last thing I wanted, but I had to do this to your family. You would've killed us first otherwise. Nothing is safe anymore, it seems. Diva tells me that we can't wait anymore. Her dream has to progress now – a dream almost thirteen years in the making..."
"Fang is right," Doug put in, a large shadow amongst all the others of the night. "And I'll go back with him."
"Lily, you should come, too," Fang said, already walking down the stairs of the car. "Let's go now. Every minute wasted is time lost to treat Zwei."
Still on the floor, Lily looked back and forth as the conversation proceeded, her eyes widening with each word. Horror and panic were plain on her face as she finally asked, "What happened at home? You never told me anything."
The other four avoided looking at her, but that only served to make her more scared. Finally, Glen stepped forward and lightly put her to her feet. "Perhaps it'd be best for you to go with Fang and Doug as well," he told her in his soft voice. Gently, he prompted her out the car.
"B-but-!"
"No buts, Lily," he said, a gentle chastisement that made him seem like a father talking to his child. It was a somewhat lighter scene compared to the grim destruction around them. When they were all outside, Glen looked at the two older Crimson Fausts and murmured, "I trust you to this."
Fang bowed his head. "Yes, my lord." Next to him, Doug echoed the sentiment.
"Lily," Leo said, squatting down to the young girl's level, "can you tell me where the circus performers went? They're not...harmed, are they?"
Her light hair bounced around as she shook her head. "No, but..." Her eyes got glassy. "After what happened, they don't trust us anymore." She pointed over two cars away. "They're in Gilbert's car. That's where they hid when it started happening. But they I don't...want them scared of us..." The last of her sentence began to crack with the pressure of unshed tears. Doug came over and cradled her towards him. Without a word, they followed Fang out toward the wood, though they all vanished before the trees could swallow them up.
"Think Tove has it covered?" Leo asked Glen, referring to Fang's scythe.
"I'm sure they're back at the mansion already," Glen replied smoothly, turning away from the spot where the Baskervilles had disappeared. His impassive gaze fell upon Leo and he remarked, "While we're on the subject of covering, are you quite comfortable half-naked like that?"
Despite that fact, Leo scoffed and stalked off toward Gilbert's car. It didn't strike his mind since he had been so occupied with Echo, but now that he thought of the ruined circus and the absence of its freaks... Well, was it really so bad for him to end up with a heart-wrenching conclusion? All he wanted was for them to be safe, and that...and that...
He stopped when something a few yards beside him caught his eye. A pole was sticking out of the ground, and Leo recognized it to be at the exact location where Isla Yura's tent once stood. Now it was down in tatters puddled all over the grass. On that one solitary pole though was a figure. The raven changed course immediately to investigate. Whether or not Glen was following him anymore was lost to his mind that hoped what he was witnessing was not...
The rank smell of death filled his senses first, along with the palpable taste of blood, but still Leo pressed forward. His feet, bare again, stepped onto something slimy and squishy. A quick look down proved that he had stepped on something long and bloody – he recognized the shape to be intestines. The trail of the extended organ ran forward and up to the person pinned to the pole – Isla Yura.
He was hung upside down, his throat slit with blood still trickling down from it onto his face. His eyes were wide and bulged, and his jaw slack so that his stained teeth and tongue were seen. The most disturbing thing to Leo was that the man had been stripped naked, and that a rather important part of his reproductive system was absent, leaving crimson splatters in between the man's legs. Later on he'd find out that that particular appendage had been shoved up Yura's body. There were angry slices in between the man's exposed ribs and a gaping hole in his middle where his organs had been spilled out for the world to see.
Someone got what was coming to them, thought Leo darkly, but nonetheless disturbed at the presentation. The slash marks were about as thick as the ones on Echo – meaning that the demon had done this. Leo couldn't think of any reason why it wouldn't, either.
Tacked on Yura's pinned ankles was a piece of paper. It wasn't a letter like last time, but it looked more like an old flyer for something. It was crumpled and the color seemed to have faded from it, though Leo couldn't be sure in the darkness.
He tore himself away from the disgusting display and headed back to Gilbert's boxcar, wary not to step on any more of Yura's organs.
As soon as he walked in front of the door, he heard some intakes of breath. Steeling his courage, he swung the door open and stepped inside. Bundles of deformed figures huddled against each other, tensing as one as the raven stepped inside. His gaze passed over each of them, assessing them.
There were some missing. Leo's legs almost gave from underneath him. Xerxes Break was gone, as was Sharon, Oz, Lacie, and...and Elliot. Instead of cold fear, it was intense warmth that filled his insides – anger, impatience...
"Requiem," said Alyss shakily. She was hugging Cheshire tightly with her one arm.
Quickly, Leo put his emotions in check and went towards the two-headed twins, squatting down before them. He would ask if they were okay had he not known the obvious answer to that. Instead, he asked what was really on his mind. "What happened?"
"You get away from her!" cried out Vanessa, her loud voice sudden and paralyzing. When Leo lifted up his head to look at her, he was instantly met with the frosty gaze of her winter-blue eyes that were so much like Elliot's. They pierced so precisely, even in the darkness.
The door to the boxcar opened once more with a shriek as Glen peered inside. Wordlessly, he gazed at each freak in turn. When he appeared to be done, a curious mix of emotions crossed his countenance – surprise, fear, frustration, anger, and then something like defeat. All were things Leo had never witnessed Glen to display in his expression before.
Just as surely as Glen was assessing the freaks, their eyes fell upon him, scrutinizing him with his dark yet calm aura. "Who is that?" asked Philippe with an unwavering voice.
"I brought him," Leo explained slowly. He wasn't sure how much of himself he could reveal at this point, but he figured that it would be best to come clean based on the fact that disaster had already struck. "He won't harm you any more than I would. You have my word on that. Whatever happened here, nothing will happen now."
The normally cordial gaze of Gilbert's golden eyes had hardened to steel as he looked from Glen to Leo. "You aren't like us. Who the hell are you people? What've you done to our circus?" he said in a soft but strong voice. Their strength after what they must have been through both startled Leo and made him feel a twinge of pride. "None of this happened before you. None of it."
"Elliot said the exact same thing to me," Leo said with a sad smile.
In an instant, Vanessa was rounding on him again. "Where's my brother? What did you do to Elly?" She couldn't stand up to her full height, but she squatted low and pushed him to the wall, rocking the car as she squeezed her hand around his throat. The action jarred the raven, and he felt his cheeks flush and pressure build behind his eyes from the suffocation. "Give him back to me! You'll give him back to me right now!"
"Vanessa," he choked out, trying to center himself again, "I-I don't know where he...is...!"
"Liar!" she screamed, slamming him into the hard wall. Her eyes were wide and wild, glassy with heavy tears. Her expression was conflicted though, as if she didn't know whether or not to believe him. "Liar liar liar liar-!"
Leo expected another slam but then one of her wrists were trapped in the grip of Glen Baskerville. His eyes were narrowed, but the composure was still serene on his face. Looking at Glen's face too long always brought a paradoxical sense of calm and unease. Vanessa must have sensed it – she hesitated, but wrenched her hand away from his. In her next movement, she released Leo's throat, and he took a grateful gulp of air, coughing lightly.
"Just who the hell do you people think you are?" she hissed in a low voice, drawing away from both of them.
Glen's hand fell to his side. "I'm Glen Baskerville. I founded an organization called Pendulum a little under thirteen years ago. Our mission," he began solemnly, glancing away from Vanessa and towards the other freaks, "is to get rid of monsters called Cannibal Marionettes. If my subordinate's reports are to be believed," his eyes locked onto Leo, "then you should know the beings I speak of."
There was a beat of silence proved that this was true, but still the performers mulled over this information. Incredulity was one tangible emotion. Suspicion was another. Cheshire was the first to speak though.
"Cheshire knew those three were not bad, nyaa," he declared, tilting his head. He broke away from Alyss' hold and crept over to where both Baskervilles stood and he sniffed the air around them. "They had different smells from us, but they were also different from that person, too, nyaa."
"I got a note from him, Cheshire," Leo said, pressing a hand against his pocket. The cat man's red eyes followed the movement attentively. "But he's left now, hasn't he? And he took the others with him."
The crimson orbs narrowed and his ears bent down in feral anger. "It said it needed little hostages so that everything would go smoothly," he hissed quietly.
"Cheshire," Alyss murmured, eyes wide and scared.
"Please," Leo said. He reached out and grabbed the cat man's biceps – he received no protest from the others. It must have been the tone of his voice. He needed answers and now. "You have to tell me what happened. Glen and I can get them all back if you tell me what happened. We can stop this." Because we couldn't stop it before.
Vincent shifted now, and his cold calm reminded Leo of a crueler version of Glen. His mismatched eyes of gold and red peered at the raven accusingly through his blond bangs. "It was after you, that thing was. Miss Lacie said as much, and expressed her sorrow quite thoroughly that you were not here when the attack happened," he said. The way he spoke was knowingly, and it was grating on Leo's nerves. "You are obviously connected to that thing that came here and did all this."
"We're not with the demon," Glen argued firmly. "We've not a thing to do with it. Our only connection is that we want each other's end."
That seemed to silence Vincent, but he still gave skeptical glances at each Baskervilles. Leo looked at him. "So Lacie was associated with this. We thought so."
"I was hoping that wasn't the case, but..." Glen's voice faded into a cadence. Only Leo caught the uncharacteristic tone of lament in the man's voice. Glen straightened up and walked further inside. "Our organization's success – and the elimination of the demon – depend on whether or not you'll supply us with the information we need."
"This has nothing to do with us," Vanessa said shakily. "I thought you took out those...crazy people."
The comment amused Leo rather perversely – he never heard the Cannibal Marionettes referred to as "crazy people" before. He finally let go of Cheshire and took a brave step forward. "Yes, that's the thing. That's why me and Echo and Lily were sent here. At every location your circus went, those monsters were appearing. We were already suspecting Lacie, but we also figured out a demon was helping her."
"But why Lacie?" Alice whispered. It was the first time Leo had seen such a look, heard such a tone of voice from her. It made him realize that it wasn't only to Oz and Elliot that Lacie had meant so much. In the Clockwork Circus, the freaks only had each other. Every new addition was someone new to love, someone to prove their existence meant something – and it was to protect each other. To found out that she had betrayed them was inconceivable.
Glen was the one to answer the question. "Like any other being in the world may once have had, Lacie possessed an impossible dream."
How deeply can you not know someone...? The shock was written everywhere. They were reluctant to believe. But Alice, with the scowl back on her face, spoke up. And the tale of the Clockwork Circus' ruin began.
Alice's eyes, still puffy and aching, locked on to the silver-haired girl what just went inside the ringmaster's tent. Cheshire had left after comforting Alyss for awhile, and herself – though she'd never admit in needing the solace. After her twin, it was always the cat man who could make her feel better.
But afternoon had been approaching, so she knew it was about time they get to practice. It would give her something to do. As she and her conjoined twin walked through the clearing, they had seen Echo disappear into that man's tent. Alice suppressed a shudder of fear. At first she was afraid that maybe that man had already decided to lay his claim on the poor newcomer, but the purpose in her step led her to believe otherwise. When Alice turned her head, she saw her twin was already giving her the same look.
"The new ones sure visit Mr. Yura openly," Alyss said, her lips in a troubled pout.
"Yeah," Alice agreed with a frown. "We saw Shaggy Eyes go in there too, remember?"
"I don't like Mr. Yura, Alice."
"Neither do I, Alyss."
"So why would they-"
"-go to see him?"
Her other head nodded. "It is all rather-"
"-curious," finished Alice in agreement. It was times like this she found their shared logic to be comforting. It made her think she wasn't crazy after all – a fault that clowny Break always accused her of. So she was glad she and Alyss were on the same page. Together, they resolved to – politely, her twin insisted – ask Echo about it later. No one in their right mind went to Mr. Yura willingly.
Unwillingness was something the two-girls-but-one knew well. Alyss knew this. She remembered his body on top of them, and he had kissed her. Abyss, she hated the kissing. Alyss would rather go on their knees and do that than hold his mouth with hers. She had protested. She hadn't meant that. Alice had heard. The next thing she remembered was the relief of not having his body on their shared one, and Alice's trembling fist above them, her knuckles already glowing red.
It was her fault for crying out. Otherwise her twin would never have done it. But they were twins. Conjoined twins. Alyss' cry had been Alice's protest. Alice's fury had been Alyss' anger.
They had both wanted it to end.
No one in their right mind went willingly to Isla Yura.
She turned to her brown-haired head, knowing they had recalled the same memory. "Sometimes I wish that-"
"-we weren't freaks?" finished Alice.
For once, her sister was wrong. "I can deal with that. I can't imagine being apart from you," admitted Alyss as they began walking again with their four legs. "If we're together, I know what happens to you, Alice. Even though you complain needing space, you want to be with me, too."
"I don't like inevitable things," grumbled Alice in light argument.
"You say it like I don't already know it," Alyss said.
"So the freak thing you can deal with." It was more a statement than question – deep down, Alice felt the same way.
The white-haired head hummed. "Indeed. I can't deal with him, though. But this is-"
"-where we're safe."
It was almost an hour before the show when Elliot came up to her. At that moment, Vanessa was in her boxcar getting dressed when her brother knocked at her door.
"Elly," she greeted with a grin. She couldn't help it. Seeing her baby brother always made her so happy. Although she loved the rest of the circus as if they were her own family, Elliot was her actual blood. Maybe, guiltily, she was relieved to know she had been the only freak in her family. She wasn't alone.
But that only meant both of them had to suffer now.
"Vanessa, have you seen Leo anywhere?"
She narrowed her blue eyes and scowled. "You came over to ask about that boy?"
An exhausted but knowing look came over the blond's face. "Are you like Lacie and don't trust him either?"
"It must be a woman's intuition," Vanessa said, picking up her hairpiece and pinning it to her wavy black hair, mindful of the bells that tapped against her forehead and cheeks. "But this is Elliot for you, always coddling the newcomers. You were the same way with Philippe and Sharon, you know."
"I'm not coddling anyone!" he protested, cheeks turning pink. "Ah, forget it, I'll look for him myself."
"Ask his sisters," Vanessa tried, crossing her legs covered with lacy black stockings. Ambiguously, she added, "I hear siblings have that kind of knowledge." She watched her brother walk away and gradually began to stop fiddling with her hairpiece.
Sometimes she wondered what went on in Elliot's head. Sometimes she felt like she was losing her brother. Other times she knew he was growing up.
It would be nice if he stayed an innocent child. But Vanessa knew that was impossible.
"Heeeey, Big Brother?"
Gilbert looked up from his mirror, his needle still between his fingers and thread in his mouth. His wings were starting to hurt again so he was making sure the stitches that brought his flesh and the wings together were tight. After having the wings for so long, the skin surrounding his shoulder blades had gotten so scarred and red that the bird appendages could no longer be separated from him. Now they hung grotesquely and painfully from his back.
Gilbert had deformed himself in such an awful way just so Vincent wouldn't be alone anymore. The thought tormented the blond every day and also made him even more perversely in love with his brother. Gilbert always went to such lengths for those he loved, and even though Vincent knew he had indirectly stolen all happiness from his brother, it was also gratifying to know Gil loved him so.
"What's wrong, Vince?" he asked.
"Did you notice?" the blond began, looking out the boxcar. "It's already so close to showtime, yet people have yet to arrive."
To this, Gilbert only shrugged. "The last day in a town is always slow," he replied in disinterest, focusing again on his task.
Vincent shook his head. "No, this is different, I think..." He tilted his head slightly and touched the cold bars over the window. He couldn't quite place it yet, but the blond knew something was wrong. His mismatched eyes glanced over at his beloved older brother and he sat down next to him and hugged him around his middle.
"Ah, Vince, be careful! I might jab you with the needle if you do stuff like that without warning!" exclaimed Gil, raising his elbows away from Vincent's arms. With the blond's face buried in between Gilbert's shoulder blades though, he couldn't see the cute scowl on the raven's face.
"Does Big Brother ever think about not being here?"
That did it. He felt Gilbert's body stiffen, his toned muscles tensing. After a long pause – and Vincent didn't dare interrupt it – he finally replied, "What kind of question is that?"
"No question," he replied honestly. This dreaded place was where he belonged, because it was where Gil was. His brother, and this love, was his home. The lament and despair that came with it was irrelevant because Gil was here. And as long as his brother remained, so would he, no matter what.
His forehead didn't hurt anymore from having it banged repeatedly on the bars the other night. He had finally managed to convince Gil that he didn't need the bandages anymore. He lifted his face a little. The bruises and hickeys were smaller and lighter now on his brother's body, but still there – all from the touches of that despicable man. Vincent's nails dug into Gil's chest.
"I was just curious."
Once, a long time ago, Philippe watched his father killed before his very eyes. Unlike the other freaks of the Clockwork Circus, Philippe had had a home, a loving one. His father cherished him, but had him inside often. In the hot summers, he often wasn't allowed outside because his father feared someone would notice the dent in the shirt the small boy wore – the dent caused by the large, circular hole were Philippe stomach should have been.
He had it better, though. That was something. He had a place to be, but with the death of his parent, that had been taken away. His father's murderers found him, and sold him to Mr. Yura – this was after three months of drowning, of cigarette burning, of hot coals being put into his hole, of being pushed down the stairs.
Hardly one person in the Clockwork Circus wasn't scarred or bruised or broken. As a matter of fact, everyone was marred. Philippe fit right in. So would any newcomers. And so it was he had been happy to meet his new friend, Lily. That first night when she stayed in his car, he touched her mark on her face and raved how cool it was. They were fast friends. It didn't take long for her to earn his trust.
When night approached, he walked around the clearing, wondering why it was so silent. Usually at this point, Mr. Yura would call them out, would already have them in line. What was more was that no "normal" people were walking by to find the circus show. Maybe tonight was an off night? They never had one of those before...
Then he heard Lily's scream pierce through the air like a dagger. A crawl ran down Philippe's body at the sound of it and he turned to where he thought the source came from. "Lily?" he called out tentatively.
Vanessa's car opened and she stepped out, looking toward the forest. "What was that?" Almost as soon as the sentence left her lips, there came a crash of what sounded like wood. The trees at the edge of the forest shuddered, some falling.
"What in the-!"
Lily emerged out of the forest, riding on the wind with her scythe-looking object in hand. She stumbled in front of them, dirtying her costume. Philippe bent down and shook her. "Lily? Lily, what happened?"
Then time was sucked forward, moving faster as if being spit out of a black hole. He heard footsteps and fervent protests approach them and when he looked up, Echo was standing over him. In one of her hands she held a dagger, and with the other she was holding on to Lacie's wrist.
"Let go of me!" Lacie exclaimed in rage. Her nails were clawing at Echo's arm, and she swiped blindly, trying to find the silverette's face. Her blindfold was off, her eyeless sockets open wide and her hair was a mess. "I swear to Abyss, you will die! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
"Echo!" said Lily and another voice at the same time. Elliot was running over, incredulity and anger on his face. The young girl quickly got up and clutched Echo's dress.
"It's here!" she said. "I didn't know how to stop it! When's Leo coming back?"
Philippe watched the scene with wide eyes, wondering what was going on – why was Lily ignoring him? Why were the trees crashing? Why was Echo holding Lacie? Why was she saying such scary things? Kill? Kill who? And...this ominous feeling that swallowed his chest in complete fear... What was it? Philippe couldn't find the strength to ask any of these questions.
A few feet away Mr. Yura's tent opened and he stepped outside, a rare frown on his face. "What is going on out here-!"
The trees parted, breaking down in a flurry of leaves and branches, and a demon crawled into the circus' clearing.
It was the only name Philippe could think to describe the monstrosity as. So otherworldly and literally dripping darkness, demon seemed very appropriate to name the thing prowling towards them. It easily surpassed Vanessa's great height, a thick, black creature in some sort of animalistic form with sharp red claws, eyes glittering like tainted rubies and a giant jaw that housed teeth that resembled the weapon in Echo's hand. Shadows shifted around its form, cascading and coming back up its body in a repeated cycle of darkness. When it breathed, small licks of flame appeared in between its fangs.
Philippe's legs gave out from beneath him as he watched the demon survey the clearing. Then it stood up to its full height and tossed its head back, making a low, mournful sound – a terrible timbre that shook the very ground beneath them, echoing over and over. Vanessa let out a cry, leaning heavily against her car as she covered her mouth. The other freaks were peeking out their boxcars, exclaiming in horror at the hellish sight before them.
Elliot's hand was around Lacie's other wrist but he was making no attempt to run. "What...what is that thing!" he said in a shaky voice, eyes wide.
The only thing Philippe could think of was his father being killed and his months of abuse, and of his life at the circus.
And he couldn't help but come to the childish conclusion that maybe he was going to die today.
It was hard to recover from the sight. Every time Vanessa tried to make a move, she felt her long legs begin to quiver. Tears were already falling down her eyes at the bare fear, but she somehow managed to swallow down each of her screams. Absolute dread fell on her like cold ice water with each move the demon made. It smashed the ground before getting up one last time, one of its hands reaching up toward the moon-jeweled sky. In a flash of shadowy light, a long weapon appeared.
A scythe. With its hellfire-red eyes, flame breath and falling darkness, Vanessa had the sudden impression that she was facing Death.
"Elliot!" she cried. She ran towards all of them – her brother, Lacie, Echo and Philippe and Lily. At the same time she moved, the demon cried out again and swiped its scythe through the main tent. It tore apart and with another swing, the pole snapped and fell, bringing the whole tent down with it.
Dirt sprayed up in a dust cloud, and Vanessa grabbed Elliot's hand, who was still holding Lacie and Echo and ran behind her car. She didn't see if the youngest ones had followed, but when she opened her eyes, Philippe was there with her, practically carrying Lily.
Echo was on her feet in no time. Vanessa witnessed as the silver-haired girl leaned in close to Lacie. "Echo requests that you do not move. You are her hostage," she stated simply.
Elliot grabbed her sleeve. "What the hell are you talking about? What were you doing to her?" he demanded.
With a toss of her bangs, Lacie smiled wickedly, all but ignoring the blond. "Don't kid yourself. No one is hostage here but yourself and this circus. Kill me and consider everyone else here as good as dead." Without another word, she smacked Echo and Elliot's hands away and ran off towards the clearing.
"L-Lacie?" the stitched-up boy called dubiously.
Echo didn't waste time and only ran off in the same direction. "Miss Lily!" she called behind her.
"Wait, do you know what's happening?" Vanessa demanded, holding back Lily by the shoulder.
The young girl shook her head. "Sorry, we can talk later. We have to kill the demon now!" Without another word, she was off.
Another roar ripped through the air, and Vanessa hugged herself, bringing her knees closer to her. She turned desperately to her brother. "Do you think the others are safe? What should we do?" Before Elliot could even think of it, she added, "We can't fight it."
But her brother's eyes weren't filled with their usual fire. He was on his knees, looking numbly at the direction Lacie had just left in. The ground shuddered as they heard a loud bang burst suddenly. What was going on here? What...what kind of nightmare was this?
Elliot spoke then, voice low. "I...I don't know. Something is wrong, Sister. And..." He looked at her, just as panic-stricken as she was, much to her shock. "I have a feeling it's been that way for awhile now."
"We have to do something," she whispered brokenly.
With this, Elliot seemed to agree. He nodded and got up. Lightly touching her arm, he said, "I'm going to round up the others. I need Oz and Xerxes. I think they'll be able to help with this." Even though their world was shattering and a demon was in their midst, he went up and kissed her cheek. "I'll be back, Big Sister. I promise."
Vanessa shook her head, rubbing her arms up and down. "This isn't normal, Elliot."
"You say it like something in our life actually was," he pointed out darkly. "Keep Philippe safe now." And with that, she watched her brother head off into the path of destruction. Now she only had to hope Death didn't have His eyes set on her circus family.
The tug on one of her stockings brought her back to reality. Philippe was look up at her with wide, tearful eyes. She picked him up, trying not to break down herself. Elliot wouldn't break down. She had to follow the example her little brother set.
I'm just tired of losing things, she thought, heart pounding in her ears.
When Gilbert first burst out of his car to assess the situation, his first instinct was to look for Oz. What he ended up doing though was follow Elliot – who was running towards the demon. He quickly told Vincent to stay inside, an order he somehow knew was going to be disobeyed the second he left.
"Elliot, what the hell are you doing!" he yelled, managing to catch up to the blond.
"Gilbert?"
At the same moment, the demon turned in their direction and cut its scythe through Sharon and Break's tent. Gilbert dived out of the way and grabbed Elliot just as the tent hurdled past them. They rolled together, the dirt scratching at Gilbert's exposed skin and managing to tear a few threads from his wings. He hollered in pain, curling up as they stopped moving.
When he got a better composure over himself, he looked up to see Elliot in a similar state to him. The thick binding over his shoulder had gotten torn, but the blond seemed not to notice. Gilbert was ready to chastise him when his eyes caught movement over where the demon was.
Echo and Lily were...were fighting it! Lily ripped through the air, slashing with her scythe at the demon. She never even stood a chance. The demon merely held out its own oversized scythe to block each attack, a resonating clash rippling around them. Echo was running around and around, shooting out her daggers only to have them return to her. The insane laughter the winged-man heard was coming from her, he realized in surprise.
"The hell is going on here?" he whispered. Then he heard someone else's laughter carry on the wind, a laugh he never heard before but somehow knew that... Yes, it belonged to Lacie. As Gilbert straightened himself up, he saw her holding on to Mr. Yura, both of her hands encasing on of his. A gleeful smile was on her face.
"Come on~ Come on, you're so slow~!" she cheered, her hair waving in the October breeze. "If you don't hurry, the fun can't begin!"
From the way Mr. Yura was walking away from Lacie, he was trying to get away from her. But Lacie was apparently stronger than she looked, as she just walked along as the ringmaster struggle din her grip. He fixed his gaze on her and shouted, "What are you doing to me! This is nothing like you said!"
At his pleas, Lacie stopped. In the midst of the demon's presence and the ruin it brought, she was absolutely calm. Gilbert watched her with wide eyes. What was the deal here? Lacie began swaying her hips, dancing as she led Isla Yura away, as if she were an enchantress leading a human to their doom. She opened her mouth and began singing,
"The serum dripping from your eyes is benign
A balloon floats and flutters above
See, tomorrow will be lovely, sway-y~
Look! Over here!"
She spun around so that her dress floated around her. She had let go of Isla Yura in the process, but instead of running, he was shouting at her. Now his grip was on her.
"Filthy thing, this isn't what you promised!" he bellowed.
Beside Gilbert, Elliot stirred and he staggered to his feet to run towards Lacie. "M-Mr. Yura!" he exclaimed.
Gilbert's golden eyes widened when he saw the demon stomp to where Lacie danced and Isla Yura shouted – and where Elliot was now running. "W-wait! Elliot, get back over here!" Realizing his voice was all but lost to the blond Gil shot to his feet and ran after him.
Lacie laughed as the demon's scythe tore through the ringmaster's tent, sending it crashing down.
"The demon's voice rumbles, rumbles, rumbles through the rainy town
As he searches for something he lost~
Your gentle snoring rings faint, ROWJIRA, ROWJIRA, ROWJIRA
He won't notice, he won't notice~!"
Elliot had reached the two and was looking lost, as if wondering he really should lay his hands on the ringmaster and wrench Lacie away. He did something different, reaching out and holding Lacie's chin in his hand, tilting her head up at him. She sighed in rapture. "Aah~ It's Elliot~," she lilted. "This is wonderful, isn't it?"
"Lacie, what are you talking about? Do you have something to do with this?" he demanded in horror. Gilbert, too, was suddenly stricken in shock, a hot liquid feeling like medicine – like poison – going down his throat. He realized too late it was bile and bent down to lightly throw up. It wasn't just Lacie's claim, it was the darkness that felt like it was choking him with its presence. Breathing was a chore, and keeping the vomit down was worse.
Isla Yura slapped Elliot away. "This is no business of yours!" he raged.
"You shouldn't do that to Elliot. I might have to kill you~!" jeered the blind girl. "I'll have my wonderful demon dispose of you right quick. Just as you deserve." At the ringmaster's stunned look, she smiled and said, "I never intended to have anything to do with you. I was always going to kill you in the end..." She spread out her arms and continued singing,
"The scars of pinpricks weigh you down oppressingly
What a pretty balloon spinning in the sky~
Look! How pretty!"
"Lacie!" exclaimed Elliot, blue eyes horror-stricken.
She blew a kiss at him. "This is for your own good, Elly. I have to get rid of the newcomers, because they want to kill me~ I wasn't lying about that. Didn't you ever wonder why they could fight off those Cannibal Marionettes? It's because they're beings called Crimson Fausts – humans with the cells of demons in their blood. Unfortunately," she giggled, "I must kill Leo, too~"
There was a cry. Looking to where the demon was, Echo suddenly fell to the ground, and she wouldn't get up. A sparkly, dark color was dotted all over her. Lily bent down next to her shouting.
Gilbert's stomach was still lurching, but he managed to right himself and look Lacie into her empty sockets. "The newcomers...?"
"Oh, Gilbert, you're here, too?" Lacie blinked in surprise.
Not one to be ignored, Isla Yura spun her around, his face ghost-pale. "You won't do it. You won't do it!" he said insistently. "I gave you this place to hide!"
To this, Lacie nodded in agreement. "So you did. Now your use is up and you must get what's coming to you. You see, I despise scum." Her voice had lowered and the shadows were evident in her tone. It made Gilbert shiver until he had to throw up again.
The demon was mere feet from them, and when Gilbert looked up into its monstrous face, he froze, unable to move. No matter how much he wanted to not be, his legs were utterly paralyzed, and his golden gaze could not be torn from the red and black and flames and darkness.
"He's right here~," declared Lacie, and the winged-man noted in terror that she was talking directly to the demon. She pointed at Isla Yura, backing up until she bumped into Elliot. "Make him squeal good, okay?"
"N-no!" Isla Yura cried, but he too seemed just as paralyzed as Gilbert.
If Gil didn't know that demons could smile, he did now. It tossed its head back and made thunderous sounds that must have been laughter – it rattled the earth and made hellfire spout from its mouth. The ringmaster screamed as the demon snatched him up. Gilbert only watched.
Lacie laughed too in utter glee. "Taking shelter from the rain in a flower shop,
But the owner has disappeared, disappeared
Now where are you hiding?
He won't notice, he won't notice~!"
The scythe wasn't used, but the menacing claws the demon had were then put to good use. Gilbert fell back on the ground as he heard sicking cracks of bone, and something tearing that must've been skin. The blood rained down on all of them, spotting Gil and Elliot's flesh.
But still Lacie danced and sang. Even as Isla Yura let out a blood-curling screech. Even as a gaping hole made the slick organs fall from the sky in wet splats. Even as he was pinned to the pole with sharp knives.
"The demon's voice rumbles, rumbles, rumbles through the rainy town
As he searches for something he lost
Your gentle snoring rings faint, ROWJIRA, ROWJIRA, ROWJIRA~!"
Elliot was the first to move again, grabbing Lacie and pulling her to him. "Lacie, please, you have to stop this."
If Lacie had her eyes still, she might have given him a puzzled look. As it was, she merely let her head loll to the side in question. She was silent, considering. Then a wide smile seemed to slice her face in half. "Oh, oh Elliot. You've always known these things, haven't you? You've seen it all. You've always..." Her hand reached up. "...been able to see right through me..."
"Elliot!" Gilbert exclaimed, hands ready to rip the two apart. But there was a burst of pain on the back of his skull and colors flashed everywhere as he fell to the ground. The last thing he would later remember other than the fire from the demon's mouth was Lacie's happily-sung conclusion as the world went black.
"He found you!"
Leo listened to the rest of the story, the one they all weaved together to make one tale that made sense. Gilbert had been the last one to witness anything useful, as the others had been hidden away. It wasn't until all was silent that they realized who was missing in their band.
So that was how everything happened then. Did the demon really lament what it had done? It seemed to quick to fall into enjoying slaughtering others. He closed his eyes, remembering what else the letter had said...
"Nothing is safe anymore, it seems. Diva tells me that we can't wait anymore. Her dream has to progress now – a dream almost thirteen years in the making...
"Now the circus isn't safe. If you want things to end now, I'd advise you to come back to the Clockwork Circus right away. If you're not there in time, I can't promise the safety of Estrella and Talon. And the next clue will be presented to you by the man who scarred me.
"Please know that only I helped Diva in all this. Everyone else is an unfortunate pawn. I wish things were different. But the dream is close to realization. The clock is ready to toll.
"Sincerely..."
Vanessa shifted then. No one had moved for what seemed like hours but had really been less than a minute. "Can you give them back to us?" she finally asked. It must have been the question on all their minds.
"The circus is gone now," Leo pointed out regrettably. "There's nowhere for any of you to be now."
"We realize that," Alyss said softly. "But we want all our family with us again."
Leo looked at Glen and the two exchanged glances. "I'll contact one of our members. They'll take you to our quarters, a mansion a ways from here, but there you'll be safe," Leo promised, offering a small smile. "Until he comes, my father will place wards over the car so nothing can harm you. I want them safe, too."
Something like hope flickered in some of their eyes, but just as quickly died away. What could they really hope for anymore? Before the raven turned away, Cheshire, who had taken a seat near the entrance, looked up at him. "He and the girl plan to wait for you, nyaa," he said lowly. "Cheshire saw it before they left, nyaa. Lacie pinned it on that man's body."
Leo thought back to the dark flyer he had seen on Yura's body. "Are you...glad he's gone?" he couldn't help asking.
"Alice and Alyss can't be hurt by him anymore," Cheshire stated carefully. It was said so that Leo could get the implications behind it, and the raven did. There were still things Leo wanted to say, things he wanted desperately to prove to them, but the time wasn't now. He turned away, but found himself looking back once – it was a mistake. He almost ended up wanting to cry out in frustration.
It never was a chore being himself until today.
As he walked out of Gilbert's boxcar, he heard Glen make a noise that seemed like a chuckle. He waited until the raven-haired man finished putting up the wards before asking what the laugh was about. They trudged through the grass, broken bits of branches crunching under their feet.
"It been awhile since you referred to me as your father," Glen replied wistfully. "And it was the first time you said it in front of anyone."
"Ah, I didn't notice," Leo said, walking faster. "It just came out that way." His bare feet led them back towards the place where the ringmaster's tent once stood, and where Isla Yura now hung upside-down. "Cheshire said we'd have a clue about the demon's location on Yura. The letter said as much as well." He stepped forward, mindful of the still-wet blood and organs as he reached up and tore the flyer down.
Glen walked beside him, and was unfazed at the sight before him. "I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but he led me to believe he was a rather deplorable man."
A grin quirked at the corner of Leo's lips. "It might've been mentioned once," he confessed. His eyes looked down at the slightly bloodied paper in his hand and he parted his long bangs to take a better look at it, holding it up to the moonlight. It was a rectangular piece of paper that was frayed at the edges and looked like it had been folded often. The color was indeed faded as he suspected, and it was decorated in masks and balloons and candy. Leo frowned as he read it.
"It's a flyer to a carnival?" he asked, examining it again, like his eyes were playing tricks on him. "It's dated thirteen years ago. A Halloween carnival?" He stared at it, looked over every detail of it – even going so far as to turn it over for some hidden message – nothing. Leo didn't even realize frustrated tears were building in his eyes until he was gripping the paper tightly.
Damn it. Damn it damn it damn it! Here he held a so-called clue to the demon and to finding Elliot and the others...and he had no idea what it meant! Ice chilled his blood at the thought of failing this rescue. This wasn't a simple mission anymore. It was something more, a bigger force... Perhaps even a force Leo wasn't ready to face at his level. There were big things at stake, most he wouldn't be able to fathom until later. But for now, his chest was only filled with despair.
The flyer was taken out of his hands by Glen, who also looked over it. "I know about this," he said placidly. When Leo snapped his head up to look at him, the head of Baskerville only replied, "At the date indicated here, there was indeed an All Hallows Eve carnival going on. I was there, as a matter of fact." Glen tilted his head, still staring at the flyer as he pressed his lips in a thin line and seemed to stare at the paper in resentment. "It took place in Sablier. It is on the day of this carnival...that the Tragedy of Sablier also happened."
Leo tried to hide the shock from his expression. Lacie was really setting the stage for this one... A countdown for thirteen years, the Tragedy, and the flyer pointing to Sablier... "That's her goal. She wants another Tragedy. She wants," he paled, "to bring the demons to our world."
Glen nodded. "We don't have a moment to lose. Whatever you need here, take it now, for we won't return." He carefully folded the flyer along its previously-made creases and tucked it into his breast pocket. His lightening-purple eyes glanced up at the waning Cheshire-cat smile moon above them. "I'll wait for you here."
Thinking it awful to wait near the corpse of Isla Yura, Leo quickly bounded for the destinations he already had in mind. First was Elliot's car. He didn't spend a lot of time having sentimental moments, but he did find a rather nice button-down shirt the same color as Elliot's eyes. A warm sensation ran over him like tiny electric shocks as pulled the fabric over his body and buttoned it up. He closed his eyes as he did so, wondering when the blond has worn it last – it had an aura about it that felt so right, like him.
Elliot, I swear I'll get you back. I have the power to protect you...and I will! Properly, this time.
He ran out of Elliot's car without another thought. This time, he headed for Oz's car. The first thing he did inside there was look for the bag that held all the clothes inside it. When he located it, he dug through until he found his old boots inside there. Although he hadn't minded being barefoot, he figured shoes worked better on a journey. After sloppily lacing them together, he straightened himself up and looked down at the ground.
The picture of Oz's sister was nowhere to be found.
Slowly, Leo walked out the car, his mind in a sort of daze as he moved. The world tilted this way and that and he closed his eyes, leaning against the door to the blond's boxcar. As he did, the last words of the letter came to him, holding all the sting it had before as if Leo were reading it for the first time.
"I wish things were different. But the dream is close to realization. The clock is ready to toll.
"Sincerely, Harlequin."
Ending A/N: What a chapter... Well, now it's been revealed who the demon is. I was rather amused at each theory I was presented with. Lacie, Philippe, Jack, Elliot, and Isla Yura were suspected at some point before we found out this, I believe. It was all in good speculation, and some of you had such badarse explanations, I wondered why I hadn't done this or that person instead. But no, I'm satisfied with this, since this was how it was supposed to be from the beginning -nods-
Well, what a roller coaster -dies- I really hope the demon scenes with the flashbacks were okay OTL Wonder what happened to the "hostages," eh?
I don't own the song Lacie was singing. That was yet another Vocaloid song: "In a Rainy Town, Balloons Dance with Devils" by Hatsune Miku. English translation from animelyrics dot com. I kept that "ROWJIRA" part, because apparently it's snoring sounds...
I have a feeling I'm going to get flamed... Review?