Warning: this story contains kidnappings, implied sexual assault, mind control, violence, body horror and Randy x Julian. Thank you! i'm also aware of the errors and have fixed them
Randy had been feeling flat out shitty, no other way to describe his day. He had woken up to his parents yelling at him, missed the bus, Howard and him flunked the geography test, after that he had to fight one of his mutated classmates, and now he had noticed something else during gym. Julian, who was normally being plummeted by dodge balls on fire, was not there.
At first he thought he was ill until David had come to them asking them if they had seen the Goth boy. "Wait, you guys haven't seen him either?" Randy asked, brow furrowing. "No, he won't pick up his phone either. Tell us if you see him, Okay?" "Sure, David. Sure." Howard brushed off the accordion player and quickly yanked Randy away.
"You better not Ninja out now." Howard muttered, seeing Randy's worried expression. "But Julian's a part of this school, and I swore to protect it! Does it sound like him to ignore a call from his best friends Howard?" Randy was chewing on his lip, folding the ninja mask in his pocket. "No, but I wouldn't really know Cunningham. We may be losers, but we aren't Julian level losers." Still, Randy's worried expression remained.
By this time, Julian had discovered the purpose of the red gem choker. It kept him weak, almost sick. There were times when he would be doing something, but he's not sure why, as though he would fall into trances at random periods. He wasn't sure why his voice hadn't returned either, but it seemed to be useful for the Ring Master.
He rarely saw other members of the circus, except one girl who was incredibly skinny, with inky black hair. She reminded him of the kind of ghoul that would crawl out of televisions in Japanese horror movies. She merely gave him food and stalked out of the room.
Currently, Julian was shivering in the corner of his cage. If front of him was The Ring Master, pacing back and forth, listening to the radio. "A search has been announced for the missing teenage boy Julian Maurice Button." The man in the radio said loudly. "Damn, I thought you were enough of a freak that they wouldn't start a search party." The Ring Master muttered. "I...I'm sorry..." Julian croaked, and then realized he spoke. The Ringmaster paused, looking at Julian. "Mus' be loosing concentration..." The older man sneered. "Now shut it, Boy." As he said those words, the red gem on The Ring Masters top hat glowed in unison with the one on Julian's choker. When Julian tried to retort, his voice left him once again.
The same girl with black hair slipped into the tent, and spoke in a deep, watery voice that had a hint of a welsh accent "Sir, there's a boy dressed in as simply ridiculous costume here...wants ta speak with you." The Ringmaster raised his eyebrow, but exited the tent. Before the girl followed, she looked Julian up and down, licking her lips with a slimy, what looked to be green tongue. "Haven't seen a boy like you 'ere in awhile." She said in what she must have thought was a sultry voice before following her Master. Julian shuddered, and covered himself with his arms, staring down at his feet. He had no way of calling the stranger for help, with his voice gone, and despair hit him like a ton of bricks, feeling a lump in his throat as he held back tears, only allowing a small sob. He slowly began to break down into hysterical, yet silent sobbing, shaking as he held himself tightly and listened to the sounds outside of the supply tent.
A familiar voice flooded his ears, Julian's eyes shooting open as he listened closer. "You /sure/ you've never seen the guy?" "No, mister, I have not seen this boy." The gruff voice of the Ringmaster said coldly. 'The Ninja...' Julian thought, searching around for a item to make some noise. After a moment, he grabbed onto the cage bars and began to rattle them about, making it as loud as he could.
Randy had arrived at a circus shielded by a large, dark purple and black tent. He had learned about the place by a hysterical Theresa, five days after Julian's disappearance. He slipped on the ninja mask, taking a deep breath while ribbons wrapped around him, hiding his identity. Randy slowly moved towards the tent and stepped in, looking about himself. Large, Prussian blue decorations filled the tent, and, sitting on a barrel, was a pale, ghoulish women with skin that was almost tight enough to show her bones. "Ah...excuse me?" Randy called out.
The women looked up quickly, shrunken in eyes peering at the Ninja through her hair. "What do you want? You're not supposed to be back here." She hissed. "Yeah...sorry, I'm the Ninja, ya may have heard o' me." Randy said, leaning against a pillar used to hold a trapeze wire. "Yes...I believe I 'ave...but whatcha want?" She snapped. "I'm looking for someone, came around here. Tall, skinny, dark blue hair, wears a huge top hat with a skull on it." Randy gave a quick description of Julian, hearing loud complaining coming from a small tent outside.
The women hesitated, but then spoke. "Nah, buh' maybe the Ringmasta' saw 'im. He gives outta a 'prize' once every show, the kid mighta' been the lucky winner." "Sweet, could you ask for me?" Randy felt hope brew in his chest. Secretly, Randy was worried sick that his Gothic friend was safe, and would do pretty much anything to save him. Within a few minutes, a bulky older man walked out of the supply tent, adjusting the brilliant top hat on his head.
"May I help you?" The older man asked. Randy felt unnerved by the man looming down at him, as though he was taking in every single detail of the other. While Randy was describing Julian to the Ringmaster, who had been frowning in what seemed to be annoyance. "Well, Ninja, I'm afraid that I have yet to-" Randy heard the loud rattling metal. "What's that?" Randy furrowed his brow. "Just a caged beast of wonder. Nothing special." The Ringmaster convinced.
Julian listened as Randy, disguised as the Ninja, spoke to the Ringmaster, his eyes wide and hopeful and possibly he'll come and rescue him from this hell. However, his hope dropped when he heard the Ninja exclaim "Smoke-bomb!" And disappear into the night. 'No...no' Julian thought, watching in dismay as the Ringmaster returned to the supply tent. "You beast!" The enraged man roared, picking up a empty wine bottle and smashing it into the cage wall, causing bits of glass to scatter everywhere. Julian cried out in his silent voice, covering his face with his arms.
"Are you tryin' to get killed, brat?!" The Ringmaster yelled, unlocking the cage door and stepping in, slamming the metal door shut as he did. He stomped towards Julian and grabbed him by the shirt collar, dragging him up the wall. "Do you want to die?!" Julian thrashed about, kicking and struggling, his hands frantically trying to pry the Ringmaster away. The older man threw Julian to the floor, right onto broken glass. Julian opened his mouth in a silent scream, feeling his flesh tear apart from the shiny, sharp object. "Learn your fucking place, boy. No ones gonna save ya, not kids dressed in ridiculous costumes, not tha' cops, not anyone." And with that he left the cage, locking it behind him.