AN: Inspired by Dark Woods Circus from Vocaloid and just in time for Halloween. Hope you like it. ^^
Deep inside the forest, your darkest secrets come to life and dance in the night. Faded silk holds up the Shiriku Circus; if you dare to step inside, a show of the most delicate, morbid beauty a waits you. Children of unfortunate birth put on a performance that would dazzle and delight all who saw it. A masked dancer that let's fire lick at his fingers, a girl with hair full of moon light who can never die. Tremble in fear at the demon of sir, the last of his kind. The show will close with a blind singer, who dances and sings with such grace and sorrow. The curtains will close and you'd never know those children are cursed with burdens of their own.
The little blind performer gracefully bowed to the audience as they pointed and laughed. It was the same every night, hundreds of spectators would file in the benches around her, a spotlight would fall on her sitting on a small wooden stool. She'd dance on the dead earth, hiding a cry for help in her song. They'd applaud and smirk sadistically at her in her blindfold. She blinked back tears behind the redundant prop and sat back down on the stool. She lifted her feet from the ground and waited for the curtain to close. A swish of air let her know the dusty velvet hid her from view.
"All right, back to your cell." The ring master growled. He clamped wooden shackles around her wrists and threw her into her cage. She lay on the splinter wood resting her head on the cold metal bars for comfort. Angry howls came from the iron cage at the other end of the make shift room. "Shut up you! You'll be fed at tomorrow's show." The ring master snapped, he cracked a willow whip across the metal bars causing the demon inside to shrink into his cage whimpering. She shuddered, every show the master made him eat the raw flesh of whatever was on hand. A child had once approached his cage and lost an arm. It took three people to wrestle the rest of the child from his grasp. Since then people feared to get within arm's reach of the cage, meaning they fed him less often. All he could voice was irate snarls and from the descriptions that she heard of him he was truly a terror. Blue markings crossed over his body, his eyes an eerie silver. It was rumored that when he first arrived he would snap into fits of pure rage, so dangerous that they now kept him in chains as a extra precaution. As the newest edition she had to share a room with him until they built a separate division for her. She could barely remember what her life had been like before the cart came to take her away.
She sat on the bench waiting for her parents, secretly relishing the cool earth on her bare feet. Through the vibrations she could feel where everything was. Another minute passed and she began to worry, her parents never left her alone for so long before. She hoped off the bench and went to the store where her parents should have been paying for new furniture for their luxurious home, she caught the tail end of their conversation.
"-can't afford it anymore." Her father said firmly, her mother was in tears. "The way this war is going we'll end up in the poor house before her fifthteenth birthday. She could never hope to marry into a rich family, you know how severely handicapped she is compared to other girls… it's for the best."
"What's for the best?" Toph asked. Her mother stared at her, tears streaming down her face, she stooped down and held Toph close.
"Baby," she stuttered burring her face into her child's shoulder, "how would you like to go on a little trip of a while?" Toph patted her mother awkwardly on the back.
"Where?" She asked hesitantly.
"Outside Gaoling." Her father said, his voice as cold as ice.
"Really?" Toph asked, excitement building. "When are we leaving?"
"Not we honey, just you." Poppy said pulling away. "You're going to go away for a while." Her father grabbed her hand.
"We'll have to go now if we ever want to make it in time." Toph obediently followed her father out the door. They stood on the side of the street and waited. Ostrich horse trotted up to them, a creaky wooden carriage lurched to stop. A man dismounted and talked with her dad in hushed words. A pouch of gold pieces was passed between them and her father let of of her hand. She was guided to the carriage and sat on the wooden floor, never to be with her family again.
As a bender she had tried to escape, but the forest soil had been stripped of all life. To bend it was like holding a still animal. To dance on it every night filled her with an inner most dread that she was not allowed to voice. Light footsteps came towards her cage. She sat up, turning to face woever entered. Warm hands held the bars on either side of her. It was the fire bender from the show. Without his mask a long scar covered his right eye. She bowed her head in his presence.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, the room grew quiet as the fire bender thought of what to say.
"I have nowhere to go so the ring master lets me roam around backstage. This place is like a second home to me, so he lets me stay for free as long as I perform, but with you. He's getting irritated with you. You need to stop singing such sad songs." The fire bender warned.
"How can I? I never asked for this, I don't know if I can take another day of them laughing at me." Toph whispered. The fire bender sighed and looked at her with pleading eyes.
"I don't know what kind of life you came from, nor do I understand why you're so resistant to change. But I do know that if you don't change your repituar the ring master will punish you." The dancer stepped away from her cage and left her to the dark room. The low growl from the other cage was the only noise in the blanket of silence.
Bright lights focused on the wind demon. He shut his eyes growling in annoyance. The master yanked on the chain that was wrapped around his neck. He grudgingly crawled to the cent of the ring and looked around. Yet another gather of people laughed at his expense. Toph didn't understand why they could laugh at something that would tear them to shreds in the blink of an eye. His stomach growled, it had been four days since they last fed him, which was never a good sign. In the middle of the ring a goat had been tethered to the ground. The poor thing was still alive, it bleated, scared by the vibrant lights. Toph cringed as she felt the vibrations of the goat's heart beat. The demon ripped apart the goat, hungrily consuming the red flesh. He gnawed at the red muscle as the goats heart beat slowly came to a stop. A wet slurp echoed through the tent, the audience oohed and ahhed at the beast's display. They had to drag him away from the corpse so she could perform. She stood nervously before the entrance; she could still feel his vibrations. He was stuffing his face with raw goat while staring at her intently. She took a deep breath and stepped out into the ring. Her little wooden stool was in the center, where the goat had been. She was carried on and sat on the wood thinking of what the dancer had said, how she would be in trouble if she didn't sing a happy song. But with the boos in the stands and bones at her feet she didn't know how anyone could. So once again she sang her song dancing gracefully among the bones. The earth shrunk away from her footsteps, her melancholic song floated among the stand. Swishing shut, the curtains blocked out the audience, her last note still echoing through the ring. The fir dancer shook his head slowly and guided her to her cell. Feeling the heated glare of the ring master. She hung her head, and was lead deeper into the labyrinth of cloth and wood.
Once she was inside her cage he dancer left without a word. Outside the ring master was shouting and making a scene. Emitting low growls from the other end of the room, the demon shifted irritated by the noise.
"I don't care!" the ring master shouted, "I gave her a chance, every show she ends with that stupid sad song and its losing business. No one wants to go to a circus that leaves them feeling depressed! If she can't keep an audience happy then we'll put her to work in another way!"
"What do you mean?" The fire bender asked, worry evident in his voice.
"A man had his urges Zuko." Toph shuddered, shrinking back into her cell. A struggled sob escaped her lips. She collapsed into the bars, the smell of goat's blood still lingering in the air. She couldn't take much more of this, but what could she do? The clinking of chains came from the other side of the room causing her veiled eyes to widen. No, she wouldn't let that man win. Concentrating, the bars to her cage melted in her hands. Leaving a trail of red foot prints to the demon's cage she reached out for what she was sure would be her end. He snapped forward, watching her approach his cage. Raising a finger to her lips she pulled on the lock. It stretched and crumbled into little pieces on the earth. With the smell of blood still on her she hoped he would end her nightmare. After all where was there for her to run. No one knew her, her parents certainly did not expect her home, no one outside cared about what would happen to her. She melted the chains that bound him to the far wall of the cage and closed her unseeing eyes. The end would come soon.
"Immediately the demon lunged forward and pinned her to the floor. Brushing the nape of her neck he leaned to her ear.
"You sing beautifully." He whispered. She froze, the demon, he talked to her, through his voice was rough from disuse. Loosening his grip he curled up next to her.
"Y-you can talk!" She stuttered, thought made sure to soften her voice. He played with a strand of her hair, eyes never leaving her face.
"Of course I can talk." He mumbled, his voice dry, almost childlike. "I'm human after all." Her eyes widened behind the veil. This beast, the thing she had feared for the past few months was sung against her side. Silently gaining comfort from her presence, just as lost a she was.
"Then why…"
"It thinks I'm just an animal, it leaves me alone because I act like one." She lay there with him in wonder; even as he talked with her he still had a wild air about him. A small, sad smile crossed his face. "This is the first time anyone's talked to me in two years."
"But before I came here someone approached you cage." He let out a dry, raspy cough. She stiffened, if the ringmaster heard them talking with each other, she wouldn't dare finish the thought.
"An idiot with a sword's more like it." His face fell, "If I didn't attack him I would have bled to death." He turned to her. "Why did you undo my chains if you knew about that?" She turned her face from him.
"I thought you'd attack me too." Sitting up he frowned, an icey gleam in his eyes.
"I've already done so many horrible things; I'm not going to add to my conscious." Tears trailed down her cheek. He froze, and then leaned closer to her. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." She tried to turn away, but he stopped her. Gently turning her head to face him he pulled off the veil. Jade eyes glistened with tears in the moonlight; her tangled hair softly framed her face. He stared at her in wonderment, letting his hand linger on her face. She felt so embarrassed; no one had seen her face in a long time.
"If this place makes you so sad, why do you stay?" He asked still entranced.
"I have nowhere else to go." She whispered, it was true her parents had sold her to a circus and she had never been outside of Gaoling before. He whipped off her tears causing her to stiffen.
"You're really pretty." He mumbled.
"I wouldn't know… I can't see." She fidgeted under the intensity of his star. She smiled weakly. "What are you doing?" He snapped out of his trance and looked away embarrassed.
"Umm… Well I know of a lot of places around the world. Things might have changed since I've been there, but still maybe you might want to uhh… go there…"
"With you?" She asked, he nodded sheepishly. "If you've been to all these places why haven't you left?"
"I've tried, but there's no one waiting for me outside, that's why I was taken in the first place." She considered her options.
"I'll go with you." She found herself enveloped in a warm hug. "Why are you helping me?" He pulled back and gave her a desperate kiss on the lips. She sank down with him to the flow shocked. Like him the kiss was light almost intangible. She found herself kissing him back trying to define what she was feeling. The door to the room clicked open and the ring master marched in.
"What's going on here? It's been way too quiet and-" He saw Toph laying on the floor of the boy's cage. "Oh, has the little beast found himself a girlfriend?" The ring master strode over to the cage. "Seeing as I own her I hope you don't mind sharing." The man chuckled at his own joke, but was then take a back by the benders response. He shielded Toph from the ring master with his body growling like a feral beast. He lashed out causing the man to jump back in surprise. The man scrambled out the door.
"Don't worry, I won't let it hurt you." The boy said, retaking his spot beside her. She wanted to ask him so many things, but only one thing managed to escape her lips.
"What is your real name?"
"Aang." He nuzzled into her shoulder and yawned. "My name is Aang."
For the first time she walked out to the ring on her own. The lifeless earth felt softer under her bare feet, the torches cooler. Everyone watched in awe as she smiled gently at the audience. She opened her mouth and a sweet sound escaped her lips. She danced and leapt, twirled and flaunted. Today there was no cruel unfeeling audience, only him, Aang, the feared demon of wind who would sweep her away from this place where night fell. One more show, a chance to show him how grateful she was, should something fall out of place. The gold and green swirled around her as she stopped and gave a gracious bow to the audience; who had not once jeered or spat. Slowly, the people rose and a clatter filled the silk tent. She blinked, the realized they were clapping, clapping for her. A smile graced her lips, today was the perfect finale for her worst nightmare.