I'm assuming everyone remembers the characters and all that.
I'm tired, sick, and grumpy.
This didn't go up yersterday cause my internets being lame and stupid and doesn't want to do what it's told... stupid internet...
But it's only a day late, so not too bad.
I've got a splitting head ach and I wanna sleep~ *groans*
Review and tell me what you think might happen in the next chapter.
And don't forget to cheek out 'Love Behind Screen Doors'. It romantic and more comedic than this story will EVER be.
Catch ya later
I'm gonna go take a nap -.-
Dark Woods Circus
Chapter 2 –
Viv and Nick were handling their situation quiet well. They talked among one another about things and slowly got to know each other better. Fly, Nick and Viv were packing up their makeshift campsite when they saw Shan begin to stir. "Hey there." Fly says as Shan sits up. "You took you're time."
"Sorry." Shan replies. "I didn't sleep well."
"That, coming from you, is a surprise." They hear Fay say as she leans over the small fire. She looks up at Shan, the coldness in her eyes form the night before gone. "You seemed to have slept well." He shakes his head, averting his gaze from her as he began folding up both the blanket and the cloth. Fly looks at them both in turn. She could tell, just by the way they were acting, that something happened when she had fallen asleep. "Come on." She says more cheerily. "Let's get moving." Viv nods her head, Nick smiles and picks up one of the bags. Shan places the blanket and cloth in one bag and picks that one up. Fly takes the bag from Nick and swings it over her shoulder as Fay picks up the last bag. She hands the lamp to Nick before walking to Shan, opening his bag and pulling out the cloth. She walks back to the twins and wraps it around them. "There, this should be better." She says as they smile up at her.
They left the edge of the swamp behind as Fay looks down at the letter in her hand. She turns it over and over in her hand, searching for a map but finds none. "This says to search for a circus called 'Dark Woods Circus'. It's supposed to be a haven for deformed." She says as she begins to frown. "It's that a little too convenient?" She asks.
"It is, but what have we got to lose?" Fly says as she shrugs. Viv and Nick give each other a quick glance before nodding their heads in some sort of agreement. "Are there any instructions on how to get there?" Shan asks. Fay looks over the letter again before shaking her head. "There's nothing here to suggest a possible route." She turns back to her friends. "We need to go into town to find out more." Fly points to herself, looking bemused, before shaking her head. "Nuh-uh! No way am I going back there." She says as she stumbles backwards. "I mean, we were just lucky that no one commented on my bandages before. What makes you think they won't notice?"
"Come on Fly, it's not that bad. Besides, what would happen if I got into trouble and needed help? What would you do then?" Fay asks. She looks at her friend before looking at everyone else in turn. She knew they understood her reasons, and they knew she was right. Fay was young, and she wasn't that bad in the looks department. If she wondered around in town alone, something bad could happen. She had already gone through something horrible because of her looks.
Shan gives a heavy sigh before turning to Fly. "You need to go with her." He says. Fly looks at him, a little shocked, before shaking her head. "Fine," She declares. "I'll go." Fay smiles up at the older woman as Viv and Nick look at each other sadly. They once knew, not too long ago, what it was like to seem normal. Now, their normality has been taken away and they are forced to share the same body. Nick clenches his fists when he hears Viv's thought. 'We can't be too upset at them Nick,' she says. He looks at her sad smile as she continues. 'They saved us, after all. We're alive, and that's all that counts, right?'
'Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry Viv.' He replies. They smile again before turning back to see Fay and Fly retreating into the woods. They now had to wait for their return, and hopefully bring some news back about this 'Dark Woods Circus' they were supposed to find.
Fay and Fly had been walking around in town for what must have seemed like hours before they found any clue to the circus. There was a poster, peeling off the side of a shop, that had in vague, creepy red writing 'Dark Woods Circus' plastered at the top. Fay looks at Fly with a broad smile on her face as they try to read the writing. "Well, we've got time and dates here." Fly says as she points to the bottom right corner of the poster. "But I don't see anything about a location."
"Well, we know it has to be in the Dark Woods, right? I mean, that is what it's named after." Fay comments.
"True, but that doesn't mean it doesn't change location. For all we know this poster could be 20 years old and the circus doesn't exist anymore."
"But in the letter it said 'I'll see you at the Dark Woods Circus'. Why would Marita lie?"
"Because it wasn't Marita; it was just a lie, a trick." Fly turns towards Fay and smiles sadly. "We both know that Marita was killed for trying to help us escape. There's nothing we can do now that she's dead." Fay looks away before turning back to Fly with a look of determination written on her face. Her friend looks back at her with shock. "I don't know what happened: I don't remember it." Fay replies stubbornly.
"Fay," Fly says as the teen looks away from the older woman. She looks out to the crowd in front of them and turns back to Fly. "Come on; let's see what these people know." She says before walking into the crowd.
They walked around for a while, asking anyone who would stop questions about the mysterious circus, when they finally came across someone who knew something. The elderly woman who stopped to listen to them smiled as they introduced themselves. But once they mentioned the circus, her smile faded.
"Why would you two be searching for that place?" She asks. Fay turns to Fly, who raises a brow, before answering.
"Someone told us to go there." She replies bluntly. The woman looks her up and down before turning to Fly with an equally quizziling look. "Why are you bound in bandages, young girl?" She asks, pointing to Fly's arm. Fly looks up at the woman before turning away and mumbling an answer that neither Fay nor the woman could here. "I didn't quiet catch that," she says. "Could you please speak up?"
"My flesh peels off." Fly repeats a little louder. "I need these bandages so that the flesh stays attached to my arm." The woman nods her head sympathetically.
"I see, so that is why you are seeking the circus. You're both searching for a haven, aren't you?" She asks. Fay nods her head as Fly looks away, rubbing her arms. The woman sighs. "If the circus is the only haven you can resort to, then I really pity what the world has come to now. Very well, I shall tell you where the circus lied when I was young."
"Thank you." Fay says with a smile on her face.
"Don't thank me!" She woman declares in utter horror. "I don't want you're thanks. If you desperately desire that god forsaken place, then I want no part in your fate. I shall tell you where it is, but once you find it; do not call on me again." Fay nods her head and listens intently to what the woman says.
"Now, listen carefully: leave the town from the west exit and walk along the path until you reach a fork in the road...
"Take the left path a few steps then walk backwards and return to the fork before taking the right path. Once on the path, walk straight until you no longer see the swamp." Fay looks to her left, to where the red water of the swap was eating away at the ground. Looking over her shoulder, she counts the heads and sees everyone following her with ease. Viv and Nick we're quiet as Fly and Shan murmured to each other. There was no way that she would be able to conduct a decent conversation with any of them after the way she acted before. But she was tired of being compared to Angel. She was tired of them still holding onto someone who will never return. She was no longer Angel: she was now Fay. Couldn't they let go of the past and just let her live her new life without the name haunting her?
The swap soon vanishes as Fay stops walking. Shan bumps into her, causing the teen to turn around and glare at him before looking straight ahead. "Where now?" Viv asks as Fly looks around.
"I don't know." Fay replies. "She said that once we lost sight of the swap, that the circus would be straight ahead. But where's straight ahead?"
"Just look to you're right, you'll see it then." Fly says as she points off into the distance. Everyone follows Fly's gaze as, in the distance, they make out lights and a possible tent. "Is that it?" Viv asks.
Fly nods her head. "Must be. Nothing else out here except that circus."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Shan says as he smiles at them all. "Let's go."
Viv nods her head as Nick smiles. Fly punches the air and beings walking with Viv and Nick in tow. Fay remains where she is, contemplating the old woman's words as Shan pats her shoulder. She looks up into his blue eyes as he smiles sadly at her. She lifts his hand from her shoulder and begins walking. "Don't smile at me like that." She says over her shoulder. "I don't want, nor do I need, yours or anyone else's pity."
"It's not pity." Shan replies as he catches up to her. "It's an apology." She stops walking and turns towards him. He follows suit and looks away, the signs of a blush creeping up on his cheeks, tinting his pale complexion a rosy red. "Why the apology?" She manages to ask.
"Well, you seemed really upset whenever we mention Angel," she groans at the name as he looks at her sternly. "Let me finish."
"Fine." She grumbles, folding her arms over her chest.
He coughs into his fist before turning back to face her. "So, since you get upset at the mention of her name, I wanted to apologies and..."
"And?" She asks.
He looks at her briefly before looking away. "I've been hurt here as well." He says. "I've been hurt a lot by the very person I can never forget, nor whom I can never stop loving: no matter who they are or who they once were." He shuffles his feet, the dead leaves rustling with his movement as he looks up at her again. "I don't want to hurt you anymore, so from now on I shall never mention Angel again. You're Fay, and no matter who you were before, you will never be them again. You're a new you, and we all have to just accept that fact that you may be a little different to who you were in the past, but your still here, your still with us, you just have a new name."
Fay watches Shan as he turns away again, the rosy red blush that covers his cheeks now reaching the nape of his neck. She smiles before wrapping her arms around him. "It's hard for all of us," She says into his back. "And I don't want you to forget Angel, or the other people that I've been. But what I do want is for you all to stop comparing us. I know I'm different to who she was, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still the same person you remember."
He turns around in her grip so that her face was now resting against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, they hug as she closes her eye. "I'm still me," She says. "I'm still Angel at heart, along with June Smith and Kirst. And most of all Fay Diana. No matter what name I go by, I am still me."
"And knowing you as well as I do, you won't let anything like a lost memory stand in your way of the future." Shan says. She looks up at him and smiles.
"Hey, you know me best. You tell me." She replies as they lean in for a kiss.
"Hey you two love birds!" Fly yells at them. They turn towards Fly as she waves a hand in the air at them. "Hurry up will ya. You've got all day to act like a couple. Let's get going." Shan laughs as Fay smiles. She now knew where she belonged in this group of weird people, people who she called family.
She was Fly's best friend.
An older sister to Viv and Nick.
She was in love with Shan who loved her in turn.
And when they find Marita, she would be a daughter.
She had a place now, and the circus would be their new home.
Everything was working out for them.
If only all good things lasted.