To Forget to Remember
Chapter 8:
All about the Jester and His Tale II
After an hour of riding on a carriage, the horses stopped on vast, grassy lands.
"Welcome to where the magic happens, the Delirium!"
Bixlow, Feral, Hellia and Astra stood in front of "the Delirium,"
From outside, it was a small circus tent. When you entered to see the inside, there was actually nothing that made the place "delirious". There was a wooden stage in the middle, and audience seats were placed around of it in a circular shape.
"Well, nothing's crazy here,"
"Follow us to the backstage!"
Papa Marveilles and Marileen guided them to a secret pocket behind the stage walls.
Think of a store that had everything locked in, that was what the "real" Delirium was all about. Various costumes were hung in the dressers, and many stage decors were all over the place. Lots of things were hanging above on messy chords: dolls, scarves, film ribbons, necklaces, flags, even an accordion.
Hellia, one of the chosen kids of the Orphanage examined the clothes with her eyes. Her examination lasted when she heard duplicated chuckles above her head. Without being able to react to it, two boys landed on her each side. They were twins.
"And I was just wondering where you've been boys. Guys, these are Teo and Zaz." Papa Marveilles introduced the little twins.
"Greetings rookies!" they welcomed their new friends.
Bixlow and his friends glanced at each other.
"Where are the others?" Papa asked.
"Come out you guys! Is it how you welcome your new friends?" Marileen called out for them.
Three other children came out of their hiding spots. One of them was a gray haired girl, while the other two were boys. They were seemingly older than the rest of the kids in the place.
"Ooo fresh meat," the girl said as she chuckled sarcastically.
"Ruby, don't scare them just yet." Papa criticized the girl.
"Yet…?" Astra blinked.
The other two boys, unlike their female counterpart, were very friendly towards the new comers.
"It's glad to see new faces! My name is Colyn and this quiet kid over here is Pablo," Colyn was the oldest of them, at the age of 15.
"I hope you'll like here and us!"
-üöü-
On the first day of their training Feral and Bixlow, along with the rest of the boys, were waiting for Papa to bring them their sportswear.
Finally Papa came.
The fuck?
The tall dali guy was handing him something. Bixlow couldn't figure out what was that first, but his reaction to it afterwards, made the boys in background snicker. Bixlow's face got sour, making his features wrinkle with disgust and the fact that he was being forced to wear this piece of clothing.
"Come on, try it! You'll have to wear it for the rest of your career here!" The dali guy cheekily said to him.
They were tights.
And they were in purple.
Bright purple.
Bixlow glared at Papa, then at the tights he was holding, then again, at Papa.
He shut the changing room's door into Papa's face.
"Alright!...I'll bring you another color!" Papa Marveilles shouted through the door.
The rest of the boys laughed.
"You're lucky, when we first came here, he tried to give us the girls' pink tights because there were none left," Zaz said.
"Hmm," Lisanna mumbled as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"What?"
"That explains why you're so fond of baggies now," Lisanna concluded.
"… Shut up,"
It had been 6 months since Bixlow, Feral and the others arrived. Their training for the day was finished. So, they were spending their time lazily resting on the grasses nearby a small stream. The skies were clear. The fresh oxygen of the newborn spring filled their lungs, leaving them there lying down airily.
"When will our first performance be?" asked Feral to Colyn from his spot so close to the stream.
"Probably, after 6 months, might take longer because of Marileen's pregnancy," Colyn's voice died away at the very end of the sentence.
"Right," Feral frowned, he was semingly not very elated about it.
Bixlow didn't say anything; his thoughts were flowing away as he watched the clear stream.
-üöü-
Bixlow was walking on the backstage's narrow corridors. He took his steps forward rapidly, only to realize one of the doors of the dressing rooms was open. His eyes haphazardly landed on the figure that was inside. It was Marileen and she seemed as if she was searching for something in the lower leveled cupboards. Her body was bent down, making her grown tummy come closer to the ground. After a while of careful searching, she breathed in heavily as she straightened herself up.
"Need a hand?" Bixlow asked.
Marileen turned to look at him, and then she smiled.
"People say who're preggers shouldn't be pushin' themselves a lot,"
Marileen chuckled to him. It was her 7th month. Her tummy was visibly big enough.
"Thanks, I'm fine though,"
"That doesn't seem that way, what's that you were searchin' for?"
"Oh, I was searching for the fabrics,"
"Hmm," Bixlow thought for a while. He remembered that Hellia was putting them somewhere in one of the dressers at the corridor.
"I'll be back,"
He brought her every fabric he found at the dressers.
"Thank you so much Bixy. I wish I asked you before," She suddenly hugged him. He shouldn't have been that surprised.
"Don't call me that," he murmered as he looked away from her.
"So, what're you gonna do with 'em?" He was finally free from her embrace.
"Your costumes!" she said cheerfully.
"Why's the rush for?"
"Well, because your big day is about to come!" She grinned.
Bixlow looked at her, rather in disbelief of what she said.
"But, you're preggers. Won't we be postponin' the event?"
"Just because I'm pregnant has nothing to do with the show! And there won't be a problem if I don't participate,"
"Really?" Bixlow was quiet astound with the news. He tried to sound as less excited as he could.
Marileen put her hands on his shoulders; she made contact with his eyes and got his attention even more.
"You've been preparing for it for more than a half of year now, that would be a shame on me if we'd put it off. I'm sorry if that made you think this way. I know how you guys are looking forward to this excitedly, so the show must go on," she said, as she looked deeper in his eyes reassuringly.
"Wow, and your eyes are really pretty,"
Bixlow's cheeks were reddened by a light blush, but he quickly recollected and took his guard back with his cheeky words.
"I'm startin' to have speculations 'bout your tastes, lady,"
Marileen chuckled to this.
"I wouldn't have married Jacques if he wasn't so interesting, as you are," she patted Bixlow's head.
"Anyways, I'm off to tell those idiots 'bout this, see ya," Bixlow took off to where his friends were. He ran and jumped off the stage. There inside of him, was too much energy. For him, it felt as if it was born in the core of his heart, making his heart to thump louder as he ran fast. He was joyful, and it could be clearly seen on his face in a form of a wide grin.
"Very thoughtful of her," Lisanna confirmed.
"Yea, well, Colyn was tellin' us that he was suspectin' her doin' things at night when her room was bright with the lamp light, guess she was writin' the scripts of the play at those times,"
"She's been like a mother to you, I believe," Lisanna said.
"Yea" Bixlow mumbled as he slightly nodded.
"For all of us,"
There had been 10 days left until the show; Jacques Marveilles had already dealt with a theater's manager to perform for a week's period. Only things that were needed to be dealt were the costumes. Not only Marileen was sewing them,but the whole crew had to got through learning how to sew in order to get their own costumes ready.
"What's this? Pants?" Zaz laughed at Pablo's piece.
"Dammit, dammiit, dammit, dammit, dammit," Bixlow, on the other hand, was swearing stressfully to each mistake he was making.
Feral was almost done with his own so, he was having his fun out of his poor friend's clumsiness.
"You're pitiful, Bixy," Feral snickered more.
"I suggest you to finish yours before I rip it accidentally, Ferry," Bixlow stuck his tongue out teasingly.
"You dare?" Feral's and Bixlow's foreheads were pushing each other now, challenging each other to see who was going to dominate the other.
"You two, CUT IT OUT!" Ruby came into the scene and impolitely separated the boys from each other. Then she took a look at Bixlow's half way done costume.
"Hmm, this way you'll end up performing only in your panties," she said.
"No! I'll finish it quickly, if only I could get away from this daft head-"
"I was talking about how the stitches were poorly done,"
"What?" now he was worried.
"Hahahah,"
"Same goes for yours,"
In the end, nobody was able to laugh at somebody, instead all of them got back to work.
With Marileen's help, they managed to complete their costumes in a week.
When Bixlow realized Lisanna's petit form shrunk, he had to look down at her.
"Are you cold?"
"No, I'm ok," Lisanna said. Bixlow wasn't overly naïve to believe in her. She was obviously freezing. Her nose was redder now, along with her cheeks. Her arms were crossed over her coat covered chest, firmly clasping each other to get as warm as she could.
Bixlow's touch on her cheek made her shiver even more.
As Bixlow checked her temperature as with the both sides of his hand, Lisanna's cheeks flushed with both embarrassment, and an indefinable feeling that she couldn't have named yet.
For a minute he should have already understood whether she was cold or not for the 11th time. Realizing how this took him long enough, he took his hand back.
"Liar," he said, and he untied the main button of his cape.
"N-no! It's alright! I'm not a very warm person myself!"
Bixlow glared at this stupid white lie under his visor.
"Geez, you can't lie to save your own life," and he put his enormous cape (at least, for Lisanna) over her.
"Can't lie!" the babies repeated again and again after their master.
For Lisanna, the cape was like a blanket she had never had a chance to sleep in.
"...Oh my, it's so fluffy! And warm…" she said happily. She took the cape's endings in her hands and looked at the fabric.
"It's fuzzy inside!" she messed the fuzzes with her hand.
"Pft, if you really loved it much, it can be yours,"
"Oh, what? No! You probably love this and it must have been quiet expensive to afford," Lisanna protested. Bixlow chuckled at her burst and stuck his tongue out once again.
"Don't worry 'bout how expensive it's, it's a b-day present from Evergreen, Laxus and Fried, so it's free,"
"They gave you this? Then it must be even more invaluable to you," Lisanna said. That actually made sense. Laxus usually wore coats and shirts that had fuzzes; same went for Evergreen and her coat. On the other hand, Lisanna couldn't figure out where Fried joined in. Maybe he just nodded at his friends' decision and helped them out at the checkout.
"I think…" She said as she stood up.
"…We can share," After she had got behind him and tucked the main button in over his chest, she seated herself really close to him and wrapped the left part of the cape around herself.
Bixlow watched all of this without making a sound, in the end, he found himself looking down at her and her looking up at him, smiling.
The thing that they both didn't know was, both of them were feeling the same, indefinable sensation.
"Right," He said.
"So, are the Genies, and the Genie of the Ghoul ready?" Marileen asked.
Zaz, Teo and Bixlow, who were in their dark blue and devilish costumes, raised hands, approving that they were ready to perform.
So far, the show was going great. The fight scenes were quiet impressive with all of those stunts that they could perform. The audience, who were majorly consisted by small children, were watching it with complete attention. Everything about the scenery and the costumes were, surely colorful, complementing the lively acts of the acrobats.
"Oh, will you be afar sun? Leaving me my lonely self with solely a body?
"The genies will appear among the rusty shadows! Only to get me!"
Colyn, who was now in the role of Veteran Du, was pleading on the stage dramatically.
"Go!" Marileen said, and the boys took off.
"Oh, and Bixlow!"
"Hm?"
"Don't forget the tongue,"
They were above the stage; there it was a tight wire. Zaz and Bixlow, followed by Teo walked on the wire efficiently. As they walked, they laughed hysterically to imply that they didn't come for good. Just above Colyn's head, they all stood still, and the spotlight illuminated their dark beings.
"You the one who dared to unseal the mighty host?"
"You are the foolest! You'll pay it with your head lost!"
Bixlow interrogated deviously, his tongue showing off to its fullest. Teo and Zaz flipped in the air and landed onto the stage to take Colyn by his arms just like a prisoner.
"Are you?"
"Are you?"
Twins toured around Colyn, dragging him as they did so.
Then Bixlow jumped and flipped two times in the air before he landed, only to end up attacking at Colyn as the twins did.
The scene was complemented with more flips, rolls and stands. At the end of the performance, everyone was very pleased with what they had watched.
"Papa took us out to celebrate- huh?" Bixlow felt Lisanna's head leaning on his arm, she was asleep.
"Guess, that's enough of story tellin'," he murmured to himself.
Bixlow carried her back to her tent. She was so small in his arms but she fitted there perfectly.
He was glad that she fell asleep. He didn't want to start lying. He didn't want to see her happy over a white lie.
He couldn't bear it as a whole.
All the things he told to her were true for now, but his story was sooner or later going to approach to that day, the day he didn't want to remember at all.
Bixlow had his happiest days back then, but the time he spent with Marveilles and the crew also had to go through a destruction. This change he never wanted, that day... It had forced his whole living to get erased as his stories pages torned apart one by one, only to make him turn a new page, a new living over them.
He would always be haunted by his failure, by the only old page that remains within him still. He didn't want to remember any of it because he remembered the pain, and the harm he had done back then.
There was no way in the world he could ever have the face to meet them again. There was no way he would be welcomed.
Bixlow gave out a sigh.
Then the girl inside his arms snuggled closer to him.
He had got to know her for just a week maybe, and he was sure he would need a lot of time to get to know her by all means. However, the typical about her would always be the same. Her upbeat, friendly, caring and sensitive personality was never going to change. He had that weird feeling, as if she was going to welcome him all the time no matter what he would do.
Life was a weird thing, it was like a boat on a wavy ocean, taking you to anywhere you knew, changing the pace of you. From an orphanary to being a mage and joining Fairy Tail, he never saw what was coming.
He could do nothing but to wonder from now on, what kind of plays there are that the life could offer next.
Oh god, I'm so happy that I was able to finish this. There won't be any new chapters until next week. I'll be fighting with my courses (yea, school might be on break, but I'm going to stupid courses)
Thanks for giving it a read!
I'd like to know what you think about it if you may, so don't hesitate to review! :))