|Augustine's Mansion, George's Room|
George was still wide awake, even though he had heard the clock strike midnight a little while ago. Sleep wouldn't come easily to him in this new room his grandmother had given him. It was big enough to fit the entire house he and his big sister had occupied in Bath. He turned on his stomach, looking at the faint glow of stars coming from behind the curtains.
Tears sprung to his eyes as he looked at the light, thinking about his big sister. He wondered if she was able to sleep right now. Had she been thinking about him all day too? He grabbed the teddy bear that was lying next to him, the one she and Joker had gotten him for his birthday. He missed the tall redheaded man as well, because he had been so kind to him and his sister. In a way, Joker was the big brother he had always wanted. Even if he hadn't said it out loud, he did hope Joker and his sister would get married. He'd work hard here, and when he was rich, he could pay for the circus. That way they could all live happily ever after.
A sound reached his ears, a muffled thud as if someone had dropped a sack of flour on the ground. He wondered what it could have been. He hadn't thought that anyone would be awake at this hour in the mansion. He wiped away a lock of hair that fell in his eyes. Augustine had said that tomorrow they would get his hair cut, and new clothes made. They would also be sure to gather all of his tutors, and he needed to tell everyone what he liked to eat.
He didn't think being a Lord would be that much fun. But if it was to help his friends, his family, he would just have to be an adult and, in the words of Dagger, 'suck it up'. He still wasn't too sure about the sound that he had heard though.
After a moment of thinking a bit longer, the young boy got up, lighting the candle next to his bed. He snuck to the door, being as quiet as possible. Grandmother Augustine hadn't really clarified anything about bedtime hours, but he assumed she wouldn't be pleased if he snuck around this late in the night. And he didn't want her to be cross with him from the very first day.
It was cool in the house, but not unpleasantly so. He pulled his nightcap over his ears with one hand, lifting the candle with the other one. He looked around, left to right and left again. There wasn't anyone to be seen in the corridor where his room was. There wasn't even a sound to be heard. He figured that if the sound he had heard had really been a sack of flour, they probably would carry things to the kitchen. He should take a look there, just to be on the safe side then. Even if it was nothing, he could go and say hello to the people who worked in the kitchen. The sooner he knew everybody in the household, the sooner he'd be able to write his sister about them.
He knew where the servant stairs downstairs was. It was really narrow and steep, but he liked it better than the grand stairs that led down. For one, he wouldn't feel so exposed in the dark of the night sneaking down. And the servant stairs were closer to the kitchen as well.
He opened the door, silently muttering some words he had Joker yell once when Dagger had hit his thumb with a hammer. He wasn't really sure what they meant, but they felt pretty good to say when things weren't going the way you wanted them to go. And he really did wonder why donkeys would do that with their balls as well.
The stairs were really more narrow than he had imagined. To be on the safe side, he sat down on one step, and so slowly moved down so he wouldn't fall. The house was really quiet again. By the time he was down, he started to doubt himself. Maybe there hadn't been a sound at all? Maybe some branch had tapped his window, and he had heard wrong. With a slight shudder, he pushed open the door. When he peered around the corner, he could see light coming from the kitchen door. He smiled slightly, relieved that there were indeed people awake at this hour. He rebuked himself mentally for being such a scaredy-cat.
'That isn't how big sister raised you!' he mumbled to himself, walking towards the door on his bare feet. The wooden floor felt nice underneath his feet, as he walked through the splashes of moonlight that came through the windows. The trees just outside the window seemed to be black, almost skeletal without their leaves. An owl hooted, and George could see it sitting on one of the branches. Judging by the way the branches were shaking, it was at the verge of storming outside.
He flinched when he saw his reflection in the mirror. The apparition's mouth opened and closed, and he saw his own knees shaking. It looked like a gaunt ghost, just as afraid of him as he was of it.
He reached for the door knob, hoping the house wasn't actually haunted. You never knew with dead people, he thought. His father had haunted him in his dreams when he had been younger. Maybe his ghost was around here somewhere, waiting to pounce on him and finish what he had tried so many years before.
The door swung open silently. At the counter, just next to the door, a young woman was sleeping on top of the batter she had been preparing. George was a bit sad for her; even if his grandmother wanted to give him a big welcome feast, it wasn't necessary for it to be so big that people had to work in the middle of the night to prepare it.
'Madam?' he asked, his voice strangely echoing in the kitchen. The moon was obscured behind some clouds at that moment, but he could still see she had wonderful, golden curls coming from beneath her cooking cap. His hand reached out to hers, touching her warm hand, before he slightly patted it.
'Madam? My name is George. Madam?' He took a step closer to her, before he stepped into something cold on the floor. Had she spilled milk, or something like it? Looking down, he saw he was standing in a dark puddle. Had she spilled chocolate milk?
'Madam?' he asked again, more urgently. His heart beat in his chest as he knew with his young mind that something was going on. He placed his other foot in the liquid too, as the clouds moved away from the moon. He took her warm hand more tightly, and moved it away from her face.
He shrieked, stumbling away. The woman's piercing blue eyes had been staring vacantly at his face, her freckles contrasting with her pale skin. And below that, just above a tiny cross dangling from a copper necklace, there had been a cut in her throat. The puddle beneath her was blood. He stared at his own footsteps, seeking support at the kitchen table. He screamed, before stumbling to the door.
He had to get away. Had to, had to get away. Get the adults. Adults knew what to do. His grandmother would know. She was the eldest. He told himself to run faster, almost slipping from the blood on his feet. Why hadn't it been chocolate? Why, why was this happening?
Nobody answered his screams. No concerned servants came to check on his desperate wails as he ran towards the grand stairs in the main hall. They should have come though. He was screaming to loud, he thought his voice would give out soon. When he came into the hall, there was someone standing a few steps up from it. He recognized the costume, before he saw the face.
'Doll!' he screamed, making for her. She stepped down the steps, looking sadly at the young boy. He didn't stop, didn't question, but wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her stomach.
'Doll, what's happening? There's a dead woman! She's dead!' he looked up at Doll, tears streaming down his face. He shook her back and forth when she didn't react to him, before taking her hand, trying to take her up the stairs, to his grandmother.
'Doll! We can't stay here! They'll be coming after us soon!'
Steps sounded behind them. When George looked up, he saw Dagger coming down from the stairs, a big, black sack in his hands.
'Dagger?' George asked. Why were they here? They were supposed to be with his big sister in the circus. They were supposed to be far away by now, and only come back when they had medicine. They couldn't have made it to a town with a pharmacist already, could they?
'Dagger… why are you here?' George asked, still holding Doll's hand firmly. Dagger looked down at the small boy with the same sad look in his eyes Doll had.
'We have to do this?' Doll asked, softly. Outside, the wind was whipping up even more, the trees tapping the windows. Moonlight whirled violently on the staircase, over the faces of his friends. She didn't once look at George, but kept her gaze firmly on Dagger.
'Don't have a choice, right?' he replied, just as softly. He was on the step just above George now, the boy in between them.
'Do what?' George asked, his voice quaking silently. There were other sounds in the house now, people screaming. Somewhere a cabinet crashed down, and he thought he saw Peter and Wendy pass upstairs, carrying a torch with them. The two looked at him, a faint passing glance, as if they didn't recognize him at all.
'Do what?!' he screamed at Dagger. The man looked down at him, with the saddest smile that George had ever seen. He bent his knees, bringing his face to the same level of George's. The boy looked in his eyes, shaking as he let go of Doll's hand. Dagger put a hand on his head. George could feel the warmth of the man's hand through his nightcap. Tears kept streaming down his face.
'I'm sorry, George. We have to take ye. It's nothin'… nothin' personal.' A tear crept down the man's face as he said it.
George slapped him, before he tried to get away. Before he could even take a step, Doll had grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and tossed him in the big sack. He screamed at them, crying to them to let him go. The sack was being lifted, and he kept screaming and crying, before someone opened the sack.
Beast's dark brown eyes were the last thing he registered before the cloth with chlorophorm covered his face. He tried to fight the sleep, but he was gone, before he even knew it.
'Everything else finished?' Beast asked. The others nodded once, before Dagger handed the sack to Jumbo. The man would ride to the meet – up point, and drop off the boy.
They would never see him again.
|Joker's Tent|
Star lay nestled against Joker, her head on his chest. She had fallen asleep after had stayed up chatting, but the crack of thunder had woken her op again. She listened to the wind outside, howling as it passed the circus encampment. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Joker still smelled vaguely like cologne, but now the smell of sweat and lovemaking was heavy in the air as well. It was a surprisingly nice smell, putting her at ease more quickly than she could have suspected.
She drew the blanket over her naked shoulder, pondering over what had happened tonight. Joker had been tender, constantly fussing and reassuring her. Until the tenderness had passed for passion and a need to be with her. Once that had started, her giggles had been drowned out in moans and pleads. She suspected Joker's back had seen some damage from her nails, the way he had done his best to make sure her first experience would be a positive one. She hid her face against his chest in embarrassment when she thought about what they had done.
The movement woke the ginger up, causing him to look down at the woman who was hiding her face in his chest. 'Ye're up?' he asked her, using his free arm to wipe his eyes. She looked up at him, redder than she had ever been before. After she nodded, he asked "Hey… what's up with that look? I… I didn't 'urt ye, did I?'
Star started to laugh as she covered them both up with the blankets. 'No, you didn't hurt me. I… liked it. All of it.'
Joker grinned, looking pleased with himself and his feats of the night. He dropped back in the pillows with a sigh, grabbing Star closer with his other arm. 'That's good. How are ye doin'?' he asked, this time referring to the fact that she had had to part from her brother the day before that.
She looked worried, before taking on a grim expression. 'I'm worried about him, of course. But I can't always protect him, and for now it is better if he stays there with Augustine. Until we get the medicine.'
'Soon as we got it, we'll be goin' back.' Joker assured her, mussing her already messed up hair. When she tried to shake off his hands, he quickly stole a kiss. When he retreated, she quickly grabbed the sides of his face, forcing him to come back to her. He complied willingly, happy to give her her way in this. He rolled on top of her as he started to bite her neck softly, drawing soft gasps from her.
'Again?' she asked sweetly, slightly raising her hips towards him. He drowned her in another kiss, a hand cupping one of her breasts tenderly.
'Again… and then again…' he mumbled against her mouth. There was a slight stubble on his cheeks, nearly non-existant. He brushed the side of his face against her, and she could feel how he was ready for her, whenever she would need him.
'Joker…' she sighed, his mouth tracing tiny kisses down to her breasts. He liked to do that, just to give her a bit of pleasure. His hands traced her sides, never removing his head from her breasts. His warm breath stroked her belly as he breathed heavily. She moved her hands over his lean back, his shoulders, any place that she could reach.
He traced his lips over her, up and down but always returning to her mouth. He could never abandon his sight, being able to look in her eyes. She was just as enthusiastic, and far more impatient than him. He couldn't help but grin when he noticed. 'There's no rush, is there?'
'No.' She admitted, lifting her body closer to his. She didn't understand why he didn't hurry it up a little bit more. Wasn't he happy with this, like she was.
'We've got time, Star. As much as we want. I don't need to rush. Ye're mine, as much as I'm yers. And I – ah!' he gasped when she started to nibble on his earlobe. He liked that a lot, as she had discovered the evening before. 'Ye little minx!' he gasped to her, using his prosthetic to lift one of her legs a bit higher. 'I'll teach ye.'
Star shivered when she could feel him entering her just a little bit. When he kept still there, she gentle pushed herself against him. The look on his face told her he liked the feeling. She moved again, getting him in a bit deeper. She blushed registering how nice it felt to do this with him. He brushed some hair away from her cheek with his good hand, the gaze on his face loving.
'Ye'll learn, my Star.' He told her.