Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
The blaze grew and sizzled in the dying grass, its heat progressing in waves to its targets.
A young man roared and the inferno danced at his command, the flames shuddered and crept away from the crowd's feet. Natsu Dragneel picked up a tiny flame and flashed a smile to the crowd as he dangled the fire above his open mouth. The moment the small flame touched his tongue, it vanished. Steam rolled off of his tongue and clouded around his face on a sharp exhale.
The rest of the fire slithered up his arms and curled around his fists, like a puppy happily returning to his master. It playfully licked and writhed against his neck and jaw. This captivating scene was cut short as an explosion of blue lit up the ceiling, a lustrous oil spill compared to the primitive flames of Dragneel. A childish laugh announced the newcomer, the apprentice Romeo.
He pounced from an unseen high beam, landing beside his cohort, their hands collided together in a splash of color and snap of rhythmic hissing when the two flames met.
The fire masters separated to their marks at opposite ends of the ring, their eyes gleaming with exhilaration and rivalry. Several people elbowed and pointed, breaking the usual awe-inspired silence to say this was their favorite part: You've never seen anything like this in your whole life!
Natsu tuned out the voices, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. Flames roared to life the moment he breathed out, coiling and climbing to build a fiendish creation to attack Romeo's own fiery beast. No one could say what the creatures were for certain, only feeling a vague sense of terrible familiarity as the monsters slunk and rampaged on a war path toward each other. The creatures were a of glowing eyes and serrated teeth and jagged claws. The feral white eyes saw right through the soul and scorched the back bones of anyone brave enough to make eye contact.
The large room grew hotter, even in the highest section of the stands, and the patrons recoiled from the stifling heat. The air was all but sucked out of the room as the monsters ended their tense dance and finally, finally, dove for each other. Natsu's creature landed a blow in a violet-hot flash of light and blue sparks.
Children burst into uproarious cheers when the white light of the explosion cleared and butterflies flitted around and around, their wings trailing harmless embers across their outstretched palms. Violet and crimson collided beautifully on the paper thin wings, each one etched with an individual pattern. As the butterflies faded to burned paper, the fire breather flashed the audience a smile. Romeo knowingly smirked into the stands as his mentor wove a hand in the air. The crowd roared with their approval.
If they had but glanced over their shoulder, looking far back enough, they would have caught sight of the young blonde girl on the edge of her seat, sporting the brightest smile and gently placing her hands over her mouth in wonder.
They arrived in another town, a blur of countryside and produce fields after a hellish three day journey that left Gajeel, Natsu, and Laxus more than a little disoriented. Gajeel absolutely loathed trains, couldn't for the life of him deduce why, but for as long as he could remember, they soured his stomach. He had been lucky that Pantherlily had been in more of a doting mood, rather than just clucking his tongue and telling him to sleep it off like last time.
Lily had some sort of age-old tonic his mother had taught to him when he was a kid that seemed to do the trick for Gajeel. He kept the cure under wraps, let the flame brain and firecracker suffer, he'd keep Lily to himself. If the others knew about the liquid relief, their room would never be empty or quiet.
Quiet is what he desperately needed in the dwindling side effects of his motion sickness.
It was such a wimpy illness. He could handle slicing open his brow after miscalculating a throw of a sword or even that puny punch of Salamander's, the one he named after dragons. It sickened him to the core that he could be taken down by such a measly thing as a little train ride. The thought had him cringing deeper into the sheets to suffocate the stomach ache. The mere idea of being stationary had him buzzing with excitement and false relief after these long days spent in bed.
Next time, he resolved to walk to the next town.
His second of solitary silence was thrown out the window and his head quaked with the vibrations of Lily all but throwing the compartment door open with unnecessary force. Apparently, the doting attitude had a shelf life.
"Get up, lazybones. We're going to be stopping in a short while and we've got a party to attend."
"Will ya shut yer trap?" Gajeel slung an arm over his eyes, shrouding his world in more darkness to rid his skull of the deathly pounding going on in his temple.
"As if you could land a hit, my friend. The Master's planned a night off for us to shake loose from the long travel."
Gajeel wasn't fooled. Lily wouldn't be near as giddy if they were just going to relax until it was time to get to work and it had long been determined that 'shake loose' was code for anything but relax and doing it with a lot of alcohol, if Cana had anything to say about it. Which she always did. "How does a night stuffed into a high collar constitute as 'a night off'?"
"Would you rather work to the dawn hauling lumber around to raise curtains?" He cursed that damn parental tone that the older man took such pride in, as it was one of the few ways he learned could cajole Gajeel into doing as he wished.
"No." Gajeel petulantly rolled toward the wall, turning his back to Lily and yanking the covers closer to his body.
"Then it's settled." Lily beamed to the hulking back of his friend and nodded his head, already rifling through plans he intended to set in motion that evening in his head.
He rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Gonna make me go, aren't you?"
"You betcha. Clean trousers, shirt bottomed, tie and all."
Gajeel rubbed at his temples and mentally tried to remember if the last time he had worn his dress shirt Natsu hadn't caught it on fire. Lily would kill him if he didn't at least manage to keep a presentable pair of pants and white button up. "Too much of a dandy for yer own good, Lil. Dreyar and Dragneel had better show up too or you'll be sorry, old man."
"Ah, humor me wouldn't you, ya lame duck. A little party never killed nobody."
"What's a guy gotta do around here for some peace and quiet to get rid of a headache, huh?" He helplessly lolled his head and hung his limbs off the edge of his bunk for sympathy.
"I imagine not joining the circus would be a good start." Gajeel snorted and blindly tossed a pillow in the direction of Lily's voice.
Light knocking interrupted whatever smooth remark was on the tip of Lily's tongue and dragged a vicious snarl from the bedridden man.
"Whoever it is, tell 'em to get the hell lost." Gajeel yanked the sheets back over his shoulder, burrowed back into his pillows, and curled into wall away from the door.
Lily rolled his eyes at the scene, as it seemed melodramatics were second nature to the brute. He wasn't going to tell their visitor what Gajeel had so elegantly suggested, but it would be in the best interest of whomever it was to run along while the gettin' was good. Imagine his surprise when it was a wild mane of blue hair and a bright yellow headband that greeted him.
"Ah, Miss Levy. Good afternoon." The girl politely bobbed her head and returned the greeting. It was impossible to miss the way her eyes flitted past him into the room. "Is there something you need?"
"I- uh, well- I was wondering how Gajeel was fairing. Natsu's in pretty rough shape and even Laxus has barricaded himself away from Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow."
"I think he might appreciate hearing that last bit. Come in."
"Oh, I don't- he's asleep, I don't want to disturb-"
"She wants to leave, Lil', let 'er. This ain't time for tea." The older man snorted and stepped away from the doorway anyways, letting Levy decide for herself whether she wanted to come in or not.
Levy glowered at the lump on the bed, murmuring under her breath, "Well, at least he's still got his charm."
"Heard that, runt." Gajeel bowed his head back and matched the small girl's glower with one of his own, albeit a greenish one. "Now, if yer're goin' to come in, get in and shut the door. I don't need anyone else gettin' the idea we're takin' social calls."
He didn't miss the infinitesimal way her eyes narrowed as they settled on his form, but he didn't comment on it. He'd let it slide seeing as she was at least courteous enough to walk in and close the door as quietly as she could.
"Levy, would you like something to drink?"
"No, thank you. I just came to see if Gajeel was any worse off."
"I'm in the room, y'know."
"Then turn around and face your company like she's in the room."
"Not in the mood, Lil'." Despite his comment, Gajeel rolled over and sat up on the bed. His back was bowed to accommodate the limited room between his bunk and Lily's and he held his rushing head in his hands, but he at least managed to make eye contact with her.
"Other than for this scrap heap to stop sometime today, I jus' need rest." Satisfied by his answer, she nodded her head and offered a weak smile in comfort.
"Are you planning on attending the Master's party tonight, moineau?"
Her chipper attitude deflated and Levy allowed herself to slump into one of their dining chairs. "Through strong convincing, I suppose I will. I'd rather take the evening to rest and relish in the absence of train whistles and engines churning, but there's a line of people ready to drag me kicking and screaming if I do. I've got more than plenty to catch up on in reading, but I've been sworn to attend."
"You and me both." Hearing the pained agreement from Gajeel wasn't so surprising. He didn't strike her as the party type, no matter how much alcohol Cana would bait him with.
"Ah, but I bet Jet and Droy are-" Lily stopped his words when the girl noticeably blanched at the insinuation, as it was a longtime touchy subject for anyone involved, as was to be expected in cases of unrequited torches.
"I'm not going with anyone."
Lily leaned against a counter and jerked his thumb to the juggler currently massaging his pulsating temples. "Why don't you keep Gajeel company once you're there? You two can share the boat."
"Hey, now I don't-" That got Gajeel's attention, it's wasn't that he didn't like the half pint, but he didn't need a parent to set up his play dates. Not that Levy McGarden would willingly jump at the idea anyways.
"Otherwise, he'll just drink himself into a miserable stupor. At least this way he'll have someone of a like mind to commiserate."
"I figured you'd be lenient, Lily. I mean, what dame would want him to be sick right on her best shoes?" Levy does her best impression of a wink passed off as a blink. If he'd have blinked, he would have missed it. The shot at saving him from a forced evening has him grudgingly giving her another point in his book.
"Don't you try to conspire at my table, Levy McGarden, I've known you long enough to be wise to your tells. He'll be fine by then and I can assure you he won't ruin your shoes."
Levy served him with a sympathetic smile and shoulder shrug. It was a valiant effort, one Gajeel could see failing before she even walked past their threshold, but a good effort nonetheless. He was mildly curious as to what 'tells' Lily was talking about, but shrugged it off for another conversation. "If I agree to your blatant attempt to just stir up the gossip around here, will you let me sleep until then?"
"Only then."
"Fine. You better not leave me hangin', shrimp."
She rolled her eyes and propped her chin up on an elbow resting on their table, "Wouldn't dream of it."
Laki twisted her long hair into a haphazard braid over her shoulder as she surveyed the big top one last time.
Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Gajeel circled the tent to pull the stakes from the grounds and untied the knotted ropes before yanking them back over the canvas to be rewound. Shouting insults and challenges the whole way 'round. Laki had to break up the squabbling once Gajeel and Natsu were forehead to forehead, throwing insults like 'flame brain' and 'weathervane'. Of course the fools wouldn't listen to her, and it was an enlarged palm that crept from out of thin air that separated the two and set a few understandings to rights.
The girl felt foolish and arrogant for feeling a twinge of resentment and greed toward their antics, because she didn't have a spot in the show and this served as her division. Laki preferred it to be kept peaceful and quiet, almost sorrowfull, lyrical. In reality, it was just a mud circus packing up for the next town, but to her, if it was silent enough, there could always be more to it.
It was never quiet enough with her chosen volunteers.
Oh well.
At the very least, she was never bored waiting for her turn to act.
A young man sheathing a sword approached her with a satisfied tilt to his mouth and said, "All clear."
The young woman cupped her hands around her mouth and drew in a breath, "All clear, master!"
The message reached the ringmaster and a hand shot up, shadowing the tents and stalls as it stretched over the bigtop and plucked the sheet straight up into the air. The breeze caught with the newly freed fabric and pulled it over the pastel dawn. Its deep navy backdrop mimicked the night sky, the intricate gold stitching swirling over the blue caught the morning light just at the right moment.
When they packed up for a new town at the earliest hour, while everyone else was zapped and borderline incoherent to anything but the word coffee, this was Laki's favorite part.
Granted, this was her area of expertise; her very own part of the show. She treasured the sight as the wind rippled under the sheet and the light glittered in the embroidery in a brilliant remake of the night sky awash in shooting stars. Laki likened it to a secret that her tents laid out solely for her, as everyone else was too exhausted to notice.
Makarov's figure grew to full height as he carefully folded the blanket, his old eyes twinkling with the knowledge of his child's fascination with the big top tent.
Her reprieve never lasted long, because it was now her time to step into her own spotlight as wooden beams and steaks remained for her to tear down. Laki tossed the thick braid back over a shoulder and raised her hands, wood curled and lurched and groaned under her instruction; an 'orchestration of demolition', Freed had called it. The wood would be permanently destroyed so not one blemish was left on the glossy hillside where they had pitched their tents, no traces missed so as to give the impression that maybe, just maybe, the Tail's circus was never there.
Deduced to a wild imagination that ran loose where a dreamer's playground unfurled in a night's rest.
Circus vocab:
big top: the biggest tent in early-20th century circuses, where the circus itself took place.
mud circus: traveling shows that move from one to town to another every few days.
French:
moineau: sparrow
A/N: After adding stuff and rechecking the chapter setups, I realized I have lied, everything is out of order. Apparently, I dove more into The Night Circus than I originally thought. Whoops. Oh well, I give you unabashed flirting. So, you're welcome.