I had wanted to split this one in half because it was so long. But I couldn't find a good spot to break it. So, It's just gonna be one long chapter.

Paul had woken up feeling the need to get a drink. He managed to slowly unravel himself out from Beth's arms to go to his favorite bottle on the counter nd getting a cup from the cabinet. But the sight of the glowing green fog on his floor made him back with a shaky breath. And the voice he heard speaking to him made him shake to his very core.

"Poor freakish thing, there is no escape. Not until all questions have been answered. By you, and by all upon whom I would call. For I have been summoned to this place. Driven, like Percival, to find the thing most rare. Though the grail I seek is one of flesh, corrupted. Diseased. Perfect in its monstrous imperfection. Before the night is through, I will find my grail. One more pure freak to add to our unhappy number. Now...tell me, dear one, how did you come to be here?"

"That's easy, isn't it? I was born." Paul grumbled after pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He took a swig before sitting on the couch, hoping to block Beth from Edward's line of sight.

"As all men must be." Edward commented.

"Only I weren't like all other men. In our street, that was a problem." Paul explained. "Lads learned early on how to scrap. Only I couldn't get close enough to scrap back, not with these." He lifted his left to show emphasis on what he saw as a problem.

"A sad story, but common. You do not amuse, boy. Make me weep tears of sorrow for you. Lay bare your greatest shame." The ghost demanded.

"My whole life is shame. My only escape was in the dark. I could lose myself in it. There I was transported. I wanted nothing more than to come to this land of opulence and glamour. But hen I arrived, it was the depression. The country's...and mine." Paul explained.

"The darkest moment, boy." Edward pushed. "We would have it."

"I was tired of being laughed at, of being attacked, of being called 'Seal Boy.' The world hated me. But no more than I hated myself. They wanted a monster? I decided to give them one." Paul said as he finished his drink. "I could never make the world love me. Maybe I could make it fear me."

"Why not the face?" Edward asked.

"I thought about it. But at the last minute, I chickened out." Paul admitted, his voice starting to break with emotion.

"Why?" The ghost pushed.

"'Cause I have a handsome face." Paul said as he finally started sobbing. "I have the face of a pretty lad. Can you imagine this mug on a normal body. I could've ruled the world."

Edward seemed to think hard before looking Paul in the eye. "You claim your life to be shame. Yet there is one on the seat behind you who has brought light into your dark world." He then stood and said, "You are not the one. There is another, my children, another visit I must make." But just before he could leave, movement behind Paul caught his eye.

Beth slowly sat up and turned to Edward. A look of familiarity was on her face. She stood and stepped toward him in front of Paul. "Edward?" She asked with a slight British accent. It was then that Paul noticed that normal brown eyes were a bright green color. He was scared, but not for his own life. He was fearful of losing the one woman he truly felt love for.

Mordrake's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is it truly you, my Angel?"

She stood there looking at him without any fear. "I searched for you everyday of my life. Hoping to see the man I fell in love with again." She lifted her right hand and cupped his cheek. "I know you are still suffering. Please release them. Those poor souls don't deserve to suffer as you do."

"I must continue, for it is my curse." He explained.

Beth seemed saddened by this, but she continued on. "Then, you will take me with you."

Edward was shocked by this statement. "No, my Angel. You are pure perfection. Someone like you could never go with a freak like me to Hell."

"My dearest Edward. You were never in Hell. Your purgatory was that of your own doing, much like the evil was that of the demon face. It was in your mind. For so long, I have watched over you, protected you from real demons that would drag you to Hell for your sins. My faith in you was what has always protected you." She explained.

Beth then fell to the floor. Paul was quick at her side. "Beth!" He exclaimed in a whisper. "Beth, darling!"

"She is fine." He heard. Looking up, he saw what looked like Beth but with no tattoos, bright green eyes and curly blond hair. She was dressed in a mid eighteen hundreds floor-length black dress. "I needed a vessel. And she was so willing to help my Edward find peace that she allowed me to use her body." She then turned to Edward. "If you truly must continue, then I will be by your side until we both perish." And with that, they both vanished.

"Paul?" Was whispered. The Illustrated Seal looked down and saw that Beth was waking up. "What happened?"

He breathed for a moment before saying, "Nothing, love. Just a really bad dream." He then helped her sit up and held as close as possible before sobbing in relief. Tonight, he had realized that he loved the woman in his arms. And come Hell or high water, he was never letting her go.

In Elsa's tent, she looked at her reflection and saw two people looking her. One was the gentlemen who saw her performance. The other was blond woman who looked strikingly familiar. But she just couldn't place it. "Maestro? Willkommen." Elsa greeted.

"I hope we're not disturbing you, Fraulein." He said.

"Oh, not at all." Elsa tutted. "I have been expecting you. Although it was rather rude of you to run off like that after my number. Perhaps you needed to collect yourself." She was blatantly ignoring the blond girl and giving the Maestro her sole attention. "I imagine you don't see such authentic talent very often."

The stranger led the new woman by the hand to one of the benches before looking back at Elsa. "May we sit?" Then both he and his companion sat down together.

Elsa turned and smiled. "It would be better over there." She said gesturing to her bed. "We have business to discuss. And you wouldn't be the first young man to show up expecting a lesson in love."

Edward could not believe the blatant disrespect for Bethany this woman had. And to show how uninterested he was to her advances, he held his hand out for Bethany to help her stand and led her to the bed. She sat down first and leaned into the man she loved as he sat down next to her.

"Are you going to say something about my number?" Elsa asked. "I've been trying out some new phrasing, though it is a challenge for an artist like myself to work with such run-of-the-mill accompaniment." She then started to pour a drink for Edward. "I suppose I should consider myself lucky that there is at least one freak on the circuit who knows how to read music." She then handed the glass to Edward. But she was slightly surprised to see him hand the drink to the blond girl next to him. She decided to pour him another glass and quickly passed it to him as she continued. "They are not known for their culture. Which is something we should discuss. I'm going to need a new arranger if I am to develop a contemporary nightclub act." She then pulled out a cigarette and lit it. With a slight smirk, she asked, "Cat got your tongue? My talent has been known to render men speechless, but you'll have to get over it if we are going to work together."

After a few moments, Edward put his glass down along with Bethany before saying, "It is not your talent that renders me speechless. It is your delusional ignorance."

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked.

Edward stood up while Bethany remained siting on the end of the bed. "You are a tattered waste of oxygen who bolsters herself with contempt for others." He said in a loud voice. "I am not here to take you on to greatness, woman. I am here to take someone with me to the other side, perhaps you considering how you blatantly ignored the love of my life residing on your very bed."

Elsa looked pissed. "Get out of my tent!" She demanded. "This is not amusing." She then walked around to see the face on the back of his head, but she did not believe it to be real. "Whoever it is under that mask, you've come to the wrong tent for your silly little Halloween prank."

Edward turned with a glare as Bethany stood to step to his side. "This is no prank, my lovely." He then stepped up to her, causing her to back up to her bed.

Suddenly, Elsa was grabbed by the ghosts of past freaks and held down on her bed. "No! No! I am their guardian! I'm their minder! I'm not one of them! I'm not! Don't!" They ripped off her prosthetic legs as she squirmed and struggled. "I don't understand." She whimpered pitifully. "I am not one of them."

"Oh, I understand." Edward stated as he stepped forward. "There is nothing more craven than a freak like yourself. Someone who would pretend to be the benevolent zookeeper, but she is nothing but a pernicious, diseased animal herself." He then wiped away one of her many tears. "Now...tell meal about your darkest hour."

After taking a few deep breaths, Elsa asked for her legs back, which Edward granted. "Thank you for these." She sighed. "I prefer to be upright when I'm entertaining a handsome stranger, at least when we start."

"I am no longer tempted by sins of the flesh when the love of my life is here with me. You attempt to do so again, I will kill you just to do so, not to add you to my own freak show. And you cannot play on my appetites for mercy. He is in charge now." Edward stated. "He feeds off pain, regret, the delicious moment when hope is lost, the sweet bleeding of a broken heart."

"Do you want to hear about Marlene?" Elsa then asked.

"He wants your misery." The ghost said. "He wants the true darkness."

Elsa sighed before starting. "Berlin, 1932. It was said you could get the blowjob of your life for an American nickel. It was sexual chaos. All of the pain and humiliation of Germany's surrender, the anger...before there was Hitler to channel it into another war, the citizens of Germany expressed their misery with their cocks. Any deviance you could imagine, you could have. Animals, scat, amputees, hunchbacks...and in the darkest corner of it all, I found myself." She lit a cigarette and took a few puffs before continuing. "I was unable to find work on the stage, starving. But even in that world, I was a star. I was a minette, a French cat. I worked only at the top hotels. But I wasn't like the rest of those whores. I never let my clients touch me, let alone put their filth inside of me." She took a few more drags from her cigarette. "I gained a reputation for being the one you went to when you were looking for something...creative."

"How so?" Edward asked.

"No one puts on a show better than I do. And in time, I began to attract clients. And an audience. I called them the Watchers. I never new their names, but they paid well, and never in marks." She smudged out the butt and sat next to Edward and Bethany. "You trade away your humanity trick by trick. In the end, I wasn't Elsa. I was nothing. A ghost. Like the two of you." She then lit another cigarette.

While Bethany was sympathetic, Edward was not pleased. "I came all this way to hear your story."

"I told you it." Elsa said.

"Not the worst of it." Edward countered. "Tell me about your legs."

Elsa sighed before taking a long drag. "My ambition was my downfall. The watchers made blue movies. And I was their top seller. They said that I made men ejaculate gold. But this one was different. Their was no costar. Usually there was a boy or girl, a streetwalker or runaway. But there was just me. And I'd been drugged. Enough to be powerless but not enough to forget. Not enough to not understand. Not enough to dull the pain." Another drag before turning to the ghost couple. "Snuff films, they call them." She paused, looking scared for a brief moment. "They told me I was one of the lucky ones. They just left me there to die."

"Who saved you?" Bethany asked.

Elsa looked at her before answering with a shuddering breath. "The soldier boy. He had fallen in love with his whore. He followed me everywhere. He rushed in the minute they left. I will never forgive him for it. They passed the film around. Berlin, Munich. I hear a copy even made it to Vienna." She shook her head in shame. "I was a star. But my career was over. It was all over for me." She looked at Bethany and took her hands, silently seeking empathy. "I had the most...beautiful legs."

Edward looked concerned for a moment before the demon voice said, "She is the one."

Elsa looked at Edward and knew her fate was sealed. "Yes. I am the one. Take me, please. I know now. I can't deny it. Please. There is nothing left for me. It's all over."

Edward withdrew a small dagger and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Elsa whispered. "Yes, yes, I am ready. I am ready. Take me. Please. Take me." When Edward remained still, Elsa grew more erratic. "Take me! What are you waiting for?! Please! Go on. Please take me!"

Just as he was about to stab her, Edward heard a music box. "Do you hear music?" He asked as he looked around. He then sheathed his dagger and left.

Bethany took Elsa's hands and said, "For the record, you are beautiful. With or without your legs." She then stood and followed Edward, leaving Elsa alone with troubling thoughts.

Edward led his love and his freak show through the woods and happened upon an abandoned bus. Someone was living out here. They walked inside the bus and saw a clown wearing a plastic grin over his mouth. What ever the clown was doing, he had stopped when he felt like he was being watched and turned to find Edward and Bethany staring at him. "Don't stop now." Edward said. "We came for a show."

Bethany held out her hand to the clown and waited for him to take it. When he did, she led him outside and to a tree stump for him to sit on. "Please remove your mask." She requested.

At first, he just sat there, unwilling to do so. That was when Edward spoke. "If you are asked a second time, I fear it will be less polite. Remove your mask." The clown looked down them slowly took his mask off. When he lifted his head, they saw that his lower jaw was missing, leaving a bloody, gapping hole. All that was heard were broken groans and grunts. "Tell me your story." Even more grunts were made but Edward raised his hand to silence him. "Calm yourself. Focus your mind and we will understand you. Begin at the beginning."

The clown took a breath before starting. "It was 1943."

"Ah." Edward sighed. "The world in flames. People were in need of clowns and laughter."

"I was the special children's clown to Rusty Westchester's Traveling Carnival. I made 'em laugh. I love the children. But not the freaks. They're mean." The poor clown whimpered sadly. He explained how the dwarves spread rumors about him touching children inappropriately.

Edward handed the clown a handkerchief for his tears. "Never cared for dwarves. Power mad, the lot of them. So they drove you out."

"Word...travels around in the carny circuit. I couldn't...be a clown anymore. So, I came home to Jupiter. But Mama had died. I had an idea. I would turn the garbage into gold." He let out a light chuckle with that small statement. "Like Rumpelstiltskin." But then he got sad again. "I thought 'I'm so dumb...I can't even kill myself.' But then, then I had one good idea."

"It's a sad tale, isn't it?" Edward asked. "A pitiful one. So noble. So misunderstood. Tell me about the children."

"I saved 'em." The clown said.

"From what did you save them, my wonder?" Edward asked.

"From the freaks!" The clown shouted. "The evil, mean freaks!" He took a breath before continuing. "The children forgot that they loved me. The freaks were stealing 'em, just like before. I knew what I had to do. I had to get 'em back. I made a funny show for 'em. Their parents were mean. I gave 'em candy. I didn't make 'em do any chores. I got a pretty babysitter for 'em. I'm a good clown."

Bethany could see everything Edward saw when the clown told his story. She cupped the poor thing's cheek and let him weep against her hand. Edward was listening to his second face before turning back to the clown. "I have met many a craven killer, many a sniveling coward in my time, but every one of them could admit the blackness in their own hearts when the hour came. You...have caused the demon...to weep."

"I don't understand." The clown said. Bethany looked sad as she withdrew her hand.

"Stand up, clown!" Edward demanded.

The clown did as he was told. Edward then turned around so the demon face could speak. "You are the one."

Suddenly, Edward turned around and stabbed the clown multiple times. once the slaughter was finished, the ghosts of past freak gathered around and circled the body. After a few moments of silence, Edward extended a hand and said, "Come, brother. Join us."

The clown slowly rose from the ground with a renewed face. He looked around and saw that the others were putting their hands on him. Not in a threatening manner, but a comforting one. They all then turned and left the encampment. But before she took a step, Bethany turned toward the bus and looked at the window, looking Jimmy right in the eye as he was spying on the whole scene.

Jimmy ducked, trying to stay hidden from the blond woman. When he felt as though the coast was clear, he looked back and saw that everyone was gone.

The next morning, Beth woke up next to Paul, who still had his short arms around her. She gently shook him until he stirred awake. Upon opening his eyes, he smiled at the sight of Beth. "I'm glad to see you." He whispered.

"I'm glad to see you, as well." She returned. She gently kissed him before standing and wrapping a robe around herself. "Let's go get breakfast."

The couple left the trailer and went to the dining tent. Everyone seemed to be shaken up, but otherwise alright. Jimmy rode up on his bike with the fortune teller behind him. She got off and headed for her own trailer before Elsa walked up to him. Beth didn't catch anything exchanged between them, but the sound of car engines caught he attention. A whole mess of cars were driving up and parking in the parking lot. More than Beth had ever seen at the came ground. "They finally come to run us out." Elsa said.

The troupe walked to the front of the big top, all fearing that the whole town was going to chase them away. Many people walked up to the tent. What confused some of them was that some of the people were carrying dishes of food. "You Jimmy?" One man asked.

"What do you and the rest of this mob want?" Elsa asked.

"We wanted to thank you." He answered. He then looked at Jimmy.

"You saved our son." The man's wife said.

"You saved our town." The man added. before extending his right hand. "I wanna shake your hand."

Jimmy slowly walked forward and shook the mans hand. The little girl next to him held out a plate of baked goods. "Homemade brownies. I only had one."

That made Jimmy smile before taking the plate. "Thank you." He told her.

The little girl looked at Desire and Beth who were standing next to each other. Both were smiling at her. "Are you real ladies?"

The mother seemed offended my her daughter's question. But Beth and Desire laughed. "Oh, that's okay, darling." The older freak said. "I'm a lady...and then some."

Beth smirked and said, "Last time I checked, I was a real lady." That made the little girl slightly giggle.

The towns people all walked up and offered baked goods, little gifts and hand shakes to the everyone in the troupe. No one felt rejected. Elsa was able to stand at the high steps and get everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen! One and all. We would like to invite you to our grand command performance tonight. Here in our big top. Tickets are available over there at the box office." The crowd cheered over the news and dispersed to buy tickets.

Beth went to Paul and hugged him tightly. "It's a miracle." She said with a few tears in her eyes.

Paul smiled and kissed her before saying, "I love you."

She was shocked at first, but she then smiled and pressed her forehead to his and said, "I love you, too." Before giving him a kiss.