Introduction
Part Five
Cloud felt a thrill of excitement as people began filling up the circus tent. Roxas and Ventus sat quietly next to him. Their eyes were darting around the room taking it all in. Cloud was more at ease than he had been before, in part due to Xemnas's charm. Xemnas seemed skilled at making anyone feel good. He had left them to go sit with the land owners in the hopes to 'keep them happy' as he has said. Cloud shook his head, he was certain Xemnas needn't keep anyone happy. He was the type of bloke who could destroy your property but if he asked you for money after he'd still end up getting it. The circus performers had also been very kind to him, such as allowing him to eat and rest as he needed, not to mention patient despite Roxas playing up a couple times. They were non-judgemental too of Ventus's issues. Xemnas has said that Cloud should talk to Terra if he wanted any advice on helping his brother. That level of concern for strangers just seemed so unusual to Cloud. He just couldn't understand. The world where he came from was nothing like this.
As the last of the crowd filtered in and the light began to dim, Cloud settled into his chair, holding Leon's jacket close as butterfly's raced through his stomach. Suddenly there was the sound of drums and the roar of music as lights began to flash on stage. A swirling darkness appeared from the roof of the circus and landed in the centre of the stage. The cloud dissipated as Riku appeared from it, face now fully painted in jester's makeup. He smiled and took a bow in front of the gasping audience. It was like a personality shift, as the quiet and melancholy boy from early had transformed into a large magical presence truly fit for a ringleader.
"Ladies and Gentlemen who paid, boys and girls who snuck in, I present to you today a circus of extraordinary talent. A circus that will leave you breath taken and amazed. We have lion tamers, swords men, strong men and men with no sense of self preservation. I welcome you all to the Cirque Du Keyblade." Riku vanished in a puff of smoke as the crowd cheered with anticipation. Cloud found himself too clapping along. In Riku's place appeared a tall woman with blonde hair laced with tubes and pipes and many a strange thing. With a dress of black and white and balls in her hand of matching colour she began to juggle. Finally she added more balls to her arsenal as she juggled them higher and higher into the air, until twelve balls were going without mistake. She threw each one with accuracy into boxes by her side. Cloud had not noticed them earlier. The audience went to applaud her, but she placed a finger on her lips and silenced them immediately.
"That was only formalities. When you play with Larxene my friends, you're playing with danger!" Her voice was rough, dangerous and her eyes came alive with a promise of pleasure and pain. Cloud shivered. Next from the box she pulled out three knives and started to juggle with them instead, once again adding more until she had reached eight. Cloud felt his heart lurch as he worried each time one came down. One wrong move and she could get seriously hurt. It didn't end there however, as she began to juggle them with one hand. With the other she brought out three spiked maces! Now simultaneously juggling maces and knives Larxene began shamelessly dancing to the music.
"I think we should add up the pressure!" She called, and Cloud found himself wondering just what more she could juggle. Tanks? There was a crash as from her body appeared random bolts of lightning strikes. They struck across the maces setting them on fire, as they now burnt bright orange. Not only that, but Larxene had begun to do kicks, splits, flips and tricks of all nature all the while keeping the dangerous burning objects in the air. She was speeding up, and Cloud watched in awe, shocked that someone could be that comfortable with objects of death. Finally she stopped and blew each one out as they came down, throwing all the items back into the box. By the time she bowed Cloud heart was racing with adrenaline. She winked, as lightning and thunder covered the stage and from it Riku emerged once again whilst she had vanished.
"Now trust me when I say she is not a woman you want to fight with. Terrifying." Riku shivered and the audience chuckled.
"Next is a highflying act of beauty, as I leave you now with the talented Aerith!" Rave inspired music began to play, as the stage began to flash with a multitude of colours. A trampoline had appeared in the centre of that stage and on it a young brown haired girl. Jumping high into the air she began to perform all sorts of strange tricks, spins, and contortions. Suddenly she jumped especially high into the air and instead of landing on the trampoline she was caught by a black haired male with a white streak and an eye patch. The only thing keeping him in the air was a rope tied by his ankle. They seemed to dance around each other, the brown haired girl never letting go; the only thing keeping them up was their own core muscles. Cloud watched with great fascination. How amazing it must have been to feel so weightless.
Suddenly two figures soared passed them travelling in opposite directions. The two women landed on either side of the stage, high upon large platforms. Cloud recognised the pair as they were outside Marluxia's tent earlier. Namine and Kairi; Cloud recalled. With a leap they jumped onto the trapeze and began their incredible act. They danced and jumped towards each other in time with the beat. Leaping over great distances like ravens soaring through the dim light. Each leap more stunning and daring than the last, as they entwined around each other, grabbing the pole by only their foot, and holding onto another with a knowing trust that Cloud could only imagine giving to another. The four performers all started to dance in sync and music surrounded the audience. The intricacy of their act was impressive. Cloud could tell that if one performer messed up it could cause the act to fall apart and one of them could literally fall. The performance ended with Aerith holding the top of the rope, the other guy hung downwards with arms outstretched. Namine and Kairi held onto each other just above the pair. A small kissed was shared between the two causing the audience to coo, as Cloud looked upon them with compassionate eyes. Cloud turned to look at Roxas and Ventus and chuckled at how deeply absorbed they'd become with the show. It made him feel honoured that they knew better than to react badly to the kiss. He was vaguely aware of some of the prejudice of their peers and of course the straight up homophobia of their father, yet it seemed Cloud had more of an influence than he thought over the twins and their morals. They weren't perfect, but his brothers could have ended up worse after all. Cloud laughed as they remained unaware of his staring at them. The pair had never seen a show quite like this, the thought that this could be their home made Cloud feel touched in a way he could not yet put into words.
"You haven't seen anything yet." Riku said, as Cloud's attention turned back to the stage. Onto it walked a girl with blue hair. She wore a blue and white dress with a short front revealing thigh high lace stockings and white boots. A small black elastic top hat placed tilted on her head. Leon followed her, dressed less eccentric than the others. Black shirt tucked into pale tight denim jeans. Black gloves, black boots and brown belts, Cloud had to admit he looked really good. Scanning the audience he spared a smile for Cloud and the boys, suddenly aware he still had his jacket Cloud tried to ignore the slight blush on his cheeks, as he smiled back.
"I need three volunteers from the audience!" Leon called out causing a flurry of people, many women, to place their hands into the air practically jumping to get picked. His blue haired assistant then went along and picked a volunteer from the left, from the back and then came down to the front. Standing in front of Cloud she gave him a sweet smile.
"How about you love? Come have a go." She whispered offering her hand out for him to take. Cloud's heart stopped. No he didn't want to go. Cloud felt his mind fall into panic. The thought of having to do something so out of his control always made him nervous, and in front of people too! He hadn't had lessons for this. He could mess up and everyone would see. Despite his fear Cloud could not find it in him to say no. He just couldn't. He would look weak or cowardly. He'd look bad in the eyes of everyone. Look bad in front of his future home. Maye this was a test and if he didn't do it they wouldn't want him. Accepting her hand Cloud began heading towards the stage, feeling about ready to throw up, trying to ignore all the eyes now watching him.
"Give them a round of applause." Leon called as all three volunteers made their way to the stage. Cloud kept his eyes opened but lids and face muscles rested, his mouth curved up but not enough to be grin. He made himself the perfect picture of charmed enjoyment whilst inside his head he had become a mess. The first volunteer was made to hold a plank of wood vertically, the second had an apple placed upon their head. Cloud however was told to step onto a box at the furthest end of the stage. Directly opposite a contraption which had an arrow loaded in it. It reminded Cloud of a crossbow or cannon, and just looking at the arrow now pointed at him made him fearful for his own life. The woman went over to Leon and then blindfolded him. Cloud had wanted to run away yet he couldn't. The expectation of the crowd kept him frozen there like straps on an electric chair. He would literally rather face death now than allow himself such public humiliation. He couldn't. It was too ingrained in his system. The music began and Cloud felt his body almost shake with adrenaline and fear, yet he forced himself to remain perfectly still. He would rather die looking perfectly composed than live as a disappointment. Leon sliced perfectly through a sandbag above the contraption, causing a weight held above it to slowly start falling. Cloud temporarily lost composure as his eyes widened at the realisation; when the weight hits the crossbow it would fire an arrow straight at Cloud. This is it, Cloud thought; I'm going to be killed. Yet he couldn't move still. He couldn't show his fear. And yet in those slow few seconds he realised he also wanted to be here. He was deathly afraid and yet the audience response, as he stood there the perfect composition of a human being, it was a thrill like he had never experienced. He wanted to be here even in the face of death. For a moment he basked in the cheer of the audience and before he noticed what he was doing, he had placed his trust in Leon. The weight got closer as Leon sliced through the board. The weight touched the canon as Leon sliced through the apple. Cloud's heart stopped. Arrow fired.
Slice.
Clunk.
Two bits of wood fell to the floor. The arrow cut cleanly in half. The audience gasped and Cloud let out a very long breath of relief. The assistant came to give Cloud a hand, used to rather stunned volunteers he was sure, while Leon thanked the other two personally. He kissed the first ones hand. The other volunteer was a young woman who appeared slightly intoxicated, she took the moment as an opportunity to hug the other and possible cop-a-feel. Leon took it in his stride, like the assistant, probably used to such antics. Cloud was led forwards to Leon as the audience applauded him. He felt exited and scared. Shaken up yet completely alive. Though when Leon turned and like the others kissed his hand in thanks, eyes upon him with undeniable charm, Cloud's mind went blank. Still, perhaps habitually, he gave Leon an appreciative and warm smile, like he would give prospective marriages, before calmly making his way back to his gawking siblings. He looked to Leon once more as he bowed to the audience. A silent moment passed between them as their eyes fell onto one another. They stared at each other for just a moment. A moment that neither of them understood.
Xxx
Roxas watched as Cloud returned to his seat, awe struck by his brother's bravery and Leon's skilled swordsmanship. The show had been completely captivating and he couldn't take his eyes off the stage. So many strange things he'd seen now added up, and he found himself on the edge of his seat for more. These people were amazing! This show was like something beyond his wildest dreams!
"You don't get to rest yet! Next to the floor is our darling little Xion, the fearsome beast tamer!" That's when a roar was heard from the side of the stage, and a great white tiger jumped over the ringmaster, and Riku did his miraculous disappearing act. Xion came on, a cute small girl with black hair and large doe eyes. The juxtaposition between the young girl and the fierce animals was alarming; no way she could tame and control such large and exotic beasts. Yet she did just that! She made a large tiger play and act, encouraged wild wolves to do tricks and pacified hyenas so they could be stroked by the audience. The tiger seemed to take a liking to the twins. Though Roxas still didn't trust it too much, watching it closely as Ventus just happily pet him like some domestic cat. The act ended as the animal and Xion took a bow. Roxas couldn't be more excited. What will they do next?
"Well it's half way over and you're all still here. Must be doing something right!" Riku joked as he re-entered the stage.
"You might say our show is magic, and it certainly is, as our magician Zexion is going to prove." Riku then lifted his coat and turned around, yet as he turned around it was a teal haired boy that appeared in his place, red coat changing to red cape. Throwing the red fabric into the audience, a group of girls squealed as all of them tried to catch it. He wore layers of silver and black fabric with a scarf round his shoulders and head. All of it had charms hanging from the seams, looking like a desert prince. Warming up with simple card tricks, Zexion then moved on to hypnotising some members of the audience, making them stand, act like animals, fall asleep and do all sorts of bizarre and strange things. He then got bigger though, making the assistant Aqua disappear before Roxas's very eyes, only to make her reappear at the back of the stage. That wasn't enough though; he then made the young girl float! Literally Aqua was flying around the room above Roxas's head!
"For my next act I will also need the assistant of our Sword Master Leon." And on queue Leon re-entered the stage, pushing with him a box on top of a wheelie table.
"As you can see ladies and gents, there nothing under the box, there's no hole in the table, and we're not hiding anything in the back." The pair then spun the table round to prove their point. They got Aqua to climb onto the table and step inside the box, crouching down until she was fully inside and the lid was placed on top.
"Go for it Leon." Zexion muttered and with that the brown haired man proceeded to take a sword, and shove it into the box. The audience gasped, as he did this three more times. Roxas was glued, there was no way she could have survived that! The swords were clearly going through the middle of the box. The pair spun the box round twice before opening up the front and the back of the box to reveal: nothing! The swords were in the box but no Aqua, only her hat resting gently on one of the blades. Placing the hat upon Leon's head Zexion sealed up the box again and turned it twice around. Leon then pulled the blades from the box. Roxas tried desperately to work out the trick behind Zexion's magic. He opened the top and placed the hat back in. He closed the top and raised a hand chanting over it. Zexion then put his hand back in and this time pulled out a hole-free Aqua much to everyone's astonishment. Leon and Zexion then picked up the box as Aqua wheeled off the cart, and the pair placed it upright. With a bow Leon entered the box and closed the door. With a bow Zexion then followed. The box shook and fell to the floor. The door opened and out raised Riku from inside.
"Do you guys want a little bit more magic?" Riku asked the audience, the crowd cheered.
"Well, I can do this one trick that's quite impressive. I can transform this circus ring into a stadium." A mumbled crossed the crowd with some whispering 'do you think he can?' and 'what's going to happen?' Ventus nudged Roxas, and looked at him questioningly.
"I have no idea why they need it, but I can't wait to find out." He whispered back watching Riku's every move.
"What? You guys don't believe me! Well I'll just have to prove it." The silver ring leader smirked as he seemed to fade away into a tornado of black wind that enveloped the whole tent. For a moment Roxas was afraid a storm had hit, as his hand reached out to grab Ventus and Cloud to his side. As soon as it happened, it had passed, and everyone went silent. Riku had gone, and just as he had claimed, in front of them were large ramps, hanging hoops of fire, car jumps and various other things of that nature. Old rock sounding music began to blare out the speakers as the sound of an engine could be heard in the distance getting louder and louder. A motorbike burst onto the stage and Roxas was blown away. Shocked he watched as a man with a blonde mullet and war paint drove around skidding to a stop right in front of the audience.
"You all having fun!" He called as they went nuts in response, all elated as they awaited his act.
"Well I'm Demyx and I'm here to just be generally reckless!" He shouted with all the joy and pride in the world. Demyx approached the ramp on his bike and drove full speed onto it. Demyx did flips in the air and stunts, jumping over whole rows of cars, and through the fiery hoops. The most impressive was his final act however, when a giant metal ball was brought into the middle of the ring, carried by none other than the strong man Roxas had seen earlier with firewood. Demyx then drove into the ball and the door shut. The engine was purring and soon enough Demyx was defying gravity, racing round the ball at an incredible speed. It got better! Roxas gasped as from Demyx himself, blue clones began to appear until 6 drivers were racing around the circular walls. Roxas could not believe what he was seeing! Each guy inches away from crashing into the next, however they continued speeding up doing tricks and flips within the ball. Then the strong man picked up the ball with the three Demyx's in it! He spun and threw the thing like one might do an inflatable football, as Demyx just kept going. When the song came to close, Demyx stopped his bike very gracefully in the middle of the ball, his copies seemed to almost crash into him, disappearing just before their bikes made contact! The audience cheered as the strong man put the ball down and the door opened. Demyx revved up. Riding up the slant the bike flew into the air and the audience gasped as Demyx jumped off the bike. The bike looked as if it was going to land on Lexaeus but the strongman did not move. No, instead he caught the bike, Demyx doing a mid-air flip and landing on top of the bike. Roxas found his hands going red with applause, almost bouncing of his chair in eager anticipation.
The black vortex appeared over the stage again, and by the time Riku reappeared everything had vanished! It had to be magic! Had to be! Roxas could find no other explanation for it!
"Now I must warn everyone here to not repeat what you see next! This boy, though hard to believe, is a trained professional and knows what he is doing. Without further ado I present to you our incredible Escape Artist, Sora!" The crowd cheered, though gasped when they realised how young the boy was as he followed behind Aqua, a cheeky grin on his face. This is the escape artist?
"Today's act is called the Water Torture Cell. Don't worry it's not as gruesome as it sounds." The audiences' coo'ed as Sora's smile and 'cute' nature won over the audience's affections. Even Roxas was swayed, he didn't seem like the type of person people could be capable of hating.
"As you can see behind me is a fully filled tank of water." Aqua removed a large cloth, to reveal underneath a cylinder tube filled with water.
"I shall be escaping this chained up, with no supply of oxygen and no chance to take a breath." He explained as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. So quietly the audience watched as Sora stepped onto the top of the tank, and Aqua began to tape up Sora and place him in various chains, small whispers surfacing across the audience as they worried about Sora's wellbeing. Then with a drop Sora was plunged into the water, his poor body sinking to the bottom, as Roxas gasped. He felt anxiety rise in him, as he feared Sora might get stuck the whole audience waited as a clock countdown began; Sora began wiggling and jiggling trying to get the chains off. 30 seconds had passed; he just slipped an arm out. ! One minute passed, and one chain was set free. Roxas stomach clenched, how long could he hold his breath? One minute 30 seconds, and Sora was still going though lots of chains were now being chucked to the bottom. Roxas felt sure he wasn't going to make it. Two minutes and all the chains were removed; Sora had started working on the tape. Face going blue he looked as if he was starting to struggle. The audience was silent in anticipation. Come on Sora Roxas silently chanted. Two minutes thirty seconds and the tape was off! Sora swam back to the top of the tank where he was helped out by Aqua; nothing could be heard over the cheering and relief of the audience.
Shrouded in darkness, a shadow appeared which slowly formed into Riku.
"Now for our final act, we have a man that's guaranteed to heat up the show." Riku's voice went smooth.
"Gentlemen hold onto your wives, because ladies he's single. Give a cheer for Axel the fire dancer!" There was a roar of flames from the stage as a hurricane of fire raced and twirled around him. As it died down Riku was nowhere to be seen. Who was there instead made Roxas's jaw drop as he found himself glued in place. Roxas had seen many brothers, fathers and cousins of potential bachelors, all dressed in their finest clothes and trained to look the absolute best they could. Yet he had never seen anything like Axel. With hair redder than the fire he emerged from tied back in a red bandana with golden jewels latched onto the side. Catlike emerald eyes scoured the audience with a predatory and reckless gleam. Tall, slim and muscular; dressed in a sleeveless top that tied at the front, which revealed the long outstretched arms that ended in pointed red fingertips, and left just a slither of the firm solid chest exposed. Fabrics of reds and oranges tied at his waist would shift with even the slightest of movement. The golden jewels at the end of the fabric seemed to vibrate and chime against each other. Long sleek legs were hugged by tight black jeans cut off by heeled knee high red boots in which he stood with perfect poise. Everything about the man was ragged yet graceful in a flawed hellish way, like a great demon of fire who honoured the circus by appearing.
The dancer moved and flames began to follow him, the jewels that drowned him clinked and tinkered with every movement. Pale limbs danced as the flames grew as they weaved around him like a serpent, before exploding out in great wings of fire. The sight was gorgeous as he twisted, turned and bent with bold movements as the flames rose and fell around him, closing in on his tattooed covered skin before they soared out into the audience. As the fire got bigger, the audience ducked away from the orange phoenix. Roxas couldn't though. He couldn't move. He was drawn to it. With every wave he was enticed to get closer, as he put out his hand, not quite touching it but close enough to feel the searing heat that prickled at his skin. For a second he swore his hand glowed with a golden light when the fire disappeared to Axel again and Roxas' gaze followed with it, drawn once again to the shimmering creature on the stage. Axel's eyes locked with Roxas as he got closer to the audience, the fire stretching out once more as all flinched and gasped. Even Cloud became distracted. Roxas still didn't move. Didn't flinch. His eyes were steady with Axel's, the thrill addicting, the beauty intoxicating, and the challenge deadly. The inferno wrapped faster and hotter around the audience. Unnoticed by them was that it was also getting closer and closer to Roxas, almost consuming him and leaving only Axel in sight. Roxas couldn't even blink. He was lost in the moment as his head tipped back slightly, allowing himself to get close to the searing heat.
The fire died down, and the audience thought they were safe. That was until Axel spun, as the sparks began at the start of his outstretched arms, and built until from his fingers came a tidal wave of flames that raced down and assaulted the audience, consuming them. Roxas didn't notice. All he could see were those emerald doorways that seduced him. All he could hear were the clattering of bracelets as they reverberated through Roxas like a siren's song. All he could smell was old cigarettes and firewood that tempted him into the warmth. All he could feel was the smooth, scorching hand that brushed against his cheek. Soft. Irresistible. Overwhelming.
Then he pulled back. Roxas released a breath he didn't even realised he was holding and Axel returned to dancing. He summoned great Chakrams to help him that seemed to appear to his whim. They were as obedient as the flames and Roxas. The Chakrams created layers and movements of fire like Roxas had never seen. His body seemed to move in sync with the entire world around him. Or more, the world seemed to bend to every movement of his body. Then with one final leap Axel summoned a great fiery phoenix into the air, it soared around the roof before diving and crashing into Axel.
Just like that he was gone, and Roxas finally snapped out from the trance he'd been under.
I'm sorry again this chapter hasn't had a proper read through like I usually give it.
I just ran out of time, Holiday is busier than usual so by the time I'd finished writing the next couple chapters I now sit here with little time to read this, and I'm slowly getting very tired as it is currently 12 midnight here.
Reply's to reviews:
Ern Estine: Axel and Roxas sharing a ten certainly will lead to trouble. You have no idea what I have planned for this pair but I'll give you a hint: It involves parties, jealousy and pirate ships.
Heart of Fantasy: Well there was their first meeting, but things will not be smooth sailing. As I said in the comment above ^^ I have a lot planned. Yeh that was something I'm glad I didn't touch on until my re-write where I am far more mature in the nature of my writing and handling of those issues. Nothing explicit will be mentioned, it will merely be hinted at and suggested ect. The thing is I don't want to focus on the act itself, nor do I want to use it as some cheap way of making a plot occur. It is more to focus on how one person can still hold control over Cloud: As the thing is the incident is more on feeling pressured to take part, a side of sexual violence that sadly can be overshadowed in media: and also to focus on the long term effects it has on Cloud's mentality and his behaviour currently. How it effects his character and how such a character can begin to overcome the mentality developed by it. And I really do enjoy your reviews! I get excited whenever I check my emails and a notification comes up! Thank you very much!
Ultimate Ninja Of Doom: I'm glad you think so. As I stated in a reply to a review last week, I'm hoping to explore more the brothers relationship to eachothers as well as other people. I feel like it something heart warming even during more troublesome times. Thank you!