Gong knocked on the door of the largest trailer the circus had, bar the ones holding animals. This one belonged to the ringmaster, Leo Akaba.
"What?" A voice asked harshly from inside.
"It's me sir, may we come in we have something important we need to discuss." Gong said.
"Fine." The voice said, "but it better be important."
Gong opened the door and he and Sora went in first, followed by Yuya and Zuzu.
"Now just what's so…" Leo said, looking up from his desk. He trailed off when he saw Zuzu and Yuya stood beside his performers. Not only did he have two strangers in his tent but one of them had black swirls covering his cheeks and forehead and the entirety of his neck was black.
"This is Yuya and Zuzu." Said Sora. "They were travelling to the kingdom of 5DS we were thinking we could bring them along with us."
Gong nodded along with what Sora was saying. Leo looked at the group sceptically.
"What's wrong with that one?" He asked tactlessly, pointing at Yuya. The other three looked affronted and Yuya clutched his cape tighter to himself feeling ashamed. Zuzu placed a hand on his arm protectively.
"I was born this way." Yuya admitted.
Leo was about to say something but he was stopped by the opening of his door and Declan entered the trailer with Riley on his shoulders.
"Ah Declan, did you these two were here?" Leo asked. Declan just pushed his glasses further up his nose, his face showing no emotion as always.
"Yes, Gong and Sora brought them to see me earlier, I see no harm in them coming with us to the kingdom of 5DS."
"Hmm…" Leo hummed thoughtfully, getting up and coming to stand closer to Yuya and Zuzu. He looked down at the two of them with a hand placed thoughtfully on his chin for a few moments then reached down as removed Yuya's cape without warning. Everyone gasped at the action as Yuya's wings flared out instinctively, almost whacking Declan's side had he not been quick to react and dodge the appendage. Yuya clutched his arms self-consciously as Leo began observing his full form.
"I think you should all come outside with me." He said after a few minutes. He opened the door and exited the trailer the other six people following him. When they were all finally outside they saw Leo talking with a few of the workers, glancing back them every so often. Suddenly, the workers came over and grabbed both of Yuya's arms.
"Hey what are you doing?" Zuzu asked angrily as they began to drag him away.
"What's going on?" Yuya cried. Zuzu, Gong and Sora made to go after them but a bunch of the other circus members stood in their way.
"Your friend's quite unique." Leo said, addressing Zuzu. "I think he'll make a fine edition to Roget's act."
"But Roget deals with animals!" Gong said angrily. "Yuya's a person you can't treat him like that."
"He's right." Declan said, actually having some emotion in his voice for a change. "You can't let Roget take him."
"Sorry Declan, if they want to travel with us, they'll have to earn their keep by performing." Leo said, as casually as he could. He then bent down so he was eye-level with Zuzu. "I think this lovely lady would make a nice assistant for Dennis." Two of the workers immediately came over and began dragging Zuzu in the opposite direction they took Yuya.
"Hey! Stop! Let me go!" She cried, trying in vain to reach for her knife.
"Stop this." Sora demanded, unable to comprehend what was going on.
"Sorry Sora but I can't allow those two to travel with us if they don't work for me." He smiled cruelly. "Besides, that boy is a very interesting creature, and the girl is quite beautiful, they'll be such fine additions."
"You monster…" Declan hissed. He'd known his father to cruel and harsh often in his life but he never expected he would be so cruel as to force people to work for him against their will.
"Gentlemen." Leo said, addressing some of the other circus workers. "Escort these people back to their trailers and see they don't bother anyone for a while."
The workers nodded and grabbed Declan, Riley, Sora and Gong and began dragging them back to their trailers. Riley was too scared to resist, Declan remained calm as he always did, Sora and Gong, well, they put up a bit more of a fight. Gong managed to break free easily, given his incredible strength. He started to fight his way in the direction Yuya had been taken but unfortunately one of the circus workers managed to get hold of one of the clubs the acrobats used and hit him over the head with it, effectively knocking him out.
"Gong!" Sora cried, worried for his friend as they were both dragged away to be locked in their trailers. Leo looked around once they were all gone seeing the way the other members of the circus were all looking at the spot where the incident had taken place. Some looked shocked, some looked entertained, some looked afraid and some just looked resigned. After all, it was no secret among the performers that Leo Akaba was a harsh and sometimes cruel man, but he'd never done something like this before. It was essentially kidnapping. However, they'd never encountered a person as unique as Yuya before either. It came as little surprise to some that Leo couldn't resist making him an attraction. Most felt sorry for Yuya, though they were far too scared of Leo and his most loyal and most cruel workers to do anything. They turned away from the scene in fright as he sent them a glare before walking back to his trailer, he needed to remake the plans for his next show…
"Stop, let me go, please," Yuya begged as he was dragged and thrown into a cage. It was elevated on wheels with a wooden roof and bars on all sides for people to surround and gawk at the poor creature inside. It was clearly made for an animal, there was no furniture to speak of, just straw covering the floor and chains attached to the floor.
"See." A cold and horribly familiar voice said from behind Yuya. He turned to see Roget standing in the door of the cage. "I knew you'd become part of my collection."
Yuya was terrified. He didn't even think, he was so scared he panicked and tried to run around Roget through the open door.
"Naughty little pet." Roget mocked, producing a whip from his robe and snapping it at Yuya. It struck across his torso sending him back against the floor. Roget laughed and slammed the cage door shut. He placed the key in the lock and turned, trapping Yuya inside the cage with him. Yuya shied away from Roget as he came towards him, scared of what he was going to do. "You are going to be the main attraction in my next show…" Roget said with a sick smile on his face. "But you can't possibly go on stage like that," he gestured at Yuya, "we have a lot of preparation to do…" His grin got wider and he pulled on his whip for emphasis. Yuya actually began shaking he was so afraid. He backed up until he hit the corner of the cage and there was nowhere else he could go. Roget laughed as he advanced on his helpless prey.
"Put me down! I swear I will—" Zuzu was cut off as she was thrown into a trailer. She picked herself up as quickly as she could and flung herself at the door but it slammed shut in her face. She heard the horrible sound of metal squeaking against itself as the door was bolted closed. She hammered on the door in anger but after a minute she realised it was pointless and slumped against it in defeat. She sighed heavily, feeling a huge weight on her chest as she thought of the horrible situation she and Yuya were in. Suddenly, a hand descended on her back causing her to jump in surprise and whip round to face the hand's owner. It was a boy about her age with orange pointy hair, black pants, blue shirt and an orange waistcoat. She recognised him from the posters they'd seen earlier, he was Dennis, the magician.
"Hello there." He said politely, he pulled a deck of cards out of midair and did a series of complicated shuffles with them as he talked. "I guess you're the new assistant Mr Akaba mentioned, what's your name beautiful?" He folded all his cards into his left hand and took Zuzu's with his right hand, planting a kiss on the back of it. She grimaced and pulled her hand from his grip.
"Zuzu, and I am not your assistant I'm a prisoner, I have to escape." She grasped his shoulders suddenly. "Can you help me get out of here and find my friend?"
"Woah there…" Said Dennis, shaking his shoulders free, "I'm just a humble magician but I work for Mr Akaba and if he says you are to be my assistant then that's that, whether it's your choice or not is no concern of mine."
Zuzu gasped indignantly. Didn't he care at all that she was being held against her will? Well if he really thought she was going to just go along with this and be his assistant he had another thing coming.
"Okay now, let me teach you the routine." He stated, going over to a trunk and pulling out various props such as boxes, hoops, paper, pens, boards, pins, dice, knives etcetera. He started to set up while Zuzu continued to try and break the door down but try as she might it would not budge.
"Come now, there's no escape, you may as well save your strength, take a seat, enjoy the show." Dennis said, grabbing a cane and doing some little spins. Zuzu sighed despairingly. She was by no means ready to give up trying to escape, but maybe a break to catch her breath wouldn't hurt. She flopped down in a nearby chair and looked towards Dennis only half watching what he was doing. She was mostly thinking, trying to come up with some kind of plan…
Yuya was laid out across the floor on his front, his face buried in his arms and his shoulders shaking as he sobbed in pain. There was hardly any part of his skin showing that wasn't blemished. Roget's handiness with a whip and knives was not to be underestimated.
"I wish I didn't have to punish you, I do so hate displaying damaged merchandise if you understand what I mean. However, what I hate even more is pets that don't know how to do what they're told." Roget cooed softly, running his fingers through the feather's of Yuya's wings. Roget was mocking Yuya, treating him like an animal. It made Yuya feel humiliated. He wished to wake up from this nightmare. The thought of what was to come was even scarier than his awful experience in the kingdom of GX. That seemed like a birthday party compared to this.
"Roget." A voice said. Yuya peaked up past arms to see Leo Akaba looking through the bars of his cage.
"Yes sir?" Roget replied.
"How is the training coming? I expect a new and exciting act prepared to show off our newest edition at the next performance."
"I believe I've made it clear to this thing what will happen if it doesn't cooperate, I'll get to work on a routine first thing tomorrow."
"See that you do. Remember it should only be another two days before we reach the kingdom of 5DS. I am told the prince himself and his closest associates will be attending the performance, so there is no room for error."
"Of course sir." Roget bowed humbly and Leo nodded to him, formal and stoic as always. He left without another word and Roget returned to grooming Yuya's wings. Yuya shivered feeling violated for some reason but he was so drained and fearful he didn't make any move to stop Roget.
Neither of them saw the cold purple eyes watching their every move as they had been for the past few hours. Declan wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but this was wrong and he was going to stop it. No doubt he could enlist Gong and Sora's help on this. He just hoped they could come with a plan before it was too late.