Hi everyone, sorry for not updating, you know, uni and stuff, anyway, I just wanted to leave a quick message to someone, I received a review from a guest under the name Purple-Eyes, if you're not that person feel free to skip this, or read it if you want I don't mind ;), anyhow, I just wanted to say I loved your idea, I don't know if I'll be able to work it in or not given that I already had the story planned out and actually wasn't planning on including Zarc in this particular story, but I'll think it over, it was very good, also, have you thought of maybe writing a story about that yourself because it does sound good and I'd happily read it x

Dennis wasn't really sure what he was doing. His new assistant had been very depressed worrying about her friend which wouldn't do at all. He could hardly entertain people with an assistant that was bawling her eyes out. Still, sneaking all the way to the other side of the circus to look in on some boy Roget had in a cage, was it really worth it? If he was caught he could get in some serious trouble, Mr Akaba had specifically instructed everyone they were to have no contact with the kid. He wasn't sure what he thought about all of this. He'd just always gone along with whatever Mr Akaba wanted without question. After, the man had given him everything. Before, Dennis had been an orphan among dozens at an orphanage in the Kingdom of the Pendulum. Being smaller and weaker than most of the other boys he'd easily been written off as a runt and was frequently left out of activities and meals, even picked on and beaten up at times. Once, after a particularly nasty beating from some of the older boys he'd run off into town trying to ignore the tears trailing behind him. He eventually collapsed outside a small bookstore. He stayed on his hands and knees panting and sobbing heavily. After a good five minutes he heard the sound of a door opening and a bell jingling, he looked up to see a man in a dark coat and a top hat with points of black hair sticking out and a faint neatly cut beard and moustache.

"Oh my?" He said, noticing the young orange-haired boy sitting on all-fours with dried tears stains on his cheeks and a bright red tint around his eyes. Dennis suddenly became very conscious of his state and curled in on himself, hoping the man would just ignore him and move on. "Hey." He heard the man say, sounding like he was stood in front of him now. Dennis slowly looked up, curious. Suddenly the man clapped his hands and with a puff of smoke a swarm of doves seemed to appear out of thin air and fly into the sky. Dennis unfurled completely, staring after the birds in shock and awe. The man took the opportunity to reach out towards Dennis' ear pulling a deck of cards from behind it surprising him yet again. The man fanned the cards and began tossing them around and shuffling them impressively.

"Wow, I wish I could do magic." Dennis said, standing up. "I was born without it…"

"What if I told you I did all of that without magic." The man said, smiling.

"What?" Dennis gasped, "but that shouldn't be possible."

"I know it's easy for most people to just use their magic to make their lives easier, even in entertainment. I think there's something exciting about doing it yourself, fooling people into thinking you're using real magic but it's just a trick."

Dennis stared at the man in wonder, hanging on his every word. "C-could," he stuttered, nervous, "could you teach me to do that?"

The man laughed happily. "Sure, I'd love to kid."

Dennis grinned excitedly, "thank you, thank you." He repeated, bowing in gratitude.

"What's your name kid?" The man asked.

"Dennis Macfield." Dennis said.

"Nice to meet you Dennis, my name's Yusho Sakaki." The man said, removing his top hat.

Dennis gasped. Yusho Sakaki, as in the king of the Kingdom of the Pendulum?! Now, looking at him without his hat, Dennis realised he really was the king. Dennis threw himself to the ground, fear coursing through him as he realised he'd just spent the last five minutes talking to the king without even a hint of the proper respect. He felt a hand suddenly descend on his shoulder and looked up to see the king kneeling in front of him with a reassuring smile on his face.

"No need for formality young man, to you I am not the king."

"You aren't?"

"No." Yusho smirked. "I'm your teacher."

True to his word, Yusho became his teacher. Every Friday they would meet outside that small bookstore and the king would teach him magic tricks. Then, when Dennis was twelve the circus came to town. Turned out they didn't have a magician so Dennis auditioned for Mr Akaba who was impressed with his skill for someone who didn't possess real magic, he thought it could be a great attraction, someone without real magic who could preform amazing tricks and illusions and thus decided to hire him. Two years had passed since then and he and Mr Akaba had maintained a good relationship, Dennis did whatever said and Mr Akaba provided him with food, a bed, clothes and all the other necessities. Right now he was trying to do what Mr Akaba said and train his new assistant but it seemed the only way to get her to cooperate was to disregard another order from Mr Akaba: don't go near the kid with the wings. It was quite the conundrum but ultimately he thought this would be fine, Mr Akaba was only worried about people helping the kid escape and he had no intention of doing that, sure he felt bad, but he wasn't about to jeopardise the good life he had here for some stranger. When he made it to the animal cages he quickly looked around to make sure there was nobody about before searching for this strange demon. He eventually turned a corner to see Roget locking the door to one of the cages, thankfully with his back turned to Dennis. The young magician quickly dropped to the ground and crawled under the tiger cage. His eyes followed Roget's boots as the man walked past him and in the direction of the makeshift food trailer the circus had. It was only then that Dennis realised how late it was getting, it had just gone seven and he himself was starting to feel hungry. As he crawled back out and stood up again he made a silent promise to just quickly look in on this friend of Zuzu's then hurry back and get some dinner for her and himself. As he approached the cage he saw two black wings sticking up from a crumpled lump in the corner he assumed was the boy in question. The setting sun illuminated the appendages making them look almost purple in colour. He cleared his throat to get the boy's attention and was surprised when he flinched violently, his wings flapping about in obvious distress. The boy began shivering uncontrollable and covered his head with his hands.

"Hey." Dennis hissed at him causing him to look up, clearing surprised by the unfamiliar voice. The boy looked at Dennis in confusion and fear. "Zuzu sent me." Dennis decided to say, hoping this might calm him down, if he made too much of a fuss and drew attention he'd be in big trouble.

"Zuzu?" The poor boy whispered. "You— She sent you?" He sounded like he didn't really believe it. "Is this a trick?"

"No, I swear, look she's worried about you and she can't do anything so I told her I'd come see you."

"I see," he said, his wings relaxing. "Is— Is she okay?"

"Um… Yeah, well, she's a bit sad, and worried about you, but she's not hurt or anything."

"Thank goodness…" The boy breathed, smiling weakly.

Dennis was having mixed feelings about what he was seeing, on the one hand he wished to just leave, get some food and tell Zuzu her friend was fine, on the other hand, looking at this poor beaten boy kept in these awful conditions against his will, and yet, seemed only to be worried about his friend, he felt bad. He felt this was wrong, what had been done to him.

"What's your name?"

Dennis looked up, startled from his thoughts, the boy was looking at him expectantly.

"Dennis, Dennis Macfield. And you?" Dennis asked, he was sure Zuzu had mentioned it but he hadn't really been paying attention.

"Yuya. I remember now… from the posters… you're the magician right?" The boy, Yuya, said.

"Yeah," Dennis laughed. "I don't even have magic, I just perform tricks, I use machines and slight of hand."

"Amazing." Yuya said, smiling honestly. "To perform for people, to make them smile, I bet that's wonderful."

Dennis blushed, placing a hand behind his head shyly. "Well, I guess, yeah. I've always loved magic, I was heartbroken when I learned I didn't have any but then I met someone who knew how to do magic without any power and well, I couldn't have been happier."

"That's such a great story." Yuya said, he paused, as though unsure whether or not he should continue. "You know, I felt heartbroken when I was first able to comprehend I was a monster nobody would ever love but then I met my friends Ali and Fredrick and Tate, and after that I met Zuzu and through them I've met other people, people who don't seem to mind what I look like."

"I— I see," Dennis said, not really sure what to say.

"I— I know it's wrong of me to ask, but can you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Keep Zuzu safe."

Dennis was taken aback, he wasn't sure what he was going to ask, to help him escape maybe? Bring him food? Certainly not what he had said.

"I know she'll want to help me, even though she shouldn't, please don't let her do anything that would get her in trouble."

Dennis just stared at Yuya, still shocked. He was badly beaten, forced to eat shitty food from a dog bowl, chained like an animal and yet all he seemed to be worried about was his friend. There was no way anyone in the world could be that selfless.

"Also…" Yuya began, regaining Dennis' attention, "thank you. I know you must be taking a risk by being here, talking to me, it means a lot."

Dennis blushed, he felt Yuya was giving him more credit than he deserved, thanking him when his motives for coming here were actually pretty selfish. He wanted to say something to Yuya but he wasn't sure what. Thank you? I'm sorry? This wasn't how he was expecting this conversation to go. He'd expected maybe some begging or cowering from the poor caged hybrid not gratitude and empathy. As he mulled this over the sound of people chattering and heading in their direction drew his attention. Yuya also looked up, startled and afraid.

"You have to go before someone sees you." He said, panicked, eyes pleading with Dennis to get away quickly. Dennis was more reluctant to leave than he thought he'd be but he nodded and ran off in the opposite direction of the voices. Yuya was left alone, to the mercy of whoever was coming. A few minutes later small group, three men and two women, probably early twenties with obviously died silver and blue hair rounded the corner of the various animal trailers. They had grey tracksuits on and, through process of elimination from all the posters Gong and Sora had shown him, he concluded they must be the acrobats, the obelisks he thought they were called.

"See, I told you." One of them said, pointing straight at Yuya as they all came to stand in front of his cage.

"Wow, a person with wings, you weren't kidding." One of the girls said, looking at Yuya in awe. Yuya shied away to the back of the cage, not comfortable being ogled at.

"Look at his skin, it's like coal, how disgusting." The other girl said, scrunching up her face. The rest of the group snickered at her statement and Yuya's wings drooped slightly.

"Hey!" One of the guys yelled, slamming on the bars and making Yuya jump. "Don't just sit there, do something."

"Yeah," another laughed, "perform for us. Dance. Sing. Be entertaining."

They all laughed cruelly. Yuya cocooned himself in his wings, shoving his hands over his ears in a desperate attempt to block them out. He tried to imagine he was back with his friends in Astral's palace. He shut his eyes and pictured one of the palace's cosy living rooms with everyone sat there together, Zuzu, Ali, Tate, Fredrick, Yuma, Astral, Kite, Shark and the rest of the wonderful staff members of the palace who had all been so kind, so accepting. Why were most of the people in this circus so different? It reminded him of the way the people in the Kingdom of GX had been. He was so confused, was he a monster or not? Why were some people accepting and others disgusted? He suddenly felt a sharp prod to his wing causing him to gasp in pain. He unfurled himself to see the group of acrobats had circled the cage and were now holding large sticks. Each one grinned at him with an evil glint in their eyes, thoroughly enjoying his misery. He felt another sharp prob on his back causing him to jump forward. He suddenly found himself being poked and jabbed from all directions, his assailants laughing like it just a harmless fun activity. Yuya flattened himself against the floor in the middle of the cage, covering his head and hoping any second to wake up from this awful nightmare…

As he walked back to his trailer, not even bothering to get food for he had lost his appetite, Dennis continued to ponder his opinion of Yuya. He felt the two of them were similar in many ways, both outcasts, both bullied, though he got the sneaking suspicion Yuya had suffered far more than him. Also, while this circus had been his haven, his way out of the horrible life he use to live, made only bearable by Yusho's lessons, for Yuya it was hell. He wasn't sure if it was fate, or destiny or just a subconscious desire but he quickly found himself standing outside the door of a beautifully decorated purple and blue trailer. He knocked on the door and waited patiently. A minute or so passed and the door opened to reveal the ever blank face of Declan Akaba.

"Dennis?" He said.

"Hey, I uh… I suspect you're planning some way of rescuing Yuya and Zuzu." Dennis said, trying not to show how nervous and uncomfortable he was. This went against his nature, to keep his head down, do what he was asked and not cause trouble, but it felt right.

"What if am?" Declan asked cautiously, he too knew what kind of person Dennis was but he had a suspicion as to why he was here. Dennis took a deep breath then looked up with determination shining in his eyes.

"I want in."