Quick note I can't remember whether or not the instrument that Joker used to play the song for the little girl was a fiddle or not so I'm just going to say that it was for the sake of the story. Plus I would like to say if there are any instances where the character may seem a bit dense in the concept of emotion, that's because I want her to be that way. Yes, it is her thoughts but there is a reason why I am making her lack some emotion. Revised on March 31, 2020
Chapter 4:
As soon as the little girl was spotted from a distance, Joker played the fiddle to capture her attention. It was the same as any other night. See the child, hypnotize the child into thinking they were seeing a real show and capture them.
"Hello there, darlin'. Do ye like circus's then? It's an honor and a privilege to meet ye m' lady. I hope ye will join us for a spell."
Joker pulled out flowers from his sleeve in an attempt to dazzle the little girl. It seemed to have worked just as well as the other times.
"It's showtime!"
Joker threw the flowers in the air and I watched as the little girl looked up to see that the flowers popped into confetti. I quickly used my strange ability to manipulate her mindset into thinking she was being surrounded by teddy bears and candy and anything that would make a little girl smile. Doll began her performance, causing the little girl to follow the movements of Doll and soon Wendy and Peter came out. The little girl began following them in the direction of the carriage, with a thousand-watt smile. Soon, though, a Scotland yard officer came. He blew his whistle and the others stopped to soak in their chances of a win. In the eyes of the girl, he was a squishy and lovable bear. Even in the moments of his death, he was seen as a bear filled with candy and confetti instead of a blood-soaked officer. It took all of my mindset to keep the girl from seeing such a display. But it was ironic seeing as how I was trying to protect her even though I was one of the people trying to kidnap her.
Jumbo got behind him and hit him in the head with the hammer he was holding. The girl started laughing as if it was all just part of the show. I couldn't help the guilty feeling rising in my gut when I heard her laugh of happiness and the gurgling of the officer choking on the blood from his throat. Soon, more officers came and one by one they all fell down. Dagger throwing his knives, Beast ripping off their heads with her whip and Doll killing them in her own special style.
The girl got in the carriage not too long after the men were killed. One of them wasn't completely dead, as he was wheezing and choking on his own blood. I couldn't stand looking at what we had done, so I decided to show him mercy by ending his life. Joker walked over to me with a look of knowingness in his eyes and patted me on my shoulder. He told me how he was proud of me for another job well done and I just smiled at him and said it wasn't a problem at all. But deep down it was a problem. In every way it was a problem. But I couldn't complain. I signed up for this when I didn't run away while I still had the chance to. But I had a job to do. So bottling up my unnecessary emotions on the matter and the thoughts surrounding it, I looked up and trudged my way with others to our father's mansion.
"Joker..."
"Yes?"
"I want to go back to the camp. I'm extremely tired from having to hypnotize the girl. That was the longest I've ever lasted and my energy is drained."
Joker stared at me for what seemed like centuries.
He must think I don't want to see Father tonight... But is he wrong? I don't want to see the nightmare again...
"Of course. Get as much sleep as ye need."
Without a second of hesitation, my white wings protruded from my back and helped me into the air as fast as they could. The smell of fresh air was a lot better than the smell of iron that wafted from the policemen's blood.
I landed in front of my tent as softly as I could and went in. I flopped on the bed, not even thinking of changing my attire into something more comfortable and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
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I cleaned my face of the makeup I usually wear and changed into more comfortable clothing as soon as I opened my eyes. Having to wear black romper shorts with black and white striped leggings underneath hurt my legs because it was tight. A white corset with lace on my chest, tying around my neck made it nearly hard to breathe and the ruffle bracelets that I wore were completely itchy as well. Plus, the black and white flats, black for my left foot and white for my right, were causing my feet to swell. I wore the same clothing that I wore before the performance last night but decided to not wear any shoes. A feeling of not wanting to wear shoes and heavy clothing waved over me and I decided to change my shirt into a blouse with sleeves that I had cut off at the shoulders to provide me with more arm movement. I looked in my small mirror and realized I looked completely different than when I had my makeup on. Plus my hair was down and the little bangs on both sides of my head were making my head look a lot more round then it did. All in all, I looked unrecognizable.
I stepped outside and the smell of sausage and eggs were mellowing in the early air morning. I followed the smell to the tent where the non-first-tier members normally have their breakfast. As I got closer to the big entrance of the tent I immediately recognized Smile, who was in the middle of completely ruining the potatoes that were placed in front of him.
I guess him being a page boy makes a lot of sense now, I thought.
Considering helping him I walked closer but stopped seeing as how Black got there before I did. I watched as Black started fixing the way Smile was dressed and soon everyone including me was looking and judging the odd pair. I decided to be useful and jump in when they both started the cooking process of breakfast.
"Why don't you make fish and chips? I'm sure we have some fish in the supply tent.," I suggested, walking up to them.
"Of course, but if I may ask, who are you?" Smile asked.
"I'm Celesta. A pleasure to meet you," I said. Celesta is my real name.
"Hey Celesta tha' fish and chips idea is a brilliant idea! We should to'ally do that!" said Freckles. She seemed overly excited just to eat. But I couldn't blame her, the events from last night could make any murderer as hungry as she was.
Black surprised me when he walked up to me. I confusingly looked up at his taller frame.
"Is there something you need Black?" I asked.
"Would you like to cook with me? I'm sure the meal will be much better with your help." Black said smiling a closed eye smile.
Seeing when someone was lying was a skill I quickly inherited while living on the streets. Looking at Black, I could see he didn't truly want me to help but was only being somewhat kind.
"No, it's alright. I'm sure I would just mess things up anyway. But I wouldn't mind watching you if you don't mind."
"No, I wouldn't mind at all."
He resumed the task at hand and to say I was amazed was an understatement. I never witnessed anyone who could move as fast as he was before.
How could anyone move this fast? Wait... He's a demon...
Black finished the meal and I helped pass the food to everyone. Black maybe have forced me but I was going to help anyway. After all, that is the reason I came over in the first place. But the shit-eating grin on his face was more than irritating me and I couldn't help the sudden urge to punch him in the face. But my thoughts were soon short-lived as Freckles screamed.
"GET OU' OF MY BLOODY WAAAAAAAY!" I found her adorable as she shoved everyone out the way to get her plate of food.
"Freckles, you know you can't just shove everyone out the way. You have to be a little nicer." I said trying to sound less like her mother and more like a friend.
"Bu' everyone wouldn' get out the way. And I want some food cause I'm hungry," she replied with puppy eyes.
"Ok but you're not getting any more than last time. You basically ate half of everyone else's meal."
I waved goodbye to Smile and Freckles as one left with only a piece of bread and the other with a whole buffet stacked on one plate. I felt content watching the two kids genuinely talking for a little. I turned to Black, feeling tired once again.
"Black, I hope you don't mind serving the rest of the food. I'm a little tired so I want to take a little nap before I go practice."
"I do not mind at all. You should get your rest, you're going to need it."
"Thank you. I'll see you later."
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I woke up extremely groggy and with an earth-shattering headache. There was something completely wrong and I could feel it as my head started pounding with each attempt to get out of my bed. It only seemed to get worse as Joker came in, louder than the other members combined.
"Joker... can y- can you please stop screaming," I croaked weakly.
"Oh, ye poor lass. Ye aren't doin' good are ye?" Joker said with deep concern.
"No. I don't know why this always happens. I get a migraine when things turn to shit but what can I do about it really? I really do hate missing my acts because of shit like this."
"Well there's nothin' we can do. Ye' just have to stay here and hope we can fin' someone to replace ye for ye act."
"Please don't-"
"That's final Bird. Get some rest."
I knew they couldn't replace me with someone for my act because I knew I was the only one with perfect balance in the circus. My act was too difficult to attempt for any human. I laid there, staring at the roof of my tent with boredom in my veins.
The one thing I despise about life and I'm experiencing it at this moment. How stupid...
I laid on my stomach in hopes of finding a better position to go back to sleep only to realize the candles that were lit from Joker were still on. I brought out my wings a blew wind to five of the candles in the tent and left one on in case I needed to get up later on in the night. I kept my wings at my side to relax them from the stronghold of the abyss they usually reside in and brought my bed covers up to face, encasing my whole body and wings.
As I was drifting off to sleep, I heard the curtains to my tent opening. I assumed it was Joker so without a second thought and I maneuvered my head to the entrance to tell him to go away but found Smile standing there. He seemed as shocked as I was. Before I could ask him what he was doing he ran out of my tent.
Strange.
I glared at the entrance of my tent. I knew he couldn't have been there for a simple conversation with the way he ran out as soon as I saw him. But I couldn't think of anything else as I heard the crowd screaming from the performance. I couldn't help but smile at the crowd as each cheer from the performance tent brought me into a dreamless sleep.
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My eyes opened from the small moment of unconsciousness and looked around at the different scenery. I easily recognized it as Doc's tent and grew more comfortable at the reminder. I turned to the bed on my left after hearing a small whimper and saw that Smile was also with me. He looked as sick as a dog.
How could he have gotten sick so fast last night? He seemed fine when he ran into my tent...
I heard voices coming from the other side of the tent and closed my eyes as fast as I could. I noticed the voices belonging to Doc himself and Black who seemed curious about Smile's condition. He was surprisingly also asking about mine.
"How is Celesta? She seems extremely ill as well."
"She'll be better in a few hours. All she needs is sleep." Doc answered.
"Does she always get sick like this?"
"She just gets migraines from time to time. It's nothing too serious. But, if she continues stressing herself out she can hurt herself."
I heard footsteps leaving the tent and knew that it was Black. I opened my eyes and looked at Smile who seemed so peaceful while sleeping. All the worries were gone from his face and he seemed at ease for the moments. As I sat there, my head began feeling lighter and lighter until the unbearable throbbing in my head subsided. It was a while until I finally felt the dreariness from the headache and grew unconscious for the night.
I woke up the next morning with Smile no longer lying beside me and the sun peeking in through the curtains coverings. I stood out of the bed to look for Doc only to find him nowhere to be seen within the tent. I shrugged my shoulders feeling it unimportant to tell him that I was leaving and decided to find Joker to tell him that I was fine for the next performance.
(I don't like this part so I'm sorry if it's bad) I ran into Dagger on my search and asked if he had seen Joker. Apparently Joker had gone to see Father without me and the others. Leaving me behind was an understandable decision. I was lying in a hospital tent bed, I couldn't go with him even if I said I was feeling completely fine.
I left Dagger to wander about the camp, still deep in my thoughts about Joker leaving. Why couldn't the feeling that something terrible was going to happen? Why was the atmosphere in the camp so gloomy tonight?
I came to a stop while walking asI came to Beast's tent heard sounds coming from the inside. It sounded like... moaning. I knew the one moaning as if there was no tomorrow was Beast, but the male talking was unrecognizable. His words were velvet and silk and smooth and all too perfect and demonic at the same time. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks all at once. It was Black. His voice was more rich and demonic than when he was talking with Smile or anyone else in the circus. He was doing a lot more than talking with Beast. I couldn't bear to listen to what they were talking about while screwing each other so I lifted into the air without a second thought on whether or not I should stay. It was obvious that I shouldn't stay.
I couldn't get the sound of Beast's moaning out of my head. It repeated over and over again. Pleasant to hear, no. Awkward to stumble upon, yes. I never wanted to witness people having sex for the rest of my life.
It came close to midnight and the first-tier members all held a meeting in the practice tent. Wendy had grabbed me and taken me to the tent because I was the only one who wasn't aware of the meeting. When both of us arrived, we stumbled upon Doll being hit by an angry Peter.
"Peter was that necessary?" I said, causing Peter to get even more outraged.
"Where were you Bird! We thought you left with them!" Peter said
"Left? With who?" I asked.
"With Black and Smile and Suit! The outsiders left! I told you not to trust outsiders Doll!"
"But- but I thought what was the harm?! He was just a boy and he had no place else to go!" Doll said. "And he promised me! We even shook on it!"
Peter was about to smack her again when Jumbo cut in. "Peter wait. They could be from the Yard for all we know. Which means it's dangerous for us to stay here."
"Yeah but Joker's already gone to see Father. What are we supposed to do n-" Dagger said before he was cut off by Peter.
"We agreed to do it without Joker if necessary! The decision's already made."
"We can't fail. Father will be very angry since this boy seems special." Jumbo said.
"Right," Peter continued, "We have to get this done before we leave London. The target's home is somewhere near here so this shouldn't be a problem. We'll leave tomorrow. Everyone better ready. That's settled, we should report to Joker."
"I'll go after him." Beast suddenly said stepping out of the shadow.
"No. Doll and Bird should go instead. After all, someone needs to look after Doll and I don't think Bird is ready to fight after coming back from her illness," Wendy said.
"Come with me then. I'll get you guys a horse."
"Are you guys sure that you should be trying to murder the kid? The two brawns seemed to be keen on protecting the boy while he was here, especially Black..." I spoke up.
"We have to. We have no other choice. If they found out what we did while they were here it'll be the end to all of us. We have to kill them all."
It hurt seeing Peter and the others upset. But I knew they were right. We couldn't let someone take our happiness just because they decided to be nosy.
And before we knew it, we were riding off into the flames of hell themselves.
