Nightmare kind of Dream

Eternals

I was drenched in sweat, my own and some other's when physical contact was exchanged, waiting for my cue to jump in the ring again. When Bill said another performance I didn't imagine joining a circus with other Companions.

"Pines! Focus!" Norman's voice ordered from the trapeze that was coming at me. "Jump!" 

Step. Jump. It's been like this for hours now. Jumping off a thinner than trustworthy stand and holding tight to someone for dear life as we both swing to my next landing.

First it started out with testing flexibility and other such things that are practiced in a circus family that cause awe, wonder, and maybe disgust to an audience. Then it was decided that I'd be a better knife throwing target or getting tossed around by people on trapeze. Thankfully, yet not so much, Norman gave me a third option to be center of the ring. That in which led Bill adorned me with a second set of cuffs on my forearms, only these can change into sparkable batons for the grand finale.

"Brace yourself." Norman warned. How the main instructor was chosen to be my trust partner in the show, I will never understand. I only held firm to his arms as he did to mine. He unhooked his legs from the trapeze bar and sent us tumbling downward, it's my turn now, I twisted a bit and let go of his right arm, grabbing for the peach colored satin streamer and pulled Norman around to get his hold on it as well. "Good." he commented, holding tight long enough for me to get my leg wrapped in the fabric and maneuver the both of us down a little bit more graceful than my last attempts.

Both sets of feet stably placed on the ground, I fell back on my ass in relief to finally get it right. "Alright, you got it this time." the instructor praised. "Next up is to torch the grand finale, so rest up quick," His attention was caught by two others that were tangled in one of the other streamers. "And I'll be right back." he finished before jogging over to the troubled duo.

I laid back on the cool stone floor. It took several hours to figure out, adjust, then perfect the opening launch to my doom and continue out without mistake, now another several hours to go on figuring, adjusting, then perfecting the finale. I'm too tired for all this.

"Thirsty?" I looked up to Marco, who stood offering a bottle.

As I sat up he sat down beside me, I took the bottle from him and downed a good portion of it.

"I never learned your name the last time we met." The hispanic male commented. "I'm Marco." He offered out his hand with a cheerful smile.

"Dipper." I replied taking his hand and exchanging a shake. "I already knew your name before we met."

I earned a curious look. "Oh?" he questioned. "That's not creepy." he added sarcastically.

I chuckled. "Your first battle, Bill dragged me to the entertainment wing and we were found by, er, Tom." I explained handing his bottle back. "By the way, how bad were you hurt after that? We heard a cry from the pit but I didn't see what happened after Tom ran to your aid."

Marco rolled his eyes while shaking his head slightly. "I wasn't hurt, Tom likes to coddle me and treat me like I'm defenseless. But my opponent wasn't happy for his loss." he snickered mischievously.

I stared at him impressed. "Really?" I asked. "I thought the guy you were fighting was blooded."

Marco shook his head again. "Blooding a human takes three days to do in a dark room." he explained. "And a blooded Companion isn't allowed to fight against a non-blooded Companion."

This bit of information interested me. Well not the blooded against non-blooded bit, that was obvious. "I heard that the blooding human is given blood from a hell animal, is it injected or...?"

"Ingested." Marco answered. "Tom explained it to me. A human is put in a Dark Chamber where there is no sound and no light. The human isn't allowed to eat before the process but during the process, the human is supposed to ingest a bowl of one chosen hell animal blood each day in the three days." he continued as I listened intently. "On the third evening the demon that contracted with the former human has to offer a chunk of raw meat to the now blooded Companion so a new relationship can form."

I tipped my head to the side confused. "New relationship?"

He chuckled lightly. "Instead of Companion and Contractor it would usually be Beast and Tamer." Then he looked at the ground in thought. "Though in some cases the new relationship soon evolved into Eternals." A light blush dusted his cheeks driving me into a new confusion.

"What are Eternals?" I asked.

Marco smiled faintly, for some reason it made me think of the so called glow of a pregnant mother. "Eternals are paired partners. Forever partners." he answered like it was that simple to understand. But, thankfully, he saw I still didn't understand. "It's basically marriage with no divorce allowed." he clarified.

I let that sink in for a bit. "So people actually marry demons?" I questioned. "Willingly?" I added as an emphasis.

The man rolled his eyes and nodded. "Not all demons are hooves, horns, and hellfire, Dipper." He nudged me playfully. "Just give them a chance and you'll see how much they restrain themselves for the delicates they care about."

I didn't know what to say about that. I didn't see Bill caring about anything but his stupid palace and his ego. But then why did he go through measures to make a contract with me? What is with his obsession of possessing me?

"Hey Dipper." Norman nudged my leg with his foot. I blinked back to reality and looked up at him then to where Marco sat. The hispanic was gone like he wasn't there. "You okay?" Norman asked. I looked up at him again.

"Yea, I'm fine." I answered. "Just thinking." I got to my feet and dusted the nonexistent dirt from my training uniform.

He nodded, "Good you still can do that on your own." he teased lightly. "Unlike a good portion of the Companions here." Norman frowned a pair of duos that were practicing with a brain dead expression on each face.

"Poor unfortunate souls." I murmured softly. "But let's get started, shall we?" I looked away from the numb looking pairs.