Your POV:
A Week Later
A soft hum escapes my lips as I scratch beneath my chin in thought. Currently, I stand in the basement of my manor. Why? Because I wanted to put something down here. I'm torn between a game room and a pool. Both would be pretty neat. It's very spacious, so I can do a lot with it. I, however, end up lost in thought.
'I have a lot of rooms in this place, so I also have to think about what I'm going to put in those as well.' My thoughts of ideas are cut short by the sound of heavy steps descending the stairs. I turn towards the doorway, where Drossel makes an appearance from the shadows. His joints make little creaking noises as he moves. I greet the doll with a welcoming smile on my lips.
"Hey, Drossel. You need something?" I ask curiously, for he rarely seeks me out without reason. He nods his head, another click resonating from the joint in his neck.
"Two men in white have dropped by. They told me to give this to you, my lady," he informs in his usual, flat voice as he holds out a letter for me to take. I quirk a brow upon seeing the familiar sight of the Queen's seal.
"Thank you," I say as I take it from his gloved fingers. I form a letter opener out of a candy wrapper I had buried in my pocket from earlier. I break the seal and open the letter before reading the words silently in my head.
'Dear Y/N, my Teddy Bear,
I hope you've been well. There's something I must ask of you. I have a new task that I'd like you to take care of, however, it is not a performance. I'm sure you'll be capable enough to handle it, though, which is why I've decided to assign this case to you. There is a freak show going country to country. In the places they've visited, there have been reports of men, women, and children disappearing. We have reason to believe they may be tied to these incidents.'
I pull away from reading with knitted brows when I recognize a familiar link with this case and another in the Black Butler universe, The Book of Circus season.
'What is this, some sort of knockoff? That's just lazy writing.' With a soft sigh and a roll of my eyes, I continue where I left off.
'I fear for the safety of my people and would hate for the same events to happen in this country as it has in others. Please, look into this freak show to verify if they are the cause of these disappearance. Do inform me when you receive an answer after a thorough investigation.
I wish you well. Good luck.'
I hum, knowing I'd have no choice but to investigate. I had no problems with checking it out anyway. I note that a teal ticket was attached to the letter, allowing one admission to the Emory Freak Show.
'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a look at it. I'd hate for more disappearances to happen. Let's see, the date on the ticket says it's good for today only.' I hum softly.
'Good thing Ash can move around on his own now. I'm sure he can manage for a day or two on his own. He was a butler after all. I'll have to tell him I'll be gone for a while, since I'll be a bit busy taking care of this assignment.' Drossel, who stood directly behind me as I read, skimmed over the words on the letter in my hands to know why I was so deep in thought.
"Drossel, can you bring the carriage around to the front?" I saw no reason to tell him why, seeing as he read the same letter I did.
"Right away, my lady." The doll bows to me at a sharp angle as he usually does before leaving the room. I chuckle lightly.
"He's such a sweetheart," I mutter before leaving the basement to go back to my own universe. I'll contemplate what to put down there after my mission. I find Ash having a lunch of cucumber sandwiches at the table in the dining room.
"Back so soon?" He raises a brow when he spots me standing in the doorway. I usually spent a lot of time at the manor, only coming here to check on the former angel in case he needed something. I was thinking about getting him a phone for emergency purposes.
"Yeah. I just wanted to ask if you'd be all right if I left for a couple days. The Queen gave me an important assignment, so..."
He sighs in annoyance as he sips his green tea.
"I'll be fine." He waves me off with the flick of his wrist. "Good luck on your case."
"Thanks. Don't die while I'm gone, all right?" I say jokingly as I go back to the T.V. I'm almost one hundred percent positive he rolled his amethyst eyes at me for it. After diving through the T.V. screen, I can't help but yelp when I slide onto the ground outside the manor.
"Ugh. Note to self," I rub my head gently as I sit up, "never dive." I stand up and dust myself off, only to find that my white, long sleeve shirt and black jeans have been coated with dirt. I sigh in frustration.
"Great." I push my hair back with a pout. Drossel pulls up in front of me, driving a fancy, black carriage that I had created a while ago so that we could have transportation for everybody.
At the head of it is four, black and white horses. What made them unique was the white parts made them look like a skeleton, a design similar to the one on Sebastian's cat.
Why did I make them look like this? Because they look cool as hell! Arthur opens the front door and steps outside. He holds in a laugh at my messy appearance.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm hideous." I laugh lightly myself.
"Well, I hope you aren't leavin' like that." He chuckles as he walks past me to open the door.
"Of course not. I have too much class to walk around like this." I tug at my shirt collar, transforming my outfit from the single touch to something that matched the time era.
"Much better." I enter the carriage, Arthur grabbing my hand to assist me. I take a seat and wave at the blue eyed male. "Bye, Arthur."
"Have fun, Y/N." With a smile on his face, he shuts the door and makes a hand gesture to Drossel, so he knows to start driving. I hear the snap of the reins and a neigh from the horses before the carriage jerks forward when it starts moving. The ride starts out bumpy, but the cushion bench helped make it more comfortable. I was surprised Drossel even knew where to go, but I wasn't about to question it. I'm sure he just did some research on the place or something.
The carriage stops upon entering a large clearing (meant for traveling attractions, I assume), where booths, tents, and cages filled the space. The cages looked as though they were originally meant to hold circus animals, but I could all ready tell that wasn't the case. Standing at the entrance is a ticket booth and a sign that clearly stated this was the place. Drossel opens the carriage door and offers his hand to assist me out. I graciously accept his help and exit the vehicle. As expected, people stared in my direction, mainly for my unusual horses. I release the doll's gloves hand as I look up at the entrance.
"Drossel, park the carriage somewhere and wait for me. I'll try not to take too long."
"As you wish, my lady." With a light bow, he shuts the door before seating himself at the driver's seat of the coach. He guides the horses somewhere safe to wait for my return. I make my way past the booth, where a line of customers stood to get tickets to reach the person taking the tickets of those who wanted to enter. I hand a chubby, blonde lady my ticket before entering the freak show. A man dressed in black stood on a podium, welcoming everyone to the place.
"Welcome one and all to the most horrendous, terrifying show of the century! Creatures you'd only see in your nightmares have come to life have gathered together in one place for your entertainment! Welcome, one and all, to the world renowned Emory Freak Show!" The Irishman shouts in a booming voice, coaxing the people who stood outside the entrance to see the show. I ignore the brunette, walking past him as he continues to draw in customers. My eyes scan the many cages as I walk past them. In each is a deformed person and outside of them are signs that state their stage names. I mentally take note of each as I pass them by.
Human Ragdoll: a thirteen-year-old girl with many stitches covering her body in many places. She has a head full of matted, red hair and black eyes.
"Poor thing," I mutter, seeing the look of gloom on her face. The next is a woman with goat legs, who looked to be in her late twenties. He title is The Devil's Lover, something I got bit of a kick out of. I could only imagine Sebastian's reaction to the lady's name. Next is The Bearded Lady, which is pretty self-explanatory. Things only seemed to get more and more disturbing as I went on, passing beings without faces or many limbs. I actually felt myself being unnerved.
"Come one, come all! The main event is about to begin! Please, make your way to the main tent," came the faint words of the Irish announcer from before. After hearing this, I head to the largest tent in the area, where the main show supposedly takes place. It's colored a light green and is big enough to hold a large crowd.
Inside wasn't exactly fancy, filled with a stage surrounded by cheep chairs for the audience to sit on. Seeing as the seats were filling up fast, I move quickly to snag one in the front row. Once everyone is settled, a man in his thirties step out onto the stage. He's dressed in black slacks and shoes, a white button up, a dark grey tie, and a grey vest. Atop his head in a dark grey top hat. Workers push in four changes covered in dingy sheets into the tent, making everything grow quiet in anticipation. I will admit, my own curiosity had been peeked as well.
"Welcome, everyone, to the main event! Behind me are cages holding the very first members of our team of freaks. First up: The Human Pretzel!" The first cage's sheet was pulled off by a lady dressed in a teal dress to reveal a nervous boy who had to have been at least sixteen. His hair is light brown, and his eyes are navy blue.
He's dressed only in black shorts that reach down to his knees, leaving the majority of his flesh visible. The woman opens the cage door, giving him the option to leave it.
"Come out now," the man demands. The boy bites his bottom lip as his eyes pin to the crowd. He gets up from his seated position and exits the cage to get on stage. His body is lean, standing at 5'8. He takes a deep breath once he reaches center stage before bending his body into an odd position that left the audience in awe...well, most of the audience. I've seen this sort of stuff before thanks to the internet having been shoved into my brain.
'Thank you, Google,' I think to myself, holding in a chuckle. The boy finished off his routine by completely folding himself in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.
The boy unfolds himself easily before quickly going back into the cage. The crowd claps for him once he finished, me included. It was a neat skill.
"Now, for our next act, we have a very nightmarish face that will make you quake with fear. Welcome: The Skeleton Twins!"
The white sheet covering the cage beside the brown haired teen was removed by the lady, revealing two figures that sat inside with potato sacks over their heads. My brows scrunch together in thought as two chairs were brought out on stage by stagehands. The lady enters the prison and grabs the twins' wrists before guiding them out of the cage. She pulls them onto the stage and seats them onto the chairs. The man stands between the two, grabbing a hold of their sacks before roughly tugging them off.
I, along with a few other members of the audience, gasp in horror. With wide eyes, I stare at the twins' faces, which were missing quite a bit of skin. Half of their faces showed their skull clear as day, hell, even one eye was missing from the both of them. Parts of their body resembled their face, showing bits of revealed bone, particularly on their shoulders and collarbones. On their heads is a mop of messy, white locks, one having a strand of red hair. They both have a lavender orb in the part of their face that still looked human.
*That's basically how they look, but just imagine the skull parts and the purple eyes*
Both shake violently upon meeting everyone's disgusted and surprised faces. Their hands twitch, making me know that they both desired to hide their faces. They stop themselves, however, for whatever reason. Poor things. I can't blame them for shaking. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to have them only wear shorts in this weather? Perhaps there was another reason for their trembling. That look of fear in their eyes was hard to miss, but why are they scared? Something wasn't right here. I have to look away from them for a bit to collect my thoughts of what I just saw.
'How could someone end up like that? What happened to them?' I wasn't the only one taken back by their appearance, for the surrounding audience appeared greatly disturbed by what they had seen as well. I force myself to look at them again, accidentally making eye contact with one of them before the sack was pulled back over his head. The same thing happens to the other one before they're put back into their cage. The man wastes no time in introducing the next attraction, regaining everyone's attention.
"I know, I know. Terrifying, aren't they. Now, for our next freak of nature, welcome The Man Without Pain!"
The next sheet is removed, showing a muscular man who had to be in his early twenties with forest green hair and sky blue eyes.
He showed no emotion as he exited the cage, but it was hard to ignore the fact that his body is littered with fresh and old scars. Again, all they wore was black shorts so that everyone could see the numerous abrasions. His eyes stay low to the ground. Though his posture wasn't the best, he was clearly tall, around 6' 3 maybe. He sits in one of the chairs and the tent goes silent in anticipation.
Before anyone could react, a sword is plunged through his shoulder. He never flinched, nor did he groan when the blade ran him through. I was left in shock, my mouth agape as daggers and swords pierced his body. None were removed as this continued. In the end, his hands were run through by daggers, pinning them to the wooden arms of the chair, many of the blades were sheathed in his legs and back. Blood drips onto the stage, pooling at the male's feet. Still, not a sound left him. His eyes flick up, locking on mine. They show a thin film of tears that threatened to leak down his cheeks. If he truly cannot feel pain, then why is he near tears?
'This is sick!' I clench my fists angrily, gritting my teeth as well.
'This isn't okay! He's gonna bleed out!'
While I sat there in anger and disbelief, the surrounding crowd of people cheered in amazement when weapons were pulled from the man. All had clapped except for me. How could I possibly applaud something like this?
'Why are they enjoying this? It's torture.'
The eyes of the green haired man widen in surprise when he sees my expression. Since he was too busy staring at me, the had to be brought back into reality by being shoved back into his cage by force. The man who announced them had treated him as though he were a wild animal even though he had done nothing. I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of the cages were? For entertainment purposes, or to keep their attractions put? Whatever the answer was, I wasn't liking it. This show is a nightmare, and I'm not referring to the freak show members.
"And now, for our final freak, we have a beautiful maiden pulled from the sea. Welcome The Lovely Mermaid!"
The finally sheet drops off of a large tank that equaled the size of the circus cages. Inside the mass of blue water is a girl with long, silver hair, a pale blue fish tail, and gills. A frown rests on her delicate lips as she stares dully into the crowd with her deep blue eyes.
The man glares at the mermaid with his dark grey eyes as though he were sending her a warning. She visibly flinches under his intense gaze and forces a smile onto her pale face. Her teeth are jagged, like Grell's. She jumps out of the water and does a flip to please the man, and everyone cheers. Those up front, like me, were splashed with a bit of water. It didn't really bother me, but some of the others were less than thrilled. The rest of the audience was far too amazed to care, though.
"That's all, folks! Now, go enjoy the rest of the show! There's plenty more monsters to gaze at!"
Gradually, people exited the tent, going to view the cages outside of the main tent while some stayed to poke fun at the main cast, mainly children. I catch onto perverted comments from some of the men that were observing the mermaid, who was topless. I send a strong glare at them, however, they don't seem to notice.
'These people make me sick.'
My gaze lands on the twins. A group of children surrounded their cage, throwing popcorn and other snack items at the two. Whenever they received a direct hit, they'd jump, amusing the kids even more. I sigh, feeling a pit in my stomach as I looked at all of them. They seemed to hate it here.
'Something is definitely up.' I leave the area, unable to watch this anymore, and search for anything else that would be considered clues. However, I came up empty handed. Along the way, I stopped for some popcorn. I toss a piece of the buttery treat into my mouth before sighing softly in defeat. There wasn't much else to look at. A brilliant idea suddenly comes my mind, making my eyes light up.
'I should go undercover like Ciel did in Book of Circus.'