Cela leaves the circus and runs the whole way home, with tears running down her face, not even caring who sees her, with her make-up all smudged from crying and mascara mixed in with her tears. She reaches her small house before barging in, scaring the life out of Anne and WD who were waiting up to make sure she got home safely.
The two see the state that their sister is in and immediately rush to her side, closing the front door as they lead her towards the couch.
"What happened, did he hurt you?" WD asks hurriedly, feeling anger in his veins as he thinks of what Philip could have done to his sister.
Cela shakes her head, before explaining to her brother what had happened, Anne pulling her sobbing sister into a tight hug when she finishes.
"Oh, Cela," Anne says with a small sigh, wishing her sister would just put aside what everyone else will think and just be happy. Anne looks to WD who gives her a small nod before he kisses Cela's forehead and Anne takes her to their room, cleaning her make-up off her face before helping her into her bed.
Just as Anne gets into her own bed and is about to reach over and turn off her lamp, Cela's voice breaks the silence, making her freeze at the three words her sister says.
"Anne, I love him" She hears her sister say sleepily, causing her eyes to widen. She knew her older sister had strong feelings towards Philip but she never thought that she would admit to loving him, hearing Cela's heavy breathing she knows that her older sister is asleep and reaches over, turning the lamp off before closing her eyes and letting darkness surround her.
...
A few days later they were doing another show, Barnum was still on tour with Miss Lind, leaving Philip in charge of the circus. Things between Cela and Philip have been different, they are a little closer, more touchy but Cela still refuses to let anything happen between them, things have also been slightly awkward since what happened the night of the theater when she admitted that she was worried about how people would look at him if they were together, but despite the awkwardness they still can't manage to keep away from each other.
Right now Cela and Philip were standing together at the entrance to the circus, the show ended a few minutes ago and people are leaving, Philip is telling people that he hopes they enjoyed the show while Cela is smiling down at a small group of four children, three boys and one girl, who are asking her how she gets the animals to do what she wants.
"Magic," she says softly with a wink, causing the children to beam at her giggling as they look at each other, the young girl looking at Cela with awe and wonder in her eyes, as the older girl smiles softly at her. Suddenly two woman and two men come up to the children giving Cela disgusted looks as they usher their children away from her, Philip glares at the parents when he sees how Cela's smile quickly drops and she looks at the floor.
After everyone leaves Philip turns to Cela, smiling.
"Ignore them, at least the children loved you," He says making Cela smile as she thought of the sweet kids.
"Yeah, I've always loved kids," She says softly.
"Do you want some of your own?" Philip asks her, thinking of how he would love to have his own kids with her.
Cela nods "I want two. One boy and one girl" She says, imagining herself with kids "But I don't know if I would want to bring children of my own into a world like this," she says as she shakes her head.
"Maybe things will change in a few years time," He says as he looks at her with loving eyes.
"Maybe," She says but he can hear the doubtfulness in her voice.
The two go to walk away when they hear someone shout.
"Hey, ringmaster!" A man shouts causing the two to turn around and walk slowly towards the group of men that they have only just noticed. Philip steps protectively in front of Cela when he sees how some of the men are looking at her and feels her place her hands flat on his back gently, obviously nervous when she realizes that the men are some of the protesters.
"Gentlemen, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Philip says sternly, a frown on his face.
The leader of the men walks forward slightly, making Cela fist some of Philips shirt in her small hands feeling herself tense up and Philip moves a little bit more in front of her, hoping to block her from the man's view.
"This is our town, son, we think you should leave," He says as WD walks over, seeing how scared his little sister is "You and your freaks, and your spooks," He says looking between Cela and WD, the older of the two giving him a death glare.
"Sir" Philip says clenching his jaw as he gets the mans attention off the cowering girl behind him "I will only ask once more," He says trying to keep calm.
"Then what, boy?" The man asks, his voice slightly louder this time, causing Cela to jump slightly.
WD suddenly jumps forward making Cela's eyes widen as she gasps, watching her brother punch the man in the face making him fall into the arms of the men behind him.
A man comes up and punches WD back as Philip hurriedly tries to get Cela out of the room before she got hurt, but when another man comes up and punches him he falls to the ground.
"Philip!" Cela gasps out as she goes to run towards him and try to help him, but she is pushed to the ground, hitting her head hard.
"No, Cela! Don't touch her!" Philip shouts as he sees the girl lying on the ground, while two men held him down and another starts punching him, as he struggles to get to the girl he loves.
Cela lifts her head feeling slightly dazed as she looks around, she touches her face when she feels something trickle from her nose and sees blood coating her fingers, she looks up noticing that all the other oddities have now joined in on the fight, Anne rushes to her sisters' side to help her up, as she brings her to backstage and into the older girls dressing room and sits her down on the seat at her vanity mirror.
"You wait here and I'll get something for your head and nose, ok?" Anne says as she sees the small bump forming on Cela's forehead. The older girl nods drowsily feeling slightly light-headed, as she watches her sister leave the room.
A few minutes later Cela starts getting her senses back when she smells smoke, she stands, still slightly unsteady and makes her way to her dressing room door, her eyes widening when sees the fire starting to consume the whole circus. She coughs, as she makes her way through the thick smoke trying to find her way out of the building, she gets to the ring where the man from earlier that WD had punched is standing, his back towards her before he turns around to face the scared young girl.
...
Philip helps Lettie out of the burning building, looking back to see it now completely consumed by fire.
"Everyone, stay close!" he says as the oddities all help each other out. People screaming from the sides as they see what has happened.
"Hey, hey! Philip! Philip is everyone out!?" Barnum shouts as he grabs Philip's shoulder, getting his attention.
"Yeah yeah," Philip says slightly dazed. Just then Anne comes running from the side of the building.
"WD!" She shouts as she runs into her older brothers arms.
"WD, Anne, where's Cela?!"Philip shouts, his eyes widen and he feels his heart stop when he realizes she's not here.
"I thought she came out here to you, I went back to her changing room just after the fire started and she was gone, so I thought she had already left!" Anne says, tears falling when she realizes her older sister is still in the burning building.
Philip looks at the siblings before he sprints into the building without hesitation.
"No, no!" Barnum shouts trying to stop him, but when WD also goes to run in he has to wrap his arms around him to hold him back. Barnum looks back at his wife and children, Charity giving him a look as she knows what he's about to do, he turns around ignoring Helen and Caroline as they call his name, and enters the building. Everyone watches as the roof suddenly falls, making them all gasp as Helen and Caroline grip their mother crying, Anne turns around and buries her head into WD's chest, sobbing.
...
The protester from earlier turns around when he hears, Cela's coughing, a malicious smile making its way onto his face as he takes in the scared girl in front of him.
"Well, well, well, seems like they left you behind, hmm? At least if I die I can take one of you freaks down with me" He says, taking a knife out of his pocket and stalking towards the young girl, who's finding it harder and harder to breathe through the smoke.
"Please, sir, please don't hurt me," She says stepping back, but the man grabs her and pins her back against his chest, holding the knife up against her throat, making Cela's eyes widen, her eyes feeling watery from both tears and the smoke.
"Shut up" He growls in her ear, shoving the knife into the skin on her neck and cutting it, drawing a small amount of blood, making her cry out.
"Cela!" She hears a familiar voice as she starts to feel light-headed again, this time due to the amount of smoke she has inhaled.
"Philip!" She screams at the top of her lungs, hoping he will hear her. A second later Philip shows up at the entrance to the ring, his eyes widening as he sees, a barely conscious Cela, being held by the man from earlier with a knife against her throat.
Philip feels rage run through his veins as he stalks towards the man, who starts cowering and blubbering under the intense glare Philip was sending him, but before he could do anything to hurt the girl anymore, Philip hits him, hard enough to knock him unconscious.
Ignoring the pain in his hand, Philip stumbles towards the girl, the smoke making him light-headed also, he wraps her small arm around his shoulders before lifting her small body and trying to carry her out, finding it harder and harder to stay awake. Just before he falls unconscious, he sees Barnum running towards them.
...
The Barnum and Wheeler family, stand outside crying over the loss of their loved ones, as they watch the building fall apart.
Helen suddenly sees something making her squint, but a smile soon breaks out on her face as she realizes what it is.
"Daddy!" She shouts a smile lighting up her face, as she sees Barnum walking out of the building, with Philip and Cela's arms around his shoulders.
Anne lets out a cry as she rushes to her sister side when Barnum placed them on the ground, WD not far behind her.
"They've taken in a lot of smoke, but they're still breathing, come on," He says, as WD lift his sister bridle style in his arms, and puts her on the stretcher, Barnum doing the same with Philip before his daughters crush him in a hug.
...
That night in the hospital, Anne and WD sit at their sister's side, waiting for her to wake up.
"He risked his life to save her," Anne says, voice hoarse from crying as she glances over at Philip, who's in the bed right beside Cela's.
WD nods "I didn't like him at first but now I can see how much they care about each other," He says, smiling softly as he looks between the two.
Suddenly they hear Cela moan, causing their heads to snap over in her direction, as Anne stands up and grabs her older sister's hand.
"What happened?" Cela asks softly, eyes squinted, because of the brightness of the room, feeling a pounding in her head.
"The fire. Philip went in to save you" Anne says, causing Cela's eyes to widen.
"Philip. Is he ok?" She asks worried, her voice hoarse and sore from the smoke she inhaled.
Anne glances over to the bed Philip is lying in, Cela's eyes following her's as she jumps from her bed and rushes to his side, stumbling in the process.
Anne and WD run to her side seeing that she is still slightly dizzy.
"You should rest, Cela, you inhaled a lot of smoke, and you also have a slight concussion," WD says softly.
"He ran into a burning building to save me," She says ignoring her brother as she sits on the edge of Philips bed, feeling tears come to her eyes as she thinks of how he risked his life for her.
Anne looks at her sister, a knowing look crossing over her face as she grabs WD's hand and drags him to the door of the hospital.
"We'll let you get some rest," She says as they leave the room, leaving Cela alone with Philip.
Cela grabs Philips hand in both of her, bringing it up and resting her chin on it, as she listens to his rough heavy breathing.
"What if we, rewrite the stars" She sings, her voice cracking as she lets her tears fall "Say you were meant to be mine. Nothing can keep us apart. Cause you are the one I was meant to find" She says stuttering to get the words out, having to stop in between every sentence to try and keep herself together. It's now, with him lying in a hospital bed after running into a burning building to find her, that Cela realizes how much Philip really does care about her, she thinks maybe she should give it a chance.
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Word Count: 2409