literature

-cd- Close call -arc event 4-

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Literature Text

Warning: Includes cursing.



The circus had never been... a cheerful place, exactly. No, from the moment you were trapped in it, you had very few choice but to abandon all hope of a normal life ever again. And yet, even in a place as dark and dreary as Circus Darkrai, happiness had found a way to manifest, through the people in there. As long as the employees never abandoned their sense of self and compassion, there was a way to survive and, as Amalbéa had found, even find moments of enjoyment among the bleakness of life inside the circus. 

Despite of the sadness and suffering dominating the atmosphere inside the circus, the place itself was safe - after the encounter with their ringmaster, it was the outside world that had become dangerous and threatening, and the only place to offer any kind of salvation was the circus, which then collected all the lost, unfortunate souls mr Dark had found. 

All that had changed suddenly, and now no one was safe in the only place that had offered them relief from whatever demise their lives had turned into, and it all started with the first warning signs. 

First the ringleader himself had gone missing, and the unseen vandals had appeared, thrashing the place. Instead of dampening everyone's spirits, however, that stunt seemed to have only brought up a new-found sense of companionship and team morale, as everyone had done their share to fix and clean up the circus grounds as well as help others. After a while, the sense of freedom of not being under Dark's constant glare had brought up enough cheer for them to hold a masquerade - and what a lovely evening that had been. It had brought back the hope many had abandoned, that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright, after all. 

That hope had quickly been washed out as the backfires of their 'wishes' started to kick in. Fear and confusion quickly spread among the circus, as well as pain they had all wanted to avoid with coming here. That time was still a haze to Amalbéa, she could only remember struggling with her disappearing memories and sense of self, which was only now starting to slowly return. Large chunks of her past were still missing and she was yet to regain the special ability to see with her Psychic, but at least she wasn't reverting back to her younger self anymore. 

The confusion brought along restlessness, which had driven Amalbéa out of her train cart and into the cool winter air outside. She knew about the attacks, about the vandals making a reappearance, but it was noon, the brightest time of the day - surely no one would dare or bother to attack an old, blind woman in the middle of the day, right? 

The cool air helped the fortune teller's nerves somewhat, but the silence in the scenery as only her shuffling footsteps echoed in the empty circus kept her on a constant edge. On one hand, it was comforting there seemed to be no one else around, as that meant the vandals weren't here either - on the other, it was eerie and almost disturbing not to hear a single sound coming from the usually lively circus full of sounds. She really should've asked someone to accompany her, she thought as she hastened her step slightly, already hoping to return to the relative safety of her cart. 

"Well well well, if it ain't the sweet old gramma, finally comin' out of hidin'", an unfamiliar voice spoke startlingly close, startling the togekiss and causing her to halt her step. 

"Who is it?" Amalbéa called out, willing her voice to stay steady and neutral, hiding the nervousness she felt. 

"Would you look at that now, putting up such a brave front for us, isn't that just adorable", another voice sounded, this time a female one. Amalbéa frowned slightly, feeling slightly annoyed despite the unnerving situation. 

"Ganging up on a helpless old woman, now? Who are you and what do you want?" she asked again, listening intently for the sounds around her. Now that they had revealed themselves, Amalbéa could hear footsteps circling her, four in total - there were two more. 

"Ooooh, she's got spunk, this one!"  

"We're gonna enjooooy this!" there was the third and fourth sound, both male yet again, seemingly younger than the other two. 

"As to who we are, ma'am..." the first male spoke, the honorific was accentuated as a mockery, "well, let's just say ye'll find out eventually... if ye'll survive until that, that is", he finished, and all four laughed at that. Amalbéa could feel the cold fear spreading inside her, however she had never been the one to go quietly. 

"Well aren't you such a brave lot yourselves", she quipped, holding herself a little taller as she spoke, "does it really take four people to intimidate a blind old woman, now? Buh, nothing but a bunch of children", she scoffed. The fear in her begged for her to stop, to shut up, but her sense of self denied that request. She wouldn't just stand around while these, these... terrorists attempted to spook her into submission, no sir. Besides, what would beggin even accomplish? If these were the same scoundrels that had attacked everyone else, Amalbéa doubted they would stop just because she'd ask nicely. 

A short, stunned silence followed. "Why, you..." the female said with an angry snarl, the playfulness from her voice gone. 

"Besides, whatever would you ever wish to gain from hurting this 'sweet old grandma'?" Amalbéa continued quoting their own words, the grey eyes that usually held a playful glint in them now cold steel as she regarded the empty darkness, listening to her harassers and silently preparing for a counter measure. 

"Sweet old... you're nothing but an old hag, freak!" the woman all but screamed, now sounding from in front of Amalbéa. 

"Uh oh..." one of the younger voices sounded. 

"She's mad..." quipped the other. 

"You stay out of this, this one's mine", the woman snarled yet again, and Amalbéa heard a sound of a hard object hitting the ground. 

"Sure, not one to hittin' 'em old ladies, anyway", the first male spoke. 

"Oh I am going to enjoy this..." the woman sounded, and Amalbéa readied herself. Then the telltale grunt sounded as the woman swung something decisively heavy at her way, and right on time Amalbéa's eyes flashed pink as her Telekinesis lifted everything in a five meter radius around her in the air, yells of surprise sounding around her. Instead of standind around and waiting for them to recover, the togekiss used her wings for a short speed boost to gain distance and continued to run from her attackers. She didn't get too far, however, as the pain of falling hit her body suddenly, at the same time as she heard a series of thuds from behind her. Ah... she had heard this being mentioned as well, the pain you inflicted on them would be inflicted on oneself as well... It was a good thing she had opted for the Telekinesis instead of, say, Psychic... 

Grunting from the sudden pain Amalbéa continued her run, already hearing angry yells as her attackers got up from the ground and started the pursuit. She knew she couldn't outrun them, she knew she couldn't attack... She could only try to hide and hope to evade them. Imagining the layout of the circus, she ducked inside one of the tents, carefully making her way through it and out from under the fabric on the other side, immediately going for the next tent, going through tents like so hoping to gain distance as quickly as possible. 

"Come on now, you know you can't run or hide from us", the female called out with a giggle, the playfulness back in her voice - she was close, and Amalbéa was already losing energy, fast. She needed a place to hide, now rather than later. Quickly slipping into a yet another tent, she felt around - a shop of sorts, of all kinds of trinkets and perhaps charms. The table was upright and a thick tablecloth hang from it, covering what was underneath. Good enough, she decided, as she ducked underneath and crawled to the farthest corner, feeling around and being careful not to rustle the outer fabric of the tent. And then she waited. 

"Come out, come out, where ever you are", she heard the calls and the steps looking for her, unnervingly close to where she was hiding. 

"Aww, did you get mad? I'm sooorryy, I just want to taaalk", the taunting was anything but sincere, what with the chorus of muffled giggles sounding after it. And all the while the steps were getting closer and closer - Amalbéa felt the fear stuck in her throat as she tried not to pant in the thick, suffocating air under the table. She needed to do something, or they'd find her. 

Out of options, she readied a Metronome. She knew she was taking a risk, especially if she summoned something like Draco Meteor - she wouldn't walk out of that one. There was one cheerful thought about that, however, she figured with a small smile. At least she would be taking them with her. She would've laughed if she'd dared to in her situation. She was way too old for this much bravery. 

Then the evitable came and the tents entrance was yanked open, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. Amalbéa held her breath. 

"Perhaps...", the female voice droned out, clearly playing with her, and the togekiss was all ready to summon her attack. Please, be something useful... 

"HERE!" the tablecloth was lifted quickly, and at the same time Amalbéa executed her move.  

She felt herself moving very quickly, and suddenly the air was much cooler and easier to breath. Wait... she was out from under the table? 

"Gotcha! ...the hell?" the delighted scream turned into a yelp of surprise, leaving Amalbéa in silent confusion. What had happened? 

"Disappeared... a Substitute? Shit", the woman cursed and straightened, and the entrance curtains flapped again as she exited, giving Amalbéa chance to crawl back underneath the table. That had been incredibly lucky, but she wasn't out of the waters yet. 

"She's been here, keep looking!" she heard the woman yell to her companions. 

"Whatever happened to wantin' to take care of 'er yerself?" the male voice taunted, the two others snickering at his voice. 

"Shut the fuck up and look!" the woman snarled, and the voices again spread, now yelling and taunting for Amalbéa to come out. 

All sense of time disappeared as Amalbéa just sat there, waiting for them to leave. The cold ground underneath her caused her body to fall numb, and the fear kept her constantly too much on an edge to truly relax. Not that she exactly wanted to. Finally the voices grew farther and farther until they fully disappeared, yet Amalbéa stayed put, not wanting to chance running into them. 

It was hours later when Amalbéa finally willed her stiff limbs to move, crawling out from her hiding and quietly leaving the tent. Everything was silent, and the air was even colder than before, but most importantly, no one or nothing seemed to react to her. It took a while for Amalbéa to get her bearings, but finally she started a slow shuffle back towards the train. Slowly but surely the old woman made her way to safety, exhausted and startled by every single sound coming from around her. Despite her tiredness, she knew she wouldn't be able to rest well for the rest of the night, not after all this adrenaline. 

Finally she found the familiar stairs of the train, relief the only thing giving her strength to climb them. As she fumbled for the handle, that relief was quickly snuffed out as her hands instead found something wet and sticky. She didn't have to see to know the mark that had been left behind, as she had heard it described enough times to know it well - a crown, painted with red paint to remind everyone in the circus that no one was safe. Amalbéa might have been lucky enough to escape this time, but perhaps the next... the old woman shuddered at the thought and hurried inside, locking the door behind her as well as her own compartment as she finally got inside, sure that she could still hear the sinister laughter of her assailants from somewhere in the circus grounds. 

:bulletblue: Lune

Wordcount: 2085

What the heck is it with me and my characters not knowing when to shut the ef up. Seriously. Ama darling you're just gonna get yourself killed.

It's funny - I don't feel like I have time to draw, but I have time to write 2k word stories? Okay. 
Didn't really know how to really compose this scene into an image, so here's a short story of how Ama's dealing with the vandals. Exactly like a suicidal old woman with too much pride. Goddammit.
Good news is, she got away with only a mental trauma, mostly because I don't want to risk her taking a beating and dying of it ;w; I can be mean to my characters when it comes to psychological stuff and mental issues, but at least in Ama's case I don't wanna hurt her too much, she's old and frail I don't want her to break... |'D But we'll see if she'll get out of this without a single scratch... there's still two weeks, so there's hope~

This was written kind of quickly and I used minimum time on proof reading so I apologize for any mistakes ;w;

Pkmn © Nintendo
Random assailants © Uh them take your pick
Amalbéa & wall o' text © :iconjiibee:
For :iconcircus-darkrai:
© 2015 - 2024 JiiBee
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