Chapter Text
Life is a circus ring, with some moments more spectacular than others.
~ Janusz Korczak, Polish educator.
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"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls!" The ringleader shouted, the spotlight centered on him alone. "What an amazing performance, am I right?! But you may think you've seen everything, but you have yet to see the final act of our show!"
"Ozpin." A young woman beckoned, and the eyes of the audience shot and centered themselves on a young woman in white, staring down from an elevated platform at the equally young ringleader.
"Am I forgetting something again Salem?" Ozpin asked.
"Oh, no, not at all. Just wanted to mess with you. Please, do continue!" some giggles from the audience came, and Ozpin wiped a small bead of nervous sweat off his forehead.
"R-right! Ladies, gentlemen, mini-ladies, mini-gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the ever amazing duo, the tightrope-walking faunus themselves, Blake Belladonna and Adam Taurus!" A huge round of applause and cheers rang throughout the circus tent as the two faunus emerged from the back of the circus tent, smiling as they both eyed the tightrope. It was very high up, with a safety mat placed at the bottom and a long ladder on both ends leading up to the rope. They both looked at one another and smiled, then they both went to opposite sides of the rope, climbing the ladder to the tippy-top. Blake eyed Adam, and Adam did the same and, with a nod, Blake began her quick walk across, stopping halfway across. She extended her hand out, and Adam walked towards her, grabbing her hand. Blake smiled, then let go of Adam's hand and walked backwards, staring him down once more as Adam kneeled down and bowed his head.
Ruby sat in her seat, covered in popcorn as Tai held onto her soda. Ruby was afraid that she might accidentally squeeze the soda too tightly during a very spectacular part of the show, so she decided to hold onto the popcorn instead, and she was right, as she squeezed the popcorn bag many times, almost ripping it to shreds at her excitement. She had been to the circus many times, more than she could count, and yet somehow, even at the big girl age of 6, she was still amazed at the tricks and performances the circus brought with it. But even with the amazing tricks, some parts always confused her. "Dad? Why is he kneeling?"
Tai leaned in towards Ruby. "Watch, and you'll find out."
Blake took a deep breath, running towards Adam and jumping over him, landing on the other side like it was nothing, and a huge applause from the audience erupted, especially from Ruby.
"That was amazing!" Ruby exclaimed.
Yang, sitting on the opposite side of Tai, giggled to herself. "Show's not over yet!"
Adam stood up and the show continued. Adam would do what Blake did, and sometimes try to one-up her. She would do a cartwheel on the rope, he would do a back-cart. She would handstand on the rope, he would do it with only one hand. This went on until Adam gave a special hand signal, and Blake was caught a bit off guard. "You sure?"
Adam nodded. Blake then faced him and knelt down.
Tai was a bit confused. "Didn't they already do this trick?"
Yang was curious. "It's Adam Dad! He's probably got something awesome to add onto Blake's trick from before!"
Ruby was super excited, clenching onto her bag of popcorn tightly. Her big sis was most certainly right, but what could Adam possibly do to beat Blake's jump?
Adam took a deep breath and readied himself, drum rolls beginning to play as Adam began his run towards Blake. He jumped, but everyone held onto their breaths. It wasn't just a jump...
"A FLIP!?" Tai was shocked, and so was everyone else.
No one was prepared for a flip, but no one else was prepared for Adam losing his balance. He fell off the rope, the audience gasping as they expected to see Adam at the bottom. But he caught the rope and pulled himself up. He walked towards one of the ends of the tightrope to catch his breath, and Blake quickly joined him.
Adam looked towards Blake. "I missed."
"Holy...Adam, you...crazy lunatic!"
"I want to try again."
"Of course you do...Are you ok though?"
"Yeah."
"Then..." Blake turned towards the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen! May he try again?!" The audience roared with excitement and approval. "Ready?"
Adam nodded, and Blake went back to the middle of the rope, kneeling as Adam prepared himself. The air was tense, the crowd in anticipation, and Adam loved both. He began his run across the rope, it was now or never, he jumped, doing his flip in the air, the audience's breath taken away, some even looking away in fear of an even worse failure, until...
"HE DID IT!!" Yang yelled as Adam landed safely on the rope, and the audience went wild, applause and cheers erupted as Adam raced along with Blake to the other side as they slid down the ladder to the safety of the ground below and they both took a bow. Soon, a few more performers came out and bowed alongside them.
Ozpin and Salem then came down and bowed along with the rest of the performers and smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming out to watch our show!" Ozpin shouted through the cheering.
Salem smiled. "Please have a safe trip home and remember that all dreams come true when you put the effort into them, like our performers here. So don't forget to..."
Ozpin smiled. "WORK HARD!"
"AND DREAM HARDER!!" Everyone shouted. Confetti filled the stage and the audience continued to applaud.
Blake looked towards Adam. "You crazy lunatic...You actually did it."
Adam scoffed. "Of course I did! I'm not letting four weeks of practice go to waste!" Blake couldn't help but laugh, and Adam couldn't help but smile.
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Tai was exhausted, not from the Ruby he was carrying, and certainly not from holding the hand of an equally tired Yang, but it always surprised him that when he got home, especially from the circus of all places, he would always want to go to bed, it just seemed customary to go to sleep after an exciting night at the circus. His yawn was contagious, as both Yang and the extremely sleepy Ruby yawned as well as they were barely able to get through the front door. Tai was welcomed back by a very energetic Zwei, as he continued to run around his leg until Yang picked him up and hugged him. She set him down, and he was as calm as could be, following them quietly close behind. Tai quickly got to Ruby's room, adorned with small toys, paper mache flowers scattered all over her table, and a bed with a small Roman Torchwick doll resting on one of the pillows. Roman, the famous pyro-performer alongside Cinder, was one of Ruby's many favorite acts, and she was lucky enough to save up her allowance just to try the bottle-tower game that had the Roman doll. So many tries, so many losses, but she never gave up, and one day her dream came true. One lucky toss, one determined throw, and all six bottles toppled over, and Ruby was never happier in her life. She had lost a grand total of 43$ in attempts to get the doll, but it was worth every dollar. It was even worth the embarrassment she encountered when she was showing it off to everyone, even unintentionally to Roman himself. He let out a laugh, and despite her embarrassment, she still has the photo she took with him hanging on her wall. But now wasn't the time to reminisce about the past, it was time to sleep. Tai carefully placed Ruby down onto the bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "G'night sleepyhead."
"Mmph." Ruby weakly responded, and Tai went to tuck everyone else to sleep. Ruby weakly opened her eyes and barely noticed a shooting star outside her window. She turned in her bed to get a better view and placed her hand together, remembering the old saying from the circus.
Work hard...Dream harder...
"Ssss...Starlight...Star-bright...The first star I see tonight...I wish I may...I wish I might...have this wish...I wish...tonight..." She could barely get her wish out, which was just a mumble of whispers not even she could make out, but she hoped that the star heard correctly, she didn't have the strength to speak up. She then grabbed her Roman doll and held onto it tightly, before passing out and falling asleep.