Chapter Text
Another day means another trip to the circus. It has only been what, two days since your first visit? And even only being there twice, you’ve caught the attention of practically all of the members there
Peirrot is obviously obsessed with you, and you know it. He’s sweet to you so you don’t mind playing along. After all, he acts like a protector for you at the circus.
Harlequin talks to you to mess with Peirrot, but he can be fun to talk to once you crack at least a bit off of the surface… although you feel a bit flustered whenever you see him after you followed him into that tent.
You get dressed and notice the pins that the two gave you sitting on your dresser next to the flower Pierrot made you. You decide to leave them at home today, your boss has been a big weary of the circus ever since Carol’s disappearance, and those pins are just another reminder he doesn’t need.
You go and clock in at your work place, and the first couple hours go as normal. Rude customers, annoying kids, people with insane orders that only a chemist could perfect… the average morning rush at a coffee shop.
Around 12pm, Pierrot walks in and orders the milkshake he did the day prior. You make it for him and do your usual talking to a wall routine until another customer comes by and you need to take their order. Pierrot leaves (he’s actually staring through the window but regardless) and you continue with your work.
At about 4pm, your boss tells you that you can go home. He finally found a new hire and you don’t have to take too many long shifts now. You decide with your newfound time that you’re going to visit the circus.
Ticket taker greets you as normal, “Oh why hello red ticket guest. Come to visit our circus again?”
You nod and reply back, “Yeah, this place never gets old!” Although the only reason you’re here is because if you don’t come they would suspect you. Or at least according to Peirrot that’s what will happen. You just think he wants you to visit him more.
None of the shows are starting soon, so you decide to go to the house of mirrors again, even though last time you ran into a particularly weird mirror with a pink figure in it. You ran away from it last time, but this time you want to find it and talk to the mysterious pink figure.
You enter the house of mirrors and after walking around for 20 seconds max, everyone disappears. You look around to see Ticket Taker in the mirror again.
“You came back again, hm? What a curious little thing you are…” He stares at you with that fixed on his mask. It always creeped you out how they have an almost permanent smile, and when they dropped the smile it was even scarier.
You stare at him and say back, “Are you going to put me in that hall of mirrors again?” And it looks as if his grin got bigger.
“My my, you’re smarter than I thought. Most pets aren’t as clever as you are y/n… but yes, you will be in my special mirror house again. Have fun~” He leaves but you still feel his presence everywhere around you.
You walk forward into the tunnel and you find the familiar hall of mirrors you saw yesterday. Instead of looking at each one like last time, you walk up to the biggest one near the exit where you ran last time. You hear the whispers again…
“Come closer…”
“Come closer.”
“Come Closer.”
“COME CLOSER.”
The whispers get more urgent the longer you stare into the pink eyes glowing and staring into your soul. You walk forward and touch the mirror. The second you touch it you feel yourself fall through the mirror, and suddenly you’re in a place that you don’t feel Ticket Takers watch.
Your eyes dart around trying to see what possibly put you there, but you see nothing. You calm down when you hear a feminine voice, softer than the ones of the clowns you met in the past two days.
“I never get company anymore…” The voice wraps around you like a warm blanket. You feel calm even though you’re in a completely different dimension.
You stare into the dark and speak softly, almost matching the angels sweet tone, “Where am I…? Who are you…”
The Angel speaks back, only answering one of the two questions you asked, “I am the forgotten one of the circus… the sacrifice made to allow the others to thrive.”
You find yourself thinking back to Harlequin’s puppet show and Jester’s play. For some reason, those stories feel aligned, as if they are the story of the voice that consumes you. Your mouth starts moving before you can even think of what you are saying.
“Columbina… the angel he spoke of.” You had no clue what the name meant, but it felt right… you found yourself getting lighter and so did the voice.
“Ah, so you know of me… finally someone cares to remember my name.” Infront of your eyes, an apparition forms… one of a female that looks like the clowns you have grown quite fond of.
You take her in, take in her smell, her look, her voice… she makes you feel good even though you just met… as if your other half appeared infront of you and you are experiencing being whole for the first time
She smiles at you and speaks again, “You seem to know my story, but I would like to tell you the truth… the truth that they hide about me ever since the incident.”
Columbina then tells you of her death. She tells you about her love with Pierrot and Harlequin, then Harlequin’s act of murdering her for survival and eating her dead body. She justifies her own death with the fact that she was the weakest one, but you feel a sense of dread in your chest at those words.
When she describes what the humans thought of her, you felt ashamed at your race, furious at the idea that they wanted to treat her as if she was an art work at a museum and not a living breathing creature.
Once she finishes talking, before she sent you back to the real world, you grabbed the apparition’s arm.
“You did not deserve that… you deserved a chance at freedom as much as the others did.” You think about Harlequin and Pierrot and how they treated her as more delicate than she truly was.
She looked at you with a surprised look on her face and then smiles. “Thank you… please visit me again… I get so lonely with no one to talk to.”
The second those words fall from her lips, you vow that you will visit Ticket Takers tent every day if you have to just to make sure she never feels lonely again.
“Of course I will…” When you reassure her of your return, she sends you back into the hall of mirrors that you dreaded seeing. You spend almost a minute just staring at the mirror, hoping that she will come back and give you that beautiful smile of hers again.
The only reason you leave is because Ticket Taker pressures you and mentions that monster chasing you again. You walk out towards the exit, and you feel sad. You’re not quick to get attached to people, but she felt different.
You leave the tent and stand there for a bit until Pierrot shows up behind you. He whispers something about wanting to see you at his show, but you can’t be bothered to listen.