Chapter Text
༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻
The sun shines just above the town, its golden rays peeking through pastel pink curtains and onto her closed eyelids; she blinked slowly, her pink eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight that hit directly onto them.
She rose up from her bed and gently lifted the covers off her shoulders and rose from the bed.
Annabel sat down in front of her vanity mirror, her reflection staring blackly at her with a scornful expression.
For today was another day where she had to entertain her suitors.
Oh how it made her blood boil when all the men were shamelessly staring at her bosom. How she bit back insults when men whispered the most ridiculously disgusting things of her appearance.
She let out a sigh of resentment, busying herself with getting ready for the day. She began with removing the rags she had used to keep her curls in shape.
Then she proceeded with the following steps, applying products onto her face to “help enhance her beauty", as her mother used to say before she passed.
Of course she knew her father was simply doing what he thought was best for her; he had good intentions. He didn't want his only child to be lonely when he passed on and wanted to see her married before he joined her mother in eternal rest.
But she despised the whole idea of being chained to a man for eternity.
Her freedom will be shattered…
She would have to comfort him……
and the needlepoint…
to entertain him…
Tell him pretty little lies...
the needlepoint...
be by his side ...
needlepoint.
..having him strip her of her virginity by burying his disgusting, filthy, deformed shaft deep into her womb ….and force her into bearing his children against her will because she can’t say no
And the needlepoint….
And the stupid blasted needlepoint.
It’s always the bloody needlepoint!
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N̸̡̧͕͙̼̻̳̦̪̞̯͎̦͓̏̒͌͑͒͊̾͌̑̅̕͝ͅë̸͓̮͉͈͇͍̖͎̩̞͈́́́̋̇̾͋̈́̾͆͑͘͘͜͠͝ë̸͓̮͉͈͇͍̖͎̩̞͈́́́̋̇̾͋̈́̾͆͑͘͘͜͠͝d̶̡̲̗̼̮̤̤̳̲͖͓͍͔͓̓̎̽́̽̏̐͂̆͆͘͘͘l̶̬̞͎̖͉̹̝͕̝͖̣̉͆ë̸͓̮͉͈͇͍̖͎̩̞͈́́́̋̇̾͋̈́̾͆͑͘͘͜͠͝p̴̩͙̺̩͓̣͈͖̎ͅŏ̸̡̼̺̫̥̻͈̞̍͆̏̓́͜͝ͅi̶̡̹͈͎̳̞͙͖̾̂̀͑̀͆̑̓̽̉͐͘͘ͅǹ̷̨͍̮̥̹̘͙̗̻̬̬̜̥̮̃̒̈́̽͗̿̍̄̂̏͆͠͝t̸̫̫̤͕̳̻̰̣̭́̌̉͝ͅ
The sound of shattering glass echoed in her room. She stilled for a second before the realization that she might’ve been too loud and might’ve alerted any staff.
But only silence came to her ears.
She let out a breath that she held in.
She looked at the shattered glass of the mirror; scattered pieces of her own reflection stared back at her.
She looked down at her hand; blood began bubbling up from the fresh wound, the adrenaline slowly seeped away from her body, pain began to bloom, and she hissed between her teeth. She quickly composed herself in order to not draw attention.
’I should perhaps clean this mess up…before a maid arrives…'
After she gathered all the shattered glass and quickly dispersed it, she simply removed the broken mirror and placed it underneath her bed, and she cleaned up the blood from her hand and wore gloves.
And as for the mirror…she could always find a new one for its place; perhaps her mother had one in the attic?
She had made a mental note to check in the afternoon when everyone busies themselves to get ready for the night.
She straightened up her back, and just in time a maid knocked before entering with a cart guiding a silver tray on top.
“My apologies, Ms Lee. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important."
Annabel gave the girl a gentle smile and spoke softly in response.
“Don’t fret, you haven’t interrupted a single thing. I thank you for bringing up my breakfast like I requested. Thank you, Ada."
The maid, Ada, nodded.
"Well, where would you like me to set it?”
Annabel gestured to the small table in her room with a smile on her face. Ada placed the tray onto the table, gently removed the lid and walked off, guiding the cart along with her.
The smile immediately dropped from her face; her sunset-pink-coloured eyes focused on the food on the table. Tea, as per usual, along with bright, fluffy eggs, a slice of toast, and some biscuits.
She wasn’t feeling particularly hungry. Who would it be when having to deal with men?
If anything, the sight of food made her sick to her stomach; she quickly disposed of it before continuing to finish getting ready for the day.
She chose a pastel blue dress, her favourite colour. She thought wearing her favorite color would help brighten her mood.
it didn’t.
Once ready, she exited her room and began to walk down the stairs, where her father was standing at the end with a smile on his face. She knew him long enough to tell he was planning something.
“There you are, dearest! Have you slept well?”
Annabel gave him a faux smile in return.
"Yes, I have, Father. Are you hiding something? You seem guilty. Have you impulsively bought yachts again?”
He let out a full belly laugh.
“It seems you have more perspective than I remember! But no, I haven’t… sadly, ahem… it's a surprise, dearest—a wonderful surprise that I believe you will enjoy very much!”
’What on earth is he babbling about? Another potential suitor??’
Her father was just as perceptive as she, for he seemed to sense her confusion and spoke once more.
"We're going on a trip today." I thought you perhaps needed a small break from having your social season; you have seemed rather… tense these passing days”
“We haven’t gone on any outings in a while, Father. Aren't I a bit too old, as Mother said?"
His shoulders seemingly dropped at the sudden mention of his late wife; he let out a sigh.
“Now, now, dearest, there will be none of that. I firmly believe it will be best for you to enjoy a small break!" He let out a laugh as he placed his hand onto her shoulder. "Come now, let us make haste; I prefer it if we arrive there on time!”
She thought for a moment anything would be better instead of having to deal with the shamelessness of men who did nothing to hide their eagerness to take her with them.
༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻
Annabel sat in the carriage joined by her father; she couldn’t help but wonder where her father was taking her.
She stared out the window watching people pass by as the horses guided them to their destination, their hooves clacking against the stone floor.
“We’re almost there, dearest. I do hope we get front row seats—oop!”
Her father immediately clasped his hand over his mouth to stop himself from speaking anything else. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Annabel stifled a giggle the best she could.
“To what Father??”
He shook his head.
"I'm not saying another word.”
“But you just did, Father."
He raised his finger, thinking of a rebuttal to say, but then decided against it to not further prove Annabel’s point.
Silence surrounded them like a blanket. Annabel looked out the window again, but the only thing that took up her entire view of the small window was black and white stripes.
‘How peculiar…’
In the distance she heard the sound of music coming, so lively, and a loud voice of a man called out and had an obvious French accent.
“WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE ONE-OF-A-KIND TRAVELING CIRCUS WHERE ALL KINDS OF FREAKS THRIVE… THE HOME OF THE MISFITS …"
“Father… you took me to the circus?"
Her father nervously chuckled with one finger grasping the collar of his shirt before speaking.
"Well, not just any ordinary circus, dearest… I heard that their performances top notch… and well, you used to enjoy going to the circus.”
“When I was a child. Father, I'm nearly 19 years of age.”
He started to frown at that.
“Well, I thought it would bring you joy like it used to. I apologise for wanting to spend some time with my only child."
Annabel sighed softly before reluctantly agreeing.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to indulge in simple pleasures once more…”
“THAT’S THE SPIRIT… I EVEN BOUGHT FRONT ROW SEATING TICKETS FOR US."
He clapped his hands in delight; Annabel sighed softly in defeat.
The carriage came to a stop; her father was the first to exit, and as he got off, he extended his hand over to assist her, for she wore heels. As she got off, she got a better view that was directly in front of her.
There was a black and white tent that stood several metres up into the sky with a giant sign with a cursive font at the entrance that read,
“𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓲𝓼𝓯𝓲𝓽𝓼”
Then she focused on the surroundings of the enormous tent where there were people in their own commemorative booths. There were games and prizes to be won, food and so forth.
How people laughed with joy as they passed by… Happy couples with their arms around each other, laughing at each other… kissing-
“What do you think of it, dearest?”
Annabel turned her attention back to her father, racking her brain for a moment to find a perfect reply to her father's question.
“Well… it seems rather lively."
Her father smiled, his nose wrinkling slightly before speaking again.
"Well, it appears we came here too early. Let's pass the time. Wouldn't you agree, dearest?”
She nodded numbly, not understanding why her father was so eager to be here; it's just the circus after all.
Annabel counted the seconds following along with her father. She will admit it was rather endearing that her father was trying to make her happy.
༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻
Something caught her eye; she saw someone in the distance who stood rather tall with an absurd hair pattern of black and white…
She turned her head fully out of curiosity, but when she did, no one was there.
’I could’ve sworn… I saw someone’
Then she felt a curious tap on her shoulder; she turned to face a ginger-headed girl with blue eyes.
“Excuse me, ma'am, I don’t need to pry, but would you like some of our complementary candy floss?”
The girl had an accent that Annabel could describe as an Irish lilt; not wanting to be rude, she accepted.
“Thank you….”
She trailed off not knowing the girl's name.
“oh! Im Morella”
She turned to her side, where her father had stood, only to see an empty space next to her.
’… Now where has he gone?’
“Father?”'
There she was lost in the crowd, she turned back to face Morella perhaps for guidance the girl must know where togo but no one was there it was as if the girl had vanished into thin air.
“My…aren't you a beauty? Are ya lost pretty Miss?”
Annabel turned to face the person the voice belonged to only to see a strange man with long messy brown hair and whose teeth had gone a bit yellow along with a good tooth not to mention he smelled absolutely awful the smell of alcohol clinged to his breath.
“No I’m not.”
She said simply backing away subtly, but the man couldn’t leave her be no.. instead he drew closer.
“My names Montresor but my friends call me Monty. Whats your name hm Queenie?”
How his eyes stared at her shamelessly how it had made her blood run hot. How she wanted nothing but to knock some sort of sense into him… she did always carry a small pair of scissors on her person perhaps-
Suddenly another voice called out,
“Are you blind you houndel? you're clearly making this woman very uncomfortable”
Annabel looked behind her shoulder and she saw a tall man standing by her side with pale skin. It reminded her of moonstone or alabaster like those statues her mother collected…
The man had blue eyes with short black hair with white at the tips.. and the rest of his hair was tied off by a red ribbon, and he also had two twin birthmarks under each eye…he wore a simple red suit with white trousers… and yet he was well… she couldn’t find the words to describe him.
“Oh come on I was just-“
The pale man interrupted Montrestor not letting him get another word out.
“-Leaving is what you were doing.”
“Whateva she ain’t even my type”
Montrestor walked away thankfully… each left her with the mysterious stranger who came just in time before she had done anything brash.
“Thank you kindly Sir..”
The man turned to face her and gave her a friendly smile in return she felt warmth in her chest when she saw him smile.
“Of course Miss it was my pleasure, no needn’t to thank me, that man is always wandering in our circus ever since we set up here…I always make sure he hasn’t cause any trouble.”
‘If Father were here he would’ve thought he would be a perfect suitor…’
“I ought to get going, it's almost time for the show.”
Oh right! she had been lost. She called out immediately before the man could walk any further.
“Wait for a moment!”
He turned facing her once more tilting his head slightly to the side confused.
“You see I haven’t the slightest clue where I ought to be. My father wandered off elsewhere… could you perhaps assist me”
A pause,
“Well, I suppose it would be rude of me to say no to a lady… well come on then the show is going to begin
Annabel and the man walked the same way in comfortable silence. Something about this man in particular made Annabel trust him. It was perhaps he was different from her suitors not to mention younger around her age perhaps.
It wasn’t long before they reached the tent, they went inside and there were people who were sitting in neat rows surrounding the center of the circle of the ring.
And immediately she spotted her father she turned to face the man to give her thanks but he wasn’t there any more she decided not to question it after all he had said he was busy..
She walked to where her father was sitting and sat on the empty seat beside him immediately he turned to face her.
“There you are my dearest!… I was wondering where you wandered off!”
‘You were the one who wandered off from under my watch.’
Annabel hadn’t said a word.
She turned to face him, fully handing out her candy floss to him. To be honest, she forgot she had been carrying it and used this as a perfect opportunity to excuse her absence.
“Giving my thanks on bringing me here father”
He took it graciously and right at that very moment the voice of earlier called out, immediately everyone was silent.
Then the lights were sprung on, focusing directly to the middle to see a French man with curly hair who was obviously Duke, who wore a green and purple color scheme paired with a hat endured with bells dressed as a harlequin.
“Mesdames, Messieurs ... .Welcome where the outcasts of society can thrive in solitude!… Where we welcome fellow freaks with open arms…. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A SHOW OF A LIFETIME… ahem AND I DUKE THEE FORTUNATO WILL BE YOUR RINGMASTER LET THE SHOW COMENCE”
Duke posed dramatically with a gloved hand against his heart before he began grinning mischievously by the snap of his fingers he was gone.
A child squealed out of excitement, the crowd began to murmur curiously till Duke called out.
“Apologies, I seemed to misplace myself momentarily.”
There Duke was several metres high and hanging upside down from the latter he wrapped his foot around the highest bar as if he hadn’t cared for gravity itself.
‘What.’
He picked his hat off his head that somehow miraculously stayed on his head the entire time and brought it to his chest before he fell headfirst to the ground.
The crowd gasped in fear but right on the exact moment before he fell a purple and amd green smoke appeared and then he stepped out of the cloud of smoke completely unscathed before placing his hat back on his head before speaking once more.
“Now, we welcome our first act!… Pluto!”
The spotlight bounced from Duke to Pluto who was currently on a tightrope dressed as a black cat oddly enough with a big brown worn out on his shoulders making him seem smaller, he had jet black hair and golden colored eyes he had a more scrawny build making him seem younger than he was supposed to.
“Pluto here will be walking along the tightrope…. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL HE WILL ALSO BE JUGGLING SWORDS.
The crowd roared with excitement while Pluto himself didn’t seem as excited in fact he seemed more concerned about his safety more than anything she couldn’t blame him… nor she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be here it felt rather dull.
Before Pluto could even get a word out by the snap of his fingers four swords that seemingly appeared out of nowhere were above Pluto's head who immediately with surprisingly quick speed he managed to catch them all.
“Come one mon minou! the people paid for performances!!! not standing still!!”
“That's easy for you to say you're not the one who is fecking risking their lives!!”
“…Oi ponytail set the rope on fire”
Immediately after hearing those words, Pluto took one step onto the tightrope and began juggling the swords.
He put one foot in front of the other with the grace of a cat, (get it cause… he is “dressed” as one?… ahem) his hands juggled two swords in each hand.
Everyone was silently watching up at Pluto as he moved with quick speed, and somehow he had managed not to slice a single one of his fingers nor fall into his death as he got to the end of the tight rope.
Everyone clapped including her father beside her, then Duke spoke out for everyone to hear.
“Now now no need to be modest that was his first performance you can be honest”
He said teasingly standing as Pluto was dragged out by people Annabel could only guess who were fellow performers of his.
“NOW… Following our next act are two friends who trust each with their lives… quite literally.. Eulalie and Berenice!”
Two figures walked into the ring, one tall woman who was dressed in different shades of purple perhaps to resemble a spirit with reddish hair and was pale who was Eulalie.
The other was shorter with brown curly hair and was dressed as a vampire with ‘blood’ seeping from her mouth and several other ‘mouths’ along her arms and shoulders.
“NOW these two friends here participate in a life or death situation called Knife Toss! But that is not all the person who will be wilded with knifes will be blind folded”
“Sounds fun don’t you agree Berenice?”
“Well see here biscuit ya aint gonna be the person tied up so of course it will sound like a fun game”
“Oh right.”
Duke clapped his hands together, the spotlight shutting off once more before turning back on Duke was nowhere to be found but there in the middle Berenince was tied onto a target while Eulalie was blind folded carrying a controversial amount of knives.
Immediately without a single warning Eulalie threw a knife that was centimeters away from Berenince's face, everyone gasped including herself and her father.
Then another followed just shy of grazing against her arm.
“Aye at least give me a warning before ya go ahead throwin’ knives!”
Eulalie covered her mouth and giggled.
“oops…okay”
“Thanks suga”
“Now.”
Eulalie threw another knife and it hit against the target right above Berenice’s head this time.
The audience erupted in laughter of the banter between the two friends before quickly turning into gasps as Eulalie had begun throwing knives at a fast pace.
All of them traced Berenice's silhouette leaving a shape of a human when finished everyone had clapped amazed.
Eulalie peeked through her blindfold before fully removing it and bowed while Berenice shook in sheer terror still lingering in her body.
Then Duke appeared again standing between the two, he snapped his fingers and the two women disappeared.
No one but her questioned just how exactly he was doing that, perhaps an illusion?… or perhaps something else… something more-
“Having fun aren’t we!?!” Duke had said with a smile of his face that he was planning something..
“Well that here folks wasn’t our last act!… in fact we saved the best for last…Our newest member of our family! He has the ability to create fire out of thin air!!”
Duke said, making a dramatic hand gesture of moving causing everyone in the audience to laugh before continuing.
“Sounds fantastico eh?… ahem give a warm welcome no pun intended to LEN-AHEM—LEO THE FIRE BREATHER”
Then for some odd reason it grew a couple inches hotter than it was immediately Annabel pulled out her fan instinctively then her father spoke out.
“This performer sure does sound interesting right dearest?”
Annabel nodded agreeing with her father though for some reason Annabel felt as if the name was familiar, not that heard it before but familiar to her soul..
It was silent.
A child somewhere within the crowd coughed.
No one came.
Duke cleared his throat about to call out again till a sudden burst of fire started right next to him causing him to jump back.
And slowly from the flames was a familiar face… It was that same man who had assisted her, he slowly stepped forward the fire behind to turn to smoke.
He was wearing a different clothes from before a black suit that was slightly charred and marred what Annabel could tell by flames and slightly ‘bloodied’ perhaps he was meant to represent a man who died at a wedding night.
After all she took notice on how everyone were wearing some sort of costume that she assumed represented them in on sort of way
“Apologies… have I kept everyone waiting, Duke?”
Suddenly the sound of women letting out excited squeals around the tent echoed for some reason Annabel found herself feeling bitter.
“Aye Mon Amie, these people are here for performances not dramatic entrances!”
“Says Mr drama king himself”
Annabel covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from laughing out like a schoolgirl her father would surely teased her if he had seen.
“EL GASP!”
Duke placed a gloved hand onto his chest as if that comment offended him greatly.
“Now get going I have to do my job and you’re preventing that.”
“Hmph”
Duke snapped his fingers and vanished once more, Leo turned to face the audience though she felt his blue gaze on her out of everyone around he looked… straight at her and for once Annabel hadn’t mind it she felt more comfortable…
If anything she felt as giddy as a schoolgirl again than any other man she met, her father took note of this.
“Have you found something you fancy dearest?”
He said as he raised his eyebrows with a smug smile on his face. Annabel covered her growing blush from her father with the fan she had.
“I haven't the slightest clue of what you speak of father… oh look he’s starting!”
Annabel said shifting the attention off her and back onto Leo.
Leo snapped his fingers and in between them a small flame grew.
People in the crowd began murmuring among themselves.
“Thats it?… I can create a better fire with wood!”
“We waited for this? A small flame?”
Their murmurs were suddenly interrupted by Leo's hand as it was swallowed by flames. And he tossed it into the air as he conjured a couple of more balls of open flames and juggled them into the air.
Annabel found herself fascinated by how he was able to easily fire; he was quite good at creating these wonderful illusions.
But then the flames had stopped in midair and combined and turned into a flaming Phoenix.
Annabel watched amazed that her father had been right when this circus was unlike any other they had seen when she was child.
The phoenix flew circling around the ring flying overhead everyone including herself before going back into the middle and disbursing into several smaller flames that went straight to the lanterns within the tent.
Everyone sat up from their seats and applauded, and all the performers from earlier including Leo were all banded together bowing.
As people cheered and clapped, astonished by their performance.
And Duke called out.
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, SEE ALL OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACES NEXT TIME”
Everyone began to gather their things and exit out of the tent, including herself and her father.
They had been walking back to their carriage that had been awaiting them for all this time.
And Annabel found herself lost in thought when she went back to the manor that night never had she seen such things before it was…
fascinating