HEY GUYS!

SORRY FOR A LATE UPDATE, MY FAMILY FORCED ME TO GO UP TO NH WITH THEM AND WE USUALLY DON'T HAVE INTERNET...

LUCKILY, OUR NEIGHBORS ARE UP FOR A FEW DAYS, SO I AM CURRENTLY STEALING THEIRS LOL I'M SUCH A REBEL. I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER...

HOPEFULLY, IT ISN'T TOO RUSHED.

OH YEAH, I AM OPEN TO OC'S SO JUST PM ME OR LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU'RE INTERESTED. I HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS STORY IS GOING TO BE MY FOCUS FOR THIS SUMMER, SO IM GOING TO REALLY GET THIS ONE GOING :D IT ALSO HELPS THAT THE NEWEST SEASON OF KUROSHITSUJI IS COMING OUT SOON! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS IN THE MANGA GET ANIMATED! SODGHSDGHDUGSLJDFOILJDSMLKDANGFAODISGHASOFASDJFK (IM FREAKING OUT LOL)

ANYWAYS...

ON TO THE STORY!

~OmGiStHaTaDuMpLiNg~

Lilas couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun.

Even though she was unable to physically see the acts, the atmosphere made up for her handicap ten fold.

The smell of caramel corn made her mouth water and her heart accelerated with the audience's every "Oooh's" and "Ahhhh's". It was as if they were cut off from the rest of the world, isolated in a wonderful bubble of wonder, magic, and fun. Nestled in the front row, she was able to get a thorough perspective of her saviors' talents. So far, Dagger's act was her favorite.

The sound of the knife cutting through the air was almost rhythmic. The beautiful arc of his throw seemed to be able to control death itself. Every time his knives hit their mark, exciting chills run down her back to the tips of her toes. By the end of his performance, she found that she had leaned so far forward in anticipation that she almost lost her balance.

But all in all, the circus was extraordinary and Lilas couldn't help but feel doubtful that she could ever match them. She didn't even know if she could be considered talented, not after her gift was ripped forcefully from her throat. Sitting silently as the crowd started to file out of the main tents, Lilas became so engrossed in her thoughts and the throbbing of her heart that it wasn't until Joker placed a hand on her shoulder, she realized how late it had gotten.

"Did you enjoy the show?", he asked tentatively, smelling of sweat, and makeup with a hint of cotton candy.

Tears welled up in her eyes, out of happiness and doubt as she nodded. She sent him a chaste smile as she took him by the hand, slightly surprised at its skeletal texture. Lilas didn't realize that he was missing a hand….

But even though he lacked the flesh, Lilas found that his touch brought her more comfort than she thought was possible. She felt him push her long bangs out of her face with his other hand. It wasn't a romantic gesture at all, but rather like she was a small child that he was trying to comfort.

"Good!" he replied kindly, "Now that the show is over, I would like to have you visit the medical tent as a check up."

Letting him pull her out of her seat, she followed him out of the tent. The cool, night air was refreshing against her skin after being in that stuffy tent for the duration of the show. Her ear's twitched as she heard the familiar sounds of Dagger's footsteps coming towards them.

"Damn, that was a good show!" he exclaimed excitedly, "You were lucky to see such a show.".

Dagger silently cursed under his breath soon after, realizing that what he said was insensitive. She heard him run a hand through his hair in frustration and his heart beat quicken ever so slightly. Her silence seemed to make him feel even more awkward, especially when she turned to face him completely.

"Err...I mean..."

Lilas cracked a small smile.

It was quite adorable when he got flustered. He was just like an over grown child. Although she could tell that he could be annoying at times, there was always lightness to him. It was refreshing. There weren't many people like that today. Lilas was sure that he could come out of a war smiling, his spirit was almost overflowing with vitality and light. Sure enough, he bounced back and quickly regained his enthusiasm.

Throwing an arm over her shoulder, Lilas almost lost her balance from his sudden touch. She flinched slightly, but he didn't seem to notice. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but being slightly disgusted. She wasn't used to being touched by men. At least, she wasn't used to being touched by a man whose intentions were completely honorable.

You could say that even though she knew that they were not like the monsters that defiled her, she was still a little on edge.

"Which was your favorite?" Dagger cut in, sounding like he already considered her a dear friend, "Just nod when I say the person's name."

"Beast."

Lilas smiled but didn't nod as she pulled away from him as politely as she could. He didn't seem to mind and continued his count off. She heard Joker sigh beside her because of Dagger's childishness. There was no doubt in her mind that the older teen was rolling his eyes.

"Peter and Wendy"

Her smile faltered at Peter's name. She didn't really like that boy, but she had nothing against his sister. The way their bodies cut through the air was impressive, but it didn't really catch her attention like the others had. Although, that might have been because she had a bad impression of them (cough cough..Peter) earlier on.

"Joker"

Lilas raised an eyebrow. Joker was the ringleader, he didn't really have an act. But she couldn't deny that he had a lovely stage presence. It was admirable how he was able to engross the audience, particularly the children, from the beginning of the show. He was extremely charismatic, and there was something very attractive in his aura.

"Aww. That hurts missy." Joker cut in sarcastically.

Lilas smiled sheepishly at this but his chuckles showed that he didn't mind.

"Jumbo"

Her eyes lit up, she enjoyed the warmth that came from his flames. But his act was pure, unrefined power. Although flames were comforting and beautiful, they could never truly be controlled. That aspect made her nervous. She was always on edge during his performance, but not necessarily in the good way all the time.

"Doll"

Lilas pursed her lips, her brows furrowing in thought. She had thoroughly enjoyed Doll's act. It was much more graceful and elegant than the others and she admired that. Lilas could hear the slight strain of the tightrope with Doll's every movement, it sounded as if the girl was playing a precious sting instrument. But Lilas still preferred Dagger's performance.

Dagger seemed to realize that he was the only one left. She could tell that a large smirk was spreading across his face. Rolling her eyes at his childishness, she lightly punched him on the arm before nodding.

Dagger and Joker bickered about her choice all the way to the medical tent.

To say that Dagger was smug would be an understatement.

The blind girl had just admitted that his act was the best.

He regarded this as an achievement on his part since there must have been an element his act had that the others were missing. But he had to admit, seeing her watching them was sort of unnerving. She would have been a plain girl, with her mousey hair and scrawny figure, if it weren't for her eyes. He had never seen anything like them. Even though they were glassy and unfocused, those extremely light green orbs of her's possessed a higher awareness.

Her attentiveness gave her the air that she was searching for something within everything around her. In his mind, she should have been born in a land where pixie and ghosts roamed the earth. There were times when she opened her mouth, like she wanted to speak, but she promptly pressed her lips together when this happened. It was obvious that she was very insecure about her muteness.

He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for her.

Honestly, he would have probably gone mad since he was quite a chatterbox himself. It might be insensitive of him, but he thought that her inability to talk made her even more mysterious and approachable.

He wanted to know her story...

What she was really thinking.

Amazingly, she seemed to notice that he was staring at her. She tilted her head much like a puppy as she pressed her chapped lips into an awkward smile. Dagger quickly averted his gaze and ignored Joker, who was trying to stifle his laughter.

He felt his neck grow hot in embarrassment and mouthed some pretty explicit insults at his brother. The girl quickly smacked him upside the head, as if she knew full well what he had said. He gaped at her as she quickened her pace, the ragged dress nearly falling off her shoulders as she opened the flap of the tent. Even though she had her back towards him, he could tell that she was smirking.

Dagger was going to make sure that Doc gave her a thorough health check, because it was like she wasn't even blind.

When they stepped inside, he was surprised to find that all of his family was there.

Immediately, he ran to his dearest sister. She was so beautiful, even when she was scolding him, which she was doing the moment he flung himself at her. Doll and the others were more focused on the mystery girl, who shifted where she stood in discomfort. Doc wheeled himself forward, his dark eyes already taking in the damage done to her body. Immediately he began to ask questions.

"Who is she?"

"We don't know. We found her on the streets." Beast said bitterly, "As you can see, this was the best for her."

Doll looked at the girl as if she wanted to pull her into a hug, but the look that Peter gave her stopped her. Wendy still seemed impartial to the new girl, as if she was waiting to decide whether she was worth their time.

"Have you been blind your whole life?" The girl slowly nodded as she played with her stained skirt.

Now that she was in the light, they could clearly see just how battered she was. To his horror, he noticed there were some rusty-brown stains on it.

It was dried-up blood.

"Have you been mute your whole life too?" She stiffened at this and grew paler, her eyes sharpening until they were almost cat-like.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she looked as if she was trying wipe off a disgusting touch. For a split second he thought that he saw tears well in her eyes. A depressing, angry aura rolled off of her in waves. Being one of the people who found her, Dagger knew what had happened to her. His fists clenched at his sides as he remembered the group of men that circled her and his sister like vultures not too long ago.

He had a stinking feeling that they had done a lot more to the poor girl, indescribable, horrific things that she would never be able to fully tell them. He wondered how long she had suffered because of them.

Doc circled her, taking in her condition and making notes.

"Yes, well...she is quite malnourished..." he said in concern, "And must have suffered dearly."

"That is why we brought her back." Joker said.

"She can obviously understand English as well as French. But it is a shame that she had no way of communicating clearly with us." Doc continued, his brow furrowed in thought, "She probably has a French name...it will be almost impossible to know at this point."

"What about sign language?" Peter suggested with a mean smirk, knowing full well it would bother the girl

"Don't be an arse, Peter." Beast retorted, "You already know that is impossible."

Peter sulked and turned to Wendy, but she also sent him a slightly disapproving look.

"What about a sort of code?" Doll exclaimed, still looking like she wanted to hug the girl.

"That could work..." Doc replied, "But it will be very hard for her to learn, unless she already knows her alphabet..."

"I doubt that..." Dagger cut in, "We found her in the streets."

Too everyone's surprise, the girl smirked, her eyes shining with a slight mischievous light.

"What?!" Dagger felt himself exclaim, "You know!?" She looked at him like she was tired of being treated like a child.

"Err..sorry..", he replied hastily, "I just assumed..."

Jumbo stepped forward. It was almost comical the way that he absolutely towered over her, she looked like she would crumble away if he blew on her. She didn't seem to be afraid of his large frame, as if she could tell that he was really a softy at heart.

"How old are you?"

She tilted her head in thought. After a few moments, she approached him and tapped his hand slowly. They all counted 16 delicate taps. Dagger's felt his eyes widen in disbelief, she was not too much younger than him, and he thought she was ten!

"Well..." Doll cut in, breaking the awed silence.

"I call dibs for 'aving her as meh roomie!"

~A year later~

At first, her life at the circus was fairly boring.

Because of her very weak condition, she was forced to live in the medical tent. Her food was brought to her and it didn't take her long to figure out that they were trying to get her to fill out a bit. Having meat and potatoes every day was pretty extravagant for a carnie who didn't even work. She spent her time listening to the Doctor, who she found pretty nice. Eccentric and slightly off his rocker, but nice enough, and it wasn't like she couldn't get used to it.

He slowly taught her a code he had developed specifically for her. But she had so much free time that before long, she was tapping full conversations on the back of his hand...

Sometimes too fast for him to translate.

It felt amazing to be able to communicate, to be able to express her inner thoughts to the tee. As strange his aura could be at times, Doc became a precious friend. When he had free time, he would even write down her thoughts for her or messages to send to the others. Although, they were busy running the circus, most of them made time to visit her. It was taking them a longer time learning the code, so Doc often acted as her voice.

But by the third month she was living at the circus, and she was discharged from the medical tent, they all surprised her by revealing that they all had worked together to be able to understand her new language.

Once she had moved into Doll's tent, they "talked" to each other for hours at a time. For the first time in her life, Lilas knew what it was like to have a friend who was a girl her age. It was so much fun and she learned everything about the circus. She was so proud of her friends for starting such a wondrous establishment. They were so humble about it, minus Peter and Dagger, who were naturally smug...

That was just how they were.

To her surprise, she had become a sort of legend in the circus.

She was given many names because many couldn't pronounce "Lilas" correctly. Only those who had french roots we able to regard her as such, but there were very few of them since Noah's Arc Circus was originally from England. Most of the circus staff regarded her as the "Performer's Lucky Flower" or their "Ace" since the circus had been a hit since she lived with them.

Unfortunately, because she was ready to work, Lilas didn't have much free time to "watch" the performances. She had to make do with only listening to the shows while she peeled potatoes in the kitchen tent. Being in charge of the food was a lot of work since she had so many people to feed. But because she was used to cooking and cleaning before she lived on the streets, she quickly settled into her new job. It was quite rewarding when she was complemented for her cooking, so although it was not glamorous life, she felt at home...

Which was something she hadn't felt for a very long time.

Brushing some flour from her shirt, Lilas made her way to the makeshift oven to pull out some bread. Most of the food she made for the company consisted of bread, stew, and mystery meat at times. Lilas quickly realized that having something sweet was rare, but she believed that everyone deserved a treat. They had been so successful lately...

"Yo, Lili!" Peter popped in, making Lilas jump, "What's for lunch?"

She sent him a small smile as she quickly cut him a thick slice of bread and poured a bit of stew on it. Although the relationship between Peter and her was rocky in the beginning, Lilas realized that he was like an alley cat...

Nasty towards strangers...

And sweet once in a blue moon...

It helps if you give him good food.

"Hmmm.." he sighed as he stuffed it into his mouth, "Edible, as always."

Lilas rolled her eyes playfully and brought her hand to his shoulder.

"Hungry...as always..." she lightly tapped, "I was thinking of heading into town to get more supplies."

Peter swallowed quickly at this, although he never said it out loud, he cared about her to an extent...

You could say that he saw her as a close acquaintance.

"The others are too busy and you shouldn't go off all by yourself." he replied rather maturely.

Lilas pouted and crossed her arms. She knew why they were always protective of her, especially when they were in big cities like the one they were in now, but she felt like she could fend for herself now she was stronger.

"We are running low, ", she tapped furiously to emphasize her point, "and I won't be able to make dinner if I don't go."

That was a lie, but she figured that it would all be worth it when they were all digging into the cake she was planning on making. Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair; he knew full well that she was stubborn enough to go anyways.

"Fine...Go," he said reluctantly, "I'll tell the others where you're going, but I am getting one of the errand boys to go with you."

She huffed in annoyance. Although they had realized by now that even though she was blind, she had some other sense that basically made her equal to a normal person, they were always put on edge when she tried to do the smallest of things on her own. But it was starting to get late and she wanted to get to the marketplace before it got too busy, so she nodded. A little over ten minutes later, a boy no older than ten joined her. He was the newbie and apparently, he had a cursed arm that was red as fresh blood and as grotesque as a monster's.

To her surprise, many of the circus folk seemed to avoid him. He didn't seem dangerous in any sense, rather, he always issued a bitter loneliness she could relate to. However, it was like there was some unawakened vitality buried underneath his distant nature...

"What do ya need to buy?" he asked in annoyance, making sure that he was walking slightly behind her.

She sent him a small smile. He had just joined the crew, so he didn't know the extent of her disabilities. Because she didn't feel like mentally scarring the young boy by showing her nub of a tongue, she handed him a list she had Doc write out for her before she left. He took it from her in silence.

"I don't know how ta read this shit."

Lilas face palmed and rolled her eyes.

This is why she wanted to go alone.

Sighing, she gestured to her throat then shook her head.

"What is ya throat hurting ya?" he replied in frustration, "Or are ya afraid of talking ta me like the other bastards?"

Sadness and pity bubbled in her stomach, overpowering her frustration. She wanted to pull the child to her, tell him that it wasn't like that at all. But she couldn't, he gave her the sense that he would just push her away. It would be useless to attempt to get him to see that he didn't have to be alone if he couldn't realize that he all he had to do was try. So, predictably, when she moved to hold his hand, he pulled away as he cursed at her in his fluster.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and silent.

She quickly bought all the supplies, not bothering to bargain for the prices since she didn't have her Doc to translate for her. She might get in trouble for that...

But it would be worth it in the end.

By now, the boy who accompanied her was weary of her, and seemed to realize that she was limited more than he was told. Actually, Lilas wasn't sure how much Peter had told the boy. He did give him very little notice and the boy worked at the opposite end of the circus. To her surprise, he pulled at her sleeve, making her stop.

"There's a freak show..." he said quietly. He sounded scared and she could hear him fumble with the sleeve of his left arm.

Lilas frowned as she heard the sketchy voice of announcer, his voice was cruel and shrill. She felt sick just from being in proximity to such a horrible man. To her dismay, a crowd began to form behind them, pushing them forward.

"Step right up, Ladies and Gents!" he exclaimed, "Come see the snake man!"

"He won't bite." the man continued with glee, "I've properly trained him."

To emphasize his point, he slammed his cane to the bars of the cage, causing whoever was inside jump and hiss.

Lilas was startled to feel the man grasp her arm and pull her forward, she had to grab the bars to prevent herself from colliding with them. The boy by her side swore at the man, but he was ignored.

"Take a close look missy." the announcer sneered, "Ain't he a beast?"

Honestly, she didn't feel frightened at all. Even when she felt a cool breath on her cheek, signifying that she was face to face with the caged individual. But whoever was inside scurried away from her.

"Too, close..." the stranger hissed, "Too close, says Wordsworth."

It sounded like a teenaged boy, not too much older than herself. Lilas hand twitched to the knife that she always concealed in her boot. If there weren't for the crowd, she would have gutted the man right then and there. Instead of screaming in horror the announcer was obviously looking for, she smiled kindly at the teen and pulled out some berries she had gotten for the cake.

Luckily, her hands were small enough to slip through the bars, so she held out a hand full for him to take.

Hesitantly, he approached her and gently took them from her hand, he was cool to the touch and his skin was scaly. It was a strange feeling, but he wasn't at all threatening. He wasn't a monster. He didn't belong in a cage...

Lilas was promptly pulled away only to be pressed against the fat announcer's side. He laughed nervously as he tightened his grip. She gritted her teeth as she tried to pry herself from his grasp.

"No, no, no, little girl." he said in between chuckles, "It's dangerous to feed the animal!"

But her act of kindness seemed to motivate the crowd. The people began to whisper and sent the man disapproving looks, especially when they realized her discomfort. Finally the errand boy stepped forward and pulled her from his grasp.

"Let go of my sister, ya pervert!" he snarled.

Lilas raised an eyebrow at this, but was grateful. She didn't know how much longer she could last. Although, she hated to think of harming anyone, she was extremely tempted to cut off this bastard's manhood...

To avoid any more attention, they quickly pushed their way through the crowd. The boy swore under his breath as he pulled her by the arm, almost running to get back to the circus. All the while, Lilas couldn't forget the caged teen. She decided that the first thing she was going to do when she got back was to tell the others.

They had helped her, so they would definitely help him...

Besides, she couldn't live with herself knowing that a human being was being kept in a cage like an animal.

I HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE REVIEW AND DON'T BE AFRAID OF SENDING ME BIOS (THE MORE DETAILED, THE BETTER.)OF ANY OC YOU WANT ME TO WORK INTO THE STORY. I LOVE TO WORK WITH OTHER AUTHORS!

PS. DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHO THE LITTLE BOY IS? ;) (its a sort of cross over...idk if im actually going to go further into it...he's prob going to be a minor appearance lol) (look at my other fanfic..that would prob help XD)

WRTIE TO YOU SOON (HOPEFULLY)

~OmGiStHaTaDuMpLiNg~