Ray Mond never knew that driving up the hill to the Funhouse would feel this... empty. The roads were deserted, the hustles and bustle of the city was caged, and everything seemed alien to the girl who didn't quite remember the last time Los Santos was this quiet. Vinny kept glancing at Ray, as he drove towards the Funhouse and while Ray was anxious to see how things would turn, she was glad to have Vinny beside her.

CG had sent a word to the clowns that they were sending Ray and Vinny and that meant for the remainder of the residents of the city to lock themselves inside. Ray rested her head on the window of the car and the foggy, chilly air of Los Santos greeted her in the most hostile manner. She felt chills running down her spine, especially when the Funhouse came closer to her line of sight. 

When they reached the old rusty gates of the house, Vinny faced her. "You ready, little one?"

Ray Mond pulled the bunny mask on her face, grabbing the backpack and unbuckling the seatbelt. "Fuck no." She didn't want to imagine what Chatterbox, or the rest of the clowns would do when she stepped on their ground. "But I have no other choice. My brother is waiting for me." 

Not a minute later and the car was surrounded with clowns, guns, baseball bats, wrenches and knives held up against them. Ray Mond gulped, fisting her hand when she was asked to step out of the vehicle by some familiar voices.  

"Hello there, Your Majesty." That was Mr. Ratchet. Ray could tell from the brown hat and the stinking alcohol smell. "Please step out of the vehicles, hands over your head."

"It is good to see you, Twinkles. Kirk, Ratchet... is that Mini? My, my do you look like shit." Ray chuckled, adding to the animosity. Vinny was quickly put to ground by Twinkles and Kirk whilst Ratchet and Mini faced Ray Mond.

Mini, the notorious clown never really like Ray Mond and probably was the only clown who opposed to the idea of having a non-clown be the Queen of the NCO. However, he was shut down quite severely because their King and his kingdom were obsessed with their queen. 

What a bunch of yucking idiots.

"Oh, maybe I should show you what this piece of shit can do then... Ray Mond..."

Ratchet quickly pushed Mini away from Ray. He held the knife to stop Mini from doing anything stupid. "Shut it. Chatterbox will kill you if anything happens to Ray. The instructions were clear..." 

Ray Mond and Vinny were gathered by clowns who held them with their hands behind their heads and a gun constantly aimed at their foreheads. Vinny raised his hands when they searched him, stripping anything they thought would mean funny business. Ray Mond on the other hand was untouched, clearly, still being treated as royalty despite being a traitor. 

No one wanted to piss the Clown King more than he already was. 

"Oh yeah." Ray chuckled, shuffling through her backpack and removing the very crumpled poster. "Ray Mond wanted. Alive. Reward: the remainder of Los Santos and a handsome prize of your life being spared." She cringed at the illegible handwriting. "Did Stumbles write this again? God, you clowns were such idiots."

"Ray Mond." Ratchet shook his head, "I'd be careful if I was you, motherfucker. This isn't the old clown gang, anymore. This is not all fun and games." He held the knife towards her, "be thankful that none of the clowns here want your dirty blood on their hands."

Ray Mond tilted her head, unafraid of the sharp knife pointed at her. It looked both rusty and bloodied. She simply had to keep her calm, even though she was as terrified as any sane person would be. 

"Now now, is that how you greet your Queen?" She folded her arms across her chest, the bunny mask clearly shielding her actual expressions. "Tsk, tsk. I expected so much better from you, but then, ya'll are just clowns at the end of the day... isn't that right, Twinkles?"

Twinkles, the shy, cute and soft-spoken clown of the city walked towards Ray Mond and faced her. He wore his usual clown costume, like the rest of them but things had changed. Blood stains, dirt and terrors of the yesteryears lay evident on the once happy colors of the clowns. Their masks, their faces, the entire arena seemed gloomy and eerie. 

The funhouse was fun no more. The old creaky doors, the broken windows and lack of both light and life was evident from the vicinity of the huge house. It didn't help how cloudy the day was, dark huge clouds blocking the sun until there seemed no light in the once bright city. 

It looked like a city of death, a house of terrors, and the devil lying in wait for her inside.

"Twinkles does not want to talk to you." Twinkles said, stepping further away from the woman who broke friendships and destroyed lives. "Twinkles is afraid that Twinkles will have to kill you if he does speak to you."

Ray Mond smiled. "I see. So, you are not going to look at me either?" Ray Mond took a step closer to Twinkles, the rest of the clowns immediately raising their guns and their knives at her, but Twinkles extended his hands and asked them to back off. "Come on Twinkles, we go way back."

Twinkles raised his gun at Ray Mond. She raised her arms in mockery of the once sweet clown, who had lost all of his innocence and twinkle. "Twinkles would have killed you on sight if Twinkles didn't owe his life to Chatty. He wants you alive, and Twinkles will have to respect that." Twinkles pulled the safety of the gun and placed his finger on the trigger. "So, remove your backpack and walk inside... Don't pull anything funny that would make Twinkle break his promise to his brother."

Ray Mond chuckled, nodding in agreement. She looked at Vinny who was still surrounded by the remainder of the clowns. She unbuckled her bag and threw it on the ground, her hands in the air to show she meant business. 

Twinkles and Kirk made their way inside the gloomy and scary funhouse, with Ray Mond walking in between. She had her hands in the air and the bunny mask shielding her face. The house smelled terrible. The dried blood on the walls and the decaying remains of the dead bodies made it difficult to breathe in the once livelier house. She noticed the creaking floorboards, the bullet holes in every wall, the glass shreds of windows lying on the floor and the ever-growing creepers covering the pathway. 

"What happened to the rest of the clowns?" Ray asked, walking upstairs, "did they all flee or die?" 

"Like you cared." Kirk rolled his eyes. "Just keep walking."

"Oh, come on. I need some tea! It has been so boring without the drama and without the clownery. Tell me, what about Sooty, Ember, the rest of the girls? Or Bozo, Pockets... and my son... Mumbles?"  

Kirk immediately placed the gun on Ray Mond's head. They stopped walking and Ray turned to face the angry clown. "Hey, chill man, I simply wanted to have a small talk with my favourite clowns." 

The cold metal of the pistol touched Ray Mond's temple, and she felt another chill, this time fearful of losing her life at the hand of a clown. Not the clown she intended to die for. 

"Kirk, please don't." Twinkles stopped Kirk from doing the irrevocable. "Chatty would not like it."

"Fuck Chatty. Fuck the NCO. I don't care." Kirk pressed the cold metal in Ray Mond's head, almost giving her a dent. "She killed so many people, Twinkles. So many of our own are dead because of this BITCH! She needs to die." 

Ray Mond still had her hands in the air, the bunny mask lay intact on her face. "Come on now, Kirk. You aren't going to put the entire blame on me now, are you?" She faced him, reaching out to touch the pistol on her head. 

"We trusted you!" Kirk was hyperventilating, hands tremoring as he decided against shooting her. "We trusted you with our everything, Ray Mond." 

Ray shook her head. "You trusted a CG princess, Kirk. Clownery at its peak!" 

Kirk raised his arm to hit Ray but simply diverted his hand to the wall besides her. Twinkles shook his head, placing his knife at Ray Mond's back. "Keep walking. Chatty is upstairs."

"I don't care where he is." Ray Mond walked the flight of stairs that creaked at every step. The rest of the house was filled with dimmed lights, flies and a rotting smell. "I want my brother."

"You are in no position to demand, Ray Mond. Twinkles need to remind you that you are at our mercy right now." Twinkles didn't hesitate as he let her upstairs, in a colder, darker room. "So, don't pull out any funny business. Twinkles will not care to kill you if you do hurtied anyone else."

She was brought in the same room which was attached to the balcony. The one place where she and Chatterbox had shared many lonely and warm nights. The place where they had stripped off their secrets and their clothes. The room that seemed just as strange as the city did to her. The cold, black night overtook the dusky evening, and an eerie sense of darkness overtook the skies. 

The room was pitch black. The only thing Ray Mond could trace was the night sky from the windows. She was made to sit on a wooden chair, Twinkles tying her hands behind her back with a zip tie. Twinkles made sure to grip the zip tie as hard as he could, so if Ray did try to unclench her hands, she will end up cutting herself. He then proceeded to put a blindfold on Ray over her mask until she couldn't see the night sky anymore. 

"What's more now? A gag?" She repulsed at the thought. "Why is your King into weird shit like that?" She was helpless to see her vision poof into the darkness of the room. It truly was scary to be helpless and at someone's mercy.

Twinkles faced Ray Mond when he was done tying her. He towered over her with his bloodied mask shielding his face. "Twinkles hopes you die." He said, angry and sad. She could feel his rage from his cold, emotionless voice. "He hopes the next time Twinkles sees you, you're a cold dead body." 

Ray sighed. "Good to see you too, I guess?" She called out to Twinkles who had left the room almost immediately. "God, what is with the hostility? Is this how Queens are treated in their kingdoms?" She yelled out in the darkness. 

Then she waited. It was damp, dark and smelled terrible. More than that, she was worried for her twin and Vinny who were probably being tortured or worse... dead. She shook her head, now wasn't the time to worry. 

"How much longer do I have to wait?" Ray said aloud when she felt parched. It was humid and cold at the same time. "I am here, Chatterbox. I am here like you asked me too! So, stop playing hide and seek!" 

The room simply echoed everything she said, and Ray tried releasing her hands from the wires. All she did was hurt herself, the blood trickling down her arms and the pain seeping through her body. 

"I am here, Chatty. Your Queen is here." Ray yelled again. This time she tried to keep her witty charm intact, her voice carrying a seductive aura. "Aren't you going to show yourself? I know you want to!"

She felt something move behind her. Ray immediately straightened her back when she felt the hot breath fan her left ear. She shut her eyes, fisting her hands when she felt his presence ever so hauntingly. He edged closer to her. His lips gently brushing earlobes and Ray held her breath.

She had forgotten how crazy Chatterbox was and how he always drove her to the brink of insanity. 

"Hello, Cups." He whispered softly in her ear, the tremors of the sexy voice making Ray Mond blood boil and toes curl at the same time. He placed his hands on her shoulders, inching closer to her when she turned her face towards the direction of his husky voice. "The Clown King has been waiting for you." 

She waited for a second, and another for something to happen. It was silent once again, but the kind that awaited a jump scare. Her breathing increased like her heartbeats, and she found herself anticipating Chatterbox's action. 

Her mask was taken off her face, the blindfolds untied and when she opened her eyes, she came face to face with the monster she had created. He was bending to face her, with his scarred face half hidden with his mask. A sly, coy smile on his face as he let their noses touch. His dark black eyes meeting her brown eyes. 

"Let's play a game, shall we? Cups?" He raised her chin upwards by the tip of the sharp knife, and Ray forgot how deceiving Chatterbox's eyes could be at times like this. "Or should I say, Ray Mond. First name Ray, last name Mond."

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