"Killer! Killer! Wait!" A higher voice called out from behind the two knife throwers. They both turned around to see a small, mostly blue, skeleton running towards them with a belt-looking item in their gloved hand.

Killer stopped, Cross following the suit. The blue, really energetic and happy – from what Cross could feel off of them easily – skeleton stopped in front of Killer, handing him the item they had been carrying.

"I fixed your knife belt!" The energetic bouncy ball exclaimed with a huge grin on their face as Killer examined the dark blue leather belt.

"Thanks! I was just wondering when you would get it done," Killer said as he bend down to wrap the knife belt around his left thigh.

The blue, energetic bouncy ball noticed Cross after managing to tear their eyes off of Killer. For a second all the happiness was replaced with confusion as they took a chance to examine him with their eyes. Then, in a snap of fingers, all the happiness and energy was back and the skeleton was getting a closer look at Cross.

"Are you new here?" they asked, stopping for a moment to flash a huge grin for him before continuing their examination. "I've never seen you before!"

Killer sighed and watched the skeleton with an amused look. "It would be polite to introduce yourself to him," he said to them, making them stop dead on their tracks.

"Oh! OH! Right!" they exclaimed and turned to look at Cross with an innocent, apologetic smile on their face. They offered their gloved hand towards him and said: "Sorry! My name's Blue! It's nice to meet you! I hope you like it here with us!"

Cross took his hand. "I'm Cross. It's nice to meet you too!" He was a bit overwhelmed by the happiness of the young skeleton, but tried to stay still.

"What are you going to be?" Blue asked curiously, fixing the goggles that sat on top of his head. "My guess is a knife thrower since you are following Killer!" he added before Cross got a chance to answer.

"Your guess is correct," Cross nodded. He wasn't so sure how to feel about the smile that he wasn't physically able to wipe out of his face because of Blue's happy aura.

"That's so cool!" Blue exclaimed. "And I would love to chat more, but I'm afraid that Ink won't be very happy if I don't go help him with our work," he continued and casted Cross another apologetic smile before turning to face Killer again. "Bye Killer!" he said before hurrying off.

"Blue works with Ink. They make and fix props and gadgets. He's also the youngest here, being just 16. Chara is only a few months older than him though," Killer explained as he watched after the bouncy ball -skeleton who had just disappeared out of their vision.

"He's pretty young then. Is everyone else that young?" Cross asked with slight concern. He hadn't seen much of the circus, but from what he had heard – and felt from the heaving aura around the place – the place seemed to be cruel. Was it really suitable for a teenager?

"I was 15 when I joined five years ago. Most of us who joined back then were around 15–23. Though now we are all older as time has passed. Apart from Blue and Chara there aren't any minors, unless you're one." Killer turned to look at Cross, trying to figure out his age, which wasn't really successful since it was hard to tell a skeleton's age.

"I'm not even close to a teenager anymore. I'm 26," Cross answered. Killer looked really surprised. "Not what you were expecting, is it?" he added with amusement as he watched Killer's reaction.

"I thought you were on your really early 20s," Killer admitted. "But looks like I was wrong, and now I owe Ink for that," he signed, crossing his arms.

"You made a bet about my age?" Cross asked and raised his browbone.

"Ink and I did, but enough about that." Killer turned back to the direction they had been heading to. "We shall continue the tour and get you introduced to everyone" – Killer lowered his voice and began walking away – "before Nightmare finds us and blames me for being a shit mentor.."

Cross followed after him without asking questions. Killer's aura had turned kinda cold and annoyed. Cross could tell he had something against the Ringmaster, but knew better than to ask any unnecessary questions.

        The next place Killer was headed for seemed to be the Big Top that was again playing a tune Cross recognised. Killer seemed a bit hesitant though, and kept getting even more hesitant the closer they got to the Big Top.

"Is something wrong?" Cross asked, immediately freezing as he realised that he had asked that out loud. Killer seemed surprised as he turned to look back at him.

"Huh?" Killer tilted his head, he didn't recall showing any hesitation or anything else that could have caught the other's attention like that. "Why did you ask that?" He seemed confused, making Cross swear internally.

"I can read emotions quite well," Cross answered, trying not to reveal too much. "And you seem a bit uncertain about something, or that's what I think at least," he explained. He could feel doubt from Killer.

"I see.." he mumbled thoughtfully before turning to look at Cross again. "Well, might as well tell you what it is that's bothering me since it isn't anything that personal," he shrugged and turned to look towards the Big Top. "I was thinking if I should take you to the Big Top, but our DJ, who lives there, doesn't always get along with social situations. I don't know how he's doing today, so I don't know if it's a smart idea to go there," he explained, spinning one of his knives in his hand.

"If you are unsure about that, you don't have to take me there now. I don't want to go make anyone uncomfortable," Cross answered. He didn't want to deal with an awkward social interaction where the other was under a lot of anxiety that would obviously also trigger him. "We have time, don't we?" he added, knowing he had signed a contract that sealed him into the Circus for the rest of his life.

"Yeah, you're right. I think we should visit everything else now and then once I've made sure he's fine with meeting new people, we can go see him." Killer nodded and pushed his knife back to the knife belt Blue had brought him earlier.

"The next stop could be," – he took a moment to look around – "The Café or food tent!" He decided and began leading the way again.

         They arrived outside the food tent. Killer was about to reach for the flap when another skeleton pushed outside from the tent. They stopped as they noticed Killer and Cross.

"Oh-! Dust!" Killer seemed suddenly a bit nervous. "I didn't expect to see you here!" he flashed the new skeleton, Dust, an innocent grin.

Dust didn't say anything. He just glanced at Killer before turning to look at Cross. He was pretty much emotionless, but not in the same disturbing way as Ink was. It was rather as if he had just grown to be numb to emotions.

Killer pulled Dust closer to him by his hood and lower his voice as he whispered: "I'm sorry for last night, but I promise I didn't hurt him. It might look like a bit bad, but he was okay with it."

Cross felt like he wasn't supposed to be hearing this conversation, but there wasn't really anywhere he could run off to.

Killer pulled away, letting go of Dust's hood. Dust just nodded without saying anything. Then he turned his attention back to Cross. Killer noticed this and perked up.

"This is Cross, our new knife thrower!" Killer introduced the monochrome skeleton. "And Cross, this is Dust. He's a magician, doesn't speak much," he continued and glanced at Dust.

"Hey.." Cross waved slightly. He didn't know what else to do. Dust just nodded and turned around, walking away. As he walked away, for a second Cross could feel slight danger welling from him, but it disappeared quickly.

"Don't mind him," Killer said. "He's always a bit strange and quiet, sometimes even dangerous. His magic is unstable and really unpredictable," – he gritted his teeth as he continued – "That's why Nightmare likes to keep him locked away.." A wave of anger pushed through him.

"Locked away.?" Cross was hesitant to ask. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what that meant. Killer's feelings were cold, which was unsettling. Cross could tell that he was hurting and angry at the same time.

"Nightmare has a habit of locking away people who grow unstable or become a threat otherwise.. Some of the performers learn to live like that, others go mad and get themselves killed by Nightmare.." Killer's voice trailed off. He was squeezing his fist. Cross was having a hard time controlling his emotions with Killer's waving anger.

"The Ringmaster kills people here.?" Cross asked the obvious. By now he should have already guessed that.

"He's the protector of negativity.. You'll learn how that effects all of us later.." Killer answered. Behind his anger was creeping grief. Cross could already tell that he had lost someone to Nightmare.

"We should get moving now," Killer said quietly and gestured towards the food tent next to them before pushing the flap open and walking in.

        In the food tent were multiple tables and chairs. By the back was a small Café counter and behind it a door that possibly led to a kitchen. The light in the ceiling was flickering.

By the counter was standing a skeleton. They seemed to perk up as they saw Killer and Cross. And just like everyone else, they seemed curious about Cross.

"Killer, you're bit too early if you're looking for food!" the skeleton announced and glanced at the clock on the wall behind them. "You know I can't serve anything outside the hours Ringmaster has stated."

"I know, but we're not here for food. I'm here to introduce our new knife thrower to you," Killer answered and gestured towards Cross.

"Hey! Nice to meet you! My name's Ccino!" The skeleton smiled and gave Cross a wave from behind the counter.

"I'm Cross. It's nice to meet you too," Cross hummed with a nod. He was starting to have a hard time trying to remember all the names he had heard during the day.

"I would love to speak with you two more, but it's about time to go feed the animals. Ringmaster won't be happy if I don't do it on time," Ccino said after glancing at the clock again.

"Shit! I forgot about that!" Killer exclaimed. He spun around to look at Cross. "I also help with the animals, so I'll go help Ccino with them. Let's go find someone who can keep you company for a while," he said and asked Ccino to wait for a moment before leading Cross out of the tent.

        "And just this morning you chased me away from him," Chara pointed out, raising their eyebrow. "Now you're asking me to keep him company? Make up your mind! Do you want me near him or nowhere near him?"

"Just don't do anything stupid, please!" Killer growled in slight annoyance. "I'll be back in less than an hour," he announced before turning to look at Cross.

He lowered his voice as he leaned closer to Cross. "They can be unpredictable. If something happens, run off and find someone else," he advised.

"Alright..?" Cross was a bit hesitant. He didn't feel anything strange coming from Chara, they seemed pretty normal.

"Don't do anything stupid!" Killer reminded Chara who rolled their eyes.

"Sim!" they groaned. Killer glanced between them and Cross once more before hurrying off to find Ccino.

Chara turned to look at Cross again. Their emotions were hard to read, but Cross could tell that they were interested about him.

"Are you really that good with knives?" they asked, pulling out one of their red knives and spinning it in their hands.

"I am. Do you need me to prove it to you?" Cross summoned a huge, red knife. Chara immediately seemed curious about it.

"That's an impressive knife," they admitted. "But do you think you have what it takes to be a knife thrower in this circus?" they asked, their tone growing colder.

"If I'm being honest, I don't know. I don't know what it takes and I don't know if I have that, but I will try my best to be enough because I really want to do it. I want to be a knife thrower here," Cross answered. His voice was full of confidence, Chara seemed taken aback by that. They looked down.

"..I thought I had what it took.. But Ringmaster disagreed.. He said I wasn't good enough.. Despite everything I did... He said a human like me wouldn't fit in the show as one. He said I should rather become a trapeze artist so I could be so high up no one would see me well.. He said that my knife skills are useless here..! He called me useless! And I can't stand that!" Chara's angry sadness had Cross on the edge. He almost fell down for the emotions storming in his chest. "AND NOW HE'S REPLACING ME WITH YOU! JUST LIKE THAT! AFTER EVERYTHING I DID! YOU–!" They were cut off as a red knife flew past their face, drawing a thin, red line on their left cheek.

Cross fell on his knees, trying to catch his breath as Chara's overwhelming emotions washed off. They stood frozen, their hand against their bleeding cheek. Tears were still rolling down on their face as they processed what just had happened.

        "I'm sorry... Are you hurt.?" Cross whispered quietly as he was finally able to stand up again. He approached Chara carefully with his hands raised, as if he was approaching a wild animal that could be hostile.

"..." Chara stayed quiet. They were looking down at their bloodstained had that they had just removed from their face.

"I didn't mean to come replace anyone.. I came here looking for someone.. If you don't like me being a knife thrower, I can talk to the Ringmaster about it and–," he was cut off by Chara. "No.." they said.

They raised their head and looked at him with their tear stained eyes. "You don't need to do that for me.. It doesn't matter.. I can't be a knife thrower anyways.. If you can prove yourself worthy that place, you get it.. If you step back, it won't change my situation." They clenched their fist. "In this circus things are not easy to achieve, we all learn that the hard way.."

"I'm sorry.." Cross mumbled. The fact that he could feel how Chara felt hadn't made the situation any better. He could feel how much they wanted to be a knife thrower and how much it hurt them to know that they couldn't be one.

"Don't be.. You didn't know.. And it isn't even your fault.." Chara answered, crossing their arms.

Cross carefully reached out for them and wiped away the tears from their face. They seemed stunned by the sudden action of comfort from someone who was a stranger to them.

"Don't bottle up your emotions. They don't make you weak. Let them out," Cross advised gently. He could see through the child's shell. They acted all tough, but they were hurting from inside.

Their legs gave up and the fell sitting on their bed, burying their face in their hands as sobs began to escape their mouth. They tried to hold them back, but it was impossible.

Cross felt the sadness rushing through him, almost leaving him gasping for air. But for Chara he pushed his reactions back. It hurt him physically and mentally, but it wasn't the first time.

"I'm sorry Rei..." Chara sobbed. Cross carefully pulled them close, they buried their face in his chest. Cross finally let tears slip from his eyes. Their grief was overwhelming, and the worst part of it was that it reminded him of his own.

Words: 2736

[26.5.2022]

Some more designs I drew for the characters introduced in this chapter.