Cross woke up as the first sun rays slipped into the tent through the window next to him. The air outside seemed cold and foggy. The winter was getting closer.

Cross pushed himself up, immediately feeling nausea hit him. He clasped a hand on his mouth. His head was hurting and he felt terrible. It must have been an aftermath to last night.

He tried to stand up, almost puking on the floor. He fell sitting on the floor, holding his head in his hands. The whole world was spinning around him and he didn't feel really good.

His Chara was floating next to him. At least they didn't share the effects of his ability with him. It kinda annoyed him that they weren't affected by the same emotions he was.

         It took Cross around ten minutes to be finally able to stand still without falling. He managed to make his way out of the tent to the coldness of the outside.

The air was still dark and the lights were only dimly on. His breath came out looking like smoke and the air was cold. Luckily his clothes were warm.

He continued stumbling forward, not really knowing where he was headed to. He just need a short walk outside. He was hoping it would help him feel better.

The song playing in the air was another familiar tune again. If he recalled right, it was called Circus Monster. It was another song he had grown used to at home. Many of the songs that he had heard playing from the Big Top were ones he had already grown used to.

         The sound of footsteps made Cross spin around. Suddenly he was faced with a skeleton he hadn't seen before. They looked as surprised as he was.

"Are you a new member of the circus?" the skeleton asked as they eyed Cross from a safe distance. Their hands were in their pockets, which alarmed Cross, but their emotions showed nothing dangerous.

"Yes.." Cross nodded carefully. He didn't know if he should trust this skeleton. He had never seen them before and he didn't have anyone who could confirm to him that the skeleton wasn't a threat.

"Well, nice to meet ya then! I'm Dance." He gave Cross a grin and stepped forwards to offer his hand. Cross took it hesitatedly.

"Cross," he introduced himself. "I joined a few days ago to be a knife thrower," he explained after pulling his hand away from the handshake.

"A new knife thrower? That's great! Killer can finally stop complaining about being the only one," Dance chuckled. Cross wasn't letting his guard down, but he was growing to like the new skeleton.

"But what are you doing outside this early?" Dance asked, tilting his head. "It's just five in the morning, you could have still slept for at least an hour," he continued after glancing at the clock he pulled from his pocket.

"I'm used to messy sleeping schedules," Cross answered with a shrug. "You're up too," he pointed out, making Dance chuckle.

"You do have a point," he admitted. "I was actually on my way to the animal tent. Do you want to come with me?" he asked. Cross took a moment to consider his choice.

"Have you been in the animal tent before?" Dance asked. Cross shook his head. "Then just come with me, I'll show it to you!" Dance smiled and took a step back, waiting for Cross to follow after him.

"Killer said something about the animals being dangerous," Cross mentioned as he followed after him. There was a peek of sadness in Dance's emotions.

"That's sadly true, but the one we're going to see is not that hostile. He's just scared because he can't see.." Dance answered sadly. "He's a skeleton like us, but he has wings, which made the Ringmaster categorise him as an animal," he explained before stopping in front of a tent that was filled with fear.

"He used to be a happy one, but then he crashed through a window and the glass pierced his eyes blind.. Now he's constantly scared because he can't see his surroundings... But he doesn't mean any harm." Dance pushed the flap open and slipped in, Cross following after him.

         In the fear filled tent was sitting a skeleton with long wings on his back. He was facing facing the wall, but Cross could see the chains in his ankles and wrists.

"Bird, its me, Dance," Dance stated carefully. He had stopped in front of Cross and moved his hand in front of Cross to signal him not to move forwards yet.

"..There's... S-some.. With... You..." The skeleton said in a raspy voice. His breathing was hoarse and it seemed as if his throat and vocal cords had been damaged.

"Yes, I brought our new knife thrower. His name is Cross," Dance answered, taking a careful step towards the winged skeleton. "Cross, this is Bird," he said to Cross as he remembered he hadn't said the other's name yet.

"It's nice to meet you," Cross whispered. He was currently under a lot of pressure because of the fear in the atmosphere, which made him sound as if he was a bit scared too.

"N-no–," – Bird was cut off by a coughing fit – "R-ring..?" He couldn't finish the sentence as he began coughing more. Cross could now also identify the pain he was in.

"He's not here. It's just Cross and I," Dance assured, finally walking to Bird and carefully placing his hand on his shoulder.

The winged skeleton turned to lean against him, giving Cross the angle to see the bandana that covered his eyes and the scars on his lower face.

"You don't have to be afraid," Dance whispered to Bird, wrapping his arms around him. The act made Cross heart ache. It was so caring and sweet, it reminded him of someone.

"Are you hurting again?" Dance asked as he caressed Bird's cheek with his fingers. He seemed concerned about the winged skeleton's health, and so was Cross. The pain he got off of him wasn't a good sign.

"No.." Bird shook his head. To Cross it was clear that he was lying, but Dance wasn't exactly sure. He seemed hesitant and didn't really want to push it, despite being really worried.

"Are you sure about that?" Cross questioned, making Bird snap his head towards his voice. "You don't seem to be completely fine," Cross said as he analysed the feelings he could feel coming from him.

"I'm... Alright..." Bird continued to lie with his raspy voice. It was getting a bit annoying to Cross, despite the fact that he had been guilty of lying like that multiple times before.

"You're clearly not," Cross argued back. Dance turned to look at him. His face was full of worry and pity for the skeleton in his arms.

"Cross, can you go get Reaper, please?" Dance asked hesitatedly as he glanced back at Bird. He seemed a bit uncomfortable at the mention of the God of Death. "He's a nurse too. The only one who can leave the medical tent. Geno refuses to," Dance explained.

"I will do my best to find him," Cross answered before existing the tent.

       Cross had no idea where the medical tent was. He didn't remember any tents locations and it seemed too early for anyone else to be awake. He wondered if the God of Death would even be awake this early in the morning.

"I wanderer a few meters away and already found him," his Chara informed as they returned from wherever they had gone to.

"What?" Cross furrowed his browbones and looked at the direction they were pointing to. There, indeed, was the God of Death by himself, drinking coffee while walking somewhere.

"Reaper!" Cross called out, catching the attention of the cloaked reaper who turned to look at him upon hearing his name being called.

"Why are you up so early? And why are you out here all alone?" Reaper asked, taking another sip from his drink. "Well, not all alone," he mumbled, staring straight at his Chara. By far he seemed to be the only person in the circus able to see Chara. Cross had discovered that before he had joined.

"I was sent to get you," Cross answered. Reaper raised a browbone. "I followed Dance to see Bird and he was hurting. Dance told me to come get you," Cross explained, giving more context.

"Ah, it's Bird again." Reaper seemed to understand the situation. "Let's go see what's going on over there," he hummed and began walking where Cross had just come from.

"So you also save lives..." Cross muttered as he began walking after the reaper. Reaper stopped and Cross could feel pity from him.

"I have no control over who I reap. I don't kill them, I just set them free," the God of Death explained gloomily, not even looking at Cross. "You know there wasn't anything I could have done to save them.. They were already dead."

Cross looked away. He didn't want to hear about it. He blamed himself and the guilt was eating him alive. So he stopped walking, not wanting to follow Reaper anymore.

"I'll just go.." he mumbled, crossing his arms. Reaper glanced at him and nodded quietly before walking off. He thought Cross needed space.

       Cross sat down, leaning against a tree. He was behind the all the tents. The music was still as loud as before, it didn't bother him. The Big Top was playing more familiar, haunting tunes that echoed through the foggy and dark, sleeping circus.

He closed his eyes and was immediately met with an image of a familiar face. Soft humming filled his head as he remembered the voice he really loved. He really missed it all.

       Suddenly there were footsteps in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw a familiar human standing in front of him. They approached him hesitatedly, trying to figure out if they were a bother or not.

"You can come here, I don't mind," Cross said softly. Chara snapped their head towards him, taking a few seconds to consider before walking to him and sitting down next to the tree, pulling their knees to their chest.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Cross could feel that Chara was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed. He was certain that crying in front of him had hurt their pride as they seemed to be someone who pretends to be strong and careless.

"I didn't mean–," Chara began, but Cross interrupted them, not letting them finish the sentence. He said: "I don't care if you try to act tough and all, but I won't let you bottle up your emotions like that. You're just a child, why are you carrying so much on your shoulders?" He turned to look at them with sad eyes.

They were taken aback by this and turned to look away. "Why do you care..? You've just arrived.. You don't know anything about anything here.." they mumbled.

"I was once saved by someone. To that someone I made a promise that if I ever stumbled across a child in need of help, I'd save them. I'm not about to break that promise after I broke another one.." Cross answered, trailing off. So many things in Chara's emotions reminded him of his own.

"Will you let me help you?" he asked carefully. His own Chara was looking at him as if he was mad. They weren't really happy with what Cross was currently up to.

"Cross, you don't want to do that!" they warned him, but he didn't care. He had made mistakes he wanted to fix, and this could help him.

"I don't get it..." Chara whispered. "Why me?" they snapped, looking doubtful. They didn't get what he saw in them, why he wanted to help them.

"Because I think that I can help you," Cross answered. He didn't know much about the child, but what he knew was enough to make him decide that they weren't alright and that he could use all his knowledge to try and help them. Plus, he would be living here possibly for the rest of his life, so he needed ways to soften at least some of the pain in the atmosphere.

"Take your time to think about it," he said, standing up. He could feel the circus starting to awaken. Killer would come looking for him soon.

Chara didn't call out after him when he walked away. They remained under the tree, sitting in silence, processing their emotions.

       Finding Killer wasn't a hard task. Cross happened to pass by his tent as he was walking out, or at least Cross thought it was his tent.

"Oh, you're already up!" Killer seemed surprised by this. "Well, this saves me some time," he hummed and gave Cross a grin. "Ready for a new day?"

"I guess," Cross shrugged. "What's happening today?" he asked curiously. They hadn't really done anything else than checking out the place before, so he was hoping today would happen something more exciting.

"First we should go see Lust because I need him to fix my pockets that Ace cut off yesterday," Killer announced, sounding quite annoyed at the mention of the name Ace, which Cross assumed to be the name of the magian Killer had cursed last night.

       Today the atmosphere of the costume tent almost sucked all the air from Cross' nonexistent lungs. He stopped dead on his tracks the moment Killer pushed the flap open. The tent was filled with sadness and grief that pushed tears to the corners of his eyes.

"I-I'll wait.. outside.." he said to Killer, trying to stand straight. Killer turned around, looking concerned.

"'s somethin' wrong?" the knife thrower asked, seeming suddenly worried about the other who clearly didn't look that well.

"Don't worry about it," Cross brushed him off with a wave of his bony hand. "Just go do what you have to and I'll wait here," he said and turned around, not letting Killer see his face that was starting to twist with the painful feelings that came from the tent.

Killer hesitated for a second before walking into the tent and closing the flap after him. Cross was immediately knocked on the ground as he felt Killer's emotions hit him. The other was clearly shocked and terrified by something.

He forcefully pushed himself up from the ground and began running off. He had to get away from the tent as fast as he could. His legs could barely hold him and he kept stumbling until finally crashing into someone and falling on the ground, feeling something slip underneath him to stop him from hitting the ground.

He was immediately washed with an emotions that felt as cold as ice. His vision was blurry, but he could see something black. And when he connected that black to the cold emotions, he could put two together and figure out that he had just crashed into the Ringmaster.

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[6.6.2022]