cirque du l'enfer

"Bwah-" She winced when he pulled on her rosy cheek, and gently wanted his hand away. "O-ow ow, that hurts," She mumbled with a soft pout. "A-and uh, I-I don’t know what I want.. y-you pick.. I-I can’t decide.."

♡ 【 "I'm not the one eating it though." Luke couldn't eat normal food, his body rejected anything that wasn't human, but what could you expect after ten years of nothing but human flesh to eat. "How does pizza sound?" He inquired, gray eyes glancing around the gaudy plaza, looking for the familiar pizza shop. 】

When the subject of her hunger was brought up, Peyton’s face turned red and she became quiet. She felt bad, because she was hungry all the time. She hardly ate at the circus due to her own vow not to give in and eat human meat. “Y-you don’t have to..” She muttered as he pulled them towards the food court.

♡ 【 Reaching over, he pinched her cheek with his other hand, "I'm doing this because I want to. You haven't had a proper meal in months." Though food from a mall's food court hardly counted as a proper meal, it was better than the 'food' served at that damned circus. "What do you want to eat?" 】

{ —♛ ;; Chiharu sat in his room, alone once again. For some reason, he already misses the angel. He’s been lonely for so long that the mere interaction of someone could be missed easily. “So much for interaction” He mumbled, hoping that his angel, somewhere didn’t hear. 

♛ 【 Edgar unconsciously pouted, pushing chestnut colored hair out of his own face, he twiddled his thumbs, sitting on the bed. His hazel eyes glancing around the room, the guardian angel sighed. Restless and nervous for what punishment might await him. For the first time in ages, the guardian angel had a conversation, had revealed himself, and had probably broken more rules than could be counted by now. 】

         ` pleasure’s all mine, lead the way sir! ` 

♛ 【 "Of course." Edgar tugged on her hand gently, leading her in the direction of the sideshows. A large sign overhead marked where the sideshows began, lights hung over the brightly colored sign that said, 'Sideshows'. Crowds of people were strolling through the narrow walkway, some customers looked nauseous, while other happily took pictures, bright flashes against the darkened cages, the contents of said cages, were out of view from where the pair currently stood. "Where should we start?" Edgar inquired, quirking an eyebrow, a smirk plastered on his face. 】

"T-the rest of this trip," She muttered, not bothering to ask why he was raising his voice. "A-and what’s the point? Edgar will j-just take them away once he seems them. A-and then you g-get in trouble too… N-not worth the trouble, i-if you ask me.." Peyton leaned into his chest now that his arm was no longer in her arms, and continued to walk around with him. It was then that her stomach began to softly growl with hunger, causing Peyton’s face to go red with embarrassment. 

♡ 【 Luke chuckled, shaking his head, glancing at Peyton, "Are you hungry?" Tugging her hand towards the food court, though he wasn't feeling particularly hungry. For a short time, Luke could feel at ease and forget about the hell that was waiting for him. 】

"H-how long is this gonna take?" She mumbled into his sleeve, gripping his arm even tighter now.

♡ 【 Luke slipped his arm out of Peyton's grasp and slipped it around her shoulder, his other hand holding the medical supplies, as the pair began to leave the pharmacy, "Come on, let's get out of here before Mister Pharmacist has a little hissy fit." Luke snorted softly, behind Peyton's back, he flipped off the pharmacist, not even bothering to glance back to see the pharmacists reaction. 】

"I know, I know…" With that being said, the two left the fairgrounds after picking up the shopping list from Benedict. They then headed to the mall, where they were to pick up things for Luke’s sister and run a few errands. Peyton seemed quite anxious about everything though, and was clinging to Luke as they walked. She was actually trembling too. ".. I-It’s been so long.. s-since I-I’ve been near.. t-this many p-people.. p-people who aren’t insane.." She whispered to Luke, voice unsteady and hesitant as well. 

♡ 【 "It's okay. There's usually a lot more people out though." With a soft hum, he turned, pulling her with him, into one of the small stores, specifically a medical store. Luke pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket, handing it to the pharmacist; Painkillers for the performers, Prolia for his sister, and a few pregnancy related drugs that Edgar had requested. The pharmacist let out a sigh, walking away to find the array of pills. 】

Slowly, Peyton dressed herself in the clothes Edgar had given her. He only gave her nice things when it related to the well-being of the baby. They were maternity clothes, but they no longer fit her swollen body all that well. Her breasts had become large and a bit unruly, and her giant belly poked out underneath the shirt. Nonetheless, it was all she had for clothes to go out in public. “Do you have enough to buy my freedom?” Peyton muttered as she pulled her hair back and out of her face. “T-that’s the only thing I want.. b-but I could settle for ice cream or something too, I guess. M-my cravings have been killing me..”

♡ 【 “If I had enough to buy freedom, I wouldn't be here," Luke retorted, with a soft chuckle. "Are you done dressing?" His head flicked around, to look at her. "You could stand for some new clothing too." Mumbling, Luke, opened the door for her, "Ladies first." 】

That look on his face… it was such a lonely, far off expression. Peyton often forgot how much Luke suffered here. Yet he took so much time out of his day just to come and visit, even though Edgar didn’t like it and would punish him for it. Perhaps.. perhaps she had been selfish. She couldn’t just.. she couldn’t just leave Luke here to suffer. “… Sure… sure… I-I’ll go with you, Luke. Let me j-just.. get dressed..” Getting on her feet slowly, Peyton turned her back towards Luke and started to pull her nightdress off. She didn’t feel embarrassed that Luke was in the room while she did this, since he’d seen Edgar strip her down several times before. There probably wasn’t any part of her body that he hadn’t seen.

♡ 【 Luke let out a deep sigh, "Also, I have plenty of money, so if you want anything, then it can be bought." Edgar gave him a hefty sum of money every month, to be spent however he wanted to spend it. Luke understood that she had been stuck in a world, that had been tailored to be as devastating and hellish as it could be, he also understood that, while he'd probably get reprimanded for being nice to her, by Edgar, of course; Luke was willing to suffer though, if it meant that someone else would have an easier time in this hell, that he had spent his whole life in. 】

"O-Oh, I see. W-well then, I-I’m good. I-I don’t need anything…" Peyton’s grip on the blankets tightened. Come on Luke, get out of here so she can escape!

♡ 【 “You— You won't happen to want to go with... Would you?" Most of his grocery shopping was spent in loneliness and the occasional flock of young women, who would gawk at the man, wondering who he was. He stood up, leaning against the wall, gesturing at it. "If you want to go then you can. I won't say anything to Edgar." Though Luke knew, she'd probably attempt an escape, he wanted nothing more than to trust her; Knowing that her escape would result in a near death beating, especially if he took her with him on his shopping trip. 】

"U-Uh.." Peyton bit her lip, not sure how she should reject his request. She really, really needed to get him away from the trailer. "I-I can’t today.. I-I’m not feeling a-all that g-great.. s-sorry.." She mumbled. It was then that she noticed he was rather nice looking today. His wild head of hair was even slightly tamed. What was up with that? "U-um.. a-are you going somewhere t-today too?"

♡ 【 "I need to go out and pick up some things for my sister and some of the other performers today— Why do you need something?" It was more of a secondary job, having to pick up things that the other performers needed, since Edgar couldn't be asked to be help. 】

Peyton bit down on her lip nervously, and her hands started to tremble. What would he do if he saw her trying to escape? Would he get angry and stop her, and then tell Edgar? Or.. would he let her go? No, taking a chance on him would be too risky. So, Peyton waddled over to the bed and quickly shoved everything she was bringing with her under the bed, before laying back down and yelling, “C-Come in!”

♡ 【 A soft unlocking noise came from the door, before the door swung open, lightly hitting the wall. "Hello, hello." He sat down in the wooden chair, pushing a strand of hair out of his messy hair. "I thought today— Since Edgar went on his trip, that I could take you out on a walk around the circus." 】

Peyton groped around for something to write with, and found a marker lying around. Perfect. Grinning softly to herself, Peyton quickly began to draw the circle she needed to morph the lock’s mechanism and break it.

♡ 【 A soft knocking sound came from the metal door, "You awake?" It was a familiar voice. Luke had a spare key to Edgar's trailer, that Edgar had forgot the confiscate. He glanced down at one of the puddles, taking one more look at himself. 】

Peyton had been sleeping for a pretty long time when Edgar busted in. Immediately she was awoken, but pretended to sleep as she listened to him rustling around. She stole a quick peek and noticed that he had grabbed his suitcase- he was leaving. He was really, really leaving. And that meant soon, she could leave too. Safety and home.. it was so close that she could almost taste it.

♛ 【 Once he deemed that she was indeed asleep or at least looked asleep, Edgar strolled over the shelf, which contained many varieties of handcuffs, he pulled a pair of regular handcuffs out, walking back over to Peyton. The only sound filling the room was the clicking of the handcuff as it slid into place around her ankle and around a bedpost. His hazel eyes glanced at his watch, before he hurried out of the room, grabbing his suitcase and locking the door behind him. He'd have to make sure to give the key to Benedict on his way out.】