Without Warning (FNAF/UT)[Freedom AU Book Five]

The Gilley

i. 'Mangle' is her old nickname in this AU. Her real name is Vixen, or Vix. It's been quite a while since she's been called Mangle. Also, 'Candy Butcher' is the guy who goes between rows of seats in 'The House' selling concessions. 'Gilley' is an outsider.

~~~

This next venue felt a little soon, and risky. At least, that's what some of the members of Charles White's troupe tried to tell him. He brushed them all off, of course, reminding them it was he who was in charge, not them. And anyways, he'd taken on the charge of finding and booking venues after Jenny took off from them. For whatever reasons she had--not important!

So, this week's venue was going to be located just on the edge of Leenorth city. They'd be guaranteed to get a tone of business. Charles liked business. Business meant things could stay afloat. Those out-in-the-boonies locations weren't the best venues, but they'd managed to make do by it. Thankfully. Not having to worry about paying the new members did help, but well, it was because of them they had to book those obscure locations.

Well, whatever. Enough of that, he had a show to get up and running!

~~~

Sophie Grant's cellphone buzzed, the tone indicating who was messaging her. Taking a glance at her cellphone, she read the text on the screen. It was from Vixen, giving her a not-so-update update on the whole issue with the disappearances. Sophie wished she could be there with the anthros and monsters to help the search effort, but she'd promised her parents she'd come out to visit them. Come out the whole 6 and a half hour drive to the city they lived near. That was fun. Not.

But, getting to spend time with her dear parents was.

"Who's that?" Mrs. Grant wondered casually, as she entered the kitchen whilst Sophie ate the remnants of her small lunch. "Huh? Oh, just a friend." Immediately noticing the look in her mother's eyes, as the older woman sat down next to her, Sophie couldn't help but call it out. "Okay, what is it?"

"Well, do you remember how, when you were little, you used to love the circus?" Sophie slowly nodded, trying to guess where this was going. "It was so cute too! You and the neighbor kids made up your own circus, using ours and their camping tents, and also Scruffy." Mrs. Granted began to ramble, even bringing op Sophie's childhood dog. "Mom!"

"Oh, sorry. Well, we never did get a chance to go to a real circus back then. But....!" Opening her wallet--which she'd brought to the kitchen table with her--Mrs. Grant pulled out three tickets from inside. "How would you like to see one?" Sophie looked one of the tickets over. 'Cirque Magique™'. "Woah, that sounds cool!"

"Really?" Mrs. Grant enthusiastically asked. "Well, yeah mom! And anyways, you already bought the tickets, so I'd feel bad saying no..."

"So you don't really want to, then?" Letting out a faux annoyed huff, Sophie rolled her eyes. "Mom, I can't wait!" Sophie's mother smiled brightly, giving her daughter one of her infamous 'mom hugs'--infamous, because all of Sophie's cousins and even aunts and uncles all called it that.

~~~

"Alright, listen up, all of you!" Charles all but shouted to the group of six standing before him--surrounded by Sami, Jack, Ginger and Kimmy. "No screw ups, you all got it?" The Ringmaster began, whip in hand as a warning. "I've been seeing too many slip ups from some of you as of lately, and I do not want to see any more of it!" White was met with deadpanned, tired, and angry looks. "Understood?" Nobody answered, except for Pippin--who barked in response to sensing the abductees' stress.

"SHUT UP, DOG." Charles cracked the whip, but only to scare the golden doodle. Pippin took the cue, and ran off to another part of the 'Back Yard' like the obedient circus dog he was. Charles's scrutinizing look returned to the six. He stared at them silently, before suddenly speaking up again.

"Where's Jeremy?!" He asked loudly, walking away from the group.

~~~

The Ringmaster was just about to finish his opening, just as Sophie was about to finish her cotton candy--gosh, she hadn't had any in years! She found herself with this giddy, child-like feeling while sitting with her parents watching the circus. Sophie hadn't realized how excited she truly was until they'd pulled up to the show and sat down.

Giving a quick side glance to her parents, Sophie saw her Mom and Dad also eating away at their concessions--a bag of peanuts and popcorn her dad had bought off the passing 'Candy Butcher'. The older couple gave their daughter a smile at the momentary eye contact, before the three returned their attention to the Ring.

Some time into the show, the Flying Trapeze had finished their act, and was it truly something. The way they fearlessly flew through the air, not missing a beat when reaching out to grab the fly bars. It was a stunning feat to behold. Once the group of four Trapezists finished, two of them climbed down the towering platforms, while the other two stayed up top.

Suddenly, two more performers came out of the 'Back Yard'. One was tall, with a slender frame--despite their costume--and the other wasn't even half the taller one's height--wearing a pink tutu with light blue frills around their upper arms and wrists. The two looked to be somehow connected to strings, that the Trapezists above were getting a handle of.

"...Wait a minute..." Sophie mumbled to herself in a whisper. Leaning forward in her seat, she tried to get a better look at the two new performers in the Ring. One of them looked awfully familiar. Up until this point, all of the performers had been humans with wildish costumes and outlandish makeup. But, no human could look like the tall slender performer.

Their face flashed in the general direction towards Sophie and her parents' seats. Her green eyes widened. "...no...!" It couldn't be, could it?" "Sophie?" Mrs. Grant whispered, leaning in towards her daughter. "Nothing." Sophie whispered back, returning to her original position in her seat.

The next segment came to a close, while Sophie was being bothered by a nagging feeling. She could've almost sworn that one of those performers were the Marionette! It had to be... but that wouldn't make sense, would it? The Marionette being all the way out here? Well, maybe... He was one of the missing six after all-

The next two performers, followed out by an energetic dog, came out next. They were soon followed by the Ringmaster, who was holding a whip. These two were obviously not human. One was a walking purple bunny, the other a golden... bear... Sophie looked harder, desperately looking for a confirming detail or sign. The bear had dark and slightly glowing eyes she could've sworn belonged to Gold.

It had to be them, no two bones about it! If those four were here, was Ella also here? She'd have to withhold from calling Captain Undyne until she could know for sure all six of them were here.