The Greatest Showman (Anne Wheeler x Male OC)

Chapter Four: Death of the Circus

The next few weeks were kinda lonely without Barnum around. He was touring the entire US, having Jenny sing to sold out theaters. Meanwhile, the circus has been facing new struggles. Thugs would come in and throw garbage or beer at the troupe, Phillip included, for he was now the ringmaster. But one man always caught William's eye. The man from the upper row.

True, there were many men in the upper row, but this man would come in every day just to glare at William himself. He would always wear a green shirt under a dark purple vest, light brown pants on his legs. But what he brought with him was what struck William as peculiar. He would always bring a satchel around his shoulder and set the mask down on the seat next to him.

This mask was truly terrifying. It was an African mask painted light green with yellow dots around the eyes and making the details. The mouth opened up, revealing twelve white fangs over the mouth of the wearer. The ears sprouted out like an elf's, but more evil and sinister looking. It looked something like a demon or... or a goblin.

One night, when the show was done, the thugs had had enough of the circus.

"New acts every night!" Phillip said as the audience left, trying to find a way to bring them back.

"Hey," the lead thug said, "ringmaster." Phillip then turned to face them as W.D. came out to join him.

"Gentlemen," the young ringmaster said, "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"This is our town, son." The men then chuckled as they walked forward. "We think you should leave. You, your freaks, and your spooks." W.D. was taken back by that.

"Sir, I will only ask once more."

"Then what, boy?" That tore it. Something inside W.D. snapped as he punched the man and a full on brawl broke loose. Pretty soon, the other oddities joined in, having fed up with the abuse as well.

"Charge!" Lettie shouted as they charged. William grabbed his mask, which was off, and slipped it back on. He then grabbed a rope and swung out into the main area, kicking many thugs as he moved from one rope to the next, swinging like Tarzan.

"You know," he joked as he landed behind one, "for a bunch of guys who want to make us leave..." he dodged a few punches before dishing out his own, "you guys are getting your butts whooped bad here." Just then, a bottle of beer nearly smashed near his head. Looking up in the direction it came from, William saw the man with the demon mask on his face, standing on a large stuffed bat that hung from the ceiling. He reached into his bag and pulled out another one, aiming for William.

"The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout," the man sang with a raspy, deranged voice, still throwing bottles at the dodging Spider-Man. "Down came the goblin to get the spider out." He then cackled. A nasty, hideous cackle. William then swung on a rope toward him and picked the struggling thug off the large winged creature, landing in the middle of the circus ring. The man then got on one knee and unsheathed a knife, a wicked blade shaped like a bat's wing.

William dodged the slash of the blade and was able to knock it out of his hand, but the goblin-man went on to grab Spider-Man by the throat and start punching his face repeatedly, the red webbed fabric starting to tear, revealing William's bleeding mouth and nose as well as tufts of hair.

"William, William, William," the man gloated, "you're struggling to have everything you want." He then dropped the beaten boy and pulled out one last bottle, a rag tied to the tip. "You can thank me later." Lighting a match, the Goblin lit the rag and threw it behind the curtain, towards all the ropes.

"No!" Spider-Man shouted, trying to catch it, but he couldn't. It hit the ropes and exploded, sending the Oddity flying back. He was unconscious at first, but when he woke up, William saw a burning roof through blurry vision, a high pitched ringing in his ears. Removing his mask, he took a deep breath of smoke, causing him to cough, everything sounded like it was underwater and his hazy vision didn't help one bit. When the ringing died down and his vision became clear he saw everyone running for the exit.