Nightmares in the Northwest

Brawl at the Big Top

On Christmas Eve, while visions of sugar plums danced in the children of Mistdale's hands, visions of trauma danced in Emily's head while she was backstage in front of her vanity.

"I don't think I can do this." Emily was shaking, having to deal with the trauma of losing her beloved aunt. She cried tears that rolled down her face, ruining her makeup.

"Emily, wait." Al came to comfort Emily.

"Not now, Al." Emily told Al, trying to force her away. "Tomorrow is Christmas, the day about being with family, and I can't do that when my mom, uncle and aunt are dead, and my sister and my father don't want me." Katie, Hank, Jalen and Shalom came in with Al.

"What are you clowns doing here?" Emily pouted, being in a bad mood.

"What Al is trying to tell you is that we're your adopted family!" Katie explained. "We supported you through the months, and we care for you just as much as your mom would."

"Aww, that's thoughtful!" Emily replied with her heart feeling warm since Katie came to cheer her up.

"We're going to have the best Christmas ever, as adopted family!" Jalen raised a champagne bottle high in the air.

"Besides, you and I are getting married!" Al showed Emily his engagement ring. "When all this is through, you'll go to the bachelorette party, I will go to the bachelor party, and we will start over, just the two of us!" Emily felt confident, being hugged by the group.

"What I learned on the street is that people you lose can't be brought back." Hank lectured. "But they are reborn in the form of new friends, new love, new family." Emily was ready to go on stage and take the battle to Dahlia Dan, so she put on her black, white and purple sequined bodysuit and went out on stage to give it to the man who ordered the attack that forced Emily to kill her aunt.

In the center ring, Dahlia Dan stood with the spotlight on him. He held the mic and began the show.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Everyone, Happy Holidays." Dan announced. "Speaking of Happy, I have the happiest gift for you tonight, so let's cut to the main event!" The spotlight turned to Emily, seen looking like an Olympic gymnast in a sparkly bodysuit.

"Our very own Emily Sanchez will walk the flying trapeze with a twist!" The audience gasped. "There will be swinging pendulums and shooting arrows from the clown heads while she walks. If she dodges all the obstacles and gets to the other side, the next trial will begin!"

"Ready!" The clown guards instructed Emily. One was mounting a cannon that would sound to start the trial. "GO!" The cannon fired and Emily began walking the tightrope. The swinging pendulums worried Emily while she dodged them. As she dodged them, she lost her balance and was hanging from the tightrope.

"Oh no!" Dan announced. "How can she survive this one?" Dan had an awful idea. "Hey Joe, get the pool of toxic waste!"

"You got it, boss!" Joe went to get the pool of toxic waste, pushing it under where Emily was going to fall.

"And now I will release the most devastating assortment of lions, tigers, hippos, crocodiles, bears, elephants and rhinos as they try to devour Emily if she falls and misses the toxic waste. The lions, tigers, hippos, crocodiles, bears, elephants and rhinos charged and made their respective animal sounds, scrambling around. Katie watched from high in the stands and mind controlled a hippo. The hippo waved to Emily. Emily jumped on top of the hippo. Katie mind controlled all the other animals telling them to scatter. Emily was riding on the hippo while Dan was mad his plan was failing.

"That was not supposed to happen!" He ripped off his pink blazer and bulked up his muscles.

"Say, Dan?" Emily asked. "Why did you join the circus?"

"Long story, but a good story." Dan explained. "When I was 19, I got a cell phone for my birthday. I discovered social media because of this. With this newfound freedom I could say whatever I wanted and almost get away with it. However, this backfired when I joined several online social groups and got banned from all of them for saying the wrong things, angering the wrong people. I would vent out my personal frustration not just from social media, but from looking for the worst possible world news outcome from search engines. Therefore, I found out what I was doing was only hurting me more than helping me, so I ditched social media and joined the circus, and I have never been a happier man."

"Yea, a happier man by trying to kill me and forcing me to kill my own family member." Emily told Dan as a counterexample.

"Enough talk, let's finish this, beast against beast!" Dan turned into his Mega Werewolf form; an eight-foot-tall muscular werewolf built like a tank. Emily used her magic to merge with the hippo, turning her into an actual hippo but with black hair in a ponytail.

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas indeed." Emily joked. "Oh wait, I AM ONE!"

"Your jokes will get you nowhere!" Dan let out a loud scream. Emily covered her hippo ears. Emily walked on all fours, trying to detect Dan's weak points. She chewed on her leg, biting on it with her hippo teeth.

"This leg tastes just like chicken!" Emily joked. She bit the leg clean off, but it grew back.

"That won't kill a werewolf!" Some clowns came into the ring, some wielding silver swords and silver batons. Emily ate the clowns and stole their weapons. She used the sword to chop Dan's left leg clean off. She ate it, chowing down on it like a turkey leg.

"What have you done!" Dan cried.

"This is already turning out to be the best Christmas ever!" Emily cheered. Dan lost his balance and toppled over. Emily chopped off his other leg and ate it. She crawled up to Dan's chest and stabbed his heart with the sword. Dan turned back into a human and lay dead on the ground. Emily separated herself from the hippo.

"Dinnertime, boy!" Emily told the hippo. The hippo ate at Dan's corpse as a nice holiday treat. Emily waved to the crowd, cheering.

Meanwhile, Aquilo was with Sara backstage.

"Sara, I love you." Aquilo explained. "But I need your aura." He sucked Sara's aura dry.

"Ah yes, the Aura of Freedom." Aquilo Explained. "You valued freedom by hanging out with vampires and becoming a witch, so according to you, these things would bring you happiness. And now, it is gone, because you forever belong to me."

"Thank you, Father." Sara replied. "I feel much better."

"Now all I need is Emily's aura and I will be unstoppable." Aquilo went to carry out his final plan to find Emily and take her aura from her.