The Raven & The Spider (CURRENTLY UNDERGOING HEAVY EDITING)

Chapter 26 - Gone

Your POV (Second Person):

Your eyes slowly flickered open and were greeted by the sunlight seeping through the tent's opening. You gazed around at your surroundings and realized you were in the medical tent.

The medical tent...?

You sat up quickly after realizing what had occured before you'd lost consciousness. Doll... no one knew yet... except for you.

You lifted the blanket off of you and let your bare feet stand by themselves on the grassy floor of the medical tent. Slowly and cautiously, you moved across the room and out through the tent's opening.

You peered around. Everything was... normal. Workers were rushing around to make lunch and performers were busy preparing their costumes for a show later that night, but... something still wasn't right.

You caught sight of Henry who was sitting on a nearby wooden crate and leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. You walked over to him and tapped his shoulder lightly.

He jumped suddenly, but relaxed after seeing the person before him. "Oh... Robin. You're finally awake."

"Finally?" You asked.

"Yeah." He said with a nervous laugh. "You've been asleep for a few days now. Me and the others were gettin' pretty worried about you."

You gasped. "A few days!?!" You turned back to look at Henry who was looking at you with extreme concern written over his face.

"Robin... what happened? Where were you?" He asked this gently but you could tell something was wrong, because his voice seemed almost desperate for answers.

You thought for a moment about how you should answer that question. Did Henry perhaps know anything about what the main cast members had been hiding? Was he a part of it? Doubtful. You'd never really seen him interact with any of the others besides you and Doll, and besides, he wasn't the type to sneak about and lie so easily. Then again... Doll hadn't seemed the type either...

You took a deep breath and decided to tell him what had happened. You explained the conversation you'd overheard between Doll, Beast, Peter, Wendy, Dagger, and Jumbo that night, and how Doll had ridden off on a horse to find Joker for some reason, and how Peter had mentioned about being ready for something. You told Henry about how you'd been tired of not knowing who to trust, and how you'd decided to follow Doll and get answers.

Your breath and body began trembling, and your eyes began watering as you neared the end of your story. You explained to the boy about how Doll had knocked you out with a branch after apologizing for what she was about to do, and then how you'd woken up with the burning mansion in ruins, and Doll's body lying limp near the destruction.

Henry hugged you tight to comfort you, then said, "I-I'm sorry, Robin. I can't even imagine..."

You just nodded. After regaining your composure, you stood up and said, "I have to go find Joker and the others. They need to know what happened."

Right before you were able to leave, Henry had caught your hand and stared up at you. "Robin... you didn't know?"

"Know what?" You asked in alarm at the seriousness of his voice.

"Of course... you were gone the night it happened..."

"Henry!?!? Know what!?!?"

Henry let go of your hand and looked down at the grass sadly. "Joker... and the others... are gone..."

You froze and your eyes widened. "Gone?" You breathed.

"After Joker left to have his regular meeting with the troop leader, Beast, Dagger, Jumbo, Peter and Wendy all left." Henry informed you. "They said they were going to check out our next town to find a good place to set up camp... We thought that you and Doll had gone with them... but I guess we were wrong. They... never did come back. We don't know where Doctor is either for that fact."

You breathed in a sharp breath and fell to the ground. You began shaking. They'd never be gone for that long... "And... what about Snake?" You asked Henry urgently.

Henry shook his head sadly. "After realizing that the others were gone, and realizing that they most likely wouldn't be coming back... he just left... We don't even know where he went... We just found him missin' one mornin' after breakfast."

You couldn't believe it. Everyone that you'd felt close to. Everyone that had cared for you... everyone that had welcomed you into their family... they were all gone. You felt like crying, but it was almost like you couldn't. Maybe you'd already used up all your tears, but it seemed like something more. Almost like everything inside you had gone numb.

Once again, everything you'd known and come to love had been ripped away. Once again, you were lost and alone. Once again, you were without a family.

_____

A few weeks later...

It was true that the circus was still there. Not everyone had left, but you found yourself losing hope every passing day. You were so upset that you struggled greatly with your performances. You became so sad, that you stopped eating. Everything inside you... all your feelings, emotions, and hopes... had seemed to vanish just as your friends had.

You couldn't bear living in the same place where you had shared so many memories with the people now gone. You and the other members at the Noah's Ark circus had waited for Joker and the others for over two weeks now, but it was clear that they weren't coming back.

The circus was ready to move onto the next site, but you couldn't find it in yourself to stay with the circus. It brought back too many memories and just made you more depressed. You ran it through Henry, and with regret he agreed that it might be better for you to find someplace else. He didn't want to see you leave, and many of the others would miss you as well, but they knew that if you stayed with the Noah's Ark circus, you'd never recover from your friend's disappearances.

Before the circus packed up and traveled to the next site, they gave you a generous amount of money, a horse, along with some cases of your clothes and other belongings and wished you the best of luck. Of course you'd brought your bow and arrows as well. You couldn't imagine leaving them, and plus, you had to have some means of self defense with you. You said goodbye to Henry, and Jolly, and all the other members of the circus who'd been so kind to you these past seven years. You only wished you would've gotten a chance to say goodbye to your family.

After your goodbyes, you began the short journey to London, to search for a new occupation, and hopefully a new place you felt welcome. Once again, you were leaving behind your past and being forced to look towards the future in search of a family and hope.

(A/N) Well that was kinda depressing to write... I appreciate those of you who've read this far in the story, and I apologize for all the Book of Circus stuff for those of you who've just wanted to get to the romance by now. I didn't intend for the Book of Circus chapters to go on this long in the first place, and tried to cut as much unnecessary information out as possible, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out, and I hope it wasn't too boring for you, and that you enjoyed it as well. Thankfully though, now you'll start getting into the more interesting stuff and probably the only reason you began reading this story in the first place. Yup! You guessed it! All the Ciel X Reader X Alois shtuff! (Yes, I know I misspelled it, but I don't care.) In any case, thanks again readers for supporting my writing so far, and I hope you'll enjoy what's coming! Bye!
- Kylie <3