Fire Magic and an Acrobat.

Hocus sat on his bed, alone, once again thinking of her.He did this quite often at night. Weather his thoughts be reliving old memories or thinking over his feelings they always seemed to loop back to her. Nobody would ever say her name around him, in fear that just speaking of her will send him into a panic attack.

Her name was Alyssa. A name he'd never forget.

She showed up at the circus already a robot, and had nowhere to go, nobody to turn to.

She showed up only a little while after Hocus had joined. They had a lot to learn, and they were going to learn it together.

Their friendship was professional. Their act was the very best and by far the most popular in the show. Hocus was never happier than when performing with her, and she shared these feelings.

But their friendship was also personal. He taught her about the world, and she taught him about the mind. They were inseparable best friends.

And of all the things their friendship was, the most accurate perception was that it was meaningful. It was full of emotion and trust, and it was beautiful and amazing. It was absolutely, purely, reliability.

It was faith in one another.

And it was also feelings he never told her.

He had easily fallen in love with her, but never once was he brave enough to make an attempt to say anything.

He never wanted to lose her, he never wanted to risk having their friendship end, and most importantly he didn't want to change things between them.

Although he always longed to be a little closer to her.

He pushed aide the want, and almost need, to hold her in his arms and whisper all the things he adored about her.

And one day she disappeared.

She left without any tracks, clues or traces.

She left him in pieces.

He was broken.

He's picked up the shards, but there will always be one missing.

Their will always be the hole she left.

So now he's sitting alone on his bed, gazing to his left and remembering the night just a week before she left.

She had fallen asleep and had a terrible nightmare, and in that dream she had killed everyone she had ever cared about. Including Hocus.

So she went to his room and asked if she could sleep in his bed with him.

And, of course, he allowed her. Although on the inside he was panicking.

But it was the most peaceful rest he'd ever gotten, with her snuggled into his side, her face nuzzled into his neck and his arms holding her tightly in a warm embrace. . .

But alas, memories are only figments of what has happened, now she was gone.

And he didn't know where she had gone.

The reason he was thinking of her on this particular night was because Yesman was to talk to him about something tomorrow. Something about Alyssa.

This was his last thought before he went into sleep mode.

The next day he woke and was called to Yesman's room, for the conversation he was to bring up.

He sat on his bed as Yesman looked at him nervously.