Le Cirque Des Cassés

Chapter Sixteen: Wolf

"Clinical lycanthropy; a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, an animal."

Wolf was sitting with Sasha and Fiona, he adored the lionesses. Even if canines shouldn't like felines. He was gently petting Sasha's head when the bell rang, he looked up toward where the bell was. 'Dinner already?'  Wolf thought. He carefully got up and left the cage, locking the door after him. He headed towards the dining room. Well, room might be an incorrect statement, it was really just another tent that was connected to the tent for the kitchen. But in their minds, it was a room. 

Wolf walked into the dining area to find Dancer, Whisper, and Bite setting up food. Snake and Child were already in there as well. Wolf could smell that Child had helped cook. 'How cute of the tyke. Helping like that.'  Wolf sat at the table he always does, and the others slowly filed into the room. Flame and Poison walking in last. Lion noticed their tardiness and looked at Wolf before glancing towards the two while taking a sip out of his drink. 

"I know, I think almost everyone does," Wolf replied. Lion laughed, covering his mouth quickly so he didn't spit out his drink. 

Lion chucked, "Ringmaster doesn't."

"What are you two talking about?" Whisper asked. 

"Flame and Poison," Blade said, looking at his food. 

"It's all I've heard anyone talk about, well besides the disappearing act you two pulled," Target said looking at Bite and Cut.

"What do you mean?" Bite asked, putting down her fork and looking at Target.

"Switch told me that the twins saw you disappear with Cut," Target said.

Bite seemed offended, "So what if I did. Am I not allowed to talk with him?"

"It's surprising Bite," Lion said, "What did Cut bribe you with?"

"Very funny Lion, I didn't bribe her with shit," Cut said. Cut had moved to the end of his row, switching with Ringmaster so now Ringmaster would sit next to Wolf. Cut was now right across from Bite. 

"Then what are you hiding?" Wolf asked. "You're willing to risk Ringmaster's temper to sit across from her." They all could notice Cut was getting upset, slowly getting close to exploding. With Voice and Bite closest to him, a younger member of the cirque, and an abuse victim. Blade was about to say something to make them all cut it out on asking questions when Bite gently mouthed something to Cut, something none of the others caught. Cut took a deep breath and just started to eat, ignoring everyone. Everyone in the room noticed that, but no one said anything about it. Instead the topic of conversation changed. "Where is Ringmaster?" Wolf asked, he hadn't noticed. 

"He said he had business to attend to. Something we are all supposed to leave him alone while he does. He put me and Lion in charge," Whisper replied. 

"That seems fun. So, any of you want to tell us what that meeting was about?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah, we're all curious. Hell, even the twins were asking about it," Bite said. Wolf noticed the veterans exchange looks. Whisper then looked over to the others who were invited to the meeting. No one said a word. "So you guys won't tell us."

"We aren't allowed to," Whisper said.

"Since when were there secrets like that?" Wolf asked. "Hell, just the veterans I understand, but with Switch and Flame, as well as the three girls it's suspicious as all fuck."

"Wolf language," Lion said.

"No! This is bullshit," Wolf said, "If it's something important enough for almost 60% of the cirque to know then why can't the rest of us know!" 

"It's Ringmaster's rules Wolf," Target said, her voice kinder and softer than normal, "He plans to tell you all later. He just needs to handle some other stuff first. Please, just let it be."

Wolf was furious. How could they keep something important like that from the rest of them? Sure they were younger, some of them a lot younger, but this was clearly important. Wolf didn't want to blow up here though, not in front of Bite. He would hate it if he scared her. So instead he stood up and walked out. That caused a lot of mumbling in the dining room, no one had ever stormed out of dinner before. Sure, some leave sooner than others, but storming out wasn't the norm. 

He started to run, he needed to move, to get somewhere. So he ran, the cirque was plenty big, he could run for a while before reaching the fence. He knew he couldn't go past the fence without Ringmaster getting pissed. They weren't allowed outside of the fence. He ran to where the gates for people to enter was, due to Child arriving there wouldn't be shows for a week, meaning the gates were locked. Wolf ran up to them and grabbed two of the bars. He stared out at the trail that he assumed led to a town. It was a forest trail. The whole cirque was surrounded by a forest. Wolf sat at the gate and looked out to the world beyond. "How could they?" He asked aloud. "How could they keep secrets!? How could they lie like that!!" Wolf ended up punching the iron bars in front of him, he heard a dull crunch and felt a sharp pain in his hand. The pain was instant, and Wolf gasped out loudly. "Fuck!" 

He was too far away for anyone to have heard him, so he carefully bit his lip and looked at his hand. There was no way to mistake it, he had just broken three of his fingers. He carefully stood and felt dizzy and light headed. He leaned his back against the gate, and took some deep breaths. He slowly and awkwardly walked back to everyone. He kept having to stop and lean against things, the tables for booths, the poles for tents. His hand hurt, it felt like nails were being hammered through each of his fingers. Eventually he made it to the main tent, no one was in there. "Snake! Voice!" Wolf called, those two were the best experienced with medical care. 

Snake and Voice were in the room quickly, followed by everyone else. Ringmaster walked up to Wolf, "What did you do?" 

"I punched the fucking bars on the gate!" 

"Why would you do that??" Ringmaster asked, almost amazed by how stupid Wolf was.

"It was that or I would've come back here and punched someone's face in," Wolf snarled back. The room was silent, not even Cut threatened people really. Wolf saying that was shocking, he was usually so gentle and tame. Snake walked up to Wolf and carefully grabbed Wolf's right arm. His hand was still in a fist, he didn't bother straightening it, the pain was too extreme. Snake looked at Wolf's hand quickly. 

"Take Bite and Child out of the room. Give them some ear plugs as well. I suggest the rest of you leave as well, but won't make you," Snake said. It was a clear sign, Wolf had truly injured his hand. Cut was the one to take Bite and Child off, grabbing some earplugs and leading them away from the main tent as well. "Wolf, I'm not going to lie to you, this will hurt a lot. Try not to scream."

There were a few moments, Wolf nodded. Snake then carefully began to straighten out Wolf's hand. Wolf didn't scream, he yelped like a wolf. Snake was able to straighten out Wolf's hand without much of a fight but it was clear Wolf was panicked, and Wolf began to sway. Lion was beside Wolf in an instant, and he carefully lifted Wolf to set Wolf on the bench. "You're a dumbass," Lion said as he held Wolf still. Voice and Snake worked together, using wood to split Wolf's fingers to stay straight, and then wrapping Wolf's hand and arm. 

"I know Lion. I always will be," Wolf said softly. Wolf moved closer to his older brother. Wolf cared about Lion so much, Lion was the first person to ever tell Wolf that he was allowed to know he was a werewolf, and to not run away or doubt him. Wolf admired that accepting nature. 

Lion began to whisper to Wolf, "You and I both know I'm a sadist, but I swear to god Wolf, if you ever get hurt again, I will cry. You're my brother, please, never hurt yourself again."

"I'll try," Wolf mumbled. Snake and Voice had finished wrapping Wolf's injury. 

"Take him to bed Lion, he needs rest." Lion nodded in agreement with Snake, and carefully lifted his brother. Wolf looked at Lion, and something about him flicked. Lion's brown eyes turned gold for a moment, a split second, and then they were brown again. Wolf wrote off the incident as a hallucination due to pain. Lion opened the door to Wolf's trailer and then carefully laid Wolf on the bed.

"Sleep. It's all okay. I'll wake you when I go to feed Sasha and Fiona."