"You should really wear shoes. People are looking at you weird."

Isra looks down at his feet, never once thought about conforming to human standards until now. "Does it bother you?"

Corwyn glances at Isra, then back at the street in front of them. "No. I just think that it's weird. Do you like walking barefoot?"

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it."

Changing the topic, Corwyn asks, "What do you want to do? Did you have any plans?"

Corwyn and Isra have been meeting up for weeks since they first went to the cafe. At first they used that as their meeting spot, but eventually Corwyn grew comfortable enough for Isra to pick him up at home.

Isra showed up at Corwyn's house unexpectedly. Enough so that even his parents were able to open the door before Corwyn could get to it. He knows that his parents will be questioning him as soon as he returns and he hopes whatever Isra has planned takes up their entire day.

"Nope, no plans. I was going to ask if you had any ideas."

Isra doesn't know exactly why he went to Corwyn's house. He's always in the neighborhood, considering it would take too much energy for him to go back to his home constantly.

It was when he was taking his usual walk, all his mind kept wandering to was Corwyn. All Isra does with his time is brood, and the other amount of time he's spending with Corwyn, although it seems that now Corwyn has wormed his way into his brooding time.

The next thing he knew he was in front of Corwyn's house, knocking on the door.

Corwyn rolls his eyes. Of course Isra wouldn't have any plans. Although most would find this somewhat annoying, having been dragged out of their house only to have nothing to do, Corwyn only finds it endearing.

He thinks it's sweet that Isra wants to hang out with him. Corwyn's chest grows tight. Finally someone is willing to look past his odd exterior to be friends with him.

Corwyn feels as if his heart is in his throat as he pulls Isra into a hug as if he's the only thing grounding him in the middle of a tornado.

"Thank you," Corwyn whispers, fighting back tears.

Isra blinks, startled at first by the contact, but slowly relaxing the longer it remains. He returns the hug, not quite knowing what is going on inside Corwyn's head. Humans sure are peculiar. Or maybe it's just his Corwyn.

Corwyn sniffles, before removing himself from the embrace. "I heard there's a Circus happening. Want to go check it out?"

Isra smiles and nods his head. He isn't sure what a Circus is, but he'd go anywhere with Corwyn.

Corwyn grins and begins leading the way, as he's seen the posters for weeks, and was hoping that Isra would take him. "This Circus is the best! Trust me, you'll love it. It only comes around for a week every year and it isn't like most of those silly circuses. This one reminds me of those older ones..."

Isra gets lost in Corwyn's words, distracted by how excited he seems, only making Isra get more excited himself. It's moments like this that makes him think that Corwyn enjoys his company just as much as Isra enjoys Corwyn's. Isra knows he isn't the best company, even the most of his siblings didn't want to be around him, and so he isn't sure if Corwyn only tolerates his company so he'll have a friend.

But it's moments like this that makes it not matter. Seeing Corwyn happy brightens Isra's day, even if it means Corwyn doesn't feel the same.

Swinging each other's hands between them, they reach the Circus and Isra is immediately in awe.

The Circus is in the middle of a field and the aura that it gives off makes it feel like he's in a whole other universe. The view before him is in black and white. A large striped tent in the center, surrounded by many smaller, identical ones.

Isra looks behind them and then back in front to be sure that what he's seeing in front of him is true. As he and Corwyn continue walking, Isra notices that even the grass beneath them fades to gray, and for a brief moment, Isra feels alive again.

The air around him is pulsating, and his body hums off of it. He looks at Corwyn next to him, with a smile on his face, and doesn't think that there's anywhere better that he could be.

"What tent do you want to go to first?"

Isra only shrugs, wanting Corwyn to pick.

Corwyn tugs Isra along and they head into the circle, other people chattering as they move from tent to tent. Isra peeks inside of a few, one containing a ton of mirrors, another plants. None of the tents have explanations in front of them, so you don't know what you're in for until you go inside.

Corwyn continues guiding Isra until they reach the large tend that's central to the entire Circus. Heading through the open flaps, Isra is struck once more by the change in atmosphere. It seems as if they seeped away all of the colors outside so it could be saturated in here. Everything in this tent seemed rich, vibrant, even the chatter in here seemed fuller, livelier.

There's a large space in the middle, currently being taken up by the various props and platforms. Corwyn leads Isra into the stands and finds them two empty seats.

"I think this is an acrobatic show!" Corwyn's voice is loud next to Isra's ear and he shivers at the breath of air against it.

Isra feeds off of Corwyn's excitement in preparation for the show that's about to start. The crowd hushes down and the lights begin to dim as a man in scarlet walks into the center.

"People of the audience... I am Maxime and I am here to tell you to prepare for a show of spectacular feats. Our fantastic acrobat, Misery, will be performing a show that has never been seen before and will never be performed again!"

The audience claps and Isra follows suit when he sees that Corwyn does the same.

Soon the spotlight shifts to show someone standing on top of a high platform. Their face is painted in a harlequin style, the scarlet on this person shows as diamond shaped stones going down the side of their face, shimmering in the light.

Isra gasps as the acrobat takes a leap, tumbling mid-air before grasping onto a swing that Isra admits that even he didn't see.

It's a trick of the light, allowing Misery to look as if they're swinging mid-air.

The show goes on like this for much longer, Misery doing tricks and tumbles, balancing better than anyone.

"That was amazing!" Isra grins at Corwyn as they exit the tent. "Did you see the thing when they—? And I thought it was so neat that we couldn't see the—? That was amazing! Did you like it?"

"It was fantastic. Misery is truly gifted."

"Can we come back later for the meet and greet?"

"Of course." Isra would do anything for Corwyn.

"Do you want to go to another tent?"

Isra only nods while Corwyn leads them along seemingly at random. Corwyn passes a bunch of tents at first for different reasons: "There's too many people.", "That doesn't look interesting."

But soon they stop in front of a tent while Corwyn peers inside. Isra is waiting for an excuse not to visit this one, thinking that he wouldn't want to because no one is inside at all. Many people are passing it in fact, Isra notes, looking around.

"Let's go in here!"

Isra doesn't protest while Corwyn tugs him inside. The tent appears bigger on the inside, going farther back than it seems it should. It's almost entirely dark, lit up by dim lanterns intermittently. The tent is almost set up like a shop, counters on either side of them with various objects strewed about.

Isra quirks a brow when he sees a skull but says nothing, not wanting to ruin Corwyn's excitement.

"Hello?"

"Hello." A voice behind him makes Isra jump into Corwyn, both of them turning around to see the looming figure before them.

Isra is instantly suspicious of this man. The aura surrounding him is dark, almost malicious, and Isra sure how much he wants to be in this tent anymore.

He appears almost like an opposite of the host from the previous tent. Whereas that man had a scarlet suit with a black tie and handkerchief, this man wears a black suit with red.

The shadow of a man speaks when he realizes neither Corwyn or Isra will. "How may I help you?"

He brushes past the two of them, and Corwyn finally finds his voice. "What's this tent?"

The man hums. "For those who look for it, a place for the dark arts," he pauses. Isra feels the shadows around them begin to weigh heavier, almost suffocating. Corwyn, although feeling the same, doesn't realize quite what's happening. "Or I could just tell you your future." He chuckles, and the weight lifts off of the two boys.

They both heave a sigh of relief and Corwyn walks forward to the table the man sat at, Isra following close behind, not wanting to leave Corwyn to face the man alone.

Both Corwyn and Isra sit across from the man at the table, who takes out a deck of curiously designed cards. Shuffling them a few times, he looks at the two of them. "Who would like to go?"

"Isra." Isra quirks a brow at Corwyn, and Corwyn blushes. He won't admit it, but he was slightly scared of being in this tent, and having anything to do with this man, however his curiosity wouldn't let him leave.

So clearly the only option was to put Isra on a platter instead.

The man only hums at the response, as Isra continues staring at Corwyn. If it was up to him, they would be as far away from this man as possible.

He's torn between pleasing Corwyn and protecting him.

Isra's attention is pulled back to the shadow man as he lays the cards in a spread across the table. "Pick a card, Isra."

Isra begins reaching his hand out before he freezes, realizing just what the man said. He makes eye contact with him, the man smirking. Isra's hackles are raised, and he doesn't break eye contact even as his hand resumes its movements to do as the man said.

Isra picks up the card and looks at it, although it means nothing to him. The card is bordered in red, the edges reflecting the light from the lantern above them. The design is that of two hands intertwined. Isra's eyes trail to the bottom, where in ornate lettering 'The Lovers' is written.

The man only hums when Isra shows him the card, gesturing to pick another one. Isra's eyes glance to Corwyn, to see him perked at attention.

Isra picks another card, and another, but then he stops at the sight of his next card.

'Death', it reads. The card is brighter than many of the others, it's entirely red except for the black hand reaching from the top.

When Isra freezes at this, the man scoops up the rest of the deck before plucking the card from Isra's hand, placing it with the previously picked cards.

"I would focus on the current relationships that you have right now. Friends, family," the man gets a weird look when he says this. "Hard decisions will have to be made soon, which will result in some big changes. Whatever your decision, this part of your life will soon come to an end."

The atmosphere feels suffocating once again, and Isra looks at Corwyn cautiously. The boy is looking right back and both of them don't know what to think. The "Death" card itself sounds like it spells doom, but what he didn't say that anyone would die.

But, Isra thinks, what if the man interpreted it incorrectly? That's always a possibility. This man shouldn't be trusted. Nothing about him says good things.

'This part of your life will soon come to an end'?, Corwyn thinks. He doesn't know if he likes the sound of that. Are they doomed from the start? The man said that no matter what decision was made things would end.

He isn't sure if it's obvious on the outside how struck he is by Isra. He doesn't want it to end. But Isra pulled a card labeled 'Death', that can't possibly mean a good ending?

Corwyn grows anxious at the possibility of his one fear coming true.

After thinking things through, both boys come to their own conclusions. Isra settling that he should just ignore the whole thing, and Corwyn believing that Isra will soon leave him.

"Thank you," Corwyn mumbles, getting up from his chair.

Isra follows, but the man's voice calls out to him before he can exit the tent entirely.

"Take care of yourself, Iz."

Isra freezes, shock flooding through his name at the familiarity. He turns around and rushes out of the tent, meeting Corwyn at the exit.

Corwyn grumbles at himself in his head as he waits for Isra. This was beginning to be such a good day, why did he feel the need to go in the ominous looking tent? Clearly that was a sign to stay away.

Isra reaches Corwyn and the two begin walking. "So," Corwyn says, attempting to salvage the day, "where to next?"

Isra, not quite focused, still thinking about the strange man, mumbles, "Whatever you want."

Isra can't believe one of his brothers is here. Fine, alive, possibly thriving. He's racking his brain in an attempt to figure out who it could be.

This chapter was too long so I have to cut it into two parts...gah! So I apologize for the awkward placing in chapter cut off because there was no great place to cut it off at besides the ending I originally had planned...