The Cabaret at Mr. Faire's: Part Two (complete)

    I’m helping some of the dancers get ready when I hear a dramatic scream come from the back. The three little dancers all flinch and huddle together.

    “It’s just Muna throwing a tantrum,” I sigh. “I’ll go see what is up. You three go and get your stretches done.” I get up and head towards Muna’s room, where I hear him yelling and wailing.

    I knock on his door. “Muna?” I ask. “Come on now, what the heck is bothering you?”

    There’s a dramatic sob. “I have no idea how to make this show work without you!” I hear some thrashing and, quite possibly, Muna falling onto the bed.

    I sigh. “You heard Mr. Faire, he said he would lend us Avo until I got better.”

    The door flies open and a disheveled and smudged Muna is standing in the doorway. “Avo?” He snarls and gets in my face, nearly bending in half. “You want me to put Avo in my show?”

    I blink slowly. “He’s a good choice. Right build, knows how to do the same acrobatics I do. Hell, he’s the one who taught me.”

    “Not fucking Avo!” Muna yells and whirls back into his room.

    “You need to brush your hair,” I say as I casually walk into his room and pick up his tossed over coffee table. “You’re going to get it all knotted and messy, and then you’ll really cry.”

    Muna sits at his vanity, throwing his head down onto his arms and weeping. “You and Fye work so perfectly with the act I have planned! How am I supposed to work if one of my muses isn’t there?”

    I take a brush and start combing out his hair. I find a mascara wand tangled in it, as well as a mess of bobby pins. He must have been trying to get a wig on or something before I came in.

    “You’ve worked before without me, you’ll be able to do it again,” I say as I start working on a particularly heinous rat’s nest.

    Muna turns around and grabs my wrist. “I don’t want to work with you not there!” 

    I huff and pat his cheek, noticing he hasn’t shaved. “It was your idea. I sit this out until these awful headaches get settled.”

    “Oh!” He whines and drags more makeup down his face and cheeks. “You don’t get it!” He throws himself back onto the bed, and I roll my eyes.

    “Let me finish brushing your hair and put it into a braid before you start throwing your tantrum, Muna.” I sit down beside him on the bed, trying to keep working on the same rat’s nest.

    “I’ve worked without you before and never wanted to!” Muna whines into his pillow. “Working with just Fye feels like there is something missing.” He rolls over onto his back. “Without you before was miserable. But back then, we had no clue where you were.”

    I furrow my brow at his words. “Huh?”

    Muna closes his eyes and lays his arm over them. “We couldn’t find you! We looked everywhere! Fye and I were desperate, and so we made a deal with that proverbial devil!”

    “Mr. Faire?” I ask. “Wait!” I wrench his arm back from his eyes. “What are you talking about? What do you mean you and Fye were looking for me?”

    Muna sits up suddenly. “Nothing.” He gets off the bed. “I’m being dramatic and crazy. Just a tantrum to make you feel guilty!” He laughs nervously.

    I take one of his stiletto heels from the wall and brandish it like a weapon. Muna lets out a high pitched scream.

    “Don’t hurt her!” He gasps at me.

    “I won’t if you tell me what the hell you’re talking about, Muna!” I then take out my utility knife and flip out one of the blades and hold it to the horribly expensive shoe. “Out with it!”

    Muna exhales and then stands erect. He broadens his shoulders and stands tall over me like a mountain with slept in makeup and frizzy hair. “You wouldn’t dare do anything to hurt me.”

    I place the blade on the shoe and start to drag it down.

    “No!” Muna yelps.

    “Then talk!” I snap.

    “What the absolute fuck sort of hostage situation is this?” Fye snatches the shoe from me and pushes it into Muna’s hands. “What are you doing?” She looks at me, snapping her hands to her hips.

    “Muna said you two were looking for me!” I snap up at her. “I want to know what that means!”

    Fye grabs the shoe back from Muna. “I’m keeping these now.”

    Muna yelps again and then puffs up as he gets angry. “It was an accident! It just slipped out!”

    “You’re an accident!” Fye points in his face. “For the love of god, wash your face and pull yourself together. You look insane.” Fye then turns back to me. “I’m sorry, Bron,” she sighs. “We want to tell you everything, but we’re afraid if we do, it’ll only hurt you.”

    I stare up at them in disbelief. “So my headaches...are they connected to this?”

    “Unfortunately.” Fye sighs as she hangs her head. “We’re afraid if we reveal everything at once, it’ll cause you too much pain. Everything will have to come back to you slowly.”

    “So all this time?” I shake my head. “All this time, you’ve been hiding things from me?”

    “It was for your own good,” Fye says sternly. “We were protecting you. We don’t want to lose you again.”

    “Again?” I whimper. 

    Muna steps out from behind Fye, his face freshly washed and clean. He takes me over to his bed and has me sit down. “We want to tell you everything. We want you to remember right away. But that could be overwhelming for you. That’s why those headaches are so blinding.” He squeezes my hand tight. “Just imagine a hundred headaches at once. Do you think you could survive that?”

    I hang my head and pout. “I dunno.”

    “That’s why we stay in our glamours,” Fye says as she joins us. “Because we know that is the only way to assure you don’t suffer more than you need to.”

    I blink tears from my eyes that turn glittery and dark on my skin. “How long will it take?” I ask. “The headaches are random at best and I don’t see much when they happen.”

    “Could be months, even years.” Fye kisses my temple. “But we have you with us and we love you still. As long as we have that and you’re happy, Muna and I are happy too.”

    Muna squeezes my thigh. “You took care of us, now we have to take care of you.”

    “Am I...am I something dangerous?” I ask quietly.

    Muna chuckles and kisses me. “You would like to think that, wouldn’t you?” He nuzzles to my cheek. “But no, love. You are a very gentle presence. Fye and I are much more dangerous than you are.”

    I scoff and lean into him.

    Fye brushes my hair back and kisses my temple. “What we are is a little rare. Mr. Faire agreed to help us find you as long as we stayed with the circus. We help safeguard it, as well as keep it hidden when it needs to be.”

    “Is that why Muna can throw his tantrums and delay moving?” I ask.

    “Hey,” Muna pouts.

    Fye giggles. “A little.” She wipes my tears away as they start to turn opal in color. “We never thought we would love it here so much. Back then, it felt like a prison sentence. But then we fell in love with everyone here and Mr. Faire found you just as he promised.” She taps the tip of my nose. 

    “He warned us it would take time for you to heal,” Muna says. “That’s part of why you go into heat so frequently.”

    “Really?” I gasp and look at him. “I go into heat because I’m healing?”

    “Part of making love calls for a lot of energy from both parties,” Muna smirks. “Lots of love and kisses can do a healing body good. So when you go into heat, it’s really you needing us.”

    “Still annoying,” I grumble as Muna kisses down my neck, biting me and moaning hungrily. “You best stop,” I say as I make no attempts to hinder him. “The dancers are waiting.”

    Muna’s hand snakes up my shirt. “They’ll continue to wait.”

    Fye smirks as she watches Muna devour me and turn me into a mushy pile of putty. His talented hands have me naked and aching on the bed in seconds. I whimper softly as he kisses down my body and nestles between my thighs.

    “Old perv,” Fye giggles as she watches.

    Muna licks my slit and holographic glitter melts and drips down his tongue. “She’s too good. I’m addicted to her.” His long tongue pushes inside me and I moan loudly.

    Fye giggles and kisses me, petting down my chest and then scratching up with her manicured nails. “You’d think he’d be able to keep quiet with his mouth full.”

    I laugh with her and her tongue slithers down my throat. I moan and sigh, my body turning into a puddle under both their affections.

    A sharp pain suddenly shoots through my entire body and I cry out. Muna lifts up from between my thighs, and I writhe and cry until I’m in the fetal position in the center of the bed. I can hear Muna and Fye calling out to me, but the pain is so great and painful, I can’t hear them.

    I see something as my vision fades to a pinpoint. In the darkness, there are two shapes moving around and painting stars in the sky. The liquid shapes take form. One is large and has a long cascading white river flowing from the top of its head and through eternity. The other has a flowing tapestry over around it, stars and planets visible in the ocean blue and pink of it. I stretch out my hands, seeing they are like sunsets, colors flowing and fading from the tips and into my palms. 

    “Bron! Bron!” Muna is crying.

    I wake up, staring up at the ceiling. The pain pools in the center of my forehead and flows down into my chest. I grunt and my breaths start to become shallow.

    “It’s ok,” Fye whispers. “It’s ok.”

    “Don’t panic, we’re here.” Muna wipes my sweaty brow and his skin feels so cool to touch. I don’t want him to leave.

    “Is she ok?” Mr. Faire’s voice breaks through the white noise of my mind. 

    “I think she’s coming out of it,” Fye whispers.

    “Let me see her,” through the blaring light in my eyes, Mr. Faire’s shape is clear and unaltered by the pain. He’s wearing black hair with a white stripe running through it. He has on a t-shirt that reads ‘#1 Dad’. I realize now that he’s in pajamas. 

    “Where am I?” I whisper to him.

    “Fye and Muna brought you to my quarters. They knew you’d be able to relax here.” Mr. Faire says as he clutches my hand. “No worries. Knowing you weren’t feeling well, I wasn’t able to sleep in the first place. I’m much more relaxed knowing you’re here.”

    “How come I can see you?” I ask. “I can’t even see Fye and Muna.”

    Mr. Faire smiles at me and remains silent. “Is there anything you need?” He asks. “Anything at all?”

    I groan. “I’m so hot,” I whisper. “Muna’s hand was so cold, it felt nice.”

    “Part of why you’re here,” Mr. Faire chuckles. “My room is always kept very cold.”

    I frown. “Then why is it still so hot in here?”

    I hear Muna whimper and Fye shush him.

    “Can you sleep at all?” Mr. Faire asks.

    I touch my face and my skin feels molten hot. Something isn’t quite right. There are cracks running down my face. “What happened?”

    “Much like a chicken hatching from its shell. You too have outgrown your shell.” Mr. Faire squeezes my hand tight. “I knew this day would come, but not so soon. Muna and Fye have been taking such good care of you.”

    I sit up slowly, keeping my hand pressed against my face. “I remember,” I murmur. “It was a long time ago.”

    “Careful now, dearest, careful,” Mr. Faire says with a gentle voice. “Don’t overexert yourself now.”

    I lift my head, looking around as my vision starts to return. I see Muna and Fye at the end of the bed, watching with fear in their eyes. As I gaze up at them, they both sigh in relief and come closer.

    “Something attacked us,” I whisper. “I fought it off to protect you, but it got the best of me. I fell-” I cry out as a spike drives through my skull.

    Fye grabs my hand. “Please. Stop there,” she whimpers.

    Muna presses his cheek to mine as his tears slip down his cheeks. 

    “Our nest-” I whimper.

    “Please stop there!” Muna begs.

    I take a deep breath as I start to cry. “Our nest,” I whimper. “Our babies.”

    Fye and Muna both hold me tight, all of us weeping at our loss. It had been ages ago, quite possibly centuries. We had lost our nest full of eggs and became separated all at the same time. The only grace was that Muna and Fye were safe, while I fell to earth and became trapped in the frozen lake.

    My glamour shatters and I see myself for the first time. I am a creature of stars and their light, made to flow forever through the stars, birthing more and raising new dawns. I take my glamour back on and float back down to the ground in Mr. Faire’s room.

    “Why did you go back?” Muna asks.

    I sigh and a cloud of pink and blue floats out. “I feel more myself this way,” I reply. “I feel out of control when I’m not.”

    “It’ll take time,” Mr. Faire says. “Once you’re ready, the three of you can return to where you belong.”

    “What if it’s here?” I ask with a smile.

    Mr. Faire grins. “Then I welcome you three to stay as long as you like. You’re family, that’s the rule.”

    Muna and Fye take me back to my room, where we lay together on my bed. For the longest time, we lay there in silence, enjoying the comfort of one another, as well as allowing ourselves to grieve for the first time in ages.

    “It feels so strange,” Fye whispers. “Nothing has changed, and yet, it all feels so strange now.”

    “Everything has changed,” Muna replies. “We’re back to a new start. We can do anything now. Go anywhere. Be anyone. Yet we stand still.”

    “All those things are true,” I say as I sit up. “But why leave somewhere that makes us feel safe and happy?” I touch my palms to my chest. “It was always a panic. Below,” I whisper. “Where we came from, we were always being hunted and hated. Here, we’re accepted and loved. We aren’t prey here.”

    I then smile brightly. “We can start our family here and Mr. Faire and all the others will protect us. There won’t be a fight where we must choose between ourselves and the nest.”

    Tears slip down Fye’s face and she whimpers. Her shoulders shudder, and Muna and I pull her into our arms. Losing the nest had been hardest on her. It had taken her so long to conceive, and laying the eggs had been difficult for her. Stress could do that. Now, there was no fear or worry. The Below was such a tumultuous place, and us being prey made it all the worse.

    “I want to try again,” Fye agrees. “I want our nest.”

    “Me too,” Muna whispers, leaning in. Fye and I both kiss him and we reach for one another. We fall back into the bed, clinging to one another. 

    I kiss Fye as Muna slips between her strong thighs. I reach down, gently rubbing Fye’s clit as Muna rubs his cock along her slit.

    Fye moans out, grabbing my wrist and holding it still. Her long tongue slips down my throat and I can hear Muna whimpering. Fye falls back on the bed, gasping for breath as Muna enters her. I watch as dark folds open around him. Her cum slicks his shaft as he moves. I kneel down, licking Muna’s shaft where it comes out of Fye.

    “Careful,” Muna growls.

    Fye giggles, her lashes fluttering. “It tickles.”

    Muna bites his lip and moans, he grinds himself inside Fye and she croons at the sensation. I watch the two of them, their bodies moving together so well.

    “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.” Muna grabs my ass and his fingers slip between my folds. 

    “Oh!” I gasp and wriggle into his palm.

    Muna chuckles. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do this,” he growls. “I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

    I look down, seeing the base of his cock is beginning to glow. The light travels along his shaft and then radiates inside Fye. I can see the glow in her belly and she starts to gasp and mewl in deep pleasure.

    The glow fills her belly and flows up into her chest and limbs. Her eyes glow a brilliant ultraviolet and she throws her head back as she lets out a wild cry. Muna snarls, grinding deep inside her. The base of his cock throbs as he fills Fye with his seed.

    Fye flops onto the bed. The glow in her body starts to fade, but it still shimmers on her skin. As Muna pulls out, she cups her hand over her slit, keeping everything he gave inside her.

    I giggle and kiss Muna’s cheek. “Good job.”

    He turns, kissing me hard before we lay on either side of Fye. “Once I’ve recovered a bit, it’ll be your turn.”

    Fye rubs her belly, moaning softly still. “I forgot how good it feels.”

    I kiss her, knowing Muna likes to watch. I snuggle close to her, taking her thigh between mine and grinding myself against her. 

    Muna growls, sitting up so he can watch us. “You’re not playing fair with me.”

    Fye and I both giggle and I sit up to kiss him. “You’re not so old,” I moan. “You can recover faster than that.”

    “It’s been too long,” he growls. He pulls me into his lap, kissing me and dragging his hands down my body. I shiver as his fingers slip inside. I mewl against his tongue as it enters my mouth.

    I have made love to both Fye and Muna many times, but this is the first time it feels familiar and old. It’s overpowering how much I have missed them without even knowing. I am starved for this touch, this sensation. I am so relieved, I begin to cry.

    “Silly Bron,” Muna chuckles as he kisses the tears on my cheeks. “I thought I was supposed to be the dramatic one.”

    “No,” I sniffle. “You are.” I wrap my arms around his neck and ease down on his lap. I sigh as I feel him hard against me. “I’m just so happy.”

    Behind me, Fye raises up, kissing my shoulder and helping to guide Muna inside me. I moan and sit there, enjoying the snug feeling of being wrapped around him. I move so he rubs inside me and my back presses to Fye’s chest.

    I move slow at first, and with Fye’s help holding my hips, I find the rhythm I enjoy. I gaze into Muna’s eyes, feeling his heat starting to radiate through me. He kisses me and I’m sandwiched tight between my two loves.

    The glow from Muna starts to pass to me. I feel it move up inside me. The warm and flowing sensation is like being inside a river. It courses up through me and to every tip. I feel as though my body is evanescing and floating away.

    Muna growls and clutches me close, his hands joining Fye’s around my hips. Inside me, he’s throbbing and twitching. His release makes me squeeze tighter around him, I whimper and hide my face against his neck. I swoon and sigh, feeling him deep inside me, so full.

    I lay back against Fye and we lay back down on the bed. Muna lays on top both of us, snuggled up so comfy and warm. I drift to sleep, dreaming of our first nest. Fye had one egg containing two heartbeats. Once they hatched, Muna took them and hid them away. We never got to see our Farrow and Barbol grow. I don’t even know where they are to this day. Such is the way of life in the Below.

    When I wake up, Muna is kissing Fye and I awake, eager to start the day with another passionate round of lovemaking. He is hard and eager, and Fye and I are nothing, if not willing to please. 

    We cancel the show for that evening, unable to leave bed all day. It isn’t until that evening, we actually leave my room. We go to the mess hall to eat, getting looks and knowing smirks from all around us.

    “I am so happy to see my children in such good spirits!” Mr. Faire says as he joins us with his coffee. “I take it your recovery is going well.”

    “If we’re lucky, you’ll be a grandfather soon,” Muna announces triumphantly. 

    Mr. Faire is suddenly sobbing.

    “You know how he gets!” Fye shoves Muna.

    “Mr. Faire, really,” I rub the top of his head, noticing he’s wearing all white hair now that falls into a fishtail braid. 

    “It just makes me so happy!” Mr. Faire sobs. “I can’t wait! You have to let me be the first to hold the babies when they get here.”

    Fye giggles. “If that’ll stop you sobbing. Fine.”

    I grin, feeling safe and at peace. This may not be the most traditional place to have a family, but Mr. Faire’s Children of the Night Carnival is the only place I want to call home. Now and forever.