The Ring Master | Jellal Fernandes [1] ON HOLD

51 | The Demons Catching Up

It was extremely late at night. The moon was at its apex and the stars gently shined on the small town below them. Most of the residents were asleep, all smiling in their perfect dreams that gave them hope in their less then perfect lives. However, one little boy wasn't asleep during this time.

A small brunet's feet gently patted down the hall to his sister's room. His bare feet hitting the wooden floor gently echoed throughout the house. He tried to sneak, worried about what he'd do if his parents caught him up. He reached his sister's room, his small hand grabbing to door handle and pushing it open.

"Halay?" He called out in a childish tone. He watched as his sister stirred from her slumber, rolling onto her side as she fluttered her eyes open.

A soft smile overtook her lips as she noticed her younger brother standing in the door way. "Hey. You okay?" She questioned in concern.

"I can't sleep." Arthur admitted as he pulled on the hem of his nightshirt. "I'm too scared."

Halay sighed, pulling herself out of her bed and grabbing her teddy bear. She held out her hand for him to take. "Come on, I'll come sleep in your room." She told him as he grabbed her hand.

"But ... they do bad things when we're caught in each other's rooms." Arthur stated in a weak tone, his eyes full of terror. It was true, their parents were horrible human beings, if you could even call them that.

"I'd rather it me then you." Halay responded with a smile, closing her door and pulling him gently towards his room. "Come."

It was only a few hours later when Arthur awoke to the sounds of whips, screaming and crying coming from below him. He immediately tensed up, his eyes wide as he scanned his room. Halay was gone. His teal eyes welled up with tears when he realised that his parents must have found them together. They always tried to keep them apart and neither knew why. They didn't question it either.

Arthur gently pushed his door open, trembling in terror with every step he took. He found himself at the top of the stairs, gulping as he took a step downwards. He made it half way down the stairs when he finally saw what was happening.

His mother was stood over Halay, a whip in hand and a knife in the other, brutally harming the young child for her disobedience. Halay kept crying out, begging her to stop but she never did. This women was a monster, a demon written about in fairy tales. The young girl's stomach was to the ground, her back practically ripped open, blood everywhere.

"Please it wasn't him. I couldn't sleep, I went into his room." Halay explained between sobs as she gripped the broken floor tiles, her back being whipped again.

"Oh really? And why should I believe you?" The women mused evilly.

Halay hiccuped as she let out a breath. "Because I don't care enough about you to lie to you." She admitted only to scream out when the knife was shoved deeply into her shoulder. Her teal eyes lifted to see her brother watching in despair. "Hide." She urged him, trying to get him to leave. However she was too late as her father had already grabbed the boy's red scarf.

Only a few weeks later, Halay disappeared. Arthur didn't know where she had gone but he was worried and searched endlessly for her. He didn't find her. Then, his mother vanished, no trace of her existed in the house after that. Finally, his father left him alone in the house. He was so young but old enough to understand that he'd been abandoned. He didn't know how to process that so he went searching.

He searched for years. Along these travels, he heard rumours and stories. The Oracion Seis being beaten by the newly formed alliance, Fairy Tail disappearing on Tenrou Island. Arthur was disappointed when he heard this, he had hoped they could find his sister but now he didn't have any other options. That's how he found himself in Hargeon, the small port near magnolia. He was on his way to buy food when he heard over some someone conversations between two teenagers.