Foolhardy: Laughing Jack X NB!Reader X Candy Pop

Chapter 16: The First Act of the Night

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𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 Sixteen
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Third p. o. v 🎪

The Circus Freaks all gathered in the main entrance hall of SplendorMan's Mansion. The sun had already set in the outside world, and the killers were all prepared to embark on their occasional Traveling Circus Night.

"Everyone here?" Laughing Jill counted heads of everyone that was present. "Seems Riddler's still up in their room," Candy Cane said, stretching her arms, "L-Jack really scared them with his attempt to be quirky, using that flashy new weapon and all."

"What kind of fool do you take Riddler for, afraid of an axe? Get real..." Laughing Jack sneered. "Very curious that they're not present with us, as we did inform them of the time we'd go," Jason said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll just go check on 'em then, would hate to leave them behind on a night like this," Jill sighed, beginning to head off for the stairs. Before Jill could ascend up the stairs however, The Riddler—who in actuality was just (Y/N)—suddenly appeared at the top and abruptly jumped down while laughing crazily. They landed right before Jill and glanced up at her with their hands crossed over their body. "Looking for me?" They exclaimed, "sorry for the wait, there was just a few things I needed to take care of!"

"Oh! Well...that's alright!" Jill responded, a little surprised from The Riddler's sudden appearance. "Could've sworn you were gonna bail on us, Riddler," Candy Pop taunted, glaring at (Y/N) with as smirk. "Why on earth would I do that? I'm actually looking forward to seeing what this whole Traveling Circus thing is about," (Y/N) responded, seeming to glare at Candy Pop beneath their mask. "Oh? Really now..." Candy Pop jeered.

"Let's not start," Laughing Jill quickly stepped in, "come on Circus Freaks, let's get a move on already!"

"Ooooo I can't wait to see how many people there are gonna be tonight~" Candy Cane snickered, rubbing her hands together enthusiastically. "I sure hope they scream a lot," Laughing Jack commented, snickering to himself. (Y/N) laughed a bit at their commentary but didn't give their own wishes for the night.

The Circus Freaks marched out together into the darkness of the carnival that eternally creaked on outside The House of Splendor, its old and distorted rides penetrating the air with its sounds of misery and the occasional faint screaming of what sounded like a person in the far distance....

(Y/N) remained at the back of the group while the others stuck together, laughing and talking amongst themselves. (Y/N) began to notice after a while that the atmosphere had begun to change, and in only a few moments it appeared that they were no longer in the dark carnival but instead in a new kind of carnival—one that looked normal in appearance and no where near being as abandoned and run down the one in the supernatural world was. (Y/N) could hear the sounds of human people screaming and could spot the rides and lights around the park all in motion. It appeared the Circus Freaks had arrived at a real carnival in the real world.

"Wait—but won't we get caught here?" (Y/N) spoke up cautiously, tapping the shoulder of Candy Cane who was walking ahead of them. "Of course not! The point here is to blend in as if we're just scare actors! That's how we get to even perform our acts anyhow."

It was then that (Y/N) noticed that the carnival, despite not being the tainted looking fairgrounds that the Circus Freaks originated from, still appeared to carry out a "spooky haunted circus" looking vibe. The visitors were even wearing costumes and everywhere was decorated as if it were Halloween season.