Disappearing Act

i.

Author's Note: Based on a short prompt – "Circus A/U" – which I received many years ago. I thought it was absurd at the time, and yet... here we are. I took this unique opportunity to experiment with style and voice, and ended up with a Hans and Elsa who are quite a lot more self-aware and self-possessed than I ever expected them to be.

»»————-　❈　————-««

"I hear you can make things disappear."

His eyes traveled up from the cards in his hands, meeting hers, and stopped.

"Well 'hello' to you, too," he replied, his brow rising. When she said nothing in response, he continued, shifting in his seat: "In a manner of speaking, yes." With the movement, the hard straw beneath him prickled at his skin. "And I hear that you are a sorceress."

The men seated in the poker circle around him chuckled, but her expression did not change.

"If you really can," she said, "then meet me later by the stables—alone."

He blinked, and in a moment she was gone, only a swirl of her blue cloak crossing his line of vision.

"Strange woman," the man to his right grumbled.

"A witch, not a woman," the one to his left corrected, and flicked a card in his hand. "She's only lucky that this whole damn place is full of freaks like her."

"Freaks like us, you mean," retorted the man across from him. He glanced at the young man at the head of the circle. "So, Andersen? You going to take the Snow Queen up on her offer?" He revealed yellow, cracked teeth as he spit tobacco on the ground. "You should be careful, you know, getting involved with the likes of her. Nothing but bad luck."

The young man snorted. "Don't be jealous, old man. It's not a good look on you."

The man frowned. "You may be new here, boy, but we know you've heard the stories about her. Arrived here from nobody knows where, and found work with that ice magic, which no one has been able to figure out." He paused, and added: "Who knows what else she's hiding? The girl's been as quiet as the grave since she got here."

"Must have been pretty desperate to run to the circus," the younger man replied, running a hand through his auburn hair with a sigh. "A strange place to be for such a pretty girl, though she's done well for herself, it seems. Practically puts all the other acts out of business, including mine."

"There are stranger things in this world than pretty girls in the circus," the man next to him chimed in. "Perhaps she just likes you. Ladies are always fond of you magician types."

"I'm not so sure about that, but I'll meet her all the same," the young man said, and revealed a flush hand to a chorus of groans. He smiled. "It's useful to know the competition, after all."

The older man across from him tossed his hand onto the makeshift wooden table with a snap of his teeth. "You'd better hope she doesn't freeze your heart, then," he mumbled, "though I don't think it'd take much effort."

The young man's smile tightened, and he said nothing.

»» —— ««

He arrived at the stables shortly after the stroke of midnight, side-stepping horse manure, empty whiskey bottles, and juggling pins along the way. One horse released a soft grumble as he entered its domain, and he returned the noise with a tired eyeroll, patting its neck.

"Easy, Sitron. Go back to sleep."

She stood by the far wall, hooded by her cloak. As he approached, she slid it off with gloved hands, revealing a mane of fine yellow hair that sparkled against the darkness, and a single, decorative fabric snowflake pinned against it.