Rhenakos was simply smirking when the stall owner asked if he was to take the mallet. He had been around Kali long enough to know that she was much, much stronger than she appeared, and physically could probably bench press him if she so desired. But watching her break the button for the mallet so effortlessly drew a gasp and a look from Rhenakos.

“Take me now, Kali,” he said half jokingly. There was definitely some kind of tension between the two. Ayaa looked a bit confused, but pushed the thoughts aside. If Osiria and Kali had a deal of some kind, that wasn’t her concern. No, her concern was making sure that Lewis and Simone were behaving.

The woman seemed to be disheveled, but happy. The young thief was so very confused. What had they done? She thought back to the conversation she had with Rhenakos earlier, and suddenly felt like an idiot. Oh. It was hard to accept, but maybe their relationship was…normal. At least for them.

Ayaa sighed. “Can we just…go do something else now?” She seemed almost deflated, but at least she was finally giving up on the useless hunt for Lewis’ devious acts. “Or do I need to leave all of you alone?” She was honestly getting a bit annoyed at the constant flirting between all of the groups.

The man fixed the button with ease and Simone had watched how anxious Ayaa was. Was it her? Did she make Ayaa feel this way? Or was it Lewis and her? She tilted her head. “I want to try…” She made Lewis hold onto her things.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not strong but I still want to try~” Simone batted those gray eyes as she handed a piece of silver to him.

“Alright… Give it a go.”

Simone hefted the mallet as much as she could. She indeed wasn’t that strong as she only got a one. She held an even smaller rabbit than the one Lewis got her. “Here… Ayaa.” She held it out. “Please, don’t look so down. I hate it when people are upset around me.” She offered a smile.

Kalina saw that Simone was well in tune with the area and smirked. She could be a good person. “Well, Ayaa… go ahead and take it.” She pushed Ayaa towards Simone.

"I'm Simone and this is my husband Lewis! Today is our last day of vacation before we return home," Simone wasn't sure why she was telling Ayaa. "The caramel apple cake is good you should try it." By the look on Simone's face she had an idea. "I know how to cheer you up," she said it to Lewis before dragging him off to the food stalls. She handed him a candied apple. "Try it," she took her stuffed animals and smiled.

Ayaa stared in disbelief at the way that Simone was acting towards her. To both of them, Ayaa was nothing more than a nervous strange, and yet the woman was acting with kindness and compassion that the thief didn’t know either of them were capable of. Lewis didn’t seem to mind the act, but even he seemed a bit taken aback by the action.

With Kali nudging her, Ayaa took the rabbit, stuttering out a ‘thank you’ before watching Simone drag Lewis off to a food stall.

Ayaa looked to Kalina and Rhenakos, still confused. “What…just happened?”

–

Lewis took the candied apple, and sniffed it hesitantly. It seemed okay, and as he bit into it his eyes lit up with surprise. Sweet Simone. He looked at her and smirked. “It’s delicious.” He leaned into her for a moment, feeling her physical presence before devouring the rest of the apple. After their little interaction there, they moved on to the next set of stalls, all of which Lewis excelled at. Several large stuffed animals later, and Lewis was starting to get bored of the mindless stall games.

“What shall we do next?” Lewis asked. “You mentioned a circus? How about we head over there?” He was interested to see what kind of sights there could be there. They had heard a lot of rumors about the show.

“Simone is a nice girl. She is just a bit weird and has been through a lot. She’s good for Lewis and he’s good for her.” Kali shrugged and rubbed Ayaa’s hair. “Just have to believe that.”

The next time Kali saw those two Simone and Lewis had about twenty huge stuffed animals. “Looks like she cheered him up…”

Simone smiled up at him and nodded, “I am getting bored of all these games… It’s also getting late. Maybe we can see what happens at the circus, You could protect me and I could pretend to be scared~” She teased.

After putting the stuffed animals into her box she held his hand walking to the circus. This was the final show of the night. They stood in line waiting for their time to get the seats. The show was fascinating as they watched the troupe do their daring stunts. Simone was even clapping as two of the people swung on swings and flipping around.

“They are so agile… I want to be flexible and agile,” Simone made a face.

Lewis gave Simone a look when she said she wanted to be flexible and agile. “You have no idea,” he replied with a half smirk. “But if you want to practice, we can start the moment we get home. I’m sure with the resonance you’d pick it up quickly.” He stared up at the show. “It’s all impressive, but it’s nothing I can’t do either. It’s about control and weight shifting. Also, those two-” he pointed. “Those two have absolute trust in each other. They have to, otherwise they’d fail.”

The assassin looked to Simone. “I have absolute trust in you. It means we can do all of that, and more if we try.” He smiled, for once. He quieted down and watched the rest of the stunt show. The next set, though, was intriguing as they pulled out a variety of fierce animals. They seemed to be happy to perform with their caretakers, dancing and prowling about. Several of them were mirror images of the stuffed animals that Lewis had won, which made the show that much better.

“This is fancy,” Lewis stated. “I wonder if we can train animals to help kill….”

Simone blushed and nodded, “I want to learn… and I want to help you.” She perked up and kissed his cheek. “I trust you too with everything. With my soul. My body. Everything.” She pressed her lips to his as her voice was a quiet whispered. “I’m sure that we can. It is all about just trying I think. With the two of us… We can do anything.” She held his hand close and kissed his fingers. “We can look into animals later and start small. It should be fun.”

As the animals came to an end. A man came up to Simone and held out his hand. There was something wrong with the magic in this place. She couldn’t pin it down. “May I borrow your wife Sir? Just for a show. She is beautiful. She’ll be my assistant.” The man didn’t wait as he took Simone down into the ring.

“Ladies and gentlemen! We are nearing the midnight hour!”

Shit… She had forgotten. “We will close our show with this lovely volunteer.” This wasn’t going to be good was it. She was strapped up on a wheel as the man got some daggers. Oh boy. Something was screaming at her that this was going to go wrong.

“LEWIS!” She cried as the magic click. “GET ME DOWN! THE MAGIC!”

The colors of the circus changed and so did all the animals and the circus people. The man with the daggers was now a wraith who threw several knives into Simone. She sat there strapped. “Does it hurt? Sir?” The man looked up at Lewis.

“Does it hurt?” She started to laugh maniacally. “You throw like a little bitch.” There was blood going down the corner of her mouth.

When the man took Simone, Lewis started to protest, but she seemed okay with it. Still, there was a nervousness in the pit of his stomach. The energy in the room was changing, and as the final act began, Lewis realized why. The clock struck twelve, and everything shifted. As the wraith threw daggers into Simone, it looked to Lewis for a reaction.

Despite his growing anger at the wraith, Lewis simply stood up and started to clap among the panicking audience The wraith seemed confused, and Lewis simply smiled. “She’s right you know,” he said as Simone called him a bitch. “You’re technique is abysmal. Here…let me show you…” He pulled out the bone dagger, and tossed it at Simone’s bindings, freeing one of her hands. He pulled out another set of daggers, and elegantly tossed them into the wraith’s shoulders.

“Watch…” He pulled out another two daggers, throwing them perfectly into the wraith’s wrists. He started to walk down to the center stage, ignoring the raging beasts and other vile creatures of the midnight hour. Lewis pulled out a final dagger, and threw it hard, aiming for the dead center of the wraith’s head.

“The aim is key…isn’t that right, my darling Simone?” he asked as he walked up on her.

She had been suspicious but having Lewis nearby helped calm her nerves to see what would happen. “It was pretty sloppy,” Simone added onto Lewis’s words as she took the bone dagger and cut herself loose. Simone managed to pull herself off the wheel. There was a sick noise as she tore the daggers of the wraith out of her and dropped them. The wraith was looking at her. She ran the bone dagger through herself before giving the dagger to Lewis.

“I guess, we’ve found a game we can be really good at,” she wrapped herself around Lewis from behind. “I know what I want…” She put her lips to his ears. “I want to watch this fucking circus burn~ That’s better than all the stuffed animals in the world. I really liked this dress.” She motioned to it and kissed his neck.

One of the trapeze workers swung down and took her. She sighed a bit, “The captured princess thing is starting to really piss me off.”

“Just be quiet and do your job of being a victim.” That just pissed Simone off as blue fire started to burn the man alive. A black bird with blue flames shot out over the circus as she dove and picked up the smaller partner. Fair is fair. Simone’s voice shot into Lewis’s head as the woman screamed as she burned. Simone dropped her from a high height.

The phoenix flew down and Simone transformed from a burst of eerie flames. “Right? Fair is fair.”

Simone’s whispers brought about something inside of Lewis. As she handed him the bone dagger coated in her blood, flames started to coat the dagger, igniting due to her blood. A wicked smile spread across his face as he took a step forward. He wasn’t even worried when Simone was pulled away. He knew from their resonance that she was fine.

“Burn, baby., burn…” he said to no one in particular, launching himself into the wrath, stabbing the blazing dagger into it. “My darling made a request…let’s burn it all!” he said as he stabbed the wrath over and over, looking up just in time to see a black and blue phoenix soared through the air, lighting the top of the tent on fire. As Simone landed next to him, he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

“You’re so fucking hot right now. If we weren’t so busy…” More of the beasts surrounded them, but Lewis was focused on Simone for the moment. “Tell me, love…would you care for a dance?” There was a madness in his eyes, and he was panting, obviously aroused by the whole situation. He pulled out a second dagger, holding it out for Simone. “I would be honored…:

Simone kissed him back her blood mingling in both their mouths at this point. It was so familiar of the time with Envy and Greed. Only Simone wasn’t scared and the way she gripped him made it clear that if they weren’t in trouble she would take him just as much. “Shhh, then lets kill everyone causing the problems and have fun after~”

She smiled as she kissed him telling him, “I would love to fucking dance with you again.” She took the dagger. “Teach me?” She looked at him innocently enough. “Guide me like I guided you when we got married.” Lewis helped her throw the first dagger and she made a face as she just barely missed where Lewis wanted her to throw.

“Let me try again,” Simone said stubbornly as he helped her with the next one and nailed one of the beasts directly through its throat. “I did it!”