#night circus AU

[asnowfern]

Effervescence

Summary: Not able to resist the call of the Night Circus, Elain sneaks in to the circus and chances upon the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Elucien. Set in the Night Circus (by Erin Morgenstern).

A/N: Consider this my love letter to the Night Circus which I love tremendously. This story is set in the Night Circus and loosely follows Bailey's storyline. Some lines are lifted directly from The Night Circus itself so I claim zero ownership. Enjoy!

Read on AO3

Chapter 1/3: The Call

Elain

The urge called to Elain before the first rumour started swirling around town. 

It arrived without warning. 

They said it's magic.

They said it's demonic.

The Night Circus had returned to London after ten years in all its black and white glory. 

The first time round, Elain had watched the sea of tents longingly from afar as she picked up medication for her sickly mother. Even years after the circus had come and gone, she was still left wondering what wonders each tent held.

It called to her the moment it arrived and tugged at her at all times. An enchanting whisper in her ear - come, come, come play with us . An urge impossible to resist. Even though it was still daytime where the circus was closed, she took out her bicycle and cycled her way up Primrose Hill. Panting from the effort, she heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of the black and white striped tents. 

The gates became increasingly intimidating the closer she got. From the near distance, she spotted an innocuous looking sign attached to a complicated-looking lock holding the gates shut.

Gates Open at Nightfall and Close at Dawn

Trespassers will be exsanguinated.

This way, my sweet flower . Elain disregarded the written threat and followed the beckons like a sailor to a Siren's call, eventually finding a hole barely big enough for her to squeeze her way through. She bit her lips in indecision, looking to her left and right to see if there were others around.

Come .  

She crouched down and crawled her way through, easily emerging out of the other end of the fence. She gently patted her dress to remove traces of dried dirt and looked around. The place was just as uninviting on the inside as it did from the outside. Its abandoned nature kept Elain on edge like a sheep treading into a lion's den. Elain wandered from tent to tent, never daring to enter. The whispers continued to beckon, never stopping. 

Until it did. 

"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here." A low sharp voice sliced through the silence. 

Elain snapped her head to the side and her breath hitched. The man was possibly the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Long flaming orange hair contrasted against dark skin, thin white shirt which did little to hide the rippling muscular physique underneath. He had three scarred lines running through his left eye. Russet eyes pierced into warm brown.

"You shouldn't be here." he repeated, walking decisively towards her until he was in her space. "How did you even get in?" 

Elain instinctively backed up an inch at the close contact, pausing to consider her reply. She opted to go for the truth. Or at least, a half one and admitted, "There was a very tempting hole in the fence."

The man's eyes widened a fraction but his voice was commanding, "Show me."

Elain looked around once more, surveying the identical tents which surrounded her and froze - she was completely lost. Without the whispers guiding her, she had no idea where she was. 

The man looked at her expectantly, raising a scarred brow, "Well?"

Elain felt her face flushed in embarrassment. She lifted her chin and picked a random direction. The man laughed, walking in step with her. 

"You're heading away from the fence, love." he drawled, eyes now lit with amusement. 

The tip of her ears burned but she forced her facial expression into a neutral one and channeled her older sister's haughty tone, "Maybe I just wanted to take the scenic route." 

The edges of the man's mouth twitched and he gave a sarcastic bow. "Well then, let me bring you on the most scenic route the Night Circus has to offer." 

Elain's lips curled upwards. Playing along, she offered a hand, still maintaining a haughty tone, "By all means." 

The man took the hand and raised it to his lips, his eyes glinting with his mischief. The contact burned through the glove and she felt her face heat up for a completely different reason. He smirked knowingly. 

Prick. 

The man led Elain past countless tents, some looked brand new while the others appeared worn and faded. The circus remained apparently abandoned. Nothing in the air that fed the depraved rumours surrounding the Night Circus.

The pair continued to walk in silence until they had finally rounded back to where Elain had entered. She pointed at the hole, exclaiming, “There it is!” 

The redhead stared at it like its existence offended him. Tearing his gaze away only when he saw Elain bunching up her sleeves and adjusting the foot of her dress and asked in bemusement, "What on Earth are you doing?" 

Elain blinked owlishly. "Preparing to crawl back out?" 

He laughed. A low baritone rumble which reverberated through her chest and incited a flame in her belly. "I just wanted to see the hole. I wasn't expecting you to crawl through it."

She felt silly. "Oh." 

"Come on." he offered an arm, "I'll walk you out." 

They soon reached the main gate where he casually ripped out his top button and gently placed it in her palm. Gingerly closing her fingers around the rose embossed button and turning to kiss the back of her palm again. 

"Come again tonight." he purred, "Tell the girl who mans the counter, Alis, that you're with Lucien. She will let you in." 

"Lucien." she repeated, testing the name on her tongue, missing how Lucien's gaze darkened. "See you tonight, Lucien." 

***

That night, Elain feigned exhaustion and headed to her room right after dinner. She changed to a more sensible blouse and trousers and bid her time, waiting for the activity in the house to die down. Once everybody had retreated back to their rooms, she donned a dark cloak and snuck out of the back service gate.

"I'm with Lucien." she said breathless from the hurried cycle up the slope, sliding the rose embossed button on the counter. The counter girl, Alis, looked surprised but said nothing. Simply passing Elain a red entry ribbon to tie around her wrist. Different from the green and yellow ribbon that all other visitors wore.

"The red will signify you as a friend of the circus." Alis explained at her questioning look. Elain nodded, mentally storing the information away. 

The circus was transformed at night, teeming with life and magic. There was constant excitable chatter from the crowd of visitors, the sweet scent of caramel roasted nuts and rich cocoa permeating through the air.

Elain entered the first tent by the entrance and gasped in wonder. The inside of the tent was bright like the day, a gentle warmth shining down on its occupants. The grass was soft and trimmed, flowers and even trees randomly sprouted along the tent. The entire tent emulated a perfect Spring day. 

Following the rest of the crowd, Elain stood by the sides of the tent, eying the empty clearing in the middle of the tent. 

Then, the tent went dark. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls." a booming voice greeted. "Welcome to the Night Circus." 

When the tent lit up once more, a trapeze set-up had mysteriously appeared in the empty clearing. The ringmaster, Tamlin, introduced the trapeze act, Andras and his Wolves. Elain clapped and cheered along with the crowd as Andras performed with large fearsome wolves, swinging from bar to bar, effortlessly throwing and catching the somersaulting wolves. A spectacular act that left her wondering how the other tents could possibly match up.

Elain continued to traipse in and out of the tents, realising quickly that not all tents had performers. One looked to be a beautiful garden, reminiscent of the loveliest part of Hyde Park when the flowers were in full bloom. Visitors sat sprawled on the grass, happily sipping their spiced cocoa. Another housed a contortionist act twisting herself into impossible positions that one could not help but stare, entranced, and next to it, a stargazing tent which brought one close to the twinkling stars. Each tent housing the impossible. She eventually found Lucien's tent on her fifth attempt. 

If Tamlin's tent was an embodiment of Spring, Lucien's was Autumn. Fallen leaves crunched as she stepped in and she caught a slight whiff of cinnamon and ground spice in the air. Unlike the trapeze act with the wolves, Lucien performed alone. Having forgone his shirt, his upper body was fitted with nothing but an open vest with intricate embroidery of leaves and vines, muscles flexing as he juggled the lit fire torches. 

He expertly combined the flames with each juggle, eventually leaving only one lit torch. Flashing the audience a charming smile, he blew on the fire to increase the size of the flame until it eventually burst and shot upwards. Having now separated from the torch, the flame gained a life of its own to hover in mid-air, eliciting gasps and whispers from the crowd. 

Lucien summoned the flame to his hand and duplicated it to the other with a flourish. His next wave had the flames weaved carefully through the audience before stopping at its destination - in front of Elain. 

"My lady." Lucien greeted professionally with a slight bow, the ever perfect facade of a charismatic performer, "It seems like my little wayward flames have found their way to you. Would you do me the kind favour of returning them to me?" 

His eyes twinkled in challenge. Not wanting to back down from the open challenge, Elain lifted her hand to gingerly catch the flames, gasping when it combined in her palm. The fire licked gently at her skin, warm to touch but not too hot that it would burn. Almost like a fluttering chick. 

She walked forward, the crowd parting around her like the red sea, until she reached Lucien, whom promptly took over the flame and floated it towards the roof of the tent. With a snap of his fingers, the fire exploded into a dazzling show of coloured fireworks much to the delight of the audience.

Lucien ended his performance with a grand bow, taking her by surprise when he grabbed her hand and lifted it high so that she would bow along with him. 

"Thank you for your rapt attention. And a huge thank you to Lady-" he paused, waiting for her to finish the sentence. 

"Elain." she supplied.  

"And a huge thank you to Lady Elain for being my beautiful assistant today." he continued as the crowd clapped politely. 

Elain lingered behind after the crowd had left, quietly watching Lucien put away his torches. 

"You came." he remarked, "I wasn't sure if you would." 

"Who am I to ignore an open invitation to London's most mysterious traveling circus." she quipped, smiling slightly, taking the arm he offered. 

Her heartbeat quickened. A sense of contentment filled her chest in his presence. She pushed the proprieties of being out without a chaperone out of her mind, content to step back and let the evening unfold. 

They explored the tents, Lucien insisting on not giving any hints or explanation for each tent. The fun is in its mystery, he said as he led her into a new tent. 

The tent was dimly lit, its perimeters lined with wall mounted racks,  small empty glass bottles in varying shades and shapes dotted the tent. She furrowed a brow as she opened a cylindrical emerald bottle and sniffed its interior. 

Apple pie. Or more accurately, the apple pies she used to secretly make for her sisters behind her mother's back. She sniffed and quickly capped the bottle. Moving onto the next one and the one after that. They all brought back memories - of playing pretend in the park with Feyre, of sitting contently by the fireplace with Nesta, each curled up with a book. 

Then there was one small hazel rectangular bottle which did not smell like anything Elain was familiar with, a delicious combination of honey and whiskey and cinnamon. She breathed in deeply, feeling slightly light-headed from the heady scent. She pocketed the bottle before they left for the next tent. 

Their last tent of the day was an ice maze. The walls, made entirely out of ice, were at least a head taller than Lucien. The light reflected against the blue surfaces, engulfing them all in an oceanic blue tint. She gave a childlike squeal and gleefully pulled Lucien into the maze with her.

A few turns in, she slipped on the icy floors. With one arm still circled around Lucien's, she nearly pulled him to crash to the ground with her. Only for him to spin her at the last moment to use the momentum to keep her barely upright. They slammed into the icy wall, pinning Elain to the wall, Lucien's firm body flushed against hers. 

"Are you alright?" he asked but it was drowned out by the thundering drum beats her heart was playing. Her gaze wandered to the lips where it  hovered mere inches away from hers. 

"Elain?" he called out quietly. 

She tore her gaze away and forced herself to look into wide russet eyes instead. She stared, entranced by the flakes of gold dancing around his pupils. Eyes which flicked downwards to her lips for a moment before returning back upwards, his head leaning in just an inch before he froze and stepped back. "Someone's coming." 

It took a couple more seconds before Elain caught wind of the chatter from other visitors. Slightly flustered, Elain cleared throat and self-consciously combed her fingers through her hair and followed Lucien out.

"What are you doing?" Elain asked as she wheeled her bicycle outside of its holding tent, only to find Lucien waiting with a bicycle of his own.

"Making sure you get home safe." He answered matter-of-factly, his brows furrowing slightly as if confused at her question. 

"You don't have to." she added hastily.

Elain did not argue when Lucien insisted, not when the thought of the evening ending made her heart sink a little. They cycled in companionable silence back to her family estate, a respectable home just off Bedford Square. 

"Well, that's me." She finished lamely. "Thank you for seeing me back." She stood on her toes to kiss his cheek but instead found his lips when he turned his head slightly at the same time. His soft lips slanted over hers for just one heavenly moment.  

He stood back and took her hand, the sides of his mouth quirked as he raised the knuckles to his lips like he did earlier that afternoon. "It was my pleasure, my lady."

As Elain got ready for bed later that night, she opened the bottle to sniff it again. Except now she did recognised it. It was identical to the scent Lucien left on her clothes.  

***

Lucien

Lucien stared in bewilderment. He knew for certain that he fixed the hole in the fence after the encounter yesterday. Not only had the hole reappeared but it had also increased in size. 

After fixing the fence, he waved his hand and threw over a glamour to maintain appearance just in case the hole returns, and set out for Tamlin's tent. 

"Tamlin." Lucien greeted as he entered his High Lord's private tent the next morning. 

"Lucien. You were looking for me?"

Lucien nodded solemnly. "We have a problem with our wards."

Next

[bluepandadraws-log]

No comic yet, have FNF Pomni on this Friday instead

[sleepingingarden]

da baby

[starryyskies]

"Am I...Am I dead again?"

"Maybe I should just go back to sleep..."

ITS A NIGHTMARE! WAKE UP POMNI!!!

PART FOUR TOOK ME FUCKING FOREVER PLS SUPPORT IT, IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME

PREVIOUS PARTS

now that school is starting I won't be able to do much art so this is probably gonna be it for mouths for a while lol

just in the comic, not all together

i need to sleep i pulled an all nighter to finish this

[ezaliaaaa]

Bunnydoll x fnf (au??) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[leekasna]

Elizabeth Afton

[vamprray]

More fnaf sibling swap stuff I wanted to like redesign circus baby for this au (sort of?) To look more like Ella because a lot of people mistook her for baby, etc. I don't want to rant lol. Also Mike would absolutely despise nightmare bb

[overly-dramatic-artist]

creatures of the Labyrinth

[lil-lemon-snails]

Have some low-quality sun screenshots while i stress over colour palettes :)

vvv

Went through SO MANY stages w this design and i'm still not 100% about it BUT- progress is being made (maybe)

Witness my pain

[minty-sweet-art]

Wake up my fellow nerds!! it #mintysillyart edit compilation time🚨🚨🚨🚨

✨carnival au addition✨

Carnival au and drawing by: @sm-baby

Yea this is 2 minutes long (save my soul i had to add everyone somehow for some reason)

Warning for: loudish tv beeping sound/car honk/yelling, cursing, emoji knife& Japanese Ogre mask, real gun photo, explosion gif

Gummigoo was harmed im sorry y’all

But no gloinks where harmed

Link to most of the drawing used here

Link to where the player drawing came from

Link to pomni pic

Link to caine pic (warning for violence and blood)

Link to zooble pic

And finally link to gloinks

[asnowfern]

Effervescence - Chapter 3

Summary: Not able to resist the call of the Night Circus, Elain sneaks in to the circus and chances upon the most beautiful man she has ever seen. Elucien. Night Circus Setting AU.

Read on AO3 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Read on Tumblr Part One

Chapter 3/3: The Lighting

Elain

Elain spent most of the day in her room replaying the fight she had with Lucien with equal amounts of anger and grief. A soft knock drew her out of her daze. She opened the door to see Feyre hovering outside with a tray of tea and sweets. 

"Nesta is half an impulse away from storming the circus, demanding retribution." Feyre announced, walking into the room. "Just say the word." 

Elain scoffed, "Completely unnecessary." 

Feyre plucked two scones off the tray, dropping one in Elain's hand while taking a bite off the other. "I think we shall be the judge of that."

"I can fight my own battles." she retorted, "Not that one is required. He's leaving with the circus and we will never see each other again. End of story." 

Elain gathered by the way Feyre's eyes softened that her sister was not convinced and continued, "It was fun. Something that I can look back on one day fondly. That was all it was meant to be." 

"But you want it to be more." 

Elain bristled, the words to deny and placate poised at the tip of her tongue. Yet, she was tired. Tired of pretending that she did not want more. Tired and angry that Lucien did not want more, that he gave no indication that what they had was worth fighting for So she stayed silent and let the silence damned her. 

She moved to lay her head on Feyre's lap. Eyes falling shut when Feyre began to idly massage her scalp. After a long while, Elain distantly heard her sister say through the haze of Morpheus's hold, "You are worth fighting for."

Wake up. You need to wake up. Now .

Elain shot up, chest heaving, her heart pounding in her ear. Her eyes frantically surveyed her surroundings. She was alone. 

Right? 

She drifted to the window to observe the surroundings. All clear too. She clutched her chest tightly, willing her racing heart to settle. She spotted the small bottle from the tent sitting on her desk and picked it up, opening it to sniff it. She sighed, letting the familiar scent soothe her when-

Behind you! 

She turned around and ducked, narrowly missing the kidnapper's grasp. 

"Sharp senses."

Elain's head snapped to the source of voice, it was the blonde from the circus who was typically supervising Aris at the counter. Her face was pointed with a haunting beauty but her azure eyes shone with a cruel glint. Next to her were three burly men - the strongmen from the circus. 

Her mind raced. She was surrounded. Could she take the chance of screaming and hope that someone would hear? Making up her mind, she swept the contents off her desk at her assailants and opened her mouth to scream. 

A towel was tightly clasped over her nose and mouth before the scream left her throat. A sickeningly sweet scent filled her senses and darkness took over her senses.

***

Her head pounded. 

Elain suppressed a groan as she took in the distant sounds of a man and woman arguing. The haze in her mind cleared and she recalled the events that transpired. She was kidnapped. She quickly closed her eyes to feint unconsciousness.

"This was not what I agreed to, Ianthe." a familiar authoritative male stated in apparent displeasure. 

"That was just for Lucien's benefit, I'm sure." the woman, her kidnapper, surmised. 

"You cannot abduct humans from their home and assume it wouldn't go unnoticed. This is not Prythia!" He reprimanded.

"It's just a human." she sniffed.

"A human who is awake and listening in on our conversation." 

Elain froze. Seeing no reason to keep up the pretense, she sat up and turned to face them. It was the same woman from before, Ianthe, and the ringmaster, Tamlin. They looked different now. More than human - taller, pointed ears, almost feral. Yet undeniably beautiful. 

"Hello, Elain." The ringmaster, Tamlin, said in what had to be his gentle and reassuring tone. He turned to Ianthe and ordered, "Leave us." 

For a moment, Ianthe looked like she was about to argue but then decided against it. She shot Elain a final look of disdain before leaving the room.

"I'm truly sorry about this. It was not my intention to have you taken like this." A cheap attempt to mollify her. Instead, Elain felt the fear gave way to indignation.

"Why have I been taken?" Elain pressed on, "If this is about Lucien then you have nothing to worry about." 

"Lucien?" Tamlin asked, bewildered before frowning. "No, no. It is not about him." 

"Then what is it?"

"It's the impact your presence has made. The hole in our fence." 

Elain shot him a skeptical look, "You brought me here to fix the hole? It was there before I arrived!"

"No." Tamlin corrected, "The hole appeared because of you." 

Elain paused. Her mind whirled at his words, trying to connect the dots at their strange appearance and the sudden very apparent supernatural nature of the circus, "What do you mean? What are you people?" 

"We are Faeries or Fae. Bounded to this traveling circus after a great war had wrecked our world. Our fence represents a border between your world and ours. A hole like the one you found was a sign - a sign of a vulnerability in the magic keeping us alive."

"Faeries?" Elain whispered. They were not human. Somehow, everything suddenly made sense, like it was a fact as obvious as acknowledging that the sky was blue or the grass was green. "And Lucien?" 

He nodded, "Fae, just like us." 

A pit dropped in her stomach. Hands wrapped around her mouth, she asked in aghast, "So if the magic fails, he dies too?" 

"We don't know," he grimaced. "That's why this is worrying. We don't know anything other than how your presence had agitated the Cauldron."

"The Cauldron?" she echoed. 

"A very powerful artifact. One so powerful it has a level of sentience." he explained, "Would you like to see it?" 

He led her down the corridor and into a room where a large dark cauldron sat bubbling. Elain felt torn at its presence, equally repulsed and attracted. She stared at it, resisting the urge to flinch backwards when it spoke to her.

You came.

"If I go in, will it save the circus?" she asked quietly. 

"The circus runs on my magic, not the Cauldron." he clarified, "But there is something interfering." 

Elain considered his words carefully and made her choice. She made her way to it and lowered herself in. The last voice she heard before being submerged was Lucien yelling.

***

In the beginning

And in the end

There was darkness

And nothing more

Then along came war

Forged by lords and kings and queens

A world destroyed

A world remade

The world was on fire. Towers, palaces, houses and trees alight with silver flames which burned cold. In the middle of the inferno stood a lady. She seemed human.

"This was Prythia." 

The fires receded at her words to reveal beautiful sandy beaches, snow-covered towns, lively cities, sparkling night skies and sunrises streaked with purple and pink light. 

"A world destroyed, a world remade." Elain muttered under her breath. 

The lady nodded, "When the world was remade from the ashes, the seven courts of Prythia was split. Hidden within enclaves in the human world, all except for the Spring Court, which was ravaged so terribly that nothing could be saved. Its people turned nomadic, eventually becoming what you know today as-"

"The Night Circus." Elain finished. " But why are you telling me this? Why am I here?"

The lady answered, "You're here because you heard its call. You're here because more importantly, you answered the call. You can bring change to Spring. Give them the chance to have a home base again." 

"How?" she asked.

"Are you accepting?" she asked in return.

"I'm asking how." she clarified. 

"By accepting change yourself. By transforming yourself into something that can bring about the change."

Elain's mind flashed back to Lucien's expression when he spoke about the loss of his home. At the thought, their surroundings transformed to rolling green hills and beautiful lakes. Sparkling sky and singing trees. 

She turned to the female and dipped her head, "Okay."

Elain screamed as a sharp pain ripped through her. Visions assaulted her brain, too fast for her to process. Then there was nothing but whiteness.

***

Lucien

Lucien felt like he got sucker punched the moment Elain went into the Cauldron, her warm brown eyes shining brightly. He continued to stare at the Cauldron but accused, "You agreed to monitor. That there was no need to sacrifice her to the Cauldron."

"Ianthe acted on her own accord to bring her here. Elain chose to go into the Cauldron." Tamlin huffed.

"Don't you mean kidnapped her here?!" He snapped. 

Tamlin shrugged his shoulders with such indifference that made Lucien want to smash the High Lord's head to the ground, consequences be damned. But then a small gasp sounded from the Cauldron and with it, Elain's scent of jasmine and honey. 

Lucien hurried to help her out of the Cauldron, gently hauling her up and out. He dimly registered the pointed ears poking out of her golden brown hair and the subtle shift in her scent, one of Fae. Yet, everything is overshadowed by the insistent tugging in his chest. 

Mate. Mate. Mate. 

He crushed her to him, arms wound tightly around her back. "You're my mate." he said in the slightest of whispers. 

When Elain pried herself out of his grip, it was not to look at him but at Tamlin. She asked with effort, "If you could re-establish Spring, would you?" 

"It's not possible." he muttered in denial, waving his hands. 

"But would you?" She pressed fiercely. 

"Yes. Gods, yes." 

At Elain's instruction, they gathered in front of the Cauldron after throwing in a few mementos from Spring. She then began to chant in a foreign tongue, one Lucien was sure was an ancient Fae, and the artifact started to tremble.

"A flame" she ordered quietly to him before tilting her head to Tamlin, "And a kernel of your magic." 

The tremble grew into a quake as the final ingredients of the spell were added, Elain took both of their hands and shouted over the commotion, "Now, wish for it harder than you have ever wished for in your life. Envisage how it looked, how it smelt, how it felt!" 

Following her words, Lucien snapped his eyes shut and let the memories of Spring resurface. The energies surged through the three of them as he focused on the thoughts single-mindedly. Seconds bled into minutes before the energies dissipated and Lucien felt Elain's grip gradually loosened. Panicked, he opened his eyes just in time to catch her as she fell into unconsciousness.

***

Lucien took a deep breath as he stared down the greenhouse - the innocuous looking building which currently housed his mate. He inhaled sharply as he entered.

Elain was elbows deep in soil. He watched as she transferred a plume of daffodils from the pot into the ground, lovingly patting the soil. Lucien felt his breath caught up as she looked up at him. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and her face was smeared with dirt. Lucien thought she never looked lovelier. 

His eyes narrowed on the cuts on her hands and instantly crossed over the stretch of greenery to her side. Elain stared at him with questioning wide doe eyes when he took her hands, face softening when he began to silently heal the cuts. 

"You've been avoiding me." he said quietly as he healed the last cut, instantly missing the warmth when Elain withdrew her hands from his.

Elain said nothing. Her hands reached for a pair of shears to snip off yellowing leaves of a nearby plant. She eventually admitted, "I needed time to process everything that happened."

"About us?" he pressed.

She stiffened, the words tumbling out of her, "There is no us." 

A chill ran down his spine, his mind spurned as he echoed, "No us?" 

"You left me." she said, body trembling slightly before she straightened her back as if firming her resolve, "You chose not to fight for us. This." She gestured around them, around her pointed ears, "Changes nothing."

"This" he gestured wildly, "changes everything!" 

"No!" she cried out, "Andras told me about the mating bond. What it means to be Fae and mates. You didn't choose us." 

She turned away, continuing in a soft devastated tone that twisted his heart, "You didn't choose me ." 

"What was I supposed to do? Tell you I am an immortal being trapped in an eternal existence of a nomadic circus performer? Trap you into that life with me? You deserve the world, Elain." his voice cracked, "You deserve more than me."

She shook her head sadly and placed one hand on his cheek, "You're still not choosing me." 

A panic overtook Lucien as he saw Elain walk away from him for a second time. He blurted out, "Give me the chance to deserve you."

She stopped, her back still facing him. He rushed in front of her, "But in the meantime, let me love you everyday of my life." 

Her face whipped to his in disbelief, wide eyes beseeching. He pressed on, "Let me spend the rest of my forever bettering myself so I'm good enough for you." 

She gave a teary smile, asked in surprise, "Are you proposing?"

"I don't have a ring but" He reached for his pocket to take out a slightly squashed cup, "Will you accept the promise of daily cups of chocolate covered, cinnamon coated churros?"

She choked out a laugh and took one piece out, biting a chunk off, "Yes, you silly male. All I ever wanted was you." 

Lucien felt his heart lighten as joy blossomed in his chest. He captured her lips in a searing kiss. "My wife." He breathed as Elain made quick work unbuttoning his shirt and shrugged them off his shoulders. His pants quickly followed suit. 

"My mate." Her dress drops into a puddle on the ground. 

"My love." He carefully laid her on a bed of discarded clothing to worship her with his mouth, his hands. Savouring every moan and sigh he elicited from her, his lips humming between her thighs as she writhed and shattered underneath his tongue.

"Say the words." he murmured, trailing wet kisses down her chest as he lined himself at her entrance. 

"You're mine." she sighed, gasping as he pushed himself in an inch, pausing to let her accommodate him. 

"And I'm yours." she continued, panting as he fully seated himself in her.  

The greenhouse glowed as their magics surged to meet another, glimmering vines threaded through the air and winded around the both of them.

"I love you." Lucien said afterwards as they laid sated in each other arms.

Elain's answering smile could have sent him to the heavens with no regrets. "I love you too."

***

Elain

Elain popped the Amsterdam postcard for her sisters into the mailbox and walked over to a quiet street corner where Lucien was waiting with a cup of hot coffee. 

"Done." she announced as she leaned forward to take the coffee from him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek in thanks.

"Let's go." she threaded her arm with his and let him winnow the both of them to their campsite next to the tulip farms. 

"It's beautiful." she sighed, sipping her coffee as she took in the fields. 

"Not as beautiful as you." he quipped. 

"Cheesy." she teased. 

"For you? Always." 

End

A/N: I have to admit, this fic got away with me. I started out only wanting to write a tribute to The Night Circus - literally nothing more than a love letter to the novel. Didn't expect it to end up with a Spring-centric story. But it had a really nice parallel to the novel's storyline which came as a happy surprise! I am also intentionally leaving the female Elain met in the Cauldron a mystery (although I did have someone in mind when I wrote it!) so I would love to hear any guesses or who it might be to you. I really enjoyed myself writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it too!

[chipistrate]

Welcome to the Grand Opening of Freddy Fazbears Balloon Circus!

After an array of previous undisclosed incidents at the Mega Pizzaplex, ending with the sudden collapsing of the building due to an unexpected earthquake, Fazbear Enterprise has demolished the old mall and rebuilt a new and improved carnival on the property! But just because the attractions above ground have been overhauled, doesn't mean the secrets beneath the surface have magically disappeared.

Reblogs appreciated!

MANY more rambles about this AU under the cut: would much appreciate if you read them, but there's no obligations!

EVERYTHING HERE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE!! This AU has just been pieced together by my insane ramblings to my friend over the past few days, so everything in it's early stages of development, and this post is being written VERY late while I'm very sleep deprived and just trying to finish it in time to schedule it! If some things are a bit weird or inconsistent then please keep that in mind! Thank you! :D

Gregory, Vanessa, and Freddy all return to the now renovated lot where the Pizzaplex once stood, having been called back two years after their last failed visit too save a long lost friend, too repair their old creation known at the M.X.E.S after it was suddenly and unexplainably shut down again. Upon entering the new-ish carnival, they'll quickly find it hard to safely look for the entrance to the layers below as the friendly mascot suits above chase after them for being unwanted guests.

Above ground, they're hunted by the mascots- new suits built for both performers and endoskeletons to be able to wear. This night, controlled by corrupted endoskeletons, they've been ordered to chase after the intruders by someone lurking below the carnivals ground. As well as finding the littler animatronics, known as Balloon Babies, to be quite the inconvenience.

Below ground, they're hunted by the old Glamrocks, still functional after all this time, and now under a new threats command that's also trying to keep the 3 star family from reaching M.X.E.S; Vannie. Aka, Cassie. Still here in the ruins of it all, waiting for the her perfect moment to lure the family back in and get her revenge for what they did to her all those years ago.

The mascots are the new faces of the Freddy Fazbears Balloon Circus, their costumes built to be worn by both endoskeletons and actors- but in a safer way than the springlock suits. The actors are used during the day for greeting and interacting with guests, putting on performances, etc etc. While the endoskeletons are used at night as a replacement for security guards and STAFF bots, kindly, but forcefully, escorting any intruders off the premises. Under Vannie's control they, of course, are much less kind and gentle with how they "escort" the 3 star fam out of the carnival.

Balloon Babies are smaller, almost Helpy-like animatronics in appearance, built to keep lost and lonely children happy and entertained while waiting for their guardian to arrive. They can't speak, but they can play song, games, sound effects, blow up balloons with their fingertips, etc etc. They found Gregory after he had been forcefully split up from Vanessa and Freddy by the mascots, and upon the family reuniting, the Balloon Babies more annoying feature kicked in: The Emergency Alert System. Whenever a child they are playing with is approached by an odd looking adult or other figure that seems like they could be a potential threat to the child's safety, whether that be a kidnapper, unfit guardian, bully, etc. the Balloon Babies will use their emergency alert system to call one of the mascots over and deal with the threat, kindly guiding the threat away and bringing the kid to a safer area away from potential danger where they can stay with staff until a proper guardian arrives. The Balloon Babies had decided in their time with Gregory that Vanessa and Freddy were unfit guardians for leaving Gregory scared and alone this late at night, and any time Vanessa and/or Freddy is nearby, their alert system will sound off and call a mascot to their location. The problem, other than the obvious, is that the Balloon Babies are fixated on Gregory. They will always be attracted to him and find their way back to him no matter what, with the only exception being when he's under ground. Which means that, until they can find a way to deactivate or otherwise get rid of these guys, Gregory is forced to be split up from Vanessa and Freddy above ground, and regroup underground.

The only exception is Goldie, a soft yellow version of the Freddy Balloon Baby that doesn't follow the others. Goldie is the only one of the Balloon Babies that can go underground, Vannie specifically programming him to be able to do so. He follows Vannie around and provides her with much needed company, being her only real friend down here besides Roxy. Later on, Gregory will find Goldie, but instead of calling for the mascots whenever Vanessa is near, he'll send out a signal to distract the other Balloon Babies away from Gregory so they won't call for the mascots or overwhelm him. Goldie can tell that Vanessa and Freddy are fit guardians that love Gregory very much, and can also tell that they're afraid of the mascots, though he can't compute why- it's his job to make sure that kids and their families are safe, so he's doing his best to ensure their safety however he can. Later on, Vannie will come looking for her friend after a long period of time of him being away and find him with the 3 star family, causing more conflict between the two parties that Goldie can't understand- Cassie and Gregory are supposed to be friends, aren't they? That's what Cassie said. Friends aren't supposed to fight each other, they're supposed to protect each other. That's what Goldie believes, at least.

Random trivia;

-Gregory, Freddy, and Vanessa have been living together for about 3 years now. 1 year by the time of Ruin, and 2 years after the fact leading up to Balloon Circus.

-Cassie has been gaslit into thinking that all the stuff Dr. Rabbit did was actually Gregory himself with no outside influence, only fueling her want for revenge, not only for the elevator incident, but everyone he hurt. This will affect Gregory greatly(he has not 100% recovered and this Does Not Help).

-Cassie still doesn't fully trust the Mimic, despite being under its influence. She let the M.X.E.S stay up after the 3 star family put it back up after Ruin despite Mimic's demands for her to shut it down again, assuring him it was "part of her plan". She wasn't entirely lying, shutting down the M.X.E.S was how she wanted to lure the family back, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't also partially because she wanted to keep "that old endo" sealed away. He's not completely free from fault either.

-Gregory and Vanessa both have chips implanted in their heads, it's how Dr. Rabbit and Vanny took over way back when. Those same chips gave them VR vision, but the chips have since been "domesticated" and can't go full VR mode anymore. Despite this fact, they do still have a few side effects of the VR vision, such as some walls and objects simply not existing, despite them looking perfectly normal and real. They can phase through them without trouble, and this helps them navigate the Balloon Circus, becauseeeeeee;

-Cassie was there during the construction of the circus and set up VR walls in certain spaces to help her hide out and travel around undetected, even during the day. The 3 star family can also use these now as an easier way of navigating through the circus, but also as a way to hide from the mascots and even sometimes the Balloon Babies.

-The entrance to the underground levels is behind a VR wall, but it's one set up by the construction workers so the patrons wouldn't notice it. The reason an intentional opening is there is because the new entrance is now used as a dumping ground for stuff from random items from the ruins of the Pizzaplex to unused stuff from the circus to anything the employees with access to the area want to throw in there. It's how the ruined Glamrocks ended up there.

-The Glamrocks were being slowly reintroduced to the public, the biggest attraction so far being 'Chica of the Sea', a tent for the underwater hologram show of a prerendered mermaid Glamrock Chica that would swim around, wave at guests, and do a few preset moves that employees could turn on whenever. There's hints of them wanting to reintroduce the others as well that haven't been shown off to the public yet, with the new roles being; Glam Freddy and Bonnie are the co-ringmasters of the main tent where the mascots performances are held, making sure everything runs smoothly. Roxanne is the mascots and glamrocks make up artist, as well as offering to do make up/face paint for any patrons that came by her tent (for a price, of course). And Monty would roam around the circus grounds as a strongman showing off his incredible strength. He also has a tent for this, but he was mostly supposed to roam around and sometimes try and make people swing by his tent, mostly so they would buy his merch.

-Chica being the first to be reintroduced has an effect on her character below ground, with her hearing the news and trying her best to dress herself up in whatever scraps she could find to look like her mermaid counterpart, practicing her singing and dancing despite her condition so she could prove that she could be just as good as the hologram if she just got a few repairs.

-Roxanne is headless, having lost her head in her tussle with the Mimic. But she still has control of both her body and head, carrying around her decapitated head in her arms.

-Vannie/Cassie cares about Goldie soso much that's her new bestie<33 Friendship ended with Gregory, Goldie is new best friend<3 (I'm so sorry Gregory)

-Vannie is also known as Vengeful Vannie, but usually shortened to just 'Vannie'. A callback to the "Vengeful Spirit" aka Cassidy, because I think the parallels between the two are neat<3 (THIS MEANS NOTHING LORE WISE IT'S JUST A NAMING THING.)

-Some of the stuff at Balloon Circus was bought from the carnival mentioned to be across the street from the Pizzaplex in the TFTPP epilogues, and rebranded to fit with the new Fazbear theming

I wanna talk more about these guys later- not sure what else exactly to do with them, but if anybody has any questions then feel free to send 'em to my inbox! I'll be more than happy to reply to the best of my abilities<3

[north-noire]

circus baby and elizabeth afton :]

[yellowssxx]

Revival AU Lizzie!! she's a bit grown up in this AU!

[vannyplex]

My final updated design for Glamrock Baby!

She may or may not play an important role in the upcoming Glitched Entropy series…👀

[mushramoo]

whatcha got there?

a smoothie