5. Old Friends/Enemies

She wasn't exactly sure how she got into this carnival, but Madame Celeste Helena Octavia was willing to think up a few theories as of why she was here. She was very aware that this place was no heaven, and definitely not a purgatory, either. She doubted either of those two places would look like anything as demented as this.

But still…Hell, being a carnival? She nearly voiced her thoughts aloud. "It's so.."

"Utterly ludicrous, I know." She stood still as deep chuckles resounded from behind her. "That was what I thought when I first came here. But no, it is far worse than anyone can imagine, Madame Octavia...and, if I may ask, did you give up your occupation as a fortuneteller to become a whore? You certainly look the part."

She knew that voice too well, too well.

"Shut the hell up, Cassandra," She hissed back, turning towards him with disgust imprinted on her face. Gladstone always brought out the more crude part of her, the part that would be willing to utter unladylike words. "I'm not surprised that someone like you ended up here. I'm surprised you're not permanently burning in a fiery pit for all eternity yet as your punishment."She couldn't help but smile a little when she noticed his current state-locked up in a cage, just like an animal. "Though...the 'caged' look fits you a bit better than I expected. It fits a man like you, considering that you have such a ravenous nature inside for all beautiful things, whether they be artwork or men..."

She smirked.

"Men like you need to be locked up in cages. That's where you belong, hm?"

The ex-Hierophant winced slightly, rattling the bars of the cage with both hands as dark, greasy locks of brown hair obscured most of his face from view. The man was wearing a simple buttoned-up white shirt, with black trousers-an extremely plain appearance for a noble such as Lord Cassandra Gladstone, who would be wearing something usually a bit more extravagant.

"Thank you," He spoke sarcastically, "and I would like to think that an old friend could get me out of this cage. Some idiotic carnies locked me in here after I thought it best to...rebel a little bit when they attempted to use the cat o'nine on me. Apparently you're the next 'act' that needs to be taken care of, and I'm the one to take care of it in some way. That's what the Ringmaster said, anyway. Of course," He gestured to the cage surrounding him, "I can't really do that if you don't get me out of here, obviously."

She felt a bit unnerved by being called a mere 'act,' but she tried to ignore it and instead continued to ask the questions. "And what would be the consequence if I didn't get you out of that cage?"

He merely let out a breath, before responding. "If you did not comply with my request, I'll be stuck in here for a while longer, and you might not get any answers for about where your dead son went without my help."

She froze as soon as she heard the word son.

"...My son…?" She repeated, making eye contact with her caged 'friend.' "What do you know about him? Tell me!"

"If you let me out of the bloody cage," The older man responded, still rattling the bars a bit, "Then I might comply with such a request. Until then, I will not speak a word about him."

She gritted her teeth. What other choice did she have? Cassandra might be her best bet, considering that he was basically the only person she got along with in Delilah-they had a good history of being drinking buddies, really-and both of them were damned to Hell, anyway. And...she did want to know about her son, too. Her son was the most important thing to her-the most important person to her. She couldn't just ignore that he had once existed, no matter how long ago that may have been.

"Fine. I will." She scanned her surroundings, seeing no obvious hiding place for a key. "And where do you think I'll find a bloody key, you fop?"

Gladstone gestured to her to come closer, and she complied. He then reached for her neck, pulled on the chain hanging from it, struggling to get the chain to simply snap and be freed from confining her neck. Octavia glanced at her attire during the time of Gladstone's brief struggle with the chain holding the key captive. Damn, Gladstone had been quite correct about the prostitute-like appearance, after all. The black, whalebone corset kept her standing straight, refusing to let her slouch as her breasts were obviously emphasized. The extremely frilly skirt, dyed a shade of deep scarlet, was torn at the front, exposing her bare legs from the mid-thigh down while the back of the skirt trailed down only to the ankles. Black, knee-length boots completed the look, and she frowned in dismay. Even the material she wore when she was alive, although improper for a banquet, was more modest than what she was wearing now.

Cassandra finally pulled the chain off with a tiny snap! Grabbing the key tightly, he struggled with the lock about the cage door, before he finally unlocked it. Throwing the lock aside, he pushed the cage door, letting it slide upwards as he slipped out of the cage. Letting go of the door, Octavia winced as she heard it slam shut as Cassandra straightened himself in front of her.

"I told you you looked a lot like a whore," He managed to say with a brief, weak chuckle, "And a pretty one at that."

She lightly slapped him in the face, but he was still grinning afterwards. "Pervert." She glared at him a bit before continuing. "I would suggest you shut up and help me find out where my son is..." She paused, before she took a closer look at the other's appearance. The clothing, plain for someone like Lord Gladstone, already set her off, but his facial features also differed from his appearance before. The left portion of his face was scarred, somehow, and she swore that they almost looked like scales up close. She decided not to comment on this despite her surprise, however-she had a feeling that his somewhat deformed appearance had something to do with his punishment in Hell.

Gladstone happened to notice her gaze too quickly, though, before she could avert it away from his face. "It's just part of my punishment." He muttered, trying to sweep it aside and get the explanation over with as soon as possible. "It's nothing compared to the rest of it, trust me. Nothing."

She frowned at this lack of explanation of the rest of the punishment, but said nothing. She could sense a brooding sadness in the man standing in front of her, a loneliness and a lack of hope. Whatever punishment he had undertaken here, it hadn't been any good for him.

That made sense. This was Hell, right? It made perfect sense for one to be punished.

Though, to be completely honest, she thought that Gladstone would be under something worse than just facial scarring and plainer clothes.

Then again, appearances were not everything. Just because she and Gladstone were great drinking buddies (she still remembered all the times the two would be in drunken stupors, laughing about the most ridiculous things, their slurred voices bragging about all the crimes they committed in the past) did not mean that Gladstone was safe to be around. For all she knew, he could be setting her up to fall or something. She had to be careful.

Yet...she was dead already. This was Hell. She knew she was punished to eternal damnation, so she might as well go ahead and take whatever risks were necessary. Especially if her dead son was involved. She just knew she had to know what happened to him, and right now she felt like if there was something she could do to uncover this information, she would.

"Well, Miss Octavia?" Gladstone held out his hand. "Shall we press on and see if we can dig up anything involving this dead son of yours?"

Her facial expression was stuck between a pout, out of annoyance towards Gladstone because he sounded like he was treating her son like some object and not a human being as she preferred (but then again that was always so Cassandra-like to do that), and a smile, at relief that at least she was around someone who was if not the best company, Gladstone was decent enough to not be revolting at the wrong times. Most of the time, at least.

"Let's go."


The two wandered about for some time, their footsteps full of caution wherever they went. Justice was starting to get a bit anxious-what if there were others that saw them? What if said others were not as seemingly harmless as Cassandra was at the moment and were out to harm them? It would be bad if they got spotted-and Gladstone constantly making sure that the coast was clear was making that very clear.

The two eventually hid behind the side of one tent as Gladstone once again sensed someone.

"Who is it this time? One of the lesser carnies?" She hissed to him.

He shook his head. "Higher-ranked ones." He hissed back. "And unlike the minors, they're far more dangerous."

Justice frowned a bit. "So, it's just like Delilah all over again, basically?"

"..Yes, that is how this bloody carnival is organized. The Ringmaster, himself, well...he's one of our past members of Delilah, in fact. It makes sense that the carnival is organized this way because this is the only sort of group organization that he is familiar with..." He let out something between a sigh and a scowl. "There are higher-ranked major carnies, and there are lower-ranked minor ones. My role as the Beast in this Carnival was supposed to be more of a lower rank, but now the Ringmaster has thought otherwise for some reason."

"You don't know why...?"

The other shook his head. "I do not." He then let out a brief snarl at this. "Though I'd like to think that the Ringmaster enjoys toying with me. That's probably the bloody reason why."

Justice dared to raise an eyebrow at this statement. "Just like you how you did with Jizabel...?"

The older man went silent at that for a moment, before speaking again, his voice still a snarl. "I don't want to think about that right now."

She winced at this. "Apologies."

"It's fine." He didn't look fine, but he obviously wished to brush that aside for as long as he could. "It's clear now. Let's keep searching."

Before she could say anything else, there was a duet of two voices far behind them, full of anger and rage. Cassandra gritted his teeth at this, and Justice noted the rage in his eyes.

"Gilford. Damn that idiot." She heard him mutter under his breath. "Can't he leave Meridianna alone...?"

Justice immediately remembered hearing of Meredianna and Gilford, that Gilford had been killed by...someone, and Meridianna died twice-once by Gilford's hand and the other by Jizabel. She also remembered hypnotizing that one person to be committing all those Ripper-like murders back then...whatever his name was, she couldn't remember that well.

"Cassandra...you know Meridianna?"

Cassandra's eyes widened, as if surprised that he'd been overheard and that he forgot that Justice existed for a moment, before responding. "Not while being alive, no, but once I was dead..?" He let out a brief chuckle, as if trying to make being with Meridianna sound like he was simply an acquaintance. "Well...let's just say she's the only person anyone can trust in this godforsaken hellhole. Anyone else would be a liar, a killer or an absolute devil."

The other paused, unsure of what to say for a moment before speaking.

"To be honest, I thought Meridianna would be in heaven...I heard that she was killed by Jezebel in order to save Cain's life..."

Cassandra gritted his teeth, and Justice nearly too soon realized her mistake.

"Earl Hargreaves," Cassandra snapped, his voice dripping with pure rage, "Is someone she shouldn't have bothered to die for. That damned brat...that cocky, damned bastard...he doesn't deserve any redemption. I hope he ends up in eternal damnation like we did. And then I can kill him, and rip his guts out when I have the chance..." He then shook his head, letting out a breath. "Then again, the Ringmaster could never give me the chance for vengeance, if he wills it..."

Before he could say anymore, the two heard a voice, one of a female, call out.

"Cassandra! Cassandra, are you there...?"

The older man's eyes widened with alarm, and he immediatley pulled Justice over to a small space between two of the tents.

"Stay here," He whispered quickly, glancing behind him before rushing off. Justice blinked in surprise, surprised that he was actually looking out for her. But maybe that voice just now belonged to a carnie he knew well...

...A carnie he knew well. Wouldn't that be Meridianna, if she was the only one he trusted?

"...let's just say she's the only person anyone can trust in this godforsaken hellhole..."

Cassandra's words came back to Justice, and she immediately knew it. That voice did belong to Meridianna, and now Cassandra was probably talking to her. Justice stayed silent, not moving as she listened to them speak to each other. It was really hard to listen to them because they had lowered their voices, but Justice tried her best to hear all of it.

"...she is here already...?"

"Yes, and I don't know what to do with her. I've been running with her all this time and..."

"...why don't you bring her back to..."

"...are you sure? The Ringmaster..."

"...it'll be fine..."

There was silence. Justice thought that Gladstone might be hesitating to say something, but after a moment she thought that she would take a small peek to see if they were still talking. As soon as she saw them, she immediately realized that they were not talking.

No, Gladstone and Meridianna were kissing.

Justice quickly backed away before either of them could see her. The Justice Card had no idea that those two somehow formed some sort of sentimental bond between each other. Now, though, she knew exactly what sort of relations Gladstone had with Meridianna-and it wasn't like the ones he had towards his whores when he was still alive. No, this went deeper than anything physical-Justice could definitely sense that. Maybe, possibly, it was something more truly romantic? She didn't know. And hopefully, neither of them had noticed her seeing them.

She heard their talking-she should call it arguing now-resume.

"What the hell!?"

"Why'd you do that, you oaf!? I hate you!"

"Get used to it! You know you're bound to me by the Ringmaster's orders!"

Justice backed away, unsure if she really wished to stick with them any longer. This was getting dangerous, and she couldn't afford to get into trouble now. She had her son to find, and-

"Going somewhere, Miss Octavia?"

Her breath got caught in her throat. That voice was familiar, akin to a certain member of Delilah that died long before she did...

She turned to see none other than the Coffinmaker, Grifford.


The first thing she did, when she saw him, was laugh.

"So...it was you all along. I should have known it would be you of all people leading this place of madness."

He didn't give any facial expression at all as he spoke.

"Celeste Helena Octavia. You are here, in Hell, for mass manipulation and mind control, and attempted murder."

She knew, by now, that there was no way that she was going to ever find her son.

"What about my son? Is he here, too?"

Grifford seemed to give some look of disgust.

"Hell doesn't take care of little innocents like your boy. He's probably crying up there in Heaven, wondering where his mother is. Unfortunate, it is, that he will never see you."

There was a pause, before he gave Justice a key. She looked at it quietly, confusion reaching her eyes.

"And this is...?"

"The key to Cassandra's cage." The Ringmaster uttered. "Meridianna is starting to prove herself to be too mellow with handling Cassandra. I think you can do a better job than her, though we'll see in time. Do you think you can prove yourself to be better than her?"

Justice glanced at Cassandra, who had just gotten slapped in the face by Meridianna once more, before the blonde turned and walked away. Cassandra put a hand to his face, rage in his eyes, though it was obvious that he was restraining himself. This could be a chance for Justice-her chance to at least evade burning in some fiery pit.

And why not take the opportunity? She would be able to inflict whatever she wanted on the Beast for every time he had beaten her in some stupid drinking game or had annoyed her. And the amount of those times...that was certainly a large debt he owed her.

Justice smirked, gripping the key firmly in her hand.

"I do."


Author note: The thing about Gladstone and Justice being drinking buddies is a headcanon thing of mine, because they both have these manipulative abilities, though Gladstone's powers would affect only individuals and Justice can hypnotize groups of people at a time with her powers. I keep thinking they could have gotten along with each other pretty well...too bad we never see the two interact with each other in the manga... (sigh)