You groaned awake to another pounding headache. You couldn't stay here any longer. Opening your eyes, you jumped from your rest as you saw a girl looming over you. "Whoa! Hey, who you?"

The girl smiled at you, stepping back to giving you some space. "Hey, roomie! Wanna get breakfast with me?" The girl who you assumed to be your roommate greeted you. You sat up as she invited you again. "Umm, sure, sorry who are you?

She offered her hand out for you to shake, "Nice to meet ya! I'm Claire." She introduced herself. You took her hand as you stepped off your bed. "Wonder."

"Oh, you're using stage name? Well, then I'm Dawn." You gave her a small smile, walking to the chest where you put your costume. "I didn't see you at night."

"Oh, I just came back last night. I went on a short trip downtown." She replied. You looked back at her in question. Did they allow that?

You changed into a casual outfit as then both of you made your way out to the ration tent. As you reached the food tent, you saw Sebastian and the other circus members, talking around. Ciel was also there, he seemed troubled by something.

"What happened?" You asked, walking towards Sebastian. He looked at you, "Smile here has peeled these potatoes to bits," answering you as he showed the bucket full of peeled potatoes.

You hummed, picking up one of the potatoes, "So? We can still make food out of it," you said, throwing the potato to Sebastian which he caught. You put a hand to your hip, "Why don't you just show them your cooking skill?" You exaggerated the last word.

You saw the corner of his lips rising, "Indeed. Perhaps you could help me make some fish and chips." He suggested which made everyone cheered happily at the news. "Okay, sure." You replied, rolling up your sleeves as you picked the bucket full of potatoes.

Half an hour later, you finished up your cooking as began giving it to the members, one by one. "This looks delicious! Hey, Wonder! Come sit with me!" Dawn tweeted happily as you gave her the dish. You turned your head to her, humming to her words. "Oh, Black might still need me,"

"Nonsense, I can manage. You need fuel, go ahead," Sebastian quickly said to you. Turning to him, you saw him holding out a plate of dish for you, putting up a smile. You smiled sweetly back at him, gladly taking the plate from his hands. "Thanks,"

Before you could say anything else, Dawn pulled you over. She dragged you to her table which you soon took a seat. "So, I heard you, Black and Smile came together?" Dawn asked up. You glanced at her, watching her munching on her food. "Yeah, just the three of us. How did you know?"

"Oh, Joker told me." She replied one which you raised your brow at. "Joker? You're pretty close to him, huh?" You sat straight, putting your hands on the table. You had a feeling that she was hiding something. "Joker? Yes! I came along with him, actually. But I was never close with the others."

You dropped your spoon at that, staring at her. "Wait. So you're... You've been with him before this circus was built?" Dawn nodded at you, grabbing a mug to drink. You pondered for a while, matching the dots in your head. If she was with the crew, she might have something about the case.

You nodded along with her, starting to devour your food. "So, when you went downtown last night, does it have something to do with the circus?"

Dawn nodded at your words again, "Yeah, I went to our ringmaster. Joker wanted to..." She suddenly stopped, as if she misspoke, "to... Tell him how far are we going." She smiled, ending her words. You opened your mouth, about to speak another word, but she pointed her fork at you. "Now, come on, Wonder! Quit talking, eat!" She said, glancing at your untouched dish. You chuckled lightly, "Right... Sorry."

She had to be involved with the case.

>>>

"So, what's your act?" Dawn picked up a few hoops for her act. You pursed your lips, grabbing a few knives. "This. Probably gonna work with Dagger again."

"Cool! Good luck!" She chimed before she patted some flour on her hand and grabbed a rope. She gave you a two-fingered salute before you watched her flew into the air by her rope.

You let out a tired sigh, finally parting with the girl. "I see you made a friend there." Sebastian made an appearance beside you all of a sudden, causing you to jump. "Hey! Stop that!" You barked, stomping your feet. He put a hand to his lips, stifling a chuckle.

You pouted, looking down on your blades before aiming them to the target board. "She's nice. But I think she's involved in this case." You said, throwing a knife to the target, dead centre. Sebastian lowered his head to me, "Really?"

"We've never seen her since today. She said she went to their 'ringmaster' the other day." You said, air quoting the word. You hit another target before looking up to him. "Not only that, she's with the stars of the circus, said she was with them before the circus was held. Plus, she liked kind of nervous when she brought it up."

Sebastian hummed, narrowing his brows. "That's some good intel. Let's see the young master." You both turned to the exit, where you saw Ciel walking out with his roommate, Freckles. You heard them talking about cleaning themselves up.

"Oh, no. Him? Showering by himself?" You threw your head back, hands to your waist. You knew he couldn't do anything without his butler. "Come on. I'm sure he can't do it by himself. You get him a new pair of clothing, I'll get him a towel." You ordered Sebastian, pulling his arm. He led you to Ciel's tent. He gathered fresh clothes while you searched for a towel. You handed him the towel, walking to the shower place.

Before you reached there, you saw Ciel running it off the shower, drenched in water. "Told you. He would get in some trouble." You whispered to Sebastian. He nodded at you as you followed him behind to get to Ciel.

You spotted Ciel, sitting down, hugging his knees and shivering as he leaned onto a wheel of a wagon. You snatched the towel from Sebastian's hands, walking over him. "You have a death wish or something? Please, this is your first time drenched under a cold night." You draped the white towel on his shoulders, knowing how it felt like being soaked in cold air.

Ciel curled his fingers, "I've had enough with this! I can't live like this!" He yelled. You groaned loudly, teaching him a lesson. "You've been here only for two days and you're giving up already? How do you think I survived in the slums? You're still lucky you're fed and slept under a roof!" You snapped, not caring about your tone. You were sick of seeing him wailing just for something like this. This was your living before he recruited you. Looking at him, a noble, getting tired of your previous lifestyle, disgusted you.

"Who am I kidding? I thought a noble like you could outstand things as such." You scoffed, crossing your arms. Ciel peeked at you, lifting his head a little. He looked at you in shock, as if your words impacted him. Sebastian breathed out of his nose beside you, stepping forward. "She has a point. Other than that, Young master. Seeing you giving up of this sort... is nothing like you at all." He continued. Ciel let out a breath, getting on his knees. "You're right." He clenched the towel and stood up. He swung the towel over his shoulder and raised his head.

"Indeed. I, the head of the Phantomhive family, living like this... no, it ought to be like me at all. We'll get this over with." He finished his short speech. You put up a small smirk at his sudden determination. Ciel, although he was a noble, the way he led, standing up against his enemies, you admired that, with him being only twelve. Now that was the person you respect at.

"As you wish."

"Now let's not waste time and start forming our plan." Ciel indicated, drying his hair. You need as the three of you formed a little circle. "In any case, the first-stringers, we only need to investigate their tents. I thought maybe I could aim to be the first-stringers, but..." You stopped talking when Ciel spoke up.

"What's wrong with that? You've caught their attention so far," He asked. You cleared your throat, during your lips. "It's not that easy. I need time. And I don't think we have time." You sighed. Sebastian started to help Ciel with his clothing as you worked the gears of your brain.

"I cannot go out since that grim reaper is blocking me," Sebastian said, fastening Ciel's eye patch. "I can't move freely from that Freckles," Ciel added. You snapped your fingers, agreeing on him. "That is also my second problem. I can't get out of Dawn either. But that doesn't mean she's useless."

"What are you saying?" Ciel questioned. "She's involved. That's my number one hunch." You put your hands together, putting them up to your lips. "I'll see if I can rat her out."

"Great, in the meantime, we'll find our way in. Force if we have to."

>>>

You checked the time, almost a few hours before your performance. You glanced at the tent, spotting the other two. You scanned the room, no one else was here, well... Except for Willam. But it didn't matter since you were here for the same reason. You marched your way to them, grabbing their attention.

"Neither Freckles nor Dawn is here. We can steal our time." You said.

"Good, We'll settle this now!" Ciel jerked up from his seat. You trailed them as they made their way out until you felt a hand yanking your arm.

Turning around, you saw William, "Hey! What the hell, William?!"

"I need to talk to you."

"Not the time!" You pushed his face. He spoke again, this time, his question froze you.

"Why are you here when you hate Circus?"

Your breath was caught in your throat. You swivelled back to him slowly. "How do you know that?!" You gritted your teeth, walking over to him. "Have you forgotten? That one day when Sutcliff and I hang out with you. He mentioned something linked with circus and you said you disliked the topic."

You stared at him, dumbfounded. You remembered that day as he mentioned it. Hanging your head low, you let out a tired sigh. "Right, I told you to change the subject."

William sighed, putting a hand to your shoulder as you looked at him. "Listen, Y/n. I may not be that good of a friend of yours but I can tell by your face now, Circus disturbs you in some way. I'm just concerned about you." He exclaimed. You looked away, biting the bottom of your lip.

"I appreciate your concern, William. Thank you. But I'll leave the second we solve this case." You put up a small smile. He put away his hand from you, grabbing his scythe. "Anyway, I need to go." You waved at him and went to follow the guys outside.

Ciel asked what took you so long as you approached them, "Sorry, William was stalling me." You said. Ciel nodded at you, he then repeated his plan he was talking about. "So now Sebastian has 5 minutes to capture all the snake and then do his performance. He will come back at 7:50 and free the snakes." He paused, scanning the schedule of the performance once more. "I have about ten minutes to spare before your next performance. Y/n luckily finished all her performance for the day. We can dig something out in the meantime. Let's go!" Ciel explained. You nodded, acknowledging his words.

Sebastian was forced to perform since Wendy sprained her ankle. He had to replace Peter and perform in a few minutes then encore at 8:00. Then after him, it was Ciel's performance.

You reached Snake's tent and Sebastian started to tie the snakes. Poor them. You split up with Sebastian as he went to do his performance, as you and Ciel went to search for the tents.

You calculated the time, it was almost Ciel's performance. "Y/n, did you find anything?" Ciel asked quietly as you checked the drawer of Dagger's. "No, not yet. We're dealing with time trouble here. Sebastian should finish anytime soon. It's almost your cue. You can go, I got this." You said, looking at him. He nodded at you as he quickly left the tent.

You left his tent after finding no other lead and went to Beast's, which was right across his. You peeked in, seeing if anyone was there. Coast was clear, you stepped in silently. You started looking at her chest, her bed and her drawers. But when you moved to her vanity desk, you found a portrait of young children, with a grown man behind them. You guessed they were the first-tier members. Zooming onto the picture, you saw them standing in front of a sign that said 'Workhouse'

"Oh, they're totally up to something," you whispered, putting back the picture. At that moment, you heard heavy footsteps walking by the tent. You widened your eyes, you thought you were caught. But when you turned around, Sebastian grabbed your waist, pushing you with him. He opened a chest, hiding you underneath him. "Hey! What's with-"

Sebastian put a hand over your mouth, shutting your words, "Shh!" He peeked outside the chest, throwing Beast's costume. You peeked out through the small space, Beast was inside the tent, her outfit seemed to be ruined. You figured Sebastian rushed here to hide you from her.

((Sorry, for my fellow claustrophobic readers!))

It was fine. But you didn't quite like the position you were in. Your cheeks burned up when you saw how your position was. Sebastian's hand was behind your back, the other propping the chest's cover. His face was inched from yours as his body was flushed against you for how small the space was. His hips were between your legs while your legs were wrapped around his waist. Sebastian took notice of your flushed form. He smirked, turning his head to you. "What's with the face, kitten? We've been like this before," he spoke in his husky tone. A bit of lust lingered on his voice that caused your face to grow redder. You turned away, not being able to say any word. You felt his breath on your neck as he nipped the skin under your jaw.

You couldn't help but let out a small mewl, pressing a hand to his chest. "Sebastian... Ti-timing!" You mumbled, enough for him to let out a chuckle. He pecked your lips shortly before opening the chest, now that the coast was clear. You breathed shakily as Sebastian got out the chest, leaving your flustered form. He chuckled at you, "Sorry, love. I couldn't help it." before he helped you out.

Though you were annoyed at his attempt, you somehow enjoyed it. You hissed at him, "You're unbelievable." You walked to the vanity where you were before. "I found nothing but this." You showed the portrait you saw earlier to Sebastian. "See the man? I think he's a noble and a philanthropist, see the 'workhouse' sign." You pointed out the little details. Sebastian hummed at your words.

"That's surely something. Let's go back before they find us."