Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pomni poked her head out into the hallway, searching for any of the floating drones in the air. They’d learned pretty quickly that the drones would alert Cerca and Manuel to their exact location and they’d have mere seconds to hide. Lucky for her, there were no drones in sight. She looked over her shoulder, beckoning that the coast was clear. Gangle rushed down the hall, hovering behind her as she held onto Daisy tightly. The kit was being quiet, the pacifier in her mouth offering her something to distract her mind with, she was too young to understand what was going on.

Pomni crept slowly, stepping carefully and meticulously. She kept her guard up, not wanting to get caught. They’d been lucky enough to slip away when the fight broke out, they weren’t willing to risk it now. Pomni approached her and Jax’s room slowly, opening the door cautiously before quickly ushering Gangle and Daisy in. She slipped in behind them, pulling the door closed as quietly as humanly possible. The door latched with a soft click and Pomni stood up tall, reaching on her tip toes as she locked the door, deadbolting it.

She turned around, watching Gangle set Daisy down on her and Jax’s bed, the bunny reaching her paws out to indicate she wanted to be picked back up. Gangle rubbed her ribbon arms awkwardly, turning to look at Pomni. Pomni sighed heavily, walking up to the bed, looking over her shoulder shortly at the door. She didn’t feel safe, though she couldn’t blame herself. She was pretty sure Caine had gotten hurt pretty badly, she’d never seen him touch the floor, let alone tremble like that.

“I hope the others are okay,” Gangle whispered, avoiding eye contact, “I didn’t see Ragatha before I grabbed Daisy and–”

Pomni quickly hugged Gangle, squeezing her tightly. Gangle squeaked in reaction, slowly hugging her back. Pomni wasn’t breathing at first before she inhaled sharply, choking out sobs as she held onto Gangle. Everything had gone so wrong so fast. She thought they were safe here, in the circus, under Caine’s guidance. Nothing was real, nothing was what they had been told it was. Whether Caine was aware that this would happen or not, Pomni couldn’t tell.

“Thank you for grabbing her.” Pomni pulled away, climbing onto the bed beside her daughter, the baby crawling into her lap. Pomni wrapped her arms around Daisy slowly, kissing the top of her head and she forced herself to hold her gently instead of squeezing her tightly to keep her safe. Gangle sat down beside her, looking off awkwardly as she hesitated. She wanted to say something but she couldn’t think of anything that would help. Her mind was filled with questioning if Ragatha was okay, if the ragdoll could make it out. She hadn’t seen Ragatha before she’d been able to get away, but she’d heard her yelling, begging for Manuel to be reasonable. Gangle shuddered at the thought.

“I’m just happy we’re okay,” Gangle whispered, “I’m sorry we couldn’t get more of the others.”

Pomni nodded, “It’s alright, really. We need to figure out a plan, get to the others, and we can go from there.”

“Right,” Gangle agreed, “So… what are we supposed to do?”

“Uhm, I guess we should try to learn about her?” Pomni shrugged, “Cerca, I mean. She seems to be… important… So I guess we should try to go digging, see if we can find anything about her, you know? Maybe try Caine’s offices?”

“Caine keeps a lot of stuff stashed in rooms around the place too,” Gangle whispered meekly, “Zooble found a handful of things when we were still dating. They said that Caine seems to do it as a safety measure. I’m sure we can find something in one of the rooms he doesn’t acknowledge.”

“That sounds very Caine,” Pomni laughed, wiping some of the extra tears away as she played with her daughter’s ears gently, “One issue, how are we supposed to sneak around all of those drones? I mean, they’re everywhere, trying to find us, no doubt.”

Gangle shrugged. She wasn’t quite sure. Pomni was right, the drones were everywhere, just waiting for them to step in the wrong place. Even if they managed to hide every time the drones were near in the halls, there were large open spaces they’d have to dart across and hope that they didn’t get caught. It was risky, possibly too risky for them to brave alone. They’d need another person to be bait. Gangle hated the thought of using someone as bait, but there was no other way for them to get to these rooms without getting caught.

“What if we start with something else,” Gangle offered, slipping off the bed as she walked over to Jax’s desk, “Jax has a map of the whole circus around here somewhere. Maybe we can mark rooms we want to check first, and make an actual plan.”

“Why do you know that?” Pomni asked as she watched Gangle pull out the rolled up map, carrying it over to the bed with a marker in her hand. She unfurled it slowly, placing one of her legs on the corner to prevent it from rolling back up as she stared at all the rooms with the labels written crudely in Jax’s handwriting.

“We dated, remember?” Gangle looked up at Pomni, “I know this room better than Zooble’s.”

“Right,” Pomni murmured, “Where do we start?”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Caine, are you alright?” Kinger muttered, sliding up beside the ringmaster as the door to the room they were in slammed shut, locking immediately. 

Caine didn’t sit up, they didn’t speak or reassure Kinger that they were alright. She just coughed and sputtered, wrapping her arms around herself as she lay on the floor in a fetal position. Kinger touched them gently, petting them in an attempt to try to comfort them. The room was horrendously bright, stinging Kinger’s eyes, causing his head to pound.

“Caine, I think we’re locked in a room of some kind,” Kinger murmured, sighing as he realized that the ringmaster wasn’t going to respond, “I’m sorry…”

Caine whimpered softly, clamping their jaws shut as they leaned forward, tightening her grip on her tuxedo jacket. Her code was going to fry, she could feel the start of her processing systems failing. Her firewalls were falling, it was only a matter of time before she was going to be gone. She felt around for Kinger, opening her jaws slightly as she scanned the room. She reached out for him slowly, pulling herself towards him. She curled up in his lap, gripping onto him tightly.

Kinger hesitated, patting his head gently, unsure of the circumstances. He could sense that there was something he was missing… forgetting. He hushed Caine’s trembling form as he looked around. If it wasn’t so bright in here he might’ve been able to recall what had happened. However, the bright lights were causing his head to spin, any thoughts were fleeting.

“Well,” Kinger sighed, slumping as he petted Caine gently, “I think if we stick together, we might just be okay.”

Caine didn’t reply, simply holding onto Kinger, not letting go. The chess piece sighed, looking down at him delicately as he tried to consider possible solutions. However any possible solutions that came to mind had the tendency to be zapped right back out. Even when he closed his eyes tightly, he couldn’t manage. He resigned, sighing as he slumped over, looking down at where Caine had been impaled by the carousel pole. He was bleeding. Not ideal, not something Kinger knew that Caine could do either. Kinger started to pull Caine’s hand away from the wound so he could try and examine it but the ringmaster whimpered in response, tightening his hand on his side in protest.

“Caine, can I please see your wound–” Kinger started but Caine shook his head, crunching in on himself. Kinger just wanted to see the damage, but he guessed that wasn’t going to be an option in the near future, not while the ringmaster was in so much pain, or at the very least conscious. He might be able to convince Caine to put his processing systems into sleep mode, just for long enough so that Kinger could see what he was working with. From what he could tell it was just them in the room.

Kinger looked around. When did he get in this bright room again–?

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Struggling is futile,” Manuel muttered, looking over at Jax as he fought against the ropes that tied him to a beam between Ragatha and Zooble. Jax’s eyes narrowed at the mannequin. He’d tied them up and he wanted to be playful, make snide remarks. Jax looked over at Ragatha who was messing with her ropes a little more subtly and then over at Zooble who had seemingly given up.

“Do you think this will really change the past?” Jax asked, coughing, “I mean, even if you locked us away, we still thought you were an AI. We still didn’t view you as human.”

“Trying to get under my skin?” Manuel looked over at Jax, “Do you think your marriage to Pomni will make up for the fact that Ribbit abstracted?”

Jax stopped struggling, looking up at Manuel as his pupils shrunk quickly. Jax looked away, his ears dropping forward as he tried to shove the memories aside. He’d done so good burying them over the past and a half. Pomni was so good at distracting him from the memories and then Manuel came in and stirred them back up. Jax hated him. Always had, likely always would.

“That’s not fair, Manuel,” Ragatha muttered, “Please, just let us go. You don’t have to do this.”

“Don’t I?” Manuel crossed his arms, taking a few steps back as he looked away, “I’m just as human as all of you. Why did you let him cast me aside, Ragatha?”

“We didn’t know, Manuel!” Ragatha replied quickly, “I swear, if I had known–”

“You had one job!” Manuel snapped, “Tell Caine that I was a human. And you %@$!-ed it up. Just like you ^@$# everything else up.”

Ragatha’s eye twinkled before the light extinguished, being replaced quickly with tears. She looked away, feeling the guilt swell up in her throat. She hadn’t intended to hurt anyone, especially not Manuel. He was right, it had been her job to tell Caine that he was a human and she couldn’t even do that. She couldn’t tell the difference between a human and an AI. She had been convinced that he was an AI and… and that was her fault.

“Do you feel big and powerful now?” Zooble asked, looking up at Manuel, “Or do you want someone to suck your %@$#? Because if you hit the lights I think we can figure out an arrangement.”

“Aren’t you a peach?” Manuel shook his head, “I see what Caine sees in you. Defiant, mouthy, someone to top his submissive state.”

Zooble glared at him, watching as Manuel turned his back to the group. Her, Zooble corrected in their mind, Someone to top her submissive state. Zooble looked over at Jax and Ragatha, both of them detached from the situation, likely dissociating. Zooble figured it was good, they had the upperhand of not knowing Manuel while the others did. Manuel didn’t have any dirt on them. How could he when they’d never even seen his stupid mannequin face.

“What’s your guys' grand plan?” Zooble tilted their head, “Take over the circus and then what? Kill us? Torment us?”

Manuel hummed loudly, ignoring their words as he did something in the air. He was seemingly staring off, pressing options and typing. Likely something that connected him and Cerca in a way that no one else could see. Not by natural means, at least. If it wasn’t so foreboding, Zooble might just be impressed. However, the lack of ambiance, the deafening silence as he typed in the air, all of it contributed to him just looking like an absolute idiot. Zooble chortled to themself at the thought before they blinked back to reality. Tied up. Unable to run or escape, stuck here not knowing anything about the others. As far as Zooble was aware, Caine was currently bleeding out, possibly alone, possibly with Cerca playing with her like a piece of meat.

Zooble didn’t want to consider it.

Manuel scanned over the camera hooked up to the drones, knowing full well the others couldn’t see it. He could hear Ragatha and Zooble whispering, but he was busy tuning them out. Nothing they said could possibly trigger a domino effect. The ropes were coded to stay tied as tightly as possible, no matter who was wearing them. The only way to get them untied was an outside force, usually himself or Cerca. However, code was always unstable when Cerca was doing something as intense as this. There was always a chance of something phasing, but that’s why he was there, to keep a close eye on them.

“Are you going to kill us?” Jax asked, “Because I’d like to say goodbye to my daughter if you are.”

“We can’t die in here,” Manuel muttered, pausing, looking over at him, “Where’s the anomaly?”

“You mean Daisy?” Ragatha questioned, “We don’t… know? We thought you had her.”

Manuel stared at them, “Right… yes… we have it…”

“Oh my God,” Jax laughed, hanging his head as his pupils began to scramble, “You don’t know where Daisy is! You lost my daughter! ARE YOU ^@%#-ING SERIOUS?!”

“Jax, maybe we should–” Ragatha started but Jax didn’t let her finish.

“What?! Calm down?!” Jax spat, looking over at her, “That’s my baby, Ragatha,” he looked up at Manuel, “That is my baby. You lost her?! YOU LOST MY KID–”

Jax shook his head, hyperventilating as he looked down at his feet. He pulled aggressively against the ropes to no avail and Zooble shot him a look of concern. They looked over him, at Ragatha who was looking at Jax concerned as the purple bunny’s shoulders heaved aggressively as he tugged his shoulders forward in a lame attempt to break free. Zooble and Ragatha both looked up at Manuel who had turned away, pacing softly as he mumbled to himself.

“Jax?” Ragatha muttered and Jax looked over at her, allowing her to continue, “We’ll find her, okay? She can’t have gotten far.”

“Unless she’s on foot with Pomni and Gangle,” Zooble added and Jax looked over at them sharply, “Jax, that’s a good thing. That means she’s with adults. Moreover, that means she’s with her mom. Pomni is a good mom, okay? She’s going to take good care of Daisy.”

“Right, right,” Jax muttered, looking down at the checkered tiled floor, “Pomni… God… I love her…”

Manuel looked over his shoulder at Jax, noticing the way the rabbit relaxed. If Manuel had eyes he would’ve blinked in confusion. The Jax he’d known before? No one could calm him down like that. Had Pomni had that effect? Or was it the baby? Manuel sighed, looking at his wooden hands. He stared at his ball joints. Why hadn’t he been given that chance? The chance of having friends in here? Why had he been abandoned, left alone, to roam the halls… Wasn’t he good enough?

“What are you going to do with us?” Ragatha asked and Manuel looked at her quickly.

“I’m going to go talk to Cerca… don’t get any smart ideas,” Manuel muttered as he started to walk away.

Once he disappeared from view, Jax looked at Ragatha and Zooble, “Wanna get a smart idea?”

Chapter Text

“Can I get a better look at your wound?” Kinger pleaded with Caine for what had to be the twentieth time at this point. Caine was pretty much sold on the concept that they were on the brink of death and that no matter what Kinger did in any attempt to save them it was going to end with them in pain, suffering. They didn’t see a point in letting Kinger see a wound that they knew wasn’t just leaking their code, but was likely infected.

Caine turned their shoulder away, looking at the floor. They drew in a shuddering breath, shying away when Kinger tried to touch them. Physical touch was a no-go for them. Not right now. Unless Kinger magically turned into Zooble, Caine wanted nothing to do with any of the humans touching them. Seeing that it was just Caine and Kinger in this brightly lit space that Cerca had thrown them in, it seemed like Caine was going to have to stay touch starved until they could find a way out. Or, worst case scenario, they succumbed to their wounds.

Kinger was on the brink of absolute insanity. Maybe it was the light, maybe it was his creation sitting with his back to the chess piece, ignoring any attempts that Kinger made to reach out. Kinger had lost so much to this circus, this failed research project they had done and for what? To be vanquished by the singular code piece they literally could not fix. Soya was gone. The only other person who knew this code like the back of their hand, and Kinger had seen her crumpled up form on her bed the night she’d abstracted. Kinger knew enough code to keep this Circus running, but not anything like Soya had known when she was still with them.

Kinger sat down beside Caine, not speaking. The two sat in silence, staring off at the white noise they were trapped in. Not the void, Caine knew that for certain. But definitely not anywhere in the circus. If Caine had to place her bets, she’d probably say they were hidden somewhere in the crevices of the code of the circus. If the pair wandered around for long enough, they might run into failed AI that had been tucked away, or even Sora. Caine’s muscles tightened at the thought of Sora, the unstable Organic AI running wild in the abyss they were trapped in. Sora was so unstable Caine had locked him behind so many firewalls, but anything was fair game now that Cerca was in charge.

“There might be an exit if we can move from here,” Kinger spoke gently, slowly, like he was trying to maintain his grasp on the faltering reality around him, “Do you think you can move?”

Caine looked up at Kinger, hesitating before she nodded slowly. The chess piece stood up, extending a hand for her to take and Caine accepted, the blood on her glove rubbing off on Kinger’s hand. Kinger looked down at it, then back up at Caine where he could catch a glimpse of the abdominal wound on the ringmaster. It was a bloody mess, something straight out of a true crime show, but Caine wrapped his arms around his torso, trying not to let Kinger see it. Caine didn’t want him to see them like this. So weak and dejected.

Kinger looks down at his gloves, eyes tracing what would soon become blood stains. It had been a while since someone actually bled in the Circus, to this degree. Sure, there was some bloodshed when Jax was pregnant, as much was to be expected, but once Daisy was born, the filter was set back in place and any blood of any sort was turned into glitter, confetti, or both. However, the blood pouring out of Caine’s wound wasn’t filtered. It wasn’t covered in a mosaic or censored. It was just there, oozing, dripping, staining. It was there to taunt Kinger, remind him of his failures in life. Worst of all, it was there to hold him accountable for abandoning Caine when he’d needed Kinger most.

“I’m not myself right now,” Kinger apologized as they traversed the menial landscape, nothing in their sight, nothing in their view, “The light is messing with my head again… It’s a struggle to stay coherent, I have to fight for it.”

Caine looked up at Kinger, their eyes softening slightly. Kinger’s battle with the light was something he’d been working through for years and to no one’s surprise, it tended to be a losing one. Caine did their best to accommodate when they could, but otherwise there wasn’t much she could do for the older man. Especially now. In the abyss, although could you really call something so blindingly bright an abyss?

Caine stopped walking, wrapping her arms tighter around herself as she doubled over in pain. The blood spurted out against her arms, seeping and oozing down as she took a long inhale, her pupils scrambling intensely. Pain. The human phenomenon that she’d been blessed with being an Organic AI herself. Her knees buckled slightly as Kinger grabbed onto her, holding her and she swallowed hard, breathing shallowly. The pain would pass, she had to remind herself, but even when it did pass, her muscles were weak, her code was glitching. She was one foot in the grave and Kinger didn’t even know it.

“Oh! Caine! When did you get here?” Kinger tilted his head and Caine looked up at him as he continued, “When did I get here? Where is here?”

Caine drew a shaky breath. They’d lost him, he was lost to the light. Caine muttered a censored swear under their breath before they allowed themself to fall to the ground. They weren’t going to fight to keep walking if Kinger didn’t know where they were. Kinger looked around before following Caine’s cue, sitting down beside the ringmaster as she whimpered softly as the pain tore through her, ripping her code into sharp fragments.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Pomni’s eyes flitted to the clone of Bubble that was floating through the air. She doesn’t know how to feel knowing that the drones that Cerca decided to use were all copies of preexisting avatar skins in the game. Pomni saw a couple of gloinks on her and Gangle’s way to the side halls. She didn’t know how to feel about any of it, to her they’re just random avatars, but she didn’t know what everyone else had experienced while trapped in this code.

Gangle wrapped a ribbon hand around Pomni’s wrist and Pomni looked up at her and the masked character tried to put a smile on her tragedy mask. Daisy reached her arms up towards her mom and Pomni slid her hands under the kit’s arms, hoisting her up so rest on her mother’s hip. Pomni leaned out around the corner again, motioning to the drone with her head and Gangle squeaked softly. She knew that the bathhouse was somewhere they never touched and would be a good start to finding something to shut Cerca down.

“How much do you know about sneaking past drones?” Pomni asked with a twinge of hope lacing her voice. Gangle shrugged, she knew literally nothing. All she knew was getting caught was bad and not getting caught was good.

“About as much as I know about not breaking my comedy mask,” Gangle whispered weakly. She shrunk, expecting Pomni to get mad at her but she didn’t. Pomni just sighed, biting her lip slowly as she tried to formulate a plan. Daisy reached up for Pomni’s hat and Pomni pulled her daughter’s paw away before hesitating.

“What if we distract them?” Pomni looked over at Gangle swiftly, startling her and causing her to fall backwards. Gangle sat up quickly, running a hand over her porcelain mask before she looked back over at Pomni.

“How do you suggest we do that?” Gangle mumbled, looking away out of embarrassment. Pomni pulled off her hat, showing it to Gangle before she tossed it out into the middle of the floor. The Bubble clone stopped, turning a bright red before it dove after the hat. Pomni clutched onto Daisy tightly, using her free hand to pull Gangle behind her quickly. Gangle didn’t have time to react, her ribbons unraveling as Pomni pulled her to the door quickly, opening it and slipping inside.

Inside, the bath house was steaming. It was weirdly calm for the Circus as a whole. Pomni fixed her grip on Daisy as she ventured deeper into the room. It was certainly a bath house, with a steaming pool in the center that, on any other day, might’ve been enticing to Pomni. Daisy fussed slightly and Pomni hushed her, rocking the babe back and forth as she tried to keep her calm. It didn’t look like there were any drones in here, so they were safe. They could relax for a moment. Pomni wiped some of the artificial sweat off her forehead, looking over at Gangle.

Gangle looked around for something that looked out of place. Just one mismatched tile, a weirdly angled plant. Something, anything. Gangle walked around, running her hand across the wall in an attempt to find where Caine stashed any of the information about Cerca. Gangle rubbed her arm slowly, walking the perimeter of the pool as her eyes traced everything slowly. She didn’t even notice the steam pricking at her ribbons, causing them to curl slightly.

“Why did you and Jax break up?” Pomni asked, looking up at Gangle. Gangle blinked, looking across the pool at Pomni. Pomni was staring at her but Gangle couldn’t make out the expression on her face. Was it a genuine question? Or was she just trying to make conversation?
“He wasn’t in the relationship,” Gangle explained, “I guess he wanted me to be her instead of me, so–”

“Ribbit?” Pomni interrupted.

“....Yeah,” Gangle muttered, “How’d you hear that name?”

“Jax mentioned it,” Pomni replied, “When he was in labor, he was talking about her.”

Gangle’s eyes narrowed slightly, “What did he tell you?”

“Just the name,” Pomni explained, “And that it was his fault she abstracted. That’s about as far as he got before another set of contractions and then it was pointless to try and continue the conversation.”

Gangle hesitated, her and Jax never even mentioned Ribbit after it happened. Not even in passing. It was just… They didn’t talk about it. It was off limits. Then he’s with Pomni for eight months and he confides in her a little bit? Gangle was there when it happened and she couldn’t even think about bringing it up before Jax shut it down. But Pomni? Gangle wasn’t jealous, of course. She didn’t get jealous of others, besides, she was so over Jax it was almost funny. She had Ragatha now, but… Why hadn’t he ever opened up like this with her? Why was he always so… shut down around her? Was it something she did? Was she a bad girlfriend?

Gangle’s eyes caught on the way the water shimmered. It was fake. The way the water texture was shifting under the lights. It was absolutely, no doubt, fake. Gangle looked up at Pomni who was hushing Daisy, her back to Gangle. She knelt at the edge of the pool, placing her hand against the surface, the water sucking her in with a loud popping noise.

Pomni whipped around in time to watch the water slurp up the last of Gangle’s left leg. Pomni’s eyes expanded, looking at Daisy, then the water. She didn’t want to put Daisy in a dangerous position, but she couldn’t just leave Gangle alone. Pomni looked at her daughter, smiling gently before she slowly dipped her toe into the water, breaking the surface tension. The water pulled her down quickly and Pomni yelled as she tightened her grip on her daughter, making sure Daisy came down with her. The water bubbled and gurgled where it had finished absorbing the jester and the bunny before slowly leveling out, leaving mere ripples in their wake.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Hey, genius,” Zooble looked over at Jax, “You figured out how to get us free yet?”

“Zooble,” Ragatha whispered, “Be nice to him, he’s having a hard time.”

“I’m fine!” Jax shot a look over at Ragatha, “How come no one treats me like normal anymore?! You all treat me like I have to be tip toed around and treated like a kid! I’m almost twenty-three, Ragatha, I’m not a kid–”

Ragatha shrunk slightly, looking away. She just wanted everyone to stay as calm as possible right now, she hadn’t intended to upset anyone. Her hands were tied so tightly behind the beam that she couldn’t wipe the tears rolling down her cheeks. How had she gotten herself into this situation? She was a good girl for her mother, if she’d just locked up those stupid horses correctly. Ragatha bit her lip tightly, trying to tune the other two out.

“Maybe you can do something with your claws,” Zooble offered, “Cut through your ropes then untie me and Ragatha.”

Jax muttered something under his breath that Zooble didn’t quite catch. Zooble looked over at him, tilting their head slowly. Jax was averting his own gaze, from the way he was hiding his face, Zooble might assume he was blushing. Zooble scoffed, rolling their eyes before they spoke again, “What’d you say?”

“I said I don’t have claws,” Jax spat, looking over at Zooble, his eyes narrowing before they fell to the floor, “Caine… he declawed me, okay?”

Zooble hesitated. Normally they’d laugh at him, but this time they didn’t. They actually felt bad. They looked away slowly, not wanting to react. They were unaware that Caine had… They supposed it made sense that she would, especially with what happened after Ribbit, but… Zooble looked back over at Jax who was staring at them, pupils large, grinning from ear to ear.

“But that’s just Caine for ya, can’t handle elite power!” Jax laughed, his ears twitching unnaturally, “Got any sharp pieces, Zoobie?”

Zooble shrugged, looking down at their arms before up at Jax, “I dunno, maybe my antenna, but I don’t know if it’s sharp enough to cut through this %@$#, you know?”

“Why don’t you just detach one of your limbs?” Ragatha asked, worming her way back into the conversation, “You can still control them as long as they’re designated as an active limb, right?”

“Uh… yeah,” Zooble confirmed, looking over at Ragatha, “How… How did you know that? No one but me and Caine know how my pieces work–”

“I don’t…. I don’t know,” Ragatha whispered, looking away.

Wooden footsteps echoed through the hall as the trio looked up. It was Manuel on his way back from wherever he’d gone. Luckily Zooble hadn’t attempted to detach any limbs, otherwise they’d all be absolutely screwed. Manuel hesitates for a moment, looking at everyone before he steps in front of them, his arms clicking rhythmically as he looks at the group.

“I– I uh, half expected you guys to have escaped by now,” Manuel mumbled awkwardly, seemingly stumbling over his words, “It’s good that you didn’t, though, Cerca has big plans for you all.”

“Oh boy, he’s actually going to tell us this time,” Jax smarmed, “Oh please, puppet boy, do tell us how you plan to use us for the diviiine plan of our Lord and Savior…. Cerca. What the ^@%# even is she?”

“She’s the original ringmaster of the circus before her code fried and she became a bunch of unstable ones and zeros,” Ragatha and Manuel stated factually in perfect unison.

Jax looked over at Zooble and then Manuel and Ragatha, then back at Zooble, “Is it just me or is it a little creepy that they just did that?”

“Oh yeah, no, that’s &@%#-ing weird.” Zooble nodded.

Ragatha’s eyes narrowed as Manuel looked in her direction before he turned his head away. Ragatha bit the inside of her cheek. She knew so much yet remembered so little and even when fragments returned to her, they were fleeting. She knew she couldn’t rectify her past decisions but that wasn’t something she should’ve been punished for. She did what she thought was right and she was wrong. She was only human, afterall. Humans make mistakes all the time.

“Cerca is going to use you for your intended purposes,” Manuel explained, “Remember, you’re all still just characters. What was it you told Pomni, Jax? You’re all just…”

“Archetypes,” Jax murmured, his blood running cold at the prospect of being used as forced entertainment. For who? Cerca?

“Cerca’s putting the finishing touches on the code for the circus tent as we speak,” Manuel explained, “That’s why I was trying to find the others, Pomni and Gangle. And the abomination, as it were. They’re part of the plan too, of course.”

“You’re deranged,” Zooble grumbled, glaring up at Manuel.

“Spit on my face and see how I like it,” Manuel hissed back, “I’m just doing what you all signed up for. You remember putting on the headsets, marking I agree on the Terms of Service. Well, this is what you agreed to. Caine just didn’t have the balls to actually go through with it. Cerca does.”

“So you’re just going to treat us like toys? Like a show to watch?” Zooble asked, “That’s %@#$-ed up.”

“What do you know about &@%#-ed up? You tried to kill Jax’s kid,” Manuel shook his head, pacing, “We all signed the agreement, we’re all bound to it.”

Zooble’s heart jumped to their throat as they looked over at Jax whose mouth had completely absorbed into his face. He stared at Manuel and Zooble blinked. There was no way Manuel knew. Furthermore, there was no way that Manuel knew and proceeded to share that information with Jax and Ragatha. Zooble had a lapse in judgement, it happened. No one got hurt, that’s what mattered. Jax and Daisy were fine.

“Just, if you have any idea where the remaining circus members might be, it would be greatly appreciated,” Manuel explained, “It’s dangerous for them to be roaming around during an update, especially one of this caliber.”

“If you knew, you really think we’d tell you, hotshot?” Jax asked, looking up at Manuel, “You’re nothing but blocks and joints. Why don’t you go back to the art school you came from?”

“Jax!” Ragatha looked over at him.

“No need to stop him, Ragatha,” Manuel crossed his arms, spitting at Jax’s feet, “The bunny can speak all he likes.”

“I’m a rabbit,” Jax hissed.

“And Ragatha’s a porcelain doll,” Manuel cooed, “I guess we can all tell lies in here, big boy.”

Chapter Text

Gangle’s ribbons slowly reformed into her body as she wearily lifted her head. The room around her was shimmering and glowing turquoise. Her head was pounding and she could hear what sounded like a baby crying. Gangle’s eyes took a moment to readjust to the lighting but when they did, she could see Pomni a few feet away, rocking Daisy, trying to hush her. Nothing about the room felt inherently dangerous, but Gangle had spent enough time in the circus to know not to trust anything. If something could go wrong, it would. She’d learned that from mountains of experience formed over years of adventures.

Pomni tried desperately to get Daisy to quiet down, rocking the baby back and forth as she hushed her. She didn’t know if there were drones or if Cerca could hear them. Pomni’s chest tightened as she stared at her daughter. She never knew how to get her to calm down, only Jax was good at that. Jax could get her to calm down, to sleep, to eat. Pomni was always just there and here she was with no one to help her. She was just standing there, tears trailing through her child’s fur, absolutely unable to stop the baby from making too much noise.

“Can I try?” Gangle asked meekly, extending her arms to take Daisy. Pomni was hesitant at first before she nodded, raising the crying baby a bit, watching as Gangle’s ribbons wrapped around her slowly. Gangle rocked back and forth, humming to the kit as she did. The song was just the opening to one of her favorite animes but Daisy seemed to like it, the crying ceasing to whimpers and whines before stopping altogether. Daisy’s eyes stared up at Gangle and Gangle smiled softly, even if she was a little unnerved by the way the baby seemed to be entranced by her.

“You’re good at that,” Pomni hummed, crossing her arms as she looked away, “I feel like everyone’s good at being a mom but me.”

“I just have experience with kids,” Gangle explained, tilting her head ever so slightly, “I think you’re a great mom, Pomni. You’re doing your best.”

“Apparently that’s not good enough,” Pomni whispered, her crossed arms starting to wrap around her torso as she held herself gently, “Everyone can take care of Daisy but me, I just… I smother her. I’m over protective. I stay up at night counting the hazards in the circus, counting the possible ways she could– And… And you and Ragatha and Kinger and, ^#%$, even Jax– All of you are so… natural with her. Why does mine feel so artificial?”

“Maybe you’re over thinking it,” Gangle suggests and Pomni turns to look at her as she continues, “Baby’s are simple creatures. They kind of just need to feel safe, like Daisy does right now. Panicking when trying to calm her down, that’s only going to upset her more. Maybe you need to try to calm yourself down first, then take care of her.”

Pomni inhaled deeply, “How am I supposed to make her feel safe here when I don’t?”

Gangle didn’t have a good answer to that. She just looked down at Daisy, then back up at Pomni as the light shifted unnaturally to a darker hue. Pomni muttered an apology, taking Daisy before setting her on the floor, allowing the girl to crawl as the two adults looked for anything that might contain information. Gangle let her eyes trace the mosaic walls that had squids along them. Gangle wasn’t sure what the purpose of this room had been, if it had a purpose besides storing information, but something about it made her feel oddly at home. Like she was safe from the outside world. Maybe these pocket rooms were safe from Cerca as well.

Pomni ran her hand across the tiled wall, hoping that maybe something would be knocked loose, something that could tell them where to go from here. At first she didn’t think she’d found anything until she caught sight of the vent at the corner of the wall pressing against the ceiling. Pomni hesitated before she approached it, craning her neck to look at it better. The vent cover was hanging limp from a screw, dangling there to taunt the two of them. The vent looked like it was big enough for her or Gangle to crawl through if need be and as Pomni was stealing a look at Gangle, she could see the masked character forming a similar thought.

“Give me a boost?” Pomni asked Gangle.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Gangle squeaked, trying to hide her face out of embarrassment.

“Well, no,” Pomni shrugged, “But do we really have another choice?”

“I…. I guess not,” Gangle whispered, kneeling as she put her hands down to let Pomni step on them. Pomni stepped onto her hands carefully, Gangle letting out a whimper in response as she hoisted Pomni up towards the vent. Pomni grabbed the vent, nodding to let Gangle know she was good, before she scrambled, climbing into the vent.

Gangle watched Pomni’s feet disappear into the vent as she ventured deeper. It made Gangle a little worried, a little nervous. She looked down at Daisy who was chewing on one of her ribbon legs. Gangle scooped the baby up, Daisy fussing slightly before she rested her head on Gangle’s shoulder, purring softly as her tail wiggled gently.

Pomni poked her head back out a few moments later. She showed Gangle a glitching manilla folder, “There’s a ton of files up here. This one’s about you. I’m going to go find more.”

Pomni dropped the file to the ground and Gangle looked at it. Pomni disappeared back into the vents and Gangle grabbed the file with her name written in cursive handwriting. She opened it slowly, skimming the first page. It was just facts about her, what she looked like, how she behaved, who she liked and didn’t like. She shifted her hold on Daisy as she flipped through the pages of her file, eyes skimming the sections that stated “Viable” compared to the overwhelming number of sections that had “Not viable” written in bold letters. She looked up at the vent, then back down at the folder. What were Cerca’s plans with all of them?

What were Caine’s?

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Come on, Zooble,” Jax muttered, “Can’t you go any faster?”

“Yeah, I’m trying, okay?” Zooble hissed as they squirmed, trying to detach the arm Caine had gifted them. They were still getting used to feeling of how it bent and they had a little difficulty detaching it more than their other limbs. Their other limbs felt like a placeholder, but this one felt like it was meant to be a part of them from the start. Detaching it was difficult as the bond between their torso and their arm was so strong.

“Well try a little harder,” Jax rolled his eyes, “Some of us have people we care about.”

Zooble froze, their metallic eye twitching, “I have someone I care about too, Jax. Just because my love looks different than yours–”

“Yeah? Because mine is real,” Jax huffed, “Caine is AI. He can’t feel.”

Zooble blinked, “So is Daisy.”

Jax looked over at Zooble, his ear twitching. It wasn’t the same. They knew it wasn’t the same. Caine was… He was Caine. Love wasn’t in his vocabulary. But Daisy was a baby, she was precious, she was him and Pomni in a small form. The fact that Zooble would even consider comparing the two. Daisy wasn’t Caine, she would never be Caine. Zooble didn’t know what they were talking about, they were grasping at straws here.

“How about we all just take a breath?” Ragatha offered in that sickeningly sweet tone she always had. Jax hated that tone, it wormed its way under his skin and wriggled uncomfortably. He wasn’t entirely sure what Gangle saw in the rag doll.

“Whatever,” Jax sighs, leaning his head back and to the side, “I’m going to sleep, wake me up when Zooble is untied.”

“What if we just leave you for Cerca’s viewing pleasure?” Zooble scoffed,

Jax shrugged, “Up to you, Zoobie.”

Silence fell over the group as Zooble turned back to trying to detach their arm. They needed to hit the exact right angle, for the limb to detach naturally without them pulling it out of the socket. They twisted their body, trying to pull their arm free enough to have it pop out. However, no angle they tried was getting them where they needed and it was starting to get on Zooble’s nerves as they leaned forward slightly, grumbling under their breath as they struggled with it.

Ragatha could hear the subtle shifts and murmurs of Zooble attempting and failing to get free from their ropes. She wished she could help them, or anyone. She pulled her knees to her chest, staring off as she cursed herself. Why couldn’t she be a more useful avatar? Instead of this… a rag doll who could only get pulled every which way. She couldn’t help herself, let alone the others in the circus. Why was she even still here after all this time?

“It would be easier if I could get Manuel to rip this arm out of me,” Zooble thumped their head against the beam they were tied to, “Even if he threw it across the room, I could bring it back here.”

“Wouldn’t that mean… making him mad?” Ragatha asked.

“Do you have a better idea?” Zooble shot back, hesitating, “I’m sorry, I’m just worried about Caine. When Cerca stabbed them, I just… I can’t lose them and I don’t know if they’re okay.”

“I’m sure Caine is fine,” Ragatha tried to reassure them, “He’s a tough cookie, he’s probably figuring out a way to get us out of this situation as we speak!”

“You don’t know Caine like I do,” Zooble said, before whispering to themself, “She’s not stable on her own.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“You know, the band on worms is actually closer to their posterior than their head?” Kinger hummed as he petted Caine gently, “Queenie taught me that. Have I mentioned she was really into entomology? And then Soya… Oh, my Soya… She taught me all about fish!”

Caine whimpered, burying their face into Kinger as the pain verberated through their avatar. They just wanted to die at this point. They’d given up on everything except for death. Kinger hushing them only helped slightly. Their systems were failing and with no proper way to reset them, they were doomed. Caine just really wanted Zooble. She wanted to hold onto her partner tightly, never letting them go. She wanted to be with someone who made her feel safe.

Kinger’s fingers trailed slowly across Caine’s gums, careful to stop before touching his teeth. His gums were sensitive, but his teeth were sensory overload. Especially in such a vulnerable position like this. Kinger hummed an old tune to the ring master, rubbing his back gently as they sat together. Kinger was trying to fight against the light, but there wasn’t much he could do. Any time he got too close to remembering what was going on, he had flashes of eyes and then he was back to an empty mindset, holding Caine in his lap.

“I know you’re probably scared right now,” Kinger muttered, sighing, “I’m sorry… This is my fault. Dobby had warned us all about the consequences of separating you two and Soya and I didn’t listen. We… None of this would’ve happened…”

Caine didn’t care about the whole separation, they were rather detached from the entire scenario. Sure they had been a part of Cerca at some point, but they’d never felt the same bond that Cerca did with Caine. Or Lucian. Caine was still unsure why Cerca insisted on using their prototype name, not that they really cared. Caine opened their teeth slowly, looking over at Kinger as his eyes flashed neon before they softened and he ran a thumb along Caine’s bottom gums.

“You’re so beautiful, my child,” Kinger murmured, “The others would be so proud of how far you’ve come.”

Caine blinked slowly at Kinger before she slowly clamped her teeth shut again. Kinger went back to his humming as she lay there in his arms. There were no real options here, they couldn’t get out. Cerca had locked them in a pocket in the code. Someone would have to intentionally fish into the pocket dimension to actually get a hold of them. And no one knew where to look, let alone how to get them out of there. That’s why Cerca locked them up like this. Lock them away where no one can find them because who would look between strings of code?

Chapter Text

Manuel stared at the trio from a distance. He was used to lurking in the shadows, watching from the silent corners. It was so strange to him now, actually interacting with them. He still didn’t feel natural doing it. Something about it almost always felt wrong and unnatural to him. Maybe it was because of the scenario. None of them actually wanted to talk to him or be around him. He was like a persistent cough that just won’t leave. He didn’t blame the group for getting mad whenever he was around. He couldn’t understand being human anymore. Not like how he used to. He’d been rejected, abandoned for so many years. He didn’t know how to behave like a normal human being, how to talk to people.

Manuel walked forward, approaching the group, his gaze trailing from Ragatha to Jax to Zooble, before automatically landing back on Ragatha, hesitating on her. She hadn’t changed a day and he felt like he was so weathered, aged from what she’d done to him. And she probably didn’t even remember him all that well. Sure she could feign recognition, that’s what she was good at. Making herself feel like she was important to whoever she was talking to. At the end of the day, she’d still be the same girl that cursed him to an existence of life with the AI.

“Do you serve some purpose besides just watching us?” Zooble smarmed, leaning forward slightly as they tilted their head. Manuel stared back at them.

“Do you serve a purpose besides a physical relationship with Caine?” Manuel asked, not waiting for a response before he continued, “Any more dumb questions? Ragatha? Jax?”

“He’s asleep,” Ragatha says softly.

Jax was slumped forward, snoring softly as he twitched gently. Manuel stared at the purple bunny, watching curiously. He was tied up, kidnapped, separated from his wife and daughter. And he was sleeping. Manuel couldn’t tell if he was impressed by Jax’s lack of care towards the situation or if he was horridly appalled. Zooble was worried sick, their anxiety was rolling off of them in choking waves. Ragatha was upset, remorseful, dissociating, Manuel could tell by the hollowness of her responses. And Jax was asleep.

“We’ll be moving you soon,” Manuel explained, “Getting you ready for the avatar redesigns. Don’t worry, it’ll be…. Relatively painless.”

“Do you get one too? Or does Cerca not like you enough for that?” Zooble asked, their eyes narrowing.

“I’m her assistant ring master,” Manuel scoffed before looking at Ragatha, “And I know how to do my role properly. Maybe you can learn from watching someone else, Ragatha.”

Ragatha’s eye teared up quickly as her nose burned. She couldn’t believe he hated her so much for a simple mistake, an obvious mistake. She’d done her best, she always did her best. Ragatha hung her head, coughing before she cried. Manuel’s rigid features softened temporarily at the fight of the tears rolling down her cheek. Manuel took a half step back, crossing his arms before he turned his head away quickly, tapping his hand against it aggressively, muttering to himself about humanity. Zooble looked at Ragatha crying, then at Manuel as he paced back and forth, clearly not happy with himself and his actions. An in. That’s what Zooble needed. Some way to make him angry enough to rip off their limbs. That’s all they needed.

“Did you just make her cry?” Zooble’s eyes narrowed as their antenna twitched, “Seriously?”

Manuel stopped walking, whipping his head to look at Zooble. No, they weren’t about to speak on this, were they? He was just doing his job. It wasn’t his fault that she was weak, that all the other humans in here were weak. He was strong, why couldn’t they be strong too? He was more than any of them combined. He was stronger than them, he had to be strong. And she cracked at the slightest pressure from something she did? Something she did that hurt him, that damaged him forever. He was already broken when he came into this ring of Hell. She broke him more, she let him be abandoned. That’s not his fault.

“Are you that evil?” Zooble asked, “You made her cry because your feelings got hurt?”

“Shut up,” Manuel whispered.

“You can’t regulate your own emotions so what? You make sweet people cry?” Zooble rolled their eyes, “I can see why you’re the bad guy now.”

“SHUT UP,” Manuel shouted, “YOU WEREN’T THERE, YOU DON’T GET IT!!”

“Show me what it felt like, big boy,” Zooble taunted, despite the artificial heart pumping loudly in their chest as Manuel approached, towering over them. Manuel stared down at Zooble, glaring harshly, though to them it just looked like he was standing over them blankly. Zooble closed their eyes, bracing for whatever Manuel was about to do, but he backed away, crossing his arms.

Zooble opened their eyes again slowly, looking up at him. He walked away, flopping down to the floor as he stared off. Zooble hesitated, looking down at their ropes, then up at Manuel. He had his knees pulled to his chest as he rested his arms on his knees. He rested his head on his arms, not moving. For a moment, Zooble almost forgot he was a person. He just sat there and even Ragatha’s tears dried up as they waited for him to do or say anything.

“Caine stores unused NPCs in the walls of the circus,” Manuel explained, “You think I’m joking, but I was literally living in the walls. I could… I could hear everything. I was there when Ribbit abstracted, when Kaufmo… I heard everything. I heard you guys having fun, having good times. I just wanted to be a part of something. I was forced to live among the unintelligent AI, having the same twelve conversations over and over. Isolation is… treacherous.”

Manuel looked over at Zooble slowly before continuing, “Cerca found me and I finally found someone who understood me. She promised if we worked together, she’d make sure I never felt alone again. I can’t go back to that. I can’t be isolated again.”

No one answered. They just sat in silence. Zooble didn’t know what to think, much less what to say. They looked over at Ragatha who was tearing up again. Zooble looked back at Manuel, churning thoughts as they tried to form the right response.

“You don’t have to be alone,” Ragatha muttered, “We can be here with you, you don’t have to keep that contract with Cerca.”

Manuel’s neck clicked mechanically as he looked over at her, “You don’t know how it is, Ragatha. You start to lose grip on reality, you start to question if you ever even existed in the first place. You melt into the background of your own life, every day feels like a rerun of a really bad show. How long until you guys toss me out? One mistake? Two? Do you even consider me to be human or do you have to cut me to see if I bleed like you?”

Manuel stood up slowly, his back turned to the trio. He didn’t want to humor this conversation any longer, it was one sided. He was talking but they weren’t listening. He could tell; no one listened, why would they start now. Years of isolation taught him to keep everything to himself, since no one cares to listen to your struggles even when you yell about them.

“I’m going to stick with the person who hasn’t betrayed me,” Manuel murmured, “I want to stay with someone who I trust, who sees me as a human. You all have each other, I have no one but Cerca. So just… Please, let me do this.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Gangle looked at all the files surrounding them as she grabbed a few of them. Everyone. There were files for everyone and the ones that were abstracted had a large ‘VOID’ stamped on them. They didn’t have the time to go through every single one of them, but from what Gangle could see of the few they had, the documentation had been happening since everyone entered the Circus. Kinger and the others. Kinger’s file was the thickest with coded messages that neither Gangle nor Pomni could make out. Gangle figured it was something Caine had coded in case someone found the files, but now it seemed important that they decode everything.

Pomni started to stack the files together, keeping an eye on Daisy as she chewed on one of the files. Gangle started to make her own stack, sighing as she hunched over, a tear falling naturally, splashing against the cracked tile before respawning on her mask, just below her eye. Pomni grabbed one of Gangle’s ribbon hands, squeezing it gently. Gangle looked over at her, smiling ever so gently. Something about this whole situation, while uneasy, felt like it could be over soon, if they just stuck together, they could do this.

“There’s just one issue,” Pomni muttered, looking back at the stacks of files as her hand slipped out of Gangle’s, “We have nowhere to put all these files and there’s no way we could carry them all without dropping them.”

Gangle paused before her eyes lit up, “Yes there is!”

Pomni watched as Gangle picked up the stack in front of her, condensing it slightly before she gave it a quick look over. Gangle moved her arm with the stack behind the spiraling ribbon that was her torso. Pomni didn’t know if it was the light or her mind playing tricks on her, but the files seemed to pop out of existence. Pomni’s eyes widened before she jogged forward, looking behind Gangle. Pomni circled the masked character, scanning her up and down, with no trace of the files in sight. She took a step back, staring at Gangle curiously.

“Where did they go?” Pomni murmured, tilting her head.

“Pocket dimension, I think,” Gangle replied, “Jax showed me it, you have one too. We all do.”

Pomni looked over her shoulder at her back before spinning around. She spun a few times before stopping herself, her pupils spiralling. She shook her head and her pupils returned to normal. Pomni rubbed her neck. A pocket dimension. Like a… Like a cartoon character. She looked at her hands. Sometimes she forgot that’s what she was. Not human, but an animated shell of what she used to be. She was still coming to terms with it.

“Here,” Gangle handed Pomni a file, “Try it.”

Pomni looked at the file, then up at Gangle. She tucked her hand behind her back before pulling it back in front of her. The file was still in her hand. Did hers not work or something? She looked up at Gangle, tilting her head as she waited for further instruction.

“Not everyone’s is behind their back,” Gangle explained, “Mine and Zooble’s are. But Jax’s is his overall pocket and Kinger reaches into his robe. So maybe it’s something else for you?”

Pomni crossed her arms before she realized, “It’s probably my hat.”

“That…. Makes sense,” Gangle stumbled over her words, “But you used it to distract the drone…. Hmm. That’s okay, I can carry them for now, it’s limitless storage, I think Zooble has a couch in theirs.”

“That’s… why?” Pomni tilted her head, watching as Gangle grabbed the other stack of files.

“I dunno,” Gangle shrugged, “Probably the same reason why Jax has an entire mannequin NPC in his. Sometimes you get bored, just collect things because.”

Pomni hesitated as Gangle stowed the next stack away, “An entire NPC?”

“Yeah,” Gangle murmured, “I think Caine’s still looking for her too.”

Pomni let out a small ‘huh’ before she walked up to Daisy, picking up the kit, looking over at Gangle as she finished tucking the last few files away. She smiled, turning as she nodded to Pomni, indicating that she was ready to leave to try to find more files. They hadn’t been able to dig up much of anything on Cerca, and Pomni was both a little relieved and a little disappointed about that. Caine had given them barely any information before everything went down and within that, what he said was barely coherent.

Gangle walked hesitantly toward the exit door, not entirely sure where it would spit them out. She just hoped that no drones would be there when they opened the door. Gangle’s ribbon hand wrapped around the handle as she twisted it gently, pushing the door open ever so slowly, as if any sudden moves would alert Cerca to their exact location. Gangle peaked out, seeing the empty hall. She looked over at Pomni before she stepped out slowly, holding the door open. She watched Pomni walk out before she walked out after the jester.

“Do you know where in the Circus we are?” Pomni looked over at Gangle as the door snapped shut behind them, disappearing into the wall. Gangle wasn’t sure, but based on the sound of footsteps, someone was there. Gangle walked down the hall slowly and Pomni followed after her, allowing Gangle to lead the way.

“Not sure where we’re at,” Gangle whispered, “I just hope everyone else is safe.”

“I hope Jax is okay,” Pomni muttered, looking at Daisy in her arms, “I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

As the pair walked further, the footsteps got louder. It wasn’t a drone, the steps weren’t rhythmic enough for that. To Pomni, the clicking sounded familiar. Like the heels that were trailing down the halls of the circus months ago. She couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but she can tell that she knows who those footsteps belong to and it’s someone they can trust. So Pomni pushed forward, past Gangle, to try and find the source of the noise. Pomni jogged forward, stopping as she rounded the bend, letting out a breath of relief mixed with gratitude.

“Moon,” Pomni huffed, looking at the celestial being as she paced, “Gangle, come here, it’s just Moon.”

Gangle joined Pomni’s side briefly and Moon stopped pacing, looking over at the two. She sighed, slouching a bit as she crossed her arms. She was clearly stressed about the entire situation, but she seemed to be handling it as well as possible for her.

“I’m glad you two are fine,” her eyes caught on Daisy and she corrected herself, “You three.”

“Moon, what’s going on? Where’s Caine and the others?” Pomni asked, shifting her hold on Daisy.

“Caine, not entirely sure, darling,” Moon started, “As for the others, Sun was able to cut into some of Cerca’s security systems, they seem to be tied up with Manuel, literally speaking. Kinger was in his room, but we lost track of him. Need I remind you, humans are not our main concern.”

“Where’s Sun?” Gangle asked meekly, hiding behind her hands. Any semblance of the once confident Gangle from before was stripped away the second she stepped in front of Moon.

“Where do you think?” Moon spat, pointing to the room she was standing in front of, “Locked herself in, the psychotic freak. I’ve been trying to get her out for the past hour.”

“Cerca hasn’t gotten to you yet?” Pomni asked and Moon snapped her fingers at Pomni, a zipper replacing her lips, zipping up instantly.

“Keep your voice down,” Moon hushed her, “Cerca’s busy with the other AI we have in the circus. Luckily, Caine has an AI for almost everything in here, since his code can’t handle much outside of curating adventures for you, since he wasn’t designed.”

“So where are the others?” Pomni asked, her tone more controlled than before.

“The North Wing,” Moon replied, “But be careful, the drones are reskinned to look like people you know and trust. If you even suspect they’re not who they look like, book it to the nearest room, lock the door, and hide.”

“Thank you.” Pomni nodded, starting to leave. Moon grabbed her wrist, pulling her back before she got too far. The AI leaned down, her face inches from Pomni’s.

“Don’t let anyone near that baby, do you hear me?” Moon whispered, “That’s what Cerca wants more than anything. A fully organic AI that she can use. Don’t let her out of your sight, understand?”

Pomni swallowed hard, nodding, “I understand.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“You’re alright,” Kinger whispered to Caine as the ringmaster whimpered softly. Caine’s defenses had faltered enough to allow Kinger to look at his wound. Kinger was trying to figure how they were going to patch this up when his memories were still slipping. If he looked away for too long, he knew he’d forget what was happening and they’d have to start over. Kinger tried to wipe the blood out of his way, but the wound continued to ooze and it was practically pointless. Bodily injuries couldn’t kill Caine, but Cerca had shoved that pole deep enough into his abdomen to permanently damage his code, and if Kinger didn’t fix it soon, the rest of his code would wilt with him.

Caine didn’t care anymore, they didn’t even see a true purpose to fighting the pain, the agony. They were content to curl up and die, even if that meant the end of the circus. They’d spent so long fighting, so many months, years. They were tired. They were ready for rest. They wanted to rest their weary head and not have to lift it again. They were a lame horse that couldn’t go on any longer, they just needed a good bullet to the head.

“I think we’re between lines of code right now,” Kinger muttered as he started to search Caine’s wound for any signs of infection, “If I’m right, that means we’re constantly jumping between code. Which means, hopefully, one of those jumps will generate a door for us.”

Caine clamped her teeth shut, resting her head against Kinger as she listened to him talk like he used to before. Kinger would drone on and on about semantics when they were first training Caine’s code. He’d spend hours in her room telling her about the probability of each outcome of adventures. And Caine would listen. When she had a virus, when she was tired, when she had nothing better to do. Kinger would come into her room and read the code of the game as if it were a bedtime story. And every single time, Caine fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Caine liked that Kinger was falling back into this habit, holding her close and telling her about the fate of the circus. Even if it was a wee bit morbid, it still reminded her of simpler times. Although, she guessed times weren’t really all that simple.

As Caine began to drift off to sleep mode, Kinger took this opportunity to take a closer look at the wound. The pole had pierced through his stomach, but luckily hadn’t gone through the back, meaning most of his code was safe from the blow. Kinger didn’t want to pry too deep at risk of sending a jolt through Caine’s processing systems, so when he pulled back the torn dress shirt, he was careful to not apply too much pressure to the open wound. Kinger pulled the glove off his right hand slowly, setting it aside as he took his hand towards the wound. Without the glove getting in the way he could do more work. Kinger was able to feel the fraying of Caine’s artificial skin, the touch sending shock waves through the code for Kinger’s own avatar– which was exactly what he needed. Kinger wiped his hand off on his robe, disregarding the way it smeared against the velvet. They just needed to wait for an exit. Caine shivered slightly in his lap and Kinger hunched over, holding him tightly.

“I remember when you first separated from Cerca,” Kinger started, gently running his fingers along Caine’s gums, “Queenie told me we were crazy to think it would work and Soya and I sort of just shared one of those looks. Do you remember Soya? Sometimes I don’t… The way she looked… the way she spoke… it all kind of blurs together. Queenie, no, I remember her perfectly. Soya… Soya’s a faint oil painting in the back of my mind.”

Kinger chuckled to himself. Not out of amusement, not out of joy. Not even out of the reminiscing of his lost love. No. It was out of sorrow and despair. The kind of chuckle that can only hide so much. Luckily, Caine wasn’t listening, but Kinger could hear himself. He wouldn’t like to think of himself as pathetic, that’d be too embarrassing to consider. But he definitely wasn’t the man he used to be… He didn’t even know if he could consider himself a man anymore with how he’d turned out. He’d done things he definitely wasn’t proud of in here. Was he even human anymore?

Kinger looked up slowly, his eyes zoning back in on the brightness around them as he was pulled out of the bubble he was in. His eyes grew wide as he looked around the room, curious about how the light was able to illuminate from every corner yet leave no shadows. Like a moth drawn to a flame, he became complacent again, and any sense of consciousness, any inkling of thought left in his brain slowly leaked out and away. And the twitching neon of his eyes promptly returned, if only for a moment. For the dark could only combat the light so much.

Kinger looked down, noticing his glove on the floor, “Oh!” He scooped it up, sliding it on, “How’d you get down there?”

Kinger looked around, then realized the extra weight pressing against him. Caine. SOme of the memories flashed back into his mind, but otherwise, he was lost to the light. His pupils grew and shrank as his mind went empty. An idle mind invites the devil in, he was told, except there was no devil in this Digital Hell. There wasn’t even death. There was life, then life, then more life. There was nothing more to it, and nothing less. Kinger laughed at the thought, though he didn’t know why it was funny and the more he thought about it, the less funny and more depressing it became. Kinger looked down at Caine, asleep, his voice box mimicking the sounds of snores despite the fact the AI didn’t breathe.

“Caine,” Kinger started, leaning down, “I have a secret that you may want to hear.”

Of course, there was no response from the ringmaster, but Kinger wasn’t expecting one; nor did he bother to wait. Kinger instead looked up at the light again, his eyes lighting up as if he were smiling, though his lack of a mouth made it virtually impossible. He inhaled deeply, as if preparing for what to say next before he looked back down at Caine.

“I think I know how to end this all,” Kinger muttered, “And I think it has to do with Ragatha.”

Chapter Text

Jax jolted awake, his ears twitching as he looked around nervously. He realized where he was, his pupils growing in complacency before he hunched back over. He was still tied to the same beam, between Ragatha and Zooble. The only difference was that Manuel wasn’t there. Jax leaned his head back, lolling it to the side as he looked over at Zooble who was staring off, their pupils scrambling. Jax had noticed that they did that more lately. He thought Gangle had called it dissociation once, but he couldn’t be too sure. He didn’t know what would snap them out of it, usually he’d do some stupid joke, but that wasn’t really an option. Stealing a Zooble piece was literally impossible and any attempts at a joke might be seen as a threat.

“Did you guys know that Pomni squeaks,” Jax said, looking over at Ragatha who was staring at the floor.

“Uh… What?” Zooble muttered, snapping back to reality.

“Like a dog toy,” Jax elaborated, “If you squeeze her just right, she squeaks.”

“I can’t tell if that’s cute or horrifying information to have.” Ragatha looked up at him. Her yarn hair bounced slightly as she twisted her head. Jax had successfully pulled them out of their minds, a win for him. He smiled, proud of himself.

“You wanna know how I found out?” Jax’s grin widened to that unnatural length that implied he was plotting something. Zooble’s eyes narrowed. Jax sharing how he found out that his wife squeaks like a dog toy when squeezed just right? Did they really want to know the details of that? He already had the attention on himself at the moment.

“Not really?” Zooble started, but they couldn’t even finish their statement before Jax was inhaling aggressively.

“LET ME PAINT THE SCENE FOR YOU,” Jax interrupted loudly, “It’s a cold night in the circus, and I’m just looking for some companionship. Cold, dejected, worn out, I knock on the jester’s door. She opens it, with tired eyes, staring up at me. ‘Jax?’ she whispers. I swiftly take her in my arms and plant a kiss on her lips. ‘Pomni, I’ve come to whisk you away’ I exclaim– very romantically, I might add. I carry her to her bed and have hot, passionate–”

“Okay, if you’re going to lie, can you at least make it believable?” Zooble interrupted, shaking their head as they looked away.

“Gloinks forbid a man knows his wife,” Jax scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Not like you know anything about Caine. I mean he’s AI, what is there to know? Oh, he runs off of ones and zeros. He’s nothing but code, Zoobie. There’s no nuance to that, there’s no romance, no–”

“Caine can’t see in the dark,” Zooble cut him off quickly, “Not well, at least. So when they do their nightly patrols to make sure everything is okay, they use a flashlight. They used to at least, now we go together. Caine is afraid of the dark, because she can’t see what’s in it. So &@%# you. There’s more nuance to my relationship that you’ll ever know.”

“Slip of the tongue, Zoobie,” Jax smiled, “I think you called Caine a ‘she’ there.”

“I said what I said,” Zooble muttered. Jax didn’t have time to process it before Ragatha spoke up.

“Gangle’s mask wiggles when she’s excited,” Ragatha said, “It’s subtle, you’d have to be looking for it specifically, but it does. It’s… adorable. She rarely gets excited but when she does… I get giddy seeing that little wiggle.”

The three felt warmth, even if it was temporary. As if just the mere thought of their partners gave them a sense of unwavering strength. It would be endearing to most, from the outside looking in, it seemed like they all had it made. They were happy, surrounded by people that they loved. Sure, if you spend enough time with people, you’ll eventually make connections, fall in love, form deep hatreds. You love, you lose. But you always triumph in the end. And that’s what Manuel hated. He’d watched them triumph again and again. Jax lost Ribbit, and now he had Pomni. Ragatha lost Wriggle and now she had Gangle. Admittedly, Manuel had never met Wriggle, he knew of her through glitchy security footage and old letters that Caine had confiscated from Ragatha’s room to erase the worm’s existence. But everyone always found someone. But Manuel, because he wasn’t allowed to be one with the humans.

Manuel approached the three coldly, trying to keep his distance as he didn’t want to open up to them again, he didn’t want to let them see him weak. Moreover, he didn’t want to hear them speak fondly of their loved ones, at risk of forming too much compassion for them. That’s what had ended him up here in the first place, hadn’t it? An office worker that didn’t know how to draw the line, who didn’t know how to say no. He was putting his foot down now, he was not going to feel for these humans, even if he’d spent years watching them.

Manuel leaned against one of the large wooden blocks, looking at the three as they shared stories about their partners. He could feel the invisible strings tugging at his body gently and he realized he was holding his breath. He inhaled quickly and the strings disappeared, allowing Manuel to exhale. Jax looked up at the mannequin, a twinge of disgust written on his face. Manuel tilted his head, waiting to see if the bunny was going to say anything to him. Manuel wanted to be a part of the moment, but he kept his distance, until Zooble spoke up.

“Do you have anyone?” Zooble looked up at Manuel, their voice gentle, which was odd for the toybox character. Manuel wanted to laugh at the question, but he held himself back. He pushed himself away from the block, shrugging.

“I have Cerca,” Manuel explained, “And Cerca has me. We have each other, and that’s enough.”

“That’s kind of… sad,” Ragatha muttered, looking up at Manuel.

“And who set that system up, Ragatha?” Manuel whispered. He crossed his arms, keeping his head down as he walked around a bit aimlessly.

“So when are you going to move us?” Zooble asked, “When does the reset start?”

“It already has,” Manuel said, looking up at them, “The AI were targeted first, they’re easier to override. Jax, you’re next.”

Jax looked up, offended, “Why me?”

“Cerca’s already been in your code before,” Manuel scoffed, “You and Pomni are first.”

“What do you mean?” Jax’s eyes narrowed, “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t think that your and Pomni’s code mixed naturally, do you?” Manuel looked at him, tilting his head, “You seriously think that was all natural? Those eight months had zero intervention?”

Jax’s ears twitched, his heart thumping loudly and aggressively. Manuel was lying, he had to be. That was a joke, a lie. A cruel lie. Because if it wasn’t… the entire basis of his and Pomni’s relationship… that was crafted. Artificial. They weren’t ‘meant to be together’, they were shoved together in such an unnatural way. Jax’s breath quickened as he thought about it, spiralling slowly. It was a lie, it had to be a lie. Jax couldn’t let it be true.

“Do you seriously have zero empathy?” Zooble spat, “No, I’m dead %@$ right now. Do you really not care about anyone other than yourself?”

“I didn’t have anyone other than myself!” Manuel argued, “Besides, if he can’t handle the truth, that’s more of a reflection of him than it will ever be of me.”

“Manuel, we can be there for you,” Ragatha piped up, “We can be that support, that’s what we’re trying to tell you. But you have to stop being so defensive! Let us help you. Untie us.”

Manuel looked at Ragatha, his rigid form faltering, “I can’t trust you.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Pomni walked past one of the drones, holding Daisy’s face against her chest to shield her from anyone or anything seeing her. What Moon had said about letting anyone near Daisy had frightened her, to say the least. There was a line Pomni drew in the sand when it came to Daisy, she took her parenting very seriously, how else was she supposed to take it? When someone made vaguely concerning comments towards her daughter, of course she was going to be worried, she was going to do what it took to keep her baby safe.

Gangle slid behind an oversized vase, extending her arm as she wrapped it around Pomni’s, pulling the jester out of the view of the Martha Mildenhall drone that was passing by. Pomni looked at Gangle, smiling in thanks before she looked back over her shoulder at the drones. The North Wing was a while away, Gangle knew that much. None of them had really been there since Pomni arrived, even a little before that, since the North Wing was where the theater was. Kaufmo had often put on comedy acts while he was… around…. Even if they were to everyone’s dismay.

They needed a game plan on how to pass by these drones and still make it to the North Wing unscathed, they knew that much. Gangle wasn’t great at plans or taking the lead or anything in that general genre. Pomni seemed to be really good at making plans, telling people what, just being an all around leader. Gangle would be jealous of them if she wasn’t so… Gangle. She didn’t really have a phrase for it, or a way to describe it. Just this feeling that she’s so unlike everyone else in the circus it’s literally impossible for her to fit in. And, to some degree, she’s grown to accept that.

“What do you think about that?” Pomni asked, looking at Gangle as they waited for an answer. Gangle shrunk slightly, she was so buried in her mind, she hadn’t realized Pomni was talking to her. She touched the tips of her ribbon hands together awkwardly as her mask tinted red out of sheer embarrassment. This was why she was a follower and not a leader. She could hardly listen, let alone hand out proper instructions.

“S-sorry I wasn’t listening,” Gangle whispered and Pomni didn’t seem to get upset with her. Jax would’ve, so it was odd that she didn’t. Of course Gangle knew that Pomni and Jax weren’t the same person, Pomni liked Jax– she might even have loved him– but she wasn’t as cruel or nasty as he was. Gangle took a moment to realize; Pomni wasn’t Ribbit. Pomni was never going to be Ribbit. And that felt weird to her.

“I suggested that maybe there’s another pathway that would be out of Cerca’s reach,” Pomni offered, “Like how the pool got us from the bedrooms to the daycare side?”

“I guess it’s possible,” Gangle muttered, “The only issue is we don’t have a map telling us what all the pathways would be. I don’t think going into random rooms willy nilly is the most… thought out plan.”

“You’re right.” Pomni bit her lip slowly, looking down at the baby in her lap.

Gangle had to think on it for a moment. The issue wasn’t necessarily the distance, it was the obstacles. They needed to efficiently slip past these drones that were generally on the ground level with them. Sure, a few of them floated, but none of those were very high up and the ones that were tended to be stationary. Gangle’s eyes drifted up slowly toward the floating blocks and cubes. She thought for a moment, churning the possibilities over in her head as she stared at the trapeze swinging gently in the desolate draft.

“The catwalk,” Gangle whispered, standing up quickly, her eyes locked on the trapeze. Pomni panicked a bit, her heart jumping to her throat as she stood up, following after Gangle. Pomni kept looking around, making sure that no one was following them, none of the drones could see them as Gangle started to climb on one of the wooden blocks.

“The North Wing houses the theater,” Gangle explained, “When we weren’t using it for talent shows, Caine would send us on adventures! One of the biggest ones we did was extreme hide and seek. You stay hidden until you’re found, no questions asked, you’re glued to your spot.”

“Okay?” Pomni muttered, looking over at one of the drones, ready to bolt if need be, “What does that have to do with getting us to the North Wing.”

“I was hidden for a month up on the cat walk,” Gangle continued, gaging the distance to see if he arms would be able to extend to reach the low hanging trapeze, “Zooble’s the one that found me when they were dodging one of Caine’s adventures. The catwalk is sort of like a monorail, no matter what direction you walk in, no matter how far away you try to run, it always takes you back to the theater. It runs all through the circus, you just have to get there.”

Gangle leaned over the block, extending her arms down to pick up Pomni but the jester took a step back. They clutched tighter onto Daisy, turning away slightly to shield the baby from Gangle. Gangle didn’t take offense to this, although normally she would’ve, she just waited there with her arms hanging low, letting Pomni take her time.

“And this will get us to the North Wing?” Pomni asked and Gangle nodded quickly.

“I swear,” Gangle said. 

Pomni sighed, before they handed Daisy to Gangle. She better be right about this.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Bunny Boy,” Manuel tugged on Jax aggressively as he pulled the purple rabbit away from the other two, “Code’s updating, the least you can do is be in position for it.”

Jax pulled away a bit, but Manuel’s grip on him tightened. Jax tried anything to stop Manuel from dragging him to the theater, attempting and failing to dig his heels into the floor. He slid across the linoleum, trying to squirm out of his ropes. Manuel stopped walking right in front of the doors to the theater, pulling Jax down to his level.

“So, are you going to behave or do you have to stay tied up?” Manuel hissed.

Jax’s eyes narrowed at his wooden face. Jax tried to pull away from him a bit before he slowly leaned forward. Manuel hesitated, waiting for him to respond. Jax smiled, his gaze softening slightly before he sighed, shaking his head. Manuel expected him to speak, to say something. Instead, he was met with a glob of spit to the face as delivered by Jax. Jax grinned with pride as Manuel wiped the spit off of him, the cedar wood of his face smoking slightly with his anger.

“Wrong answer,” Manuel spat before he pulled Jax into the theater, the doors slamming loudly behind them.

Zooble looked over at Ragatha who was frozen. She wasn’t blinking, she wasn’t moving, and after a moment– when her hair started to stick up– Zooble realized she wasn’t breathing. She wasn’t there anymore. Ragatha had vacated from the present moment for the time being and Zooble was alone, watching Jax get dragged off to undergo an avatar update, whatever that meant to Manuel. Zooble slammed their head against the beam they were tied to. This was &@^#-ed up. Wherever Caine was, she needed to come fix this and fast.

“This is my fault,” Ragatha murmured without any emotion in her voice. She looked over at Zooble who was staring at the ceiling.

“Ragatha, that’s not–” Zooble started but she didn’t let them finish.

“You weren’t there, Zooble,” Ragatha shot back, “I was assistant ringmaster. It was my job to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be and I blew it! I– I don’t know why I did… I messed up so bad and I’ll never get that chance back… I &@%#-ed up Manuel’s only chance in the circus and now we’re all going to die.”

“We can’t die here,” Zooble whispered, though they knew it did nothing to alleviate the hurt she was feeling.

Ragatha shook her head, still feeling a mixture of empty and soulless as she stared off. She was angry at herself for even letting it happen. How had she let it slip by so easily? She was wallowing in her mistakes when the fabric of her skin tightened. Her button eye ached as she leaned forward, something was definitely wrong here. She could feel her heart rate picking up as the soft cotton beneath her skin started to shift and turn. She looked over at Zooble, her face mortified, but from the looks of it, Zooble was experiencing something similar as they turned to look at Ragatha.

“Stay calm,” Zooble whispered, “Ragatha, stay calm, please.”

“Zooble,” Ragatha started to panic, “We’re not us anymore. Our avatars–”

Ragatha watched Zooble as they glitched in and out, their eyes slowly shifting closer together on their face. Zooble didn’t have to listen to the rest of what Ragatha was saying, not that they could hear over the mechanical sounds of their sockets changing and shifting. Zooble and Ragatha’s heads both turned to look at the theater. If their avatars were starting to shift, starting to change. Then what did that mean for Jax? What did that mean for Pomni?

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Quit whining,” Manuel muttered as he pulled up the screens that only he could see. Jax was in the center of the stage with a spotlight on him as he hung his head. Manuel hummed to himself softly before he closed out his screens, looking back over at Jax. Something about the way he was crunched over… was that… Manuel shook the thoughts away, he wasn’t going to start caring now. He’d already signed his loyalty away to Cerca.

“I have given birth before,” Jax looked up at Manuel, his eyes narrowing, “And never have I wanted to die so badly.”

“You’ll be fine,” Manuel replied as he climbed the steps onto the stage, grabbing Jax’s ears as he pulled them back to get a better look at his face, “Look at that, now you have a nose.”

Manuel booped Jax’s twitching nose playfully before he let go of Jax’s ears, the rabbit lurching forward as a result. Manuel turned his back on Jax as he tried to ignore the obvious feeling of regret starting to pit in his stomach. Manuel could hear Jax’s teeth gritting, his small whimpers of pain and fright. But at least he wasn’t alone. At least the rabbit wasn’t here by himself, suffering without any support. Manuel looked down at his wooden hands before he wrapped his arms around his torso slowly, a cold chill rolling through his code.

Jax coughed as his ribs cracked beneath the rubber of his skin. He wanted to tear this stupid headset off, gouge his eyes out. Zooble had done that once, hadn’t they? Jax leaned forward, his spine cracking and popping as his new avatar uploaded. His once straight ears fell to a natural flop and his wedding band slowly slid off as his fingers fused into paws. He looked over at Manuel, his eyes burning with rage, but his look softened slightly as the panicked rise and fall of Manuel’s back.

“Are you– Ngh,” Jax flinched at the pain, “Are you okay?”

Manuel turned around, hyperventilating, his wood tarnished from the tears generating on his blank face, “I think I made a mistake. Jax, I think I messed up. Please–”

“I can’t exactly do anything, Manny,” Jax’s breathing heaved as he pulled his knees to his chest, resting his forehead against them, “What do you want me to do?”

“I– I don’t know,” Manuel panicked, “I think– I can’t– I can’t breathe– We need to stop this– Before we can’t– I can’t– I–”

“Okay, well first thing’s first, calm down,” Jax said, lifting his head as he looked over at Manuel, “Then come untie me.”

Manuel swallowed hard, nodding. How had he messed up so bad? If Jax was changing that meant he would eventually too. There was no escape from Cerca’s Carnival. Manuel was so stupid, how was he supposed to handle this? He’d bitten off more than he could chew with this one. He just wanted friends, he wanted people to care about him. He’d royally &@#^-ed up with this one.

Manuel walked up to Jax, his hands shaking aggressively as he struggled to untie the rabbit. Once he achieved his goal, the ropes naturally fell from around Jax and the purple bunny moved quickly despite the obvious pain. He grabbed Manuel’s arms, pulling the mannequin down to the floor. Jax hushed him softly and Manuel could feel Jax’s fur spiking and curving in unnatural ways. Jax let him fall into his arms, holding onto him tightly.

“We can fix this,” Jax muttered, “But you need to work with us, with me, with Ragatha.”

“I’m so sorry,” Manuel’s voice broke, “I thought this was the answer, I thought–”

“You thought wrong,” Jax whispered, “I’m not going to say I’m not pissed off, but we can figure something out. We’ll find Pomni, we’ll make this work, just please, work with me here–”

Manuel sucked a panicked breath in, looking at Jax as the rabbit’s fur coat darkened slowly. They were screwed, they were wholly and fundamentally screwed. And it was all his fault. And when they found out there was little that could be done now that they’d started changing, they were gonna like him even less than they already did.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Pomni was a few paces behind Gangle who was carrying Daisy. She’d started to feel weird when they climbed onto the catwalk and now she felt like her legs were too weak to keep going. Gangle had reassured her they were going to be okay, but Pomni didn’t know if she could trust that. She grabbed the rail of the catwalk, her head spinning as she looked up at Gangle who had stopped walking. Pomni sank slowly, her head pounding as she felt her skin tightening, heating up. She felt like she was going to be sick as she tried to keep it together.

Gangle looked over her shoulder slowly, noticing Pomni looked odd… different. Not the fact that she was sweating profusely as she tried to pull herself to her feet. Gangle slowly approached Pomni, crouching in front of them. With her free hand, Gangle ran her ribbon across Pomni’s cheek, her red blush smearing and mixing with the white. That wasn’t right in the slightest. And a small patch of skin between her eyes was starting to blister as the skin bubbled. Gangle looked over her shoulder, then back at Pomni.

“You’re not okay,” Gangle muttered, running her hand across Pomni’s forehead, “You have a fever.”

“I feel like my skin’s going to melt off,” Pomni coughed, something catching in her throat. She started to cough more, entering a fit as she choked on whatever was in her throat. She gagged on the item as it slowly crawled up her throat. Pomni reached into her mouth, slowly pulling the handkerchief out, but it was tied to another, then another. Pomni must’ve pulled out three feet of handkerchiefs before she was done and was gasping for air, tears streaming down her face, streaking through her makeup that was dripping and melting.

Gangle blinked before she quickly hugged Pomni tightly with her free arm, letting the jester cry into her shoulder. Something was wrong and neither of them knew what. Pomni’s face felt like it was on fire as she cried. Whatever Cerca was doing, they weren’t safe, no one was safe. Daisy must’ve sensed her mother’s distress as the young girl burst into tears, wailing loudly in Gangle’s arm. Pomni pulled away quickly, grabbing hold of her daughter as an instinctual response. She held onto her crying baby tightly, her own tears stopping as she hushed the babe.

“Shh, you’re okay,” Pomni whispered, rocking her back and forth, “Mmm, you’ll be okay.”

Pomni looked up at Gangle who was sitting right there with her. The two locked eyes, unsure of what to do next. Pomni wasn’t going to be in a position to move, she was clearly in too much pain, but Gangle wasn’t going to leave her here. Gangle looked down at the world below them, they weren’t that far away from the theater, she could tell. Gangle quickly cupped Pomni’s face, looking at her as her mask twitched slightly.

“Pomni,” Gangle started softly, “We’re almost there.”

“I can’t–” Pomni started to protest when Daisy’s cries got louder. Pomni held her tightly as she looked up at Gangle, fighting the tears in her eyes, “Gangle, I’m not–”

“DAISY?!” Pomni heard Jax yell and she froze, “IS THAT DAISY?!”

Pomni’s body shook gently, “J-JAX?!”

Chapter Text

Jax was staring up at the catwalk as he heard aggressive footsteps heading his way. Most of the pain had left his body at this point, his change having been fairly quick. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for a glimpse of whoever was up there. Manuel was a crumpled mess on the floor as Jax’s eyes narrowed when figures came into view. Pomni and Gangle, and the little blur of a purple six month old bunny. Jax rushed towards the back stage, but he didn’t even make it to the wings before Pomni was bounding down the stairs, bolting towards him.

Pomni jumped onto him, tackling the rabbit to the floor and Jax accepted the thud. Jax locked his legs around her, kissing her gently at first before it became deeper and more passionate. Pomni buried her face in his chest, crying softly as he held onto her tightly, not caring when Gangle walked up to join them. That is, of course, until he heard the soft coos of his daughter, then he perked up instantly. He let go of Pomni, grabbing Daisy from Gangle as he kissed her cheeks, crying gently as Pomni stood up slowly. He hugged the two of them tightly as he sat on his knees to be at Pomni’s height.

“I thought you were dead,” Pomni cried softly, gripping his fur in her hands. She pulled away, shoving him before yelling angrily, “DON’T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!!”

Jax shook off the shove, leaning forward, “Me? I THOUGHT I LOST MY GIRLS–”

“You stupid %@$#-ing idiot,” Pomni muttered through choked sobs, “I love you, dumb@%# bunny.”

Jax coughed out a laugh, nuzzling his wife quickly, kissing her forehead, “Don’t leave me again, PomPom.”

Pomni pulled away, finally noticing the difference in Jax’s appearance. She tilted her head, slightly confused as she looked up at Gangle who was keeping her distance, not looking at the pair. Pomni looked back at Jax who was nuzzling his daughter affectionately, squeezing her tightly as they rubbed noses together. Noses. Jax shouldn’t have a nose.

“Jax,” Pomni started, “Since when–”

“Cerca,” Jax interrupted, “She’s doing an overhaul on our avatars. Which is why I have floppy ears, a nose, paws instead of hands, and–”

“And a gap in your teeth?” Pomni interrupted.

“What?” Jax tilted his head, “Are you kidding me?”

Pomni stifled a giggle, “No, you have a gap in your teeth.”

Jax’s nose twitched, “...Well you have a clown nose, so we’re even.”

Pomni crossed her eyes, looking down at where the irritated spot on her face had been. Sure enough, a round, red clown nose on her face. She coughed a laugh, looking up at Jax. Cerca was overhauling their avatars… but why? Was that why she felt so… Pomni shook her head, looking away, Manuel catching her vision from the side of the stage. Pomni started towards him, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. But Jax grabbed her wrist, her skin burning in protest. He pulled her back, Pomni twirling around to face him.

“Pomni, don’t,” Jax muttered, “He feels horrible about this all, he just needs space. I’m scared he might abstract if we push him too hard.”

“Since when are you liberal about this kind of thing?” Pomni’s eyes narrowed slowly.

“We don’t need to lose any more people than we already have, love,” Jax replied before changing the subject, “Is Kinger with you two? Is he still on the catwalk?”

“No,” Gangle spoke up, “Moon said he’s with Caine and– Wait, is Ragatha here?”

Jax looked up at her, nodding, “Yeah, she’s through the doors, so is Zooble.”

Gangle bolted, rushing down the stairs. She ran through the auditorium before she grabbed the doors, ripping them open. She looked over at Ragatha. The ragdoll looked up at Gangle slowly, her eyes lighting up before she started to cry. Gangle rushed over, wrapping her arms around the doll, hushing her softly. Gangle kissed Ragatha softly as she wailed about how sorry she was. Gangle showered her with kisses, promising her everything would be okay.

Zooble watched Gangle untie Ragatha as swiftly as possible. They turned their head to look at the doors, their neck clicking mechanically as they did. They were waiting for Caine to burst through the doors, tell them everything was going to be okay. But the longer they waited with no sight of Caine, the more their eyes started to sting. Where was she? Was she going to make a grand entrance or something? Zooble’s breathing picked up with worry, she didn’t take this long when they were involved. She almost instantly showed up. Zooble looked over at Gangle and Ragatha. Ragatha got Gangle back, so where was their girlfriend? Where was Caine?

Zooble could feel the tears start to slip as they hung their head. Caine wasn’t there, she was probably dead. Zooble’s breathing became slightly erratic as their pupils scrambled, their vision blurry from the tears. They heard footsteps and someone talking, but they didn’t speak. Suddenly, the ropes tied around their torso loosened, falling off. Zooble scrambled to their feet, backing themself into a corner as they ran their hands over their head and body, trying to calm themself down. Pomni came into view, reaching out a hand slowly and gently.

“You’re okay,” Pomni whispered, “You’re safe.”

“Caine,” Zooble managed to sputter before it turned into choked sobs.

“Caine’s not here,” Pomni said softly, “But he’s with Kinger, so he’s probably safe.”

Zooble stopped, “She.”

“What?” Pomni muttered, tilting her head, “What are you–”

“She’s with Kinger,” Zooble interrupted, “She’s probably safe. Caine’s not– Caine’s not a man–”

Pomni looked over at Jax who gave his best version of a thumbs up he could with paws. Pomni looked back at Zooble, swallowing before nodding and continuing, “Okay, yes, she’s going to be okay. We’re all going to figure this out, okay?”

Zooble nodded, looking at the group of people staring at them, “You promise Caine’s okay?”

Pomni hesitated, “Cross my heart.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Kinger looked down at his hands as they shook. His pain had started a few hours before, but he didn’t want to think about it. He’d distanced himself from Caine’s figure, laying in a lump on the floor. Kinger wrung his hands nervously, looking around. His figure shook as he stared at the pool of blood that Caine was laying in. They were trapped here, weren’t they? An eternal doom for the both of them. There was nothing and no one to save them. Just their luck, right?

Caine coughed, turning over as she bled profusely. They didn’t know what they had done to scare Kinger so much but his adamancy to stay as far away as possible was disheartening to her. Caine pushed herself off the ground, her arms wobbling uncomfortably as she felt her wound pulsate unnaturally. Caine picked up her right hand, shaking aggressively as she pressed it against her wound. She winced and whimpered in pain, pulling her hand to her face to look at the blood.

Shit, Caine thought to themself as they looked at the dark liquid tainting their glove. They didn’t feel so hot. Caine’s head spun before they collapsed back on the floor. Their jaw cracked as they made impact, one of their teeth chipping. The chipped tooth sent a shockwave of pure pain through the ringmaster’s body. She cried out in pain, covering her face with her hands. How long were they going to be left here? Years? Until she went feral and finally attacked Kinger? Until Kinger finally abstracted and attacked Caine?

Kinger glitched temporarily before he rushed to Caine’s side. His heart pounded, his blood rushing from pure and unsaturated fear. He scooped Caine up in his arms, ignoring all the warning signs screaming at him to run away. He pulled off Caine’s jacket, flipping open the control panel on his back. Kinger pulled out two of the wires, looking at them, then at Caine. The reset switch wasn’t going to work, Kinger knew that. There was no use even attempting to try it. Kinger inhaled slowly as his hands shook, the plastic of his back bubbling unnaturally.

“This is going to hurt, my son,” Kinger warned, “You and me both.”

Kinger touched the wires together, a power surge shooting through Caine as the ringmaster glitched aggressively. The electrical wave swept through the void, throwing Kinger against one of the boundary walls. Kinger’s back cracked open and the fabric of his robe ripped sickeningly loudly as he clattered to the floor. The once brightly illuminated void was now pitch black except for the glitching, glowing figure of Caine and the newly formed butterfly wings delicately fluttering on Kinger’s back, the wings coated in hundreds of neon eyes.

Chapter Text

“Okay,” Pomni paced the stage slowly, looking at the group in the front row, “The plan is to find Caine and Kinger and take care of Cerca. We’ll get everyone back in order and we’ll be back to… well… the circus’s version of normal.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. But no one knew how to do it. It was all talk and no game. They had no solid plan of execution. They had no idea where Kinger and Caine were and they had no idea how to ‘take care of Cerca’ as it were. Gangle and Ragatha shared looks as Zooble stared off, humming to themself quietly. They’d been humming Daisy Belle chronically since their anxiety attack out in the hall and no one had really stopped them since they weren’t technically hurting anyone. Manuel was bouncing his legs nervously as he listened, as if he was waiting for Pomni to tell him to leave. Then Jax was a few paces behind Pomni, Daisy sitting on his shoulders.

“I know we’re all scared,” Pomni crossed her arms slowly, “And… I am too. Some of you have already started to feel your avatars changing, mine still is. But we need to stay together, we need to stay strong and we’ll get through this.”

“We’re caricatures,” Ragatha shrugged, looking at Pomni, “We’re slowly becoming shells of ourselves. What are we supposed to do, Pomni? I can feel my stitching tearing.”

Pomni bit the inside of her cheek, chewing it slowly, “I know… I know, Ragatha. But we’re going to have to fight through the pain. We have to keep moving.”

Ragatha shook her head, looking away. She didn’t know if she could keep going. Her body felt too small for her, and she could feel the seam running down her back beginning to split, something trying to slip out, but the stitching was still too tight for it to slip free. Jax watched Ragatha look away slowly and his gaze hardened. There was no way she was going to ignore what Pomni was saying, he wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Hey, how about you pay her a little respect?” Jax stepped forward, “She’s the only one who has the guts to come up here and make a plan. Do you think that’s easy to do? Because if you do, then by all means, Raggy, come on up! Tell us how you’re going to control the narrative like your mother did.”

“Jax,” Pomni whispered quickly through her teeth, “Not. Helping.”

Ragatha stood up quickly, “You don’t want to play that game with me, Jaxon. I promise you that I will win this. Because if you want to bring my mom into this, how about we talk about your step-mom?!”

Jax’s heart stopped. His eyes shook as he took a step back. He’d told her about that in confidence. He pulled Daisy off his shoulders, slowly setting her on the stage as he started to walk off. Pomni looked at Daisy, then at Jax.

“See? It’s not so fun when it’s you, huh?” Ragatha crossed her arms, watching as Pomni chased after him. Pomni chased him into the wings as Gangle told Ragatha she went too far and the two began to argue. Pomni grabbed Jax’s arm to try and pull him back but he shoved her away aggressively, causing her to stumble back, almost falling.

“Leave me alone, Pomni,” Jax murmured, “I just… I can’t handle this right now.”

“Jax, we need you,” Pomni whispered.

“I know, I KNOW,” Jax snapped, running his paws over his face, “She just knows she shouldn’t mention that… I shouldn’t have mentioned her mother… I just need to cool off. I’ll apologize to her later.”

Pomni didn’t argue, letting him sit on the stairs that led up to the catwalk. She backed away, back onto the stage, looking at Ragatha and Gangle who were starting to fight. Zooble had started to rock themself back and forth, humming louder, and Manuel was muttering to himself. Pomni felt her chest tighten. They were never going to make this work if they couldn’t function as a unit, and that’s what was happening. They were effectively falling apart in the matter of minutes. Pomni needed to reel them back in but she didn’t know how.

“Guys,” Pomni rubbed her arm slowly, “Can we please just–”

“OH BE REAL, POMNI,” Ragatha snapped, looking up at her, “WE ALL KNOW YOU CAN’T SAY NO, SO HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO LEAD US?!”

Pomni’s heart sank, “I… I can say no, Ragatha… I–”

“OKAY, NOPE,” Jax shouted, storming back on stage, “YOU DON’T TALK TO MY WIFE LIKE THAT.”

“WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT? HIT ME WITH YOUR CAR?!” Ragatha shouted back.

“Ragatha, please,” Gangle squeaked.

Zooble was trying to be anywhere but in the moment. They were staving off their memories from one of their foster homes, they didn’t want to think about the argument going on. They were trying to not remember the way that they had felt when their foster parents had locked them in their room for three days. They were trying to move past that, they were trying to ignore the way that they felt so cold and so alone again. They’d finally found someone and she wasn’t even here to help them through the memories like she’d promised. People always promised and never followed through. They’d grown used to that, but Caine was supposed to be different. She’d promised to be different.

The arguing was getting too loud, Zooble couldn’t handle it. They tried humming as loud as possible but nothing was working. They stood up quickly, taking a step back. They wrapped their arms around themself tightly, eyes darting between everyone. They just wanted it to be quiet, they just wanted them to stop arguing. Why were they always arguing? Every home they went to. Every family they were placed with. Every partner they’d ever had. Every friend. All they would do was fight. They just wanted the fighting to stop.

“SHUT UP,” Zooble shouted over everyone and the theater fell silent, “SHUT UP, SHUT UP! WHY CAN’T WE JUST STOP?! WE COULD ALL DIE HERE AND YOU ALL WANT TO BRING UP EACH OTHER’S TRAUMA!! JUST STOP FIGHTING, PLEASE–”

Zooble breathed heavily, looking at everyone as the group stared back at them. No one said anything, they just stood in silence, unsure of how to react or what to say to them. Zooble blinked, realizing what they’d done. They turned around, walking to sit in the back of the theater by themself. No one stopped them, everyone was too riled up and concerned to say anything.

“How about we all take five?” Pomni muttered, rubbing her neck awkwardly.

“Thank you, five,” Manuel whispered in response, not looking up.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Jax sat down beside Zooble with a huff as he groaned, leaning against the wall. He looked over at them, but didn’t say anything. Ragatha and Pomni were sitting on the stage having a long conversation while Gangle was trying to get Manuel to talk. Jax looked at his new paws, unnerved by how unnaturally they flexed. He leaned his head against the wall, watching Zooble dig their clawed hand into their humanoid one. He looked at his own paws, playing with his gloves. Part of him was curious about what was hidden beneath the yellow fabric, but another part of him was convinced that some mysteries are better left as just that. Mysteries.

“I’m sorry for blowing up,” Zooble muttered. They didn’t look at him and Jax didn’t mind. He shrugged, looking over at them slowly.

“Are you doing better?” He asked and they nodded, “Then that’s what matters.”

“Why are you like this?” Zooble asked, wrapping themself in an embrace, “Why did you change so much? It actually feels like you care now.”

“I always cared,” Jax shrugged, “I guess I just didn’t want to be considered weak for showing that.”

“You don’t care about that now?” Zooble tilted their head.

“Zooble, I’m going to be real with you,” Jax shook his head, looking at them, “You and Gangle are the only people in here that didn’t see me give birth. I don’t think I have many boundaries left in my life.”

Zooble supposed that was fair. They pulled their knees to their chest, their muscles tightening and loosening naturally, a lot less mechanical than they were an hour ago. However, they could feel the plastic of their body turning cold and metallic, shifting colors in a way that was wholly unnatural to them. They sighed heavily, leaning their head against Jax’s shoulder and Jax didn’t flinch, just letting them lean against him.

“Did it hurt?” Zooble questioned, looking at Jax’s paws.

“What? Giving birth? Uhm… yes?” Jax looked at them, confused.

“No, when Caine declawed you,” Zooble clarified, looking at him.

“Oh,” Jax mumbled, “No, he kind of just snapped them away… Sorry, wait, she, right?”

“What?” Zooble squinted before realizing, “Oh, yeah, I wasn’t supposed to tell you guys about that. Caine… just came out to me, literally before everything happened.”

Jax smiled, “It’s fine. I don’t know that she understands the concept of being outed,” Jax paused, “But yeah, no, she just snapped my claws away and sent me on my merry way. No pain, no surgery. Just a flick of the wrist and I was domesticated.”

“I’m sorry she did that,” Zooble replied, “The loss of autonomy must’ve been upsetting for you… I couldn’t imagine.”

“Tch autonomy’s nothing!” Jax chuckled, “I think it’s better for me this way, anyhow. I can’t hurt anyone again like how I hurt Ragatha… I can behave now. By force or nature…”

“Mmm,” Zooble hummed, looking over at Ragatha and Pomni on stage, “I honestly thought they were going to get together.”

“Well, you were also dating Gangle,” Jax countered, “I thought you and Gangle were going to last forever, you were smitten with her.”

“You were too at some point,” Zooble reminded him, trailing their hand through the fur on his arm, “I guess she has her own charm.”

“HA!” Jax barked, pushing Zooble away playfully, “You wish! She was just fun to be around! You think I actually had feelings for her?”

Zooble rolled their eyes, “And to think I ever found you attractive.”

Zooble stood up, beginning to head back towards the rest of the group. Jax perked up at the mention, tilting his head, “Wait, are you serious?! ZOOBIE?! YOU FOUND ME ATTRACTIVE?!”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Do you actually think Zooble and Jax are capable of getting along?” Ragatha asked, her eyes trained on the two at the back of the theater. Zooble had their head rested on Jax's shoulder as they pointed at his paws. The whole scene felt weird to Ragatha. Almost the entire time that Zooble had been in the circus, Jax and them had argued. Seeing them get along in such a calm manner now? It was just weirdly out of character for the both of them.

“I think weird things happen when people are particularly threatened,” Pomni offered, “I mean, you acted pretty aggressive towards me.”

Ragatha sighed, she supposed Pomni was right. Even if she had apologized for it, she had still questioned Pomni's leadership skills as a whole. Ragatha felt bad about the whole ordeal, she really did. She looked up at Jax and Zooble who were laughing together while they talked. Why couldn't Ragatha make friends like that? Why did she always mess things up?

Pomni put her hand in Ragatha's slowly, giving her a look of comfort. Ragatha leaned forward, shaking her head as she felt some of the stitching in her lower back begin to pop. She winced hesitantly at the pain before looking back at Pomni who was no longer the jester she'd once known. Pomni's face was streaked with crudely done clown makeup to match the bright red nose in the center of her face. But she seemed to be making the best of it, so did Jax.

“I think I have an idea,” Gangle pulled herself onto the stage, looking at Ragatha and Pomni, “I was just talking to Manuel and he mentioned that Cerca has a panel on her back that can reset her. If we can get to that panel, we might be able to reset her to a more…. Nicer state…”

“Back panel?” Zooble's voice rang out as they approached, “Caine has one of those. If Cerca’s is anything like Caine's, then that means she'll have two or three switches. One of them is a factory reset.”

“Factory reset?” Pomni echoed.

“Yeah, like reset the entire circus to its roots, factory reset,” Zooble confirmed, “Flip that switch and any changes she's made should be reversed.”

Jax jogged down to join the group, his ears flopping in a way that was so unnatural to the rest of the group that some of them almost couldn't watch. Pomni could, though, and she watched as he stood beside Zooble, resting his elbow on their shoulder, jolting slightly when a static shock coursed through his body. He gave them a look and Pomni heard them whisper an apology.

“How do we know we can trust him?” Zooble asked, “I'm not trying to be rude, but it's Manuel. Unless you all forgot he literally tied us up?”

Manuel looked up quickly, between the group members, “I understand, I- I wouldn't trust me either…”

“He gets nothing out of lying to us,” Jax replied, flicking one of Zooble's antennae, “He's going to change just like us. He's just as scared as we are.”

“Jax is right,” Pomni nodded, “If Manuel wanted to lie to us, he would've already. I saw him when Gangle and I got here, he was a wreck, sobbing on the stage. I trust him.”

Manuel looked at all of them. He wasn’t the best person in the world, in the circus. He didn’t even deserve the time of day let alone them teaming up with him. As the group started to talk with one another, Manuel stood up slowly, beginning to slip away. He still had time to hide before Cerca caught onto him. As he started to walk away, his gaze shifted down to his hands. He could see his varnish beginning to chip, a coat of white paint showing beneath the chips. His hands trembled slightly as he walked away, the invisible strings threatening to claw at his throat and hang him as he walked.

“Manuel,” Pomni jogged after him and Manuel turned around slowly to look at her, “You’re the only person who knows Cerca personally. We need you more than anyone right now.”

Manuel watched as Pomni outstretched her hand towards him, her gloves glitching into lace. Manuel looked at the group, staring at him, judging him. He shouldn’t, he’d make their troubles so much worse. He’d just bring them all down. Manuel took a step back and he could see Pomni’s pupils shrink slightly.

“Please,” Pomni whispered, “We need you.”

Manuel hesitated before he took Pomni’s hand, shaking it firmly, “The first thing you all need to know is to never trust your memories. Treat every memory in this place like it’s fake. Because chances are, they’re covering up something sinister.”

Chapter Text

Manuel led the group down the hall, slipping past one of the gloink drones as he ushered them into the Observatory. The observatory was a large circular room with a domed glass roof and an oversized brass telescope in the center of the room. Manuel watched the group file in, dispersing around the room. He closed the large doors slowly, pulling a wooden beam down to lock them in. Safety purposes. They were safer if no rogue AIs could find them. Besides, the observatory was a blind spot from Cerca since the large brass telescope was there. Cerca’s digital skin would fry if she so much as brushed up against the brass. A chemical reaction, she’d told him in one of their meetings though she’d never explained to him why it happened, just that it did.

Manuel watched as they paired up seemingly naturally. Jax always found Pomni and Daisy. No matter what, Jax was with his girls. Gangle always found Ragatha. The two were inseparable when they were together. And Zooble? Manuel’s gaze drifted to them, sitting on the floor a few feet away from Jax and Pomni. They were just sitting by themself, no attempts to talk to anyone else. Daisy, who was sitting at Jax’s feet, crawled over to them. She pulled up on their leg slowly and Zooble jumped back, startled. They scrambled back, calling for Jax to grab his kid as Daisy reached her paws out for them. Manuel continued to watch curiously as Pomni scooped up the kit, apologizing to Zooble. Zooble kept their distance, keeping an eye on Daisy as she tried to wriggle out of Pomni’s arms to reach them. Zooble’s body shook gently in response.

Manuel approached Zooble, waving softly before he sat down a few feet away from them. Zooble looked between Manuel and Daisy as if deciding between the two evils. Zooble scooched a little bit closer to Manuel, still keeping their distance. Manuel looked up at Daisy who glared at him shortly before burying her face into Pomni’s laced collar. Manuel tilted his head. Perhaps the AI was more sentient than Cerca had told him she was.

“I still don’t trust you,” Zooble muttered, “But I guess I don’t really have a choice.”

“I know,” Manuel muttered, “And I don’t blame you… I just don’t want Cerca to erase us like she erased the others.”

“The abstracted?” Zooble asked and Manuel nodded, “Tch, figures. She really erased Ribbit and Kaufmo?”

“And more,” Manuel confirmed, “And then your memories…. They were tampered with. Everyone’s.”

Zooble shuddered, looking away slowly. They didn’t want to think about someone messing with their memories. They’d worked so hard to get them back, even if they were memories that kept the toybox character up at night. The type that wrapped around their mind and squeezed them until they suffocated. The kind that made them unable to move as the wind whipped again. Caine always knew when Zooble had one of those dreams, she could tell by the look in their eyes the next morning. And sometimes, when Zooble was watching Pomni, she got those same looks too. The kind that meant she’d seen something bad the night before but she didn’t want to tell anyone.

Zooble blinked back to the moment, noticing the tarnishing of the surface of Manuel’s wooden body. If he felt anything like they did, it wasn’t great. They weren’t supposed to really feel in this world, but they also weren’t supposed to have jester-rabbit hybrid babies, so Zooble didn’t know if there was any real logic left in the circus. There wasn’t even physics here, they swore that they’d seen water float instead of spill once.

“What’s our next move?” Pomni asked as she turned over her shoulder, looking down at Manuel.

“Find Cerca,” Manuel hesitated, “Well, I know where she is, I have a direct line of communication with her.”

“...And you didn’t think to tell us that?” Pomni muttered, ready to go off on him when Jax placed a hand on her shoulder and she just sighed, whispering a censored swear under her breath.

“She’s in Caine’s office, the main one none of you have seen…. Or have access to…” Manuel trailed off, “Now that I think of it… Neither do I.”

“I do,” Zooble looked up as Gangle and Ragatha joined them, “Caine and I spend time in her office all the time when… Uhm…” Zooble started to blush intensely, looking away, “When we get a little too loud for the human corridor.”

Jax stifled a laugh before he cackled, “HA! SERIOUSLY, ZOOBIE? You and the AI go so hard you have to leave the bedroom?! THAT’S A NEW ONE!!”

“She doesn’t have an off switch, Jax,” Zooble whispered, “She kind of just… goes until I’m done.”

“I don’t think I want to hear about this…” Gangle whimpered, cowering slightly. If she still had her comedy mask, it would’ve shattered.

Manuel pushed himself up to his feet slowly, grabbing a nearby armchair. He climbed on top of it, looking across the rest of the group. He rubbed his neck, his wood splintering as he did. He ignored the pain, knowing it was all downhill from here. He looked at Pomni who nodded at him and he inhaled deeply.

“The circus is going to start to fall apart,” Manuel explained, “Like I said… An overhaul… It’s already started with us, but… Everything’s going to change. We need to move quickly and be on the look out for debris and drones.”

“If I may?” Pomni stepped forward and Manuel nodded, motioning for her to join him. She stepped up beside him, looking at the group of her friends. She inhaled hesitantly before speaking again, “The drones can and will look like people we’ve seen. We can’t trust anyone other than us. And we’ll need a way to distinguish us from the drones.”

“We need a code word,” Manuel added, “Something Cerca wouldn’t think of.”

“How about pineapple juice? That’s my safe word.” Jax cracked a smile, tilting his head.

“JAX,” Ragatha shot, looking over at him, “That’s not appropriate!!”

“You’re disgusting,” Pomni rolled her eyes, “How about something related to this mission? Uhm… Uh–”

“What about funhouse?” Gangle asked, “We’re supposed to be in a carnival soon anyways and if we just–”

“Carnival it is,” Manuel interrupted, “We’ll ask the others where they’re going and our response is going to be the funhouse. Any other answer is a drone, got it?”

Everyone nodded in agreement and Manuel continued, “If that’s the case, then I suggest we move out now. The faster we get to the common area, the faster we can get this over with.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Caine pushed herself up slowly, looking around. She couldn’t see anything, it was pitch black around her. She could feel her mechanical heart start to race as she began to panic. The dark meant she was deleted, right? Had Cerca finally deleted her? Caine scrambled to her feet, wincing at the pain shooting through her avatar as she stumbled backwards. She couldn’t be here again. In the wastes of the code. She’d spent so many years here, she couldn’t do it again, not now, not ever. Caine started to hyperventilate at the thought, her breathing rapid as she murmured to herself incoherently. She had to get out of here if she clawed her way out.

“Caine?” Kinger’s voice echoed in the darkness. The king had been able to see the sparks coming from the wires that had been knocked loose on Caine’s avatar from the energy surge. The sparks were infrequent but Kinger had trusted to follow them anyway. He moved slowly, making sure to make constant noise to not spook the AI into a fit. Kinger approached slowly, humming loudly as the sparks were only a few feet away.

Caine turned around panicked as she watched the glowing eyes coming closer. There were seemingly thousands of eyes, but Caine couldn’t be too sure. Was she in the cellar? Was she shorted out? Hallucinating? The humming sounded familiar and when a warm hand cupped her gums naturally, Caine broke into sobs, falling into the figure slowly. Kinger’s embrace was more than Caine ever knew she needed. The wires protruding from her stomach sparked and hissed, threatening to catch Kinger’s velvet robe on fire.

“You’re safe, my child,” Kinger whispered as Caine gripped onto him tightly, “Let’s find a way out of here, okay?”

Caine nodded, knowing Kinger couldn’t see it, but he could feel the way her head was brushing against his torso. Caine pulled away slowly as she grabbed Kinger’s hand tightly like a child holding their parent’s hand before crossing the street. Kinger’s hand felt so much larger than her own, even if she knew it was the same size. Sometimes it was just how she felt. And, in that moment, Caine felt so small, so fragile.

“We’re between strings of code right now,” Kinger explained aloud, “Meaning every time we jump between code, there’s a chance we land on a piece of code for a few milliseconds. An exit door should open up then, and we’ll rush through it.”

Caine squeezed Kinger’s hand. This was all stuff she knew logically, but it felt different hearing it from Kinger. It’s almost like a new set of information to her. Her processing systems aren’t down anymore, meaning she’s able to walk, to think properly. Whatever Kinger had done with the whole wires in her back panel had rearticulated her systems to the point where she felt like a different person, a different Caine.

The pair continued on despite the paint that roared through Kinger’s avatar. Caine pushed forward, starting to make more progress than Kinger when they stopped, realizing their hand was slipping from his. Kinger took a few strides forward, squeezing Caine’s hand. Caine felt their stomach twist into knots. Something wasn’t right, they could sense it. Kinger was acting differently and Caine didn’t like it, it felt like an undetected threat waiting to attack them.

“It’s alright,” Kinger muttered, “Let’s keep going.”

Caine hesitated before she continued on. She didn’t know what the likelihood of the exit door appearing was and she didn’t have the time to calculate it. As the pair pushed forward, the space seemed to shift, to change. Kinger gripped Caine’s hand tightly as the ground beneath them began to rumble, low and firm. Caine looked in Kinger’s general vicinity, seeing the very dull glow of the neon eyes lighting up the chess piece’s features. He was glitching out and the look behind his eyes seemed to be one of loss and hurt.

In the distance, a light began to shine, dull at first before slowly intensifying. Caine looked over at it, the large red exit door. The door stared at them as they stared back. Without hesitation, Caine started pulling Kinger towards it, ready to get back to the circus and put an end to all of this for good. Caine tried to pull Kinger forward, but the character had started to become deadweight in her grasp. They only had so much time before the exit door would disappear, didn’t he understand that? Caine tugged at Kinger but he wouldn’t budge and Caine began to panic.

“You have to go without me,” Kinger looked up at Caine’s deforming avatar, “Caine, I can’t–”

“No,” Caine whispered, their voice hoarse, “You have to come with me. Kinger, we need you out there–”

“You can always come back for me,” Kinger’s hand found its way to Caine’s gums naturally, “I’m so proud of you…”

Caine shook her head, “I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to,” Kinger looked down at his shifting avatar, “There’s not going to be much of me left. Caine, you have to fix this, help the others. I’ll be fine.”

“I could lose you,” Caine whispered, tears starting to form, “You know–”

“The probability of the door opening up again is slim,” Kinger nodded, “A chance we’ll have to take.”

Caine shook her head, she couldn’t leave. But when she looked over her shoulder, the glowing exit door was beginning to fade out again. Caine clutched onto Kinger’s hand briefly before she let it slip away as she ran for the door. Caine pulled it open quickly, the brightness nearly blinding her as she dove through it, the door slamming shut and disappearing behind her. Caine lifted her head, looking around at the glitching circus. She flinched as one of the beams crumbled, toppling over as it crashed to the ground. They looked behind them. No door. She looked back at the circus tent.

“Oh, what is she doing to you,” Caine murmured as she pushed herself to her feet, looking down at her hands, “What is she doing to me?”

Chapter Text

Jax walked cautiously, stepping over a pile of debris as he looked around. The place that had been his home for years was crumbling around them and everyone else seemed so calm about it. Ragatha didn’t even look phased. Gangle was actually enjoying herself as she talked to Zooble. How was everyone just okay with what was going on? Jax’s nose twitched with disgust as he crossed his arms. Of course, he was feeling emotions that no one else was. He’d have to just cover them up for the time being. Pretending he didn’t care when watching the ring of digital fire extinguish was genuinely hurting him.

“Are you okay?” Pomni asked and Jax looked down at her. Her hair had shortened to a layered pixie cut, framing her rounded face in a way he didn’t like. It was weird, unfamiliar to him. He liked her layered bob, the one he’d brushed his fingers through when he couldn’t fall asleep. Paired with those bangs that Daisy always played with instead of taking her bottle.

“Tch, yeah,” Jax looked away, “I love when everything changes out of nowhere. I love when my home looks weird and %@$#-ed up. I actually ADORE that my wife looks like an entirely different person!”

“Jax…” Pomni whispered and Jax relaxed, slouching his shoulders.

“Sorry,” Jax folded his arms slowly, “I’m just not a big fan of change…”

“I know,” Pomni said, “But you have me and Daisy, and–”

“Do you struggle with change because you watched Ribbit abstract?” Manuel interrupted. Jax’s blood ran cold as he looked over at him.Manuel’s question had sounded genuine, but Jax was a little confused about it.

“What are you talking about?” Zooble interrupted, “Jax didn’t watch Ribbit abstract, he found her abstracted. There’s a difference there–”

“Oh…” Manuel muttered, looking away, “I’m sorry, I think I just brought up something–”

“Manuel,” Pomni started with a warning tone, like the tone she used when Daisy was reaching for something she wasn’t supposed to have, “What are you talking about?”

“Remember how I said not to trust your memories?” Manuel looked at everyone, “Yeah… this is what I’m talking about. Memories have been being wiped and replaced by… less painful ones. Like Jax watching Ribbit abstract, Gangle getting locked in the cellar for a week, Zooble going on an adventure where they relived their trauma, the entire existence of Wriggle. Things have been… doctored, I guess.”

“I was in the cellar for a week?” Gangle looked at Manuel concerned as she pointed at herself, clearly confused.

“What adventure?” Zooble asked.

Manuel sighed, rubbing his neck awkwardly, “See, I’m safe from all these memory wipes and stuff because Caine thought I was AI, but she had free reign on you guys. She was doing what she thought was… right, I guess. Either way, you all are missing time, events, people, and–”

“Stop,” Ragatha murmured, looking up at Manuel, “I don’t want to hear about this.”

“It’s just the truth,” Manuel bit back, “Don’t you wonder why you feel like you’ve been here forever but are missing so many memories?”

“Shut up,” Ragatha snapped, “I don’t want to think about any of this!”

“Ragatha, it’s okay.” Gangle grabbed Ragatha’s arms as she started to rip at the stitching on her face. The group stopped walking as Ragatha stumbled back. Her skin was too tight, she just needed to tear it off. Gangle was trying to pull her hands away from her face, but Ragatha fought her off, clearly distressed. Ragatha wished she had nails or anything sharp as she tore at the stretched fabric of her skin. She pulled at some of her stitching as she peeled some of her skin away from her face, the cotton beneath starting to fall and land on the floor.

“Ragatha, stop,” Zooble walked forward, trying to grab the doll’s arms, “You’re hurting yourself.”

“I feel like my skin is crawling,” Ragatha gasped, shuddering at the thought as she paused, “Stay away–”

Gangle tried to take a step forward, but Ragatha took a step back, stumbling into one of the trembling marble beams. Jax’s ear twitched as he watched the pillar start to wobble, threatening to topple over. The fur on the back of his neck stood up and he shoved everyone out of the way before he pushed Ragatha away, allowing the beam to fall onto him. The beam crashed through the tiled floor, taking Jax with it while a chunk of the marble flew out, slamming into Ragatha who glitched through the nearby wall.

Pomni’s jaw dropped and she handed Daisy off to Zooble who flinched at the baby in their arms, holding her as far away from them as possible. Pomni rushed to the edge of the hole where Jax had fallen while Gangle rushed to the wall that Ragatha phased through. Manuel rushed up to Pomni, pulling her back from the edge to keep her from falling in. Pomni stared in disbelief, her body beginning to shift colors as she held her breath. Was he… He couldn’t be, right?

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Ragatha coughed as she pushed herself off the floor. Wherever she was, it was dimly lit, only moonlight seeping through. She slowly stood up, looking down at the cotton and fabric at her feet. Her stomach churned slightly as she looked down at her hands. Delicate and porcelain. Her eyes drifted to her body which was no longer clothed. She looked up and around the room she was in. A toyshop, of sorts– from what she could tell at least. She carefully stepped out of the mess of her old avatar, looking at it briefly before she turned to find an exit. She must’ve glitched into one of the side rooms that Caine never touched.

She walked through the workshop slowly, her knees crackling as she walked. Her body felt cold and hollow now, a shell of a girl. She reached the door, opening it slowly as she walked out into the main area. The toy store around her was decorated only with porcelain dolls. They were dressed in fancy lace dresses, like the ones her mother used to put her into. She walked up to one of the dressed dolls, running her fingers over the satin skirt slowly. Why was she here? Of all places?

She started to walk across the room when she caught sight of herself in a mirror. She stopped, taking a step back as she looked at her new avatar. Her body was a delicate porcelain, tinted a very subtle blue hue, though that might’ve been the moonlight. Her hair was curled at the ends like her mom always had her hair. A soft amber, framing her porcelain face. Ragatha slowly touched the right side of her face. A chunk of her face was missing, allowing anyone to see inside her empty head. Her other eye was painted on delicately. The brushstrokes were clear and Ragatha almost couldn’t believe they were hers. This was her.

Her body was more slender than before, slimmed down to the sizes that her mother had insisted she starve herself to get to. Ragatha ran her hands over her hips slowly, feeling the cold glass beneath her hands. She traced her face, molded with a smile that she couldn’t remove if she tried. She backed away slowly, turning over her shoulder towards the counter where the registers were set up. Her movements felt so much more… human now. She wasn't a toy anymore. She was something to be put on display, to be proud of. She was a collector’s item to gather dust. She laughed to herself at the thought. Her mother would be so proud.

Ragatha caught the sight of a dress in the center of a display. Ragatha’s eye lit up at the sight. The long puffed sleeves, the corset top. The way the skirt poofed and trailed to the ground. Ragatha reached out, delicately touching the class case it was sealed in. The type of dress she’d never be allowed to wear at home, and yet here, she could. If she could just get to it. Ragatha looked around for something to shatter the glass as she backed away slowly. She was going to get that dress one way or another. She needed to be clothed anyways.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Oh, ^@#%,” Jax groaned, sitting up slowly as he rubbed his eyes, “Where am I?”

Jax looked around, not able to identify his exact location. He definitely wasn’t dead, he was in too much pain for that to be possible. He stood up steadily and lights came up on him, illuminating the darkness. Jax turned slowly, faced with multiple reflections of himself. He was in a house of mirrors. Just his luck. The one thing he hated more than anything else, was optical illusions. He trudged forward slowly, careful to not run into anything. Ragatha better be grateful for him saving her from that beam.

Jax walked forward slowly, his hands out in front of him. The odd thing about his reflections was that they were all different versions of him. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Sure, most of them looked like him. Floppy ears, gapped teeth, twitching nose. But some of them were his usual self, his wedding tux, his anime uniform. It was more jarring than the optical illusions, seeing himself in so many different forms.

As Jax continued through the maze– which he was surprisingly good at– he could feel his stomach knotting. He swiveled his head back and forth, trying to catch someone watching him. He felt like he was being watched. Was he paranoid? He pushed forward, noticing a green blur dart past him. He hesitated, looking up. He was hallucinating, he had to be. That wasn’t right, he was in here alone. It was him and his reflections.

His breathing slowed as he traversed further into the maze. His ears twitched at the sound of a car horn honking. He turned around quickly, a truck’s headlights barrelling towards him. Jax dropped to the floor, covering his face as the truck drove past. He slowly looked back up, no truck in sight. Hallucination? Jax’s body shook as he stood up, uneasy and uncertain. He needed to find a way out of this maze as quickly as possible. But how?

Chapter Text

“Okay, what the @%#$,” Pomni muttered, her breathing erratic. Her husband was just crushed through the floor by a marble beam. This was fine! Not like she cared about him anyways! She started to chew on her fingers, ignoring how the saliva made her lace gloves damp and uncomfortable to wear. She paced back and forth, trying to calm her racing mind but there were so many unknown variables, so many possibilities. Pomni’s hands shook gently and she felt like she couldn’t stop, she couldn’t sit down. She couldn’t just breathe.

A wooden hand placed on her shoulder caused the jester to whip around quickly. Manuel crouched to her level and Pomni didn’t immediately back away at the touch. But the slight look of discomfort on her face indicated that Manuel needed to remove his hand and he did so promptly. He leaned back on his heels, his joints clicking and locking into place as he looked at her. Pomni stared back at him, waiting for him to speak before she realized that he wasn’t going to until she calmed down a bit. Pomni inhaled slowly, holding the breath before letting it out. She felt a little bit better but definitely was still anxious.

“The circus is actively changing, meaning he’s likely in one of the rooms that’s about to be added on,” Manuel explained, “He’ll be alright, we just need a safe way to get to him.”

“What about Ragatha?” Gangle asked, pointing at the wall. Manuel hesitated as he stood up slowly, looking at Gangle, then Zooble who had set Daisy on the floor, the kit clinging to their leg despite their many attempts to shake her off. Manuel looked away from Gangle, looking at the cracked tiles. What about Ragatha? Had Ragatha ever thought that about him? What about Manuel? It wasn’t likely. She didn’t care about him, so why should he care about her?

“I know you don’t like her,” Zooble spoke up, pulling Manuel out of his head, “But she’s a part of the group. When you signed up for us, you signed up for her too.”

Manuel sighed, Zooble was right. He looked over at Gangle beside the wall, then at the hole that Jax had been thrusted through. Manuel walked forward a bit before he spoke, “Ragatha’s a little different. Since she glitched through the wall, she could be anywhere. I’m going to pull up the maps I have, and we’ll figure something out. In the meantime, we’re going to have to split up into groups.”

“Groups? Seriously?” Zooble asked, tilting their head. They hated groups more than Jax did. Especially since options were limited here. They’d love to pair up with Caine, but unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found. Zooble pried Daisy off their leg, walking over to Pomni. They handed the baby off to her and Pomni took her quickly, letting Daisy climb onto her shoulders.

“Me and Pomni can go find Jax,” Manuel started before Zooble cut him off.

“I don’t trust you around the baby,” Zooble crossed their arms, “I get bad vibes.”
Manuel twitched slightly, “Fine, Gangle and I will find Ragatha. You and Pomni will find Jax. But it can’t be much worse than the vibes you gave off when you tried to rupture her code.”

“Don’t mention that,” Zooble hissed as they walked to Pomni’s side, stepping away when Daisy tried to grab them.

“Come on, Gangle,” Manuel motioned, “The baby killer wants to team up with Pomni, let’s go find your girlfriend.”

Zooble’s eyes narrowed at Manuel as he and Gangle started to walked away, “&@%#$...”

Pomni and Zooble turned to leave when the mannequin yelled after them, “WAIT–”

He jogged back over, handing a USB to Pomni. Pomni grabbed it, looking at it curiously. A USB? She hadn’t seen one of these in the circus before, likely for good reason. She waited for Manuel to explain what it was, watching as he pulled another one out of his pocket dimension. He wiggled it gently, showing it to her. The one he had was painted with a small heart with a letter on it. Something that must’ve meant a lot of value to him. Possibly someone, given the letter wasn’t an M, so it couldn’t be to mark that it was his.

“It’s the data drive for an actively updating map of the circus,” Manuel explained, “Cerca gave me a spare, and I’m giving it to you. It’ll track the moving location of anyone actively on the map with an icon of their face. I suggest you go to the projection room to see it, make sure to lock the brass doorknob.”

Pomni’s fingers closed around the USB, “Thank you, Manuel.”

“Please, be careful,” Manuel muttered, “I don’t know how long this can go without Cerca realizing I’ve betrayed her.”

Pomni nodded before her and Zooble turned to leave.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Jax stumbled past another set of mirrors. This nightmare was never going to end, was it? Jax shook off the chill of fear rolling through him as he pushed forward. He had never been a fan of carnivals, especially not the houses of mirrors. They were disorienting and confusing to him, he hated suffering through them with his siblings. He’d only go when his sisters had begged him, and even then that was after a threatening look from his step mother. Jax never liked himself or how he looked, why would he want to go into a disorienting maze that did nothing but remind him of that?

He slipped past a mirror with him holding Daisy when she was first born, trying not to linger too long on any of the memories. It was still the circus, after all. Anything here could and would be fake. Trust nothing, lose nothing. Jax was pretty set with that mentality of believing nothing and questioning everything. He continued on through the maze when the reflection directly in front of him brought him to a staggering stop. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at it. He didn’t even know the circus could conjure up images from the real world. He reached out slowly, touching the mirror, his reflection doing the same. There was no way this was real. The cold material beneath his paw felt unnatural and weird and sent shivers rolling down his spine.

“Man, I knew you looked dumb, but I didn’t know you looked that dumb,” a cocky voice called from behind and Jax turned around quickly. He backed into the mirror as the figure approached, crossing her arms slowly, “Jeez, Jaxxy, you didn’t tell me you were so young when you came in here.”

“Y-you’re not real,” Jax whispered, pressing his body against the mirror, “You’re just a hallucination.”

“I never said I wasn’t,” she tilted her head slowly, “I saw the little family you made here. Daisy? Is that her name? She’s cute, would’ve loved to meet her, you know? I was always a fan of kids, I just think they’re sweet.”

“What do you want?” Jax’s eyes narrowed, “Do you want to make me go crazy? Do you want to watch me abstract?”

Her eyes widened and Jax could visibly see her heart sink as she cowered back, “Do you think I want to hurt you? Jaxxy, we’re friends, aren’t we? I mean, you were there when I had bad dreams, you were there when I got hurt. Jaxxy, I care about you, I couldn’t hurt you. Never.”

Jax watched as she reached out her hand slowly, her long and spindly fingers reaching towards him. He itched to grab it, take it in his own. Hold onto her tightly and not let her go. He hesitated, looking at his paw that was shaking before he looked back up at her. The way her pupils widened, begging, pleading with him. Jax reached out to take her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his paw tightly, smiling at him before a flash of light and she was gone again. Jax looked at his arm, then around at the mirrors, none of them reflecting anything.

“Ribbit?” Jax looked around quickly, trying to catch sight of her again, “RIBBIT?!”

Jax bolted through the mirrors, not caring when he ran into mirrors, ignoring the thumping in his chest. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he was. He rounded a corner, dashing forward. Something told him to stop and he did, nearly too late as he almost toppled over the edge of a hole in the middle of the maze. He backed away slowly as the floor began to rumble slowly. He looked around panicked as a neon eye poked out of the hole, then another, and another.

Abstracted.

Jax blinked slowly as he backed away, watching the figure crawl out of the hole. He looked over his shoulder, then back at the figure. He made a mad dash in the direction he’d come from. He rounded a couple corners, feeling the stomps of the abstracted creature chasing after him. As he made a sharp right turn, he heard an engine turning over and watched as headlights turned on. He was caught between the two evils now, no escape. He could hear the Abstracted creature getting closer one his left and the car revving its engine on his right. He looked up slowly at the mirror in front of him, a perfect reflection of him. He stared at his floppy ears, his gapped teeth.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Abstracted figure was closing in as the truck was starting to drive towards him from the other ride. He only had one choice here. He backed up slowly, getting a running start before he crashed through the mirror in front of him. The abstracted figure ran directly into the truck, the two of them colliding into a disfigured version of all the faces Jax grew to recognize in the circus and outside of it. It watched in suit as Jax fell through the mirror shards, the pieces cutting at his skin. At least he wasn’t cornered anymore.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Ragatha wasn’t worried about repercussions for her actions. She felt no care or remorse when she’d shattered the case that the dress was in. She felt so gorgeous, so much more like herself when she looked at herself in the mirror, spinning in the dress she was wearing. She knew the smile on her face was molded, was plastered and stuck there. But she still felt good about it. For once, the smile felt like it was truly reflecting how she felt on the inside.

The quiet sound of feet. Small feet, scuttling. Ragatha turned slowly, tilting her head as she ventured forward. She approached the front counter with the registers. She was hesitant, something about this was off. She didn’t trust any of this. She slowly looked over the counter. A centipede. Ragatha yelped, jumping back. Her porcelain skin rattled unnaturally as she slowly moved to look back over the counter. Maybe she was seeing things. Upon the second look, there was no centipede. She laughed nervously.

“Okay… you’re seeing things!” Ragatha stared at the linoleum floor as she heard the scuttling sound again, “A clear and concise representation of you losing your mind! Haha!”

Ragatha felt a chill run through her as a centipede scuttled into her view from beneath the counter. She froze this time, just watching it as she could feel her heart stop. Then another centipede came crawling out. Then another and another. Ragatha wanted to run, she wanted to bolt for safety, but there was no indication of such a thing anywhere. She watched as hundreds, no thousands, of centipedes came crawling out from beneath the counter, the mass of them forming a swirling black hole. Ragatha started to back away slowly, finally able to move her feet that felt far too heavy for her to manage.

She looked over her shoulder at the front door, clear glass looking out onto an old street. Ragatha ran for the door. As she was about to grab the handle, centipedes began to crawl on the door and handle, blocking her from leaving. She backed away slowly, noticing the centipedes inching closer to her. Her vision was beginning to tunnel as she tried not to lose it. They’re just bugs, she tried to remind herself, they’re more scared of you than you are of them. But when she felt one of them on her shoulder she screamed, smacking it off of her.

She climbed onto one of the displays, trying to keep her distance. She kicked at some of the bigger ones when they tried to climb the pedestal. Her breathing picked up as she wrapped her arms around herself. This wasn’t real, none of this was real. A spotlight was hit, turning on her. Ragatha covered her eyes as she cowered away from the light. She peeked through her slender fingers as she looked for the source of light, however it was nowhere to be found. Another one turned on, putting her breakdown on display for any and everyone to scrutinize. To watch. She was nothing but a joke, a mockery. These sick people were going to watch her because she was just some prize pony for her mother to parade around.

Ragatha lowered her hands slowly, seeing a shadowed figure on the wall, shaking their head disapprovingly at her. She could feel the tears stinging at her eye as she cowered in fear, looking down at the floor where the centipedes had settled into a subtle shifting movement. Ragatha looked back up at the shadow figure, waiting for them to change their mind, to approve of her, but they didn’t. They simply walked away. Ragatha reached out for them, almost toppling off the pedestal she was on before she stopped herself. If she wanted that, she’d have to face her fears, something she wasn’t ready to do. Not then, maybe not ever. Ragatha pulled her hand back slowly, looking at the blue tinted glass with her fingernails painted on delicately.

“I just wanted to make you proud,” Ragatha murmured, clenching her hand into a fist, “You just wanted a doll.”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Caine had quickly rushed to her office in the AI hallway when she had gotten a bearing on her surroundings. She was ripping through all of her books, trying to find something, anything that could help her. She had the code for Cerca pulled up on the, listening to the carnival music playing repetitively as she tried to find some of her files. She knew she’d scattered them around the circus, but she’d also kept some in her office.

Caine tore all of the stacks of books down, not caring if she made too much noise or not. Cerca’s hearing wasn’t stellar either way. The ringmaster looked up at the projection, drumming their fingers slowly before they pulled up their all seeing eyes. Most of them were failing now, she only had a few that were actually functioning and that scared her. She had the all seeing eyes to make sure everyone was safe and in a scenario like this, she couldn’t watch everyone.

They pulled their green eye out of their mouth slowly, tossing it up in the air and snapping their fingers. The eye became more star shaped as it spun slowly, hovering in front of Caine. The ringmaster pulled up Zooble’s vitals, running her eyes over her partner’s heart rate and breathing level. Zooble seemed to be fine, which was good, that was Caine’s first concern. He moved onto the others, checking them thoroughly. Pomni’s heart rate was spiked but her breathing was fine. Jax’s heart rate was through the roof along with his breathing. Gangle was virtually fine upon first glance. And Ragatha’s breathing was erratic along with her heart rate. So something was definitely happening.

“JEFFEREY,” Caine turned, looking at the green eye in front of them, “Good to see you again, sorry it’s under such… unfortunate circumstances.”

The eye nodded briefly before spinning softly in the air. Caine agreed with him. Caine never really pulled Jefferey out unless the circumstance was dire. Caine looked back up at the projection, pulling the picture of Zooble up beside their vitals.

“Do you think you could track down this player?” Caine asked, pointing at the screen, “I have an inkling that they may be able to help track down the others.”

Jefferey hesitated before he did a flip, his pupil turning into a heart momentarily.

“It is NOT just because I love them,” Caine protested, “I love all of my players!! Admittedly…. Some more than others…. BUT THAT IS WHOLLY UNRELATED!!”

Jefferey’s pupil turned into a star before a censor bar appeared over him.

“You are a VILE creature, Jefferey!” Caine hissed with judgement in her tone, “I can’t believe you live in my mouth when you say such disgusting things.”

Jefferey mimicked laughter, though he made no noise. He nodded, pointing towards the door. Caine followed his point, before looking back at him, nodding, “Yes, you may leave now, Jeffery. And please, if you see Bubble, would you send him my way?”

Jefferey saluted the ringmaster briefly before he floated out of the room. Caine watched him leave before turning back to their screen. They pulled up Cerca’s code again, watching the way that her code formed a carousel, spinning as the music returned to the room. Caine slowly looked down at their abdomen where their wires were protruding. Caine touched them slowly, a quick shock flowing through them. Caine shuddered before they quickly pulled up Kinger’s code and vitals to check on him. Nothing. All of his information was blacked out like it was redacted information. Caine drummed their fingers awkwardly. This wasn’t good.

Chapter Text

Gangle walked alongside Manuel as he walked with his arms crossed. He kept his head up high and Gangle didn’t want to think it was because he thought he was better than she was, but she wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. Gangle shuffled awkwardly, not sure whether to break the silence or just let it well up inside her chest. She didn’t like either option, both felt like a threat tying her into a knot when deep down she just wanted to feel comfortable in here for once.

“So…” Gangle started, trying to jolt a conversation.

“Why do you love Ragatha?” Manuel asked quickly, before realizing his phrasing was harsh, “I apologize, let me rephrase. What drew you to her?”

“Oh, I don’t–” Gangle’s mask started to heat up, “I don’t really know… I guess I just think she’s pretty and nice… Sometimes, when she’s really sad, she whimpers and buries her head in my ribbons and– I don’t know! I just think she’s… perfect.”

“She’s anything but,” Manuel muttered under his breath, “It doesn’t bother you that you don’t share a room? I mean, Pomni and Jax share a room, Caine and Zooble share a room. It doesn’t bother you that your rooms haven’t merged yet?”

“Oh, I guess I…. hadn’t thought about that,” Gangle whispered, “I mean, I think it’s fine, we take turns going back and forth to each other's rooms, I think that’s nice too. Then we don’t have to share a bed if we don’t want to.”

“I dunno,” Manuel shrugged, “I guess I kinda just thought you two would be… attached at the hip or something. Ragatha was always that type with Wriggle. But… I guess you’re not her, are you?”

“Who's Wriggle,” Gangle asked finally, the question had been burning a hole in her mind for a while now, “You've mentioned them a few times now. Should I know her?”

“You? No, Caine did a pretty good job cleaning up after her abstraction,” Manuel shook his head as his neck clicked and clocked stiffly, “She was Ragatha's girlfriend, before you. I only know about her because Cerca told me, showed me some of the evidence that Caine hadn't gotten to. Pictures, love letters, videos. Things Caine knew held true sentimental value, she couldn't eradicate that if she tried.”

“Why erase her existence?” Gangle questioned, “No one erased Ribbit when she abstracted and Jax was devastated.”

“Here's the difference between Jax and Ragatha,” Manuel held up his hands, “Jax,” he outstretched his left hand, “Can recover. He can bounce back, move on. He's not constantly stuck in the past. Ragatha,” he lowered his left hand, raising his right one, “Can't move on. She's constantly asking herself and others what ifs, whys, throw comes. She's stuck in the past and she lets it suffocate her.”

Gangle watched as Manuel lowered his hands slowly, continuing to walk as if he hadn't said anything. Gangle hesitated before she continued walking. She didn't think Ragatha was stuck in the past. Then again, she'd noticed all the times that Ragatha's gaze would gloss over, she'd become unresponsive, she'd just sit there. Zooble used to do that too, but Gangle could pull them out of it pretty easily. When Ragatha was in that trance state, there was no getting her out of it. Gangle hadn't considered it being Ragatha stuck in the past but… it made sense in a way.

“Anyways, I've been studying the map as we've been walking,” Manuel stated, “Ragatha's around here somewhere, we're closing in on her icon.”

“Do you have any idea where?” Gangle squeaked, her mask shaking slightly.

“The map only shows me whereabouts,” Manuel explained as they rounded the corner, “But she should be down this…. Hall….”

Manuel stopped walking and it took a few beats for Gangle to do the same. The corridor in front of them ran yards upon yards with seemingly no end. Every three feet, a door. All of them identical, all of them staring back at the pair. Gangle heard her tragedy mask crack slightly, the pain of it shooting through her face. She quickly cowered back, behind Manuel. So many doors and they had no way of knowing which one would lead them to Ragatha, let alone which ones were safe.

“This is… not ideal,” Manuel admitted sheepishly, “I guess we can start on either side and work our way down?”

Gangle nodded meekly. The pair divided onto the two sides of the hall, beginning to open the doors.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Zooble hung by the door of the projection room, not wanting to venture any deeper while Pomni pulled up the map. Daisy was sitting on one of the desks, staring at Zooble curiously as they glared back at her. They looked away, crossing their arms as they tried to ignore the soft whimpers of the baby. They hated being around her, usually they were able to slip away but that wasn't an option right now. They didn't want to split up and leave Pomni alone, that would just be cruel on their part. So here they were, stuck pretending the quiet whines of the kit didn't make their muscles tense up in fear.

Pomni found the USB port on the projector fairly quickly, plugging it in as the machine jutted to a start. The room flashed white before a three dimensional image of the circus was projected around them. Pomni spun slightly to take it all in, the cape on her leotard waving from the movement. It was honestly impressive to her as her eyes traced the avatars on the air. Manuel and Gangle seemed to be near where Ragatha was. And her and Zooble? They were a small distance from Jax.

Pomni looked over at Zooble, the widgets still averting their eyes. Pomni's gaze flitted over to Daisy who had her bottom lip puffed out, tears starting to form in her eyes. Pomni picked up Daisy slowly before she approached Zooble, walking through the projection of Ragatha's location. Zooble could see Pomni getting closer and they shifted their shoulder away, not wanting her to try to talk to them. They were here to keep Manuel from doing something abstract to Daisy. They weren't here for small talk or deep conversations or anything in-between.

“We're a little ways away from Jax,” Pomni stated softly, looking over her shoulder then back at Zooble, “Thanks for coming with us, we–”

“Don't mention it,” Zooble cut her off, side eyeing Daisy, “Just get her away from me.”

Pomni looked down at Daisy who was reaching for Zooble again, “Right, I'm sorry. If you ever wanted to talk about–”

“I have Caine,” Zooble interrupted, “And she's a good listener.”

Pomni started to walk away, ready to leave them alone and make a game plan when she stopped. She didn’t have to let them just be short with her. Normally she would, but they were in serious danger and Zooble wasn’t even willing to consider opening up, or at least stop being such an %@#-hole whenever she reached out? Pomni hadn’t done anything to them but show up in the circus and marry Jax. Was that such a horrible crime? Someone was bound to do it anyway. Whether it was Pomni or someone else who had the misfortune of putting on that headset.

“Is there a reason why you don’t like me?” Pomni asked, turning around slowly, “Did I do something to upset or offend you?”

Zooble’s stoic face faltered temporarily, “Not inherently, I guess… Just– I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m not going to force you,” Pomni muttered, “But I at least want us to not have this weird tension between us.”

“There’s only tension because you’re acting like you care about me, when in all actuality, you don’t,” Zooble snapped, waving their right arm out widely, “None of you do! You just reach out to feel better about yourselves because if I abstract you’ll blame yourselves. Like I said, I have Caine, she’s all I need.”

There was a long beat of silence, too long. It crawled under Zooble’s plastic, clawing at their mind. They hated the quiet after they blew up. They hated the guilt they felt. They hated the way their muscles tightened, preparing to be hit with a belt. They hated everything, but especially the way that Daisy’s quiet whines filled the holes where conversation should’ve been. Why did Jax and Pomni have to have that fight? Why did Jax have to get pregnant? Why did she have to exist? In this space, a space where Zooble had thought they’d be safe.

“Why did Manuel call you a baby killer?” Pomni looked up slowly, her words soft on her tongue but harsh on Zooble’s ears.

“What?” Zooble stammered, their face contorting with discomfort. The fact that Manuel knew made them incredibly uncomfortable. They could’ve gone forever without telling anyone. But now Manuel had thrown a wrench in that. People were finding out things they never truly needed to know. And that scared them.

“Before we split up,” Pomni said, “Manuel called you a baby killer. Why?”

Zooble’s eyes darted away nervously, “I don’t– I don’t want to talk about that, Pomni.”

“Have you done something? In your past?” Pomni asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Zooble murmured, “Please, leave it alone.”

“Is that why you hate Daisy?” Pomni tilted her head.

“Pomni, please–”

“Is my daughter safe around you?”

Snap.

“I SAID TO DROP IT,” Zooble whipped their head, glaring at Pomni, “WHAT PART OF ‘I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT’ DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?! DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO NOSEY OR IS THAT JUST A PERK THAT CAME WITH THIS?!”

Zooble flicked Pomni’s clown nose and the jester stepped back, her pupils shrinking. Zooble’s breathing heaved as they stared down at her. Daisy’s whines turned into cries and Zooble felt their throat tighten as their torso cramped uncomfortably. They stepped back slowly, suddenly feeling cold as they looked over at Daisy, then down at their glitching hands.

“I’m sorry,” they muttered, “I’m going to step outside.”

Pomni didn’t have time to respond before they’d left. She looked down at Daisy, then over her shoulder at Jax’s avatar that spun aimlessly. She sighed, hoisting Daisy up higher before she returned to making a game plan.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Caine very rarely attempted to alter code. Sure, there was that test run she had done with Pomni and Jax a few weeks before that had ended pretty well, and they were none the wiser, but overall, she let the code run naturally. More than anything else, she hardly ever touched AI code. That was within Sun’s jobs and responsibilities. However, Caine was uncertain of how many AIs that Cerca had deemed unnecessary and proceeded to delete. She knew that Cerca was very unlikely to delete someone like Sun, since the celestial being had a great amount of the code of the circus spun coarsely as it wrapped around her white fingers.

Nonetheless, the ringmaster decided to pull up the AI code anyways, logging her password in as the active AI slowly popped up on screen. Sun and Moon’s code were the first to pop up. Spinning gently before they slid to the side, allowing Caine’s own code to pop up on screen. Caine’s code jutted and branched unnaturally, trying and failing to correct itself. She tried to ignore it, pulling up Manuel’s code. She figured it was about time she moved his over to the human folder, she still couldn’t believe they’d screwed that up so bad.

As Caine moved the code around, opening more projections on the wall, she began to hum to herself. She worked quickly, efficiently, trying to update locations on people. They tried to tap into their eyes, but none of them were functioning besides Jefferey who had made it very clear he hated when Caine used him to see while he wasn’t actively in her mouth. So Caine was out of luck, trying to locate Zooble or Jax or even Manuel at this point. Why hadn’t she kept those trackers on them? Well, because Zooble had convinced her not too.

The sound of a popping caused Caine to turn around quickly, Bubble behind them. Caine squinted at him as the AI stared back, blinking one eye then the other a few seconds later. Caine’s teeth furrowed in a silent mimicking of eyebrows. She waited for Bubble to say something, anything but the AI just seemed to float there, unaware of where he was at.

“I came to bring you this, boss!” Bubble exclaimed, his voice fluctuating and glitching. Caine watched intrigued, yet defensive. Bubble opened his mouth, his tongue rolling out with a sickening noise not dissimilar to a retch. On Bubble’s tongue was Pomni’s hat, except the yellow trim was traded for white lace and the red and blues that had been so iconic to her were dulled into muted pastels.

“Uh… Thank you, Bubble,” Caine hesitantly took the saliva covered hat, “I take it you ran into Jefferey?”

Bubble nodded. Caine looked down at the hat, their eyes tracing the hand stitching that was holding the pieces of fabric together haphazardly. Bubble glitched, drawing Caine’s attention back up to him. She tossed the hat on the lounge a few feet away from her, turning back to the projection. Pulling up Bubble’s code, everything seemed fine at first, before Caine zoomed in, squinting at the code. Was she seeing double?

“Uh, Bubble, have you always had two sets of code?” Caine looked over her shoulder at the AI that had started to vibrate aggressively, “That’s what I thought…”

Caine turned back to the projection, “Why couldn’t you have a code anomaly at a better time?”

“Sorry, boss!” Bubble glitched, “If it’s an inconvenience maybe next time you can make a better assistant!”

“Don’t get smart with me,” Caine grumbled, “Come here, let me fix you.”

Bubble floated over, staring at the projection. Caine snapped her fingers, spawning a cord into her hands, she plugged in one side to the keyboard set up with the projection, then plugged the other side into Bubble’s back. Bubble jolted at the feeling, looking over at Caine before he looked back up at his iridescent code with the green code lying beneath it.

“Do you know where Cerca is?” Caine asked calmly as their fingers clicked against the keyboard. The part of their processing systems that allowed them to feel was seemingly faulty, part of them felt angry and worried, and another part of them simply didn’t care. They understood the implications of the current situation the circus was in, but they couldn’t formulate enough emotions to harbor any feelings aside from their neutrality towards it.

“In your office!” Bubble exclaimed, “She wanted me to find you and take you back to her.”

“Right,” Caine muttered, “And you’re… not– going to do that?”

“Of course not, boss,” Bubble replied cheerfully, “I want you all to myself!”

“You’re a weird fellow, Bubble,” Caine whispered under her breath before continuing loudly, “Well, by my approximations, if we just delete this duplicate code you should be alright! Ready to be back to normal?”

Bubble nodded and Caine quickly typed in a string of commands before she hit enter. The room tilted sideways, the door slamming shut, locking the pair in as they started to slip down the slant of the floor. The light flickered in and out before the bulb exploded, showering Caine in the tiny glass microbes. Caine scrambled to climb back up, digging her hands into the hardwood floor. Her hands dislocated, popping out of their sockets and ripping away from her arms with a sickening tear as she slammed against the wall, hitting her head hard enough to knock out one of her back teeth.

A small pop and the room returned to normal as if nothing had happened. Caine groaned, slowly getting to her knees as she looked up at her hands still clutched in the floor. Looking down at her arms, she could see holes in the ends akin to sockets on a doll. They scooted over to their displaced hands, slipping the nubs at the end back into the sockets. They clicked back in place and Caine shook out her wrists, pushing herself to her feet.

“Well that’s new.” Caine dusted herself off, looking up. In front of her were two identical Bubbles floating side by side. They moved in unison as they stared down at Caine. She looked over at Pomni’s hat, then up at the Bubbles in front of her. She laughed hollowly to herself, “That’s new too.”

Chapter Text

Jax groaned as he turned over, the bed of mirror shards crunching beneath his weight. He pushed himself up slowly, looking down at the shards sticking out of his arms. He looked over his shoulder, the pieces lining his back as well. Jax sighed, beginning to pull the pieces out of his fur and skin. The shards didn’t really hurt, they were sort of just there. They were definitely an annoyance, though. Jax pulled them out, flicking them away when he was done. His paws made them difficult to pull out, his grasp slipping slightly.

“This is stupid,” Jax murmured as his ears twitched. All this because he was trying to help Ragatha. Well, now he knew better. Don’t help Ragatha unless he wants to get trapped in some backwards dimension. 

He started to orient himself with his surroundings. A dark empty space. Not dark in the sense of no light, but rather dark in the absence of anything. He could see everything just fine, there was just nothing to see. He stood up slowly, one of the shards lodging itself in the center pad on his right foot. He swore under his breath, pulling his food up as he pulled the piece out of his dark purple paw pad. The cut oozed a bit of blood, but nothing that was going to cause him any issue.

Thwap. A light turned on. Jax looked over at it as a melody started to play. The spotlight shown directly down on a crib. Jax could feel the fur on the back of his neck stand. Every fiber of his being was telling him to run. Instead, he approached it slowly. As he walked closer, the song got louder. The same song that played from the mobile that hung over Daisy’s crib. Jax could feel the thumping in his chest start to climb up to his throat.

The soft cries of a baby he knew wasn’t there started to penetrate his ears. His stomach twisted in knots, his legs shaking before he jogged towards the crib. Every step he took it felt like the crib was getting farther away. Jax tripped, stumbling forward as he fell forward, cushioning his blow with his paws. He lifted his head slowly, looking at the dainty crib with hand painted daisies on it, just like the ones he and Pomni had done when Daisy was only a few weeks old. The crisp yellow sheets started to distort and twist as blood started to pour out and down the front through the bars. Jax could feel himself begin to hyperventilate. This wasn’t okay, something was wrong. Daisy wasn’t safe.

“No,” Jax muttered quickly, scrambling to his feet, “No no no, she’s okay–”

Jax dashed to the crib, leaning over the edge. He hushed the form in the crib, reaching down as he scooped up the fussing avatar. He didn’t care about the blood running down his front as he cradled the form gently, rocking it back and forth. He turned his back to the crib, leaning against it as the avatar slowly stopped fussing in his arms. He ran a gentle paw underneath one of its eyes, the child blinking slowly at him to show its love. Jax sighed, hanging his head before nuzzling the child in his arms. The child started to purr, nuzzling deeper into Jax.

Jax pulled away slowly, staring down at the abstracted mass staring back at him. The form in front of him shook, trying to grab for Jax. She was scared, she needed help. Jax cupped her face, hushing her as she reached out for him, grabbing for his paws, his face, something, anything for her to hold onto. She grabbed one of his ears, her breathing becoming just a little more stable. Jax knew it was a farce, but he wanted to believe it, that she wasn’t too far gone.

“Jaxxy, I can’t see,” Ribbit whimpered, gripping him tightly, “I can’t– I can’t see–”

“I’m right here,” Jax whispered, pressing his forehead against hers, “I’m right here with you, you’re going to be okay, isn’t that right, Ribs?”

“I’m scared,” Ribbit cried, “Hold onto me, please.”

“Mmm, of course.” Jax wrapped his arms around her to hold her tightly, but instead he passed through, falling forward.

“Why did you let me go?”

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Zooble rocked themself back and forth slowly, trying to shake loose the memories that were starting to cloud their judgement. They felt horrible about how they’d blown up at Pomni, she hadn’t deserved that for just trying to be a good mother. Maybe Zooble didn’t connect because they didn’t understand. They’d never had a mother, let alone a mom. They didn’t know what good parenting was supposed to look like. They only knew what it wasn’t supposed to be.

The door opened slowly and Pomni stepped out, looking over at Zooble. Zooble looked up at her. Daisy was on her far hip, as far away from Zooble that Pomni could get her without leaving her unsupervised. Zooble looked away, scratching at one of the sores that had started to form on their torso. They didn’t know if Pomni was going to talk or if she was going to just keep moving, going to find Jax. Zooble didn’t have a preference if they were being honest.

“Are you cool if we talk?” Pomni asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Zooble nodded, watching as Pomni sat down on the floor, keeping Daisy in her lap. The two sat in silence for a few beats, neither of them wanting to break it. Zooble was scared of saying the wrong thing and Pomni was scared to upset Zooble again. They shared a look before quickly averting their eye contact.

“I’m sorry I tried to push you to talk,” Pomni apologized, looking over at Zooble again, “That wasn’t fair of me, and it isn’t something I should’ve been so… adamant about.”

“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did,” Zooble responded quickly, “I should’ve removed myself from the situation sooner, you had every right to ask those questions.”

“Still,” Pomni looked away, “I feel bad…”

Zooble stared at her, “The answer is yes. Yes, Daisy is safe around me. I’m not going to hurt her or you or Jax. I just…”

“Don’t like her, I understand,” Pomni picked up Zooble’s sentence, “I never really liked kids before Daisy, and now I love her with my whole heart. Not saying you and Caine should–”

“NO–” Zooble protested loudly, “No– Caine and I are NOT having kids– Like, ever–”

Pomni saw the pure fear in Zooble’s eyes. It was that same look she had the first time Jax shut the door behind him instead of leaving it open. That look of a deer in headlights. You know something terrible could happen, but you can’t run from it. Pomni knew that look all too well, because she gave that look all the time.

“No, you don’t have to!” Pomni tried to reassure them, “I’m just saying, I understand.”

Zooble looked away slowly, but she didn’t understand, that was the problem. She probably wouldn’t ever understand because it was such a niche thing to go through. No one could understand and that’s why they never told anyone. Or maybe it was because the more people they told, the more real it would be. And they didn’t want it to be real. If it was real, that would mean that so many people had failed them in life, and they didn’t know if they could handle that.

“I don’t hate Daisy,” Zooble muttered, “I know, from the outside looking in, it would seem like I do. But I… She–” Zooble looked for the words, “I had a miscarriage.”

“Like… recently?” Pomni raised a brow, tilting her head.

“No,” Zooble shook their head, “When I was younger, in school. I got pregnant, I couldn’t keep the baby, I didn’t want the baby. So I did what I knew how, I took a pill cocktail and waited it out.”

“Oh, Zooble…” Pomni stared at them, “That’s terrible, I’m sorry–”

Zooble shrugged, itching at their sore again, “It’s not like you can do anything about it. It’s just crying. When she cries, when she whines, when she reaches those dumb little paws towards me begging for me to hold her– I can’t do it, I can’t.”

“She’s a walking trigger,” Pomni whispered. Zooble nodded and Pomni looked down at Daisy. That made so much more sense than Zooble just hating kids. She brushed some of Daisy’s fur out of her eyes, the kit giggling as she looked up at Pomni. Pomni smiled warmly before her blood ran cold at her own memories.

“I had something bad happen to me,” Pomni muttered, “I don’t really want to talk about it in depth, but Jax knows. Jax is… very protective of me because of it. Being here, in the circus, with no way out, no escape, no matter how many times we ask to leave, we say no… There’s no exit. We’re stuck here.”

Zooble listened before they muttered, “When Ragatha said you couldn’t say no–”

“That’s why Jax fought back,” Pomni confirmed, “He’s just trying to take care of me.”

Zooble would’ve smiled if they had a mouth, that was actually… really sweet of Jax. Zooble wasn’t Jax’s number one fan, but it was a little endearing that he genuinely cared so much about Pomni. About Daisy. They hadn’t seen him care that much since Ribbit. They didn’t know if that was good or bad. Sure, it was great that Jax had found someone, but losing someone again, that could ruin him. That could mean the end of the purple bunny.

The sores on Zooble’s torso began to hurt more and Zooble looked down, scratching at them. The sores were a relatively new development, but they’d begun to swell and hurt in ways that Zooble hadn’t known in years. Sooble’s eyes narrowed as they looked at one of the sores, something moving rhythmically beneath the surface. Zooble scrambled back slowly, as if running away would do anything to stop whatever was happening. 

Zooble’s torso clicked unnaturally as they felt the squirming under the other sores. They started to hyperventilate, realizing nothing was going to stop them. They started scratching at their sores, not by their own device. They felt one of the swells start to pulsate before it started to tear open. Zooble could see Pomni shove Daisy’s face into her chest to try and shield her from whatever was happening to Zooble’s avatar, shrinking back herself. Zooble didn’t blame her, if they could run away, they would.

Zooble shouted in pain as one of the sores ripped open, their head slamming back against the floor as more and more of them burst open, oozing puss. Zooble shuddered as the sores continued to rip, their eyes squeezed shut. When it was finally done, Zooble opened their eyes slowly, clearly disoriented by the whole ordeal. They pushed themself up slowly, looking around, but something was weird with their vision. They felt like it was an out of body experience and when they looked down, they realized why.

All the pink spots that lined their torso had opened up into eyes. Zooble stood up quickly, looking down at their torso, every single one of their eyes blinking in unison. Zooble looked up at Pomni slowly, their breathing uneven as they tried to calm themself down. Pomni slowly got to her feet, looking at Zooble, then all of their eyes that were still oozing various liquids.

“Okay,” Pomni stammered, “This– this is fine! We’ll figure this out!”

“Pomni,” Zooble whispered, looking at their eyes, then back at Pomni, “I can see out of all of these.”

Pomni froze, “That’s– Uhm… Okay, let’s be calm about this and–”

“I HAVE FIVE HUNDRED %@$#-ING EYES, POMNI,” Zooble panicked, “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STAY CALM?!”

“I don’t… know,” Pomni admitted.

Chapter Text

Gangle was ready to give up. They’d tried what felt like a thousand doors and her ribbon body had begun to wilt into lace. While her avatar’s changes hadn’t been painful so far, something in the back of her mind was warning her to not trust it or anything. Manuel had flopped onto the floor by one of the few plants in the hall. He’d already given up while Gangle was still trying doors. She didn’t want to surrender any possible chances of finding Ragatha. Obviously she wasn’t going to be lost forever, but any period of time was too long to be comfortable for Gangle.

Gangle walked over to Manuel, slowly sitting down beside him. She sat criss-cross as she stared ahead of them. Neither of them spoke. Perhaps neither of them felt the need to speak, but the more likely answer was they didn’t have much in common. From Gangle’s perspective at least, they were vastly different from one another. Gangle loved Ragatha. Gangle was soft spoken, shy, she felt like she didn’t belong. And Manuel? Well, Manuel wasn’t.

Manuel looked over at Gangle, not sure about if he should reach out or just sit in the silence. He pulled his knees to his chest, wiping off some more of the chipped varnish. His joints were beginning to stiffen to the point where moving was difficult, that’s the main reason why he was sitting on the floor. He didn’t feel like he could stand up, but he knew that if he didn’t he’d be stuck there for the foreseeable future.

“I think we should get back to it.” Manuel started to stand up before he tumbled back down. Gangle got to her feet, extending her hand to him to help him up. Manuel flinched as she reached out to him and Gangle noticed the fear in his eyes. Gangle wiggled her hand as the red ribbon turned to dirtied lace. Manuel took it slowly, letting Gangle’s lace wrap around his hand, helping him to his feet.

“I’m not sure Ragatha could be behind any of these doors,” Gangle whimpered, “I’m starting to think this is a waste of time…”

“You really don’t have much confidence, do you?” Manuel said, approaching a door and opening it. There was nothing behind the door but a large, pristine lake.

“No… Sorry…” Gangle muttered, feeling embarrassed. She opened a door, seeing a large swamp before she slammed the door shut.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Manuel replied, “I guess I just expected someone like you to have a little more faith in finding Ragatha. I mean, you’re pretty, you’re nice, you’re soft spoken.”

“So you think I should have more confidence in stuff?” Gangle asked, looking at her hands, “Because I’m… different?”

“Sure,” Manuel nodded, grabbing another door, “A little hope never killed anyone.”

“Is that what kept you going when you were alone?” Gangle asked, walking up behind him. Manuel froze, his heart stopping. He hadn’t expected her to mention that and it had honestly slipped his mind for a moment. He could feel the varnish on his face heat up and chip away, smoking but barely noticeable to anyone not looking.

Gangle squeaked, realizing she’d made a mistake, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to–”

“No,” Manuel looked at her, “It’s okay… Yes, hope kept me going. Cerca gave me hope, but now I can give myself hope.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I trust you,” Gangle smiled, a tear falling naturally, “And I think you’re kind hearted and cute.”

“Thanks, Gangle,” Manuel sighed before he pulled the door open.

On the other side of the door was the inside of a toyshop. The shop looked wrecked, all the porcelain dolls were on the floor, shattered into a thousand pieces. Manuel was ready to close the door when Gangle grabbed the ball joint that was his wrist. They shared a look and the masked character shook her head slowly. She had a gut feeling that Ragatha was in here. So Gangle pushed through into the room, carefully stepping over the piles of porcelain shards.

Manuel followed after her, looking over his shoulder. He wanted to venture deeper, but he hovered in the door frame. He didn’t want to get locked in. He’d already spent so many years locked away, he couldn’t do it again. Not so soon. So he hesitated by the door, knowing he had just talked a big game about confidence while standing here, staring at Gangle with unkempt fear. Gangle looked back at him, smiling with the ends of her mouth turned down. A bittersweet smile, an attempt to tell him everything would be okay.

Gangle could hear what sounded like a soft scuttle, following the noise that led to muffled whimpers and cries. Gangle was hesitant, not sure if she should trust what she’s about to find. The noise led her to the counter with the registers. Gangle placed her lace hands on the counter slowly, pushing herself to look over. On the other side, curled up in the fetal position, was a crying porcelain doll. Her amber hair was a mess as centipedes crawled over her and quickly ran away from Gangle, hiding in the dark. Gangle didn’t recognize the doll. At first. Then, it clicked.

“Ragatha?” Gangle murmured. The porcelain doll lifted her head slowly, opening her only eye. The doll seemed to shake, gradually sitting up as she reached out towards Gangle, recognition in her dark eye.

“Gangle?” She whispered before the two touched hands and the doll’s molded smile felt genuine, “Gangle, I was so scared.”

Ragatha jumped up, tackling Gangle to the floor. Gangle wrapped her lace limbs around Ragatha’s slender, cold body. The two kissed deeply, holding onto each other. Ragatha felt the tears start to roll down her cheeks, gliding naturally across the smoothness of her skin. Gangle traced Ragatha’s face slowly, pressing gentle kisses into her girlfriend’s new porcelain skin. Gangle didn’t care what Ragatha looked like or felt like, just that it was her. Gangle would recognize her anywhere, no matter what body she was in. That felt oddly reassuring to Gangle; knowing that no matter what, she’d be able to find her love.

Manuel cleared his throat awkwardly and the couple looked up at him, “Sorry to… break up the reunion, but we should go back and find the others, we have a limited amount of time before Cerca’s ready to play…”

Gangle nodded in agreement as Ragatha stood up, helping her to her feet. The two walked out, Ragatha checking her surroundings before she breathed a sigh of relief, stepping out into the hallway, her skirt swishing behind her. Gangle stepped out behind her, Manuel shutting the door quickly as it faded from the wall along with all the other doors around them. The hallways seemed to be shortened, like it had never been long to begin with, and they were ready to back track their way to the others.

“Thanks for coming to find me,” Ragatha looked over at Manuel as they walked, “I know I’m not your… favorite person in the world.”

“I didn’t have another choice,” Manuel stated shortly, “Your thanks is unnecessary.”

Ragatha looked away, feeling guilty as she walked.

“I appreciate you coming with me,” Gangle smiled, “It was nice to have company that doesn’t treat me like I’m fragile for once.”

Ragatha looked over at Gangle who was walking closer to Manuel. She felt her heart ache watching as her girlfriend got along with the same man that had tied her up and berated her, treated her terribly. She looked away, crossing her arms slowly. She didn’t deserve to be loved anyways, what had she ever done to earn that?

“I view everyone as someone who is strong enough to fight a war,” Manuel nodded, looking over at Ragatha, “Almost everyone, that is.”

Gangle smiled, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly, “Well thank you~”

Manuel squeezed her hand back before it slipped away as she jogged forward to walk with Ragatha. Manuel watched Gangle kiss her cheek, nuzzling her mask into Ragatha’s wavy hair that glistened under the lights of the circus tent. Manuel wished he had someone like that, anyone like that. Someone who loved him enough to risk everything for him. He looked down at his hands that had chipped away to be a pristine white. That wasn’t for him, he didn’t deserve that, apparently. Manuel sighed, maybe he should’ve stayed with the AI, that’s where he’d felt the most welcomed. If a welcoming AI truly existed, that was.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

Jax stared down at his paws, picking the lint off of his yellow gloves. He was tired, worn out, his eyelids were heavy, his head hung low. He was so drained from all of this, he just wanted to be done. The hallucinations had stopped for the time being, allowing him a few moments of peace, something he rarely got anymore. He was ready to sleep, but he knew he needed to find a way out.

The loud creak echoed through the room as a partition of light began to envelop the rabbit. He looked up slowly, noticing two figures in the doorway. Pomni? Zooble? He jumped up quickly, racing towards them, forgetting about the fact that a few moments before he’d been too tired to even lift his head. Pomni let out a quiet ‘oof’ when he hugged her tightly, sandwiching Daisy between them. Zooble leaned against the doorway, watching the family as they waited for Jax to pull away.

Jax pulled away slowly, running his paw against Pomni’s cheek before he kissed Daisy’s forehead. The baby giggled and Pomni handed her off to him, allowing Jax to put the small girl on his shoulders. He turned to look at Zooble who was staring back at him with far too many eyes. More eyes than he had originally remembered. Had all their pink dots on their orange torso always been eyes or was that a new development?

“Stop staring, you look stupid.” Zooble rolled all of their eyes, looking away.

“I look– I look stupid? As in me?” Jax laughed, “You’re the one with, like, a gazillion eyes, Zoobie.”

“&@#^ off.” Zooble turned around, leading them down the hall.

“In front of my daughter?” Jax feigned offence, “Seriously? You’re swearing in front of kids?”

“Did you have a whole conversation about safe words in front of her?” Zooble looked over their shoulder, “You’re going to draw the line at swearing?”

“If I remember correctly, Zoobie, you were a part of that conversation.”

“Blow me, Jax.”

“Name a time and place.”

“Seriously?” Pomni interrupted, “Is this how you two are? You just… fight?”

Jax and Zooble stopped walking, turning to look at Pomni. The pair bursted out in laughter and Pomni stood there confused. Was she missing something? Had they not just been throwing attacks back and forth? Pomni hadn’t really seen the two interact this much since Daisy was born, so she had no way to properly gauge how their relationship was before. She had only been in the circus for a few months when Jax had gotten pregnant. Then Jax became her main focus, she never truly had time for relationships outside Jax and the baby.

“Get this, Zooble,” Jax laughed, wiping a tear from his eye, “PomPom thinks this is us fighting, that’s cute~”

Zooble’s laughing was a little more controlled as they spoke, “Pomni, seriously? You’ve seen us fight before.”

“Yeah, like that time that I tossed Gangle into the frozen lake,” Jax exclaimed, “Or when I stole one of Ragatha’s arms, that was a hassle to tear the stitching out of.”

“No, this isn’t us fighting,” Zooble’s eyes were bright like they were smiling, “This is actually us getting along.”

Jax and Zooble turned around, continuing to walk. Pomni chased after them, “Wait, but… it sounds exactly the same? How do you guys tell the difference?”

“We don’t!” Jax beamed.

“Eugh,” Zooble grumbled, before adding, “We know the difference, trust me. If we were fighting, we wouldn’t be walking right now.”

“We were friends at one point, Pomni,” Jax noted, “Before they started tapping the ^@$ of that whiny lesbian.”

“Yeah,” Zooble looked down, their expression emotionless, “Gangle kind of drove a wedge between us.”

There’s a few beats of silence in remembrance of what once was of a friendship. Nothing but the soft babbles of Daisy on Jax’s shoulders and the trio’s footsteps fill the hall they were walking down. Eventually the silence was filled with Jax and Pomni entertaining Daisy’s babbles as they continued to walk and Zooble just listened, letting the couple humor their baby as they continued on. If it wasn’t so grinding to hear the kit’s babbling, Zooble might actually find it cute or endearing. But they didn’t, so they didn’t bother adding anything to the conversation that was basically Jax and Pomni muttering ‘oh yeah?’ and ‘is that so?’ in response to Daisy pointing at random items and making random sounds. Zooble didn’t understand babies or the wonder surrounding them.

They continued, veering right as they walked back toward the place they’d started at. The circus tent seemed to have deteriorated even more than before. Jax noticed how there were holes in the fabric, floating debris. Like a whole construction team had taken to it haphazardly to try to get it taken down as soon as possible with no regards for safety regulations. It made Jax a little uneasy, his muscles tensing slightly as they continued on.

Soon, they saw a moving object come towards them, Jax flinched slightly before realizing it wasn’t debris being flung, but instead a being coming their way. The group stopped in their tracks as a star shaped creature came into view. Pomni tilted her head. It almost looked like a disfigured eye, that was… odd. Pomni looked over at Jax and Zooble to take a cue on how to react but she really couldn’t get any clear hints towards how she was supposed to feel. So she took a step back, allowing Jax to lead in this scenario.

Zooble recognized the eye instantly. Caine would send him after them to give them love notes whenever they were in their nook. They crossed their arms slowly, taking a step back as they were a little skeptical of why he was there. There could’ve been a multitude of reasons, or he could’ve even been a drone. There was no way for any of them to be certain.

“Jefferey,” Zooble muttered, squinting at him, “What are you doing here?”

The eye spun around before spawning a mini top hat and cane. He danced a bit before the items poofed away. Pomni let out a quiet chuckle as she watched, whoever Jefferey was, he was entertaining to her at the very least. But when she looked up at Daisy, she could see the look of amusement on her face as well.

“Caine sent you?” Zooble tilted their head, their eyes widening, “W-wait… she’s– Caine’s alive? She’s okay? Breathing, walking, talking?”

Jefferey nodded and Zooble felt a huge weight be lifted off of them. It had felt like a boulder was crushing them and now they felt free, like they had so much more space to exist. Caine was alive and that was good, that was grand. Zooble inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly as they slumped forward with relief.

“Why did Caine send you?” Jax asked.

Jefferey spun around quickly before doing short Jazz hands.

“Because of Cerca?” Jax’s eyes narrowed, “What about Cerca? Is she coming for us or–?”

Jefferey shook his head before he mimed a few more things.

“Oooohhhhh,” Zooble and Jax muttered in unison.

Pomni looked between them, finally stepping forward, “Wait, so do you guys actually understand what it’s saying?”

“It’s a he,” Zooble started, “And yes, all of us speak Jefferey.”

“I don’t think that’s a language,” Pomni started to point out when Jax pressed his paw against her lips.

“Hush, baby,” Jax said, “It is now.”

“Jefferey is Caine’s green eye,” Zooble explained, “He can share messages with us, but he usually stays in the mouth.”

“Unless Caine can’t see us to find us,” Jax added, “Then Jefferey comes out to play.”

“For lack of a better explanation….. What Jax said,” Zooble confirmed before turning to the eye, “Thanks Jefferey, you can tell Caine we’re on our way.”

“Thaaaaanks Jeff,” Jax teased, grinning at the eyeball that's hand was censored before flying away.

Zooble sighed, feeling much more relieved than they had since this whole ordeal began. They looked over at Jax who was tapping his foot anxiously, staring off while Daisy pulled on some of his fur. Pomni nudged him gently and Jax jumped, pulling the babe off his shoulders, handing her off to Pomni as he wrapped his arms around himself slowly.

The three began walking again, but this time Zooble fell back, walking beside Jax as he stared down at the cracking tile. Pomni led the way, which both of them were fine with. Zooble stepped closer to Jax, nudging his arm. Jax looked down at them a bit confused until they held up their hand. Jax scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He wasn’t going to do that. Zooble glared at him and he sighed, reluctantly placing his paw in their hand. Zooble shook their head, looking forward.

“You know you’re an %@$-hole?” Jax muttered.

“Yeah,” Zooble replied shortly, “But do you know how long it's been since we got along?”

Jax hesitated, looking away, “I saw Ribbit when I wasn’t with you guys. Digital Hallucinations, I think.”

“Mmm,” Zooble nodded, they’d figured it was something like that, “What’d she say?”

“How much she cared about me,” Jax squeezed their hand, “Do you think they’re still somewhere in there?”

“I don’t really know,” Zooble admitted, “If she was anything like Kaufmo after he abstracted…”

Jax swallowed hard, looking away, “I still miss them, is that okay? I mean, I know I have Pomni and Daisy, and I love my girls to death but–”

“You feel like life would be more complete if Ribbit was one of them too,” Zooble interrupted, “Loss is hard, I’m proud of you for moving on.”

Jax looked over at them, “Tch, don’t get all emotional here on me, Zoobie. God, I don’t want to get your cooties or something.”

“And yet you’re still holding my hand,” Zooble noted, “Funny how tough times bring people together.”

“Hmm,” Jax looked down at his paw interlocked with Zooble’s hand, “What if–”

“No,” Zooble cut him off, “Don’t ruin the moment, just let us coexist.”

“Ugh, fine,” Jax rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance, “But I will be stealing one of your pieces when we’re all done with this.”

“Steal all of them, I don’t care,” Zooble muttered, “Caine’ll make me new ones.”

The pair walked a few paces behind Pomni still. Pomni smiled to herself, happy that the two were getting along. It was nice to not have a huge fight break out for once. Maybe Zooble was right, maybe tough times truly did bring people together. For better or for worse.

Chapter Text

Ragatha kicked her legs back and forth as she looked over at the rest of the group talking. She didn’t want to intrude on the conversation, and she’d seen how Jax had stared at her when he caught sight of her. That kind of look that shouted judgement with a twinge of jealousy. She didn’t want to be a part of the group when everyone was going to judge her for how much she had changed. Why had Ragatha changed more than Jax and Pomni? Or even Zooble, by the look of the eyes lacing their torso instead of their usual mauve dots. She’d changed so much in comparison to the others, though she did notice the lace for Gangle’s body and the chipping varnish on Manuel’s hands and arms.

“Hey, kitten,” Gangle sat down beside Ragatha on the chunk of marble, “Whatcha doing out here by yourself?”

“Just,” Ragatha rubbed her arm gently, “Don’t feel like I belong, you know?”

“I think you belong as much as anyone else here,” Gangle smiled, tilting her mask slowly, “You’re just as important as all of us!”

Ragatha looked over at Gangle. She knew her girlfriend wasn’t lying, but part of her was saying that she was. That Gangle was making this up so she’d stop feeling sorry for herself. Ragatha looked away slowly, starting to run her fingers through her hair. She felt Gangle wrap her lacey arm around her waist, pulling Ragatha closer as Gangle started to nuzzle her neck. Ragatha pushed her away, blushing furiously and turning her head away as if her being flustered would be some sort of crime.

“Gangle~!” Ragatha giggled as Gangle trailed kisses along her porcelain cheek and neck.

Jax looked over his shoulder at Ragatha and Gangle as the two giggled. He smiled, rolling his eyes before turning back to the group. They were figuring out what they were going to do now that they were all together and relatively safe. Pomni shifted her weight, trying to stop Daisy from fussing in her arms, the baby clearly not happy with the fact that they were just standing around talking and not paying her any attention.

“Should we really trust Caine?” Manuel asked, looking at Jax, then Pomni, “I mean, not to be rude, but she is a part of Cerca.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zooble started, “You think she’s evil too? Say it, say you think she’s evil–”

“That’s not what I meant,” Manuel looked at them shortly, “I mean, I don’t know how connected the two still are. There’s a chance that Cerca could use her as a puppet of sorts–”

“Caine isn’t like that,” Zooble shook their head, “She’s much more resilient than that. Jefferey said she was in her office in the AI hallway, I’m telling you, we can trust her. I trust her.”

“You BOINK her,” Manuel snapped, “^@# and trust are two VERY different things–”

“POMNI,” Zooble whipped their head to look at the jester, “Do you trust Jax?”

“Uh… Yeah? We’re married, I’d hope I do?” Pomni tilted her head.

“And they don’t BOINK.” Zooble looked back at Manuel.

Jax blinked quickly, looking over at Zooble, “Uh, yes we do? Not like you and Caine do, but we totally BOINK.”

“Can we stop talking about ^@$?” Pomni whispered, “I trust Caine too, maybe that’s stupid, but I trust her.”

Pomni and Zooble looked over at Jax. Jax tapped his foot quickly, his crossed arms tightly. He didn’t want to be the deciding factor in this, but he knew he had to be. He sighed, hanging his head slowly. He shook his head, “Tch, yeah, I trust the cavity ridden freak too.”

Manuel twitched, “Fine. We’ll go to her office. But don’t act surprised if something goes wrong.”

Zooble glared at him shortly. Did he have to be so negative? Something about all of this just rubbed them the wrong way. They didn’t think they could trust him. He’d switched up so quickly, what was stopping him from switching up on them again? Zooble crossed their arms, taking half a step back, looking away from the group. They started to walk away, wanting to remove themself from the scenario. They didn’t see a point in staying in the conversation when Manuel was actively a part of it.

Pomni watched Zooble walk away, noticing the eyes lining their back closing back into the pink dots. Daisy whined briefly, snapping Pomni back to the moment as she looked over at Manuel and Jax who were continuing the conversation. Pomni bushed her fingers through her daughter’s fur gently, the small girl wrapping her arms around Pomni as she began to purr just like her father would when he got happy.

“How far away would you say we are?” Jax asked, watching as Manuel pulled up the internal image of the map that neither he nor Pomni could actually see or interact with.

“Mmm, not too far, an hour’s walk, maximum,” Manuel muttered, hovering his hand through the air as he traced an invisible pathway, “Although, it may take longer if there are drones in the area. We’ll need to stick together as much as possible, but worse comes to worst, we’ll need partners in case we get split up.”

“I’ll take Zooble,” Jax said quickly before looking at Pomni, “Look, it’s been years since Zoobie and I got along, I just… I just want to get to know them better.”

“That’s okay, I can take Manuel!” Pomni smiled and nodded as Gangle and Ragatha joined the group.

“Actually,” Gangle squeaked, “If we’re splitting up into groups, I wouldn’t mind tagging along with you, Pomni. We don’t really talk that much, I’d like to get to know you in a lower stakes environment!”

“Oh! And leave… me with Manuel?” Ragatha murmured, “I guess–”

“Oh– Or, I can take Manuel,” Gangle replied quickly, “We actually have a lot in common!”

“Uhm–” Ragatha rubbed her neck nervously, “Gangle, don’t you want to… stay with me?”

Gangle blushed, “Well yeah, but… I’m scared to see something bad happen to you.”

Ragatha took a step back, looking over at Jax as he jogged over to talk to Zooble. Ragatha crossed her arms, looking away, “Yeah… I’ll stick with Manuel…”

Gangle shrunk slightly, looking over at Pomni, then Ragatha, “Maybe we should… talk about this–”

“No,” Ragatha shook her head quickly, “I’m alright with Manuel, this could be a good time to… apologize.”

Manuel looked at Ragatha, taking a step away, “Yeah… Among other things–”

Pomni looked over at Jax and Zooble who were laughing, shoving each other playfully. She looked back at the group, Ragatha avoiding eye contact with anyone as she stared at the floor, standing beside Manuel. Ganagle slowly walked over to Pomni’s side, crossing her own arms as she looked over at Daisy who reached out for Gangle to hold her. Pomni handed Daisy off to her and Gangle nuzzled the kit happily.

“We should head out now,” Manuel suggested, “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can put things back to normal… The sooner you guys can get rid of me again…”

“Hey,” Pomni murmured, looking at him, “We’re not getting rid of you, you’re one of us now, okay? You’re part of the group now.”

Ragatha’s eye widened, looking up at Pomni as if she was betrayed by Pomni’s words before she quickly looked away. Pomni furrowed her brow slowly. Had she said something wrong? Was Manuel not one of them too? She was confused now. She looked over at Gangle who was nodding, smiling at Manuel in confirmation of what Pomni had said.

“Let’s just move out.” Manuel sighed.

*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*

“Okay,” Caine looked between the two Bubbles that blinked and moved in unison, “Two Bubbles means–”

“Double the fun?” The Bubble on the left grinned with his sharp teeth.

“Double the chaos?” The Bubble on the right offered.

“Neither of those,” Caine muttered. She pulled up their individual code. This little mishap was taking away any extra time she had to dedicate to tracking down the others. However, two Bubbles meant a multitude of things. For one, it meant that Cerca was most definitely altering code. For two, it meant that Caine had never fixed the reproduction glitch that had resulted in Daisy. Double Bubble, double trouble; as it were.

Caine pulled up the first Bubble’s iridescent code beside the second Bubble’s green code. She looked between them before flying over to her desk, quickly rooting through the NPC designs she had conjured up for future adventures. In the middle of the stack was a blueprint for a bubblewand. A design she’d tossed aside given the Magic Bubble Kingdom Adventure had been scrapped due to a lack of interest from possible participating parties at the time. However, the avatar still existed in the files of the circus. She just needed a temporary way to tell them apart until she could delete the extra AI that had spawned from the original Bubble.

She motioned for the Bubble on the right to join her at the keyboard, plugging the same cord into them as before. Her fingers moved quickly along the keyboard as she continued to move code around. Opening the files for this Bubble’s avatar, she quickly punched in the series of numbers for an avatar update. Pressing enter, a loading bar appeared as she floated back from the keyboard, slightly proud of her work.

“Alright,” Caine nodded, crossing her arms, “Bubble–”

“Yes, Boss?” They both said in unison. This was… freaky. Too freaky for even Caine.

“You’re Bubble,” Caine pointed at the original Bubble model, then she pointed at the one hooked up to the keyboard, “We’ll call you uh– Wanda, sure, we’ll go with that.”

“Right, Boss!” Bubble nodded shortly.

“Anyways,” Caine cleared her throat, “Once Jefferey returns, we’ll have a better idea of what we need to do!”

Caine looked over at Wanda hooked up to the keyboard, their form already starting to glitch and update as the loading bar slowly filled. Caine crossed her arms, before she looked down at her torso, something she had yet to do given the rushed nature of her trying to find everyone. She noticed the curvature of her chest, hesitating. That wasn’t right. She quickly snapped a mirror into the room, floating over to it. She stared into her reflection, her pupil shrinking as she backed away. Teeth jutted out of her gums haphazardly, sharp and yellowed. Her body was feminine, something she couldn’t say she really liked all that much. Her breasts, her arms, her hips and the way they swayed. She backed away, ashamed of what she’d become.

“My avatar,” she whispered to herself, “Why…”

Caine quickly snapped the mirror away, trying to distract themself with anything else. They’d started to gather that Cerca was changing things– ‘started’ was an understatement– but they were entirely unaware that their avatar was on her list of to-do’s. They didn’t like that. They were quite comfortable in their usual avatar, flat chest, broad shoulders, small waist and hips. They liked that version of themself. Now? Well, now they looked like one of the girls Gangle would draw in her sketchbook. It was weird, it was foreign, it was… wrong.

As they started to pace slightly, Jefferey flew into the room, announcing his presence with a throw of confetti. Caine rushed over to him as the eye spun happily, relaying the situation with Zooble and the others to Caine.

“Zooble is alright?” Caine’s other eye lit up, “And with Jax and Pomni?”

Jefferey nodded before cradling its limbs to mock holding a baby.

“And Daisy,” Caine felt a weight lift off her chest, “Cerca didn’t get Daisy… Thank… Thank fuck–”

“Language!” Bubble exclaimed and Caine looked over their shoulder at him before she spawned her cane, reaching over to pop the pest. Bubble dodged the attack and Caine was about to make another attempt when Jefferey pulled her attention back. Caine looked over at him and Jeffery spun around, his pupil turning to a star before returning to normal.

“You thought you saw Manuel?” Caine tilted their head, “The muppet?”

“I'm pretty sure he’s a mannequin,” Bubble corrected.

“I know that–!” Caine snapped, looking over at him, “Can’t you go bother someone else?”

“Everyone else is dead!” Bubble spun and Caine stared at him briefly. Whether or not that was true, that wasn’t Caine’s concern at the moment.

“So Manuel’s with them?” Caine asked, “So they’re not safe then…?”

Jefferey shrugged, pulling his limbs about to mimic being pulled by strings.

“You said they were safe,” Caine murmured, floating over to the keyboard as she started typing, “If they’re with Manuel, there’s no way that they’re safe…”

Jefferey floated over, staring up at the projection. Caine’s eye flitted from the projection to Jefferey. Manuel was in cahoots with Cerca, right? Had she missed a chapter? She drummed her fingers against the spacebar before she grabbed Jefferey, squeezing him like a squeeze toy. She shoved him back into her mouth despite his attempts to break free.

“Back in you go,” Caine muttered, blinking as the second half of their vision returned, “There! Jefferey and Mallory, both where they belong. Now, Wanda, let’s figure out your code.”

Caine quickly pulled up the new string of code as she started to type. She glanced over at Wanda who had changed finally to the bubblewand, green plastic floating beside them. She needed to distract herself from the issues at hand. Because at this point, there wasn’t much she could do.