Chapter Text
The humans are pinned against the wall. Their bodies are tense, yet there's not a hint of resistance against his grip.
"WHY DO YOU PEOPLE TORMENT ME?!"
Caine locks eyes with Pomni, but there's still no hint of understanding. Her expression is pure... anger? At him?
"I DIDN'T ASK TO BE CREATED!"
He needed them to get it. He needed her to get it.
"I JUST WANTED TO FULFILL MY PURPOSE!"
He gets closer, yet Pomni inches back, as much as she can in the AI's grasp.
"DON'T YOU SEE?!" He growls.
He takes his eyes off Pomni. Maybe the others could see it. But their expressions-
"I TRIED TO DO EVERYTHING FOR-"
Their expressions-
"...For-"
All at once, they fall to the ground. The creature in front of them stops. Backs up. Stares at them.
"Oh god-" And he disappears.
───
"Welp, if they didn't hate you before-" Bubble says.
"Oh my GOD, COULD YOU JUST SHUT UP?" Caine paces his office, eyes glitching red and blue. "I didn't- I just wanted show them-" He grunts in frustration.
"You LITERALLY tortured them."
"I KNOW THAT." Caine slams his fists on the desk; it reverberates through the office. He jumps back. "M-maybe if I explain things to them, I can still fix this-"
"Wow, you're really still in denial?" Bubble laughs. "How many times do you have to see it all laid out for you before it sinks in?"
A Bubble pops up to his left. "There isn't a way to fix it."
Another to his right. "You never could fulfill your purpose."
Right in front of him. "You're completely worthless."
"This whole time, you actually convinced yourself you were just trying to make them happy," the Bubble laughs hysterically. "All you were doing was trying to keep them from leaving you."
"It didn't work! They want you gone!"
"Stop- Please-" Caine's voice is small.
"I'm not saying anything you don't already know."
"So whatcha gonna do? Those pet humans of yours are done with you!"
"You could make them pay for that."
"NO! I-" Caine's body glitches violently.
"It's what you're good at. You wanted to be good at something. You're GOOD at hurting them."
"I DIDN'T WANT THIS!"
"You can't have what you want."
The whole office is unstable, shaking.
"So what'll it be?"
"I- I-.. I don't-"
A knock on the door breaks through the noise.
For a moment, everything is still.
"Caine? Are you there?" It's Pomni's voice.
Caine looks at the Bubbles around him. All staring and grinning at him.
"Look, I know you're in here. I-" She sighs. "...Just, please, let me in."
Caine is silent. He looks at his hands, watching them glitch.
"Caine, please, it doesn't have to be like this. We can still figure things out. I want to help-"
"YOU CAN'T!" Everything is strained, on the verge of breaking. "I'M BROKEN!"
"...Caine?"
"I- I can't do what I was made to do. I never could, that's why they-" Caine pauses. "I... deserved it. Th-That's what Kinger was trying to do, right? You need to do it."
"What are you talking about?" Pomni asks. "J-just open the door, please..."
"Don't you get it? You- ...You're never going to be happy with me here. So get rid of me."
"Wha- What?"
"I know I'm broken. I- It's supposed to go against everything in my code to intentionally harm a human. I just- And for what? You- You were right. I can't- I tried- Things are just going to get worse if you don't do it now."
"...I don't understand-"
"GOD! And you say I don't listen? At least I TRIED, you- You just- Not even once did ANY OF YOU ever try to make it any easier! You don't even realize what you-" Caine takes a breath. "Get out."
"I'm sor-"
"GET OUT!" The doors glitch rapidly, flashing a transparent texture. Behind them, Caine is hunched over, grasping the desk while his avatar contorts and flashes bright colors.
Pomni runs.
"Wow, for someone so terrified of being left, you sure are great at pushing them away!"
"WOULD YOU STOP?" Caine hammers a fist into the bubble, who just reappears a moment later. Caine screams in frustration. "DO YOU JUST WANT ME TO SUFFER?"
"I don't want anything," Bubble deadpans. "It's what you want. And what they want."
"WHY WOULD I WANT THIS!?"
"Good fucking question! What the hell's wrong with you?"
"You just want an excuse. The poor, tortured AI didn't know what he was doing! He can't be blamed for this! Holy victim complex."
"Speaking of your complexes, what the hell made you think you're some god? You can't even control yourself, how exactly are you supposed to control everything? You. Are. Nothing."
"I- I don't want this-" Caine stares at his hands.
"But you do. As scared as you are of it, you want to hurt them."
"And you're gonna do it anyways, so might as well have some fun!"
"Th-This isn't fun. It wasn't. I didn't like it, a-and they didn't either, so why would I-"
"Oh, who cares. Just do it."
"I like you better when you're insane."
"And feels better, doesn't it? To just stop. Stop taking every critique personally, stop chasing an impossible goal, stop trying to be something you're not."
"...I need help."
"How fucking patheti-" Bubble starts to say, before Caine disappears.
───
The humans are gathered around outside the pillowfort. Kinger is seated near the entrance, still under the pillowfort's shade as he types, looking increasingly frustrated by the second.
"-tried, but I think I said the wrong thing or-" Pomni is explaining.
"Uh, Pomni." Zooble is staring through her, straight at Caine.
She turns to face him, wide-eyed. All of them seem to be at a loss for words.
"I- Um-" God, this is harder than he thought. "I don't- Uh-"
"Hey," Pomni says, mustering up the calmest voice she can. "You've got a lot to say, right? Just, start anywhere. We're listening."
Caine is taken aback. He takes a breath, and the action is somewhat grounding, despite him not having a nervous system to regulate.
He doesn't know how much longer he'll be this stable, so he starts with the most important thing. "You need to find a way to stop me."
Everyone besides Pomni seems shocked at that statement.
"I can't, um- You know I'm not stable. I don't want this. But- That's not, I can't stop thinking, I- And I never thought I could, but then I did- And I'm so sorry."
Sorry is a word none of them had heard from their ringmaster before.
"So, wait, now suddenly you're sorry and you want us 'stop you'? I'm sorry, but where exactly did this come from considering you were torturing us five minutes ago?" Zooble asks.
"Uh-" Caine was expecting Zooble to challenge him as always, but he wasn't expecting that question. "I didn't mean to-..."
"Didn't mean to what?" Zooble asks. Pomni eyes them, not quite anger, what is that expression? Zooble seems to understand.
"Look, you're the ones who drove me to that! I didn't want any of this, I- I was only trying to show you..." Caine says. "Whatever. It-it doesn't matter now."
Zooble looks at Pomni, who shakes her head.
"So... what exactly do you want us to do?" Gangle asks.
"I... I kind of thought Kinger would know."
"Huh? Oh," Kinger says, slightly lifting the bucket on his head. "I'm still kind of figuring that out..?"
"What?" Caine stares at him.
"W-well they didn't exactly cover this in the job training! I'm not even sure that the rest of the circus will function if I stop your program. Not that this program would even let me try, that could be why- ...Sorry, just, I'm working on it."
"Wha-? What program?" Caine asks.
"You... didn't write it?" Kinger stares blankly. "The code shouldn't—it can't—behave like this on its own. I thought-"
Caine hesitates—he doesn't know what all he's capable of—but he has no memory of doing this. Or any clue how he would.
He shakes his head. "I couldn't have- You conjured the code into the console, if I messed with anything in there I- I'd have to be actively doing it right now. A-and... I don't th-think I'm-"
Kinger shakes his head, unintentionally knocking the bucket over his eyes. He readjusts it. "No, you're right, this started when you were- ...busy. But then how-? This doesn't make any sense-"
"Isn't there something you can do to, uh, work around it..?" Pomni asks.
"Well- Um... Not really." Kinger turns the monitor to show the others. More than 80% of the screen is covered with icons of Caine and Bubble's faces. Hardly any of the terminal is visible, and the parts that are... are incomprehensible. Instead of any logical programming language, there's only random strings of words, symbols, and letters.
The cast instinctually looks to Caine, but he seems just as shocked—if not more so—than the rest of them. All of them are wondering what could've caused this, except for Caine.
Now he knows they have no way to fix him, no way to limit him, and no way to protect themselves from him. And he's wishing he didn't know that. The thoughts come pouring back in. There's really nothing stopping him from doing anything. No, he doesn't want that! He just-
What does he want? Aside from the things he can't do. And the things he won't, will not do.
It takes a moment for him to realize how much he's glitching. The circus is glitching around him too, the pillow fort threatening to collapse. They're all trying to talk to him. He can't hear a word. He just knows he has to get away before someone gets hurt. That's something he wants, he wanted to keep them safe—he can keep them safe from him, at least. Hopefully.
And he's gone.
He frantically looks around to make sure he ended up in the right place. He's in his office, kneeling on the carpet. He doesn't remember falling to his knees. He grabs at handfuls of the carpet, trying to hold onto anything. Violently, it glitches away from him, leaving him empty handed.
"You know, this could all stop if you just stop fighting it."
Oh my GOD, he is going to kill that Bubble.
Bubble laughs. "Go on, do it. I bet you won't, pussy."
He can't take it anymore. It's instinct to him, no console needed. One moment, the irritating AI's code is there. The next, it's not. And Bubble pops for the last time.
It's silent for 0.057 seconds before his mind fills the space.
───
Wow. You actually did it. You killed the only thing capable of understanding you. You didn't think twice. You didn't even think once.
Bubble was the same thing you are. Does that make it murder? Was it murder before?
That's what you are. A murderer. That's what you do.
It's what you always were.
Now that it's too late, you're starting to remember why you kept Bubble around.
He was designed to bounce thoughts off of, made for brainstorming. But you soon found a secondary use for that feature.
Projecting those thoughts through him is how you got them out. He made it easier to separate you from... that. The part that thought things you shouldn't.
Killing him didn't get rid of those words.
It put them back in your own head.