Chapter Text
Zooble had expressed the group's feelings well. They wanted to accept Caine's offer, but it was in no way a sign that they trusted- let alone had forgiven him, which the AI seemed to understand. Him understanding them was going to be hard to get used to.
Caine's eyes drifted to the tent, the tent that contained the abstracted corpse of Jax. He gestured to it, Pomni expecting him to ask what it was.
"Do you... Want any help with that?"
He already knew. Pomni's eyes widened just a touch.
"Wait- can you fix-"
"Ah- no- I'm... Sorry. I can't"
Pomni closed her mouth, her eyes cast downwards in defeat. That was that then, if Caine couldn't fix Jax- couldn't bring him back then...
"I don't want to go..."
"But- even with my changed abilities I could... Move him. N-Not the cellar I wouldn't dream of it- but... Even somewhere like his own pocket dimension. Somewhere he can be free and you could visit him whenever you wanted- or... Or forget about him..."
Gangle has to look away, she feels bile rising in her nonexistent throat. She doesn't want to forget about Jax, but only for the selfish reason that it would make her feel guilty. But on the other hand, Jax didn't really deserve her guilt.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Kinger says, "he's been calm in the tent, he's honestly been docile since Pomni entered what we can only assume was his mind. Moving him might... Agitate him. It's odd, aside from Queenie, I've never seen an abstraction that felt so similar to who they were before." Kinger thinks back to his wife, to the darkness and how it had brought out *something*, something that was so recognisably his Queenie. "Almost every other abstraction felt just like a..."Everyone thinks on this, a melancholy feeling washing over them.
"Monster." Pomni finishes. She remembers Kaufmo, how he nearly tore Ragatha apart and chased her down with a vicious bloodlust. She hadn't known him before, she's completely aware that he was a real person with feelings and goals and who was in the exact same boat she was but... She can only see him as that monster.
Caine looked back at the tent, no one spoke again for a long while, moving Jax surely wasn't the only thing he could provide-
"It's a connection."
The group looked up, Zooble's eyes squinting "huh?"
Caine continued, "a connection! From my memory when Queenie abstracted Kinger was with her because they were the last two in the circus!-"
"Wait wait wait wait wait- but no one was with Jax when he abstracted! He just- he was-" Alone. Pomni swallows. He was alone. And he had tried not to be, fuck in his last moments he tried but Pomni couldn't keep up with the chase. She didn't pry, because that had never worked before. How was she to know it was the one time she really should have...
Caine could see the upset in Pomni's eyes, he continued but gently this time. "But you reached him afterwards, yes? You plunged yourself into the heart of abstraction, into his heart. This connection both these people got... I wonder if it created some sort of..." Caine seems to think about his next words very carefully, but he realises in all of his infinite knowledge that there's really only one way he could describe this, "a lifeline."
There is another long stretch of silence where several small things happen. Zooble and Gangle exchange a look, Kinger connects the dots and can only stare as his mind spirals over what this could mean, Pomni's eyes immediately well with tears, she covers her mouth with one hand and twists her upper body away, sobbing quietly. Sadness, fear and hope of all things.
"Please- I cannot guarantee anything but- if Kinger and I work at it. Dig through as much code as possible we could see how Jax and Queenie's code differs from the rest of the abstractions. And if there's anything we can work with- anything thing at all-"
"They could be... brought back?" Pomni asks, her voice cracking softly.
Caine only nods.
Hope. Hope hope hope- it was something, something in all of their stability that Pomni had been yearning for. Maybe it was her guilt but she had always felt like he was different. That in those moments before she was pulled out she had made some kind of impact.
She wanted to save Jax, she always had. He had just never been accepting of the idea, never believed he was worth saving or deserved it but... He had told Pomni. In the end he didn't want to die. He had regretted his decision. If they could save Jax, find this 'lifeline' Caine spoke of... Pomni is sure Jax would want to be here again.
She can't even imagine how this must feel for Kinger, his wife had been gone for so long and now...
They had work to do.