Chapter Text
Zooble's uncensored curse echoed through the dark, fallen circus.
Everyone flinched, and Gangle gasped. Everyone except for Kinger. His lopsided, currently sapient eyes gazed outwards in a troubled sort of way from under the bucket he held above his head, giving the impression of a frown.
The circus had always felt silent compared to the real world where something was constantly buzzing, humming, or ringing; it was an uncomfortable sensation (or lack of) when somebody first arrived, but this silence was unlike anything Pomni had ever felt, and the seconds seemed to last an eternity until she broke it with a trembling voice.
"Well... what now?"
To the surprise of no one, it was Jax who replied without missing a beat. "Now we see what sort of digital world-ending doom awaits us, of course! Who should we sacrifice first?" He spread out his arms and glanced back and forth between Gangle and Zooble.
"Jax!" Ragatha scolded, "Now is not the time to mess with people."
"Ohhh, we should sacrifice you, Doll-face!" He grinned a little wider, his pupils tripling in size.
His eyes only did that during times of stress, Pomni had noticed a couple adventures before. He tried so hard to act like he had no feelings, but Pomni knew better.
"We need to find the way out- if there is one." Kinger broke up the squabble. He had let the bucket drop back over his eyes for the time being, making his voice echo gravely. "Everything Caine applied to the circus has been deleted with him. The censors are gone, there are holes everywhere, the lights are out, and who knows what else has happened. We'll all abstract if we try to continue living here, we need to get out now that some of the circus's features are broken."
Gangle tapped her ribbon hands together anxiously. "Is abstraction still possible?"
"If Caine invented abstraction, he's about to be deleted and dead." Zooble growled.
"I don't think he did. He cared for us in his own twisted, AI way... I'm pretty certain it's a malfunction in the software." Kinger replied slowly.
Jax huffed, arms crossed. "So the abstracted are still abstractions?"
"I'm afraid so." Kinger lowered his head.
Pomni watched the scene before her with a heavy heart. She was fortunate enough to never have lost someone she cared about here, but she knew the two men, especially Kinger, had lost loved ones to abstraction before. Then fear struck her chest.
"Do you think the cellar is stable?"
The group's eyes grew wide. Everyone looked to Kinger's bucket-covered face for answers, but instead of assurance, he gave a moment of silence that soothed nothing. Quite the contrary, really.
"I could imagine the cellar being Caine-made." He admitted at last.
"Maybe they fell through one of the holes then?" Ragatha offered hopefully, though her face gave away her unease.
"Did everything else he made fall through?" Pomni wondered.
Zooble pointed with one of their wacky arms, "There are holes in the walls. I don't think Caine made random parts of the walls, so I think it's safe to say that theory isn't solid."
Gangle laughed nervously. "How about we pretend it's true for the sake of comfort?"
"Gangle's got the right idea!" Ragatha swung an arm with a smile that was obviously forced.
"Did you get to watch the movie Inside Out before you joined the circus? You remind me of Joy." Pomni cracked a smile.
"Oh, I didn't! But that sounds nice, thank you, Pomni." Ragatha turned toward her friend.
Jax groaned dramatically. "Enough with the chattering! Are we going to stand here and find out the hard way if we have abstractions on the loose or are we going to do something?"
"I hate to say it, but he may have a point." Zooble added unenthusiastically.
Kinger sighed, "I would bring you all into my pillow fort, but it, uh... it fell through the world."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kinger." Ragatha circled him and placed a hand on wherever you would assume a chess piece's shoulder is.
"I may know a place." Jax piped up hesitantly. He had been leaning against a wall behind the cast with crossed arms, but he now stood with stiff shoulders, his gaze sweeping over the others. His eyes lingered on Pomni, and she straightened quickly, nodding her encouragement. Since when had he looked to her? Well, everyone was acting funny. Their home was falling apart, for crying out loud.
Jax strutted off through the group and out into the dim, patchy world, not doing so much as glancing back to see whether everyone else was following.
Ragatha and Pomni exchanged a worried look before hurrying to keep up.
Kinger shuffled along, struggling with the bucket still atop his head and catching Pomni's attention. She slowed to walk alongside her older friend.
"Kinger, you can take off the bucket if you need." She offered softly.
"How dark is it out there?" He asked, peeking out again.
Pomni grimaced. "It's dim, but not exactly dark."
"I want to be here if you need me. I helped develop this place; there are things I know that the rest of you don't." He answered, trying to pick up the pace, though Pomni realized he was walking awfully close up to a gaping hole on his other side and yanked him away by the hand.
"Oh, thank you!" He chirped.
"You can't keep a bucket on your head until we either escape or... you know. You can hardly see." She pointed out.
Kinger's voice dipped seriously, "Please, I want to keep it on at least until we get somewhere safer."
Pomni nodded understandingly even though he couldn't see it. "Okay, but at least let me guide you."
"That would be a great help. Thank you." He agreed.
"Of course!" Pomni smiled. She grabbed his floating, somehow attached hand and pulled him along. They were bringing up the rear as Jax was already far ahead. He was fortunate to have long legs. As Pomni walked in silence with Kinger, she couldn't help letting her mind drift. She didn't know all of the logistics of this place, but she knew enough to understand they were in grave danger, abstractions without Caine to help them or not. Kinger was right; either they were about to escape or lose themselves to the circus. Her heart raced at the possibilities, both good and bad. Could they really make it back to the real world? It had been so long since she'd seen her family, felt the sunshine, or eaten food with real taste and texture. The most mundane things about regular life began to sound like heaven after living in this digital hell for... Well, Pomni lost track of the days some time ago. She had been here for at least two months. What if they couldn't escape? Pomni felt sick to her stomach thinking about how she may never experience those things again. She could still remember her pets: an overly energetic collie mix named Cassie (a throwback to her favorite movie growing up, Lassie), a cat named Black Widow, and a bearded dragon that her little niece named Spike. And-
"Oh my god." Pomni uttered, stopping dead in her tracks.
"Pomni, are you okay?" Kinger turned to her and lifted his bucket once more.
"I-" Pomni could hardly piece together a sentence. "I remember my name."
Kinger's eyes grew wide, but just in time to ruin the exciting moment, Ragatha screeched up ahead.
Two abstractions rampaged through the world in the distance, charging straight for their drawn-out group.