Chapter Text
“Well, look who it is.”
Pomni didn’t even need to turn around to know who was behind her. She could recognize that tauntingly sassy voice anywhere. “Jax.”
As Pomni turned and looked up, she spotted Jax sitting on a tree branch, not looking at her though -- instead, staring at a circular object dangling back and forth from his hand.
“Finally decided to show up, eh?” He grinned, his gaze slowly moving from the object over to her. “You were almost late.”
“Late? Late for what?”
Jax caught the dangling object back in his hand, then tossed it over to Pomni. It was a bit heavier than she had expected. A pocket watch with a gold chain.
“Late for your very important date, of course.” Jax folded his arms. At the expression on Pomni’s face -- a mixture of confusion and complete disgust -- he laughed. “A court date, genius. What were you thinking of…? How interesting.”
Pomni rolled her eyes. “A court date for what?”
“So many questions,” Jax sighed. He slid off the tree branch and walked over to Pomni, snatching up the pocket watch and dangling it in front of her. It swung back and forth. Slowly. Back. Forth. Back. Forth…
Pomni shook her head. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Y̴̻̘͑̈́͌ǫ̴͇̲͚̓̈́̿͠ṳ̸̲̥͎̀̀'̸͑̒̽ͅȓ̴̨͇͔̼e̴̙̻͒ ̸͉̀̊f̸̛̠̳̹͔̂̓o̷͈͔͂̃̕r̴̙̲̱͌g̴̨̪̪̋̍̿e̴͉͂̅̐̎t̸̥̝̦͠͠ẗ̴̯͈́̿i̴̩̦̎̿̍n̸̖͘g̵̳̣̬̀ ̵̠͂͗̾̉s̴̙̮͍̏ŏ̵̘̚͝m̴̨̞͝e̸̬̩̋̈́͐͛t̶̟̝̣͋h̵̹̰̙͝i̸̛͚͎n̸͍̩̫̾̓̽g̶̳̱̫̋̅,̸͎̜̪̉̔̀ ̷̨̭̰̐͌̋͜͠P̴̹͌o̶̤̒̆͐m̷̤̙̔n̸͉̯̂͐̆ͅĩ̶̭̜̄̾̆.̵̤̯̾̃͝
She abruptly looked at Jax, but he was still standing there, holding the pocket watch. “Huh?”
His brows furrowed slightly. “What, is there something on my face?”
“No, I meant, what did you just say?”
Jax groaned and swung the pocket watch around his hand, catching it and ending its incessant back-and-forths. “Don’t you ever listen? Honestly, you’re starting to sound like Kinger. I was talking about your court date . You’re on trial , Pomni. Gosh.”
“On trial ??” She took a step back. Or maybe three steps, honestly, she was hardly paying attention. “What did I do??”
Jax just shrugged.
“Beats me. I’m just here for the show. Didn’t pay much attention to the details.”
Pomni let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan, pulling on the ends of her hat.
“Great. Thanks for being so helpful.”
“It was my pleasure,” he replied, bowing, his usual sly grin appearing across his face. “Well, this discussion has been wonderful, but I meant what I said earlier. You're going to be late.”
“Why would I show up to a trial when I don’t even know what I did wrong??”
“Because it’s funny , obviously.” Jax’s grin faded, and he turned away, seemingly picking a random direction to walk in. “Well, good luck finding your way out of this forest alone, then!”
A few seconds passed. Following him would be rather stupid. He would most certainly lead her to the court where she was supposedly on trial. Of course, he could be lying about that. It would be in character for him. Then he’d be leading her to who knows where.
But on the other hand, Pomni had nowhere else to go, no other leads to follow, especially after Zooble disappeared.
“Wait up,” she said halfheartedly, trudging along after Jax as he slowed his pace a little for her to catch up.
“Why am I not surprised,” he said with a smirk, swinging the pocket watch once again. When she reached him, he pressed on through the forest. There was no path, but he seemed to know where to go nonetheless.
“Are you taking me to court then?”
Jax scoffed lightly. “Not like there’s anywhere else to go. You know how these things are.”
Once again reaffirming that it was just one of Caine’s games. It certainly looked like one -- the aesthetics of the forest, the mushrooms from before, even the air around them, felt like a construction of the digital circus. Like what she was used to. Still, how strange that the others seemed to know what was going on, while Pomni was out of the loop.
Well, it couldn’t hurt to ask. Even though it was a bit annoying to have to ask Jax, of all people.
“Hey, this…might be a weird question, but…”
Pomni stopped in her tracks. She had been observing the forest while she walked, trusting that she could simply follow along to where she needed to go -- but suddenly everything around her felt all at once too loud, too bright, too…alone.
Jax was gone.