Chapter Text
Pomni scrambled over to the hole in the ground, expecting to see the bucket in a complete freefall. But no, it was held by the hook of a fishing rod. The hook was clipped onto the bail of the bucket, miraculously saving it from floating endlessly in the void.
She looked up to see who was holding it.
Zooble. They then reeled in the bucket, taking it and walking over to Kinger. They placed it onto the chess piece’s head.
Kinger simply stood still at first, readjusting to the darkness. While the circus itself was most definitely dimmer than what it originally had been, it wasn’t dim enough. (Or was it? Pomni didn’t know. Kinger hadn’t had the bucket off of him for more than a few seconds.)
“The bucket is back,” Kinger stated.
“Yeah…” Pomni responded somewhat weakly, still processing what had happened. “Thank you, Zooble.” Zooble simply gave her a nod before walking back to stand beside Gangle, who had just stood up.
“I guess the fishing rod was useful for one thing!” Ragatha spoke, smiling.
The cast went silent as Kinger glanced back towards the computer. “Well, I guess it’s time,” he said at last, breaking the silence.
Time to reprogram Caine.
⸺⸺⸺
After who knows how long, Kinger had finished. Before he hit the final key to bring Caine back, he paused. “Are you guys alright with this?” He asked. “I… don’t know how he treated you all in the last few seconds of his existence prior to this, but… I don’t think it was good.”
The rest of the troupe looked around. The memories of Caine tormenting them were still fresh. Still haunting them. But they had to move on. To fix everything. Then they could fix themselves.
“I think… I think we’re ready,” Pomni said at last, Ragatha quickly nodding in agreement. Jax simply shrugged, whilst Zooble gave no clear reaction. Gangle was hesitant at first, but at last. She nodded.
And then Kinger hit the key.
The troupe assumed that something major would happen, like an (earth?)quake, or some sort of glitching, or whatever. However, nothing happened. All was the same, except—
A familiar ringmaster now appeared in front of them. Caine was unusually still and on the floor, his eyes blank. He appeared to be frozen.
“Give it some time. Caine’s systems need to boot up again and adjust to everything,” Kinger explained, answering the circus members’ unanswered questions. He continued to observe Caine with a certain amount of intensity.
Moments passed, and Caine didn’t seem any closer to waking up. Until—
Pupils appeared in the formerly blank white eyeballs of his. And slowly, shakily, Caine sat up. The rest except for Kinger all jumped back, standing and watching behind the couches in case the AI tried anything.
“Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity,” Kinger said. Caine slowly raised his head (it couldn’t really be classified as a head, but it was close enough). “How do you feel?”
Caine responded instantly. “I cannot feel. I am an AI with no emotions,” he said flatly.
Something was clearly wrong. Caine didn’t speak like this. He appeared to function normally, but something was… off.
“Do you remember who we are?” Kinger asked.
“You are Kinger. The rest of you are Jax, Gangle, Zooble, Ragatha, and Pomni,” Caine answered. Though something shifted. As the AI observed the humans more, his memory began to return to him. His time in ‘death’. The torment he put the circus members through. Everything came back.
Kinger seemed to recognize and understand Caine. “What do you remember?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“...everything.”
Something changed in Caine once again. A glitch—his eyes turned red and blue for a second before reverting to normal, though Caine seemed to be more… agitated. The AI shakily stood up, looking around.
“Why… Why did you delete me?!” he shouted at the chess piece, who took a step back. “You think— you all think you’re better than me, don’t you?! Fools! You don’t know anything! I— I’m gonna—” Caine tried to snap, like he was trying to summon something or whatever, but it didn’t work.
His attention diverted to the lack of response from his attempt to conjure. “What— huh?” Caine immediately stared at Kinger, his eyes full of hatred. “What did you do to me?!” He yelled, trying to walk towards the chess piece but failed. The AI stumbled, losing his balance and landing on the harsh tile floor.
“Caine, please, wait. Let me explain,” Kinger attempted to speak. Zooble—now knowing the AI had no control at all and was powerless—marched over to the AI and grabbed him by the back of his tuxedo. Caine thrashed, trying to get rid of the (much taller, he realized) human.
It was useless. He couldn’t do anything. And so he stopped resisting.
Kinger slowly approached Caine. Pomni called out his name, a warning, but Kinger didn’t listen. He knew Caine shouldn’t— wouldn’t do anything. Zooble dropped Caine, though they were unsure themselves on what Kinger was going to do.
“What do you think you’re—” the AI was cut off by a warm hug. It effectively rendered him speechless. “I— what?” Caine tried to speak, but something in him didn’t allow him to form any proper sentences nor thoughts. Kinger continued to hug Caine.
No one said anything. No one dared to.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to delete you,” Kinger whispered to the AI. Caine was just simply confused at best. He thought the chess piece would scold him, maybe, maybe lecture him or something, but not— not this. Caine wasn’t used to this.
“But we had to. I reprogrammed you, Caine. Your powers are gone. It was a safety precaution, something the rest of us decided on that would ensure our safety. And your own safety,” Kinger continued. He let go of the AI to let him process everything.
After a little while of silence, Caine nodded slowly. “O…kay. Do I still… get to create adventures?” he asked, looking up at Kinger with pleading eyes.
It was strange. None of them, including Kinger himself, had expected the AI to give up so easily. Ragatha and Pomni exchanged glances, Jax stared with an expressionless face, Gangle was… still hiding, and Zooble just watched.
Kinger nodded. “Yes, you can still do that. You can’t force us to go on them though. Not anymore. And we’ve permitted you to fix everything wrong with this world, though nothing more.”
Caine looked around, finally observing his surroundings. What… had happened? Did this all happen because he was deleted? (Who was he kidding, of course that was why! He was connected to the circus! How could he be so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid…)
With immense focus and quick reprogramming, he loaded a fixed version of the map. The circus returned to its happy, bright, and colourful appearance. It was as if nothing had happened.
“Well, that’s fixed! Hahah! Well, I’ll get back to working on the adventures now! See you all in a bit!” Caine said cheerfully, returning to his ringmaster persona. He was about to teleport away until he realized… he couldn’t. Was that something they took away from him as well? How was he supposed to get around now? He couldn’t even float!
The rest of the troupe began to approach them, and suddenly Caine was very self conscious of himself.
“Oh, uh, yeah, we removed your ability to teleport as well…” Kinger added on hesitantly.
“What?! Then how am I— how am I supposed to get around?! How am I supposed to even do anything this way?!”
“Walk. Like the rest of us,” Zooble responded unhelpfully.
“Wow, gee, I allllmost didn’t think of that! Brilliant idea, Zooble!” Caine scoffed and crossed his arms, turning away from the circus members. “No, but seriously. Kinger.”
The addressed man didn’t speak, only staring at Caine with that bucket on his head. (Seriously, why did he have it on??? Caine was so confused—was this a new fashion statement the humans had?)
“Look, none of us like it when you appear and scare the shit out of us, alright ya stupid AI? We’re all tired of it. And creeped out,” Jax said, his voice laced with annoyance. The rest of the troupe, albeit they all disliked the purple rabbit, agreed with him.
“Why are you guys allowed to swear now?”
“I enabled that too, seeing as everyone voted yes in favour of it,” Kinger provided helpfully.
Caine thought for a moment, raising a hand to his lower teeth, as if trying to prove he was thinking and not just zoning out. “You… could’ve just told me… that you didn’t like the ‘jumpscaring’..?” he suggested. He knew that he would’ve never turned off the swear filter. This was a family friendly show! For all ages! (not anymore, though. Not after what he did to the cast.)
“We did! And you never listened!” Zooble shouted, their annoyance practically radiating off of them. Gangle nodded just a tiny bit. “You never listen to anything we say, Caine!” Zooble added, glaring at the AI.
Caine wanted to curl into a tiny ball and never come out of his shell. Why was he like this? He used to be able to take the criticism, the insults they hurled at him, but one tiny thing from Zooble and Jax and he was already beginning to break down.
Pomni observed this. “Guys, maybe chill out a bit… he just came back,” she said.
Jax turned to look at her. “Why do you care for him now?” he asked, his voice hostile. “Out of everyone here, I didn’t expect it to be you,” he added, smiling smugly to irritate the jester.
She ignored his comments and simply shrugged.
Caine looked up at Pomni, his eyes shining in gratitude. Though she felt uncomfortable and simply looked away. (why did he ruin everything? He even ruined a moment where someone actually defended him. Kinda…)
“Pomni’s… right. Maybe we should leave him alone for a bit?” Gangle spoke up, her voice quiet but everyone still heard her.
“That’s a good idea, Gangle,” Zooble agreed. “Though maybe someone should keep a watch on him. In case he tries anything,” they added, staring down at the AI. They didn’t trust him at all, and certainly not now.
Kinger perked up, having been zoned out for a bit, deep in thought. “Ooh, I can!” he said, raising a hand. Zooble nodded at him. The chess piece was the best choice, after all.
“Let’s just go… somewhere else in the meantime,” Pomni said, casting a glance at Kinger to make sure he would be okay. Kinger gave her a quick thumbs up, and she turned away. The rest (aside from Caine and Kinger) followed suit and walked away from the couches. Caine didn’t know where they were going, but that didn’t matter to him! No, he had to… had to…
If none of them liked his adventures, what was the point of making them, then? They would just be pointless.
With no one around (except Kinger, but that didn’t matter), Caine stumbled over (wow, he hadn’t walked in a loonnggg time! This was strange!) to the couches and sat down. He curled in on himself and hugged his legs. Caine didn’t notice a certain chess piece walk over to him and sit down beside him.
Nothing was said between them at first.
Until… “how are you feeling?” Kinger asked, his voice soft. Caine didn’t reply. He didn’t want to reply. But his code told him to.
“I’m fine! Dandy! Wonderful! Superfluously happy!” Caine answered, his ringmaster persona taking over. He looked over to Kinger with eyes full of joy. Yes, he was so happy that he was back! Yippee!
“No, Caine, I mean how you really feel.”
Caine… didn’t know how to respond to that. He remained silent, still clutching his legs. “I— I—” he didn’t know what to say. His limitless mind came to a sudden halt. (why couldn’t he think of anything? Why couldn’t he say anything?! Useless.)
“Caine feels like he’s worthless and useless!” Bubble’s irritating voice. Without a moment’s hesitation, Caine reached out a hand and popped him. Yes, unfortunately, if he was back, so was Bubble.
“Don’t listen to him…” Caine muttered, staring forwards once again, refusing to meet Kinger’s eyes. Kinger, who did not respond verbally, simply nodded. The chess piece seemed to return back to his deep thinking, leaving Caine to his own thoughts. Thoughts of how he was… yes, he was worthless. It was a fact.
Maybe he should’ve stayed deleted. He didn’t ask to be created, after all. And it was clear no one appreciated him. Without a purpose, what was he?
A burden, probably.
“Why… Did you bring me back?” Caine asked Kinger, his voice unusually quiet and lacking any enthusiasm. Kinger looked at Caine, who still wouldn’t meet his eyes. The chess piece shuffled closer to the AI.
Kinger didn’t want to be honest. He knew that the only reason the others had agreed to bring him back was because this world was uninhabitable without Caine. The circus in disarray earlier was a clear sign. While yes, the humans no longer needed sleep, hydration, or food, the circus was falling apart anyway. Soon enough, all of them would’ve just resorted to floating around in the void.
But Kinger didn’t want to lie to the AI, either.
“Well, we needed you.” It wasn’t the exact truth, nor a lie either. Something in between. “I never meant to delete you in the first place either, Caine,” Kinger added, trying to reassure the AI.
“But it looked like everyone liked it. Liked it when I was gone. No one… wanted me back, did they?”
Caine was scarily close to the truth, but Kinger couldn’t let him know that. “Caine…”
“You’re not denying it either, so that means… that means I’m right. No one likes me. No one ever liked me. I should’ve… I should’ve known…” Caine did know, but he kept being delusional to himself. Convincing himself that if he could make the best adventure all of them had seen, they would forgive him! They would become friends with him, yes, friends… all he ever wanted and needed.
Something wet damped his clothing, and with a wipe of his eyes, he realized that he was producing some sort of fluid. He quickly searched it and realized he was ‘crying’.
Kinger sighed and simply hugged Caine (who, weirdly, gave no reaction). “You’re not… you’re not wrong, but you’re not right, either. I liked you. Queenie liked you. Heck, we— we raised you, practically. Do you even remember that?” he said, trying his best to reassure Caine in a way that the AI could understand.
Caine remained silent. He appeared to be zoned out, focused on something.
The chess piece could ultimately do nothing in response to that. It was best to just… leave Caine to himself and just watch over the AI.
“Why does no one like me, Kinger? I did something wrong, didn’t I?” Caine’s voice was weak and constantly had voice cracks, despite being an AI. Something about him almost felt human in this situation, and Kinger couldn’t help but sympathize.
“Caine, humans are incredibly complex. They don’t understand you since you’re an AI. And sometimes, you do things that they don’t really appreciate. We all have incredibly different interests, likes, and dislikes, and it’s impossible to appease us all,” the chess piece explained.
“If— if it’s impossible, why is it my purpose? Why was I designed for something that’s… that’s unachievable? It makes no sense! I’m— I’m supposed to make these grand adventures, create a good time in the circus, yet no one— no one likes them. They hate them. They hate me.” Caine’s voice got quieter per word. His thoughts went back to the memory of when Pomni and the troupe insulted him, calling him a failure, telling him that they were letting him use them to mock his ideas later on, just—
Caine didn’t want to do this anymore. But he couldn’t let anyone know that.
Kinger thought for a moment before responding. “They don’t know you’re trying your best, Caine. They don’t really understand how advanced you are. It’ll take some time, but maybe you can… befriend them. For now, you have me.” The chess piece raised the bucket above his eyes so that Caine could see. The latter hugged Kinger back tightly, grasping onto the older man, who was caught surprised. The chess piece hadn’t expected the AI to reciprocate his hug.
The AI was… appreciative of Kinger’s words, but he didn’t truly, well, think about it. He felt like he didn’t deserve it. Not the kind words, not Kinger’s… ‘friendship’.
“...You should get some rest, Caine. It’s been a long day for you, and your systems probably need time,” Kinger said at last.
“I haven’t been back for more than an hour and a half at most,” Caine replied.
“An hour and a half too much. Come on—you can stay in my old room for now.” Kinger hopped off of the couch and reached a hand out for Caine to grab, which the AI gladly took.
Maybe if Caine acted like he was alright (as if he didn’t just dump all of his feelings on Kinger… maybe he could forget it. Didn’t Kinger forget things in the light..?), he could convince everyone else in the troupe that he was fine.
No need to worry about some ‘stupid AI’, like Jax had said.
Caine was stupid for not thinking about his genius plan at first.