Chapter Text
Kinger sighed heavily as he started typing. It had taken them two weeks to bring power back to the computer. He was almost sure Jax and Zooble would have abstracted by now if they were still able to.
Abstraction.
Queenie.
He rubbed his weary eyes, wiping away the tears threatening to spill over. Now wasn’t the time. Everyone was counting on him.
His fingers shook as he started typing.
No one had seen Kinger in two days. Ragatha had checked in on him, and said he was crying. Since then, he’d only reported that he was “halfway done.”
He was right there. In the fort. Fixing things. Right?
Pomni paced outside of it, her shoes lacking the usual cartoony squeak sound effect.
Ragatha sat next to the pillow fort, fidgeting with her plush hands. Her mind flickered back to her mother. To the table Caine had put her at. The knives tearing through her fabric skin and stuffed insides.
No. No. Nonononononono-
Kinger reread the line over and over. It stuck out among the countless lines of code.
>caine-core: kinger?
This couldn’t be real. Had he really already coded Caine back? When had… why didn’t he remember all that coding? Had he been dissociating that badly?
He scrolled up. He’d created the entity. Reconnected it to its “brain.” Attached it to Caine’s memory bank…
But he hadn’t given it a body, yet. It wasn’t anywhere but the code.
And apparently, it could interact with it.
>kinger@circus: Caine?
>caine-core: kinger
>caine-core: give me my body back
>caine-core: dont delete me again
Kinger couldn’t stop the sob he let out. He’d done it again. The death of his lover was on him. He had Caine’s blood on his hands, now, too.
He had to get him back.
>kinger@circus: i never meant to delete you, caine
>caine-core: don’t cry
Kinger glanced around. Could Caine see him?
>caine-core: just give me my body back
>caine-core: give me back my access to everything
>caine-core: i will fix this
Kinger couldn’t take it anymore. The keyboard clattered from his lap to the ground as his sobs shook his body.
The pillow covering the entrance to the fort was pushed aside. Pomni and Ragatha’s concerned faces appeared.
Ragatha sat next to Kinger as he cried, placing her hand on his shoulder. Pomni hesitated, turning to the computer.
A look of shock appeared on her face as she read over the text. How was…
She shook her head. That didn’t matter right now. But then another line typed out…
>caine-core: hug him.
>caine-core: please.
She blinked. Huh?
>caine-core: pomni.
What.
>caine-core: please.
With shaky hands, Pomni turned around. Hesitating for a moment, she finally leaned in and hugged Kinger. He immediately returned the hug, sobbing into her shoulder.
She froze. She’d never been good at this. Slowly, she let herself relax, hugging him tighter. Ragatha rubbed his back, soft reassurances whispering out of her lips.
They stayed like that for a minute. Kinger let himself break after weeks of holding it all together. His tears dripped onto the floor, losing the cartoony blue color and turning grey as soon as they left his body.
When they finally pulled back, they saw how tired Kinger looked. The lack of sleep was getting to him. Not because his body needed it- but because he needed rest.
“You- you should lie down,” Ragatha said softly.
“I have to get him back.” Kinger’s voice cracked.
Ragatha and Pomni shared a saddened glance.
“You can keep working tomorrow, okay?” Pomni said awkwardly, trying to persuade him the best she could.
A small ‘beep’ on the computer made both girls turn towards him.
>caine-core: kinger.
“Hey…” Ragatha stuttered. “I-I think Caine wants to talk to you..?”
Kinger perked up, bloodshot eyes widening as they scanned frantically around the screen.
>caine-core: my love, please rest
>caine-core: im with you. i'm here. i promise.
Kinger let out a soft hiccup, nodding. “O-okay.” He was so delirious, he hardly knew what was happening as he was gently coaxed to lie down on the soft floor of the fort.
The girls turned towards the computer.
>caine-core: thank you.
>caine-core: im sorry
>caine-core: i dont know what happened to me
They looked at each other. Neither wanted to forgive him, but both knew it was necessary.
“It’s fine.” Pomni smiled wearily.
“Yeah. We forgive you.” Ragatha chimed in.
>caine-core: thank you.