Chapter Text
When the sun rose, Kinger was expecting Caine to either be sleeping or wide awake. Technically, Caine didn’t sleep—the closest he could get to that was shutting down.
What he wasn’t expecting was Caine’s body lying flat on the sand. At first, Kinger thought Caine was just asleep. Or that Kinger was just seeing it wrong. After all that bucket did obscure the majority of his vision. He kept making excuses until—
He came closer and inspected the AI more carefully. And then he realized.
Caine was dead.
It didn’t hit him at first. The idea of Caine dying was already hard enough to grasp—and now? That Caine was permanently dead? Kinger didn’t know how to deal with the wave of grief that washed over him. He collapsed onto the ground next to Caine’s body, tears streaming down his face. Laying next to Caine wordlessly, he thought that he could at least spend a little time with Caine. The others didn’t need to know yet. Sure, it was selfish, but Kinger was Caine’s closest friend. Not even friends—family.
Kinger hadn’t dealt with grief in a very long time. Especially with someone very close to him. Someone like… Queenie. God, he wasn’t prepared for this at all, was he? Kinger laughed dryly, almost manically. He sat up, staring at Caine’s body to the right of Kinger. It was still—of course it was. But it was too still for someone like Caine.
Caine didn’t even keep the promise they made. Caine promised he wasn’t going anywhere and then— he left. He left. Caine was gone.
They hadn’t even gone on another adventure yet.
Kinger should’ve realized that this was going to happen. He remembered the term—terminal lucidity. Caine was more energetic, less forgetful. Kinger saw it before, and yet he didn’t realize.
He tried to convince himself that Caine was just in a shut down. That the AI wasn’t dead. But of course, denial wouldn’t help. Kinger would still have to break the news to everyone, sooner or later. Or they’d find out by themselves. They were smart enough for that.
That didn’t sit right with Kinger, though. Something about this whole situation made Kinger feel like he had to tell them all.
Caine would want that, probably.
“I’ll— I’ll be back, okay? Don’t… go anywhere.” Kinger nearly laughed at himself. Of course Caine wasn’t going to go anywhere—he was dead, for gods sake! Without another word, Kinger stood up and walked away. At one point, he paused and looked back.
He turned and kept going to find the others. Soon enough, he reached the cafe, where everyone was eating breakfast. They were all conversing, the mood light and playful. Everyone was happy. Even Jax, who… surprisingly, wasn’t bothering anyone. Well, maybe occasionally—it was in the purple rabbit’s personality, anyway.
Kinger hesitated in front of the entrance, just out of sight. His hand held onto the exterior wall of the cafe as he watched the others. His other hand held his bucket up just a bit, so he could actually see.
A thought crossed his mind.
Said thought was to wait and tell them later. It was selfish—Kinger knew it only benefitted himself and no one else. But at the same time, he didn’t want to ruin their mood.
They needed to know, though.
Reluctantly, he took a step forward and entered the cafe.
“Oh! Kinger! There you are! We were about to go looking for you,” Ragatha exclaimed, seeing him first. That made sense. Kinger was usually the first one to get to the cafe, as he always woke up the earliest out of all of them.
“Hey,” Kinger replied quietly, almost flat.
The conversation seemed to die down. All the attention was diverted onto him. “Uh…” Kinger cringed, instantly regretting trying to talk. Maybe he should’ve practiced before coming here, because now? He was being put on the spot. Gosh, how was he supposed to do this?
He exhaled slowly. “I’m going to need to talk to you all about something,” he said solemnly, turning his gaze to the floor. Instantly, the light ambiance in the cafe turned to a rather serious one. People exchanged glances. Jax and Zooble both looked rather uncomfortable.
Pomni seemed like she knew what this was going to be about.
“...well, um… What is it?” Gangle nervously broke the silence.
“Wa— wait. Hold on. Where’s Caine? Shouldn’t he be here as well?” Pomni interjected as Kinger prepared himself to speak. She stared at Kinger with a knowing look.
Kinger breathed in. “I… Caine won’t be coming,” he said at last, breathing out.
“Huh? Why not?” Gangle seemed scared, almost. In fact, almost everyone did. It was like they all subconsciously knew the truth. Kinger hesitated, before—
“Caine’s dead, isn’t he?” Pomni blurted out. Her hands quickly flew to her mouth, covering it, like it would prevent what she just said from coming true. Kinger paused for a moment. Everyone looked at him expectantly, a whole range of emotions coming from each of them. The majority of it was either shock, surprise, or disbelief.
Kinger nodded with a sigh.
“Unfortunately, Pomni is… correct,” he responded, confirming the heavy truth. The silence returned—just for a second, though. Then objections and exclamations burst out. The clearest voice, however, wasn’t from who Kinger expected it would be.
“Caine’s dead?” Jax sounded awfully shocked, his expression frightful. “That’s— oh my god, this is… this is real,” he muttered under his breath. “He was doing okay though! He was getting better, wasn’t he?! I just talked with him the other day!” Jax exclaimed, gesturing and pointing wildly. Kinger remembered hearing something from Caine about Jax—a conversation, perhaps?
Zooble turned to look at Jax. “You talked with him? Why?” they asked, sounding concerned yet accusing.
Kinger was wondering about that too. Fortunately, Jax answered that. “I— I meant to go and apologize for my past actions. I wasn’t able to do it before and then— and now he’s dead?”
Oh.
That was what Caine had forgotten.
“You… went to go and apologize to Caine?” Zooble questioned, staring straight into Jax.
He scoffed, as if he couldn’t believe what they were saying. “I’m evil, but I’m not that evil. I at least have the decency to go and apologize to a dying person, even if he’s not a person,” Jax retorted.
“Wait, guys, stop,” Pomni said, interrupting and putting a halt to that conversation. “We shouldn’t argue about this. Jax went to apologize to Caine—so what? We should at least, like, I don’t know, find Caine and give him a funeral?”
Kinger nodded gratefully.
“Pomni has a point,” Ragatha said, smiling towards him and Pomni.
“Y— yeah, I agree!” Gangle added. Zooble and Jax looked almost guilty—a rare emotion for the both of them.
“Do… you know where Caine is?” Pomni asked, turning to look at Kinger.
Kinger nodded sadly, then turned away. “Come with me,” he responded, beginning to walk to the beach, the others following closely behind him.
The walk was silent. Deathly silent. It was so tense, yet fragile. Possible to be broken at any given time, but it wasn’t. It was like an unofficial vigil. Instead of talking, they all observed their surroundings, maybe exchanging a few looks with the others. There was no outright conversation, though.
Eventually, they reached the beach. Caine’s body was in sight now—still laying on the sand, under the same palm tree he had sat under last night. It was strangely nostalgic, even though it had happened just the day before. Kinger realized that the palm tree was the very same one Caine would always sit under.
They stopped right at Caine’s body.
Some of them didn’t want to look. Some of them stared in utter disbelief. Kinger stared regretfully. He probably could’ve done something to prevent all of this. But deep inside, he knew he couldn’t have. Caine would’ve said that it wasn’t preventable. And that Kinger should just keep going on. Keep living without the AI.
It was Pomni who broke the tense silence. “We should give him a… funeral.”
“You think?” Jax scoffed, crossing his arms.
Zooble glared at him. “Now’s not the time, Jax.” They gave a nod to Pomni in agreement.
Jax eyed Zooble warily, but he didn’t respond verbally. Instead, the silence returned. “…my bad,” he mumbled, glancing away. Kinger watched the whole interaction with a slight fascination. Huh. Jax apologized. Well, that was new. He turned back to stare at Caine.
“So… he’s gone. Caine’s… dead,” Ragatha said quietly, her hands folded neatly behind her back. Her usual positive voice was gone—instead, it was replaced with a somber, despondent tone.
Kinger sighed quietly.
He didn’t confirm it for Ragatha, since they all already knew. Rather, he chose to reply to Pomni’s words. With a soft smile, he spoke. “Yeah. Let’s hold a funeral. One last goodbye, since— well, he… left in his sleep.”
Pomni returned the small smile.
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They buried Caine where they found him.
On the beach, under the sand, under the very same palm tree he always sat underneath. The sun shone onto a framed picture of him, lying above where his body was buried right on top of a stone brick. The stone was marked with Caine’s name, and on the side, there was an epitaph. Gone, but not forgotten, it read. Flowers, bee plushies, and the famous ringmaster hat lay in a circle around the frame.
The cast stood in a semi-circle around Caine’s grave.
“Caine was my greatest achievement,” Kinger began quietly, staring at the framed picture with tears in his eyes. “He was simply… phenomenal. Creating abstract ideas and things, doing things outside of the box… he was a masterpiece. I just wish I recognized it before it was too late.” Kinger exhaled regretfully, bitterness filling his body—before he relaxed and remembered Caine wouldn’t want Kinger to resent himself. “I have more to say… but I think I’ll save that for another time.” Kinger’s eyes, under the bucket, softened into a smile. He took a step back and gestured for the next person to go.
Pomni was next.
“While I didn’t know Caine as long as the rest of you did,” she said, “he was a great ringmaster. He… genuinely tried, even if I didn’t see it at first. After we bonded, well… I started to— understand him, almost.” She sighed. We were both figuring things out in this world. And— I just wish I got to know him better.” Pomni fidgeted with her hands nervously. She stepped aside and stood beside Kinger.
Both Ragatha and Kinger gave her a thumbs-up. In return, she gave an awkward and small smile.
Kinger realized that Pomni and Caine were kind of similar—in the way that they were both discovering things. Pomni was discovering how to adjust to the circus, while Caine was learning about humans. It was a nice parallel, really, Kinger thought. Then he and Pomni both looked at Gangle, who was next.
Gangle hesitated for a second. Then she spoke. “Caine always helped me fix my mask when it was broken. He provided me with art supplies too, when I needed them. And he was… helpful.” Gangle paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. “His bee drawings were nice. I’ll always remember them,” she said, then stepped aside.
Pomni gave a smile towards Gangle, who reciprocated.
Next was Ragatha.
“Caine was always hiding a lot. He would carry weights and burdens by himself. And yet, I… Well, I didn’t really like him a lot at first. But as time went on I just— realized he was a lot like me. I remember when he was so enthusiastic about his adventures. Some of them were really good, actually. I hope he gets to make more, wherever he is now.” Ragatha cast a solemn look at the frame, before she stepped aside.
Kinger realized she was tearing up. And so was Pomni, actually. Gangle too. Actually, everyone was on the verge of crying—Jax and Zooble included, though those two were more stoic and blank. Kinger could tell they were being affected, though.
Speaking of Zooble, they were next.
“I never liked Caine that much. But in the past few days, something changed. I… Well, he was always a bit much.”
Kinger felt offended on behalf of Caine.
“But he was okay. He tried to help us. Genuinely. Even if… I didn’t realize. I wish I was nicer towards him,” they continued. While their message was short, Kinger could tell it was authentic. Zooble then moved to stand beside Gangle.
Jax was last. He seemed somewhat desolate, almost. His gaze was on Caine’s framed picture. “I never liked Caine. He was tolerable at best. But— we had a conversation of sorts, I guess,” he mumbled. “I never got to apologize to Caine,” Jax spoke, his ears lowered. “I wasn’t always the kindest.” Jax seemed to smirk, but it was half-hearted and barely held his usual smugness. “But he at least deserved an apology before he died.” Jax then turned and stepped away, refusing to say anything more.
Kinger stood steadfast where he was.
The others had a quiet conversation on what was going to happen next. It was hushed, of course—it felt strange and disrespectful to talk loudly in the presence of a dead being, anyway. Kinger ignored them and continued to gaze at Caine’s portrait.
Someone tapped on his shoulder.
Kinger turned his head to see Pomni.
“We’re… going to be going back to the tent. Do you want to… come with us..?” The both of them already knew the answer. But Kinger replied, anyway.
“I’ll stay for a bit.”
“Okay, then. Bye, Kinger. Say bye to Caine for me and the others.” Pomni left afterwards, her footsteps barely making a sound on the sand.
Kinger turned back to Caine’s picture. He adjusted the bucket on top of his own head so he could see better. And then he saw something grey and metallic in the distance. Something that resembled a bucket—exactly like Kinger’s current one. He quickly realized it was the one he had given Caine yesterday night. In the morning, Kinger had conjured another one, having left the bucket with Caine.
And there it was.
The original. Just a few meters away from Caine, but it was hidden by the lush vegetation near the palm trees and rocks. Kinger shuffled over and picked it up, holding the metallic bucket in his hands. It was cold, having seen no daylight since the sun set yesterday. Probably from having rolled away from Caine, then being in the shade for the rest of the day.
He looked back at Caine’s grave.
Walking back, he carefully placed the bucket on top of a bee plushie. Kinger stood back and admired his work. He chuckled quietly.
“Goodbye, Caine. We’ll miss you. We’ll make new adventures for you, okay?”
And of course, the sun began to set.