Chapter Text
The change in the air of the room was sudden as the circus members were dropped onto the floor. Pomni looked up in confusion at Caine, who had just been furiously screaming at all of them while his formerly ginormous hands kept them pressed against the wall before he just... stopped. Everyone sat up from where they were dropped and stayed frozen as they stared at Caine, expectant and wary due to this abrupt shift.
Caine remained suspended in the air, eyes absolutely distraught as he stared at nothing. He started to speak, "Uh, wait-" before a 'blip' sound was heard and he blinked into nullity. Pomni's eyes widened. She glanced at Jax to check if he was seeing the same thing she was. Silence hung over the circus for what felt like an eternity, but then, the circus' state instantly changed as it started to shake. The cast members got to their footing and anxiously watched as the circus' bright colors faded to dull shades of gray and as glitchy, square-shaped holes that lead to the Void started to form in miscellaneous areas of the circus, swallowing anything they emerged underneath of. The breaking circus shuddered around Pomni as she noticed Kinger’s advancing form, console and keyboard in hand. Every eye fell on Kinger, silently begging him to have an explanation for this unsettling turn in events. When Kinger finally spoke, Pomni wished he hadn't.
"...I think..."
Kinger's hands gripped the console tighter.
"...I accidentally killed Caine."
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Holy shit," was all Zooble had managed to sputter out. But immediately after, they held their hand at their face in shock as their use of a swear word went uncensored. Pomni's attention snapped to Zooble at that.
No.
"A-Are you sure?" Pomni stepped forward. "How did that... even happen?" Could you really just delete an A.I. like Caine?
"H-He was messing with the console as I was working. I-I don't know what happened. I-I tried to retrieve Caine's code on the console here, but... I couldn't find it. Caine's code is just... gone..." Kinger stated with ounces of nervousness and a drop of defeat in his voice.
Jax grit his teeth. "That's convenient," he hissed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Pomni warned against Jax, although her voice lacked conviction. Jax whipped his head around to the group's direction as he jabbed a finger at Kinger. "What? Are we all just supposed to forgive this? This guy messed up in the worst possible way he could! Now, we have NOTHING!"
Nobody called Jax out. Whether they agreed with him or simply didn't know what to say, Pomni couldn't tell.
Jax approached Kinger and angrily shoved him. "Anything else you wanna tell us?" Kinger stumbled backward, nearly dropping the console.
Pomni's voice hardened. "Jax, stop!"
Jax's pupils turned to pinpricks. "Whuh- he gets to mess up like this and everyone takes his side?!"
Pomni's eyebrows scrunched together as she deflected, "No one is taking-" "NO ONE IS TAKING SIDES! LIKE YOU SAID, WE NOW HAVE NOTHING, SO HONESTLY, JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Zooble couldn't stay silent for any longer, it was just too much to ask.
"WHAT?! KINGER IS THE ONE WHO CAUSED ALL OF THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND YOU'RE YELLING AT ME?!" Jax enunciated Kinger's name with all the acid he could muster.
Zooble's mismatched antennae twitched harder. "I'M YELLING AT YOU BECAUSE SOMEHOW, YOU'RE MAKING THIS PLACE MORE OF A HELL THAN IT IS ALREADY! WHY CAN'T YOU AT LEAST LET US THINK ABOUT WHAT TO TRY TO DO NEXT FOR A SECOND?! WHY ARE YOU MAKING THIS SO MUCH MORE UNBEARABLE?! JUST STOP FUCKING TALKING!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-"
"OH MY GOD, DO NOT EVEN-"
"GUYS, PLEASE! CALM DOWN-"
"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE-"
Everyone started yelling at once. The atmosphere was now a toxic mixture of pent up emotion and suffocating devastation which was at last being aired out after so much suppression. Pomni stared as everyone in front of her fought, the screaming aggravating the pressing, thumping discomfort in her head. For the first time in a while, she felt completely powerless, a stark contrast from her assertiveness from when confronting Caine. Despite how much time had passed, she felt the same nausea she did on her first day here all over again, although for a very different reason this time.
Kinger gingerly approached Pomni and put a hand on her shoulder, giving an empathetic look before his face hardened and he glared at the group. “EVERYONE!” His voice echoed so sharply that even Pomni flinched despite not being the one addressed. The incessant bickering seemed to cease almost immediately. The group stared at Kinger, unable to move anymore. Ragatha looked particularly surprised. Kinger took a deep breath and proceeded with a noticeably gentler tone. “There is a possibility that Caine comes back. Remember how things don’t get deleted right away, just moved temporarily. If I work on the console some more, I can possibly find a way to retrieve Caine from wherever he is, even if I can’t find his file at the moment.”
Pomni looked up at Kinger, her expression as meek as it was the day she first arrived. Kinger gave a reassuring smile to the best of his ability, which Pomni had tried to return, but instead found herself struggling to do so with all the pressure. Kinger didn't say anything, instead squeezing her shoulder and walking to a further away spot and sitting down on the checkered floor with the console, Pomni following suit after a minute. Jax, Ragatha, Zooble and Gangle glanced at each other and unanimously decided that shouting at each other wasn't worth it, so they quietly joined the pair. Kinger set the keyboard down from its place on top of the console and booted up the console once more.
"For now, I want to have some space to try to figure this out. You all are aware that we have the ability to conjure. On your own time, try to practice conjuring to try to find a solution to patch up the holes in the circus. I understand it will be difficult, so come to me if you need any help," Ragatha and Gangle nodded softly. Zooble stood still for a second before sighing, and the three of them walked away. Jax had been standing the farthest from the group, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed, looking off to the side. He not-so discreetly glanced at Pomni, just to find her already looking at him with serious eyes, albeit they still held a shine of concern. Jax's eyebrows pinched slightly upward. He opened his mouth, hesitating. Pomni didn't move from her spot on the ground. Jax's eyes moved to the floor and then to his hand, lingering.
Come on, Jax. Talk to me.
Jax's breath hitched as his eyes moved wildly before they settled on an invisible point in front of him. He stayed that way for what felt like too long. Like time had been suspended only for the both of them. Pomni waited in anticipation for something to happen. Jax looked at Pomni again for a second more, his chest imperceptibly heaving... and then made a 'tch' sound and walked in the opposite direction.
THE MASK HAS COMPLETELY CONSUMED HIM.
Pomni's shoulders sagged, but her gaze never left Jax as he walked off to wherever.
Pomni slowly got up and turned in Kinger's direction. "...You sure you'll be okay? You... got this?"
Kinger gave a wistful smile. "...I think so." Pomni let out a small chuckle out of familiarity, and left.
Ragatha stared at the gaping hole in front of her. The edges of the hole would occasionally blur and flicker, and the soft white light of the Void was visible through it. Ragatha took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes closed and held her hands up as she pushed her brain to conjure up something physical. She stayed in that position for a couple of seconds then slowly opened her eyes to see...
Nothing.
That wouldn't do! She tried again, this time keeping her eyes open as she held up her hands once more, fixating hard on the space in front of her, practically envisioning the shape she wanted being right there, and...
Again, nothing.
...
...
...
...
Ugh, who was she kidding?! What had she ever done that had a good impact on others? She could barely help when everyone was yelling, what could she possibly do to help? How was she useful?
Ragatha felt like collapsing to the floor and giving up. She almost did right then and there.
"Hey, Ragatha?"
Ragatha snapped out of her daze and turned to the sound of that voice to find Pomni gingerly walking up to her.
"Um, are you... did you need any help with that?"
Ragatha fumbled with her hands. "Oh, uh, yeah. Sure. That... would be good." Pomni smiled softly and walked to stand next to Ragatha. Pomni's facial expression settled blankly when she saw the sharply formed hole.
"I'm not really sure of how to do this, but... I assume that conjuring is something that comes naturally if you really believe in the thing you want to become real. Maybe, if... actually, that's all I can really say," Pomni let out a dry chuckle. "Let's just... try our best."
...By that logic, wouldn't that mean that the more power multiple people put in believing one thing, the more likely it is to come to be? Ragatha didn't know if her theory even made sense, but she may as well try.
"Uh, what if we both tried conjuring something together at the same time? Like, if we try visualizing the same thing in unity," She clasped her hands together at that word, "then it could be easier to make it real. Kind of like how in real life, the more people that come together for one cause, the more likely it is to... have relevance? I don't really know, y-you can just... forget I said anything! I'm probably wrong, anyways-"
Pomni grabbed Ragatha's hand, causing her to jump.
"Y'know, it's not a bad idea. I think it could work! Let's try it," Pomni smiled sweetly up at Ragatha, and the latter felt her eyes go a little big involuntarily. She almost let out a sigh, but forced herself to stifle it. She didn't want to be weird, not in times like these.
Pomni's head turned to look forward and she took a deep breath. "Let's try imagining a 2D rectangle One that's... uh... black. Sorry, I'm being a little vague, I hope you can work with that."
"I can," Ragatha turned her head as well and started to focus on the image she wanted to create alongside Pomni, the both of them holding their free hands up. They squeezed each others' taken hands as they envisioned what they wanted, and...
Bzzzt!
A rectangle with a void-coloured black fill and a glowing, white aura appeared, its length stretching out almost past Ragatha's height. Ragatha gasped out of surprise and wonder, but she didn't let it get to her just yet and quickly took control of the rectangle with Pomni, setting it down atop the aperture. Pomni felt a smile come across her face, her first genuine smile since Caine went rogue.
"That felt so much easier with you! Let's patch up the rest of the hole."
Ragatha chuckled in response, and the two of them continued making various kinds of shapes, their hands never leaving each others' as they slowly covered more and more of the hole. When they made the last flat surface and shut out the last of the white light glowing from the opening, the women had finally felt a little at ease. They felt like there could still be hope for them.
Ragatha stretched her arms, feeling noticeably better than how she did a couple moments ago.
"I feel like we can actually do this! Wanna go to the next one?"
Pomni smiled and nodded, a rare, newfound peace having settled between the two. The feeling rejuvenated the two women as they walked away to fix the rest of the circus.
...
Some time passed, and a strange silence fell upon the space they were once in. Minutes passed by, and a looming feeling enveloped the circus more and more and more, making it harbor a different kind of quiet heaviness that wasn't there before.
....
The patched-up hole suddenly started to jitter, and the 2D surfaces covering the aperture glitched violently and fell straight into the Void, pinching out of view and, potentially, existence.