Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cover art by @Loverofcartoon on twitter

.

Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark

Show me the places where the others gave you scars – Willow by Taylor Swift

.

.

.

Three Months Ago

“Penny?” Amber knocked on the door of her daughter’s apartment. “Penny, it’s mom!”

Throughout the past week, Penny had been eerily silent. Normally she would let in her mother or sister, or occasionally answer the phone if they called. But every time Amber reached out, she never replied. She tried to cook it up to her daughter grieving, but she was a mother. Mothers worried.

So here she was, outside Penny’s home and trying to get her to answer the door.

“Look Penny, I know these past few months have been stressful,” Amber said, “But everyone is getting worried about you. I had to stop Riley from charging down here to get you out. We all just want to help you, please.”

Amber gave her a moment, to see if she would hear someone saying they were coming, or have the door unlocked and revealing a messy haired brunette. But nothing. Amber sighed, she didn’t want to do this, but she had to make sure Penny was okay. She reached into her purse and pulled out the spare key her daughter had given, opening the door slowly.

The apartment was in a state, dirty dishes and dust gathering on the countertops. It had been a while since the woman visited, who would usually help her daughter clean. Maybe she would do that today. “Penny!” Amber called out, still no answer. “Penny, we gotta try and get up today.” She walked to the bedroom, “Maybe we can get some coffee or go to the park or-”

Her stomach dropped. The moment she stepped into the bedroom, the bed was empty, without a body in sight. But what scared her more was the turned-on computer with nothing open and a damaged headset…just like Riley’s cases.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Amber chanted, running out of the room, scouring every inch of the place. “Penny?!” She reached the bathroom, no one. “Penny?!” she checked her sewing room, still nothing. “Penny!” the centre of the living room and kitchen. Again, void of anyone there.

She went back into the bedroom, pulling off the sheets, praying her eyes were playing tricks on her. But deep down she knew the truth. She covered her mouth, tears stinging in her eyes. She was gone. Her baby was gone.

She reached into her purse and grabbed her phone, hastily dialling until an operator picked up. “Yes hi! My name is Amber Reed!” she cried, “I went to visit my daughter Penny Reed but when I got there she was gone! All that was left was a broken headset and computer just like…just like.” Her voice broke off into a cry.

The operator understood immediately, asking for an address and told the woman that the police would arrive shortly. Amber thanked them and hung up, before dialling a new number.

Riley’s number.

“Hello?” Riley answered, “Mom, is everything okay?”

“Riley…Penny,” Amber sniffed, unable to say the words.

“What?” Riley asked, her voice starting to lace with concern. “Mom what happened?!”

Amber gulped, “It’s Penny…she’s gone.”

.

.

.

Jax stirred, now that it was confirmed that he could actually sleep here, it was certainly something to get used to again. He didn’t mind though, it was something that made him feel more alive, more sane, more human. Especially now that he remembered who he was. Jack Bloom, he missed hearing that name. But he missed another even more.

A warm body stirred next to him. Penny he lovingly threaded his fingers through Pomni’s short hair. He still couldn’t believe she was here! That she went all through that for him! He was going to get them out of here, no matter what.

Pomni hummed at the sensation of his fingers, mumbling and kneading her pillow beneath her hand like a cat. Jax chuckled, he missed watching her do that, every night she would do it. It was the cutest thing to him. Her eyes blinked open, taking in the purple rabbit before her and smiled sleepily.

“It wasn’t a dream,” she hummed, “It was real.”

“As real as it can get sweetheart,” Jax pressed a kiss to her forehead. “God you’re so beautiful.”

She giggled as his fur tickled her skin, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him in for another kiss, “Not so fast bunny boy.”

He chuckled against her lips, giving her bottom lip a small nip, “I’m definitely not complaining.” He pulled her closer to him, revelling in her warmth. Jax missed this, he missed this so much. He missed her so much. How could he ever imagine losing all of this? He literally had the world in his hands and the future ahead of his path was a bright one, and because of Luke, he was so quick to throw it away.

He pulled his lips away, he almost lost his person. He was such an idiot. Jax buried his face into Pomni’s neck, breathing in as much of her scent as he could and keeping her close. He never wanted to lose her again.

“Jack?” Pomni brought her hand up to stroke the back of his head, “Hey, talk to me. What’s going on?”

He shuddered, he feared what to say next, feared that the next wrong move would ruin something. But he shook that thought away, those were the same things in his head that drove him away from Penny in the first place. He wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. “I shouldn’t have made that deal with Jason,” he murmured into her shoulder, turning his face to look at her. “I’m the reason we’re in this mess. You deserve to be home, with your mother and sister, making your dreams come true. And I…I’m really sorry Pen.”

“Hey,” she cupped his cheeks in her hands. “You didn’t know any of this was going to happen. There was no way you could have known that you were gonna end up here after putting on that headset. We fought, yes. But I know that if this whole place didn’t exist, we would have figured out the situation we were in. I put on the headset too, you know. I don’t blame you for anything. I love you so much Jack.”

He sighed, how did the world give him the sweetest soul ever created? She was perfect. “I adore you,” he pushed himself up onto his forearms, leaning over her.

“You’re trying to out do me mister,” she pouted.

“Oh am I?” he smirked, “Can’t I not express how I have the most beautiful, perfect fiancé in the world?”

“I know you mister,” she stuck her tongue out at him, “I’ve known you long enough when you’re trying to be a show-off.”

“So you think I’m being a show-off when I’m doing this?” without warning, his lips were fluttering little kisses against her neck, reaching all the spots where he knew Pomni was most ticklish.

“Jack!” Pomni snorted, trying to shove him off her, “You asshole! Don’t make me bite you!”

“Oh no,” Jax drawled, he knew he was pushing her, “Whatever shall I do?” He didn’t stop his kiss attack.

Just as they both expected, Pomni launched up and bite him on the shoulder, making the rabbit laugh out loud. There was a bit of rough and tumble, with both the rabbit and the jester fighting for control, until Pomni eventually pinned his arms down while straddling his waist. “You can sweet talk me all you want,” she jeered, “But never think that I don’t get even.”

“I mean, I’m definitely not mad about these current circumstances sweetie,” Jax grinned, “As long as I get to look at your beautiful face.”

Pomni groaned, shaking her head, “What am I gonna do with you?”

“Hmm, how about marrying me the moment we get back home?” the rabbit suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

The jester giggled, her annoyance vanishing, “Yeah, I guess that can be arranged.”

His hands were moving up to the back of her head, caressing the soft strands between his fingers. Her short locks were a contrast to her usually long hair that he loved to bury his hands in whenever they kissed, but she still looked beautiful, nonetheless. He lifted his upper body off the mattress, watching as her face softened with relaxation the more he massaged her scalp. His lips inched closer to hers, ready to press them together when-

“-Jax, are you in there?” Ragatha asked on the other side of Jax’s bedroom door, giving it three sharp knocks. “I need to talk to you.”

“Eep!” Pomni squeaked, rolling off her partner and buried herself under the covers. “She’s probably looking for me since I’m not in my room!”

“Shoot!” Jax cursed. Well, as best as he could without triggering Caine’s censorship feature. “This isn’t how I planned to tell everyone about us!”

“I didn’t intend on having a plan at all!” Pomni hissed, “Get in front of me! I’m short enough to hide behind you!”

She found herself regretting those words when she saw a smirk creep on Jax’s lips, “Oh so the little lady finally admits that she’s small.”

Pomni growled, “Keep talking like that and you’ll see how much damage a small person can do to your shins!”

“I’m coming in!” Ragatha called.

Jax immediately sobered up, using his height to cover Pomni behind him, he could hear the rustling of his sheets as she tried to cover herself up with them. He leaned his cheek on his palm, trying to appear as relaxed as possible as Ragatha cracked the door open. “Doll face,” he really hoped he sounded casual, “Don’t you know its rude to break into people’s rooms.”

“Look who’s talking,” she deadpanned, “Besides, you weren’t in your room when I went to check on you last night. I was gonna look for you but then Caine started pressuring us to get to bed at a ‘proper time’.”

Jax face faltered a bit, she cared enough to look for him? After he treated her like nothing but garbage? Little things like that made him all the more grateful that Pomni found her way back into his life. For those last few months and memories, she had managed to get him to open up in ways that no one else could. Maybe deep down it was him trying to get back out or her just being her most sweet and honest self that he couldn’t help but let his edges soften. But either way, it gave him so much more clarity with how he was with the others, and how ashamed that he was blind to the fact that they actually did want to help him. That it wasn’t a cruel trick that someone like Luke would pull. God he was an idiot.

“Guess I got tired of sleeping on a hard stage so I came back to bed,” he gulped down any nerves that were rushing up. “See, no big deal.”

“Well, I hope you’re feeling better,” Ragatha smiled softly. “Pomni was really worried about you when you didn’t come back.”

He felt the jester shuffle behind him when her name was spoken. He wanted nothing more than to smother her with affection right there and then, to show her how much he appreciated even the smallest pieces of kindness she had to offer. “Don’t worry, I’ll see her later and show her that I’m fine,” he told the ragdoll. “But…how was she? After the whole…”

He felt Pomni stiffen, Jax suddenly felt guilty about bringing it up. But seeing her scared little face, how she felt the sensation of dying…Even if she was alright now, it didn’t mean that the trauma of it all was erased. It was just another part of this hell that they were forced to be part of. A hell that Caine was either too naïve or stubborn to fix.

“I won’t lie, she was pretty shaken up. And that’s me giving the sugar-coated version of it,” Ragatha tod him, sighing. “You’d think that we’d be used to it all by now, or at least, we are. But Caine just has to one up himself every time. I know she didn’t – you know. But I was there once, I know how she felt and-” She stopped herself, her voice edging on sounding tearful. Jax watched as she danced the same routine that she always did when she felt as if she was about to cry.

Ragatha closed her eyes, breathed in forcefully and gripped her hands so tight that Jax swore that were almost about to rip. She beamed, as though she wasn’t even sad in the first place. But her smile was just too fake to be considered real, “Anyways, have you seen Pomni? I was going to fetch her for breakfast but she wasn’t in her room. Have you stumbled upon her while going back up to your room.”

Stumbled was definitely a loose term. I mean, if you believed tearful kisses, a long-awaited reunion, the bringing back of lost memories and the passionate promise to return to the real world was just a little stumble then yes, perhaps he did stumble into her. “Uh, nope,” Jax shook his head, “I haven’t seen her. But then again, she is pretty short. It would be hard for anyone not to see her.”

He bit his lip as Pomni kicked him in the leg. Despite her small and light structure, Riley had definitely taught her a thing or two about strength.

“Right,” Ragatha hung her head with worry. “I’m sure she’ll show up eventually. Oh and once you see her again, please be nice to her, for some reason she really likes you. If I didn’t know any better I’d think she has a crush on you.”

“Is that so?” Oh how Jax wished he could see how red Pomni’s face could be turning right now. “I did not know that at all.”

“Unsurprisingly, men are pretty dumb about that stuff,” she scoffed, turning before shutting the door behind her.

When he was sure the sounds of her steps were far away enough, he burst out laughing, echoing off the walls as he fell onto his back.

“Shut up!” Pomni’s was flustered head to toe, grabbing a pillow and smacking him. “So what if I was crushing on you before we got our memories back?! We’re already engaged!”

“It’s the principal little lady!” he snickered, grabbing the pillow and throwing it away. With nothing to hold onto, she fell forward onto his chest with a yelp while the rabbit encased her in his arms. “But I think it’s pretty cute that you were crushing on me even if you didn’t know me.”

Pomni whined, burying her face into Jax’s fluffy chest as she continued to mumble and groan with embarrassment. Jax patted her hair gently, deciding to take pity on her…for now. “There, there,” his fingers combed through her short locks, “I’m sorry for teasing you Penny.”

She went silent there, looking back up at him slowly, “Huh.”

Jax raised on eyebrow, slightly confused, “What? Did I say something weird?”

“You always say weird stuff,” she grinned, earning her a flick to the forehead. The couple giggled as Pomni snuggled up against him more, “It’s just…still getting used to hearing my name again. I feel like I’ve denied of myself for so long, it’s nice knowing that I am someone. And that I do have importance.”

Jax felt himself smile softly, looking at Pomni with all the love he could muster, “That’s my girl.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, “And I’ll say it as many times as you want as long as it makes you happy. Penny-Penny-Penny-Penny-Penny-” He started smothering her with kisses again as his fiancé squealed.

“Jack!” she snorted, “You can’t say it all the time! The others don’t know yet!”

“I guess that means I get to keep you to myself a little longer,” he chortled.

“Ugh,” she grumbled, “Dumb%%ss.”

“Shortie,” he retorted as she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Well, I think ‘keeping me a little longer’ is gonna have to wait,” Pomni told him, “I gotta head back to my room so no one else gets any more suspicious.”

“You sure I can’t keep you for five more seconds,” Jax pouted.

“Jack Bloom you will learn to be patient,” she poked him on the nose. “Once today is over I’ll be right back.” She cupped his face in her palms, “As long as we see each other throughout the day, then that’s enough for me.”

He took her hand, kissing the inside, “And it’s enough for me too.”

Pomni smiled, pressing one last kiss to his forehead and began to swing her legs off the bed until a long purple arm pulled her back. “Changed my mind! I want five more seconds!” his lips began to attack her neck as she screeched and squirmed.

“Jack!” Pomni cackled, “You £0(hole!” She couldn’t stop giggling, tackling the rabbit to the bed again as the two began to scuffle about, kisses and laughter filling the room.

Five seconds turned to five minutes…then ten minutes. They made it to breakfast eventually, with Jax having to wait a while after before joining the table in order to erase suspicion. Everyone raised a brow at him, usually the rabbit would be there before anyone, ready with a prank and make everyone else’s morning more miserable. Yet he was late, with a carefree smile and said nothing as he sat down (he was grateful that he as least still got to sit next to Pomni).

It still didn’t stop everyone from raising an eyebrow at this sudden new development, and even whispering about it while eating. “See,” he spoke in a hushed voice in Pomni’s direction, “I knew we’d be good at this whole secret thing.”

Pomni never wanted the ground to swallow her up whole as she did now.

.

.

.

The smell of warm coffee filled Riley’s nose as she filled two mugs. Winter was still at work and now she had this stranger in her house. She was still trying to wrap her head around things, the whiplash of finally being able to get her sister back had thrown her for a loop. Did she trust this Samual kid yet? Not really. But she would wait and see if he was bluffing or not. As long as there was a chance to find Penny, she didn’t want to waste it.

She carried the mugs back through to the living room, where Samual was waiting patiently on the sofa. His eyes scanned the room, widened with curiosity. His gaze landed on a small picture frame with three women, two with red hair and one with brown hair-

“-Take it,” Riley shoved the mug in his face, the boy nearly jumping of his skin.

“Ah, sorry, sorry,” he apologised, taking the coffee gratefully. “I usually get distracted. Um, that girl in the photo, is she-?”

“-Aren’t we here to talk about why you should help me?!” Riley snapped. She didn’t mean to sound so cruel, but right now they were here to discuss business. They weren’t friends, and she certainly didn’t want him to familiarise with Penny.

“Sorry, you’re right, I-I’m sorry,” he cleared his throat, gripping the warm mug as the heat washed through his hands before beginning his story. “I always had a funny feeling about Jason since my parents disappeared. At first I thought he was fine. Whenever my aunt and uncle were unsure with how to help me, Jason was always there to try and cheer me up. Before they went missing, he was close with me and my parents, even letting me see games that weren’t finished yet. But when I started getting older things got…different.”

He shifted in his seat in discomfort, his hands tightening around the cup, “He became more controlling, restrictive. He was very vocal about the stuff that I should be studying like coding and computer science, stuff that my dad used to do. He also kept breathing over my shoulder with where I would go and why I wouldn’t spend time with him. Like, he was angry that I wasn’t always in the building. I chalked it up to thinking that maybe he just wanted me to take over C&A, like my dad did, and maybe this was his own way of grieving his loss. But whenever I tried to talk to him about my parents, he always shut me down. I remember this one time where it was just us, I was begging him to tell me at least one thing about my parents. I…I never saw him so angry in my life. It was the last time I brought it up. Whenever I tried to talk about them to someone else at C&A, they’d either bring up a different conversation or not talk to me at all. If someone did talk to me Jason would either get super pissed, and sometimes even fire them.”

His knuckles started to turn white, “I tried to talk to my aunt and uncle about him, how I didn’t want him in my life anymore. But he was always really good to them and helped them out since I was a kid so they didn’t see anything wrong with him, even saying that I was being dramatic. They even supported him when he tried to pick out what college I should go to and what I should study there! As if it wasn’t my choice!” He cringed once he realised the volume of his voice, shrinking a bit in his seat. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”

“It’s fine,” Riley muttered, gathering more information in her head while listening to him.

“Um, well. Everything kinda changed a few months ago, after Jack went missing,” he continued, “Before…well…your sister went missing. I started getting these anonymous messages. There was never any email address attached, just words on a page. I asked them who they were but they never gave me a proper answer. The only thing they mentioned was that they were trapped and needed a way out. I tried to figure out what they meant, asked questions about how they could get out. Anything else they told me was about bugs, keys and trying to find an escape. I don’t think they meant to be confusing, their whole tone made them sound really scared. However one day…there were no more messages. I tried to email them back but they never responded.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. “This was the last thing they sent me.”

He handed it to Riley, taking it carefully while still feeling slightly suspicious. The whole thing so far had sounded extremely bizarre. She unfolded the paper, blinking in shock at what she saw.

GAME

ITS ALL A GAME

TRAPPED

HELP

THE EXIT IS NEAR

WE NEED A KEY

C&A IS A LIE

FIND THE BUGS

It seemed to be written in a panic. Each sentence quick and at least trying to get to some sort of point. “You sure they didn’t at least have some sort of name?” Riley asked.

“Well, kinda,” Samual shrugged. “The only thing they referred to themselves as was Queenie. But that’s all I got from them.”

“Queenie?” Riley deadpanned. She sighed, running a hand over her face. As if it was realistic for a sane person to have that sort of name. “Look kid, I get your giving me what you know so far, but it’s not realistic for be to see if literally anyone has that name.”

“I know, I know,” Samual told her. “Believe me, I wish that there was more that I could tell you. But that fact that it stated that C&A did something raised so many red flags for me, and it would explain why Jason is so tight lipped about anything relating to my parents.”

“Do you even have proof that you didn’t just make these up?” Riley questioned, her tone harsher as she raised her brow at him.

“N-no,” Samual’s voice wavered slightly. “B-but! I can take you to C&A and show you that I’m telling the truth! I could say that you’re helping with the case and they’d let you in!”

Riley didn’t say a word, taking a long sip of her own coffee. She didn’t know what to believe, everything that this kid had mentioned just seemed off the walls insane! But he spoke to earnestly that a part of her almost felt inclined to believe him. “One chance,” she said, “Got it?”

He was practically radiating with joy the moment those words left her mouth, “Yes! Yes! Absolutely! I promise I won’t let you down!”

She nearly smiled at him, but she forced it away. She wasn’t going to celebrate anything yet until there was solid evidence that he was telling the truth. But she wasn’t going to lie, this was the first time that Riley felt a glimmer of hope with finding Penny.

After so many months of disappointment.

So

Much

Disappointment.

.

.

.

Three Months Ago

Riley was on a mission, her knuckles white as she gripped onto the steering wheel of her car. It was barely a day since Penny was announced missing, and she wanted to confirm that the worst-case scenarios didn’t happen before focusing on anything else. Did she like what she was planning to do? No fucking way. But if it meant getting rid at least part of her worries, then it was worth it.

The car pulled up on a shoddy looking house, the white paint on the bricks fading into grey with chips cracking along the surface. From the windows it didn’t even seem like the place had been cleaned, with grease marks all over the window and what seemed to be a pile of dirty clothes from the corner. She jumped out the car, slamming the door shut before going up to the front of the house.

Riley hammered on the door, not ceasing until she heard an angered, “Alright!” from a male voice.

After the sound of a lock turning, the door opened, revealing a haggard man in a tank top stained with sweat. He seemed like he’d seen better days. Riley cringed at the scent of cigarettes on his breath, “Is David here?”

“Yeah, so?” the man shrugged.

She shoved past him, ignoring his cursing at her. The stronger scent of whiskey and smoke hit her all at once, like a gentlemen’s club that served only the strongest of liquors and lacked any type of windows for air. If the house already seemed messy on the outside, it was so much worse on the inside.

On the floor was more dirty laundry scattered about, dust was collecting on the furniture and there was a build up of unclean dishes nearly covering the kitchen surfaces and sink. In what was supposed to be the dining area, a group of men were huddled round a table, with opened cans of beer, cigarettes and each one was holding a handful on playing cards.

She ignored them, there was only one person – hopefully two – that she was looking for. “David!” she yelled, venturing into the hallway.

“Woah, woah!” one of the men stood up, “Who’s this bitch?!”

“Dunno,” the man from the door scratched his stomach, “Just came in here liked she owned the place.”

The second man scoffed, “Listen lady, I don’t know who you are but you’re a real cunt for interrupting our-”

He tried to reach out and grab Riley’s shoulder, only for the woman to whip back round and grab his arm. She twisted it behind her arm, smirking at his yelp of pain, “Or what? What would you do to a member of the FBI?” That seemed to scare the others off, the men sinking into their seats with Riley’s silent threat. “That’s what I thought.”

She let the man go as he staggered back to his seat. “David!” she went back into the hallway again, stepping over the piles of fabric on the ground.

A body came hurling towards her, but Riley was quick to react as she pushed the body to the wall, the back of head hitting the hard surface. She sighed, she found the idiot she was looking for, “David.”

The man came to, a delirious grin spreading across his face the moment he recognised her. “Well, well,” he drawled, the stench of beer hanging of his breath, “Fellas! This is my oldest, Riley!” He was drunk, obviously. But it didn’t make it hurt for Riley any less, “Come here kiddo!”

He tried to reach in for a hug, but Riley was quick to push him back against the wall with a growl, “Where’s Penny?”

“The fuck are you talking about?” he slurred.

Riley rolled her eyes, if he was playing dumb then she wasn’t going to risk it, “Didn’t you even at least here from the news? She’s missing. I figured that could be the only way you would find out since you like to pretend she doesn’t even exist.”

“Yeah I did,” he scoffed. “She ain’t here. Why would I drag her sorry ass out here?”

That stung more than it should have. His daughter went missing yet he treated it as though as he had a speck of lint on his shoulder. “Dunno,” she scowled, “You always wanted to make sure she was miserable as possible. Wanted to make sure that she wasn’t here.”

“Riley you gotta stop being dramatic,” David said, “It’s a bad habit you got from your mom. You guys always freak out over Penny.”

“Right,” she balled her hands into fists, “Her daughter and my sister went missing and no one can find her but sure. We’re being ‘dramatic’.” She walked away from him, she couldn’t stop searching yet. “Penny!”

She searched through each room of the house, even checking in the wardrobes. Maybe it wasn’t plausible, but that fearful section of her mind wouldn’t let go of that fear until it was confirmed that her father wasn’t a complete monster to her baby sister. He still was, and Riley would never forget that. She could still hear him trying to get her attention, trying to give her some sort of ‘apology’ (which mostly resulted in him trying to avoid any type of blame whatsoever).

Once she made sure she didn’t miss anything from the inside, she ventured back out, gulping in as much fresh air as she could in order to erase the stink of cheap booze and smoke. There was only one more place she wanted to look. She went over to David’s car, unsurprised to find it unlocked, and opened the trunk. Was it a stretch? Honestly, she could never tell with him. The way he treated Penny was enough to make her this fearful. She could feel relief swarm her when there was no one in there. Penny wasn’t here, that’s good.

Worry was quick to fill Riley again, then where was she?

“You’re really being paranoid Riles,” David muttered, stepping outside.

“I’m doing my job,” she spat at him, slamming the trunk closed.

“Don’t use that tone on me young lady,” he scolded, “I’m just trying to help.”

“Seriously? You decide now that you want to attempt at being my dad?” she snarled, “Because that stopped happening the moment you wanted nothing to do with me and Penny after she was born! You held a grudge over a fucking baby! And if you really want to help, you can get off your lazy ass and help Mom with the search parties or even pitch in any ideas to help find your daughter!”

“Come on Riley,” he groaned, “You know your sister has had her freakouts before. She’s probably having one of those after her little boyfriend dumped her.”

Riley grit her teeth, no one spoke about her Winter’s brother like that, “Jack didn’t dump her, he’s missing too. And you’re seriously calling what Penny went through ‘freakouts’? Especially that you’re the reason behind most of them? How fucking dare you?!”

“Oh come on, the car accident was years ago, you should be over this by now,” David crossed his arms. “It’s not my fault your mother was too lazy to pick up that little brat. It was my day off but Amber just had to be a bitch about it anyway.” Riley felt her fist balling up again, her veins raising to her wrist at the intensity. “And if I’m being honest, it’s probably a good thing that she’s missing! It’ll finally teach her to stop being so fucking selfish-”

Riley’s fist collided with David’s nose, sending him to the ground. He screamed as he clutched the now bleeding appendage. Riley flexed her fingers, that felt good. “That’s all I needed,” she muttered, “See you around David.”

She ignored his cries, opting to go round the side of the house to reach her car. She sighed the moment she shut the door behind her and started the engine, not bothering to look back at the dingy old house.

Riley hated him, she hated him so much. She hated that she shared his blood. She hated that he threw away the chance to be her father because of his own entitlement. She hated that he made her baby sister so afraid of being touched despite him not laying a hand on her. She hated how he spoke about her kind, sweet mother in the vilest ways possible. And she hated for wishing for the potential of the relationship they could have had.

She hated him she hated him she hated him sha hated him she hated him-

SHE HATED HIM

The tires of her car screeched to a halt on the empty road. Riley let out a blood-curdling, painful scream, banging her hands on the steering wheel. This always happened whenever she saw David, all the anguish and hurt he fed to her over the years coming full front and forcing their way into her heart.

But this time it was worse. This time Penny was gone. Riley had spent the last few days burying down the panic, the fear, the intrusive thoughts that plagued her mind. Now it was rising like bile in her throat.

A tear ran down her cheek as she pressed her forehead to the wheel.

She just wanted her baby sister back.

.

.

.

“Uh, Miss Riley? Are you okay?”

Riley snapped out of her gaze. She turned to face Samual’s brown eyes. Huh, there the exact same shade as Penny’s- No! Enough! She wasn’t going to get soft on him. Where was she again? Oh, right. After the information that Samual gave her, they had driven up to C&A to carry out the kid’s plan. Right now they were parked outside, with Riley just snapping out of her daydream. “I’m fine,” she murmured.

“You sure?” Samual asked, “We can wait a few minutes in case you need a breather-”

“-I’m fine!” she snapped at him, his eyes widening with panic. Riley sighed, she didn’t mean to snap at him, but right now was more tense than she ever believed she could be capable of. “Just tell me what you want us to do.”

“R-right, okay,” he fidgeted with his hands for a moments. “Um, so I’m able to tell them that you’re still working on Jack’s missing case. You know since he used to work here and all. Then I can take you to where I found the emails, I still have them hidden.”

The plan seemed plausible enough, and Riley was still working on Jack’s case so her boss wouldn’t have any complaints with her being here. “Okay, let’s get started,” she stated.

Samual nodded eagerly, already jumping out the car. Riley sighed, this kid’s energy was too difficult for her to catch up to. She followed him into the building, taking in the familiar site when she first started working on the case. She didn’t think she would get used to the size yet, she knew this company was popular but it was definitely noticeable with the size of this place.

Samual walked up to the desk, Riley already reaching into her pocket for her badge. “Donna,” he greeted the receptionist, “I’m here with Agent Reed from the FBI.”

“Sorry to disturb ma’am,” Riley spoke, holding up her badge. “But I had to come back here to make sure there wasn’t anything I missed for the Jack Bloom case.”

“Oh, uh,” the woman seemed startled, her eyes almost panicked. It already raised a few red flags for Riley. Sure Jack’s case was still going but C&A seemed to have their hands clean so far. This didn’t seem like a reaction for concern, but rather like a child having their hand stuck in a cookie jar.

“Yes, yes of course,” the receptionist finally answered, running a hand through her hair anxiously. “Go right ahead agent, do what you need to do.”

Riley gave her a brisk nod, with Samual leading her further into the building. When they reached the elevator and the doors were shut did Samual begin to grin again, “Woah! That was amazing! Is this what it feels like when you’re undercover? You’re all mysterious and secretive, it feels like being in a play!”

“Easy kid,” she put a hand on his shoulder.

“Right, right, sorry,” he panted a little bit from the excitement. “I’ll be calm. It’s just – so freaking cool!”

Riley rolled her eyes. And if there was a smile slowly quirking at the corner of her lips then she was quick to get rid of it.

With a small ‘ding’ of the elevator, the duo found themselves on the floor they were looking for. Samual led her down a few hallways before stumbling into some sort of office. Samual looked back and forth in the hallway before shutting the door between them. “Okay, this is the place where I started getting the messages,” he informed her, “I kept them on this computer to make sure that it was safe.”

Samual logged onto the monitor, scanning through each folder until he finally found what he was looking for. He clicked on the first file, an email detailing the start of a conversation.

Hello?

Is someone there?

Please

You can see this

Can’t you?

My name is Queenie

I need your help

“You see!” Samual pointed to the screen, “I told you.”

Riley felt her heart flutter a bit, hoping filling it once again. Samual clicked on another email.

You’re back!

Something is happening with the insects here

They’re acting strange

What did you find?

Don’t worry it’s gonna be okay!

We’ll find something

He clicked on a few more pages, each one detailing something similar. Both Samual and this ‘Queenie’ person were trying to find something, something that could somehow set this mystery person free from whatever prison they were in. Samual finally clicked on one more.

It’s all a simulation

Like a game

I remember the headset

I know that I had a life

I know that I am trapped in the amazing digital circus

Riley raised a brow at that, it sounded familiar, “The amazing digital-”

“Samual! What do you think you’re doing?!” a male voice thundered.

Both Riley and Samual jumped, turning to the source of the voice.

Samual gulped, “J-Jason.”

Jason Wood stood at the door, his arms crossed and his face holding nothing but fury, “Donna told me that you were bring an agent here so I rushed out of my meeting to deal with this nonsense. You better explain the meaning of this.”

“I-I, y-you, um,” Samual stuttered, the words not being able to form.

“I can explain sir,” Riley walked over. “It’s for the Jack Blossom case, I got in contact with Sam to see if he could help me out since he knew Jack before he went missing.”

Jason’s eyes furrowed more, looking past Riley to deepen his frightful gaze onto Samual. The boy felt and looked smaller than he ever did, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Jason walked past Riley and over to the computer, “What is this?”

“I-it’s just something to help with the case!” Samual said, “I only wanted to help, I promise!”

“Oh, Samual, not this again,” Jason computer.

Riley looked to Samual, again?

Jason looked back to Riley, pity drawn all over his face, “He did this when his parents disappeared. He created an imaginary version of them to talk to out of grief, the poor kid.”

“Well, kids need to find their own way to grieve, right?” Riley pointed out, dreading that this conversation wasn’t going where she thought it was going.

“Sure for kids,” Jason nodded, “But not for teenagers.” He turned back to Samual, “This is probably another one of his episodes. Last time this happened we had to admit him to the psych ward. I really hope this isn’t another one of these situations, it nearly broke me, his aunt and his uncle seeing him like that.”

A pit formed in Riley’s stomach. Of course she was being naive! The recent cases must have been making this kid act up again, and she only made it worse by selfishly indulging in it.

“No, no!” Samual yelled out. “That’s not true! Riley this isn’t true!”

“So you weren’t admitted to the psych ward?” Riley demanded.

“Yes but not for the reasons you think?!” Samual sniffled. “It was him!” he pointed at Jason, “I stepped out of line and he punished me for it! That’s what he does!”

Riley pressed her fingers to her temples, massaging them. How could I be such a fool? “I’m sorry for wasting your time Mr Wood,” she sighed, “I should get going.”

“That’s quite alright dear,” he smiled warmly.

“No, no, wait!” Samual cried out, chasing after Riley as she went back into the hallway. “Riley please believe me! Those emails were real! I can help you!”

“STOP!” Riley screamed, “Just stop! I can’t believe I was so stupid enough to trust what random kid had to say in order to find my sister!”

“It wasn’t a mistake, please!” he begged, “Riley I can help you! We can find her! We can find Jack! We can find my parents!”

“Enough!” Riley growled, “Enough. You need help Samual, I’m sorry for what you went through but this isn’t going to bring your parents back.”

“You think I haven’t gotten help?!” his voice broke, “You think I didn’t want help?! I had to threaten to leave C&A in order for Jason to let me go to therapy before he weaponised the psych ward in order to get me out the way! This isn’t a deranged theory, this is me finally asking for help after months and months of denying it because I was scared people didn’t believe me! You were the only person I could trust who wouldn’t betray me! Please Riley! Please stay!”

Riley closed her eyes. She couldn’t make the same mistake, “Goodbye Samual, have a nice life.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked back to the elevator.

“Riley please!” she heard Samual sob. “I don’t want to be alone again!”

She walked into the elevator.

“Please! I can’t!” Tears were streaming down the boy’s cheeks.

Riley tried to ignore how much it reminded her how Penny used to cry for her as the elevator doors shut.

.

.

.

Seven hours should never feel this long!

Jax wanted to sob as the adventure finished up for the day. It was some sort of fast-food type of adventure, where he had to take multiple orders at once, get yelled at by an NPC manager, and wasn’t allowed to take a single break. Worst of all? He hadn’t seen Pomni once. It felt like some sort of crime to deny him of his fiancé’s beautiful face.

He laughed to himself, he wondered what the others would think of cruel, sarcastic Jax having such sappy thoughts about the love of his life. A few days ago, he would ignore these thoughts in order to keep up his act of the heartless joker. But now? He couldn’t care less. He loved Pomni and he wasn’t going to change that one bit. Not when he had been refused of her for so long.

Speaking of Pomni, she was currently talking to Gangle. The body of ribbons was held back by Ragatha while the former tried to give Pomni a hug, still clearly concerned for her after the pool incident the other day. Pomni smiled, stating that she was perfectly fine and that the masked lady didn’t need to worry.

Jax felt himself smiling. She was here, as hellish as today was, Pomni was all that mattered to him. He didn’t want to interrupt her yet, besides, the scene was quite funny to watch. Although it seemed to be only them and himself in the ring, he wondered where Zooble and Kinger…oh, right.

Kinger.

“Stop speaking to me as if you know me! You’re nothing but an insect-obsessed, stupid piece of wood who can barely remember his name!

He still remembered the sting of saying that. He wished he could take it back. He wished he took take a lot of things back. Before everything he thought he was fine. He was a prankster, sure, but he never wanted to be cruel like the people who hurt him. But here, without the memories, without something to lean on, without all he built after years of therapy – of course it would cause his scars to bleed again. But he shouldn’t have scarred others along the way.

Jax gulped as his eyes finally caught the chess piece talking with Zooble. He wanted to try and make this right. He walked up to the duo, “Hey hoo-haa, Zoobs. What dumb thing are you talking about now?” Seriously! You try and makes things right and this is how you start the conversation?!

“What do you want now Jax?” Zooble crossed their arms, already annoyed.

“I just wanna talk to the old royal over here for a sec, okay,” Jax replied, trying to seem his usual, casual self.

“Why? So you can kick him down another hole again?” Zooble questioned bitterly. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Jax looked to Kinger, the chess piece was avoiding eye contact with him. “Kinger, I wanted to say-”

“You don’t get to say anything!” Zooble growled, “Not after how you talked to him! Yeah, I overheard your conversation while I was giving Caine an earful! The f&*k did Kinger even do for you to say that?! He was just trying to help!”

“I know, I know!” Jax ran a hand over his face. “I know that I shouldn’t have said that I was scared and I lashed out. I didn’t think-”

“You don’t think at all Jax,” Kinger spoke softly. Both him and Zooble turning to face the chess piece. “You believe everything that you do here is just mindless fun for you. But every time you push us down, every time you call us names, every time you grin cruelly at us, we all remember it. But sometimes there’s a glimmer of hope in you, I saw it when you talked to me about - you know. And every time I see it, you always try to squash it, as though you’re afraid. As though it makes you brave to deny yourself the slightest chance of goodness, but it doesn’t…you’re a coward Jax.”

It felt as if all the air had been knocked out of Jax, he nearly stumbled on the spot. To hear that from Kinger, the only person he felt close to other than Queenie, brought him a shame that he never knew existed. “I…I really am sorry Kinger,” he said with all the sincerity he could muster.

Kinger sighed, “I wish I could believe that.” He pulled out a paper butterfly, red like the old cloak that Queenie used to wear. His eyes smiled softly at the familiarity. “But Queenie always had an eyes for the diamond in the rough. And I trust her more than anyone. I might forgive you, but not today.”

The chess piece’s eyes held the same wisdom as they did back when he and the rabbit built the fort together. A pair of years with decades of knowledge. But as soon as he blinked, he was back to normal old Kinger, “Oh look, a butterfly! That will be perfect for my collection.” He looked back up to the rabbit, “Oh hi Jax…bye Jax.”

With that, he turned away, leaving Jax starstruck again. Zooble gave him a final glare before walking away too. Jax sighed, while that conversation didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he wouldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t unrealistic. Of course Kinger wouldn’t forgive him right away, not after Jax had mistreated him and the others for so long. He felt a hand curl into his, he tightened his hold onto it.

“You okay?” Pomni asked.

He lifted his head to the side to face her, those beautiful and unique eyes already bringing him peace, “I will be.” His eyes scanned the room, everyone was gone. “Remember my promise with getting us out of here?”

Pomni nodded.

“I need to show you something,” he told her, guiding her back to his room.

He made sure the door was locked behind him, erasing the risk of getting caught. “I don’t show these to anyone else,” he said, walking over to a chest and pulling another key out. “But I think this might help with our situation.”

The lock of the chest clicked open, the lid falling back as a hundred of different golden keys were revealed. “Woah,” Pomni’s red and blue eyes widened, “That’s…that’s definitely a lot.”

“Yup, I told you I got keys everywhere here,” he smirked.

She nudged him slightly, “Could come in handy for us sometime.”

“Watch it little lady,” he snickered, his face falling serious again. “I’ve used these keys on every single door I could find but I haven’t found an exit. But with you here, maybe there’s a better chance of finding one.”

Pomni was lost in thought, taking out a singular key and fiddling with it in her hands. “Yeah,” she replied absentmindedly. “I think it might be closer than you think.”

Jax whipped his head round to her, “Come again?”

“Uh…” Pomni trailed off, realising that she had been speaking out loud. “So, remember when I said to Caine a while back that I stopped seeing exits doors? Well…”

Jax raised a brow at her.

Soon enough they were in her room, the chest of keys laying by the wall while both the rabbit and jester were pushing her wardrobe away from the other wall. Jax’s jaw dropped at what he saw once the wardrobe was pushed away. Right behind the piece of furniture was a bright red exit door, the green sign glowing above it. “It appeared here after my first dinner here,” she explained, “I tried to see what was behind it but all it led me to was another maze of weird office hallways.”

“Another?” Jax asked. “Wait, you really did see other exit doors when you arrived here?”

“Yeah, three times actually,” Pomni said. “The only time I went through one it led me to the maze I was talking about.”

“That’s…I,” Jax, for the first time here, was rendered speechless. He thought Pomni had arrived at the void some other way. But she really had seen exits doors and no one believed her, not even him. “There has to be a reason why you’re targeted. If it didn’t do this to us, why you?”

“I wish I knew,” Pomni glanced down, shuffling her feet.

“Hey, hey,” he took her chin into his palm, lifting her head up to face him. “Don’t feel bad, okay? Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as harsh.” He stroked her cheek gently, “We’re gonna figure this out together, okay? And with our memories back we now have an advantage.”

Pomni sighed, leaning into his touch. It had been too long since she last felt his gentle touch, “Yeah, we do. We’re gonna get out of here.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, giving her a wink, “That’s my girl.”

They settled there for a few moments before Pomni turned away again to look at the keys. Jax wanted to be greedy and pull her back, but right now there was business to attend to. “You said you tried every key with every door, right?” she asked.

“Yup,” the rabbit nodded, “Yet it always never worked. They would either be a room that was part of the circus or would never unlock.”

Pomni hummed in curiosity, picking up another one, “Maybe…” she peered to the bright red door on her wall.

Jax followed her gaze, a grin playing on her lips at what she was implying, “Maybe what?”

She rolled her eyes at him, “Maybe it could work on an exit door?”

“God I love your brain,” he exclaimed.

“Phhh, by making a suggestion?” Pomni snorted.

“By making a smart suggestion, like you always do,” he corrected leaning into her face and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

“Okay mister,” she retorted, pushing him away with her index finger as the rabbit chortled. She looked down to the key in her palms, it had a circular end with four holes in the middle. This no doubt had to be Ragatha’s key. She looked back to her fiancé, “May I have the honours?”

“It would be my pleasure little lady,” he bowed dramatically.

Pomni huffed, pretending to be annoyed but didn’t force away the smile that tugged at her lips. She breathed out slowly, her breath slightly shaking as she did so. She slid the golden key into the hole, turning it once as they door clicked open.

Jax’s tail twitched with anticipation, awaiting what could possibly be behind it. Pomni reached up to the handle, twisting it and pulling the door open slowly. Her heart plummeted when the familiar office structure appeared again. She shut the door, “I’m sorry I got your hopes up.”

“No, no,” Jax’s voice was gentle as he took her hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? Let’s try two more, how does that sound?”

The jester bit her lip, nodding quietly in agreement. Jax pulled out two more keys from the chest, the first had the shape of some sort of castle on its end while the second had a jester hat – Pomni’s key. “You’ll probably need this back once we’re done,” he told her, referring to the object. “In case you need your privacy, I know how Caine can be.”

“Aw, honey,” she cooed. “You’re playing favourites.”

He flicked her nose, the jester rubbing it while giggling, “Yeah, yeah. You get your wife privileges.”

“I’m not your wife yet,” she retorted.

Jax grinned, “But soon you will be.”

She shook her head, placing the next key into the lock. She felt a twinge of disappointment when it led to the same grey hallway again. Pomni closed the door again, taking her own key from Jax’s paw, “Maybe third time’s the charm?”

Jax gave her a gentle smile, wanting to keep her as hopeful as possible. But both of them felt the intensity of the situation, if this didn’t work then another dead end was hit, then neither of them would know what to do. Please, please work.

She slid it in, the lock clicked, the door creaked open.

Pomni shut her eyes slightly, she didn’t want to be disappointed again.

“Oh my god,” she heard Jax gasp.

She peeked one eye open, then the other as they widened at what she saw.

It was a hospital room, void of the cold grey scale of the office hallway. The walls were a warm light brown with a lamp switched on by a bed, contrasting with the midnight sky from the window. Pomni’s breath hitched when she saw who was laying on the bed.

“Mom,” she whispered.

A younger Amber was sat up in the hospital bed, her red hair was messy and bags were under her eyes. But she looked so incredibly happy. Next to her was a glass case with holes and inside a little baby with brown curls wrapped up in a pink blanket slept.

“Is that…” Jax trailed off.

“Yeah,” Pomni felt her spirits lift ever so slightly when she looked at the date on the small clock next to the lamp. “That’s me. This was the day when I was born.”

She watched as the woman’s fingers trailed across the glass, marvelling at the tiny human inside. “Hi Penny,” she exhaled happily. “Welcome to the world. I can’t wait for Riley to see you, she’s been so excited to have a little sister. I don’t know where your daddy went but I’m sure he’ll be back soon. When you get better, we’re gonna have so much fun together.” A tear of mirth ran down Amber’s cheek, “Look at you, you’re perfect.”

Pomni felt a tear of her own escape as she watched the scene in front of her. She had been told about how her mother was glued to her side as a baby, watching her every move when the doctors told her how sick and weak she was. Amber had spent every waking moment making sure her daughter was healing. It wasn’t easy with a sickly newborn, an absent husband and a rowdy four-year-old, but she did it anyway.

“I miss her so much,” Pomni sniffled.

“Oh, Pen,” Jax wrapped his arms around the smaller woman’s body, pressing a chaste kiss at the back of her neck. “You’re gonna see her again, I promise.”

She turned and pressed her lips to his cheek, agreeing silently.

Another door creaked open, drawing the duo’s attention. It was the door of the hospital room opening, but instead of leading to a hallway, it seemed to be leading outside instead. The rabbit and jester shared a look before moving ahead, for them it was the most plausible thing to do.

The moment they stepped out, they had to squint from a beam of sunlight shining in their eyes. It seemed like they were in some sort of back garden, with real soft grass beneath their feet and fresh air filling their lungs. It made them feel human.

Pomni let out a shocked yet excited laugh when she saw what was in front of her, this wasn’t any ordinary back garden. It was the one where she grew up in where she and Riley would play when the sun was shining and dried up the rain. The ground was scattered with toys, with a trampoline at the right-hand side and a swing on the left.

She gasped, for on the swing was a girl about ten-years-old, wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt and purple overalls with white butterflies on the pockets, her brunette hair was short and ended by hair jaw as she stared out into the garden with her chocolate brown eyes. “T-that’s me!” Pomni said, startled. “I remember this!”

Jax was going to say something, his smile widening seeing the jester so happy when another voice cut him off.

“Marco!”

The little girl snickered at the new voice, jumping off the swing, “Polo!”

A girl around fourteen years of age, with red hair tied into a ponytail, ran into the garden, dropping a school bag in favour of chasing the younger of the two. Pomni pressed her hands to her mouth, “Riley.” 

The older girl snorted as the younger ran around the swing set, reaching out in order to grab her, “I’m gonna get you!”

“Nuh uh!” a younger Penny retorted, “You’re too slow Riles!”

“Oh, now you’re gonna get it!” Riley smirked, the two squealing as the chase continued.

Unfortunately it came to a halt when Penny tripped over a toy and landed on the concrete path leading to the house. Riley gasped, rushing over to her as the little girl picked herself up, her palms bloody and staining her skin. Fat tears ran down her cheeks as she began wailing, “Mommy!”

Riley wrapped her arms around her, rubbing her arm and rocking her slowly. Amber ran out of the door, kneeling down and gently taking her daughter’s hands, “Oh baby. Don’t worry, we’ll get these cleaned up.”

She scooped her youngest into her arms, walking back into the house.

“Mom I’m really sorry!” Riley panicked. “We were playing and she tripped, I should have kept a closer eye on her.”

“Riley, Riley, it’s okay,” Amber spoke calmly. “This was an accident, it’s not your fault, okay?” That didn’t seem to make the older girl feel any better. Amber hummed in thought, “How about you go get the bandages while I clean Penny’s hands, how does that sound?”

Riley nodded furiously, already running in and up the stairs. Pomni followed her mother and younger self into the kitchen, Jax tailing behind her. Amber sat Penny upon the countertop next to the kitchen sink, running the tap while Penny tried to gulp down her cries. “Oh Penny,” Amber ran her fingers under her daughter’s eyes, wiping away the tears. “We’ll get you fixed up, it’s alright baby.”

Penny shook her head, trying to quiet her crying as much as possible, “I-I’m being a b-baby! I n-need to be s-strong!”

“You’re not being a baby for getting hurt,” Amber’s brows furrowed, concern lacing her voice.

“B-but Daddy said t-that crying i-is w-weak,” Penny sniffled.

Amber inhaled sharply, her jaw tensing before slipping into her relaxed position again, “Your Daddy isn’t always right about a lot of things. This is one of them. Even the strongest people in the world need to cry Penny, never feel like you aren’t strong for doing so.”

Like a magnet, Penny clutched onto her mother, wrapping her arms round the tall women’s neck. Amber kissed the top of her child’s head, rubbing her hands up and down the little one’s back. There was probably blood on the back of her shirt, but she didn’t care, not when her child needed comfort. “How about we wash that blood off, okay?” Amber suggested.

Penny nodded against her shoulder, unwrapping her arms. Amber led her hands under the running water, Penny hissing at soon as the liquid touched her skin.

“I know baby, I know,” Amber ran her fingers through the child’s hair, “You’ll feel better soon, I promise.”

“I got the bandages!” Riley announced, running back into the kitchen.

“Perfect,” Amber switched off the tap once Penny’s hands were clean enough. She patted them dry with a towel and took the bandages from Riley. Slowly and carefully, she wrapped up each hand in the white gauze, finishing it off with a small bow on the top of each hand. “See, much better.”

Penny rubbed one last tear away, holding her hands out for her mother again, “Thank you Mommy.”

Amber cooed, picking her up and holding her close, “Always baby.” With a spare arm, Amber pulled Riley into the hug, rubbing the older girl’s shoulder, “Thank you for your help.”

Riley let out a trembling breath, burying her face into her mother’s shoulder, the woman holding her daughters in a vice grip as though they would disappear if she let go.

Pomni felt her stomach twist, Amber’s daughter did disappear. And her mother had no idea where she was.

Jax placed a hand on her shoulder, Pomni touched it as pressed her cheeks onto it, “It still hurts, knowing she doesn’t know where I am.”

“I know,” Jax agreed. “I know how much you mean to your mother. She’ll see you again, I know it.”

The back door creaked open like the hospital door did, this time is showed the inside of a living room.

Walking through, a wave of familiarity hit them both at once. It was their old apartment. Everything was the same, from the furniture to the wallpaper to even the starry mug that Penny loved to use all the time. Said mug was on the coffee table, steaming rising from the top.

Laughter broke the two out of their trance, for in the middle of the living room from was…them. Their human forms, engagement rings on their fingers as they danced while slow romantic music filled the room.

“Watch your speed!” Penny giggled, “I can barely keep up!”

Jack snickered, “Says you! You keep tripping over yourself!”

“It’s not my fault I have two left feet!” Penny retorted grinning.

Jack ran a hand over his face, another laugh escaping his mouth, “Imagine if we danced like this on our wedding day.”

“We’d certainly attract a crowd, that’s for sure,” Penny sighed wistfully, her arms curling round his neck, “How about we just settle for swaying?”

“Yeah, swaying sounds good,” Jack’s hands settled round her waist, the two moving from side to side. “I guess this isn’t so bad.”

Penny hummed in agreement, “Looks like our wedding dance won’t be a complete disaster after all.”

“It was never gonna be, I’ll make sure it will be the best day for you, promise,” Jack’s nose rubbed against hers, earning him another giggle.

Pomni looked up at Jax, the latter looking on longingly at their past selves. Life could have continued like this if he hadn’t been so selfish, so entitled, so cowardly…Kinger was right.

“Hey,” Pomni spoke up, it was his turn to listen to her. “It’s not your fault for what happened, okay? If you believe that we can get out of here, then so can I.”

Jax felt warmth spread about himself, this was why he loved Pomni so much. Despite her own fears and anxieties, when her kindness shone then it shone brightly. Many actions that she had done spoke loudly than any word she spoke. And if she couldn’t see how amazing she is, then he could do it for her. “You’re incredible, you know that right?” he said.

Pomni blushed, trying to hide behind her short hair, “Maybe.”

Jax chuckled, he never wanted her to change. The sound of another door creaking made them turn. Just like they did many times before, they walked through.

They were back in Amber’s house, though this time it had aged, they were in the living room instead, although furniture seemed more recent in memory than Pomni expected. “Is this ringing any bells?” Jax asked.

“No, no this doesn’t seem that familiar, aside from the room,” Pomni replied.

Footsteps entered the room. It was Amber, now older and more tired. Pomni watched as her mother sat on the sofa, there were bags under her eyes and dried tear stains on her cheeks. In her hands was a small pile of papers, Penny’s face printed on the very top and well as the words ‘MISSING’ written in bold black letters.

“This isn’t a memory,” Pomni murmured. “This is now.”

Jax let out a tiny gasp of realisation, they had come so far they were teetering on the border of the outside world, something that no one could possibly imagining happening in the circus!

But the circumstances weren’t as bright. Right now they were watching Amber mourn over her lost daughter, the one thing she feared the most.

Amber gripped onto the papers tighter, her lips quivering as more tears hit the posters. She let them go, each one scattering across the floor as she brought her hands up to cover her face, muffling her sobs.

Pomni’s heart twisted, she wished for nothing more than to reach out to her mother and engulf her in the biggest hug she can manage. “Mom, I’m here,” she spoke, “I’m okay.”

But nothing, it could be as though the wind had spoken. It was silence.

Pomni wanted to cry, to yell, to scream IM HERE. But it was pointless, wasn’t it?

The jester lifted her hand to a switched off lamp next to the sofa. When she was young, Amber would always turn on her bedside lamp, telling her that she would feel safe as long as that was on. Pomni’s fingers grazed the handle of the lamp, that was what she wanted for Amber, for her to feel safe like she did for her.

Without even realising, her fingers lightly pushed against the button, the pressure making it flicker on. Pomni jumped back, did she do that?!

Amber turned to the sudden light, sighing, “Lights are acting up, great.”

Pomni looked down at her hands, Amber couldn’t see her still. But what if…

She looked to Jax, the rabbit looking just as surprised as she did. He turned to the light switch on the wall, quickly moving towards it and flicking it on. Just like with Pomni, it shone throughout the room. He let out a strangled laugh, he could do it too!

Amber’s brows furrowed in confusion, “What is happening?”

Pomni held onto the lamp again, determination on her mind. She wasn’t going to leave until her mother knew that she was here and she was alive. She flicked the lamp on and off again, feeling guilty when Amber jumped in surprise. She did the same with another lamp on the chest of drawers at the side of the room, flicking it on and off while Jax did the same with the room light.

Amber whipped round, watching in shock as this bizarre event unfolded before her. She knew that lights had a habit of acting out, but never to this extent. “What’s going on?!” she exclaimed, “Is someone doing this?!”

Pomni bit her lip, she had to let Amber know that she was here. She scanned the room, trying to see if there was something, anything that could help. Her traveling eyes came to a stop when she spotted Amber’s computer tucked away into the corner, a printer next to it with missing posters on top of it. She must have moved it down here when making them.

Pomni rushed towards it, pressing the ‘on’ button and praying that her plan would work.

Amber yelped as she heard the sound of her computer switch on, panic rising in her chest.

The jester pressed a few keys on the keyboard, searching until she landed on a blank document, here goes nothing. And so, she began to type.

Mom

It’s me

Penny

Amber took a few steps back as her missing daughter’s name appeared on her screen, it felt like a horror movie unravelling in front of her. She let out a broken laugh, “Okay you got me! Whoever’s here better piss off with their sick joke before I call the police!”

Pomni winced, she had to keep trying.

It’s okay!

It’s Penny Mom!

You don’t need to be scared!

Amber shook her head, this had to be some sick joke. “My daughter’s missing!” she felt insane for talking back to the computer. “How could she be able to do this?! Whoever you are, you better show yourself!”

Pomni wracked her brain, she had to think of something, anything. A lightbulb went off in her head, she began to type again.

I was born on August 13^th, 1999, at 11:59 PM

I was born too early so I had to be incubated at the hospital

On my fifth birthday you gave me a purple teddy bear and I named her Candy

You always sang ‘Silent Night’ to me to help me fall asleep even when it wasn’t Christmas

You brought a giant sign at Riley’s graduation saying ‘YOU’RE AN AGENT NOW RILEY’ when she completed her FBI training

Riley hates carrot cake but she always brings some for Winter whenever they go on dates

You took time off work just so you could help homeschool me when I left high school and helped me when I struggled to eat

I’m terrified of bees but I love butterflies

I hate the water, I always have

I always wanted to go into costume designing

When I finally felt confident in myself you asked me to make you a promise

I promised you that no matter what I am Penny Reed

I have a role in this world

I am worthy of greatness

And I have always mattered

Mom

It’s me

Amber’s breath hitched, nearly stumbling back a bit. No one could know something so personal about one person. Could it really be… “Penny?”

Pomni felt her own tears escape.

Hi Mom

Amber’s knees dropped to the ground, tears of relief and joy escaping. “Oh my baby!” she sobbed, “You’re here! Are you…Are you alive?”

Pomni sniffed, letting out a small laugh.

Yes Mom

I’m alive

Another cry tore from Amber’s throat, her daughter was alive. And somehow, she was here. “Penny where are you?” she asked, wiping away her tears. “What’s going on?”

It’s hard to explain

And I don’t know how long I can stay

“No, baby don’t go yet,” Amber begged. “Just stay, at least until Riley gets here.”

Jax’s ears twitched, a soft voice calling from the distance.

“Jax?”

“Pomni?”

He could recognise that voice from anywhere. Jax grasped Pomni’s shoulder, “Ragatha’s looking for us, we gotta go.”

Pomni was startled for a second, but she knew that he was serious. She turned back to her mother.

I’m sorry Mom

I have to go

“Penny please!” Amber panicked, “Don’t go!”

I’ll come back

I’m so sorry

But I’m okay

I promise

“Stay!” Amber cried, “Penny, stay!”

It felt as though Pomni’s heart was being ripped from her chest, but she couldn’t risk her or Jax’s safety. What if Caine was with Ragatha? Then they would really be in trouble.

She and Jax rushed to the door, the room outside of it reverting back to Jax’s bedroom. Pomni looked back to her sobbing mother, guilt stabbing at her. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised, even if Amber couldn’t hear her.

She forced herself to tear her eyes away and ran back into Jax’s bedroom, the rabbit closing the door behind her. “Hey,” he placed both of his hands on her shoulders, “I know that must have been really hard for you, but we can go back. We’re able to now, we finally have a chance to try and get out of here.”

“I just,” Pomni sniffled, “I just miss my Mom.”

Jax brought her into his arms, letting her cry out as much as she needed to. He wasn’t going to let go, never again. Both mother and daughter were terrified of this bizarre situation, the mother fearing that she would never see her child and the daughter wishing for her mother to hold her. Until they were back, Jax had to protect Pomni. It was serious now, bigger things were at play and everything was different. No matter what, her safety was his priority.

“Jax?” Ragatha knocked on the door. “Come on, open up please.”

Pomni let go, her eyes darting to the door with worry.

“It’s okay,” Jax reassured her, “Take the keys and hide behind the side of my bed, I’ll take care of doll face.”

Pomni looked to the keys and back at him, “O-okay.”

He kissed her forehead, stroking her cheek lightly before the two pulled away. Pomni picked up the chest, taking it and ducking behind the bedside while Jax pulled the wardrobe back over the exit door as silently as he could.

The door knocked again, he smoothed down the fur on his head I’m cool and collected, I’m cool and collected. Once he had slipped into his persona again, he opened the door. He gulped, apart from Caine and Bubble, everyone was there.

 “So, Rags,” he leaned against the side of the door. “How can I help you?”

“Pomni’s in there,” Ragatha crossed her arms over her chest. “Isn’t she?”

I’M COOL AND COLLECTED, I’M COOL AND COLLECTED! Jax’s tail twitched nervously as he let out a laugh that seemed fake even to him, “What? No, of course not!”

“I saw you go in her room a while ago,” Gangle mumbled. “I didn’t know if you were pulling a prank on her but I had to get the others just in case.”

“And imagine my panic when I found out the door was locked!” Ragatha growled. “You better explain yourself, Pomni better be okay!”

“Ragatha,” Pomni peered above the bed, jumping over it and made her way towards the door. “Don’t worry I’m fine-”

“Oh Pomni you’re okay!” Ragatha gasped, reaching out her hand to the jester. “Come here, what type of prank did he pull on you?”

Pomni surprised everyone when she jumped back, opting to stand beside Jax instead. “Ragatha,” she spoke softly, “You don’t have to worry, I’m completely fine. Jax didn’t do anything.”

“T-then why is he in your room?” the ragdoll asked. “You two have been acting strange for the past couple of days and we’re all getting worried, what’s going on?”

Pomni and Jax shared a look, a silent conversation between the two. Pomni, without breaking eyes contact, nudged her head towards the group. Sparing the others a glance, he looked back to Pomni with a nod.

“You guys come in,” Pomni said, opening the door wider. “There’s a lot you gotta know.”

.

.

.

This had to be the second time Riley was emotionally exhausted while driving back home, the first was when finding out Penny was missing. But her hopes had gone up too many times and had blind faith in someone who was hurting like she was, maybe even more. It was strange, everything Samual said felt true, but Jason Wood was a prominent figure who helped raise him after his parent’s disappearance, who was she to have a say in that situation?

Perhaps the wish to have her sister back was overtaking her logic. But now anymore, she was going to put her headfirst and figure this out the way she always did. Her phone began to ring in the cup holder next to her seat, it was Amber. She put the phone on speaker, keeping her eyes on the road, “Hey Mom, what’s up?”

“Riley!” Amber panted over the phone. “Riley you need to get here now!”

Riley practically kicked the break to stop the car, ignoring the other honking cars behind her as she pressed the phone to her ear, “Mom! Is everything ok?! What happened?!”

“It’s about your sister!” Amber blubbered. “You need to get here as soon as you can, please!”

Before Riley could say another word, the line was caught off. She pressed on the accelerator, her heart pounding. If her mother was speaking in that panicked and it involved her sister, she was going to drop everything and be there first thing.

The car skid to a stop when she arrived at her mother’s house, running to the door as fast as she could and slammed it open. “Mom!” Riley called out, “What happened?!”

Amber was collecting posters off the floor, dumping them down on the coffee table before pulling Riley inside. “Riley!” she gasped, “You won’t believe it! I know it sounds insane but I saw it happen in front of my eyes!”

“What? What did?!” Riley was starting to worry now. “Mom you’re scaring me, what does Penny have to do with this!”

“Everything!” Amber bellowed, a wide grin forming while more joyful tears leaked down her face. “Penny was here! She’s alive!”

The whole world went still for Riley, “Penny?! She’s alive?! Wait-wait, what do you mean ‘was here’?! Where is she?!”

“That’s the thing!” Amber pointed to the computer. “She wasn’t ‘here’ here, she was speaking to me through that!”

Riley’s palms began to sweat, this was beginning to sound familiar, “What do you mean by through the computer?”

“She wasn’t here in a physical sense, but she was messing with the lights, writing to me on that computer!” Amber exclaimed. “I don’t know how it’s possible and I know it sounds crazy, but your sister is alive! My daughter is alive! And she needs our help!”

Riley nearly staggered on the spot, Amber’s concerned calling for her name falling on deaf ears. Her mother wasn’t someone who spouted nonsense (that was more of David’s thing) and there was no way this type of situation could be a coincidence, it wasn’t something that anyone could make up on the spot.

She looked past Amber and to the screen behind her. Her breath hitched, on the screen was basically what Samual had showed her. Someone trying to communicate through anonymous messages with no email attached. Except this time it was different, this time it described parts of her life that no one else could know about, this time there was undeniable proof that someone was talking to her mother, this time there was a name.

Penny’s name.

Riley gasped.

Samual was telling the truth…and she pushed him away. 

Chapter Text

What died didn't stay dead

You're alive, so alive

And if I didn't know better

I'd think you were singing to me now – Marjorie by Taylor Swift

.

.

.

Cloudy skies, not a hint of light coming through. It was going to be that type of day today, and that type of mood by the way Winter observed Riley’s behaviour this morning. The redhead was at the table, drinking coffee and bouncing Percy on her knee. Winter could tell whenever a smile was pretend, and the way her wife smiled right now was no exception.

Could she blame her? Winter was a wreck when Jack went missing and knowing how close Penny and Riley were, it made sense for her wife to behave the way she did. But the thing is, Riley didn’t, or scream, or get angry. The passionate, loud, amazing women she married wasn’t the one holding their son at the table. There was only a shell. And after that visit she had with David, Riley’s shell had only gotten tougher.

If Riley said anything that related to Penny, it would be to trying to find her. She never spoke about how it made her feel, never saw a tear, or the grieved anger that one would expect. Riley was always so loving towards anything about her sister, it unnerved Winter seeing her wife like this.

“Look at him,” Riley cooed at the little baby on her lap. “We have the cutest kid in the world, look at him.”

Percy giggled as his mother held him up under the arms, thrashing his legs about as he peered at his mama over the kitchen island. “He is the cutest baby in the world,” Winter agreed. “Um, I know Captain Rae is okay with you working on this case. But are you sure-”

“We should get him a new mobile,” Riley cut her off, focusing her attention on Percy. “I think the other one isn’t working to well, he never pays attention to it.”

Winter pursed her lips, tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter. She wanted to at least say something about Penny before Riley had to leave to drop Percy off at Laura’s. “Listen, Riley,” she spoke, making her wife turn to her. “You have been nothing but patient when I found out Jack went missing, I know this type of this is so fucking far from easy. Whatever you’re feeling, I’ve felt it too. You…you know that right?”

“I know,” Riley smiled warmly. “You know, you can say if you’re missing Jack again. You don’t have to be light about it to make me feel better, okay Hun?”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m trying to say,” Winter pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’ve heard you in the night, waking up crying. I understand what you’re feeling, you can talk about Penny-”

“-Okay Percy,” Riley turned back to her son. “Are you ready to see Grandma?” She immediately stood up, holding him by her hip as she grabbed her own bag, Percy’s baby bag and car keys from the table.

It was as if a switch was flipped, a wall was put up and the shell was hardening. “Riley, wait!” Winter went round the kitchen island as she chased her wife to the door, “Riley.”

Riley froze as she opened the door, facing the outside, her face hidden. Winter heard her take a sharp intake of breath before facing her with the same faux smile that she had been wearing ever since she came back from David’s “Yeah?”

“I…It’s just,” Winter tried to find the words, to say something that didn’t involve her life leaving without at least finishing a conversation. But she knew that no matter how hard she tried, Riley would find an opening in order not to face it, and it would only make Winter’s efforts even harder. The dark-haired woman sighed, “I’ll see you at work later. I…love you.”

A glimpse of a real smile appeared on Riley’s face, “I love you too carrot cake.” The redhead pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Winter nodded solemnly, “See you soon.”

With that, Riley turned her focus back on Percy and shut the door behind her. Winter let her soldiers sag, a painful ache forming in her heart. She knew Riley was hurting, she saw it flicker in her eyes every time a dead end came up for Penny’s case, she heard it when Riley awoke crying from nightmares – yet Winter pretended she was asleep in order for Riley to not feel ashamed – and she felt every single anger and grief that she knew Riley was having because she had felt it when Jack went missing.

So why wouldn’t Riley talk to her?!

Winter took a deep breath, trying to cancel out the negative energy. Everyone copes differently with these types of things. Besides, she and Riley were as strong as cement, they could work through this despite how bleak everything seemed.

Riley would come to her eventually…maybe…hopefully.

So why did Winter feel so lonely?

.

.

.

“Okay, let me understand this as best as I can,” Ragatha started. Pomni and Jax had set up some bean bags for everyone while they sat on the bed, just finishing up their rundown of everything that happened in the last day. “You two have your memories back?”

“Yup,” Jax nodded.

“And you two were engaged before you got sucked in here?” Zooble questioned.

“That would be correct,” Pomni agreed.

“And now you guys might know a way to escape this place?” Gangle asked.

“That is a plausibility,” Jax replied.

Ragatha pressed her hands together and held them near her face, taking a long, deep, exhausted breath, “This is a lot to take in.”

Pomni bit her lip nervously, “I know this is the last thing you were all expecting, but you’re all handling this well all things considered.”

“I’m just confused on how you managed to fall in love with Jax of all people,” Zooble muttered, glaring at the rabbit.

Jax rolled his eyes, “Thanks Zooble.”

Pomni frowned, taking his hand into hers and squeezing it tight, “Because he loved me despite everything, saw me at my worst yet stayed because he knew I could thrive into my best. And right now, he helped me find a possible way to get everyone out of here. Do I excuse what he’s done to all of you? No. And I’m still not happy with how he treated me and Ragatha on my first day. So don’t think I’m taking sides, I’m simply observing.”

Zooble sighed, almost feeling guilty…almost. But they trusted Pomni’s word, not Jax’s (they didn’t know if they ever would) but definitely Pomni’s. “Fine” she muttered.

Kinger looked more lost than he usually did. The usual quiet brainstorm he would have in the middle of the room increased like wildfire. “Memories…returning,” he mumbled. “This…I don’t…I haven’t seen anything like it.”

Jax turned to the chess piece. He didn’t like this reaction, not one bit. It brought up too many painful flashbacks of someone similar to Kinger going through the same thing a long time ago, “Kinger, buddy, stay with us.”

It was like going in one ear and out the either for the royal character, still shaking like a leaf, “How…what is…something is…a trip?”

Trip? Jax didn’t want to see how far this would go, how far Kinger would go unless he’d – no, he wasn’t going to finish that thought and he wouldn’t let this continue. “Kinger!” Jax clapped his hands, the sound ringing through the room and snapping the chess piece out of his mumblings.

Kinger blinked. Once, twice, “Oh Jax.” And once again, he was back to himself, “Apologies, I must have been lost in a dream. But it’s so nice to know you and Pomni were together, young love finds a way.”

Despite the chess piece giving them all a scare, that statement alone made the rabbit and jester blush. Would it be rude if he kicked everyone out and smother his fiancé with attention? Yes, yes it would. And while it was tempting, Jax couldn’t afford to indulge. Not when the giant elephant in the room was still being addressed.

“It is really sweet,” Gangle whispered. It sounded like a genuine compliment from the masked woman – and it was don’t get her wrong – but there was something else lacing her tone. Something else that suggested the bodied ribbons couldn’t be as happy as she wanted to be. But she didn’t say, it wasn’t her place. No one could even tell from that slight lilt in her voice that she felt this way.

But Zooble noticed.

“Okay, still a little confused but I think I’m getting there,” Ragatha finally spoke up again. “Listen, Pomni. You know I trust you whole heartedly, but we’ve been here for years and no one has seen an exit until now, are you sure that what you’ve seen is accurate?”

Pomni’s face fell. Despite the door in front of Ragatha, despite everything she told her, why did the ragdoll still doubt her? “But we told you. The exit door is right there,” Pomni pointed to the door on the wall, desperation filling her eyes. “I know it seems impossible but I really think we can get out of here!”

Ragatha gasped, covering her mouth with guilt at what she said, “Sorry, sorry Pomni I phrased that wrong. It’s just…we’ve all tried looking for a way out and it always backfired, even when we think we’ve gotten so close. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”

Pomni opened her mouth, about to speak when-

“Ragatha,” Jax spoke. Everyone’s eyes widened, he never said Ragatha’s actual name, and so seriously either. “We saw her mother. She saw us send out a message to her. She knows we’re alive.” He paused, watching the ragdoll process everything with shock written all over her face. “Someone knows we’re here now. I know you’re scared, but this is a real chance of finally leaving.”

Ragatha’s mouth opened and closed, cutting off words before they even arrived at her lips. She thought she knew everything about the circus, had accepted that no matter how much they tried they could never escape. It was a horrible thing to accept, but she had to if she wanted to stay sane and not end up like…she could still feel herself almost crumbling away when Kaufmo’s abstracted form attacked her. No, no! She can’t lose herself now. She should be grateful that Pomni and Jax managed to find a way to be free, so why did it feel so hard to grasp onto that hope? “Okay,” she sighed. “I trust you, Pomni. But what about Caine, do you think you’ll tell him-”

“NO!” Pomni cut her off, fear swimming in her red and blue eyes. Even everyone seemed shocked by her sudden volume. Jax held her close, hugging her trembling form as the jester took a few breaths to calm herself down. “No, I-I don’t think that’s a good idea. He already had a weird way of trying to make things ‘fun’ here, I don’t know how he’ll feel when we say we’ve found a legitimate exit. What if he tries to take that away?”

The rest of the group nodded slowly. Even before Pomni arrived, Caine had always shut down the possibility of an exit being possible. And every time it was shown to him, he would twist it and prove to them that it was just another part of the circus. It was like he feared an exit even existing.

“It’s just your imagination!” he always said, leaving them to doubt if what they saw was actually there. And if you lost yourself in those thoughts, then it was a one-way trip into the cellar. And nobody wanted that.

“Well in that case…” Ragatha trailed off, closing her eyes for a moment. When they opened, they were fierce and determined. “Keep doing what you’re doing. This actually seems like a true way to finally get out of here. But do not let Caine find out. Keep pretending that everything is the same, you two are just friends, you don’t remember your past and that there is no way an exit is even here.”

“Got it,” Pomni and Jax said in unison.

“Which means that you two should stop acting like a couple whenever you’re in public,” Ragatha stated.

“Oh we know,” Pomni smiled innocently.

“Yeah, it’s not as hard as it seems,” Jax replied cooly.

Ragatha raised a coy brow at the two of them, “Pomni, darling, you’re sitting on Jax’s lap.”

Oh, right, the two of them forgot about that. They were both quick to slip back in to how they used to be before the circus, which meant a lot of trusting physical contact that the two were proud to have developed over the years. But then again, Ragatha was right. Something like that would be extremely obvious to Caine that something was up.

Pomni slid of the rabbit’s lap, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly while Jax coughed nervously behind his fist. “Right, sorry,” Pomni laughed sheepishly, while Jax pouted at the lack of contact.

Ragatha pinched the bridge of her nose again, this is gonna be a disaster.

.

.

.

Riley paced back and forth in her mother’s living room, her phone held to her ear as she chewed on her fingernail. “Oh god I fucked up, I really fucked up,” she mumbled as the dial buzzed in her ear.

“Riley, sweetie, it’s gonna be okay,” Amber put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, ceasing her pacing. “If this Samual boy is as nice as you say he is I’m sure he’ll listen to you.”

“I was really awful the last time I saw him, Mom,” Riley winced as she remembered his cries, ignoring him as the elevator doors shut behind her. “And the worst part was, I genuinely believed he was telling the truth. You always told me to trust my gut and I did! With him! But then Jason Wood said stuff that sounded plausible, and I feel so fucking stupid because even my head was screaming at me not to believe him. I didn’t know whether to trust the facts because both of them were laid out to me and I-”

“Hey, hey,” Amber’s voice was soft yet firm.  “This isn’t like anything you’ve ever worked on before. We are dealing with something that we didn’t even know existed, and its personal since both Jack and Penny are involved in this. In a normal case, maybe someone like Jason is right about this. But this isn’t a normal case, and we have proof that this Jason guy isn’t to be trusted.”

Riley nodded, “I have to let him know how sorry I am. This kid, he’s been through so much, all I did was make his situation worse. If Jason really treated him like that them…oh god…oh god Mom we really need to help him!”

Amber nodded feverishly. When Riley told her what Samual went through, with his parents going missing and how Jason was like to him whenever they were brought up, all the mother saw was nothing but red. The only time Amber looked like she was ready to kill was with David after the car crash all those years ago, and again when he showed up at both of her daughters’ homes unannounced.

Riley was about to speak when-

“Hello?” Samual’s voice answered through the phone.

“Ah, Samual!” Riley gasped, keeping the phone tight to her ear. “Samual you were right about everything! We couldn’t trust Jason!”

“M-miss Riley?!” His tone was small and frightened, almost trading on eggshells at the sound of her. “What are you talking about?”

Riley only wanted that type of fear from the voices of those who wronged her, not from innocent kids trying to help. She wanted to slap herself in the face for making that mistake, “Samual, you know the emails you showed me? Of the mystery person? The same thing happened to my Mom, my sister, I think she’s trying to get into contact with us.”

There was a small pause on the other line, before the boy spoke meekly, “You…you believe me?”

“Yeah, yeah kid I do,” Riley was nothing short of breathless. The last twenty-four hours have been nothing but a blur. But the way she spoke to him, at the height of her anger. Even if this situation wasn’t real, she shouldn’t have spoke to a hurting kid like that. “Samual, I owe you an apology.”

“Oh no, you don’t need to-”

“Samual, please,” she gently cut him off. “The way I spoke to you was nothing short of cold and rude. I was in a bad place and me and my family have gone through so much pain, but that’s no excuse and I should never have taken my anger out on you. I’m so sorry Samual.”

There was a pause, Riley waited with bated breath. Mere seconds felt agonisingly long until Samual finally answered, “I forgive you.”

Riley felt her lungs fill with air, finally letting herself breathe, “Really?”

“Yeah, I get it. Jason has a history of getting people to believe his stories,” Samual said. “I don’t blame you. And now I’m guessing we have more proof that he’s lying?”

“That’s right,” Riley confirmed, “Are you free to come check it out?”

“I’ll be there as quick as I can,” Samual’s excited and curious tone returned. “I can’t wait to get started on our secret FBI work!”

The line cut off before Riley could say another word. She grinned, shaking her head.

He forgave her.

“I’m guessing it went well?” Amber asked, her own smile gracing her lips.

Riley nodded, relief washing over her again and again, “We might actually be getting somewhere.”

Amber faltered a little. For a while, she was starting to lose hope that she would ever truly hear those words. But somehow, mercy was gifted to her and her family. “We’re gonna find her,” she stated firmly to her eldest daughter “We’re gonna get Penny back.”

“We will Mom,” Riley agreed, “We will.”

.

.

.

Yes the option to not go on Caine’s adventure was always available, but it didn’t mean that the ringmaster was too happy whenever someone decided to stay behind. Right now, Zooble was idly walking down one of the hallways on the tent, kicking their foot against the carpet a few times. Ironically enough, Zooble wasn’t the first and only one who volunteered to stay behind for the day. Nope, it was Gangle who asked first.

Normally the ribboned lady wouldn’t mind tagging along on an adventure with everyone else, but today she turned away at the offer trudging back into the circus. Zooble had instantly recognised that it wasn’t Gangle’s usual behaviour and decided to stay back too. He would deal with Caine’s shenanigans once the pair of dentures came back with the rest of the crew.

Zooble paced up and down the hallway, the day was nearly up but she hadn’t actually worked up the courage to see if Gangle was okay. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but Gangle was one of the sweetest and sensitive people here. Zooble cherished the fact that someone like her wanted to be friends with someone like him, to the point that they even got a bit nervous when talking with her one on one. But right now, there was something obviously wrong with Gangle and Zooble made the choice to stay behind to make sure that she didn’t feel less alone. Yet here she was, keeping a distance from the masked lady because he was nothing but afraid.

But then they stopped. When he was in the gloink hole, Gangle was the only one to realise he was missing, even being brave enough to try and bring her back. It would be selfish of Zooble to not at least try to comfort the girl and see if she was okay. Swallowing both his fears and pride, Zooble marched themselves down the hall to find Gangle.

He found her sitting on the stage, her silk legs drawn up to her chest as she sighed to herself, her comedy mask was once again broken and she had to rely on her secondary, sombre one instead. Under Zooble’s stoic expression, she was absolutely terrified. They didn’t know why, Gangle was their friend. Why did they feel afraid to start a conversation alone with a friend. Their sweet…kind…pretty friend. Ah! Pull yourself together! Gangle needs you!

Zooble took a deep breath, he could do this. And so, he walked up to the stage, slipping into their usual and calm posture, “Hey Gangle. No adventure today?”

She jumped a bit at the sound of her name, relaxing when they saw who it was, “No, not today. I wasn’t in the mood.”

“Oh,” Zooble nodded awkwardly. They weren’t really good at the emotional fluffy stuff, every time they tried she somehow always reached a dead end. But he didn’t want Gangle feeling this lonely, he had to at least try and help her out, “Any reason why?”

Gangle rubbed her arm, giving Zooble a sad smile, “It’s okay Zooble. If you have somewhere to be then you can go, you don’t need to stay and talk to me if you don’t want to.”

“No I do!” Zooble said a bit too quickly, making Gangle squeak. “Gah, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s…ugh how does Ragatha do this so easily?” They closed their eyes for a moment, breathing deeply before opening them again. “I’m here because I want to be. And I’m always willing to lend an ear if you need to talk. Gangle, if there’s anything you wanna say or do, I’m here.”

The ribboned woman seemed to be taken aback by that, not fully expecting that level of support from the usual reclusive assortment of parts. But she wasn’t complaining, she liked seeing this side of Zooble. “Well, it’s just…” she started, fiddling with the ends of her ribbons for a moment. “I’m happy that Pomni and Jax have their memories back, really I am. And it really is sweet that they used to be together, but…”

“But?” Zooble asked.

“…Jax has done nothing but torment us, prank us and make our lives miserable,” Gangle spoke. “Every day, he’s done nothing but go out of his way to annoy us just because he likes seeing funny things happen to people. And now he has his memories back and we’re suddenly happy for him?! After all he put us through. As if it erases everything he did to us! With Pomni, I’m glad that she remembers who she was. She was so scared when she got here and Caine has done nothing to help her, so it’s good finally seeing her smile. But with Jax? It might be wrong for me to say but it doesn’t seem fair! We’ve been trying everything to remember who we were, all the while he laughed at us for doing so! Like he hadn’t tried doing so in the first place as well yet he still made fun of us! And now he gets them back just like that! I wanna remember! I tried so hard to! Yet he berated me for trying and he-”

She covered her mouth, ashamed. She said too much. “Oh gosh, that’s horrible what I just said!” her eyes darted round the area. “I need to find my comedy mask, that why I’ll stop talking like this and be happy! Where is it? I swore I had it here somewhere, it’s not broken. Oh god, what if it is?! No, no, no! I need my comedy mask! I need it! I wanna stop feeling like this!”

“Gangle! You’re okay!” Zooble quickly caught Gangle’s flailing hands in theirs, holding them firmly yet gently. “You’re not a horrible person for saying that and I get what you’re trying to say. I know you don’t mean anything bad by it and I understand your frustration. Am I glad that bozo has his memories back, sure. But it doesn’t mean that I forgave and forgot all that he put us through, and you don’t need to either. If someone as weird as Jax can get his memories back, then someone as amazing as you can get yours back too.”

Gangle lips parted for a moment, speechless at the honesty in Zooble’s tone. “Y-you think I’m amazing?” she whispered.

Zooble’s voice got caught in her throat, her entire face flustering up as she removed his hands from Gangle’s. “Well, yeah,” they replied nonchalantly. “You don’t overwhelm me like Caine or annoy me like Jax. Plus I like your acts you put on.”

Gangle practically beamed at that, “You like my acts?”

“Hehe, of course,” Zooble’s eyes gleamed. “You got a real talent for that.”

The masked lady giggled, “You know, for someone who doesn’t think they’re good at soft stuff, I think you did a pretty great job with talking to me.”

“Oh,” Zooble blushed, clearing their throat before mumbling, “Thank you. And your comedy mask, you wanna leave it or…”

“No I can’t leave it,” Gangle quickly told her. “Everything just gets too much in here, I need my mask to make it easier, to make me happier. That way I won’t bring everyone down and I’ll be as happy as I need to be.”

Zooble furrowed his brows at Gangle’s statement, “But you don’t bring-”

“Oh, I think I know where it is!” Gangle grinned. “I’ll be back soon! Thank you Zooble!” She then tore off down the hall, all the way back to the bedroom quarters.

“Wait but…” Zooble reached out an arm to her, but Gangle was already gone. “But you don’t need your mask to be happy.”

They sighed. They had seen Gangle smile without the mask, a real genuine smile that wasn’t forced by some code from the character model forced onto her. If anything, Zooble swore that the mask only made things worse for Gangle, making her rely on it more and more. Zooble wished to see that real smile again.

Their train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a group of voices, tired and groaning. She turned, looks like the adventure was over for today. “Jeez, what happened to you guys?” they asked.

“Football stadium adventure,” Ragatha mumbled, rubbing her lower back. “Turns out when you put four inexperienced players against a group of NPC’s coded with tons of knowledge about it, you tend to face a lot of back pain.”

Zooble hissed through his teeth, “Yikes.”

“But it’s all a part of the adventure!” Caine boomed, making them all jump. “After all! How boring would it be if you didn’t learn at all!”

“You couldn’t at least give us a tutorial?” Jax grumbled. “Was that really too hard for you to do dentures?” He wasn’t really angry for himself. Well, he was. But Pomni had a really hard time on her feet during the whole game, easily being outnumbered and beaten by the NPC’s.

At one point, one of them kicked her in the leg instead of the ball, sending her to the ground. For a moment, Jax had forgotten all about the pretending, tackling the NPC to the ground before checking on his secret fiancé. Thankfully, Caine saw it as Jax thinking they were playing soccer (despite him literally kicking the ball for hours on end) and being a good teammate. Jax had never been more thankful for the AI’s naivety, especially when it gave him a chance to take Pomni to a nursing room and dressing her wound (he wouldn’t forget about how her cheeks turned red when he kissed the side of her bandaged knee).

“Anyhow!” Caine fiddled with his cane before tossing it away, a cartoonish sound effect resonating from where it landed. “I suggest you all rest up! We’ve gotten even more adventures planned for tomorrow and you’ll all need a good feast and rest before that!”

“Oh great, its not as if we heard that line before,” Jax muttered. Pomni crossed her arms over her chest, raising a brow at the rabbit. Jax only grinned, rolling his eyes at the pair of dentures before circling his finger at the temple of his head, clearing stating his opinion of the ringmaster. Pomni scoffed, failing to hide a smile at her fiancé. Jax’s face softened, he’ll never get tired of making her smile.

 “I’ll leave everyone to themselves before dinner!” Caine boomed with his usual, yet unsettling, toothy grin. “Take care my superstars!”

Like the same song and dance he had done many times before, the pair of dentures vanished in a puff of smoke. Jax waited a few seconds, making sure that the ringmaster was gone before rushing over to Pomni. “How’s your knee? Does it still hurt?” he asked, brushing his hand over the bandage.

“Yeah Hun I’m okay,” Pomni reassured him, petting behind his ears. “I’m sure it’s just a bruise now with the way things work here.”

His brows furrowed worriedly, “You sure? No more aches?”

“No more aches,” Pomni repeated.

“Good, good,” Jax let his thumb brush over the bandaged skin one more time before standing up. “So, you ready to get back to business.”

Pomni took in a sharp breath, both excitement yet a hint of nerves washing through her, “Yeah, let’s go see my Mom.”

Jax nodded, the two of them going down the hall again, unable to feel the gaze of everyone else’s eyes on them.

“Still having doubts Rags?” Zooble turned to the ragdoll.

“A little bit,” Ragatha nodded, a bit of shame shown on her face. “It’s not that I don’t trust them. I guess I’m just…scared. We never had anything like this. It could go either really well or…” She didn’t want to finish that sentence. She didn’t want to finish that thought! Never before had they tittered on a tight rope so close to collapsing. If this went wrong, then all of them could suffer a fate worse than abstraction. No, no she wasn’t going to think about that. It she was brought down, then so would everyone else. And she wasn’t going to allow herself to act so selfishly, “Never mind, how about I go see if Bubble would like help making dessert?”

Zooble frowned at Ragatha’s shift in mood, “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Ragatha questioned innocently.

“You always do that, act like you’re not sad when you are,” Zooble told her. “You’re allowed to not have good days, you know that right?”

“Oh Zooble, you worry too much,” Ragatha patted his arm. “I’m absolutely fine, no bad thoughts in my head whatsoever. Now, I think a pie would do well for dessert for tonight, don’t you think?”

With that, the ragdoll turned on her heel and headed to the kitchen. That was two people in a row that pretended to be happy to Zooble. He hated when that happened, when they forced down any type of negativity in the fear of being abstracted. It wasn’t fair that this threat kept hovering over everyone’s head, and Zooble hated it that Caine didn’t do anything to sooth their worries, instead leaving them to wallow with shallow adventures that they all hated. It was another reason why Zooble felt bitter with Jax, he kept pushing them on the brink every single time while knowing how much they all feared the fate of the cellar, yet he never stopped. Zooble felt frustrated tears at the corners of her eyes, allowing them to fall. The others might be too scared to cry, but they didn’t want to (part of them was glad that Pomni felt the same way as well).

He felt a hand cover her shoulder, rubbing it carefully like a parent would do with their child. Zooble turned his hand, it was Kinger. His eyes didn’t meet theirs, still lost in his own worlds of chaos and insects. Yet his hands moved on their own, as though another part of his mind wanted to reach out and sooth them. Zooble sniffed, if they could smile then he would be smiling at Kinger right there and now. As crazy as it sounded in her head, Kinger somehow seemed to be the sanest of them all.

.

.

.

Knock, knock

Riley rushed to the door, opening it wide as it revealed the startled face of one Samual Abel. “Samual,” she gasped. “Thank you so much for coming! I’m so, so sorry!”

“Miss Riley, it’s okay,” he smiled softly. “I already told you I forgive you.”

“I know, I know,” Riley brushed back some of her red hair. “But you didn’t need to. You could have just accepted my apology and moved on, but you forgave me. Why? The way I spoke to you was awful.”   

Samual shrugged, “When I was a kid, my Dad always taught me that forgiveness is a heavy thing. Many people will feign an apology just so they can unburden themselves with forgiveness without actually being sorry. I don’t forgive a lot of people, I don’t think I can forgive some of the people at C&A for lying to me and letting Jason control me, I know that if they said sorry it wouldn’t erase all that happened over the years. But you, you didn’t know. You were tricked and I know that you meant how sorry you were. That’s the difference that my Dad taught me about, I’ll know the right people to forgive and not to bring myself down with the people I don’t choose to give that right to.”

This kid was just too kind, speaking with a wisdom many people who lived longer on this earth lacked, “Your father sounds like a good man.” Not many people have that luck.  

“Both he and my mother were great people,” Samual’s eyes were warm, lost in a memory of love and comfort from so many years ago. He blinked them away, his face simple yet determined. “Anyways, you got something to show me?”

Riley nodded, slipping back into business, “Yeah, let me introduce you to my Mom. She’s the one who got the messages.”

She led Samual into the house, shutting the door behind him. Amber came into the room, her hands clasped together and a cardigan wrapped around her shoulders. “Oh, hello,” she blinked in surprise at the sight of the boy. She turned to Riley, “Is this Samual?”

“Yeah, this is him,” Riley confirmed.

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” Amber walked over, wrapping her arms around him, his eyes widening in surprise. “Riley told me what happened, I’m so sorry all this happened to you.”

He stood frozen for a moment, as though he wasn’t used to someone wanting to hug him back. But his arms wrapped tight around Amber like Riley expected, burying his face into her shoulder. He was shaking a bit, she couldn’t hear any sobs but Riley was certain that the kid hadn’t received this level in security in a while. Hopefully with how things were going so far, that would change soon enough. Soon, Samual pulled away, trying to still his shaking hands. “Right, so,” he took a step back, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Ready to get to work?”

Amber nodded, grinning, “This way.” She guided him to the sofa, letting him sit down as the computer switched on next to him. “It was so bizarre. I’m not sure what your experience was like, all I know from Riley was that you only received messages.”

Samual lifted a brow, “I guess yours had more to it.”

“Yes,” Amber confirmed. “Before I got the messages, all my lights were flickering, like something or…someone was controlling it. That’s when I got these.” Once the computer was up and functioning, Amber clicked onto the documents that held the words from her daughter.

Samual shifted closer, “Yeah, this is certainly…different. I only got emails, but it looks like someone wrote this if it’s on a document.”

“That’s the thing,” Amber turned to him. “I don’t know how but Penny was in this room. I couldn’t see or feel how but she was there, controlling the lights and writing to me.”

Samual’s eyes widened, no disbelief was seen but rather surprise at this new revelation, “Your daughter is trying to communicate with you. She even managed to be here with you somehow.”

“Yes, yes!” Amber exclaimed, grinning. “She was right here in this room.”

“But you said not physically?” Riley asked, her tone curious rather than accusatory.  “She managed to speak to you but her body wasn’t here?”

“Unfortunately,” Amber’s face fell slightly.

“So wherever she is, she’s still trapped,” Riley sighed.

Samual got up, facing the two women, “But it doesn’t seem impossible to find her. If she managed to get here the first time than its possible that she could come back.”

Riley bit her lip, “But how would we know?”

“Riley’s right,” Amber agreed. “I might have spoken to her then but I don’t know how to get in contact with her again-”

The lamp flickered, the trio’s attention focused in on it. “I’m guessing that wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me?” Riley observed, her toes curling at the thought of who she hoped it was.

“Nope,” Amber’s grin returned, whipping back round to the computer. “Penny, is that you baby?”

Hey Mom

I’m back

Riley’s hands covered her mouth, her knees dropping to the ground, “Penny? Is that really you?”

Unbeknownst to Riley, Pomni had done the same thing. Matching her sister as she tried to stifle a sob, “Hey Jax, do you mind?”

The rabbit chuckled behind her, watching the exchange go down. There were no memory-like pathways this time, just a simple walk through the door and they arrived right back in the living room, “Yeah babe, I got it.”

She’s here, she just got a little overwhelmed seeing you all again

Hi Mrs Reed

It’s good to see you again

Amber brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before realisation struck. There was only one other person that she knew who disappeared the way her youngest daughter did, “Jack?”

Yup, that’s me

Hope you’re not too disappointed

The older woman let out a breathless laugh, about to reply with how happy she was to see him…until she was interrupted by another voice, “YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Jax’s ears pressed flat against his head as Riley stood from the ground, fury written all over her face. Pomni, Amber and Samual had to take a few steps away from the raging woman.

“YOU TELL MY SISTER THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO MARRY HER AND TRY TO MOVE AWAY ON THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!” Riley screamed loudly. “YOU’RE SO LUCKY I CAN’T SEE YOU OTHERWISE I WOULD RIP OFF BOTH YOUR ARMS AND LEGS AND FEED THEM TO WOLVES WHILE WATCHING YOU BLEED OUT!”

Jax gulped, he should have known this was coming. After all he heard from Winter how Riley slammed someone’s head against a table just because they looked at Penny funny, if he wasn’t in the circus he would be on a missing poster by now. He took a deep breath, typing away on the keyboard.

You’re allowed to be angry

Furious

What I did was unforgivable and I understand if you won’t forgive me

But please understand then when I say sorry, I mean it

I’m so sorry Riley

For hurting your sister the way I did

For everything

Riley crossed her arms as she scowled, letting herself think long and hard about it, emphasise on long (she wanted to make him suffer at least a little bit). Jack was an asshole for what he did, but she knew what he went through as a kid and how hard he tried to make things right both for himself and for everyone else. She looked to Samual, the boy giving her a smile and a thumbs up before she turned back with a sigh, “Thank you for your apology.”

Jax’s stomach did a flip. There was a thank you, but no forgiveness. It was expected, a bit disappointing, but also a good start.

You’re welcome

Riley’s face turned soft again, shifting her feet on the rug below her, “Penny, are you…can you speak to me?”

Pomni clenched her hands, grinning and trembling with excitement as she rushed over to the computer.

Hey Riles

Please don’t kill Jack when we get back

Riley sniffed, wiping a stray tear from her cheek, “I’ll try not to, but I’ll do it for you Pen. Oh my god I missed you so much.”

Pomni bit back her sob, if she missed her mother so much already, then the weight of missing Riley hit like a bag of bricks.

I missed you too

You’re making me cry Riles

“I can’t help it,” Riley laughed. “You’ve been gone for three months.”

I know

You have no idea how much I wanna hug you all – Penny (did that so you can tell who you’re talking to)

Jax hummed, amused by her quick choice, “Smart.”

She gave the rabbit a quick grin before she turned her gaze to the boy in the living room, tilting her head curiously.

Who’s that guy?

Jax followed her gaze, letting out a small gasp of realisation at who it was, “Samual Abel?!”

“Wait, you mean-?” she realised now who he was talking about.

“Penny, Jack,” Riley walked over to the boy. “This is Samual Abel, son of Kaleb and Quinn Abel. He’s gonna be helping us get you home.”

“Uh, yeah,” Samual replied nervously. “Hi again Mister Jack, nice to meet you Miss Penny. Um, I’m really sorry I couldn’t do more for you when Jason came up to you that day Jack.”

Jax frowned as his fingers reach for the keyboard again.

It was nobody’s fault but my own kid

I was the one who took up Jason’s offer

Don’t beat yourself up about it – Jack

“Copycat,” Pomni stuck her tongue out at him.

Jax chuckled, “Couldn’t help it little lady,”

“But I should have done something!” Samual stood so fast it nearly gave him whiplash. “Jason always does this! He knows it’s dangerous when people touch that stupid game! The moment he said where he was sending you I knew what job he was talking about! I could have stopped all this!”

Riley faced the boy, confused, “Game? What game?”

“That fucking game!” he cursed. “It’s been the root of all of our problems yet he never got rid of it! It started small with people disappearing in the company with headsets left behind, but then it started spreading somehow to the public! And now we lost the file! It keeps jumping from place to place and we can never catch it! All because Jason was too stubborn to get rid of it!”

“Sam, Sam, hey,” Riley clicked her fingers in front of his face, his attention solely focused on her. “What game are you talking about.”

Samual’s buried his face into his hands, a stressed groan leaving his mouth, “It was supposed to be a VR remake of the first game my dad made, but Jason kept making too many shaky choices with it. Then my parents disappeared. I hate that game… ‘The Amazing Digital Circus’.”

Pomni gasped, “That was the game I saw when I tried to find you!” She turned to Jax, “We’re stuck inside the game!”

“I-I remember!” Jax clenched his hands. “When I disappeared! That was the file I saw!”

It fell on deaf ears. “The reason why Jason wanted to send Jack away was because that was where the last person went missing, the last time we saw the file,” Samual told them. “He wanted to send Jack there as a way to retrieve the file and get back to working on the game again, even if he knew it wasn’t safe. Unfortunately the file routed its way back to this city and took Jack with him.”

“And then it took Penny,” Amber whispered.

“Okay,” Riley gathered herself, her mind settling back into business. “Jason sent Jack away and lied to everyone for all these years. That wasn’t your fault Samual.”

“But I-” he tried to speak.

“You told me that whenever you tried to speak up to talk to someone then Jason would get in the way and scare you into stopping,” she stated firmly. “Don’t blame yourself because a grown man was enough of a coward to bully a child.”

He looked like he was about to retort, but a stern glare from Riley was all that he needed to heed what she said, “Ok Miss Riley.”

“Next,” she moved on. “What should be our second course of action.”

Pomni quickly moved back to the computer.

No one else in the circus has their memories

Is there a way we can try and help them get them back? – Penny

“Oh, oh wait!” Samual piped up, an idea bright in his mind. “I overheard Jason talking about this. He has USB files of each person that went missing, including their past leading up to this point.”

“You overhear a lot of stuff kid,” Riley crossed her arms. “I didn’t mean that as a criticism, just observing.”

“Hehe, well, when you’ve been isolated from everyone and everything all your life you tend to get a bit bored,” Samual replied with a wry smile. “Case in point, eavesdropping on the guy you’re suspicious off in order to gather information.”

“So if we get the USB files and hook them into this computer,” Amber started to catch on.

“It could help get their memories back,” Samual finished. “I’ll get to see if my parents are there!”

“This is amazing!” Amber cheered. “Well, not fully amazing because their all still stuck but we’re getting somewhere. Oh wait till Winter hears about Jack being alive!”

A wide grin appeared on Jax’s face. Winter, his sister, he could finally see her again! Reassure her that he was alive-

“-Wait! No, no!” Riley quickly interjected, making everyone become quickly confused at her sudden outburst. “We can’t tell Winter, not yet at least.”

Amber blinked in surprise, “Honey, she’s your wife. She’s been missing Jack for so long, she needs to know the truth.”

Pomni watched as Jax’s ear twitch, a slight scowl was on his face. He didn’t like this one bit.

 “I know that,” Riley said. “But you weren’t there when Jack was gone. She went nearly catatonic, unable to move, speak or eat. The devastation of losing him for so long nearly broke her. We nearly lost Percy in birth because of the impact. I…I can’t risk that happening again.”

A slow, angered breath released through Jax’s nose as he started to type again.

This is a mistake Riley

Winter deserves to know

You can’t keep this from her – Jack

Riley shook her head, “I’m doing this to protect her. It’s for her own good Jack.”

He wasn’t convinced, turning away from her. Riley shouldn’t have to make that choice for Winter, it wasn’t fair! She needed to know, not be kept in the dark!

Pomni patted his hand softly as she went to the keyboard.

But he’s right Riley – Penny

“I’ll tell her eventually,” Riley reassured everyone. “J-just not now, until I know for sure that everything will be fine.”

Pomni sighed. Riley was as stubborn as they came, there was no changing her mind with this.

Both rabbit and jester jumped when they heard the dinner bell ringing from outside the exit door. It was time to go.

We have to leave

You better know what you’re doing Riley – Penny

“What? But you just came back!” Riley cried.

Amber put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, “Don’t worry. If this interaction has proved anything, they’ll be back.”

Riley was unconvinced, but if there was anyone she trusted more than anything, it was her mother. “Ok,” she nodded, “Just…please be safe Penny.”

I will

And like that, both rabbit and jester rushed out the door. They were able to make it on dinner on time, and Caine was none the wiser about what happened. But despite the feast laid out in front of him, everything that Riley said left a bitter taste in Jax’s mouth. After Penny, Winter was the one he was closest to out of anyone in his life. He might not have been the greatest person, but Winter was the furthest thing from bad. She was the reason that he started to believe that good things could happen in his life, and now Riley was refusing to tell her that he was here and alive.

It felt so wrong.

Pomni’s hand was on his leg, still yet reassuring. It was a silent confirmation that she was on his side about this. He laid his hand atop hers, making sure it was out of Caine’s sight. He squeezed it, hopefully things would be okay…they had to be.

.

.

.

“Riley…”

Black, everything was black.

“Riley…”

It was like she was stuck in inky tar, unable to move her feet, stuck in the black substance.

“Riley.”

She looked up, the redhead gasped as she saw one very familiar, visible figure.

“Penny?” Riley’s voice sounded louder in her ears.

The brunette was wearing the same outfit Riley had last seen her in, a plain white T-shirt and grey leggings. Though it looked dirtier than she last remembered, and why were her eyes shut?

“Why did you leave me?” Penny’s voice echoed.

Riley was startled by the sudden statement, “What?”

“You’re my big sister,” Penny mumbled. “You’re supposed to protect me…yet you didn’t.”

“No, Penny I didn’t mean for you to get trapped!” Riley yelled out for her. “I’m doing everything I can to bring you home!”

“You said you would always be there for me,” Penny whispered back. “You said that no matter what happens I would be safe if you were there…but you weren’t…you didn’t save me…you’re a liar.”

“I’m so sorry Penny,” Riley sobbed, hands on her leg as she tried to pull them out, but to no avail. “I’m really sorry!”

“Liar,” Penny repeated.

“Liar!”

“LIAR!”

“L̷̩͚̯̲̖͖̙͔̹̬̮͉̲̝̑̊̀́ͅỈ̸̢̹̝̝͓͔̟̠̌́́̆͝Á̵̬͎͛̐̑̔̃̈́̓R̶̳̪̩̹̳̬̻̜̫͇̓̏̀͐͒͂̚͠͝͝”

Riley gasped, trying to run but she was frozen solid in the ink. Suddenly, the darkness was replaced by thousands of multicoloured eyes staring at her as Penny drew closer.

The brunette grabbed Riley by the collar of her shirt. It was nothing but silence.

Then her eyes opened.

Riley screamed when she saw that they were as hollow and black as the ink.

Penny opened her mouth again, the same ink leaking out from her lips as she screeched one more time.

Ļ̷̨̛͚̙̭̖̩̥̝͇̮̻̼͍͎̗͉͍̦͖̹͎͔͈̞̰̟̯̩̝̠̻̫͕̱̝̎͊̽̈́̇̀͊̄̑͋̅͊̔̄͒̃̀͌̈́̏̈͆͐̋̓͐̾͛̊̈́̈́́̏̋̀̄̏̈̚̚͘͘̕̕͠ͅÌ̶̧̧̧̛̛̪͔̝͚̫͎̝̬͈̺̫̭̱̞̹͖̞̹̳̻͖̫͉̋̓͋̈́̓͂͗͐̈́̐̈͐̒͗͆̏͛̈̏͌͗͑̈́̐͐̔̂̊͊́͆͆̒̓̾̀̀̾͘̚̕̕̚͜͝ͅͅA̷̢̧̛̛̻̳̞̬̟͇̟̟͉͔̻̻͙̩̣͈̖̘͙̪̱͎̰͙̝͚̣͈̓͒̎͛̆̓̋͌̅̈́͂̏̎̈́̅̍̈̈́̆̕͜͝͠͝ͅR̴̡͈̞͔̮̻̩͋͂͑̚ͅ

.

.

.

Riley awoke with a scream tearing from her throat, her hands fisting the bed sheets beneath her. She failed her, she failed Penny, she couldn’t save her, she was nothing but a failure-

“Riley, Riley!” Winter reached out, taking her wife’s hands in hers. “It’s okay, see, everything is ok.”

Riley was still trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Breathe with me babe,” Winter told her, taking deep breaths in and out again. Riley gulped down a sob, repeating her wife’s pattern. Eventually, she breath was even again and she was calm enough to see her surroundings. There was no ink, no eyes. She was in her bedroom with Winter as the other woman turned the lamp on beside the bed. “It’s okay, it was just a nightmare.”

She was about to bring Riley back into her arms, before the redhead pulled away and stood up, “Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll go sleep in the guest room, to let you rest before work.”

“No, wait, Riley!” Winter shouted as her partner gathered up her pillow and a spare blanket. “I just wanna talk, you don’t have to do this.”

“I want to get some sleep before work, alright? Conversation over,” Riley stated, gathering what she needed in her arms before marching to the door.

“Riley enough!” Winter yelled, making Riley freeze in her tracks still facing the door. “We can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” she retorted bitterly.

“You avoiding me,” Winter told her. “Especially when you’re hurting. You can’t keep pretending that I don’t exist just because you’re too scared to talk about Penny.”

Riley bit her tongue, nearly drawing blood, “I’m not scared Winter. Stop it.”

“Where were you last night?” Winter questioned, unrelenting. “Yesterday you wouldn’t answer your phone after I tried calling you for hours. Where were you?”

Riley couldn’t say, she couldn’t. If Winter was told about Jack, she feared about what could happen. She still remembered Winter’s pale face, nearly slipping in and out of consciousness during Percy’s C-section. She nearly lost both her wife and her son that day. She couldn’t tell her, it’s for her own good.

“My mom’s house, my phone was on silent,” she said, her voice void of emotion. “I’m tired.”

She slammed the door behind her, leaving Winter all alone. The black-haired woman brought her knees to her chest, too exhausted to cry. Too tired to keep having these moments with Riley. She would give anything just to have her wife back.

.

.

.

“Well good morning little lady,” Jax bowed as he walked out of his room the next morning. “And how was your sleep last night?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be subtle?” Pomni placed her hands on her hips. “Cause as far as I can’t tell, I don’t think this is what it’s supposed to be.”

“But it made you smile, right?” he smirked.

Pomni blushed, he was right, she was smiling, “Shut up.”

He chuckled, nudging his head to the direction down the hallway, “Hungry?”

“Yeah, I could eat,” Pomni nodded. She was about to walk beside him when she noticed something in the corner of a door from one of the past circus members. She cocked her head to the side as she inspected it further.

Jax paused in his tracks when he noticed that his fiancé wasn’t next to him, “Pen?” He saw her staring at the door of an old string-worm character, coming up behind her carefully so he wouldn’t spook her. “What is it?”

“Do you see that?” she inquired.

“See what?” he asked.

She pointed to the corner, “That.”

Jax’s eyes squinted as he followed her fingers, they widened when they finally noticed what Pomni was talking about. The corner was glitching, similar to how Ragatha was when Kaufmo attacked her on the jester’s first day. “How is this possible?” Pomni observed.

“I…I don’t know,” Jax replied honestly. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this.”

Suddenly, the glitch sparked wildly and loudly, making them jump back in surprise. It started to spread across the door, erasing the face of the string worm with its flashing colours. Jax held Pomni protectively, guiding her away from the door as they stepped away slowly. They watched as little by little, it swallowed up the door, before disappearing entirely.

Both of them panted in surprise, this wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. “I think we need to hurry with our escape plan,” Pomni told the rabbit holding her.

“Agreed,” Jax nodded. “We’re on a timer Pomni.”

“The question is how long do we have?” her voice shook slightly, gripping onto him.

“Long enough for us to get out of here,” he told her, reassurance in his voice. “That much I know.”

“O-okay,” Pomni hated that she was stuttering, but the sudden fright of what happened didn’t seem to be letting go of her anytime soon.

“Come on, let’s get downstairs before Caine tries to find us,” Jax stood, holding out his hand and helping up the jester.

While the two walked down the hallway, they couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling of what just happened. Did they really not have enough time? Was it just another strange part of this world?

Those questions rung through their mind as they walked down the hall, unaware of a second little glitch behind them in another little corner of the hall.

Chapter Text

And I've been meaning to tell you
I think your house is haunted
Your dad is always mad and that must be why
And I think you should come live with
Me and we can be pirates
Then you won't have to cry - Seven by Taylor Swift

.

.

.

(1)

“Jack! Jack! Get out here you little shit!”

A five-year-old boy whimpered at the loud voice, crouching behind a garden shed in the backyard. He held his breath, begging for the voice not to find him. In his arms he held a small, trembling baby rabbit, its nose twitching in panic as they hid.

“You can’t hide forever Jack!”

The young boy had come home from school, wanting to get into the house and not bother anyone. He had to be good, he will be good! But sometimes, good didn’t seem to be enough. Even when he was ‘good’ they still hurt him…

That was when he saw Luke, kicking a baby rabbit in the front yard. The poor thing was limping, it had probably wandered too far from its mama, now Luke was torturing it for his own amusement. He begged Luke to stop, to do something else, but the teenager had gripped his face and growled at the child to mind his own business. Jack didn’t know why he did it, maybe it was a reflex from the sudden fright he felt, but he kicked Luke in the stomach, leaving the older boy winded. There was nothing but red-hot rage in Luke’s eyes, that’s how Jack knew how much trouble he was really in.

So he picked up the rabbit, ran through the house and out into the back garden, now he was here. He heard Luke’s footsteps on the grass. Jack held his breath, forcing himself to not make any sudden noise. The seconds were achingly long, his heart pounding against his chest as he tried to hear if Luke was approaching or not. The footsteps stopped, Jack squeezed his eyes shut, as though this were all a nightmare and he would be waking up soon.

Unfortunately he was very much awake when a hand grabbed him by the hair and through him onto the open ground, forcing him to drop the baby rabbit. “You think you can get away with that?! Huh?!” Luke mocked, kicking the boy in the stomach as Jack let out a cry. “Come on! Finish what you started!”

“I’m sorry Luke! I’m sorry!” Jack wailed as the teen kicked him in the knees. “It was an accident!”

Luke paused, a sadistic grin creeping on his face as a vile idea came to mind, “Accident? Heh, I’ll show you an accident.”

His eyes darted to the baby rabbit still limping on the ground and marched towards it. Jack looked up from the ground, pushing himself up as he scanned the grass for the rabbit. It was only when he heard a crunch and a distressed squeak did his heart plummet to the pit of his stomach. Luke stomped on the little rabbit over and over again, little squeals leaving it as it writhed in pain. “No!” Jack cried, trying to stand despite his aching limbs. “Luke, stop it! Please, stop!”

Luke ignored him, continuing his attack on the poor creature. Jack tried to stand as quick as he could, the blood rushing to his head as he swayed on his feet. By the time he was fulling standing it was too late. There was nothing left of the rabbit but a mangled corpse and a manic sneer on Luke’s face. The blond teen turned to the young boy, shrugging as it he only flicked a piece of dust off his shirt, “What? It was just an accident?”

Suddenly, Jack didn’t feel the lightness in his head anymore. He squeezed his fists, a rush of adrenaline rushing through his veins as he screamed, running to Luke and tackling him to the ground. The blond wasn’t expecting this reaction, letting out a screech as he felt sharp nails scratch across the skin on his face.

“How dare you!” Jack screamed, not ceasing. “He did nothing to you! Why did you kill him?!” There were stains of red, Luke grunted as he tried to stop the scratching but Jack’s hands were too fast for him to catch. “I hate you!”

When Luke finally caught one of Jax’s hands, did clarity start to fill the young boy, along with the fearful dread. He tried to run, but Luke’s grip was firm and bruising as he stood up. With his other hand, his fingertips tapped against the blood on his face, inspecting it closely. A small chuckle left the blonde, lacking humour and filled with nothing but bad intentions. And little Jack had nowhere to run and no chance to hide now.

“Luke, please don’t do this,” Jack whimpered, trying to pull away from the older boy’s hold on his upper arm.

“Too late,” Luke hissed, his head turning back to the large, ivory house. “DAD! MOM! COME SEE WHAT JACK DID!”

Jack’s blood ran cold. Luke was already a bitter, vile person, but even bad people had to learn their behaviour from somewhere. As for Luke, he had received it from his parents. The only people – other than Luke – Jack feared the most, “Luke, I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

But his cries fell on deaf, ignorant ears. Two adults rushed out the house, a man and women in their mid-forties with scowls that seemed to be printed onto their faces. Luke’s parents, the ones who had also adopted Jack.

The woman let out a sharp, horrified gasp, “You! What did you do to my son?!”

“Little bastard attacked me out of nowhere,” Luke threw the child forward, making him fall forward and land on his palms.

Jack barely had any time to gather himself before a rough hand grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up. Luke’s father glared at him, a cigarette hanging up his lips as Jack tried to not breathe any of the smoke being forced down his nostrils. “You think I accept that behaviour in my house?!” He glowered.

“I-I’m sorry sir!” Jack wailed. “But he killed that bunny! He stomped on it till it couldn’t move! I just wanted to protect him!”

“All this over a stupid rabbit?!” The foster mother screeched. “You’re nothing but a little monster! Hurting my boy over a useless rodent!”

Jack’s eyes widened at what she had said. How cold and callous her words were. How she devalued the life of an innocent creature who couldn’t take care of itself. He turned his gaze to Luke, the boy holding a t-shirt his mother fished from the laundry basket and held it to his face. He was still grinning, blood staining his teeth, looking more like the monster that his mother was talking about.

“Get in!” The man growled, dragging the boy into the house again. Jack grunted as his feet scrapped against the ground with the sudden, harsh movement, feeling Luke’s eyes on him as the blonde’s father kept pulling him.

He didn’t stop until the boy was pushed into the kitchen and the door was slammed shut behind him. The man’s grip moved from the back of his shirt to his foreman, nearly cutting off the child’s circulation.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth, “This is what happens to little brats who act out of line.”

Jack gasped, the realisation of why they went inside finally setting in. His foster father didn’t want to risk any prying eyes, any witnesses to see what he was about to do next.

Jack struggled, trying to escape, but the man struck him across the face, his ring leaving a mark in the child’s delicate skin.

The cigarette moved closer to his arm, the young boy crying and writhing. The blunt hadn’t even touched him yet somehow he could already feel it.

The flaming end met his skin.

And Jack’s scream echoed throughout the empty house.

(2)

.

.

.

Jax gasped, sitting up straight in his bed as he clutched his hand to his chest. He scanned the surroundings, even putting a hand to his forearm to feel for any scarring. His breathing slowed, relief settling when he saw that he was in his own room, and that there were no scars to be found. Just an armful of purple fur instead.

He felt a body stir next to him, Pomni had the blankets tucked around her like a cocoon. Jax didn’t mind, he got too warm most nights anyway. He settled back down, sliding and arm round her waist and pulled her close. He felt her chest against his, rising and falling with each breath. He matched his own with hers, letting it calm his racing heart. His eyes began to droop when he heard a small voice.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Pomni asked, peering up at him with sleepy eyes.

Jax sighed, he promised not to lie to her and he wasn’t going back on it now or ever, “Yeah, I did.”

“Are you okay? You wanna talk about it?” She attempted to sit up. He patted his hand against her waist, reassuring her that she was fine where she was.

“It was about my old foster family,” he told her. “Way before I met Winter.”

“Oh, babe,” she tucked her head under his chin, snuggling close. “You didn’t deserve anything that they put you through. I’m so sorry that you had to relive that in your head.”

“There’s nothing you gotta apologise for,” Jax kissed the top of her forehead. “Honestly, I don’t think about them a lot anymore. I know that sounds ironic cause of Luke confronting me back then. But they don’t mean anything to me, they don’t matter…but you do, more than anything.

He felt her lips smile against his chest, pressing a small kiss next to his heart, “You mean more than anything to me too.”

Jax pulled her closer again, feeling his eyes fluttering shut as sleep came for him once again, “Thanks little lady.”

“I am not a little lady,” she mumbled causing him to chuckle, his voice vibrating against her ear.

The nightmare was at the back of his mind, his eyes gazing on the small jester curled up beside him. Luke didn’t matter anymore, his old foster family didn’t matter anymore. Thinking of them never did anything good for him, there was no need to focus on his past when his future was right next to him. He would talk about them if the situation occurred, he didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of secrets, but Pomni was all that mattered. And that was okay.

With one last sigh, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, joining her in a peaceful, blissful sleep. His dreams for the rest of the night were filled with the smiles of a certain brunette.

.

.

.

Another day, another adventure. Everyone already had the same shared opinion of Caine’s adventures, but one of the worst things they all agreed on had to be mentally preparing themselves for whatever it was going to be. It was a process that had each one of them dreading for whatever Caine had created for them. Sometimes they were the most thrilling and exciting experiences they ever had, others were boring and had them wanting to go back to their quarters, but the worst ones had to be when they were left emotionally or physically scarred with the most haunting imagery that would be stuck in their minds forever. They never understood why Caine would create such adventures like those, how could he ever think they were fun?

Jax shuddered, hoping for at least a boring adventure instead of the awful third option. He turned to Pomni – who was busy talking to Ragatha – he definitely didn’t want her dealing with that type of adventure. She had already been through enough as it is. He knew that they were to keep a low profile, but he also knew that Caine was unpredictable. Whatever adventure was chosen, he was going to stick as close to Pomni as he could. The last time they were separated she nearly…

“Good morning my superstars!” Caine beamed, a juxtaposition to the circus members sleepy and dreary attitude. “Don’t I have just the perfect adventure for all of you today!”

“Wow, such a surprise,” Jax grumbled under his breath. The jingle of Pomni’s giggle at his sentence made him smile, making sure it was hidden from Caine.

The pair of dentures didn’t seem to notice, simply continuing with his speech, “I know you all miss your old lives as boring humans, so being the gracious ringmaster that I am, I decided to base our new adventure around one of your earthly activities I heard one of you mumble about – though I can’t seem to remember who said it.”

Everyone gawked at that. Caine so rarely laid any notice or curiosity to what the outside world was like, stuck in a firm belief that the circus was the greatest place to ever reside in. This was the first time that he mentioned basing an activity on the real world, what could he even imagine what said activity involved? But more importantly, what activity did he pick?

“I’ve done the amount of research that I felt bothered to do and created this!” With a snap of his fingers, there was a flash of light and the walls of the tent disappeared. Each member blinked, rubbing their eyes from the sudden bright light. When the brightness faded, they let out a small gasp at the scene around them.

An orange sunset, tall and long hedges and miles upon miles of fresh golden corn. Caine had created a cornfield maze. Other than the vegetable, Jax felt a tingling familiarity at the sight of the maze, the memories of falling asleep with a certain jester and dreaming about his best memories of his past in a place just like this. He looked to Pomni, she seemed to be having the same familiar feeling too. She turned her head to him, her eyes twinkling and her smile sweet. He returned it with the same warmth.

“Your goal is simple!” Caine interrupted the couple’s train of thought. “It will be a race between each one of you! Whoever collects the most corn by the end of the adventure wins…oh I actually haven’t thought about that. Um, what do humans usually win at these things?”

“Oh, well it ranges from a lot of different things,” Ragatha piped up. “It could range from prize ribbons, stuffed toys, sometimes even food. Something that most people can enjoy!”

Caine hummed, tapping a finger against the bottom of his jaw, as though he were deep in thought about a life changing matter rather than a prize for a silly game, “Aha! I’ve got it! The prize can be…water! Everyone likes water! Right?”

Ragatha cringed, not surprised in the slightest from his answer, “Sure Caine.”

“Well then, I’ll you all to get started superstars!” the ringmaster grinned, about to snap his fingers. “Oh I should mention, you’re all going to be separated until all of you have found an exit! Okay, bye!”

“Wait, what?!” Pomni paled, but her question was cut short but the familiar snap of Caine’s fingers.

Jax whipped round, his heart pounding. No, no, no! He promised her he would stay! He promised to protect her! He let his feet run as fast as they would take him, not letting the red and blue woman leave his sight for a moment. But she was quickly replaced by green, towering hedges covered with the yellow vegetable he had to collect.

Jax begin to pant heavily, panic filling him from head to toe. Would she be alright? They hadn’t left each other’s sides ever since they got their memories back, too afraid to let go as if they were afraid this were only another hope filled dream. Was she alright being on her own? What is something happened to her?

He took a breath, smoothing his hands over his ears until they sprung back up, picking up the basket placed next to him. Curse Caine and his sudden stupid rules. It didn’t matter, all he had to do was pick a few pieces of corn and find an exit. Maybe he would run into Pomni as well? Yeah, that’s what he had to focus on. Finding Pomni.

He plucked a piece of the edge, placing it inside the brown woven basket before walking down the path. He would find Pomni…

He will find Pomni.

.

.

.

Knock, knock

“Come in!” a woman’s voice called through the door.

Riley’s wrapped her hand around the knob of the captain’s office door, with it creaking as it slowly swung open. A slender woman with warm, dark skin and brown locs sat at a table, reading through the files on her desk. Ever since Penny and Jack’s disappearance, it had thrown their entire case for a loop. But that was part of the reason why Riley was here.

“How can I help you Agent Reed?” she asked, looking up briefly before returning her attention to the papers.

“Good afternoon ma’am,” Riley stood straight, hands clasped together in front of her. The perfect picture of professionalism. “I’ve just come to receive a warrant to do a search.”

“State the place and case Reed, and I’ll see what I can do,” Rae nodded, sifting through the dozens of notes.

Riley bit her lip, praying this would work, “C&A industries ma’am, for the Penny Reed and Jack Bloom cases.”

Rae paused, the silence was somehow more deafening than Riley ever imagined it could be. The captain placed the papers down, looking back up at red-haired woman, “Weren’t you there a while ago for your case? Something about seeing if a possible witness was involved somehow?”

“Yes ma’am,” Riley nodded. “And I believe that he might be right. Which is why I’m requesting the warrant.”

“It’s also funny that you mention the case for your sister and Mr Bloom,” said Rae.

Riley raised a brow, “What do you mean?”

“We just received word this morning that the files for the missing persons cases that were related to C&A went missing. I was about to make an announcement but as you can see, because of the recent incidents I’ve become more swamped with paperwork that usual,” Rae sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Riley cringed, “It’s really become that bad?”

“Since Jack Bloom was connected to C&A, it’s opened a whole pipeline,” Rae told her. “Apparently, the company is extremely defensive with being accused of these sorts of things, and it’s not the first time someone disappeared on their property on in relation to them. However we haven’t found any proof that they were involved, so we’re still stuck in limbo until we find something to shut them down.”

“That’s why I’m asking for this warrant ma’am. There might be a chance that C&A have these files,” Riley explained. “Some of the cases had this company involved before, right? Not all, but some? Maybe this could be a good chance to see how they were connected to C&A?”

“You sure you got the right plan for this, Reed?” Rae questioned, raising a brow. Her tone was stern but not demeaning in the slightest. “C&A have a pretty tight record. One slip from us and they’ve got lawyers, attorneys, everything coming after us.”

“As long as we have the warrant, we have the right to say we’re allowed to be there,” Riley said. “I’m not going into this blind ma’am, I’ve got a plan and I know what I’m doing.”

“It’s not that I doubt you Riley, but I do know that this case is personal to you. Since it’s your sister going missing as well,” Rae took note of how the redhead tried not to stiffen up at the mention of her sister. “I just don’t want you going into this with wool over your eyes. I’ve been seeing how you and Winter come into work sometimes. Both of you would never stop grinning and smiling at one another, now it looks like you two have become strangers. I don’t want these cases getting to you to the point where you feel like you’re losing yourselves.”

Riley crossed her arms over her chest, gazing down to the floor as though she were a child being scolded. Every time she saw Winter’s face - downed and saddened from the past few months - she wanted nothing more than to kiss every inch of it. She knew Winter wasn’t ignorant to her attempts to avoid anything that attached Penny’s name to it, like retracting a hand from touching a burning flame. But she saw how it was affecting Winter. She knew that she was only trying to help, yet Riley kept turning away, kept refusing any conversation about how she was feeling. It was making things worse, she knew that. Yet the fear of watching Winter tear herself apart from grief and pain had imprinted itself on her mind, and she just couldn’t muster the courage to try and talk to her wife.

One day Riley promised herself, one day I’ll say something. Just…not now.

“Everything is fine ma’am,” she reassured Rae. “These cases are stressful, but not impossible.”

Rae hummed under her breath, fiddling with her ring finger before saying, “Okay, I’ll send to you later today. You better know what you’re doing.”

Riley grinned, a sigh of relief escaping her, “I do ma’am.”

She gave a quick nod to her superior, turning on her heel and grabbed the door handle before Rae called her one last time, “Riley.” The redhead faced her boss again. “I’m serious, be careful with this. C&A aren’t to be taken lightly.”

The captain’s voice was stoic, serious, holding deep truth that Riley was slightly nervous to ask about. But she knew that Rae was right, they had to be careful with this. “I will ma’am.”

With that, she walked out the office, straightening her blazer. She whipped her phone out of her pocket, typing quickly once it was in her hands.

I got the warrant Samual

Be ready

.

.

.

Riley had told her to wait, just until things were set in stone. But Amber had never felt so restless in her life. Here she was, waiting in her living room by her old computer, with both of her daughters out of reach. Was this really what was expected of her to do? Nothing? For god’s sake! Penny was trapped inside a literal video game and she was supposed to wait?! How could any mother simply do that without complaint?!

Amber groaned, burying her face in her hands before standing and walking to the kitchen. She at least had to do something to keep her mind busy, maybe some tea would help. After all, if she had anymore coffee she was sure she would only get more agitated. She opened the cupboards, her eyes roaming each corner before landing on a familiar yellow box. She reached her hand in to fish it out, sighing with slight melancholy when she saw what type of tea it was.

Chamomile, Penny’s favourite.

Penny who completed half of Amber’s heart with Riley. Penny who wanted others to see the best in themselves when they weren’t able to do so. Penny who had gone through hardship after hardship only to end up in a place that forced her away from her family and into a state of terror.

No. Amber wasn’t going to stand by. She slammed the box onto the counter and marched out the kitchen and up the stairs into the hallway. She could figure out a way to help, even if it was just a little bit. When she made it up the stairs, she reached up to a little strong connected to a trapdoor on her roof, pulling on it carefully as a ladder slid down.

Amber couldn’t remember the last time she had been up the attic, it had seemed it had been decades ago since she stored the last childhood memory of the girls up here. But it held what she needed with the plan in her head. She climbed up the ladder, poking her head up through the trapdoor as coughed from the leftover dust from the wooden floorboards. It had definitely been a while since she had been up here. She lifted herself up inside, taking out her phone to turn on her flashlight. Despite the length of time, she knew where everything was placed and kept in here. Time to get to work.

In a few minutes, Amber had packed a box full of long-lost belongings way back from her time, hopefully it was what she needed as she climbed down the ladder and shut the trapdoor. She made her way back downstairs, placing the box on the coffee table once she was in the living room. She placed her hands on her hips, where would she start? She peered down at the box, filled to the brim with gadgets, old software and objects that she and the girls used to use in a time where technology wasn’t so advanced. She picked up a walkie talkie and a string of fairy lights, perhaps she could start with that. Amber had a long way to go, but still, at least she wasn’t waiting anymore.

She just hoped that this would work a little bit, as long as it helped bring Penny home.

.

.

.

Pomni sighed as she picked up another piece of corn, placing it in her basket. She did panic when she was separated from her fiancé and the others, but so far the adventure didn’t seem to be too hectic. Just a peaceful stroll in the fields while picking corn. She smiled, breathing in the fresh air – as fresh as simulated air could be at least. Doing this reminded her of similar activities she, her mother and sister used to do when they were younger. To get away from work, school, chaos, her father. To just have a day where they could focus on making happy memories. Well, it worked.

It almost felt normal, but…she wished this was something she was doing with Riley and her mother. Riley would lift her onto her back for a ride, despite her younger sister’s protests of not being a child anymore yet would still cling to her like a koala. Amber would be pestering the girls in a way to make them smile, perhaps picking up one of the pieces of corn and waving it like a sword as she chased her daughters.

Pomni gripped the handle of her basket, a shaky breath leaving her lips. She missed them so, so much. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to feel the waft of the warm oaky smell that hit her every time she entered her mother’s home. She wanted to be squeezed in one of Riley’s protective hugs. She wanted to explore every area of her childhood home, to make sure that each place was burned into her mind so she would never forget it ever again. “I miss you guys,” she whispered under her breath, despite the isolation of where she stood.

She shook her head, she had to get a grip. Right now she had to focus on completing this adventure so she could get back to Jax and figure out the next step of their plans. Just as she was about to reach for another piece of the vegetable, a small blue butterfly fluttered out from the leaves and stems. Pomni let out a yelp at the sudden appearance, tripping and falling back, the corn spilling out of the basket as it toppled to the ground. She kicked her feet, backing away from the bug – the last time she was near a butterfly she nearly…

She started to tremble at the memory, internally scolding herself for getting frightened by a single insect. But the feeling of the cold water forcing her down, down, down – burning her lungs as the simulated feeling of being unable to breathe wouldn’t leave her brain. Her chest started to heave with each panicked pant as the butterfly inched closer, fearing that it would glitch if it touched her again and send her into another spiral.

It got closer, she shut her eyes, bracing for that painful static when-

“Don’t be afraid.”

Her eyes snapped open, scanning the area. She swore she heard a voice, like it belonged to an older woman. But it was just her and the butterfly.

“It’s not going to hurt you dear,”

There it was again, “Who’s there?!”

“Just someone who wants to help.”

Pomni scoffed, disbelief curling her lips into strained smile, “How can I trust you if I can’t even see you?”

“I’m sorry. I wish you could, but the rules of this game won’t allow you to see my face. Not anymore.”

The jester raised a brow. Here was a voice, a voice so different, so foreign and unlike anything she had ever heard in the circus before. But for some reason, it didn’t seem bad to trust it. Despite it not actually being her, the voice reminded her of the soft tone her mother used to use to comfort her.

Pomni gulped, looking at the butterfly again. It was simply floating there, no threat lingering in the slightest. Maybe, just maybe. She lifted her hand, her face cringing as she turned away, shoulders stiffening in case that glitch did happen. The tiny feet of the bug landed on her finger. Nothing. No pain, no glitch, just the butterfly resting there as it waited for the jester to make her next move.

She opened her eyes, she was okay. She looked up, trying to detect where that voice came from, “Thank you.” It felt silly, sitting in the dirt as she called out for someone she couldn’t see, but sillier things have happened in this circus. She looked back at the butterfly, letting it crawl across her hand, “Sorry for getting scared earlier. You seem like a friendly guy. I’m sure Kinger would like you.”

The butterfly seemed nice, and it was gentle, but why did the one from before glitch? And why was there a voice this time telling her not to be afraid? With each passing day since she got her memories back, more questions kept opening up. She stood up, picking up her basket and placing the small bug inside, “Guess we’ll need to figure you out later. Hope you don’t mind the corn, I don’t want Caine finding you just in case anything happens.”

The butterfly didn’t seem to mind, already laying down on top one of the vegetables like it was a bed. Pomni smiled, lowering the lid and continued her trail. Now this was definitely going to be an interesting story to tell Jax. She just hoped he was okay.

.

.

.

Jax grumbled as he hit another dead end. He had given up picking up corn a long while ago, settling for trying to find Pomni instead. But each path he took only seemed to lead him down the wrong way, as though the map of this adventure was mocking him. He gripped his ears, pulling slightly. “Easy adventure my @ss Caine,” he muttered under his breath. This was just getting tedious now.

He heard a rustle behind him, making him jump like the type of animal his avatar was. Perhaps it was one of the others? Or maybe Caine added a last-minute boss to try and make things more interesting – yet harder for them. But no, instead it was…him?

At least it looked like him, but much younger. He looked about he was no older than three, his hair shorter while wearing soft clothing stamped in little train patterns. What was going on.

“Come on sweetie!”

A new voice rung out. He looked up, a young couple came up behind the boy, reaching out their hands to him. “We have to start the maze!” the woman said, smiling at the child.

“Okay mama!” the young boy giggled, clutching his hand into hers as the wandered further into the maze.

Jax blinked, his feet trailing behind the trio. He felt like a dog on a leash going after them. Who were these people, why didn’t he remember this? Were they his…his parents? But they couldn’t be possible, his parents left him in social services ever since he was, well, the age the younger version of him here was. But then again, his earliest memory was him in a car going to his very first foster home, nothing before that.

Maybe, just maybe. They weren’t like anything like he pictured them to be, they seemed nice to younger him. Perhaps something else happened, perhaps he really used to be loved.

And so, he followed them. Tracing their lefts and rights, wherever they would go. They seemed like good people, laughing at their little boy’s antics and playing along with whatever imaginary game he came up with. He even felt himself smiling, a tear even escaping his eye at the long-lost image of the family in front of him.

Eventually they stopped, the couple sharing a look before starting down the young boy. Jax froze, what was going on? There was another rustle, a small rabbit jumping out of the stems of corn as it ran down the path. “Honey look!” the mother pointed with a grin. “What’s that?!”

“A bunny!” the little boy replied with excitement, jumping up and down on the spot. Jax’s stomach began to churn.

“It wants you to play tag with it,” the father said. “Don’t leave it waiting.”

“Okay!” the boy nodded, taking a few steps but pausing when he saw his parents weren’t following along. “Aren’t you playing as well?”

“We’ll meet you at the end of the maze,” his mother said, her tone loving despite the dread of this situation building more and more. “You’re a big boy now, I’m sure you can do it on your own.”

“Oh yeah, I can!” the young Jack looked so happy saying that, so unknowing of the true danger he was put in. “I’ll see you soon! Come back little bunny!”

He ran off, chasing the small rodent down the path. Jax shook his head, this couldn’t be happening. Why would they let a kid go off on his own?! What were they thinking. As the boy wandered further down the path, the smiles on the parents faces dropped, grief and tearful fear replacing it instead. The man placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly to try and rid some of the guilt that was possibly building inside her.

She nodded to him, taking a deep breath before turning on her heel and walked away in the opposite direction of her son, her husband doing the same. Jax’s heart plummeted, “No, wait!” He cried out, but it only fell on the deaf ears of a forgotten memory. “Don’t do this! Come back!”

He turned in the other direction, that younger version of him was on his own, going after the rabbit in a wild goose chase, to never see his parents again. He chased after him, there was no way this could be true, there was no way.

He saw the boy in front of him, his small form contrasting again the setting sun in the distance. Though this time he wasn’t chasing a rabbit anymore. “Mama! Papa! Where are you!” he wailed, rubbing away tears on his chubby cheeks. “I wanna go home!”

Jax began to shake his head in disbelief, this couldn’t have happened. His parents, they really…left him.

His eyes darted back to where the boy was, but he was gone too, leaving him alone in the field. No parents, no younger him nothing. He was completely and utterly isolated. The rabbit from earlier suddenly jumped out in front of him again, making eye contact with the taller avatar. His nose twitched as the two maintained eye contact, Jax’s eyes blurring with panicked tears.

The rabbit tore off again, leaving him stunned in place, “W-wait! Where are you going!” He chased after it again, just like how his younger self did. “Why are you doing this?! What’s going on?!”

The rabbit didn’t make a noise, it only kept running. Jax did the same, his lungs burning and mind spinning with more questions building as tears streamed down his cheeks. Why was he remembering this now?! How did he even get these memories?! Why him?! Why was this happening to him?!

Why did his parents leave him behind?! Did they just not love him enough to keep him?! But they were crying! They had to have loved him, right? Otherwise they wouldn’t have done that! Or maybe they just couldn’t have them in their lives. He didn’t have a place with them, in the world outside or this world in this game. He was pathetic, useless, he deserved all the bad things that happened to him. HE DESERVED EVERY PAINFUL THING THAT CAME HIS WAY-

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” he screamed, his fingers pulling on the fur on his scalp.

He skidded to a halt, gawking at what was in front of him. His old foster house, where he grew up. It was tattered and broken, the complete opposite to how it looked way back when in appearance, but remained exactly the same with how it made him feel. He sniffed, his hands clutching at his chest as his heart squeezed painfully. There was a reason he was here, wasn’t it? To finally get his comeuppance for every bad deed he caused in his life. For how he acted to others in his past life, to how he treated the others in the circus, and how he hurt Penny.

The house creaked along with the stinging wind that made Jax shiver, as though it were whispering him to go inside. He should go inside.  He lifted his foot, about to take another step-

“Jax!”

He stopped, turning back. Pomni’s voice rung out to him in the distance, “Jax! Where are you?!”

She was looking for him.

She cared about him.

She loved him.

Jax smiled, rubbing away the access tears that stained his cheeks. Maybe there was a reason for him to hurt like this, but there was also a reason to keep fighting. Pomni. He looked back to the house, the churning feeling ebbing away slowly though not fully disappearing. Perhaps forgotten things were meant to be forgotten.

He turned on his heel, running back into the maze. He had a jester to find.

The house abandoned once and for all.

.

.

.

“I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again,” said Samual. “This feels just like a movie.”

Riley rolled her eyes as the car pulled up to a corner near the building of C&A. She was fully aware of the déjà vu she was getting, but this time she had the proof in front of her and a case to fulfil. “You go in first and go to the room where the files are. Wait for five minutes then text me to come in,” she instructed to the boy. “If we’re gonna do this, we need to make sure that Jason doesn’t get suspicious.”

“He might be already,” Samual admitted. “After I brought you here, he’s been acting kinda funny.”

“Well we’ll just have to be as careful as we can,” Riley said. “Just do what I told you and come to me if anything happens, I’ve got your back.”

Samual exhaled, mentally preparing himself as he stared at the building ahead of him, “Alright, here goes nothing.”

He climbed out the car, making his way over and inside the tall building. Riley waited until her phone pinged before jumping out herself and making her way over. She did the usual routine of what she would do whenever she got a warrant - go in, check in with the receptionist and have free reign of her search. She took a mental note of how uneasy the receptionist looked when she saw the agent again, Samual was right about Jason being at edge since her last visit. His glass house didn’t seem to be as stable as he wanted it to be anymore.

She made her way to the elevator, checking her phone to see where Samual said he would be waiting for her as the doors shut behind her. As the elevator creaked and shifted as it lifted up, the looming hidden threat of this place started to dawn on the redhead. This company had possibly managed to cover up the disappearances of so many people for nine years, including its own CEO and his wife. And now Penny and Jack were in the belly of the beast as well.

She understood why Rae was so worried with messing up, one mistake could quite literally cost someone their life. Hers, Samual’s, her mother’s, anyone. She had to be careful. The elevator dinged, opening their doors as she stood out and saw Samual at an open door down the hall, signaling for her to come towards him.

Riley nodded, remaining as casual as possible until she reached the room and Samual shutting the door behind her. “Alright, where do we start?” Riley asked, clasping her hands together.

“It should be on this computer,” Samual told her. “Jason doesn’t like keeping stuff like that on his own computer in case he gets caught.”

“So he’d rather have someone else take the fall, how chivalrous,” Riley muttered sarcastically.

“Tell me about it,” Samual muttered. Riley looked over at him with amusement, this was the first time she actually heard him have a bit of an attitude. He sat down, cracking his fingers and rolling his neck as he logged onto the computer. “Okay, I can do this.” He pulled a bag onto his lap, the C&A logo on top as he pulled out a USB. “I snuck into his office the other day. And before you get on at me for doing it before getting the warrant, Jason was gone for the day and it was the only time in the security guards schedule where they weren’t watching his office the whole time.”

“Holy shit kid,” Riley laughed. She should be mad, really she should. But goddamn she couldn’t help but be impressed. “You have guts. So, where exactly are these files in the USB’s?”

“These USB’s have old games codes,” Samual replied. “Sometimes if we have any unfinished demos, we store information in them to make sure other competition don’t try and steal it, to put it in a place where no one would think to find.”

“And if the case files in the USBs, then Jason can carry them around wherever he wants,” Riley finished.

“Yup,” Samual sighed. “Okay, I think I know what to do here.”

In just little time, the kid had managed to open a whole different part on the USB, old coding and files appearing and scattering over the screen. Riley felt as though she had to take a step back from how intense it seemed, but Samual was unfazed a focused, still clicking and typing as though this were as simple as clicking a browser away.

“I got it,” Samual spoke up eventually, turning to Riley and holding his hand out. “You got the other one?”

“Uh, yeah,” Riley reached into her pocket, taking out another USB and placing it into Samual’s hands.

“If we take everything off this, Jason’s gonna get more suspicious,” Samual told her. “I can make copies for you to take back and from there we’ll try and figure a way to get it loaded into the game back at your mom’s place.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Riley agreed, watching him work as she glanced at the door every so often.

It felt as though hours went by, but eventually, Samual had done it. The files were copied and put into the other USB. They had done it. “We got it!” he exclaimed, a small cheer in the back of his tone.

“Looks like it,” Riley grinned, putting the USB back in her pocket. “I gotta get going, before your boss finds out what’s-”

The door slammed open, another feeling of déjà vu and piercing cold fear shooting down Riley and Samual’s backs. “What are you doing back here?!” Jason growled.

Riley sneered at him, crossing her arms as she stood in front of Samual. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, “I have a warrant to check this place out since the files for our cases went missing. And since your name is the main one on Jack Bloom’s case, that means I have to search the place. AKA, doing my job.”

“What gives you the right to speak to me that way,? Jason sneered.

Riley scoffed, “Other than the fact that I’m trying to find people I care about, you don’t get to speak to me that way either.”

“Oh really?” Jason raised a brow. “I’m sure your boss will disagree.”

He stepped aside, revealing the disappointed face of Captain Rae, almost looking tired as she stepped into the room. Riley paled when another face appeared in the door – Winter. “Winter, Captain Rae, what’s going on?” Riley asked.

“We got a call from Mr Wood that you came here under the guise of a warrant to steal game codes for their rival companies,” Captain Rae sighed. “And since I’m your boss, I had to be taken away from work to make sure my agents aren’t fucking up.”

“Excuse me?!” Riley’s eyes widened, appalled as she started at the man beside her boss, who seemed to be getting smugger when Winter spoke up.

“One of the employees here managed to find Samual taking out property from Mr Wood’s office before calling you,” Winter told her. “They were concerned that you were using the cases in order to make C&A look bad.”

“That’s bullshit!” Riley snapped. “My sister is involved in these cases, do you really think I would risk her safety over fucking game codes?!” Riley was treading on dangerous waters, and she knew it. But no one messed with her sister, especially not some big shot who believed he could get away with this.

“And what exactly is in that computer over there?” Jason pointed out, his tone slightly mocking. Riley’s face fell as she glanced towards the monitor. While she was glad that he didn’t know about the spare USB, she knew that this looked really bad.

Samual stepped forward, “It was my idea!”

Everyone turned to him, even Jason – his face darkening.

Samual gulped as he continued, “I wanted to help Miss Riley with the case and decided to do some unethical routes in order to help her. You can even check the USB, the game codes are still there.”

Jason hummed, pushing past Riley as he, Rae and the others made their way to the computer. Riley nearly sighed with relief when the appearance of the game codes was still there. To the others, it looked like normal files that you expected to find at this company. But to Jason, it meant that his secret was still safe. He straightened his back as he turned back to the others, a faux grin on his face, “It seems that I was mistaken. I do apologize for wasting your time Captain Rae. I just wanted this whole mess taken care of, we wouldn’t want to go to court over this after all.”

“No, we wouldn’t,” Rae retorted in a monotone voice. “We’ll be on our way, thank you for your apology Mr Wood.”

The four walked out the room, Jason’s stare burning on their backs as the door was shut behind him. Rae halted, spinning back round as she went face to face with Riley, “I told you not to be stupid!”

“I wasn’t ma’am,” Riley froze, immediately reverting back to the professional position she was back when she was asking for the warrant. “I did as you told me to. Search with the warrant and try to find out what was going on. I didn’t know he was gonna pull that shit.”

“This isn’t a game Riley, Jason Wood can and will do anything he can in order to keep himself and C&A at the top!” Rae hissed. She stepped back, rubbing her temples to dispel the approaching headache. “Did you at least find anything?”

Riley opened her, mouth about to reveal what she found when clarity struck her. How exactly could she explain this without sounding crazy? She almost didn’t believe Samual when he told her about this, so how could she explain this to her captain? And the files still looked the same as they did from the computer, no other person would be able to tell the difference about how they looked unless they had the tech knowledge that Samual did. All it would show was exactly what Jason had tried to frame her about, “No, I’m sorry.”

Rae exhaled sharply, “Next time you’re gonna be reckless, think twice before landing yourself in hot water, Reed.”

Riley lowered her head to the ground, “Yes ma’am.”

Rae sighed turning back on her heel and walked away.

Winter came up behind her wife, sharing the same scowl as their boss, “We’re talking about this when we get home.” She didn’t let Riley say a word, already walking away and towards the elevator.

Riley rubbed her eyes, this was not how she wanted her day to end. Samual came up, fiddling with his ring finger awkwardly, “I’m really sorry Miss Riley.”

“It’s fine kid,” she mumbled. “You just get home and call me if you need me.”

Samual nodded, not wanting to prod any further as he walked away as well.

Riley just wanted to fade into nothing there and then. What type of hell was she getting herself into?

.

.

.

Winter tapped her foot as she waited in the living room, dressed in a pyjama tank top and shorts with her hair tied into an uneven ponytail. Riley was half an hour late. She already had a habit of obviously avoiding a situation, but this was out in the open with how hard she was trying now. Winter groaned, picking up the bottle of wine of the coffee table in front of her and poured it into a glass, she didn’t want to be sober dealing with this.

She let the liquid run down her throat, relieving some of the stress when she heard the door open. Finally.

Riley shut the door behind her, setting down her bag when she noticed Winter eyeing her down, “Where’s Percy?”

“Asleep,” Winter retorted, setting down the glass. “We need to talk.”

“Listen, I know how that looked back there,” Riley started. “But it wasn’t what you think it was.”

“Really? Riley a CEO of a billion-dollar company almost got you fired!” Winter exclaimed, setting down her glass. “What am I supposed to think?!”

“Everything I’ve been doing was to find Penny and Jack,” Riley told her. “And you really think that I would so something like that?”

“Of course not, but you’ve put me in a corner ever since Penny went missing and left me to gather dust!” Winter cried. “Now all of a sudden you’re sneaking into buildings and won’t tell me why, other than to just blindly trust you! Riley that isn’t fair! You have to tell me what’s going on!”

Riley peered behind her, grimacing at the empty wine glass on the table, “Have you been drinking on a work night.”

Winter placed her hands on her hips, refusing to back down, “I only had one glass, you know that’s all I have on work nights. And it won’t be enough for me to be distracted from this conversation.”

“I’m just thinking about Percy, okay?!” Riley groaned. “Sorry that I want to protect our son!”

“Oh please, not everyone is your father Riley,” Winter growled.

The redhead stiffened, her jaw tightening, “Back down, now.”

“No!” Winter shook her head. “You’re hiding something from me and I know it. All I want is to help you, but you act like I’m nothing but an annoyance to you. And now you’re pulling this shit and nobody will tell me why, not even you! You never keep secrets from me.” Winter’s voice broke, clutching the fabric of her tank top on her chest. “You’re hurting so much and it’s killing me seeing you like this. So why?! Why are you hiding things from me? What did I do?! Why are you allowed to protect me but I’m not allowed to do the same for you?!”

Riley wanted nothing more than to cry and bring Winter into her arms. Everything her wife said was true to a fault. She wanted to tell her about Jack, she wanted to tell her all her plans, she wanted to tell her how the grief and fear of Penny disappearing had been eating her alive for the past few months-

Percy’s cry broke her from spiral, alerting the two mothers. Riley sighed, “I’ll get him.”

Winter tried to stop her, “Riley-”

“Winter, please,” Riley’s voice was soft and desperate. “Please. I just want some silence.”

The other woman sniffed, backing away from her wife. Guilt churned in Riley’s stomach as she watched her wife face away, hearing her light sobs. This was for the best, at least she’s safe. With that, she went up the stairs to her crying baby.

Winter curled up on the sofa. Never before had she wished for her brother as she did now.

.

.

.

Jax gasped as the maze disappeared. He was still chasing after Pomni’s voice, but apparently Caine had announced that Gangle was the winner and brought them all back. He nearly fell to his knees when he saw the jester, she was okay.

“Well that adventure was certainly…an adventure!” Caine boomed. “I don’t fully understand your silly human activities, but tomorrow we’ll return to our regular schedule of fun, fun, FUN!”

“Yeah, yeah, great,” Jax said absentmindedly, his eyes still on Pomni as the jester looked at him, relief in her eyes as well.

“Good to hear your positive spirit Jax!” Caine grinned, about to lift his hand and pat him on the back when the rabbit flinched, arms arched over his head to protect himself.

Everyone gaped at that, Jax never flinched. Pomni brought her hands to her mouth, she knew what that meant.

“I, um. Jax, are you alright?” Caine asked, his tone much softer than it usually was.

Jax blinked, everyone was staring at him. He lowered his arms back to his sides, “I’m fine.”

Pomni bit her lip, he was anything but fine.

Even Caine was surprised by the rabbit’s actions, “Uh…right. Anyways I’m gonna…yeah I’ll just go.” The AI floated away, leaving the group in their stunned silence.

Jax ignored them, rushing to Pomni and dropped to the ground, wrapping her tight in his arms. He was shaking like a leaf, whatever he had seen in that corn maze had left its mark on him. She uncurled herself out of his embrace, holding his face in her hands as she lightly stroked his cheek. “Come on,” she held out her hand.

He hesitated for a moment, before his fingers intertwined with hers. She pulled him up, picking up both of their forgotten backets as she led him back to her room. The others were still staring, but she didn’t care. Right now, Jax needed her.

She shut the door behind her, letting him get comfy on her bed as she put the baskets back down and joined him on the red and blue mattress. “What happened?” it was only one question, but he could hear so much behind it. I’m here for you, tell me anything and everything, you’re safe.

“I-I think I saw myself in that maze?” he said. “Well, myself but younger, much younger. And my birth parents were there. I know, its stupid and stuff like this happens sometimes but…why do I remember this now? I thought I was okay with my past. Now seeing them, it only what makes what my foster family did to me even worse.”

Pomni was silent, taking in every part of what he said, “Show me where it hurts?”

He peered up at her, it had been a while since she said that to him. But both of them knew that what she did next helped more than he could imagine. He raised his arm, the same one that his foster father used to burn his cigarettes on. She held it gently in her hands, pressing gentle kisses to the appendage.

Tears trailed down the dried stain on his cheeks, his arm trembling slightly. She was so careful with him, giving him the kindness that the adults who failed him could never give him. “I know this isn’t much,” she mumbled against his fur. “But I love you more than anything. Those people never deserved you. I wish I could erase all the pain they caused you. All I hope than when I do this.” She pressed a kiss to his wrist. “You know that I’ll be with you despite everything.”

His breath staggered for a bit, it was so long since he felt the overwhelming feeling of being genuinely wanted by someone. His hands cupped her cheeks, pulling her closer and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was messy, frantic but neither of them could pull away, they needed each other.

They parted when the need for air was too strong, with Jax holding her close so Pomni could hear his heartbeat. His head was still swarming, spinning. But her simple touch was all he wanted to think about. All that he needed. The bad stuff wouldn’t go away. However for now, this was enough.

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you,” Pomni mumbled.

Jax pushed off her hat, pressing his nose to her hair as he hummed, “And what’s that?”

“Well,” she separated from him again, the rabbit already missing her warmth as she picked up her basket from the maze. Lifting the lid, she picked up the little butterfly as she cupped it in her hands. “I found this little guy during the adventure. But the way I found him? You’re gonna want to sit back for this…have invisible people ever spoke to you in this place before?”

.

.

.

Fairy lights were strung up, an old tape recorder and radio were placed together on the coffee table, and a walkie talkie was held in Amber’s hands. Hooked into the recorder and radio was a large wire leading to the computer. Amber clenched her fists, it was now or never.

She turned on the walkie talkie, “Penny? Are you there?”