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It's a normal adventure Jax tells himself. Just like any other day. Did he probably lose his only friend after the gun adventure? He doesn't want to think about that. He grumbles, "This sucks". "Everything sucks to you" Zooble says. "Well the only reason you're here is Caine forced you" Jax bites back. His words carry more venom than usual but Zooble doesn't care. The adventure in question is a maze. Jax is just glad the maze is made of wheat, not corn. It's like Caine has truly given up, but no one wants to think of the implications of that. "Alright, we can do this, just find the right path and we get out of here" Ragatha says to the group. "Always so positive, Ragdoll. It's truly a bummer" Jax says, crossing his arms.

"Jax, you don't have to be so negative all the time" Pomni turns around to face Jax, as if to emphasize her words. The argument between them still fresh. "Well, at least I'm not becoming so positive I don't sound like myself anymore" Jax bites back. Ragatha puts her hand on Pomni's shoulder and Pomni moves back pulling her shoulder away but does turn back around to walk with the group. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. Jax pushes that thought down, just like everything else. "This way" Gangle says and everyone follows, Jax trails a bit away from the group. "Jax is falling behind" Pomni points out to Ragatha, looking back at Jax with worry in her eyes. "He's fine, he knows how to navigate adventures, he's been here a long time" Ragatha says and the pair continues to walk with the group.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. Jax walks slowly, being alone in the maze. Soon, the group completely abandons him. Somewhere along the rows, Jax makes a wrong turn. "Stupid dead end!" Jax kicks the wheat beside him. The wheat falls down but doesn't give way to another path to take. Jax turns around and keeps walking. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘦. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. Jax keeps walking, twisting and turning through the maze. Upon finally seeing the opening at the end, he starts sprinting.

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. He makes it to the end, it's just a field of grass. "Man, Caine sure is getting lame isn't he? First the whole giving up and just giving us guns and now this" Jax says with a forced laugh. No one pays any mind to him though. Gangle and Zooble are sitting together talking, and Pomni and Ragatha are laying in the grass talking a bit further down. So, he approaches Kinger. "Man this adventure sure is lame" Jax sits down in the field, then leans back, laying on the ground. He rests his head on his hands folded behind his head. "Oh Jax, I didn't see you there" Kinger says. Jax doesn't reply, he just keeps laying in the grass. "You know, it's odd there are no butterflies here" Kinger says. "I haven't really put much thought into that" Jax says with an eye roll.

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴? 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴. Jax's head turns when hearing Zooble ask something, "Why haven't we been called back yet?" They say. "I don't know, maybe Caine finally got sick of us" Jax says, sitting up with a snicker. "Oh shut up, for once in your life can you not have some stupid comment to say?" Ragatha asks him the agitation clear in her voice. "Oh,I'm sorry my existence is such a bother to you" Jax snaps. No one says anything back, it goes quiet. Jax lays back down in the grass. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? Jax looks over to Pomni, as if expecting her to take up for him. Their eyes meet for a brief moment before Pomni quickly looks away, continuing her conversation with Ragatha.

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘩𝘶𝘩? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘦𝘳𝘬. 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. Suddenly, they are all standing back in the circus. "Hello my lovely crew, how was the adventure today?" Caine asks. Zooble grumbles about Jax's attitude, Gangle says she had fun, Ragatha says the maze was a bit tricky but she liked just hanging out at the end. "What about you?" Caine asks, and suddenly all eyes are on Jax. "It was fine" Jax's voice is cold, staring directly at Caine. 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭. It's too late though, the words have already left his mouth. "Just fine my boy?" Caine asks. "I mean, you know me, I crave violence but the adventure wasn't terrible" Jax says. Caine freezes, as if rebooting.

"That's quite alright, my boy!" Caine says. The crew heads towards their rooms. Pomni stops, and looks at Jax. "I know we have our problems after the adventure the other day but you cannot just treat me like nothing happened. You cannot just act like the whole fight didn't happen, like what you said didn't hurt me" Pomni says, staring straight at Jax. Jax side-steps, trying to walk away. Pomni blocks his way. "I am not letting you through until you talk to me" She crosses her arms to emphasize her point. Jax's ear twitches. "Let's take this conversation to my room" Pomni says suddenly and Jax follows her. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. They get to the room and Pomni shuts the door behind them. "What's going on? You say you don't care and everything meant nothing to you but I seen the way you looked" Pomni says.

"I led you on, I already told you. I do not care about you. I do not care about anyone. I wouldn't care if you abstracted right here in front of me right now, and I bet the same goes for you. Would you care?" Jax asks sharply. "Yes I would! Unlike you, I have something called empathy. You know? The thing that is supposed to make you want to care about others" Pomni says sharply, looking directly at him. 𝘓𝘪𝘢𝘳. "No you wouldn't. Face it. I am just another character in this digital world. I would disappear and then you would slowly forget. I would be just another character who abstracted" Jax says. "I wouldn't forget about you!" Pomni wants to yell, or shake him. Anything to get him to listen to her.

"Everyone forgets slowly. You would move on, continue to live in this messed up digital world for the rest of your days until you somehow found an exit, or drove yourself crazy trying and ended up in the cellar to be forgotten" Jax argues. "Do you...do you really think I'm that forgettable?" Pomni asks, eyes full of sadness. 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘒𝘶𝘧𝘮𝘰 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘙𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. "Yes, everyone is" Jax replies coldly. "WHY ARE YOU SUCH A >CLINKING< JERK! I AM JUST TRYING TO HELP" Pomni yells, which gets the others attention. They start appearing in the doorway as Jax starts to scream. "OH? OH? YOU DON'T THINK YOU AREN'T DOING THE SAME THING I COMPLAIN ABOUT RAGATHA DOING? YOU ARE SO PUSHY" Jax screams. "PUSHY? PUSHY? I WANTED TO HELP YOU" Pomni screams, her voice cracking. "I DON'T NEED HELP NOT FROM YOU, NOT FROM ANYONE" Jax screams back at her.

"YOU CLEARLY DO. YOU REPRESS EVERYTHING AND ACT LIKE YOU ARE JERK. YOU SAY YOU FOUND YOUR PLACE IN THIS CIRCUS BEING THE 'FUNNY ONE' BUT YOU ARE NOTHING BUT CRUEL" Pomni yells at him. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦. Jax feels an odd sensation spreading through him, a static feeling. It feels as if it is spreading. Pomni takes a step back, eyes going huge. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘐𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦? He looks around at the group, suddenly everyone is there, even Kinger. The sensation gets worse, and he winces but it comes out a glitch. His ears have been taken over by the blackness of abstraction, multiple colorful eyes appearing taking the place of what was his ears.

The darkness is spreading, eyes appearing everywhere. 𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥 Jax thinks. He tries to voice that he is in pain but words won't come out. He starts breathing heavily, and hunches over. Ragatha is standing there, eyes wide. She knows she should do something, anything. She blames herself, maybe if his first day would've gone better. Maybe if she would've tried harder to connect with him. Kingers eyes are wide, "You are beautiful" he says. Gangle and Zooble walk up to Kinger, gently talking to him. "That's Jax abstracting" Zooble says in almost a whisper. Kinger doesn't seem to understand, still talking as if it was the day Queenie abstracted.

Gangle's mask is on the ground. She lost it when walking up to Kinger. She sniffles, but still tries to help keep Kinger grounded. Pomni gets an idea, she takes a shaky breath and walks up to the glitching Jax. The glitch has now spread, his arms are starting to glitch. "I'll sing both of our parts because you can't sing right now" Pomni says. "Daisy Daisy. Give me your answer do" She sings in a gentle tone. She pauses for a moment, as if Jax is going to sing the next line. "I'm half crazy" Pomni's voice cracks a bit. She knows she can't break right now, no matter how this ends Jax needs to know he isn't alone. "All for the love of you" She sings. The glitching and the black matter with eyes has spread fully engulfing him. "TURN THE LIGHT OUT" Pomni screams.

Ragatha dives for the light. It goes out right before the abstraction starts hurting anyone, returning to the docile state. Pomni takes a breath, trying to keep her composure despite her heart beating out of her chest, she needs to finish the song for him. "It won't be a stylish marriage" She sings, her voice shaking more then before, she doesn't know if she can finish the song. "I can't afford a carriage" she sings, her hands are shaking now. She runs towards the abstraction. Not caring she starts glitching as well. She wraps her arms around him. Her small frame not being able to wrap around the abstraction. Everyone looks at Pomni sadly, not knowing what to do. "But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two" Pomni finishes singing and backs up looking at Jax. She is glitching now too, due to the proximity to the abstraction.

"Do...do we have to tell Caine? What if we keep him in here hidden away?" Pomni asks, not meeting anyone's eyes as she glitches. "I'm sorry, Pomni" Zooble says quietly. "He was a jerk but not even he deserved this" Zooble says in a quieter tone than before. Gangle is crying, upset despite all the cruel stuff that he has done. "I failed him...again" Ragatha's voice comes out quiet, as if afraid speaking too loudly makes it true. No one knows what to say to that. There is nothing any of them can say to make this better, or easier on anyone. "You did all you could. You tried your hardest. Some people just need more help than we can give, not that it's their fault" Pomni says quietly. Ragatha wants to believe Pomni's words but she doesn't.

"Oh no! Looks like we have an abstraction!" Caine says suddenly bursting in the room. "Don't take him, please! He's calm. As long as he stays in the dark he is calm. Please Caine" Pomni begs, looking at Caine. "I'm sorry, but this can't be undone. No matter how much you care for him in the dark, and talk to him, he isn't the same anymore" Caine says and with a snap starts to float the abstraction away. "NO-" Pomni screams and tries to run after Caine and the abstraction. Ragatha grabs Pomni's wrist. "We can't do anything more. We tried, let's take a minute to calm down. Then, we need to plan his funeral" Ragatha says. "You know how stupid he thought they were" Pomni argues.

"I know, but he still deserves one" Ragatha says, looking away. "Mabye if I wouldn't have cornered him to tell me what's wrong. Did I push him too far?" Pomni asks. "No, abstractions take a long time. They brew, they grow within the person, until they can't take it anymore" Zooble says. Pomni looks down, still replaying everything in her head. "Let's give him the best funeral we can" She says. They start planning, sitting together amongst the grief of what happened, wondering if they could've done more.