Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jax stared at the wall in silence, letting the darkness of his room envelope him as he laid in bed. He wasn't sure how long it had been since the award ceremony, figuring it must have been a day or two at least, but he still felt physically and emotionally drained. He had gone straight to his room when they all got back to the circus, ignoring any attempts from Pomni to talk to him about the fight from that day, and hadn't so much as peeked outside since. He knew he was pushing his luck staying in his room so long, with Caine not taking kindly to anyone skipping out on the circus' "amazingly beautiful handcrafted scenery and activities" as the AI would put it. Even with that knowledge, though, he opted to risk it anyway, finding it better than having to deal with whatever may come next with the jester. He knew it was about time he did get up, though. He had been laying in bed so long that his legs had actually gone numb from lack of use. With a sigh, he sat up and stretched his limbs, his joints popping as he finally moved for the first time in quite awhile.

Hopping to his feet, he slowly trudged his way to the door, rubbing his face in his hands to wipe away any signs of his depressed state. Taking a deep breath and pulling a mischievous smile onto his face, he pushed his door open with his usual flair and stepped out into the hallway, the florescent lights from above only making the forced expression harder to keep as his eyes adjusted. He rested his hands on his hips as he began to head down the hall, pushing down any lingering negative emotions and focusing his mind on how he should spend the day. As much as he wanted to jump back into pranks and harassing the others, the lack of energy in his system left him wanting to avoid them more than anything. A feeling in his gut, however, told him this wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped. He had only made it a couple of steps when a cheerful chess piece popped his head into view, seeming to have just appeared behind the rabbit out of nowhere and confirmed his worries in mere seconds. "Hello, Jax!" Kinger said excitedly, making him jump at the sudden appearance.

"Where did you even come from?" He asked as he clutched his chest, shooting a glare at the older man.

"Oh, I was just around." Kinger dismissed as he and Jax continued walking down the hall, "Say, would you like to help me catalogue the new additions to my insect collection? I believe I found a new type of millipede and-"

"Let me just save you the trouble and say no, I don't want to do that." He interrupted, a clear annoyance on his face.

"O-oh, are you sure?" The chess piece asked, his face falling slightly, "We haven't spent much time together lately, and I thought-"

"I like to keep it that way, Gramps." Jax interrupted once more, "I'm sure we'll get paired off on an adventure at some point, so save the rambling for then." He continued walking as Kinger stopped following, a sad look on his face as he watched the rabbit walk away.

"Well... I'll see you later, then!" Kinger called after him, though he got no response in return.

Jax made his way into the main circus area, quietly ruminating on his thoughts as he tried to keep his grin from falling. He was on the fence about what he wanted to do before, but just a brief interaction with Kinger had solidified his desire to just keep to himself for the day while he waited for his energy to return. He headed towards the small lounge area, hopping over the back of the couch and fishing a magazine out from between the cushions. He began to flip through the pages, letting his brain turn off as he mindlessly stared at the articles on the page. "Hey, Jax." Pomni said, snapping his mind back to reality as he glanced up from the magazine. He was met with the sight of the jester fidgeting nervously in front of him, with Ragatha standing nearby with a strained, yet friendly smile.

"...Hi?" He replied suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at the pair.

"Me and Ragatha were gonna take a walk around the grounds and, uh, we wanted to know if you wanted to join us." The jester said, an awkward smile on her face.

"Do I want to third wheel your dumb little walk?" Jax posited with a curt laugh, "Surprisingly, no." He attempted to turn his attention back to his magazine, though the feeling of the pairs eyes boring into him made it impossible to ignore them.

"W-we don't have to take a walk." Ragatha suggested quickly, "We could... check out the lake! Or, uh, just hang out and chat."

"We just want to make sure you're, y'know, feeling included and stuff." Pomni added with an awkward smile.

"Alright, guess reading isn't an option." He mumbled as he rolled his eyes and stood up, tossing the magazine to the side as he started to walk away, "I need a drink." He heard a pair of footsteps begin to follow him, pausing and glancing back, only to find both Pomni and Ragatha were matching stride with him, with small, hopeful smiles on their faces. "Oh, I thought I made myself clear." He began as his smile finally fell into an annoyed grimace, "Let me try again... leave me alone." He glared at them as he continued moving, thankful that they didn't follow. Instead their faces fell and they soon turned and began to talk about something he couldn't make out, though he'd be lying if he said he cared at all.

He silently made his way through the circus, his smile refusing to return as his day was sufficiently ruined in a matter of minutes. Kinger was one thing, but both Pomni and Ragatha trying to include him in their stupid activities was just plain weird. A mixture of annoyance and uncomfortableness settled in his stomach from the interactions, hoping he could avoid anyone else for the rest of the day, or at the very least run into someone who would at least treat him like normal. He quickly made his way to the small kitchen nestled in the circus, relaxing slightly as he saw the one person he could be sure wouldn't be weird to him.

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite jigsaw puzzle." He said, earning a small glare from Zooble in response as they leaned against the counter, a can of soda in their hand.

"What do you want, Jax?" They asked, though he was almost positive the question was rhetorical.

That wasn't going to stop him from answering, though.

"What, I'm not allowed to use community spaces?" He asked, smiling wide as he slipped past them and began to look through the cupboards, "If you must know, I'm thirsty. Figured I'd get a drink before I ruin everyone's day again." He searched the cupboard thoroughly, figuring he could annoy Zooble if he took an unnecessary amount of time deciding on which cup to use, even though they all looked the same. In his peripheral vision, he saw Zooble moving about, only for their hand to shoot towards him and make him flinch and brace himself in response. He was waiting for their fist to collide with him, only for no pain to come, much to his confusion.

"The @^#% was that about?" Zooble asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He looked towards them and found a can of soda in the hand extended towards him, seemingly offering the beverage to him.

"I... thought you were going to hit me." He admitted as he hesitantly took the drink from them, cracking it open and taking a quick sip.

"Do I have a reason to?" They asked, making the rabbit pause and eye them suspiciously.

"Don't you hate me?" He asked as he set the drink down, "I half expected you to leave as soon as I showed up."

They shrugged as they took another drink from their own can of soda, only adding to the rabbit's confusion. "As of now, you haven't given me anything to be mad about." They glanced towards him, an amused look crossing their face at his incredulous expression, "Knowing you, though, that can change at any moment."

"Did you just... joke with me?" He asked in confusion.

"What, just because you're a jerk means I can't be civil?" They asked, earning a glare from him in response. His confusion was quickly being replaced by anger the longer... whatever this was went on. Zooble was supposed to be all grumpy and hate him. This almost sibling like banter wasn't just weird, it was plain wrong.

"Whatever this is, I hate it." He sneered, "Stop doing this."

"Doing what?" They asked, only making him grit his teeth harder.

"This... nice person routine!" He accused, "Since when did you say anything to me that wasn't half censored?"

"Whatever, man." They dismissed as they rolled their eyes, "If you're done being weird, me and Gangle were gonna hang out and draw later, and you're free to join if you want to be not terrible for once." They left the kitchen soon after, leaving Jax alone once more.

Annoyance and confusion clouded his mind, finding the continued odd behavior from everyone almost patronizing, like they were mocking him. No one was acting like they were supposed to, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. He had wanted to spend the day alone, maybe annoy someone if he had the opportunity, but now they were tiptoeing around him like he was about to have a breakdown and-

"Oh, she wouldn't dare." He growled as realization dawned on him, clenching his fists as he left the kitchen. He marched through the circus, ready to snap at the first sight of Pomni. He was almost positive she had said something to everyone, but he couldn't be certain without a confession. Not that a lack of one was going to stop him. As he made his way back to the lounge area, he found that Pomni and Ragatha had left to do whatever it was they decided on, and Gangle had made her way there and was currently sat on the couch doodling.

Well, she'd definitely be easier to talk than anyone else would.

He quickly approached her, pulling her attention out of her sketchbook and looking at him in fear, before quickly pulling on a nervous smile. "O-oh, hey Jax." She stuttered out with a small wave, "D-did you want to draw with me? I didn't bring any extra pencils, but we can share and-" She was cut off as Jax reached over and snatched the comedy mask from her face, throwing it over his shoulder and letting it shatter on the ground behind him. He loomed over the ribbon character, looking down at her angrily as tears fell from her eyes.

"Save the act, Ribbons." He snapped, "You're gonna tell me what's going on, and I won't burn that little book of doodles."

She clutched the book tight against her chest as she looked up at him with teary eyes. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled as she averted her gaze.

"First Kinger tries to rope me into his dumb bug stuff," He began, "Then Pomni and Ragatha ask me to join in on their crap, even though I've made it clear on multiple occasions just how much I would rather die than be around them, and then Zooble of all people doesn't cuss me out and is actually nice to me, even though they've never willing stayed in the same room as me before. So either everyone has suddenly forgotten everything I've ever done, or you all have some scheme going on."

"Well... maybe they just wanted to make you feel included." She suggested, only to let out a panicked squeak as Jax grabbed her shoulders, leaning down until his face was mere inches from her's.

"I know something is going on, so why don't you make it easier on yourself and answer me." He stated, "What did Pomni tell you?" Gangle stared up at him in a panic, trying in vain to escape his grasp as his grip on her shoulders tightened..

"...She said you weren't doing ok." She muttered, he fear winning over against the secret she wanted to keep, "She asked us to all try and make you feel included and to be nice to you so you'd feel less... alone."

"I knew it!" He yelled as he let go of the ribbon character, much to her relief. He stood up and began to pace around the room, stopping and looking back at Gangle furiously. "Next time you see that pipsqueak, give her a message, will ya? Tell her I don't want anything to do with you all. I don't need you all to tiptoe around me like I'm some miserable little kid that you need to comfort. All of you need to do me a favor and stay the @%$# away from me. Stick to your roles and stop trying to act like we're friends."

Before she could even respond, he turned and walked away in a huff, quickly heading back to his room and slamming the door closed behind him. He paced around his room in anger, kicking a few discarded items across the floor as he muttered censored curses to himself. Of course she would go and blab to everyone. Now he was going to have to deal with everyone pretending to act nice and trying to get close to him, all because he couldn't keep his mouth shut during that stupid adventure. Why couldn't she have just shot him at the end like he had hoped. At least then she wouldn't have kept trying to be his friend. He groaned as he leaned against the wall, sliding down to the ground as and staring at the floor in silence. A cacophony of thoughts raced through his mind, ranging from ways he could get back at Pomni for saying something, to angry comments directed at himself for saying too much, to even wishing he had just joined in on the activities for reasons he couldn't, and didn't want to, figure out.

He felt his chest tighten as his breathing grew heavy, tears welling in his eyes as a staticky feeling began to permeate his body. Quickly recognizing what was happening, he grabbed his legs and began to dig his fingers into his flesh. Wincing from the pain, he felt the panic slowly fade as he got his breathing under control, slowly relaxing and resting his head back on the wall as he closed his eyes. Today was already enough of a mess, he didn't need to abstract to top it all off.

His eyes snapped open as the thought crossed his mind, reminding him of a prank he had come up with a long time ago. A smile slowly spread across his face as a plan formed in his mind,making his way towards his bed and reaching under it. He began to grope around blindly for something he had stashed there, pulling out various pranking items and stolen valuables that he tossed aside as he continued his search. Eventually, his fingers felt something smooth and metallic, his smile only growing as he pulled out the large bucket of red paint. He stared down at the container, silently chuckling as the plan began to fall into place. If Pomni was going to blab to everyone and tell them all about his outburst, then it was only fair he get a little bit of revenge.

Setting the bucket aside, he stood up and looked around his already messy room. If he was going to really sell this, he'd have to put in some work. "Time for some redecorating." He said aloud, grabbing his bed side table and throwing it against the wall. He watching it fall to the ground, one of the wooden legs snapping off as he began to trash his living space. He grabbed anything and everything he could, tossing items haphazardly around and hearing the sound of a number of things breaking. He tore the clock from the wall, he pushed over his wardrobe, he even managed to snap one of the posts off his bed. He had a manic smile on his face as he went, an uncontrollable giggling escaping him as he wreaked havoc on his room. By the time he finally stopped, he was sweaty, out of breath, and more than happy with state of the room. It was like a tornado had ran through, leaving nothing untouched on it's path of destruction.

Picking up the paint can once more, he pulled off the paint brush that he had taped to it's side and headed to his door, cracking it open and peaking out into the hall way to make sure the coast was clear. Once he was sure, he stepped out and turned to look at the cartoony depiction of himself that adorned the wooden door. After wrestling with the can, he managed to pop the lid to reveal the crimson liquid inside, quickly dipping the paintbrush in before slapping a bright red X across his emblem. It was a little sloppy, sure, but not enough to raise any suspicion unless they were looking closely. Satisfied with his work, he turned and walked further down the hall, making it to the end hardly anyone used and ducking behind a stack of colorful blocks. He peaked over and looked towards his room, more than far enough away that no one would see him if he was careful.

He ducked back down and let out a satisfied sigh, leaning back and patiently waiting for his victims to stumble across what he considered the best prank he had ever come up with. If all of those freaks were going to treat him like he was one bad day away from abstracting, then he might as well give them exactly what they were hoping for.

After all, everyone goes through it eventually.

Chapter Text

"Well that was a waste of time." Zooble said with a roll of their eyes.

"I was really hoping it would work." Pomni moped, slumping down in her seat.

"I thought it was a good idea." Ragatha shared, giving the jester a smile in hopes of raising her spirits.

"I-I'm sorry." Gangle muttered, tapping her hands together nervously, "I tried to keep the secret, but he was just, uh... intimidating."

"Oh, It's alright, Gangle." Kinger comforted, "I'm sure Jax isn't mad at you for anything."

"That's not-" Pomni began, only to cut herself off with a sigh as she let her face fall into her hands, "I'm sorry, everyone."

"What for?" Zooble asked, "It's not your fault he's a @^#%."

"I know." The jester groaned, "It's just... Maybe if I went about this a different way it would have worked. Now he's upset with everyone and is probably gonna isolate himself even more, and it's all my fault."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." Ragatha defended, leaning over and draping an arm over the jester's shoulder, only for her to flinch and scoot away awkwardly, "O-oh, sorry!"

"I-it's alright." She mumbled in response, though it was clear she was still focusing on the issue with Jax.

"Why don't we go and ask how Jax is feeling?" Kinger suggested, "I'm sure he'd be more receptive to that."

"That's... not a terrible idea, Kinger." Gangle replied with a soft smile.

"What is?" The man asked in confusion.

"I'm not sure about this." Zooble interjected, "This is still Jax we're talking about. I'm pretty sure he only interacts with us because he likes making us miserable."

"No, there's more to him than that!" Pomni defended, "He's just... different. He needs support just like the rest of us." The rest of the group, apart from Kinger, looked away awkwardly, clearly unconvinced of this supposed depth to the known mischief maker of the group. "I know you all don't believe me," She continued, looking at them with desperation in her eyes, "but can you at least trust me enough to help?"

"I trust you, Pomni." Ragatha began, giving her friend a weak smile, "Jax has had a... rough time in the circus. If we can help him in some way, I think we should try."

"Even if he is a bully," Gangle added with an awkward expression, "I don't think he should be alone." The group looked towards Zooble, who held an unimpressed expression as they crossed their arms.

"If you're waiting for me to add something, it's not happening." They said, "He's made it pretty clear what kind of person he is."

"Will you still come with us to check on him?" Pomni asked hopefully.

They shrugged as they stood up straight, stretching their arms in front of them. "Only to make sure he doesn't try anything."

"That's... better than nothing." Ragatha said, glancing at Pomni as she stood up from her seat.

"Oh, are we going somewhere?" Kinger asked happily as he jumped to his feet, "Do I need to pack my extra robes?"

"We're just going to check on Jax." Pomni explained with a soft smile, "Would you like to come with us?"

"Well, I'd love to." The chess piece answered with a smile in his eyes, before leaning down towards Gangle and narrowing his eyes, "Which one is Jax again?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"C-could I stay at the back of the group?" Gangle asked nervously as she joined the others in preparing to leave, "I'm worried he's going to be mad and take it out on me... again."

"I'll keep you safe." Zooble replied as they stood at her side, earning a relaxed sigh from the ribbon character, "Now let's get this over with. I already had to pretend to be nice to him once, I'm not looking forward to doing it again."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ragatha said optimistically as the group left the lounge area, slowly making their way down the hall of rooms as Pomni tried to figure out what she wanted to say. Even with the message Gangle relayed, which was oddly reminiscent of his previous rant to her the other day, she didn't want to just give up on the rabbit. There had to be some amount of good buried in him, even if he didn't want to believe it himself. The group soon found themselves approaching Jax's door, finding it left wide open.

"That doesn't seem good." Gangle muttered as the group peaked into the room, finding it completely trashed.

"Uh... Jax?" Pomni called out, a sense of dread washing over her, "Are you ok?" An eerie silence hung in the air as they waited for a response, only growing more concerned the longer the silence lingered. "I-if this is about me telling the others, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I was just worried and wanted to try and help."

"Do you think this is our fault?" Ragatha asked, pulling at her hair anxiously as she looked around the destroyed room, "I've never seen him do something like this before."

"Well, we don't know for sure what happened." Kinger comforted, "Maybe he got attacked by wolves, or a tornado ran through his room."

"Could we be so lucky?" Zooble said to themselves. They glanced at his door curiously, peaking around it and coming face to face with a bright red X painted across his picture. Their eyes widened at the discovery, a chill running down their spine. "Oh %$!&."

The sudden censor caught Gangle's attention, who joined the abstract character's side, only for panic to course through her body. "Oh no..." She whispered, taking a step back as her voice grew in volume, "Oh no, oh no, oh no." The sudden panic caught the attention of the rest of the group, with Pomni closing his door to let everyone get a clear view of the crossed out emblem.

It didn't take long for the situation to dawn on the group, a wide range of emotions washing over them all. Pomni grabbed at her hat as her breathing grew heavy and uneven, falling to her knees as she hyperventilated. Kinger simply stared at the door in disbelief, a mixture of horror and sadness in his eyes. Gangle sobbed quietly as she mumbled apologies to the rabbit for not being nicer, with Zooble doing their best to comfort her despite their own mixed emotions in their mind. Ragatha wiped away the tears that welled in her eyes as she tried to keep from breaking down, kneeling next to Pomni and hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's... It's my fault." Pomni muttered, tears falling from her eyes, "Oh god, it's all my fault."

"H-hey, come on." Ragatha began as she forced a smile, "It's not your fault. We just, uh..." She fell silent as she failed to find the right words to say, unable to focus on anything other than the ways she wished she had done better for the rabbit.

"I didn't want this to happen." Gangle whimpered as she wrapped her arms around Zooble, "I never meant it when I said it. I was just angry and-and scared."

"W-wait, where is he?" Pomni asked, looking up and down the hall wildly, "If he's just running around, th-then we need to find him and-"

"Caine!" Zooble yelled out, with the cheerful AI appearing moments later.

"Hello, my rambunctious rapscallions!" He said, his cheerful expression falling as he looked down at the miserable looking characters, "Jeez, why the long faces, huh?"

"Jax has..." Gangle began, only to so let out another choked sob and cut herself off.

"Has what?" He asked obliviously, only for his eyes to widen in horror, "He didn't say he hated my adventures, did he?!"

"He abstracted, Caine!" Pomni yelled, taking the AI by surprise, "I-I messed up and we came to try and make things right, but now he's gone and we don't know where in the circus he could be."

Caine stared down at the group in confusion, pulling out a tablet of some kind and tapping it a few times. "Well, that's strange..." He began, "It says here that Jax is fine."

"Really?" Kinger asked hopefully, with the rest of the group looking up at the ringleader in confusion.

"Sure seems that way." Caine said, his happy expression returning after quelling everyone's fears, "I'll just summon him here and we can get this all cleared up." With a snap of his fingers, the purple rabbit appeared on the ground in front of the group, laughing uproariously as the others stared at him in confusion. "Ah, there you are! Well, now that that little issue has been solved, I've got to get back to work. You all have fun now!" With that, the ringleader zipped away, leaving the players alone once more as Jax finally managed to climb back to his feet, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh man, that couldn't have gone any better!" Jax said through his laughter, "You all must be more gullible than I thought!"

"But... you were-" Ragatha stuttered out, looking between him and the red X on his door.

"It's paint, you idiot!" He revealed, walking over to his door and pulling a cloth from his pocket, using to to scrub some of the paint away, "And here I thought it was too obviously fake to work."

"So..." Pomni began, looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and betrayal, "You faked it?"

"What, I figured this is what you all wanted." He replied, his grin only growing wider, "You were all so keen on believing I was some sad, misunderstood bunny for you to fix, that I decided to rush to the end to see what would happen." The group stayed silent, simply staring at him as the looks of sadness morphed into ones of anger and hurt, "Ooohh, did I ruin your little plan?" He sneered as he looked at their expressions, "Guess I really am that much of a jac-"

His sentence was cut off as a fist slammed into his jaw, sending him back into the wall as Zooble glared daggers at him. "Are you @^#$ing insane?!" They roared as he rubbed his face in pain.

"That's up for debate I think." He chuckled, wincing as pain radiated through his head.

"What is wrong with you!?" Ragatha yelled, an uncharacteristic anger in her voice, "Did you ever think, for even a moment, that this was too far?!"

"Jeez, what's up with you two?" He asked, an unimpressed frown on his face, "Since when did you care about my pranks this much."

"Jax, this wasn't funny." Kinger said, a look of disappointment in his eyes, "Abstraction isn't something we want to happen to anyone."

"Oh like you'll even remember this in fifteen minutes." He snapped back.

"...I thought you were gone." Gangle whimpered, looking at him sadly.

"Seriously, even you?" He asked with a sharp laugh, "I figured you'd be throwing a party at the thought of me being gone."

"I knew it was a waste of time to do this." Zooble spat as they turned and began to walk away, with Kinger and Ragatha following soon after.

"Oh brother, can't you all take a joke?" He asked with a roll of his eyes, turning his attention towards the remaining two people, "Can you believe them?"

"I'm sorry I tried to be your friend." Pomni said coldly, looking at him with a mix of anger and betrayal before she turned and began to follow after the group, "I won't make that mistake again."

Jax was taken aback by her response, a quick look of surprise crossing his face before he pulled his usual grin back on. "Well, looks like you finally figured out what I was telling you." He chuckled, "About time." He turned his attention to Gangle, who looked at him with a hurt expression, "Oh please, don't tell me you're gonna storm off too."

She averted her gaze and rubbed her arm awkwardly, tears still in her eyes. "...I thought you knew what lines not to cross." She muttered before she followed after Pomni, leaving Jax alone in front of his room.

"Oh give me a break!" He yelled after them all, "You all need to learn how to have fun!" He turned and made his way into his room in a huff, kicking the door closed behind him. "What a bunch of babies." He mumbled to himself, before letting a satisfied smile spread across his face "At least they know not to bother me again. It'll all go back to normal by tomorrow." He looked around his mess of a room, the silence seeming to become deafening as he realized how alone he now was. "Right..." He groaned as he trudged forward, "Maybe I should have planned this better." He silently began to clean up the mess he had made, his smile falling more and more as he undid everything he did to sell his prank. He knew some of the damage would need Caine's help to fully fix, especially the post he had broken off his bed, and the thought only soured his mood further. Eventually, he had finished tidying his room, though it still looked worse than it had before he did the prank. His wardrobe was cracked and lopsided, the clock he had pulled off the wall no longer worked, his nightstand wobbled unsteadily from his haphazard repair to it's broken leg.

By the time he was finished, any enjoyment he had gotten from the prank had vanished, leaving him with an odd numbness as he pulled another cloth from his pocket. Opening his door, he began to scrub the red paint from his door, growing more and more frustrated the longer it took. "Who cares what they think." He said aloud, vocalizing his internal dialogue, "They'll get over it by tomorrow and things will be back to how they're supposed to be. Everyone falls back into their roles and I can get them off my back." He sighed as he stopped scrubbing his door, finding it still stained with flecks of red paint that he couldn't be bothered to remove. He closed the door once more and tossed the rag into a trashcan before collapsing onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling. A mix of emotions swirled in his mind, which he quickly pushed down in an attempt to not have to think about them. He decided to call it a day, suddenly finding himself incredibly drained after the unexpected reaction from the group. Sure, he wasn't surprised they were mad about the joke, but he'd never had a reaction like that before. Usually he'll get a few censored remarks from Zooble, maybe a lecture from Ragatha if he made Gangle cry more than usual. He'd never have everyone upset with him, though, especially not to this extent. Heck, even Kinger was upset. Jax didn't even know that was possible.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he pulled a blanket over himself as he closed his eyes, figuring things would feel less weird in the morning. Everyone would probably be over it by then and go back to treating him like usual.

They always had before.

Chapter Text

Jax groaned as he stirred in his sleep, pulling his blanket over his head to try and squeeze out just a few more minutes of sleep. Even if they didn't actually need sleep, it was still something everyone did, especially him. It was the easiest way for him to get a break from not just the circus, but from his role that he kept up. Unfortunately, Caine had a strong idea of everyone "experiencing the circus to its fullest", and would take it upon himself to fetch someone if he felt they were spending too much time in their room, usually being Zooble or Jax himself if he had been feeling especially lazy that day.

With a huff, he kicked thew blanket off himself and sat up, rubbing the remains of sleep from his eyes as a yawn escaped him. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and forced himself up, stretching his arms above his head and feeling his joints pop as he finally gave up on his hopes of sleeping longer. After smoothing down his fur and scratching at his side, he lazily made his way to the door and pulled on his usual smile before exiting out into the hall, feeling a sense of déjà vu wash over him as the events of yesterday popped back into his mind. He chuckled weakly as he remembered the aftermath of his prank, wondering to himself what kind of lecture Ragatha or Kinger would give him about sensitivity or something.

With a conceited smile firmly stuck to his face, he casually walked down the hall, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign of someone he could bother to start off his day. He was feeling much more eager to joke and mess around than he had been yesterday, thanks in part to what he assumed was a successful reminder to the group that he didn't need their pity every time he was in a bad mood. He whistled a tune as he walked through the hall, coming out into the main area and glancing around for something to do while he waited to see if Caine had an adventure for them today.

His eyes soon landed on Zooble as they lounged near the stage, a magazine in hand that they lazily flipped through. With a sinister look flashing over his face, he slowly ambled towards the abstract character, doing his best to not draw their attention to him as he inched closer and closer. He came to rest next to them, leaning back on the edge of the stage as he pondered what exactly he could do to get on their nerves. He silently eyed the magazine as an idea materialized in his mind. In a single, quick motion, he snatched the magazine from Zooble's hands and slipped it into the pocket on his overalls, stepping away immediately after in preparation for them to retaliate in some way.

He watched as Zooble sighed and stood up straight, his grin widening as he prepared for a tirade of censored words. However, instead of any form of retaliation, they simply turned away from him and began to walk away, making his small fall and get replaced by a puzzled expression. "What, you afraid I'll win in a fight?" He yelled after them, attempting to goad a reaction out of them, only to be disappointed as they continued to walk away, leaving him alone with nothing to show for his attempted bullying other than a magazine he didn't want and an unsatisfying lack of so much as a glare. "Riiight, I forgot you hate fun!" He yelled, his tone more angry than teasing. His smile had been replaced with a scowl as he fished the magazine back out of his pocket, unceremoniously tossing it to the floor as he turned and walked off, hoping to find someone or something else to bring his mood back up.

He silently wandered through the circus, his mood sufficiently soured from Zooble's new way of getting back at him, which he hated for working so well. He walked through the halls in silence, only for him to be dragged out of his thoughts as the sound of talking echoed from nearby. He followed the sound and quickly came across Pomni, Ragatha, and Kinger talking about something he couldn't make out, nor did he care about in the first place. With his smile returning, he began to head towards the group, though none of them even glanced at him as he approached.

"That sounds very interesting, Kinger." Ragatha said cheerfully, smiling at the chess piece.

"Oh, I'd be happy to show you my insect collection again sometime!" He replied happily, "I don't think Pomni has ever seen it before."

"I can't say I have." Pomni added with a small smile, only for her expression to fall as a thin, fuzzy arm rested atop her head.

"What are you losers talking about?" Jax asked, expecting Kinger to dive into an explanation about something nonsensical or for Ragatha to start lecturing him about how he needed to apologize to everyone. He watched as they all fell silent, none of them even meeting his eyes, before Ragatha draped a hand around Kinger's shoulders and began to lead him away, with Pomni slipping out from under Jax's arm and following along.

"Have you checked near the lake for any new bugs?" The doll asked the chess piece, "I saw a few water skippers down there the other day."

"Wowie, I didn't know we had those around here!" He cheered, earning a soft chuckle from his two companions.

"Maybe you can come with Ragatha and I when we take a walk down there." Pomni suggested.

"That would be great." The man nodded happily.

"When did you three get so rude?" Jax asked angrily as he began to follow after the trio, "What, you're all too good to respond to me now?" He continued to follow after them as they kept talking amongst themselves, only making his annoyance grow worse. With a growl, he rushed past them and stood in front of the group, crossing his arms as he scowled at them. "You're really gonna silent treatment me for my stupid prank yesterday?" He sneered, watching as they kept waking, barely even adjusting their path as they moved passed him, with Pomni even gently shoulder checking him to move him out of her way, though she kept her gaze fixed solely on Kinger and Ragatha. Jax's face fell into an expression of disbelief as he watched them walk away, gritting his teeth and stomping his foot as a wave of anger washed over him. "Fine, be that way!" He yelled after them, before he turned and stomped back the way he came, "Bunch of freaks." He muttered to himself, slouching and pointing his gaze towards the ground as he walked, "Who cares what they do."

He wanted to ignore everything and just move on with his day, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about everyone ignoring him. He should be happy that they were leaving him alone. This is what he wanted, after all. But something about them not even acknowledging his existence was really getting on his nerves. If it was just Zooble or Ragatha he would have brushed it off, figuring it was their weird idea of getting back at him. But even Kinger and Pomni were acting like he was invisible, and those two seemed to be the only people who actually liked to see him around.

Why did his chest feel tight? Why couldn't he just brush this off like he was supposed to? Why was he finding it hard to pull his smile back on?

He soon found himself back in the hall of rooms, unsure of what exactly he was doing or what he was going to do next. He looked up at the various doors surrounding him, his eyes lingering on Kaufmo's crossed out emblem before he quickly turned away, only to be met with a door he tried every day not to look at.

"What are you looking at?" He snapped at the crossed out image of Ribbit, feeling a lump of emotion catch in his throat that he quickly swallowed back. He turned around as he prepared to head back to his room, hesitating as he looked towards Gangle's door. Part of him wanted to just call it a day and go back to his room, silently hoping this weird "punishment" everyone was doing would be over by tomorrow. But another part of him was urging himself on, to go and mess with the one person who he felt he could always get a reaction out of.

Before he even realized it, he found himself walking towards her door, rapping his knuckles against it as he waited to see if she was there. As he waited, he began to think about what exactly he was going to do to get a reaction. Should he break her comedy mask again? Maybe tie her in a knot and shove her in an empty room? He racked his brain for what to do, only for his thoughts to get derailed as Gangle opened the door, her sketchbook in hand and her comedy mask nowhere to be seen. Her eyes widened at the sight of the rabbit, her mouth opening and closing as if she was trying saying words he couldn't hear. As soon as he saw the sketchbook in her hands, his mind was made up, stealing the item away and holding it out of her reach.

"Hey Gangle," He began, forcing his smile back on as he began to flip through the pages of her sketchbook, "whatcha drawing, huh? More of your stupid weeb junk?" He chuckled as he continued to leaf through the book, not really looking at the images and instead waiting to hear the telltale sound of her crying or pleading for her book back. He closed his eyes as he began to think of what the two of them could do if he held her sketchbook hostage until she agreed to join him in whatever scheme he could come up with. Unfortunately, the lack of any of Gangle's usual reactions snapped him out of his preemptive celebration. He glanced down at her, only to find her looking away as she awkwardly rubbed her arm. No begging for him to give it back, no whining about him being a jerk.

Just ignoring him.

His face fell at the realization, a sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Even if she hadn't walked away from him like everyone else, it didn't change the fact that no one was even willing to push back against his nonsense like they usually did. "Really?" He asked, a tone of defeat and sadness in his voice, "You too?" Gangle stayed silent as she stared at the floor, clearly uncomfortable with the situation, though he wasn't sure if it was because she was bad at ignoring him or if she didn't know how to get her sketchbook back without acknowledging him. "...Whatever." He mumbled, tossing the book into her chest as he turned and began to walk away, his ears hanging as he trudged back to his room. He stole a glance back towards her room, only to find that her door was shut once more and he was, for what felt like the hundredth time, alone. He kicked the door to his room open and slammed it closed behind himself, shuffling over to his bed and falling face first into it.

He felt tears well in his eyes as he flipped himself onto his back, wiping them away as he tried to keep his breathing under control. "So what if they're ignoring me?" He said aloud, a slight panic to his voice, "They'll get bored of it by tomorrow. Then it'll all go back to normal and everything will be fine." The feeling of pins and needles began to cover his body, his eyes widening as he quickly tried to refocus his mind. "I don't care, I don't care, I don't care." He muttered to himself, sitting upright and grabbing at his ears as he took slow, deliberate breaths. He shut his eyes tight and repeated the words to himself in an attempt to convince himself of it, though the ringing in his ears only drowned them out as he felt his chest tighten. A staticky feeling began to wash over him, with his feet beginning to feel fuzzy. His eyes snapped open as he looked down at his feet, finding an inky darkness had begun to creep up his legs, with wild, neon eyes slowly cropping up from the darkness.

"NO!" He yelled as he shot to his feet, grabbing his nightstand and throwing it as hard as he could across the room. The sound of splintering wood finally grounded his mind, staring at broken furniture item with a mixture of shock and disgust. He panted heavily as he sat back down on his bed, his hands shaking as he nervously bounced his leg up and down. "You'll be fine" He whispered to himself, his voice cracking, "Just wait until things are normal again... they have their roles, and you have yours." He let himself fall backwards onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to keep himself from crying. "You're the funny one..." He muttered, "you don't get sad."

Meanwhile, Gangle had left her room soon after she was sure Jax was gone, having been frantically searching for her friends so she could air her concerns at. Thankfully, it seemed they had all reconvened in the lounge area, casually talking amongst each other as the ribbon character entered the room.

"Hey Gangle, you alright?" Pomni greeted, looking at her with a slight bit of concern, "You look a bit worried."

"Oh, i-it's nothing." She mumbled, tapping her hands together nervously, "It's just... Jax came by my room and I, uh, had a hard time actually ignoring him."

"Did you walk away like we said to?" Zooble asked with a slight chuckle, "Man, he was @&#%ed when I did that."

"I know I shouldn't take pleasure in making him upset, but..." Ragatha began as a small smile crossed her face, "It is pretty satisfying to do something that gets under his skin for once."

"I was wondering why we he looked so upset." Kinger added, "I forgot we were trying to punish him. ...Why are we doing that again?"

"I just feel a bit... bad." Gangle interrupted, steering the conversation back to the problem she was facing, "When he saw I wasn't reacting to him taking my sketchbook, he just looked sorta... defeated, I guess?"

"The problem being?" Zooble asked, raising a nonexistent eyebrow.

"I dunno," She sighed, "I guess I'm just not used to seeing him like that. Even when things don't go his way, I've never seen him that sad before."

"That's good." Pomni chimed in proudly, "Maybe he'll actually learn a lesson this time around."

"A-are you sure this is a good idea?" Gangle asked nervously, "Maybe if we just, uh, talk to him, we can explain why his... 'prank' upset us."

"Because trying to talk to him worked so well last time." Ragatha mumbled as she sunk back into the couch.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Pomni said, a mixture of sadness and anger on her face "Even if you did get him to talk, he'd just turn around and try to destroy any friendship you might have built."

"Perhaps it's best if we just wait for Jax to apologize to us." Kinger suggested cheerfully, though he garnered no response from the rest of the group.

"I know you want to try and find a less mean spirited way to deal with this," Zooble began, her expression softening as she looked at the ribbon woman, "But hoping he'll suddenly gain morals if we treat him nice clearly isn't working." Gangle looked towards the floor sadly as she wrung her hands together.

"Hey, look at the bright side." Ragatha posited, "If he's really as upset as you said he was, than maybe he'll apologize sooner than we thought."

"...I suppose." Gangle mumbled, making the others glance around at one another with sympathetic expressions.

"Why don't we go watch a movie, huh?" Pomni suddenly suggested, "I think I found where Caine keeps the vhs tapes, so we could actually pick what we watch this time."

A chorus of agreements rang out through the room as everyone got to their feet, beginning to head off to find the room that housed the old tv they watched from time to time. As they left, Zooble paused and glanced back at Gangle, who hadn't moved from where she stood and was instead looking back towards the hall that held everyone's rooms. "You coming, Gangle?" They asked.

"H-huh?" Gangle asked as she snapped out of her thoughts, turning towards her oddly shaped friend, "Oh, uh, sure." She pulled a weak smile onto her face as she followed after the others, letting it fall as soon as Zooble looked away. She looked back at the hall once more, a feeling of anxiety twisting in her gut as she thought about Jax. Sure, he was a jerk, and a bully, and he broke more of her comedy masks than she could count, but something about how he looked today made her uneasy. The look in his eyes didn't seem angry or regretful, it was lonely. As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't help but wonder if they were doing more harm than good with this idea.

Chapter Text

A sharp jolt of pain yanked Jax out of his sleep, making him suck a breath in through his teeth as his back tensed in on itself. He reached back and pressed his palm against his spine, trying in vain to soothe himself even the smallest amount. He slowly cracked his eyes open, being met with the view of the wooden floor of his room, quickly piecing together that his crash after his panic attack had left him in a position to fall to the floor while he slept. He sighed as he slowly began to move his stiff body, first pushing himself to his hands and knees before he climbed to his feet, wincing as another wave of pain shot up his back. He placed his hands on his lower back and pushed inward as he bent backwards, feeling a few pops before the pain became too much and he had to stop.

Standing up as straight as he could without being overwhelmed with aches, he headed towards the door to the hall and forced his smile on, though he didn't even have to see it to know it wasn't nearly as wide and self satisfied as usual. He pushed the door open and stepped out into the hall, the sound of the other players echoing from the main area letting him know he was once again the last person to leave their room. He began to slowly make his way down the hall, letting his mind wander as he remembered the silence and lack of reaction he had gotten the previous day. His smile fell into a scowl as he ruminated on the memories, the thoughts quickly shifting from what happened to how he was going to ensure a reaction from someone today.

He quickly pulled a grin back on as he entered into the main area, looking towards the group of players in the lounge area. None of them even glanced towards him as he entered, instead keeping to whatever topic they were discussing that he couldn't care less about. He did, however, think he saw Gangle steal a few glances towards him, though he was too tired and annoyed to be sure. As casually as he could, he strolled over to the sitting area, slowly walking on the outskirts of it until he was behind the chair that Kinger was resting in. If there was one thing Jax knew people mad, it was when he messed with Kinger. He wouldn't even do it at all if they didn't get so defensive of the man, finding his confusion and general obliviousness not entertaining enough to waste anything more than the occasional mean nickname on.

He walked up behind the chair the chess piece was sitting in, for once thankful that everyone was pretending he didn't exist. Grabbing the top of the chair, Jax quickly yanked it down, slamming it to the floor and sending the older man tumbling backwards, much to everyone's panic. "Kinger!" Ragatha cried as she hopped to her feet and rushed over to the frazzled man, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." The man dismissed with a cheerful chuckle, "I must have leaned back too far."

"Wow, thanks for the seat, Checkers." Jax goaded as he picked the chair back up and hopped into it, wiggling himself into the cushions to make a show of what he did, "I gotta say, this is easily the best place to sit in the whole circus." His smile widened as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back, waiting with bated breath for censored swearing or demands for apologies to begin to ring out.

"Well, why don't you join me and Gangle on the couch?" Pomni suggested, making the rabbit's eyes snap open, "I don't think you could accidentally tip it over."

"Well, that's very kind of you, Pomni." Kinger replied with a happy expression, making Jax's own expression fall into a mixture of shock and anger.

"Really?" He asked aloud, silently hoping they'd at least look at him while he spoke, "Won't even stop me from bullying everyone's favorite loon to keep this whole 'punishment' thing going?"

"Just try to be more careful this time, alright?" Zooble suggested with a chuckle, taking a small sip from the can of soda they held in their hand.

Jax grit his teeth in annoyance, glancing behind himself as Ragatha helped Kinger to his feet and began to lead him towards his new seat. He felt anger bubble in his chest as they passed in front of him, pulling his knees up to his chest before kicking his legs out as hard as he could. His feet connected with Ragatha's side, making her yelp in pain as she fell to the ground and clutched her side in pain.

"Oops," He sneered, glaring down at the doll, "looks like you should watch where you're walking next time."

"Raggy!" Pomni yelled as she rushed to her side and carefully helping her to her feet, "Are you ok?!"

"Y-yeah." She replied with a wince, "Just, uh... tripped." She kept her eyes locked on the jester, a smile spreading across her face that only made Jax even angrier. He wanted to scream and swear and begin to threaten them all. Anything to just get some kind of reaction, even just a sigh or an eye roll. He looked down at the floor as he grabbed the arms of the chair as tight as he could, before he suddenly hopped to his feet, sending the chair falling backwards once more.

"Go @%$# yourselves." He growled as he turned and stomped away, a scowl spreading across his face as he made his way across the room and leaned his back against the stage. He glared at the group as they returned to their conversation, watching as they began to laugh at something Zooble said. "They're laughing at you." Jax thought, crossing his arms as he glared daggers at the group, "Not at anything you said or did. They're laughing at YOU. They think you're pathetic and hateful." His angry scowl fell and was replaced with a somber frown, feeling a lump catch in his throat as he took in a shaking breath. He looked to the floor and shut his eyes tight, fighting back the wave of emotion that threatened to spill over. After a moment, he managed to regain his composure and pulled a weak smile on, opening his eyes as he looked back up towards the group. To his surprise, he locked eyes with Gangle, who seemed to panic as she was spotted and quickly duck back down on the couch and burying herself in her sketchbook.

Before he could even begin to think about why she would break the rules of whatever plan the group had made, Caine zipped into view, floating above the group with a large, happy grin. "Hello, my cantankerous contemporaries!" The AI cheered, looking down at the players in the lounge area, before pausing and beginning to count how many people were there. "Well now hold on a moment..." He began, "we're one player short! Where is that purple-haired hare?"

"I'm over here, Caine." Jax called out, making the ringleader snap his head in his direction in an instant. Without warning, he zipped over the rabbit, stopping uncomfortably close to his face.

"Well what are you doing so far away from your friends?" He asked as he grabbed Jax's hand and pulled him back over to the group, much to his annoyance.

"I can only stand so much ugliness for so long." He replied with teasing smile, though the AI either didn't hear him or didn't care to say anything in response.

"Now then, who's ready for the next adventure!" Caine asked, earning a few groans and mumbles in response, making his face fall into an unamused frown, "Can't you all just cheer one time?"

"You've never given us anything to cheer about." Zooble replied in a flat tone.

"Wha- Nothing to cheer for?!" He sputtered out, "It takes a lot of effort to make these adventures!"

"Well, your adventures do tend to cause... pain." Ragatha explained with an awkward smile.

"It's hard to get excited for them when we're all worried we'll get hurt." Pomni added.

"Well when you all make an adventure where someone doesn't get hurt, then I'll listen to your complaints." Caine defended as he crossed his arms.

"Pomni's stargazing adventure didn't hurt anyone." Gangle said, "Neither did Zooble's bar tending one

"THOSE ONES DON'T COUNT!" Caine yelled in response, taking everyone aback. He paused and looked at the shocked cast, clearing his throat and straightening his bow tie. "Besides, aren't we all bored of the suggestion box? We've already gone through enough of your adventures for one series."

"That doesn't even make sense." Zooble confronted, only to be ignored by the once again smiling AI.

"Anyway, back to talking about my amazing adventure!" Caine continued, "It's nothing complex, but I'm sure it will still provide enough fun and whimsy to satiate your appetites for it!"

"Oh, I'm not hungry for that." Kinger said apologetically, "Could I suggest we get pizza instead?"

"...No." The AI replied, shooting the chess piece a confused look before quickly turning his attention back to the group as a whole, "I hope you're fans of the great outdoors, because I'm sending you all on a nature hike!"

"That... doesn't sound too bad, actually." Pomni said with a hopeful smile.

"Wait for it." Zooble said, their eyes still locked on the AI.

"Yes, a nice quiet nature walk... with a twist!" Caine revealed, making the jester's hope fizzle out immediately.

"There's always a twist." Jax commented as he crossed his arms.

"The twist being," Caine continued, "the longer you take, the more likely you are to be attacked by wild animals!"

"There it is." Zooble said with a roll of their eyes.

"Is that really necessary?" Gangle asked nervously, "Couldn't we just have a nice hike?"

"You want me to make an adventure with no stakes?!" Caine asked in offense, "That's hardly an adventure at all!"

"Well, maybe instead of having us in danger, you could make the stakes not getting a prize or something." Ragatha suggested, "Doing that could also encourage us to work together and-"

"Sorry, but suggestions are only accepted when put in the suggestion box and aren't about making my adventures boring." Caine interrupted, snapping his fingers and making a large hole appear in the floor, "Now, off you go!" Before anyone could protest further, the floor near the hole turned into a slope, sending them all sliding down into the darkness as screams began to echo out. The cast fell through the darkness, a light below them getting larger and larger until they passed through it, crashing onto a dirt path in the middle of a forest.

With multiple sounds of pain, everyone slowly climbed to their feet, beginning to look around at their surroundings in confusion. "Can't he just use a door or something?" Zooble grumbled as they reattached their legs, which had popped off upon impact with the ground. Once reattached, they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, before joining the others in taking in their surroundings. They were in a dense, lush forest, with large pine and maple trees towering over them, bathing the forest floor in shade, with the occasional beam of light breaking through the dense leaf cover above them.

"I haven't been somewhere like this in a long time." Kinger commented, a smile in his eyes as he watched a few beetles skitter by.

"It's kind of romantic, honestly." Pomni added, looking at Ragatha cheerfully.

"Get a room, stuffing muncher." Jax mocked, only to be disappointed when he was once again met with no reaction.

"How long until the animals-" Gangle began, only for a bird to dive bomb directly into her face, sending her back to the ground as her comedy mask broke in two.

"You alright, Gangle?" Zooble asked in concern, kneeling down next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Why is it always me?" The ribbon character whimpered, looking down at her broken mask as it laid in the dirt.

Jax wanted to laugh or make some snide comment to her, but something in his mind kept him from doing so. Maybe it was because he knew he wouldn't get a response. Maybe it was because he was already so annoyed and tired after even escalating to picking on Kinger and physically hurting people wasn't working. Maybe it was something else entirely. All he knew was that, despite everything he had felt and done to her in the past...

Right now, he felt sorry for her.

"Come on." Zooble said gently, standing up and offering their hand to help Gangle up, who accepted it soon after, "Let's get out of here before anything else shows up."

"Does anyone even know where we go?" Ragatha asked, "Maybe we should try to make a plan before we start wandering around." As soon as she finished talking, a distant growl echoed out from somewhere deep in the woods, making everyone freeze and look in the direction it came from. "On second thought, maybe walking randomly isn't a bad option." The group quickly started heading down the forest path, only for Jax to hold back until the rest were a little ways away. Once sufficiently alone, he bent down and picked Gangle's broken comedy mask from the ground, holding the pieces close together so he could see the smiling design somewhat clearly. His grip tightened ever so slightly, looking down at the broken porcelain with disgust, like it was mocking him. He prepared himself to throw it away, only to hear a small sob from the group, drawing his attention back towards them and finding Gangle lagging behind the others, clearly in a much worse mood than she had been at the start of the day.

For a reason he couldn't figure out, he tucked the broken mask into the pocket on his overalls, making sure it pushed far enough down so that it couldn't be seen before he began to follow after the group, keeping about a yard of distance between him and the others. The group continued to move through the forest, making idle conversation as they walked, with only the occasional swarm of insects or aggressive bird interrupting the peace and quiet. Jax remained silent as he followed, though he would scoop up the odd rock from the ground and throw it at the back of someone's head in an attempt to elicit a reaction, though he was becoming increasingly unsurprised as to when it failed.

As the hike drug on, a few larger animals began to make appearances, much to everyone's annoyance. A few raccoons that hissed and swiped at their legs, a coyote that snapped at Pomni as she walked past, and even a buck that attempted to attack them with it's horns, forcing them to run from it before any of them could be skewered. Thankfully, it wasn't long before they saw the treeline break, revealing a sprawling, grassy field before them. "Finally." Zooble sighed as they all stepped out into the open area, "I was beginning to think Caine forgot an ending."

"I'd never forget about my delightful little bugs!" Caine's voice replied, soon being followed by the appearance of the man himself as he swirled out of nothingness, "Congratulations! You made it out of the forest without being torn to pieces by the bear lion I put in there."

"That sounds unethical to make." Gangle replied meekly as she tapped her hands together.

"Maybe that's why it was so mad." Caine mused, before a loud roar from the trees snapped him out of his thoughts as a panicked look crossed his face, "Whoa! Let's get outta here!" He clapped his hands and made a large, red curtain surround him and the group, before it was soon pulled away to reveal they were back in the circus' main area.

"If you can do transitions like that, why do you always suck us into portals or drop us down pits?" Pomni asked, earning a laugh from the AI.

"Because I have to keep things interesting!" He boasted, "Now then, dinner is prepared for you all to fill those bellies after your long walk, and I'll be in my office working on the next adventures!" He vanished in an instant, leaving the players back where they started, only now far more tired than they had been that morning.

"I'm pretty sure he just sleeps in there." Ragatha commented, earning a giggle from Pomni, much to the doll's delight.

Jax opened his mouth to say something, planning to insult everyone one last time before he left for his room, but he found himself without the enthusiasm to back up his plan, instead staying silent, closing his mouth, and walking away without a word, his smile finally falling into a tired grimace once he was no longer worried about anyone seeing him. He didn't even have to turn around to know that no one even looked his way, walking down the quiet hallway and entering his room without so much as a peak into anyone else's.

He climbed into his bed and stared up at the ceiling, letting out a sigh as he reached into his front pocket and pulled out the broken mask he had taken earlier. He set one of the pieces to the side and held the other above his face watching as it shone in the light. He could see the faint scratches in the porcelain and small areas of chipped paint on the blank eyes and smile. He hadn't noticed it before, but without being connected to Gangle, the mask's features seemed lifeless and blank. He actually preferred how it looked when she wore it, even if he hated to admit the thought. He reached over and plucked the other half from his bed, holding it up next to the first piece and letting the smiling face beam down on him.

"Why do you get it so easy?" Jax asked aloud, glaring at the broken mask with disgust, "Why does your mask get fixed so easy? Why do you get one that doesn't have to be forced? That doesn't strain the muscles and drain you of everything, even on your best days? What do you have to be so lucky?" He sat up as rage filled his body, clutching the shards in his hands as tight as he could as tears welled in his eyes. His breathing grew heavy as he grit his teeth, his whole body beginning to tremble. "Why can't you just be miserable." He continued, his questioning tone being replaced with one of pure hatred, "Why do you get to have this. You don't deserve it. You don't deserve an easy fix to this... to your role. Why do you get to break from it so easily. Why can't I have that. Why can't it be easy for me too. If anyone deserves this mask it's me." He felt static begin to envelope his body, a ringing in his ears that felt deafening. He wanted nothing more than to be free of this hell he was trapped in, both the one he made himself and the one he was sucked into.

He flinched as he felt pain shoot through his left hand, dropping both shards and watching as a deep crimson began to soak into the fabric of his glove. He grimaced as pain continued radiated around the wound, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an old scrap of cloth that he had stashed away. Sure, he could just get Caine to fix him up like nothing ever happened, but something inside him absolutely hated the idea of actually asking for help. He'd rather tend to this himself until the AI fixed everyone up as a group after one of his adventures nearly kills them. Pulling off his glove, he took a moment to inspect the damage to both it and his hand. His glove had a large hole in the fabric, with the area around it stained with blood. His hand wasn't much better, with a deep gash across his palm that continued to ooze blood into his fur. "Gross." He mumbled, carefully wrapping the cloth around his hand as a makeshift bandage. He hissed in pain as he tightened the wrap around his hand, watching as it quickly began to soak up blood. He carefully slipped his glove back on and stared down at his crude medical work through the hole in his glove. The situation had snapped him out of his angry ranting to no one, leaving him with nothing more than an aching feeling of loneliness in his chest. He quickly shook the thoughts from his head, not wanting to explore those thoughts at the moment, lest he get pulled into another panic attack.

His eyes migrated to the two mask pieces that laid on his bed, sighing as he realized what he was about to do in this moment of weakness. He picked up the pieces and got out of his bed, walking to his desk and tossing them onto it. He crouched down and plucked a rag from the trash, the same one he used to scrub the paint from his door just a few days earlier. Using it, he wiped the little of his blood that had remained on the sharp edge, figuring it wouldn't be noticed amongst the other flecks of red that already stained the rag. Once cleaned, he set the piece back down and opened a drawer on his desk, pulling out a small tube of glue. He never thought he would need it for much, usually just using it if a prank required sticking something mean to something meaner, but for once he was going to use it for it's more intended usage.

He squirted a line down the shattered edge, before picking up the other half and carefully lining it up. He pressed the halves together, watching as they slotted together almost seamlessly, save for a small, almost invisible crack running down the center. He held the pieces together as hard as he could without accidentally pushing one over the other and held it there, focusing intently on it as he waited for the glue to dry enough that he could let go. After about a minute, he relaxed his hold and slowly took one hand away, a small smile forming on his face as he saw it hold together. Grabbing the rag once more, he wiped up the glue that had seeped out from the crack and looked down at his handiwork, thankful that he hadn't screwed anything up. Tossing the rag back in the trash, he stood up from his desk with the mask in hand, heading towards the door and peaking out into the hallway to make sure no one would see him. Once he was sure he was safe, he stepped into the hall and quickly headed down towards Gangle's room, taking a key from his pocket and unlocking the door. Stepping inside, he walked to her bed and set the mask atop it, taking the moment to look around her room.

It was somewhat dark, being mostly illuminated by two lamps that sat on either side of her bed. Her walls were decorated with red curtains lining the ceiling, with a similar one hanging on the headboard of her bed. She had multiple shelves and dressers around the room, though he doubted any of them held any clothes. They were all lined with figurines and plush toys of characters he didn't recognize, though he wasn't sure if that was because they were from some anime she watched or if Caine only allowed knock offs to avoid copyright issues. The only characters he did recognize were a group of plushies that sat on a desk across from her bed, seeming to be of her and the rest of the people currently stuck in the circus. There was even one of him sitting there, much to his surprise. He was more confused about it not being torn to shred or pinned to the wall in some sort of revenge effigy than he was about any of them existing in the first place. The desk they sat on was littered with half finished sketches and various drawing implements, with crumpled pieces of paper beneath the desk next to an overflowing trash can of more crumpled paper.

He found the room fitting for what he knew about the woman, figuring anything that wasn't furniture was a specific request from Gangle herself. Snapping out of his trance, he turned and quickly headed towards the exit, slipping out into the hall and relocking the door as he prepared to leave. As soon as he turned around, he froze as he locked eyes with Gangle, his stomach dropping at having been caught in the act by the last person he wanted to see. Without a word, he turned and quickly made his way back to his room, slamming the door closed behind him and sitting on the foot of his bed. He stared down at the floor as he wrung his hands together, his leg bouncing anxiously as he tried to figure out what to do next. "%$!&." He said to the quiet room, being the only thought he could put into words.

Meanwhile, Gangle stayed frozen in the hall, having watched the rabbit she had been trying impossibly hard to pretend didn't exist sneaking out of her room after doing who knows what. She would usually be terrified at the idea of him being in her room, having free reign to set up any number of pranks or destroy anything he could get his hands on. But the look on his face when she caught him seemed more embarrassed than anything, which was a far cry from how he usually looked when preparing to ruin someone's day.

Finally breaking her gaze away from where Jax had walked, she turned to her door and slowly reached for the door knob, hesitating for a moment as she weighed the pros and cons of actually trusting her gut on this. Steeling her nerves, though it did little to actually calm her anxiousness, she grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open, bracing herself for whatever scene may lay beyond it. As she stepped inside, she looked around for anything that may be out of place, only to find everything just as she had left it that morning. Not a figurine missing or piece of furniture out of place. Even her last drawing was in the same state it was when she stopped working on it, without any scribbles or mean comments defacing it. As she looked around her room, she spotted something sitting on her bed that she was sure wasn't there earlier.

Making her way towards it, her eyes widened in surprise as she looked down at her freshly repaired comedy mask. Usually Caine would fix it the next morning if he didn't do it as soon as they returned, and it was always given directly to her. She picked it up and looked it over carefully, the light catching it in a way that allowed her to find an almost unperceivable crack running down the center. It soon dawned on her that this was the very same mask that had been broken and left on the forest floor. She was almost positive she hadn't seen anyone pick it up, though it didn't take long for realization to hit her over the head like a baseball bat. A light blush dusted her cheeks as she looked over at the rabbit plush that sat on her drawing desk, his smiling face staring back at her unflinchingly. Did he really go through the trouble of repairing her mask? And, if so, why on earth would he do that? She wasn't even sure if he hated her or saw her as a friend, though she wasn't really sure which was she saw him, either.

She was tempted to put the mask on, having so rarely gotten to actually go to sleep with it, but soon decided against it, instead setting it on the nightstand next to her lamp. She had planned to draw for awhile, but the sudden act of kindness from someone she had seen do anything nice a single digit amount of times had completely thrown her, leaving her nothing more than to just lay in bed as her thoughts raced. She couldn't make sense of anything going on in her head, and she was sure it was only going to be harder to ignore him now. Maybe Pomni was right and he was actually learning a lesson from all this. But if that were the case, why would he go through the trouble to do this secretly? Surely an apology like this would have been enough for the others to forgive him, right? Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe this wasn't even an apology. No matter what she thought, another thought would come forward that only confused her further. The only thing she could be sure of now was that she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going with ignoring him. And she wasn't sure how much longer he could handle it either.

Chapter Text

Jax hadn't been able to sleep that night. Too many thoughts were running through his head for it to have even been a hope. He sat on the edge of his bed, his leg bouncing anxiously as he stewed in his thoughts. "You should be happy." He thought, "You're the villain now. You don't have to worry about getting close to anyone. They hate you." He sighed as his thoughts continued to berate him, slowly climbing to his feet and trudging to his door. He didn't want to leave his room, figuring he'd be met with more silence and being ignored by the others no matter what he tried. He felt sick to his stomach at the idea, though he still wasn't sure why it bothered him so much. He had spent so long trying to put distance between himself and everyone else, but now that he had it, he just felt sad and empty. "Doesn't matter." He muttered to himself, pushing his door open as he forced a weak and unconvincing grin onto his face. Even if he stayed in his room, it was only a matter of time before Caine forced him out anyway.

He had been in his room for most of the day, already finding it to be late in the afternoon now that he had actually left. He slowly made his way down the hall, wondering to himself if it was even worth going through the atrium just to watch the others pretend he wasn't there. Before he could convince himself to just wander the circus alone, he found himself in the main area, finding the others lounging around the stage, once again talking to one another happily. He wanted to walk over and join them, throw in a few jabs at Zooble or Pomni, make a crude remark. Maybe if he just acted like nothing was wrong, then they'd finally acknowledge him again.

"Yeah right." He thought, "Look at them. They're happier without you." Jax felt his strained smile fall, staring at the group sadly before turning and heading towards the furnished lounge area and letting himself fall onto the couch. "Face it... you're alone. Just like you always wanted. No one to get attached to. No one to miss when they're gone. No one to lose when it happens to you." He felt tears welling in his eyes, quickly wiping them away as he dug his thumb into the cut on his hand in an attempt distract his mind, though the pain did little to quell the onslaught comments he was making towards himself. "You truly are the funny one, huh? Comic relief with nothing beneath the surface. No one would miss you when you're gone, anyway. You made sure of that." He felt his chest tighten as the thoughts continued to worm their way into his mind, quickly shaking them from his mind as he forced a smile back on. He needed to think about something else before these thoughts consumed him. He wracked his brain for any distraction he could think of to keep his thoughts at bay. Maybe he could go trash Zooble's room and steal a few things. It always made him laugh to watch them scour the circus to try and find something he had swiped. Or he could go into Ragatha's room, grab a few things that looked sentimental, and then burn them in the hallway. That'd be sure to get a rise out of the doll.

A manic smile spread across his face at the ideas, his eyes widening as he began to put the pieces together as to what he was missing, or at least what he thought he was. "They don't hate me." He said aloud, though he wasn't sure if he really believed it or he was attempting to convince himself it was true, "They're just getting back at me for the prank! Can't believe I didn't see it sooner!" He hopped to his feet as he rambled to himself, his hands trembling as he flexed and unflexed them repeatedly. "I'll just admit they got me pretty good, and it'll all go back to normal. I mean, it has to right?" An unexpected laugh escaped him as he latched on to the idea, becoming convinced almost unshakably that he was right, though whether it was because it was actually true or because he so desperately needed it to be, he didn't know. A hot and itchy feeling settled on his body, only adding to the sickness that settled in his stomach and the whirlwind of emotions that ran through his mind. He pressed his thumb into the wound on his hand again, the pain sending a shock through his system that thankfully refocused him on the sudden task he had presented to himself.

He continued to mutter to himself as he turned and looked towards the group, small, manic chuckles falling from his mouth as he sauntered over, trying his hardest to make it look natural when it was anything but. He stopped in front of the group and eyed them curiously, once again finding them ignoring his presence. Pomni, Kinger, and Zooble were all engaged in a conversation as Ragatha listened in quietly, while Gangle had her face buried in her sketchbook, though the lack of any pencil in her hand made it unlikely she was actually drawing anything. "Welp, you guys got me." Jax admitted suddenly, shrugging his shoulders as the conversation paused for a moment, "As much as it makes me want to hurl, I confess, I'd like to not be ignored anymore." He leaned forward, a teasing grin on his face, "So, what's it gonna take, huh? You want me to apologize? Get on my knees and cry and beg for forgiveness for my joke? What 'lesson' was I supposed to learn from this whole silent treatment, huh?" He fell silent as he waited for an answer, any hope for them to continue ignoring him becoming a thousand times harder now that he was addressing the situation head on. Jax's grin faltered as the room stayed silent, a feeling of anxiety washing over him. "Alright, what if I promise not to mock any of your stupid little hobbies, huh? I'll listen to Kinger talk about his bugs, I'll let Gangle rant about that dumb anime stuff she likes, things like that." He suggested, fighting to keep himself from descending into panicked ramblings, "I'm sure the rest of you have interests like I've mocked incessantly. So, how about it? A whole day where I'm forced to play nice! Surely that'll be enough to put this all in the past."

"You don't get it, do you?" Pomni asked, taking everyone aback as she finally acknowledged the purple rabbit, looking at him with a mixture of disappointment and anger, "Even after all of this, you still think you can just ignore the problem and try to cut a deal?"

"You say that like you're shocked I'd try." Jax replied, noticeably relaxing after finally having someone pay attention to him, "C'mon, you're not still mad abo-"

"No, just shut up!" The jester yelled at him, making the group freeze at the sudden outburst, "You don't get to act like it's no big deal!"

"P-Pomni, maybe you should try to calm down." Ragatha suggested nervously, reaching a hand over to her friend, only to hesitate as the jester jumped to her feet.

"Do you honestly not even care about how we feel?" Pomni continued, making Jax avert his gaze awkwardly as he tried to keep his grin on, "I mean, for &@^%s sake, Jax, we thought you abstracted! Do you have any idea how that made us feel? And you did it all for what? So you could get back at me for trying to be your friend?"

"Boy, this is quite out of character, wouldn't you say?" Kinger asked, glancing at Gangle next to him, who simply stared at the scene unfolding in front of her nervously.

Jax opened his mouth to reply, only for Pomni to jab her finger into his chest, making take a step back in shock. "I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, if you saw what it would be like if you really were alone like you wanted, you'd actually apologize." She continued, the disappointment on her face only getting more and more brazen as she went, "But you didn't. You just couldn't stand not being the center of attention for once and made it an issue for everyone else! Well good job, you did it! You pushed someone to the point of acknowledging you!"

"Let him have it, Pomni!" Zooble cheered, watching from their seat excitedly as she tore into Jax.

"You want someone to talk to you? Fine, I'll tell you exactly what I've realized from the past few days without you constantly ruining everyone's lives." She ranted, glaring daggers at the rabbit as he simply watched her unload all her frustrations onto him, his smile and seemingly carefree attitude having long since vanished, "You're a bully. You're nothing more than a pathetic, little insignificant jerk who would rather make everyone, including himself, believe he's some tortured villain than have a genuine conversation with someone and risk forming an actual bond with them. You've tricked yourself into thinking you're somehow making everyone's lives better, when in reality all you're doing is pushing people closer to the brink of insanity. You were right that there was nothing more to you, and I'm an idiot for thinking otherwise. So, you win. I'm done looking. Go ahead and sulk in your room about how terrible and stupid we all are. Just don't be surprised when we don't even hold a funeral for you when you're gone." The room fell deathly silent as Pomni finished talking, her heavy breathing being the only thing to cut through it. Everyone was looking between her and Jax, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Jax simply stared down at the jester, watching as her anger faded and she was left with a look of sorrow as tears welled in her eyes. "...Whatever." He said, his voice cracking before he quickly cleared his throat, crossing his arms and looking away as if what she had said didn't bother him "Like I need any of you freaks." He hesitated as he looked at the group with a scowl, wanting to say more and pull his usual sarcasm out, but finding himself unable to. With a huff he turned and started to head back towards the hall of rooms, remaining silent as everyone watched him walk away, feeling a staticky sensation begin to crawl up his limbs as a wave of emotions washed over him. As soon as he was out of sight, Pomni gasped for air as she dropped to her hands and knees, a choked sob escaping her that snapped everyone back into the present.

"I-it's ok, Pomni!" Ragatha said quickly, rushing to the jester's side and placing a hand on the small of her back in an attempt to comfort her, before quickly pulling it away when she felt Pomni flinch beneath the touch.

"It's about time someone ripped that #!^$ a new one." Zooble commented from their spot leaning against the stage.

"I-I'm sorry." Pomni said through her sobs, using her arm to wipe her tears away, only for more to replace them right after, "I didn't want to say that stuff, but he just came up out of n-nowhere, and I started talking, and I couldn't stop, and-"

"We aren't upset with you." Kinger interrupted with a soft, comforting look in his eyes, "I'm sure it felt cathartic to get all of that off your chest."

"He's r-really gonna hate me now." She continued as Ragatha sat beside her, who hesitantly offered a hand to her. Pomni looked up at the doll, being met with a gentle, caring smile that helped to quell the sadness that ran through her body. Pomni placed her hand in the doll's plush one, feeling her begin to gently rub the back of her hand with her thumb.

"Who cares if he hates you." Zooble chimed in again, "I'm pretty sure he hates all of us."

"Who are we talking about again?" Kinger asked, earning a confused glance from the abstract character.

"Well, maybe he'll try and do better now." Ragatha suggested, though from her tone it was clear even she didn't believe that, "Besides, he probably just ran off to think of some way to get us all back like he usually does, right Gangle?"

"Huh?" The ribbon character replied, finally being snapped out of her own thoughts. She had been staring off towards where Jax had walked, a flurry of emotions in her mind. On the one hand, she was glad Pomni had said something, having wanted to go off on the rabbit herself for ages now. On the other hand, however, she couldn't help but be worried about him. He already seemed to be taking the whole "being ignored" thing pretty hard, so a confrontation like that where it basically told him everyone would be happier if he wasn't around couldn't have done much good.

"You alright there, Gangle?" Zooble asked, raising an eyebrow as Gangle was once again pulled from her thoughts, "You seem kinda out of it."

"O-oh, I'm fine." She replied with a dismissive wave and a smile, though it was clear by the look on everyone's faces that it wasn't convincing. "Alright, fine." She sighed, setting her sketchbook to the side as she began to wring her hands together, "Even if I think the stuff Pomni said was true for the most part, I'm just worried it was... you know... a bit far."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pomni asked, a look of panic crossing her face that made Gangle avert her gaze as she nervously continued.

"W-well," She stuttered, "I know we were all upset with him and were trying to teach him a lesson, but I- uh- I don't think he's showing how much this has all really affected him."

"You're kidding, right?" Zooble asked with a blank expression.

"Well," Ragatha began, "he isn't the most... open person I've ever met."

"Ragatha is right." Kinger nodded, seemingly in a rare moment of lucidity, "As long as I've known him, Jax hasn't once talked about his life outside of the circus."

"Every time I've seen him recently," Gangle continued, "he just looked tired and sad. I think he really did miss being included."

"So what if he felt 'lonely'." Zooble interjected, "It's not like he tried to apologize for what he did."

"...Did we even give him a chance?" Pomni asked quietly, still sniffling as her tears began to dry, "I was so focused on ignoring him that I hadn't even seen if he was acting differently."

"Well, he fixed my comedy mask after the last adventure." Gangle admitted, "Maybe he-"

"He what?!" Ragatha asked in shock, her look mirrored on everyone's faces, except for Kinger, who just stared at her with his usual aloof expression.

"Oh, I was wondering what that crack was doing there." The chess piece mused, pointing towards the area the two mask shards had been glued back together.

"Why didn't you tell us he fixed it?" Pomni asked, fiddling with the pompoms on her outfit anxiously.

"H-he seemed freaked out when I caught him leaving it in my room, so I just kept it to myself so he wouldn't be upset." The ribbon character replied as she tapped her hands together nervously, "I-I didn't want to give him any more reasons to be mad at me than he already had."

"And he, like, actually fixed it?" Zooble asked skeptically, earning a small nod from their friend.

"Maybe he really did feel bad." Ragatha speculated, her face falling into a look of remorse.

"And I convinced you all to ignore him to try and get an apology." Pomni muttered, looking down at her hands in horror, "I forced him to be alone after everything that happened before the awards show, and now instead of trying to talk it out, I just... acted like Jax."

"H-hey, I'm sure it's ok." Ragatha began, forcing her positive attitude back on, "How bad could he really take something like this?"

"He's bounced back from worse." Zooble shrugged, not nearly as worried as their companions were, though it was clear they still felt a bit guilty over contributing to what might make Jax worse than he already was.

"Maybe someone should check on him." Kinger suggested, making everyone grow weary at the idea.

"I-I'll go." Gangle volunteered as she slid off the stage to her feet.

"Are you sure?" Ragatha asked, worry etched on her face, "Even with everything that happened, he's still... Jax."

She hesitated as she weighed her options. If she really did go check on him, the best case scenario she could think of was that he'd just ignore her. She didn't even want to think about what the worse case scenarios could be. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she steeled herself and nodded decisively. "Yeah, I'm sure." She answered as confidently as she could, though it was clear she was still a bag of nerves, "I-if nothing else, he at least might be nicer to me if fixing my mask means anything."

"And if it doesn't?" Zooble posited.

"Well..." She continued, "Then I guess I can gauge how he's feeling based on how he treats me?" She gave the group an awkward smile with her reasoning, knowing it was shaky at best.

"If you are able to talk to him," Pomni began, looking up at her ribbon friend hopefully, "can you tell him I'm sorry? For all the things I said?"

Gangle's smile grew more confident as she nodded, taking another deep breath and beginning the trek towards Jax's room. As she walked away, Kinger eyed her curiously, rubbing his chin with his hand. "Hey..." He began with a suspicious tone, "Where is Gangle going?"

Chapter Text

With every step down the hall she took, Gangle's confidence waned, leaving her her usual nervous self when it came to anything related to the rabbit. She tapped her hands together anxiously as she stopped in her tracks, a sudden pit forming in her stomach as she looked down the hall towards his door. She had an uneasy feeling about what she was doing, but she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe she should turn around and send Ragatha or Kinger to talk to him. At least they wouldn't be as much of a pushover as she tended to be.

She sighed as she shook her head, dismissing the thoughts from her mind. He'd refuse to talk to Ragatha, and it was unreliable to expect Kinger to be in a lucid state of mind. Coupling that with Pomni's already distressed state of the situation and Zooble's hatred for him, that left her as the only who could reasonably talk to Jax. Even with that train of thought, though, she still dreaded the idea of talking to him. What if he lashed out at her? What if she made things worse? The last thing she wanted was to give him any more reasons to insult her. Or ruin her drawings. Or try to light her on fire. Or threaten to break her tragedy-

The sound of her mask breaking snapped her out of her thoughts, watching as the pieces fell to the ground and broke into even smaller shards. She felt tears hang from her eyes, her negative emotions having once again forced their way to the surface and destroyed her comedy mask. She stared down at the porcelain shards on the ground, finding the scene made her even sadder than usual. The majority of her felt the same as she always did when she lost it, but a small part of her felt bad for Jax. He had spent the time to fix it, only for her to end up breaking it like always. Why did she feel so bad about that? It's not like he'd give her the same treatment if the roles were reversed, after all.

...So why did he fix her mask?

She shook herself out of her thoughts, finding them too conflicting to actually parse through at the moment. She looked around herself, finding she had been standing in the same spot for an unknown amount of time, simply postponing what she knew was inevitable. Forcing herself to move on, she began walking towards Jax's room once more, the pit in her stomach only getting worse the closer she got. She stopped in front of his room, looking up at the smiling caricature uneasily. She could still see bits of red paint clinging to it, an unpleasant reminder of the prank that set everything into motion. She turned her gaze to the floor, unsure of how exactly she would start a conversation with him. She never really went out of her way to talk to him, usually only doing so as a result of him forcing her to be his partner for a team up adventure or when he roped her into one of his schemes. But she had to think of something. She couldn't just back out now. What if he really did need help? What if she made things worse? What if he just refused to talk to her? What if-

"Jax?" She asked as she knocked on his door. She wasn't really sure what compelled her to step over the boundary between thinking about talking to him and actually trying, but now that she had, she knew there was no going back. "Are you ok?" She fell silent as she waited for a response, even if it was just telling her to go away. "When you left, you seemed really upset." She continued, "After the last few days, I was worried that you might be taking this harder than we think and..." Her voice trailed off as she waited for a response, part of her even hoping she'd hear one of the nicknames he tended to use. "...Pomni is sorry for what she said. She didn't mean any of it, she was just angry."

Gangle stared at the door anxiously, hoping to hear anything from the other side. "I-I understand if you don't want to talk, but could you at least let me know you're ok?" She asked, tapping her hands together as she leaned her head in to try and pick up any sounds from inside. Her already sullen expression grew sadder as she was met with silence yet again, dashing the small bit of hope she had. She sighed as she leaned back against the door, looking down at her hands as a small smile pulled at her mouth. "Thank you." She said, "For fixing my mask, I mean. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have a reason to do that. But you did. So... yeah. Thanks." She fell silent as she waited for a response, her smile faltering as the room remained silent. "...Right." She whispered with a small nod, "And... I never hated you. Even after everything you did." She stood up and turned to walk away, a sense of shame welling in her chest at having been unable to properly speak to him.

"Gangle?" A hoarse voice asked from inside the room, so quiet she almost didn't hear it. Her eyes widened in shock as she stopped in her tracks, rushing back to the door and placing an ear against it so she could better hear the faint voice from within.

"Jax?" She repeated, "Are you ok?" She waited with bated breath for him to respond, her hope being reignited that maybe, just maybe, she could actually have a conversation with him and make sure he was safe. The rabbit inside fell silent once more, making her stomach drop as an uneasy feeling settled over her. "I-I'm coming in, alright?" She explained, grabbing the door knob and slowly pushing the door open. A loud creak echoed out as the door swung open, revealing the dark, silent room. A shiver ran down her spine as she took a hesitant step inside, closing the door behind her to give the both of them privacy while they talked. Well, she would talk to him if she could find him.

She squinted as she searched through the darkness, finding the room in disarray as if Jax hadn't bothered to clean up after his original prank. "Jax?" She called out into the darkness, wrapping her arms around herself protectively, "If this is another prank, I'll, uh, I'll tell Zooble." Her threat was met with a shaky breathe from the other side of the bed. She looked towards where the noise originated, finding a faint glow emitting from just beyond the edge of the bed. Slowly, she took a step forward, the floorboards creaking under her feet as she walked. She stepped around broken wood and destroyed items, the carnage growing worse the closer she got to the odd glow. "...Jax?" Gangle asked once more, her voice cracking from her fear. She carefully peaked around his bed, her eyes widening as she found the source of the glowing.

"Gangle..." Jax whimpered, staring back at her as he huddled in on himself in the corner of the room as dark, static consumed parts of his body, with erratic, neon colored eyes dotting the darkness and looking around wildly. Half of his head was already bathed in the static, leaving him a single regular eye that looked at the Gangle in fear, tears trailing down his cheek. His body rose and fell with panicked breathing, abstraction having swallowed his left arm and spread towards his chest with spider-like tendrils. His body trembled as the inky darkness writhed, threatening to consume the rest of his body at any moment. "I'm scared."

"Oh god." Gangle whispered, looking at the frightened man nervously. She had never seen someone in the process of abstraction before, and she was nearly sick now that she had. She instinctively reached out to him, only to quickly pull her hand back to keep herself from getting hurt. "Jax, I-I don't know what to do." She admitted.

He let out a chuckle as a weak, tired smile spread across his face. "What can you do?" He asked rhetorically, "It had to happen eventually."

Her expression softened slightly at his comment, taking a few steps closer and kneeling down to his level. "How can you joke at a time like this?" She asked.

"I'm the funny one." He answered, his voice cracking as a sob forced it's way out of him, "It's all I have."

Gangle looked at him in confusion, unsure of what he was talking about. "Jax, you don't have to be be funny if you don't want to."

"Not like it matters." Jax said, "I'll be gone soon anyway."

"H-hey, don't talk like that." She interjected, "I'm not going to let you abstract."

"What, you going to use the power of friendship to save me?" He sneered, glaring at her through his tears. She fell silent at his insult, averting her gaze as she realized how hopeless the situation really was. She didn't even know if abstraction could be stopped, much less reversed if caught early, but maybe if she went and got Caine she could-

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt as she locked eyes with him again, finding a look of pure fear written on his face. Before she could even think the idea through, she found herself leaning forward and wrapping her arms around the rabbit, making him freeze in shock before trying to push her away.

"Are you insane?!" He asked, "You're going to get yourself killed. Just leave me alone before-"

"I'm not leaving." She interrupted, wincing in pain as she felt her body begin to glitch from touching the abstracted area.

He fell still, looking away as he stopped trying to shove her off. "You're going to-"

"I know." She interrupted.

"This won't-" He began again.

"I know." She interrupted once more, her hold on him tightening, "You don't have to go through this alone, Jax."

Upon hearing her words, something in him broke. He slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around the ribbon woman, trembling as he pulled her into his lap and buried his face into her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He mumbled, tears falling and darkening the ribbons in front of him, "I'm sorry for everything."

"I know you are." She whispered, gently rubbing her hand up and down his back, "It's ok."

"...I don't want to die, Gangle." He admitted, his voice trembling with fear. She leaned back and looked at the rabbit's face, sliding her hand up to his abstracting face and caressing his cheek, feeling him relax into her hand.

"Don't think about that right now." She said as he leaned down and laid his head on her shoulder, "Why don't we get to know each other? We can just talk for awhile and take your mind off things." She felt him nod in agreement, his fingers following along the path of her ribbons in what seemed to be an attempt to soothe himself. "Did you have any hobbies before you came to the circus?" She felt his breathing begin to calm as he thought, clearing his throat as he prepared to answer.

"I played guitar." Jax revealed, "Was harder than I thought, but I stuck with it for awhile."

"Were you any good?" Gangle asked, earning a small chuckle from him in response.

"No, I was pretty bad." He admitted, "If you asked me back then I would have said I was better than anyone you could name, though."

"I'm sure you're better than you think." She defended, earning another soft laugh from the rabbit.

"What about you?" He asked, "Were you always into anime and stuff?"

"Pretty much." She replied, "It's what got me interested in making art."

He nodded along with her answer, relaxing into her hold as he began to stop trembling. "I was never any good at art." He added, "Didn't have the patience to learn."

"Well, maybe you and I could draw together sometime." She offered nervously, "I-if you felt like it, of course."

"...Sure." He agreed, "That'd be nice." As the pair continued talking, both of them grew calmer, with Jax's tears having dried and his trembling dying down to a much less severe level. It wasn't long until both of them had nearly forgotten the abstraction scare that had led to the position they now found themselves in. It was as if everything around them had faded from their attention as they spoke, with them only focusing on one another. Eventually, Gangle pushed Jax back to look at his face once more, hoping to have calmed him enough to where they could discuss how to move forward with his abstraction. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, finding the static that had covered his head had vanished, the area it had inhabited showing no signs of any issues. "What?" He asked, a nervous look crossing his face, "Is something wrong?"

"No." She answered, a small smile spreading across her face despite the lack of her comedy mask, "Jax, y-you're ok!"

His eyes widened as he quickly looked down at his left arm, finding all traces of the neon eyes and darkness had disappeared. "Holy $#@^." He muttered, the loud censor sound effect startling the both of them. Gangle glanced down at his now abstraction-free arm, catching a glimpse of a dark red mark on his hand.

"What's wrong with your hand?" She asked, making a brief look of panic cross his face.

"Nothing." Jax answered, pulling his hand away and attempting to hide it from view, only for Gangle to grab his wrist and yank it back towards her, "H-hey!"

Ignoring his protests, she carefully pulled his glove off, gasping as she saw the crudely wrapped wound on his hand. "What happened?" She asked, looking up at him worriedly.

"I told you, nothing." He defended, wincing as she began to unwrap the gash.

"Clearly that's not true." She shot back, dropping the soiled rags and looking over the wound. She looked at him again as tears began to well in her eyes. "Jax, if something is wrong, there's better ways to manage it than-"

"Wha- No!" He interrupted, "I didn't do this on purpose, you moron."

"Th-then what happened?" She asked him earnestly, making him avert his gaze as a nervous expression settled on his face.

"I cut it when I was fixing your mask." He answered, "I grabbed one of the pieces too tight and it cut me through my glove." He glanced at back her, finding her looking at him suspiciously as she kept his hand in her grasp.

"I-I swear, you better be telling the truth." She said, a mixture of worry and anger in her voice, "If I find out you're-"

"Yes, yes, I'm telling the truth." He interrupted, rolling his eyes in annoyance. She stared at him with a sad expression, making his expression soften as he sighed. "Sorry... and thanks for being concerned, I guess."

"Do you have anything else to wrap this with?" She asked, making him begrudgingly reach into the pocket on his overalls and fish out a roll of bandages.

"I was gonna do this myself, y'know." He said as he handed the bandages to her, gritting his teeth in pain as she began to wrap the cloth around his injury.

"Why didn't you ask Caine to fix it?" Gangle asked as she carefully wrapped his hand.

"I figured he'd send us on an adventure that nearly killed us soon enough." Jax explained, "He would have fixed us all up after that, so I was just gonna wait."

"I don't think that's a good idea." She admitted as she finished wrapping his hand and giving him back his glove.

He chuckled as he slipped his glove back on, shooting the ribbon character a teasing look. "Oh, like you know what a good idea is."

"With how often you rope me into your ideas, you're sort of insulting yourself." She replied nervously.

"Did you... just joke back with me?" He asked with a surprised smile, making her pause in realization.

"Oh." She said, a shy smile spreading across her face, "I guess I did." The pair stared into each other's eyes in silence, simply enjoying one another's company as they relaxed into one another's touch.

It was only then did the realization of how they were sitting hit them, with Gangle's arms draped over Jax's shoulders as she straddled his lap, while his hands had come to rest on her waist, his fingers intertwining with a few of her ribbons. A blush broke out on both of their faces as they scrambled away from one another, staring at one another with a mixture of embarrassment and confusion. Gangle quickly climbed to her feet, her eyes directed towards the floor as she rubbed her arm awkwardly. "S-so, you're ok, right?" She stuttered.

"Yeah." He replied, his voice cracking before he cleared his throat, his eyes focusing on anything other than the girl in front of him, "Yeah, I'm ok." She nodded silently as she turned and began to head to the door, pulling it open and stepping back out into the hall. "H-hey, Gangle?" He called after her, making her pause as she turned to look at him. He smiled gently at her as he met her gaze, a prominent blush still on his face. "Thanks for checking on me."

She smiled back at him, tapping her hands together as she gently shook her head. "You don't have to thank me." She explained, "I'm just glad you're safe."

His smile faltered as he looked down at the floor, shuffling in place anxiously as he tried to calm his nerves. "You're a, uh... a good friend." He admitted, glancing up at her awkwardly.

Her smile softened as she watched him fidget in place, finding his nervousness at being genuine and kind oddly charming. "You are too." She replied, making his ears perk up as he snapped his head up in surprise. She closed the door behind her before turning and beginning to walk down the hall, a sense of calm washing over her after the roller coaster of emotions she and Jax had went through. She felt a flutter in her chest as she thought about how close the two of them had gotten, subconsciously placing her hands on the same spots Jax had rested his.

Back in his room, Jax laid on his bed, blankly staring up at the ceiling as he thought about what had happened. After he had begun to abstract, he was almost positive he wasn't going to make it. The last thing he had expected was for Gangle to check on him, and he was even more surprised that talking to her had calmed him down to the point of essentially saving his life. He thought back to everything the two of them talked about, placing a hand on his cheek where she had caressed him. He felt a flutter in his chest as he thought about the closeness they had, suddenly feeling cold without the warmth of her against him. He shook the thoughts from his head, not wanting to dwell on them at the moment. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't stop thinking about Gangle. Whether it was because he was grateful she saved him or worried about thinking of her as a friend or something else entirely, he couldn't decide. All he knew was that he wanted to see her again.

He really wanted to see her again.

Chapter Text

"Wakey wakey, Jax!" Caine's voice echoed from the other, making the rabbit groan as he was unwillingly pulled out of his sleep, "Everyone is waiting for you so we can start the next adventure!" Jax remained silent, turning over to face away from the door, hoping if he ignored the AI long enough he'd leave. "Jax, I know you're in there." He continued, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "You're keeping everyone from experiencing my grandest adventure yet, and it's making me... I mean, it's making THEM angry!"

"Go away, Caine." Jax mumbled in response, closing his eyes in hopes to go back to sleep.

"At least come out into the hall." The AI offered, "I can't summon you to the foyer if you're in your room."

"Guess you'll have to start the adventure without me." The rabbit said with a small chuckle. The other side of the door fell silent, much to Jax's relief, finally thinking the ringleader had given up. He sighed as he slowly relaxed back into his pillow, feeling sleep begin to tug at his mind once more. He felt a smile pull at his face at having successfully avoided Caine. He didn't know what Zooble was doing wrong to fail when they would try. Maybe he was just more convincing than they were.

"Daaiisyyy, Daiisyyy, give me your answer dooo!" Caine sang, making Jax's eyes snap open as his grin fell into a scowl.

"Right." He groaned, mentally cursing himself for forgetting about that detail.

"I'm haalf craazyyy, all for the looove of youuu!" The AI continued, the song quickly grating on Jax's nerves, "It won't be a stylish ma-" He squeezed his pillow around his head to try and drown out the song, though it proved utterly useless against Caine's voice. It was like his voice was being projected directly into the rabbit's head, only making it all the more annoying that Caine either only knew the chorus or knew that repeating just that part was more effective than singing the entire song. It didn't take long for Jax to abandon his plan to keep sleeping, quickly sitting up and clambering out of bed, clasping his hands over his ears to try and silence the AI's insentient singing. He rushed over to the door and threw it open, being met by the AI's cheerful expression as he continued to sing.

"Alright, alright, you win!" Jax complained, glaring at the floating character, "Just stop singing!"

"Wonderful!" Caine cheered, ceasing his melodic torture and zipping down to Jax's side, "Now let's go! Everyone is waiting for us!" He draped an arm over the rabbit's shoulders and shot off towards the circus' foyer, pulling Jax along for the ride at an unpleasant speed. After only a few seconds, the pair arrived at their destination, sending Jax to the ground after the abrupt stop and knocking the wind out of him. "I'll go gather the others so we can begin!"

"I thought they were already here." Jax growled, gasping as he finally pulled air back into his lungs and began to cough.

"Don't be silly, my ill behaved bunny." The ringleader laughed, "I just said they were waiting on you. I didn't say they were ready." Before Jax could protest further, Caine sped away, leaving the rabbit alone in the foyer with a new pain in his chest from the rough landing and a headache from having been woken up before he was ready.

"It's too early for this." He groaned as he climbed to his feet, shuffling over to the small furnished area and collapsing onto the couch. He laid his arm over his eyes to block out the fluorescent lighting above, groaning as the pain in his body began to subside. After nearly abstracting yesterday, the last thing he wanted to do was interact with anyone more than he had to, especially not on an adventure. In a perfect world he would have been allowed to spend a day or two rotting in his bed, maybe actually standing up and walking around if he had the energy to. Instead he was here. Laying on the couch in the foyer, silently hoping he wouldn't see anyone, as impossible as that may be.

"Are you feeling ok?" A familiar voice asked, though Jax wasn't sure if he was happy or annoyed to see her.

"Hello to you too, Gangle." He mumbled, peeking out from under his arm and locking eyes with her anxious expression, "Am I still being shunned, or am I allowed to antagonize Zooble into trying to kill me again?"

"Jax, I'm serious." Gangle insisted, taking a seat next to him and making him sit up straight.

"So am I." He replied casually, "The only problem I have is that Caine wouldn't let me sleep longer."

She looked at him with a mixture of shock and worry, tapping her hands together nervously as she inched closer to him. "Jax, you nearly abstracted." She said, "If I had showed up a few minutes later, you could have-"

"But I didn't." He interrupted, "I mean, I'm still here, aren't I? Can't see how there's anything else to worry about."

"So... that's it?" She asked, "You're just fine after all of that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jax asked, eyeing Gangle curiously.

"Jax... are you ok?" She asked again, "As rough as being ignored seemed to be for you, I don't think it was the sole reason for you nearly abstra-"

"I said I'm fine." He interrupted once more, "Just drop it, alright? You helped me calm down, and I appreciate that, but I don't need you to play shrink to figure out why I am the way I am." The pair fell silent, with Jax not wanting to continue the conversation and Gangle not being sure how to approach the topic without making the rabbit mad at her.

It wasn't long before the rest of the group entered the area, with Kinger having wandered in from where ever he had been, Pomni and Ragatha engaged in conversation, and Zooble being drug in by Caine similarly to how Jax had been earlier. "Wonderful! It's always nice to have the whole cast together!"

"Like we get a choice." Zooble grumbled as they climbed to their feet, dusting themselves off before pausing as they glanced at Jax and Gangle sitting together on the couch, "...What are you planning, Jax?"

"Wow, you've only been here ten seconds and you're already accusing me of something." Jax replied, a conceited smile spreading over his face, "Haven't I already suffered enough, Zoobie?"

"Never call me that again." They said with a glare, before turning their attention to Gangle, who looked back at them with a nervous smile, "Has he done anything?"

"N-no, I'm alright." She assured, though it did little to convince the abstract character as they shot a suspicious look towards Jax, who only smiled wider and gave them a wave in response.

"...If you say so." They acquiesced, taking a seat on Gangle's other side and keeping an eye on the rabbit.

Caine cleared his throat to refocus everyone's attention on him as he straightened his tie. "Now then, for today's adventure, you're all going to-"

"I'm sorry, Jax." Pomni blurted out suddenly, earning a confused look from the rabbit in response, "For, uh, what I said to you yesterday."

"You're still on that?" He asked with a snicker, "What, worried you hurt my feewings?"

"Well... kinda." The jester continued, "Gangle came back and said you wanted time alone, and I thought-"

"Ah yes, because wanting to be away from you freaks is just the absolute worst thing ever." He replied, making Pomni shrink in on herself sadly.

"We just want to make sure you're ok." Ragatha added, a frustrated look on her face.

"Considering I'm sitting here, sufficiently annoyed by the both of you, I'd say I'm around my baseline." He sniped back, his grin growing annoyed and strained.

"I didn't know we were playing softball again." Kinger chimed in, his comment seeming to go unnoticed, "I don't see any other bases, though."

"BE QUIET!" Caine yelled, making the group fall dead silent as they looked at him in shock, "Your squabbling is cutting into important adventuring time!" Pomni opened her mouth to reply, only for an angry glare from Caine to make her stop before she said anything. "I was going to make the explanation fun, but now I don't feel like it." He pouted, "Teams of two, you're following a map to be the first team to find buried treasure."

Gangle slowly sat up, looking towards the floor nervously as she wrung her hands together. "Could I-"

"You've all lost the privilege to choose your partners!" Caine yelled, interrupting the ribbon character and making her flinch at the aggressive reaction. "Ragatha with Kinger, Pomni with Zooble, Jax with Gangle. Now go." Before anyone could even prepare themselves to ask any questions, a trio of gloved, cartoon hands grabbed each pair, before zipping off in opposite directions. Jax and Gangle were soon dropped at the base of a mountain, the disembodied hand speeding away and leaving the pair with nothing but an old, paper map.

"Couldn't he use a door or something next time?" Jax asked rhetorically, climbing to his feet and dusting himself off. A soft whine pulled his attention towards the girl dragged along with him, finding Gangle staring down at her now broken comedy mask. "Huh... I think that's a new record for how quickly you've broken it."

"I knew I shouldn't have worn it today." She sniffled, sighing as she tossed the pieces to the side, "Gosh dang it."

"Wow, can't believe you'd say something so profane." He said as he rolled his eyes, grabbing some of the ribbons that made up her back and pulled her to her feet. She looked up at him with large, teary eyes, making his chest flutter for a reason he wasn't sure of. "...Alright, calm down. It's not that big a deal" He mumbled, awkwardly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry." She muttered, a taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, "Ok... I'm alright now."

"Good, now make yourself useful." He said as his grin returned, bending down and picking the map up off the ground before shoving it into Gangle's hands, "Figure out where we need to go." Unfolding the map, Gangle looked down at it in confusion, being met with a standard map of the area, with a small red X painted on an area that seemed to be a beach. There was no information of how far it was, which direction they had to go, or even where they had been dropped.

"I don't think this map will help us much." She revealed with a defeated tone, "Without knowing where we are, we won't even know which way we need to go."

"What about a mountain?" Jax asked.

"There's a lot around here." She continued, not looking up from the page, "Without more landmarks, we won't know which one we-"

"No, idiot." He interrupted, grabbing the top of her mask and forcing her to look in the direction he wanted, showing her a large mountain sitting fairly close by, "I'm saying we climb the mountain and we can see where we are."

"...That could work." She agreed, a small smile crossing her face.

"And people say I'm not helpful." He added, snatching the map out of her hands and stuffing it into the pocket on his overalls, "Now keep up, because I'm not carrying you." He had already started walking away by the time he finished talking, the sound of soft footsteps quickly rushing to catch up to him as the pair started on their way to the mountain. They walked in silence, making it to the mountain in a few minutes and soon beginning to make the hike towards the peak.

"Do you think the others are any closer to the end than we are?" Gangle asked, making Jax's ears shoot up as the silence was broken.

"Probably." He shrugged, "They were probably dropped in better locations."

"I hope it's fun, at least." She added, before the both of them fell silent once more. After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it to the peak of the mountain, both of them letting out a sigh of relief as they took the opportunity to rest. "Well, do you see any landmarks we could-"

The sound of paper tearing made her freeze, snapping her head in Jax's direction and finding him ripping the map into pieces and tossing them over the edge of a cliff, smiling as the shreds floated away in the wind. "JAX!?" She yelled, catching his attention as he continued to destroy the map.

"What?" He asked casually, snickering as she ran towards him in a desperate attempt to save the remains of the map. He held the pieces above his head, his smile widening as he watched the woman panic as she tried to grab the pieces, only for a look of horror to cross her face as he opened his hands and allowed the remains of the map to be blown away in the wind. "...Oops." He said, the large grin on his face making it abundantly clear that he didn't regret his actions in the slightest.

Gangle watched the map pieces flutter away, a miserable look on her face. Burying her face in her hands, she let out a few strangled screams before turning to the rabbit with a mix of confusion and disappointment on her face. "Wha... Why would you do that?" She asked dumbfounded.

"This whole adventure is dumb, and I didn't want to take part in it." He replied as he sat on the ground, leaning back on a log that seemed out of place for the top of a mountain, "Now neither of us have to." Gangle tried to protest his decision, though she was unable to actually push any words out, instead letting out a sad sigh as she turned and walked as far away as she could on the small peak. She dropped to the ground and pulled her legs into her chest, burying her face into them as she began to cry silently. "Really? You care that much?" Jax asked, rolling his eyes as he looked her way. His smile faltered as she remained quiet, a knot twisting in his stomach the longer he looked. "Fine, go ahead and mope." He said with forced indifference, forcing his attention back towards the view in front of him. He stared off into the distance, tapping his fingers on the ground as he fought to keep his mind off the crying character nearby. It wasn't his responsibility to keep her happy, why should he care in the slightest if she's sad again. She was always sad. Even if he hadn't destroyed the map, she would have probably been miserable when they lost the race to the treasure or-

"I'm sorry." He said, startling him just as much as it startled Gangle.

She peaked out at him, confusion etched on her face as she sniffled softly. "...you are?" She asked unsure, wiping away the tears that trailed down her face.

"Yeah." He replied with a sigh, resigning himself to be honest about the situation for once, "I'm sorry for destroying the map."

"Why?" She asked, relaxing her posture as she questioned him.

"I dunno." He admitted, "I just... feel bad, I guess." He stared down at the ground as he spoke, sliding his finger through the dirt to try an occupy his mind with something other than how awkward and confused he felt at the moment. Jax flinched as he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, glancing over to find that Gangle had moved to rest on the other end of the log from him.

"Well," She said, a small smile on her teary mask, "I accept your apology."

Now it was his turn to look dumbfounded. "Seriously?" He asked incredulously, "That's all it took?" She gave a short nod in response, making him pause in thought before a soft chuckle began to rock his body. "I figured you'd throw yourself into the circus' basement before you ever believed an apology from me."

"After our talk, yesterday, I've been more willing to look past some of your... antics." She admitted, earning a sharp laugh from the rabbit in response.

"You must be weirder than I thought." He teased, though it held a more playful air than his usual taunting did. Gangle felt her heat rise to her face at his comment, quickly directing her attention to the floor as she hoped the sudden blush would subside before he noticed. She stared at the ground in shock, silently wondering where on earth the flustered feeling could have come from. She always hated his teasing. At best she would just ignore it, focusing on her current projects or things she had done with her friends to not let him get under her skin. But flustered? That feeling wouldn't have crossed her mind as a possibility if you had given her a million guesses.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Jax asked suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts as she shifted her focus back to her companion.

"Huh? Tell anyone what?" She asked. 

"About me... y'know" He alluded, an nervous expression crossing his face at the thought of his near abstraction.

"O-oh, that." She answered in realization, "Well, I didn't think it was right to say anything without you saying it was ok." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she talked, nervous to say anything that might make him upset and ruin the tentative friendship she thought was forming.

"Well that was dumb." He interjected, earning a shocked look from the ribbon character, "Should have used it as a chance to mock me. It's what I would have done to one of you."

"Mock you?" She softly asked, "Jax, I'd never do something like that. I'm not-"

"Like me?" He finished for her, a weak smile on his face.

"-heartless." She corrected, her expression shifting into one of worry, "Are you sure you're ok?"

Jax stayed silent after the question, his vacant gaze locked downward as he picked at a loose thread on his pant leg. "Like I said before." He said, his voice cracking slightly as he turned his gaze to her, a smile on his face that contrasted with the tired look in his eyes, "I'm at my baseline."

Before Gangle could press any further, a loud buzz rang out through the air as the large cartoon hand reappeared and took the two of them in its grasp before zipping off and reemerging in the circus. It unceremoniously dropped the pair in a heap on the ground, both of them locking eyes and quickly clambering to their feet and stepping away from one another as they realized how close they were, a light blush dusting both of their faces.

"Congratulations to Kinger and Ragatha for being the first to locate the treasure!" Caine cheered, looking down at the doll and game piece pair as Ragatha struggled to get sand off of her dress while Kinger held a small, wooden chest over his head triumphantly. "The contents of the mighty chest are now yours for the taking!"

"Wow, real pirate treasure. I wonder what it could be!" Kinger beamed as he opened the chest, only for it to be filled to the brim with sand, which soon poured out onto the floor.

"I should have known." Ragatha groaned quietly as she ran her hands over her yarn hair, doing her best to remove the sand that had stuck itself to her.

"Is there an actual prize?" Zooble asked in annoyance as they struggled to untangle Pomni from a mess of vines she had somehow gotten stuck in.

"Are the friendships you made along the way not enough?" Caine asked, being met with silent looks of malcontent from his cast, "Alright, fine." He rolled his eyes as he snapped his fingers, producing a small notepad and pen, as well as summoning Bubble to his side. "Hand in your maps, and I'll let you all pick what food you want to be served at dinner."

"Our map?" Gangle asked, an anxious look crossing her face.

"Of course your maps." Caine replied, "The dotted line that shows what path you took is the only way I can confirm you all participated in the adventure!"

"O-Oh, well..." She mumbled, tapping her hands together as she glanced around nervously, "We kind of, uh, lo-"

"Oh, that old piece of junk you gave us?" Jax interrupted, "Yeah, I dropped it in a ravine I found."

Caine stared at the rabbit silently, blinking a few times before crossing his arms in disapproval. "Now why on earth would you do that? I worked hard designing them all!"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know we needed to keep them." Jax defended, his self satisfied grin having returned in full force.

"Well I'm sorry," The AI continued, "but without a map, I'm afraid you and Gangle won't be able to contribute to this evening's dinner spread."

"Oh no, it was all me." He clarified, "Gangle here did everything she could to stop me, but I just couldn't be stopped."

The AI turned to Gangle with a curious expression, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. "Gangle, is this true?" He asked, making a wave of panic wash over her.

She glanced at the rabbit standing next to her, being met with a confident grin as he shot her a wink, making the flutter in her chest return as she quickly averted her gaze. "U-um... yeah. That's what happened." She answered as she forced a smile on her face, though it was obvious to nearly everyone that it was laced with anxiety and uncertainty.

Caine stared at her intently, his eyes looking over every minute detail on her face. "Very well then!" He exclaimed suddenly, his cheerful and boisterous attitude returning in an instant, "Gangle, you may contribute to the dinner, but Jax, you may not."

"Aw dang." The rabbit replied, shaking his head in faux disappointment before shrugging, "Oh well, guess I'll go sit in my room and think about what I did." Resting his hands on his hips, Jax began to walk away from the group towards the hall, with Gangle watching him leave with small, thankful smile on her face.

"Very good, Jax!" Caine called after him, before turning his attention back to the group, "Now then, please give me your orders, and I'll have Bubble whip it all up in a jiffy!"

"I have a new set of knives that I've been just dying to try out." Bubble added, earning a concerned look from Caine.

"I can't believe we allow you in the kitchen." The ringleader said, a slight tone of horror in his voice.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Pomni whispered to Gangle, finally having been freed from the vine prison she had been stuck in.

"H-Huh?" She asked, being snapped out of the daze she had found herself in.

"With Jax." The jester clarified, "Was it just me, or was he actually being nice to you."

"O-oh, that." Gangle replied, "Yeah, I guess he was being kind of nice."

"I think he's plotting something." Zooble chimed in, joining the pair in their hushed conversation, "There's no way Jax would do something nice without an end goal."

"Maybe us ignoring him really did make a difference." Pomni suggested, "What do you think, Gangle?"

"I..." She began, feeling a swell of conflicting thoughts and emotions cloud her mind. On the one hand, he had been back to acting how he usually did, with his constant teasing and sabotaging adventures. On the other hand, he had been uncharacteristically nice today, almost friendly, even. "I don't know." She finally managed to answer, wringing her hands together nervously, "Maybe he's choosing to be nicer after everything that happened."

"I wouldn't hold your breath." Zooble retorted, "He's nothing but trouble."

"Maybe." Gangle relented, "But maybe he just needs help working through his problems."

"Pretty sure that list is a mile long." They replied, glancing at the jester next to them, "What about you, Pomni? You think bunny boy has any depth to him?"

Pomni fiddled with the buttons on her outfit, thinking back to the confrontation at the end of the gun fight a few days ago, an uneasy expression falling on her face. "Well, it's possible."

Chapter Text

Jax laid on his bed in silence, staring up at the ceiling through the darkness. He hadn't moved so much as a finger in hours, a vacant expression on his face as the darkness of his room enveloped him. He had been hoping being alone would have helped him settle his mind, but all it did was leave hm to drown in his thoughts instead. A feeling of static crept over his body, his breath catching in his throat as he turned onto his side, hoping it would make the feeling go away. He stared into space as he tried to ignore the feeling of dread that had settled in his mind, shivering as a sudden chill ran down his spine. The creak of a floorboard snapped his attention towards a dark corner of his room, his chest tightening as he waited for what would come next.

"Jax." A voice said, making his blood run cold as he shot up straight, staring towards the foot of his bed and being met with a familiar frog character looking back at him, "Was wondering when you'd notice me."

"What do you want, Ribbit?" He asked, staring at them blankly.

"What, I can't just see my friend?" She responded, taking a seat on the foot of the bed, "You're literally just down the hall from my room. I don't think I need more excuses than that."

"I said I wanted to be alone." He said, throwing his legs over the side the bed, "Caine's adventure was more annoying than even I could handle." He heard Ribbit laugh in response, shooting her a glare as she rolled their eyes at him.

"You and I both know nothing is more annoying than you are." She teased, hopping to her feet as a small.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Jax asked, a slight annoyance in his voice, making Ribbit's expression fall.

"Jax, I'm your friend." They said softly, "I know something is bothering you."

He rolled his eyes as a sour smile pulled at his face, "Wow, you figured that out all by yourself?"

"I'm not claiming to be able to help." She continued, "But I know rotting in your room isn't healthy." Jax's expression fell as he looked down towards the floor, his leg bouncing anxiously until a green hand was extended towards him. "Come on," Ribbit said, making him meet their eyes and finding a soft, caring smile on her face, "Kaufmo said he had new jokes to try out, and I refuse to suffer alone." Jax chuckled softly as he hung his head, sighing as an accepting smile crossed his face.

"Alright," He began, "I guess it couldn't hurt to-" He looked back up towards Ribbit, freezing as he stared into their eyes. He glanced between the pair of neon eyes, one pink and one blue, a feeling of panic beginning to course through his body.

"Come on dude, quit playing around." She chuckled, seemingly unaware of what was wrong, "Just take my hand and we'll go." Jax's breathing grew labored as he stood up, carefully stepping away from Ribbit as he struggled to keep himself calm.

"N-No, this isn't— you aren't real." He muttered, his throat getting dry as he looked around his room wildly.

"What are you talking about?" She asked in confusion, "Jax, what's wrong?"

He squeezed his eyes shut as his body trembled, nearly falling to his knees as he backed up towards the wall and leaned against it. "Y-You abstracted." He stuttered out, looking at his friend nervously as they slowly walked closer, "I saw it. Just... just get away from me!"

"Jax, I'm not leaving you here." She said, reaching a hand out once more, "You're not making any sense. No one is abstracting." She stood in front of the frightened rabbit anxiously, looking at him with concern, "Just take my hand and we'll figure this out, alright?"

Jax stared at them nervously, beginning to doubt if he was actually seeing what he thought he was. Hesitantly, he nodded and extended a trembling hand, pausing just before placing it in Ribbit's. He glanced up at them again, being met with a comforting smile as they urged him to continue. He felt the staticky feeling rush up his body, his ears beginning to ring and making him pull his hand back as he dropped to his knees and clutched his ears tightly. "No!" He yelled, pulling his ears aggressively and feeling pain course through his skull, "I know this isn't real!"

He shot up in bed in a panic, breathing heavily as he ran his hands over his body to check for anything that could be wrong with him. He whipped his head around the room wildly, the darkness around him only making his panic attack worsen, with every dark corner or oddly shaped shadow reminding him of the nightmare. He clambered out of bed, falling to the floor as his legs tangled in his sheets. Kicking them free, he ran towards the lightswitch and flicked it on, bathing the room in light and banishing the unsettling darkness. As soon as his room was illuminated, he felt a wave of relief wash over him, stumbling to his desk and collapsing into the chair.

He held his head in his hands as he continued to hyperventilate, his leg bouncing anxiously as he struggled to calm himself down. He shut his eyes tight as he took a deep breath, slamming his injured hand down onto the table and feeling pain shoot up through his arm. "@^%$!" He yelled, both in response to the pain and to having yet another panic attack. The pain thankfully grounded him enough to calm down, leaving him breathing heavy as the silence of his room surrounded him. Once sufficiently calm, he stood up from his chair and stretched his aching limbs. Glancing towards the clock on the wall, he groaned as he saw it was still the middle of the night, knowing it was unlikely he'd actually be able to get back to sleep.

He glanced towards his door, silently wondering if he'd be able to take a walk to clear. Making his way to the door, he opened it and peaked out into the hall, a chill running down his spine as he stared into the darkness. Closing the door once more, he returned to his bed and fell backwards into it, staring up at the ceiling in silently. He felt tears begin to well in his eyes, pulling himself up to lay in his bed properly before throwing an arm over his face as he took in a shaky breath. He wiped away the tears that trailed down his cheeks, only for fresh ones to replace them soon after. His body was wracked with silent sobs, the fur around his eyes becoming soaked with tears.

"Jax?" Someone called as they knocked on the door, making him yelp as he jumped, "I-It's Gangle and Zooble. We saw your light was on and we wanted to check on you."

"She wanted to check on you." Zooble corrected, "I came along to make sure you didn't do anything." The pair fell silent on the other side, with Jax silently hoping they'd just leave if he waited long enough. A sick feeling settled in his stomach at the idea, the though of being alone with his thoughts making him worry if he'd even make it until morning without abstracting. "We know you're in there, Bunny Boy." They continued from outside, "Lights automatically turn off if no one is in the room."

Taking a deep breath, Jax climbed to his feet and wiped his face with the back of his hands, trying to erase any sign that he'd been crying. He slowly trudged to the door and cracked it open, not even bothering to force a smile as he peeked out to the pair standing outside. "Do you need something?" He asked, his voice hoarse.

"Just, uh, checking on you." Gangle replied with a nervous smile, "You're never usually up this late."

"So what?" He asked flatly, looking between her and Zooble blankly.

"Dude," Zooble began, their usually annoyed expression being replaced with one of slight concern, "have you been... crying?"

Jax's eyes went wide, quickly rubbing his face in his hands to try hide what he had hoped wasn't going to obvious. "Wha— no!" He defended, pulling an unconvincing smile on to try and mask his feelings, "Me, crying? You must be more loony than Kinger."

"What's wrong?" Gangle asked, making his small fall as he glanced at her before quickly averting his gaze.

"...I had a nightmare." He admitted, "Couldn't get back to sleep."

"Do you... want to talk about it?" Zooble asked awkwardly, still not used to actually trying to help the annoying rabbit. He shook his head in response, his gaze still fixated anywhere but at the people at his door.

"Well... we're just down the hall if you need us." Gangle said with a smile, making Jax pause. The phrasing brought him back to the dream with Ribbit, the staticky feeling begin to creep up his back once again. He shook the memory from his mind and looked up at the pair at his door, finding they had turned and begun to leave.

"W-wait!" He called after them, panic evident in his voice. They looked back at him in confusion, watching as he tapped his fingers against the door and struggled to look either of them in the eye.

"Do you need something or are you just trying to be annoying?" Zooble asked, crossing their arms as they watched him silently stammer.

"Can, uh..." He began, feeling a slight blush rise to his face as he prepared to ask something he never thought he would have ever even considered. Swallowing his pride, he forced his eyes to focus on the pair, finding Gangle looking at him with a gentle, caring smile, while Zooble, despite their annoyance, didn't seem nearly as upset at being near him as they usually did. "Could you guys... stay here tonight?" He muttered out, a desperate look in his eyes, "I don't want to be alone tonight."

The pair looked at him in shock, staring at him like he had just asked them to help him hide a body. He felt shame and embarrassment begin to swell in his chest, quickly looking towards the floor a he shook his head, laughing weakly. "Ah, you know what, forget I asked." He quickly backtracked, "I should have figured neither of you would even consider that a good idea." He turned away and began to shut his door, only for Gangle to grab the door and pull it back open.

"S-sure, I'll stay." She agreed, much to Jax and Zooble's confusion.

"Wait, you're kidding, right?" Zooble asked their friend, "You're seriously going to trust him?"

"For once, I agree with Zooble." The rabbit added.

"Well, you wouldn't have asked if you weren't really struggling, right?" Gangle asked, looking at the rabbit curiously, "And if it was a prank, you would have been more confident, I think. So... yeah, I'll stay in your room tonight."

"Thanks." He said with a sheepish smile, pushing the door open more so she could enter.

She glanced back at Zooble, who was still staring at the scene completely dumbfounded. "He invited you too, Zooble." She said. After a moment, they huffed in annoyance and followed Gangle into the bunny's room, crossing their arms as they went.

"I'm only doing this to make sure he doesn't try anything." They said, shooting a suspicious glare at Jax.

"I'm hurt." He replied, a more relaxed and casual smile filling his face, "Even after all this time you don't trust me?"

They prepared to retort, already thinking of ways to get them and Gangle out of there, only for the look on Jax's face to make the words die in their throat. He was clearly stressed, almost panicked. He had deep bags under his eyes, his fur having been stained with tears. He didn't look mischievous or like he was planning anything. He actually looked thankful and calm now that they were there. "You've yet to prove me wrong." They eventually replied, a much more lighthearted and reserved response than what they would usually answer with.

"Let's all try to get some sleep." Gangle suggested, reaching up to flick the light switch off, only for Jax to grab her wrist and rip her hand away from it.

"NO!" He cried out, looking at her with panic in his eyes, making the ribbon character flinch back as she started at him in fear. After a moment, he seemed to snap back to the present moment, letting go of Gangle's wrist as he glanced between her and Zooble. "I-I'm sorry." He stuttered out quickly, "I didn't mean to... I don't know why-"

"Jax." Zooble interrupted, "Are you scared of the dark?" He fell quiet as he felt himself blush in embarrassment, scowling as he crossed his arms and turned his attention to the floor.

"It's ok, Jax." Gangle comforted softly, "We all have fears that others might think are strange."

"...I have my reasons, ok?" He defended, shooting a glare at Zooble as they stifled a laugh.

"Oh, I'm sure you do." They nodded, "But that doesn't mean I won't make fun of you for it."

"How about we just try to relax with the lights on?" Gangle suggested, nervously glancing between her friends as she sensed the start of a fight brewing. She moved Jax to sit down in his desk chair before she took a seat on his bed, with Zooble opting to lean against a nearby wall, "You feeling any better yet?"

"Yeah," Jax nodded, "a bit." He looked down at his hands as he tapped them against his legs rhythmically. He glanced at his hand through the hole in his glove, cringing as he saw the blood stained bandages that sat beneath it.

"What's up with your hand?" Zooble asked, looking over his shoulder at the wound.

"Long story." He mumbled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a roll of bandages before discarding his glove and beginning to undo the old wrappings. Zooble's eyes widened slightly as they saw how bad the gash in his hand was, glancing at Gangle in confusion as she hopped up and went to help Jax dress his wound.

"You knew about this?" They asked their ribbon friend, earning a nod as she tossed the old dressings into the trash can under the desk.

"It wasn't my place to say anything." She commented, looking up at Zooble with a small smile, "Could you help me with this?" With a small sigh, Zooble took the bandages from the desk and knelt down next to Gangle.

"I can do this myself." Jax protested.

"I don't believe you." Zooble replied, grabbing his arm tight and forcing it still, "Now stop moving or I'll make the cut bigger."

Jax rolled his eyes as he slumped in his chair, listening as Gangle chuckled at Zooble's threat as she began to wrap his hand. Still, even as humiliating it was to be in this position, he still preferred it over being alone for the night.

"You sure you don't want to talk about anything?" Gangle asked, looking up at the sullen rabbit, "We promise to keep whatever you say between us."

"Why should I believe Zooble would keep that promise?" He asked, earning a glare from the abstract character.

"Because unlike you, I respect people's privacy." They shot back.

"I'm serious, Jax." Gangle implored, "You don't have to be alone."

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as he looked away, weighing the idea of actually talking about what was bothering him. "...I'm alright." He replied, "Nothing I want to talk about right now."

"Alright," She replied as she finished bandaging his hand, "I won't force anything."

"Forcing it may be the only way to get him to say it." Zooble added with a teasing look in their eyes, "But I don't care enough to try right now."

"Remind me why you're even here, again?" Jax asked, locking eyes with them as they both narrowed their eyes at one another.

"Because you invited me, jack@!$." They answered.

"C-can you guys please not fight?" Gangle pleaded, making the pair break from their impromptu staring contest and look towards her, "I was hoping you two could get along at least a little bit."

"I'm not the one you have to worry about." Zooble defended, nodding towards Jax. Gangle stared at him with pleading eyes, making the strange fluttering sensation in his chest return.

He pushed her face away as he rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll be on my best behavior." He begrudgingly agreed, earning a smile from the ribbon character.

"Thank you." She replied, adjusting how she was sitting on the floor to get more comfortable, "So, if we aren't going to turn the lights off to sleep, what do you want to talk about?"