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"-Uh, I guess this is it. W-We're leaving the circus..."
Ragatha said, while she takes hands of the others circus's members.
Jax saw when Pomni ofered her hand to him, but he decided to turn his face away, crossing his arms.
The hallway is long, and it was hard to believe that they're really about to leave the circus.
Finally.
"A-Are... Are we still gonna be friends when we're...out there?"
Gangle asked to Zooble, with her usual sad tone.
"Why wouldn't we be?" Zooble answered.
"It's just... gonna be strange...I've only known you like this. Will it be the same when it's...real?"
"It always was real. Everything we felt. Everything we've done. Everything we are. It'll never leave us. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
Them replied softly.
"Thank you... for always being there when I needed."
She replied, touched by their support. Her usual sad tone still there but now she sounds more calm.
Jax was behind the other circus members, hearing the conversation.
Or at least he was trying to, cause everything felt like too much for him.
His breathing was fast, at this point almost like a panting, but he continued walking behind the others.
They finally arrived to the main door, it opened automatically.
Pomni turned on the machine to get out the circus, and two bottons appeared.
with the instructions in the screen...
"The red button will close the console, and keep all players inside the circus.
The blue botton will end the game and disconect all the players"
It was a simple desition, they just had to press the blue button and everything will come back to the normality of their lifes outside the circus.
"Uh, Kinger. Do you want to make the choice?"
Pomni added quickly
"The choice of what?" Kinger replied, he probably didnt even know what's happening.
"Uh, are you sure he's all the way h-here?" Ragatha said, trying to sound calm but failing.
"Uh, hey. Yeah, wait. Don't we all want to press "leave"? Why leave it up to him?" Zooble replied, defensive edge in their voice.
Pomni was trying to explain herself while stoping Kinger to press the buttons.
The tension growed in the air.
Jax started to pannicking.
The images of his life back at the circus started to reflect in his mind.
He didn't even noticed that he started to hyperventilate.
too noisy, it was too noisy.
He have nothing back at his normal life, why would he come back?
He was too inmersed in his thoughts
What if
What if-
His legs started to move before he could even think, He doesn't even remember pushing Zooble, but he did.
His objetive now is the damn red button.
He have to press it.
He was already in front of the monitor with the buttons, but before his fist could hit the red button-
"JAX"
Pomni yelled his name
He hadn't noticed that Ragatha had stopped him a few centimeters away from the buttons, grabbing his arm tightly.
"What were you going to do? Jax, you have to breathe, just-" Pomni said, trying to hide her worry and anxious about the exit in her voice.
"Pomni, just press the damn button" Zooble said again, sounding more angry this time.
"I-" Pomni tried to defend herself, giving another excuse.
"Lets all calm down, ok?" Ragatha tried to make the tension in the air dissapear.
Jax wasn't even listening anymore, he was just standing there. Looking at the buttons.
His breathing remained irregular. Before those memories could consume him, Pomni's voice, once again and this time alongside Ragatha, snapped him out.
"Jax. Breathe"
Ragatha pulled Jax some steps away the console, it's like she suspected of the intentions he had to press the red button.
"We are here, Jax, we are going to leave.
Look at us-Look around, we are together in this, all of us"
Jax isn't good figuring out his own emotions.
But he felt trust
Hope
Maybe, they could leave and the things...aren't going to be bad like he think, right?
He could hear Zooble and Ragatha telling Pomni to press the blue button.
"Pomni"
"Press the blue button"
Jax spoke, his voice shaking a bit.
Pomni looked at him, then a Ragatha, and the others.
Maybe this is the right desicion.
Whatever it's waiting outside there, they will face it together.
Pomni turned around, facing the buttons this time.
And with no hesitation this time, she pressed it.
The blue button.
Their way to leave.
---------------------------------------------------------
By the time she pressed it, they all were waiting for something to happen.
whatever, just something that would tell them that theyre leaving.
nothing happened.
"P-Pomni, you sure you pressed it right?" Gangle whispered, her voice sounding more sad and shaking.
"I pressed it" Pomni answered, pressing it again, but nothing happened.
Jax was going to say something, but an stupid sound called their attention back to the console.
WHOMP-WHOMP!
The console didnt looked like a console anymore, its parted, like curtains, and slowly opening, filled the room with white light.
And there is Caine.
"WELL, HELLO AGAIN, my little cattywampus cucumbers!, you picked the BAD ENDING!
Where you all decided to leave the circus!"
"You... you mean this was all..."
"AN ADVENTURE! Yes! And one I've been cooking up for a good long while!" Caine shout, interrumpting Pomni.
So this was all fake?
The Abel history?
The keys?
The whole plan?
The exit?
"Im deeply disappointed 'cause you choose the exit over staying here! But don't worry, mistakes can happen. I'll take you all back to the circus and I hope y'all noticed how MY ADVENTURES ARE BETTER THAN THAT PESKY OLD MACROVERSE, or whatever we decided to call it!" How can Caine sound that excited and happy while the memebers of the circus are shocked?
"I was right?"
Jax said, at first as a whisper.
"I can't believe I was RIGHT!!!"
He completely lost it, after saying it. All he could do was laughing maniatically.
He wasn't really interested in searching an actual exit
and the first time he actually tried to search and help to find an exit
this happen.
After some other short conversation between Caine, Bubble and the others.
Jax was still laughing, now in tears, standing up. And he slamm his fists on the console in a fit of rage.
Cause, damn he was right.
Why would he felt the necessity of press the red button suddenly?
Why would he even remember things of his real life that he didn't remembered before just in that moment?
It's like if somebody got inside his mind for a moment an-
"You dirty liar! You scumbag! You... you made me... you got in my head, you just... you just lie about everything, don't you?!"
Jax yelled at Caine, his voice shaking with rage and desperation.
"I- uh..huh?" was everything that Caine spoke.
"You can mess with minds, too, can't you?! The Stupid Sauce, the Vegan thing- god knows what else!"
Everything Jax said started to make sense.
"Our names?..." Pomni whispered, looking at Caine with complete distrust.
"Now, now, hold on guys! Wait, wait, wait! I MAY have the ability to add temporary modifiers to make adventures more interesting, but that's it! If I did any more... trust me. It would not end well." But Caine sounded more distrustful.
Of course. He's an AI, they are terrible liars.
"Scratch. The first abstraction..."
Kinger finally talk, like if he was remembering even with the room filled with light.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! I didn't say anything like that! Come on, guys! You know I'm just here to have fun! I..."
But everyone looked shocked and furious at Caine
"Uh... Questioning's over! NOW BACK TO THE CIRCUS"
He snapped his fingers and theyre all back to the circus.
again.
Caine talked about other stuff, but everyone are too busy in their own minds to listen to him.
Jax didn't waited.
He turned back and started walking to his dorm.