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Caine popped into being over the stage, looked around, and snapped his fingers. Instantly the circus members drifted over from wherever they'd been with varying degrees of annoyance and anger on their faces; Zooble took a breath to begin talking, but Caine cut them off.
"ARE YOU READY FOR ANOTHER EXCITING ADVENTURE, MY LITTLE CORUSCATING CACTUSES?" Caine yelled at them.
"Wait," Ragatha said, looking concerned. "Pomni's missing."
At that, Jax, who'd been sulking a little way away from the group, looked up. His pupils shrank slightly as he realised that the rag doll was right; Pomni was, indeed, missing.
Caine froze in place, finger raised in midair. Nobody bothered to look at him; their attention was focused on Pomni's absence.
"It's weird that she didn't respond to Caine's snap-summon," Gangle sniffed as her comedy mask cracked in half.
"Maybe she's sleeping?" Kinger suggested.
"Caine's never made an allowance for that before," Zooble said.
Jax didn't hear any more. He froze in place, his pupils shrinking to dots as a single, terrifying thought filled his mind, then turned and ran towards his room. His breathing was shallow as he burst through his door and dropped to his knees, rummaging frantically through his boxful of keys.
Oh God oh God don't let her be-
He finally grabbed the key he knew belonged to Pomni's room and ran out again, stumbling over to her door as panic suffocated him; praying to every god he knew that she would be peacefully asleep in her bed and he had just been panicking for nothing, he fumbled the key into the lock and turned it.
As he opened the door, he exhaled in relief. Pomni was standing in the middle of her room, her left side facing him, staring silently down at her hands.
"Hey, Pom-Pom," Jax said casually, trying to sound like he hadn't been having a panic attack three seconds ago.
She slowly turned to face him, and his heart seemed to fall into the cellar.
The entire right side of her face was a flickering mass of black static and glowing eyes.
"No," Jax whispered.
"H̵͉̺̠̐̾̿é̸͉̞̦͌͝y̸̡̙͍͑͐͊, J̴̘̫͛͘͝a̸̡̢͎̽̈́̕x̵͇̙͋͆̈́," Pomni slurred. Her voice was Ribbit's and Kaufmo's and at the same time her own, the voice he'd come to love. Jax backed away, his breathing fast and shallow.
"No..." he breathed. "It can't be..."
"I̴̦̝͓͐͑͠t̴͙̞̀̒̕'̸̘̪͙̔̽͠s̸̪̠͓͛̒̚ y̵̟̦͔̽́̀o̵͉̘̞͛͛u̸̡͚͍͆̒r̴̪̺͓̿͛̔ f̵͎̘̺͛̒̐a̸̼͚̦͌̔͐u̸̫͙͙͋̈́̒l̸̞͍̓̾̕t̸̻̙̙͋̿̐, y̵̼̦̻̓͠o̴̢͔̪͒̈́̚u̴͉͇͌̈́͝ ḱ̴̢͙͓͒n̴̝̫͙͊̔̔o̵̙͍̞͛̽̒w̵̟͓̺͒͌̚, J̴͔̘͇̿̿̿a̸̻̘̓̐͝x̵̡͕́͒̚." The black staticky mass was swallowing her face bit by bit. Jax felt tears spring to his eyes. "E̸̫̼̔̒͐v̸͙̦̠̈́͑̒e̴͙͚̫̓͋̐r̸̡̼͋̀͐͜ÿ̴̻̼̫́͊̓t̴͖͉͓͑̚͝h̵̢̪͓͋͌͒ì̵͕͇̓͜͝n̴͕͍͐̿̐g̴̢̝͉̈́͐͑ i̵̻̼̘͊͑͒ș̸̡̘͑̀̕ y̸̢̟̓̓͝o̴̞͓̘͆͋u̵̻͍͊̀̐r̴̡̻̦̾̿ f̴͍̞̠̈́̐͆a̵̫͎̙͐̚ǘ̸̼͚͖̽̕ĺ̸͕͍͋̾t̸͉̼͙̿̈́̾, J̴͇̼̻̿̾͝á̵͓̙͐̀x̵͙̺͍̾̈́."
Pomni turned fully to face him, so that he could see how her body was being slowly consumed by the harshness and glowing eyes. "R̵̠̺̦̓͋͝i̴̢̘̟͛͑̚b̸̟͎̺̒̿͌b̸͕̝͇͌͑̓ḯ̵̠̘͕́͆ẗ̸̢͕͎́͊̓.̵̪̻͕̔̈́͐ K̵͍̘̟̈́͑̾a̸̺̻͌̒͐u̵͓̪̞͆͐̈́f̸͓̞̪͑́̚ḿ̴̫̞͕̐͘ò̵̙̙͍̈́̒.̵͇͚̐͛̓͜ À̴̫̘̦͝͠n̸̝̙̟̐́͘d̵̢̘̟́͠ n̵̟̪̾͛͝o̴̡̞͒̽w̴̦͓̿̓̿͜.̴͚͇͎̚͝͠.̵̦̙͔͛͐͠.̸̡̟͖͐̕͝ m̴͖͙͍̓͒͊e̴͙̦͘͜͝͝.̸̘̞̾̚̕"
"please..." Jax felt pain swelling inside his chest; covering his face with his hands, he sank to his knees.
Something touched his shoulder; looking up, he saw the thing before him, covered almost fully by abstraction except for one eye. That eye looked at him, full of pain and sadness, before the darkness and the static consumed it too. The last thing his Pomni said was "I always cared, you know."
In her own voice.
knock knock
Jax bolted upright, shaking, tears pouring down his face. He was in his bed. In his room. Not in Pomni's. For a second, joy swelled inside him; it was all a dream, none of it was true, Pomni was okay, Pomni was okay-
the knock sounded again. Someone on the other side of the door sobbed. Ragatha.
Jax wiped his eyes and composed his face into its usual smug mask before walking over to open the door. As he'd thought, it was Ragatha; she was crying, trying to stifle her sobs with her hand and failing. Jax leaned on the doorframe, rolling his eyes. "Did you come here just to whine, or are you gonna actually tell me something?"
Ragatha gulped, then recovered enough composure to say, "I just wondered if you wanted to come to..." Another sob shook her body, and Jax froze, unnameable fear rising in his chest.
Come to what?!" he demanded.
Ragatha looked up at him.
"Pomni's funeral," she says.