Chapter Text
The tent feels wrong when they get back.
Too quiet, too big.
The kind of quiet that does not soothe, but waits.
The lights are low and uneven, casting long, tired shadows across the floor, and no one rushes to fill the space with noise the way they usually do. Everyone looks hollowed out, like something essential was scooped from their chests and never put back.
they stand on the checked floor, defeated.
Jax does not lean. He does not lounge.
He stands near one of the support poles because that is where he stopped, shoulders loose but heavy, ears hanging lower than usual. His hands are shoved into his pockets, fingers flexing like they do not know what to do with themselves.
For once, he is not smiling.
Shocker.
---
Zooble is the first to speak. Their voice cuts clean through the silence, sharp but exhausted.
“So.”
Jax lifts his eyes without lifting his head.
“That’s it,” Zooble says. “That’s all you’ve got.”
Ragatha shifts uncomfortably. She looks like she wants to intervene before things turn ugly, but she is so visibly shaken that even standing feels like effort.
“Zooble,” she says quietly. “Maybe we should all just get some rest.”
Zooble does not look at her. Their gaze is locked on Jax.
“He pressed the button.”
The word button lands like a dropped object. There is no emotion behind their words. It is cold, raw, unsettling.
Jax exhales through his nose. His voice lacks effort.
“I know what I pressed.”
Cockiness is there, sure, but his words lack the usual sarcasm.
“You knew what it meant,” Zooble says, their anger rising. “You thought… you thought it was real. We all did. And- you still chose it.”
There is no accusation in their voice anymore. Just disbelief.
Jax’s shoulders tense. Not defensively. Tiredly.
“Jeez, I don’t need a recap. You think I don’t know that?”
He scoffs.
Pomni stands a little apart from the group, arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes flick between them, wide and glassy, bug-like.
“Jax,” she says softly. “Why... Why did you press it?"
She stutters slightly, more of a question than an accusation.
Zooble could learn a thing or two.
He flinches. It is small, barely there, but it happens. He looks away instead of answering, jaw tightening.
The cockiness creeps into his voice not as performance, but as habit.
“Sheesh, Guess I wasn’t feeling heroic.”
Zooble scoffs. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Nah,” Jax says, sharper than before. “You’re just not listening.” His ear flicks, sarcasm dripping from his words, again.
Ragatha steps forward half a step, hands raised slightly like she is trying to calm something skittish rising within her.
“Hey. We’re all on edge. Let’s not tear into each other tonight. We… we should all get some rest, right?"
The words are not coming to her as easily.
The room is awkward, and Ragatha feels it.
She steps back, defeated.
Zooble’s voice cracks just a little.
“Are you… are you kidding me?! He almost erased our ONE chance to get out of this place, Whether it was fake or not doesn’t matter!"
Zooble audibly huffs
Gangle glances at Zoobles distraught expression, her mouth opening.
"what if it was real, Gangle."
Their voice is low, and Gangle closes her mouth.
Zooble scoffs, regaining composure.
"He was willing to let us all- all disappear for his selfishness!”
Zooble is livid now
they bang their fists against a digital pillar. The others glance to the floor, not out of shame, out of understanding.
Their screams ring out amongst the empty circus, the checkered floors seeming to bounce out of place.
Gangle whimpers softly behind them, that makes Zooble shrink.
"Sorry" they mumble, distraught at their own reckless behaviour.
Jax’s fingers curl in his pockets.
Disappear.
The word pulls at something buried. Faces fading. Voices that stopped responding, Laughter that went quiet and stayed that way.
Purple paint peeling at the edges. A grin stretched too wide until it became raw and un-nerving. A frog-shaped silhouette that used to sit beside him.
Maybe if you showed me you cared, I would’ve stayed longer.
he shudders.
pathetic
“You seriously think I don’t understand that?” Jax says after a moment of silence. His voice is low now, stripped of its usual bite. “You think I don’t know what it would’ve done? Jeez, Zooble, Get a grip. Maybe I’m not the one losing it here after all.” He smirks.
scoffing once, his facade comes tumbling back into place. The initial shock rolls off him, Mr. Sarcastic Dipshit is back.
Great.
“Then- then why?” Pomni asks again, cutting a clearly irritated Zooble off.
She's clearly confused on why he wouldn't want to leave.
She's mad, but there is something else there too. An attempt to understand. Almost.
Jax has never been able to tell if she hates him or merely tolerates him. Never figured her out, doesn't plan to.
For a moment, it looks like he might actually answer. His mouth opens, then closes.
Because the truth sits too close to their digital, hollow bones.
Because saying he truly has no one to go back to is pathetic, even in his own head.
Because saying I truly hate all of you, but who else do I really have? feels like handing someone a weapon and hoping they don't use it.
It is pathetic. Really. he's not going to sugarcoat it.
Jesus, he hates these losers, but they are better than being alone out there.
So he does the only thing he knows how to do when honesty feels pathetic.
He shrugs.
Not exaggerated. Not theatrical. Just tired.
“yeah, don't know,” he says in a playful, mocking tone.
“Because leaving doesn’t magically fix things? Because I knew it was fake all along? Take a wild guess.”
It is a terrible one-liner. It barely makes sense.
God, he is pathetic.
Jesus christ. Pathetic.
Zooble frowns. "I can smell a lie even without a nose, Jax. After your little tantrum with Caine, I'm pretty sure we can all assume you thought the same thing we did.
"you just wanted to be an even bigger a**hole."
Jax's eyebrow raises. He knew that lie wouldn't cover him for long.
stupid.
Zooble stares at him after a good minute of silence.
“So, that’s just- it?” They stomp a foot, antennae shaking with fury.
Jax meets their eyes. There is no grin, no mockery, Just something raw and frayed.
“Yeah, That’s it.”
Ragatha’s expression softens, and that hurts more than anger ever could.
“listen,” she says gently, “we all want out. Even if we’re scared. You don’t get to decide that for everyone.”
Zooble scoffs.
“I didn’t decide anything,” he snaps, then exhales, running a hand across his ears. “I reacted. Same as everyone else.”
“That’s not true." Zooble snaps back. “We- we were still deciding!! Actually,, no, scratch that. We had made up our minds! It was just Pomni that froze up!
Zooble turned to a speechless Pomni.
"Speaking of which, what even... what was that?!”
The blame had shifted, Jax sighed a breathe of relief.
for now at least.
Gangle steps forward, resting the tip of her ribbon gently against Zooble’s wing piece. They couldn't feel it, but the thought is enough to calm them. Regret dawns on their face.
They look at Pomni, a silent apology written in their eyes, they knew Pomni had good intentions, she always does.
Silence settles again, heavier than before.
Pomni turns tense, guilt washing over her as she avoids Zooble’s gaze.
No one moves closer.
Jax feels the distance like a physical thing. Dimly, he realizes this is how it always happens. The moment people decide he is too much effort.
Ribbit had stayed once, Kaufmo too.
Until—
He shakes his head.
Zooble turns away first. “I’m done,” they say, pressing a mismatched hand to the bridge of their nonexistent nose.
“I don’t have the energy for this. Not after today.”
Ragatha hesitates, looking between Jax and the others. She opens her mouth, then closes it.
“We should all rest,” she repeats, quieter now.
“We’ll… talk later.”
Later never comes, and Jax knows it.
His fingers become cold.
Hands in pockets.
---
They leave in small groups. Ragatha gently shepherds Kinger toward his pillow fort as he rambles about nonsense. Zooble walks beside Gangle, tension easing almost immediately. Gangle smiles faintly, lifting her head before quickening her pace, finding comfort in each other.
Murmured voices overlap softly, shared exhaustion finding shared comfort.
All except one.
Pomni lingers at the edge of the tent. She looks back.
Jax stands exactly where he was left, hands still in his pockets, ears drooping now with no effort to fix them. He looks smaller somehow. Not physically. Existentially.
Their eyes meet. Something passes over Pomni’s face, recognition, anger, worry. He cannot tell which. His ears lift slightly.
Then someone calls her name, and she turns and goes. Jax’s ears fall flat again.
The tent empties. The lights hum on, dim and violet.
Jax stays standing long after the footsteps fade, surrounded by too much space and not enough air. His chest feels tight, thoughts looping in slow, painful circles, Bile rises in his throat.
Too painful.
Make it stop.
They all have someone to walk with.
He does not.