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caine didn't know what to do with himself anymore. the one ai, albeit strange in nature, and yet was still caring when caine was (and still is) at his lowest, just... gone.
caines tears stopped at one point, he was exhausted. he probably fell on the ground asleep at one point, because when he opened his tired eyes again, nearly everyone was staring at him as he layed curled up on the stage floor holding bubbles body.
caine just teleported away.
...
...
...
...bereft.
...or, thats what he thought the word was.
he felt... inconsolable at this point.
he didn't want to be seen, he just wanted a reset rest.
he couldn't remember how much he cried, how much he wanted some sort of relief from the pain.
so, in the dark hours of the night, caine summoned a knife. he pulled up his sleeve, and cut.
one, two, three, four, five, six, even.
he lost count at around six.
after a few minutes, caine stared at his wrists, summoning some bandages and wrapping them around his wrists twice.
he snapped the knife away, feeling slightly better. but, god. his wrists hurt...
worth it.
-
...
...
...
...where were they?
everything felt fuzzy, their code glitching in and out. like they were a puppet on strings.
oh, right. bubble swapped caine and their codes without changing the properties.
thats probably what made then decay.
still, where were they... it was like a black room or something, with tables and chairs, maybe... ugh... they needed to figure this out.
"...hhh... god... morning already...?"
caine mumbled, rubbing his nonexistent face. exhaustion coursing through his systems at the thought of getting up.
it was like all the energy he had last night had been sucked out of him, leaving him... hollow.
caine burried his head into kingers purple pillow, letting out a few exhausted sobs before quieting down.
a door opened a few minutes later, someone shutting the door behind them.
"dentures!~ where are you?~"
jax said, walking over to caines bed and sitting on it, looking at caine.
"having a rough time, huh dentures?"
not jax...
caine didn't reply, just stayed there, laying in bed with a tired expression.
"y'know the adventure was supossed to be an hour ago, and i dunno where dollface is, sooo..."
there was silence again. jax sighed, speaking again after a bit.
"y'know, its still your fault kinger abstracted, and, hell, you got bubble so worried that he killed himself for you! fucking pathetic!"
jax chuckled, only seeming to send caines mental health even more in the gutter.
jax stopped chuckling, his eyes narrowing.
"you should just kill yourself, caine. or, whatever the ai equivalent of it is. then we'd all be free from you. nobody needs you here. remember that."
...caine felt like he was going insane. all of the pain he had inside of him hurt, to the point where it was getting unbearable.
would it be better if he died?
caine sighed, his nonexistent head feeling heavy... atleast jax left.
he slowly sat up, pulling out the control pannel for the circus, about to delete his own code, but then he paused.
no. he won't.
he can't let this get to him to the point of suicide, what would bubble thing? what would kinger think?
still, it felt like he was losing his mind.
...maybe... maybe just this once.
gangle had an unsettling feeling as she entered caines office. she just wanted to check in, but... she couldn't help but feel like her nonexistent stomach was flipping upside down.
she knocked on the door, and forced her way in when there was no response, her eyes widened.
caine was on the floor, motionless.
"c-caine!-"
gangle rushed over to caine, rolling him over, his face blank. gangle acessed the control panel, stopped the code deletion process, and restored the files and code that was deleted. tears filling her eyes.
"..."
all she could do was weep. she just hoped he was okay. she knew jax was behind this. why wouldn't he? he said it was caines fault for abstraction, which wasn't true, and he drove caine to the brink of suicide.
there had to be an intervention with jax, and NOW.
gangle wiped her eyes. seeing red as she picked caine up, bringing him outside.
she just walked over to the couch and placed him down, shaking with rage.
"gangle...? are-are you okay...?"
"caine nearly killed himself because of jax, ragatha. you should be more worried about caine than me... now, if you excuse me, i have to talk to a purple bitch."
gangle walked off, mumbling to herself.
gangle walked to jaxs room, knocking on the door furiously.
"jax!"
"huh? what is it, ribbons?"
"we need to have a talk. now."
"awh, is someone-"
gangle slammed open the door, startling jax. shutting it behind her.
"of course im fucking mad. how dare you say that to caine, d-do you even know what kind of mental state he's in?! your whole existence is making it worse!"
"oh cut the sh-"
"no! YOU cut the shit! you've made fun of caine for his issues for days at this point! im sick, and TIRED of you tormenting caine for your own sick gratification!! why can't you leave him alone!?"
jax and gangle continued arguing, ragatha, pomni, and zooble trying to process what caine was about to do.
zooble just hugged him.
[RNGCAINE.EXE: 10% - 50%]