Chapter Text
On another one of Caine's adventures, an ancient temple maze, rumoured to be filled with booby traps and faux treasure, the group navigated crumbling stone corridors until they arrived at a forked path. Two grand archways stood before them.
The left arch was draped in comically innocent welcome banners, with cartoon flowers plastered over the stone. The right was a study in ominous warning: jagged cobwebs hung like torn shrouds, and the walls were gouged with symbols of peril. A brass plate on the wall between them read: "CHOOSE A PATH. ONCE YOUR PARTY COMMENCES, THE ARCHWAYS SHALL SEAL."
Before anyone could debate, Jax’s signature grin stretched wide. In one fluid motion, he scooped a squawking Pomni off her feet. "Hey!" she yelped, limbs flailing in surprise. He held her firm, his long fingers wrapping around her torso as he pivoted toward the dark arch.
"Oh no, Pomni!" Jax drawled, his voice dripping with theatrical dread. "What are you doing?! I don't think we should go this way!"
"Jax, put her down!" Ragatha snapped, stepping forward. She recoiled instantly as a centipede the size of her arm scuttled across her path, its many legs clicking on the stone.
"What? I'm not doing anything," Jax said innocently. And with that, he shoved Pomni past the threshold of the dark archway.
The moment her feet hit the floor on the other side, a deep rumble shook the ground. A massive stone slab slammed down from the ceiling, sealing the arch with a deafening THUD that left the others' shouts muffled and distant.
Pomni’s eye twitched, irritation warring with a spike of genuine fear. "Why—why would you do that?!" Her voice trembled as spooky, echoing drips filled the new tunnel.
Jax just shrugged, his yellow eyes gleaming in the dim light as he started walking. "Eh, they were obviously gonna choose the boring path. This one's way more exciting." He glanced back at her. "Plus, the noise you made was hilarious."
Pomni scrambled to her feet, dusting off her jester outfit. "Right," she frowned, then met his gaze with a surge of defiance. "Well, if you wanted to pair off, you could have just asked."
"Where's the fun in that?" Jax’s grin twitched. "Besides, I knew you wouldn't say no."
Pomni rolled her eyes, but a flicker of a smile almost betrayed her. The hall was lit by sputtering torches, their light barely reaching the oppressive darkness at the far end. The walls were covered in strange carvings, depictions of past adventures with faces she recognised from the doors in their living quarters. The abstracted.
She noticed Jax staring intently at the floor. Following his gaze, she saw the tiles were a mosaic of odd patterns, some crooked or slightly raised. A knot of anxiety tightened in her stomach. She hurried to walk beside him, and just as his foot hovered over a misaligned tile, she grabbed his arm.
"Don't—!"
CLICK.
The corridor plunged into absolute darkness. The only sound was the grinding shift of tiles and falling rubble around them.
"Scared of the dark, Pom-Pom?" Jax’s voice teased from the blackness, his yellow eyes seeming to float in the void. "I'll let you hold my hand if you ask real nice."
She grit her teeth, her heart hammering against her ribs. The grinding grew louder, closer. Then, with a collective fwoosh, the torches relit all at once, momentarily blinding them. The corridor had transformed. It was now a gauntlet of traps: pressure plates, swinging axes, and poison-tipped dart launchers, all poised and ready.
Instead of formulating a plan, Jax whooped with delight. He took a running leap over a tripwire, landing perfectly before vaulting over a pit of spikes. He moved with a chaotic grace, dodging every trap as if it were a dance.
Pomni was right behind him, fueled by pure adrenaline. She ducked under a volley of arrows, scrambled across a collapsing floor, and slid under a massive, swinging log. She wasn't graceful; she was a frantic, flailing mess of survival. When she finally stumbled to the end of the hall, chest heaving, a breathless, hysterical laugh escaped her lips.
He grinned down at her, ruffling her jester hat. "See? Wasn't that fun?"
Pomni shook her head, batting his hand away, a genuine smile finally breaking through."Are you crazy?!" she finally gasped.
They now stood in a circular chamber with a single, ornate door on the far side.
"It's all just ones and zeroes, Pomni. What’s the worst that could-"
With a comical, flailing yelp, the floor beneath him gave way. Jax vanished with a sickeningly soft thump into the darkness below.
Pomni’s breath hitched. "JAX!"
She shrieked, abandoning all caution. She ripped a torch from its wall sconce and slid down the crumbled edge of the pit, her gloved hands slipping on the rough, waxy surface. She landed in a heap beside him. "$?!%! Oh F@$%! Jax!"
He was lying on his back, impaled on a single, massive spike that had pierced straight through his torso. His eyes were half-lidded, his long ears drooping in the torchlight. He let out a pained, digitised groan.
"This is it for me, Pomni…" he rasped, his voice a low, theatrical whisper. "May as well just admit it… You're in love with me…"
Something inside Pomni snapped. The frantic panic curdled into a white-hot, incredulous rage. Her fists clenched.
"I get that you flirt with me all the time and it's 'funny' or whatever," she spat, her voice cracking as tears of pure frustration welled in her eyes. "But you're doing that now?! What are you trying to do to my head? You think I have a little crush on you? Well, for however long we're stuck here... FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, DROP IT, YOU FREAK!"
The last word echoed in the vast space. Pomni was breathing heavily, staring down at him, still, eyes closed, she reached over to hold his face when Jax’s eyes shot open. They were wide, bright, and full of unholy glee. She flinched back in surprise, confusion contorting her pale features.
With a wet, comical SCHLICK, he sat straight up, pulling his torso clean off the spike. There was no blood. No wound. No hole. " Sike! ” He winked, poking his unscathed abdomen
The world dissolved around them into a cacophony of pixels, teleporting them back to the familiar, garish chaos of the circus tent. the otheres must have completed the adventure. Jax stood beside her, stretching his long arms with a satisfied groan, as if he’d just woken from a refreshing nap. Pomni, however, remained rigid.
She spun on him, tears of earlier frustration now simmering into something sharper. “What was that back there? You -”
“Died?” He arched a brow, the motion almost dismissive, but his hands flexed at his sides. “Pomni, I told you. nothing here is real. You know that.”
Her voice cracked. “We are real Jax! I mean, seriously, you - I thought -”
“I know what you thought.” For a heartbeat, his voice dropped to something uncharacteristically flat.
His grin twisted, pupils growing wide." hew boy-i mean You cried an’ everything. I have to say, I’m a little touched. For a second there, I thought you were actually going to try and give me mouth-to-mouth.”
The image sent a fresh wave of hot shame through her. She wanted to hit him, to scream, to do something to wipe that smug look off his face.
" CONGRATULATIONS, MY TACTICAL TEMPLE RUNNERS "