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Ragatha found herself stumbling aimlessly around a hall of mirrors.
She didn’t really recall how she’d ended up there, but there she was.
Completely alone.
After the whole ‘Abel’ mess, that was a given.
…how long had it been since then, anyways? Days? Weeks?
Did it even matter at this point?
She was at least able to recall what happened immediately after Caine left them in the console room. Zooble’s first instinct was to throw themselves onto Jax and savagely attack him. While it was true everything they did would be for nothing either way, he’d shown himself to be willing to keep them all trapped in the Circus forever, and that was something no words or even any action on his part could ever undo.
That, and with Caine disappearing as quickly as he showed himself, Zooble had to take the rage and betrayal surging through every fiber of their being out on something. Or in this instance, someone.
—
"[!@#%]ING SACK OF [#!$%^]!! [#$%!]ING MOTHER[%!#@$]ER!!"
"ZOOBLE, GET OFF HIM!!"
"ZOOBLE, ZOOBLE STOP PLEASE!!"
—
Despite what he’d just done, Pomni and Gangle knew this wasn’t going to solve anything. And so, they fought to pull Zooble off Jax, the mix-and-match toy’s fury emboldening them with a strength neither of them were prepared to contend against.
Ragatha remembered just… standing there. Not doing anything to aid Pomni and Gangle. Not speaking. Not even joining in on the beating.
By the time Zooble was finished, they’d left Jax in perhaps the sorriest state anyone had ever seen him in physically. All but one of his teeth had been knocked out, circling his battered, bruise-covered face in an erratic pattern as he lay on the floor, limbs bent and twisted to wince-inducing degrees. His pupils took on the appearance of dazed swirls, with the detail of stars floating over his head and even the sound of birds chirping for good measure.
It didn’t make Zooble feel any better. Not that they expected it to.
After that? Well… that was a million-dollar question if there ever was one.
No one had any clue on what to do, if they could do anything, or if they even should do anything. Caine had all but vanished, and while that would’ve been a relief in any other circumstance, it only left them to grapple with everything they knew about their reality - and perhaps even each other - being completely and utterly shattered.
Was she worried about them? Of course! But she didn’t know what help she could possibly be of when she couldn’t even help herself.
Her heart was pounding like a brass drum as she tried in vain to make sense of everything. She was hyperventilating to the point where her breath was starting to cloud up the mirrors a bit as they seemed to close in on her.
Each one she bumped into displayed more and more distorted reflections of her. Her limbs became elongated and crooked. Her mouth was warped into a painful, permanent smile. Her eyes drooped, as if they were about to melt off her face.
She was rapidly losing sight of any lingering bit of humanity she might have had left.
It was all too much to bear. Ragatha fell to her knees and wept profusely.
Who was she anymore? What did she - what did anyone, from the ones still standing to all who’d succumbed - do to deserve this hell?
What was even real?
Was she ever even real?
And then… she took a moment to truly register her reflections.
For the first time since that day when she allowed herself to hope, Ragatha knew one thing for sure.
This was who she was. And in this world, it was all she’d ever be.
Her wails died down and became a soft chuckle.
And that chuckle grew into hysterical laughter.
She clutched both ends of her hair with each hand, and proceeded to spin around wildly in a manner not dissimilar to that of an amateur ballerina. Ragatha could feel herself slamming into the mirrors, but it didn’t matter.
Nothing ever did.
The more she spun, the more speed she picked up, and the more force she exerted onto the mirrors. What started as slight chips in the glass became full-on cracks as she crashed into them, sometimes slamming into the same ones over and over.
All the while, her hair was being ripped out piece by piece as she tugged and pulled on the strands, grabbing onto the ones that remained to repeat the process until there was nothing left as her cackling reverberated throughout the maze.
Had anyone been around to witness it, they would've thought of it as something out of their worst nightmares.
It lasted for what seemed like several long minutes, before she finally, abruptly, mercifully, collapsed in a limp heap. Ragatha lay on the floor, surrounded by shards of glass from the broken mirrors and every strand of hair she'd torn out.
She couldn't even bring herself to fully get up. At most, she was able to shakily stand for a few moments before falling right back down onto her face.
On the last attempt, Ragatha lifted her head up to see the one mirror that was still intact, and got a good look at herself.
She was a wreck.
Her eyes were as dark and baggy as they’d ever been. Stains of tears still fresh adorned her cheeks as new ones brimmed in the corners. And her hair was almost completely gone, with only a couple strands hanging onto her now practically bald head by a thread.
With an audible pop, a new set of hair appeared in place of her old one before she could fully take it all in.
Ragatha stared with a blank expression into the ether… and smiled weakly at herself as she began to talk to her own reflection.
"Well... we gave it our all, didn't we?"
Her reflection didn’t respond.
"...Yeah. I… I feel horrible it has to end this way, too. I really don’t want to leave everyone behind, especially not now, but... I don’t think I can face them.”
She then tried switching to a more upbeat tone of voice. Keyword being tried.
“B-but hey, maybe it’s for the best! At least they won’t have to see me like this before I g-"
Ragatha choked over what she was about to say.
“...b-before I… before…”
She broke down again, though this time, it was an ever so slightly more controlled sobbing as opposed to wailing, sporadically interrupted by hiccups. Her non-button eye clenched shut as she buried her face in her soft, pillowly palms, muffling the sounds of her grief.
And then, after many more long minutes, it opened.
—
Earlier That Morning…
The last thing Pomni expected to see when she woke up was an envelope slid underneath her door.
When she went to open it, she’d find it was the last thing she wanted to see.
It was a written invitation by Caine.
On it, it read: “MEETING”, “STAGE”, and “I CAN EXPLAIN”. Upon noticing additional writing through the back, she flipped it around to be greeted with what could charitably be called a sentence.
“I PINKY SWEARMISE WITH A MOSS-COVERED THREE-HANDLED FAMILY GRANDUNZA ON TOP”
“M-moss… the fu… I don’t…”
She was at a loss on how to even begin deciphering that before crumpling the paper into a ball and throwing it aside, intent on going back to bed and staying there…
…that was, until she stopped to consider it.
Perhaps, if Caine was truly and fully willing to explain himself, it could be a chance to get closer to something resembling answers.
If nothing else… it was the least she could do to make it up for everyone for getting their hopes up and-
“N-no. Don’t go there.” The jester woman said internally. “He tricked us all. You’re not the one who did this.”
Pomni went over to where she’d thrown the paper and picked it up, un-crumpling it the best she could before heading over to her door.
Just as her hand was about to reach the handle, however, she pulled it away.
When she opened that door, there was no telling what was going to happen.
Who was to say it wouldn’t all just be another ruse? How much, if any, of her being compelled to attend this ‘meeting’ came down to her own volition, and how much of it came down to those ‘temporary modifiers’ or whatever it was they were called? Was anything she experienced from the day she arrived here real, or -
…
Pomni closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly creaked the door open to step out into the hallway.
Now wasn’t the time for that.
—
As she headed down the hallway, Pomni fixated on the invitation in her gloved hands. Though the writing was rendered less than eligible after she’d crumpled it, the message was otherwise still able to be made out.
She’d been a bit too preoccupied thinking about what to press Caine on when she suddenly bumped into something hard enough to stumble onto the ground, where she was promptly lifted up by a ribbon hand.
“S-sorry, Pomni!” Gangle exclaimed apologetically.
“N-no, I’m fi… it’s fine.” Pomni said, trying her best to sound reassuring with a somewhat forced smile. “I’m the one who should’ve been looking where they were going.”
Following was a (perhaps appropriately) awkward silence between the two of them that lasted about twenty seconds before Gangle spoke again.
“Um… how have you been doing since… you know?”
That was something Pomni could’ve said a lot in response to, but the thought of adding onto the mental burden any of the others had surely been feeling was something that didn’t sit right with her. And so, she settled on the closest thing to a truthful answer she could muster.
“I’m here. And… thanks for asking.”
Gangle looked into Pomni’s eyes. Her smile was genuine despite her very real tears.
“I’m… I’m glad… you’re here,” she said in a weak but heartfelt voice. “I was… actually looking for you. I just needed to be sure that you were… well…”
Gangle’s voice trailed off before she could finish her sentence. She hesitated to say ‘okay.’ She figured no one was really ‘okay’ after that massive bombshell, yet she struggled to find any other words.
“...Like I said,” Pomni piped up. “I’m here. Just… try not to worry about me.”
“H-Heh… s-sorry…” Gangle sniffled. “I guess I kinda… can’t help but worry…”
“Story of my life.” Pomni replied, giving a light chuckle.
Gangle was silent again for a moment, calculating what to say next before she noticed the paper in Pomni’s gloved hands.
“S-So…” she stammered. “W-Were you… gonna go see… what Caine wanted?
“He gave an invitation to you too?” Pomni asked, having forgotten about that being the reason she even left her room for the first time in a while.
“Well… yeah. He gave one to all of us, I think… I wouldn’t guess you have any clue what a ‘grandunza’ is?”
“...No.”
“H-heh, I figured... but it’s actually part of why I was looking for you. I… thought you were the only person other than Zooble I could really talk to about it.”
"M-me...? I-I mean, Jax, I get it. Maybe Kinger, too. But... what about Ragatha?"
Gangle's expression grew grim at the mention of the ragdoll's name; something Pomni was quick to notice.
“I… I think that out of all of us… s-she might have taken what Caine did the worst...” The ribbon woman explained dourly. “I-I did try to ask her about it before I went to you, but she didn’t say anything or even open her door.”
“...I see.” Pomni said, not exactly surprised but still visibly very concerned. “Maybe she just needs space?”
"But that's the thing. It's... just not like her. She’s always tried to do something to uplift someone else no matter the circumstance. I-it’s not even that I don’t get why! I know we’ve all needed space, but…"
Pomni gently took Gangle's hand and placed it in-between hers.
"We'll check in on her together." Pomni said, giving a more genuine smile of her own this time around. “How does that sound?”
“...Okay.” Gangle replied, appreciating that notion. “I-I think we should go get Zooble first, though.”
“Sure thing. And uh, maybe it’s a dumb question at this point, but… how are they doing?”
Gangle’s expression wavered a bit again, though not as much as when Ragatha had been mentioned. “It’d be better if I took you to my room.”
“Y-your room…?”
—
The door to Gangle’s room creaked open as she and Pomni stood in front of it; dimly lit, the light of the hallway outside was the only thing illuminating it.
“Zooble?” Gangle called out, peeking through the crack. “I’m back. I-I’ve got Pomni with me, and I’m going to be bringing her inside. Is that okay?”
“...C’me in.” A drained, monotone voice murmured back.
The silhouette of Zooble’s blanket-covered body could be seen lying on Gangle’s bed, facing backwards towards Pomni and Gangle.
Pomni’s eyebrows curved downward in concern, but she took a deep breath and mustered up a small smile.
“H-Hey, Zooble,” she greeted in a quiet voice.
Zooble didn’t respond at first. Their head could be seen slightly turning towards Pomni, before turning back towards the wall.
Just seeming… over it.
Gangle and Pomni looked at each other worriedly. Pomni’s eyes darted around, and she fidgeted her thumbs struggling to think of something else to say before Gangle walked towards the bed and sat down by Zooble's side. She softly placed her hand on their back as she spoke.
“H-hey… remember what I said… we’re in it together. I-I know it doesn’t make what happened go away, but… what matters is us. Here and now.”
The mix-and-match toy’s head turned to face Gangle’s. From Pomni’s perspective, it couldn’t be seen as their body was turned on top of the room being obscured in darkness… but tears were brimming in the corners of their eyes.
Still, Pomni stood there watching, a bit surprised. Usually, Zooble was the one consoling Gangle. Needless to say, the jester woman was touched by the sight of Gangle taking up the role of being a comforting presence to them. She couldn’t help but smile a bit…
…and yet, she also couldn’t help but feel incredibly guilty.
“What did I tell you?” Her internal voice scolded her again. “You. Didn’t. Do this.”
With that, she snapped back to reality once more. Like Gangle had said, what mattered was the here and now.
“We were going to go see Ragatha.” Pomni explained. ”You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to.”
“And if you don’t,” Gangle continued, “I’ll stay here. U-unless you’re fine with me going with Pomni. Are… are you fine with it?”
It took a moment for Zooble to give their answer.
Then, just as it seemed they’d wanted to stay behind, they shifted to try and lift themself out of bed. It took some help on the part of Pomni and Gangle, and even afterwards, they were still stumbling.
But… it was something.
—
“Ragatha?”
Before they went to her door, Pomni and Gangle agreed this was something they had to approach gently. It began with Pomni giving no more than two knocks before calling her name, just enough to be heard without being too loud.
There was no response.
“...Ragatha? You there?”
Still nothing.
Pomni looked back to Gangle and Zooble, both of whom wore solemn expressions. The former looked aside while the latter looked down at the floor, wrapping their limbs around themselves.
She looked back at Ragatha’s door, and after a minute of uncertain silence, found the right words.
“Look… I understand if you don’t want to come out of your room, or talk, or anything like that right now, but we’re all really worried about you. We’re not going to force anything on you, but we’re going to come back later. And if it’s not too much to ask, just… give us a sign you’d be cool with that? Please?”
To their surprise, the sound of the doorknob turning could be heard seconds after that sentence. It slowly opened...
...and they were met with a pitch-black void.
…
…
…
“POMNI!”
"JESUS[#!@$*]INGCHRIST!!"
With no warning, a set of teeth in a top hat with two detached eyes floating in the middle shot towards Pomni’s direction straight out of the darkness. The jester woman shrieked and stumbled backwards right into Zooble and Gangle, the three of them getting knocked down. And when they came to, well… what they saw certainly didn’t make them any less disoriented.
It was Caine.
“AREN’T YOU THREE A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES! FOR A MOMENT-”
Before he could say anything else, the ringmaster was cut off by a limb being thrown in his direction and striking him right in the teeth, though it didn’t hurt him remotely whatsoever.
Still, it was enough to get his attention. Caine looked down to see it was Zooble who had thrown the limb, looking every bit as bloodlusted as when he’d last seen them, and ready to throw one of their antennae to boot. Gangle clung onto Pomni, with looks of dread on both their faces.
“...FOR A MOMENT THERE, I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE ELSE HAD GONE MISSING!”
That last word hit them like a ton of bricks.
“M-missing…?!” Gangle blurted out, her tone laced with panic.
“THAT’S RIGHT,” Caine began. “YOU SEE–”
But before Caine could continue explaining, the trio had darted off, leaving dust-cloud silhouettes behind.
The ringmaster watched with wide eyes and limp arms as the three humans sprinted down the hallway.
—
Zooble’s head peeked out from the narrow space near the lounge that they, Gangle and Pomni had holed themselves up in. They observed the area around them for a good few minutes, checking every spot as far as their eyes could see before lowering their head out of sight.
The numbness the mix-and-match toy had been feeling for days had been overtaken with anger once more, though this time, it was counterbalanced by a primal anxiety brought on by what Caine had said.
Ragatha couldn’t have gone missing. Surely, she’d just left her room for a bit and Caine had only mistook it as such. And even if she was struggling as they all were after they’d been deceived so cruelly, it wasn’t like she wouldn’t find some way to try and rally them all again eventually, no matter how futile it was.
She always did.
Right?
“Still no sign of Caine.” Zooble whispered over to Pomni, resisting the urge to breathe a sigh of relief just in case.
Pomni didn’t say anything. The weight of everything that had happened had already been crushing enough, but to know one of her friends was seemingly nowhere to be found on top of that was enough to put her in a state of disassociation. Meanwhile, Gangle had huddled next to the jester, doing her best to try and comfort her despite being very scared herself.
At that moment, Zooble noticed something move in the corner of their eye. They turned their head to see a brief flash of purple and pink heading down another corridor.
Their antennae twitched in indignation.
“HEY!” They yelled as quietly as they could - hopefully enough as to not get Caine’s attention.
Pomni was brought out of her state when she heard it, albeit flinching at the volume. The flash of purple and pink had already vanished by the time Zooble turned to face the corner where they’d seen it.
“Zooble?” Gangle muttered. “Is someone nearby?”
“Yeah. Someone who’s going to wish they weren’t.” Zooble replied bitterly.
“...Who did you see?” Pomni inquired.
“I… think I saw Jax.” They answered, trying their best to keep themselves composed at the thought of him.
“Jax...?? Did you see where he went?” Pomni perked up, wanting to know how he’d been doing after having not seen him in days.
“Why do you care?” Zooble responded in a cold voice.
“I just… I have to talk to him,” Pomni answered with concern in her eyes. “I wanna make sure he’s alright.”
Zooble sighed and put their palm to where their ‘forehead’ would’ve been.
“Look, Pomni,” Zooble said with a hint of frustration in their voice. “I get that you’re a really nice person and everything, but do you seriously not remember he was willing to screw us over for the rest of eternity?! He’s even more of a sadist than Caine is!”
“I-I think there’s more to it than that,” Pomni explained nervously. “Didn’t you see that look in his eyes? I think something weird came over him at that moment. He wouldn’t keep us trapped here just for the sake of a prank.”
“Pomni,” Zooble groaned. “You’re giving him way too much slack.”
Pomni paused for a moment, recalling the time she’d spent with Kinger in Mildenhall Manor’s Hell.
She then piped up in a small voice.
“...In this world… the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved.”
Zooble raised an eyebrow while Gangle tilted her head.
“Where… did you hear that?” Gangle asked, a bit confused at hearing something so profound come from Pomni all of a sudden.
Pomni hesitated to answer. She knew neither of them would believe her for a second if she said who she’d actually heard it from.
“I heard it from a friend. Someone who’s really wise. And always knows what to say when you need it most.”
“Okay, but… What does that have to do with anything?” Zooble asked.
“Jax is a complicated guy,” Pomni began, “But all I can say for sure is that he’s definitely hurting. And I think that’s why he is the way he is. I think he feels pushing people away is the only way to get through everything. Haven’t we all felt the same way once?”
Zooble looked down at the floor and clenched one of their arms. They wanted to say something in objection so badly, but they were finding it increasingly difficult to find those words.
“I… I think Pomni has a point.” Gangle said. Zooble looked at her in shock.
“Even if she does, what do you think’s gonna happen?” Zooble asked. “That if we just sing him a little song about friendship, it’ll make him magically change his ways?”
“I’m not saying he will, and I’m not saying that’s what we should do.” Pomni retorted. “But we can’t leave him alone now. What if he saw Ragatha and knows where she is?”
Zooble paused and looked to the side for a moment before throwing their arms up in defeat.
“Alright, [#!$%@] it. But just to make it clear, I’m only doing this for Ragatha.”
Pomni's face lit up with a gracious smile. Even if Zooble was still understandably angry at Jax, they were still willing to act in the greater good when it really counted.
—
Within the other corridor, Jax sat alone. Pomni approached him timidly with Gangle and Zooble accompanying her each step of the way, her feet awkwardly shuffling as she walked.
“Jax?” She addressed him in a soft voice.
The rabbit didn’t even do as much as give her a quick glance.
“Jax. I know you can hear me.” Pomni continued, voice still soft but with the slightest hint of assertiveness this time around. “Even if you think no one wants to see or speak to you, I still do.”
Still no response from Jax. Nothing but a cold, purple shoulder.
Pomni sighed.
“Jax, listen… I’m… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have trusted Abel in the first place. You knew right from the get-go that something wasn’t right. I… I just… it’s…”
She tripped over her words as she spoke, her guilt about everything emerging once more - and this time, at full force. Tears brimmed at the corner of her eyes as she then said what she’d been desperately trying to convince herself wasn’t the case, all the while Gangle and Zooble could only watch with deeply saddened looks.
“This is all my fault.”
Jax was silent for a moment. He slowly revolved his head towards the jester before finally fully turning around. He walked over to her with a seemingly soft expression, knelt down a bit to get closer to her level, and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Pomni,” He said in a warm voice.
Pomni’s eyes widened, and her mouth curved into a small smile.
Jax’s tone quickly turned cold as ice.
“You’re not the only one who blames you.”
The jester’s face shattered on the spot.
Zooble stepped forward with an absolutely enraged look on their face, only to be stopped by Gangle who put an arm out in front of them, much to their confusion.
Jax suddenly felt something tug at the back of his overalls. He was jerked upward and found himself face-to-porcelain-face with Gangle, who promptly gave him a hard, ribbon-handed smack straight across the face. Pomni watched in horror as Zooble was astonished at her sudden aggressiveness.
“How… DARE you?!” Gangle yelled, her typically nasally voice having never sounded more furious.
“W-whuh…” Jax muttered in disbelief, holding a gloved hand up to his stinging cheek.
“Gangle, that’s enough!” Pomni scolded as she moved to pull him away. While she’d been immensely hurt by what he’d just said, she knew this would only make things worse.
“NO!! H-he doesn’t get to talk to you like that!!” Gangle jabbed at Jax’s chest as she ranted. “Even after what you did, Pomni still wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt!! And you…”
She choked up a bit before continuing.
“...A-and you have the nerve to tell her that any of this is her fault. Like she’s the only one who got tricked into thinking we were actually gonna leave, or she’s the one who pushed the button that would’ve kept us stuck here!!”
Jax, still holding his hand up to his cheek, had nothing to say to that. He simply walked over to the nearest corner and curled himself up into a ball, ears drooping downward.
“Pomni says you're a complicated person." Zooble joined in, their silhouette casting a shadow over Jax. "I don't agree with her, but she’s also the only one who cares enough to actually want to be around you at this point. And if you really want to throw that away too… that’s your choice. Just don’t ever say none of us tried to reach out.”
In the midst of it, Jax, still curled up, wordlessly gave Zooble a solemn, momentary glance before turning his head away again.
The four of them just stood (or in Jax’s case, sat) there, all their unresolved differences and trauma looming over them.
Zooble walked away, convinced there was nothing more to be done here, with Gangle following them shortly afterwards.
Pomni, however, didn't go with them at first. She looked at Jax, still curled up in a corner, with a look of crushing guilt and despair on her face, ashamed at how quickly her attempt to mend things had spiraled. She turned around and took a moment to wipe her tears with a shoulder before leaving…
“What did you want from me?”
…right before Jax spoke up again, his voice utterly drained and empty.
Pomni stopped in her tracks, looking back at him with surprise. By then, Zooble and Gangle weren’t too far off and went back as well, though their expressions were far more wary and distrustful.
“J-Jax, I swear we didn’t come to you only because we… okay, it’s part of the reason, b-but only a small-”
Pomni’s stammering stopped as Jax shot her an agitated glare.
“...We wanted to know if you’ve seen Ragatha.”
Jax rolled his eyes.
“Why should I give a [%$#!] where Susie Pincushion tottered off to?” He scoffed.
“Jax,” Pomni urged him. “No one’s seen her at all since the other day. She could be in danger!”
“In danger of what?” Jax asked sarcastically. “Getting licked to death by Bubble? She's probably just sitting around somewhere feeling sorry for herself.”
“You know d[%$#!]mn well what she means,” Zooble growled. “And is that not what you're doing right now?!”
Jax’s expression of feigned non-chalance morphed into one of quiet rage.
"I've got my problems, she’s got hers, and you’ve got yours.” He snapped back. “What does it matter to you anyways, it ain’t like we’ll never run into her again at some-”
“What if she abstracts, Jax?!”
Gangle covered her mouth and slinked down, regretting blurting out such a possibility outright, but unable to hold it in any longer.
Jax slowly turned to stare at her with a blank look.
In an instant, it shifted back to one of quiet rage.
And in another immediately afterwards, to bloodlust.
Pomni and Zooble could instantly tell what this meant, and quickly moved to restrain him right as he lunged towards Gangle, grabbing and restraining him at the last possible second.
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, HUH!?” Jax screeched in absolute fury. “THAT IT’D BE MY FAULT IF SHE DID!? THAT I’D HAVE TO CARRY THAT ON MY CONSCIENCE ‘TIL THE DAY I DO, TOO!? IF SOMEONE’S GONNA ABSTRACT, THEY’RE GONNA DO IT NO MATTER [#!@%^]ING WHAT!! WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT!? ‘CAUSE EVERYTHING’S ALL MY FAULT, RIGHT!?”
Tears were streaming from Pomni’s eyes as she continued restraining the livid lagomorph.
“JAX, PLEASE!” She pleaded. “CALM DOWN, NO ONE’S BLAMING YOU!”
“YOU BLAME ME FOR THE BUTTON, DON’T YOU?!”
Everyone fell quiet.
“N-no. At least, I don’t.” Pomni said, attempting to sound as sincere as she could. “I just want to-”
“Cut the [#!$%@]. You thought about it. Didn’t you?” Jax interrupted.
Pomni didn’t say anything. Her eyes darted around the corridor as she desperately tried to figure out the right words.
“I-I…”
“Didn’t you?”
“...Jax…”
“DIDN’T YOU?!”
“...Yes.”
Jax glared down at Pomni with just about the coldest look imaginable, and began walking away without another word.
“J-Jax, wait!!” Pomni stammered, scrambling after him. “I-I did at first, but then I thought about it more, and I realized… I could tell something came over you! P-Please! If you could just tell us what’s going o–”
The rabbit turned to give her one last pained, hateful grimace before continuing to walk away.
Pomni could only look to the ground in absolute defeat as Gangle and Zooble came up to her, the latter gently placing a hand over the jester’s shoulder.
“He’s not worth our time.” Zooble declared, sympathetically. “You… you did everything you could.”
"OH, COME NOW, ZOOBLE," Caine interjected, having randomly appeared right next to them. "I THINK WE COULD ALL BENEFIT FROM CONSIDERING EACH OTHER'S PERSPECTIVES AROUND HERE!"
"Seriously? What perspective could he have that we'd want to-"
Zooble stopped and did a double take as they realized who it was they were talking to, right as the ringmaster patted them on the head and snapped his fingers.
—
Before they knew it, Caine had brought the four of them to the front of the stage with Bubble by his side.
“GOOOOD MORNING, MY SWEET PUMPKINS! HOW YA’LL FEELING?” He struck a welcoming pose, eagerly awaiting their responses.
Pomni, Gangle, Zooble and Jax stared at him with varying degrees of shell-shock. Caine kept up his pose, but it wavered before long and his beaming expression formed into that of a ‘frown’.
“Man, they must’ve really wanted to go to Shrimp Town.” Bubble mused.
“ER… RIGHT! ABOUT THAT…” Caine started nervously, knowing there was no avoiding that elephant in the room. “TURNS OUT YOU WEREN’T AS RECEPTIVE TO THE WHOLE ‘ESCAPING THE CIRCUS’ THING AS I’D HOPED, BUT-”
“Weren’t as receptive?” Zooble interrupted dumbfoundedly. “Do you have ANY idea what’s been going on in our heads for the past several days?!”
“...AS A MATTER OF FACT, I DO!” Caine went up to Zooble’s face to patronizingly ‘boop’ them on the ‘nose’ as he said this, only for his hand to be furiously swatted away.
“I KNOW THAT NOW MORE THAN EVER, WHAT YOU NEED ARE REMINDERS OF HOW MUCH YOU ALL MEAN TO ONE ANOTHER! AND SEEING AS HOW OUR DEAR RAGATHA IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, I RECKONED SHE COULD USE SOME REMINDERS OF HER OWN!”
With that, Caine proceeded to announce the very thing he’d been building up to all day.
“TODAY’S ADVENTURE IS: WHERE, OH WHERE HAS OUR LITTLE DOLL GONE?”
Pomni’s eyes widened with rage.
“Oh, of COURSE! Of course this is all just a game to you, isn’t it!?” She roared. “Ragatha’s God knows where, and you’re treating it like… like it’s some stupid summer camp scavenger hunt!!”
"...HM."
Turning around from the humans, Caine took out a notepad and began to jot down ideas.
"NOTE TO SELF... SUMMER CAMP ADVENTURE... WITH... ZOMBIE VAMPIRE BIGFOOT?"
“CAINE!!” Pomni shouted.
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, SO THIS ONE'S A BUST, TOO!" Caine threw the notepad away and crossed his arms as his 'brow' furrowed. “BUT I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND HOW HARD I’M TRYING TO LEVEL WITH YOU GUYS HERE!”
“Then how about giving us some answers?!” Zooble demanded, the venom in their tone practically seeping. "You don't get to use this to run away, or have us go on some other sick goose chase, or... or..."
Right before Zooble could say anything else... it hit them.
The invitations.
The fact that Caine hadn't just been in Ragatha's room when they went to see her, but already knew she was missing.
The way he seemed to have all of this planned.
No. Caine couldn’t have been that desperate or depraved.
And yet…
Pomni, Gangle and even Jax caught on to what Zooble’s horrified face was implying, and looked at the ringmaster with aghast expressions of their own.
"Caine.” Pomni murmured, her voice laced with dread. “Tell us you didn’t-”
"WOAH, WOAH! NOW I KNOW YOU’VE ALL HAD YOUR... SUSPICIONS, BUT I’M REALLY JUST AS LOST ON WHERE RAGATHA COULD BE AS THE REST OF YOU! I MEAN, YOU ALL KNOW I’D NEVER LIE TO YOU, RIGHT?”
Zooble was just about ready to go absolutely feral on Caine. They were fully prepared to rip every single tooth out of his gums one by one.
"Okay," Their entire body twitched and shook like a bomb about to go off as they spoke. “Why don't you make with the snap-summoning and bring her here?"
"...WELL, THEN THERE WOULDN'T BE AN ADVENTURE!"
Of course, had Caine known the next thing Zooble would do was lunge towards him, only to be held back by Pomni and Gangle... he probably still would've said that.
"LET ME AT HIM!! I'LL KICK HIS [#@%!]ING TEETH IN!! I’LL SQUEEZE HIS EYEBALLS UNTIL THEY POP!!"
Nonetheless, it was enough to put him on edge.
"UHHH, I-I'LL JUST LEAVE YOU ALL TO IT, THEN! GOOD LUCK, MY LONG-LEGGED LAMB CHOPS!"
He promptly vanished into a cartoony puff of smoke as Pomni and Gangle released their grasp on Zooble.
“GET BACK HERE, YOU SPINELESS B[%$#!]STARD!!!” They shouted, desperately shaking their fists in the air. Pomni went up to place a hand over their back for comfort.
“Zooble… there’s nothing we can do about him right now.” She said, trying her best to anchor them.
“If we can do anything.” Jax added nihilistically, leaning back against a wall.
Zooble rapidly whipped their head back towards Jax.
“Oh, [%$#!] you!” They scowled. “Why don’t you go sulk somewhere by yourself?! That’s the only thing you’re good for anymore!”
"Ah, there it is! It ALWAYS comes back to me, right? Like I don’t have to live knowing I’m subject to the whims of a rejected Dairy Queen mascot just like the rest of you?! ”
“Funny, ‘cause you didn’t have any problem keeping us stuck in here with him!”
“Okay, let’s… not do this,” Pomni stepped in.
“Oh my GOD, we were never getting out anyways!!”
“Would it kill you to take accountability for literally ANYTHING in your life?!”
“Guys?” Gangle attempted to chime in.
“Oh no, I’m sooo sowwy for showing how insignificant we are! Does Zoobie want a sippy cup and a kiss to make the boo-boo go away, too?”
“Guys…” Gangle repeated, a bit louder this time.
“So help me,” Zooble hissed, “One more word out of you, one more…”
Jax leaned in as close to Zooble's face as possible.
“Word.”
“THAT’S IT!!”
“GUYS!!”
Everyone’s attention turned to Gangle, who caught her breath before continuing.
"I-I know we’re all scared, and sad, and mad, but this isn’t getting us any closer to finding Ragatha!! We're wasting time when something awful could be happening to her right now!!”
Pomni turned her gaze back to Jax and Zooble.
“Guys. Gangle’s right. This isn’t the time to stand around and point fingers.” She said firmly.
“And what, pray tell, are we supposed to do?” Jax countered.
“I haven’t had time to think that far ahead, okay?!” Pomni admitted. “But she’s always tried to look out for us, even if…”
Pomni thought back to her first day in the Circus. Specifically, how Ragatha had made an effort to try and accommodate her into her situation… and how she repaid her by abandoning her in an agonized, glitching state not once, but twice.
“...Even if we mostly take it for granted.” Her previously firm tone took on a despondent one.
"Oh, don’t be like that, Pomni. I'm sure whoever this Granted fellow is, he'll gladly return it if we just ask him nicely!"
The jester’s head shot up at the sound of a familiar voice, turning around to see Kinger standing from a distance in front of them all. Her eyes awkwardly darted back and forth between the chess piece and the others.
“...So you have you like… been there the whole time, or…?” Jax asked awkwardly.
“Wait. Kinger, have you seen Ragatha at all today?” Pomni immediately inquired.
"Hm.... can't say I have. Oh, but maybe he has!"
Kinger turned to point at his reflection in the Tent's checkerboard floor.
"...What's that? You haven't? Ah, alright. Sorry to bother you!"
“Oh for the love of-” Zooble groaned while facepalming, proceeding to then grab Kinger by the shoulders and pull him up to their face.
“Kinger, Ragatha’s missing and no one has a clue where she is!!”
"Oooh, we're playing Hide and Seek? I don't know if I'd be any help, I was never particularly good at it myself-"
“NO, SHE’S ACTUALLY… Ugh…” Zooble pulled themself away, knowing this would only continue to go in circles.
Meanwhile, Pomni continued to rack her brain for anything resembling a plan. Just when it seemed they were at yet another loss, one struck her.
"We'll… we’ll all split up and search the Tent. That way, maybe we can cover more ground and have a better chance of-”
"Um.. Pomni?" Gangle meekly interrupted. "I-I'm not saying I'm against that, but..."
She then pointed over to Kinger, who was just… standing there with a vacant look. His eyes slowly blinked one at a time like a lizard’s.
“...Uh, in that case, Kinger’s with me.” The jester responded.
“What, so we’re just gonna meander around Dentures’ Inferno in the off chance one of us runs into Dollface?” Jax asked mockingly.
"Look, I know it's not much of a plan. But if it was any one of us who was missing, Ragatha wouldn’t stop looking for us for a second until she knew we were okay.” Pomni proclaimed. “What kind of people would we be if we didn’t do the same?”
Jax looked at Pomni before grumbling in resignation.
"Look. I'll play along with your little search party. But when it turns out she's fine and you’ve been freaking out over nothing, don't say I didn't warn you!"
He stormed off, eager to get this over with.
Zooble glared at Jax disgruntledly before turning to Pomni, who looked down at the floor contemplatively.
“Hey. We’re gonna find her.” They reassured her. “And when we do, there’s a giant dentist drill with Caine’s name on it waiting.”
“...Heh.” Pomni smirked a bit at that last sentence. “I take it you’d do the honors?”
“Your call.” Zooble answered.
“Right. Let’s find her.”
—
Several Hours Later…
In the lounge, Pomni and Kinger sat down next to each other, covered in soot practically from top to bottom. The ends of the former’s hat were still lit with flickers of flame as she looked off into the distance blankly.
The others didn’t fare any better. Gangle had been carrying Zooble, who had been reduced to just a head, as she sat down next to the couch Pomni and Kinger were on, several Gloinks entangled in her ribbon body.
And Jax… well…
Jax had come into the lounge wearing a wedding gown complete with a veil and high heels, in addition to glossy red lipstick and blush applied to his face. As he sat down on the couch furthest away from everyone, their attention turned to him. Pomni had been the first to open her mouth to speak after they’d spent seconds staring at him.
“Don’t. Even. Ask.” He snarled.
Zooble was too exhausted to make one of their signature snarky remarks. They instead simply sank deeper into the couch.
Pomni sighed worriedly as she licked her fingertips and used them to extinguish one of her flaming pom poms. “I’m guessing nobody else’s had any luck?”
“[%$#!] no,” Zooble replied as Gangle adjusted their antennae. “Swear to God, if I ever see another Gloink, it’ll be too soon…”
Gangle’s head drooped as she looked down at the floor in defeat.
“What do we do now?” Her voice wavered. “We’ve been in practically every room in the tent, and we haven’t seen a single sign of her.”
Every room in the tent.
Pomni perked up at the realization. They’d only been looking within the confines of the circus tent, not even giving any consideration to the expanses of the grounds! She leapt up from off the couch and went up to Gangle, holding one of her hands in her own.
“Gangle, you’re a genius!”
“I-I am??”
“We’ve been going about this the wrong way! This isn’t an in-house adventure, it’s a… uh… in-and-outside-the house adventure…?”
“...I don’t follow.” Jax replied flatly.
“Ragatha might not even be in the tent,” Pomni began, “She could’ve been outside all along!”
Gangle and Zooble lit up at her intuition.
“Wait, but… how would we know where she is, then?” Gangle asked.
“There has to be somewhere she likes to go whenever she’s upset, right?” Pomni began. “Come on, guys, just.. just try to think!”
As the three of them racked their brains, Pomni turned to Jax, who was still leaning over the couch in the wedding gown.
“...I knew I should've found a better hiding spot.” He grumbled as he began thinking as well.
And so, they all weighed their options, thinking about the most likely place Ragatha would be at a time like this. Zooble had been particularly lost in thought when a memory suddenly came to them…
—
Even when they were a kid, Zooble could never understand what people liked about fairs.
The almost claustrophobic feeling of having to constantly be around a bustling, noisy crowd was one thing, but there were plenty of other factors that contributed to their dislike of them: the blistering heat, the way people just seemed to leave whatever discarded food and snacks they had lying around, the rigged games… it was hard for them to think of any other place they’d rather not be.
Emphasis on was hard.
It had only been a couple of days since they'd found themselves trapped in this candy-colored virtual purgatory, ripped away from everyone and everything they’d ever known and cursed with a body they wouldn’t have wished upon their worst enemy.
All they wanted to do was just… be by themselves. Away from it all as they could be, with only their thoughts pertaining to everything they’d lost and everything they’d now been burdened with to keep them company.
So naturally, they couldn’t even have that.
Ragatha, who’d spent that time in doing everything she could to make them feel welcome and bring at least a little light into their situation - covered their eyes with her soft plush palms, guiding them along a path under the bright, cloudy blue sky.
“You know I had a tour of the place, right? I don’t get how what you’re gonna show me is supposed to be surprising if I’ve already seen it.” Zooble asked, moving the ragdoll’s hands away.
“Aw, c’mon! Think of it like… not knowing what you were already shown is the surprise! Y-yeah, that… sure sounded less forced in my head…” Ragatha replied enthusiastically before faltering midway through.
The mix-and-match-toy glanced aside, squinting their eyes in exasperation.
“Um… Oh, look! We’re here!”
Zooble slowly turned their head towards Ragatha, raising an eyebrow.
Before them was the entrance to the Digital Carnival, admittedly looking far bigger than when Caine had presented it during Zooble’s arrival tour.
“You guys actually go here?” Zooble asked, tilting their head.
“We… don’t get that much time to process adventures before Caine cooks up another one, so we tend to just stay in the tent for the most part.” Ragatha explained, frowning a little. “I know it might sound hard to believe coming from me, but… even I need to get away from it all sometimes.”
The ragdoll hugged herself as she spoke, sparking a look of concern from Zooble. While her eagerness to help them settle into their new home had been more than a bit much, she was still just as much of a prisoner as they were.
“Well,” Zooble scratched the back of their head. “Guess it beats being in there with…”
"Oh, d-don't mind Jax." Ragatha assured, perking back up. "He’s really not so bad when you get to know him more!"
The subsequent unconvinced look from Zooble wasn’t the response she was hoping for.
“...Okay, so maybe you have to give him a bit of time,” Ragatha admitted. “But let’s not worry about that right now. C’mon, I’ll show you around!”
Zooble watched as she entered the carnival, rubbing one of their arms as their eyes darted to the side. They weren’t quite sure how to break it to her that they weren’t much of a fair person without coming across as a jerk.
“Uh, Ragatha, right? I… I should tell you-”
Before they could admit it, they were met with a warm, encouraging smile from the ragdoll as she turned to face them.
“...That I really appreciate it.”
“R-really?? I mean, uh, yeah! No problem at all, Zooble! And not to toot my own horn, but I’ve built up quite the reputation around these parts as the Queen of Ring Toss~”
“Okay,” Zooble snickered. “I’ve been here for a few days and even I know for a fact no one has ever called you that.”
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to leave their room this one time. At the very least, they didn’t have to worry about crowds.
—
“The carnival!” Zooble’s head practically bounced out of the grasp of Gangle, who caught them just in time. “She’s gotta be at the carnival!”
“The carnival? Zooble, are you absolutely sure?” Pomni questioned, praying this wouldn’t be another dead-end.
“I remember her telling me how she liked going there whenever things got too stressful.” They explained. “Look, you just have to trust me on this!”
“You don’t have to ask me to believe you.” Gangle affirmed to Zooble, mustering a confident smile for them.
“Suck-up.” Jax snarked snidely.
“I HEARD THAT!” Zooble yelled.
“Come on! We don’t have a second to waste!”
Grabbing Kinger’s hand, Pomni led the others out of the tent as they raced towards the carnival.
“...God, please don’t let us be too late…” The jester pleaded internally to herself.
—
They arrived at the carnival before long, night having already fallen upon the circus.
“She has to be around here somewhere!” Pomni said assuredly.
“Yeah, like sitting on the nearest bench!” Jax (by now, mercifully out of that wedding dress) groaned. “Seriously, she’s a freakin’ human-sized ragdoll, I think she’d be pretty hard to miss!”
Zooble turned to Pomni. “Alright, so what’s the plan? Do we split up again, or do we look togeth-”
The sight of Kinger seemingly staring off into the distance kept them from finishing that sentence.
It’s not that Kinger staring off into the distance in itself was an unusual sight.
But something about this felt… different.
As if he was actually focused on something.
Pomni walked over to him with a concerned expression, giving him a gentle nudge.
“Uh, Kinger? You oka–”
Pained moaning and sobbing could be heard in the distance. It seemed to be coming from the direction where Kinger was looking.
Pomni turned her head to see a stumbling silhouette emerging from a tent with a sign above the entrance that read “Hall of Mirrors.”
She squinted her eyes to try to make out the figure. It appeared to be Ragatha, covering her unbuttoned eye with her hand as she winced in pain.
“...Ragatha?” Pomni whispered out, a mixture of much-needed relief and lingering unease in her voice.
The jester began making her way toward the hall of mirrors, with the others following in tow.
As they drew closer, there was no mistaking her for anyone else.
“RAGATHA!!” Pomni shouted, catching the ragdoll’s attention. “I-Is this where you’ve been all day?? We’re… I’m sorry we couldn’t find you sooner!! B-but we’re here now, and I promise, we’re gonna-”
Pomni reached out a hand, only for it to be suddenly (albeit as gently as possible) smacked away.
It was enough to make everyone freeze in their tracks on the spot.
“...Ragatha…?” Gangle muttered. Despite not really having a stomach, she was still able to feel a familiar, horrible pit slowly coming to formation within it. “Are you-”
“Wait.” Zooble interrupted. “Why are you covering your eye?”
"...Don’t worry about it.” Ragatha responded shakily. She had begun to stumble away again when Pomni spoke up in turn.
“Ragatha, you don’t have to hide what you’re going through. Just… let us see your-”
“You’ve got your problems, and I’ve got mine.” Ragatha harshly cut her off. “Now go away… please.”
Jax recognized those words as practically the exact ones he’d said to Zooble when the others had first come to him about Ragatha.
His eyes went wide as saucers, deducing that something was indeed very wrong here.
As she tried to leave again, Ragatha felt herself being pulled back by the arm by Zooble.
“Hate to break it to you, but we’re not going anywhere.” Zooble said assertively. “We’re in it together, and whether you want it or not, we’re going to help you.”
Ragatha started to panic. She tried to think of any excuse she could to get them all to leave, only to draw up nothing but blanks.
“I… I gotta go!!”
Her uncharacteristically harsh voice had given away as she tried to pull her arm away from Zooble’s grasp, using her other free one to keep her eye hidden.
“Go where?!” Zooble strained, struggling to hold her back. “You can’t act like this is something to brush off and chuckle about like you always do!!”
“N-NO!!”
In her desperation to escape, Ragatha had resorted to outright trying to tug her arm out of Zooble’s grasp. Neither she or Zooble noticed, but in their struggle, the seams and stitches keeping Ragatha’s left arm attached to her body were slowly being undone one at a time.
And then, at last, came the scream.
“I DON’T WANT YOU TO REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS!!”
Zooble let go as the realization hit them instantly.
Still holding her right hand over her eye, Ragatha slowly backed away from the others, ignoring the stinging she was now feeling in her left shoulder.
Even now, she could sense the way they were all looking at her in absolute horror.
And with one good look through her button eye, she could see that sense was correct.
Without saying as much as a single world, Ragatha ran off, nearly tripping over herself in the process. Pomni, acting quickly, darted after her, grasping her left arm with both hands. Zooble followed suit, grabbing a nearby pole with one limb while holding onto Pomni with another, all while Ragatha continued to try and tug away.
“RAGATHA, YOU’RE COMING WITH US, NOW!!” Pomni shouted.
"I CAN'T!!"
As the struggle continued, the tear in Ragatha’s left arm opened further. Bits of stuffing had begun to poke out of her shoulder, catching the eye of Gangle who cried out frantically towards the trio.
“Guys-!!”
Unfortunately, Pomni and Zooble were so focused on getting Ragatha back to the tent, and Ragatha so focused on getting away, none of them had heard her.
Tears poured from Pomni’s eyes as she kept at her efforts, Ragatha’s arm now barely hanging on by a thread. At the same time, the arm Zooble had used to grab onto the pole was beginning to come out of its’ socket.
Until…
"I’M NOT WORTH IT!!!"
With a primal scream and one last tug - the most forceful of them all - Ragatha had finally managed to escape Pomni and Zooble’s grasp.
The last of the stitches on her left arm had given away, and as Pomni and Zooble tumbled to the ground, it ended up tearing off entirely.
As they picked themselves back up, Pomni noticed that she was still holding Ragatha’s now-severed left arm, stuffing pouring out from it in droves.
However, her attention was then immediately drawn to Ragatha herself, who used her remaining arm for stability as she lifted herself off the ground…
…and revealed her half-abstracted face.
"WHAT... WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?!” Ragatha sobbed. “TO SEE ME AS A MONSTER?! IS THAT IT!? IS THAT HOW YOU REALLY WANNA REMEMBER ME!?”
Pomni tried to reach out to her again.
“Ragatha–”
“MAYBE YOU’RE RIGHT TO!!” Ragatha cut Pomni off. “MAYBE I AM JUST… W-WORTHLESS. A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING. MAYBE THIS IS HOW I DESERVE TO GO OUT. BEING GAWKED AT LIKE A FREAK.”
Ragatha turned around.
“...[%$#!]...” she muttered under her breath.
She then pushed down an entire display of prizes with her remaining arm.
“[%$#!]!!!!!!!!” she screamed as shelves of cheaply-made plush toys - some of which vaguely resembled Kaufmo and Ribbit - came crashing onto the ground.
While the dust from the wrecked display cleared, everyone could only watch the scene with looks of devastation.
Ragatha looked at the gaping, fluffy hole where her left arm used to be, and then back at the remains of the display. Putting her remaining palm in her face, she ran off, leaving behind a trail of cotton pieces.
Pomni’s mind was instantly brought back to her fight with Jax at the conclusion of their battle royale adventure.
She remembered how she’d simply let him walk away.
She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
However, as she stepped forward to run after Ragatha, she felt Kinger gently place a hand on her shoulder.
Pomni looked up to see the chess piece softly looking down at her.
And then, after a moment of hesitation, nodded at him.
—
Following the cotton trail, Kinger had led the group to the carnival’s Tunnel of Love. Pomni still had Ragatha’s detached arm in clutch.
They luckily wouldn’t have to look far to find Ragatha inside. In fact, from where they were standing, she could already be seen.
She simply sat there in the shallow water of the tunnel, hugging herself with her remaining arm and resigning herself to her fate.
Kinger started to make his way over, but Pomni grabbed his cloak.
“Kinger, wait!” she urged. “Are you sure you’ll be safe? Wh-what if she… what if it’s too…”
Her voice trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes.
Kinger placed a hand on the jester’s shoulder.
“Pomni,” he said in a comforting tone. “I need you to trust me. Okay? I’ve known her for a long time. I know what she needs right now. I promise, I’ll be fine… and so will Ragatha.”
Pomni hesitated for a moment. She somberly released her grip on Kinger, allowing him to make his way into the tunnel while she continued to hug Ragatha’s severed arm tight.
Zooble, Gangle, and eventually even Jax slowly approached her from the back, Gangle reaching a hand out in empathy.
"You don’t have to tell me this isn’t my fault." Pomni uttered numbly.
"Pomni.” Gangle started, slightly sharper than Kinger but still assuring. “I-I'm not saying it just to make you feel better. I'm saying it because it's the truth. Caine-”
“-tricked us all.” The jester cut them off. “I… I know… it’s just… it’s…”
Pomni slinked to her knees as she held Ragatha’s arm closer to her chest. The tears that had been welling ran down her cheeks and fell into the water beneath her
“...He really does just want us to suffer...” She choked.
At that moment, however, Pomni felt the sensation of ribbon wrapping itself delicately around her in a hug-like formation.
She looked to her side to see Gangle giving her a warm, comforting smile.
It was enough to make her break down on the spot.
"We'll… we’ll be okay... I promise..." Gangle murmured to the sobbing jester.
Zooble joined in on the hug shortly afterwards, holding the two of them as closely as possible.
Jax walked beside and sat down alongside the three of them, but didn’t opt to join in…
…though he did opt to scoot up and lean himself against Pomni.
—
The sides of the metal, cavern-like tunnel were decorated with glowing stars and butterflies, creating a serene atmosphere.
For a moment, Kinger’s memory returned to that fateful day when he and his abstracted wife stood face-to-face together in his pillow fort.
He recalled how calm she seemed to be in the dark.
Looking down at Ragatha, he noticed that her breathing seemed to be slowing down. She seemed to be in some kind of trance, although she was still very much in a state of despair.
“Ragatha?” He addressed her gently.
The doll didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at him. Her eye just stared into the ether.
Kinger wondered what was going on in her mind right now. What was she seeing? Was she at peace with what was about to happen to her?
He took a seat beside her in the cold pool of water.
“It’s going to be okay, Ragatha,” he assured her. “I’m right here with you. You’re safe.”
Again, no response. It was as if nothing else existed to her.
Kinger cautiously placed his hand on the doll’s remaining arm and began to gently rub it, hoping she could feel it through her altered state of mind.
Ragatha slowly blinked. Other than that, however, there was no response from her.
“I know how you must feel right now,” he said as he continued to stroke her arm. “I’ve felt that way, too. Like my entire reality’s been shattered, and I don’t know what’s real anymore… or even if I’m real…”
Still no response from Ragatha. She just sat in silence, like a broken statue.
“But I can tell you one thing that’s absolutely real, without a doubt,” he continued. “You’ve got friends out there who care about you… who came out here to ensure your safety. And even when you tried to push them away, they didn’t give up on you. And I’m not going to give up on you, either.”
Kinger took a deep breath and collected his thoughts.
“R-Ragatha. I don’t know if you know this, but… Before you came along, I didn’t think I was going to be able to survive here. There was nothing for me to live for. All I felt was fear, and shame, and… and like there was no hope. That it’d be better to just… give up.”
A tear started to stream down Ragatha’s eye, but she still didn’t move.
“...But, Ragatha… You gave me something to keep living for. You brought joy back into my life that I never thought I’d feel again. You helped me get out of my own head and realize what really mattered.”
Ragatha breathed a shaky breath, but wasn’t quite coming-to yet.
Kinger took her remaining hand in his floating, gloved hands, squeezing it tight so that she could feel the presence of another person.
“You saved me, Ragatha. And now I wanna do the same for you. Can you wake up for me? I promise you’ll be okay. Just take a deep breath and come back to the present. I’m right here.”
Ragatha’s eye slowly clenched shut, and she took a long, steady inhale.
When her eyelids opened once more, her eye was no longer glowing.
“K… King…er…” she mumbled as she faded out of her stupor.
“That’s right,” Kinger assured her in a soft voice. “It’s me. I’m right here.”
Her eye once again pooled up with tears as she gazed back at the chess piece.
“What… just happened to me?” She asked in a wavering voice.
Kinger wrapped his invisible “arms” around Ragatha, gently rubbing her back as she sobbed loudly.
“It’s okay… Everything’s okay… You’re safe… I promise…”
They remained in the tunnel together for quite some time. Ragatha continued to cry in Kinger’s embrace. Kinger said nothing, allowing Ragatha to let out the remainder of her emotions until she finally calmed down.
When all was said and done, Kinger stood up and helped Ragatha back onto her feet.
Hand in hand, they walked back out into the open, ready to join the others.