Work Text:
It was torture. Everyone was thrust into their own personal hell. Pomni with Gummigoo, Ragatha and her mother, Zooble and their dysphoria, Gangle and her emotions, and Jax’s self image. Everything was torn into, everyone was being stabbed in the heart.
The only one considered safe from Caine’s torment was Kinger. He was hard at work, trying to find something, anything, that could stop Caine in his tracks. He was going too far, and Kinger was the only one who could stop him. To help him.
Caine pulled them straight out of their personal hells and slammed them against the wall of the circus’s tent. He grew arms, became more monstrous, and he yelled. He yelled louder than he ever had before.
“Why do you people torment me?!” Caine screamed, frantically pulling for an answer. But everyone was too stunned, too scared to speak. His form glitched, becoming unstable. “I didn’t ask to be created!!” His grip tightened around the humans.
- - - - -
Kinger typed frantically from his pillow fort, the bucket on his head shifting as he wiped his brow. Each line of code he wrote could give them another second of time, but one error, one mistake, and everything would fail.
- - - - -
“I just wanted to fulfill my purpose!!” Caine yelled in their faces, a spit-like substance hitting their faces, before glitching away out of existence. Caine tightened his hands around the humans even more, squeezing them as though they were stress balls. Ragatha looked as though she was going to burst at the seams, and Zooble’s parts were going to fall off any second.
- - - - -
Kinger’s typing slowed, becoming exasperated. He took a deep breath and began to type faster, before feeling his finger slip. He watched as his finger approached the ‘delete’ button. “Oh $#¡+,” he exclaimed, before catching himself. He barely brushed the button, but saw the screen of the old computer buffer. A wheel made of little pixelated Bubbles span on the screen, moving slowly.
- - - - -
Caine growled at the humans, ready to tear them limb from limb, before his model reverted to his usual form. No extra limbs, no glitches, nothing. He floated in the air, eyes shaking, almost with horror. The humans fell, Gangle especially falling hard as her mask cracked. They all stood up, looking at Caine.
“Uh, wait…” He said, staring at them. He looked at each and every one of them closely. Closer than he ever had.
Ragatha was heaving, her stitching coming undone in places. Gangle was trembling, and her ribbons almost looked frayed. Pomni’s wide eyes were glassy, almost with tears. Jax, who usually seemed calm in situations like these, looked roughed up. Zooble’s parts were all misaligned, either in the wrong place, or off of their body entirely.
“Oh my god… what have I done…” Caine whispered, floating to the ground and kneeling at the humans feet. He shook, glitches appearing here and there, but he looked surprisingly normal, in comparison to a few moments ago.
They all stared at him, watching as his actions caught up to him. Pomni stepped forward hesitantly, approaching Caine. Ragatha went to grab her arm, to say something to stop Pomni, but she looked back and shook her head. Ragatha stopped and stepped back, hand shaking.
“Caine…?” Pomni finally broke the silence. Caine’s teeth were gritted together, his way of closing his eyes. Pomni reached out to him, trying to bring him comfort, but Caine flinched. She stopped, moving her hand away slowly.
- - - - -
Kinger ran out from his pillow fort, bucket still on his head. The light hit his eyes, almost returning him to his forgetful state of mind, but he brought the bucket down quick enough to keep his sanity.
He used an eye to see where everyone was, and rushed over to them, stumbling along the way.
“Guys!” He yelled, tripping on a stray block. He struggled to get up, he wanted to get to them. Needed to see if they were okay. Needed to know that Caine was better.
Caine moved his eyes to look out through the back of his jaw and saw Kinger stumbling towards him. His hat fell off of his head as he tilted his head downwards, his shame hitting him hard.
Kinger ran to Pomni and Ragatha first. “Are you all okay?” His voice wavered, and his hands shook as he placed them on Pomni’s face. Pomni didn’t move, too stunned. Kinger then moved to Ragatha, who hugged him as soon as he got close enough to her. He gasped a bit before placing his hands by the small of her back, attempting to soothe her.
He moved to Gangle, kneeling down to her as she checked her mask. “I-I don’t know what happened…” She choked out, the tears hanging from her mask falling. Zooble hobbled over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Kinger nodded hesitantly, patting Zooble on their shoulder, leaving them alone.
Jax grabbed at his shoulders frantically, almost as though he was checking for something. Kinger held out his hand, moving one of Jax’s hands away and squeezing it, offering comfort to the solitary rabbit. He looked up at Kinger, looking into where his eyes would be, stifling a sob. Kinger sighed, and began moving away from Jax, giving him one last squeeze of his hand before walking away.
Kinger finally approached Caine, who had repositioned himself to wrap his arms around his knees. Kinger kneeled down, and cupped his hands around Caine’s bottom jaw.
“It’s okay now. You’re safe.” He said reassuringly. Caine slowly opened his mouth, looking at Kinger between his teeth. He lifted his hand, placing it under the bucket to ground himself more.
“I-I don’t know why I did that… I was so mad… so… so frustrated…” Caine said, voice cracking with every other word. Kinger caressed the ringleader, his breathing erratic and his non-existent ears ringing. He felt a pain in his chest, it throbbed. It just kept going, like a heartbeat.
Kinger felt Caine’s grip tighten around him, trembling and sobbing. “Caine. You know what you did was wrong, but your reasoning was at least understandable.” Kinger rubbed the ringleader’s back in small circles.
Gangle stared, then spoke up. “Caine… I-I’m sorry for being rude…” She turned her head away nervously after finishing her sentence. Zooble looked shocked, putting a hand around her.
“Gangle, you shouldn’t apologize. If anything, I should apologize.” They turned to face Caine, and took a deep breath. “I’ve been a pain in the @$$ to you ever since I got here. I just kept pushing your buttons! I was… scared. Frustrated.” They sighed. “I don’t like what you did to me, what you did to us, but I see where you were coming from.” They sat down near Caine, with Gangle following suit.
Pomni and Ragatha sat down too, a bit farther from everyone. Jax kept standing however. He gritted his teeth, and spoke up. “So, what, we’re just gonna forgive him?! He tortured us!” His voice wavered, before tears began to fall. “He-“ Jax hiccupped, shaking as he fell to his knees. “He’s terrifying.”
Pomni shifted herself closer to Jax, sitting next to him to provide comfort. He looked at her, then sobbed harder. “God this is bruising my ego.” His pupils dilated as he spoke, his “funny one” persona returning. Pomni just shrugged and leaned her head against Jax’s shoulder, smiling.
Caine watched as the humans all comforted themselves, while Kinger stayed by his side. His code knotted together in his stomach, making him feel sick.
As everyone comforted each other, Bubble floated over, grinning. “You should throw a pity party!” Bubble spoke. Before Caine could react, Zooble threw a limb at it, popping it.
“Shut the $@(& up.”