Chapter Text
Pomni opened her eyes.
Her vision swirled with saturated colors that gradually lessened, fading into a single, bright light above her head.
“Are you with us, honey?” a muffled voice asked close to her face, and Pomni jumped, suddenly made aware of the multiple heads leaning over her.
Where… was she? Was this another weird adventure?
She panicked, gripping what felt like sheets beneath her and thrashed, her breaths escalating into near-hyperventilation.
“Hey! It’s ok, it’s ok, you’re safe…”
A gloved hand stroked a strand of hair out of her face, while something warm seemed to prickle in her bloodstream, both of which caused her to relax into the soft bed beneath her.
The brush against her skin felt strange, and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her—
Wait, her skin? Her bloodstream??
Pomni reached up her hands to touch her face. Sure enough, instead of cartoony rubber, it felt like real flesh and blood. Slowly, she lifted two shaking hands into her vision.
Five fingers. Flesh toned. Fingernails.
She was in her body again.
“There we are….” the same voice said, a woman with a southern accent. Pomni turned her head and saw a middle-aged nurse in grey scrubs, fiddling with something on Pomni’s wrist.
“How are you feeling, Penny? Can you hear me okay?”
Penny?
She took in another breath, her vision losing focus as it felt like ice water was dumped on her.
Right… that. That was her name. Her whole life, her name had been Penny Taylor.
What had happened? Had the circus all been a dream? Why was she in the hospital?
The nurse let out a concerned hum, bringing Penny back to reality with a little tap on her shoulder. She realized she hadn’t answered the question.
“Um…” she croaked, then realized she was incredibly thirsty. The nurse was already pressing a straw to her lips, and Penny drank greedily.
Once she was done, she cleared her throat.
“Uh… I feel kind of weird. What happened?”
“Can you try wiggling your fingers and toes for me?” Another voice asked, and Penny jumped again, turning to see a doctor in a white coat and glasses, leaning over her on her other side.
Numbly, she obeyed. She managed to wiggle her extremities, but everything still felt weird. Like pins and needles when your hand or foot fell asleep, only times a hundred, and throughout her whole body.
She blinked slowly, suddenly feeling woozy. Why did it feel like her mind was a balloon attached to a string, floating above her bed?
“What happened?” She slurred out again, this time attempting to be louder.
Was the Digital Circus real? was what she really wanted to know, but didn’t want to sound completely crazy.
The doctor took a few notes on his clipboard, then sat down next to her bed. He has a friendly smile, but it seemed forced, poorly masking his exhaustion.
“I’m not sure you’re coherent enough—“
“Please,” she begged, reaching up and squeezing the railing on her bed, feeling her body start to tremble. She knew she was a mess, but she couldn’t let that stop her from getting some answers.
“Woah. Okay, no need to panic. You’re safe here. Take a few deep breaths for me, okay, Penny?”
Willing to do anything at this point to get them to talk, she did as she was told. The oxygen slowed her heartbeat slightly, and it seemed to be enough to satisfy the doctor.
He leaned back in his chair.
“You were found unconscious in an abandoned office building three days ago,” he started, tapping a pencil to his clipboard. The sound was rhythmic, almost like a clock.
Tik tik tik…
“We identified you as Penny Taylor, a woman for whom a missing report had been filed 6 months ago by your parents. You were reported to have been last seen in that same area, but there’s been no sighting of you since. Somehow, you seemed to just… appear.”
He flipped a page on his clipboard. Penny’s previously slowed heart rate was beginning to pick back up. She stared up at the ceiling, the smell of antiseptic filling her nose. The words seemed to swirl around in her head, not making any sense.
A missing report?
“Curious enough, your story is very similar to the others, though their cases have been cold, some for more than 20 years—”
“Others???” She shouted, flying up into a sitting position. “What…? Who…?”
The nurse was grabbing Penny’s shoulder, trying to encourage her to lay back down, but she shrugged her off. All she could think about were the memories now flooding her brain, the family she had found in that digital nightmare. Were they ok? Were they here??
“One thing at a time,” the doctor said gently, placing a hand on her ankle. “First, I want to talk about your condition. We have no idea for how long you were unconscious for, so you will need some time to recover here while we monitor you. You’re very weak, and your cognitive functioning may be—“
“Where are the others??” She demanded, though even to her, the voice coming out of her mouth sounded weak and very unthreatening. She was starting to get dizzy from sitting up, but she tried to ignore it.
The doctor took her in with a concerned look, then let out another surrendering sigh. It seemed his priority was trying to keep her calm.
“Very well. I can go through your treatment plan later. We found five other unconscious individuals in the same building as you. Because of the similar nature of all of your conditions, we brought you all here to Westside Health so we could observe you—“
He was cut off by a loud crashing. The doctor grimaced.
“Looks like the sedation wore off…” he mumbled, looking like he had aged ten more years in the last 5 seconds.
Shouting echoed through the hallway.
“Get the HELL out of my way!”
“Sir, please! She just woke up and she’s very disoriented…”
“I don’t care, just let me see her—“
Penny watched with wide eyes as a young, tall man in a hospital gown burst through her door. His tan skin had a sheen of sweat dripping into the scruff on his face, his choppy black hair sporting a pretty intense bedhead. Wild eyes searched the room until they landed on Penny, still swaying in her seat.
They stared at each other for a long second. It took her less than that time to realize who she was staring at.
Penny attempted to swallow her non-existent salviva, chapped lips parting to ask quietly—
“Jax…?”
His face twisted into an expression of relief, before flashing a grin Penny would recognize in any universe.
“Hey, Pomni.”
Things got kind of foggy after that. Nurse reinforcements caught up to Jax, attempting to carefully restrain him. Jax didn’t seem to resist much this time, though his eyes remained glued on Penny.
Penny hadn’t realized she had been lowered back down to her pillow until she blinked and saw the ceiling above her.
Her vision was swimming again, and the Doctor and nurse started speaking hurried words across her bed.
Please don’t let this be another one of Caine’s adventures… she silently pled as she slipped back under.
—
“KINGER!”
“The code is almost ready!! Everyone needs to conjure—“
“Jax!! We need to—“
“The exit!! Everyone, NOW!”
Penny awoke with a gasp.
She took a few deep breaths, taking in the empty hospital room.
Baby blue walls. White curtains glowing with sunlight. Starchy, cream colored sheets beneath her fingertips.
As she slowly turned her head on her pillow, a bright splash of color caught her eye.
A small jar with yellow flowers. A note leaning against it with a butterfly doodled next to the words,
“Get well soon! Love, Kevin.”
As she stared at the flowers, she blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the memories swirling in her brain. Distantly, she heard the quiet dripping of a leaky faucet in the corner of her room. With each drip, a recollection seemed to surface.
Her name is Penny.
Plink.
She’s at a hospital because she was found in an abandoned building.
Plink.
The Circus. She had been trapped for six months.
Plink.
They had escaped. Kinger had done some coding, then they managed to conjure some kind of portal.
Plink.
The others were here. Jax was—
A zing of energy seemed to lace up her lethargic body at the thought, and she attempted once more to sit up.
The movement caused a slightly painful tug at her wrist, and she looked down to see an IV taped to the back of her hand.
She grimaced. She had always hated needles.
Penny looked between the empty hallway and the tubes connected to her, back and forth. She needed to see Jax and the others to make sure they were ok…
Her hand twitched over the tape on her other hand, then she retracted it, flopping back onto her pillows with an irritated grunt.
… but she wasn’t that dumb.
Resigned to staying in her bed, and having nothing better to do, she took stock of how she felt physically.
She was exhausted. Hungry. And that weird feeling was there again. The static buzzing.
What on earth had happened to her body? Had she aged at all? Had it been, like, stored in code all this time? What about Kinger, who had been in the circus for decades??
She suddenly regretted cutting the doctor off when he was going to tell her more about her condition. Though her thoughts continued to spiral as she remembered what he had told her;
She had been missing. Oh God, her parents must have freaked out. Were they here now? And now that she was back, what did that mean for her going forward? What about her old job? Her old friends?
She pressed her free palm against her forehead, groaning, as her head started to pound.
And why, amidst all of the insanity of her current situation, couldn’t she get that stupid bunny out of her head?
Her rumination was mercifully interrupted by a light tapping on the door.
A nurse poked her head in.
“Ah, Penny! It’s good to see you awake. I have a— er— patient, here, who after much negotiating—“
Jax poked his head underneath her, attempting to push through the door on what appeared to be a wheelchair.
“Pom Pom!! How’s it hanging?? What do you think; am I handsomer than you imagined?”
The nurse’s eyelid twitched. “He’s insisted on seeing you. We’ve negotiated that he can have a 15 minute visit, as long as he stays in his wheelchair…“
She eyed him threateningly.
Jax rolled his eyes.
“AND doesn’t stress Penny out, blah blah, let’s her sleep if she’s tired, blah blah. Yeah, I remember your demands.”
The nurse forced a smile, giving them one last look.
“I’ll leave you to it, then, Jameson.”
Then she quietly shut the door.
“…Jameson?” Penny breathed, rolling her head towards the still-unfamiliar human. He sailed towards her at a speed much higher than was typically recommended for a wheelchair.
He locked eyes with her, and she might’ve been imagining things, but his expression seemed to soften.
“Yep. That’s me. The real me, anyways.”
“And you called me Penny. Just now.”
“Yeah. That’s what the nurse said your name was. Unless she’s lying?”
Penny let out a breathy laugh. “No. That’s… that’s my name. I remembered it as soon as they called me it. Weird, huh?
“Yeah, that’s a good word for this all. Weird.”
They sat there for a moment in silence, long enough for Penny to realize there were birds chirping outside.
Somehow, Jax— wait, Jameson— seemed to notice this. She felt his gaze follow hers towards the window, and suddenly he was skidding across the room towards the sunlight.
He pulled the curtain open, revealing a blue sky framed by leafy green trees.
“Would you look at that, Penny? Non-digital trees! And a sun that isn’t threatening to burn us alive! Isn’t that great?”
Penny chuckled drunkenly.
Jameson turned and smiled in response, and she got a chance to really look at him in the light.
He had Latino-looking features, with tanned skin and a couple piercings on the edges of his ears. His black hair looked nearly long enough for a little ponytail, but was currently sticking up in all directions. Black scruff lined his jaw, and a couple tattoos peeked out on his neck and chest from under his hospital gown.
“So it was real, then?” She blurted, suddenly desperate to know. “The Circus? Caine? Everything?”
Jameson was quiet for a moment, then wheeled himself up closer to her. He leaned an arm casually over her bed railing.
“Well it's either that, or we had some kind of hivemind fever dream, isn’t it?”
Penny hummed, staring back up at the ceiling.
“Yeah. I guess. I don’t know, everything just feels so strange right now..”
Jameson eyed her IV. “I mean, you are pretty high right now…”
“BESIDES that,” she sighed, slapping his arm. Despite her annoyance, their exchange made her feel warm inside. This banter, it was familiar. Like they were just a rabbit and a jester, strolling down a colorful hallway, chatting.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she mumbled before she could stop herself. She saw Jameson’s body stiffen slightly as she once again cursed her drug-loosened tongue.
“I…” he started, then swallowed. She watched in real time his mask of humor break the slightest crack, and his hand reached down to grab hers.
“I’m glad you’re here, too. That we’re here together, you know?”
Then, almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. He leaned back, trying for another casual grin.
“Not that I care about you, or anything…”
“Uh huh. And how many nurses did you shove to rampage your way down the hall to get to me?”
That got him to blush, and Penny laughed as he nervously fumbled, trying to defend himself with a poorly thrown-together excuse that had something to do with a vending machine. Though it did intrigue her that throughout it all, he never let go of her hand.
When her giggling fit was over, Penny sunk even deeper into her mattress, suddenly feeling her eyelids droop.
“Ugh. I have, like, a million questions. What even happened to our bodies? Our minds?”
“I’m saving those questions for Mr. Coding Master himself, Pom. If you think too much about it your brain will explode. And if THAT happens then the nurse will come in and revoke my TV privileges.”
“Kinger?” she asked, suddenly feeling more alert. “I remember the doctor mentioning there were six of us here. Have you seen him yet? Seen anyone?”
Jameson shook his head. “No. Nothing besides that.” He jutted his chin towards the sidetable, and Penny turned to look at the flowers and note again. It suddenly clicked.
Kinger…. Kevin. Huh.
“So I guess he woke up before us, then?” she asked.
“Beats me. I think they’re on a different floor than us,” he said with a shrug. He then broke into a mischievous grin. “What do you say, Pom Pom? Down to prison break together this time to go annoy them?”
Penny raised an eyebrow, then lifted her IV hand.
“I think I’ll stay attached to my life-giving medicine, thank you.”
“Booorrriinng…” Jameson waved his hand at her, wagging his currently-unattached port. “Still alive, see?”
When she gave him a look, he did seem to reconsider a little, pupils flicking over her.
“The… the nurse did mention you were in a bit of rougher shape than me. So take it easy, yeah?”
She stared back at him, then down at their still-joined hands. It was… odd, seeing Jax being considerate for her health. Heck, he had just admitted he wanted to be here with her.
The way they had left things at the circus had been… complicated to say the least. They had become good friends. Jax has pushed her away. They had awkwardly interacted until the escape…
…so where were they now?
Penny opened her mouth, but was stopped by another light tapping on the door. The nurse from before poked her head in again with a polite smile.
“Times up, Jameson. We need to run a few tests with Penny. ”
Jameson’s hand suddenly snapped away from Penny’s, as if he had been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Penny tried to catch his eye, curious as to why he did that, but he avoided her gaze.
Instead, he leaned his head back with a dramatic groan, pushing his wheelchair towards the door.
“If I must, Angie. Hey, if I told you I was a good boy during my visit, will you grab me a Mountain Dew from your break room?”
“…how did you know we have that in our break room…?”
Penny smiled as their voices faded, then curled up on her side.
Everything was upside down. And things still felt… weird between the two of them.
But as she flexed her fingers, still warm from Jameson’s touch, she felt some kind of contentment settle in her chest.
Maybe everything would still be okay.