Work Text:
An Amazing Digital Circus fanfic
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“C’mon, Annie! It’s not that bad. Just follow me already!”
I faced my best friend, Anne, as she stopped at the threshold of the abandoned building. She had been standing there for at least a minute, just staring into the space behind me and the others. Finally, she said something.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Anne asked, looking at me with a concerned expression.
“I told you, it’s fine! Nobody’s gonna notice, this place’s been abandoned for years.” I replied, getting annoyed.
She sighed. “Fine. But only because you told me to, Micheal.” She stepped forward, joining the group. Our friends, Kayla and Matthew, let out cheers of triumph.
“Now,” I said, turning to where the steps were. “Shall we?” I got onto the first step and looked up at the spiral of stairs above me. Everyone nodded in agreement, though Anne hesitated.
As we reached the 4th floor, I got this feeling that we should stop.
“Guys. In here.” I reached for the nearest door and opened it to reveal an office. Just an ordinary office, though the tech looked outdated. All blocky computers and wires everywhere. And two headsets.
“Sweet.” I said, rushing over to the desk that had the headsets.
“Wait! Micheal, what are you gonna do?” Anne followed me, giving me a quizzical look.
“I dunno, but this stuff looks cool. You know what? Annie, I dare you,” I picked up a headset from the desk and held it up to her. “To put this on.”
“You want me to do what?” She looked at me with a horrified expression.
“It’ll be fine! Just see what happens when I turn it on.” I shrugged.
At that point, I started to rethink my life decisions from the murderous look she gave me.
“Micheal. NO. I’m not doing that.” She crossed her arms, eyes almost burning holes through my own.
“Please?”
Anne stood there, unmoving.
“Fine.”
I let out a cheer. “Yes! Annie, I promise you won’t regret this.” I gave her the headset, moving to the computer and attempting to find the ‘ON’ button. I found it eventually, and the screen glowed a blinding blue light.
“Alright, Annie. You ready?” I asked her, a wild grin on my face. She gave me a hesitant nod as the light on the headset turned on.
“Three, two, one, go!” I told her as I pressed a key.
She put the headset on. I took the other headset and put it on.
All I saw was black.
That’s when I heard the crash.
“Annie? You good?” I asked, concerned.
She didn’t answer.
“Annie?”
Silence.
I ripped off the headset.
And I saw Anne lying on the ground, unmoving.
“Anne!”
I rushed to her, kneeling on the ground beside her. Anne’s red hair spread out on the floor around her head, a halo of fire against the boring office carpet. I looked her up and down, trying to find any injuries or anything that might’ve caused her to fall. I didn’t see any blood. Her blue dress was as crisp as always. I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.
“Anne, wake up! Wake up!”
She didn’t move.
I shook her again.
No answer.
I held her close to me, tears pricking my eyes.
“C’mon, Annie… It- it can’t be that bad, right? I’m sorry…. Just wake up…..”
That’s how I lost my best friend. Matthew and Kayla had ditched us to explore the building while we were in the office room, and had disappeared before they could be found with us. I had stumbled downstairs after sitting there for ten- twenty minutes? I don’t remember. A few days afterwards, the police came to my house. They asked me questions about when the last time I saw Anne was. I told them I had seen her three days before, but not that I had seen her lying dead on the floor of the old C&A office building. They left soon after arriving. 5 months later, I left my house in a frenzy after a fight with my parents. I slammed the door of my car as I turned the key. I drove, not knowing where I was going. I found myself driving down the road into a forest, the sky dark and eerie. All I saw were the headlights on the trees. The trees were getting closer. I swerved, but it was too late. The trees met the back of my car with a sickening crunch of metal. I swore, looking back at the collapsed back of the silver car. I got out and slammed the door, but froze as I saw where I had been driving. I saw the faded logo painted on the side of the building.
C&A.
I had an idea. I rushed to the door and flung it open, rushing up the stairs to the 4th floor. I opened the door, expecting to find the body of Anne, but it wasn’t there. Ignoring that, I rushed to the computer, the bright blue light bathing the dark room in an eerie glow. I grabbed the headset, making sure the light was on before pressing the same key I did that first time as I put on the headset.
‘Please, let this work.’ I thought as the darkness filled my vision.
Then, a theme song- at least, that’s what I think it was- started playing. I felt myself stumble and fall before everything in my body went numb. Red, yellow, and blue in geometric shapes danced in my vision before I fell onto a stage. I looked around, confused as I took in the video game-looking scene around me. A chess piece in a purple robe, a tall ragdoll in a blue dress, a humanoid frog with a bowtie, and a cartoony clown were looking at me.
“W-What? Where am I? Who the %$!# are you?” A weird sound came out of my mouth as I tried to swear.
“Well, well, well!” A voice came from somewhere. “A new human is here!”
A… giant set of teeth with eyes in it, along with a humanoid body and a top hat appeared in front of me. One eye was green, one was blue.
“Welcome! My name is Caine!” The teeth said, somehow bending in a very unnatural way.
“What the %$!# is going on?!” Another weird sound in place of the swear word.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, NO! We just CANNOT have that kind of FoUl LaNgUaGe here! The Amazing Digital Circus is a place for all ages!” Caine said. “Now, how about your name!”
“My name?” I asked, trying to remember my name. I couldn’t. “Oh, %$!#, what’s my name?”
“Since you don’t remember, like everyone else, let’s choose a new one!!” Caine’s dual-colored eyes were bright as a loud crash sounded behind him and a casino machine was suddenly there. The wheels were spinning, landing on three letters.
J. A. and X.
“How do you feel about… Jax?” Caine asked.
“Jax.” I repeated.
My new name… was Jax.
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THE END.