Work Text:
It'd been almost a week since that stupid "Escape the Circus" adventure, and Jax was starting to crack.
No, he'd started to crack a long time ago. He just couldn't hold himself together anymore.
As soon as they returned from the newest adventure, Jax mumbled an excuse and slipped off to his room.
He flopped down on his bed and buried his face in his pillow, passing out almost immediately.
Jax didn't know how long he'd been out for. All he knew was Pomni was banging on his door-sounded like she'd been at it for a while, he should probably answer- and his right arm was starting to glitch and distort, a void of inky blackness creeping it's way up.
He was abstracting.
Jax knew he should be terrified, should be panicking or at least upset.
He didn't feel any of those things.
He felt calm. Almost... Relieved?
Finally.
He stared at his hand, turning it over and inspecting it.
So this is what abstracting is like.
"JAX!" Pomni's shouts pulled him out of his thoughts. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! ANSWER ME OR I WILL BREAK YOUR [%$!#] DOOR DOWN!" She sounded worried. He should probably at least let her know he was alive. For now. He thought morbidly.
"Go away."
"Jax, either come out or let me in!"
Well, obviously neither of those things were happening. She sounded slightly calmer now, though.
There was a momentary pause, then the door creaked open. Jax turned his head to stare at the door. "How the [%$!#] did you get in?" He asked, hiding his arm under his blanket.
"Caine only made, like, four different keys. Why'd it take you so long to answer?"
"I was asleep."
"I woke up Zooble, and they're on the other end of the hallway. And why are you hiding your arm like that?" Pomni was starting to get suspicious.
"Can you just go so I can get back to my nap?" Jax said, the abstraction starting to spread onto his shoulder, out from under the blanket.
"What is happe-" Pomni stopped, realizing that he wasn't going to tell her anything, and just tugged the blanket off.
"Hey!" Jax tried to snatch his blanket back.
"Jax, you're abstracting." Pomni said softly, stunned.
"Yeah, no [%$!#]."
"Nononononononono..." Pomni mumbled.
"Yes. Can you please just go?" Jax asked, exhausted.
"Jax, please don't do this. I-Is there anything I can do to help?"
He sighed. "No, Pompom. Don't be so stubborn."
"I'm not letting you abstract!" She exclaimed, grabbing his hand tightly
"Bold of you to assume you have any say in the matter." Jax said, the abstraction now consuming most of his chest. "Don't worry about me."
"Why do you keep acting like you're okay all the time?"
A hollow laugh escaped his mouth. "I haven't been okay since Ribbit Abstracted. But I don't want your pity, or anyone else's."
"We're trying to help you!"
"You can't."
"Because you won't let us!"
"Listen, Pomni. Nobody in this stupid little circus cares about me." Jax said, staring at the wall.
"I do."
"You shouldn't."
"Well, I do."
"And how's that turning out for you?" He said, lifting the blanket back up to prove his point-Most of his body had become a glitchy, black mass.
Jax hadn't even noticed she was crying until he felt a tear fall on him. "Please, Jax... Just try..."
He shook his head and looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry, Pompom. I'm done fighting."
She laid her head on his shoulder and cried.
Pomni slowly walked into the main area of the circus, only half-aware of where she was and what the others were talking about. Because there was someone missing. A rabbit-shaped hole in their group.
Jax was gone, and it would never be the same without him.
She was interrupted by a voice. "Pomni? Is everything okay?"
Pomni blinked away tears and shook her head to clear it. "N-No..." She said, trying to stifle a sob.
Ragatha paused, knowing this was serious. "Okay... Do you want to talk?"
"C-Can we all talk, actually? B-but in Kinger's fort... I-I don't want Caine to interrupt."
Ragatha nodded and stood up, and everyone followed them to the pillow fort.
Once they were in there, sitting in a circle, everyone was quiet for a moment, before Gangle spoke up. "W-What happened?"
Pomni took a deep breath. "J-Jax- H-He... Abstracted." She sobbed.
Apart from her crying, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ragatha tried to pull Pomni into a hug, but she squirmed away, curling up into a ball.
Zooble broke the silence, their voice uncharacteristically soft. "Holy [%$!#]."
She curled up even more, and heard the familiar sound of Gangle's comedy mask shattering.
After a minute, Kinger put his hand on Pomni's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Pomni. I know you two were getting rather close."
"I knew he wasn't doing well, but I didn't think he'd actually Abstract..." Ragatha said, staring at the floor. "I tried to talk to him, but he just pushed me away... I wish I could have helped..."
"I-I tried... He d-didn't want m-my help... D-Didn't seem upset... or scared... Didn't seem to c-care at all..."
"Y-you were there?" Gangle asked cautiously.
"I-I was trying to talk to him... He w-wouldn't answer, so I went in and he w-was hiding his arm under a b-blanket... I-I tried to help... Tried to save him..." Pomni said between sobs.
"H-He said he hadn't been okay since Ribbit Abstracted... Said he was done fighting..."
Everybody spent a few minutes comforting Pomni until she stopped crying.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually going to miss that [%$!#]hole." Zooble said.
"Wait, is he still in his room?"