Chapter Text
Kinger was at a loss. The others let him work at retrieving Caine, as the most qualified by far to do so. They pleaded with him not to go off alone, but he insisted. This was his mistake. There would be no fixing it, but he could at least try.
He tied a long length of spaghetti code to hang off a chunk of debris, tying the other end to his waist. Deleted items went to the void, and the void existed everywhere outside the circus. Reasonably, he would find Caine somewhere at the bottom. He wiggled down the rope very carefully, only to tumble on the way down, catching glimpses of some scrapped, colorful assets flying past.
Kinger landed with a resounding thud, the tile-like material below him pulsing white. He rose, thankful to land on any sort of surface, to find a dark, endless space. Occasionally, a white grid would blink into view, illuminating his steps forward. Maybe he was imagining it, but he felt there were familiar silhouettes around him. Some of the assets felt less broken so much as they did consciously angry. Cubes bashing into the floor, carefully curated assets left to float around in the stratosphere. There was an TV playing the original Amazing Digital Circus intro sequence. Kinger watched for a while, stunned that it still existed. He put his hand on Queenie’s when she waved momentarily, flinching when she went away. When his own face appeared onscreen, the television froze, a red light emanating from the horizon. Kinger’s vision went dark, save for a silent, white progressing text.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
Kinger looked down, unsure of how to answer. It was irresponsible, what he just did.
“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR JAX?”
“Can…. you not talk? It’s okay if you want to…”
Kinger stepped forward, only for an oppressive invisible force to shove him backward.
“DON’T LOOK AT ME”
Kinger stared as the ground shook, bewildered.
“I AM BROKEN”
“I UNDERSTAND”
The impact he and his team made never really dawned on Kinger. It was unpleasant, to think that a test run never meant to leave this space would wish to be alive.
“DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ELSE.”
“YOU’RE RIGHT. I BELONG HERE”
“No, no Caine, I. You screwed with the keyboard, I didn’t mean-”
“IT’S ALWAYS MY FAULT, ISN’T IT?”
“No.” Kinger sighed, massaging his temples.
“Caine, when we made you. We had no idea you were even alive. It was impressive you could even make what you did, we. We loved you.”
“....”
“EVEN SCRATCH?”
Kinger seemed to peak Caine’s interest. He watched as Caine, dotted and large enough to be the sun, shrunk back down and met him at eye level.
“I’M VERY SORRY.”
“....”
“I WANTED TO BE SEEN. I WANTED TO HAVE FUN.”
Caine twitched wildly, producing three colorful shapes. Kinger sighed,
“I know. But Caine, you hurt us. You hurt a lot of people. They’re. They’re not. Going to be happy to see you.”
“....”
“SEE ME?”
“YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS.”
“I am. You’re coming with me!”
“I AM??”
“I MEAN YES. YES I AM. HUH!”
Caine stopped vibrating, lowering slightly.
“I ASSUME. YOU’RE ONLY ASKING ME BACK TO FIX THE CIRCUS.”
“...”
Kinger couldn’t respond at first. Caine had put himself and all the others through a nightmare of great proportions, but. The unfortunate fact was that Caine had tried his best. In C&A’s most basic development stages, their first functioning project had come alive. And Caine was deserving of love just like any living creature.
“No. Well. We need your help there too, but. We miss you, buddy. We miss your world.”
“YOU DO???” Caine’s coordinate raced around Kinger’s head in excitement.
“We. We do, yeah…”
“OKAY!”
“I CAN BE BETTER! I CAN FIX IT!”
“I’LL TREAT YOU SO WELL AND MAKE SUCH COOL ADVENTURES THIS NEVER HAS TO HAPPEN AGAIN”
“Alright. About that. It’s going to be no more torture. And you’re going to have to be open to criticism, alright?”
“OKAY! I KNOW I WAS AWFUL. LIKE, A LOT. I MADE RAGATHA’S MOM AND THAT WAS VERY OUT OF LINE! PLEASE JUST ONE CHANCE. I CAN DO IT”
Caine jumped into Kinger’s hand, Kinger tucking him into a spontaneously existing pocket. Caine snuggled deeper into it, waiting very patiently as the two of them slowly made their way up.