Chapter Text
It was a peaceful morning in the circus, time was simply irrelevant here, but having a sleep schedule made everyone feel much more refreshed. While most were either still lost in a land of dreams and rest, a few people had awoken at an early time, more specifically: Kinger, Pomni and Caine. While the sun had not truly risen, they were all up for their own reasons. Ever since Jax's abstraction, Pomni still couldn't shake off the unease and slight guilt for it. What if's filled her digital brain, cramming against her skull to distract her from all other thoughts, the fear that she could have done something if she just asked more, was there for him, it isolated her from her dreams of better, only the tears that dripped from Jax's face as he- ...she pleaded with nothingness for one more chance, that she wasn't ready to go yet... no matter how much the pain lessened she felt obligated to see her every morning with a cup of cocoa and a smile as the blackened form of Jax slept comfortably in her pillow fort, free from stress, still here.
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Caine had a different reason on the other hand, while AI never truly needed rest, the desire to mimic human attributions coursed through his code, which led him to start pretending to sleep by shutting down his mind server, as if you were restarting a computer. Waking before dawn was not unknown, in fact he was often the first to break from slumber and start the day. What made today so confusing was the oddly groggy state he found himself in when his servers powered back on, not wasting a second he fumbled with the black velvet cuff that was attached to his sleeve to reveal his wacky watch. The time read 3:57am, at least 3 hours earlier than he was scheduled to restart... but at the same time, it had felt as if he hadn't gone into sleep mode at all! The big mismatched eyes darted to every inch of the room, processers scanning for any small movement that may have disrupted his RAM cycle so severely that he felt so sluggish! yet nothing was caught, no distinct change that could have awoken such a vegative state. The fans whirred while his artificial mind filled with endless possibilities on the problems at hand, each one generated seemed less polished then the last, which should have been a clue about the source of this whole thing, yet before those links could be made a sharp glitch occured, body feeling as though it was suddenly being cracked in such a way that shouldn't happen, a gasp should have been released from his figurative throat was caught and replaced with an agonising, grating feeling that seemed to stem from there to his ribs, tickling the inside to force out coughs.
Worry engulfed the AI's entire being as he desperately began to check over every individual line of code he could possibly be made up of, yet every attempt failed as the stabbing continued to ever torment his upper row of teeth, if only he had a normal forehead to rub. It was all so confusing, he had even started to take quick shaky inhales that were not needed nor ever done by him before. His mind raced through all the ideas he had conjured before the ideas slowly became mush to find the most concisive conclusion, how could this happen if he had updated his software weekly? It couldn't be the average bug since he had gotten those plenty of times before and were never that bad! So what-
. . .
He knew the problem. He knew it all too well. Fuck. The evidence pointed to one thing that he had failed to prepare in advance for, a problem Bubble used to just take care of for him, but since he had sacrificed most of his more overwhelming power to set Abel free from his envy and mindscape, he couldn't use him anymore. It was beyond any further explanation other than the fact he had indeed, caught a virus. One that seemed very eager to attack his main systems head on, yet had somehow spread undercover for so long his built in anti-virus program had failed to detect it in time, which meant he had to just wait until it passed, which could take ages! at least a couple days in the best case scenario. Grabbing and shimmying the glove off of his right hand, a non-textured palm began to place itself frantically on the overheating gums. This was bad, extremely bad! He couldn't let anyone know! The humans had just began to trust him, if he glitched out or made them worry it could always reverse all his efforts.
Gaining all the strength his weakened, vulnerable form could muster, he tried to float off of his office chair and onto the polished wooden floors. The efforts seemed to be worthless however as he ended up doubled down on the floor. His access to teleportation and levitation had been blocked, this was not good. His legs felt weightless yet stuck to the floor bricks would, it was uncomfortable and sent shivers down his fictional spine. Gripping the edge of the desk, he pulled his limp form to stand, with every ounce of movement he could conjure, leaving the office with his feet dragging behind him.
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The stillness of the night made the mixture of feelings amplify to an unbearable amount. A dizzy spell kept sweeping against his form, waves pushing him back as he persevered down the winding halls, ever red crossed door laughing at him, mocking him for his failures, scrutanising him for their abstractions, it was his fault, he was bad at what he had to be good at, he deserves this pain he deserves the mocking itsallhisfaulthecouldntkeepthemhappywhyaretheyallstaringmakeitstopstopstopstOPSTOPSTOP-
He blinked to try and get his bearings, globs of salty water flew from his eyes as the rooms morphed into one, his knees were on the floor...
Ca...e...?
Laughs surrounded him, were they truly laughing at him or was this a hallucination caused by his own lack of self-care?
C....ine...
It felt as though acid was rising, threatening to burn holes in his stomach, if he had one that is. The room span faster and faster until ceiling and floor were similar.
...C...ai..NE!
Why was this happening-?!
"Caine!! Caine can you hear me?!"
A voice blared from the crown, familiar, warm, comforting. It disbanded all the laughter as his shoulders were enveloped in a soft, cotton robe, the security dissolving his earlier fear as the AI desperately clung to it. Finding the strength to move, the teeth headed man cranked his head to gaze at the very worried chess piece in front of him, he emitted a glow like aura in the darkness... or at least to Caine.
"Kinger...? W-why aren't you asleep...?" Whimpered the delusional AI, trying to seem sociable even despite his ailment, there was no reason to get the circus involved... But Kinger always seemed to be compassionate to the point of no return.
"Don't worry about me Caine... Why don't we get you somewhere comfortable... before the sun rises, is that okay?"
He could only respond to the voice with a small nod, shutting the teeth down to cover his eyes, he couldn't stand the virus anymore... it had only been a few minutes, and he had already ruined it. Like always.