Chapter Text
Pomni couldn’t sleep; she realized something that could fully change life in the circus. Despite giving up some of his powers, Caine still had the ability to heal anyone who had been touched by an abstracted person. Even if this was only on a small scale, she wondered if maybe this power he had could be used on someone who had abstracted.
Pomni snuck out of her room while everyone was resting. Walking down the hall, she felt a tinge of sadness passing by all the doors marked with a red X. She stopped at one door in particular, Jax. It had been some time since he abstracted, since learning that they were forever stuck in the circus, but the memories still felt fresh. Her hands tightened into fists. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that she didn’t do enough to try and help him, but another part felt that there still wasn’t anything she could have done. But there might still be one more thing.
She passed by the remaining doors until she arrived at one haphazardly put into the corner, as if it wasn’t meant to be part of the geometry. On the door was a crude drawing of Caine and Bubble. After Caine acquired and lost a full-on god complex, he felt the best way to not create a hierarchy was to move out of the office from the hidden dimension and move into the players' quarters. But he still put a Caine spin on it, giving the room a funky bee-patterned wallpaper and a surprising amount of horror-themed decorations (after everyone got to know Caine more, they realized the large number of horror-themed adventures he suggested weren’t out of maliciousness but more that he somehow was secretly a horror fan).
Pomni knocked lightly on the door. She thought she heard an odd noise. She knocks again. The door opens suddenly. At first, the only thing she sees is Bubble flying around the room making airplane noises, but then, from behind the door, Caine appears.
“Pomni! My certified unofficial bestie, what brings you to my domain?”
Pomni smiled lightly.
“Hey Caine, I have a really important question to ask you…”
Caine lightly scratched his chin, or his gums, or both.
“I-I know that you’ve healed us before when we got hurt by abstractions, like when you helped Ragatha after Kaufmo attacked her. And when you healed me after Jax, well…. You know.”
Caine looked down slightly. There's still a tinge of guilt that he feels; part of him still thinks that he had a hand in what happened to Jax.
“I was wondering….. Do you know if you can use that power to…heal an abstraction?”
Caine’s huge bulging eyes narrowed slightly. He looked down at his right hand. Another version of himself would have called it the right hand of God, but he knew it was only the right hand of video game programming.
“You know, now that you mentioned it….I’m not sure I’ve ever tried it. I know that my powers are supposed to only heal players, but…I know how glitchy the circus has been. Especially after you all, well, killed me.”
“Sorry about that,” said Pomni, slightly embarrassed. “Kinger didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay, probably deserved it,” said Caine, also slightly embarrassed. “But with the way things have been, who knows if there's a way to bring someone back from abstraction. Why, I’d say it's fully within the realm of possibili- Hold on for a second.”
Caine turns to Bubble, who's making even louder airplane noises now.
“HEY!!!”
Bubble quickly turns to Caine.
“Can you bring the volume down, please?” said Caine in a weirdly gentle tone.
Bubble gives an exaggerated nod before flying around slower and making noises that sound like a mostly deflated balloon. Caine swivels back to Pomni’s direction.
“Anyways, there's no harm in trying it out. And if it works, it's at least one more good thing I can do…”
Pomni smiled lightly. He really has changed since she first got here. Before, his way of being “helpful” was something that felt more self-serving, finding a way to help in a way that was more of roping her into a crazy adventure he wanted her to do. But now, he genuinely wanted to help, to use whatever power he still had to mend a bit more trust among the members of the circus. Whether that be creating an artist studio for Gangle, creating new parts of Zooble that they seem to be happy with, or even allowing some NPCs to become part of the circus. Caine seemed to find the simple joy of doing a good thing for others.
“And if it doesn’t work, it's still a good thing,” Pomni said. “I know it's impossible to think we can save everyone, but it's still worth a try.”
Caine started to look down, twiddling his thumbs around in a circle.
“I assume you want to save… him, right?”
Pomni didn’t say anything; all she did was nod.
“I want to as well, I feel like I had some hand in all of this. But maybe we should ask them all first. I think it's only right that they have some say in this.”
Pomni was already thinking about this before Caine opened the door. There were many very good reasons that everyone would be against this. It's not easy to just sweep under the rug everything that Jax had done. Even part of her doubted if she should try to bring Jax back. She still remembered that day with the guns, even though she knew Jax was putting up a facade; she still felt some aura of sincere hatred coming from him that day. But she also remembered what she saw inside the abstraction, not just saw but felt completely. She had to try.
—-------------------
Pomni gathered everyone to the couches after they woke up. Nobody seemed to suspect something was going on except for Zooble, but they had a good sense for shenanigans. After everyone settled in, Caine teleported into the room, floating above them.
“Hello, my regally rendered ragamuffins!”
“Well, this feels familiar...” Zooble muttered.
“I’ve come to make an important announcement! As of today, I’m starting a new adventu- I mean, project to find a way to use my powers to bring other members of the circus out of abstraction!”
Everyone shuffled slightly in their seats and looked at each other. There was slight muttering among them. Kinger, with a bucket still on his head, walked to the front and raised a hand.
“Why yes, Kinger?”
“Caine, I appreciate this sentiment and all, but I’m a programmer of this world, and I don’t think there ever was a way to 'unabstract’ someone. As far as I can tell, there is no other way back from this.”
Pomni got up and walked next to Kinger.
“That’s true,” Pomni said. “But think about what's happened since Caine got deleted? I remember you saying how much stuff started to break that shouldn’t have been able to do. Remember the door that took us to the wrong room? A lot has changed since you programmed this whole thing.”
Kinger scratched the top of the bucket on his head.
“Perhaps,” he said quietly. He looked back at Caine. “How do you suppose we do this?”
“Well, using Pomni’s intellect and my own refined technique, we’ve come to the conclusion that maybe, possibly, hopefully… that my powers of healing could be used to heal someone out of abstraction.”
Ragatha’s head perked up slightly.
“Healing….like when you healed me when Kaufmo abstracted and attacked me?”
“Absofruitly!”
Gangle giggled at that, and Zooble only responded with “Did he really say absofruitely?”
“Well,” Ragtha said quietly. “If you think it's possible, there's no reason not to give it a shot.” She sounded slightly hesitant.
Pomni looked down at her hand, the one that was overtaken by Jax when she abstracted. She knew this next part wasn’t going to be easy.
Zooble stood up from the couch, looking directly at Pomni.
“You're not thinking of doing what I think you are….are you?”
Pomni seized up; they knew before she could even say it. She glanced around the room, and everyone was looking at her now.
“It’s not a good idea…,” Zooble said with a slight hint of desperation. “I know you cared about him, but he made his choice; he had a lot of opportunities to do something about it. Not to mention that he's done a lot of shit that can't be forgiven so easily.”
Zooble looked back at Gangle. She had her happy mask on earlier today, and now it seemed to be slipping. She seemed to be slightly curling up into a ball.
“I don’t know,” Gangle said quietly. “We have something really good here now. We all trust each other and care for each other. If we brought Jax back, I’m not sure if it would be the same.”
Zooble put a hand on Gangle’s ribboned shoulder to comfort her. They looked over at Caine.
“Aren’t there other people that’ve been abstracted longer, though?” said Zooble with an air of confusion. “Don’t they deserve that chance more than this asshole?”
Caine looked around nervously, his eyes quickly darting back and forth.
“Ah, yes… that. Well, the funny thing is that all the other abstractions are in the cellar and I found out that, due to giving up some of my administrative powers, I no longer have access…to…the..cellar…”
Zooble sighed and rubbed their non-existent nose with aggravation.
“Of course it had to be him…”
Gangle stood and walked past Zooble. They locked eyes for a moment. Gangle smiled at them sweetly. It's times like these that Zooble wishes they had a mouth to smile back with.
Gangle walks slowly over to Pomni.
“I’m not sure if I could…forgive him. I’m not sure if he even would want that. But if this works, if we really can bring someone back….then we should do it. He's done cruel things just because he could, but I don’t think we should leave him to suffer just because we can.”
Pomni was taken aback by this. She knew how Jax had treated her all this time, how thoroughly he seemed to mock and ridicule her. But despite that, she still seemed to think he deserved another chance. But she suddenly felt a greater responsibility for what might happen next.
It was Ragatha’s turn this time. She walked over to Pomni, picking at a stitch in the side of her hand.
“Pomni, I know you want to bring him back, but…I’ve known him a while, and everything I’ve done to try to be there for him… It's never worked. Every single time its always been brushed off or thrown back in my face. You got closer to him than most, and even then, he still abstracted. He didn’t want to be helped or saved or….”
She scratched at the stitch even harder. Pomni noticed this and put her hand on Ragatha’s. She smiled weakly.
“If we bring him back, what's to stop him from just abstracting again. Do you think… he's even capable of being happy?”
Pomni felt something like a brick in her gut. This sparked a memory of when she and Jax were stargazing. A moment where she was actually able to pick out some kernel of truth about the kind of person Jax was. Something that only Ribbit was able to do. She looked around at everyone, then at her hand.
“There's something I need to tell you all….”
Everyone’s stare hardened with anticipation.
“When I was trying to stop Jax’s abstraction, I think I… went inside his mind.”
Eyes across the room widened.
“While I was in there, I came across what felt like mental constructs, all these doors that hid different parts of himself. But then I found something else. I think…they were memories. I was seeing things through his eyes. I saw how he first got here and the friends he had. I saw a lot of moments with Ribbit before she abstracted. He told her something really personal, something I’m not sure I should tell. But something odd happened. Suddenly, I wasn’t seeing through his eyes anymore. I just saw him, pouring his heart out, expressing something that wasn’t easy to say. Something I’ve never seen Jax do before. And I felt something else, like this moment was a crossroads. One where he could have lived a better life.”
Pomni stops for a moment and looks back at the ground.
“....but he didn’t. We all know how it goes.”
There was a chill in the air as silence lingered.
“But I can’t shake the feeling that maybe that life is still possible for him. I know it sounds crazy, but if there's a chance, I don’t know if I could ignore it.”
Pomni lets out a deep breath.
“But if it doesn’t work, I won’t try anymore. I’ll accept this isn’t something I can change.”
She didn’t know what to expect, but looking up again, she saw sympathetic eyes. She tried her best not to cry, but still did anyways. Gangle was the first to hug her, then Ragatha, then one by one, everyone joined in (even Bubble tried to join the group hug somehow).
—-------------------------
Everyone crowded inside the tent. Jax’s abstraction seemed to be resting. Everyone did their best to stay quiet as they walked across the somewhat jagged terrain inside. Caine floated in, hovering close to the abstraction. He looked to Pomni, who gave him a thumbs-up. That was the signal.
Caine waved his right hand forward. The digital muscles in his fingers flexed intensely. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then suddenly, he saw parts of the distorted body begin to dissolve partially. His eyes widened with wonder at this discovery.
Pomni felt a chill of excitement seeing that the theory might actually be true. She started to see patches of purple appear within the spots that disintegrated. She started to believe that this might work.
Then, suddenly, the abstraction woke up.
It flailed itself around the tent, slowly escaping Caine’s grasp. The patches of purple were quickly covered up once again by distortion. Then it began to run straight towards everyone.
Pomni’s look of excitement quickly changed to fear. Panic filled the tent as everyone raced out through the opening. Pomni did her best to catch her breath while Zooble tripped over a piece and collapsed across the floor.
“What the hell was that?” said Zooble with utter confusion. “You looked like you had him, Caine.”
“I thought I did too! But it was strange, it felt like whatever healing power I was doing was being pulled into the abstraction.”
Kinger pitched in.
“What could have possibly been pulling you in?”
“I’m not sure…it seemed to me, somehow…..I think it wasn’t the abstraction pulling me in. I think it might have been Jax.”
Ragatha caught herself from losing her balance while running. She turned to Caine in a scarecrow-like movement.
“What do you mean it was Jax?”
She and Caine began to argue over how it could possibly be Jax pulling him in when the realization slowly hit Pomni, her eyes widening.
“Caine, I know what we need to do. While you keep healing Jax, I need to go into the abstraction.”
Ragtha's face filled with horror.
“WHAT?!” she yelled.
“YEA WHAT?!?” said Caine, accidentally mimicking Ragatha.
Before Pomni could re-enter the tent, Ragatha pulled her back.
“No, no, NO, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS!”
Pomni looked at her, astonished. She had never seen her this upset before. Ragatha crouched down to her level.
“I’ll be fine, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Don’t tell me I have nothing to worry about, you almost abstracted last time you were in there! You don’t know what might happen this time! And what if you sacrifice yourself and this was all for nothing, what if Caine’s magic thing or whatever doesn’t actually work…what if….”
She trails off, her head lowering. Pomni raises Ragatha’s head to see her crying
“I just….don’t want to lose anyone else to this……I don’t want to lose you…”
Pomni felt a tinge of sadness, but also a surge of love. Ragatha had become someone to her who was more than a friend, more than a shoulder to cry on, but a pillar of stone. But she didn’t realize that she had become that for her as well. Ever since that hug so long ago, after Caine was deleted, when everything felt like it was falling apart, Pomni saw Ragtha as someone she truly loved. She wishes she knew how to say that before possibly jumping into destruction.
But maybe this would do for now.
Pomni leaned forward and kissed Ragatha on the cheek. Ragatha's face froze in shock. Little red lines began to form under her cheeks. Her hand slowly covered her mouth. Pomni smiled.
“I promise I’ll come back.”
She turned around and headed toward the tent. Ragatha turned, face still frozen with her jaw dropped to see everyone else also slack-jawed. The only one who wasn’t was Gangle, who seemed to have a knowing grin on her face. Ragatha suddenly felt the red lines got frustrated childishly.
“Stupid cartoon blush marks….”
Caine and Pomni approached the abstraction. It seemed to be disoriented, swaying back and forth after exerting so much energy warding off intruders from its territory.
“You sure this will work?” Caine said with a tinge of fear.
“It has to.”
The abstraction gained focus and noticed the intruders had returned. It points its sights at Pomni and begins to run straight towards her. She breathes deeply and, in turn, runs at it as well. As Caine begins to use his powers, Pomni hugs one of the front legs, and as she does so, she seems to be enveloped by a blinding pink light.