Chapter Text
Jax looked around, still running and scared for his life of what's chasing him. The dismantled silhouettes of people he once knew, all forming together in one big blob, with its colorful eyes all focused on him.
The hallways kept growing longer and taller, so unnatural that it was almost normal in this ‘Amazing Digital Circus’.
This place was never amazing, it felt like a prison. But of course it was still a circus, so was the one to make it funny all the time.
Jax was looking for something to at least keep the abstraction away for a few seconds. Still running away he looked at his right: a door. It was still pretty far away, but close enough to speed up his pace and reach it in time before the amalgamation noticed he ran harder.
He was almost out of breath when he finally reached the door, but….
A fake door… of course
Inside of his head he cursed out Caine in at least 5000 languages for making that door fake when he actually needed a real one for once.
‘’S[!#@%]t’’ he muttered under his breath.
Seeing the abstraction come closer and closer he looked behind him for a second, he could've sworn the hallway behind him was longer, but he was suddenly less than 10 feet from a dead end.
The abstraction slowly came closer to him, as he felt his legs get weaker from running and the intense panic he felt.
He was sure it would get him eventually.
He almost flopped down like a ragdoll, but was able to grab the handle of the fake door, opening it. Behind it was just a wall.
Jax slowly made his way to the floor as he stared down the almost animal-like being.
He scooted back as far as he could, making his way to the corner of the dead end.
The abstraction stopped running towards him for a moment, and looked at him, slowly un-covering a kind of arm that stretched out to Jax.
He looked closely and saw…
…Ribbit’s arm?
Jax blinked a few times, just to see if this was real.
It was still there..
He didn't know if this was just his mind playing tricks on him, or the abstract being actually had her arm
The blob came closer to him. Jax could feel every breath he took with a painful sharp sting in his chest.
It took a few more steps towards Jax as it uncovered yet another arm, this time, it was Pomni’s
The silhouette began to speak to Jax, in a weird, glitchy way:
‘’I-its al-l y-y-your f-a-ult’’
Jax’s hands started to tremble. It WAS his fault, he really didn't want to face that part of himself yet. He looked down at his hand, trembling uncontrollably. He was sure this was real.
‘’Y-You di-id thi-s-s to us-s-s’’
The last thing Jax saw was the being lifting one of its arms, and it flying to him. The pain that came from the punch came a little bit later than he thought it would, but he wasn't really thinking anymore, he was just in a situation he wouldn't even wish the s[!@#%]tiest person of all time to have.
-
Jax woke up and sat up way too fast, sweating and feeling around his body, expecting something weird. He couldn't see anything for a while, still breathing rapidly, as his room slowly entered his vision. The stars on his ceiling, reminding him of-
He hated him reminding himself of her.
The soft pink and purples made their way to his eyes. They were almost comforting.
His breathing was unsteady and his heart hammered in his chest, as he decided to get up from bed.
He stood up but immediately fell back down to his side with a loud thud. He was sure hoping no one heard that.
He waited for just a bit longer, laying on the floor on his side. Not enough to completely calm down, but enough so that he could make his way up again.
As he made his way to the door he rubbed his eyes and made himself presentable for the day. If he looked like he was just traumatised in his dreams, someone would notice and ask if he was okay. He didn't wanna have another person prying into his personal life like that one night..
He opened up his door and locked it behind him, the light in the hallway almost blinding him. There was nobody in the hall but he put on his ‘’mask’’ anyways. He never wanted anyone to know how he was feeling, his archetype being the funny one made him act like it, always seeing how far things can go and never apologising just because it was funny.
He made his way down the hall and to the main area, where a nice looking dinner table was already filled with breakfast. Bacon, eggs, bread and more things were displayed across the table.
As he walked down to the table he could see the already annoyed face on Zooble waiting for him, just because he existed or something.
He sat down at the spot where he always sat, right across Pomni.
‘’Morning, Jax’’ Pomni said while staring at her cup of coffee.
‘’Mornin’ Poms’’. The words left him more tired than usual, leaving everyone noticing something was up with him.
As everyone stared at him he joked about it: ‘’What are y’all looking at? Can’t resist me in all my glory?’’
The cast just looked back at their breakfast, not answering to that would be the best for everyone.
‘’Speechless, wow’’, Jax replied
They sat there for a little while, then Caine popped up above them, sending confetti all over their food. Gangle’s mask started spinning as she almost choked on a piece of confetti, just in time for Zooble to save her from dying, as far as it was possible in this place.
Caine was waiting as he watched the scene unfurl curiously, as if he made notes on what to do in a next adventure.
As the coughing and worrying ended, Caine spoke up:
‘’Today’s adventure is:’’
’’DUSTY ALIEN DUNGEONS!!’’
‘’That's right! You are going to explore the mysteries of ISS JELLYFISH, the imperial spaceship. Will you fight? Will you befriend them? That's for you to find out! Have fun my long-legged neon space cadets!’’
And with that he disappeared in front of them, leaving a portal behind.
-
When everyone stepped through, they got new clothes, like Caine liked to do in some of his adventures. They all got special dark grey suits, with a Caine head logo on the side of the chest of course. Every part of the suit was slated with some kind of hard material.
There were different types of gear on the side of the room. They had straps for it on their suit, so they could carry it easily.
Gangle took some kind of tommy gun with her, Zooble took a machine gun.
Ragatha really didn't want to have to fight, but took a spiked bat.
Pomni took a few grenades and smoke bombs to work together with Jax’s railgun
Kinger forgot what they were doing so they let him just be him and rely on the rest.
-
‘’So, we ready?’’ Jax asked
‘’I think so yeah..’’ Gangle replied
‘’Sure, lets go team!’’ Ragatha said cheerfully
Jax opened the door to see a horde of aliens already coming towards them. For as far as he could see it was a long, tech-like hallway with two paths on either side every few meters.
Because the octopus-aliens that looked like they were straight from an old comic were quickly coming closer he started shooting and made a little space clear for the five of them to stand, Kinger behind them.
The aliens, at the sight of the five shooting and bashing, started to attack as well. Ragatha got most of the damage since her bat was a melee weapon, she had to get closer to them than the rest had needed.
Pomni threw a smoke bomb to try and confuse the beings, but because they were already locked in on them, it didn't really work and should’ve spared them that bomb.
The first wave was driven away, finally
‘’Are you guys okay?’’ Ragatha worried, not focusing on her own injuries from the aliens.
Everybody responded in their own way of saying they were fine.
“I'm good, how about you?” Pomni asked Ragatha, looking at her clearly injured arms.
She perked up at the question. It had been long since someone was concerned for her. She was usually the one to be worried about someone else.
“Im okay, just some minor bites, that’s all” Ragatha assured, waving her off.
“There should be some kind of healing in this adventure, right?” Pomni asked
‘’I sure hope so, probably shouldn’t wait much longer with it… it’s starting to ache a little’’ as she caught herself saying that she quickly reassured ‘’but don’t worry, i’ll just find the healing as soon as possible!’’
“Maybe we should split up? Just so we can finish this adventure faster.” Pomni offered
‘’Sure, what about me and Gangle, you two, and Ragatha with Kinger if that's okay with you?’’ Zooble proposed
‘’Yeah, that’s fine! I can keep Kinger with me, don't worry about us!’’ Ragatha said, ‘’I've been with him before, it wasn’t so bad. We’ll be okay!!’’. She smiled as she walked to the right path
Gangle and Zooble went straight ahead
‘’Guess this way then’’ Jax said uninterested
Pomni and Jax walked to the left hallway
-
Ragatha saw the next group of aliens coming, though they didn't spot them yet. She quickly grabbed Kinger and took him to a room off to the side. It was dim inside and looked like some kind of storage room.
‘’Sorry for grabbing you so harshly’’ Ragatha whispered. ‘’Figured this was a good place to hide from those aliens back there’’
Her arm started to feel numb from the bites, the aliens probably had some sort of venom. She also felt her leg starting to drag as she tried to walk towards one of the shelving units.
‘’Hey Ragatha, this looks like some kind of antidote, for the venom?’’ Kinger informed her. He looked sane, due to the dim lighting.
Ragatha’s knees grew weaker by the second, her arm still pricking. She decided it would be best to sit down before she could collapse against the shelves, and possibly alarm the troop.
‘’Oh great! Can you.. Bring it to me?. I - I can't stand anymore, it's gotten to my legs…”
Kinger walked over to her and opened the bottle. It was a little glass bottle with ‘VERY MYSTERIOUS VENOM ANTIDOTE’ written on it. It smelled awful and looked incredibly disgusting. Ragatha didn't know what would happen if she just let the venom do its job, and she didn't really want to know, so there was no other choice than to drink it.
She slowly drank the nauseating liquid. She did tiny sips at first, but after finding that didn't make it any better, she downed it in one big gulp.
Right after it was finished, they heard a pop, the same one they heard if their bodies needed to be reset by Caine. She didn't feel the numbness or aching anymore, so she figured she was healed.
‘’Are you okay now?’’ Kinger asked.
‘’D- uhh yeah I guess?’’
An idea popped up in her head.
‘’ Wait, Kinger, since you don’t have any weapons on you, can you maybe carry the healing with you?’’
Kinger looked at the shelves
‘’O-oh yeah sure. How many should I bring?’’ he questioned
‘’Like 5 or 6, so everyone has one if they need it” Ragatha suggested
He grabbed 6 bottles of the antidote and put them in a little bag that had just spawned on his side.
They stayed in the storage room for a while longer, until they could audibly hear the horde passing by. After that they went out a snuck past a few rooms, finding new ones to hide in in the process
-
As Pomni and Jax took the left path, they chitchatted about some stupid things, like food or sports. Jax seemed more relaxed and actually honest about his answers. Pomni quietly observed him with every look on his face, every tone in which he answered. They were talking more since the stargazing adventure in the ‘lightning round’ Caine did.
Were they… friends?
-
‘’Whats with the corn thing?’’ Pomni asked as they were walking down the hallway.
‘’Tch, what corn thing?’’ Jax scoffed
‘’Why are you afraid of corn? And don't say that you're not. You literally jumped out of your seat twice when you saw some.’’ Pomni answered with a smile across her face.
‘’Heh, not gonna let me out of this one. Well, I dunno. It's got a bunch of little pods on it. Looks kinda like an egg sack or something. It's gross. Makes my skin crawl.’’ he said, shivering at the thought of it.
‘’Interesting.. Do you have, like, a… type of trypophobia?’’ Pomni asked
‘’What's that?’’
‘’The fear of lots of little holes.’’ she replied
Jax shuddered at the thought ‘’eugh’’
‘’Okay. How about… pomegranates?’’ Pomni asked
‘’Awful’’ Jax answered quicker than both of them expected
‘’Im learning a lot about you today’’
Jax seemed to realize something and quickly brought up his mask again
‘’Let’s not forget we’re here to slaughter aliens!’’ he quickly stated
As if on que, a small group of aliens made their way to them. The two quickly grabbed their weapons.
As both of them were fighting against the group, Pomni questioned why Caine even made the smoke bombs she used. The aliens did not care for those at all. Their sensors only picked up sounds and scent, she figured.
Pomni tried to throw the remaining bombs against the aliens’ heads to stun them, but failed miserably, missing the aliens completely.
In a matter of seconds, they were already biting Pomni. With nothing to fend them off, she struggled in their grip pushing them with her bare hands. She hated touch, Caine must’ve known that making this adventure. The slimy alien skin pressed against hers was making her stomach twist.
Jax was shooting his railgun at them, which worked fine for the aliens in front of him. But to ‘rescue’ Pomni from them..?
His railgun shot out a large circle of energy that could already fry the aliens. So if he would shoot it her way, it would definitely kill her.
He was used to acting careless but something about her made him softer. He had to do something about this.
Jax looked over to Pomni, who looked like she was about to die from oxygen deprivation, already turning purple.
Jax had only one option to get the aliens off of Pomni, without killing her in the process: he jumped onto one of the aliens, harshly smashing the back of his gun against the aliens head. The aliens held tight onto Pomni, making them all fall over when Jax jumped on to one of them.
One by one Jax smashed the aliens’ heads, full of anger. Jax felt like if he didn't do this, he’d… lose…
Not again.
But this wasn’t about him right now.
Right now, Pomni needed his help.
He’d never felt so selfless being in here.
The last alien was beaten, and Pomni felt herself gasping for air, but.. not fully getting it?
Her throat felt tight, and she couldn't move her limbs either. Her entire body felt numb and unresponsive except for her head. With slow breaths she made herself clear to Jax who was just standing there, not knowing what to do.
‘’I… think im stuck…’’ she barely managed to get out
A paper with messy handwriting came falling down in front of Pomni. Jax picked it up to read it out loud to her but a familiar voice interrupted: Caine.
‘’Dear Pomni, you have found a side Quest! You will die for the rest of the game if the venom fully sets in. Your job is to find the antidote. But be warned, if you fall asleep, you could die! The venom will lower your heart rate over time until it stops. Happy hunting! Love, Caine’’
Jax groaned, ‘’Did you have to get bitten by them?’’
‘’Hey.. Its not like I had a choice or anything. Anyway, we need to find that antidote’’ she slowly spoke, feeling extremely tired.
Jax realized what the note said: ‘if you fall asleep, you could die!’
He hesitated before picking Pomni up. Even though Pomni hated touch, she couldn’t move, and they HAD to get out of there. Jax saw no other choice than to pick her up. He grabbed Pomni and put her over his shoulder. He didn't grab her tightly, but just laid his hand on her back to avoid her falling off.
Pomni tried to struggle but quickly remembered she couldn't move and just gave up. Her survival instinct screamed for her to get loose from his grip but she shook off the thought. There was no other way of survival if she wasn't in his arms anyway.
‘’Sorry kid, gotta get you outta here this way. Try to stay awake though.’’ Jax said teasingly. Pomni could find a little worry in his voice, but decided not to comment on it.
-
After a few minutes Jax didn't feel her slightly panicked breathing anymore, she must've calmed down. But suddenly it hit him: ‘The venom will lower your heart rate over time until it stops.’
‘’Hey, poms, you uhh.. You there?’’
Right, no reaction.
He lowered her down and sat her on the ground in front of him
‘’s[!#@%]t’’
She was asleep, and probably… dead.
He couldn't stop himself from the panic setting in, she was gone. God knows for how long she’d be gone. Why did he let it get so far? Why didn't he do anything earlier? Why didn't he try to make her stay awake?
He sat down at the feeling of another panic attack coming up and took Pomni's body close to him. He made sure not to hug her too tight while trying to comfort himself as thoughts came flying through his head. Why did he even care for her at all?
His chest ached. His breath needed to be there faster than his lungs could keep up with. He felt a warm tear rolling down his face. His hands trembling on her body and vision fading in and out. For a while, he could only hear his heartbeat drumming loudly in his ears. Every once in a while he’d lightly squeeze Pomni’s lifeless body, in hope for response. It never came. Eventually his body couldn't keep up with his head anymore and he passed out.
-
Jax woke up by someone yelling his name. Ragatha?
‘’Are you two okay??’’
He stared down at Pomni again, still tightly against his body. It felt kinda nice honestly, but he wouldn't let himself admit that. Especially not now.
He quickly stood up, legs still asleep and shaky from the weight that was still on it a few seconds ago.
‘’Im fineeeeee’’ Jax exaggerated to mask his feelings.
The rest of the group quickly made their way to the hallway after hearing Jax.
‘’What happened here?’’ Zooble asked immediately after glancing through the hall
‘’Wait, is Pomni okay?’’ Ragatha asked weakly, already making her way over to Pomni, who was now laying on the floor, since Jax stood up.
Ragatha’s hands made their way to Pomni’s neck, as she tried to find a sign of life.
Jax stood next to Ragatha, staring down at how she tried to find a heartbeat. It was terrifying. He pulled himself out of the spiral he’d been in not long before.
‘’She… the.. the aliens got her real good..’’
Before he could stop himself he broke down crying.
‘’I- I'm sorry…. I wasn't on time, i-’’
Ragatha interrupted him
‘’Hey, it’ll be okay’’ she reassured Jax, ‘’Kinger and I found the antidote a while back, I’m sure we could fix her right up!’’
As if on que Kinger came walking down the other side of the hall.
‘’H- hey Kinger? We could really use a bottle right now!’’
‘’O- oh.. Yeah! Uhh let me just..’’ he said, reaching into a little bag on his side. ‘’Here!’’
‘’Thanks!’’
Ragatha opened the bottle and parted Pomni’s lips as she moved the top in between them. She moved Pomni's head backwards to make sure she’d swallow it.
‘’And now we wait..’’ Ragatha said after hearing her swallow. After a minute or two, they still didn't hear the ‘pop’ they heard when Ragatha did it.
‘’What are we waiting for exactly?’’ Jax asked
‘’There used to be a ‘pop’ when I did it, I’m starting to think she’s too far gone..’’
‘’F[!#@%]K’’ jax bursted out, panic setting in yet again. This time a different reaction.
Kinger looked sane, although engulfed in light. He had moments like this sometimes, though it was rare.
‘’How about we take her back to the circus and ask Caine to-’’
‘’Okay, let's go find the exit here.’’ Jax interrupted. ‘’Also all of you NEVER mention any of this to Pomni if she wakes up again.’’ he ordered.
Everybody nodded, shocked to see him this angry and caring for somebody.
‘’What are you looking at? Move it!’’
Jax’s anxiety about Pomni slowly faded as he shut the rest down once again.
He reached down and carried her bridal style to the exit. Which was easy since the group had already found it trying to find Pomni and Jax.
-
‘’Welcome back, my jollyriffic superstars!’’
‘’Hey Caine’’, Zooble called, ‘’somebody died here!’’
Caine came flying towards Jax, who was still holding Pomni. He flinched back as he came closer.
‘’My-my! Didn't do the side quest huh? Its okay, Pomni! I'll fix you right up!’’
The ‘pop’ was finally heard as Caine snapped his fingers, but she wasn't waking up.
‘’What did you do? Why isn't she waking up?” Jax asked, immediately aggravated
‘’Well I don't know what you humans do after being revived from death! I did everything I could for her!’’ Caine answered
Jax was about to lash out at Caine before..
‘’Jax? Maybe you can bring her to her room? To give her some rest. I’m sure she needs it’’ Ragatha calmly explained.
Jax nodded as the calm reached his panic. He scurried down the hall to Pomni’s room and laid her on her bed straight away. Jax turned off the lights and pulled a big blue block close to her bed and sat on it. He waited for her to regain consciousness after her first ‘game over’. He vaguely remembered his first one, and how he felt after it had happened. He decided to not stick around for too long, he didn't want to be weird about it.
-
Dinner felt quiet, too quiet. Not just because they were missing someone, Pomni usually didn't say much during dinner or breakfast anyway. The others were still lightly confused on why Jax acted like that back in the adventure. They would've suspected him to just make fun of her like he did with everybody else. Why was she any different?
Jax felt himself staring at the empty spot across from him.
Seems like everybody else felt him staring too.
Normally he would’ve enjoyed it if all eyes were on him. But now it just made him feel more overwhelmed than he already was.
With no second thoughts he stood up from the table.
‘’Im not hungry’’
‘’Jax?’’ Ragatha began
‘’What, im not hungry, im going’’
‘’Just let him be’’ Zooble hinted to Ragatha
Jax made his way to the hallway. With one last glimpse on Pomni’s door across from his, he slid into his own room.
-
After the awkward dinner, Ragatha checked up on Pomni. She seemed to be resting, which relieved her. She stayed in Pomni’s room for a while, thankful she was alive again, but decided it would be best to get to bed. She wanted to be there for Pomni when she woke up, but it was getting really late. She usually got really grumpy when she didn't get enough sleep at night.
‘’I don't know if you can hear me, but goodnight Pomni. Hope you can fully rest before tomorrow. Sleep tight!’’ she whispered as she left the room and closed the door.
-
Pomni woke up, breaking down in a sweat. She was alive! She could feel and move her body again! But the feeling didn't leave. She had been physically dead for who knows how long? And how did she end up here? Must've been Caine, or Ragatha. She had heard little bits and pieces of Ragatha telling her to rest. That was definitely what she needed to do now, turns out you get really tired after you get revived from death…