Work Text:
The digital sky was glitching, showing flashes of bright static. Nobody was supposed to be out this late, but Jax was pacing outside, her hands digging into her sides.
Something was wrong. Her purple ears were drooping, and she felt like her code was burning.
Ribbit opened her door, rubbing her eyes. “Jax? What are you doing out here? It’s the middle of the night…”
Jax didn’t look up. Her breathing was fast and uneven. “N-nothing. Go back to sleep, Ribbit.”
“You look terrible,” Ribbit said, stepping into the hallway. She reached out to touch Jax’s shoulder. “...Are you glitching?”
“I said I’m fine!” Jax snapped, but as she shoved Ribbit’s hand away, her fingers turned into mess of black, glitchy eyes.
Jax froze, staring down at her own hand. The dark pixels were crawling up her arm, erasing her color
Ribbit gasped, her eyes going wide. “Jax... Oh my god… no. No no, no!”
“Get away from me!” Jax shrieked, stumbling backward into the wall. Her face distorted, her face twisting into a jagged, pixelated mess. “Don’t look at me!”
“Caine! Kinger! Ragatha! Somebody help!” Ribbit screamed at the top of her lungs, if she even had lungs.
She started frantically looking up at the sky. “Caine, she’s abstracting! Please…!” Ribbit was completely helpless.
Nobody answered. The circus was completely silent
Jax collapsed onto the floor. The abstraction eyes were covering her now, swallowing her whole body. She looked up at Ribbit with her one remaining normal eye, terrified.
“Ribbit... I’m so… so, sorry,” Jax mumbled, her voice distorted and deep, layered with static. “I pushed you away… I didn’t want you to leave me.”
“I’m not leaving! I’m right here!” Ribbit cried, tears streaming down her face as she lunged forward. She grabbed Jax’s hand, ignoring the glitch stinging her own fingers. “Hold on, please!”
Jax’s eye blinked once, then completely vanished into a mass of black gooand roaring static
the tall, lanky beast loomed over Ribbit, letting out a loud, hollow screech that shook the walls. Jax was entirely gone. Just another mindless monster trapped in the circus.
Ribbit fell back onto the floor, staring up at the giant monster in pure shock.
the door to the cellar suddenly popped open beneath them. The abstraction walked into the darkness, the doors slamming shut
Ribbit just sat there on the cold floor, staring blankly at the empty hallway.
What will she do now?