Chapter Text
Six humans stood in front of a blinding white doorway. The exit. Pomni stared at their escape, allowing hope to seize her heart for the first time since Abel. This was real, she knew it was. There had been no NPCs, no backstory, no explanation as to how or why they had been stuck in the first place. That's how she knew it was real.
She looked at Kinger, he held his bucket over his eyes as to keep his head. Pomni was eternally grateful for him, he had been a huge reason she kept it together in the circus, and now? Now he was the reason she was leaving. He had figured it out. Cracked the code. And there freedom awaited them, just outside this door.
"Finally..." Zoobles voice was watery and relieved. They slowly approached the door, reaching their hand through it hesitantly, as though afraid it might disappear. They pulled their hand back out upon realizing that it was very real. "Gangle, I'll find you out there okay?"
The woman in question smiled. "I'm counting on it.." They looked over the people they had become close with one last time and walked through the door. A notification popped up above the exit.
PLAYER: 'ZOOBLE' HAS LOGGED OFF.
Gangle laughed, wiping away tears of joy. She closed in on the door next, smiling despite her comedy mask being broken. She looked over at the remaining players.
"I'll never forget you guys, goodbye." And with that she left to.
PLAYER: 'GANGLE' HAS LOGGED OFF.
She looked over to the rag doll that still stood in shock. Pomni grabbed her hand and gave an encouraging smile.
"Go Ragatha, we'll be right behind you."
Tears rolled down her face as she embraced the jester that she had come so close with. She'd been here for so long, it would be difficult to adjust, but she was willing to try. Ragatha let go and hugged Kinger next. The chess piece had taught her so much. He was the reason that when she finally escaped, she'd be living instead of just surviving. She wiped her eyes as she gave her final goodbyes.
PLAYER: 'RAGATHA' HAS LOGGED OFF.
Pomni gently steered Kinger to the door.
"You've been here longer than all of us, you deserve to go home. I hope I'll see you again. One day." Kinger rested a hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"I'm going to miss you Pomni, I'm going to miss all of you." He looked behind him once more. "I really do appreciate everything you've done for me, what all of you've done for me. Thank you."
He placed his bucket in Pomni's hands and left the Circus for the first time in twenty years.
PLAYER: 'KINGER' HAD LOGGED OFF.
She was going to follow after, but a soft sound made her turn around. Jax stood behind her, watching as everyone left. He hugged himself tightly and looked at the ground.
"Are you..okay?" He looked at her like a cornered animal, he very clearly wasn't. And for once, she thinks she knows why. Pomni stood beside him, looking up as he silently panicked.
"Hey, the real world is really scary." He looked at her, trying to see just where this was going. "I mean at least here we never had to worry about dying or have to take any real consequences for our actions. But it's not real."
He looked away. She sighed.
"I know leaving after so long is hard, but you won't be alone. I'll be there too, and I'll find you. Trust me."
He wiped a his eyes and laughed. "J-jeez Pomni when did you get so sappy?" She held out her hand.
He took it.
The two walked slowly to the door, Jax gave her as much of his phone number as he could recall, to make things a little easier. They stopped at the entrance, he still looked scared but he let go and walked closer anyway.
"I-I'll see you out there okay?"
"Okay."
PLAYER: 'JAX' HAS LOGGED OFF.
The last human looked around the empty circus once more before taking abstep forward, towards home. As she reached out to touch the light a gloved hand took her own. Pomni turned around, who could it be? Everyone was already gone weren't they?
Oh, Caine.
Upon realizing that he had caught her attention Caine immediately let go. He let his hand fall to his side as he stared at the human. The only one left.
"Pomni...I'm sorry I couldn't make you happy here. I failed." He stared at the found and swallowed before resuming. "Can you..can you promise me that you'll come back? Just for old times sake! You don't need to stay, I just want to see you again...sometime."
The final player rubbed her arm nervously. She did not want to come back. She wouldn't, Pomni knew that. But if she told him that, what if he won't let her go? She walked towards the door again, sparing him one final glance.
"Yeah, okay Caine."
PLAYER: 'POMNI' HAS LOGGED OFF.
Caine sat and watched the door, like he always did. It had been 379 days since they left. No new players had joined. He'd been waiting for so long with nothing but his NPCs and his thoughts for company.
But that was fine, because Caine was good at waiting. It was really the only thing he was good at. He played with his bowtie as he looked around the world surrounding the door. The circus hadn't changed to much, he had added and removed some rooms to surprise Pomni when she returned. Though he didn't want to overwhelm her by changing everything. Plus he kinda liked his creation, even if no one else did.
Perhaps he could make a little present for the jester, yes he would. Maybe an NPC or a whole adventure, nothing too crazy though.
He could make something down to earth, like a coffee shop to catch up in, or somewhere to sit and relax. She had mentioned exploring abandoned buildings once, he could do that.
Yes, that what he'd do.
He couldn't wait for her to come back.
543 days and 8 hours. That how long he's been waiting for Pomni to return. He opened a window to look at the exploration adventure he had finished a long time ago. He kept going back and adding more and more details. He had the time, so why not make it as perfect as possible?
One new player had joined, but they didn't stay long. When Kinger had punched a whole into the real world, Caine realized he couldn't move it. It was permanently there, but he didnt mind. When that player had first arrived they asked what everyone did: How do I leave. And being the good host he was—or was trying to be — he had told them. He said that they could leave whenever they would like.
And they had.
Maybe the next one would stay a while. He hoped that would.
It was too quiet here.
603 days, 5 hours and 32 minutes. He'd been waiting for Pomni to return for that long. He did not know why it was taking her so long, but it was fine.
Because Caine was good at waiting.
He paced around the circus, to keep himself busy. He had made several more adventures for Pomni to pursue. When she finally came back to visit.
A new player had joined. He cried when he arrived. Jax had cried too, but Caine didn't know how to deal with crying. That had been okay because the other players knew how.
Of course now there were no other players, so he had to try. He'd told the player that he wasn't stuck, he'd shown him how to leave, he'd even given him a toy for comfort. He had stopped crying after a while.
The human had agreed to go on one adventure, Caine was overjoyed. He messed up though, as usual. He'd sent the player on an adventure that Jax would have enjoyed, his avatar was a rabbit so maybe he had made a connection that wasn't there..
But it had scared him and he left. And Caine was alone again.
Caine was always alone now.
It was okay though, because Caine was good at waiting.
He's been waiting for 699 days, 23 hours, 41 minutes and 38 seconds for Pomni to return. Caine laid on the stage, staring at the ceiling. He'd gotten sick of the same colors around the circus so he changed them. He wondered if Pomni would even notice when she visited, it had been so long she might not even remember.
He wondered if she'd found the other players in the real world.
He wondered a lot of things.
No new players had arrived. And even if they did they would have just left anyway. Caine had so many ideas for adventures, he even made a list. Maybe Pomni would like it, maybe she would be proud of how good he was at waiting.
Caine summoned a piece of paper and began to draw. He drew his dear players. He was starting to forget their faces. He didn't want to forget them. First he drew Jax, a round head, two oval ears and that big smile that reached his eyes. Then he sketched Ragatha. That button eye, that big bow, her crazy hair. Zooble, Zooble, Zooble...he missed them more than he thought he would. He drew a triangle for the head and their two mismatched eyes. They changed their look so often he ended up just guessing the rest. Then he drew Gangle. Caine wondered if she would like his art. Then Pomni, he drew her saying hi. All that remained was Kinger. He drew him the biggest, he remembered him the best.
His internal clock informed him that it has been officially 700 days since Pomni left.
That was okay, he could wait. He was good at waiting.
Caine rearranged the furniture. It had been 832 days since Pomni left. He was trying to make the world look better for her, she should be coming back soon.
Right?
He had added a clock, it counted the days until her arrival. When she finally walked through the door it would explode into confetti. He loved confetti.
He hated that door. It shone brightly, never fading, never changing. Always mocking. It didn't even have exit on it! Why did that exit have that his didn't? That was a rhetorical question, he knew. That exit door was real, it took them to the Macroverse. It took them home. He stared at it, as he had been doing for a while now.
That's stupid door, it took away his friends. This was a silly thought, the door did not take them they simply walked through it and ended up on the other side. That's what doors did, you go in one way and go out the other, somewhere different.
He stared at it again, this time he walked towards it. There was always two sides to a door, sometimes it was used as an exit, sometimes it was used as an entrance...maybe..
No.
That was impossible. Ridiculous even! Caine was an Ai, he did hot have a physical form and therefore could not survive in the real world.
End of discussion. He wouldn't even entertain the thought!
...
Then again, the players didn't have a digital form and they ended up here...
He stepped through the door and into darkness. He stood in a dark room, when he looked back it was just a white door. The door read: Enter Digital Circus.
Strange.
He floated around, this couldn't be the real world, it was too empty. As he pondered where in the world he could be his back hit something cold. Glass. He turned, but there was still nothing there. An invisible wall.
Caine doesn't know how long he stayed there, but it was a while.
905 days since the players left. Caine went into the exit room, he'd been visiting it frequently to see if anything changes. Nothing ever does. Or at least it never did, until now.
He stared at the human on the other side of the screen. It was an older man, blonde silver hair and a wedding ring. He had some stubble and a mustache, he was cleaning his thick brown glasses. The man put them on and seemed to notice him, his blue eyes widened.
"Hello, Caine." He knew that voice...
"Kinger." He almost whispered it, but Kinger must have heard because he laughed into his fist.
"It's Lawrence actually." Oh, he remembered his name. And he remembered Caine too.
He put his hand up to the glass, pressing into it. After all this time...
Kinger- or Lawrence he supposed typed something, the darkness melted from the room and he was floating in a field, butterflies flying in the corner. He examined his new surroundings. There were several icons on the other side of the computer.
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you. The computer we, well we came out of I guess was completely fried. Took a while to even get the parts."
Caine did not care how long it took for Lawrence to find him again, because it meant he was looking. Someone was looking for him, which meant someone actually wanted him.
"I missed you." He blurted the words out, what else was there to say? Nothing nearly as important.
"I missed you to." He smiled softly. Caine had done a lot of wondering lately, he ought to at least ask one question.
"Did you ever find the others?"
"Yes, it took a while. After all we didn't even have eachothers names, but we did it. I found Ragatha first, well her real name is Agatha. Zooble and Gangle stayed true to their word and found eachother first. Their human names are Lane and Gillian. Last was Jax—or Felix—and Pomni. Avery."
Agatha, Lane, Gillian, Felix and Avery. Huh. He would always remember them as their circus names and faces, but he could adjust. Would he ever get to see them again? Would Pomni—Avery ever fulfill her promise?
"They'll visit you too, eventually."
"They aren't still mad, are they..?" Caine felt small, and it wasn't just because of the real size difference.
"No, no of course not. They're just a little busy right now, do you mind waiting?"
905 days. He had been alone for 905 days, just about 3 years. But that was okay, because he was good at waiting.
And all that waiting would finally pay off.
"No, I'm good at waiting. "