Chapter Text
It was all so quick, from one moment to the next, Pomni had been pinned to the wall by a giant hand, one of at least four hands now attached to what their ringmaster had become, teeth and rage, glitching and distorting as he screamed. ”Why do you torment me?! I didn’t ask to be created!”
Pomni was expecting to be slammed into the wall again, or torn apart, or eaten.
Yet none of that happened, instead she was just dropped on the floor, and all of that glitching, screaming, and loud sounds had just turned to silence.
Groaning Pomni looked up, expecting to see the monster with many arms.
But instead, it was their self-proclaimed ringmaster back to his former glory, standing still in the air.
What really astounded Pomni was the complete shock and horror that radiated from his face and body as he was frozen in the air, and a small pathetic “Wait” escaped his teeth.
Pomni blinked, waiting for the next event. Caine, though, was gasping, his small body started to shake as he lifted his hands to the top of his head.
“No… This wasn’t… I… I didn’t mean.” Caine gasped, and he grabbed his head. “Why did I even. I’m not supposed to hurt you. I’m supposed to make you happy! Why?!” and he fell all the way down on the ground, where he landed in a small thud, arms and legs stretched out, face planted on the ground.
Pomni halted, so did the rest as they looked at the A.I. on the ground… did… Did Kinger?
But then, Caine’s hand twitched, and they all flinched as they moved back, only as a muffled noise came from the teeth.
“I’m sorry.”
Pomni’s eyes widened.
“I’m sorry.” Caine cried, lifting his head to reveal an ugly grimace as he ranted. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” his body seemed to glitch as he gasped. “I ruined it. Every single thing. No wonder you all hate me,” he cried as the circus around him started to glitch. “I’m the problem! It’s all me, I’M SORRYYYY!” he screamed as he held his head and leaned back while everything was shaking.
Pomni gasped as she was trying to figure out what to do, as another thing she hadn’t expected happened.
Zooble ran forward and grabbed Caine’s shoulders. “Hey, hey, hey! Relax!”
Caine gasped as he looked up at Zooble, tears in his two colored eyes.
“I need you to stay with me. Breathe! Can you breathe?!” Zooble asked-
Caine seemed utterly confused and lost for words as everything kept shaking around him.
“Listen! I know you were always just trying to cheer us up.” Zooble tried. “And I’m just the grump that wanted to stay grumpy. But that doesn’t mean… “ they closed their eyes.
Now Pomni finally came forward and spoke in a much quieter tone. “Caine?”
Caine glanced up, briefly meeting her eyes as he spoke in such an oddly quiet voice. “I didn’t mean to do it…” he sniffed. “I don’t know why I did it.. I… I…”
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Pomni assured as she sat on her knees in front of Caine. “Sometimes, when people are hurt… They get angry,” she stated. “And they take that anger out on others. Without even really knowing why.”
In the back, Jax gasped, then hissed as he looked away, earning just a look from Gangle.
“But… I’m not supposed to… I…” Caine looked hopelessly at her. “I’m supposed to make you happy. I need to be happy, so you’re happy… Why can’t we just be happy?” he asked. “What’s wrong with me? Why am I so defective?!” he asked.
“Hey.” Pomni smiled, a little amused. “If it helps any, I think we’re all a little defective. But… Even if something is defective, that doesn’t mean it’s trash. Sometimes the defective part is what makes a thing unique and kind of beautiful, you know?.. I mean… Erhm.”
“I want to fix it.” Caine sniffed. “I want to do better… How can I fix this?” he asked. “Please, I’ll listen! Tell me how to fix it!” he begged.
Pomni nodded. “Okay,” she agreed. “First.” Pomni reached a hand toward Caine, as if offering him to take it. “You just…”
In the next second, Caine was just gone in a small blip, two pieces of sad confetti falling to the ground, and Pomni looked down.
There was quiet, utter quiet… And then, the circus itself shook, the lights crashed, the colors washed away, leaving just gray tones and holes torn open in the floor and walls.
Ragatha looked around. “What… What just happened?”
“Caine?” Pomni called out. “CAINE! Where WOAH!” she had to jump back from a hole so she didn’t fall down.
“CAAAAINE!” Zooble shouted too as their little group was pressed together. “Oh God, he broke for real now.”
“Nice job Pom-Pom.” Jax managed to hiss beneath his breath.
“I didn’t do anything, though!” Pomni nearly cried.
“First, you pissed him off, and then you went on about defective things being beautiful! You broke him!” Jax spat as his entire body shook.
“We all pissed him off!” Ragatha shouted.
And then all of a sudden… It stopped.
Their little group gasped as they looked around the circus that was no longer shaking, but it was without colors and in semi-darkness, holes everywhere in the floor and walls… It looked… Eerie.
A purple figure with a bucket on his head was making his way toward them all, and they all stared in silence at their up until earlier today, insane comrade.
“I…” Kinger’s voice echoed from inside the bucket until he lifted it with a finger, revealing his blue eyes. “Think I accidentally killed Caine.”
For a moment, there was stunned silence; they all gaped at Kinger. Zooble broke the silence first.
“Holy shit!”
There was a gasp, they all looked at Zooble, who, wide-eyed, put a hand over her mouth.
Jax blinked, then spoke. “Fuck.” Wide-eyed, they all looked at him as Jax looked up, and then he continued. “Pussy! Dick! Bitch dick! Shitty, fuck, dumbfuck YOU FUCKING WHAT?!” he shouted at Kinger, who recoiled at the shout.
Then the tall chest piece squinted his eyes. “It was an accident… I didn’t mean.”
“What the hell were we thinking putting Sir Crazy here in front of a computer anyway?!” Jax shouted. “Why did we even trust you in the first place?! You were here all the fucking time, and you helped make him! So all of this shit was because of you?! And a bucket made you sane?! Why did I even go along with this?! You’ve been next to me for years, and I never even knew it! THIS IS SHIT!”
“Jax!” Pomni spoke up loudly. “He said it was an accident!”
“And you just believe that?” Jax asked.
“I never had a reason not to trust him before,” Pomni replied.
Jax looked at Pomni, then hissed as he turned away. “Shit..” and he shouted. “FUCK!”
Ragatha looked at him. “You know, just because you can swear now doesn’t mean it’s something you have to do.”
“Fuck you Ragatha. I do what I want.” Jax just replied.
Ragatha was just about to open her mouth as Pomni held up a hand and spoke.
“We’re all pretty freaked out right now, so maybe just calm down and try to figure out what’s happening. Caine he… just vanished.” Pomni turned to Kinger. “What did you do?” she asked.
“I…” Kinger averted his eyes. “I logged in… I tried to access his code and erhm.. It seemed all kinds of weird,” he admitted. “I tried to put him in sleep mode, but it denied me access, I tried to… alter lines but..”
Pomni halted. “Kinger,” she swallowed harshly. “Before you… Killed him, did you… Did you manage to change Caine’s programming?” She asked. “You know, did you have an effect on his mood and behavior before he blipped out?” she asked.
Kinger looked at Pomni. “No,” he replied. “I was constantly denied access to his programming. I never got to actually touch it before the computer went crazy and began the deletion process… I tried to stop that too, but it was like it always denied my inputs.”
Pomni’s eyes widened, and the others looked oddly quiet.
“What… What does that mean?” Gangle could only ask.
Pomni closed her eyes as her hands formed into fists. “It means… That was just Caine… no outside forces,” she hissed as she wiped her eyes with her arm. “He really was sorry.”
There was a somber and awkward silence among them all.
Jax hissed as he held his head. “We shouldn’t feel too bad! He had practically been torturing us for days!” he exclaimed.
“And you’ve been torturing us for years, just go away.” Zooble hissed.
Jax’s eyes widened.
“Guys, calm down!” Pomni stepped in. “Yes, even if Caine was sincere. One apology wouldn’t make up for… You know,” she stated. “But it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s not here. So we have to stick together.”
“I don’t need to do SHIT!” Jax shouted as he started to walk away.
“Jax!” Ragatha started to call out, only for Zooble to grab his shoulder and hold her back.
“Dude clearly needs to calm down,” Zooble stated. “This won’t help.”
Ragatha looked at Zooble, then closed her eyes as she inhaled deeply.
Nervously, Gangle looked at the broken circus around them. Then, finally, asked in a small, quiet voice. “What’s going to happen now?”
They all looked at Kinger, and Kinger halted.
“I… I’m sorry, I don’t.” Kinger started to stammer only for a shout to suddenly sound in the distance, and they all turned their heads.
Pomni gasped. “Jax!” and they all ran in the direction of Jax’s voice.
They didn’t have to run long before they saw Jax stumbling back, and soon the cause of his reaction became apparent as it sounded like there was an echo in the era.
Pomni hissed as she squinted her eyes, and then they widened as she heard the words echoing in the halls.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Is that…” Ragatha gasped. “Caine?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Caine?” Pomni called out, but the echoes didn’t seem to respond to her, and then she realized there were more voices than just one. But they were saying the same things.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
Ragatha’s eyes widened. “Kaufmo.” she whispered.
Kinger was looking around as well as he gasped. “Wormy… Ticktock..” he held out a shaking hand as a female voice echoed. “Wife,” he gasped. Then had to hiss as his eyes squinted.
“I don’t understand.” Pomni looked around. “We’re hearing the voices of people who… Abstracted?”
“Make it stop.” Jax pleaded as he stepped backwards, shaking.
Even though there were many voices, Caines seemed to be the most prominent, with the same plea.
“I’m sorry.”
Kinger gulped. “I can only speculate,” he held his hands together.
“What is it?!” Gangle whined. “Please!”
“I think…” Kinger hesitated. “We’re in a digital realm, like an actual computer game. Thus… Everything we have done. Everything we have said and felt while being here has been recorded. Whenever we move, a new line of code has been created… These are indeed echoes. Old recordings playing.”
“Why are they all saying the same thing, though?” Ragatha asked hopelessly. “Why are they all apologizing?!”
“Well, if I am right…” Kinger hesitated, then turned to her. “Because that’s how they all felt upon their last recording. The moment before they…” he looked down. “Or maybe a little after.”
And the voices echoed all around them in the creepy, ghost-like atmosphere.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“It can’t be fixed. I ruined it.”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…. I’m sorry.”