Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Since the other’s escape it’s been almost two months; fifty seven days to be exact… fifty seven days, seventeen hours, twenty nine minutes, and thirty eight seconds… thirty nine… fourty… 

Fifty… 

Fifty seven… 

…

But who’s counting?

… 

Okay, yeah… I am. 

No one could blame her, there wasn’t much else to do besides count, honestly.

There was little left of the circus that was accessible, and out of that little bit, even less of it was original. In fact, Pomni had conjured up the room that she was currently in. It was a room sort of in between dimensions, a space between worlds that only Pomni had access to because she had thought it up as a possibility. Kinger had taught her what kind of place to imagine to serve the purpose it was intended for and so she had, and this was the result. 

The room was just a whole lot of nothing, an empty blank slate of an area. Similarly to the Void, it was just a wide open space with no end in sight. And like how she and the others had been when they had entered the Void, she was just in an upright position… standing? Swaying? …Floating? 

Floating. 

Floating further and further away from the door leading back to her room. 

Back to the circus. 

But still the colors of the circus crossed over… at least the current ones. 

A concoction of light and darkness overlaid, layer after layer stacked on the one before it. A striking contrast to the coloring of the Void. A halo of light purple light rests over all of this newly created space and when she looks at it just right, the light purple lighting takes over the color scheme, consuming the darkness. 

But any other time the invisible light source of the room casts her digital body in a lighting that reminded her of the bar adventure. The artistic term for the lighting was on the tip of her tongue. 

Chiaroscuro. That was it…

Although her major was accounting when she was in college, Pomni had needed to take a few elective courses throughout her studies and not liking any of her other options, she decided to choose an art history class. Brimming with hopes of learning about cool architecture to feed her urbexing cravings, she was not disappointed. 

It had covered a wide range of art across history and thankfully for her, a portion of the lessons were on some intricate architecture designs. Some of the photos that were in the presentations highlighted the crumbling columns outside of the structures and hallways. To her, the detailed fissures that were found along the walls of the old bones was art in their own capacity. The markings that the structure had accumulated from weathering the ages since its creation to the present. 

She had never been an art enthusiast but that class had won her over a bit, it made her understand why some people find purpose in creation. To pass that course, she had had to create art of her own, something inspired by a list of topics that the lessons had gone over, needless to say she had chosen a beautiful building. Through that assignment she discovered that although it was enjoyable to create, she didn't want to be the creator—instead leaving that position to others. 

She’d much rather stick to simply appreciating creations, taking in all the beauty of the world that had surrounded her. 

Regardless of her creative ability, that class had changed something very deep within her. Something that even she hadn't known was in her, something that had previously laid idle, unknown. By bringing it to the surface, it merged with how she had been previously and her very being was restructured, reconfigured into something that she still couldn’t fully describe even after she took that class. 

Not only had it open up that perspective for her, it also expanded her vocabulary and world view. She had begun to take note of what the world she lived in truly was. Where all the inspiration came from. All the “new” ideas. Just how much of the world was just a reference or redo of something, of a past creation. 

“... nothing new under the sun” *, huh? Yeah, I guess so…

AI is just a more robotic, mechanical version of that. Doing it's best to be a human but not understanding the reasoning and significance of why people pull parts that they like from the artistic concept, the genesis of a new artistic masterpiece and mold it into their own new creation. 

AI will never truly understand… will it? 

One of the art terms that she had learned in that course and which had continued to follow her around since then was chiaroscuro— a contrast between dark and light which is used to create the perception of depth, an illusion of reality. 

Especially when it is used in a 2D work… like a cartoon world. 

An illusion of reality; a desire for depth, to be real and rooted in truth. 

That desire, a tightly packed little thing which burrows down deep as roots spread out to steady it as the small seedling begins to grow, greenery emerging out from the hard shell and sprouting with pure life until they branch out further, bursts out past the soil surface, blossoming. The seeds yielded from that blossom of desire are like those of a dandelion, spreading as they float away. 

Achieving freedom. 

Having that itching to escape the clutches of its captivity. 

To pull a Mary Poppins and jump right out of the sidewalk chalk border which contains the scene. 

Jumping right out of the constraints that the creation is confined within… trapped in.

… enough thinking about being trapped and escaping. Thinking those thoughts are not helpful in staying sane, to keep far away from the spiraling doom of abstraction. 

But for that reason alone— the chiaroscuro effect that the lighting had on her digital form, she liked being in this room. With that particular lighting effect it was more difficult to tell that she was still in the digital world. 

The colors were muted, less vibrant. 

Less screaming-digital-artificial-circus-flavored. 

Simply just a more real feeling. 

Alive and natural, intentional… It made it easier to slip into the real world happenings of her friends that they would share with her, playing on the screens in front of her. It lessens the feeling of confinement. Lessens the feeling of being bogged down by the chains of existing in a digital reality while watching moments from the real one. Metaphorical chains lock her in place, encase her arms and legs, weighing her down heavily, too heavy to bear all her own. If she thought too long about it, she would get dragged back to that torture sequence that Caine had whipped up. With Gummigoo and his other crocodile mates pulling her limbs, biting, tearing, and stretching at her rubbery digital skin. 

It had gotten easier to say his name in her head and there were even some moments where she had good thought of it. But the lasting effects caused by the memories of the last days with Caine in the circus were still warring against her optimism on the bad days.  

A double edged sword though it was, that room made her feel the most “okay”. It pulled her back to the hope for reality, for normalcy to trickle back into her life. 

But with that “okay"-ness also came the tempest that lifted her off her feet, flung her off balance and gripped her tight as it dragged her all around until she was unable to distinguish up from down, left from right, and wrong from right. 

Unintentionally inching her way closer and closer to thoughts past the digital world. 

Past her digital hand and how her real hand might look. 

Past the digital jester form. 

Past the form of Pomni and on to thoughts of the human she once was. 

How she might look, in the entirety of her real human body. 

When she first arrived in the circus there were some things about her appearance that she had remembered, significant things like how her eye shape matched her halmeoni's, and her father's hair color, and had a variation of her mother's nose. Things like that she remembered due to often being compared to those traits, it had become ingrained in her memories. But the actual image of herself, her family, or even any friends? That was near impossible to nail down, it was like the opacity of the memories were dwindling away. Before it would be in the ninety or eighty percentile, only now it was more like fifty seven percent. Almost halfway gone, and by that halfway point, things start becoming impossible to make any sense of. 

Dissociation was her guilty pleasure to pass time, normally when the others were sleeping… she didn't need to do that and so she often wouldn't. But when she disassociates too much, it would feel like she was just floating away. Mind, digital body, and soul. 

Floating in a sea of light, she stared at a widescreen in front of her but her eyes were unseeing, unfocused. To the side of the large screen there were a series of smaller screens to flip between.

She was just floating. 

The screens were her only windows to the real world. She loved her friends, but seeing them on the other side of the screen while she was unable to join them… it hurt if she was being honest. 

A lot. 

They tried, but some of their efforts didn't land. 

Casting a buoy out in the vast ocean would only get them so far. 

Their affections feel as though they are being sent to her through a paper airplane. It may be folded with care and sent with kind and reassuring words written upon the wings and base within, but as it sails through the air with her as its target, it was stopped by the water wall. The paper gets soggy and deteriorates but not before all the warm words are bled away, smudged beyond repair, becoming indeterminable and disappearing into the unfeeling water surrounding her. 

It is easy to sink down under the surface, to start to give in to that hopeless feeling if she stops moving for too long. So she tries to keep her mind off of it, letting herself instead soak in her friend's affectionate words and joyful recollection of stories; they would often recount their day or days if she didn't tag along through the screen. 

It didn't always work, but she tried to keep up the optimistic facade, letting it slip only when the others were sleeping. But Jax… he could often see through it, just like how she saw through his own defences. 

He easily scales her bulwarks, making sly comments each time his infiltrations are a success. 

Jax is the only one that can reach beneath the surface of the water to her on most days. 

So she clings to him as he helps her ride out the rapids, each time delivering to her a breath of fresh air to sustain her until he provides the next. 

Anything to keep her from sinking down too far. 

A memory of Kinger's voice, floats from the dark depths of her mind up towards the surface, towards Pomni as she hovers just a hairsbreadth from the watery wall separating her from the real world. The world she once called home, the world that now once again houses the people she has grown to love.

But I'm without them. Separated from them. 

“Try not thinking about it.”

At the time that those words were first spoken they had a completely different context, it was a world of a difference from then to now. With her current situation as the context, it is both comforting and not. It quiets the spiraling for a moment, just long enough for her to think on the circumstances and to let out a broken, disjointed soft chuckle. As she thinks further on how she would describe it, the chuckle comes out tenfold but now with just a smidge of mania to it. 

Disjointed— even more ironic, I don't even have joints! Just a weird bendy rubbery digital body with no wrists, elbows, knees, ankles! None of it! At least not ones that work in fully human capacity.

She ran a gloved hand over the curve in her rubbery arm noodle that acted as her elbow. The jester tightened her grip on that curved area and her other hand went up to the other side. Curling her shoulders and pressing in she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the times in which she had wanted and gotten a comforting hug. Before the circus of course. Pomni tried to imitate that feeling of a hug. It was a struggle, the digital form fighting against her memories of the real world in which the shape of her original human body would be enveloped in an embrace. 

It was odd, she had not often truly craved human connection or any sort of touch with another human, especially not outside her family. Not even if her past romantic relationship, however short they might have been. Physical touch wasn't a want that she really had, she usually refrained from even offering that connection with her friends, only ones she truly trusted did she hug or not retreat from when they made a move to be physically near her. Those feelings were especially heightened in the circus due to the strange feeling that the digital world gave her being mixed in. But now, she was missing it so much that she was willing to play pretend.  

Maybe everything was just really starting to get to her. 

She was so close to her friends, but still so far.

Pomni thought again of Gangle and Zooble wrapped around the other in the circus and even now in the real world just as enterwinded– at least as much as they could be in their normal human bodies. 

During the gun adventure, Pomni had joined hands with Jax while singing “Daisy Bell” in front of Zooble’s room and she was the one who had launched herself at Jax for a hug after winning that adventure as a team. Not to mention how physical she made their fight become after he pushed her aways. But despite his rejecting her in that moment— his reaching out and clinging to her multiple times in the others’ last day in the circus, when they had been with her in the circus, when he had been with her in the circus, was something. 

She hadn't minded his touch, found comfort in it even… 

On the last day that they were both in the circus there had been multiple times one or both of them sought out comfort in the other's touch.

Those times she hadn't felt uncomfortable with touch.

Why was it different with him? Was the difference because it was him, or was it something else? And if it was him, what did that mean? Was it–? 

“You here with me, Pompom?” 

Her thought process gets cut off as the voice pierces the surface of the water. The spiral of thoughts that was previously dragging her under, inch by inch immediately dissipates. Like a fishing line being cast through the water, his voice breaks the surface and sinks down just enough to reach her where she floats, kicking to tread water. Like a fish she is lured in by the sparkling line, but unlike a fish, she knows that latching onto that line is just going to hurt her. Tear deep into her soul, mind, her very being. She has locked away the hopes of something wonderful awaiting her if she listens to that voice but each time she hears it the lock busts open and the hope spreads further. 

But so far, that hope has only prolonged her pain and suffering. She has begun to resent that sparkling line, promising her happiness, a gift, freedom, treasures beyond her wildest dreams, when in reality all she gains from it is just longing. Longing for a future after escaping the binds of the digital world— of the circus. 

A future with her friends… a future with him. 

But she could never truly resent it, that voice or that hope that it inspired in her. 

Her tough exterior was constantly worn down by each attempt of that fishing line being cast. That sparkling unique intonation that she knows so well.

Fogginess fades, her eyes refocus and the pinwheel blue and red eyes meet the honey golden pools that she has come to recognize as the real, and very beau- very human eyes of the once lavender rabbit clad in salmon overalls, Jax- Felix. 

Felix. 

His real name. 

She still thought of the circus crew by their circus names, but it was getting easier to adjust. Maybe it was easier for the others now that they were out? They mostly referred to each other by their circus names, though she wasn't sure if it was because they too were having difficulty adjusting or if it was because they didn't want to leave her out of it. She still couldn't remember her real name. The others had searched through missing people reports but so far had been coming up empty on information about her. She knew they hadn't given up yet, though she was hoping it wouldn't be much longer until they didn't need to try to identify her, because that would mean that she would be there with them, searching would then be unnecessary. 

Felix was holding his phone up above his head, as though she wasn't responding because of a spotty wifi connection, a connection which was not needed with the weird way that the circus technology had connected the computer and the other's phones. Either that or he was giving her the high ground for whatever reason, maybe because he had noticed that she liked being able to look down at him like that. In that position she was able to see every fluctuation of his expression, every twitch of his nose, every smile line crease, every half hidden blush. 

She wanted to see it all. 

She looked down to his eyes and was struck again with the thought of his eyes being liquid gold. Warm pools of golden water that she would much rather swim in than the very unfeeling cool toned water that she was currently treading– though she would never admit to that to anyone out loud. 

Maybe… 

At least not yet. 

Lost in his gaze, she sees the shift in his eyes as his pupils constrict slightly, his eyebrows settling just over them as they scrunch together.

Cute. 

Seeing that face is comforting, but to be the reason behind that concern etched across it? That makes her feel guilty. 

“Y-yeah… sure. I am.” She answers his question finally having regained enough sense to be able to. Though apparently not in the way that he was wanting her to if his expression has anything to say about it. 

He was still good at masking his emotions and thoughts but Pomni was still just as adept at reading his human face as when it was the circus bunny that she had to read. He doesn't mask as often anymore, now the real trouble comes when he allows himself to feel more emotions than she can read in the time it takes them to flash across his face. 

The many human emotions on the very charming human face of his. 

More often than not, the emotion that he tries to hide now is his worry for her.

She had seen the first sign of concern on the human face of Jax just an hour or so after she had seen his bunny face overflowing with a myriad of emotions. The very elusive thing that came so naturally to others but that he had shunned for so long, making it a beautiful sight for him to finally show what he was feeling.

~☆~

After the exit door had disappeared for Pomni, she was simply alone; she sunk down to the floor with her head in her hands. Tried to breathe through the rush of emotions so that she didn't get swept up into the spiral of existential dread. 

No. None of that. Stay strong. 

After a while, though, she had no clue how long it took to gain back control of her digital breath, she got up from her wilted position on the floor.

With probably nothing else to do for the time being, she had decided to take a walk around the dilapidated circus. The jester stood still to steady her legs, then walked to the door, and opened it. She was only slightly surprised to see that on the other side of the door was the area in the circus tent that she had left from when she went through the first exit door. But then she remembered the rules of the exit doors, “The second the person goes through it and closes the door, the other side ceases to exist.”  

Right. 

So she walked forward through the doorframe and closed the exit door behind her. 

The jester started walking around the circus drained of color.  

It felt unreal, never before had she seen it so empty, so broken down. So quiet. 

So truly artificial.  

Unreal.

Lifeless. 

If it was even possible, it looked even more in disarray than she remembered it from when she had been with the others. A few more glitched holes in the flooring and the few knocked down plants along with other discarded objects laying around broken down, truly selling the wasteland allegations.

Maybe structural integrity of the tent is a thing even here in the digital world? She knew from her time urbexing how critical it was for the floors of a structure to not be damaged because if it was damaged then the walls wouldn't be stable either, resulting in a near or complete collapse. A few alarm bells started going off in her head due to that idea and the ringing only increased as she kept walking, surveying the damage done to her current— but hopefully not forever, home.

The small tricolored jester had made her way near the center of the circus tent, the stage off in the distance on her right side as she grew closer to the big blocks around the spiral staircase. Maybe with a higher vantage point she could assess the damage more accurately.

The alarm bells were now blaring in her head. They wouldn't stop. 

She felt like she was being watched. 

Which was impossible… right? 

Caine and Bubble were gone and the only other people, the other humans— her friends had just left through the exit she had created. 

She was alone. 

Hopefully not for too long.

She reached the spiral staircase, the first level just a step away. 

Just then she heard a scuffle from up above her. 

She froze. 

Slowly lifted her head up. 

Glaze zeroing in on where the noise had come from. 

To her abrupt horror, there was only one thought on her mind as her eyes recognized what she was seeing. 

Spoke too soon. 

Because she realized she wasn't actually alone. 

There were other humans there with her.

The abstracted humans.  

Standing about a third of the way up the spiral staircase was an abstraction. Their neon color eyes were bright against the dark liquidy surface of the body. Pupils trained dead center on her digital form, intensity maxed out that with all the cartoon logic in the circus the jester wouldn't have been surprised to see a red flashing sign hovering above her head to announce her presence if she had the courage to look away from the abstraction and tilted her head back enough to see the space that the sign would occupy. 

“A flashing sign? Really Pompom?” he chuffed softly. “The writing probably’d be something stupid like ‘ORDER UP— GLITCHABLE JESTER HERE! COME AND GET HER!’” the arrogantly flippant voice whispered in her ear, so close she could almost feel the hovering form of his digital avatar beside her. Slouched posture and all, body bent at the hips to have easier access to her ear adjacent hearing location due to their drastic height difference. 

She didn't dare move. 

She didn't want to risk breaking the moment. Didn't want to lose him even if he was just a figment of her imagination, a disembodied voice that she had conjured up while seeking comfort. 

Didn't want to break the moment and risk spurring the abstraction to action either. 

Maybe it doesn't actually see me? She fostered that hope though she knew it was a long shot even then. 

Then it moved. 

Shifting the spiky black substance that it used as legs at a speed so great that she could hardly move in time as it came crashing down to the very spot that she had stood in only moments ago.

She fell backwards in her retreat, landing on her bottom, as she scrambled away. 

“You should probably start running.” The whisper came again, this time a touch apprehensive but even then she could still hear the smirk laced along the edges of the words. 

Following his advice, she shot to her feet. 

She ran. 

Run before she could even fully process it.

Bobbing and weaving, hand over foot in her mad dash to put as much distance as possible between the abstraction and herself. 

Head empty of thoughts. 

The only clarity in the space that her mind offered her was a goal: to escape the glitching clutches of pain and fear.

Breathing hard she rounded a corner of the thin walling surrounding the staircase. 

Trying to gain ground. 

She knew abstractions could run faster and jump further than her. 

The only way out was to try and lose them in the twisting maze of the circus accouterments. 

She mentally thanked her lucky stars for her years of being in track&field in high school. She had learned the importance of proper breathing techniques and running forms among other skills. That, and her experience of having to run from an abandoned site if the plan went south on one of her urbexing outings. It had only happened a few times but she was cautious, always having a possible escape route and keeping in practice was beneficial. 

Narrowly she jumped over the gaping holes that presumably lead to the cellar down below.

Maybe it will fall back in? 

She huffed a moment of breath out through her mouth then in again, keeping the rhythm of it. 

But if it already crawled out once, what's stopping it from doing it again? 

Pumped her arms with all the energy she had. 

Think! Think! Think! Where do I run to!?

Energy pumped through her digital veins, made her run faster, legs burning at the exertion. 

She veered off to round another corner. The dread of what she saw then nearly pummeled her into the ground. 

The noise of her running and the crashing of the abstraction knocking over and into objects and structures must have begun to attract the rest of them because out of the corners of her peripheral vision she saw them. 

All of them. 

At least she thought so. 

As she raced past, some of them hadn't noticed her, still being too far away or on a different level. 

But they were closing in… 

Attracted to the sudden influx of noise.

Would going up to the balconies be better than the ground floor? 

She took a quick look up, a quick survey. 

Directly up in front of her. 

Up to the side.  

Up to the other side.

Up to cast a backwards glance— as her eyes flitted back she saw the abstraction chasing her was gaining.  

Digital adrenaline courses through her digital veins. 

The jester rounded back to forward facing and lowered her eyes back to the task at hand. 

She ran faster. 

She had counted five up above in the balconies. 

Two of those were mingling together rampaging in tandem while the other three were spread out all by their lonesome milling around in the upper corners of the circus. 

Count. 

Assess the problem.

Look for the solution. 

She could do this, she was good with numbers. 

She was fine… 

“Right. And I'm the fluffiest, softest, most open bunny rabbit in the whole digital world.” He waited a moment before continuing. “Get serious Pomni.” 

Right. But what else could I do? 

She ran. 

Decided, in the split second it took her to comb through all the possible outcomes that she feasibly could, that she was not willing to trap herself up there. 

Despite having been able to juke out the abstracted Kaufmo on her first day in the circus, there were too many to confidently dodge now. A straighter, slimmer path meant it would be much easier to get cornered and touched. 

She was not willing to get touched and start glitching. 

“Keep going. Almost there.” His voice was more reassuring now. Caring and soft even. 

She knew he cared, she knew that he had always cared. It was just that earlier today he had finally allowed himself to fully show it. To show a softer side of himself.  

Counted another three rampaging on their own as she kept running, each blocking a path that she had planned to take. Each decision made in quick succession to evade them, course altered time after time. 

She figured getting to her room would be the safest bet. The owner of the room can open their door easily but others trying to get into someone else's room needed a key…like Jax with Kaufmo’s door. 

Hiding behind a lock and key isn't a lot against those things, but it's still something in terms of defense— right? 

It was a plan that had she concocted with as much mental thought that was available to her for the act of planning as she ran for her life. Which in her defense, wasn't a whole lot, but she made good with what she had.  

A fair amount in the distance she saw two abstractions with their backs to her. 

She turned down the last corner, into the hallway of rooms. 

They heard the other of their kind giving chase and decided to investigate, following her trail of fear.  

Her room wasn't that far in. Not even fully halfway down the hallway.

But as she ran down the hall, headed for her door, her racing mind couldn't help but remember the times that she had stood in this exact hallway and counted the doors of the abstracted. 

Twelve doors with large red “X's” over digital faces that she would never meet.

But she had met them now in a sense. 

And so she wondered which abstraction had once occupied each room. 

Which face had once belonged to which human trapped in this digital world. A face that was uniquely theirs despite the dystopian situation of it all, was now completely drawn over with the face and body of an abstracted form. 

The jester even wondered which abstracted human was the one that had first started chasing her, which abstracted human had set their innumerable eyes on her and not given up. 

She wondered why.

Wait. 

…Twelve doors? 

Had she seen twelve abstracted humans?  

But… I could have sworn that I only counted eleven.  

With her door just a few meager steps away, she reached out her gloved hand for the knob but she felt like she was running in slow motion as she redid the math. 

Her calculating mind kicked into high gear. 

Five on the balconies. 

Three on my way there. 

The final two that joined. 

… and the original one from the staircase that had followed me all this way. 

Eleven. 

Not twelve. 

The original abstraction to start chasing her had finally barreled into the hallway, knocking into the wall as it went but that only slowed it down a tad. 

Where is the twelfth abstraction? 

Gloved hand closed around the knob of the door marked with a certain frowning jester face as she skidded to a halt— hoping that it would be for just long enough to open the door and dart inside. 

But things were never that easy.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. 

A warbling black shape. 

Found you, number twelve. 

It came out of Zooble’s room, door wide open.

Maybe that's where they went off to with Gangle during the downtime when Kinger was figuring out the exit? Zooble must not have closed their door...

Neon eyes lock in on her digital form. 

It charged.

Abstractions closed in on her from both sides. 

Time felt like molten amber. Inching forward with very little fluidity. Instead of turning liquid to push her along faster, the heat only burned her alive. Sticky and stained with a black residue.

Turned her brittle. 

One step closer to being snapped.

Gloved hand turned the knob, movement slow in comparison to the speed of her thoughts surging forth. 

Please let my room be somewhere safe.

Somewhere they can't get in. 

Can't get to me. 

Can't harm me. 

Somewhere that I am safe. 

She felt a tingling heat go from her digital heart out to all parts of her digital body. 

Burned her from the inside out. 

When amber has inclusions it is normally bits of water, gases, and air bubbles trapped in the age-old amber. When exposed to heat and not turned directly to liquid, those inclusions turn to steam and expand, emitting a crackling sound. 

Shattering the amber substance in the process. 

The same could be said for time as all the mechanisms inside the door aligned, unlatching it. 

The slowness of time shattered. 

The digital world snapped back into place, attuned with itself once more. 

Flowed back into time.**

Pomni wretched the door open, tumbled through the doorway, into the room as time sped back up. 

Twisted mid motion, her fluidity restored to her, the jester heaved her back up against the door slamming it shut with all her residual strength. 

As her body slammed against the door, Newton's laws of motions came out to play, specifically the first and third. 

Newton’s first law of motion— inertia, as Pomni’s body hits the door, her torso’s motion was stopped but her head and neck weren’t in agreement with that action. 

Newton’s third law of motion— for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Pomni really slammed her body against the door, meaning not only does her back hurt from being slammed into it but also jumped a bit forward after the force was returned by the door. The action of her head hitting the door also had that same force returned but due to it being a smaller space than her torso, thought not by a lot with the cartoonish features, and only connected by her small neck, the force shot her head forward bending at the neck, giving her whiplash that reminded her of all the warnings her mother had given her about what to do if she ever got into a car accident. 

In all seriousness, Pomni was confused at the moment, cartoon logic plays by Newton’s physics Law of Motion rules? 

The jester’s large head was pounding partially due to the running and partially from the force of which she had heaved her back against the door and that sensation was increased as she heard a crash from the other side of the door accompanied by some extremely intense glitching sounds. 

Likely from the groups of abstracted humans colliding? What else could it have been?

Imagines of the collision formed in her head and Pomni felt her stomach churn as black bile threatened to emerge from her throat like it had on the jester’s first and second day in the circus but she forced it down, swallowing despite the way it sent a burning down her throat. 

Head hanging down heavily from the excursion of running from the abstractions, relief flooded her mind as she believed herself to be in the clear. Having just escaped the horde of abstracted humans, she had hoped that she would be gifted a moment of silence, of stillness in the now eerily lack of bright colors and music of the circus. Pomni thought that she had earned at least that much after the sadness and stressfulness of the day topped with all the fear that had just been coursing through her digital veins. 

The digital universe didn't seem to agree. 

She only caught a flash of movement out of the top of her peripheral vision before a sudden burst of garbled and glitching noise invaded her digital senses. 

It was very close to her. She tried to scream but it was stifled by the lack of digital air in her digital lungs and the only thing that came out was a strangled cry, causing a coughing fit directly after.

Curse you digital world for some reason still needing me to have digital breath to scream! I have a mouth don't I?! LET ME SCREAM!

Trying to steady her breathing, she closed her eyes, hoping that if these were her last moments as her sane enough self, that she could at least have good thoughts of her friends that she helped escape. But those thoughts came burdened. 

Is this really the end? After all that?

She thought of all her experiences in the circus, the good, bad, and difficult, but also all the changes, the growth, the freedom that she had surprisingly had with the other people trapped here. And all that she had sacrificed by staying behind despite the hope of still getting out. 

I don't know if there's any way to revert glitching if I get touched by an abstraction… and what if I actually abstract myself? 

Abstraction was still such an unknown. 

Have I failed already? What if— she never got to see them again? What if she had actually broken her promise, truly irreparably now? 

What if I never— 

“Pomni! Are you there!?” 

Her eyes shot open as her red and blue pinwheels grew wide. 

Was that… Kinger's voice? 

She looked up and her eyes locked in on what was hovering about a foot in front of her. It would have been at her eye level if not for her slumped figure leaning against the closed door. 

A slightly transparent screen. 

With a human on it. 

Whom, if her digital hearing was to be trusted, had just spoken with Kinger's voice. 

He was a middle aged man with a pale complexion, light skin with bright blonde hair, a few white hairs lightly dusted near his forehead and around the sides of his head near his ears. The sprinkles of white also had begun to creep into his short mustache and beard. Strangely enough, the white hairs compliment his features, making them shine brightly in the seemingly early morning light that was shining on his face from wherever he was. Distantly she thought that he must have been turned eastward, the way the sun rises. 

His friendly blue eyes met hers and she knew without a single doubt that it was Kinger. 

“Did you find her?!” She heard Jax’s voice yell on the other side of the screen and could only watch as Kinger was pushed out of the way. Not harshly, but just enough so that Jax’s head was now filling the space that Kinger's had once occupied. 

That was when Pomni saw Jax's face for the first time. His human, real face. His brown eyes look golden as the morning light hit them, doing a funny thing to her heart.

“Hi-i.” He stuttered out the word breathlessly, not only from the exertion from pushing Kinger out of the way so quickly, but as she had come to realize, also from the prospect of seeing her again even if they had only just seen each other an hour ago. 

An hour too long. 

But now he looked different. 

Human again. 

Pomni was equally breathless if not more than the past rabbit was, but not because of any movement on her part. 

No— her digital breath had been recovered from her run-in with the abstracted humans. 

Her reason for breathlessness was the stunning young man staring at her with his big deep bright human eyes. Eyes that immediately captured her attention and imprisoned her psyche so completely that in that moment she forgot that she was trapped in a digital world at all. She was just there, mind encompassed in that moment with him. 

“H-” she coughed, her throat apparently still decided that it was the time to fight against her. She swallowed, then began again, “Hey.” she answered him, voice thin but as solid as she could have hoped for. 

It was silent on both sides of the screen for an indeterminable amount of time after that. Stares were exchanged, heavy and light all wrapped into one. Then a smile began to form on Jax’s previously star-struck visage, creeping up radiating more warmth than the sun, setting fire to Pomni’s cheeks. Jax’s smile was softer on a human face, more real — but many that was just because of where that gleam was directed at. His laugh lines creased in such a pronounced way, curving around the corners of his lips that she couldn't help but want to reach out and trace them, feel their grooves and see if their crease would still linger even if she softened them out with her thumb. 

It felt different… seeing him like that. Unafraid to show true joy on his face, unapologetically doing so. It was a good difference, a very, very good difference, but it had felt just a touch odd as it wasn't the face that she had first known him as. But she could see the mannerisms of the Jax that she did know shining through the fog of differences. And that was enough. It was still him. Just the freed version of the bunny that she had begun to deeply bond with despite his best efforts to thwart her every endeavor of getting close. 

Everything was quiet and simple, easy. 

There was no manic need to hurry, to rush. 

No existential dread weighing the moment down. 

It was easy to sink into that quiet comfort. 

That was until Kinger let out a small knowing cough. 

Not smug, just filled with wisdom and understanding that surpassed the combined knowledge that the two he was carefully watching possessed concerning this particular type of reunion. The kind of knowing that came from a man who had long been in a loving marriage and had learned a thing or two. 

The two startled to attention and after a gentle throat clearing by Kinger, the explanation of what the escapees had experienced after the door had been closed by Pomni began.

The old chess piece started, saying that they had been spewed out of the headset… or was it the computer? None were entirely sure which they had been trapped in exactly, if it was the computer itself or if the headset housed them and the computer just displayed it. But when they had all come to, they were sprawled out of the floor of the old dilapidated C&A office building next to the desk with the computer on, screen glowing faintly with the headset off to the side. 

Bright blinding lights had flashed behind their eyes which was then accompanied by the feeling of being pulled and rearranged into their human bodies from their digital ones. Jax had proposed that it was how he imagined the people and NPCs in the Jumanji and Zathura type films felt when they were sucked into or materialized out of their respective board game worlds. Pomni didn't have the heart to tell him that a new movie for the Jumanji franchise had been in the works when she had entered the circus. She wasn't sure if watching it would be traumatic or not now, not with that new information lodged in her brain… 

At that point the other circus cast had been out in the real world for a little over an hour. In that time Kinger and Jax hadn't relented from their spots in front of the computer. The rest had taken turns either asleep or looking around the abandoned office to try and find anything salvageable, any of their belongings, or items for bedding to use as they napped. Because they were all incredibly tired. 

Pomni supposed the being stitched back together into their original human form after being digital for so long would really take it out of anyone. 

Ragatha was asleep at that point, already having found a worn couch cushion for a pillow and used her coat that she had on already as her makeshift blanket. Gangle and Zooble, having found their items on their persons, were on the bottom level of the building, searching for an electric source that they could plug in their respective phones with. They had also been asked by a reluctant Jax to try to wake up his dead box of metal and bolts, when they agreed, the only response he gave was a begrudging nod in thanks.  

The electric socket that the computer Kinger and Jax were poring over, was plugged into as well as the neighboring one was not an option. They all had agreed. 

So off the two had gone, entangled together to go find another power source to hopefully charge their phones and then use them to locate the nearest place that offered food because their humanity and human survival needs were coming back online. But that was planned ahead for a few hours. 

The most apparent human need right now for them all? Sleep. 

It was then that she realized how tired the two men on the other side of the screen looked, they both had dark circles under their eyes but both were intent on not sleeping until the way to help Pomni get out was uncovered. 

But apparently Kinger had already quite easily been able to program an exit for her once he had gotten his bearings.

The problem was the installment time.

It was a very large update to the very old system so Kinger was unable to determine when it would work… and truthfully, how well. 

Though he needed this to work. 

The ever present encouragement and probing of questions provided by Jax had definitely helped him stay alert as he coded and egged him forward in spite of the risks. He could only hope it was the right amount and right kind of risks. 

In order to help keep her sane, after Kinger coded the release update and realised that it would take a while for it to download and actually work, he had set to work coded the connection between the computer that housed the circus and a possible connection link to each one of the member’s phones. 

Gangle, Zooble, and Jax’s phones, that is. Since they had arrived more recently to the circus than the others, their phones still were usable and they had had them on them at the time that they were sucked into the circus so they were sent back out with them. Though Jax’s was barely hanging on within an inch of its life. New phones for Kinger, Ragatha, and Jax would eventually be needed in order for them all to stay connected. 

It was after having mostly set the groundwork for the connection link that Kinger decided in order for that to work he would have to communicate that with Pomni, hence the screen that had popped up in front of her. Due to it being through the device that she was already in and not one of the possible connected devices, a phone, Kinger was easily able to locate her and establish that connection. 

With that, Pomni was caught up on all that had transpired in her absence from the group. She hadn't told them what happened to her yet…

Zooble and Gangle returned shortly afterwards and everyone decided that Ragatha wouldn't want to miss a second more of this unconventional reunion so they woke her up. 

After that they had talked for a while, Pomni had convinced the two explorers to go back to the bottom floor to check on their phones and use them to locate the nearest food source. She didn't want her friends to starve now that it was an actual possibility for them. 

And so they went back down and brought the phones back, which were charged enough to be disconnected from their chargers and used for a bit. It was coming up on the eight o'clock hour as told by the phones by the time they all decided that a small Walmart was the closest food supplier. The hunger and thirst was becoming too much. 

Having already gone on their little exploration mission in place of a nap, Zooble and Gangle decided to go lay down for a bit while a different team went on a food and water run. Kinger offered up his services, decided he needed to take a quick break from coding and stretch his legs. Ragatha joined him, ever the caretaker, Ragatha wanted to make sure that Kinger didn't get lost on the way there and back but that was only a small selfless reason, the larger more selfish reason was because she didn't want to be cooped up anymore. 

She wanted to be free. 

She had spent so much of her life under the watchful and controlling eyes of her mother and then the only distance she ever got from that careful gaze was when she fell right into a different kind of constant surveillance— the circus. 

This was her first real moment of true freedom. 

After only a few confirmations from Pomni that yes, it was okay for Ragatha to go, that she would be okay alone with Jax as her only companion for a bit, Ragatha finally headed out the room and down the stairs, Kinger in tow. 

Pomni had looked over at Zooble and Gangle then, they had already begun to cuddle up against each other. Zooble on their back, a hand behind their head as they rested it on the same worn couch cushion that Ragatha had used. The only reason why Zooble hadn’t insisted that Gangle take it was because the once ribbon girl had called dibs on resting her head on Zooble’s chest and had not taken no for an answer. Zooble had gotten flustered but had ultimately been too weak against the wide-eyed hopeful look that Gangle had sent their way. 

Utterly defeated, they had laid down, head on the cushion and rested a gentle hand on Gangle’s shoulder when she laid down with a small content expression on her very real face, her pale silky long hair like a river under moonlight cascading down the planes of their chest and torso. 

“Hey, Pom.” 

She tore her eyes from the two cuddling very real humans to then land on the also very real human, Jax. 

Once he was sure he had her full attention he threw on his signature shit-eating grin, which still was strange to see on his real human face, nodded his head in the direction of the two napping people as he quirked his brow. 

She shook her head no, “Don't mess with them, Jax.” But she knew that he wasn't actually planning to do anything, he just wanted to get a rise out of her. She figured out pretty early on that all he wanted was someone to be around, more than anything. 

“I thought you were fun, Pompom.” Voice lilting as he leaned forward, a curled fist beneath his chin, tilting his head to the side, cheshire grin still as prominent as always. 

She was not blushing. Her cheeks just had the naturally rosy blush marks, that was all. 

“I am fun, but fun isn’t messing with them when they are exhausted.” 

He struggled his shoulders at that but dropped it besides a quick glance back then turned to face her again. His wide grin fell to a softer one, but also worn out, as worn out as the cushion that their friends had rested their heads upon after years and years of it being unused. 

More tired than mischievous. 

More content and all that comes with that comfort despite the steadily darkening purple bags beneath his eyes. 

A more honest smile. 

“I’m… I’m glad that you're doing alright… still over there”

“Yeah,” she looked up at him, “I’m doing alright.” A gentle smile accompanied her words. 

She was telling the truth, but only because she still had them in some form. After just running from the abstracted, she isn't sure how she would fair if she was truly alone. 

Shoot, I have to tell them about the abstracted don't I? 

But not yet, for now she just wanted to enjoy the moments with them all again. 

Soon Kinger and Ragatha returned. 

“We come bearing the spoils of war!” Kinger triumphantly regaled them as they entered the room once again. Lifting a large insulated grocery bag. The ‘spoils’ so valiantly called, ended up being a various array of different types of sandwiches, wraps, and sushi plates. The drinks were a dozen water bottles and a few options of juices and fruity yogurt drinks. The liquid drinks were nutrient heavy in case they couldn't stomach solid foods immediately. They had even bought a medium sized bag of ice to stick in the insulated bag in order to keep all the food and drinks as cold or rather cool as possible. Ragtha happily explained that the nice cashier that checked them out recommended it to them, seeing as they had so many cold items. 

They ate and joked and talked all morning into the early afternoon, just reveling in each other's presence, together. 

Chiming in when it was called for, Kinger had gone back to the computer to finish coding the connection link after he had eaten what he could stomach given the circumstances. 

Jax had sat in the desk chair while eating but when Kinger needed the seat he had elected to simply stand next to the desk. 

Next to the computer. 

Next to Pomni. 

He didn't want to leave her side… or at least as close to her side as he was going to get with them being on two opposite sides of a screen. Pomni found that endearing. 

The sun came and went before long, nearly an entire day back in the real world. 

Just as Kinger finished linking the three viable phones that they had to the computer so that Pomni could look out from the screen of whichever one she wanted, the sun was beginning to set and they realized that there wasn't going to be enough bedding for everyone to sleep. 

What Kinger said next shocked them all. 

“My house is nearby. Should we go and see if it's still under my name? Sleep there?” 

Though they were hesitant to go out of the safety of the dilapidated old office building— as crazy as that sounds, they quickly decided that going and checking or going to a hotel if that didn't work out would be their best bet at a comfortable sleep that night. It was starting to get cold.

Thankfully Kinger's house was actually close by, they were still so exhausted that they probably would not have made it much further.

Plus side to having your cursed job being within walking distance to your house. 

It was on the outskirts of town, in a more rural area which was nice because that meant that they didn't pass any other people in their travels. No lights were on and the locks were still the same as when Kinger lived there. 

The house was empty. 

They could sleep there comfortably. 

Probably didn't ever sell because of the ghost story attached to it. The two owners, a husband and wife, just disappeared one day… freaky. 

…I would totally have explored this house if I had ever heard a story like that about it.

But she hadn't grown up here so if there was a story like that, it was likely whispered during sleepovers, a spooky cautionary tale of where not to go. Maybe dares were placed, to walk up and ring the doorbell before running away. 

Running from a ghost that couldn't give chase. 

They walked around as Kinger gave them the grand tour. They ended up back in the living room and all decided to settle in for the night, being too tired both physically and emotionally to stay up much longer. 

It was a four bedroom house. 

But none of them moved to the bedrooms. 

They needed the comfort of familiarity, of togetherness.  

Kinger sat down in a large armchair. He hadn't taken a nap the entire day, having been coding for most of it so he fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down in the soft, inviting chair. 

Zooble and Gangle cuddled up on a love seat while Ragatha nodded off on one corner of a three person sofa. Jax sat on the floor, back against the opposite side of the sofa, knee up with one arm propped up by it, head rested on it with the other arm outstretched in front of him, phone in hand. 

He was fighting sleep like it was his worst enemy, like it was going to take away the one thing he cared about. 

She stayed on Jax's phone. They talked for a bit longer, bantering and teasing over the silliest, stupidest, and randomest things. Just to try and tie down the feeling of normalcy.

Trying to give the proper importance to every moment they had together.  

But eventually the exhaustion overtook Jax. He had never had a nap and had finally crashed mid sentence, having worn himself too thin for the day. 

The jester stayed up a bit longer, just watching him. Wanting to use this time to get used to this new face of his, well his original and real face actually. His smile lines were still ever present near his cheeks but his entire face softened while he slept, like he could finally release all the tension, all the stress from the past years in the circus.  

She was happy for her part in providing that relief. 

The subtle rise and fall of his chest was the rhythm that slowly lulled her to sleep as she laid down in her blue and red covered bed once again for another night, but this time, no nightmares chased her.

~☆~

In the coming days, that was when Kinger guided Pomni into conquering the Void like room that she stayed practically all of her time in, she was just floating in there.

Since then she was always somewhere on one of their phones, more often than not she was on Felix's run down one. But nobody mentioned it to her, at least not after the first conversation concerning it. 

Jax also allowed her to use his phone calendar and clock apps to keep track of the days and exact minutes that she'd been stuck while they were free. He was the one who had put it down on the calendar but she knew if she wasn't the one who started the clock, then he would have soon afterwards. 

As for the abstractions, she had secluded herself in this room and her actual room to escape from them. She eventually told Kinger about them running rampant in confidence. 

He said he was “Taking care of them.” She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, but the noises of them stomping around knocking into things on the other side of the doors were becoming less and less with each passing day… she had decided not to question it. 

They still stayed at Kinger's house, now each in a bedroom except for Jax. He stayed on the sofa while the other three were in the bedrooms but Pomni thought that Zooble and Gangle might officially sleep in the same bedroom soon, practically every night they were in the same room, cuddling in the same bed. 

Jax would be happy for an actual bed, no longer being forced to sleep on a sofa that truly didn't fit all of him on there that well. 

Once they had all gotten settled, the next order of business was to sort out what had happened after each got stuck in the circus, what they had missed out on. This was family related things for each individual as well as real world happenings and the media.

Family and friend reunions were in order and it lightened everyone's spirits but the others didn't bombarded Pomni with stories about it. She thought it was probably because they didn't want to remind her that she couldn't have that, at least not.

Jax stayed with her through it all. 

They had decided to go out tonight to celebrate them all being employed. Kinger had found a part time job online with something to do with coding, Pomni wasn't really sure how it all worked but he was happy with it so that was enough for her and the rest.

Zooble had gotten a job back at the bar they had worked at before they got stuck in the circus. They were friends with the owner so it was an easy fit. 

Ragatha reinstated herself into society and was in the process of hearing back from the real estate company that she had worked for previously. She was waiting on the official offer but it was more just formality, they had to wait until they got through all the other applicants and see if there were any besides her as good options to hire alongside her. Regardless, Ragatha's employers were very eager to have her back. 

Jax and Gangle had both gotten jobs at a local cafe. They seemed to be getting along better, and although Jax would never completely admit to it, he enjoyed working with her—it was better than his experience at Spudsy's, thankfully. He even watches and talks about anime with her despite having made fun of her for it in the circus, though Pomni’s only knows that because she tags along on his phone and he couldn't deny her. 

There was a particular anime that he had wanted to catch up with, when he got trapped in the circus, the season that it was currently on was a cliffhanger and he needed to know what happened next. It was starting its final season soon and he was going back and forth on waiting the year and a half for the anime to reach the end or to read the Manga version that was just about to end. 

The anime and manga wasn't the only source of interesting media for Jax though. He was an avid supporter of catching up on all the movies and TV shows that had happened while he was in the circus. Though he had some opinions on the quality of films that were being released. He had quite confidently argued that he could do better, that the plots “nowadays were waaaay too predictable". That it needed more depth, more suspense, more intrigue. 

He sounds a little like Caine, so focused on a good intriguing plot. She had giggled then, the first lighthearted thought about Caine since his “deletion”. 

She says "deletion" because Kinger had discovered a way to bring him back in some form. He was hoping to make a different app or link so that once stable, Caine could be a little AI assistant on his phone, so neither would get lonely. Kinger was hopeful that it would work but had made it abundantly clear that he was only going to proceed if he made with absolute certainty that no one would ever be sucked  into a digital prison again.  

But back to Jax, Pomni had noticed that he had a knack for creating intricate plots all the way back since they speed ran the suggestion box adventures where there were a lot of Jax's submissions. Throughout the weeks he had told her about more of the suggestion box adventures that he had written back in the circus, some with her in mind specifically. Even now in his free time he was still planning and writing out plot summaries. Just a few days ago Gangle had finally convinced Jax to enter one of his ideas into a short TV series competition. And yes it would have, “...one big, final battle. Bloodshed. Death. Chaos!”***, as well as a bit of “blood, death, and violence”***, but it was all meaningful not just violence for violence's sake but in a desperate attempt for the characters to stay alive.

It had a happy ending for all the main characters. 

“An actual good ending that all good people should be able to reach.” That's what he claimed at least when confiding in Pomni about it. Though she was sure that she wasn't supposed to hear that part since he had mumbled it while turned away from her, not even allowing her to decipher the words from his lip movements. She had been doing that more often recently, reading his lips, though she wasn't exactly sure why. Pomni knew that she didn't used to look at a person's lips to read them, at least not as often as she was doing it with Felix.

She tuned back into her surroundings through the screen, though it was more accurately Felix's surroundings. 

“Hey!” she waited till he looked over at her, then she pointed to the old Tetris arcade game console that he was about to walk past, “How much you bet me I can jump into this game?”

A look of concern washed over his face but he quickly masked it with a cocky smirk. “Eh, I don't know Pomni.”  

That was not the answer she was looking for and he knew it.

“What, you think I can't do it?” 

“I'm not doubting your ability to do it, I just don't know if it will work” then he mumbled quietly under his breath “or if something were to go wrong…” 

She gave him a look, unimpressed with his worrying and reasoning for it. He held her gaze but she wouldn't let up. 

They had a silent battle, hoping to stare down the other to submission. He was the first to break, scrunching up his nose—like a bunny, in defeat he looked away, trying to hide the rosy tint that mixed with the natural coloring of his cheeks and upper ears. The tint of that rosy color plus his galaxy of freckles had quickly become one of her favorite sights.

“We don't know how compatible the circus tech is with this old tech.” Despite what he was saying he still walked up to the game, “I just don't think it's gonna hold.”

“You worry-wort.” She grinned so wide that it turned evil, spiky toothed and all. “I thought you were ‘cool’, are you saying that you aren't ?” A fake inquisitive look appeared on the jester's face. 

The purple-haired man sighed, running a hand through his hair that was originally a deep brown that complimented his tan skin well. He had gotten it dyed a darker purple color than his Jax color soon after they got out and it was beginning to fade to the right color. Zooble had done it on him when they had bought dye to streak through their own hair and had explained that doing it a darker color than what you actually wanted it to be would extend the life of the color even just a few weeks. 

Through all the colorshifts of the purple, it looked really good on him— especially with his piercings. Silver stars on each tragus piercings and studs on his lobes that were such a dark purple that they looked black. Though a particular red jeweled dangly gold one that he wore on his right helix was a new addition and a personal favorite of Pomni’s. 

“I got it Pom, you're a thrill seeker through and through, but maybe try not to put yourself in possible danger? How well did that work out last time?” A judgmental look was trying to meet her eye but she looked away, feigning ignorance. She had eventually told him about the encounter she had had with the abstractions. He was not pleased to say the least…

Oh well, not his problem— it's mine. 

… just like this is! 

“Well I'm not a scaredy-cat like you, bunny boy!” And then she jumped, willing a new screen of the Tetris game to appear on her end, successfully connecting with it, making a link like Kinger had for the phones. It was a new thing that Kinger had been curious about, if it was possible for her to form the connection to another type of device without the coded link being implemented firsthand.

Apparently it was possible. 

“POMNI!” Jax’s pupils shrank, looking down at his phone in one hand then grabbed onto the old gaming console with his other hand. Eyes only losing their fear once they were met with the tricolored jester form that they were searching for. 

“Seeeee, silly bunny rabbit” she spun around in a circle showing off her new surroundings to him despite it only looking like a physical presence of hers was in there. In reality she was just floating in the room off to the side in the circus “I'm fiiiine!”

He looked betrayed but she only slightly felt bad about it. He had been worrying about her too much for her liking. 

He wasn't very good at hiding it. 

The frequency of concern that he would express had been increasing recently. First it had started over small things, not wanting to upset her by mentioning certain things like food, sunlight, the fresh air outside, stuff like that. 

Normal stuff. 

Real stuff. 

He had first noticed it with food, not on the first day but about the fourth or fifth week. Felix had considerable skills in the kitchen and he would sometimes cook for the others but would always show Pomni each of his meals, showing off until he noticed the way that she was looking at the food. Like it was a joy and temptation, a punishment at once. It was beginning to make her depressed seeing it but not being able to smell or eat it herself. 

He started to not make a big deal out of eating or food at all anymore. She felt bad about that because she knew how much he had enjoyed showing off to her and enjoyed finally being able to cook again. But the feelings had too much control over her. 

“Come on, let's play the game!” 

“...Fine.” He could never say “no” to her. 

They had a fun time, playing a few rounds as they talked. Pomni was able to control the game a bit, turning the pieces to stack them properly when Jax was too busy with the other pieces falling and didn't notice where a certain one would be better fitted to go. 

And then it happened. 

Ding

A little ding sounded and she looked around, trying to determine what had made that noise, that's not a sound that the game makes. 

Then she found it. 

She stared at the pop-up, not comprehending what it was asking her until click, like a slap to the face she flinched. 

She couldn't pry her eyes away from it, afraid that if she did, it would disappear. 

Lack the existence that it needed. 

Sink into oblivion. 

Never to see the light of day again. 

“D-do you see that?”

“What?” 

Her voice came out steadier this time, “Do you see that?” 

“See what?”

“That pop-up option?” He squinted at the screen trying to gauge where she was looking. 

“Umm… no?” He looked back at her digitally stunned face. “It's just a bunch of pixels showing the same scene as it did earlier before we started the game.” 

“I guess you can't see it.” she mumbled.

“What?” he asked again. She rolled her eyes. Is that his new favorite word or something? 

“Pomni, what's going on? You're acting kind of weird…” he thought for a moment, “weirder than usual that is.” He was trying to lighten the mood but that wasn't the kind of light that she needed at the moment, despite how soft it made her feel inside. 

She took a deep breath. Possibly the last intentional breath of digital air that she would ever take. 

“I’ll see you soon, Jax.”

“What? Pomni, what do you mean by that?” Something in his eyes flickered, then understanding set in. He really is so quick at picking up on things… I only mean that sarcastically half the time. 

“Are you— Do you mean…?” His eyes were pleading, searching for confirmation. And she gave it to him whole heartedly, hoping that he would be there to catch her when she fell. 

I guess today is the day.

“I'll be there with you soon.” 

She looked at him one final time with the screen between them. 

Pomni reached up her gloved hand, glaze heavy on the digital pop-up in front of her as she flexed her four digital digits for the last time.

“Would you like to exit the game?

>Accept

>Deny”

She pressed “Accept”. 

~☆~

The second Pomni disappeared off the screen of the old game, Felix booked it. 

He was there one moment, gone the next. If he had still been in a digital cartoony world, he would have surely left a puff of smoke in the outline of his body from his quick departure from that spot. 

Gangle and Ragtha were at the arcade last he saw while Zooble and Kinger were down at the casino part, Zooble probably a little tipsy by this point. Kinger probably completely entranced in some gambling card game or slot machine, something to use that smarty-pants brain of his. 

If he saw someone on the way, he would let them know. If not then they could wonder where he went and he'd tell them once everything was okay. All that mattered to him was getting to her as soon as possible. 

Anything could be happening to her right now. 

On his way, he saw Zooble in the distance. Likely coming up for some air from the casino in the lower levels to check up on the girls of their little group as they had decided to just stay in the arcade area of the establishment. 

Though more specifically they would be checking on their girlfriend, Gangle. 

Yes— he wasn't completely blind. He knew they had a thing going on. Had known for a while actually, he saw the kindling of sparks beginning around the gun adventure but by then Jax was too focused on gaining control over his own emotions. He didn't have time to think about the ribbon’s and toy chest's feelings besides an offhanded teasing comment or two when he was feeling it. 

Zoobie's eyes narrowed as he got close, approached their little group. He would have gotten a bit of glee out of getting that expression from them if not for the world crashing down on him at that very moment. It urged him forward. He tried to speak but between being out of shape yet running as fast as humanly possible for him, along with his mind literally being a jumbled mess at the moment— all he got out was ineligible sounds. 

Which only got them to raise an eyebrow higher. Their eyes are still so expressive, enough to show off their completely-done-with-him-attitude. But it was done in a more caring way than in the circus, no sharp edge to it now.  

“Jax, what did you do now—?” They call out exasperately. 

Finally he was able to be coherent, speaking the words that were forming a pit in his stomach. 

“SHE'S OUT!” 

All three froze. The same thought coursing through their minds. Pomni is out. 

The group didn't know how successful the update that Kinger had programmed would be, but it worked enough to get her “out”. But in what state would she be in? 

The others were tired when they got out, yes— but they had gotten out through the exit door option that was programmed. It had likely been for Caine to use to allow them freedom, he had to stay in the digital world so it wouldn't have been unreasonable for the exit to be programmed the way that it was. Either Caine had not known that he could do it, or didn't want to, didn't want to be left alone because he wasn't sure if they would come back if he let them. 

But now Kinger had created another way out. Would that interfere with Pomni in any way? 

Would she be alright? Just tired like they were? Or worse? 

The update had no precedent. Pomni was the test subject. 

It was a risk she had been willing to take, but a risk all the same.

“Jax, wait!” 

“NO TIME! Just meet us there!” He yelled out as he passed, not bothering to even turn his face back at them, he simply yelled forward, knowing that they would still be able to hear him and not willing to allow even a moment longer of being away from Pomni to eclipse him. 

He was not going to wait for the rest of the circus freaks to sober up enough to form a neat little line and exit the building in an orderly fashion. There was enough of that at the exit door. Holding hands, walking step by careful step through the door leading to freedom. He had had enough of that. 

Now was the time for drastic actions. 

Now was the time to run. 

To get to her as quickly as humanly possible, because that's what he was now, a human. Not a cartoon character. 

Pomni had made that very clear. 

The world that he was living in now had made that very clear. 

The real world didn't follow cartoon logic, it didn't let someone off the hook simply because it was convenient to the plot, you had to work for it. 

He was working for it. 

He was working to be better. 

To be worthy to stand by her side. 

He wasn't going to leave her hanging anymore, wasn't going to let her slip through his fingers anymore. 

Not again. 

This time, he would be there when she got out. 

~☆~

Memories that he made with Pomni invaded his mind as he ran out the door of the arcade. 

The good and the bad. 

When they had both been in the circus. 

When he pushed her away yet she still didn't give up on him. 

Still reached her hand out until she couldn't anymore, but not because she had given up on him, it was because she could no longer extend the hand. She had to keep it to herself to hold up the digital world as it came crashing down around her. 

Pushing him away so that he could escape with the others.

Finding her again but as a human this time while she was still in the state that she had been left in, with the appearance of as a digital tricolored jester. 

But she was so much more than appearances. 

So much more than the digital screen between them. 

She was the true funny one. 

The one who could always break him out of his protective shell. 

Make his fake smile of a mask fall and break on the floor. 

Not make his fear of being known consume him and rush to pick up the broken pieces, trying to hide again. 

He didn't need to anymore. 

She accepted him, and helped him grow alongside her. 

And he wanted to do the same. 

Help her in any way that he could. 

He returned to the real world. 

He was human again but she was still stuck.

He was able to carry her around in his pocket. 

Rant to her about the others, what they were dragging him into. 

About all the things he missed while in the circus. 

About all the things that she was missing out on while still being there

She was just on the other side of the screen, but she wasn’t actually there with him. 

He talked to her everyday, practically all day. 

And yet…

He missed her. 

But now… what if she was out?

Then a traitorous little part of him questioned.

But what if she wasn’t? 

By the time he got to his car his vision was beginning to blur but he pushed the thought of what it could be aside, chalking it up to all the memories of the past making him unfocused in the present.

But he had to be present to get to her. 

To drive. 

So he scrubbed his eyes, willing away any substance that might be leaking out of his eyes, which had caused his vision to blur, and got in the car. 

It was only about a twenty five minute drive, twenty if he got all green signals. 

Since they had to leave the computer there in the old building, everywhere he went, he would always calculate the time that it would take him to get from his location to hers. Calculating was something he had picked up from hanging around with Pomni all the time. 

It's always so cute to see her calculate things in her head. 

And so he flew down the road. 

Doing his best to be aware of his surroundings so that he actually made it to her in one piece. 

He didn't want to hurt anyone else either. 

The circus had taught him that.

Life had taught him that. 

But thankfully with very little obstacles in his way at this time of night, he got there in just eighteen. 

He sped into the lot beside the old office building and parked, flinging the door open and jumped out. 

Left the car idling in his rush to get to her and in case he needed to rush her to the hospital. 

“POMNI!” he yelled out as he burst through the doors of the building. 

Weaving his way through the forgotten rooms, past cubical after cubical, calling out to her again and again as he ran. 

“Pomni— are you here!?”

He knew where he was headed, to the back wall, furthest from the entrance and up the only slightly rickety stairs to the second level. 

That's where the computer was. 

That's where the headset was.

That's where Pomni would be. 

If it had worked.  

Worry that something had gone wrong pressed down heavily on his chest, down on his shoulders. 

But he pushed through.

Hope being his guide as he braced for the unknown.

He didn't know what he would do if he had to live this life without her. 

So he ran. 

Calling out to her. 

Again and again. 

“Pomni!”

He knew where he was headed. 

But all the same, somehow, in some way he still wasn't prepared when he heard the responding call.

“Jax!”

A dry and slightly scratchy but unmistakable voice calling out his name. 

His circus name.

Having just entered the last section of the ground floor, the old stairs were only a few yards away from him. 

He looked up. 

His breath caught. 

Gently swaying on wobbly legs, hands half covered in urbexing gloves and white knuckled around the railing overlooking the lower level, was a short figure clothed in a big blue jacket with a yellow beanie sticking out of its pocket, a red turtle neck shirt, and baggy jeans stuffed into the top of heavy duty combat boots. Her thick hooped gold earrings caught the moonlight. He couldn't see her eyes exactly from where he was standing but that soft but confident posture, the gentle understanding smile…

Pomni. 

The silvery blue light trickled down from the moon and stars up above, the dust motes caught in that light paraded around her, swirling in a gentle breeze. The light danced around the top of her hair, adorning her with a halo of light. 

The stray strands flying up in random sections were illuminated by that light. 

This jester still has hat hair in every world. 

She swayed a bit to her right as she began to inch her way closer to the stairs. If she were to stumble trying to go down them it would likely be a bad fall. 

Her in possible danger sparked the neurons in his brain to tell his body to move again.

“Pomni! Stay there!” He took the stairs three at a time, “I’m coming up to you!” 

Desperately climbing the stairs, he reached out to her as he got to the top.

She took a step forward, trying to meet him half way then collapsed into his arms. 

His knees buckled and he could feel her do the same. The only thing keeping either of them up was the other. They were steadying each other like the first two pairs at the base of a house of cards, laid against the other for stability. 

She was the most incredible person, the most incredible anything to have ever been close enough for him to touch. She had been through the unimaginable and though it had hurt and possibly scarred her, she hadn’t given up the fight.

At least the unimaginable for most of the world. But not for him. 

Not for the other survivors, their friends. 

But it actually might have been worse than he thought, going it alone for as long as she had. Kinger might be able to understand better than the rest, but it was a different person with a different experience, a different type of isolation and a different way of coping.

But no longer would she be alone. He would make sure of it. 

“You're okay.” He held her tighter, hand in her hair, trying to fix the fly aways and hold her closer all at the same time which proved to just mess up her hair further, “You're okay, I got you.” 

She clung onto him tighter. “I'm okay.” she confirmed with a nod of her head. “I'm here.” Her voice came out quiet.

“Yeah.” The word got caught in his throat. 

He was actually holding her, touching her. She was real. She was okay.

“You came.” 

“Of course I did, Pompom.” He squeezed tighter as he said the words, head tilted down so that his breath ruffled the hair on the top of her head. 

“Jax.” 

“Pomni.”

“Felix.”

“Pompom.” She started to move her head up, to look into his eyes. 

“Christine.” 

He looked down at her with wide eyes. 

“It's Christine. My name.” 

“Christine.” He exhaled and it felt heavenly on his lips. That name, Christine— her name. It just felt right, felt like his lips were always meant to form the shape of that name, felt like he had just never known it to be the truth until that very moment.

But once he had discovered it, everything made sense. 

Everything felt right. 

More right than it had ever felt before. 

She giggled in his tight grip, his heart clenched. Then she began to try wiggling out of it and he mourned the loss of touch but he complied to her silent request. He let his arms loosen around her to only encircle her lower back, still on her but only to keep her steady so she wouldn't topple over. 

Protective. 

They maneuvered their bodies, seeking comfort from one another once again like they had in the circus. But this time was different, this time it was real. Real human body against real human body. The warmth from their embrace was real. 

He looked down at her, finally getting a good look at her face, finally allowing himself take it all in. His hand gripped the bottom of her oversized jacket as his heart sped up. Wide shining eyes, rosy cheeks and lips. He was already thinking about squishing her cheeks, they were so full and alive. 

So Pomni. 

He was drawn back to her eyes and had the thought that the pull to then would become a frequent occurrence. A very big problem in his end. The main color was a beautiful medium blue but randomly in each eye were slices and speckles of a very rich brown, not quite red, but close enough. 

Beautiful. 

He held off from touching her too much, remebering her touch-adverse and realising it was probably a lot more intense right now due to her having her senses returned to her so suddenly. He instead allowing her to set the pace, letting her take as much from him as she wanted. He would offer himself up to her on a silver— no, golden platter, if only she wished for it. If only she would take him and make him feel whole again. Feel anything at all truthfully— but she had already done that… hadn't she? 

She started back up at him with her captivating eyes then engaged in her own form of touch, she laid her hands palm down on his upper arms. Pulling back just enough from the hug, still encircled within his lanky arms but loosely held around her. Just enough for the presence to steady both of them. 

She brought her hands up. One to the collar of his layered shirts, fingers gripping his shoulder as her thumb presses experimentally against his throat. His pulse thrumming beneath her, the pressure making him aware of his sharp intake of breath at her touch.

Her skin was cool, her thumb and first finger of her other hand sending a chill down his back as they mapped their way along his face, unprotected from the cold night air by her urbexing gloves.

His hand tightly gripped onto the side of her jacket. Not wanting to push her touch boundaries but wanting to hold something of her tighter. 

She continued to trail her fingers along his cheek bone, her skin quickly warming from the contact with his cheeks. Cheeks warmed from the running as well as the blood pumping intensely through his body. Warmth spreading from his heart and blossoming from every part of his skin that she touches. 

She softly runs her thumb along his smile lines and only then does he realise just how wide the grin on his face is. He hears her mumble something along the lines of "...still there." as her thumb continues it's movement near his cheeks. He hmms in question, hoping she'll repeat herself but her only response is a gentle smile back, her lips twitching up further on the ends. 

Keep your secrets then, jester. 

“You're real.” She breathes out, relief seeming to fill her voice as her eyes get glossier, her waterline sparkling like stars. 

“Yeah. And so are you.” He chuckles, voice exposing a watery aspect to it despite his best efforts to not let it show. “You ever doubted that short stack? 

Pink slowly spread across her cheeks. The purple haired man wasn't sure if it was because of the nickname, the question, or their close proximity finally catching up to her, or if it was an amalgamation of all those possible reasons, but it didn't matter. 

She was here. 

He was here. 

They were together again. 

Free. 

Nothing else mattered to him. 

The look that she had in her eyes made him think that she wanted to look away to avoid being under his scrutiny but her eyes stayed locked on him, overriding the urge. Maybe even wanting his scrutiny, wanting to see his attention consumed by her. 

He was afraid to let himself hope for that possibility. 

“Maybe a little.” Was her quiet reply as she continues her wandering, index finger trailing over to the soft pliable skin of his ear lobe gently over his piercing, her thumb moving in tandem but instead of going up higher she gently swipes it along his cheekbone. Swiping away the tears trailing his cheek down that he had been trying to ignore the whole drive there. 

He opened his mouth to distract himself both from his obvious crying and from what her simple soft touches have reduced him to, but almost more importantly, to reassure her.

“You're real.” Thank God. 

“I'm real.” Despite my best efforts.

“We are both here.” No place else I'd rather be— only here, with you.

He spoke sentence after sentence, set on reassuring her that they truly existed. That they were existing in the same space at the same time. 

“I'm here with you.” The once jester breathes out, throwing herself once again into his arms. 

Her own arms wrap around his neck pulling him down closer to her level, fingertips twisting around the purple curls dangling down at the back of his neck. 

“Yeah, you are.” Equally as breathless on the exhale turned hum, the once rabbit did it with such jovial relief that all the weight that had previously been pressing down on his chest lifted off and floated up. 

Evaporating into the night sky up above them, the stars greet the passing tension and send down their light; twinkling from above as their light spreads, traveling down through the sporadically formed holes in the ceiling of the old dilapidated office building. Bathing the two humans in silvery blue beams of moonlight.

Softer than the harsh stage lights that they once had to perform under in the circus. 

No longer was there any need for a performance. 

They could just be two humans in an embrace, enjoying the moment in their exchange of warmth on the chilly spring night. 

His arms tighten around the frail girl, like he wants to breathe her in, get her deep under his skin and never let her leave him again. One of his hands rises from over her shoulders to along the back of her head, carding his fingers through the dark strands. Gently pressing her head deeper into the hollow of his shoulder as he rests his chin atop her head, folding down around her like her own personal protective burrow. 

She fit there perfectly against him. 

Like two puzzle pieces fitting together, finally finding their home interlocked against the other. 

~☆~ Bonus Scene ~☆~

The two circus escapees who were still embracing even after much time had passed were jolted back to their present senses as a tumultuously loud crash sounded from somewhere near the lower level. 

Their gaze shot up and down respectively for their eyes to meet, shock and slight concern in both but less in Felix's eyes. 

“That would be the other freaks.” He supplies before scrunching up his brows in though, “Hopefully our freaks… not some others who are about to try to actually kill us.” 

She gives him that look again. 

“Me specifically.” He added, like that somehow rectified the terrible possible scene to unfold. 

“Why would you even put that out into the universe, Felix?” 

He gave her the shit-eating grin that he was so well known for, “You know me Pompom, causing trouble wherever I roam.” 

“And I clean up your messes, I know the drill.” She rolled her eyes but it was more playful than true annoyance. She looked up to meet his gaze, “Just don't roam too far away, okay?” 

“Okay.”

“Promise?’

“Promise.”