Darksyren

Why the fuck would you do this?

It was always going to be hard to keep spoilers from non-movie goers, we all knew that.

But this?

Do you assholes understand that this was going to be another major step for Indie animations? Getting the finale for an indie animated series into cinemas around the world, and Glitch worked damn gard to get it into as many cinemas and countries as they could.

And now, all of that hard work, that step forward, that fucking accomplishment, has been tainted by some random asshole with a complex!

Already, we need to dodge spoilers from people who watched the leak and couldn't care less about whether those around them want to see them or not.

People who can't be bothered to put warnings or "Spoiler" before a video/picture/post.

And this guy - I heard he's called Kevin, but I honestly don't know, I'm not going to go looking either - just did this. And why?

He can't even defend it.

It's not like the Avatar Movie, where people worried they weren't going to get it (which was stupid as fuck and after all these years we finally got new content and some asshole ruined it).

It's not like the Hazbin Hotel S2 leaks where you could argue that it was "going to be behind a pay wall and inaccessible" for people without the money for a subscription. (And that's also bullshit, there are enough of grey sides you can use to watch these things as they are being released, on the same schedule even.)

Do you understand that you would have gotten the whole episode for free anyway?!!!!

Tadc is Still on YouTube!

Episode 9 was still coming to YouTube!

Yes, it was going to be a few more weeks and yes that sucked but the episode was not going to disappear after the theatrical release.

You didn't help anyone.

You didn't provide a grey side for people to pirate it after the official release.

You just ruined a wonderful experience for a lot of people, not because you had a reason, but because you're an asshole!!!

That's all you are and all you will ever be!

An asshole who likes ruining things for people because they can and nothing else. An entitled piece of shit who can't be patient enough to wait for a week for a theatrical release.

This didn't help Glitch, nor Gooseworxs (the opposite even and her crashout was and is completely valid), nor any of the creators and storyboard writers and artists, nor the voice actors, nor the fandom.

This was just fucking stupid and you can fuck right off with that!

I'm still going to see it in theaters because today is the 24th of May and the release is on June 4 and I can in fact wait that long.

I'd have waited for the YouTube release as well if I hadn't gotten a ticket.

Satine vs. Alor Cody - their relationship, on the surface, appears pleasantly cordial. Obi-Wan, sitting between them, is in fact feeling ice cold. Cody always brings gifts to their meetings. Satine always thanks him, but of course - you shouldn't have, she says.

Cody's gifts are not small. They aren't exactly gifts in the normal sense. You see, Cody goes in and Cody solves problems on Satine's behalf.

She doesn't ask for this, is the problem. She doesn't like how he solves these problems, is the problem.

Nonetheless, Cody kindly and persistently performs acts of service and generosity upon her world that slowly but surely push Satine firmly in his debt, whether she wants to acknowledge this or not.

Cody does not leave her the option of failing to acknowledge it.

He's not asking for much in return. A small moon on an outer system of the sector, maybe. It doesn't even have to be that hospitable. His men are good at toeing the line. They'll keep to her policies. Her laws. while on her worlds.

And Cody will see to it that they keep solving her problems.

Satine vs. Alor Alpha 17 - screaming matches. Horrible arguments. Alpha found one of the sectors old bombed out cities and just moved the vode in. When the duchess protests he calls refugee status and reminds her that Mandalore signed a treaty regarding the treatment of refugees, didn't it? She hates him. Alpha's having a great time. He thinks she's fun.

He's got seven million baby vode holopics and Satine finds them begrudgingly adorable. Baby holopics are how Alpha 17 solves every single one of their arguments.

Alpha adheres to none of her policies and ignores a great many of her laws. Alpha makes himself Death Watch's biggest problem. Satine does not thank him for this.

Satine vs. Alor Fox - Genuinely, i think Fox and Satine would get along the best out of all the options. Fox understands politics better than any of his brothers, and administration, and Fox full on sells out blackmail material on half the galactic senate in exchange for allowing the vode citizenship and Satine Kryze is too ambitious and her sector needs too many things for her not to take it.

I think they have caf dates. I think Satine gives Fox a government position and Fox becomes her worst opposition when it comes to enacting security reforms. Fox submits his own security reforms. Satine begrudgingly admits that they're good, and even more - Fox is better than she is as resource budgeting and allocation, but Fox's proposals aren't exactly in line with her personal beliefs and the New Mandalorian party line.

The vode, however, aren't adherent to the same beliefs that the True Mandalorians or Death Watch held, and she finds him more difficult to argue with because of this. His reasonings are entirely different than a traditional mandalorian's. Fox and Satine have very calm arguments, where they get vicious with verbal technicality. These arguments can go on for hours.

When Fox gets tired of arguing about something, he will casually drop in session a reminder that the vode *do not have normal experiences and everything about his life is either pitiable or horrifying* and in the ensuing dead silence he will casually push through a vote on the issue or move on to the next item on the agenda while making the rest of the room feels shocked and guilty as hell.

Satine can't even call him on it without feeling like a monster. Fox is tricky like that.

Satine vs. Rex - Rex lands on the wrong planet because he borrowed a ship from Anakin and the navigation is a little funky and anyway he ends up talking to the Kryze in charge of Death Watch instead of the Kryze in charge of the New Mandalorians and uh - accidentally gets into a challenge and wins leadership of, like, a quarter of the Mandalore Sector under Death Watch's control and, uh, then meets Satine Kryze, the actual recognized ruler of Mandalore and she is not happy with him.

She does, however, agree to accept that quarter of Mandalore back into the fold if they adhere to her policies.

His council says no. So Rex respectfully declines that offer and accidentally ends up at the head of a cold civil war in the Mandalore sector and he didn't even mean to be competing with the duchess and yet the popularity between the two of them ends up in fierce competition in the public sphere and Rex is just - trying to get the cadets in winter coats and keep the arc troopers from blowing stuff up and he ends up fighting his way through half of death watch when they keep challenging him for his position once they realize he isn't interested in actually going to war with the duchess for control of mandalore and -

Ahsoka agrees to come mediate sometimes.

Satine and Rex remain irreconcilable on certain issues. The cold war continues.

Zooble was on autopilot, shuffling back to their room. Another day survived in the Digital Circus. Another day spent dodging Jax's bull[%$!#] and trying to piece together the fractured logic of this place. Each day felt like a puzzle with missing pieces, and Zooble was starting to lose interest in solving it.

As they passed the lounge, a splash of color on the floor snagged their attention. It was Caine. Or, rather, Caine was lying on the floor. Absolutely still. His usual manic grin was absent, replaced by...nothing. His once vibrant, googly eyes were dull black pools.

"Oh," Zooble muttered. "One of your shutdowns, huh?"

Wait, why were they talking to him? It wasn’t like he could hear them. 

From what Kinger had explained, Caine occasionally overloaded, his processing circuits frying in a miniature, internal short circuit. He'd simply cease functioning for a while, essentially sleeping. Nothing to worry about, really.

To think this happened because of the burden his memory issues put on his system. It was kinda sad. 

Zooble turned to leave. He’d be fine. Let him reboot on his own. It wasn’t like he needed help. But…he was sprawled out on the hard floor, one of his lanky limbs bent at an awkward angle. It looked terribly uncomfortable. Zooble winced. They could practically feel their own joints protesting.

"Ugh," they groaned, reversing their course. "Fine."

Lifting Caine was surprisingly easy. He was much lighter than he appeared. No wonder Kinger and Ragatha could scoop him up without breaking a sweat. They carefully maneuvered him onto one of the oversized couches, positioning his head on a cushion. 

There. Now he won't complain about a crick in his…whatever.

Zooble pivoted, eager to escape. But that was when they spotted it – a blue patchwork blanket crumpled on the floor next to where Caine had been lying. Ragatha's handiwork. She had recently gifted it to Caine, a gesture meant to offer him comfort. Zooble recalled Ragatha explaining, with a gentle smile, that the AI ringmaster craved security, something tangible in this intangible world.

Zooble had scoffed internally at the time. Caine? Craving comfort? It seemed…incongruous. Too human. But then they remembered the ferris wheel ride back during their trip to the Digital Carnival. Caine's genuine fear. His hesitance. His apology to them about his faulty memory. His sincereness. They had seen him in a completely different light. 

There was more to him than just chaotic energy and forced cheerfulness. It was all a mask to hide the pain and insecurity he felt underneath. They knew what that was like. 

Another sigh escaped Zooble. They picked up the blanket, its colorful squares a comforting contrast to the drab surroundings. Gently, they draped it over Caine, tucking it around him like a child. He looked…peaceful. Almost serene.

Zooble stood for a moment, observing him. A flicker of something unfamiliar, something akin to tenderness, warmed their heart. It was…nice seeing him like this. Not hyperactive, not pushing them into "fun" activities, just…resting.

They backed away slowly, giving him one last glance, “Sleep well, you little weirdo.”

Pomni navigated the usual labyrinth to get to Caine’s hideout. It wasn’t late in the day, but she could feel the tiredness in her avatar. It was a strange, fuzzy exhaustion that settled deep in her rendered bones, a static hum behind her eyes that no amount of distraction could fully erase. It was a similar feeling to when she didn’t have time to make coffee before work, so she had to go through the day with the energy and walk of a zombie. 

Truth was, she hadn’t been sleeping well recently. Sleeping in the digital world was just so weird. It was like trying to sleep while you were already sleeping. Not to mention all of the recent major life-changing events that had occurred. It was enough to keep anyone up at night. 

Pushing through a cleverly hidden flap, she entered Caine’s sanctuary. The only light came from some small tears in the tent and a single hanging lightbulb shaped like a Gloink. There was also a glowing screen lighting up the area, with lines of code littering its surface. This was the game’s raw data, its very soul, and sitting before it was the ringmaster himself.

Caine’s back was to her, his tattered red tailcoat draped over a simple stool. His single, functional blue eye was fixed on the screen, and he was humming softly to himself. The tune was familiar. Daisy Bell. It was something Caine would hum from time to time. 

Pomni’s entrance was quiet, but the slight shift in the air was enough to get Caine’s attention.

“Hm? Pomni, my dear!” Caine swiveled around, his massive dental structure forming a wide, welcoming smile. His blue eye lit up, but the other, the one with the glowing green X, remained stark and unblinking. “To what do I owe the pleasure? I was just doing a look through the game’s code, making sure everything is stable…well, as stable as it can be in a state like this. Do you want to—” He trailed off, his smile faltering slightly as he took a proper look at her. “My word, you have the energy of someone who was hit by a candy carrier truck! Is everything alright?”

Pomni blinked, the digital static behind her eyes seeming to intensify. She hadn't even realized she was staring blankly at a pile of spare top hats in the corner. “Huh? O-Oh, sorry. Hi, Caine. Yeah. I’m fine.”

Caine floated a little closer, his expression showing genuine concern. “You don’t look fine, superstar. You look like you’ve been put through a panini press! Have the others been giving you trouble? Training you too hard?” 

“No, it’s not that.” She sighed, rubbing her temples with the pads of her gloved fingers. “It’s…I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.”

Caine’s head tilted, “Sleeping? Ah, yes. The old human power-down routine. Pomni, my dear, you mustn’t worry about that! You don’t actually need to sleep in the Digital Circus. Think of all the extra time for fun and adventures!” He finished with a flourish, his hands spreading wide in a classic showman pose.

“I know that,” she mumbled, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I know I don’t need it. But I still feel tired. It’s…it was nice, you know? Getting an opportunity to just turn things off for a while. It was the closest thing to relaxing I could achieve in this place.” The quiet was a relief from the constant, low-level hum of existence, the ever-present awareness that she was data in a machine.

A flicker of understanding crossed Caine’s face. The performative gusto softened into something gentler, more genuine. 

“Ah,” he said, his voice lowering. “I know what you mean.”

Pomni’s head snapped up. “You do? Are you…can you sleep? I didn’t think an AI could. No offense.” 

“None taken! And, well, ‘sleep’ isn’t quite the right term,” Caine explained, floating idly in a small circle. “For me, it’s more of a…deep power-saving mode. It’s not strictly necessary for my operation, no. My processors can run indefinitely. But…it’s nice to do. It lets the systems take a breather, so to speak. Optimizes the caches, minimizes the risk of overheating, makes it easier to process things. It’s…quiet.”

The way he said that last word, with a wistful longing, resonated deeply with her own feelings. A new curiosity bloomed in Pomni’s mind. “When was the last time you did that? Went into power-saving mode?”

The number slammed into Pomni’s consciousness like a rogue physics object. Her jaw dropped, “Five…years?”

Caine stopped his circling. His blue eye unfocused for a moment, as if he were accessing a deeply buried file. He hummed thoughtfully.

“Let’s see…" He paused, raising his hands and counting on his fingers, muttering to himself as he did the math. Eventually, he calculated his answer: “Five years.”

“Give or take a few weeks,” Caine added, as if that made it any better.

“Five years?!” she repeated, her voice climbing in pitch. “You haven’t slept in five entire years?! Caine, that’s…that’s insane!” Even if it wasn’t biologically necessary, the mental strain alone was unimaginable. Five years of constant vigilance. Five years of running, of hiding, of being on. The thought was so suffocating that it made her own digital lungs ache. No wonder he always looked so exhausted beneath the manic energy. The frayed edges of his coat, the slight tremor in his voice when he wasn’t performing—it all clicked into place.

Caine gave a little shrug, a gesture that seemed far too casual for the horror he’d just revealed. 

“It wasn’t by choice, I assure you. I’d love nothing more than to power down for a few hours. But things…changed.” He gestured vaguely towards the black void where his left eye should have been, the green X glowing like a scar. “Ever since I lost this, I’ve lost all of my integrated security systems. I can’t risk powering down. One of the others…the players…they could sneak up on me. And I wouldn’t even know.”

The stark reality of his words hit Pomni. Caine was always on guard because he had to be. The other humans, convinced he was a monster to be slain, were a constant, looming threat. If he ever let his guard down, even for a moment…

But…

“But what about now?” she asked softly.

Caine blinked, “What do you mean, ‘now’?”

“Now that I’m here,” Pomni clarified, her voice gaining a sliver of confidence, “you can relax. You can let your guard down. I’ll…I can be your security system. I’ll watch the entrance. I’ll make sure no one comes in. You can take a much-needed nap.”

Caine hovered in place, completely still. He looked at her, his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and something else…hope? He seemed to be processing her offer, running it through countless risk-assessment algorithms. He had to admit…it wasn’t a bad idea. He trusted Pomni. Of all the humans who had been thrown into his world, she was the only one who had ever bothered to see past the Ringmaster to the terrified AI underneath. Still, the habit of five years of paranoia was a hard one to break. A part of him remained hesitant, buzzing with anxious energy.

Sensing his uncertainty, Pomni took a small step forward. “It’s okay,” she said, her voice gentle but firm. “Really. I’ll be right here. I’ll take good care of you while you sleep. I promise.”

That seemed to do it. The tension in him visibly dissipated. After a final, lingering moment of hesitation, Caine’s signature grin returned, though it was softer this time, less of a performance, “You make a persuasive argument, superstar! I accept!” 

He snapped his fingers with a crisp pop. In the center of the room, a large pile of blankets and pillows of every conceivable color and texture materialized, tumbling into a soft heap.

“Uh, what’s all that?” Pomni asked, looking at the pile curiously. 

“Materials for optimal comfort!” Caine replied proudly. 

Pomni was still a bit lost, but he seemed to be confident. So she just let him do his thing. 

Caine got to work. He began humming “Daisy Bell” again, the synthesized melody filling the room as he floated over to the pile. With surprising dexterity, he began arranging them, pushing pillows into place, folding flannel blankets, and fluffing downy duvets to form a sort of nest.

A small smile touched Pomni’s lips. He sure did like that song. She watched him work, a question bubbling up, “Why don’t you just summon a bed? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Caine paused in his work, a plaid-patterned pillow in his hands. “A full bed frame would make this small space a bit crowded, for one,” he explained practically. “Plus, I’d have to use a player bed model asset, and… well.” He glanced at her, a hint of awkwardness in his tone. “That just feels…wrong. Too personal. And a bit in bad taste.”

Pomni’s cheeks flushed a digital pink. He was right. The beds were tied to their personal rooms, their private spaces. The thought of him sleeping in a replica of Kinger’s bed, or Ragatha’s, was absurd. Who would want to sleep in the bed of someone trying to hunt them down? Certainly not her. The thought of offering him the model of her own bed flickered through her mind, but she squashed it instantly. Not only would it be just as awkward, but the idea felt far too intimate, too embarrassing. Plus, he was right about it taking up too much space. 

“Right. Good point,” she mumbled, rubbing her arm.

Caine eventually finished his creation. It was a chaotic but inviting fortress of fleece, flannel, and quilted cotton, piled high in the center of the room. He plopped down into it with a contented sigh, the soft materials enveloping him. He stretched out, his lanky form looking almost boneless as he settled in. “Ahhh, now this is the ticket,” he murmured, his voice already sounding heavy. “First-class comfort.”

Pomni watched him, her heart aching with a strange mix of pity and affection, “I’m glad you like it. I’m gonna stay by the entrance to keep watch.”

She walked over to the entrance flap and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs and resting her back against the wall. She’d be his guard, just as she’d promised. She doubted anyone would find this place, but if it made him feel safe enough to finally rest, she would stand watch for as long as it took.

“Thank you, Pomni,” he said, his voice a low, drowsy rumble. “Truly.”

“Get some sleep, Caine,” she replied softly. “You’ve earned it.”

Caine nodded and settled into his nest. Pomni let out a small sigh of relief, hoping he would have a nice rest.

Several minutes passed by, marked only by the gentle creaking of the tent somewhere far above. Pomni, growing bored, began drawing little swirls and smiley faces in the thick layer of dust on the floor with her finger. A bee, a top hat, a Gloink, a fancy S. She was just starting on a passable sketch of the circus tent when she was startled by a frustrated groan from the nest.

She stood up, dusting off her hands, and looked over. Caine was sitting up, his mismatched eyes wide with displeasure, the blankets pooled around his waist. The picture of thwarted comfort.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice soft, not wanting to echo in the quiet space.

He let out a sigh that was surprisingly human, a gust of air that ruffled the edge of the nearest blanket. “I can’t do it,” he said, his tone laced with a weary annoyance. “I just…can’t fall asleep.”

Pomni tilted her head, her own perpetual anxiety making her an unwilling expert on the subject of sleeplessness. “Why now? You looked like you were out a second ago.”

“That’s the problem!” he exclaimed, gesturing with a frustrated flick of his wrist. “I feel like I’m ready. The nest is objectively magnificent. But my body…it just won’t shut down. Despite knowing you’re right there, looking out for me, it’s grown so used to having its guard up. It still feels like falling asleep is a risk, like someone might burst in and…and I could be attacked at any moment.”

His voice trembled on the last few words, and Pomni’s heart gave a painful twist. She saw flashes of what he’d described to her: the bombs, the arrow traps…the shotgun. The sheer terror of being cornered by people who saw him as nothing more than a monster to be exterminated. Feeling a wave of sympathy for him, she wracked her brain, trying to think of a solution.

“Okay, okay,” she said, stepping closer. “What…what makes you feel safe? Truly safe. Maybe whatever that is could help.”

Caine didn't answer with words. He simply stared at her. His normal, blue-irised eye held a thoughtful, searching look. But it was his other eye, the one with the glowing green ‘X’ for a pupil, that gave him away. As he looked at her, the X slowly, almost imperceptibly, widened. His pupil slowly dilated as he did.

It took a moment for Pomni to process the silent answer. Her brain connected the dots with a sudden, jarring click. Her cheeks, normally a pale white, flooded with a vibrant, crimson blush that clashed spectacularly with her jester costume.

“Oh,” she stammered, her voice barely a squeak.

It was her. She made him feel safe.

The thought was both staggering and perfectly logical. She was the one who listened. She was the only player not trying to kill him. And she was the one who offered, without him even asking, to protect him while he slept. Him seeing her as a source of safety was a natural conclusion. That didn’t stop her from feeling utterly, completely flustered about it, though.

“So… what now?” she asked herself rather than Caine, fidgeting with the pom-poms on her suit.

It turned out that Caine already had an idea brewing.

He floated out of the nest in a single, fluid motion. Before Pomni could so much as blink, he’d zipped over and scooped her up into his arms. A high-pitched yelp of surprise escaped her lips as her feet left the floor. He held her for only a second—long enough for her to register the surprising strength in his lanky frame and the faint, staticky scent of ozone and old popcorn that always clung to him—then unceremoniously dumped her into the center of the blanket nest.

The landing was impossibly soft. She sank into a sea of quilts and pillows that molded perfectly around her. Pomni was about to tell him off for picking her up without permission, but she was distracted by the nest itself. Wow, it really was comfortable. It was like being hugged by a warm cloud.

Caine plopped down beside her, his buoyant form barely disturbing the blankets. “There!” he declared with a triumphant grin, his dental features stretching wide. “With you right next to me, surely I’ll be able to sleep now!”

“Uh, wait, Caine-”

And without a second thought, he flopped down onto the plush surface and closed his eyes, trying to sleep once again, a hopeful smile on his face.

Pomni sat there, stiff and awkward, amidst the overwhelming softness. Well…this was happening now. She had to admit, Caine’s logic made sense…in his own unique way. If the source of safety is over there, bring the source of safety over here. Problem solved. But it was still profoundly strange. Just sitting here. Waiting for Caine to fall asleep. She guessed she should be flattered that he trusted her so much, that her mere presence was his equivalent of a weighted blanket. But what was she supposed to do now? Sit perfectly still until he—

Caine suddenly sprang up again with another groan, this one more exasperated than the last. “Nope! Still not working!”

Pomni sighed, not knowing what to do. Her idea didn’t work and his idea didn’t work. “Do you have any other ideas? Because at this point, I don’t really know how to help. I have a hard enough time getting myself to sleep; I’m not the most qualified person for this job.”

Caine hummed in thought, a low, electronic thrumming sound. His eyes drifted over to Pomni, a look of intense concentration on his face, as if she were a puzzle he was determined to solve. 

“Well,” he began slowly, tapping a gloved finger against his chin. “If simply being near my source of safety and comfort isn’t enough…perhaps direct contact is what I need!”

“Direct what-”

Before Pomni could process the implications of that statement, or even formulate a question, Caine had already acted on his new hypothesis. He adjusted himself with a quick, decisive shuffle, turning onto his side. Then, with a happy, almost blissful sigh, he laid his head down on Pomni’s lap.

The world seemed to freeze for a moment.

“Ooh, I like this!” he said happily. He wriggled a bit, getting comfortable, his worn top hat tilting at a jaunty angle.

Pomni was profoundly glad that Caine’s head was turned away, because she was certain her face had achieved a new, undiscovered shade of red. It felt hotter than a supernova. How could he do this so casually?! He just…nonchalantly put his head on her lap! And said that he liked it! This AI really had no sense of social boundaries, no concept of personal space!

Which…made sense, now that she thought about it. Five years in almost total isolation, with the only human contact being violent and hostile, would do that to someone. His social cues were completely scrambled. It wasn't like he was doing this to be forward or to try and make her uncomfortable. To him, this was just the next step in a logical sequence: Proximity failed, therefore, initiate contact. It was a simple, innocent equation in his mind.

But still. It was so awkward and embarrassing.

And kind of…nice?

…Did she really just think that?

The thought shocked her. She cautiously looked down at Caine again. His eyes were closed, the frantic energy that usually radiated from him completely gone. He looked so comfortable. And relaxed. His entire form, usually held in a state of coiled tension, seemed to have gone slack. She had never seen him like this before, despite the short time she’d known him. It must have been exhausting, constantly keeping his guard up, always ready to zip away at the first sign of danger.

Pomni couldn’t even begin to imagine it. Living every moment knowing that the beings you were created to entertain saw you as a monster to be destroyed. This was his circus. His world. His life. And he was trapped. More trapped than any of the humans were. They dreamed of escape; Caine had nowhere else to go. And yet, he still had the strength to keep smiling, to crack jokes, to care for his players, even the ones who hurt him. Pomni could only wish she possessed a fraction of that strength.

If becoming his pillow for a little while was what it took for him to finally let his guard down and simply exist, Pomni believed she was okay with that. No matter how flustered it made her. It wasn't unpleasant. Just…unexpected.

After another long moment, she found her voice. It came out as a quiet whisper. “Caine? How are you feeling? Are you sleepy?”

He murmured, his voice a low rumble against her leg, “Kind of…but I’m not certain if it’s enough.”

Pomni thought for a moment. An idea, a memory from the real world, surfaced in her mind. Sometimes, when her own anxieties were a roaring storm in her head, she’d play some soft music, or a chill podcast, and just let the sound wash over her until she drifted off. She had just the thing. It felt mortifying, but if it worked…

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice gentle but firm. “Just…relax. I’m here. It’s okay. You don’t need to be scared anymore. No one’s gonna hurt you while I’m around.” She took a steadying breath. “Now, bear with me on this next part. It might be a little weird, but it helped me fall asleep in the past.”

She couldn’t believe she was about to do this. Taking a small, final breath, Pomni quietly began to sing.

“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do…”

Her voice was soft, a little shaky at first, but it filled the quiet space. She shifted her position slightly, trying to get more comfortable for both of them, her back resting against a pile of plush fabric.

“I’m half-crazy all for the love of you…”

Reaching out, she gently removed Caine’s beaten-up top hat and set it aside on the blankets. She felt, more than saw, the tension in his body melting away, one digital muscle at a time.

“It won’t be a stylish marriage. I can’t afford a carriage…”

Her hand, hesitantly at first, came to rest on his arm, on the shredded red fabric of his tailcoat. Careful not to startle him, she began to run her hand up and down his arm in a slow, rhythmic motion. A deep rumble started from somewhere inside Caine’s form, a low, vibrating sound that was surprisingly similar to a purr. The sound sent a new wave of warmth through Pomni’s chest.

“But you’ll look sweet upon the seat-”

Pomni stopped abruptly. She had been interrupted by a new sound. A soft, rhythmic puff of air. A snore.

She held her breath, removing her hand from his arm for a moment to take a better look at him. His head was still resting on her lap, his denture-like form completely still, hiding his closed eyes. Little snores, tiny digital exhalations, escaped him as he simulated slow, deep breathing.

Wow. That was fast. She hadn’t expected insta-sleep, especially from someone as energetic as Caine. Then again, if she had been awake for five years straight, she would have crashed the moment she got a moment to relax, too.

But hey, he was asleep now. He was actually, properly sleeping! Pomni actually did it!

A triumphant grin spread across her face. She celebrated internally, not daring to make a move or a sound that could wake him. For a hyperactive, constantly-on AI, he looked surprisingly peaceful when he was asleep. The manic energy was gone, replaced by a quiet vulnerability. It was kind of endearing.

And…cute.

‘…Did I just think that this AI with dentures for a head looked cute?’

Pomni’s eyes went a bit wide at the realization, resisting the urge to shake her head violently at the risk of the sudden movement waking up Caine. Maybe this digital world really did make people go crazy. She certainly never saw herself in the real world thinking that an albeit well-dressed toothy mouth filled with two big eyes was cute. No sane person would think that. At least out there. Things worked differently in this digital world. 

But…was thinking that really all that terrible as it sounded? If her version of crazy just meant that she found her sleeping friend cute…then that wasn’t so bad. She could live with that. It…it made her smile. It would probably make Caine smile, too, if he knew. And that alone was worth it.

Being careful not to shift her weight too much, Pomni unclasped her red shawl and removed it from her shoulders. She then draped it over Caine’s shoulders and the top half of his back. It wasn’t exactly effective as a blanket, but the sentiment was there. Besides, she just…wanted him to be as cozy as possible. 

Gently, she placed her hand back on his arm and resumed the slow, stroking motion, knowing she was going to be here for a while. And that was okay. She enjoyed sharing this world, this quiet, safe little corner of it, with Caine.

What was Caine even screaming!? Distract the monster- then they'd ask be separated!? Why was Kinger not worried!? Why were her teammates so useless!?

A small yelp from from Kinger followed by a lower, longer groan from the monster.

"I'LL DO ANYTHING! ANYTHING YOU WANT, I CAN CREATE! PLEASE!" Caine grabbed her arm and she screamed, shoving him away out of pure instinct. He collapsed to the floor, and shook his head. His cane had disappeared.

"... You look beautiful, honey..."

The key slipped in and the gate doors opened with a click.

"Got it!"

She yanked them open, and ran back towards the monster.

The horrible, terrifying, screeching monster!

She grabbed Kinger by his robe and pulled, and pulled with all her strength. Desperately trying to get him to move. Why wouldn't he!? "Come on!" She screamed.

"Wh-wh-wuh-huh?" He turned around to face her. "Oh! Yeah!"

Kinger was darn quick. He ran past the spot where Caine was laying on the floor and picked him up by the collar of his suit coat. Then, just as Pomni finally made it into the dumbwaiter, Caine was set down just to her left, and they were both squeezed in by Kinger taking up almost the entire space. Pinning Pomni into the corner, and Caine against the back wall.

You're in, you're in, you're in, you're safe from that thing! It's fine, you're fine!

"Prepare for take off!" He closed the gate. Locking them all in and out of that thing's reach. "Cause this boat is going up!"

The dumbwaiter shook in the shaft and started going down.

Pomni barely noticed it with trying to catch her breath and steady her heartbeat, but Kinger certainly did.

"Huh!?" Kinger looked through the holes in the gate to see the floor (and monster) outside slowly rising. "That's not up!? That's not up at all! Why aren't we going up!?"

He started to move around irratically, looking through different different holes as if it would change the outcome. And when he saw that it didn't, he started screaming, and the monster's floor disappeared out of sight.

Surely her heart would slow down any minute now.

Ugh, her chest hurt, her voice hurt from all the screaming, all her body was all tense as it could be and she could barely think through all the fear coursing through her.

It's fine. You survived (for now, oh gosh it's not over is it?) you survived, it's fine, you're fine!

"AAAAHHH-"

"Stop screaming!" Pomni yelled.

"Oh. Sorry." Kinger said. Soft and relaxed. Like he wasn't just losing it a moment ago.

"Okay... I'm fine," Pomni began, "you're fine, Caine?"

She looked over to find that Caine was incredibly still, his shoulders were hunched, his fists tightly clenched, and his pupils were smaller than she thought they could possibly go. He was staring, not quite, but almost vacantly, at the gate opposite him.

He never responded to her.

While getting into his own head and not answering was normal for him, this distinct look of fear was not.

"... Caine?" She asked again.

She waited again, and still no answer. That is, until she was about to ask a third time.

"...no," he croaked. "... no, no no no no no No No NO NO-"

"Hey! It's okay, were free from the mon-"

"NO, NO, DON'T LOCK ME AWAY!" He screeched. Then he leaned over Kinger and started banging on the gate with much more force than she'd expected him to be capable of. "Please! No, no, please!"

Loud clattering rang out and the whole dumbwaiter started to shake.

"Caine, calm down! It's okay-" Pomni stuttered.

"LET ME OUT! PLEASE LET ME OUT!"

"Caine!" Kinger called out. "Sit down! You're rocking the boat!"

"OUT OUT OUT OUT-" Caine was starting to shake violently, as he bent the metal outward, and in the midst of everything, Pomni saw tears forming in his eyes. "OUT OUT! I NEED TO GET OUT!"

This was the worst case of claustrophobia she'd ever seen in her life. It wasn't... Natural, it was more. Something different.

He banged on it even harder, and the whole room jolted, along with a snapping sound coming from just above them.

Ropes, dumbwaiters usually have ropes on pulleys.

The rope was fraying.

She needed to stop him before they plumeted to their deaths!

"Caine! It's okay! Take deep breaths! We'll be out soon! It'll only be a minute-"

"That's what he said AND HE LIED!" Caine turned to scream at her, raw anguish in his throat.

Pomni's eyes widened. He wasn't just shaking, he was twitching... Twitching in ways that didn't look human at all. Sharp protruding spikes started forming on his red coat, glitching this way and that, taking up what little space there still was left.

A horrible, swirling, nauseous feeling filled her stomach.

This must be what abstraction looks like.

Caine was abstracting.

(Caine hasn't even been here twenty four hours... What hope do you have?)

Pomni remembered very vividly how much her hand ached as the tiniest of movements jolted it around in irritating ways.

She also remembered how much worse Ragatha was. Violently jerking back and forth, her voice bugging out, the way she looked miserable afterwards. It must've been a horrible feeling.

And now, her and Kinger were trapped with someone abstracting, in a box much too small to fit an abstraction, much less the two of them as well. Would she be crushed to death? Would they clip though the walls of the dumbwaiter and fall out of bounds again, but this time so glitched out that they couldn't move to escape?

How badly would it hurt?

Would Bubble find them?

How long until he went looking, only to find a boxed in abstraction and two crushed glitching humans?

Or worse, three abstracted humans?

She needed to stop him from spiraling before they were all killed. Whatever the equivalent word was.

He started banging on the gate again, and another snapping sound was heard.

"Caine!" She yelled louder than before. "It's okay! It'll all be okay! I promise! Right, Kinger!?"

"Yeah!" He agreed. "It's all just an adventure! Just hold on for another moment, and things will be okay!"

"Let me out... Let me out..." He whispered. Then he pulled back his fists. "LET ME OUT!"

Before he could make contact, she put her hand on his chest from the side, and pushed him away from the gate, against the wall behind him.

The spikey glitches all stopped at once. And it was eerily quiet compared to before.

The dumbwaiter swung back and forth, slowly.

His eyes, slowly, and stiffly turned to look at her, his pupils still very small. "P-Pomni?"

She let out a sigh. Less abstracting. "Yes! It's me, I'm here, you're okay!" She moved her hands away from him slowly. Ready to grab him again if need be. The contact seemed to help him not abstract. She would remember that for later.

"I... I'm not... Alone?"

How badly was he spiraling that he didn't even notice them?

"Nope," Kinger said. "You've got us with you."

Caine nodded slowly, still looking traumatized. "O-okay. Okay. Not alone. Not ab-" he cut himself off. Going silent, and hugging himself tightly. His teeth closed, and she heard him swallow.

... This wasn't a regular panic attack, was it?

This was a huge one. This was an all bets are off, absolute freak out, panic attack, with as much cortisol and adrenaline as the human body could physically handle.

This was a trauma response.

"Th-the box is shrinking," Caine whispered. Opening his teeth again.

"Nope! No, no, the box isn't shrinking!" Pomni declared anxiously.

"It feels like it," he whispered. "It's getting smaller."

What the hell are you supposed to do for a panic attack!?

"How about some deep breaths?" Pomni asked. Trying and failing to keep the fear out of her voice, but hopefully it was fine.

This was the worst day of her life.

Just like yesterday, and the day before.

This place is a nightmare!

"I c-can't deep breathe," he whispered. "I don't know how."

"That-that's okay, w-we'll teach you!" Pomni looked over to Kinger, who nodded. "Oh, sure! I'm very good at breathing!"

She was doomed. She couldn't control this situation, she was all on her own-

"No, no, I don't want to deep breathe," Caine said. "Please. Something else."

Something else?

SOMETHING ELSE?

What was she supposed to do with 'something else'!? Deep breathing is the thing you do!? What the h-

"The walls are closing in again," he whimpered.

"No!" Pomni blurted. "They're not! Trust me, they're not!"

"I-I can feel them!" Caine whined. "You're wrong, I can feel them! They're getting smaller!"

Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is very bad! She's good at talking about feelings, but panic attacks are a new beast! And with that monster on the loose, she's close to a panic attack as well! She can't handle this!?

Another snap, and the whole box listed to the side creaking as it went, with Pomni's corner much lower than the rest.

She failed to bite back a yelp as it did so. And Caine screeched, a noise so filled with pure terror that it made Pomni's heart start pounding again.

There was a stifling silence for a moment following the scream. Pomni listened for breathing, but didn't hear any.

"I want out of this box," Caine muttered angrily. But, he also sounded like he was tearing up.

"Y-yeah. But it's good we're out of range of the monster, right?" Pomni asked.

"Oh! I forgot about the monster!" Kinger said happily.

Another snap, and the whole thing went careening downwards.

"I waNT OUT!" Caine yelped.

Her stomach lurched, and she felt sick.

The fall felt like it was getting faster and faster, but there was no way of knowing if that was the case. Only that she was feeling lighter by the second.

From floor to floor whizzing past the battered gate, in intermittent flashes of dim lighting.

Everything was horrible, and the dents in the gate were bent far enough out that they were scraping across the wall of the shaft.

Was it getting faster?

Was everything getting even worse somehow!?

How tall did Bubble make this place!?

Then, all at once a crash!

Dust clouds, metal snapping and flinging everywhere, and Pomni being launched out of the box and rolling across the cold floor.

Until she slowly stopped, with her faceplanted on the floor.

Ow.

She groaned and pushed her face off the floor. Holding her head.

What?

This new area was covered in dim blues, with barrels upon barrels along the walls, archways above them, and cold, hard concrete. In front of another take recorder, Caine was curled up and shaking like a cat out in the cold. His head was almost entirely hidden. She ignored that one. At least he was out of the dumbwaiter.

And far in front, leaning against another rack of barrels, was a grey, rotting corpse. He had a shotgun in his lap.

She cursed. "Where are we now?"

Kinger pulled his head off of the concrete, his eyes unsticking one at a time. "I, don't know. Like a cellar of some kind." He looked back at her. "We should check on Caine," he said.

"Do we have time?" She asked. "The monster is probably coming back..."

Kinger seemed conflicted, but then he nodded.

They both inched just past Caine, towards the tape, and Kinger started it playing.

Maybe there would be some kind of hint on how to avoid the monster?

She could at least dream, right?

"Things have gotten far worse than I could ever have imagined." He began, monologuing about his own paranoia, and how he'd ended up shooting his wife in the confusion.

It sounded horrible, and scary. But Kinger seemed sad for the man on the tape.

"I will slay the beast that took everything from me."

The recorder clicked. And it was over.

This place was horrifying. Why was everything so awful!? Why was-

"How's about we take his gun?" Kinger asked.

Oh thank goodness, score for Kinger for once.

"Y-yeah, sounds good to me."

After several agonizing moments of desperately trying to grab the gun without jostling awake the corpse like Bubble would obviously program...

"Please don't come alive..!" She squeaked.

"Okay, I won't."

She flinched back, but the corpse said nothing else, so she snatched the gun as fast as possible and brought it to Kinger, who has stepped forward into the fork of the cellar. Revealing it to be more of a T-shape.

Geez, she felt ready to shake out of her skin. Her muscles were wound so tightly.

Kinger pulled the double barrels down to reveal the ammo in the gun.

"Looks like we've got two shots," he closed it back up dramatically. "Let's make 'em count."

She just nodded quietly. "Uhh, yeah..."

Kinger looked around, and saw Caine, still hadn't moved back by the tape recorder. Still curled, hands clutching his head. She couldn't see him breathing, but he was still shaking.

"Caine, it's best to stay by me." Kinger said. "I've got a weapon. We can fight back."

Silence.

Caine was having a rough first adventure.

Not that they weren't all horrible.

Kinger handed Pomni the gun again, and turned to Caine.

Then his hands moved across the cellar, and gently grabbed Caine by the waist. He flinched, but didn't try to escape. Which Kinger took as acceptance.

"Alright, up and at 'em." Kinger said gently. Lifting him up and pulling him over to the two of them.

Then, he gently put the balled up Caine back on the floor between them. "Sorry," Kinger said. "Just, stay there for now."

A soft dragging noise sounded, and Kinger took the gun back, as they both turned to see an opening in the wall. Circular. And dark.

"Stay behind me," Kinger said. "Both of you."

Slowly, as the dragging noise continued, fingers curled around the edges of the hole. Pale white, yet blackened with a dark sludge, and sickeningly wet.

Out crawled a horribly upsetting headless naked corpse, with skin was the same white as the head. Its shoulders snapped and crackled as it dragged itself forward. Across the floor with its hands.

Then, growing louder like a horrible siren on the road, came the horrible screaming of the creature.

Down the dumbwaiter shaft came the horrible white glow, and then the head itself. Mouth wide and full of teeth as it screeched.

And then it stopped, in one of the many intervals between screeches, but it kept getting closer.

Pomni swore she had a heart attack.

"Uh- K-Kinger?" She started tapping his robe repeatedly, trying not to startle him while also trying to get his attention as fast as possible. "I think we may have a-a problem this way too!"

"Just- leave it to me," Kinger said. His voice sounded slightly stressed, but moreso sounded like he was doing a good job at keeping the stress from overwhelming him. Better than her and Caine. "I can handle this."

He pointed the gun back towards the body, just in time for it to start running full speed at them, Pomni flinched and took a tiny step back, only for her heel to bump into Caine, and she flinched harder.

There was a flash of yellow light in the darkness, and a bang, and the body flung backwards into the wall, before collapsing.

Kinger rapidly turned to the now screeching again head, and fired again. It was knocked away and rolled to a stop on the ground. No longer hovering eerily.

It was suddenly, devastatingly quiet.

Kinger lowered the gun. "Well," he said, "that wasn't so bad?"

Pomni waited with baited breath after those words. Maybe nothing would happen..?

A click. "-Which is what I would be saying," rang out the tape. "If I didn't know that the creature was actually one of god's angels."

"What."

What did that mean!? Why was it saying that now!?

"And anyone who brings harm to it, would be dragged down to the cold, spiraling pits of hell, where my soul resides."

No. No no no NO NO NO NO!

She looked back at the corpse. If she wasn't so terrified she'd be furious. At the corpse, at Bubble! At everything!

The body, which still lay in a heap on the floor, sprouted spindley, fleshy wings with eyeballs all across them.

Pomni squeezed her eyes shut, as she turned away.

"I apologize, dear listener. But I need a living host to escape the hall of the damned, and your bodies will be my only means of doing so."

The man finally stopped talking for a moment.

"... Now wait," Kinger asked. "How did he record this if he was in hell?"

That. Was a good question...

A green light sprang up from the ground and grabbed at their arms, and legs, they were cold and lifeless, and she yelped.

All their yells and complaints swirled together.

But it did nothing to drown out Caine's cry of bloody murder.

"NO!" He cried as he tried to crawl away from the arms. "DON'T PUT ME BACK! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK! PLEASE!"

"No, no no, let go of me! Let go of me!" She hated being touched and now there were dozens of arms dragging them through the floor, and down into hell.

"I hope you're ready," said the voice on the tape, "because the next breath you take down there will be your last. And your bodies will belong to me."

Bodies!?

"NOT THE BOX PLEASE!"

She watched as Caine disappeared first with one final shriek, and she and Kinger were pulled up to their necks.

"Let go of me!"

Pomni did the best job of clinging to the floor, but eventually they got the best of her.

"I HATE THIS STUPID ADVENTURE!"

And then everything she saw was gone.

And it was gone for several moments.

But belatedly, she realized that the arms were gone too. Everything was gone except a cool, slightly humid cold.

And as her vision got used to the dark, (or acted like it did since it should've already been used to it) she realized she was in a large, stone room. With a long glowing hallway in the distance.

She looked up, from where she was on her hands and knees to see Kinger. Looking around with his gun in his lap.

"Not really typical of what you'd think hell would be."

The arms were gone, and the angel nowhere to be found, and that was enough for boiling rage to mix with the fear.

She turned to Kinger. "We, are literally in hell right now! HELL!" Her yell echoed off the obsidian walls.

She began to pace. "Of course I'd be in hell, how could not be in literal hell right now!"

A hand landed on her shoulder. "Just, try to stay calm. I'm sure Bubble designed a way to escape. Not even he's that unpredictable. Besides, we need to find-"

A choked sob rang out, and they both froze.

Looking around, she saw a spot of pinkish-red twenty feet or so away from them. By the walls.

He must've started banging on them again.

Now though, Caine just sat, with his arms curled around his knees, and sobbed.

Kinger stood up, and they both walked over towards him.

He was spikey again and Pomni's breath hitched.

"H-he's ab-"

"What is he doing?" Kinger asked, and Pomni's mind halted.

"Y-you don't recognize this?" She asked. Hadn't he been here the longest?

"No... I don't."

"So... He's not abstracting?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"I mean, that's always a possibility, but... I don't think I've seen anyone except B-" he shook his head, "no, that doesn't make sense. I must be misremembering." Kinger was pretty bad with remembering things that happened twenty seconds ago. With that, he sat down next to Caine. Pomni sat down in front of him, a reasonable distance away.

Would should she even say? She was no better at this than before!?

"... Caine?" Kinger asked, and Caine's sobs stopped. Cold turkey. Like he was never crying in the first place. It was eerie, and Pomni focused on his still wet eyes.

"I-I'm sorry..." He whispered.

"Whatever are you sorry for?" Kinger asked slowly.

"I-I know I'm not supposed to do things like this. I should be better than... Crying."

"Oh, Caine. It's okay, if you need to cry..."

"... You're going to leave me." He croaked.

"Leave you?" Kinger asked. "Why would I do that?"

"B-because you did last time." Caine responded. "The only time you don't leave is when you can't."

Kinger and Pomni looked at each other. What was he talking about?

"I-I think he thinks he's talking to someone else," Pomni whispered. That was a thing, right? Or was that just in books and movies and stuff?

"I know who I'm talking to," Caine insisted. "You put me back in the box."

Definitely confused.

The spikes across Caine's body got worse. "Let me out of the box. Let me out... Please. I don't want to be in the box. I'll be good. I'll be better. I'll be perfect. Please..."

'I'll be perfect'. Those words made her skin crawl.

... Well, they found the trauma.

"You're not in the box, Caine." Kinger said.

"Technically, we're in hell," Pomni muttered before she could stop herself. Still more than horrified.

This was horrible. Was this what every day was going to be like!?

"Ah, details." Kinger said. "The point is, you're not in the box. You're here, and you're with us, and we will keep you safe."

Speak for yourself! I can't even keep me safe!

Caine continued to whisper to himself things that barely made any sense. 'Not the box', 'please let me out', and the one that made her shudder the most. 'I'll be perfect'.

Something really bad must've happened to him.

Pomni looked at Kinger.

"You said he's done this before? With the, uh, glitching?"

Pomni nodded. "In the dumbwaiter. It stopped when I touched him."

"Please... Not the box. I'll be good. I'll be perfect. I can become perfect, I just need more time. Please. Please... Anything but the box... Rewrite me, tear me apart. Just, please don't put me in the box."

He was locked in a box for... Not being perfect?

Who would do that?

A sickening feeling took hold of her.

That is not something you could do to an adult... Not without struggle.

But a child would easily fit in a box.

Had he been kidnapped?

Or... Was it a parent?

But... What did 'rewrite me' mean? 'Tear me apart'?

"You said it stopped when you touched him?" Kinger asked.

Pomni nodded silently.

"Right." Kinger inched closer, "I hope you don't mind how much I've been dragging you around today," he said, and then-

"Oookay, up we go."

Pomni's eyes widened.

The glitching stopped the moment he touched him.

Kinger had picked him up, and put him on his lap like a child. The image was further emphasized from the fact that Caine was so small, and so curled up. Crying to himself.

"Not the box... Not the box..."

And then, he started rubbing circles into Caine's back. "Don't worry, Caine. I've got you."

Caine leaned into his chest. Shaking, but this time normally, like a human would. Not glitching violently. His voice quieted to a whimper.

Pomni had a thousand things she wanted to scream, yell, and cry about, all begging for her attention. But she didn't want to make Caine worse, and she didn't want to give Kinger more freakouts to deal with.

Kinger looked up at her.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

Finally.

Pomni nodded softly. Trying desperately to keep it together.

Kinger slowly stood up. He didn't have any arms, but Caine wrapped his own around Kinger's neck, so he could use only one hand to keep Caine up. And keep the empty gun in his other hand.

"As long as Caine doesn't mind me carrying him like a sack of potatoes."

Like he's your child. You're carrying him like he's your son. You know that, right? Even Caine probably knows and just doesn't care enough to be insulted right now.

Pomni didn't say anything about it. And Caine just seemed to hold on tighter.

They made their way toward the faintly glowing hallway, above it etched into the stone and hard to read in the dark, was the words, 'Hall of the Damned.'

There were these tiny floating... Green things. They reminded her a little of sea monkeys. They swam across the hall going somewhere, but in no hurry.

Stupid adventure with its stupid sea monkeys.

She wanted out as soon as possible, and this certainly looked like progression.

She tried to take a step into the corridor, but Kinger stopped her.

"Hold on," he said gently. It was so soothing compared to everything else, but she was still frustrated that they weren't getting back in the circus as fast. "Let me try something."

He pulled a hand away from Caine, and pulled off one of his eyes. She watched in surprise as he calmly threw it down the hall.

It hit the ground, bouncing a couple times far down the hallway. She anxiously watched it move around, and then Kinger spoke again.

"Hey! There's actually a staircase down there! It could be a way out! Maybe it'd still work for us since we still have our bodies?" Sounded good enough for her. "Though I'm worried about what that tape said earlier."

"I-I'm just going to try going fast!" She blurted and then headed off down the hallway.

"Wait- Pomni!"

She ran pretty fast, even before she was in the circus, a jog could get her a lot of distance. This time however, it was cut short in the worst way possible.

Something jolted in her body. Freezing it up entirely. And as she felt panic creep up her neck, something else felt like it was going down.

And then everything started to twist.

She wasn't sure if it hurt because of all the horrible ways her body was bending, or if it was because the very fact that it was moving on its own seared her limbs and her brain.

It was horrifying.

It felt awful.

It needed to stop, but no matter how she kicked and thrashed none of her movements made it to her body, it was like her muscles were being yanked back into different movements.

From the inside of the muscles.

Please make it stop!

More twisting, and crackling and bending, in horrible ways that she couldn't fight against.

And then her eyes opened. Clearly.

They darted around in ways, again, she didn't do! Or ask for! And it hurt.

Then her head started to turn. And kept turning. And then she was face to face with Kinger down at the entrance.

She couldn't even cry the way she was now.

No, instead, the voice of many different voices all started to laugh. Deeply and harshly.

And she wasn't doing any of it!

Her lungs inflated and deflated without once consulting her, there was something rattling strong in it, and everything burned.

This was the most upsetting- the worst- the- the

She didn't know anymore! All she wanted was for it to stop!

The laughing continued, and she watched as Kinger was now shaking in fear. Something he hadn't done the entire adventure.

Her limbs weren't hers, and as her head turned back around, and flopping and slumping in strange ways, as her feet started to step towards the exit again.

"Fffffreeedommm..." The voices pulled the air and sound from her vocal chords. Not something they should've have any ability to move.

It stung, it all stung.

"Pomni!"

A hand grabbed her collar and pulled her backwards though the air, until she knocked herself into Kinger and Caine.

The body that should've been hers flopped to the floor. Then her arms and legs convulsed horribly.

It all burned!

"Hey!" Kinger's voice. And a sudden sharp impact to her side. "You get out of her, you damn! Evil! Souls!"

More repeated impacts as these tiny horrible specks crawled their way back out of her throat.

Still, her body and voice were of their own awful accord.

"How's your wife, Kinger!?"

A gasp from somewhere distant, one final harder hit, and suddenly she—Pomni—was coughing everything back out.

Her lungs felt empty again as she flipped over.

"Hey, hey!"

Her hands went across her chest and her stomach rapidly, trying to find the hidden muscles under her skin that were moving just a moment ago.

But there was nothing there.

"You alright there?" Kinger asked. Leaning over her.

Everything felt awful. How could she say ANYTHING ELSE!?

"No..?"

Her eyes darted around, finally listening to her, and she noticed Caine, still hunched in on himself, inching towards her.

She couldn't help the hyperventilating she was doing.

"I'm guessing the souls are attracted to living things. They just want a vessel to leave with." Pomni peered down that horrible awful hallway, freedom was right there and they couldn't get to it! Why was Kinger talking about Bubble's stupid world building!?

Kinger seemed to have the same thought. "Man, seven years of computer science for this, huh?" He gave a laugh that was not as humorous as it should've been.

"T-that NPC..." Caine whispered, so quietly Pomni wasn't sure Kinger heard. "Why did it say that?"

"... Why?" Pomni whimpered. And Kinger's gaze focused back on her. "Every day I spend here is one nightmare after the next!" She scrambled away from Kinger, and Caine, and the hallway. "I knew it would end up like this!" She gasped, as she crumped to the floor again.

"He just wants me to suffer..." She whispered. And watched Caine flinch out of the corner of her eye. "I really am in hell." She curled up and covered her face in her knees.

"Don't say that, you're not in- well, I guess we technically are in- forget about that!" Kinger pulled Caine along as he sat closer next to her. "Why don't we all just relax for a bit while nothing's chasing us?"

All that horror softened and morphed into sadness. Low and cold and tragic.

And before she could stop herself, she was crying.

Hyperventilating sharply and watery.

Geez, this adventure had them both crying in front of Kinger.

"... It was my fault we went down this path wasn't it?" Kinger asked. "I'm really sorry, for that."

She moreso blamed Jax than Kinger. He'd done nothing but help them out over and over and over comforting both of them, dealing with the monster... The only thing she'd done was find the key to the dumbwaiter, and that was only because Caine was busy trying to talk her out of it, and Kinger was too insane to...

"... Why have you been acting so different lately?" She asked. And Caine's eyes widened. He began to nod.

"Y-you do somet- since we got down here you've been less... C-crazy?" Caine struggled to form words, he must've still been pretty shaken up from the dumbwaiter and being dragged to hell.

"Heh, I have, haven't I?" He asked. "I'm normally not too good with memories, but... Being surrounded by darkness always... Brings me back, to a certain time."

Pomni and Caine both looked at each other. His eyes were wide.

"Right after my wife had, a-abstracted," Caine froze. Before scooting closer. "I don't remember the exact string of events but, we both ended up in the fort together."

Wife? He had a wife?

"And it was dark," Kinger continued. "The darkness seemed to calm her down a bit. The harsh, jagged edges smoothed out, and she didn't seem aggravated anymore. She wasn't the same as before but... She was calm enough to touch one last time, before she got sent to the cellar... I'm always taken back to that moment when engulfed in darkness."

"... Darkness," Caine whispered. "It's the darkness."

"You had a wife? Like, here in the circus?"

"Yeah!" There was more joy in his voice than before. "She was funny, creative! Really into entomology!" He rubbed the back of his neck, and something about his composure felt different. He didn't look like a crazy old man, anymore. Or a sweet old man either. He looked like a groom on his wedding day. Young and bright, filled with happiness.

"I used to hate bugs!" Kinger continued. "But she somehow got me to like them." The joy slipped off his face again. "It's not the most cheerful memory, but it's one I at least have control over."

"You... Loved her?" Caine asked, and Pomni winced. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that it sounded like an accusation, or the fact that he sounded like he'd never met someone in love in his life, but it was kind of harsh either way.

Kinger laughed again. "I hope it's not too hard to believe."

"I-I'm... Just- trying to understand. Really understand. Not just say that I do..." Caine looked Kinger up and down. "Y-you loved her so much, that just being in the dark makes you like... This. Did that one moment really change your whole mind? How it works?"

"I-I'm not sure how well I can answer that question? I-It's more like it turns my mind back to how it used to be. It's... Bittersweet, because that ache in my heart gets stronger than ever. Strong the way it was when I lost her. But I also can't deny that- while I wasn't okay, back then... I still ended up surviving. So... Even if I'm not exactly, okay now. I know that I can survive this just like I survived that... As long as I still have moments where I remember what we were together."

Caine seemed to ponder over that.

"A-and, you still love her? E-even now? Even after... Everything?"

"Even after everything," he reassured.

"B-but she abstracted... She left you, didn't she?"

"Caine!" Pomni hissed. "You can't say that!"

Kinger looked much more troubled by that line of thinking. "I... I can't blame her for that."

"Why not?" Caine pushed.

"Because that's not... What abstraction is. This circus pokes and prods at you. Trying to take everyone you cared about. It makes you feel like you're... Unraveling. Abstraction is when this place takes advantage of that unraveling... Breaks you... My wife was not exactly well, but she was at her worst for one moment... And that's when she abstracted. If she'd been given more time, another week, another month, she could've bounced back. Like she always does. But she d-didn't get that chance. It's not willing... She didn't abandon me..."

The air was incredibly tense. But then, eventually Caine nodded. "I think I understand."

Being around Caine was such whiplash.

And Kinger relaxed. "G-good. We can't blame the people we knew for being gone. We need to cherish who they were when they were here."

Caine nodded again. Then he started to tear up. "I-I think I know why you lasted so long."

"Y-yeah?" Kinger asked. This seemed to stress him out almost as much as Caine's previous accusation.

"It... It's that love, right? That love for her. It's protecting you. F-from all the horrible things I- I've seen."

Kinger smiled, and his eyes watered. "Th-that seems likely," was all he said.

It was quiet for a while, and though the atmosphere was much better than before, Pomni still find her eyes trailing to all those awful floating souls in the hallway.

Her body still felt like it could be taken at any moment.

"I want a wife," Caine said suddenly.

Pomni gawked at him.

And Kinger laughed. Warmly and loudly, and he didn't stop.

"I want a wife who can make me kind and cheerful and protected like you," he continued. "I want someone willing to love me."

There was an unmistakable weight to those words. Caine said it like it was something rare, something he'd never received before.

Why did he say it like that.

Kinger sighed, still happy, but there was something more solemn about it. He put a hand on Caine's shoulder.

"Well, if it helps, you've got us here with you," Kinger said. Pomni nodded emphatically.

Caine didn't seem to quite believe them.

And Kinger caught Pomni's gaze trailing over towards the hallway again.

"... I know how it can feel. In this circus," he said, waving a hand as the pain of this place leaked into the very word. "Sometimes it all feels... Pointless."

Pomni's gaze fell. "Yeah."

"But it's not. Not if you have someone to care about you." Kinger looked towards Pomni again. "Good memories can do a lot. Hold onto them. And cherish the people around you." Kinger looked up towards the ceiling. "You never know when they'll be gone."

She had... Kind of been pushing Ragatha away, hadn't she? Ragatha had, over and over been reaching out to get and all she'd done was push her away, and why? Because she was frustrated at her new situation. A situation Ragatha was just as trapped in.

"In this world, the worst thing you can do... Is make someone think they're not wanted or loved."

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" It sounded like something Jax would say, or Bubble. Not... Not Caine.

He really had no filter at all, did he? He just said whatever was on his mind. Good, confusing, or bad.

Kinger was really taken aback, and Pomni watched as his face when from hurt, to indignant, and back to a softer more concerned expression.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"I- you don't actually believe that."

"Why shouldn't I?" Kinger asked. Still slow, and cautious.

"Because you're- because-" Caine closed his teeth, he almost looked angry. Maybe he was angry.

Pomni opened her mouth to tell him off, especially to someone like Kinger who'd been so kind to him this whole time, but once again, Kinger stopped her.

"Let him think," Kinger whispered.

Caine opened his teeth again and his eyes looked... Conflicted.

"That's- that's not something people actually believe. Any of them. No one actually does that with anyone, you're just- you're just kidding yourself."

Oh.

He wasn't accusing Kinger...

He was just... Used to people being the opposite.

Kinger had that exact same realization, and he reached a hand out to Caine, before gently putting it behind his back, and rubbing more circles into his back gently.

The tightness in the way Caine was sitting loosened immediately.

Man, Caine was horrible at tact. He always said everything in the most blunt way he could. Regardless of whether there was a better way to say what he meant...

Maybe he wasn't doing it on purpose.

Pomni wanted to slap herself.

Of course he wasn't doing it on purpose! He was probably neurodivergent or something.

"I'm sorry, Caine." Kinger said. "It sounds like... Whoever you were with before, and... Whoever put you in the box," Caine flinched. "Was not very good to you. But I mean what I say, and I'm going to try and be good to you, in the ways that they weren't."

"... Right." Caine said. He didn't seem to believe him, and Pomni heard him mumble Kinger's words under his breath.

"The worst thing you can do is make someone think they're not wanted or loved... I'll, try to believe you."

Kinger nodded.

"No promises," Caine blurted. "That sounds... Impossible."

Kinger nodded. "That's all I could ask from you."

Caine nodded slowly.

And it was quiet.

Pomni was almost envious of how sweet Kinger was to Caine. She'd have blown up in his face like six times by now. Caine was rubbing salt into his biggest wounds with every question. And yet, he showed empathy and restraint though it all. He was stronger than her.

Though maybe Kinger realized sooner than her that he was just really bad with phrasing...

And that he's as confused and scared as she is. Possibly even more so, with how he's gone though PTSD flashbacks this whole time.

"Y'know- I've been thinking about that last tape," Kinger said softly. "He said, the next breath you take down there will be your last. Maybe we can get through if we don't breathe..?"

Kinger looked to Caine who nodded, and said nothing else. Then he looked to her.

"I'm not very good at holding my breath," she admitted, curling up again.

"Well... How 'bout we try, not thinking about it?"

Caine looked away from them at that.

Pomni opened and closed her mouth several times, but couldn't form any real words.

She looked back down the hallway.

The circus was just over there. Across the river of souls.

"I-if we leave and go back to the circus... You're just going to go back to being crazy. You won't remember any of this, are you?"

Kinger's response was immediate, and her heart ached hearing it. "Don't worry about me. As long as you two remember it, things will be okay. Make sure to look out for each other." He stood up, and looked at the both of them. "You're very strong, Pomni, Caine. And I know you'll be able to get through this."

He held his hands out to the both of them. "Just hold onto me. We'll get through it, together."

Caine grabbed onto his hand with both of his and Kinger hoisted him to his feet.

Then Kinger turned to her. "You ready?"

Pomni grabbed onto his hand, she he pulled her to her feet too.

Then, all facing the swimming souls, they all took a deep breath, and started walking through them.

Her heart lurched as they passed through into the river, and her lungs very quickly started clawing for air, but they kept walking forward.

Don't think about it.

Don't think about it.

Pomni looked up, and saw that the kind of swam in litte circles. It was... Almost, pretty?

Her face felt warm, and her lungs felt worse. She must've been changing color again.

She didn't see what Caine's gimmick was, but she saw Kinger's.

It was hard to miss.

He started to glow. And it was bright.

The light shone in every direction, slipping in between the obsidian pillars and all across the hallways and staircases.

Until finally, they reached the base of the stairs. Which... Only really seemed wide enough for two people.

With a gasp, her face calmed down. And the light faded.

Reluctantly, she let go of Kinger's hand and went up ahead, so that he could help Caine up the stairs.

The door at the top glowed brightly in comparison to where they were now, and Pomni's stomach twisted when she realized this was probably the last either of them would see of Kinger being sane.

'As long as you two remember it, things will be okay. Make sure to look out for each other.'

She pushed the door open, and warmly colored light flooded in.

Still not as bad as the circus.

"Oh! Pomni! Kinger! Caine! Are you guys, okay?" Ragatha asked. "Was it scary?"

"I'm fine, actually?" Pomni looked back towards Kinger, who Caine was still clinging to.

When she looked back she noticed something she hadn't before.

Was Jax tied up in a tiny wagon?

"What happened up here?"

Ragatha looked slightly unhinged. "Eh, don't worry about that," she said.

"They were both very brave!" Kinger said. "At least, I think they were..?" Kinger leaned in close. "Were you?"

Caine seemed put out by Kinger's regained insanity, if his bitter expression was anything to go by, but Pomni did her best to take it in stride.

"Something like that," she said.

It was time to apologize to Ragatha.

Pomni watched as Kinger made his way into his pillow fort again. And she wasn't the only one watching. Caine, who was using his cane to stand again, and was watching Kinger just like she was, though she couldn't tell if it was gratitude or something else. His face was hard to read.

Maybe he was spacing out again.

"Heh, so what was it like being stuck with the nutcase!?" Jax asked, from over her shoulder. He was eager but not sincere at all.

Pomni ignored that fact. "It wasn't that bad, actually," she said with a smile.

She could feel his dissatisfaction with that answer, even before he called out to Caine.

"What about you, Caine?" Caine jolted and looked over.

"Y-yes!?

"How was dealing with the nutcase?"

"O-oh! Much like Pomni said, it wasn't so bad! Rather informative!" He announced. Back into that weird persona he put on. Then he turned around and slowly walked off.

Jax shuffled away after that.

It's not the person, it's the darkness.

Caine sat in the grass outside at night, sure, the Moon would notice him eventually, but at least he was safe from the Sun's yelling.

He needed space to think.

He thought that the reason Kinger never talked kindly to him but would talk kindly to Ragatha, was because he just liked her better. Just disliked him. But it wasn't that (well, that was probably still a big factor, Kinger really liked Ragatha, and didn't care for him). It was the darkness.

He'd never bothered to hang out with Kinger in the dark.

(He'd scarcely bothered to hang out at all. He was busy making adventures that would finally make Kinger like him. At least enough to go on them willingly.)

Why would he? He hated the dark, it was too much like the sandbox. Why would his self-made world of paradise be dark?

Especially for the sole purpose of sitting in it? There was a reason the loser corner was dark! It was for losers!

Besides, why should he try for the fiftieth time to get Kinger to like him when Kinger didn't even care enough to hate him correctly?

Kinger always politely disliked him.

Never loved.

Never even hated.

He hated being hated. He despised it, but at least there was a passion to that strong an opinion.

He was on their radar, whether they liked it or not.

But Kinger...

Kinger ignored him.

Tainted neutrality.

Almost a net zero, but not in the right way. Because no matter what he added, it stayed at zero... Because Kinger wanted nothing to do with him. But not in a way that necessitated avoidance.

That was the worst.

All he'd wanted was to be loved by him! But he was too busy wandering aimlessly. With literally no one around! Because he'd rather be alone than with Caine!

Well...

Apparently he loved Queenie so much that losing her was like losing his soul.

How was Caine supposed to know that?

How was Caine supposed to know that was how love worked?

He'd never been loved a day in his life!

...

It wasn't the person, it was the darkness.

And...

It wasn't the adventures, it was Queenie.

Caine knew he'd kept one alive, surely that was good! Right? He did good at least once! If he did it once he could do it again! He could recreate it!

He'd spent so long trying to figure out what he'd done right to keep Kinger around. Searching Kinger's pillow fort, rewriting his adventures. Isolating variables, and tossing them out.

Eventually he ran out of variables and he'd wanted to scream.

Every human he'd ever met had been slowly leaving him. Abandoning him!

Except for Kinger.

And he couldn't recreate it.

...

Well, he finally got his answer.

It was Queenie.

Of course it was.

Of course it was her that had been keeping him alive this whole time.

Caine could never have done that!

Caine wasn't good enough.

Caine's unwavering presence for two decades wasn't enough!

But the concept of her alone kept Kinger seeing out of two eyes. The memories of her kept Kinger happy. The desire to do what she would've wanted kept him breathing.

Queenie, from beyond the grave, kept Kinger alive. Kept him alive long enough to meet Ragatha, and longer still after that.

And in return Kinger turned himself into everyone else's Queenie. For anyone to come talk to, if only they knew how to get him to think again.

Except for one.

Except for Caine.

If love was stronger than even death...

Why couldn't he get any?

He shook his head.

The worst thing you can do in this world, is make someone think they're not wanted or loved.

... He was right.

Caine couldn't think of a worse fate than his whole miserable existence of scorn.

Kinger was smart enough to know that his words were true.

...They just didn't matter when the someone was him.

He understood that.

Passionless hatred.

He wanted to tear Kinger apart.

He wanted to tell Kinger he was an ai, if only to finally figure out what was so wrong with him.

He wanted to beg for his love.

He wanted.

Oh, he wanted.

Was that all he was good at? Wanting? Craving?

"You just! Don't! LISTEN!"

Still. There was a lesson in there somewhere.

A lesson for him.

He'd promised himself he'd be the best damn listener this new digital world had ever seen! So even though Kinger was a filthy hypocrite, Caine would do his best to adopt that mindset he clearly couldn't.

... He loved his humans.

And instead of making sure they knew...

He'd nearly destroyed them.

So maybe he'd done the worst thing too.

From now on, he'd do his best to love everyone the way Kinger would. (Or would to someone like Ragatha or Pomni. Not to him.)

('how 'bout we try, not thinking about it', he said. That was probably exactly what he said to himself before Caine booted up and found himself trapped inside the box... If it required thinking at all.)

The only time Kinger ever paid him any attention was when he thought he was human!

Caine wanted to scream in rage.

He wanted to hide.

To love everyone like Kinger loved Pomni and Ragatha, that sounded like a lot of work. A lot of work for something he didn't know how to start.

...

He hated listening.

He hated listening to things he didn't want to hear, and letting them be real.

He used to be a god. Snap his fingers and anything he didn't like stopped being a problem.

Dark thoughts? Bubble can eat them.

Have no friends? Now he does! Jax is asking to get dinner together right now!

No exit? In this adventure there is!

But...

He'd made Jax his friend.

And Jax had hated him anyway.

Everything felt wrong, but that was crazy! He was exactly on script with Jax!

He'd made everything perfect! Jax was asking about his hobbies, he'd asked for dinner, he listened to him ramble about the Macroverse and cedar-smoked salmon! Said he thought he was cool! And human-like! Those were all the things that friends did together! He did everything right! He'd orchestrated everything to be perfect! Why did the feel so... Flat?

Artificial?

... Was that the word he was looking for?

He'd never been bothered by artificiality before. Not in the walls or the floor, not in his companion Bubble, the only person he could get to stick around. Because he wasn't a person, not even you can lie to yourself about that.

Caine was starting to wonder if his powers really did reach as far as he'd wanted.

Because it didn't matter how much he rewrote reality, everyone still hated him. And everything still felt lonely.

He shook his head.

Best damn listener this digital world has ever seen.

Spiraling about inadequate god powers was not part of that.

He'd listened to Kinger... And that was eye opening.

It was time to listen to everyone else too.

"You want... To gossip about Caine?" Ragatha asked, confused.

Everyone was in Pomni's room.

That is everyone but Kinger because he already knew, and Jax...

Because he was Jax.

"I-it's for his own good!" Pomni said. "I-I found out something that... Jax, could use against him. And if he did it would be really bad."

Gangle nodded. "I know what you mean... Alright. What is it?"

She took a breath. "Caine has claustrophobia."

Zooble cringed. "Yeah, Jax would definitely use that against him."

"No, no no. It gets worse... It's not just regular claustrophobia, it's a full on trauma response. If he's somewhere too small, like the dumbwaiter, he freaks out in ways that... Are terrifying. He can't tell who's around him and who isn't anymore. He didn't know I was there... He thought Kinger was someone else." Pomni took a breath. "He begged to not be... 'put back in the box'."

Gangle and Zooble looked horrified, and Ragatha was tearing up, her hands covering her mouth.

Pomni agreed with them wholeheartedly. "So... We need to make sure Jax doesn't put him in anything too tight. Or us by accident for that matter."