Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Get that away froM ME-” Ragatha screeched, running away as Jax chased her. 

“Oh it's just a bug! Look at it, you could easily step on it and crush it!” Jax held the centipede up towards her, chasing after her, running past Pomni, who was just sitting there seemingly staring into nothingness as Gangle quietly sat next to her. 

“How long do you think he’ll chase her?” Gangle asked quietly, looking over at Kinger, who was hidden within a lot of pillows. 

“Probably a few minut- ACK” Kinger jumped up, looking at gangle. “Oh, gangle you can't be scaring me like that,” 

“...sorry…” Gangle quietly said as she looked down at the ground. 

The three could hear and Ragatha screamed, “It's on me!” she tried to shake it off of herself, but it seemed to have gotten caught on her dress. Jax rolled his eyes and let out a snarky laugh.

“It's just a centipede, i don't see what's so scary about it!” he said, before grabbing her arm, stopping her from shaking. “It's more scared of you than you are of it and all that bull,” Jax picked up the centipede from her dress, before dangling it in front of her face. “Out of all the horrors you can think of, this is the scariest?” 

“Jax! Stop it," Gangle finally stepped in, pushing him slightly. He barely even moved at the push, but he accidentally held the centipede too tight which made it bite him. He didn't seem to notice it too much though. 

“Sureee I'll stop,” he said sarcastically, before walking past Gangle, slightly shoving her. 

“Jax!” ragatha said as she walked in between the both of them. 

He could hear quiet footsteps as someone walked away. 

Pomni? 

Jax couldn't help but quietly follow her, wondering where on earth she might go. She wasn't going to the rooms or the dining hall. 

She was going towards the circus ring. He had a small look of realization as he followed her all the way to a door in the middle of the room. She didn't go in it, didn't try to open it, she just… stared at it. Pomni took off one of her shoes and chucked it right at the door, but it bounced off and hit her in the face. 

She had let out a small cry of pain, before kicking the door with her foot, causing her more pain. “Why won't you be a door!” she cried out.

Jax watched silently for a few moments, before simply leaving. 

She would probably abstract soon enough. 

~~~ 

“Hello hello! Come one and come all!" Caine shouted loud enough to burst everyone's eardrums, making them all flinch slightly. 

“U..um, Caine? Could you…quiet down…please…" Gangle whispered, and Caine let out a laugh. 

“Why of course!” his voice quieted down only a little, or maybe it only felt like that because everyone had started to go deaf. “Now! Gather around! For I have a mission for all of you!” Caine's excitement could be felt from miles away, and it was clear he had been thinking about this for a while. 

“..a mission,” Zooble stated with the joy of a trainwreck. 

“A mission!” Caine practically zoomed over to Zooble and Jax, wrapping his arms around their necks. “You 6 will go and find the most powerful thing of all!” his arms stretched in a cartoony fashion to grab everyone else into a group hug. 

“What, the power of friendship? No thanks.” Zooble said as they somehow managed to get out of Cain’s grip. 

“No Zooble don't leave me here,” Jax said sarcastically as he half-heartedly reached for Zooble. 

“f*ck off and d*e” Zooble had turned into a sound of beeps, they started walking away before Cain grabbed them and brought them back in. 

“Let's hit the breaks on that one! Group game day needs everyone” Caine finally let go of the group, clasping his hands together. “So! Your mission is to find every one of these animal balloons,” Cain held up a small balloon in the shape of a dog. Kinger let out a scream. 

“...Kinger it's just a balloon,” Gangle whispered over to Kinger. 

“Oh, thank goodness- ACK!” Kinger jumped at the sight of Gangle. 

“Ah, they’re truly the most stable out of all of us,” Jax said, putting his hands together with a cat-like smile. 

“Yeah, about as stable as a tower made of sticks and stones,” Zooble mumbled with a sigh.

“Or a car crash,” Jax replied. 

“Eh,” Zooble started “Maybe more like a trainwreck.” 

“Plane crash.” 

“Sun crashing into earth.” 

“The embodiment of space decimating the miniscule universe.” Jax made little exploding motions with his hands. 

The two of them went quiet for a few moments. 

“Now you just sound emo,” Zooble told Jax, making him laugh. 

“You’re the one with the eyelashes long enough to braid, it's not even on both eyes!” he flicked their forehead, which made them 

Kick him in the leg. Which made him kick them back. Which made them try to punch him. Which made him- 

“Could you guys please stop….fight…ing…” Gangle seemed to give up halfway through, letting out a small sigh. “Nevermind…” 

Ragatha patted Gangle on the top of her mask. “Let them figure it out on their own, it's not your job to fix everything,” she said with a small smile, before rolling up her sleeves. “I'll be right back,” she said, before running towards both of them at full speed. 

Caine let out a small sigh, shaking his head. “It's like they completely forgot about the adventure I spent so long curating for them…” he closed his teeth, and wiped them with a tissue as if a tear had dripped down his “face.” 

~~~

Jax didn't need sleep. None of them needed sleep to be fair, it's a digital world after all. He could stay up all night long for months on end and he’d still be fine. Tonight was no different. He didn't go to sleep as usual, instead wandering the rooms of the circus until he found an exit door.

He attempted to open the door, but he felt pain shoot through his arm, making him hiss. “Oh for f…” he sighed, before using his other arm to open the door. 

He opened it slowly, and after looking around to see no one could notice him, he walked into it. It was gray, and the lights in the room were off. There was another exit door in front of him, but he wasn't interested in that. He instead looked around the room, searching through the boxes, hoping to find something useful. 

He shook box after box until he found a small metal-like sound in one of them. 

He quickly opened the box, and inside was a key. “Another one for the collection,” he mumbled to himself, before pocketing the key. 

The pain in his arm seemed to be getting worse. “Stupid centipedes…” he mumbled to himself with a sigh, before walking back towards the door. He picked up his hand to open the door, before noticing something. 

His hand…

It was glitching. 

Chapter Text

Jax sat there, staring at his arm. It had been an hour or so, and he had been hiding in his room. His arm was glitching around and it hurt . 

He didn't look scared, or confused, he just…stared blankly at it. Almost accepting it. 

He let his arm rest at his side as he stared up at his ceiling, debating his next moves. 

He knew how bad it would be if he abstracted. He didn't particularly care if he did, and to be honest he’d rather just hide out here until he finally died. 

He finally stood up, his head going a little dizzy when he did so. He leaned on the wall for a few moments before heading to his bed and lying down. 

He couldn't bring himself to feel sad about it. He wasn't suicidal, and he didn't want to die, but at the same time, he wouldn't care much if he did. 

~~~

Zoomble sat in silence. 

Well, not exactly silence, Kinger was still screaming every 3 seconds, ragatha and Gangle were chatting, and Caine would be talking loudly to…well, himself because no one else was truly listening.

Pomni was um…she's just over there. Quietly having a crisis as she stares off into nothingness. 

Yet something was missing. Zooble didn't know what, but it was something. There was an itching feeling just under their skin and- 

“Oh,” Zooble mumbled out loud to themselves. “The f@#$ker left me here alone. How lovely.” 

they sighed, wanting to just leave it alone but… jax wasn't here for the theme song either. 

It was too quiet. Something the others seemed to appreciate, but Zooble still found this place as much of a hell as always. 

So they walked all the way to the rooms, and stared at the door that had the purple bunny that was famously known for being a ‘ prankster.’  

They stared at the door, heavily debating the pros and cons of checking on him. 

Pros? Peace of mind to know he's not abstracted or whatever. Cons? He’ll probably start a fight with Zooble again, more pranks, if he is abstracted he’ll try and kill them all, ect ect. 

But Zooble was bored, and Jax was never in one spot for this long. 

~~~

“Pomni! How are you doing…?” ragatha asked with a small awkward laugh. Pomni seemed to snap out of her zoned-out-like state and looked up at her. 

“Oh! Um…” she stood up, contemplating how to answer that. 

“Yeah…” ragatha nodded understandingly, “it's hard at first huh? Getting used to… all of this?” 

pomni nodded quietly. “...yeah….i…I guess I would say it's-” “Ragatha!” Pomni was cut off by Zooble practically speedwalking towards the both of them. 

“Zooble?” ragatha started, a hint of worry in her voice, “Is something wrong?” 

“I need your help breaking down Jax's door,” Zooble said blankly, before grabbing hold of Ragatha’s arm.

“W-wha- say what now?” she looked taken aback, before glancing back at Pomni. 

“No- no we can't just break down his door!” she tried to pull away from Zooble, but Zooble didn't let go. 

“Just shut up already,” Zooble sighed, the two finally ending up in front of Jax’s door. 

“I know you don't like him, and neither do I.” Zooble started, “But if he abstracts then we need to know sooner rather than later so that we can have Caine deal with it, kay?” 

Ragatha leaned back slightly. “He's still in his room at this hour?” 

Zooble deadpaned. “Yep.” Zooble wasn't really in the mood to explain further. 

Ragatha looked between Zooble and Jax’s door. “Did you at least try knocking?” 

“I knocked, kicked, and called him a wh#re, but he still didn't come out,” Zooble stated bluntly. “So you gonna help or not?” 

“...only because it would be bad for all of us if he abstracted.” she sighed, before walking away from the door, getting ready to charge towards it. 

~~~

*BAM* 

Jax practically jumped up from his sleep, and immediately threw the closest thing near him. 

“ACK JAX!” he could hear ragatha yep as she dodged the object. “Why on EARTH do you have a knife next to your bed???” she yelled as she stomped over to him. 

“Oh is that what that was? My bad dollface” he said half-heartedly, the tiredness evident in his voice. To Zooble and Ragatha he looked mostly normal, just a bit…tired? 

His room looked mostly neat, and besides the small box in the corner of the room that had fake bugs and other such prankster-esk items, it looked as if it wasn't used often. 

except for the blankets and pillows the purple rabbit was covered in. They didn't look like they were meant for comfort, yet he seemed to be trying to use them as such. 

It was almost like a poorly designed room for TV… meant for show rather than necessity. 

“Now if you don't mind,” he mumbled, before laying back down, “I feel like a million bees crawled into my ears and now I'm a maraca. A maraca with bees.” 

“Ew,” Zooble said, before walking towards Jax and ripping the blanket off of him. “What is wrong with you today? You’ve never skipped the theme song before, nonetheless slept in till nearly 4pm. " Those words seemed to snap Jax out of his slumber. 

“It's 4 already?” he asked as he finally sat up.

Ragatha couldn't help but notice how he seemed to grab hold of the bedside table, as if unbalanced just from sitting up. 

For a small while, Jax had forgotten why he had locked himself in his room. Until he noticed the strange pain-like sensation that had been in his arm yesterday was just…

Gone. 

No glitching either, it was just his arm. Sure he was a bit dizzy but… maybe whatever it was had gone away by now. 

“...hello? Earth to dumb@#s?” Zooble knocked on Jax’s head. “Are you gonna come out and join the rest of us or not?” 

“Not unless you drag me.” he grabbed something from the bedside table and laid back down. 

~~~

“And this one is Meredith,” Gangle said as she pointed at her drawing. Her drawing had several characters on it in an almost anime-like art style. 

The character she was pointing at had pink hair, and blue and green eyes, and wore an all-pink outfit with a cute heart purse. 

“She’s pretty,” Pomni replied, before pointing at one of the drawn-on scars. “How’d she get that one?” 

Gangle seemed to sit up straighter with a grin. “Oh! It's a whole thing actually which ties into my other characters! So what happened was….” gangle starts rambling about her characters once more. 

It had been an hour since Ragatha had left, and since then Gangle and Pomni had been keeping each other company. It was… honestly really nice.

Pomni wondered if she could draw like Gangle. Maybe not in an anime style, but more… detailed. 

Like that place at the exit maybe. Every crack, every box, had such small minuscule details. 

Unlike this place. 

“You can't be a hermit crab forever!” Ragatha huffed as she dragged Jax, with no help from Zooble of course. 

“You’re alive?” Kinger asked from his pillow fort. “I thought you abs…,” he shutters at the thought. 

“Jeeze, I decided to stay in my room for one day and everyone thinks I died.” he rolled his eyes, still refusing to get up. 

Ragatha sighs, getting tired of dragging Jax. “I'll kick you if you don't stand up.” 

“I'll second that.” Zooble joins in. 

“Oh shut it, you both would do that for fun,” Jax says as he looks up at them. 

The two of them glare down at him, seemingly getting ready to kick him, and he practically jumps up. “I'm up! I'm up, god.” 

‘ He's leaning again…’ ragathat notices, and this time Zooble seems to pick up on it. The two glance at each other with a look that Jax doesn't bother to understand. 

After a few seconds, his dizziness goes away. “Common, I'm starving,” he says as he walks towards the dining room. 

As he walks past Pomni and Gangle, he steps on her drawing, making Gangle start crying. 

“Whoopsies,” he says with a cat-like grin as he continues to walk past. 

Then he feels something stab his head. Of course, it doesn't hurt him, as it's a digital world, but…it definitely leaves a familiar numbing sensation. 

He turns to look behind him and he sees Pomni staring at him wide-eyed. Her hands are over her mouth and she seems regretful and horrified. 

He has to hide his smile as he dramatically falls to the ground. 

“Of f#%$ did I kill him!?” Pomni looks like she’s gonna start dying. “I didn't mean to i'm so sorry I was just trying to hit him with the pencil and it had- “No! No, you- you didn't kill him, he's just….” Ragatha looks over at Jax. “....being dramatic.” she says, walking up to him and pulling the pencil out of his head. 

“Nope, I'm dead.” Jax laughs, “Oh pom-pom you should have seen the look on your face!” 

Ragatha hands the pencil back to Pomni and pats her shoulder. “Not much can cause physical pain in this world.” 

Pomni just looks baffled. “Why…why would you make a joke like that?” she whispered to herself, but Jax didn't seem to hear it. 

“Anyways we should get some sort of food, I'm starving.”

~~~

Despite Jax being the one to suggest eating, he didn't have an appetite. Well, no one did really, digital world and all that but…more specifically he seemed to be staring off into space most of the time. 

He wasn't thinking about anything in particular, it was more like he was… too tired to think. Usually, he was chatting up a storm, teasing, bullying but as of right now, it was like every second of socializing was physically draining him, taking a toll on his body. 

Even something as simple as moving around felt like it took everything from him. 

he was just…barely there. 

Until he started feeling the pain in his arm again. 

It started off small, barely noticeable, almost like a numbing sensation. When it started to get worse he switched the hand he held his fork with and rested his arm at his side. 

He watched as everyone else talked to each other, but the words weren’t registering in his mind. In one ear and out the other. 

The pain started to spread to his shoulder, and he noticed that his arm once again started to glitch slightly. He looked around quietly, wondering whether he could sneak away or if he’d have to make a distraction of some sort. 

…until he noticed Kinger staring him directly in the eyes, unblinking. He froze for a moment, staring back at kinger. 

After a long moment of silence, kinger finally asked, “Could you politely pass the salt?” 

“...I can pass the salt,'' Jax said, before throwing the salt bottle at Kinger’s face. “I didn't promise to be polite about it though.” 

“Jax!” Ragatha glared at Jax, and he put his hands up defensively, before quickly putting his glitching arm down. 

“Hold your horse's dollface, a little teasing never does anyone harm,” Jax replied curtly, hoping no one noticed his arm. 

Especially Kinger. Oh, kinger would absolutely freak. 

Ragatha rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I'm not even gonna bother to look at you. you’re too much and I've only seen you for less than an hour today.” 

“Awe, how sweet.” he chuckled, keeping his one arm hidden from view. His heart started beating faster, he had essentially screwed himself over. All he had to do was pass the salt quietly and then sneak off.

Why did he have to be so difficult? 

He put his hands into his pocket, before feeling something. A badly made plush centipede he had grabbed before leaving. 

He looked over at ragatha, before quietly and silently…

“Eep! Centipede!” ragatha squeaked, as she jumped from her chair. 

‘ Yes!’ he thought to himself as the others also stood up. 

And just like that, he snuck away. 

Once back in his room, he locked the door and put a desk in front of it. It was only 6pm by now but… by god was he tired. His arm and shoulder started to hurt, the pain was spreading, and it started to affect his ribs and neck. 

He flopped onto his bed, annoyed with himself for not having a better mattress.

‘ Maybe then I’d feel better’ he thought to himself. ‘ If I just had a better mattress then I’d feel better.’  

Chapter Text

It's been a few days, and he still hasn't fixed his door's lock. After a few days of waking up in the bed he used to never use, he started contemplating getting a few more pillows, some extra blankets… just things so that it would feel more comfortable to sleep in. 

 None of them need sleep. None of them feel tired. 

And he wasn't used to either. but…he was on the point of exhaustion, but maybe that's because it's morning.

Yeah. that's it. It's just because it's morning. 

That's why he's tired. 

Ever since he had been bitten, every day seemed to drag on, he felt like he was barely functioning. He would push through it as best he could, and continue on with pranks but they weren't as…elaborate as they used to be. 

They took less energy to do, it was like his body was in energy saver mode. He stopped doing things that were deemed unnecessary, trying to save up every last bit of energy to keep himself energized enough to simply interact with the others enough for them to not get suspicious. 

he’d always find a small quiet spot. 

A spot where he could sit in silence and close his eyes, and would take a moment for his body to recharge, trying to prevent his arm from glitching more. 

Could he go to Caine? Maybe ask him to fix his whole…arm thing. 

…not particularly. You don't abstract from getting bitten by a centipede, no, no you abstract by… well, going insane. Whatever this was… he didn't know. And from the amount of time he had been in the circus, this had never happened to anyone. 

Caine wouldn't even know where to start. 

“Hello to all! I have a new, funner adventure today!” he shouted loudly as he had everyone gather around. “As we all know, it's nearing that time of the year! That's right folks,  Hallyween!” 

Pomni then asked “...don't you mean hallowe-'' Caine shushed her quickly, putting a finger over her mouth. 

“No, no no dear! We don't want to get copyrighted now do we?” he took his finger away from her mouth before floating back up. “Hallyween is much different than… whatever monstrosity you were going to say,” he whispered the last part under his breath. 

“This could be the one adventure I'll willingly join.” Zooble mumbled under their breath, “What about you?” They look over at Jax, before noticing him zoning out again, holding his arm with one hand. 

“What are you nervous or something?” Zooble asked with a blank stare. 

“What?” Jax looked back at them as if they were insane before he realized he was holding his arm. “No, I had something on my arm was all,” he said as he finally started to get out of his zoned-out-like state but… he still wasn't truly there. 

“Your focus is f$^ked lately.” 

Jax rolled his eyes at the comment, “Oh common, you already know I don't pay attention to half the things that too-many-teeth-tony says.” he crossed his arms, and Zooble noticed a small flinch. 

They don't point it out. 

“Whatever then. I hope you d*e then.” they started with their own eye roll back. 

“Awe, how sweet,” he taunts, before looking back towards Caine. He had no true idea of what Caine was talking about, and all the words went in one ear and out the other.

The door definitely caught his attention though. 

“Come on everyone! Let's get going!” caine said, motioning towards the strange new door. Pomni, Kinger, and Gangle looked clearly unsettled and did Not like this Idea at All (™.) Zooble just stared at the door like it was a gross-looking dead bug, and Ragatha let out a nervous laugh. 

“Are- are you sure that's its um…safe?” Ragatha’s voice was a little shaky, but she kept her smile right on her face. 

“Oh common Rags, it's not like we have anything to lose,” Jax started walking towards her. “I mean, unless you’re scared that is?” 

Ragatha wanted nothing more than to wipe that smile right off of Jax’s face. She knew that it would do no one any good if they were scared. “No! Of course, I'm not!” 

“Great! Then you won't mind if I just…” jax kicks her into the door, before poking his head in. “you’re still alive, right?” he shouted into the door. 

“Jax when I get my hands on you I swear!” 

Jax let out a small laugh, before stepping aside. “Who's next?” 

Everyone made it through the magical door relatively unscathed. 

Except for Jax. 

Just like Ragatha had promised, as soon as Jax walked through the door, she shoved him. “That was reckless of you! Why on earth would you do that!” she shouted at him, glaring him in the eyes. 

“Oh common rags, you know me-” “Oh shut it!” Ragatha cut him off, “Don't you even start with the excuses! What were you even thinking?” 

Jax had seen her angry before, and it didn't phase him too much. “Well you’re not hurt are you?” he said with a shrug, which only seemed to infuriate her more. 

“It's not just that Jax! What if I did end up hurt! What then huh?” she had slammed her foot on the ground, she had explained this same concept to him nearly a hundred times now, and she was reaching her limit. 

Jax let out a scoff. “It's a digital world Rags, we don't feel pain, not unless abstracted.” the words slipped out of his mouth naturally, before seemingly pausing. 

He knew that wasn't true. The pain that was his arm, the pain that was spreading more and more each day all the way down to his legs, the pain that kept him bed-bound some days. 

That pain was real. 

That pain is real. 

“And how are you so sure of that?” ragatha challenged his disposition. 

Jax used to be so sure of himself. “Because no one ever gotten hurt from it before!” he would have said. “No harm would be done!” 

But now someone has gotten hurt, pain from something other than abstraction. 

And now he didn't know what to think anymore. 

“...guys?” Pomni interrupted.  “Um… people are staring.” 

Jax looked around, noticing the ‘people’ Pomni was talking about. The people had orange bags on their heads, and black markers colored on them creating an almost jack-o-lantern effect. 

“Oh. some more of Caine's NPC’s,” he said, as he turned away from ragatha, almost glad to have a reason to get away from the previous conversation. 

Ragatha still had her hands clenched, as she took a deep breath. “Let's say hi to some of them, maybe they’ll have some information for us,” she said with a smile as her eye twitched. 

“Yeah!” Gangle agreed, also glad that their argument had temporarily stopped. “Let's- let's go do that! They might be friendly,” she didn't actually believe that, but the alternative was worse. 

Gangle wrapped her ribbon arm around Ragatha’s hand and followed Caine towards one of the houses. 

~~~

“So what are you supposed to be?” a friendly woman with an orange bag and a hand-drawn jack-o-lantern face smiled at the group. 

“Oh, um, sorry?” ragatha asked, confusion clear all over her face. 

“Your costume dear!” the woman let out a small laugh. 

Caine then spoke up. “Oh, Anna! These are newcomers, they’re not from around here. They aren't in costume yet!” 

“Ah, so these are the lovely bunch of dearies you were talking about!” Anna cooed as if finding the group adorable. “Well, aren't you all just the loveliest! Come in! Come in,” she stepped aside, creating room for the group to come in. 

Anna had blond hair coming out from the bag on her head, covering her face. 

The group all walked into the small pumpkin-shaped house, noticing how it smelled like cinnamon and spice, almost like a latte. 

In the kitchen was a man, a little shorter than Anna, and he seemed to be making a pumpkin pie. “Emmett! We have guests!” she smiled happily as she led the guest to the kitchen. 

“Oh, you all must be hungry huh?” Anna asked, looking between the group. 

“Um, I'm good,” Pomni said as she avoided eye contact, but despite that she had everyone sit down anyway.  

The kitchen was filled with all sorts of pumpkin decorations. Pumpkin table sheets, pumpkin wall tiles, pumpkin-shaped utensils. 

“So what's with all the pumpkins?” Jax asked as he leaned back in the chair, strangely on guard. Maybe he was just agitated. 

“Ah! Yes! Well, I'm sure you’ve noticed the dead plants, haven't you?” Anna replied, having an almost somber tone. “We’ll just say it's the only plant that can survive in these parts.” 

“Wow,” Jax replied, his face just deadpan. “That must get boring.” 

Anna, thankfully, didn't take offense to Jax's insult. “Oh no! Not at all, we have plenty of spices!” at that moment, Emmett walked out with a whole pumpkin pie in hand and started to serve it quietly to the group.

 Emmett still hadn't said a word, but he did notice him whispering something to Anna once. 

“I'm good, thanks,” Jax replied quickly before they could try to give him a slice. 

He couldn't see Anna’s face, but he noticed how she froze up for a split moment, just staring at him quietly. 

“Uh…” Jax desperately searched for a lie or an excuse. “I don't eat pumpkins for…religious reasons…” he had to physically restrain himself from hitting his head against the table. He didn't know why he felt so tense, lying usually came so much easier to him. 

He did his best to ignore Zooble's state of complete confusion, which made sense to him. Zooble knew that he wasn't one to lie to protect someone's feelings, and he sure as hell wouldn't start doing so now, so…why? 

“Yeah, same here.” Zooble said as well, “Besides I already ate.” 

“Ah, I understand! Yes, yes of course! That's quite alright.” Anna and Emmett finally settled down at the table. “Now, I'm sure you all will need a tour guide won't you?” 

~~~ 

“And that over there is the bakery!” Anna then leaned in towards the group, “That’s where Emmett works!” she let out a little laugh, “Oh and he's just the best baker in town! Speaking of which, if you’ll look this way,” Anna directs everyone to a shop. “Tada! Costume shop! Common in!” she opened the door, motioning for everyone to step inside.  

The shop was filled with costumes and props, several shelves holding wigs and “cherry juice.” 

“Hallyween is in a few hours!” Anna chirped,  “Common, let's pick you all some costumes!” 

Jax started to wander off as Anna, Gangle, and Pomni all seemed to group together, looking for costumes. Ragatha seemed to be pulled towards the pirate costumes, looking up at one of them. 

“Hey look, you match,” Jax said as he pointed to one of the pirates that had an eye patch. 

Ragatha huffed, not even looking in Jax's direction. “How funny jax.”  She ignored him, just continuing to search through costumes. 

Jax wondered how upset she’d be if he continued to taunt her like this. He looked over at Gangle, who was looking at some ribbons to use for her costume. 

“Why did you refuse the pie?” ragatha finally asked, as she stood in front of a mirror, holding the pirate costume up to her body. 

“Hm? Oh. I don't like pie.” he said as he looked at his glove in the way you would look at your nails. He was leaning on the wall, which had helped with some of the pain that was going through his body. 

“Liar.” Ragatha put the costume down as she picked up a different one. “You would eat gravel if people let you. And god knows you weren't just ‘trying to be polite’ either, so don't try that.” 

Jax kept his face calm as he switched the hand he was looking at. “Maybe I just felt like lying,” he said, as he started looking through a prop bucket. 

“Just spill! I've never seen you lie so badly before.” 

Jax let out a small sigh, before resting his head against the bucket of the prop basket. He took a moment before sitting back up again. “Just a superstition. Don't take food from people you either don't know because of stupid fae sh*t,” he stated, before continuing to look through the prop bucket. 

“There it is…” Jax mumbled, before pulling out an eye patch and throwing it at her. “There, for your costume raggedy Ann.” 

Ragatha had nearly dropped the costume she was holding as she caught it. “You do realize the costume already comes with one right?” 

Jax let out a laugh. “Yeah but that one will actually cover the button,” he said, pointing at his eye. Ragatha looked at it. 

“Hm. I guess you’re not wrong but I still am going to tear you apart when we get back home. She flipped the eye patch around to find a toy centipede. “D@MIT JAX” ragatha said as she dropped the eye patch. 

Jax had already run off though, leaving her with the toy.

Chapter Text

“This is stupid, we aren't children.” Zooble scoffed at the whole idea. Going house to house asking for candy? No thanks. They had all been dressed up in some sort of costume. 

Ragatha had decided to be a pirate. Gangle had used the blue ribbons to make some lightweight cat ears and a tail. Pomni and Kinger had decided to stay inside his magically moving pillow fort as the costume. 

Jax and Zooble went as wizards, of course. Or, Zooble put on a hat and called themselves a wizard, while Jax wore the costume and held the staff. It saved them some materials.

The group had been at this trick-or-treating thing for a while now, and Jax had to admit that he also wanted something better to do. 

“Well…” Jax started before leaning in, “we could probably get away with ditching them all and finding something else to do,” he said with a mischievous smile. 

“Mhm,” Zooble rolled their eyes, "exactly what would we be doing then?” 

Jax then, without making eye contact with Zooble, nodded his head towards the woods. 

Zooble looked back at Jax, before realizing what Jax was thinking. “That's stupid,” they said bluntly.

“More stupid than this?” Jax asked, referring to the trick-or-treating that was going on. 

“...for the first time, you have a point.” 

~~~

“Anyone know where those two have gone?” Caine asked, looking around. 

The group had been going door to door for a while now, before ending back up in the middle of the town. 

Kinger then spoke up. “Well I'm sure they’re not too far away now-” he then paused.  

In front of them were now several pumpkin people, standing in a straight line, blocking their path. 

“Hello! Have- have you seen a purple bunny anywhere with a uh…” ragatha struggled to describe Zooble, but the pumpkin people didn't say anything anyway. Just staring.

“Oh you know… tall and annoying?” ragatha tried again. “In a wizard costume? He's with a um…person made of shapes?” 

They still didn’t respond. 

Gangle hesitantly wrapped one of her ribbons around Ragatha’s hands. “Ragatha? I think we should leave,” she whispered. 

“Well, maybe they’re-” 

“Oh hello!” Anna said from behind them all. “They’re in the middle of something right now, I wouldn't suggest breaking their concentration.” she then motioned for the group to follow them. “Come come now, I've made something special for you all to try.”  

~~~ 

Jax and Zooble went down into the woods, walking around them. It surrounded the whole town, and there wasn't any way to see what was past them other than to go inside. 

“I can't believe you’re dragging me to go on your stupid adventure,” Zooble said as the two started climbing up one of the walls. 

“ You didn't have to come Mx. bells for brains, but look at that,” he teased back, before reaching the top of the tree. For most of the day, he found he had a little more energy than usual, even though he had been walking around all day. 

It was a refreshing feeling, being able to have just almost a normal amount of energy. Of course, the pain had started to hurt a little, but not as much as usual. He just felt… relieved. 

“ I see something that way,” he said, looking at the blob of orange-like shapes that he could see in the middle of the woods. It looked out of place like it wasn't meant to be there. Human-made. 

“Weird. Reminds me of the weird pumpkin bags.” Zooble mumbled, and Jax agreed. 

“Maybe you could ask Anna about it when we get there, but honestly I'm pretty sure it's just from Caines coding. 

As he started climbing down the tree. Stepping on Zooble's hand on the way down. 

“Jax!” Zooble kicked Jax’s shoulder, to which Jax hit Zooble's leg before jumping the rest of the way down the tree. 

“I swear when I get my hands on you-!” Zooble stopped talking, noticing Caine standing on the ground, staring at the two of them without saying a word. 

“Let's get back to the group now shall we?” Caine asked with a smile. Within a snap of his fingers, the two of them found themselves back at Anna's house, where everyone else had already been sitting at the table. “Toodledo!” 

“There you are! Where were you?” Ragatha asked the two of them, and Jax gave his best ‘ im totally innocent smile’ as he spoke. 

“Just on a walk,” he said, as he leaned onto the wizard staff, taking some of the pressure off of his leg which had started hurting. “Why? Did ya miss me rags?” 

Ragatha was tempted to throw something at him but instead kept her cool. “No, just curious.” 

“Now,” Anna spoke, as she practically forced Zooble and Jax to sit down. “Why don't you two sit down? You must be tired from all of that running you've been doing, aren't you?” 

Jax and Zooble glanced at each other. “Yeah, sure.'' Jax leaned back in his chair, and his chair slightly hit a fishing pole.  

“So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Anna said, as Emmett brought out a silver plate that had a matching silver dome on top, keeping the contents of the plate hidden. “Anyone hungry?” 

She took off the dome to reveal… an orange bag with something in it. 

“...oh, haha, that's a funny pun,” ragatha said, only a little relieved as she could only smell the pumpkin from it. No blood, or guts, just some mushed-up pumpkin. 

“Yes…yes a pun. Now, why don't you try some?” Anna asked, motioning towards the head. 

Everyone else seemed …hesitant to do so. All waiting for someone to take the first bite. Jax then elbowed Zooble, before motioning to Anna's head, or more specifically the bag. 

He had a familiar look in his eyes as he casually leaned back in his chair, slowly rocking back and forth, incidentally moving the fishing pole as well.

Zooble cleared their throat, “What's with the weird a*s bags?” Zooble asked, only watching Jax through their peripheral vision.  

“The bags?” Anna tilted her head as she looked down at Zooble. “What bags?” 

The air went still. The small dust particles in the air dared not move. 

“...the…” Zooble motioned at their head, trying to figure out what was confusing Anna. 

The hook on the fishing pole latched onto Anna’s head. 

The bag came off with an almost squishy sound and underneath it… it looked almost like mushy pumpkin guts. 

“What?” Anna asked, tilting her head, and making some of the pumpkin guts fall to the floor. “Only pumpkins grow here,” she stated simply. 

The pumpkin bag that was still on the silver plate took on a more sinister meaning, did they have to kill someone to get that? Is it technically fine because it's their only means of survival? No, no it's still wrong. Is it considered cannibalism? 

All of these thoughts raced through regattas mind that she barely had time to realize when someone had started dragging her by the arm, out the window into the backyard.

“Hey space cadet! I can't drag you forever!” Jax whisper-yelled, as he nearly tripped over several…bodys? They were completely headless with small amounts of pumpkin guts spilling out of their throats. Ragatha nearly let out a scream, but he put a hand over her mouth. “Sh! They’ll find us!” he said, as he started dragging her into the forest, running like their life depended on it. 

Ragatha seemed to finally get her bearings as she followed closely behind Jax. “Right! Right,” she whispered back. Now that she was thinking slightly more clearly, she could hear the sounds of footsteps following close behind. Footsteps that wouldn't belong to her friends. 

“Wait- what about everyone else?” she asked, as she kept running, tripping over her own feet from time to time. 

“I don't know!” Jax yelled back, “They all split up left right, and center!” he then let out a small huff, “ You were the only one standing around all- all stupid -like staring off into space!” 

“You can't blame me for being shocked!” she yelled. 

Ragatha let out a yelp as the two fell into a small ditch. 

“Oh for fu-!” Jax was cut off as Ragatha put a hand over his mouth, and pressed the two as close to the wall as she could. 

The footsteps got louder until seemingly stopped. All Jax and Ragatha could hear was the small murmuring of the pumpkin people, as they tried to figure out where they were. 

The footsteps then started to walk away, until there was nothing. 

Jax ripped Ragatha's hand away from his mouth, before walking away, and trying to climb up some of the tree roots that were poking out from the ground. 

The pain had spread once more, not only did half of his body hurt like hell now, but it kept spreading and spreading, at this point his whole body hurt. 

He looked strangely…upset. Sure, Ragathas seen him be annoyed, but never really upset . It was almost a little uncanny. 

Even during situations like these, Jax was usually the annoyingly calm one, hell, even when he’s seen someone abstract, he remained calm and sarcastic but right now… 

Jax let out a frustrated yell, as the branches broke again. 

“Jax? Im-I’m sure we’ll be fine. Caine will probably come and get us…” she let out a nervous laugh. She didn't know how to help Jax, even though she hated him, she was a problem solver at heart. She wanted to fix things even if she hated the person. 

Jax once again tried to climb up, this time just using his hand and nails, which yet again didn't work, only causing extra pain, which only made him angry. 

Angry at himself. For being so fucking weak.  

He threw himself at the wall, though it would do nothing to help him. The only thing it would do was cause him further pain. 

“Oh my god,” ragatha looked horrified, taking a step back. “Jax! Jax- Jax don't- stop- you’re-” 

Jax didn't have to look to see what Ragatha was seeing. 

His arm was glitching. 

“It’ll be f-fine .” his voice was glitching slightly, as he kicked the wall, but found that he felt…weak. Like his body was too tired to even just kick the wall. 

He weakly threw himself at the wall again, and again, until he was too tired to even stand. Eventually, he sat on the ground. 

“ H-huh…” he mumbled quietly. “ T-that's cool. N-never heard my voice g-glitch before…” he mumbled, as he stared up at the sky. He started to get too tired to be upset. Well, he still was , in his mind, he was yelling at himself, but his face didn't show that. 

“Jax,” Ragatha whispered. 

“ I-I’ll be fine rags…I'm not g-gonna abstract. Not right now at least.” he sighed, before closing his eyes. He heard shuffling next to him and looked over to see Ragatha sitting there. Right next to him. 

“ T-that's not-very smart-” ragatha then touched his hand, feeling as it glitched but… it didn't hurt her. 

“That's…weird,” she said, feeling as Jax’s hand glitched in and out of her hand, but never harmed her. 

“ O-oh…didn't kn-know it could do t-that,” Jax said, before leaning his head back and closing his eyes. 

~~~

The two had sat there for a few hours, quietly waiting for Caine or someone to find them. Or, that's what they would say. Of course, in reality, they were waiting for Jax’s glitching to go away. 

“It's fine, see?” Jax said as he pointed at his face. “My voice isn't even glitching anymore!” Jax said as he walked around, looking for something to help them escape. 

“Have you seen yourself? You’re glitching all over the place!” she said, motioning to at least half of his body that was still glitching. 

“And? It's been hours. I'm not gonna die if I climb a little rope, dolly,” he said with his cat-like grin. 

“oh for goodness-” ragatha let out a sigh. “Just shut up already you off-brand easter bunny.” 

Jax let out a fake gasp. “Oh, so the dolly can make insults! Where’d you find it? At the bottom of the garbage bin where all your hopes and dreams live?” 

Ragatha then flicked his forehead. “Shush, I'm thinking of a way out of here, bunny ,” she said again, before walking away from him. 

Jax could only let out a laugh as he rubbed his forehead. 

Chapter Text

“Well, you could at least apologize to her,” Ragatha said as she and Jax continued to walk aimlessly through the ditch. 

“Oh of course I'll apologize! In my own special way,” Jax said with such conviction in his voice, but Ragatha wasn't buying it. 

“Oh really? Well, that’ll be great.” ragatha said without questioning further. 

“Say, if I replaced her mask with a rock, do ya think she’d notice?” Jax asked, his smile still plastered on his face as he leaned on the wall for support. 

“Jax you are just terrible,” ragatha sighed, before stepping in front of him. “I mean it. You could even just help her fix her mask at the very least.” 

“No, why would I do that?” Jax asked, before going to walk past her, but his quote-unquote ‘ slight ’ unbalanceness made it so that he kinda couldn't move much further. 

“Because.” Ragatha didn't know what she could say to convince Jax to do at least one nice thing for gangle. “I will make you a stuffed animal…?” she knew it wouldn't work on him, but it was worth a try. 

“...wow. You really can't think of anything this time can you?” 

“...” 

Jax let out a small laugh. “Still no, but good try rags, maybe you can bribe Gangle with the stuffies instead.” 

A shout brought ragatha and Jax out of their own little bubble, making them aware of the person that appeared from nowhere. 

“There you two are!” Caine laughed, still seemingly unaware of how disturbing pumpkin cannibals are. “My oh my, no wonder I couldn't find you! You didn't even show up on my whatchamacallit!” pointed at his tracker. “What are you two doing down in the ditches anyway?” 

Jax lets out a small shrug, putting one hand on his hip. “We just felt like going for a stroll was all,” he joked, to which ragatha just shook her head with a sigh. 

“A stroll?” Caine asked, his voice booming through the forest. “That must have been some stroll…” he mumbled, noticing how strangely tired Jax looked. 

Jax stood a bit straighter and did his best to keep his eyes open a little wider, trying to look more awake and alive. More alive than he felt at least. 

Ragatha let out a small nervous laugh, “Well we did get chased for like, ten miles,” she said as she put her hands behind her back.  

Caine blankly stared at them, before seemingly accepting the answer. “If you say so!” he said before snapping his finger, bringing them right back to the circus. Sadly, their costumes didn't come with them, so they were back in the same outfits as always. 

The good news is, other than Gangle's broken mask that she had fixed only yesterday, everyone seemed relatively unscathed. 

Zooble, of course, had already walked off to who knows where, Kinger was hiding in his pillow fort, and Gangle rambling about her characters with Pomni. 

Jax sat down on a box that likely was filled with some sort of supplies for a circus act or whatnot.

There were probably about three boxes total, one that Jax was sitting on and two next to him that he leaned his head on. He was too tired to go to his room right now, and his body hurt, so sitting down just for a moment couldn't hurt too much. 

~~~

Kinger was watching everyone from inside his pillow fort, more so curious about what they were doing. He could hear Gangle and Pomni somewhere behind his pillow fortress. A few moments later he heard ragatha join them. 

‘ But where did Jax go? ’ Kinger would think to himself. He hadn't heard Jax move in a while, he knew Jax hadn't left the room, so he was definitely somewhere around here. 

Kinger was content with not leaving his fortress, it was safe here. 

Yet at the same time, his curiosity was telling him to move. Just to check it out before going back into his hiding spot. 

So he got out of his fort, slowly walking to where he had last heard Jax and- 

There he was. Peacefully asleep on some of the boxes, just asleep yet…

Kinger let out a small gasp, and he looked almost horrified at the glitching arm. 

~~~

Jax felt the sharp corners of the box still stabbing into his body, causing some aches and pains here and there. His brain felt fuzzy and tired, still without any energy whatsoever. 

there was also a strange…warmth. It covered his body, not like a fever, but in almost a nice hug. 

He sat up slightly from the box to find a blanket over him, a heated blanket that he knew belonged to a very specific king... He looked around before finding the suspicious stack of pillows next to the boxes. 

“...Kinger?” Jax asked in his still semi-asleep state. 

“Uh- yes, Jax?” Kinger looked like he was gonna explode from anxiety, and he kept looking anywhere other than Jax's eyes…hiding something. But Jax was too tired to know what, he’d think about it later. 

“... you get one favor from me and that's it,” Jax mumbled, before somewhat stumbling up onto his feet. 

“You can- you can keep the blanket,” Kinger said, before going further into his pillow fort. 

“uh…oookay then..” Jax said, unsure of what else to do. So he took the blanket with him, still confused about what was going on with Kinger. 

Jax walked away towards his room….

“That,” Zooble started as they turned to ragatha, “was weird as f%#k, I'm not the only one who saw that right?” 

Ragatha looked up from her arm where she had been stitching some of her cotton-like dress back up. “Oh, uh… I don't know, I wasn't paying attention,” ragatha said, but Zooble seemed to ignore her. 

The two had been outside the circus, away from the group that was inside. Ragatha was fixing one of her dresses out here because it was rather nice at night. Peaceful. Or, it was. 

“I mean, look at Kinger, he's always a mess but that? That was weird.” Zooble motioned towards the situation from Jax and Kinger. “I think they’re hiding something.” 

“What?” ragatha looked up from her dress. 

“It makes sense! Jax has been acting weird for days now! Hell, it might be weeks, who knows in this godforsaken place. And just now Kinger was looking at Jax like he was dying!” 

Ragatha looked over at Kinger, who did look just a little more on edge than usual. “Uh, I guess yeah,” she replied, her voice slightly nervous. ‘ What if he knows?’ she thought, before looking back at Zooble. ‘ They can't find out.’   “You and Jax haven't talked much lately, huh?” 

“What?” Zooble seemed to be cut off guard by the question. “He’s an a%#hole, of course, I don't talk with him.” 

‘ They’re caught off guard, that's… that's good,’ Ragatha thought to herself, standing up as she started shuffling away. “well, I mean, you guys do uh…gossip with each other a lot.” 

“...that's bullsh%$t” Zooble grumbled. “Just- never mind, F%$k off,” Zooble grumbled, walking away, but there was clearly a little bit of doubt in their mind now. 

“Okay, uh, you can always talk to me if you need anything!” Ragatha replied with a nervous smile, only letting herself panic once Zooble couldn't see her. “Oh god, I'm just as bad as Jax now.” she groaned into her hands. “What is wrong with me lately? Jeez.” 

“Join the dark side ragatha,” she could hear someone whisper from behind her. “We have cookies. Or- well we don't, but we will when you cook them."

Ragatha gave a small glare at Jax before realizing what she was doing. “Shush, I'm trying to fix my dress,” she said as she went back to sewing her dress. 

“Awe common, you were so much more feisty before,” he taunted, sitting down next to her as he wrapped himself around the blanket. “It was funny,” he said again, trying to get her to say something.  

“No,” she said, getting an exaggerated gasp from Jax. 

“The people pleaser saying no? That's a first!” he lightly elbowed her with a laugh. “Common, do something, do it ” he taunted her further, and a small look of realization came on her face. 

“Do you like it when I insult you?” 

Complete silence, you could hear a pin drop. Only the artificial sounds of crickets and a slight breeze could be heard. 

Jax finally seemed to comprehend what ragatha just said. “Pause, rewind, what. ” 

Ragatha felt her face go red with embarrassment, she hadn't meant for her words to come out like that. “That's- what- I meant-” 

Jax then let out a laugh, before leaning back on a post. “No, you’re just funner when you aren’t being all stuck up all the time is all. Ms.peoplepleaser losing her sh!t is funnier than you’d think.” 

“Stuck up? I am not stuck up!” she said with a slightly annoyed tone of voice, but Jax seemed to ignore this. 

“Little miss rule follower getting a little agitated there?” he taunted again leaning in this time. Ragatha only got more frustrated, getting ready to say something before noticing something. Jax sounded almost… wheezily. 

Like there wasn't quite enough air getting in his lungs. 

Jax immediately noticed the concern on her face, and he hated it. He just wants to go back to the taunting, go back to normal. 

“It's fine. That happens,” he says as he looks over at her, he didn't like comforting people yet at the same time he just wanted to be back to normal. 

Except he didn't look normal. Sure, his voice sounded normal, but one look at him and you could tell something was off. The slight wheezing, the tired look in his eye, the blanket he held around him for goodness sake. 

He felt so aware of all of these factors. Every one of them made him feel awful, he hated it. 

After a moment of silence from Ragatha, Jax finally spoke. “I'm gonna go.” 

“No, Jax wait,” but it was too late. 

Jax had gotten up and left, leaving the blanket behind as well. 

Chapter Text

Jax found this day to be more bearable than others. It was almost strange. He woke up feeling practically normal, only a small buzzing feeling in his arm reminded him that it was still there…

He felt strangely excited. 

He had a small skip in his step, as he thought about all of the things he might be able to do with all of this energy, and immediately got planning. 

Of course, he was up earlier than everyone else. Like his old normal. He immediately started gathering supplies and started setting everything up. 

This was gonna be a good day. 

~~~

Ragatha woke up from her sleep, still thinking about yesterday. She didn't know how to fix this. She wanted to fix this. 

She got up, opened her door, and- 

*SPLASH* 

A bucket of water fell directly on her head. 

“What the…” she mumbled, before hearing Jax a good twenty feet away. 

She was almost shocked, she hadn't been pranked by Jax in weeks now, and she didn't know what changed. 

“WOO!” he fist-bumped the air before running off, a smile plastered on his face as he went off to plan his next prank. 

“...huh…” she mumbled. It was a little strange seeing him this energetic in the morning. She couldn't find herself to be angry at him, just…curious. She almost wanted to just let him have his fun before he crashed again. 

After changing her clothes, she went out to cook breakfast to find…well, Jax creating some elaborate pranks which seemed to involve a bunch of almost unseeable string, marbles, and at least ten boxes, before sitting down at the table, waiting for his next victims. 

Ragatha almost wanted to let him have his fun but… 

“Jax,” she said, poking her head out of the kitchen doorway as she looked over at him. 

“Yeah raggs?” he replied back, practically shaking with excitement.

“I will make a deal with you.” she said, leaning on the doorway, “I won't interrupt or make your pranks fail this time if and only if you make them somewhat safe, capeesh?” 

“Who says you can find all of them?” he asked, as he leaned back in his chair. 

“There's at least five in this room and three more in the hallway, that's eight total,” ragatha replied without blinking, before going back to mixing the pancake batter. Jax isn't as slick as he used to be with his pranks, he's getting a little rust- “ACK!” she screeched. 

“Nine actually,” Jax said, not looking up from his hand, checking out his non-existent nails, as Ragatha freaked out from the fake centipede from the counter. “But what's in it for me? Won't that make it a little boring ?” he asked, a smile clear in his voice. 

“Jax if you do what I say I won't throw this cleaver at your head.” she snapped over at him, “how's that for a deal?” 

Jax’s face went blank, unreadable. Not smiling, not frowning, but a small bit of…shock? Surprise? Maybe…a little bit of pink on his face? She couldn't tell. 

Jax finally broke his gaze away from her and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “Oh common dollface, you wouldn't do tha-'' he practically fell as he heard the sounds of something silvery being picked up. 

Jax noticed ragatha walking a little faster out the kitchen. “On second thought,” Jax started, quickly getting out of his chair, "Maybe they could be safer, maybe I'm wrong and you're right and I will shut up now,” he said, quickly getting out of the chair as he started looking for pillows and whatnot.

Ragatha was left a little confused, as she put down the silverware on the table. It took her a few moments to realize what Jax had thought she was holding, and couldn't help but be amused. 

She had never seen him give in so quickly before today. 

~~~ 

This day was going to be a weird day. 

For one, Zooble didn't have to drag Jax out of his room, which they thought was a good sign for the most part. 

But this many pranks in one hour? Now that was weird. It was like he just had an infinite amount of energy today, which was the normal amount of energy for anyone in the circus but…

“Jax.” Zooble started, finally being able to catch up to Jax. “You. you’re strangely energetic today.” they started, not quite sure how to start this conversation properly. 

“Just felt like it today.” he shrugged off the concerns without a blink of an eye. 

“Yet you’re stressing about it,” Zooble observed, before sitting down on a nearby box. 

“...what? Why would I be stressed about something like that?” Jax then knocked on Zooble's head. “Hellooo? Zoobles common sense are you in there!” he asked obnoxiously, which made Zooble try to kick him, which he dodged. 

“Shut the f%$k up, you know what I mean.” Zooble glared at Jax, before sitting back down. “What I mean is that you’re acting like if you don't use all your energy now, you won't ever have it ever again or something.” 

Zooble noticed as Jax seemed to freeze. “That!” Zooble pointed at him. “You did it again! That- that thing you do.” 

“What thing ?” Jax sounded defensive, trying to stand straighter. 

“It happened after yours and- and Ragatha's argument at the weird f$#%king pumpkin town or whatever, you froze when she said something like- like she had caught you in something!” Zooble then motioned to all of Jax. “and you’re doing it again right now! Within all of the time I've known you, you’ve never been so worried about getting caught in a lie! Lying is literally your thing and you can't even do that!” 

A small moment of silence as Jax looked at Zooble quietly for a moment. 

“Awe,” Jax started, “you do care!” he leaned on Zooble’s shoulder, one hand to his heart as if it had warmed. “How sweet .” he taunted, before getting pushed off by Zooble. 

“Oh shut it jax. You know what I'm talking about and you…” Zooble sighed, before turning their back towards Jax. “Fine. nevermind. Keep your secrets, get abstracted for all I care.” 

Zooble didn't notice the way his smile faltered for a moment at their words. 

‘ Stop it.’ he thought to himself. ‘ You don't care about these people. You don't know them.’ he reaffirmed to himself. It was no good getting attached to anyone here. 

There was no point in it now. 

----(tw starting now, skip ahead if needed!)---- 

Jax had crashed sometime around noon, and before Caine had tried to call everyone for the next activity, Jax had already left for his room to get some rest, and maybe recharge a bit. 

That never worked anyway, but it was worth a shot. 

So, he fell asleep, keeping his eyes closed he slipped off into the nothingness he and everyone else was made from. 

When he finally woke up, he was dazed as usual. His body felt a little…feverish? Not exactly warm, but wrong. Weak. he could feel his heart more than usual, it felt both weaker and more noticeable. He felt like he couldn't sit up like his heart would skyrocket if he did, but he also felt… 

Like he was suffocating. Like pressure was on his chest and he couldn't breathe properly, even though realistically he could. Right? 

Sitting up he felt so so much worse, he had to bring a hand to his chest, afraid it might just jump out. 

‘Fuckfuckfuckfuck ’ he thought, ‘ is this supposed to happen? Maybe it's fine? Oh god.’  

‘ I'm gonna die here aren't I?’  

He stood up from his bed, leaning on the wall for support, his head so dizzy he felt he would fall if he even took one step. He took several gulps of air like he was drowning, and he had to sit down on the floor right in front of his door. 

That feverish feeling thankfully started to go away, and his heartbeat, while still fast, wasn't as much of a full-body feeling as it was moments before. His breathing hasn't calmed down as much as he would have liked, but that was okay. 

It's okay. 

He kept his head resting on the door, trying to square his breathing. Breath in for 2. Hold for 2. Out for 2. Repeat. 

Still can't breathe. 

----(tw over :>)---- 

‘ Fuck this’ he sighed, giving up on trying to calm his breathing with this stupid thing. He looked at the clock. 

1am  

Perfect. 

He snuck out of his room, walking towards the kitchen as quietly as he could, as it was the furthest place that had running water, as the showers were closer to the rooms. 

Someone would definitely wake up from that. 

Walking over to the sink, he quietly got some ice, a bowl, and turned on the sink faucet to the coldest setting. He did his best to keep the running water as silent as possible, and once it was full–

He dunked his head into the freezing cold water, before quickly bringing his face out with a gasp. 

Finally, he felt like he could breathe again. He took a few more deep breaths, appreciating being able to breathe again without having that suffocating pressure. 

“Couldn't sleep?” the sounds of Ragatha’s voice brought Jax out of his silence, and he nearly dropped the bowl. 

“No, just didn't feel like it.” he lied, as he was about to pour the ice water out, ragatha stopped him. 

“Let me borrow that for a moment,” she mumbled, before carefully taking the bowl without complaint from Jax. She then dumped her own face in the bowl to wake herself up. She let out a gasp as she pulled her face out of the water, a shiver going down her spine. 

Jax let out a little snicker. “What? Can't handle a little cold?” he quietly teased, making ragatha lightly punch him in his good shoulder. 

“Shush it, just trying to wake up is all.” She then poured the water out, quietly, flinching slightly as the ice cubes made a small clicking noise in the sink. 

She then started to quietly wash the bowl, and Jax couldn't help but watch her. “Why are you doing that?” he asked, though he thought he knew the answers. 

“ Well ” she started, her voice strangely teasing, “I was going to make cookies, but I found you using the only bowl large enough for the batter.” she was smiling as she started to use a good amount of soap for the bowl. 

“Cookies?” Jax chuckled. 

“Nuh-uh, none for you,” she said with a teasing smile, making Jax laugh. “Especially not with all of the pranks you pulled all day.” 

“Oh common, just one cookie, promise I won't do anything too evil tomorrow,” he said, as he leaned in but ragatha walked away, bowl in hand as she started to dry it. 

“Nope, not until you apologize to me for the prank,” she said, not even looking at him. 

“Awe, common, what do I have to do? Get on my knees and beg for forgiveness?” he joked, the words slipping out of his mouth like butter. 

Ragahta paused, the image of it popping into her mind before she could stop it, her face going red, to which Jax was not oblivious. 

“Oh rags! I didn't know you thought about me like that” he taunted, lightly punching ragathas shoulder. 

“Shut the f$%k up shush, shut it,” she quickly said, hiding her face in her hands. Jax let out a quiet laugh at her swearing, he wasn't sure if he had ever heard her swear before. He lightly patted her shoulder. 

“I know dollface, just a little teasing never hurts anyone,” Ragatha didn't need to look at him to know he was smiling at her pain. 

“God, just- shut up.” she sighed, before finally gaining her composure. 

“How about…” jax thought for a moment, before a small idea sprung in his head. “I'll make a deal with you. I help you make the cookies, and in return, I get to have one,” he paused. “Capeesh?” 

“You, throwing my own words back at me? How out of character,” she chuckled, before letting a small nod. “Deal,” she said, before getting out the flour, eggs, and other supplies. 

“Oh,” Jax then quickly added on, “and don't tell anyone I helped you, yeah? I’ve got a reputation to keep up!” 

Ragatha let out a tiny laugh. “I don't know…maybe sweeten the deal and I'll keep your secret?” she teased and Jax let out a small sigh. 

“I won't prank you for a whole day tomorrow,” he said, and Ragatha pondered it. 

“Hmm… add on ‘ fixing gangles mask’ tomorrow, and we have a deal,” she said with a smile, to which Jax made an exacerbated sigh. 

“Alright, alright fine, I won't prank you tomorrow and I'll fix gangles mask. Better?” 

Ragatha looked rather pleased with herself and nodded. “Very much so! Now, let's get started.” 

Jax, of course, was not much of a baker, even in the digital world. But that was fine as he was only helping her. She would tell him the ingredients to put into the bowl, before trying to stop him from putting a full tablespoon of salt into the bowl. 

“A pinch jax, a pinch of salt , like this,” she said, before grabbing a pinch with her fingers and putting it in. 

“Psh,” Jax waved a hand dismissively. “Why do you even need salt in cookies? It's cookies, they're supposed to be sweet , not salty ,” he said with the confidence of a man in an interview for a job that he has absolutely no qualifications for. 

“ Because salt is a natural flavor enhancer. If you don't add it, the cookies will just taste bitter.” Ragatha put the rest of the salt back as Jax seemed to think about what she said. 

“...oh yeah, I knew that. Was just testing you,” he said, looking away from her as he leaned back on the counter. He felt his face go red as she laughed at him a little. 

“Uh-huh, like how you knew that if you put the oven at a higher temperature the cookies would totally cook faster?” she teased again, making Jax want to curl up and die in a hole in the ground. 

“Well- not everyone can be a 5-star baker, Raggedy Ann,” he mumbled under his breath, more than a little embarrassed at his lack of knowledge. 

This, of course, wouldn't be the first, (or last), time that Jax nearly messed up the cookies, and not on purpose either, he just…well, sucked at baking.

“Jax,” Jax let out a small groan, knowing he was probably doing something wrong. 

“What did I do? All I did was mix the dry and wet ingredients together! How can I mess that up?” he asked, and ragatha had to try to try to hold in her laugh. 

“Nothing, nothing just…” She didn't know whether she should help him or let him figure it out himself but… “Just, maybe try to go a little slower?” she asked, holding a hand up to her mouth, slightly covering her smile. 

Jax's shoulders dropped with a sigh, as he started trying to mix them slower, but the slight bit of dough that fell from the bowl was enough to tell ragatha that he probably needed help. 

Jax could feel something brush past his sides and saw as one of Ragatha’s hands went for the bowl, and the other held on to the hand Jax used to mix the ingredients. 

“Like this,” she mumbled, and Jax could practically feel her breath on his ear. “Trust me, if there were a less awkward way to do this I would have chosen it.” she lets out another quiet laugh. 

Jax only gives a small nod, “yeah, obviously..” he mumbles quietly. After a few minutes, he lets his arm relax slightly, letting her take control for a moment, setting the speed.

“... I'm sorry about yesterday. If I made you uncomfortable or…” ragatha didn't know what else to say. 

“...i…” Jax went silent. Maybe it was from being sleep deprived, maybe the pain or dizziness, maybe all three, but for what might have been the first time ever… “It's not your fault. I was…just having a moment, or whatever the f$%k you call it,” he mumbled quietly, unable to look her in the eyes. 

“...do you think we should tell Caine? About the glitching?” ragatha asked, and she could feel Jax immediately freeze up. “You don't have to, just an idea.” 

Jax wasn't sure if he liked Ragatha being close enough to feel him freeze up like this, but…he didn't want to push her away either. 

“I don't think he could help,” he said, as he continued to mix, feeling as ragatha slowly started to let go of him. He truly didn't think Caine could help, even Caine’s world was flawed, bugs were everywhere, ones Caine couldn't fix. 

“If he can’t stop a flower pot from glitching into the ground how could he help…all of this?” Jax mumbled quietly, and ragatha went silent, leaning on the counter. 

“...well, then…” ragatha kept thinking. She wanted to fix this, to help fix him, and… “maybe we can fix it then.” she said, which made Jax pause. 

“...oh no, little miss fixer-upper doesn't think this can be fixed?” he chuckled silently. Jax had already come to this conclusion on his own, but it was…strange to see ragatha come to it as well. 

She was a fixer after all. 

“No! No not like- not like that. I guess I just…” she looked up at the colorful ceiling. “I don't know. I just think maybe we need a new perspective. Instead of coming at it from trying to fix it, maybe… I don't know.” she wanted to help, she really did. She just… didn't know how. 

Jax then cleared his throat, as if snapping out of the small bubble the two had made. “It's late, you’re probably tired. We could um, talk about this when we’re not on the verge of falling asleep,” he said, awkwardly trying to comfort Ragatha with an uncomfortable pat on the shoulder. 

He pulled his hand away, unsure of where to put his hands. 

Ragatha quickly nodded. “Yeah! Yeah, uh, let's- yeah,” she said, as she got the pans and parchment sheets out. 

Jax wanted to doubt whether a new perspective would help him. But he wanted to have hope too. 

Such a strange feeling that hope is. 

Such a strange one indeed. 

Chapter Text

Jax could see Gangle, who was sitting near a corner, holding Elmer's glue and tape in her hands as she tried to put her mask together again. 

“Go on,” Ragatha whispered, nudging him in the arm, motioning towards gangle. 

“I can't believe you’re making me do this,” he mumbled back, making ragatha let out a laugh. 

“You’re the one who sold your soul for cookies,” she replied back, and Jax just let out another sigh. 

“Fine, fine, you win,” he put one hand on his hip, before looking around making sure no one else would see him. Quietly walking up to gangle, he held out his hand. 

“Gimmie that,” he said as he sat down next to her. 

“...why?'' Gangle asked, holding the broken pieces a little closer to her, making Jax sigh. 

“Because I said so,” Jax replied before taking the mask out of her hands. “Elmer glue doesn't work well with ceramic masks, you should know this.” 

Jax carefully started to remove the tape and wipe off the glue from the mask, desperately trying to ignore the most blatantly obvious silence that covered the room. Gangle looked around, trying to find someone to make sure she wasn't going insane. 

She was half convinced that someone had taken him and replaced him with a changeling. 

“What?” he snapped her out of her thoughts. 

“Nothing! Nothing, just…" Gangle noticed as Jax seemed to be…repairing her mask? 

Now she was really confused. 

“Um,” she started quietly, pointing at her mask. “...why are you fixing my mask…?” 

“Sold my soul for cookies,” Jax shrugs, and Gangle only stares at him for a while. 

“...is Jax…?” Zooble asks, looking over a Kinger who has been staring at Jax for the past few days as if Jax was a bomb and he was waiting for him to detonate. 

“Huh? Oh! I suppose he is,” Kinger replied, not actually sure what he was replying back to. 

Zooble let out a small groan, before seemingly giving up on trying to figure Jax out. “Whatever, I give up,” they mumbled, before just sitting against the wall. 

They couldn't help but feel a sort of uneasiness, watching Jax. It wasn't because of the mask, or the way he set up the pranks yesterday, it wasn't because of the way Jax seemed to always be literally leaning on something for support as if dizzy or unbalanced, it wasn't the way he was seemingly in pain for no reason. 

It was the way he looked at people. 

He always had his cat-like look on his face, which wasn't a surprise, but in his eyes, he looked almost…desperate. Like he wanted to ask for help yet… 

He knew he couldn't. 

He had already pushed them all as far as possible since the beginning, he knew he couldn't ask them for help.

So of course he wouldn't. but Zooble, and frankly everyone in the circus at this point could tell something was wrong, even Pomni started asking questions. 

Zooble felt like he was hiding something big. Something important, like he was hiding something dangerous. 

Zooble felt as if they just continued nagging him, kept pressuring him, that eventually he would tell but even they knew they fucked up. 

“You seem worried,” Kinger started, unsure if he was saying the right thing. He sat down next to Zooble, to which Zooble sighed. 

“He’s hiding something. That f#$ker is hiding something and he won't even tell me! For f$%ks sake, I'm pretty sure ragatha knows what it is! Yet he won't tell me.” Zooble hated feeling like this. So frustrated and they just wanted to go back to not caring about Jax. 

“Maybe he is,” Kinger knew he should have told someone the moment he saw Jax's glitching arm, and yet… “Do you remember Queenie?” 

Zooble paused, before nodding slowly. “...yeah…” 

“She would say to be patient. Just… let him know you’re there if he needs you.” Kinger held his robe closer to his body. “Ragatha has that for him. Sure, he’s…extremely stubborn, goddess sake the boy usually can't hold still for longer than a minute before going off and causing mayhem.” Kinger pauses. “Where was I going with this?” he mumbled. 

“Something about patience,” Zooble replied, and Kinger nodded. 

“Yes! Yes, patience. You let him know he has the space if he needs it, and you wait. You don't want to try and force information out of him, he doesn't respond well to that at all.” 

Zooble seemed to take in Kingers information. “... I disagree. He won't ever tell me anything otherwise. He’ll just pretend we never had the conversation and leave it at that. I need to…” Zooble snapped their fingers. “I need to blackmail him.” 

Kinger let out a nervous laugh. “Uh- Zooble, I don't think-” It was too late, Zooble had already started to run off. 

“Thanks! Gotta go find some blackmail!” Zooble said, running past pomni. 

~~~ 

Jax hadn't been back here in a while. The walls were still white as always, the boxes were still brown, and the shelves were just the same as before.

Due to everything with the centipede, and the glitching, this was the only time he felt he could come back here. It was still…a little painful though. Physically at least. He knew he probably shouldn't be here, he could feel his energy drain more and more, if he was a newbie he probably would have abstracted from being in this room alone. 

But he always came here. This was, in a weird way, his place. This was where he would hide away when he wanted to be left alone, this was where he’d have his own little adventures in his mind when he would look through every nook and cranny, it was… familiar. 

He started to look through the boxes, shaking them and looking inside, curiously. He already had keys to everyone else's room, even those who did not reside here anymore. Now, the only key he needed belonged to “Pomni?” 

There was Pomni, a blank-eyed stare as she looked at Jax. “...why,” she said simply. She was obviously in her crisis phase, still trying to figure out how this place worked, and more than a little surprised at seeing Jax in the room. 

Jax then quickly said, “This isn’t an exit.” 

“Why not?” 

Jax just stared at her. “It's just storage space. Caine keeps all sorts of nicknacks and whatnot in the boxes. Not a lot of people go in here though.” he said simply, looking at her before getting closer. 

“What are you even doing here kid? Shouldn't you be with Raggedy Ann talking about feelings?” he asked, hand on his hip. “Or maybe you should be with crybaby talking about little drawings?” his voice sounded purposely condescending, and his words seemed to break Pomni out of her dissociative-like state. 

“Hey! Don't talk about them like that!” Pomni yelled at him, which only made him smile. 

“Hey, would you look at that? The fool does have a brain.” he stretched his arms before motioning to the exit behind him. “C’mon, you always use the exit from behind you- unless you make it to the computers, in which case you’re screwed until Caine finds you.” he walked backward and Pomni stared at him. 

She started to walk backwards too, and out the exit door to find herself back in the circus. 

“Tada! Now you’re not at the screen of death,” he patted her shoulder, ignoring how she seemed uncomfortable at the motion. “Now we are not going to speak a single word of this place, capeesh? Caine will have both of our heads if he finds out we’ve been in there, okay?” 

“...okay,” Pomni replied back, before Jax handed her…a cookie? 

“Great! Now go do…whatever you do in your free time…” he seemed to wave her off as he quickly walked away from her and the exit seemed to disappear after only a few moments. 

Pomni couldn't help to notice the limp Jax had, or the way his arm seemed to twitch. 

If she didn't know any better she’d say he was glitching. 

~~~~

Jax closed the door to his room quickly, before letting himself slide down the door, closing his eyes quickly. 

It was happening again. He could feel the glitching started to spread from his arm to his shoulder and, eventually, his whole body. 

It hurt. 

But it was normal. 

The only thing that really scared him was his heart, it was beating faster than it should, he could practically feel it through his whole body, he felt like death.

Usually, when glitching like this, he’d try to fall asleep, to rest. 

 but he couldn't help but get this overwhelming fear that if he did rest if he just closed his eyes for a moment, he’d never open them again. 

He knew it was irrational, he knew he wouldn't actually die. 

Yet everything kept getting worse. His body started to hurt more, he felt like he was in hell, and his body felt strangely warm. Overheating? He didn't know. 

He almost felt dehydrated, dizzy, and hyperventilating. Like a fish out of water. 

It’ll be fine. 

He’ll be fine. 

~~~ 

*knock…knock…knock…* 

Zooble slowly knocked on the door to Jax's room. “Jax? Uh…” They, unfortunately for them, couldn't find the blackmail they needed, and after thinking it over decided to at least try kingers lame idea. 

“I know we aren't friends.” Zooble started, “I hate you, you hate me, a mutual uh, hate-hate relationship.” 

When Zooble didn't get a response, they decided to continue to speak. “But uh… if you need to… communicate through the uh, audio made from vocal cords then um… I'll be right here. Or uh, in my room. Or wherever I am at any current moment.” 

Zooble didn't hear anything, and for a moment they wondered if Jax was even in his room. They got closer to the door, listening in quietly. 

They could hear a slight shuffling from the other side of the door, almost as if he was right against the door. “...jax could you say something? Anything?” Zooble had waited again before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Oh f$%k this, I knew this wouldn't work.” 

Zooble started to walk away, before pausing. A small look of realization crossed over their face, and they approached the door again. 

‘Still no lock…’ Zooble thought as they started to push the door slightly, Jax's weight being the only thing keeping them from opening it fully. 

“Jax, I know you’re there,” Zooble pushed against the door, yet the door felt… heavier? That doesn't make sense. Maybe Zooble’s just getting weaker. Maybe he blocked the door with some sort of furniture. “Fine then.” 

Zooble took a running start, throwing their whole body at the door, and finally, it opened just barely enough for Zooble to squeeze their way in. 

“God, jax what is up with you to...day… Oh god,” Zooble stayed frozen almost in fear. Looking at the creature who had far too many eyes, and mouths with too many teeth. 

“Z̷̢̥͈̜͉̣̘̻̼̽́͑̋̀̔͛͂̕o̴̡͎̩̓̊̇͑͌̂̃̽͘̕͠o̴̡͈̎̒̐͗̚b̴̨̛̳̜͇̩͎͓̠̫͖̱̅̑̈̈́̈̌̋͆͐͗̍͛͋͝l̸̤͈̦̞̖̑͋̄̆͊̍̿̄̑͝ȩ̴͎͚͈͓̞͍̞̖̥͕͓̊̆̌͋̀͋͐̈͌͘̕͝ “ 

Chapter Text

“Z̷̢̥͈̜͉̣̘̻̼̽́͑̋̀̔͛͂̕o̴̡͎̩̓̊̇͑͌̂̃̽͘̕͠o̴̡͈̎̒̐͗̚b̴̨̛̳̜͇̩͎͓̠̫͖̱̅̑̈̈́̈̌̋͆͐͗̍͛͋͝l̸̤͈̦̞̖̑͋̄̆͊̍̿̄̑͝ȩ̴͎͚͈͓̞͍̞̖̥͕͓̊̆̌͋̀͋͐̈͌͘̕͝ “ 

The creature reached towards Zooble, but they quickly moved away, squeezing out the door and running for their life. 

“F%$K F$^K F#$K F$%#K” Zooble didn't know how to feel, all they knew was that if it got them they would surely become like it. 

They quickly ran into the dinner, where they were most likely to find someone still awake at this hour. They had nearly fallen to the floor. “Someone get Caine right now!” Zooble yelled, “he- jax abstracted!” 

“What!” ragatha had immediately gotten out of the kitchen from the first yell.

“Oh dear,” Caine shook his head, “that’d be the second time this month! First Kaufmo, now Jax. Where is he?” 

A glitching, terrifying yell could be heard from down the halls, all the way to Jax’s room. 

“Ah, found him!” his voice was singing songy as he went down the hall, with ragatha running ahead of him. Opening the door, she saw him. 

“This is my fault,” she whispered, a tear escaping her eye. “Oh god this is my fault,” she took a step back. ‘I should have told someone. I shouldn't have kept this a secret, I should have gotten him help sooner,” all of these thoughts ran through her mind. 

“Stand back ragatha! I've got this handled.” Caine said, and Ragatha could only stare at what used to be Jax. 

Caine snapped his fingers and Jax’s abstracted form disappeared. 

At least it was supposed to. 

Instead, the creature now known as Jax didn't seem to change in the slightest. It was still letting out these almost inhuman yells, animalistic maybe. 

But not dangerous. 

Caine let out a nervous laugh and snapped his fingers again. “Uh, ha- that happens sometimes, but do not fear!” he snapped his fingers again, before realizing it wasn't going to work. “Um, ma-maybe we should all just get out of here and leave him be-” 

“d̷͈̐̄̂͘͝ő̶̧͔̤̻̞͓̥̮̃ͅn̷̨̛̛̘̠̼̦̗̝̰͔͖̝͚̞̆̉́̆͐̎͑͒̏͜͠ț̵̓͂̀̈́ ̴̧̮͇̺̮̿́̚l̷͍̣͉̖̓͊̔̊͂̋̏́̍̔ǫ̷̛̙͓͓͙͉̫̩͈̞͍͉̳̎͗̆̏̾͂̈́̽̀̑́̓ó̸͉̞̭̜̖͕̳̯̊̎͠ḵ̷̢̡̛͇̩̻͚̘̗͐̌̔̂̓̀̑͐̉̓̾͒̅̊ͅ ̸̖̱̮̥̅̆̿ȧ̴̢̡͙̤͔̯̳̲̙̙̏͌͂̉͛̓̅͋̉̌̾̌̃͝t̴̡̤̹͍̗̮̑̅̌̿͝ͅ ̶̧̨̦̰̝͙̖̳̖̄̄̂͆͜m̸̬̈́͑̽̑͌̄̍̔̎̇̕͘e̵̦̦̱̻̳̰͕̤͔̞̟͐́̾́̓̉̌́̈́͗͘…”

The creature had whispered, breaking ragatha out of her trance. 

Ragatha looked back at the creature. “... what?” she mumbled. Caine seemed just as stumped as her. 

“Ah- a talking abstract! Never- never had that happen before!” Caine was on the verge of freaking out himself, not knowing what to do at all. This isn't normal, none of this was normal and yet it was happening before their very eyes. 

“Jax?” Ragatha whispered, but Caine grabbed her arm, trying to bring her out of the room. 

“That's not Jax” Caine stated quickly, "I don't know what's going on but-” 

“D̷̩̼͉̳͇͉̳̮̖̼͊̆́Ǫ̵̩̤͇̩̱̝͒̃Ṅ̵̰̮̭̦̮͍̳̮͔̫̫̙̃̓̈͊̓́T̶͙̰̱̪̪̻͎̞̰̼̯̲̬̤̚ͅ.̵̡̛̩̫͔̱͖̤̦͓̑̐̐̓̍̓͊.̸̢̧͚̫̲̯͔̥͔̦̹̗̺́̏͗̋̿̏̑́̈́͗͒̂̊̀.̴̜̤̿̀̌̄̚d̷̛͓̟͇̟̰̼̳͈̀͋̆̂̀͗͌́̋͛̒͑̕ͅͅo̸̤̤̹̗̰͙̦̬̣̠͇̥̳̓͜͝ͅn̴̠̻̠̙͉̐͒͆͐̍t̵̢̨͉̤̟̗͈͖̫̻̄̈́̆͜͜͝ͅͅ ̵̺̥́̑̽l̵͖̱̖̯̟̒͌͝ȏ̴̗͈͖̭̘̼̳͇̭̣̌̈͌̇͜͜ȯ̵̧̬̤̼͉̘̤̮̹̝̜̟͇̺̔̋͊̏͗k̵̤̟̟͉̟̙̲̬̭͎̥̣̺̦̤̿ ̴̝̬̟̩̘̟͈̻̹̝̖̈̆̌̄̈́̈́̍͐͝ä̴̦́̈́̏̎̕ț̸̨͔̩̘͉͇̲͋́̆͂͑̆͂̍̿̔̕͝ͅ ̸̡͈̳̖͚͚̻͋̈́̈́̓̕m̵̛̤̰̙̈́̐̈́̋̇̇̊̉̒͝e̸̖͈̘͔̖̖͎̼̤̹̘͂̌̏͝ͅ” 

The creature was almost wheezing, and Ragatha couldn't help but reach out a hand. Caine pulled her away, but not before she managed to barely graze the creature's hand. 

If he had abstracted normally, it would have spread to her. 

But this wasn't abstraction.

Not quite. 

“Let go!” she yelled at Caine, before pulling away fully, stepping dangerously close to the creature, who seemed to move further into the corner. “Jax, can you hear me?” 

“d̸̨̡̙̰̗̦͎̫̰̲̥̀̌͝ọ̸̡̪̤̳̿̀̊̌̇́̏͘͝͝n̸̢̼̹̯̍̍̓́͆̓̋͂̏̓t̸̖̟̖̻̑̈́͆͌̈́͗̌̇ ̵̧̝̰̞̼͚͕̲̓́̈̎̓̇̕̕͜ͅl̴̪͙̻̆̇ǫ̸̢̡͉̥̯͈͎̰͓̞̥͖̂̅̒́͌͆́̌͝͠ͅǫ̸̧̳̪̝̹͎̿̓̈̈́̂̀̀̅̒̓̕͝͝ͅk̸̪͖̤͈̘̤̠͉͈͖͛̇̌́̆̀̄́͝ ̷̛̳͎̗̱̖͙̋̋̽̂̓̾͑̉̓̅͒̕͝ą̷̨̞̝̘̽̔͌̽̓͆͑̌̅̓̃̚͜t̴̡̗̫̗̮̲͎̜̯͍̗̼͛͒̈̎̈́̂̍͝ ̵̨̢̨̳̬̤̪͚͎̻̳̗̎̊̇̓͋m̶̞͔͎̗̎͂̌͛͗͐̎̀̒̋͑͗̋͠͝ê̵̛ͅ” 

That seemed to be all that the creature would repeat. 

Unlike Kaufmo or any of the other abstractions, Jax couldn't seem to move…at all really. Not without letting out some sort of inhuman scream. 

“Okay, I won't then,” she said, before sitting down on the ground in front of him. With this new information, ragatha felt…not exactly relieved but there was surely more hope than before. 

A girl with ribbons seemed to catch up to the two of them, as well as Kinger, Pomni, and eventually Zooble. 

“R-ragatha! What are you-” Gangle started, before getting cut off by ragatha. 

“He's not gone. And he can't hurt me,” ragatha stated calmly, hoping to at least attempt to calm everyone, especially this abstracted Jax who seemed to only run on instincts as of right now. “See?” she carefully, but a little awkwardly, patted what she assumed was Jax’s shoulder. 

“Why…?” Zooble mumbled to themselves, before finally stepping into the room. “Do you think he’s…?” 

“Maybe…” Ragatha whispered her hands now both back in her lap. 

Zooble couldn't help but feel disturbed. This didn't look like Jax, it didn't sound like Jax, there was no way that this was Jax. 

Right? 

The creature seemed to be facing the wall still, avoiding eye contact with ragatha. “Jax…? Are you okay?” She knew the answer was no, but she asked anyway, hoping to get some sort of response from him. 

D̸̨̧̰̪͍̟̫͎̠͓̬̓̊̈͜͜y̷̨̡̛͚̘̺̙̬̰͋̓̇͒̇͊̔̒͌̾̈́̚͠͠į̶͎̖͖̘̯͎̲̘͖̭͈̻͎̅̋̿̋͗̏̇̂͜͝ṇ̶̢͕̲̏́̀͊̓̂g̶̛̖̻̠̬̠̱͙̫̘̮̭̱̭̰̍̾̎͝ͅ?̷̛̹̀͑͛͗͑̔̊̑̾͠” 

It took ragatha a few seconds to process what the creature had asked. what Jax had asked.  

“No, no no you- you’re not dying, you’re okay,” she whispered, hoping to offer some comfort. However, Jax shook what ragatha could only assume was his head. 

“N̶̛͕̫͔̤̭̓̋͋̽́̕ở̷̯̗̟̖͈͑́̌̒̍͘͝-̷̧̺̤͚̻̹̖̩͙͂̓͗͊͊͜ ̷̢̡̤̠̲͎͇͉̞̺͈̠̜̣̐̇͋͝͝ń̵̨̫̲̯̲̞̫̻͔̖͋͑̐́́̒̌̆͘͝o̵̝̦͉̥̠̙͂̄̒͜ ̵̝͇͙̘̺̪́͆̒͐̈͛́̆̒̕̚͠n̵̨̛̛͈̘̱̜͕͇̬̣̟̐͂̿͒͂̒͂̈́̌́͌͠ǫ̵̘̳̝͔͉͗́̊͑̋͑͂͌́͌̓͘͝ͅ,̶̟͕̬̫̗̎͗͛͂̎͐̒̋̕͠͠ ̷̢̡̛͇̘͕̱̹̞͓̜̃̈́́͑̀͆̾̓̅ͅd̷̯͖̋̒̊̉̀͊͋̈̿̄̎̐͘͠y̵̨̢̛͓̺̘̙͇͎͚͖͖͈̓̾͂̑̋̾͘͠͠ȉ̵̡̠̬͔͉̖̪͙͙̭̦̻͎́ń̵̨̞̫̻͈̱͓̰̃́̾̓̄̃͆̏̐̐͛͒̽̚ģ̵̧̣͔̜͉̦̬̖̳̳͍̫̩̫͛̇͋̏̾̔͂̋̑͆̍,̴̡̮͓̥̳̳̪͔̘̮͌͛͝ ̴̨̡̨̡͎͓̩̺͍͔̝͉͂͂̈͐̀͋̍̌̑͘d̴̦͓͕̭̺̻̉̈́̾̌̎y̵̧̞͕̞͌͆͛̒ḭ̷̳̔́͗͋̓̋̉̿̃̎̈́͒͆̕͝ņ̸͎͇̝͕̦̱͕̗͉̮̫̹͋͜g̵̨͎̤̦̗̭̝͈̝͍̐̃͋̈́͆́̀͌͛̽͆̂̌͋̕͜ ̷̡̛̱̗͔͍̦̖̭͎̖͔̼̺̮̑͊̀͝d̶̡̼̥͍̼͓͚̭̤͉̹͓̏̿́̀̐͋̊̃̈́̈̋ͅy̴̛̹̭̳̲͒͆͂̏̓̈̽̓̊̌̕͝͠i̴̹̥͇̓̎́̂̇͗̓͆͛̏̒̇̚͘͝ň̵̢̨̛̻͎̹̘͎̱̺̯͙̦͙͖́̊̑̐͐̎̋͝͠ǧ̴̢̧̡͎͉̲͉̯̣͚̬̑͆̓̏͒̍” 

Jax kept hitting his chest with his ‘hand’ and it was clear he was struggling to breathe. His voice was getting more glitchy, more 

desperate, and terrified. The others in the room didn't know what to do. 

Comforting Jax was something they never needed to do before. He was mean, smug, and always calm. 

How do you comfort someone who doesn't want your comfort? 

“c̸̢̢̡̯͖͎̠͈̬͔̮͔͚̩͈̆͆̌̀͛̀͋ạ̶̢̛̛̠̠̝͈̳̀͌̓̑͛̓̚ͅn̵̖̬͇̈́̐͛ṯ̷̢̡͉̪̱̠̫̙̣̩̉̀̕ ̷̧͍͎̉͂͆̀̆̾͗̽̎͊̅͌͘̚͠b̴̨̨̧̬̭̜̻̞͓̯͉̩̱̳͚̀̔͐ŗ̴̨͕̩͕̐̓͋̄͆̍͒́̊͝͝ȩ̶̙̞̺͚̖̓̒̊̾ḁ̵̙͕̬͈̝̣̺̹͇͐̈̍͗̄̈́̈̾ṫ̵̨̘͉͍̥̣͉̠̌͒͐̈̿͝͠ḧ̸̛̘͚́̀͗͐́͌͊̋̾̽̈́̀͋”

Okay, he can't breathe. That was something she could work with. “Okay, okay, we’ll help with that, right guys?” Ragatha asked as she looked behind her towards the others, and they all simultaneously looked at each other with a ‘what the fuck am I supposed to do?’ face. 

“Uh, Pomni!” ragatha said, looking over at Pomni, “how about you go boil some water yeah? Make sure it steams and um… gangle, come here, and help me distract him while Kinger and Zooble can look for something to relieve some pain, like ice or um… something warm? Preferably multiple methods.” 

~~~

Pomni had started to boil some water. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't help but feel almost a little guilty. 

Did she like Jax? Hell no! But she knew she had seen his arm glitching, she wasn't insane and she should have told someone sooner. That's how she felt at least. 

With the water finally boiling, she headed back towards Jax’s room, to find… 

Jax. 

Or, something that looked more like Jax at least. Half of his body was still this abstracted-looking creature, while the other half looked a little more like Jax but… extremely glitchy.

Still struggling to breathe too.

 Zooble and Kinger hadn't been back yet, but ragatha seemed to be doing fine with calming him down enough. 

Kinda. 

“Jax,” Ragatha whispered to him, “can you stand?”  

Jax shook his head, pulling away from her, “No, no no it- it ḩ̷͍̭͇̭̱͖͈̫͔̰̩̓́̈́̐̿͋̈́̉̄͛̊͘͝͝ṵ̸̹̜̞̬̙͍̝̮͍̥̗͕̍͐r̴̗̘͙̒̒͒͋͗ẗ̴̡̺͔̼͙͓̱́̎̒̔͗ͅs̶̨̜̏̏̉̊̄̀͝ͅ i cant ị̵̰̹͈̽̆͝ ̴̫͉̤͌̑̽̈̽̃̈̆̚ͅc̴̡̙̬̗̰̠̭͈͖͒͐̉̂̌̚̚ạ̸́͐̏̊̆̈̔̍̊̂͛̈̏͒͘ń̶͉̣͎̥̪̰͙̝̮̞̺̭̏̎̄̂ţ̷͕͈̞̬͇͙͓̺̝̗̦̮̽́̐̊͋̇̈͌̃̔̕͝͠ͅ ̴̨̝̙̪̤̜̻̦͐̓̓̍̍̒̂̐̅̌͘͠ḯ̷͇̳̝̰̓̋̈̍̆ ̶̡̝̳͓̱̖̼̱͈͍̞̔̍͑͜͜c̴̨̛͙̦̮̦̫̈̄̆͗̋͑̍̈́ą̸̧̫̮͍͙͇̜͚͚̯̦̒̀̀͐̆̈́͊̃̽͘̚͜n̷̤̝̱̐̅̽͊̌͛̄̔́̄͘͜t̷̺͍̪̱̹͓̼͓̗͍̍̃̿͂̀͑͒͛̍-̵̛̗͕̯̽̀̒̇” 

Ragatha looked over at Pomni with pleading eyes, to which Pomni thankfully got the message. 

“Okay well…” ragatha started, “Me and Pomni are going to help you stand-” 

“No- n̸̛͕̿̽̊̈͐̑̈́̄̏̆́͂̚̕o̸̧̥̖̞̙̭͙̦̫̗͖̥͑ͅn̴̺̿̇̀̇̾̉̓̃̎͂̎̚̚ộ̵͎͓̙̝̤̯͎̫͇̟͒͜ͅͅņ̶̠̦̲͉̱͚̰͕͇̳̰̄͐͊o̵̗̝̼͙̗̯̣̽̔̅͊̒ i just- leave ṃ̷̻̝͈̤̱͇̹̰̝͈͖͉̐̈͌̀͋͊̒͋̆̽͘̚ę̷̨̠̣͖̣̪̗͙͔͕̫̪̟̮͆̆̈́͛́͑̽͐̊͝͠ alone, ill be fine,” Jax scrambled for an excuse. 

His body felt like it would crumble underneath him at any second and he felt like even the slightest movement would cause his body to flair up. 

Zooble had been standing at the doorway for a few moments now, just watching the scene unfold. Jax still didn't quite look like himself. Personality wise at least.  

Zooble then butted into Ragatha's and Jax’s conversation “You’re still wheezing. Listen to her.” Zooble then brought over… the heated blanket Jax had left behind. The one Kinger had given him before. Zooble plugged it into the wall, and it was too far to reach Jax. 

“C-come on jax,” Gangle started “i-it’ll only take a few minutes, right ragatha?” Gangle didn't know what ragatha was planning, but she hoped that at the very least they could convince Jax to move. 

“Yep! Just a few minutes," Ragatha replied, carefully helping him stand up with the help from Pomni. 

Bringing Jax over to the boiling water, Ragatha helped him breathe in some of the steam. 

He grabbed hold of the counter for a little more support, breathing in the steam, some of the wheezing from earlier had started to go away. 

“I hå̵̡̱̞̝͙̆̓̊́̈́͊̔̐͐͘͘͜͝te this,” he whispered, before practically collapsing onto the floor. He had not fainted, but he had no more strength to hold his body up. He leaned back onto the cabinets keeping himself upright. He looked up at the ceiling, and ragatha simply sat next to him quietly. 

“I know,” she whispered back, watching him as he closed his eyes, holding his body close to himself. 

Pomni looked over at Ragatha, hoping to have some sort of guidance on what to do. 

“Pomni?” Kinger whispered, surprising Pomni a little. Kinger seemed to have something in his hand…

~~~

Jax woke up with a headache. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. 

His body felt like it was on fire with pain, and his arm, of course, was still glitching out of control underneath the blanket. But it was calmer now, and he felt like he could at least sit up without a problem. 

He was in his room. What was he doing before this? 

‘I thought I fell asleep on my floor…’

 he thought. Maybe he remembered wrong, maybe he did get the energy to go back to his bed. 

Maybe he was fine. Maybe everything was fine- “You F$%king Dumb@#s!!” he could hear Zooble yell at him, making him practically jump out of his skin. 

“..wha..?” his brain felt like it was full of static, as he used his energy to try to sit up, having only half a mind to remember to keep his glitching arm hidden from view. Finally getting a good look around his room, nearly everyone was in there, watching him like a hawk. 

He let out a groan. “Why are you all here? I never invited you all for some sort of sleepover…” he mumbled, before collapsing back onto his bed. 

“What?” Zooble asked, their voice full of annoyance and…concern. “Do you not remember f%king abstracting?” they yelled.

“Zooble!” ragatha scolded. 

Jax's whole body froze, and he looked back at Zooble. “...I abstracted?” he asked as he looked back at everyone else in the room. None of them looked him in the eyes. 

“Not quite.” Caine butted in. “or- yes? But no. It's…complicated but I think I know what might have happened.” 

“You- actually, can everyone get out.” Jax started, but everyone didn't move an inch. “Let me rephrase that; get out.” 

Still, no one moved. Jax put his head in his good hand, letting out a sigh. “Fine, you know what, I'll just-” Jax stood up, blanket keeping his arm still hidden, making everyone else immediately stand up as well in concern. 

Jax looked at them all dumbfounded, like they had all grown an extra head. 

“...uh…” he looked at them all, before sitting back down on his bed. “Never mind then…” he mumbled, before looking back over at Caine. “Are you sure I'm the sick one? Because they’re the ones acting weird as f$@k,” he whispered loud enough for everyone else to hear him. 

Zooble let out a frustrated groan, “Jax! Could you take this seriously?” 

“Cool it Mx.microphone for vocal cords, it's not like I'm dying,” he waved off Zooble's concern, before leaning back onto the backboard. 

“W-well” Gangle whispered, “y-you thought you were. Dying that is.” 

“Oh did I now?” Jax asked rhetorically. “Then what happened? Screamed and cried-” his sarcastic comment was cut off by Zooble. 

“Yes! Yes you 

did scream! Like some- some f%$king dying animal and it terrified the rest of us! We didn't know what was going on with you and Caine couldn't fix it and you- you were just- just dying in front of us and-” Zooble let out a frustrated scream into their hands. They sat back down on the chair next to Jax’s bed. Was that chair always there? 

Jax stared at Zooble quietly, unsure of what to do. Comfort them? He was never good at that. Bully them?... they’d probably get more upset. 

“...well.” Jax looked away, towards a wall. “I didn't know you cared that much,” he playfully teased, carefully nudging Zooble's shoulder. 

“Me f#%king neither,” Zooble mumbled back with a sigh. 

A few more moments of silence before Jax spoke up again. “But seriously can you guys get out of my room for like 10 minutes? I'm not gonna die or whatever. Just gonna… talk to Caine.” 

Begrudgingly, they all seemed to leave the room slowly, everyone piling out slowly. 

“So, as I was saying…” Caine started, clearing his throat, “It wasn't a…normal abstraction you experienced.” 

Caine paused, unsure of how to continue his train of thought. “well. A normal abstraction is essentially your mind going…insane. However this… this wasn't from your mind.”

Jax sighs annoyed. “I could have told you that,” he already knew all of this information, it felt needless for Caine to tell him this. 

“So what kind of abstraction was it?” jax then asked Caine, hoping to get to the bottom of this. 

Caine made some… uncertain hand movements. “Well. You see, I didn't think this type of abstraction was possible. Normal abstraction is from the mind and this type… more like a literal glitch in the system of sorts.” 

Jax tried to look like he wasn't listening as carefully as he was, looking at the wall and whatnot. “So, a virus.” 

“Not…quite. A virus I could prevent or stop it from getting worse but… a glitch? I have no power over those.” 

“Woo!” Jax sarcastically made jazz hands, “I'm screwed!”

“No, no you’re uh- you're not… well-” Caine was cut off by a laugh from Jax.

“Chill out Caine,” Jax shrugged, seemingly unbothered by this new information. “I kinda already accepted this would be my life.” 

Caine went quiet. He didn't know what to do, there was seemingly nothing he could do. 

“Well…” Caine looked away. “I should probably get going then.” 

“Alright then,” Jax replied. 

He watched as Caine left the room, silence overtaking it. 

Jax wobbled up from his bed and locked the door before anyone else could make their way inside. 

.

.

.

Chapter Text

‘ Today will be fine’  

These were the words that Jax continued to repeat to himself in his head as he tried to ignore the stares from everyone else. From the moment he left his room, to the theme song, to starting today's adventure, he could feel the stares as people watched his every move. 

‘ If I just act like everything is fine, then they’ll stop worrying and-’ he stopped his thought process for a minute, before wanting to throw himself against a wall. ‘ Great, now I sound like ragatha.’  

He barely paid attention as Caine explained the next adventure, his focus mainly on his posture. 

‘ Stand straight’ he thought to himself as he found himself starting to slouch slightly. He put his hand on his hip, hoping to emulate his typical ‘ im very normal’ Jax-like posture. 

“Jax,” Zooble whispered over to him, also not paying any attention to Caine. Jax froze up slightly, hoping to dear god that Zooble wouldn't ask him about how he was doing, or point anything out. “Have you noticed Gangle and Pomni hanging out more often?” 

He felt relief at the question and looked over. Pomni and Gangle were standing closer to each other. “Crybaby and little miss paranoid?” Jax replied, and Zooble nodded. “That sounds like a recipe for disaster.” 

“Exactly!” Zooble seemed almost a little more energized than usual. “Pomni has accidentally made her cry a few times, to which she practically scrambles around to fix whatever she did-” “And then Pomni starts crying too?” Jax said, and Zooble nodded. 

 “yeah, and then Kinger will come by and…” Zooble continued to ramble on about the three of them, every so often going on separate tangents. 

Zooble wasn't usually as talkative as they were right now, Jax wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise, but he didn't need to. It was kinda… nice to have Zooble talk to him like this, to distract him from his thoughts. 

Not only that, but he was also updated on a bit of the latest…drama per-say. 

“No he did not, did he?” Jax asked, and Zooble nodded. 

“Not only that but he made Pomni walk on a tightrope over lava, oh and then there were the centipedes, oh god you should have seen ragathas face, she nearly tore Caine a new one!” 

“She talked back to Caine like that?” Jax couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh, “I thought I was the only one she would yell at,” he joked, one hand on his chest as if he was offended. 

“Exactly, it was so surprising, I think she even shocked Caine a little.” 

Jax wasn't able to reply as Caine cleared his throat, staring at the two of them. 

“Jax… uh…” Caine looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't. “Well. I was thinking, since the whole… event that happened yesterday…” 

Jax felt himself freeze up again. He stood up straighter, looking Caine right in the eyes. He wondered if he could make Caine feel uncomfortable enough to drop the topic. “What event?” Jax asked, tilting his head at Caine. 

Caine seemed to hesitate more, and Jax could feel the stares, the way the others had all of their focus on him and Caine. 

“Well- you know. The thing that happened yesterday…” Caine’s hands seemed to move around more, and Jax just continued to stare unblinking. 

“I don't know what you’re talking about. Maybe you’ll want to remind me?” Jax asked, watching as Caine refused to look him in the eyes. “Well then, I guess that settles that then.” 

Jax stared at Caine more before turning back to Zooble, “Anyways, what did she say? Was it just general yelling or…” Zooble didn't respond for a few seconds, before seemingly snapping out of it. 

“Oh, she tore into him,” Zooble had replied, also attempting to have life go back to normal. At least for now. “I swear she was gonna bring out a book showing the exact rule in the Geneva Convention that Caine broke or something.” 

“Really? Dam,” Jax let out a laugh, watching Caine from his peripherals as Caine seemed to finally back off. 

Back to normal again. 

Just how he liked it. 

~~~

The adventure had been simple enough, and it was over within an hour or so.

This was a good thing for Jax, he wouldn't have to be in pain trying to keep up with everyone else or spending so much energy hiding the physical pain he was in. 

Still… he couldn't help but find today almost… 

Boring. 

Other than trying to act normal, which on its own took energy, there seemed to be nothing else to do other than be stared at. 

‘ Maybe I should just become a hermit crab’ Jax pondered for a moment, fidgeting around with an old pen he found underneath one of the many colorful boxes that lay around the circus. Jax wondered if there was any paper anywhere nearby, but there wasn't any. 

He didn't particularly like drawing, it wasn't a hobby of his, if anything he found it silly. 

That's what he would tell gangle, as well as anyone else who would ask. 

Technically he wasn't lying, he didn't have a hobby in drawing, but sometimes when you make some sort of elaborate prank you need a little bit of a layout, a blueprint of sorts.

He looked around, no one was around, all likely doing their own things. 

‘ ...a small doodle wouldn't hurt…I could wash it off afterward…’

…so he started doodling on his arm. First just a single spiral, around the spot on his arm where the centipede had originally bitten him near his wrist. 

He then started to draw a circle near a different portion of his arm, before turning that circle into a bucket. 

….And then adding a rope to the bucket. And then connecting to rope to a door, to which he then connected the original bucket to another rope which was attached to flour, and above that he put some feathers and- 

And then he ran out of space on his arm. 

Jax finally stood up, finding just a little bit of energy, walking to the kitchen to wash the ink off of his arm. No one was around thankfully.

“T-that's nice,” Jax nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Gangle's voice break the silence. 

“Hm?” he looked over at her, trying to fake confusion as he kept his drawn-on arm out of view. 

“The drawings,” ‘ Ah, fuck’ Jax would think to himself as gangle pointed the drawings out. “They’re nice,” Gangle continued and Jax turned back towards the sink, keeping his eyes down. 

“I didn't draw them,” he stated quickly, as he started washing them off as fast as he could. 

“Oh…” she whispered, watching Jax quietly. “Well… can you tell the person who made them that I think they’re pretty?” 

“...no….” the drawings were finally off his arms and he started quickly walking away just barely making it out of the kitchen door before nearly tripping over Pomni. 

“Sorry!” Pomni squeaked before going into the kitchen. Jax looked over at her with slight confusion but didn't say anything until he noticed ragatha also heading past him toward the kitchen.

“Did I miss a memo or something? Having a sleepover in there or something?” Jax asked, looking back towards the kitchen. 

“Oh! Just promised them that I'd make something for them, nothing too fancy," Ragatha shrugged, motioning towards her sewing kit. “I was going to do it in my room, but it's a bit crowded in there right now, and no one's really ever in the kitchen, other than me or bubbles, so we figured it’d be fine.”

“Huh…” Jax thought to himself quietly. “Whatcha making then?” He noticed the cloth she was holding in her hands. 

“Bows!” ragatha smiled profoundly, “Gangle mentioned that she liked my bow and I told her I'd teach her how to make one, and then Pomni- well, Pomni didn't outright say she wanted to join, but her eyes said it all, you know how it is.” 

Ragatha watched Jax’s reaction with curiosity. She then, after a moment asked, “Would you like to join us?” 

Jax let out a laugh, “no, no bows really aren't my style,” he stated as he pretended to do a hair flip, making ragatha let out a small laugh herself. 

“Well you could just sit and watch if you wanted, maybe learn a thing or two.” ragatha offered, and jax… he seemed to contemplate it. 

“Well, I have nothing better to do than mess with you guys.” 

Three steps into the kitchen, and ragatha let out a yell. 

“Centipede!” she screamed, jumping on one of the chairs. 

It looked… familiar. 

The very same centipede that bit him before. 

She noticed as Jax went towards the centipede. “Jax I swear to god I will end your bloodline if you pick that centipede up.” 

Jax let out a laugh. “Oh please, my bloodline was ending with me either way,” he chuckled, as he picked the centipede up, before quickly putting it into a jar, almost slightly nervous. “There, see? Can't harm you now,” he said, shaking the centipede around in the jar slightly. 

Ragatha couldn't help but notice the slight shakiness that was in his voice as he held the jar with the centipede, but she figured she was just imagining it. 

“Jax-” “Relax dollface,” Jax said, cutting her off as he put the jar on the kitchen counter. “See? Can't hurt you,” he said, though it wasn't really to comfort her. 

It was more for himself. 

Of course, the others didn't know this fact, they didn't need to. 

Jax watched silently from the kitchen counter he sat on, watching as the girls started to search for which color ribbons they wanted to use. 

Jax wasn't lying when he said he didn't want to make a bow, but he wasn't messing with any of them either. He wanted to, he already had a million and one ways to do so, but he wasn't.  

It was nice. Being quiet in a space filled with people, although it was only four people total, it still had people in it. 

The girls were all talking about ribbons, which ones would match who, which ones could be considered an accent color, and whatnot. 

Ragatha then pulled out a pinkish-red shiny ribbon. It wasn't small, it was wide and long enough to cover someone's waist, and it would likely have to be cut to size. 

Ragatha then said “I forgot I had this one! God, I've been meaning to use it for ages now but can never find the right project for it.” she sighed, before putting it back down. “Oh! Do you think a yellow bow would look good with you?” Ragatha asked Pomni, and Pomni nodded. 

Jax went back to Zoning out, staring at the centipede in the jar as he wondered how upset Ragatha might be if he decided to prank her by hiding a million of those tiny creepy dolls in her room. 

Pomni had, of course, gone with the yellow bow, and Gangle had gone with one of the red ones to match her already red ribbons.  

“...sooo jax…” ragatha started, holding something behind her back. “I have a small favor to ask of you…” 

Jax looked up at Ragatha, “Really now? Is it actually small or are you just pulling my leg?” he asked, as he playfully tilted his head. 

She pulled the red and pink ribbon out from behind her back, “I just want you to model this…? I mean, just to try and get an idea of how it could be used for future reasons.” 

Jax rolled his eyes slightly, about to say no before pausing. “...well if you really want me to,” he shrugged, before jumping off the counter, and Ragatha couldn't help but smile. 

“Thank you, now come over here! I think there's some sort of mirror hidden in this closet…” ragatha scavenged through the kitchen door closet which held cleaning supplies, metal bowls, and at the very back of it a body-length mirror. 

Jax looked at her like she had cut her arm off. “Why is that in there?” 

Ragatha just shrugged. “Sometimes the circus just has things in weird places.” 

Jax opened his mouth before pausing. “...actually yeah, that checks out.”  

Ragatha had Jax stand in front of the mirror for her, as she started to style it on him. At first, she tried to do some sort of bow behind the head, to which it ended up flopping over due to its weight, so she tried to make it smaller and it still looked… kinda funny. 

“Hm… how about around the waist,” she mumbled to herself as she took the bow off of him. 

She started to loosely wrap the bow around his waist twice, just to keep the length under control before she pulled on it, tightening it. 

“Oh wow,” Ragatha mumbled, making Jax turn his head to look over at her. 

“What is it?” Jax asked, noticing how red ragatha looked. 

“Nothing! Just, I didn't think the ribbon would um…” ragatha seems to struggle with her wording. “...you’re leaner than I thought.” she blabbers out. 

“...leaner?” Jax asks, as looks back at the mirror. 

“Like… well. You’re waist." Ragatha starts tying the bow off as her blush finally calms down. “I didn't expect it to be like that.” 

“You like my waist,” Jax states with a laugh. He was mostly just joking, he didn't expect any sort of serious answer. 

“...you could say that.” Ragatha then removes the ribbon from his waist, clearing her throat. “I mean, from a fashion standpoint everyone loves a good waist right?” Ragatha wanted to facepalm herself hard enough to throw herself into space. 

Jax however seemed too distracted to say something cunning or clever back.  

His thoughts lingered on what ragatha said. He didn't know why the small compliment stuck in his mind, but it got him wondering… 

“Jax?” ragatha asked quietly, and Jax finally looked over at her. 

“Thanks,” he said, before clearing his throat. “I mean- yeah, I know I have a good waist,” he said as he put one hand on his hip, going back to his typical sassy flair. Ragatha just seemed glad that he didn't think she was weird for saying that. 

“Yeah! Yeah, no of course,” she laughed slightly, keeping her hands behind her back. “I'm gonna…” ragatha vaguely motions to Gangle and Pomni, who were both chatting and laughing talking about the bows they were gonna make. 

~~~

Jax lay in his bed, staring at the centipede in the jar. The jar had holes in it, not big enough for the centipede to escape, just enough for air. 

He didn't know why he kept it. Maybe he thought he’d figure out a way to fix what was going on with him or find out more. 

Maybe he thought if he kept it in there, there was less of a chance of it hurting him again. 

Either way, he wasn't going to get even a blink of sleep tonight, too afraid of waking up…abstracted. 

Sure, he could pretend like he didn't remember a single moment of it all he wanted, but he could still remember how it felt. 

He felt a shiver go down his spine. 

‘ No ’ he thought to himself. ‘ Not thinking about that right now.’  

Jax got up and went to the kitchen. He didn't know why the kitchen specifically, other than the fact that it was far enough away from everyone's rooms that he probably wouldn't wake someone up if he needed to walk around in circles repeatedly. 

He sat up on the counter,

“Fancy seeing you here,'' Ragatha leaned against the kitchen door frame, and Jax looked over at her. 

Jax let out a quiet laugh, “Twice in less than a week? Seems like I've gained myself a stalker,” he joked, and ragatha let out a small smile. 

“That first time was a coincidence,” she said, with a small roll of her eyes. 

“And this time wasn't?” Jax asked as ragatha leaned on the counter next to him. 

“We’ll just say I was awake and happened to hear you going here.” she shrugs, and Jax lets a small smile slip. 

“Well I'm just honored,” he chuckled. “But really, why are you up this late? Usually, you’re all, ‘ sleep is sooo important, don't skip out on it!’ and all of that.” jax rested his elbows on his knees, putting his head in his hands as he looked at her. 

“Well… you want me to be completely honest?” ragatha asked, before letting out a breath. “I'm worried about you.” 

Jax immediately sat up, and ragatha stood up straighter, “Wait! Wait- don't leave or- you don't need to say anything. I just… I don't know.” ragatha sighed into her hands. “It's a- it's a stupid fear, we can't even die here, but… 'm afraid that you’ll abstract again and someone won't be able to find you or… something stupid like that.” 

Jax was no longer looking her in the eyes. 

“...me too,” he whispered. He held his hands together, looking away towards a flower pot that was glitching in the ground. “I… I keep getting this feeling that I'm not gonna wake up in the morning.” 

It felt strange for Jax to admit that. He hadn't admitted that to someone before, he didn't think he ever would yet… here he was. Admitting it to her as she listened. 

He then heard the sounds of small metal clinging of bowls, as well as some cabinets opening.

Jax finally looked up at Ragatha to see her holding some supplies. 

“So….cookies again?” she asked, and Jax’s shoulders relaxed.

“Yeah,” he nodded, jumping down from the counter. “Cookies sound nice.” 

~~~

The two were covered in flour and cookie batter again, just like last time. They had brought some chairs over from the table, and they were waiting for the cookies to be done. 

“I can't believe you almost put a cup of salt instead of sugar again ,” ragatha teased, and Jax rolled his eyes. 

“Oh shut up, it's late and I could barely read the label,” he laughed silently, as he leaned his head against the chair. 

“Uh-huh, sure,” ragatha let out her small laugh. 

There was this small bit of… silence. The two chairs were close together, Jax had his head leaned against the chair, eyes closed, and ragatha was staring at the timer. 

It was…peaceful. 

….strangely quiet. 

“Jax?” ragatha whispered over, but he didn't answer. She reached her hand over to feel a pulse, only to have Jax’s head fall onto her shoulder. 

She let out a small sigh of relief. ‘ He's just sleeping,’ she thought to herself, as she wrapped an arm around him to keep him from falling over. 

She knew he needed this sleep. Even just this small moment of rest. 

‘ When was the last time he slept?’ Ragatha wonders this as she rests her head on top of his. 

Maybe it was just because of the abstraction and whatnot that he was so tired, but she also knows that his not sleeping wouldn't make him feel any better. 

*beep! beep!* 

The sound of the cookies finishing cooking woke Jax up. 

The two wouldn't speak of that night. 

They wouldn't need to speak of this night, nor the next time this happened. 

For they were in their own little bubble. 

.

.

.

Fanart section!!! <333 

1) by Lo_lla

2) by macaroni puppy

3) by: me!! :)))

Chapter Text

The buzzing in Jax’s arm stopped bothering him as much. It was still painful, it wasn't like the pain went away, but he got almost used to it. Like when you get a tattoo and the stabbing of the needle becomes numb.  

‘Maybe I should tell Caine.’ Jax thought quietly to himself as he watched the centipede that was in the jar of his bedside table, observing it from his own bed, sat crisscrossed. 

The centipede moved around the jar, and at some points would somewhat fling itself around in the jar, which… Well, it wouldn't work out great for it. It wasn't heavy enough to move the jar, so it would just end up hurting itself. 

‘The centipede might have some sort of… cure.’ jax thought, as he picked the jar up, looking at it. He knew it was unlikely, how would it have any sort of cure? 

‘This is stupid,’ he thought to himself. 

But he still wanted to try. He still wanted to at least see if anything would help. 

*knock knock.* 

“Come in,” Jax said back, as he could hear the person try to open the door which was currently locked. 

But that wasn't a problem, as Caine simply teleported in, hands clasped together as he watched Jax with almost a sort of caution, not saying anything. 

“This,” Jax started, as he held the centipede up, “was the thing that made me all…glitchy like this.” 

“There is nothing I can do,” Caine said again, not even looking at the centipede. 

“You’re sure?” Jax asked, doing his best to keep his face neutral. “Not even a thing to at least make all of this less…painful?” 

“I have no power over glitches.” Caine reiterated.

Jax stared at him, before sighing. “Never mind then.” he put the centipede back down on the deskside table. “Bye.” 

“...goodbye Jax.” 

~~~ 

The dinner table was filled with conversations, Jax could overhear snippets of conversations, but none of them made sense out of context. 

He fidgeted with the pen he found from a few days earlier in his hand, spinning it around.

Jax felt tired. He always felt tired, but this was a different type of tired. It was like his mind was tired, too tired to talk to any of the others, too tired to make some sort of joke, too tired to even pretend he wasn't tired. 

Maybe it was hopelessness. Maybe it was depression. 

‘Ha,’ Jax would think to himself sarcastically, ‘depression? Yeah right,’ 

“Earth to Jax,” Zooble knocked on top of Jax’s head like it was a door, to which they got no response. “Jax, are you alive?” Zooble asked bluntly. 

Jax only gave a thumbs up, completely unbothered by what Zooble was doing. 

It didn't matter. Zooble ended up getting distracted by someone else. 

Jax glanced over at the exit of the dining room for what may have been the 5th time in the past 5 minutes. 

He didn't have the energy to create a distraction, didn't want to admit he wasn't feeling The Best(™), and didn't want to try and sneak out. 

So he’s stuck here. Waiting it all out until he could finally leave the table. 

‘Shit’ Jax thought as he noticed Ragatha glancing over at him. He sat up a little straighter, looking his eyes past Pomni’s head. ‘Don't say anything, Don't say anything, Don't say anything,’ he thought to himself as he avoided eye contact with anyone, praying to continue to go unnoticed. 

“Jax?” 

‘Kill me’ Jax thought to himself, and he finally looked over at ragatha. ‘Act normal’ “What?” he asked, as ragatha started to stand up. 

“Would you mind helping me with something?” Ragatha ignored the slightly confused look on his face as she asked him this. 

“Why not Pomni? Or gangle?” Jax said without thinking. ‘I could have used the excuse to leave for fucks sake-’ 

“Because you’re uh…taller than them, c’mon,” she said, not even waiting for Jax to catch up. 

Jax watched her as she left the room, before putting his hand down and quickly following after her. 

Once they were out of earshot from the others, jax finally spoke again. “Because I'm taller? Zooble’s about the same height as me,” he said, as he tilted his head at her. “You’re acting weird.” 

“You’re acting weirder,” Ragatha retorted back, and Jax gave a small shrug. 

“Fair enough.” Jax continued to follow her towards… his room? 

“You just…” ragatha started, “you just looked uncomfortable. Figured I'd help.” 

Jax’s gaze softened, and his shoulders fell slightly. He looked down at the floor as he seemed at a loss for words. 

“Oh.” he finally said. “Why though?” he finally asked, as he looked back over at her. “I'm not exactly a ‘good person’ and god knows I’ve been horrible to all of you.” he then quickly added on, “and I’ll continue to do so. Being horrible that is.” 

“Because,” ragatha started, “I… I think a little bit of empathy can go a long way.” Jax opened his mouth to speak but ragatha cut him off. “I'm not asking you to do anything. Just… I just hope you know if anything happens I won't push you away. No matter how annoyed or angry at you I am. Because believe me you have your moments where you are extremely annoying.” 

Jax stared at her before letting out a quiet laugh. “Okay, okay, that's… that's fair enough.” 

Jax opens his door but hesitates to go inside it just for a moment. “...thanks by the way,” he mumbles before hurrying into his room, closing the door before Ragatha could say anything. 

“You’re welcome,” Ragatha whispers back, even though Jax can't hear her.

Jax flopped right onto his bed, his head buried into his pillow. He looked up to look at the centipede. 

He should have asked Caine to get rid of it. Or to at least put it somewhere else, to do something with it, but he didn't. 

The centipede continued to move around the jar, but slower, almost as if tired. 

It was…glitching. Partly abstracting, but it was so tiny as well. 

Not a surprise, of course, it was a glitch in the system that then infected Jax with the same glitch. of course, it would have similar symptoms. 

He watched it as it withered around, flinging itself against the walls of its jar. 

It's fine. It's just a bug, all can and will ever do is cause harm. It deserves to go through this pain, it deserves to be like this. 

And yet… 

‘fine’ Jax thought to himself as he hesitantly opened the jar. ‘A little bit of empathy, but that's it.’ 

He carefully put the half-abstracted centipede on the heated blanket, careful to not touch it.

It looked like it was in pain. 

Jax shook his head, ‘No. No, it's just some stupid centipede NPC that glitched out one day and ruined everything. That's all it is.’ 

he tried his best to convince himself of this fact, that it was nothing, it didn't matter, it was just a bug.

And yet he found himself holding it. 

Granted, he kept any skin hidden away from it, holding it with the blanket only, and watching it. 

It looked so… small. 

‘it’s a bug,’ he thought to himself. ‘It's supposed to look small.’ 

The heat seemed to help the centipede. 

Slowly, Jax noticed that the abstraction on the centipede stopped spreading as much until it was only glitching so slightly that Jax could barely see it. 

Despite Jax knowing exactly what was happening with the centipede, he didn't know how else to help. All he knew helped was rest. 

He looked back at the jar. 

‘I guess it's not the best place to rest…’ he thought to himself.

~~~ 

Pomni was back in the gray hallways, looking in front of the exit that was in front of her. She knew she shouldn't be here, and she wanted to go back to her reality, but she didn't know how. 

She then heard the shuffling of boxes. 

“...Jax?” Pomni asked as she saw Jax holding a ten-gallon glass tank with some form of… fake grass? She couldn't tell. His arm was glitching slightly, though that seemed to be normal for him. 

Jax shoved a cookie into her hand, “You saw nothing.” he said as he started to walk backward to the exit door, holding eye contact with Pomni all the way until the door closed. 

~~~

Ragatha opened Jax's door, walking in. “Oh, Jax, you left your pen on the…. table….” Ragatha paused in her steps. 

Jax was asleep, looking just as exhausted as earlier, but that wasn't what made her stop. 

“Huh…” Then, without thinking she said; “creepy.” she felt bad, but centipedes did freak her out. She couldn't imagine having one in a tank next to her bed. 

It looked like it was asleep, and even had its own, tiny little blanket. 

Ragatha couldn't help but find it enduring. 

She let out a quiet laugh. “We

ll, as long as it doesn’t find its way to my room, it's whatever I suppose.” 

Chapter Text

“Jax stop dying,” Zooble said, noticing that Jax had rested his head in the palms of his head on the kitchen counter. 

“Not dying,” Jax simply replied, as he looked up at them. He had been getting plenty of rest the past few days if not more than he needed, but he still had been tired today. 

And a little dizzy. 

Zooble had found Jax moments before standing over a bot of boiling water, breathing in the steam in the middle of the day. 

His breathing was funny. He would breathe normally before needing to take in a big breath of air. As if he was suffocating. 

His body felt like it was overheating, and he could see little black spots pop up in his vision.

“Would you like… like some water? Or…something?” Zooble offered, unsure of what else to do.

“Nope,” Jax stood up straighter and looked over at Zooble. Or, he tried to, but he couldn't see Zooble through all the spotty blackness that was covering his vision. “I am doing great.” 

“I'm over here.” Zooble states, making Jax pause. 

“... I know that.” he lied again, before feeling his knees go weak. 

~~~

Waking up on the kitchen floor was not part of Jax’s bingo card, but “getting bitten by a weird centipede before growing emotionally attached to it” wasn't on it either. 

The light of the kitchen burned his eyes, and he brought his hand up to his face, trying to get rid of the bright light. 

There was almost a slightly panicked chatter around him, but it sounded fuzzy, far away from where he was. 

Then there was a slight shadow over his face, covering the bright lights from the kitchen, and above him, he saw… ragatha? 

“Oh,” he mumbled, as he noticed her, before realizing his head was resting on her lap. 

“ Oh , uh,” Jax scrambled to get up, accidentally hitting their heads together. “My bad, i- bye,” he quickly tried to get up and away from the scene, but his legs gave out on him and he practically held onto the kitchen counter for dear life. 

“Jax you dumb b^%tch,” Zooble exclaimed as Jax nearly fell again. 

“I'm fine,” Jax immediately said as he tried to leave the kitchen but it was no use. Zooble and Ragatha had already gotten over to him, putting their arms around Jax's back under his arm. 

“Liar,” Ragatha mumbled as she and Zooble started to bring Jax to his room, “We just want to help you. Let us help!” 

Jax still wasn't letting up, doing his best to get out of their grasp despite how dizzy he felt. “Doesn't even matter, there's to fix this.” 

“I know we can't fix it, but we can still help! we can find ways to keep it from getting worse or- or take preventive measures, just let us help .” 

At this point, Jax knew he couldn't force them to let him go. 

“...fine,” he mumbled quietly. 

~~~

Jax had been sitting up in bed. 

Ragatha earlier had promised that she would teach the girls, Pomni and Gangle, how to make plushies, and offered to teach Jax as well. 

To which he had surprisingly agreed. 

“There's nothing better to do,” he had said, “may as well.” 

And now here he was, accidentally stabbing his hand with the needle as he attempted to stitch the fabric together, partly because his arm was still glitchy and kept shaking. 

“This is evil,” Jax mumbled, purposely avoiding calling it stupid. 

Ragatha let out a small laugh. “Are you finally gonna give in and use the thimble then?” 

Jax turned his body away from her slightly, “No,” he said, as he continued to make himself suffer. 

“If you say so!” she laughed quietly, before leaning over. “Can I at least see how it's turning out?” 

“Nope.” Jax said as he started to keep it hidden with his whole body, “Suffer with your curiosity.” 

“Well, can I show you what I made?” Ragatha asked as she held some behind her back. 

Jax hid the thing he was making under the blanket, before giving a nod. “Sure, as long as it's not a death metal trap or whatnot.” 

Ragatha let out a laugh, louder this time, “I make no promises,” she joked, before bringing it out and handing it to him.  

It was an arm sleeve that went past the forearm. 

“Try it on,” she said as she motioned to Jax's arm which was still glitching slightly. 

“Oh, uh… are you sure raggs? I think it might just-” Jax paused mid-sentence as he noticed the look on her face. She looked proud of herself and practically ecstatic for him to try it on. “Alright, I'll try it on,” Jax gave in rather quickly. 

He hesitantly put the arm sleeve on his arm, half afraid, if not expecting it to completely glitch out of control. 

It was tight on his arm, but it seemed to almost… dull the pain. Making it more bearable. 

“Huh…” Jax mumbled under his breath quietly. 

“Do you like it?” Ragatha asked, and if she had nails she would have been biting them.

“I-” Jax cleared his throat, trying to hide how much he truly appreciated it. “It's… the stitching is nice,” he replied. 

“Good!” ragatha replied, and you won't believe who opened the door. 

Bubble! Wearing some sort of… Hawaiian shirt? 

“Heyo!” Bubble’s slightly scratchy and gremlin-like voice rang through the walls of the room. “Caine needs you all for an adventure!” she said, before flying out of the room without hesitation. 

“Oh, uh- we’ll be there!” Gangle yelled out after Bubble, to which Pomni and Gangle started to leave, saying bye to Jax as they all knew he needed to rest still. 

“Bye jax,” ragatha said, as she started to follow Pomni and Gangle. 

“Wait-” Jax said, before he froze up as Ragatha turned to look at him. 

“Yes?” she asked with her friendly smile.

“...” Jax silently got up from his bed, using the wall to make sure he didn't fall over as he handed her… a doll that looked a lot like ragatha. The one he had been making this whole time. Its stitching was all over the place, and it looked fragile but… 

“Oh, Jax,” ragatha held the doll carefully, with a smile

“I don't have uh- space for it here. So. you keep it.” Jax panicked with embarrassment as he spoke, and he looked away from her completely, but she could still see the blush on his face. 

She carefully grabbed his face with her hand, bringing him down closer and kissing him on the cheek, before she skipped away, leaving Jax standing there with a surprised, yet flustered expression. 

‘ Did she just…? ’ Jax thought to himself as he brought a hand up to his cheek. ‘ ....it's probably just a friendly gesture…’ 

He went back into his room, trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach 

~~~

When ragatha walked out of her room that morning the last thing she expected to see was that the whole hallway was practically deep cleaned and reorganized. 

“Huh…” she murmured to herself as she walked over to the main circus area where no one had gone yet. 

But again, it had also been cleaned and organized. 

It wasn't exactly weird for the place to be cleaned, Caine wanted things to be neat after all, but there was usually some form of mess from the days before, a ball left out, a few of Gangles drawings she had forgotten, maybe even Ragatha’s small bits of fabric that had fallen under the table but… 

It was organized. Gangles drawings and art supplies had been put in a neat pile, the circus ball put where it was supposed to be, kitchen supplies from the day before were put away neatly, hell, the dishes had been hand washed… 

Going out into the main area, ragatha could hear something creaking above her. Looking up she saw… 

“...Jax?” 

He was on the pillar that held the tightropes up, cleaning and clearing up stuff that had been left up there. Jax looked down at her once he heard her voice. 

“Yeah?” He slid down the pillar with a rag in hand, ignoring the ladder that was right there. 

“...are you cleaning?” she asked, looking a little amused. 

“What?” he asked, before hiding the rag. “No, that would be stupid why would I do that, I would never do that. That. that doesn't sound like me at all, are you okay? Maybe you’re hallucinating.” he spoke quickly as if he had been caught in something. 

Jax then spoke again. “....okay bye,” he said, as he left the room, holding one hand up to hide his face.

Ragatha couldn't help but let out a small laugh. “Calling a lady crazy? very charming Jax,” she joked, watching him as he left.

~~~

“Come one and come all!” Caine shouted out from the circus, watching as everyone stopped what they were doing. “I have a special adventure for- why is it so clean here?” Caine asked as he looked around the circus, and everyone paused. 

Jax avoided eye contact with all of them, but uh… Kinder kept staring at him like he knew. 

“Anyway,” Caine cleared his throat, before going back to yelling, “I have a special adventure for you all today!” 

Caine snapped his fingers and they appeared in this… Christmas wonderland. There was snow and candy canes, life-sized gingerbread houses, and in the middle of the town, there was a chocolate fountain the size of a house. 

Jax didn't even need to take a second glance, “isn't this model reused from the Hallyween town-” Caine shushed him. 

“The others don't know that yet,” Caine said, although Jax could already see the gears working in everyone's heads. 

“Ooh!” Kinder started, “a new model!” 

‘ ...okay maybe everyone but Kinder… ’ Jax thought to himself. Looking around, he almost wanted to call it a winter wonderland, but he was pretty sure that Caine would kill him if he said that. “There are no pumpkin people this time, right?” Jax asked, and Caine laughed. 

“No! No there's not, last time NPCs were a fluke! I had coded the world so there were only pumpkin-type foods for the aesthetic… didn't take into account the fact that it would include the people there too…” Caine went quiet for a moment before quickly flying back up. “Anyways! I'll let you all figure this adventure out on your own,” he then disappeared within a blink of an eye. 

Zooble kicked a rock, before letting out a groan of annoyance. “This is all stupid, what's even the point of this?” 

“Adventure,” Jax sarcastically did jazz hands as he made a fake smile, before dropping it. 

Ragatha sighed, before taking a deep breath. “Well, who knows! It might be fun!” 

Jax deadpanned at her for a solid 5 seconds, before looking away, straightening his back. “Sure dollface, sure.” 

“Why do you call me that?” the words fell out of Ragatha’s mouth before she could stop them. 

“...what?” Jax paused for a moment. “Well. you’re a doll and you have a face. Doll and face equals dollface. Obviously.” Jax replied, looking away. 

“Hm.” Ragatha looked away, before getting a small smile on her face. “Well, some would say that dollface is a compliment.” 

“What?” Jax looked over at her dumbfounded. “It's not,” he stated, looking away from her.

“So a pet name?” she asked, and Jax could only be grateful that no one else was paying attention to their conversation. 

“What? No! No, a nickname at best.” Jax clarified, feeling as his face went warmer with embarrassment. He wasn't used to ragatha having the upper hand like this. 

“So we’re friends?” 

That made Jax pause. “....excuse me?” 

“Yep!” Ragatha smiled at him, “Only friends give friends nicknames! So that means we’re friends.” 

Jax could only stare at her, mouth hanging open slightly. He tried to think of something to say back, something witty or even mean but… he couldn't. 

“...” Jax sighed, “fine. Friends ,” he said, giving in to Ragatha’s antics. 

From the corner of Jax's eye, he could see as Ragatha fist-bumped the air, before going back to looking polite and normal. “Great!” 

Suddenly, a terrifying screech was heard nearby, and everyone immediately looked towards the noise. 

“What the-” Zooble started before seeing something in the distance. 

An abstraction. 

Just like that, everyone seemed to scatter, running in several different directions, Gangle and Pomni going one way, Zooble and Kinger going another, and ragatha…

Ragatha had gotten her foot caught by what looked to be a candy cane tree. Not just caught but practically tangled up in it, panicking as the abstraction got closer and closer to her. She looked like she was going to practically rip her leg off just to get away from it. 

‘ No-’ Ragatha thought to herself, as she looked up to see the creature running right towards her. ‘ Nononono I gotta get out i have to i cant it cant end nono please I can't die like this-’ 

*THUMP* 

Ragatha looked up just in time to see that a jawbreaker the size of a rock hit the abstraction. 

“HEY!” 

.

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Fanart section!!! AAAA!!!! 

By: this-username-was-all-i-got 

By: lo_lla 

(look at his big dumb eyes <333) 

By: me, because I'm also. Insane about these lil characters <3333 

Chapter Text

‘ No-’ Ragatha thought to herself, as she looked up to see the creature running right towards her. ‘ Nononono I gotta get out I have to I can't it can't end here nono please I can't die like this-’ 

*THUMP* 

Ragatha looked up just in time to see that a jawbreaker the size of a rock hit the abstraction. 

“HEY!” 

Jax’s voice came from behind Ragatha as he threw another rock at the creature. “You’re really gonna go after some girl ? C’mon! Don't you want a real challenge?” Jax taunted, though he wasn't sure if the other creature could understand him anyway. 

It didn't seem to matter though, he had made the creature upset either way, and it ran towards him, grazing Ragatha’s leg as it ran, making her let out a small yelp of pain. 

Still, he couldn't stop, not yet he had to keep going. 

He ran as fast as he could, running through the fake Christmas town, down the snowy roads. 

It's unlikely anyone else besides NPCs would have been there. 

They probably ran into the woods.

‘ Just have to keep running, at least until Caine gets here,’ Jax thought to himself. 

But the road was towards its end, and the only place left to run was the forests. 

‘ Fuck- fuck, okay, I can work with this, ’ he thought to himself, still hearing the inhuman screams of the abstraction chasing behind him. 

They only vaguely sounded like someone he once knew. 

‘ Queenie?’ Jax shook his head, ‘ no- no don't think like that. It's nothing more than an abstraction anymore.’  

It kept screaming after him, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't help but wonder… 

‘ Was that what I looked like? Did I sound like that?’  

He was getting dizzy again, his balance was leaving him slowly but he pushed through. ‘ Just a little longer’ he thought to himself, as he could already feel the effects on his body start to take place. 

Seeing the edge of the woods, he nearly let out a sigh of relief. ‘ Almost there’  

He looked behind him for a split second, it was closing in on him, and all he needed to do was- 

‘ Duck!’ He quickly hid behind a rock, and the abstraction didn't have time to stop itself from falling into the ditch that was just below it. 

“Oh thank f$%ck,” he sighed, as he quickly got up, and ran back towards the town. ‘ Gotta make sure Ragatha’s okay,’ he thought to himself, before mentally pausing. 

‘ Ragatha? No- no I don't care about her. She’s fine.’ he quickly tried to correct his thoughts, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling worried. ‘ God, she is going to be my downfall, isn't she?’  

Making his way back to the town, he realized ragatha wasn't there. ‘ Okay- she got out,’ he thought, before hearing the shuffling from the trees. 

He quietly walked over and found the three girls, Ragatha, Pomni, and Gangle. 

Ragatha’s leg was still glitching, and now was her arm. Jax could only assume this was because she had accidentally touched it somehow. 

“What are gonna do until Caine gets here?” Pomni whispered, crouched down next to ragatha, wanting to help, but knowing that touching her would cause her injury as well. 

Jax walked up, one hand on his hip. “Well, we sure as hell can't sit here doing nothing.” 

“Jax!” Ragatha looked up at him, her voice slightly glitchy. 

“Hey there dollface,” Jax smiled, before crouching down next to her. “You’ve surely seen better days,” he teased lightly. 

Jax cleared his throat, “But we shouldn't hang out around here much longer, i bought us some time, but we need to get as far away as possible. C’mon,” Jax carefully started to reach for ragatha. 

“No! No wait I could hurt you,” ragatha tried to pull away from Jax, but he ignored her. 

“Aren’t you the one always saying ‘ let other people help!’ ” Jax replied back, as he pulled her arm over his shoulder. 

The glitches from Ragatha’s arm had immediately transferred over to his own shoulder, yet it didn't hurt as much as he was expecting it to. 

It was like a faint buzzing feeling to him. It still hurt, sure, but it was more manageable for him. 

…couldn't say the same for ragatha though. 

A screech could be heard from behind them all. 

Without saying another word, the three immediately ran as fast as they could, jax trying to think of something. 

‘ Where to go, where to go,’ he thought to himself. 

Ragatha then spoke “What if we go near the ditches and-” 

“No,” Jax quickly shook his head, “I already tried that, I won't fall for it again.” 

Ragatha, despite being in pain, could still notice the discomfort in Jax, likely from the glitching. “You- you don't have to help me, you can just hide me in a bush! Or- or um- maybe someone else could… take over…” 

Jax laughed at that last idea, “No, that would only leave them as injured as you are, you know that,” Jax sighed, holding ragatha steadier. “No, this is practically my baseline at this point, I'm fine. You on the other hand look like if death and the god of disease had a baby.” 

Ragatha punched his arm for that. 

“Okay, yeah, I deserved that one,” he said, before getting cut off by the abstraction getting closer. “Shoot, okay, hold on,” Jax said as he said as he picked ragatha up and threw her over his shoulder. 

“Wha- hey!” ragatha squealed, before realizing just how close the abstraction was. “Nevermind! Just- keep running dear god keep running,” she said, as she could already feel Jax running faster, overwhelmed by adrenaline. 

The group ran until- 

*THUMP* 

Jax ran into a wall, nearly dropping ragatha. He had hit his head, but through the dizziness, he could see… 

The circus. 

“Ah,” Jax could hear Caine say, and he finally put ragatha down carefully on the ground. “I didn't think that little scoundrel would escape the…well, you all know where.” 

Caine was, of course, referring to the place where he would magically teleport all of the abstractions. It wasn't really teleportation, not the normal way of course. No one really knew how it worked, for that was a secret Caine kept close to his heart. 

“Great. Could you help Raggedy Ann here now?” Jax asked, his voice filled with sas. He was already annoyed and frustrated with Caine in general, but more so today than ever. “I'm Half convinced her limbs are gonna fall off any second now.” 

With a snap of Caines's fingers and boom, ragatha’s glitching was gone, as well as Jax’s faint buzzing that had been caused by ragatha. 

She let out a sigh of relief as she flopped onto the floor. “Thank goodness.” 

Jax couldn't help but watch her. This feeling of almost… jealousy bubbled up inside him. 

He wished he could just turn his pain off like that. Just ask Caine and Boom, it's all gone.

But he knew that wasn't possible. 

He looked away from her, before standing up, using the wall for support. His body was still glitching, and his stomach was starting to hurt. 

“Great. Now that's done with, I'm outta here.” Jax mumbled, hoping to be able to just walk away. 

Except he noticed something. The pain in his stomach was getting worse. He looked down and saw- 

A hole. A black hole started from his stomach, with an eye staring up at him. 

He nearly fell to the ground right then and there, having to stop himself from letting out a cry. 

ragatha sat up, noticing Jax’s sudden mood change. “Are you-” 

“ Im fin̸̡̡̡͓̟͓̬̣̝̭͉̭̼͉̻̆̓̉ḙ̸̖̲̆̇͗̉̂̈̾̎̌̿̐ ” 

Ragatha practically jumped up, everyone else also immediately noticing the glitching of Jax’s voice. She finally noticed the black void-like hole and grabbed Jax’s shoulders. 

“Okay, let's sit down-” Ragatha tried to help Jax but he let out a frustrated yell into his hands. 

“This is so stupid ,” he said, but thankfully he wasn't pushing her away. 

He sure as hell wanted to though. 

The two were finally on the ground now, and Jax’s back was against the wall. 

“I shouldn't be f#%$king abstracting every time I do any sort of stuṕ̸̡͇̻͔̲̲̜͚͔͔͖̙̲̈͑̍̉͑̀̈́͆͋̈́̒͒̕̕i̸̡̢̢̛͚̲͉͉̘̭͍̩͜d̵̛͎̲̲̮̞̖̝̺̗̟̏̉̐͛̊̌̒͝ activity” 

Jax couldn't even try to hide how he felt at his moment. He knew he was essentially breaking down in front of everyone, again . 

Zooble quietly sat next to him. “...if it helps I don't think it's stupid.” they awkwardly said, as they hesitantly patted his back

Jax let out a scoff, “liar, you think everything’s stupid.” he mumbled, making Zooble shuffle around. 

“...okay, well…” Zooble says, trying to think of anything to say, “everything except this is stupid then,” they replied, as they gently shoved Jax’s shoulder. 

Pomni sat right in front of Jax, “I don't… really have anything comforting to say, but um… here.” She offered him… 

a cookie. 

“I know it's not much but I mean. Cookies fix everything, don't they?” Pomni tried to joke, before noticing Jax bringing a hand up to his face. 

Was that… was he crying? 

“Oh- oh, I'm- I'm sorry I-” Pomni looked over at Ragatha, who immediately held him a little closer. 

Jax took a deep breath, wiping the tears from his eyes. “No- no I'm… I'm alright. Thanks,” he said, as he held the cookie. 

He could already tell the black void had started to thankfully go away, little by little, which made him, emotionally at least, feel a little better. Even if it wasn't completely gone yet. 

“So,” Kinger cleared his throat, looking like he was gonna say something, but words seemed to fail him. 

He started motioning to his pillowfort, the ‘ door ’ of it left open, motioning towards everyone else. 

“...Are you inviting… all of us?” Ragatha asked, and Kinger nodded. 

“Of course! Go in, all of you. now." Kinger paused. “Kindly go in now. go.” 

The inside of Kinger's “small” pillow fort was surprisingly bigger than it seemed, with enough room for everybody to fit in. 

“Jesus, is this Mary Poppins purse or something?” Jax mumbled as he pressed his back slightly against the pillow's walls. They were strangely studying, he wondered if it was due to some sort of cartoon logic. 

Out of nowhere, his whole body completely sank into the pillows to the point where you could only see his head. 

Yet it didn't bother him. In fact, the slight but soft pressure was almost comforting. Like a big hug. 

“Comfy over there Jax?” Ragatha teased with a small laugh and Jax glared up at her. 

“I'm being suffocated and you’re laughing.” jax deadpans up at the ceiling as he practically sinks in further to the pillows. 

“Oh, so would you like help escaping these oh-so-evil pillows then?” ragatha asked, leaning over to where Jax was hidden under the pillows. 

Jax quietly ponders his options. “...actually I think I'll just accept my fate to the pillows,” he mumbles, sinking in more until only his mouth could be seen. 

He tried to ignore Ragatha’s laugh, feeling as she sat next to him as the weight around the pillows shifted. 

“Uh-huh, have fun with that,” Ragatha chuckled, bringing her knees to her chest. 

Jax only let out a muffled hum in response. His body still hurt of course, and even small movements would bring his body to feel like it was on fire, but he had to admit… It was nice. 

~~~

“Is he asleep?” Pomni whispered over to ragatha. It had only been about 15 minutes since they had entered the pillow fort, but Jax hadn’t spoken for a while now. 

“Probably,” ragatha replied back, as she poked his ear, checking for some sort of life. His ear twitched, but he didn't seem to wake up. 

Zooble contemplated saying something, watching Jax’s face before turning to ragatha. “Speaking of you and Jax,” Zooble started, staring ragatha in the eyes. 

“...yes?” ragatha asked, blissfully unaware. 

“You two have been hanging out more often,” Zooble says, as they look at their claw-hand. 

“Oh,” ragatha shrugs, “I guess yeah.” 

“Like your midnight baking sessions?” Zooble asked, pretending to not notice how ragatha froze up. 

“Whaaat? I have no idea what you’re talking about," Ragatha let out a nervous laugh, looking away as she started to play with the hem of her sleeve. 

Pomni let out a small “oh” at that. “That explains the cookies,” Pomni says, to which Zooble and Ragatha look at her. “He’s been bribing me with cookies.” 

“... what,” Zooble asked, and Pomni shrugged. 

“Not for anything big,” Pomni clarified, “ just for things he finds embarrassing. Don't tell him I told you guys that thought, otherwise he’ll stop with the cookies.” 

“Huh…” ragatha mumbled, before politely asking, “I thought you didn't like the um… the digital food here?” 

“I don't,” Pomni said, before nodding her head towards the currently sleeping Gangle. “Gangle does though.” 

“Ah…” Zooble then turned back to ragatha, “Anyways, back to you and Jax.” 

Ragatha stiffened up again, “Okay, yes, sometimes we bake at night. But that's it.'' Ragatha stated, but Zooble wasn't convinced. 

“Hm.” Zooble stared at Ragatha without blinking, watching as Ragatha pulled on the collar of her dress, looking away. “Well. Even though I hate him, I would hate for him to abstract because of your recklessness.” 

The threat didn't need to be spoken, for it was loud and clear in Zooble’s voice alone. 

“Cross my heart, hope to die,” Ragatha promised to Zooble, both a little intimidated, but also a genuine promise. 

Jax only prayed that ragatha wouldn't notice his ear twitching again. 

.

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Fanart section!!! 

By: Lo_lla

Chapter Text

‘ Exit exit exit’  

Running through the bland, monochromatic brown hallways running through exit to exit, desperately trying to find a way out. 

Then, another exit. But it was… different. It wasn't lit up like the others. If anything, it looked like the light to it had disappeared ages ago. 

Jax pushed open the door, running through it and finding… 

A void. 

‘ That goddam void,’ he thought to himself grimly, opening his eyes. 

Pillows were covering the walls, and for a moment Jax wondered if he was still dreaming, until… he felt this sick feeling in his stomach. 

‘ Oh. not still a dream then. Great.’ he thought to himself as he sat up, his head heavy, like he couldn't keep it up. 

“Morning jax,” Ragatha gave him a smile, but he ignored her. Instead, he silently got up, trying to not stumble as he quickly walked out of the pillow fort from the night before. 

“Jax?” Zooble followed him along with ragatha. 

But he didn't make it very far before vomiting his guts out on the floor. 

“Oh- oh no ” ragatha quickly walked over to him, helping him stay standing. “Are- are you feeling alright there?” she asked with a nervous laugh, and Jax gave a small groan. “I'll take that a no then,” she said, as her nervous laughter turned into a concerned sigh. 

“F#$king gross,” Zooble mumbled, before looking around. 

Jax let out a glitchy laugh, “yeah, you could say that again. Fucking disgusting.” 

Zooble stared at him with an unreadable expression. “...what did you just say?” 

“What?” Jax asked, noticing Ragatha looking at him with a similar expression. “Fucking disgusting? what's so weird about-”  

Jax froze. “Fuck.” he said again as if making sure it wasn't a fluke. “FUCK YES,” Jax's fist bumped the air, nearly falling out of Ragatha's arms. “Finally! I win! I win against this hellhole of a circus, yes!” Jax said with a laugh. 

It was one of the first real wins he’d had in a while, and if he could jump up and down he would. “Take that caine! I broke your stupid filter!” 

Ragatha and Zooble, however, were not as excited about this revelation, just staring at each other with this half-surprised, half-horrified look on their face. 

Gangle and Pomni walked out of the pillow fort, both still tired and half asleep. “Guys…?” Gangle mumbled, looking at the current scene. “What's with the yelling?” 

“I broke Caines's stupid filter!” Jax replied proudly. 

Zooble looked over at Ragatha for advice. Ragatha could only whisper; “ look at him. He looks happy,” 

Zooble looked over at Jax, who, despite looking half dead, looked more alive than he had in weeks. 

“Really?” Pomni asked, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

“Fuck yeah, I did!” Jax couldn't stop smiling, unable to contain his laughter. 

Ragatha couldn't help but let out a small smile of her own. Strangely enough, when Jax wasn't being a bully or laughing at someone else, his laughter was practically contagious. It was so…genuine. That kind of laughter you get when someone tells a good joke, or when you finally meet a goal you’ve been trying to achieve for weeks. 

Ragatha looked up, immediately meeting Caine's eyes. 

“Oh-” ragatha cleared her throat, holding Jax up a little more. “Hello Caine,” she says, trying to seem casual. 

“...Bubble!” Caine shouted over, to which Bubble immediately flew over, and without another word started to clean Jax's vomit up by licking it. 

“Oh,” Jax finally gets his laughter to calm down enough to speak, “I forgot that was there,” he says, as he takes a deep breath. “So I'm assuming this whole filter thing was a fluke?” Jax asks, and Caine stares at him more. 

“...precisely. Which I will fix right away-” Caine was cut off by Jax saying every swear word he could think of. 

“Fucktwhoreassshitcocksucker-” Caine put a hand over Jax's mouth. 

Caine stared at him, unmoving. “... I have never said this to one of my beloved performers but… shut up.” 

Caine removed his hand from Jax's mouth, staring at him. 

Jax didn't say anything for a solid 5 seconds, leading Caine to think he was in the clear. 

“Slut.” 

Caine glared at him, to which Jax raised a hand up defensively “Just getting it out of my system before you the censor.” 

Caine stared at him some more, before hesitantly turning away. “...no more then.” Caine turned to his watch-like machine in his hand, a small amount of green zeros and ones appearing. 

“...bitch MPH-” Caine snapped his fingers, putting a cloth over Jax's mouth, keeping him from speaking.

…kinda.

The muffled sounds didn't go away and Jax continued to try to swear, ignoring how everyone continued to stare at him. 

“There,” Caine said, as he looked back at Jax, who finally got the rag that was tied around his head off. “Let's see you break the filter now-” “whore.” 

“Jax,” ragatha cleared her throat, “lets… lets not call the ringmaster of this circus a wh$#re okay?” 

“Yeah,” Zooble nodded, “Caine doesn't get any d#$ck. Or pu%$sy.” 

Jax laughed, “Caine gets no bitches.” 

“I- well-” Caine brought a rag up to his quote-unquote eyebrows, wiping the sweat off of them. “Let me try that again-” Caine went back to the greenish zeros and ones, rearranging them again. “There- that should-” 

“Fuck fuck, fuck fucky fuck fuck.” Jax didn't even hesitate with the swears, watching as Caine wanted to pull out his nonexistent hair. 

“...i…” Caine took a deep break. “... I will be back.” and with a snap of his fingers, he disappeared. 

Jax rested his head on Ragatha’s shoulder, still quietly laughing. “Oh I am so dead,” he whispered, his smile practically covering his face. 

Ragatha can only reply back with a small smile, “I don't think he's gonna kill you,” she whispers back, as she starts leading Jax back into the pillow fort. 

“Not yet,” Jax jokes, leaning back into the comfort of the pillows. 

~~~ 

“Why the hell did you say that to her!” Jax whisper-yelled to Zooble in one of the many colorful hallways of the circus. It had been a few days, and Jax was feeling better to walk. Kinda. Better than before but never truly healthy. 

“Say what?” Zooble asked, looking at their nonexistent nails as they leaned against the wall. “I didn't say anything.” 

“You- you knew what you were implying though,” Jax replied, also leaning against the wall, for separate reasons though. “You’re not as slick as you think you are. 

“Neither are you,” Zooble looked up and pointed at Jax’s bunny ears, “dead giveaway right there.”

Jax’s ear twitched as he looked away again. He grabbed hold of it, now more aware of it than before. “You’re annoying.” 

“No more annoying than you are, you bisexual disaster.”  

“At least I can actually swear without some stupid filter.” 

“At least I'm not in a f$%^king ‘ will they won't they’ rom-com where the answer is obvious.” 

Jax scoffs with a roll of his eyes, “If this is a rom-com, it's pretty fucking shitty. So bad it should have been tagged, but no one would have seen it anyway.” Jax pauses, seemingly lost in thought. “...some of those tags are a little concerning…” 

Zooble had been looking at Jax like he had completely lost his mind, to which Jax just waved off Zooble's confused face. 

“Never mind,” Jax looks back at Zooble, “the point is she doesn't…” Jax moved his hands around, trying to find the words, “She doesn't… like me like that, and if she does, I've failed at being unlikeable so-” 

And without missing a beat Zooble speaks. 

“So you admit it's an act.” 

Jax opens his mouth to speak, but can't find the words. 

“Well?” Zooble asks. “At the very least you don't completely hate us.” 

Jax swallows, before hesitantly answering, “I don't hate hate all of you. But I still hate you so.” 

“Even ragatha?” Zooble watches Jax’s face carefully. 

“Especially ragathas.” He lies, but Zooble obviously doesn't believe him. 

“And that's why you hang out with her so much?” 

Jax huffs at Zooble’s question, before quietly admitting, “Maybe I do hate her slightly, slightly less than the rest of you. But only slightly.” 

“You like her.” Zooble states, to which Jax rolls his eyes. 

“...maybe.” he quietly admits to Zooble, bracing himself for more questioning. 

“Called it,” Zooble said, before seemingly walking off. 

“Wha- that- that's it? No further questioning?” Jax asked, following Zooble. 

“Nope!” Zooble’s typically dry and monotone voice was switched with an almost…smug one, “Not from me at least.” 

“What do you mean? wait! Zooble!” Jax sighed, as Zooble practically ran off. “Great. Now I'll be the one suffering with my curiosity,” he grumbled to himself. 

~~~

Jax spent the rest of that day trying to figure out what Zooble meant by that to no avail. Sitting on one of the many colorful boxes in the circus, he looked back at the arm sleeve he kept on him. 

He couldn't help but fidget with it, feeling the fabric between his fingers. It was a plain black and was made of some sort of stretchy but thick fabric. Kinda like it was holding his arm together, helping with the glitches and whatnot. 

Keeping everything from falling apart. 

He could hear footsteps quietly walk up to him, before stopping. 

“...um…” Pomni cleared her throat. “Uh- could you hold these for like ten minutes?” asked, as she handed forearm colorful crutches to him. 

He looked up at her confused. Pomni didn't look hurt, and in a way, no one can really get hurt. hell, even though he knew what they were, within his time in the circus he had never seen them. 

“Who died?” Jax crossed his arms as he looked up at her, to which she panicked slightly. 

“What! No- no one died! Ha, ha…. Just um. Hold. them.” she pushed them onto him. “Please.” 

“...oookay?” jax took the crutches before settling them down next to him.

“Okaybye,” Pomni quickly ran off, leaving Jax alone with the forearm crutches. 

“...i- bye? I guess?” Jax looks around the room as if searching for a camera, wondering if someone was trying to prank him. ‘ What the fuck is up with her?’ he wondered to himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Pomni still wasn’t back. Jax bored out of his mind, started to draw on his arm with a rainbow glitter pen. He figured it was one of Gangle's pens that she had lost.

After another 5 minutes, and officially losing drawing space on his arm, he finally looked back over at the crutches. He picked one of them up, inspecting it over his lap. 

He sighed, finding nothing interesting about it. 

He was getting tired of sitting, so he attempted to stand up, to which he…almost failed? 

The forearm crutch had given himself something to latch onto, keeping himself from falling over. 

“Huh…” jax looked at the two crutches, before getting on the box, standing on it. “Oh this is a bad idea,” he thought out loud to himself, “horrible idea, I might die even,” he mumbled to himself once more before… 

Finally standing on the crutches. Not using them correctly in the slightest mind you, more so… using them as stilts if that makes sense. Like a clown. 

“Jax…” Ragatha’s voice broke through Jax’s focus. “jax why- why are you doing that?” 

“Oh- uh…” Jax looked down at himself, thinking. “I… I don't really know? I just…did? I guess?” he shrugs. “Kinda just felt like it? Pomni just kinda ran up and gave these things to me, told me to hang on to them for ten minutes and it's been like, twenty minutes by now or so? And…I got bored.” 

“Oh…” Ragatha slowly nodded her head, “and um…did she explain why she gave them to you?” 

“Nope, she just went over there somewhere,” Jax shrugs. 

“...should you even be doing that? You’re…at this point in time one of the most unbalanced people I know.” 

“… it’ll be fineee”

“That's what you say to every bad idea.” Ragatha looked up at Jax, crossing her arms, “But alright, have your fun Mr.i-totally-wont-die-from-my-own-stupidity.” 

“Listen, Raggedy Ann,” Jax looked over at ragatha, putting a hand over his chest, “if you want to ever become a true master of sarcasm, you should at least know some of the basics, ” he said, leaning forward a bit, careful to not fall off the crutches. 

‘ Is this flirting?’ Jax wondered to himself for just a moment. ‘ No, just playful teasing, that's all…yeah…’

“Uh-huh,” Ragatha uncrossed her arms, a playful smile on her face, “well sadly I don't see anyone in the vicinity who could help with that.” 

Jax let out a fake hiss, pretending to have been burnt as he held a smile of his own, “ouch! Awe, you wounded me,” he joked, putting a hand over his forehead. “In fact, I think I might faint.” 

Ragatha knew Jax wasn't going to actually faint, but she let out a small squeak as she saw him about to fall from the crutches. “Jax don't you dare-!”

She quickly had to run and catch him before he fell, holding him bridal style. “Jax! What were you thinking?” 

Jax wrapped his arms around her neck loosely, still having his playful smile on his face. “I knew you would catch me,” he didn't bother getting out of her arms, deciding to let himself be held. Her body felt warm against his, a comforting type of warmth, and the way she was holding him had a type of comfortable pressure. 

“And what if I didn't hm? What would you do then?” Ragatha asked, leaning in just to make her point as if making sure Jax would hear her. 

“Oh c’mon,” Jax couldn't help but also lean in, letting his voice get quieter, a little lower too, matching Ragatha's. “We both know you wouldn't let me though, now would you?” 

“No,” ragatha finally whispered back, her eyes drifting down to his lips, causing a small sense of warmth to go right to his face.

She started to set him down on the box, but Jax didn't let go. He didn't want to. 

…and Ragatha didn't seem to mind. With one hand on the box, her body leaned over him slightly as she brought her other hand to his face, even tilting his chin up…

Jax didn't bother to stop her, the warmth of her hand alone was enough to make him give in to her.

“Is…is this alright?” Ragatha asked quietly, meeting his eyes. 

“Yeah,” Jax whispered quietly, bringing his own hand up to her cheek, “More than alright,” he started to gently pull her in, and she did the same until… 

He could now feel the warmth of her lips, and the tension left his shoulders. He couldn't help but want to pull her closer, trying to match her gentleness. His body felt so warm, that he barely noticed when Ragatha's hand, which had initially been on the box, crept up to his waist. 

He only noticed it once the two had pulled away for a moment, faces still close enough to feel each other's breath. 

Unenthusiastic clapping could be heard from a nearby doorway, and Jax didn't even need to look to see who it was. 

Zooble, of course.

“Wow, never imagined ragatha being on top,” Zooble says with their monotone sarcastic voice. “Let's try to not be too handsy over there though, caine doesn't like p$^rn in his family-friendly circus,” Zooble said, not even batting an eye at the position Jax and Ragatha were in. 

Jax didn't know why he felt so embarrassed. Maybe it was because of the position, or the…hand…placement…. Jax really couldn't get over that. One way or another, this was supposed to be a private moment. 

“Oh shut up,” Jax replied, keeping his face turned away from Zooble, keeping his red face hidden away from Zooble, but unable to bring himself to let go of ragatha. “If this is considered porn then it's the most tame form of porn out there. Doubt anyone would watch it.” 

“I would,” Ragatha blurted out, “assuming you’re in it at least, '' Jax put a hand over Ragatha’s mouth. 

“Nope- nope I'm trying to prove a point here please and thank you,” he said, as his body couldn't help but curl in on itself, desperately trying to ignore as his heart skipped a beat just from hearing her laugh. 

Ragatha carefully removed Jax’s hand from her mouth, “awe, how polite,” she teased again, seeing as Jax continued to curl in on himself little by little. “Oh, Jax, you were just kissing me just a second ago, can’t handle a little teasing now?” 

Jax took a deep breath, before finally looking ragatha in the eyes, and patting her shoulder. “I… I have to..do… something important.” he sputtered out the most obvious lie, before quickly getting out from under her and leaving, one hand covering his face “uh- see ya,” he scrambled as he practically ran out the door.

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Fanart!!!

By: piperkit123 on Tumblr!!!

By: lo_lla 

By: me!!! Hehe :> 

Chapter Text

Jax stared at his arm, watching as it glitched around the arm sleeve that Ragatha had made him. 

He turned over on his bed slowly, looking over at his small centipede friend, who seemed to be doing well. 

His body felt horrible. Like he had gotten hit by a bucket of bricks. 

‘ It's not as bad as it could be.’ he tried to tell himself, ‘ I could abstract.’  

These thoughts weren’t helping him though. If anything it only made him feel worse. 

He’s been able to function just fine before. When he was like… this. Like during the stupid Halloween thing, or that weird wonderland adventure that never truly played out. 

Sure, his body was glitching all over the place, but he couldn't help but feel almost… guilty. 

For just the crime of being a little “lazy.” 

‘ Get up,’ he tried to tell himself, his body still feeling this exhaustion. 

‘ Get ready for the theme song.’ 

‘Use energy to make energy.’

‘It's a small task, just get up already.’  

He slowly sat up from his bed, before getting hit by a wave of dizziness. ‘ You’re only dizzy because you haven't moved,’ he told himself. But he knew this dizziness would follow him throughout the day, just a pest he just couldn't seem to get rid of. 

He leaned against the wall, trying to find his balance to be able to leave the room. 

‘ It's still early, maybe I'll feel better soon.’  

Jax had started a new personal rule for himself. This rule was that if he didn't feel better by 1 pm or so, then he would tap out and go rest, or find a dark room to hide in for 10 to twenty minutes as he tried to feel at least a little better. 

He didn't want to walk to the door. 

But he did so anyway, one hand loosely tracing the wall, ready to catch him in case he fell. 

With one hand on the doorknob, he took a deep breath, collecting himself as best he could. He stood straighter and quietly walked out. 

He walked down the hall, which was still as quiet as usual, seeing as it was still relatively early in the morning. Just how he liked it. No one awake yet, some good old alone time. 

An idea hit him. Just for a split moment, he wondered if he should tell… 

“Raggedy Ann, isn't it a bit early for you? Shouldn't you be getting beauty sleep or whatever girls do,” he teased her, having his arms behind his back as he gave her that Cheshire-like grin. 

“Oh I need sleep?” ragatha started, smiling back at him, “Look at you, you can't even walk in a straight line.” 

Jax playfully rolled his eyes, “Oh common, I absolutely could. See?” he walked right up to her in a straight line. Or, at least technically a straight line, though he seemed a little wobbly. He casually leaned on the wall, using it for support. 

“Uh-huh, besides that,” Ragatha brought a hand up to Jax's face, holding it slightly, “what was it you said before? Something about death and the god of disease creating some sort of stubborn bunny?”  

Jax froze for a moment, but let her do what she wanted, hoping she couldn't see the slight pink tint on his face. He still wasn't exactly used to people touching his face, but he didn't mind it all that much. It was a good type of weird. 

“Psh, you’re not still hung up on that, are you?” he asked, watching as ragatha let out a small laugh. 

“No, it was just…silly I guess. Kinda funny now that we’re not actively being chased by…”

“Queenie.” jax blurted out. “It was Queenie.”  

There was a silence that followed as ragatha comprehended that information. 

“Oh.” ragatha finally said as she looked back over at Jax, who wasn't making eye contact anymore. “How… how could you tell?” 

“The screaming. It was hers.” Jax replied before correcting himself, “but only vaguely hers. It was… it sounded kinda… fake almost. Like something was mimicking her voice, like an… an AI.” 

Jax cleared his throat after a couple of seconds, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest. “Let's talk about something not so depressing, like…”

“Like…how you bribe Pomni with cookies?” ragatha asked, noticing immediately how Jax turned his whole face away from her. 

“Well- it was like once or twice, and only for desperate situations.” Jax waved it off trying to pretend like it was nothing. 

“Uh-huh,” ragatha laughed again, playfully elbowing Jax, “you do realize she just gives the cookies to gangle right?” 

“Yeah, because they’re gay.” Jax shrugged, not even blinking an eye. 

“...wait they are???” Ragatha then realized how close they were to Pomni’s and Gangle's room. “Wait hold on,” she proceeded to drag Jax into her room, closing the door. “Wait, how did you know? I didn't even know! Are you just pulling my leg or something? Did they tell you?” 

“...no? Wasn't it obvious? I mean Pomni and Gangle, despite how unstable the two of them are , are always together. I can recognize two idiots in love from miles away.” 

“Oh like us?” ragatha asked him, her face deadpanned. “You thought the kiss on the cheek was platonic.” 

“I thought no such thing, i knew you liked me from the start,” Jax lied with the confidence of a bay leaf walking into a soup it didn't belong in. The bay leaf doesn't care. It's a leaf.

“Sure thing jax, sure thing. If that's true, point out the exact moment then.” ragatha asked, staring him in the eyes. 

Jax paused, before finally speaking. “After the winter wonderland disaster,” he replied with false confidence. 

Ragatha stared at him, before letting out a small smile. “Close, but nope!” 

“No? Was it before that then?” Jax had a similar smile on his face, a little less noticeable though. She sat down on her bed, crisscrossed, looking up at Ragatha who had a smile plastered on her face. 

“Oh way before that. I didn't even realize it at the time.” she laughed. 

Jax lay down on her bed, legs hanging off the side as he was deep in thought. He then noticed a small faint green star. “I didn't know you liked glow-in-the-dark stickers.” he thought out loud. 

“Well, it's good to have something to stare at, especially at night.” Ragatha shrugged, turning off the lights before lying right next to him. 

“Yeah,” he murmured, staring up at all of the stars that plastered the ceiling. “I guess that's true.” 

Ragatha laid down next to him in a similar position. “It was during that weird Halloween fiasco. In the ditch.” 

“...really?” Jax sat up, looking over at her. 

“Or- well, kinda? It might have happened closer to that first night in the kitchen with the cookies but-...well, I don't know. That's when it first actually started, could barely count as a crush." Ragatha sat up too, bringing her knees to her chest. “When did you start falling for me then?” 

Jax turned his face away immediately. He didn't even need to think about it for a second, he already knew. “Depends, are you asking me when it started to hit me or the very beginning?” he asked, hoping she’d go for the latter. 

“Both,” she replied without missing a beat. “When did it start?” 

“Well… around the same time, I guess? Not exactly but when you started actually… not being a pushover?” Ragatha playfully punched him in the arm for that. “Hey!” Jax laughed, “Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But I mean, it was fun when you would be just as sarcastic back. Kinda like we were on the same wavelength for a moment there.” 

“Yeah… I guess we kinda were.” Ragatha smiled up at Jax before letting her legs fall off the bed. “So when did it actually hit you then? That you liked me?” 

“Oh god,” Jax looked away from her again, “No you’ll laugh,” he said, though he was laughing at himself a little. 

“No! I won't laugh, when have I ever laughed at you?” Ragatha said as she leaned into him, trying to see his face. Her curiosity was enough to kill a thousand cats. 

“Liar, you laughed at me five minutes ago,” Jax kept a hand over his face, as he moved back, resting his head against the headboard. “I'll only tell you if you do one itsy bitsy little thing for me.” jax finally calmed his face down enough, but still wasn't looking ragatha in the eyes. 

“Anything,” ragatha instantly leaned in more, “tell.” 

“...you can't tell anyone and you also can't bring it up ever again.” 

“...that's two things.” 

Jax let out a small sigh, “fine, two things,” he said, seemingly giving up. He whispered it quietly in her ear telling her the exact moment. 

Ragatha let out a small gasp, “Oh my god, I'm never letting this go,” she put a hand over her mouth. 

“No! No, you-” Jax laughed, “you said you wouldn't.” 

Ragatha pulled her hand out from behind her back, showing her fingers were crossed. 

Jax let out a fake gasp, “When I said to join the dark side, I didn't think you would use your evilness against me!” 

Ragatha laughed, “Don't worry, I'm not telling anyone about how you apparently thought me throwing a cleaver knife at you was attractive.” she said, reiterating what he said just to embarrass him. 

“ No- no, that was not what I said,” Jax scrambled to defend himself, “all I said was that it was around that period of time, not exactly .” 

“You could have also said that it was the day you did a million and one pranks,” Ragatha pointed out, smiling as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “You’re just embarrassed because I'm pretty.”  

Jax rolled his eyes, resting his head on top of hers. “Shush, I admit to nothing.” 

“But you did admit to-” “Shhhh” Jax put a finger over her mouth, “I admit to nothing,” he whispered with a quiet laugh. 

Once he took his hand away, ragatha finally whispered, “Alright, alright fine you win.” she said, as she wrapped her arms around him. “...off topic…” ragatha cleared her throat, “did um… did Pomni ever explain the uh crutches?” she asked, with a nervous laugh. 

Jax pulled away slightly just to look ragatha in the eyes. “...you know something,” he stated simply. 

“Psh, whaaat? Nooo I would never…” Ragatha waved it off slightly, before looking back at Jax. “...okay maybe I do know something.” 

“Called it,” Jax rested his head back on top of Ragatha’s head as one hand absentmindedly played with her hair. “You always laugh when you lie,” he mumbled, his voice sounding a little tired. 

“Ah…. um… whoops?” ragatha let out another quiet laugh before speaking again. “Well. um… Pomni has been trying to… help Caine with finding ways to help… you?” ragatha paused, before continuing, “Caine had tried to see if he could fix some of your coding which only ended up uh, accidentally removing the whole filter thing, which he’ll probably fix eventually, but um… Pomni tried to offer other ideas?” 

Jax didn't say anything, just nodding along as he realized what ragatha was hinting at. 

“...yeah she kinda panicked last second, but it's the thought that counts.” ragatha tried to figure out what Jax was thinking, but she couldn't see his face. 

He hummed back in reply, either deep in thought or too tired to respond. 

“So… how do you feel about that idea?” ragatha finally asked, looking up at him. 

“... I don’t know,” he whispered back. 

“That's okay,” Ragatha pulled away so she could see his face. He held his face gently in his hands and looked into his eyes. “You don't have to know, we’ll just… stumble through it all until we find something that helps.” 

Jax quietly put a hand on Ragatha’s face, before poking her nose. “Look at you being all sentimental,” he lightly teased, before resting his head on her shoulder. 

“Well I can do whatever I want, forever,” Ragatha laughed back, holding him closer. 

~~~

Zooble couldn't find ragatha or Jax, and they searched everywhere, they even broke down Jax’s door (again) just a few moments ago just to find no one in there. 

They were half convinced that some sort of evil entity or NPC took them until Caine mentioned not seeing them in the theme song to make them continue to search. 

Finally, they walked over to Ragatha’s door which was unlocked and… 

“Oh.” Zooble found both of them, asleep, clearly cuddling up against each other. “I truly don't know what else I expected,” they mumbled, watching the two of them for a few moments. 

They both looked content. 

It then hit Zooble.

‘ He's gonna be okay.’

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FANART FOR MY FAVROTE LIL GREMLINS 

by: this-username-was-all-i-got

hehe this made me giggle <333 

by:lo_lla 

Chapter Text

Firstly, the deleted scenes :) no i will not tell you which chapters they were supposed to go to because i forgo

All of these notes had been written specifically for me so. So only my brain can really see where im going with this!! So its super unhinged!! Hhahahahahlajfldkfa

(funfact: i wanted to have everyone escape the circus at the end but i decided not do :’D 

DELETED SCENES: 

Jax didn't want to get up today. He already knew the day was going to be hard, his body felt heavy, and he felt wobbly. 

Is this going to be his new normal? To just… constantly feel like this ? The idea made him want to throw himself “ at wall, which he would have done if he had energy. 

It didn't help that after everyone had gotten their costumes picked out that they had played this stupid game where they had to run around trying to not get hit by pumpkins every 5 seconds. 

At least half of his body was aching slightly by now, he felt like he was dying slowly. 

And maybe he was. 

But he got up anyway. He knew that if he didnt get up at some point Zooble would come to barge down the door. And he had to be honest… 

He missed being the first one up. He missed not needing so much sleep just to function through the day. He wished he could go back to before that stupid centipede and tell himself to just leave it alone, or kill it, he wanted to go back to his normal. 

He finally got up, and got dressed into his costume. A grim reaper, as it was the only costume long enough to actually fit him properly. 

He left his room, slowly walking towards the stage where everyone else was, getting ready for their theme song for the annual “spooky episode,” aka just a decorated stage along with a child friendly ‘scary’ background noise. 

2

Begrudgingly, they all seemed to leave the room slowly, everyone piling out until- “ragatha?” Jax whispered so that no one else would hear. “Could you actually stay for this?” 

Ragatha gave Jax a small smile. “What happened to wanting to be alone?” she asked, before sitting down on the chair next to his bed. On closer inspection, the chair was definitely one from the dining room. 

“Hey, i made you keep this secret with me, i figured you deserved to know,” Jax shrugged, ignoring how the pain in his shoulder seemed to hurt way more than it should. 

“So, as i was saying…” Caine started, clearing his throat, “it wasn't a…normal abstraction you experienced.” 

Caine paused, unsure of how to continue his train of thought. “well. A normal abstraction is essentially your mind going…insane. However this… this wasn't from your mind.”

Jax sighs annoyed. “I could have told you that,” he already knew all of this information, it felt needless for caine to tell him this. 

“So what kind of abstraction was it?” Ragatha asked Caine, hoping to get to the bottom of this. 

Caine made some… uncertain hand movements. “Well. You see, I didn't think this type of abstraction was possible. Normal abstraction is from the mind and this type… more like a literal glitch in the system of sorts.” 

Jax tried to look like he wasn't listening as carefully as he was, looking at the wall and what-not. “So, a virus.” 

“Not…quite. A virus I could prevent or stop it from getting worse but… a glitch? I have no power over those.” 

“Woo!” Jax sarcastically made jazz hands, “I'm screwed!”

3

“...okay, well…” Zooble says, trying to think of anything to say, “you’re stupid. So you thinking that… this is stupid means that its not. Stupid.” 

“...what?” Jax looked up at Zooble, confused. 

“Whatever, you know what I mean.” Zooble said, crossing their arms. “Point is, it's not stupid.” 

“Uh-huh, and the sky is green.” Jax dead panned. 

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Now for all of the planning i made when writing these chapters!! They are half notes, and also half figuring out where im going with this story!! 

Alternative name for this section: shitty summarys of every chapter!!! 

CHAPTER 1

Treees are dependent on calciumZooble is the one that notices something is off with jax because they arent friends and they dont like each other bu t they are gossip buddys. 

Okay so start off with something normal happening, jax being an asshole or smth, romance? Probably not. 

Anyways, jax gets these weird glitchy things and in order to not be pain he has to rest but it doesnt get rid of them it just gets them to be less pain and also the more it goes on the more tired he gets and he has to start isolating himself more (by accident) and people start worrying that hes going to abstract but hes not going to abstract he just has some weird digital disease thats not a disease more like a disorder? Anyways, totally not a metaphor for chronic fatigue syndrome. 

Also, a secondary plot where Jax knows of the fourth wall and Pomie goes insane trying to figure out what he’s seeing. Well everyone does kinda. 

Beach episode for zee characters? Nah diff ep 

Characters: 

Jax- sarcastic and NOT nice >:( will break your stuff in half. 

Pomie- flighty, curiosity, confused 

Kinger - terrified of getting hurt (easily scared) 

Ragtha- very caring to the point of it being denteremental 

Gangle- sensitive and very sad :( 

Cain- eccentric showtuney guy. Old but also an AI program probably.  

Jax assumes he’ll die or turn so he hides out in his room before realizing sleep helps <3 

CHAPTER 2

okay so this chapter they’re gonna have a noodle pumpkin chasing after them all, and this is when we first see jax struggling with. Existing. His arm glitching is getting worse but people dont notice it yet they’ll do that next chapter. Anyways. 

So he freaks out about his arm, and hides in his room not afraid he’ll hurt someone but not wanting anyone to think he’s going to abstract (hes not but he doesnt know this.) next chapter the pain spreads btw. Anyways he hides there and the secondary plot of everyone else getting chased and what not. We see more of pomni and ragatha interacting this chapter and the two of them talk a little while also showing each others strengths. Going back to jax we see him waking up from bed and he’s now healed and. Not dead. He then gets invited to the next adventure (this is next day btw he slept through the whole day of the other one) and after the adventures over he didn't do much but he finds himself weirdly tired. “What im not allowed to get tired?” “we’ dont get tired dum dum” anyways. 

Also kaufmo wtf why is his name spelled like that??? ew (/lh /j)

CHAPTER 3

Jax onions

Okay so layer one- actions: jax is. Very mean >:( will bully you no hesitation. Will kick you and cause you physical and mental turmoil. Makes everyone’s life hell. But also is like “we don't all have to die but also i only i can cause you pain hehe” why does he do this? Because there are no consequences (other than social ones.) 

Scene where jax maybe falls asleep on ragathas should i guess? 

Okay so first scene is when we realize that sleep is what keeps jax’s arm from glitching out and he feels extremely annoyed by this fact. 

Second scene, we realize all of the sympomes are getting even worse :( and that 

Okay okay so its going to be a few days after the last chapter, and we gotta catch reader up on whats happening 

Throughout the day jax’s symptoms get obviously worse leading up to scene like 3 or 4 where its THE HALLWAY SCENE 

Scene 1 

Scene 4: hallway scene is when zooble and ragatha finally notice that jax is glitching and all of that and this is when he hides out in his room  for a few days 

Next chapter is the kinger scene 

• The hallway scene with zooble to which zooble gets ragatha (chapter 3) 
• Explain why jax is a fucking weird-o, and its weird-o because he’s fucking ‘round (chapter 3) 
• MAYBE A FIGHT BETWEEN RAGATHA AND JAX hehehehehhaehfalfjlsfslfkjksldfjlsdjf 
• Maybe explain why he didnt go to caine right away too 

Okay so start off with showing normal day, catch reader up on whats been going on, have the adventure of the day. Throughout the adventure of the day jax and ragatha end up having a fight about things and show that jax doesnt really think theres much physical consequences to his actions. 

Then throughout the rest of the adventure have jax be seen getting more and more sick/tired and the others start actually noticing. At one point in the thingy mabob jax and ragatha end up trapped alone ig? And they talk (like actuall communication) and jax in a jax like fashion agrees to be a little less mean to people/he wont break other peoples stuff at the very least but thats all he promises. He trips her after this. This is his first sign of character development.

Then later they all finish the adventure and they all go back. Jax seems even more exhausted that he doesn't even have the energy to be mean to anyone right now so instead he just watches everyone quietly. He notices gangle struggling to fix her mask and she starts sobbing because of it. Pomni isnt near by and kinger doesnt know what to do at all. Ragatha is near by, but instead of helping gangle herself, she goes over to jax and is like “well? You were the one that broke it, you fix it” and hes like “techinacly no” and shes like “technically yes” and hes like “fine” and he goes over and helps her fix it even though he’s annoyed by it. 

CHAPTER 4

(so the pumpkin head made of actual pumpkin and then they all run get chased and then trapped scene. Ai mistake happened because he made it so there was only pumpkin foods and also that the people were made of punkin so he really messed up woopsies. They wanna turen the group into pumpkins too.) 

So basically they all go trick or treating because that isn't copyrighted because it's just the word halloween thats copy righted. 

Okay so trick or treating, jax taunts on of the pumpkin people, they try and fight him, and they realize the people are pumpkins, and they all have to run and jax kinda like the main fighter person before they get trapped and now trapped scene happens, and then they all finally escape and jax is like hidden in his room for a few days after that and thats only really when others are like “yeah something is wrong” and only ragatha knows and they all think its sus anyways. 

So he finally comes out of his room, looking like death (haha pun becuase he was SUPPOSED TO BE THE GRIM REAPER) 

Okay so then he passes out on the couch and kinger notices jax arm glitch and he starts getting worried about the idea of jax abstracting. 

Also jax and zooble being besties <3 

Also, maybe the thingy Jax has is more of a corruption thingy? 

CHAPTER 5

Caine finds them after jax has stopped glitching all over the place and everyone is relatively fine. 

Anyways jax getting back to the circus or wehateve and he just passes out on a couch or something and kinger notices jax’s arm glitching and he puts a blanket 

15,000=1h read, 1h 55 min speaking 

30,000=2h read, 3h 10 min speaking 

8000=32 minutes 

I got distracted 

CHAPTER 6

Okokay so jax finds himself with more energy than usual, thinks hes cured, does a million and one pranks, and then the next scene happens. 

Oo! Okokook so Gangle finds out about what happened from Kinger, Jax is like “if you dont tell i will fix your mask and never break it again” and Gangles like “:0 deal lets fucking go” and yuh 

Okay so scene where Zooble trys to talk to jax maybe and jax freaks out and then he ends up hiding in his room for a few more days. 

Okay so jax is once again in his room for a few days, and he's essentially getting depressed because being in room all day will do that, get antsy and leaves and make himself sicker but he just really hates not being able to do the things he used to so he goes backto benign depressed and they have to stage an intervention and Caine and others finally find out.

Whenever everyone sees Jax glitching to death it's like "u abstracting" "I fucking wish" "hey you broke the cure word censor for a moment there" “oh fuck really?”

Also maybe harmless prank where I get people to go look at frens fics :> 

Also this is other idea: 

Jax standing in normal position before body hurt and he just falls on the ground and "Jax you good?" "I gave up on standing" 

Jax gets random spurt of energy and does a million and one pranks before going back to being tired and exhausted and goes back to being a hermit crab 

JAX AND ZOOBLE FOGHT, ZOOBLE SAYS THEY WISH JAX HAD ABSTRACTED AND WE FINALLY GET MORE REASON AS WHY JAX IS MEAN AND WHATNOT ABD HE JUST SMILED AND ACTS FINE BUT THEB GOES TO EXIT PLACE TO BD ALONE AND STARTS. BREAKING. EVERYTHING. AND MAYBE POMNI FINDS HIM TYER ABD HE THREATENS HER AND SHE TELLS RAGATHA AND RAGATHA TALKS TO JAX AND OH MY GOD 

CHAPTER 7

Okay so things we need to do in this chapter: 

Catch up on kinger, explain why kinger put blanket and its because he rememberd what happened with queenie and he just is terrified of the idea of anyone else abstracting. Kinger and Zooble talk. 

Also with gangle we need to show jax fixing her mask 

OH SHIT POMNI I FORGOT ABOUT HER okokokok so jax visits the exit place thingy looking for more keys and being nosy and finds pomni in there, he brings her out and they have a conversation about everything. 

Friends realizing the mobility aid thingy worked  for him who knows what else hehe 

Okokok so order of events

Jax fixing gangles mask

Kinger and zooble talk

Pomni and jax thingy and then they talk 

Then the intervention for jax of which ragatha is like freaking out because they’re all like “ragatha your the one who needs to be the one that speaks because even though he doesnt listen to you he’ll hear you more” and ragathas like “shit” and jax has to stop himself from dying of laughter and everyone thinks hes insaine for a bit and ragatha and jax have to stop lying and they all have to talk about it and caines like “i can fix it!” and…and caine cant fix it :( and then theres this awkward silence of everfyone having this “wer need to fix it” with jax and ragatha already three steps ahead being like “no not reallY”  but caine conforms its not abstraction. Yay! :D 

OR INSTEAD OF INTERVENTION

Jax ABSTRACTS BUT he is still in his right mind and so he like. Is super confused and Caine can't get rid/fix him and CAINES like "Jax? You still there?" But Jax is almost in a feral like state and notices himself in a mirror and freaks and runs off and RAGATHA FINDS HIMMM <333 AND SHE HELPS HIM CALM DOWN AND THIS IS THE SHOULDER/BREATHING SCENE AAAAAA 

Jax has full mental breakdown in front of everyone he can't breathe can't think, "I can't do this I can't" and he thinks he's dying and maybe everyone is trying to comfort him and cuz he struggles breathing he panicks more and after steam he collapse on the ground cuz his body hurts and he's trying to not cry and also he needs Ragatha and Zooble to help him walk so he doesn't fall in pain and everything is a mess. 

Also keeps saying "stop looking at me" once he does get his voice back

Also when Jax is dying (metaphorically) in bed and gangles like "why do u leave closet door open. Aren't you afraid of monsters?" And Jax just goes "hey monsters in closet. Are. Are we chill?" And theres just ominous creaking and Jax like "yeah we cool" 

Abstraction: glitches in system 

Jax: got a glitch in system but not abstraction because it was an artificial (?) glitch made not from himself

CHAPTER 8

Continue chapter 7 

Jax has full mental breakdown in front of everyone he can't breathe can't think, "I can't do this I can't" and he thinks he's dying and maybe everyone is trying to comfort him and cuz he struggles breathing he panicks more and after steam he collapse on the ground cuz his body hurts and he's trying to not cry and also he needs Ragatha and Zooble to help him walk so he doesn't fall in pain and everything is a mess. 

Also keeps saying "stop looking at me" once he does get his voice back

Also when Jax is dying (metaphorically) in bed and gangles like "why do u leave closet door open. Aren't you afraid of monsters?" And Jax just goes "hey monsters in closet. Are. Are we chill?" And theres just ominous creaking and Jax like "yeah we cool" 

Also 

Zooble: can i punch you physically? (towards jax) 

Ragatha: no 

Jax: 

Zooble: can i punch you psycolololikicly then? 

Jax: you could punch me physically if you wanted i dont really care

Zooble: shell kill me, ill go with pyscoolically, anyways, DUM WHORE STOP IT I KNEW SOMEONETHING WSD WRONG WHY DIDIN  YOU SAY ANYTHINGGDLFJ 

Jax: i knew you guys ouldnt fix it

Ragatha: yeah but lets be honest everyone else could of helped you still in otherways 

Jax: ….no. i do not need help

Zooble: you’re literally bed-bound you dumb bish

Jax: thats besides the point

Ragatha: actually its not

Also when they try to get jax to sleep he doent because. Afraid of death. So he wobbles to the kitchen, once again splashes cold water on his face, and sits on the ground. Jax and ragatha find each other again, and the chapter ends with either them making cookies together, or Ragatha helping him fall asleep. Or both. Or maybe ragatha also struggling to sleep because shes also worried about jax dying in his sleep. 

CHAPTER 9

Ookokokokok so jax had replaced his lock and wanted to stay in his room forever but he couldn't so instead he had decided to deal with having to attempt to have a normal day, but the day was weird and then at night we have jax and ragatha find each othr at the kitchen super late at night again and they joke and tease and maybe ragatha attempts to get jax to open up and it actually works unlike the time with the outside world with a blanket. Then jax opens up about being afraid to fall back asleep because he doesnt want to abstract the same way again. Ragatha reveals she has the same fear about jax abstracting and so shes like “how about i watch you sleep” and jax immediately goes “thats weird you stalker” and they laugh, and they make a pastry together of some sorts and while waiting for the food to be done cooking  jax falls asleep on her shoulder and she completely MELTS SHE WOULD. She fucking would. Or maybe he's just resting on her shoulder and Caine finds them and Jax’s immediate reaction is to push her off and scramble to seem normal 

MAYBE chapter 10, Ragatha compliments Jax's waist and Jax is naturally confident about himself but the compliment for some reason seems to stick in his mind in a positive way 

Also Zooble and Jax finally catch up and gossip with each other

Okay so thats the cute chapter <33333

Note: jax wants to be angry at the centipede but cant find himself to be. So later on he keeps it as like, maybe kinda like a pet? Not really, more like special containment so he can try to understand why it had effected him so badly and he finds out the centipede has the same glitchyness that he does and he starts to feel bad for it and he starts being nicer to it because he understands what its going through and AAAAAAAAA :((((( 

MOVING KITCHEN SCENE TO CHAPT 10 IM SORRY PAST ME 

CHAPTER 10

Okay so basically explore more about the centipede, FINALLY REVIK THAR IT WAS THE CENTIPEDE THAT FUCKED HIM UP oh and Zooble trys to get Jax to realize he likes Ragatha (they fail) and also have Jax do something nice for Ragatha and then he's trying to be mean after comforting her but he struggles to do so because. He's attached<333 

Okay so scene of events: 

-zooble figuring out while jax is talking that jax likes ragatha (also make Zooble go back in character?? U dum dum) 

-explore more about the centipede, have jax basically study it but he doesnt find much (in chapt 11 he’ll find out that the centipede is like him and he’ll be freaked out, and then chapter 12 he’ll find empathy for it) 

-have ragatha be very sad and distraught and show jax trying to be mean but he cant finid it because he has more empathy or whatever now and he helps her calm down and makes her feel better

-maybe if theres time show centipede glitching out and impending doom going over jax and jax contemplating if he should TELL ANYONE ABOUT THE DAM CENTIPEDE??? WHY HAVENT YOU DONE THAT YET????? U IDEOT 

Okay and then later on theres like a creature or something? Pumpkin monster thats trying to. Kill everyone and has the power to do so and it trys to force feed jax some sort of pumpkin (aka its own flesh) and jax accidentally causes it to like. Die. and then he like wants to advoid everyone for a week and he doesnt feel like. Good. he feels kinda upset honestly because he sees himself as a disease (try to not put this whole thing into the super power trope though, this isnt a super power its just. Like. disease? Idk maybe dont do this whole thing. It doesnt feel like agood story thing.) 

Okay so instead it goes Caine and Jax talk about why the centipede cant be used to heal jax, 

CHAPTER 11

Jax. Gets forearm crutches. Okay so might end the story here or next chapter. Or the next chapter. 

Jax news to get his shit together and finally agree to let people help him (that son of a fuck) ragatha and him go back to the idea of “cant be fixed but can be helped” and they start all. Conversationing. This happened after jax passes out and everyones like “get ur shit together” 

Then he's in his room trying to not die (™) and ragathas there and they have a. Basically a girls night and they also talk about the centipede and ragatha is like teaching them all how to make dolls (this is just an excuse to be near jax to make sure he doesn't abstract again,) and he makes her a doll but uses the excuse “dolls arent my thing,” and its clear that he's lying and maybe have her kiss his cheek because. Fuck u i can. 

And then they figure out some things that can help him not suffer as much, like maybe. A cane. Or like compression wear and whatnot. And yuh. They lives happily <333 

CHAPTER 12

(they all go INTO KINGERS LITTLE PILLOW FORT FUCK I FORGOT THAT SCENE anyways they go in there and he doesnt know what to do because hes not used to having this type of support and they talk about how even thought people abstract and evefrything sucks its better to have a group and jax mentions that hes afraid that if he gets to close to someone who abstracts that he’ll essentially be hurt by it and hes finally letting his guard down and hes not looking at anyone and ragatha goes “me too.” AAAA PLOT TWIST OF YHE CENTRY anyways she admits shes afraid too but also that its better to have each other so that if someone does they have people to lean on and jax is like “the only thing i need to lean on is my mental illness” and ragathas like “. no.” and jax is like “fine ill be nicer.” and shes like “good jax <3”)

Abstraction thingy starting from his stomach and he freaks a lil

Later in story Jax is teasing ragatha and holding something abover head and Ragatha grabs jax's shirt thingy and pulls him down so that their faces are close and she takes the thing from him and his face is bright red and Zooble just looks at him and he goes “not. A single word.” 

CHAPTER 13

“When pigs fly” 

Caine: *makes pigs fly* 

Add scene with the “onion” word where like, jax is glitching/half abstracting and he hidesin a closet or his room, and ragathas like “you okay?” and he’s like “yes” and shes like “onion” and hes like “i dont kow! Im overwhelmed and i- i dont want to be stared at especially not like this!” and he finally is forced to communicate in a healthy way. And ragathas like “i wont stare. We can sit in silence or something if you wanted,” and so the two sit in silence jax laying in bed while ragatha sits on the floor doing a sewing prodject, waiting for him to come to her and AAAAAAAA 

Okayokayokay so whats going ot happen in this chaper. Idk. send. Halp. 

Okay so Jax needs to have a crisis as he and Zooble. Yell at each other quietly. And this happens at night and Ragatha over hears it so now they both know but they don't.We also need to show ragatha and how she thinks more because ragatha also thinks she’s being friendly but she also mass confusion and Jax is trying to hid that he knows and. Yee. hehe. 

Later in story Jax is teasing ragatha and holding something abover head and Ragatha grabs jax's shirt thingy and pulls him down so that their faces are close and she takes the thing from him and his face is bright red and Zooble just looks at him and he goes “not. A single word.”

So anyways OH YEAH SHOOT I KEEP FORGETTING TO ADD THAT SCENE okay so basically family intervention time, they try to think of things to help, they accept nothing will fix, and so they do the silly scene. Add the crutches scene and yuh. Mention the compression sleeve again because. Cuz i said so. 

they talk about how even thought people abstract and evefrything sucks its better to have a group and jax mentions that hes afraid that if he gets to close to someone who abstracts that he’ll essentially be hurt by it and hes finally letting his guard down and hes not looking at anyone and ragatha goes “me too.” AAAA PLOT TWIST OF YHE CENTRY anyways she admits shes afraid too but also that its better to have each other so that if someone does they have people to lean on and jax is like “the only thing i need to lean on is my mental illness” and ragathas like “. no.” and jax is like “fine ill be nicer.” and shes like “good jax <3”)

Okay so story starts with Jax waking up from nightmare, then counting who's in the pillow fort, finding Zooble, then Zooble Jax crisis scene, then silly forearm crutches scene, then silly Jax Ragatha scene where they have a “no lying word” and it's gonna be “onion” and whenever either says it they have to tell the complete truth and yuh :> 

Also: 

Ragatha: how you feel about the new adventure?

Jax: I don't really care, wasn't paying attention

Ragatha: onion

Jax: I hate it and I think it's gonna kill me

JAX TRIPPING GANGLE AND BASICALLY PLAYING LOVE MATCHER WITH GANGLE AND POMNI 

Jax abstracting and hiding in the “exits” and the others find him and he points at Ragatha and goes “doll” and she's like “that's Jax” andthey bring Jax back to the circus and ask him questions while he's still abstract and he reveals he was hiding because he was ashamed ya know? And he keeps saying sorry and it's. Tears. And afterwards Jax is kinda dying and bedridden more than before and he's wanting to not open up much but Ragatha goes “onion” and he has to actually communicate and so he does and she can help him. 

Okay restarting 

Okay dream sequence with the void, so jax wakes up feeling sick, goes and vomits, then swears but breaks the sensor an then “I WIN AGAINST THIS GODFORSEKAN PLACWEHEHEH” 

CHAPTER 14

Oh my god folks we fuksdlfj did it 

Maybe for chapter 15 it ends on a cliffhanger for book 2 because. Because it'll be like completely fresh book hehe :) if i have energy to write an extra book 

Okay so chapter 15, dream sequence, kinda hint that they can escape, have Jax wake up because he's like in that weird half abstract thing and he talks to Ragatha or something and she's like “oh it fine” but we realize he's kinda having a normal abstraction just by thinking of an exit not necessarily going insane, so now he doesn't want people to touch him and he tries to close himself off but it's so much more difficult this time and he hates himself for letting people get close. So he starts kinda. Hiding away from people now? He goes back to lying and being untruthful and whatnot, and maybe when confronted he admits he feels fucking insane and like his body is slowly dying and explain the cursing as something being wrong with the system itself and he eventually decides to explore the exits, and he finds something. He finds that exact computer, but this time he looks into it and he can see the people in it (aka peps in digital circus) and he reaches into it (he's completely glitching out by now. BTW THE ANGLE WILL BE WEIRD CUZ IT WILL BE FROM JAXS VEIW LIKE HUMAN BODY and then he’ll basically be 

Okay maybe not all of this because i need to end the story in two chapters 

So scrapping everything up there sadly :((( CURSE YOU TIRED BRAINNN 

Okay so basically we show jax having a not great day with his body and whatnot, and he basically feels like death, and so hes like “okay so im just gonna hid in here all day” but he cant because hes silly so he finally goes to ragatha and hes like a lil awkward maybe because. Hes notused to aksing help and the two chill and have a conversation together and whatnot. 

Then later Zooble finds jax and ragatha, and they’re like “say did pomni randomly give you those crutches? Oh yeah, btw caine was doing that. Anyways hes trying to help but hes being a lil silly about it because hes still unsure of how to fix *vuagly motions to all of jax* this, but hes trying.” 

Oh explain the swearing by being like “yeah, caine also tried to attempt to fix some of your coding so you’re not in pain but it didnt wokr, however it did remove the swearing.” 

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Scenes i put in my notes section idk 

• Jax passes out on ragathas shoulder (maybe chapter 3 or 4, mayhaps 5 or 6) 
• Ragatha and zooble (maybe gangle) all talk about whats going on with jax (chapter 5 after the hallway scene)
• Jax and kinger conversation (chapter4) 
• The hallway scene with zooble to which zooble gets ragatha (chapter 3) 
• Jax helps fix gangles mask with epoxy and maybe do that gold like thing (chapter 4 or 5) 
• Somehow incorporate jax using a mobility aid for a day and have everyone realize how much it helps him some way some how (idk chapter 6 or 7 i think) 
• Explain why jax is a fucking weird-o, and its weird-o because he’s fucking ‘round (chapter 3) 
• Jax kills a centipead maybe, or he ties up the little biting parts. (edit from future me: what in the everliving fuc-) 
• Have another one bite him and have him realize that it didnt effect him like the other one did 
• Find out that one specific centipede was a glitch and now hes stuck like this forever hehe
• Kinger and Jax has a truce because Jax room is uncomfy so he's like just chilling in kingers pillow fort 
• Convo where Zooble and Jax discuss why he froze up during the little argument between him and rags
• Maybe the promise between jax and kinger is that like, jax has to fix gangles mask and also be not mean to them for a week. 
• Instead of Ragatha shoulder scene after the chance or something Jax sleeps on couch arm glitches kinger notices and puts blankets on him. Kinger doesn't want anyone to glitch again :( 
• Kinger starts getting like protective (? That's not right word but whatever) and keeps watching jax
• If, AND ONLY IF i decide to do ragatha/jax…. Silly idea but ragatha goes “bunny?” and Jax thinks she’s talking about him.
• Jax resting his head on Ragatha shoulder as he matches her breathing to hers because his is fucked 
• Whenever everyone sees Jax glitching to death it's like "u abstracting" "I fucking wish" "hey you broke the cure word censor for a moment there" “oh fuck really?” 
• Jax standing in normal position before body hurt and he just falls on the ground and "Jax you good?" "I gave up on standing" 
• Jax gets random spurt of energy and does a million and one pranks before going back to being tired and exhausted and goes back to being a hermit crab 
• JAX AND ZOOBLE FOGHT, ZOOBLE SAYS THEY WISH JAX HAD ABSTRACTED AND WE FINALLY GET MORE REASON AS WHY JAX IS MEAN AND WHATNOT ABD HE JUST SMILED AND ACTS FINE BUT THEB GOES TO EXIT PLACE TO BD ALONE AND STARTS. BREAKING. EVERYTHING. AND MAYBE POMNI FINDS HIM TYER ABD HE THREATENS HER AND SHE TELLS RAGATHA AND RAGATHA TALKS TO JAX AND OH MY GOD 
• Maybe Jax does abstract kinda but not really? Like he looks abstracted but he still has his mind? 
• Jax befriends centipede <333 
• Centipede used to be a cat in a past life which is why its alive (kinda) but not human
• Later in story Jax is teasing ragatha and holding something abover head and Ragatha grabs jax's shirt thingy and pulls him down so that their faces are close and she takes the thing from him and his face is bright red and Zooble just looks at him and he goes “not. A single word.” 

add the fight here, and then continue on. The adventure is going to be like a hallyween town where everyone goes “trick or treat”ing but people call it “Spell or quell” to which you either get a trick or a treat of some sorts and you don't know which it’ll be. This is cuz caine messed up the Ai. The group  doesn't know this at first and they end up separated. 

Ai glitch causes heads to actually be pumpkin they make pumpkin pie from it hehe. 

More notes hehe: Then throughout the rest of the adventure have jax be seen getting more and more sick/tired and the others start actually noticing. At one point in the thingy mabob jax and ragatha end up trapped alone ig? And they talk (like actuall communication) and jax in a jax like fashion agrees to be a little less mean to people/he wont break other peoples stuff at the very least but thats all he promises. He trips her after this. This is his first sign of character development. Then later they all finish the adventure and they all go back.) When he's comforting gangle he's kinda panicking, and looking over at Ragatha like "help" and later he's like "... I hate you" and she goes "you love me" and hes like "DONT STEAL MY LINE >:[ THATS MY LINE" and she's like "haha…. No <3" 

OH HAVE CANE SCENE BY HAVING HIM DRESS UP AND USE A CANE FOR COSTUME NEXT CHAPTER also his costume will be either grim reaper or a very tall leprechaun. Or a plague doctor. Haha how ironic :’D 

For the actual costume stuff the adventure thing is fixed and they go around searching for candy instead, removing the npc aspect. 

Maybe the trap scene happens cuz the world glitches slightly ORIT THE DAY BEFORE THE ACTUAL HOLIDAY :0000