Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once, long ago in a faraway land, there was a village.

The village had a gift. A very special gift.

Each person inside the village had a gift of song.

Each time a villager sang, their voices carried a special magic. This magic was the key to growing a special flower that’s been said to have been a gift from the gods long ago. It was said that this flower could heal the most grievous of wounds, rejuvenate the old and weak, and even rumored to bring those of the deceased back to life.

This flower was a wonderful miracle.

However, the villagers grew greedy.

The magical properties of the flower were special, and many sought it out to heal their families and cure the sick. But the villagers, the once blessed with the gift of song who could grow these flowers, denied the outsiders the flower.

They viewed it as a possession that they alone should have. They were the ones who could only grow this flower. Why should they give it to outsiders who couldn’t?

Time and time again, many came seeking the flower to help heal from sickness and disease, and time and time again the villagers denied them. Every time someone asked why they couldn’t have the flower, the villagers said the same thing.

“Do you have the gift of song? Were you blessed with such gift that is the key to growing these wonderful flowers? No. No, you were not. We were given this gift, and we alone have the right to the flower. Go back to wherever you came from, and suffer. For only the flower belongs to us and us alone.”

This is what they repeated to everyone who came seeking the flower, and they continued to believe that the flower was only meant for them. But as the years passed abusing the power of the flower with their gift of song, something terrible happened.

Many say it was the act of the gods, angered at the villagers’ continuous selfishness to deny sharing the flowers’ gift. Others say it was the flowers themselves who grew tired of the constant abuse.

No one really knows the truth, but one day, the village was cursed.

Every villager who was blessed with the gift of song turned into a horrible, misshapen, grotesque creature. Their gift of song were changed to screams of agony and fury, their heads filled with nothing but rage, death, and chaos.

The flowers they once sang to grow around their village turned into thorns, sharp as a knife’s blade and their veins as strong as iron, caging the villagers in as they ran around frantic and confused in their new bodies. Their angry screams filled the air, day in and out as the sun and moon traveled across the sky, growing more savage and bloodthirsty by the hour.

Everyone outside the village feared that one day the vines would break, and the monsters would wreak havoc on every surrounding nation.

But one day, a miracle happened.

A Duke from a faraway land had arrived. He had heard all about the flowers, and trouble the villagers denied sharing them. He had come to speak with the villagers in hopes of convincing them to share the wonderful flower.

But what he found were monsters caged behind thick thorns and vines, trapped within the ruins of their once beautiful land. The neighboring towns and villages told the Duke what had happened, telling him of their fears of the veins breaking and the looming threat of monsters who wished to dine on their flesh and bones.

Hearing all this, the Duke stepped up and proudly proclaimed that he would slay all the monsters inside the village, ridding the threat before anyone could get hurt. They begged him not to throw his life away, but the Duke had already decided to help these poor people.

Taking his trusty sword, the Duke charged into the cage and begun his long battle with the monsters inside as outsiders watched in awe. With each swing of his sword, monsters fell one by one, coating the land in blood. Yet the Duke suffered no wound or injury as he fought, stabbing and cutting through each monster that charged at him.

Finally, after a long battle, only one monster remained. It laid out on the ground, bleeding its life onto the ground, croaking at the Duke in its horrible voice.

“Why? Why?”

“Why? Because, if you were all left to live, many innocents would be slaughtered for one reason. Had you been kinder and more selfless, your fate could have been avoided. But here you lay, showing your true self for all to see. A horrible monster who used their gift only for yourself, and now you pay the price for your greediness.”

With those final words, the Duke slayed the final beast and the threat was no more.

But the Duke could not find any happiness.

For without the villagers who had the gift of song, the mythical flower would never grow, and its healing priorities were lost forever.

As the Duke mourned the loss of the great gift, he heard a sound. A wail of a newborn child. Following this sound, the Duke found a broken home, where a monster lay dead inside.

Beside the monster was a newborn, a small child not even hours old.

“A survivor!” He cried, scooping the child up into his arms. The child shared none of the cursed qualities of their people, having been spared inside their mother’s womb and had not used their gift.

The Duke saw her as a new hope. One that would bring back the miracle flowers and bring in a new age of peace. He vowed that this child would grow up to be kind, generous, and selfless, one who would not repeat the actions of her people and who show kindness.

But deep down, he knew that many would seek her out. Many who would wish to use the flower for their own gain and selfish desires. Many who would repeat history again and again if they got their hands on her and tainted her with their greed and evil.

Seeing no choice, the Duke whisked the child away, taking her far from the ruins of her cursed village, far from the mistakes of her people, and hid her where no one would be able to find her and use her gift for their selfish reasons.

No one knows where the Duke took the child, and to this day, the story of the cursed village still passes on from generation to generation, warning of the greed and the consequences of selfish desire.

~𝄞~

“Come on Kaufmo! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Slow down there, kiddo! No need to rush!”

“But today’s the day!” A young girl bounced in her seat, unable to hold still for her caretaker as he tried brushing her hair. “I need to be ready! I need to look perfect!”

“Why are you so worked up about this?” Her caretaker, Kaufmo, asked. He was a young man, mostly in his mid-twenties, with two beady black eyes that belonged to a pinhead white face. He wore clothing that made him look like a clown, though today, he put in the extra effort to look nice, putting on a clean polka-dotted shirt and grey overalls. He even took the extra time to shine his big, floppy red shoes today before his young charge woke up this morning. He even wore his big red hat with the large feather in it just for the occasion. “It’s only your birthday.”

“My birthday!” The young girl cheered. “My birthday! My birthday! My birthday! The Duke is coming to see me on my birthday!” She said with a smile, somehow missing the way Kaufmo frowned in the mirror in front of her.

“Right.” He said with a certain disdain in his voice. “The Duke. Of course that’s what you’re most excited about.”

“Yeah!” The young girl looked at her reflection, smiling at herself. “That’s why I have to be perfect! I haven’t seen the Duke in FOREVVVVVVERRRRRRRR!”

“Pomni, you saw him last month.” Kaufmo reminded, finishing the last braid of the girl’s hair.

“Yeah! And that was forever ago!”

Kaufmo rolled his eyes as he tied the end of the braid with a ribbon, making sure the bow was perfect before giving a satisfied nod. “There we go! All finished.”

Pomni let out a gasp as she examined herself in the mirror, hopping off the stool she was seated upon and twirled around, showing off the dress she wore with a wide smile on her face. “Ta-da!”

The little girl wore a simple, but elegant dress. One with frills and laces and cute little hand-embroidered designs on the sleeves and hems of her dress. It was a bright red color, one of her two favorite colors. Her dark hair was tied up in two braids that fanned each side of her white face, with a small bit peeking out on her forehead that barely reached her large wide eyes.

“Very nice.” Kaufmo clapped, smiling down at Pomni as the little girl twirled around and around. “I think this is the prettiest I’ve ever seen you as, Pomni.”

Pomni giggled as she twirled around once more. “Do you think the Duke will like it?” She asked, once again missing the way Kaufmo’s smile dipped into a frown and a flash of irritation crossed his eyes before putting on a smile.

“I’m sure he will.” He answered sincerely. “But remember Pomni. The Duke won’t be arriving until much later. So it’s only just us for now.”

“When’s later?” Pomni asked. “I want the Duke here now.”

“You have to be patient.” Kaufmo said as he got up from his seat. “He’ll come when he comes, but if you wait around, it’s going to feel longer.”

“But I want him here now!” Pomni said as Kaufmo took her hand and led her out of the room. “He’s never around as much as he used to be, and I miss him!”

“I don’t.” Kaufmo scoffed under his breath as the pair went down the stairs together to their small living abode.

The area was small, split into three main areas that were merged together into one. There was a kitchen to one side of the room, decked out with everything needed to cook and prepare food. The middle area served as a large living room, with space wide enough for Pomni to run around and play with all her various toys and crafts she was given by the Duke over the years. There were a few chairs and cushions that lived the area, but Kaufmo’s favorite place was always the library section of the room.

Books were one of the few things Kaufmo enjoyed here in this place, and he loved reading them to Pomni whenever she was in the mood for a story. If he had one complaint, it was that all the stories ended with a bittersweet ending. The main story was never bad, and Pomni liked them well enough, but the ends always made Kaufmo frown in some way that he couldn’t shake off.

“What do you think he’ll bring this time?” Pomni asked as the young girl twirled around in the living area of the room. “Do you think he remembers what I wanted from last year? Do you think he’ll bring new paints? I liked the paints he brought me. The ones that shine in the dark. I want that for my birthday. Oh! Do you think it’s a toy? Maybe it’s a new bird! I love it when he brings a bird! They’re fun to sing with and they’re so pretty to look at!” She let out a gasp. “Maybe it’s a book! Wait. Don’t you like books? Wouldn’t that mean it’s for you instead?”

“I pretty sure you’ll like whatever he gives you, Pomni.” Kaufmo reassured her, turning his head away to mutter. “Not that he knows what you really want.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing!” Kaufmo quickly put on a smile. “Nothing to worry about. Say, how about we do something fun to pass the time? I’m sure if we play a few games or read a couple of books, the Duke will be here faster. Time flies by quickly when you’re having fun, you know!”

Pomni let out a gasp, throwing her hands up in the air. “That happens to me all the time! I get up! I play! It’s breakfast time Pomni! I eat! I play! It’s lunchtime now! I eat again! And I go play! Pomni! It’s bedtime! But I barely had time to play!”

“Heh. Barely.” Kaufmo laughed, shaking his head. Getting down on one knee, he looked Pomni into her pinwheel red and blue eyes. “Since it’s your birthday, how about you pick out what to do this morning? I’m sure there’s something you want to do today that could pass the time.”

“Oh! Hmm…” Pomni tapped her chin as she put on a cute thinking face, sticking her tongue out as she looked to the high ceiling. “Oh!” Her eyes lit up. The pinwheels expanding till only bits of her sclera could be seen. “I know! I know! Wait right here!”

Kaufmo blinked as Pomni suddenly took off, running back up the stairs that led to his and Pomni’s bedrooms. 

“Careful!” He warned just as Pomni ran up the final step and disappeared into her room. He shook his head, but a fond smile was on his face.

Was it already six years? How had time flown by so quickly? Pomni had only been a baby when she was assigned to his care.

It made him frown. Six years. Six years had come and gone.

And they were still here.

His frown deepened as he glared around the room. Everything was detected out with fine wood and lavish decor, filled with comfy objects and plenty to look at that could please the eye. Yet Kaufmo couldn’t help but feel disgust of this place, ever since day one.

Pomni couldn’t see it. Not yet. But he was sure when she grew older she would see it. But not now. It was still too soon.

“Found it!” Pomni called out, returning with a book in her hands.

A brow arched on Kaufmo’s face as Pomni raced down the steps with the book over his head. He knew he hadn’t read every single book in the library section, but he was pretty sure he’d never seen that particular book around before.

“Here!” Pomni held the book out to him.

Taking the book, Kaufmo examined the cover. Now he definitely knew he’d never seen this book before. He had rearranged, organized, and sorted every book in the bookcase, but he never found a book like this one before.

“Where did you find this?” He asked, opening the book and flipping through the pages. There weren’t any pictures and it was certainly thicker than the rest of the books.

“It was given to me!” Pomni said with a smile. “One of the Duke’s es… es… es…”

“Escorts?”

“Yeah, them.” Pomni nodded her head. “They gave it to me!”

“Really?” Kaufmo looked at the book with new interest. “Did the Duke approve of this?”

Pomni shrugged her shoulders. “Mmm. They gave it to me when the Duke left. Said it was a birthday gift!”

“I see.” Kaufmo nodded his head. He could take a guess at who had given Pomni the book, and he was grateful that they had listened to his request. A smile grew on his face, becoming Pomni over to one of the plush cushioning. “Well, it seems interesting enough. How about we read it for a bit while we wait for the Duke?”

“Yes! Please!” Pomni jumped in her seat as Kaufmo sat down next to her. “Read the story! Read the story!”

“Alright, alright, calm down. No need to rush.” Kaufmo chuckled, clearing his throat as he opened to the first page. “Chapter One. The baby in the river. It was a hot and blistering day. Hot enough that everyone in the village was sweating rivers and burning their skin under the bright sun. Summer was typically hot, but today seemed to be extra hot. Animals were taking shelter in the shade, or dunking their heads into water bins to cool off from the relentless heat.”

Pomni leaned forward, listening intently as Kaufmo kept reading from the book. She always loved it when he read to her. It made her feel calm and secure when she heard him speak, listening to the story and almost seeing herself there as he spoke.

“As she went down the normal path to the river, Lily’s mind kept wandering into her thoughts and imagination, losing herself into her fantasy yet again despite promising her mother that she wouldn’t. She couldn’t help it. The village was so nice and peaceful, but there was hardly anything to do here. Everything was all work, work, work. There was hardly any time for fun and games these days, and she yearned for the seasons to change quickly so that she could enjoy the autumn festival where she could eat to her heart’s content of sweet treats and play carnival games all throughout the night.”

Closing her eyes, Pomni let her mind drift. She could almost see the scenes Kaufmo spoke about, imagining herself there.

“As she followed the sound, she began to worry that she was heading towards something she should best avoid. But her curiosity and her deep longing for adventure kept pushing her forward, closer and closer towards the river. She went by thick oak trees that were taller than the homes of her village. Green grass tickled her knees as she walked. Birds sang delightful tunes above her head. And beams of sunlight peeked through the canopy of leaves that lit her path ahead of her.”

Trees. Pomni had never seen a tree before. She wondered what a tree was like. Kaufmo told her that all the wood they had here came from a tree, and the logs they used for firewood had been trees as well. But none of them had any leaves or branches. And they were as tall as houses.

They were barely bigger than her head, and they were thin in Pomni’s opinion.

“‘My word!’ The village elder cried. ‘You found a baby? In the river? Where are their parents? Weren’t they nearby?’ ‘No sir. There was no one.’ Lily said, worry and concern lacing in her every word as she spoke. ‘I looked. By truth, I did! But I couldn’t find anyone!’ ‘My word! How absurd!’ The village elder cried again. ‘This child is likely abandoned! There’s no other explanation!’”

She wondered what grass felt like. Was it as soft as the stories said it was? Was it as soft as all of her blankets and clothes? How green was grass? Could she eat it?

“So the village welcomed their newest member, who they lovingly named River. They welcomed her as their own, and she grew in loving care of the village as the seasons came and went. For many moons, they wondered how could anyone abandon such a sweet child, but were happy to have such a wonderful person in their hometown.”

A village. She had heard about villages many times. Kaufmo said he once came from a village, and she had been part of one too. But Pomni couldn’t remember ever being part of a village. Villages had people. Lots and lots of people. And Pomni only knew the Duke and Kaufmo, and that seemed too small to be a village.

“There was a longing in her chest. Something she couldn’t quite explain. River knew there was something missing from her life. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on when she pondered. She knew it couldn’t be all her chores. She knew it wasn’t the animals and the laundry that needed to hang out to dry. It wasn’t any of the food she helped prepare, or any promise to meet up with her friends later. She knew that it had to be something that she couldn’t find here in the village. Something that she yearned for, but didn’t know what it could be.”

Pomni wanted to see a village. She wanted to see if they were like the books, or how Kaufmo described them as. She wanted to see how tall they were and how many people there were and meet them all.

“‘Princess?!’ River exclaimed in surprise. ‘Me? No! No! You must be mistaken! I’m not a princess! I’m just a normal girl helping my village. I can’t be a princess.’ ‘But you are!’ The strange man said. ‘I recognize that brooch you wear around your neck anywhere! You said you had it ever since you were a baby, correct? That brooch is proof of your royal status!’ River couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her? A princess? It was like someone plucked her up and put her in one of Lily’s stories!”

Princess. Pomni wanted to meet a princess. They always sounded so pretty and nice, and everybody loved them. She wished she was a princess. She could wear all sorts of pretty dresses and have lots of people love her.

“River took one last mournful glance at her village. Her village. The home she grew up in. The people she played with, worked with, and had so many memories with. It felt like only yesterday when she thought she was just a normal girl with no real family to call her own and content to live her life out here. But the thought of family. Her family. A home she belonged to. Where she belonged. She couldn’t ignore the aching emptiness she always felt inside her somehow felt a little smaller knowing there was someone out there waiting for her to come home.”

Home. This place was a home. Home was with people you love and had warm food to share. Home was stories and laughter, playing games till bedtime, cuddling next to Kuafmo when a storm was happening outside and she couldn’t sleep.

“‘Where exactly are we going?’ River asked, curious about the place they were heading to. ‘We are heading to the Kingdom of Dreams, your majesty.’ Edgeworth said, keeping his eyes forward as they road on. ‘It’s a place far away from where we are now. If we stay on the path and keep having good weather, we’ll be able to reach it in a month’s time.’”

A month? That sounded like FOREVER!

“‘Tell me more about the Kingdom of Dreams.’ River inquired. ‘I’ve never heard of it before.’ ‘You probably never have because the village was so secluded.’ Edgeworth said. ‘Being so cut off from everything else, I’m not surprised that the news of your disappearance never reached there.’”

Secluded? What did secluded mean?

“‘The Kingdom of Dreams is a wonderful place. It sits by the seaside with a wonderful view of the sky and the mountains on the distance. There’s a large town square where musicians gather and play music for the townsfolk, and markets filled with all sorts of goods.’ Edgeworth said with glee in his eyes, filled with pride, joy, and many other emotions. ‘But most impressive and important of the kingdom is the castle.’ He sighed in a wistful way. ‘Oh, the castle. I still remember it like a knight. Its beautiful pearl white walls. The colorful stained glass windows. Its seven towers that reach the sky…”

Kaufmo became silent.

Pomni opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Kaufmo?”

“Hm?” The clown blinked, taking his eyes off the page. “O-oh! Sorry, Pomni! I didn’t mean to trail off! I just…” He gazed back at the page, frowning.

Pomni could sense that there was something wrong with her caretaker. Scooting closer, she tugged at his sleeve. “What’s the matter? Do you not like the story?”

“What?” Kaufmo’s eyes widened. “No! No, I like the story. It’s very good. It’s just… I read this story before. Back when I was a young boy.” He gazed at the book with fond eyes. “It was such a long time ago, I forgot how much I loved reading this book.” His face drooped into a frown. “It’s been… so long since I read a good book like this.”

“Why? Are all the other books bad?”

Kaufmo snorted, chuckling for a bit. “Not exactly.” He laughed, shaking his head and looking down at the book with a sad sort of smile. “But it’s nice to read this sort of book again instead of the others we have here.”

“Why? Aren’t they all the same?”

“Not this book!” A wide grin broke out across Kaufmo’s face. “This book has everything that all these other books lack! Adventure! A missing princess! Faraway places and knights! Magic and fantasy! Best part about this book is that it uses real places in the story!”

“Real places?”

“Yes! Like the Kingdom of Dreams! It’s a real place!”

Pomni’s eyes widened. “Really?” She asked in an awed whisper.

“Of course.” Kaufmo looped an arm around her, hugging her to his side. “The Kingdom of Dreams. Man, how I wish we could see it. It’s rumored to be one of the most beautiful kingdoms of all the land. The scenery. The culture. The people living there. Everything is just breathtaking about that place. They say it took more than a century to build the castle, and it’s the pride and wonder of the whole kingdom.”

“Wooow.”

“Mm-hm. It’s too bad this book doesn’t have any pictures. The illustration for the book I read before really captured the place down to the finer detail. Like they plucked the place and actually put it in the book.”

“Keep reading! Keep reading!”

“Okay, okay. Now where was I? Oh, here we are. ‘Its seven towers–’”

“HELLOOOOO~!” A deep, baritone voice cut through the air, rumbling the ground and shaking the decor.

Pomni let out an excited gasp as Kaufmo pulled a frown. “Oh. Perfect timing.” He drawled as Pomni slipped out from his arm and rushed over to the only door in the room.

“Duke!” Pomni cheered as the door swung open, letting in a massive being into the room.

The Duke was a bull. A very large bull with frighteningly large horns on his head. He wore clothes that were fit to travel under a dark cloak, with bits of filth and grime sticking to the fabric. A golden ring was pierced inside his nose, and his ears were pierced with bejeweled earrings that sparkled under the light.

“Hello my little flower!” The Duke kneeled down, opening his arm as an invasion for a hug. Pomni wasted no time running up to the Duke and burying herself into his side, pressing her body as close as she could get to the large bovine.

“I missed you!”

“I missed you too, little seed.” The Duke smiled as Pomni looked up at him. “Happy fifth birthday!”

“It’s not my fifth birthday! I’m six now!”

“Six? Oh, well that’s a shame. Because I heard someone was turning five today and I spent sooo long getting this gift made just for them.” The Duke pulled out his other arm from under his cloak, which was carrying a large colorful wrapped box tied together with a large ribbon on top.

Pomni gasped, letting out a squeal of delight. “You Got Me A Present?! Thank You Thank You Thank You!” She reached for the box.

The Duke laughed as he lifted the box just out of Pomni’s reach, making her jump a few times before lowering his arm and letting Pomni snatch the gift from him. “Happy birthday little bloom.”

“Thank you, Duke!” Pomni said, toddling away with the heavy gift to the middle area of the room.

The Duke chuckled as he stood, grunting as he stretched his back out.

“Back troubles, your grace?”

“Travel was not kind to me today.” The Duke sighed, side-glancing at Kaufmo. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

“Just some light reading.” Kaufmo said, flipping some pages. “Just the usual thing to pass the time.”

The Duke narrowed his eyes, staring at the book in the clown’s hands. “… I don’t recall seeing a cover like that before.” He said in a slow tone.

“Maybe you don’t recall because you haven’t been visiting as much as you used to.” Kaufmo said, tracing his eyes across the page. “You forgot a number of games and books we have here from your last visit. Maybe you just don’t recall this book because you haven’t seen it in a while.”

The Duke stared at him for a moment before nodding his head. “Yes, I… suppose so.” He turned his eyes away. “Maybe I should consider stopping by more often.” A smile graced his face. “I would love to spend more time with my daughter.”

Kaufmo tried not to bristle at that.

“More toys!” Pomni’s excited shriek cut through the air. “New books!” The young girl jumped about as she pulled every item stored in the box out. She let out a gasp as she pulled out new paints. “Paint! I got paint! Thank you, Duke!”

“But of course!” The Duke smiled as Pomni ran up to him and hugged his leg. “Anything to make my special little flower’s day just as wonderful as she is.”

Pomni giggled as the Duke patted her head. She missed the Duke so much. He kind and caring. He brought her all kinds of things from the outside world and she liked his friendly smile. Even if his horns were a bit scary-looking.

“Ah, before I forget.” The Duke turned his eyes on Kaufmo. “You said you had a delivery you needed me to send off from my last visit. I hope you have everything ready?”

Kaufmo pulled a sour face, glaring at the Duke. Was he serious? Asking on Pomni’s birthday? Kaufmo had half of mind to whack the book down on the Duke’s head. “It’s… up in my room.” Snapping the book shut, Kaufmo got up from his seat. “Let me just grab it real quick.” Placing the book down, Kaufmo left to get the delivery, leaving Pomni with the Duke.

“Duke! Duke!”

“Yes? What is it, little flower?”

“Tell me about your adventures!” The little girl demanded, grabbing the Duke’s hand and guiding him towards the furniture.

The Duke chuckled as he set himself down on the plush cushion, making the furniture creek under his weight. “My adventures, huh? Well, I’m not sure if you want to hear them. They can be pretty scary you know.”

“But you always sound so brave! And strong!” Pomni argued, trying to climb up on the Duke’s lap. “And I like your stories!”

“Oh?” The Duke tilted his head, reaching down and helping Pomni up. “Even more than Kaufmo’s?”

Pomni puffed her cheeks out, making a long humming sound. “Ummmm… I say half and half.”

The Duke threw back his head and roared with laughter, making the whole room shake with his thunderous voice. “So be it!” He chortled. Clearing his throat, he began telling Pomni of his recent adventure across the land, telling her of the creatures he’d seen and come across.

He told her of the long journey he had to endure and the perils he had to face against. He told her in great detail of the monsters he battled against and the terror they caused. He even told her of a plague that was harming a small village that needed his attention soon.

“Soon?” Pomni said in a sad little voice. “You’re leaving again?”

“I’m afraid so.” The Duke sighed sadly. “Being the Duke of the land means I have a lot of responsibility for my people. I can’t leave them unattended if they are in trouble.”

“But I’ll miss you. I don’t want you to go.”

“Now Pomni, that’s not very nice.” The Duke said with a small sternness in his tone. “I understand that I haven’t been visiting as much as I used to, but I have a special responsibility that I can’t ignore. I have to look after my people and take care of them. You understand that, yes?”

“Yeah. But…” Pomni hesitated, kicking her legs. “But you go away for such a long time. And it gets so lonely without you.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. But I have big duties that need my attention. If I could, I would spend as much time with you as you want.”

“Really?”

“Really.” The Duke nuzzled the top of Pomni’s head. “But you need to learn to be more selfless. There are other’s out there who require my attention in urgency. If I don’t, bad things will happen to them. And you don’t want that… do you?”

“No!” Pomni quickly shouted. “No! I don’t want bad things to happen to others! I want nice things for them! Lots of good things!”

“Exactly. See? Now that’s more selfless.” The Duke patted her head. “But let’s talk about something else. Since I’ll be away for a while, do you want me to bring back anything?”

“More drawing stuff?” Pomni said. “Kaufmo says we’re running out of paper to draw with.”

“I’ll bring the best quality paper I can find on my next visit then.” The Duke promised. “Now, how about I tell you more stories?”

“Stories? Oh! I know!” Pomni slid off the Duke’s lap, confusing the bovine as she went over to where Kaufmo had once been sitting, grabbing the book and bringing it back to the Duke. “Here! Read this! It’s a good book!”

“I should hope so.” The Duke said as he took the book. “Every book here should be good enough for you…” His voice trailed off as he examined the cover, opening the pages and frowning as he flipped through it. “… but I know for certain that I did not give you this book.” He said after a few pages. “How… where did you find this?”

“Your escort gave it to me!” Pomni told him with a bright smile. “From your last visit! It’s a really good book about a princess and adventure and a knight and a kingdom–”

“You shouldn’t have this book.” The Duke interrupted her. “This book… I’m sorry Pomni. But you can’t read this book.”

“Why not? Kaufmo says it’s a good book.”

“Kaufmo doesn’t always know what book is a good book.” The Duke said, stuffing the book into his cloak. “And it seems my escorts lack quality as well…” He gave her a soft smile. “How about I bring you some better books when I return? Ones that are better than this book.”

Pomni frowned. Better books? But the book Kaufmo was reading was good. She liked the story. And he said that the book had real places in it. Most of the books they had here didn’t have real places in them. “Mm…”

“Your grace?” Their attention turned to the stairs. Kaufmo stood at the top of the steps, holding a large box in his arms. “I have the delivery.”

“Ah. Good.” The Duke got out of his seat. “I’m glad you have everything ready then.”

“Is that a gift for me?” Pomni asked innocently as the Duke took the box from Kaufmo.

“No, little flower. It’s not.” The Duke said as Pomni frowned. “It’s just one of Kaufmo’s deliveries he wants me to send out. The usual thing we do.”

“Yeah. The usual.” Kaufmo said with a deep frown.

“Oh lighten up, good fellow! I’m doing you a favor!” The Duke smiled as he reached down to his belt and plucked a small satchel from it. “Since you and Pomni can’t leave this tower, I think it’s only fair I do you this small favor.”

Kaufmo said nothing as the Duke dropped the satchel into his awaiting hand. His gaze turned sad, running a thumb against the fabric.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” The Duke turned to Pomni with a wide smile. “I have one more surprise waiting for you at the bottom of the tower. I hope you still have a sweet tooth.”

Pomni let out a delighted gasp, clapping her hands together as Kaufmo looked on with a frown.

“Let me just go fetch it and–”

“Can I come with you?” Pomni asked as the Duke headed for the door.

“NO!”

Pomni jumped back with fright, staring at the Duke in fear. She suddenly felt small under the Duke’s gaze, feeling cold and terror from the person who held nothing but warm kind eyes to her. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, shaking where she stood.

Kaufmo tensed, ready to spring into action to defend his ward.

The Duke’s face shifted to regret, sighing deeply as he set the crate down and knelled to Pomni’s level. “I’m… so sorry.” He said with deep regret. “I… I didn’t mean…” He let out a sigh, holding his arms open. “Come here.” He beckoned softly.

Pomni stood, staring at the Duke. He had his warm eyes again, looking at her with kindness and sadness. He didn’t seem as scary as he was moments ago, but…

Hesitantly, Pomni stepped closer. She inched carefully towards the Duke before throwing herself at him, burying her face in his shirt, and wept as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. The Duke rocked her back and forth, whispering apologies as he rubbed her back in soothing motions.

Kaufmo watched, feeling a mix of emotions in his chest at the scene. He wanted to tear those two apart. To keep the Duke far away from Pomni as much as he possibly could. To take her to a place that was actually safe, and let her see the world with her own eyes.

But he couldn’t. Not yet.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you, my little songbird.” The Duke said softly, rubbing circles in Pomni’s shoulders. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Are.” Pomni’s voice croaked, sniffling as tears coated her face. “A-Are you mad at m-me?”

“No. No no no. Never.” The Duke said, pulling away from Pomni just enough to get her to look at him. “Never in a million years and more.”

“Then… th-then why yell?”

A look of shame crossed the Duke’s face, sighing deeply. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, my special girl. I acted out due to concern. And fear.” He looked at her solemnly. “Your question… upsetted me a bit. You know why you can’t leave this tower. Do you remember why?”

“B-because… because my p-people were greedy.” Pomni sniffed, wiping her face. “They were g-greedy and mean and became m-monsters cause they didn’t share their gift. An-and I wasn’t turned into a m-monster because I’m not greedy. B-but people outside are, and want t-to taint my gift with their greed.”

“That’s right.” The Duke said, wiping away Pomni’s tears with his cloak. “The world outside is a very dangerous place. Filled with evil people who would use your gift for their own purposes. Your gift is special, Pomni.” The Duke tilted her head to make her look at him. “A special gift that no other has. If a gift like that gets tainted by greed, then you risk becoming a monster.”

“I don’t want to be a monster!” Pomni cried. She remembered all the stories of the people she came from. How they grew greedy and abusive with their gift, and didn’t share it with the world, and were turned into monsters because of their actions.

“That’s right. You don’t. And you won’t. As long as you stay safe and pure inside this tower.” The Duke reminded her. “As long as you’re in the tower, your gift won’t be tainted, and you won’t turn into a monster by greed like your people had. Understand?”

Pomni nodded her head.

“Good girl.” The Duke placed a kiss on her head. “Just promise me you won’t ask to leave this place? I’d grow sick with worry if I learned that you left your tower and got hurt by the world outside.”

“I promise.” Pomni said. “Promise, promise, PROMISE!”

The Duke smiled, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you, my little flower. Thank you.”

Kaufmo narrowed his eyes, glaring at the scene.

After a while, the Duke left to get Pomni’s other gift, leaving the girl to wait with Kaufmo.

“Do you think it’s a strawberry cake?” She asked, kicking her legs on the couch. “I like strawberries. It’s really sweet and yummy.”

“I’m… sure it’ll be a nice cake.” Kaufmo said, trying hard not to reach over and pull the girl into a tight hug. Her pale face was covered in drying tears, and he didn’t want to upset her further on her birthday. “Say, while we wait, why don’t we read more from the book? I’m sure…” He trailed off, looking around for the book.

“Where is it?” He muttered, looking under the couch and the cushions. “I’m sure I put the book right here.”

“The Duke has it.” Pomni informed him, and Kaufmo looked up at her in surprise. “He said that the book wasn’t good and took it with him.”

“Of course he did.” Kaufmo scoffed, glaring at the door and wishing he could open it and give the Duke a piece of his mind. He let out a sigh. “It was such a good book.”

“Don’t worry! The Duke promised he’d bring more books on his next visit! And they’ll be good books too!” Pomni said, hopping off the couch. “And look! He brought books for my birthday! Let’s read one of those!”

Kaufmo gazed sadly as Pomni raced over to the box that contained her new gifts. Deep down he knew the books were all going to have the same ending, and he knew they would drive Pomni to stay in the tower more. He wanted so badly to tell her that she didn’t need to read such books, that he could tell her his own stories and she wouldn’t have to listen to the same ending over and over again.

But it was futile.

The Duke would never allow such a thing if he knew, and Pomni still wasn’t old enough to keep secrets yet.

She wasn’t old enough to know the truth, and she wasn’t old enough to go along with his plan. He needed to wait. How long he would need to wait was unclear, but he knew that no matter what, he would get her out of this tower. No matter how long it took.

Chapter Text

Smoke.

Fire.

Ruin.

It surrounded her.

Her wonderful home. 

Her peace and shelter.

Gone.

All of it was gone.

The warnings she had been told over and over again.

It all came true.

And now.

Everyone she loved.

Everything she cherished.

Everything she held dear and near to her heart.

Was gone.

She stared out at the destruction, taking in the ruins of her once beautiful home.

She had done this.

She had brought ruin and death to her people.

She alone had destroyed everything.

All because she went beyond the wall.

And now nothing remained except ruin and decay.

Her curiosity. Her desire. Her stubbornness.

It all led to this.

And now.

She had nothing.

Hot tears pooled down her face as she took in all the destruction around her. The fond memories she made now lost forever. The familiar faces she grew up with were now ash and soot. Homes and buildings filled with warm scents and laughter were now desolated and ruined.

Nothing remained.

Nothing was spared.

And it was all her fault.

She opened her mouth and screamed– 

“POMNI~!”

A high-pitched scream echoed in the room. The book she had been currently reading from slipped out of her hands, falling over the edge of her seat.

Pomni tried to make a grab for the book, but it was already far out of her reach. She watched as the book quickly descended down to the ground… right into the large gaping maw filled with razor teeth. She cringed as the book was swallowed whole, sighing over the loss of another book.

“Now what’s with all the sighing, my dear?” Pomni cringed, turning her head to look at the being floating next to her.

He was mostly humanoid, dressed in a plain white shirt and gloves with black stockings, with one major standout. That standout was his head, or what should be his head. Instead, he had a floating set of red jaws with teeth, with a pair of floating eyeballs inside. One eye was blue, and the other green. And despite seeing him for years, Pomni still felt unnerved under his gaze.

“It’s… nothing, Caine.” She said, trying to turn her gaze to somewhere or something that wasn’t the odd-looking being. Her gaze found it, though she wasn’t sure if it was any better since it was Bubble.

Bubble was… well, a bubble.

A simple large bubble with a worrying amount of sharp, pointed teeth that were in a permanent smile and beady black eyes that stared right into her soul. Caine insisted that it was part of his charm, but Pomni wasn’t sure if a bubble should have teeth like that. Or any teeth at all.

At least he knew how to cook. That made him at least more tolerable to Pomni, despite his… unique personality.

“You sure?” Caine asked, floating in her line of view. “Cause it seems to me that you’re upset about something.”

Because you interrupted my reading and Bubble ate the book. Again. Pomni thought bitterly but held her tongue. It was pointless to try and argue with Caine. It would mostly go over his head anyway. “It’s nothing.” She put on her best reassuring smile, though it was a struggle to do so. “I promise. I’m fine, really.”

Caine stared at her for a while before shrugging. “Well if you say so, my dear. But I’m always here if you want to talk about your problems!”

“Or eat delicious books!” Bubble quipped. “The one I just had was extra yummy!”

“I can’t eat–”

“GADZOOKS You’re Right Bubble! We have been sitting around doing nothing! We should do some ACTIVITIES!” Caine suddenly proclaimed, the floating eyes in his mouth spun around in odd directions before settling, disturbing Pomni more. “YOU!” She flinched as Caine suddenly pointed at her. “What activities do you wish to do today? Drawing?” 

Caine pulled out a piece of paper, which depicted a drawing Pomni couldn’t get a good look at. “Painting?” Caine tossed the paper, pulling out a canvas that had a picture of Bubble riding a horse with long luscious locks of hair flowing behind him. “Sewing?” The picture was replaced by fabric and sewing materials. “Cooking?” The fabric and materials were swapped out with pots and pans. “Summon B̴̤̮̭̭̀̀L̸̡̙͛̌̇Ȏ̸̘̈͝Ö̸̦͍̪̘D̶͉͊̾ ̴̟̒̽S̸̡̡͙̎͗͝U̷̙̿̄͠C̶̛̠̺̦̋K̸͍̻͈͓̊̇I̷̳̿N̵̥̜͊͆̀́G̶̡͎̪͆̇̍͝ ̶̛̲̣̑D̶̖̭͜͝Ȩ̵̹̱͍͌́̑M̵̭̈́́O̴̬͑̑N̸̗̝͓̎̃͠͝ͅS̴̼̕̕͝ ̵̻̟̞͎̈F̴͔͚͗́͒̄R̶̖̥̙̺͝Ȯ̴̫̫M̸̯͈̀ ̵̯̺̯̊͒̽ͅT̴̞̖̎H̷̹́̂Ȩ̶͖͍͒̄͠ ̸͖̬͑̍̇͝U̷̡̹̯̽̇͠N̶̬͖͑̽́̕͜D̵̤́̂Ĕ̸͔͌͆̀R̴̖̗̀̄W̷͓̤̋͑̕Ó̴̜̰Ṙ̵͆͐ͅL̵̝̫̻̝̽̿D̵̦̬̈́̍̈́?̵̹͎̻̏̆̿͂” Pomni let out a shriek as a portal opened up and a large, rotten, mishapen hand reached out towards her. “WAIT! I know!”

Every item Caine had conjured around him shot off in different directions as he reached behind his back and pulled out a board game. “LET’S PLAY JUMANJI! Nothing can go wrong with that! I’ll even add a bit of extra FLARE to make it even more exciting!” He exclaimed proudly, his eyes becoming bigger.

Pomni felt her heart drop. She remembered this particular game, and all the trouble it caused her that left haunting memories she didn’t want to repeat. “Uh-I-Well-That’s–”

“But Caine, the Duke says you’re not supposed to do that anymore after the last mosquito swarm!” Bubble interjected.

Caine’s eyes reverted back to their normal size, his teeth going straight as he stared blankly. “… Well there goes that idea.” He said casually as he tossed the game away, which Bubble quickly chased after and promptly ate it. “Oh well!” He shrugged, turning his focus back on Pomni. “So! What do you want to do today? There’s plenty to do, and fun to have my dear! All you have to do is ask and I’ll provide! Just ask anything!”

“… anything?”

“Anything!” Caine repeated.

Pomni stared at him for a long moment, mulling over her options. She could ask for anything from Caine. Anything she desired. But wouldn’t that be too greedy?

She was always warned of the dangers of being too greedy. The story of her people served as a reminder of their fate that she didn’t wish to share.

But was it so wrong to want something she didn’t have? To have the opportunity before her? Caine could do anything. She had witnessed, and experienced, a horrifying amount she didn’t wish to think about of his powers firsthand for many years. She knew he was capable of doing anything.

Except for what she really wanted.

“Can… Can you bring Kaufmo back?” She asked hesitantly.

Caine started to speak but froze.

Pomni stared at him for a while before sighing and twisting her swing away. She knew it was a fruitless hope, and yet she still requested the one thing she couldn’t have. “It’s fine. Sorry for asking.” She apologized, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

She missed Kaufmo. Every day since he left. The Duke promised her he was in good hands, but she missed her old guardian’s presence greatly. 

Pomni hugged her legs, pretending she was hugging Kaufmo and that everything was normal.

But it wasn’t. Not without him.

“… I’m… sorry, Pomni.” Caine said, floating in front of her. “I know how much you miss your old guardian. I would love to bring him here but, well, you know.”

“I know.” Pomni wiped the corner of her eye. “I know. It’s just… it’s not the same without him.”

“I know.” Caine hovered over, taking a seat next to her on the swing. “But don’t you worry your little head. The Duke is taking great care of him! I’m sure that he’ll be back on his feet in no time!”

“That’s what you said last time.” Pomni sighed. “And the time before that. And all the other times before. And he’s still not back.” She ducked her head down. “He’ll probably never come back.”

“Now now now, my dear! Don’t think like that! I’m sure he’ll be back! You just need to have more CONFIDENCE!” Caine shouted, jolting the swing so much that Pomni scrambled to grab on to something for dear life. “And believe in yourself. And I’m sure, one day, he’ll come walking through that door and things will look brighter than ever!”

Pomni glanced down at the door, the only door in this whole tower. The door the Duke used to get up here and come visit baring gifts and presents that made her day just a bit more bearable.

The same door Kaufmo went through and hadn’t returned in years.

Another sigh left Pomni as she gazed down at the floor, feeling forlorn at the last memory of her best friend.

Caine could sense Pomni’s mode wasn’t improving as he hoped, shifting his jaws in a way that could be interrupted as a frown. He tapped his lower jaw, improvising it as a chin as he pondered for a while before a candlestick materialized above his head and was lit by Bubble with a matchstick.

“Say, this place feels a bit too down in the dumps!” Grabbing the candle above his head, Caine shifted it with his power, turning it into a violin and presenting it with flair. “How about we bring some music into this place and lighten the mode? You always feel better when you sing, after all!”

Pomni looked at Caine, gazing at the odd being for a long time. She didn’t feel like singing today, but he wasn’t wrong. Singing always made her feel better. It made her day just a bit better and her companions a bit more tolerable.

“… okay.” She put on a small smile. “Do you… have any specific requests?”

“Only for you to sing to your heart’s content, my dear!” Caine said, pulling out a bow as he settled the violin by his head. It was a little awkward since he didn’t have a proper head to set the instrument against, but Caine could make anything work with him, despite his oddness, and proceeded to guide the bow across the strings with precision and mastery.

Bark, bark.

Mooo!

Merow.

Only instead of beautiful musical notes, the violin made animal noises.

Caine’s eyes went sideways, pulling the violin away and looking at the instrument in surprise. He plucked one of the strings, which made a quaking noise instead of C minor. “What the–?!”

“Ha ha!” Bubble laughed, grinning as he usually did. Though his smile seemed to be a bit more mischievous than usual. 

“DARN IT BUBBLE!” Caine shouted at the flying soap orb as Bubble cackled with delight. “How Many Times Are You Going To Pull That Same Trick?!” Reaching over, Caine popped the living bubble with his finger, huffing under his breath as he fiddled with the instrument.

A small smile came upon Pomni’s face that she hid behind her hand. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she found the pair’s antics a bit funny sometimes. Even if they were strange and erratic and did things she wished they wouldn’t, they meant well and were nice company to have here in the tower.

They weren’t Kaufmo, but at least she wasn’t alone.

While Caine fiddled with the violin, out from the corner of her eye, Pomni spied the paper that Caine had offered beforehand. Reaching out, she grabbed a corner of the paper and brought it closer, taking a better look at the drawing.

It was a picture of her, dressed in one of her finer clothing while sitting next to the only window of the tower. The picture depicted her with a look of sadness and longing as she gazed out the window, somehow looking helpless and ready to cry.

Pomni frowned at the picture, wondering which of her two companions made this. Did they think she was sad? Depressed?

Well, she wasn’t. She was perfectly happy and content. She had everything she needed right here in the safety of her tower where she wouldn’t abuse her gift or let others taint it with their greed. She was safe from the dangers and monsters and evil that the Duke fought day in and day out just to keep her safe, and as long as she stayed here, she would never turn into a monster like her people.

Folding the paper, she tucked it under her hat. She figured she could toss it into the fire or let Bubble eat it later. Right now, though, she just wanted to sing away her sadness and be content with her life. She shot Caine a small smile as he readied his bow.

Music. Safety. Sort of good company. And no chance of tainting her gift. What more could she ask for?

~𝄞~

Deep in the woods, not far from a small settlement, there was activity in the forest.

A traveling circus was preparing for tonight’s show, and everyone was getting everything ready for the big night. Dancers were sharpening their skills. Stiltwalkers walked around on large poles to be sure they didn’t fall. And clowns were trying out new jokes that they were sure to be a kicker.

At one area of the circus, furthest from all the other performers, a doll was getting her animals ready.

She wore a dress that was covered in patches and seen better days, her red yarn tied back as she smiled fondly at her animals that showed in both her eye and button. “Up!” She commanded, raising one hand to the air.

The three beasts before her, a lion, a tiger, and a large wolf, all sat up on their hunches, lifting their front paws in the air.

“Speak!” The doll commanded, and each beast let out a roar or howl. “Down!” She lowered her hand and the three beasts went back down on all fours. 

“Good job everyone!” The doll praised, pulling out some meat from the bag tied around her hip. “You did so well!” She cooed at the creatures as she fed them, treating them like pets instead of dangerous beasts. “You’re gonna be the stars of the show tonight, I’m sure of it.” She said as scratched the wolf behind one of its ears while the tiger licked her cheek and the lion rubbed its head against her chest.

Not far from her, a red ribbon being with a porcelain mask for a head was practicing her dancing routine, swirling and twirling her batons around as the silk ribbons fluttered around her. She twisted this way and that, spinning around and making the fabric move like waves in what she could only hope was good enough for the show.

Another being stood at a further distance from the ribbon girl. This being was a mix-and-match person who had odd-shaped limbs and parts sticking out of them. Their limbs were interchangeable, but their head stayed the same, a hot pink triangle that was tilted down to one side. They were testing out some magic tricks, opting to wait till the ribbon girl finished dancing before they could move on to their fire-breathing performance.

They were practicing in front of a chess piece clad in a purple robe, showing off their skill that… didn’t seem to register to the chess piece.

“Are you enough paying attention?” The mix-and-match being questioned, annoyed from the lack of response from their only audience. “I’ve been showing you these tricks for two hours now! And you haven’t even said anything!”

The being huffed as they crossed their colorful arms together, glaring at the chess piece. The chess piece, who had been looking in different directions, finally turned his focus on the mix-and-match, staring at them for a long while. With a start, he let out a scream, startling everyone in the vicinity around him.

“Oh, Zooble!” The chess piece said once he recognized who was in front of him. “You startled me.”

Zooble glared at the chess piece, their antenna twitching in irritation before tossing their limbs up and groaning. “I give up!” They turned and hobbled off, grumbling under their breath as they went.

The chess piece watched them go, staring at them before looking at the two remaining people. “Was it something I said?”

“It’s just Zooble being Zooble, Kinger.” The doll reassured him. “They’re just being a bit grumpy this morning because they didn’t get their share of breakfast… again.”

“Do you think they’ll be alright?” The ribbon girl asked, hugging her wands close to her chest. “This is the third time they went without any breakfast. Poor Zooble must be starving.”

“They seem fine. For the most part. I guess they still have some rations left over.” The doll suggested, petting the tiger on the head. “Or they’re swiping food in the dead of night. Like most of us do to eat around here.” She gave the tiger one last pet, then whistled. She walked over to the ribbon girl as her beasts wandered off, confident that they would behave themselves in her absence. “I’m sure Zooble will be fine, Gangle. They’ve lasted this long. I’m sure things will get better for them.”

“Are you sure, Ragatha?” Gangle asked, sounding on the verge of crying. “I don’t want them passing out from starvation like before.”

“Starve what?” Kinger spoke up, looking around confused. “… Where’d Zooble go? Didn’t they want to show off their magic tricks?”

Ragatha rolled her one good eye in a good-natured way. “I’m sure Zooble won’t pass out from starvation, Gangle. Besides! If they’re hungry, I could always give them my share of food.”

“Is that a good idea? Won’t you go hungry?”

“Phft!” Ragatha stood, placing one hand on her hip and patted her stomach. “You don’t need to worry about me! I’m used to going days without food! A little thing as an empty stomach won’t hurt me.”

“Well, actually, starving yourself can be really painful.” Kinger spoke up. “Without an intake of nutrition, your body will slowly start to lose strength. Not to mention that your stomach will cave in on itself along with headaches, nausea, and a few other unpleasant symptoms. That’s not a fun feeling to have.”

Ragatha frowned at Kinger, feeling her eye twitch slightly. She took a deep breath, calming her nerves. “Thank you, for the information, Kinger.”

“… Infor-what?”

Ragatha rolled her eye, turning to Gangle with a smile. “Your ribbon dancing is coming along really nicely. I think the best yet!”

“You think so?” Gangle looked down at her wands.

“Of course!” Ragatha exclaimed, patting Gangle on the back. “You’ve come a long way since you joined, and I can honestly say that you made a large improvement from then. Everyone can see it!”

The hope that was growing on Gangle’s face dimmed, frowning deeply as she gazed at the ground in sadness. “Everyone… except Lextion that is.” 

“Well, that’s…” Ragatha cringed.

If there was one complaint she had about this circus, which she tried not to, it would probably be the boss.

The ringleader was, in probably the nicest way to describe him, an absolute dick.

He was by far probably the worst person to be in charge of running a circus. He treated his performers like trash. All the shows he planned were a flop. And if things didn’t go his way, he would deny everyone’s ration of food for the day.

Many performers were displeased working under him, but none of them could speak up against him. He was rumored to have ‘connections’ to a nefarious group. Lextion claimed that if anything happened to him, then his connections would come and kill them all. Or worse.

A lot of the performers didn’t believe him, but many of them were too scared to fight back in case he was telling the truth.

All except one that is.

There was only one person in the whole circus who could backtalk Lextion. One person who the ringleader and, to an extension, the rest of the circus didn’t like. And as much of a pain they were, no one could get rid of him.

“I… I’m sure Lextion’s just jealous.” Ragatha supplied, trying to lift Gangle mode before she could get even more depressed. “After all, you’re one of the best dancers here. And you pull off such wonderful moves! I can’t imagine anyone but you to be able to pull off such a beautiful and awe-inspiring dance.”

“B-Beautiful?” Gangle blushed. “You… really think my dance is beautiful?”

“Of course! I think your dancing is the best and most wonderful thing this whole circus has.” Ragatha said in sincerity, making Gangle smile in hope.

“Pfft. Get real.” A voice cut in. One that made Ragatha tense up and Gangle’s smile to fall. “Beautiful? Awe-inspiring? You need to get your vision checked, dollface. Cause all I see is a crybaby waving fabric around on a stick while thinking she’s some sort of fairy. And only those exist in dumb fairytales.”

A whine of distress left Gangle as Ragatha turned and glared at the owner of the voice.

High off above the ground was a purple rabbit. He was laid out on one of the tents that were littered around the circus tent, reclined with his legs kicked and his hands tucked behind his head. He wore brown baggy pants there was covered in tears and scraps, held up on his waist with a thick belt, and a white shirt with its sleeves rolled past his elbows and three of its five buttons popped open, exposing some of his chest to the world. His ears were pierced with small hoops and bands, with one ear having a small bit missing near the tip.

“Jax! That’s not true!” Ragatha shouted up at the rabbit, glaring at him. “Gangle’s dancing is beautiful! No one can dance like her!”

“Oh please. Anyone can pull off moves if their body is nothing but a ribbon.” Jax said with an air of nonchalance. “You’re giving her way too much credit for something she uses against everyone.”

“Th-that’s not true!” Gangle whimpered, hugging her wands tightly.

“Isn’t it?” Jax cracked open one of his eyes, staring down at the group with his black eye. “I mean, I can’t blame you for the way that you were born, but it’s unfair how you use that thin body of yours to gain a flexible advantage that none of the rest of us can achieve. So of course you think her flailing is nice. You’re only just saying that to get her to stop crying.”

“Jax!” Ragatha hissed as Gangle let out a whine, tears falling out from her mask as she began to cry. “D-don’t listen to him, Gangle! He’s just being mean and DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT!” Ragatha tried to soothe the distressed girl, glaring up at Jax as the rabbit continued to grin at Gangle’s misery. With a deep huff, she turned to Gangle with a soft smile. “Come on, let’s go somewhere else. If you want, I’m sure Teddy would love to give you a hug.” She shot one more glare at Jax before leading Gangle away.

Jax merely shrugged, closing his eye, and went back to enjoying the sunlight.

It was a fairly nice day out. The weather was nice. The temperature wasn’t too warm. And there was a nice breeze out. Days like these should be enjoyed to the fullest. To kick off and relax without a single worry in the world.

“AHH! Where Did Everyone Go?!”

Listening to his coworkers suffer was a nice bonus too.

Jax quite enjoyed this life. Traveling around, going from place to place, seeing new things, and putting on a killer of a show. Best of all, he could pull pranks on anyone while they traveled, and no one would be the wiser. He honestly couldn’t think of a better life than this.

His easygoing grin faltered a bit when a gong rang out. It was Lextion’s favorite way to gain everyone’s attention for a meeting, and if everyone wasn’t there, then there would be consequences. His ears could pick up on a few performers bemoaning over the sudden call of a meeting, taking some pleasure in their misery.

Jax debated if he should show up or not. Lextion’s meetings weren’t usually fun. The ringmaster usually only complained, ordered them to follow his new plan for tonight’s show, complain again, and threaten everyone to do as he says or he would revoke their rations.

He could skip out. All Lextion ever did was yell at everyone and demand they follow his every word, and Jax wasn’t keen to let his hearing be ruined. But if he didn’t go, Ragatha would notice and chew him out later, yammering on about responsibility and all the junk. Honestly, if she wasn’t his senior or had an army of wild beasts at her command, Jax wouldn’t even bother showing up.

After debating his options more, Jax let out a sigh, sitting up on the tent. As much as he hated listening to these meetings, Ragatha’s nagging was far worse to deal with. Even on a good day.

Hopping down from the tent, Jax ignored Kinger as he screamed in surprise, walking casually towards the certain of the circus where the meeting was being held. Everyone was already there when he arrived.

A few of them who noticed his presence shot him glares and moved away from him. Jax smiled as he passed them, uncaring of their dislike for him.

Finding a nice spot, Jax went over to it. Conveniently, the spot just so happened to be next to the small group from earlier. Ragatha shot him a half glare as he stood beside her, though didn’t hide the small thankful look in her eye for his appearance.

Ignoring her, Jax fixed his gaze on a small stage with a parasol hanging over it was set up.

Standing on it was the one being everyone despised more than him. The ringleader himself, Lextion.

Lextion was a tall, thin, very lanky person. He was more bones than muscles, if he even had any. He had the type of face that made many think he was younger, yet he was only a year older than Ragatha. He had a sharp chin, with an equally sharp thin nose. His ears were oddly pointed, and his skin was deathly pale. And despite being the ringleader, his clothes were more common and raggedy looking than fine and proper as he believed he looked.

Many assumed he was a vampire, which Lextion took as a huge insult.  

“Alright, Listen Up, Freaks!” Lextion shouted, his voice nasal and pitched in an uncomfortable way that made everyone tense. “Tonight’s our final night in this place. So everyone is expecting a grand show! One they’ll never forget!”

A few performers shared glances of alarm as Lextion pulled out a large rolled-up piece of paper. “Now thanks to your bumbling and incompetence from your previous performances, I have spent all night coming up with a perfect show plan for tonight’s show. One I EXPECT you ALL to follow TO THE DOT!” He shot a glare at everyone, lingering just enough on Jax before moving on. “I sacrificed a lot of my time to help you worthless lot out coming up with this, so I better see the grand performance that I worked so hard on. OR NONE OF YOU WILL GET TONIGHT’S RATIONS!” He yelled, causing a few to flinch back.

“Big deal.”

Everyone turned their heads in surprise, looking at the one who spoke up in shock.

“… care to repeat that?” Lextion slowly turned his eyes towards the person, narrowing them. “Zobble?”

“First of all, it’s Zooble.” The mix-and-match being huffed, crossing their arms and narrowing their eyes back at Lextion. “Second of all, you hardly feed us anything. All you ever give us is a thin slice of bread that’s hard as a rock and a bit of cheese that’s smaller than a bite. I’m surprised that most of us are still alive with how starved you make us. And your shows are trash anyway.”

A few performers nodded their heads in agreement.

“Oh? Starved? That’s funny.” Lextion said, smiling in a way that was uncomfortable and mean. “You don’t act like you’re starved if you can run that stupid trap you call a mouth. If you have the energy to complain then you obviously don’t need your share of food for tonight. Or tomorrow’s rations as well since you feel so peppy!”

Zooble narrowed their eyes, glaring daggers at Lextion. The ringleader ignored them, turning to Ragatha and throwing the paper at her. “Read this. Make sure everyone sticks to the plan, or no dinner tonight.” He ordered, snapping his fingers. A small pitbull child, no older than five, came running up, grabbing the parasol, and struggled to keep it steady over the taller man as the ringleader stalked.

Plenty of performers looked at the child with pity, feeling sorry that he was forced to carry around an object that was too heavy for him to carry for someone who would never appreciate him. 

Ragatha let out a sigh, unrolling the paper. She looked over the plans and cringed. “Oooh… this is not good.”

“Is it bad?” Gangle questioned, rubbing her ribbon hands together.

“No! No! It’s…” Ragatha gazed at the paper, cringing at the details. “… fiiiiine?”

“It’s terrible.” Zooble huffed. “Just like all his other show ideas.”

“W-Well maybe this one won’t be so bad!” Ragatha said with a brave front, reading more of the paper and pulled a face of shock and disgust. “… He is NOT seriously expecting me to wear that tonight.”

“Yep. We’re doomed.” Zooble scoffed. A small rumble came from their middle, loud enough for Gangle to hear and give them a concerned look. Zooble noticed, giving Gangle a small reassuring look. “I’ll be fine. I’ve gone through worse than a missed meal.”

Gangle didn’t seem convinced, staring at her friend in concern.

“You know, if you want, I could give you my food.” Ragatha offered. “I wouldn’t mind giving it to you.”

“No thanks. I’m good.” Zooble declined.

“Are you sure? I have–”

“I said I’m fine.” Zooble said sternly. “I don’t want your pity.”

Ragatha frowned. She wanted to say something but knew her words had no effect on Zooble when they were being stubborn. She looked back at the paper, reading it over more. Her jaw dropped when she read something utterly absurd. “Wha–?! We don’t HAVE any SHARKS! Where are we supposed to get sharks?! We’re nowhere near the ocean!”

“We’re doomed.” Someone said, and many of the performers groaned, already imagining the anger on Lextion’s face and the loss of their dinner.

“Does… does this mean that show is ruined?” Gangle asked meekly.

“No! No! It’s just… W-well, we could… it’s…” Ragatha struggled to speak, looking at the paper with growing disgust. After a moment, she let out a defeated sigh, crumpling the paper in her hand. “You know what? Forget it! I try to be nice, but this new show Lextion cooked up is just…” Groaning, she tossed the paper away, rubbing her face.

After a moment of contemplation, she turned her gaze on Jax. The rabbit was casually fiddling with a knife, spinning it around on his hand.

Drawing in a deep breath, already knowing how hard this was going to be, Ragatha turned to Jax, putting on her best smile that she hoped was convincing enough, and addressed the rabbit. “Jax?”

“Hmmm?”

“Would you be willing to help out? We need someone–” She breathed in deeply, trying hard not to back down now. “Someone clever and crafty to save the show. And maybe save our dinner privileges too?” She asked, hoping that Jax would help out of this dilemma.

“Hmm, I don’t know rags.” Jax tapped his chin with the knife, his grin growing more obnoxious the longer the conversation continued. “What’s in it for me?”

“Uh…” Ragatha tapped her fingers, trying to find a good reason to convince Jax. “I… I’ll… take blame for your pranks on Lextion? For a month?”

Jax’s grin grew obnoxiously big.

~𝄞~

Music filled the air as lights flashed about in the night sky.

The big top was in full swing, though there was a large lack of attendees coming to enjoy the show.

Only a few people filled the benches, looking bored and done with the circus despite the show having not started yet. Lextion cursed under his breath, biting his nail in frustration.

“Damn it.” He cursed, not expecting a small crowd tonight. “It’s the final night. It should be a full house.” Growling, he threw his hands up in the air, signaling to the people manning the lights. “Screw it. Screw it! I can work with this!” Adjusting his jacket and top hat, he put on his best winning smile, throwing the curtain open just as the lights dimmed and the spotlight focused on him.

“HELL~O! One and all! Welcome to the show! Boy, do we have something special for you all tonight! It’s going to be wild!”

While Lextion was busy trying to hype up the audience, most of the performers were making last-minute adjustments to their costumes, making sure everything was in order for the show.

Ragatha peeked out, frowning at the lack of people attending the show. “There’s less people tonight. Less than yesterday’s performance.”

“Well, what did you expect? They saw how bad the other performances were, why would this be any different?” Zooble said, helping Gangle put on the last of her costume.

Ragatha drew in a deep breath, pulling her yarn hair back. “Because tonight, we’re doing things our way.” Tying her hair up, she turned her gaze upward.

High above on the tightwire platform, Jax and a few other performers hidden in the shadows high above Lextion were waiting in position. As if sensing her gaze, Jax turned his head and winked down at her.

Trying to calm her nerves, she turned her focus to the other performers, putting on a brave face before everyone. “Everyone remember the routine?” She asked, making sure everyone knew their part. Nods and quiet murmurs, Ragatha let out a slow sigh, pulling out the whip she had tied to her belt. “Let’s do this.”

Nodding their head, Zooble pulled a cloth out, waving it in the air.

Seeing the signal below, Jax grinned, cracking his knuckles. “Time for some fun ladies.” He said, giving the cue to the people managing the light just as Lextion was finishing off.

The lights cut off, turning the tent pitch dark.

“Go, go, go.” Jax quickly prompted the performers into action as the screams and Lextion’s yelling rang out in the darkness. A performer on each side of him lept off from the wire, flying through the air on their ropes, and disappeared down below.

The remaining group waited, listening carefully through the noise for the signal.

Jax grinned as Lextion’s screams grew louder and a bird call sounded out, tapping the performer next to him on the shoulder. “That’s your cue muscles.” He said to the thick-muscled pig.

With a grin and a snort, the pigman grabbed a rope that was hanging next to him, leaping off the tightrope. He too disappeared into the darkness below, pulling the rope down with him as he went. A smile of triumph came across Jax’s face as Lextion flew past him, screaming his head off as he was carried high into the ceiling. “Make sure he’s tied securely!” He called up to the other performers waiting above, confidant they could keep Lextion away.

Putting his fingers to his lips, he blew out a high-pitched whistle, the final cue of the plan.

“Showtime.” He smirked, sitting himself down on a hoop hanging behind him, lowering him to the ground as music started to play. The screams of the audience started to quiet down as Jax descended, putting on his best smile as his feet touched the group and got into position as the music climbed.

A single spotlight shined down on him, and with flair, he threw his arms into the air as he opened his mouth and sang.

Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for

A chorus sang behind him as he moved his body about.

Been searching in the dark, your sweat soakin’ through the floor

One by one he pulled the audience’s attention on him, keeping their focus as he danced to the music and sang.

And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore

Takin’ your breath, stealing your mind

And all that was real is left behind

The music started to pick up, and Jax pulled out all the stops, making sure to keep the focus solely on him as the light expanded in the ring.

Don’t fight it, it’s coming for you, runnin’ at ya

It’s only this moment, don't care what comes after

Your fever dream, can’t you see it gettin’ closer?

Just surrender ‘cause you feel the feeling takin’ over

The music picked up as the crowd started to perk up. Some of them leaned closer, sensing a change in the show that was lacking from previous nights.

It’s fire, it’s freedom, it's floodin’ open! 

Pressing his heel down on a cleverly hidden button in the ground, hidden targets suddenly sprang up out of the ground.

It’s a preacher in the pulpit and your blind devotion! 

Pulling out knives hidden behind him, he threw them one by one at each target, hitting the mark dead center as he danced.

There’s something breaking at the brick of every wall, it’s holding

All that you know

Hitting the mark, he signaled to the band and the people above manning the lights.

So tell me, do you wanna go?

The music picked up and the lights exploded into color. Seeing the cue, the curtains threw open and the acrobatics flew out, doing backflips and jumps to the rhythm of the music as silk dancers followed behind them.

Where it’s covered in all the colored lights!

Where the runaways are runnin’ the night!

Impossible comes true, it’s takin’ over you!

The audience was drawn in, smiling and clapping as the show picked. The opening was certainly better than the other nights, but they were still a bit skeptical

Oh, this is the greatest show!

Gangle, along with the other silk performers, yanked their wands away to reveal Zooble behind the silk holding a torch in one hand. With a mighty breath, they blew out a jet of fire, which turned blue and morphed into butterflies.

The crowd went wild.

We light it up, we won't come down

And the sun can’t stop us now

Watching it come true, it's takin’ over you

The silk dancers took a step back as the acrobatics took to the air, flying around on rope with performing tricks, turning the audience’s gaze up to the top of the tent where a lone ballerina was balancing on the tightrope, jumping and hopping about on the thin rope.

Oh, this is the greatest show!

With the audience’s attention focused on the ballerina, the lights slowly dimmed as workers quickly brought out props and set them around the ring as Jax took a step back. Once it was completely dark a pair of spotlights came on, focusing on a small stand.

The crowd gasped as a lion and tiger appeared, trotting around the ring before another spotlight came on, focusing on Ragatha who cracked her whip once in the air. Charging, the beasts ran up to the stands, sitting on their hunches, and roared at the crowd.

Someone in the stand fainted.

Colossal we come these renegades in the ring

Cracking her whip again, the two mighty cats jumped off, following Ragatha as she led them to the side, allowing two massive elephants into the ring led by a Lego T-rex.

Where the lost get found and we crown ‘em the circus kings!

The wolf jumped out from the curtain, jumping up to the closest elephant and running across its back as it shuffled around. It jumped to and fro from each elephant, doing flips in the air as the elephants moved further and further from each other till they were on the opposite ends of the ring.

Don’t fight it, it’s coming for you, runnin’ at ya!

(Don’t try to fight it, it’s coming)

It’s only this moment, don’t care what comes after!

(You know it’s only this moment)

The T-rex bent down to grab something in its mouth as the crowd watched in anticipation, wondering how the wolf would make the jump. They gasped as the wolf took a daring leap, flying through the air in a large arc. Most of them were sure it would make the distance as they saw it descend, but the T-rex suddenly threw its head back, tossing a wooden plank in the air.

It’s blindin’, outshining (shining) anything that you know!

Just surrender ‘cause you’re comin’ and you wanna go!

A cheer roared out as the wolf successfully managed to land on the plank, running across it and leaping off, making it to the other elephant on the other side.

With the crowd hyped, it was time for the final stunt.

Jax got into position as the pigman from earlier appeared, walking confidently to the center of the ring as the elephants and T-rex retreated to the curtain. He did a few flexes, showing off his large muscles to the crowd. Once down, he turned and cupped his hands together. Taking his cue, Jax dashed forward, leaping into the air, and landing one foot into the cupped hands.

A with grunt, the pigman tossed him into the air, further than anyone in the crowd expected.

Yes! This is the greatest show!

Jax flew through the air, hovering a few moments in the sky before one of the acrobatics caught him, swinging him about above the crowd. Cheers and applause rang out as Jax was lowered safely to the ground, putting on a bit of flair as the song came to a close

Yes! This is the greatest show~!

The crowd applauded as Jax took a bow, laughing with delight from the praise as he addressed the crowd.

“Thank you! Thank you! I hope you’re ready for tonight’s show! Cause that was only a taste of what we have planned for tonight! One that’s sure to be a night you’ll never forget!”

The audience cheered, hyped up from the opening show and believing the rabbit’s words. Jax grinned at the enthusiasm, reveling in the cheers and applause that Lextion couldn’t bring out from the crowd with his so-called brilliant shows.

In your face, Lex.

~𝄞~

“Thank you for tonight! We hope to see you again someday!”

Ragatha smiled and waved at each departing attendant, feeling a sense of accomplishment as each person left with a smile on their face. Her smile grew wider as a few of them dropped some extra change into the box beside Gangle, delighted that tonight’s show was impressive enough to earn them a few more coins.

Hopefully, this would pacify Lextion.

“I must say, I wasn’t expecting much for tonight’s show.” A gentleman spoke up as he stepped out of the tent. “The other shows you performed were… questionable.” Ragatha and Gangle shared a worried look, fearing that the man was dissatisfied with the show and would ask for his money back. “But I’m so glad that I came tonight! The performance was spectacular!” The girls breathed a sigh of relief as the man pulled out his bag and deposited a good sum of coins into the box. “The tricks! The skills! The dancing and beasts! What a show! I do hope you stick with tonight’s performance from now on. It would really improve from the other… shows you had.”

“We’ll keep that in mind, sir.” Ragatha said sweetly. “And we’re glad you took the time to come enjoy tonight’s spectacle. Have a pleasant evening and safe travels!” She waved goodbye as the man tipped his hat and bid the pair farewell. Once the last of the audience left, Ragatha turned her focus on Gangle, wringing her hands together. “Well? How’d we do?”

Gangle looked down in the box, making a quick count of the money they earned. “Good. Even better than good!” She said as a wide smile broke out across her face. “We made enough to cover the bottom of the box! And no one asked for a refund!”

“ Oh thank goodness! ” Ragatha cried in relief, patting her chest to calm her racing heart. “I was worried about some of Jax’s ideas, but I’m glad we stuck with them!” She smiled as Gangle handed her the box. “And I’m so glad we didn’t do Lextion’s idea for tonight’s show. I mean, it wasn’t bad, well, it was but–”

Ragatha jumped as the box was slapped out of her hands, looking in worry and fear at the sight of an angry Lextion. “L-Lextion!”

“YOU!” The ringleader shouted. His eyes were alight with fury and his nostrils were flaring and he huffed and snorted like an angry warthog. “You Ruined The Show!”

“Wh-wh-what?” Ragatha flinched, fidgeting nervously as Gangle ducked behind her. “Wh-wh-what do you mean? We-we did exactly as you–”

“I! SAW!” Lextion cut her off, brandishing his cane like a weapon. “EVERYTHING! None of you did the performance the way I wanted you to!”

Ragatha’s eye widened. He saw? Everything? Wasn’t he supposed to have been locked away where he couldn’t see the show?

“I saw what you did! I saw EVERYTHING everyone did!” Lextion screamed, causing Ragatha to back up and pull Gangle closer behind her. “Nothing! You all did NOTHING related to my plans! AND THE SHOW WAS A FAILURE BECAUSE OF IT!”

“B-b-but we made money!” Ragatha pointed to the box, motioning to the spilled coins on the ground. “We were able to get a nice tip tonight! Everyone liked the show–!”

“I DIDN’T! It was a horrible show! Terrible! Complete shit!” Lextion nearly hit Ragatha’s face with his cane. “I don’t understand how anyone could stand watching that horror of a performance! All your acting was terrible! The songs you played were atrocious! And to top it all off! You dragged the circus’s good name into the mud by disregarding what the audience truly wanted to see! Art! True untainted art!”

“Oh is that what you call your shows? Could have fooled me.”

Lextion narrowed his eyes as Jax stepped out of the tent, his usual smug grin on his face as he addressed the ringleader. “Cause I’m sure that wasn’t art. I’m sure it was a walking disaster waiting to happen.”

“Go away, Jax.” Lextion growled, gritting his teeth at the rabbit. “I’ll deal with you later.”

“Later, huh?” Jax examined his fingers, grinning ear to ear as he continued to speak. “What? Can’t deal with me right now? Need some time to run off and cry somewhere because the audience liked this show more than your shows? Can’t handle that I can put on a better show than you ever will?” He shot a smug smile at the ringleader, growing smugger by the second as Lextion’s face twisted in fury. “Cause honestly, from what I’m seeing, I’m the one who still making more money with my shows than you ever have or will in your whole life.”

Ragatha let out a gasp, covering her mouth as Gangle ducked behind her for protection.

Lextion glared at Jax. The rabbit returned the glare with equal force.

The pair continued to glare at each other. Neither moving to back down.

“… GRUFF!”

Jax’s face instantly fell as the air trembled behind him. He swiveled his head around just fast enough to see a large dark shape standing behind him before his face exploded in pain.

~𝄞~

“Ow! Watch it!” Jax grunted in pain, hissing as the chains around his chest grew tighter. He growled as he glared at Lextion’s smug face. “I still need to breathe, you know.”

Lextion smirked, snapping his fingers. The chains became tighter , making Jax wheeze in pain and gasp for air.

“Make sure those chains are nice and tight, Gruff. I don’t want him slipping out like last time.” Lextion instructed, smiling wickedly as a large black bipedal wolf tightened the chains around Jax. Jax glared at the ringleader, struggling to breathe as the wolf finished tying him up. “You know, I was planning on using these chains one day for my brilliant throughout shows. But this is a nice alternative.”

“Brilliant shows, huh?” Jax grunted, trying to find some wiggle room. “How can they be brilliant if all they do is bore people to sleep?”

“My shows are wonderful!” Lextion snapped, pointing a finger at Jax’s face. “They are a work of art! A masterpiece! A visionary of the century! None of you peasants could understand true talent with your pea-brain minds and lack of appreciation!”

“You’ve been skipping out on reading the reviews again, haven’t you?” Jax wished he could wipe away the spit on his face, and maybe clock Lextion across the face. “Mm, mm, mm. I heard criticism is hard to swallow, but maaan do you throw a bad tantrum like a whinny brat when you hear a single complaint about your messed up shows.”

Lextion’s face shifted into fury, smacking Jax across the face. Jax hissed as the hit agitated his black eye, glaring up at Lextion with the promise to make the ringleader suffer in his gaze. The ringleader scoffed, turning his focus on Gruff. “Make sure he stays here the whole night. I don’t want him bringing fleas into my circus.”

You’re the biggest flea of them all! Jax shouted in his mind, glaring at Lextion as the man turned and left. He kept glaring at Lextion’s departing back, thinking up some new pranks to pull on the ringleader that would make him regret tying him up. He grimaced as the chains pressed down on his chest making it hard for him to breathe.

“Ow ow ow…” He moaned in pain. He was used to Lextion’s abuse, but this was a new level for the ringmaster. Yes, it was no secret that he hated Jax, but he never went this far before. Usually, he’d only have Gruff rough him up a bit to teach him a lesson, maybe even have a rib cracked if he felt extra mean, but tying him up in chains with the intent to leave him here? That was new.

“Is… is the chain too tight, amigo?” A soft deep voice asked.

Jax rolled his eyes. “Oh no. It’s fine. Definitely not tight at all. You sure you’re doing your job correctly? Cause I can’t feel these chains pressing down on my chest like a fricken’ mountain at all.” Jax drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm in every word as he tried not to pass out from lack of oxygen.

A gasp of air left his lips as the chains became slightly less tight, giving him room to breathe in deeply.

“ h thank gods.” He sighed, taking in the sweet air as much as possible. “Thanks Gruffy. I owe ya one.”

The giant wolf made a soft grunt, sitting down next to the tree Jax was tied against. An awkward silence passed between the two, neither speaking for a long time.

Jax turned his gaze towards the circus. He could guess that Lextion was already yelling at everyone else and punishing them by taking away their rations. He was probably ordering them all to start packing and have everyone on the road before morning, intending to leave Jax tied here.

It wasn’t the first time Lextion tried to ditch him, and it probably wouldn’t be the last either. But he was fine with that. Jax could easily catch up and join them again.

As much as Lextion never wanted to admit it, or admit that his shows stunk, Jax was the only thing keeping the show running. Everyone was good at their jobs, but needed Jax’s flare to really wow the crowds if they wanted to have money and eat.

“You are playing with fire, amigo.” Gruff suddenly spoke up, catching Jax’s attention. He couldn’t see the wolf very well thanks to the darkness, but he could see a small outline of Gruff’s massive form and his shining unblinking golden eyes that stared at the circus tent ahead.

“Yeah?”

“You are making Lextion too angry.” Gruff continued. “He grows tired of your pranks and your plans to steal the show from him. His ire is becoming too great, and I fear he may try to dispose of you soon if you continue to anger him.”

“Eh, he can try.” Jax said with a shrug crossing one leg over the other. “I ain’t scared of him and his childish punishments. Sides, without me, he’d be running the whole circus into the ground. That’s how bad his shows are. Lower than dirt.”

“Do not mock his shows.” Gruff made a small growl. “Lextion spends many hours planning them. Trying to keep the show great and wonderful.”

“Uh-huh. Great and wonderful.” Jax scoffed. “You two must have similar tastes if you call all that great and wonderful.” Adjusting himself to get comfortable, Jax closed his eyes. “Wake me when it’s morning, will ya?”

“You… aren’t going to try and escape?” Gruff asked.

“Nah. I think this is more comfortable than the sad sack of a bed I don’t have. A lot less crowded as well.” He cracked one eye open and glanced at Gruff’s golden gaze. “I think I’ll stay behind for a day or two before catching up to you guys. I’m sure Lextion will cool off by then.”

“… you are a strange conejo, amigo.”

“Why thank you, I try my best.” Jax said, closing his eye and getting as comfortable as possible. There was a moment of silence before the air shifted next to Jax, and he cracked open one eye to be sure Gruff was gone. Once sure he was alone, Jax let out a sigh.

Performing in the circus was one thing, but taking Lextion’s constant abuse wasn’t any fun. For him and anyone else in the circus.

The ringleader made their lives miserable and hardly ever cared about their health and safety. Most of the shows he planned ended up causing havoc and a few broken bodies. It was a wonder how he could keep the circus going despite how bad it was.

Honestly, Jax thought he could do well at another circus. One with a ringleader who knew what they were doing and didn’t have a spooky henchman dog werewolf thing keeping everyone in check. He could have taken the opportunity to do so. Plenty of times when Lextion tried to ditch him in the past.

And yet, he just kept coming back.

Why? He honestly didn’t know. Maybe it was because he liked watching funny things happen to people when they tried doing one of Lextion’s shows. Maybe it was because finding another circus to ditch to was hard to come by. Or maybe he was nervous that Lextion would sick Gruff on him if he ever did try to leave, and liked the idea of going place to place all the time.

Either way, Jax was stuck with what he got. And he was going to make sure he enjoyed it till the bitter end.

Closing his eyes, Jax made himself as comfortable as possible and went to sleep.

He awoke to the sun shining down on his face, opening his eyes to see that the tent was already gone, and everyone had likely moved on for the next town.

This wasn’t surprising to Jax. What was surprising was finding a small sack next to his feet with a key tied around it.

“Awe, rags. You shouldn’t have.” Jax scoffed, grabbing the bag and pulling it over. It took some time as he fumbled to get the key into the lock, but after an hour, he finally managed to free himself and stretch. “Mm. Ow. Stiff.” He said, stretching his muscles out. He was used to sleeping in odd angles and uncomfortable surfaces. It didn’t do wonders for his back, but it was better than sleeping on the dirt.

“Alright, let’s have a looksie.” Grabbing the sack, he check the contents Ragatha left behind for him. “A few apples, my knives, always good to have. And a piece of paper?” Jax pulled out a small piece of paper he found at the bottom of the bag. On it was a single word.

Highmeadow.

“Highmeadow… huh. So that’s where they’re going.” Chuckling, he stuffed the note back in the bag, slipping it over his shoulder, and stood. “Now if they left before morning, and it’s already around noon, that means they have a half-a-day head start. And if I keep following the road, I’ll eventually catch up to them in about a day or so if I leave now.”

Jax chuckled, turning to the forest and strode inside. “Or I could just beat them to this Highmeadow place first and wait for them there by taking a shortcut through the forest.” He snickered to himself as he began walking.

As he walked, Jax took his time admiring the scenery. The forest was a nice place, if you enjoyed plant life and getting bit by bugs all the time. Still, it was nice and peaceful. Quiet and serene.

He needed to change that.

And did that by singing his favorite song.

“Well, you can push me, shove me, turn me around, but I’m no girl’s toy!” He sang out, startling the birds in the trees and disturbing the animals around him. “You can tie me, toss me, upside or down, but I’m no girl’s toy!”

He kicked his feet in the air, hoping about on his feet as he sang. “I sing my own sweet melody, I go my own sweet way.” He jumped up, grabbing a low branch that was hanging from a tree and swung around on the limb. “I won’t beg ‘round tomorrow for the kind of affection that was free today!”

Twisting himself, Jax lept off, twisting in the air and landing on his feet. “Oh you can squeeze me, tease me, say I’m your own but I’m no girl’s toy! You can charm me, chase me, follow me home, I won’t be coy! You may not like it much but I’m my own, best, boy. And not some sugar and spicy, lacy and nicey, sissy you’re gonna enjoy! No, I’m no girl’s toy!”

He kicked one foot out, stomping it on a tree, shaking it. His singing came to a halt when an angry bird cry called out, and he looked up to see a bird hovering over a next, tweeting in rage of its disturbed peace.

“Everybody’s a critic.” Jax huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as the bird kept yelling at him in tweets. “No appreciation for the fine arts. Heh heh–hey!” He ducked as the bird dived at him. “Ah! Stop! Stop!” Jax tried swatting the bird away, ducking a dodging as the bird kept diving at him over and over. “Sheesh alright! I get it already! Leave me alone!”

The bird dived at him again, and feeling annoyed, he pulled out one of his knives, throwing it towards the bird. The knife embedded in the bark of the tree, mere inches from the bird. It startled the bird and scared it off.

“And good riddance!” Jax said, grabbing the knife and tugged on it. He frowned when the knife didn’t move, groaning with annoyance as he struggled to get it out. “Come on. Come on!” He hissed, shaking the tree with all his strength to get his knife.

It was starting to budge when something fell out of the tree, startling the rabbit. Glancing down, Jax found a small, helpless, baby bird. The little thing cried out in distress, flapping its small arms that didn’t even have feathers yet to get back up to its home. Jax turned his gaze up, finding a next high above him in a tree branch.

“Oh well isn’t that a shame?” He said, smirking down at the baby bird. “You fell out of your nest. Tough luck for you.” He scoffed, yanking the knife out and putting it back. “Hey, listen, I gotta run. I need to get to this Highmeadow place before the circus does. Can’t spare a single minute, okay? Okay.”

With that, he turned and walked off, leaving the baby bird to cry out for its mother. As its cries grew louder and louder it attracted attention.

A red fox stalked through the forest, having heard the baby bird’s cries, and found it an easy meal. Licking its lips, the fox stalked closer and closer to the baby bird, confidant that it couldn’t escape, and taking its sweet time.

The baby bird noticed the fox approaching, letting out a cry of fear as the fox started to run towards it, opening its maw to swallow it whole and end its short life.

Something whistled through the air, and the fox cried out in pain as a knife embedded into its shoulder. It cried in agony, flailing about to dislodge the knife, and scampered off into the woods.

The baby bird blinked, watching as Jax walked over to where his knife fell off of the fox, wiping off the blood in the grass. “No hard feelings, fella.” He said quietly, stuffing the knife back in his belt. He glanced down at the baby bird, seeing it stare at him. “… What?” He questioned. “My hand slipped.”

The little bird made a tiny chirp, blinking at Jax curiously.

“… so uh… you gonna get back up there or what?”

It made a little chip, tilting its head to one side.

“Look, I’m no charity case here. The fox only ran off because it got hit by my knife. Which I threw on accident, mind you. I ain’t helping you get back to your nest.”

The baby bird continued to stare at him. Its beady black eyes locked on to his own, making a single, sad, tweet.

“… Fine!” Jax threw his hands in the air. “Fine! Fine! I’ll help! You happy?”

The baby bird only chirped, flapping its small featherless wings as Jax scooped it up in his hands. He gave it a small glare, turning to the tree and trying to figure out the best way to get the bird back in its nest. After a bit of struggle, and debating why he was even doing this, Jax finally managed to climb the tree and plop the bird back into its home.

“Now don’t go jumping out again unless you got feathers sticking out of you.” Jax said sternly to the bird as it snuggled against its siblings, chirping with delight to be home again. “Ungrateful chicken.” Jax muttered under his breath as he dropped down, walking off with a huff.

He froze when he heard a familiar chirp, swinging his head around to see the bird from earlier return. It looked at Jax, then back at the nest where its babies chirped in delight of its return. It gave a small peep at Jax, then flew over to the nest, settling down on its children.

Jax was silent for a moment before scoffing, turning his head away. “Ugh. Birds are way too noisy.” He said, cleaning out one of his ears as he continued to walk. 

~𝄞~

The phrase ‘as simple as a walk through the woods’ was very misleading.

For one, walking through the woods was not simple.

Trees all looked the same. There was nothing distinguishable to help guide him around. He was sure he walked this part of the forest eight times now, and that stump looked awfully familiar.

Jax knew he wasn’t a navigator, but he was certain that he should have found a road or some sort of path by now. It was like this place was trying to keep him here. Trapping him forever for wandering inside and trespassing.

Or maybe he was just lost and getting himself turned around.

“Ugggh.” Jax sighed, sitting down on the stump with a groan. “Note to self, don’t take a shortcut through the woods ever again.” He huffed, already imagining the lecture Ragatha was going to give him about the dangers of wandering into a forest on his own.

She would probably yell at him for an hour or so, then try to teach him a valuable lesson through one of her dump fairytale stories.

Ugh. That made him shudder.

Fairytales. The dumbest thing someone could ever make into a story. It disgusted Jax how anyone could like them. None of them were true, and half of the time the lessons they were trying to teach didn’t stick.

What was even the lesson of a sleeping girl? Or a fish wanting legs if she just dies for nothing in the end? They were all a waste. And dumb.

Who cares about any of them? Most of them had questionable morals anyway.

Sighing through his nose, Jax wondered if he should continue walking or set up camp for the night since it was getting dark. The clouds were starting to darken, and he wondered if a storm was on the way.

“Ah crap.” He swore as he heard a rumble from the sky. “I do not need a bath today.” He stood up, looking for something that could shelter him from the rain. He started walking again, picking up speed as the first drops of rain began to fall. He spotted a mountain through the treetops, one that didn’t seem far away if he ran.

“Cave, cave, cave.” He muttered, rushing through the forest. “Let there be a cave. Let there be a cave.”

He finally managed to find an exit of the accursed forest, though now the rain was coming down harder on him, soaking him to his core. Cursing, Jax frantically looked for a cave or a crack he could slip into to get out of the weather.

He spied a curtain of foliage not far, and ducked for it, cheering as he burst through the greener and into a hidden cave.

“Ha ha! Luck’s still on my side!” He cheered, pumping his fists in the air. “Looks like I found a secret place no one’s come across before.” He said with a smug, though it was quickly wiped off his face when lightning flashed behind him and a thunderous clash of thunder cracked the air.

Jax shivered, rubbing his arms as the cold wind breezed by. “Gods, I wish I had some dry clothes on me right now. Or maybe a fire going.” He sat down on the cold stone floor, wringing out the water from his clothing. “Why couldn’t Ragatha pack me more useful items? Throwing knives and apples aren’t going to…”

His voice trailed off as his eyes gazed towards the floor, noticing a patch of dirt.

A bit of dirt shouldn’t have caught his attention, but Jax could notice a faint detail in the soil in the darkness. Feeling curious, he moved closer, squinting in the dim light as he examined it.

Was that… a giant hoofprint?

Jax frowned, lifting one of his hands and placing it over the print. His hand barely fit in, and it made him shudder at the sheer size. Whatever made this footprint was big, and probably heavy with how deep the print was.

It was pointing towards the entrance of the cave, so it meant that whatever was in the cave before Jax had probably left. It didn’t look new, so it had to have been a while ago too.

Now he was even more curious. Why was there a huge hoofprint here? Why here? Was there something hidden in the back of the cave?

Maybe gold?

Grinning at the thought of treasure, Jax stood and moved further into the cave. His body shivered as the cold seeped further into him as he went deeper into the cave, wishing he had a nice warm fire to get cozy next to dry off.

To his disappointment, the cave opened up to the outside, back open to the rain. To his luck though, he found a tower.

He didn’t question why there was a tower in this place, nor did he care as he ran towards it. All he cared about was finding a warm place to settle for the night and get out of the rain as quickly as possible.

The door he found was locked, no surprise there, and the rain was coming down even harder, forcing him to look for a new way inside.

He found it when he looked up and saw a window at the very top of the tower. With a sigh of annoyance, Jax started to climb. It was a bit dangerous considering that it was raining out and the rocks were getting slick from the weather, but with years of circus performing under his belt, Jax managed to climb all the way up to the window.

Pulling out one of his knives, he jammed it under the window, wiggling it around till gave way and opened, giving him the opening he was looking for to slip inside.

He landed on some nice carpeting that was soft to the touch, feeling warmer already as he stood and gazed around.

It was too dark to see clearly. He could only make out shapes in the dark, most of which seemed like furniture. He spied a fireplace next to an outline of a door, heading over to it immediately so he could warm up.

Tossing a few logs in and struggling to get a spark going for a bit, he soon had a small fire going. Finally, something was going right with him. Sitting down next to the fire, Jax once again looked around the place now that he had some light.

It had seemed he stumbled across someone’s home. The place was detected out in fancy, yet simple comfortable-looking furniture. There was a plush couch, a wall filled with books to one side, a small kitchen area on the other, and a few other items he couldn’t put a name on. There was a staircase behind him leading up to the second floor, where Jax assumed the bedroom was located. It gave off the impression that someone with lots of money lived here, and that irked Jax that someone could live like this. 

Yet, as he looked around, something felt off about this place. Something that didn’t sit right with him.

The place looked nice, yet Jax couldn’t help but feel that he needed to get out of here. Pronto.

His ears twitched, hearing the rolling thunder outside. He couldn’t leave now. Not with the weather raining buckets outside. He’d need to wait till it let up first before he could ditch this place.

Sighing, Jax leaned back and turned his gaze up towards the ceiling.

Right into a pair of floating eyeballs.

Jax stared.

The eyes stared back.

“… AAAAHHHHHHHH!” Jax screamed. The eyes screamed back.

Reaching for his knives, Jax threw them at the eyes. To his horror, the eyes moved. They darted around, screaming all the while. Jax kept throwing his knives at the screaming eyes.

Was this place haunted? He had stumbled upon a dwelling place of a spirit? He didn’t know and didn’t care. He just kept throwing his knives at the eyes.

The eyes moved at incredible speeds, faster than any of the targets he used to practice with. His heart nearly stopped when he reached for another knife but found there were none left, and as if sensing his vulnerability, the eyes started to charge straight at him, screaming louder and louder and oh gods he was going to die here he had to do something cause the eyes were nearly on him and do something idiot do something!

Blindly reaching for something, his fingers came in contact with something, grabbing without a second thought, and swung it right as the eyes almost reached him.

CRUNCH

Jax stared in horror.

The eyeballs had shifted into a large pair of teeth, biting down on the fire poker he was holding. He stared as the teeth shifted, biting off the fire poker, and spitting the part out to the side. It clattered to the floor, dented beyond recognition.

“No, no, no, no, no. That’s not how this goes.”

Jax blinked as teeth suddenly spoke, staring in horror as it lifted and a body dress in a white shirt and dark pants appeared beneath it. He nearly jumped out of his skin as the teeth opened and the eyes from before were floating inside the giant maw.

“You are supposed to be running around screaming your head off, my fine fellow! Weaponry and violence isn’t allowed here.”

Jax could only stare in horror as the teeth moved like an actual mouth when it spoke. What. What was this thing?! Jax had never laid eyes on something like this before, and he sure as heck didn’t want to meet them now.

“Though I wasn’t expecting you to carry a bunch of knives on you.” The being continued, turning its ‘head’ around to look at the knives that were either embedded in the walls or laid out on the floor. “I must say, you this close to hitting me there! I was almost convinced you were trying to hit me!”

Jax tried to speak, to get a word out and say something to this odd creature, but his tongue felt heavy and twisted in his mouth, and his throat felt like it was being blocked by something.

“Bubble! How many close calls did our fine guest make?”

“About ten times, boss!”

Jax nearly screamed as a bubble, a bubble, with a wide sharp-toothed grin appeared next to the first being with a clipboard depicting a poor drawing of him throwing knives with the number ten scrawled on the bottom paper.

“Ten times?! HOWZAWOWZA! That’s impressive! That’s ten times more than Pomni’s ever managed when we first met! And the first year we started living together!”

Jax slowly backed away. He needed to get out of this place. Fast.

“Say, what’s your name again?” The being was suddenly up in his face, staring at him with its different-colored eyes. “I didn’t quite catch it when you broke in here unannounced in the middle of a rainstorm outside.”

“S-Stay Back!” Jax lifted the broken fire poker, pointing it at the being. “Stay Back!”

“Stay back?” Being repeated, scratching the top jaw. “That’s an odd name to have.”

“STAY BACK!” Jax shouted, jumping to his feet and backing away from the strange creature. “I’m Warning You! I! I’ll!” Jax looked down at the broken poker. It wasn’t much of a weapon, and the being had already shown how powerful its bite was. “Just… J-Just STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

“Well, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT NICE! All I Care About Is–!”

Something hit him on the back of the head. Hard and fast.

The room spun as his vision started to blur, passing out before his body hit the floor.

~𝄞~

“Whoa!” Caine stared at the scene in shock. “Pomni! I didn’t know you could be so violent!”

“I-I-I-I didn’t.” Pomni stammered, staring down at the stranger’s unconscious form on the floor. “I-I-I-I just. I-I-I didn’t mean to.” She looked down at the thick book in her hands that was titled THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GETTING PITCH PERFECT SINGING on the cover. She had been reading to help with her insomnia when she heard the commotion in the main room. “I-I-I. H-He was holding a weapon at you an-an-and–”

“Weapon? Nonsense!” Caine grabbed the broken fire poker, giving it a once over before tossing it into his mouth and chewed it. “Hm. Could use a little salt.” He said, licking his teeth with his tongue as Pomni looked at him in disgust.

Shaking her head, Pomni hesitantly moved down the stairs, getting closer to the unconscious figure, and stared at them. “… what… is he?”

“I believe, my dear, that that is called a rabbit.” Caine said, floating down next to her. “Commonly also known as bunny, hare, chinchilla, cottontail, coney, buck, and oryctolagus cuniculus.”

“A… rabbit?” Pomni poked the being’s face with her foot.

“Why yes! Though… he’s a lot bigger than a normal rabbit.” Caine looked down at the unconscious form, curiously examining them. “Hmm… maybe he’s a decedent of a missing link of rabbits.”

“I highly doubt that.” Pomni gazed down at the being, feeling a little sorry that she had to hit them on the head. She didn’t mean to. Or, she at least hadn’t planned on hitting them. She only acted without thinking when she saw they were pointing a dangerous weapon at Caine. It didn’t occur to her that Caine was more than capable of taking care of himself and the stranger, but she was too worried for her friend’s safety to even consider that.

She poked her foot at the person’s face, wondering who he was.

Had he come from the outside? He had heard about her gift and come to taint it with his greed? But how did he find her? The Duke said her tower was well hidden! No one should have been able to find her tower! How did this person find her?!

Did the Duke know? Should she tell him? How? She didn’t know how to get in contact with him! And he hadn’t visited her in months!

Oh, Gods! How was she going to handle this?! There was someone in her home and they were going to taint her and make her greedy and she was going to turn into a monster and–!

The person let out a groan.

Pomni shrieked, hammering the book down on their head.

“… Wow!” Caine stared at her in surprise. “I didn’t think you were the violent type!”

“Vi-Violent?” Pomni blinked in surprise. “W-what? N-no, he just startled me, I–”

The person let out another pained groan. And Pomni whacked his head with the book again. And a few more times. Just for good measure.

“Now the plot’s starting to pick up!” Bubble giggled as he and Caine watched Pomni continue to beat the stranger over the head.

Chapter Text

There was a stranger on Kaufmo’s bed.

Pomni was having a hard time comprehending this, even if she knew she and Caine had moved them here. It had been more or less Caine’s idea after she stopped hitting the stranger and calmed down enough to listen. Though she hadn’t suspected that Caine would levitate them to Kaufmo’s room.

She thought that the couch would have been more suitable, or maybe even a chair, but like always, Caine hadn’t asked for her opinion before taking action himself. She didn’t mind. She was used to it by now. Though she really wished he hadn’t picked Kaufmo’s room.

She hadn’t been in here since he left.

“So… what now?” Pomni asked, staring at the unconscious figure laid out and tied down on the bed in chains Caine had summoned.

She wasn’t comfortable being in the same room with the stranger, more less being in Kaufmo’s room. Her mind kept circling with fear of being tainted, and the danger her gift was in by being near them.

“Welllll… I don’t know.” Caine admitted, scratching his teeth. “Personally, I’m more confused as to why he took the window instead of the door to get in.”

“Is that really important right now?”

Caine only shrugged.

Pomni rolled her eyes and looked back at the stranger. She hadn’t noticed before, but she could see that one of his eyes was bruised and slightly swollen. It… it looked like it hurt.

“Did… did I do that?” Pomni reached out a hand, but quickly snatched it back before she touched the stranger.

“The eye? Naa. It was like that when he got in here before you knocked him on the noggin.”

Pomni cringed at that. Right. She’d forgotten that she’d done that. Though could anyone blame her? There was a stranger in her tower who broke in in the middle of the night while a storm was rolling outside. Who climbs a tower in the middle of a storm?! And why her tower?! Couldn’t he have gone to a different tower to climb instead of hers?!

“Looks fresh too.” Caine hovered closer to the stranger’s face, poking the swollen eye and making the person groan in pain.

“Don’t touch it!” Pomni hissed, grabbing Caine by the leg and tugging the magical being away from the stranger. “You might make it worse!”

“No I wouldn’t!” Caine said indignantly, plucking his leg out of Pomni’s hand. “I was being a hundred percent careful!”

Pomni gave him a flat look before glancing at the stranger. The eye looked… pretty bad. Worse now that she thought about it. Had the stranger been in some sort of accident? Or a fight? He did look a little rough around the edges. Maybe he was trying to find a place to hide and recover? It didn’t make his breaking and entering of her tower any better, but she guessed she could understand… slightly.

Her tower was pretty secure and safe, though it was only meant for her to keep her pure and her gift untainted… but he looked to be in pain. And hitting over the head with a book probably didn’t help…

“… d… Do we still have some medicine in the cupboards?” Pomni asked, wringing her hands together.

“Of course we do!” Caine said, shifting his teeth into a ‘smile’ before it quickly fell. “Why? Are you feeling under the weather, my dear?” Caine placed a hand on Pomni’s forehead, but she quickly shook her head and pushed it off.

“I’m fine. I just…” She looked at the stranger and his black eye. “… I… that eye needs to be treated before it gets worse right? I don’t want him going blind.”

“Why Pomni! You surprise me!” Caine placed a hand over his chest. “Helping an intruder with his black eye?”

“D-Don’t think about it too much!” Pomni said, her cheek marks growing warm under Caine’s gaze. “Th-the eye just makes me uncomfortable, okay? B-besides, he might of just been trying to find a place to hide from the rain or something…”

“Mhm.” Caine nodded his head slowly, following Pomni out of the room. “Sure. The eye is making you uncomfortable. And you’re not helping him because you feel a little guilt about hitting him, hmm?”

“No!” Pomni said. “… w-well, maybe. L-look, you said he was injured before he got in the tower, right? Maybe… maybe someone was hurting him and he was trying to get away. Or maybe he got hurt trying to get out of the rain.” She glanced over to the window, watching the rain pelt harshly against the glass. She never felt rain before, and from how hard it was hitting the tower outside, she didn’t want to.

“There could be a number of reasons why he’s here.” Pomni continued, making her way to the cabinets in the kitchen area. “I mean, I don’t trust him and I would very much like him to leave, b-but I don’t want to leave him in such a bad state. So… yeah.”

“Aren’t you worried that he’ll taint your gift?” Caine asked as he sat himself down on the counter, making Pomni flinch and hesitate.

“… of course I am.” She admitted, grabbing a jar. “I’m terrified over the idea that there’s someone in the tower with us! Someone from the outside that the Duke didn’t approve of coming here! I’m at risk of being tainted an-and falling into greed and sharing the same fate as my people! How can I NOT be worried?!”

“Okay! Okay, easy there Pomni.” Caine held up his hands in surrender. “Let’s try not to panic here–”

“PANIC?!”

“–We can figure this all out! We just need t-… t… t-t…”

“Caine?” Pomni gazed at her friend in worry, seeing him twitch and spaz on the counter. “Caine, if this is another one of your pranks, I swear.”

“N-No.” Caine groaned, grabbing his head. “N-n-not a…” He curled in on himself, making Pomni worry.

“Caine?” She went over to the magical being. Was he hurt? Was he getting sick? Was the stranger’s presence tainting him?! “Caine, what’s wrong?”

Caine lifted his head, high enough for Pomni to see his eyes. Her worry quickly melted into delight when she saw sparks of gold flickering out from his eyes, knowing immediately what was happening.

“The Duke is calling!” She said ecstatically, putting the jar down and clapping her hands together. “Perfect! I was worried that we wouldn’t get a call for him since his last one took so long and–huh?” She looked at Caine, who was trying to get her attention by tapping her shoulder. “Oh right!”

She quickly moved to the center of the room, dusting herself and trying to look presentable as Caine hovered over to the fireplace, sitting down on it. Once she was sure she looked decent enough, Pomni nodded at Caine.

The being twitched once, then twice, then went still. His lower set of teeth went slack, allowing his eyes to float out and hover in the air. The eyes started to glow, turning a brilliant gold, merging together into a single orb that blinded Pomni for a moment before dimming down. Once her eyes adjusted, a wide smile broke out across her face, clasping her hands together in delight. “Duke!”

Before her was the sparkling golden image of the Duke standing in the room. He was just as Pomni remembered. Towering figure. A suit of armor that gleamed. His horns as impressive as always and…

“Wh… what happened to your arm?” She asked, noticing that one of the Duke’s arms was in a sling.

{Oh, this?} The Duke’s voice echoed, looking down at his arm. His voice sounded so magical went he spoke to her through a call. {It’s nothing to worry about. Just a little injury from my last expedition.}

“Oh no! What happened?”

{Oh I just had a little fall. Don’t worry about it.} The Duke chuckled, looking around the room. {I see you’ve added more artwork to the walls. Very impressive.}

“Oh, those?” Pomni felt her cheeks grow warm under the Duke’s compliments, taking a small glance at the walls, silently glad that Caine had already taken care of the intruder’s knives beforehand. “They’re not much. Just some small doodles.” 

{I see.} The Duke smiled down at her. {And how are you fairing, my little songbird? Are you treating your gift well?}

“Of course! I’ve been practicing every day!” Pomni exclaimed proudly, putting a hand on her chest. “Just last week, I was able to sprout more of your favorite flowers! Did… did they get there already? I know Caine is quite capable of magicking stuff over to you and how urgent you need them when they bloom but I–”

{Don’t worry, little flower. I got them.} The Duke said, smiling down at her. {And they were a huge help to my explorers. They felt rejuvenated and young again when they received one of your flowers and asked me to send their thanks.}

“Thank goodness.” Pomni breathed a sigh of relief, glad to hear that the flowers arrived. Her relief was short-lived, fiddling with her fingers as she struggled to speak. “B-but… um…”

{Yes, little bloom?}

“I… a-about the flower…” Pomni struggled with her words, shifting her legs and rubbing her arm. “Th-The one you’ve wanted… for a while now–”

{You grew it?} The Duke asked, leaning closer to Pomni. {You finally managed to grow it?}

“N… no.” Pomni admitted with a sigh, taking a step back and looking to the floor in shame. “I hadn’t.”

The excitement on the Duke’s face quickly melted away. {… oh.}

“I-I’m so sorry, your highness! I tried! I-I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong! I’ve been trying different songs as you suggested an-and even spent hours singing to get my gift perfected, b-but none of the flowers bloom into the one you w-want and…” Tears weld up in Pomni’s eyes, deep disappointment of herself twisting inside her body. “I… I-I promise I can do it! I-I know I can! Just! Please! Please don’t be disappointed in me! I-I know I keep failing you horribly but I–!”

{It’s fine, songbird.} The Duke lifted his hand, stopping her before she could spiral more. {I understand. I was warned that that flower was difficult to grow and…} He took a deep breath, sighing through his nostrils. He gave Pomni a small smile. {But I’m confident that you will be able to grow that flower, my little bloom. You just… maybe there’s something missing.}

“M… m-missing?”

{Yes. Perhaps you’re missing something. Something that’s hindering you from growing the flower… tell me. Is there something you wish? Something that you’ve been longing for, my little flower? Maybe if I know what’s stopping you, I can fix it.}

Something… missing? Pomni didn’t understand. What could she be missing? She had everything here! Safety. Comfort. Tolerable company… oh.

Pomni’s eyes widened. She knew what was missing.

“Y… your grace?” Pomni grasped her hands together, looking at the Duke with hopeful eyes. “If… if it’s not too much to ask, and hopefully nothing too selfish… I um…” Pomni hesitated, breathing in deeply. “I… I wish to see Kaufmo again.” She blurted out quickly, closing her eyes and bracing herself.

{… oh… that… I… hm.} Pomni opened one eye, looking up at the Duke. He was rubbing his neck, looking away with an odd expression on his face. {That… I cannot give you.}

“Was it too greedy?” Pomni quickly asked, feeling her heart beat with worry. “Too selfish? Was, was, was it too much?! Oh I’m sorry Duke! I shouldn’t have asked, I–!”

{No, no. You’re fine, songbird.} The Duke quickly said. {It’s just… well. He’s still very very sick. I would love nothing more than to bring Kaufmo to you, but I can’t risk letting the sickness get to you too. Not since… well, you know.}

“… I do.” Pomni sighed, subconsciously rubbing her side before noticing what she was doing and pulled her hand away. “I… know. But I miss him so much. Caine is… nice.” She spared a small glance at the limp being sitting on top of the fireplace. “But he’s not Kaufmo.”

{I know, little bloom. I know. But you must remember, Caine is there to guard you. Dark forces out here are getting worse, and I worry for your safety every day when I’m not there with you.} Pomni’s cheeks warmed hearing this. {I know he’s a bit… zany, but his powers will keep you safe from the dangers of the world outside. And you don’t want to hurt… do you?}

“N-no! Never!”

{That’s good.} The Duke smiled warmly at her, making her feel safe and secure. He was about to say something when his ears twitched and he looked off to something. {In a moment.} He said in a tone that carried authority. Pomni suspected that he was talking to one of his soldiers, meaning he was about to end the call. {Listen, little flower. I need to go. But I promise I’ll call again soon. Keep your gift safe and remember to keep trying with the flower, alright?}

Pomni nodded her head, determined not to let the Duke down. He gave her so much, it was only right that she did this one simple thing for him in thanks.

{Oh! Before I forget, there’s no more thing I need to tell you.}

“Huh?” Pomni blinked. There was something the Duke needed to tell her? What could it be?

{I’m sending someone over to your tower.}

“… what?”

{You’re having a guest.} The Duke repeated, smiling widely at Pomni. {They should be arriving shortly to your tower soon.}

“What?”

{Now, now. I know this is sudden, but I can assure you this guest is nothing to worry about.} The Duke continued as Pomni stood in shock. {They’re not tainted, so you don’t have to worry about your gift being tainted. And I expected you to be very welcoming as they will be staying with you for a while.}

“WHAT?!” Pomni panicked, grabbing her hair and looking at the Duke in alarm. A guest? There was a guest coming? To her tower?! There was someone the Duke was sending over to her tower?! Someone was being sent over by the Duke and coming to see her?! WHAT?! “B-B-B-B-B-B–!”

{I’ll be there soon!} The Duke said to someone, snorting before looking back at Pomni. {This guest is very important, little flower. Highly important. You must do exactly as they say, and you will listen to every word they speak, alright?}

“I-I-I Will?!”

{Good. I have to go now. Goodbye my little flower! And tell Caine to stop sending gags!}

“No! Wait! Your Grace–!” Pomni tried to stop the Duke, but his golden image flickered and quickly faded away, leaving Pomni standing there in shock. The orb split back into two, shifting back into eyeballs that quickly shot into Caine’s open maw. Snapping his head shut, Caine shook his head, opening his mouth and looked around.

“… I really hate it when he does that.” He huffed, floating off the fireplace and hovering over to Pomni. “So, what did old Dukey want this time?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, h-he wants you to stop sending gags… and he’s sending someone over to the tower.”

“GADZOOKS! A GUEST?! HOW MARVELOUS!” Caine spun around the room, showering everything in streamers and confetti. “We hadn’t had a guest in… EVER! Oh this is so exciting! Are you excited? I’M EXCITED! I wonder who it’ll be? Can you imagine it Pomni?! A guest! Why we have to pull out all the stops to impress them when they arrive! When exactly are they coming?”

“O-Oh the Duke said soon…” Pomni’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening as she slowly turned her gaze to the upper floor. “… and I think I whacked them on the head.”

“Really? How did you manage that?”

“Heh eh heh.” Bubble smirked, floating beside Caine. “Pomni’s in trouble~”

~𝄞~

There was throbbing in his head.

Not a good thing to wake up to. Lextion must of had Gruff rough him up more than he thought. Gods his head hurt. What happened last night?

“Oh gods, what do I do?! I can’t believe I hit him!” His ear twitched, hearing an unfamiliar voice. Strange. He worked around most of the performers for years now. This must be one of the backups or a new sucker Lextion swindled into his show.

“To be frank, my dear, he did come in unannounced.” A new voice spoke up, one that made Jax’s body tense. It sounded familiar, but not.

“Well, yes, but still. Gods this is such a mess.” The other voice said, and Jax’s body tensed more as he sensed something approaching his face. His eyes snapped open, jolting up on a surprisingly soft bed, hearing someone yelp off to his side.

His vision was blurry for a moment, but when it cleared, he jumped in surprise as he came face-to-face with the creature from before. “Gah! You?!”

“GOOD MORNING MY FINE FELLOW!” The being shouted, making the pain in Jax’s head ring. “Or, well, I supposed it’s technically night now. Hard to tell since it’s raining heavily outside and all that, but it’s good to see you up and about! Would you like anything? Coffee? Tea? An ice pack? Death? Disease? Death? Cake?”

Jax blinked, trying to comprehend what was happening. “I-I…”

“Caine! Leave him alone!” The creature was suddenly shoved away, and Jax’s eyes widened as a new person entered his sight. One who looked fairly normal and with no freakish head anomalies, thank goodness.

“I’m so sorry about him, sir.” The person addressed him, putting on a shaky half-forced smile on her face as she kept shoving the floating jaws creature away. “Caine doesn’t quite understand what personal space is sometimes.”

“Hey, I know plenty about personal space!” The creature, now known as Caine, protested. “Why I’m great at it! You can say I’m somewhat of an expert! Why just the other day–!”

The girl shoved him out the door and slammed it shut, letting out a deep sigh as she turned and looked at Jax. The pair stared at each other, neither moving for a while.

“… ahem.” Coughing into his fist, Jax glanced around, trying to make sense of what was happening. “So, ah… what’s with smiles?”

“Huh? O-Oh him.” The girl nervously pushed some of her hair back. “Y-yeah, that, uh, that was Caine. He’s sort of my… guardian? Friend? Guard-friend? It’s. It’s hard to know what he is exactly. And I’ve basically lived with him for over ten years now, ah ha ha…” The girl laughed nervously, rubbing her arms.

Jax stared at her, trying to figure out what the deal was with this chick. She didn’t seem like one of those fancy hicks. She looked more like a normal girl, despite wearing some nice-looking garb. Though her mannerism didn’t scream snobbish and hotty. It was more nervous and startled. Like a baby deer trying to stand up for the first time, but just couldn’t grasp the concept of walking just yet.

“A-a-Anyway, m-my name is Pomni.” The girl said, finally putting a name to her face. “B-B-But you might already kn-know that. Heh. A-A-and who might you be, exactly?”

“… Jax.”

“Jax.” Pomni repeated, nodding her head. “Jax. Right. That, that should be easy to remember. Not! Uh, n-not that I’m trying to say that it’s forgettable o-or anything! I-I’m not! It’s just, uh, well–”

“Why does my head hurt?” Jax interrupted, rubbing the back of his head where the pain was pounding. Odd. He couldn’t recall getting hit on the back of the head by Gruff.

“O-oh, yeah. That, uh, th-that was my bad.”

“… What?”

“I-I-I’m sorry! You, uh, y-you were threatening Caine with a f-fire poker! W-which wouldn’t have done much considering that he’s more than capable of dealing with th-things, b-but I was panicking and I’ve never seen you before and… yeah.”

“… riiiight.” With those scrawny arms? Heh, no way. It had to be that Caine guy. Seemed like something he would do. “Well, it was nice meeting you Pom-Pom, but I whoa.” Jax tried to get out of bed, but he was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness, forcing him to lay back down.

“O-oh gods! Are you okay? Wait, what am I saying, no you’re not okay. Um! Um! C-can I get you anything? I, uh, um! What do I do? What do I do?”

“You can shut up, for one.” Jax groaned, rubbing his head. “And two, you can leave me be. Your yapping is giving me a migraine.”

“Oh! … oh.” Pomni looked away, looking like a kicked puppy. “S-Sorry. I um…” She looked around before sighing and giving him a small curtsy. “H-Have a good night, Jax.”

He made a small huff, watching Pomni carefully as she slipped through the door and only relaxed when she was gone. Once he was alone, Jax laid out on the bed, putting his brain to work.

So the tower was apparently home to a freak and a not freak. And they found him breaking in here in the middle of the night. Great. That was going to be a fun thing to explain to the guards in the morning. Maybe if he played his cards right, he could come up with some sob story to convince the two to let him go.

Make a quick lie about getting lost in the storm and finding the tower as his only shelter. It would be hard to miss the thunder rolling outside and the heavy rain hitting against the tower.

Although, the pair’s behavior was a bit curious. They seemed welcoming enough, despite that he was an intruder in their home, and that wasn’t a good sign. It screamed danger to Jax, and it was enough to encourage him to get out of here fast.

The creature, the Caine fellow, he seemed… odd. Both physically and personality-wise. From the small bits he’d seen, this Caine guy would be trouble. Not only was he fast, but with a bite strong enough to cut steel? Yeah, there was no way Jax could take him on in a fight. He didn’t seem to be all up there either, so he’d need to play it carefully if he wanted to get out of here in one piece.

Pomni on the other hand reminded him of Gangle. Jittery, shy, all signs of a pushover. If he could get her alone without Caine around, he could probably use her anxiety against her and make it out of this place. Though it could be just an act. 

She did kind of hit him on the head.

“Ow.” Jax flinched as he touched the back of his head. Great. It was probably going to leave a bruise. A black eye was bad enough. Hopefully, he wasn’t too roughed up to escape.

He took a glance around the room, squinting in the dark in the dim candlelight. Someone must have liked the colors of yellow and blue. At least it wasn’t an eyesore. Kinda small in his opinion.

The bed was comfy though. Jax couldn’t remember the last time he slept in an actual bed. The pillows were nice and soft too…

Jax closed his eyes, taking in the comfort he hadn’t felt in so long.

He must have dosed off at some point as he suddenly jolted awake the next morning by a loud crash outside the room. It took him a while to remember where he was and the situation he was in.

The storm. The tower. His questionable hosts. Right. He needed to get out of here fast.

Slipping out of bed, Jax looked around the room for a way to escape. Sadly, the room didn’t have any windows, and there were only two doors, with one of them leading back out to the main area.

The rabbit cursed his luck, searching the floor for a possible hidden trap door that he could escape through. As he was looking, he kept his ears pointed at the door. From what he could pick up, it appeared that his hosts were talking about something, and as much as he knew escape was important, Jax found himself inching closer and closer to the door, curious to hear what they were saying.

Most of Pomni’s words were muffled, but Caine’s voice was easier to listen to thanks to his loud voice.

“Now don’t you worry, my dear! I’m sure everything will be just fine.”

Fine? Was Pomni worried about something? Probably him if he had to guess. A stranger in someone’s home? That would certainly make someone anxious.

“Honestly, I’m stumped too. The Duke normally doesn’t send people over to the tower on a whim. Normally only he visits. But what a nice change! Sending someone over! He seems like a nice fellow too!” 

Jax blinked at that. What? Did they? Did they mistake him for someone who was supposed to visit?

“Well, the Duke said he’d arrive soon. Maybe he had a head start and arrived earlier than expected.”

Jax smiled, gears turning in his head. Oooh. They thought he was someone they were expecting. Well that explained why they weren’t treating him like a criminal. Maybe he could work with this.

Getting off the floor, Jax tidied himself up, putting on a confident smile as he opened the door. His nose was hit by the smell of delicious food once he stepped out of the room, making his stomach growl in hunger.

“–I just don’t know what to think about this! No one but the Duke is supposed to be here and–oh!”

“Morning.” Jax gave a cheeky wave, spying his ‘host’ sitting on a nice-looking couch with the weirdo hovering beside her. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“O-oh no! Nope! N-nothing important here!”

“We were just talking about you!”

“Caine!”

“What? We were.”

Pomni let out a groan as Jax took in their appearance now that they were in proper lighting. Caine was still very much the same as he saw him from last night’s encounter, though now he took note that both his eyes were a different color. One green and the other blue.

Pomni on the other hand had some nice looks. She was lanky looking, but not in a bad way that screamed skin and bones like Lextion did. Her limbs were thin, but her figure was nice. Her dress did little to hide it, but she could have some nice curves.

Her face was round, white as newly fresh fallen snow. Her eyes were wide, with a red and blue pinwheel design in them. Locks of hair as dark as a starless night framed her face, just reaching past her shoulders. She looked young, having a face of hidden terror and fear as she stared at him.

In all honesty, she could turn a few heads looking cute like that.

“Was it anything interesting?” Jax asked, stepping down the last few steps, plopping himself down on a stool.

“We were just discussing how–MPHT!”

“NOTHING!” Pomni glared at Caine, having clamped the being’s ‘head’ shut. “Nothing! N-Nothing important that you should know about! Ah ha ha! Heh…” Jax raised a brow, watching the girl chuckle nervously as she held Caine’s head shut. “An-anyway, d-did you sleep well last night? A-Are you still in pain? We have some medicine that–”

“It’s fine.” Jax held up a hand. “I guess you could say I deserved it for barging in here last night. I would have taken the door,” He nodded his head towards the door. “But unfortunately, I lost the key the Duke lent me and the rain was picking up.”

“Oh.” The tension in Pomni’s body relaxed when he motioned the Duke, nodding her head as she let Caine’s head go. “I-I see. So, the Duke sent you?”

“Didn’t he tell you about me?” Jax said, and then mentally hit himself. Idiot! They would notice he wasn’t the person they thought he was!

“W-Well, he only told us you were coming.” Pomni glanced to the side, grabbing her dress and wringing it in her hands. “H-He didn’t give any details about you. Only that y-you were coming over and st-staying for… a while.”

Jax looked at her curiously. Was it just him, or did her pinwheels become white hollow orbs?

“And that she has to listen and follow all your orders!”

“Caine!”

“What? He already knew that!”

No he didn’t. But Jax could take advantage of that. Had to do everything he ordered, huh? Oh-ho-ho-ho~ He was going to have so much fun with that.

“Here you go!”

Jax nearly jumped off the stool, staring in wide-eyed horror as a large bubble with sharp teeth and beady black eyes suddenly appeared next to him. There was a large plate filled with delectable looking food, hot and steaming and making Jax’s stomach rumble in hunger from the aroma.

“That’s Bubble.” Pomni said as the bubble somehow placed the plate on the counter. “He’s… well, a bubble. He’s Caine’s… uh…”

“Pet!” Caine supplied, suddenly appeared next to the soapy sphere, and pulled it into a side hug. “And assistant. And moral support slash comfort creature. Along with a few other things.”

Jax eyed the bubble, unnerved by the sharp teeth in its smile. “… is being a cook one of those things?” He asked, eyeing the food on the plate.

“Of course! Bubble here is our top chef! The best of the best. Though considering mine and Pomni’s lack of skill with cooking, we rely heavily on him to feed us every day!”

“Hey! My cooking isn’t that bad!” Pomni protested. “I only burned the kitchen once!”

“Once is too many times my dear!”

Jax eyed the pair as they went back and forth arguing about cooking. They seemed to buy his lie and weren’t suspecting anything yet. But if he wanted to keep it that way, he needed more info on this Duke guy to play his part. One bad slip up and it’d be all over for him.

“So, uh, mind telling me about yourselves?” He said, warily taking the silverware from the bubble. “The Duke was kind of rushing things and didn’t inform me much about you and this tower when he sent me here.”

“He didn’t?!” Pomni looked at him in surprise. “But… b-but surely he must have told you s-something, r-right?”

“Eh, only a little.” Jax shrugged his shoulders, poking the scrambled eggs with his fork. “He only told me to come here and the whole listen to what I have to say thing. He was too busy to tell me anything. Like always.”

“O-Oh. That makes sense.” Pomni nodded her head, fiddling with her fingers for a bit. “Well, I guess… I guess you should know that I-I’ve never been outside this tower.”

“Huh?” The forkful of eggs hovered next to Jax’s mouth as he stared at her curiously. “Never? Why? Too scared of the outside world?”

“No! W-Well, maybe, but, um… it’s… i-it’s more for my protection.” She circled her hands around each other. “I, uh… there’s… well… you see…”

An eyebrow rose on Jax’s face as he watched Pomni fumble with her words, chewing on his eggs as he waited for the girl to speak. The eggs were… actually kind of good.

“I… the Duke… it’s–”

“She has a special gift that’s one of a kind and could be tainted by outside forces if they get their hands on her.”

“Caine!”

“Sorry, my dear. But you’re bad at explaining things sometimes.” Jax snorted at Caine’s bluntness, liking the guy more and more.

“And what exactly is this ‘special’ gift?” He asked, looking at Caine. “Does she have powers like yours?”

“Not quite.” Caine shrugged. “Though it is quite powerful when she uses it!”

“No it’s not!” Pomni protested, waving her arms about. “It’s not special, or powerful! It’s just! Not! Okay?”

“But Pomni! You–!”

“Let’s talk about something else!” Pomni quickly said, looking at Jax. “Like you! What’s your uh… affliction? No, wait, uh, association. That’s it! Association with the Duke?” She leaned forward in her seat, looking at him with those big eyes of hers. “What exactly do you do for the Duke? What does he have you do? Does he send you out on missions? Do you talk to him a lot? Does he talk about me? What does he like to talk about? How many monsters has he–”

“I thought you wanted to know more about me?”

Pomni blinked, staring at him a bit. Red blush marks that he now noticed on her cheeks darkened on her face, and her eyes quickly darted to the floor. “O-O-O-O-Oh! Um! S-S-S-S-Sorry! I-I Didn’t Mean To! I-I Just! The D-D-D-Duke Hasn’t Visited In A W-While So Um! Y-Yeah!”

Jax snickered, enjoying watching Pomni get flustered and shy. Yet, in the small corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but notice Caine’s ‘face’ shift when Pomni kept talking about the Duke. He was normally great at reading people and their faces, but he couldn’t with Caine. A head made of floating teeth was not something Jax was used to seeing, so he had no idea what it meant.

“Well,” Stabbing his fork in the pancakes, Jax quickly came up with a lie. One that would hopefully be believable and not questioned too much if they asked. “I’m the Duke’s favorite knight.”

“What?!” The pinwheels in Pomni’s eyes grew wide. “A–A knight?!”

“WOOZA! I wasn’t expecting THAT!”

“B-B-B-But if you’re his kn-n-n-night, th-th-th-then why aren’t you with the Duke?! W-w-w-why aren’t you with the r-r-rest of the knights?”

“Because, I’m a special knight.” Jax said, pointing his fork of pancakes at Pomni. “His special, undercover, secret knight. The best of the best! I get sent on missions that the Duke needs ‘delicate’ work with. Scouting areas far ahead, bringing back info he needs, and so much more.”

“R-Really? Wow.” Pomni stared at him with awe as Jax stuffed the pancakes into his mouth. “B-But… you don’t look like a knight?”

“Yeah. That’s a good point.” Caine said, tapping his lower jaw and eyeing Jax spaciously. “I’ve seen the Duke’s knights before, and all his special kind. How come I’ve never heard or seen you before?”

“I wouldn’t be a secret knight if everyone knew about me.” Jax said, inwardly panicking that his lie might come undone while he maintained a lax outward appearance. “What would be the point of that if everyone knew the Duke had a secret knight working for him? That wouldn’t be a secret knight then, now would it?”

“A–!” Caine started to speak, but his mouth… head… thing, froze. One hand pointed to the ceiling as his unblinking gaze locked on the rabbit. Stiff and still.

“… is… he okay?”

“He freezes sometimes when he doesn’t have a direct answer.” Pomni tapped one of Caine’s shoes, prompting no response from the floating being. “He’ll stay like this for… a while? He usually unfreezes when you address him again.”

Jax nodded his head slowly, unnerved by the blank gaze locked on him.

“A-Anyway, what sort of things does the Duke have you do f-for him? C-Can you tell me a bit about the m-missions?”

“Sorry, Pom-Pom. No can do. Missions and objectives, complete or not, remain between me and the Duke. Secret stuff and all that, you know?” He gave her a playful wink.

Pomni deflated when she heard this, sighing while pushing some of her hair back. “O-Oh… w-well, c-can you tell me if Kaufmo is d-doing alright?”

Jax blinked. Kaufmo? Who was Kaufmo? “Uh…”

“I-I know it’s been a while, a-and the Duke said he’s in great hands, b-but I-I just want to know if he’s doing o-okay.” Pomni said, wringing her hands together. “It’s been… years, since I l-last saw him, a-and I just want to make sure that he’s d-doing okay and–”

“Whoa, time out there girly.” Jax held up a hand, stopping her from rambling. “I might be the Duke’s special knight that keeps him in the loop of things outside, but I don’t know much about what goes on with him or his people. I’m out on my own most of the time, so I’m not really familiar with faces and names besides the Duke himself. You get me?”

“… oh.” A sad look crossed Pomni’s face, her eyes downcast to the floor. “I… I see.”

“Look, I would love to tell you all about Coughmore–”

“Kuafmo. His name is Kaufmo.”

“Right. Whatever. Listen, I have no clue of who this guy is. But if the Duke has him in his care, I’m sure he’s doing great. You trust the Duke, don’t you?”

“With my life!” Pomni said. “He basically raised me as a baby! W-w-Well, actually Kaufmo did. H-He was my old caretaker u-until he got sick and the Duke had to take him away since I… y-yeah. A-And that’s when Caine came into my life!” She shot the hovering being a small smile. “I’ve never been able to take care of myself, a-and being alone in a tower for so long tends to drive you crazy, b-but Caine’s been good company for me for over ten years now. Right, Caine?”

“Of course!” Caine finally spoke, moving once more and relieving Jax of the blank stare. “Ten years of fun, creativity, and never leaving the tower once!”

“Wait, hold on. Back up a moment.” Jax lowered his fork, furrowing his brows. “Never? You guys never leave the tower? Doesn’t that get boring?”

“No! Never!”

“All the time!”

Pomni shot Caine a look, taking a deep breath before speaking. “There’s… a small limit of things to do here, but being in a tower twenty-four-seven isn’t so bad.”

Jax nearly gagged on his food. Twenty-four-seven? She stayed in the tower the whole time?! “You’re kidding me. You actually stay in the tower? Like, all the time? Don’t you ever leave? Touch grass or take a walk in the woods?”

“No!” Pomni gasped, shaking her head. “I can’t go out there! I have to stay here!”

“Why? What’s the point?”

“Because of my gift! If it gets tainted, I’ll–!” Pomni covered her mouth, shaking like a leaf in her seat. “E… E-Excuse me.” She quickly jumped to her feet, racing past Jax, and ran up the stairs.

Jax raised a brow at that, pondering her behavior. “… Does she do that often?”

“Clam up and run off to her room? Sometimes.” Caine said with a shrug. “She gets a bit emotional at times when the certain topic of her gift comes up. It’s not her most favorite thing to talk about considering the circumstances. She’ll calm down after some alone time.”

“Good to know.” Jax side glanced at the stairs, wondering why Pomni didn’t like to talk about her gift. Finishing the last of the food on his plate, he took a look around the place now that it was properly lit.

Fine wood furniture decorated the room. A wall filled with books that could be classified as a small library. And only one window and door.

The sense he had when he arrived was still there.

Everything looked comfy and inviting, but Jax felt like he was being trapped and caged. Why only one window? Why only one door? Why a tower in the middle of nowhere hidden far from society?

The rabbit couldn’t help but feel there was more going on here, but he pushed that aside for now. It was still raining out, and he didn’t want to leave and risk getting sick. Ragatha would hover over him like crazy if he arrived with a snot-covered face.

“So,” Addressing Caine with a charming smile. “What exactly do you do around here for fun?”

~𝄞~

Turns out, there wasn’t much to do in a tower.

Even when Caine demonstrated that he could summon basically almost anything with his powers, Jax would quickly get bored and lose interest. At least Caine was an easy target to mess with.

Turns out, the being was very easy to fool, and he fell for all Jax’s verbal pranks. It was even better when Jax realized that Caine didn’t seem to understand nor learn from these pranks. Bubble… well, it mostly kept to itself.

Floating off somewhere and just… staring. Kind of creepy.

Pomni didn’t show her face, not till around dinner after she was lured out by the smell of cooking, which Jax had no problem gorging on. She wasn’t much of a talk when Jax spoke to her, and she went right back upstairs to her room once she was finished. Caine assured him that she was being shy since they didn’t receive very many visitors.

Jax shrugged it off. Fine by him.

What wasn’t fine by him was when he learned that the door, the only exit of the place, could only be opened from the other side.

Jax had checked when he had Caine distracted by a riddle. He wanted to explore the rest of the tower and see what valuables he could swipe without anyone noticing, but he found that there was no door handle. Or even a lock to pick. Not even his knives could cut or penetrate the wood, which aggravated him more and more.

Which only left the window.

“Whatcha doing?” The bubble thing said as Jax opened the window.

“I need some fresh air, so I’m going for a walk.” He lied, checking the weather outside. Most of the rain had calmed down, yet there was still water falling from the sky. Might make the rocks on the tower a bit slippery, but he’d worked with worse. “I’ll be back in a bit, k?”

“But you can’t go through the window! It’s enchanted!”

Jax gave the bubble a look. He swung one leg out, calculating his next move, then swung his body out. Only to fall flat on the soft fuzzy carpet in confusion.

The rabbit sat up in alarm. Wasn’t he just out the window a moment ago? He tried again and again, finding the same results even after he flung himself out the window and landed right back inside the tower.

Caine made some flimsy explanation that it was enchanted that way so Pomni wouldn’t fall out by accident. When Jax tried asking in a subtle way if there was a way to leave the tower, the being laughed and explained that there was no way out of the tower besides the door.

It dawned on him slowly that he was trapped. He was truly, undeniably trapped in a tower.

What rotten luck he had.

~𝄞~

Five days.

That was how long the stranger, Jax, had been in her tower.

Nearly a full week, and she still wasn’t used to his presence.

How could she? She’d never seen or interacted with anyone besides the Duke, Kaufmo, Caine, and Bubble her whole life. Jax was a total stranger to her, she didn’t know anything about him!

All she knew was that he was the Duke’s special knight, even if he didn’t seem knightly to her, and he was a rabbit! That was all she knew about him!

At least he was giving her space. Unlike Caine when they first met, the rabbit left her alone for most of the time. He seemed to be more interested in the door for some odd reason, muttering and trying to jam things in the frame.

Didn’t the Duke tell him that the door could only be opened from the other side?

Still, she at least tried to be civil when they spoke to each other. He still won’t tell her much about why the Duke sent him here, but at least he hadn’t tainted her yet… probably.

Pomni stared down at her hands. They seemed normal enough. But how was she sure? The Duke never explained what would happen when her people were tainted. Only that they turned into monsters by their greed.

But the Duke had said that Jax wasn’t tainted, so he wouldn’t taint her. Right? But what if Jax was lying? What if he tricked the Duke and he really was tainted? What if he heard about her and came to taint her and turn her to greed?! To use her gift for his own means and selfishness?!

Dear gods why did she trust this guy?! He was–!

No!

No.

The Duke would never let it come to that. He protected her from everything. He was too clear to let someone tainted near her or send them to her tower. Her safety was his number one priority, and he would never put her at risk with something like this.

She was just overthinking things again, that’s all… still didn’t make her comfortable knowing there was someone here in the tower with her.

Sighing, Pomni slipped out of bed. She couldn’t sleep like this. She needed something to distract her mind or else she’ll just keep spiraling on anxiety. She needed a thick book.

Creeping out of her room, Pomni glanced at the door across from her room, frowning at the door that belonged to Kaufmo’s room. She didn’t like the idea of someone sleeping in her old guardian’s room, but there weren’t many options to go with. And she certainly didn’t want him in her room.

Creeping down the stairs, Pomni went over to the bookcase, trying to find the thickest book that would sure to put her to sleep. Maybe she could reread the encyclopedia on plants and flowers.

“Something on your mind, my dear?”

Pomni let out a yelp, snatching her hand away from the bookcase. She let out a sigh when she saw it was only Caine. “You got to stop doing that, Caine.” she sighed, pulling out a random think book. “You know I don’t like being snuck up on.”

“I do. And I apologize for that.” Caine said, watching her sit herself down on the couch. “But I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to be having some sleeping troubles again. Another case of insomnia?”

“Kind of.” Pomni said. “And… well, I guess I’m not used to having another person in the tower yet.”

“That’s understandable my dear. It took you over a year to get used to me and Bubble!”

Pomni cringed. “I don’t want to live with Jax for a whole year.”

“He’s not so bad!” Caine said, twisting in the air. “Why, he’s actually rather fun! Did you know that he likes riddles almost as much as you?”

Pomni glanced up from the book in surprise. Riddles? Jax liked riddles? “He… does?”

“Sure! Why just this morning he gave me quite the stumper! Wanna hear it?”

“Well–”

“It goes something like this!” Caine interrupted her, clearing his ‘throat’. “They come out at night without being called, and get lost in the day without getting stolen. Honestly, I thought it was an owl, but then I recalled the one time I picked a fight with one during the day, so that–”

“Stars.”

“As much as I would love to do some astronomy, I don’t think we’ll be able to study them tonight since it’s still raining.”

“No, Caine. The answer is stars.” Pomni said. “Come out at night without being called? Lost in the day without getting stolen? Stars only come out at night and disappear when the sun comes up.”

Caine stared for a moment before smacking his head. “Of course! It’s so obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?”

A small smile cracked on Pomni’s face. “I’m sure you would have figured it out eventually.”

“Maybe so. But I’m glad there’s something you two have in common to talk about.”

Pomni frowned at that. “Oh, I… um.”

“Still avoiding him?”

“How can I even talk to him?” Pomni said as Caine took a seat next to her. “It took me ages to open up to you, and it’s still hard sometimes to talk about things.” Her fingers brushed her side before she pulled them away. “At least I don’t have to listen and do whatever you say. But I have to do everything he says? How am I supposed to do everything he says? What if it’s not good enough? Why would the Duke send him here? What’s the purpose of that? Why not… why not come here himself?”

Pomni blinked and shook her head. “Sorry, that’s… that’s too greedy of me.”

“… Personally, I can’t tell what goes on in the Duke’s head.” Caine said with a small huff. “He does a lot of things I barely understand. And you know he’s not my favorite person.”

“You do tend to send a lot of gags to him.” Pomni nodded her head. “But why? The Duke’s a nice guy.”

“Oh, you know. Just some old history between us.” Caine shrugged. “Nothing too personal. Just thought he could use something to brighten his day!”

“If you say so.” Pomni said. She never said it out loud, but she always felt there was more to Caine’s words than he was letting on. But knowing how stubborn he was with secrets, she’d let it go. “Why are you still up though? Did I wake you?”

“No the contrary! I was waiting for Jax.” Pomni blinked in surprise.

“Jax?”

“Yep! The rabbit normally comes out of his–”

“Kaufmo’s.”

“Kaufmo’s room around this hour. Usually, he tries fiddling with the door.” He motioned his hand to the door, the only exit and entrance to the tower. “Poor fellow’s been waiting to get some fresh air, and has been trying to find a way to open it every night.”

“Why?” Pomni asked, curious as to why Jax would be so keen on getting the door open. “He has orders from the Duke to stay in the tower, right?”

“I asked him that too! But apparently, he doesn’t like staying in one place for too long. He likes going about places and being in the tower for so long isn’t something he wants to experience. Mentioned something about being… boring?”

“What’s so wrong about being in a tower?” Pomni asked, feeling slightly offended that Jax was trying so hard to get out and finding her home boring. Her tower wasn’t boring! It was safe. Clean. Far from those who would taint her and shield her from greed! It had everything anyone could need! “It’s great here! There’s nothing outside that could replace the greatness of being in here.”

Caine gave her an odd look before shaking his head and chuckling. “If only you knew.”

“Huh?”

“Say! We haven’t worked on your vocals in a while!” Caine sprang up back in the air, producing his treasured violin. “How about a warm-up? Get those vocals nice and tuned?”

“You’re avoiding things Caine.” Pomni rolled her eyes, but had to agree with the being that she had been neglecting her gift for a while. “Do… do you have any song recommendations?”

Caine hummed as he tuned his instrument, testing the bow on the strings. “How about… the Dancing Stars? Haven’t heard that one in a while.”

“The Dancing Stars.” Pomni repeated, setting the book aside. “It has been a while since I sung that.”

“Do you still remember the words?” Caine asked as he readied his instrument.

“Hard to forget it. You had me memorize it every day.” Pomni smiled, remembering fondly of the times she started to bond with Caine over the song.

A soft chuckle left Caine as he pulled the bow across the strings, making a soft slow tune as he played. His fingers danced on the stingers as he pulled the bow back and forth, creating sweet notes of music that filled the tower. Pomni closed her eyes, listening to the music as Caine played. Words danced on her tongue as she opened her mouth and began singing.

Dancing stars in the sky

Prancing about as time flies by

Oh look how high they dance

Would they give us the chance?

To dance so high

Like a star in the sky

Oh I often wonder

Wonder what it like

To be a dancing star

Dancing so high in the sky

Oh I often wonder what it’s like

Do they see the world go by?

Dancing so high in the sky

Without a care of being so high

I saw a star dancing

Dancing on its own

Oh it looked so sad being alone

So I offered it a hand

And we danced a dance so grand

For a moment I forgot

What it’s like to be alone

Yes I forgot what it was like

Till the star went home

Oh I often wonder

Wonder what it like

To be a dancing star

Dancing so high in the sky

Oh I often wonder what it’s like

Do they see the world go by?

Dancing so high in the sky

Without a care of being so high

Dancing stars in the sky

Prancing about as time flies by

Oh look how high they dance

Would they give us the chance?

To dance so high

Like a star in the sky

Like a dancing star in the sky

Her voice trailed off with the violin’s final notes, feeling lighter and refreshed than she had in days. Singing always made her chest feel warm and happy, feeling as if a missing part of her was filled when she sang and lingered there for hours.

“Wow. Nice pipes you got.”

Pomni snapped open her eyes, freezing in fear when she saw Jax leaning on the railing of the staircase, grinning at her in a way that made her feel like he was going to eat her up. 

Chapter Text

Singing.

That’s what drew him out of the room.

He hadn’t been planning on leaving the room tonight. His last attempts of opening the door had proved to be futile and Caine’s less than helpful conversation would have left him brain dead if he kept on listening to them. Finding a way out of the tower was much more difficult than he thought, with both the door and window being enchanted.

He hadn’t thought about it at first, but once he put his mind to it, he found it odd that both the door and the window were enchanted to be locked tight and prevent things from passing through. In some odd way, it felt more like the tower was trying to keep things in rather than out. Which was odd since Pomni didn’t show any signs of wanting to leave the tower. So why? Why was the door and the window enchanted to work that way?

As he thought about it, his ears picked up on a sound from outside his room.

At first, he ignored it, figuring it was Caine playing his violin again. But then, he heard it.

A soft, sweet, almost whimsical voice. Almost magical even.

The rabbit found himself getting up from the bed towards the door, pressing his ear to the wood to listen closely. He had never heard such a voice before. And he had heard some good pipes in his travels in the circus.

Jax didn’t realize his hand was on the doorknob till he was already poking his head out the room, ears twitching as the voice became clearer as he stepped out.

Who was singing? Where was that voice coming from? The rabbit was curious to know, and crept towards the stairs where the voice was drifting from.

Peeking out from around the corner, Jax found the source of the voice along with an interesting scene.

Pomni was sitting on the couch, dressed in a nightgown as Caine hovered in the air, playing that violin again. The flying being was playing a soft, slow tune that sounded sad and forlorn, while Pomni’s voice drifted with the sound as if it were one.

Jax watched, awestruck by the scene. 

He hadn’t interacted with her much outside of dinner. She always looked tense, scared, and ready to run when he tried to make small talk with her, but he could tell with the way that she was singing that she was calm, relaxed, and dare he say even happy.

And what pipes she had.

Her voice was so… so beautiful. He never heard anyone sing the way she did.

Not even Ragatha, who years of practice singing, sounded even close to the level Pomni was at.

Jax stood in awe as he watched her, leaning against the railing as she sang. His eyes never left her, watching her as she sang each note and key to a song he never heard before. Was she making it up as she sang? If she was, she was pretty good at it.

Much too soon, the song came to an end, much to Jax’s disappointment. He wanted to hear more. The song was too short in his opinion, and that just wouldn’t do. “Wow. Nice pipes you got.”

The short woman’s eyes snapped open, and she froze on the spot when she saw him. Ooo~ Teasing material in the making.

“Hello Jax!” Caine’s loud voice boomed, reminding the rabbit he was here as well. “I see you’re awake! Did our unprompted late hour performance wake you up?”

“Na. I was already awake. Though, I wouldn’t have minded being woken up by an angel’s lovely singing.” Jax sent Pomni a small wink, causing the small to flinch and blush. “I gotta say, I never heard anyone sing the way that you do. And I’ve heard some pretty talented people before. Is that the ‘gift’ you were referring to? The one that you can’t let get tainted or something?”

“Wha-N-no! No. It’s…” Pomni glanced to the side, brushing some hair away from her face. “It’s uh, it’s a hobby. To pass the time.”

“It’s more than just a hobby, Pomni! It’s a special gift that no one else has!”

“Caine! It’s just singing!”

“What?! Says who?”

“Me! I say it’s just singing! Because that’s all it is. Regular normal singing!”

“But only your singing can grow a–!”

“CAINE!” Pomni screeched, causing Caine to flinch and Jax’s eyes to widen in interest.

A powerful voice that can grow something? My, my. This place was starting to get more and more interesting by the minute.

“Grow? Grow what exactly?” Jax leaned more on the railing, his grin ever growing as Pomni looked like she caught a bad case of stage fright. “Is it something… deadly?”

“D-Deadly? No!” Pomni shook her head. “M-My gift isn’t deadly! It’s just…” She hesitated, shifting in her seat and looking between her hands before letting out a sigh. “It… it grows a rare flower. One that takes certain conditions and elements to sprout. And my singing, my… gift, helps it to bloom. Without my singing, it’ll wither and die.”

“… a flower?” Jax looked at her in disbelief. “You grow flowers? By singing to it?”

“Not just any old flower!” Caine spoke, summoning away his violin and replacing it with a rolled sheet of paper. “It’s the Sun Bloom Flower!” He unfurled the paper, showing Jax a detailed picture of a flower brilliant orange and gold colors that resembled the sun. “An ancient floor that was once said to be a gift from the gods centuries ago! Fabled to be able to heal any wound no matter how mortal or grievous it is!”

“Is that so? Then how come I’ve never heard of it?”

“Because of…” Jax turned his eyes on Pomni, making her flinch before she took a deep breath and spoke. “Because it’s difficult to grow without… w-without the singing voice of one who possesses the gift. Without the gift, it won’t grow or bloom. And it’s very difficult to even get it to sprout. So it was very rare. Almost unheard of.”

“Really? And it won’t bloom for any old singing?”

Pomni shook her head. “It needs my singing to grow. Since I’m the only being who still has a pure gift, I… I’m the only one who can grow it.”

“Pure gift?” Jax looked at her oddly. He did recall something about tainting. “You mentioned that before. What’s it got to do with singing though?”

Pomni froze, darting her eyes to the side. “Uh…”

“Oh it’s just a little curse that if Pomni or someone with evil intentions uses her gift for greedy, dastardly, heartless reasons, then she’ll be turned into a horrifying mindless monster with only one goal in mind to DESTROY EVERYTHING IN HER PATH WITH NO WILL OR MIND OF HER OWN AND HAVE NO CHANCE OF EVER BEING NORMAL EVER AGAIN! Which is better than being turned into a fruitcake in my opinion.”

Jax stared at Caine, shifting his eyes towards Pomni. The girl could only shrug and nod her head slightly.

“… I… see.” Jax nodded his head slowly. “So… that’s the whole reason you stay in this boring place? Because you don’t want your singing to go bad and make you a monster?”

“It’s… sort of.” Pomni looked away, rubbing her arm. “This tower protects me from those who would use my gift. And staying here means I won’t taint myself with greed. I won’t end up like… like the others.”

Jax looked at her curiously. Others? What did she mean by that?

“N-Normally, the Duke would never allow anyone to come to the tower. It would be a big risk to my gift. B-but he allowed you here since you’re not tainted! … right?”

“Of course not!” Jax easily lied, waving his hand in the air. “I’m totally a hundred percent taint-free. I mean, I’ve been trapped here for almost a gosh darn week, and you’re still you, correct?”

Pomni glanced down at herself, examining her limbs and such before slowly nodding her head. “Y… y-yeah. I’m still… still me.”

“See? Totally not tainted.” Jax smirked, though in his mind, he wondered if this was the full truth. Taint? Magical singing voice? A rare never heard of flower? Yeah, this was bad storytelling in the making here.

“Yeah.” Pomni looked at her hands, putting on a small smile on her face. “I guess I had nothing to worry about. The Duke only has my best interests for safety after all. Heh. It’s not like he’d send some random stranger into my tower knowing how easily my gift could be tainted.”

“Never ever.” Jax grinned, snickering in his mind on how easy it was to fool this chick.

“And what a delight it is to have you!” Caine spoke up. “Honestly, it was getting a bit dull around here! With only me, Pomni, and Bubble here–!” 

Something shifted in Jax’s mouth, pushing against his inner cheeks and forcing his teeth to split apart till the large soap orb creature popped out. “Hello!”

“–Things were taking a slow turn around this place! But now we got a new friend! Which is YOU!” Jax flinched as Caine poked his face. “And boy oh boy! I’m glad the Duke finally decided to send someone over! You seem quite energetic! More than the Duke himself! And he’s always stiff and serious and not quite as fun to mess with. We’re going to have LOTS of fun here!”

“But what exactly do we do for fun?” Bubble asked as Jax rubbed his jaw, questioning in horror how the soap sud got in his mouth.

“I’m glad you asked Jax! Since you’re new around here, there’s a number of things we can do to make this place feel less cramped and stale with!” Caine lifted one hand, snapping his fingers.

In an instant, Jax found himself along with Pomni floating as the room shifted, expanding in size while the furniture and decor melted away and replaced by familiar items.

“ACROBATIC ARTS!” Caine announced with glee as Jax looked around in mixed surprise, awe, and disbelief.

“At night?!” Pomni whined. “Caine, this–”

“Now, now, now, my dear! You’ve been putting off your skills for some time now!” Caine said, snapping his fingers again. In an instant, Pomni’s nightgown swapped out with a one piece suit that was split in red and blue down the middle. “We can’t let those fine tone muscles of yours get all floppy!” He grabbed one of her arms, motioning to the thin appendage.

Jax wasn’t sure if Pomni even had any muscles since she looked so thin.

Pomni yanked her arm out of Caine’s grip, glaring at him somewhat. Her gaze turned to Jax for a moment, eyeing him a bit before looking away. “Do I have to?”

“Of course you do! It’s only one of the few pastimes in this place you really enjoy doing besides signing! And it’s my duty to be sure you’re entertained and well-trained!”

“I regret asking you to teach me.” Pomni said with a sigh, walking over to a long ribbon of silk. Jax watched her, interested to see where this went.

At first he didn’t think she was capable of knowing what she was doing. After all, he knew for experience how difficult aerial dancing was, but she took him by surprise when she expertly started climbing the silk, wrapping one of her legs in the fine fabric and started doing poses and tricks. He was a little impressed that she seemed to know what she was doing, watching her for a while before turning his focus on his surroundings.

Gone was everything that was there when he first entered the tower. There was nothing that looked like the cramped room like before. No furniture, no decor, no rug or fireplace. Heck, even the book-stand and the kitchen area was gone. Everything had changed from a nice-looking cramped tower to an expanded area that reminded Jax more of the training area of the trapeze back at the circus.

He wondered briefly if the circus was already at the next town by now before shoving it away and turning his focus on Caine.

“How did you do this?”

“Do what, my fine fellow?”

“This!” Jax motioned to everything. “How did you turn this place? It was a normal tower just moments ago.”

“And it still is a tower! I just altered the inside a bit.”

“A… bit?” Expanding a room to the size of an open field while changing items wasn’t exactly something small in Jax’s opinion. “How… how did you even do that?”

“MAGIC!”

Jax looked at Caine in disbelief. He got that this guy had some skills, pulling stuff from out of thin air and hovering in the air like it didn’t exist, but magic? He had seen only a few outside of royal families who used magic, but those types of people were really rare and even they could never pull something like this.

“Uh-huh. Magic.” Jax rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you tell me something more convincing than that?”

“Convincing?” Caine scratched his head. “Well, okay. What would you like? I have plenty of demonstrations I can show you! Just pick anything!”

“Anything?”

“Anything!”

“How about–”

“Great Pick!”

“But I didn’t–” Jax started before Caine snapped his fingers and a fancy-looking mirror appeared before him. The rabbit blinked at his reflection, taking a moment to recognize his own appearance in the glass before the image shifted.

Jax nearly bulked when the image in the glass showed a familiar face. One he would never forget.

“Ragatha?”

Indeed. It was Ragatha. He’d recognized the red yarn and button eye anywhere.

The doll was sitting next to a campfire, poking it constantly with a stick. Her wolf laid next to her, letting out a tired yawn that showed all its teeth for a moment before closing its maw and laying its head down in its owner’s lap. In the campfire’s light, Jax could see a new patch job on the doll’s dress, along with a bandage tied around her arm.

Yikes. She must have picked a fight with Lextion. Or worse. Went through with one of his dumb shows.

“Who’s that?”

Jax jumped, spinning around to find Pomni hanging upside down behind him. Her red and blue pinwheel eyes were locked on the mirror behind Jax, staring at the image curiously.

“Sheesh. Didn’t anyone teach you not to sneak up on someone?”

Pomni shot him a small look before turning her focus back on the mirror. “Do you know that doll?”

“Her?” Jax gave a small glance at the mirror before shaking his head. “Never seen her before in my life.”

“W-What?” Pomni looked at him in disbelief. “But you said her name was Ragatha.”

“Did I?” Jax smirked, tapping his chin. “I don’t recall saying–”

“THAT’S RIGHT JAX!” The pair jumped back as Caine suddenly popped between them. “This mirror allows you to see whoever you know whenever you want!”

“I didn’t say anything about the mirror.” Jax said, frowning at Caine.

“So you do know her.” Pomni said, swinging herself up and glared at Jax. “Who is she?”

“Just someone I work alongside with time to time.” Jax shrugged, giving Pomni a mischievous grin. “Why? You jealous or something?”

“J-Jealous?!” Pomni bulked, causing Jax’s smirk to grow. “N-No! I’m not! W-Why would you assume something absurd like that?!” 

“Don’t know. You sounded angry for a moment there.”

“That’s because you lied about not knowing her!”

“Because I don’t.”

Pomni narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing him top to bottom. “… are you lying?”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyybe?” Jax’s smirk grew as Pomni narrowed her eyes more at him. Gods he missed getting under people’s skin. There was just no challenge with Caine. He was either too dumb to understand or completely immune with insanity to get mad.

It was like the guy lacked certain emotions or something. Weird.

“Jax.”

“Look it’s not all that important, okay? She’s just someone I might know who happens to be working in the same place I do.”

“Working?” Jax flinched. Shoot. He said too much. “I thought you were a knight?”

“A secret knight, Pom-Pom. Got to have a cover story and all that.” He winked at her. Pomni narrowed her eyes at him, looking like she wasn’t quite believing his words.

Her eyes shifted, and her face morphed into surprise. “Who’s that?”

“I told you, I don’t know her.”

“Not her. Them.” She pointed at something, and Jax turned his focus back on the mirror.

It was Zooble. The mix-and-match had joined Ragatha by the campfire. And from the looks of it, they too had suffered. Parts of their body had burn marks around their hands/claws and a nasty one on their head underneath one of their eyes.

It looked recent, which Jax could guess that they had just put on a show and it wasn’t pretty.

“What… are they?” Jax looked at Pomni in surprise. Did she really not know what a Zu-Zoben was?

“EGADS! A Zu-Zoben!” Caine exclaimed, getting uncomfortably close to the mirror. “I hadn’t seen one in ages!”

“Zu…Zoben? What’s a Zu-Zoben?”

“They’re a race of mix-and-match beings who can swap out their limbs and body parts.” Jax said, looking at Pomni curiously. How could she not know about Zu-Zobens? Had she really been in this tower her whole life? Kinda sad when you think about it. “They’re pretty common in most towns and places, though most of them are a lot more friendly and a lot less grumpy than Zooble here.”

“AH-HA!” Pomni pointed at his face. “So you DO know them!”

“Of course I know. Hard to forget what Zu-Zoben’s are.”

“No! I meant!” Pomni groaned before swinging away in a huff, leaving Jax grinning at his achievement. He turned back to Caine, finding the guy staring intently at the mirror.

“You good there Caine?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s called a campfire.”

“No no no, not that. That.” Caine touched the glass of the mirror, and the image shifted away from the pair to a familiar sight to the rabbit.

“Oh. That.” Jax huffed, feeling his smirk drop off as the image of the circus tent came into view. It was just as ratty, torn, and filthy as he remembered it. “That’s just the circus tent. Nothing interesting.”

“Circus?” Caine shifted his eyes to Jax. “What’s a circus?”

“How long have you been in this tower to not know what a circus is?” Jax asked, mildly curious how this being never heard of the circus before. But then again, he wouldn’t be surprised if Pomni didn’t know what a circus was either.

“About ten years.” Caine answered. “But before that I–” He stopped, shifting his eyes away. “I, uh, was somewhere else. Nothing important to discuss about or anything to go into detail with.”

“Oh really? Why’s–”

“NOTHING TO DISCUSS ABOUT!”

Jax jumped back as Caine suddenly got into his space, gazing at the rabbit with wild eyes before quickly turning away and drumming his fingers on his elbows. Just as quick as he was to scream, he flew over to the mirror and motioned to the image in the glass. “How about we talk about something else? Like the circus! Tell me all about it! It sounds interesting.”

“Uh… I guess?” Jax said, hesitant to speak with how odd Caine was behaving. He never got a reaction like that before with the being. “It’s really nothing special. It’s just a bunch of people who go around from town to town to put on a big show so they can earn some coins. Nothing big or anything like that.”

“Show? What show? I though it was a circus?”

“It’s just people putting on performances of skills regular people wished they had.” Jax shrugged. “Like juggling, tightrope-walking, animal taming, dancing, magic acts, clowns, acrobats, trapeze, ventriloquist, and why are you staring at me like that?”

Jax backed away slightly as Caine’s big eyes suddenly got bigger, staring at the rabbit intensely.

“Performances? Acts? Tricks? Mind boggling awe inspiring shows?!”

“Uh, I don’t think I said that last–”

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE!” Caine grabbed the rabbit, shaking Jax so hard that his body was a blur. “A traveling circus sounds like a heart-stopping jaw dropping experience that the mind would never forget!” He pulled Jax into a side hug, tight enough to squeeze the air out of his chest as his eyes became swirls. “And the way you describe it is surely inspirational!”

“I just listed a few of the acts–”

“I want to see it!” Caine released Jax, letting the rabbit fall backwards to the floor. “You said that it’s nearby, right? Let’s stop by and see it!”

“I never said… wait. You want to… leave?” Jax sat up, eyeing the floating being warily. “As in… get out of this place?”

“Of course! What else would I be saying?”

“Isn’t that kinda impossible? I mean, there’s only one exit, and it’s locked.” And trying to cut it down was impossible while the window was enchanted to keep things inside the tower. “If you really want to visit the circus, you can forget it. We’re stuck here.”

“Not so Jax! I can get everyone out of the tower.”

Jax sat up straight, his eyes blowing wide. “What?”

“I can easily get all of us out of the tower with a single snap of my fingers!” Caine explained. “Since I’m magical, I can easily teleport all three of us out of the tower no problem!”

“… WHAT?!” Jax sprang to his feet, grabbing Caine’s head and yanking it closer. “You can do that?! This whole time?! Why didn’t you ever say anything about being able to leave this crazy place?!”

“You never asked.” Caine said with a shrug.

“Get me out of here.” Jax narrowed his eyes at Caine, shaking him slightly. “Get me out of this godsforsaken cramped place this instant!”

“I would love to.” Caine disappeared and reappeared next to Jax. “Buuuut there’s a small problem.”

“And what’s that?”

“Well, aside from the obvious, there’s a certain young lady who I’m supposed to watch over.” Caine spared a glance at Pomni, who was busy doing an impressive split in the air. He stared at her for a moment before dropping his voice slightly. “You might not know this, but Pomni would never agree to leave the tower. She’s fixed on staying here forever. And I’ve tried to convince her to leave. It never worked.”

“Why not just take her outside yourself? You seem highly capable of doing things on a whim.”

“Believe me, I would! That girl is in dire need of sunlight. But! I can’t. The… Duke, made it so that I can’t freely leave the tower as long as Pomni doesn’t wish to leave the tower. Something I wished he overlooked when he brought me here ten years ago.”

“Really.” Jax looked up at Pomni, watching the petite woman swing around on her silk rope. “So the only reason you never left this boring place is because nervous-wreck never wants to leave?”

“E-ssentially. I’ve tried to convince her to leave the tower before, but all her answers are the same. NO!”

Jax tumbled backwards at Caine’s sudden and extremely loud shout.

“I’ve basically given up at this point since I can’t make her leave.” Caine sighed, flooding his arms and crossing his legs in the air as Jax sat up and glared at him. “Which is rather sad since there’s almost nothing to do in this tower! Aside from acrobatics, singing, reading, astronomy, painting, drawing, watching Bubble cook and wondering how they can do it while we just set food on fire, and trying to fill our days with something so our minds won’t turn to mush from boredom!”

Jax stared at Caine, then took a glance at Pomni. “… and if Pomni ever decided to leave?”

“She, I, and you would be out of this place in a heartbeat faster than I can snap my own fingers! But that’s never gonna happen. Can’t convince her to leave if she never wants to.”

A smirk curled on Jax’s face. “Then I’ll just have to convince her.”

~𝄞~  

Something had changed.

Pomni wasn’t sure what, but she felt that something had changed. And she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.

Jax had started to pester her. He used to leave her be, letting her do her own thing and never bothering her unlike a certain duo.

Now? Now he seemed to want to get in her space at any chance he got.

At least Caine had learned to leave her be… most of the time. Jax on the other hand seemed to want to be around her nearly all the time. What in the world did Caine do to him? She was sure it was Caine’s fault.

She had seen them talking, and Jax behavior suddenly changed from that point on. She was sure that Caine had told Jax something, even when he denied it when she confronted the magical being later on.

Jax wasn’t clingy, or forcing her to do stuff as Caine had when she was still getting used to him, but this was somehow even worse than that. Why?

Every waking moment he was there. She was aware of the tower’s limited space, yet it seemed to be nonexistent now with him. Everywhere she went, Jax was always nearby. And yes, she still was highly aware of how limited space was in the tower when Caine wasn’t using his abilities to expand the place.

Still, it felt like the rabbit became a second shadow to her. Following her about and trying to get her to talk. Was he trying to be friendly? She highly doubted it. If he was, he was doing a poor job of it.

Her room became her only safe space. Until Jax convinced Caine to bring her out with some flimsy excuse to play games or something.

Which landed her in this situation.

“Are you going to keep staring or are you going to make a move?”

Pomni could only narrow her eyes more at the rabbit sitting across from her. Chess. He had Caine drag her out of her room to play chess. If he wasn’t the Duke’s special knight, she would have snapped at him for something so stupid. He wasn’t even looking at her or the board! His eyes were glued to a book! And he wasn’t even sitting properly!

At least he knew how to play. He was smarter than he looked. She only had three pawns, a knight, bishop, and the queen and king left. He still had a few pawns, both of his rooks, a knight, a bishop, and both of his most important pieces.

“Since when did you ever find the time to play chess?” She asked, settling to move one of her pawns. “You’re a knight, right? Wouldn’t you be more focused on doing the Duke’s duties than play chess?”

“Who says that a knight can’t learn to play?” Jax said with a shrug, not even looking up from the book as he reached over and moved one of his pieces. “‘Sides, you need to pick up a few skills when you’re undercover. And the Duke and I sometimes play a few rounds when things are slow.”

“… you… play chess with the Duke?”

“If I have the time too. He’s pretty good at it too. Learned a thing or two from him.”

“Oh… I see. Caine taught me how to play.” She took a small glance at Caine. Her friend was floating among the rafters, playing a soft tune on his violin. “It took me a while to learn how to play it properly.” And it didn’t help how Caine kept twisting the rules every time he was close to losing. He was a rather sore loser when he didn’t win.

“Really? Didn’t take him for a chess player.”

“Well, with how limited things are here, we can’t be too picky on some things.” She debated if she should move her bishop or knight. “He’s pretty good at it too. Maybe you should play against him sometimes.” She suggested, moving her knight.

“Interesting. I’ll take you up on that offer.” Pomni cringed as Jax swiftly took out her knight with his queen. “What else is there about Caine that you’re keeping from me?”

“A lot if you haven’t been talking with Caine yourself.” Pomni stated, taking out one of his pawns with her own. “Though considering you’re more interested in the door, I’d say there’s a lot you wouldn’t know about Caine.”

“Ouch. Hit me where it hurts the most, why don’tcha?”

Pomni had to fight back shooting a smirk at the rabbit.

“So, other than hiding Caine’s hidden talents from me, what else is there that I don’t know?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Pomni shrugged, feeling elated when she took one of his rooks, though that quickly went away when he took one of her pawns. “There’s nothing about me you wouldn’t know. No thanks to a certain loudmouth.” She shot a small glare at Caine, who was busy testing out an D minor.

“You’d be surprised.” Jax wiggled his eyebrows, taking out another of her pawns. “He’s not as blabbermouth as you might think.”

“That’s hard for me to believe since he told you everything about my gift.” She hesitated, her hand hovering over the queen before moving to the king.

“You sure about that?”

She hesitated, giving him a confused glance before shaking her head. “I’ve known Caine for ten years. I know what he’s like.”

“And yet, something tells me you don’t know everything about him.”

Of course I don’t. He likes to keep secrets from me! And despite living together for nearly a decade, he won’t tell me anything!

“I guess he has some personal things he wants to keep to himself.” She said, keeping her thoughts to herself. “And I can respect his boundaries.” She glanced up at Caine when he let out a strangled sound, watching with slight concern as he pounded his chest and coughed up a mound of dust that quickly took shape of a bird.

“A-herm! Ah! Dust animals. Heh.” Caine chuckled in a nervous manner, shooing the dust bird away. “Wow. We really need to clean the rafters more often.”

Pomni gave Caine an odd look, not wanting to point out that the rafters were cleaned everyday. Or that sound he made almost sounded like a choked laugh. “Riiight.”

“You really must be used to him if you can hardly flinch seeing that.”

“Believe me, I wish I was.” Pomni moved her remaining pawn, hoping it would make it to the other end of the board quickly before Jax could take it out. “But, there are still days when he still catches me off-guard. And despite knowing it’s going to happen, Caine still makes me uncomfortable.”

“And yet you chose him as your guardian.”

“I didn’t choose him. The Duke did.” She could still remember the day.

The week after Kaufmo had gotten sick and taken away, her loneliness going away the instant the Duke returned as he promised. She had expected him to bring news on her friend, to hear that he was being taken care of and that things were going well with him.

She didn’t expect the Duke to have brought someone with him. That someone who didn’t appear until the Duke left the next day, appearing right above her bed with a scream that startled her so badly she fell off her bed.

Admittedly, Caine hadn’t made a good first impression on her, and she feared for many weeks that his presence would taint her gift. Even after the Duke called for the first time through Caine did she understand he was her new guardian, though she didn’t warm up to the being for over a year.

“I see. Thought you could use some entertainment in your life, didn’t he?”

“No. It was more based on the fact that, since he also has… unique abilities, he wouldn’t be able to taint me at all. Caine was the best choice to go with since anyone else would be a risk and… yeah.” Pomni let out a sigh, tilting her queen back and forth. “But, hey, I’m alive still, right? The Duke really knows what’s best for me.”

Jax made a sort of humming sound, turning the page of the book. She found it annoying how he didn’t put his full focus on the game and instead chose to keep his eyes on the book. Didn’t he know that he could just put the book down and read it later?

Though there was the risk of Bubble eating it if he didn’t keep his eyes on it. Just like all the other books she lost to him.

“Say, Pomni, I can’t help but notice something odd with these books.” Pomni blinked in surprise. Odd? He found something odd with her books?

“What’s wrong with them?” She asked, getting up in her seat. She had an inkling of suspicion that Caine had messed with the books again. She would sometimes find the words tide in literal knots or coming to life to do small dances on the pages. While it had been startling at first, Pomni didn’t enjoy it when Caine messed with her literature in any way. The Duke spent so long finding her books that wouldn’t make her greedy and taught her a valuable lesson to listen and stay in her tower where she belonged.

“Nothing much. Except all these books seem to have a downer ending.”

Pomni narrowed her eyes. Downer ending? What did he mean by that? “I… I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.”

“Well, in this story,” Jax shifted one of his legs, crossing it over the other. “The main protagonist leaves his village to find some cure for his sick mother. Everyone tells him not to go as he might bring back some ‘sickness’ they’re all afraid of but he goes anyway.”

“Oh that book? I’ve read it before.” Nearly over fifty times, but he didn’t need to know that. “In the end, he doesn’t find the cure and when he returns, not only had his mother already been cured, but he brought back the cursed sickness that slowly killed off his whole village, leaving him the only one there for the rest of eternity.”

Jax pulled a face. “Yeesh. Some spoiler. Kind of a sad ending too.”

“It’s not a sad ending, it’s reality.” Pomni huffed. “His village warned him not to go, and yet he did and brought a horrible consequence that killed everyone he cared about. And his journey was all for nothing since his mother was healed while he was away. It was all for nothing, and he realized it too late that he should have just listened and stayed where he belonged.”

“Yeah, that’s the odd thing.” Jax finally tore his eyes away from the book, glancing over to the small library section. “All the books you have here have the same moral story and plot line.”

“What? No they don’t!”

He gave her a bored look.

“They don’t! I’ve read through each one of them and none of them have the same plot line!”

“You sure?”

Pomni nodded her head.

“Alright. Then give me a summary on the Fading Flower.”

Pomni blinked in surprise, but quickly did as she was asked. The Duke said she needed to do everything Jax said. “The Fading Flower is a story about the most beautiful flower in the world. The flower is hidden in a meadow and as long as it stays in the meadow, peace and prosperity is maintained throughout the whole world.”

“And what’s the ending of the story?”

“The flower… gets found by a curious child who wanted to show the flower to the rest of the world, uprooting it and taking it out of the meadow. Because of the child’s actions, war, famine, disease, and chaos sprang up and the world fell into ruin. By the time the child realized what they had done, it was already too late to put the flower back and everyone suffered.”

“Kinda sounds familiar to this book.” Jax shut the book, tapping the cover with his knuckles. “Don’t you think?”

“Wha–? N-No! That’s completely different!” She huffed. “That story is about a boy! The Fading Flower is about a flower!”

“And yet both plots sound oddly similar.” A smirk curled on Jax’s face. “A boy leaves his village and things fall into ruin. The most pretty flower leaves a meadow and the world falls into ruin. How is that not a coincidence?”

“It’s not a coincidence. The boy left by his one validation while the flower was taken by force. There’s no similarities there.”

“Yet both left the places they were supposed to stay in.”

“Well, yes. But I don’t see why you think the plots are so similar when they’re clearly different.”

Jax narrowed his eyes. “… Really?”

“W-what?”

“Different? You think these stories are different?”

“Well, yes. Obviously.”

“Tell me about The Guarded Stone.”

“The Guarded–” Pomni started, then quickly huffed. “A boy is tasked with guarding a powerful stone that protects his village. One day, the stone gets stolen and instead of telling anyone, he goes out to find it. By doing so, evil forces realize that the stone is gone when they see him leave the village, and attack while the boy is gone. The boy fails to find the stone and when he returns, his village is in ruins and everyone he knew is gone. Which wouldn’t have happened if he had just told his superiors and only had to lose his job instead of his whole village.”

“Now tell me about The Forbidden Song.”

“The Forbidden Song is a story of a young girl who had an amazing gift of singing. She was told never to leave her village because everyone was afraid that her singing would attract the jealousy of the sirens from the sea who would curse everyone with their songs, but leaves the village on a dare from her friends on her birthday. She finds the outside glorious, but while she sings of her findings, a siren hears her and grows jealous of her singing, and challenges her to a duel of songs. The girl wins and the siren dies of humility, but places a curse on the girl as she dies in revenge, cursing her voice to kill everyone around her if she ever sings again. Scared of this, the girl goes back to her village, vowing to never sing again or tell anyone she went outside her village to hide her shame. However, she’s forced to sing when the village’s annual holiday arrives, and thinking the curse is all in her head, she sings and everyone dies, leaving her all alone in the village. If she had just told someone, she could have–”

“Tell me about The Ocean’s Pearl.”

“A mermaid ventures away from her clan and finds a drowning boy who fell overboard and decides to rescue him, but that’s against the customs of her clan who told her to never stray far from home or go anywhere near the surface. She befriends the boy, but little does she know he’s tricking her to gain her trust and reveal the location of her clan, in doing so dooming her people as the boy and his people hunt down her family and kill every mermaid except her. Her family would have lived if she–”

“The Girl of The Forest.”

“A girl who has been raised in a forest all her life decides that it’s not enough for her anymore and leaves. She was warned many times that the outside world is dangerous, and if she leaves she can never come back. She still goes and finds the words to be true as the outside world is full of monsters and dangers and horrors. The girl tries to go back to the forest, but can’t because she had been to the outside and because cursed, becoming like the monsters of the outside. If she’d stayed–”

“The Untrue Treasure.”

“A boy finds a map and leaves his village thinking he’d bring back treasure but unleashes a cursed monster who destroys everything and everyone in the village. I don’t see–”

“The Unicorn.”

“The last unicorn in the world leaves the safety of her forest to try and find another of her kind and dies by a hunter’s arrow to the heart. It–”

“The Serpent’s Lullaby.”

“A boy leaves his village on a quest to kill a mythical serpent who once terrorized the people till it was forced out. He finds the serpent, but before he can kill it, it charms him with its song and entices him to visit multiple times so that its spell can grow stronger and stronger on him till it has complete control on the boy and has him slaughter the entire village. If he’d just killed the–”

“The Wandering Girl.”

“A girl…” Pomni hesitated.

“… go on.”

“… a girl…” Pomni let out a sigh. “A girl leaves her home and… her village suffers for it.”

“Is it finally sinking in?” Jax asked, shifting in his seat. “Or do you want to explain to me how they all are ‘oh-so-different’ because they don’t sound similar at all.”

“… I mean. They are different.” Jax gave her a look and she sighed. “But the plots really are the same.” She admitted with a groan, slamming her face down on the table.

“Exactly! It’s like every single book you got here has the same plot with different characters and motives!” Jax tossed the book over his shoulder, allowing Bubble to chomp on it and tear it up as he got off his chair and went over to the library section. “I’ve only read most of them, but they all have the same layout and ending to them. Something that’s supposed to stay in one place leaves and everything and everyone suffers for it.” He looked back over to her. “You had to have noticed how similar they all are, right?”

“N… no. I never had.” Pomni lied, unwilling to admit that she had noticed. Years and years ago when she had been reading one of her books and found it oddly familiar to her other pieces of literature. It didn’t take her long to realize all the plots were the same and so were the endings.

Even Caine saw it when he read a few of them. She thought, glancing at Caine briefly. I’ve read those books since I was a little girl, yet I never found it strange or questioned why the books were so similar in some many ways. The Duke picked out each book for me, making sure that they were safe enough to read so I wouldn’t be tainted or greedy, yet I never asked him why they always were the same. I guess he must have deduced that any other story line would put me in great risk. And the stories do warn of all the consequences that would happen if I ever do leave this tower. I’m not going to end up like the girl who sang the cursed song, or the boy who failed to protect the stone. I’m going to stay right here where it’s safe and keep myself and my gift safe.

“I guess since it’s been a while since I’ve read any of them, I never noticed.”

“And why’d you stop reading them?” She cringed at Jax’s question, not wanting to bring up how uncomfortable she felt when she read those books.

“Because I was more focused on perfecting my gift.” She turned her focus back on the chess, moving her pawn forward. “The Duke needs the flowers I grow, and it would be a disaster if I can’t grow them anymore with my gift… that and Caine is too much of a distraction to get any peace and quiet.” A smirk played on her face as Caine let out an indignant squawk.

“Hey! Rude!”

“I see what you mean.” Jax said with a chuckle, earning another indignant sound from the magical being.

“Hey!”

“He’s louder when he’s snoring too!” Bubble added, getting a glare from Caine before he was popped by his owner.

“But, in all honesty, you’re really missing out.” Jax said, pulling out one of the books and flipped though some of the pages. “I don’t read very often, but I know not all stories end with such a depressing conclusion. Or have repeating plot points in them. In fact some of them are kinda fun to read. Even when they spice up some real life places they depict in them.”

Pomni’s eyes widened. “W… what did you just say?” She quickly turned around in her seat.

“I said the stories I’ve read aren’t so depressing and–”

“No, no, not that. About real places. Stories depicting them.”

“Oh that. Yeah some stories tend to take real life places and add them in. I mean, sure most of them can get the details right, but they really like to add some spice and flair then it actually is… why?” Jax eyed her, his smirk growing on his face as he narrowed his eyes. “Is there a place you’ve read in here and been wanting to see?”

“NO!” Pomni shouted, shaking her head vigorously, trying to push back a fond old memory from her youth at the mention of real places. “No, never! There’s no place I want to see! I, I’m perfectly fine seeing the inside of my tower. There’s no place out there that could convince me to leave.”

Caine’s violin made a screeching noise. She looked up to see Caine having a blank gaze on his face, drawing his bow slowly across the strings. A silence hung over for a while before Pomni cleared her throat and turned her focus back on Jax.

“B-Besides. I have to keep my gift pure. Going out there would be a huge risk and… I… I don’t want to end up like my village.”

“Village? You have a village?”

“… H-Had.” Pomni clutched her hands together, remembering the story of her people and their doomed ending. “I… I don’t want to end up as they did. They misused their gift and filled it with greed. I don’t want to be anything like them. Not one bit.”

“… I see.” Jax hummed, looking at the book in his hand before tossing it.

“H-Hey!” Pomni yelled as the book was caught by Bubble, who proceeded to tear the book into shreds. “Will you stop doing that?! I know you don’t like the stories, but they’re precious to me!”

“How can you find books like that precious?” Jax asked as she got up, chasing after Bubble as the soap sud flew about and tore page after page out from the book in his maw. “Books like these are more depressing than pleasing.”

“Because!” Pomni huffed, catching the book in Bubble’s jaw and tried to wrestle it out.“The Duke gave them to me! He spent days to find books that wouldn’t taint me or my gift!”

“And he couldn’t find any better ones?”

“It’s not his fault every other piece of literature out there could risk my safety!” Pomni grunted, yanking the book out of Bubble’s maw. She frowned at the damage, seeing that the book was far gone from being repaired. “Besides, he knows what’s best for me.”

“… does he?”

Pomni froze. Her eyes trailed over to the rabbit, staring at him in shock. “… what did you just say?”

“Does the Duke really know what’s best for you?” Jax asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I mean, he could have gotten you some better books than ones that make someone want to curl up and cry.”

Pomni felt her eye twitch. Something inside her stirred, narrowing her eyes at Jax. “YES. He DOES. He’s always looked out for me ever since I was a baby! He cares about me, and unlike YOU, he makes sure that I stay in the safety of the tower and NOT think about leaving. Just like a certain someone tried to do years ago.” She shot a glare up at Caine, who twisted his gaze up to the ceiling and rocked on his heels in the air while whistling a tune.

“Don’t think I didn’t catch on to what you two are doing.” She glared at Jax. “And it’s not going to work. I’m not leaving this tower. No matter what. And you can’t make me!”

“… were we that obvious?” Jax asked, and Pomni glared at him more.

“It took me a while to figure it out, but it was obvious how Caine was acting.” She shot a glare at him. “He’s tried years to get me to want to leave, and that’s never worked.”

Caine looked away, having the decency to look a little ashamed as he tapped his fingers together.

Taking a deep breath, Pomni turned her glare back on Jax. “I don’t know why the Duke sent you. If you want to leave that badly, have Caine teleport you out or something. He can send you right back to the Duke and you can tell him that I don’t want your company anymore.” She said with a huff, turning to leave and hide under her covers.

“… so, you want me to go against the Duke’s orders, huh?”

Pomni froze, feeling a chill go down her spine.

“I mean, sure, that’s not much of a problem. But the Duke won’t be too happy if I leave.”

Her eyes widened. The Duke… wouldn’t be happy?

“He cares about you a lot, I can tell with the way he spoke about you. And you really care about him too. But if you want me to go back and tell the Duke you didn’t appreciate his concern for sending me over and crush his heart knowing that you don’t enjoy his care then–”

“NO!” Pomni whirled around, dropping the book and waving her hands in the air. “No no no! It’s not like that! W-Well maybe but no! I-I do appreciate his concern! I always appreciate what he does for me!”

“You sure?”

“YES!” Pomni wrung her hands together, thoughts going by in a flash in her mind. Gods! What was she thinking?! The Duke sent Jax over because he cared about her! Treating him like this was if she was spitting in the Duke’s face! How could she act like this to someone the Duke trusted to watch over her?! She was being an idiot! A big dumb stupid idiot who didn’t appreciate the Duke enough for all he’s done for her! How idiotic can she be?!

“Hello~? Pomni? Hello~?”

Something knocked on the side of her, snapping her back to reality.

Caine and Jax were staring at her, being a tad bit too close for comfort. Pomni jumped back, darting her eyes between the two. “Huh-wha?”

“You’ve been standing there staring off into space for a while.” Jax informed her, looking at her with a slight bored expression.

“At least you didn’t run off in shame or embarrassment this time!” Caine said, shifting his face to a smiley grin. “I count that as progress.”

“I…” Pomni started before shaking her head. She went quiet for a moment before speaking. “I… really don’t understand why you both want to leave the tower so much.” She looked at Jax. “You I can sort of get. I mean, I don’t know you that well, but you strike me as someone who likes to move around a lot.” Jax shrugged as she looked at Caine. “But I don’t know why you want to leave the tower.”

Caine pointed to himself.

“Yes, you. You have orders from the Duke to stay here with me, so why are you so interested to leave this place?”

“Oh? No particular reason.” Caine shrugged, shifting his eyes about in his mouth. “I just figured that being stuck in a tower every single day would be a little… stale. It’d be more exciting to see the world outside, don’t you think?”

“No.” Caine deflated a little when she said that, but Pomni learned not to give in to Caine a long time ago. “It’s safe here. You know why I can’t leave this tower. The Duke would never approve of it! And I especially don’t want to leave! There’s nothing out there that would make me want to go. Nothing.”

Caine’s head drooped, twisting his teeth to look like a frown. Why did he always make faces that made her feel slightly bad for making him upset?

“… Whelp! We tried!” Jax caught her off guard, strutting over to the window, sitting himself upon it and threw his hands behind his head. “Sorry Caine. Guess you won’t be seeing the circus after all.”

“Circus?” Pomni echoed as Caine’s lower jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes started to leak tears. “What’s a… circus?” She asked, inching away from Caine.

Jax gave her a smirk. “Boy, you’ve really been in here too long if you’ve never heard of a circus before.”

She gave him a look.

The rabbit let out a sigh. “A circus is a place where people put on shows and entertain people by doing stunts, tricks, or comedy acts.” Jax explained, gazing out the window. The rain had stopped a few nights ago, yet it was still dark and gloomy out. “Sometimes they put on magic shows, or tame wild beasts, or do impossible stunts that normal people wouldn’t dream of doing.”

“Who would be crazy enough to do that?” Pomni asked, feeling her feet getting wet from Caine’s tears. She looked at the floor in disgust and mild worry as the liquid continued to build up, shuffling over to the window.

“Eh. People who are desperate to fill their stomachs and put their skills to good use I guess.” Jax shrugged as she climbed up on the window next to him. “A lot of people join the circus thinking that it’s fun and cool and a great way to escape for the lives they used to live.”

“Is it?”

An odd look crossed Jax’s face. His eyes were focused on the glass, staring at his reflection. When he was quiet for a while, Pomni took a moment to study his face. She never got too close to him before, but now since she was this close and actually paying attention, she could almost swear she could see small scars hidden under his fur.

“Depends on the person I guess.” Jax said after a moment with a shrug. “Some might find the circus better, some, eh, not so much.”

“… you sound like you’ve had some experience with it.”

“Traveling with a circus is the best way to go place to place undetected.” He gave her a wink. “But, yeah, I’ve been to a few circuses. Some were good, others not so much.”

“… what’s it like? Traveling? I-i-in a circus I mean.”

“Kind of a mixed bag.” Jax made a so-and-so motion with his hand. “I mean, sure. The circus can go basically almost anywhere they want to. Putting on shows that’ll brighten up anyone’s day if it’s good enough. But there are times when a circus can have a bad ringleader and drag the whole place down in the mud and make everyone suffer for it.” His eyes became hard for a moment before it quickly went away, snorting with a smirk. “It’s those types of circus people should avoid joining in. Otherwise they’d start to think their old life was a hundred times better.”

A memory of the rag doll and Zu-Zoben popped in Pomni’s mind. She hadn’t focused much on it, but now that she thought back on it, both of them looked a little worse for wear.

The doll looked like she had gone through several rough patches. Her dress looked to be on the verge of falling apart under the patchworks, and her arm had been wrapped tight in a banaged. And the Zu-Zoben had burn marks all over their body.

She felt bad for them. She didn’t know them, but Pomni somehow felt bad for them. And she had a feeling Jax was familiar with them.

She overheard him call the rag doll Ragatha, and the Zu-Zoben Zooble. So he obviously knew them. But why deny it? Weren’t they his friends?

Unless he was just messing with her. He did seem like the type to pull tricks on people. And she wasn’t clueless to how many times he pulled verbal pranks on Caine, even if he sort of never learned his lesson not to fall for them.

Still, there was something about him that made Pomni think there was more to this rabbit. Something that made her want to know more. More than what she should want to know about him. And out there. Because he was from the outside world. A world tainted and full of greed, who would love nothing more than to use her voice for their own gain and that would be terrible. She shouldn’t want that. She couldn’t want that.

But she wanted to want that. She wanted to know more.

Her tower was nice and safe and secure, and she was content to live her life here like she should, but something made her want to know about the world outside.

Something about JAX made her want to know more.

“… was your life any better when you joined the circus?”

“… yeah.” A small smile crossed his face. “For a few years…” It quickly went away. “But I usually don’t stick around much. Being the Duke’s secret knight and all that.” He winked at her.

“Ha, right.” Pomni nodded, feeling a little foolish for forgetting that bit of information. “How did you become his knight? And a secret one at that?”

“Well I can’t go into too many details and personally it’s rather personal. But I can tell you that I owed the Duke one and my life’s never been the same.”

“Sounds just like him.” Pomni nodded, smiling. “He’s really generous like that, you know?” She looked towards the window, looking out to the dark clouds and wondered how the Duke was doing. “He’s really nice, and caring. He had this entire tower built to keep me safe when he found me as a baby.” She motioned to the room. “It’s got everything I need to live comfortably with no worries or wants… except…” Her smile drooped, gazing sadly to the floor. “It… it doesn’t have the one thing I really want.”

“… what’s that?”

“… Kaufmo.”

“… you asked me about that guy before.” Pomni perked up her head, hoping that she was about to hear news about her old friend. “Back when we properly talked, right?” She nodded her head. “Huh. Still don’t know much about her.”

Her hope crashed after hearing that. Right. He told her he didn’t know anything about Kaufmo. He didn’t know if he was getting better or worse. “Oh…”

“… tell me about him.”

“Huh?”

“You obviously know about Coughme–”

“Kaufmo.”

“That guy. I don’t, and I’m curious.”

“Why would you want to know about Kaufmo?”

“Well, each time you talk about him, you get this far away longing look in your eyes.” Jax said, pointing to his own eyes. “Like you lost someone deeply important to you and you long to see them again.”

Pomni touched her face, surprised. Did she really?

“You do.” Jax said as if he heard her thoughts. “I’ve seen someone with that look plenty of times to recognize it. Not hard to guess that this Kufmo or whatever his name is was close to you.”

“It’s Kaufmo.” Pomni hardened her eyes a little before they softened. “… and, yeah.” She looked out the window. “He… was… I was just a baby when I was put into Kaufmo’s care. He was about ten or eleven when he started taking care of me. He… he lost his family.”

Pomni wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a little cold as she talked about her old caretaker. “The Duke was kind enough to take him in when his family… he was sort of… like a big brother to me. I mean, he was goofy, stubborn, a bit of a wisecrack who made jokes that would make you cringe a bit, but he treated me with so much care and love that I could almost forget we weren’t blood related.”

A sad smile grew on her face, recalling all the fond memories she had with Kaufmo. Painting pictures, reading stories together, counting the stars till they fell asleep in makeshift forts made of pillows and blankets, cuddling next to his side for comfort when a storm raged outside the tower. All those memories made her grin and feel a little less lonely inside.

But then she would remember they were only memories, and she was alone without the familiar family figure she cared deeply about.

“But when I turned fifteen, he… he got sick.” She tried hard not to think about it, pulling her legs to her chest and hugging them tightly. “Like, really really sick. I… I don’t know what happened. I gave him the flower. It should have healed him. It should have healed him! But, b-but it didn’t work. He only kept getting worse and worse everyday and I didn’t know what to do. I-I couldn’t take care of him and just kept getting worse and–”

She drew in a deep breath, hissing as tears formed in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, telling herself over and over that Kaufmo was fine. “… the Duke had to take him away once he saw how sick Kaufmo had gotten. He promised me that he was in good care and that he would be back on his feet in no time…”

“… but… he didn’t. Did he?”

Pomni shook her head. “… I don’t know why or how he got so ill… the flower should have helped him get better. He should have gotten better… he should have been back by now.”

Every day she wondered when Kaufmo would come back. Every day she waited for any news on his condition. She’d asked the Duke for any updates on Kaufmo, hoping there would be something, anything, on her old guardian and brother-figure. Anything that would give her hope that he was okay, or doing better, or coming home soon.

Anything that would make her feel less lonely and sad.

“… hate to break this to you Pomni, but maybe he’s–”

“No.” She hugged her legs tightly, shooting a look at Jax. “Don’t you dare. He’s… He’s in the Duke’s care. He’ll be back… I know he will.” She gazed out the window. “He promised me.”

“… and you believe it?”

“Of course. We never broke a promise to each other before. He would never break a promise to me. Same as I would never break a promise to him.”

“Heh. Wish I had that type of relationship with someone.” Jax mussed. “Never had anyone that close to me in my life.”

“No one? Not even the Duke?”

“Nope.” Jax shook his head. “The Duke is nice, but I don’t feel comfortable enough to tell him everything. I like keeping my worries to myself, you know?”

“I guess?” Pomni said, unsure of what to say. But she guessed that’s how Jax was.

“So,” He spoke up. “You’ve never broken a promise to Kaufy, huh?”

“Kaufmo. And no. Never. I’ve kept all of my promises to him… except…”

“… except?

“Well…” Pomni fiddled her fingers together, nervously glancing out the window. “There… there is one promise that I haven’t been able to keep. The very… last promise we made together.”

“Oh?” Jax looked at her with renewed interest, scooting just a tad closer. “And what’s that?”

“Uh, n-no.” She turned her head away from him. “I-I shouldn’t say. I-It’s personal, okay?”

“Whaaaaat? Laaaame.”

“It’s not lame! It’s! I-It’s really sweet! And personal!”

“So you’ve said.” Jax huffed. “But come on, how bad can it be? Is it something… naughty~?”

“WHAT?! NO!” She shoved at Jax’s face, who burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing to him. “It’s! It’s!” Her face flushed, not wanting to reveal her last secret she made with Kaufmo, but at the same time she didn’t want Jax to make fun of it. “It’s none of your business!” She finally said, turning to hop off the window.

She stopped herself before she could, seeing the whole floor covered in deep water. Glancing up at Caine showed he was still crying, his jaw submerged in the liquid while Bubble floated behind him driving a steam boat.

Was he still crying? Oh no. He was going to submerge the whole tower at this rate!

Kaufmo’s room was going to turn into an aquarium at this rate!

“Wow. He’s uh… he’s a really heavy crier.”

“Uh huh.” Pomni glanced down at the tear covered floor, wondering if it was already too late for her to get to the safety of her room. If it was already too deep for her to cross, she was stuck up here with Jax.

With Jax.

She glanced over at the rabbit, eyeing his long legs.

Maybe that might work.

“If we stay here, we’ll be submerged before nightfall.” She informed Jax. “We… we need to get to the upper floor quickly.”

“Uh, isn’t that a little–” Jax started, dipping his toe in the water before jerking it back out with a yelp. A small oddly colored fish was biting down hard on his toe. With a hard flick of his leg, the fish went sailing in the air, landing on Bubble’s head.

“Oh no.” Pomni groaned, looking closer at the liquid. Multiple fish swam under the surface, flashing sharp tooth smiles at her and Jax.

“Whaaaaat…?”

“It’s the mosquito swarm all over again!” Pomni bemoaned, leaning away from the edge before she could fall in.

“Mosquito swarm?” Jax sounded a little scared, looking at her in slight panic.

Pomni ignored him, looking for a way to get to the stairs. If she could make it over there without touching the water she could make it to her room and wait for Caine to stop crying. It never fully worked, but hey, try number five might be lucky this time!

“Uh, Pomni?” Jax spoke, breaking her concentration. “Slight question?”

“What is it?”

“Does this happen often?”

“What? Caine crying? Not often.” She shrugged, looking around before letting out a sigh. She couldn’t see any easy way to get to the stairs. None that didn’t include getting through the water. They were truly trapped here.

“I guess you figured out the same thing as I did.” Jax said.

“Yeah.” Pomni sighed again, slumping against the window. “This is gonna suuuuuck.” She moaned, rubbing her face. Couldn’t she have just one normal day with Caine? Just ONCE?!

“… sooo… you wanna tell me what that last promise you made was?” She shot a glare at Jax.

“No.”

“Oh come on, why not? It can’t be that bad.”

“Jax, it’s personal.” Pomni looked away, trying again to find some way to ditch the rabbit and get to her room.

“How personal is it to not want to talk about it?”

“Very.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really really?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely sure?”

“A hundred percent.”

“A hundred percent?”

“Yes?”

“Certain that it’s a hundred percent?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me what your last promise you made with Kaufmo was.”

Pomni snapped her head at Jax, glaring at him like he just stabbed her. “W-What?! No! I’m not–!”

“Ah-ah-ah~ Have to do whatever I say~ Remember~?” Jax said in a sing-song voice, making her freeze up as she realized there was no getting out of this.

She glared at Jax hard enough that she wished she could set his head on fire, but as he kept grinning at her and the water kept rising below them, Pomni finally gave in.

“… the last promise… that I made with Kaufmo… was to visit the Kingdom of Dreams.” She finally said, squeezing her eyes tightly. When nothing happened for a while, she peeked one eye open, looking at Jax.

A deep, disappointed frown was on the rabbit’s face. “… that’s it?”

“… what?”

“That’s seriously it?” Jax said, looking more mildly annoyed than anger or enraged as she expected. “That’s hardly anything to call personal. Or a big deal.”

“It is too a big deal!” Pomni shouted at him, feeling angry that he would dismiss it so easily. “Kaufmo always dreamed of seeing the Kingdom of Dreams. He always wanted to see the fabled kingdom with his own two eyes ever since he read about it in a story. When he got sick… when he… before he was taken away…” She slowly turned her gaze to the rising water, clutching her fists. “… he… he made me promise that… he made me promise that I’d go to the Kingdom of Dreams. See it with my own eyes… I… promised him I would try for him, but… the Duke said it was too risky and, a-and the place doesn’t exist s-so I–”

“Wait what?” Jax interrupted her. “What doesn’t exist?”

“The… Kingdom of Dreams? Th-the Duke said that K-Kaufmo must have had his information wrong, because that place never existed and–”

“Whoa whoa whoa! Time out!” Jax held his hands up, stopping Pomni again. “The Kingdom of Dreams? Fake? Who told him that crazy lie?”

“… what?” Pomni looked at Jax in confusion, wondering what he was going on about. 

“I’ve been to the Kingdom of Dreams before.” Jax said with a huff. “Five times at least. Maybe less or so. But I know for a fact that the Kingdom of Dreams is real.”

“… What?!” Pomni’s eyes widened.

Real? The Kingdom of Dreams? It was real? It was really real? As in, it existed? And was an actual place?

And Jax had been there before?!

“Are you!” She got closer to the rabbit, getting into his space that she normally wouldn’t dream of getting at with anyone. “Are you serious?! It’s real?! Really real?! Absolutely real?! As in it’s really a real place that I could visit?!”

“Yes!” Jax looked at her in alarm, trying to back away from her. “It’s a real place! Got a real impressive castle too! Lots of people love to go see and put it in their books and stories! Books that you outta read yourself sometimes!”

Pomni backed away, covering her mouth in shock.

The Kingdom of Dreams.

It. 

It was real.

It was a real place.

A place he always dreamed of going to and would talk about for hours and hours nonstop.

A place he always wanted to go and take her to see with her own eyes.

A place that… that… that she…

Pomni slowly looked out the window. It was dark and gloomy outside. Just like the day.

The day Kaufmo made her promise.

Their last promise together.

The last promise she wanted to keep.

The last promise she swore to Kaufmo to fulfill before he was taken away.

The last promise she wanted to complete till the Duke told her that it didn’t exist.

The last promise she never kept…

Her last promise to Kaufmo…

Pomni took a deep breath, squeezing her hands together.

The Duke… he trusted Jax. He trusted him enough to send him here and not taint her. If he trusted him that much to put her under his care… then…

“Jax?”

“Yeah?”

Slowly, she turned her eyes on the rabbit, steeling her nerves as she gathered the courage to speak what was likely the hardest thing she was about to ask in her whole life.

“If… if I… If I say that I’m… w-willing to leave the t-tower… will you take me… to see the Kingdom… of D-Dreams?”