Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  "Uh, but that's not something we need to deal with today. Above anything else, the adventures give us something to do that keeps our minds healthy and stimulated."

  Ragatha's words rang hollow to Pomni as she stared off into nothing. Any prayers she had before that this was just an elaborate fever dream had fallen on deaf ears, if there was even any God out there to hear them. This really was real, wasn't it? This was really happening.
  The back of Jax's hand felt like an ice bath as it woke her from her dissociative state.
  Pomni's breath shuddered as she gasped, "Why are we here again? What are we doing?"

  "We're getting one of our friends."

  Ragatha rang the doorbell, the sound echoing through the hall to no reply. 

  "Huh. Maybe he's not in his room?" Ragatha proposed as they gathered around the door, still waiting for some kind of response. "I hope he's alright."

  "Don't worry, dollface," Jax chimed in, pulling a key out from seemingly nowhere and spinning it on his finger, "I've got a key to his room." He caught it, the sudden action making Pomni flinch.

  "Wha, wait, wh- why!?" Ragatha stutteringly exclaimed, "You-you-you shouldn't have keys to anyone's room!"

  Jax shrugged as he unlocked the door, "Nah, I got keys everywhere, and you've all been fine." He paused for a moment to turn to the two others, his mischievous smile lighting up his face. "By the way, I may have left something in your room today, so let me know if you find it. You're not afraid of centipedes are you?"

  "Jax! That's literally my only fear, why would you do this!?"

  "What? It could be a completely unrelated question. You'll never know until it's too late."

  As Jax finally opened the door, the three caught a peek inside of Kaufmo's room. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in scrawled drawings and the repeated word: "EXIT". In the middle sat Kaufmo, muttering incoherently to himself as he continued to scribble at the floors of the dark. Pomni couldn't tell if it was just her imagination or if there seemed to be some sort of dark aura emanating from him.
  Ragatha began to back away, her face apparent with a new kind of worry Pomni had never seen on her before (although, admittedly, she's only known her for like thirty minutes).

  "Uh, maybe we should come back later? Or-or-or go get Caine?"

  "Nah, it's fine. I know how to fix this."

  Jax picked up a bowling ball that had been sitting in front of the door and proceeded to toss it at the clown, hitting him square in the back of the head. 

  "JAX!" Kaufmo immediately whipped around, the look in his eyes enough to make anyone flinch.

  "Hey, Kaufy. How's it going?"

  "Are you outta your goddamn mind!? What the hell do you think you're-"

  Kaufmo's rant was cut short as he noticed the unfamiliar face of the group. Pomni stared back, anxiously shirking back in the face of the admittedly unstable clown.
  He sighed, pinching inbetween his eyes, "Oh god, another one?"

  "Yep."

  "Jesus, now? I mean, how long has it been? A month? I swear to god, Caine's gotta-"

  "Uh, e-excuse me," Pomni cut in anxiously, "You're Kaufmo, right?" 

  "Uh... yeah. Yeah, I am. And you're...?"

  "Uh, Pomni. I wanted to see you. You said you knew something about an exit?"

  "An exit?" The word immediately made Kaufmo perk up. "You saw one too!?"

  "I-I did! I swear I saw one!" 

  Jax rolled his eyes, "Oh, boy. Here we go, again."

  "I knew it," Kaufmo gasped, "I knew it! I knew I wasn't crazy!"

  "So you know where we can find one?" Pomni asked excitedly.

  "Yes! Or, well, actually, no, but... Wh-where did you see the exit last?"

  "I think it was while Caine was showing me around the circus grounds," Pomni began to recall, although her short escapade with Caine around the grounds was still a bit of a blur. "It was over by the lake, I think."

  "Well, all I know is that it's probably not there anymore," Kaufmo hummed. "But if it was last on the grounds, it should be somewhere in the tent now. Here, let's go looking for..."

  As Kaufmo exited his room fully, he trailed off, noticing how empty the hall really was.

  "Where's everyone else?"

  "Oh, Caine set up a little in-house adventure for Pomni," answered Ragatha. "They're out taking care of that."

  "Huh, you really are new, aren't you?" Kaufmo remarked before turning back to Ragatha, "Well, let's hope Zooble's doing alright with Kinger and Gangle."

  "Uh, well..."

  "Zooble got dismantled immediately, didn't they?"

  "Yeah."

  "Oy, they're gonna need some help," Kaufmo sighs. "We should go find them first."

  Pomni felt a little disappointed. She thought she was about to get a break through with the exit. Before she could say anything, however, she was interrupted by Jax.  
  "Eh, I think I've got something better to do than go looking for Hoo-ha and Crybaby. Good luck to the rest of you."

  "Oh no, you don't," Kaufmo said, grabbing Jax by the back of his overall straps, "you're coming with me. Here, we'll split up to cover more ground. Ragatha, you take the newbie, *I'll* be hauling Jax around from now on."

  Jax huffed as Ragatha gave Kaufmo a content - and relieved - smile.

  "But what about the exit?" Pomni asked.

  Kaufmo lowered himself to her and whispered, "Don't worry, kid. The more ground we cover, the easier it'll be to spot an exit door. Don't wait up for me if you find one. And if I get there first, I'll come back for you."

  With that, they departed to go looking for their missing cast members, Pomni following Ragatha as Kaufmo separated from them, dragging Jax behind him.

Chapter Text

  Down a hole, alien in the circus, Zooble's distant screams could be heard echoing throughout as Kinger and Gangle stood above looking in.

  "I don't know what I'm looking at here," Kinger admitted after a brief moment.

  "We saw a Gloink carry one of Zooble's pieces down there, remember?" Gangle responded, voice choked under her tragedy mask.

  "Oh, yeah. Thank you for the recap." 

  They both looked back down into the hole for a short pause before Kinger continued, "Boy, we're not very good at this, are we?"

  Kaufmo soon came walking in, still holding Jax by the overall straps; the jackrabbit's heels dragged against the floor as he pouted.

  "Hey, fellas," Kaufmo greeted the other two cast members.

  " KAUFMO !" Kinger yelped, before immediately recovering, "We found the Zooble hole."

  "Oh, thank God," Jax sighed. "Welp, looks like I'm outta here-"

  "Nope," Kaufmo interrupted him, pulling him back next to him as he tried to leave.

  "Are you doing alright, Kaufmo?" Gangle asked, hiding behind her ribbon hands.

  "Oh, me? I'm doing fine. Just a, uh, bit of a melt down this morning. It's alright now."

  "Well, it's good to know you haven't completely lost your mind," Kinger chimed in.

  "Thank you, Kinger. That means a lot."

  "What about Ragatha and Pomni?" Gangle whimpered, her glass tears falling from her face, "I hope she's not worried about accidentally breaking my comedy mask."

  "They're around here somewhere. In fact, we split up to go looking for you guys."

  Jax's eyes lit up dangerously as a devious idea came to mind.   

  He pulled out the bowling ball he'd taken from Kaufmo's room, "They actually told me to give you this."

  He tossed the bowling ball at Kinger, hitting him in the torso and knocking him into the hole. As he fell, he grabbed onto Gangle's ribbon end for stability, unwinding her until she’s inevitably pulled down with him. Jax chuckled to himself as Kaufmo gave him a dirty look.

  "What? We're supposed to go down there anyway. Why not make it more fun?" Jax shrugged, before hopping down the hole himself.

  "You really need to work on your comedic timing, kid," Kaufmo groaned, after him.

  A big curvy slide led them up, down, and around the inside of the hole. All the bending and twisting - even radical jumping - finally led them to the end of the slide and up to a conveniently pin-shaped group of ten Gloinks. As Kinger and Gangle rolled through the first 9, Jax came right down after them before kicking the last one to God-knows where… then getting bowled into by Kaufmo.
  At least they got a nice spare for their troubles.

  As the four rolled out onto the floor, they looked up to see a towering, red, slug-like creature covered in eyes and yellow spots, the Gloinks gathering around it as it devours their stolen items and expels newly made Gloinks out of the other side.

  Kinger exhaled in awe, "An insect collection?"

  "I... think it's a nest," Gangle responded.

  The two stared at each other for a short while before Kinger was startled by her ‘sudden’ presence.

~

  Ragatha and Pomni wandered the tent together, in search of completely different things. As Ragatha called out for her missing companions, Pomni feverishly searched anywhere she could reach, rushing to open every single door (and getting punched in the face twice in the process). It wasn't exactly something Ragatha could ignore.

  "Don't you think you're getting a little overexcited about this whole exit thing, New-Stuff?" She asked, trying to sound more lighthearted than concerned. "I get that you're new here and all and it can be comforting to hope for an exit, but-"

  "B-but I swear I saw one, it... it's gotta be around here somewhere."

  Ragatha paused for a little bit, "Look, I know that all of this is disorienting and hard to cope with but... it's not healthy to keep searching for something that just isn't there. Let's just go back to our friends and-"

  "Ragatha, I promise you, I saw an exit door. I-I-I'm not crazy, I just..." Pomni trailed off as she held the ragdoll's soft yet uneasy gaze. "You... you don't believe me, do you?"

  Ragatha couldn't answer that, not directly at least. She lowered her gaze, not daring to look Pomni in the eyes as her hands wrung the fabric of her dress. Pomni looked on, dumbstruck and indignant, but she couldn't say she was entirely surprised. 

  "Fine," she scoffed, "I'll just... find the exit on my own."

  As she went to open another door…

  "Wait! Pomni! Not that-"

  It was too late. By the time Pomni had turned the handle, the door swung open from its hinges, sending her flying into one of the many oversized blocks in the tent. She cartoonishly slid to the ground, her head feeling like it was spinning. As she lifted her eyes back to the door, she only then realized what she had unleashed; An enormous lion-like creature, covered in a thick, multicolored mane of yarn, rope, ribbon, and thread.
  As the creature stalked forward until Pomni came face to face with it, feeling its hot breath emanating from its lone, oversized maw. She chuckled nervously before being deafened by its roar. She scrambled to get away from the beast as it swiped at her, clambering under its legs and as far away from it as she could. Hurrying shakily to her feet, she braced herself as it prepared to pounce until without warning, Ragatha charged the beast head on.
  She wrestled the beast, yanking at its mane even as it flung around and onto its back. She wrapped her arms around its neck, as if in a headlock, trying to corral it back into its room. Pomni hesitated for a moment, her body still wanting to run away as the creature's claws swiped manically. For a brief moment, she locked eyes with Ragatha; despite her face being focused and determined, she could see in her eye that she was terrified. She couldn't just leave her there.

  As apprehensive as she was, Pomni tackled the beast, throwing the full weight of her body into it and knocking it off balance. After being shaken from its back, Ragatha immediately went back to Pomni, helping her push it back into its enclosure. The creature lashed wildly at them, struggling against them all the way as it was forced back.
  Once the two finally had the door closed behind it, they sank to the ground, surrounded by claw marks the creature had left. They both took a bit to catch their breath, exhausted from the encounter.

  Ragatha chuckled wearily, still huffing, "Well, that was a doozy, wasn't it?"

  "What... what the hell was that?"

  "Oh, that was an old beast-taming adventure Caine cooked up one time. I still remember it from when I first arrived. God, that was a mess... Uh, but hey, at least you'll have practice in case he wants to reuse that one."

  Ragatha's awkward laughter was caught short by a whimper under her breath as she clutched at her middle. Pomni looked over at Ragatha, spotting evidence of her injuries. Cotton spilled from the cuts and small gashes along her face and arms, but all of those paled in comparison to the gaping hole in her torso.

  "O-o-oh my God, you're hurt!" sputtered Pomni.

  "Oh, this? I-it's fine, really. This kind of stuff happens all the time. It should heal itself up in a couple minutes. Besides, it only hurts a little."

  Pomni couldn't help but stare at the open wound, her hands ready to cover it but hesitating. She didn't have any first aid training or anything (heck, she barely knew CPR). Wasn't she supposed to put pressure on the wound? Would it work the same if there wasn't any blood? Could they even die in this world? She was so focused on Ragatha's injuries that she barely even noticed her own wounds; deep cuts that stung but didn't bleed, as if her skin was made of rubber. 

  Pomni began to break down, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

  "Oh, Pomni, don't say that."

  "If I hadn't been so obsessed with finding that stupid exit, I wouldn't have gotten us into this mess."

  "Pomni..."

  "And now you're hurt and we don't know where Caine or anyone else is and-"

  "Pomni."

  "Oh God, what do I do?"

  "Pomni, look!"

  Pomni looked up at Ragatha, her teary eyes following her gaze to a small clearing of the circus, where the exit door stood.

  The exit door.

  It was right there. They could just... get up and leave.

  The two exchanged a dance of looking between the door and themselves, trying to decipher the other's gaze. Pomni was the first to get up.

  She tread lightly and slowly to the door, as if it were a wild animal that would run off if she came on too strongly. Gingerly grabbing the door handle, she twisted and...

  The door opened.

  Pomni looked back at Ragatha who'd already stood up, still clutching her stomach. They offered their free hands to each other as they both stepped into the exit.
  The door closed behind them before disintegrating away.