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"So he's gone!? Just like that!? How is this place supposed to hold itself together!?"
Zooble was visibly furious, their antennae vibrating with anger. They were all gonna meet their end, weren't they? And once the Abstracted's cellar decomposed, all hell would break loose. Who even managed to schedule a date to delete Caine!? Too much happening in such a short period of time, Zooble was starting to feel their limbs tremble. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘡𝘰𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴... Surprisingly, Gangle's comedy mask hadn't broken yet. How is she so calm...? Zooble looked around to see how the others are. Pomni was trying to not slip through a crack in the floorboards, Ragatha was helping her stabilize herself on her toothpick cartoonish legs, Kinger's expression was... well, obscured by the bucket that kept him sane, though he was fidgeting with his hands. Jax was staring at the Abstracted's cellar with a shellshocked expression, like somehow they would all come back sane if he stared long enough.
Caine was gone. Really gone. They didn't even know if Bubble was still there, and the computer had fallen through one of the cracks in the floor. Zooble's antennae still vibrated, though it looked more sad or panicked than angry. The adrenaline crash started to subside, leaving their plastic limbs trembling. Gangle noticed this, and without a word, wraps her ribbon hand around Zooble's rubber glove, giving them a sad smile. After all, they had never seen eachother as humans before, now will never be able to hold eachother with real, human flesh. What did they call that, doomed yuri? Pitiful... Jax, being Jax, saw this and decided to poke fun at them despite the situation. "Aww, looks like Zoobie has a girlfriend~!", he teased. Zooble looked at him unimpressed and responded: "Yeah, do 𝘺𝘰𝘶 have one?". Jax's grin dropped, then muttered something about Zooble being no fun.
___
The rooms were fine, mostly. Still liveable. Though, strangely empty, at least according to Zooble. They wobbled over to their room, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. Despite sleeping not being a thing in the digital world, laying in bed with your eyes closed does wonders either way. Until it didn't. No sleep meant you'd be alone with your thoughts all night, in your empty, cold bed. After Zooble's near-collapse exhaustion faded away, the thoughts came one by one. You're going to die. You will join the cellar. Your limbs won't matter anymore if they're mutilated. Zooble's eyes open as they slowly sit up. Their antennae gave a sad twitch, as the thoughts didn't exactly alarm them anymore. They've had these thoughts since they were human, as far as they were aware, so they've made peace with themselves. The thoughts continued on. The size difference of your eyes won't matter once they're pink, blue and yellow. The texture of your body won't matter once it's black, spiky and no one is willing to touch it. The-
The door opened. Behind it, Gangle, happy mask intact, holding the wing Zooble had attached to their shoulder earlier that day. They didn't even realize it fell off until now. "Zooble? I think you dropped this earlier...", Gangle spoke in her usual soft tone. She stepped inside Zooble's room, closing the door and walking to where Zooble sat on the bed. She chuckled awkwardly. "So, how are you holding up...?", she asked them. Zooble sighed and replied: "I've... processed it I guess. Still sucks ass...". Upon the uncensored curse, their eyes widened again and their hand flew up to where their mouth would be, still not used to having 'freedom of speech', as one would call it. Gangle chuckled at this, taking Zooble's hand in hers and slowly guiding it back towards their lap. As she was about to let go of their hand, Zooble squeezed it tighter. A little plea: 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺.
Despite her brows being furrowed, Gangle smiled. She climbed up the bed and cozied in next to Zooble. "Again with the thoughts?", she asked. Zooble just hummed, confirming her suspicions. Their eyes wandered across the room, finally settling on the 'Zooble Box', where they kept their limbs and parts. Whenever they looked at it, their eyes seemed sadder. And of course, Gangle noticed this. "Hey, Zooble. Look at me.", she spoke. Zooble turned their head before turning their eyes to her, looking somewhat ashamed, like a kid caught stealing a shopping cart by their parents but doesn't regret it. Without a word, Gangle wrapped her ribbon arms around Zooble, enveloping them in a hug. Zooble hesitated for a moment before returning said hug, a bit awkwardly at first. Neither of them wanted to pull away.
---
What everyone in this hell of a place calls morning came, so everyone came to the common area as they usually did. Kinger still hadn't taken the bucket off his head, perhaps he found the darkness comforting. Once everyone got to the common area, Jax arriving last, Kinger told them: "Everyone, come inside my unpenetrable fortress. It is safer for everyone in there.". Everyone followed Kinger inside, and even if it was a bit cramped, it still felt cozy. Ragatha and Pomni were hugging, possibly for the same reason Gangle and Zooble had been. Jax scoffed at this and muttered something about 'lesbian global invasion'. Maybe he's a lesbian too, who knows... Kinger kept checking up on everyone, making sure they're alright. Zooble still looked a bit shaken from the whole ordeal, but no one paid no mind to that. "Hey Ribbons, did you and Zoobie have kids?", Jax jabbed at them, trying to lighten the mood. "Even if we had, you wouldn't be the uncle.", Zooble retorted back. Jax put a hand over his forehead in a dramatic manner. "Oh, you wound me, Zoobie!". Gangle actually giggled at that.
"So... does anyone know if Bubble is still around?", Pomni spoke, changing the topic. She was right to ask, though. Bubble knows a lot about Caine, and would probably know if there's a delete cache somewhere, where they could take Caine out of. Kinger shook his head before responding: "I'm afraid they're probably not here anymore. With how careful they are, they probably fell through the cracks already." The cracks. Zooble's stomach dropped. Where would they even lead? The Void? Where no one could take them out of now that Caine is gone!? Somewhere else entirely where they'd be for eternity left to rot, go insane and-
Zooble felt something on their hand. Gangle's ribbon. They turned their head to her, and she mouthed "You were freaking out again". Zooble sighed and leaned back against the pillows. They could see Ragatha looking at them, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards, smiling at them and giving them an encouraging nod despite everything. Perhaps she meant to encourage them to make a move with Gangle. Perhaps she was trying to convince them that she was alright. Zooble looked at how sprawled out they were on the floor, quickly pulling up their knees to their chest to let the others breathe a bit. Gangle placed a ribbon on their 'shoulder', then used said ribbon to guide Zooble's onto her 'shoulder'. Jax also saw this, but decided not to comment, since he liked girls too, and didn't have the right to bully lesbians.
Zooble sighed and closed their eyes.
Maybe they'd live.
At least they hope so.