Chapter Text
Everyone stared in horror as the Circus crumbled and shook, turning grey as gaps appeared in the walls. Kinger scrambled out of his pillow fort as it fell into a crack, and the six members of the circus stood and watched as the digital world around them turned grey and warped. The walls glitched, the huge children's toys in the corners warping into weird shapes, and the strange paintings on the walls turning into nightmarish images of staring eyes and warped black shapes.
"I think... I think I killed Caine." Kinger whispered.
"Holy shit!" Zooble gasped, then twitched in shock as their expletive wasn't censored. Ragatha gasped at this, and Pomni looked shocked.
"What did you do? Did you just... make him disappear?" Jax yelled.
"He was messing with the code as I was trying to switch him off, or reprogram him. I don't know what was happening, but he was fighting against it, and somehow... Bubble was too? I don't know how, but it seems like he's gone for good." Kinger sighed, and sat down on the floor, pulling his bucket over his eyes.
"Great! So we're fucking stuck here without the only person who keeps this place stable." Jax grumbled.
"I saw a file whilst I was coding, it said... brain scans." Kinger continued.
"What?!" Pomni gasped. She sat next to Kinger, and took his hand in hers.
"We're brain scans. But if we're just copies of people's brains, then that means Scratch's plan worked. But if it worked, it means he.. "
"But he's abstracted!" Ragatha said. "The abstracted are dead, and they can't come back. If only I had tried harder! For Kaufmo... and Ribbit...'
"Who gives a shit? We're just copies." Jax said, jabbing his finger into Ragatha's chest. "None of you are fucking real!" He yanked off Gangle's happy mask, and smashed it on the floor.
"My mask!" She whimpered.
"Who cares? It's not real! You aren't real! You're all just fucking playthings! Stupid little toys in my stupid little brain!" Jax went to storm off, but Pomni grabbed his hand.
"Jax, no! I'm sorry it hurts... I'm hurting too... but you can't just run off and abstract. We need you here. I need you!" She looked up at him with big, sad eyes, and he just glared back.
"Why the fuck not?" Jax spat.
"Because I care about you, Jax!" Pomni said. Jax just stared, and started laughing, pushing Pomni away from him. The little jester looked hurt, and Ragatha took pity on her and pulled him into a hug.
"Pomni, he's not worth it. I was in your shoes once, and I gave up too..." The ragdoll sighed. Jax glared at her and strode towards her, but Zooble stopped him.
"Without Caine, nobody's keeping the abstractions in the basement." Zooble grumbled. "Pomni, keep your pet dickhead bunny under control."
"He's not a dickhead, don't say that! He's hurt, we're all hurt, and we've all done bad things like he has!" Pomni said, glaring at Zooble from between Ragatha's arms.
"Dickhead bunny?" Jax spat. But just then, a strange noise echoed through the circus.
"Help us.... help us, Kinger.. help us..." It was a low, groaning voice, desperate and wailing, begging for help.
"It's coming from the basement?" Gangle whimpered. She was terrified of the basement, and had nightmares of Jax locking her in there. She'd gotten locked in the industrial freezer at work once, only for 10 minutes, but it still scared her to think about small dark spaces.
"Not the basement. Under the map." Kinger said.
"Like where I fell?" Pomni asked.
"Yes, exactly. And with Caine gone, he can't interrupt my brain anymore. Like how he broke Queenie's brain."
Everyone gasped at this.
"What?!" Pomni gasped.
"Now he's gone, I'm getting my memories back. Which means I can tell you exactly what Caine did to me and Queenie before you both came here. And once you understand that, you'll know why the brain scans are so important."
"Why are they important?" Gangle asked.
"It'll make sense once I explain what Caine did to me and Queenie. But if we're all brain scans, then it means that Scratch.... the creator of the brain scans, the only person who can stabilise them and thus keep us alive... is still alive!"