Chapter Text
“Holy shit.”
Those simple words really seemed to cement their current situation. Caine was dead, the filters weren’t working, Bubble was nowhere to be found and the circus was falling apart all around them.
“So… what now?” Ragatha asked, glancing around at all the destruction left in Caine’s wake.
“We see if we can finally get the FUCK out of here!” Gangle exclaimed suddenly, sounding giddy at the ability to swear and the possibility of finally being able to escape the circus.
Zooble huffed a laugh but nodded, linking their clawed hand with her ribbons, offering the other to Pomni.
“Is this really it? Can we actually leave?” Pomni asked as she hesitantly took it, her right reaching toward Ragatha. Doubt creeped in as the circus creaked and groaned, a few more pieces from the holes in the ground flaking off and falling into what seems to be the void.
“It seems like the most likely outcome,” Kinger responded, gingerly removing the bucket from his head and setting it on the ground. “That, or the circus collapsing, which may send us into the real world anyway.”
“So we have no actual idea of what to do,” Jax stated plainly, though he did accept the hand Ragatha offered him and didn’t wrench away when Kinger’s gloves met his. “Fantastic.”
“Well, we can look for an exit now,” Ragatha said plainly. “Caine’s not looking over our shoulders anymore.”
That seemed to spur the group into movement. It was awkward, with all of them linked together, trying to navigate the now precarious ground, but they managed. They went through the hallway containing their bedrooms, the long stretch of doors that now opened to nothing but empty space, glances out of the circus tent to see the outdoor spaces Caine advertised had also disappeared, it seemed like the destruction had swallowed just about every part of the digital landscape.
Eventually they ended up back at the stage, which somehow seemed the least affected by the gaps in (un)reality. The six of them stopped for a moment, intending to simply glance around for anything that could lead to the real world, before something caught their attention.
“Help!”
Pomni was the first to figure out where the scream has come from. One of the holes on the stage was flaking off into what appeared to be a pit of darkness instead of the typical white void. She tugged everyone else over and they surrounded the pit, leaning over as far as they dared to try and see anything beyond the inky black.
“Hello!” Ragatha called back, leaning a bit closer to see if there was a response. It was faint, but there was what sounded like a few gasps then a scuffle.
“Hello?!” The pit responded. “Can you see us?!”
“No!” Pomni yelled back, trying to squint to figure out even if there were vague shapes in the darkness; because clearly something was down there.
A few seconds passed in silence before something seemed to appear in the pit.
There was a bright white glow and if they squinted hard enough, what looked like an avatar under it. A couple heads turned to Kinger, who was staring wide-eyed at the light, but nobody broke the silence.
“What about now?!” A different voice called out and Zooble barely managed to pick out another glow from inside the pit. It looked like a collection of triangles were flashing rainbow colors, though much duller than the flashlight that was the other avatar.
“Yes we see you!” Gangle shouted. “We’re going to find a way to get you out of there!”
A small cheering started from the void but on the surface, they panicked slightly.
“So ribbons, how exactly are we supposed to get them out?” Jax asked, speaking lower so (hopefully) the people in the pit couldn’t overhear.
“Maybe we could use my ribbons as a rope?” She suggested, lightly tugging them away from Zooble.
They tried, but the people in the pit said there was no way they could reach. Attempting to force cartoon logic that would usually work to bend to their will was also a dead-end. Whether that was because they still weren’t used to making the circus work for them or because Caine was gone was unknown.
“What if we get all of Zooble’s parts from his room and link them together?” Ragatha suggested. Zooble nodded seriously and quickly both her and Gangle took off in the direction of the bedroom hallway.
“Hang tight guys! We’re just getting something to get you out of there!” Ragatha yelled and soon after the bright light faded, leaving them to stare back into nothingness.
“Hurry up!” A new unrecognizable voice yelled and they heard another small scuffle start.
“Queenie…” Kinger mumbled, leaning far enough into the void that Pomni grabbed his robe to make sure he didn’t actually fall in.
She nearly let go when she actually registered what he said.
“Wait, is this the cellar? Like the thing Caine put the abstractions in?!” She asked, finally putting the dots together.
Ragatha gasped softly, good eye shimmering with hope as she stared into the pit. Jax froze again, eyes dilated enough that the yellow almost completely disappeared. It took a second but both were quickly right next to the pit instead of the safe couple scoots away, leaning in with their hands braced on the edge. Pomni saw a couple pieces of floor flake off from where Jax was holding the ground.
Thankfully none of them fell in before Zooble and Gangle returned. They all reluctantly leaned (or had to be tugged) away from the hole as Zooble started forcing their numerous pieces to link into a chain. Gangle called for the light to appear again and it did so quickly, so they slowly fed the line of mismatched limbs into the pit towards it.
It took the entire toybox and the current legs Zooble had equipped but eventually someone called “got it!” and the line was tugged on.
The six of them grabbed on and yelled down for someone in the pit to do the same. It took a lot of heaving and too many almost-drops for them to finally get the person to the surface, but they managed.
“Ribbit?”