Chapter Text
Jax was right all along.
The whole time they thought they could escape the digital circus, Jax knew it was too good to be true. He didn't have any preference to the whole situation, but he felt like he should get out too.
Atleast, thats what he thought before flashes of memories filled his head.
When he finally came to, everyone was looking at him and his hand hovered over the red button. Before he could even properly explain himself or say something even, Caine appeared and burst their bubble.
Right after Caine popped away, everyone didn't know what to do. They had a way out, Jax pressed the button, everything fell apart, and now, hope was as far away from them as it was before anything happened.
******
Jax stood still as ever, widened eyes turning distraught as he breathed hard, tears flowing down his face.
Those flashes of images in his head- they felt so real, it was like he was there. And thats the thing- he was there! He remembered it... it was his memory... his final memory before he-
He gasped hard, falling to his knees as they gave out, his chest tightening as his breath came out in puffs.
He's the comedy character, he was supposed to be the fun guy, the guy who'd prank everyone, the guy who would effortlessly shrug something off. That's who he was.
So who was this, crying and shaking, finding it difficult to breathe? Who was this character supposed to be? Surely not Jax?
He tried to breathe, but those flashes, those images- it was ingrained behind his eyes. They wouldn't go away no matter how hard he blinked. His surroundings became a blur as he inhaled harder and harder with every breathe, although it did nothing to ease his breathing.
His voice came out shaky as he huffed, tears sliding down his face as he remembered what happened in his room. Ribbit's hand- it had reached out to him, and that feeling? That was the most calmest and peaceful he'd ever felt after those happened...
His hand came up numbly to muffle his voice, subconsciously aware that he was in a room with everyone, but he felt he couldn't move his hand at all. He lay on the ground, eyes dimming as his body choked with each inhale, chest tightening in pain, and he saw it again.
A black triangle opened beside him, and a green hand stretched out once again. He stared it, and this time he lifted his hand weakly to reach for it. The hand also reached out, the void slowly extruding from the traingle.
Just as he was about to touch it, a voice rang out.
"Jax....?", it said weakly.
Jax was sure he was hearing things. He was back in his room, afterall. Nobody was there to disturb him, his "peace".
So he ignored it and continued reaching out to the hand.
Another voice whispered, a voice almost long forgotten.
"Almost there Jax. You're gonna meet me and Kaufmo very soon! And we can all be together again-! "
He smiled weakly at the voice- it was Ribbit-!!
He knew that voice- he recognised it. That other voice must've been his imagination or something.
Thats right... Ribbit and Kaufmo, his friends.... he thought vaguely as the void almost touched his fingers.
Just before he could, something dragged him back. He startled, breath coming out in gasps as his pupils became small, panic fully set into his body as he tried to get away from whatever was dragging him.
Whatever it was, it was not going to get him-!! He was going to meet Ribbit and Kaufmo!! He was going to be with them, his friends-!!
A scream tore through his throat, coming out wrecked and sore, his body heaving with heavy breathes.
A shudder ran through his body as he felt something fall on him, and he twitched hard, a startled noise coming from him.
No, that couldn't have been him. He was the funny guy...
"Jax, please, look at me please", a voice yelled into his ears.
His face was still turned to the green hand and it was not speaking to him. No, the voice came from somewhere else. Somewhere above...?
He shifted his face slowly, pupils blown wide in fear and panic as sweat pooled in his palms, his chest heaving with effort. His breathing... why was it getting so hard to breathe...?
He almost closed his eyes, to let the feeling choke him, to get it over with, and he felt something sharp.
He blinked his eyes open, widened by the sharp pain he felt in his cheek.
He finally managed to look up and saw-
"Pomni....?", he asked hesitantly, eyes blurry from tears unshed.
"You IDIOT, why wouldn't you look at me??", she yelled as he felt his eyes blur again, but not becuase of his tears, but something more...heavy.
"N-no, Jax, keep your eyes open-", she said, almost scrambling her words, turning to look to her side.
Who was she looking at? Oh...
He turned his head to see Zooble, Gangle, Ragatha and Kinger surrounding them, each with varying degrees of worry on their face.
Why were they making those faces? And why at him?
His breathing still hadn't calmed down and he got another flash of memory.
He gasped as his throat tightened, eyes widening in pain as the memory hit him, all in jumbled order.
A dark road, a car driving down it, the headlights turned on. Him walking through a neighbourhood street, him walking through a forest, a bridge, then an impact as he forcefully hit water-
A scream tore him again as his hands shot to his head, cradling it as he willed those memories to go away, for the pain to stop, for his chest to stop heaving-
"Caine- Make it stop PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP-", he screamed at nobody, as Caine wasn't there in the room.
The room? His room? Caine's office?
What the hell was even happening-
He felt his throat tighten, choking on unspoken words as the void appeared closer to his hands, Ribbit's green hand reaching out for his own hand, this time reaching out to grasp his hand rather than wait for him to reach out.
Jax shuddered as their fingertips touched and he was back there again- the world of peace.
It was such a colourful world, hurting his eyes a little bit, but it also almost felt... peaceful?
He floated the same way again, heading towards the brightest patch, at the end of the world, his eyes wide, not in fear but in acceptance.
He was going to meet his friends again-!! Finally, he could see them and be with them and talk to them and-
Wait- again? Weren't his friends already there with him?
Yeah, Ribbit and Kaufmo are already there, they just went ahead of him and now he's going to catch up to them.
Oh, that's just alright, then, he's gonna meet them soon anyways.
He closed his eyes as he floated, and he almost reached the end too, and finally his mind was at peace.
"JAX!!!!!"
He gasped as he opened his eye, not to the calm world, but to... the circus?
He looked up to see Pomni staring down at him, terrified and shaking slightly.
He stared back at her, and suddenly he became angry.
"What the HELL is your promblem-?! Let me go, dammit-!!", he yelled at her, chest still heaving.
Great, he's feeling the tightness in his chest again. He didn't feel it over there, not in that calm place, where he would eventually meet with Ribbit and Kaufmo.
"Jax, calm down-!! Y-you're not- just breathe slowly, please-!!", Ragatha shouted at him, and he craned his neck to look at her, eyes twisting in even more fury as he pointed at her.
"You do NOT fucking tell me what to do-! I was almost there-!! I almost saw them again- Ribbit and Koufmo, they were WAITING FOR ME DAMMIT, LET ME GO-!!", he yelled, eyes closing as his memories came back in flashes.
A hand flashed in front of him, and before he could move, someone slapped his face.
"Jax, you're not LISTENING TO US- PLEASE, breathe slow, breathe with me, Jax, please-!!"
It was Zooble.
Why the hell was Zooble telling him? What the hell were they- Why do they look so scared?
Were they scared of him?
A sharp pain on his cheek made him raise his hand finally, and he felt something moving.
Something sticky and fluid, but also solid.. almost like an...
"What...", he trembled as he realised how he looked like.
He looked down at his hands, felt his face, his body-
His vision blurred as his own eyes turned colorful, and then the green hand finally grabbed him fully.
*****
The next time he woke, it was a very peaceful place, a small hill covered in grass and trees and bushes and lakes. He got up groggily, and gasped as he remembered what had happened. He checked all over his body, his ears, eyes, tail- no more eyes than just his own.
He breathed out in relief. His breathing had calmed down too, and so had his chest pain.
Wait, what pain did he have again?
Just then, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Hey, Jax, we're over here!! And get that basked beside you, won't you? The picnic's about to start-!"
He looked beside him and saw a basket and took it, walking down the worn down path as he came closer to them.
"Hurry up, ya idiot!", the voice rang again.
Jax scoffed, then smiled as he replied, "I'm coming, ya pile of green limbs. Hold onto Kaufmo's hat while you wait, why don't you?", he snickered.
"What'd you say-??", the voice rang back shrill, and he laughed out loud as he swung the basket around gently, going to finally meet his friends.
*****