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The entire circus rumbled. Again.
Every few hours, the circus would rumble as more and more of it fell to pieces. The large, gaping holes in the ground only grew larger each time. Jax couldn't find it in him to care.
The past few days had been.....exhausting to say the least. Caine had gotten more and more erratic, and frankly, he was begun to scare Jax. Truthfully, Jax had actually liked the rambunctious AI that was Caine. His adventures were fun, and Jax found himself begining to like him.That was untill he pulled the "escape the circus" adventure stunt. Jax had lost all respect for him then. Caine grew worse and worse after that, to the point where he actively tortured them. Jax couldn't close his eyes without seeing the shadows of......them. Laughing at him. Pulling his skin off.
Jax shuddered.
Stop thinking about that.
Ribbits face flashed through his mind. Her face, contorted in a wide, ecstatic smile. Jax knew that it had been Caine who had been puppeteering his old love, but that had permanently distorted his view of Ribbit. He couldn't think about her anymore without that caricature of her flashing through his mind. Laughing at him. Pulling his-
No. Stop it
The laughing echoed in his ears.
No no no no no no stop stop stop stop-
He grabbed his ears, pulling them down, trying to distract himself desperately.
Ribbit's eyes, dark and cruel, staring daggers into him.
no no no no that's not her stop it stop it
Jax's breathing quickened, panic rising in his chest.
"J-?" A voice weakly filtered into his ears, but he couldn't make out who it was in his panic.
Suddenly, a gloved hand gripped his arm, gentle but firm.
"Focus on my voice, okay?" The voice whispered. "Try and breathe with me."
Another hand grabbed the back of his head and moved it so it was resting against something warm.
Jax closed his eyes and focused. Really focused.
--------
It took a while, but eventually Jax calmed down, images of Caine's caricature Ribbit no longer flashing through his mind.
He was still shaken, though; His body was still trembling violently and he was still sobbing, but at least he wasn't hyperventilating anymore.
He hadn't opened his eyes since the voice had come to him, but he could feel a hand gently stroking his back.
"Shh...it's okay kiddo." The voice whispered. "I'm here."
Suddenly, not in his more conherant calmed down state, he recognised the voice.
Kinger.
Slowly, Jax opened his eyes.
His head was resting against Kinger's chest, and the chess piece's arms were cradling him.
In an odd way, Jax liked it. Resting in Kinger's arms, it was almost as if he could just forget these past few days had happened at all and pretend he was somewhere safe and happy, like back when Queenie was around.
In other words, he felt safe.
So, so safe.
Kinger looked down at him, and if he had a mouth Jax could tell he would be smiling.
"You okay now, Kiddo?" Kinger asked gently.
Jax nods, not trusting if his voice worked yet.
"Do you want to stay like this for a bit?" Kinger asked
Jax nods again.
It would be nice to just forget about everything for a bit.