Chapter 11

You stand there for a moment regaining your composure. Your mind still whirling. Wondering how you got here and why you were no longer at the hotel with your ..lover? You weren't quite sure what label your relationship with the strange ringmaster was just yet, but regardless of that you felt it was right to focus on finding the others and regrouping with them. After all you had plenty to tell Pomni and Ragatha.

Running up to the gates where you caught a glimpse of purple bunny ears above a sea of NPC mannequins all waiting in line. You skip ahead, a few NPCs yelling at you for cutting in line. None of them did anything to stop you so you figured it was fine to continue ahead.

"Jaaaax!!!" You yelled at the top of your lungs. The others caught sight of you as you ran up to them. Ragatha looked relieved to see that you were okay. Pomni ran up and hugged you, "Where the hell have you been? We've been worried about you all night and all morning. We tried waiting for you at the beach last night, but you and Caine never came back."

Jax smirked, "So did he actually get you two a room? What kind of freaky stuff is that guy into?" You hush him and punch his shoulder.

Just a few feet away Kinger waved happily at you from under the shade of a colorful awning attached to the gates and exclaimed, "We're all glad you're safe y/n. Are you feeling alright?" You looked over at the tall and seemingly level headed chess piece man standing under the shade of the awning.

You were so used to him being almost manic that the calm reassuring tone in his voice caught you off guard. "I'm feeling...fine.. are you okay?" Then his eyes suddenly went in two different directions as he exited the shade of the awning standing in the sun with your group. "Is who okay?"

You shake your head before focusing back on Pomni and whispered to her, "We may or may not have had Spicey sleep." You tried being secretive with it, but she giggled at your secrecy. "Well no duh. The way he was eating your face there's no surprise there! You gotta tell me about the details later though. I wanna hear all about it." You giggled back at her feeling like a kid in highschool all over again.

Slowly one by one you all got tickets to enter the park and began going off on your own adventure. Jax immediately wanted to ride the most extreme ride there, but no one seemed to agree. You all ended up starting with Kinger's suggestion of going on the spinning tea cups. Unfortunately this ride made Gangle throw up so her and Zooble ended up going to the gazebo area with AC to cool off a bit before going on the Ferris wheel.

You decided to split off with Kinger, Ragatha, Pomni, and Jax to go to one of the less extreme coasters next. It seemed fairly tame at first glance. The line wrapped around colorful metal railing, but in just a few minutes you were already at the front and under the main roof of where the coaster boarded at.

None of you had paid much attention to the ride up to this point. Focusing on talking about the adventure so far. Ragatha and Pomni eagerly talked to you asking all about the details of last night while Jax begrudgingly put up with talking to Kinger. Occasionally the sly purple bunny stole glances at Pomni wondering if she would be alright with him sweeping her away similar to Caine and you.

(This is gonna be based on an actual ride. If you wanna see it you can watch this YouTube it's the nighthawk rollercoaster at Carowinds.)

On it was your turn to hop on the NPC attendant had to tell you guys to either get on or get out of line. Everyone surprised at the speed of the line shrugged their shoulders figuring that it was a fairly short and calm roller coaster.

On the ground below you saw green grass and ponds surrounding the tracks. You figured the ride would be a fairly scenic one with the bits of nature below. The bright yellow rails hissed as your harnesses locked. You sat next to Jax, Pomni, and .....CAINE?!!!! at the front. "WHERE THE F^%* DID YOU COME FROM?!!!!" You shift to the opposite side of your locked in seat and gasped. Caine placed a gloved finger over your bottom lip, "Now, now, now my little superstar!!! No cursing in the digital circus please. I just figured I'd come join you for a bit. Can't have my dearest y/n sitting next to a stranger on one of my favorite rides." He then blushed and pointed his fingers together saying the next sentence a bit more quietly, "and maybe I missed you." 🥺👉👈

You smile at him gently and relax in your seat a bit. Feeling a bit more used to his habit of appearing and disappearing at will. In an odd way it was fun and exciting when he randomly appeared like this. Jax and Pomni however, were still staring horrified at his random appearance. Pomni decided to take the moment of confusion to reach out for Jax's hand. Tangling her fingers with his.

Jax blushed madly, "Wh-what do you think you're doing?" He asked as if he was annoyed, but deep down he was overjoyed at the sign of affection. "Ah whatever. Just don't get used to this. I guess if you need to for the ride it's fine." He looked away still pretending to be annoyed, a smug discrete smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. He gently squeezed Pomni's hand.

Meanwhile Caine lovingly rested his gloved hand on your cheek before kissing your cheek. He then relaxed back in his seat, placing his hand over yours. You relax back and prepare for the launch.

Suddenly the back of the seats begin tilting back. Slowly the transition left everyone laying flat on your backs. You look around in a panic, "Wait what? Why is it laying back? Is it supposed to do that?" Panic sets in and your palms begin sweating. Pomni's pupils turn into jumbled spirals that swirled chaotically ask her head frantically swished back towards you then Jax.

Pomni nervously asked, "Uhhh Caaaainnee? Is this...normal?" You look at him at the same time, everyone focused on Caine eagerly awaiting his response. He smiled knowingly and smugly replied, "Guess you'll have to find out." He stuck his tongue out playfully as you clenched his hand when the ride began moving.

"Caine why are we moving head first?!!!" You frantically try to look behind you as you now realize you are in fact not at the front of the coaster, but the back. The coaster begins moving in the opposite direction you expected, much to your dismay.

Ragatha begins yelling frantically, "Why is it going backwards and why are we laying down?!!" Meanwhile Kingers hands begin flying everywhere, "WHY IS GOING ON?!!!"

You respond to Kinger, "THAT DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENNN-aAAAAHH"

You begin screaming as the head first movement shifts up, "NO WAY WE ARE GOING UP HILL HEAD FIRST. DONT TELL ME WE GO DOWNHILL HEAD FIRST!!"

Caine excitedly threw his hands in the air as you reached the top, "Fly like a bird my wacky wonderful superstars!!!" His hat somehow not falling off as you raced down the hill and begin twisting and turning. The ride twists so you're now facing the ground and it felt like you were flying. Everyone's screams turn from terror to joy.

You look over and see Caine spreading his arms out like a soaring bird, and you decide to join in. The harness feeling safe and secure you trust it and flail your arms out not so gracefully and begin giggling like a child. Slowly Pomni and Ragatha join you, and even Kinger. Everyone except Jax embraced the momentary experience of flying like a bird through the coaster's twists and turns.

The only reason Jax didn't join in is because he remained on the verge of vomiting the entire ride. His hands clamped down on his mouth as he went pale. Pomni laughed at his reaction and momentarily stopped extending her arms to wrap one around his shoulder, "Relax. Just breathe. We're okay. This is the digital circus. It's not even possible for us to get hurt, remember?"

Slowly Jax looked over at you and Caine giggling and flailing your arms like idiot kids and he smiled light heartedly. His gaze resting back on Pomni, he gave her a genuine smile and rested his hand over hers. She gave him a reassuring nod as she raised his hand in the air with hers. Jax's other hand that tightly wrapped around his harness slowly loosened. Eventually both his hands extended out as he straightened his arms. Now laughing with the others, "Ha-hey this is ...kinda fun. Haha. WOOOOOOO!!"

You smile and start to feel like this could be the best day ever. Being here with everyone just having fun in the moment felt right. Even if you were technically trapped. It was a feeling you never wanted to end. Maybe being here wasn't so bad.