Chapter 21

A warm fuzzy feeling washes over you as your mind goes blank. Your eyes begin to shut and darkness clouds your version. A faint buzz lingers at the tips of your fingers and toes. While a gentle hum of a nearby machine echoes in white sterile halls.

Caine is standing outside the chamber he locked himself in for the past two weeks. Only this time you've been in it for two weeks instead. It was his last defense against corruption. Something he saved for dire situations. The machine operated just fine, but he wasn't entirely certain it wouldn't just break randomly. He feared that if it did break he wouldn't be able to repair it. And that he'd be left to abstract whenever he finally gave up.

Needless to say the moment he saw you begin glitching he knew he had to take that risk. He'd never used the machine back to back before for himself. Let alone another circus member.

The others would probably start an uprising had they knew about such a device. So he did everything in his power to hide its existence. The only risk of the others finding out being through bubble.

Though bubble was spastic and the type to blurt out a secret here and there they knew how much this machine meant to Caine. So it was one of the only secrets they ever really kept.

Sure Caine had wanted to help before. He felt some level of guilt for not helping Kinger's wife. He just never ended up making that first step. Deciding it was too dangerous to let the others know such technology in the circus even existed. Then they might begin asking where the exit was again. And he certainly couldn't have that. Especially now that he'd met you.

Now that he had y/n he was going to make sure no one could leave or figure out how.

Warm plastic on the inside of the machine began contrasting with the cool outside as the whirring came to a halt. The loud hissing of steam pulled Caine from his thoughts and worries of abstraction and escape. His focus now solely on the resting body within his chamber. Your breaths rose slow and steady. Like the ebb and flow of waves lapping at a gentle shore. Bright lights earn a groan from you as your temple pulsates.

You squint for a moment before covering your eyes with a forearm. A green light turns on outside the machine. Robotic noises creak and groan as the cuffs around your arms and forehead release, retracting back into the tube shaped chamber. You open and close the fingers of your hands and look down at them, inspecting for any remnants of glitches before.

You have a violent flashback of black spikes coming from both arms. A shooting pain pierces your forehead as the flashback plays out. Your vision turns rainbow striped momentarily. The distant echo of Caine screaming your name hurts your heart. Your chest tightens as his screams continue, begging you not to leave him.

The black spikes moved up your arms and the rainbow vision began to morph like a kaleidoscope. Different angles of your room flashed all at once in different hues. Until the flashback abruptly ends, your vision begins stabilizing and returning to normal once more.

The lights of the room pierce your vision once more. You let out an annoyed hiss and suck your tongue. The annoyed popping noise bounced off the sterile looking hospital walls.

Meanwhile Caine sat in awe across the room. Amazed that it actually worked despite how far gone you had seemed to be before. He wasn't entirely certain you could even return to normal.

His thoughts raced momentarily with the what ifs. What if you had corrupted? What if he waited too long to make a decision? What if it was his fault this happened in the first place? Only to return back to reality a few moments later.

He looked down at y/n and scanned her over for any glitches. He would find none, his beautiful perfect bundle of joy simply sat there smiling at him. He shoved all the negative thoughts to the back of his mind for now to the best of his abilities.

That was all behind him.

You were right there in front of him.

Safe. And sound.

His short stubby arms wrapped around you. Earlier in your room when you had began to corrupt, Caine had returned to his digital circus form. Not wanting to waste any of his energy just to maintain a slightly more attractive form.

He backed away momentarily to brush a strand of hair out of your face. His eyes lingering on your own momentarily. His lids lowered as his gaze softened from amazement and fear to relief. He sighed, finally feeling himself relax.

"I'm so sorry I didn't realize I'd upset you with my abscence dear. I thought if anything you'd want me gone with the way I acted."

You laughed quietly half shocked, half sad,  shaking your head in response, "Never."

You smile at him with a half lidded gaze, "I never felt that way. I always wanted you to come home."

He smiled back with a toothy grin and caressed your cheek, "I'm so happy you're okay."

You gaze at him concerned, "About that... what the hell happened to me???"