Chapter Text
Pomni didn’t sleep much that night. The suite was quiet, and she felt unnerved being left with an enraged Orbsman and distant Gummigoo. She was thankful that she still had a bed to herself, she found herself curling up in it like a small child.
It made her feel weak, but as the night went on, she just felt angry. She was beginning to understand why Jax was so non-chalantly violent towards NPCs, and thought back to throwing them into the furnaces with him. She wished more than anything that she could toss Orbsman into a fire.
Despite her anger, she knew she had bigger issues to worry about. If she was trapped in this room when the iceberg hit, then she was going to have to drown for the first time. She tried to steady her emotions by recalling previous times she had died on adventures.
Truthfully, she had been lucky so far. The only time it had really happened was during the gun adventure when Zooble unloaded a ton of bullets onto her. She felt relieved remembering how it hadn’t hurt that bad- more like a dozen little vaccines rather than hot bullets.
Before she could delve into the thoughts of what drowning could feel like, she was being called to the living room by Orbsman. She walked out to the main room and Orbsman turned to her.
“Breakfast time!” He shouted with his hands lifted up like a toddler. “Since you are in timeout, I have ordered room service! Gummigoo has left so we could do the bonding!”
Before Pomni could make any comment there was a knock at the door. Orbsman snapped his fingers, which seemed to have unlocked the door instantly. How much power had Caine given the NPCs?
The door swung open and Gangle walked in, struggling to push a metallic cart as if it was heavy, even though there were only two plates atop of it. Gangle left the door open as she pushed the cart into the room.
“B-breakfast is served…” Gangle announced nervously.
Orbsman approached the cart, when suddenly Zooble ran into the open doorway.
“Hey Orb guy!” Zooble pointed in Orbsman's direction, causing him to look up in confusion.
Gangle and Pomni exchanged glances, Pomni squinting her eyes in confusion while Gangle nervously winked back.
“I’m going to f$%^ your fiancee!” Zooble taunted. “And there is nothing you can do about it!”
The room grew silent aside from Gangle stifling a small laugh. Orbsman stared in disbelief for a moment before raising his arms in the air in anger.
“NOOOOO!” He screamed, pummeling towards Zooble.
Zooble laughed as they ran down the hall, leading Orbsman away with the door still open.
“That was…” Pomni muttered in disbelief. “Surprisingly simple.”
“You owe me one now Pomni!” Gangle said light-heartedly. She tapped the cart. “Enjoy!”
Gangle quickly turned and left the room, still leaving the door open. Pomni approached the cart and noticed a sliding door on the side. She slid it open to find Jax, crammed like tetris in the small enclosure.
Pomni let out a laugh.
“S-Shut up!” Jax responded, flustered. “Help me out! I’m stuck!”
Pomni grabbed his ears and pulled, causing him to plop out onto the floor. She continued laughing as he scrambled to his feet.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it out, why don’t you.” Jax teased. “You should be thanking me!”
Pomni responded by hugging him suddenly. Jax felt the reflex to push her away, like he had during their last teamup, but he was able to resist. He didn’t hug back at first, simply taking in the warm feeling, but eventually he placed a hand on her head, patting gently.
“I missed you so much.” Pomni admitted tearfully. “I thought I was going to die alone…”
“Aw, c’mon Pom.” Jax said. “You think I’d let that slide?”
“How did you guys-”
“Ugh, Ragatha, believe it or not.” Jax gritted. “She came to me and told me what happened, but don’t expect me to be thanking her or anything.”
“You worked together with all of them?”
“Yeah well.” Jax rolled his eyes. “Desperate measures I guess.”
Pomni grabbed onto his arm and pulled him down into a kiss. Jax was shocked at first but quickly melted into it.
“I missed you too.” Jax admitted.
“How long until Orbsman comes back, you think?”
“Depends how fast Zooble can run.” Jax said. “Or how long he cares about what they said.”
“So, we have a few hours to kill.” Pomni said. “Wait, what if Zooble gets stuck somewhere? The iceberg is going to hit soon!”
“Don’t worry, Zooble really thought this out.” Jax assured. “More importantly, how are you holding up?”
“I have never been so violently angry in my life.” Pomni gritted through her teeth. “Aside from when you pulled your bulls%^&, of course.”
“I can’t believe I’ve been dethroned!” Jax faked offense, pressing a hand to his chest.
Pomni let out a laugh. “I have a really bad idea.”
“Those are my favorite kinds!”
“Okay, check this out!” Pomni grabbed Jax’s hand and led him into her private room. She grabbed the golden Caine pendant from the vanity and put it on her neck.
Pomni twirled around and collapsed dramatically on the bed, Jax watching and waiting in anticipation.
“I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, Jax.” Pomni purred playfully. “Wearing only this~”
Jax stared with big eyes for a few moments, then burst out into laughter.
“Okay, maybe you are the funny one, Pomni.” Jax laughed. “I know you can’t take off your clothes, but I will give it my best.”
Jax pulled over the chair from the vanity as well as the sketchbook from his pocket and started doodling, focusing for what felt like a lifetime before bursting out laughing.
“Let me see it!” Pomni asked, standing up from the bed.
“No, no.” Jax laughed. “You can’t, it’s so beautiful it may break your eyes.”
“Please!!!” Pomni begged, but Jax responded by looking away, not wanting to be convinced by her adorable eyes.
Pomni playfully jabbed him in the stomach, causing him to loosen his grip enough for her to grab the sketchbook.
Pomni laughed as she reviewed the poorly drawn stick figure with an overdramatically drawn necklace on it. The funniest part was the phrase ‘GET OWNED’ written by the side.
“This is absolutely perfect.” Pomni giggled.
“I’m gonna get you back for that!” Jax joked before grabbing the sketchbook back. “Should we leave this masterpiece for him?”
Pomni nodded and walked back out to the main room, directing Jax to place the doodle on the center table that had respawned miraculously after being destroyed by Orbsman.
Pomni let out a yawn. Jax stared for a few moments, he had never heard her yawn before and he believed it to be the cutest sound someone could possibly make. He was confused everyday at how cute she was, at how crazy good she was at making him fall deeper and deeper in love.
“How are you so sleepy Pom-Pom?”
“I couldn’t sleep last night…too…” Pomni looked up at Jax shyly. “It was too scary…”
“Aww did someone miss me?”
“Shut upppp.”
“Here, we have a few hours to kill before iceberg time, and the others promised to keep the NPCs busy.” Jax plopped onto his back on the couch. “I’ll stay up and keep an eye on things, but we should be fine to rest for a bit.”
“Are you sure?” Pomni asked. “What if Orbsman or Gummigoo comes back?”
“Then I’ll kill them.”
“Jax!”
“I’m kiddingggg.” Jax joked. “But seriously, it’ll be fiiiine.”
Pomni was nervous at Jax’s boldness, but she couldn’t deny the exhaustion tugging at her. She knew rest would be important, especially with the impending boat sinking. She crawled next to him on the couch, resting her head on his chest. Jax put his arms around her pulling her in.
“This is nice.” Pomni whispered.
“Mmm.” Jax responded. “It is.”
Pomni couldn’t see it, but Jax was bright red. He had never been this close or intimate to someone and it was overwhelming to him. At the same time, the warmth was amazing, he wanted to pull her closer and closer until she could never leave again.
Eventually, he heard her slowly doze off, her breathing becoming systematic and steady. To him, it sounded like a beautiful symphony, it sounded like peace after war. He silently prayed that this moment would never end, that the boat would never sink, that they wouldn’t have to be apart ever again.
He knew it was a risk sleeping here with her, Orbsman or the gummy jerk could reappear at any time, but he didn’t care, he just wanted her to get some rest. A small part of him also hoped they would come back and see, just so he could rub it into Orbsman’s face.
Eventually, his eyes grew heavy, and despite some fighting, he too fell victim to sleep.
Ragatha was sitting by the entrance to the hall that led to the room where Jax and Pomni were. She was trying her best to avoid the jealousy by reading a book she had found on a nearby table. The books in the circus and on the adventures were typically gibberish, being made by Caine himself, but they offered a distraction at the very least.
A few hours had passed since their rescue mission when Zooble appeared.
“I was able to trap Orbsman in a room.” They explained. “He is so hotheaded it is pretty easy to trick and trap him. Any sign of the gummy dude?”
“I’m right here.”
Zooble and Ragatha turned their attention to Gummigoo, who had suddenly approached without them noticing.
“What is going on here?!” He demanded.
“Orbsman asked me to tell you to go fetch the captain.” Zooble quickly made up the lie.
“Why?”
“I don’t know dude, just do it.” Zooble pushed, trying to do whatever they could to buy Jax and Pomni time.
Gummigoo narrowed his eyes, before pushing past them into the hall. Zooble and Ragatha exchanged glances before following after him.
“CODE RED!” Zooble yelled, still pursuing Gummigoo.
Back in the room, Jax jolted away to the sound of Zooble’s warning while Pomni was still fast asleep. He gently but firmly shook her awake.
“Wha?”
“We gotta go!” Jax urged, jumping up before Gummigoo appeared in the doorway.
“You!” Gummigoo shouted, glaring at the image of Pomni on top of Jax.
Before anyone else could move, Ragatha grabbed onto Gummigoo’s neck from behind, causing everyone to drop their jaws in shock.
“Don’t gawk, just run!” Ragatha screamed as Gummigoo flung around, desperately trying to shake her off.
Jax grabbed Pomni’s hand and the two fled the room past Gummigoo and Ragatha and ran down the hall. As they ran. Gummigoo was able to fling Ragatha off, who landed into Zooble, and began pursuing them.
Jax weaved through the halls and did his best to avoid descending as he knew they were truly on borrowed time. He just had to get Pomni to the deck and hide until the iceberg hit, then everything would be okay and they could be free from this stupid adventure.
Jax found a room near the kitchen and flung open the door, as he did he was met face to face with Orbsman. After a moment of shock he turned to run but felt Pomni get pulled from his grasp. Orbsman had taken her other arm and now had her in his clutches.
Jax’s face twisted in anger and he pulled an arm back to throw a punch when he heard a bullet fly past him. He turned to see Gummigoo, now with a gun pointed directly at him.
“A gun?!” Jax gasped before turning towards Pomni as if he was trying to come up with a plan.
“Just run!” Pomni yelled. “I’ll handle it!”
Jax stared for a moment, not wanting to leave Pomni behind, not with Orbsman. He took a step forward only for a bullet to hit right in front of his foot, too close to him, too close to Pomni.
“F$%^!” Jax screamed before running off, wanting to lead Gummigoo and the gun away from Pomni. He knew Pomni was strong and could hold her own, but he knew would never live down having to leave her behind.
Jax turned corners directionlessly, not sure how to shake off the gator on his tail. He wasn’t thinking about anything but getting away and getting back to Pomni. Eventually, he turned a corner that led only to a staircase going deeper into the ship. He didn’t have time to get stuck in the lower levels. He spun around quickly only to see Gummigoo turning the corner.
“Ughhh, d4%^ it!” Jax cursed before running down the stairs, Gummigoo following close behind.
Jax ran deeper into the ship, turning every corner he could find in hopes that Gummigoo would lose his trail and he could go back up to deck. More than anything, he didn’t want this stupid ship to be his, albeit temporary, icy tomb.
He kept running but turned back to see if Gummigoo was still close by, and saw that he was maybe 15 to 20 feet behind him, not firing his gun but still having it out and ready at any time. Jax turned back around and was met by a solid wall, causing him to crash onto the floor.
By the time Jax had flipped over onto his back, Gummigoo was standing over him, gun pointed directly at his head.
“This ends now.” Gummigoo stated, cocking the gun.
Jax squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact when a large, booming voice interrupted the scene. As the voice spoke, large letters appeared in the air between Jax and Gummigoo, captioning the statement.
“ICEBERG! DEAD AHEAD!”
“What?” Gummigoo questioned, faltering a bit. It gave Jax a chance to scramble to his feet and continue running through the halls.
It felt unending, and Jax was running out of breath while Gummigoo had the luxury of being an NPC running on code and code alone. Jax began to run sloppy, getting tired after the unending chase and recent collision. He was about to turn another corner when Gummigoo fired his gun.
This time, it connected.
Jax felt a sharp, hot pain sear through his leg and he fell onto his hand and knees. He looked back to see that the bullet had connected right above his knee, and had gone clean through. The pain was agonizing, nothing like he had ever felt in the circus before.
There was no blood, but the pain was so intense that Jax’s vision began to blur. Even worse, Gummigoo approached, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him into a nearby room. The gummy NPC tossed him aside, causing him to slump against the wall, as if he were nothing.
“It’s over.”
“Eat a d$%^ you gummy a%$.” Jax groaned through the pain.
Gummigoo lifted his gun once more. Jax felt a sense of relief, at least this would be quick and he would wake up back in the circus, at least he wouldn’t have to drown. He shut his eyes once more, hoping and praying with every fiber that Pomni was able to escape Orbsman.
The moment was once again interrupted by a screeching, scraping noise. The boat around them seemed to shake and groan.
This was it. This was the iceberg.
Gummigoo seemed shocked and almost frightened for a moment, but quickly regained his composure as he pieced together the situation.
Jax laughed.
“You think this is funny?” Gummigoo questioned, his aim still true.
“Eh.” Jax rolled his eyes. “I hope you drown in horror.”
“Hope all you want.” Gummigoo put the gun behind him, assumingly into his inventory, then stepped out towards the hall, causing Jax to perk up in concern. He wasn’t going to leave him here to drown, was he?
“You are the one who is going to drown here, rabbit.”