The arena was empty now. All the other competitors—Ragatha, Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle—had been eliminated one by one, leaving just the two of you. You couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face as adrenaline and relief coursed through you.

“I can’t believe we actually made it through!” you shouted, hopping in place.

Without thinking, you launched yourself at Jax, throwing your arms around him in a victorious hug. “We did it! We actually—”

“Ah!” Jax yelped sharply, instinctively pushing you off. You stumbled back, surprised by the intensity of his reaction.

He stepped away, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His face was tense, a strange mix of anger and fear flickering in his eyes. “I… I do not care about YOU or ANYONE else in this circus in the slightest! End. of. story. You are my playthings… and I get JOY out of making you SUFFER. I’m the one who causes pain for fun! If I led you on, it was just to make this part hurt even more.”

he stopped yelling and looked over at you feigning nonchalance. he shrugged good at keeping this act up. “So what are you gonna do now? i hurt your feelings?” he had that big smile on his face

Your heart twisted at his words. Something in his voice cracked, betraying the fake bravado. You took a tentative step closer, but he flinched, holding his hands up as if to protect himself from more than just your presence.

You paused thinking while looking at the ground before speaking in a soft voice.

“What would you do if i Abstracted tomorrow?* you said softly in the quiet atmosphere

his confident stance then broke, Abstraction.. basically death. he turned around slowly giving her a face betraying NO emotion. he spoke monotone

”I’d move on.

he paused and tilt his head with a fake smile

And probably forget about you.”

silence

His voice dropped to a softer, almost hollow tone. “…There’s nothing more to me. So please stop looking.”