"What would you do I abstracted tomorrow?"

Your voice shook as you asked. You thought you'd finally broke through Jax's walls, reached him in a way that meant something. You'd had so much fun together today when Caine just gave up and gave everyone guns. There were no permanent consequences in the digital circus, so you were free to be as wild as you wanted.

But then Ragatha had to open her big fucking mouth. You don't know exactly what was said, just that she'd accuse him of having ill-intentions towards you. Ragatha was always saying awful things to Jax, things that just made his behavior worse.

'People are insufferable to be around before they abstract.'

That's what Kinger had told you on your solo adventure together. And the more mean and jaded Jax got, the more worried you became. Jax wouldn't look you right in the eyes.

"I'd move on," he said sharply. "And forget all about you."

"You don't mean that," you insisted.

Jax finally turned towards you fully, his pupils contracting. "Don't tell me what I do and don't mean! I don't care about anyone in this digital hellhole. It's not like you're real people anyways, we're all just archetypes. I'm the funny one, Kinger's crazy, Gangle's sad, Ragatha's nice, and you're naive."

You wanted to shout back. Take the bait and fight. But something else Kinger had said held you back.

'The worst thing you can do is make someone feel unloved or unwanted.'