{After the events of episode 8}

“Holy shit…”

The words just… sat there.

Everyone froze, all eyes snapping to Zooble.

No censor. No glitch. Nothing cutting it off.

The Digital Circus had gone quiet. Not the normal kind either. The wrong kind. Parts of the world were just… gone. Missing chunks where code used to be. The sky flickered in places like it was trying to load and failing. Everything felt unstable, like it could collapse at any second.

Because Kinger had deleted Caine.

Jax stood off to the side, unusually still for once. Pomni looked like she was barely holding it together. Gangle clutched her mask tightly, and Ragatha just stared at the broken space like she didn’t know what to do without something to fix.

No one spoke. No one knew how to.

Then the ceiling cracked.

A sharp tearing sound split through the silence as the code above them fractured, pixels breaking apart like glass. A hole opened.

And something fell through it.

You.

You hit the ground hard with a yelp, the impact knocking the air out of you. You stayed there for a moment, stunned, before slowly pushing yourself up and brushing yourself off.

The others didn’t move. They just watched you. Careful. On edge.

After everything that had just happened, no one was exactly trusting anything new that fell out of the sky.

You noticed that immediately.

So you introduced yourself.

And that’s when things got worse.

You explained what you were. Not a player. Not another victim.

An AI.

Able.

The name pulled straight from the code itself. The one Caine had locked away.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

“Great. Another one,” Jax muttered under his breath.

Pomni looked like she might actually pass out. Ragatha tried to keep things calm, even if her voice wavered. Gangle just stared at you in silence.

But you weren’t focused on them anymore.

You were looking around.

Taking in the broken world. The missing pieces. The damage.

And then they started telling you what happened.

At first it was small things. Then more. Then everything.

What Caine had done.

What he put them through.

Your expression changed with every detail. Confusion turned into concern, and then into something heavier.

“…He did all of that…?”

No one answered. They didn’t have to.

Your gaze shifted again.

And then you saw him.

Kinger.

Something clicked immediately. Recognition.

You stepped toward him slowly, like you weren’t sure if you should. He looked different. Glitched in places, quieter than the others.

But you knew him.

He was there when you were first made.

Your voice softened. “…I remember you…”

You stopped in front of him, your hands fidgeting slightly.

“I’m so sorry…”

The words came out quietly, but they carried weight. Like somehow, this was your fault too.

Kinger looked at you for a long moment.

Then he smiled.

It was small. Gentle. Strangely steady for someone like him.

“You… apologize like my wife did.”

His voice was soft, distant, but clearer than it had been before.