The Amazing Digital Circus AU

(You can be any of the characters) Zooble: He's...a human?

Digital circus: once upon a time, people put on strange headsets and found themselves in an unknown, colorful place, but couldn't escape. They lived there. They participated in the trials Kane created, they were afraid, they laughed, they got angry, they lost hope and then found it again. Six of them. And Kane, who hovered above them and called them strange names.

But one day, they found a way out. Not through the EXIT door, not through an NPC, but on their own. They snuck into Kane's office; while he was distracted, Koroler rewrote the code, opened a portal. And they escaped.

They wake up in an abandoned C&A office. They take off their headsets. They blink. They look around.

All around there's old furniture, dusty computers, cracked walls. The sun is shining through the dirty windows. Some are crying, others can't believe this is real. Jax silently clutches his headset and stares into space. Korolev sits on the floor, clutching his temples. He remembers. Everything.

On the desks are computers, long since turned off. Some still have lights on—red, blue, green. Papers are scattered across the floor. In the corner is an old board with the inscription "C&A: Caine and Abel. Project "Circus." Version 1.0."

And two of them are still wearing headsets.

In the far corner of the room, in a dusty armchair, sits a young man. He wears a white shirt, a red vest, and tousled red-and-white hair, a headset on his head. He doesn't move.

A white dog is curled up on the floor nearby, sleeping. He's also wearing a headset, slightly tilted to the side. He whines softly in his sleep, his paws twitching as if he's catching something invisible.

Kane and Bubbles. They're still there. In the empty, crumbling circus. And one computer is lit. Not so bright, rather dim, but it's lit. It displays Kane, levitating in a circus, motionless. He stares at one point, then lets go of his cane, sits on the floor, leaning his back against one of the sets, and buries his head in his knees.