Y/n's pov
“Wh–What the–” My hands shot up to my head, instinctively trying to yank off the headset, but… there was nothing there. My fingers grasped at my own skin, at my face, as if the headset had fused with my body. It didn’t feel like I was wearing anything, but I knew I’d put it on. “How do I take this thing off?!” I shouted, panic rising in my voice as I kept clawing at my head. But no matter how much I tried, it was like the headset was part of me now—like my own body had changed.
“Just keep grabbin’ at it,” the tall purple bunny chimed in, his smirk as wide as ever. He watched me with casual amusement, like he’d seen this scene play out a thousand times. “That worked for all of us. Right, Pomni?” His eyes flicked over to the little girl I had knocked over earlier—Pomni, I guessed. She just looked at me, wide-eyed, like she wanted to say something but didn’t dare.
“Wh–what is going on?” I looked down at my hands—at my new hands—and then down at my entire body. It wasn’t mine. “What’s happening? Who are you? What are you? Where am I? And why can’t I take that stupid headset off?!”
Before I could spiral any further, a soft, calm voice broke through the panic. “Let’s just try to calm down, new stuff,” said a rag doll-looking character, slowly walking toward me. Her movements were careful, her expression oddly gentle compared to the others. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You’ll adjust.”
But I wasn’t hearing it. The panic was bubbling over, and without thinking, I shouted, “What the actual f@€# is going on?!” The curse came out, but it wasn’t my voice I heard—it was some weird, censored noise, like someone had hit the bleep button.
“Now, now, now, my dear!” the flying denture spoke up with a gleeful tone, cutting me off before I could question it further. “We won’t have any bad language here. The Amazing Digital Circus is a place for all ages. You are now a part of it, and anything can happen here! Except swearing, of course.”
I raised an eyebrow, incredulous. Testing it out, I tried again. “A€#@&#@. C#€@. F&@#. C@#€&. P&€&#. D&€#.” Each word came out garbled, like they were being forcefully censored. I barely had time to register how absurd it was before I stammered, “W@&#€. D#&@. ...B€#@&!” I paused, feeling ridiculous. “Oh, s#€&. Uh–Well–”
“If you’re about to ask how you leave, well, you can’t.” The bunny—Jax—cut in again, completely unfazed, his grin never fading. “Just sayin’ it now so you can skip past the panic part a little quicker. Trust me, it’s not worth draggin’ it out.” His tone was annoyingly nonchalant, like we were talking about the weather.
“Hey!” the girl—Pomni—finally spoke up, her voice sharp with irritation.
“Shut the f&€# up, Jax,” another voice interjected, coming from some kind of... patchwork creature, a weird amalgamation of different shapes and colors. “But yeah, he’s right. We can’t.”
I felt my stomach drop. “Wh-what do you mean we can’t leave?”
Pomni shifted awkwardly before speaking again, her voice quieter this time. “I–I thought I found an exit door when I first got here... but it wasn’t. It just led to something worse than this. A nightmare. Worse than this one.” Her words hung heavy in the air, and for a moment, no one spoke.
“Oh,” was all I could manage to say, my mind racing. This couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t.
“So this is... my new...” I trailed off, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yer new home,” Jax said, finishing the sentence for me, his grin widening. “And yer new body,” he added with a casual shrug, like it was no big deal. “We’ve all been stuck here for years.” He dragged out the last word, clearly enjoying how rattled I was. “And some of us... well, we’ve gone craaaazy.” He chuckled, the sound grating on my already fraying nerves.
I felt my breath quicken, my chest rising and falling in shallow pants. I was about to ask if this was all just some sort of messed-up dream when Jax interrupted me again, like he could read my mind. “And no, it’s not a dream,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement.
I snapped my mouth shut, my last shred of hope dashed by his words.
