a rewatch of episode 3 motivated me to write this, it is not canon to the main story/continuity of the fanfic, just a alternative made for fun

"Uhuuuuuughhh... Ouch, my head..." Pomni mumbled as she slowly got up, placing a hand to her aching forehead only to be greeted by a cold feeling, she looked at her hands and saw that they hand metallic gloves with long claws in her fingers, with gems in the back of her palms, one red and one blue, that was odd, she looked around to see she was in some type of meadow

"The hell? Where am I?" She asked herself as she observed the environment around her, it looked... Beautifully real, very different from the circus usual visuals and textures of the circus, as detailed as some things were and how good the lighting could be, it was always easy to tell that it was digital from the way things were rendered and textured as it could never really compare to reality. But this was different, it was almost surreal, she turned around and was shocked by the sight awaiting her

"Whoa!" She said as she saw familiar figures getting up through pained effort like her, her fellow circus mates. But they looked very different, Ragatha for example seemed to have gotten bigger and wider as she was twice Pomni's length now, her once mitten like hands now having a proper set of five fingers, her skin having the texture of Lyon now as well as having a darker tone than her usual beige skin, her dress had a lot more details like additional stitches

Jax had the same overalls, but his physique was different, as he was still very slim but his torso was a bit larger, and this realistic glow up made him look unhealthily skinny, if it wasn't the barely noticeable muscle definition in his arms and torso, she could swear he was just skin and bones. his once round and flat face now having a snout like most animals, with him having actual fur now as well as a cotton tail.

Gangle's ribbon body was the same, though it seemed to be composed of a single string of ribbon now instead of being separate parts, it now had wrapped around itself in a humanoid shape but with a more skeletal look, as her torso looked like a rib cage and her legs were connected to a knot that resembled a bone pelvis, her mask had a more intricate design, with golden details around the edges of the mask and the eyes

Zooble looked almost the same, only having more realistic texturing to them, although their wacky proportions seemed to have been adjusted to fit the way most normal bodies looked, they did look a bit taller because of that

And Kinger was pretty much the same as before, with the only real things being that his eyes were a bit more closer and integrated to his head instead of being completely out of it and held on by a invisible force, the thing that caught Pomni off guard was the fact his rope was open on the lower half, revealing legs covered in dark silk pants with black and white shoes. Yes, legs, that was probably the strangest thing to Pomni and she didn't know why as it should be such a minute thing but it was confusing her brain too much as that looked like a front against everything she got used to

They all did share something with her, as they had metallic silver items in their hands, Jax had a hammer, Kinger had gauntlets, Zooble had a axe, Gangle had a pair of Chakrams, and Ragatha had a silver shield, each with a different colored gem

"R-r-ragatha? Gangle? Jax?" Pomni asked scared as she took a step closer and reached out a hand to them, Ragatha looked at her as her vision became less blurry only to have shock clear in her face

"Oh my god, what happened to you Pomni?! You look... Different" Ragatha said as Pomni's proportions had changed and her outfit as well, her jester cap seemed bigger and had bells at the end, and her proportions were off from how usually exaggerated they were

"I could say the same about all of you!" Pomni replied back as the cast went to look at each other and what they could of their own bodies, their surprise was immense as most of them had gotten very used to the way the others and themselves looked from their time in the circus, even the minor changes of Kinger and Zooble were putting them off as they all felt like they were staring at different people

"Whoa, were so high definition and the textures are so life-like! And the new designs look so good!" Gangle exclaimed cheerfully as she threw her hands up, comedy mask in full effect as it gave her boundless optimism "Did Caine install some sort of texture pack? The grass actually looks and feels like grass!"

"Uhm... Why do we have weap--"

THUD!

A loud crash was heard near them as they looked at the source, there was a dust cloud made from the heavy impact but they could make a couple of things out from it as they saw glowing dots of various colors, as the dust dissipated it confirmed what they feared as a massive, black monster consisting of a semi-amorphous mass of jagged, polygonal spikes that rapidly shift and roil about, appearing somewhat iridescent like oil being also covered in glowing, multicolored, unblinking eyes that shift around wildly.

"Oh fuck, oh shit!" Pomni cursed but the surprise of everyone from the fact that it wasn't filtered was immediately overshadowed by the abstract going straight towards them as the circus group began to run and scatter, except for Kinger that just stood still, as something about this particular abstracted seemed familiar

The thing stopped right in its tracks as it let out a bellowing roar as the circus cast looked at it for a moment terrified as the thing lifted a hand that had something stuck to it... A white metallic whip with gold details and a gem just like the weapons stuck to them as the gem began to shine brightly as the light fully enveloped the abstracted monster as it shrieked in pain, the circus crew shielded their eyes as the light was blinding,

When it finally died down, they went to look at the thing as its form was covered in a white glow as it shrank down and took a more humanoid shape, when the light faded away they could see that it wasn't a black blob with multiple eyes anymore. Instead it was a chestnut wood queen chess piece. She had cartoonish white-gloved hands detached from her body, two large asymmetrical eyes with brown pupils. Her eyelashes were at the bottom of her eyes. She wore a red robe with white fuzzy lining spotted with black, also having black silk pants and black heel shoes, with the white metallic whip in one of her hands

"What... Who is that?" Pomni asked as she looked at the others but they were all too shocked, specially Ragatha and Kinger as the king's piece immediately ran to her side as he fell to his knees and began to try to see if she was okay

"Oh my god... It's Queenie, Kinger's wife..." Ragatha exclaimed softly as the others looked at her then at the couple, most had seen the door with the queen's piece face on it and thought if maybe Kinger had a connection to it but knowing that the two were married was new, it explained the level of worry he was showing

"Honey? Dear?! Please talk to me! Damnit how do I check her breathing?! HOW DO I MEASURE HER PULSE WITHOUT A WRIST?!" Kinger asked screaming as he turned to face the group, pupils small to show how panicked he was, until he felt a soft and gentle slap to the face as he looked to see a gloved hand against it

"Quiet down would ya... My head's killing me..." Queenie said as she turned in the ground, slowly lifting herself up as she held a hand against her aching head as Kinger helped her up, she finally opened her eyes, looking around for a bit before her eyes landed on her husband

"Sweetie? What... What is going on? Where are we? And why do I have a whip?" She asked as confusion washed over her, shaking the whip in one of her hands as she saw how realistic everything looked and how different herself and her husband had changed as she saw that she had legs

"My dear, it is so good to hear your voice again" Kinger said as he passed a gentle hand against her wood face, he was so unbelievably happy right now, more so than he felt in years

"We were in the circus and..." Queenie began to reminisce about what happened and to try to get a clue but her most recent memory was distorted and the audio was gibberish as she could see the other members of the cast were staring at her terrified as Caine snapped his fingers and she falling to a dark void... She realized what had occurred and was mortified

"Oh god... I abstracted didn't I? I have gotten insane and this is all a delirium from my crazy mind?" Queenie began to panic as she wondered the possibility that none of this was real and that she was somehow hallucinating while her real self is in a dark cellar mindlessly still in the dark. Before anything however, she felt a familiar pair of hands wrap around her back pull her close as Kinger softly shrugged his forehead against her's, one of their few ways of showing each other affection within the limitations of their bodies, if Queenie could blush she would but at last her wood skin didn't allow for it

"Did that feel like a delirium?" Kinger asked lovingly as he stared in her eyes as the queen piece looked away a bit flustered before returning her gaze to her husband

"Maybe... I'll need another to check" she asked with a bit of a teasing tone as both softly chuckled as the rest of the gang watched, happy for them with the exception of one

"Bleh! I'm gonna throw up if they keep this up" Jax said as he made a puking motion as the others looked at him mad for ruining the moment, Queenie leaned over Kinger to see the others behind him, a new wave of confusion and curiosity coming to her

"And who are you people? I think I recognize one of you..." Queenie said as she stared at them, all of them were individuals she never had seen before, each more distinct than the last, though her eyes stopped at the doll as the color of her hair and dress were very familiar, specially that blue button in the place of her right eye

"Oh! Those are Jax, Zooble, Gangle and Pomni, they joined the circus after you abstracted. And though she looks different, that one is Ragatha!" Kinger introduced them as everyone did a motion to greet her as she walked on towards them before stopping in front of Ragatha

"Oh my, you have grown so much dear" Queenie said as she pitched Ragatha's cheek as the doll just laughed it off, she missed this a bit, if Ragatha was the current safety net for newcomers of the circus, Queenie was the previous one and did she really helped when Ragatha got there, if it wasn't for her and Kinger, Ragatha may had held the record for the fastest person to abstract

"Yeah, to the sides!" Jax commented only to get sucker punched by Zooble harder than ever before, sending him to the ground in his knees

"It's good seeing you again Queenie... I missed you a lot, though not as much as someone" Ragatha said as she had missed the queen piece as she had been her sort of guide and shoulder to lean on together with Kinger when she first entered the circus

"... Gosh, I failed you two! I was so selfish for going insane when there were people who needed me there! And I can't even remember why I did it!" Queenie said as her eyes teared up as she thought how much she made the two suffer in her absence, she couldn't even imagine how much Kinger had gone through, the grief alone could have made him abstract... Did he abstract? Or did he kept going carrying on with guilt thinking he might have been the cause? Both were not good, the sheer thought she made them go through this and she couldn't even remember why she had gone ahead and went insane

"Hey, it's not your fault, it happens to the best of us. I saw that more than once, it bottles up without an outlet and it blows up all at once!" Ragatha said as she saw plenty of people come and go so suddenly, it was always something they didn't notice, a off day or strange choice that no one cared to notice until it was far too late, she herself got many close calls of that

"Yeah, uhm, I almost abstracted a bunch of times during my first days in the circus, so you don't need to feel ashamed" Pomni said as to help the queen piece feel better, it soothed her little as she was a bit worried for the jester girl

"Thanks... Still, I'm a bit confused about how I'm not a black horse blob with multiple eyes right now" Queenie said as she thought abstraction was a permanent thing with no cure and unless this was a mad hallucination then she shouldn't be back to normal unless Caine had finally figured a way to solve it

"I think it might be something to do with these weapons we have, you seemed to have purged the abstraction or fixed your mind back to a normal enough state" Pomni said as she looked at the claws in her hand as the others did the same with the weapons they had, the mysterious nature of them were mind boggling as they clearing weren't just weapons if they could heal abstraction by either curing the body or somehow messing with their minds,

"Whatever they are, these things might have something to do with all of this. I'm not even sure if we are in the circus anymore" Pomni said as everything was just not adding up if they were in the circus, unless it was updated with some massive changes that made it completely different from the original product but even then that didn't explain how Queenie's abstraction was cured

"We could be in another game" Gangle suggested, not the most logical theory as the inner workings on how such game hopping could occur were simply too unfeasible but it was a possibility

"Or it is a Wizard of Oz or Alice in wonderland situation" Queenie suggested as the others looked at her, unsure how those two stories could correlate to their situation as both stories are interpreted as dream if anything

"Well, whatever the case, I'm glad to be reunited with you again" Kinger said as he really couldn't care less if they were in a different game or even mars, he had his wife and that was enough for him

"Me too..." She said as she leaned against his chest while the rest looked on, Jax walking out as he couldn't with all the sweet talk, the rest stayed as they were filled with questions on their current situation but those could wait as for now they were to simply enjoy the fact that one of them had gotten a happy conclusion out of this

-- Non Canon Shorts --

Adoption

It had been a few days since the circus cast had found princess Melty and took her in to help her get back home to her father, though the secret that she belongs to a royal family is kept hidden from them it doesn't stop the interesting fascination a certain chess piece couple, particularly a queen had on the child

"That's it, we're adopting you" Queenie said suddenly as Melty looked at her confused. To the queen, Melty was the daughter of any parents dreams, educated, smart, as lovely as a button and simply precious

"But I have parents, who are still very much alive" Melty explained, as you can't adopt someone who already had parents, sure there was a real chance her birth mother was going to divorce her dead or send him to Siltvelt for him to be executed but still

"Don't care, they'll have to share custody now" Queenie said as she wasn't going to back down, even if she had to fight Melty's actual parents for the right to claim their daughter as her own

"Honey, we can't just adopt little Melty" Kinger jumped in the discussion as he had to at least try and stop his wife, before they accidentally turn the act of saving Melty into a strange kidnapping

"Why not? She's adorable, and we always wanted to have a child" Queenie replied as she held Melty up by her cheeks as to demonstrate her point on the adorableness of the blue girl

"I know but we already have five" Kinger said as he motioned to the camp where the rest of the circus crew was, as Queenie had already unofficially adopted all them excluding Amber since she was technically their grandkid as Pomni was her "mother"

"What's one more at this point, plus I'm sure they would love a new sister!" Queenie said as she was stepping her foot down, Melty was joining their strange family whether her parents liked it or not and there was not a single soup that could stop her

"... I'm confused but strangely flattered" Melty expressed as this was a really strange situation for her though she didn't feel displeased by it

Marriage is crazy

"So you went behind your wife's back and usurped the throne? Boy, if I did that to my wife she would probably tear down my pillow fort" Kinger said as he stared at the king of Melromarc Aultclay, he didn't know all the details only that Aultclay stole the throne from under his wife's nose but that was already pretty bad

"Watch your mouth beast, I did what I saw as best for my country and I'm certain Mirelia understands that" Aultclay said entirely confident in what he said, surely his beloved wife would understand why he did what he did was for the greater sake and future of their kingdom, she probably deep down shared the same sentiment and would appreciate his wise gamble

"I'm going to kill my husband..." Mirellia said as she held her head with both hands, lord in heaven did her husband screw up so bad, she wanted to personally execute him herself as even though she loved him, a mistake this big was sure to cause another world war

"There, there, if you want I can beat him up for you, or at least be there to give a hand?" Queenie suggested, as a fellow queen and wife she could understand the frustrations of having a husband, though her beloved Kinger would never screw up like this on purpose. The least she could do to help would be to assist her friend in punishing her husband

"Yes, let's do it, my ice and your whip, is that agreeable?" Mirellia asked as she looked at the chess piece, who gave a nod and thumbs up in full agreement

"Sounds good" Queenie said as she equipped a whip form made of burning hot metal with pointed spikes that was sure to make anyone hit by it regret ever being born

Disciplinary Action

It had been a rough battle against the pope and his forces but they pulled through, now the four legendary heroes and the six vassal weapon wielders had helped take back the throne of Melromarc. However that didn't mean that Itsuki, Ren and Motoyasu were coming out unscathed from the trouble they caused as Queenie walked around them while idly cracking her whip as the three boys sweated scarily

"So you three boys have been very naughty and as such will have to go through some disciplinary action and punishment" Queenie said as she stopped and turned to face them, cracking her whip against the floor rather loudly as Itsuki and Ren swallowed hard in fear, Motoyasu however had a hand to his chin as he looked Queenie from head to toe

"The whip is kind of freaky and I'm not too much on dominatrices but I can give it a shot for you babe" Motoyasu said as he snapped his finger while pointing at her with a finger gun, her face was weird but the rest of her body was fine by him, he only wondered if it would be hard as wood or soft like normal flesh

"Oh, Melty told me about you, sorry but my husband is the one you're going to spend time with" Queenie said as she pointed to behind him, as Motoyasu turned back to see Kinger staring down at him with eyes very open and intense

"Were you flirting with my wife?" Kinger asked with a very intense tone as Motoyasu was sweating bullets, before the chess piece face turned into a more calm and cheerful expression

"Don't worry, I'm not offended by it, she's the most beautiful woman in the world after all" Kinger said in a very innocent tone as Motoyasu sighed in relief, he was afraid the guy was going to beat him over for it but he was clearly understanding

"Say, how about I show you our insect collection? I'm sure they would love to meet you, specially when they walk all over your body with their thousands of feet" Kinger said still in an innocent tone as he dragged Motoyasu out of the room as the spear hero tried to fight back to no avail while screaming in fear