It took quite a while to figure out how to put it back together. You weren't the best at crafts, but you knew it'd be worth it. You held up Gangle's comedy mask, admiring it in the light of your room.

It had been a month since you had entered the Digital Circus. All you wanted was to play some virtual reality games, but the headset bonded with you, and no matter what you tried you couldn't seem to get it off. Others had been trapped in the strange world as well. No one could remember their real name or body, now living life in the forms of circus personas. Everyone had bonded over their experience of being trapped in the Digital Circus, and because you were now in the same situation, you became fast friends with almost everyone. However, there was one you had become very close to, and that was Gangle.

Her body was made up of a red ribbon, twisted into the shape of a person. She wore two masks, a comedy mask bearing a bright smile and a tradegy mask adorned with tears. The masks seemed to have a massive impact on her moods. Unfortunately for her, her comedy mask was very weak and got broken almost every day. Usually, the ringmaster Caine would repair her mask at the end of the day. But he seemed to have forgotten his duty or just not noticed the problem, so you took it into your own hands to fix your dear friend's mask. Now, you sat in the middle of your little room, the finished product held in your hands.

You stood up to leave, now ready to go find Gangle and give her back her mask. Yet, this proved to be harder than you thought. You stepped out into the hallway of rooms and approached her door, giving it a quick knock. No one responded. You knocked again, but it was no use. She either wasn't there, or didn't feel like speaking. Just then, Ragatha passed by on the way to her room.

"Ragatha! Hey, have you seen Gangle?" You asked your friend. She turned to look at you, her hand on her doorknob.

"Gangle? Yeah, I saw her leaving the Gloink hole a few minutes ago." She replies with a smile.

"Thanks!" You said before heading towards the main room.

"Of course!" Ragatha cheerily calls after you as you run off.

It didn't take long for you to arrive at what everyone called "The Gloink Hole." You still had no idea what a Gloink really was, but Gangle had told you about them once. Apparently they were little creatures that stole everything in their sight. They had been part of an adventure the day Pomni arrived and hadn't been used since. Supposedly there had been a Gloink queen that stayed inside of a nest-like hole, but since the queen was now gone, the underground area was deemed safe to enter.

Upon arrival, you did not find Gangle. Instead, Kinger was there, admiring his surroundings. You went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump and yelp.

"Oh, hey Y/N. I didn't see you there." He said after calming himself.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Have you seen Gangle around here?" You asked.

"No, not around here. But I did see Jax sneaking up on her earlier." He explained causally. This made your heart sink into your stomach. You knew Jax loved to tease everyone in the circus, but many times his pranks were cruel.

"Where are they?" You replied, now beginning to panic. Kinger didn't seem to notice your anxious tone as he continued to speak calmly.

"Gangle was heading in the direction of the stage." He told you.

You didn't even respond before taking off, bolting up the Gloink Hole's escalator and almost tripping as you reach the top. You ran through the main room, occasionally dodging a random object glitching through the floor. When you reached the stage, it was empty. You began to pace the room before spotting Pomni walking nearby. You rushed up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Where's Gangle?" You asked in a rush. She stared back at you, confused.

"W-what?" Pomni blinked, a bewildered and slightly uncomfortable look on her face.

"Please, I gotta find her!" You pleaded. Pomni pointed back in the direction of the hallway of rooms.

"I saw her head that way." She told you. You quickly let go of her and began to run again.

"Thanks!" You yelled, unable to hear her weak "no problem" as you sped towards the hallway.

It didn't take long for you to arrive. And just as you expected but had hoped against, you heard two voices coming from around a corner. Your heart sank once again as you recognized the voices as Jax and Gangle.

"Please, stay back! If you break my tradegy mask, I won't have anything left!" Gangle pleaded. Jax just rolled his eyes, keeping that smug, sick grin on his face.

"Come onnn, I'm not gonna break it." He replied, clearly lying.

As you rounded the corner, you could see he held a baseball bat in his hand. Gangle was backed up against a wall, scared.

"I just want some help with target practice." Jax said as he stepped closer to your friend. "We got a big game coming up, after all."

"N-no we don't..." Gangle replied meekly.

"I'm not gonna ask again, crybaby." Jax growled, beginning to get annoyed with Gangle's resistance. It was now or never.

"Hey! Back off, punk!" You growl in return, rushing forward and placing yourself in front of Gangle, blocking her from Jax.

"Get out of the way, newbie. This doesn't concern you." He spat. You shook your head.

"Actually, it does concern me. A lot." You respond, not moving from your spot. Jax glared at you and gripped his bat a little harder.

"I won't tell you a second time." He stepped closer.

You held your ground, staring him in the eyes with a determined look as Gangle trembled behind you. Jax suddenly raised up the bat and swung it. You grabbed Gangle and dove out of the way, both of you landing on the ground. The bat hit the wall and bounced back, smacking Jax right in the middle of his forehead. Not a word was said as he stumbled and fell on his back, knocked out cold. After waiting a moment to let your heartrate calm down, you turned to Gangle.

"Are you alri-" You started but were quickly interrupted by her throwing herself around you in a tight hug.

"Y/N! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed. This confused you a bit, as she wasn't usually so forward, especially without her comedy mask.

"Uh, no problem." You reply, awkwardly hugging her back.

Once she lets you go, you remember the reason why you wanted to find her in the first place. You pull the repaired comedy mask out of your hammerspace, something exclusive to cartoons and the Digital Circus. You held the mask out to her.

"Here. I fixed it for you." You said, giving her a grin along with her mask. Stunned, she took the mask from you.

"H-how?" She wondered as she looked down at the comedy mask.

"Eh, I dunno." You scratched the back of your head as you spoke. "Just figured it out."

Gangle then put on the mask, her mood changing almost instantly after. She laughed and wrapped you in another hug. You were expecting it this time, however. You hugged her back once more.

"Thank you! Y/N, you're the best!" She said, smiling widely. She then leaned in and kissed your cheek, catching you off guard and causing you to blush. Just then, Ragatha came out of her room.

"I heard commotion. Is everything alright?" She asked, looking around with concern. Her eyes fell on Jax's unconscious body. "What... Happened here?"

"Uh..." You started, still holding Gangle in your arms. "Jax happened."

Ragatha shrugged. "Sounds about right." She nodded. "Well, I guess I'll dispose of the body."

Both you and Gangle giggled as Ragatha gave you a wink. She then walked over and grabbed Jax by the leg. You watched as she dragged him across the floor and began heading towards his room.

"Throwing him back where he belongs, it seems." You said, smiling as you looked back at Gangle.

"Serves him right." She replied, smiling back.

You gently hug her once more. You rested your heads on each other's shoulders and stayed that way for a few quite minutes. You spoke up after a while.

"You want me to walk you back to where you belong too?" You asked in a soft tone, still referencing the character rooms.

You couldn't tell if she was still shaken up from the encounter with Jax or not. You didn't want to keep her for so long if she needed time to unwind. However, she crushed those thoughts quickly.

"No thank you." She said as he held tighter to you. You could feel her sigh in relaxation. "I'm already where I belong."