It took a little while for Mia and Jessica to get over the fact Jack appeared to change so much, but they decided to escape first before asking any more questions. Upon exiting the portal, they suddenly found themselves in the middle of the hub, which attracted quite a few stares. Some people began mumbling amongst themselves.
Though one person in particular didn't seem to mind attracting attention.
"Glad to see you all survived a surprise event!"
A familiar smiling girl with white hair waved in their direction. Jack turned to look at her before waving with a smile.
"Yeah! It was really fun! Do you want to try it as well?"
In response, the girl chuckled.
"Ah, it's fine. I've already gone through it a couple times now."
Mia looked around for a little while.
"...How much time has it been?"
The girl tilted her head to the side while a finger rested on her chin.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe a couple of hours."
Mia furrowed her brows.
"What? That..."
Jack gave a few nods.
"I also think that much time has passed since I last saw you guys."
Jessica blinked a few times as she stared at him in wonder.
"W-What happened to you?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders, quite confused by how much they seemed to care.
"I met some friends and walked around, then played a game with more friends! Though... I don't know if they are still going to play with me. They all left!"
Mia felt a headache coming on, prompting her to hold onto the side of her head. With a sigh, she walked over to the center of the hub.
"Whatever, whatever. I just want to get some sleep at this point. Does that tent have a built-in sleeping bag or something?"
The smiling girl let out a giggle.
"Well, it's no sleeping bag, but it sure does beat the ground. If you actually want a sleeping bag, then you put in a single 4, though it's quite expensive for a bit of comfort and will probably attract just a tad bit of jealousy."
Mia blinked a few times. She didn't actually mean her previous statement as a question, just more of talking to herself. Though the answer wasn't a bad thing.
"Ah... I see. Well, we don't have the luxury of wasting our cards, especially not with the hell we've been through."
Mia let out a long sigh and looked at Jessica.
"Hey, you pay the three 3's and I'll pay the 2's. Jack isn't going to pay since he obviously saved our asses, but you're paying the brunt since you fucked us over in the first place."
Jessica smiled awkwardly before nodding.
"A-Ah. Yes, that is fair enough."
After they made the purchase, they received a tent set. The smiling girl continued helping despite not being asked and pointed in a direction.
"Generally speaking, most people don't really care about using the machines over there. As you can already tell, people have already put some tents there to sleep in, so you should probably follow suit as well."
Mia looked at her awkwardly for a few moments before nodding.
"Oh... thanks for the help."
The smiling girl tilted her head to the side slightly.
"No problem, no problem."
Though, she didn't stop there as she turned to look at Jack.
"Say, since you're heading off to bed, why don't you use my tent instead, Jack? They aren't exactly the biggest things and it will be uncomfortable if three are sharing."
Jessica furrowed her brows.
"W-What are you trying to do?"
In response, the girl simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, nothing. Just helping out some people I'm interested in. Is that so wrong?"
She then giggled while covering her mouth with her fingertips.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to do... that to him. It's really just sleeping."
Jessica blushed slightly.
"T-That's not what I meant!"
As for Jack, he looked between the two of them curiously, then smiled.
"I think that sounds nice! I wouldn't want to make it uncomfortable for you two..."
Jessica let out a small sigh.
"There really isn't a prob-"
"Well, it all works out, doesn't it?"
Mia cut her off, prompting Jessica to look at her in surprise. She seemed quite shocked.
"Eh? I thought you would be more against it than me."
Mia blinked a few times before shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, it's not like they can actually do anything. We've been outside for so long already, so we still have most of our protection hours, and they're going to refresh soon as well. It's not like she'll be able to hurt him in any way."
Jessica thought over it for a little. She felt like something was still wrong, but couldn't think of anything, so she just gave up on it.
"Well... alright then."
And with that, things were settled. While Jessica and Mia went off to set up and get into their own tent, Jack went off with the suspicious girl. The tent itself was really just that, the average kind of tent people would bring along for camping.
As the girl said before, it did have a decently soft floor. However, the biggest thing that it did was mute the bright flashing lights all around the casino, making it far darker and easier to sleep in.
When Jack got into the tent, the smiling girl followed right after. With a bright smile, he spoke with her.
"Ah, what is your name? I haven't heard it yet. By the way, my name is Jack!"
The smiling girl let out a small laugh.
"Well, since you were so polite and introduced yourself first, I suppose I can tell you. My name Is Emma. Pretty simple and boring, isn't it?"
Jack gave a thumbs up.
"I think it sounds pretty cool!"
Emma let out a small laugh.
"I'm glad that at least someone likes it. Regardless, you must be pretty tired by now, so why don't you have a good rest?"
Jack tilted his head to the side.
"Eh? You didn't invite me to play some games?"
Emma narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.
"Nothing like that. Didn't I say that earlier? It was just to give you a spot to sleep."
She reached over and lightly brushed through Jack's hair.
"Now, just go to rest. The more sleep you get in this kind of place the better."
Jack seemed a bit confused, but he still let out a light hum, enjoying the sensation of her hand in his hair. He laid down on the tent floor and fell asleep practically instantly. Out of all of Jack's skills, it appeared that falling asleep was one of his best ones.
As for Emma, she didn't go to sleep, instead just watching him for a little while.
"...Wow, I didn't think he would be able to go to sleep that quickly."
She then slowly began humming. It almost sounded like a song, but for whatever reason, it kept remaining at a certain frequency. If it wasn't for the fact that she was actually pretty good at it, the humming would've gotten annoying very quickly.
As for Jack, his brows furrowed slightly as he began smacking his lips.
He gradually started to mumble things, most of which were incoherent.
"Mm... friend... mmm... fun."
Because of the disjointed words, they didn't really make much sense. However, it gradually became clearer. It was almost as though Jack was waking up, but that was definitely not the case since he passed out like a rock. His eyelids were firmly shut, as he took his rest.
Soon, Jack began humming as well. However, it wasn't the same as Emma's humming.
Instead, he began singing his own song in his sleep.
"Hush little Jacky... don't you cry..."
He shifted around in his sleep, almost uncomfortably.
"Papa's going to come back soon... Just wait a little more."
A glint flashed by Emma's eyes. She continued humming but focused intently on what Jack was singing.
"Hush little Jacky, crying won't work forever.
Too much of anything turns it into nothing.
Save your tears for later, so they can still make you less sad.
Hush little Jacky, don't tear out your eye.
Pain might make you feel things, but soon you'll lose that too.
Hush little Jacky, hold back as best you can.
Only break one finger a day, you must stick to this plan.
Hush little Jacky, don't grow numb to the pain.
Because if you do, you won't be able to feel anything again."
Emma began softly stroking Jack's hair as she listened to his mumbled song. She was always smiling, but the smile on her face grew ever so slightly as she listened in. Jack continued on about rather gruesome details in his little song, describing how amazing it felt to mutilate himself.
Eventually, things appeared to be repeating, prompting Emma to stop humming, which made Jack stop mumbling to himself as well. She let out a small sigh as she put a finger against her lips.
"My, my... so interesting. So interesting. I don't see any scars... could it have been other people? But he was clearly talking about himself... Well, there's plenty of time to find out the rest. I'm sure I'll be able to see more soon enough."
And with that, she laid down and went to sleep as well.
In the other tent, Mia and Jessica lay down but didn't fall asleep right away. Instead, Jessica looked over with a concerned expression.
"Is something the matter? You seem to be a bit out of it, Mia."
As for Mia, she took a shaky breath.
"Jessica. We need to talk about that kid."