Reviews :

ThoreLB : Chepi is still alive. She's clearly not a main part of the story, sorry about that.

Lyssdoodle : Woohoo! I have a few sketches of Novus I need to upload, hopefully I can properly show you guys what he looks like as opposed to the snippet of him shown on the Favor's Game cover.

*Chapter 30*

Although still a week from being born, Vanellope tediously tidied Gideon's cozy nursery. A thunderstorm raged outside, his floor to ceiling creamy drapes were drawn and a single nightlight lit the room starkly against a far wall; warm little sparkles of ambience that displayed artistic stars all along it. She hummed a sweet little tune to herself, she corrected the angle of the dainty mobile above Gideon's crib, able hands tirelessly worked to make sure Gideon's new room was a welcoming abode, a sanctuary of warmth, a room he would be using for his upbringing. A smile that simply refused to leave her face, Vanellope was alive with a glow, a motherly reboot she was beyond thrilled she could revisit with Ralph. She tucked her long black hair behind her ears and put a few things away, in the drawers of Gideon's changing table, and upon standing to correction, she flinched as Ralph gently sagged into the gaping doorway of Gideon's nursery.

"Babe, I promise you Gideon's not going to scrutinize every speck of dust in this room," Ralph's deep voice ushered with an embrace of care, he gestured out to the corridor he had just strolled from and gave her a near pleading smile, "Dinner's been ready. I'm positive you're hungry, has the nausea subsided yet?"

"Yeah, I think I'm out of the woods," Vanellope hissed with a small nod as she put her hands on her hips, looked about Gideon's room and smiled, as if to be pleased with her's and Ralph's handiwork, "I know he's obviously not going to scrutinize the way his nursery is set up, but... I just am so stoked we have all this time to really THINK about it. I mean seriously, I don't know what to do with myself."

"Me too, it's great," Ralph encouraged with a nod, he finally invited himself into Gideon's room and approached his bride, "Speaking of the bean, how's he doing?"

"Good," Vanellope sighed, and though Ralph budged into her bubble for a big, enveloping embrace, she was well aware Ralph was en route to wanting an exterior swap. Vanellope sagged into Ralph's big, snuggly cocoon of a hug and lulled her eyes closed, she knew she couldn't blame Ralph for wanting to hear Gideon's heart beat and to daintily sift through the status of his developing coding, "He's getting stronger. I had the WEIRDEST dream, last night, and when I woke up, his heart beat was ringing in my ears so fast, I genuinely got scared for a moment."

"What was your dream about?" Ralph wondered quietly on her shoulder, he lulled his eyes closed and laid a few tender kisses to her bare shoulder amidst the act of flaring their sacred, beautiful purple coding all along her spine, though before Vanellope could verbally answer, she sagged into the sanctity of her's, Ralph's and Gideon's shared exterior swap and conversed through nothing but the circuits in their brains.

"We were flying," Vanellope's voice hummed in a reverberation through the three being's shared coding, Ralph squeezed her up into a scoop of a tighter embrace and continued to lovingly trail kisses all along her shoulder and the side of her throat. She audibly sighed as the voice in their shared swap carried on, "Ralph, I wish you could've seen it... Cotton candy clouds and golden manta rays, cream peppermint swirls and rivers of icy turquoise... It was a Sugar Rush daydream like you wouldn't believe."

"Were you on Lickity or something?" Ralph's deep voice bounced about the insides of their skulls.

"I don't know, it... It felt like I was a shooting star, we were just going, it was wild," Vanellope hissed, "I could swear I could hear what could be Gideon's voice. A deep voice was just telling me to close my eyes and... Fly. Believe it were real."

"Include me in on the dream next time, will yah?" Ralph teased, both beings audibly chuckled within their tight, snuggly proximity; Gideon's becoming-powerful heart beat could be heard amping up, even with the conversation at hand.

"The colors were insane, it really inspired me to bust out my art supplies, once more," Vanellope finally whispered out loud, though as she pulled away from Ralph and opened her hazel eyes, she flinched in surprise as something twinkling could be seen in her peripheral.

Vanellope stiffened, peered to her right and was glad Ralph was cued in on this. Hovered just above Gideon's changing table was a beautiful, glowing star. Not in a typical star shape, it still held on to pointy aspects as it came in and out of soft and sharp shapes. Although confusing, the feeling of warmth and goodness soaked the two. Vanellope opened her mouth to confusedly ask Ralph if he was seeing all of this, though before she could get words out, the room suddenly brightened to that of a creamy, illuminated Sugar Rush sunrise. Hot pink cotton candy clouds kissed with sunlight, coming from User knows where, Vanellope covered her mouth and sagged a few feet back in hot shock; everything inside the room had vanished, and though Vanellope was sure it was all still apart of their reality, somehow coded imagination had taken over.

"Uhh... D-Did the dream look ANYTHING like this?" Ralph staggered nervously as the two held on to their exterior swap, even after they had pulled apart. Ralph huffed a shaky chuckle and ogled the gorgeous scenery about him, a sight unlike anyone's wildest dreams. He squinted as Sugar Rush's sun soaked their retinas with renewed goodness, "What's going on, here?"

"This was EXACTLY the dream," Vanellope hissed in wonder, and much to her whole surprise, an entire fleet of massive, golden manta rays suddenly whisked by the two in a rush of excitement, beautiful splashes of colors that lined their wings and stingers, Vanellope shook her head and felt tears sting her eyes, "How... How are we living it out, right now? What is going on?"

"I don't know, but tab in to Gideon's coding, his heartbeat is so loud I can hardly hear you," Ralph grunted, to which Vanellope bobbed a soft, slow nod of realization and allowed the very essence of Gideon's wild, unpredictable coding to just drown their world with wonder. Just as said winding, swirling rivers of hot turquoise came flooding the two like a tidal wave of color, the room whisked to a hot white before everything settled, and Gideon's dark nursery was what their confused, light-stricken eyes had to adjust to like a bolt of lightning. With all ambience suddenly absent, the only thing that could be heard was the ringing in their ears, the heavy panting the two were suddenly doing. Ralph cocked an eyebrow and firmly stared into Vanellope's eyes as they stood, nearly speechless. Ralph managed to grunt her a small, shell-shocked notion, "...The hell was that all about?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Vanellope whispered, she sagged her live-wired hand to Gideon's loading bar, which read at nearly sixty percent, and upon inspecting his rushing, fresh coding, she shrugged and gave Ralph a bewildered look of stumped confusion, "Gid's fine... Th-that was REALLY cool to revisit."

"How did you even DO that?" Ralph gawked, Vanellope tried to catch her breath as she urgently shook her head.

"I-I DIDN'T, Gideon did, I think," Vanellope rushed, "Y-You think it's just... Maybe HE'S having a dream? A baby's coding has wake and sleep cycles, whilst I'm still carrying, right?"

"I mean, yeah, but... Can't you tell if he's awake?" Ralph volleyed, Vanellope nodded and looked off.

"Yeah, true, he IS awake, currently," Vanellope huffed in defeat as she held her forehead, "Sh-should we be concerned? What could this even mean?"

"It's just... Intense imagery, you think maybe he's just... developing brain coding and it's just on overdrive right now, or something?" Ralph rushed, both parents were becoming increasingly nervous and stiff.

"I-I don't know, I think we should probably consult Tessa," Vanellope whimpered, a downswing of rushed emotion suddenly hit her head on, to which she hiccuped a breath and began to look as if she was becoming out of sorts.

"Hun," Ralph cooed, he could immediately tell that Vanellope was en route to panicking.

"Wh-what if... He has like some sort of developmental problem?" Vanellope urged, her voice crackled as big tears welled in her eyes, "Y-You think something like THAT is normal? I mean, as wonderful as it was, I-I just-"

"Vanellope," Ralph urged with a small laugh as he held his hand to her shoulder and wrangled her into a loving hug, once more, "The baby is fine, you're fine, everything is fine... If anything, that was cool as hell. Yeah, let's get Tessa over here to check it out, but... I genuinely don't think anything is wrong."

"You sure?" Vanellope whimpered, to which Ralph pulled out his phone; illuminated in Gideon's dim bedroom, Ralph began tabbing Tessa a quick, slightly urgent text message.

"I'm positive," Ralph hissed, he cutely pushed a few firm kisses into Vanellope's wet cheek and squeezed her into a snuggly hug as he finally slipped his phone back into his pocket. Although he was adamantly reassuring Vanellope all of these things, he bit his lip, over her shoulder, and was secretly just as worried as her. So not to make her stress or worry levels spike, he gave her a carefree smile, a shrug and a gesture out to Gideon's gaping doorway, "C'mon. Tessa will likely be over any minute, she can do a quick reading and see what's up."

"Did she reply to you?" Vanellope whimpered as she wiped her cheeks, her and Ralph slowly strolled into the corridor that lead past their massive bedroom, as well as the main portion of their cozy home.

"No, but knowing the situation, she's probably gunna teleport over here lickity-split," Ralph mumbled, and as if comically on a cue he had planned, the gridded tiles that snaked from their entry way, easily sprawled with eager silver coding, and in a flash, Tessa's being came to fruition just down the stretch of their lovely foyer and entry way. Ralph cocked an eyebrow and shot Vanellope a cheeky look as he warmly unhanded her and found himself a seat at their kitchen island, "What did I tell you..."

"Aw, mom, don't cry," Tessa cooed as she hurriedly walked down their dim entry way; thunder rumbled over the land as she finally stepped into their brightly illuminated kitchen. With the delicious smell of dinner cooking, Tessa was well aware she was welcomed no matter what, though she eased into her mother's gravity and was sure Vanellope wanted rushed comfort so that they could continue on with their lovely, rainy night. Tessa wore a black tank top, a baggy pair of white sweat pants and a tattered hot blue Dead Zed zip up. Her hair was in full-mane form, it looked as if she had previously showered, to which it air dried in chaotic waves of chestnut. She gave her mother a cute, apologetic smile as Vanellope crumpled into tears, and though Tessa was equally spiked with worry, she leveled just like Ralph and sweetly cupped Vanellope's face so to wipe away the tears with her thumbs, "Mom, it's okay, it's okay... Tell me what's going on? Surely Gideon's just fine. You still have a heartbeat?"

"Do we," Ralph grunted as he bugged his eyes and looked off, "Was louder than Theo's drums on stage, it was wild."

"I-I just have been having these CRAZY vivid dreams," Vanellope croaked as Tessa hung close, "I was just telling Ralph about it, and... It was like..."

"The world erupted like a movie screen, we could see literally for miles, we were so high up in the clouds," Ralph rattled, to which Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in piqued curiosity, "I can't even describe it to you... You'd have to experience it for yourself."

"I-I don't think we should goad him, I'm sure that was a lot for his little coding to handle," Vanellope whimpered as more tears billowed in her eyes.

"So, like... It was as if you were in the dream, but you were awake," Tessa pressed as her and Vanellope locked eyes, "You were aware of it, like... Lucid dreaming."

"No, we were awake, it happened JUST now," Vanellope flagged her hand in the direction of Gideon's bedroom, "It was... So magical, I just am scared that it's some sort of issue with his brain coding. I don't want it to be this fantastical thing, only to find that... He's unable to TALK or something, I don't know."

"No matter what, it's a bridge we'd cross if we happened upon it," Ralph encouraged, to which Vanellope nodded and looked down to her hands, "I'm sure he's just fine, love."

"Well, lemme take a look," Tessa eased above a whisper, her motherly warmth filled Vanellope with a very visible show of relief, and as Tessa eased her silver-flared palm in a small wriggle underneath Vanellope's t-shirt, to Gideon's proudly glowing loading bar, Tessa lulled her eyes closed and allowed her coding to sag past Vanellope's, and straight to Gideon's.

Tessa inhaled a deep breath through her nose and allowed Gideon's fresh, lively, coded being to glom onto hers, like a running hug from someone she had known for a lifetime, she immediately beamed an elated little smile and felt the rush of maturity his coding was desperately taking on. As the seconds went on, Tessa furrowed her brows, sagged her smile and could somehow see splashes of color paint the insides of her eyelids, simply as if her imagination was running away from her. Confused, she tried to yank herself out of simply being a spectator, though somehow the rapid image of shooting stars and fluffy white cotton candy clouds soaked her being. Kisses of black and gold, an outreaching hand from the starry universe, it were as if she had escaped her own body and was simply along for the ride of an imagination on the loose. She furrowed her brows a little harder and finally peeled her eyes open, and though she desperately wanted to get lost in the coded, colored nonsense of childlike wonder, she gave her mother and father a cute, furrowed look of piqued curiosity.

"Whoa, what the heck," Tessa whispered, to which Vanellope urgently gestured her hand out.

"I'm SAYING!" Vanellope squealed, to which Tessa blurt a laugh and remained glued to Gideon's flared coding.

"I mean... Everything is in tip top shape, what's in development right now is his eyes, his senses," Tessa ushered with a nod as she aimlessly peered across her mother's and father's lovely home, her masterful coding skillfully danced about Gideon's in patient searching, "His brain has almost fully developed along with it, I think what's next on the agenda is vital organs. His circuited system is strong, he's got all his faculties. Mom, everything checks out."

"Then, what could any of this mean?" Vanellope hummed nervously as Tessa finally unglued herself from Gideon's lively coding, like being tugged by a hyper, young child, the pull was difficult to get from.

"My biggest guess is just... His brain is developing still, I mean a LOT goes into that, he could easily be pulling every ounce of imagination and brain power from you, and since it's all coming together, maybe it's causing these... Hallucinations, for lack of better words," Tessa danced about the word, though she grit her teeth as Vanellope shot Ralph a nervous look.

"Hallucinations," Vanellope repeated, to which Tessa urgently shook her head.

"Mom, I mean, truly... What else would you call being able to see objects and scenarios that aren't tangibly in front of you?" Tessa carefully pressed with a world of care, Vanellope bobbed a nod and nervously looked off. Tessa heaved a sigh through her nose and eased a pleading, apologetic smile to her mother, "Look... I know a lot about core coding, but I have genuinely no clue how to access it in unborn coding. That's territory for Turbo. You think you'd benefit him coming to check it out?"

"Very much so," Vanellope's eyes lit up with renewed hope and a firm nod, to which Tessa gave Ralph a big, knowing smile, one he easily rolled his eyes to and returned.

"Alright, mom, how about... You guys enjoy your dinner, I'll get ahold of Turbo, and... Let's meet in the code room in about an hour, or so, okay?" Tessa cooed as she wiped Vanellope's jawline free of tears, "This is Turbo's and Berri's week to be in Sugar Rush, so... Getting them here, from Orion City, won't be a big task."

"Thank you," Vanellope stated with a shaky sigh and a nod, though she grunted in surprise as Tessa cutely wrangled Vanellope into a big hug.

"Gideon's just fine," Tessa assured, and though she wasn't one hundred percent sure, she was glad said notions at least brought a small smile back to Vanellope's face, "I'm gunna make sure nothing bad happens to my baby brother, okay?"

"He's in good hands," Ralph grumbled cutely, "He's got a whole team of coded masters, Van. Surely Turbo has deeper-rooted answers."

"We'll find out," Vanellope mumbled with a nod, and though she was at least relieved Tessa couldn't spot any warning bells, she grit her teeth and was nervous to potentially unearth something dangerous in Gideon's core coding.