Author's Note
Welcome! Chasing Sundogs is book 6 of 9. The first 5 stories, in this saga, are all grand and magnificent and awful and silly in their own right, but I want to start this story out with something a little different from me. A small piece of my heart before you dive right in to Chasing Sundogs. What started as simple, silly fanfiction 10 years ago has morphed into me finding a husband and manifesting a dream, creating hundreds of pieces of artwork and powering on through these past incredibly intense 10 years. This near-5 million word fanfiction has turned into its own original work and is something I hesitate to call fanfiction any longer.
I didn't even know what category to put Chasing Sundogs in because, as a fair warning, this 6th story, and the 3 concluding stories to follow, will be -largely- removed from the source material, even more so than it already is. Essence of the movie, such as Sugar Rush, the original 4, places on the Internet, -will- be prevalent, but only in small increments. This Saga started as a simple Wreck-It Ralph fanfiction and has now properly morphed into a Wreck-It Ralph/Tron/Ready Player One-esque crossover of a beast. Rated M all the way through.
This saga reached an awesome guy two thousand miles away from me, that same guy I now call my husband. This saga has inspired me to pump out a shit ton of artwork, and now I attend a prestigious art college doing everything I could've ever hoped and dreamed. This saga has helped me unravel my childhood trauma and c-ptsd and I now stand in my own power due to all of this manifesting, all the instances I wrote my precious characters giving each other solid advice and realized, oh crap... I should probably take this advice too. This whole experience has been stupidly meta for me, and to be honest with you, I know I said there'd be 9 stories but that's one hundred percent me desperately attempting to put a lid on all of it because... idk, I guess I shouldn't be scared to go hog wild and officially run away with it all. I have no excuse. I'll look back at this author's note when I'm airing book 9 in another decade and roll my eyes, surely. And, yes! Book 7, 8 and 9 are all plotted with their respective main characters and couples! I've been busy.
-what to expect for uploads/trigger warnings/plot- this DOES NOT contain spoilers-
Chasing Sundogs will move away from the 3 chapters a week style of upload and will be unfortunately going down to 2 chapters a week. Chapters will be uploaded every Sunday and Thursday. I have 2 jobs and attend school full time. I have about 2 months worth of uploads ready to go, so about 15-20 chapters already written, and I have a few minor warnings to make clear.
This 6th story is going to be different from the other 5 I have written. This 6th story has presented me with original-novel-esque amounts of world building and exposition as it branches further away from the source material, and if I'm being honest, it's stretched me as an author. Starting this story was difficult for me, no matter how fun and exciting it is. There are nearly 10 chapters of VERY heavy exposition and world building, and because of that, the beginning of this story may seem slow moving. I promise it will pick up. I considered bouncing around, but these ideas are too precious and I dug my heels in and let it all come out of me. For this story and for uploads, I am shifting to aim for richer quality and less quantity. This will still be a beast of a story, but chapters will be fewer and beefier.
I WILL be posting character sheets, maps and other types of conceptual art on my deviantART, username Vyntresser. None of it is up yet, because I am extremely busy, but please be patient. If you have questions, PM me, I am happy to chat with you guys!
TW/ Surprise! Chasing Sundogs is a relatively tame story. This story delves into the 'human/coded' psyche and will have a more psychological, twisting, dramatic feel, a lot of 'mind-fucks', character over-analysis, secret-keeping and circumstantial betrayal. This story starts out as Gideon's and Kepa's adventure but will shortly be Mimic's tale, Chasing Sundog's main character. The only Trigger/Content Warnings this story will have are the descriptive sex scenes. There will also be moments of gore and violence though from where I'm standing now, this story is going to be a lot brighter than Favor's Game. I got that mostly out of my system, but if anything changes, you guys will be warned.
For any fresh faces that would like one big massive Saga TL;DR, let me know, I can make that happen for my next author's note, in which said TL;DR would include obvious spoilers but would catch you up to speed so you can enjoy this story and not have to slave through all 4.5 million words of previous plot and filler - I'm aware it's intimidating, no matter how many times y'all PM me about it. This is my life's work, I know it's a lot, it's been TEN YEARS AND I'M ON THE SPECTRUM AND THIS IS MY HYPER-FIXATION I GET IT JUST CLICK AWAY IF YOU'RE THAT PRESSED.
Another quick note for people just finding me and might be confused, my name is Tessa, but the character Tessa inside of this story is -not- a self insert, I promise. She had her name years before I even decided to adopt it for myself, I named myself that because I love it and her personality and some of her struggles throughout the saga resonated with me then, and because my given name didn't make sense for me whatsoever. She was a character I created in 2013, and I finally got the gumption to rename myself in 2017. If there is any character that would come the closest thing to being 'self insert', it'd be Gideon, and I'll happily own that lol. His childhood and his experiences are mine told through his eyes. But please know, all 75 of my precious OC's are uniquely separate from me and special in their own way. Including Tessa.
I don't mind if anyone's reading along or not, but if you are, and if you've been here since the beginning, or if you just discovered me and now have 5 books and near-4.5 million words to power through, well... THANK YOU.
And, as always...
Enjoy ;)
*Chasing Sundogs*
*Chapter 1*
Delicately draped in a hug of an impending, pleasant winter, Sugar Rush's night sky sent dainty flutters of fluffy snow to the palace lot in a tepid, slow motion promise of a winter wonderland come sunrise. Although the day had been chaotic, it was now finally showing signs of coming to a hefty close with the draw of an incoming palace meeting. The palace's main kitchen and dining hall was low lit, full of continuous, murmuring conversation, all dregs of explosive, exciting and terrified conversations that had been surely strung together for hours and hours now. Upon regrouping Sugar Rush with not only Dead Zed, Turbotime, Fix-It Felix and Hero's Duty, a mass of Gideon's whole family, immediate and extended, hung around the dining hall's massive near-diamond shaped conference table, a hunk of Sugar Rush's own dark wood. Rich, mahogany-like bark that grew on the jade candy trees on Honeydew Ridge, Gideon sat slumped at a far end with a small group and picked his fingers in a mild stew he had come to settle in. Having been suddenly battling all of the internet's media, having been presented with the idea that due to their absence, Berri's band was now an incredible hot topic; it was something Gideon was grateful to be properly shielded from. With his and Kepa's new, world-ending identity still under wraps, he felt as if all of the attention Archived Chaos was now receiving was a little too close for comfort.
Litwak's Emporium was a massive, two story building that Gideon made sure to run proper readings on. With his findings, not only was there a second floor with hundreds more arcade games than he could even imagine, Litwak's new arcade and more adult-themed fun center had its own separate part of the building where Litwak himself had all of his retro games on a strict, glass-case display. Such games included Fix-It Felix Jr., Turbotime, EZ Living, and a handful of others; where in Tron, unfortunately, wasn't found in any outlet. Due to this new pivot, Ralph, Felix, Turbo and anyone else woven tightly into said game's integral parts of being plugged in, were now free to roam, free to exist, free of game days entirely. Such a stark hit of an eternal vacation, all while keeping the sanctity of their home game, had Ralph and crew reeling. Not only had they managed to sneak a near-deity into their lives, but they had managed to luck out in terms of eternal-vacation days while having the luxury of coming and going from their own homes. Such home games safely tucked away in a room only for displays, of which were also crowned with any awards or achievements Mr. Litwak had earned in his time being at this entertainment business of his. Due to such a stark hit of forever-days off, Turbo and crew now had the ample amount of headspace to switch gears, to really focus on making the hard switch of either being Orion City's keeper full-time, or a rock star on the internet full-time. It was a no-brainer for Zed, he was well aware Turbo was likely due to politely and respectfully bowing out, something Zed and Tessa immediately handled with grace and understanding for their daughter and son-in-law.
Everyone was loosely sat in the palace kitchen's and dining hall's lower levels and securely snug at the side of the table nearest the massive swoop of floor to ceiling windows, of which had a perfect view of the palace's becoming-snowy lot as well as Throttle's humble abode, a cozy home with warm, winking houselights through the flitters of falling snow. Sat with Gideon was Kepa, Emery, Oliver and Mara, all beings that loosely either stood or sat nearby just saturated in the hot topic at hand. The whole room was full of murmuring notions, all words Gideon could swear he had heard at least a million times today. Words like User, Internet, Kepa, Gideon, Callum, Dark Web, Flint, Game Over, it had Gideon lulling his beyond exhausted gaze closed in what he could only just finally feel as a tepid bubbling of wrecking frustration begin to stew in the pit of his stomach. What typically would've pushed him over the edge within hour one of this near-fourteen hour battle with the internet's media, fans, the news, every new game now inside of Litwak's Emporium, was now only finally settling into Gideon's skin in the becoming-cranky side of him he was almost certain he now couldn't allow to surface, due to the nature of his enlightened coding. Still, something in him felt imperfect, it was something he nearly smiled over, he almost relished in the fact that he was finally becoming upset, as if the freshness of this new journey was now very kindly reminding him that there will certainly be unavoidable hard times to come, unavoidable, big emotions, whether that be positive or negative. With this allowance, Gideon granted himself permission to adjust his sitting position, slouch into the hefty wooden chair gathered 'round this massive dining hall, and don the mean mug of the century. As a stereotypical, delightfully and ironically joyous bad boy down to his very core, he almost menacingly smirked to himself and understood this was his true nature, and where ever he went, there he was.
"We've just gotten word from Sugar Rush's King that Archived Chaos is, indeed, alive and well inside of Sugar Rush," A dramatic retelling of normal information droned on to Gideon's left, a nearby holographic display that Zed had opened to the swathe of media outlets that the internet had to offer, all of which buzzed on in near-muted retellings of nearly the same thing over and over again.
Gideon furrowed his brow in a swing of realization, and as he scoured the dining hall, he cued that Zed was missing. Without moving, still sulking in the low-sag of his slouch, he returned his fiery gaze in a stab to the screens Zed had left messily opened at the very head of the dining hall's conference table. It was a promise that Zed was due to quelling the media so that the group could properly return to the incredible, daunting task at hand; somehow returning life back to normal, as normal as Gideon, Kepa and now Archived Chaos would even be allowed to. The lady carried on as Gideon finally gathered his eyes to just which video opened was giving him this information, he fixated to it and took note that said news reporter was outside of Sugar Rush's outlet in real time. On top of her reporting the news, hugging the forcefield over Sugar Rush's outlet was hundreds of screaming fans, Archived Chaos's fanbase of which had only exploded in numbers due to the band's wildly mysterious disappearance for over two years.
"With Archived Chaos alive and well, we'll have to just sit and wait for their debut return to the stages. For now, King Zed has erected an impenetrable forcefield over Sugar Rush's outlet, we're not sure the relationship he has with what was previously Sugar Rush's Queen, Vanellope Von Schweetz," The news lady droned into a chuckle as the camera eagerly panned to the hoards of screaming, adoring fans with their hands desperately resting to the unmoving, silver, glitch-ladened forcefield Zed had skillfully instated, with Lash's help, "It looks like the internet is desperate for new music, especially now that they've made their fortunate return. Back to you, Zoe."
"Unplugs are no joke, even if it's due to an arcade's remodel, these poor arcade cabinets really are just holding onto a prayer at this point," Zoe stated in a murmur of cheeky, nervous laughter that roused out of both news reporters, as if unplugs weren't something they ever had to worry about. Gideon watched the screen cut to Zoe who was clearly anchoring said major news station on the internet, with her colleague having trekked all the way to Litwak's Emporium to get the lowdown, "Well, hopefully Turbo and crew will come out of hiding eventually. That's an intense looking forcefield, y'wonder if they got more than music up their sleeves?"
"Pretty impressive technology for an arcade cabinet that's almost a quarter of a century old, guess we'll see what's to come of this mess," The other news reporter giggled into her microphone, Gideon now largely rolled his eyes and allowed his mean mug to worsen.
"Gideon, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down, you look way too happy right now," Mara muttered sarcastically, she strolled up to Gideon's left and took a seat next to him, with Kepa on Gideon's right; she was lost in conversation with Emery and Oliver nearby.
"I'm so... Exhausted," Gideon's deep voice croaked, he furrowed his eyebrows and firmly rubbed his thumb and first two fingers into his eyes with a hefty, grumbly rub of depleted ability to carry conversation. Gideon now donned a hoodie and comfortable grey jeans with holes in the knees. He grimaced, readjusted his sitting position and fumbled due to the line of spikes down his back, as well as the long, incredible tail he had that spilled underneath the huge table him and everyone sat at. On top of this incredibly crazy day that felt like an eternity, he had to navigate all of it with a brand new appendage, a brand new version of himself that now awkwardly didn't fit into his old life. An uncomfortable feeling of constantly fidgeting, he could feel it all boiling to a head, no matter how level headed he has been for the entire day. He tossed Mara a soft look through the messy spill of his auburn bangs, he grunted a long sigh and shooks his head, "I know self-appointing myself had nothing to do with Litwak's two-year rebuild into this beast of an Arcade, but... It's just..."
"The perfect storm," Mara mused tenderly with a nod, she eyed Gideon in humble pride and shrugged her dainty shoulders, of which clipped the undersides of her short, lovely, pastel blue hair, "Don't beat yourself up, Uncle Gideon, I'm fairly sure that your only task, for now, is to just... Stay hidden, let the spotlight take Berri and them away. I don't think it'd be a good thing that the internet discovers, well... You. At least for now, while we're all getting back on our feet."
"Well, it has been two years, after all," Rancis mumbled to the two; he sat one gap away from Mara, to her left, though said gap was bigger than normal due to it being the head of the table, where Zed had been coming and going from all evening; his manifested cold brew grew a ring of sweat beads at the base and onto the coaster provided.
"I just... User, I feel so useless," Gideon muttered tiredly, and though Mara donned a frozen look of entire, vehement disagreeing, she allowed Gideon to carry on with how he was feeling deep down, "Two years... Two years, and Callum just... I mean the whole world is his oyster, he has my old coding, he's now surely a master at whatever he's doing, it's been two whole fucking years."
"And what of Vye," Mara murmured in sweet sorrow, Rancis rubbed his forehead and looked as if Gideon's words, not new information, was beginning to fry his brain.
"Callum's got two years over me, Flint, all of them do," Gideon worried crankily, he sharply grimaced and readjusted his tail of which some of the spines were digging into the wooden chair he was uncomfortably sat in.
"Everything okay?" Berri's voice suddenly sprung as she stiffened to Zed's approaching figure, turned around and sat a bit straighter; she was further away from Gideon, Mara, Kepa and Rancis. She sat with Wren, Turbo and Theo, all of which looked way more blistered than Gideon was physically leading on, though as Zed finally returned back to the palace's kitchen in the send off of the news outlet, as well as giving Sugar Rush's racers a finalized game plan for safety protocols, during game day, Zed approached the table where about two dozen of his immediate family members hung, individuals important to the situation at hand. Berri gripped the table in urgency and peered up to her father as he tiredly approached, now curiously dressed in winter gear when not fourteen hours ago, Sugar Rush was a balmy beach-scape of summer solace. She hurriedly pressed on as Turbo reached his hand out and rubbed her back, as if to attempt to soothe her, though clearly not much could do the trick in this heated event, "Gunner just texted me and said that he has old contractors and managers blowing up his phone."
"Gunner's safe in Sugar Rush, Bear, I think we're all due to getting barraged at one point or another," Wren soothed nervously, knowing Gunner was now equally laying low in a temporary abode made for him on palace grounds.
"He knows not to text out, Berri, it's going to be okay," Zed's fatherly, dominant voice soothed as he came closer to where Berri, Turbo, Wren and Theo sat. He scoffed a small laugh and put his hands on his hips as he admired the group before him, "Who woulda thunk... You guys were clearly on the cusp of stardom before we vanished, I guess, cause the whole entire internet is freaking out that you've genuinely returned."
"Yeah, Gideon did say that Archived Chaos's songs were playing in the Game Over arena," Lash murmured, sat a few people down from Wren, opposite of Gideon's side of the table, it was only here did everyone now very slowly steal apprehensive glances in Gideon's direction.
Arms crossed, hood drawn, the tuft of auburn that spilled out of the top of said hood and his forehead, is haunting golden gaze looked on in a show of now fully promised, unbridled power. Every last ounce of User goodness now so tidily gifted to him, a being so indescribably deserving of it, it was here did everyone now very swiftly understand that Gideon was still a man, at his core. A perfect being with imperfect emotions and thoughts, it was only here did everyone understand that this incredible swathe of power was surely not for the weak. A beast that promised to remain cool, a lover adamant about giving back, a friend that everyone understood they could now confidently lean on for support, it was all so lovely and beautiful until the final cherry on top was carefully assessed and discovered to be that of a blackened, juicy, poisonous dollop of spice Gideon proudly flaunted. A tender hearted, fragile being at his core, it all came with such a cute, tidy little reminder that this beast in their presence was still, indeed, a Game Over winner. A beast with thirty-seven kills under his belt. Said beast now so generously gifted unending power. Such a roll of gentle, silent realization and understanding hit the dining hall, and only exterior conversations beyond this one quietly murmured on whilst everyone else nervously held their eyes to Gideon in baited, awestruck, humbled terror.
"Your guys' song 'Take It In' was playing on the radio while Jukkit was tattooing me," Gideon's darker, grumbling tone laid on the group with the outward promise that he was now going to just shelf any 'almighty being' stoic air and allow his temporarily cranky self to just exist in the harmony of both good and bad, "He even knew who you guys were... He asked me if I had heard of your guys' music, and..."
Berri's twinkling eyes nervously held to her uncle's, she froze and felt the edges of her lips so delicately curl as Gideon tossed his eyes down and away, as if to avoid smiling.
"I told him that Berri was my niece, and... It took all of me not to gush about it, honestly," Gideon shyly and crankily murmured, Turbo donned a happy smile and looked to Berri, who then looked down at her hands and bashfully twiddled her fingers.
"Thanks, Uncle Gideon," Berri cooed lovingly, Gideon sucked in a huge breath through his nose and bobbed a nod of tepid acknowledgement, as if to now surely promise to the group that Berri got the last dollop of tenderness he could afford today.
"Not only are there fans outside the game, but there are fans inside of Sugar Rush, at the palace's edge," Zed stated through a long winded, exhausted sigh, "Even though they've been unplugged with us, the hype that Berri is the future Queen of this game, with their band's now insane celebrity status due to these wild, disappearance conspiracies... We're underneath a really intense spotlight."
"It's the ultimate last place we want Gideon and Kepa to be," Tessa finally mumbled over her intense work, a splay of holographic displays she had at the other, far away end of said dining hall table. She sat with Ralph, Vanellope, Ace and Beaux, she tucked her fluffy, wavy auburn hair behind her ears, eyed her father and then tossed her gaze across the group, to Gideon, "Alright, team... We got some scary decisions to make, here."
"Can we leave Gideon out of it temporarily?" Gideon suddenly stated with a push of gentle, biting confidence, though with the way everyone drew eyes to him in a sting of sorrowful confusion and patient listening, it was here did he understand that due to his new nature, the people in his life were now lightning-quick to take every tiny little thing he ever said dead seriously. Kepa flattened her ears, officially peeled from the conclusion of her conversation with Emery and tenderly wormed her hand into Gideon's, which was nearly a balled fist in his lap. Gideon huffed a shaky exhale, hooked his eyes into his mate's, sagged his shoulders and now faltered on a tender, lightened chuckle to somehow try and prove that he wasn't due to going awol, he just was having a human moment. He rubbed his forehead and returned his shy, swooping glance about his peers as he hurriedly pressed on to try and lighten the swallow of grumpiness he had just emit out into the air, "I-I mean like... I'm sorry, I'm just extremely exhausted, all the... Code-maneuvering I was doing earlier, the circuits in my body kind of hurt."
"Y-You can go if you need to, bud, it's okay," Tessa assured with a whole world of warmth and gentleness, and with this, Gideon inhaled a deep, raspy breath, shook his head and politely dismissed her idea with a tiny nod-headshake combo.
"She's right," Kepa quietly cooed to him in agreeing, Gideon lovingly squeezed her hand and desperately did what he could to not be cranky.
"N-No, it's... It's okay, I'm just tired, but I know this is important," Gideon murmured in humbled defeat, though he sagged back in the millionth readjustment he took in his seat and now urgently felt the need to source Elkuorra and Sezeke.
With the hot reminder that they had gone home for the evening, back to their abode inside the flyer's enclosure, Gideon finally broadened his proverbial scope to their precious lighthouse, still confidently standing, even after this whole whirlwind of a day. The idea of going back now felt as if it was four hundred years in the past, though only half a day and two years unplugged was put between them. With the idea that Sezeke wasn't around to help him figure out the best sitting position for furniture now not built for him, he angrily began to feel as if he had massively outgrown this place and said normal, tepid feeling was due to hitching a ride with his becoming-messy attitude and crankiness.
"So, the first order of things is... Turbo, Berri, Wren, Theo," Tessa started as the huge group about the table now quietly concluded their own separate conversations and hooked their undivided attention to the overwhelming, swallowing topic at hand, "I know this is a lot to take in, I know this is a huge question to answer, but... We all need to know what your next move is going to be. Whether you stay here and let the press die, let the excitement and prospects dissipate in the hopes of living a normal life here, or..."
"Go Turbo," Ralph grunted quietly under his breath, stationed loosely to Tessa's right; the group erupted into happy laughter as Ralph shyly rubbed his face and looked off, as if to pretend he wasn't the one that spoke up.
"Yeah, I... I think we, as a unit, would be stupid to not game jump our way right out of here," Turbo's deep voice mumbled in certainty, though it still held a shake of nervousness as all four band members excitedly glossed their eyes to each others, "It's difficult because, I think all four of us want to rush out and make this happen, but the thing that concerns me is our safety. We're tied to the events that took place, we're tied to Callum as his family."
"That man is not my family," Lash darkly muttered, though it was here did Gideon sharply furrow his eyebrows and somehow feel insulted by Lash's notion; he held his breath and hovered, something in him told him to just be still and assess maybe just why Lash feels this strongly, if his words are even potentially displaced, though it was quickly overrode by Gideon's ability to allow crankiness to overcome him.
"As weird as it all sounds... We need to find a place, on the internet, that will be safe for us to live in either temporarily, while we tour, or..." Turbo trailed off, eyed his band mates and then very hesitantly peered into Tessa's eyes, across the stretch, "Permanently."
"It's the internet, there's no code room, no... Regeneration, I mean, right?" Wren urged in a lilt of genuine worry, he tossed his eyes to Throttle, Gideon, then all the way to Tessa, "Is there even a place where we could escape to that would guarantee our official safety?"
"The Sundog," Both Kepa and Gideon stated, with Gideon's tone grumbling and Kepa's perked and full of sunny certainty, though with such a weird grapple at loose information, Kepa and Gideon both furrowed their eyebrows and slowly turned to peer into each other's eyes.
"... The what-now?" Wren huffed nervously as he, again, tossed his eyes to Throttle, Gideon and Tessa; Gideon rubbed the back of his head and sharply pondered what the hell just happened.
"I don't know where that just came from," Gideon squinted, looked off and truly seemed to be out of sorts at this point. He grunted a loud noise, sat up, shoved his elbow to the hefty wooden conference table and shoved his palm messily into his temple and brow. He carried on through an exhausted croak, "I-It's like... I have a stupid amount of access to information but it just like comes in weird, flitting glimmers of ideas. Not coherent thoughts."
"Yeah, it was like... We knew the answer, but how, why," Kepa staggered in full agreeing as her and Gideon caught eyes in a very fragile string of romantic, enchanted wonder, as if the day may have gotten entirely out of control, though the fact that this was their reality now had them resurfacing with easy, tender smirks into each other's eyes.
"That's not something you heard about while you were in the Game Over Arena or anything?" Tessa wondered cutely across the stretch.
"No, I would've said something so long ago," Gideon barked with an incredulous chuckle as he sat up and gestured his arm out a little.
"Okay, so... We should research The Sundog," Tessa muttered in full confusion as she tossed her eyes to her father, her first born and then again into Gideon's eyes.
"I-I-It's... It's like..." Gideon perked up with another wave of temporary, fleeting energy as he looked up and gestured his hands, as if somehow he knew this place well, "Above a cloud. It's there, it's like... I have no clue how to describe it."
"THE cloud?" Lash wondered, Gideon snapped his fingers and then shrugged.
"Well, like... Yeah, the internet has a cloud?" Gideon staggered, Lash bobbed a nod and heaved a long sigh.
"I've only been on the internet maybe three times in my life, but from what I recall, it's the thing you pass through in order to get to the internet," Lash assured with a nod, "You're... You're saying there's land above that cloud you're technically shot down through?"
"Or, is it a land below that cloud and you're technically shot up through it?" Kepa hurriedly mused, her faint whiskers sprawled in adorable, childlike wonder.
"...Is that what we're saying?" Gideon prod as he angled his body a little and firmly peered into Kepa's eyes; his other half to this nonsense, he was floored to be able to lean in on someone who truly understood just what Gideon was going through.
"Yeah, that sounds right, either which way," Kepa nodded in certainty, she looked sure of this, though Gideon scratched his forehead and felt as if his brain was desperately trying to pick up on radio signals but the connection was poor.
"How do we get there?" Berri inquired in a show of rising, nervous excitement; she sat a little straighter and tucked her brilliant, shoulder-length blue hair behind her ears.
"I'm not sure," Gideon mused sorrowfully as he continued to rub his forehead.
"As long as we're safe from Callum, or, rather," Lash looked off and meanly cocked an eyebrow, "He's safe from us."
"He's safe from us anyways, Lash," Gideon finally barked in a spike of annoyance that was wildly beginning to boil over.
"You're telling me, that if you got Callum in a room and had the chance to end him, you wouldn't?" Lash overrode Gideon's fervor, though with the way Gideon inhaled a readied breath, the whole group bugged their eyes and sagged in on themselves, in their seats.
"Uh, no?" Gideon shouted as he wildly gestured his hand out, everyone flinched, "Also! While you're at it, might want to cut the word vomit and understand that Callum's father is currently present."
"I'm Rancis," Rancis mumbled dryly, sadly, he peered down to the pen he was merely tinkering with; Tessa stifled a giggle.
"Sorry, not sorry," Lash very bravely retort, Rancis squeezed his eyes shut in the hit, though it was here did Gideon feel as if he was about to explode, everyone could sense an eruption coming; they were entirely relieved to see Kepa put her hand on Gideon's upper arm and fervently hiss him a delicate notion about calming down.
"Really. You're really gunna go there," Gideon now loudly urged, to which Kepa rolled her eyes, slumped her hand away from Gideon and looked off; what looked to be just musing annoyance from Gideon's mate was now a whole wall of terror from the mere mortals they were sat with, with Lash at the helm of very bravely wishing to go toe to toe with the scariest, most fragile reformed villain on the face of creation.
"I'm really gunna go there," Lash loudly mocked, to which Gideon sharply furrowed his brow, sat back and donned a mean grin, all of his facial piercings glinted in the warmer overhead lights above and about them.
"So, you want to murder your family member just because he's lost and deranged and confused?" Gideon sharply argued, he shoved his pointer finger down into the table and hissed Lash a continued notion of full crankiness, "You know who else was once lost and deranged and confused?!"
"Oh, do not even start, that's so different Gideon, and you know it," Lash angrily yelled as he pounded his fist down to the table, the whole entire group sat back and shot looks of bewildered terror into each other's eyes, the sheer fact that Lash was genuinely not backing down from someone now suddenly as formidable as Gideon.
"It's not different at all and you know it," Gideon aggressively retort with a sharp gesture of his tattooed hand, he angrily growled on, his golden eyes eagerly fixed tight to Lash's, across the stretch, "I had a moment with Callum, out in Arcadia... Two years ago, which literally felt like this morning, I still can't get my head around it."
"What, did he whisper sweet nothings at you? Convince you and change your mind about killing him on the spot?" Lash eased in snide meanness, it was here did Gideon now begin to understand that he wasn't battling Lash, he was potentially battling the outrageously protective feelings he had for Gideon; it was here did Gideon feel full understanding coat his soul in a soothe of eased anger, anger that now rapidly began to dwindle, however temporary that may be.
"... Oddly enough, yeah, you could say that," Gideon shrugged as he furrowed his brow and looked off in a slump of curious contemplation.
"Well, that's sweet, but I want vengeance," Lash stabbed, Gideon reanimated.
"You are preaching to the choir!" Gideon loudly retort as he firmly gestured his bigger fingers to his chest, "It's all I wanted too, you know this! But he's lost and sad and confused. We have to help him, we have to. We have to help Vye, Jukkit, Albar, Ora and Callum! We don't have a choice, these people are our family!"
"YOU'RE my family!" Lash suddenly hollered through the final strain and croak of oncoming tears, and though his voice echoed into the dining halls lovely walls, a reverberation of truth that hit Gideon's heart dead on, Gideon finally fell silent and now fully understood what this was all about. Both men fervently peered hard into each other's eyes from across the stretch, a solid fifteen seconds of painful silence went by before Wren was the one to ever so subtly cue his telekinesis powers, lift a stack of papers from across the way and fall into a full display of method acting.
"CUT! Alright, great work, let's take it from the top," Wren stabbed loudly as he furrowed his brow, looked down to the papers in his hand, crossed his right ankle over his left knee, licked his thumb and began to messily turn the pages. He jostled his black-rimmed glasses tighter into his face, squinted into the sheet and then tossed a playfully authoritative look to Lash, over his shoulder, "This time, I think Gideon should jump up on the table, and Lash, you confess your undying love for Gideon and we'll like... We'll see if we have to write a kissing scene into the script, I'm gunna have to go back to the drawing board, if that's the case. We can just start this whole chapter over, if we need."
Gideon panted through his nose and felt his diaphragm do a wiggle of desperately wanting to laugh, though he sharply flinched as the group about him now loudly did it for him. Lash sagged his shoulders, shyly looked down with a whole swathe of adorable humility and now wiped his teary, muted grey eyes in a sting of embarrassment.
"We love you, Gideon... Callum has massively hurt all of us in this, but, he's probably hurt you the most," Ralph mumbled knowingly, he eyed his youngest child with a great swathe of full, gentle sincerity and understanding, "You may not feel the effects of Callum's hurt any longer, but we do... We feel it for you. Sure, Callum is family and we're gunna see to it that he's hopefully brought back to us, but... You have to know that if Callum returns, he not only has to answer for everything he's currently doing, but everything that he has done... To you."
Gideon sagged and officially allowed his crankiness and exhaustion to be entirely shelved. He knew today was extremely difficult and exhausting for everyone, though he dropped his walls in an easy swing of defeat and bobbed a nod of full understanding. He only bravely tossed his eyes in Lash's direction and was almost relieved to see Lash diligently doing everything he could to avoid it. Gideon huffed a shaky chuckle through his nose and shook his head as the love Lash had for him very openly hit him head on. He knew they were the best of friends, though having it now sag into something a bit more cozy and familial had Gideon feeling renewed left and right. Even through all of this struggle and all of these crazy changes, Gideon got a good look around and felt unwavering companionship with the family he had tight by his sides.
"I'm sorry," Gideon mumbled in low apology, he bobbed a nod and lulled his eyes closed, "I'm also trying to be sensitive to Uncle Rancis..."
"I've... grieved," Rancis cautiously started, he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, "Em... I'm currently grieving, it's getting easier with each day, but, I appreciate you looking out. It will never be easy to lose a child, especially to grieve a being that's still alive. Ralph and Vanellope know this well."
The group fell silent again and really took in the whole detriment to this situation. It wasn't until Gideon's raspy inhale caught Lash's shy, teary attention that both men held gazes in a sharp sting of tight-lipped authority neither were willing to let crumple just yet.
"The only way we're going to be able to move forward, with the band, is by me going into the internet and scouting for this place," Gideon began cautiously; Tessa slumped her face into her hands and proverbially bowed out of the conversation due to intense dread, something Gideon caught onto, "Tessa, I know... I know."
"I can't keep doing this! None of us can," Tessa begged as she released her face from her hands and peered Gideon down in teary desperation, "Lash is right, Gideon, you're our family, and you're now this... This...!"
"...God," Oliver shyly and nervously huffed into the group, and with a peel, everyone slowly gave Gideon and Kepa looks of equal bewilderment and pride.
"All the more reason to trust me," Gideon pressed his hand to his chest and glanced to Kepa in a full swing of understanding, "Kepa and I can go sometime soon... I've been to the internet, hell, I lived there for two months. Granted I don't have it mapped, I still know what I'm doing."
"We can go with our coding cloaked, find a safe place for the band to reside, and... We'll come back with our findings and go from there," Kepa kindly assured with a happy nod and a confident smile, though Lash lifted and gestured his hand in a teary, tight-lipped show of undoing.
"I'm going with you," Lash argued, Gideon reanimated once more.
"No, you're not," Gideon barked, Kepa covered her face and groaned a wildly annoyed obscenity.
"I may not be the User of all Users but I was a User before you were ever even a blip in the algorithm, Gideon Fox Von Schweetz," Lash loudly steamrolled Gideon's attempt at winning, and it was here was everyone all grins at the wild show both boys were putting on for them, "I'm going with you."
"Lash," Gideon pawed in frustration, Lash squeezed his eyes shut and firmly shook his head.
"That's FINAL!" Lash loudly stabbed, though as the group fell silent in anticipation for Gideon's retort, Mara let out a shaky breath she was holding and firmly rubbed her temple.
"User dammit, that means I'm going too, huh," Mara murmured, the group rolled into laughter, once more.
"No one is going anywhere until we've all had at least one full night of restful sleep," Zed tiredly urged as he gestured his hands down to his holographic displays, most of which were still daintily reporting the news; it all shooed away, to which Zed lifted his now melted cold brew and sarcastically cheers-ed the whole group before him, "I'm exhausted, meeting adjourned."
I've created artwork for this chapter on my DA titled 'White Noises and Dark Matters' username Vyntresser
