Reviews :

Burgie : Yeah, you'll come to find Oliver becomes a solid point of contention, alongside Callum. Both boys endure the worst of it before it can get better, unfortunately.

Snake557 : Yes! That is VERY old artwork, and is sort of still canon, actually! It was drawn so insanely long ago, long before I had the plot wrinkled out, but it still is somewhat canon, so that's cool! Yeah the scene where she's like UH you mean to tell me your sister is the QUEEN? And Gideon's like lol lets calm down. And Kepa's near-having a conniption fit lmao. Similar stuff happens, just a handful of things about that scene are different. Including Kepa's surprise that his sister is the Queen lol. And yes, as for Oliver, this mirrors how I was treated in my earrrrly dating days. I had a long distance boyfriend for, let's be honest, a little too long, but in the beginning, no one supported me except maybe one aunt and one friend, and they all thought he was fake for a hot minute. Their lack of support really ruined my trust. We eventually met and went on to date for 6 years and though they tried to support me, it was clear they were gritting their teeth. I never understood why, but I'm now chalking it up to my unhealthy religious upbringing. Which is why I am the way I am today xD


Song Listened To :

NDA by Billie Eilish - this song is incredibly moody and it's so good for writing chapters, this sucks x_x


*Chapter 78*

No longer interested in the theater of pretending to step into Academy's doors, aimlessly wander deeper into the halls before leaving just as the bell rang, Gideon marched into Turbotime's golden outlet with a push of purpose, all by himself. Wearing a black hoodie, grey jeans, his infamous, tattered brown sling bag and the fire in his eyes, he eased into Turbotime's sprinkly, grey and gloomy morning atmosphere. He smiled with the feeling of very faint, far and few in between kisses of raindrops that splayed the humid air. With a climate similar to Dead Zed's, summers were muggy whilst winters eventually chilled to the bone. He could feel excitement crawl over him with the idea of his and Kepa's lovely, heated lighthouse inviting him in, a full day of grey skies so easily and safely bubbling the universe's source of sunlight all cutely wrapped into one renovated little lighthouse. He inhaled a deep breath and felt the skin come unglued from his skeleton as his coding was nearly rocked off the face of Arcade. With a zip of silver coding, he halted his bare feet in cold surprise as Tessa suddenly appeared directly before him.

"... For fuck's sake, Tessa, you scared me," Gideon hissed quietly, though in the split second image of Tessa's figure a few feet before him, he immediately felt panic hit his skin, secrets began to want to unfurl, he proverbially grappled with every single last duck he had previously tidied in a single row, now haphazardly fleeing him.

"Oopsie," Tessa meeped cutely, she had her ams crossed, her eye contact was very firm and adamant, almost like a shield of offense that had Gideon nervously taking a few stumbling steps backwards. She raised her eyebrows in baited sweetness, tilted her head up and, with the sly little tuck of her tongue between her top and bottom teeth, she narrowed her eyes and huffed him a hushed, sly notion of discovery, "Where'yah headed?"

"To Vidrix," Gideon skillfully sidestepped; although yesterday was exhausting, having gotten a good night's sleep was enough to give him the courage to continue on with bold-face lies. Feeling the weight of it all, he worried he'd crack under Tessa's intense, Queenly presence. His eyes slyly dart to the train station, about fifty feet off. Although he wasn't previously headed in that direction, he was well aware that it was now his new, temporary direction, so to get Tessa off the potential scent of his secretive lighthouse. With the way Tessa's eyes were glued up into his with stern authority masked in a very real show of cheeky tease, Gideon now darkly furrowed his eyebrows and began to put forth a full display of defensiveness, "Why does it matter?"

"Cause you're ditching Academy," Tessa muttered, though much to Gideon's whole dismay, she took note of the sly little glance Gideon took to the nearby, outdoor little train hub. Empty, due to the train just recently leaving and heading across the gap of nature to Vidrix city, Tessa cocked an eyebrow and peered her eyes back to Gideon's in dark discovery, "So, you're just pretending to everyone that you're attending Academy so you can sneak away and hang out in Vidrix all day?"

"Yeah, I'm job searching," Gideon fibbed; he inwardly bit his tongue and now wondered why he was piling lies on top of lies. Although he was well aware he was digging himself his own grave, he was desperate now to get out of Tessa's gravity. With one step out and to the side, a new press to the train station, he jolted in a flinch of hot surprise the second Tessa's vivid silver coding glitched her so she was stood directly in Gideon's path, once more. He scuffed to a heavy halt, now largely glowered her down and felt the bully in him begin to rise in the form of protective anxiousness, "Tess... Knock it off, leave me alone."

"Look, I don't care what you do here, you're safe in Turbotime, I think that's all that matters," Tessa muttered as she looked down at her nails in teasing nonchalance; it was only now did Gideon's brain finally un-boggle from her first jump scare to notice that she was dressed and ready for a long day at Academy. Gideon felt his heart sink, she was someone that offered him room to eat with just her, she was also someone that was potentially lonely, though as vivid memories of being excluded continued to prod the back of his brain, he firmly reminded himself that he was due to keeping literally everyone inside Sugar Rush at arms length, "What I'm NOT fond of is the idea that you're blatantly lying to mom and dad."

"Ignorance is bliss," Gideon chirped with a sarcastic smile and a shake of his head, he took yet another step out and about Tessa only to be jarred by the halt of her silver glitching abilities, quick as lightning, once more. Gideon now lulled his eyes closed in a boil of seething frustration, stiffened his spine and could feel a mountain of anger rise inside of him, "Tessa... I swear to User."

"Let me get this straight," Tessa chirped, and though she looked up, fingered her chin, crossed her arms and began to nonchalantly circle Gideon's figure, he stood still in molten frustration and glowered forward. Although he had the out he wanted, to get to the train station, he knew it was useless in the Queen's presence. Tessa huffed a giggle and slowly circled Gideon in a moseying fashion, Gideon's ears pricked as her bare feet crunched on the dead leaves below, "You're upset over things that happened in your childhood, you're frustrated that no one seems to understand... So, instead of maybe sitting people down and explaining just why you're so bent out of shape, you decide to just up and leave Academy and be cold to us for inquiring? At least own that you left, dude, no one's gunna care."

"You really think that's why I'm upset? You're really there, huh," Gideon muttered as he meanly eyed the top of Tessa's head as she came back around. She scuffed to a stop and gestured her hands and arms outwards, as if to be mildly confused, "I went the last half of my adolescence feeling like an afterthought. You wanna know what that does to someone's psyche? Someone who's brain coding wasn't fully developed yet?"

"You have NEVER been an afterthought, Gideon," Tessa defended, Gideon rolled his eyes and looked off.

"Remember Christmas last year?" Gideon muttered, Tessa huffed a noise of detest and tried to thwart him, though Gideon skillfully continued on, "Penny made everyone those beautiful stockings and forgot about me. What about the summer vacation mom was planning? Oliver booked that room at the resort and forgot to put my name in the line-up because I was the only one that wasn't labelled as an adult, and thus had to sleep on the couch and had no privacy."

"Gideon, that's-"

"You wanna talk about my very first day at Pre-A entirely overshadowed by Tatum? That outcome sucked and I'm in no way wishing her pain, but that excitement was robbed from me and you know it," Gideon's voice strengthened a little, to which Tessa now peered to him in a tight-lipped show of rising frustration, "Hundreds of times someone has half-heartedly asked me about my artwork so quick to be overshadowed by wedding talk, or babies, or Academy boys. Passive aggressive notes left on bathroom mirrors that read 'comparison steals joy', aptly placed so I'd see it..."

"Blame Koko for those," Tessa muttered nervously; hesitant to throw her little sister under the bus, she grimaced and desperately tried to hold her own due to warning Koko against said idea.

"I blame everyone. I blame everyone for trampling over me, the countless times Oliver has physically shoved on my face and told me to shut up because, oh, I don't know, I was a child and was maybe being a little too loud. The amount of times I had to resort to playing with an imaginary friend because I went entirely ignored, but then made fun of for relying on said imaginary friend," Gideon's voice began to grow in decibels, so much so that the trees nearby began to clip said nonsense, "Mom and dad would give up on me and leave me to cry myself to sleep, as a hurt child. My art show being shadowed by Koko's engagement? No one thinking I was adult enough to keep THAT huge of a secret? Countless parties I wasn't invited to simply because it ran past my stupid bed time? No one came to rescue me the next day, no one cared to level with me. It's not like I had Callum to pal around with, do NOT even get me started on Callum."

"Gideon, I don't know what this has to do with ditching Academy and putting mom and dad in a weird situation, why ditch in the first place?" Tessa firmly urged, though she flinched as Gideon grit his teeth and dared to bend down a little and get in her face.

"Because at least now I'm not drowning in everyone's shadows," Gideon meanly hissed in a sarcastic whisper, the gold in his eyes was hot enough to feel, rain-speckled skin cold with the mist now easily bruised with the heat of Gideon's fervor, "I'm off to find people who genuinely care about me, who genuinely want to hear what's on my mind and heart. I don't want the stupid cookie-cutter way of life you guys have paved before me. I don't want to go to Academy and get married and have babies and be boring. Sorry."

"No one is EXPECTING you to do any of that, Gideon, I just don't understand this mindset you have," Tessa huffed in hot irritation, to which Gideon shook his head and looked off.

"No, I know you're not, but it's what I have to do in order to be somewhat accepted into the fold," Gideon gestured to his chest, "I'm only going to do things and go places I feel authentically excited about, and Academy isn't it. With the lot of you jerks inside? Hard pass. Callum had the balls to finally invite me to hang with them, and, quite frankly, I'd rather he spit in my face and move along."

"That's nice, Gideon," Tessa stabbed, she gave Gideon a dirty look and shook her head, "So, you're different. So, you're misunderstood. Why can't you help us understand? Why can't you TELL Oliver and Koko, and whoever else that has hurt your feelings, how you feel?"

"It's my responsibility, as a child, to instruct everyone how I should be treated?" Gideon gawked sarcastically as he stood straight, he clasped his bigger hands together and was happy to cause a scene, "I'm supposed to remind everyone not to forget me, talk over me, physically shove me away, ignore me at Pre-A for months until it was cool to suddenly not ignore me? The second I hit puberty and gained height over everyone and somewhat resembled an adult, suddenly I was wanted?"

"Gideon, we can't go back and change anything," Tessa begged sorrowfully, she gestured to her chest and, although desperate to level with Gideon and come out on top of all of this, she was well aware this was a wedge, a wedge with Gideon's full intent to put it between him and everyone inside Sugar Rush, something she was nervous she couldn't stop from happening.

"I just need to be without you guys... I can't go skipping into Academy, suddenly included, when the child in me is just..." Gideon grunted, looked off and was well aware the little, innocent version of himself, deep inside, was his kryptonite. The vivid fire in his eyes was now properly extinguished with a sudden, billowy presence of tears. His deep voice crackled with the emotion that now crawled up his esophagus with purpose, he shook his head and grimaced a little. Although he composed himself nicely, his voice still shook with a nasally kiss of true sorrow, "...Begging. Begging for a childhood of warmth and camaraderie. I was extremely lonely, it can't just be erased by a lunch invite, a bandaid on a gaping wound."

Tessa heaved a long, heavy sigh through her nose and, although Gideon was the one to be getting emotional in a concealed show of maturity, she was well aware that if he were to full-on cry in front of her, she'd likely lose her marbles as well. Grateful he had reined it in nicely, she also knew there was a much deeper, sorrowful conversation here between the two, one that needed to be eventually unearthed, a bare of souls Tessa was well aware Gideon was safe partaking in with her. Honored to have this very secretive display of Gideon's trust, she lulled her eyes closed and knew that no matter how upset she was, no matter how she had greatly misunderstood her baby brother, she knew getting angry and strong-arming his needs was absolutely not the answer. Although her eyes filled with tears as well, she successfully blinked them back and was glad to catch eyes with Gideon's glower of frustration so very skillfully masking a world of childlike innocence and hurt.

"I'm sorry, Gideon," Tessa mumbled, rain began to cutely dot the ends of their auburn hair like dew, "I really tried to advocate for you, in your childhood, but... Surely there was more I could've done."

"It's okay, you gave me space to exist, you at least showed more interest than anyone, except mom. I'm forever grateful for that wall," Gideon eased with a nod as he looked down, "No one else, except mom and dad, had ever given me such a wide display of acceptance, like that. And... The road goes both ways. I'm not innocent in a lot of this, like my attitude now and how I'm choosing to go about all of this, but, it just felt more weighted because... Tessa, I was a child."

"I know, it's not fair for anyone, but... Yeah... You didn't know any better, or any different," Tessa gently agreed, she firmly caught eyes with Gideon and narrowed her gaze, "Gideon, you know I'm always in your corner... You KNOW you can tell me anything. I earned that crown, fair and square, it's in my job description. Our past wasn't all weddings and babies and Academy. We went through hell to gain this life, and we're reaping the benefits of all that trauma. Gideon, Lickity and Orion DIED. Lash was the villain and we hated him. Turbotime didn't even exist in Arcade... Self-programmed gamers were, and still are, demonized. You need to forgive us for really relishing in normalcy we've earned."

"I wasn't apart of that life, I can't understand any of that because I wasn't there for any of it, and that's something I can't help," The fire reignited in Gideon's being, he spoke with his chest, he gestured to himself in firm jabs and began to look desperate, "You guys can't look at me and say you totally just don't understand ME because I've BEEN here! You guys were here and able to really lean into me, you guys were ready and available the second I took my first breath. My childhood consisted of anxiously reading rooms, survival responses that happened outside of my control, I was forever lofted misguided, toxic positivity that ignored genuine sorrow happening within me. I'm done wearing a mask, and I'm tired of being in the shadows. Your guys weird, intense trauma drooled all over me and formed me into this... This... MONSTER."

"What are you REALLY doing in Turbotime, Gideon," Tessa darkly urged in a rush of exhaustion as she lulled her teary eyes closed, shook her head in soft frustration and, in said swing of all these actions, simultaneously agreed with everything Gideon was fervently saying; it was in this little kiss of an emotional read did Gideon understand that this was a disarmed question, a plea of leveling Gideon was desperate for all along.

"I've found the lighthouse," Gideon shakily confessed as he looked off, though in his peripheral, he could see Tessa's whole demeanor brighten in a show of reserved shock. He frowned and looked down to his hands, "Look... You're the only one I've told. I found the lighthouse and I've made it kind of like... A cool beachside bachelor pad Novus and I hang out at."

"... And Kepa?" Tessa wondered in a hush just above a whisper, to which Gideon felt his heart surge in whole protection for his new best friend, he dared to smile down to his hands.

"She's quickly becoming a best friend of mine, she... She was a squatter in the lighthouse, I fixed it up before I knew she was bumming there," Gideon shakily continued to admit, which Tessa's eyes hooked to him in riled, concealed joyous disbelief, "She lives there now, there's common space she's allowed Novus and I to come and go from."

Tessa heaved a long sigh through her nose and aimlessly allowed her eyes to gloss Gideon's broad, strong chest. She could see the outline of the lighthouse charm she had gifted Gidoen on his first birthday, prominently laid on his sternum under the cloth of his black hoodie. In the swing, the two lovingly caught eyes, a sting of final, bittersweet understanding, Tessa knew to let this free of her fist, once and for all. She bobbed a nod and, although she wanted to pry, she was desperate to claw her way into Gideon's life and really do whatever she could to right any wrongs her or anyone else has made, she knew leaving Gideon be, like he fervently requested, was best.

"I need to be away from you guys, from Sugar Rush, for now," Gideon's shaky voice begged, "I just... Need to find my head, I need to be around others that have nothing to do with Academy or Sugar Rush."

"I hear you," Tessa meeped in defeat, she closed her eyes and tried to continue to hold back tears, "Just... Please do me a favor."

"A favor?" Gideon eased in a lilt of nervous questioning, Tessa ushered him a conclusory notion of sorrow.

"Please tell mom and dad that you're not attending, any longer," Tessa begged in a whisper as her sorrowful eyes hooked tight to Gideon's in a swing of frozen dread between both siblings, "I'll keep the lighthouse our secret, just... Please come clean to mom and dad. They deserve to hear it from you. Just be transparent with your intentions, Gideon. Running away and being sneaky about what you're up to, in the sense of it all, is still lurking in shadows, shadows you're trying to get out of. Just own your shit, Gideon."

"... You're right," Gideon huffed; feeling the metaphor hit him between the eyes, the sheer amount of lies he was now sitting on, he began to feel nauseous. Although not ready to tell Kepa everything, he was well aware the mountain of fibs she'd eventually discover would likely reign over every other person he had discreetly deceived. Gideon frowned and peered into her eyes with a narrow of tenderness, "Please, do me a favor, in return."

"Anything, Gideon," Tessa whispered as she, again, lulled her eyes closed in mental exhaustion.

"Can you give Flint my number?" Gideon eased in a prickle of lighthearted tenderness, this caused Tessa to furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"... Your old guidance counselor," Tessa mumbled, she eyed Gideon in tenderness and shook her head, "Is everything okay?"

"I didn't get a chance to properly thank him," Gideon's deep voice stated in a low sense of dark knowing, he eyed Tessa and felt the gravity of his sorrow very slowly begin to bubble into returned psychological warfare, a show of arms, a last laugh he was blessed with, "He got me through the majority of the mental crap I was going through at home, as a child, and I'd like to reach out to him and properly thank him for keeping me from drowning."

Tessa looked prickled in flabbergasted sorrow, the fact that Gideon had a being that could testify against the lot of everyone inside Sugar Rush had her reeling in confusion. Having gone up against bad guys for the majority of her little life, she felt her stomach dip in dread as the sheer amount of villainous power, behind Gideon's intense stare, caused her brain to flip flop in hot confusion. Understanding now that Gideon was well prepared to use his sorrow as ammunition made her feel weak, stunned in this hot dilemma, as if now put between a rock and a hard place. Every single villain she had come into contact with, previously, was very cut and dry, very clearly a foe she could strike against, though standing in the venomous weight of her adult baby brother's gravity had her vision fish-eyeing in warbled confusion. Tessa swallowed nervously. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she likely had no genuine idea just what she was up against; memories of Gideon's adorable, child face peering up at her was now coldly replaced with the glower of an emotionally battered man behind the gloss of a cold stronghold, the visceral intent to protect himself at any and all costs, something Tessa genuinely couldn't rival even if she wanted to.

"Yes, sir," Tessa whispered with a nod, and as she broke eye contact with him, she flinched in surprise as Gideon suddenly stepped about Tessa with sarcastic, jarring fervor, as if to make clear that he wasn't to be interrupted this time.

"Thank you," Gideon curtly concluded.

Tessa frowned and watched Gideon firmly trek away into Juniper Forest without looking back. She heaved a shaky sigh and allowed the sound of the rainy breeze whisking through the trees to fill her aura and cleanse her head of the sharp words Gideon had just delivered. Her hair blew over her shoulder as her teary eyes watched Gideon vanish into the grey and green thicket. The urge to rush him and sweep him into an embrace soaked her circuits, the feeling of confused helplessness drowned her, and though she was grateful to now know just where Gideon was laying off to, during the day, somehow it didn't make her feel better. Worried that she was due to losing her brother, dreadfully for good, she bit her lip and wondered if she could wrangle the heads back at the palace, garner everyone's attention to this issue without pushing Gideon away further. Exhausted with the work cut out for her, she left Turbotime feeling a glimmer of hope desperately remind her that out of everyone, excluding Novus and their parents, she was likely closest to Gideon, she was the lynchpin to the successful or failed attempts at wrangling Gideon into the fold where all parties could melt together in harmony. Aware this was an incredibly delicate situation, the warfare now coming from within her walls, she sagged and very firmly understood that protecting the castle from an external force was far easier than a rogue amidst the inner workings, ready to take everything down right from the core of it all.