Reviews :

Burgie : Yes I agree! He deserves it for sure.

Snake557 : Yes of course! It's on her stone form, so there's no way she'd be able to get it off all by herself, cause it only shows up when she's inanimate lol


Song Listened To :

Willow by Taylor Swift


*Chapter 95*

"Whew. Holy hell, it smells AMAZING in here," Lash stated with a loft of pure happiness as he teleported in the entry way of the lighthouse's common room's open floor plan. Kepa and Gideon perked up from the kitchen island, and although the two had properly distanced out of their more secretive, romantic notions, they still stayed somewhat put. Gideon had started eating, to which Kepa had finally began to throw away his old bandage and prepare her salves to tend and re-bandage Gideon's gash. Lash stepped deeper into the glossy concrete flooring, past the round arch of the tower's entrance, alongside Kepa's lovely little greenhouse and ginormous climbing platforms, and as his heftier shoes thud forward, he lifted his head and was happy to catch eyes with Gideon, "Good, I'm glad you're eating. Really, how can you not, this food looks amazing."

"Thank you," Kepa cutely chirped, though Lash raised his eyebrows and politely sagged a bit deeper into their bubble, between them and the powered-down stovetops, Lash looked surprised and gave Kepa a warm, curious smile.

"Oh, you cooked this? I thought maybe Gideon manifested all of this goodness," Lash eased in a swing of soft humility, to which Gideon raised his eyebrows in plucked, coy cuteness and shoveled some food into his mouth. Gideon looked as if he was entirely at peace here in Kepa's care, though with how well Lash knew Gideon outside of his kept secrets from Kepa, he could definitely tell there was a world of bitterness and sorrow burrowed deep in his gaze. He aimlessly peered down to his full plate of food and continued to silently eat, "Look, I'm glad you came here, after all. You're clearly in good hands."

"I try," Kepa returned sweetly as she shyly looked down to her hands, though she smiled in warm humility as Lash lovingly reached out and rubbed the back of her shoulder in a show of friendly gratitude.

"Bud, stop giving me the cold shoulder," Lash mumbled, though both Kepa and Lash peered to Gideon in a prickle of gentle easiness as Gideon tossed his hurt eyes in Lash's direction; it was here did Kepa truly understand just how easily she could erase his worries, how blatantly obvious it all was, and although the beginning of last night was explosive and emotional, Kepa backtracked and was shocked at just how dug in Gideon was, just how much of a true, sunny solace Gideon had found deep in Kepa's irresistable clutches, and how easily another soul could rip him out of it by merely existing.

"Sorry, I'm just..." Gideon grumbled after he chewed and swallowed, he heaved a long sigh and looked across the common room. Kepa shook her head a little and shrugged, and though she opened her mouth to speak, Gideon concluded his sentence shyly, "I'm angry. I don't want to go back home, I don't want to go on the family trip, I just... Want to stay here forever."

Lash frowned, and though Gideon kept his eyes sorrowfully glued to the delicious food on his plate, Lash just barely cocked an eyebrow and sneakily took note that Kepa did what she could to stifle a smile as she returned her gaze back down to her twiddling fingers. Her tail so gingerly curled about her lower legs in a further show of shyness, and it was here in the stillness did Lash peer tight to Gideon's body and took note of the huge, exposed gash on Gideon's upper, inner arm. Lash sharply furrowed his eyebrows, leaned in a little and sucked in a breath to insinuate that Gideon's gash looked incredibly painful. Gideon softened his sitting position, leaned up and gently peered up into Lash's eyes as he remained sat at the barstool. Lash gingerly gripped the bend of Gideon's left elbow, in his reach between Gideon and Kepa, and firmly assessed the wound. Although mildly angry from previously being inflamed, a near-six inch long gash, it was so cleanly kept and stitched to near-perfection. Lash let go of Gideon's elbow, drove his stare to Kepa's cute little face and huffed a surprised little chuckle.

"This your handiwork, too?" Lash so gently inquired, to which Kepa quickly nodded, both men peered to her in a wall of warmth as her adorable little nose wrinkled in bunny-wriggles of clear nervousness.

"Please don't reset me," Gideon's deep voice croaked as he looked down to it.

"You can, truly, Gideon," Kepa argued gently, leading Lash to believe that this was something the two had daintily discussed prior to his arrival, "You won't hurt my feelings."

"I not only want to honor you and for how selflessly you abandoned your night alone to cater to me," Gideon started carefully as Lash and Kepa eagerly listened to his every word. He heaved a raspy sigh and darkly peered past the two in an aimless slow of bitter hatred, "I'd also like the scar to stare Callum in the face everyday. I'd like the reminder to never trust the stupid bastard ever again."

"I hear you," Lash mumbled in a show of sorrow, he gripped his strong hand to Gideon's left shoulder and was glad to garner Gideon's wounded eye contact. The flecks of fiery gold in Gideon's eyes glint with life, the stiff look of betrayal hung tight to his demeanor, and though Lash was well aware Gideon didn't want to be having this conversation, Lash nervously glanced to Kepa and returned his knowing eye contact to Gideon's, "Bud, just... Tell me what happened, and be honest."

"What do you mean, be honest? You think I'm LYING?" Gideon's voice began to grow in decibels, the tendons in his throat stiffened as he began to show full signs of pure, rising, angry tension, he sat up a bit straighter and looked to be immediately triggered into a roll of a proper show of fight or flight; it was clear just which option he was eager to choose.

"Hey, HEY," Lash's stern voice dominated Gideon's, and though this ultimately shut Gideon up, Gideon regretfully sagged the second Kepa took a wary step backwards. Gideon sorrowfully shot his fully apologetic eyes tight to Kepa's and could see the show of reserved terror in her gaze. Immediate to silently berate himself, Lash jostled Gideon's shoulder and got his sharp, dejected attention, once more, "I say 'be honest' because I know you're quick to shit on Callum and make it seem like he's the devil himself. If I know you like I think I do, I KNOW you participated in this drama. Just tell me exactly what happened... If I wasn't on your side, Gideon, I wouldn't be standing here with you. Neither of us would... And, lower your voice while you're at it, there is a lady present, show some respect."

Gideon sagged even further and slumped into a show of now full apology. He peered into Kepa's now fully-dilated, scared eyes, how easy it was for him to forget her vices in the heat of anger, he grit his teeth and now fervently reminded himself to really work on not exploding in her presence. Although he had a small taste of just the sorrows and tribulations she had gone through, over the course of her life, the way she reacted to sudden, angry yelling proved to him that he likely had hardly scratched the surface and he should likely tread a lot lighter than he already was. As a peace offering, he carefully held out his hand to her and was thrilled when she revisited her tiny hand into his in a full show of trust and filled the gap she had created.

"I'm sorry... To both of you, I'm sorry," Gideon grumbled as his big thumb stroked the top of her adorable, tiny, soft hand. He heaved a long sigh and unglued his right arm from his body, and in the swing, everyone glanced down to his exposed wound, "I was putting Novus's saddle away and Callum was standing near the wall of my art, outside my house... I went over to ask what he was doing and he made it seem like he was just there to admire my art and see how I was doing."

"Already bullshit, on his end, keep going," Lash muttered as he crossed his arms, and though he was here to show Gideon a good show of authority and brotherhood, Kepa gingerly eyed Lash and snuck a smile as she could see the rage of protectiveness in Lash's golden eyes.

"I recently reconnected with my old guidance counselor, from Pre-A, and... I guess there's a nasty rumor that he's either been to the dark web, or has ties there," Gideon shrugged, and though Flint has never made outwardly clear of such notions, Gideon still felt as if he had to tip-toe due to Flint's retrieval of the application papers to Game Over.

"Where does he live?" Lash gently inquired, though it was in this delicate lay of words did Gideon now very sharply conclude that him and Flint now had to find another game to meet in; Lash's tone sharply indicated running a body scan on Flint, and the only way Lash could do so is if Flint was actively inside of Turbotime.

"Oh, I have genuinely no clue," Gideon stated truthfully, "Honestly, I don't. I only ever saw him at Academy, I guess I could ask him."

"Please do," Lash instructed with a nod, a notion for another time, "Go on."

"Callum mentioned that he was worried about who I was consorting with, mentioned my guidance counselor, mentioned you, made clear that he was due to protecting the game, and our family, at all costs," Gideon rattled in annoyance.

"This guy got a hero complex?" Kepa muttered.

"Wait ME? He mentioned me?" Lash squeezed his eyes shut, boggled his head in a confused shake and peered to Gideon in a sharp upswing of confusion.

"Yeah, I'm... Assuming your connection to Turbo, and all that drama, all crap that is in the past," Gideon shrugged; although Gideon didn't want to come right out and make clear of Lash's dirty dealings with Aroq, Vye and everything Sugar Rush had been through, he did what he could to hope that the right insinuation was made clear.

"Alright, alright," Lash bobbed a nod, looked off and now looked as if he was due to seething. He bit his tongue, pursed in musing contemplation as he glossed his creepy eyes across the house, and finally revisited Gideon's nervous gaze in a rile of frustration, "Go on."

"I-It... It all was stuff I was just gunna let roll off my back until he, well..." Gideon staggered nervously and just barely glanced into Kepa's eyes. Due to them having let each other's hands go, Kepa had unraveled her hoodie sleeves and tucked the billow of her arms into the gape of the front pocket on her hoodie. Her cute ears perked from the cutouts of her hood as Lash furrowed his eyebrows and sharply glanced between Kepa and Gideon, "He discovered my weakness."

"What did he say about her?" Lash wondered in a now brand new branch of protectiveness, he glanced between Kepa and Gideon in baited wait and firmly crossed his arms, though Gideon sorrowfully glanced into Kepa's eyes and narrowed his gaze in a grimace of uncertainty.

"N-no, I don't... I mean, it wasn't anything nasty, it just was incredibly insensitive," Gideon muttered, "I don't want to say it."

"You can say it, Gid, it's okay," Kepa huffed, and though she seemed confident, Gideon teetered in nervousness and held his breath.

"... He told me that he at least knew better than to busy himself with a ratty homeless woman," Gideon murmured, Lash sharply raised his eyebrows as both boys now gently tossed their gazes to Kepa; she held her breath, flattened her ears in a droop and visibly did whatever she could to not show any sign of hurt here, though Gideon grimaced and most definitely knew better, "I... I, of course, got in his face and said he could say anything about me, or anything I was doing, but to leave Kepa out of it. It escalated, and because of what he said, I threatened to put him in the ground. He got in my face more, asked if I wanted to fight-"

"Is he GOOD?" Lash barked with a shaky chuckle as he gestured his hand out in full confusion, "Is he blind? Has he forgotten what you look like? Skinny little Callum wanted to ACTUALLY fight you?"

"I genuinely thought it would be a fist fight, and... I made the mistake of cueing my coding to simply stun him," Gideon waggled his fingers and sighed, "He thought I was going to use my coding aggressively on him, so... He did what he thought would be equivalent and used his own weapon."

"I see," Lash rubbed his chin as he stewed, he bobbed a nod and glanced his eyes to the gash on Gideon's arm, "He went to your wall looking for trouble. He never just sits and admires your artwork."

"I know, I sniffed that out real quick, I knew something was up," Gideon muttered, "Everyone at Academy I guess has been gossiping about me because I left and have a new friend and am off doing my own thing."

"It sounds to me like Callum is taking his 'protect everyone at all costs' positioning a little too seriously," Lash stated in full frustration as he bobbed a nod, though as Gideon and Lash fell silent, Kepa delivered a silent sniffle out to the air, cueing both men tight to her line of sight. Ears drooped, fingers to her mouth, glassy eyes tossed hard across the room, tail sagged flat to the ground in defeat, it was now clear Kepa was desperately trying to move on, though was failing. Lash shook his head and dart his eyes to Gideon, to which he largely frowned and caught eyes with Lash in the sting of realization. Lash took a small step closer to Kepa and gingerly gripped her right shoulder, "Nahhh, no, no, no. You, see-here. Lookit me."

Kepa heaved a nasally sigh, slumped her arms and shoulders and finally faced Lash in full, teary defeat. They both held eyes as Lash gripped her shoulder, leaned down a little and tilted his head for full emphasis. Happy to have her undivided attention, his heart broke as much bigger tears gathered in her beautiful eyes. Her adorable little snout wrinkled over and over as she desperately continued to keep it all together, and though she was doing well for herself, Lash knew that it only took maybe a minute or two of either his or Gideon's fervent, tender assurance to have her strongholds crumpling. Lash tightly narrowed his shining, loving, golden gaze for emphasis, firmly and slowly shook his head and stared hard into her soul as he was now due to overflowing her heart with brotherly love he had only planned on giving Gideon. Due to her being Gideon's proxy, a switch-up Lash was privy to, he now knew brothering Kepa, as well, was a given from here on out.

"Don't you dare," Lash hissed in a firm whisper as he kept his haunting, adamant stare tight to Kepa's. He squeezed his eyes shut and continued in full seriousness, "Don't you DARE allow that to take you down. Don't you dare let those weak words get to you. You, and everyone that knows you, knows you are ANYTHING but ratty."

"Or homeless," Gideon added in a tight grumble, pure, outward frustration towards Callum; Kepa's sweet eyes slowly dragged to Gideon's, and as she tightly brought them back to Lash's, she long-blinked big, sorrowful tears down her cheeks, her long, beautiful lashes clumped together in dewy strands of adorable innocence she radiated. Gideon sweetly reached up and swiped away a few years that gathered on her dainty jawline.

"Callum is jealous, that's all this is. He's jealous that he had to grow up in similar surroundings, as Gideon, he likely got treated the same way and now can't escape, like what Gideon did," Lash continued to firmly peer into Kepa's teary gaze, he lovingly squeezed her shoulder and kept up the adamancy, "Callum hit Gideon's softest spot... You. Callum fought dirty bringing you into this. You have nothing to do with this, those were fighting words to get a reaction out of Gideon, in which... He was successful."

"How could I not react?" Gideon grumbled, Lash sharply glanced to Gideon and shook his head.

"Look, I hear you. I get it, but you HAVE to own your stance, Gideon," Lash urged, he peered back to Kepa and shook his head, "Be proud of what you two have, be PROUD that this is how you choose to live and be. You're having a lot of fun, and you're learning a lot. Sure, it's not Academy, SURE, it's not Castle Run. Sure, he's jealous that he couldn't break away from the older souls that likely accidentally tortured him too... You have to know that hurt people hurt people. There's a reason Callum is being this way."

"So, what, I'm just supposed to sit back and take it?" Gideon argued as he shook his head, Lash sweetly pulled Kepa into a tight, snuggly side hug, to which she eagerly complied and began to wipe her tears from her eyes and cheeks in her lazy lean into Lash's strong chest.

"No, you won't have to worry about it any longer," Lash muttered as he jostled Kepa tighter into a snuggly squeeze, to which she bashfully smiled and was thrilled to have another brand of love and camaraderie to lean into, brotherly care she didn't realize she also needed. Lash grinned and cutely peered down his chest and into Kepa's curious, upward glance, "I'm about to end this. My next destination is Mr. Callum Reese. We'll pal around, we'll have some laughs, we'll tell stories and be BEST bros."

"...Lash," Gideon cautioned, the nervous lilt in his voice lead Kepa to believe now that Lash had other, devious plans.

"Listen to me. You're gunna enjoy your trip, you're going to be Callum-free," Lash instructed as him and Kepa sagged from their snuggly side hug, "You're gunna message me the second Callum so much as looks at you wrong."

"... From the sounds of it, you're en-route to gouging his eyes out so he won't even have the option to look at Gideon wrong," Kepa muttered with a nervous, though strangely curious little smile.

"That does sound like more fun, doesn't it," Lash huffed darkly with a nod as he tucked his hands into his dark jean's pockets, he took a step backwards and was thrilled to catch eyes with Gideon as he cued his electric, coral-colored coding, "Behave, you two."

In a flash, Lash was teleported away in a fit of lovely, powerful pixels, and as the swing left both beings prickled in the frozen, lovely silence of their lighthouse, Kepa and Gideon slowly dragged their concerned eye contact tight to each others in a show of humbled, cheeky knowing.

"...Why do I feel like WE should be the ones telling HIM to behave?" Kepa mumbled as she nasally tried to clear her airways, a thick inhale she couldn't quite take, though Gideon sighed, bobbed a nod and sweetly held his hand out to her, to insinuate that she should come closer.

"I really didn't want to tell you what Callum said, I'm really sorry," Gideon stated in full sorrow, he shook his head and lulled his eyes closed to show gratitude over the fact that Kepa had lovingly sagged her hand into his and willingly pushed into his gravity, "You know I'd go to war for you."

"You basically did, and came out of it with a battle scar," Kepa shyly giggled as Gideon wrapped both of his arms about Kepa's little shoulders, though he was careful not to rub his exposed wound onto her as best as he could.

"It was worth it," Gideon huffed as he tucked his chin over the top of her cute head and swayed her just barely. Gideon glowered down the front door, across the way, in fervent knowing, and though he was forever grateful Lash was now on a warpath to keeping Gideon's name out of Callum's mouth, he still felt bitter hatred over all of this, the sheer lengths someone of his own family would go just to sour Gideon's name. He squeezed Kepa a little tighter and lulled his eyes shut, "I'm grateful I have you guys. It's nice to feel like people actually want to stick up for me."

"Look, I don't know just how much power Lash can pull by being in charge of a whole game, but if I were Callum right now," Kepa dragged as she rested the side of her head to Gideon's broad shoulder, "I'd be fleeing Arcade like my life depended on it."

"Yeahhh... Lash is a lovable dude, but..." Gideon grit his teeth, and though Kepa was definitely right, Gideon felt his skin prickle at the raw idea of a User's wrath headed straight for him. Although feeling no sympathy for Callum in this moment, he did, however, feel dread, "He's definitely not one to be messed with."