Reviews :

Firesong-Writes : thank you so much friend!!! Yeah Callum... *sigh* his story is not as tiny as I lead on, there's unfortunately a reason he's gone a little kookoo. I appreciate the support so much! Thank you!

ThoreLB : iiiiits my FAVORITE THING TO WRITE Kepa's little nosey bunny wiggles Uhg. Im glad the sheer amount of cuteness she radiates is obvious. Thank you so much!

Burgie : Yeah Callum's in for a verbal ass whoopin lol. He just knows Gideon's soft spot and fought dirty, you're definitely right.

Snake557 : the wait is over! Haha thank you friend :)


Song Listened To :

Dioma by Jnathyn


*Chapter 96*

Cold, sinfully sweet air he was certain he couldn't get enough of, Lash thickly inhaled Sugar Rush's colder, late morning air. His matte golden eyes peered across the vastness of Sugar Rush inside of the entrance. With a slower closed-Arcade day Sunday, only a few different gamers slowly moseyed in and out of Sugar Rush today. Lash peered his eyes tight to the pristine, glowing white palace on the horizon, it eclipsed Orion City, a gorgeous beacon of hope and swallowed by every single last thing Lash had grown to know and love. Once a place he had in an unforgiving death grip, enveloped by The End's frigid air, every instance in seeing Sugar Rush sing in all of its normal glory was like a brand new experience, exhilarating and intoxicating.

Alongside this fervor, Lash finally breathed an exhale and glowered down the palace with a new motive, the urge to now defend and protect any misfit in his life was becoming a life goal fervently starting with Turbo and now easily segueing itself into Gideon's point on the grid. He cued his incredible User coding in blobs of coral glitch lines, brought up a map of every single being on palace grounds, currently, and sourced Callum. Upon spotting him inside the palace's main kitchen, Lash felt his pupils tighten as he could see Zed's marker adamantly making his way down the stretch of an outdoor corridor, one that cut the palace lot almost in half, it stretched from the recreational hall to the palace's main building, and with such a realization, Lash understood that Zed was likely on his way to wrangle Callum in himself. Lash felt it odd how his heart surged in a jolt of competition, the adamancy to beat Zed to this task, he immediately cued his waypoints for Sugar Rush's kitchen and was successfully whisked away.

With the switch in altitude, the jump that cleared miles from the entrance to the palace caused Lash's ears to pop, and though Lash was used to the leap over large distances, his ears still prickled to the strange new sensation of his fresh surroundings. Having gone from the colder licks of Sugar Rush's tall, waffle cone entrance to the warm drum of lazy, Sunday morning community inside of Sugar Rush's delicious-smelling kitchen, Lash long-blinked and immediately assessed his surroundings. Present was a lazy group of maybe half of Sugar Rush's racers, alongside Rancis, a few of the Schweetz kids and grandkids, excluding Mara, Lash firmly dart his eyes about and was glad he gave off an unapproachable aura; he knew this due to the fact that strong lofts of stares were tossed his way with the exclusion of verbal welcome. Nothing but pinpricked nervousness, due to the mean-mug Lash had on his face, and as his golden eyes sharply scanned each person, he tightly landed on Callum's eyes, clear across the way, and took in a trembling breath of readied, protective delight.

In all Lash's years of stowing away in Rancis's coding, of hiding Turbo away, of acting like a wild animal backed into a corner, he was glad that it was all being reversed in the year or two he had been marinating in Mara's lovely coding, the huge embrace of family he desperately had needed for his whole life, though as he pressed across the gap of the glorious, communal dining hall all aglow with Sugar Rush's late morning sun, he could feel old ways begin to snake underneath his skin. All deliciously powered with the umph of User coding he was proud to sport, he was glad the crowd of now nervous, silent individuals began to part and ease out of Lash's sturdy warpath. In the approach to Callum, Lash tightly dart his eyes to Rancis's, who sat a dozen or so feet away and was previously dug into a lazy conversation with Gloyd at a seating area amidst the lower level of the dining hall. Lash and Rancis tightly held eyes, and it was in this sharp stab of eye contact did both men understand just what this visit was about.

Lash was aware he looked mean, the glower on his face read that of whole dominance laid over the entirety of the game, he narrowed his eyes and gave Rancis a look as if to remind him just the kind of monster he was messing with, and with such, Rancis loosened his eye contact on Lash's and regrettably looked down to his lap in full defeat. Taking his cue, Rancis's release and confirmation that he was well aware his third born child had messed up big time and was now in the throes of learning tough lessons, Lash pressed on to Callum in a further swing of brightened confidence. Although not eager to physically harm Callum, nor burn bridges, he finally hovered within Callum's gravity and gently tapped the backs of his grey knuckles into Callum's upper arm as Callum had nervously done what he could to strike up a conversation with Penny, who stood next to him. Failing otherwise, Callum nervously peered into Lash's eyes in a shaky inhale of nervous anticipation.

"Hey man, can I talk to you outside?" Lash politely inquired, though everyone within a ten foot radius of Lash visibly sagged away, except for Callum. Lash tossed his dominant eyes across the kitchen and sourced the sunny exit of a corridor that lead to the gape across the palace lot, to the recreational hall. Lash pierced his eyes back to Callum's with a false sense of security and smiled, "It'll only take a second."

"Sure," Callum eased kindly, a front he had to put on for everyone in his surroundings, as if convincing them that he wasn't suddenly terrified would somehow convince him of such things, too.

Lash bobbed a nod and now began to part the crowd in a different direction. Although the group continued on in their circles of happy chitchat, it was clear it all had dulled to cautious murmuring. Dozens in the group tossed nervous eyes in Lash's direction, those that were eating slowed to nervous chews and baited wait, Callum slowly followed Lash to the sunny Westward exit of the palace's massive dining hall and felt his heart begin to thud in his ears. Although Lash was now on very good terms with everyone on palace grounds, including all the racers, no one dared to reach out to Lash and say hello due to the molten hot vibe his aura radiated. The gossip of the events last night had very easily sapped the palace in prickled concern, and though everyone knew Zed to be the one to put rogue dogs in their place, everyone was shocked to see Lash put his swooping, game-stealing tendencies towards a greater purpose. Although they powered towards the bigger glass doors of the Westward exit, Zed pushed inside before both Lash and Callum could leave, and much to Callum's whole entire surprise, Lash continued to push past Zed, though didn't make the mistake of not acknowledging him, at least.

"Hey, chief, just takin' Mr. Fluggerbutter here out for a chat, hope y'don't mind," Lash cutely chimed, his tone was warm and loving, though it was scarily clear that he was now due to spilling all of this venomous sarcasm all over Callum's nervously awaiting soul; Zed scuffed his heels in hot surprise, tossed his gaze to Callum and fervently watched both men file past him, though Lash firmly pat Zed's chest with a few thumps and was well aware he was likely one of the only beings on this entire planet who could get away with treating King Zed to this level of very blatant, job-stealing nonchalance, "Lookin' sharp, blue."

"Your Majesty," Callum greet Zed nervously as they both now fully filed past Zed, though as Lash slowly swung the huge gape of a double-glass door open, from the Westward entrance, Zed long-blinked in discombobulated surprise and glossed his gaze across his sunny dining hall.

Zed inhaled a slow, deep breath and assessed his people inside of the dining hall. Over two dozen different palace residents had their curious, frozen gazes tight to their King in a prickle of nervous confusion, such confusion that Zed, himself, lofted back at everyone. Remaining still and stoic, Zed narrowed his gaze a little, tossed his eyes in a slow loft to his left and firmly caught eyes with Rancis, across the gap and through the light crowd. Rancis held frozen in full defeat, though the look of fatherly, protective nervousness held tight to his face. Although Zed was headed in here to retrieve Callum and properly take care of him on his own dime, his own time and his own alpha-dog ways, Zed felt a dip of almost delighted confusion fall over him as he eased from Rancis's brewing, defeated gaze and peered out the glass doors to Callum's and Lash's figures, now a hearty thirty feet down the corridor and still going. What usually was a kind greeting and mingle with everyone he loved, Zed gently bowed his gaze, inhaled a thick breath, turned heel and began to follow Lash and Callum lest either being light the corridor on fire. With a subtle swing and slow, calmly moving gestures, so not to panic anyone, Zed vanished out the door and left everyone in a soft downswing of further-gossiping confusion.

Zed narrowed his gaze, tucked his strong hands into his comfortable coat's side pockets and strangely allowed Lash this very huge dollop of authority. Having been King for over two years now, it was very widely known that Zed was not only the game's top dog, but an alpha on the lot that kept his men set straight, relationships in tact, women at the forefront of the palace's protection. To challenge Zed, in this avenue, wasn't even thought of, no blip of this was ever an idea that came into anyone's heads, it was a widespread warning that chaotic, outward altercations, whether physical or verbal, were always immediately snuffed out by the King, though with the way Lash had so successfully swooped in out of nowhere, Zed gingerly scuffed his feet to a lazy stop about twenty feet behind both men, looked off and to the side in lazy eavesdropping and wondered just how Lash would treat this situation. Understanding that Callum had drawn a weapon on Gideon, something unheard of no matter the sparing fistfights Zed has had to break up in the past, Zed wondered if his own brand of more loving, fatherly corrective behavior was potentially too tame for this drastic of a situation. Knowing Lash had no children of his own, Zed wondered if letting Lash step up to the plate, in the fierce, protective, brotherly stance he had taken before Gideon's feet, was the outward, throw-around of corrective behavior Callum needed to shape up and handle these issues without bloodshed.

"What's up?" Callum mumbled in easy nonchalance as both men swung to an easy stop; although Lash had his back to the corridor's exit they had just come from, Callum cocked an eyebrow and immediately took note that Zed was hovering in between both men and the glassy Westward exit; far enough to not intrude, but definitely close enough to hear.

"I'm gunna skip all the pleasantries because I do not care how you're doing," Lash's deep voice so soothingly glossed Callum's soul in a hot fit of irony. Callum flinched with Lash's cold words and brought his icy blue eyes tight to Lash's. Although Lash stood a few feet from Callum's presence, Callum could feel Lash closing in, "Do you know where Gideon is?"

"Probably home with Uncle Ralph and Aunt Vanellope," Callum volleyed, he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, his golden-brown hair was lazily tossed with the gentle curls that clung to the ends, over his forehead.

"What if I told you he wasn't? Would you be worried?" Lash wondered as he lazily crossed his strong arms and shifted on his feet in lazy nonchalance, a comfortable aura Callum was well aware was an ironic, sarcastic front; Lash's eyes stung with a golden orange color, something that Callum knew was a key sign to tread lightly.

"He's not in Sugar Rush?" Callum wondered, now showing true nervousness.

"Why isn't your first question 'is he okay?'" Lash hissed, he narrowed his eyes and dared to take a step deeper into Callum's presence, "You sliced him with a dagger inside a game where you're both safe so you could prove that you're somehow packing. He fled the scene with a gash in an important blood artery, at your hands, and... You don't even think to ask if he's okay? Or ALIVE?"

"Well, is he?" Callum now loudly wondered, Lash inhaled a sharp, quick breath and stiffened; his eyes now fervently glowed a hot orange.

"Yeah, you wanna know why?" Lash stabbed, Callum flinched as the visual of Lash closing in on him was now a haunting reality, "Because he fled to Turbotime. If he wasn't coded for Turbotime, Gideon likely would've died. For GOOD! At YOUR HAND!"

"I didn't think he'd actually leave the safety of the game," Callum barked, his deep voice bounced about the lovely, high, white arches of the outdoor corridor the three stiffly stood in, though Callum sagged as Lash now hovered in Callum's face.

"Yeah, poor kid crossed the whole of Arcadia with the chance of bleeding out, you wanna know how he was able to survive if it weren't for him being coded to Turbotime?" Lash sharply hissed in Callum's face, he narrowed his gaze and allowed a mean smile to crown his devious, cy-bug marked face, "That ratty homeless woman he busies himself with stitched him up with a bandaid, a kiss, a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast this morning to top it all off."

Callum fell silent, he held his breath and felt his stomach dip in a vat of pure terror. The raw idea that his mean words were common-knowledge, Gideon was now dug in good with Lash, one of the ultimate game-enders this Arcade has ever seen. A man that was tied to Turbo's hip, thick as thieves, devious men with scary backstories all sweetly packaged into reformed good guys now so deeply dug into not only Sugar Rush's roots, but Sugar Rush's hierarchy. With Lash's big brother as the future King of Sugar Rush, Callum now nervously gulped a swallow and could see Lash's devious, hot-orange gaze begin to dip to something a bit more sinister, narrowed pupils like the slits of a viper honed in for the kill. Callum's second mistake was to toss a rather pleading glance in Zed's direction, the King himself stood still and firmly peered Callum in the eyes from the distance, as if to silently warn Callum that his poor, shivering soul was temporarily at Lash's mercy and Lash's mercy alone.

"That's right, I hope you're scared. The little boy you once were best friends with, the little boy you turned your back on, is now tucked under MY wing," Lash furiously stabbed in Callum's face, and it was here did Callum wipe the pretentious look of detest from his face, and instead was replaced with a slope of genuine fear, "I see you taking glances in Zed's direction as if he's going to come over here and save your ass, but he's not going to... Because he knows I'm right. He knows that what you did, last night, was EXTREMELY fucked up."

Although Callum desperately willed Lash's words to be wrong, he could see Zed, in his peripheral, look down to his own feet in a show of proving Lash's words to be absolutely right, and he definitely wasn't going to come to Callum's aid, in this instance. Probably the rarest ordeal to ever be apart of, Callum felt his pupils tighten at the idea of Lash ever so temporarily stealing Zed's crown, in this instance, the ability to hold Sugar Rush in an unforgivable death grip definitely wasn't out of the question, nor was it outside of Lash's User abilities, though with the way Zed allowed Lash to borrow this power strictly proved to Callum that he was surely up against more than he could even imagine. Although his own father was at Zed's right hand, he trembled in full, regrettable dread and desperately tried to fight back to save whatever shred of honor he had left.

"Gideon is consorting with someone from the dark web," Callum firmly growled, Lash long-blinked in full irritation as Callum carried on, shocked that Lash let him do so, "What am I supposed to do, just sit back and LET Gideon abandon everything available to him? LET him fall down rabbit holes? I tried to wrangle him back to our group and make clear he was welcome, but-"

"But he's not, the only reason you've noticed is because he left, he's no longer interested in following in your shadow. You left him out until he found purpose elsewhere, and now you're panicking because you have no one tailing you... Just like you tailed everyone else," Lash sharply muttered in Callum's face, "You may be following in your father's honorable position here, on palace grounds, but you're unfortunately third in line, behind Wren and Penny. You disgrace not only your father's and Penny's names, but Wren's name by assuming the three people above you don't have a grip on protecting the palace, Wren as Turbo's right hand man, Rancis as Zed's and Penny as Tessa's. You think they're not doing a good enough job? You think slashing Gideon for no good-ass reason is gunna help?"

"I wasn't anticipating cutting him, I-"

"Just decided to hang out on his art wall with a sheathed weapon late at night after everyone had turned in," Lash sharply stabbed in Callum's face, causing Callum to flinch and take a wary step back from his stronghold of attempting to hold his position, though it was clear that it was all downhill, from here, "You know you went over there to goad him into a fight. You KNOW he's hovering at a constant ninety-eight percent just WAITING for someone to throw two stones in and cause the pot to overflow. You anticipated him getting physical with you, and drawing your weapon on him was your way of feeling much bigger than anything you ever have in your tiny, pathetic little life."

"Get out of my face," Callum meanly stabbed as Lash's eyes now glowed a confident glower of hot red across Callum's pale skin, the terrifying vertical slits of a snake poised and ready to strike on his prey, Callum clenched his fists and visibly shook.

"Your father let me take you out here so I could hand you your ass, your friends and family, inside, didn't protest, and now, guess what," Lash sharply whispered in Callum's face as their foreheads hovered a mere inch from each other. Lash long-blinked his terrifying, glowing red eyes and eased a mean smile that had his faded cy-bug markings wrinkling in venomous delight, "The King himself is standing by, awaiting my judgement, physically watching this all go down in real time. No one is rushing to your aid... What do you think that tells you?"

"I fucked up, okay? I'm sorry," Callum grunted, his eyes began to just barely turn glassy, and though he was doing well to show no emotion besides confident, assured strength, Lash could finally see an eternal depth of insecurities in Callum's nervous, blue eyes.

"You have no reason to apologize to me, you have a world of apologizing to do to Gideon. That poor boy needed you, he needed EVERYONE, and you ALL failed him," Lash's voice grew in strength as he grit his teeth and was due to yelling, shortly; the veins in his jugular began to show in rapid, pulsing, protective rage, "You disgrace the palace. You disgrace Zed's and Tessa's diligent work to keep the game glued, you DISGRACE the oath you sword-wielders took to protect and defend, but worst of all, you disgrace me, as one of Gideon's best friends. If you so much as THINK of laying one more finger on that poor boy, saying ONE more cross thing to such a fragile soul..."

Callum firmly peered into Lash's eyes in a full show of trembling, angered nervousness as Lash hissed him a venomous conclusion.

"You will be answering to me, a reformed villain with a god-complex and the User abilities just WAITING on one single excuse to undo every single pixel in your pathetic mainframe, byte by byte," Lash sharply delivered as the red glare from his eyes was now due to permanently glueing Callum's retina's forever red. Lash raised his eyebrows sharply in baited wait, "Am I clear?"

"Sir," Callum muttered nervously, and though Lash hung tight in Callum's gravity for a moment of firm emphasis, he finally took a step backwards, held angry eye contact for a moment before swinging his eyes to his left, so to finally catch with Zed.

Zed, although entirely positive he would've handled this with a touch more tenderness, he peered to Lash in frozen, baited wait, a gloss of stoic stillness was something Zed constantly radiated, further proving to Lash that Zed was in his corner, here. Both men tightly held eye contact for a moment before Zed heaved a long sigh through his nose, bobbed a single nod and looked down to his feet in a swing of full release, full submission to Lash's very fierce, adamant care for the Queen's little brother, Zed's own brother in law, the palace's youngest prince. Zed knew this was only right, and with Callum's now ferocious, conniving, backhanded tendencies, Zed knew that Lash's full-warning, here, wasn't just reserved for Callum. Zed was now well aware that Lash wasn't afraid to step in when he thought maybe enough wasn't being done to protect absolutely everyone's feelings, and as Lash allowed his incredible User coding to swarm his own person, he zipped away in a whisk of full teleportation and was finally gone, User powers that Lash wouldn't be able to use had it not been for Ace's birth, Zed's first born, the original User.

Zed lulled his eyes closed and awaited the pixels to settle, though as he finally peered his eyes into Callum's, from the two-dozen or so foot gap, he could see Callum's now fully-humbled demeanor, the kick in the pants Callum most definitely needed. Although not keen on having outside help for these kinds of things, Zed felt grateful that Gideon was in good with Lash and crew, Users and babes after his own heart and coding, a tight-knit group of beings likely better suited for Gideon, anyhow. He felt grateful that someone would so desperately go to bat for Gideon, though Zed felt a pit in his stomach form at the raw idea that said person wasn't even related to Gideon. Grateful for their trip to Honeydew tomorrow morning, so to get Gideon and everyone back on track, he eyed Callum in one final swing of full authority and slowly turned heel, so to approach the Westward exit he had previously come from. Leaving Callum to sit with his thoughts, a very clear message was delivered in the silence; the message that Zed respected Lash's authority, not only as a User or the keeper of his own arcade game, a man with his own granddaughter's incredible coding, but a brother and comrade with the end-goal of peacekeeping, even if it meant viciously ruffling feathers in the process.