Reviews :

chuckiboo : Yeah dude that'd be so cool, I wish I had a talking dragon. No one would mess with me then haha. Yeah Novus is a good friend to Gideon, their relationship unfortunately isn't all sunshine and rainbows though for a hot minute.

Snake557 : I do too! :D Thanks friend.

Burgie : He does! Gideon definitely needs to not take any of it for granted...


*Chapter 131*

"So, why don't you tell me what this little separate, gossipy group chat is all about then, hmm?" Novus snipped, he angled his head in a wildly sarcastic tilt, the point of his perked ears angled along with it, though before Tessa or Zed could properly even collect their boggled minds to respond, Novus sprawled his left wing, once more, and firmly gestured back to Gideon, of whom Novus had pushed aside not seconds prior, "Or! Better yet... Why don't you tell Gideon?"

"Novus, it's really not that huge of a deal," Gideon growled, although he was grateful Novus was taking the b runt of all of this and something was finally getting done in the way of communication, Gideon clenched his teeth and was well aware grabbing the situation by the throat wasn't the technique he was hoping for.

"Not two hours ago you were telling Kepa and I that you'd do ANYTHING to erase the memory of discovering the separate group chat," Novus tightly rattled, though he flattened his ears and narrowed his big, scary blue eyes in full, confused emphasis, "Who even told you that to begin with!"

"It's not important!" Gideon's deep voice now grew to decibels he wasn't used to using, bellowing goodness only a man like Ralph could ever gift to his kin.

"Alright, everyone, QUIET," Zed's sharp voice clipped above both Novus and Gideon's beginning falters of noisy arguments, and though the group was immediately heated, everyone firmly stabbed their eyes to Zed's in disgruntled frustration, "Yes, Gideon, there was a separate group chat where you were mostly the center of discussion, a group chat you were left out of."

"What could you assholes possibly be discussing about me?" Gideon stabbed as he began to saunter closer, his demeanor was outwardly glossed with electric venom, he honed his scary golden gaze tight into Zed's eyes and figured since Zed was being brave and taking one for the team, Gideon would set his sights for the King and him alone, "What do I have to do in order to feel as if I'm an integral part of this family? Of this palace!"

"Truth be told Gideon, the discussion was confusion," Zed's voice stoically rolled over Gideon's figure, a figure now nearly writhing in anger, clenched fists and the glower of the century, Zed could feel his airways tighten at the sheer size of such a beastly gamer stood in his path. As one of the larger guys of the group, with only Ralph and Oliver as beings who clearly outranked Zed in this position, Zed swallowed a silent gulp and was now viciously reminded that he had forgotten to include Gideon into this equation of guys he wasn't brave enough to go toe to toe with. Gideon's sharp eyes peered down into Zed's soul with only the cold, winter moon in a proper clip over the top of Gideon's fiery auburn hair, his impressive broad chest sucked in a deep, readied breath, and what was worse, the sight of Novus hovering tight behind Gideon in preparation had Zed's pupils tightening. Although the odd stipulations stacked against him, Zed sternly carried on, "Nothing damaging or demeaning. Plans being made that we knew you likely wouldn't want to be invited to, a lot of the conversations would swing back around to the talk of children or Koko's wedding. We know none of that interests you."

"You wanna know why it maybe doesn't interest me?" Gideon barked, "Because none of you assholes ever included me in on the conversation to begin with. Do I eventually want a wife and kids? Yeah, believe it or not... But how do you think I feel if my whole life I've just been schlepped aside... Gideon, you're too young to understand, Gideon plug your ears, this topic about childbirth won't interest you. Gideon, you can come along only if you promise not to cry about being left out in conversation. Gideon-"

"Take a step away from me," Zed sternly suggested, taking note that Gideon was closing in, though he fastened his heels to the grid and felt fear crawl over him the second this notion only riled Gideon further.

"Or what," Gideon darkly whispered, though Zed choked a stagger of a noise as Tessa suddenly shoved Zed out of the way, stood on tip toes and pointed a firm finger up into Gideon's now shocked, crumpling disposition.

"Or I personally will hand you your ass, Gideon," Tessa suddenly yelled as Gideon sagged his shoulders and took a wary step back, "The group chat was my idea, long ago, be mad at ME for it, okay? We made that chat when you were starting out at Pre-A because there were a lot of instances where ALL of us felt helpless in the vein of making you happy and helping you feel included, but you were still too young, we didn't want to burden you with-"

"Sitting me down and kindly trying to find ways to include me?" Gideon bravely yelled down to Tessa, and though she flinched and showed signs of defensive sorrow, she firmly stood her ground, "And don't even TRY to pull this shit with me, this chat still exists to this day! I'm well aware the reason I wasn't invited to that stupid brunch was because the invite got sent out to the group chat that excluded me. As well as the SEVERAL trips you guys have taken into Orion City for a fun night out, the evening trip you guys took to EZ Living last Friday? I'm not an idiot!"

"Fine, Gideon. Fine. You're hard to include, you're intimidating to be around, you're so busy comparing our lives to yours that it sucks the joy out of every get together," Tessa was very quickly brought to full-seething, something that was uncharacteristic of her. Gideon flinched and felt as if this only proved that she had been marinating on all of these frustrations for a lot longer than Gideon likely even knew, "We care IMMENSELY about your artwork, but due to the few mishaps in the past, you refuse to let us in on even HAVING that conversation, we've unfortunately hurt you in the past and now there's no sense of rectifying the issue because you've built a wall."

"So climb over it," Gideon growled, enraged, Tessa clenched her fists and volleyed the heat in return.

"How can we when you've built it four trillion feet tall?" Tessa stabbed through the grit of her teeth, "I was going to sit you down and come clean about this silly separate group chat because it started as a venting area where we could problem solve and try and find ways to make you feel comfortable, but it turned into a safe spot away from your butt-hurt tendencies!"

"Tessa," Zed cautioned with a lilt of offense, now knowing that this wasn't merely the Queen keeping a level head and speaking from a place of rooted foundation, though was more a sibling tussle filled to the brim with nasty remarks abundant with molten regret.

"No, let her keep going, this is rich," Novus argued loudly as he flagged his wing, though he largely flinched the second Zed stabbed his electric blue gaze tight to Novus's with a firm point of fatherly authority.

"STAY out of this, Novus," Zed's stern voice boomed.

"No, I'd say Novus has a valid place here, he actually had the balls to bring this issue to a head, something I couldn't muster cause I just don't want to rock the boat," Gideon loudly argued, "I'm desperate to keep the peace because, believe it or not, I love you guys more than anything. But I can't keep coming and going wondering why the hell I'm not worth invites anymore, I'm not worth following into Turbotime for the day, I'm not worth asking what my art is all about. I've spent my whole life listening to your guys bullshit and obtaining everything with a smile, and you fools can't even do the same in return."

"We can't even if we wanted to, Gideon," Tessa erupted, it was clear she was on the verge of tears, furthering the proof that this topic was the crux to her typical stance of unmoving, Queenly steadiness, "You've become so jaded and mean that even if we DID level with you and accomplish all the things you wanted, you'd meet us with suspicion and believe it all to be patronizing and fake."

"Yeah, you're not wrong," Gideon loudly agreed with sarcastic glee, "It didn't use to be like this, but now you jerks have reached the part of the bridge that draws up."

"At least hopefully it's not burned," Zed muttered, as if to be annoyed and show mild dread in one swing of emotion, though Gideon rolled his eyes and shot both Tessa and Zed a mean, smiling glower, a haunting look of becoming-unhinged happiness.

"No, we wouldn't want that," Gideon delicately whispered; this somehow sent a ripple of shivers through everyone standing in Gideon's tight gravity, even Novus sagged his ears in the seriousness of Gideon's sweet, deathly deliverance of words. Gideon took a slow, sauntering few steps backwards, closer to Novus, and gripped the chest of Novus's saddle, though this time with the intent to skillfully mount his flyer, "C'mon, Novus, let's get outta here."

"Yeah, go cry to everyone inside Turbotime, it's all you're good at," Tessa meanly spat as Novus skillfully took a few trots away and leaped into the air, firm flaps that easily had his gorgeous wingspan sailing straight for Sugar Rush's exit; Tessa's and Zed's silence was now deafening whilst they watched Novus rocket away from palace grounds and vanish into the night.

"Yeah, you handled that REALLY well," Zed chirped sarcastically, and though not one to also compound onto Tessa's wrath, due to ensuing shortly, he gave her a very firm, sudden whip of a surprised glower and shrugged his hands into his pants pockets alongside a nonchalant shrug, "It's almost as if I had it under control."

"I-I just..." Tessa started in a flustered, teary way, though she jolted as Zed's firm, loving grip garnered her fiery attention with the hold of her upper arms. Her lip began to quiver as the high of the argument now began to plummet into grieving regret, "I-I'm at wit's end."

"I think Gideon is, too," Zed muttered, he shook his head and peered hard into Tessa's eyes, "This can't be fixed with anger, with fighting words, unforgivable jabs. You need to sit Gideon down, alone, without Novus, without me, without Lash, no one... YOU need to cultivate a relationship with him, rekindle trust with just the two of you only. It's now blatantly clear to me that he can't be won by the lot of us, but he CAN be won by his big sister."

"But I caused this mess," Tessa loudly whimpered as she flung her arm out and now visibly began to weep, to which Zed shook his head in shushing tenderness and wiped her tears.

"And you can fix it," Zed whispered with care, he dared to give her a small smirk, "You may have Mr. Wreck-It in your blood, but Felix is your uncle... You can fix it."

Tessa bobbed a contemplative nod and sorrowfully peered into Sugar Rush's black, the shimmering, gorgeous waffle cone mountain of an entrance could barely be seen through the winter fog, and though she was desperate to rush Gideon and go about this properly, she lulled her glassy eyes closed in hot regret and knew this all would be better settled in the morning.


"C'mon, let's... Let's just stay the night with Kepa, then," Novus mumbled sorrowfully. After Gideon had instructed Novus to pause their flight upon entering Arcadia Station, Novus nervously peered to Gideon in stillness as he anxiously paced near the gape of Sugar Rush's outlet. Gideon grappled his hair, muttered to himself, tears hung in his eyes in a threat to unleash, though the grit of Gideon's teeth and the look of pure, exhausted grief on his face told Novus more than enough about Gideon's sagging mental wellbeing. Novus drooped his ears in sorrow, his wings sagged in a gentle tuck to his bigger body, and with ease, he so slowly sauntered up to Gideon and faced him, happy to receive his eye contact, "I'm... I'm sorry, Gid, I didn't mean to make matters worse."

"You didn't," Gideon's deep voice croaked with the impending notion of exhausted weeping. He heftily sagged his heavy hands and arms to his sides in a thud of defeat and shook his head, his wet eyes glossed Arcadia Station's gorgeous white tiles, the whole station was aglow with the dim warmth of impending midnight. Gideon whimpered a noise, cleared his throat and desperately held himself together, "This pain isn't worth it any longer. I can't... I can't keep coming onto palace grounds like this."

"Why don't you ask Lash if you can live at the arena?" Novus tenderly wondered, Gideon shrugged and looked down to his open palms in aimless defeat.

"I guess I could," Gideon meeped in a gentle swing of flickered hope, "It'd make getting to Murphy's and Kepa's a little easier."

"... You know you can also ask Kepa to move in with her," Novus suggested with a bigger swathe of excitement, "Just... Tell her everything, tell her you ran away from Sugar Rush and need to clear your head. You know she'll help you feel whole again."

"I-I was thinking of asking on Valentine's Day, I was going to confess to her, too," Gideon mumbled gently, "I'm just trying to keep my head and take this slowly. I can hold out for three more weeks... I don't want to rush my situation with Kepa, maybe I can just bum with Lash."

"Then again," Novus flattened his ears in a confused toss of his eyes across the station, to Turbotime's glistening outlet, "I'm not sure how many rooms their arena get-up has."

"I doubt I'd be intruding, but... Lash has been texting me for days now, asking if we could go get a beer and maybe see about aligning my coding," Gideon staggered sorrowfully, "I know it's probably ALL off kilter. I don't even want to see what that would look like."

"It's probably not as bad as you think," Novus cooed, Gideon's heavy, tired eyes shyly and sorrowfully glanced into Novus's. He sagged with a pitiful little smile into Gideon's eyes and so gently shook his head, "Look... I know they love you. You're just... Extremely unique. Some people don't know how to navigate special individuals like you."

"Special," Gideon's voice clipped in a croak of a whimper as his lip quivered. He messily stimmed, his hands and fingers nervously caressed his lower arms in a full show of desperate self soothe as he just barely shifted on his feet in full agitation. He shook his head and scrunched his face a little, "I'm desperate for familial love. I just... Want to be brought into a big hug, I want everyone that has ever wronged me to feel the weight of all of this pain and answer for it."

Novus stood a little taller and gingerly fanned his big bat wings out a bit, and with care, Novus hooked his chin over Gideon's bigger shoulder and lovingly hooked his right hand and paw about Gideon's broad lower back, a firm snug of an embrace Novus was well aware Gideon likely needed a world more of. Bookmarking the fact that hugs should likely be way more common between both boys, he was at least glad Gideon pressed his front tight into Novus's billowy blue mane and wrapped his bigger arms about Novus's thick neck with a squeeze. Novus flattened his ears, lulled his eyes closed and kept Gideon glued to his chest, and though Gideon wasn't outward about it, he silently shook effortless scoffs of crying breaths into the side of Novus's head. Gideon's fingers did what they could to feel the rich texture of Novus's lovely mane, sensations and feelings on his skin that kept his brain rooted to the grid, Gideon's ribcage trembled with grief his inner child was desperate to let go of but couldn't.

"From here, you need to talk to Lash... Stay with him until you take things to the next level with Kepa," Novus gently delivered as he continued to give Gideon a good squeeze of a dragon embrace, perfectly encompassed with his huge wings, "You know I'd follow you to the ends of Arcade... Wherever you go, I'll go. When the world falls away, you know you always have me, Gideon."

"Thank you," Gideon staggered as he strengthened his grip about Novus's neck, Novus's much bigger paw so gently sagged to Gideon's upper back in a careful cradle that also included the back of his head and neck.

"I love you, Gid," Novus mumbled sorrowfully as he delicately opened his eyes and aimlessly peered across Arcadia's huge, beautiful station, "I may have a big half brother, but... You're also lumped into that mess."

"I love you, too," Gideon squeezed through a breath his lungs could hardly hold onto, and with a firmer grip of a hug about Novus, he was hit with the unfortunate understanding that the individuals he wasn't even related to were the ones that were adamant about cradling his heart in a new swathe of familial care.

Although much smaller, Gideon sighed and felt himself beginning to want to feel whole again, desperate to grieve and move on, both boys so slowly pulled from each other. Novus kept his clawed hand gripped to Gideon's right shoulder and tilted his head down so to properly garner Gideon's glassy eye contact.

"C'mon... Let's go find Lash," Novus stated in a gentle swing of revival, as if to prove to Gideon that this night wasn't ruined.

"Okay," Gideon mumbled with a nod, though before him and Novus could take off for Turbotime's outlet, Gideon eased a double-take on a figure across the way; surprisingly, Gideon perked up and took note that Chase was crossing the almost barren game station, and though Gideon reached his hand out in a gentle point and was prepared to calling out Chase's name, he hesitated and took note that Chase was carrying a rather large duffel over his left shoulder, as if to be headed somewhere semi-permanently. Gideon furrowed his brow and cleared his throat, "Hey, that's... Chase. What's he doing?"

"...It's been so long since I've seen him," Novus mumbled; having heard that Gideon had made nice with Chase again, Novus let his guard down though still showed signs of being wary of Chase's character from here on out, "Why don't you go ask him?"

"Let's go see, then we'll go find Lash," Gideon bounced on his feet in readiness as he began to hurry in an attempt to catch up with Chase, who was now almost begrudgingly en-route to Arcadia's train station. Gideon had an inkling as to just where Chase was headed, though both him and Novus sped off so to hopefully catch up to Chase and find out.