Reviews :

Firesong-Writes : HI OMG THANK YOU! Jukkit is best boi. Him and Gideon have a nice bond! They eventually become business partners, like... Way in the future. Good things to come! As for the fluffy chapters, yeah... I HATE to say this, but it isn't until about chapter 196ish to where things feel lighthearted and 'normal', once more. I just got done writing that chapter, and it was mostly slice of life lol. Still tons of drama centered around the next stretch of the story, beyond Chapter 190-200ish, but yeah, much brighter and happier. I hope you guys can hold out! :D

Snake557 : Yeahhh Flint's definitely no good. His involvement in the 6th story is equally as bad.

chuckiboo : You're right! I really love Vye, she's wildly misunderstood - and is my 6th story's main character! I can't wait to show her angle, you don't get hardly any of her in this story, but I'm excited to further expand it into the next story. You're definitely right about what the drugs are doing to Gideon - even with how far ahead I am of you guys, a whole 30 chapters later and he's still dealing with the repercussions. Not fun!


Song Listened To :

Noir by Jnathyn


*Chapter 164*

The Block's usual, darkened atmosphere was something Gideon felt his eyes had permanently adjusted to. He almost felt comfort in it, the whole of this place reminded him a lot of Cyclone City, where Flint previously lived, in Litwak's Arcade. Although Gideon had yet to really get out of this building and see this black, domed city, he held a mean-mug of a glance about his surroundings and allowed his inner child to soak in information. Secretive play he allowed only for himself, which was something he used to wear right on his sleeve. He knew this wasn't a place to let your guard down, even as a group of hardened, incredible killers, he understood now that a permanent set of eyes on the back of his head was necessary. Even still, Gideon allowed himself the eyefuls of this harrowing, hauntingly beautiful world he was now fully immersed in, the cyberpunk, darkened cityscapes he was now treated to was otherworldly, outside of the saturated colors Sugar Rush was crowned with, outside of the sunny, beachy woodlands Turbotime consisted of.

The massive sky scraper the five winners lived at the very top of was nearly its own metropolis in of itself. The ground floor, where Gideon stood currently with Ora in patient wait for Jukkit and Albar to return with their pizza, was bustling with life. A huge gape of city work within this huge structure, tight and narrow alley ways that wove around tattered vendor tents and stands, it was clear that these lower levels of this incredible building were a bit more slum like, and the higher you got up the building, the more luxurious not only the scenery was, but the people. Where these lower levels were cramped, damp, musky with wet and cold concrete, Gideon cautiously people-watched and felt his feet want to land on guilt, the guilt of living like a King in this same building while these people down here struggled, and though said feet did want to land on the feeling of guilt, he held tight to his mean-mug and sailed right on past it in the selfish desire to claim he had earned this new lifestyle of his. Every fresh instance he had to interact with strangers, moving forward, was now rewritten permanently, the idea that he couldn't assimilate back into normalcy somehow made him stand a bit taller, a bit cockier.

Due to his stance, his tight proximity in shoulder-brushing with Ora, the two stood in silence and simply acted like two terrifying war dogs awaiting a reason to come unglued, a command to remind the public that they were killers only freely allowed to plainly exist in this bubble of darkness. Gideon recounted all the times Jukkit joked of people tossing their gazes and hurriedly fleeing from their presence and was absolutely floored to find that he wasn't exaggerating one single bit. Anytime Gideon caught eyes with a stranger passing by, they'd stumble and scurry on their way, they'd suck in an almost silent yet still audible choke of a gasp and do everything they could to not draw attention to themselves, the simple sight of Ora and Gideon, even two winners that were hardly ever present in the public eye, was enough for the firm reminder that this place was a place where literally anything could happen, one wrong look or move made in the direction of any of the Game Over winners was a death sentence. Hardened criminals that came with the raw notion of having absolutely nothing to lose was enough to send people scurrying, it fed the poisonous, attention-hungry side of Gideon's ego, he inhaled a thick breath and relished in anytime he was noticed and swung away from in the act of someone genuinely fearing for their life.

"Thank you," Ora's gentle voice ultimately jarred Gideon out of his fantasies, the act of allowing his head to grow to the size of a hot air balloon.

"For what?" Gideon croaked, he shifted on his bigger bare feet, readjusted his fists in the lazy drape of a thin black zip up he was wearing and glanced down to the top of Ora's head.

Gideon gently rolled his eyes after a moment of her not responding and had to remind himself that she wasn't a woman of many words, even though he had been introduced to the vast, complex inner world she marinated in. He heaved a hefty sigh through his nose and gently brushed his upper arm with the top bend of her little shoulder, once more, though in doing so, she cutely snugged a bit deeper into Gideon's side and delicately eased her long, gangly hand and fingers into the bend of Gideon's right elbow. Still only dressed in the hot pink hoodie Gideon had manifested for her a few weeks back, she eased into his side as if to show full submission, not only to Gideon, but to the world about them. He felt the urge to stiffen, the act of showing tenderness to the cold, hard world about them had him worried, though he tossed his nervous eyes down to the top of her head, once more, and understood that if she was still getting fear response out of people while even wearing a hot pink hoodie, a little bit of arm linking shouldn't be the breaking point. He softened, once and for all, and allowed her close proximity. He tried not to smile about it, somehow the idea of having a little sibling always marinated at the back of his mind, the desire to give an impressionable, smaller being every ounce of love and attention he had never been given was a new door his subconscious cutely peaked into. Again, he tossed his almost-smiling eyes down to the top of Ora's head and felt his heart proverbially hug the idea of gaining a little sister out of Ora. It was with this did he feel a brotherly, protective side of him awaken, a side of himself he had never experienced until now.

"You're welcome," Gideon finally revealed, having emotionally felt all the things that Ora was grateful for just by simply standing in her presence, the idea that he had stuck up for her in front of Jukkit and Albar, in what he thought was Ora's absence, he lulled his eyes closed and secretly allowed himself to marinate in the warmth of their secretive bout of hand-holding their souls did.

Gideon and Ora stood tight to each other with their backs nearly pressed against the little building Jukkit and Albar had vanished into, noisy bikes, pedestrians and mopeds scurried about this darkened, dirty lower area, and though their bubble had previously gone unnoticed, due to the amount of time Gideon and Ora had been quietly standing with each other, more onlookers and attention was being drawn to them by the single accounts of interactions they had racked up. It was to the point where a twenty foot radius of the two was simply a wide berth of room, an invisible string of caution tape the public had put up, Gideon was floored that so much as existing kept people away. This was further evident due to the sudden explosion and scramble of strangers that erupted from the shop Jukkit and Albar were in. A handful of men hurriedly stumbled onto the cold concrete, one even scuffed to his knees and did everything he could to crawl his way to a panicked stand, the men scuffled backwards in the headlong gaze they had at the store front, though once Albar exited said shop with a lean and a crawl to a stiff stand, due to the low door frame, all four men scurried away. Albar grunted a hefty chuff of a low, core-shaking growl as hot steam billowed from his nostrils, his piercing eyes held tight to the now fleeing men in the crowd of pedestrians.

"What's a dog gotta do to get some PIZZA IN PEACE!" Albar's bellowing voice shouted, such a bellow had the pedestrians within a fifty foot radius now scrambling for their lives. The scuffle of collapsed bikes, crunchy cold gravel being scuffled on, murmurs of nervous words exchanged, even shop keepers nervously turning their 'open' signs to 'closed', Gideon erupted into croaking laughter he couldn't contain. Such laughter wrangled Jukkit into it as well, and as Albar stomped over to the two, with Jukkit in tow, he glowered Gideon down and shook his head, "User, it's either an autograph, a plea to keep their life, or asking where Vye is. Just run away from me, I hate having to erupt on people, but shit."

"Having fun?" Gideon quipped cheekily, Albar huffed another hot breath through his snout and held up the stack of four pizzas he obtained, secured in his bigger pawed hand.

"Tons," Albar muttered, Jukkit heaved a long sigh and looked about with a cheeky smile.

"I just realized, we probably should've hit the thirteenth floor BEFORE we got pizza," Jukkit muttered, "We're gunna look like a bunch of dumbasses walking into Coz's floor with pizza."

"Here," Gideon thought quick, and as him and Ora gingerly sagged out of their tight proximity, he cued his purple coding with a lot less ease than he expected. He coughed a small noise and struggled to get said coding to cooperate, though upon his palm finally coming to life with coded circuitry, he cued for his secretive little inventory trick with the drop down boxes. He cocked an eyebrow and peered to Albar in expected wait, "We can just put it here temporarily, it'll stay hot."

"...You have an inventory?" Jukkit hissed in wonderment, he choked a laugh or surprise as him, Albar and even Ora leaned into it with full surprise, the dark purple drop down of holographic boxes opened and ready, Jukkit put his hands on his hips and eyed Gideon in almost annoyed glee, "Think you can fuck with my coding and share this idea, dude?"

"It's not technically an idea, it's apart of my coding," Gideon murmured, he dared to give Jukkit a darkened look of smiling annoyance, "Lest y'wanna jump on the swapping trend early, my guy, a code swap will do the trick."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck off," Jukkit barked as he waggled his hand and wrinkled his nose, "Just put the pizza in the inventory, dickwad, you're out here playing Minecraft in creative mode, we get it."

"Don't be jealous," Gideon whispered in teasing sweetness, stickily laced with mean banter he was glad Jukkit could take with a grin, another swing of siblinghood Gideon was desperate for, the eagerness to make a brother out of Jukkit was quickly just as magnified as the secret sisterhood he was receiving from Ora.

"C'mon, let's go," Albar mumbled as he got a suspicious look around and flattened his ears, "I caused a scene, I hate when this much attention is on us."

Like trailing a fog, the four part the crowd with incredible ease. The firm strut they laid upon the land had people ducking out of the way, urgently halting their line of direction and switching it up as fast as they could, and though there were less than five brave souls that looked to have a brightened expression of adoring glee, with the reserved show of anxious terror, everyone looked upon their faces with full fear. Gideon clenched his fists and felt as if he could fly, every single last ounce of his soul craved this. Having spent his whole life desperate for the toss of loving eyes in his direction, the lack of it all made him stand tall inside hatred, a jaded kiss of darkness he was previously unaware that he was allowed to fall back on. He wondered if this kind of terrified attention was the stuff he had been seeking all along, or if the fact that he had been so overlooked in life that any amount of any kind of attention was something he was delightfully sick over. Seeing fear strike through these people's hearts, hearing the murmurs of urgency to escape their press of magnetic direction, Gideon glowered down their destination and felt entirely invincible, as if any single person standing in his path was doomed, no matter what. As much as Albar hated it, Gideon almost wondered if he could get away with coming down here every day just to feel something.

"Maybe, for this first go-around, don't say anything," Albar muttered, the four stood still with each other in one of the main elevators, one of which previously had people in it but as soon as all four individuals stepped inside, all ten strangers scattered out of it like roaches upon a light switch. The elevator croaked as it began to ascend the building, the singular light above them angrily flickered a few times, the whole lower half of the building was tattered and dirty. Albar inhaled a huge breath with the expansion of his equally as big rib cage and eyed Gideon with a cheeky look that almost formed a smile, "Sure, we're the scariest, most feared guys here, but it doesn't mean we're the only sharks in the ocean. Still gotta watch your back."

"Yeah, Coz acts like he's not scared, I think deep down he is," Jukkit muttered as he crossed his arms, it looked as if Jukkit was happy to be going about this excursion, though somehow this main person he kept referring to seemed like someone Jukkit despised, "Helps to have a billion body guards... We don't walk around with body guards."

"We ARE the body guards," Albar grunted with a laugh, Jukkit grinned and shrugged.

"Bodying everyone else and only protecting ourselves," Jukkit added as the elevator finally crawled to the thirteenth floor with a croak and a deep-fried ding, "We're only here for weed but y'think we can fuck with him? Since we're all here today?"

"Possible, just get whatever you want, I'm not interested in said 'bodying' you're referring to, I just want to have a smoke and eat some pizza," Albar grumbled quietly, him and Jukkit tossed looks of differing irritation to each other, though once the doors croaked open, Gideon stiffened and felt a roll of PTSD hit him between the eyes.

The flashing memories of his cell bunker opening upon game day had him holding his breath in a swing of adrenaline-rushing dread. He had to inhale a steady breath to remind himself that the game was over, it was something he had successfully won, it wasn't an issue for him any longer, though somehow, the sudden fling of opened doors and bright lights had him feeling the urge to throw his arms up in a fetal-curl of full panic. Although he remained stoic and stepped out of the elevator with Jukkit, Albar and Ora, he skillfully assessed his surroundings, he did everything to not act like his head was on a swivel, he narrowed his gaze and took everything in, every body count, every exit, every weapon-like material, it all mattered. On edge, he was floored at how much of an expert he was becoming at coming across as cool as a cucumber.

Much different than the world on the ground floor, this thirteenth floor was simply a massive, dimly lit room with what looked to be pristine work stations, singularly illuminated by the hover of inspection lamps. Due to no one being able to access this floor but the workers here, higher up Arena officials and the winners themselves, all eyes in the room flew up from their precarious tasks. Jukkit seemed to be the most comfortable here, with Albar tight in tow, and though Ora pressed ahead of Gideon with the trickling confidence the group had, Gideon hung to the back in glowering, stewing nervousness. He caught eyes with a few workers on this floor, these beings didn't seem to hold the same level of fear that the civilians downstairs held, they looked a bit more hardened and a bit more ready for trouble, though even still, the twinkle of fear in their eyes was incredibly obvious. Upon a few more curious glances, Gideon took note that this was a distribution floor, packing and prepping of whatever illegal substance he could think of.

"My main man, Jukkit," Coz suddenly yelled from across the place, his voice echoed, an annoying, cackling tone of teeth-grinding irritation he clearly used to his advantage.

He sat at a huge, hefty black wooden desk, haphazardly littered with a few stacks of cash, messy paper work, a lit cigar, a few empty beers, it was almost impossible to catch the nearly-dozen or so body guards that stood in a single line flat against the darkened wall behind him. He lifted a little, his greasy black hair was messily draped across his forehead and down his prominent cheekbones, Gideon was shocked to see another human here. Every single gamer he had come into contact with was alien to him, foreign outside anything he was previously used to, so much so that seeing another human was now what was jarring. Although the four slowly sauntered up in a lazy collection, fear driven into the hearts of everyone around them, Coz looked chill, he didn't stand to greet anyone, was arrogant as they came.

"And crew," Coz trailed, his wild, almost white-blue eyes securely scanned the group of four and quickly landed back to Jukkit, who heaved a tired sigh and tapped his fingers on Coz's hefty desk, "Y'bring cash this time? Surely all that nose picking you're doing upstairs has earned you some, yeah?"

"Oh yeah, loads of it," Jukkit muttered as he inhaled a deep breath, adjusted his favorite tan, tattered cap and lazily glossed his eyes about the place, "Just here for weed. 'Bout a month's worth."

"Some balls, Jukkit, you want to rob me of a month's worth of weed, for four people, no less," Coz muttered, he tucked his cigar to his mouth and took an obnoxiously huge inhale, he hovered in silence as everyone waited for him to exhale and carrying through the mess of rotten smoke that billowed from his body, "I can't keep lettin' y'all walk outta here leaving me empty handed, that trickles down to my dealers, y'wanna know what happens when you fuck me over? You fuck over my clients. Y'got a lot of eyes lookin' your way, pal."

"I get it, I get it," Jukkit muttered, and though the card of strong arming Coz was likely weakening, due to how much push back Coz was giving and likely how many times Jukkit had done this, he heaved a sigh and figured just buying the weed this time was fair. He rolled his eyes, pulled a wad of cash out of the inner pocket of his hefty, worn out jacket and lazily flopped it to Coz's desk, alongside the small pile of cash already nearby, "C'mon. Gotta keep the top of the tower fed. It all-"

"Trickles down?" Coz interrupted meanly, he exhaled an annoying cackle, brushed his hair out of his eyes and shook his head, "Last I understood, all your wealth is just pooling and I'm down here getting butt-fucked by these interactions with you, you come by and swipe any gains I may be marinating in that week, putting me right back on my ass and leaving ME to face angry dealers who are then shit-outta-luck because of your greed."

"We're not gunna have a problem, are we?" Albar muttered, although they all stiffened and understood that Coz was right, the battle for selfish desires was the only route seemingly taken, in a place like this.

Gideon could feel the knee-jerk reaction to step in and mediate, to find a common ground, to happily frolic into the sunset with agreements and compromised reached, though he glossed his eyes to Coz's body guards, the dozen or two workers about him, he swiftly understood this whole world was dog-eat-dog, you had to fight for whatever you wanted, even if it meant ruining someone's year because of it.

"I don't know, Albar, are we?" Coz bravely broadened his voice, though in tossing his gaze to Albar, he caught with Ora, who stood closely, and with venom at the ready, he stiffened in the croak of his old, worn leather chair and meanly brightened, "Well, wouldyah look at that! You sacks of shit FINALLY afforded Ora some clothes."

Gideon slowed his roll of pondering the notion of wanting to leave and felt his pupils tighten. He lulled his eyes closed in a slow seethe of nervous understanding of just what was about to unfold, and as he opened his predatory gaze in a hook tight to Coz's figure, he could swear the gold glint in his awakened eyes was something his guards took note of. With not much left out here to live for, he suddenly felt as if Ora was the one singular thing, the loving bond they had cutely formed together, the secretive show of vulnerability he allowed Ora due to no words having to be exchanged, he felt his stomach drop at the sheer weight of just how incredibly protective he had become of her. Easily able to snuff out Jukkit's bullying, he now held his breath and understood standing up for Ora in this outside setting could very easily mean adding more tallies to his kill-number. Ready to go to war for the sake of her fragile feelings, he held still and proverbially begged Coz not to carry on, for Coz's sake and Coz's sake only. Much to Gideon's equal dismay and glee, Coz erupted with more nasty nonsense.

"User knows she needs it, scrawny, ugly thing," Coz meanly chuckled, his guards joined along with silent snickering, Coz cocked an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair with a gentle shrug, "No offense, Ora. Next time though, maybe... Don't choose pink, you want to look scary, you're a Game Over winner, not a slutty e-girl."

Although Gideon could see Albar tense in the knee-jerk reaction to defend Ora, Gideon inhaled a deep breath through his nose and gingerly hovered past Ora, on his left, and Albar, to his right. Upon approaching Jukkit, who was also on his left, his bigger, scarily intimidating figure pressed into the single beam of light the cascaded down onto Coz's work area, the glow of yellow that eclipsed the back of Gideon's head and casted a shadow over Coz's figure. Coz huffed a shaky breath, sat back and peered hard up into Gideon's eyes with a notable swing of dread, though he still held on to his cocky attitude. Gideon could see Coz's guards tense a bit in his peripheral, though the mere stab of his terrifying, golden eyes, deep into Coz's soul, was enough for Gideon to understand that Coz and his team were outmatched by even Gideon's presence alone.

"G-Gideon," Coz muttered nervously, he tried to keep his powerful voice present, though it all went down the drain the second Gideon raised his eyebrows in a swing of sarcastic delight, cupped his ear and tilted his head, so to act as if he didn't hear Coz.

"What was that?" Gideon huffed, he peaked a toothy, youthful little smile through his mouth piercings and although his exterior seemed soft and curious, with the tilt of his head and the cute look upwards in dainty wondering, Coz swallowed a gulp and fully understood this was a front.

"Gideon," Coz stated with a bit more clarity, though Gideon tenderly land his fingertips in an aggressive splay to the edge of Coz's desk and leaned over it, a little.

"Lookit you... Pathetic, shaking where you sit," Gideon hissed meanly, "The only reason you're so scared of me, and not Jukkit, is because I'm a fresh face, has the appeal just worn off or something? You forget that all four of us have knocked heads and not thought twice on it?"

"I haven't forgotten," Coz muttered in deeper, darker annoyance, his voice began to tremble.

"So, at the end of all of this, all you care about is money, right?" Gideon stood a bit straighter, his voice gained courage, his booming presence suddenly filled the whole room with an echo of dominance he easily laid over the land. Gideon gently snapped his fingers amidst the cue of his purple coding, and within the blink of an eye, Gideon effortlessly manifested the hugest swathe of cash, atop Coz's desk, than anyone had ever seen. It was something that Coz almost couldn't see over, though the second Coz realized what was happening and flexed to begin hurriedly reaching for the groups of hundreds to begin stashing away, Gideon snapped his bigger fingers again and allowed it all to vanish with a few blips of his purple glitch-lines of confusion. Coz huffed a panicked noise, scuffled to his feet, grappled his messy work desk where the cash was and laid a crazed, unforgiving glower up into Gideon's face, to which Gideon sharply returned the effort and hurried to get into Coz's face in return, "Or do you care about something GREATER?"

"Either pay me for my services or get the fuck out," Coz whispered in trembling, realized fear easily coupled with protective anger over his establishment, and though Gideon understood his stance was valid and logical, he felt the delicious reward of vengeance finally lean down and kiss him atop the head, the desire to make others suffer due to pain doled, Gideon felt his veins wiggle at the mere thought of torturing someone due to hurtful words messily splayed, in Ora's honor, he nearly wanted to jump for joy.

"Both scenarios you get to keep your life," Gideon's voice darkly croaked in Coz's face, his golden eyes held tight to Coz's crazed, terrified gaze, to which Gideon narrowed in whispery curiosity, "Or, do you?"

Due to Gideon's threat, his ears pricked to the sound of all twelve of Coz's body guards pulling out their guns in a lightning-speed clack of loaded bullets and aimed them directly to Gideon's face from the gap. Gideon cocked an eyebrow and lazily lifted his gaze from Coz's terrified face, the trembling panting from his nose was more than enough to assure Gideon that this entire operation was riding on a bluff. Gideon drew his gaze upon the dozen barrels he now lazily stared down, and although one month ago, had he been in this scenario, he'd run home and cry himself to sleep, he almost felt the urge to laugh where he stood. He inhaled a deep, steady breath, stood up right and watched as the barrels followed him, the urge to giggle held to the back of his throat before it was too much to bear, a nonchalant smile and chuckle escaped Gideon's figure as he gestured his hands to his broad chest loosely draped with the thin tank top and lazy zip up that he wore, unzipped and exposed his sturdy body and bold face and neck tattoos.

"How sweet," Gideon chimed with a mean smile, "They want to shoot me."

Albar flattened his ears and now understood Gideon was playing with fire, though strangely, he felt the urge to allow Gideon to lay dominance over the land. Such was promised as Gideon skillfully took a turn on his heel and broadened his gaze beyond Jukkit, Ora and Albar. He spoke out to the prickled, silent room, everyone had stopped dead in their tracks from the moment all four of them got off the elevator.

"You fuckers understand that there are only four of us, in this room, coded for the arena, right?" Gideon's strong, raspy voice boomed, he meanly glowered down each worker that stood with now trembling arms and hands, frozen inside their work of packaging the many loose substances around the room. Gideon inhaled a tight breath and circled the room loosely, eyeing each worker as he went, "Does anyone want to tell me what they think will happen if guns are pulled on said four individuals who are coded for the arena?"

Gideon scuffed back to where Albar, Jukkit and Ora patiently stood in prickled listening, to which Gideon brought his gaze tight to Coz and knew these questions were merely for him and not his staff.

"Guess what, y'shoot us, we die and regenerate," Gideon whispered, though as he inhaled a readied breath and positioned both of his hands in a stance that looked to be as if he was holding a gun upwards, his coding skillfully collected the information from his imagination and allowed him to manifest the terrifying sight of an AK-47 tight in his grip, upwards and lay loose against his broad chest, his bigger finger on the trigger. Gideon grinned in scheming cuteness and shrugged a little, "What would happen if I were to shoot you, then? Would you come back to the grid too?"

"No," Coz whimpered quietly, he now trembled and held his hands to his desk as he stood frozen still; it was here did his guards nervously lower their guns in regret. Coz looked down to his desk in terror and tried not to visibly gulp a swallow as Gideon's powerful, bigger footsteps pressed closer, the shadow of the assault riffle in his hands grew in a drape across the wood of Coz's messy desk. Coz choked a gentle plea of continued terror, "I-I'm sorry, everything's yours, I don't care. Have mercy."

Gideon narrowed his eyes and felt the sensible side of his being gingerly rest a hand on his shoulder and urge him to remember his roots, the heart of gold his father had given him, though with even the easiest shove, Gideon sucked in a readied breath, gripped the gun with one hand, lifted his left fist high in the air and with an explosion of wood, Gideon's fist came down on Coz's hefty, thick work desk with all of his wrecking force. Coz cried a noise, stepped back, covered his face and eventually tumbled to the ground due to stumbling over his chair, which was behind him. Wood splayed outwards in the explosion, his own loose cash, drugs, cigar, anything else on his desk was now sent outwards in an eruption of chaos, and as the dust settled, Coz scrambled to his knees and was in the motion of standing, though halted the second Gideon's bigger footsteps firmly crunched into the rubble of Coz's desk, the barrel of his assault riffle was lazily pointed to the ground.

"I have an idea," Gideon's voice was deep and gentle, a promise of deathly delight, a sinister show of arms he was floored to don, once and for all, "Why don't you give Ora an apology while you're down there?"

"I-I'm sorry," Coz mumbled, though he sucked in a sudden yelp of a noise as Gideon firmly shoved the cold end of the barrel into Coz's temple.

"Mean it!" Gideon's rib cage emit with an enraged boom, the whole of it bounced in a cold echo of reverberating, promised aggression.

"I'm really sorry, Ora," Coz trembled, sweat dripped down his temples, he grimaced as Gideon shoved the tip of the barrel deeper into the side of Coz's skull. Coz gripped his knees and longingly peered up into Ora's face, whom of which stood before the mess of the desk and in front of Jukkit, as if to politely await said further swathe of apologies, "Your hoodie is nice."

"Do you have a favorite color?" Gideon wondered sweetly, though the venom laced in his words was a firm reminder that he wasn't playing around. He grunted, knelt on one knee and although he lowered his gun, he peered head-long into the side of Coz's face, Coz not nearly having any shred of gumption to look Gideon in the eye. A moment passed before Gideon reached out, grappled Coz's chin between his bigger thumb and pointer finger, and yanked his face in a force to make Coz look at Gideon dead on. Gideon narrowed his gaze and warmly pressed on with a sinister little smile, the glint of his piercings caught with the beam of the overhead light that illuminated the mess they knelt in, "Does the concept of art not interest you, then? Surely you do have a favorite color, want me to take a guess?"

"Blue," Coz whimpered through a breath, his hands and arms trembled as he desperately tried to remain cool in Gideon's now hovering, predatory presence.

"Y'wanna guess Ora's?" Gideon wondered as he lofted his eyes to Ora; she stood frozen and peered down into Gideon's eyes, although she was a seemingly innocent little being in this instance, Gideon could feel her riled, excited energy, she was secretly over the moon with the raw fact that someone was verbally sticking up for her, a feat she couldn't bring herself to. Gideon jostled Coz's chin about, ultimately yanking him about a little, to which he directed Coz to look up at Ora, once and for all, "I'll let you think about it for a sec..."

"Pink," Coz staggered nervously as him and Ora caught gazes, though he flinched as Gideon kept his face firmly still and leaned in to whisper into Coz's ear.

"I think she's earned that," Gideon meanly hissed in Coz's ear, he trembled with rage, he glowered down the side of Coz's face and meanly pressed on, "The next time any of us come in here, you're to get on your knees and bow. The next time this level of disrespect is shown to us is the last day you're breathin'. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir," Coz meeped as he squeezed his eyes shut, though he grunted a quiet noise of terror as Gideon firmly unhanded him in an aggressive shove of his face, causing Coz to fall into the mess of wood shards, money, hot cigar ash, all of it.

"How 'bout the lot of you assholes take the day off, maybe do a Google search on the definition of respect," Gideon lurched to an aggressive stand, stomped over the wood shards like it was nothing and allowed his booming voice to press out to the whole room.

With all the ease in the world, he allowed his assault rifle to blip away, though inside the same action, he sucked in a huge breath and allowed his coding to aggressively snake the ground in all directions. As his coding reached each work station, Gideon's coding sneakily devoured every last ounce of illegal substances he could get his mainframe on, and in a blink, the whole room was empty of any inventory. Just before he was about to turn heel and leave with his pack, once and for all, Gideon laid the outstretch of his hand over the mess of shattered wood Coz sat in, and in a dump, Gideon allowed hundreds of thousands of wrapped bills to thud in a haphazard mess about Coz's person. Easily upwards of a million dollars suddenly inside of Coz's possession, Gideon narrowed his gaze and meanly concluded this tirade.

"Here's that 'mercy' you ordered," Gideon spat, he inhaled a readied breath and firmly pushed past Ora, Jukkit and then Albar with the silent cue that he was in charge now, and his word was the top word that mattered.

A no-brainer to fall in line with Gideon's sudden sprout of fresh, domineering leadership, all three previous winners eagerly followed his hefty footsteps as he left Coz's level equally shattered and built up. The four piled onto the massive lift, and as the doors closed, Gideon gave Coz one last threatening glower of terror, leaving Coz with the image of just who he'd be dealing with if there were to be any more slip-ups. The doors sealed, the elevator lurched, and as a few seconds of their slow ride all the way to the top of the building was now underway, Albar was the first to gently scoff a small little breath of a chuckle.

"Alright, we get it, your dick is massive," Albar grunted, to which Jukkit erupted into trembling laughter, and though Gideon wanted to sag and join in, he remained with his back turned to the three, his face closest to the seal of the scuffed up elevator doors, he aggressively pointed down to the ground in the roll of dominance.

"I want BOTH you men to apologize to Ora, right this second," Gideon firmly snapped, the elevator went silent. Gideon inhaled a deep, trembling breath and desperately tried to control his rage, "She's done nothing but merely exist and BOTH you fuckers didn't care to ask if she wanted clothes, if she was okay, what her favorite color was, NOTHING. For the whole year she's been here!"

Gideon whirled around and sent his crazed, angered gaze tight into Albar's and Jukkit's with a world of fresh, blossoming dominance that was erupting in the form of pure, protective rage. He opened his arms with the outward grapple of his hands in stiffening anger as he pressed on.

"DO BETTER! She's one of us!" Gideon firmly pointed at Ora, who stood a few feet away in gentle, humbled solitude, "Connect with her or watch this crew fall apart and be man-handled like what we almost just were! We're a team! Act like it! APOLOGIZE!"

"I'm sorry, Ora," Albar mumbled first, he sagged his ears into submission and was glad to catch eyes with Ora, "It's true, we hardly know you... You just never come around much, and you don't say much."

"Sorry, Ora... We don't communicate like you do, maybe we can just... All help each other," Jukkit muttered sorrowfully, he cocked an eyebrow and sneakily gave Gideon a sassy side-eye, "Before Gideon bursts that terrifying vein in his forehead, anyways."

"It's okay," Ora eased quietly, she bobbed a nod and smiled into Gideon's eyes with a show of sincere gratitude, "Gideon, the bridge. Intuitive link."

Gideon heaved a trembling sigh through his nose and desperately tried to calm down, to which Jukkit chuckled and rested his hand to Gideon's trembling forearm.

"Easy, tiger," Jukkit blurt into gentle chuckling as the group finally began to sag out of the huge swing of tension they were all just in, it was only here did Gideon's big, broad shoulders finally sag. Jukkit smiled up into Gideon's eyes with a cheeky swing of pride, "Being in charge looks good on you, chief."

"Someone's gotta do it," Gideon muttered as his lips just barely curled into a sneaky smirk, he heaved one final breath of revived steadiness and glossed his refreshed, though still prickled with dominance swing of eye contact to each of his three family members, "Let's eat."

"Yeah, lest you wreck the whole building down," Albar stated under his breath, though erupted with laughter he couldn't conceal, and as the doors opened, their quiet lobby sung with the toss of their laughter and cheeky banter, familial care and respect Gideon was desperate for, a final sag of twisted warmth he was thrilled to have in his grasp once and for all.


A/N: hey all, I've uploaded a small reference sheet of Kepa's family members, as well as the winners, to my deviantart. It has a height chart of Gideon next to Kepa and her parents, and just rough representation of what each winner looks like and such. Just a small something to help my readers better conceptualize my characters :D enjoy!

Also check out my Twitter because I upload all sorts of art and saga stuff there almost daily - this is including the saga webcomic :) my username in both places is Vyntresser. Thanks guys!!