Reviews :

Snake557 : You have! I'm extremely appreciative. I'm pretty sure you're a rarity, there aren't a lot of people left that have been reading since the very beginning, and if there are, they must just be lurkers, which is fine. Would be cool to know the official total though haha


Song Listened To :

The Light (Alternate Version) by CHPTRS

Iris by Natalie Taylor


*Chapter 169*

Gideon fluttered his eyelids and desperately did what he could to open his eyes, though the light was nearly blinding. He scrunched and did whatever he could to peer through his fingertips as he gingerly unhanded Ora, though once his eyes finally adjusted, even if just barely, he flinched and felt his tightened pupils catch with the being before him. Ora stood tall, although she still had the creepy factor to her character, she looked absolutely brightened. Her eyes were held to normality, her lovely black hair flowed in the blissful wind of Gideon's untouched escape, the lucid state of his imagination hovered in tender wait, the last frontier of his being that the darkness couldn't seem to reach. A place of humble perfection, both Ora and Gideon peered hard into their awoken eyes, colorful and flushed with warm, new life. Ora fluttered her eyes and sucked in a silent little gasp of delight that hit her skin, and as she so cutely tucked her fists to her chin, she gave Gideon a knowing little smile.

"Gideon," Ora hissed lovingly, it was only here did she finally show signs of full conversing, full interaction, her facial expressions and mannerisms were far more evolved and thought through. She peered up to Gideon's figure, aglow with renewed warmth. Although he still had his piercings and tattoos, he practically glowed with fresh skin, bright eyes, he looked like he had just been created and plopped to the grid, reset and refreshed to pure perfection. Ora fluttered her becoming-teary eyes and was floored to have her whole vocabulary back, she scoffed Gideon a cute giggle and looked awestruck in his glowing, beaming presence, "You trusted me..."

"Yeah," Gideon urged tenderly, he looked down to his chest and noticed he was free of blood, free of any wreckage, his sunny lucid state was warm and easy. Gideon grunted a trembling chuckle and remembered just what he had gone through, though was now more focused on Ora's exploration of sunlight, the thing she had been demanding, "You're the only one here I trust to this extent, O..."

"I have so much to tell you," Ora mused in a hiss of bewilderment as she only briefly looked about this sunny white plain, she stepped tighter to Gideon and firmly gripped his bigger hands, "There's so much I've been wanting to show you these last two weeks, Gideon... This is urgent, please... PLEASE hear me."

"I'm here," Gideon's hands shook, he swallowed a gulp and felt worried as to just what Ora had to say, though as she narrowed her gaze and slowly shook her head for emphasis on her own disbelief, she peaked Gideon a youthful, adorable little smile and hissed him spilling notions of wonder.

"You've got to return home," Ora pressed in overflowing wonderment, wonderment that nearly had giggles spilling from her trembling figured. Gideon froze and peered to her in stunned, prickled terror, and though he felt the knee-jerk reaction to argue her, he remained still as she gripped his hands harder, "You've left behind a being that is so desperate for your return, she's so desperate to have you in her arms once more... Your future depends on it."

"Ora," Gideon started weakly as he grimaced, though Ora stood her ground.

"You are so loved I can't even comprehend these feelings any longer, I've just been sitting in it for the past two weeks, I can hardly bear it," Ora whispered fervently, Gideon was shocked to see tears well in her eyes, "Kepa didn't get the chance to tell you how she truly feels about you..."

Gideon held his breath and now felt the roll of chills spill down his spine, the raw fact that he had never even spoken Kepa's name out loud, since so much as leaving Sugar Rush for the last time, was what had Gideon entirely spooked. Although they were tangled in an exterior swap, Ora genuinely looked as if she had been sitting with these feelings for a long time now, tortured with her current state's limiting ability to properly communicate. Gideon began to feel defensive, though somehow that sunlight Ora had been preaching about began to pierce him through and through. He inhaled a trembling breath and felt every single last ounce of his strongholds begin to crumple.

"How do you know about Kepa?" Gideon hissed in faltering words that shook, Ora gripped his hands harder and uttered an equally as trembling giggle as tears finally slid down Ora's pristine skin.

"She lit the lighthouse's lamp," Ora begged as Gideon's gaze grew more and more intense, more and more fervent with the idea that said beacon of hope, that he had stumbled upon all those months ago, was now the thing to call him back, once more. Ora desperately pressed on, "I didn't have the word for it, so I just... Could only say big light, tall sunlight..."

"Lighthouse," Gideon whispered as his eyes sagged down Ora's body and to their feet, and about them, in aimless pondering, hot realization that now quickly began to crawl over him. He shook his head and fervently peered into her eyes, both beings became animated with tepid desperation that was due to exploding, "The lamp was unlit when I left..."

"It's practically blinding me, she's been manifesting happiness, a safe return, shed light into the dark for weeks now," Ora trembled, she squeezed her eyes shut and grappled Gideon's wrists, "Gideon, go home... Nothing here is worth losing THAT powerful of a love. Those beams reached me, all the way out into the great beyond. Both of your guys future depends on each other's close proximity."

"Ora, I-I can't even begin to comprehend all of this," Gideon shook, he knew what now needed to be done, he felt sweat dot his forehead with the urge to jump out and claw his way back to Kepa, though the task of it all felt way too far away, "How do I even know that's true? I told her that I loved her and she didn't even reply-"

"You blindsided her, she will shed her old skin upon her confession to you, she froze up," Ora urgently rattled as she gestured to her own chest and then outward with fervent desperation, "Gideon, you have to hear me... You HAVE to go home. Absolutely nothing here is worth losing the pot of gold you have with Kepa alone, the future I see of you here doesn't hold even a candle to the future I see between you and Kepa."

"Future," Gideon wondered nervously, Ora giggled and brightened as the two only drew closer in hand holding, wonderment of what was being spilled.

"It's a love unlike any, the amount of sunlight you two are basking in is otherworldly, there's not a single dollar amount in the dark web that could be worth trading all that for," Ora rushed pleadingly, "Go home, Gideon... Follow the light home. Even if it's just for Kepa and Kepa alone. You HAVE to go home... She will stop at nothing to make sure you're where you belong. She knows it... Deep down, you know you're not supposed to be here, either."

"But, I'm here, I made it," Gideon knew his arguments were due to falling apart at the seams, he scoffed a trembling breath and began to look blistered with joy and panic, an equal mixture of now understanding his new motive and making it all right again, "I've forgotten my old life, I can't possibly..."

"Gideon, you abandoned her, you haven't even given yourself the time to accept that raw fact," Ora begged, and though Ora knew these were difficult realities that Gideon was being faced with, she was glad to see him grimace and not only chew on but swallow said tough reality with a shaky sigh through his nose, a sag of electrified defeat, "If you allowed yourself to think about Kepa for merely one second, you wouldn't waste a single MINUTE here any longer... You love her... You want that future with her. You can't convince me otherwise."

"How the hell do I get out of here?" Gideon sharply whispered in animated purpose, reignited motivation that suddenly flood his circuitry with drive, he gripped Ora's arms and now began to look more and more desperate with that still-blistered look of terrified joy.

"Vye's your way out," Ora urgently expressed, as if she couldn't get the words out fast enough, "I don't have all the answers, but I do know Vye is the middle man to your escape. You must go now, Gideon, while The Block is quiet."

"Will I get caught?" Gideon shook with renewal, he long-blinked in the swing of returned terror.

"I don't know, Gideon, I don't know," Ora crumpled with tears, the overwhelm of finally being able to give Gideon all of this information, the idea that Gideon would be leaving, she crumpled into tears and feverishly peered into Gideon's eyes with whole plea, "You have to go! You have to, the lighthouse demands it."

"Thank you, Ora," Gideon murmured as the two urgently grappled into another tight hug, she griped a cute little squeak into his chest as the two held onto each other for a few moments of a tight squeeze. He huffed a shaky breath and issued her a promise over the top of her head, "Whatever happens, I'll never forget about you..."

"Please promise to come back for us... I miss the sun," Ora whimpered in teary desperation, and though Gideon grit his teeth and knew extending such grand promises wasn't wise, he squeezed his eyes shut and was well aware he didn't have a choice, well aware he now had family, a tiny sunspot in this void of darkness he had fall into, and with such knowledge, he bobbed a nod and ushered her his conclusion.

"I promise, I'll come back for you guys," Gideon whispered, he pushed a firm kiss into the top of her head and squeezed her about her little shoulders, "I promise..."

Although all Gideon wanted to do was lay in this beam of sunshine with Ora for the rest of the day, to just marinate in her wisdom, the sheer knowledge she held and could now properly communicate, Gideon understood that there was now absolutely not a single second longer to waste. As he gently brought the two out of his lucid state, he coughed a trembling noise and felt Ora stumble to help Gideon to his feet amidst the splash of glass and blackness they sat in. Gideon stumbled, felt all the pain rush back to him, he grunted to get to a stand and finally gripped Ora's shoulders with one last look into her eyes. The beautiful glow all about them was gone, back in disheveled bodies and eyes, Gideon felt tears stream his cheeks. Regret, guilt, every single last ounce of it drowned him to the point of swinging back and animating his soul into action, once and for all. He grappled Ora into one last huge hug, to which she eagerly gripped to, before he huffed her one last promise of his return, one last usher of his love for her, and without looking back, he hurried to leave his destroyed bedroom in search for Albar. With a push about their dark house, he grit his teeth, erupted in glitch-hopping and, at lightning speed, he bounced to Albar's massive bedroom and urgently happened upon the gape of his door.

"Albar, are you awake?" Gideon called, the animated drive that was now suddenly lit on fire, in his system, called for his voice to boom, something that took him by surprise.

"Gideon, what the hell happened to you?" Albar hissed in unadulterated shock as he stood from his lounge chair, in his bedroom. His room was dim, though it was clear Albar was lounging before he went to sleep.

"Albar, I have to leave, I have to get out of here," Gideon rushed in stammering, he shook his head and tried his very best to not look crazed, though he knew he now couldn't contain his fervent desperation to escape and return to Litwak's, "I have to get home to Kepa, I don't have a single choice, I can't stay here a second longer-"

"Shh, keep your voice down, don't be saying stuff like that," Albar hissed in a loud whisper, and for the first time since Gideon's been here, Albar shrugged his head down into his shoulders, flagged his hands for Gideon to stop talking and now looked up and about his ceiling in a show of paranoid terror.

"I'm serious, Albar, you HAVE to tell me everything you know," Gideon loudly rushed, to which Albar grit his fangs and urgently grappled Gideon's shoulders.

"Gideon, I'm serious, shut up," Albar sharply whispered, though as he inhaled a hurried breath to rush Gideon with the reasons why he should definitely stop talking, suddenly blaring fluorescent lights illuminated every single inch of their house, beaming lights that were so securely hidden in the ceiling, such lights that had both Albar and Gideon flinching in frozen terror.

"What's this?" Gideon grunted nervously as he stiffened, stepped deeper into Albar's room and felt a cold wash come over him the second shuffling could be heard outside of Albar's room.

"Gideon," Albar's voice trembled in terrified regret as five huge bodyguard-like Arena workers shuffled into Albar's room wearing protective garb, armed to the teeth, all black, faces concealed.

"What's going on?" Gideon loudly argued, though as they yelled at Albar to back up, Gideon was shocked to see Albar flattened his ears and eagerly comply.

The second Gideon set his body into motion to urgently bounce away, with his coding, he was suddenly grappled about the neck in a thick, metal lasso that jarred him completely out of the ability to even so much as think of using his powers. Gideon gasped a choke, grappled the thick metal about his jugular and now did everything he could to claw at it, though his wrecking strength, glitching abilities, every last ounce of his manifestation abilities were totally muted. Gideon felt panic immediately hit his blood, he choked a noise of terrified agony as said guards began to viciously yank him out of Albar's room.

"Albar, help!" Gideon's deep voice cried in a craze of understanding just what was going on, he scrambled to get his big hands on the nearby bend of the wall he was being dragged by, and though he anticipated his wrecking strength to aid him in either destroying the wall or yanking him out of the guards grip, he choked a startled, desperate exhale the second his sweaty fingertips so easily slipped from the structure. He sucked in a trembling inhale as his voice echoed after being dragged entirely out of sight, "ALBAR!"

Albar panted through his nose and felt the hit of the dilemma hit his skin. Although he desperately wanted to lunge out and aid Gideon, he held frozen and watched as the guards dragged Gideon away, once and for all. He knew if he were to jump in and try and save Gideon, the murderous torture awaiting him would be something he knew he wouldn't want to live through. He trembled and felt fear for Gideon's sake, Gideon's harrowing yells could be heard through the house until he was dragged out for good and was now entirely long gone. It took everything inside Albar to not erupt into tears of hot regret, the lifestyle he was only just now finally getting comfortable in, he was almost frustrated over the fact that one of them finally caved and understood this wasn't everything it was cracked up to be. Whole despair came over him that said individual just so happened to be Gideon, the fresh face, the impressionable, hardened bad guy with the gooiest center, he sagged his face into his hands and understood that hearing the last of Gideon's bone-chilling yells for help would haunt him for the rest of his days here in the Game Over Arena.