Reviews :
Snake557 : Going going gone! haha
ThoreLB : Mommy Elkuorra lmao I laughed for way too long at that. You're not wrong tho, she mothers literally anything in sight, she's probably my sweetest, gooiest character yet, I adore her.
Song Listened To :
O (Hidden Track) by Coldplay
*Chapter 172*
In the hover of freezing between fight or flight, Elkuorra felt her wings tremble with the sheer amount of overuse she had just put them through. She could hardly believe that even within just one short hour, she was successful in sourcing her destination, and though said wave of whole disbelief coursed over her, she lulled her eyes closed, sucked in a trembling, thick inhale through her adorable snout and only just allowed the realization to hit her as her paws gingerly sagged into Sugar Rush's damp, cool chocolate soil. She peeled her eyes open in the shake of tears that came from her figure, her lip quivered, she could hardly even understand just what had taken place, how incredibly far away from her previous reality she had strayed. Sugar Rush stood poised in every single last ounce of its nighttime glory, even though it was rainy and the palace was fogged, it still hung absolutely blistered with the warbles of the glowing light it was hugged in. Elkuorra panted through her nose and felt like collapsing, all she wanted to do was curl underneath a tree and marinate in the sag of safety she was suddenly in, though furthermore, she knew she had a heavy, important task to accomplish first.
With hands that shook, she pulled the secured hard drive from the breast of her tight cloak and shirt and swiftly moved under a nearby candy cane striped tree, all beautifully billowed with plushy marshmallow blooms. Rain gently trickled down in the soothing sounds of peace, the game smelled heavenly, everything about this new reality was something Elkuorra could sit and just sob over. Eager to marinate in all of this with Gideon, she wondered just how she should go about all this, how she was going to convince him that this reality was real, how to assure him that no more fighting or struggling had to continue on. With readied fervor, she grit her fangs, angled the hard drive down towards the huge chunk of the tree and with the push of the hefty button right in the center of it, said beam of white light fizzled out of the pinhole, on the side of the drive, and however haphazard and messy it all was, Gideon's coding blipped to the ground and urgently did whatever it could to properly map out his body, what was left of his damaged coding. Elkuorra sucked in a gasp, as did Gideon, though as he clutched his bare, bloody chest and stiffened into a firm sit against the trunk of a Sugar Rush tree, he urgently dart his eyes about in relived terror and allowed his brain to grapple with the reality around him.
"Hey, easy, easy, you're safe," Elkuorra shakily pressed, she flinched as Gideon's sharp, terrified eyes stabbed up into hers, though as she dared to get to a kneel close to him, she noticed the knee-jerk flex he took in preparation to run away, though softened as his eyes assessed the familiar-looking being that now was due to hovering over him like an angel sent from source itself. Elkuorra shook her head and was floored to gain Gideon's trust so fast, he messily panted and peered his bloodied face tight into hers in true, animalistic panic, "You're home, you're safe, just sit... Just breathe for a moment."
"Where are we?" Gideon's dry, hoarse voice whispered at the disbelief of her words, the idea of 'home' felt way too long gone, though as he firmly blinked and got another scan about his surroundings inside Sugar Rush's beautiful, still, delicious smelling nature, he huffed a stagger of a breath and peered to the palace in the distance in trembling disbelief. He long-blinked tears down his cheeks and gawked silently, and though the palace was easing in and out of fast-moving, wispy fog, it was still obvious that his wish had come true. He choked a small noise and hiccuped alongside the tremors his body was now permanently saddled in. His thick neck caused his head to shake, his teeth chattered a little, he tried to calm his breathing as he uttered the words, "This can't be..."
"I know all of this is rather sudden, I'm willing to sit here with you as long as you need," Elkuorra's voice shook in dainty overwhelm, she tucked her beautiful hair behind her ears and assessed Gideon's body. Battered in nasty bruises, Vye's claw marks down his pecks and the front of his face caused for a huge mess of blood, he was in ruins. Dead little pixel marks dot his lower arms and temples in white kisses of corruption, he trembled in terror, though it was the second his sorrowful, mortified gaze dragged did he urgently peer up into her with a swing of teary gratitude. Elkuorra dared to want to get closer to Gideon, to brush his messy, bloody bangs out of his eyes, she hovered and waited for him to settle down a little as she continued on, "We're in Litwak's, this is Sugar Rush... Vye helped us escape."
"Who are you?" Gideon whimpered, though as he peered hard into Elkuorra's eyes, he knew the answer. He grimaced a soft hiccup of a cry and assessed her raw beauty, it was a beauty so feverishly dumped right into Kepa and even Vye, a striking, elegant beauty that couldn't be replicated outside of her and her own kin. Gideon gasped a silent little breath and felt the overwhelm that the love of his life was simply now one dainty stroll across Arcadia Station, game stations and outlets he was almost certain he'd never grace, ever again. Gideon erupted into raspy tears, tears that began smearing more blood down his face and the split of his bottom lip. He shook and desperately peered up into Elkuorra's eyes as he ushered her a sweet notion of true love, "You're... You're Kepa's mother. You look just like her, I can't believe it..."
"I am, Vye said she's alive," Elkuorra stated with an equal amount of tears that now poured from her face, she huffed a sweet little giggle and reached her cautious, trembling hand to Gideon's forehead. Eager to mother the beings that came intertwined in her kin's life, she immediately knew garnering Gideon under her wing was something she had no choice in. With all the motherly love in the world, she carefully brushed Gideon's bloody bangs from his eyes and now moved into action in doing what she could to at least somewhat clean him up. Gideon fluttered his eyes as he watched the tears gather on her chin, "Sh-she IS alive, right?"
"Yeah, she's alive," Gideon hissed in trembling glee, and for the first time in months, he beamed a weak smile and peeled his eyes away from Elkuorra for only a moment to peer to the palace in the distance. He coughed a small cry and felt weak, though he succumbed to just laying in Sugar Rush's safety, "I don't want her seeing me like this, though..."
"Yeah, you're all kinds of tossed around, huh," Elkuorra mumbled as she wiped her tears and moved into wanting to officially clean Gideon up.
Gideon heaved a trembling breath and lay half sat against the tree trunk, now fully in Elkuorra's mercy. She was quick to take her bigger cloak off, to reveal a smaller, tighter black t-shirt underneath. Gideon took this instance to take in every aspect about her. She had gorgeous, long, dark silver hair in a secured though now messy braid down her spine. Her fur was a marbleized collection of tans, creams and whites, a striking pelt with darker brown creamy stripes that collected at her wrists and feet. Gideon furrowed his brow in the silent finds that Elkuorra was a much daintier, smaller-build of a cat than Kepa was. Her hands and feet were adorably little, although she was fierce, a movement of the harnessed power of a lioness, she still radiated the essence of fragile, ethereal beauty. She had big, bolder markings on her face, near her temples, though Gideon couldn't get too good of a visual due to them being in low light. Striking, bright blue eyes that held the same cross-hair of pupils that Kepa had, her face said everything Gideon needed to know, in that one glance. Without even having to ask, he knew, without a doubt, this beautiful creature was the mother of the love of his life. He felt absolutely honored to be sitting here, not only basking in Sugar Rush's splay of trickling, springtime rain, but accompanied by the one being he was sure was long gone with Castle Run's unplug.
"Take a big, deep breath for me," Elkuorra stated kindly down to Gideon as she gingerly tucked her two first fingers into the side of Gideon's bloody jugular, so to find his pulse.
Gideon struggled to suck in a deep breath through his nose, though still, his broad chest expanded with it. Elkuorra aimlessly peered to the top of his head and counted his heart rate for a moment before sagging and doing due diligence of blotting the blood on Gideon's face.
"Sorry about Vyekindra... I'm guessing you're familiar with claws, due to being around Kippa, previously," Elkuorra mumbled, Gideon winced and sat still as she successfully used her cloak to blot the blood on Gideon's face.
"Yes, ma'am," Gideon's darkened voice whispered, he lulled his eyes closed and lay limp in Elkuorra's will, she gently moved to his chest and began to blot those gashes, and though they remained exposed and nastily gaping with his raw flesh, the bleeding was beginning to let up. He peered his exhausted, defeated gaze up into Elkuorra's and huffed a raspy, whispery notion of curiosity, "The second I saw Vye, I knew they were related... I had no clue you were alive, though, d-did... Kepa know of this?"
"No, I doubt it," Elkuorra stated, she rubbed her nose and sat back as her chore of blotting was now not needed. She inhaled a trembling breath, bundled her now bloodied cloak and looked off to Sugar Rush's palace, off in the distance, "We didn't even know she was alive, I'm sure she heard of Vye winning Game Over and assumed she was the only survivor... I'll eventually pick up to look for Kepa, but I'm wondering if maybe you should head to the palace."
"Where will you go?" Gideon worried coarsely.
"Oh, I'll be okay, you don't need to worry about me," Elkuorra whispered sweetly, "Why don't you go reunite with your family, get reset, and just come back for me. Distracting from such a big task wouldn't be wise, I want your family to focus on you."
"But," Gideon started weakly, to which Elkuorra smiled and held her hand and the squish of her little toe beans to Gideon's forehead.
"I'll be okay," Elkuorra hissed cutely, mannerisms that Gideon was glued to, cute facial expressions that mocked Kepa like no one else, he finally chuffed a gentle chuckle of bewildered, teary disbelief and narrowed his gaze.
"I-I can't believe we made it," Gideon choked a small little cry and looked off to the palace, "I'm... I can't even fathom that I'm here, right now."
"Wasn't easy," Elkuorra muttered nervously, her long, beautiful tail flickered some rain water off of her fur as it draped over her knelt thighs.
"How'd you do it?" Gideon wondered, he still held a tremble in every movement he made, corrupted coding swam about his mainframe in confusion, causing the quaking, though he still had his faculties and fervent, aware eye contact.
"You know those like... Artificial stars in the dome?" Elkuorra mused with a drone of sweet knowing, to which Gideon looked off in gentle pondering before sighing through his nose and deflating with a warm little smirk, however much of it his split bottom lip could afford, "Escape holes. I BARELY squeezed through it."
"Well you ARE a cat," Gideon's hoarse voice grumbled sweetly, "Y-You know, cats can squeeze into any size hole, so long as their head can fit through? They use their whiskers to determine if it's possible."
Elkuorra felt the urge to pander to Gideon, though as they caught eyes in the swing of his cute musings, the raw shape of his heart, it was in this instance alone did Elkuorra understand just why the universe had squeezed Gideon and Kepa together like glue. Elkuorra erupted into a cute giggle and shook her head as Gideon donned a sheepish look of being discovered.
"Y'wanna tell me a little bit more about myself?" Elkuorra muttered sweetly, to which Gideon choked a trembling laugh and readjusted his sitting position, and though it included a grimace and a hefty few coughs, he finally settled in the wary upward sit and utilized his spine to lean away from the tree he was slouched on.
"You sound just like her," Gideon warmly assured, he fluttered his tired eyes and felt relieved he could finally begin rebuilding the life he destroyed, though his heart sank as he shook his head and looked off, "I-I want to see her so desperately, but... I do not want her to see me like this."
"It'd be best to go get reset, go get clean," Elkuorra cautioned, "Not only was your coding robbed of you, but... The drugs probably aren't helping, either."
"... I really fucked this whole thing up, didn't I," Gideon whimpered as tears gathered in his eyes once more, though Elkuorra sighed and wanted to disagree with him, she knew he likely needed to get some stuff off of his chest, "I told her I loved her and she didn't feel comfortable reciprocating because she would've molted... I-If I only just... Listened to her..."
"We all make mistakes," Elkuorra mumbled, feeling protective of her youngest baby, and the raw fact of Gideon's knowledge of just her reasoning for molting, she knew these would all be grander, harder conversations to come, though for now, all she knew was to lay the first piece of the puzzle by simply cleaning on the surface in which to even begin building this jigsaw back together. She warmly rested her hand to Gideon's shoulder and shook her head, "Go see your family... I'll be in Sugar Rush, you collect me when you're in a better place, we can discuss reunions with Kepa later. For now, we both have to lay low... We're now both considered criminals..."
"You saved my life," Gideon stated as more tears spilled down his cheeks, he narrowed his gaze and shook his head, "How can I ever repay you..."
Elkuorra cutely smirked and looked up with a huge, deep breath. She wanted to unfurl every last ounce of desire on her heart, for his and Kepa's sake, just what their relationship would blossom into, or the hope of it anyways. Leaping four million steps ahead of herself, she giggled with the idea of bringing up weddings, grand babies, a big, happy snuggly family once and for all, she lulled her eyes closed and cutely sighed it all away, for the small time being. She finally recollected with Gideon's eyes and shook her head.
"You can repay me by getting clean, by getting right with your family, and most importantly," Elkuorra narrowed her gaze for emphasis and smiled, "Get right with Kepa. If what you said was true, and she would molt in your name... Hate to break it to you, but you're stuck with that cat for life. It's a MIRACLE any of this has taken place, that poor girl doesn't understand just how lucky you both are... But she will. Do right by her, and you'll do right by me and Sezeke... Even Vye."
"Yes, ma'am," Gideon's hoarse voice trembled, though was glossed in confirmation with a small nod. He inhaled a shaky breath and looked as if he wanted to get to his feet, and with Elkuorra's help, he stood, however wiggly and foreign it all felt. He lovingly peered into her eyes and shook his head, "Thank you... I can't thank you enough."
"You're welcome," Elkuorra assured as she lovingly rubbed up and down Gideon's upper left arm, the two cast their gaze to the palace in baited wait, "Y'gunna be okay walking?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay," Gideon grumbled tiredly as he closed his eyes, "Gives me time to think... The rain will feel nice on my wounds."
"How are you going to get into the palace?" Elkuorra wondered, to which Gideon furrowed his narrowed gaze and allowed contemplation to take the two into a captive silence for a minute or two.
"... I could very easily waltz up to the palace doors and scare the shit out of the guards, but..." Gideon peaked a shy smile and eyed a certain point of the palace wall. Although far off, although merely the exterior of it, he always knew which wall was his dedicated art wall. He grimaced a small noise of swarming pain that still hovered in his corrupted coding, and though he tried to cue his glitching abilities, absolutely nothing came of it. He peered down to his blank palms and huffed a stagger of a silent, whimpering breath as he continued on, "I left my mark on the inside of those walls... I can hopefully garner a shred of my coding back, from it, and get through to my parent's backyard. I don't want to see anyone..."
"You want your mom," Elkuorra mumbled in full knowing, full understanding of just what any wounded individual wanted most, to which Gideon crumpled in full tears and grimaced a silent cry in the direction of the palace.
"I want my mom," Gideon whimpered, unashamed, unabated, Elkuorra firmly looked up and did everything she could to not explode into tears. Gideon choked a continuation, "And no one else..."
"She's yours, be safe," Elkuorra gestured lovingly, "I'll be in Sugar Rush... I'm headed for the city. What's that city called?"
"Orion City," Gideon gently pointed after he wiped tears from his un-wounded cheek, he scoffed a noise as his limbs trembled harder upon raising them above his heart level, "I guess just lay low, once I can get settled, I'll see fit that either me or someone on palace grounds comes to collect you. I won't let you be out here for longer than a day, I can at least guarantee that."
"Well, don't fret on it, go get clean," Elkuorra lovingly rubbed Gideon's upper back and was glad to garner his grateful eye contact once more, and though the two looked as if they wanted to embrace, they held off due to the mess of gashes and blood Gideon was crowned with. She gave his back one final pat for motivation and bobbed a nod, "We'll see each other again very soon, okay?"
"Okay, thank you, Kepa's mom," Gideon whimpered cutely with a small chuckle, to which Elkuorra flattened her ears and beamed with her eyes shut in full delight.
"You can call me Elkuorra, or... Elley for short, whichever suits you, love," Elkuorra mused with great warmth, to which Gideon bobbed a nod and took a brave first step out in the direction of the palace.
"Elley," Gideon returned lovingly, and as they held gazes for a moment, Gideon finally turned heel and shakily began to press out.
Though Gideon looked like a terrifying beast of a war lord prowling through the fog, rain and dark, Elkuorra held her hands to her chest and relished in the hauntingly beautiful sight of Gideon pressing towards the palace, all aglow, in the desperation to reclaim everything he had ever lost. Tears fell like the rain around her, she sucked in a hefty breath and turned her sights to the brand new city on the horizon, one of which the palace was beautiful stationed above, on the hillside. She smiled at the notion that the sun would be rising within a few hours, she was floored her new life now consisted of Sugar Rush warmth and goodness, a twinkling, friendly, vast city she was now due to spending the entire day exploring. She knew she needed to lay low, though somehow she was almost excited that she was bought this time to really deconstruct the darkness she was trapped in, to relish in the idea that she'd be seeing Kepa soon, to really dive in deep and get to know Gideon and his family more, everything about this scenario felt way too good to be true, though she shoved it all away and understood she wasn't about to start dancing with the idea of playing devil's advocate until the sun rose; she pressed out in the hopes of a new life, fervently remembering her new mission, from here on out.
