Reviews :
Snake557 : Hahaha yeahhh... Poor Gid gets a good dose of Sezeke's fatherly 'love' lol. And yes! Ellkuorra is present for said conversation but... It's not for awhile, so we can all unclench, but it's not the prettiest thing ever lol
Firesong-Writes : HI! Thank you so much for continuing to read, friend, I hope you're well! And thank you for your insight and such, I love when I get your guys perspective. Yesss all the reunions, I cried through most of them. Unfortunately, Sezeke and Elkuorra don't get a written one, they get like a cute 'next morning' scene - Kepa and Elkuorra get a tiny glimpse of a scene due to Gideon's selfless acts, but yeah, it got to a point where I was just simply writing a million reunions and I was exhausting my mental energy/word usage for them and it was becoming painful. I will say though, Kepa's and Gideon's reunion is obviously my favorite. That chapter alone is nearly 8K words long, I didn't have anymore tears left in me haha. Vye's reunion is unfortunately a different story... Pun intended lol
Song Listened To :
Hold It All Together by CHPTRS
*Chapter 175*
"We're waiting on Koko," Vanellope hummed quietly, she began to anxiously pace in Tessa's and Zed's kitchen all beautifully cast in Sugar Rush's springtime sun.
"Mom, you're freaking me out," Tessa muttered nervously, her and Oliver grunted to a sit at the huge kitchen island, though it was here did Vanellope now anxiously pace into Tessa's and Zed's living room, with a down step, turn the tv off, come back to the kitchen in a mess of touching her neck and face included with all eyes fervently following her every move like loaded turrets. Oliver furrowed his brow in full confusion and, in the slow drag his eyes took to Tessa's, both siblings held gazes in a roll of prickled concern. Tessa finally erupted into a shaky chuckle that felt foreign to her as Zed leaned against the kitchen island, adjacent to Tessa, and dared to smile as well, "Mom, seriously, what's going on."
"We're waiting for Koko," Vanellope snipped, she almost looked out of breath, it was clear she had been crying, and though Tessa felt this was a squirrelly act her mother was going through, she allowed the room to blur in her vision as a million different ideas hit her brain.
The first thought that came to her mind was that maybe Vanellope was pregnant, something she wouldn't put past her mom and dad, though she continued to fervently watch her mother anxiously fiddle with her hair as Tessa's front foyer's teleport pad buzzed with Koko's arrival. She knew Gideon's departure was way too recent to even remotely think about having another baby, unless this one was a surprise. Tessa narrowed her gaze a little more, crossed her arms and allowed a few other ideas to come to her brain, though she almost nervously revisited one potential that stuck out. The potential for Gideon's return, the potential that Vanellope had the one shred of glowing news everyone was praying for, and though Tessa didn't want to sit and get her hopes up, she felt her heart begin to thud in anticipation as she fell silent into her own little bubble of glowing realization. Vanellope looked far too uplifted, far too urgent to get news out, far too pacy and anxious, a vastly different version that she was these past two months. What once was a shell of a woman who could hardly leave her house was now almost angrily pacing in Tessa's kitchen, Tessa did everything she could to not cover her mouth and allow her empathic self to discover this news before Vanellope could even say the words.
"Sorry, I had to settle a debate Nox and Sezeke were in," Koko murmured in mild disinterest as she flagged her hand and lazily came to the island, though as she did, Vanellope suddenly switched into a different avenue of neediness.
"Alright, phone stack, gimme your phones," Vanellope snipped in motherly authority, though it was here did only Oliver slowly pull his phone out of his pocket in full, furrowed confusion.
"...Wait, why?" Koko complained as she finally pulled her phone from her jean's pockets, as well, though she flinched as Vanellope cutely snatched it and began to paw for Oliver's and Tessa's.
"C'mon, Mr. K, you too," Vanellope waggled her hand in Zed's direction, to which he blurt a shaky laugh as Vanellope was successful in garnering everyone's phones, and with a skillful thud to a very far away counter top, a proper phone stack, she came back to the island and cued her powers in the form of glossing the group in a sound proof dome of purple glitch lines.
"Mom, this is overkill, yeah?" Zed's smile broadened, the whole of it all felt foreign, due to Gideon's and Callum's disappearance, smiling and laughing felt as if it were a thing of the past.
"Okay, I need you four to listen to me, and listen to me good... What I'm about to tell you is information I've sworn would ONLY get to you four," Vanellope's voice began to shake as she pointed and fervently peered into each of her children's eyes, though it was here did Tessa finally sag her fingers to her mouth in the further hit of realization she was beginning to suspect to be true. The second Vanellope noticed Tessa begin to want to piece everything together, even with such little information, Vanellope gulped a swallow and allowed the tears to begin to well in her gorgeous, hazel eyes, "Before I carry on, you four have to PROMISE me you will NOT tell anyone ANYTHING of what I'm about to tell you. Absolutely no one."
"We promise," The three uttered, Tessa's voice was absent due to the hit of stunned realization she was drowning in.
"I-Is..." Koko glanced to Tessa, back to Vanellope and now began to catch on. She quickly stood, gripped the counter and looked as if she was due to coming unglued, "Does this have to do with... G-..."
"Mom," Tessa whimpered tearfully to fill the few seconds of Koko's silence, the inability to say his name, though Zed finally held the sides of his head as Oliver equally froze, everyone peered headlong into Vanellope's face and silently awaited the words.
"Gideon's home," Vanellope grimaced, she couldn't get the words out without tucking the back of her hand to her mouth and choking a cry out to the room, as if even so much as telling her other children that their baby brother made it home safely was a dream come true.
"Mom, don't," Oliver dared, as if to threaten not to toy with the four, though as Vanellope giggled through her whimpering and gestured her hands outwards in a show of teary joy, the whole group stiffened in blistered, unadulterated shock.
"H-He's home?!" Koko immediately exploded into tears as she messily pressed into her mother's bubble and gripped her arm.
"He's home," Vanellope urged cutely with a nod, though all at once, everyone else shot into an adrenaline rush of stands and scurrying action, and it was here did Vanellope outstretch her hands and stagger panic out into the air, "No, no! Sit down, sit down, I'm not done, there's a lot you need to know!"
"He's really...?" Tessa cried, the desperation in her tone was heartbreaking, Vanellope felt her pupils tighten the second Zed reached to cue code room holograms from the intricate circuitry on their kitchen island, though Vanellope sucked in a breath and urgently flagged her hand.
"Everyone sit down, sit on your hands! Stop moving, seriously stop!" Vanellope loudly urged through her tears, though it was all trailed with a mildly annoyed giggle as everyone finally did what they could to halt what they were doing and settle. Vanellope wiped her face and knew it was futile, she knew more tears would come, though she eagerly did what she could to collect herself and be the beacon of direction for her children present, "Yes, he's home, he's home... But there's a LOT I have to tell you guys, first."
"Can we see him?" Oliver begged through his tears, he rubbed the back of his head and equally came unglued with everyone about him.
"We're the only ones that know?" Zed's voice crackled, "H-How did we not see him come back to palace grounds last night?"
"H-He's coded for the game," Tessa whimpered with a shrug, she furrowed her brow and peered to Vanellope in mild regret, "Dammit, we should've coded it so we were alerted if he came back... Why didn't we even think about that?"
"I wouldn't have wanted to hold onto THAT much hope," Oliver whimpered as he firmly rubbed his temple and tried to keep himself from exploding into tears. He eyed his mom in desperate disbelief and shook his head, "Mom, you're not screwing with us, like... He's ACTUALLY on palace grounds right now?"
"He's home, he's with your father right now," Vanellope inhaled a huge, deep breath, let it out with a vocal sigh of desperately wanting to calm down so she could deliver this important information, "You guys, listen to me... I'm going to rapid-fire you a ton of information, so I just NEED you to follow along."
"Is he okay? H-he went to Game Over and came back?" Oliver overrode his mother's plea to sit still and listen, something Vanellope crumpled to.
"Did he forfeit? Or lose or... Win?" Koko worried, though Tessa and Zed knew the words about to come from Vanellope's mouth.
"You lose, you die," Zed reminded in a dreaded tone of shaky grumbling.
"He won," Vanellope huffed in a dreaded slump of a sigh, to which Koko cupped her hands over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut in the hit of grief that bodied her immediately.
"H-He WON," Oliver urged, he scoffed a trembling little whimper and shook his head, "He won... He won and chose to come back anyways?"
"He was rescued, that's a whole 'nother story in of itself," Vanellope rushed, "Guys... Getting him to let me even so much as TELL you four that he's home was like pulling teeth. He came in at about three this morning, refusing to be reset... He is an absolute wreck."
"How bad we talking?" Zed worried in a fatherly tone of love.
"He doesn't want to be reset?" Tessa worried as she clutched her chest.
"I only JUST got him to agree to it, but guys, I'm warning you," Vanellope shook her head and gave each child a look of harrowing, darkened understanding, "He's... Not the man we once knew. It would require a double-take, on the street, to fully recognize him."
"What does that mean, what happened to him?" Oliver worried through his tears.
"Although they're beautiful and cool, he's... He's tattooed from head to toe, he has facial piercings, and on top of that, Vye Ketton nearly clawed his face off in his escape, so he's... He's destroyed with bruises and has tons of nasty gashes on his chest, across his face," Vanellope cautioned, the group sat stunned in prickled terror as Vanellope urgently continued on, "Your father and I cleaned him up as best as we could, and he got a decent night's sleep, but... I just wanted to warn you, I don't want you guys to go in to greet him and be blindsided."
"I-I can't believe he's home," Koko whimpered, "W-We HAVE to tell Kepa, mom, we have to."
"Gideon has requested not to, for the time being," Vanellope urged, to which all four of her children scoffed noises of urgent disbelief. Vanellope shook her head and sided with Gideon in feverish protectiveness, "No, he's right... He doesn't want Kepa to see him like this. Guys, he's... He's gotten into a lot of trouble, I'm pretty sure he's going to need some form rehab, he's been through the wringer. Drugs, fights, you name it."
"He won," Oliver huffed sorrowfully with a shrug as he lazily eyed his siblings about him, "He lived in the dark web for two months... Mom's right, whatever version of himself he is now would probably only hurt Kepa further."
"Sh-she HAS to know, though," Koko urged, though she looked as if she was in route to being defeated.
"She will, it has to be on Gideon's terms, it has to be," Vanellope rubbed her forehead, "We HAVE to tread lightly, guys... One wrong decision, one wrong move, we don't want to risk losing him again. He promised me, last night, that he was never going to leave, ever again, but... He's also not sober, so..."
"I'm all for respecting his decision to keep this information between us, but... Vanellope, he arrived here from the dark web," Zed cautioned, suddenly this all was too real for anyone's speed.
"Certainly we're suddenly a target," Tessa worried, "And, what of Callum? Where's he?"
"Callum..." Vanellope heaved a shaky sigh and shook her head, "I think you kids need to go get all this information from Gideon, you four need to go connect with him, I will keep warning you, though... He is incredibly fragile, incredibly beat up, the lowest I have ever imagined seeing him. I NEVER imagined this kind of a low, it's jarring. Please hear me."
"We do," Tessa worried nervously, she tossed her eyes to Zed's, Oliver's, Koko's and then Vanellope's, "Mom, is he still... I-Is he still Gideon? H-He's still our baby brother, yeah?"
"Yeah," Vanellope whispered in bittersweet wonder as tears trickled down her cheeks, she bobbed a nod as her lip quivered, she looked down to the island and sucked in a deep, trembling breath, "He's still Gideon... Just has a terrifying exterior... But, we shared a few smiles this morning, after we woke up. There's still light in his eyes."
"It's our job to bring it back in full," Zed's voice finally commandeered the conversation, "Guys, this is it... THIS is our second chance. We have to be here for Gideon like there's no tomorrow. We cannot fuck this up, this time."
"D-Does he want to see us right now?" Koko begged, Vanellope nodded.
"Yeah, I finally got him to agree to see you guys, it's up to us to convince him to step into the code room to be reset," Vanellope stated in an upswing, though she tidied her hair and did what she could to collect herself, "While you guys are reconnecting with Gideon, with your father... I'm going to meet Lash, in Turbotime."
"You're telling Lash?" Zed wondered in brightened anticipation, an idea he had been holding onto for this whole conversation.
"Yeah, outside you four, Gideon's idea was to also only tell Lash," Vanellope sighed and almost couldn't even gather the words, the idea that she was continuously gifting people with the fabulous news that Gideon had returned home was something she never wanted to let go of, "Lash and I are going to come up with a game plan while you kids get Gideon into the code room, get him settled... He should probably have his coding cycled for the next twenty four hours, or more."
"What does that do?" Koko innocently wondered, Tessa sighed and rubbed her temples in the exhaustion to come, though was floored to be in this situation no matter what.
"It's a code cleaning, you have to stay hooked up to the code room, i-it's... Only really for gamers that go through corruption or code-loss," Tessa muttered in realization as she eyed her mother in full dread, "M-mom, don't... Tell me..."
"Look, all the king's horses and all the king's men WILL put humpty dumpty back together again, okay?" Vanellope loudly urged through a nasally giggle, one that got an eruption of genuine laughter from her kin, once and for all, music to her ears. Vanellope wiped her tears and had never felt happier, in this instance, "He's the closest thing to a 'wreck' than any of us will ever be. Zed's right... This is our chance, we have to surround him and build him back up. It's nasty, and it will be hard, but this is our second chance, you guys, we gotta get this right, this time."
"Let's go," Oliver urged in a grunt as he firmly got to a stand, this caused everyone to jolt into motion as Oliver fervently lead the charge.
"I'll meet up with you guys soon, I'm going to Turbotime," Vanellope instructed as everyone grabbed their phones with the proverbial promise that this information would temporarily stay within their bubble, and with final, departing words, Vanellope and crew eagerly split ways in their separate missions.
