Reviews :
Snake557 : thank you so much for the reassurance! You're the best :)
Song Listened To :
Last Chance by CHPTRS
*Chapter 176*
With the final buzz into their parents house, Tessa, Oliver, Koko and Zed happened upon Ralph's and Vanellope's teleport pad. Although expected for everyone to immediately thrust themselves off of the pad and rush into their parent's home, so to find Gideon once and for all, everyone was frozen in held breath, baited wait, as if somehow this was a potential trick. The only way to truly know if this was all real was if the sound of Ralph or Gideon's voice was present, and it wasn't until Ralph mumbled an incoherent question to Gideon, deep bass of his voice heard from across the house, did Gideon's gentle, equally as bass-filled voice quietly return conversation with his father. Koko cupped her hands over her mouth in rocked surprise, as if this is what it truly took for to to fully believe that Gideon was home, and it wasn't until this moment did everyone flex into motion and begin to hurry into the house. Flung about the gape, hurried, scuffling footsteps that suddenly pressed about the corridor was melted into a sag of a slow release the second Gideon's figure eclipsed the sunshine spilling into the living room.
All four beings caught eyes with Gideon's darkened soul, so desperate for relief, so desperate for camaraderie, it was here did Tessa grimace a small noise, tuck the back of her hand to her mouth, look off in full tears and hiccup a silent cry of full, heartbroken despair at the sheer sight of her torn up baby brother. Ralph grunted to a slow stand, after helping get Gideon's bandages off and cleaning up his still raw wounds, though as Ralph stood, he gave each of his four kids, including Zed, a kind twinkle of a look, one that held bittersweet understanding. He sighed, took a few steps away and was happy that Tessa, Oliver, Koko and Zed could have this reunion, once and for all. In slow scuffs of footsteps that approached Gideon in almost dallying uncertainty, Gideon peered up to them from a low-sat chair in their parent's living room. Still battered and beaten up, his arms hung loose at his sides, hefty knuckles sagged into the herringbone wood flooring underneath him, his neck and skull still held a solid bout of never-ending tremors. Although he meekly glanced to Oliver, Koko and Zed, he held his pleading gaze tight to Tessa's, whom of which was doing everything she could to not come entirely unglued.
"You've..." Tessa grimaced a noise, coughed a small cry and looked off as tears flood her cheeks and dangled on her jaw line. She squeezed her eyes and mouth shut, sniffled in huge gasps of hiccuping inhales and did everything she could to not explode into emotion. She finally beamed a quivering, bittersweet smile and peered her glassy, enchanted eyes down into Gideon's with a shred of sunny hope she had for him, "You've REALLY done it, this time, haven't you..."
"Hi guys," Gideon whimpered quietly, though it wasn't until he started to come unglued with tears did everyone finally come undone.
Zed rubbed his face and began to pace back into the kitchen, Oliver covered his face and hunched into the couch, Koko crossed her arms and stood stiff, as if to be in total, teary shock. Everyone held in a loose circle about Gideon, suddenly the center of their universe, Tessa peered her remorseful, heartbroken eyes tight into Gideon's and was floored to see him hold with her in a show of continued desperation. Desperation for love, a reset, for inclusion, it all was so palpable that Tessa understood, moving forward, life was meant to look incredibly different, as if all of their lives depended on it. She knew the gear had to be switched, she knew every single person under the sun now had to follow Gideon's lead in how to not emotionally neglect anyone ever again. Tessa bobbed a nod and could hear Gideon's pleas like a foghorn being blown right into her ear, she continued to give Gideon nods of full, silent assurance, as if to state that everything he could ever want out of her, out of anyone, was his, no questions asked. With said approval, she inhaled a trembling breath, stepped into his bubble, bent down into his face a little and carefully gripped his chin with her bigger fingers and palm.
"You have absolutely no clue the gaping explosion of a hole your absence left on all of us," Tessa whimpered quietly into Gideon's face, his doughy eyes peered up into hers in sweet, though sorrowful and innocent surprise, as if he was sure this wouldn't be true, though he grit his teeth and scoffed a small cry of a noise as she cutely jostled the lay of his skull in her hand, "I don't care what the hell you have done, what the hell kind of trouble you've gotten into... I speak for Sugar Rush when I say that we're honored to have you home."
"Undeserving," Zed croaked from across the kitchen as he tried to cover up the fact that he likely had come more unglued that anyone.
"Wildly," Oliver added with an equal amount of teary fervor.
"I can't believe you won," Koko whimpered as she covered her face and grimaced a noise of despair, to which Gideon sagged in further regret and long-blinked tears down his cheeks. Ralph sweetly approached his youngest daughter and scooped her into a comforting side hug as the group remained loose about Gideon, in their living room. Koko squeaked out a conclusion and shook her head, "I-I have so many things I want to ask you but I just have no clue how to even move forward from here..."
"Tell me about it," Gideon mumbled sadly as Tessa gently unhanded him, took a proper stand and glossed her authoritative eyes across the room.
"Whatever happens, we're gunna let it progress at Gideon's speed," Tessa declared, though she eyed Gideon and softened in mild apology, "Most of it, anyways... Bud, let's get you into the code room."
"I-I just..." Gideon tensed, he sucked in a breath that seemed as if it was difficult for him to do, he went to scratch his chest, just under his wounds, though the nightmarish quakes in his arms, head and neck only intensified, "I-I don't want my coding to be added back to the code room in case they're looking for me... In case they realize I've escaped."
"Who, particularly?" Tessa worried, Zed did everything he could to collect himself and pull up the remote aspect of the code room on his phone.
"Flint, Callum, anyone else in charge," Gideon staggered nervously, to which Tessa long-blinked in delirious shock and stabbed her gaze tight to her father's.
"... Callum's truly behind all of this, with Flint. They... They stole Gideon's powers," Ralph muttered sadly, everyone tossed their looks of horror straight to Gideon, his trembling was proof that his coding had been wildly messed with.
"You code me back to Sugar Rush and the whole game has a target on it," Gideon's hoarse voice dryly muttered in low, scary bass. His haunting, still terrifying golden gaze peered up to Tessa through the thick of his furrowed brow, "Any game, for that matter..."
"Mom went to go break the news to Lash, I'm sure he'll be joining us, soon," Koko whimpered as she wiped tears from her face; everyone desperately wanted to wrangle Gideon into a hug, though obviously refrained due to his wounds.
"State of emergency," Zed muttered in full dread, he shook his head and shrugged, "I-I don't know if we have a choice but to put the game in a state of emergency..."
"What does that entail?" Oliver worried.
"It means no one comes, no on goes," Tessa rubbed her chin and glanced down to Gideon in nervous thought.
"You're going to fuck everyone over who has a game day outside of Sugar Rush, trapping them here?" Gideon suddenly barked, the good night's sleep he got allowed him the energy to interact with individuals who weren't the other three winners he lived with. Although typically the strangers he did interact with were hardened drug lords, people who were always up to no good, that now giving his tender-footed siblings a roughened tone and laden of words had everyone very nervously taking a step backwards. It wasn't until Gideon grunted to get to a stand did everyone now continue to take subtle, wary steps away. His ominous, horrifying image of gashes along his pecks, down his face, the bruises that painted his bold tattoos and the obvious abuse of needles and drugs had everyone now fully realizing that they were in the presence of a being who had the potential to turn into a cold blooded killer within the blink of an eye. Gideon glared Zed down, across the way, and though his hand and arm shook, he firmly pointed and shook his head, "Not only will trapping everyone in fuck everyone over, you have NO idea the kind of technology the dark web has. Getting into cute, little 'ol Sugar Rush is a cake walk, and you can take the pun and shove it up your ass."
"Gideon," Ralph mumbled bravely, truly the only one daring enough to attempt to quell Gideon's fiery nature, now equally kissed with a world of darkness.
"I-It wasn't an idea set in stone," Zed's fatherly voice eased out into the room, though it was clear everyone was now becoming beyond being just a little nervous, here.
"You trap everyone in here, and ANYONE from the dark web gets inside?" Gideon huffed a shaky little laugh and glossed his eyes about the people in this room, "Y'got yourself a bubble full of honeybees and killer wasps. Wanna know which ones YOU guys are?"
"Gideon, we get it, it was just an idea," Tessa now felt protective over Zed's good intentions.
"Get Lash to code a forcefield over either the whole of Sugar Rush's entrance, or hell, the wifi router's entrance," Gideon grumbled darkly, "No one from the internet can pass through. Pretty sure Lash can handle it."
"But... YOU'RE from the internet," Ralph dared, he almost started to sound meanly annoyed of Gideon's attitude, to which Gideon now glowered Ralph down and tried to keep himself from collapsing.
"You think I'm going to want to parade my happy ass between games right now, dad?" Gideon blurt in rising energy, rising frustration, "Once I'm comfortable enough with actually seeing Kepa, in this state I'm in, SOMEONE is going to have to bring her to me, there's no way I'm going to travel."
"Says the Game Over winner," Ralph muttered, to which Gideon sucked in a huge, trembling deep breath and clenched his fists, though in the mess of getting riled, he huffed a shaky noise of collapsing grief and succumbed to the weird, sudden bout of dead white pixels that blobbed all over his arms.
"Dad, that's REALLY unneeded, right now," Tessa grunted as she caught Gideon by the upper arm and tried to keep him upright, to which Oliver fervently joined Gideon's other side and helped him up.
"C'mon, let's get to the code room, Lash is probably shortly on his way," Oliver instructed, and though Gideon and Ralph held eyes in the swing of a weird, dreaded tug of war they were suddenly in, Ralph sucked in a thick breath and shoved away his conflicting feelings for the good of his youngest; with an easy whisk away, Zed successfully secured all six beings into Sugar Rush's sunny, lively code room.
With a push, Vanellope came out of the back entrance to Lash's and Mara's confectionary. Due to it being a Sunday morning, this was the day where Mara was able to take a full day off of being at the shop due to Lash not having a game day to attend. Though Vanellope wasn't around the confectionary too often, the staff still knew who she was and was kind enough to lead her to Lash's office, though upon seeing him not inside, she figured he'd be outside in the back area where the employees hung out. The metal door sealed behind her with a clack, Turbotime's lovely sunshine casted down upon her and the huge, gorgeous oak tree that Lash stood near. He cutely tossed a tennis ball at the back wall of his shop and simply played wall-ball with himself, careful not to hit any of Gideon's artwork. Vanellope smiled, a genuine smile she could feel brighten her soul for the first time in months. As she approached Lash, he tossed his muted blue eyes to her in kind acknowledgement though double-took and furrowed his brow in full confusion.
"Hey, Van... Wh-why are you so smiley? What's up?" Lash cued nervously, and though Vanellope wanted to work her way into revealing to Lash that Gideon had returned home, she knew she had already blown her cover.
"No, nothing, I just... I just figured I'd stop by, I need to talk to you," Vanellope said gently as Lash chucked the ball against the wall a few more times and stopped once Vanellope came closer. She furrowed her brow in prickled dread and took note of the huge splay of gorgeous artwork all along this wall, artwork she had never seen before.
Immediately, her smile faded. She long-blinked in full remorse, full guilt that was now due to further eating her alive. Gideon had spread all sorts of magic all over the different areas of his dwelling and no one cared to dig deeper to find it, to ask about what it could mean, to pick Gideon's brain and level with him for one second. It was here did Vanellope suck in a huge breath and know, moving forward, Gideon required a much more intense version of emotional permanence, a permanence she was beyond floored to have a second chance at making a reality. Lash cocked an eyebrow, side-eyed Gideon's artwork in curiosity, and brought his tender, knowing gaze back to Vanellope's with a sigh and a nod, in return.
"Didn't know this existed, didja," Lash muttered, although he wasn't meaning to make stabby remarks, Vanellope heaved a shaky breath and shook her head.
"Not at all," Vanellope whimpered as tears finally caught back up to her. She shook her head and peered to Lash in desperation that wanted to crumple into a knowing smile, "We'll do better, moving forward, but for now... I have to tell you something, and you have to promise to not tell anyone... Not even Kepa."
"Why not Kepa?" Lash mumbled in mild disinterest, though as he gave the wall one last chuck of the tennis ball, the second it bounced back into his hand in the frozen catch of hot realization, he bugged his eyes and dragged them tight into Vanellope's in whole entire stun. He shakily uttered a faltering notion of warm disbelief, "No, there's no way. There's no way you're going to say it..."
"Gideon's home," Vanellope warmly gave to Lash, he sagged his shoulders and tightened his lip in the act of proving to Vanellope that he almost didn't have a choice but not believe her.
"No, you... You can't do this to me, you can't fuck with me like this," Lash's voice began to tremble, to which Vanellope inhaled a huge deep breath and shook her head.
"I wouldn't do this to his best friend," Vanellope concluded sweetly, "He's home... He's in ruins. He needs you."
"I-I have no clue... H-how to even digest this," Lash murmured, his eyes began to glint into a shy gold, as if feeling happiness was something he was scared to allow his heart to feel, "Is he... Is he okay? Is he still his old self?"
"Yes and no... Exterior, no, interior?" Vanellope mused and looked off in contemplation, "I think time will heal those inner wounds. He's home, that's all I currently care about."
"Van, I don't have a choice, I HAVE to tell Kepa," Lash began to shake, to which Vanellope lovingly gripped Lash's hands and shook her head.
"Gideon has begged all of us not to tell her, just yet, he's pretty badly beat up," Vanellope cautioned, "Drugs, code-loss, gashes across his face and body, he's not ready... We have to respect that."
"Dammit, I almost can't," Lash grunted in the urge to want to bounce away from Vanellope and wrangle Kepa, right in this instance, though he stood in Vanellope's loving presence.
"His siblings, Zed and Ralph are taking him to the code room to properly get reset and settled in, he's gunna have to go through rounds of code-cycling," Vanellope warned, Lash sharply grimaced in the understanding of just what that meant, "The next priority on our list is making sure Sugar Rush, Turbotime... The whole Arcade is safe against the dark web. Callum is in cahoots with the higher ups, if they find out Gideon has escaped... It could be bad news for us."
"I-I'll do whatever it takes," Lash assured, knowing he was well-versed in his knowledge of forcefields and whatever else that all entailed. He narrowed his becoming-teary gaze of full shock and staggered a tight inhale, "You're really not messing with me?"
"NO, I'm not messing with you, I wouldn't do this to you, I promise," Vanellope whispered as she firmly gripped the tops of Lash's shoulders and cutely jostled him as he peered hard into her eyes in full, tender disbelief, "C'mon... The sooner we get this all figured out and squared away, the closer we are to him agreeing to seeing Kepa again."
"Can't come fast enough," Lash grunted as the two quickly moved into action, the hurry to Sugar Rush was now something that felt as if time was strengthening in detriment.
A/N : I drew the scene of Tessa and Gideon reuniting, the piece is incredibly important to me. It's on my deviantART titled 'Warpath' username Vyntresser
