Reviews :
ThoreLB : I def like to bring the drama! Hopefully this chapter gives you guys warm fuzzies and makes up for the cliffhanger I made you guys endure, this weekend lol
Snake557 : Thank you so much! Vanellope and Lash show up shortly after, towards the end of this chapter! But I specifically set it all up like this so that Vanellope wasn't present for Gideon's explosion. Vanellope and Kepa would've been Gideon's crux and rationale would've come to him almost immediately had either of those two women been present. He went mad with blind rage because everyone present wasn't anyone he currently had any shred of healing with, save for maybe Koko. He had that whole debacle with his mother previously in his lucid state, where Vanellope sorted through her own trauma and the two healed and leveled with each other, and due to her being absent in chapter 177, Gideon just went awol with rage cause everyone there was currently his enemy. I can see where you'd think that though! Oliver/Ralph had to be the one to abruptly end it all, cause if Vanellope had shown up, Gideon would've stopped himself due to overwhelming guilt. Thus, Ralph getting to kill Gideon and bringing the whole 'Ralph as the final boss' arc full circle :D But yeah I did that intentionally, any move any of these characters makes, and corresponding circumstances of just who is present and where, are fully intentional :) Thank you friend!
Song Listened To :
State of Grace (Acoustic/Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift
*Chapter 178*
With a huge thud of reverberating bass that gently rattled the code room's code boxes, Ralph left with a huff. Gideon shook to his core where he clumsily now stood, he eagerly peered to the slammed door his father disappeared behind, from far across the sunny stretch, though as everyone was stood in panting silence, he quickly realized he was now tightly surrounded by loving individuals he had just dragged for filth. A merciless eruption of full anger Gideon gladly allowed let get away from him, and though in the moment it felt fulfilling, he felt every single last shred of his inner child now fully bared in front of these incredibly important individuals. Scared, vulnerable, feeling entirely alone, he only barely braved releasing his eyes from the huge code room doors and nervously dart his gaze about the group in almost flinching terror. His arms and hands trembled in the continuous proof that his coding was still raw and desperately attempting to bounce back from corruption, and though everyone now slowly scuffled their feet to peer to Gideon in the lull of apprehension, Zed was first to heave a shaky breath of collectedness and pull down some code room stats.
"Alright, friend, we're not gunna have a problem, are we?" Zed grumbled gently as he rubbed his forehead, and though he poked about the hologram before him and pulled up Gideon's stats, he rubbed his forehead harder and eyed Gideon in a swing of nervous dread; Gideon shook his head, huffed a quaking exhale and nervously fumbled to take a few steps away from the group about him.
"N-No, I-I'm... I'm done," Gideon murmured in teary terror, he largely jolted in a flinch the second Zed hit a few buttons and corrected the tiling underneath Gideon's feet, ultimately putting the code room back together, though in doing this, Gideon's purple coding flickered with Zed's skillful maneuvering as Gideon felt his powers leave him, once more, though this time, his skin was warm with the assurance that his powers were merely on pause instead of robbed from him.
"So... I've muted your powers temporarily, I think it's best that we get you settled and set up in the code room," Zed's voice still trembled, though he held his nervousness together nicely and bobbed Tessa a nod, "Gideon's going to go through at least a week's worth of code-cycling. Although he's reset, it's clear his mainframe has been totally abused not only due to his coding being ripped from him, but... Looks like some heavy duty drug usage. Is that true, Gid?"
"Yeah," Gideon huffed as he looked down to his feet in teary shame, though the mere mention of the drugs he abused for numbing sounded heavenly in this moment.
"I-I'm... I'm way too torn in a billion different directions to properly bring any form of coherency to reconciliation, at this point, so I'm first going to go collect with Ralph and get THAT whole mess under control, and I'll be back later," Zed stated with a nod as he restored power to his and Tessa's coding, even though Ralph now had an equal share of it. Tessa, Oliver and Koko held tight with Zed's instruction, frozen in anticipation. Zed held eyes with Tessa and lovingly continued on, "I think you four need to spend the day CALMLY hashing out your differences... No powers, no screaming and fighting, just open hearts, eyes and ears. I don't care what needs to be done, or how long this all takes, healing begins right here."
"Agreed," Oliver stated in soft warmth, the three glanced to Gideon's figure and now took note that he was doing everything he could to not make obvious that he was crying.
Gideon mildly stimmed in terror, his hands cupped near his center in finger-twiddling self soothe. He shallowly panted through his nose and was making attempts to take minuscule steps away from the group, as if to seek safety from obvious repercussions to be had. His scars were now nicely healed in still visible pink claw marks down his bare pecks and face, his tattoos shone underneath his now healthy skin, his piercings no longer looked mildly agitated due to his poor health, his aura sung with renewal even though his terrified posture read a different story. Like a wild animal backed into a corner, Oliver was the first to exhale a trembling breath of warm collection and take a brave step in Gideon's direction. Gideon flinched and fervently peered his scared eyes tight into Oliver's, though as Oliver pressed in on him with open arms, Gideon crumpled the second Oliver yanked his little brother into the biggest hug Oliver could ever afford. Oliver firmly cupped the back of Gideon's head as Gideon grimaced a tight suck of an inhale and silently wept into Oliver's big, broad shoulder. The snug of the century, Gideon grappled his arms about Oliver's back and held on for dear life.
It didn't take long for Oliver to broaden his reach and include his two sisters into the dog pile of weeping, a grapple of a huge embrace that held the center of their universe, safe and secure. Although Zed warmly was included in on the hug, and he adhered to it for a few moments, he eventually bowed out of it and quietly left the code room with the mission on collecting Ralph and having a conversation with him, first and foremost. Gideon squeezed his eyes shut and shook with weeping into Oliver's neck, the feel of all three of his older sibling's protective grip about him was every single last thing he ever wanted in life, a thing he wasn't fully aware that he needed, though now that he was gripped into it, he understood that this was where his healing started. All four kids didn't dare waver their embrace on each other, the huge group hug of arms and rubbing hands, quiet, loving exchanges were given as Gideon's eventual weeping began to lull into easy breaths and a relaxed posture held stiffly upright by his big brother. Oliver firmly continued to pet the back of Gideon's skull as he rested his chin to the crown of Gideon's head, near his forehead, and with a nasally little chuckle, Oliver lulled his eyes closed and allowed proper conversation to begin.
"I remember a promise I gave to you, the day you were born," Oliver grunted, he cleared his throat and tried to stop crying, though as Tessa and Koko gently unravelled from their thick embrace and Gideon was loosened, Oliver gripped Gideon's shoulder with one hand and the side of his face with the other, so to get his full eye contact and attention. Gideon's teary, golden eyes peered hard up into Oliver's through the nonsense and inhaled a deep, trembling breath as Oliver meekly continued with a cute smile, "I promised it was you and I against the girls, my dude."
"Cmon, Olly," Koko muttered with a giggle as all four siblings softly erupted into trembling laughter in attempt to keep from crying, though Oliver shook his head and narrowed his eyes in deep regret.
"I never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to apologize to you for failing you so massively," Oliver hiccuped a noise and tried to keep collected, though grimaced a small cry and gripped Gideon's shoulder a little harder as everyone continued to weep, "I'm so sorry, Gideon... I've been a horrible big brother to you. Please forgive me... PLEASE let me, let us, make this right. Please."
"You're forgiven," Gideon stated through a nasally sigh, words that rolled out of him with far greater ease than he ever imagined, though letting it go and allowing the three another chance was what ultimately lifted the weights off of his shoulders for good. Their willingness to truly try and allow everyone to meet the other half way, Gideon squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his nose a little as he shakily continued on, "You all are... I'm sorry, too. I know I have a world of explaining, to do."
"We all do," Tessa murmured in regret as she brushed the loft of her auburn hair out of her face and took in a huge, reviving, deep breath, so to begin steering this newness in the right direction, "Zed's right. We need to stick with you and hash this all out, right now, if you're willing."
"I'm willing," Gideon stated calmly with a nod, though he continued to be mildly devoured by tremors in his arms, hands, neck and head, something that had Tessa showing true worry.
"I don't want to leave you alone, for the duration of your stay in the code room," Oliver assured through tears as Tessa brought up a few code room details and brought about a low stool for Gideon to sit on, a temporary place of rest Tessa knew she'd eventually amp up, due to Oliver's words, "If you'll have us, Gideon, I don't feel right letting you endure this by yourself."
"No, I don't want to be alone, either," Gideon whimpered as Tessa helped his trembling figure to a low sit on the stool, though just as Tessa was about to figure out a proper sitting area the four could rest into, the code room's teleport pad, across the way, buzzed with life, the arrival of two individuals.
Through the glint of heavy sunlight, Gideon squinted and peered to just who hesitantly sagged off of the teleport pad. Gideon froze in the lean of a sit he was in, the sag of his elbows to his spread knees, he furrowed his brow in further-crumpling agony and watched as Vanellope hung back so to let Lash's figure slowly saunter closer to the group. As Lash got within two dozen feet, Tessa, Oliver and Koko loosened their tight circle about Gideon's sat figure and was now due to allowing Lash his own special reunion with Gideon, Lash's best friend. Gideon's head still held the usual tremble, his teary eyes peered hard into Lash's golden, glowing eyes, equally as teary, and as Lash got within now ten feet, he sagged his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, scuffed to a gentle halt, looked up to Sugar Rush's code room dome and heaved a trembling sigh amidst a crumpling smile. As if to be in disbelief that prayers were answered, fervent manifesting that's paid off, he narrowed his teary eyes and finally returned his gaze down to Gideon's in the swing of enchanted wonder, and with a hit of User coding, Lash sent his glitching abilities to the stool Gideon was sat on, duplicated another identical stool nearby Gideon's figure and slowly pressed to it, so to sit with Gideon.
With a shaky grunt of attempting to exhale a refreshed breath, Lash sat down with Gideon, their knees nearly touching. Gideon continued to lightly shake, his golden eyes didn't dare waver from Lash's, and as Lash got comfortable, he finally huffed another smiling, teary chuckle of disbelief and ogled the beautiful, intricate tattoo work on the sides of Gideon's face and head, all boldly splashed down his jugular and shoulders, a spill of it down his entire backside was something out of Lash's view, though as Lash silently assessed Gideon in this instance, he narrowed his gaze a bit tighter and very clearly saw himself in Gideon. Incredibly misunderstood, a newly crowned King of dastardly deeds, a being so full of love and warmth that it was almost painful, Lash remained still and allowed his whole soul to take in this shivering moment, the sunlight that kissed down on the two was as if heaven's beams were kindly assuring everyone underneath it that everything would eventually be okay. Lash finally peaked a smile amidst the tears that now endlessly flowed down his face and jaw, his glowing golden eyes proved that he was due to feeling this eternal bliss for a long time to come, something he desperately missed.
"Y'know... There's this one dude I know who's also tattooed from head to toe that did some horrible things, once upon a time," Lash stated quietly into Gideon's bubble, so much as being in Lash's presence was the last thing on his mind, though quite easily the only thing he felt he needed, currently. Lash choked a small, shaky chuckle as the group about him roused into sweet, soft laughter. The code room sung with renewal as Lash's teary eyes peered fervently into Gideon's with the hugest swathe of brotherly love given from all angles, "He, uh... He definitely burned some bridges and made some huge mistakes, but... I mean, he bounced back with the help of everyone in this room."
"Yeah?" Gideon's voice whispered in cute, crumpling delight as he, too, shook a shy laugh out of his figure.
"Yeah, he's got his own code room, he has a swap-mate, a whole slew of family under the house of multiple games. He has a future," Lash narrowed his gaze in the further push of sunny, enchanted wonder as he lovingly pressed on, "I think with his help, you'll be back on top, in no time..."
"I'd like that," Gideon murmured, he breathed a shaky breath and shook his head in the promise of more crumpling to happen, "I don't deserve a single ounce of it."
"No, you don't," Lash blurt as him and the rest of the loving beings about Gideon finally erupted into a rouse of genuine laughter that had Gideon shyly grinning through his tears, "But, it's still yours. No matter the circumstances."
"I missed you," Gideon meeped through the furrow of his brow and the grimace of unravelling, to which Lash bobbed a nod and urgently gripped Gideon's shoulder with a tug.
"You have no clue," Lash squeezed, and as the two snugged into a firm hug, while still seated, both men held stiff in the firmest squeeze either could deliver.
Tessa and crew lovingly sagged into a tighter circle about the two and warmly laid hands on both individuals, a silent show of tender camaraderie they knew Gideon certainly needed, in this trying time. Gideon and Lash held in their fervent squeeze all exchanged with coughing breaths of crying, the grappling hug they now came unglued inside of was enough to cause fresh tears to revisit everybody standing about them, and though they held for a few moments, Lash finally pulled away and cutely grappled the hair atop Gideon's head, so to jostle him a bit and make a point in the form of giving him a small throw around in the action of something a bit tougher than a simple noogie.
"Dude, I don't care how pissed at the world you are, let's all promise each other, right now, that NO ONE LEAVES THE ARCADE," Lash blurt loudly through hard laughter that came about from everyone, once more. Gideon grinned through his tears, lulled his eyes closed and bobbed a small, affirming nod as Lash released him, "All of us have CLEARLY been destroyed over all of this, you can't do this to us, anymore, seriously."
"These past few months have SUCKED," Oliver grunted, everyone fervently nodded in agreeing.
"There's no one more torn apart than Kepa, though, seriously," Vanellope murmured in soft knowing, and though she was likely a very close tie to Kepa's woes, she knew that Kepa was Gideon's future, a woman that held a very different and more visceral level of importance over herself, as Gideon's mother.
"I almost took your request to not tell Kepa that you're here and let it fly free in the wind, dude, I love you JUST enough to respect your wishes, but I'm telling you," Lash shook his head and released Gideon, once and for all, "I know time will heal wounds, and maybe right now is not the best time, but I'm due to handing you your ass about the topic of Kepa."
"I think we all are," Koko murmured nervously.
"We're ALL due to handing each other EVERYONE'S asses in one form or another," Tessa blurt through a shaky laugh as she covered her face with her hands, the code room continued to sing with laughter, "Though, I will say, Lash's wrath was the hardest to endure."
"N-no, no, Kepa's was the hardest," Oliver grimaced and shook his head, "Made me cry like a baby in front of everyone."
"She what?" Gideon gawked, almost excitedly, this had everyone loudly laughing, once more. Gideon bobbed a proud nod and wiped his tears through his grinning, "Hell yeah, she made you cry?"
"Yeah, I'm not... Technically proud of it, but she had every right to be angry with me," Oliver grit his teeth and shook his head, "That was the first time I met her, and I haven't seen her since."
"I've yet to meet her, I'm way too scared," Tessa muttered nervously, Gideon's grin only broadened.
"Yeah, she's flat out told us she wants nothing to do with you two," Koko giggled as she gave Gideon a knowing little smile, to which Gideon furrowed his brow and felt his heart begin to thud.
"Wait, why?" Gideon pondered as he peered up to everyone in a swing of boyish confusion.
"Because they've hurt you, in one form or another," Lash stated in a swing of firm knowing, to which Oliver and Tessa caught glances and looked to be continuously apologetic about this whole mess, "You may have also destroyed Kepa's ability to trust anyone, ever again, and have massively broken her heart, but this happened like, what? Two weeks ago?"
Oliver bobbed a nod and looked down to his feet in warm regret.
"That cat still adores you, she'll go to bat for you until the bitter end," Lash mused, to which Gideon heaved a trembling sigh and now began to finally feel the weight of seeing Kepa again, all of it sat in the pit of his stomach with the remembrance of butterflies now dipped in toxic goo. Lash shook his head and grinned, "I don't know when your guy's reunion is gunna be, but... Y'best brace yourself, my guy. You're gunna get hit with every ounce of love she has for you, as WELL as every single last ounce of anger she has for you."
"I'll take it, I wouldn't dare argue her," Gideon sighed a quaking sigh and began to look mildly overwhelmed; now that he was beginning to understand the true weight of all of this, he lulled his eyes and began to look as if his coding was having a hard time keeping him from fainting. Still, he persisted, "Sh-she has every single right to basically hate me, at this point."
"I don't think she's quite there, but..." Koko grimaced and looked off in pondering, though Tessa nervously interrupted the conversation.
"Bud, we gotta get you hooked up and begin your code-cycling," Tessa admitted warily, to which Lash peered to Gideon in a swing of dread.
"Had a bit of fun on your adventures, huh?" Lash instructed in authoritative tease, he gently tapped his fingers to the scarring in the bend of Gideon's left arm, dozens of injection sites that had Lash quivering at the mere idea of it all, "These next few weeks are gunna be ass, my dude, fair warning."
"Y-Yeah, I'm... Already feeling the withdrawal," Gideon murmured nervously, he didn't dare look anyone else in the eye except Lash.
"Y'got a long road ahead of you, I hope you at least LIKE the code room," Lash huffed, and though he was deploying every last ounce of authoritative sternness on Gideon's shivering soul, his eyes still narrowed into Gideon's with a whole universe of love dedicated just for him, "Now that I'm in your presence, I only now understand why you don't want to see Kepa, right now... I wouldn't want her seeing you like this, either."
"Agreed," Koko mumbled, between her and Lash, they were the two that were with Kepa daily. Koko nodded and shrugged, "Let's see what next week brings, but for now... We'll keep you a secret."
"I-I don't know how you guys are going to do that, because... Kepa's mom is the person who ultimately delivered me to Sugar Rush, she's taken refuge in Orion City," Gideon murmured as Tessa stood behind Gideon and began to run through a few code room options in the preparation to hook Gideon up to a few code room leads.
"... Kepa's mother is ALIVE?" Lash gawked, he tossed his gaze to Vanellope and laughed.
"If you tell Kepa her mother returned, she's going to sniff out the fact that I'm back, as well," Gideon mumbled as he shook his head, "I don't know how to get around that, but... Elkuorra needs protection, no matter what."
"Why don't we house her on palace grounds in the duration of your code-cycling," Vanellope soothed, "Let's get Lash and maybe Mara to figure out the safety protocols, I'll collect Elkuorra and get her quietly situated somewhere safe, maybe inside the flyer's enclosure, and we'll let the week play out... Lay low until we're all in the clear."
"...Novus," Gideon hissed in a sigh of realized despair, he peered into Vanellope's and Tessa's eyes in full question, "I-Is he...?"
"Gid, I'm going to be honest with you," Tessa sighed and crossed her arms as she looked off in warm regret, "Novus took off sometime last month and only comes home maybe once a week... He only talks to Lickity, I know we like to say mom and Kepa have been hurting the worst, but... I'm fairly sure Novus is in that line-up, too."
"You should see him, once he returns," Koko nodded, Gideon frowned and began to look worried.
"Where did he go?" Gideon staggered, Tessa smiled and shook her head.
"All those flyers like escaping to Honeydew Ridge, for some reason... He goes there and eventually comes back, but as I said... He's not himself," Tessa murmured sorrowfully, Gideon sighed in full despair and looked off.
"It's snowy there most of the year, you know they love the snow, what with those big, furry manes they have," Vanellope stated quietly in knowing to Tessa's comment.
"He just returned and then left two days ago, so... I'd assume he'd likely be back by the time your code-cycling is done," Tessa assured with a smile, "Once that's all settled, and once you're feeling better, we can see about you seeing Novus again, and... Us bringing Kepa to the palace, on your time."
"Yeah, after this code-cycling, I think that gives me enough time to brace myself for... Her wrath," Gideon muttered nervously, to which Lash grinned, bobbed a nod and chuckled.
"So, I HAVE to tell Mara that you're home, so we can figure out how to cloak you and Elkuorra from being discovered by Callum, Flint and anyone else, but... MAN keeping this a secret is going to SUCK," Lash hissed as he finally drew to a stand and shrugged, "I'm with Kepa and Sezeke every single night, how am I going to distance myself without them feeling suspicious?"
"Then again, how are you going to interact with them without blurting out the truth?" Koko muttered in knowing agreeing, everyone cutely laughed, though Gideon looked as if he was becoming even more overwhelmed by all the noise and light blaring down on him.
"A-Alright guys, let's... Let's soften a bit, I'm going to get Gideon hooked up, I may even bring Ace down here to run some coding exercises on Gideon eventually, but for now, let's all settle," Tessa instructed as she lovingly laid the flat of her hand to Gideon's bare upper back, though not before ogling the mess of intricate, gorgeous tattoo work his broad back proudly displayed.
"Alright, Lash and I are going to collect Elkuorra and bring her to the palace," Vanellope instructed as Lash gave Gideon one last hug and began to step away with Vanellope, "Y'kids gunna hang in the code room for the time being, then?"
"Sleepover!" Koko chimed excitedly, to which Gideon donned a boyish smile.
"Yeah, we're gunna all be here for awhile," Oliver assured with a nod as all eyes excitedly drew to Gideon, "Got lots to talk about, but... I'd like to think this is an opportunity for us to relive a childhood event I think only Tessa and I ever shared with each other."
"What, a childhood sleepover?" Koko wondered, Oliver bobbed a nod and smiled.
"We gotta start somewhere," Oliver cheesed, and as Vanellope and Lash stated their warm departures and left, Gideon sagged in the warm center of his universe, the hug of unconditional sibling love he was blistered with desperation over, every last ounce of his childhood desires were now slowly rewriting themselves in the name of love and everything good and true.
