Reviews :
Snake557 : Yes for sure! Monday's the day :D The chapter is almost 8K words long, so the only uploads next week will be Monday and Friday. As for fur flying... Kepa definitely puts up a solid fight, but Gideon's too much of a snake charmer that their strongholds crumple quick lol
Burgie : totally! Yeah they definitely lean hard on each other, from here on out. The best of friends.
*Chapter 186*
About an hour after being properly reset, at least three times, Gideon stood in the kitchenette area, of the code room, and sucked in a huge breath of relief. Well into the evening, a loud rainstorm splattered the thick glass dome of the code room, the bobbing, glowing code boxes over head created such a warm, lovely ambience of lighting, everything finally began to feel right in Gideon's world. He glossed his eyes across the code room and took note that Tessa and Oliver were musing in a few of Tessa's holographic, silver drop down menus, from the code room, in preparation to rearrange the living area furniture for said impending family gathering. Although Ace and Lash had left for the evening, and Koko was keeping distance due to Sezeke and Kepa getting suspicious, Gideon knew that his mother, father and Elkuorra would be over shortly. With such arrival, he knew this would also include Mara. With every reunion that Gideon came across, he felt his anxiety get worse, the raw idea that the people he knew and loved are now seeing a very different, hardened version of himself was something he was struggling with, shame was about to start eating him alive. He desperately did what he could to tell himself that everyone here loved him unconditionally, it was something he knew they'd do for Callum, as well, had Callum endured a come-to moment and returned home with good intentions.
In the swing of closing the fridge and setting a frosty can of soda on the counter, for himself, his ears prickled to the sound of the code room's teleport pad buzzing with coded life. With raised eyebrows in baited wait, Gideon watched as his mother, father and Elkuorra appeared on the pad. Gideon held his breath and felt as if his heart was pierced straight through. Although Kepa's legs and feet were a bit thicker and sturdier, even so much as seeing Elkuorra's silhouette was enough for Gideon's heart to leap clear out of his chest in nervous remembrance, the very notion that Kepa was even nearby and readily available to reunite with him shortly had him feeling both exhilarated and terrified. Elkuorra so adorably cupped her hands to her chest, her long, beautiful tail flicked upwards in surprised delight, the perk of her big ears, which were a bit higher on her head compared to Kepa's, held an equal amount of wonder as her beautiful blue eyes. She peered up and about the glorious, vast, proud display of Tessa's code room, aglow with warmth and love. She huffed a cute giggle as her and Vanellope quietly went back and forth in chittering sweetness, it only made Gideon's heart soar higher with the fact that Elkuorra and his own mother had very obviously become fast friends.
As Tessa and Oliver cutely called from across the way as a greeting, the groups eyes spanned the vast space and eventually caught with Gideon, who stood a bit more to their right, almost out of the way. Gideon held his breath and cutely caught sharp gazes with Elkuorra, and although the two had already met, it was definitely under dire circumstances and didn't pertain much of any proper introductions. Gideon held his breath as Elkuorra now made a straight-away for Gideon's figure, the look of smiling though nervous, motherly concern in her eyes was beyond palpable, and as she got within a dozen feet, Gideon long-blinked in the fresh renewal of his coding, a rush of adamant memories came back to him. Rapid fire, his brain urgently reminded him to treat this rare and beautiful creature with the same importance as his own mother, this adorable being now swiftly approaching him being the one individual to gift him Kepa, he tucked his big hand to his broad chest in a gentlemanly show and very bravely did just what he'd do upon greeting Kepa. Terrified that this would likely steer in a wrong direction and offend Elkuorra, he figured he should be brave and test the waters. Like all those months ago, instead of easing a verbal greeting, he pursed his mouth a little and gave Elkuorra the chuffing tiger-like greeting, gentle huffs of air through his nose and mouth; he raised his eyebrows in baited curiosity the second Elkuorra scuffed her dainty feet to a sharp halt, perked her ears high and peered hard into Gideon's eyes.
Elkuorra lightly gaped and clutched her sternum, her and Gideon sharply held eyes in a prickle of frozen, baited wait, and though Gideon could tell that her body language was positive and receptive, he still held his breath and now felt worried that he had overstepped a boundary, with both of his parents hung on the sidelines watching all of this unfold. Just as Gideon was about to open his mouth and nervously apologize, explain to Elkuorra that this was something he had done with Kepa, Elkuorra sweetly sagged her ears, alongside a broad, knowing beam of a smile and confidently continued on in Gideon's direction. Music to his ears, Elkuorra flattened her ears in softness, pressed Gideon an adorable trill of said chuffing greeting and continued to push on through to him with the promise that Gideon's efforts were fruitful. Gideon tried his best to keep from grinning as Elkuorra sagged into his bubble, and in true form, Gideon leaned down a little, presented his face and happily awaited Elkuorra to continue filling the gap. Gideon grunted a cute chuckle as Elkuorra firmly nuzzled the whole front and side of her face into Gideon's cheek and down to his jaw, and with a huge swoop, she wrapped her arms tight about Gideon's neck and stood on her smaller tippy-toes. Gideon lulled his eyes closed, grinned on Elkuorra's shoulder and happily scooped her into a tight embrace as he bent over, due to her stature being a little shorter than Kepa's.
"Ohh, no wonder Kepa will molt in your name," Elkuorra sweetly giggled as the two held in a firm squeeze, "You speak her language flawlessly."
"I did everything to make sure she was reminded of her roots," Gideon sighed with a warm smile as the two slowly loosened their embrace, though they held each other's hands with a loving squeeze, "Even though it might've been painful for her, at times. I wanted her to feel like she was home..."
"You honor me," Elkuorra mused in enchanted, loving warmth, her eyes held an infinite amount of wisdom, she was incredibly beautiful.
"Which... Makes me feel like absolute garbage for up-and-leaving," Gideon grumbled sorrowfully as he peered hard into Elkuorra's eyes, as if to seek forgiveness.
"Yeah," Elkuorra sweetly sighed with a non-ironic smile; such show of adorable yet brutal honesty had Vanellope erupting into a hard show of giggling that Elkuorra also fell into.
"Re-earning trust is your new life-goal, son," Ralph grumbled cutely as he approached Gideon, gave his arm a gentle nudge and finally wrangled Gideon into a big hug, to which Gideon rolled his eyes and complied. Ralph ruffled Gideon's auburn hair and tucked his face into the top of Gideon's head, "How'yah feeling? Ace gave us the run down... Last bit didn't want to come out, I'll take it."
"It finally did, just... Might as well have been molten lava," Gideon grumbled, although reset, he still had a mild bout of tremors no one knew how to fully get rid of.
"You still have your gashes," Elkuorra wondered sadly as Ralph and Gideon pulled away, to which Elkuorra gestured to the healed scars across the right side of Gideon's face.
"Good point, the reset didn't get rid of it at all?" Vanellope wondered as all three parents held their eyes tight to Gideon's figure in full concern.
"Well... Unfortunately, Tessa confirmed that if I reset my skin, and all the wounds it entails, it'd get rid of my piercings and tattoos because they're technically not fully healed, just yet," Gideon frowned, he almost shyly peered to all three and shrugged, "I-I... I want to keep the art on my body, y'know?"
"Oh, good point," Elkuorra mused with a nod, she grimaced and flattened her ears in dainty apology, "I'd like to apologize on behalf of Kindra... Sh-she, uh... Has probably dealt with more than any of us will ever know. Short fuse, that gal... I-I hope she's okay."
"I do too," Gideon assured confidently, his eyes hung onto Elkuorra's in full confidence to which Ralph heaved a shaky sigh.
"Something I never thought I'd hear or agree with," Ralph grunted with a cute chuckle, though as the teleport pad buzzed with incoming coding, once more, everyone quickly peered over to it in anticipation as to who was arriving.
With a confident press of almost rushing urgency out into the code room, Mara's adorable little figure scuffed to a halt as she quickly spanned her eyesight to the entire room and landed on Gideon. Gideon raised his eyebrows in a prickle of goosebumps that sharply plagued him, though as Mara covered her mouth, crumpled into whimpering tears and stiffened in shock that impeded her from getting to Gideon, like she probably wanted, Gideon huffed a shaky little chuckle of floored delight and politely pushed past Ralph, Vanellope and Elkuorra so to get to Mara and fill the gap. Once within about a dozen feet, Mara removed her hands from her face and finally peered up to Gideon with the fresh, fervent press of her figure tight to his. With a hiccup of a cry of unadulterated glee, she urgently grappled her arms about Gideon's chest in a huge collision of an embrace the two snuggled into. Mara sweetly cried into the center of Gideon's chest as Gideon engulfed her little figure in his huge embrace, he tucked his face into the top of her head and squeezed the life out of her with sweet, lulling sways. Mara quietly wept into the soft chest of Gideon's black hoodie, her arms and hands held a death grip about his center, never again to let him go.
"I-I can't believe it's true!" Mara squeaked through her tears as she now sharply uttered collapsing cries of bittersweetness into their swaying little bubble of warmth. Gideon sighed a shaky little chuckle and sweetly began to pet the back of Mara's head, the more little pieces of his old life began to present itself to him, in the flesh, the more he began to grow anxious for his eventual reunion with Kepa. Every single little thing leading up to it was anxiety inducing in the best way. Mara choked a cry, sucked in a trembling inhale and squeezed Gideon's center with a full hit of warmth, a full display of every ounce of love she had for Gideon, "I'm so glad you made it home safely, you have NO idea what this means to everyone..."
"It's good to be back," Gideon mumbled through tears that filled his eyes as well, and as the two held for a few moments, they finally sagged out of their embrace and remained loosely tangled. Gideon grunted a chuckle down to Mara and sweetly stroked his big thumb into her left cheek with a cup of the side of her head, so to catch her tears, "I'm an idiot. I know that's what you guys want to hear."
"The HUGEST idiot, Gideon Fox Von Schweetz, are you KIDDING ME?" Mara suddenly erupted in a swing of now motherly sternness she didn't know she had in her; as if certain no one had properly handed Gideon his ass yet, and certain Kepa would lay the final smackdown, Mara pursed her lips in a tighten of authority, took a step away from Gideon and sharply swat his center. Gideon grunted a happy chuckle and crumpled in a weak defense to keep her swatting at bay, though Mara pointed a firm finger up to him, "You better be grateful I'm MORE excited to see you than I am angry with you, cause if it were the reverse, I'd follow papa Ralph's footsteps and give you my OWN version of Game Over, right here, right now!"
"Mara," Gideon grinned in full delight, and though his hands shook and this was all renewed and weird, he was floored to be back in Mara's presence, one step closer to Kepa; although he was certain Mara would fervently continue on her tirade, she panted through her nose and slowly sagged her stiffened shoulders, she narrowed her eyes in enchanted wonder and hissed Gideon a whispery notion of unadulterated bewilderment.
"I can't believe you won, Gideon," Mara huffed quietly, to which Gideon softened and was prepared for more scolding, something he was used to also deploying on himself, though as a cute little sassy smile peaked from Mara's teary face, they held eyes with scheming, devious delight, "You... Badass piece of shit, you. You actually WON."
"First human gamer to win, I had the most kills out of any of the other four winners," Gideon bragged under his breath, something he knew he shouldn't sit and be overtly proud over, though with how sneakily Mara afforded it for him, he donned a happy smile and shrugged, he allowed a shred of his cocky attitude to finally resurface, "The record now sits with me... Thirty-seven kills."
"You're gunna watch episodes as they come out, huh," Mara murmured in smiling, teasing dismay as tears still hung in her eyes, though Gideon looked off in cunning delight and shrugged.
"...If Kepa allows it," Gideon smartly covered, Mara largely rolled her eyes and beamed a huge grin.
"Kepa probably won't allow you to live beyond your reunion, fair warning," Mara blurt a happy laugh as Ralph, Vanellope, Ekluorra, Oliver and Tessa slowly strolled over to join the two.
"I've endured a shred of Kepa's wrath... Gideon, you're screwed," Oliver muttered in teasing dread, Mara crossed her arms and sneered a notion Gideon's way.
"AND Kepa's father," Mara teased, "You're gunna get it from all angles."
"Sezeke," Elkuorra stated in a dainty inhale of eager, anxious delight as she cupped her hands together and looked desperate to begin getting this show on the road, and with such desperate notions, everyone knew this all rode on the one linchpin that has been here all along - Gideon.
Gideon heaved a long sigh through his nose, held Mara's hand and softly drew his gaze about his family loosely stood about him. He knew he was the one that held any final word, here, he knew they were all waiting on him to let loose the raw truth, to everyone on palace grounds and then some, that he had officially come home, and though he was grateful they all honored Gideon's request, he knew for a fact that Elkuorra was dying to see her daughter and partner, once more. Gideon's shaky sigh through his nose, the toss of his brightened golden eyes down to the ground, it wasn't until he brought his gaze back to Mara's in a renewed show of nervous anticipation did Mara gingerly cover her mouth in a roll of musing surprise she was certain of, as if she could sense Gideon coming to all of these conclusions before he even said anything out loud.
"Alright, I feel as if it isn't fair that I prolong this nonsense any longer," Gideon started, his voice shook, though he looked brightened, and with such, the group rolled into soft gasps of anticipatory delight, "Tess, if... If it's alright with you, I'd like to discuss housing arrangements, concerning tonight."
"Y-you mean it?" Tessa gawked cutely, Oliver eyed Gideon in a soft swing of nervousness.
"You sure you don't want one more night of code-cycling?" Oliver worried, Ralph shrugged as everyone glanced about the group in curious, uplifting musing.
"After what Ace and Lash did, after the three resets... And now, after seeing Elkuorra and even Mara," Gideon sucked in a trembling breath, it was clear he was now amping himself up and becoming delightfully nervous, "I think I'm ready to see Kepa."
The group suddenly erupted into a huge display of excitement, coupled with gasps of surprise, urgent musings about just what to do next, it was here did Gideon understand he was making the right choice with just how bright Elkuorra's eyes and smile got. The whole code room was alive with eager love, excited notions assuring everyone that the night was still young, and though Gideon was terrified to continue forward, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"I MIGHT chicken out and request seeing her tomorrow morning, after a good night's sleep, but... Yeah, I feel as if I'm in a good spot, I held her at bay because I just..." Gideon grimaced, shrugged and was grateful everyone quietly and patiently listened to his reasoning, "I wanted to do this right. As much as I love each and every single one of you, I returned with Kepa at the top of my priority. I'm sorry if that offends you guys."
"I'm floored," Elkuorra erupted into contagious giggling, to which everyone burst into laughter, as well.
"We're not offended, son, we know we're loved, we know we all still have work to do, Kepa was your light home and it would be wrong of us to dismiss it," Ralph knowingly mumbled with a loving smile into Gideon's eyes, Mara bounced up and down in giddy excitement and linked her arm with Gideon's in a swing of grinning anticipation.
"I'd be happy to discuss housing arrangements with you guys, mom and I actually have been in and out of conversation with Elkuorra over this, anyways," Tessa mused, she rubbed her hands together and gave Elkuorra a happy smile, "So, here's our rough plan, we can alter it if we need... Gideon, for the time being, you may FEEL better, but I don't want you living more than one hundred feet from Zed or I. We've outfit the spire directly next door to ours, if you're willing."
"...Oh, hell yeah," Gideon brightened with a grin, though he equally sagged and peered his apologetic eyes tight to his parents, "My bedroom, though..."
"Is just that, son," Vanellope mused lovingly, and though tears eventually came to her eyes, she sweetly carried on in a show of grieving that had finally concluded, "We can move your stuff out together, we can close the book on it, my love... It's time for you to get back on your feet and properly move forward in life."
"Hard to do when you still live with mom and dad, Giddy," Elkuorra sweetly added in a low, cautionary tone as her and Vanellope warmly caught eyes in motherly knowing.
"I guess you're right, I'm just worried about being alone," Gideon stated nervously, and though he was well aware Kepa wasn't an option for a roommate, he was relieved Tessa brightened with more information on the horizon.
"That's why we've outfit your spire to have two big bedrooms, and you'll be rooming with Beaux," Tessa revealed happily, Gideon inhaled a deep breath and exhaled in smiling relief, "A powerful User in his own right... Zed and I sat him down and explained to him the whole situation. He said to just say the word, he'd be honored to room with you and make sure your coding continues to heal, he's also likely going to turn into your own resident therapist. You know how Beaux is."
"So stoic," Mara whispered sweetly as her and Gideon snugged their linked arms a little tighter into one another.
"As for Sezeke... I've sat down with Lash and discussed just what we think would be best, and we truly think having Sezeke move in with Elkuorra, into the flyer's enclosure, is the best move," Tessa glanced to Elkuorra and then gently gestured to Gideon, "The reason for this is... If Kepa is willing, after you and her sort your differences and figure out up from down, Lash and I are due to moving the lighthouse onto the edge of the flyer's enclosure so Kepa can also live on her own, but be close by to her parents."
"Wow, a whole party for Sugar Rush," Mara staggered a giggle, though she eventually frowned, "Aw, man... I really enjoyed Beaux, Sezeke and Kepa being around a lot..."
"Well, they'll just be one game away," Gideon comforted quietly down to her, to which she shrugged and nodded in compliance.
"There's a lot of reasons for snugging everyone under the palace's umbrella... Kepa can be close to her parents, she can be close to Gideon but still have distance if she needs, Elkuorra and Sezeke can be safe together under one roof, and the lighthouse can have an official purpose," Tessa carried on, though before she could reveal her big plans, Gideon furrowed his brow and choked a small laugh.
"... On dry land?" Gideon smartly muttered, the group roused with knowing laughter as Tessa rolled her eyes and looked off.
"Yeah, he's feeling better enough to sass you, green flags," Vanellope muttered, Gideon stiffened and looked off in mild, smiling annoyance.
"Since YOU decided to run off and stir the dark web pot, Sugar Rush, and my palace, are targets... We'll be moving the palace clear across the other side of Orion City," Tessa revealed with a nod, "The palace won't be visible from Sugar Rush's entrance, but will be close enough to the city due to Berri and Turbo... We'll also be RIGHT on the ocean, with a view of Sugar Sun Island."
"On dry land, you're such a turd, let our Queen finish," Mara lowly muttered sarcastically, to which Gideon beamed a huge grin and erupted in happy laughter, such uplift that had everyone smiling with relief, pure joy to see Gideon finally feeling like himself, once more.
"I'm allowed to be a jerk now, right?" Gideon teased, Mara wrinkled her nose up to him as the two endured a cute little bout of shoving before settling in sighing chuckling.
"So, the last thing to figure out is... Did you want the rest of this night to be a lazy night where we all lounge and recharge? Or did... Did you really want to move into your spire and prepare to see Kepa?" Tessa wondered, the whole group fell silent and eagerly peered to Gideon for his answer; much to their surprise, Gideon heaved a sharp, readied sigh and bobbed a nod.
"The latter," Gideon assured confidently, to which the group brightened in grinning excitement.
"You're feeling much better, I can tell," Ralph mused warmly with a nod, to which Gideon smiled to everyone in the group and brought it back to Mara.
"I am, I-I'm insanely nervous, right now," Gideon mumbled with a wary, broken smile.
"Don't be nervous, let's see to it that you get settled in the spire... After you're all moved in, we can contact Beaux, Kepa and Sezeke and... REALLY let the fun begin," Tessa bugged her eyes and heaved a shaky sigh as she looked off and rubbed her temple, "Holy cow, Gid, y'sure you want to lay this thick of intense reunions on everyone TONIGHT?"
"Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think either Elkuorra or I will be able to proplery get sleep tonight if we don't just rip off the bandaid," Gideon sighed and shook his head in remembrance, "Hearing Kepa's voice tonight was... Yeah, that was enough to understand that I don't think I can go one more day. I don't know how I've made it THIS long."
"Well, I'm genuinely glad you did, you were ruined," Oliver muttered in cautiousness, he glanced to Mara and shook his head, "I'm even glad Mara wasn't involved, it was really... Really ugly."
"It was?" Mara worried, Gideon sighed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, it got scary for a second there," Gideon murmured, recalling trying to overthrow Sugar Rush, enduring Ralph's K.O., the constant withdrawal episodes and the nasty hallucinations that concluded with vomiting corrupted, tar-like coding, Gideon bobbed an assured nod and sighed, "As much as we all would've endured together, I'm glad Kepa was spared... We'll probably have our own new brands of struggles and heartache to continue working through, I'm just glad that Tessa and Oliver got me through the worst of it."
"We love you," Tessa assured gently, Gideon nodded and lulled his eyes closed in relief.
"I love you guys, too," Gideon warmly replied, to which Mara hugged his arm a little tighter and admired his new tattoos and piercings.
"Alright... We got a game plan we all can agree on? Everyone happy with this new installment?" Tessa wondered aloud to the group, to which everyone nodded, Elkuorra was happily nodding the hardest, "Awesome. Let's break down the code room, and then Gideon, I'll help you get settled in the spire next door to Zed and I."
"... I get my own spire," Gideon murmured cutely, secretly geeking out, to which everyone lazily piled into a snuggly group hug.
"You deserve it, bud," Vanellope assured in loving conclusion.
In the lazy, lofting return of a glide, Novus's huge, silent wings slowly carried him in the direction of the palace. He sorrowfully glared it down, even though the glorious, glowing light, that emanated from the code room, looked inviting and warm, he almost mean-mugged it in a death stare, as if to wonder just how anyone or anything could ever be happy in this instance. Having been gone from palace grounds for nearly a week, he knew the routine of catching up with his mother and father and eagerly escaping shortly after was becoming a new norm, something he wasn't technically thrilled about. Due to Gideon leaving over two months ago, he had largely distanced himself from absolutely everyone. Not wanting to talk to anyone, discuss hard times, create a game plan on how to heal, he stubbornly continued to distance himself more and more. As per his routine, his lazy, high loft above palace grounds, he banked a bit and came about a hundred feet above Tessa's spire, the trickling splatter of the dwindling rain coat his fur and scales in cool, springtime showers he relished in, though as his eyes caught with two beings on the palace's wall's walkways, he furrowed his brow in a prickle of heart-dropping stun and fixated on the bigger being that looked way too familiar.
As if his wings were now permanently stuck in a lazy glide that crossed over palace boundaries, he peered his eyes firmly down to what he was absolutely sure was Gideon's figure walking with Tessa, the spire next door to hers was illuminated with house lights, which was an unusual sight. Tessa's and Zed's neighboring spire was usually void of life, though as Tessa and Gideon carried on, without noticing Novus, they both cutely chit chat and eventually vanished into said previously-empty and lifeless next-door spire. Novus choked a shaky exhale of unadulterated shock, and though he wanted to dive-bomb the spire and burst through the door, he knew it wouldn't be something that would end well. The anger he had towards Gideon was something he couldn't even see through, though as he stiffened and peered to the enclosure, in which he was lazily approaching, he began to pant with rising, anxious purpose and knew there was only one singular person who needed this dire information of Gideon's arrival home. In a whip of correction and a full one-eighty taken above the palace's center, he aggressively lurched into purpose, hugely flapped his wings, gained an insane amount of speed and sliced the air in half. With a whip as fast as lightning, he escaped the palace's boundaries and now began to fly as fast as he could directly for Sugar Rush's entrance.
As if his whole tail was on fire, Novus skillfully maneuvered himself down Sugar Rush's wire, popped into the glowing aura of Arcadia Station, dove headlong into Turbotime's misty atmosphere and now made the fastest straightaway for Turbotime's Thunderbird Arena, all aglow with lovely white arena lights. Due to garnering any and all information about Kepa's whereabouts through his mother, Lickity, who ultimately got her information from Tessa, Novus knew exactly where Kepa was. Now understanding that it'd be insanely hard to miss, the clips of the lovely lighthouse he used to frequent, now stationed on Turbotime's dim courtyard, pierced him with each beckoning swing the light took. He grit his teeth in panting urgency, tears stung his eyes, he could hardly believe he had this golden shred of information to gift to Kepa, the hugest gift he could possibly give, he was certain he was due to exploding into tears as he finally approached the dim courtyard and plummeted to the grass like a comet from outer space. With a hefty, clumsy thud to the ground and a scuffle of galloping, he swung about and allowed his sharp eyes to desperately try and source Kepa as best as he could. Before he could go banging down the doors of the nearby studio homes inside the courtyard, he whirled around at the sound of Kepa's shocked, shaky voice.
"Novus," Kepa lilted in unadulterated surprise, she scoffed a teary giggle and hurriedly approached him, "Novus! I'm... I'm SO happy to see you, please don't leave!"
"Kepa," Novus hissed in panting urgency as he sagged, though he opened his chest and arm for her as she rushed to embrace him in the biggest swing of a hug she could afford to him. Although he could feel Kepa want to sit in these feelings and reminisce with Gideon's best friend since birth, Novus huffed a trembling breath and urgently gripped Kepa's shoulder in the gentle pry so he could peer into her eyes, "K-Kepa, it's Gideon, he's home, he's HOME."
"What?" Kepa sharply hissed in trembling shock, she flattened her ears and shook her head in erupting disbelief, "No, don't... Don't do this."
"He's home, Kepa, I JUST flew over palace walls, him and Tessa were together, I heard his voice, I PROMISE he's home," Novus messily rushed, to which Kepa's eyes now lifted in a full swing of electrified stun, as if this was every single last wish on her heart, though now that it was all hers, she grappled it in a frozen bout of not knowing what move to take next.
"Novus, you're telling the truth?" Kepa sharply whimpered in a stagger of huge tears that billowed in her eyes, she began to erratically pant through the stagger of roused, hyper-active panicking from both beings, her arms and hands wildly shook as she clasped them together in a show of pleading desperation.
"He's back, I PROMISE, he's in Sugar Rush," Novus begged as he sprawled his stiff wings and gestured for her to join him, "C'mon, the second I saw him was the second I turned-heel and came here, straight away. C'mon, no time to waste."
"Gideon," Kepa whimpered in tears as she unfurled her wings, sprawled them in a gentle crouch, and with a sharp eruption, her and Novus rocketed into the skies and now did absolutely anything and everything to cross Turbotime at breakneck speeds.
