A/N : Hey all, just to give a fair warning, the next chapter is 7.6K words and the chapter after that is currently at a whopping 15K. This mini story arc here, segueing deeper into the relationship between Gideon and Lash, is pivotal and it will be clear why. I had to get it all off of my chest, but Lash, including a few other people currently present, are detrimental to this story. Expanding on them, for me, is key, so please forgive me for the slow movement of these beginning scenes and such. I know it's chapter 16 and we're -still- in like day two of the story lmao like I don't think I've ever expanded on something so heavily before. It's for a reason, and I'm testing my artistic growth. Please bear with me.
I promise this story has plot that picks up and centers around the band, as well as the new round of kiddos planned for this story. I promise it picks up. I have to get this all off of my chest first and foremost. Thanks for the understanding! And I do hope my readers and lurkers are enjoying!
Reviews :
chuckiboo : Hi friend! WOW. Thank you so so so much, seriously! Your reviews always make me feel like a million bucks. I think it's funny you say that, I get told that in real life lately. I get told that I should be charging hourly, I get told I should write a book, I get told 'remember me when you're famous' - people constantly flock to me for life advice, and as big as that could make my head, I really do try to approach it all with grace and humility. This new season of my life comes with a yearn for more knowledge, I fear I'll be earning degrees for the rest of my life. My goals beyond creating visual arts stems into philosophy, the science and art of existence, psychology and etc. I plan to have degrees in all of these subjects, I want to be a beacon of knowledge and information, but doing so with humility is sometimes difficult to approach. I'm leaning on Gideon in these times, if I'm being honest. Learning to navigate really difficult circumstances in my own psyche first helps me step into the world with a broader understanding, it helps me understand imbalance in my own ego, to squash beef within my own heart. Gideon and crew are extensions of myself in this way, I'm excited to explore the deeper, richer topics of drama and what that means for the psyches and intellects of the group of characters I've so carefully procured, here. I so appreciate your words, every single time, seriously! Your reviews always leave me grinning, thank you so much for sticking with me for all of this time, it means more to me than I can even write about, seriously!
*Chapter 16*
A pop of fresh reality, the unstick of Wren's eyelids, Gideon felt himself come to, as well, and peered his gentle gaze into Wren's as they both returned to their physical selves, still patiently standing in Throttle's dimly lit den. Gideon fluttered his eyes, zipped his coding away from Wren's with a gentle unstick and noted that both men had been hovering in the gentle hold of extended arms, with Gideon's palms cautiously cupping the undersides of Wren's forearms. It was clear some sort of transfer or deeper exterior swap was happening due to how Lash and Penny had now curiously gathered around and looked to be lounging, as if they had been waiting for awhile. The vibe in the room, between Penny and Lash, was tense, though as Gideon finally peered his alert gaze into Wren's, and vice versa, Gideon felt the collection of reality kindly kiss him atop the head, though Wren, on the other hand, now suddenly stiffened in remembered shock.
Unadulterated bewilderment as to what had just taken place, and with this sudden kick of a reminder, Wren's facial expression slowly sloped to that of primal, terrified shock. Much to Gideon's whole surprise, Wren sucked in a huge gasp, yanked his arms out of Gideon's tender hold, erupted into a splash of dark, electric orange glitchy pixels and took a wild, uneducated glitch-hop backwards and directly into one of Throttle's many towering wall-bookcases. Wren's coding came back to the grid with a thud as he stumbled backwards on his feet, and with said sudden collide with Throttle's bookcase, a lovely bookend, a few glass trinkets and a small potted plant suddenly came crashing to the ground with the collection of Wren's arms being flung backwards into the bookcase, so to catch himself amidst his fling of panic. Wren sagged in on himself, peered to Gideon in terrified shock and urgently began to loudly pant and wheeze in a sudden upheaval of terror that Gideon was wide-eyed to.
"Easy, you're okay," Gideon urged calmly as he gently held out his palms; Penny and Lash urgently shot up from the sat positions they had from about Throttle's den.
"Y-You, I-I... Gideon," Wren gasped, he clutched his chest, the soles of his shoes fumbled on the shattered glass and terracotta underneath him, as well as the damp soil from the potted plant, he desperately tried to get his footing and now urgently began to scoot down the bookcases in the direction away from Gideon, "How... How?!"
"Wren, you're panicking," Gideon cautioned nervously as he bravely continued to step closer to Wren. With a lazy cup and lift of his palm, he cued his spirally rainbow circuits and, with little effort, his coding immediately picked up all the pieces of the mess Wren had caused and put it all back into place like it hadn't happened. This was something Wren watched in terror, it was something Gideon chalked up to the fact that Wren was trying to grapple with the idea that he could one day have all of these powers, genuinely. Wren managed to scoot behind one of Throttle's main lounge chairs, his chest heaved as his eyes looked glossed in full terror, "It's okay, easy... Everything's fine, you're safe."
"Wren, you... You glitched!" Penny cried in full shock as she held her hands to the side of her head, to which Lash was stood near her with an equal look of full shock on his face.
"It worked," Gideon huffed with a surprised chuckle as he finally approached Wren's gravity, from the opposite side of the chair he was trembling behind, "C'mere, you're okay. I know it's scary, huh."
"What the hell happened," Lash gawked, Gideon shook his head and stretched his hand out for Wren, just his bare palm and no show of coding.
"C'mon, let's sit, you're gunna be just fine," Gideon hummed, he was floored to watch Wren nervously sink his hand into Gideon's and patiently come out of hiding. Gideon cautiously directed Wren about Throttle's lounge chair and was happy to see Wren follow Gideon's guidance and sit down. Gideon grunted to a one-kneed crouch near Wren and allowed Wren to have higher ground. Although easily calming down, his eyes still dart to Lash's and Penny's in surprised panic as Gideon patiently carried on, "Well first, I'd like to say that I'm really proud of you."
"Y-You gave Wren glitching abilities?" Penny wondered in flabbergasted shock as Wren sharply panted through his nose and began to shake due to the melt of adrenaline he had endured.
"I... I think I helped him unlock his coding," Gideon hummed in shaky, smiling surprise as Lash and Penny dared to step closer to the two. Gideon peered up to them in a swing of equally humbled shock, "I gave Wren's coding a rainbow sheen... I've decided to make Wren my first student."
"Holy shit," Lash choked with a chuckling smile, Penny covered her mouth in a gape as her and Wren caught eyes in a full swoop of humbled shock.
"G-glitching? I-I didn't think that'd happen," Wren panted, he peered to Gideon in desperation and watched as Gideon shook his head and rested his hand to Wren's trembling forearm nearest him.
"Deep breath in," Gideon cued with gentle authority, to which Wren snapped his jaw shut and sucked in a huge, trembling breath through his nose. Gideon bobbed a nod and was happy to see Wren paying attention and wanting to climb out of panicking, "And, out..."
On Wren's shaky exhale, he visibly sagged. Gideon gestured to his chest, sucked in a huge breath with Wren, once more, and let it out. Both men followed this cycle for about five more breaths before Wren finally looked to have nearly calmed down in his entirety. Still minding his trembling hands, he rubbed his upper arms in a gentle hug of self-soothing and dart his eyes between his three peers.
"This brings a whole new level to just what it means to be a glitch," Gideon narrowed his gaze in confusion and peered to Lash, "My mom is the original glitch, not once has she ever shifted to be on a path of coded enlightenment."
"... Glitching isn't a gamer power," Lash huffed in surprised realization, "I-It's... It's a step."
"What's the first step?" Penny wondered in shock, Gideon looked off in contemplation and long-blinked in delirious stun.
"Code-unlocking," Gideon hummed in profound confusion, "Unlocking your coding, of course glitches are demonized... The purest form of light and color to reach for, the easiest way to do that is if your coding is first accessible to outside sources. I'm wondering if you kind of have to, like... Die to yourself. Kill off your ego."
"So, like..." Lash gestured in confusion and glanced to Wren in such a way that proved to Wren that Lash's impending statement wasn't meant to be jabby or mean, "You're saying Wren's ego is dying? He's egotistical?"
"Yeah," Wren agreed shakily, he humbly and sorrowfully looked off to which Lash flinched in shock.
"O-Oh, I was not expecting you to just agree with that so easily," Lash nervously chuckled, "I-I didn't mean anything by it."
"I-it's okay, I've played my part, here," Wren nodded, he kept his eyes away, he looked as if he was having to rethink just what he said and how he said it, as if old habits and phrases and defaults came rushing him, but he now had to shoo them all away and make room for this new, shiny sheen of coding he was gifted.
"The key to limitless power is to unglue your soul from your coding," Gideon huffed in gentle searching, he peered up to Lash with a curious peak of a smile and narrowed his eyes, "I can promise you two... Wren did some major ungluing, just now."
"What happened?" Penny worried tearfully, she peered to her little brother in a surge of overflowing apology, as if she was desperate to now meet him in this bubble of humility he was sporting; it was something Lash seemed to be curiously resisting.
"Y-You're a glitch," Lash scoffed in jarred near-disbelief.
"I know," Wren started innocently, meekly, he looked to Gideon, up to Penny and nervously shook his head, though as he opened his mouth to continue on in a show of returning, tepid panic, Penny began to cry.
"W-We need to tell Tessa," Penny sharply urged as she gestured to her chest; her being at Tessa's right hand, she immediately began to feel as if she should take ownership of bringing this ordeal to light of the palace's masters.
"No!" Wren urgently begged in terror as he held his hands out and began to take in shallow, panicking breaths, once more.
"No?!" Penny cried in hot shock, Wren grit his teeth and now began to well up with huge tears.
"No, please," Wren whimpered nervously, though just as Penny loudly scoffed a dumbfounded, confused noise and faltered to loudly protest against Wren's begging, Gideon reached up, grappled Penny's hand in his left and urgently gripped Wren's with his right.
"Guys, guys, stop," Gideon urged with loving stern, he shook his head and remained still in his crouch, his tail lifted a little in a show of preparing to stand up, lest the three around him didn't heed his warning; thankfully, everyone snapped their jaws shut, "Stop... The world's not going to erupt into flames if we take two minutes to sit and breathe and be unconditionally loving to one another."
"I-I'm so scared," Wren begged nervously, Gideon bobbed a nod and gripped Wren's hand a little tighter.
"You are safe, you've accomplished a lot," Gideon pawed in kind impress, he gave Wren his charming, twinkling side-eye and donned a smirk, "Let your panic find excitement. Give yourself celebration... You did it, welcome aboard."
"I-I did it," Wren hissed in trembling, humble shock. He gripped his shirt in a playful jostle and shook his head as tears streamed his innocently smiling cheeks, "H-How the hell..."
"You deemed yourself ready," Gideon huffed with a smile, "I've discovered the key, here, to teaching others how to upgrade their coding. I simply am the landing spot for you all... It's not up to me whether or not I think certain people are ready to have me help them upgrade their coding, it's up to each and every single person having to make that decision for themselves, or reach out to me and ask for my true opinion of it in an exterior swap. Cause that's what caused this whole ordeal, whether you verbalized it or not."
"Your lucid state," Lash inquired tenderly, he now apologetically peered down to Wren in a swing of wanting to try and find tenderness, here, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Wren hummed, his deep voice still held a tremble, though much to everyone's shock, Penny suddenly glared Wren down in a fit of trying to mitigate her own shock and panic.
"Great," Penny spat meanly, Wren sharply frowned in a flinch of collecting his teary, humbled eyes with his big sister, "I've been working tirelessly, day and night, to keep mom and dad from divorcing and YOU get the upgrade? Another one?!"
"Penny," Gideon cautioned softly as he held his hand up and out, he gently gestured his hand downward a little in an attempt to quietly request her to lower her voice; this only riled her further.
"You are the one constantly fighting with mom and dad! You're the one stirring the pot and making all of this worse!" Penny hollered, Throttle's den hugged the noise tight to the room and kept her yells from echoing, thus making everyone's ear drums begin to hum in the rattle of detecting dangerous decibels.
"Penny," Gideon urged in a bit more of a dominant, louder show of meaning business, although he was eager to just sit back and mediate, the way Penny began to saunter closer to Wren's sat, defenseless position, with an aggressive finger pointed in Wren's face, Gideon stiffened his tail and now prepared to stand.
"How the hell do YOU get off with being the one lucky duckling to be taught by Gideon!" Penny screamed, tears streamed her face, it was now obvious to everyone in this room, by Penny's words, that Gideon's inklings here were true; everyone was now secretly going bonkers wondering who would be worthy enough to fall under Gideon's now incredible teachings.
"I can teach anyone and everyone, Penny, it's ultimately my choice, but my teachings aren't the only singular way," Gideon's voice continued to caution, though Penny dominantly stepped closer to Wren, as if she wanted to get in his face, something Wren was now nervously sagging over.
"Maybe dad was right! What, are we just too far gone?" Penny stabbed through the mess of her tears, "Is that why Callum has fallen victim to everything Gideon was involved with simply because he didn't, oh I don't know, deem himself ready?" Penny mockingly used air quotes.
"I-It's realizing how wrong you potentially were about how you handled a stressful predicament," Wren furrowed his brow in confusion, as to just where this little blip of information was coming from, though as him and Gideon caught eyes in an innocent swing, Gideon's lovely smile peaked in the corners of his mouth, just for Wren, "It's realizing you may have contributed negatively to a situation, and that's why it's becoming so bad."
"Well, congratulations," Penny garbled sarcastically, tearfully, she braved Wren's two foot radius with the stab of her aggressive pointer finger, "I've been telling you that you have a clog up your ass for months now, apparently you'll only listen to Gideon because, what do I know?! I don't have powers or an inferiority complex towards anyone that has them!"
"I-I think you might, Pens," Gideon affirmed nervously, to which she glared Gideon down and now dared to prepare pointing her finger into Gideon's face. Gideon lulled his eyes closed, understood that Penny was also panicking and knew cutting this at the quick was best. Just as Penny was due to now loudly retorting into Gideon's face, he skillfully snapped his fingers near Penny's forearm, shocked her with a mere zap of an exterior swap and watched as her coding flinched in a cut of shocked binary. Gideon preparedly stood as he watched Penny snap her jaw shut, tuck her arms to her chest and now apprehensively take a step away from Gideon and Wren. As Gideon crawled to his six-foot-five height, a staggering near-foot and a half above Penny, he furrowed his brow and gently carried on, "That's enough... This needs to be constructive. Why don't you tell Wren just why you're upset at him without aggressively pointing your finger or screaming in his face."
"...You conquered a mountain before you and won the prize," Penny meanly hissed, her little voice trembled, and though she was given a small zap to remind her to play nice, she still got away with a narrow-eyed, teary, dirty look delivered into Wren's trembling gaze, "How the hell am I supposed to do all that, as well, when I'm blindfolded and have no clue where my mountain to conquer is?"
"Penny, I didn't go into any of this thinking I'd become Gideon's student, it was just a mutual decision after I-I... I destroyed a certain set of beliefs I had, and it wasn't serving me," Wren's deep voice trembled, as did his hands. Gideon was thrilled to see Penny softening, "It's kind of personal, I mean... I-I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I've been an awful brother, to both you and Callum. I know this situation isn't all my fault, but, Penny... You have to recognize that you weren't the greatest big sibling to Callum, either."
"Oh, great, how do you figure," Penny mumbled tearfully in dry sarcasm as she huffed and crossed her arms; Wren bravely got to his feet, next to Gideon.
"Just like I wasn't, I didn't make him a priority when he was growing up," Wren gestured to Gideon and shook his head, "Gideon's a victim of that as well."
"I'm sorry, I guess... I just feel left out, I've done all this hard work to help keep mom and dad together," Penny complained, her shoulders began to soften, her crying began to look more sorrowful and not so much angry any longer. She gestured to Gideon, frowned and shook her head, "Is there a prize for that? Is there some sort of special exterior swap I get to have?"
"You're in it for a prize?... Are you even ready for that?" Gideon wondered in fluid, tender seriousness, such seriousness that had Penny nearly recoiling in the hit of realness Gideon had suddenly draped over her.
"F-For an exterior swap with you?" Penny pawed nervously, now back-tracking her thoughts.
"Yeah, that'd entail going to my own lucid space and hoping yours takes over, like Wren's did," Gideon gestured to Wren, "Now, I'm not saying it's key, I'm not encouraging any of this, but Wren offed himself and then... Literally regenerated and rose from the ashes. He didn't do it by just lofting into the sky and verbally claiming it, he tore down walls upon walls upon walls of grief with unlimited power... Power he surely thought was mine, but was his."
"Jesus," Lash huffed darkly, he eyed Wren in gentle impress, "Even in a safe lucid space, or even in a game I'm safe in, I can't imagine... Actually following through."
"It fucking sucked, I regretted it immediately," Wren muttered hoarsely as he looked off in aimless, teary searching, "This isn't a race. I just... Went face to face with my demons and won."
"Well, anyone can do that," Penny snipped meanly, Gideon raised his eyebrows in a loft of readiness and held out his hand.
"Okay, great. Y'ready, then?" Gideon huffed as he opened his palm and cued his incredible, spirally rainbow coding that gorgeously crept up the veins of his lower inner arm. Penny raised her eyebrows, looked down to his palm and watched as her and Lash collectively took a few steps away from Gideon's palm; everyone but Wren. Gideon grimaced a sheepish little smile and peered hard into Penny's eyes, "...Not ready?"
"N-No, I'm not ready," Penny defeatedly admitted as she shook her head and looked off, "I-I have... I have a lot to think about."
"I understand you will surely tell Tessa about all of this, won't you," Gideon hummed in apologetic concern, to which Penny shrugged and shook her head.
"Depends. If you two boys plan on keeping this a secret, then, yeah... I will tell Tessa," Penny meanly reported with a nod, Gideon looked down to his hand and allowed his glowing rainbow coding to dissipate.
"I think a singular sleep should happen, but, yes, I was planning on telling Tessa sometime tonight or tomorrow," Gideon stated in warm nervousness as he rested his palm to his broad chest, "I don't want to overstep your stature as Tessa's right hand, but... I'm wondering if you'll let me beat you to it."
"You have one day," Penny stated gently with a nod, "Once Tessa knows, though... My father is bound to find out."
"Oh, and THEN what, Penny," Wren suddenly stabbed, causing everyone to jump in shock at his outburst. He gestured his hands outward and gave Penny a sarcastic smirk, "He'd hate me even more than what he already does?"
"Surely," Penny muttered, Gideon squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"Let's just... Save this for tomorrow, I can return here and regroup with you guys, alongside Tessa," Gideon hummed in shaky regret as he rubbed his forehead and now glanced into Lash's eyes. Both men caught glances in a swing of tepid nervousness as Gideon gave Lash a mumbling conclusion, "I'll want you present for that."
"'Course," Lash quietly agreed, to which Wren now furrowed his brow and gave Gideon a small tsking noise of a grimace.
"You want the whole palace to explode, Gideon?" Wren hummed above a whisper, said notion that had Gideon and Lash firmly locking eyes once more, though Gideon's rapidly rising look of apologetic cheek made Lash's content, golden glowing eyes ever so slowly sag to that of a muted grey amidst the gape of his more narrower, rectangular pupils.
"Can you two get along in the process?" Gideon pawed softly as he now glanced between both men, took a subtle step back and was glad Lash also took a gentle step back, so to encourage more breathing room.
"Depends," Wren muttered, he finally sagged his hands into his lazy pant's pockets and tried to come across as loose and easy, though it was almost in a taunting manner, as if to prove in his ironically softened stance that he was anything but softened, "I can choose, in this instance, if I want to demand an apology, kindly hear you out, or... Slice your head clean from your shoulders."
Lash froze in a hover and now felt a burning fire rage in the depths of his stomach, though he concealed anger very nicely. In the flickering flinch of Wren's sharp words, Lash glanced to Gideon in a sting of concerned caution and felt a wave of weirdness fall over him. He now felt guilt plague his system over one thing; excluding the fact that Wren now had the glitching ability, alongside whatever potential to unfurl from that next, the low lights in Throttle's den glinted what was a gorgeously crafted, long hand sword on a intricate wall display directly behind Wren. It'd take one thrust of Wren's telekinesis abilities and one swing to follow through with the notion of his head being severed from his body. It was in this raw, terrifying instance did Lash now fully understand that he had wholly underestimated Wren, and it unfortunately took Wren taking one singular step closer to coded enlightenment, a step beyond Lash at this standpoint. Lash gulped a swallow and swiftly understood that this was available to everyone and anyone; a rather hefty slap to the face, surely reminding Lash to look at everyone through this golden lens of truth, from here on out.
"It's your pick," Lash humbly submitted with a docile bob of a nod, Gideon sharply raised his eyebrows in a prickle of whole shock and held his breath, and though Lash could see Gideon's very stark reaction in his peripheral, he dared to keep his humble gaze embedded deep into Wren's.
"I'm not so sure we can keep the palace from exploding, if we all are to meet up with Tessa and Zed, tomorrow," Wren snipped meanly as he tucked his arms behind his back.
Gideon long-blinked in delirious shock, peered to Wren and now could feel himself beginning to have an out of body experience. Not twenty four hours after his own enlightenment, he went through a brief toddler phase, where flaunting his power and pounding his chest was something he felt was entirely necessary to feel and test out. The fact that Wren was now segueing into a very similar bout of rebellion had Gideon wondering if said explosion was now due to being expedited and carried out in this very conversation. Wren carried on, his face was crowned with the meanest, dirtiest look he could muster.
"I'm not so sure about this room, either," Wren darkly muttered, Lash stiffened and now began to feel terror course him; although he was eager to stab his eyes into Gideon's as a silent way of asking for some help, he knew Gideon was surely due to allowing Wren to this delicious moment of justice served, at his wise discretion.
"Look, what I said was really mean, and-"
"Oh, you think it was mean?" Wren loudly interrupted Lash, causing Lash to flinch and lose the glow of his eyes entirely. Wren cackled, cued his glitching abilities all over his palms and wrists and was now due to closing in on Lash's unwavering figure, "It was hateful!"
"It was," Lash agreed gently, he bobbed a nod, continued full submission and now nervously looked down to his and Wren's feet.
"How dare you think it's appropriate to ask your best friend to off his own cousin on-sight," Wren loudly hollered into Lash's face as he continued to close in, the tendons in his jugular stiffened, his live-wired hands glowed hot orange as the fervor in the room suddenly skyrocketed. Even with all of this Gideon was floored to see Lash hover in a ghostly presence of unwavering stillness, "How dare you say all of this with Callum's whole entire family within earshot!"
Lash bobbed a nod and now peered into Wren's eyes in a swing of unadulterated terror, however nicely concealed. Penny covered her face, turned away and quietly began to cry, though Gideon long-blinked in delirious shock and was well aware just how wildly this could get out of control. Immediately he did what he could to set an energetic air of patience and tepidness upon both men; from what Gideon could tell, Lash was picking up on the signal and Wren certainly wasn't. Wren powered on, unabated.
"I oughta beat the shit outta you!" Wren hoarsely hollered into Lash's face, though the second the dagger like dig Wren's stick-straight pointer and middle finger suddenly took to Lash's left peck was the second Gideon left his post of neutrality and took a stance in someone's corner.
Gideon wrinkled his nose in the hit of unmitigated, fierce protectiveness he had for Lash and suddenly clipped the air with a choke of a snarl. Such a core-rumbling hit of bass-filled vibration stunned the group in the collections of flinches and back-steps they took; everyone but Lash. Wren sharply raised his eyebrows, stumbled backwards once, peered his deliriously stunned gaze deep into Gideon's and was floored to hear Gideon's panther-like snarling continue on in the full threat in Wren's direction. Wren heaved a shaky breath, gestured defensively out to Gideon, sagged in on himself and now hurriedly shot Lash a confused look, as if being wrought with the mere glimpse of unending power, tight on the horizon, was causing him to have this incredibly dangerous outburst.
"Make a different choice," Gideon's much deeper, scarier voice lilted through the reverberation of his incredible, low-tuned snarling, fangs and all.
"Sir," Wren hummed shakily, he heavily panted, now nervously glanced into Lash's eyes and was stunned to see a still-frozen, haunting aura radiating from him.
Gideon kept his dominant gaze tight to Wren's for a moment before tossing his curious eyes to Lash's. Much to Gideon's whole surprise, he could see the color of Lash's eyes very fluidly roll in and out of the boiling rage of red and the hum of bittersweet sorrow that blue offered, and although Lash's eyes occasionally landed on a very bright, vibrant purple, a mixture of sadness and anger, everyone was shocked to see Lash's eyes eventually dip to that of a glowing bright white. The gape of his pupils finally collected with Gideon's, and it was in this instance did Gideon very firmly understand that this color of a glow, or lack of color, was a prominent promise, from Lash's kind, that he was in fight, flight or freeze distress. Mental distress that could also translate as an overload of confused panic. Although Lash was enduring his own realizations and understanding just how real these relationships before him were, he long-blinked in teary, trembling confusion and now firmly peered into Wren's eyes. Such a switch of a threat had Gideon feeling as if his head was spinning.
"What I said was hateful, I said it because I was projecting my own feelings of protection over my own little brother," Lash started softly, though his deep, husky tone held a very solid, sophisticated bite. Eloquently, sharply, he mused on, "Your little brother chose to mess with the cub I had a hand in raising... Your little brother has literally no idea what he is up against."
"G-Gideon wouldn't," Wren started in meek guffaw to Lash's insinuation, though Lash's glowing white eyes hooked tight to Wren's as Lash very bravely took a step closer to him.
"Gideon's not the threat," Lash growled as he hovered closer and hushed a starting notion into Wren's face, "Listen to me very carefully..."
Gideon kept his watchful eye on Penny, for fear of any of this escalating, though what had him beyond floored was the fact that Gideon and Lash were now perfectly operating on a wavelength of questions asked and answers received. Gideon flinched in a fit of shock and watched Lash open his mouth to usher blips of words Gideon could swear just flit through his own head before Lash uttered them, as if Gideon now knew exactly what Lash was about to say.
"My words were hateful and inappropriate, for that, I deeply apologize. I let my own emotions get in the way, and you were unfortunately in the cross-fire. I am not proud of myself," Lash humbly rattled into Wren's face, though he narrowed his glowing-white gaze and meanly hushed on, "I am only going to say this once..."
Wren sucked in a shaky breath through his nose and now trembled in a swing of gentle fear, a pendulum both men were having a hard time holding onto, in their favor.
"When we all help Gideon save Callum, and we have him safely returned to us in the form of reunion and rebirth," Lash hummed gently into the air, he long-blinked in a further press of hushed delivery and embodied a hovering ghost of death coming to retrieve Wren's soul, "He and I are gunna have a nice little chat... With or without Gideon's permission."
Gideon fluttered his eyes in the hit, allowed the notion due to their near-subliminal blips of agreeing and sagged his defeated eyes to his feet.
"Mine and Callum's beef no longer includes you, you clearly got good and are eager to right your wrongs," Lash loosely mumbled, he just barely began to sag out of Wren's face and continued on, "You're well aware difficult conversations would be had, upon Callum's return... This is par for the course."
"Conversations," Wren repeated in curious disbelief, surely knowing Lash was insinuating violence of some sort.
"Conversations, ass-beatings, whichever helps you sleep at night," Lash darkly muttered as he finally pulled from Wren's gravity and gave him a parting notion, "If that idea bothers you, you and I can continue talking, but only if it doesn't include you attempting to try me. Even with this new adventure before us, we still live together."
"You two need to talk while Kepa helps me mediate," Gideon admitted in a grunt of shaky frustration, "I'm not grounded without her, this conversation is hard to remain neutral about."
"Raincheck?" Lash wondered dryly, though as he slowly and cautiously held his hand out to Wren's for a civil handshake, Wren flinched and nervously peered down to Lash's extended hand. In a moment of hovering silence, Wren peered back to Lash in a swing of confused camaraderie and gently gripped Lash's hand for a handshake.
"Fine," Wren agreed softly, though as they shook on it and released hands, Lash swung his whole attention to Gideon and stepped closer to him.
"I'm headed home... I'm sure the portal works just fine, but I'll call you if anything goes wrong," Lash hummed to Gideon with a nod of preparation to teleport out of Throttle's home. Gideon almost sorrowfully peered into Lash's eyes and watched as he patiently, kindly, maturely carried on, "I need to think... Whatever time you return home, I'll surely be awake."
"I'll meet you there," Gideon nodded in encouragement to Lash's ideas, and with one final look about, finalized with a nod to Gideon, Lash cued his powerful User coding, allowed his body to swarm with flits of his coral-colored binary and was off like a flicker of lightning.
"I was not about to get in the middle of that," Penny muttered nervously, both her and Wren glanced to each other and then back to Gideon.
"Let's... Let's just keep quiet about this for tonight, okay?" Gideon huffed in now defeated exhaustion, "I will tell Tessa sometime either much later tonight or first thing in the morning, and we can decide how to handle it from there."
"W-We should keep quiet about it for good," Wren staggered in the roll of worry continuously being dolled his way.
"If mom or dad find out, User... I'm worried," Penny whimpered as she tucked her beautiful, dusty blonde hair behind her ears.
"This is the nature of this beast," Gideon cautioned, he shook his head and looked down to his hands, "We're about to see everyone's true colors, you guys... Family dynamics are about to shift radically. I'm begging you two to keep your heads, I'm begging."
"We will," Wren urged sorrowfully, and though him and Penny were feuding, they both peered to each other in a renewed sense of urgency.
"We all have to stick together, and you two are the most important two people to Callum, in this whole mess, outside of your parents," Gideon begged in forlorn tenderness, a vibe that Wren and Penny eagerly adhered to, "I am happy to teach anyone, but the give and take has to be mutual, on both ends... It has to be a perfect divvying of it. Clearly not impossible to achieve, and, if I could be so brave to wonder... Lash is certainly going to be next, I can sense that."
"So it can truly be anyone," Penny muttered in a snotty tone, to which Gideon shook his head at Penny and challenged her.
"Penny, your words are bratty and are only hindering us," Gideon snipped, Penny stiffened in the shock of being humbled and called out, "All of us are here to put the pieces back together, let's begin to think positively about one another, okay?"
"I-I'm sorry, I just..." Penny sorrowfully trailed off, to which Gideon squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"Rephrase what you just said, insinuating Lash to be the last person you could see being guided by enlightened wisdom," Gideon rushed.
"... Lash has been through a lot more than we would ever know," Penny rephrased in a swing of mumbling, apologetic humility, to which Gideon nodded.
"Lash has suffered a very large, harrowing deal of loss throughout his life," Gideon's deep voice sweetly defended his best friend, a man he was very swiftly adopting into a full embrace of matured, elite brotherhood, a hug of platonic soulmates Gideon could feel beginning to rush upon them, "Lash is incredibly, ferociously protective of the people he loves because... He's been put in one-too-many a situation where it was all ripped away from him."
Wren sighed through his nose in apologetic grief and looked down to his fingers in mild regret.
"We all have our demons to face, some of us are in a braver mindset than others, and that's okay," Gideon shrugged, "We're all rapidly upgrading together... We would be wise to be on Lash's good side prior to him reaching for unlimited power, dontcha think?"
"He wouldn't," Wren guffawed, once more, to which Gideon looked down and widened his eyes in dreaded musing.
"Oh, he would," Gideon concluded, a deafening conclusion that had Wren and Penny urgently shutting their mouths. Gideon bobbed a nod and felt the urge to yawn hit him, "C'mon... Let's regroup, let's hug it out. We're all on each other's team, okay?"
"I'm sorry, Penny," Wren hummed nervously, Penny grimaced a small cry and bobbed a nod as they closed in for a much-needed hug.
"Me too," Penny squeaked, and as the two collided with a grapple of teary hums of bittersweet sorrow, Gideon gave them a few moments before he, too, joined in on the hug.
"This is gunna fucking suck," Gideon muttered, which caused Wren and Penny to erupt into teary laughter.
"We got your back," Wren affirmed, his voice was nasally and tired.