A/N : Thanks for all of the love and support you guys! Due to popular demand, I have started posting Chasing Sundogs to AO3 as well! I will be embedding my artwork into each chapter (if there is artwork for said chapter, though I may go back and make some simple doodles/sketches just to throw in for fun...) The -whole- saga will eventually be posted to AO3, but it's such a massive undertaking. For now, the first 5 books will live solely on FF, but the next 4 books, moving forward, will be posted to FF as well as AO3. So, if you want to keep reading with the insert of all my artwork, go ahead and migrate there! Chapters will go live both places at the same time, though FF is my priority and will get chapters first and foremost.


Reviews :

chuckiboo : I'm absolutely floored that you're my first reviewer! Thank you so so so much for sticking with me :D And for the insanely high praise, seriously! I have a few things in the works, pertaining to the Saga... Whatever is to come of it, you guys will obviously know about it eventually ;)

Lea Kariya : Thank you so much for your questions! To answer- 1: No, no one is immortal, not even Gideon or Ace. You will learn more about Users and their place in the internet/game space closer to chapter 10! and for your 2nd question, well your review was the final push I needed to get on over there. I've had so many people tell me for years to do it and I was too stubborn, but I've made it now. So, thank you!

Firesong-Writes : HI! YAY I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE HERE! Thank you so so so much, seriously this means the world to me! I'm really grateful for the love towards Rancis, honestly. Rancis's and Callum's tale is more focused on in the 7th book, but Wren and Rancis have a SOLID amount of character conflict and character building through a lot of this story. I like keeping Rancis close, I don't write for him often any longer, but I've always had a massive soft spot for him. He's involved in my next Cypher Swap chapter haha. Anyways, I appreciate it a lot, friend. And, good luck on all your ventures as well!

Snake557 : Hey friend! So happy to see you join along as well, I'm so glad all my friends have made the jump as well :D And, thank you! This 2 day a week thing seems good for now. Who knows what the turn of the year will hold, we'll see!


Song Listened To :

The River by AURORA


*Chapter 2*

In the gentle clack and lock of the lighthouse's turquoise front door, Kepa and Gideon delicately and silently stepped inside of it for the first time in two years and fourteen hours. Gideon looked about in a prickle of almost smiling confusion, it was the same, curious smirk Kepa donned as well. As the two ever so slowly pressed into the still, tidy common room, Kepa's clawless fingers cutely slipped past the front foyer's catchall table, the railings of their stairwell, the wall that lead into their spire, Gideon did the same thing about the kitchen a little before the two found themselves inside the lighthouse's spire, once and for all. Gideon furrowed his brow in a bewildered show of cheeky disbelief, and for the first time all day, for the first time since they were last here all by themselves, swap impending, the two hovered in a moment of silent, smiling understanding. It was only here did a sense of true, gifted celebration finally kiss their near-perfect coding.

"We did it," Gideon so gently whispered, Kepa's grin broadened as she huffed a cute giggle. Gideon choked a laugh, grappled his hair, bent his knees a little and looked off in continued disbelief, "I can't believe we did it."

"We're Users," Kepa returned the enchanted whisper and cupped her hands to her chest in a girly scrunch of excitement.

"Not just any Users," Gideon's deep voice pressed down into her face as he closed in, Kepa grinned in a flutter of her beautiful eyes, and as she eagerly draped her arms about Gideon's thick neck, she hummed a lilt of a girly giggle into Gideon's face as the two met for a melt of a romantic kiss. Gideon sucked in a thick breath through his nose and eagerly allowed his hands and arms to find Kepa's smaller waist, he wasted no time lugging her body into his, and as the two stirred with the small smack of a release, Gideon kept his eyes shut and fervently kept Kepa so carefully and hugely swallowed in his eternally protective, swaying embrace, "I don't even think that was the plan. I didn't think we'd come out of that lucid swap with... THIS."

"Me neither," Kepa whispered on Gideon's mouth with a smile and shaky huff of elated relief, "I'm so... So madly in love with you. I can't believe it."

"And I for you," Gideon mused in a full swathe of romantic cheek, he cutely brushed Kepa's white, choppy hair out from her forehead as the two remained cleanly woven and embraced. Gideon gently rested his tail in a delicate curl about Kepa's ankles, to which she eagerly wove her tail about his in an equal exchange, her's being a bit more flexible. Gideon pressed their foreheads together and tenderly continued to unload his heart onto her, "I think we both know what's coming... We both know what adventure is next for us."

Kepa hovered over Gideon's mouth and felt her brain eagerly grapple for a few options Gideon was getting at. None of which involved the spaces they no longer fit, none of which involved marinating in places that had concluded their task of serving full purpose. Kepa felt fear wiggle down her spine, how badly she wanted to shush Gideon's ideas and make clear they were in no shape to be taking risks and bending out of the ordinary, though with the way the coding on the grapple of his inner arms suddenly flared with their intense, gorgeous rainbow coding, Kepa faltered a breath on his mouth and squeezed tighter into his body. He darkly gave her a smirk of cheeky, knowing cuteness, he knew he was her weakness, he knew they couldn't possibly say no to each other.

"We can't live on the internet, Gideon," Kepa worried, a half hearted attempt at getting Gideon to agree to her side of things, Gideon lulled his eyes closed and shook his head.

"Look about the lighthouse, Kepa, what... What exactly do you notice about it?" Gideon wondered, and though the two stayed embraced and coiled, they stood to normality. Gideon and Kepa looked about, they had a clear vantage point of the common room. Gideon patiently waited for Kepa to come to the conclusion, and once she did, she heaved a long, hot sigh through her nose, sagged into his arms a bit deeper and donned a look of nostalgic yearning, a nervous look of mild dread. Gideon tilted his head and readjusted his arms about her lower back in a snug jostle, "Tell me, baby."

"It's tiny," Kepa mumbled in dread, Gideon lulled his eyes closed and bobbed a nod.

"We have wildly outgrown this magnificent place..." Gideon's deep voice shushed, Kepa sighed into his chest and felt tears sting her eyes.

"I-I don't want to leave it, Gideon, m-my parents are here, my..." Kepa staggered to carry on, she faltered and knew her argument was empty and due to being thwarted by the beast she was in cahoots with.

"...Sister is on the internet," Gideon completed her statement, as tenderly as he could. Kepa allowed her eyes to slowly shut in the seal of tears that cascaded down her cheeks. Gideon shook his head and cutely cupped Kepa's adorable face, "Hey... Guess what."

"What," Kepa whimpered sweetly.

"We just so happen to have User powers, where making duplicates of things is a possibility," Gideon pressed, Kepa looked confused.

"What are you getting at?" Kepa wondered, the two slowly unhanded each other and took a step or two away in the act of normal conversing.

"Let's... Pretend we go scouting for The Sundog," Gideon shrugged and looked up in considering his own words, "Lets pretend that we find it. Let's then... Pretend that we get the band settled in some place, and, well..."

"...We join them?" Kepa whispered, it was here did she finally show tepidness for this situation, her eyes dart about Gideon's collarbones in searching anticipation.

"We join them, bring the lighthouse spire, build our own palace," Gideon tenderly whispered back to her, secrets for the raw artists and creators inside of them, Gideon beamed an excited smile and waggled his fingers, "We, my love... Can manifest practically anything."

"... What about my parents?" Kepa wondered nervously, Gideon rolled his eyes and beamed.

"You know how we get them to immediately agree to come with us?" Gideon barked gently with an incredulous, annoyed laugh, "We threaten having their grandchildren while we're away."

Kepa snapped her jaw shut and was immediately thwarted; Gideon erupted into happy laughter as Kepa beamed a bashful smile and looked down to her fingers.

"Yeah, my mom wouldn't even get my dad's opinion, she wouldn't even allow those words to come out of your mouth. No kittens would be allowed to go without their grandmother Elkuorra," Kepa murmured sweetly, to which Gideon grunted and lifted her into a spin of an embrace. She erupted into a giggle fit and held on tight to Gideon's arms as he twirled her twice and set her back down, "W-We're really... REALLY gunna go with the band?"

"Why the hell not?" Gideon wondered, his smile was insatiable, Kepa's twinkling eyes peered up into his, the two were like two dying stars colliding in on each other in the form of rebirth, repurpose, Gideon shushed his tone even more and leaned deeper into her face for teasing emphasis, "They're gunna need us anyways..."

"What about Lash and Mara?" Kepa worried, though before Gideon could come up with other notions to answer Kepa's question, the phone in her pocket began to rang. The two loosened, to which Kepa pulled her phone out of her pant's pocket and looked at the caller ID; it was Mara. She furrowed her eyebrows and shot Gideon a bewildered look, "Speak of the devil..."

"Odd, she okay?" Gideon mumbled, he put his hands on his hips as Kepa answered the phone.

"Hey," Kepa cooed as she tucked her phone to her ear, the two slowly began to mosey back into the warmly lit lighthouse's common room.

"Hey, sorry, I know that we're all trying to like pair off and get sleep, but... I have a really obnoxious ask," Mara murmured into her phone, Kepa sagged a little and was entirely relieved that none of the people immediately close to Kepa and Gideon were giving them special treatment, she was floored that their relationships carried on effortlessly.

"Sure, is everything okay? Gideon and I are still awake, we're just discussing some stuff downstairs," Kepa stated as she reached the kitchen island, though Mara continued on her sentiment in a whisper into her phone, as if to keep this notion away from whoever she was physically with.

"Look, Lash is WAY too proud to text Gideon and tell him that he needs to unload, I think both boys need a heart to heart before bed," Mara whispered, Kepa brightened in girly scheming and stabbed her eyes into Gideon's; he shrugged and looked confused as to why she was suddenly giving him this odd, taunting little smile.

"Oh, agreed," Kepa hurried to assure, she nodded and looked off to the stove clock, "We're awake, you two can come over now if you'd like."

Gideon sharply furrowed his eyebrows in full confusion, though before Kepa could even suggest to Mara that teleporting themselves straight to the lighthouse's common room was an option, it wildly unfurled before the two. Mara and Lash's coral-colored coding burst into the room, near the patio's back doors, though Lash looked discombobulated, due to his back being turned. In a confused whirl, Lash turned around and was greet by Gideon's confused grin, though said grin swiped in a show of unmitigated shock the second he realized just what was going on. Never in his life did Gideon know what it meant for Lash to truly be devastated and sorrowful to the point of his eyes glowing a prominent dark blue. His face was soaked in tears, he looked as if he had been unloading to Mara, and due to the look of sheepish apology on Mara's face, Gideon clutched his chest and gave Lash a look of full, nervous apology.

"Allllright, Dubs, go ahead and tell Gideon everything you just told me," Mara soothed to Lash lovingly, Kepa now bugged her eyes and looked as if she should be popping popcorn.

"Is everything okay?" Gideon stabbed in a spike of apprehension, though Lash squeezed his eyes shut and wildly flagged his hand in full annoyance; he was dressed down for the night, sweats and a baggy black t-shirt with a hole-ridden collar line.

"NO! It's not!" Lash tearfully barked, he shook his head and fervently peered into Gideon's scared eyes, "I'm having to grieve the death of my best friend!"

"... Lash, what do you mean? I'm RIGHT here," Gideon cooed, he held his big hands open and gestured outwards in defeat, Lash shook his head and firmly looked off.

"My best friend was this misunderstood guy that was constantly punching up, he was in constant need of camaraderie, he leaned in hard to those that he loved," Lash staggered, it was wild to Gideon just how hard Lash's cry-hiccups were getting to him.

"Lash," Gideon hushed sorrowfully, slowly, he sagged his arms to his sides and gave Lash the most earnest look of forlorn understanding.

"And now you're..." Lash messily gestured to Gideon, sucked in a huge breath, shook his head and firmly began to paw at his face in full agitation that he was coming wildly unglued in front of everyone.

"A User? A User of Users?" Gideon garbled with a choke of a guffawing laugh, he squeezed his eyes shut and beamed, "Lash, I'm still me, I still need you."

"That's..." Lash started weakly, he exhaled a long, trembling breath through his wet mouth and looked down to his twiddling grey fingers; it was here did Gideon suddenly feel the punch to the gut he had just lofted out into the air.

"...Say it," Mara whispered excitedly as Kepa equally hunched and held her hands to the side of her head, both girls looked on in bated wait.

"God dammit," Gideon muttered weakly as he firmly looked off and up, he aggressively blinked back tears and eventually succumbed to cupping his forehead and grunting a broken notion of frustration.

"I don't care wherever the hell you go, I'm going with you!" Lash stabbed firmly as he tearfully crumpled and pointed down to the ground in a firm swing of adamancy.

"Well, good, we were actually just discussing it," Gideon croaked, he cleared his throat and urgently wiped tears from his eyes, though as Lash sucked in a trembling breath and desperately tried to contain himself, Gideon sagged his shoulders and now understood that all of this reserving was becoming useless. In the sanctity of their lovely lighthouse, the beam of hope that started it all, Gideon furrowed his eyebrows in a prickle of a teary grimace and firmly looked off, "Y'know, I know I have Oliver and you have your own brothers..."

"Don't," Lash stabbed as his lovely blue eyes urgently glossed the tiling at their feet. Lash squeezed his eyes shut and frustratedly gestured his hand for Gideon to stop talking, "Y-you..."

"But, you're my favorite," Gideon concluded with a squeak; Kepa and Mara suddenly erupted into happy giggling as Gideon shook his head, looked down and grunted a teary, beaming, frustrated stab down to his big bare feet, "Why! Why did you come over! This is torture!"

"This WASN'T my idea!" Lash shouted in teary frustration, he began to fan his chest by grappling his shirt and jostling it over his torso in aggressive, tight little yanks, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier, you just have to understand... I had to endure Callum slicing your arm and almost killing you, I had to endure hearing him stealing you away so you could go get drugged up and be dick faces inside Cyclone City, with FLINT of all people!"

Gideon bobbed a nod and rubbed his nose, although tears streamed his cheeks, he stopped attempting to keep it all together as Lash messily carried on.

"You abandoned us, you endured Game Over, you came home, a-and I had to sit and endure the product of that WITH you!" Lash fervently gestured his hands outwards, "Just because I wasn't the one going through all that code cycling doesn't mean my coding wasn't locked onto yours, that I wasn't getting a CLEAR reading on the sheer torture my little brother went through..."

Gideon nodded once more and finally braved his eye contact into Lash's. Although Lash's eyes were still a very prominent blue, they twinkled in narrowed, sorrowful, bittersweet enchantment.

"You conquered everything and... Came out the other end of it this... This..." Lash staggered on his own cries and squeezed his eyes shut, "Winner."

Gideon scoffed a trembling little chuckle of guffawing down to his feet and shook his head. He furrowed his brow in teary, smiling cuteness and finally gave Lash a scheming little side-eye.

"My word still stands. No matter what happens to me, I'll still need you," Gideon pressed in nasally cuteness, he could feel their impending collide upon them shortly, it was something both girls were now twinkly-eyed over, in silent anticipation, "I may be one step above, but I'm new to all of this. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, I'm pretty sure both Kepa and I are just grabbing at information as we go."

Lash nervously panted through his nose, his hands trembled, his teary eyes glossed Gideon's broad chest in patient, shivering searching and wondered what the hell was happening to him. Somehow, Gideon's upgrade, seeing Gideon succeed, seeing him rise like a phoenix from the ashes, had Lash way more emotional about it than ever anticipated. As if Gideon's full reach into success, in any form, was the only thing Lash's heart officially wanted, and with the blatant fact that even after all of this mess, Gideon still genuinely needed Lash's care, it had Lash finally taking a full, sudden few steps forward and into Gideon's bubble. In a tight glom, Gideon grunted a teary chuckle and welcomed Lash into a huge embrace. Lash furrowed his brow in a tight grimace and grunted a choke of a cry into Gideon's shoulder, and as Gideon's bigger arms gripped in a swallow about Lash's upper back, both boys silently scoffed teary breaths into each other's shoulders. The snug of the century, Kepa and Mara clutched their chests in swooning cuteness before they urgently began to loudly coo excited notions towards the two.

"Aww, you guys," Kepa droned as tears welled in her eyes, as well.

"He was telling all of that to ME," Mara firmly gestured to her chest as her and Kepa erupted into louder giggling, "I was like, this conversation isn't meant for me, this is meant for Gideon."

"I love you," Lash squeaked in a dire lilt of bittersweet tenderness, deep into Gideon's shoulder; Gideon beamed a teary grin and urgently cupped the back of Lash's head.

"I love you, too," Gideon assured as he thud the side of his head against Lash's and kept Lash tight to him, unflinchingly.

"I also hate you," Lash complained, to which Gideon choked a boyish laugh of teary warmth.

"Well, I don't blame you," Gideon mumbled in sweet defeat through a cute giggle as Kepa and Mara slowly wormed into their bubble for the hopes of a group hug.

"User, today SUCKED," Lash sharply whispered, and as Mara and Kepa slowly and quietly snugged firm into Lash's backside, amidst the gape of their arms and the snug of a proper ground hug, Gideon squeezed his eyes shut with a smile and was floored that he was the one that was able to complete this group hug with the unfurl of his beautiful, new wings.

"Yeah, so let's dive into the internet face first and make matters a million times scarier!" Mara cued excitedly up to Gideon, to which her face then sloped to full, sarcastic dread as Gideon beamed wide enough to show his terrifying fangs, deeply set in his mouth. As Gideon's big wings came fully encompassed about the three in his snuggly grip, Mara fluttered her eyes in rising show and looked at said grip of Gideon's new, beautiful appendages in shock, "I-I... I thought you were only gifted a tail!"

"Yeah, fuck-face can FLY now," Lash stabbed in a further show of brotherly irritation towards Gideon, to which they all erupted into staggers of happy laughter.

"No I can't, not yet anyways, I'm as useful as a dodo bird," Gideon mused cutely as he sagged his chin to the top of Lash's head and messy, light grey hair.

"... Y'look like one, too," Lash continued to let the brotherly teasing roll, something Gideon's smile only broadened to,

"Got two tasks on the docket, for Gideon's powers," Kepa muttered into the back of Lash's left shoulder, "Flying and... Turning to stone."

"...Noooo," Lash frustratingly groaned into Gideon's shoulder, though just as Lash was due to yanking himself from the group hug, Gideon anticipated it and only gripped his arms and wings tighter about everyone, "You can already breathe fire. You know how many pranks he's now going to pull on us?"

"On the internet, of all places," Mara muttered cutely, Gideon kept his chin tucked over Lash's head, though still bobbed an obnoxious, grinning nod.

"Y'all are in for ALL my new shenanigans," Gideon excitedly grumbled, him and Kepa caught eyes in a swing of almost devious knowing, though she rolled her eyes with a smirk and looked as if she was likely to be the one to reign Gideon in.

"Whatever, it's worth it," Lash huffed in defeat as he rested against Gideon's chest and squeezed his eyes shut, "This little shindig doesn't leave the lighthouse's common room. Deal?"

"I mean, deal, but Kepa and I were considering duplicating this lighthouse so we can have it wherever we land, so..." Gideon hurried to continue before Lash could interrupt him, "No matter where we go, the common room is gunna come with. So whoever just so happens to be IN the common room when I'm openly talking about the time you came unglued and told me you loved me-"

"I don't fucking care, tell the media, I don't care anymore," Lash hissed in grinning annoyance as he closed his teary eyes. The group roused into laughter, and with one final snug of Gideon's arms and wings, though before he could sag in final release, he gripped his arms about Gideon's torso a little tighter, "I love you guys."

"Us too?!" Mara squealed in excitement, to which Kepa now loudly erupted into full laughter; Lash scrunched his face in grinning annoyance.

"Yeah, I'll retract all of this, don't push your luck," He playfully concluded, and with the swaying, murmuring love between all four best friends, the lighthouse beams casted out in slow spins of revival, of promise that no matter where their feet lead them, no matter where they chose to rest their heads, this snug of an embrace was all that mattered.