Reviews :
Snake557 : Yeah, Zed likes to go dad mode when it comes to Berri - she's his princess, he's very protective of her :)
Burgie : YAY CONGRATS! You're my 300th reviewer! THANK YOU! :D And, you're definitely on to something ;)
Jay Sketchin : LOL I'm sorryyyyyy to say that this chapter will probably make you sad again xD
*Chapter 76*
In the warmth of her mother's and father's home, Berri sat lightly slouched at the kitchen island. Although the afternoon's sun cut a ray of warmth into the massive sprawl of Tessa's and Zed's main room, living room and kitchen, Berri still felt as if she was underneath a dark cloud. Her sunken, aimless eyes glossed Tessa's gorgeous marble counters, the gentle drum of Zed's, Rancis's and Ace's masculine voices, off in the dining area of the room, droned on in a patter of concern. Zed paced in a slow mosey of tight rigidness as he hovered on an unending phone call, while Ace and Rancis poked about in a few code room details on Zed's main digital pad. Although Libby so lovingly stood hovered at Berri's side and meticulously braided Berri's long, gorgeous hair, whilst Tessa had Berri hooked up to a few gentle leads, Berri still felt alone, even surrounded by love and care.
With digital leads attached to Berri's left wrist, the left side of her jugular and the slope of her upper chest, over her heart, Tessa patiently scanned through a few options on her own sprawl of digital code room holograms. The pressing issue of Berri's peculiar stress lines, on her temples, was something of concern, and although Tessa was familiar with these markings, due to her burns on her own temples, she was stumped as to why Berri's weren't simply burns, but a physical, moving display of circuit stress, as if maybe the stress could potentially get so bad that they would eventually become burns; something Tessa certainly didn't want for any of her children. After maybe twenty minutes of picking through Berri's coding and mainframe, with meticulous focus, Tessa heaved an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
"For User's sakes," Tessa breathed as she shook her head; Libby perked up and volleyed her gaze from the little blue braids, of Berri's hair, and straight to Tessa's holographic chore. Tessa thumbed through a few tiers of Berri's coding, it gingerly pulsed in flares of marbleized silvers, alongside the gentle drum of Berri's heartbeat, "This is so bizarre... I guess... I never really took into account that your coding can sort of become overload with stress. I can see overloaded with anger, or happiness, but... Stress, a lasting and seemingly dormant emotion... I never even considered it."
"Maybe it'll subside?" Libby's gentle voice wondered in her sweet accent, she shrugged and gave Berri her concerned eyes, though Berri's dead gaze was aimless and in one spot across the kitchen island, "Maybe, like... Once the trauma of it all dies down."
"Could be," Tessa shrugged and furrowed her brows, "I'm seeing here that there's a small stressor point, in Berri's jugular, here, that's beginning to swell. See here?"
"Yeah, I do," Libby prod nervously, and it was here did Berri remain frozen except the lazy drag of her eyes to the display her mom held out before the two girls.
"It's almost like... This ring of a circuit 'artery' is swollen," Tessa urged nervously, "I think that's what's causing the stress lines, cause it could potentially just be an overload, but..."
"You think either Ace or I could do anything to alleviate this?" Libby wondered; although both her and Ace, as well as their two children, were demi-gods in this world, they still fumbled with the incredible powers they wielded; the typical notion of anything outside of an adrenaline rush was a mystery to all of them.
"I think you guys may be able to soothe her circuits, via an exterior swap, but," Tessa shrugged as her eyes remained glossed to her work, and it was here did Berri's gaze sag back to the dull, aimless stare she was previously comfortable in, "It's really something any of us glitchers can do, for her. It would put a band-aid on the problem, but... There'd still be a gaping wound underneath it."
"...What should we do?" Libby tenderly worried, Zed's deep voice escalated a little as he grew stern with the person he was talking to, on the phone, about Berri's situation.
"Well, I may have to consult Turbo, now that I'm really thinking about it," Tessa mumbled, though she could see Berri's aimless eyesight very quickly come back to Arcade and dart about the broad of the island in tender revival, "If there's any person on this planet that knows the real ins and outs of glitching, and circuitry as a whole, it's Turbo."
"...Wait, why Turbo?" Berri prod in whole confusion, knowing full well he was not a glitch, though it was here did Tessa and Libby suddenly fall silent in a gentle wave of dread.
Tessa froze, raised her eyebrows in pin-prickled surprise and now slowly lofted her nervous, anticipatory gaze to Libby's, who equally grit her teeth and wondered just where her and Tessa went from here. In Berri's innocent question, and bashful revival, Tessa inhaled a shaky breath and was now well aware that Turbo maybe hadn't told Berri just who his previous swap mate was, and the raw fact that he was stuck with glitching and code room powers for the last thirty years. Although Tessa had nervously glanced her now wavering gaze into Berri's becoming-stern eyes, she hovered tight to Libby's equally as worrisome gaze and now began to shrug her shoulders in a roll of entire uncertainty.
"Ho, man, wh-where do I... I-I mean, Libs, do you want to, uh... Well..." Tessa nervously staggered on her words, as Libby nervously shook her head and huffed an anxious chuckle, "You wanna do the honors?"
"M-Mom, I... Well... I guess I can, it's just a little..." Libby staggered with a sheepish, nervous smile and a shrug, "Little awkward."
"Okay, am I the bush in this situation? Stop beating around me, OUT with it," Berri demanded, causing the stress lines on her temples to flare in a show of brightened silver circuits; Tessa winced and lovingly held her hand to Berri's shoulder.
"I'm going to assume Turbo has never told you that he previously had a swap mate, all those years ago, did he?" Tessa tip-toed, though with the way Berri's eyes widened and now bashfully stabbed into Tessa's, she assumed maybe Turbo hadn't have gotten that far.
"N-No? What?" Berri huffed in a shaky, almost giggling tone of disbelief, "H-He told me he previously had a girlfriend. He had a whole swap-mate? I-Is red not his original coding color? Where is this chick, anyways?"
Libby sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, froze and raised her eyebrows in a cute show of unmitigated terror. Tessa raised her eyebrows in nervousness, lofted her gaze to Libby, held her breath and knew this was all just going to spill out, without any one of them able to conduct this in a proper, graceful manner. Berri's eyes remained stabbed to Tessa's, though with the silence between both girls, Berri felt further dread and shock hit her skin. In a slow sag of realization, she dragged her molten gaze to her right and sunk her nearly authoritative gaze into Libby's smiling, sheepish, wavering orbs. Libby huffed a bashful chuckle, scrunched her shoulders, cleared her throat, anxiously tucked her hair behind her ears and gave Berri an entirely uncertain smile.
"U-Uh... Well at least I'm not just some rando," Libby chimed in trembling, smiling girliness with a shrug, though Berri narrowed her eyes in disbelief and shook her head.
"Y-YOU'RE Turbo's previous swap mate?!" Berri stabbed, which cued the attention of all three men across the way, in lingering, nervous peers of concern; Tessa gently grabbed Berri's shoulder and knew to interject.
"You remember me telling you that Libby's coding was dug into your father's memory coding, before you and Ace were born? Where Radex dug his own mess of coding in, to have Zed seek me out? Radex being the combination of Lash and Turbo," Tessa quickly went over, though Berri huffed a long noise of disbelief and now stabbed her gaze into Tessa's.
"Yeah, and Libby was manifested from Dead Zed's reset when you guys were outside of the Arcade," Berri pressed, Tessa bobbed a nod and quickly carried on.
"Kaji is a brand new person with the combination of Libby Swirlzs' old coding, and Turbo's. Libby Swirlz was Turbo's girlfriend, she was the Queen of Sweet Streets, Sugar Rush's demo game. Kaji is an entirely different person, in an entirely different life... She just has those memories of her and Turbo, from so long ago," Tessa explained gently, to which Libby began to feel bad for all of this being unloaded onto Berri in her time of need.
"I-I'm very much happy with Ace, and I reversed Turbo's coding," Libby nodded, "He was ecstatic to know that I was alive, because, well... He was trapped with Libby's coding due to Sweet Streets being unplugged."
"Hence why him and Lash ran away with power, why Turbo became so weak, why they teamed up and wreaked havoc on everything and everyone," Tessa furrowed her brows and gave Berri an apologetic look, "I could've sworn I told you all of this, Bear..."
"You conveniently left out the part where Turbo had a whole-ass swap mate, mom, thanks," Berri darkly muttered in now embarrassed dismay, her heart raced with fluttering uncertainty.
"Sorry, baby... I guess I just thought Turbo would've told you, but," Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and knew now that Turbo likely wasn't telling her due to it being mildly irrelevant for their impending relations' sake, "Turbo and Libby are not together, or anything. Libby reversed his coding and they're just friends."
"I'm not even the same person that Turbo previously was in a relationship with... I'm an entirely new person, I just have some of our old memories, is all. I don't even remember the last time Turbo and I talked, to be honest," Libby quickly explained, and although Berri seemed to be upset by all of this, she finally seemed to calm about it, "We've even discussed it, before. After a day or two, of being with me, he very bluntly told me that I was not his type any longer. Cause I'm Kajiksana... Not Libby Swirlz, the girl he previously liked."
"Well, that and Ace would've kicked his ass," Tessa blurt a small laugh as Ace finally moseyed over, after hearing the words 'Turbo' and 'swapmate' one too many times.
"I mean yeah, after he made out with you upon first seeing you," Ace choked, though both Libby and Tessa bugged their eyes at him and grit their teeth, to physically tell him to shut up; though they sagged in annoyance as Berri grew angrier.
"He made out with you?" Berri argued, to which Libby now shot Ace an urgently annoyed glower; Ace froze and shrugged, as if he was uncertain now what he should and shouldn't say.
"I-It was the first time he saw me, after thirty years of thinking I was dead," Libby gently defended, "He just ACTED. He didn't know I was a different person, and had a swap mate of my own."
"Berri, I mean, imagine having a swap mate game over permanently, only to be stuck with their coding for thirty long agonizing years, and then one day, you stumble upon your swap mate, alive and well. You can't tell me you wouldn't rush them and want to give them a hug and a kiss," Ace gently defended, and with Ace's soft disposition, Berri finally sagged at his wise words and looked off in blushing horror.
"I reversed his coding right then and there," Libby sighed, she looked down in guilt that still lingered, to this day, "Probably shouldn't have done it without asking him first, but..."
"He's a much better man, now, because of it. He was just sapped in old coding, without a revival... Pretty brutal, thirty years?" Ace hissed in sorrow and dismay; this had Berri further sagging in understanding.
"We talked it out, and he's much happier with his original coding, obviously," Libby assured to Berri in warmth and sweetness, she was thrilled that Berri let her continue playing with her hair, "His mind is entirely clear, and now he's ready to live out his normal life and make new decisions, with clear and unclouded thoughts."
"Don't be upset, Bear, I'm sorry that sort of was dumped on you," Tessa encouraged gently, she began to take Berri off of the digital leads, still knowing that Turbo was likely the man for this job.
"It's okay," Berri eased in defeat, the wad of information lobbed her way, she knew that everyone had solid points, and Libby was happily married with children, with Berri's big brother, though she still felt a strange sting; the sheer amount of experience Turbo now held over Berri was both frustrating and delighting, all in one go, all information that Berri was uncertain could even fit in her brain of jumbled thoughts, right now.
As Zed and Rancis slowly began to come back to the group, amidst their own concerned chatter about Zed's previous phone call, the teleportation pad, just down the hall, gently hummed with life. Berri sagged her face into her hands, heaved a trembling sigh, tried her hardest to recoil from everything her mind was just saturated with and lulled her now teary eyes shut. As she could hear Wren and Theo urgently file in, she kept her eyes closed and was thrilled to hear them quickly shuffle to Berri's aid. Without words, Libby and Tessa kindly eased out of Wren's and Theo's way, and with a swoop, both men urgently piled into Berri's bubble and grappled her into a mess of a group hug. Berri shut her eyes tight and allowed herself to burrow into Wren's chest, as well as the sag of Theo's other arm. All three sat in a tight embrace, neither Wren nor Theo having been able to see Berri, after this whole fiasco, up until now.
"I'm glad you're safe, we were so worried about you, all day," Wren's serious voice grumbled into the top of Berri's head, and it was here did she grimace a small, silent cry into Wren's chest and grapple her lightly trembling arms about his middle.
"Everyone was," Theo added in nervous assurance, and because his arms were bigger, he held Wren and Berri in the group hug, the strength of it all.
"Were you at least able to get some sleep?" Wren pressed as he finally peeled from Berri, cupped her jaws in his hands and peered down to her in a sweep of brotherly care; she bashfully peered up to him, amidst tears, and nodded.
"Yeah, her father locked her away in the highest tower of Orion City," Tessa muttered with a cheeky smile; although Berri was unaware of it, Turbo had followed Wren and Theo inside. Tessa inhaled a deep breath and watched as Turbo slowly filed into the kitchen, sagged his palms to the counter and bobbed a nod of a greeting to Zed and Rancis, across the way. Tessa peeked a cute smile and narrowed her gaze on Turbo's figure, "Probably one of the safest places in this whole game."
"... Turbo's?" Wren blurt a small chuckle and peered to his older cousin with a cheeky smile, and although Berri still hadn't noticed Turbo's presence, Turbo finally breathed a chuckle and shook his head, alongside a knowing smirk.
"The only reason it's so safe is because no one knows I'm there," Turbo volleyed, which had Berri's eyes darting to his in whole surprise. Turbo raised his eyebrows in pin-prickled cuteness and gave her a loving smile as her surprised, teary eyes hooked tight to his in delightful shock, "Y'doing okay, Blue?"
"...Y-yeah, I'll live," Berri mumbled bashfully, she looked down to her hands and was successful in holding back a smile.
"You think you have the energy to come back to Academy tomorrow, with us?" Theo tenderly wondered, to which Wren shrugged and bobbed a nod.
"I mean, if not, we can bring your homework home," Wren assured, to which Turbo bobbed a nod of gentle agreeing.
"Certainly her teachers understand," Turbo eased, though with the rush of sneakily seeing Berri try and force back a smile, due to his presence, he wondered if he could push the envelope. He huffed a chuckle and knew a certain inside joke, of theirs, would likely do just the trick, "They're not going to bombard you with papers whilst you're at your worst and be like... HERE AND NOW."
A joke that went over everyone's heads, Berri immediately caved and blurt a hard, sudden laugh of whole entire delight. Through the narrow of her grinning eyes, she easily lofted Turbo a whole smile as they both continued to laugh at his outburst. She urgently shook her head and began to wipe her previous tears of sadness, and it was here did everyone very eagerly watch the two cutely interact.
"Don't even," Berri blurt through shaky giggling as she continued to dry her cheeks, though Turbo's smile only broadened with hers.
"You know, yourself, that's how you get to the source of things," Turbo volleyed, to which Berri rolled her eyes and continued to prod at her face for more tears to dry.
"What happened?" Wren blurt an unsure chuckle, as did everyone else, as if they were now eager to understand just what suddenly had Berri in a state of smiling, after nearly fourteen hours of a dreadful, moping sag.
"Oh, when... Berri and I first were friends, I told her that if she wanted to know my past, she can name a time and place, and I'd tell her," Turbo breathed a chuckle and gestured to Berri, "She arrived on my doorstep, the next day, unannounced, and was like, 'here and now'... I was like, wow, she calls the shots."
"She's her mother's daughter," Zed muttered from across the way, a gentle interjection from his and Rancis's still serious conversing; everyone now blurt into laughter as Tessa gaped in playful annoyance.
"Peel away from your angry phone call long enough to try me," Tessa barked, everyone now was in stitches, and it was this roll of laughter that had Berri now smiling down to her hands, on the kitchen island; although Turbo was still painfully shy around others, his golden eyes glossed the group in a sweep of rushing confidence, something he was certain stemmed from itching to just see Berri happy.
"Y'know, I saw someone that looked JUST like you, on the news, a few hours ago," Turbo stated in clear, unwavering kindness, and as everyone gently settled and peered their curious gazes to Turbo, Berri raised her eyebrows in softness and peered her gaze tight to his. Although she was just lofted a whole entire world of information, about Turbo, and she wanted to maybe hold on to bitter, frustrated feelings, she couldn't help but soften at the sweet narrow of his kind gaze, something that grew warmer with each day, "I mean, damn, she looked like she could be the winner of Game Over, or something."
"Really, though, how do you bounce around a train car and not touch that huge, crazy creature ONCE?" Wren ogled in support, and with the drum of said very news, in the background, everyone eagerly peered to Berri in loving support, "It was like... A five minute video, and not once did either of you touch one another..."
"Mad skill, Bear," Theo agreed, the depth of his voice held stoic, genuine impress.
"Quick thinking, too, with the train door," Libby encouraged with a loving nod, and it was here, in the surround of everyone that she loved, did she feel happiness finally come back to her circuits.
"I wouldn't have even thought of that," Turbo mumbled in sweet humility.
"I don't think I would have, either," Zed finally stated as he pressed into the group, once and for all, having finally come off of a pressing phone call. He peered to Berri in tenderness, knowing, full well, that they both ended on a rather rocky note, due to Zed being upset. He huffed a hot sigh, through his nose, as Berri nervously stared him down. He shook his head and gave Berri a cheeky smile, one that mocked Berri's smile to a T, "Don't even give me that look, your highness, you know that what you did was both incredibly amazing and incredibly stupid, at the same time."
"I understand," Berri huffed in hot annoyance as she shook her head and looked off, she dared to glance to Turbo, though in doing so, she felt her stomach clench at the thoughts that continued to plague her.
He peered back at her in innocent charm, not knowing that Libby, not five minutes ago, just spoiled that her and Turbo were previously swap mates. As much as Berri desperately wanted to bounce back and peer to Turbo for camaraderie, she couldn't get the image of it all out of her head, something that made her feel a very real and strange amount of whole jealousy. She finally sagged her innocent peer, into Turbo's eyes, into an almost dejected look of mild irritation, something that Turbo immediately cued to by raising his eyebrows in poised surprise. Berri knew this was now a weird, convoluted little game of hide and seek, the both of them were now thrusted in, though she had to wonder if maybe Turbo felt this same way and was just potentially good at hiding it, due to her sneaking out and wanting to be with Gunner. Although the benefit of the doubt was given, she furrowed her eyebrows, looked down and then pushed the envelope and further wondered if maybe Turbo was acting so cheery and normal because maybe he truly didn't have a shred of jealousy, towards the situation; something that quickly made her feel confused.
"I will thank User, every single day, that your mother gave you all those glitching lessons," Zed mumbled as he neared Berri, and although her annoyed look very slowly began to sag into whole irritation, she softened once Zed hugged his arm about her shoulders and placed a few firm kisses into the top of her head.
"You're welcome," Both Ace and Libby mumbled in teasing, something they playfully cued to anytime someone said 'thank User'.
Everyone blurt into gently laughter, though as Berri sagged into Zed's fatherly presence and soaked in all of his loving, conclusive words to her, Turbo honed his eyes tight to Berri's disposition and felt a weird wave of confusion fall over him. He knew the two had just endured a very lovely morning full of cuddling, and although he wondered if maybe it was as wonderful and romantic as he hoped it'd be, he now felt as if his feet was standing in quick sand, and maybe she viewed it as something strictly platonic. His heart ached in confusion, the bottom line of her sneaking out to be with Gunner was why she was in this whole mess, the glaring fact that she would do something so bold to be with Gunner, had Turbo wondering if he should maybe take a step back and go against Rancis's wise words. He faltered, knowing full well that he should definitely persist in reaching for his desires, though he heaved a long, hot sigh through his nose and now was deeply understanding just how long and winding this road would truly be.
