Reviews :

Snake557 : Thank you!

chuckiboo : Thank you SO much! Yes, Theo is in desperate need of some brotherly love. Him and Turbo have a few really in-depth, brotherly chapters coming up sometime here soon :)


Song Listened To :

Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line


*Chapter 203*

"I've never been to Bedgy's home," Tatum whispered, the crew slowly filed into the outdoor, dimly lit, gorgeous sprawl of a quaint patio of Bedgy's lonely home.

Deeper into the jungles and tropical hills of EZ Living's golden coast line, Berri raised her eyebrows in dewy surprise and lofted her gaze over her shoulder. Finally realizing just how high up the hill they were, the ocean and the beach, far below, could be seen proudly boasting EZ Living's full moon in twinkling, blue fashion. Although nighttime, the board walk, pier and beach was still littered with gamers. With bar hopping and bon fires easily soaking the summery vibe well into the wee hours of the morning, Berri felt her heart surge in excitement for the fun night ahead of them. Although they'd be tailed and secretly protected by their team of security, Berri was thrilled they could at least enjoy a semi-normal night out with friends. As Berri's eyes gravitated to the invigorating, seductive, golden glow of Turbo's eyes, to Throttle's mysteriously white glow, like a moth to a flame, she furrowed her eyebrows in soft stark and allowed Tatum's simple words to tickle the back of her brain. In the swing of a sincere frown, Berri returned to her straightened positioning and peered into Tatum's lovely, darker maroon irises, twinkling underneath the blue moonlight.

"... Seriously? The year and a half you were a part of Archived Chaos?" Berri prod gently, Tatum shrugged and eased a soft giggle as Wren did everyone well by gingerly knocking his knuckles to Bedgy's beautiful, yellow, wooden front door.

"I... Just realized, her home is in the trunk of this tree," Turbo chirped in chuckling delight as he sagged his hands into his pockets, and it was with this did everyone wretch their necks and look up in cute, dizzy curiosity.

"I'll be damned," Throttle muttered with a cheeky smile, though as everyone dragged their eyes down to correction upon hearing Bedgy's door begin to clack and unlock, Tatum and Berri locked eyes in soft understanding.

"Gunner always wanted meetings at his house," Tatum muttered as she eyed Berri, "You know how it is..."

"Yeah," Berri quipped with a tight-lipped look of defeat, and although Berri and Tatum had moved beyond Gunner's facades and magical mist of smoke and mirrors, their eye contact lingered in tender understanding, as if both girls likely could sit and relate with one another for hours on end, just swapping stories and tales, resemblances and grievances; Berri almost aimlessly eyed the back of Tatum's head and stuck a pin in that gem of an idea, a therapy session both girls likely both needed.

"Y'guys made it," Bedgy's cute, lovely voice chirped as she opened her front door, a gentle few hops of a shift on her powerful talons, she looked as if she had preened every single last tiny feather on her body for the opportunity to finally have guests; it was here did Berri understand her role, here.

"We did!" Berri chimed lovingly, "Bedgy, you have such an awesome view. So peaceful."

"It really is," Turbo agreed warmly as everyone very slowly began to file in, Bedgy sprawled her wing and allowed her group of misfits inside.

"Wow, you guys got all dolled up for ME?" Bedgy pressed with a nervous giggle, though she gently swat her wing at Wren's leg as he cutely snapped her a teasing notion of disagreeing; Bedgy shook her head as Wren scrunched his shoulders and shimmied away from her swat, "Git in the house."

Although she wasn't the last in, Berri raised her eyebrows and sagged her shoulders amidst the tender glance about Bedgy's cute home. Due to Turbo's sharp observation, Berri realized that the spire of Bedgy's lovely home spanned half way up the sheer height of the tree. With branching posts and secret little nooks and lofts all littered up into the great beyond, where only flighted beings could reach, Berri cupped her hands to her chest and wistfully assessed Bedgy's mystical, enchanted little nook of a home. A cozy, dimly lit ethereal little cottage all perfectly squared away for a wise little barn owl, such as Bedgy. With house plants that lined the gorgeous green walls, the dangling bouts of trinkets and decor, the magical whimsy that catered to every single sense, Berri didn't realize she had very slowly spun in a circle whilst catering to her eyes' craving crawl of indulgence. With the drone of conversation that carried on between Turbo, Throttle, Theo, Wren and Tatum, Berri huffed a shy giggle once she realized everyone had filed into another room, and Turbo was left in the round gape with a curious smile in her direction.

"Your highness," Turbo's gentlemanly, raspy voiced drummed in tenderness as he held his hand behind his back, his lovely golden eyes peered to her in warm curiosity, a piqued sense of interest in just exactly what was going on through her head.

"O-Oh, sorry," Berri chirped with a nervous giggle, she shook her head in a flustered way, tidied her bangs and allowed her long legs and clacking heels to cross the living space she had begun to get lost in. Turbo cutely eyed her as she approached, and with a step up into the entry way Berri had escaped from, Turbo remained still and peered into her eyes with warmth and question. Berri was glad the two very easily fell into this new rhythm with each other, the openness of emotion and struggle, Berri knew to just cut right to the chase and warmly gripped her hand to Turbo's strong upper arm, "I just... Gunner strong-armed the group into having band meetings at HIS house for the entirety of our run. I just... You see how clean and cute and put together Bedgy's home is?"

"I'm positive she's been cleaning all day, excited to have guests," Turbo mumbled quietly, the rest of the group, which had now escaped to Bedgy's kitchen, cutely laughed and carried on in loud and excitable conversation in an echo of a lovely draw. Turbo cocked an eyebrow and lovingly tucked his arm and hand about the small of Berri's back, "I saw that look Tatum gave you. Gunner has a hard time relinquishing control, it seems."

"It's eye opening," Berri sighed, she was floored to feel Turbo's intuition crawl all over her like hot lava, she smiled at the feel of his warmth and followed his lead as the two began to press down the lower-ceilinged hallway and into the brightly lit kitchen.

"Let's do Bedgy a kindness and not rush outta here," Turbo assured, his deep voice was kept to a quiet drum of whispering raspiness, "I think this is rare for her."

"Oh yeah, I've never seen this intimate side of Bedgy's life," Berri whispered, the two finally eased into Bedgy's lovely little kitchen.

Although a small abode made for one small owl, it still comfortably housed guests. With a bend of a kitchen counter that eventually rounded out to an extension of an island, the gang gathered about it and kindly thanked Bedgy as she began to offer refreshments. Although not keen on losing their minds here, Bedgy still freely made clear she had a wide assortment of alcoholic beverages and bent to the excited and eager requests of each of her guests. Once everyone was situated with something yummy to sip on, Bedgy fluttered her grey wings to the head of the light wooden, glossy counter everyone was around, she eased a wide smile, wider than anything Berri had seen in a long time. Bedgy raised her glass of white wine she had specifically poured for herself and gave the group a kind gloss of appreciative eye contact.

"Alright guys, here's to last Friday," Bedgy eased a soft chuckle, to which everyone ushered knowing notions of mumbling agreeing, as if to be certain that said whole performance was riding off of a prayer, though before Bedgy could properly cheers, she raised her glass a little higher in a jostle of softness and allowed hope to flood her beautiful grey eyes, "And here's to this weekend!"

"Arcadia," Wren chimed with a hard laugh as he raised his glass, to which everyone grinned and echoed his cheers; with the gentle clink of everyone's glasses in a proper fashion of said toast, the group fell silent, once and for all, amidst the swigs of personalized deliciousness.

"Alright, I know we have a LOT to talk about, but I need to start out with the obvious," Bedgy mumbled as she sagged and sat her glass down; too short to stand with the rest of the group, her talons were confidently stood on the counter's wood at the head of the group. The feathers that crowned her forehead furrowed as she sorrowfully peered in Berri's direction, "Bear, I know it's the last thing you want to talk about, but... We need to discuss Gunner."

"Okay," Berri mumbled knowingly, she bobbed a nod and inhaled a deep breath of mild dread.

"Has he been in contact with you?" Bedgy prod softly, everyone silently peered to Berri and sipped their drinks, the quell of quiet curiosity hung in the air as Berri inhaled a trembling breath and shrugged.

"Well... We had a pretty nasty phone conversation on Saturday morning," Berri mumbled as she crossed her arms, though in the act of physically walling off, she raised her eyebrows in piqued curiosity and was delighted to feel Tatum's friendly hand ease to her lower arm in a show of quiet, sisterly support, the only other person here who could fully understand her struggle personally dealing with Gunner.

"Was anything detrimental said? I was made aware that it was just nothing but hateful fighting," Bedgy prod as cautiously and politely as she could, though Berri looked down to the counter in an aimless gloss of hurt.

"He said he was en route to suing us," Berri mumbled, and although this wasn't news to anyone, still the men in the group equally scoffed, guffawed and pressed quiet notions of entire irritation towards Gunner, "This is... All my f-"

"Don't you dare," Turbo gently pressed with a cute, wide smile and a sharp side-eye in Berri's direction, he was thrilled this halted Berri's sentence dead in its tracks, "Everyone here knows, full well, this entire thing is my fault, and I will happily own that."

"It's Turbo's fault, babe," Wren muttered with an equally as cute, sassy smile, everyone eagerly grinned in knowing understanding as Turbo bobbed a nod, looked down and pretended to look regretful.

"How can you figure any of this is your fault, Berri?" Bedgy pressed with a giggle, "You just... Existed. Turbo showed up, and sure, it was GUNNER'S fault for bailing out and leaving you guys nearly high and dry, but Turbo was the one that rattled him."

"We all had a front row seat to it," Theo mumbled cutely, Throttle nodded, "You stood there and cried. You didn't contribute, or ask Gunner to leave..."

"Hell, you even chased Gunner down and tried to convince him to come back," Throttle quickly added with a gentle gesture of his hand, Turbo hovered to Berri's presence, once more, and eyed her in cute, dominant delight.

"Don't you dare put that on yourself, don't you think on it for one more moment," Turbo's lovely voiced hissed in soft, reassuring sweetness as he tucked Berri's hair behind her left ear. Although her glassy eyes peered tight into Turbo's, a show of defeated sorrow, Turbo narrowed his golden eyes and broadened his smile, "You're the Queen of taking on every burden so that no one else struggles. This one isn't yours, love. This one's mine... And I'll own that. I'll do whatever I can to make sure the water levels out, once more."

"... That's so gentlemanly," Tatum silently pined as she smiled in Berri's direction; Theo cocked an eyebrow and honed his eyes to Turbo's figure, he shifted on his feet and now began to proverbially take notes.

"That's really nice of you, Turbo, really," Bedgy pressed with great warmth, though she heaved a soft sigh and glossed about that group, "As admirable as it is to own all of that, Turbo, I, personally, won't allow ANY of you to go at this alone. The bad news here is... Gunner has lawyers on his side and they are pursuing this."

"What?" Berri hissed in great dread, everyone peered to Bedgy in stark terror, though she flagged her wing and shrugged.

"The GOOD news is... Gunner doesn't have a leg to stand on," Bedgy pressed, "Surely, they'll dance about the legalities and do whatever they can to find loop holes into whatever happened before that final show, but what you guys have, on your side, is witnesses."

"Witnesses," Berri prod in curious nervousness, to which Bedgy nodded and gently gestured her wing to Wren, Throttle and Theo.

"Wren told me that there were at least five pairs of eyes on Turbo and Gunner, on that fated conversation before the show," Bedgy smiled knowingly, "If I'm not mistaken, not only was it Theo, Wren and Throttle... But also you, the King and Queen of Sugar Rush, your big brother and... Although he doesn't have eye sight, I know Chester was present."

"That's seven to eight witnesses," Tatum choked a giggle and covered her mouth, Throttle crossed his arms and gave Berri a proud smile.

"You know we'd stand against this," Throttle assured with a nod, to which Wren and Theo urgently cued to as well with firm nods.

"It's just a warning... He won't get past the first round of ANYTHING this silly endeavor consists of," Bedgy trailed, "It's just to spook you guys... Only issue is, you guys can't rebrand until this fizzles."

"That vacation can't come faster," Wren muttered as he rubbed his forehead and shook his head amidst the lull of his closed eyes.

"Let Gunner beat his chest and get mad," Bedgy shook her head, "He's... Dealing with a lot. I messaged him yesterday and begged him to seek some form of therapy, to soften to some extent and really understand just what this is all about. It's about a broken individual."

"Broken?" Tatum sneered in hot irritation, clearly now sifting through resurfaced bitterness alongside Berri's stance, though Bedgy flagged her wing in gentle defense.

"I know, I know... But hear me," Bedgy begged, "He's hurt every single one of you, in one form or another, and I KNOW it would seem hard to be sympathetic towards someone that has contributed to so much hurt, but... We can't fight fire with fire. Hurt people hurt people. Let him scare us with legal papers, let him think he has the high ground, let it all come to a fizzle like it WILL. Gunner's the one that abandoned the show, he hindered the contract. The only thing delivered to him was a stern talking-to. To my knowledge, Turbo didn't lay hands on him."

"I yanked his collar, a little, but I didn't physically harm him," Turbo confidently assured, to which Bedgy gestured out to everyone.

"And the witnesses say...?" Bedgy hovered.

"That's exactly what happened," Wren's tone was sharp as he was quick to defend Turbo; Turbo eased him a small smile of gratitude.

"Confirmed," Throttle chirped.

"Third," Theo added, to which Berri bobbed a nod and looked down to the counter's glossy wood.

"Don't worry... Don't allow contact with him until the case is dropped," Bedgy warned, "Anything you say can and will be held against you. If he reaches out to you, don't respond."

"So, we're just supposed to go BACK to Arcadia this weekend, as Archived Chaos, sans Gunner?" Berri pressed with a spike of nervous energy, "What of that? Gunner's a part of that contract, how the hell are we supposed to just waltz onto the stage a SECOND time?"

"It's just going to get him even MORE riled," Wren complained.

"Sans Gunner, that should be your new band name," Tatum muttered sneakily.

"This ISN'T an Archived Chaos event, although this is an encore for your guys' performances, this does not include the band's name or material," Bedgy cleared as she held the floor, "Turbo? Berri? I KNOW you have more songs up your sleeves. This is the time to let those songs shine, because it's what you'll be working with."

"... W-We have about five songs," Berri muttered softly, although she bashfully hooked eyes with Turbo, she furrowed her brow in flustered irritation and shook her head, "Even still, it's just a twenty minute concert with no brand? How... How is this even going to work?"

"That's an encore, it's not a whole entire concert," Bedgy stated confidently, "It's a continuation of what was already started... And, afterwards, we have a proper signing and meet-n-greet set up inside Arcadia Academy's massive courtyard."

"Ohh, we can see another Academy," Wren muttered with quiet excitement, to which Throttle raised his eyebrows in delirious curiosity.

"Imagine how I feel," Throttle mumbled in return.

"This is far more lackadaisical, this gives Turbo a better opportunity to get to know this lifestyle a little more," Bedgy assured warmly, to which Turbo nodded and looked off.

"Zed and I will have to get with Arcadia Academy's security team," Turbo mumbled as he fingered his strong jaw in contemplation, "Sure, safety is our top priority, but... Due to my own fears and past experiences, security isn't just a luxury I can lean into."

"It's a must, for this one," Berri sighed as she pat Turbo's upper arm, she eased a giggle as everyone cooed irritated, teasing notions towards their team's largest recluse.

"As fun as this all will be, it's still up to us to remain vigilant," Bedgy confirmed with a nod, "Whilst being protected against deleters and any other acts of mischief, we also have to be aware that Gunner COULD just show up, unannounced. And we'll have to be prepared to handle that situation as best as we can."

"Leave me out of it," Turbo only joked in a mutter of irritation as he looked off; the group erupted in laughter.

"Yeah, this time around, you won't spare him," Wren laughed, Turbo tried to conceal a grin and looked off.

"C'mon, I wouldn't," Turbo muttered.

"If you don't, I will," Tatum choked, she eyed the group in tenderness and finally felt bravery soak her, "Y'guys, I... I know I've been included thus far, but I just don't want that to end. I know I don't really ever garner good press, but... I-I'd like to join-"

"Let them try and get a bad story out of you being there," Theo dared cutely, he shot Tatum a smile of warm assurance, "You have to come with, you're a part of the band's history."

"Yeah, the lot of us will protect you, we'll protect each other," Wren assured, though he gave Tatum a sweet, knowing grin, "But, we each have our own special guard dog, anyhow..."

Turbo cleared his throat and softly swung his arm about Berri's lower back, he gently tugged Berri into his side to blatantly make clear who he'd be looking after; with such, Throttle swung his arm over Wren's broad shoulders, and with the only two beings left in the circle, that stuck out like sore thumbs, Tatum raised her eyebrows in sweet, bashful surprise and bravely hooked her eyes to Theo's in warm, gooey assurance. Theo froze in the sudden display of the blatantly obvious now very apparent to everyone, though he finally sagged and heave a shaky chuckle in the midst of a crumpling smile he tried to gain control of.

"Stick with me," Theo dared cutely across the stretch of counter, "I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Tatum froze in cute, prickled delight as the two held eyes, and though the lot of the group grinned in sweet, silent warmth as to just what was unfolding, Bedgy did her best to continue on with the conversation so to make Theo and Tatum a bit more comfortable. Although the chatter carried on and the two fresh, smiling beings peeled their eye contact away from each other, it was clear the two were lost in their own little shelved thoughts. With the heavy topics that did everything it could to drown the promised fun of the night, to be had, it was clear the group was doing everything they could to iron out their battle plan, to get everything straightened so that the rest of this night could continue to grapple on to every last pixel of welcoming warmth EZ Living had to offer.