Reviews :
Lyssdoodle : Thank you so so so much! And yes, 800! Wild to think about :D I have you guys to thank for it!
Snake557 : Hey! No problem. Just make sure you state your name, like you've been doing. I don't reply to/read blank reviews, but you can definitely put your requests in review form :) The reason Mr. Litwak knew of Throttle was because he was programmed as the main 4. Like Zed and his 5 brothers, Throttle and his 3 little brothers are a part of the coding - which, in this case, is listed but missing, which is why Litwak was tearing up his office space trying to figure out why. I'm glad you've grown to like Lash! I love giving baddies a solid redemption arc. It'll be fun to sort of do the reverse, for Gideon, in my 5th story :)
faolan1230 : Aww thank you so much! Well, the three weren't sure if the person approaching was Litwak or not. They have never seen or met the man, so they knew not to risk it. It's either they get back home, or run the risk of bumping into someone that WASN'T Mr. Litwak and potentially being arrested. As for Ralph and Vanellope, they will be okay! The beginning of the 5th story is very heavily centered around them, and this debacle they've fallen into, I wanted the segue into their struggles to feel natural. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!
chuckiboo : Yep! He's more involved than any of them really know :D I really like Mr. Litwak's more silent character, in the story, sort of acts as if an all-powerful being outside of the Users. I've always gravitated towards that notion. Thanks, friend! I'm glad you're enjoying it :)
Song Listened To :
Dystopia - A cyberpunk 2077 Inspired Orchestration by Rush Garcia ft. Rio Callix
Roots by Jakob Ahlbom
Surrender by Natalie Taylor
A/N : Chapter 250! Send in those sketchdump requests! Also, be prepared to 1000% hate me! :D
*Chapter 250*
With a pop of blinding, white electricity, Lash held his breath and firmly peeled his eyes open with a jolt. Although the blinding light about them was the first thing to hit his retinas, the blackness of Tron's gorgeous, large sea, beyond them, starkly soaked his vision with the first glimpse, though the second wasn't so kind. With the feel of Berri's and Wren's arms still tightly grappled about his torso, he inhaled a tight breath, cued his incredible User coding, and suddenly felt as if the whole world was in slow motion. With the tight circle of armed men stood not five feet from the center of the portal, in all directions, each being began firing on sight. In the mess of coded information, Lash was successful in whisking the three away, and in the whiplash of their recoiling teleportation, they suddenly were saddled outside the cliffside outcropping they had emerged from, the secret, very well hidden entrance in and out of Tron. Lash choked a shaky noise of whole terror and was floored to feel Berri's and Wren's still animated, unharmed presences still tightly gripped to him. Wasting no time, all three beings began to urgently sprint into the darkness that was Tron's exit. Knowing Lash could only really simply mastermind his way around one grid at a time, they sought to get out of Tron's grip and into the wires of the Arcade.
With a stumbling push of all three beings, they dove out of Tron's outlet and into the very dusty, unused train tunnels of Litwak's Arcade's wall wires. With urgent grunts and heavy breaths from all three beings, they each grappled the railing and began running down the emergency walk way, just near the tracks, and although they went unused, they still hummed a haunting, low vibration of caution, to make clear that leaping out onto the live-wired tracks was a one way ticket to a permanent game over. Mid-run, Lash allowed his powerful coding to grip the two beings that were running in front of him, and with effortless ease, he teleported the three straight to Arcadia's train tunnels, right at the mouth of the gangway. All three beings stumbled and came to a stop, they heaved loud pants of dire terror and urgently peered into one another's eyes, all prickled and back to their usual appearances, though both boys curiously peered to Berri and took note that, in the laser gun fire they nearly were killed by, a bullet had apparently clipped Berri's hair; her gorgeous, cerulean blue hair was chopped clean at her shoulders, and though she looked cute, Lash and Wren peered to each other in terror and gestured to Berri.
"Y-You LITERALLY dodged a bullet, there, Bear," Wren staggered through heavy panting, to which Berri grappled her hair in total shock and brought the ends to her line of sight, which was now a much shorter distance.
"H-How...?" Berri choked, she nearly smiled in incredulous, terrified disbelief.
"I can guarantee we won't be hearing the last of Tron's officials," Lash mumbled nervously, he rubbed his arm and looked about Arcadia's much newer, brighter train tunnels. Although the three were tucked out of sight, they now casually moseyed up the stairwell from the lower gangway and began to ease into the light crowd of gamers patiently waiting for the train to arrive. Thankful no one noticed them climbing from the lower levels of the train tracks, all three beings did everything they could to act natural as Lash quietly continued on, "Alright, pretty sure that was the scariest thing I've ever done, and I'm super relieved it's over."
"Wait'll we tell everyone," Berri hissed in smiling delight, they sagged with a job well done and eyed the glowing, massive station they were just outside of, not minutes ago. Berri's eyes hit with California's gorgeous sunshine as Arcadia's glass dome and lovely, white tiles and walls smiled down on the three.
"They're gunna flip," Wren muttered with an equally as relieved smile.
Soaring high in Dead Zed's hot, summer, morning time air, Chester urgently flapped his wings and did everything to cut the atmosphere in half. With Dead Zed's glowing entrance tight in his line of sight, maybe just a few more minutes out, Chester suddenly faltered in a glitchy mess of confusion, and with the jolt of the sky's flicker to black, and then back to it's normal appearance, Chester held his gorgeous dragon wings in a tight glide and looked about in now panting terror. The sky crawled with circuit lines, everything blipped in confusion, and although Chester had absolutely no clue what was going on in this instance, he began to flap his wings just a little harder, so to get to the safety of the entrance. In a swoop down Dead Zed's jungle tree-ridden entrance, Chester whipped about with an insane amount of grace and took a searing nose dive into Dead Zed's winding wires. Although licked with success and eager to dive into Sugar Rush and properly navigate this excursion on his own, as he came floating to what he thought was Game Central Station's pristine white tiles, he galloped to a proper landing and eased out into the middle of the station. His vivid, properly working turquoise eyes dart between the massive game station outlets, all proudly read with just what game they represented, though Chester panted and largely flattened his ears in whole frustration.
"This would be so much easier if I knew how to read!" Chester suddenly blurt in hot irritation as he glanced about the mess of words he had no clue how to decipher, though he flinched in surprise, shifted on his heavy paws and perked up as a bit of a crowd had now begun to form around a few certain outlets just next to Dead Zed's outlet, the one he had come careening out of. Chester trot up to the group of confused gamers, the gorgeous station above them beaming with California's sunshine, the glass dome easily letting in a swathe of natural sunlight, Chester perked his ears and approached a smaller crowd loitered just outside the main, loose gaggle of people. With confident paws, he sniffled the air a little and cautiously approached, "Hey, uh... Can you please tell me which outlet is Sugar Rush?"
"Sugar Rush isn't in Arcadia," Said one of the much smaller, more pixel-like gamers, though his friend gestured her hand in confused urgency and peered up to Chester.
"It is now, ALL these games were just plugged into Arcadia," the other said, a small argument began to form, "Sugar Rush is that outlet, there."
"Why would Mr. Litwak drag all of these games from Game Central? Even though that station is old, it's the main hub, it's just as good," Another barked in irritation.
"Wait, we're... We're not in Game Central Station?" Chester interrupted, the group of confused gamers peered up to him in mild annoyance.
"No, this is Arcadia," The first one barked with a mean smile, "Kind of... Hard to confuse with any of the other stations, my friend."
"Must be new to the stations," Another mumbled quietly, Chester flattened his ears and firmly peered to the outlet that one of the gamer's referred to as Sugar Rush, and before Chester could drown in confusion, he halted his words and felt his pupils tighten at the sight of a cloaked individual scurrying out of Sugar Rush's outlet.
Chester snapped his jaw shut and froze, though before he could take off galloping after said foreigner, he took his hood off and began looking about Arcadia in a roll of dreaded, terrified confusion.
"Brave of Mr. Litwak to find a new version of Turbotime," Said a nearby gamer as Chester began to apprehensively plow through the crowd, all seemingly loitered near one outlet and one outlet only.
"This can't be, like... THE Turbotime, is it?" Another gamer nervously staggered, and with such a repeat of words, Chester glanced up to the outlet in question and recognized one word written in hot red, Turbo's name, the only thing Berri would cutely write in her school notebooks over and over; likely one of the only words Chester for sure could read. Chester skid on his paws, perked his wings a little and felt his fur stand on end the second the crowd now began to notice the cloaked individual nervously scrambling for Turbotime's outlet, "Hey, wh-who's THAT?"
"Is that Turbo?" Another person questioned, and though usually terror would follow said notion, the crowd began to grow excited with the onset of potential autographs; though Chester was grateful fear was no longer a factor, he flattened his ears and began to charge Turbotime's outlet, an arch in which the cloaked individual immediately vanished inside of.
"CHESTER!" Berri suddenly cried with a wide grin, which caused Chester to recoil, yet again, with a skid of his paws and non-retractable claws; he perked his ears taut and peered firmly towards the end of Arcadia's beautiful station, near the bullet train.
"Berri!" Chester barked in full relief as he only barely sagged out of his venture into Turbotime. Berri urgently barreled into Chester, wrapped her arms about the broad of his fluffy chest and grinned in whole delight, and though Chester lovingly sagged his hefty paw and arm about her body, he flattened his ears in grinning delight and peered down at her, "New haircut? Did you guys seriously leave Dead Zed so you could go get a haircut?"
"No, we... User, we went to Tron, WE did all of this," Berri hissed in excitement as she pulled away from Chester, "We plugged all the games into Arcadia, we moved the internet's plug away from Arcadia, too."
"This could've been really bad," Lash rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, "It's a good thing we beat Aroq and Vye before they sent any crap our way."
"The router is still plugged in, though," Wren worried, to which Lash bobbed a nod and shrugged.
"Yeah, but it's so far away from us, now, so inaccessible," Lash assured with a chuckle, though he furrowed his eyebrows and took note that there was a bit of a crowd gathered near Turbotime's brand new spot in the Arcade. Sure that it was just an oddity to everyone, he gently carried on, "Not to mention, I've beefed Sugar Rush and Turbotime with really good virus protection... So even if trouble came our way, we'd be safe."
"Hopefully," Wren mumbled, though Chester peered back to Turbotime's outlet and gave Lash a curious little smile.
"I'm assuming this is Turbotime, yeah?" Chester prod, and though Lash bobbed a proud smile and looked as if he was due to potentially become shy and nervous about finally being able to go inside, once and for all, Chester gave him a nervous look and dart his eyes back to Sugar Rush's outlet, "I just saw a cloaked figure go from Sugar Rush straight into Turbotime, just now..."
"Cloaked?" Lash stated, the wash of shy, dainty nervousness now soaked to whole, riled protection for the renewal of his home game, he stiffened and, although he glanced to Turbotime in a wary show of terror, he peered hard into Chester's eyes, as if to demand answers.
"Yeah, just now, I-I'm... I'm not sure what's going on," Chester pleaded gently, he glanced to Berri and Wren, "I left Dead Zed without telling anyone, everyone knows all three of you guys are gone. I came here to come find you, but, I forgot that I can't read any of the outlet names."
"Aw, you were gunna come look for us?" Berri prod sweetly, though she nervously glanced to Lash and then back to Turbotime, knowing, full well, something wasn't right.
"You guys SERIOUSLY left the Arcade and did all of this?" Chester barked with a widening grin, "In such a short span of time? I came barging out here not even knowing this was Arcadia, I've never seen this station before, nor Game Central! I had to get someone to show me where Sugar Rush was, but when I looked over, some guy was like nervously running from Sugar Rush and disappeared right into Turbotime. That crowd, over there, thought it was Turbo."
"It wouldn't be Turbo, he doesn't sound like the kind of guy to sport a CLOAK," Wren choked a laugh, Lash shook his head and drew into tight-lipped seriousness.
"Wren, go back to Dead Zed and tell everyone we're home safe," Lash instructed gently, "Warn them of what went into Turbotime."
"You're not going into Turbotime just yet?" Berri wondered softly as Wren took a few steps away, to prepare for departure, but wanted to hear the whole plan before he left.
"No, let's go to Sugar Rush and put the game back to normal," Lash nodded as they looked over their shoulders, to where Sugar Rush was plugged in, directly across from Dead Zed, "Once that's settled, we'll storm Turbotime. Mysterious, cloaked individual running from Sugar Rush into Turbotime?"
"Spells trouble," Wren muttered as he began to remove himself, Lash nodded and ushered Wren one final notion.
"Just be brief. We're home safe, but Turbotime may need a bit more dusting off than we thought," Lash grumbled in hot irritation over the fact that his poor home game couldn't catch a break, though with Lash's final word, Wren quickly turned heel and vanished into Dead Zed's outlet. Lash glanced to Berri and Chester and began to urgently step in the opposite direction from Wren, straight for Sugar Rush's outlet, "C'mon. Let's make this quick."
"You think it could've been Aroq who went into Turbotime?" Berri wondered nervously as the three hastily stepped into Sugar Rush's outlet; mid-step, Lash effortlessly teleported the three down the stretch of Sugar Rush's wire, right to the gape of the entrance, though with the hit of a switch up, they gawked at the sight before them. What Sugar Rush was left with, previously, was a black wall of haunting water, though with their return, it had mysteriously turned to a gorgeous white glow, almost like a pool of light. Berri gestured to it in confusion, and though the three cautiously began to step up to it, she breathed a giggle and gingerly rubbed Chester's snout as the three hung near each other, "Uhh... This is new, is this because of the new virus protection you gave the game?"
"I guess so," Lash huffed with a shaky laugh and a cute little smile, the calming white light wrinkled against their skin, and as Lash pulled the heavy brick from his jacket, he inhaled a readied breath and bobbed a nod, "Good to know it all worked out."
"Seriously," Berri giggled, though with a jolt of surprise and a shock wave that nearly rocked the three off of their feet, Lash drew his gorgeous coding to the brick and unearthed Sugar Rush's blinding white orb from the hard drive it was contained it.
As if nearly too big and too powerful to even think about being contained for a single second longer, the intensity of said coding ate the brick of the hard drive and caused it to disintegrate into little, crumbly pixels to the ground. Lash jolted in nervousness, cupped his hands underneath the powerful orb, a little smaller than a basketball, and though his eyes were bugged, he shot Berri a cheeky, nervous smile and blurt a laugh as she returned the favor. The blinding orb surged in urgency, as if to beg Lash to allow it to explode into the sky, to put Sugar Rush back to where it belonged, to sink into the circuited grooves it had been so used to. As if being pulled, Lash's trembling hands hovered underneath the orb, and although his User powers were great, he grit his teeth, in this raw instance, and almost felt matched. Bravely, he began to step forward, knowing that if he were to unearth Sugar Rush in the alcove of the entrance, it'd likely blow the roof off. He shot Berri another nervous, chuckling little show of his teeth and was thrilled her and Chester began to follow him out into the bevel of white, beckoning light.
"This is... Certainly going to be a sight to see," Lash muttered happily, although nervously; Berri grit her teeth and saddled tight to Lash's backside, with Chester following suit and trotting tight on her heels, all three beings walked single-file out into Sugar Rush's rainbow road, faint markers that eventually just lead to a drop-off of white nothingness.
"Why? What are we to expect, here?" Berri wondered gently, the air about the three was still and calm, an easiness of a job well done, everything about to be set right.
"Uh, well, an explosion, if I'm being honest," Lash chuckled nonchalantly, he shrugged and lovingly peered into the gorgeous orb he was harboring, easy steps that pressed out into the white nothingness, footsteps that crinkled against the fading of Sugar Rush's rainbow road.
"Uh, hello? Will it kill us?" Berri wondered dryly, her and Chester shared a laugh, as did Lash.
"Yeah, this is why I wanted to do this while we were outside of the Arcade," Lash chuckled nonchalantly, though as his feet gently scuffed to a stop, he raised his eyebrows in a slope of cold knowing and could only simply feel the pulse in his jugular go wild, realization hit his coding like a bullet to the brain, his face washed flat with dread as Berri and Chester cutely halted from behind him.
"But we'll just regenerate with everything," Berri assured with a nod, Chester flattened his ears and beamed a fang-filled smile of nervousness as Berri tossed him a glance over her shoulder.
"Rip it off like a bandaid," Chester announced proudly as he puffed his chest, bobbed a nod, perked his wings and showed a stance of ultimate readiness for a simple game-over and regeneration; Berri whirled around with an easy, excited, nervous smile and peered to the back of Lash's head, though she sagged in confusion.
"Y'okay?" Berri wondered, though as Lash gently turned to face her, his face read complete dread, somehow kissed with an apologetic smile.
"Berri, I need you to listen to me," Lash started gently, his voice shook; Berri sharply furrowed her eyebrows and almost grinned in annoyance.
"It's really not that deep, Lash, I'll forgive you, just let it loose," Berri giggled as she waggled her hand towards Sugar Rush's trembling orb, a quiet, reverberating bass of angry, pent-up energy, like a jar of hornets ready to burst forth.
"I-I... I really didn't think this through," Lash muttered shakily, he hooked his now scared, turquoise eyes tight to Berri's and did everything he could to keep an easy smile on his face, though it read whole dread and apology, "Berri, I need you and Chester to go back into Sugar Rush's wires while I do this."
"Wait, why?" Berri huffed, now smiling with irritation, she furrowed her brow and shook her head, though she could feel Chester's body stiffen and freeze behind her, he previously had been bouncing on his paws in cute anticipation.
"This is a clean version of Sugar Rush," Lash stated in gentle dread, he lowered the orb and peered down to it with care, as if to kindly assure it that he was due to placing it in its proper place shortly here, though his sorrowful eyes peered tight to Berri's, "I-I may be a User, but... If you die outside your game, you don't regenerate. No matter who you are."
"... Lash, what are you saying?" Berri huffed sharply, she tried to ease a shaky giggle as she finally nudged Lash's upper arm, "Dude, seriously, cut it out, this isn't funny."
"This version of Sugar Rush isn't coded for any of us, it's something you'll have to do once everything is put back," Lash instructed with a nod, big tears finally welled in his eyes, "Berri, I'm going to need you to listen to me. Make sure, once the code room and everything is settled, to code absolutely everyone back to the game, it's detrimental."
"Wh-what do you mean, this explosion would LITERALLY kill us, for good?" Berri staggered in a spike of now full terror, she shook her head and glanced back to the entrance, though as she brought her eyes back to Lash's, she began to feel desperation lick at her heels, "W-well, can't you just... THROW the orb away from you and we'll just run for the wires?"
"As a User, I-I'm the only one who can unlock it, it's... An immediate explosion, I wouldn't clear the blast in time... And, I can't teleport away cause there's no grid to grip on to," Lash's voice shook, and though he peered to Berri in desperation, he knew this wasn't something he could worm his way out of, like he usually could.
"N-No, there HAS to be another way, I can go get Turbo, or Ace? Or my mom?" Berri began to beg, to which Lash shook his head and looked down to the orb; tears finally escaped his eyes.
"There's no time, I can't really hold it back for much longer," Lash grunted, and though he looked as if he was doing an effortless job at controlling the orb, the reverberating bass of said pulsing orb began to look angrier and angrier by the second, he pierced his eyes to Berri's and shook his head, "Berri, I need you and Chester to go back to the wires, okay? It'll all be okay, I promise."
"H-How can you say it's going to be okay, this is LITERALLY going to kill you!" Berri stated loudly, a now pure coat of desperation coat her as she grappled Lash's upper arm, her teary eyes peered up into his with a hot spike of overflowing terror that soaked the place, the sudden stab of urgency that the three drowned in was unbearable, "Th-this isn't what I signed up for! I didn't come ALL this way to just... ALLOW this!"
"I'm going to get help," Chester stabbed nervously as he began to turn heel.
"Go with Chester," Lash quietly demanded, though Berri grappled his arms harder and firmly shook her head.
"I'm not leaving you!" Berri's voice shook amidst the tremble of her shout, tears freely cascaded down her cheeks, as for Lash, though he shook his head and gave her an apologetic, teary smile in return.
"Berri, everything's going to be okay, I promise, okay?" Lash's now whispery, trembly voice begged amidst said further show of an apologetic smile, he shook his head and, though his lip trembled in the show of his turquoise eyes stabbed with fear, his aura read acceptance, his smile was anything but scared, "Please, please... Please go."
"Lash, I'm not leaving you, I-I can't leave you," Berri whimpered, now a teary mess, she gripped his arms harder and huffed him a trembly notion of nasally sorrow, "I love you, Lash, I can't just... LET this happen, I'm not going without you. Sugar Rush be damned, Lash, I'm not LETTING this happen to you, you're my family!"
"Time's running out, Berri, please, I'm begging you," Lash staggered in worry, though he did everything to make it so the last image she had, of his face, was that of a smile, no matter how apologetic or scared; Lash was glad Chester started to intervene in the way of wrapping his wing about Berri, to apprehensively separate her from Lash's figure.
"No, no! I-I won't ALLOW this!" Berri shouted, now an entire mess, she grit her teeth through a grimace of a cry and resisted Chester's advances, "Lash, everyone would agree that they'd rather Sugar Rush go down than to lose you entirely... This may be my kingdom, but you're my family, Lash, I can't just...! Y-You can't..."
"Tell Mara I love her, tell everyone I love them, absolutely everyone. Tell Tessa I'm... I'm so sorry, for everything. Please enjoy Vidrix City for me, she needs a lot of TLC," Lash huffed in a shaky whisper, though the orb began to surge in rapid irritation, the reverberating bass of a rumble began to make the wind about them pick up, and though Chester was beginning to be successful in peeling Berri off of Lash, she still held on in grunting, terrified desperation.
"Lash, don't DO THIS!" Berri shouted in a hard, grimace of a cry, though with one last grapple of his arm, Lash lovingly allowed the slide of their arms to meet at the grip of one final hold of their hands.
"Take good care of Turbo, for us Turbotime boys, h-he... He needs you, okay?" Lash confirmed with a nod, tears soaked his cheeks, he gave her a cute little smile and bobbed her an assured nod as Berri's scared eyes peered into his with full desperation, "You be good, for me, alright? Be good."
"Lash," Berri shakily whimpered, though as Chester was finally successful in breaking Berri's hold of Lash, she flagged her hand in teeth-gritting desperation and tried her damndest to fight Chester's strength, outside of her glitching powers.
Knowing Lash was absolutely right, and going down with the ship was likely his final redemption for all of the wrongs he had created, she still shook her head and couldn't believe it. Berri staggered to push past Chester's tuck of a wing about her lower body, her hands grappled his wing in entire confusion. With the success in getting Berri into the alcove of Sugar Rush's entrance, Lash gave the two one final little smile of whole love, of whole appreciation, a gentle twinkle of confirmation that this was his unfortunate end, and as he turned his back to the two, once and for all, he sagged his shoulders in relief and allowed Sugar Rush's orb to slowly begin to grow in size and brightness. Berri raised her eyebrows in unadulterated terror and flung her arm out, and with the urgent yells of Lash's name, the desperation for him to stop this train, a sudden blip of light suddenly coat the game in a hot white of silence. Though it was enough to rock everyone from the face of Arcade, Berri felt Chester scoop her up into the strong grip of his wing, once and for all, and haul the two much deeper into Sugar Rush's wires.
With an ear shattering explosion, the firm shove of a blast that knocked Chester and Berri clear across the stretch of a gape, they skid to Sugar Rush's sprinkled, rainbow road a solid thirty feet from where they were originally standing. With hard tumbles, Berri sagged to the ground and lay limp in hot shock, though as the feeling came back to her limbs, she opened her dizzy eyes and could only hear the high pitched ringing of hearing loss. In a fog, she inhaled a shaky breath and desperately tried to get her vision to straighten as she sat up. Although typically a sight she had been dying to see, the gorgeous vision of Sugar Rush's morning, summer time sunshine beat down into the gape of Sugar Rush's entrance, not a single gumdrop was out of place. Berri's eyes stabbed to the point where Lash was previously standing, and much to her whole entire dreaded dismay, a nightmare played out before her very eyes, he was gone.
Berri grit her teeth and screamed Lash's name, and with a few messy blobs of glitch hops, she bounced to where he was previously standing and finally fell to her knees, once more. She heavily panted through the grit of her teeth as Sugar Rush's lovely, warm air licked her shorter blue hair about, as if to so kindly do everything it could to soothe her worries and ease her pain, though with the clench of her fingers into the soft, chocolate dirt and pink sugar grass underneath her, she sharply grit her teeth and hung her head amidst the outpouring, overflowing wails of pure desperation. The hit of loss that so meanly took her legs out from under her, absolutely every single last pixel of love and care she had been cultivating for such a noble lost boy was suddenly stopped short in the act of a bittersweet kiss goodbye, so unannounced. Her heart surged in entire defeat, the raw fact that her home game was so diligently returned to her at the hands of the one person that previously wanted nothing but for it to be all for himself, she sat messily knelt in whole surrender to sorrow, knowing that she'd give up absolutely everything to reverse what had just taken place. She knew the loss of her home game would've been devastating, though now that she had the bitter taste of just what it meant to feel true, familial loss, she begged the universe to give her the former, knowing that unfortunate reality would've been far easier to accept.
