Song Listened To - Pure Spirits of the Forest (James Horner/Avatar soundtrack) honestly just the pretty first half of that song lol. sad.

*Chapter 79*

Amidst the tender, morning sunshine, Zed sat comfortably still at the castle's massive, kitchen island. With the serene calmness of the castle, he felt his whole soul sit at ease, though his mind continued to heavily delve into the mess of yesterday's conversations and topics. He inhaled a steady breath and, with a single swipe, he ran his strong hand through his messy blue hair, he lulled his eyes closed and felt a wave of gentle sleepiness crawl over him, though he knew his mind was too busy to shut off. He figured he'd sleep in tomorrow, catch a nap with Lickity, while Tessa was at Academy. The kitchen's warm, glistening tiles easily reflected the morning sunrise, that glinted through the large windows and patio door, which enveloped their long dining table with love. Zed sighed and rested the side of his head on his hand, in which his elbow was rested on the counter. He lulled into a comfortable position, though he suddenly felt his skin unglue from his whole existence as a tender, quiet, though dominant voice popped his thought bubble.

"Couldn't sleep?" Vanellope said softly, in a curious tone, as she lightly budged into the kitchen. Zed raised his eyebrows in hard surprise and sat up, as if he was caught committing a crime; he tried his hardest to calm down.

"O-Oh, I... I just have a lot on my mind," Zed breathed, his nervous eyes glanced down to the counter.

Vanellope curiously eyed him with a sleepy smile as she moved around the island. She wore a comfortable, baggy red t-shirt; likely Ralph's. She also was draped in comfortable sweats. Her long black hair was like silk down her back, though Zed found it curious that the very ends had a gentle, crazy curl to it, much like Tessa's hair. He finally relaxed his spine once Vanellope began to fiddle with a few pans and ingredients, though she gently looked over her shoulder and gave Zed a small smile as she closed the refridgerator door.

"Suddenly gaining five brothers will do that to you, huh?" Vanellope said tenderly as she tucked some hair behind her ear.

"You're telling me," Zed croaked as he pushed his tired gaze to the counter of the island, "Yesterday was... A bit of a doozy, to say the least."

"Not just for Lickity," Vanellope giggled as she came to the island, as well, and set a mixing bowl, as well as ingredients for pancake batter, out before her. Zed curiously eyed her chore and gave her a kind smile.

"Would you like some help?" Zed offered, Vanellope kindly furrowed her eyebrows and waved her hand.

"Nah, it's okay. I usually always make Sunday breakfast," Vanellope mumbled, "Thank you, though."

"You're welcome," Zed eased as he relaxed, yet again. He pushed his elbows to the counter and twiddled his fingers nervously.

"I usually don't have a buddy to chat with, though, so the switch up is nice," Vanellope smiled as she glanced at Zed's tired eyes; he gave her a smile with the same force of kindness and scoffed a breath; his eyes slid to the counter top underneath his arms.

"I wish my mind would let me sleep," Zed sighed, "I've been out here for almost an hour."

"User," Vanellope shook her head and began to mix a few ingredients together, "You... Planning a course of action or something?"

"Course of action?" Zed wondered gently.

"Yeah," Vanellope shrugged, "You have five brothers, probably eagerly awaiting your return... Surely, you're going to go find them, no? Your code room gives you access."

"Well," Zed sighed as he nervously looked away, "I-I don't think it'd be fair, to anyone, if I went looking for them, without remembering who any of them were... Tessa and I came to the agreement that, we'd confront them after I get my memory back."

"After she deletes the additive in your brain coding?" Vanellope wondered in a neutral tone, Zed nodded softly and was pleased to hear her give him her full attention.

"Yeah... It's taking forever," Zed rolled his eyes, though he jolted and held up his hands a little, "N-Not because of Tessa... She's doing a great job. It's just... Such fine strands of coding, all hooked in weird places. I'm surprised with how quickly she's tackled it, anyhow."

"Hmm," Vanellope hummed as she furrowed her eyebrows and glued her eyes to what she was doing; gentle mixing that lead to suggest took a bit more strength than what she could muster this early in the morning. She nodded once and kept her eyes trained downward, "I trust she's done all of the virus protocols on it, yeah?"

"Yeah," Zed sighed as he curiously watched Vanellope's sturdy hands work, the same hands that gave Tessa her wrecking abilities; he swallowed a nervous gulp and felt his heart begin to pound, "None of my virus sensors are ever alerted, when working on deleting it, so... We're sort of thinking it's just random coding that manifested out of nowhere. Maybe I got sick and didn't kick something right away."

"Brain coding is so fragile," Vanellope agreed lightly, though her curious eyes suddenly pierced his; he felt his skin grow cold, "Though, if you don't check up on it every day, something could sneak in, without you knowing. You're constantly out in Arcade, gathering information as you come and go from games that aren't yours... You never know what your exterior coding could snag, and steal away into the coding that really matters."

"I-I didn't know you had to check up on it everyday," Zed mumbled in a sorrowful tone, "I guess... I just found it one day. It's not the same color as my coding, so clearly it's not from me. A-And, it's not from Tessa," Zed stammered his words, though he suddenly felt his heart sink as Vanellope's dominant stare gently pierced into his, as if to wonder if he was insinuating just what she thought.

"If it was Tessa's, you'd know," Vanellope said firmly, though she concluded it with a small, knowing laugh; Zed felt his face get hot, though he shook his head and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I-I... I didn't, mean it like that, I apologize," Zed uttered nervously; he could swear his hands began to shake.

"Pulling your leg," Vanellope beamed a closed-mouth grin down to what she was doing, though she giggled and shook her head, "Your face is so red right now."

"Highly unfair," Zed mumbled as he largely looked away, though he couldn't help but curl a curious smile that wanted so badly to burst into a happy grin.

"I didn't realize you knew so much about glitching," Vanellope said in a softer tone, "Have you always known how to glitch? Here, I thought I was the only one with that base power. Only reason it's spread is because, I gave the ability to Ralph, Oliver and Tessa."

"I don't know, I think I've always had it," Zed prod curiously, as if he had never truly thought about it, "I-I... I think I taught myself."

"You can't teach yourself to glitch," Vanellope stated as she gave Zed a gentle side-eye of curiosity, "...You think maybe the additive, in your brain coding, is sort of temporarily giving you that ability? And because it's hindering your memory, you just always have believed you've had it?"

"I've never thought about it like that," Zed worried with a frown as he slumped his shoulders, "Sounds about right, though... I just, don't remember. I'm sure you guys are getting tired of me saying that. I have a sharp memory, but for some reason, the additive is hindering me from remembering anything beyond about two years ago."

"Odd," Vanellope gently set her mixing spoon down, though she curiously glanced about Zed's hair. She cocked an eyebrow and gave him a sheepish, though dominant sort of smile, "You mind if I take a look at it?"

"Oh uh... Sure," Zed gently shrugged, though he curiously glanced about, "Do we have to go to the code room for this?"

"No, I can do it right here," Vanellope stated casually as she set her utensils down and slowly made her way around the island, over to Zed. He softly shifted, on the bar stool, and faced Vanellope as she came around.

"Really? How?" Zed wondered nervously, Vanellope neared him and raised her hands as she tenderly pushed closer to him.

"You shouldn't be surprised," Vanellope chuckled and gave him a curious look, though she softly held her fingertips to the sides of Zed's head, near his temples, "You're the core of your own game, right? You're capable of pretty much anything but self-deletion."

"I-I guess," Zed furrowed his eyebrows and felt a weird wash of cool coding come over his skin, Vanellope let her fingertips gently come alive with her powerful, dominant purple coding, which caused Zed's coding to lightly blob about, though in a much more agreeable fashion than when his and Tessa's coding comes into contact.

As easily as Vanellope could, she lightly slid her hands away from Zed's head and brought along with her a faint outlining of Zed's very brain coding. He flinched lightly as she took a step or two away from him, though she harbored his very existence in her powerful hands. He raised his eyebrows in nervous surprise and felt a wave of gentle dizziness come about him. Vanellope held the very product of his being before him, something of which he had never experienced. He gawked lightly and wrinkled his nose; the closest he had ever come to this feeling was Tessa holding a mere holographic copy of his brain coding, in his own home. He shivered and suddenly felt more vulnerable than he ever had. Before he could continue to worry on, Vanellope lightly giggled and gave him a kind smile.

"Take it easy, I know what I'm doing," Vanellope said calmly; as if on a cue, Zed's shoulders gently slumped.

"I-I don't think my game is programmed for anything, like this," Zed gestured gently as Vanellope lightly clicked into a few different options.

"Oh I'm sure you'd be surprised," Vanellope chimed, "Every game has it's quirks and secrets. I'm STILL learning things about Sugar Rush's code. It's a never-ending learning process."

Zed raised his eyebrows gently, though the two eagerly peered to just what Vanellope was doing. She spot the additive coding, in the back of Zed's brain lining, and she lightly zoomed in on it. She nodded, in a knowing way, and hummed softly as she fingered her lip in contemplation. She lightly tapped a portion of it, and was thrilled to see it pop up a drop down index with information, albeit a small amount.

"So, from what I've gathered here, it's just... memory," Vanellope gently shrugged, "But, not memory you can, essentially, use. It's memory that's not yours. It doesn't mesh with yours, so it's hindering your original memories. Instead of getting rid of it, your code is trying it's hardest to include it in on itself, but..."

"Since the coding doesn't line up," Zed continued nervously.

"It's just in a stalemate with itself," Vanellope lightly shrugged, "It looks as if it was suddenly plopped here, tried it's hardest to become one with you, but... failed, and now is just resting dormant."

"I'm just glad Tessa can delete it," Zed said through a breath of relief.

"Yeah," Vanellope scoffed, though she beamed a proud smile into Tessa's handiwork, "She's been very kind to you, here... I can see where she's been, on this deleting venture of hers."

"Yeah?" Zed wondered as he furrowed his eyebrows and gave Vanellope a curious smile.

"Yeah... Looks as if she's given your brain coding a protective closure, as she deletes," Vanellope ran her finger all along Tessa's progress, where the additive coding had been lying prior, "It's so nothing else grows there, in it's place. Since the coding there is left vulnerable, she's made sure to seal it up so you won't have anymore problems in the future."

"She never said anything about that," Zed gawked, though he softly shot Vanellope a look of humbled appreciation.

"I'd give her one big thank you, if I were you," Vanellope chuckled as she waved her hand lightly at Tessa's work, "Not only is she cleanly ridding you of this, she's covering it's tracks and making sure it never happens again. That girl has learned well. I wouldn't be surprised if she knew things, about coding, that I didn't."

"Not you," Zed wrinkled his nose and beamed a curious smile; Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"Believe it or not, Tessa has taught me things, about Sugar Rush's code room," Vanellope's humble smile melted Zed's sharp, curious one. She gently gestured the coding, back towards Zed and motioned for him to sit still, "Be thankful... You're in good hands. Tessa surely does know what she's doing. I wouldn't underestimate her skill for a second. It's as if she was born to code."

"I am thankful," Zed said softly as Vanellope gently eased the coding back over Zed's skin; it melted into his being, and with a gentle, curious spark of his and her coding, he blinked a few times and finally gained all his senses again. Zed inhaled a nervous breath and gave Vanellope a small smile, "She's definitely done a lot for me..."

"You owe her," Vanellope cocked an eyebrow and gave him a teasing smile as she began to step away, though she lightly pointed a finger at him, "Though, do me a favor, and save it until your coding is free of that additive... You don't want to... Spread it to Tessa."

"Th-that's, half the reason why her coding is still purple," Zed dared, though he bashfully exhaled a chuckle and looked down. His ears pricked curiously as Vanellope's tone remained soft, which was opposite of what he thought would happen.

"And the other half?" Vanellope prod softly and genuinely with a neutral stare into Zed's soul. He raised his eyebrows in tender surprise and gave her an honest, taken aback look of poised nervousness.

"... I want it done right," Zed braved, as softly as he could. Vanellope crossed her arms lazily and tilted her head a little, though she gave Zed her full attention. She nodded once, though he dared to gently continue, "This... Really isn't something I'm going to toy around with. Your daughter's life is at risk, being romantically involved with, well... A user-made gamer, like me. I'm just fortunate enough to have your approval. And I'm not about to let anybody down. I wouldn't risk her life, o-or mine, for a human desire."

"Good answer," Vanellope cocked an eyebrow, though she gave Zed an understanding smile, "That kind of stuff shouldn't be rushed... Don't take after mine and Ralph's example. We didn't waste any time."

"Well, I'm certain you don't regret it?" Zed wondered as delicately as he could.

"No, not at all," Vanellope smiled and looked down to her beautifully crafted, crossed-stripe wedding ring, "Though, our lives weren't at stake, for the sake of a simple swap... I would've deeply regret it, if it meant taking Ralph's life."

"I knew what I was getting myself into," Zed breathed, with a small, bashful smile, and looked down, "But, I know everything will work out."

"Tessa's pretty intuitive, too, so... Guess that works to your advantage," Vanellope gave Zed a knowing look and laughed a little, which caused Zed's face to burn up even more than prior, "... It's obvious, you love her."

"I do," Zed stated confidently, though through a calm gaze that pierced Vanellope's soul with the utmost honesty, "I would do anything to protect her."

"Even if it meant protecting her from yourself?" Vanellope squinted her eyes lightly and gave him a look, as if to hope he caught on to her insinuation.

"I have before," Zed sighed as he looked down, though he gave his confident gaze back to the Queen, "And I'd do it again."