Songs Listened To :

Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding

Papercut - Zedd

*Chapter 113*

Through the dark abyss, Tessa moseyed without purpose. After what seemed to be hours of knowing exactly where she was, on the blank canvas of a dark world she was the only inhabitant to, she suddenly furrowed her eyebrows and was two steps closer to realizing this was simply a dream. She looked around in growing confusion, at the fact that she didn't have a destination, nor was she even at any specific destination. The dark grey fog, and 'misty white on the horizon' atmosphere was strangely inviting and calming. Before Tessa could open her mouth to call to someone, anyone, in no particular rush of fear, she whirled around and flinched as she suddenly spot Lickity, calmly sitting on her hindquarters, staring out over what seemed to be a cliff, that led to more, white nothingness underneath their dark, maddening shroud.

Tessa beamed a curious smile and felt her bare feet begin to move across the cold, slick ground. She didn't know exactly where she was, though she was thrilled to finally be graced with her best friend. She neared Lickity, though she got a strange vibe from her; she was too still, too stoic and way too calm to be in her right mind. Tessa scrunched her expression, in dainty confusion, though she smiled and pushed closer, nonetheless. As tenderly as she could, she waved her hand in her lightly blurred vision and readied her slow moving, curious thoughts.

"Lickity, girl," Tessa eased softly, though Lickity remained solid without so much as a single feather or ear twitch. Tessa grew mildly annoyed, though she softly tsked a few times, to hopefully and politely goad her attention, "Girly, it's me. You okay, there?"

"Isn't it beautiful?" Lickity suddenly said, just above a whisper, which practically rocked Tessa off of the face of whatever planet they were on. Tessa harshly furrowed her eyebrows and took a nervous step back, though she repeated the words in her head over and over. She also was starkly confused with just how deep and manly the voice, coming from Lickity, was; it continued on, "Like a blank canvas, just ready for whatever display of creation to happen upon it."

"Where are we?" Tessa wondered. She was almost half way to realizing this was just a dream, though somehow the thought hung back, as if it wasn't needed yet.

"Sugar Rush," Lickity's deep voice concluded kindly as her eyes finally graced Tessa's, and her body language grew a bit more lively, "It's so pretty, wiped all shiny clean like this. There's so much opportunity, to create a new Sugar Rush. To right all the wrongs, that happened."

"... But, there was nothing wrong with Sugar Rush," Tessa urged quietly and sadly as she looked down to her larger hands, "Is... Is there any way we can get it back?"

"Oh certainly," Lickity's intelligent eyes honed to Tessa's, though she turned and looked on to the vast nothingness. It was ironic with how much distance it seemed to have, despite it being nothing but nearly white noise, "I mean, you'll just have to sit back and watch, as I rebuild, but... It'll all come back together. Like a phoenix from ashes. You know how it goes."

"Sit back and watch?" Tessa began to feel protective, "But... This is my kingdom, surely I can just reset the game and set everything back to normal."

"If only mistakes were that easy to reverse," Lickity chuckled as she merely glanced at Tessa, she flattened her bat ears and remained still.

Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in growing anger, though she looked down to the ground and desperately tried to think of anything she could have potentially done wrong, while in her nightly rule with Zed. She knew the two had put each other's source codes into their core code boxes, but she knew for certain that wouldn't have any harmful effects on Sugar Rush. She squinted her eyes and gave the back of Lickity's head an upset look, as if she was now curious as to just what side she was on.

"So, what is it, then... Too high and mighty to apologize?" Lickity breathed, her back was to Tessa; she peered out to the vast, dreamy nothingness, her ears lay flat against her skull in stoic stillness.

"Apologize?" Tessa hissed, "I've done nothing wrong, here."

"Oh, I don't suppose corrupting Sugar Rush was simply someone else's doing, then," Lickity spat with sly charm as she suddenly whirled around and began to steadily march towards Tessa; she flinched and began to backstep. She knew, whatever soul had inhabited her dragon companion was merely the puppeteer to this dark game of Clue.

"I-I did nothing of the sort," Tessa argued, though she nervously continued to back step, as if she were trudging through molasses, "What I did was temporary... It's harmless!"

"Good intentions, I'm sure of it!" Lickity barked with a crazed, fang-filled smile, "Oh, and muddying your faux-code with a user-made gamer will seem to do the trick!"

"Zed wouldn't do anything to harm Sugar Rush," Tessa firmly defended.

"Zed's an idiot! Of course he wouldn't do anything to harm Sugar Rush, he's too busy chasing after faux-code, he can't even see the nose right on his face! Considering the fact that you've let me back into my own game, I'd like to think the King and Queen won't think this stupid act is so harmless," Lickity bared her teeth, her eyes began to look a little bit more crazed. Tessa was certain her own imagination was on the verge of getting ready to run away with itself, "Such a shame, they left you in charge for the night. Won't they be so disappointed."

"This is just a dream," Tessa barked with a scoff of an incredulous laugh as she largely looked around, as if to be smug of her findings, "This is ridiculous. I'm arguing with a dragon that can't even talk."

"I wish you'd wake up and realize that I am in every single aspect of your life... Oh how many times you idiots try to kill me off," Lickity hissed, though Tessa's heart began to pulse nervously as the glowing circuits along Lickity's chest and face began to glow an angry, hot yellow, "This may be a dream, though I'd live it up here while you can... Because you're about to wake up to a nightmare."

Lickity suddenly exhaled a hard snarl and, with one pounce, she lunged into Tessa's face, with sharper fangs than prior, and hot yellow code that seemingly swarmed her. Tessa flung her arms out before her, to somehow shield herself, though as if trying to merely deter lightning, she could feel painful, electric code come over her and flow angrily through her system. She barked a loud noise of the utmost pain and suddenly shot out of her dreams. She largely sat up and heavily panted, though her eyes suddenly adjusted to the room she was in.

She gripped the sheets and swallowed through her messy panting. She shoved her hand to her forehead and eagerly dart her eyes around the warmly lit room; it still hung onto it's beautiful, dainty romance from the night prior. Through the open double doors, of the bedroom, the view of Stonecrest's city could faintly be seen in the distance. Tessa slumped her shoulders as Lickity's long, floppy tail could be seen. It was laid frozen still on the birch wood, to signify that she was asleep. Tessa coughed a small noise and covered her face, as if to suddenly feel extremely grateful that she was only merely sat in an awful nightmare. She shook her head, into her hands and counted every single one of her blessings, though she suddenly jumped as she could feel Zed's strong hand meet her lower back.

"Whoa, hey," Zed croaked through a deep, sleepy voice; he drew his hand back as Tessa jolted away from him, though she finally relaxed her stance and heaved a hard sigh. Zed propped himself up on his elbow and squinted his eyes through the morning sunshine, "Y-You okay? What happened?"

"I just had a bad dream," Tessa waved him off and rubbed her face in hard annoyance; her hair was beginning to curl back to it's normal, deep waves. She gripped her bangs with her larger fingers and shook her head, "User, that was terrible."

"What happened?" Zed grumbled as he sunk back to the bed, though he lovingly pat his bare chest, as if to silently ask for her to come cuddle with him. Tessa eagerly obliged and was more than happy to receive a good dose of comfort.

"I don't even know," Tessa giggled, "Sugar Rush was like... A blank nothingness. And Lickity could talk. And she sounded like a man."

"What," Zed laughed sleepily as Tessa sunk into his bare chest and wrapped her arms around his center. The two melted into each other's morning warmth. Zed tucked his chin to the top of Tessa's head, "Sounds weird. I can only imagine Lickity having a creepy man voice."

"It was weird," Tessa finally giggled and realized just how stupid the dream began to sound, "Though, she attacked me at the end of it, and that's what scared me."

"She would never attack you," Zed said through a long sigh as he began to pet the back of Tessa's head.

Tessa nuzzled her nose into Zed's chest and furrowed her eyebrows through her squinted, closed eyes. She shook her head, as if to agree with Zed, though her circuits held onto the horrible nightmare she was graced with, just minutes prior. The two continued to lay in their massive, warm bed, for what seemed to be about an hour. Tessa was surprised what simply putting a small amount of source code, into each other, did for their diligence and restrain. The two only warmly and daintily loved on each other, as if they had upgraded their patience. She knew their final swap, which was just upon them, would be exciting, though she was glad the two finally reached a silent understanding.

Before too long, the two got properly dressed, cleaned the loft, and slowly moseyed to the massive stone elevator, which lead to the very tip to of Stonecrest. Just as the large, circular platform was about to grace them with the morning wind, Tessa inhaled a curious breath and smelled the air. She inwardly felt curiosity sweep over her. The game smelled sweeter, yummier, as if all her senses were heightened. As the two popped out into the world, albeit slowly, they were graced with the flawless sight of Stonecrest, and all of it's green glory, though the two were eagerly confused as to just one detail missing, from their grand valley; there was not a single cloud in sight. Tessa opened her mouth, furrowed her eyebrows and lazily pointed, though the two caught eyes in utter confusion.

"... Didn't you say," Zed trailed off softly.

"Stonecrest always has storm clouds, no matter what time of the day," Tessa completed his sentence slowly as the two locked eyes to each other, in pure confusion, though she lightly shrugged and looked up to Sugar Rush's confident sunshine, "Guess it's just gunna be a really hot, sunny day, here in Stonecrest. That's really rare."

"Weird," Zed let his eyes pierce the land before him, though he lovingly smiled at Tessa, after a few short moments, "I'm going to head back to my game, really quick. Just to check up on everything. I'll head right back, and we can continue the daily checks on Sugar Rush."

"Sounds good," Tessa lovingly pet Lickity's snout as she pushed into their bubble, "You want to take Lickity? The trip will be faster, if you do."

"Are you just saying that so you can drive my light-bike, again?" Zed chuckled as he softly slipped the baton out of the back of his black, baggy jean's pocket.

"Yes," Tessa smirked as he willingly handed her the baton; she swiped it from him and hissed a small, excited notion.

"Fine," Zed rolled his eyes, though he smiled towards to Lickity, who lovingly began to lap at his hand, "Air travel IS faster than land. But I guess I do have a longer distance, huh."

"Meet me at the castle, we can meet up with my mom and dad and... Hopefully be congratulated and whatever else," Tessa rolled her eyes, "That was a piece of cake. I don't know why they hyped it up, so much."

"Can't question it, I guess," Zed urged with a small shrug, though he gently began to mount Lickity, "I'll meet you at the castle in a little bit, then."

"Okay, see you soon," Tessa smiled with a small wave as Lickity leaped into the air, though not without a kind, grumbling notion towards Tessa.

Tessa continued to wave softly as she watched her two favorite beings drift off towards Stonecrest's city, though after a moment, Lickity's gorgeous, massive wingspan finally banked and the two sped off in the direction of Sugar Rush's entrance. Tessa's smile only continued to broaden, though she lightly waved around Zed's baton of a light cycle and eyed it curiously. She was excited to now be left to her own devices, to run the light cycle at her own will. Before she could over think her drive back to the castle, she quickly unraveled Zed's magnificent light bike and began her decent down the small peak she was on.

Zed smiled as he zipped through Sugar Rush's delicious sky with grace and ease. He bit his bottom lip and tucked tight to Lickity as she rolled, once, in the air and dove snout first into Sugar Rush's entrance. The two practically sailed at the speed of light through Sugar Rush's winding wires. Zed beamed an excited smile and was always down for a lightning speed race on Lickity's back. He knew there was no faster creature, or machinery, to be ridden. He gripped Lickity's saddle with enthusiasm, though just as Lickity was two dozen feet from entering Sugar Rush's main outlet, that led to the glowing Game Central Station, Zed felt electricity hit his skull, with a sharp amount of pain, as if information had finally been downloaded, once and for all.

He largely coughed a confused noise and stiffened his posture, on Lickity. He gripped his head in dire need and hunched over, as if to suddenly forget just where he was. Lickity immediately drew attention to her rider, and favorite bad guy. She perked her ears, opened her wings out wide, and caught as much air as she could in her massive sail like wings. She sunk down to the ground and, with all of her force, she skid to a hard, drastic stop just before Sugar Rush's exit to Game Central Station. Lickity exhaled a hard whine of a noise and largely looked over her shoulder, as if to inquire just what was going on. Zed heavily choked a few, nervous inhales and let his eyes grow wide. He shook his head and, before Lickity could practically learn English and beg him to tell her just what was going on, Zed slid off of Lickity's back and stumbled to the ground; he looked majorly confused, as if he was killed for good, but then reset out of the entirety of a miracle.

"Lickity!" Zed hollered in shaking confusion as he gestured his hands out to her, as if he hadn't seen her in years. He grabbed her cheeks and looked at her in terrified surprise, "I-I... You! It's you! I freed you!"

Lickity laid her ears flat and sniffed at Zed's hands, she gave him a nervous, confused look and grumbled a small noise, almost to inquire if he was alright.

"My memories," Zed hissed in amazement as his eyes got lost in Lickity's scales. She bounced a few times and bobbed her head up in down in hard annoyance, as if to wonder just what was going on. Zed shook his head and panted loudly in terrified confusion, "My memories are coming back to me...! But why now? Why all of the sudden? Nothing's changed, nothing's different! This is so stupid, why here? Wh-why now?! I didn't do anything... I still have the additive!" Zed rushed clumsily as he wildly gestured his hands about.

Lickity shook her head and perked her ears, as if to beg him to continue.

"The reason you followed me home, when we found you, was because I-I set you free, from Orph! You found me!" Zed uttered with a hard laugh, his trembling hands gestured out towards her, as his words seemingly stammered from his mouth, as if he didn't know quite where to begin, "I-I told you I'd take care of you if you ever found me, and you did! Through Tessa!"

Lickity grumbled a honk of a noise, as if to potentially insinuate a 'no duh' moment.

"I remember my brothers!... User, my brothers..."

Zed shoved his hand to his forehead and took a clumsy step backwards. Like peeling off a blind fold for good, his eyes scanned the entrance into Game Central Station. Gamers bustled about, without a single care in the world. How small all of his issues seemed, though the fact that every single hard truth and fact came rushing to his brain, in such a short amount of time, he knew he was in for a major migraine. He scoffed a small, incredulous laugh as his eyes got lost in the station's warm glow, though his heart continued to sink with just what was finally being processed. As if leaving Sugar Rush was just what he needed to pop free from this eternal cloud of his.

"Th-they hate me because of Radex, not because I'm unbeatable," Zed uttered in a scared tone, though he largely furrowed his eyebrows as the memories slowly came back to him, one by one by one, as if they were tediously attacking his brain stem, "The things he had planned, for Sugar Rush... Through me..."

Zed shook his head, held his forehead and stumbled backwards. He continued to pant through hard curiosity and, as if the final memory slapped him straight across the face, he drew a slow turn down Sugar Rush's wires, in painful realization. He gazed into his second home, a wild look of fear riddled his face. He shook his head and took a few nervous, wobbling steps closer to Sugar Rush's entrance, away from Game Central Station.

"No, no, no nono!" Zed's voice grew as he suddenly gripped his hair, though he largely gestured towards Lickity and moved towards her quickly, "This is all my fault, this is all my fault! C'mon, we have to get back to the castle, Lickity."

Lickity spread her wings as Zed mounted her, though she peered back to Sugar Rush in hard confusion and hung still for a second.

"C'mon, I've already wasted enough time, Lickity, c'mon!" Zed hollered, though Lickity quickly snapped out of her delirious confusion and took to the air, once more.

She largely flapped a few times before she caught enough speed, for Zed's liking. The two sailed back down Sugar Rush's wires, though Zed's heart sunk farther and farther with impending dread, as the memories continued to sink into his skin like molten lava. He shook his head and tried his hardest to wrap his brain around everything that was suddenly taking place, though his one motif was to get to Tessa, and hopefully get to a still-standing castle.

A/N: I painted a picture, from the beginning scene of this chapter - titled 'Good Intentions' on my deviantART :)