Song Listened to : Angels - Owl City

*Chapter 118*

"Does it hurt?" Penny quietly wondered. Her and Oliver slowly moseyed up Vanellope's dainty spiral staircase, and though it was still large and beckoning, it still was a lot smaller than what they were used to.

"No," Oliver eased as he looked down to his fingers, which were almost completely see through. He softly wiggled them and shook his head, curiously, "It only hurts when it spreads."

Penny nodded lightly and tried her very hardest to remain strong through this trying time. She heaved a shaky sigh and, as clumsily and exhausted as their feet could carry them, they pushed into Ralph and Vanellope's bedroom, at the very top of the landing. They noticed it was a lot smaller, daintier, and was housed with furniture that only their downgraded versions could properly use. Decorations still hung on the walls, as well as light fixtures, however. The massive, wooden wall, to Penny's and Oliver's left, still held the secretive Hull, the one place in Sugar Rush that was considered the very heart of the game. Penny curiously eyed it and hoped that everything inside said secretive room was still in one piece. Oliver groaned a nervous noise and moseyed over to his mother's opened balcony french doors.

"Oliver," Penny chimed in kind wonder, though it was clear she was heavily covering her quivering voice. Oliver largely looked back at her and felt his heart sink. She looked nearly devastated as she pressed on, "I'm... I'm really scared."

"Scared?" Oliver wondered innocently, as if he was relying on her strength to keep from being scared, himself, "Yeah? You too?"

"Yeah," Penny worried as large tears gathered in her eyes, "I-I... I don't like this uncertainty. What's going to happen to Sugar Rush?"

"Nothing," Oliver demanded quietly, though he quickly rushed Penny and gripped her upper arms, with all the love his tired hands could muster, "We'll be just fine... Tessa will come back with Zed, she'll nose around the Hull and reverse this curse... We'll be just fine."

"Wh-what if... What if Tessa doesn't-"

"Stop, stop," Oliver demanded quietly and lovingly, as he shook Penny, "We have two coding geniuses, in our family... Tessa and Zed won't let us down."

Penny softly nodded and finally let the tears roll down her cheeks, as if she had been trying so hard to keep her composure, though Oliver largely scooped her into his arms and, with much force, the two grappled for each other and held on for dear life. Penny lightly heaved a few sobs and held the back of Oliver's head, as he buried farther into her.

"I-I don't want you to disappear, Oliver, I don't want to lose any of you guys," Penny quietly worried, through her tears. She continued to try and pretend she was solid strength, through this mess, though her shaking hands proved otherwise. Oliver scrunched his eyes shut tight and forced back any tears that tried to form.

"I'll be fine, c'mon, I'm still here," Oliver uttered into her shoulder, "I'm not going anywhere."

"You're more than just my little cousin, Olly," Penny complained outwards as she held Oliver closer, "This isn't fair... I-I can't believe I'm related to the asshole in charge of this mess."

"You're not related to Radex," Oliver firmly demanded as he yanked himself out of his and Penny's hug, though he grappled for Penny's upper arms, yet again, and held her solid. He eagerly peered into her glassy eyes with his honest, teary orbs as well, "He's merely a copy-paste of Uncle Rancis, gone wrong... This doesn't tie to you. Don't do that to yourself."

"He's right, Pens," Tessa uttered as she finally made her presence known; how long she was standing in the doorway, listening, was beyond Penny and Oliver. She pushed closer to them and crossed her arms, "Radex may be Uncle Rancis's clone, but he's not your blood. We don't consider Radex family. You shouldn't, either."

"Where's Zed?" Penny worried as hers and Oliver's facial expressions sloped to even more terrified, genuine concern.

"I turned around," Tessa muttered as she looked back at the Hull. It practically begged her to come forth, "I need to take care of you guys, first and foremost."

"But Tess," Oliver started, though Tessa raised her hand and interrupted him.

"Dad and Lickity went looking for Zed," Tessa rushed as she furrowed her eyebrows in growing annoyance, yet with a twinge of appreciation, "Knowing dad, they should be back here in no time."

"How do you know Uncle Ralph and Lickity went looking for Zed?" Penny prod with scared eyes.

"... Selka told me," Tessa muttered, though just as the words left her mouth, she knew she had suddenly dug herself a hole.

"SELKA?" Oliver bellowed, though he uttered a hard grimace and gripped his wrist, which continued to lightly vanish. The two girls largely tensed to his aid and worriedly gave him looks, as if to question if he was alright, though Oliver loudly continued, through gritted teeth, "Why were you with Selka of all people! You were supposed to go get Zed! Not the idiot trying to steal you from Zed!"

"He was in Game Central Station, near Sugar Rush," Tessa rushed as she waved her hand in annoyance, "User forbid I stop for a second, to cry it out! Selka said he saw my dad and my dragon rushing into Dead Zed. I took that as my cue to come back to help make sure you guys were safe and sound."

"We don't have a lot of time," Penny worried as she held Oliver's wrist in growing confusion.

"I shouldn't be gone for too long," Tessa urged as she began to step towards the Hull, "Stay with Oliver and... Whatever happens, just keep him comfortable."

"Tessa, what if... What if he-"

"He won't! He won't vanish, Penny, he won't!" Tessa urged loudly, though her anger was more directed outwards to the corrupted wiring of her own game. She shook her head and gave Penny a loving, though stern look, "We have to stay strong. Let's just get over this hurdle. After this is fixed, Zed and I will look into ridding the game of Radex."

"Okay," Penny urged, though she largely grappled for Oliver's arm as he tiredly attempted to sit against the wall they were near, "Hurry back."

"I will," Tessa nodded, though she slowly turned to face the entrance of the Hull.

Tessa finally felt as if every single minute of her training, every sentence read, in Sugar Rush's code book, every single tireless night ridding Zed of the additive, in his brain coding, all came down to this moment. She knew no one, but her mother and father, had set foot into the Hull. Not one single place in Sugar Rush was as secretive and well kept than the Hull. Sugar Rush's hot, daytime sunshine beamed into the room and made the birch wood shine in a delicate, hot and blinding way, as if to warmly beckon her to melt inside. Just as Tessa was about to let fear convince her that she was unworthy, she softly let her palm come alive with her now rare, purple coding. The circuits sprawled her skin with delightful confidence, and as easily as Tessa could, she sunk her hand beyond the wall and, once and for all, stepped inside.

Penny slumped her shoulders and was relieved to see that Tessa was able to get into the Hull, though she felt fear hit her skin with suddenly how alone she felt. She lightly paced the bedroom floor and kept an eye on Oliver. The two idly chat, though with the massive storm cloud, that hung over them, not one single topic could be discussed without it looming back to their dire situation at hand. Penny crossed her arms and, like a hawk, she watched Oliver's arms and hands and made sure there wasn't any scary spike in transparency on his skin. Oliver sat against the wall, which was shared with the entrance to Vanellope's bedroom, as well as the entrance to the Loft. He looked extraordinarily tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. His eyes dazed across the room, as if he was doing everything he could to stay awake.

"Y'alright, Olly? Stay with me," Penny urged as she took a few steps closer to his slumped over position.

"I-I'm okay, I'm just... So weak," Oliver groaned, "I-I can't really feel my fingers."

"Just sit tight, I'm sure Tessa will be back soon, here," Penny worried, though she gasped a hard inhale as she suddenly noticed another figure make themselves present in Vanellope's room.

"You guys okay?" Selka softly wondered, though Penny largely furrowed her eyebrows and began to feel her blood begin to want to boil, from the coldness that draped over her prior.

"What are you doing here?" Penny snapped, she knew she could care less about manners, at this stand point, "We're sort of in the middle of a family emergency, if you don't mind."

"Tessa told me what happened," Selka's voice remained soft, though he nervously kept his gaze to Oliver, in growing curiosity, "I-I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay."

"What's it to you?" Penny spat as she took a few angry steps and stood before Oliver, to protect him; he exhaled a hard breath, as if it took all of his energy to even breathe.

"I was just wanting to make sure everyone was alright, Penny, you don't need to be so hostile," Selka argued gently as he held his hands out, defensively, "I figured you guys could probably use some support."

"Why, because Zed's not here? You just want to swoop in and somehow come out of this a hero, like you played your part in comforting us?" Penny crossed her arms and kept her dark attitude; she knew she'd do anything to protect Oliver, as well as Tessa's and Zed's reputation.

"... That thought didn't even cross my mind," Selka said in hard annoyance as he slumped his shoulders, as if trying to prove his kindness, to everyone, was becoming something that was beyond a chore.

"I will give you anything you want, if you turn right around and leave, right now," Penny glowered as she kept her dominant position before Oliver.

"What, and let Zed come back into the game and mess it up farther?" Selka gestured outwards, "Didn't I tell you guys, from the beginning, that he couldn't handle being associated with you guys? Look what happened!"

"You have NO idea what even happened," Penny yelled, "You don't even have the whole story. You have no room to talk."

"I'm not going to let you guys continue to be duped, by him," Selka crossed his arms and peered about the room, as if to suggest he was going to make himself comfortable.

"You're such a shithead," Penny spit venom; she knew, in dire situations, she was scared to see just how rude she could become, "You don't know anything about him."

"I know he's the reason your cousin, there, is vanishing," Selka gestured to Oliver, who was beyond exhaustion; so much so, that his chest looked as if it was having a hard time rising and falling, for breathing, "The game is downgrading on itself, no? It's because of Zed's disgusting coding, isn't it."

"You're wrong," Penny growled as she clenched her fists; she could swear, that all the time spent with Tessa, Oliver, Vanellope and Ralph, that she had potentially picked up a thing or two about wrecking. She was certain, that with all of her anger, she could wreck something, no problem.

"The game seems to think I'm right," Selka looked up to the ceiling, with growing snark, though he finally peered into Penny's eyes with growing annoyance.

"It's because of a virus associated with my dad," Penny dared as she continued to keep her fists clenched, though Selka cocked an eyebrow.

"So it was an inside job?" Selka wondered, "Zed just somehow thought it'd be cool to team up with said virus?"

"Yes, that's exactly it," Penny uttered in dull sarcasm, she rolled her eyes in growing hatred, "You cracked the case..."

With small, snakes of purple circuits, that seemingly tried to draw Tessa farther into the Hull, she squinted her eyes and tried her very hardest to see through the near pitch black. Towards the far end of the room, hung a window, just beyond a massive, glorious work station. She almost felt alien, being in such a top secret room; a room her and her fellow Sugar Rush kidlets knew, growing up, that this room was to be untouched, no matter what. The importance of just what this room held, was everything Sugar Rush contained. Tessa held her breath as she approached her mother's marvelous work station. It was a proper, white, glossy perch with four large screens that beveled appropriately, so to be able to see each one, while working. The window, behind her, had a proper, near ceiling view of the code room below. Tessa's eyes scanned every single code box she had come to know and love. With a soft, silent promise, to said code boxes, to set things right, Tessa finally focused her whole attention on her mom's work station.

As she neared, a small, glowing set of lines appeared on the glossy, white table top before her. She flinched and noticed it was a generic set of a finger print, as if it was kindly asking for a password, before she could continue. Tessa softly pushed her thumb to it and let her purple circuits come to life. As if she was surprised that worked, the computer softly lit up and opened all of Vanellope's tasks, that she had left prior. It was neat and tidy, as if she still had work to do, though she was going to put it off until after her mini vacation was over. Tessa finally inhaled a readied breath and began to poke around. Before too long, she found a long log of every single save, reset and milestone of the game. She dragged her finger down the list until she came upon a date that had a caption near it; it read 'move to Disneyland - Flynn's Arcade'. Tessa softly pushed it, and opened a few of it's information indexes.

With a pounding heart, Tessa softly pressed a button that said 'revive save file', though as if she had been largely popped out of her own thoughts, what had sparked across the room had her pulse racing at the speed of light. A large, door-like apparition appeared with a loud spark, though it was kindly outlined in her own purple coding. She quickly moved away from her mother's work station and peered into it. Through the watery like glass surface, of the portal, was what looked to be the opposite side of the Great Hall, just before the code room doors, though it wasn't an entrance to the Great Hall from below her feet. She knew it was the Great Hall, from two years passed. Tessa felt a wash of fear come over her, though she knew she had to somehow set things right, whether it meant being lost in her own game's old files, or not.

A/N: Another 'end of chappie' update! I uploaded the 2nd to last painterly request to my deviantART, the scene where Tessa turns Zed's hair pink xD It's on my deviantART titled 'Fear The Faux-Codes' - username Vyntresser

I also just uploaded a painting of Tessa and Lickity, so go checks it outtttss :D Thanks guys!