*Chapter 130*
As the sun sank far below Sugar Rush's horizon, a certain, lonely soul sat perched atop the wall of Vanellope's bedroom balcony. The grown and loved cherry blossom tree sent dainty petals about the calm, sweeter smelling air, though Penny knew it was all just a facade, a mere tease. As if Sugar Rush's atmosphere knew something was definitely wrong, and the overload of sweetly sensory would somehow calm it's citizens and every being within. Penny hugged her arms around her center and shivered with the lingering, troublesome feeling of ending someone's soul for good. She shut her eyes tight and could hardly wrap her mind around it.
"You doing okay, through this?" Taffyta's higher voice tenderly asked, though Penny didn't budge. Taffyta inched closer to her young daughter, though felt it strange she now had to largely look up to her.
"How could I be," Penny uttered, her voice croaked, as if she had been out here crying for a long while now. She shook her head and laid her hateful gaze to the land below, "My father has an evil clone, and I just lost two of my best friends... Saying I was doing okay, through this, would be like saying Sugar Rush is just totally fine, and everyone is so hunky-dory."
"Welp," Taffyta grunted as she made her way up onto the balcony's ledge, to get closer to eye level with her daughter. Her short legs made it easy for her to sit, though she leaned forward a little and tucked some of her choppy, white hair behind her ear. Her brilliant eyes finally laid up into her daughter's, "I can tell you, Lickity is one happy camper."
"Where is she?" Penny quietly urged as her eye contact went from annoyed to concerned, as if Lickity was now totally her responsibility; a chore she was more than happy to take on.
"Ah, she ran off with Orion, or something," Taffyta waved her hand in annoyance, "Orion got a bit of a downgrade... He was useless. He lost his ability to think and rationalize. Him and Lickity hit it off and vanished to the fields beyond Starkrem's borders. I'm sure Lickity will find her way back tomorrow."
"User, I hope they don't find themselves with a loading bar," Penny finally felt a smile want to hit her face, though she resisted the temptation and shoved it away as quickly as she could.
"Nah, they're two different species anyways, it'd never work," Taffyta waved her four-fingered hand and looked out to Sugar Rush's darker, yet still cheery and bubbly scenery; a far different sight than the stoic valleys and mountains they were used to.
Penny furrowed her eyebrows and, she knew if Tessa and Zed were to fail in her mission, she made it a secret promise to herself to run away to Dead Zed with Lickity, and likely attempt to try her hand at a new life. She felt her eyes sting with tears as she glanced down at the back of her mother's head; her mother, a strong, independent figure in her life, now seemed more than vulnerable, a small version of herself Penny knew she could never get used to. She knew running away wouldn't solve anything, though she knew somehow she'd never get over the loss of her two weeks older cousin, if anything bad were to ever happen. She felt her heart grow sore, as if she was more than prepared to let Lickity take her under her wing, and flee the crime scene with the only piece of Tessa Penny would ever have left. She tried her hardest not to dabble in the 'what if's', though she almost relished in it, with the kind of day she had already endured.
"Do you think we should leave Sugar Rush?" Penny laced her voice with nonchalant, as if she was somehow hoping no one would catch on to her impending escape to Dead Zed.
"Potentially," Taffyta barely shrugged and shook her head, though her eyes pierced Penny's, "You know your father had nothing to do with this... Don't you?"
"I know that dad and Radex used to be the same person," Penny urged darkly as she sent her mother an annoyed glare, though the look of growing sternness Taffyta easily volleyed back had Penny remembering that she wasn't in charge.
"Yeah, and after a long while of him earning his place in the castle, sacrificing his life for Tessa, and sharing his life core with you, my love, I'd change your tone real quick," Taffyta darkly snapped; Penny raised her eyebrows in growing humility.
"It's not so much I shared my life core with you," Rancis suddenly chimed as he slowly made his presence known on the balcony; Taffyta and Penny softly peered their attention to him as he approached, "It was an equal transfer... We would've never survived without each other."
Penny finally gave her father a look of loving concern as he, too, made his way onto the ledge of the balcony Penny was leaned against. He lovingly pat Penny's lower arm and gave her a look of gentle concern.
"I never meant for any of this to happen," Rancis uttered quietly as his eyes idly glossed his little hand, where it met Penny's lower arm, "User knows if I could've prevented any of this, I'd give anything..."
"You have, before," Taffyta said kindly, the two caught eyes in a whirl of appreciation to one another, though Rancis largely gripped Penny's arm and swiped Taffyta's hand into his free one as well.
"I don't care what kind of status we're in," Rancis urged quietly, "We're all still family... We all still stick together."
"What if Tessa never comes back?" Penny suddenly uttered, her voice suspiciously shook.
"Why... Why do you think she won't come back?" Rancis urged. The shocking news that Tessa and Zed had escaped to Tron had everyone on edge.
"She went to the real world, for crying out loud!" Penny barked as she ripped her hand away from her parents and took a few nervous steps back, "How do you survive something like that? They're in a place where if you die, no matter where you are, you don't regenerate."
"Y'gotta have a little bit more faith," Taffyta worried, though Penny shook her head and knew somehow this nonsense was hopeless.
"Penny," Rancis called as their daughter finally, and painfully peeled away.
She quickly barged out of Vanellope's room and, with swift footwork, she began to work her way down the smaller spiral staircase. She shook her head and felt her heart begin to sink harder and harder. She almost wished Lickity was hanging around the Great Hall; she knew she had never flown Lickity before, though if there was any moment where she'd pretend she knew how, she knew this would be the moment. She stormed into the small, pink Great Hall, and as much as she wanted to throw herself into her bedroom and pack herself a runaway bag, she resisted. She knew a walk around the castle grounds would be enough to clear her head, though she almost felt as if the game was now out to get her as she spot Ralph, Vanellope, Oliver and Emery hanging near the entrance of the corridor that led to the kitchen; a once beautifully crowned archway in modern modesty, though now looked as if the walls were that of the interior of a fun house. She wrinkled her nose in growing disgust, though as much as she wanted to push past the four without being seen, their wary gazes caught to her energetic vibe.
"Pens, y'okay?" Vanellope largely worried, her high, nasally voice was clearly something even she wasn't used to anymore, "Where are you going?"
"Out," Penny darkly uttered, she knew she never would have dared to hold this attitude with her aunt Vanellope, ever before, though she began to feel as if a more brooding, angry side to her was beginning to take over.
"Whoa, hey, what's with the 'tude, Pens, you can't just leave, the whole game is in chaos," Oliver barked; he began to feel protective of his mother's feelings.
"Yeah, because I'm related to a two-timing asshole," Penny's voice grew deeper, though louder. She shot Oliver a hateful side glare and shook her head, "Not like you would know. How's it goin' over there? Just wreckers? Talkin' about wreckin', probably? At least Tessa and Zed are out trying to fix this mess."
"Excuse you," Oliver argued, he largely furrowed his eyebrows and began to take a few steps to get in front of her, though her agile footwork spoke ten thousand hours of skill, "Penny, why are you getting so bent out of shape? We're supposed to sit and wait, there's nothing any of us can do from the inside of the game!"
"What, y'wanna sit and have a tea party, while the virus I'm related to has a hay-day on our home?" Penny largely stopped, sarcastically clapped her hands to form a polite, gesture of two fists, and gave Oliver the sassiest goo-goo eyes she could. It largely dropped, as did her hands, as she finally shot Oliver a death glare of the century, "At least you're related to royalty. Never gave YOU any trouble. Count your lucky crowns, there, Olly."
"Watch what you say about your parents," Vanellope snapped; she knew she had never had to discipline Penny, though the fact that she now was face to face with her adult niece had her brain doing back flips, as if approaching this raw situation was something she never even could dream up, "They've done more for you than you can even imagine."
"I'm grateful," Penny assured Vanellope sincerely, though in a tone that led to suggest she was still angry, "I don't want to turn into my father's clone. I don't want to be like the jerk that inhabits the very core of our game..."
"How would you, Penny? There's no way you'd ever become like that," Ralph urged as he gestured his large hand and nervously peered back to Emery, Oliver and Vanellope. They easily nodded, to largely agree with everything Ralph was saying.
"Because I killed someone, today," Penny hollered as she clenched her fists, "I killed someone. I have blood on my hands... Sure, it's not innocent blood, but I still killed someone! Can any of YOU guys say that about yourselves?"
"You killed someone?!" Vanellope uttered in a scared tone.
"Penny, it was my idea! If anyone should feel guilty, it's me!" Oliver bellowed.
"You didn't go through with it! With the very, double striped sword that nearly killed Uncle Felix!" Penny largely retorted.
"Will someone explain what the hell is going on?" Ralph's dominant voice boomed; Emery largely covered her face in growing realization.
"I killed Selka," Penny's eyes began to look terrified and crazed as she challenged her uncle, the very king of the game, "I killed a guy that has been pining over Tessa for months now! If I didn't kill Selka, Selka would have killed Zed! It's because of me that those two are beyond the Arcade's limits right now, probably having all kinds of code-free sex right about now!"
"C'mon Penny, know your audience," Oliver grumbled, though Penny shot him a daring look of rising dominance over him.
"Oh, like you're one to talk, Mr. I'm just gunna give my code away real quick, when the next day, I will need it for the sake of my home game!" Penny spat; Oliver largely glared her down.
"Like I had ANY idea any of this would happen!" Oliver argued, for Emery's sake, "That is totally irrelevant! At least MY swap didn't ruin the whole game!"
"Tessa and Zed didn't know any of this would happen!" Penny hollered, though she was floored to see Ralph and Vanellope remain still, to let the two battle it out, "None of you guys seem grateful that those two are out on the front lines, doing anything and everything! Defying their own coding just so set everything straight!"
"We're grateful, Penny, we were just discussing this before you showed up!" Vanellope volleyed as she waved her small arm about.
"When they come back, I'm going to welcome them back into the game with open arms," Penny growled as she set a hateful glare into Oliver's eyes, as if she was now on a one track mind; Oliver gave her a floored look of confusion.
"And you think I wouldn't?" Oliver barked.
"And if they DON'T come home, I'm going to remember them for the heroes they were," Penny's voice shook as the impending tears finally welled to fruition in her eyes.
"Penny, they're GOING to make it home," Ralph urged, even though he was uncertain of his stern words. Just as he was about to carry on, he flinched as Penny began to largely step away. His face sloped to genuine concern as the four quickly darted looks of worry to each other, "Where are you going?"
"To go on a walk, find Lickity, sit by Big Green," Penny uttered through her tears, "ANYTHING... Anything to remember the good times. Memories are all we have, now."
Ralph slumped his shoulders and opened his mouth to beg Penny to return, though she largely slammed the castle doors shut and was gone in a flash. He softly peered into Oliver's eyes in a draw of concern, though he looked back to him in pure confusion. Emery softly shook her head, looked down and caught eyes with Vanellope's scared gaze.
"I can't believe she killed Selka," Emery's tender voice coated the strange dregs of prickled fear that Penny left behind.
"Even Radex doesn't have blood on his hands," Vanellope uttered as she shoved her hands into the front pocket of her mint green hoodie. She shook her head and gave Ralph her look of exhausted eye contact, "That's one thing Penny will never be able to take back... She'll return. I'm sure she just has a lot of soul searching to do, now."
"That's a heavy burden," Ralph nodded, his voice finally dwindled, "I cant imagine having that over my head..."
"She's just panicked," Oliver assured, "We all are... But I know we'll make it out of this mess. Tessa and Zed won't let us down."