Song Listened To : Home We'll Go (Take My Hand) by Steve Aoki ft. Walk Off The Earth - Neon Future II
*Chapter 132*
The grass was lightly damp, a nighttime dew that laid to rest on the dark field Penny let her eyes scan for the thousandth time. She tucked her knees closer to her chest, her heels softly dug further into Sugar Rush's soft, chocolate soil. She was thankful Big Green had remained. It's massive, dark green trunk and every swaying leaves, Penny was certain this was her only epicenter of comfort. The yellow blossoms that crowned Big Green, for late summer months, softly drifted with the cool, nightly breeze that whisked through the land, onward to the castle. Penny inhaled a sharp sniffle and pushed her chin to the tops of her knees, just into the squish of her forearms. She shook her head just barely and, as her glassy eyes coated the stars and constellations above, she had to wonder just how her two favorite people were, if they made it out of the Arcade alive, if they would somehow remember their home. Their center of the universe.
Penny's skin riddled in soft goosebumps. Sugar Rush's northern breeze was cooler during the night, though would heat up to almost unbearable degrees during the day, due to the game's sugary humidity. She softly stroked her thumb on her forearm, for further comfort to herself. She knew, in this mess, she was likely going to have to comfort herself out of the funk she had deeply fallen in. She knew no one could quite possibly understand just what she was going through. She furrowed her eyebrows and squinted through the tears, the very image of Selka's spine arching in dire pain as her father's sword ended his life for good. She shook her head a little and, as badly as she wanted to loudly weep into her skin, she felt her heart harden. She allowed her skin to gain a sense of thickening, as if she was prepared to molt for the winter, a permanent hibernation she was certain could only be cracked by the safe return of Tessa and Zed.
"Big 'ol Green," Rancis's kind, gentle, and smaller voice warmly chimed. Penny flinched, inhaled a startled gasp and drew her sharp, angered attention to her father. He threw his hands up in defense and froze. He stood a few feet away from her, he was dressed in his dark brown pants and orange shirt, though he had eagerly ditched his racing hat and jacket, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you, hun."
"Hi, dad," Penny uttered quietly, she re-glued her eyes to Sugar Rush's landscape. The distant, rolling hills had gathered a cool, nighttime fog, the gumdrop mountains and ranges, far on the horizon, glistened with Sugar Rush's still boasting, crisp white moon.
"I hope nothing else downgrades from here," Rancis urged with a small smile as he took a seat next to Penny, who was now a lot larger than he, "This land was far too beautiful to rewind from."
"Psh'yeh," Penny scoffed darkly, she rolled her eyes just barely, shook her head in dismay and tucked her chin to her forearms again.
Rancis furrowed his brows and, as he got comfortable on the small mound of grass next to Penny, which held a little bit of elevation, he calmly assessed his daughter. It was clear the shyness, innocence and charm had left her soul, though he was hoping it was only temporary. She was beautiful; as dainty and rare as a white flower amidst Sugar Rush's brilliantly colored poppy fields. Her blonde hair looked a light mess, as if through the turmoil, she had forgotten about her appearance altogether. Her demeanor was purely sagged, exhausted sunken eyes and a frown to match. With a tender, smaller hand, Rancis laid his fingers on her skin. He could nearly feel her tighten as if she didn't want comfort, purely for the fact that she would lose her strict composure altogether.
"I know how you feel, Penny," Rancis eased tenderly, his eyes, though a downgraded version, still held an infinite amount of his own, upgraded wisdom. He lightly let his eyes lull closed as he slumped his shoulders, "I've never killed someone, though... I did come close... And it wasn't to protect anyone, either."
"Uncle Felix?" Penny muttered quietly; she knew the story well.
"Yep," Rancis quipped quietly as his eyes finally laid to rest on the land before them, "I didn't know what to do. I was just... so overcome with grief. Half of me wanted this kingdom, so badly. The more Vanellope rejected me, the more mad I became."
"Hard to believe you wanted aunt Vanellope's hand, dad," Penny finally let a secretive smile grace her cheeks, only meant for her father. She peered to him through the innocent light of her eyes, the warmth that Rancis so badly craved. He gave her a loving smile in return, though not without a small eye-roll.
"She's way outta my league," Rancis teased, "Pretty sure your mother would have my head, anyhow."
"I wouldn't exist, either," Penny bantered, though she slumped her shoulders and sighed a conclusion, "Wouldn't want that..."
Rancis beamed a closed-mouth grin and squinted, as if to assess his beautiful daughter a little harder. He softly wrinkled his fingers on her skin over and over, to give her fatherly comfort he knew she so badly needed, even if she wanted to reject it entirely. He pushed the limit, however. He knew exactly what she desired.
"Don't lay blame on yourself for something that is entirely my fault, Pens," Rancis's soft voice ventured, though Penny gave her father a nervous look of inquisition. Rancis shook his head softly and smiled, "You can't do this to yourself... Radex coming into being is my fault, wholly my doing. Sure, Ralph... Sort of knocked me into Vanilla Lake and made it so we split into two, due to corruption and a hard reset of the game..."
"So it's Uncle Ralph's fault, then," Penny hissed, as if to want to seem upset at said notion, though she merely smiled and shook her head, "What a world."
"Everyone plays a part somehow, though nothing was intentional," Rancis urged quietly, "Ralph knocked me into Vanilla Lake because, well... I nearly killed his brother. I nearly put Fix It Felix Jr. out of commission, because I was so wrought with hate."
"All because you were denied being King," Penny tsked a noise and gave her father a playfully upset look, "Shame."
"Eh, it's not all it's cut out to be, anyhow," Rancis lazily waved his hand downward, "I'm just fine being Knight. Besides. I have a beautiful wife, and a beautiful daughter. I also have a wonderful niece and nephew. Everything fell into place, just like how it should... Do I regret anything that happened? No, I don't..."
Penny furrowed her eyebrows and gave her father her full, eager attention and froze.
"Sure, the game is sort of... In turmoil, but," Rancis scoffed and nervously looked away with a smile, though he brought his confident attention right back to Penny's gloriously glassy eyes, "I have a wonderful family... If Sugar Rush goes down the drain, I know we'll all still have each other. And Radex will go down with the ship."
"What does he want, anyhow?" Penny hissed in hard annoyance, as if she was prepared to tell Radex just what for, if she had the chance.
"Control," Rancis muttered, "Back when I had mental connection to him, he would constantly mull over the idea of having complete control of the game, and would give images and ideas of what he had planned for Sugar Rush."
"What was that?" Penny ventured.
"Pure chaos," Rancis sighed sadly, "For one, he'd probably rearrange the game, to how he liked it. He'd likely move the castle as far away from Sugar Rush's entrance as he possibly could. He'd make a wonderful tyrant... Hiding away in the coldest, darkest depths of Sugar Rush while he still had his hand in the entirety of the game."
"All from the comfort of the code room," Penny muttered in disgust as she shook her head, "What a coward."
"Definitely," Rancis stated sorrowfully, "I would know... That used to be me..."
Penny raised her eyebrows and gave her father a nervous look, as if she had forgotten that Radex used to simply be one whole being; Rancis. Penny opened her mouth to venture a mild apology, though Rancis continued on softly.
"I was too cowardly to seek Vanellope's hand in a mature manner. I puppy-dogged after her, did everything I could to seem creepy, without meaning to," Rancis sighed with a smile that lead to suggest hindsight was an awful thing, "Then, once Ralph came into the picture, saved Sugar Rush, and was around everyday, I knew I had to somehow separate the two... I saw how Vanellope would look at him everyday. I can tell when girls get all googly eyed for someone."
"Even when she was downgraded?" Penny wrinkled her nose and smiled wide, for the first time all day.
"Every little girl dreams big," Rancis chuckled and pat Penny's arm, "Vanellope's daydreams and heart for the universe was a lot different than your simple fairy tale romance. Ralph meant everything to her... When I separated the two, I knew I had somehow succeeded."
"I'm sure she was so sad, though," Penny ventured, Rancis heaved a sigh, nodded his head lazily and peered out to Sugar Rush's vast scenery.
"She was never the same. Oh how I tried to give her that light and bring that spark back, nothing compares to just how she looked once Ralph came back into the picture, after our upgrade," Rancis eased, though his smile lead to suggest he was happy for the two, "I had never seen such a glow come from her. I knew, at that point, I had lost a hard battle... Though half of me knew not to give up. I was so desperate for that spotlight, that King's crown."
"You'll always be a King to me, dad," Penny urged quietly, her voice suspiciously shook, which cued Rancis to glue his attention to her in caring awe.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Rancis eased tenderly, his small hand met her forearm once more, "I have my Queen and my Princess, anyhow. I won out, in the end..."
"...But Radex still exists," Penny squinted nervously, "What... What would happen if, Tessa and Zed reset and wipe clean the game, and you end up blending back together with Radex?"
"I don't know," Rancis worried, his eyes held to Penny's in such a way that lead to suggest he was now the one needing a bit of comfort, "I don't ever want to do any harm to the balance of the game... Oh how badly I used to. But now that the bad is out of me, and it's concentrated into one being, Radex, it's hard to imagine life with those hateful thoughts back in my mind. I really don't know how I'd react to it..."
"We'd keep you in check," Penny urged nervously, though confidently. Rancis nodded with a smile.
"The difference between then and now is, I have a loving family and a high stature in the game," Rancis eased, "I'm sure bringing me back down to the planet will be no big deal."
Penny smirked a smile, nodded and glued her eyes to the dark atmosphere. Small cinnamon fireflies dotted the landscape, through the glowing fog. The stillness of the game was almost unnerving, as if it knew secrets and things no one else knew. Penny furrowed her eyebrows and dared to let her gaze catch with the entrance of Sugar Rush, far in the distance. Her heart throbbed in a needy rush, as if the only person that could bring her back to a happy, warm and loving spot was Tessa. Her eyes welled with hot tears at the thought of giving Tessa the biggest hug, upon her return. She bit her bottom lip and knew she could hardly wait. She sniffled a small inhale, as if to hold back her tears. She shook her head and squinted through the inner turmoil.
"Dad?" Penny meeped.
"Hmm?" Rancis volleyed.
"You'd... You'd welcome Tessa and Zed back home, even after everything they've done... Right?" Penny's voice shook.
"After everything they've done?" Rancis wrinkled his nose with a smile, "You act as if they did this with malicious intent."
"I feel as if everyone views it that way," Penny complained as she finally made it clear she was crying. She hiccuped a small inhale and lazily wiped her cheek and nose with the back of her hand.
"... I'm sure, because temptation almost got the better of them, that everyone is simply frustrated because of that," Rancis eased quietly as he rubbed his forehead, "Just promise me, if you ever find a user-made boyfriend, that you let us do crazy brain scans on his coding before... Well..."
"I'm not going to get a user-made boyfriend, dad," Penny hissed through an annoyed, nasally sigh, as if romance was quite literally the farthest thing from her worries.
"Zed DOES have a billion brothers," Rancis meeped with a curious shrug, though Penny largely side-eyed him.
"Are you WANTING me to find a boyfriend, dad?" Penny loudly wondered as a smile finally pushed through her teary, blushing cheeks.
"Look, we're just curios as to who you'll find in life," Rancis rushed as he gestured his hand, though Penny giggled.
"That has mom written all over it," Penny heaved, "... It's sort of the last of my worries, right now, dad."
"I know," Rancis sighed, "One day. If your mother won't give us anymore children, I know she'll be wanting grandchildren."
"For User's sakes, dad," Penny giggled as she hugged her knees closer to her chest and pushed her teary, blushing demeanor into her arms, "Not now. Leave me alone."
"Never," Rancis snapped with a loving warmth, he pat Penny's arm in further growing appreciation for his family, though before anymore teasing could continue on, he slumped his back against Big Green's massive trunk and heaved a hard, concluding sigh, "...Never."