Song Listened To :

Woodlands by Ben Prunty

Silver Comforts Jim - Treasure Planet Soundtrack

*Chapter 148*

"What's going on, over here?" Duke suddenly snapped as he came into the clearing. A strong, sturdy figure; he easily resembled Oliver. He set down a large basket, with a thud, and made his way over to the nonsense. He furrowed his dark blue eyebrows and gave Tessa a once over, as if to immediately seem mildly annoyed, "What gives?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Tessa urged with a sheepish smile; alongside her roller coaster of emotions, as well as the awful day she had already been having, she immediately felt her skin shrink. She knew she was outnumbered, amidst these boys. She knew she had to somehow win their hearts over, within the next five minutes, or else her plan would fail.

"Couldn't resist what, coming back to rub your high and mighty life in our faces, yet again?" Duke argued; Tessa could tell he was simply getting worked up over the fact that she had caused a mess among their abode. Tessa flinched and tried her very hardest to avoid letting tears gather in her eyes, "We get that your dragon is a beast, we GET that you get to spend every waking minute with our long lost brother. We get it!"

"I-I wasn't coming to-"

"Yeah, whatever, let your dragon kill Orph a few times and saunter away, we GET IT," Duke dared to let his voice raise, though just as Tessa was about to lose it, both out of anger and sadness, a calmness came over the group.

"Duke, get your head out of your ass, it's no wonder NONE of us can get girlfriends," Finn's stern, yet comforting voice glossed over Duke like poisonous honey. He softly budged into Tessa's bubble and stood next to her, in her defense, "YOU are too much of a brute, Orph here can't keep his mouth shut..."

Jax cocked an eyebrow and nearly dared Finn to take a stab at him; he did, nonetheless.

"YOU are master goad-er," Finn pointed, though Jax let his eyes lull closed, as if that would somehow convince himself not to say anything mean, in return, to Finn.

"And I want nothing to do with any of you," Tej muttered, though Finn pierced his sharp gaze into their youngest brother's soul.

"And YOU don't know when to OPEN your mouth," Finn urged, though he drew his dagger like glare back into Duke's skin, "If you know what's good for you, you'll apologize. That's no way to speak to a lady, or anyone, for that matter."

Duke kept a tight-lipped, stubborn expression and glared Finn down. Finn raised his eyebrows in baited wait and sharply gestured towards Tessa. She gently fiddled with her fingers, almost in growing, bubbling nervousness that fell over her. Duke finally exhaled a hot breath through his nose and breathed his own form of sincerity.

"Sorry," Duke muttered, though somehow Tessa could see love in his gaze; she knew all these boys were hurt, which somehow made her want to reveal the good news to them even more.

"It's okay," Tessa eased quietly, she glanced for Lickity's whereabouts and was thrilled to find that she hadn't moved away from Orph's trap, in which he continued to dangle in.

"What brings you back here?" She was asked, yet again, though the way Finn worded it, Tessa was certain he was genuinely curious, as opposed to the offensive front she was just faced with.

Tessa slumped her shoulders and finally hooked her gaze into Finn's dark, warm eyes. He raised one eyebrow and honed his whole entire soul to hers, as if somehow these boys were in the presence of Zed himself; like she knew things far beyond their knowledge, and they were just waiting to be filled in. Tessa exhaled a slow breath and let her eyes scan Finn's chest and shoulders, as if to show defeat. She shook her head softly and, though she didn't want to make it sound way too dire, she knew she had to somehow get all five boys on her team.

"... Zed deleted himself, by accident," Tessa's soft voice uttered, though with the way the group, and the jungle, fell silent, she knew she had done a number on them. Through saddened eyes, she finally looked on towards Duke. She was floored to find his stubborn glare immediately drop to stunned fear; as did everyone's expression.

"How...?" Finn hissed through squinted, confused eyes. His attention darted to Jax, Orph and back to Tessa's, as if he had to quickly realize just what was going on, "How is that even possible?"

"I just need you guys to understand, I am about to drop a LOT of information on you," Tessa urged as she put her hands up and heaved an annoyed, tired chuckle, "I will be very surprised if you guys even believe an ounce of it."

"Zed's... Dead?" Duke uttered, his honey-warm inner core began to show compassion; Tessa wondered if it were something he usually kept deeply tucked away. Tessa opened her mouth to begin to somewhat ease their worries, though a branch began to crackle, in which sent Orph crashing to the ground. With a hard thud, a painful yelp and the aid of Jax and Tej, Orph was brought to a disgruntled standing.

"Isn't THERE a bout of irony I'd never thought I'd hear," Orph barked as he began to pull twigs and stiff mud out of his silver hair. He winced and gave Tessa a look of floored annoyance, "Dead Zed, the unbeatable... Deletes himself in a fit of reaching the impossible. Leave your younger brothers hanging, no big deal! How'd he do it, rage quit?"

"We left the Arcade," Tessa dared, she began to shake, as if defending Zed was her only purpose in life, the only bit of family she had to hold onto. Tears welled in her eyes, though she inwardly cursed herself to keep it together in front of these tough boys.

"Yeah... Next you'll tell me you're due with his crazy, blue haired weirdo of a child," Orph scoffed a hard noise, coughed into his arm a bit and finally freed himself of leaves. The way Tessa fell silent and idly glanced to Lickity, in a bout of bashful knowing, all five boys hooked their frozen gazes onto Tessa's figure. After a solid twenty seconds of dreadful, painful silence, Orph blinked a hard few times in growing realization and put his hand up, "You're... Shitting me."

"Were you guys ever planning to be uncles one day?" Tessa meeped quietly, though she couldn't help but let an excited smile curl the corners of her mouth as she noticed every single boy in the group grow stiff with stunned excitement and confusion. She exhaled a small giggle once Jax shoved his hands to the side of his head and let out a noise of elated surprise.

"I-I don't think the thought ever really crossed our minds?!" Orph's face was riddled with a delirious stupor, he rubbed his forehead in disbelief, "I-I mean, once we met you, we figured maybe one day, but...!"

"Is that day today?" Finn finally wondered with the warm softness Tessa was ultimately craving in this situation.

"That day is today," Tessa breathed a shaky giggle, as if so many different positive and negative emotions wanted to rise.

She softly lifted her shirt, so to show the boys her curiously 'paused' bar. Within the few moments of each boy loudly making excited remarks, getting a glimpse of Tessa's precious loading bar, and uttering confused, joyous notions to each other, Tessa began to feel weak, as if every single mental ounce of energy she had left, in her mind, finally dwindled away, like the last bit of sand in an hourglass. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and felt hard tears sting her eyes, though this time, she knew she was way beyond attempting to hold them back. She heaved a small whimper and, so not to seem to fragile in this tender moment, she cleared her throat and covered her eyes with one of her hands, as if to express to the boys that she'd need a moment. Her ears pricked with the absence of their voices, all of the sudden. Each boy drew their solid, and now understanding attention to their new Queen bee, as if they now harbored the link to potentially saving Zed's life.

"I-I'm sorry," Tessa urged quietly as tears rolled to her jaw, effortlessly, though she shook her head and cleared her throat once more. She finally revealed her face and inhaled a deep breath to steady herself, though she hooked her vulnerable gaze straight into Finn's eyes; she felt safest with his stoic and still demeanor, "I... I've lost a lot, today... I-I was kicked out of Sugar Rush."

"Kicked out?" Jax wondered softly, he furrowed his eyebrows and let his brilliant, light blue eyes scan Tessa's fragile aura, though he finally tore his eyes to the ground in contemplation, as if to slowly ease his way to Tessa's defense without showing it too abruptly. He fingered his lip in growing, eager anger.

"Kicked out," Tessa hissed through a whisper as she, too, looked down to the ground. More tears escaped her eyes as she glanced into each one of Dead Zed's racer's eyes, "... Zed and I left the Arcade, through Tron, to fix a virus issue he accidentally let loose into Sugar Rush..."

"Sounds like the issue with Radex, correct?" Finn dominantly urged in writhing agitation for the drawn out situation; Tessa rolled her eyes and scoffed a noise of disbelief.

"Long story short... Zed put his source-coding in mine, on Prom night," Tessa explained; she knew said topic was slightly embarrassing to reveal, though she knew she had no choice, "We vowed not to attempt to swap codes until his brain coding was free of the nasty additive that had, supposedly, grown over time."

"It wasn't just a silly additive, was it," Duke muttered as he crossed his arms, though Tessa could tell he was largely reserving his giddy, excited side, for the fact that he, too, will be receiving a niece or nephew.

"Radex dug his own coding into Zed's and... Reprogrammed Zed to seek me out, and fall in love with me," Tessa nasally uttered, her eyes glossed the ground.

"So when you eventually swapped codes, Radex's code would be given back to Sugar Rush," Finn finished; Tessa knew he was likely the sharpest most intelligent one of the bunch. So much so to the point of him being mildly, socially awkward.

"Two for two," Tessa lazily waved her hand, "We figured a source-code placement wouldn't be a big deal... J-just, a simple sentiment to tide us over... I was SO close to deleting all the additive in Zed's coding, too."

"Radex got into Sugar Rush, anyhow?" Orph finally dared, Tessa was aware he was likely the most hot-headed; fast to anger and slow to chill.

"Yep," Tessa dully chirped, she raised her eyebrows and humbly glanced into everyone's eyes, "We... We left the Arcade, via Tron... We wiped both games clean, and arrived home, today."

"So, Zed accidentally deleted himself in that venture?" Orph waved his hand about, everyone drew their eyes back to Tessa.

"He was downgraded to his old alias, 'Zane'," Tessa explained, though her eyes still beveled with oncoming tears. She shakily wiped her face and cheeks with the back of her hand as she tried her hardest to keep her composure, "M-My... My family kicked me out of Sugar Rush, I guess to 'think about what I've done'..."

"Seems unfair, you saved the game, didn't you?" Jax loudly urged, as if he had been brooding this entire time and just now was excited to get up in arms about the situation at hand.

Each boy froze in stunned surprise as Tessa finally covered her face and crumpled into tears; tears of anguish, hate, regret, fear. She shook her head and wondered just how her mainframe was holding up with this massive kick to the gut. She quietly wept into her hands and inwardly prayed, begged, that everything would reverse itself in the morning. She could feel the pixels on her skin want to so badly encompass her in a forever shell of coldness and hardened attributes, though the second she finally felt the warmth of Finn's hand meet her upper arm, she knew she had finally melted her way into their hearts.

"Easy," Finn cooed slowly, as tenderly as he could, he pulled Tessa into a warm embrace he knew she so badly needed, "Easy..."

He raised his eyebrows in stunned surprise as Tessa overflowed him with her fragile self, she buried her face into his upper chest, near his collar, and latched her arms around his center. He scoffed a small chuckle and, as if he had never had the chance to truly comfort anyone, he smiled at the rare opportunity and wrapped his strong arms around Tessa's upper back and shoulders. She softly heaved a few scared, uneven breaths of weeping into Finn's shoulder and chest. He confidently held her, though he felt an immense sweep of anguish begin to course through his circuits. With every single slam of information everyone had been so viciously delivered, he lightly untucked his face, from the top of Tessa's shoulder, and gave Orph, Jax, Tej and Duke a look of floored concern; they easily gave it right back.

Duke was first to feel guilty for his minor outburst. He breathed a long sigh through his nose and softly budged into Tessa's and Finn's bubble. As warmly as he could muster, he let his strong fingers rub up and down Tessa's upper back. Him and Finn caught eyes, as if to show understanding for the situation unfolding, the fact that they had not only gained one new family member, they had gained two. Finn finally smiled, glanced to Tej, Orph and Jax, and tenderly began to worm Tessa out of his warm embrace. Tessa inhaled a soft few sniffles and wiped her face with the back of her hand. She looked positively washed, wholly lost and humbled. She finally slumped her shoulders and gave Finn a look of defeat.

"Tell me something," Finn's warm, dark voice ventured with a crackle as he side-eyed the ground. He finally hooked his baited gaze into Tessa's, which was still somehow exuding life, "If you two never fully swapped codes... How... How are you pregnant?"

"Your bar didn't say loading," Orph stated, though everyone was surprised to feel warmth slowly gain in his voice.

"We found Tron, left the Arcade, and... Well..." Tessa finally let a bashful, sheepish grin cross her teary, blushed cheeks. She looked down and rubbed the back of her head, "We sort of cheat the system."

"The ultimate honeymoon," A chuckle shook from Finn's chest, though each boy followed suit and eased knowing notions towards Tessa.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Jax inquired, he pointed lightly and approached Tessa. With all the politeness in the world, he tenderly lifted the bottom of Tessa's shirt and revealed her mysteriously 'paused' purple loading bar. Each boy fixed their curious gaze on the rare phenomenon, "... This baby was made outside of the Arcade. You simply came back to the Arcade and, since you came back as a gamer, the game is trying it's best to make this baby... This human... Into a gamer as well."

"Essentially, you're carrying a hybrid of sorts," Finn chuckled in disbelief, each boy lightly gawked at one another as Jax let her shirt fall. Tessa lightly held her palm over her loading bar and gave Finn a look of floored confusion.

"Y'mean, our niece or nephew will be a User?" Jax asked in floored surprise, which caused Tej and Duke to add their own incredulous remarks of excitement.

"I-I don't know how to get the bar to read 'loading'," Tessa urged quietly, "I-I don't even know where I'll be able to HAVE the baby."

"You're programmed for our game, aren't you?" Finn wondered as he crossed his arms; Tessa nodded, "Well, there'yah go, you can have the baby in Dead Zed's code room."

"I thought female gamers can only have a baby in their own home code room?" Tessa worried, though Finn furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.

"I think it's recommended," Finn gestured his hand a little, "Though, it IS possible to give life elsewhere."

"What about getting the bar to read 'loading'?" Tej quietly wondered, he finally acted as if he could come out of his shell, though only just barely.

"You two haven't officially swapped codes, have you," Finn wondered in a sorrowful tone, though Orph scoffed a small laugh.

"They swapped SOMETHING," Orph muttered, though he gestured towards Jax, "Pay up."

"This is no time for bets, you idiot," Jax shoved his hand away, which caused Orph to choke a laugh.

"You're just mad because you lost," Orph hissed, though Finn shot both boys a look of agitation.

"My thinking is... In order to get the bar to read 'loading', you have to finish the deed with Zed, here in the Arcade," Finn slowly let his eyes drag from his two younger brothers, and hook into Tessa's glassy orbs, "... But, Zed deleted himself."

"Y'got a bad hand, when the day decided to draw cards," Orph barked, which caused everyone, including Tessa, to flinch, though he uttered a hard yelp as Jax shoved his arm.

"He's in town... He's still, technically, alive," Tessa urged, she began to feel her heart race with growing life, "I think I know how to get his files back... There's a rip in the game's coding. A time-warp of sorts. It's called The Flip Side."

"You mean... That place actually exists?" Finn beamed ear to ear, which caused each of the other boys to look on in curious, baited wait, "We thought... Zed was just blowing smoke whenever he'd talk about that place."

"I've been there," Tessa encouraged as she glanced to Tej, Orph and Jax, "It's beautiful... It's frozen in time, and has every single file, of the game, preserved. I'm thinking we get Zed to The Flip Side, and I'll handle the rest."

"So, you came all this way to find us, probably scoured the game for hours looking for our home, JUST so you can get us to hog-tie this douche bag and bring him to a mysterious place we're not even certain exists?" Orph argued, he gestured his arms in a fit of confusion.

Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and gave Orph a look of growing anger and impending dread. She slumped her shoulders and, though she wanted so badly to begin wrecking the place, she held her solid stance, the new Queen of the jungle. She clenched her fists and inhaled a slow breath through her nose, as if to steady her rampaging thoughts. She shook her head, just barely, and kept her dominant stare straight into Orph's piercing, silver gaze.

"With our code-source placement, Zed received his memories back," Tessa started calmly, though she kept her stern attention straight into Orph's soul, "Ever since he's remembered how Radex betrayed everyone... How messed up this whole journey has been, he has wanted nothing but reconciliation with you guys."

Tessa lightly tore her eyes from Orph's stare, which slowly began to fill with humility. She finally gave Finn her tired eyes, as if to begin to beg for camaraderie here. She shook her head and slumped her hands to her thighs softly.

"I know all he wants is his family back," Tessa's voice quivered, "And... I-I just lost my entire family. My entire kingdom... Everything I've ever known. I can't even enter the game because they've put a force field over it."

"...Th-They did what?" Finn uttered nervously.

"I can NEVER go home, do you boys understand?" Tessa's voice grew louder and more stern, her fingers drew into fists, which easily had each racer more on edge, "Dead Zed is the only place I can rest my head, at night, from here on out... You boys are the only family I have left, besides Lickity, Zed, and... This baby..."

Finn raised his eyebrows in growing surprise and softly caught eyes with Duke, who easily hung onto the same, sorrowful demeanor. Each boy lightly gave Tessa their full attention, as if to fall victim to her genuine plight.

"I always dreamed of one day reuniting Zed with the five of you, and adding more friends to the circle," Tessa shook her head and softly peered into Orph's eyes, yet again; she was surprised to see his whole aura soften, "I never knew it'd be because of this... I desperately need your guys' help. Zed, too... And I can promise you, once everything is reset back to normal, he will be so thrilled to see you guys."

Finn heaved a hard sigh and looked down to his tattered cargo shorts. His masculine, though tender, fingers began to fiddle with the end of his dark blue tank. He furrowed his expression to that of dire sorrow and shook his head.

"I can't imagine being kicked out of my own home," Finn started softly, his eyes finally glanced into Duke's and pierced straight into Orph's, "Even if the six of us brothers don't get along, sometimes... I know each one of us would be very lost with out each other."

"What jerks," Orph spat, he gave Tessa a look as if to wonder if she would potentially agree; at this point, Tessa cocked an eyebrow and was surprised to feel how easily she agreed with his notion.

"I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye," Tessa uttered, though she inhaled a shaky breath as more tears rolled down her cheeks, through the water-ways that were left previously.

"Do they know you're pregnant?" Jax wondered as he crossed his arms, as if to find himself becoming defensive of their new-found sister.

"Nope," Tessa meeped as she looked down and wiped her tears.

"I say we go over there and storm the castle," Orph growled as he nudged Finn's shoulder, though ultimately to ask for approval; Finn put his hand up gently.

"First thing's first," Finn urged quietly, "We need to get Zed's coding back to normal. Once we do that, and once we make sure the baby's coding is safe and reads 'loading'... Storm away."

"YES," Orph hissed, which caused Tessa to flinch in a small giggle, "I've always wanted to go pounding on the likes of royalty. Tell them what for."

"Hey, I'm still royalty, so... Watch-it," Tessa snapped; she knew, even though she was beyond angered by her family's decision, she knew they were still, ultimately, family, and royalty was something she couldn't simply remove from her own blood and coding.

"I mean, hey, with you on Zed's arm and with a baby on the way," Finn chuckled, though he wrinkled his nose, grappled for Tessa's left hand, and brought her shiny new ring to everyone's attention, "Something tells me he's about ready to name you Queen of the jungle, no?"

"Yeahhh, there's a billion sides to this twisted story," Tessa muttered through her gritted teeth, though each boy erupted with laughter.

"Takes you to the great beyond, buys you dinner, knocks you up, hitches you down," Orph listed on his fingers with a growing, agitated smile, "Jesus, this guy marking down a bucket list?"

"Apparently, I mean he DID delete himself," Finn laughed, which cued everyone into laughter as well.

"In the same day, we gained back a brother, gained a new sister, AND a new niece or nephew," Jax lightly nudged Orph, "And YOU said Sundays were boring."

"Not anymore," Orph muttered with a small chuckle, "Alright, welcome to the club, Queen Bee, oh grand poobah, hope you don't mind living with all boys, then."

"We reek!" Jax barked with a goofy smile.

"Exclude me from that notion, please," Finn mumbled to Jax.

"I won't be just 'living with the boys'," Tessa chirped, her eyes lightly glossed over Lickity, who was stood a few feet away, patiently waiting for everyone to settle their differences. Each boy quickly looked over their shoulders and ogled the snarky, charming, decent sized beast that was Lickity. Tessa put her hands on her hips, cocked an eyebrow and felt her heart swell with appreciation towards her best friend, "Turns out, not only am I going to be a mom... But I'm also going to be an aunt."

"What? What do you mean?" Jax wondered, he only lightly glanced at Tessa before he re-fixed his gaze to Lickity in growing curiosity. Lickity bared her fangs in an intimidating smile and flattened her ears.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one who wrecked the limits, last night," Tessa laughed, though Tej pointed with a wide smile.

"Her dragon has a loading bar!" Tej urged loudly, though he sheepishly bit his lip and peered back to Finn and Tessa through wide eyes.

"Nooo, not the dragon!" Orph loudly complained, he waved his arms in a fit of defeat and groaned, "I can't stand even having ONE roaming freely around!"

"Perfect timing," Finn chuckled as he gave Tessa a bemused look of question.

"She hit it off with one of the leads of Sugar Rush, last night," Tessa said through a sigh and a shrug, "He's a giant, nerd-covered chameleon... And Lickity is due for his baby."

"Nerds!" Orph finally showed a smile, "Alright, if her offspring has a candy pelt it sheds around the house, then I guess it can stay."

"You don't have a choice, otherwise," Tessa chuckled as she crossed her arms.

"Alright, we don't have time to waste," Finn urged quietly, his gaze hooked into Duke's and began to show enthusiastic purpose, "Everyone in?"

"If it means I can hog-tie ol' Zeddy-boy with one of my traps, you can bet your ass I won't miss it for the world," Orph laughed, though Jax clapped his hands together and rushed off with Tej in excitement, likely to ready their bikes for the long haul.

"Be my guest," Tessa rolled her eyes, "Anything to get him to The Flip Side."

"Where is he, now?" Finn wondered as Orph and Duke began to follow Tej and Jax's idea.

"He's in a village just on the outskirts of Dead Zed's entrance," Tessa explained, "From there, you guys can follow me to The Flip Side."

Lickity slowly sauntered up and nuzzled her snout into Tessa's hand, though she gave Finn a look of charming wit and perked her ears. Tessa chuckled and softly pat the top of Lickity's head with pride.

"That is, if your bikes can keep up."