Song Listened To : Daylight by Maroon5 ( I listened to this song when I wrote the chapter, in Wrecking Limits, when Tessa was born ;_; FEELS. )
*Chapter 153*
With Zed's large, frozen smile that sunk to that of a stupor of a small gape he couldn't totally control, Tessa's beaming grin only widened. She heaved a small, nervous giggle, scrunched her shoulders and squeezed his hands a little tighter. She couldn't help but willingly let her eyes well with tears as she could visibly see Zed's pupils shrink with a growing rush of adrenaline. Her scoff of a giggle turned into a bout of laughter her and Lickity softly fell into together. Tessa finally wagged his hands around, only slightly, and wrinkled her nose.
"Should I say it again?" Tessa wondered through a nasally giggle, she squinted her eyes and gave Zed the sweetest, most bashful smile.
"Yeah," Zed dryly encouraged as his chest rose and fell a bit more rapidly, as if his heart had begun to race and he was well beyond attempting to control himself.
"I'm pregnant," Tessa eased with a bit more confidence, though the glow about her couldn't get any brighter. Zed's gape of delirious stupor finally began to escalate to that of a knowing grin, once more, though with the look of delightful anguish that welled in his eyes, he shook his head in disbelief.
"I don't think he believes you," Lickity mumbled through a snort of a laugh, as did Tessa.
"You're...?" Zed chuckled as he finally found purpose to his trembling hands, he gave Tessa a look of floored, confused surprise. His beet red face continued to prove to Tessa that she had wholly rocked him from the face of Arcade.
"We're going to have a baby, Zed," Tessa hissed in soft disbelief, as well, though her smile never faltered.
"I-I'm gunna..." Zed trailed off, bulged his eyes, shook his head and scoffed a small chuckle. His glance messily draped down Tessa's front and straight to her lower stomach. As if the word was hot to the touch, he finally gave Tessa his elated, floored eye contact, "I'm gunna be a... A father?"
"I'm going to be an aunt!" Lickity playfully, though quietly barked, though she cocked an eyebrow muscle in growing concern as Zed's tender hands began to reach for Tessa's shirt, so to see the product of their love. Tessa bit her bottom lip in growing nervousness and, as her hands helped his lift the bottom of her shirt, he firmly blinked in a stab of nervousness and tenderly held her bare hips. His eyes slid up to hers in a protective kind of way.
"Paused?" Zed largely worried, though just as he began to ask himself a billion questions, a billion answers came flooding to him. He slumped his shoulders, and before Tessa could beat him to it, he let his eyes lull closed in realization, "... We don't share codes."
"Nope," Tessa quipped quietly as she warmly held his wrists. Zed heaved a hard, long sigh through his nose and glued his whole attention to Tessa's precious 'paused' loading bar. It glowed a confident purple, her own original coding.
"The only way to get it to read 'loading' is if..." Zed trailed off, though Lickity finally bared a fang-filled smile and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you do, just make sure I'm out of the building," Lickity uttered through a raspy chuckle, which cued Tessa to let an annoyed smile surface, yet again.
"So, it'll just remain paused until we swap codes?" Zed wondered quietly, "What... What have we even created, here?"
"What do you mean?" Tessa wondered, "The baby?"
"This... This isn't just a baby," Zed's deep voice grew confident as a curious smile curled the corners of his mouth, "...This is a human."
"A human," Lickity repeated in disbelief.
"We made this baby as humans," Zed continued as his thumb tenderly swiped over the loading bar a few times, just under her belly button, "...I got you pregnant as a human. Returning to the Arcade has your body confused."
"So, giving me your coding, here in the Arcade, will make it so the bar reads 'loading'?" Tessa asked hopefully, though Zed only lightly shrugged.
"One can only hope," Zed uttered softly, though Tessa furrowed her eyebrows a little as he continued, "There's really only one way to find out."
"So, we have time, then?" Tessa wondered, which cued Zed into a straighter sitting position. He peered about the clearing of The Flip Side and bit his bottom lip in contemplation.
"Essentially," Zed chirped, "Once we get everything figured out, with my coding, we can... Well..."
"Do or die," Lickity muttered through a serious side-eye of overflowing nervousness. Tessa glanced at her, with the same fervor, and let loose a scared sigh.
"It'll be okay," Zed urged as he gripped Tessa's hands and got her solid attention. Zed let an excited, bashful smile sprawl his face, "We really did a number on the system, didn't we."
"Not only did we escape, we brought back a souvenir," Tessa giggled bashfully as her face got red, though Lickity's ears finally popped with a wide smile.
"If you can count a User as a souvenir," Lickity grumbled teasingly, Tessa nudged the side of Lickity's neck.
"A User," Zed breathed in droned out disbelief as he continued to squeeze Tessa's hands. She beamed him a confused smile and shook her head lightly.
"Y-You think this baby will have wrecking or glitching powers?" Tessa wondered kindly, as if delving into this topic was a good numbing agent for her mind.
"An unbeatable User with wrecking and glitching abilities," Lickity rolled her eyes and showed her sharp fangs in an excited smile, "Whatever anyone else bears won't ever compare."
"We shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves," Zed urged quietly, though as kindly as he could; he could tell the topic of the baby was Tessa's sudden, happy escape.
"Right," Tessa eased with a gentle nod of solemn.
"Let's get to the code room," Zed started as he uttered a grunt and began to stand, which cued Tessa to stiffen her spine and Lickity to slowly uncurl their cuddled position on the velvet green grass.
"Is it in the same place as your loft, on the mountain side, would be?" Tessa prod as Zed helped her up; Lickity got to her feet as well and the three gained a few feet of uncurled distance.
"Yeah," Zed raised his eyebrows in a pop of concern and smiled through a huff of a sigh, "Welp, the loft won't be there, but the orb will."
"Orb?" Tessa wondered as Lickity largely shook her head about, as if to rid herself of water, though small flecks of soft grass flitted off of her feathers as her large ears flapped about.
"The beauty of Dead Zed's code room is, it's portable," Zed chimed as he put his hands on his bare hips, he finally took in a deep breath and, once his masculine chest expanded to it's full potential, he let it out softly and continued on, "Even in The Flip Side, it can essentially be 'packed up' and moved. Wherever it is, in the real game, is where it's copy will reside in The Flip Side."
"So, it IS on that mountain side, then?" Tessa prod, Zed nodded, though the elated smile that remained glued to his face made it clear to Tessa and Lickity that he wasn't quite over the news he was just presented with.
"Y'look like you slept with a hanger in your mouth," Lickity cackled, which cued Tessa to beam him a glow of a kind grin.
Zed scoffed a bashful laugh, rubbed the back of his head and looked down. Tessa giggled and sweetly tucked the back of her fists to her mouth and, as quickly as she could grow a massive honey-glow of vibrant excitement, Zed eagerly joined her fervor and beamed a wide grin of near terrified, elated cheek.
"We're going to have a baby," Zed urged, his voice was quiet and full of excited disbelief. He gestured his arms in a wild, crazy motion, as if he somehow could hardly grasp just what was happening. Before the two could grow any more giddy, he barked a hard laugh and suddenly swept Tessa into his arms with a lull of a lazy twirl, "We're going to be parents!"
"Of the worst kind!" Tessa playfully laughed as she slapped her arms around his neck and held on tight.
Lickity easily joined in on their laughter and, as tenderly as she could, she sprawled her wings and very lightly curled herself around the two, who twirled once or twice. She flattened her ears and, as the two slowed to a stop and Tessa's bare feet were set back to the grass, she hung her existence with the lull of the warm, morning wind that began to whip around the three. Lickity held her breath and kept her curious, excited orbs to the raw and fragile scene before her. Little flecks of leaves, from far away summer kissed jungle trees, flitted into the morning sunrise, which paled the sky a velvet mixture of blues, purples and yellows. The sound of nature whispering it's eons of unknown language to the world held the three in sludge suspension, as if the rip in time wasn't merely enough to pause the game.
Zed heaved a shaky sigh and, as easily and warm as his confident hands could move, he hooked his powerful grip into the round of Tessa's hips. He held her strong body with purpose, and through squinted eyes of raw disbelief, he knew no matter the dire circumstances, somehow he knew his anticipation for this day would shine through the darkness, the eagerness to finally be graced with this moment was enough to override any negativity. He scoffed a small noise as raw disbelief continued to drape over his tired soul. Tessa gave him the same fervor in return, tenfold, and though the near terror, that hung in the back of their eyes, was very clear and prominent, they knew it came with the territory. With a glow of a blush, Tessa showed her teeth a little harder and bashfully glanced at Zed's mouth, which hung near hers.
"Of the best kind," Zed corrected in a hiss of a raspy whisper. He hugged her body closer to his, and it only deepened with warmth as her arms slid tighter around his neck and shoulders.
"Even with... How unprepared we are?" Tessa wondered, and though she felt the hint of a frown want to form, she knew she couldn't bring herself to it; she beamed through and through.
"Won't that make us stronger?" Zed inquired softly, he squinted just barely and, after a brief moment of letting the warm, paused atmosphere soak into their souls a little deeper, he continued on, "Don't you find yourself giving a level your absolute all when you have zero lives left?... When you know it's a race, to the flag pole, against the clock?"
Tessa's blushed smile finally and slowly sloped to that of a warm knowing. She took in all of Zed's growing wisdom, and though she was well aware Zed was just as terrified as she was, she still soaked in all of the confidence he overflowed her with. Before Tessa could respond, Lickity delicately joined their tight bubble of humble love.
"You two won't be alone," Lickity's boyish voice soaked their souls with the addition of love they knew they now couldn't dream of living without, "I mean... I may have my own bundle to chase after, and... Having dew claws will make it so I can't technically change diapers but..."
Zed chuckled and unraveled his left arm from Tessa's hip and, as the two just barely pulled apart, to welcome Lickity into their tight-knit circle, he lovingly rested his powerful hand on her warm snout as she continued on.
"You know I'd do everything in my power to keep your new addition safe, cause I know you'd do the same for mine... So, hand your offspring to Orph and he'll be facing the boss level," Lickity suddenly snapped, albeit in a playful, girlish charm.
"We got two weeks to settle differences," Tessa said through a long, tired sigh as she raised her eyebrows and lazily scanned her eyes down the front of Zed's bare chest, "That is... If we can get this bar to read loading sometime today."
"So to recap," Zed barked as he raised his finger, took one brooding step backwards, and gestured to Lickity as if to insinuate potentially boarding her within the next minute or two. She took her cue and lowered her wings in a relaxed stance, "Put 'Zed' back in the game, reunite with my long-lost brothers, successfully swap codes with the most beautiful self-programmed gamer in Arcade history, and... All eight of us go pounding down Sugar Rush's door."
"Essentially," Tessa tiredly laughed as she slapped her hands to her thighs and then gestured about, "You'd think, by now, one of us would be laying in the fetal position on the ground, with how much garbage has happened in the span of, oh, I don't know... Three hours?"
"I'm surprised it's not you," Lickity urged with ears opened directly at Tessa.
"Ditto," Zed scoffed as he tightly hooked his hand and palm to the large, clawed thumb of Lickity's wing, of which she held sprawled for him to easily mount her feathered spine.
"Yeah, well, don't tempt me," Tessa breathed as she rubbed her hand on her forehead, in a lazy, exhausted fashion, "When this is all said and done, I'm going to go to sleep for fourty-eight hours."
"Nap sans naming the baby," Lickity chuckled, though as Zed climbed aboard Lickity's spine and got comfortable, he reached his strong hand out for Tessa's aid and gave her an excited, renewed grin.
"User, what are we going to name the baby?" Zed wondered softly as Tessa hoisted herself aboard Lickity, with his help. Tessa giggled tiredly and positioned herself behind Zed. She shoved her face into his upper back and shook her head, as if to suggest she could hardly even begin to think about what her own name was.
"Let's just get the bar un-paused and... Go from there," Tessa mumbled, though she let a curious smile sprawl her tired face as she dared to just barely dip her toes into the topic; a handful of flitty names came and went from her mind, she knew she'd likely have a small battle with Zed over which name would win out.
"Zed Junior," Lickity chuckled as she finally sprawled her wings and readied her body for take off. The two lightly held onto her feathers and fur as she took a gentle running gallop down the field with her wings largely sprawled.
"Let's not follow the Fix-It trend, yeah?" Zed uttered unenthusiastically. Tessa lugged her arms around his stomach and laughed.
"Wasn't planning on it," Tessa beamed, though she opened her eyes a little wider and was excited to see The Flip Side, in all its raw glory, from above the clouds.
The majestic, exposed jungles glowed with the morning sunrise, which hung frozen on the horizon. The sky was a magical hue of dark blue that wanted so badly to hold onto the sun's orange rays that painted the atmosphere's edge the most beautiful pastels. Stars still hung true on the opposite end of the sky, an enchanting mixture of day and night blessed the very souls that were brave enough to stop time altogether. Crisp, wet leaves of jungle rarity pierced the cool air which they gained altitude in. Once they peeked through a few dark, wispy clouds, and a bank of Lickity's powerful body, she head in the direction of where Zed's cozy, mountain side loft would usually hang, in the real game.