Song Listened To : Sky Full Of Stars - Coldplay

*Chapter 160*

Tessa flinched and, with the strange sensation of wholesome universe that seemingly surrounded her, she got a good dose of every single sense stimulated to the highest degree, as if she quite possibly weren't even a digital, or human, being any longer. Her skin riddled with goosebumps, and with a good look around, she felt her heart throb in uncertainty. Dressed in the cleanest, purest white, her clothes matched her surroundings. A dreamy plain of never ending white grid, white specks of information flit about, as if to likely be in a hovering limbo of existence. Tessa felt her heart begin to race in nervousness, though not in a panicked, scared sense. Like she had gained higher intelligence, a heavier grasp on reality beyond the realm she knew so well, she could swear she could hear the very thought of color wanting to flood her retinas with the universe's knowledge.

"Tess," Zed urged quietly, from a few yards behind her. Tessa gasped, whirled around, and got a good look at Zed's flawless figure across the white tiles they were graced with.

"Zed, where... Where are we?" Tessa uttered shakily as she felt a small, brisk warmth whip around her.

An air current she wasn't totally certain it's origin, Tessa looked about, as if to somehow find the source. She gasped and, as Zed's figure grew closer, she realized he, too, was draped in the cleanest, whitest clothes. Before she continue to let the feeling of being delightfully lost soak her skin with confusion, she suddenly remembered just what act they had just come out of. With a sharp, silent inhale, her eyes went wide as they pierced into Zed's. As if both beings came to the same realization, at the same time, they peered into each other's souls with a strange mixture of elated sorrow. Zed scoffed an incredulous laugh and, through a furrowed, dumbfounded expression of a gape, he shook his head.

"We... We can't be," Zed's deep voice urged in whole disbelief.

"We're dead," Tessa's voice shook, though as if to merely be rattled by an exciting fact, she wondered why she wasn't scared or sad. She furrowed her eyebrows, looked down, and almost felt a wash of confusion fall over herself. She knew exactly what had happened, to cause such an ordeal, though she could swear this feeling would be a lot more painful, a lot more terrifying. She scoffed a laugh and gestured her arms out, "We got deleted!"

"We've been deleted," Zed stated as well, as if maybe hearing said fact, over and over, would help him begin to wrap his mind around it.

"Both of us," Tessa hissed in hard disbelief, she reached out and gently touched Zed's skin, "How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Zed urged, now in annoyance, "We had it timed... We swapped at the same time. How can this be?"

"Maybe swapping at the same time isn't the secret," Tessa mumbled, her eyes dazed over the vast, white nothingness; though it seemingly showed nothing on the horizon, Tessa got a strange sense of warm welcoming, as if this was now her new home. She heaved an apathetic chuckle and looked down to both of their bare feet, "Maybe THAT'S the mystery behind opposed codes trying to swap... It's unknown. It's virtually impossible. No matter how many steps you take."

Zed frowned and peered down to the top of Tessa's head, down his nose, as if he was contemplating something. His eyes finally looked over the top of Tessa's head to the white grid far beyond the two. He heaved a long sigh through his nose, shook his head and lazily crossed his arms.

"Welp," Zed chuffed, "At least... At least we have each other."

"The baby," Tessa choked as sadness finally found it's way into her being, and like an old enemy she had been glad to have forgotten, she felt her skin prickle with coldness.

Coldness she was thankful she existed without for the past few minutes, up until now. She swiped at her shirt and peered down at her bare stomach, and with the lack of any bar at all, her scared attention flew to Zed's. He gave her the same nervousness in return, though just as he was about to reel Tessa into a comforting hug, to mourn the loss of their child, Tessa whirled around in anger. Zed flinched as she suddenly began to pace the area, as if to simply look for something.

"Hello?" Tessa loudly called, as if this heavenly grid, they were placed in, suddenly wasn't good enough. She groaned an annoyed noise and looked about, in every which way, though the fact that white nothingness was what this place had to offer, made her fists clench to her proper wrecking form, "HELLO?"

"Tessa, we... I think we're the only ones out here," Zed urged quietly as he looked about as well, as if to wonder if there could potentially be other beings out here, and if they'd be friendly or not, "Is... Is this maybe a realm just for us? Since we were opposed codes deleted at the same time, maybe this is our own... Limbo? Heaven?"

"Hell?" Tessa barked in growing anger, she finally gave Zed her pleading, terrified gaze, "Zed... We've been deleted. It was a cool feeling at first, but... All of our unfinished business, everything that we had ever done... It's all just useless. Those five boys are just waiting by the portal, to The Flip Side, wondering when we'll come back."

Zed slumped his shoulders and gave her a pleading look, as if to beg for her not to continue on with sad realizations he was hoping they'd immediately stuff.

"Lickity," Tessa suddenly whimpered as tears gathered in her eyes, "Lickity...! Poor thing is just taking flights about The Flip Side, and doesn't have a single clue!"

"Tessa, we can't do this to ourselves," Zed's voice deeply urged, though he could feel tears well in his eyes as well, "We can't live the rest of our eternity, here, wondering about what could've been."

"I can't live on, like this, pretending to forget about everything and everyone we left behind," Tessa demanded, tears slipped down her cheeks, "My family, my whole kingdom... We're... Never going to see any of them, ever again."

"Tessa," Zed urged louder.

"Ever again!" Tessa hollered as her eyes grew scared.

"Tessa!" Zed shouted as he suddenly reached his hands for her upper arms and gripped her, though before he could carry on, his skin suddenly flared hers in a rapid overflow of excited, silver circuits. Zed gasped and reeled his hands away.

"Y-You see that?" Tessa suddenly gasped in hard excitement, though just as she was about to ask more questions, she watched as Zed held his palms out in front of himself and, for the first time in his entire life, he let his palms come to life with his very own new glitching powers. Silver coding washed his hands and arms, as if to welcome him to his new set of coding. He beamed a wide, confused smile and peered to Tessa.

"W-We share the same coding, here!" Zed urged excitedly, "I'm a glitch!"

"Does this mean I'm unbeatable now?" Tessa swiped her tears and heaved an excited giggle.

"Probably," Zed smiled back, though he heaved a shaky sigh and suddenly realized just how real it all felt.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and finally let his skin get familiarized with his new coding. Somehow, he felt the strange feeling of living still exist in his core, as if he couldn't possibly shake the raw feeling of being wholly alive. He glared down at his hands in growing realization, and just as he was about to drop his hands and accept his deleted fate, he slumped his shoulders and gave Tessa a look of floored knowing. He choked a small chuckle and let his lips curl into a wide smile.

"We're not dead," Zed urged deeply through a widening smile, Tessa gawked at his confusing claims.

"Not dead? Then where the hell is this place?" Tessa demanded, as if to be annoyed.

"We're still alive, we're in Dead Zed's core," Zed rushed as his hands remained lit with the silver sprawl of circuits, "We did it, Tessa, we swapped codes! We did it!"

"Wait, how do you know this? If we're still alive, how do we get out of here?" Tessa exclaimed as she could feel herself becoming annoyed.

"You're right, we do have unfinished business," Zed urged quietly as he suddenly began to look around, his brilliant blue eyes darted about as if to possibly search for something in the white nothingness about them.

"We already swapped, what more could we possibly do? Finish it with a kiss?" Tessa mocked in annoyance as Zed took a few steps away, as if to maybe find the nothingness's center.

Zed let a soft chuckle escape his figure, though he concentrated his focus to his feet and their existence on this flat plain they had found themselves on. He inhaled a slow, deep breath through the grit of his teeth, though as the soles of his bare feet grew tense with his brand new silver coding, the white grid undertow easily sprawled with his new being. The two flinched as the air about the two began to pick up in a mighty, silent roar of uplifting warmth. Zed eagerly pierced his gaze straight into Tessa's, and past the chaos of their lightly whipping hair, they smiled, as if somehow, they knew they'd be alright. Zed finally beamed her a smile to his full potential and, for mere moments, he could swear he was in the presence of an angel. The way her now flawless skin shone, the radiance of pure innocence on her gap-toothed expression; he choked a small noise of total disbelief, and just as the two let their live-wired hands sink into each other's, the atmosphere popped with an excited hum of electricity, as if it were on the brink of wholly exploding.

The two immediately took a few steps away from each other as a blinding, white light split the world in half. Zed covered his eyes with his hand, to shield himself from the blinding beam of light that seemingly acted as a strong beacon. Before Zed could loudly question just what was going on, he felt a strange sense of wholeness fall over him. He gawked slightly, at just what was in the center of the beacon. A coded, beautiful orb he knew nothing, and everything about. He choked a small breath of disbelief, and as if to agree to caring for the unclaimed orb, he reached his strong hands out and pushed closer to the seemingly unforgiving beam of light. Just as his hands reached for the orb, the light flickered and finally dissipated. He panted in a strangulation of emotional overload, though just as his eyes finally gained clarity on just exactly what he was holding, the hearing of his inner coding did the rest of the work.

He suddenly felt as if he understood Tessa's plight, the need to stop mid-swap over something so fragile and raw as your first child's heartbeat. The rapid, though strong and confident, heartbeat that coated his entire existence with goosebumps made him freeze in raw disbelief. He felt his hands begin to shake at the mere thought of what was in the palm of his hands. He long blinked a few times, and as if he couldn't totally come to grips with just what was taking place, his coding did the rest of the work for him. With circuits that dominantly riddled his arms, and had contact with the brand new silver orb in his existence, he read the proud, prominent words written on the sparkling, silver-coated, glowing orb he handled with such care. Through tears that had welled in his eyes, over time, he finally gave Tessa his raw, incredulous attention, and through a small gape of a smile, he uttered words he knew Tessa was likely dying to hear.

"It's a boy," Zed's voice shook, as did his hands. He heaved a soft chuckle and, as if to be beside himself, he shook his head in growing, elated disbelief and peered down at the beautiful orb in his hands, "Tessa, it's a boy, our baby is alive."

"How do you know that?" Tessa pressed eagerly, her voice audibly shook as well. She largely pushed closer to Zed, and the precious orb he held, though as she reached her hands out to it as well, he tenderly turned it about in his hands to reveal to her the light words written on their new orb. Tessa gawked at it patiently, though she nervously read aloud just what they had finally accomplished, "User, loading... Four percent..."

"We did it," Zed whispered as he lovingly slid the orb into Tessa's eagerly awaiting hands, though he made sure to keep his hands safely hovered nearby as well. The two let elated, though still beyond incredulous chuckles escape their figures. Tessa squinted and peered into Zed's brilliant blue eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Loading," Tessa repeated through a soft hiccup of a sob, though she knew it was now impossible to wipe the smile from her face, "I-I can't believe it..."

"Me neither," Zed eased quietly, though as much as he wanted to sit in this eternity with her, he suddenly felt his skin itch, as if he was desperate to get back to the dimensional plain they were familiarized with. He heaved a huff of a sigh, as if to shake more on-coming tears, and he looked about; he knew he had one last task to do before they could officially celebrate, "Hold on tight... I'm going to try to get us out of here."

Tessa nodded, and though she wanted to open her mouth and argue that they remain still in their bubble of divinity, she suddenly became very aware of how desperately she wanted to get back to the game, and to get back home. As much as he wanted to tuck the orb to her chest and never let it go, she suddenly flinched as the orb strongly wobbled out of her grip and seemingly floated away, as if it needed to join the rest of the orbs it belonged to. Tessa gasped and flung her arm out, to potentially get it back, though Zed tenderly calmed her with a few kind notions and a gentle rub of her arm. She immediately relaxed, though she held onto a nervous frown. Zed shook his head, and as easily as he could muster, he gripped both of her larger hands in his and let his hands come to life with their brand new coding. He tightly shut his eyes, and just as he was about to wonder how the two could quite possibly escape this plain, he realized he had full control. With one simple thought, one simple wish, he smirked and finally gained rank over the game, once more. With one command, the two were suddenly plopped back into Zed's dim room.

With a pop of dissipating electricity, Tessa largely flinched, held her hands outwards to steady herself, and caught her fingers with Zed's lower arms, which were outstretched as well. As the two opened their eyes, amidst the numbing silence they were graced with, yet again, they largely looked each other over. Both dressed in their clothes, once more, and stood in the middle of Zed's still, dim bedroom, they stood, alive and freshly coded. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and gave Zed a look of near incredulous stupor, as if she was certain all of this wasn't real. As the two came to the final realization that they had, indeed, accomplished their hopes and dreams, they both let wide grins sprawl their faces. Zed glanced down at Tessa's lower stomach and gave her a dewy, wide-eyed look of hope, as if the final cheer could be had once their precious bar read loading. Tessa grappled for her shirt and eagerly lifted it, though she largely let out an excited holler and bounced on her feet.

"Loading! Zed we did it!" Tessa rushed loudly, which caused Zed's arms to tense and his smile to widen.

"W-we... It-really, it says loading?!" Zed urged, he could practically feel his heart pound clear out of his chest, though it thumped to a harder pace of deeper realization as Tessa lifted her shirt once more and revealed their shiny, silver loading bar, which now read at four percent.

"We did it!" Tessa exclaimed once more as she bounced on her feet a few times, though before she could nearly jump to the moon, Zed joined her once or twice before sweeping her into his strong arms. He largely spun her around a few times, the two laughed and cheered cries of excitement, though as the two settled, Tessa loosened her tight grip, of her arms, around Zed's neck. She beamed an elated smile into his eyes and heaved a long sigh of relief, "Oh my User... I can't believe it worked."

"Deleted," Zed spat with a wrinkle of an annoyed smile, Tessa easily burst out laughing. Zed swayed her back and forth in a playful manner, "We can't be deleted. We're unbeatable!"

"They HAVE to let us back into Sugar Rush now, after all this mess," Tessa stated loudly, in hard annoyance, though Zed lightly let the lulling sway come to a stop. He nodded once and gave her a stern look of determination.

"We WILL get back in," Zed assured quietly, "And we'll have help."

"First," Tessa gave him a sly smile and eased out of his embrace, though as she held up her hand, she let it come to life with her coding, her glitching abilities. Her arm eagerly sprawled with their beautiful, iridescent, silver coding. She beamed a thankful smile and, with slumped shoulders, she wiggled her fingers about and gave Zed an accomplished smile.

"I can't believe it," Zed eased quietly as, he too, tried his new glitching abilities on for size, "I'm a glitch... AND a wrecker! I can finally try and upstage Oliver."

"Oh please, that kid only wrecks if he has to," Tessa muttered through a snarky smile as she dropped her hand, "That's a cake walk."

"We've gotta tell Lickity," Zed smiled as, he too, dropped his glitching act and peered out towards his windows, "Y'think we can find her?"

"Well, she DOES have the best hearing out of any being in this whole game," Tessa urged as she began to march towards Zed's windows. Without further ado, she unhinged one of Zed's massive windows and popped it open. She flinched as it let in a whipping, warm breeze, though she cupped her hands over her mouth and inhaled a sharp, deep breath. She let her voice coat the valley and the wind below, "Lickity come home! It worked!"

"Y'really think she'll hear that?" Zed wondered with a calm chuckle as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "She could be clear across the game and you could be yelling out to the world for no reason."

"I don't know, I figured I'd try," Tessa muttered as she climbed away from the window and took a few steps back, though she kept her strict attention to the horizon before her, in hopes of attempting to catch a sliver of Lickity's surprisingly elusive figure.

"Ah well," Zed scratched the back of his head and attempted to tidy his hair, "Why don't I make us something to eat... We can now, properly, discuss names. Now that we have a loading bar, and a gender."

"Shit, shit, shit, DUCK," Tessa suddenly urged as she flung her arm out and grappled for Zed's shoulder.

Zed's eyes bulged in confusion, though before he could question just what was going on, a hard shadow fell over the sun, which still hung just above the peaks in the distance. Lickity's powerful body sliced the atmosphere in half, and the faster she approached the building, with wings tucked tight to her body in a dive bomb, Zed felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Tessa and Zed largely scrambled out of his room, and just as they rounded the corner out of his bedroom door and into his long hallway, a massive pang of shattered glass coated the still air. The two largely crouched, to cover their heads, though once everything settled, the two finally looked each other in the face with wide eyes of near giddy fear. Tessa heaved a hard laugh, stood, and wobbled back into Zed's bedroom.

"Holy USER I've always wanted to do that!" Lickity barked, she stood amidst Zed's now destroyed wall of glass, a few pieces of furniture were knocked over from the sheer force of her being that had smashed into the side of the building. She flapped her wings once, as the building croaked and continued to let small pieces of debris dribble from the ceiling, "Your whole loft is just BEGGING to be destroyed, Zed, there's something about walls of glass that just makes me... Makes me want to break it!"

"Well now I'm positive you swapped with Orion," Zed grumbled as he peered about his bedroom in total annoyance, though he figured making a mess here wasn't a huge deal; it wouldn't carry over outside of The Flip Side.

"Alright, love birds, y'silver coded geniuses, let me see it!" Lickity urged excitedly as she continued to pant through the chaos that had just ensued. Her tail fins and wings were taut with the use they were just put through. Tessa gave her a proud smile and as Lickity came close, Tessa lifted her shirt to reveal their new, fully functioning loading bar. Zed kindly eased his arm around Tessa's lower back and held her close as he, too, got a good look at it. Lickity bounced once on all four of her paws and nudged Zed's shoulder with the wrist of her wing, "You dog."

"C'mon," Zed muttered through a cheeky smile as he bashfully looked down, though before the two could carry on with banter, Lickity largely scooped the two into her strong arm and squeezed them to the front of her chest and neck for a warm, elated hug. The two uttered grunts of kind protest, though they sunk into Lickity's soft feathers and scales. She chuckled and gave them a hard squeeze.

"I told you guys you'd be fine," Lickity sneered playfully, she perked her ears and gave them an excited look of all the energy in the world as they three pulled away from each other.

"This isn't over yet," Tessa stated, though she cocked an eyebrow and gave Zed a knowing look. He heaved a long, hard sigh and, as he slumped his shoulders, he gave Lickity a defeated smile.

"Alright... Let's get this over with," Zed mumbled, which cued Lickity to stiffen her posture with excitement.

"Ohh I can't wait to see the look on those five boy's faces!" Lickity danced on her feet a little, though she stumbled to shift about in Zed's destroyed room, so to make it easy for Tessa and Zed to climb aboard, "C'mon. We've got some awkward reuniting to do!"

"Twenty bucks Orph cries," Tessa laughed as the two quickly climbed up onto Lickity's spine. Her large body shook a laugh as she began to saunter towards the gaping, shattered hole in the side of Zed's loft.

"He practically started crying when we left to come here!" Lickity urged loudly as she stepped out to the edge and looked to the massive world and valley below.

"Either way, we're in for a show," Tessa said through a knowing chuckle as she fastened her arms around Zed's figure.

Zed eased a small, nervous laugh as well, though his eyes nervously scanned the horizon before him. His heart jolted with excitement, fear, adrenaline; he knew all five of those boys were bound to overload his already fried mind, though with one chapter finally drawn to a positive close, he let his lungs fill with the crisp, jungle air he had come to know and love. He gripped the fur on Lickity's scruff, and with one swift jump, the three easily lulled into the sky, off to continue climbing this peak they were so close to reaching.

A/N: Hey guys, I drew fanart for this scene titled 'Achievement Unlocked : Deletion' - it's on my deviantART, username Vyntresser :)