Song Listened To: Giving Back The Baby - Ice Age Soundtrack (first half of the song lol)
King by Lauren Aquilina
*Chapter 163*
With a heart nearly stopped cold, Tessa tried to gasp through the freeze of realization that was suddenly draped over her. She uttered a shaky noise of a plea, as if to begin to question just what was going on, though as easily as her mind tried to potentially trick her into suggesting a lie to come up with, an excuse to fall back on, her nervous system nearly trembled with information it already was clipped with. She shook her head, and through a stutter of a gasp, she pushed on the angry forcefield. It aggressively bevelled and with a louder warning this time around, it rocked her coding nearly straight out of her skin. She inhaled a sharp gasp, yanked her hand away and glared down the devilish red snakes of iridescent coding that vanished into thin air. She panted and seethed to a brimming, overflowing boil, and with a step off the cliff, her body took in the station's cold air and braced itself for her booming, powerful voice.
"NO!" Tessa darkly hollered, her voice reverberated to the very end of the station, which was almost too far to see in its entirety.
She began to shake, and with fists even more tightly clenched, she largely smashed her fists into the unforgiving forcefield without a single worry of the backlash. With each core-shaking pound and unrelenting force she gave unto the red tiers of a fight, she was up against, the circuits along her shoulders and spine began to show in the pretty, shiny silver coding she was now proudly blessed with, though it began to flash hot white, as if to insinuate potential damage to be had, if she didn't let up. With all six boys, as well as Lickity, frozen in the dregs of Tessa's cold realization, Zed finally snapped out of it and took a hard few steps forward. For the sake of her coding, and their new baby's raw files in which she harbored, Zed largely grappled for Tessa's arm and yanked her away from the field, and to safety.
"Tessa, be still!" Zed's voice urged loudly though with the still, charming bite of delight he somehow managed to harbor. Tessa wobbled backward, with Zed's firm grip, though her strength wasn't to be tried. She yanked her arm out of his stronghold and stared him down in a line of crazed sight.
"Th-They can't do this!" Tessa hollered as tears immediately streamed her cheeks, "We HAVE to find a way in!"
"Tessa, it's no use trying to smash down a forcefield!" Zed challenged though Tessa's desperate eyes suddenly darted to Zed's five brothers, of which now were pricked in scared tension.
Just as Tessa began to push in their direction, each boy scattered out of her way in stumbling fear. Tessa's shrunken-pupil crazed stare darted about the arch of the train station's dome as if to potentially seek another way into the Game Central. At the depths of her heart, she knew it was absolutely no use though she also knew she had to try. She marched up to the train station's gloriously sleek golden walls, and with no hesitation, she began to slam her fists into the solid concrete. With little progress being made, she began to audibly holler indecipherable profanities at the crumbling debris she began to create. Her fists trembled with the overload to her coding, which now was heightened and more sensitive due to her new baby's coding. Zed hurriedly marched over to her, as did Lickity, though as soon as Zed was in arms reach of her, she stumbled in her positioning and fell to her knee. She pushed up on the ground, and the wall, and in a sharp attempt to get up, she slipped once more and fumbled into the concrete that had surprisingly begun to dribble from the wall.
"Tess, c'mon, C'MON!" Zed hollered, he sternly gripped her upper arm, out of love, and helped her to her feet. With hands kept gentle, he still held her shoulders with force and pierced her gaze with his, "Think of the baby, get it together!"
"I'm sorry," Tessa angrily sobbed through fast, uneven and panicked panting. She shook her head and largely gripped the undersides of Zed's arms.
"How did... How did they know to block us out, as well?" Finn asked Duke from afar, though their quiet voices carried, they braved the forcefield and just barely let their fingers meet it.
Jax, Tej, and Orph nervously hung back, and though they were a good enough distance away, everyone still flinched as the forcefield barred them an angry warning, as if to beg to stay away. The five boys quickly, and nervously, peered back to where Tessa, Zed and Lickity were, just a few dozen feet down the train station's dock. Finn shook his head and, with a look of sloping defeat, he finally peered back to Duke and Orph. Orph crossed his arms, heaved a long sigh and looked down to the ground. Tessa seethed; from the absence of any one of her new brother's coming to any final conclusion, or ideas, she felt whole and totally numb. She trembled in Zed's grip, and with the overload of information to her new coding, she wondered just how much grief her body and mental state could take before it rage-quit on itself. As tears slapped the front of her shirt and the tiles underneath, she shook her head, and for the first time in her life, she let the King and Queen call check-mate on her heart.
"If this is how they want things," Tessa's dark voice trembled, her shaking gaze glossed the front of Zed's shirt in growing, mental absence and exhaustion, "... Then, so be it."
"Tess," Zed's words quivered as his eyes grew glassy. He squinted, to avoid tears from forming, and shook his head, "W-We can't just... Give up on this."
"What choice do we have!" Tessa suddenly shouted, which caused Zed to flinch. As much as he wanted to fight back, Tessa eased out of his grip and largely motioned her hand to their beckoning station, "We're not even allowed in Game Central! Our homes used to reside here, and now they don't! I can NEVER go home, Zed!"
"To hell with 'em, then!" Zed shouted though he finally directed it out to the station as a vein nearly bulged on his forehead, "Y'hear me?"
"Relax, relax," Finn stated loudly as he approached Zed and Tessa. He put a firm though loving hand on Tessa's shoulder as he grappled for Zed's shoulder as well. With a simple yank, he brought Zed to his attention and held the two still, "Nothing will get accomplished by being angry, like this."
"There's nothing we can do," Tessa's raspy voice coat the two boys in growing stillness. Her defeated gaze pierced Finn's in a lazy stupor of uncertainty, "If this is how strongly they feel, there is no use fighting it... If we keep persisting, they might attempt a force field over Dead Zed..."
"They can't do that," Jax urged darkly as everyone finally pushed into Tessa's, Zed's and Finn's bubble, "How they can accomplish THIS is beyond me."
"They probably have it in with Surge," Tessa muttered, her eyes finally side-eyed the station, as if to attempt bravery, "They do have nearly the highest stature, here, in Arcade... Being King and Queen, and all."
"Whatever," Finn barked as he waved his hand, and for even the small amount of time Tessa knew Finn, she was surprised to see him grow flustered and heated, "We're your family now. We'll make a new kingdom. We don't need them..."
"And, clearly, they don't need us," Duke muttered as he crossed his arms, though Tessa's eyes softly glossed to Zed's, to see just what he had to say.
"... You're not totally alone," Zed eased as he finally found a lull of a calm, "You know this kind of thing would never happen, between the eight of us."
"Soon to be ten," Orph's eyes bulged.
"... You think you know someone," Tessa's voice crackled, and as much as she wanted tears to continue spilling down her cheeks, she nearly felt as if her whole existence had run dry. She peered back to Game Central Station, with one last ogling glance and shook her head, "My own brother doesn't even know he's going to be an uncle... And Penny..." Tessa scoffed a small sob and hugged her arms to her chest. She stumbled on more words though she knew if she were to carry on, she was likely to crumble to the ground.
"I-I dare to say this won't be forever," Jax eased, in hopes of cheering her up. Each boy, excluding Orph, began to surround Tessa and Zed in growing comfort, though with all the ease in the world, Finn was first to reach out and hold Tessa's hand.
"It's because of you, we're all together again," Finn smiled, he caught eyes with Zed, "Sure, you... You may have lost a great deal of family, but... We're your family now. And, I can promise you, none of us would ever betray you like this. You will always have a home, with us."
"And, we're currently in the process of making the family bigger, what with our nephew on the way," Jax softly motioned to Lickity in growing cheek, "And, Lickity here is going to be adding another being to the group, as well. I'd say we're at a good start."
"There's nothing we can do, right now," Zed finally composed himself and, through a deep inhale, he shook his head and peered out at the dim, lonely station, "Let's just... Go back home, figure out living arrangements, and... Maybe once the baby is born, we can come back and try to get their attention."
"I don't want to come back," Tessa finally stated with confidence, though with one long, hard glare towards Sugar Rush's outlet, just down the way, she heaved a long sigh and peeled her gaze away for the last time, "I can't look back... My priorities have to shift, and I have to think about this baby... My new life."
"Can't argue with that," Finn softly eased with an unsure glance in Zed's direction.
Tessa fell silent and hugged her arms to her chest. She shook her head and turned her back to the station, as if merely looking at it was too painful. She shut her eyes tight, and as if told to suddenly forget every aspect of her life, up until this moment, she shivered and accepted the challenge. She knew grieving had many steps though she also knew she was one for cheating the system, as of late. So desperately, out of the few seconds she had to digest all of this, she forced herself to believe Sugar Rush didn't really exist. Like a figment of her imagination, she took a step above it and hoped to User it would somehow whisk away, and all those candy clouds would slip into the depths of her dreams, so much like every sweet, fond, chocolate covered memory she ever had of her majestic, glorious homeland. She shook her head through the tears, and when she opened her eyes, she was relieved to see Lickity's understanding gaze peering back at her. She slumped her shoulders, and though she knew Dead Zed couldn't ever dream of filling the void, she knew it'd still try, and somehow, someway, eventually... The glass would still be viewed as half-full.
Just as loudly as they all had arrived, one by one, each racer lowered their eyes to the tracks and left Game Central for good. With Zed in the driver's seat, aboard Lickity, Tessa finally was allowed to close her eyes and let go of attempting to fight, to chase after what was rightfully hers. She knew she had no say in this decision, and the fact that she had no control whatsoever made her realize that lying down and taking it was all she could do in this raw, fragile time. She was aware she had to focus on the arrival of their first born, and with this new chapter ahead, she was excited she would have major distractions. With new life being brought into the game, and five new brothers to get to know, she knew forgetting her issues, during the daytime, would likely be a cakewalk. How desperately she wanted to continue to stay awake; she knew, when night fell, and when eyes closed, all her nightmares would remind her that this was, indeed, reality.