"Taffyta! Hey, Taffyta!"

At first, she tried to ignore the voice behind her. The arcade was opening and the strangers from other games and the horrible glittering bugs and the fake king were all gone and Vanellope was going to race in spite of everything they'd all said and done for so long; it was a lot to think about, a lot to absorb, and if she just held out a few minutes the prin-president would have to leave her alone with it.

"Taff, wait up! Please?"

The wavery plea in Vanellope's voice was familiar, the first constant since she'd appeared on the track mid-race. Taffyta gulped and sighed and turned, eyes lowered as the other girl scurried to her.

"Hey, uh... Taffyta? You're uh... not still upset about the execution thing right? I mean I didn't mean it, and I-"

"No."

The word was forced out in a small, sad tone. Vanellope was silent; after a moment Taffyta forced her gaze up to meet the president's, and Vanellope cleared her throat and spoke again.

"Um... a...anyway. See, Taff, we kinda got a problem." She began pacing in that familiar restless way. "Yanno, I was the only one to cross the finish line today. And a whole lot of racers got knocked outta the race before those bugs took over. Like way more than usual."

Taffyta pursed her lips, head tilting as she fumbled for a lollipop.

"Yeah, so?"

Vanellope grinned, coming to a stop.

"Yeah, so, we only had seven qualified racers! That's two less than nine if you're keeping track." She paused, voice hesitant again. "I, uh, gave slot number eight to Candlehead. Because, yanno... sometimes she... I dunno, I guess sometimes she forgot and was nice to me, when..."

When you weren't around. The unspoken hung heavy between them a moment before Taffyta crunched down on her lollipop to break the silence.

"Yeah, I... I guess that's fair." She bit her lip to keep the question at bay, hoping Vanellope was too restless and too pressed for time to keep her hanging; she was swiftly rewarded as the other girl stepped closer.

"So, um. I... I want you to have the ninth slot. I mean, if you want it!" Taffyta looked up, silently questioning, and Vanellope cleared her throat, words tumbling over each other and hands waving as she tried to explain. "I mean I... I know things were tense, and, well, yeah, and you see, it's not - not supposed to be like that and I know you thought I was gonna wreck the game and that's why you were so - but I'm not, Taffyta, honest, and I want... I mean, I don't want any hard feelings because I wanted to race but I also wanted to hang out with you guys and I wanted to be one of you and... and... and..."

I just wanna race like you guys!

Taffyta swallowed hard, biting the lollipop stick nearly in half.

"And... hey, I gotta prove myself against the best on the first day, right?"

Taffyta stared at Vanellope's outstretched hand and then slowly raised her eyes to her face, vision blurring as she took in the too-familiar expression - tentative hope half-covered with bravado.

Then she let out a great, wrenching sob, burying her face in her hands.

Vanellope stood dumbfounded a moment, glitching briefly; a second later she was hesitantly wrapping her arms around Taffyta, awkwardly patting her back.

"H-hey...! Come on now, I... I... please? Hey..."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She found herself clinging to Vanellope, leaning against her. "I... I knew!"

"What?" Vanellope's clumsy pats stopped as she - they - glitched; she didn't push Taffyta away, though, and the blonde shivered as her code scattered and reordered.

"I knew," she repeated softly. "When... when we were... your pedal kart... and you grabbed me and glitched, I... I knew, just for a second! I was scared and mad and confused but then it was... was gone, I forgot again and I was still scared and mad and I thought it was at you but it was at whoever made me forget, but I thought it was you and I didn't remember what it really was until the reset and..."

"Stop crying, Taffyta."

The statement was soft this time, gentle, and Taffyta looked up at Vanellope to see tears standing in her eyes too.

"It's... you were mad at the wrong thing. That's okay - I didn't know either. And we'll deal with it, okay?" She offered a grin, head tilting. "So - you wanna race, or not?"

Taffyta gulped again and smiled, scrubbing at her face with one fist.

"Yeah. Let's race."

Vanellope hopped back then, bright-eyed and cocky once more.

"Great! Last one to the starting line's a rotten creme egg!"

She took off without another word, and Taffyta stared for a stunned moment.

Then she was off too, laughing as she gave chase.