Author's Note
Ghost Boy was originally written between November 2012 and January 2013, and was posted both here and Tumblr, where it proved to be decently popular. With Wreck-It Ralph 2 coming out in just over a year, I figured that it was high time to go back and fix a few of the things in this story that were bugging me. If it's all set to become an AU soon, I might as well make it a good AU, right?
Originally I was only posting this revamp on AO3, but due to popular demand, I'm now adding it here. This is not a complete rewrite of Ghost Boy, but there are many considerable alterations, which vary chapter by chapter (sometimes only a few things have been edited, other times most of the chapter has been replaced with new material). If you've read this story before, I hope that you enjoy the changes, and feel free to tell me what you think. If you've never read this story before...well, it's about Turbo, and that's all I'll say for now...
"Memory is the great deceiver. Perhaps there are some individuals whose memories act like tape recordings, daily records of their lives complete in every detail, but I am not one of them. My memory is a patchwork of occurrences, of discontinuous events roughly sewn together: The parts I remember, I remember precisely, whilst other sections seem to have vanished completely."
Neil Gaiman, Murder Mysteries
Prologue
"I think that should be everything."
"It took a pretty long time."
"Well, he had more junk in his code than cavities in a candy store, of course it took a long time! No wonder he went nuts. Do yourself a favor, squirt, and don't ever try the DIY approach to character mods."
"Wasn't plannin' on it."
"Maybe he wasn't, either…"
"We don't know one way or the other, and now, neither does he. That's the whole point. You did delete that stuff, right?"
"Uh…no."
"No?!"
"I couldn't! It was all tangled up with the rest of him, he would have fallen apart if I had! So I just…separated it. Moved it to where it can't bother anybody."
"I don't believe this. It would be better if he just fell apart!"
"Ralph!"
"Don't you 'Ralph' me! You know that this is a bad idea!"
"At least we can pull the plug easily enough if the need arises, but I have to agree. I haven't seen anyone putting themselves in danger more deliberately since Dunderson wandered into the Cy-bug nest on the thirty-seventh floor."
"But doesn't everyone deserve a second chance…?"
"…no."
"I'm gonna have to say no on that."
"You guys! Quit it, okay?! This is my game, and I say we're doing this! And it will work!"
"Whether it'll work or not, it's already done."
"Doesn't that mean that he's going to be waking up soon?"
"Yes."
"Then we better make sure that he's not by himself when it happens."
"We're going to regret this."
"No way, Stinkbrain. You'll see. Now, come on, and if you're scared, just hide behind me…"