Falling. Chanting. Racing. Leaping. Missing...

Watching him fall...

Unable to help.

A game is doomed.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ralph, please wake up." Vanellope shuddered as another involuntary glitch ran through her. She only ever glitched when she was excited about something, and that included being scared. She'd never been more frightened than she was now, not even when he'd been chasing after her after she'd stolen his medal. Granted, he'd stolen the medal in the first place, but that hardly seemed important now. Nothing was important now except for the fact that he was lying on the large hospital bed that Felix had fixed for him. And he was hurt.

"You're the fixing guy, why can't you fix this?" she'd demanded of him, although he probably hadn't been able to hear her with the way she'd been glitching all over the place.

"I'm so sorry but this is bigger than even I can fix," he'd informed her gently, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her. Instead, she'd turned and ran back to this bed out in the open to be by his side. He'd been trying to save her game and, while he'd managed that, he'd almost killed himself in the process.

There had been a lot of medical jargon used in the hospital when the striped pieces of candy had been examining the big guy for injuries. Third-degree cola burns, peanut brittle lodged in uncomfortable places, and the worst thing of all- coma. From what she'd been told, a coma was just a long sleep. Her questions of when he'd wake up went unanswered. So all she could do was sit by his side and urge him to wake up. According to convention, a princess was supposed to give her saviour a kiss. And she really wanted to. He just had to wake up first.

"He'll be okay if you leave him for a while, you know," Calhoun commented, coming up to stand beside her. "You don't fight countless wars against the cybugs without having a few casualties."

"I won't leave him," Vanellope mumbled. "I want him to be the first person he sees when he wakes up."

"That sounds like something a girlfriend would say," the sergeant noted. "But you're just his friend, aren't you?" Vanellope could only look at her for a few moments before turning her head away. She couldn't face the older woman's pity. Calhoun swore, probably without meaning to.

"I know it's stupid and that he probably wouldn't like a little girl like me but I got close to him, you know? And I never really realised it until..." she trailed off, the ending right in front of her. She wanted to hug him, be near him, but aside from his burns, her glitching might damage him somehow.

"Yeah, I get it," the blonde sergeant nodded. "You never realise how much you love someone until they're gone. Why do you think I'm so damn protective of Felix? He might have that golden hammer but he's not invincible. I intend to teach him how to use a gun as soon as possible."

"That'll be a funny sight," Vanellope snorted. "He always has that hammer so a gun'll just look... weird."

"Not as weird as being dead would look," Calhoun figured. Vanellope glitched as she was uncomfortably reminded that she could have lost Ralph just like Calhoun had lost her first love. When she landed on the ground, having glitched through the chair, she tried to smile at the funny sight it must have been. It almost worked.

"Princess." She sighed. And here was Sour Bill, still with that lollypop stuck to him. She giggled at the sight.

"Yes?" she asked, getting out from under the chair and brushing cocoa dust off her clothing.

"Your subjects are waiting to be addressed," he droned.

"Alright, fine," she accepted, and then turned to address Ralph as though he were still awake rather than... well, in a coma suffering from cola burns. "Don't go anywhere while I'm gone." Straightening up, she took a deep breath and glitched into her princess gown. Felix had fixed the finish line for her after the cybugs had flown into the beacon, and she'd reluctantly driven across it while tears blurred her vision. Regaining her former status as princess should have been a happy affair. But how could she be happy when the one she loved was hurt? Regardless, she'd managed to smile at the people bowing to her before she'd run off to get the candy nurses.

Now, as she walked back to them, everyone was bowing to her again. She smiled wanly, appreciating the change of her status from hobo to princess.

"Well, I suppose you're wondering how things will change with me as princess again, huh?" she asked, and all around her heads started nodded.

"They won't change that much," she assured them. "We'll still do the Random Roster Racers with the coins from winnings and I'll still live in the castle. The main change will be that you'll have to treat me better, that's all." She just wanted to get this over and done with. Ralph might be awake! "Are there any questions?" Her skin flickered blue, signalling that a glitch was closeby, and she narrowed her eyes at it. Glitching in front of her subjects was not a good way to show them that she was in charge now.

"Will you still be driving that abomination you and that big scary guy made?" Taffyta asked. Vanellope glared at her, causing the former bully to all but drop to her stomach in submission to her. She almost felt like laughing. Almost.

"Yes, Tafytta, I will still be using the kart Ralph and I made," she informed her, not removing her glare from her. "Are there any other questions not involving Ralph?" She didn't want to talk about him right now, not with her pixels acting all funny. "No? Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to something important." She ran all the way back to Ralph to once more sit by his bedside with her pixels causing random glitches that got stronger until she finally teleported to be by his bedside. Once there, she broke down into tears at seeing him still lying on the bed, fast asleep. But he snored when he was asleep. Now, he just looked dead. She barely even registered Calhoun sympathetically handing her a box of tissues.