SECRET REFLECTIONS

*Artist Note: the character Cato-Strophy/Cato Li Caraba belongs to dannichangirl of deviantart. She is also the one who drew the picture that goes with this story. I got her premisson to both write about her OC and to use the image. I own nothing.

It was after-hours at the arcade, and most of the Sugar Rush characters had left their home game to go visit their out-of-game friends. Even Vanellope was gone, visiting her best friend Wreck-It Ralph. Now that Sugar Rush's programing had been straightened out she was no longer a glitch (though she could still teleport; apparently the game's creators decided being Sugar Rush royalty meant having special perks) and could therefore leave the game.

But Cato Li Caraba stayed within the game. Normally he'd have gone with Vanellope, or at least followed her from afar (and NO, it was NOT stalking, no matter what his older sister said), but not this time. Right now he needed to be alone so he could calm down.

He had had another nightmare.

Nightmares were, unfortunately, a VERY common occurrence for the inhabitants of Sugar Rush. Ever since the exposing of Turbo and his twisted re-writing of the game's programing the racers, Vanellope included, suffered from them. The very fact that Turbo had not only made them forget that Vanellope was their princess, but also caused them to treat her like dirt had greatly disturbed them. Vanellope encouraged her fellow racers to come and talk to her whenever they had a nightmare, as her adult friend Sergeant Calhoun had told her soon after Vanellope's first Turbo nightmare that talking about it with someone you trusted would help you get over it faster. Everyone in Sugar Rush trusted Vanellope; whenever one of them told her about one of their nightmares, she'd listen. Some people might have then gossiped and told the whole arcade about what they had just heard, but not Vanellope; she kept her subjects' personal issues private (which, as Calhoun had told her, is what a good leader does). Whenever Vanellope HERSELF had a nightmare she'd talk to either Ralph, Felix, or Calhoun.

Cato couldn't talk to anyone about his nightmares, because his nightmares were different. They weren't about Turbo. They were about Vanellope and himself. His real self.

Cato wasn't a real Sugar Rush character. Like Turbo, he had written himself into the game but unlike Turbo, he hadn't displaced anyone to do so. Cato still couldn't believe Turbo went that far. He was supposed to be a hero for crying out loud! Unlike… unlike himself.

Cato gazed into the small pond he was sitting by and sighed. His Sugar Rush self looked back at him. Cato felt miserable. How he wished what he saw in the pond right now was his real self. Then he wouldn't have to be afraid of being in love with Vanellope.

Cato's nightmare had started out nice enough. He had been on a romantic picnic with Vanellope. They had just been leaning in to kiss when he felt a familiar tingle, though in his dream he couldn't remember what that tingle meant. As soon as the feeling passed Vanellope's eyes widened and she jumped away from him. On her face was a mixture of horror, surprise, and disgust. Cato had looked down to see what had frightened her so, only to discover that he had somehow unwillingly reverted back to his true self: Cato-Strophy, the head villain from Turbo Time. The rest of the nightmare happened pretty quickly, with Vanellope running away as he desperately called out to her. Whenever Cato had these nightmares she'd always scream some sort of name at him while she ran. Fake. Monster. Liar. In his absolute worst nightmares she'd call him Turbo. Cato would call back to her that he's not Turbo, he's really not! Then she would stop running long enough to turn around and say "But you're just like him!"

Cato quickly looked around. Satisfied that he was alone, he switched into his original form. Looking down at his reflection, Cato suddenly felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. He knew he wasn't handsome in his real form. Back when Turbo Time was still plugged in, whenever a new game was added to the arcade, the new inhabitants were always startled, if not out-right scared, by Turbo's looks. Turbo's! And he's the good guy! How much worse it was for HIM, the bad guy. And now, thanks to everything Turbo had done, Cato knew the reaction it his looks would be a thousand times worse if anyone did happen to see his real face.

With a frustrated yell, Cato threw a small pebble into the pond, shattering his reflection, before burying his face in his arms. 'Why,' he wondered as he sobbed silently, 'Why does it have to be this way?'