If Only in My Dreams
Christmas, 1987
Just like the interior of Litwak's Arcade was decked out in Christmas decor, Game Central Station also boasted their own personal holiday touches. As per the norm, Felix and the Nicelanders donated one of their cubic trees to use as the centerpiece of the station (grown taller thanks to Sorceress's magic), and then bedazzled with everyone's own homemade ornaments. Since no one had traditional tree decor like humans did, this usually ended up in quite the eclectic collection: stranded strings of square martini olives from Gene, a medal from Felix, some various fruits from Pac-Man, just to name a few examples. To top the whole tree off was one of Mario's invincibility stars, its tiny eyes blinking from its perch high above everyone else.
The station always seemed larger during opening hours, Teddy thought to himself, and today was no exception. Even the large tree did little to fill up the expansive space. It only made the entire homeless situation seem more...lonely. Normally, he and his brothers would attach one of their trophies to the tree for decoration, but due to the circumstances involving their game getting unplugged, they had barely enough to time to even get themselves out of the game, much less any personal mementos.
"It's our first Christmas without Turbo," his brother Ted quietly mumbled as the two identical blue-clad racers sat together on a bench not too far from their home's former entrance.
Teddy closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn't wanted to bring up Turbo at all, hoping that perhaps he and his twin could pretend that this holiday was no different than the others they had spent together. However, their absent brother had left too large of a gaping hole in their family unit to simply ignore.
"I know," Teddy said barely above a whisper.
He tried to think of something else to say, but what could he say? Nothing was going to change the fact that Turbo had done the unthinkable: road-raging into RoadBlasters without a care and crashing the game, causing both theirs and TurboTime to get unplugged. Nothing he did or said was going to bring their brother back from the grave. Nothing was going to bring their home back. Nothing was going to stop more than half the station from casting suspicious, wary looks in the twins' direction, as if they'd had something to do with Turbo's insane joyride just a few months ago.
Ted hugged his knees to him, resting his chin on top of them as he stared wearily into the empty tunnel that formerly led to TurboTime, a nauseating sense of homesickness washing over him. "We always threw the best parties at Christmas...remember? We'd have Tapper bring all his root beer, and everyone would come over to-"
"I don't want to talk about it," Teddy interrupted him in a ruder tone than he'd intended to use. "Turbo's dead. He's gone. We should just forget about him."
The second the words had escaped his lips, he'd regretted saying them. Of course, he couldn't forget about Turbo, what a stupid thing to say. He could almost feel Ted's huge eyes staring at him as if he'd just suggested they go streaking in the middle of the GCS...when it was full of people.
"How can you say that?" his brother asked him with a perplexed lilt in his voice. "He was our brother, Teddy, we can't just forget about him." He hung his head and stared at the floor, his large yellow eyes growing dewy with tears. "Just because he did something bad, that doesn't erase all the good times we had."
Teddy glanced over at his sensitive twin for a moment before wrapping an arm around him, letting his head rest against his for the time being. "I'm sorry, Ted, I just...what was he thinking? Didn't he even once consider that this was going to affect us? That he was going to tear us apart?"
As much as he loved Turbo, it made him angry...no, furious that he would do something so reckless, something so...unspeakably horrible. And what made it worse was that Teddy couldn't bring himself to hate him. Did that make him a horrible person too? That he still had a familial bond with a person who'd had no qualms in destroying a rival game just because it had a spike in popularity in its first week? The same person who'd resulted in their home being taken away?
Ted stayed quiet, collecting his thoughts before speaking. "I don't think he meant to hurt us. He loved us, too...he wouldn't purposely do anything to harm us. Remember when you accidentally splashed root beer on Bowser? And he threatened to roast you? Turbo went off on him, remember?"
Teddy smiled wryly at the old memory. "Yeah...he did always have a short fuse, but at least he'd apologize to us after pitching a fit."
The other racer sighed as he stared down at his boots, still keeping his arms wrapped around his legs. "I really miss him. Even if he did do something really bad...if he were to show up, I'd give him a big hug."
"I'd probably punch him first," Teddy smirked in good nature, then his face grew more solemn. "But I miss him too." The admission actually felt nice to say. "It's going to be really weird not having him around."
"We still have each other at least," Ted remarked quietly. "I know we don't have a home anymore, but I'd rather have you here than any of our belongings."
Teddy couldn't argue against that. He always found himself surprised when his brother had something wise to say, even though after all these years, it shouldn't have been a surprise.
"Yeah, me too." He exhaled heavily and looked ahead into their former home, the black looming space seeming dead now that there was no home attached to it. "It's gonna suck not having a Christmas party though. Turbo did always throw the best ones, you know."
Ted breathed out a little laugh at him. "Merry Christmas, Teddy."
"Merry Christmas to you, too, Ted," the other replied as he glanced over at the oddly shaped tree in the station, "and hopefully a happy new year."
Ted...Teddy...guys, I'm so sorry...
You must both HATE me for what I did. I could never show my face to you again.
I destroyed our home...destroyed your futures...
I can only hope that one day you find the happiness and peace you both deserve...a new life without me there to ruin it.
The missing member of the TurboTime trio pulled off his helmet, peering down into it with his softly glowing eyes. Taped to the inside of it was an old photograph of himself and the twins at their very first Christmas party, their arms thrown around each other and grinning widely at the camera. Teddy had thrown a pair of 'bunny ears' behind Turbo's head without his knowledge. Ah, the good ol' days.
He'd never spend another holiday with them ever again. He'd never spend another day with them.
He smiled sadly, then closed his eyes and placed his helmet back on his head. Life behind the walls of Game Central Station was more lonely than he'd ever thought they would be. He missed his family...his friends. He knew that he could never see them again. They would never accept him. If he was to ever leave this solitude of his, he would have to create a new life for himself...one that had nothing to do with his old one. A new name, a new face if possible.
It was for the best.
"Merry Christmas, boys," he whispered to himself as he curled up on the nest of wires that served as a makeshift bed. "And good-bye."
I'll be home for Christmas...if only in my dreams. - Bing Crosby