***An off-the-cuff one-shot inspired by one of the "Ralph Breaks the Internet" post-credit scenes. SPOILERS AHEAD!***
Never Gonna Give You Up
'This is the life,' Vanellope thought contentedly. Her hammock, made from a blanket and suspended by ropes from the rafters of her new home, an abandoned warehouse converted into a kind of loft, swayed gently as she cast her eyes over her belongings in the small room.
Unlike back at the arcade, the Internet and the games therin didn't have operating hours. No owner went home and left the characters to their own devices for the night and returned the next morning for them to resume gameplay. As such, characters in internet games tended to work in shifts, taking breaks when necessary. This time in her loft was one of Vanellope's breaks.
On a whim, Vanellope fished the half-heart pendant from beneath her hoodie. She remembered making the original piece, Ralph's medal. If she brushed her thumb against the word "You're" and thought about it, she could almost feel him brushing the other half right back. Even in the midst of the fact that it really did stink being seperated from her best friend, it reminded her that their friendship itself was stronger than ever.
A knock at her door, really a piece of corrugated metal she'd found in the city of "Slaughter Race," Vanellope shuffled the pendant back into her jacket and glitched down to the door to answer.
"Hey, Pyro," she chirped, "what's up? Is it my shift already?"
"Nope, V," Pyro smirked, holding up a card of blue light, the icon of an inter-internet video. "This came for you. I'm guessing from that big thug best friend of yours." He passed her the icon and threw a wave over his shoulder as he left.
Vanellope quirked an eyebrow at the video icon and resumed her place on her hammock. The icon depicted Ralph's eyes scrunched up, overlayed by the triangle-in-a-circle "Play" button. Vanellope set the icon down and drew the shades of her window, blocking out most of the smog-filtered afternoon sun that "Slaughter Race" always had.
Vanellope picked the icon up and quickly hit "Play."
The video zoomed out the show most of Ralph's upper body, leaving out only the arm he was using to hold the camera. "Heya, kid. At the risk of being clingy and all that junk, I made this for ya. Just felt like making something for once, and some of the guys who know video editing helped out. I hope you like it."
Vanellope's eyes widened in surprise as the video showed Ralph in a shiny room, an old-fashioned microphone in front of him as he swayed to the opening notes to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."
"We're no strangers to love. - You know the rules, and so do I!"
Vanellope snickered as her friends alternated throughout the video, all dancing to Ralph's not-so-bad rendition.
"Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna run around and desert you! Never gonna make you cry! Never gonna say goodbye! Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"
Vanellope sniffled and rubbed the heel of her hand across her eye. Only Ralph could have picked a song that tied so closely to their adventure in the internet. And his singing really wasn't bad. Not great, duh, but not hard to listen to. Heck, if Yesss got her hands on this …
Vanellope sat up straighter as an idea crossed her mind. She smiled and hopped down from her perch. She needed to clear actually leaving the game with Shank, but after that … she had somewhere to be.
Ralph waved to a group of his friends from Bad-Anon as he headed back to his own game after a meeting. He thought about heading to Tapper's, but shook his head. He should probably get further into the new subject of Zangief's book club.
Ralph came to a quick stop at the feel of his 'Net phone buzzing. He flipped it open to find an attachment from Vanellope. He clicked the "Open" button and found a webpage for the video he had sent her on BuzzTube. A message in the corner told him to check the view count.
Ralph's eyes bugged at the number of views, likes, and hearts. It was … Sweet Mother Hubbard, that was higher than the rest of his videos put together! Then the description caught his eye: "Meet The Stinkiest Brain Ever!"
Ralph laughed and closed the phone, slipping it back into his pocket and resuming his walk. He fished his pendant out of his shirt and rubbed his thumb over the "My." Sometimes, if he focused real hard, he could almost feel her brushing her half right back.
He smiled and replaced the pendant with a sigh. January wasn't too far away, really. And no matter how long it took … They would always be best friends.
"Time to go to work," Ralph quipped.
Just saw "Ralph breaks the Internet" and this idea came to mind. Just a cute little one-shot. Leave a review if you like it!