Opposite Sides of the Track

Chapter Two

Somebody That I Used to Know

Hiro was having a mental breakdown. Or so people would say if they'd seen the way Hiro bolted out of Vanellope's holding room. It was what his aunt would say when seeing him tearing through his room, looking for all of Vanellope's old things that she'd left the last time he'd seen her— the real her. The old her.

But it couldn't be what Vanellope was thinking right now. Hiro couldn't afford that. She could say what she wanted about yesterday, but, right now, there couldn't be a single waver in a single word— a single syllable.

Hiro didn't want to have to do this. He'd rather have been at home, where he could sort this through in his own genius way. But Vanellope had been really stubborn and the group thought that maybe, maybe Hiro could help with that.

"You're not dead." Hiro said bluntly.

Vanellope cocked her head to the side.

"Wha'chya talk'n about? Of course I am!"

Hiro restrained from rolling his eyes (but from Vanellope's unwavering position, it was a narrow miss).

"Okay then… so you have a code name, Greta. But you do know what people really call you. Right?" Hiro asked nonchalantly. If he could get her to cringe, he could work off of that, using the tactic to work her down to more manageable size.

It didn't work.

"I know, awesome, right?"

Hiro narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. Bubblegum Glitch. Real classy."

Vanellope shrugged and looked at her nails. "To each their own."

Hiro tried not to shift in his seat. He needed a new idea; this wasn't working. Besides, he was sure that this was what the rest of the team had used anyway. Hiro had to think like… like he had 2 deaths (or one death and a runaway now) ago.

"So…" Hiro began "New video games lately?"

Even with Vanellope's thick, sarcastic coating, her eyebrows flew to her hairline.

"Excuse me?" Vanellope asked incredulously.

"Any new—"

"I got it!" Vanellope snapped. "And no. Why would I?"

Hiro shrugged.

"Thought that nothing would keep you from your video games?" Hiro quoted.

"Oh, and I'm so sure you still bot fight in all your glory." Vanellope snapped back.

Touché. But Hiro was still getting somewhere. Tell tale factor; Vanellope was beginning to look scared. Like you are. Hiro's back grew goose bumps. He remembered his earlier conversation with Penny.

Penny walked up to Hiro.

"I just as scared as you are, Hiro." she said softly.

Hiro grit his teeth.

"I'm not scared. I'm… I don't know what I am, but I'm not scared."

Looking into the interrogation room, however, Hiro knew that was a lie. He looked at Vanellope and barely saw the same person. Vanellope used to smile like that was exactly what the world needed. She used to be able to cheer Hiro up with a three-word maximum. And Vanellope's eyes… they were always well guarded, sure, but they didn't hate like whomever this person was did. But there was something deeper that Hiro felt that wasn't fear. Maybe it was sadness. In a way, yes. It was like Hiro had lost her all over again. The worst part was; sure, she was different. But she was still Vanellope and Hiro had been too blind to have never seen the possibility of what she could become.

No. Hiro mentally shook his head. Vanellope, for whatever reason, was the scared one here. And what 14 year old (that, note, wasn't a superhero at the time) knows that their best friend will become a villain? Did he even care back then? Know that Hiro thought of it, he should have seen this coming; every superhero had a best friend that betrayed them. There was Professor Callaghan, but Hiro wouldn't call him a friend more like—

"Kill me."

Hiro's head shot up as the words interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Kill me." Vanellope repeated. "I'm not saying anything. You're not getting anything. Just get it over with. Save us both some time."

Hiro had been warned of this; that Vanellope would pull a morbid card. Vanellope always had a dark sense of humor, but this was different. She was serious. Hiro had to think fast. Maybe she'd been a villain too long to be any less bendable. But maybe he could negotiate. Hiro leaned closer to Vanellope's side of the table.

"I'm getting that you don't want to say anything, but what if we could do a trade off— a deed for a deed?" Hiro could see he had Vanellope's attention, "What about information about friends or family? I'm sure you'd like to know how your parents are doing."

Vanellope's expression darkened.

"You really don't know anything, do you?"

Hiro wracked his mind for anything he could have said wrong, but came to a draw. He couldn't find anything. Vanellope, luckily or unluckily wasn't feeling patient that day.

"Go ahead! Try and find my parents. I've been searching for 10 years and haven't found anything. Sure, I'll negotiate if you can findanything. Because I've been a foster childmy entire life."

Hiro's throat went dry. He thought about the funeral he couldn't go to because he was in jail. He thought about his aunt's lack of information about what had happened there.

"… deal." was all he said, before he ultimately gave in and left the room. But now Hiro had a new goal.

"So?" asked Honey Lemon, "Anything?"

Gogo rolled her eyes.

"She was so nervous she just plugged in her earbuds and watched. So Hiro, gonna find the ghost parents?"

Hiro nodded.

"Oh yeah." If anything, for old time's sake."But first, I need to go get something."

~oOo~

After Hiro had visited the local Wal-Mart, Hiro stopped by Vanellope's holding cell before embarking on his adventure to find Vanellope's parents. He still couldn't believe… no, not now. Hiro had requested for the one-way glass shield to be risen in front of the window and, obviously, for Vanellope to be placed back in the room. Hiro entered with what he had bought in a bag, like a gift.

"You shouldn't walk in here alone without your suit. I'm not afraid to—"

Vanellope stopped and looked down at the gift with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Hiro shrugged, "I just thought I'd get you something."

"I'm not supposed to give you information for it, right? Because I told you—" Vanellope began.

"No! It's not." Hiro said to cut Vanellope off. "I'll just… leave it."

There was an awkward silence in the room as Hiro equally-awkwardly exited. After he left, he visited the newly covered window to watch Vanellope open the gift. It was almost funny to watch Vanellope open. Like a monkey, shaking it around before finally giving in to curiosity and opening it. When she did, Vanellope looked up into the one-way glass with wide eyes, as if she knew he was there, watching her.

Hiro left feeling more hopeful than he had the week before, when he'd first come face to face with Vanellope.

~oOo~

Dead end. Dead. End. Hiro banged his head against his desk at home. Nothing! There was absolutely nothing about Vanellope's parents. It was like they didn't exist. He didn't even find something about the people Vanellope had lived with before, just old police records about the times Vanellope had been caught betting, driving, stealing, and whatnot. There were a few things about him and Vanellope both and, more than anything, there were reports about Vanellope's "death". Before, Hiro couldn't even look at these, now they just made him mad. Why couldn't they have seen the signs? Why did they have to have him be he one to get the bowling ball thrown at?

Seeing his distress, Aunt Cass walked in and put a hand on the back of Hiro's chair.

"What happened to Vanellope was really sad, hun, but that was a long time ago." she said, obviously seeing what Hiro had searched.

Hiro couldn't let his aunt know what he knew.

"Yeah… did you know she was an orphan?" Hiro asked.

Aunt Cass stood next to him.

"Yeah, actually. How'd you find out? Vanellope wanted to keep it from you so badly…"

Hiro's head shot up, even as the words she did? flew through his head.

"H-how did you know?" Hiro asked incredulously.

His aunt shrugged. "Well, Vanellope's antics were confusing me, so I went to talk with her foster father. They— as in he and his daughter— seemed nice enough. Didn't tell me much, though."

Hiro stumbled out of his seat.

"Where did they live? Do they still live there?"

Aunt Cass looked taken aback.

"Well, they live about 3 blocks over, at the colorful house, can't miss it. I don't know if they still live there. But, hun, why are you going?"

Hiro didn't stop to answer.

"Thanks! Bye, Aunt Cass, love you."

Hiro gave her a quick hug, ran downstairs and through the empty restaurant dining area, and made it out the door into the almost-night.

~oOo~

Vanellope's foster father was a short, stout, and mostly bald man with a large nose and a peculiar sense of fashion. He opened the door with a pleasant - enough look on his face.

"Hello! What bringth you here?" he asked. The man had a lisp as well, and had the personality of a clown; chipper, creepy, and obviously fake.

Hiro shifted on his feet, "Sorry to interrupt, especially if it's dinner, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. You see, I was a really good friend of Vanellope's—"

The bald one of the two males burst into laughter.

"What?" Hiro asked, a little irked.

"Vanellope didn't have friendth. What are you really here for?"

Hiro's eyes darted around.

"Yeah, she did. We played video games all the time. And I just found out that she didn't have parents. I just really wanted to know. For old times sake."

Vanellope's foster father's facade fell.

"I'm thorry, but I don't believe you. Good bye."

Before he could shut the door, a snooty looking blonde interrupted.

"Who is it, Dad?" she asked.

Hiro looked at whom he presumed was Vanellope's foster sister and took advantage of her interruption.

"Hi. I'm Hiro. I was Vanellope's friend and I just wanted to know a few things."

"And I told him," the bald man said, "Vanellope didn't have any friendth."

The daughter licked her lollipop.

"She did, actually. Paid me twenty bucks a month to keep it secret."

Hiro felt like he was dying inside. Why? Why hadn't Vanellope let him know? He could have stopped all this. He could have—

"Fine. I'll let him inthide."

Hiro was let in and introduced to the two. The dad was Travis Kingsman, and his daughter was Taffeta Kingsman. Hiro was led to the rather pink dining room and sat down at the table.

"Tho. What ith it you want to athk?"

Hiro shrugged. "Well, I just found out that she was a foster child, and I wanted to know about her parents."

Travis snorted.

"A rotten couple. Thieveth for a living. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?" Hiro was about to say something, but it seemed that Travis wasn't done. "I tried my betht to keep Vanellope from being like that. I was a policth offither at the time, alwayth catching the two. When their anticth got them killed, I did my betht to fight her uncles. Couldn't rithk another one."

Hiro almost laughed bitterly at the irony. But he was still doing business, and there couldn't be any more mental breakdowns. Or, not breakdowns, perhaps but a cracked exterior for sure.

"Uh, thanks. What were their names? I mean, I know they're Von Schweetz, but first names…" Hiro asked, only prodding at the idea. He was afraid that, since Travis had been a police officer, he'd find something fishy.

"Mm hm, Victor and Vivian. Gotta thay, they did well naming that child. But, do me a favor, Hiro, and keep Vanellope'th parentth on the down low. I'm not thure she would have wanted that."

Yeah, but she would want herself to know.

~oOo~

Penny was in front of the shop on the walk home, her dog, Bolt, on leash. They'd been distant ever since they'd broken up, not too long after they'd defeated Callghuan. Too much going on and too little to work off of, was really the reason. He couldn't get forget Penny though; she was part of the team, and there was no abandoning any part of the team.

Still, Hiro was uncomfortable.

"Uh… hi, Penny. Hi Bolt. What are you doing here?" Hiro asked slowly.

Penny shrugged,

"I saw what you gave Vanellope. Just thought I'd ask if you thought that the decrease in temperature in her room was too cruel."

Hiro gave a small smile.

"Perfect. Forgot to do that myself."

Hiro took a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"This has just what we need to get Vanellope talking. It has her parent's names on it. They were villains, like her now... And she has more than one uncle that should be still alive." Hero's hopefulness fell, "Did you know how hard she tried to keep her life at home from me? She told my aunt not to, bribed her foster sister not to tell her foster father about it, and who knows what else. Maybe, I could have helped."

Penny looked at the ground.

"I went to Jamie about it," Hiro winced a little; Jamie was Penny's new boyfriend, "and he said that everyone knew that. Apparently, her foster sister hated her; bullied her, hit her, did the gum-in-hair thing. And no one stopped them because she and her friends had the most power in school." Penny's voice quieted a little, "I guess since we didn't go to school with her she thought it was best to keep it form us."

Hiro looked away and closed his eyes, thinking about all the times Vanellope would cower under a gaze, presumably a gaze of a person that could tell Hiro the real deal. And he never even thought about it.

"Well, nice talking to you. I… I've got to go back inside." Hiro said awkwardly.

Penny nodded and pulled Bolt away from Hiro's feet.

"See you tomorrow."

Hiro waved and nodded before going back into the shop. His aunt was probably asleep and Tadashi was still in the coma… no, Hiro couldn't be thinking about this right now. Too much going on right now, Hiro really couldn't think about his brother.

Hiro walked up stairs and into his bedroom, exhaustion suddenly hitting him like a brick. He checked his watch: 11:45. Not too late, but not exactly the best time to be getting to sleep, especially with school and Vanellope tomorrow. But Hiro had to do just one more thing.

Underneath his desk was a box, filled with video games, game consoles, and a photo album. There were mostly pictures with Penny in them or ones that Penny had taken, but there was one of just him and Vanellope. For the geniuses that they were, they had trouble figuring out how to use a camera properly. Sure, they knew how to click the button, but they couldn't be normal enough to let picture look normal. The one that they settled on was actually hilarious; Vanellope was trying to cover up the flash with her thumb, therefore her craning her neck with her tongue sticking outside the left corner of her mouth whilst Hiro was telling her to just turn off the flash and taking up most of the screen by leaning over to pull her hand off the light. It resulted in a picture with neither of them even looking at the camera.

Hiro missed those times. Tadashi wasn't in the hospital and Vanellope was still "alive". He wanted to go back to those times so badly. Knowing what he knew now, things could have turned out so much better.

Hiro sighed and went to bed, putting the picture under his pillow. It was too late now.

No, you didn't have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records and then change your number

I guess that I don't need that though

Now you're just somebody that I used to know

~ Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

A/N: I usually have better luck with this when I post this at midnight (in fact, NEVER do I get good luck with this when I post chapters in the morning) but this took a week to finish, so here it is. I redid the beginning and I left out something things I wanted to add and decided to save that for Vanellope's part.

Oh, did I forget to tell you guys I was alternating Hiro and Vanellope's perspectives? Whoops.

But, no, this isn't a one-time thing. When Hiro's looking into Vanellope's past, I'm going to have his perspective put in of course.

Okay, so message for whoever decided that it was a good idea to go ahead and steal this plot in their story "Bad Blood"; not cool. This was mine and I intend to keep it that way. You didn't even ask. I would have said no, but I would have recommended you to write a twist. Like Hiro's the villain or something or if you had a different idea for it, to just credit me in the similar parts. But instead, you went and stole my plot. :/

Okay, so, question for everyone else (it's pretty easy); can you guess what Hiro got Vanellope?

~ Sam

P.S. Notice how I totally skipped the explanation on Tadashi's coma? He he he… I'm evil ^.^