Author's Notes: I am doing a bit of a retcon in order to fix some issues with my changing concepts as I wrote this fic. I earlier referred to Calhoun as Felix's wife, but for the sake of continuity, please assume that at this point they are not yet married and simply courting.

Otherwise, welcome to the final chapter. Don't fret that there's not much twins here-the epilogue will include what I think is a really nice final scene for the main trio of this fic. Anyway. I thank you all for making it this far and I hope you enjoy my wrap-up. Writing this fic has been so much fun and I am going to miss it! The epilogue will be posted next week as opposed to my usual two week update schedule. I hope to have the epilogue up next Wednesday or Thursday. And that will be that! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a short one.

Chapter Ten - Of Use

The next few days were admittedly tense in Sugar Rush, and the entire arcade for that matter, although Turbo saw very little of either. The day after his conversation with Vanellope, the self-imposed president had permitted the cybug to participate in the roster race, thereby returning him to his original form once again. And since that point on, the grey-faced racer had been been returned once more to the twins' room, under lock and key and guard once again.

Turbo for once had no interest in going out anyway. The twins spent most of their time with him, trying to keep him calm and comfortable, and for the most part failing, but continuing persistently anyway. Vanellope, for her part, had her hands full trying to convince the other arcade leaders that Turbo was not able to run loose in the arcade, in spite of his recent appearance in Game Central Station, yet the fragile alliances she had built with other games were on increasingly shaky ground.

Aside from that, Turbo knew little else of what happened outside the little palace room with the cybug-sized bed that seemed huge when he lay in it by himself, watching the twins seated by the window, with their eyes on the track beyond them. He was frustrated and weary, angry and hopeless. The desire to prove something to those know-it-alls outside the game had faded into a dull disinterest in anything beyond the little room. The twins were admittedly concerned.

The glitchy racer leapt from hopeless lethargy to restless aggression in a heartbeat. He could lie for hours, staring at nothing, and then suddenly leap up and begin ranting with the sort of energy only Turbo had. The twins, at least, discovered that although his cybug sweet spot didn't translate perfectly to Turbo's old avatar, with a bit of massaging under his shoulder blades, they could at least get him to relax a bit and quiet down. So they found themselves frequently sitting on the bed beside him, each rubbing one of his shoulders, just trying to keep him from jumping up and picking a fight with the characters whose voices they could hear outside the door.

The racing had stopped altogether, of course. And although Turbo had confessed to the twins' delight that he was content to be with them even if he never raced again, they all still wanted to race, and their minds and bodies itched with desire for it.

In silent frustration, Turbo added 'leaving Sugar Rush' to his ever-lengthening list of regrets.

It was one week after Turbo's stroll into Game Central Station that Vanellope summoned the trio of racers to her chambers, just after the arcade had opened for the day.

Turbo had avoided all contact with Vanellope since his confession. The level of shame he felt in her presence was a bit too much to bear. But it was hard to refuse a summons from her just the same, particularly when she had clearly chosen not to participate in the day's roster specifically to speak with them. The twins were insistent.

Vanellope was seated on the throne awaiting them when they entered, although she stood to meet them with a broad smile that seemed out of place considering the difficult week it had been for everyone. "Come in, guys! Don't be shy now!"

The twins were as startled as Turbo by the eagerness of the child, but they could sense the sincerity in her tone. With the thought that good news was about to be shared with them, they each placed a hand on Turbo's back and pushed him forward with them to meet her. Turbo shuffled between them uncomfortably, keeping his eyes low, not wanting to meet the gaze of the child who had shamed him.

Vanellope waved them closer as she stepped forward to meet them, smiling. "I have good news!"

"I can tell," Ted said with interest, smiling a bit in return. "Although to be honest, I can't imagine how..."

"Well," she said, holding a finger up to him, "for starters, beginning tomorrow, you twins can start racing with us Sugar Rushers again."

"What about Turbo?" Ned asked.

Vanellope shifted her attention to the other twin. His face showed deep concern, but she only smiled curiously back at him. "Well, starting tomorrow," she said, "Turbo is going to have a bit of a job. And if it works out, he can start racing again with you before too long."

Turbo met her eyes for the first time, his brows low with mild suspicion. "...job?"

Vanellope smiled still, and there was the faint glimmer of relief in her eyes. "Working in the code vault," she said. "I want you to do some adjustments to the code here in Sugar Rush. Fix some of the glitchier areas that have showed up since the whole cybug invasion. Truth is, no one else really knows what to make of it. You're pretty...unique in your understanding of code. And I figure it'd be a decent way for you to...ah...make up for your...crimes."

Turbo blinked at her, then scoffed. "You want me messing around in Sugar Rush's code? I'm sure the rest of the game loves that idea."

"Actually, they've agreed to it," she said. "A bit grudgingly, but I got their approval, on a whole. You'll be supervised, of course. But if you're a good little glitch-" She smirked as he clenched his fists "-and you work hard at it, I think you'll be able to earn the support of a lot of characters, here and outside the game. In fact, one other game has already agreed to let you come work on their code if you ever figure out how to get into another game."

Turbo stared at her. He wanted to laugh, but the feeling was stuck in his throat. This was ridiculous, impossible. Who in their right mind would want him messing about in the code of their game? Did they suddenly forget, suddenly get stupid overnight?

He looked up suddenly when he felt Ted give his shoulder a tight squeeze. The twin smiled down at him gently, encouragingly. Even he had a slight look of disbelief in his eyes though.

"Y...you've got to be kidding me," Turbo finally managed, looking back at Vanellope slowly. "Why?"

Vanellope gave a little shrug and smirked at him. "Truth is, you're just the only person in this arcade who knows code well enough to work in it and really know what you're doing. And even the best games have little issues in their code from time to time. For some games, little errors like that can become big errors and eventually get them unplugged...Having someone who knows what they're doing and can prevent that sort of thing is a pretty big deal.

"Felix has invited you to his game too," she added, "if you can figure out how to get there. He says they've got a few glitchy problems with the newcomers from Q*bert, so if you could figure out how to fix them, you'd be a welcome help."

Turbo gaped at her. This was insanity! Who in their right mind...?!

He stared at her silently. She was giving him a smile unlike one he'd ever seen on her face before. It was like the smile the twins had had when they were reunited with him the palace, so proud of the plan they'd concocted to help him get into the code vault. It was pride. She was seeking praise. From him. And the worst part was...if this was true, if what she was telling him was actually true...then she deserved the praise she sought.

"So...?" she cooed, large brown eyes still staring up at him expectantly. "Are you up for it? Cuz the alternative is pretty much continuing exactly what you're doing now, being locked up here all the time and not racing. But." She raised a finger, looking really quite pleased with herself. "If you can make yourself useful and clean up this game a bit, I'll be more than happy to let you back out on the track after hours...You and the twins both."

Turbo stared at her.

"I'm in."

Things, of course, were still difficult going. But Turbo warmed up to the idea of working on Sugar Rush's code, and before long he was spending the greater portion of arcade hours there in the vault, working on various issues Vanellope pointed out to him. Sour Bill, of course, kept loyal watch. As well as the twins, when they weren't racing, who would sit in the hall to the vault itself, playing cards, laughter echoing in the code room beyond.

Turbo's assistance repairing some glitchy areas of the game didn't exactly endear him to the Sugar Rush racers, but it at least seemed to pacify most of them. As for the rest of the arcade, many continued to regard him with suspicion and anger, but he learned to pay them little mind. Vanellope continually reminded them that it was her game and her choice to deal with him. They were eventually forced to submit to her authority.

When he'd fixed some of the trickier areas of the game, Turbo began to experiment once again with ghost codes, and managed to make himself a better, more substantial copy of his code to take outside of Sugar Rush. With the twins at his side now, he started making brief, experimental trips to Game Central Station. He wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms, but with the twins there to protect him, and Vanellope's threat of swift, royal punishment on anyone who messed with them, most of the arcade citizens let him be. Though there were those who now deeply distrusted the child president, the general consensus of the arcade was simply that she was a powerful and authoritative child. Someone not to be reckoned with. And though she might protect an unplugged sprite like Turbo, she wasn't about to let him run wild under her watch.

Turbo was lounging back in his old kart, wearing King Candy's face and parked at the crest of one of the hills in Chocolate Twist, glancing over what could be seen of the landscape from that point. It was hard to believe little more than a month ago he'd been hiding out here, cybug body distressing him as he lay awake in his cave with the twins trying their best to encourage him. At that time, he was desperately trying to concoct ways to get to the code vault, thinking it impossible and nigh giving up...Now he spent every day in that vault, with Vanellope's own permission.

Funny, how things changed.

He glanced up at the sound of another kart's engine cresting the hill behind him. In a few moments, the hood of Vanellope's kart came into view, slowing to a stop beside him. He grimaced faintly and looked ahead of himself again.

There was a moment of silence when he could feel her eyes on him.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said, leaning forward on her steering wheel and looking over at him.

"What makes you think," he lisped with mild frustration, "that I've got any interest in talking to you, hm?" He sunk a bit lower in his seat, almost out of her view.

She puffed out her cheeks a little and leaned over the side of her car toward him. "Let me talk to Turbo, he hates me less than you do. And I've got something to ask him."

Turbo's expression softened a bit from where she couldn't see him. He frowned quietly, wondering why he did hate her so much. She'd done an awful lot for him, and she had even less reason to help him than the twins did. In fact, she had no reason to help him at all. He took a breath and cleared the look from his face, sitting up and glancing at her. A glitch flickered along his face, and when the red ripples settled, he returned to Turbo's avatar comfortably, yellow eyes giving her an even, honest look. "What did you want?"

She leaned on the side of her kart, chin resting on her forearms. "I want to ask for a favor. And you owe me about a billion, so you can't really refuse, okay?"

Turbo grimaced faintly, but he held back the urge to argue with her. "What is it?"

"Do whatever it is you do...so I can leave the game," she said softly. He blinked. Her eyes were large and thoughtful and a bit longing. "I want to be able to go outside. I want to visit Ralph and Felix in their own game."

Turbo stared at her, then he bunched his shoulders a little and glanced away. "You know I can barely get that to work for myself. I almost glitched myself into a grave out there..."

"I know, but...you're still trying to figure out how to make it work, right? So when you do," she said, leaning back in her kart and lowering her eyes, "could you do that for me?"

Turbo was silent a little while, brushing his thumb along the steering wheel of his own kart. Or her kart, really. He had stolen it, after all. "Sure, gli...Vanellope. I mean I...I do owe you."

She smiled faintly as she lifted her eyes back to him, tilting her head at the quiet, thoughtful look on the racer's face. Then she perked up. "Wanna race?"

He gave a jolt as though he had heard his name called, shooting her a quick look.

"Right now. From here to the start line," she said.

Turbo nodded eagerly, immediately starting the engine on his kart. Vanellope grinned.

As they both took off down the track, the roar of their kart engines filling the air, a thought occurred to them both:

There were worse things in life than sharing your game with an annoying little glitch.