Author's note: Sorry again for how long it took me to get this chapter up, guys! I want to make sure these last three chapters are the way I want them to be, so I'm obsessing a bit over the editing. But here's chapter 12 finally! Thanks again to everyone who's stuck with this this story and I do hope you enjoy the last few chapters. :)
There was a long silence.
"That's what it is, right?" Vanellope asked. "The virus from Extreme EZ Living 2. Litwak's gonna unplug Sugar Rush if someone doesn't do something, and we both know that you can fix it. Probably in your sleep."
Taffyta turned to look at Turbo, her eyes wide. She hadn't even thought of that. And he hadn't mentioned it.
But Turbo just howled with laughter. "You want to let me that far into the code?" he asked gleefully. "Me. Seriously?" His laughter echoed in the throne room as he doubled over, his arms wrapped around his stomach. "Oh, glitch, you crack me up, you really do. I already reprogrammed this game once but you didn't like my modifications, did you?"
Vanellope opened her mouth to answer, but then, the castle doors banged open. Three figures came storming through, Sergeant Calhoun in the lead, with Ralph and Felix following close on her heels.
"Oh good!" Turbo said, straightening up. "The gang's all here."
As the three of them hurried forward, Felix gasped, "Oh my land! Vanellope, we came as soon as we heard—what's going on out there? Everything's gone completely squirrely!"
Calhoun wasn't as thunderstruck as her husband. In a blur of motion, she grabbed Turbo by the front of his jumpsuit, ignoring the racer's flailing arms and choking noises. "You knew about this, didn't you, scumbag?" she demanded.
Wheezing, Turbo said, "Well I don't—bleurgh, can't breathe, can't—"
Calhoun just tightened her grip.
"Hey," Ralph said, "would you look at that, he's finally getting some color."
Turbo glared at the wrecker, went slack in Calhoun's grip, and glitched. She grabbed at him but there was nothing to hold onto for just long enough. When he fell to the ground, he backed up but didn't run. Brushing his sleeves off, he asked, "Now, if you want to have a civilized conversation?"
Ralph raised a fist. "You've seen the code, you worthless skid mark, you knew that virus would get into the game and you let it happen!"
Turbo threw his shoulders back and glared up at Ralph. "I saw Taffyta's code, dung-breath! Because you four—" He paused to raise a finger and jab it towards them. "—didn't want to let me have access to any more of it! If you'd let me in the code vault like I'd asked, yeah, maybe I'd have noticed something." He rested a finger on his chin. "But then again, I don't know if I'd have said anything…"
"Why you little—!" Ralph began, just as Calhoun grabbed for Turbo again. The racer ducked out of the way, ended up a few paces behind Taffyta, and stuck his tongue out.
Felix pulled off his hat and threw it to the floor. "Pull yourselves together!" he said. "Tammy, Ralph, we're not getting anywhere threatening to beat the stuffing out of him!" He rounded on Turbo. "And you! You can't just let this game be unplugged! After all the trouble you've caused and after as decent as Vanellope's been to you? You're lucky we haven't let this arcade tear you apart, mister!"
"Wow, Felix, better be careful, or you'll ruin your reputation as Arcade Nice Guy," Turbo sneered.
"Do you even hear what you sound like?" Felix asked.
"Loud and clear. But okay, okay," Turbo said, a nasty gleam in his eye. "Let me think about your really tempting proposal." All of them stared at him, and after a long, still moment, he shrugged. "Nope, 'fraid I can't help you." He took a step backwards, and when no one followed him, he grinned, lifted a hand, and spun on his heel.
"Hey!" Vanellope yelled. She glitched, teleporting and appearing in front of Turbo.
"Yow!" Binary garbled his figure and he glitched to King Candy. "You can control that?!"
Vanellope ignored the question. "You lived here for fifteen years!"
Regaining his composure, King Candy laughed. "And, asth everyone keepsth reminding me, I did stho under the falsthestht of falsthe pretensthesth. I'm a criminal. Right, Ralph, Felixth? Sthergeant Psthychopath? You've sthaid it yoursthelf enough timesth, Vanellope."
"Even if you weren't supposed to be here, it's still your home!" Vanellope glitched violently. "No one wanted me to be here either, remember? But I never wanted to leave!"
"Sthort of a moot point, stheeing as glitchesth can't leave their gamesth. But gee, I stho wish you would've," King Candy sneered. "I sthupposthe that wasth my fault though, hoohoohoo."
Vanellope glared, but then something changed in her face. A smug look came into her eyes and she said, "Okay. Sure. But I guess…" She trailed off, and despite himself, King Candy looked curious about what she was going to say. "I guess," Vanellope went on, "that I'm just wondering why you went through all that trouble to cure Taffyta. Since if you don't do anything, she's gonna end up as one of those poor homeless saps in Game Central Station?"
Suddenly everyone was looking at her, and Taffyta realized she was holding her breath. Had she been holding her breath this whole time? Was that even possible? She really didn't want to be in the middle of this. In fact, she wanted to sink into the floor for causing this in the first place. And for actually-sort-of-kind-of starting to like Turbo. For starting to actually forgive him, despite everything.
King Candy stood very still. He didn't make eye contact with Taffyta. He didn't even look towards her. "You know what, glitch?" he hissed. "That'sth really none of your busthinessth."
"Aw," Vanellope said. "Guess I hit a nerve there, huh, King Cavity?"
His eyes narrowed to slits and he bared his teeth in a snarl. Calhoun pulled out a pistol and Ralph covered the distance between himself and Vanellope in about three strides. Planting himself between Vanellope and King Candy, Ralph prodded the racer hard in the chest and said, "You better fix this game, lace doily, or someone might make sure that you don't get out when the plug gets pulled!" Then he winced and looked down at Vanellope. "If, I mean, kid. If the plug gets pulled."
King Candy raised a finger. "I'm telling you right now that if you make me go into that code vault, I'll make sure you regret it in the time Sugar Rush hasth left!"
Ralph raised a fist, King Candy narrowed his eyes and smirked, and no one moved or said anything. Then Ralph lowered his hand. "You don't really wanna walk away and leave this game to die, Turbo."
Pursing his lips, King Candy said, "Why isth it that everyone thinksth they know me stho well?"
Against her will, Taffyta made a sound, and King Candy's fingers twitched into fists at his sides. But he still didn't look at her. Instead, he turned towards Vanellope. "Stho what'll it be, glitch? Going to sthend me in there? Throw me in without a tether and lock the door, maybe? Make sure I go down with the ship? Which by the way, will go down a lot fasthter with me in there. Sthee, I know exthactly which connectionsth to rip out to make life really mistherable for you…" He paused, smiled, and twirled a hand. "…and to make sure you four go down with the ship, too."
Through her haze of horror, Taffyta caught it. Four. Four, not five.
There was another long silence, the buzzing outside seeming to make the air vibrate inside the throne room, and seemed to make Taffyta's code vibrate too, like because the virus was still in the game, it still had the power to have a physical effect on her.
Vanellope bit her lip. "No, I'm not gonna make you go in there."
He sneered. "Good choicthe." Then, he looked around before shooting Vanellope, Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun a nasty grin. "Well kidsth," he said, "it's been fun, but I have to run. Looksth like thisth game'sth—hoo-hoo—terminal, y'sthee."
Calhoun raised her gun. "I don't think so, junk pile." Without taking her eyes off King Candy, she said, "Vanellope, I strongly recommend that you let me escort him down to the dungeon."
"Fungeon," King Candy muttered. He glitched to Turbo. "For a soldier, you're really not much of a stickler for proper terminology, are you?"
"President?" Calhoun growled.
There was a stricken look on Vanellope's face. A conflicted look. No kid should have had to make the decision that Vanellope was being asked to make. But everyone was looking at her. Taffyta was looking at her and the thing was, she knew that what she wanted Vanellope to say was the wrong choice.
Turbo slid a foot backwards but Calhoun cocked the weapon. "I might not be able to kill you," the sergeant said to him, "but I'll make sure you're incapacitated by the time you finish regenerating. And I will also make sure that you're not comfortable."
His eyes narrowed but he stood still, glaring at Vanellope. Her eyes were wide and she couldn't stop chewing at the laces on her hoodie.
"Vanellope," Calhoun said.
Ralph shot Calhoun a warning look. "Hey, give her a second, okay?"
Another minute passed in silence, the hum of the virus still pervading the room, orange light mixing with flickering red that turned the green on the walls and ceiling to a sick non-color.
Then Vanellope hugged her arms around herself and stared at the floor. "I know you're probably right, Sarge, but I…I seriously can't do that. That's what he would've done to me."
Turbo smirked.
"He'll game-jump, kid," Ralph said. But it didn't really sound like an attempt to change her mind.
Calhoun holstered her gun and unslung a compact bag on her back. At the press of a button, it expanded into a floating board, which she jumped onto. "No," Calhoun said, "he won't. I'll make sure I get to Game Central Station first. They'll know he's coming." With that, she sped off, stopping only to throw the castle doors open.
Vanellope bit her lip and looked miserable, and like she wasn't sure at all if she'd made the right choice. And then she looked around and said, "Hey! Where'd he go?!"
Ralph, Felix, Vanellope, and Taffyta looked around and Taffyta's heart sank.
Turbo was nowhere to be seen. And the lump that had been rising further and further in Taffyta's throat now felt like it was choking her.
With a sigh, Vanellope's arms fell to her sides, hanging limply. She looked defeated, and that scared Taffyta. For fifteen years, she'd never seen Vanellope look defeated. It had annoyed her before the game's reset, she'd wanted nothing more than for the glitch to realize how worthless she was. But now, Taffyta knew it was one of Vanellope's best qualities. "Sweet mother of monkey milk," she said miserably. "Some president I turned out to be. I couldn't even manage to run this place for three months."
"Hey." Ralph knelt down in front of her and put a finger on her chin. "You ran this place better in three months than Turbo did for fifteen years." He glanced at Taffyta. "You put your friends first."
Taffyta swallowed hard. "Anyway Vanellope, all of this is my fault. If I hadn't—"
"Hey, stop," Vanellope said, and as though proving Ralph's words, the president's misery seemed to melt off of her.
"But—"
Pointing a finger at her, Vanellope said, "Nope! Stop it."
Ralph hesitated, then reached out a hand and patted Taffyta gently on the shoulder. "Vanellope's right. Look, you made a mistake. Sure. Everyone makes mistakes. I did."
With a teary snort, Taffyta said, "Yeah, but your mistake ended up outing Turbo and getting Vanellope's rightful rule back. My mistake's getting my game unplugged."
"Well," Felix said, "it's not too late for something good to come out of this…"
Taffyta shook her head and rolled her eyes, mostly at herself. "Yeah right. What, I'll go after Turbo, and because we were friends, I'm somehow gonna convince him to change? Fat chance." She hugged her arms around herself. "Guess you were right, Ralph—I wasn't much of a…a Turbo rehabilitation program at all."
Vanellope looked sad. "I know what it's like when your best friend in the whole world acts like a total moron, Taffyta."
"Hey," Ralph said, though the two of them exchanged such an affectionate look that Taffyta knew he wasn't really offended.
How did Vanellope do it? How had she actually managed to hit on the worst part about all of this? Crossing her arms tightly over her chest, Taffyta said, "Huh. That's a really nice way of putting it. He—wait." Her eyes widened as she realized… "Wait, he is not my best friend in the whole world!"
Vanellope raised her eyebrows.
"I mean," Taffyta stuttered, "well, that is, I mean maybe…he might have…before, when he was nice, and not—oh, I mean when he was nice to me—back when he wasn't a different person…" She trailed off, and her arms fell to her sides. "But I guess," she said quietly, "that he never really was a different person, was he? He was Turbo all along."
Then, suddenly, it was as though a door opened in her mind. King Candy had been Turbo all along. Duh. She knew that. Except, had she really known it? Because that meant that everything King Candy had been to her, all his kindness, his willingness to work with her, his affection for her that maybe had even been love—all of that was still part of him too. Because she believed it was true, now—she believed that he'd cared about her, no matter what terrible things he'd done. He'd cared about someone. And that was still in there somewhere.
At least, she was counting on it.
"Vanellope," Taffyta asked. "Can I borrow a kart?"
Putting her hands on her hips, Vanellope asked, "Don't tell me you're going to go after Turbo and because you were friends, you're somehow gonna convince him to change?"
Taffyta pulled her hat down over her eyes, a determined look on her face. "I might as well try."
The Royal Racer was fast. Taffyta knew that. But she hadn't realized just how fast it was until she was behind the wheel, her foot jammed down on the gas as she rocketed through Sugar Rush's empty landscape. Any other time you had to be careful on the main road that led from the castle, and town, out to the Rainbow Bridge, because of the NPCs coming and going to Game Central Station.
Everyone was gone now, though. Out of order sign or virus, it didn't matter which was worse—together they meant hopelessness, and no one was willing to wait around for a last second miracle.
Well. Not quite everyone had left.
A lone figure in a white and red-striped jumpsuit was hurrying along the road. Taffyta shifted and urged more speed out of the kart. When she reached him, she yanked the wheel hard and spun around him, coming to a stop with tires squealing. "You want to know why you shouldn't leave Sugar Rush and go take over another game?" she demanded, jumping out of the kart and striding towards him.
"Hey," he said, pointing at the Royal Racer, seeming surprised to see it. "That's my kart!"
She ignored this and planted herself in front of him, hands on her hips, and said, "You think you're some kind of martyr, don't you? You think everyone in this arcade's against you, because you were more popular than all of them, and then you went Turbo and became this big monster. So if no one cares about you, then you don't have to care about any of them. You're all on your own so you have to do whatever it takes to get ahead. Well, guess what, you're wrong." She took a deep breath. "Because there's one person in this arcade who cares about you, and she's standing in front of you. And if you think that doesn't matter, well—well then…" Her arms dropped to her sides. "Well, then the whole arcade was right about you after all."
For a long moment, Turbo stared at her. A few of Taffyta's NPC fans, stragglers, hurried past on their way to Game Central Station, their footsteps crunching on the sugar cube road, loud in the game's weird silence. One of them shot a terrified look back at her.
Turbo crossed his arms over his chest, his shoulders slouched. It was one of the few mannerisms that he didn't share with his royal alter ego. A sulky pose of bitterness and defeat that he hadn't needed once he'd been king. "I'm still not saving this game," he said. "So if the glitch sent you here to guilt me into it, you wasted your time."
Taffyta clenched her fists. "You could be a good guy again. Just because you've done bad things…" She trailed off and swallowed hard. "You've done good things, too. You were a good king, even if you weren't supposed to be king at all, I mean…you were good at it." And you were my friend. I thought maybe you were still my friend.
He took a step closer to her, his yellow eyes burning, but she didn't move away. "I do find that touching, Taffyta," he said, putting a hand over his heart. "But sorry. You can save your quarters. Game over." Then he straightened up and touched a finger to his chin. "Wait, have I used that before? Well, whatever, it's a good line."
There was a familiar prickling at her eyes, but then she forced the tears away. No more crying. "You're not sorry," she said. "You don't even know how to be."
With that, she turned, got back into the kart, and sat there for a second. Then she stood up and turned towards him. This wasn't even to save the game. This was just because she needed to say it. "I loved you like you were my…my family."
The only sound in the game was the humming of the glitch crevasse across the starting line. Turbo stared at her, the expression in his eyes unreadable. But he didn't say anything.
She wasn't even sure she wanted him to.
Gritting her teeth, she sat back down and punched the starter on the Royal Racer to drown out the hum. Then she held her foot down on the accelerator, kicking up sugar dust, hoping that at least some of it got into his stupid glowing yellow eyes.
As she sped away from him, back towards the castle, he finally spoke. "That sorry was sarcastic!" he yelled.
