So the time is finally drawing near. After over 7 years this fic will finally be completed. I'm planning on wrapping things up, so I'm giving this tale two more chapters after this one. It's been an interesting road writing this fic to completion, but I'm happy to finally give it the proper ending it deserved. The universe I threw together here can continue on forever and ever to be honest, but then that may take another decade to write, and I don't want to make y'all suffer though that again as my loyal readers lol.
It's been a real treat!
Chapter 19: Racecar_Hero.(tiff)
Though chaos erupted around me, I found that I had overcome it all. The hand that extended towards me not only reached out in my moment of imminent death, but also appeared metaphorically in a sense of yet again bringing me out from within myself. Like a shroud had been parted, he stood there like a ghost—a figure that I at first thought wasn't in actuality there, yet despite my denial, he was physically standing before me in what I had once thought to be my final breathing moments.
"Turbo."
His name had left my mouth so easily.
His response, however, mirrored my statement. It was soft, but sure, as if he had time to come to terms with it.
"Yeah… th'that's my name."
At first there was a tad of meekness to his acknowledgement, but after those words left his mouth I saw that what modesty he had seemed to rise off of him like steam, and become replaced with a confident smirk. The shimmer I could see in his eyes—the confidence he produced, was like nothing I had quite seen before. To compare him as he was now to what he had been hours ago—for the entirety of the previous time I've known him even—paled in comparison. I had seen him first as a monster…a great shadow of his former self, and yet now I felt I was no longer looking into the eyes of King Candybug or the character King Candy any longer, but the real Turbo himself. From behind his King Candy façade, and his deep brown eyes that mirrored my own, I could see him clearly now.
"We better get out of here," he quickly said next.
As if I had rehearsed this moment hundreds of times, I didn't hesitate to take his hand as our palms came clashing together. With his help I was able to reach the Destruction Derby 64 racecar, jump into the passenger's seat, and watch as he quickly took the wheel after I sat down. The engine immediately revved upon Turbo's presence. Shifting the vehicles gears, and stepping on the gas, we then sped off towards the city.
Every Cy-bug's eyes were then on us as we made our move. Even through the loud roars of the demolition racecar's accelerating engine, I could hear them behind us—the deep hum of their wings clashing like countering tones between the rumble of our procession like opposites: one carrying with it life, the other bringing death.
Our speed increased by the second…40...60...90…100…120…
My eyes shifted to the rearview mirror, seeing even in our speed that the Cy-bugs were ravenous with their pursuit against us, clawing at the air as they flew forward. So close, we had only a few more miles to go to close in on the city, and close enough before the portal sequence could trigger.
Despite the soreness of my accident from before, I felt I had enough strength to act. I had to do something.
Holding the Hero's Duty pistol in my left hand, I used my right to situate my helmet on, as if preparing myself, and then without another word I started rolling down the window. Turbo could only glance at me before I stuck myself out of my newly created opening, aimed, and then started firing at the Cy-bugs. I watched as a few bullets struck somewhere into the roaring wave of viruses behind, one after another hitting a random target before they'd shift mindlessly, reminding me of a series of complex rotating mechanisms on a wall or platform.
CRACK! I finally landed my first significant shot, hitting a Cy-bug's eye and causing it to stumble in its flight as it fell back behind the mass swarm, disappearing into the crowd of its kin like a stone falling into ocean waves. I blasted a few more shots into the swarm before I heard that dreaded click sound that warned me that I was out of ammo.
Where's an infinite ammo cheat code when you need one, I thought irritably. I cast the pistol behind my back carelessly and into the backseat, rolled up the window, and returned my attention to the rearview mirror, very much anticipating to continually see the giant mass of hell gathering behind us, but instead seeing one of the white-eyed Cy-bugs suddenly catch up, breaking forward from the crowd, and reach out towards the car.
"Shit—" I barely felt like I was able to register what was happening before the Cy-bug disappeared from the rearview, and into our blind spot on top of the car.
The excruciating sound of slams and metallic screeches mixed into the chaotic symphony of the Cy-bug swarm's flight, and the roar of the racecar's engine, when the white Cy-bug began to attack at the top of the car. I took a look at the dash of the car myself, taking notice of the car's life gauge depicted in the shape of green lines that created the car's shape, and within a series of bars ranging from green to red to signify where we were on health. Turbo had already taken a hit initially when he saved me, and by the time I saw it after already being attacked by the new Cy-bug on our rooftop, I watched as one bar vanished, then another. In addition to this I could feel the car being lifted upward and off the ground, the feeling of minor G-forces overcoming my body from the speed and in the way we were being lifted from the road so abruptly.
Again, I was acting on the spur of the moment when another idea instantly flashed into my mind. Out of a pure fight response organized by my unrestrained will, I waited a few more punches from the Cy-bug striking the vehicle before I found that it had ripped a portion of the roof off. The second this happened, I focused all the physical strength I could muster, with adrenaline returning as my ally, and ignited the lightsaber game item I had been carrying with me.
"What are you doing!?" Turbo yelled, but before he could even finish his question about my motives, I had already launched myself and the lightsaber upward and at the Cy-bug's belly that hovered over us. My mind seemed to muffle out its screams in a manner of disassociation as the weapon impaled it and began to gut it open as its speed weakened. Pixels started to fall onto my shoulders before it finally flailed back into the swarm behind us, letting the car fall back down to the road with a thud.
I sheathed the lightsaber then, letting go and watched as the hilt fell to the floorboard. I felt all the energy I had left leave me at that moment as I fell back into my seat, managing to only grab hold of the Hero's Duty com-link.
"Ka—Kailey!? Are you—there!?" Steven's voice was still flowing through the communicator, static muffling and delaying his voice.
We were so close.
"Hold on just a little longer!" Turbo yelled. The racecars engine revved again as Turbo stepped on the gas, regaining what speed we lost. Two stray Cy-bugs attempted to flank us on both sides this time, the one to our left coming at us first when Turbo shifted the vehicles gears once again, sending the car sideways as the tires held onto and screeched against the concrete road. As my head fell backwards from the sheer force of the turn, I kept my eyes peering through the windshield, watching as his maneuvering of the car made the Cy-bug miss us by just a hair. Even so, the car continued to spin.
I found myself closing my eyes as they began to water from the force called upon my body, grabbing hold of the seats leather in order to ground myself. I could only hear as the second Cy-bug came at us, and feel as Turbo did something else spectacular with the car as more force moved me around and distorted my senses. From just feeling and listening, I realized that we had not been hit by the second Cy-bug, and instead felt the car shift gears again as we continued speeding forward.
"Ha! Turbo-Tastic!" Turbo actually sounded like… he was enjoying this?
Opening my eyes was like I was trying to rip myself away from my own weakness, but it was necessary now, more than ever. I managed to look down at the radar then, seeing that the area that Steven had marked for me had come into view. Next, my eyes shifted to the rearview, and then towards the windshield within a split second. The image of the shining city before me clashed with the still image of the horde of viruses behind us like two snapshots had melded together, one my waking world and the other a nightmare to be left behind, fading from my mind's eye as I regained my focus, and returned to the race presented to me, then and there.
This was game over… but it wasn't game over for me.
"LAUNCH THE PORTAL NOW!" I screamed into the com-link.
Like a trigger had been switched, an overwhelming light suddenly exploded in front of us, booming to life as the silver city shined brightly from the overwhelming glow of the ivory portal. There was also a feeling of a gust that swooped over and through the vehicle, the feeling in comparison to what I could only imagine as the great sigh of a giant breathing through the world—a relief that I soon found even myself expelling as soon as the image of the portal's light settled, and the towering beacon caught the attention of the Cy-bugs behind us.
Turbo slowed down Car number 2 then, caught in the awe-inspiring procession as the many Cy-bugs flew past us and into the sky. Even as we came to a full stop, I couldn't help but open the door then, and step outside. My feet came into contact with the highway road and planted themselves there as I merely watched as my enemies began to flow around me and into their demise.
Watching them then, those wretched Cy-bugs become entranced by the light, was so strange. Their destructive procession had become replaced by the low purr of their last utterances in the real world, and their terrifying glows of green and white had soon appeared to remind me of a great movement of fireflies as they grew smaller in the skies, handfuls at a time becoming consumed by the portal and vanishing forever from my view.
More and more came: hundreds—thousands, continuously going on and on through the portal as I finally allowed myself to stumble, catching myself only by clutching the side of the car door before I eased my way to the ground, my back leaning against the vehicle's side.
I could hear the opposite car door open and close, Turbo's quick footsteps rushing around the car, soon arriving directly in front of me. From my sitting position, he was now angled to look taller than me, looking down at me to meet me once again face-to-face.
"Kailey, are you okay?" Turbo asked.
"I mean… as good as a person can be after crashing a Light Cycle and getting attacked by Cy-bugs can get, I guess." I smiled sheepishly for a second before I found I couldn't hold my smile anymore. I closed my eyes for a second as I listened to the Cy-bugs passing me passively, and felt the portal's light behind my eyelids as I stood still. In those moments of utter stillness in which I had not experienced in for what seemed like ages, I was finally beginning to feel the toll that all this had taken on me. My body ached from the crash, and I was starting to become aware of a pounding headache that seemed to intensify as moments went on.
My eyes would open slowly then, but upon the vision that met me I was startled to see Turbo reaching out towards my helmet. I wasn't sure what I expected, but he seemed to gently touch the left side, eyeing it cautiously as he felt it. After a moment of contemplating what he was seeing, his other arm reached towards the other side of my head as if to take the helmet off, but I nudged my head sideways a tad, attempting to divert my discomfort with another joke.
"Hey, what are you doing… you know I'm going to have horrible helmet hair," I said.
Turbo rolled his eyes. "Please, it's not s'thomething I've never dealt with before."
I looked at him for a few moments longer, as if fighting myself of sudden strange feelings that began to stir within me like millions of tiny lights, glowing in my chest like a warm steady breath, then inhaled and exhaled as the lights glowed on and off. To see Turbo standing in front of me, having done what he had just done, would have been unbelievable if I had not experienced it for myself.
I decided to remain still as he removed my helmet, despite my prior protest, and watched as the white and violet headgear that had been on my head for Lord knows how long was removed and sat in Turbo's arms in between the both of us. My eyes would fall immediately to a deep and wide scratch that seemed to cover the entire half of the upper left corner of the helmet, creating a distortion of the violet stripe down its middle that seemed to make it bleed into the white surrounding it.
"That could have been your head," Turbo pointed out rather calmly. "Racing is no bu'th'siness to take lightly."
"Looks like you saved me twice then today," I mused.
Turbo glanced up at me, his expression remaining neutral for the time being.
"I mean, if I would have never had this racing suit and helmet on I would have been dead before we even got started," I elaborated. I watched as his eyes shifted between my own, his mind obviously deep in thought again. "What are you thinking about?" I asked next, rather uncontrollably.
"A few thing'ths," Turbo said. "But you know… you do have helmet hair." A smirk returned to his expression then.
My cheeks suddenly turned hot as embarrassment took over. I don't know why it would matter how I looked, but for some reason my reaction was involuntary.
Turbo obviously saw my dismay, but he had already started talking by then, saying, "But, it's the prettiest helmet hair I've ever seen."
My cheeks, which must've been filled with many shades of reds at that point, continued to linger on my face as I suddenly started laughing. I found I couldn't laugh too hard due to the pain I was in, but it fell out of me anyway. On top of it, my eyes started dripping teardrops, but not tears of sorrow as I had so often been experiencing, but of joy. The sound of the many Cy-bugs flying past us and disappearing into the portal's light only added to the relief I was finally allowed to feel.
It hadn't taken us long, but Turbo and I would finally venture back to Flynn's Arcade with Car number 2 in tow. Our arrival sparked a sudden series of gasps and cheers, soon erupting into a full blown celebration the moment the doors opened.
I couldn't leave the car just yet, but from just looking at the building and the scene around me, all the Program residents had filled the streets by then, lining each way of the crosswalk up and down. Some of the video game characters were hugging one another, some sending each other a series of high-fives as others waved at me and Turbo. Dannen, Calhoun, Felix, Ralph and Vanellope were there as well, the team suddenly bursting from the front of the building and towards my side of the vehicle within an instant.
"You made it!" Vanellope exclaimed.
"Are you okay?" Dannen asked, his words coming out with more concern for me than celebration for the time.
"I'm fine…" I responded modestly, although I could have easily started to complain about how uncomfortable I was. Instead, I simply said, "I crashed."
"CRASHED!?" Calhoun and Ralph spoke in unison that time. The group merely had to glance down at Felix when they all collectively seemed to decide what to do next.
The series of applauds beyond the car continued when I saw Ralph extend his hands outwards, the group stepping back in preparation to help me. "You don't mind, do you?" Ralph asked, his politeness returning quite instantly. I would instantly think back to the first moment I met him—this supposed 'bad guy' that actually destroyed things having been ironically one of the sweetest people I've come to know.
"I don't mind," I stated rather honestly. I was ready to stop being in pain at that point.
Like he was picking up something fragile, Ralph took hold of me and lifted me out of the car, his large hands again almost acting like shields from all the Program residents' eyes as the team walked with us back into Flynn's Arcade. I watched the as the ceiling passed over me, blotting out the intense light from the portal just over us, when the many cobwebs upon Flynn's ceiling acted as an assurance of my safety.
I listened to the sound my friend's footsteps clank and echo on the tile floors, soon brining me to focus on the moment. Going under the door that was labeled 'Flynn's Office' I listened further as we walked up the short staircase before we arrived into the office room, where here, a small desk and old office computer lay dormant to the side, next to it an old sofa, both covered in plastic coverings much like the arcade games downstairs.
Dannen took hold of the plastic covering that protected the sofa, and pulled it off. "Put her here," he said with both a sense of calm and urgency.
Ralph did as he was told and set me on the old sofa. I could instantly smell old cloth material as my body came into contact with it, like me being there was stirring up old dust that had been there for over a decade. Nonetheless, it still was sturdy and comfortable, and I felt relieved that I could finally lay down.
"Okay, let's see what the damage is," Calhoun said next. "Felix, do what you do."
"Can do, ladylove," Felix responded to his wife, and then jumped to action. I saw him bring out his iconic golden hammer, but unlike our first time meeting him when I had scars on my arms from the dragon attack, I didn't flinch this time. I was actually prepared for my aching arms, legs and head to finally be relieved from the trauma, and for once could actually admit to myself that getting hit with a magical hammer was probably the biggest Godsend I could ask for.
Felix quickly looked me over like a doctor would a patient, then began striking each of my limbs one at a time. With every hit of his hammer, I felt that portion of my body almost shift back into place, the hammer actually compelling my body to heal itself instantaneously. Even as the pain began to lift from me, for once I wasn't going to divulge into deep thinking about the intricacies of this, and instead chose to just go with the flow.
"Kailey, how do you feel?" Dannen asked next. I had not realized that Felix's healing session was over when I decided to turn my head over towards the group.
"Hm? Oh, actually great!" I spoke up then. "Sorry, I didn't even realize it was over with." I'd sit up, stretch my arms out, and roll my neck around as if testing my state of being. When I realized I was no longer in pain, I managed a smile. "You're going to probably be a guest on a lot of emergency room shows, you know that?" I joked to Felix.
"Oh, you're too kind, Ma'm," Felix gushed. "I'm just a handyman."
"You're programming may say you're a handyman, but if you wanted you could be a doctor."
"The best medic I've ever known," Calhoun said then, smiling a proud smile as she looked down adoringly at her husband. This only caused Felix to blush and take off his hat submissively, but he wasn't able to do this for long before Calhoun picked him up again and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, literally melting the meekness that was upon Felix's mannerisms into loving adoration.
My eyes shifted over to my brother then as he walked up to me, kneeling down beside my sitting position on the couch to look me face-to-face. "Steven is downstairs," he said. "We created an automatic deletion sequence to occur as the Cy-bugs filter in. He's just making sure things work the way it should right now, but the portal will luckily stay open long enough for the entire swarm to enter and get deleted."
"What are we going to do next?" I asked. I was thinking ahead, as usual. I was imagining that one swarm wasn't going to be the last of them all, as Cy-bugs probably had multiplied, and most likely had a few staggering individuals still out there.
"Before you think of freaking out, don't," Dannen said. "The general is already heading this way with some of his troops and some of the surviving characters from Litwak's. We are going to give him the blueprints and code sequences to distribute to other scientist. Collectively, humanity can create other beacons to place in different parts of the world, and we can use them to continue filtering out any Cy-bugs that may still be out there. In the meantime, Steven and I are going to work with the military to maintain this one. We've already received word of continued support from the Programs that have been helping us, and they'll work together to track down and corral whatever Cy-bugs will be out there."
I was speechless for a second. I found my eyes had widened as I was listening to my little brother speak. It was strange seeing him talk like this—merely months ago he was a nosy college student, but now he was talking about helping to create a collective system of beacons to help in ridding what Cy-bugs that may be left out there.
"It'll take a while, won't it?" I asked.
"Well yeah…" Dannen shrugged, "but not that long." He winked.
I felt my lips curl into a smile. I was tired of asking so many questions and details, and for once was adamant on placing faith in whatever they had planned. I wouldn't have gotten this far without them, after all.
Diverting my eyes then, I caught a glimpse of Turbo's purple-garbed King Candy persona, standing back and towards the doorway. He was silent as he watched us talk and cheer amongst ourselves. Seeing and being reminded of his presence reminded me of what he had done… not only for the world, but for me. Shifting from my thoughts of myself and our plans again seemed to fade into the background when I looked at him. An odd feeling—the kind I had been feeling more frequently now like glowing lights, seemed to form in my chest and stomach again.
"You saved me," I stated out loud, my eyes locking on Turbo as I spoke to him. Saying this out loud wasn't a way to remind myself of what had happened; I had already seen it happen with my own eyes. No, it was more of an outward statement, proclaiming what he had done for the others to know. They had surely seen him drive up with me when we arrived back at Flynn's, but I wanted to imbed that fact into their minds.
Saying this seemed to catch Turbo off guard. His relatively silent stance stiffened once I spoke, his eyes shifting from me and around at the others, who had already moved their attention onto him, too. I could tell there was slight confusion caught within the group, but overall the statement came as a pure surprise.
"Well what do you know," Calhoun commented, "the selfish man becomes the unselfish. I wouldn't believe it back at Litwak's, but out here I've pretty much seen everything now."
"Hmm, maybe so," Vanellope said. Unlike Calhoun, there was still a bit of distrust in her voice. "Hard to believe, isn't it Ralph?"
"It is," Ralph reinforced, but shifted in his standing position, ever so slightly.
I continued to sit in silence for a few more moments, absorbing the feelings of the group like a sponge before saying, "If you guys don't mind… I'd like to speak to Turbo. Alone."
"There's still work to be done before the military gets here," Calhoun responded to my comment. "We'll be downstairs. You take your time recovering."
"And just yell or something if Turbo tries anything," Vanellope spat, a mix of amusement and caution in her statement, but with her personality her words seemed to come out as one of her joking threats, the jab directly at Turbo.
I smiled half-way. "Yeah, I will," I mused. Listening to everyone gather towards the door, and disappear back down the small staircase to slowly appear out the glass windows below us in the arcade, was when I then felt comfortable to bring my full attention back to Turbo. I wasn't sure what he was going to say, let alone how he was going to act, but I felt like I had to speak my mind.
"You know they just worry…" I spoke softly, having empathy for both Turbo's present feelings of ostracization, and for Vanellope herself, whose feelings of Turbo being here and doing actual good may be coming off as complicated, to say the least.
"I don't care about her," Turbo said, rather bitterly. Hearing his hatred still lingering in his voice like that sent the tingling sensation in my chest to scatter briefly, as if all the glows were dispersing from a potential threat. However, my cautionary feelings immediately subsided when he continued.
"I only care about you," he said.
I felt my eyes widen briefly, the feelings within me returning tenfold. At first I had to struggle to find my words. What thoughts I had in mind about attempting to act as a counselor to the group—specifically a mediator for Turbo and Vanellope, and in extension everyone else— quite literally fell out of my hands like sand slipping between my fingers.
As I sat there in my brief moments of silent contemplation, I was starting to admit to myself the reality of all this: I was never going to completely mend what had happened to Turbo at the arcade, and I was never going to quell the negative feelings that continued to manifest here and now among them. Vanellope's feelings were completely justified, so I had nothing really to add anymore. Instead, another reality was just then placed in front of me. Like an offering at an altar, or the first signs of sunlight after darkness, there was no denying what was absolutely real to me now…
He cared. About me.
How had I been missing that for so long? At what point in Turbo's mind did he decide this? Was it the moments and in subtle ways when I had showed him kindness when I was with him in the castle, he as King Candybug? Was it the moment I brought him out of that Cy-bug's coding? Or was it somewhere else after that, in my patience for his anger, his denial?
"Turbo….I…" I stuttered again, trying so hard to keep up with my thoughts that I felt like they could begin pouring out of me if I wasn't careful. I didn't know why, but completely letting go of my poise was so hard. Perhaps that was due to the life I had lived up until this point…all the grinding and putting my head down.
All the doing, and never taking. All the proving to others, and never to myself. All the hiding, and never the reveal.
Picturing myself before all this, I was a lonely, simple intern at a desk, working my life away and keeping my true self locked away in my mind. Comparing what I was then, to what I was now—visualizing myself as if I had taken a step back from my own body, and began to perceive myself through the eyes of a stranger, was surreal. On top of it all, I was standing in the presence of somebody I very much shouldn't be with in the first place.
And yet, here I was. Better yet… here we were. Two beings: one human, one Program, having shifted and changed so vastly that I had not seen it so perfectly until now.
"I care about you, too…" I finally admitted out loud. Finally speaking my feelings into the world came instead as a huge relief. "I have for a long time now. But… you may have already known that."
Turbo's strange smile, that mix of honest joy and confidence—returned to his expression after my admission. Looking at his smirk, I was starting to connect the dots, or at least I thought I was. His desire to be in the spotlight had been withheld from him for so long, but it returned in a way though me. I was starting to wonder if I was stroking his ego more than his heart, but his response proved me otherwise.
"I had wanted it to be th'so," he admitted, "but hearing you say it again… makes it better." He paused. There was a few precious moments of silence: the kind that, yes, I had not had in a long time—the kind that lets you take a deep breath, and let go off all the bad in your life, but also the kind that you coveted to be around someone important to you.
"When I ran away…" Turbo began to speak up, but I felt my mouth moving before I could even register the words I was speaking.
"You don't have to explain yourself," I said.
"No, I do." Turbo brought his hands together, a strange set of hands that only had four digits, but nonetheless seemed to appear to me more real than ever now. The same hands that had done both bad, and now good; hands both that were once clawed and beastly, and now had become seemingly soft and tender now that he held them in front of him with meekness in my presence. "I left because I felt like there was nothing left for me here. Obviously those… others will never forgive me…" He seemed to seethe with anger momentarily, but it came and went like the passing of a breeze.
"I know…" I acknowledged dejectedly.
"But," Turbo said, "that doesn't mean I can't continue striving onward. What was it that you said before? When I asked you how do you pick yourself up after so much has happened?"
"All you can do is continue to try and make the right choices," I reiterated.
"Yes'th. That." He looked off to the side, taking notice of the room in detail as he thought back. "When I th'saw you out there, alone, being attacked by those wretched bugs, I had to do something. I thought of the moment those Cy-bugs did the same to me back…way back before all this. I couldn't let that happen again, especially to you, because if it did…"
"Did what?" I lifted myself upward in my seat a tad, both his memories and confessions further piquing my interest.
"I would have failed myself twice." His admittance brought his eyes to glide back down from his stare at the walls and ceiling of the room, and to look into my eyes. "I had thrown all I had away before, chasing some obsession I had—something I thought I wanted, and did want for so long. See, all I ever wanted was to race. It's who I am. It's in my code. When I was that monster, a monster because of my mistakes, that purpose was stripped away from me. But you gave it back."
"Will you stay then?" I asked. A tinge of desperation seemed to escape me, but I held it back as much as I could. Here he was, right in front of me, admitting his wrongs, and proclaiming his feelings, yet I felt like I could so easily loose him. I had to think for a moment between my question and his response, wondering if I should have asked that of him or not. There was still work to be done here to help aid the world in its recovery, and I wanted him with me to see it.
But in the end, I became complacent in the idea that if he so chose, he didn't have to stay.
His response, which came from beyond my flash of thoughts, reached in to melt and shake me from deep inside myself.
"Of cour'th'se I will," he acknowledged. "I never considered otherwise."
I felt myself breathe out another sigh as my eyes stung with growing tears. I couldn't understand how so much bad could turn around like this, but life tends to always have its surprises.
Sitting up from the sofa then, I began to walk over to Turbo in his stance by the door, and then kneeled down to his level. I couldn't help as a smile began to crawl over my face, feeling that my cheek began leaping with a feeling of both relief and happiness as I held the expression.
Through King Candy, the colorful garbed character, I took note of all the detail in Turbo's creative design. His typical grey bushy eyebrows, his smooth bubbly cheeks, even the interesting crown that sat upon his partially bald head, to most would reveal anything but a hero.
But he was there all the same.
I reached out, my arms wrapping themselves around him in a tight embrace like a spring unable to stop itself from pouncing. I felt as he tensed up momentarily, but I continued to hang on, through this embrace he finally letting himself shrink under me as his shoulders fell, and his arms did the same and returned the gesture by putting his arms around me.
"You're my hero," I gushed. "My Racecar Hero."
"Hmm, I like the sound of that one," Turbo mused with a hum in his voice. "Say it again."
I laughed. "My Racecar Hero," I repeated, giggling while I did so.
The quiet tranquility of our embrace was soon met with the sounds of vehicles from the outside. While I listened, I remained in Turbo's embrace, thinking then that it must be the general and his troops having finally arrived at our location. I imagined things were to get back into the swing of things soon, and I'd have to get back to work at doing what I did… saving the world and all.
But for those brief few minutes longer, I grounded myself in the fact that Turbo had come back. All the struggling, all the chaos, all the tears had not been a waste.
Finding meaning in it all meant something to me. It was all I had to hang onto, and what brought us, two completely different beings, to where were now.
Two worlds clashing together.