Epilogue – Vanellope's Last Piece

But what about Vanellope?

Except for the occasional flickering of the old gumdrop ceiling light caked in sugar dust dangling from the garage ceiling, all was quiet as the former Sugar Rush racer sat in her beloved Candy Kart, the very kart that she and Ralph had created over seven years ago after breaking into the Bakery to operate the mini-game's controls (and destroying most of the equipment in the process).

It had the body of one of the available standard karts, yet looked nothing like a professional racing machine. It was smothered with much too much frosting and assaulted with sprinkles. The gummi worm wheels were mismatched and a stream of pink icing was dribbled haphazardly all over the hood. Sloppy and ugly in every way, it looked as though a walrus had swallowed a mouthful of the game's landscape, then barfed all over it.

And Vanellope loved it. "I missed ya, ol' girl," she murmured. She still wore her black leather jacket, its shine reflecting the dim light from above.

Thanks to Turbo, all she could remember before meeting Ralph was dreaming to be a racer and drive a kart of her very own. She could still remember the joy that had erupted from her candy heart the moment it had rolled off of the Bakery's final conveyer belt. It didn't matter to her that within its core were a hairbrush, a traffic cone, and a pair of underpants of all things mixed with the actual baking ingredients. If anything, those would-be discarded items seemed to have enhanced the kart's amazing performance.

She grazed her hand over the pretzel steering wheel and sighed. This sloppy hodgepodge had been her royal chariot for all six years that she had led as president. It provided transportation, racing ability, and the chance to have fun with her new friends after arcade hours. She fondly remembered all the exciting expeditions she and Ralph had trekked to explore Sugar Rush, with her manning the pretzel wheel and Ralph riding on the spoiler. The laughs they had shared as they roamed the candy lands free and easy were cherished so.

Then there was the time when she, Taffyta, and Candlehead had taken a leisurely drive to Sandy Candy Beach to bond over sand castles and sand angels. Another evening, Adorabeezle had challenged her to a race up the icy roads in the Gelato Mountain Pass…Vanellope could still remember the look of shock on Dora's frost-bitten face after seeing how well she could keep up in the frozen territory. Those gummi worms had some sweet traction.

Once, Swizzle and Gloyd had invited her to cruise alongside them on a hunt for rare marshmallows strawberries in the chocolate dipped bogs. The thrills and laughs shared between the three had reached maximum levels as she and Gloyd secured Swizzle with a long length of licorice rope around his waist and carefully lowered the daredevil into a ravine filled with Nesquick Sand to gather the elusive pink treats from their natural spots of growth. And the whole time, Swizzle had smugly told them just how they could continue his legacy if he drowned while completing the task.

Thanks to this kart, she had had no trouble in joining her new companions on all the greatest adventures, and that in turn had given her all the chances she had needed to bond with her former bullies who were now her subjects, and soon friends. It was one of the reasons she still held on to this kart so dear.

But the most important reason why it meant so much to her was that it quite literally symbolized the birth of her new life. A life not of rejection, but of acceptance.

As great as it was to sit in her familiar kart again, something didn't seem right.

"Thought I'd find you here."

The characteristically sassy voice pulled her out of her daydreams. Twisting her head back, she saw Taffyta leaning against the doorway, with Sour Bill standing at her pink shoes. She was holding something in her gloved hand while he grasped a considerable length of rolled up licorice rope.

"Hey, Taff. Hey, Bill," Vanellope greeted. "How'd you know where to find me?"

Taffyta strolled in and dusted off the nearby gingerbread workbench. "Where else would you be?" she asked, sitting herself on top. "You haven't seen this crazy kart in forever. You left the Roost so fast that I figured you wanted to get your game on in that thing before racing with it. I'm surprised you're not out there taking a spin down memory lane."

Vanellope was about to make a playful retort, but was distracted by Sour Bill as he shuffled in and tossed the licorice coil on top of some chocolate toolboxes.

"Well, what were you guys doing?" she quizzed. "And what's with the rope?"

Taffyta crossed her striped legs on her perch, sucking on a heart-shaped lollipop. "Just double-checking the codes to make sure everyone's ready for tomorrow," she answered casually. "We don't need any more disasters."

Vanellope blinked. "You were in the code vault? This whole time?"

"Yep."

Her mind flashbacked to Taffyta's clear reluctance towards anyone stepping foot into the vault, let alone herself. But then Vanellope's sight hovered to the object grasped in Taffyta's hand. It was a hand-sized hollow tube, painted in a glittery pink scheme. "Hey, that's from your power-up, right?" she asked. "What was it called…Taffy Tape?"

Taffyta rolled the lollipop in her mouth between sucks. "Well, it was Taffy Tape," she answered with a glance down at the empty roll. She chucked it across the garage, watching it arc through the air and into the trash bin standing at the opposite wall. "Stickiest stuff in the business," she added proudly. "The only thing I can think of that can hold literally anything together."

She sounded very pleased with herself. But Vanellope's brow furrowed.

Like Gloyd's Kernel Krackers, this was one of the custom power-ups used in their races. Taffyta had created it using the pure gloppy masses straight from the Taffy Swamps, fused into a sturdy material. Once loaded in a dispenser mounted at the rear of a kart, this extra-durable 2-sided sticky stuff would shoot out in large nifty strips to plaster the racetrack and cling to any tire that was unfortunate to roll over them, grounding the entire kart down to a sudden halt. It was a simple, but effective choice of weapon. Given that Taffyta was often in the lead of most races and would have the need to delay racers behind her, this defensive gadget was perfect for her.

Vanellope's look of confusion was suddenly replaced with realization.

"Wait a minute. Hold the kettle corn for a sec," she said. "Were you…trying to tape up the codes? Like, the data fibres to their boxes?"

Taffyta extracted the lollipop from her mouth. "Well, I didn't have enough for all 4000 boxes," she shrugged. "So I just wrapped up the ones for the racers. Yours took the most since you've got the most data flowing through your box. I'll get the rest later when I can spawn some more tape."

The way she was saying this so casually, you'd think she was discussing the weather forecast. Vanellope, on the other hand, just stared at her.

"But why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do that?" Vanellope asked, not accusing, but rather genuinely curious to unpack Taffyta's true intentions. "Felix fixed Crumbelina's code and checked over everyone's already. And you said it yourself, that place is off-limits. Was this an idea you all came up with after I left the Roost?"

"Well," Taffyta said, sounding a little uneasy now, "I sorta got inspiration from Candlehead, if you can believe it. After you and Gloyd left, she mentioned how we all gotta stick together the next time something like this happens…and it gave me the idea to use my tape to, y'know', literally stick everything together."

She then peered at Vanellope with narrowed eyes.

"Look…that whole freaking accident with Crumbelina was driving me bonkers," she admitted in a low tone. "And all this time, I was feeling totally bummed out that there was nothing I could do about it. Think of this as my contribution towards solving the problem."

Vanellope was watching her carefully, now experiencing a mixture of feelings wash over. Feelings of surprise and admiration that Taffyta had taken it upon herself to do this, but also of suspicion that her friend might be hiding something else.

"Taffyta?" she breathed slowly. "You're not…blaming yourself for this, are you?"

The strawberry-blonde racer looked away from her with distinctly troubled eyes. "Well…this happened on my watch," she muttered. "Can you blame me for feeling like a total loser?"

Vanellope frowned. "But it was the updates that caused this," she reasoned. "It wasn't your fault."

"That's what I told her," Sour Bill muttered.

Taffyta didn't seem to hear them. She just stared down at the garage floor splattered with chocolate motor oil, her lollipop dangling from her fingers.

"You left me to lead this game, Vanellope," she finally said, sounding rather hurt. "And we almost lost a racer tonight. How do you think I was feeling this whole stinkin' time when there was nothing I could do to make things better? We were all out of ideas, and everyone was ready to fall to Reese's Pieces. I know I don't show it, but seeing Candlehead cry and Jubileena hug Adorabeezle like they were superglued together doesn't exactly do much for leadership motivation. The best thing I could think of doing was to call you for answers. What kind of a leader is that?"

Her mouth flattened and she lowered her face beneath the green brim of her sugar-dusted strawberry cap. "I know none of this was my fault. But I felt so…lousy and useless all night," she struggled, her voice cracking. "There was this…this lump in my stomach that wouldn't go away, telling me I had to do something. If I couldn't do anything to save Crumbelina, then I could at least make sure this never happened to her or anyone ever again. Patching up everyone's codes was the best I could think of."

Hearing Taffyta's confession, Vanellope climbed out of her kart and approached her friend. Once her arch-nemesis and scheming enemy, all past feelings of loathing towards her had been nonexistent for years, especially now as she tilted the blonde's chin upwards to look at her. "Taff?"

Blue irises met brown as their gazes connected. "I know what you're gonna say," Taffyta muttered. "You think I'm insane to set foot down there, let alone spend hours trying to find everyone's codes and doing something that was completely unnecessary just to prove myself…"

"Shut up. I'm proud of you."

Taffyta stopped and stared at Vanellope with confused eyes. "What?"

"You heard me," Vanellope said with a soft smile. "I am. You didn't have to do all that. Any of that, for that matter. But you still did. Not because you were told to and not because someone suggested it. But because you wanted to. Because you wanted to make sure all our friends stayed safe after this major bomb."

Taffyta said nothing, so Vanellope kept on talking.

"You know that lump in your stomach that won't go away? Well, that's your gut feeling for your duties as the leader. For the safety of your people," she eased. "That includes your friends. And that's not something to be ashamed of, Taff. That's called being responsible. And a sign of being a good leader. As Sugar Rush's president, you've got a whole game full of candy crew to look after. You've got races to oversee. Decisions to make. Laws to pass. An entire kingdom to manage. Trust me, I was your leader for six years; I know what you're going through. All this stress is part of the deal."

Vanellope paused, thinking about all that she had been through during her time as the game's president. And like many times before, she saw herself in the strawberry-themed girl before her.

"You've been awfully hard on yourself since I left," she said flatly. "I've lost count of how many times you've called me up on Ralph's phone just to ask me for advice on how to be the best leader you can. And all our pep talks always end up with me telling you the exact same thing: you gotta believe in yourself that you can do this. But in that same year, do you know what I've been hearing from the other racers?"

Taffyta lifted her head to slowly meet Vanellope's face. "No…?"

She said that more as a question than an answer.

"I hear great things from them," Vanellope stated as-a-matter-of-factly, "about how happy they are to have you looking after them. They tell me that they miss me, but also that things in Sugar Rush are still great with you in charge. Candlehead never stops talking about all the Friday night parties that you plan out to host for all the arcade citizens. And everyone, especially the Palette Swaps, love how you came up with the idea to do a quiet avatar shuffle halfway through the day so anyone who placed below 9th in the Random Roster can have a shot in the afternoon rush. They love how you make sure everyone's feeling included. And I know that it's 'cuz you really just care for everyone deep down, just like any leader should."

She gestured to the trash bin. "The fact that you spent all that time trying to make sure no one's codes fell apart again just proves that loud and clear."

Then she looked down to Sour Bill, who had been mute throughout this exchange. "Bill? You wanna vouch for any of this?"

"Nothing that you haven't said already," the moody green ball answered.

Taffyta glanced over at him, then back at Vanellope from her perch on the workbench, but Vanellope could see the light starting to return to those blue eyes. Ever so slowly, Taffyta's lips curved a tiny smile.

"Well…I do what I can," she mumbled at last.

Vanellope matched her smile. "Don't lose faith in yourself, Taffyta. Being the leader is tough, but the thing is, you're really good at it. You've always been a leader, even when our memories were wiped out. And I know you can see it in yourself...you just need to see it a bit more."

Taffyta let out a small laugh. "Okay, I'll try," she finally relented.

"But enough about me," she said, giving her head a shake. "It's your turn now. Why are you here? And why'd you dash out of the Roost like that?"

Vanellope didn't answer right away. Instead, she moved towards a control panel mounted on the garage wall and pulled on a lollipop lever. With a creaking groan, unmistakably the result of being immobile for an entire year, the castle's garage door managed to struggle open and let fresh virtual air and moonlight spill into the dimly lit space, revealing the darkened world outside.

"Oh, it's just that…well, I've been thinking…" she murmured.

"That's dangerous," the blonde cracked. She slid off the bench and joined her friend at the mouth of the garage. "But seriously, what's up?"

Many things were swimming in Vanellope's mind right now as she gazed out to the long snake-like driveway where 15 karts were parked. There were puzzle pieces floating around the pixels of her mind that couldn't seem to fit together nicely, but maybe Taffyta could help her complete the picture. And at a minimum, it might do her some good to vent out her thoughts. It wasn't doing her much by keeping them to herself anyways.

"Taffyta, let's face it," she said in a hardened voice, "we almost lost Crumbelina today. That was too close of a call. And believe me, I'm just as relieved as you are that she survived."

Taffyta looked a little confused. "Um, okay?"

"Seeing her lifeless like that…I really thought we might lose her. And it made me think of the good times we shared. And that made me realize how much I missed her," Vanellope confessed. "But really…I realized something else…"

She swallowed hard, now finding it hard to get out words. "I didn't just miss Lina. I missed all of you. This whole night has just been a huge reminder of everyone and everything that I left behind a year ago. I never even gave you guys a proper good-bye."

Guilt laced her tone as she said these things.

Understanding crossed over Taffyta's face now, as she seemed to figure out what Vanellope was getting at here. "We've missed you too, Vanellope," she mumbled. "When you didn't come back with Ralph…we were all pretty shocked. And pretty sad…"

Vanellope gulped, now reaching a very crucial part of the storm inside her mind. "That's the thing, though," she whispered. "Gloyd said something to me while we were talking…I think he let it slip out by accident and it keeps on comin' back to me."

Taffyta looked cautiously at her. "What'd he say?"

"He said that after I left, you and Candlehead were a mess and Rancis shut himself out. None of you ever told me that."

There was silence. Taffyta just stared out to Sugar Rush's dark landscape, but in her eyes, Vanellope could see an unmistakable look of sadness mixed with a surge of panic.

"I knew you guys were sad…but how sad, Taff?" Vanellope pressed.

Taffyta still refused to look at her. "I don't think you wanna know."

"Yes, I do."

Taffyta winced. "I can't, Van."

Hearing this only spiked her yearning. "I gotta know, Taffyta," she pleaded, desperately now. "Please. How did Candlehead take the news that I wasn't coming home?"

There was a moment of silence during which Taffyta's eyes were now slits pointed to her feet. It looked for a moment that she was about to give in, but her mouth stayed shut.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Vanellope took a step closer to her. The moment she caught the movement, the pink racer backed away slightly. "Please don't do this," she groaned.

"I don't want to, Taffyta," Vanellope whispered. "You know that. But I have to know what's been going on, one way or another. So will you tell me yourself…or do we have to go through with this?"

She raised a hand out to her friend, as if they were engaging in a harmless handshake.

Taffyta Muttonfudge stared at it, a tiny pink hand rising from the sleeve of the leather jacket, then looked up at Vanellope.

With her eyes closed, she wordlessly held out her own white-gloved hand.

"Go ahead," she sighed, grasping Vanellope's hand lightly.

Taking careful hold, Vanellope closed her eyes and glitched…ZOOP.

Twenty-two years ago, Sugar Rush had undergone possibly the worst attack ever known in gaming history that went completely unnoticed by the players. The corrupted racer Turbo of TurboTime had managed to hack into the game's database while it had been calibrating behind Mr. Litwak's back. Scrambling the code and reprogramming the entire candy world to revolve around him, Turbo had been unsuccessful in deleting Princess Vanellope's code, but rather disabled it such that she had become a rickety glitch. It was only a matter of passing a few new laws through some very motivational speeches before King Candy had convinced his sweet subjects to avoid contact with this dangerous criminal indefinitely and to report any sightings directly to him.

Waking up with blank memories and no place in this game, Vanellope would wander the candy lands for 15 years, searching for a way to race and earn her way to the top from rock bottom. No friends and no kart. Just herself, her quick wits, her secret hideout in Diet Cola Mountain, and her glitch. Hey, at least the latter gave her the power of teleportation. That was kinda neat.

But her glitch came with an unexpected side effect. Whenever she did it, Vanellope was able to see into another person's mind, reading and watching their memories, not quite like viewing a video, but rather a virtual reality as if she were there in the particular moment. However, this only happened if she glitched while in physical contact with said person. Of course, Vanellope was unaware of this amazing power given that she was either on the run from King Candy's guards or being avoided by the racers whenever they saw her. It wasn't until the day Ralph had crash-landed into Sugar Rush did she discover her ability for the first time. Within that day, she had glitched while in contact with Taffyta, King Candy, and Ralph himself multiple times. That was when she knew.

Vanellope didn't particularly like this newfound power. It wasn't nice to watch other people's secret recollections. Intrusion was rude. Besides, she literally just got her friends back and made some new ones after the game had been reset and all of their memories restored; she didn't want to betray their trust after they had been rebuilt. And to top it off, she didn't have much use for memories that weren't hers.

But times like these was when all that was subverted.

Vanellope opened her eyes. She was standing in an ethereal void that didn't seem to have a physical floor, but the feeling of her feet upon an invisible solid surface in the thin air said otherwise. Bright lights twinkled here and there accompanied by strange wisps of energy. It was like walking in outer space. Taffyta was gone, but Vanellope wasn't alone.

Thousands of moving pictures, all of them containing Taffyta's memories, were displayed around her like the Internet's endless city of flashing billboard screens. Some depicted brief moments; others were compilations of clips strung together. And each were surrounded by a distinct colour or a mixture of several hues. Vanellope didn't just see memories…she could identify the emotions associated with them.

"Where are you?" she whispered to her target. "I know you're hiding somewhere…"

She began to walk, inspecting pictures carefully, while at the same time shielding her eyes from those that were not of interest to respect Taffyta's privacy. She was looking for one memory in particular. It was the memory that both Taffyta and Gloyd shared as the same. Vanellope knew this because she had caught a glimpse of it: as she had been mourning over Crumbelina's body, she had been caught in a spasm of glitches when Gloyd unexpectedly hugged her; one moment of glitching and contact with the boy had shown her a fleeting image of this memory encased in a very distinct purple aura, mixed with red and blue.

It was Gloyd's memory, but Vanellope had briefly seen Taffyta and all the rest of the racers there. That's why she knew Taffyta owned it too.

And then she saw it. Hovering right in front of her as if it had been waiting for her all along and calling out with its energy bands of flashing purple, red, and blue. Vanellope gave a deep breath and stepped into the picture…

Her feet landed on the familiar golden paved racetrack. All around her, go-karts were parked at the finish line and their owners were at the winner's podium. Jubileena Bing-Bing was positioned at the #1 spot with a golden cup in her hands while Taffyta and Snowanna Rainbeau stood at #2 and #3. The exuberant din of the chanting citizens rang through the air.

A marshmallow film tech was aiming his chocolate camera as Jubileena performed a lively dance while flashing her most cheerful smile. Vanellope instantly knew what was happening: this was the moment when the racers would perform their winning 'animation' for the player after finishing a successful race that won them the gold cup. She herself had done this many times for six years straight, her most memorable one still being her very first victory when she had shared a virtual fist-bump with that bespectacled girl.

The racetrack jumbotron flashed as the channel changed, now revealing the arcade view for a brief 15-second period where players and their avatar would get to see each other as the player's score and placement were put on full display. Vanellope saw a young blonde-haired girl seated behind the cabinet's wheel with an identical girl watching beside her. She recognized those twin sisters: a pair of Litwak's regular patrons and avid fans of Sugar Rush named Kelly and Isabella.

But instead of an elated face that spelled utmost joy for winning the game, all that was there was a big mopey frown.

"Nice win, sis," Kelly was saying to her twin.

Isabella sighed. "Thanks, but I still wish I could play as Vanellope."

Her sister matched her frown. "Yeah, Me too. Where the heck is she? It's been weeks since I've seen her!"

The footage soon cut out, and Jubileena's bright smile faded to sad disappointment, which was matched by the rest of her friends. They all looked at each other in dismay as they listened to the girls in the arcade over the racetrack loudspeakers questioning why Vanellope von Schweetz was no longer available.

"I miss playing as her. That glitching power was awesome!"

"And she's the princess of the game too! What kind of game doesn't feature its own main character anymore? This 'New Racers Daily' system is rigged."

Vanellope's heart sank as she listened to their unhappy voices. She ventured up to her friends so she could observe their reactions up close.

Swizzle Malarkey pushed a hand through his messy hair. "This bites," he groaned.

"They really miss Vanellope," Jubileena sighed as she stepped off the podium.

Candlehead turned to Taffyta. "I wish we had glitching powers too," she said. "Then maybe we could make the players happy again."

Taffyta said nothing, but Vanellope could see that she wasn't taking the complaints from their players very well. The purple layer coating the memory bubble pulsed for a brief moment.

A new voice, this one male, was heard over the speakers. "Everythin' okay, Mr. Litwak? You look like you lost a pet." Vanellope recognized it to be Connor, one of Mr. Litwak's employees.

Stanley Litwak, their owner and caretaker whom they had always known to be so jolly, heaved a sad sigh. "No, not this time, Con. It's ol' Sugar Rush here. There's some very cuckoo things going on with this game, I tell you. First the star player goes missin' and replaced with some King Candy fellow. Then when he vanishes without a trace, she reappears for some few years…and then poof, she's gone again."

"I thought you said this game runs on a random avatar selector every 24 hours," Connor replied.

"That's what the translated manual says in black and white," said Litwak. "But whatever the glitch is, the players are noticing. And they ain't too chipper seeing that their favourite racer never seems to pop up anymore. They loved Vanellope. That girl raised more popularity for this game within one month on the roster than the day I plugged it in. You should'a seen Swati and Nafisa running in on the day the steering wheel broke…they went straight to Sugar Rush to meet that gal like she was Santa Claus at the toy store."

There was a pause before Connor chuckled. "The way you're speakin' my good sir, it's like you think these characters are alive or something."

Though Vanellope couldn't see him, she could feel that Litwak was smiling as he responded, even if just a little. "Well, I have owned these games under one roof for more than 20 years…some going on to 40. I guess you could say that these little candy kids an' all the rest are like family to me."

The old man sighed again. "But that just makes it harder to see this game go through these odd shenanigans. It's a fan favourite. But lately, we're not raking in so many quarters like we used to. Losing the second cabinet certainly didn't help."

Vanellope's vision suddenly became foggy as the scene unexpectedly dissolved. No longer was she on Sugar Rush's stadium, but now in Felix's living room. Sitting at the length of the dining table were all the racers, chewing silently on their meal. Felix and Calhoun were seated closely at one end, while Ralph was at the other end, bending his hunched back at the ceiling while trying to cut his meatloaf with a tiny knife and fork. The warm smells of veggies and mashed potatoes wafted the air and many colourful sleeping bags were scattered on the floor.

"This must be their Saturday night sleepover," Vanellope deduced out loud.

She then noticed that the aura surrounding this memory was deeply red.

Felix swallowed his mouthful. "Well, kids…er, how were the races today?" he asked with a rather forced smile.

None of them said a word.

"Anything exceptionally interesting to share?" Felix tried again. "Jubileena, I heard that you scored quite a number of consecutive wins. Congratulations!"

Jubileena rolled a pea back and forth on her plate. "Thanks…but the players weren't very happy," she mumbled.

"They were asking for Vanellope again," Adorabeezle put in. "They really miss her."

Crumbelina sagged her shoulders. "There've been less races these days," she sighed. "We overheard Litwak talking after the arcade closed…Sugar Rush hasn't been bringing in as many quarters as we used to."

This seemed to break the ice, as the racers were no longer staying silent.

"Remember when we lost our console's twin to that stupid player's soda drink?" Swizzle grumbled with an elbow on the table. "That already hit us hard. I get the feeling our game is jinxed!"

"Not a bad estimate considering our track record," Gloyd muttered.

Felix took a careful breath. "Well, I'm mighty certain that's not true, boys," he assured them kindly. "And I know things are looking a bit janky now with Vanellope…away. But as long as you kids continue to do your best and give your greatest effort, the players are sure to see that your hard work pays off every time."

"But we're already doing that," Taffyta said flatly, speaking for the first time in these concealed memories. Vanellope noted how positively exhausted she sounded. "We're doing everything we're allowed to do within the programming. Nothing changes. No matter what we try to do to make it more exciting, they still want Vanellope."

Calhoun flattened her mouth. "The best you munchkins can do is exactly what Felix said," she told them. "Just make the players your top priority and give 100% to them. Your game has gone through enough meddling from within."

As soon as she heard this, Vanellope immediately thought Calhoun meant Turbo's wicked takeover, but then she caught the sergeant's eyes narrow a hardened glance across the table towards Ralph. The wrecker slumped lower in his seat, and Vanellope realized that Calhoun was referring to a far more recent occurrence of meddling.

Ralph put down his utensils. "Look, guys," he sighed in a heavy and disheartened voice, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I was so…overwhelmed by everything goin' on between me and the kid…that I didn't think about how you guys would be affected."

"Wow, Ralph. Considerate, much?" Swizzle glared at him. "You're not Vanellope's only friend here, you know."

Beside him, Minty's face twisted into a very sour and contorted look.

"No, Ralph's not inconsiderate," she said in an icy tone. "He just forgot to factor any of us into the equation when he let Van go."

"That sounds inconsiderate to me," Gloyd hissed.

Ralph averted his eyes from the daggers the racers were directing his way. "I was just…trying to make sure she was happy," he hesitated. "What else could I do? She said she was bored of the same ol' routine and wanted something different out of life…"

"Different?" Taffyta spat as the red colour surrounding the memory pulsed with an alarming flash. "So you admit that she was bored of us? Were we not good enough for her? We're supposed to be her friends for fudge's sake!"

"That's not what I meant!" Ralph exclaimed, holding his big hands up in hasty desperation. "She didn't say she was bored with you guys! You're great friends to her, she's told me that a bunch of times. It was the tracks, and gameplay routine, and stuff. Vanellope knew all the in-game secrets and coolest features…she just wanted to try racing on bigger playing fields and-and-and with a different kind of gameplay for a change."

With a fist clenching around her fork, Taffyta looked very well ready to do something horrifically nasty, but seemed to let it go as she looked away. "Oh, yeah, that sums things up real nice, Ralph," she muttered darkly.

"So basically, what you're saying is that Vanellope traded us all for a cooler game?" Crumbelina asked. "And you let her do that?"

"I thought she liked us," Vanellope heard Rancis mumble quietly to Taffyta. "This was her dream, wasn't it? To race with us?"

Felix rubbed his face with very pained reluctance. "Ralph…I normally try to extinguish such negativity in the room…" he said in a now stern voice. "But I have to side with the kids and their painful dealings. I can imagine Vanny was excited about the prospect of a new racing game, so she probably wasn't using her head completely. But I'm still very disappointed in you for not at least trying to remind her about the importance of our duty to the players."

"And now that she's gone, we have to suffer the aftermath," Taffyta growled. "She's our leader."

"She's our friend!" Candlehead wailed.

"Not to mention the most famous racer of the entire game," Snowanna griped.

Vanellope watched as Ralph looked helplessly around the table, but only met with angry and saddened eyes.

When he glanced at Calhoun, the tall woman just shook her head and spoke in a very blunt tone. "I seem to remember a certain large-fisted sack of pixels who decided to go AWOL just to scout out a spot of happiness for himself. And I would have thought that after a near-death experience like that, he would have known to stop his dearest friend from pulling the same pigheaded stunt."

Ralph respectfully turned his gaze down to his plate without another word.

"Oh man," Vanellope sighed.

The scene dissolved again. Now she was standing before a large red velvet cupcake house that was Candlehead's home. Sitting on the doorstep were Taffyta and Candlehead. The latter had red eyes and cheeks stained with tears.

This memory was surrounded by a shimmering purple mixed with traces of blue and splashes of red.

"Candlehead, you've got to get your head back in the game," Taffyta was saying forcefully. "You've spun out three times just this week, and I know it's not cuz you were hit with Sweet Seekers!"

The candle-wearing girl sniffled. "I know, Taff, I'm so sorry. I just…couldn't help it."

Taffyta rubbed her face and groaned under her breath. "You were the player's avatar in yesterday's race when you had that huge spill in the Gorge. And you know what happened? The player quit the game completely. You heard what he said? 'What a rip-off'? We're losing players, Candi. This can't go on."

"But I miss her," Candlehead whimpered pitifully. "Don't you miss her too?"

"Of course, I do! But there's nothing we can do about it. She…doesn't live here anymore." Taffyta lowered her eyes, looking rather broken herself.

"I want her back, Taffy. Can't we please ask her to come back?"

"We can't. You know we can't. Ralph won't let us."

Ralph? Vanellope wondered.

"But the players still need us, so we have to give them everything we've got," Taffyta urged. "They're already upset over Vanellope going missing, so we're this game's last hope."

There was a pause between the girls. And then…

"I don't want to race anymore."

"Whaddy'a mean you don't want to race anymore?!" Taffyta burst out. "It's your job! Open your eyes, Candlehead, you're causing the players to crash because you're not paying attention!. You need to put Vanellope aside and focus on reality!"

Vanellope's ears stung as Candlehead began to cry at the top of her lungs. "But I don't wanna put Vanellope aside!" she howled in painful agony, an onslaught of tears pouring down her face. "It's not the same without her! I miss her so mu-huh-huh-huch!"

"Candlehead…"

"Who's gonna invite us to sleepovers in the castle now?" she wailed. "No one can make pillow forts like she can! Why did she have to leave us? Why isn't she here? Does she think we're not her friends anymore?!"

Taffyta had no reply. She just slumped in defeat as the girl with the candle soaked her shoulder with tears.

Seeing this made Vanellope's mouth quiver as she felt weak in the knees. "Candlehead…"

She instinctively reached a hand towards the tearful girl before they all disappeared. Now Taffyta was banging on the chocolate slab door of a large house made out of chocolate wafers with rows of chocolate chips bordering the lawn.

"Rancis, I know you're home," she called out. "Enough playing around, Fluggerbutter, open up!"

There was no response.

"You can't hide in there forever, Rancis. You really want me to make a scene on your doorstep?"

Silence. Taffyta brushed the chocolate dust off her glove.

"Look," she said in an exasperated tone. "I know you can hear me in there. And I also know you're not taking this well. None of us are, but you're getting the really salty end of the pretzel stick."

She turned around and sat on the wafer doorstep, speaking now to the pathway, but addressing the door behind her. "Vanellope meant a lot to you. Don't deny it, pretty boy, I know all about your secret. And…losing her is eating you up pretty badly inside," she said quietly.

The red energy surrounding this memory slowly depleted to make way for a shimmering blue.

"You never talk to us anymore. Swizzle, Gloyd, Candlehead…they all confirmed that you've gone mute. We only see you at the races and then you shut yourself in here. You've missed out on the weekend sleepovers. Felix and Mrs. Calhoun are worried about you. I think they miss you. Candlehead misses you…and I miss you."

Still, there was silence. The girl finally stood up, her back facing the door.

"I just need you know that you're not the only one who lost Vanellope. We're all going through a sour patch right now. If you wanna talk…you know where to find me."

She left without looking back. As the memory started to fade, Vanellope got one last glance at Rancis' house before everything disintegrated again.

And now she was standing in a large room that was completely decked in glossy pink with strawberry glazed walls and sugar-coated furniture, including a large watermelon taffy bed upon which Taffyta sat. Her strawberry hat was absent and in her hands rested a pink Sour Patch Kid doll.

Vanellope scanned around the bedroom and saw that this was the first memory where Taffyta was completely alone. And the aura surrounding this one was entirely blue.

"I don't know what else to do, Mindy," Taffyta muttered aloud. "I think it's safe to say I've had my work cut out for me."

The doll said nothing.

"Candlehead's not losing focus anymore, but she keeps asking Felix if Vanellope will come back. So I'm still worried about her. And Rancis finally came out of his house, but he's still barely saying anything…and I mean less than usual. To be honest, I think he's trying not to break down in front of us."

Taffyta kept her eyes focused down. "Swizzle and Minty lost a lot of their wild spirit. Same with Gloyd…you know how he always likes the shadows, but this time he really disappears when races are over. Jubileena is always so miserable. And Adorabeezle, Snowanna, and Crumbelina are always so tough and gritty that it takes something really powerful to break their shell. Guess losing our president was one of them."

Vanellope could almost feel the hollow sensation in her stomach eating her up as she heard this. But that was nothing to what she felt when Taffyta spoke again.

"And then there's me," she whispered in a cracking voice. "Every day, I start each race…and lead this kingdom with a smile, just like she told me to…but every night, I try to figure out why I'm doing this. Why she left us. Why she's not here anymore."

She gazed at the doll with saddened eyes.

"I mean…I tried to be a good friend…tried to make up for the 15 miserable years we put her through. Sure, we pelted trash talk and put-downs at each other, but I never actually meant any of it…all that teasing before each race…I thought we both agreed that it was all in good fun. To psych the other up to boost the competition, right?"

Vanellope watched as tears were now welling in her friend's eyes, threatening to spill as her lip quivered.

"But maybe I pushed her too hard," she choked. "Maybe I was the reason she left. Because she wanted to be as far from me as possible thanks to our rotten history. I guess I can't blame her…15 whole years of rejection and torture can't be erased that easily."

Mascara was now running down her cheeks as her tears finally dominated. Taffyta cuddled her doll to her chest, her breathing starting to hitch rapidly.

"Vanellope's g-g-gone, Mindy. She's not coming back," she whimpered. "All her life, she wanted to be a racer and just be accepted by us…but that wasn't good enough for her. And with the Internet probably being a bajillion times cooler than Sugar Rush…it wasn't too hard for her to decide where she really wanted to go. I'm a lousy leader and an even lousier friend. I guess I'll never find out…where I went wrong."

The room was silent save for the sobs of Taffyta as she hunched over in a sorrowed slump. As the memory began to cloud over in a deep blue haze, Vanellope felt the pixels of her heart splitting apart and found that she couldn't take it anymore. With her own tears now falling, she walked right up to Taffyta, and despite knowing she couldn't communicate to her, spoke anyway.

"Please don't cry, Taffyta. I…I'm going to fix this. I promise I will."

Closing her eyes and bowing her head, Vanellope glitched.

ZOOP.

As her feet touched down on cold solid ground, Vanellope found herself back in the old garage, staring with wet eyes at the interface between the dirty floor and the driveway. She let go of the gloved hand still encased with hers and looked up to meet the Taffyta of the present, who was watching her with a sullen expression. Sour Bill stood silently in the corner.

"I take it you found what you were looking for?" Taffyta mumbled.

Vanellope wiped her nose with her jacket sleeve and sighed heavily. "You could say that."

Her suspicions had not only been confirmed, but manifested. Gloyd's spilled secret now made sense. And this seemed to intensify the cloud of guilt filling her stomach.

"Is it true?" she stammered in a last feat of desperation that it wasn't. "The players…all this depression…all this pain. That's what's been going on?"

The lowering of Taffyta's saddened eyes was enough of an answer.

"And…did you really believe that…I left because of you?" she asked with a wince.

Letting out a small sniffle, Taffyta turned herself away from Vanellope, her own tears now dribbling down as she clutched her chest. "I tried to think of any possible reason…anything that could have made you want to leave. But they all pointed to the same direction," she moaned. "I finally decided that maybe…maybe there was still a part of you…that just couldn't forgive me."

Vanellope put both hands on Taffyta's shoulders to rotate her around and face her directly. "No. Taffyta, that's not it," she began, her voice heavy and hushed. "It had nothing to do with you, or any of our friends. And you know that I don't blame you for any of that crap-cake that Turbo put us all through. He's the one responsible for stealing our memories and destroying our minds. You mistreated me because he made you think I was a threat to the game…you were only trying to protect it. And for all the torture you threw upon me because of him…you know that I forgave you then and still do. I have so many good memories with you stored in my code that I still cling to."

Taffyta blinked away tears. "You mean…this whole time, it had nothing to do with me?" she squeaked. "I wasn't the reason you left?"

"No," Vanellope said firmly. "Taffyta, next to Ralph, and Felix and Calhoun, you're one of the greatest friends I could ever ask for. A best friend, really. You've shown your regrets for the 15 years of lies we've been living and I don't even think about them anymore."

Vanellope's voice now wavered. "But…I don't have any excuse for leaving you and everybody hanging like that," she now whispered in a heavy voice. "I was just so excited by Slaughter Race and everything it offered me that I didn't even stop to think about you guys. If anyone's in the wrong here, I guess it's me. I left my game…my duties…and all my friends because I found something cool in less than a day. It wasn't fair for me to leave you like that. And it wasn't fair for me to dump all my president-duties on you…"

"…I'm the one who was the lousy leader," she finally grieved.

Taffyta said nothing. She just wiped her eyes, smudging her mascara all over her gloved palm.

Simultaneously, the girls closed the gap between each other for a hug. This one was entirely different from the one they had shared when Vanellope had first glitched through the castle doors upon arrival hours ago. It wasn't rushed to make way for other friends awaiting their turn. And it was far more emotional. The first hug had been a rejoiced greeting. This one was an embrace between two lost friends.

Feeling Taffyta bury her face into her shoulder, Vanellope asked the question that she had wanted to ask Gloyd and had been burning inside her after seeing those memories. "Why didn't any of you tell me this was how you were feeling?"

"Because Ralph didn't want you feeling sorry for us," Taffyta answered almost robotically, as if she had rehearsed this answer for such a time as this. "He wanted you to be happy and didn't want us to beg you to come back or make you regret your decision to leave. Every time we asked to borrow his phone to talk to you, we had to compose ourselves first. Make sure we avoided telling you how upset we were and limit it to 'we miss you'."

Vanellope had no answer to how shocked and hurt she now felt. All she could say was, "Oh."

"But it was hard for him to talk to you too without losing it and becoming a wreck himself," Taffyta went on. "Same with Felix. And Calhoun tries to avoid talking about it whenever mention of you is brought up…she was probably tired of throwing sideways glares at Ralph."

She let her chin rest on Vanellope's shoulder. "But it's not all that bad," she mumbled half-heartedly. "We got used to the changes over time. We're all enjoying adoption. We'd always wanted someone to look after us, but just never realized it. And this update took our minds off things. It helped bring most of our players back."

Slowly, Vanellope recalled Snowanna mentioning that Sugar Rush had not been dipping in popularity for years, which contradicted what she had seen in Taffyta's memories. She realized that what had been said in the Racers' Roost had been a fib, simply because she was there in the room. A lie to spare her feelings by keeping her from the truth.

"Besides," Taffyta's voice rumbled softly over her inner thoughts, "you were the best leader we ever had. We all knew that you always made the right decisions. So why would this one be any different?"

A striking resemblance, almost near-perfect to what Gloyd had stated to her.

Vanellope gently pulled herself free and held Taffyta with both arms outstretched, studying her forlorn face. "You guys really put a lot of faith in me," she hummed. "But the thing is, I'm not exactly the saint you make me out to be."

"What?"

Catching the new tone in Vanellope's voice, Taffyta looked up at her, but Vanellope had already let go and was pulling something out of her jacket pocket: an aged photograph that she had extracted from the castle wall after leaving Crumbelina for the night.

This photo was of her, Taffyta, and everybody else in one goofy shot in the Candy Cane Forest. Taken within the first year of the game's restored code, it showcased all of her new friends at their finest. Felix and Calhoun, having been married for a good month at the time. The former was looking as bright and chipper as ever as he held Calhoun's hand tightly, the latter with her free hand on her hip and smiling confidently at the camera. Candlehead had her biggest, brightest smile ever and Rancis looked simply happy to be there. Swizzle was throwing the goats while Snowanna was doing a perfectly-timed stage-dive off the candy tree's branch with arms widespread as if taking flight. And Taffyta had a smug yet happy smile with Candlehead's arm slung around her shoulder. As for Vanellope herself, she just looked content in this image as she stood on Ralph's massive shoulder, her arm resting nonchalantly on the big guy's head. Content to have finally found her place in her code. Content to have friends. Ralph too had been smiling for the very same reason.

And in the bottom centre of the faded photo was an inscription done by her own handwriting in hardened buttercream icing:

'Once a Sugar Rush racer, always a Sugar Rush racer'.

Present day Vanellope studied the picture carefully and remembered how she had been feeling right at the moment when Sour Bill had snapped this shot with the royal camera. Overjoyed to be racing, but even more so that she was no longer referred to as 'The Glitch' like some kind of untouchable disease. She was instead surrounded by so many new friends: these adults who she knew would look out for her, and kids her age who were thrilled to have their rightful leader again and eager to make amends with her.

She grazed a finger over its sugar dusted surface.

"When we were playing Hide and Seek, I decided that I wanted to visit Crumbelina in secret," she admitted slowly. "But I found Gloyd up there doing the same. He was crying over her body. It wasn't pretty to watch, but seeing that really hit me different. I had never seen someone cry because they thought they lost a friend before…and just now, I saw it happen a second time."

Turning to face the driveway, Vanellope closed her eyes to enter a deep reflective state. "I left Sugar Rush because I found something super cool and exciting," she explained aloud. "It was new and fresh. It was a whole new experience with an unpredictable lifestyle. It was everything I had always dreamed of."

She paused for a breath. "At least…it's what I thought I dreamed of. But over the last year, I began to notice something."

"What's that?" Taffyta asked, watching her carefully.

Vanellope opened her eyes and swallowed. "You know that lump in your stomach? Well, I had one in my stomach too. You weren't the only one missing someone. I missed you too. Ralph and Felix and Calhoun, everyone…"

She paused as she looked down to Sour Bill and let a small smile cross her face. "You too, Bill. I could never ask for a better assistant," she said fondly.

Sour Bill said nothing, but a tiny hint of a genuine smile had creeped upon his otherwise unchanged despondent face.

"But after a while, I began to think that it might have been more than just a feeling of homesickness," Vanellope continued to Taffyta. "The tracks in Slaughter Race were wicked I tell ya…the gameplay was completely unpredictable every single round, Shank and her crew were totally awesome, and I had the time of my life out there…but none of it seemed to make that lump go away. I had the freedom to roam and play all I wanted. But…"

Her voice began to trail off, her mind now racing too fast for words. Taffyta stared at her, gently prompting. "But…?"

"But it wasn't what I wanted," Vanellope slowly concluded as the floating pieces in her mind finally began to fall into place.

A hollow pang now jabbed her heart, bringing new tears to the surface. One that she was familiar with, having felt it countless times over the course of her stay in the Internet. And each time, this feeling had become just a little more intense than before, until it had accumulated and evolved from what was once a mild sliver of longing to what now stood as the pure venom of guilt. "I've felt this way ever since I left," she confessed. "I just didn't really realize what it meant at the time…I thought I was just adjusting the new world…"

Her tearful eyes now fell upon the image of Crumbelina in the faded photograph, posing like a fashion model.

"…but today, I almost lost one of my friends. I saw how much that hurt not just me, but all of us. And now I've seen first-hand how much I've hurt you guys by leaving. For the first time, Taffyta, I think I finally get it. I've been so selfish…and a huge jerk. I forgot to appreciate the good life I had and just let it all go."

Vanellope stood rigid as the truth finally dawned over her. This single night had been a major eye-opener for Gloyd…but it had been one for her too. Just like him, she had felt things click for the first time. Answers to things that had been standing right in front of her all this time, but had been too close to see. But she could see them clearly now, as if someone had quietly been shedding a little light over her brain, making her understand that she had left her game to find something that she felt was missing in her life…but in doing so, what she had sacrificed was the very life that she had been dreaming of for 15 years. A life that she had decided to abandon because she had been feeling bored…no, had taken it for granted.

She had abandoned her game for her own selfish ambition. She had told Ralph, the one who had brought back her stolen life, that she dreamed of something else other than that.

But her true dream was here. And she had been blinded by an impulsive desire for a bigger dream to realize this.

With the photo grasped in one hand, she then reached under her jacket and her hoodie beneath it to produce the half of her cookie medal. The hardened icing that spelled out 'My' and part of the word 'Hero' seemed to shine in the garage's dim overhead lights. Just like her brain was shining on this new revelation.

"What exactly are you saying, Vanellope?"

She lifted her head when Taffyta spoke, facing her with a determined look that was crossed with all the revelations that she been reaching to point to this:

"I'm saying that I took everything I had for granted. Living the good life for six years made me forget just how special it was and how much you all mean to me…I messed up big time. I'm so sorry."

Vanellope sucked in a lungful of virtual air. "Talking with Gloyd while we waited for Crumbelina gave me a major wake-up call. I realized that I wasn't there for him when he needed me. And now I see that I wasn't there for any of you either."

"But that's gonna change right now. Because gosh darn it, after seeing you guys go through all that torture, what kind of cruel dummy would I be to let you keep goin' through with it?"

Walking back inside towards her candy kart, Vanellope felt a smile starting to push her cheeks up. It was like everything was finally coming together. "Slaughter Race is cool and all...but it just wasn't home," she mumbled. "Home isn't where the racing is intense or the gameplay is unpredictable. It's where you find the people who truly love you. I had all that right here in the arcade. So why would I ever want to give that up?"

As she said this, she started to unzip her leather jacket to reveal her mint-green hoodie underneath.

"Y'know, I was actually planning on extending my visit to provide you guys moral support in case Crumbelina really did die on us. Well, she's back now…but I think I'll still extend it. So much that it's not even considered a visit anymore."

"That is…if you guys can forgive me for making such a pigheaded mistake," she trailed off suddenly as a new rush of anxiety now punched her stomach, causing her hand to freeze in mid-unzip. Her confidence wavered as if a shotgun had broken it with a single bullet. After a blunder like this, why would any of the racers forgive her or even want her back home? She could hardly forgive herself.

She slowly turned to look at Taffyta, but the strawberry-blonde had already left her previous position to march right up to her. The hard candy racer's expression was unreadable as the girls faced each other closely. Vanellope held her breath, waiting for her to speak.

"Vanellope, when you abandoned us for Slaughter Race, you put us through some of the worst heartbreak I have ever felt in my life," Taffyta spoke in a very cold and blunt tone. "I was angry, sad, and more confused than a chocolate chicken with its head bitten off. I spent weeks wallowing in my own misery for making this happen. All because of you. You dumped all your royal duties on my head. You left me to lead this entire game without an instruction manual. You forced me to deal with everyone's unhappy faces and hide my pain in secret. And you ditched us without giving a reason or even saying good bye."

She bore an icy stare right through her. "You're right. You are the lousy leader. And after all that, you want me to forgive you as if nothing happened."

Vanellope winced painfully as her heart sank in dismay. But she didn't blame Taffyta for being unwilling to let this go, because after all, she had no reason not to be. Every one of those points were reasons why she, Vanellope, was undeserving of such forgiveness. She hung her head sadly.

"If you can't forgive me, Taffyta…all I ask is that you give me a second chance to…"

"But if you can forgive me for 15 years of cruel mistreatment…" Taffyta interrupted, "…what kind of friend would I be to not forgive you for this?"

Vanellope stopped abruptly when she heard that; she looked up in surprise to face Taffyta's warm smile and twinkling blue eyes.

"You mean…you forgive me? Is that a yes?" she squeaked in a little voice.

Taffyta crossed her arms with dearest sincerity. "I already forgave you a year ago," she said in a much softer tone. "I just needed to hear you say you were sorry."

Staring at her deeply, Vanellope felt herself blush, and she punched Taffyta's arm playfully. "Oh, you are evil, you know that? Pure stinging venom."

"Hey," her pink friend said with a big smirk, "I wouldn't be me if I weren't. Now if you don't mind me saying this, Your Presidentness, take that thing off. It doesn't suit your aesthetic."

Vanellope own smile began to grow once more as she obediently unzipped her leather jacket all the way and tossed it aside with a confident thrust of her arm. The last piece of her Slaughter Race attire dropped on top of the licorice coil.

"I'll save it for Swizzle's Christmas present," she decided.

And for the first time all night, her cool and confident signature smile, the smile that only Vanellope von Schweetz could ever make, finally crossed her face to its fullest. And standing there in her dirty old mint-green hoodie, candy wrapper skirt, mismatched striped leggings, and Twizzler hair ribbon, Taffyta was granted her first ever glimpse of the Vanellope she knew from Sugar Rush. And the sight of this could only make the blonde smile fondly as the returned racer threw her green-sleeved arms around her neck for another hug.

"Once a Sugar Rush racer…always a Sugar Rush racer," Vanellope whispered into Taffyta's shoulder.

Sour Bill wiped a single tear from his green face. "Dang it, kids," he muttered. "Always so emotional."

THE END (for real this time)

A/N: So you thought I was done with this? Well, some of you eagle-eyed readers noticed that while the main story was concluded in the last chapter, there were still some plots left mysteriously unfinished. And you were right! That was intentional, because Devastated wasn't actually over. After all, there was still one final Key Player from my sketch who hadn't yet received her own chapter. Notice now that the story's description finally has the 'Complete' stamp! This is the true ending of Devastated.

This chapter comes with a small price. Some of this ends up contradicting some details that I completely glossed over in earlier stories like To Light a Candle and Extreme Hearts. But those were written long before this. I wasn't interested in deeply exploring how Vanellope's departure had affected everyone she had left behind at the time and never believed I ever would as it's a very touchy topic that directly relates to everything that I find wrong with RBtI. But I decided that the time had come to bring Vanellope back into the game (literally). Hence, there are some inconsistencies to the earlier stories like why everyone seems so cheerful despite what they had been going through before those events, but just try to roll with it. And by recalling how in the first chapter I stated that there was one thing from the sequel I would try to fix by the story's end…this was it.