"It's me Van." Hiro takes a step forward, barely able to breathe himself, "I'm Hiro. Hiro Hamada."

Vanellope's eyes widen and she finds herself stumbling back. The scenes around them rush and weave as memories of all kinds flood Vanellope's mind. She hasn't felt this much of a rush since she crossed the finish line and everyone's memories were restored after Turbo had locked them away. She thought all the memories were back but these are still different. These are memories from another storyline. Another life.

"Vanellope sweetie, time to come in for dinner! Tell Hiro goodbye hun," They both hear Mrs. Schweetzenenger's voice call. The two watch as a small Vanellope drops her cowboy toy on the floor, gives Hiro a hug and stumbles clumsily inside the large mansion. The scene shifts again, showing Tadashi, Hiro, and Vanellope in a large dining room with a checker board in front of them.

"You're getting good at this!" Tadashi's voice laughs as he coaches Hiro and Vanellope in playing checkers.

"I'm gonna win!" Vanellope snickers capturing two of Hiro's chips.

"Not so fast racer," Hiro smiles a tooth-gapped grin, "Eat my dust Schweetz!"

Hiro wins the game and Vanellope pouts.

"What a dangerous thing," Teen Tadashi shakes his head, "Two kids that are both smart and competitive. Some friendship you two have."

"I--I don't understand. I know these, I know you," Vanellope stammers, fiddling with her hands her breathes short and seemingly pained, "I keep hearing your voice but I just--"

"Van slow down, you need to breathe your going to have a panic attack," Hiro steps forward reaching for her hands but she pulls back.

"It's just pixlexia okay?" Vanellope says waiting for the glitches so she can do what she needs to focus but it doesn't come. Instead her mind begins to spin and her heart rate picks up.

"Let me help you!" Hiro reaches for her, "You used to get panic attacks all the time, let me help you Van. We're in a safe place."

Hiro's face was beginning to look blurry so without thinking, she reached out to grab something. Anything. The images shift and turn

"We're in a safe place," Tadashi says, clicking on a flashlight and pulling Hiro and Vanellope under the blanket fort they had built, "Alright what's your deepest secret?"

"Mine is that I secretly think everyone else are stupid except for you two." Hiro sneers, "Nobody else understands what it's like to be a genius."

"Dork!" Tadashi laughs, "Okay, my deepest secret is that I've got a crush on this girl with a purple streak in her hair but I can't figure out how to talk to her."

Young Vanellope and Hiro fake gag, not wanting to hear about Tadashii's love life.

"What's your deepest secret?" Tadashi asks Vanellope.

Vanellope's face darkens as she fiddles with the ends of her hair. Per the usual, her hair was sticky from the sugary croissants she likes to munch on, "My secret is that my daddy is cheating on my mommy."

"Vanellope you know that's not true--"

"Yeah it is! He's always talking to the computer and it talks back to him. She doesn't even have a pretty voice she sounds like a robot." Vanellope hisses.

"Sounds like a computer?" Tadashi questions, "Yeah she has an ugly dark robotic voice."

"Vanellope I don't think that's a woman," Tadashi shakes his head, his expression becoming dim.

"Oh, it was a man?" Vanellope's eyes widen, "Mommy is gonna be shocked because--"

"No Vanellope, I don't think it's a man either. I think he's talking to a computer program." Tadashi says.

"Mommy REALLY isn't going to like that!"

Vanellope's vision begins to clear as Hiro puts one hand on the small of her back and grabs one of her free hands. His touch was soft but it sent what felt like electricity through the core of her being. She felt him in a way that was different than usual. Maybe he was a new technology, something beyond her time.

"Vanellope breathe. You have to breathe. Come on deep breath in and a deep breath out." Hiro coaches. Vanellope follows suit, wanting nothing more than for the experience to end. It was all so familiar yet foreign. To her surprise, Hiro's trick was working. Her hands were shaking but she lets her fingers intertwine with his and he pulls her closer to him, sitting her down so she could steady herself.

After a few more deep breathes, she's finally able to breath out a sentence.

"What's happening to me? All these memories... they're--"

"Yours," Hiro stares at her, "And some of mine. Most of them we share." Hiro nods still propping her up with his hand on her back.

"But you're not a Sugar Rush racer," Vanellope muses still in disbelief.

"And your're not either," Hiro turns her slightly so she would be forced to look at him, "Van, you're not a program."

"I-I'm not a... Y-you mean I'm not--"

"You're not a program Van. You are a human." Hiro says gently. Vanellope looks up at Hiro and for the first time no more memories come. Nothing more shows up to confuse her. The only thing she could hear were Hiro's words ringing in her head like he was playing a tape recorder. Why did part of her believe him? Why did this answer make so much sense? She has more questions now than she did when she thought she was just a glitch who had no purpose.

"I'm a human?" Vanellope muses, "Wait, you were the surface boy from the other day! How am I the human, I saw you. I remember you choosing me as an avatar!"

"But you also remember singing with me, laughing with me, and being with my older brother Tedashii," Hiro tries, seeing the anger and panic flashing through Vanellope's eyes. The fire that seems to ignite in them was almost intoxicating.

"That's not possible! If that were true I wouldn't be here! I have a backstory, I've died inside my games multiple times and regenerated! Inside the game I can get the 'pull'. The users can control me! The creators did an update on the game and I updated with it!" Vanellope starts talking faster than even Hiro can keep up but Hiro puts his hands on her shoulders to steady her

"Van!" Hiro says firm, but gently, "Van I don't know how long we can keep this up, but you have to listen to me."

For the first time Vanellope stares into Hiro's eyes like he was the only friend she's ever had. In fact, it felt like he was the only friend she's ever needed. These eyes are familiar but still different. She could see the concern in his eyes and it comforted her. She relaxes her shoulders, her eyes still locked on his. Hiro senses Vanellope relax and gently glides his hands down her arms to her hands. That same electrifying feeling as before flows through her body. She's tempted to pull away but Hiro grabs her hands before she can.

"Van, listen. I don't know how else to put this but your dad accidentally got you stuck in a game. The entire game of Sugar Rush was going to be a surprise for you. Everything he did was for you but it backfired because of the Tron Trojan."

"What?" Vanellope shouts but she can feel something pulling at her, "Wait, what's happening. Hiro!"

"We don't have much time! Look Vanellope, I think we met up in some kind of mutual dream state or something. PixelChick says we developed some kind of code connection when I too got sucked into the game by the Tron Trojan. Can you tell me where you are or where you think you last were?" Hiro asks.

"I-I don't know, I'm somewhere in Tron!" Vanellope breathes, "The other racers are here with me, Crumbelina is the only one I've been able to find! The alternates, they took them and they're training all of them to do something but I don't know what! What's the Tron Trojan?"

"If you're in Tron then you're all in serious trouble--"

"Well duh, ya pinbrain of course we're in trouble! What the heck are we supposed ta' do about it? We don't regenerate in here!"

"That's the Vanellope I remember," Hiro smiles, "But to answer your question, I don't know but we're coming to get you guys and get you all home."

"Who is we?" Vanellope asks.

"Me and Gogo, Ralph, Felix, and Pixelia. We're gonna swing around and grab Felix's wife and we're on our way." Hiro says. Just as he muttered those last words, the room begins to glitch. Vanellope looks back at Hiro with fear in her eyes.

"Hiro! What am I gonna do? How will I find you again? Will I find you again? What if you run into trouble? What if I don't make it? What if--"

"Van, you gotta stop. You're a hero. You'll know what the right thing to do is." Hiro reassures her reaching up to run the back of his fingers across her soft, rosy cheeks, "Like Glitch said. We've got a code connection. We'll always find each other."

Hiro's figure begins to disappear and Vanellope already begins to miss the comforting feeling of his hands.

"Wait Hiro!"

"We'll fiiiinnnnndddd eeaacchhh otherrrrrr againnn," Hiro's voice begins to fade. Before he disappears completely the room shifts showing one last image of the room Vanellope was in with Crumbelina. It shifts in a split second to the room Hiro is in with the others tucked away in a secret room in Sugar Rush. Soon the room has faded to black and both are brought back into consciousness.

"Hiro!" Vanellope bolts upright in bed, causing Crumbelina to scream, rolling straight out of bed and falling right out of the cozy slumber she had been in.

"Where's the danger!" Crumbelina pops up with a spring in her step holding onto an invisible sword. Crumbelina looks down at her hands and frowns realizing she was of no help at all.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Vanellope sits up on her knees and holds out her hands to Crumbelina. Crumbelina lets out a sigh of relief and places her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breathe.

"Don't scare me like that! You know I'm fragile." Crumbelina pouts.

"I know Lina, I know," Vanellope frowns scooching towards the end of the bed, "Look I know what you've been through--"

"No you don't!" Crumbelina shouts, "Those people are meanies! They treated us like experiments and made us train like animals! We were only there a day and a half and I wanted to degen myself!"

"Lina listen," Vanellope lowers her voice and grabs Crumbelina's hands, pulling her towards her. Vanellope whispers into Crumbelina's ear as if Rinzler would come around the corner at any second, "I can't tell you exactly how I know this, but I think I know why we're here."

"Well spill the caramel, sugar! What's going on?" Crumbelina asks.

"We aren't from Sugar Rush," Vanellope whispers.

"Get out of pie town!" Crumbelina whispers back.

"Listen, we've got to find the others and get the heck out of here." Vanellope says.

"How are we supposed to do that? I don't know if you noticed but Rinzler and Tron have eyes everywhere! They can probably see everything we're doing right now!" Crumbelina says. A look of concern flashes across her face and she scowls at the room, making sure the robe that Vanellope had given her is covering her body properly.

"I think... I mean I think..." Vanellope starts. What exactly was she going to do? There was no way to sneak around Tron without getting caught. If what Hiro said was true then the entire game was one singular entity. That means the walls were Tron, the clothes she is wearing is Tron, the disks they were given was Tron. Everything connected back to Tron. But if Hiro was also correct, there was something that Tron couldn't mess with. The fact that all of the Sugar Rushers are human. That's something Tron cannot manipulate easily. Vanellope wasn't exactly sure she understands or remember what it is like to be human, but maybe there is something she can do. Tron needed them all for something, otherwise it wouldn't have brought them here.

You're a hero. You'll know what the right thing to do is, Hiro's words rings in her ears.

"I think we're just going to have to play the game," Vanellope bites her lower lip. Crumbelina's jaw drops and she stares at Crumbelina with terror in her eyes.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR ABSOLUTE GOSH CANDY WRAPPED MIND?" Crumbelina shouts, stomping her foot, "They almost killed me in there!"

"But they didn't!" Vanellope hops up and onto her feet, "They could have but they didn't. Think about it. They need you Lina. They need us! And I think I know why."

"Why?"

"We're special," Vanellope says, "And they know it. They want what we have and we can't give it to them."

"What we have? Why are you being so cryptic!" Crumbelina pouts and crosses her arms. Vanellope laughs at her friends childish antics.

"You said it yourself, Tron is everywhere. If I tell you then you'll really be a target, do you really want that?" Vanellope asks. Crumbelina contemplates the question for a second and then rolls her eyes putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay fine! We'll do it your way. But how are we going to get through this? I was MISERABLE in there." Crumbelina says, "They push us so hard!"

"Then we push!" Vanellope says, "See, the alternates think they're all that and a bag of jolly ranchers, but they don't remember what it's like having Vanellope von Schweetz as their leader! I lead fair and just. You all will no longer be answering to them, you will be answering to me."

"Rinzlers not going to like that." Crumbelina shakes her head.

"Actually, I have a feeling this is just what he wants," Vanellope crosses her arms, gazing at herself in the mirror, "He wants a boss level? We'll give him a boss level."

In an instant everything comes back to his mind. Hiro's eyes return to normal and he is still holding the bracelet in his hand.

"Hiro!" Gogo runs over to him, "What happened, are you okay?"

"I know where she is!" Hiro says hopping up.

"What?" The group says in unison.

"I found all of them. They're all in Tron in this big building thing. Vanellope was in a room and she had some girl with her who was sleeping. Um, she had light brown skin and dark brown hair! The room overlooked almost all of Tron and there was a pool of water in the--"

"HE TOOK HER TO MY ROOM?" Glitch's jaw drops and her eyes flare, "That NOSEWART!"

"Easy there lightning bolt," Ralph throws up his hands, "I don't want to see any more flashy death rays from you or sparkle fingers over there."

"How do you even know that?" Gogo asks.

"The code connection. I think when I picked up the bracelet my mind tugged at a memory and it was the same one as hers. She was asleep when it happened and that's why the connection was suddenly so strong. But I saw her. I got to speak to her. Hold her. It was like she was human again," Hiro says.

"Her code is coming undone. The more she learns about herself, the more her actual human genetics are going to fight the coding in her. Same thing happens to me." Glitch nods.

"I have a feeling she's going to go after the others, and if she does she's going to be in big trouble. We have to get to her before that happens," Hiro stands to his feet, "But before we do anything, we gotta reach the others to get the backup otherwise anything we do is going to be for nothing and Tron will find a way to come back and he'll go right after them all over again. Correct me if I'm wrong but for the rest of their lives they're going to be part code, right?"

"Unfortunately yes. They won't have the advanced genetics, but they will still be part code. Except for Vanellope. She has developed powers similar to mine so I think she might end up with similar abilities." Glitch informs them.

"Well isn't this a pickle," Felix puts his hands on his hips, "Well how are we going to reach your surface friends? Earlier you mentioned somethin' bout making the others pass out?"

"Now that I know what the connection feels like, I think i can replicate something similar for the others with Glitch and Gogo's help," Hiro nods to them.

"Whatever it takes," Gogo says.

AN: This one was shorter but I needed a good pickup spot since I haven't touched this one in a while. I'll be updating the other stories soon (as I say everytime but I know it takes me a few weeks to get around to it LOL), so keep an eye out! Thanks for the follows and faves! Keep following for more fun!