*Chapter 17*
"And then, when he rounded the corner, he was just covered in mud!" Zane exclaimed with a gentle gesture of his arms; the night, Sugar Rush sky was soft with pink clouds, the stars fought their way through.
"Where did his bike go?" Tessa exclaimed in pure wonder, her eyes sparkled under the flames of the high posts from the castle's front gates.
"I think the quicksand got a hold of it," Zane chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Rancis, Tessa, Oliver and Penny, "We actually had to call Zed to get him to regenerate Kito's bike."
"Y-you had to call Zed?" Rancis' confused tone was almost amused.
"Yeah," Zane rolled his eyes, though he looked to the side nervously, "I don't think I've ever had a full conversation with that guy... You'd think the core of our game would come around more often. It's nice to see Queen Vanellope and King Ralph have such a close, dedicated lead of their game."
"Why is he so... Distant?" Oliver wondered softly as he lightly shrugged his shoulders; Zane glanced about the group before him.
"I-I really have no idea," Zane said gently, "I've only really ever dealt with him when our game had a virus scare."
"Your game had a virus scare?" Rancis suddenly wondered, though he tried not to seem too pushy; he inwardly grit his teeth as he could see his almost fully grown niece shoot her uncle a curious glance. Her thick, auburn hair flicked over her shoulder gently.
"Yeah," Zane raised his eyebrows with a nervous puff of a breath, he shook his head and let his usual, heart melting smile sprawl his face, "But our game is just fine, it all got handled."
"I'm sure viruses are easy to fight off, anyhow," Tessa said with an oblivious shrug. It took everything inside Rancis not to fall to his knees and obnoxiously disagree.
"Yeah, don't you just, I don't know," Penny softly gestured her hands a little as she paused to find the right words, "Delete it from the code room?"
"Something like that," Zane shrugged, "Zed seemed to get it under control really quick."
"What exactly happened?" Rancis gently pressed, his heart raced with uncertainty.
"Oh, I'm actually not positive," Zane said casually with that constant, soft smile. His piercing blue eyes held inquisition, however, "I'm just programmed into the game, I don't really do much to contribute. We just live in the village, us 'faux-codes.' That blue haired jerk has the core of the game in the palm of his hand."
"His hair is blue?" Oliver beamed an amused, gapped tooth smile and easily mocked Ralph's mannerisms, "Blue!"
"Yes, blue!" Zane chuckled as he idly ran his hand through his jet black hair, "I don't really know why. Can't argue with the head, though."
"You can say that again," Tessa spat as the thought of her mother crossed her mind.
"I-I'm gunna go back inside and check on Taffyta's cupcakes," Rancis said lightly as he waved a gentle hand towards the generation he had risked his very life to save; they stood poised before him, as if eons had passed between then and now. Rancis felt a lump catch in his throat as he forced a kind smile, "It was nice to meet you, Zane."
"You as well!" Zane said with his usual charm as everyone kindly waved him off.
Rancis exhaled a hard breath as he let himself into the Great Hall. He gripped the side of his head and grit his teeth in a fit of a nervous stupor. He shut his eyes tight and finally exhaled another gentler breath, his eyes gazed out to the sprawling hall before him. It was dim with it's majestic chandeliers that towered overhead. The teal and cream swirled tiles glistened underneath Sugar Rush's boasted power. He slumped his shoulders and aimlessly gazed up towards the high beams of the gaping ceiling that seemed to go on for miles. He felt his heart slump into a funk for the first time since Sugar Rush was last in danger. He felt his veins pulse a nervous adrenaline into his code, as if his duty as knight was merely reminding him that this position of his was most definitely a selfless one. He softly muttered to himself as he finally tore his eyes from the enchanting glow of the Great Hall.
"If I have to kill myself again for this User forsaken game, I'm gunna-"
"You're gunna what?" Vanellope suddenly chimed in her usual charm; Rancis inhaled a loud breath and flung his arms up, he froze and gazed to his right with wide eyes.
"V-Vanellope!" Rancis choked as he clutched his neck lightly. He finally relaxed and gave his best friend a daring, playful glare, "You scared the peanut butter out of me."
"Well, I'm not cleaning it," Vanellope chuckled as she looked down to her tiles, she crossed her arms. She was dressed lightly in a black tank top and her usual night time sweats laced with her Sugar Rush logo. Her hair was down and straight over her shoulders and back. She gently squinted her eyes towards Rancis as he straightened his shirt, as if he was caught committing a crime.
"You gotta always be sneaking around?" Rancis chuckled with a nervous smile as Vanellope very slowly began to approach him, she had been lingering near the pillars and open area that led to their massive living room.
"My glitch may be noisy sometimes," Vanellope very gently shrugged her shoulders, "But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."
"Silent flight," Rancis breathed with an almost annoyed smirk.
"Plus," Vanellope heaved a hard sigh and looked around her Great Hall, "I don't think it can be considered 'sneaking around' if I'm in my own castle."
"You've got the place mapped," Rancis scoffed as he tried his hardest to avoid the topic that was bubbling into oblivion.
"I know what's bothering you," Vanellope said softly, Rancis shot her a furrowed look and opened his mouth to kindly protest, though Vanellope pressed on, "You don't have to be so painfully obvious about it."
"What... Do you mean?" Rancis wondered, he suddenly felt two feet tall as Vanellope continued to approach him. She was merely a handful of large tiles away from him, her bare feet touched the cold marble in pure silence.
"You're worried about Zane, no?" Vanellope asked as she side eyed Rancis, almost in a kind way, though her voice was slick and stern, "We've been with the kid for not even two hours and we're all on red alert."
"I-I don't know why I'm so worried," Rancis rushed as he gestured his hands, "He said something about his game going through a virus scare."
"Coincidence?" Vanellope lightly shrugged, as if playing devil's advocate was a safe venture in this situation, Rancis largely shot her a furrowed look.
"Coincidence," Rancis hissed, "You call Sugar Rush and Dead Zed having a virus scare only a coincidence?"
"Hardly," Vanellope gently barked as she finally budged into Rancis's bubble, he furrowed his eyebrows harder and suddenly felt the dark opposition between the two, "Something tells me you know something that the rest of us don't know."
"What?" Rancis loudly questioned in shock, "I don't-"
"I trust you, Rancis," Vanellope gently snapped as she dared to get closer to him, "I trusted you when I Knighted you, when I handed over your swords."
"I-I would do nothing to challenge that trust, Vanellope," Rancis stood his ground, albeit politely.
"Do you know just what a Queen will do to protect her Kingdom?" Vanellope said practically in Rancis's face as she grew closer, her voice was dark and soft. Rancis nervously peered into her eyes and felt his skin grow cold.
"V-Vanellope," Rancis started nervously, "I know as much as you guys do. A-All I know is, I feel a weird vibe around Zane."
"I heard what he called you, in the kitchen," Vanellope practically growled, Rancis flinched, "Radex?"
"I have no idea where that came from," Rancis pleaded firmly as he gently tried to budge from Vanellope's powerful air.
"It's clear he knew the intruder," Vanellope snapped as she furrowed her eyebrows, "It's clear he changed his name."
"I'm not sure of-"
"You knew about this all along, didn't you," Vanellope's voice grew, Rancis nervously looked down and could see her usual, hot purple circuits begin to push to the surface of her skin.
"Vanellope," Rancis barked back finally, though he continued to feel the power being sucked from him.
"You had that mental connection to him," Vanellope loudly challenged as the tiles underneath her gently sparked hot purple, between the grout lines, in a confused manner.
"That's just it!" Rancis continued to push back, "I only had a mental connection, it's not like I could see where he was or what he was doing!"
"You could still hear his thoughts, his ideas," Vanellope growled, "The intruder had a connection to Dead Zed, as clear as day, and you have the gall to sit here and pretend to me that you didn't know this information?"
"This is bullroar!" Rancis shouted, though he suddenly flinched as Vanellope inhaled a deep, sharp breath and threw her fists down to her sides, the air in the room seemingly waved with tense, hot pixels as Rancis could feel his knees buckle.
"This is my kingdom!" Vanellope dared to let her voice touch the farthest wall of the Great Hall; Rancis fell to his knees and nervously held himself up with his hands and arms.
Their very beings were suddenly stung with mind numbing, reverberating bass. The chandeliers danced above them in gentle confusion. He flinched and gazed up at Vanellope almost in terror. Vanellope inhaled a hard breath and reached down. With the strength given to her from Ralph, she easily clutched the chest of Rancis's shirt and brought him back up to his feet, though she gripped the collar of his shirt. He gently put his hands on her strong wrist and pleadingly gazed at her. She squinted her eyes and gently shook Rancis once, as if to shake sense into him.
"You took an oath, Rancis," Vanellope practically snarled, Rancis gazed at her in pure terror as their forehead's nearly touched, "You promised to be honest and faithful. So what are you!"
"I-I'm so sorry," Rancis uttered from the pit of his being, he gently continued to hold her wrist and lower arm in his trembling hands, "I figured it wasn't important information."
"Important information?" Vanellope barked, "Because of this, I have to question everything and every move any one of you smarties makes!"
"I don't know anything other than his persona was 'Radex'," Rancis said nervously, though he let out a small sigh of relief as Vanellope gently unhanded him.
"Well, I'm not turning the virus protection on Sugar Rush, again," Vanellope said almost under her breath, "We all saw how well that worked, last time."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Rancis tested the waters, "It's obvious Zane knows something we may not."
"We carry on," Vanellope assured angrily, Rancis furrowed his eyebrows.
"W-We can't just keep letting him into our game," Rancis gestured towards the massive doors to the castle.
"What, and alienate Tessa, Penny and Oliver?" Vanellope gestured with her arms, "Zane is their best friend. Surely Zane is just a middle man in this whole mess."
"You're really going to play devil's advocate with your kingdom?" Rancis furrowed his eyebrows.
"What, and let the WHOLE arcade smell our fear?" Vanellope barked, "That's what viruses and tyrants and crazy cooks out there want. They want to feel the fear eking from the very core of the game. A scared core is a dead core."
"Like for like," Rancis said softly as his gaze eased away.
"Scared, worthless gamers feed on fear because it's all they have," Vanellope gestured her arms downwards for emphasis, "If we keep our heads up and act as if nothing is bothering us, it's harder to break through those walls."
"And what if something goes wrong?" Rancis worried, "The code room is practically laying in wait."
"Only we have the code to the code room," Vanellope sighed as she peered down the stretch of hall to the code room doors, "Besides. All the important, game altering stuff isn't held there, anyhow."
"The Loft?" Rancis wondered softly, though Vanellope dully eyed him.
"The Hull," Vanellope stated; Rancis furrowed his expression.
"... Since when were you going to tell us about that?" Rancis asked, though he didn't want to seem to pushy.
Vanellope heaved a hard, distressed sigh and turned around. She moseyed a few feet away from him in contemplative, pacing terror. She was silent in the sudden, messy, toxic ooze Sugar Rush was suddenly drowning in, yet again. Her eyes gazed across her Great Hall. Every sugar cube in her castle seemingly held their inquisitive gaze on their leader, as if to wonder what the next move would be. She gazed back into the face of her kingdom with determination, though the one, trembling smarty she left behind her continued to make the game quiver with loose ends. She finally heaved a raspy, silent sigh and let her eyes lull closed. She gently looked over her shoulder and let her gaze fall on Rancis. He gazed at her in poised confusion, though the look in his eye was that of pure regret. She knew he'd do nothing to harm the game he sought to protect, though she also had to wonder if his need to not rock the boat would be their ultimate downfall. She squinted her eyes gently and lightly shook her head.
"If you have to kill yourself again for this User forsaken game, would you go down with honor, like the last time?" Vanellope quietly asked; she knew the duties Rancis had fulfilled for Sugar Rush was that of pure selflessness.
"Of course," Rancis said sadly, though he knew just what Vanellope was insinuating, "Radex is dead."
"Do you swear it?" Vanellope said darkly as she turned heel and began to near him yet again; Rancis flinched and felt his heart jump.
"I swear it," Rancis uttered, though his voice held confidence.