A/N: Hoo! Okay! Now before you go and chuck your computers and smartphones at me for delaying so much in writing a new chapter, I would like to address a few thing regarding this.

This chapter was supposed to be one of the most emotional ones in the Unlocked, so a lot of effort was put into it to grasp the emotions right. I don't want it to be like about the characters breaking down every 5 minutes or so. But as it turns, out, that proved no easy challenge, and I came to the point that even if I kept writing this non-stop it wouldn't come right. So there it was, the unfinished chapter 12 just sitting there on my computer, untouched for a long time.

It was until last night, reading my past few chapters, that I realized that I had to finish this. I realized that some of you actually had the heart to care about this simple story of mine, and were deeply concerned with what would happen next to my characters. I had to address what would be happening to RJ, Ralph, Felix and the rest of the characters who were living in the game. I have no right to finish this off with a cliffhanger. Believe me, I still have a few chapters planned in store before this fully wraps up. But I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry that this took me so long to come out, but I just couldn't get everything right. And even as I am re-reading my chapter, I can tell it is not perfect, not the same as I imagined in my mind. But I just wanted this chapter to be a address for what I have left for Unlocked, and I hope to get more up soon.

So, yeah. I now say it again: sorry for the long delay. And please, now enjoy the chapter! :)

Chapter 12

Ralph

From the moment I have been programmed into the game, I knew I was Wreck-it Ralph, and I processed the power to wreck and destroy with my superhuman strength.

This means that for everything that passes my way, living or dead, moving or still, there is a great chance that I can inflect great damage to it, or that I can pick it up easily and flick it over my shoulder.

3-ton forklift? Easy.

Heavily padlocked door? No problem.

A towering building made of bricks and concrete? Well, I can't toss that thing over my shoulder, but give me a few minutes of heavy pounding and smashing, and I'll demolish that building to nothing for you in no time.

Like I said, I am strong, really strong; like there is almost nothing that I cannot lift or destroy with my own massive hands.

So why is this chest that I'm holding, only barely bigger than one of my fists with nothing stored in it, seem unbearably heavy? Not that I cannot carry, but I seem to use a lot of my strength in carrying it, which is ironic for a box this small.

Then when you think about it, not ironic at all…

For what I know for the time being, this chest, now empty, will soon be filled with something unbearable for me to hold, something that I don't want to put in, something that truly deserves more…

No, not something: someone.

Ralph Junior.

And I really don't want to do it.

I really don't want to lock my brother up again.

But at the moment, there really is no choice: RJ won't take 'no' as an answer, he is determined to put his plan into action, and no matter how Felix and I persuade, he is still keen on locking himself up again, no matter what blocks his path.

Take how we got this chest, for example.

Felix's apartment had crashed along with the rest of the building, so there is only my home to consider in finding a large enough chest for his plan. From the moment we got out of the crater and started towards East Niceland, I had refused to let RJ do the search again and again and again, telling him that he does not have the right to go into my property to search -and trash- my home for one useless chest. I even barred the entrance to my house by double locking it, and then standing in front of it, arms crossed, so that he doesn't get the slightest chance of entering. "If you wanna go in," I warned him "you'll have to get past me. And spoiler alert: I won't be letting even a tiny pixel past me into my house, let alone a full-grown adult character."

His response?

RJ just glanced up and down at me. "Fine." He mumbled, clearly dejected by my decision. He turned and walked away from me, as if to show that he'd given up. Then, when I least expected it, he turned and lowered his head. With a loud cry, RJ ran at the door, and me, at high speed, charging like a battering ram. I only had time to scream before RJ hit me, striking me fully in the chest with a powerful blow. I fall backwards on the door of my home, which, unable to cope with the weight, crashes inward into my living room, taking me and RJ with it.

CRASH! The loud noise echoed for miles around as I lie on the floor, the door broken to smithereens around us. RJ slowly peeled himself off me and surveyed my house, trying to look at anything. I let out a groan as I sit up, my backside hurting like mad. "When I refused to let you to do the search, it included not to break into my home. Which, you had just done." I spat at him, rolling my eyes as I did so.

"Hey, Ralph. I didn't break it, you did. I just helped you out a bit." RJ shot back at me and kept on his search.

By the time I got to my feet and fully recovered from my pain, I have discovered, to my horror, that RJ had somehow managed to wrestle and tear down every door and cupboard that I own, and is dumping contents from every chest he could find. While he was doing this, he was muttering "No, this is too small, not enough. Nah, this one? Too complicated, cannot fit the locks on…" Chests of different sizes were spilled on the floor near him, and he kicked away its contents, trying to inspect the chests with the best detail he could offer.

For the next hour or so, every time Felix and I tried to creep toward him, RJ shot us a death glare and growled, as if annoyed by our presence. I tried to salvage some of my processions and chests from the mess RJ had created, but always I ended up empty-handed with red, heavily-slapped skin on my arms, in pain and clearly unsuccessful. It was clear that none of us would be able to go near RJ until he had finished his inspection.

RJ was determined indeed.

Finally, RJ looked up from his mess and held up a large chest, which used to hold all my candy trinkets and sparkly stuff I had collected with Vanellope over the months of adventuring in Sugar Rush. I felt codebroken seeing all my treasures spilled like trash all over the ground, unwanted. "This one will do." RJ called, walking to us. He shoved the chest to me, "here, hold it while I get some locks."

I glanced down at the chest in my hands. 'Is he kidding?!' I thought 'Giving me the chest to hold?! GOOD! Now when he's not looking, I can-'

"AND DON'T YOU DARE WRECK IT!" I only had time to look up before being wrenched on the arm by RJ and dragged over the floorboards as RJ kept on his search. I tried to free my grip, but he only gripped back tighter, my arm hurting even more than ever. I yelled and kicked at him, but he didn't stop in his tracks.

At long last, RJ turned and with his free hand, opened the chest in my hands and dumped two sturdy locks into it—where did he find them? "Okay," he said to himself, releasing his grip on me "Ralph, now you go back to Felix, ask him if he can still find the entrance to the Code Room. I'll be out in a sec."

It was like RJ was suddenly in control of everything.

Then again, he was, in a way.

I walked out of the mess that used to be my home, trying not to crush and smash anything I find precious underneath my feet. I rejoined Felix followed by RJ moments later. "Okay guys, let's go."

With that said, RJ then literally pushes the two of us out of the doorway and into the alley that led up to the building remains.

And to this moment, while I am speaking this, he is still urging us to go to the Code Room. Every now and then, he turns and glances down at the chest in my hands, making sure that absolutely nothing happens to it. He never left his eyes off it, like a hawk to its prey; to the moment I believe that even if I leave just a tiny, unnoticeable dent on the chest, he'll swoop down at me, claws razor sharp, scarring me painfully over and over for my mistake.

There really is no stopping him…

…or is there?

"Hey, how much more to the Code Room?" RJ asks for the tenth time at Felix. I had told Felix not to tell him anything about the Code Room to RJ, but alas, he had overheard us and demanded Felix to answer, threatening to punch him so hard that he'll won't be able to regenerate.

Felix sighs and says "It's…in the back of the building, on the ground floor. I don't think if the doorway still remains after all of this, you know, with the building crashed and all, it may be gone with it. Oh, and you need to get in. No offence, but only few have access to it, and I don't know if I still have the key for the door…" I can see that like me, Felix is reluctant to help RJ with his plan as well. Hearing this, I let out a small mental cheer; surely, with the two of us, RJ won't stand a chance of locking himself back up. Two characters, with one having superhuman strength, would surely be stronger than one, both physically and mentally, right?

Right?

RJ shrugs, "guess I'll have to tear another door down, then." He walks ahead of us.

Then again, maybe not.

I walk beside Felix, trying to make my footsteps as small as possible, trying to get to the Code Room in the slowest way possible. But I know for a fact no matter how slow I walk, no matter how many tiny steps that I take, there really is no escaping the fact I will reach the Code Room eventually, and there that I will have to face something that I really don't want to happen. I can stop myself, but I can't stop RJ, not now, and perhaps not ever. But I can't, I can't bear to see my brother being locked up again, returning to the place he never belonged…

I hear RJ scream in front of us and I see him, leaning on the few, remaining walls of the building while he glitches again. I can see tears gushing out his eyes in pain. I try to run to him, but suddenly the ground under me crashes down and a crater, one that doesn't seem to have a bottom, opens up under me. I try to run from the crater, but I am not fast enough; and before I know it, I am clinging for my life on the edge of the crater, its mouth stretched wide and attempting to swallow me whole. The chest has flown out of my hands, and I fling my arms over, clawing them into the ground above. The sides of the hole are slippery, covered in raw code, wetting myself and I gasp as one of hands slips free. I claw it into the ground again, trying to get myself back up, trying not to slip and disappear into the darkness that lurk below, trying to escape.

Now I am the one screaming.

I am fumbling with my hands when someone tugs me on both hands, pulling me up. I don't even need to look up to know who pulled me up.

"RJ…" I start, but he cuts me off.

"Don't bother," he mutters, brushing his overalls and turning away from me.

"No, I demand this must be bothered!" I am saying things in such a hurry that I don't even realize what I really am saying. This might be the last time I may be able to stop him, the last time before he enters the Code Room. "You saved me twice, and maybe even more than that, which is something that not even real characters would do! With this, you don't deserve be locked up, RJ, ever!"

RJ glances back at me, then coughs, as if not caring "I'm sorry, but that is not an excuse." He picks up the chest that went flying out of my hands earlier, hands it to me, then walks away to the side of one of the walls. He looks at them and with one punch, knocks down a wooden door located in the wall, surprisingly undamaged by the destruction that happened earlier. "Let's go." RJ beckons us.

I can't help but to cry out loud, fresh streams replacing the many, many tears I have already shed. I had failed. I had failed to stop him. With him entering the Code Room, it'll be only a matter of minutes before he is gone, his plan complete. Felix can't stop him, and neither can I. RJ's determination is stronger than the both of us combined, and we can do nothing to keep him in the game…

Wait.

I glance down at the chest still in my hands. RJ and Felix are just heading down the long staircase the led to the Code Room. Technically, no one is watching me at the moment. I glance down at the chest again.

Or can I?

"Wow…" RJ breaths, holding up one hand to brush the wires suspended above us. "This…this is amazing."

"I know, right?" I say back, throwing out both free hands to glide me through the shimmering web of coding. Electrical signals run above our heads through connecting wires, transporting information from one code box to another. Some boxes are as large as my fist, some so small that I can hold three in my hand at the same time. And all of them, oh, all of them are glowing, some with colors, some without, brightening up the dark space with all their pulsing light.

It is truly a sight to behold.

"Thank you for letting me be here, for letting me see this before I—RALPH, THE CHEST! WHERE IS IT?!"

"What chest?" I say, glancing over my side, trying to avert RJ's gaze. But he then glides over to me and with both hands, locks my head into an upright position and stares at me, his green eyes, practically glowing in the light of the boxes, boring into mine.

"Where is it?!" RJ asks again. I try to move my head, but RJ's grasp is firm. "Must have, uh…lost it." I say casually.

"LIAR." He clutches me tighter, his face riddled with anger, teeth blaring with hatred. "I kept a tight eye on it when we walked from your home to the Code Room. I saw you, and you still had it in your hands! WHERE IS IT?!"

I try to move, but I can't: RJ's grasp is too strong. Slowly and carefully, I work my hands up my sides curl them around RJ's wrists. He doesn't notice it yet, but he's bound to a few moments later.

"Where is the chest?!" RJ asks, frantic. As if he had an assumption in his mind, and is afraid to admit it.

"I WRECKED IT, OKAY?" I yell back, chucking the truth and RJ with my words and hands, sending him flying into two glowing boxes, the wires crackling with electricity on his impact.

"You WHAT?" He pulls himself up from the boxes, a look of disbelief on his face. "You wrecked the chest?!"

"YES!" I say back, surprised to feel salt on my lips, "I broke it up, when Felix and you were going down the staircase. That's why it took so long for me to come down. I had to do it, RJ, I have to!"

"But why?" RJ asks me, "why did you do this? WHY?"

"I don't want you to get locked up again! You know how terrible the conditions are in your locked state, right? Your body gone, your voice missing, and you're trapped in a dark, empty space for who-knows-how-long! You don't deserve this, RJ, just because of your glitch. I don't care if the world crashes down upon us or not, but I cannot lock you, my brother, up again!" I yell out.

"Ralph…" Felix calls out.

"I CANNOT LOSE YOU!" I cry, and with that last word, I collapse, broken, as everything inside me shatters into nothing.

For a while, the Room is quiet, amid the sound of my sobbing. I let the tears roll down my cheeks, as I break down, the unforgiving truth slamming me in the chest again and again and again. I wrap my arms around my body, unable to contain myself.

"I cannot lose you…" I repeat, but I know it is no use. RJ will find the broken chest in no time, and with Felix's hammer, the chest will be as good as well, and the terrible locking will condemn RJ's fate.

I look up, my eyes blotchy with tears, expecting RJ to tear right pass me, out of the Code Room to retrieve the broken pieces of the chest. And even if he does, I will not object. I am too tired to stop him; I am too burdened down to move…

I AM DONE.

In the corner of my eye, I see RJ whisper something to Felix, and then he glides over to me and wraps his large arms around me.

"I know how you feel, Ralph, I know." He says, "But I cannot run from the truth anymore. I know I'm going down, but I don't wanna drag you down with me. Please, just let me go." RJ clutches tighter, hugging me tighter. "I have experienced more than I asked for in the past few hours, and I am grateful for it."

I don't reply back, but just slowly throw my arms around him. My face is blotchy with tears, and I must be a total wreck; yet I simply breathe in and out slowly, savoring the moment.

This might be the last time that we're together as brothers.

"RJ? I found the chest, fixed it as well." Felix calls from behind, and I whip my head back. Felix is standing near the entrance, the chest fixed in his hands, and then floats towards us. I turn my head back to RJ, who glances at the chest with a solemn look, then back at me. And at that moment, I knew what I had to do.

I had to let RJ go.

"I know it's hard, but you really have to consider our game more than me. I'll be fine, Ralph, I'll be alright. Just…lock me up, and save the game."

"But…you'll be locked up, and then you're…you're…"I trailed off, recalling the horrifying conditions that RJ described to me earlier.

"Now that I saw what was out there, it won't be that lonely or scary anymore. Although I won't be able to speak, or retain my form, I'll remember all of this, I promise. But now…" RJ pulls back, releasing his arms from my body.

"Yeah, all right, all right." I take the chest from Felix's hands and float upwards, to where the characters' code boxes are located. Among all the various boxes and names, I finally find the one containing RJ's name. And even as I glided up to it, I can see it is still glitching and flickering, ripping our game over and over with his glitches.

He really can't control them.

"Just do it." I hear RJ say quietly behind me. And with that, I raise my hands and position the open chest beneath his code box. When I slam the lid down, RJ's code will be disconnected, he and his glitches will be gone from the game. I just need to do it…

It's such a simple act, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. No matter how hard I try to push the lid down, I can feel a stronger force pushing me back, forcing me to withdraw. It was like that I keep telling myself that I could do this, but deep down, I know I couldn't. And it is not because I don't have to strength to do so.

Despite crying from earlier, my tears kept pouring out as I try to close the lid, but I couldn't, I couldn't do it. I found myself clutching my fingers too tightly against the chest, leaving dents in the wood. But still the lid wouldn't close, it won't…

"I can't. I can't do it." I admitted, letting my head droop down, the chest rested limply in my palms. I sob loudly as I cry over my decision, that I can't bring myself to lock up RJ, that I can't bear myself to do this to save our game…

There was an awkward silence in the Code Room, apart from the tiny buzzes of electricity that RJ's code gave off when he glitched and my sobs. No one spoke anything for a while as they watch me broke down. Then very, very gingerly, RJ broke the silence.

"Very well, then I'll do it."

I don't even hear him glide over to me, and feel the weight of the box disappear from my outstretched hands. I am too buried in my emotions that I don't seem to realize what was happening around me, I am deaf to the world, too burdened down with my feelings, with not enough strength to pull me back up.

The echoing BOOM! makes my eyes snap open, and I look up, just in time to see RJ fastening the locks onto the closed chest. RJ turns back at me, and although I can see he too has been crying, his eyes sparkled with happiness and his smile radiant. And although I know it couldn't be possible, it looked like he was glowing, shining among the luminescent boxes around him.

Then he screams.

RJ begins to flicker wildly, his body breaking up into countless pixels, scattering and slowly disappearing into nothingness. He starts to tumble downwards, down into the depths of the Code Room. It took me a second to register what was happening and dive downward towards him.

"Hang on, RJ, I'm coming!" I reach out a hand, as if trying to grasp and hold onto what was left of RJ. I cannot let him leave, I cannot, I cannot!

RJ is nearly gone now, just parts of him remain visible, and even they are disintegrating quickly as I speak. He looks up and me, smiling, and faintly mouths two words out.

"Thank you."

His eyes close, and with the rest of his remaining features break down into pixels, which glowed for a moment before disappearing, consumed by the darkness of the Code Room.

I have been too late.

"NO!" I yell, then I wrap my hands tightly around my body as I accepted the truth. "No…" I say again, then, unable to contain myself, I break down again.

RJ is gone, and I didn't stop him.

"Ralph, the game's stopped glitching." Felix's voice called faintly from far above "I'm gonna run the code to regenerate everything. You might feel a slight tingling, but it's all part of the process, but…Ralph? Brother? Can you hear me?"

I can hear him, but his voice seems distant, unclear. I am drowning again, this time in my emotions and tears, yet I am unwilling to surface, to save myself. I close myself out, regretting my decisions to lock RJ up, my delay in saving him, all my choices that I could have done to prevent this…

"Can you hear me?"

Finally, with all my strength gone, I came to terms with my defeat, with RJ's fate.

I had failed.