Chapter 12

Taffyta lays with her back pressed against her cold metal bed in the hospice wing of the bunkers, her head propped up by several pillows. Her face is just as beautiful as I'd ever known in the fifteen years we've raced together, but with the big gaping scar in her belly, she looks like a marshmallow peep that's been shot with a bullet.

"How… how is she?" Citrusella nervously asks Kohut.

"Not good," he says. "She's been classified as terminal. From the sound of it, she's only got a half-hour left, tops." Kohut sighs deeply before instructing us, "Keep her company. I'll be waiting outside." With that, he holsters his blaster over his shoulder and marches out of the room, the door closing behind him.

I take in Taffyta's surroundings- the whole hospice wing is nothing but a flank of big, metal rooms, void of color, company, or anything that might bring comfort to anyone with minutes left to live. No dying person with any streak of rationale left could have wanted this, and certainly no one deserved to die like this. No wonder she wanted to see all of us, I think. What better way to die than in the company of friends.

She's still alive- I can tell that much from the heart rate monitor that sits next to her. But from the look on her face, she's either in a deep sleep or unconscious. Unsure of what else to do, we all surround her body, and Candlehead, one of her closest friends, waves a hand over her face.

"T-Taffyta…?"

At the sound of her name, Taffyta begins to stir, but doesn't wake up.

"Taffyta? You in there?"

Slowly, Taffyta opens her eyes. It takes several blinks before the face hovering inches over hers comes into focus. "Candles."

"Oh, Taffy…" Candlehead wails, before seizing Taffyta's arm and burying her face into it sobbing, making her wince in pain.

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy on her arm, Candle Brains!" Minty says, running up to her and snatching her arm away. "Hey, Taff… How you feeling?"

Taffyta squints as she recognizes her newest visitor. "Minty," she moans. "Is that you? I thought… you were dead."

"No bug invasion's gonna keep this racer down, Taff," Minty says. "I'm here now."

"It's good to see you… all of you alive," Taffyta says, turning to face all of us as we surround her. "I knew… I had to see all of you… before I go. Because of this." She points to the hole in her stomach. "I just wanted to say… You guys are the best. I don't know where I'd be without you all. I'm sorry I have to leave you behind… I'm sorry…"

Tears begin to flow from Taffyta's eyes, and the other racers and I can feel them welling up in our own.

An uneasy silence passes before Citrusella speaks up. "Remember that time when you found that hidden shortcut on Frosty Rally, Taffyta? We all thought you disappeared, and then suddenly there you were, out in the lead. That was incredible, Taffyta. None of us could ever have thought of that."

"Yeah… or the race that we all thought ended in a tie between Taffyta and Gloyd?" adds Adorabeezle's little sister, Nougetsia. "And it turned out that Gloyd cheated by hiding extra power-ups in his kart." She gives Gloyd a shove, which gets a laugh out of the rest of us and makes the pumpkin-headed racer blush.

"Or that time when that lousy King Candy was in the lead inches from the finish line?" Minty chimes in. "And Taffyta here came out from right behind him to take back the lead at the last minute. That was the best aim with a Sweet Seeker I've ever seen, Taff."

"Way to show that traitor Candy, Taffyta!" exclaims Adorabeezle.

"You're the best racer of us all, Taff!" I say, and the other racers raise their arms and cheer in agreement.

"Thanks, guys. I know I was always a little… eh… bigheaded whenever we were racing… but you guys were really the best friends I could ever have, and I'll never be able to repay you for that. Thank you…"

Suddenly, Taffyta begins coughing violently, and her head collapses, her eyes closing shut again. "TAFFYTA!" Candlehead cries out, clutching her arm again desperately.

The commotion gets Kohut's attention, and he charges into the room. "Everything all right in here?" he asks.

"I dunno," Candlehead whimpers, breathing heavily. "She was fine, and then… she started coughing… I can't tell if she's alive…"

However, Taffyta opens her eyes again, and rolls over to face Candlehead.

"Taffy!" shrieks Candlehead. "You're okay, right? ARE YOU OKAY? PLEASE TELL ME YOU'LL BE OKAY!"

"I'm… fine…" Taffyta grunts, before turning to face all of us again. "You guys should go. I don't… want you to see me like this… Don't worry. I'll be okay…"

Kohut nods and turns to the other racers. "You heard her, people. Move along."

I take one last look at my dying best friend, before taking my leave. But just as I'm about to follow Kohut out of the room, Taffyta cries out, "Wait! Jubi…"

I whip back around to face her. "Yes, Taff?"

"There's… something I need to tell you," she says. "…In private."

Unsure of what to do, I look at the other racers, then at Kohut, who nods and says, "Go on." I step back into the room and the door closes behind me again.

I edge up to Taffyta's bed, keeping my face close to hers. "What is it, Taff?"

"Jubi… she says, and for the first time I notice a flash of anger cross her eyes.

"Yes?"

She coughs again and clears her throat, and what she says next catches me completely off guard.

"How was your little encounter with that Glitch?"

I try my best to wipe the look of surprise off my face before I speak up. "Taffyta, I, uh… don't know what you're talking about…"

Without warning, Taffyta reaches out and seizes me by the scruff of the neck.

"Don't pretend, Jubi," she says menacingly, narrowing her eyes. "I've always been able to read you like an instruction manual. That's why you ran away to Sugar Rush days ago, to find her… Even after everything she did to you, you just couldn't let her go."

"Taffyta, please!"

Taffyta releases me only to erupt into another coughing fit, and her arms hang limply at her sides. The act of grabbing me must have used up any energy she still had.

"Taff, save your strength! Alright, I admit it, you were right: I went back to find Vanellope. And why was that, because I had to!" I shout at her, my voice rising. "My whole life has been nothing but a big, fat lie for fifteen years, and I thought maybe, just maybe, I could finally find some truth in it! I was so close, Taff, so close to finally finding out what really happened the day this whole invasion started! But I was wrong… I was all wrong… about everything…"

I can't help but break down and cry at Taffyta's side. Here she was on her deathbed, and the only thing the two of us can do about it is get angry over something that happened in our terrible lie of a past.

"I'm sorry, Jubi… about everything…" she finally whispers. "You deserved to know what actually happened… but if you wanted to know the truth, you shouldn't have listened to Vanellope. You honestly think she knows what really happened?"

"Taff, I… I don't know what to think anymore," I say, my eyes full of tears.

"Listen, Jubi," she says, her voice sounding urgent. "You can't trust her. She's been in league with that… that traitor King Candy from the beginning."

"How do you know?"

"I heard Sour Bill mention it once… he said that it was Candy himself who caused her to turn into a Glitch… and give her the power to destroy the game. So if they weren't working together, Jubi…" Taffyta asks me, "then why else would he do that?"

I gasp as her explanation sinks in, because what she's saying makes complete sense. She had been working with Candy right from the beginning. That liar of a King probably never meant to keep her from racing- rather, she herself was just biding her time, waiting to bring doom upon the arcade. And when that doom finally came, she'd used Wreck-It Ralph as a pawn to bring it about. I don't know how I could ever have trusted her from the moment we met. Wait, yes I do…

"But how? She… she saved me from the Bugs. Why?"

"She saved you?" Taffyta whispers, equally puzzled. "She couldn't have… if she wanted you alive, then she has to be using you somehow, Jubi. I don't know what for, but you can't trust her… You've got to go back to Sugar Rush… stop the invasion… and get to the bottom of this…"

"Oh, I will," I say with determination. "Gonna do it for both of us now. I promise."

However, just as I'm about to leave again, Taffyta's voice sounds out again.

"Jubi, hang on… before you go… er, before I go…" she says weakly, "There's something else you should know."

"Yes, Taffyta?" I ask, hurrying back to her bedside.

"Jubi… I know I always seemed like the fastest one on the track… but I've always admired you. You never won a race, and we always used our power-ups on you… but you never gave up, no matter what. And now with this invasion… You're risking everything to save the arcade," Taffyta says weakly. "You're the bravest friend I'll ever know."

"Thanks, Taff," I tell her, as she lay dying at my side. "Don't worry, I'll be here."

"No," she moans. "You can't just stay here. You can't give up… you've got to keep fighting, for the rest of the arcade. Don't give up now, Jubi… Never give up…"

"Oh, Taff," I sob, tears sliding down my face. "Please, Taff… please don't go…"

Taffyta coughs, takes one last deep breath, and looks me in my brown eyes.

"Good luck, Jubileena…"

Taffyta's eyes close, and her head sinks back into her pillow just as a long, continuous beep sounds from the heart rate monitor. A death tone.

I bury my face in Taffyta's dead body and break down crying. The heart of the arcade's fastest racer, the best friend I could ever have, may have come to a stop, but her spirit races on, on to worlds unknown and unknowable to those she left behind.