Chapter 18

Everything seems slow and surreal as Turbo withdraws the claw lodged in my midsection and I sink to my knees, defeated and dying. My body glitches violently as I collapse to the ground in a fetal position, clutching the wound in my belly. Everyone I have ever cared about is dead, and the time has come at last for me to join them.

So this is what it's like to die…

Calhoun and the remaining Hero's Duty troops can only look on as I double over, watching as the downfall of Litwak's Arcade culminates into my inevitable death. Their faces speak volumes- they speak of agony, melancholy, the horrible cost of war, and the triumph of violence and hatred over innocence and love.

Yet not even their looks of sadness compare to the tremor of shock that washes across Turbo's face as he stands over my body, glitching into his King Candy form once more. He takes in the sight of the bloody mess that was once yours truly, as if unsure of what had just happened. Then he takes one look at his bloodstained talons, and gasps as the horrible truth pierces him like a dagger.

"W… W… What have I done?!"

And for the first time I detect a tone in his voice with hints of… remorse? That couldn't be right… this was Turbo, after all, who did everything he could to take over the arcade, even if it meant killing my friends, my sister, or even me. And after all this time… could he be ashamed of everything that's happened?

The sound of footsteps drowns out the last few intelligible thoughts I'm able to form in my mind, and when I roll onto my side, Vanellope's face comes into view. And from the look on her face, I can tell the same question is on both of our minds right now.

What made me save her?

Yet at the same time, the tears in her eyes tell me much more- that in spite of all that's happened to her, and all that's happened to me because of her, there still exists within that glitchy little girl a crumb of love and caring.

And all it takes is one little crumb of love to save the lives of others.

"You saved me," I whisper in her direction. "Before… That's why."

"Huh?"

Groaning, I sit up and look her in her glossy, tear-stained eyes.

"I couldn't… let you die… not after all that," I moan. "…I had to."

"Jubi, I don't get it," says Vanellope, her voice wavering. "Ya treated me like trash for fifteen years… you were about to kill me just now… and then you sacrifed yerself for me. I don't understand, Jubes… Why?"

I don't fully understand myself… until I remember how Vanellope saved my life just days ago, and then it finally hits me. Vanellope had been right from the beginning- she hadn't meant anything against us; she wasn't working with Turbo at all. All she wanted was to be a racer, just like her code told her she was meant to be.

And what was I meant to be? Jubileena Bing-Bing, the sweetest cherry aficionado in the arcade. I had tried to fight the code over these last few days, and I paid for it with my life… and then some. The truth was right under my nose from the start, and I was so blinded by visions of false hope I never realized it. Everything falls into place at the sight of Vanellope's saddened gaze.

"…I guess we can't change who we are, can we…?"

Vanellope bends down, sweeping my red hair out of my eyes. "No, Jubi, we can't," she says sadly, burying her face in my hair. "I… I'm so sorry…"

The girl's sobs are cut short as Turbo sends her flying with a whip of his tail. "How… How dare you lay a finger on her?! You killed her! Just like you killed the otherth! Get away from her if you have any rethpect for her, you wretched Glitch!"

As I peer up at his gaunt face, I realize everything I said about our codes rings just as true about Turbo. Vanellope never did anything to corrupt our codes- we had brought it on ourselves. And while I was reduced to a mere Glitch, his desires had warped him, transforming him into a virus incapable of settling for less than the whole arcade. Yet there was a part of him somewhere, deep down, that cared for me… Perhaps it had developed during his faux reign over Sugar Rush, or perhaps he was simply programmed that way. But there would be no changing this virus now, now that his code was altered beyond salvation.

Vanellope sits up, brushing powdered sugar off of her hoodie, before glowering at the Bug King. "Yer right… I killed her. Just like I killed all those others… Just like I ruined the game… Just because I'm the GLITCH!" She flings the word at him with all her might. "That's what you've been telling her for years, is it? That I'm supposed to be a scapegoat, a mistake? …A Glitch?!"

"A GLITCH!" shrieks Turbo, as his glitching reverts him to his original form. "That's all you've ever been and that's all you ever will be! And you and your Glitch friends will all pay for what you've done to her!"

"What I did to her? Seriously?!" yells Vanellope, dumbstruck. "Look at yerself, ya dumb pile of monkey fudge! This is all yer fault! You destroyed the game! You killed her!"

Turbo is aghast. "You… you made me do it! You forced me! I had no choice!"

Suddenly I bolt upright and use what little remains of my strength to scream at him.

"Is THAT what you think, Turbo?!"

Taken aback by my words, Turbo, now in King Candy form, timidly approaches my body as if I were little more than a dying animal. "Oh come now, Jubileena, don't thay that… You know ath your King, I would never do anything to hurt you, right? Right?! Pleathe, Jubileena! Don't lithen to that Glitch! You've got to believe me!"

I look in the eyes of my former King, and instead see a man corrupted by his own ambition, just as hatred has corrupted me… and I muster up every last bit of hatred that remains within my shattered code, flinging it at him.

"I'm done believing you, Turbo. You can mess with your code all you like, but you're through messing with us. No one will ever believe you again, Turbo. Game over."

A violent coughing fit cuts me off and I drop to the ground again, the life draining from my body bit by bit, pixel by pixel. Glowering at Turbo, Vanellope rushes to my aid, helping me to my knees. She gives me a weak smile, but both of us know there's nothing we can do to stop the end from coming.

So this is how it ends, I think. When I die, I hope at least they have the wherewithal not to bury me in this skintight jumpsuit. The last thing I need at my funeral is for people to make fun of the size of my butt.

Turbo is stunned, because I'm entirely right and he knows it. No matter how many more deaths it takes to stop the fighting, the arcade will never be his.

"Oh, Jubileena… How could you?" he exclaims sadly, with more than a hint of defeat in his voice. Then his eyes land on Vanellope once more, and his face returns to its original, gray-skinned form, his yellow eyes narrowed into tiny, enraged slits.

"You… YOU GLITCH!" he roars furiously. "You've foiled me for the last time!"

Vanellope spreads her arms wide open as if to embrace him. "Do whatever ya want, Turbo. Just leave my friend alone, you hear?"

Turbo flinches at the sound of the word "friend". "Don't you dare say that!" he screams in his deranged tantrum. "You never mattered to her at all- because you're just a Glitch! AND THAT'S ALL Y-"

His words are cut short at the sight of the broken kart that zooms out from right under him, scooping up Vanellope and I as it goes. Running behind the kart are Calhoun, Kohut and the other Hero's Duty soldiers, pushing it at a breakneck pace onto the track, in the ever-familiar direction of the starting gate.

"See ya, chump!" Vanellope calls out to Turbo, sticking her tongue at him.

"Wh- What are you doing?! NO!" he screams in desperation. "That Glitch can't be allowed to cross the finish line!"

The Bug King waves his scaly arms around, gesturing towards a nearby swarm of Cy-Bugs. "Stop them! KILL THEM ALL!" he orders them.

"Come on ladies, MOVE! We're almost there! Keep moving!" yells Calhoun, before the onslaught of Bugs catches up to us. Withdrawing her blaster, Calhoun stops pushing and leaps into the fray in a desperate attempt to fend off the attacking Cy-Bugs. She's good, but the Bugs are better and too great in numbers, and before long the entire swarm has her surrounded, obscuring her from view.

"SARGE!" yells Vanellope, before my sudden convulsion and violent glitching snaps her attention back to me. "Come on, Jubes… We're almost there. Yer gonna make it… Yer gonna be okay. Trust me. I promise."

With my last ounce of strength, I gaze into her face. My whole life has been nothing but a series of lies, but now, for the first time, I decide to trust her.

Because if I'm lucky… the truth just might save my life.

Before I have time to fully think about it, the kart comes to a sudden halt and I'm thrown onto the ground… just in front of the finish line. I hear the screeches of myriad Cy-Bugs, Turbo's desperate screams of "NO!" and an odd ringing sound emanating from Vanellope as a bright light envelops the game, and the world around me vanishes for good.

…

When I come to, the first sight that greets me are the faces of Vanellope, Minty and Calhoun, all surrounding my apparent bed in the hospital wing.

…Wait, what?! The hospital? This couldn't be happening… Shouldn't I have died?

"Are you okay, Jubi?" asks Minty. "You really had us scared out there."

"Glad to see you made it through after all, civilian," Calhoun says, smiling.

"Yeah," says Vanellope. "So… I bet yer wondering what all's happened since you been out, huh? Well, why don't we let you sleep a little bit longer and then you can see it for yerself." And with that, the threesome leaves me on my own once again.

I'm relieved to see Calhoun alive. And I'm definitely happy to see Vanellope and Minty again. But looking up at their faces, all I can see are those of the dead, those who gave their lives for me… Felix… Taffyta… Glass Joe… and… and Citrusella… all gone…

With little other choice, I decide that the relief of seeing my old friends alive is enough for today as everything fades away once again.