Beginning Author's Note: I'd been thinking of doing a "suggested listening" thing at the beginning of each new chapter, like I've seen some stories do, but I decided instead to just make an 8tracks list! You should totally go to my profile and get the link and listen to it. I'm working so hard on it and I'm adding new songs as I find gooduns. (Shameless plug for myself now over, please continue to the actual story.)
Opting to be President instead of princess, Vanellope was obligated to do the democratic thing and give Turbo a fair trial to decide his fate. Everyone in Sugar Rush was present at the very big ordeal. Though a couple characters came to sympathize with Turbo's reasons for doing what he did, he was still very much guilty of his crimes. And away to the dungeon he went, which wasn't that big of a surprise for him. He wasn't under the crazy notion that he'd actually be found innocent, of course not.
One of the people who felt she understood was Candlehead. If everything she loved, every little tiny thing, was in danger of being unplugged and erased forever, she might be cornered into doing the same thing Turbo had done. She didn't know if she could kill someone—an entire game full of people, like Turbo had done to RoadBlasters—but she'd be lying if she said it wouldn't ever cross her mind.
And yes, Turbo had locked away everyone's memories, including hers…and made Vanellope's life a nightmare, but…could he not have done a lot worse? A lot, lot worse? It's not like he completely uprooted the game's binary and made a wasteland of the place. And if he was as bad as everyone made him out to be, would he not have ruled with an iron fist, instead of being the benevolent king he'd been?
He was more foolhardy and short-tempered than evil, Candlehead always thought to herself. Then again…she'd always had a soft spot for troubled souls who had lost their way. She couldn't help but like Turbo.
This time on her trip down to the dungeon, she'd brought a buddy with her. Adorabeezle Winterpop had noticed her prolonged absences when she'd go down to the dungeon, and had made the mistake of asking about it. Candlehead had insisted she come with her the next time she went. Being too nice of a girl to say no, Adorabeezle had obligated herself to go along.
"Are you sure he won't…" Adoabeezle mutterd, "hurt us?"
"Nah, course not!" Candlehead said, leading the way down the familiar corridors. "I've always just yelled through the window at him, but let's go on into his cell this time since there's the two of us, I think that'll—"
"N-no, the window is fine," Adorabeezle whimpered.
"Oh, they chain him up before we go in there, silly," Candlehead said. "They leave the door open, even. He can't lay a finger on you. The worst he can do is breathe on you."
"Or bite me."
Candlehead shook her head, smirking. "He won't bite you, I'll make sure he doesn't. Now will ya calm down? You've got something to give to him, anyway. That'll butter him up for sure."
At the mention of the gift, Adorabeezle patted her shoulder bag, where the present lay. It wasn't much, but she felt like she shouldn't impose on someone without getting them a little something—Turbo or not.
The girls' scuffling footsteps got the attention of Wynchel and Duncan, who had their noses buried in a Paperboy newspaper. Wynchel lowered his paper to his lap.
"What can I do you for, kids?"
"We wanna go in to see Turbo," Candlehead said.
Now it was Duncan's turn to slap his newspaper down. "I don't think that's such a good idea, gallies," he said. "I mean, we let the Fix-it guy in there, but he can handle hisself if something goes screwy."
"If you chain him up, there's nothing he can do," Candlehead said.
"He could bite you," Wynchel said. Adorabeezle made an eep sound, covering her mouth with her hands.
"No one's biting anybody," Candlehead said, exasperated.
"I'm not gonna bite anybody," Turbo, who was eavesdropping, called offhandedly.
Wynchel sighed, putting his paper to the side and standing up. Duncan did the same. "Alright, I guess I don't see why not." He took the cuffs and shackles from the wall, handing the latter to Duncan. He unhooked a large silver key from his beltloop.
While the guards gussied Turbo up for his visit, Adorabeezle was visibly shaking. Candlehead put a hand on her shoulder.
"Seriously, girl, calm down," Candlehead said.
"But he's—" Adorabeezle lowered her voice to a whisper. "A killer!"
"Oh, hush, didn't you hear him at the trial? He felt like he had to do that."
"That doesn't change the fact that he k-killed an entire gamefull of people!"
"And the whole time when he was king of Sugar Rush, did he kill you?"
Adorabeezle faltered. "Well, no, but—"
"He was awfully nice to you, right?"
"But that was all just pretend!"
The guards swung the door open, resuming their position at their chairs. "Go on in," Duncan said in a bored tone, retrieving his paper from the floor.
"Not as much pretend as you think," Candlehead whispered before walking in, Adorabeezle on her heels.
Turbo was leaning against the wall, like he was quite comfortable indeed in his restraints. "This is the first time you've actually come in here, instead of our little windowside chit-chats. What's the deal, Lucille?"
Then he eyed the girl hunkering behind her. "I get it, you brought somebody else to share your torment, huh? Hmhm, is that snowboots I see? I only know one girl who has cool shoes like that."
Adorabeezle peeped her head out from behind Candlehead, eyeing Turbo carfully. He sounded like King Candy, sans lisp, but he definitely didn't look like him. He was scarier up-close, but not as scary as she'd anticipated. She stepped to the side, out into full view.
"H-hello," she squeaked.
"Long time, no see," Turbo said, half-smiling at her. "Hey, ya found your red gloves."
The snowy racer looked down at her hands. "Oh! Yes, I did! They were in my glove compartment all along."
"They're always in the last place you look, huh?"
"That's because when you find them, you stop looking," she said matter-of-factly. She surprised herself at how quickly she'd warmed up to Turbo, almost feeling guilty about it. But it was somewhat similar to talking to her old king again, who was always willing to chat, no matter what. It was very odd.
"We mainly just came to pester you," Candlehead said. "Though, I would like to know…has a certain somebody come back to see you again?" She waggled her eyebrows.
"Who?" Adorabeezle said.
"Turbo here has a sweetie."
Not wanting to be rude, Adorabeezle tried her best to hide her shock. "Really?" She hoped it sounded more curious than accusatory.
"An old…sweetie of mine has discovered I'm down here," Turbo explained simply.
"Who?" Adorabeezle repeated, directing the question toward her friend.
"Fix-it Felix, Jr."
Adorabeezle tightened her lips into a thin line. It took all of her self-control and fear of offending others to keep her face emotionless at the shocking news. "He's a nice fella," was all she said, though she was thinking loads more than that.
"That's just what Turbo needs, don'tcha think?" Candlehead said, sighing. "I think they'd go together like cake and ice cream."
More like a blow torch and ice cream, Adorabeezle thought, though she just nodded politely.
"Nah, he hasn't been back yet," Turbo said.
"Oh, good!" Candlhead said. "Cause I've been doing some thinking—"
"Careful, that's dangerous," Turbo hoo-hooed.
Candlehead stuck her tongue out briefly before going back to what she was saying. "I've been thinking, you should get him back for dating that lady."
That was still a fresh wound for Turbo, but he didn't let it show in front of the girls. "How so?" he said.
"Well, when he comes to see you next, he won't know you know about her," Candlehead said. "Wait till he gets good and comfortable, and then wham!" She slapped a fist into her palm. "Tell him the jig is up!"
"That's mean," Adorabeezle said.
"But so is dating someone behind the other person's back," Candlehead retorted.
"Well…" Adorabeezle mumbled.
"This is nothing you need to worry yourselves about, girls," Turbo said. The King Candy sweetness toward the racers that began as an act, but gradually grew into a genuine trait of his, seeped through his voice. "I'll deal with Fix-it."
"Are you gonna be mad at him?" Adorabeezle said. She sounded genuinely worried for Felix. She cared entirely too much for others and not enough about herself, Turbo thought.
"I'm not mad at anybody," he said, which wasn't truthful, but he said it for the girls' sake.
"Are you mad at Vanellope?"
Turbo's eyes widened. He expected crazy-deep questions like that from Felix, but not from the younguns.
Candlehead jabbed her friend in the side with her elbow. "Don't ask him questions like that, ya goofball!"
"I-it just slipped out!" she said, slapping her red-gloved hands over her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" she mumbled from behind her hands.
"Let me tell you a little somethin," Turbo said, a tiny note of sadness in his voice. How to explain a very elaborate thing such as this to two children? He simplified it as best he could. "I did a…I did a bad thing to Vanellope, the way I pushed her code to the side the way I did. And I knew it was bad when I did it, don't misunderstand me there. But it wasn't until I actually lived in Sugar Rush awhile that I found out…how bad."
The girls were taken aback at Turbo's sudden burst of honesty. They remained silent, hopefully coaxing him to finish what he'd begun.
"And instead of fixing what I'd done wrong, I made it worse. So in answer to your question," he said, inclining his head toward Adorabeezle, "the answer is no. I got what was comin to me, pretty much."
Now, was he really mad at Vanellope? Of course he was, but he didn't want to break Adorabeezle's fragile heart. The Glitch had ruined everything he worked so hard to achieve, every little string of binary he'd meticulously rewritten, every folder of code he'd carefully hidden away. They were all ruined by the little princess he hadn't had the heart to kill.
He could have very easily deleted Vanellope altogether. That was the safest thing to do, and he knew it, but when it came down to it…he couldn't. Not even he was mean enough to wipe an innocent child from existence, even before he was surrounded by them at all hours of the day as King Candy. So instead of killing her, he swept her under the rug—which, in a strange twist of fate, ended up being his downfall.
Then again, there was the tiniest voice in the back of his head telling him, if none of this had ever happened, you would have never met Felix again. That was also another sickening thought to ponder, and it wasn't something he liked to dwell on.
But he said none of that to the quizzical little faces before him.
"Kinda depressing, huh," he said.
"Hey, honesty is the best policy," Candlehead said with a shrug. "At least you didn't make up some lie about how nothing's your fault."
Adorabeezle gave Candlehead's arm a shake.
"What?"
"Now who's being a goofball, goofball? Hush!"
"Girls, girls," Turbo said. "It's alright. I'm pretty sure it's me who's the goofball, anyway."
"Yeah, you pretty much are," Candlehead laughed. "But let's get back to your sweetie Felix for a minute, I'm not done with that yet!"
The three of them talked awhile longer, mainly on Candlehead's sighting of the mystery woman, and how Turbo should bring it up next time Felix came around. Adorabeezle, of course, was all for keeping it a secret, but Candlehead wanted it to blow up in Felix's face. Turbo was mainly indifferent on the matter—after his angry outburst two nights prior, his nerves had burned themselves completely numb to the subject. What happened, happened. He'd figure it out when it came time to. But it was such a refresher having visitors underfoot that he kept the conversation alive, pitching in with his snarky comments and lame jokes every now and again.
"I think I could stay and gab all day, but we gotta get back to town," Candlehead said, checking her little pocketwatch for the time. "Adorabeezle's got a date."
The girl in question blushed, her eyes staring down at her boots.
"You are too young to be dating!" Turbo exclaimed, frowning.
"We're just having a p-picnic," Adorabeezle muttered.
"Who is it?" Turbo asked, brows furrowed.
"A bubblegum boy she ran into after the Random Roster Race one day," Candlehead answered for her. Adorabeezle's cheeks turned lilac.
"Just tell this boy to keep his hands above the neck, awright?" Turbo said sourly.
Adorabeezle finally allowed herself to smile. Maybe Turbo wasn't as scary as she thought.
The girls said their goodbyes, and as they turned to leave, Adorabeezle let out an oh! of surprise.
"I forgot!" she said, turning round. "I brought you something."
"Brought me something?" Turbo said.
"I just k-kept thinking you might be bored down here, all by yourself," she said, riffling through her bag.
"You better believe it, lemon drop." Lemon drop? He'd had a whole book of confectionary pet names he used back when he was King Candy, but they didn't get a lot of use now that he was back to being Turbo. That one had just slipped out. Maybe he ought to use them more often…pfft.
She pulled a brown paper sack from her bag, cautiously placing it on Turbo's strawberry wafer bunk. "It's okay if you don't like them, but I think they'll help pass the time."
"Say," Turbo said. Adorabeezle looked at him inquisitively. What was the thing you were supposed to say when somebody did a nice thing? Oh, yeah. "Thanks, kiddo."
She nodded. "You're very welcome."
The girls made their leave, and Wynchel and Duncan came in to undo Turbo's bindings. Turbo let the door shut behind them before he scrambled over to the bunk and upended the package, dumping the contents out in front of him.
Inside were three things: a unicorn-themed coloring book, a box of crayons, and a paperback copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
At first, Turbo didn't know what to think. A part of him wanted to laugh at having gotten such childish gifts, while another part wanted to cry at being given something to do, other than faffing around with a deck of cards all day.
"Bless you, child," he muttered, thumbing open the worn cover of the paperback.
Ending Author's Note: Ahh! Well, I hope you don't think Turbo is too out-of-character in this chapter. I honestly do think he has a soft spot for everybody in Sugar Rush, especially the racers-except for Vanellope, obviously. And there's not any Felix in this chapter! I've already started on the next chapter and he's in that one for sure. As a matter of fact, the next chapter takes places just a few hours after this one ends. I was going to tack them both on together, but it was just too long and I didn't want everybody to have to read all that in one go. Thanks for reading, as always.(: