Author's Note: One small problem I have with "Frozen" is that Anna never recovers her memories of Elsa using her powers as a child. That's an issue that I think should have been resolved before the end of the film; otherwise it would just make Anna and Elsa's final reconciliation more difficult. How can you solve a problem when one of you can't remember what caused it? So I want Ralph to find out his backstory in this chapter. I hope that's okay with you all. :)
Oh, and thanks for the lovely review, Larxillyan! :D
Chapter Ten: A Frozen Heart
A cold, cold bomb exploded in Ralph's heart. Clutching his chest, he stumbled back, tripped and fell. The floor cracked under his weight.
Vanellsa rushed to his side, closely followed by Vanellope and Calhoun.
"Are you all right?" Vanellsa asked.
Ralph only just heard her above the ringing in his ears. The fallout of the bomb was spreading through his body, burning everything in its path. The urge to cry out was unbearable.
"I'm fine," he replied. He crawled to his feet, determined to hide the pain. He glared at Felix.
But Felix wasn't looking at Ralph; he was gaping at his wife, all dressed in pink. "What are you doing here? Wait, don't answer that. You have to go."
"Give us a chance, Fix-It," Calhoun barked.
"Why should I?" Felix's voice rose. "Do you know how to stop this winter, Tammy, or how to stop me?" He pointed to Vanellope. "What about you? Any ideas?"
Vanellope heard a strange noise and looked up. Spiky shadows crept down the walls. Glancing back at Felix, she noticed that one eye was twitching. She took one of Ralph's hands. "Um, maybe we should do what he says and hightail it outta here."
Ralph started to say, "But we haven't even-"
"Get out." Despite his vicious scowl and bared teeth, Felix's voice betrayed no emotion.
"Felix-"
"I said GET OUT!"
All of a sudden, a menacing bulldozer-like structure shot out from Felix's finger and crashed into the four intruders, pushing them out of the penthouse. Ralph tried to resist, but the pain seemed to have taken his strength. The bulldozer smashed a hole in the wall, and the characters tumbled down the side of the apartment complex.
The all screamed –
– and landed in something thick and soft.
Ralph found himself buried up to his shoulders in the pile of snow. He laughed so much his hat fell off. "I'm not dead!" he cheered.
"That's great, but. . ." Vanellsa's upper half shook Vanellope's boots, which stuck out of the pile. "I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" she yelled.
Vanellope's head popped up. "Those are my legs," she said, spitting out a mouthful of snow.
Just then, Vanellsa's bottom half ran past. "Hey, get back here!" She pounced on her own legs and hoisted herself up. She sighed. "That feels so much better." She looked around. "Wait a minute. Where's Sergeant Calhoun?"
Someone grabbed Ralph by the armpits and hoisted him out. He turned and saw the lady herself.
"You're very strong," said Ralph.
"Thanks."
Calhoun's bobble hat had flown away, exposing a deep purple bruise. Ralph was shocked. "What happened to your head?" He touched it gingerly.
Calhoun jerked away, and Ralph immediately apologised. "It's fine, don't worry about me," she told him. "I've got a thick skull."
"I don't have a skull," said Vanellsa. She paused. "Or bones."
For a while, no-one said anything else. Vanellope coughed. "So, what do we do now?"
"What do we do now?" Ralph echoed. He panicked. "What do we do now?! He threw us out! He'll never let us help him now. But we can't go back with the weather like this. And then there's the rest of the arcade-"
"And your hair," Calhoun butted in.
"Huh?" Ralph smoothed it down. "You should see your hair. You look like Lisa Simpson."
"No, your hair is turning white."
Sure enough, one of Ralph's spikes, once brown, was paling until it was the same shade as the freshly-fallen snow around them. "Why is it doing that?"
"It's because he hurt you, isn't it?" said Vanellope.
Calhoun set off towards the pod. "Come on, Wreck-It. You need help."
"It's not that bad, surely?"
"I'm not just thinking about your hair. You don't know what might be coming next. It's like surviving a lightning strike. One minute you think a few scars are the only side-effects, the next you die of a heart attack."
"But who can help?" Vanellsa wondered.
Ralph shivered.
. . .
In the apartment basement in Fix-It Felix Jr.. . .
A spider-web of glowing threads connected endless vault-like boxes. Each contained a code and was marked with a picture and a label. But something stood out: a brown wooden chest floating off on its own.
Ralph's shivering also shook the chest. The golden lock dropped off with a clatter. The lid burst open and another box escaped. It was pale blue and carried the icon of a silhouette and its brain. The text read, "MEMORIES OF MAGIC."
Strings of new connections poured out, all linking up to one code. It was in a black box carrying an 8-bit image of an angry man with bared teeth and spiky hair. The code belonged to "WRECK-IT RALPH."
. . .
Back in Sugar Rush. . .
A spark passed over Ralph's eyes. "Whoa." Strange sounds and even stranger scenes flooded into his mind.
"Are you okay?" Vanellope was staring at him.
Ralph waited for his brain to settle. Then he turned to his friends. "I know where we need to go."
. . .
The pod pulled up by the balcony and hovered. Ralph, Vanellope, Calhoun and Vanellsa ran into the penthouse again – this time in Fix-It Felix Jr.
All the Nicelanders were standing around tucking into slices of pie. Mary rushed over. "Ralph! You're back!" She held out a steaming dish of sweet-smelling pastry. "Would you like a Don't-Worry-Pie? It's my special relaxation recipe."
Vanellsa drooled.
"Maybe later," said Ralph. "Where's Gene?"
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he spotted Gene pushing his way through the munching Nicelanders. "Is Felix with you?" he asked straight away.
"Nice to see you too," Ralph replied. "And no, he's not."
"But you were supposed to-"
"He made it very clear that he wasn't going anywhere," Calhoun interrupted.
Gene approached Ralph, but quickly backed away. "You're so cold. Has he struck you?"
"Right in the heart." Ralph hit his chest. "That's why we came back. Your dad did something before that helped; can't you do it again?"
"I'll try." Gene set off towards a small shelf, but spun around again when he got there. "Wait a minute, how do you know about that?"
"I-" Ralph shivered again, more violently this time. More strands of hair shifted from brown to white. "I don't know how I know."
The Nicelanders whispered to each other in concerned voices.
Gene returned with a thick leather-bound book and opened it at the back. "It must be in here somewhere," he muttered to himself, running his finger down an index written in an old-fashioned font. "Ice, ice, ice . . . here it is. Ice. Development of powers, effects on local weather patterns – got it! Removal from body, 219." He flicked to that page.
"It was the heart," Vanellsa prompted, as if Gene might have short-term memory loss.
Gene read the page, at first with quick darting eyes, than more slowly. "Um, guys? Bad news. According to this book, the heart is the worst place to be struck by ice. If it isn't all removed, you'll freeze to solid ice. Forever."
"Sweet mercy!" Meg yelped. "Without Ralph, we're doomed!"
The Nicelanders gasped and ate their pies faster.
"No," Ralph breathed.
"Well, get it out, then!" Vanellope insisted.
"I can't," said Gene. "If it was in the head or the hands or somewhere like that, it would be easy. But look what the book says."
Ralph, Vanellope, Calhoun and Vanellsa leaned in and read the sentence out loud:
"Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart."
They looked up. Vanellope raised an eyebrow. "What does it mean?"
"A true love's kiss, perhaps?" Mary suggested. A bunch of Nicelanders gave each other frantic smooches.
Vanellope's eyes lit up. "That's it! Ralph, we gotta get you to the Sorceress!"
"The Sorceress. . ." Another needle of pain pierced Ralph. He groaned. "Of course."
"Let's move 'em out." Calhoun guided Ralph towards the pod and shoved him inside. Within seconds it was zooming through the night sky. Cheers of "Good luck" from the Nicelanders filled the air.
"Let's go kiss the Sorceress!" Vanellsa whooped. "And then I can ask her who she is."