*Chapter 65*

Vanellope suddenly inhaled a long breath and blinked open her tired eyes. Her room was dimly lit; it was obviously early morning. She flinched as she came face to face with her mate. Ralph remained motionless, his facial expression was blank as he was still fast asleep. He breathed deeply through his mouth, the sound was just above very dull, breathy snore. Vanellope immediately felt a warm smile prowl across her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head delicately to her chest. She shoved her face into the top of Ralph's head and nuzzled his crazy, messy hair. She shut her eyes tight and felt tears gather in her eyes; she inhaled his familiar scent, wondering what she ever did to deserve this love. What she ever did to deserve him back again.

She carefully wrapped one of her legs over Ralph's hips and pushed into him softly as he remained completely asleep. She very gently began to trail kisses atop his head and forehead as he shifted slowly, his breathing finally lulled out of the silent snore he was caught in. He groaned just barely as his tired arms became conscious of Vanellope's womanly figure next to him. He slowly, yet eagerly, wrapped his arms around her body, as if he had forgotten she was with him. Without opening his eyes, he gently buried his face into Vanellope's chest, she was draped in her loose, mint green tank top. He clung onto her in a sleepy gesture of want and relief, his nose and cheeks gently nuzzled into the nook of her breasts. Vanellope closed her eyes and relaxed as she tenderly pet the back of his head, she wanted absolutely nothing but to remain in her bed with him. She felt her cheeks get hot as she smiled a small smile at the fact that they still had hours before the game day started.

She suddenly frowned as the thought of Rancis, and her racers, came flooding to her thoughts. She held her breath and gazed across her room, past Ralph's head. Before she could think about the difficult venture further, there was a tender knock on her bedroom door. She felt tears sting her eyes again, this time in fear. She tucked her face into the top of Ralph's head and held her breath. She shut her eyes tight and blinked back her tears; she knew she had to remain strong. She knew she was still the center of power of Sugar Rush. She finally heaved a powerful sigh and very delicately unglued Ralph from her figure. He knowingly let her go, she figured he must've heard the knock on the door as well. She slowly slipped out of bed and approached her large door. She fixed her shirt and quickly tied the strings of her pants to keep them up.

Vanellope slowly opened her large, round birch door and peered out. She caught eyes with Taffyta; she had a look of dismay written in her code. She held her hands over her chest in an unsure way and inhaled softly. She forced a smile and glanced past Vanellope to Ralph's snoozing figure in her bed. She smiled into Vanellope's eyes and gave her an endearing, yet sorrowful, look.

"Vanellope, I think we should probably head over, to," Taffyta trailed off and looked down before sliding her eyes back to Vanellope, "You know."

"Right," Vanellope said softly as she sighed and looked down before quickly looking over her shoulder to Ralph on her bed, "Should we bring Ralph?"

"Yes," Ralph suddenly, and softly croaked as he lifted his arm gently. Taffyta let a small smile and a chuckle escape her face.

"Candlehead and I will be waiting downstairs for you guys," Taffyta said as she slowly began to remove herself from Vanellope's bedroom door.

"We'll be down in a second," Vanellope said gently.

"Can't we just snooze for another ten minutes?" Ralph asked after Vanellope had shut her bedroom door. He sat up slowly and rubbed his face in a tired manner, his hair shot in all sorts of odd directions.

"Believe me," Vanellope breathed as she chuckled and approached her bed, "If I could, I would."

"What time is it?" Ralph asked as he blinked a few times, his eyes fixed on Vanellope's closed balcony doors. The sky was a calm, darker morning purple. It was clearly before dawn.

"Probably around five in the morning," Vanellope croaked as she crossed her arms and shut her tired eyes.

"Well," Ralph breathed as he clumsily made his way off of Vanellope's bed; it groaned and complained before he finally stood before his girl, "Guess we better go. I hope everyone is alright."

"Considering how last night went, with Minty, Jubileena and Adorabeezle," Vanellope inhaled a slow, dreading breath and looked up to her ceiling, "I'm not so sure I have the energy for this."

"C'mon," Ralph said tenderly before very gently wrapping Vanellope in his tired arms, "We're all going to be there for you. You're not going about this alone."

"I just hope Rancis hasn't disappeared or something," Vanellope worried as she gladly leaned into Ralph's chest.

"We can check his whereabouts, in the code room, before heading out," Ralph stated gently.

"Taff, stop being so hard on yourself," Candlehead said gently, the two were perched just inside the castle's massive front doors.

"I just, don't know what I'm going to tell Vanellope," Taffyta said, her voice was coated with concern.

"Just explain to her that this was all a misunderstanding," Candlehead stated in a whisper before Ralph and Vanellope could be heard coming out of the code room.

"When should I tell her?" Taffyta urged in a silent whisper as she gazed at her other sister; Candlehead gazed back at her through innocent, glossy eyes.

"I'm not sure," Candlehead whispered calmly, "Maybe after this all blows over. It's all so fresh right now, I don't think bringing up more drama in the midst of all of this, is smart."

"Good thinking," Taffyta said with a frown before the two girls caught eyes with Vanellope and Ralph at the other end of the hall.

"You guys ready?" Candlehead asked softly to the two, her voice carrying; both Ralph and Vanellope had a sense of urgency in their stride.

"Guys, we just checked Rancis' whereabouts," Vanellope heaved as she approached the two, "He and all the racers are in the middle of their neighborhood. He's been surrounded."

"What!" Taffyta barked softly before Candlehead immediately opened the castle's massive door. It creaked open as everyone immediately left the castle in a hurry.

"They've surrounded him?" Candlehead worried as the four began to clumsily tear down the castle's large pathway.

"Yeah," Vanellope panted as the four kept their steady pace with each other, "This is not what I wanted…Rancis may have done terrible things, but I never thought this would all come to THIS."

"Who reset you?" Gloyd barked.

"No one wanted you to return, Rancis," Snowanna said firmly, the whole group had formed a defensive circle around Rancis; he trembled.

"G-guys, Vanellope knows I'm here," Rancis worried as he gazed out at his old friends; they looked at him as if they had cornered a wild animal, all theirs for the taking, "W-we sorted everything out last night."

"A likely story," Creumbelina snapped.

"Guys-" Minty worried, but she was quickly cut off.

"You think coming back here and acting as if nothing had happened is going to make us all think that everything should go back to normal?" Swizzle said in an angry tone as he crossed his arms.

"I knew that dreaded sword of yours was made just to flaunt your power," Gloyd said deeply as he stepped forward to Rancis, "You wormed your way into the castle, but once you got rejected by Schweetz…"

"I-I understand my intentions could be viewed as poor," Rancis yelled as he tried to defend himself, "But, this is all just a big misunderstanding!"

"Once Vanellope sees you," Snowanna started as she crossed her arms, "She's going to delete you so fast."

"I-I spoke to her yesterday," Rancis scrambled for words, trying his best to defend himself. He knew he was horribly outmatched, "Her and Ralph spared my life. Th-this was all just a mix up between me, Vanellope and Taffyta."

"You didn't think twice when it came to sparing Fix-It Felix's life," Swizzle said deeply as he approached Rancis, his fists looked ready to fight, "Why should we give you the same respect?"

"Please, hear me out," Rancis urged firmly as he desperately looked at each of his old friends in the face; no one budged. Minty, Adorabeezle and Jubileena hung towards the back of the group and stole uncertain glances from each other.

"You don't deserve that sort of kindness," Swizzle growled as he grabbed Rancis' collar; he readied his fist in the air, ready to heave the final blow.

Swizzle drew his arm back as his other fist clenched Rancis' hoodie, keeping him still. Before Swizzle could throw his punch, he was suddenly shoved backwards. Vanellope harshly pushed on his chest, using all of the wrecking binary that Ralph had generously supplied her from their code swaps. She stood in front of Rancis in a defensive way, her hands quickly reaching behind herself to grab his wrists. Swizzle skid to the ground as every one of her racers gasped in shock. They gazed down at Swizzle for a moment before shooting their attention Vanellope in disbelief.

"How dare you guys," Vanellope barked; she immediately felt her racers become defensive.

"How dare WE?" Gloyd hollered as Taffyta, Candlehead and Ralph quickly approached, "You actually LET this fool back on the grid?"

"Yes I did!" Vanellope hollered as Rancis hung his head, his eyes fixed on the ground between him and Vanellope.

"Have you gone mad?" Snowanna pleaded as she gestured with her arms, "He's a murderer! A no good, stalking hologram! He wouldn't leave us alone! He practically tormented all of us!"

"His code reset when I gave Sugar Rush an in-game reset!" Vanellope said loudly as she glanced at Taffyta's, Candlehead's and Ralph's position a few feet behind her. Vanellope inhaled to continue, "Rancis has been reset to how he used to be."

"How can you be so sure," Gloyd barked, feeling defensive.

"He's been in your neighborhood for this whole entire night," Vanellope snapped as she tried to remain calm, "He's been heavily warned of consequences if he tries to harm any one of you guys."

"And what kind of consequences are those?" Snowanna said, her tone full of disbelief.

"How does rotting in the Fungeon sound?" Vanellope barked; all of her racers froze in shock.

"Why didn't you just delete him when he was a hologram?" Gloyd finally spoke up after a few silent moments of shock; his tone finally began to calm.

"His code vanished from the code room," Vanellope explained as she softened as well.

"Can you honestly sit here and think bringing this murderer back is a good idea for Sugar Rush?" Swizzle asked firmly as he gestured towards Rancis.

"Yes," Vanellope defended; Rancis kept his gaze glued to the ground.

"How can you say that?" Swizzle asked above a whisper in disbelief.

Vanellope fell silent and heaved a long sigh as she relaxed her hands away from Rancis' wrists. She stood up straight and caught eyes with each of her racers; they all looked stunned, confused, hurt, and angry. She slowly glanced back at her two sisters and boyfriend. They gazed at Vanellope with purpose and protection. Ralph nodded once, his fists clenched. She gave him a small, undefeated smile before she turned back to her racers. They gazed at their president with urgency.

"Do you guys remember when I was the game glitch?" Vanellope said softly as she gazed out to everyone; she tucked her long, black hair behind her ears, "You guys hated me. You guys didn't want anything to do with me. Rancis, Taffyta AND Candlehead did whatever they could to keep me from racing."

Vanellope quickly turned around and gazed at her sisters and Rancis with a loving smirk. She shook her head and chuckled just barely.

"After our game reset, those three quickly accepted me for who I was. They loved me, like family should," Vanellope said as she turned back to her confused racers, "The three that hated me the most, now mean more to me than I could imagine."

Everyone was silent as they gazed at Vanellope in an unsure way. Each of their eyes glanced between Taffyta, Candlehead and Rancis. They all slowly began to soften, their ears finally opening to understanding. Vanellope held her ground, knowing this wasn't over yet.

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't show them the same respect? Or to any of you guys, for that matter," Vanellope hissed quietly as she shook her head, her eyes almost stung with tears, "What kind of core would I be if I deleted people willy nilly?"

Vanellope gently glanced at Rancis, "I almost lost sight of how important each and every single one of you guys are to me. I wanted to delete Rancis, for every single sour thing he has ever done, to any of us. I wanted to press his delete button so badly, for hurting Felix, for hurting Ralph…for scaring all of us into submission."

"Why didn't you," Gloyd asked softly and sincerely; his voice more curious than vengeful.

Vanellope looked down before she slid her eyes back to Ralph; her heart immediately swelled with love for her best friend, "One of the biggest, meanest bad guys, in this whole arcade, reminded me what it means to be gracious, and forgiving. He reminded me, that second chances never run out…no matter if you are a good or bad guy. He reminded me, that the scariest of souls, the most misunderstood strand of binary, the mean outcast, is really just a soul crying out for help. He reminded me that everyone in this arcade deserves a second chance, that everyone here deserves a friend. No matter what."

Ralph smiled and shyly looked down, his fist slowly unclenching. He felt Taffyta's warm hand on his lower arm; he caught eyes with hers as she gazed up at him with sisterly love. Everyone gazed at Ralph with surprise, their demeanor's finally softening.

"What kind of person would I be if I deleted Rancis in front of you guys," Vanellope urged as she gestured towards Rancis, "You guys would immediately fear to make mistakes. Each one of you would wonder who would be deleted next. You all mean the world to me. Without you guys, this game would cease to exist."

Vanellope gently put her hand on Rancis' shoulder and gazed out to everyone, "I can't tell you how many times I heard the children, playing our game, complain that they couldn't find Rancis Fluggerbutter anywhere on the roster. Every time that happened, I wanted to be angry, I wanted people to hate him. I wanted Rancis' name to forever be tainted but I knew deep down that Sugar Rush had suffered a great loss."

"I did miss hanging with you," Swizzle finally and quietly admitted to Rancis; Rancis finally let a small smile break across his face.

"We ALL did. And I know that this is going to take some getting used to," Vanellope explained as she kept her hand on Rancis' shoulder, "But you guys don't have anything to worry about."

"Just playing devil's advocate here," Snowanna started, "But, what if he DOES pull the wool over our eyes, and betrays us all again? Would you just continue to forgive every single, sour action of his?"

"I'm sorry I threatened to delete him…I don't have the heart to delete any of you, no matter what happens," Vanellope started before giving her attention to Snowanna, "Rancis knows the consequences, if he steps out of line. These ground rules will remain between him and those of us that control the code room. He knows his punishments, if he is to step out of line again."

"I trust you," Gloyd suddenly said in a firm voice, though his eyes showed a flicker of care. Vanellope kept face and inhaled slowly.

"As you should…As you ALL should," Vanellope said confidently, feeling as if this whole mess was finally coming to an end.

"Welcome back, Rancis," Minty finally spoke up, after lingering near the back of the group the whole time. She slowly approached Rancis with a small smile.

"Thank you," Rancis said in a shy way as he glanced at Minty. Much to his surprise, Minty gently took Rancis into her arms and gave him a big, friendly hug.

Vanellope beamed, she felt as if she would never know what a smile felt like again. She was surprised to see Jubileena trail right behind Minty as she prepared her arms for a hug as well. She glommed onto Minty and Rancis; they all wobbled as a few boughts of laughter escaped the group hug. One by one, each racer slowly piled into the group hug; Vanellope laughed softly and gazed at Taffyta and Candlehead.

"Oh, what the hell," Taffyta barked as she threw her hands up and marched towards the group.

Vanellope chuckled as she too approached her racers. Everyone began to chatter and laugh as the group hug got bigger and bigger. Ralph put his hands on his hips and gazed amongst the wobbling, laughing ball of racers. Everyone un-tensed and released from the group after a few moments, each one of them almost nervously accepted Rancis back into their group of racers. They all began to chat with Rancis, their conversations becoming more and more comfortable with each passing minute. Vanellope finally heaved a small sigh and wrapped her arm around Taffyta's shoulder. Her sister leaned into her with a smile, though her eyes looked as if she was unsure about something. Vanellope shrugged it off; she figured Taffyta was just tired.

"I'm glad this all has finally come to an end," Ralph said gently as everyone gently peered up at Ralph.

"I guess without you, Ralph, Rancis would be deleted," Gloyd said gently as everyone gazed up at Ralph with curious, almost knowing eyes. Ralph held his breath and glanced at Vanellope.

"He definitely keeps my feet on the ground," Vanellope said softly and humbly as Snowanna gently gave her a knowing nudge.

"If there's anyone who knows what it's like to be rejected, it's me," Ralph stated calmly, "Vanellope was the first person to show me kindness, and friendship. I have never valued anything more in my entire life."

"Big bad guys, smiles in disguise," Swizzle chanted as everyone chuckled; Ralph rubbed the back of his head with a smile.

"I never thought I'd say this about anyone," Minty started gently as she slid her eyes from the ground to their wrecker, "But you'd make a mighty fine King for Sugar Rush, Ralph."

Ralph felt his face get hot as he gave each racer a grateful, but shocked expression. Vanellope looked down with a wide smile and chuckled. Everyone immediately beamed and began to nudge and tease Vanellope for getting so shy. She laughed a joyous laugh, her face blushed with honey glow.

"It's only a matter of time," Candlehead sneered up at Ralph. Ralph chuckled and rubbed the back of his head in a shy manner, his heart practically throbbed out of his chest with the thought of the engagement ring he had stored safely away.

Everyone began to chatter with Rancis, they slowly accepted him back into their group; though Gloyd and Adorabeezle still had a lingering air of uncertainty. Vanellope heaved a small sigh as she stood with Ralph. They gazed among the racers as each one of them began to head back to their houses, some in groups and some heading home for a few more hours of sleep. Vanellope leaned into Ralph's side, her arm making its way around his back. His large arm came around her as he gazed down at her, his eyes gleamed with how proud he was of her. She wrinkled her nose at him as if to playfully tell him to knock it off. Vanellope opened her mouth to speak to him but Taffyta's unsure voice broke the air.

"Vanellope?" Taffyta said gently. Vanellope quickly looked at her with a smile before her joyous facial expression quickly dropped.

"Taff, what's wrong?" Vanellope said quietly, hoping not to worry her happy racers from afar.

"I, need to talk to you," Taffyta said as she glanced up at Ralph, "Both of you."

"Is, everything okay?" Vanellope worried as she removed herself from Ralph and gave her sister her full attention.

"Everything is fine," Taffyta assured, but she looked distressed, "I just really need to tell you something."