AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone! I've been wanting to try a dark WiR fic for a while now, and after reading Barry Bubblestein's fic Another Face in the Crowd I came up with this idea. Hope you enjoy!
Presley Peppermint, the OC starring in this fic, is property of SwizzleMalarkeyFan. She'll be acting quite differently than normal because Vanellope programmed her with Taffyta's punishment in mind…
TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
As the sound of snow being compressed under boots reached her ears, Taffyta Muttonfudge realised she wasn't alone on Ice Cream Mountain. At least, not anymore. She began looking around, trying to discern the direction the sound was coming from.
But the cold iron shackles that were restraining her arms and legs to the mountain, and had been so for the previous four hours, made that quite a difficult task.
After several seconds of uncertainty about the noise's origins Taffyta caught sight of a figure approaching. A figure that looked like one of her fellow racers. As the character drew closer their details gradually emerged, until eventually they stooped, looming over Taffyta like a horror monster over their prey.
From what Taffyta saw, the new character was a pale-skinned girl decked out in a red-and-green striped dress. Over this dress the girl wore a red and white striped jacket, and her white hair had streaks of red and blue running through it. Her hands were covered by white mittens, and completing her outfit was a peppermint-themed beret. Looking down, the girl made eye contact with Taffyta.
"Hello there." she greeted.
"Uh… hello?" Taffyta replied. "Are you here to free me, by any chance?"
The girl shook her head in response. "Oh no no no. You don't deserve to be freed. Not after what you did. Vanellope told me about everything, and I'm quite appalled at what you did."
Taffyta found her feelings of guilt creeping up on her again. "But I said I'm sorry! I never wanted all this to happen! I never wanted Candlehead to die! Please, I'll do anything for forgive-"
"SHUT IT!" the girl yelled. "Candlehead is dead because you lost your temper at her! You yelled at her, and she ran out of the game crying and ended up getting murdered! Do you really think THAT deserves forgiveness?"
Taffyta's voice came out shaky. "Eh… uh…"
The other girl sighed. "Anyways, I'd better introduce myself. "My name's Presley Peppermint, and I'm the racer that Vanellope coded in to take your place now that you're out of the running for good. Also, I'm going to be administering your punishment."
"W-what do you mean punishment?" Taffyta asked, worry now creeping into her voice. "Isn't being chained on this mountain punishment enough?"
"Well… let me tell you something about myself." Presley continued. "I'm sure you know that us racers have hobbies outside of racing. Snowanna has singing, Gloyd has his pranks, Candlehead has baking and so on. You wanna know what my hobby is?"
"What is it?" Taffyta questioned.
"Food." Presley explained. "We all enjoy candy here, but my palate is quite refined. I enjoy a wide variety of foods - vegetables, meat, fish, eggs… You wanna take a guess as to what my favourite food is?"
"Uh… candy?"
"Nope."
"Chocolate?"
"Wrong."
"Gumballs?"
"Nuh-uh."
"I give up. What is it?" Taffyta conceded.
"Liver. I enjoy myself a nice bit of fresh liver in the evenings. Especially if it's with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
"Sounds… delicious?" Taffyta felt a twinge of disgust. She had never eaten liver before, but she couldn't imagine it tasted very nice.
Presley thought for a second before continuing. "Just talking about it makes my mouth water for the stuff. But there's a problem - there are no shops in Sugar Rush, or anywhere in the arcade, that sell liver. So I'll have to get it from… some other source."
"And where will you get it from?" Taffyta asked.
"Oh that's quite simple." Presley replied. "Quite conveniently, there happens to be a nice fresh liver here for the taking."
"W-what do you m-mean by that?" stuttered Taffyta.
"What I mean is…" Presley suddenly reached behind her back and Taffyta heard a schwing noise as a massive chef's knife came into view, her face clearly reflected in the cold steel of the blade. At this point it finally registered in Taffyta's mind what Presley planned to do, and her heart shot into her throat as panic took hold. She began thrashing around in an increasingly attempt to break free of her restraints, but they held tight.
"That's right. I'm going to be feasting on YOUR liver tonight!" Presley smirked. She knelt down so she was hovering over Taffyta's torso, and pulled her shirt up to expose her bare skin.
"Please, don't do this! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I promise I won't do something like that again!" Taffyta begged and pleaded as she struggled, the clinking of her restraints overbearing.
"Well Vanellope gave you a second chance, and you wasted it." Presley said bluntly. "Now hold still and let me get my dinner!"
Turning the blade to Taffyta's body, Presley wound up, and then in one swift motion, she plunged the knife clean through Taffyta's soft skin like a hot sword through butter, before drawing it to the right to slash Taffyta's abdomen open. The candy birds roosting on the mountain were startled by a blood-curdling scream whipping through the air.
And then mercifully, the pain and shock caused Taffyta to pass out. She didn't know how long she was out, but when she came back to, it was all over. Presley held the dripping liver up triumphantly as if it were a trophy, her white mittens now stained red with blood. Taffyta could still feel pain signals ricocheting throughout her tortured body, but when she looked down she saw that her body appeared to be perfectly intact, with no wounds on it.
"Did… did I die and regenerate?" Taffyta asked.
"You sure did. You wanna know the best part?" said Presley.
"What is it?"
"Your liver regenerated along with you. And I'll have you know I'll be back to harvest it again tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after THAT, and so on and so forth until the end of time!" Presley began laughing to herself.
Presley then looked down at Taffyta. "Stay sweet." she said in a mocking, revelling in getting to use Taffyta's own catchphrase against her. And then she turned around and was trudging back down the mountain, her footsteps fading away until only silence permeated the mountain.
A few more seconds passed before the rest of Taffyta's emotions caught up with her, and she broke down in tears. Was this really what her life had come to? Thanks to a horrible mistake of hers, Candlehead was dead. And now here she was, condemned to a lifetime purgatory of being chained to this mountain, unable to do anything but wait for Presley to rip her liver out again and again. All she wanted now was a third chance, but deep down she knew Vanellope wouldn't give her one.
And on top of the mountain, no-one heard her sobs.
And so Taffyta's new life began. Day after day the same events played out. Presley would trudge up the mountain, greet her, chat for a bit… and then rip her liver out and walk away like nothing happened.
One day she told Taffyta that Vanellope had won fifty Random Roster Races in a row and was quite proud of that achievement… and then she ripped her liver out.
She told Taffyta that she was now dating Swizzle and how he was the perfect boyfriend… and then she ripped her liver out.
She told Taffyta how the first anniversary of Turbo's defeat was a celebration of happiness and triumph… and then she ripped her liver out.
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years. Eventually Taffyta, seemingly in acceptance of her circumstances, changed her behaviour. She tried being friendly to Presley when she did appear, and she stopped struggling
And not once did Presley miss a day in her liver-ripping routine.
But one day, Taffyta was surprised to see Vanellope coming up the mountain instead of Presley. The president of Sugar Rush said that Presley would still be coming later, but she had news to deliver.
And that news changed… everything.
One beautiful spring day, three years after Taffyta's punishment began, she heard the familiar scrunch noise of Presley making her way up the mountain. But this time, she was actually looking forward to seeing her. Once Presley came into view, Taffyta turned her head to look at her tormentor, a huge grin plastered on her face.
"Hello, Taffyta!" said Presley cheerfully as she came to a stop.
"Hello, Presley." said Taffyta, her grin unchanging.
Presley took notice of said grin. "Er… you look surprisingly happy today!" she noted.
Taffyta nodded. Suddenly, like a cat pouncing on a mouse she lunged towards Presley, and before the liver-eating girl could realise what was going on Taffyta tackled her to the ground. A brief scuffle ensued before Presley found herself taken by two giant hands that restrained her arms and legs. Looking ahead she saw Taffyta standing on her own two feet, her restraints lying around broken. She struggled against the other person's grip but it proved too strong to break. A million questions whizzed through Presley's mind.
"W-what's going on? What's happening? How are you free? Why can't I move?" Presley yammered before Taffyta put a hand over her face to silence her.
"I'm glad you asked." Taffyta began. "I'll have you know that Vanellope and the others have actually forgiven me and have ordered me released! Now I can finally get back to racing!" she happily proclaimed.
"Good for you…" said Presley.
"Also, Vanellope wanted me to tell you that by presidential decree, you will NEVER eat my liver ever again!" Taffyta proclaimed.
"Again, good for you." said Presley. "I was actually getting sick of the stuff anyway. But that doesn't answer my question - how did you break your restraints?"
"I got the help of Vanellope's friend Wreck-it Ralph." Taffyta explained. "He's one of the strongest characters in this arcade."
"Hello there." Presley heard a new voice from behind her.
"Now Presley, it's time for the strawberry queen to make her grand return!" exclaimed Taffyta.
"Okay then." Presley conceded. "Could you please let me go? I'm just going to head back to my cottage…"
Taffyta simply wagged her finger in response. "Ah-ah-ah. Before I go, there's something I want to do to you. Want to guess what it is?"
"...You want to join the Random Roster Race and whoop my butt?"
"Nope."
"...You want to have Vanellope turn me into a glitch?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh… what is it?"
"Well…" said Taffyta. She walked up to the immobilised Presley and reached behind her back. After some fumbling around she found her knife's wooden handle and pulled it out, the sunlight gleaming as it bounced off the blade. "All that time chained to the mountain has made me hungry."
A look of horror swept over Presley's face. "Er… my liver?"
Tafyyta closed her eyes and nodded contently.
Presley began tossing and turning in a desperate attempt to make Ralph lose his grip, without success. "Wait Taffyta, please! Don't eat my liver! It'll taste super disgusting, like a giant pile of garbage! Honestly, really bitter."
But Taffyta was already winding up the knife. "Ah, but you're forgetting. There's nothing in this world quite as sweet as… revenge!"
And then Taffyta thrust the knife forward… and it was Presley's turn to scream.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well I hope you enjoyed that! In case it isn't obvious this was based off of both Barry Bubblestein's fic Another Face in the Crowd and the Greek myth of Prometheus and the eagle.
I hope to see you all in the next fanfic!