The Memory Glitch

Author: Cuddlesaurus (cuddlesaurus21.deviantart.com)
Fandom: Wreck-It Ralph
Main Characters: Vanellope, Felix, Ralph, King Candy
Genre: Family/Drama
Rating: G

===The Memory Glitch===

The air was still warm, but dry, the lava all gone now, and the sun fully risen. He lifted his hands and stared. HIS hands. He could feel them again... he could move, he could blink... so long... it had been so long. So long since he had felt the code of his body, fitting over the far more complex codes of his mind and soul like a longed-for blanket. A blanket that had been stolen from him. But now the thief was gone. He leaned there on all fours for a moment, collecting his disoriented thoughts and senses. Then one thought surfaced above all the others. *Vanellope.* He dusted his lace cuffs off, adjusted his crown, and started walking.

~~~

"Heyyyya, Kid! How was racing?"
"*There* you are, Shortcake!"

A big, fun, growly male voice and a sweet, comical little one (accompanied by a few musical jumps) both greeted Vanellope as she hopped out of her mismatched cart.

"Ralph!" Vanellope grinned aloud and launched herself at her giant friend, smiling no less when she noticed Ralph's shorter, blue-capped companion there too. "And Felix too!" the little girl laughed. "What're you two doin' back here so soon?"

"Oh, we just came t' check on ya, Peppermint Breath," Ralph, the big junker, chuckled and rubbed his oversized hands behind his neck, trying to appear casual.

"We just wanted to make sure you had a super good dilly bar of a day, Sweetheart!" Felix gave his most encouraging smile to Vanellope, and answered somewhat more truthfully. "Your first day back on the track and all, after... everything...." His happily-clasped hands twitched a bit, and his voice began to trail off. The previous evening had been a rollercoaster of disaster and triumph, with the cy-bugs defeated, and King Candy, and the racetrack being rebuilt... and then Vanellope getting her code re-integrated, becoming princess once more! Well, president, supposedly, now, as she preferred to be called.

The first thing Ralph had wanted to do after "quittin' time" was pop over to Sugar Rush and visit his new, true friend Vanellope again. Even if they'd only spent a half-day apart--it was important, after all, to make sure that everything had gone smoothly in the reloaded Sugar Rush game, during its first day back with the players. Good-hearted little Felix was concerned too, and had decided to come along with Ralph as well. Now both of them noticed that the other racing kids in Sugar Rush had slightly subdued faces, and were shuffling awkwardly away, casting worried glances at Vanellope. These weren't the disdainful glances of bullies anymore--there was no malice in the children's expressions, only a strange sort of worry. As if Vanellope were some sort of time bomb ready to explode. As if they all knew something she didn't. Strange--they hadn't acted this way at the beginning, when Vanellope's true identity had been revealed. From the way Candlehead had taken Vanellope's arm and led her away, it indeed appeared the kids were well on their way to becoming good friends, as they always should have been from the beginning. But now... it was as if all the other Sugar Rush racers had discovered a sad secret, one they weren't sure if they should tell their princ--er, president--or not.

"Aww, well... I didn't... do so good, there at the end," Vanellope rubbed her arm, half-grinning and pretending to make light of it. "Had a great opening, wowee! Boy did I ever clean up!" the spunky little girl chuckled, motioning to indicate her sweeping victories in the first few races of the day. "But then... well, I... I started glitchin' again. When I got onto th' ice cream mountain'... an' remembered... King--King C-Candy...." Vanellope shivered, her pixels showing briefly. She shook her head almost violently, as if trying to shake the glitch--and the bad memories--out of her head. Ralph and Felix looked at each other with concern, then each took one of Vanellope's hands, hoping to support the struggling little girl.

"Anyways," the little princess-turned-racer sighed, "I noticed every time I passed somethin'... some random track or buildin' or whatever... that seemed linked to old memories... things from back when I was a princess I suppose... somethin' really--unnnghh!" here she suddenly pixelated again, throwing herself into a short glitch. She caught her breath and shifted back to normal. "--I had to ignore it an' just focus on the race. Yeah. Just on the track in front o' me. Like what you helped teach me t' do in the mountain, Ralph!" Vanellope beamed up at her hero, but then her face fell again as she finished her tale. "--I didn't win many races after that, I was havin' to concentrate so much. Jubileena took first a couple'a times, an' then Swizzle. Anyways, that's fine, the players loved them, an' me, an' everything still went okay, so... it's all okay, yeah. I just... I just...." Vanellope suddenly turned her big, worried, double-hued eyes up to Ralph, and to Felix as well--both friends whom she had come to trust. "...I'm scared t' go back to the castle," she whispered, and a faint spread of pixels appeared in her cheeks even then. "...Every time I start t' think of anythin' to do with the past, I... I glitch up."

It was clear now that this glitch was something troubling Vanellope much more than it ever had during her and Ralph's initial meeting. Instead of being something linked to her snapped code, which had now been repaired... now it seemed a "leftover" bug, linked to something she was repressing. A bad memory? *Must be a doozy of one,* Ralph thought with concern, his brow furrowing. "Aww, it's just a tiny flareup of pixlexia, just like you said before, Sprinkle Hair," the mighty junker forced himself to grin for his little friend, and picked her up into a comforting hug. She returned it with her tiny teal sweatshirt, but still peeped out a request. "W-will you walk me back home?"

"Of *course* we will, Sunshine!" Felix answered for both of them compassionately, patting Vanellope's back from where she sat in Ralph's arms. "Golly gee, ol' Ralph an' me an honor guard for the *president*!" the little carpenter showed all his teeth in a pearly smile, putting on a cheerful demeanor for the sake of the now somewhat downcast little girl. Vanellope at least giggled softly at that, and took Felix's hand gratefully.

~~~

The tiny gumdrop couple had almost squeaked with fright when he approached them. Just random citizens, doing a little yard-cleaning outside their cutesy marzipan home near the Cola Mountain path. The story about the invader, and the previously-trapped memories, had spread like wildfire, this first day back to "normal." At first they wondered if he really was who he said he was. But if it really HAD all been... the invader, before... and all the bad things had been the... monster, not him... yes, it was true, when they really saw his eyes. There were no shadows there anymore. None of the sickly gray pallour. He looked... different. It was subtle, but it was there. The gumdrops had gasped and almost fallen to their feet in a bow then. But he'd just smiled and lifted them back up, asking them patiently, humbly, what had happened. How long had it been? Was everyone okay? Was his daughter okay? And most importantly, where was she now?

They told him she had been at the racetrack, and had done a jolly good job of it too, for the first few quarters, anyway. But it was a little after quitting time now, so most likely she would be at the castle by this time.

He'd thanked them, fumbled in his pockets, and apologized for the lack of candy, seeming as embarassed and confused as them by its disappearance. Then he had jogged off without another word or bit of normal formality, heading straight for the royal castle of Sugar Rush.

His home.

And Vanellope's.

~~~

"It's r-reaaally quiet around here, isn't it guys?" Vanellope stammered, trying to keep up a carefree banter. "Seems everyone's already gone home. Even Wynchel and Duncan," she managed a chuckle at the thought of the two doughnut cops.

Despite his normal politeness, Felix wasn't really listening right at that moment. His eyes had become riveted to a pattern on the almond-bark pretzel fence lining the path nearby. It was an almost clownlike face, with a crown--similar to the one that had been down at the racetrack grandstands too. *King Candy?* Why would his likeness remain in the game once it reset--if the racer-turned-virus-turned-villain Turbo had only created it as a disguise for himself, after all? He could have had those designs built into the castle grounds and the racetrack during his "reign"--but how could they possibly have been part of the original, and now renewed, game environment?

Felix was just a humble carpenter, despite his status as an arcade hero. He didn't usually question the codes--the deep, inner workings of the games--or worry about things like that. But he'd even helped rebuild part of that Sugar Rush racetrack himself, and had noticed King Candy's motif springing back into place. Felix had thought about that uneasily as he'd snuggled in his bed last night. And now here it was again. His blue eyes squinted as the old thoughts turned over in his mind once more--then widened as a new one surfaced at the top. *What if...?*

"--Taffyta says they're always orange, but I dunno about..."

Vanellope's banter snapped Felix away from his considerations, and he had to smile as he noticed Ralph, who had been hanging onto every word so far. The pair from Felix's game took the little princess' hands once more, and scurried further up the checkerboard path to the palace.

~~~

Vanellope glitched up again when they hit a bend in the road, with a big, bright jawbreaker surrounded by red lollipop trees.

"Oh no--I--" she stammered, clinching her eyes tight shut. She held onto her two friends' hands (well, index finger, in Ralph's giant case) with such tightness it almost frightened them. Poor little Vanellope was truly suffering, and Ralph and Felix were growing more concerned by the minute as these glitches showed up. Unlike the ones she'd exhibited when Ralph first found her, these new pixel-bursts actually seemed painful for the little girl--both physically and mentally. What was she fighting so mightily inside?

"Hey, it's okay, Squirt, it's okay..." Ralph tried to calm his tiny friend down, patting her black hair with extraordinary gentleness for his frame. His blockish face creased sympathetically.

Felix's own kind features were also creased with worry, but he realized now that they had to get to the heart of the matter. "Vanellope... why does that ol' jawbreaker make ya so sad, Sugar Socks? Come 'ere," he held his gloved hands open for the little girl to climb in. Holding her warmly in a hug, Felix looked down concernedly at Vanellope's big bright eyes. "...Why can't ya seem to remember things? What makes everythin' go all higglety-pixel-y and fright'nin when things remind ya of the past? Of bein' a princess? Was this a place you used t' play?" he asked the tiny racer, insistently but caringly.

Vanellope squinched her eyes shut and shook her head violently again, trying not to cry as the pixels spread once more. "Can't get through all the codes," she gasped painfully, gritting her tiny teeth. "I used t' climb on the big jawbreaker, an' sometimes tore my frock... somebody scolded me... somebody was there with me... playin' with me... somebody's always been there... an' I... I don't wanna remember... it *hurts*!" A few tears really did leak sporadically out of the child's eyes then, and she clung tightly to Felix's shirt. "...It hurts too much to remember," she whispered earnestly, all of her usual sideways-laughing and blustering gone.

"The... the palace is this way, Vanellope," Ralph finally interjected, at a loss for other words to say himself. He was clearly as worried as Felix, but he seemed to be understanding less and less of the conversation, whereas Felix seemed to be understanding more and more. Ralph pointed to the Sugar Rush castle, and ushered Vanellope forward gently with his scoop-like hands. "You're almost home, little Miss President! Just think how everyone's waitin' for ya t' make your big comeback!"

"Aww, yeah, why even ol' Sour Bill'll probably crack a big ol' smile with a little ray o' sunshine like you peekin' through the door, Sweetheart!" Felix added encouraginingly to this, finding his usual cheerful, syrupy voice once again.

But Vanellope only seemed to grow more and more hesitant as they opened the stained-glass-cookie doors. Sour Bill had already gone home too. No one was in sight.

"I--I--" Vanellope stammered, suddenly darting behind Ralph's massive form to hide.

"Hey, nobody's gonna hurt you, Cookie Crumbs," Ralph bent down and reassured her, trying desperately to keep up the gentle but encouraging mood, for the little girl's sake. "Old King Candy's long gone."

"Eeep!" Vanellope gasped out another frightened, hesitant squeak--one that Felix was almost sure had contained a half-spoken "No!" at its beginning. If his suspicions were correct, this would indeed prove a very difficult trial for her. He hated seeing Ralph's little friend--and HIS little friend, too, now--so saddened, and the thought of having to put her through such an emotionally-wracking mental task made him even sadder. But he realized now that he had to do it--for Vanellope's sake, to help her heal, to help get rid of the block that was making her glitch so much now that she'd turned nearly all pixel. Felix had to act now, to save the day.

He took one of Vanellope's tiny hands in his gloved one once more. "Vanellope... listen, Sugar Blossom," Felix's honest, kind blue eyes looked deeply into Vanellope's mixed green-and-brown ones. He cupped his free hand around the child's cheek, catching her tears. "...You've gotta face this. Whatever memories are in here, for you... whatever bad thing happened... you've gotta be brave right now, just for a moment, an' face 'em. Then your nasty ol' glitch'll go away for good, an' the rain'll be gone an' you won't have to cry no more. However bad it is... just remember... we're here for ya, Vanellope. Ol' Ralph an' me are gonna be right here the whole time, holdin' yore hand. You just take a great big goblolly of a breath, an'... let 'em all come back, easy like, one at a time," Felix finished his instructions, trying not to cry himself. His soft, compassionate eyes had never left Vanellope's, and his next words--laced with their usual quaint turns of phrase, but no less serious for that--were no more than a whisper. "You can do it, Honeybun."

Vanellope took a deep breath and stepped forward, towards the throne. The giant, pink room seemed to tower over all three figures, but especially hers, the tiniest, and right now the most vulnerable. The little racer opened her eyes, and took it all in.

The balconies. There was a kind face there, waving good morning to her with a silly, bright, *wonderful* giggle.

"No..." Vanellope whimpered.

The cushiony benches over by the wall. They were sitting there, together... two gentle, paternal arms were there, letting her fall asleep inside them, as a soft bit of gray hair brushed against her own raven-dolloped forehead.

"*No...*" the whisper was as tiny as before, but harsher now, more desperate.

The steps near the throne. They were laughing there, together, the two of them--someone was playing with her there, as they swapped a red tiara and a smaller, yet taller, golden crown and giggled jollily.

"No, no, NO!" the little princess (for that was truly what she was, she now knew) covered her eyes, not glitching anymore, but moaning and shaking. Ralph and Felix moved closer on either side of her, caring hands outstretched, but unsure what to do.

Wonderful silliness. Wonderful happiness. ...Someone had loved her. Someone had always been there for her. Before the glitch happened. Before everything went wrong... she had had a *parent.*

Vanellope lifted her head and screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! DaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!"

~~~

His heart caught in his throat as he heard the wailing shrieks, halfway up the chocolate-and-vanilla-checkered pathway. Gasping, his little girl now even more at the forefront of his thoughts than before, he raced up the remainder of the road, no high-powered go-cart necessary to propell him.

~~~

Ralph had never heard such a terrible, heart-rending sound come from Vanellope's tiny being before, not even when he had (under the misguidance of Turbo--then known as King Candy) broken her racing cart. "'Daddy?!'" he couldn't help but repeat the words in confusion, despite his deep sadness for his little friend (whom he'd bent down to enfold in his arms once more). "You had a father? Something happened to your dad?!"

"Now what kinda sour pickle would put such a tragic backstory in a *kids' game*?!" Felix also couldn't help but question indignantly, to the world at large rather than to Vanellope, whom he also had knelt down to hug tight. The little carpenter was now all concern, rubbing the tiny princess' back and saying the only thing he knew to compare. "Listen, Honeybun... I know what it's like to have a parent you miss in your backstory... my Pa, he gave me my golden hammer, you know, and even though he never showed up on our gamescreen, he's always been there deep down, somewhere in m' heart...."

"You don't understand!" Vanellope sobbed. "My daddy wasn't just in a backstory! He was *real*, he was *here*, he was HERE!! Until the monster... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" another scream wracked her body. "A monster stole 'is SKIN!! His CODE!! Th' skull-faced racer... he must've *killed* 'im!...." Vanellope pressed her face into Felix's shoulder and continued to cry hysterically.

"Oh my LAND!..." Felix's blue eyes widened as his suspicions were confirmed by this statement. "It really IS true then...."

"*What's* true?! How could--I mean, if Vanellope's dad was part of the game, he would've regenerated--" Ralph was turning his giant hands over each other, just as the confusion was turning in his head. He was just as heartbroken as Felix to see Vanellope so distraught, but he apparently was being much slower at understanding the situation. "Turbo--King Candy never could've--"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" Vanellope let loose another scream at the mention of the name--but *which* name?

"RALPH!" Felix hissed, grabbing Vanellope protectively. The honest little carpenter hardly ever spoke in such a harsh tone to anyone, but he knew he had to interject quickly to keep Ralph from, in his misunderstanding, saying something that would upset Vanellope even further. "Goodness gracious, don't you get it now? King Candy was--"

"...Vanellope?"

The three heads all turned at the sound of the new voice, coming from the main doorway. Hesitant, gentle, quaint, serious, concerned, insistent, paternal, desperate; somehow all of these traits were wrapped into the single sound of that half-whisper.

He was standing there, in the half-open entryway. His small form (though still slightly taller than Vanellope and the other racing children), puffy finery, and funny little crown tilted on his mostly-bald head were unmistakable. It was King Candy.

Vanellope's big, shiny eyes were the first that truly registered the scene. "...D-Daddy?" she answered in her own half-whisper. Her little mouth grew into an open smile of tremulous hope. "Da...DADDY! DADDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!" Vanellope's scream now was one of unbridled joy as she flung herself off of Ralph's kneeling shoulder and towards the palace doors.

Ralph's own brown eyes had been close to follow, but with an entirely different reaction. "HEY! What are YOU doin' here?!!" he growled before he even knew what was happening, one of his giant hands balling into a fist. The wrecking giant was about to lunge forward and clobber the form of the foe he once knew, but Felix interfered, throwing the full weight of his tiny form against his big friend's torso.

"RALPH! Stoppit! It's not Turbo!!" the little carpenter insisted, pushing his mighty friend back the best he could, despite their obvious differences in strength and size. Thankfully, he was at least able to get Ralph's attention, both with his action and his words.

The two of them looked at the tender scene taking place before them.

"Vanellope! VANELLOPE!!" the diminutive king was crying out his daughter's name as fervently as she was repeating his. The two of them met almost in midair, both pairs of arms outstretched.

"My little thsugarplum! Oh my baby darling!!"
"Daddy, *Daddy*! You're okay, you're back!!"

King Candy and Vanellope were both sobbing with joy, locked in a tight, loving hug. The older man was kissing his little girl's cheeks again and again, causing her to giggle through the tears. He eventually was laughing helplessly too, too happy to think, too overwhelmed with thankfulness to pay attention to anything in front of him but Vanellope, the child he had lost for so long.

Ralph's mouth was still hanging open, but Felix's had formed into a gentle, encouraging smile again as he explained to his old friend. "Hey! It's okay. King Candy was never something Turbo WROTE--he was part of the game all along. Turbo just stole his *appearance code*, Ralph! And a few of his mannerisms, to fool the Sugar Rush citizens. The REAL King Candy was probably wanderin' around as a ghost all this time. But when Vanellope crossed the finish line... he regenerated. With Turbo gone, all his pieces came back together, just like peanut butter 'n' jelly!" the kind little carpenter finished.

"But that means... he's..." the big junker stammered, finally putting all the facts together in his head. Now that he saw it--besides just the fact that Vanellope was crying with joy and hugging the older man with unbridled affection and trust--this new, real King Candy's face DID look a bit different. Just a little. It was the eyes--even tightly closed as they were now, with tears leaking out, there was none of the grayish shadow around them that there had been under Turbo.

"He's the king. She's the princess," Felix shrugged in happy self-evidence. "Looks like our little missy has a real parent to take care of her now, not just us. ...They'll be okay, Brother. Just look at them two little honey-hearts!" the diminutive carpenter's eyes crinkled warmly as he watched. After a few more seconds, Ralph's did too. He'd never seen Vanellope so happy, not even when they had made her new car together, or when she had won the race.

And if he had any remaining doubts about King Candy, they were swept aside by the way the old monarch lifted his baby girl up in his arms and continued to plant kisses all over her face, heedless of the fact that his crown had long since slipped off his own head.

"...Oh!" King Candy finally turned and noticed Ralph and Felix, who had been standing there in respectful silence, smiling, letting the two Sugar Rush-ians have their moment. "...Are you two thome of my thubjectsth? I muthst admit I don't recognize you...."

Felix smiled kindly again, taking his hat off respectfully and answering for both of them. "No, Sir, I'm Fix-It Felix Jr., from the game Fix-It Felix Jr. An' this here is my associate an' very good fried, Wreck-It Ralph!" He patted the giant junker proudly on the stomach (for that was as high as his own hand could reach), meaning every word. "We were just checkin' in on little Vanellope here, after what happened yesterday, makin' sure she was settlin' in all right. But now I see you'll be able to do an even better job o' that than us, yore Majesty!" Felix finished with a little bow. Ralph nodded and tilted one knee downward, following his smaller friend's lead, not quite as sure of the protocol, being a "bad guy" all those years.

"These are my *friends*, Daddy!" Vanellope chirped, finally letting go of her father just long enough to zip over and grin up at them. "This is Ralph, an' he's my *hero*!" she enthused.

Ralph couldn't help but grow a quiet, grateful smile at the little girl's praise, peering down at her. He knew he really was a good guy now, thanks to Vanellope.

"He helped build my car!" the Sugar Rush princess continued, "An', an' defeat... Turbo." Her little face fell just slightly at the mention of the evil rogue racer, but not for long--he was gone now, after all. And even better, the true King Candy--her parent, as she and the other citizens now remembered--was back, safe and sound. "...An' this is Felix, an' he's a good guy too!" Vanellope grinned again and hugged the little blue carpenter. Felix laughed in happy surprise and hugged her back, glad he could have helped in any way. "He helped me get over my glitch today," Vanellope whispered.

King Candy--the REAL King Candy, warm and guileless--stood there smiling quietly, half-puzzled, but taking in every word. He finally strode forward and shook Ralph's giant hand, and Felix's, closer to his own size, in turn. "You gentlemen are alwayths welcome here anytime," he beamed up at them, his purple eyes more those of a grateful father than a king. "In fact--whoopths!" he chuckled as he felt Vanellope squirming her way back into his arms, and interrupted himself just long enough to wrap his little princess into a warm hug once more, both of them giggling. Now with Vanellope firmly hoisted up in his embrace, the Sugar Rush monarch continued. "--I'm thinking of holding an offithial theremony on the racethtrack tomorrow, justth after the arcade clotheing bell. To let everyone know what'th all happened, for thothse who haven't already heard. ...Would you... would you two be there too? I want to give you both a public award of thome thort, for whatever kindneth and courage you've thshown in helping my daughter... and our whole kingdom," he finished humbly, the gravity of his words unhampered by his lisp.

This time it was actually Ralph who spoke first, bending down to smile gently at both Vanellope and her father. "We would be honored, Sir."

They normally would have talked for a bit more, but Vanellope was giggling up a storm and tugging on her father's hand. The kind king waved merrily at the duo from Fix-It Felix Jr. as they chuckled and bowed once more, and left down the path to catch the train to their own cozy home.

There was a lot of official business to be done, but that could wait for tomorrow. For now, there would be no papers, no speeches, no affairs of state in Sugar Rush. The rest of the day would be dedicated to nothing but the sheer joy of being together, a father and a daughter, so long apart. King Candy lifted Vanellope up in the air and pranced around airplane-style to the other rooms of the castle. They had a lot of playtime, a lot of giggles, and a lot of cuddles to catch up on. And they went to it with a will.