Chapter Text
It had been a month since Sugar Rush’s reset. A whole month since the nightmare that was Vanellope’s life of isolation and neglect had finally come to its end, and in the most unexpected of ways.
Never in a million years would she have guessed that she was supposed to be a princess. Maybe, if Sugar Rush hadn’t been tampered with and things had gone the way they were supposed to, she would have identified more strongly with her original programming. But that’s not how things went, and she’s certainly no princess. Now, she is President Vanellope von Schweetz. Still the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, but on her own terms. But that didn’t mean her new position didn’t come with its own set of… issues.
A large one being, nothing truly felt like hers. The castle that was supposed to be her home felt more like someone’s fake imitation of what comfort is supposed to be. The throne room was so large, yet somehow still seemed so suffocating. She felt out of place in her own palace. After all, it wasn’t hers.
Well, it was, but at the same time, it wasn’t.
Even more frustrating was the paranoia that came with having been wronged so severely. After King Candy was killed, everything should’ve felt fine. She no longer had anything to worry about. The virus that had infested her game had been exterminated. She should feel nothing but relief, shouldn’t she?
And yet, her paranoia still lingered.
The unsettled feelings she had in regards to the castle, she was certain she could get over with time, and maybe some cosmetic adjustments, to better suit it to the real her. The issues she’s had with how others in her cabinet used to treat her, she could look past it, as they weren’t truly the ones at fault. But the fear Vanellope had in regards to how her game’s entire code vault had been tampered with… that wasn’t about to fade so easily.
-
“You want to go into the code vault?”
The second Ralph realized that’s what she wanted his help with today, apprehension took its obvious hold on him.
“Yup.” Vanellope confirmed, like this was just some casual brunch suggestion. “So will ya help?”
“You shouldn’t go poking around in there, Vanellope.” Ralph warned her, crossing his arms. “Don’t want anybody pulling another ‘Turbo’.”
“That’s exactly why I wanna check it out.” Vanellope insisted. “I’m always feelin’ so weird about somethin’ goin’ wrong in there, and I just–” Her voice cut off, and she looked down at the regal carpets beneath their feet, quiet for a moment. She stuck her hands in her pockets, shuffling one foot against the floor, then muttered, “I don’t wanna touch anything, I just wanna look around. Make sure everything’s… y’know… how it should be.”
Ralph was quiet for a moment, though his expression did soften. When put that way, he supposed that reasoning made some sense, given everything that’s happened... And if one harmless little trip inside the code vault, where nothing gets touched at all, would make her feel better…
“Okay.” Ralph ended up agreeing, though then asked, “You’re asking me instead of Sour Bill, though?”
“I don’t wanna make Sour Bill go back in there after all the stuff King Candy made him do.”
“Oh. Yeah. That’s fair.”
-
One thing she did use Sour Bill for was getting the button combination to unlock the vault door. Bill had seen King Candy use it enough times, it stuck its way inside his mind as well. But, true to Vanellope’s word, that’s where Sour Bill’s involvement had ended.
Now with her own written-down password into the vault, she and Ralph opened the door, tethered Vanellope with licorice ropes as a precaution (suggested by Sour Bill), and Vanellope went inside.
Truth be told, it’d probably be easier and faster to just glitch her way through this place. But, for her first time in the vault, she supposed she’d play by the rules, if only because being in here already felt unsettling enough.
She floated her way through the void of zero-gravity until she made it to the sparkling array of codeboxes that made up the foundation of Sugar Rush. She checked every cluster, every constellation of coding in this dark sky, to make sure all the data was in its proper place, not a single bit or byte unaccounted for.
It took a long time. Ralph would call in to check on her every now and then. But, after a thorough exploration of her game’s main codes, she felt comfortable enough to conclude that nothing was missing. Nothing was locked away. Nothing was damaged.
But, as she started making her way back, her eyes began to wander. Off into the black recesses of emptiness that seemed to go on for miles. Or, at least, they were supposed to be empty.
Then, she noticed something floating far off to the side. Something lingering in the darkness, away from the cluster of codeboxes that made up all of her citizens, items, and game locations. Something big.
Swallowing the lump of nervousness that formed in her throat, Vanellope started floating closer towards it. The closer she got, the more her heart sank, and she couldn’t deny what this was. Not when it was staring her right in the face.
“Uhh… Raaalph?” She anxiously called to her friend.
“What’s up?” Ralph called back, “Everything okay in there?”
“Shouldn’t King Candy’s codebox be gone?”
Those words sent a dreadful chill down Ralph’s spine.
“... What?” He uttered out, voice frail at first, before booming into something far more aggressive, though that anger clearly wasn’t directed towards Vanellope herself. “Kid, what?! His codebox is still in there?!”
“Yeah, but it’s– I mean, it’s so far away…” Vanellope commented, her confused stare being sent back towards the main bundle of coding she’d floated such a long distance away from, before those troubled eyes ended up back on King Candy’s box. “It’s just kinda sittin’ here.”
“Does it still have wires connected to it?”
“Yeah?”
“Rip them out.”
From where Ralph stood at the door, he could barely see anything that was going on. All he could do was wait and listen for Vanellope’s confirmation that things were okay. So, when a moment of silence stretched on as Vanellope tried to follow that instruction, only for the next noise to come from inside being a startled yelp of pain, Ralph’s anxiety immediately spiked.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“It zapped me when I tried tuggin’ on it!” Vanellope answered, “I can’t do anything with it, it’s bein’ all weird!”
Cursing under his breath, Ralph ran his hand over his face, unsure of what to do… but then, Vanellope spoke back up.
“Hey, Ralph?”
“Yeah?”
“... It looks like there’s a Cy-bug icon on his codebox.”
Again, both of them fell deathly silent. If that meant what they thought it meant, the arcade could still very much be in danger. Eventually, Ralph offered a suggestion.
“Kid, do you think you could glitch me in there with you?”
There was one more moment of silence. Then, the licorice tether in Ralph’s hand went limp, as though it had been untied from Vanellope. But, before he could ask anything more, the girl had appeared right beside him in a flash of blue light.
“Guess we didn’t really need to bother with that thing.” She said, eyeing the rope in Ralph’s hand. He gave a slight shrug, then dropped it, and took Vanellope’s hand instead.
Together, they both made their way back to the virus in question. When Ralph got a good look at it, he could see exactly what Vanellope meant. It was nowhere near as bright as the other codeboxes, though it had unusual crackles of electricity sparking all around it. And, right there next to his King Candy icon, a Cy-bug silhouette had been imprinted on Turbo’s coding.
Ralph wasted no time in trying to tear this thing apart. But, the second he put his hands on those wires snaking out of his codebox, a surge of electricity shot Ralph backwards.
“Ralph!” Before he got sent flying too far away, Vanellope glitched into him, and brought them both back next to the altered coding. “Is your meatlug brain bein’ extra stinky today, or didja think I was jokin’ when I said that ain’t workin’?”
“We can’t just let this stay here.” Ralph insisted, grabbing for the wires again, but the second he tried to yank, it electrocuted him far harder than before. He was forced back yet again, cursing as his own physical form started to stutter with binary static.
“Stop it!” Vanellope snapped at him, not bringing him closer to the codebox this time. “This ain’t your game, stop doin’ things that might kill ya!”
There was a sigh of frustration that came out of him, a moment where he had to shake some sense back into himself, but he eventually conceded to her point. “That little slimeball…” Ralph growled under his breath, casting a vicious glare towards the false king’s code, “I’ll bet he put some sort of safeguard on this thing…”
Leave it to Turbo to find a way to cheat death itself.
But when Ralph got his hands on him, he wouldn’t be cheating it much longer.
-
Thanks to Sergeant Calhoun, every game in the arcade had now been armed with the highest-level guns Hero’s Duty had to offer in the case of any more Cy-bug emergencies. Guns so powerful, they could one-shot even some boss monsters from their original game. So, Ralph had equipped one from those stashed in Sugar Rush, slung it across his back, and started making way towards Diet Cola Mountain.
“So you really think he respawned there somehow?” Vanellope asked, following close behind as they got closer towards her old home.
“Well, since he died in the cola beacon, that’s probably the first place we should check… Characters usually respawn around where they died…” Under his breath, Ralph muttered in frustration, “But with how long it’s been, he’s probably long gone by now if he did survive…”
That being said, if he is still a Cy-bug, they should’ve seen some sign of him by now. There’s no logical reason Ralph could think of that somebody of that size and chaotic presence could go unnoticed for this long. Either way, if he was at the mountain, Ralph could injure him enough that he wouldn’t cause problems while they figured out what kind of a coding issue left him alive in the first place. But if not…
He tried not to think about that for now.
Vanellope and Ralph made their way inside through her secret doorway, Ralph keeping his gun raised as he slowly advanced through the hidden bonus level.
“Wait here, and keep your eyes peeled.” Ralph had instructed her, positioning Vanellope behind a cluster of peanut brittle that could hide her. “Remember, you’re just here to be the escape route. Don’t move unless we need a fast exit.”
“Seriously?” Vanellope deadpanned at him.
“Yes, seriously.” Ralph reiterated, sending one last serious look her way, “I mean it, kid. Stay put.”
With that, he continued further along into the bonus level, praying that Vanellope would follow that one simple direction… but he didn’t have time to focus on her for long. When he turned the next corner, he caught sight of a very familiar-looking Cy-bug that made Ralph’s heart rate spike the second he laid eyes on it.
His first instinct was to aim his gun right at him, tensed to fire, but he paused upon realizing the Cy-bug was unconscious. Not only unconscious, but completely pinned down, and very injured.
His body, covered in slashes and bitemarks, had been bent over a mound of peanut brittle and restrained in place. Metallic ropes, clearly not of this game, had his legs and torso tied firmly in place against spikes of similar metal protruding from the ground all around him, as though they were made specifically to keep him trapped. His arms were also bound, pinned to the ground in front of him, with his head resting against them. His head which, Ralph quickly noticed, had a wire basket muzzle caged around his mouth area to prevent any biting. More concerningly, ropes also had the Cy-bug’s tail forcibly lifted, positioned in such a way that made Ralph’s stomach turn with disgust. He couldn’t say he knew the reproductive system of Cybrids very well, but it was very obvious to him what this makeshift stockade was being used for. The half-dried blood pooled at the ground beneath his tail end only further confirmed Ralph’s theory, and though he never would’ve thought this possible until now, it had him feeling a sharp pang of pity for Turbo.
He may have been an evil bastard. He may have deserved the death they all thought he’d gotten after everything he did. But he didn’t deserve something like this. Nobody did.
“Ah, geez…” Ralph grimaced, lowering the gun.
“What happened to him…?”
He jumped when Vanellope’s voice was suddenly right next to him, her worried eyes now focused on the injured Cy-bug as well.
“What did I say about moving?!” Ralph snapped at her, quickly rushing to block her view with one hand, “Kid, you should not be seeing this. Just– Get outta here and let me handle this, okay?”
She immediately shoved his hand away, glaring at him. “If that was supposed to be a joke, it ain’t very funny.”
“Why would I be joking?” Ralph’s exasperated voice fired back, “Vanellope, seriously, just wait outside, this isn’t okay for you to see–”
“Ralph, you gotta be crazy if you think I should leave. I’m the escape route, remember?” She pointed out, “If something around here did that to a Cy-bug, I don’t think one fancy gun will be enough if whatever it is shows up again.”
“Then we both need to leave and figure out a better way to–”
“No way. We are not leaving him like that.”
“Well, what else do you expect us to do?”
“We’ll take him back to the castle.” Vanellope answered plain as day, with not a hint of hesitation. “We can just keep ‘im in the dungeon ‘till we figure everything out. It’s big enough for a Cy-bug, easy peasy.”
“‘Back to the’-?!” Before Ralph could even begin unpacking the sheer insanity of that suggestion, he said, “Do you even know if you can glitch with something that big in the first place?!”
Ralph stopped talking when the two of them suddenly heard a startled hitch of breath. Their stares followed the noise back to King Candy, having been awoken by their arguing, who was now staring back at them with sheer terror in his eyes.
“D-Don’t c— St-Stay aw-way–” The Cy-bug barely croaked out, wear and tear painfully apparent in his exhausted voice.
It only made Vanellope’s resolve even stronger. How her priorities could flip so drastically, Ralph didn’t entirely know. But, she continued to make it clear that she would not be letting things stay the way they currently were. What they had once been sent here to get rid of, they were now going to help.
“I ain’t leaving.” Vanellope insisted, putting her foot down. “Not till he’s outta here.”
Ralph’s conflicted eyes stayed on Vanellope a few moments longer, biting his tongue as he looked back towards Turbo. With a reluctant sigh, he slung the gun into its holster on his back. “Mods… Let’s just make this quick.”
When they started moving closer towards him, that’s when King Candy really started to panic, and in spite of how worn-down his voice already was, fear granted him the ability to raise his volume regardless.
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” He shouted at them, struggling hard in spite of how useless it was. The closer they got, the more he snarled and snapped his fangs. An empty threat, as he was all too painfully aware, with that muzzle caging his face. The closer Ralph got, the more his heart felt as though it’d explode in his chest from pure dread, especially when he started reaching for one of the Cy-bug’s pinned legs. “I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL KILL BOTH OF YOU, DON’T TOUCH M–!”
The second Ralph put his hands on him, King Candy shrieked, his helpless thrashing against his restraints growing more and more frantic. The threats devolved into desperate, pleading sobs, his “I’ll kill you”s having morphed into “Please stop, please, I can’t take any more, please don’t hurt me”, words becoming less comprehensible through his crying with each second that passed.
But Ralph didn’t stop. He’d only hesitated for a moment, cringing at the terrified scream he’d let out, but they didn’t have time to waste. If they wanted to get him out of here without getting caught by whatever put him here, he had to move quickly, regardless of whatever protests the Cy-bug made.
Feeling Ralph climbing up the fixture holding his body in place, King Candy’s head slumped back down against his arms in defeat, choking on his own sobs with each breath he struggled to take. When he felt one tiny hand being timidly placed on his arm, he flinched hard, eyes squeezing shut to avoid looking at its source. He knew it was Vanellope. He knew she was just a child and she logically couldn’t do much to hurt him, unlike Ralph. But he also knew she must be holding some sort of grudge, and must want to take it out on him somehow.
However, she’d done nothing of the sort. Instead, she started rubbing gentle circles against his arm, her own voice trembling when she started to murmur “It’s okay” over and over, as though she were trying to comfort him. If anything, she sounded like she’d been close to tears, herself. Why, he had no idea. But he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes to confirm. All he could do was keep his head down, shaking and weeping uncontrollably, as he braced himself for whatever sort of violation Ralph was bound to inflict upon him while he was helpless to stop it–
Clunk!
All of a sudden, one of his hind legs had been freed from its constraint, a broken piece of the structure holding him in place having fallen to the ground. Then, the other followed suit, both hind legs falling limply away from where they’d been pinned. Still, King Candy had trembled, not daring to open his eyes, to see what Ralph was up to, until he felt the binds propping his tail up get snapped off next, letting it drop to the ground. Vision blurred from tears, he risked peeking back, only to see Ralph completely dismantling the makeshift stockade he’d been trapped within, tearing pieces away with ease, and freeing parts of the Cy-bug’s body from the prison that held him hostage for so long.
It took some time, but his distraught crying had eventually diminished into low, quiet whimpers upon realizing they weren’t trying to hurt him, though he still couldn’t stop himself from flinching whenever he felt Ralph move or brush against his body. Minutes dragged by like hours, despite Ralph working as quickly as he could to demolish the structure pinning King Candy down without hurting him, all the while Vanellope stayed by his side, keeping up with those comforting arm-rubs and words of reassurance. King Candy didn’t get it at all, had no idea what they were up to, but anything was better than staying trapped like this any longer.
When the last of the stockade was pulled away, having finally been freed, King Candy immediately tried to scramble away from the two other characters. But his legs, numb and stiff from being pinned for so long, refused to carry his weight. They buckled beneath him the second he tried to move, collapsing to the ground in seconds. Still, he tried to pull himself away, made harder by the fact that his arms were still tied together.
“Turbo, it’s okay.” Ralph tried to reassure him, cautiously approaching, “We’re going to get you out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
That threatening voice had King Candy right back in a mess of sobs all over again the second he heard it, curling himself into as tight of a ball as he could, as though that could hide himself from what was about to happen. What Vanellope and Ralph saw the second they’d whipped around to face this newcomer was another Cybrid, the sheen of silver metal adorning every piece of its massive body. While it had a set of normal Cy-bug legs, there was a slew of long robotic appendages that protruded from multiple points along the creature’s back, providing it with far more versatility than a standard bug. Especially with each elongated tendril having three-pronged pincers at the ends of them, capable of grasping. Its eyes held a malicious scarlet glow, and its silvery face, like that of a demonic skull, was one that Ralph recognized.
But he didn’t have time to focus on that, for this Cybrid looked ready to tear them apart for daring to tamper with its property.
An accumulation of mechanical tendrils shot at Ralph and Vanellope like bullets, though Vanellope was faster. She glitched right into Ralph, and the two of them vanished in a flash of blue pixels, as if they left the mountain entirely, leaving those clawed limbs to smash holes into the ground instead.
It let out an annoyed snort, eyes scanning the surroundings for a brief moment, but saw no obvious sign of them. Alas, it had heard of Vanellope’s abilities in the same way it had heard of Turbo’s takeover of Sugar Rush. It had become common knowledge, after all, and so it was no surprise she’d use those powers to run them both away like the cowards they were.
Then, its gaze settled on Turbo, still a cowering mess of sobs on the floor, and it let out a dark, mocking chuckle.
“Looks like they abandoned you,” The creature taunted him, relishing in its victim’s escalating distress with every step closer it took, mechanical tendrils slithering across the ground towards him. With red eyes narrowed to slits, it added on with a derisive sneer, “Really, who can blame them?”
But, they hadn’t left at all. Vanellope had simply hidden them amongst pillars of peanut brittle from farther away, giving Ralph the perfect window of opportunity to pull this next move off.
Ralph aimed the high-tech gun ready in his hands, all its sensors locking on to his target, and fired.
The force of the recoil alone shot Ralph backwards, but that was nothing compared to what happened to the Cybrid he struck.
A flurry of plasma-bullet projectiles tore into the Cy-bug’s armoured body, blowing off massive chunks of metal as though its body were made of brittle porcelain. The beast roared in a mix of shock and overwhelming pain, staggering back with its extra limbs thrashing about in distress, losing control of itself for a moment.
Ralph tried to fire again, but got thwacked by one of those rogue appendages before he could shoot. The gun fell from his hands, and the second this Cybrid heard that weapon clatter to the ground and felt the culprit who fired it against its limbs, it went completely on the offensive. First, it smashed the gun to pieces with one swift pummelling of pincers. Then, mangled as its body may have been, its vibrant red wings sprouted from its back, and it lunged for Ralph, vicious roaring thundering across the bonus stage.
But, again, Vanellope was faster. Taking her slim chance while she had it, Vanellope grabbed Ralph, glitched them both to King Candy, held onto him next, and focused all of her energy into making this last trip.
With one final, overwhelming flash of blue, the trio escaped Diet Cola Mountain, leaving this other mauled monstrosity far behind them.
When they had finally made it to the safety of Sugar Rush Castle’s dungeon, the Cy-bug had skittered away from Ralph and Vanellope the very second he was able to, stumbling away to press himself against the furthest wall of the room.
Ralph, with his guard all the way up, started to say something to him, only to quickly be forced to shift gears when he saw Vanellope stumble next.
“Kid!” Ralph exclaimed, barely catching her before she fell over, “You okay?”
“Uff… Crazy head rush…” Vanellope mumbled, struggling to regain her bearings, even with Ralph’s help. “Just ain’t used to glitchin’ with someone that big, I guess…”
Speaking of the Cy-bug in their midst, Ralph spared a cautionary glance in his direction. King Candy had found a corner to cower himself in, completely refusing to look at either of them, his terrified eyes instead aimed towards the dungeon floor. He was still shaking like a leaf, and Ralph could hear his panicked breathing struggling to stay under control. Instead of the fang-bared beast that gleefully taunted him atop Diet Cola Mountain, that took so much pleasure in throwing Ralph around and forcing him to watch his friend be devoured, he was now something entirely different. A pitiful, broken shell of a man, too petrified to even do something so simple as to make eye contact, too petrified to say a single word.
Ralph took a deep breath, then stepped closer towards the Cy-bug. “Hey. Turbo.”
There was an obvious flinch, a shudder more noticeable than before, but he stayed deathly quiet, keeping his head down, refusing to look Ralph’s way.
Another sigh came out of Ralph, heavy with exasperation. “Listen, nobody’s going to hurt you,” He started to say, only to start backtracking immediately, “I mean, unless you give us a reason t-”
“Hey.” Vanellope cut him off in a scolding tone, especially with the distressed trill King Candy had failed to muffle in response to Ralph’s implied threat, “Not the time for that.”
“No, I just mean–” There was a frustrated groan as Ralph pinched the bridge of his nose, then glared at Turbo again. “Look, if you’re going to stay here, then we’re going to have to go over some ground rules-”
“Ralph, stop it!” Vanellope snapped at him, finally causing her friend to pause. Once given his attention, she gestured to the distraught Cy-bug and emphasized, “He’s scared and he’s tired. We gotta let him rest.”
At that, Ralph hesitated. This was still Turbo, after all. No amount of abuse or trauma is going to change the fact that this is Turbo, and he’s a monster in his own right that they cannot trust in any capacity.
But, looking at him now… he’s still muzzled. His claws were still restrained. And frankly, he was too injured and frightened to be able to cause much trouble in the first place. So, while it was with great reluctance Ralph conceded with a nod, stepping back, and Vanellope turned to address the Cy-bug next. How she was able to speak to him with any sort of kindness or compassion after everything that’s happened, Ralph didn’t know. But, she proceeded to do so with a surprising degree of sincerity.
“We’re gonna leave you alone for a while, okay?” Vanellope spoke gently, trying to reassure him, though couldn’t be sure how well her words were sinking in given his current state. “Try to get some sleep.”
Then, they finally walked away. Vanellope may have kept glancing back until King Candy was out of sight, but none of those glances were returned. His head remained down the entire time.
So, Vanellope sighed under her breath, and turned her attention back to Ralph.
“We gotta tell Tammy about that other bug.” Vanellope whispered to Ralph as they left the dungeon, “If-if it even is a Cy-bug…?”
“Yeah, it is.” Ralph confirmed, a dark look of cognizance on his face. “But it’s also somebody I know.”
-
Something was always off with Sinistar. Even Ralph, who knew all too well of unjust villain discrimination, often found himself thinking the same. He had always tried to be sympathetic, understanding, just as he always was to those who had their games unplugged, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t harder with Sinistar specifically. As much as he hated stooping to the level of judging someone based solely on their demeanor, Sinistar always just seemed… malicious. Something about him was darker than normal villains, as though there was a barely-concealed malice he held towards everybody else in the arcade, merely for existing. Like there was a similar programming error in him that the Cy-bugs shared, something that made him more like the villain he was created to be, instead of simply acting out a role.
That’s how Ralph described it to her, anyway. But Vanellope, she frankly didn’t care if there was always something “wrong” with him or if it was a snap decision he made to start torturing somebody like that… it didn’t matter. She didn’t believe in the idea that there had to be some sort of “predisposition”, some sort of fault in one’s coding, in order to commit evil acts. All that matters is that it happened, Sinistar chose to do it, and that is what made him evil in her eyes.
In that same vein, King Candy was someone who she’s viewed as evil, too. But, after seeing the state they found him in, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him right now. Right now, he was barely the same person she used to know in the first place. Right now, he was somebody who desperately needed help, and though he’s done his own fair share of evil things, Vanellope wasn’t about to leave somebody to suffer so horribly in her domain, no matter who they were. Right now, Sinistar had left her with broken pieces to try and mend, if that would even be possible.
When she walked into the dungeon that first night, the sight that greeted her was one that made her heart ache with pity. King Candy had wedged himself into the furthest corner of the room, curled up tightly as he slept, as though he were trying to take up as little room as possible. Like he was trying to hide away from the world around him so that it couldn’t hurt him anymore. It certainly didn’t look comfortable…
She knew Ralph would say she shouldn’t be here. That he and Calhoun, and maybe even Felix, would’ve told her to stay away for her own safety, to let them handle Turbo when they were off-duty. They were bound to scold her for it once they reviewed that night’s security footage, she was certain. While Calhoun’s murderous rage towards anything even vaguely Cy-bug-shaped had been barely contained by whatever Ralph explained to her, she had still insisted on having some sort of security measure in place, especially considering Sinistar had escaped by the time they got reinforcements to Diet Cola Mountain. So, as soon as they were sure he had fallen asleep, Calhoun had security cameras installed, making sure not to wake him while doing so upon Vanellope’s firm insistence. She had also insisted upon her family staying in their own cabinets tonight, for she wasn’t willing to risk even the slightest chance for any of them to let their paranoia push them into hovering over him like a bunch of overbearing little Space Invaders.
That being said, there was one thing Vanellope wanted to do herself that involved getting up close to him… but Vanellope knew from personal experience how cold the dungeon can get, and she wasn’t about to let King Candy go without blankets. It was already bad enough that they left him muzzled with his arms tied, she had to provide some sort of comfort to balance it out…
She took light steps closer towards him, dragging along the huge pile of blankets she’d brought with her, until they were all right next to him. Then, Vanellope stood in place for a moment, tapping her foot in thought as she stared up at the massive creature in front of her. For as small as he currently held himself, he was still huge, even by Cy-bug standards. But, maybe if she glitched just right, she could let the blankets drop overtop of him without actually touching him too much?
She’d tried her hardest to be careful, to be quiet, praying that the brief sounds of her glitching wouldn’t be enough to wake him from his deep slumber. So far, it didn’t seem to be a problem, and so she carried onwards, managing to get the first few blankets over him without issue. But, when one of those blankets had been tugged a bit too brazenly across one of his open wounds, the Cy-bug suddenly jerked awake.
Vanellope glitched back immediately, putting a safe distance between them as she’d anticipated him lashing out, but that’s not what happened. Aside from his initial flinch, he’d barely moved at all. If anything, all he’d done was shrink away from her, pressing himself harder against the wall as though he wished to disappear against it.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake ya.” She murmured, an apologetic look on her face. Vanellope gestured to the blankets on his back, his eyes only following that gesture for a split second before locking back onto her. “Just tryin’ to make sure ya don’t get too cold, y’know…?”
Her explanation yielded no response from him, that unchanging, tense stare being all she got back. She had to wonder if he was even listening to a single word she was saying, or if he was too paralyzed by fear to realize she wasn’t there to hurt him. Not that she could really understand how he’d see someone like her as a threat in the first place… but, either way, it was fairly obvious he wasn’t in a state to be thinking clearly.
Biting her tongue, Vanellope ultimately decided she might as well finish what she came here for. She’d started moving the last of the blankets closer, and King Candy stayed frozen in place, following her every movement with his pupils, but he didn’t speak a word. Part of Vanellope felt horrible for bothering him, especially with how he hadn’t stopped shuddering since being woken up, but another part of her hoped this gesture would help prove to him that he’d be safe here…
“There we go…” She murmured upon getting the last of the blankets overtop of him, “Hope that’s a lil’ comfier?”
He didn’t respond. Only stared.
Vanellope bit her tongue again, looking away as she thought for a moment… then, she glitched away, and came back again with as many pillows as she could carry, placing them delicately around him. She repeated the process until he was suitably surrounded in pillows and blankets, though the Cy-bug hadn’t moved or reacted the entire time.
“Promise I won’t bother ya again.” She tried to reassure him, offering a hesitant smile, “I’ll let ya get back to sleepin’.”
Again, no reaction. All he did was stare at her, just as tense as before. Like he was somehow still expecting something terrible to happen, regardless of Vanellope’s multiple reassurance attempts.
So, unsure of what else she could possibly do to make him feel better, she finally left him alone.
She left, went to her own room, sat on her bed, but didn’t go to sleep right away. Instead, she stayed up, and watched over the dungeon’s security feed for the hours it took until King Candy finally fell back asleep.
Only then did she feel like she could relax enough to do the same.