Felix was there first, then Peppermark pushed himself in front and almost knocked into Vanellope as he floated closer.
"Where's Turbo? Did he hurt you? I swear that little sour bite is gonna get it if I-"
"Guys, no, stop! It's not like that! We had it all wrong," Vanellope said, interrupting him mid sentence.
"Whad'ya mean we had it all wrong? Where is the little creep?" Ralph asked, swinging his head around, still a bit unstable in the anti gravity world of the code.
"I mean he wasn't really trying to hurt anyone! I can explain if you'll just listen!" Vanellope said.
Peppermark gasped and pointed at Turbo's helmet, which he'd spotted only a moment ago, and Felix rushed over. He grabbed it from the mess of wires.
"It's...just the helmet, guys," he said, just as a spark of blue electricity shot out from somewhere inside the code, followed by a ripping sound and everyone rushing to grab the wires behind Vanellope.
Despite her trying to stop them, Calhoun threw back the wires to reveal Turbo on the same box, which happened to be his own, ripping at the wires he'd connected to himself. He didn't even acknowledge when Calhoun lifted her gun and Vanellope shouted "No! Wait!!"
"Move, kid, this guy is in the code again, who knows what he's capable of," Calhoun said. Sour Gum pulled Vanellope back, and she shouted again.
She glitched away, towards Turbo, and pushed him aside.
"What are you doing?" She hissed to him.
His response was in his usual, upbeat voice, every trace of is earlier emptiness gone, "Disconnecting myself from the game, of course. That's the only way you'll be able to kill me."
The others looked at him, guns and fists raised, waiting for him to strike at Vanellope...but he didn't.
"You guys won, I lost, game over, right?" He said, shrugging. He reached for his wires again, but Vanellope swatted his hand away. "Stop trying to help, Vanellope, the good guys won and the bad guys lost, it's over, okay?"
"No, Turbo, it's not over." She said, and he looked at her, his eyes tired. "Because you were never the bad guy."
Calhoun spoke up, then, "Vanellope, what are you talking about?"
Vanellope went on to explain what Turbo had told her, about where he was from and what he'd really been doing in her game. How he just wanted somewhere he fit in. And how she was willing to forgive him.
"That...that doesn't seem very likely," Felix said, and Ralph agreed, saying, "Sounds like Turbo's been messing with her code."
"What? No! Guys, I'm serious!" Vanellope cried.
"Ralph, can you grab her so we can finish this?" Sour Gum asked, and Ralph nodded, the others moving aside as he floated closer and grabbed her.
"Stop! Let me go!" She shrieked, and Turbo immediately went back to ripping his wires away.
He put his hand on the last one, gripping it, and looked back to Vanellope. She tried to glitch away, but Ralph would grab her again. Her arms fell to her side as she grew tired from the struggle, repeatedly glitching away and being dragged back.
"Turbo, don't," she said.
"I'm tired, kid...I'm so tired," he responded, gripping he wire tighter. "Maybe it's time I stopped fighting."
Just as he went to jerk his arm and remove the wire, Peppermark spoke up.
"Fighting?" He squeaked.
Turbo looked to him. "Fighting. Fighting for a place to go or stay...tired of it. For years I lived peacefully in Sugar Rush. I...I didn't want that to end. But it did. And I was angry. I made a mistake coming here, and, well, I'm tired of fighting the inevitable. Once my wires are gone, that woman will shoot me, and I will be gone forever. I will never meddle in Vanelope's life again, nor yours, Peppermark. I will never meddle with a game's code. Never again. I'll be...gone."
The group was silent, Calhoun letting the gun drop from where it had been pointing at his head.
Turbo bumped his box, and the helmet disassembled into pixels from Felix's hands and materialized back on his head.
He grinned, attempting to wipe away his tired accent, but it stuck as he said, "See ya, fellahs," and ripped the remaining wire from his box.
Vanellope saw him squint, his body clench and his hands instinctively reach up to protect his face. She waited for Calhoun to pull the trigger, for the popping sound of the bullet going in, for Turbo to dissappear forever. But nothing happened, Turbo relaxed a bit...looking around after opening his eyes just a bit. Then his hands dropped to his sides and he sighed.
"Why haven't you killed me?" he muttered.
Calhoun answered, looking as dazed and regretful as the rest of the group, and said plainly, "Crap."
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Shorter than the rest, but ah, the story is almost over, so...yeah. As always, credit to TootsieRollYumYum for the story idea and some of the characters! Go check her out, give her books a read. Her minecraft ones are pretty cool. owo
