End

Although none of them had aged a single day, deep in their code, all the characters at Litwak’s Family Center knew that they were very, very old. For the past seventy years, they had been working day after day to keep children and adults alike entertained, and for most, that was a record to be proud of.

Their only collective regret was that it was all finally coming to an end, for the original Litwak’s son had decided to sell the building and recycle the last few games that were his father’s legacy.

“Tamora,” Felix said softly, his voice gentle as he tried to coax her from her sleep. For a minute, when no answer was given, when she remained quiet and still, he was tempted to allow her to sleep, to spare her the fate that they all knew was coming. This thought was quickly tossed away a moment later, for he knew well enough by now that if he tried to pull something like that, she would never forgive him.

He never would have forgiven himself if he had tried to take away her last chance to say goodbye.

“Tamora, honey, it’s time.” Watching as her eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice, Felix found that the words he had been about to say had become stuck in his throat, his every muscle stilling under her alert and attentive gaze. For a long while the two just laid there, staring at the other in an attempt to once again memorize the face that they had seen every morning for the last forty years. Barely breathing, his heart pounding in the exact same way it had the first time he had seen her, if Felix could have paused the world, he would have spent the rest of eternity in that single moment and have been the happiest man alive.

But all times had to end, and theirs concluded with a kiss that reminded him exactly why he was the luckiest character in the entire arcade.

“The others will be waiting for us,” Tamora whispered as she pulled away, the sadness in her eyes striking him like a duck to his side, making the urge to pull the covers back over their heads and stay in bed rise to an almost overwhelming height. Instead, all he did was nod and turn away, his movements slow as he began to prepare for the day that they had all been dreading.

None of them had expected to live forever, for even the most classic of games would eventually find themselves facing a pulled plug. But for things to be so sudden, for the end to have arrived so quickly, without a single chance of surviving the outcome, well, none of them could say that it was just quite fair.

“Are you ready to go,” Tamora asked as she knelt by the door, her hands shaking slightly as she finished tying the laces of her boots. Wordlessly, just as he had done almost every day that the two of them had been married, Felix reached over and grabbed her gun from their bedside table, the weapon a familiar weight that he had grown accustomed to over their many years together. Even after the plug on her game had been plugged, thus eradicating the only creatures in the entire arcade that she would have ever needed to use it on, Tamora had continued to carry her small service weapon on her hip, just in case. Once she had taken it from his hand, the final thing that she did before they were both ready to leave their home and face another day, Felix would be ready to go.

“Not today, Fix-It,” Tamora said with a shake of her head as she pushed the gun away, the first time she had ever refused to take a weapon from him, “not today. Where we’re going, I’m not going to need it.”

All he could do was nod as he placed the shining black pistol back into its spot. As if it was a side thought, Felix pulled his golden hammer from its spot on his belt, placed it next to the gun, and followed his wife out the door. Just like there was nothing left for her to shoot, there was nothing left that he needed to fix.

Time, in comparison to other games such as Hero’s Duty, had been kind to Fix-It Felix Jr. It had long ago been deemed a classic, the kind of game that, twenty years after they first played it, was still the first one that returning adults looked for when they arrived. It had also become a sanctuary, a place where characters whose games had been unplugged could live safely, away from the dangers that inhabited Grand Central Station. What had once been a single street of extra apartments had become a bustling city, built and expanded out of sight of the player to hold all the casts of the many games that had been unplugged over the years.      

What had started out as a home for a dozen or so Nicelanders had become a world for hundreds, and in just a little while, all of it would be gone.

It did not take long for the two of them to make their way to the tunnel that would take them into the station, the normally over-congested streets already deserted by the inhabitants that had left long before the two of them had awoken. Others had never come back from the farewell party that had been started a few days beforehand, the final celebration of the lives that they had lived and the time they had spent in the arcade. Those who did remain within the game had turned their backs on the world, refusing to accept the reality of their situations, believing that, if they just closed their eyes and waited it out, the world would still be there tomorrow.

Although Felix would have liked to join them, even he was not naive enough to believe that it was true. And I if he was to go, he wanted to go with his family.

The train ride was a short, quiet affair, any words that the two of them could have said suddenly seeming unnecessary in the face of what they had been through and what was to come. The only thing that they needed to do was intertwine their fingers for them to know exactly what was on the other’s mind, and knowing that they were there, that they were together, was the only thing that they needed to keep moving forward.

“I was worried that you two wouldn’t show,” Ralph said with a relieved sigh as Felix helped Tamora from the train, Vanellope sitting on her normal spot on his shoulder. It was obvious that the young princess had been crying, despite the brave face that she was currently sporting, and it was only with the greatest of will power that she waited until Tamora had finished exiting the train that she launched herself into the warrior woman’s arms, clinging to her as if she was a lifeline.

“Of course we came, brother,” Felix said with a small smile, his hand reaching out to clasp Ralph’s in a handshake that covered most of his arm. “We would never miss it.”

“Good,” Vanellope said with a nod as she jumped from Tamora’s arms into Felix’s, forcing the handyman that was only slightly larger than her to stumble backwards as he tried to regain his footing and keep them both from falling. “I told Stink Brain that you would be here,” she said as she tightened her hold on him, her face burying itself into his chest, “I told him that you wouldn’t break up our family.”

“Of course we wouldn’t, sweetheart,” Felix replied as he returned her hug, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head as he spoke. “We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“You should have had more trust in us, Wreck-It,” Tamora growled as she gave the larger man a playful slap on the back, purposely sending him a step forward with a smirk on her lips. “Lollipop believes in us, you should too.”

“Do…” Ralph’s words faded as the lights above them flickered into darkness, the familiar hum that had come from the electrical system suddenly falling silent. Almost instinctively the four of them gravitated towards each other, their many adventures in the past a reminder that they were safer together. A second later the lights returned, revealing similar groups around the station as friends and foes alike tried to gain the comfort they so desperately longed for from one another. Her hugs having been given, it was the work of moments for Vanellope to return to her former stop on Ralph’s shoulder, her eyes wide and wary as she looked towards the window that was their only link to the outside world.

A shadowy figure had bumped the surge protectors’ plug, and it would not be long before it would all be over. Forever.

“Come on,” Ralph said after a moment, his hands landing on Tamora’s and Felix’s shoulders as he walked, herding them towards an empty corner of the station where they could all watch the window together. Settling himself so that he was leaning against the wall, it was with swift movements, giving none of them any time to protest, that Ralph pulled them all into his lap, his arms tightening around them to keep them from leaving.

Tamora was the only one of them that struggled, but even then it was only for a moment. None of them wished to be alone, and here, together once again, was the place where all of them wished to be as the shadow returned.

“I’m gonna miss you, Stink Brain,” Vanellope whispered softly, her arms wrapping around Ralph’s neck as she fixed her eyes on the growing form, unable to keep the tremble out of her voice.

“Nothin’ to miss, President Fart Feathers, ‘cause I’m going to be right next to you the entire time,” Ralph replied gently, though his own words were steady. He had long since accepted their situation, and so was only waiting for the end to finally come. “We had a good run, didn’t we, Felix?”

“That we did, brother,” Felix replied, though his own gaze was locked upon the face of the woman next to him, his own hand reaching out for her own as the shadow grew larger with each passing second. “That we did.”

Whatever else was said between the characters was lost on Felix as he continued to stare at Tamora, their fingers lacing together as the ground around them began to shake. Or perhaps that was just them, for as his free hand found Vanellope’s the trembling only increased, his eyes welling up as he refused to blink. Shifting so that he was standing on Ralph’s leg, face to face with his wife, it was with a deep, shuddering breath that he kissed her, his eyes finally closing as his trembling quieted. Between them, there was no need for words, for everything they could have ever said was spoken with that kiss.

A moment later, as the plug for the surge protector was finally pulled, all there was was a flash of pain until all that remained was nothing.