Chapter Seven: Crazier

The girl sat down in the computer chair and spun around to face the desk in front of her. She grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl beside her and shoved it into her mouth, pulling a headset onto her ears. She looked down at her laptop screen and smiled in satisfaction. It was so cool. She'd managed to create a direct link to one of the arcade games, and could see it all from home. She spun around in the chair, but froze when she heard a noise.

Ping!

How was it possible? The girl slid back over to the desk, staring at the screen. Maybe she hadn't just connected her laptop to one game. It was to the entire arcade?! A name popped up on the screen: kingofthejungle101. The girl frowned. Another hacker? No, it wasn't possible. She was the only one who could have made the link. She sighed, and adjusted the mouthpiece, clicking on the username.

"Hey, kid, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Not a very nice way to start a conversation," said a boy's English accent in reply. "Not much of a name either - queenbee7."

"You can't say much, kingofthejungle101," the girl shot back. "Look, can you get out of my interface? You can't hack into another hacker's stuff."

"No way," said the boy. "What I'm doing with this game is cool. I'm not just going to leave."

"Well you're gonna have to," said the girl firmly. "It's not yours to play around with and-"

"Wait," the boy interrupted. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"In the Pac-Man game," said the boy. "Right underneath."

The girl focused the screen on the data below Pac-Man. "I don't know what you're-" She cut herself off and stared at the screen. "Who's that?"

"No clue," said the boy. "But I don't think they're supposed to be there."

"Too right," the girl muttered. "What are they doing?"

"Looks like the same as us, but from inside the game," said the boy. "How is that possible?"

"They must be game characters, but wouldn't they be in a game?" The girl frowned, eating some more popcorn.

"What's the crunching noise?" the boy asked.

"I'm hungry," the girl shrugged. "I don't think that woman, or the man, are even supposed to be in there."

"Listen to what they're saying," said the boy quietly.

"I need Big Hero Six out of there! Any contact between them and the princess could trigger a complete meltdown of our system!" the woman was saying.

"Oh, she means the president of Sugar Rush," said the boy. "President Von Schweetz can remember really weird things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, like things from the real world. It's like she's not a game character at all."

"There's another guy like that," the girl said. "In Hero's Duty."

"In Hero's Duty?" the boy repeated.

"That sounds really weird when you say it," said the girl. "If you're from Britain, why are you in San Fransokyo?"

"Do we really need my life story right now?" the boy sighed. "I think that woman is the bad guy here, and no-one in there even knows it."

"It's like the game characters are real people," said the girl, "Only they don't know about the real world."

"Except two of them," the boy pointed out. "I think that if the characters don't remember each other, the evil lady's plan will go ahead. And evil plans usually aren't good."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Wait a minute," said the boy. "No, there's no way I'd work together with you."

"I suppose we could save the arcade," the girl pondered. "But no way! I never want to speak to you again, stupid hacker."

"You're a hacker too," the boy said meaningfully.

"At least I don't hack into hacker software," the girl snapped. She took of the headset and slammed it into the keyboard.

"Fine," the boy muttered, before his voice disappeared.

Hello, princess.

I thought you'd gone, Vanellope accused, leaning on the balcony overlooking the whole of Sugar Rush.

Nope. Still here.

Do you know what's happening, subconscious?

There was a slight pause where Vanellope could hear only the gentle breeze rustling the candy-wrapper leaves on the trees.

I know some things.

Like what? I have a million questions.

I can't tell you them, obviously.

That's not fair. Vanellope sighed, pushing a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. Despite the consistent melancholy that had been overwhelming her all day, she looked out at the sunrise and smiled slightly. The bright amber sun was slowly bursting into the pale sky, staining it with coral, saffron and violet. It was beautiful.

The voice seemed to hesitate, unsure of what to say. Almost making up its mind.

Look, princess-

The voice broke off, like it was disconnecting. Vanellope just sighed again. The day hadn't been as fun as she'd dreamt this world to be. Especially now that she wasn't sure Hiro, or any of the others, really remembered her. And they were leaving to return to their game that morning. Vanellope had one last chance to find out how much Hiro remembered.

"You wanted to see me, Miss President?"

Ah, yes, now she remembered. She had sent the servant to fetch Hiro some time ago.

"Hiro." Vanellope turned to him, her skirts rustling as she moved.

"You know my name, Your Excellency?" Hiro smiled.

Vanellope felt a lump in her throat. Of course I know your name, you idiot. "You don't remember me, at all, do you?" Vanellope asked.

"I don't really understand," said Hiro. "We met yesterday, Miss President."

Vanellope finally felt like breaking down into tears. "You remember nothing?"

Hiro shook his head in confusion. "Are you alright? I could send for someone-"

"I'm fine," Vanellope said shortly. She moved closer to him, looking into those deep brown eyes of his. He was still the same old Hiro Hamada. "Hiro, it's me – Vanellope. We both lived in San Fransokyo, and we went to the movies together. We went to the arcade, the cinema, everywhere. Don't you remember?"

"Your Excellency," Hiro said, a hint of alarm coming into his voice.

"But then your brother Tadashi died and you wouldn't speak to anyone," Vanellope went on. "You must remember Tadashi. He was everything to you."

"Your Excellency," Hiro said politely, gently pushing her off him, "Uh, Miss Von Schweetz. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Maybe you've got me confused with someone else-"

"I don't, Hiro," Vanellope interrupted. "I know you're still you in there, you've just forgotten about me, that's all." She brushed a lock of hair off Hiro's face and he stepped back.

"I think you're a little confused-"

"I'm not confused!" Vanellope snapped. "Why can't you just remember? I feel so lonely without you, even though you're right here..."

"Guard!" Hiro called.

"I'm not dangerous, Hiro," Vanellope pleaded. "Why can't you just see?" Her eyes started brimming with tears, which she angrily wiped away. "I remember you! I would never forget you, Hiro!"

"Guard!" Hiro yelled again, far more urgently this time.

"I thought, over the time we knew each other, that maybe I felt something for you, Hiro," said Vanellope, advancing on him. "I can't just accept that you don't remember me! We were close! So close..."

Two guards ran onto the balcony, restraining the princess from Hiro.

"We'll take this from here, Sir," the first one said.

"Terribly sorry, Sir," the other added.

Hiro gave Vanellope one last look before fleeing the scene.

"I'm not crazy!" Vanellope screamed after him. "You knew me, Hiro Hamada!"

"Your Excellency, we're going to have to take you to the medical quarters," said the first guard.

"No!" Vanellope shouted. "I'm not sick! And I'm not crazy!"

The two guards exchanged a glance and nodded.

"I order you to bring Hiro back!" Vanellope wept, her voice cracking.

The first guard brought out a needle and drained the contents into Vanellope's arm. Tears streaming down her face and her voice hoarse, she collapsed to the ground, her vision starting to swim. "Hiro..." she whispered, finally falling unconscious.

A/N: OK, so firstly - sorry that this is two days late, and that it's not as long as I would have liked it. I'll make it up to you with a super long chapter in the future, I promise :) Thank you all so much for your support and I hope you enjoyed this - if so, please leave a review below, much appreciated!

'Til next time,

Ginger xx