What is a father

It was always sunny in Sugar Rush. Why not, really? It was a happy children’s racing game with cute characters and a landscape made completely out of candy. Why should it ever rain in a place as happy as this?

‘Well, once the sun was covered’, King Candy thought to himself. That had been a once in a life time anomaly though, since the sky had been covered to its end with cy-bugs.  He remembered the incident well. Why not? He had been personally there. The sky had almost darkened itself to suit the disaster of situation going in the land. Thankfully all had ended well in the end, giving his subjects no reason to worry again in such a way.
“Thankfully…” he muttered, pondering and wondering how the situation would have changed if he was completely out of the picture. Vanellope, his one and only daughter, would still have inherited the throne and with the help of her new found friends, she would have become a fine ruler. A person who can stand on her own two feet, help others and with the help of others, deal with things no normal nine-year-old child would have. Not that this was not the situation now, mind you…

You just have to throw a long forgotten father into the mix.

The game took its sweet time regenerating him from that…criminal’s code, collecting everything that once was him and putting it back together, bit by bit.  Mending the whole code had taken the most time though, replacing old severed connections and so on. He was rather happy there was no memory of this happening, he truly had had enough of feeling like a stranger in his own body while it was ripped apart and reconstructed again. But in the end that had been the least of his problems.

There had been no-

“Ah, enjoying our afternoon tea are we?” The king was shaken out of his thoughts. How long had he been here sitting and watching the view outside the castle windows?
“Oh, uh yes” he said quickly, before turning to see who was at the door. The long forgotten tea cup sat at the round coffee table right next to his big candy cane chair.

Felix had slipped through the door, giving the absent minded king a kind smile. Felix was known for his kindness after all. “Felix! You should stop sneaking around like that” the king said jokingly “You are going to make Vanellope jealous if she learns the fact that she is not the only one who can scare the candy stripes out of me!”. This prompted Felix to give out a small laugh, but it eventually faded along with his smile.

Before he could say another word though, the king had hopped on his legs and was gesturing towards the chair on the other side of the table. “Oh my, where are my manners! Do take a seat, dear old chap!” He said as he hopped behind the chair, pulling it from under the table in an inviting fashion.  His usual goofy smile had replaced the thoughtful, yet mildly sorrowful look he had just minutes ago worn. He had to give Felix a gentle push in the end to get him to finally sit down.

“Anything you would like? Tea, perhaps? Or maybe some cold soda would do-“before he could finish his sentence, Felix had lifted his hand in a gesture to tell him to stop. The king understood that he was once again fussing about things, something he had a tendency to do when something bothered him. He took a deep breath before walking back to his own chair and giving Felix a sad smile. “It’s really easy to tell when I’m not feeling like myself, now is it?”

“Vanellope has been worried about you for a while now” he said, rubbing his neck with his hand. King Candy smiled at the thought of his daughter, he was so proud of her being able to stand up to herself in such a way she could today. He had been ever so happy to be able to tamper with his captors mind enough to let her live, always trying to force his way through when she was near. To his dismay, it had never truly worked and he had never broken out of the prison that was the back of his own mind. He had been the puppet in the hands of the mad puppeteer, just bouncing in the rhythm of the strings.  It had been heartbreaking to say the least.

“I believe she asked you to talk to me, about these “adult” things that she most likely won’t understand?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at his guest, while still smiling his usual smile. Felix gave a nervous laugh “You truly are her father.”
The king turned to look towards the window, smile on his face fading to suit the more somber expression. “I guess I am…”

After a silent moment, King Candy returned his gaze to Felix. “The things that I’m going to say are not going to leave this room, alright?” He said, trying his best to give Felix a meaningful stare. Not that he truly had to worry about Felix running around town telling other people’s secrets…

Felix placed a hand over his heart. “Of course not, your majesty!” he said with a truly honest voice.  Candy laughed at the title the worker had given him “Gosh, no need to be so formal, I’m not a king anymore, after all!”  He returned his gaze to the window, with the more serious look returning to his features. It took a small while for him to form what he wanted to say. “Sometimes…Sometimes I feel like it would have been better if I had never returned at all.” Hearing this, Felix gave him a worried stare. “Why would you ever think of that?”  

The king let out a small laugh. “ She’s had it harder than a child should ever have to endure”, he started “ now, besides having to deal with responsibilities that she should not have to worry about, she’s forced to live with a person that brings her only painful memories, only memories of the bad times, t-trying to reform a relationship that was once lost again…”  His voice slowly wavered, making his sorrow ever so clear. He quickly withdrew his face to his hands, keeping his tears to himself as he continued. “S-sure she remembers me now, but… It won’t take the pain off from her eyes, every time I...I…” the rest of the sentence was lost because of his now weak voice.

He was sure he didn’t have to make the point clearer. He had been feared like a mad man when he had returned. He had been living in false hope that the memory of him had returned alongside him, but he was bitterly proven wrong by his very own daughter. He could only assume the memories of him were locked a lot deeper than the memories about Vanellope being a princess.   The poor girl had shrieked and ran from him, which had prompted Felix’s colleague and Vanellope’s friend Wreck-it Ralph, to deliver one truly vicious strike to the kings being.

Eventually, the memories about him had come back, but still it had left a void between the king and the princess. A void, that perhaps, was unfixable. Every parent wants to see their child grow little by little, stronger, taller and more independent. When talking about a character in a game though, this growth was more likely just mental since they don’t age, but it was still there.  “It truly pains me to see that she had to grow up in such a way…” the king said as he finally found his voice again.

Felix had found his to the side of the red and white chair, placing his hand on the older man’s shoulder. “The reason why you were not able to be there for her was not your fault. There is no way you could have predicted anything that was going to happen.” He said, giving a few reassuring taps of his hand. “Besides, you bring also good memories to Vanny.”

The king raised his head, mysteriously never tipping over his small crown that sat atop his head. He looked surprised, even though sorrow was still painted all over the edges of his eyes in the form of tears.  Just as Felix was about to continue, a small creak alerted them of a third person that had silently entered the room. Both of them turned their gazes towards the now slightly open red door that presented a small visitor standing behind it, with an awkward smile on her face. Vanellope gave a small nervous laugh. “I-I guess my cover was blown.”

Felix gave her a small smile as he shook his head. Vanellope closed the door behind her, giving King Candy a sharp yet sad stare. Her eyes met his now surprised eyes, as the room stood still for a moment. She was at a loss of words. The silence was not very long lived thankfully. “I…I don’t want you to go away!” she finally got out, as she started getting a little teary eyed as well. “True, I didn’t remember, but that does not mean you should go away!” She pressed her small hand against her chest to push the point. “You are here now!” She sniffed a few times, unable to keep the tears at bay.

King Candy’s expression turned from surprise into a warm hearted smile. He welcomed the candy haired girl to his lap, where she ran now truly crying, giving her an ever so gentle hug to ease her. “I’m not going anywhere” he said in a gentle tone of voice, letting his hand brush over her hair in a fatherly way, as she cried against him. “I’m going absolutely nowhere…”
Eventually her sobs disappeared, turning into stable breathing with a small sniff at times.  

Felix had felt the need to let the two family members be in peace, sneaking out of the room after Vanellope’s outburst. He had known she couldn’t hold her curious nature sometimes and it had not been much of a surprise to see her peeking into the room through the door. “Oh well”, he mused to himself. It was far better this way around. He walked through the castle corridors, humming happily to himself.  

It’s a lot harder to cut the bonds between two family members after all.