InSane
Iggy whimpered in pain as he tried to put his arms up to defend himself from... something. Or was it someone? The sudden movement made his stomach lurch and his head spin and he heard nothing but his own breathing and his heartbeat as loud as a a drum.
"Ohhhhhhh IgggggggggYYYY! Come outttttt, let's playyyy!" Iggy tensed and struggled to get up, but his body simply didn't have the strength. He fought against it, for he knew what would happen if he was caught by him again.
That wasn't his older brother... that was someone else entirely... that was a monster. And for once, Ignatius Koopa could clearly admit... he was scared for his life.
Earlier that week, Iggy noticed several of the normal Koopa Patrol had been missing. He didn't think anything of it, figuring his father had simply sent them on an extended vacation. However, it wasn't until Roy complained that he couldn't find their eldest brother Ludwig that Iggy began to grow suspicious.
He knew his brother had three rooms he would normally be in- his main bedroom, his music room and the basement where they shared a large-scale laboratory. Since no one had seen him all week, he assumed he was working on a new weapon to defeat the Mario brothers with.
That was his overall guess and he would have stuck with it... until he smelled a terrible odor coming from the basement about two weeks after. Hearing everyone in the castle complaining, and their mother worrying about Ludwig, little nine year old Iggy decided to go find his older brother and ask what was going on.
Out of curiosity, he went to the basement since that was the area where the scent was strongest. And he froze, horrified, eyes wide at the sight.
Seven dismembered koopa bodies were strapped down to several steel tables. Blood covered every table and tool he saw, as well as flesh, bone and muscle pieces.
As he looked around, he realized the blood covered bodies strapped to the tables were the seven reported Koopa Patrol that had went missing. He staggered forward, sick to his stomach, but needing to see what had happened at the same time.
One of them was missing his arms, legs and head. Another had his eyes gouged out and his abdomen cut open, exposing what was left of his insides. The remaining five were missing various limbs and organs. One of them, farthest to the right, began groaning. He lacked hands, his right eye, his right foot and some teeth. But Iggy saw his head turning... he was still alive.
"Oh dear stars... h-he's alive!" he screamed, backing away as the barely living guard tried to form words. It was then it dawned on him.
His 13 year brother Ludwig had been the culprit and all seven of them paid the price. But why? What could have caused him to snap like that?
"Tsk, tsk... you should've never come down here..." a cold voice whispered in his ear. Before he could respond, a sharp prick entered his neck and his vision faded into black.
*A Few Hours Later*
Iggy moaned, feeling a headache coming on. He woke up in a barely lit room, a room he'd never seen in the castle before. Struggling to break free from his restraints, he heard a loud, eerie cackle growing closer and closer. But he couldn't. He was trapped, and for the first time in his life, he was terrified. He now understood the phrase 'trapped like rats in a maze.'
"Ignatiussssss... oh where are you my sweet little brotherrrrrr..." his voice bounced off the walls, creating an echo that rattled Iggy's already frayed nerves. He screamed as loud as he could, "SOMEBODY! HELP ME!"
Suddenly, a copper scent shot up his nostrils, making them burn. He felt a clammy hand covering his mouth and he whimpered, tears streaming down his face. "Shhhhh. We can't have anyone finding out about our little secret, right?" The hand soon moved away, leaving Iggy terrified and shaking. He felt sick with the smell of copper and dizzy from all the medication he was pumped full of.
"L-Lu...Ludwig... why... why-argh..." he coughed up blood and shuddered, closing his eyes to try and block the horror he was seeing, his blood-covered claws and face, his wild hair and bloodshot eyes. 'This has to be a nightmare... it has to be! This isn't Ludwig! Please let me wake up...'
"Awwwww, what's wrong, little Iggy? Don't you wanna see your big brotherrrrr?" he slurred, gently stroking Iggy's cheek. It made the poor child whimper and shut his eyes tighter.
"You WILL face me." And a sharper pain than Ignatius Koopa had ever experienced shot up his chest, throat and head. His eyes snapped opened and he screamed once more, feeling blood oozing out from a fresh wound in his abdomen.
"P-P-Please... let me... let me go..." he pleaded weakly, feeling himself losing touch with everything around him. His chest burned and he was sure he was tasting something climbing out of his throat.
"And why should I do that, hmm? Going to tell 'King Dad' about what you found?" he said gleefully. He gripped Iggy's throat and pressed him into the steel table he was strapped to. Pain radiated from every nerve in his body and he found himself unable to breathe.
"You know, you realllllly should've minded your own business, you little twit!" he suddenly said angrily. With a yell, his fist connected with Iggy's stomach. Iggy's eyes widened but he couldn't release his pain-filled scream. Tears still raced down his cheeks and he sputtered up a lungful of blood. It was getting hard to see with everything going in and out, blurring and spotting black and white.
Why him? Why did this have to happened to him?
"I am KOOKY VON KOOPA! You will regret the day you crossed paths with me! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" his brother screeched. He reached over and picked up something that glimmered in the dim light he was in.
"Orrrrrr... it seems like you're going to die before we can have a little fun..." he cooed, pressing the cold metal to Iggy's cheek. Slowly, painfully, he dragged it down until it was near a major artery near his neck.
"Too bad. I was really looking forward to watching you squirm as I cut you apart." he hissed. Iggy couldn't find the energy to retaliate.
'I... I'm gonna.. gonna die...' he thought, seeing something waving in his face. He let his body relax, still scared but accepting as well.
There was no way he would get out. He was sure he would either bleed out from whatever his brother had done to him earlier or he'd be dismembered. Either way, nine year old Iggy knew this was it.
"... K-Koo...ky... " That was all Iggy could string together. Before he could see the glimmering tool come toward him, he fell into unconsciousness.
"Ignatius! Ignatius, wake up!"
Iggy felt himself floating in and out of... somewhere. He also felt sick to his stomach and he couldn't breathe. Everything felt too heavy, felt too cold, felt weird. He wanted to go back to sleep, he wanted to stop feeling pain, he just wanted to feel nothing...
"Please wake up... oh dear Stars, Ignatius! Please do not die... what have I done to you?"
Who was talking like that? Wasn't he already gone?
'Ludwig...help... me...'
"Ignatius? Can you hear me?" a worried voice asked. A face soon swam into view, and Iggy blinked to see clearly. His body began to hurt and he whimpered, his eyes shutting tight.
"Shhh... shhhh..." It was Ludwig... no... that mad... man... Kooky!
'NO! He's going to kill me!'
"P-Please get away... don't kill... no..." the green mechanic moaned, struggling to break away from his 'captor'. Ludwig couldn't be angry at him, but it hurt. It cut deeply seeing his brother in such a weakened state because of HIS personality. The one HE let get out of control.
"No! Please, no! I don't wanna die!" Iggy cried, his arms now flailing about. His body hurt beyond belief and he began sobbing. Ludwig didn't know what else to do to comfort him, so he cradled him closer and rocked him as if he were a baby.
"Oh dear Stars... shhhh... I am so, so sorry you had to go through that... I am so so so sorry..." he whispered in Iggy's hair. Iggy's sobbing didn't subside for almost an hour.
'Dammit, DAMMIT! I lost control! I killed seven people and almost killed my own flesh and blood! Ignatius... Father... I am so sorry...'
Iggy's sobs and tears eventually quieted. "Ludwig... it... it hurts..." he whispered, his hand resting gingerly on his side. His brother said nothing to that.
"Do... do you want me to leave? I can bring Father and the others to watch you..." he asked, painfully expecting him to say yes.
He was caught off guard when he shook his head no and half nestled closer to him instead. "Ignatius?"
His eyes half lidded, he asked in a weak voice, "Why... why would you do that..."
Ludwig didn't know what to say. How could he explain to a nine year old he had split personality? A deadly, uncontrollable koopa who took over and almost killed him?
"I... I have problems, Ignatius. Problems that will harm me and those around me." Ludwig tried to explain. "I had no clue that HE was capable of doing what was done to you and to those Patrol Koopas. I thought I had it under control but... I guess I am just weak... I cannot keep those urges under control and this is the end result!"
Iggy sighed and sank more into Ludwig's arms, feeling sleepy, warm and content for some reason. Ludwig watched with slight amusement and surprise. "Y-You... you're not... w-weak... I know you can beat him, Luddy... the younger brother said sleepily.
"Ignatius... how can you trust me holding you like this... I almost killed you..." he asked, his fingers weaving with his.
The corner of Iggy's snout twitched upwards. "It... was Kooky... not Ludwig..." His eyes drifted closed.
"Are you sure you do not want Mother or Father or someone else here? Do you really feel safe with me?" Ludwig asked again, feeling guilt crashing down hard. Iggy half shook his head, far too tired and weak from his injuries to continue the conversation.
"...m'kay... you here..." he mumbled before he finally allowed his mind to drift completely into sleep.
Ludwig chuckled before he bit down hard on his lip. Tears silently rolled down his cheeks and landed on his brother's face. "I almost... I almost killed you..." he whispered to no one. "I killed seven innocent koopas and almost made you the eighth. Oh dear stars..."
There was nothing the 13 year old could do about the seven dismembered bodies laying cold and rotting in his lab. He had to face his family, his father and the families of those his split personality took away. He would have to tell them and show them the proof that he was behind it. But that wasn't going to be the hard part.
The hard part... was finding a way to put a stop to someone only he knew about.
'Kooky von Koopa... you have gone too far this time! YOU will never become ME! Do you hear me?! I WILL put an end to you! Even if I must lose myself to do so... you will pay for what you have done.'
Ludwig growled in the late night as he heard a cold, high pitched cackle. "Oh? Do you really think YOU can stop me?! HAHAHAHA! Just try, Ludwig von Koopa! I, Kooky, can never be stopped! I am YOU, and YOU are ME. WE are one, don't you see? If I die, you die too!"
"... we will see about that. We will certainly see."
"Indeed we will, Ludwig von Koopa. Indeed we will."
END
And complete!
I'll be perfectly honest, even when I had this idea, I have no clue where this was going. It was a random one shot and... yeah. That's it.
Anyways, leave a review, constructive advice, anything that will help with this random little work of mine.
Until next time!
