Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait on updating this. I've been pretty busy with voice acting, as well as getting a new job, so writing hasn't been my top priority as of late. But I'm not the type to leave something unfinished, so I'm working on managing my time to update this and 'Countdown' more frequently.
Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!
Oh, and I don't own these characters. Or the definition for 'Death'. Surely you didn't expect that I did, though, now did you?
Enough rambling! Here's chapter three. :)

"Death. It means... the permanent end of all bodily functions. The cessation of living."

Iggy pushed his glasses up and stared hard at the word in the dictionary. Death. This meant that all bodily functions of his father had permanently ended. His father had ceased to live.
Or had he really? It had been five days since he and his brothers had returned to Darkland, but had not been permitted to see his father.

"Ig... why are you looking that up...? You know what... what it means... for... King...Daddy..."

The tone of Lemmy's voice failed to register in Iggy's brain. Only the words. And even to that he didn't answer. He was lost in his own thoughts.

How is this really any different than the other times that he refuses to see anyone? It's not. After all, what damage was done to the castle? A couple broken statues here and there? Nothing new. Those things happen all of the time! And Bowsie said he doesn't know anything...

"Ig..." The older twin tried again to obtain the full attention of the younger. "We should go play a game or something... Come on! You... you scare me when you're like this..."

"A... game?"

"Yeah! Maybe tell each other some jokes or something!"
Was Iggy coming back down to reality at the thought of having fun? Lemmy could only hope so.

"Joke..."

"Yeah! Doesn't that sound fun?"

The word didn't bring about the reaction that Lemmy had hoped for. Instead, Iggy closed his eyes tightly and leaned his head back, pondering over it.

A joke... How can I know that this isn't just a big joke on King Daddy's part? He can be a pretty good prankster when he wants to be! I bet he's just seeing how long it takes one of us to find out the truth!
Of course, he could always be dead... I wonder... how to know...
I know, I'll find him! If he is alive, then we'll both get a good laugh out of this. If he's dead, then it'll be an awesome experience for me as a scientist...!

A high screech escaped his lungs- he could barely contain his excitement. Particularly that brought on by the second of the two possibilities. He loved jokes, sure! But... a part of him wanted his father to be dead, and for his corpse, likely rotting, to be in the castle. He knew that the very thought would be sickening to anyone else. But to him, it was quite intriguing. Oh, what experiments I could conduct with him! Ludwig never lets me have fun like that in the lab, so this is my chance! His screech then turned to a strange variant of laughter that lasted for several minutes.

"Iggy... why are you like this?"
Lemmy sighed, more-so to himself than to his brother. He didn't expect an answer. Over the past few years, Iggy had become more and more distant. Many times, Lemmy had overheard Ludwig and their father- Oh, why did you have to die?- discussing what was best for the lenses-wearing koopaling. Words such as 'disorder', 'medication', and 'asylum' were used often, but Lemmy preferred to not think of them. He wanted to think that Ludwig was simply over-thinking things when he said them. He wanted to think that Bowser's anger, his saying that such ideas were stupid, was right.
But now, he just wasn't sure. Maybe Ludwig was right. Maybe Iggy was crazy.

"Ooooowiee!"
His thoughts were interrupted by the loud cry. His good eye jolted up toward his twin, who was wincing and shaking his pinky hard in pain.

"What happened," he gasped, stumbling to get up on his own feet, before quickly jumping onto his ball and rolling over closer. "Did you get a boo-boo?"

"Paper cut! Ooooooowiee!"

Lemmy blinked, then laughed a tiny bit. He took Iggy's hand into his own and looked at the cut. It was small, but a small amount of blood could be seen.

"Gross!" His face scrunched at the sight. He couldn't help but laugh a bit. Paper cuts did in fact hurt, but Iggy's reaction to them was always over-the-top.

"It's not funny! The germs are gonna get inside of me and make me sick! Get a Medikoopa, Lem! I need help!"

Typical Ig. And not crazy. Just plain old Ig. Lemmy smiled. He still had his favorite brother. He didn't belong in a nut house. He was at home in Castle Koopa. They belonged in Castle Koopa, together.

"The Medikoopas are busy with Bowsie. Roy really let him have it, remember? But we can go together to that medical room place. Get you a cool band-aid!"

Iggy nodded frantically, his blue eyes wide. All of his previous thoughts left his mind. The pain had brought him back to reality.

"I hope no one calls me a little kid because of this... I swear, I'm strong!"
Bowser Junior groaned. He had tried to raise up to make his point, but pain had overcame his body and forced him back onto his temporary bed. The springs sounded uncomfortably from the pressure of his weight.
"I'm fine... I really am." His words came out weakly.

"That may be, but you still have to be careful."

Junior smirked at the voice. Turning onto his side, he came face to face with Larry, who had taken a seat next to the bed.
What a sneak... I never even noticed he was in here.

"So, how are you feeling," the older brother asked.

"Like I don't belong in this stupid room. It's like my first real fight with that Mario all over again!"

Larry chuckled a bit, glancing around the room. Or rather, one of the parts that had been sectioned off by curtains. Since the fight with Roy, Junior had been placed in the castle Infirmary. Of course, since their dad always had a 'suck it up' mentality, it was one of the less-cared for parts of the castle. A very large room with medicinal equipment and machines scattered about. There were just below twenty beds, each with curtains at each side, and two yards of space at both the left and right sides of the bed. Medikoopas would come in and out periodically, checking on patients and cleaning the area a bit.
It was pretty damn easy to sneak into. Especially for good old 'Cheatsy'.

"So... why did you come in here, anyway?" Junior glared weakly, making a quick assumption. "You wanted to see 'the brat' down, right?"

"Not really. Guess I was just curious." Larry's usual smile formed on his face, confusing his younger brother. "Glad to see you're okay."

"Whatever."

The two didn't speak after that for several minutes. Larry began clicking his tongue to a random tune that was stuck in his head while staring up at the ceiling. Junior closed his eyes and rest his head on his pillow. He was so weak and tired that he needed sleep. But there was too much on his mind. He felt stupid for thinking so deeply, but it just couldn't help himself.
Maybe I should talk to someone about it? No, they all think I'm just a brat. Well... Maybe not Larry here. I guess...He's a big cheat, but... I can trust him, right?
Giving in, with his eyes still closed, he spoke up.
"What's gonna happen to us? Now that Papa's... dead...?"

The light-blue-haired koopaling thought about the question for a moment, his smile slowly fading.

"Well, there's that whole crowning ceremony for Ludwig the day after tomorrow," he began. "He'll have to pick out a new general, too... The rest of us? We'll probably end up like Sis."

"Do you think that's what... Papa would want... for us?" The youngest of Bowser's sons yawned, slowly giving in to sleep.

Larry waited until he heard snoring to answer, more to himself than to his brother.
"I really don't know."

Just then, he heard shuffling. He could tell quickly that it wasn't a Medikoopa, so he didn't worry about hiding. Instead, he pulled the curtains back to see who it was.
Lemmy and Iggy. The two were standing next to one of the cabinets, covered from head to toe in band-aids.

"What the heck are you two doing?"

They turned and smiled at him innocently.
"Iggy got a-"
"Paper cut!"

"And.. so you have to cover yourselves with band-aids?"

"Yeah!" The taller of the two then tilted his head, walking over. "What are you doing in here, Larry?"

"Just checking on BJ." He then pulled the curtain more so the two could see their youngest sibling. "Shh, he's sleeping."

They both stumbled over to get a closer look. He was covered in bandages, and they could spot a large bump on his head.

Lemmy smiled at how peaceful he looked sleeping.
Iggy stared at the injuries, and then one thought came to his mind.

He looks a lot like King Daddy... I wonder... if King Daddy really did die... did he look like this?
And a strand of much darker thoughts followed.

Thanks for reading. :3 And please, leave a review. Let me know what do you (or don't) like about the story so far, and any critiques that you may have. It really helps me to work more on writing. And the next chapter will be up soon!