Lemmy, Roy, and Ludwig soon found themselves all sitting in separate corners of the boxcar. Lemmy had his head buried in his knees. He didn't even want to look at his brothers anymore. Apparently, he'd also underestimated how long he'd been unconscious after Iggy fell off the train. It was now dark outside, so he could barely see his brothers anyway. It had been deathly silent between the three of them for quite a while now. All Lemmy knew was that it hadn't been two hours yet, as Larry was still lying unconscious in the middle of the floor. At this point, Larry was practically serving as Lemmy's timer, signifying how long he had left to live. Sometimes, Lemmy would look up to glance at Larry and think he saw Larry stir. It terrified him every time. At this point, though, he was pretty sure he was coming up on the end. Outside the door, he saw the grassy plains slowly transform into a more urban landscape and, eventually, they began to enter the city itself. It was then that Larry finally began to stir for real, groaning as he struggled to sit up. It was over.

"Looks like we should be arriving at the Armorie station any minute now," Ludwig said, making his way over to Larry to help him to his feet. Lemmy stood up as well, slowly trying to make his way to the boxcar door without catching the attention of Ludwig or Larry. He knew exactly what he had to do to survive now. The brakes screeched against the wheels as the train slowed to a halt. Before it could stop completely, though, Lemmy flung himself out the boxcar door onto the hard concrete below, eventually tumbling to a stop. His entire body hurt like crazy, but he scrambled to his feet as fast as he could and broke out into a hard run, but, before he could get too far, he was tackled to the ground and kept pinned there by Larry.

"No escape! No escape!" Larry shrieked with laughter.

"Good work, Larry!" Ludwig said, catching up. Ludwig was then caught by Roy, who pinned Ludwig's arms behind his back.

"Let him go," Roy snarled.

"Listen to me, Roy," Ludwig replied, "We don't want anyone who doesn't need to get hurt to get hurt. Do you understand me? Lemmy's the only one we want. This has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with me," Roy retorted, "This is our family, Ludwig."

As Ludwig and Roy continued to argue, Larry decided to amuse himself by scraping Lemmy's face across the concrete, which ended up being extremely painful for the little Koopaling.

"I don't care what you think about this, Roy!" Ludwig shouted, "Larry! End this for me, please!"

Larry screeched with glee as he forcefully yanked Lemmy to his feet. He then quickly grabbed Lemmy's throat, holding on with an iron grip and beginning to strangle the little Koopaling. The next moment went by in a flash and Lemmy barely had time to register what had happened. Roy let go of Ludwig to pull out the revolver from his pocket, then he aimed the weapon just left of Larry's head, likely to fire off a warning shot to startle Larry into letting Lemmy go. Just as he pulled the trigger, though, Ludwig misread Roy's intentions and shoved the weapon to the right, changing the bullet's trajectory entirely. Instead of whizzing past Larry, the bullet pierced into the back of Larry's skull. Larry released his grip on Lemmy and fell forward into him, sending both of the Koopalings to the ground. Lemmy heard Ludwig scream and the revolver clatter to the ground. Ludwig rushed to Larry's side to check for a pulse, but his expression fell instantly.

"H-he's dead."

Lemmy's heart stopped for a moment. He stared up at Ludwig as the older Koopaling held his dead brother's hand tightly and began to cry. Ludwig then pulled Larry away from Lemmy, allowing Lemmy to get up and quickly move away from Ludwig. He immediately began to look around for Roy, but he was nowhere to be seen. He then took one last look at Ludwig and Larry before running away, hoping to get as far away from them as possible. He ran for a good while before finally stopping in an abandoned alleyway. The entire city was dark as night with no lights to be seen for miles besides the moon and the stars. As Lemmy slumped back against the concrete wall of a building, he stared up at the night sky, letting tears stream from his eyes.

"Why? Why?"

He had one more day to go. One more day to survive through before it would finally all be over. He began thinking about the one wish he'd be allowed at the end of all this. Now, he knew exactly what he'd use it to do. Sure, going home was important, but there was something even more important than that to worry about right now.

"I want things to go back to normal."

Ludwig held his dead brother close, still grieving for him. Lemmy had run away and Roy was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't care anymore. Just then, he heard footsteps from behind him. He turned to see Roy standing over him.

"What do you want?" Ludwig growled, tears streaming from his eyes.

"You killed him," Roy said, "You're the one who killed him."

"No! You're not blaming this on me!" Ludwig screamed, "You're the one who pulled a gun on him! You're the one who aimed it at him and pulled the trigger! I tried to prevent it from happening! I-"

Roy snatched Ludwig by his collar, lifting him into the air.

"I don't need you telling me I'm a monster!" Roy shouted, "You're the one who did it! It wasn't me! You did it!"

Obviously, Roy was in denial.

"Quit kidding yourself and face facts, Roy!" Ludwig retorted, "You're the one who killed him! You did this and you can never take it back!"

"I didn't kill him!" Roy roared, "I didn't kill him! Now, shut up before I make you regret opening your mouth in the first place!"

Ludwig lashed out and raked the metal claws on his fingers across Roy's face, which got Roy to drop him. He then scrambled to his feet and ran away as fast as he could. He'd left Larry behind, but he was nothing more than a corpse now anyway. It made him cringe just thinking about it, but it was true. Larry really was gone forever and it was all Roy's fault.

Lemmy opened his eyes. He must have fallen asleep in the alleyway. He sighed in relief, counting himself lucky that no one had found him there. He was all alone now. There was no one he could count on to get him out of trouble now.

His thoughts then turned back to the events of the night before. He had to wonder how Ludwig and Roy were handling themselves after Larry's sudden death. Just the thought of the incident still stung in Lemmy's mind. He remembered clearly what Ludwig had said just before the incident.

"We don't want anyone who doesn't need to get hurt to get hurt," Lemmy muttered to himself, repeating his older brother's words. Larry wasn't supposed to die.

Lemmy quickly pushed himself to his feet, trying to force the horrible memories out of his head for the time being. Just then, he heard someone coming his way. He quickly scrambled to climb up the brick wall of the building behind him, thanking the stars that he'd taught himself how to do so a long time ago. Once he felt like he was high enough up, he perched himself on an overhang and looked below to see who it was who was coming. Surprisingly, it was Ludwig.

"Ludwig?" Lemmy mused, "What's he doing here?"

Ludwig didn't seem to notice anything amiss in the alleyway. Lemmy quickly noticed that Ludwig was dragging a dead body behind him. Lemmy shuddered in both fear and disgust.

Lemmy then decided to follow Ludwig, making sure to keep his distance. He stayed high above Ludwig, leaping across high ledges and rooftops to try to keep up.

"Where is he going?" Lemmy thought. Ludwig almost seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Eventually, Ludwig finally stopped in another alleyway across the city from the one Lemmy spent the night in. That was when Lemmy decided to leave Ludwig be, not wanting to stick around for what would probably be a gruesome breakfast. He'd try to come back to Ludwig later.

After a bit of wandering around, Lemmy stumbled upon a series of warehouses. Upon closer inspection, he found that the warehouses were all filled with various kinds of weaponry.

"This must be where they keep all those weapons Armorie's famous for," Lemmy thought to himself. Just then, one warehouse's door slid open. Lemmy quickly hid behind a stack of crates as a group of workers left the warehouse. Fortunately, they left the warehouse's door wide open, so Lemmy was able to quickly sneak inside. Once inside, he began feeling overwhelmed by the many different kinds of weapons in the hundreds of crates inside the building.

"We're not going to hurt anyone, are we?"

Lemmy felt sick to his stomach. Roy had told him earlier that he'd need something to defend himself with, but he was beginning to doubt himself. If one of his siblings attacked him like Ludwig and Larry had the night before, did he really have the gall to pull a weapon on them?

That was exactly what had killed Larry.

Lemmy's head hurt like crazy. He slumped back against a stack of crates behind him and tried to control his frantic breathing, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He knew he had to keep a level head if he wanted to survive.

"Hey! Who's back here?!"

Lemmy choked on a breath. Someone knew he was here. He quickly made for an open crate across the room and found it full of knives.

"Stop right there!"

Lemmy whirled around to see a stern-faced security guard making his way toward him. The guard then pulled a pistol out of the holster on his belt. Lemmy, panicking, turned back to the crate and snatched up the first knife he saw. He then dove to the floor as a thundering gunshot sounded. Lemmy quickly scrambled to his feet immediately made for the warehouse door, but another security guard was waiting there, supposedly having heard the gunshot and coming to investigate. Lemmy stopped short and started to back away, but he quickly remembered the other security guard, who was now directly behind him.

"What now?" Lemmy frantically thought. He stared down at the knife in his hand. It was his only hope now. He immediately charged at the security guard blocking the door, dodging left to avoid a gunshot and cringing as he blindly swung the knife out in front of him and felt it slice through the guard's flesh. He didn't dare open his eyes as he continued forward, accidentally stumbling into the guard he'd injured and sending them both tumbling to the floor. He heard a shout from the other security guard, then everything went silent. Finally, he was able to work up the courage to open his eyes.

He screamed.

He'd somehow managed to slice the guard's stomach open. The man was now lying unconscious on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He was still alive, but only barely. Lemmy felt like he was going to hurl. His vision blurred as he quickly scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his feet could carry him away from the warehouse. He felt like he could collapse at any second, but he knew he had to keep going.

Lemmy took deep breaths, trying to keep from hyperventilating. In his right hand, he held the bloodied knife he'd stolen from the warehouse. In his left hand was a card he'd retrieved on a return trip to the warehouse. He returned to the scene because he remembered something that would be important for later and he'd pilfered the all-important card from the guard, who was still exactly where he'd left him. Just as he was leaving the warehouse the second time, though, he noticed an ambulance arriving. The other guard must have called for one after his partner was injured.

Lemmy clutched the card tightly. He was calming down, but he still couldn't help but worry about the man he'd almost killed earlier. The whole thing wouldn't matter in a little while anyway. Lemmy knew that, but he still felt guilty.

He decided to try to find Ludwig and watch what he was doing for a while to try to take his mind off of the security guard. He stuffed the card and the knife in his pocket and scaled a nearby building.

It didn't take him long to reach where he'd left Ludwig earlier. Thankfully, Ludwig was still there. Ludwig looked as if he was preparing to leave, though. Lemmy followed Ludwig out of the alleyway, staying about the height of a single story of a building above his brother. Ludwig then began wandering the city again. It almost seemed as if he was looking for something. Lemmy began to wonder what Ludwig was even doing in Armorie in the first place. It looked like he was already fully equipped weapon-wise. What other reason would he have had to come here?

"Hey."

The sudden call made Lemmy jump. Ludwig looked surprised as well, quickly turning to see who had called out to him. Lemmy turned as well and saw Roy making his way toward Ludwig. There were four prominent scratch marks across his face and he was glaring at Ludwig with an unnerving look.

"Wh-what do you want?" Ludwig stuttered, backing away from Roy.

"You know what I want," Roy replied, "I want you to admit that you were the one that killed him."

"You know for a fact that it wasn't me!" Ludwig shouted, "You were the one that killed him! We've already been over this!"

Lemmy's eyes widened in horror. They were fighting over who killed Larry.

"I wasn't aiming for him!" Roy yelled, "You were the one who caused the bullet to kill him!"

"Yeah, right," Ludwig snarled, "Like heck you 'weren't aiming for him'. I saw you do it with my own eyes."

"Shut up!" Roy roared, "This isn't my fault! It's your fault! It's your fault and you know it! Just admit it already!"

"I'm not the one who did it!" Ludwig retorted, "You're the one that killed him! You're the one that pulled the gun on him and you're the one that pulled the trigger! You killed him!"

Roy let out a cry and charged toward Ludwig. Without stopping to think about what he was doing, Lemmy rushed forward as well, leaping down from above and landing directly on top of Roy, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Lemmy tried his hardest to pin Roy to the ground, but Roy quickly threw Lemmy off of him. Lemmy then pushed himself to his feet and launched himself at Roy again, latching himself tightly around Roy's waist.

"Don't hurt him!" Lemmy cried, "You told me we wouldn't hurt anyone!"

"Things are different now," Roy replied, forcing Lemmy off of him.

"What do you mean by that?!" Lemmy shouted, getting between Roy and Ludwig.

"Get out of the way!" Roy growled, "This is for me and him to settle ourselves!"

Roy then shoved Lemmy backward into Ludwig. That was when Lemmy suddenly remembered that Ludwig was currently out to kill him. He immediately tried to get away, but Ludwig was faster, grabbing Lemmy and pulling him back, restraining the little Koopaling with one arm and placing his free hand on Lemmy's shoulder. Roy quickly noticed his mistake and pulled his knife out of his pocket.

"Stop it!" Ludwig shouted, holding Lemmy closer, "I'm done with this! I don't want anyone else hurt today! That includes him!"

"What?!" Lemmy exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't give me that crap!" Roy spat, "You expect me to buy that?! That's the sorriest excuse I've ever heard!"

"Losing Larry isn't something I'm taking lightly," Ludwig retorted, "I've decided I'm not going to be a monster like you are. Are you happy now? You were preaching about self-control yesterday, so I'm sure you're at least glad to see me using it now."

Ludwig then let Lemmy go and backed away. Lemmy turned back to face Ludwig, but was promptly shoved aside by Roy.

"Don't talk to me about self-control, you chicken," Roy snarled, "You're only saying all this to save your own skin. There's only one way I'm letting you end this: say that you did it. Say that you killed him."

"I didn't kill him!" Ludwig yelled, "I'll never say I killed him because I didn't do it!"

"Say it, Ludwig!" Roy shouted, "I'll never forgive you until you say it, Ludwig von Koopa! Say it!"

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ludwig hissed, "Do you want to get me killed out here?!"

"Say you killed him and I'll stop!" Roy retorted, "Say it or I'll make sure everyone in Armorie knows your name, Ludwig von Koopa!"

"Stop it!" Lemmy screamed, "Stop it now! Don't do this!"

"People don't give out their names in this world because it could easily lead to their death," Ludwig muttered just loud enough for Lemmy to hear, "A name is a powerful weapon here."

"Just tell me what I want to hear, Ludwig!" Roy continued.

"You don't want to play this game with me," Ludwig said, teeth bared, "Don't test my patience. Two can play at this game."

"I dare you to try," Roy growled.

"Fine!" Ludwig shouted, "Just know that you asked for this, Roy Koopa!"

"Stop! Please!" Lemmy interjected, grabbing Ludwig's arm. Ludwig suddenly pulled Lemmy toward him again, this time pressing the metal claws on his fingertips against Lemmy's throat.

"Just get away from me, Roy," Ludwig continued, "Go away before I kill him. I never want to see your sorry face again."

"You wouldn't dare," Roy snarled, looking somewhat nervous, "If you kill him, you'd be going against yourself."

"I don't care about that anymore," Ludwig replied, pressing down harder so that the claws almost broke Lemmy's skin, "All I want is to get you away from me."

Roy didn't reply. He stood completely still, staring Ludwig down with a chilling glare. Just then, a shout resonated through the area. Ludwig immediately let go of Lemmy and whirled around. Lemmy made sure to get a safe distance away from Ludwig before trying to see what had made the sound. Just then, he saw three familiar faces making their way toward them.

"Wendy? Morton? Iggy?"

Wendy and Morton were on each side of Iggy, supporting him as they walked. Iggy was covered in scrapes and bruises, but he was lucky to still be alive after falling off of a moving train.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Iggy screamed, "He's not yours! He's mine!"

"Wh-what are the three of you doing in Armorie?" Ludwig stuttered.

"You're lucky we even knew that you were in Armorie!" Wendy retorted, "You two completely ditched us!"

"We found him on our way over here," Morton explained, motioning to Iggy "We came here following you."

Lemmy took the opportunity to try to sneak away, but was caught by surprise when he felt Roy's hand on his shoulder. Lemmy stared up at Roy, who was still glaring at Ludwig. Roy then bared his teeth and squeezed Lemmy's shoulder tightly, causing the little Koopaling to wince in pain.

"Don't you think we should go?" Lemmy nervously pointed out to his brother, "It doesn't look like it would be a good idea to stay here."

"I need you here," Roy said, "You're going to help me get Ludwig to confess what he did."

"What?" Lemmy exclaimed bewilderedly, "How am I going to do that?"

"By letting them tear you to pieces."

Before Lemmy could respond, Roy shoved Lemmy forward, sending him tumbling to the ground. Lemmy desperately scrambled to his feet and tried to run, but Roy was already on top of him, quickly incapacitating the little Koopaling with a swift kick to the stomach. Lemmy collapsed to the ground in pain. He heard Iggy let out a piercing screech and, before he knew it, his twin brother had him pinned to the ground.

"How could you do that to him?!" Iggy shrieked at Roy, "I'm the only one who's allowed to touch him! He's mine! He's mine because we belong to each other! You don't belong with us!"

"What are you doing?" Ludwig asked bewilderedly, turning to Roy.

"It's a dangerous thing to get a someone like me to start thinking," Roy replied, "I've lived my life trying to keep from thinking. People get hurt when someone as powerful as I am starts thinking."

Just then, Lemmy felt a strange feeling suddenly pulse through his body. His siblings must have felt it as well, because they all immediately stopped moving. Lemmy's body then began steadily heating up until he began to sweat and his vision started to blur. That's when he lost consciousness.

"Congratulations."

Lemmy's eyes immediately shot open. He was now floating, suspended in the air by some mysterious force. The only thing he could see around him was a brilliant white that hurt his eyes.

"Where am I?" Lemmy asked, trembling.

"You've done it," a mysterious voice replied, "You've survived the entire three days."

"H-huh?!" Lemmy exclaimed in confusion, "B-but it's only been two days!"

"It has been three," the voice asserted, "You seem to have been unconscious for the entire first day."

"What?! How is that possible?!"

"You've been used, young one," the voice explained, "Someone must have used you to achieve their own goals and left you behind to take the fall for it."

"I-is that why I'm in this mess?!" Lemmy cried, "Someone used me?!"

"I'm not the one to monitor any of that," the voice continued, "I simply monitor the three-day period. You've passed."

Lemmy stayed silent, blankly staring off into the distance. He'd woken up in this world on top of a corpse. Had someone used Lemmy's unconscious body to kill that man? The thought of it made Lemmy sick to his stomach.

"You may now make your wish, young child," the voice went on, "I can grant you one single-cycle wish."

"Single-cycle wish?" Lemmy repeated in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"Each three-day period constitutes one cycle. With each cycle, you are granted a more powerful wish."

"Wh-what about..."

Lemmy trailed off.

"What is it, child?"

"What about bringing someone back to life?"

There was a brief moment of silence.

"That is a five-cycle wish."

Lemmy froze.

"Y-you don't understand!" Lemmy cried, "I can't go twelve more days like this! This whole thing is tearing my family apart! I can't bear to watch them fight anymore!"

"Rules are rules, young one. They cannot be changed."

"We need Larry back! We just need everything to go back to normal! We don't belong here and we just need to get back home and have everything go back to normal! Please!"

Lemmy was crying now.

"I can send you and your siblings home as a one-cycle wish, but, if you really want me to raise the dead, you need five cycles."

"I can't survive that long! I can't do it! Please, don't make me do this!"

"No one's making you do anything, child, but rules are rules."

Lemmy bit his lip.

"I just want to go home," Lemmy sobbed, "I can't do this anymore. I want us all to go home."

"A name?"

Lemmy had almost forgotten about giving a name for his wish. He dug around in his pocket before pulling out the card he'd taken from the security guard earlier that day. It was an ID card with the security guard's name on it. He'd taken it specifically so that he wouldn't have to give one of his siblings' names. A white hand then materialized in front of Lemmy, reaching out for the card. Lemmy handed over the card and both the hand and the card disappeared in front of him. Lemmy then felt himself slip back into unconsciousness.

"I wonder...if I really did the right thing."