Finally finished this chapter! There will be one more chapter after this, I'm going to post it this weekend. Almost done, yay! Anyway, enjoy!

When I was young and innocent, I didn't realize what terrible condition my family was in. I knew my father, Morton, yelled a lot, and I knew my mom winced when he came in the room, but I never really gave any thought to it. It was just how things were.

None of Morton's subject's realized it either. All they really knew was that he was extremely successful at taking over other cities. He turned Dark City into Dark Land, conquering city after city until he was the king of a country rather than a town. The subjects saw him as a glorious, iron-fisted warrior. What they didn't know was that he handled his family the same as he would an enemy.

At first, he mostly ignored me and my sister, Dolly. We spent most of our time playing together, using wooden figures that Morton's minions carved for us. We could never quite agree on what to play, and usually it would end up being a game where the little Koopa-figures would dress up and go to parties which would be interrupted by an attack from another Koopa-country. We would always argue about it, me not wanting to play a dress-up game, my sister hating to have her parties interrupted. Sometimes I would yell at Dolly and shove her around.

Mom would get so upset when I did that. When she lectured me I ignored her. If I was in an especially bad mood I would sometimes say that I wished I didn't have a mom. We both knew it wasn't true, but I know that what I said still hurt her. I just didn't think it was a big deal. But then one day everything changed, and afterward I have often looked back with regret at what I said and did to Mom and Dolly.

…

Morton came home one day after another victory and told us we were going on a trip. We didn't question him. He was the king. We had learned long ago that to question him was not tolerable. We packed some food and a few other things, and then set off.

We traveled across our growing country, then over the mountains, through the jungles, and sailed past islands until we reached a frozen wasteland. We had been traveling for a few weeks now and were wondering more and more where in the Mushroom World Morton was taking us. But we asked no questions. He was the king.

We plunged into the desert of ice. We went on and on for hours. First, my feet started to go numb, then my fingers. Soon, half my body was numb, and I was shaking so hard I was practically having seizures.

Dolly was no better. Her face had become an extremely pale shade of green. I was on the verge of finally complaining when Mom spoke up. "Morton, the kids are freezing. We need to stop and build a fire."

Morton turned and looked at her with a challenging glare, as if he was angry Mom was telling him what to do, but he simply said, "Fine. Bowser does look a little cold. I suppose we should keep him warm."

Suddenly, the chill in my body began to spread to my heart. Why had he only said my name?

…

Morton dug some scraps of wood out of one of the packs we had brought with us. He arranged them into a pile of, and then breathed flames onto them. The wood caught fire immediately, quickly transforming the pile of sticks into a campfire of sorts.

We all began moving towards it, our unfeeling bodies aching for warmth. But as we approached, Morton whipped around to face mother. Growling, he said, "Get away."

Mom's eyes widened in shock. "What are you saying?! A panicked look began to creep on her face.

"I'm saying that you and Dolly have to stay away from the fire!" he declared.

"Why?!" mom yelled at him.

"BECAUSE I SAID SO!" Morton bellowed. He raised his claw and swiped it across mom's face. Blood trickled from the slash marks he had left on her face, her kind, caring, and determined face. That was the first time I had actually seen one person attack another. It wasn't two people fighting in a battle, it wasn't a robber breaking into someone's house, it wasn't two sworn enemies facing off; it was one of my parents attacking the other.

Mom reeled backward, a cry escaping her lips and a hand rising to her wounded face. Morton looked on coldly. "I warned you, Sierra. Don't try that again or it will be Dolly next time."

Mom gasped, then staggered away with Dolly in tow. She collapsed while still in my sight, but far enough away to satisfy Morton.

I wished right then and there that I could tear his face off. It was the most heart wrenching thing I have ever experienced. There were my mom and my sister, freezing to death, while I was sitting next to a blazing fire; yet I couldn't do anything to help them. My father was infinitely stronger than me, I was just a child.

I wanted to run out there and throw myself onto the ground next to them, to suffer the same fate as them, but when I tried, Morton dragged me back, saying, "No, son. You are destined for greater things." I didn't know or care what he meant.

And so the most horrifying night of my entire life passed, and when morning came, the sunlight was nothing but an empty promise of warmth and joy.

…

Their bodies lay there, cold and lifeless. Their faces were twisted in pain from the frostbite they had gotten. I collapsed and buried my face in mother's side. Why couldn't it have been me instead? They were so kind and good, I was the troublemaker.

Morton spoke. "I have taught you an important lesson, son. It doesn't matter if you're related to someone. If someone's no longer useful to you or they're in your way, get rid of them. I already have a son, so I don't need your mother anymore, and I have no use for daughters."

I hated every word he said. He was nothing but a monster. I did learn something that day, but not what Morton tried to teach me. I learned that when you are small and weak, the ones you care about can be taken from you. I vowed that I would never let something like this happen again. I would grow to be the strongest Koopa, and then no one could do this to me ever again.

My father tried to continue his "teachings" to me. I fought every step of the way.

He told me that sick or injured minions were disposable. I nursed them back to health and found that in the end, my army was larger.

He taught me that love was useless and not to waste time on it. I spent years kidnapping a princess over and over in the hopes that one day; she'd see something in me besides a monster.

He taught me that besides having a son to rule after you, children were useless. I had eight children, all of which have become my top minions.

But most of all, he taught me that no matter what; you never, ever, team up with an enemy. No matter what. But I did. Multiple times. Because sometimes your own battles over territory or princesses or whatever aren't really important when something big happens. When some fool gets idiotic ideas in his head and needs to be set straight.

My father ruled over me the rest of his life. He forced me to marry my best friend, Clawdia. We were good friends, yes, but we had never liked each other. What was worse was that Clawdia was hopelessly in love with some Koopa, but my marriage to her prevented her from ever being with him. It was terrible to know that I was the reason she couldn't pursue the one she truly loved.

Oh well. At least she didn't get married off to some abusive jerk, and that would have been worse. At least I knew she was safe and taken care of.

We both wanted a lot of children, so we figured since we were kind of stuck together; we may as well have our wished-for children together. That's when we started running into problems.

My father died before our first child was born. I was finally free of him and wished I could just forget him. But that couldn't be. Our first child was born, and he was a boy. The entire kingdom thought they knew what I would name him. They put up banners announcing his birth, assuming I would name him after my father. But I didn't. I named him Ludwig. The whole kingdom was stunned.

Each child we had brought more gossip and more criticism. Lemmy, Roy, and Iggy's births didn't bring huge celebrations across the land. They brought confusion and scorn. My father was one of the most revered rulers we had ever had. No one understood why I refused to name any of my children after him, especially since they were all male.

Wendy was a relief, of course I couldn't name her after my father, because his name was for males, not females. But when we had our next child, I knew I couldn't go on like this. There was speculation that I would be a horrible king and lead our nation to ruin. All because of a name. It wasn't worth the fight.

And so Morton Koopa Jr. was born. And just my luck, he seemed to have inherited everything from my father. The dark scales, the black shell, the shape of the face, everything. He was the spitting image of him, except for the star birthmark on his face. That came from Clawdia.

It was hard to look at him at first. Every time I saw his face, dark memories flooded my mind. But as time passed on, I got over it. I got busy and distracted, and my past drifted to the back of my mind.

But the recent battle in Iced Land was too much. The cold, the snow, the ice, it took me right back to that day, the day my mother and sister died. I can't look at Morton Jr. It's too painful. Now that the memories are at the forefront of my mind, I can't ignore the resemblance. And I'm worried. He's always yelling at Junior. I'm wondering if he inherited more than looks from his namesake. What if he inherited the kind of selfishness and heartlessness to hurt his own kin? I just don't know.

I can't tell the Koopalings about any of this. I can't tell anyone. I would break down, and my weakness deep down would be revealed. I can't risk that. Then we would all be vulnerable. They could get killed too.

Just to clarify, Bowser refers to his father as "Morton" and not "dad" because they obviously had a bad relationship and Bowser doesn't really see him as a father. Also, Sierra is named after Sierra Kusterbeck, who is part of the band VersaEmerge, a band I like. Dolly is named after Dolly Parton. I don't know much about her or her music but she is a musician and I thought the name was cute so...yeah.