A/N: Once again I have combined two short scenes into one big 'chapter'.
The first scene is short because in Richard III most of it focused on the friendship between Ludwig's character and Petey Piranha's character, which doesn't exist in my version.
The second scene is also totally different than it was in Richard III, mainly because I combined three characters into one (Lemmy) for my version, so all their dialogue couldn't be possible. But it let me focus on a much interesting aspects of the scene, so it's all good.
It should be noted that chronologically, the second scene takes place the night before the first scene. In Richard III the scenes are in chronological order, but I compressed the timeline, so now there's no time between Act II, Scenes ii and the events from Scene iv and onward, but I still have to present everything in the order that Shakespeare put it in.
Act III. Scene ii.
It was just after sunrise when King Boo and Petey Piranha arrived at the castle. King Boo, not wanting to wait around for a few hours wile Petey slept in, woke his plant friend up and insisted they went to the castle ASAP. Petey had been hesitant at first, but the lure of the leftovers from the buffet Iggy had held the day before for Toadsworth and the citizens changed the ravenous Piranha Plant's mind.
"At least you don't have to worry about accidentally shoveling down another rubber ball with the confectioneries," commented King Boo as he watched Petey devour mouthful upon mouthful of food.
"Yeah, that snotty little Lemmy got what he deserved: getting sent back to Dark Land, in chains to boot!" scoffed Petey, nearly choking on a chicken wing in the process.
"It was a good call that Prince Bowser made – he's a great judge of character," said King Boo.
"Sure is," agreed Petey, before drinking a half-filled punchbowl.
"Yes, he would make a fine king, don't you think?"
That time, Petey did choke. After he had cleared his windpipe of all the punch he turned to King Boo. "Bowser Jr.? King? No way! I'd rather see my own head chopped off than see him wear our kingdom's crown!"
"Why do you say that?"
"He may be a great judge of character, and he and his brother Larry may be good schemers, but he doesn't seem like a kingly sorta guy. He's the sort of guy who hikes to the top of a mountain and says 'now what?'" said Petey, before returning to his breakfast.
"I see," murmured King Boo.
"Why do you ask? Junior isn't actually hoping to get the crown is he?"
"No, no, he gave that up long ago," King Boo assured Petey.
"I should hope so, Fazzer vas quite enraged by his last attempt and I vould not like to see a repeat performance," said Ludwig von Koopa as he entered the kitchen.
"What are you doing here so early?" asked Petey through a mouthful of pastries.
"I live here now," said Ludwig bluntly. "Vat about you two?"
"Since the Royal Council meeting will be held in two separate rooms, we decided to show up early and make sure we go to the right one," chuckled King Boo.
"It's no laughing matter. I understand zat Junior doesn't see eye-to-eye vit Fazzer, Vendy and Kammy, but separating zem is a bad idea. Vee should all meet togezzer so vee can reach an agreement."
"If you don't like how your little brothers and sister are running things, you shouldn't have abdicated. I wouldn't have," criticized Petey Piranha.
"I've had my share of experience, I do not vant any more. Back ven Fazzer, Kammy and Kamek vere busy vit Mario, I had to take over Dark Land for small amounts of time here and zere. It vas quite difficult, and our new Kingdom is five times zee size, and filled vit unhappy people."
"So you took the easy way out, no big deal," shrugged Petey, biting into a ham like it was a turkey leg.
Ludwig shot a disparaging look at Petey before reaching into a nearby fridge for a milk carton. He poured himself a glass in silence but as he approached the door, he paused. "I didn't take zee easy vay out, I took zee smart vay out." Then he left.
Petey didn't even look up from the food – he barely heard the Koopaling over his open-mouthed munching. After a while, King Boo had finished his own meal (a small plate of bacon and eggs) and floated to the door, tired of watching Petey gorge himself. "Well, see ya after the council meetings!"
"Later!" called Petey, before delivering a massive belch that propelled King Boo out of the kitchen, through the open door and into the hallway.
A few minutes later Larry came in. "I heard that on the other side of the castle!"
"There's nothing like a good burp to clear an upset stomach," bragged Petey.
"There's nothing like a smaller appetite to avoid an upset stomach," deadpanned Larry.
Petey ignored the Dragon-Koopa's comment and started to eat an entire watermelon that had been used as decoration during the buffet.
"Anyway," started Larry, averting his eyes from the spectacle. "I was just here to, um, make sure you knew which council room you were in."
"Yeah, yeah, I know Council B. King Boo's in A, which are you in?" asked Petey, having finished the watermelon.
"I'm in B too. In fact, the Council's starting in less then half an hour, we should probably head up there," said Larry.
"Okay, I'm full anyway," agreed Petey Piranha, getting up from the table and patting his swollen belly before letting out another enormous belch as he walked towards the kitchen door. Larry waved his hand in front of his snout and backed up into the hallway at the stench, looking forward to the Council meeting and the surprise that awaited the overgrown Piranha Plant.
Act III. Scene iii.
Lemmy sat on the cold floor of the dungeon, staring blankly out a small window. As a child, he used to come into the empty cells with Iggy and play; now he was locked in one, all alone. He hadn't seen a single guard since he was brought there 24 hours previously, and he hadn't been given any food or water. Night was falling now. Lemmy wondered what Iggy was doing – he knew his brother had arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom that day. He also knew Wendy had arrived, and he wondered what she was doing. Hopefully they were doing different things.
Suddenly the cell was illuminated by a bright light, and when it receded, Lemmy found himself face-to-face with Kamek Koopa.
"What do you want?" he growled at the Magikoopa.
Kamek smirked. "I want you to tell me that little secret of yours – the one that got you locked up here."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," bluffed Lemmy.
"Hah, you honestly think you can get away with lying to me? I'm the most powerful Magikoopa in the world!"
"No, Kammy is," said Lemmy smugly.
"No, Kammy is the most powerful fool in the world!" shouted Kamek.
"I think you're getting yourself confused with her," sneered Lemmy. He disliked Kamek: the Magikoopa had always been cold and uncaring to the Koopalings and Bowser, while Kammy was always kind and understanding.
"Think what you may, because unless you cooperate with me, you won't be thinking about anything soon enough," hissed Kamek, pointing his jeweled wand at Lemmy's face.
The Koopaling backed away from the glowing blue crystal. With everything that had been going on recently, he wouldn't put it past Kamek to kill him.
"Fear is a great motivator, isn't it?" said Kamek coolly.
"Yeah, well I'm not going to tell you anything," said Lemmy defiantly, standing up as tall as he could, which wasn't easy: without a ball, his balance stank.
"Oh yeah? Well I've got a spell that'll make you speak. But it won't just make you speak the truth: once I have the information I want, and I find it's not good enough to get Iggy and Wendy out of Junior's hair, I can just rearrange your memories to make some really damning information."
Lemmy's eyes widened: he knew his little brother was up to something. "You can't do that!"
"Yes, I can," grinned Kamek, pulling his wand back over his head and getting ready to cast his spell.
"Wait!" exclaimed Lemmy, before sighing in defeat. "I'll tell you what I know."
"Good," said Kamek, lowering his wand.
"Iggy and Wendy… are having an affair," murmured Lemmy shamefacedly. He didn't want to betray his siblings, but Kamek gave him no choice: even if Lemmy resisted, the Magikoopa would still learn the truth – at least this way, he could try to do his siblings' secret some justice.
"Are they?" mused Kamek. "How do you know?"
"I walked in on them once… They made me promise not to tell anyone else. Iggy and I used to be so close, and Wendy would've killed me if I had said 'no', so I didn't tell anyone. Until now, that is."
"Fascinating," mused Kamek. "Who would've thought the beautiful Wendy O. Koopa would fall for her own geeky brother Iggy."
"I think it started out as them just joking around, and then the joking got a bit more… intense," Lemmy swallowed hard, but then his emotionless voice turned pleading. He had been sickened when he first found out, and for a while, he flirted with the idea of telling on them: the secret was too much. But then he started seeing how they cared for each other, and started feeling a little sympathetic towards their plight, and he had a feeling that all three of their fates now lay with Kamek: he had to try and make him see the piteousness of his siblings' situation too. "They said they didn't mean for it to go that far: it just happened, and now they can't bring themselves to stop even though it's wrong and will probably never work out anyway. They're just- they're in too deep. But they really do love each other!"
"Yes well, I don't care about why it all happened or how much they think they love each other," said Kamek. "All I care about is that they have broken the ancient Law of Fidelity. The fact that Iggy and Wendy are having sexual relations with each other is just as incriminating as fathering – or mothering – children out of wedlock, or cheating on one's spouse. Once we announce this to the public, neither Iggy nor Wendy will wear the crown."
Lemmy hung his head in shame, not noticing as Kamek slowly circled around behind him, vanishing his wand into thin air and pulling a dagger out of his robe as he walked. Kamek lunged and before Lemmy could react, the Magikoopa had grabbed both his hands, his arms wrapped around Lemmy's sides like a strange, backwards bear hug.
"What are you doing?" gasped Lemmy over his shoulder, trying to break free, but Kamek's grip was surprisingly tight. He was pulled right back against Kamek's belly, his robes protecting him from the small spiked on the Koopaling's shell. His own upper arms were pulled back as well, lying flat along the edge of his shell; his elbows were at right angles so that his forearms stuck straight out forwards, held in place by Kamek.
"The thing is," said the Magikoopa, using his elbows to help keep Lemmy immobile against his body as he fiddled with the dagger so that it was enclosed in Lemmy's right hand (which in turn was grasped in Kamek's claws). "Interrogating you is out of my jurisdiction. Everything you have told me is off the record, and Bowser Jr. and I can't go to the Royal Council with it: the most we can do is leak it to the public and let propaganda do the rest. That being said, we can't have you around telling everyone how I illegally obtained your knowledge – all that would do is turn Iggy and Wendy into martyrs of love, and Junior into the monster tearing them apart."
"Junior is a monster," hissed Lemmy.
"Perhaps. But so am I, and so are you," sneered Kamek. Lemmy's gaze hardened, the Magikoopa was right: he had killed King Toadstool in cold blood, and now he was going to pay for his deeds, just as Peach said he would.
But he wouldn't go down without a fight. "Even if you kill me, you'll still be discovered: Ludwig won't stop 'till he figures out that you were the murderer. Toad isn't here to blame this time," spat Lemmy. Now Morton's death made sense. It had been Kamek all along: he had somehow bewitched Roy into signing the warrant and he then did something to Toad to force him to kill Morton, since the Mushroomian guard would never have done it on his own accord.
But to Lemmy's surprise, Kamek laughed at his statement. "That's true, but what if it wasn't a murder?" Before Lemmy could say anything, Kamek moved the hand that held the dagger over to his other arm, slitting the Koopaling's wrist in one clean, diagonal stroke.
Lemmy gasped in pain and nearly doubled over, but Kamek still held both his arms and had his body forced in an upright position. "You see, if it's a suicide case-" continued Kamek, transferring the knife over to Lemmy's bloody left hand, "-there's nothing to investigate." The Magikoopa then forced the Koopaling to slit his other wrist. He let his grip loosen enough so that Lemmy could drop the knife, but kept a hold on the dying Koopaling. Unaffected by his gruesome task, Kamek kept speaking. "It wouldn't seem that unusual: your life has been going downhill recently. I guess the pressure of keeping that secret really weighed you down – we all saw the changes. Then there was the whole thing with your ball. Oh, and that was a setup, by the way."
Lemmy tried to growl a response, but all that escaped was a moan of pain. Everything was starting to go blurry.
"Then you got thrown in jail. Everyone was against the move, except Junior, Larry, me and a few others. In fact, until you told me your secret, there was no real reason for your incarceration – at least now Junior will be able to prove you were scheming to instate an illegitimate king."
Lemmy could barely hear the Magikoopa. His head was getting so heavy.
"Life just became too hard for the poor ex-prince, so he ended it with a dagger he snuck into the cell. It was such a tragic day…" Kamek grinned sadistically as Lemmy made one final pain-laden gasp for breath.