The group had moved away from the lake, the three younger Koopalings sitting together on a log. Junior was sitting away from them, far on the right, while Wendy checked their soggy sibling for any potential injuries as he explained how he had felt. Ludwig was tending to a small fire a few feet in front of the trio, his shell to the group, listening carefully to the chatterbox's explanation.

"Yeah, I mean, it was scary at first…" Morton's voice was a bit muffled as he rubbed a towel over his face. "But when I started rambling about how was I ever gonna get through the ice, I realized that… well… I was rambling! I was talking and I wasn't getting water in my mouth and I could breathe! I mean, when he shoved me in I knew there had to be a reason, he wouldn't just try and drown me or anything since he saved me yesterday." He pulled the towel off of his face and grinned at Wendy. "He's our big brother. He wouldn't hurt us."

"Still," Ludwig could feel her glare shooting daggers at his shell, "A warning would've been nice."

He rolled his eyes, not that they could see it. "As I said – if I had informed you of my plan, you vould have only gotten in ze way. I knew vhat I vas doing."

She simply shook her head in disgust and glanced past Morton to look at Junior, who hadn't said a word ever since the larger Koopaling had been freed from his frozen 'prison'. "You okay, little brother?"

"Y-yeah, just…" The youngest wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. "I just wanna be alone." With that, he got to his feet and quickly rushed off towards the airship.

Wendy snarled at Ludwig once again, who had turned to face them on hearing the pain in Junior's voice. "See? Look what you've done! You've up and traumatized him!"

"I didn't mean to frighten anyvon!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have come up with such an IDIOTIC plan!"

He folded his arms with a huff, backing away so that Morton could warm up.

"Ze plan vorked perfectly."

"Don't talk to me."

Her anger elicited another eyeroll from the oldest, but he said nothing more.

XXXXXXXX

Ludwig and Wendy had both returned to the airship after a few more minutes – separately, of course – leaving Morton outside, alone with the fire.

For the past half hour, the eldest had been busy checking the calibrations on the airship, making sure it was still running smoothly. He knew it would be – what with how meticulous he was – but he found that going over the pinpoint calculations and programming helped him unwind.

The numbers that he had long ago memorized played out before him. Engine conditions, fuel capacity, structural integrity, electrical response time… he revelled in the consistency of the ship's schematics. They were always constant, always the same. So much unlike the people he had to deal with on a daily basis and their ever changing moods. Why couldn't people be so easy to memorize, so easy to understand? Maybe Morton would still have had a fear of water and drowning, but he also wouldn't have had to deal with Wendy exploding at him in rage.

I don't understand vhy she insists on being so furious vith me, he thought to himself, a bit resentfully, Morton is fine. He is fine.In fact, he eez better zhan fine. He has begun to overcome his fear. Vhy should zhat cause her to become provoked? He closed the panel door before heading off towards his room to begin planning his next move. None of the remaining options were exactly appealing at the moment. She is being so overdramatic. I had everyzhing under control.

Sure, the water would've gotten freezing cold, and there could've been something dangerous that he hadn't seen, or he could've gotten the wrong lake since he'd only been here once before, and yeah that had been years ago, and maybe Morton could've panicked like yesterday, or there could've been an underwater current that would pull him into a cave, or he could've gotten stuck in the ice, or Ludwig could've lost his fire flower during his scuffle with Wendy if his bag hadn't flown off his shoulder when she'd tackled him, or they could've gotten really hurt from the duel, or a local could've seen him and assumed the worst, or one of them could've run off and called their father and told him what he'd done, and it wasn't like Junior's nightmare had anything to do with him hurting anyone-

…Wait.

What had he been thinking?!

Realization struck him like a boot to the head and he had to smack a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from gasping in horror, while he slammed a shoulder into wooden wall of the hallway as his knees nearly gave out from under him.

Wendy was right.

Wendy was right. This had been an incredibly stupid plan. There were so many uncontrollable variables that could've gone wrong. That could've gotten him hurt. That could've gotten his brother hurt. Why hadn't he realized that before now?

He certainly hadn't intended to hurt Morton, and sure, the Koopaling was clearly fine, but the more he thought about it and pinpointed even more potentially devastating flaws that could've occurred during his 'brilliant' plan, the more furious at himself he became. No vonder she was mad…

And then when he remembered that, for the whole thing, Junior had been sitting there, sobbing and probably reliving his worst nightmare, watching as his oldest brother became a horrible monster that wanted nothing more than to hurt his siblings...

It made the gravity of the situation that much worse.

XXXXXXXX

He hated being wrong. He hated it.

He was a genius. He shouldn't have even considered the plan. He should've, at the very least, tested the water first and confronted Morton alone, encouraging him and being right there alongside him instead of essentially repeating yesterday's incident and cranking it up to eleven, with spectators to boot.

With spectators who were terrified of him to boot.

Why, why, why had he thought that it was a good idea to bring the others along?

Ludwig found his sister typing away at a console in the wall, focused on what she was doing. He wasn't sure what it was – perhaps she was posting about his complete stupidity. He wouldn't blame her.

His foot hit a loose floorboard, and the creak made her glance up in alarm, before her face went hard and she started to walk away.

"Vendy, vait, please."

Maybe it was the hint of desperation in his voice, or maybe it was the guilt in his eyes. Whatever it was, she complied, facing him with hands on her hips, expression stony. "What."

He glanced off awkwardly. "I… vanted to apologize. You vere right."

"Don't apologize to me," she snapped, turning her shell to him, "Apologize to Morton."

He dipped his head. "I alvready did, I can assure you." Mere moments before approaching her, actually. He'd been very understanding, even appreciative of his willingness to help him.

But that didn't make it right.

She didn't reply, but she wasn't walking away, either, so he continued on, a bit hesitantly.

"I promise… I had no ill intentions. I simply vanted to help Morton overcome his fears. But zhere vere too many unknown variables, undt I… I simply did not zhink zhings zhrough, as you stated before."

There was a long pause. The last thing he wanted to do was create divisions between himself and his siblings, especially since he hadn't had the opportunity to help Wendy yet.

Hopefully this wasn't going to impede that.

"Why."

He started, nearly backing up, confusion setting in. "…vhy vhat?"

"Why didn't you think things through?"

Her voice wasn't as harsh as before, but he wasn't going to take that for granted. She was already suspicious of him, and he couldn't blame her, not after today.

"I… do not know," he admitted, "It seemed like such a flawless plan at ze time, undt I vanted to complete it as soon as possible. I guess I just… overlooked ze obvious in my haste."

She didn't say anything at first, digesting what he had said. It was true – he had rushed to get everything together, and hadn't accounted for how Junior would react, given that his simulation had only involved Ludwig hating the youngest, not anyone else. And while he had been sure that everything else would've been fine, that he'd had the right lake, and that there wasn't anything harmful in it…

Everyone makes mistakes.

"…you really haven't been sleeping at all, have you?"

This time Ludwig did step back, and as she turned around he could see the frustration behind her eyes, though it was subdued and her gaze wasn't nearly as accusatory as before.

"Vhat… makes you say zhat?"

"Because both you and Iggy are exactly the same," she explained, arms folded and voice a bit harsher than he'd like, "You go days without getting enough sleep because you think you're made of invincibility stars, and then you try and come up with these 'great' ideas that have super obvious flaws that even LEMMY could point out, and when things go wrong and we get mad, you get all defensive and don't realize what the problem is until you've had time to really reflect on it."

Man. She could read them like a book.

"I… may have been getting less zhan adequate sleep…" he mumbled, refusing to look at her again. And that may have been because he'd been too busy coming up with plans to help the others the past few nights.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She was in front of him faster than he could process, and he felt a hand grip his shoulder with fierce intensity.

"The next time you're planning on trying to fake drown somebody, please give us a head's up. You're gonna give Junior nightmares." Her grip weakened, and Wendy's face softened to a sympathetic expression. "We're your siblings, Ludwig. We can help you more than you'd think."

"…if it's any consolation, I don't have anozzer reason to pretend to endanger somevon. I didn't have any intentions on endangering anyvon in ze first place."

"How reassuring." She suddenly shoved him around and began to push him towards the airship's bedrooms. "Now, you're going to take a nap, while I make sure Morton hasn't gotten hypothermia from his unexpected ice bath."

"But-"

"But nothing. The ship isn't going to explode. I'll get Junior to wake you up when dinner's ready. And yes," She held up a hand before he could argue. "I know you were going to take care of that, but I'm not a terrible chef. I know what I'm doing."

He dug in his heels. "Just… vould it be possible for you to do so instead? I… don't zhink Junior vould be very eager to see me, not after vhat I did to Morton."

"…alright. That's fair. I'll get you up, then." She continued shoving him down the hall. "But you'd better get some sleep, or else. You were off your game yesterday too, and if I have to deal with this a third time-"

"Alvright. Fine. I get it. Sheesh."

As they went down the hall, Wendy going on and on about how it wasn't her job to make sure he was well rested, neither of them noticed the small green head poking out from around a corner, with ears that had been listening to every word.

XXXXXXXX

When Ludwig woke up from his nap, the sun was starting to set, the mountain sky a vibrant orange. It took the eldest a few bleary seconds to register everything, and something stood out to him almost immediately.

She did not come to wake me…

A glance at the clock revealed that that was probably because he'd only been asleep for two hours or so. Still, he felt a lot better now, and his focus seemed to be coming back to him. His mind wasn't racing with thoughts of plans and decisions and fears nearly as much, but there was definitely one thing that wasn't going to leave him alone until he dealt with it properly.

He slowly got up from his bed and turned to the window, stretching his arms. As he did so, his dark eyes landed on a small figure that was sitting alone on the edge of a cliff, a few yards away, shell to the massive ship, legs dangling off of the edge.

Ludwig bit his lip. He doubted the youngest wanted to see him after all he had done, but…

The least he could do was apologize.

So, with a bit of reservation, he slipped out into the hallway, fully aware of the fact that if Wendy caught him she'd drag him by his hair back to his room. It hurt his head just thinking about it.

He didn't know where the two of them were – perhaps the kitchen? Morton was a pretty decent chef, at least by their standards, so maybe he was helping Wendy with supper if she'd deemed him fit enough to work.

Actually, on that note… he was surprised that she had been so insistent to make the food for them. Normally she'd cringe at even the thought of getting her claws messy, and trying to get her to do something herself when she could get someone else to do it for her was borderline impossible at times.

Well… no sense in worrying about that now. It was just the four of them, so maybe she just knew that it had to be taken care of and no one else was going to do it.

He reached the side exit of the ship and slipped out into the crisp evening air, the door letting out a loud creak as it clicked shut.

Ludwig froze. The youngest didn't look up, but it was loud enough for him to have heard it. He paused, thinking of how best to approach. He didn't want to startle him, especially with how close he was to the edge.

"…Hey, Ludwig."

Instead, Ludwig was the one caught off guard. How'd he know it was him? No, focus… if he didn't speak or got distracted, it would just make this more awkward. He hesitantly approached, staying a few feet back, before taking in a deep breath. No time like the present.

"Junior, I'm sorry about vhat I did to Morton… I vas helping him vith his fear, undt… I didn't zhink-"

"You didn't think we'd freak out, I get it." The youngest sighed, unmoving. That wasn't what he was going to say, but he didn't bother correcting him. "I don't wanna admit it, but… I was scared. I realized after I had a minute to myself to think about it that it was just another crazy plan, and you never would've brought me along if you really wanted to get rid of me, because you never would've let me see you pretend to drown Morton. You're too smart for that."

…Okay, maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't confronted Morton on his own. Still could've handled it better, though… "I just didn't vant to imply zhat I vanted to harm anyvon. Especially vith vhat you said about your fear."

"Ludwig, look." Junior looked back and stared up at him. "I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. I trust you. You've proven it so many times before. But I was too busy trying to make you like me in the daymare that I didn't think to say what my fear was to make it stop." He glanced down at his feet, ignoring the sheer drop before him. "I don't want you to hate me, Ludwig. I know you don't, but sometimes…" He flinched. "Sometimes it's just… hard for me to know what you think of me. Of any of us. I mean, you don't have to be like Lemmy, but… you don't have to be so cold all the time, either."

Eyes widening in shock, he couldn't find the words to say as Junior continued on.

"I don't know why you're always like that, and it's just… hard to know if you care about us." He paused. "Well… hard to know if you care about me, anyway, since the others all knew you long before I came along and they don't seem to feel the same." He folded his arms, glancing up slightly before his head snapped to the side to look out at the sunset. "Sometimes I blame you for that, and I think you're just being a butt and you've always been this way… but sometimes I wonder if it's… if it's because of me that you're so cold. If I'm the reason you seem to be so distant from everyone."

Junior's eyes met his, determinedly refusing to waver again. "And I don't want who I am… or what I caused… to get in the way of us being family. Of us being brothers." He winced slightly, as though he seemed to be remembering something he didn't want to think about, but he didn't voice whatever had crossed his mind.

Ludwig finally found his voice. "Junior, zhat vasn't your fault."

"I know it wasn't. At least… that wasn't. Sometimes it's just…" He sighed. "Sometimes it's just easier to blame someone else. I should know."

Where was all this wisdom coming from? First Bowser, then Wendy, now Junior… was there a meeting or something and no one had told him? Five-year-olds should not be this smart – sometimes it felt like the youngest was the most mature out of all of them.

Junior stared off at the scenery, trees and valleys and orange sky. The eldest wondered if he was getting inspired for a painting.

"I just can't tell what you're thinking sometimes, and that scares me. I don't know if you're happy or mad or whatever – this whole day was supposed to be fun, and your face was as bland as Roy's mushroom soup."

Ludwig gasped in disbelief. "Vas I really zhat bad?" That was a pretty extreme comparison, even by his standards.

The youngest nodded, smirking at Ludwig's horrified expression, a bit of pride in his eyes that he'd finally managed to elicit some sort of visual response. "Even when you saved me from driving off the edge, you barely had any emotion at all. It was…" His smirk vanished. "It was really…" He paused, frowning in concentration, trying to think of the right word.

"Unnerving?"

He nodded. "Yeah. And when you don't react to stuff like that, as scary as it is, it just makes me wonder what you really think about me."

They lapsed into silence, the youngest steeling himself for what to say while the oldest berated himself for coming off as so uncaring.

Finally, Junior spoke up again, voice barely a whisper.

"…I'm scared that you hate me, Ludwig. I know you wouldn't hurt me, but… would you hate me?"

"No." He went up and sat next to him immediately, placing an arm around the youngest and pulling him close. Thinking carefully, he gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I don't hate you. I don't blame you for vhat happened, and I can guarantee you zhat ze ozzers don't, eizzer. You had no control over it, and I, of all Koopas, could never blame you for somezing zhat you had no control over."

Junior winced again, and Ludwig briefly wondered if there was more to this than he was letting on. But the youngest still didn't elaborate. Instead, he got to his feet, stuck out his hand, and held it there between them, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"So… brothers?"

Ludwig stared at the slightly smaller Koopaling for a few seconds, mentally digesting everything before finally nodding with the faintest of smirks, imitating Junior and completing the handshake.

"Brozzers."

XXXXXXXX

Don't feel like you have to understand what Junior is talking about or what he's thinking – we're not quite there yet XP Also I feel it's quite fitting that Ludwig considers Junior to be a Koopaling X3

Since we've been reading from Ludwig's point of view, the reader gets all of his internal emotions, his thought processes, and his feelings. But for the others, he comes off as emotionless as usual. I consider Ludwig to be very stoic, and when he does show emotion – minus anger – it comes off as very subdued compared to the others. So for a five-year-old with a family of mostly crazy siblings, well… you can see why he'd think Ludwig hates him. Unlike the others, he's never known Ludwig to be anything but stoic and emotionless. As an artist, he's constantly looking for all those little details, which Ludwig rarely shows around others, keeping his emotions to himself. So this has probably been bugging him for a while now.

I'm worried I didn't spend enough time on this chapter?Hopefully it's okay... gonna take my hiatus and hopefully have more content afterwards!