THE MYSTERIOUS SCENT: REDUX!

Chapter 14: Cutoff Genes

Wendy was awoken by the feeling of a hand sliding over her stomach. Her heart, mind and entire body were instantly alert; what was this? Who would dare start doing this to an unconscious woman?

But the hand never strayed from her stomach into more dangerous areas, continued to stroke gently, petting her. After a few seconds, she began trembling as dismay set in; it could be anyone. Visions of Roy and leashes assaulted her, older memories of past trauma joined in, and sweat began to bead on her forehead. Her throat tensed to scream...

"Shh," came Mario's voice in her ear – she knew it was his instantly. "Morning."

Instantly, she relaxed into the touch, smiling. It was he. The one she didn't mind. Maybe if it was him more often, she could retrain herself – overwrite her involuntary fear with happiness someday.

Her next thought was that it was pitch black. Why? She knew why, but it took her a second to shake the memory loose: caves. They were still in those damnably-eternal tunnels, trying to work their way up and out the other side. Before bunking down for the night (if it was truly even night; all they had to rely upon to gauge the passage of time were their internal clocks), the group had made sure they were all arranged relatively closeby and snuffed the candle. Until Toad woke up, nobody was going to see anything anytime soon.

And Mario didn't seem to mind that fact in the slightest.

"Stop," she whispered back, voice nearly silent; if she spoke any louder, she might wake Luigi and Toad, and the last thing she wanted was for them to overhear their conversation.

"Why?"

"You said you d-didn't want this now," she went on, finding it harder and harder to keep talking about the subject without raising her voice, without allowing her pleasure to show. "So back off."

"I'm not trying to do anything," he promised her. "I just..."

"You just what? Do you know what it means to stroke a Koopa's underbelly?"

"Nnnot really."

At that, she had to smile. No, he probably didn't. "It's... not all that different than playing with my tail, if you know what I mean."

"Oh... like the, uh... erogenawhatever."

She nodded; the feeling of her hair's movements told her that he could probably tell she was nodding. "It's not like you're setting off fireworks, but it's still a really, really intimate feeling. Like a kiss. And if we're not supposed to be kissing, then..."

Therefore, Mario's hand halted, but he did not take it away. Instead, his other hand joined it, and he was spooning her, nestling his stubbly chin against the hollow where neck met shoulder. The whiskers chafed on her skin, and still she loved it, still she welcomed it gladly. "Sorry. You should come with an instruction manual."

"When this is all over, we're gonna sit down and have a real discussion," she told him firmly, her own hands coming to rest against his. "About what does and doesn't set me off. You'll need to learn that, because... I think I've made up my mind. Just waiting on you, slowpoke."

Mario grinned; she could feel his cheeks bunching against her own. "Yeah, I gotta admit I'm pretty much there. It's just- well, maybe I've got weird hangups, but it feels wrong to be debating this stuff while Peach is out there somewhere, trapped and waiting to be un-trapped."

"No, it's okay," she soothed, clutching his hands tighter. "But I'm looking at it a different way."

"What way is that?"

"Knowing that we could be captured, held prisoner by someone, maybe even tortured and executed if the captor was in the right mood... it's like, why wait? Why dance around it instead of just grabbing onto the love while you can?"

They both stiffened; the dreaded L-word. From nowhere, it had dropped like a Bob-Omb.

"Oops. God, I-I-I'm n-not-"

"No, don't," Mario told her warmly, squeezing her with his arms, holding her as close as possible. His voice shook slightly, and she could hear his pulse quicken, but his tone was sober and earnest. "Don't act like you did or said something wrong. In fact, it sounds just right to me."

As they lay there together, Wendy heard him inhaling deeply, drawing in her scent. Maybe he hadn't been exaggerating when he claimed he enjoyed her aroma. Now that she had been made aware of that quirky factoid, every time he sniffed her she paid attention, seeing that he really did revel in it, that he sought it out. It made her self-conscious about her odor, but at the same time an odd sense of pride welled up in her. There was something uniquely hers that captivated Mario. Would he ever be able to find someone else, even if he decided he couldn't be with her? Someone else whose scent would excite him like this? Probably not. No two people – be they Koopa or human or mushroom or whatever – had the same combination of food preference, body spoor, bathing practices, perfumes, soap used to wash their clothes... the possibilities were so wide and varied.

On impulse, she turned her head and buried her nose in his hair for a minute. She almost laughed when she decided there was nothing all that special about his smell: man. Sweat and metal from tools, and functional shampoo. Oh, she most certainly liked it, because she liked him – and because she was a heterosexual female. There was this hairy, spongy hint lacing through it that she wasn't used to because he was mammalian, and she wanted to say it was unpleasant but nothing could be further from the truth. That he didn't smell like her father or her brothers... next to his selfless attitude, it was the most refreshing thing about him.

Wendy wanted Mario to belong to her and her alone.

For a long while they lay together in the darkness, and Wendy's heart ached as it danced because she had what she wanted. Maybe it wasn't complete yet, and he didn't reciprocate, but everything had become so clear that she saw no reason to keep worrying. If nothing went wrong, if she didn't screw up and lose him, then she had a chance. That was good enough for now.

The time came when Luigi sat up and yawned, and she felt Mario tense – but he didn't pull away. Not yet. Instead, he held her tighter, buried his face in her neck. Of their own accord, her claws inched out and stabbed into his hands, and though he flinched he did not reprimand her or pull away. Did he understand? Did he know how possessive her gesture was and what it meant?

"Sorry," she whispered with tears in her voice. She really was. She didn't want to force his decision, to smother him with her own needs so much that he felt he had no real choice to begin with. That wasn't how it was supposed to work; she wanted him to have plenty of room to think, to come to her on his own. Mario's lips pushed into her hair, and she knew she was forgiven... but not by herself. No, she'd overstepped a little. Something to watch out for.

"Mario?"

"Hmmh?" Mario said, feigning sleepiness. "Whazz goin' on, Weege?"

"Hey, Toad," Luigi grunted, and they heard the sound of something or other being scratched idly. "Toad, wake up and give us some light."

"Hah?" the mushroom sighed. But Luigi must have poked or kicked him, for the next thing out of his mouth was, "Okay, okay! Can't you guys wait five seconds for me to drop out of REM sleep?"

"Get a candle going so we can eat, or start walking or something."

"Keep your pants on, string bean."

As they heard the contents of a pack being shifted around, Wendy began to pull away from Mario's arms – but he held her back. Distress almost seized her right then – no, she wouldn't be held down, she wasn't a helpless victim, they didn't have the right to – but she calmed by reminding herself that it was just Mario, then turned to ask, "What?"

But Mario was simply hugging her. It wasn't one of those "Hey, chum, I haven't seen you since our school days" hugs, but more like a "You've gone off to war and left me all alone in this house and I can't believe it's been six months since your last approved leave, honey." Clingy and desperate and urgent and frightening. When she realized she could feel his heart pounding right up against hers, she nearly lost it and started bawling all over him, but what good would it do? So instead she hugged back, put her hand on his neck and ground their foreheads together, their breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Soon," he promised. She nodded, sniffling, and then he kissed her.

"Got it!" Toad crowed as light flared up, momentarily blinding all present. Both he and Luigi swung their heads in the direction of the two lovers... and stopped dead in shock.

"What?" Mario asked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. Wendy was resting across the tunnel from him, but now she stirred and propped herself up on one elbow. "Guys, why the crazy looks?"

"Dunno," Luigi said uncomfortably. "Guess we just... I dunno, expected to see more of a-"

"PERV," Wendy accused again with a wide yawn.

"No, that's not what I-"

"Got you dead to rights, paesan," Mario guffawed. Luigi sulked and turned his back on them.

-o-o-o-o-

In another region of Dinosaur World, a similar scene was unfolding. Peach had awoken to find herself curled up next to Lemmy, arms around his middle. She must have done it during the night. Luckily for her she was embracing him from the front, as she would likely be spilling blood all over them if she'd snuck around the other direction to get a faceful of spikes.

'I really do have it bad,' she reprimanded herself as she sighed against his collarbone – or where it might be if not for the shell. 'What am I doing? He's not even awake to ward me off this time. I'm such a despicable person...'

But any casual observer would instantly have known that she wasn't. The proof of this was the way she slowly inched backward and sat up, holding herself apart. Taking advantage wasn't how she was going to win him... if that's what she wanted at all. It was, of course, but wanting it was so ill-advised that she felt the need to question herself continuously.

As she began to stand up, shaking her head and trying to still her heart, it shot back into her mouth as she found herself nose to nose with Iggy.

Seconds passed with them frozen, Peach's face glowing crimson, Iggy glaring at her as if she were the worst kind of scum. Then she stood and walked toward boulder situated on the edge of their makeshift campsite. Upon reaching it, she turned and motioned him to follow.

"What?" he asked once he'd joined her. "What do you want? As if you didn't already get it."

"Mind your tongue!" she snapped, voice quiet. "Just because I'm willing to discuss this with you doesn't mean I'll let you be crass."

"You got to my brother. I'll talk to you however I want."

"Got to him?" Peach felt herself growing colder by the moment. "I'm not a virus. I didn't infect him."

"That's how he acts! Like he's sick, like you... like you wiggled your hips at him and hyp-ma-tized him!" The princess cracked a brief smile at his mispronunciation. "You better fix him, put him back the way he was, or else I'm gonna-"

"That is enough. Your brother is not hypnotized, or poisoned or drugged or anything else. I... I can't explain why he's different to you, but it's something you should tell him."

"Then why am I over here, talking to you?"

"Because," she went on through gritted teeth, "you seemed like you had something to say to me. And I didn't want that to wake him up; he's exhausted."

"No more than the rest of us."

"YES, more than the rest of us! He had barely recovered from the last near-death experience before dear Larry reared his ugly head, and then again he was forced to take up his sword. You don't agree that he ought to recuperate?"

After glaring at her for a few seconds, Iggy nodded. "That still doesn't mean I like seeing you two all snuggly together."

"That wasn't his fault, and not mine, either." Peach squirmed. "I woke up, my arms were around him... I can't explain any further, but it was innocent, I assure you. Nothing else transpired."

"He'd do anything for you, ya know that?" Iggy half-laughed, voice bitter and flat. "For some human. He's out here fighting off his own family to save some stupid human girl who gets herself into trouble again and again and again."

That stabbed through to her core. "I... I know, Iggy. I'm a magnet for kidnapping. What else am I supposed to do about it, though? My twiggy little arms aren't built to fend off huge, brutish Koopa men." Her fists shook at her sides. "Which is the worst feeling in the world."

"Almost as bad as losing your best friend to the enemy?"

"Much worse," she maintained. "If you think I enjoy being impotent, you're a fool. I hate it now and always have. Yesterday, I gave my all... and I kept us alive because I used up the single Starman we had at our disposal. That was the only – only way I was able to triumph. Maybe I've got formal training on how to run a kingdom, but in a fair fight I can't even save my own ass."

More than anything, her use of the uncivilized term at the end surprised Iggy. He began to giggle. When the princess raised a questioning eyebrow, he whispered, "I've never heard a debutante say 'ass' before."

"Really?" she asked with a slight smile. "Guess I've got a few surprises left for you after all."

"Let's hope so," said a voice from the left. Both of them whirled to see Lemmy, fully awake and ready to depart. "What did I miss?"

Iggy glanced up guiltily, but Peach only muttered, "Nothing of note. Ready?"

"I am. We've got little in the way of breakfast, so I suggest we get going and see what the other side of that bridge might provide for us."

"Very well." With a sly glance at Iggy, Peach took a deep breath and said, "Let's do this shit."

As they tromped away, Iggy did his best not to squeal with glee and Lemmy looked utterly perplexed.

-o-o-o-o-

"DAYLIGHT!"

The announcement came from Toad's lips, but it could just as easily have been any of them. Sweet, blessed sunshine blasted their eyeballs with more brightness than they were prepared to endure. It was like being born from the cavemouth and into pure radiance.

"I'm so glad!" Wendy giggled. "Never have I been so glad to see this dystopian landscape!"

"Told you we'd make it," Mario said with a satisfied tone. "Just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other."

"Why don't you put that foot where the sun don't shine?" Luigi grumbled.

"Maybe you should be the one watching your feet," Toad cackled. "Otherwise you'd never have earned that banged-up shin!"

The taller plumber scowled as he limped. "Yeah, yeah."

"Apparently, there's a bridge up ahead," Mario told them from where he was inspecting a sign. "Let's take it; if this route has been marked so well, I'd bet anything it's how we're going to get to Koopa!"

"Which Koopa might that be, perchance?"

A hush fell over the craggy mesa. One by one, they followed the voice up to see the landmark they had failed to notice; a guard tower. With a gleam in his eye, Ludwig Von Koopa slid down the ladder, landing with a thud on the ground before the blinded team.

"Crap," Toad grunted. "Can't walk two feet without trippin' over a Koopaling."

Mario stepped forward. "What do you want from us?"

Ludwig had been on the cusp of answering when Wendy growled, "Out of the way, Lug."

"Why, Sis, you wound me," the beady-eyed maniac said in a deceptively-gentle voice. "We've all missed your cheery presence back at the ranch. This is my reception? We've finally unearthed you, and all you can do is command me aside? For shame!"

"Let us pass, or so help me-"

"HALT!" Wendy had been about to lunge herself at her older brother, but the blue-haired lout produced a magic wand from nowhere, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Temper, temper, young temptress! Larry wasn't the only one of us with the foresight to create a doppelganger wand!"

"No," Toad breathed as his eyes focused on the implement of doom. "Not again... not one of those stupid things all over again!"

"What a vile little wart," she said in quieter tones – ones meant more for Mario than for their assailant. No such luck in keeping him from hearing her. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to go through this."

"Might you be willing to share with the class, Kootie Pie? Ah... but you've nothing to share with your human friend there. Not unless you really think the mechanics of relations with a mammal will be seamless! Ahh, capricious youth. But perhaps that's presumptuous of me," he told her with a devious grin. "You and the garlic-infused gent couldn't possibly be entertaining such notions, could you? That would be... hmm, I suppose xenophilia, to be frank. Yes, that's the term."

"Do you ever just sit in dark rooms and ask the flagstones what they're thinking about?" Toad wondered aloud, prompting a glare from the eccentric lizard.

"Wendy?" Mario asked quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder – but she pulled away, eyes wide and staring straight into the ground. Every muscle in her body was tensed, pulled taut like catgut strings on an antique violin.

"Lug, why can't you shut the hell up?" Her tone was dejected, even while her posture radiated fury. "I... I just want to go. I want to be done with all of this and file it under 'ancient history'. Why are you being so stubborn? Are you really that despicable?"

"You're giving off some pretty negative mojo," Toad began suspiciously, eyes moving between the two amphibious relations. "Did he shake you down for your allowance or something?"

"Often," she said bitterly, folding her arms over her chest, her voice all steel and cold fire, not sickly self-loathing. "Par for the course. Do you know how many times I caught them going through my dresser drawers, or playing keep-away with my pearls? Roy was always pulling on my tail to see how I'd react, Larry tried to steal glimpses of me in the bathtub. Morton, though, he was the weirdest; just wanted to try on my hairbow when I wasn't looking. Never did understand what that was about."

"Yeesh," said Luigi through his teeth. "Not quite the Brady Bunch, huh? Guess we shoulda known the apples didn't fall far from the tree; if the dad disrespects women..."

"I know, right? They couldn't stop being curious about girls just because there weren't any others around. So I bore the brunt. You have no idea how maddening it is, the role of the only female in a family of EIGHT! Boys being stupid boys."

"Koopas being Koopas," Ludwig amended. "And might I remind you that you are also among our number? Sooner or later, your blood will out. What's going to happen to your hapless plumber companion when you're set upon by our savage nature?"

Wendy bared her fangs as if trying to fight back tears. Then her back straightened, her chin lifted. "That won't happen. I'm not one of you."

"Oh, really?"

"Really. I am Wendy Orlean, and a Koopa no more."

For a second, Ludwig only blinked at her. Then he began to laugh. A long, high laugh with plenty of musical titters thrown in for good measure. A knee was slapped and a gut was clutched, but all the while his wand remained leveled in the direction of the heroes. Mad, yes... but a mad genius.

"You're a Koopa no more? Oh, that's rich! That's melodious to my ears! Let's play that game, shall we? Neither am I. No, no, wait – Mario is a Koopa! Because I claim it so! And Luigi is a fungus! As a matter of fact, let's just switch around these bothersome tags until names and descriptors lose all meaning! Anarchy will reign unchecked!"

But Wendy never budged, never spoke. Eventually Ludwig exhausted his laughter, then came to scowl at her. The lack of reaction very clearly chafed his Underoos.

"Last chance, Kooky," Mario ground out, nostrils flaring as he fought not to let his anger cloud his judgment; if they were trying to slip past this guardian and onto the bridge, turning into a tornado of rage would only land them on the wrong end of that magic wand instead. "Move it or lose it."

"Cannot do, Caterpillar-Face. You'll have to avoid my wand if you want to venture beyond this point."

Wendy cracked her knuckles. "Fine. Bring it on."

Only with four opponents advancing all in the same moment did the Koopa boy's forehead break out in a sweat. "W-wait... no, you can't do this, you must be intimidated! I've mastered all the tactics for ensuring this, how can you flout that?"

"Looks like it's your turn to be... intimidated," Toad said, somehow almost menacing even with his rubber-duck voice.

"Hah!" Ludwig crowed as he began to backpedal toward the Butter Bridge. "That's what you think, cretins! He who Koops and runs away-"

"Is Koop outta luck, chump."

The follow-up line was delivered by Lemmy. He, Iggy and Peach were standing just feet from the beginning of the bridge (which for them, of course, was its end). This was trouble enough for the villain, but the wand in Iggy's hand and the sword in Lemmy's lent a lot more weight to their claim.

"...ah."

"We should bind you and take you into custody," Peach declared in clipped tones, "but everyone deserves a little mercy." She seemed to consider her own words for a moment, then pursed her lips. "You know, on second thought, not everyone does. Tie him up."

"Princess!" Mario and Luigi exclaimed. Wendy sighed with equal gratitude and release of pent-up rage, and Toad whooped and pumped his fist into the air.

"Lemmy!" Wendy breathed a moment later as Luigi and Toad began digging through their packs for some ropes. "God, I've been hoping you'd come through for us!"

"The way of bushido would not let me do otherwise, Sis."

"Uh-huh," Iggy said under his breath. "It was Peach's bushido he was after." But when Peach kicked the back of his leg, the snide comments tapered off.

"You can't be doing this to me!" Ludwig was screeching. "I'm a victim of circumstances beyond my control, can't you apprecia-"

"Tell it to the judge," Luigi snapped, preparing to slip a length of rope between his jaws – but Mario yanked the defeated Koopa to his feet.

"You... to Wendy. You treated her like yesterday's meatloaf."

"No," Ludwig said. "I m-mean, yes, but it was all kid's games, you understand..."

"Really? Was that really all it was?"

"Of course!" Ludwig shouted, switching from blubbering to incensed in a heartbeat. His teeth scraped together and his eyebrows stabbed into one another, but as he went on his voice became bleak and distant, as if whispering from the opposite end of a canyon. "No one understands... growing up with brothers, never seeing a bona-fide woman. Have you ever tried asking Bowser Koopa to explicate the differences between us and the fairer sex? Hah! It's like asking a Thwomp! So we were naturally curious, and poor Wendy was the only nearby-"

"How does that excuse you kicking her around?" When the Koopa didn't answer immediately, he shook him and shouted, "HOW?"

He only got another laugh by way of reply to his question. "Are you earnestly waiting for me to apologize? Get comfortable, dear deluded sir, for you'll have a long wait; I feel no remorse. Our father ensured we would grow up in a world devoid of a female influence. Only in recent years have I begun to theorize that it was perhaps not acceptable to pinch my sister's tail, to make light of her entire gender and her pink-tinged wardrobe. It was natural for us to ostracize her because she was so clearly, visibly different. And who can only know where the other Koopas are? Are there any more women or are we to be the last of our kind? Until King Dad grows more forthcoming..."

A tidbit from a previous conversation resurfaced in Mario's mind, and he glowered down at the oddity he was threatening. "Where did her mother go? Did King Koopa put her out to pasture because she was ruining your 'Boys Only' policy?"

At that, Kooky's eyes took on a hollow cast. "Where? No, Mummy, no... where did you go, Mummy? I'm looking, I counted to twenty... Cheatsy and I didn't mean to break the lamp, you d-didn't have to go away-" Then Mario struck him across the face with an open palm, and Ludwig seemed to come back to himself. "Yes, right, yes. I do wish you hadn't brought up my dearly-departed stepmother; she breathed her last birthing young Iggy. But when your father's version of therapy is to lock you in your room until you stop crying, sometimes you work through the grief via... unconventional avenues."

All fell silent, and Wendy and Lemmy exchanged a doleful glance. They had pondered Mother's fate all their lives, and now they knew the answer. Not that it was terribly satisfying or uplifting.

"So she really is..." Wendy clenched her fist over her heart as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her last shred of hope was now dashed, and he didn't even seem to care. "Why didn't any of you ever tell us? What kind of useless family members keep something like that a secret?"

The crazed Koopa gave a shrug. "Most of us didn't want to talk about it; she'd been kind enough to us before losing her, and it only made the wound fresher to do so. Father's main concern after her demise was how to raise us; as I'm sure you've surmised, he's not Parent Of The Year material. And what were his boys to do without prospective mates? Only one sister..."

"You disgust me," she flung at him, anger flooding back into her every word. "Come on, did you really think it was ever gonna happen? I'd rather let the Koopas become extinct than bring more impressionable babies into that cesspool of-"

She fell silent when she heard his bored sigh. "Oh, stop whimpering, it's pathetic."

"Is it?" Lemmy growled at him. "There's a reason I never participated in those 'what if' summits you and the others held; I wanted no part of them. She's got a right to choose what she will and won't do for the family."

"Wendy being the sole remaining female in the castle meant she would eventually have been forced to create our eggs," Ludwig went on, throat constricting; he had the decency to look ashamed. "Regardless of desire, or vaunted ideals, or-"

"Shut your freakin' mouth!" Mario snapped – and to everyone's shock, he reared back a fist and blackened the Koopa's eye. "You shut up about her, about shoehorning her into popping out a litter against her will! I oughtta take a rusty pair of tin-snips and hack off your-"

"Mario, that's enough." Wendy's claws were gently wrapped around his knuckles before he could land a second blow, lowering them as she spoke in a strangely flat voice. "He's... they're not going to hurt me. Not ever again."

"Let's not confuse the matter," Ludwig said, demented smile back in place; the random act of vengeance didn't seem to have agreed with his mental state. "Simply because I feel pity over our cherished sister being relegated to naught but breeder doesn't mean we won't keep on hurting each other until the end of time. It's what Koopas do."

"Maybe so. Except it's like I said: I'm not a Koopa anymore. So you and those other creeps can do whatever you want, but I won't condone it any longer. I'm done."

Wendy was already walking away when he spat, "Lovely words." She didn't turn, but stopped briefly – just a pause. Then she carefully sat down cross-legged, and also folded her arms, facing away from him. Her message was clear; there was nothing more to say. When Luigi made to gag him again, he whispered, "Wait! I... I've got information!"

Toad scoffed. "On what? The names of a few good psychiatrists in the area? 'Cause I gotta say, a recommendation from you is a sure-fire way to guarantee I'll never set foot in their-"

"On the King and Queen of Mushroom Kingdom!"

All mouths closed, and all held still – except for Peach. She dashed forward and grasped the collar of his shell. "Excuse me? What was that? I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

"You did indeed. They... I know where they are."

"Where? Tell me where, tell me this minute!"

"Let me go, and I'll take you straight to them."

Peach looked up, afraid. Not afraid of Ludwig Von Koopa, not afraid for her reputation among her loyal subjects... but afraid that her close friends would think less of her if she admitted to being tempted by his offer. What would they say? A criminal couldn't be set free due purely to her desperate curiosity. That was supremely unethical.

But Lemmy clapped a hand to her shoulder, then leaned in to glare into Ludwig's eyes. "Really?"

"I wasn't speaking to you, traitor. Traitor-S... plural, it seems. A multitude of miscreants. Wendy sets a trend. She's a Wend-setter."

"How about this?" With a quick heft, Lemmy had Ludwig dangling over the side of the bridge, legs flailing uselessly to keep from falling. "Tell me where they are, and maybe, if we think we can trust your word, you won't journey into the afterlife today."

"W-wait, no, stop! You can't mean this, I know you don't have the pluck!"

"Pluck you!"

"Lemmy, this isn't the way!" Peach pleaded wearily. "Just put him down!"

"Do as Her Majesty says!" Ludwig gasped out. "C-come on, let's be reasonab-"

"TALK! WHERE ARE THEY?"

"THEY'RE DEAD!"

Ludwig remained suspended in midair for an emotionally-charged moment before Lemmy jerked him back to solid ground. He looked up with a challenge in his eyes, but it quickly vanished when he realized his single trump card had been played and he still lost the hand. "Their remains... are in a cell within the Neon Castle dungeon, probably long forgotten when our father initially abandoned Dinosaur World. I discovered this while I was supposed to be keeping tabs on Miss Pink-Frills there between Iggy's shifts as turnkey. It... well, they're two human skeletons wearing royal insignia on their fingers. You do the calculus."

"Now we know why no search parties ever turned them up," Toad said in a somber voice. "Bowser had 'em stashed off-world with the dinos."

Heads hung as everyone gathered (except Ludwig) mourned for the Mushroom King and Queen. Most had made their peace with their deaths long ago – ten years was too long to hold out any real hope, not when they had initially been captured by such a despot – but the final nail sealing their fates didn't feel any less sharp. At last, Lemmy cleared his throat and softly spoke. "Peach-"

"No," she said, wiping her eyes hurriedly. Not that she was terribly tan on a normal day, but suddenly the orphaned princess was extra pale, as if a layer of realness had been stripped away. "No, this isn't the time for a meltdown. There is much to do. Finish tying him up, and then... then we must retrace our steps, either to the Keep to corroborate his story or to the Isle of Yoshi so we can-"

"NOT SO FAST!"

All eyes were almost pointed all the way up when the grappling hook landed at their feet. It skidded over to the side, where it found purchase amidst Ludwig's ropes. As they watched the clown-face copter rise, another, far uglier head poked out.

Luigi gasped. "Calamitous calzones – it's Koopa!"

It was at this point that Mario sincerely wished he still had the cape.

"Yep!" the great green lizard crowed, waving to them. He actually waved. "Came to pick up my dry cleaning – oh, and an errant son or three. What'cha doin' with yourselves these days, Hip and Hop?"

"Running away from home, King Dad," Iggy said automatically, staring down at his feet.

"Aww, that don't sound like much fun! Tell you what – you guys hitch a ride with me, and we'll all go home and make ourselves some turnip-and-marmalade ice cream! I know it's your favorite!"

"Yaaay!" But a second later, Iggy stuck his tongue out and blew a very audible raspberry. "In your dreams, jerkface! We're never coming home again!"

"Daddy, you put Lug down!" Wendy called upward, hands out at her sides, feet planted wide and steady. "We have unfinished business!"

"Kootie Pie, angel! Why the long face? Don't you even wanna give Daddy a kiss hello?"

"I'd rather kiss Mouser's butt!"

"Aww, that's so cute," Bowser cooed as he began reeling Ludwig in. "She thinks she's quitting the family business! Oh, but you wait and see. Sooner or later, you'll be one of us again. We'll all sit around the dinner table and lovingly try to plot new ways to bump each other off, and have a great old time doing it! Because that's what we're made of, sweetums – bile and vinegar! 'Koop Strong, Koop Fast, Koop Sm-AAAIGH!"

To everyone's complete shock and bewilderment, Wendy had stretched out her neck, keened a long, high note that curdled the liquid in veins, and loosed an awesome red fireball that singed one of the clown-copter's propellers.

"WHOA!" Iggy gasped.

In that moment, Mario was staring at her with new eyes – those of someone who suddenly appreciated everything about a person all at once, pulling back to see the whole picture. Never again would he dare assume she was defenseless.

"Dammit!" Bowser cried as the craft began to wobble erratically. Resigned to prematurely ending this confrontation, he puttered away into the distance with Ludwig fishtailing behind from his rope, bellowing over his shoulder, "I HATE THOSE PLUMBERS!"

"Hate who plumbers?" Luigi breathed, still unnerved by the whole display. "We didn't do jack squat."

"Yeah, you did," Wendy whispered, hoarse from screaming. "You... you saved my life. Over and over again, you keep saving it. It's plenty for him to hate you over."

Mario smiled at her as he approached hesitantly, reaching out a hand. She twitched away from it, but then he latched on so strongly that she halted. "Hey, forget that. Far as I'm concerned, we squared our debt when you saved me in the cave back there. Even Stevens."

"I guess."

"I can't believe you did it," Lemmy was babbling, staring at her in disbelief. "Fire! None of us... King Dad wouldn't teach- and you up and- how did you figure it out?"

A nervous swallow. "Uhh, I'm not sure. Just... reacted."

Iggy let out a chuckle. "Some reaction, sis!"

"Wendy?"

It was Peach who approached, eyes wide and beseeching, and Wendy instantly felt dread welling up inside her. An onerous task was about to thud against her shoulders; she'd have to answer for somebody else's crimes, or clean up some other colossal mess. Wasn't this day long enough already? However, instead of asking her for some trifling favor, the monarch whispered, "Your mother..."

"Nah," she said with a weak smile. "It's nothing, old news. I'm totally okay."

"No, you aren't." Peach glanced over at the forlorn expression on Lemmy's face, the antsy one on Iggy's; the youngest didn't even know what a mother was, much less have the capacity to miss what he'd never had. A few more steps forward, and her hands clasped one of Wendy's. "If you... need to talk about...?"

Wendy sighed, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her hairbow as she gazed off toward the clouds. "Do we have to do this now? I'd rather put it on the back burner for a-"

"Come on," Peach prodded gently. "The stronger you protest, the more obvious it is you're going to do yourself irreparable harm by holding it all in. Try me."

The two set off to have a brief walk and private discussion; they reached the very edge of the clearing before Wendy burst into loud, noisy tears. Peach shot the boys a helpless look over her shoulder before they turned the corner around a rock formation and out of sight.

Then Toad, itching to change the subject to pretty much anything else, spun to face Lemmy and Iggy and asked, "So... big jailbreak, huh? How'd it go down? Anybody slip a file into a cake?"

*To Be Continued!*

NOTES: Let's never have anybody accuse me of being too secretive; I just rewrote this chapter. It originally went another way, but I had a friend point out to me that a thing I did kinda needlessly complicated the plot and just felt "off", and on second read I totally had to agree. So I took some extra time to chop it up and paste it back together, and now it reads much better, trust me. Big revelations, eh? Here's where most of the "adventure" portion of our tale is wrapped up. More to come, though!