Chapter 21 Double the Memories

Ludwig walked into the coffee shop. He smiled when he finally saw Sheila, laughing and chatting with a Koopa troopa who he assumed to be her long lost fiance. Ludwig had been looking all over the city for her. He was relieved that she didn't get into too much trouble.

"Sheila," Ludwig said as he approached her. Sheila looked up at him with an almost expectant sort of expression. "We have to go."

Sheila's eyes grew wide.

"You did it?"

Ludwig nodded. Sheila turned back to her fiance. Although she looked happy at the news that her home was safe, she looked extremely sad that she had to leave the love of her life.

"I have to go, Shellbert."

"That's okay," Shellbert said. "Whatever you need to do, you go do it."

Sheila nodded. Then her expression brightened up as she got an idea.

"Why don't you come to the bakery in about half an hour? I'm sure I'll be there."

Shellbert grinned.

"Sounds like a deal. See you then."

Sheila smiled, leaned over the table, and gave Shellbert a quick kiss on the cheek. She turned back to Ludwig, and together the two of them left the shop to get back to the time machine.

…

The light around the time machine faded away, allowing the scenery to become clearer. Ludwig smiled when he saw that his siblings were in the lab, and they were looking at the time machine expectantly.

"Looks like we made it back," Sheila said.

Ludwig nodded, although a certain kind of pit was starting to form in his stomach.

"Hopefully."

With that, he opened the door to the time machine. He looked at Iggy, who just so happened to be smiling wide.

"Pineapple?" Ludwig asked.

Iggy's smile got even brighter.

"Pineapple," he replied.

Ludwig laughed.

"It worked!" He started to take a step out of the machine. "Oh, thank goodness…."

Before Ludwig could say anymore, a kind of pain shot through his forehead. He put his hand to the problem area. Oddly enough, he was able to see that the others were doing the exact same thing. Before Ludwig could question what was happening, he felt a rush of memory. Experiences that he wasn't sure he had ever experienced before entered his mind like honeybees would enter a hive. He was eight and hitting Roy. He was twelve and yelling at Lemmy. He was fourteen and running away from home.

Finally, the pain in his head cleared. He looked around at his siblings. They all looked shaken, very badly shaken. He shook his head, for none of the memories that he had experienced really occurred. Had they?

"What just happened?" Ludwig asked.

"Exactly what we thought would happen," came a voice from the entryway. Ludwig looked and gasped.

"Kamek!"

Kamek nodded, his expression unchanged. He slowly came into the room, all the while putting his hand to his head. He grimaced while he did so.

"What do you mean you thought this would happen?" Ludwig asked.

Kamek exchanged a look with Iggy.

"Ignatius came to me and told me about your attempt to alter the time stream. Although, to be perfectly honest, I think it is a completely foolish thing of all of you to have a time machine without informing your father."

Iggy chuckled sheepishly.

"I apologize sincerely," he said.

Kamek only nodded. He turned his attention back to Ludwig and Sheila.

"Your attempts to alter the time stream have caused our timeline to cross paths with a parallel one. We now live in a hybrid timeline; one where Frostwall was destroyed, and one where it wasn't." Kamek smiled a little. "Thankfully, Ludwig Vanessa, you have succeeded with what you were trying to do. You did save Frostwall, and all the people in it. It still stands to this day."

Ludwig let out a sigh of relief. If Frostwall still stood, then surely that meant Bob was okay. Before Ludwig could say that to his siblings, however, Kamek spoke up again.

"Unfortunately, these two timelines do not coincide, as the ripple effect caused by Frostwall's destruction was monumental. As a consequence, everyone who was alive during the tragedy and was affected by it, whether directly or indirectly, now have two sets of memories. One from each timeline."

Ludwig's eyes grew wide.

"That's insane!"

Kamek shrugged.

"That's time travel for you."

The other Koopalings didn't look too happy about this either. Sheila looked pretty baffled as well.

"Wait wait wait," Sheila said. "So you're saying, we all have two different accounts of what went on over the past eleven years?"

Kamek nodded.

"Woah," said Roy. "That means we have like...thirty four years worth of memories crammed into that period!"

Iggy rolled his eyes.

"It would actually be twenty two, Roy." He then turned back to Kamek. "This is obviously going to be a predicament. How will we be able to decipher which of our memories really happened or not? How will we exist without going completely insane?"

Kamek smiled.

"You don't have to worry, Ignatius. I have a simple solution." He pulled out his wand. "Now, this solution will take a long time to fully come into fruition, but I think that some magical therapy could benefit everyone."

"You mean...memory wipes?" Ludwig asked.

Kamek nodded.

"Yes. These tactics are usually used to treat those with dissociative personality disorder, or those who have experienced very serious trauma. However, I think that it will be very useful for erasing the memories from the timeline that you wish to forget."

Ludwig was about to smile, but then he thought about it. Which timeline was he willing to give up? Obviously, he had been living with the guilt of Frostwall all these years; he didn't want that anymore. But then again, the memories from the other timeline were….worse. They brought him a different kind of emotional pain; the kind of emotional pain one feels when they know they have constantly hurt people on a very personal level . Plus, on top of that, he couldn't recall Bob in the timeline where Frostwall wasn't destroyed.

"Which timeline do we want to keep though?" Ludwig asked out loud.

The other Koopalings thought back to this. They looked like they were recalling some of the most gruesome memories from both timelines. Yet, at the same time, they were also recalling the sweetest ones. It looked like they were in physical pain as they tried to juggle both of the timelines.

"Oh man, I am starting to get a headache!" Wendy said.

Kamek laughed.

"I suggest you take some time to think about it. Right now, I suggest you go meet the person who you were trying to save."

Ludwig smiled.

"You're right. Come on guys, let's hop in the Clown Car."

…

The Koopalings stood in front of the door of Bob's house. Ludwig held his fist in front of it hesitantly. He had no idea what would meet him when the door was opened.

"Well, here it comes," said Larry. "The moment of truth."

Ludwig nodded and knocked. When the door was opened, his spirits soared up into the Heavens.

"Guys! You're here!" Bob said.

Ludwig smiled as tears started to flow down his cheeks. He wrapped Bob in a hug.

"You're alive! Oh thank the developer, you're alive!"

Bob hugged Ludwig back, but he looked a little confused as he did so.

"Yep, I'm alive. But...how is that possible? Didn't the Midnight Riders kill me?"

Iggy laughed.

"It's a long story."

With that, the other Koopalings approached Ludwig and his clone. Together, they all held each other in a tight group hug.

AN: This story is almost complete! There is one more chapter after this, so stayed tuned!