Chapter 18 The Long Wait

Sunlight streamed through the window of the dining hall as the Koopalings sat in their usual spots. Roy sat right next to Morton, all while keeping his eyes glued to the table. As soon as he got his food, he wanted to go back up to his room. While he felt better than when he had initially broken up with Judy, he still wasn't at one hundred percent. He felt that he could benefit from some time to himself. Especially when he considered the fact that Wendy was in an argument with Ludwig.

"Come on!" She stated. "I do NOT have that much stuff in my room!"

Larry chortled. "You kinda do!" he said with a high pitched voice.

"Wendy," said Ludwig. "You have so much stuff in your room that it makes the Koopa Kingdom National Treasury look tame."

"You're an animal!" said Larry. "You're a greedy, hoarding animal!"

Tears grew in Wendy's eyes. She wiped them away, but they returned within no time at all. "That's...that's mean!"

"I cannot help but concur with that," said Iggy. He turned toward Larry with a glare, which was only accentuated by the shine of his glasses. "You do not, under any circumstances, compare a lady to an animal!"

Larry chuckled. "Wait, Wendy's a lady?" When he got glares from all over the table, he sunk into his chair. "Hey! It was just a joke; can't anyone take a joke?"

Roy shook his head. Larry needed a lot of training if he was going to interact with women properly. Perhaps he should be the one to do it? Actually, that wasn't that bad of an idea. As he fidgeted with the edge of the table cloth, Roy wondered what exactly he could teach Larry about women. They were certainly an interesting breed of creatures, and they needed to be treated the way that they deserved.

Speaking of women, Roy saw Celia come into the dining hall. Her face was flustered, and she wore the hoodie, pants, and shoes that she was used to wearing. She stepped toward Roy, relief sprouting on her face the closer she got to him.

"Oh thank goodness," she said. "It took me forever to find you. This castle has a much more complicated layout than I'm used to." She pointed toward the chair next to him. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all," said Roy. Once she was sitting, Roy cast her a concerned look. "Wait, no one came to escort you to the dining hall?"

"No," said Celia.

"Really? Man. You would think that these people would show a little more respect for their princess."

Celia chuckled. "I don't….they probably aren't used to me yet."

"Well, they need to get used to you! After all, you're going to inherit the throne one day, and you're going to do all the things that queens do. That may or may not include executions."

Celia's face grew pale. "Roy, I'm not going to execute my servants!"

Roy snickered. "Okay. It's just a thing to consider." He noticed that the talking around the table had grown silent. He met his siblings eyes, as they were all silently staring at him and Celia. "What?"

Larry smirked. "You're still keeping up the whole 'Bowser is Celia's Dad' thing, huh?"

Roy scrunched up his nose. "Well, yeah. That's because he is."

Iggy sighed and shook his head. "Again, Roy, I do not believe nurturing this lunatic's delusions is a good idea."

"Hey!" Celis shouted. "I'm sitting right here, you know!" She placed her palms down on the table and stood up, ready to launch into a rant. Thankfully, Roy stopped that from happening by placing his hand on her arm. She looked at him and took a seat, allowing Roy to stand up.

"Iggy," he said with a stern tone. "Are you seriously going to insult the Princess of the Koopa Kingdom? Is that really wise?"

Iggy laughed. "HA! Roy, please."

"No, Iggy, you please! We don't need to insult people! That was the same problem Larry had yesterday!" He cast a quick glance toward the taken aback youngest before turning back toward the bespectacled genius. "Now, apologize."

Iggy sighed. "Roy…"

"No! Iggy, you yourself have said in the past that it is not proper etiquette to call people names! Please, apologize!"

Iggy hesitated before turning back toward Celia. "I apologize sincerely," he said. Thankfully, the tone of his voice supported that statement.

Celia nodded her head. "Thank you."

Right at that moment, the waiters came out. In their hands they had plates of bacon, fried eggs, and toast. Roy's mouth watered like a waterfall just by looking at them. As they were set before him, he picked up his plate and stood up. He was just about to go back up to his room. That is, until he noticed Celia without a plate.

"Hey," he said. "Would you like some food?"

Celia took a glance at his plate. "Maybe just one piece of toast."

Roy nodded and handed it over. Unlike the display with the pie, she took tiny, nervous nibbles. Roy, realizing that he didn't want to leave her alone with his siblings, reluctantly took a seat right back down. The silence at the dining table was strong, almost toxic. Roy felt as if all eyes were on both him and the hybrid. It was nerve wracking; however, he wasn't going to back out of his decision.

Celia finished her slice within no time at all. After she did, her eyes nervously scanned over the room, watching the others eat at varying speed. Every once in a while, when she made eye contact with Lemmy, they would smile at each other. However, that was the extent of the positive emotions that she showed. She mostly just kept silent, much to Roy's concern. Thankfully, she spoke up when she spotted something.

"Hey," she said. "Your name is Ludwig, right?"

Ludwig blinked before nodding. "That's right."

Celia pointed toward the cloak he wore. "That cloak looks really cool."

Ludwig's face turned crimson. "Th..thank you."

Celia nodded. Her eyes now locked upon the gem that served as the button for the cloak. It was orange, and was shaped like a rhombus. "What kind of gem is that?"

Ludwig seized up a little bit. "It's a jasper."

"Cool! Where'd you get it?"

This time, Ludwig's eyebrows scrunched up. He cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that is confidential."

"What?" Lemmy asked. "What do you mean confidential? Ludwig, why don't you tell us where you got the gem?"

"Yeah!" said Larry. "Gems like that aren't just sold on any ordinary cloak. Tell us where you got it!"

Ludwig's eyebrows scrunched up even further. "No."

"Why not?" asked Lemmy.

"Because! The answer is no!"

"But why…"

"I SAID NO!" Ludwig yelled as his body was overtaken by blue flames. Everyone shrieked and leaned away from him for fear of being burnt. By the time the flames cleared, everyone was on the edge of their seats. Ludwig, looking back and forth with a frightened expression on his face, cleared his throat.

"Excuse me. I need to...cool down."

With that, he left. Celia looked at the others. Her face was mostly frightened, but there was also a snippet of curiosity mixed in with the expression.

"How...how is he able to do that?"

"It is because he is a special," said Morton quietly.

Celia blinked. "A special?"

"That is correct," said Iggy. "The term special is applied to Koopas who are born with an excessive amount of Galaxium in their blood. This galaxium can exhibit itself in the form of superpowers."

"Superpowers?"

"Correct. Ludwig has four superpowers; flight, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and electricity manipulation. The latter two are activated when he is in an agitated or angered emotional state."

Celia nodded. "Okay. I think I understand." Her face fell back into confusion. "But...what is galaxium?"

The others gawked.

"You don't know what Galaxium is?" asked Lemmy.

"No. I don't."

Larry snickered. "How? It's taught in a lot of schools nowadays!"

Celia shrunk a little in her seat. "It...it is."

"Indubitable," said Iggy as he adjusted his glasses. "It is now officially on the periodic table after I discovered and named the element about eleven years ago." He stared at Celia. "You would have been taught about this element in your sophomore year of high school. How is it that you do not know it?"

Celia hesitated. "I...wel, I...I just…."

Before she could answer, the door to the dining hall burst open. In came a Koopa troopa servant with an excited expression on his face. "Koopalings! Your adopted father has returned!"

Iggy beamed. "Excellent." He turned toward the others. "Let us go give him our greetings."

With the exception of Celia and Roy, everyone got out of their seats. Roy looked over at Celia, who sti looked a little stressed from the questioning. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"You ready?"

There was a pause. Celia twiddled her thumbs and pulled her hoodie over her hair. She then turned toward Roy, an unreadable yet definitely emotional expression on her face.

"Lead the way."