Chapter 48 A Turn For the Worst

Now, Kambert was never what I would call a "good guy." He wasn't bad, just….well…

Sigh.

Kam and I are a pair of twins who were born into an upper-middle class family. Being the elder of the two twins, I was expected to take care of my "baby" brother (even if the age gap between us was literally less than thirty seconds) and make sure that he grew up into a strong, healthy boy and an even stronger, healthier adult.

But there were two big problems with that. One, that statement lays all the responsibility of raising Kam solely at my feet. If he did a horrible thing, our parents could always chalk it up to "Oh, Kamark screwed up with his job again." Of course, I wouldn't have that job to begin with if my parents were actually...you know, parents! But hey, go figure.

The second problem that this presented to me was that Kambert was a pain in the you know what. He was the type of person who did a lot of bad things a lot of the time. To make matters worse, on the rare occasions where our parents were present (when they weren't out partying like the prodigal son), they would shower him with all the gifts and affection that should have been distributed evenly amongst us siblings, but instead, was given entirely to him because he was...how do I put this delicately….a spoiled brat.

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved my brother. What kind of older sibling would I be if I didn't value him as a person? After all, he could be a good magikoopa (when the planets aligned), and he could be a loyal companion and confidant. He had been with me through the toughest parts of my life and was a very good friend. I wouldn't have established the Starbite Society if it wasn't for him.

But...remember when he had stolen that money from the wealthy heiress that he murdered? Yeah, that wasn't the first time he had done stuff like that. Kam's dream had always been to make enough money to buy the whole world. While he liked to murder wealthy nobles in order to get a portion of that money, that wasn't his ultimate goal; if anything, he considered it "practice". No, the method he liked to talk about to get all that money in the end...was murdering the magikoopa advisor to the King.

I really don't have to explain what's wrong with that picture, do I? Kam is the epitome of delusional thinkers; the king, I guess you could call him. He always believed that by killing that one ugly bastard, he could become richer than Wario. Never mind the fact that it more than likely took Wario a lot of time, effort, and resources to get as rich as he is. But no, killing the magikoopa advisor to the king will DEFINITELY make you an overnight success! Never mind that he is the most powerful magikoopa in all the realm and would definitely kick your butt before you had the opportunity to say "What about my Miranda Rights?"

That's...yeah.

Thankfully, I always managed to talk him out of going that far. At least, for a while. And when Singe came into the Society, he managed to provide Kam with some sort of anchor toward reality. Another reason among the long list of reasons why my love for Singe was growing stronger and stronger.

But even Singe's presence couldn't keep back my brother's impulsive self gratification for long.

It was one night in late October when things took a turn for the worst. I had just been sleeping in my bed when I heard a knock on my door that woke me up. As I turned on the light, my heart fluttered like butterfly wings. It was Singe! Was he here to lay with me?

Actually, even though the idea that question presented was lovely, even I couldn't deny that it was unrealistic. Singe was unaware of my crush, and as far as I knew, might not even be gay. So there had to be another reason why he had come into my bedroom at...3:00? Wait, what?

"Singe, what are you doing here?" I asked as I put on my glasses.

Singe stepped into the room. "I couldn't sleep. Kam is…"

My big brother sense instantly activated. "What's wrong with Kam? Is he okay?"

Singe swallowed a lump in his throat. "A few hours ago, he said somethings that were...disturbing." I raised an eyebrow, prompting him to elaborate. "He didn't say them directly to me, but I was in the general vicinity, so I was able to hear. He said 'tonight's the night. I'm finally going to do it.'"

My eyes grew wide, so wide that my eyeballs almost touched the glass of my spectacles. "Oh no." I knew exactly what this meant of course. I growled and grit my teeth. "Fucking God damn it!" I cursed. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I didn't know what it meant. I assumed that he was just going on another mission of sorts. But...the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to do so." He hung his head. "I'm sorry, Mark."

I seethed. "Damn it, damn it, damn it." I sprung out of my bed and fetched my wand on my dresser and my broom by the door. "Come on, Singe! We're going to find my brother!"

Singe didn't question me. We exited the hideout, not even worrying about the noise we were making. When we got outside, Singe and I mounted the broom. Now, I had ridden my broom with Singe multiple times, and my heart fluttered every time. This time, however, my heart pounded. I could feel my heartbeat in my mouth, hear it in my ears. I grit my teeth and clung to the broom, with Singe clinging onto my back.

"Kam, you little idiot," I muttered.

"Kamark, do you know what he was saying meant?"

I nodded. "Yep," I spat out. "He's going to try and take out Kamek."

Singe nearly fell off the broom. "Kamek? As in...that Kamek?"

"Yep. That Kamek." I leaned forward so that we could go faster.

Singe was silent for a minute, possibly gawking (I wasn't facing him, so I couldn't say for sure). "WHAT? IS HE CRAZY?"

"It looks that way." Seriously, if my parents had known what was good for my brother, they would have actually been present. They shouldn't have left a twin to care for his slightly younger twin! They had a job to do! Mine and Kam's moral compasses hadn't been fully developed yet. There's were! They should have known better.

We flew straight towards's Bowser's Castle, getting there in under ten minutes. It was illuminated by the light of the full moon, making it look even more menacing than it did during the day. I flew around the castle, pulling out my wand to prepare myself for when I inevitably had to drag my brother away screaming.

"Come on, Kam," I said. "Please don't do this." As if he could actually hear me.

We continued to fly, keeping track of the windows. We saw the bedrooms of the young Koopalings in the east wing, where they were resting their tired little heads. We passed by some servant corridors, where they were preparing for the day that lay ahead of them. We kept searching until we saw my brother in one of the windows. I felt relief to see his form.

But my relief was short lived when I saw a sledge brother lead him away from the angry and seething Kamek.

I stopped the broom. Singe and I stared at the sight, even long after the door had closed and Kam and the sledge brother disappeared.

"Kamark…"

Kambert had attempted to kill Kamek, but had failed. Now, he was being dragged down to the dungeons, where he would await a trial and a sentence. That sentence, given the severity of his crimes, would most likely be death.

In other words...we were too late.