***

For a minute or so, Lemmy couldn't see anything, but he could hear. He heard the air rushing past him and the occasional "Oww!" from Wendy as she hit a sharp turn. This was the only real way he could tell to brace himself for the corners, since Wendy was farther on in the pipe than he was. The pipe itself was very dank, and the humid air smelled of mold.

Soon, he could see light up ahead. His small sigh of relief was replaced by a gasp as he suddenly shot up and out of the pipe, landing nearby with a thud. He struggled to breathe for a moment as the wind had been knocked out of him. Wendy, however, had an easier landing and stood up right away. She looked around and tried to make out where they were.

"As far as I can tell," Wendy began. She seemed to have forgotten her vow of silence. "We're down the road from our castle," Indeed, the two could see the very tip of the castle's towers peeking over a nearby hill.

"I guess we should get going then," Lemmy took a few steps, and somehow managed to trip over one of the few potholes in the road. He cursed under his breath and made a mental note to buy a new ball when he got back. Wendy, on the other hand, seemed fine with walking. She did miss her necklace though, and her feet were getting sore from walking around in high heels the whole time.

Once they reached the top of the hill, they could see that there was still some distance between them and the castle.

"How long do you think it would take for us to walk that far?" Wendy asked hopefully. "Ten minutes, maybe?" Receiving no answer from her brother, she decided to stay quiet.

Lemmy had mixed emotions about returning home. It would be such a relief to not have to worry about food, sleep or dehydration any more. Back home, where everything was as it should be. He smiled to himself at the thought.

But his next thought wiped the grin clear off of his face. How was he supposed to tell King Dad about. about Iggy? How do you tell a parent that, out of three missing children, only two have returned? Especially when that parent just happens to be Bowser?

Lemmy missed Iggy and hated himself for not being able to help him. He ran over the Doomship scene in his mind again, as he had so many times in the past couple of days. Maybe he could have helped somehow. Maybe he could have somehow held onto Iggy and shared his parachute. But all the maybes in the world couldn't change what had happened. He held back tears, but it wasn't for the first time.

"Lemmy?" asked Wendy. "Are you all right? You look. as if you're about to cry or something."

"I'm fine," Lemmy looked away. Something in his eyes told Wendy he was lying, and she had a pretty good idea of what was on his mind. They stopped walking.

"Is this about Iggy?" No response. She tried again. "It wasn't really you're fault, you know. It. it's mine. You know that."

Somehow, that was more than Lemmy could take. All of his emotions had been pushed to the limit, and hearing that just made something inside of him burst. He sat down abruptly and started bawling. Everything he had wanted to say for the past couple of days suddenly came out in a stream of jumbled howls.

Wendy didn't know what to do. She crouched down and patted her brother on the back while he sobbed. It was all she could do not to cry herself.

After a while, Lemmy seemed to have run out of tears. He stopped crying and began to shake violently, as if he was very cold. Wendy was already worried, and this new development scared her. She had never known her brother to be cold all of her life. Was he sick?

"Lemmy?" she asked timidly. "Are you cold? Maybe you should get up. We can get back to the castle, and I'm sure they'll have something for you there."

"N-n-n-no," Lemmy shivered. "I'm not cold."

"Are you sure? You look awfully pale."

"I'm fine," Lemmy shakily got to his feet. "Really, I'm just-"

"Just what, Lemmy?"

"Nothing, I'm just a little-" he stopped short again, confused. It wasn't that he didn't know what to say. What puzzled him was that he found himself unable to complete the sentence. He could form the words in his mind, but it was as if his mouth only got half of the message.

"Just a little what?" Wendy was becoming more and more irritated. Was he messing with her mind?

"Something's wrong, I can't-" he tried again.

"You can't what?" Wendy asked.

"I can't finish what I'm-" He felt his forehead. Maybe he really was coming down with something. He tried to think, what could be causing this sudden lack of words? The only time anything like this had ever happened was. when.

"Lemmy? I really think you need some medical attention. We should keep heading to the castle," said Wendy worriedly. Lemmy wasn't listening however, and as she watched, a look of pure shock registered on her brother's face.

Suddenly, Lemmy jumped to his feet and took off running as fast as he could towards the castle. Surprised, Wendy struggled to catch up. Lemmy wasn't very fast without his ball however, and soon she was jogging easily alongside him.

"Lemmy?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"You know very-" once again, Lemmy didn't finish, which served only to further confuse his sister.

After a few minutes of flat-out running, Lemmy had to slow down and eventually stop. He gasped for breath and looked at the castle again. They were only about five minutes away now.

"What is wrong?" Wendy asked again. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at you," he panted. He seemed able to complete his thoughts again.

"Then what happened?"

"I don't really know," Lemmy answered truthfully as he gasped for breath. "It was as if, for a few minutes, I couldn't finish what I wanted to say. I thought maybe."

"You thought maybe Iggy was back?" hearing Lemmy sniffle in reply, she continued. "I think. Maybe you wanted to see him so badly that you, you know, just imagined it."

"No!" Lemmy shouted quickly. "I don't know what just happened, but I didn't imagine it!"

"If you say so." Wendy responded doubtfully.

Maybe Wendy was right, Lemmy thought to himself. Maybe his mind had just been playing tricks on him. As they continued walking, he pushed what had just happened out of his mind and tried to figure out what to say to Bowser.

Soon enough, there they were, standing right outside of the castle door. From this distance, the castle seemed almost intimating, although they had never thought of it that way before. Its sheer size alone would be enough to make one weak at the knees, and the prospect of a wicked tyrant somewhere within the walls was unnerving for most people. The Koopalings were used to the sight however, and had never thought of it as anything other than home.

Wendy rushed up and tugged at the handle. Oddly enough, she stopped in mid tug. She tried again, but it was no use.

"Well, that's just great," she sighed irritably as she walked back to Lemmy. "We come all this way, and the door is locked!"

Having no other ideas, Lemmy walked up to the door. He clenched his fist and knocked as hard as he could. With a loud creak, the huge door opened a crack and spread wide open.

The two Koopalings gasped. Standing there at the door was just about the last Koopa they ever would have expected to see. All three just gaped at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say. After what seemed like an eternity, Lemmy regained his senses enough to speak.

"Iggy?"

To be continued.

Rachelle Davison 2001