Chapter 17 One and Only

"Wendy?" Junior had already checked his sister's room, but found that she was absent. He was now searching the castle, checking behind every door and every corner. He hoped that she wasn't away from the castle. She very rarely if ever left, but when she did leave, she did so in a way that was unannounced and undetectable. Junior felt a lump form in his throat. If she was away, that meant he would have to be...ugh, patient.

"Wendy!" He would still look for her, of course. He wasn't one to give up so easily, count his chickens before they hatch. He was going to locate his sister.

He was now leaving the east wing. His little feet felt tempted to run, but he held that desire off because he knew he was more than likely going to miss something if he was going fast. So, he went at a slower pace than he normally did, taking in all of the details relating to his surroundings. He especially made sure to keep an eye open for a flash of pink and golden, and he kept his ears open for that melodic voice coupled with the snapping of high heels hitting the floor. He saw none of that.

Darn it, why did this castle have to be so big?

Junior sighed and stopped right in front of his father's bedroom door. He looked down at his filled notebook and began flipping through the pages. His eyes glazed over the stories, skimming through them. He looked at the pictures Iggy had captured of him and Roy. He chuckled at the sight of them.

Creak. "Thank you, Bowser. I needed to bear that."

Junior perked up. That voice was Wendy's! He spun around at a quick speed and saw his sister, exiting the King's sleeping chamber. His heart rate sped up. Sometimes, things just fell into place so nicely.

"Wendy! There you are!"

Wendy blinked and turned toward the Prince. She smiled timidly. "Uh...hey."

Junior recognizing that she was a little uncomfortable, figured the best thing to do to make it so that she wasn't was to give her a compliment. "You look really nice today."

Wendy's face looked more confident. "Thanks. I guess you noticed the new shoes."

Junior looked down at her feet, and saw that she was wearing white sandals as opposed to her iconic pink high heels. He nodded. "Huh. That is really something."

Wendy turned crimson. "Thanks. Anyway, I should probably get back to my room."

"Can I come with you?"

Wendy blinked. The uncertainty, surprise, and unease painted all of her features. This, admittedly, made Junior feel a little bad. He wondered if this display had anything to do with his past behavior toward his sister. He sunk into the ground a little, his shoulders slumping.

"If you don't want me to, that's okay."

Wendy shook her head. "No, no. If you want to come with me, then….I guess I can't stop you."

This just made Junior feel even worse. Yeah, this was certainly in regards to his past behavior toward her. He had been a downright nasty brat in the past, even going so far as to call her a lazy pig. Of course, you should never call a lady any type of derogatory term, but pig? No. That was…

Junior reluctantly followed after her. He made sure to keep his eyes away from her at all times, for he felt too ashamed to follow her. He didn't know if he should apologize to her for his actions. After all, they had occurred a while ago, and bringing them up again could just cause her to relive those experiences. He reasoned that the best thing to do was treat her right. After all, his dad did always tell him that actions speak louder than words. Yeah, yeah! He would do that!

When they finally got to Wendy's room, Junior flashed her a smile. "You know, dear sister, I would really appreciate it if you could lend me an empty notebook."

"Oh. Sure sure." She made her way into her closet and came back out with the notebook. Junior beamed as she handed it to him.

"Thank you," he said. He put his old notebook in his hammerspace and hugged the new one to his chest. He then looked up at his sister. He smiled, went over to her, and wrapped her in a hug. This caught Wendy off guard, if the little gasp that she let out was any indication. Regardless, she still hugged Junior back.

"You're the best, Wen," Junior said.

Wendy chuckled. "Uh, thanks."

Junior let her go and held the notebook. He made sure to keep it in Wendy's line of sight as he explained to her what he planned on doing with it. By the time he was done, Wendy...actually looked a little interested.

"You're collecting memories?"

"Yep. For scrapbooking. Mama Peach gave me the idea."

"Huh," Wendy said. "That's neat. I assume that you want to ask me about my past next?"

Junior nodded so enthusiastically that his head almost fell off. "Yeah! If you don't mind."

Wendy took a seat on her bed. "Well...I suppose I have something I can tell you. It happened when I was about six."

Junior grinned and got his notebook ready. "Do tell!"

Wendy nodded and launched into her story.

…

This happened around the time when I was young enough to still play with the other Koopalings. Of course, being little kids, we played more often than not. Most of the time, Bowser would just force us to go outside and run around. "Blow off steam" I guess you could say.

I loved getting dirty. I loved scraping my knees. I loved hanging out with my brothers. We were the seven musketeers, the seven deadly sins. We complemented each other in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Our friendship was strong, very strong.

But, here's the thing. I was the only girl. I was different from everyone else. Of course, nobody really seemed to mind. In fact, my older brothers said that Bowser was really excited when he found out that he had a girl. They were too; they all wanted a sister who they could hang out with, or so they told me.

And you know what? I didn't mind either. For the longest time, the fact that I was the only girl didn't bother me. I just allowed myself to play with the others, getting my face dirty without a care in the world.

But that all changed one night, when I had a dream. My brothers and I were both playing as usual in this dream. However, that all changed when Iggy spoke up.

"You know," he said. "It has been scientifically proven that girls have cooties."

Lemmy gawked. "What? Really!"

"Yeah!" said Roy. "They're crawling with germs, crawling with little itty bitty bugs that will burrow their way into your brain if you're not careful."

All eyes turned toward me. Larry, who was four at the time, stepped away from me. "I don't want cooties."

My heart pumped. "I don't have cooties! I'm normal!"

The boys still looked hesitant. "You're crawling with them as we speak," said Ludwig.

I looked down at my arms and gasped. Little red dots skittered around on the surface of my skin. I looked at my brothers, feeling extra afraid.

"No!" I tried to approach them, but they ran away. "Guys!"

"I don't want cooties!" Morton screamed.

"Me neither!" screamed Iggy.

And that was when I woke up. The dream, while mercifully short, still scared the living spirit out of me. I wiped some tears from my eyes, still not entirely sure if it had been a dream or not.

I ended up getting up and going to the mirror as I rubbed my eyes. When I saw myself, something clicked. I realized that...I was different. I realized that...I wasn't like my brothers.

Now, this thought, along with the dream, really beat down on me when I first had it. It followed me throughout the day, making me feel like I was sticking out like a sore thumb. When my brothers greeted me, I greeted them with less enthusiasm than I normally did. I kept my head down low, always making sure that the fact that I was the only girl would go unnoticed.

I remember stepping into the throne room that evening, after a long day of my thoughts nagging me and beating down on me. Bowser was there with Kamek, and each of them wore a grin.

"Hello, Wendy!" Bowser exclaimed. "It's so nice to see you!"

"N...nice to see you too."

Kamek approached, hiding something behind his back as he did so. "We have bought something for you and your brothers to play with." He showed me the thing he was hiding; a soccer ball. I blinked. My initial reaction was to become really excited; literally jump for joy. At that point in time, sports were my go-to pass time. I loved playing them, watching them, and talking about them. It was the thing with me; my interest.

But now that I had the realization, I wondered. Should I really be having that interest?

"Uh, thanks," I said. "But I don't want it."

Both Bowser and Kamek's faces fell. "Why not?"

I hesitated. "Well...it's not exactly a girly thing to do; play soccer."

Bowser blinked before laughing. "Girly thing? Wen, soccer is played by both girls and boys!"

"I know," I retorted. "But…" I shook my head. "I don't know."

Kamek eyed me with concern. "Wendy, are you alright?"

"Yeah! I'm fine. I just...I don't want to play soccer." I paused. "Or any other type of sport."

Bowser and Kamek gawked. "But...you love sports!" Bowser said.

"You wear a hockey Jersey to bed every night!"

I scoffed. "No I don't."

Kamek raised an eyebrow. "You're literally wearing it right now."

I sighed and removed the hockey Jersey, symbolically and literally casting it to the side. "I don't want to play sports, okay! I just don't."

Bowser blinked. "Um, okay. Well then, what do you want to do?"

I sighed. "I don't know."

…

Junior wrote all that down, insistent on capturing every single detail. While he couldn't relate to this like...at all….he still knew that something like this must have really left an impact on his sister. The dream...oh man. If people avoided Junito for something that he couldn't control, even if it had all been a dream, he would have felt awful afterwards. He probably would have doubled down on the differences. He probably would have felt lonely.

That was when he realized that that was probably how Wendy felt. She felt like she was all alone, with nobody to turn to who would understand her issues. Man. And all because of that one difference, that one dream that pointed out that difference.

"What did you do next?"

Wendy sighed. "Well," she said. "I kind of had an identity crisis, I guess you could say. I really didn't want to continue pursuing sports. Whenever I tried, the whole voice in my head that pointed out that I was different from the people I was playing with could be heard at max volume. I even felt awful just talking to my brothers."

"Yeah. With a dream like that…"

"Exactly," Wendy said with a nod. "So, I decided that I was going to change who I was. If I was going to be the only girl in the family, I wanted everyone to know it. I started reading Koopa Craze. I started putting on makeup. I started caring about fashion."

Junior wrote that down. "Okay. Did doing that make you happy?"

Wendy paused, as if she was struggling to form her words. When she spoke, she sounded hurt. "No."

Junior blinked. "No?"

"I don't...know what would make me happy. I don't know what to do. I feel like...I feel like I am lost. Even after the conversation I had with Bowser."

Junior blinked. "What conversation was that?"

Wendy not her lip. "We had it a few minutes ago. I suppose I might as well tell you about. it."