A/N: Here's the penultimate chapter, and the last doubled-up set of scenes in the story.

Edgar (Lemmy)'s proposition to Albany (Roy) made a lot more sense in King Lear's original setting, where honor and knightly challenges took the place of mono-a-mono shoot-em-ups and courts of law. This affects Scene iii more than it does Scene i, but I thought I'd explain it all now, ahead of time (to try and explain what Lemmy's doing, though I fudged it quite a bit to make it less random). Also, Iggy and Daisy's exchange was inspired by a movie version of Lear starring James Earl Jones that we watched in English class, seeing as the play itself only includes the dialogue, and not the accompanying, er, actions…

In its original form, the second scene is the biggest cop-out ever; in King Lear, it's basically Gloucester (Ludwig) sitting under a tree as the action happens offstage. To make it a little more interesting, I added a lot more fill-in-the-blank exposition (particularly about Ludwig's aliment), and I added the whole ending conversation, which was only included in Lear in a retelling. I also made Ludwig a bit more insightful than Gloucester (no pun intended).

Act V. Scene i.

The combined forces of Sarasaland and Mushroom Land stationed themselves on the hills north of Rogueport no less than two hours after Luigi, Bowser, Lemmy and Ludwig had fled the scene. Some of Iggy's scouts discovered Toadsworth's body; it still had the bespectacled Koopaling's crystal on it, but was robbed of Larry's letter. Iggy hoped this was because whoever killed Toadsworth took the letter, and not because he had already found Daisy, given her the letter, and then withheld Iggy's gift. Or worse – if he had offered the crystal, but Daisy had rejected it. Iggy had no choice but to speak to her before Larry and Roy arrived, and since their airship was already landing, he had to be quick about it.

He found Daisy in her private tent, speaking with Wario. "…And go greet Larry and Roy when they arrive for me. Bring them back here, okay?"

"Yeah, but first, where's the doh?" growled Wario, holding out his pudgy hand for the payment.

Daisy rolled her eyes, flashing Iggy a cheeky smile as she pulled a bundle of coins from under her Strikers armor. Part of Iggy wished she was gonna wear a bit more protection going into the battle, but as Wario waddled out of the tent, the other half of Iggy couldn't help but appreciate the view Daisy's clothing of choice allowed him.

"How can I help you?" she smiled.

"Did you see Toadsworth today?"

"No, why?"

Iggy flushed with relief. "He's dead."

"Oh… Larry's not gonna be happy, do you know who killed him?"

"Larry?" said Iggy, ignoring the question, blood once again rushing to his cheeks at the sound of his rival's name. "Why do you care how he feels?"

Daisy raised an eyebrow at Iggy's peculiar behavior. "…because Toadsworth's Larry's minion. Remember when we found out your Hammer Bros. defected? You were mad."

"It's not the same!" said Iggy, taking a halting step towards Daisy. "I- he – do you like him?"

"He's okay," shrugged Daisy, pretending to now know what Iggy was getting at.

"No, I mean, do you like like him? Are you… t- together." Even saying it made Iggy feel sick.

"Iggy," smiled Daisy, sauntering up to the Koopaling. "Would I do that to you?"

"Would you?" he said. He felt like he could barely breathe as he looked down at her – his heart was in his throat.

Daisy smiled, and with half-closed eye, she stood on her tiptoes and gave Iggy a light peck on his lips. "No," she whispered before kissing him again, and this time, he was ready for it. Where Larry had been overwhelmed, Iggy was aggressive and he seized the opportunity Daisy presented him with without mercy. His right hand went straight for the naked small of her back and the other supported her head as he bent over to eliminate their height difference from the equation. The dip took Daisy by surprise; her leg instinctively came up and hooked around Iggy's and she wrapped her arms around his neck for support while her eyes opened wide in alarm. She was unable to stop him as he stuck his long, reptilian tongue down her throat, but as pins and needles ripped through her body, she realized was glad she couldn't.

Fortunately for both of them, Iggy had just enough restraint to keep his internal ears peeled for the sound of someone approaching the tent, and he released his windswept Daisy a moment before Larry pushed the tent flap open. Iggy was standing between Daisy and the new arrivals, and she was able to wipe off her face and force the flush from her cheeks before stepping around him to smile at Larry innocently. "Glad you could make it."

Now it was Larry's turn to feel the air on his face as feverish blood began to throb under his skin. He didn't know what had just transpired, but he knew Iggy had some sort of designs on his Princess, and he wouldn't stand for it.

Roy stuck his head in the tent, impervious to the tension in the air. "Oi! Get out here, you lot – dat tent's too small for a propa debriefin'."

Iggy nodded. "Yes, we have another tent all set up for that. We should get a move on – the sooner we can march on the invaders, the less time they'll have to prepare."

"No duh," hissed Larry as his brother passed by.

"As they walked through the bustling camp (now even more cramped by the addition of the Koopan forces), they hurriedly filled each other in on the situation. Larry wasn't too upset about Toadsworth, though the fate of his letter was another matter. And when Roy revealed that King Boo's intelligence had discovered that both Bowser and Ludwig had joined Peach in Rogueport, Iggy shrugged it off as an inevitable development. By the time they reached the tent, they had covered all the background information and were prepared to start planning their attack, but as they began to file in, an armored Koopa clanked up to Roy. "General, may I have a moment of you time? I've some information you must hear."

Roy looked over at his companions. "Go inside, I'll be right dere." He looked back at the soldier. He was the same height as a Koopatrol, but he was a lot more bulky – especially his giant head. His shell armor was also painted green instead of the standard grey, and the spikes seemed rather small, though Roy figured they lost looked small in comparison to the Koopa's hulking form. Whoever let a specimen as sorry as this guy's gonna get fired the minute I get back to Koopa Castle…

"Here," said the Koopa, holding out a letter and knocking Roy out of his critical thoughts. "Read this letter before the battle, and if you win, sound the trumpets and I'll challenge the fiends whose treacherous plots are contained within."

"Hey Tubby, ya can't even speak plain English, so why would I botha callin' you ta fight fer me? I can crush any 'feinds' I come up against myself. And who're ya talkin' 'bout anyway?"

"I can't say – read the letter, and please call me. You won't regret it – I may look wretched-"

"Got dat right," snorted Roy.

"You won't regret it," insisted the Koopa, before scuttling off.

Roy stood scratching his head in confusion as the strange, little guy ran away. He didn't think he dawdled too long, but soon Daisy had stepped outside of the tent. "You coming, or what?"

"If I wanna take my time, I damn well am gonna take my time, girlie," he growled. But he still turned around and swept past the princess into the tent.

Now it was Daisy's turn to stall her return inside. She took a moment to appreciate the cool outside air, away from her two paramours. The pleasure of having them at her beck and call was defeated by the stress of having to handle their jealousy – neither could be enjoyed while the other survived. With any luck, the upcoming battle would do away with one of them, because Daisy wasn't exactly sure which one she'd choose to keep and which one she'd murder in his sleep.

Larry would be easy to control – there would be no question as to who would be running the kingdom if they were together. But on the other hand, she wished he wasn't all talk – cunning, intelligence and ambition meant nothing if you were too afraid to use it. Iggy was the polar opposite, and while his power and confidence filled Daisy with thrills she had never felt before (Luigi had been a lame duck too), it would also make it difficult for her to dominate their relationship. Until now she had been using his jealousy and self-consciousness to yank him around (and Larry too, to some extent, though he was naturally spineless), and once the competition was gone, she wondered how that would change him.

Neither of them were dreamboats.

Daisy sighed, wishing she could take bits from both of them, add the rugged good looks of Bowser's new guitarist henchman, mix it all together and take the result to be the King to her Queen of the World. But she'd worry about that later, and with a last deep breath of the cool, clean air, she turned back inside the tent. Besides, she though, if worse comes to worst, we could always be a threesome.

Act V. Scene ii.

The invasion force was pitiful to say the least. Peach, Luigi and a handful of Toads were the force from Brooklyn, with Bowser (who had recovered most of his marbles by then), Kamek, Morton, Lemmy and the Hammer Bros. augmenting their numbers. Blind and dying, Ludwig was forced to remain in the hideout as the rest departed, for he would be no use on the battlefield. Upon his inspection of the eldest Koopaling, Kamek had confirmed Ludwig's suspicions, and discovered that he had been cursed by his sister when she gouged out his eye. It seems that while Iggy had been foolish enough to let Ludwig survive, his sister had known better; her curse had been slowly draining Ludwig's magical powers, and soon the last drop of energy would be gone from his body, and he'd die a painful, irreversible death.

Ludwig had always known that helping Bowser might lead to his demise, and he had been prepared for it the moment Wendy sent him sailing into the throne. He knew she was going to kill him then – he could see it in her eyes. Sometimes he wished she had just run him through right then and there, instead of forcing him to linger in darkness, being dragged across the countryside by a strange little Koopa who raved about fiends one minute, and chatted with Ludwig like an old friend the next.

Lemmy had left Ludwig the moment they reached Peach's forces without even revealing his identity. The others knew the truth, but Lemmy asked that they let him tell Ludwig who he was. He wished he could've done it before he left, but he needed to get to Roy before the battle, and infiltrating the enemy camp – even in full Koopatrol armor – would be difficult. Even after his task was complete, he was not able to return before Peach's forces left the sewers. With a heavy heart, he met them en-route to the fields, and just hoped he and Ludwig would survive long enough for the truth to come out.

Alone in the sewers, Ludwig soon dozed off, dreaming uneasy visions of death and destruction. Whenever he drifted back into semi-consciousness, he fancied the water dripping down from the upper levels was the sound of his own lifeforce dripping away. As the power left him, he could feel his body slowly stop functioning. By the time Lemmy returned, Ludwig's lay paralyzed in a puddle of blood, for the coagulation in his eye sockets had dissolved, and they were bleeding afresh.

"Ludwig!" cried Lemmy, rushing to his brother's side. "Oh Koopa! I hope Kamek gets here soon – you need help."

"Shhhh," soothed Ludwig, smiling as Lemmy clutched his hand. "It's okay… I'm not afraid to die. In fact, it'll be a relief. In the next vorld, perhaps I vill see again…"

Lemmy shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. "No! No you can't die!"

"And I can see Junior again, and Kammy – I heard she died in zee crash… Tell me, is zee battle over?"

"Yes, but that's not important right now-"

"It is, Tom, it is," said Ludwig. "I need to know vat has happened to my fazzer, and to Morton and zee uzzers."

Lemmy bit his lip.

"Who has died?" asked Ludwig, the silence prompting his deduction.

"M- Morton," said Lemmy. "The Hammer Bros., the Toads… Luigi…"

"Fazzer?"

"Captured. P-Peach too," Lemmy squeezed Ludwig's hand. "But I'll save them – Roy's on our side, he'll – he'll help me."

Ludwig sighed. "Vat a mess zis has been. I am only sorry for zee hand I had in it."

"Don't be," said Lemmy. "Ludwig, I have something to tell you, I'm-"

"I know, Lemmy," said the older Koopaling with another smile.

"You kn-kn-know? B- but how?"

"I can tune a grand piano by ear, did you really sink I vould not recognize my own bruzzer's voice?" Ludwig gave a weak chuckle.

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"Vy didn't you tell me?" countered Ludwig.

"I… I thought…"

"It doesn't matter now," said Ludwig calmly. He would have liked to reach up and stroke Lemmy's tear-streaked face (Ludwig could hear Lemmy sniffing and feel his hands trembling), but he was too weak to move his arms. "And vatever happens, remember zat you have been srough and done more in zeese past few days zen most people in zeir entire life. Do not blame yourself for my deasz."

"I don't."

"You're a bad liar, Lemmy," smiled Ludwig. "I'll see you again… Just not too soon, I hope…"

"Ludwig? Ludwig!?"

When Kamek rounded the corner, he found Lemmy sobbing next to a pile of dust and clutching a bloody headband in his shaking hands.