Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to Nintendo and their affiliates. I just am really grateful to its creators for giving me such a wonderful game and media series to write about!

Chapter Fourteen

How many drinks does it take to forget that your girlfriend was subjected to untold danger and abuse at the hands of a maniacal, lecherous mass-murdering sociopath? Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be finding out, not tonight; I happened to be the only one of us that could drive.

Though I could always call a cab, I pondered.

No. I didn't believe in drinking away your problems before today, and that hadn't changed. I just wanted to forget this, though. There was nothing I could do about it, so what was the point in knowing?

At least Daisy's having a good time.

That was my only consolation. She was on the dance floor, smiling and sashaying with another young woman who I'd seen at her job a few times when I dropped her off. She was just as pretty and petite as Daisy, though her skin was a few shades darker and her hair seemed to have a life of its own. They were separate at first, dancing across from each other, but with the beginning of a new song, they moved closer together so that the other girl was behind Daisy. I didn't understand the way girls danced at clubs. It was like their minds and bodies were hard-wired to turn from regular people to unholy temptresses when they heard a fitting beat.

Not that I can really complain, I thought wryly.

There was a drink in my hand but I hadn't had a sip of it, not during the span of nearly fifteen minutes since we got here. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Like I said, it wasn't my way. I was more of a brooder. And that's what I was doing, sitting here thinking about everything she'd told me, wondering why it all had to happen to someone like her. Daisy was good, she didn't prey on other people and she wasn't a bitch or anything like that. She was selfless, at times to a fault, and she loved to make the best of any situation she was forced into. So why did she have to be the one who went through Hell while I got the better end of the stick? I mean, being in a cell was no fun, but at least I got fed and didn't have to go through any sort of torture. The late king only put his hands on me once, and even then he wasn't really serious, more like trying to send a message. With Daisy, though, he'd basically pulled out all the stops.

"Luigi!"

I glanced up and saw Daisy right in front of me, along with her friend. Both their eyes were glittering in the dim light of the club and they wore matching, elated smiles. I couldn't help but smile faintly in response.

"Yeah?" I asked.

She said, "You should come and dance with me!"

I was about to decline, but then thought better of it. Who was I to sit here and 'wallow in my crisis', as a few kids I babysat once put it. If Daisy could move on and have a good time, being the one who experienced the trauma, why couldn't I? I should at least dance with the girl. That's why we came.

"Alright," I acceded.

Both females looked even more overjoyed, and took a hand of mine each and led me to the floor. That was as far as Daisy's friend went, though. She leaned next to Daisy with her mischievous dark eyes on me and whispered something in the girl's ear. Daisy nodded with a private smile and then the other girl left.

"Where'd she go?" I asked, having raised my voice so as to be heard over the music.

Daisy said, "To get a drink. Come on."

And we didn't speak after that. She put her arms over my shoulders and started to dance. I wasn't totally inept at this, so I had no trouble keeping up with her movements. I quickly found out that she was a damn good dancer, for all the swaying and twirling she was doing in time to the rhythm of the song. She had a silly grin on her face, but she also looked a little nervous.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" I asked her as the song was ending.

She laughed and told me, "Television."

"Ah." I hummed, "That figures."

You could pretty much learn anything from television, and if not there, there was always the internet. It wouldn't be long before I helped Daisy get a cell phone and then a computer, and from then on I knew it'd be over. There'd be no limit to what she would pick up.

There was a slower song playing now, one that encouraged people to get as close as possible and grind on each other like animals in heat. I guess I never realized the appeal until I had someone to participate with, because when Daisy pushed herself flush against me, there was an explosion inside of my body. It was already hot from the throng of sweaty bodies and close quarters and bad air conditioning, but now I was getting fired up from within. The more Daisy rolled her body into mine, the less aware I became of our surroundings. All I could think about was her and me.

And then him.

It came out of nowhere. As my hand was creeping up the side of her hip, I wondered idly if he had touched her there. Then the floodgates just poured open and all kinds of dark, insidious questions came raining down. She said he didn't rape her, but how far did he get? Did he put his mouth on her jaw like Daisy was doing to me right then? Did he ever kiss her like I was kissing her just then? I was indeed kissing her, albeit distractedly in lieu of my roaming thoughts. I couldn't stop the deluge of images of the two of them together. I knew for a fact Daisy didn't like what happened to her, but that didn't stop my mind from supplying sick clips of her responding to the Dark King's attentions.

"I can't do this." I said abruptly.

I didn't mean to hurt Daisy's feelings, but I needed to get out this club. I needed some air. In my haste, I didn't even offer her a word of leave. I would apologize later. I just had to get outside and clear my head.

"What happened? Where did he go?"

Daisy opened her mouth and was about to reply to her friend's inquiries, but then she shut it and instead took the girl's hand. She led her to the bathroom and when the door closed behind them, Daisy let out a frustrated groan. Alicia looked perplexed.

"Did something happen?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Daisy replied dismally, "He was dancing with me and it was good, but then he just got mad and left."

"Mad at you?" Alicia frowned.

"No, at..." Daisy sighed, then asked, "Do you remember when you came over the other night?"

"You mean when I enacted operation G.E.T.S.O.M.E?" Alicia smirked.

Daisy smiled in spite of herself and nodded. "That night didn't go exactly as planned."

"The best laid plans often go to waste," Alicia quoted sagely.

Daisy scrunched her ruby lips and muttered, "Waste is one way to put it."

"What happened?" Alicia asked again.

Daisy glanced at her friend and looked incredibly disconsolate. Alicia's brow furrowed and she felt compelled by a spur of empathy to close the distance between the two and take Daisy's hands in her own. She locked eyes with the girl and spoke gently.

"Just tell me." She implored.

"Okay," Daisy sighed again. "To make a long story short, I went about things the wrong way. I thought laying with Luigi would solve my problem, but when we got into it, I realized how...not ready I was for that step in our relationship."

Knowingly, Alicia asked, "Did you realize this before or after you saw his-"

"After." Daisy replied quickly, then asked with suspicion, "How did you know that?"

I'm really starting to think this girl has some kind of supernatural power of foresight, She mused, only half-jokingly.

Alicia shrugged and said, "When I was in high school, I almost slept with someone until I went through the same um, shock that you did."

Relieved at their shared experience, Daisy admitted, "I guess it kinda' freaked me out. I mean, how is something that size supposed to..."

Alicia lifted a brow to high heaven while Daisy quieted, having remembered they were in a public setting where anyone could hear them.

Alicia said bemusedly, "Wow, D, your boyfriend must really be something."

Daisy colored but smiled and said, "Back to the matter at hand. I didn't go through with that because I figured out it wouldn't solve my problem."

"Which is?" Alicia prompted.

Daisy's voice lowered and consequently the other girl had to bow her head to hear her words.

"A little while ago, like some months ago," Daisy explained, "I got abused. Not raped, but sexually tormented."

She felt raw and exposed, seeing as how Luigi was the only other person she'd told in the many weeks since it'd happened. She saw Alicia's expression smooth out to something blank and unreadable. Her eyes looked far away. When she did speak again, much later, it was in a near-whisper.

"Is he gone?"

"Who?"

"Your abuser," Alicia elucidated tightly.

"Oh yeah," Daisy said, then added grimly, "he's dead."

"Good." Alicia said, then blew out a breath. "I'm assuming you told Luigi and that's why he's upset?"

"Yeah," Daisy nodded. "I thought that it would help me move on if I talked about the abuse. And it did. But now Luigi is weighed down by it."

"I would imagine so," Alicia remarked. "If he really does love you, then this is absolute hell for him. He, like any other male would be in his situation, feels protective over you and hearing about all this probably makes him wanna' rip something apart. But since the bastard is dead, there isn't much your poor boyfriend can do. He probably feels helpless and frustrated."

Daisy reeled from her analysis. She knew Luigi would be affected, but to such a degree? She hadn't even thought about it. Now she felt selfish and thoughtless; how could she drag him out dancing when he was feeling such raging emotions? It wasn't fair. She felt just awful.

"I can't believe I didn't take that into account," She lamented.

Alicia gave her hands a squeeze and said, "It's okay. Nobody's perfect."

"What can I do to help him?" She asked desperately.

"Nothing." Alicia replied baldly, "Only time and your support can help him get over this."

"Alright," Daisy accepted. She said softly, "I think I'm gonna' go talk to him."

"Good luck," Alicia murmured, leaning forward and giving her friend a kiss on the forehead.

The air had helped. It was cold outside. The wind was blowing every now and again. Without the stifling heat and loud, thumping bass smothering me, I was able to get control of my thoughts again. Now I just felt empty and numb. I didn't want to think about any of what Daisy told me, so I didn't. I blocked it out and just focused on the space between my legs where I was sitting on a bench outside the club. I didn't have my jacket, but that was fine. The steady chill kept me awake and alert, seeing as how this was downtown Brooklyn and I was just sitting here, minding my own business; the perfect recipe for disaster when there were scumbags looking for trouble.

"Ahem."

My eyes widened at the sound of someone delicately clearing their throat, but I didn't look up. Not at first. I just sat there with my elbows on my thighs and my head in my hands. Then I sighed and slowly glanced over at the female who'd tried for my attention.

Her hair had gotten longer, I noted again. Thick copper curls curved under her chin and sprung down to her shoulders, framed her tan face. She had her shapely grey eyes on me but there wasn't lust or excitement in them, there was apprehension and resignation tangled together. She wore the most clothes I'd seen on her at once; a white t-shirt, a black jean jacket, and a pair of tight green pants with those silly cowboy boots, the ones that made noise when she walked. It only made her seem that much more like a kid in my eyes. She was wringing her hands, which helped add to the image as well.

"Can I sit with you?" She asked quietly.

"It's not like you to ask permission," I quipped with no real emotion behind my voice.

She stood there hesitantly so I patted the spot next to me in invitation. The girl flashed a weak, tentative smile and came over to me. When she was next to me, I had to sigh because for goodness sakes, the girl smelled like cotton candy and baby powder.

"Tanya, what are you doing here?" I asked her softly.

She glanced at me and opened her mouth, but at that moment, some commotion came with the opening of the club doors. The first person I heard was that girl that was with Daisy, and then Daisy's voice chimed in.

"I'm gonna' say this again," Her friend drawled sarcastically, "Because it looks like you're too drunk or stupid to take the hint; I don't. Want. You. Now leave!"

"Come on, Alicia," Daisy said, "Let's leave him to his misery."

I looked over that way and saw the two females walking out, arm in arm, avoiding quite easily the drunken mess that was Terry.

Why did I ever hang with that jerk? Surely I wasn't that desperate, I tried to convince myself. I glanced at Tanya, and she looked really sad and hurt.

"What is it?" I asked her.

She glanced up at me.

"Luigi?" Daisy called.

Tanya looked at her and deflated, then said, "Don't worry about it."

Terry had left Daisy and her friend alone, but was coming this way. He looked the same as ever, same matted dark hair and beady eyes and stupid, hammered grin.

"Hey, babe!" He called towards us, "I was wonderin' where you went!"

I glanced down at Tanya because I knew he wasn't talking to me. She looked disgusted for a minute, then rolled her eyes and went over to Terry.

"Just take me home," She snapped quietly to my co-worker.

Terry laughed and said, "I'll do more than that, baby."

I knew it wasn't my business, but I couldn't, in good conscience, let that happen. So I stood and took Tanya by the hand.

"Come on," I told her, "I'll take you home."

"No." She said, frowning.

"Tanya, let's go." I told her firmly. "You don't need to be anywhere near this..."

And since I didn't have anything nice to say, I left it there. Tanya pulled her hand out of mine and folded her arms across her chest.

"Says who? You?" She snapped, "Just go and be with her. She's the one you care about."

"So that's what this is about." I mumbled to myself. I said, "Look, Tanya, I know you might be hurting but you need to let me take you home tonight. He's gonna' try and take advantage of you."

Tanya looked at me and seemed to be wavering, but then her hard scowl came back and she shook her head at me. She made her way over to Terry and I watched him drape his arm around her. As he led her to his car, he glanced back at me and winked.

"See you at work, man," He had the nerve to call out to me.

I balled my fists and probably would have drawn blood from my palms if my nails were longer. Tanya was acting out, I was sure of it. She felt scorned by me before and with the presence of Daisy, her feelings were only that much more hurt. I just wish she'd have picked anyone other than that waste of space Terry to get back at me with.

"What's wrong?" Daisy asked, gauging my anger and looking wary of it.

Terry was beyond drunk, but he got in the car anyway and the thought of Tanya suffering for his stupidity was more than I could take. I brushed past Daisy, who was still asking me what the matter was, and headed to the leaving pair. Of course, when I opened the door, Tanya was less than pleased. But a part of her looked...relieved?

"Come on, Tanya." I said without leaving room for debate. "If you don't get out this car, I'll carry you out."

"You can't make me," She said, but without any real amount defiance.

"No," I countered, "But I bet your uncle can. Want me to give him a call? I'm sure he'd love to get woken up at this time of night."

A flash of panic crossed the young girl's face but then she rolled her eyes and pretended to be put out. I knew the girl didn't want to be with Terry, I was good at reading people for the most part. She was putting on a ruse and was counting on me to save her. She wanted this, she wanted out of this car and though I didn't agree with her level of pettiness, I would be more than willing to oblige. I took her by the arm and played the role of killjoy as I helped her from her seat. If it would have been left at that, with me escorting her and a confused Daisy to my car, then the night could have been considered redeemed. But of course that wasn't the case.

As I was leading both Daisy and Tanya to my car, Terry came ambling out of the front seat. He almost tripped on his way out and I would have been thanking the Lord if he'd have fallen on his face but somehow, he regained his balance somewhat and stalked towards us.

"Ey, man, what for?" He slurred.

He had a dumb look on his face, dumber than usual that is, for all his befuddlement. I didn't even think it was going to do any good to answer him. I kept walking and then winced when I felt Terry put his hand on my shoulder from behind. I sighed. Confrontation was inevitable. I reached in my pocket and handed my keys to Daisy. She put my jacket over her arms and took them.

"Go get inside the car, both of you," I told them.

Daisy nodded and took Tanya's hand. Once both of them were inside, I turned and faced Terry. There was no excuse for ever choosing to be around him as long as I had. There was just no excuse.

"You should call a ride," I told him.

He made a face and said, "Why'd you snatch my woman?"

"First of all, she's not a woman; she's a girl." I told him. "And I'm not letting her ride with you while you're drunk off your ass, Terry."

" 'Um fine!" He claimed, his eyes wild.

I gazed at him flatly, and it was only a matter of time before he broke my gazed and guffawed loudly.

"Go home Terry."

"Get up."

"No," Wendy frowned, "No more."

She'd been throwing up all week. Only after her third training session did Ludwig get the bright idea to let her eat first, but that had only made it worst. His training regiment was grueling so whatever hearty breakfast she managed to wolf down in his five-seconds-or-less time period would come spilling back up. It never failed. The running and the exercises were too much for her. She'd be the first to admit she wasn't in shape. She saw no reason to be; as long as she did just enough to keep her weight in check, she figured she was good. Apparently that wasn't good enough for her manic oldest brother. He stood imposingly across from her bed, waiting for her to rise. She scowled and turned her back to him.

"Wendy, get up." He commanded.

"I can't do this anymore," She told him through the blankets.

"I know," He said, "That's why I've decided to try something else."

"Like what?" She asked, looking at the wall warily as she would her sibling.

Ludwig said, "You'll know when you get up, little sister. Now come on."

"No." She refuted.

He sighed. "Alright then."

And he started taking even steps towards the door. She immediately grew suspicious and sat up. The girl looked over at him tiredly and scratched at her wild blonde mane. Her pink mouth pouted as she tried to examine him and his motives.

"That's it?" She asked carefully, "You're just gonna' leave me be?"

"Of course, sweetheart." He said patronizingly.

She shivered a bit at the way his emerald eyes hadn't softened a bit when he said that, not like they used to. His fine blue brows arched a bit as he humped his shoulders for emphasis. Her frown deepened. She knew that wasn't all. Ludwig turned and his curtain of navy hair swept out behind him.

"Where are you going?" She asked, hugging a stuffed animal Larry had given her years ago subconsciously.

He stilled, but didn't turn as he said, "Out. Into town. Perhaps to a...certain inn. I'm sure I can trace your lack of motivation to that precise location."

Wendy felt her cheeks heat as she cried, "Don't you dare! Don't go messing with him, Ludwig!"

"I won't, providing you do as you're told." He said simply.

Wendy felt like crying at the injustice of it all. She knew he would keep threatening Munson, blaming him for her hatred of all things concerning her training but the truth was, it had all to do with the blossoming tyrant of a sibling in front of her. She knew arguing with Ludwig was futile, he didn't fight fair, but that didn't mean she had to comply with a smile. She flew out of bed and stomped over to him.

"You are so wrong," She said passionately, "You can't just keep forcing me to do what you want me to. I'm old enough to make my own choices!"

"So choose, little sister," He said coldly. "Meet me in the courtyard in no more than ten minutes or I'll be paying the sniveling little creature a visit."

So glad she was to hear the door click shut, signalling his departure. She fumed in his absence. At the same time, Ludwig leaned against the door and felt the makings of disgust build within himself.

He knew he was being harsh with her, his favorite sibling by far. He loved his sister dearly, but lately she'd been wearing at his nerves. Normally her behavior was commonplace and he had no problem letting it slide. Impetuous, headstrong, sometimes stuck on trivial matters: that was who she was. So why was he so adamant on trying to change her? He had no answer for himself. The desire to mold his siblings, especially her, into powerful weapons was coming from deep within. He always wanted the best for them, but he couldn't help but feel as if that desire had been skewed from what it used to be.

If she would only obey me, he thought. This thought was somewhat alien to him. He hadn't wanted her complete obedience before. Sure, he was controlling, but not to this extent. He didn't approve of her decisions, especially concerning that punk from town, but that never moved him to intervene so severely before. Perhaps. Perhaps.

No, he thought with a scowl, there's no way it's the dark energy changing me; how could it? It's just matter, sentient but tamable. It's those dreams.

He was confident in the fact that the vivid dreams he'd been having of Daisy were beginning to affect his mood. Each one he had was worse than the last.

They don't even feel like dreams, Ludwig mused, they're like memories. But that's insane; I haven't lived any of those experiences.

All of them involved Daisy being incapacitated or disadvantaged in some way, and all of them ended with him doing sinful things to her body with or without her consent. He hated them, and forced his thoughts concerning them to the back of his mind. He teleported to the courtyard and was pleased to see that his sister wasn't long in coming. The glare she tossed his way was easily ignored. He instead gestured to the others waiting along with her. Predictably, Wendy grimaced at the sight of them.

"Why are they here?" She asked rudely.

"Good morning to you, too, Wen," Roy smirked, not in the least offended.

Morton Junior also looked amused. He was swinging his arms, stretching them in preparation for whatever workout they'd receive. Wendy sniffed her nose at her brothers and glanced at Ludwig expectantly.

He said, "I figured they'd boost your morale."

"How?" She asked, her mouth puckered sourly. "They get on my nerves."

"We're good at what we do, yo," Roy shrugged, "Big brother's hoping our talent will rub off on you."

"Yup," MJ grinned, "If you're lucky, you'll have half our talent! Or, a third! Or a fourth of it! Or maybe, maybe just a teensy-weensy fifth of it, or a-"

"Enough." Ludwig frowned. "I brought them here to inspire you, Wendy. Nothing more."

He said that last part with a sharp glance at his two boastful siblings. Roy smirked even wider and MJ snickered. Wendy didn't see what was so funny. Unlike them, she didn't have oodles of energy before dawn even hit. She wanted to curl up and go back to sleep. Her muscles were still sore from the day before.

"Sprints," Ludwig stated, "back and forth, half-court. Go."

Wendy groaned loudly and took her time getting started. By the time she'd reached the middle of the courtyard, MJ and Roy were on their third set. She was already panting.

"Pick up the pace," Ludwig called out to her.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to go faster. Not because Ludwig had told her to, but because her brothers were laughing at her. If only they knew how much pain she was in. Her lungs were starting to burn again, and by the time Ludwig told them to stop, she felt like she was inhaling shards of glass with each breath.

"Cartwheels." Ludwig then commanded, "Up and down the length of the entire courtyard."

Roy and MJ hadn't even begun to sweat, not as heavily as she was. She glared balefully at them as they beamed upon hearing this new assignment. This really was fun for them. It was Hell for her.

"Don't look so excited, Wen," Roy teased.

"Yeah, chin up," MJ chimed in.

She ignored them and began her cartwheels. One, two, three, four, and even five came fairly easy but that was when she began to hurt. Her palms were sore and her head was spinning. She had to double over because her body was trembling. Ludwig appeared before her. She glanced up at him, tears stinging the corners of her eyes, and coughed.

Ludwig put his hands on either side of her face and she closed her eyes as relief flooded her system. His cool touch soothed her throbbing headache and calmed her writhing stomach. She was left with nothing more than a sore body.

"Go ahead," He told her, "The rest of the court is that way."

"I can't." She said weakly.

"I don't want to hear excuses, Wendy. Go." He told her.

So she pushed herself to her feet and forced herself to get to the other side of the courtyard. As she did her last cartwheel, she collapsed in the grass and stayed there for a moment. The dewy ground was a balm for her burning palms; they were raw and bright red, and on her feet she could feel the makings of more blisters. She huffed in frustration.

"Today please, Wendy." Ludwig yelled over to her.

"C'mon, Wen!" Roy called, pulling his arm through the air to get her to come over.

Wendy had half a mind to run straight to her room. She instead made no great effort in standing, then walked over to her brothers. To Roy and MJ, their sister was making a cop-out. She was being petulant in taking her sweet time because that's just how melodramatic their sister was. They didn't know that every step was a chore and that her whole body was dying to just stop moving and get a moment's rest.

"Are we done?" She asked, only half-serious.

Ludwig said, "Follow me."

He led his siblings over towards the woods. Roy's teasing smirk began to falter the closer they got to the Black Forest. He started to get a clue that maybe his sister wasn't just being her own prissy self and that maybe she was having a bit of real difficulty. MJ, being oblivious as ever, took cues from Roy so if Roy was getting concerned, he was too.

"You okay, Wen?" MJ asked offhandedly.

"She'll live," Ludwig answered for her.

She shot him a dirty look but didn't follow up with anything. Once they'd reached the woods, Ludwig conjured several buckets and three long, wooden poles. He went about magically filling them with water and then turned to his siblings. It would seem Roy and MJ already knew what to do, because they shouldered the load immediately. Wendy could barely pick hers up, and by the time she had, she'd spilled a good deal of water out of the buckets.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" She cringed under the weight of the pole bearing down on the back of her neck.

Ludwig said, "Get to the other side of the forest as quickly as you can."

"But this forest goes on for, like, forever!" Wendy cried plaintively.

"I'll be waiting on the other side." was all Ludwig told her in response.

And then he vanished. Wendy couldn't stifle her subsequent groan if she tried. She, like her brothers, took off into the thick woods though, intent on getting the exercise over with. She almost instantly lost sight of them, because they sped off like Bullet Bills, managing not to spill a drop as they fled. She was left jogging behind in the dust they'd kicked up.

It wasn't long before her jogging turned to walking turned to a step or two every now and again. She was pooped. She had just been going straight the entire time but she felt like she was no closer to the other end than when she'd started. The girl narrowed her eyes and tried once more to sprint.

At this rate, I'll be out here for days, she reasoned.

So she hurried once more straight ahead. Her arms felt like lead and her fingers felt as if they'd gone into rigor mortis, wrapped tightly around the pole handle and constantly wet and chilled by the spilled water and blowing wind. Wendy thought her ribs would crack for how hard she was panting. When her vision started to blur, she found it was no surprise that she tripped shortly after. She just got back up and moved the spilled water from the leaves and dirt on the ground and back into the bucket. Using that little bit of her powers, however, took a lot out of her. She was so tired.

Still she ran.

This time, when she fell again, she felt something twist the wrong way. Her cry of pain was anguished and loud, it scared the birds from their nests high in the trees. She felt a slew of tears flood her eyes and when she crumpled to the ground to assess the damage, her pole and buckets clattered to the forest floor. What was left of her strength went towards yet again refilling the buckets. Her panic had made her act without thinking.

I could have used that to heal myself, she thought regretfully. Now she was running on empty. She felt as if she'd swoon. She sat there with her hurt ankle cradled in her lap and her face wet and her throat extremely sore.

Great, she seethed to herself, I hope Ludwig's happy.

She wasn't running anymore, but she had to get out of these woods. She glanced at the pole and buckets and picked them up with trembling arms. She settled it over her shoulders, then attempted to stand.

"Ah!" She cried out again.

She would have fallen were it not for someone putting their strong arms round her waist and bearing the brunt of her weight. She blinked away her tears and sniffed.

"Roy?"

"I'm here," He murmured. "It's alright."

He took her water load from her and held both weighted poles in just one hand while he helped her sit with the other. Once she was sitting with her back against the base of a tree, he set the loads down and crouched to her level. His eyes were swirling with concern and a bit of fear. He cupped the side of her face and stroked away her tears.

"What happened?" He asked, "I heard you scream. Did something hurt you?"

"No, I fell." She sniffed, then colored with embarrassment.

"It's alright," He soothed, "Are you hurt?"

She stammered, "I d-don't know. My ankle."

He gently used his two hands to probe the area. She hissed sharply when he touched her sensitive joint. He used even more caution when examining it further.

"It's not broken," he assessed, "but you need to go and lie down."

"I can't," She protested, "Ludwig'll-"

"Ludwig can kiss my ass," Roy cut in. "Come on, hold on to me."

She knew her brother was right, so she wrapped her arms around his neck as he scooped her up. She was surprised that Roy didn't seem to mind when she buried her face in his neck and got tears and her runny nose all over his t-shirt. There was a hard set to his jaw, but she knew it wasn't directed towards her, his anger.

He was careful in using his free hand to channel hot pink energy to his fist, which he then shot ahead of them. The energy coalesced into a circular portal in the middle of the air. Roy made sure his grip on his sister was sturdy, and then stepped through it. On the other side was Wendy's bedroom. As her brother laid her gently on the bed, moving aside her stuffed animals, she gazed at him in awe.

"How did you do that?" She breathed, partly from amazement and partly from the fact that her ankle was smarting.

"Lu taught me how." He admitted. "Wendy, I didn't know he was pushing you this hard. I'll talk to him, I swear."

"What good will it do?" She asked bitterly.

"We'll see." he replied.

He then went about propping her foot up with pillows and straightening her covers. She found his fussing highly unusual.

"Roy, why are you being so nice to me?" She asked, "I mean, why do you care? I thought you found my failure funny, you and MJ."

Roy winced and said, "That was before I knew how bad you were hurting. Now stop talking. I know your throat is sore."

"How?"

"You've got a big mouth, Wen." He said wryly, "I can see all the way to your tonsils without even trying."

She tossed a teddy bear at him and groused, "Liar."

He smiled and handed it back to her, but his smile was strained. He need to have words with his brother. Nobody mistreated his baby sister; not even Ludwig.

A/N: I'm gonna' cut this chapter short here. It's longer than most, so I hope that pleases you. It's more filler stuff, unfortunately, but don't worry; it serves as plot progression.

Please leave your thoughts and whatnot, and I'll be sure to read them with glee :)

Until next time,

~DymondGold~