FREEZE! Don't you scroll down just yet! I'm warning you: this chapter in particular is very brutal and graphic compared to the others. If you're not into that sort of thing, turn back now, and wait for the next chapter.

Not that I can do anything to stop you.

Disclaimer: I'm kinda glad I don't own them, just cuz of this chapter.

Chapter 16: Nothing Left

Wendy… Bowser…

Ludwig woke up to find his face pressed against a familiar brick floor.

Home? he wondered.

He pushed himself up and looked around.

It was dark. Too dark to see. He instinctively reached for his wand, only to find it wasn't in his shell.

No matter. If he couldn't tell if he was home or not by sight alone, then he would rely on his other senses.

Other than his own heartbeat and breathing, he heard nothing. No marching of soldiers. No lava-flow. No bickering or playing siblings.

Siblings, he repeated in his mind, my family. If this is truly home, then…

Ludwig sniffed the air. A long and deep inhale. He took in every aroma in the area. He could smell them. He checked each family member off the list as he picked up their scent.

Paints. Arts and crafts. Bowser.

Shrubbery. Dirt. Tennis balls. Lawrence.

Dictionaries. Encyclopedias. Morton.

Perfume and makeup. Wendy.

Various chemicals. Glasses-cleaner. Ignatius.

B.O. Sweat. Roy.

Rubber. Lemmy.

Brimstone. Mushrooms. Plumbers. Father.

They're all here. Everything is alright. Ludwig ran a hand through his hair.

He stopped his hand partway through in surprise.

"My… my hair! It's…"

His hair was fine. Ludwig almost laughed.

Until he caught another scent lingering in the air.

Tears. Blood.

His family was in danger — he just knew it. Without needing to think about it, Ludwig ran as fast as he could towards the scent.

A scream pierced through the hallway.

"WENDY!" Ludwig ran harder.

As he ran, he started hearing more fearful voices.

"Help!" Larry.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Roy.

"Bowser! Where are you? If you're hiding, stay put! I'll come to you!" Morton.

"No! No! No!" Iggy.

"Lemmy! RUN!" Father?! His voice sounded raspier. Ludwig realized Bowser was in his skeletal form.

"I can't!" Lemmy was crying. "Help—" Lemmy was cut off as he screamed, which quickly faded, as if he was being carried away.

Ludwig was pushing his legs to their limits now. He prayed to the stars he made it to them in time.

He almost stumbled when they all suddenly cried out. Ludwig swore it was the most horrible sound he would ever know.

Oh, how wrong he was. For just as suddenly was his family silenced. Then the sound of something crashing into the ground.

Bile rose in his throat as he made it to a door where his family's scent was strongest. Not wanting to search for the door handle, he punched through the wood and made it outside.

The scent of grass entered his nostrils. The courtyard.

It was still too dark to see. But slowly clouds in the sky parted to reveal a night sky. Except something was wrong.

There were no stars. The sky was completely empty, save for the moon, which was barely a sliver of a crescent. Somehow, though, the moon cast enough light for Ludwig to see the horrendous sight before him.

His beloved family lay dead. Some were on the sidewalk, some the grass.

It took less than a fraction of a second for his eyes to be scarred with every gruesome detail. His analytical mind betrayed him as it put pieces together.

Lemmy lay face-down on the sidewalk. Blood and shell shards surrounded him. Immediately, Ludwig's mind put the pieces together: Lemmy had been thrown high into the air and landed his plastron, which shattered on impact with the brick.

Roy had a broadsword plunged into his head, all the way to the hilt. The blade stuck into the soil beneath him.

Iggy's head had a dent in it. Ludwig realized his genius brother had been brained.

Wendy had been asphyxiated with her own ribbon.

Morton's throat was slit wide open. Ludwig had a sinking feeling that whoever did this deliberately aimed to cut the vocal chords.

Larry's right arm — His tennis arm! Ludwig gasped. — was completely missing. Larry had bled out, staining the grass.

Bowser. The once mighty Koopa King was now nothing but a pile of smashed bones. Only the skull was intact. The empty eye sockets stared right at Ludwig.

All this was seen and analyzed in barely a fraction of a second. Ludwig keeled over and vomited. The bile came up so hard, some reached his nose and escaped his body that way. Even after his stomach was completely empty, he still dry-heaved for almost two minutes. His throat burned, and tears flowed down his face.

His hand brushed against a familiar cold. Ludwig looked over to see his wand lying on the ground beside him. He gripped it hard, turning his knuckles white.

I have nothing left to lose, he thought mournfully.

He was about to activate a spell when whimper came from behind a statue of Bowser. Ludwig looked up, suddenly realizing that someone was missing from this graveyard. Shakily, he got up and walked towards the statue.

Ludwig poked his head around the corner to find Jr. curled up in a fetal position and shaking.

Ludwig was conflicted. He desperately wanted to run to his baby brother, wrap him in his arms, and tell him everything would be alright… But I can't trust myself to protect him.

A sob from Jr. made up Ludwig's mind for him. He came fully around the statue and walked towards his remaining family member. A twig snapped beneath him, causing Junior to jump and look up in fright.

"Relax, little brother," Ludwig said soothingly, "it's just me."

Junior's firey red-orange eyes were dulled and filled with tears, and his lower lip was quivering. "L-Lud…" he whimpered. He stood and walked to his big brother.

Ludwig felt his heart tear in two. "Yes. It's me. I'm not going to hurt you, and neither is anyone else."

As soon as the words left Ludwig's mouth, the wand in his hand flared to life against his will. Even as he dropped it in surprise, it shot a powerful beam directly at Junior. The last thing Ludwig saw of him were his eyes, wide with fear and betrayal and looking right at him, before his baby brother exploded. Only a scorch mark on the ground marked Junior's passing. No other trace of his existence was left.

"NO!" Ludwig screamed. He fell to his knees, leaning over the spot where Bowser Jr. was once standing. He pounded the ground with his fist, sobbing. "NO!"

Look on the bright side, a dark voice inside his head whispered. Now you're the unopposed heir. Heck — you're the king now!

"I'm nothing without them," he told the voice.

Sure you are, the dark voice said cheerfully.

"Shut up. This world has nothing for me. I don't want it."

Well, too bad, blue-boy. You're stuck here.

Ludwig gripped his wand in both hands and aimed the crystal orb at his heart. "No, I'm not."

Wait… think about what you're doing! You realize what the Felnas Spell does, right?! The voice sounded like it was panicking.

Let it panic, Ludwig thought with a snarl. "Of course I do. Felnas makes its user's magic energy build up in his or her body and overload, making him or her self-destruct." Then he focused his magic and activated the spell. Already he felt his magic building up inside him.

Are you crazy?! You have the whole kingdom — no — the whole world at your fingertips!

"I don't want the world," he replied, "I want my family."

Just as his magic energy reached its climax, Ludwig called out in his mind, I'm coming.

Ludwig screamed in pain as his body ripped itself apart.

If you made it this far, I don't know whether to say congratulations, or ask if you're okay.

Disclaimer: If this chapter appalled you, don't come crying or complaining to me. I warned you. Any complaint or/and swear word I find about the brutality of this chapter will be unjustified. Have a no-sympathy cookie.