Chapter 22 Secrets Spilled

Oh no. Wendy couldn't move to save her life. Oh no no no. She tried her best to breathe. She tried her best to not shake. She tried her best to not let the shame curling around her very soul become too overwhelming. She probably would've succeeded in all these endeavors if it wasn't for Toadette, who had one of the most confused looks ever as Mario approached.

"Hey Mario," she said, her vocal delivery sloth slow.

Mario did a double take, his jaw dropping. "Toadette? What are you doing here?"

Toadette grabbed hold of Wendy's hand (Wendy prayed she didn't notice the icy, sweaty clamminess of it). "I was just showing Anna around Toad Town." She smiled. "I even took her to your house! We both enjoyed that very much!"

If Mario's jaw dropped before, now it touched the ground. "Wh…what…. Wha…" Wendy's heart rate picked up, and it felt as though the entire world was being placed on her back. Mario looked at Toadette, his voice sounding beyond concerned. "You took Wendy to my house?"

Toadette blinked. "Wendy? Her name is Anna…"

"No, her name is Wendy." Mario looked at the Koopaling. She saw a heat in his eyes, a heat that she had never really seen before. "She's one of the seven Koopalings."

Much to Wendy's (and Mario's evidently) surprise, Toadette burst into laughter. She held onto her sides, her face beyond humored. "Oh Mario, that's a good one!" She looked at Wendy. "There's no way that Anna is Wendy O. Koopa! There's just no way!"

Mario looked at Wendy. He looked somewhat expectant, and Wendy knew exactly why that was. Her stomach churned. She looked back at Toadette, trying and failing to battle her anxiety.

"Actually, it's true."

Toadette's eyes grew wide. "What?" she squeaked. She pulled her hand out of Wendy's grasp; jerked it free, as a matter of fact. "That's… that's… how is that even possible?" The emotions on her face… Wendy had never seen such a saddening sight before. "You're… you're… you're human!"

Wendy wanted to sink into the ground so badly right now. If she was bare-footed, she'd probably be digging a hold in the ground with her feet. "That's…" she curled a lock of her hair back, biting her lip so hard as she did. "There's a reason for that…"

With that, she explained everything. The process of doing so was unbearable; this moment was good competition for one of the worst moments of Wendy's entire life. It probably wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have to see Toadette's face throughout the whole thing. But she did, and it did horrible things to her heart. It felt as though a slithery, bony, freezing hand had grabbed hold of it and was squeezing it into a bloody pulp.

But somehow, the look on Toadette's face when Wendy had finished speaking was far worse than anything else. So much hurt was in her eyes that it was unfathomable. She stared at Wendy. She looked at Mario for a second, as if doing so would give her the answers she sought and/or bring her back down to reality. Wendy almost wanted to cry when she saw that face.

"I can't believe this," Toadette murmured. She put her hand to her head. Because of the way she wobbled, Wendy almost expected her to faint. "I don't believe this…"

Mario flashed Wendy a glare. She backed up a little, wishing there was something… anything she could do to get out of this situation. She actually looked away, her face scorching hot and her insides squirmy as Mario went to comfort the Toad girl.

"It's okay, Toadette. It's okay."

Toadette still shook. Even as Mario patted her on the back, she looked like everything she had ever known in her life had been proven false. "I…" she sniffled. "I'm so stupid."

Wendy's heart sank. She wanted to say something. She wanted to tell Toadette no, that in fact, she was not stupid. She wanted to help out this girl, this sweet, caring girl. She wanted to alleviate her pain, for she knew it was entirely her fault that Toadette was in this horrible position. If she could, she would say a thousand things, all of which meant to fix this situation and help Toadette feel better.

But she didn't. There's nothing she could say.

Toadette wiped her eyes. She looked right at Wendy, staring right into her eyes. Wendy expected her to yell, but what she actually did was so much worse.

"Why would you do this?"

Wendy felt a pang right in the very center of her heart. "I… I…" she didn't know what to say. She could be honest, and tell Toadette she liked the idea of making a friend, but she knew Toadette wouldn't believe her at this very moment. Not only was she an emotional wreck, but it just sounded so trite. It sounded off, that someone who was the sworn enemy of the Mushroom Kingdom would want to make friends with someone within that same kingdom.

"I don't have any reason. I just wanted to do it."

For a second, horrible anger appeared in Toadette's eyes. She opened her mouth, looking ready to yell at Wendy. Tell her off for lying, tell her off for blatantly taking advantage of her.

But in the end, all she did was sniffle, shake her head, wipe her face, and turn back to Mario. "I need to get out of here."

And with that, she left. Wendy watched her retreating back, wishing there was something she could have done to prevent this. Maybe if she had been honest and not given Toadette a fake name. But then again, would Toadette really have listened to her and offered Wendy her friendship if she had known her identity? Probably not. And it was this fact that made Wendy feel like the scum of the Earth. She felt like she had committed a horrible sin. Sure, she dealt with guilt before her name had been revealed. But now that it had…

Wendy swallowed her tears and turned back to Mario. "I'm sorry," she whispered (that was as loud as her voice could get).

Surprisingly, Mario didn't look angry like Wendy expected him to. Instead, he looked… disappointed. He sighed, shook his head, and took Wendy's hand. He looked her in the eye, his tone and expression serious while surprisingly not sounding as pissed off as it probably should.

"Let's just… get back to the castle."

Wendy didn't have the heart to object to that. She followed Mario, all while it felt like everything seemed to be staring at Wendy. With every step she took, Wendy felt like she was being watched. Every time she happened to see a Toad or human, it looked like they were glaring at her. Not even the sunny, shining weather and disposition that was so commonplace in the Mushroom Kingdom seemed right to her. There was something about it now, something so off-putting to Wendy. Was the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom always like this? Had Wendy just been so focused on conning Toadette that she hadn't even stopped to notice how wrong this whole place felt?

The walk was mostly made in silence, which only really served to heighten Wendy's anxiety. It wasn't until they got to the door of the castle that Mario decided to make a sound. That sound was a sigh, a long one that made the dark gloom in Wendy's heart even darker.

"Mario," she said as the hero opened the door and stepped in. "I just want you to know that I didn't have any ill will."

Mario stopped in his tracks. "Why should I believe that?" He gripped his hand into a fist as he turned back toward Wendy. "How am I supposed to believe that?"

Wendy hung her head, but even looking at Mario's shoes made her feel uncomfortable. "I… uh…" No words came. If it wasn't for the severity of the situation, Wendy would probably be embarrassed.

Mario sighed again. "Look." Wendy lifted her head, seeing that he had his hat off and was pinching his brow. "I don't want any of the Toads in this place to get hurt. None of them deserve that. None of them should have to go through a situation where they experience that." He put his hat back on his head and his brow furrowed (which surprised Wendy). "And this is especially true of the Toads who I have personal connections with."

Wendy whimpered. "I… that's understandable." She wiped a tear from her eye. "And I'm really sorry that I put Toadette in that position." She pinched a lock of her hair between her fingers, fidgeting with it like that was the way to get all the answers. "I just… I just wanted to make a friend, and I thought she was a good fit." She frowned. "But… I probably should've known going in that that was a bad idea."

Mario was silent for a minute. "Well…" he hesitated so much that it was unnerving. "I…" it almost sounded like he was struggling with what he wanted to say, like part of him really didn't want to say it. This made Wendy's stomach churn even more. She could already imagine multiple routes this conversation could go down, and they all made her sweat.

So, what Mario eventually ended up saying surprised her. "Well… I suppose there are worse things you could've done." He looked her right in the eye. "And… well, maybe this is stupid of me, but… I don't see you as the kind of person who would intentionally cause trouble."

Wendy's heart skipped a beat. "Really?"

"I know; I can't believe it either." He cleared his throat and adjusted his cap. "I can't even put my finger on why I feel this way. But…" he shook his head. "I just don't know…" he looked back at Wendy. "But even still… yelling at you probably isn't going to fix anything."

Wendy sniffled. "Th… thanks, Mario."

Mario nodded. "Of course." He hesitated for another moment. Wendy halfway expected him to follow up that previous statement, to tack something onto it that would change its meaning entirely. Instead, he just said "You should probably go see your brothers. I think they're in the common room," and went away.

This left Wendy all alone. She stood in silence, not really knowing what she wanted to do. She eventually decided to follow Mario's orders, if for no other reason than to not give the Mushroom Kingdom's Hero any reason to get angry with her. So, she began walking to the common room. Her shame hung over like a shadow, dark, cold, and horribly terrifying when taking into account that the sun should be shining.

She got to the common room within record time. All her brothers were there, and they were… doing things that probably shouldn't be done in a common room. Larry laughed like a tyrant as he flung a boomerang all around the room. Lemmy kept meowing, wagging the tail of his catsuit while wearing a big, goofy grin. Ludwig sat on the couch with Iggy, who gave him instructions on "how to unlock the secrets of the fire flower" or whatever that meant. Morton and Roy just lounged around, looking like they were just seconds away from slipping into sleep.

Despite these odd sights, Wendy still stepped into the common room and spoke to all of them. "Hey guys."

The Koopalings all looked up, blinking when they caught sight of her. "Greetings, Wendy," Iggy said.

"Are you alright? You look like you've been crying," Lemmy said.

Wendy grabbed onto the hem of her skirt. "I…" she told herself she that she should explain. Gosh darn it, it would make things a lot easier if she did. Unfortunately, all that she was able to do was cry. She couldn't believe this; she probably looked like a giant wuss to her brothers.

"Oh, Wendy," Roy said. He got up and went over to her, wrapping her in a hug. Lemmy did the same thing while the others just looked at this display, clearly not knowing what to do here.

"Wendy, what's going on?" Ludwig asked.

Wendy pulled herself out of the hug in order to go take a seat on the couch. Through her tears, she explained everything that had happened to her. The hardest part of this whole explanation was telling her brothers about how bad she felt. After all, just based on how much guilt she felt, one could easily think she committed a crime worthy of death row.

"I…" she wiped her eyes again. "I know I shouldn't have done it. I know I shouldn't have, but… I just couldn't help myself." She sniffled and looked down at the ground. "Why am I so dumb?"

"Dumb? Since when are you dumb, Wendy?" Roy asked. He patted her on the back. "You're not dumb."

"Yeah," said Ludwig. "I mean, it wasn't the best idea, but you shouldn't logic yourself into a corner." He put his hand on her knee. "And hey, eventually, you'll feel better. Eventually, you'll be able to forget about this and move on."

Wendy whimpered. She wanted to believe that more than anything. But right now… she didn't know if she could…